Good morning. Welcome to Cross-Lake Bible Church. Good to see everyone here this morning. Can you take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter 16? And we're going to jump right into it today. And I want you to find Mark 16. And if you take Mark 16, just flip over and look at it and say, wait, this is the last chapter of Mark. By the way, it's been a while. It's been a while. We've been with Mark for a while. Just so you know, I'm planning on next, I may have, well, in the first service, I may finish Mark next week, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But let me tell you where we're headed. You think we've been to Mark. Now, we'll take little breaks here and there, but I'm planning to go to Romans next. Go to Romans. I can't wait. I've asked the Lord by his grace. I said, Lord, before you take me out of, you know, whatever happens, I would love to preach through all of Romans. I've been waiting to tackle that because of how much stuff's there. So I'm gonna be starting Romans. But Mark 16, now that you've found your place, look with me at verse one. Now, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe, sitting on the right side. And they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid Him? But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee. There you will see Him, as He said to you, So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. For they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. May the Lord have His blessing upon the reading of His word. And what a difference, what a difference a week makes. What in the world has just happened? The Sabbath was to be a day of rest? Did you just read in verse one, now when the Sabbath was passed, the Sabbath ends at sunrise? I mean, sunset, so the Sabbath has ended, and that would have been our Saturday night. The Sabbath is a day of normally, you know, just at the end of the week, but can you imagine what that Sabbath was like? Just trying to process everything that had taken place the week before. Just a week ago, Jesus came riding into the city of David on a donkey? On a colt? While the people cried out what? What did they yell? What was the one word? Hosanna! Matter of fact, it says in Mark 11, it says that they said, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And they were proclaiming Jesus as their king and their Messiah just a week earlier. What in the world happened? What a difference a week makes. The weekly Sabbath would have ended at sundown on the seventh day of the week. And by the way, the Jews did not call, they used numbers for their days, going back to Genesis, being the first day, the second day, and the third day. They didn't use the system, the Roman system, that even went all the way back to Mesopotamia, went back to the Babylonians, where those names of the week come from when you study that. It's very interesting, based on the sun and the moon and the solar system. By the way, the Jews did not, you know, but here they are on this Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Now evidently on Saturday night, the women went out to the market because they had a plan. They had a plan that early in the morning they were going to go to the tomb. And you remember how we ended Mark 15? It was the women who watched Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take the body of Jesus and place Him in the tomb. You remember that? So they knew where he was and evidently they followed to watch where they were going to lay Jesus because they already had a plan. Because it was in their day when someone was placed in a tomb, they weren't buried six foot under like we do. And in that tomb, as a body, after three days, it would start to decompose. And so it was natural for those who had family members that loved them deeply, the family members would come and they would actually anoint the body with these fragrance, this aromatic spices, and even these oils that would put out an aroma to cover up what's decomposition of the bodies. So they had all this in their plans. To take to the tomb early in the morning, as soon as possible, as soon as the sun starts coming up. But don't forget that just a few days before Christ was crucified, if you remember when he went into Jerusalem on that donkey, you know he went to the temple area And he looked around and he left and he came back the next day and he cleansed the temple. You remember that? So Jesus, even through that out that week, by his actions, he did not take their crown and place upon his head and make himself king. He did not declare himself king of kings and lord of lords. He took another crown that week, the crown of thorns. So by the end of the week, he's nailed to the cross. And here it is, sunrise. First day of the week. But as he was in Bethany, this was interesting. Before he died, he was at this guy, Simon the leper's home. We studied that. And this lady named Mary. Remember Mary and Martha? Well, Mary, she had this alabaster box full of sphincter art. And she broke it open and she anointed the body of Jesus. You remember that? And it even says she anointed him for his what? Burial. The disciples got all upset about that, remember? Especially Judas. Man, that was expensive stuff. You could have sold that and we could have took care of the poor. Remember that. Because now it's sunrise. The Sabbath was passed and we see this company of disciples, of these women disciples, these followers of Jesus. Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus in Salome, bought spices. that they might come and anoint Jesus. This was not an act of embalming, but an act of love. And it was very early in the morning on the first day of the week. They came to the tomb when the sun had risen early in the morning. That's why every Easter here, we have a sunrise service at 6.30, and we've been meeting in the lobby, the chairs facing the glass doors, and then we, as I'm sharing, we can literally see the sun coming up on Easter morning. And we sing songs, we just read the Easter event. But as they are making their way, the sun's coming up, they're very curious. There's some dialogue taking place. And look at their dialogue in verse three. It says, and they said among themselves, oh, by the way, you know, that stone that was rolled in front of the tomb, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb? And what's the last two words? For us. Very important, those two little words. Who's gonna do that for us? That's an awful big stone. And that's what they're talking about. Who's gonna do that for, who can we ask to do this for us? They're actually on their way to do something for Jesus whom they love. You understand that? Imagine ministry, how we're always doing something for other people, and they're going out, you know, to do something for Jesus, for the Lord. But who's going to do this for us, for us to accomplish the task of what we want to do? That's what ministry looks like, folks, the body of Christ. And so, but they get there, but notice what they discover. But when they looked where? They looked up. So where were they looking if they had to look up? They're looking down, and they're having this talk. It's early in the morning. The sun's not all the way up yet, so they're looking down. Then all of a sudden, they look up, and they saw. But what'd they see? That the stone had been what? And don't you like how, and it was very large. I love that. It was already rolled away. Well, who rolled away the stone? And who was it rolled away for? Was the stone rolled away to let Jesus out of the tomb? No. The stone was rolled away because these women had a prayer. Who's going to roll the stone away for us so that we can do this thing? It's rolled away from them. Now, here's what's interesting. I love this. I love this. First of all, What a wonderful picture this is of how we go about serving, you know, with all kinds of concerns. Well, I'm going to do this, but really there's a stone in the way. You know, there's something that needs to be moved or something's got to happen. And then you know what God does all the time in my life? He brings me to a place where I look up and discover that the issue that I was concerned about has been moved. You ever find that happen? It's been moved. It's been taken away. It's not even a concern anymore. The Lord took care of it. He took care of it in a way that I would have never imagined. I can't get my mind off what just this past couple months, since September, and just thinking of this. I thought this morning, I thought about yesterday. I had the opportunity to share the story of how I led Tim to Jesus. But do you know when Tim was laying in the hospital, his aunt, who loves Jesus, wanted him to receive Jesus so bad. You know what she did? She had Kim hold the, when he was in accident, she said, I asked Kim to hold the phone up to his ear and I would tell Tim, Tim, pray the sinner's prayer with me. And she goes, and I never knew if he could, you know, I assumed he could hear me. I was just praying that God would give him the hearing and the ability before he passed to receive Jesus as a Savior. That's the love that an aunt had for her nephew because she had a burden knowing that, I want him to receive Jesus so bad. And she was concerned as you would be. Then here comes this stranger in the dove house, you know, and there she, Debbie's her name, And I shared with Debbie, and she never heard the story. I said, Debbie, guess what? And I got to share how God used Penny. It all started with Penny, right? With a text one night. And if you heard all the chain, I've never shared all the connections. And even in the room yesterday, I heard more about these connections. And I met Mike. Yep, yep. And it's amazing. But God let Aunt Debbie know that yes, Timmy is what they called him. That Timmy received Jesus as a Savior. Do you know the weight that was lifted off her when she heard that? Do you know that here it is, I'm on the phone with Pastor Larry this week, he's overseeing the funeral, he's the chaplain at the fire department. Larry calls me up and says, Quint, can you do this during the service? Can you take care of this? And he goes, no, I don't, you know, I'm really, now he didn't know either. He says, no, I don't know where he stood spiritually. I said, well, let me tell you a story, Larry. Are you kidding me? His entire message changed because when you're preaching, you know, he's a chaplain. He, you know, and then he's like, man, praise the Lord. So we're praying for Kim now. Kim is a very, she's become a dear friend, be honest with you. And even, you know, just wanting to, even this week, Kathy and I are planning to, and Jerry, Kathy and I and Jerry, he's a volunteer, we're gonna be taking some meals over to her. She has off this week, and then she's going back to work at Antwerp and Chevrolet down here, but pray for her. But I will tell you this, there's so many connections in that family, a fire hall was standing room only yesterday. Hundreds and hundreds of people in that room connected to this family. Great opportunity. So pray about that. But I'm just thinking like how the Lord moved that stone, right? Think about that. But so, here they are, they look, they discover the stone, roll it away, And then they get a really big surprise. What is the surprise? Look at this. And entering the tomb, now the stone was one thing, but this is even bigger, folks. Look at this. They saw a young man clothed in a long white robe. And even Mark says, oh, and he's sitting over here on the right side. Well, we know there were two angels, but Mark's pulling out the one because this is the angel that spoke. And he's described, this angel's described as a young man. A young man. What does that look like? Whatever a young man is. That's what it is. Long white road. And they were alarmed. Hey, they're going, they look in the tomb. Would you expect to see this? Would you be alarmed? Wait a minute. Are we at the right place? Right? What would you do? Think about what you would do. You step in there and look. Wait a minute. What in the world is going on here? Thank God. Aren't you thankful there was an angel in the tomb? Because what would you be thinking if it was just empty and no one was there to give you the message? You'd have all kinds of thoughts going through your mind, right? I mean, look at this. They were alarmed and he said to them, number one thing, I love this, don't be alarmed. Don't be alarmed. He recognized What, first? Always remember that, folks, when you're helping someone, please recognize how they're feeling at the moment. Recognize the fear first, right? Hey, don't be alarmed. Give a word of comfort first. You ever been going through a hard time and the right person at the right time said this to you? It's gonna be okay, I promise. And that person, at the right time, just stating those words, you have no idea, and they don't even know, but there's something about words of comfort. When the right person says it to you, it's gonna be okay. Right? And then look at the announcement. And he said to them, don't be alarmed. Now, you seek, who? Who was? Now, this is very important when you study Scripture. These are the little details that really matter. God wrote and shared with us so many things that were evidence that Jesus really did resurrect. For instance, how do we know those women went to the right place? How do we know that? Because he shared with us that when Jesus died in Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus took down his body. These women who went, the same women followed them to the place. They knew where it was. They didn't go to the wrong address. And to prove it, God sent a messenger and said, this is the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. Let's get his identity correct. You're at the right place. You ever went to the graveyard and seen all the names on the gravestones? Okay, this isn't written, this is verbal. Imagine, Jesus of Nazareth. And what's on the epitaph? The one that was crucified. You're looking for the one who was crucified? Look at all these details that God gave to make sure that we know, as a matter of fact, this is the right place. Because, folks, Satan has convinced some people that they were at the wrong place. He has convinced some people that Jesus' body had been, well, it was a lie. We can see in other gospels that religious leaders even paid the soldiers to say the disciples came and stole the body away at night, right? There are some people that believe in what's called a swoon theory, and Jesus really wasn't dead, and he got in that cool tomb, and he woke up, and he got out in the middle of the night. All these crazy things that the devil comes up with. But the word of God says this. This is the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was crucified. And by the way, he is what? He is risen. He is risen. He is not here. Just imagine that, knocking on somebody's door, and I'm opening the door, and you're asking for a specific person. It's like when I was growing up, we'd have that old phone. Remember the old telephones that we had that we dialed like this? And remember back then there weren't wireless, there was no such thing as wireless back then. And we had a cord that you could walk through our house, you know, you could go like, it stretched so long, remember those days? And all of a sudden I'd get a teenager, I'm trying to make you secret phone calls, somebody I might have a crush on or something. I didn't want anybody to hear it, so I would go down, even close the door on the cord and all that stuff, you know. But one time I remember I'd get some phone calls. And I hear the voice, hello, is Quint there? And I say, no, he's not. May I ask who's calling? Well, who's this? This is Vance. They were the days, right? But you go to somebody's house, are they here? Nope, they're not here. And that's what happened. They come to look for Jesus, he ain't there. He's risen, he's not here. And look, one thing we need to realize, and I love this, is that these women had just invested in spices. Mike, if you're like me, you went out the night before and you spent some money, and you had to get the best spices for Jesus, right? And you're transporting them there, and you get all the way there, and you have all this in your mind, what you're gonna do, and all of a sudden you can't do it because he ain't there, right? So look at this. What happened to the spices? Wait a minute, they weren't needed. for the purpose that they were originally intended. Well, you might say, well, how did they know that Jesus would take away their opportunity to serve Him by anointing Him? They wanted to do this, and now that opportunity's taken away, and now they're stuck with all these spices. Let me tell you, God is so good. Now we know why He put it on Mary's heart and Bethany to anoint Him before He went in that tomb. Now we know. Yeah, he still allowed Mary to anoint him, but he knew, you better anoint me now, because you won't have a chance later, right? Look at this. And God knew that if anyone who was to anoint him, it had to be done before he was put in that grave, because following the Sabbath, it would be too late. And by the way, Jesus did tell his disciples, including these women, in Mark 8, 31, he says, by the way, I'm going to be killed. And after three days, I'm going to rise again. And then in Mark 9 31 again, he even pointed out the son of man is being betrayed by the hands of men. They're going to kill him. And after he is killed, he will rise the third day. That's number two. Second time he told him. Third time, Mark 10 32, they were on the road to Jerusalem. He says, listen, guys, Because they were afraid. They knew that Jesus was a wounded man. And he took them aside. He said, we're going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests, to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles. And they're going to mock him. They're going to scourge him. They're going to spit on him. They're going to kill him. Oh, and by the way, he's going to rise the third day. That's number three, Mark 14, 27. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it's written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. God did not give the women the opportunity to do what they desired, but he gave them the opportunity to do something greater. They came to anoint a dead body. But guess what? They went out as his ambassadors to announce his resurrection. Now get this. Have you ever had an opportunity like this? Have you ever had an opportunity to announce someone's resurrection? I've made many calls and many emails to announce someone's death. But unless I'm sharing the gospel, I have never announced someone's resurrection. What would you think of me if I said this today? You've got to be here next Sunday morning, because my father, who passed away April 1st of last year, he's preaching the message next week, and I can't wait for you to hear this. You'd be looking at me, what's wrong with that preacher? Is he serious? What would I have to do to convince you? No, my dad's going to be here next week. I've never had to send out a message, an announcement of a resurrection. Now, the closest I've ever been, and I can't explain this, folks, but I have experienced this. When Uncle Ernest passed away in West Virginia, an old coal miner, I was his pastor, and they pronounced, and I called him Uncle Ernest, because we were very close. I loved that man. And I'd go to his house and pray with him, and we'd have our prayer meetings lasted hours with Uncle Ernest. This old coal miner, and he's on the table, they pronounce him dead. Uncle Ernest told me that, he says, Quint, I could see the doctors, I was above myself, I could see myself and I could see the doctors. And I asked God, please let me go back one more time to share the gospel with my family. And the next thing you know, Uncle Warren's woke up on that table. They did, they pronounced him dead. And then he sits up, I pick him up, I'm driving him home from the hospital trying to make sense of this, like how do I make sense of this? You're right. I'm like, tell me again exactly what happened. I'm fascinated. Right. And he says, do me a favor and pull into the Bible bookstore. I want to buy some Bibles. And he did. He was not good at sharing the gospel like, you know, like like, you know, like the way that I share the gospel. He just prayed. He loved people. And he took his Bible, these three Bibles that I bought, and he wrote messages to three specific people in his family. And we gave those three Bibles to those three family members. Little Ernie, his nephew, who he raised, who was named after him, ended up receiving Christ as his Savior, and I discipled Little Ernie. And then now Little Ernie actually had a heart attack, and he went home to be with Jesus. Lord, let me go back one more time. And I don't know, I can't explain all that. All I know is this, that's the closest I've ever been to someone who was declared dead and all of a sudden they're sitting on a table. But here's the thing, two months after this, I'm preaching the funeral of Uncle Ernest. You see the difference? Jesus resurrected. There's never gonna be a funeral for Jesus. And look at this, notice what happened next. Because they went from the surprise to the sending. Look what happened, look at the viewing. Look at the viewing. Where this angel says, hey, look, not just he's not here, but look over here, look at the place where they laid him. That's a viewing. You ever been to a funeral? We ever been to a viewing? What are we viewing? Yeah, you're a bearer of the casket. I don't know about you, I usually don't, you know, I don't wanna go into it, that's too gory. But you know what? When I do plan a service, I ask whoever, do you want the casket being what? Open or closed? What do you want them to see? Look at this viewing. This is Jesus's viewing. Look, look right there. Look at this place. That's where he was. And the clothes were there. The napkin was there, right? Jesus wasn't there. And what's there to see, right? I love that. Look at that. And he says, but there's a message. You go and you tell the disciples. Wait a minute. Barry, why do you have to say, and Peter? You go and tell the disciples, And he made it a point, you could even say it this way, and especially Peter, because we had just read, what did Peter just do? He denied his Savior three times. And you go tell, you tell the disciples, and Peter, make sure Peter knows. Oh man, there's a lot there. You go tell them, and by the way, this is what you tell them. Here's the message. That he's going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. And by the way, he told you this. I love this. He didn't say, he did not say, you run back and you tell them, disciples, that Jesus is alive. No, he said, you go tell him he's meeting you in Galilee. They're automatically gonna draw the conclusion of what? Wait, what do you mean he's gonna meet me in Galilee? Boy, to meet me in Galilee, he must be, he must be alive. And by the way, it's just like he told you. Every word of God, every word of God, folks, take it serious. Whether you believe it or not, it's truth. Every single jot and tittle, please learn to take God at his word. He's going before you into Galilee. He's gonna meet you where it all started. And there you are going to see him. Wow. And these women, look what they did. Oh, look at the quick response. So they went out quickly, and they fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And he said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Of course. They trembled. They quaked. They were amazed. But they were obedient. And he did it immediately. It was not enough for them just to be spectators. They had to become ambassadors to carry the word to others and say, come and see, go and tell. That's our gospel of the Great Commission responsibility. You see, if you'd look close, the angel had a special word of encouragement for Peter, and a word of direction for all the disciples. Some things never change. As ambassadors, we have seen, and we too have been sent. Our message is received by some, while others have rejected, and it's always gonna be the case. It will always be the case. Are there any motorcycle riders in here besides me? Any riders besides, okay. Any other riders besides me? You know, when you ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle, I don't know if it's any other, but when you ride a motorcycle, Barry, did anybody ever give you the bell? You ever had a bell on your motorcycle? It's called a guardian bell. Sometimes, if you ride a motorcycle, now listen, if you look at this up, it's very interesting. It's called a guardian bell or a gremlin bell. And here's what it is. Riders, you know, if someone buys a bike and you care about them, you go out and you get this called a, it's a guardian bell. And you hang that bell on the lowest part of your bike, close to the road. And there's a story behind why you do this, and a lot of superstition behind it. And it's interesting how this came about. But I've had several people give me a guardian bell, and I hang them on my bike. Not because I believe anything special about that bell, but I have a bell that someone gave me recently. Mike Tiffany gave me one of these. He's a writer and he knows. So when you give this to another writer, you're showing your care for them and your prayer for them, a prayer for protection. And on that bell, there'll be a picture of a guardian angel. And I held that up yesterday, and this was a room full of riders, and they all knew what I was holding in my hand. And I connected that bell to a scripture reference that says this. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about those that, what? Fear him. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them. Has nothing to do with the bell, but the bell is a reminder to me that every time I go out on the highway and I ride, And it's the same thing with the car. Don't think just because you're on a motorcycle. It's the same thing no matter when you step out your door. Anything can happen to you, right? It's always a reminder that you need what? The protection and the presence of the Lord with you at all times. I used that verse before I shared John 3, 16 with Tim. He knew what I was talking about. And I say that because I've been thinking. Every time I share the gospel, it's like I'm handing someone that I care about one of those bells. But the question is this, how many people do I care enough about to share the gospel with? A lot, to be honest with you. You know, I had a compliment this week. Pastor Larry, who pastored up at Westminster Baptist for many years, asked me this the other day. He said, Quentin, will you do me a favor after all this is done? Will you meet with me, and will you share with me how I can do better at sharing the gospel with people? This man has retired from pastoring, and now he's a chaplain at the fire department. And now he's in a world where he's constantly surrounded with who? The unsaved. He's not preaching to, he's preaching to unsaved. How can I do better at sharing the gospel with people? And that's what I wanna do with you every week. You know my heart. Do you know I just got a message from Tammy Lupton when she came in here about a young man who was in a motorcycle crash? Was it yesterday or when did that accident happen? Yesterday, she shares this with me. I get a text just before I came up here from June Mangieri that evidently she has a connection with the family also, where this man was in another accident and it looks like he might be paralyzed. He's 16. 16 years old. His name is Cameron. Cameron. Yep. His name is Cameron. So we're going to pray for Cameron's family. But you know what, again, it has nothing to do with an object on my bike, but it has everything to do with the really who. Who's the angel of the Lord that encampeth round about me? It's Jesus. And the fact that he died and was buried and he has risen again, what does that tell you about my Savior? He's alive and well. And he's still in the saving business. He's in the protecting business. My heart hurts, folks. My heart hurts this morning. I'm serious about making disciples. I just want to help people get to the next step. If they don't know Jesus, let me introduce you to Jesus. Once you know Jesus, let me get you to the next step and then to the next step.