AfterThoughts: April 21, 2019

April, 21, 2019

God’s Wonderful Surprise - Mark 16:1-8

This week, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Three days after He was crucified, just as He promised, Jesus walked out of the grave, fully alive. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

What did the women expect to find when they got to the tomb that morning? What would you have expected?
What is surprising about God using women to spread the news of the resurrection? How does God’s surprising work throughout Scripture impact your faith?
Are you open or resistant to God’s surprising work in your life? How can you trust and obey that His surprise is sufficient for every area of your life?
What picture of Jesus do you have in your mind? How are you encouraged by Jesus going to Galilee to give the disciples a new beginning? In what area (s) of your life do you need new starts?
What are your answers to what Pastor Rick Warren calls 3 fundamental questions that parallel Easter:

What do I do in my days of pain?

How do I get through my days of doubt and confusion?

How do I get to the days of joy & victory?

In your time with God this week:

1. Thank God for Jesus’ victory over death.

2. Ask God to give you new beginnings in your life.

3. Commit to be fully open to God’s work through you, even when you don’t know all the details.

ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY:

"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another 'Who will roll the stone away for us from the entrance of the tomb?' And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back - it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them 'Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has 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 to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

Mark 16:1-8