MEETING AGENDA
- OPENING PRAYER – Ask one person to open the meeting in prayer.
- GROWTH QUESTIONS – Ask everyone the Growth Questions.
- ATTENDANCE – Take attendance through the DG Attendance System.
- TODAY’S LESSON – Go over this week’s DG lesson.
- GIVING – Encourage everyone to give on the App.
- CLOSING PRAYER – Ask for prayer requests and pray.
THREE TRUTHS FROM THE RESURRECTION
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
Matthew 28:1-7 (NLT) 1 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
Matthew 28:2-4 (NLT) – 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
- The stone that they placed in front of Jesus’ tomb likely weighed between 1-2 tons (2,000-4,000 pounds). It was big, heavy, and impossible for any man to move alone.
- On the day that Jesus resurrected, the Lord sent an angel, shining like lightning, to move the stone and shake the earth!
- This should remind us that nothing is too hard for the Lord!
Jeremiah 32:17 (NLT) – O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!
- The most immovable obstacles in our lives, the things that are impossible for us to change, can be moved and changed by God!
Mark 9:23 NLT – “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
Matthew 28:6 (NLT) – He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.
- Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went looking for Jesus in the tomb where His body had been laid, but they had forgotten what He said.
- Jesus had promised them that He would be raised from the dead on the third day.
Matthew 17:22-23 (NLT) – 22 After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. 23 He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
- The grief and sorrow of losing Jesus caused them to miss one of His most important promises – that He would live again!
- Jesus always keeps His promises!
- No matter how painful the circumstances of your life may seem, or how impossible the odds that are stacked against you, if God said it, you can believe it!
Numbers 23:19 (NLT) – God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
Matthew 28:7 (NLT) – And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
- Jesus established a meeting point with the disciples before He went to the Cross! He promised to meet them again in Galilee.
Matthew 26:32 (NLT) – “But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”
- This was a promise of redemption to the disciples. Even though Jesus knew they would all abandon Him at His most challenging moment, He made a plan to meet them and restore them.
- He knew that they would fail him, but He made provision for their forgiveness and reconciliation, even before they failed.
- When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary told the disciples that Jesus was alive and waiting for them, many of them doubted.
Luke 24:11 (NLT) – But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.
- Perhaps the pain of their failure, the grief of their loss, or the impossibility of the circumstances caused them to lose their faith in that moment, but later they believed and went to meet with Jesus.
- Jesus lovingly restored them and reminded them of their calling when He met with them.
- Today, Jesus is still waiting for us to meet Him too. His offer of forgiveness and restoration still stands, just as it did for the disciples.