Rev. Brent L. White

Scripture: John 20:1-18

Many of you joke that pastors like me only work one hour a week… That joke never gets old! But it’s not even true for me because our church has two worship services—so I work two hours. And this past week was especially difficult because—with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday—I had to work twice as much. And I guess with the extra workload, I didn’t have time to make sure that my sermon outline on back of the bulletin was accurate… so you can just cross through the sermon outline. 

I am preaching about resurrection of Jesus Christ from John 20, but my sermon is called, “The Resurrected Lord Still Shows Up,” and I’ll talk about this theme in three points: Point Number One, doubt happens. Point Number Two, our resurrected Lord overcomes doubt by showing up. And, Point Number Three, we must show up for him!

Scripture: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Matthew 21:1-11

Today’s sermon is the next-to-last in our series, “The Gospel According to the Old Testament.” This Thursday, Maundy Thursday, I’m preaching on Passover and the exodus from Egypt. But no series on this topic can be complete without examining Isaiah 53. It is the most explicit Old Testament passage about what Jesus accomplishes through his atoning death on the cross.

And so, with both this passage and our Palm Sunday scripture, I want to answer three questions: First, what is our biggest human problem, which Jesus came to solve? Second, how does Jesus solve this problem? And, third, what is different as a result?

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

In Ezekiel chapter 36, which immediately precedes today’s scripture, Ezekiel talks about a future day in which believers will receive the Holy Spirit. God tells the prophet, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” ¹

Notice those words: God will “cause you to walk…” The Holy Spirit, to say the least, changes the way we live. In a nutshell, that’s what this sermon is about. First, the Spirit gives us life in the first place. Second, he gives us power to change. And, third, change isn’t optional.