Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
Jesus had been crucified. And all the disciples had given up 'everything' to follow him, but none of them were willing at that point to give their lives. Later that changed, but they all fled. And on the third day Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were going to go tend to the body. You see, the disciples weren't going to tend to his body, because he was DEAD to them. And they didn't want nothing to do with his death! They were still hiding. If they showed up at that tomb to tend to the body they just might get arrested too! Often times we want the blessings of God! We want life, blessings, health, peace! Come on Lord bring on the benefits! But how many of us will take up His cross and follow Him. You see it isn't all blessings and life when it comes to the Lord. You see there is death too. You see if we suffer with Him we will also reign with Him. So nobody went to the tomb except Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary. And watch this, they are going to get an EXPERIENCE with God that the others only get to HEAR about.
Somebody needs to just catch what I just said: Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were the ONLY two that went to the tomb, to associate with HIS DEATH, and there they got an EXPERIENCE THAT the others only got to HEAR about!
Mathew 28: 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
Now I don't know about you all, but earthquakes scare me. I live in the heart of Kentucky and we very seldom have an earthquake. But, if we have one, any size at all, and we feel the earth shake, we will talk about it for the rest of our lives. And every body got their story of where they was, and what they were doing the day the earth shaked and we all got scared! Can you imagine them going to the tomb of Jesus and the ground begin to shake! What a story that would be. Oh, yeah! I remember that earthquake we had, I was on my way to the tomb of Jesus, and the ground started shaking! And a big angel came and He rolled away the stone! And all the guards that we were afraid of they all fell to the ground like dead men! Oh! Could you imagine. I don't care what experience you have had with God in your life, these ladies right here has the BEST testimony of all. They can say, "I was there when the ground began to shake! And this big angel came down and rolled away the stone." GLORY! But the others, they were hiding. They didn't want nothing to do with his death, AND THEY MISSED THE WHOLE THING!
If you will not associate with the sufferings of Jesus, you going to MISS what God is doing. You are going to MISS what Giod is saying. Yeah. They were afraid of the guards at the tomb, so they stayed home. But these two woman, they got this testimony, "The guards fell down like dead men, and wasn't NOBODY arresting us today because we came to see JESUS! When was the last time you got up at the crack of dawn and ran to see Jesus in your own life! You are missing your encounters with God because YOU ain't seeking Him. You casually hanging out with the church folk, and going to the dinners, and praying when you feel like it, or you have a reason to pray. And you are not searching, seeking, knocking...and you hear about others having experience with God. Others are hearing His voice, but you ain't. Others are getting supernatural provisions, but you ain't. Others are getting a healing in their soul, their body, but you ain't. Lord. Let us run with you!
Matthew 28:5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
And they were afraid too! If you like to live a life of excitement and being on the edge, having fresh vision, fresh word, fresh revelation...GROWING, GROWING, GROWING as a person than lay aside your life and start seeking God with a hunger! We get stagnant and stuck in ONE spot in life cause we don't have any fresh revelation or vision from God. You see, God is going to move you forward. Cause he don't always change your circumstances until AFTER He change YOU! And if you don't draw close to him and run after him he can't change you. See here is one thing you KNOW. When these ladies had this EXPERIENCE with God, it CHANGED them! Forever, forever, forever, forever changed! We are too often looking for change, but we don't want nobody changing ME. How you going to have change without submitting to change yourself? You ARE NOT! When you submit to change, you will find that YOUR LIFE changes! Praise God!
So what happened? They got to go back and tell the disciples, "We have expereienced and been witness to HIS RESURRECTION." The only ones that experienced His RESURRECTION was the ones that were willing to associate and deal with HIS DEATH. They faced the persecustion of possible arrest and said we don't care if we are arrested, we are going to go to Jesus!
How far will you go with Jesus! Will you suffer with him? Or is your relationship with Him all about you and what YOU want in life? If we suffer with Him, we will also REIGN with Him.
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