John wrote:Revelation 1:10-1810 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw…someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!Without a doubt, Jesus is alive today! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End! He is the One who was, who is, and who forevermore will be! Jesus was born like us except sinless; conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was fully God and fully man. He lived life in our flesh, faced every temptation that we face, and yet overcame them all. He alone lived a sinless life, but then gave it away being put to a sinner’s death on a cross. He paid the debt that we owe! He bore our sin and shame so that we might be forgiven and set free!

Then, three days after Jesus gave His life on the cross…Luke 24:1-81 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

Jesus didn’t raise again to life just for His own sake or just to show off the power of the Heavenly Father. He pioneered a way where there was no other way.

Now, by simple faith in Jesus and the work that He accomplished through His death and resurrection, we can also rise again in new life.

We were born once of flesh, but we can be born again by the Holy Spirit! Born not into sin, but into a full and abundant life empowered to no longer submit to sin or be weighed down and held back in life by it. Born again as a victor and overcomer in life; more than a conqueror!

The person that we were when we walked through these doors this morning does not have to be the same person who walks out. Right here and right now is an opportunity for every one of us to put to death our old selves and to rise up into a new life; eternal life!2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

For all of us, right now can be the moment when we cast that old self aside and step into the new self that Jesus declares that we are!

Today can be a day of freedom from all of the sin that weighs us down! Today can be a day of renewal as we cast off all of the lies that we’ve believed about ourselves and allow the voice of Jesus, the voice of truth, to define who we are!

Today, we can put to death our old selves and allow Jesus to resurrect us to a new life in Him!

Then, whenever our old self tries to trip us up again, whenever the devil tries to lie to us and put our guilt back on us, whenever others try to shame us by holding our past sins against us… Just like the angel asked at the empty tomb, we can ask them,“Why do you look