MATTHEW 28:5-7 PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN THE JESUS BASKET2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 28:5-7 Put All Your Eggs In The Jesus Basket

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. There is a saying, I'm sure that you've heard it. It goes like this, don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

And the basic idea of this, it really kind of comes from, if you could imagine yourself back on a farm. Maybe you've experienced that, maybe you haven't. But the idea is you're collecting the eggs from the chickens. And as you put all the eggs in one basket and you begin to carry that back to the farmhouse, what happens if you trip?

and you fall, and the basket drops, and the eggs are destroyed. And if all of your eggs were in one basket, then, well, all of those eggs would be destroyed. And all of the work that the chickens did, all the work that you did in harvesting those eggs would have been lost, and you would not have any left. Or perhaps you put all the eggs in one basket, and the basket falls.

is not able to hold the weight of all of the eggs. And so it begins to fall apart. The bottom falls out and now you've lost all of the eggs. And so the expression is, don't put them all in one basket. Instead, put them in several baskets. And why is that? Well, then if something happens and one basket is destroyed or one basket, you know, falls apart, then you haven't lost everything. You've only lost

some of your eggs. Now the idea is pretty basic and simple, but you know as we talk about the resurrection this morning, I really want to encourage you to disregard that saying and really do the opposite.

Instead, to put all of your eggs in one basket. Even though the saying says not to, I suggest that we need to, but a particular basket I'm referring to. And so here's the way that I'll put it, the title of the message this morning, put all your eggs in the Jesus basket. Now, I know it's a little bit corny and a little bit silly.

But let me just introduce myself. My name is Jerry. I'm corny. I'm silly. So it's appropriate that I teach this message this morning. Put all your eggs in the Jesus basket. That is that Jesus can handle, well, everything. And we need to trust in him. And we need to put everything that we have and everything that we are in.

into Jesus, that we are to live our lives for him and give our lives over to him. Now, as we talk about putting all of your eggs into the Jesus basket, this begins with point number one this morning in verse five. It begins with seeking Jesus. This is what we see the ladies doing in verse five. It tells us then that the angel spoke to the ladies and they said, or he said, do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who

Now, what was going on prior to this was three days earlier, Jesus was crucified upon the cross.

In that he fulfilled the picture of the Passover land. They were celebrating Passover as Jews, which was instituted back in the book of Exodus. And Jesus dying upon the cross fulfilled the picture that God had given them that feast for. As John the Baptist said early in Jesus's ministry, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

And so Jesus is the Passover lamb. And dying upon the cross, he took the penalty for sin upon himself and received the punishment that you and I deserve. And so this all happened three days earlier to this passage we're reading today. It

These ladies, as they're on their way to the tomb, they didn't understand this quite yet. They didn't have the full picture. They knew Jesus. They knew that Jesus had healed them and he'd worked miracles in their midst. He'd changed them and taught them.

They did believe that he was the Messiah, but their expectation was that the Messiah, the Savior, would save them from Rome. They were looking for someone to throw apart, you know, throw off the Roman Empire and establish the nation of Israel as a sovereign nation once again. And so when Jesus died, they thought, well, that's,

I guess he's not who we thought that he was. He is the Savior, we thought, but he's not. Well, Jesus came, of course, not to save them from Rome, but to save us from sin. Later on, he'll come and establish his kingdom, but Jesus died upon the cross to save us from sin.

They didn't quite get that yet. And so they were there on this early Sunday morning to anoint the body of Jesus. They came not expecting an empty tomb. They came expecting a dead body that's beginning to decay. And they were going to put the anointments and perfumes on the body of Jesus as they would do for someone who had died. They didn't have a chance to do this earlier because

Because, well, what happened was Jesus was on the cross. He died. But before evening came when the feast was going to be happening, Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus' body to be placed in the tomb.

And so because of the feast that was happening immediately after, they didn't have time to anoint the body of Jesus at that point. And then the next day was the Sabbath day, and so they couldn't anoint the body of Jesus then. So this is their first opportunity to anoint Jesus' body. And so they're going to perform this custom and minister to Jesus in this way.

But as they get there, there's an earthquake. An angel appears. He rolls away the stone that was set there to secure the tomb. And the guards that are there guarding the tomb are freaked out. They're just speechless. They're standing still. Their knees are quaking. And the angel doesn't even mention or pay attention to those guys. He just looks at the ladies and he says, hey ladies, don't be afraid.

You don't have anything to fear. I'm not here to harm you. I'm not here to hurt you. Those guys are afraid. That's rightful. But you, you don't need to fear. Why? Well, he says, because I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. These ladies were doing the right thing. They were seeking Jesus. And so the angel says, don't be afraid. The word seek here means to seek in order to find.

And so this isn't just like a casual glance. Sometimes, you know, you might be looking for something, maybe at your house or something, and you kind of glance around, and you're like, well, I can't see it, but I gotta go. And so no big deal. You just walk out the door, even though you didn't, you know, find what you were seeking for. That's not what this was. This is a determination. I've got to find this. And that's how they felt about Jesus. They were determined to

To find Jesus' body so that they could anoint his body with oil. These ladies provide a really good example for us in that. To help us understand how we need to seek Jesus. You know, Jesus told us in Luke chapter 11, if you seek, you will find. If you ask, it will be given. If you knock, the door will be opened. And if you seek, you will find. That's God's promise throughout the scriptures.

If you seek him, you will find him. Now, the thing to understand about that is when you find him, well, it might be different than you initially thought. For example, these ladies were seeking Jesus. They were expecting to find his body, the corpse.

But when they found him, he was not, well, as they originally expected. And so as they found Jesus, they got to experience a better understanding of God's plan and God's work. And in the same way, as I encourage you this morning to seek Jesus,

understand that your expectation of who Jesus is or what he does or the way he works or what his plan is might be very different than what God actually has in store. It might be very different than what is in reality who Jesus is. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't seek Jesus. It's just that when we find him, be prepared to

To have your expectations adjusted to the reality of who Jesus is and what he does. But this morning as I talk about seeking Jesus, I want to say that whatever you are looking for, whatever you are seeking, it can be and should be found in Jesus. Or let me put it another way, put all your eggs in the Jesus basket. That is, whatever you're looking for,

Look for it in Jesus. Look to Jesus to provide for you and meet those needs. I want to run through a few examples of just different things that we can seek after and that we will find in Jesus. So one thing that people seek is eternity. And since I'm calling it, you know, all the eggs in the Jesus basket, we're going to talk about the different kinds of eggs that we seek after.

So you might be doing an Easter egg hunt later on, but we'll do a quick one here in the scriptures in the message this morning. Some people are seeking eternity. You might be seeking information about eternity. You might be seeking to have eternal life.

Whatever you're considering about eternity, if you're looking for those answers about what is beyond this life, you need to understand that all of those things are found in Jesus. Seek Jesus for eternity, regarding eternity, because eternal life is found in Jesus. And so just to carry along with the theme, I want to encourage you to take the eternity egg and put it in the Jesus basket.

That is, whenever you have anything concerning eternity in your mind and in your heart, take it to Jesus. And rest your eternity in Him. Let Him take care of your eternity. Place your hope for eternity in Jesus. Understand that any other basket is going to fail. Any other thing that you trust in for eternity fails.

Is going to fall apart. It's not going to survive. It's not going to last. If you're trusting in. Well. Your good works. For eternity. That's not a basket that can hold the weight.

Of that egg. It can't hold the weight. Of that truth. It can't hold the weight. If you're looking for answers about eternity. Somewhere besides Jesus. Well those answers are going to be skewed. Because they don't have the grasp of eternity. Like Jesus has. Because of course he is eternal.

Jesus declared in John chapter 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. Yes, you will die physically, but you will live eternally. And your place in eternity is dependent upon whether or not you are seeking Jesus in this life. So seek Jesus for eternity. That's one example, but here's another one. Joy. Joy.

Joy is something that a lot of people are looking for. Are you seeking joy this morning? Are you lacking joy this morning? Joy is found in Jesus. There are lots of things, of course, that can make you happy for a little bit. Let's say you get a new car and you come to church and you're really happy.

Until, you know, one of the kids has a rock and scratches your car. Then you're not so happy anymore. That happiness didn't last very long. Or maybe you're happy with that new car until you get the first payment. And then, oh, I'm not so happy anymore. Or maybe, you know, you think, well, if I have a spouse, then I'll be really happy. And so you get married. And then you learn they have bad breath. And then you're not so happy anymore. Right?

You get a job because, you know, hey, this job is going to make me happy. And it works for a little bit, but then it doesn't last. There's lots of things that can make us happy for a little bit. But what Jesus offers is something that is much better, longer lasting. It's eternal joy.

Peter refers to it in 1 Peter chapter 1 as joy inexpressible. It's a joy that is, well, you can't put it into words exactly because it far exceeds our vocabulary. It's an inexpressible joy that God provides to us through Jesus Christ. Now, here's the amazing thing about what Peter said there in 1 Peter 1. He said he gives us this inexpressible joy in the midst of our trials.

So it's not that we don't experience trouble or affliction or difficulty. No, we do. We all do. It doesn't matter if you are good, if you're bad, if you're religious or you're not religious. If you go to church, you don't go to church. You believe in Jesus, you don't believe in Jesus. You're rich or poor. We all experience trouble. But for those who are seeking Jesus for joy, what we find is even in the midst of the trial and the trouble and the hurt and the heartache,

we can have joy. Seek Jesus for your joy. Don't look for happiness in those things that will not last, but look to Jesus to provide that joy that you need. Maybe you're not really looking for joy as much as you're looking for purpose. Are you seeking purpose this morning?

seeking some kind of meaning for your life, that you lack that purpose, that design that you need or you have something to do. Listen, Jesus has the best plans and purposes for your life because he created you. And because he created you, he knows every detail about you.

Every detail about every aspect of who you are and your background. He knows, the Bible says, the number of hairs on your head. He knows the number of days that you have. He knows your skills and abilities. He also knows your weaknesses. And so he is the one who is most equipped...

To be able to declare your purpose. He is the one who knows your purpose and the meaning for your life the best. If you seek purpose somewhere else, it's going to be based on things that are lesser, that know less about you.

and it will leave you unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Maybe you could think about it this way. If I take my phone to the Apple store and I say, hey, something's not right. It's not working very well. They say, well, what's the problem? Well, you see how my screen's cracked. It's because I was trying to put a nail into the wood. And yeah, something's wrong. It messed up my screen. And they say, you're a dummy. You're not supposed to use it for that. It's a phone. Use a hammer for the nail. Use a phone for other things.

If we are created, he's our manufacturer, he knows best how we're to operate, what our purpose is, what we can do, and what we can't do. And so we need to seek Jesus for our purpose, the meaning of our life, and what we ought to be doing and what we ought not to be doing. Well, we can also seek Jesus for provision.

Are you in need of some provision, maybe some money, maybe some food, maybe some clothes, and perhaps you're stressed out about the rent or the bills, and you're thinking, I've got to get a job or find a better job or find some way out of this mess. Well, Jesus spoke to this in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, and he said, here's what you need to do.

seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you now Jesus has been talking about in this chapter the importance of not worrying he says don't worry about your life and what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear don't worry about those things he says because God knows that you need those things

Instead of worrying and being anxious about those things, he says, seek first the kingdom of God. And as you seek first the kingdom of God, then all those things that you were worried about before, they'll be added to you or given to you. In other words, Jesus says, put me first and I'll meet your needs. If you are needing provision of whatever kind, seek Jesus for that provision.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you should just sit on the couch and read your Bible and don't, you know, look for a job or don't try to work or don't do anything else. Just all you should do is just, why are you here? Because you should be at home sitting on the couch and reading your Bible, seeking Jesus. No, no, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, sit on the couch, read your Bible, seek Jesus, and then do what he tells you to do. And so if he tells you, go get a job, then go get a job.

If he tells you then go apply for a raise, then go apply for a raise. If he tells you to go get a better education, then go get a better education. But you have to seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first Jesus Christ. Put him and his priorities first and he will provide for you. He will meet your needs, whatever they may be. Again, other baskets will fail. Now you might say, hey, I'm the provider of my home.

you're trusting in yourself for provision. And let me tell you, that's a basket that will fail. Maybe we could call you a basket case. Because that's what happens, right? You're going to go crazy if you're trusting in yourself for provision. No, you need to put your trust in something that can hold that weight. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. He can provide for you.

Well, another thing that people are searching for so many times is peace. There are those who are seeking peace because there's a turmoil within. Maybe even on the outside, everything looks fine. But on the inside, you know how that is, right? Where there's that, it's just, it's unsettling. There's that turmoil. There's no possibility of rest. There's no peace. There's no quietness. There's no tranquility. There's no peace.

There's this, well, it's this awful unsettling, this awful unrest within. What Jesus offers to us as his followers, for those who would seek him, he offers peace. That there's this quietness, there's this rest within. Again, not that we don't go through difficult experiences, but as Paul said, as we present our request to God, the peace of God which passes understanding. So it doesn't make sense to

It doesn't make sense that I have this peace in the midst of this difficulty. But that's what God promises, to give us peace. Jesus told his disciples, my peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. So let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The world tries to give peace, but Jesus says that's not going to work. Those other baskets will fail.

The best thing, you know, that other things can do is distract us. So we're trying to find peace and we can't find peace. So we distract ourselves and we try to go do something and we try to drown our sorrows. We try to get busy with this or do that over there and we distract ourselves. But then once that's done, we still, we lay in bed at night and we still realize that there's just no peace anymore.

There's still that emptiness, that turmoil within. It's only Jesus who can provide that peace. And so we need to put our trust in Him. Some people are looking for comfort. Is that what you're seeking this morning? That you need some comfort. Maybe you've lost a loved one. Maybe you're going through something difficult. Maybe you've had some hurt, some heartache, some broken hearts. Maybe from some relationships.

We all experience hurts and heartaches and there's no escaping that. But the wonderful thing about seeking Jesus is that he provides us comfort like no one else can. Paul refers to this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and he says that God is the God of all comforts and he comforts us in our tribulation.

He says, God is the God of all comfort. If you want comfort, you should go to the God of all comfort. You should go to Jesus. Because he is the one who can comfort you like no one else. He can heal the hurts and the wounds. He can minister to you better than anyone else. Sometimes he'll use people, so don't just reject people. But seek Jesus to bring that comfort, to heal those hurts.

Maybe you're seeking love. And that could go two ways. Either you're seeking to give love or you're seeking to be loved. And either way you look at it, it's Jesus that we should seek for that. Seek to love Jesus and seek to be loved by Jesus.

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5 that God demonstrated his love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were still in rebellion against God. We were still undeserving and unworthy. But even then, Christ died for us because he loved us. He demonstrated that once and for all. There's nobody who loves you more than Jesus loves you.

And so if you are feeling that need to be loved, and maybe you don't have that sense, you know, sometimes parents aren't all that great at expressing their love. Sometimes spouses aren't all that great at expressing their love. Sometimes kids or neighbors or friends, you name it, we fall short in expressing love for one another. And so maybe you don't feel loved. You need to seek out Jesus.

To experience the love that you're lacking. The love that you're craving. You might remember the woman that Jesus encountered at the well in Samaria in John chapter 4. And she had been with several men. She had four husbands. And he said, the one that you're with right now isn't your husband. She was wanting to be loved. Needing to be loved. Going from these relationships to that relationships. And not finding what she was looking for. And that can happen sometimes.

to any of us if we're looking to be loved somewhere else. No, Jesus is the only one who can really fulfill that need. No husband, no boyfriend, no girlfriend, no mom, no dad, no child. Nobody can fulfill that need like Jesus can. Seek Jesus and let him express his love to you. Or maybe you're seeking to pour out love, to give love. There's no one

Well, that is more deserving. That is better to love than Jesus. And so we should seek Jesus for love. Maybe you're looking for forgiveness. There's this guilt that you're burdened by. This conscience that's just heavy and just continues to be with you. And it's wearisome because of this guilt that you have. You could go to people to ask for forgiveness. And that's a good thing to do.

But you'll find that that doesn't completely remove the guilt. Your need for forgiveness. Because, well, sin is really against God. Even if you hurt other people in the process, it's God who needs to forgive you. It's God who can bring that cleansing that you're yearning and craving for. The Bible tells us that God is faithful.

If we confess our sin to him, he is faithful to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And so if it's forgiveness that you are lacking, that you are seeking, go to Jesus for that forgiveness. Trust in his work upon the cross. It was completed. For every sin you've ever committed, every sin you've yet to commit, no matter how bad. And you could say, well, you don't know what I've done. I don't have to know what you've done because his forgiveness

Sacrifice. Paid the price for all sin. No matter what it is.

Well, finally, you might be seeking life. You're not just seeking eternal life, but you're seeking to enjoy this life to the utmost, that you want to experience life to the greatest degree possible. And there's a lot of baskets you could put this egg in. I mean, you could pursue partying and you're like, yeah, I'm going to really live the life and I'm going to go, you know, get high, get drunk, you know, go to a different part. I'm going to go just enjoy and go crazy and I'm going to have and live the life.

Or maybe you're going to put it in the career basket. I'm going to really experience the best out of life if I get this career, reach this level, you know, have this position. Or maybe you're going to go the family route. Well, I'll really experience the best that life has to offer if I get married, if I have four kids, if I have the white picket fence. On and on and on we could go. But the reality is Jesus is the one who can provide the best life possible for you.

Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse 10 that the thief, that is the enemy, comes to kill, to steal and destroy, but that he came that we might have life and he says and have it more abundantly. He wants to give you abundant life, not just normal mediocre life, but abundant life. Again, I'm not trying to say that there's no troubles or difficulties when you're seeking Jesus, but in the midst of that,

you can experience the fullness of life by seeking Jesus. And so what I want to ask you to do is to put all your eggs in the Jesus basket. Whatever it is that you're seeking for or all of the above. Now sometimes people will put eternity in the Jesus basket. All right, I'm going to seek Jesus for eternity. Trust him. But I'm going to look for joy somewhere else. And I'm going to look for life somewhere else. I'm going to look for peace somewhere else. And

we end up being unfulfilled as a result because nothing else can handle the weight of those things. But Jesus can handle the weight of all of these things. Put everything that you are, put everything that you have, put everything that you need into Jesus and trust Him to provide for you. Trust Him to meet your needs. And so when I say to seek Jesus, that's what I'm talking about. Seek in order to find. Find Jesus.

for your provision find jesus for your peace the other baskets will fail whatever else you trust in they will fail keeping with the the basket theme it's like putting you know something into the basket and then you're like all right this is great but then the basket starts to fall apart so you look around you kind of scramble you grab another basket and you're like okay i caught the eggs that fell out get rid of the basket okay this basket's gonna hold and then that basket falls apart and you're scrambling again oh no here's it okay let me get another basket

And that's what we do. We try to find these needs that we have and we trust in something and then we find it doesn't, it can't hold the weight, it can't provide the need. And so then we scramble and we try something else. Maybe you say, I need more vacation time. Then I'll have peace, then I'll have life, then things will be great as long as I take some more vacation time. Maybe that helps a little bit. But then you realize this basket's falling apart. Right?

And so maybe you decide, well, okay, maybe I need to work more. I need to work more, get a better job, get a better place, you know, then I'll be satisfied, then I'll have peace, then I'll have life. And so you scramble to this other basket now. But then that one begins to fall apart. Then you decide, well, I need more family time. What I need more time with is with my spouse, with my kids, with my parents, and then I'll have these things that I need. But then you start hanging out with the family and the basket starts to unravel.

And so you decide, well, maybe if I stop smoking, that's going to solve, that's going to be the peace that I need. That's going to really resolve the things. But that unravels. Oh, I need to go to church and be religious. And that unravels. I need a boyfriend. Or maybe I need to get rid of this spouse and get a new spouse. But that unravels. And we go from thing to thing to thing to thing to thing to thing, putting our trust and our hope in things that cannot meet our needs.

And that's why I'm suggesting to you, let's put all of our eggs in the Jesus basket. That whatever your need is, whatever you're searching for, whatever you're yearning for, whatever you're craving, it could be found in Jesus. And He will not fall apart. He will not fail you. He can handle. He can provide. In fact, He's the only one who can. So determine, I'm not trying to be saved any other way. I'm not looking to myself for provision. I'm not looking to myself

I'm not looking to myself for wisdom or direction. I'm not looking to this or that. I'm trusting in Jesus. Jesus is worth that level of attention. He deserves that level of focus. And he can be trusted to that degree. Now, you don't just have to take my word for it. Let's move on to verse 6. Point number 2 is now see the evidence. First, seek Jesus.

And you might find that he is different than you expected. The provision that he promises maybe comes in a different way or a different timing than you expected. The peace that he promises might be different than you expected. But you can find what you need in Jesus. But if you're wrestling with whether or not that's real, whether or not that's true, then I encourage you to see the evidence. Now these ladies, as they come to the tomb this morning, they are seeking Jesus and

The angel rolls away the stone. He says, don't be afraid. And then in verse 6, he says to them, he is not here for he is risen. As he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. Here, the angel makes a radical claim. I mean, a really radical claim. If you put yourself in those ladies shoes for a moment, if you go visit your relative who's just been buried and

And the gardener says, oh, yeah, he's not here. He's risen. You'd say, that's a cruel joke. You know, that's not something that you should expect or you should say. The angel says, he's risen. It's a radical claim. Now, here's one thing that I love about the Christian faith. The Bible makes radical claims. That's for sure. And in fact, you could say all religions do.

But one thing I love about our Christian faith is that we do not have to be afraid of questions, even though there's those radical claims. That we can invite people to see for themselves. The angel doesn't say, Jesus is risen.

Just take my word for it. I'm not going to move the stone. Just believe me. I can see in there. You don't have to look. Just trust me when I say Jesus is risen. No. What does he say? He says, first of all, he is risen. And then he says, as he said. So he is risen. Remember, he told you that he would ahead of time.

And he says, see the place where the Lord lay. Let me move the stone for you. Go ahead. Look inside for yourself. You want to see the spot where he was? Okay. See, he's not there. Let me tell you what happened. He's risen. He is raised from the dead. We don't have to be afraid of questions. We don't have to take other people's word for it. You don't have to take this angel's word for it.

He tells the ladies, come and see the place where the Lord lay. The word see is the idea of perceiving with the senses. So he's saying, use your own senses. Let it come in through your eyes. It's kind of like, you know, if I tell you what something tastes like. But I could try to describe it. I'll be really bad at that.

Or you could take a bite and taste it for yourself. And you perceive with your own senses. And so now you know how it tastes. In the same way, he says, come and see where the Lord lay. Take it in yourself. See for yourself. Experience it yourself. Check it out. The angel does not say, just take my word for it. And that did not end this day at the tomb. That continues on today. Check it out.

Listen, the Christian faith is a reasonable faith. There's reasons to believe. And you don't have to be afraid. Sometimes Christians get a little bit too hypersensitive, I would say, about questions. Like, how could you accuse God of that? No, no, no. Listen, God's big enough. He can handle your questions. He can handle the challenges that you have and the struggles with Him. That's okay. But wrestle with Him and check it out. Find out for yourself.

That Jesus Christ is Lord. That he is risen. That he is who he claimed to be. See the evidence for yourself. There's a few avenues that you can look at. And maybe some are more important to you than others. But there's scriptural evidence. So you can look at the Bible.

And read very clearly the Bible declares that Jesus Christ is God who became man. He lived a sinless life. He died upon the cross to receive the penalty and punishment for the sin of all humanity. And that by believing in Jesus, that means to turn from sin and to live our lives for him, we have everlasting life. And you can examine the scriptures and see the evidence for that. You can also examine the history of

The Bible is absolutely reliable in its history.

And archaeology continues to prove this to be true. History verifies the truth of who Jesus is. There's also some manuscript evidence. That is the manuscripts which are copies of the original works that make up what we have in our Bibles today. Now the various manuscripts of all shapes and sizes and fragments all over the place...

and show that we have an accurate copy of the original documents, the original things that Isaiah wrote and Jeremiah wrote and Peter wrote and John wrote. We have accurate copies of their eyewitness accounts, of their experiences, of their prophecies and the things that God spoke to them and through them. We have accurate copies of those things. But then we also have the prophetic evidence throughout the Scriptures.

And I'm not talking about, you know, just general predictions that anybody could make, but clear and specific prophecies throughout the Bible that were fulfilled in history exactly the way that the Bible says. It's a few, just a few examples here, different kinds of evidence that you can look at. Now for me, I grew up in a Christian home. So I never really struggled with, well, I wonder if there is a God.

I grew up understanding and knowing there is a God. I never wrestled with, I wonder if Jesus is the Savior. I grew up understanding that Jesus is the Savior. These weren't things that I had to struggle with or wrestle with. It doesn't mean I haven't thought through them, but it just, it was not an issue that I had to wrestle through. And so what I'd like to do is just introduce you to a couple of guys who were not in my condition. They started out as those who did not believe in

They examined the evidence and they found that the evidence shows the reality of who Jesus is. They followed the words of the angel here. They came to see where the Lord lay.

And so the first one I'll introduce you to is Lee Strobel. You've probably heard of him, pretty popular author right now. He wrote like The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and a variety of other things. His background is, well, he was a journalist. He has a degree in journalism. He also has a law degree from Yale. He was a journalist for 14 years, and most of that was at the Chicago Tribune.

And he was not a believer in Jesus. But his wife was. And that really bugged him. It just bothered him so much because how could she believe these things? And there was all this conflict in the home as a result. And so he determined, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I have all this background in journalism and I know how to investigate things. I have this law degree. I know how to look up and research and find out and investigate and prove things true or false.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to prove the Christian faith false so that my wife will stop bugging me to go to church. And so he sets out to use all of his skills to do that. And as he sees the evidence for himself, he discovers, no, actually there is evidence. Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is who he claimed to be. And he became a believer in Jesus as a result of trying to disprove the Christian faith.

Another guy, similar story, is Josh McDowell. He was in college. He decided in all of his, you know how college students are, right? In all of his arrogance, he thought, I could disprove the Christian faith in this college paper like nobody ever has. And so he begins to research. He gathers the evidence to write this paper to disprove Christianity. And instead of disproving it, he becomes convinced of it because the evidence is there. It is a reality. Jesus Christ is

the Savior of the world. He did rise from the dead. Here's one that you might not be very familiar with. His name is Andre Cole. Andre Cole is born in 1936. He's an old guy now. He was a master illusionist. He is described as America's foremost inventor of magical effects and

He was named inventor of the decade by the International Magician Society. He's created over 2,000 magic tricks that are performed by a whole bunch of, you know, the big name magic guys that you would know. He also has the recognition of being the magician who has performed in more countries than any other magician. So, you know, that's his field. He's an illusionist. Well, he also was an unbeliever and he decided...

He was going to disprove the miracles of Jesus because he knows illusions. And his claim to fame a while back was that no magician, no illusionist had ever fooled him. That is, you know, he'd watch somebody else do their trick and he'd say, I know how they did it. I could do it too. Nobody had ever fooled him. And so he decided...

Jesus can't fool me either. And so he set out to disprove the miracles of Jesus and show these were just illusions. They were just, you know, magic tricks that Jesus did, but were not real miracles. Well, in doing so, as he looked in and investigated and did his best to disprove, he discovered they are actual miracles that Jesus indeed raised from the dead.

Another guy you could consider is Job Martin. He was a dentist. He had a degree in biology, but later became a professor of dentistry. And back in 1971, two students challenged him

to prove that the biblical view of creation from Genesis chapter 1 was impossible. They're like, hey professor, you know, you can imagine just two Christian students, right, challenging their professor. Can you prove, you know, with your biology degree that creation could not have happened like the Bible says that it did? And here's what he says. My first reaction was, only an ignorant fool would believe in those ancient myths of the

He said, surely there must be a simple way to prove that their six-day view of creation was wrong. And so he set out to prove that creation could not have happened the way the Bible says that it happened. Instead, as he investigated creation, the origins of life, the origins of all things, he came to the conclusion, in fact, it did happen the way the Bible declares we were created, just as Genesis says.

Another guy, Frank Morrison, his real name was Albert Ross, but he wrote a book under the name Frank Morrison called Who Moved the Stone? He lived like a previous generation, the 1880s, early 1900s, but he was skeptical about the resurrection of Jesus. And so he was an advertiser. He wanted to publish, you know, a pamphlet basically showing that Jesus Christ was a myth.

And so he began researching. He began to write a book about the myth of Jesus Christ. But the book he ended up writing, he called, Who Moved the Stone? And he titled chapter one, The Book That Refused to be Written. He said, I tried to write this book showing that Jesus was just a myth, but it refused to be written. That's not what the evidence declares. That's not what the evidence shows.

And so he became convinced of the truth of the resurrection and became a believer in Jesus Christ. One last example. Sir William Ramsey. Sir William Ramsey was a Scottish archaeologist. Again, a little bit while back, early 1900s. He was an atheist. His family was all atheists, but they were really wealthy. And so he decided to use his wealth and disprove the Bible.

He decided he would start with the book of Acts. And so he went to the Mediterranean, to all the areas around where the book of Acts is dealing with. For 25 years, he researched, he excavated, he studied. He said the book of Acts is the most vulnerable book of the Bible because of all the names and places and all the details that are mentioned. It should be really easy to prove it to be false.

Throughout this 25 years of his, you know, investigation into this, he wrote several books. As each new book came out, it was clear he was becoming more and more convinced of the truth of the book of Acts. Till finally, in a later book, he declared that he believed that the book of Acts is divinely inspired and that he had become a Christian. As he investigated the evidence,

Again, we can see from these guys, you want to look at the archaeology, you want to look at this aspect, that aspect, whatever. See the evidence. There is evidence. Again, the Christian faith is a reasonable faith. And I'm not suggesting you just take my word for it. Yeah, just believe me. You can trust me. That's what used car salesmen say, right? You can trust me. Take my word for it. It'll be fine. Yeah, it'll last you 20 years. I don't believe you. I need to check it out for myself.

When it comes to things of eternity, don't trust somebody else. Check it out for yourself. See the evidence. Find out for yourself. There's reasons to believe. And God invites you to see for yourself. And so this morning, I would encourage you to seek Jesus, to see the evidence, and then finally, we'll hit this one really quickly, spread the news.

In verse 7, the angel continues to talk to the ladies. He says, go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told you. And so he says to them, Jesus isn't here. He's risen. Come in, check it out for yourselves. All right, now that you've seen it for yourself, now go tell the others. And the same process applies to us. Seek Jesus.

When you get there, when you find him, you might find he's different than what you expected. He provides for you in ways that you didn't expect. But he is resurrected and you can see the evidence. And once you have that, once you understand that, well, then it's time to spread the news. Since Jesus is the one who can provide for all that we need, let others know. He is the one who can provide for all that we need. Since Jesus is the only one that we can trust into this degree,

let others know. Jesus is the only one that we can trust in to this degree. Since Jesus is the Savior, you've sought him, you've seen the evidence, then let others know. But you're not telling them, hey, take my word for it. Don't check it out. Just believe me. No, check it out. Find out for yourself. See and understand that Jesus is the Son of God. When they have questions, when they have struggles, we need to direct people to Jesus.

Because he's the only one who can bear the weight of all that they need. And so Jesus concludes Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19 and 20 saying, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. This is our commission. Once you've sought Jesus and seen the evidence and you found that he is the one who can satisfy all your needs, then spread the news and let others know.

This morning, the worship team is going to come up and close us in one last song. And I want to encourage you, wherever you are in your life and in your walk with God or lack thereof, today you have an opportunity to seek Jesus.

To put your trust in him. For whatever you need. And whatever you rely upon. Whatever you're looking for. It's Jesus who can meet that need. And he offers to meet those needs. You guys can come up. Go ahead. He offers to meet those needs by grace. He doesn't say earn it or deserve it or clean up your life and then you can come to me and then you'll find me. No he says seek and you will find. And

And so this morning as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I encourage you, I challenge you to put all your eggs in the Jesus basket. To put your trust in Him. Receive the forgiveness that He offers. Receive the salvation that He offers. Receive the hope and the peace that He offers. Don't let those other things fool you to trust in them. They can't handle it.

The only one who can is Jesus. And you can check it out for yourself. You can see the evidence if you need to. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the one that you're thirsting for. He's the one that you're craving. He's the one that you need. And so let's seek Jesus. Let's put Him first and live our lives for Him. Let's trust in Him to meet all of our needs. He's the only one who can satisfy it.

because he's resurrected from the dead. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.