Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace for April 2nd, 2026

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Living Waters of Grace for April 2nd, 2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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  Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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  County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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  continues teaching through God's Word.
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  And then in verse 5 he says what the Angel answered and said to
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  the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who
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  was crucified. And then verse 6 is probably my
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  favorite verse. The Angel said he is not here,
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  for he is risen as he said. Don't forget that part, as he
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  said. As he said, this is an important
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  phrase in the Bible for so many of us.
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  As we say doesn't mean much. Our yes isn't yes and our no
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  isn't no. We flip flop a lot with our
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  words and commitments. The Bible provides plenty of
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  details for things that were predicted to happen, and the
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  death and resurrection of Jesus is the most pivotal in all of
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  history. But as he said, it's a phrase
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  that confirms the words spoken by the prophets.
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  Today, you'll learn from Pastor Lewis just how much you can
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  trust in the Word of God. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the
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  Gospel of Matthew chapter 28 with today's edition of Living
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  Waters of Grace. I would ask if you would turn in
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  your bodies please to the book of Matthew and we're going to
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  look at the 28th chapter there beginning at verse one.
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  One of the reasons why we have decided to play this particular
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  rap song that Case and his wrote is because it kind of depicts
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  exactly what it was that my life was about before I knew Christ
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  and, and how I celebrated Easter.
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  And I want to say this, and I'm going to say this right at the
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  top. Many people call it Easter.
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  Many people call it Resurrection day.
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  We're not more holy. People call it one or the other.
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  The one who calls it resurrection Day is no more holy
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  or righteous than the one who calls it Easter.
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  OK, that's not the point. The point is, where's the heart?
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  Where's the heart if your heart prioritizes what happened that
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  day, The fact that our Lord and Savior walked out of that tomb
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  and we don't know what He walked.
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  Maybe He levitated out of it. I don't know.
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  I wasn't there. But we do know that He did rise
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  Sunday morning. And because He lives, we live.
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  That's the important thing about the resurrection.
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  It's not whether you call it Easter or whether you call it
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  Resurrection Day. I just want to make that clear
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  right from the top. So when someone says Happy
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  Easter to me and I say happy Resurrection Day back, I'm not
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  trying to be more righteous than you and I'm not saying that
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  you're more righteous than me. But it's the heart behind the
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  reason why we celebrate that makes this day so special.
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  That's what separates us from the world.
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  And as long as we have that in mind, doesn't matter what we
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  call it, long as we know that this is the day that we
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  commemorate and celebrate the day that our Lord and Savior was
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  risen, just as he said. Amen.
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  So, yeah, Well, but, but for many years, that was me.
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  I, I, I celebrated Easter because of what it gave me,
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  because of what this day gave me.
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  See, when I was young, and maybe many of you can relate to it,
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  but when I was young, we celebrated Easter.
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  And that meant a new suit, a new pair of shoes and lots of candy.
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  And that was every year. That was every year I could look
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  forward to getting a new suit. Every year.
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  My mom would give me a new suit every year because Easter had to
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  go to church and have on an Easter suit and everybody else
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  had on one. So we went to church and we were
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  looking at what everybody else was wearing and everybody's
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  suits and everybody's shoes. Oh more, that looks nice.
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  That looks nice. How much can I was running
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  around trying to get all the Reese's peanut butter cups I can
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  find and everybody's baskets. But that's what it meant to me.
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  That's what it meant to me. But now being in Christ Jesus,
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  it means so much more. And that's what we want to talk
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  about this morning. You see the resurrection of
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  Jesus Christ. It's a historical as well as a
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  fulfilled prophecy. It provides a lot of things for
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  us. First of all, it provides the
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  fact that it is fulfilled. It does fulfill the Old
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  Testament prophecy and the proof that Jesus Christ is the
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  Messiah. Secondly, it's hope for our own
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  resurrection one day. Just to look at a couple verses
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  concerning that, I'd like to look at Romans first of all,
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  chapter 6 and yeah, chapter 6 and verses 8 and 9, and I'll
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  just read it just basically says now we have died with Christ, we
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  believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ,
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  having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
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  Second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 14 says, knowing that he
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  who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise up, raise us up
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  with Jesus and will present us with you.
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  And then in first Peter gives us another encouragement.
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  First Peter chapter 1 and verse 3 says blessed be the God and
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  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant
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  mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the
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  resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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  So his resurrection is hope for us that we too will be
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  resurrected one day. But I also want to mention that
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  it wasn't like when he resurrected.
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  It wasn't like him just coming just being made alive again.
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  See back in in the Old Testament, there's different
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  times when we see that people were made alive.
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  Elijah, he brought the woman's son who had died, and she, you
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  know, he raised him from the dead.
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  Jesus even rose Lazarus from the dead, but they died again.
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  If they weren't resurrected, they were raised from the dead.
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  Jesus was resurrected. He was resurrected to new life.
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  His body was not the same. Now he's able to go through and
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  we'll get to that in a minute, but he's able to walk through
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  walls and appear. He was different because the
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  body that went in is not the same body that goes out.
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  We're we're, we may go in the ground with dishonor, but we're
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  raised in glory. We may go in the ground, a
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  natural body, but we're raised a spiritual body.
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  We may go in the ground, a weak body, but we're raised in power.
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  So it's not just him coming alive again.
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  He was resurrected and makes such a big difference.
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  So now let's go back to our let's go to our story.
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  So being that we have these two facts that it fulfills Old
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  Testament prophecy and and also the fact that it's hoped for our
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  own resurrection. The one thing that's important
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  that we look at now is, well, how should we live in light of
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  the resurrection? How does that impact the way we
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  live? Does it impact our life or is it
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  just something we look at? So it happened and we just keep
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  going. No, it has an impact on our
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  life. It has an impact on the how we
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  live going forward. We'll get into that.
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  But looking at verse chapter 28, starting at verse one, and I'll
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  just read down to verse 3 and then we'll go back and make
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  calm. He says this now after the 7th,
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  as the first day of the week began to dawn.
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  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, and
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  behold, there was a great earthquake, for an Angel of the
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  Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone
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  from the door and sat on it. Just stop there for a second.
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  That's a mouthful. So we see that on Sunday
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  morning, which is the early Sunday morning, which is when
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  the two women decided that it was time for them to go when
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  they brought spices with them. They brought spices because they
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  were going to prepare the body. They were going to anoint the
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  body of Jesus. So they brought they came with
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  spices and they really expected to see a body there.
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  You know, it wasn't like they came thinking that it would be,
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  that it would not be there. They expected to see that body
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  there. So they brought these spices and
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  they obviously couldn't do it on the Sabbath, which was the day
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  before this, which was a Saturday.
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  They couldn't do it on the Sabbath.
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  So they waited until dawn of the Sunday morning, which is early
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  Sunday morning. But before they got there, the
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  Bible tells us that there was something epic that it happened
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  before they got there. Now, we don't know if it
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  happened late Saturday night or if it happened early Sunday
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  morning before they actually got there.
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  But what we know is something epic happened.
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  And when they got there, all they saw is that the door to the
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  tomb, the OR the stone that was in front of the tomb was
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  removed. That's all they saw.
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  They were wondering how are they going to remove that big stone
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  before they got there. That was a conversation they
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  were having and thinking, how are we going to remove this big
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  stone? We're not talking when it says a
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  stone. We're not talking about a
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  Pebble, we're talking about a boulder that they use to cover
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  and secure this tomb. So they're wondering, you know,
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  Mary and the other Mary and the other women that are with them,
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  how are we going to move this tomb?
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  Men can hardly move it. How are we going to do it?
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  But before they got there, God had already took care of that.
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  And he says it was a great earthquake.
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  And isn't amazing that earthquakes always somehow
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  accompany great things that happen in the Word of God?
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  When he was crucified, the Bible says there was a earthquake when
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  he was crucified. And the Bible says there was an
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  earthquake here at the resurrection.
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  So there was a great earthquake and the Angel of the Lord had
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  descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from
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  the door and sat on it. So this Angel came down from
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  heaven. And I don't believe that the
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  Angel got behind his boulder and pushed it.
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  I believe all he did was just part of him waved his hand or
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  something and, and the boater just moved.
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  I mean, we saw on the Old Testament that Moses, all he did
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  was put up his arms and he, he raised the staff that was in his
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  hand and the whole Red Sea divided.
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  So I can't imagine these angels having to put forth any labor to
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  move this stone. But the interesting thing is
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  what happens here in verse in verse 4.
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  Let's look at verse three first. He says His countenance was like
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  lightning. This is just the description of
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  the Angel. His countenance was like
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  lightning and His clothes as white as snow.
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  If you remember in the Transfiguration when they looked
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  at Christ, his face glowed. It was like white, the glory of
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  the Lord is so bright they could hardly look at him and he
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  appeared to have on white garments.
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  It also says that the same is in Revelation when John the Apostle
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  John first saw Jesus in Revelations and and it said that
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  he had on a white garment the purity of holiness, the purity
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  of godliness is what these things represent.
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  And this Angel was representing the purity and it says like
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  lightning. So he was also representing the
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  power of God. And in verse 4 says in the and
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  the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
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  Now these are guard. Now we don't know exactly how
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  many of these guards were there guarding this tomb.
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  We don't know exactly. The Bible doesn't say
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  specifically how many was there. The speculation is that there
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  were probably at least 4 because when they say of guard, it
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  represents at least 4, but it could be anywhere from four men
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  to about 16 men in a single guard.
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  So it wasn't clear exactly how many of these men the these
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  soldiers were there guarding this tomb.
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  But what we do know, and we know this from back in chapter 27,
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  and it says this in chapter 27, verse 64, starting verse 62, it
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  says on the next day, this is the next day after the
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  crucifixion which followed the day of preparation.
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  The chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to pilot,
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  saying, Sir, we remember while he was still alive, how the
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  deceiver said, after three days I will rise.
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  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the 3rd
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  day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say
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  to the people, He has risen from the dead.
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  So the last deception will be worse than the first 65 pilots
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  said to them, You have a guard, go go your way and make it as
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  secure as you know. So they went and made the tomb
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  secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
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  So these guards that the Pharisees were actually they had
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  access to were actually Roman soldiers.
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  Roman soldiers. I'm saying this for a reason,
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  because if you're talking about here, that these men over here
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  in verse 28, verse 4 where it says and the guards shook for
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  fear of him and became like dead men.
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  We're not talking about men who were like me, who won't even,
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  who won't even face a bear in the woods or won't even go
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  camping because of what I might see in the woods.
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  We're not talking about men like that.
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  We're talking about soldiers. We're talking about men who are
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  proven to be gladiators, men who will fight.
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  They they are, are strong men. They are proven valor men, men
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  who will go to battle. And at that particular time,
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  Rome was probably the best trained army in the world.
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  But when these men saw that Angel, the sight of that must
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  have been so terrifying to them that the Bible said they shook,
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  They shook. In fact, they were so afraid
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  that they became like dead men. And they became like dead men
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  because of the fear, because of the fear that they experienced.
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  Now this now this dead doesn't mean that they actually were
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  dead. Obviously they weren't dead
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  dead, but they were unconscious. And when you look at what it
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  means, like by dead men they're talking about, they were
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  incapacitated by overwhelming fear.
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  They were rendered helpless, rendered weak because of the
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  power, the display of power that they saw in God.
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  I can't imagine seeing that power and how would it impact us
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  standing in the power in the presence of God.
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  It's a fear that causes fainting and his Angel and these men did
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  faint in the presence of these of this Angel.
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  Now it also talked about that as well with Jesus when they went
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  to arrest him, when they asked who Jesus was and he says I am
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  Jesus. Bible says they felt like dead
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  man. They felt like dead man because
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  the power, the purity and the holiness of God is overwhelming.
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  It's overwhelming. And then in verse 5, he says
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  what the Angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid,
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  for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
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  And then verse 6 is probably my favorite verse.
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  The Angel said he is not here for he is risen as he said.
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  Don't forget that part, as he said.
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  That part is important. We know that throughout the
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  Gospels that there have been many times when Jesus predicted
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  when he's speaking to his apostles and his disciples, when
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  he would tell the fact that he would go and he's going to be
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  betrayed. He's going to go to Jerusalem.
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  He's going to be betrayed, and he's going to suffer at the
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  hands of these wicked men. And that he's going to be
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  killed. Jesus.
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  Yeah, he's he's I'm going to be killed.
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  But on the third day, I'm going to rise again.
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  He said that to him a number of times, but that never really
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  sunk in for them. It never sunk into them, but he
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  said it so many times and he even said it to the Pharisees
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  when they talked about wanting to destroy Jesus.
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  Jesus said destroy this temple and I'll raise it up.
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  I'll raise it up in three days. Go ahead.
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  And they said they thinking he's talking physical.
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  So they said, wait a minute, it took 46 years to build a temple
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  and you are going to build it in three days.
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  But Jesus was talking about the temple of his own body.
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  He said, I will raise it up in three days.
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  So these angels, what they're saying here is epic.
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  It's so it's so important and it's so serious and it means so
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  much for us because it is as he said, as he said.
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  So if this wouldn't have been true, how could we have believed
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  anything else that he told us? So it was important that the
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  Angel specifically mentioned, as he said, if you have faith in
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  this, have faith in everything else that he said, boy, you got
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  a good, you got a bright future. It's going to be well for you
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  because he does what he says. Numbers tell us that God is.
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  He's not a man that he should lie.
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  If he says that he's going to do it, he's not a man that he
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  should lie. So then he talked about it.
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  He he goes even further than that.
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  He says he's not here. He is risen as he said, come
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  see, I actually have AI started wearing those.
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  I got a T-shirt that says come see.
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  I started to wear it, but he says come see.
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  So in other words, what he's saying is, look, I know you're
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  not going to just take my word for it, even though I'm an Angel
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  that that constantly stands before the Lord in heaven and
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  I've come down from heaven in order to do this feet.
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  But I'm not asking you to just take my word for that.
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  I want you to come see. So he, you know, he said, go see
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  and see the place where the Lord lie.
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  And then in verse 7 he says, and go, and go quickly and tell his
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  disciples that he is risen from the dead.
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  And indeed He is going before them into Galilee.
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  There you will see him. Behold, I have told you this
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  Angel, He, He's giving them an invitation now, an invitation to
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  come and validate what He just said.
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  So they go when they look in and they see, well, He's not there.
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  He's not there. I've never been to Israel.
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  I've never been to Jerusalem. I've never been to this tomb,
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  but I know many people who have my pastor have a Clark, you've
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  been to this tomb, correct? So and I know many people have
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  been there several times, several times.
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  So I want to ask a question because I know that when the
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  people that I asked when they were there at this tomb and they
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  said, well, you want to go over to Jerusalem, I said I don't
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  need to. You were there.
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  You said he wasn't in there. You said he wasn't there.
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  So I believe he wasn't there. The Bible says he wasn't there.
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  That's two witnesses. Pastor Clark, when you went to
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  Jerusalem, when you went to the tomb, when you looked in, was he
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  there? I have no reason to have to go.
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  My pastor said he wasn't there, He's not there, and indeed he is
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  going before you into Galilee. There you will see him.
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  Behold, I have told you. And he did.
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  He told him just that. Jesus told them on the last time
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  in the book of Matthew when he told him that he was going to be
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  killed and he was going to be buried and he was going to rise
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  again. He said, but I will go before
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  you in Galilee. If you go back to Matthew
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  chapter 26, which is a should be just a couple pages over and
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  verse 32 and I'm going to start reading here in verse 31.
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  Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble
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  because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike
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  the shepherd, meaning that he was going to be stricken,
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  beaten, He's going to suffer and he's going to die, and the sheep
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  of the flock will be scattered. And that's exactly what they all
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  did when he was being beaten. They ran, they left them.
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  Even Peter who said that he wouldn't.
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  Verse 32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you to
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  Galilee. So just like the Angel said,
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  look just like he said, just like he told you, OK, he's going
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  to go before you into Galilee. So so far everything that Jesus
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  has said was going to happen is coming to be verse 8 and 9
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  Matthew do 10/2. He says so they went out quickly
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  from the tomb with fear and great joy and they ran to bring
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  his disciples word. So let's stop there for a
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  second. So they left with both fear and
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  joy. I I I can certainly understand
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  that and you just saw this Angel sitting on a the stone of this
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  tomb that it probably would have taken about 30 men plus a
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  machine to move of some type. But this Angel was there by
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  himself. But the other account actually
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  show that there were more than one Angel there.
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  We don't know exactly how many angels were there, but there
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  were more than one Angel. There was more than one Angel
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  there. Thanks for joining us today as
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  we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus here on Living Waters of
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  Grace. Pastor Lewis Harrell has been so
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  excited to share with us about the miracle of the resurrection
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  of Christ. The human race spent thousands
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  of years lost in sin before God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ,
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  to come be a perfect sacrifice for all mankind.
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  His blood is enough to atone for the sins of all mankind, and His
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  resurrection puts an end to death itself.
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  Our desire is to spread this good news of the Gospel to as
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  many people as possible, but we need your help to do so.
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  The first way you can help us is by sharing this program with a
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  friend. You can join us here on Grace FM
• 24:39
  91.7 or they can TuneIn online at Grace Radio dot FM.
• 24:45
  And as we continue to develop a new station that will reach many
• 24:49
  more listeners, you can send financial gifts to Grace FMPO,
• 24:54
  Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. If you're in Greensburg, we'd
• 25:02
  also love to invite you to join us at Calvary Chapel
• 25:05
  Westmoreland. We're located at 400 E
• 25:08
  Pittsburgh St. Ste. 6B.
• 25:11
  We meet on Sundays at 10:30 AM. If you're not able to visit us
• 25:16
  in person, we encourage you to connect with us on the web at
• 25:19
  calvarychapelonline.com. There you will find a link to
• 25:24
  our Calvary Chapel Westmoreland mobile app or social media feeds
• 25:29
  and the contact form so you can get connected with us or share a
• 25:33
  prayer request with our team. We also live stream our services
• 25:38
  every Sunday on our YouTube channel.
• 25:41
  Well, we pray that you will be blessed as you go forth into
• 25:44
  your week. Until next time, we'd like to
• 25:47
  thank you for tuning into this special Easter edition of Living
• 25:50
  Waters of Grace.