Welcome to a brand new series today as we talk about, but God changes everything. But God changes everything. About three dozen times or so, the statement, but God is found in the word of God. And so what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be looking at six times where but God occurs in the Bible. And so today we're going to begin with but God in the sense that Jesus, listen, Jesus was dead, but God resurrects. Jesus was dead, God resurrects. And we're going to be looking in Acts chapter 13, 26 through 35, and particularly Acts 13, 30, where the Bible says, but God raised him from the dead. But God raised him from the dead. Before we get to that, I just want to talk a little bit about this series. Two powerful words. Listen, these two powerful words, but God, listen, they can change everything. That's right, these two words, when we see these words in the Bible, but God, everything changes. But God moments occur when life takes a particular course, listen, but God intervenes and presents a fresh path, and I love this part, a glimmer of hope for our lives. When we see these but God things in the Bible, these statements of the Bible, I mean, things are headed in one direction, and typically it's not a good direction, okay? But God intervenes, and listen, it changes everything. And I love Matthew 19, 26 is our key verse for the series where Jesus said, but Jesus looked out at them and said to them, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. With God. All things are possible, but with God, all things are possible. So I wanna encourage you to faithfully attend this series and discover how to transform your but I limitations into but God breakthroughs with every challenge you encounter. Now, as I said today, We're gonna start out with the fact that Jesus was dead, but God resurrects. That's right, Jesus was dead. He died, but listen, God Almighty resurrects. And we're gonna look today at a sermon that the Apostle Paul preached in a city called Antioch. And it's found in Acts 13, 26 through 35. And right now, what I want to do is I want to read this sermon, and then we're literally going to break it down verse by verse in the sermon today. But right now, let me read this sermon to you. Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 26 through 35. It says, men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God. To you, the word of salvation, the word of this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know him, nor even the voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death. Now, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God, there's our key verse for today, but God raised him from the dead. Hallelujah. But God raised him from the dead. And then it goes on to say, he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who were his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings, that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us in their children, and that he has raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, and specifically this is Psalm 2-7, and in this section Paul is going to be quoting from the Old Testament, and specifically three different prophecies about Jesus. And he says of this first one, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And then he goes on to saying that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption. He has spoken thus, and this is a quote from Isaiah 55, three, I will give you the sure mercies of David. And then also verse 35, therefore he also says in another Psalm, And here he's quoting from Psalm 1610, you will not allow your holy one to see corruption. What an incredible sermon that Paul preached here in Antioch. He's preaching to both Jewish and Gentiles, a kind of a combination group here in this passage. And listen, I love what he says, but God. Jesus was dead, Paul says, but God resurrects. Well, let's talk about this thing. Let's talk about how, but God resurrects, listen to this, can change you. So the whole idea of these sermons, these six sermons, is how but God can change your life. And I'm so excited about sharing this with you today, how the resurrection can change your life. Well, it begins, and really what I'm doing today is I'm telling you a story, if you will. I'm telling you the most wonderful love story you're ever gonna hear. You know, this is the most wonderful love story you're ever going to hear because what I'm going to talk about today is God's love, yes, for you. How much God loves you. Now, the story kind of starts out on a negative note, and we see the tragedy of our sin. As Paul preaches this sermon, he begins with a tragedy, and the tragedy is our sin. our sin." Now, let's talk about this. He begins talking about the word of salvation has been sent to us. So, as he's preaching to these Jews and Gentiles, here's what he says, men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, So he's got a congregation in front of him, and some of them are Jewish. He identifies them as the sons of the family of Abraham. But there's also some Gentiles here, okay? And he calls those among you who fear God. And here's what he says, to you, the word of this salvation has been sent. So there's some wonderful news today, and that is the word of salvation has been sent. Now, today, as I'm preaching this sermon, It's actually Easter weekend, okay? So today is Easter weekend, but I want to take you back to another holiday where we quote another passage at that time, and that's the Christmas season. And it's found in Luke 2, 10 through 11, where it says, and the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. I just want to stop there and just emphasize, you know, the great word here. Do not be afraid. Do not be a listen. God doesn't want you living in fear. The Bible says God hasn't given us the spirit of fear. And the message here is do not be afraid, for behold, He says, look at this. Behold this. Pay attention is what behold means. Pay attention. I've got some good tidings for you. I've got some good news for you. And I love this part. It's news of great joy. And listen, it's for all people. It's for everybody. You know, there's not many things you could ever say are for everybody, right? I mean, to say, you know, everybody ought to have this. I mean, those things are few and far between, but there's one thing that everybody needs, and here's what it is. For there's born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Listen, the word of salvation has been sent. Jesus left the glory of heaven. came to the gloom of this earth, took on flesh, God in human form, that's Jesus, God in human form, and He came to be our Savior. He came to provide salvation so we wouldn't have to die and go to hell. He came to save us from hell and give us a home in heaven. The word of salvation has been sent to us. But here's the problem. Jesus was rejected and killed. Jesus was rejected and killed. In Acts 13, 28, as Paul continues this sermon, he says, I mean, this is the tragedy here, okay, that Jesus came But they didn't respect him, they didn't honor him, they didn't even receive him, okay? They actually put Jesus to death. John 1 11 summarizes it this way, he came to his own and his own did not receive him. He came to his own. Jesus was Jewish. He came to the Jewish people. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. They did not receive him. In fact, they rejected him and they killed him. They killed the Lord Jesus Christ. And this was a tragedy. And the tragedy is the tragedy of sin. The tragedy of sin. And the Bible teaches us that we're all sinners. and deserve the penalty of hell." Going back to Isaiah 53, one of what we call the messianic prophecies, when it talks about, you know, the word of salvation coming, it says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. Okay? When he died, he died for all of our transgressions. He died for every one of us, our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. This chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. Listen to this, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. You see, friend, listen, we're all in the same boat. Pastor Steve is in this boat, you're in this boat, everybody's in this boat, and that is we're all sinners. We're all sinners. And Romans 3.23 summarizes it this way. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us, we fit in this boat. The glory of God is God's perfection, God's holiness, God's majesty. We've all fallen short of that. We've all sinned against God. We've all broken his laws. God has given us commandments to follow. And none of us, you know, we say nobody's perfect. You better believe it. None of us are perfect. We're all sinners. But the tragedy of our sin is so much deeper. In Romans 6, 23, it says, for the wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here the Bible uses this idea of wage, because that's something all of us can understand, right? We work a job and we earn our pay, that's our wage. We all can relate to that, right? We work and we get paid and that's our wage. And what it says is the wage we earn because of our sin is death. And yes, that's talking about physical death, but way beyond physical death, it's also talking about spiritual death. The Bible calls it the second death. And really what it's saying is hell. What we deserve because of our sin is hell. That's a tragedy. Sin is a tragedy. And because of sin, we deserve to go to hell. Hey, that's not a beautiful part of the story, but it's the truth. It's part of the story. But it goes on to say in Romans 6, 23, but the gift of God, there's hope here now, the gift of God is eternal life in who? In Christ Jesus, our Lord. God doesn't want anybody in hell. Do you know that? It's the heart of God, literally, that hell would be empty, okay? He wants every one of us in heaven with him, and that leads to point two, the turn of our story. Well, it starts out pretty tragic. the tragedy of sin. But the turn of our story is this, Jesus died and was buried. Paul goes on to say in his sermon how that Jesus died and was buried, Acts 13, 29, it says, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. So Paul's explaining to them what happened here, okay? And he's talking about the word of salvation has been sent, but he was not received, he was rejected, he was killed. And here he's talking about the fact that he died and was buried. After they crucified him on the cross, they took him down from the tree and they laid him in a tomb. And boy, oh boy, when they did that, they were terribly careful to make sure that he wasn't coming out of that grave, all right? I love this part of the story. In Matthew 27, It talks about this, 62 through 66. So what happened after they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb? Well, there's more to the story, okay? And we read about it in Matthew 27, 62 through 66. It says, on the next day which followed, the day of preparation, all right? So this is the day after. The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together to Pilate. Okay, so the religious crowd go to the civil person, that's Pilate, okay? And they said to him, sir, we remember that while he was still alive, how that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise. So they go to him, these Jewish leaders, and they talk to Pilate. He's the civil leader, okay? And, you know, the Jews did not have the authority to crucify. That was capital punishment in that day. Only the civil authority could do that. That was Pilate. That's why they went to Pilate, all right? And so now they go back to Pilate and says, you know, that guy said that after three days, he was gonna resurrect. And here's what that says, "...therefore command that the stone be made secure until the third day, lest disciples come by night and steal him away, and say to the people, he is risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first." They're thinking, okay, you know, he's going to come out of the grave, but he's really not going to be resurrected. This is called the stolen theory, that they might steal his body, okay? The disciples would come and steal him away. And notice what they did. Pilate said to them, you have a guard. Go your way. Make it as secure as you know how. And so they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. Now, I want you to notice here, okay, the Romans secured the grave with three things, one, a stone, two, a seal, and three soldiers. So they took a big, heavy stone, and then they sealed it, basically, okay? All right, and then on top of that, they put guards in front there, okay? They guarded the tomb. I mean, you just gotta understand, okay, they're doing everything they can to keep, you know, any possibility of someone coming and stealing Jesus's body and then saying he resurrected, all right? Do you see this? They're doing everything they can to keep that from happening. But guess what happens? But God happens. Jesus resurrected from the grave. Here it is, Acts 13, 30. But God raised him from the dead. Hallelujah, but God, despite the stone and the seal and the soldiers, but God raised him from the dead. And we read about this in Matthew 28, verses two through six, where the Bible tells us that the same Marys who were at the foot of the cross when Jesus died, this is interesting, okay? These faithful, godly women, all right? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary is called the the other Mary. Okay, there's actually listen, there's actually five Marys Okay involved in the whole crucifixion story, but it says that Mary Magdalene is and the other Mary, and we believe this is the mother of James and Joseph. This Mary is what we speculate to be the other Mary. And it says, and behold, listen, Matthew 28, 2 through 6, and behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came, and here it is, rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it." What an incredible statement here, okay? An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, his clothing as white as snow. And okay, so you got the stone and the seal, and that's been broken. Now what about these guards? And the guards shook for fear and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you see Jesus who was crucified. Listen to this, Matthew 28, six, he is not here for he is risen as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. Ladies and gentlemen, they did everything they could to keep Jesus in that tomb. They put a stone, they put a seal, they put the soldiers and listen, God resurrected despite all of that. He is alive, Jesus is alive, but God, but God resurrected from the grave. Oh my goodness, the greatest but God possible happened. Jesus rose, he died, but he rose again. And that leads to the third part of this love story, the triumph of the Savior. the triumph of the Savior. So the resurrection, it's a big deal, okay? Because listen, if Jesus didn't resurrect, the Bible says we would still be dead in our sin. Remember, we're all sinners, now follow me carefully, we're all sinners, and because of sin, we deserve the penalty of hell. But listen, Jesus died as payment for our sin. He was a sacrifice, all right? He didn't just die to die, like we're gonna die to die, right? He died as a substitute. He died as a sacrifice. He died as a payment for our sin. You see, listen carefully. Our sin has to be paid for. Your sin has to be paid for. And there's only two ways to pay for your sin. You know what the first one is? You don't want to do this. You can die and go to hell. And you literally can pay for your sin in hell forever. That's not a good choice. That's not what God wants for you. Because the second way to have your sin paid for is through Jesus. Putting your faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord and your Savior. Praise God He rose from the grave so that you could have eternal life. And we see the triumph of the Savior. We see the resurrection was confirmed by His appearance. So this is important. As Paul continues with this sermon, he talks about two different things that were fulfilled, okay? And the first was he fulfilled the resurrection by confirming it through appearances. In Acts 13.31, in Paul's sermon, he says, he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. Now, maybe you know this, maybe you don't, okay? But let me tell you something that you need to know. When Jesus rose from the grave, he obviously could have went back up into heaven, right? He could have done that, right? He came down, he could have went back up. But listen, he didn't do that. He voluntarily chose to stay on this earth after the resurrection. For how long, Pastor Steve? How long? 40 days. 40 days. The Bible says in Acts 1-3, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during, listen, 40 days, 40 days, and during that time speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So Jesus, in 40 days, all right, for 40 days, he spent on this earth making these what we call post-resurrection appearances. And the Bible records 10 of them, all right? So he might have done more, but the Bible records actually 10 appearances sometimes to one person, and then also once he appeared to 500 people at one time. In 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 7, It summarizes it this way, it says, for I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now, this is 1 Corinthians 15. This is what I'm reading from now. And we call this the resurrection chapter in the Bible. It's the longest-running dialogue about the most important event in history, the resurrection, anywhere in the Bible, okay? And it talks here about the gospel, the good news. And here's the good news. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Again, he died for our sins. He didn't just die, he died as a payment, a sacrifice. He was buried, and Paul says the third thing, the good news, I call it the good news of the good news, that's how I word it. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And then Paul goes on to, Listen, he's going to talk about these post-resurrection experiences. He says, he was seen by Cephas, number one. Number two, then, he was seen by the Twelve, that's a second appearance there. Listen to this one. After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once. I mean, 500 people all at one time laid eyes on the resurrected Jesus. And he goes on to say, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some had fallen asleep. In other words, he said, when he wrote this, some of them were still alive and some of them had passed. And then, also, it goes on to say in the next verse, And again, Paul mentions four there. There's actually a total of 10 recorded in the Scriptures. This is a big deal because it validates. It's one of the reasons, among many reasons, I believe that Jesus rose from the grave. the post-resurrection appearances. And Paul is trying to show them Jesus is alive. He was seen out of the grave, okay, physically alive. He rose out of that grave, but God resurrects. And then also the resurrection was fulfilled by his prophecies, his prophecies. So let me just summarize this by reading Acts 13, 32 through 33. And we declare to you glad tidings, that means good news, that promise which was made to the fathers. God, listen, has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he has raised up Jesus. And when I was reading it earlier, when I read the whole text to you, I told you, I said, okay, there's three Old Testament prophecies here. In Acts 13, 33b, he quotes Psalm 27. In Acts 13, 34, he quotes Isaiah 55, 3. And then in Acts 13.35, he quotes Psalm 16.10. What is Paul doing? He's saying, particularly these Jewish people, you know, because they were all in on the Old Testament, okay? And the Old Testament prophesied about the Messiah. prophesied about the characteristics and what the Messiah would do. And what Paul is showing them, he's connecting the Old Testament Scriptures with Jesus being the Messiah, and he's showing them this Jesus fulfilled all these different prophecies. The resurrection was fulfilled by his prophecies. Jesus is alive, but God resurrects. So here's the question. It's the most important question you'll ever need to answer. Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? I'm talking about you, okay? All of us have to make this decision for ourselves, right? Because God's going to judge us individually, okay? He's not going to judge us by families or, you know, churches or whatever. I mean, one, okay? One-on-one, okay? We all have that relationship or lack of relationship with God. Let me ask you again, do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Because as Paul preached this sermon, he went on to say in Acts 13 and 38 through 39, and here's where he's going to apply this personally to each person. He says, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, capital M, man, because he was the God man, he was God in the flesh. is preach to you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." Let me just make that very simple for you, okay? Again, we're all sinners. and we couldn't keep the law, and by trying to obey the law, we all fail, and we can't justify ourselves. That's kind of a fancy word. It means being treated just as if we never sinned. Forgiveness, how can you be forgiven? How can you be justified for your sin? And the answer is, by Him, everyone who believes is justified. By Him, capital H, because Jesus, again, is God, everyone who believes is justified. Listen, you have to make a choice. I made that choice for myself. As a 10-year-old boy, I made the most important decision of my life. Nothing's come even close. I asked Jesus to be my Savior and my Lord. I believe, and believe means put your trust in, It means, okay, you say, Pastor Steve, are you going to heaven? Yes, I'm going to heaven. You say, what are you trusting in to get to heaven? Well, first of all, I'm not trusting in me, okay? I can't earn my way to heaven. I can't do enough good deeds to go to heaven, all right? I'm trusting in Jesus, the one who died for my sin, who was buried, and praise God, rose from the grave. I love what Jesus said, and I close with this in John 11, 25. Jesus said to her, I'm the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. You say, that sounds kind of weird. Though he may die, he shall live. What's he talking about? Here's what he's talking about. He's talking about the fact, I like to put it this way, your last breath on earth is your first breath in heaven. He's saying, yeah, you die physically, but listen, if you're a believer in Jesus, you immediately go to heaven. So the truth is you are still alive and actually in a sense you're more alive because basically what you do as a Christian is you just change your base of operation, okay? My mom and dad are in heaven today. on this Easter. And you know what? They are alive. They just changed their base of operation, okay? They are very much alive. And one day I'm going to see them again. I'm going to see them again. That's the hope we have as believers in Jesus Christ. And so today, I want to give you the opportunity to believe, to put your trust in Jesus. You say, well, what do I got to do to do that? Well, here's what the Bible says, you got to call on the Lord. You say, what does that mean, call on the Lord? It means just talk to Him. Just talk to Him. Ask Him to be your Savior. and your Lord. And if you'd like to do that today, I'd be honored to lead you in a prayer. Now, listen, I have no power in myself to save you. I'm not your Savior. Okay, I'm a sinner just like you are, you know, and Jesus is my Savior. So as you pray this, you pray it from, listen, I like to say it this way, your heart to God's heart. Okay, so would you like to do that today? Would you like to make that decision? And listen, if you've already made that decision, why don't you pray a prayer of thanksgiving right now, okay? But if you've never asked Jesus to save you, let's do it right now. Bow your head and close your eyes. Pray something like this. Dear God, I'm a sinner in need of a savior. Dear God, I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I believe. that Jesus died for me. I believe that Jesus rose from the grave to give me eternal life. Just say, God, I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that Jesus died for me. I believe that Jesus rose from the grave to give me eternal life. And right now I turn from my sin and I put my trust in Jesus to save me. I'm turned from my sin, and I put my trust in Jesus to save me. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and save me right now. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and save me right now." Praise God. And today, I praise God for salvation. I praise God for the resurrected Christ, that yes, Jesus died, but God. But God resurrects. Praise be to God.