Be Real Together:
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Read Together:
Luke 24: 1-6a CSB
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. 6 “He is not here, but he has risen!
Grow Together: Observe and Apply
This Sunday, we celebrated that Jesus of Nazareth who walked the earth blamelessly for 33 years was put in a tomb…but on Easter morning, he rose again! The tomb is empty! He is Risen!
Let’s look closer at what this very good news means for us today.
1. JESUS SAVES
Ephesians 2:1-3 CSB // “1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath.”
Sin is in our nature - it’s the reason why the world is broken and why we are core
contributors to the brokenness. According to the Apostle Paul’s divinely inspired letter to the Ephesians, we don’t just struggle with sin, we’re spiritually dead because of it. We need rescue ,but how does this happen? It happens when we repent of sin and, by God’s grace through faith, surrender to Jesus as Lord.
Do you consider yourself a follower of Jesus? Are you and God on good terms? If not, how does it strike you today to know that Jesus saves?
2. JESUS SUSTAINS.
Colossians 1:15-17 CSB // 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him… 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
Jesus holds all things together, including us. Most of us don’t like hearing this. We’d like to think we are in control of our lives, but from the moment we’re conceived in our mother’s womb, the moment we’re born, and every moment after, we’re relying on other people and external physical, emotional, and ultimately, supernatural resources to survive. At the end of the day, we are limited beings with finite resources. Jesus is the infinite resource we need who promises to carry us through the storms of life until we meet him face to face.
Do you try to sustain your own life? If so, how?
3. JESUS SANCTIFIES.
John 15:5 CSB // “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”
“Sanctify” is a beautiful word in Scripture that means, “to be sacred and set apart.” So, when we say “Jesus sanctifies”, what we’re talking about is being set apart, being made holy, being remade into the image of Christ. We are talking about becoming people who, because we are connected to Christ, are transformed daily into the kinds of people God designed us to be. We cannot do this apart from Jesus!
True change is only possible when connected to Jesus, doing what only He can do, and that’s replacing our root sin issue with a new heart that is inclined towards the things of God. We cannot be transformed without Jesus first changing us. Everything else is just symptom management. The very good news of the Gospel is that we have been sanctified, we are being sanctified, and we will be ultimately sanctified when we reach the other side.
Are you letting Jesus sanctify you, or are you simply trying to manage your sinful symptoms?
4. JESUS SATISFIES
John 10:10 CSB // “A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”
When we choose sin, we declare it is more satisfying than Jesus, and it’s never true. Knowing Jesus and being known by Jesus is the most satisfying thing in the universe, because the Maker of the universe made you, out of love, for this very purpose. As our Creator, he knows what the human Spirit really longs for deep within and he offers it to us. He alone satisfies.
Do you feel like you are fully satisfied by Jesus? What are some crutches you might be using to satisfy areas of your heart that only Jesus can fulfill?
5. JESUS SENDS
John 20:21 // Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
A lot of us struggle to understand our purpose. Jesus gives us one. The term “Christian” means to be a reflection of Christ, and Jesus Christ left his comforts in heaven to go to the people who needed what he had.
God wants to do big things….
• He’s rolling out a kingdom
• He’s healing broken hearts and lives
• He’s restoring relationship between us and God
• He’s eradicating evil from the planet now, and will completely soon
• He’s demonstrating that love, unity, peace, beauty, hope - all of these things are normal in the kingdom
Jesus was sent to usher in this work, and his disciples were invited to continue it until he returns. The good news is that we’re not called to invent the work. God’s already doing it. He’s already got a mission, and he invites us to participate.
How is God inviting you to participate? What ways has he gifted you to carry out his mission?
Pray Together:
Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross.
Thank you, God, for the resurrection and what this means for us as sinful humans that you would bring us from death to life.
Help us to live in the truth of the Gospel and be transformed daily into the people you’ve created us to be.
In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.