EASTER

April 20, 2003
2 Tim 2.8- 12, Luk 24.5 – 8

Bakit Mahalaga ang Araw ng Kanyang Pagkabuhay?
What is Easter All About?

Introduction

Higit pa sa ibang mga araw ng Kwaresma ay ang kahalagahan ng Araw ng muli niyang pagkabuhay? Para saan nga ba ang Araw ng Pagkabuhay? Bakit nga ba mahalaga ito?

Ang salitang remember o’ natatandaan siguro ang pinakamahalagang salita sa Araw ng Pagkabuhay . Sa dalawang passages natin ngayon may tatlong characters na nag-paalaaala sa atin ngayon na ang pinakamahalagang gawin natin ngayon sa araw na ito ay ang matandaan ating Panginoong Jesu Kristo.

The angels said, “Remember how he told you.” “Natatandaan ba ninyo ang sinabi Niya sa inyo noong kasama pa Siya sa inyo doon sa Galilea?”

The women who came to the tomb said that they remembered his words.
And the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.
Ang lahat sa kanilang tatlo ay nagsabi ang pinakamahalaga sa Araw ng Pagkabuhay ay ang matandaan natin ang Panginoong Jesus.

Ano ba ang dapat matandaan natin ngayong Araw ng Pagkabuhay?

Body
1. Dapat matandaan natin na naiiba (unique) ang araw na iyon. Easter is not just an ordinary day because Jesus made it unique.

2Timothy 2:8-remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.

We tend to select what we remember. Usually we remember the most important events and also the most unusual. As we get older our memories will fail us a little bit, but we will usually remember the unusual. The commonplace things we might forget.



For example
kayang kaya ko pang sabihin sa inyo ang part ko sa unang program na sinalihan ko noong Grade 1 pa ako noong 1967.I remember it to this day because it was unusual. I had to hold a lamb, isang drawing lang naman, at sabihin, “ This is a lamb, Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was offered for all our sins.”
In contrast di ko kayang sabihin sa inyo ano ang sinuot ko two Mondays ago
sapagkat iyong bagay naiyan ang pangkaraniwan lang at madaling nating
malimutan.

Paul is telling us the events of Easter are so unique that we should
never forget them.
This was no ordinary Sunday. No one else has been raised
from the grave to live every more.

2. Dapat matandaan na ang Araw na ito ay hindi nagpapahalaga sa isang karaniwang tao. Itong araw na ito ay nagpaalaala na si Jesus ay di lang tao. Siya ay Dios. Easter reveals to us that the person who died on the cross was the God-man. He was that unique person on the cross.

2 Timothy 2:8-Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the death, descended from David.

Sinasabi ni Pablo dito, this was no usual person who died on the cross that Good Friday. He was certainly all man, He was a descendant of David but He was also the Christ, God incarnate. He was 100% God and 100% man.

Do we fully understand that? No, we never will. What Easter tells us however is this, since no ordinary man could rise of His own from the grave the man on that grave had to be God.

3. Dapat matandaan natin na dahil sa Araw na ito naging kapanipaniwala ang mga sinasabi ni Kristo. Because of Easter, Jesus is believable. We can trust Him


Luke 24:7- the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.

Kung sabihin mo sa akin ang isang bagay na hindi kapanipaniwala, at mangyayari pa at mangyayari nga ito sa takdang panahon na sinabi mo, nakuha mo na ang attention ko at maniniwala na ako sa sasabihin mo.
If you would tell me the most far- fetched thing you could tell me and it comes to happen just exactly like you say, I would believe that everything else you say would happen like you say.
For example, if you told me that tomorrow the sun will rise on the West and it happens, you know what you will have my attention when you say something else.

Jesus said that he was going to rise from the dead on the third day and He did exactly that. You know what, He got my attention for whatever else he would say. If He can do the most unique thing I can think of, why would I not believe that He could not do anything He says.



4. Dapat matandaan natin na dahil sa Panginoon natin na Hari ng Araw na ito, may pag-asa tayo. Daranas man tayo ng mga kahirapan, kayangkaya nating harapin ang mga ito dahil tayo ay may Panginoon tayo na nagwagi sa harap ng kamatayan. Easter reminds us that we have hope. Easter tells us that we can bear through difficult times because He himself was victorious in face of the most hopeless of all things, death. Because of Jesus’ victory in Easter, the bad times we go through in life are not only bearable but also temporary.

2 Timothy 2:8-9…this is my gospel for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

Paul is saying that I am going through some tough times in my life right now and He is saying that Easter not only makes them bearable, Easter also reminds us of the hope that is in us .

Look how Paul says that in vs. 12-If we endure; we will also reign with Him.

Listen, every one of us in this room will go through tough times in our life. Knowing Jesus Christ can make those bad times bearable. If in the bad times, I know that there is something good on the other side it has to make the bad times bearable.






5. Lastly…. Dapat matandaan natin na dahil sa Araw ng muli Niyang Pagkabuhay, mahalagang ibalita natin ang kanyang katotohanan. Because of what happened to Jesus on that Easter, telling others about Him becomes much more important.

vs 10 Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

Ano ba ang responsibility natin? We are told in the Bible that it is our responsibility to tell others about Jesus Christ. Jesus spent His earthly ministry of three years preparing the disciples to tell others about Him.

The fact that Jesus rose from the grave makes that telling of others so much more important because it tells us that death does not settle it. With death, it is not over. Since Jesus rose from the grave there is eternal life and since there is eternal life there is also eternal death.

Don’t give up on your praying for and sharing with family and friends because of the connection between Easter and remembering Jesus makes it so important that we share the Gospel.



Conclusion
What is Easter all about? Simply put,
It is remembering Jesus.
In that unique day, a day made unique by a unique person, whom we can trust all that He says, that there is hope better that this, and this hope is what we should tell others immediately.