Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark walked through the final chapter of Luke, following the resurrection accounts from the empty tomb to the road to Emmaus to Jesus appearing among the gathered disciples. He closed out what he described as twelve years of preaching through the entire New Testament, noting that Luke's Gospel ends mid-story, with volume two picking up in the book of Acts. The message opened at the empty...

Read together

1. Psalm 103 opening call to worship, bless the Lord and forget not his benefits
2. John 8 if the Son has set you free, you will be free indeed
3. John 14 in my Father's house are many rooms, I go to prepare a place for you
4. John 14 my peace I leave you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives
5. Psalm 23 even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me
6. Psalm 27 the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear
7. 1 John 5:4 everyone born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory, our faith
8. John 3:16 quoted by Awana missionary presenting the gospel to children
9. Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
10. Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
11. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 Awana missionary closing, being affectionately desirous of you, willing to impart not only the gospel but our own souls
12. Luke 23 identifying the women who came from Galilee with Jesus and prepared spices
13. Luke 24 women find the stone rolled away, angels ask why do you seek the living among the dead
14. Matthew 16 Jesus foretold he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and rise on the third day
15. 2 Peter 1 benediction, be diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you, entrance into the eternal kingdom abundantly supplied

Talk about it

1. The angels at the tomb asked, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' Where in your own life do you find yourself looking for hope or answers in places that cannot give them?
2. Jesus had told his disciples multiple times that he would suffer, die, and rise on the third day, yet they still did not get it. What truths from Scripture do you find yourself hearing over and over but still struggling to actually live by?
3. On the road to Emmaus, the two travelers did not recognize Jesus, yet they still did what he had taught them to do by inviting a weary stranger in for the evening. Can you think of a time when obedience to what God had said led you to experience his presence in an unexpected way?
4. The disciples on the road said, 'We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel,' past tense, as if that hope was finished. Have you ever been at a point where a hope you had placed in God felt completely dashed? What happened?
5. Pastor Mark referenced J. I. Packer's description of repentance as turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. What does that kind of ongoing, growing repentance look like in everyday life for you?