Mount of Olives Church

Easter The Christian faith stands or falls on the validity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus was not truly raised from the dead, then everything He promised cannot be fulfilled and everything He proclaimed is a lie. Some like to say they only see Jesus as a great moral teacher. But if a great moral leader is all He was, and He had not risen from the dead, then He was a liar. And you cannot be a great moral teacher if you are a liar. There are many who have come up with theories to explain away the resurrection of Jesus. One is called the “Swoon Theory”, which claims that Jesus never really died on the cross but only passed out or “swooned”. This theory goes on to state that the cooling effects of the tomb revived Him, and He then appeared to His followers as one who conquered death. Yet, if you believe the “Swoon Theory”, you will have to believe some other things as well. You will have to believe that Jesus pushed a one-ton stone from the entrance of the tomb, He fought o...

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 NRSV Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;  and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. So how do we really know that Jesus is raised from the dead...

Easter Sunday John 11:25-26 NRSV Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” These words, and the fact that He actually did conquer the grave, change everything. This is what happened to the first followers of Jesus: Before Easter, they were a group of people who were confused and afraid. They never understood what Jesus was trying to do. And then when He died on the cross, they “ran for the hills”. They were in hiding. Peter denied Jesus three times. But then, after the Resurrection they became different people. They were bold and afraid of absolutely nothing…. not even persecution and death could stop them.  What happened? The Reality of the Resurrection of Jesus is what happened. When they saw Jesus dead, and then three days later saw Him alive again, Absolutely Everything Changed. When they could touch Him and eat with Him, after ...