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Today Jesus' tomb stands open and empty. This is not religious folklore. It is historical fact. It is documented. It is real. Because of the manifold implications of Jesus' resurrection, hundreds of millions of people all around the world stop what they are doing on this holy day, and they go to a church. Some go to just remember. Others go to rejoice, and some go to recalibrate. They ask, "What does this mean to me?" We want to talk a little about that today.

Matthew 28:10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

John 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

John 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

I want to focus our attention on four brief conversations that Jesus had with people shortly after the miracle of his resurrection. Each of these conversations can be reduced to two-word sound bites.

The first sound bite comes as the women return from the empty tomb. They were running to tell the other disciples when they ran smack-dab into the resurrected Lord. This experience terrified them. Perhaps that sounds strange to us. Were they not expecting to see him? If we can, imagine hurrying along in our busy lives and looking up and there stands the real Jesus right in our path. I don't care how well we know Jesus. That would shake us. They were so shook that Jesus needed to say, "Be not afraid." Let's use the term "Fear not" for our sound bite.

Fear can immobilize any person. Fear will freeze the mind and throw the mind into shock. Fear can so traumatize a person that the person will live the remainder of life in the grips of that fear. A woman that experienced a rape or a person that experienced a car crash or an act of violence will raise a fear that can seize a person over and over.

My uncle and his brothers were raised in an orphanage. His mother gave them to the orphanage when they were young boys. I recall him telling me how he was passed over again and again by people wanting to adopt a child. He lived his entire life fearing rejection. I remember a car crash I had when I was in my early twenties. To this day I wake at night from dreams of car crashes.

Fear is powerful stuff. We don't know the fears within people especially on Sunday with our polished exteriors. If the truth were known today, many of us in this place are well acquainted with the suffocating effects of fear. This is true no matter if you are a believer or an unbeliever. Those women that walked into Jesus were believers, but the experienced fear.

Fear comes in all forms. Some among us today feel the tourniquet of financial pressure twisting tighter and tighter, and we are scared. Some among us are living with a health-related fear. Have you ever talked with someone that was terminally ill? They are scared. This is especially true when they know deep down they are not ready in their relationship with God. They can't think about anything else. Fear grips them and squeezes their mind. Others live with the aching fear that they might have to live alone for the rest of their lives. Loneliness can cause fear. Some have a fear concerning their marriage. Others fear for their children.

Fear is every bit as real to us today as it was in the day of the disciples. We can all relate to those pulse-quickening, stomach-turning stabs of terror that strike unannounced and leave us gasping for breath. On the very first Easter, the freshly resurrected Jesus said with greater authority than he ever had before, 'Fear not.'

That Easter and this Easter, the resurrected Jesus is saying, 'Listen, people. Listen. You don't have to cave into every fearful thought that enters your head. You don't have to cave into it anymore. You can believe the best about the kind of future a loving God would want for you. Don't settle for a life that's dictated by fear. That's not much of a life.

'Fear not,' Jesus said on the first Easter. I wonder how many of you needed to come today just to hear that first part of today's message. I want you to access the power to overcome fear before you leave today.

One of Jesus' twelve followers had been absent when Jesus first appeared after he was resurrected. His name was Thomas. When the other disciples told him all about it with supercharged language, this disciple rejected the entire idea. Finally Thomas said, 'Stop it! What do you take me for, a perfect fool? You can fantasize all you want about a resurrection. It looks like I have already blown three years of my life. I have told everyone that I know that he was the Messiah and he is dead. I am embarrassed and I am not going to waste one more day on anything associated with Jesus. It's over. He is dead. Don't you get it? Let it go.' And then in total frustration, he blurted out, 'I would have to push my finger into the wounds on his hands and feet, and stick my arm into his side up to my elbow before I would ever believe in a resurrection.' I want to say, "Tell us how you really feel Thomas."

A few days later the disciples were gathered when suddenly Jesus appeared out of nowhere. Jesus was on a mission. He was looking around the room at each of the people, one at a time, like he was trying to find somebody. Then he locked eyes with Thomas. Jesus squared off in front of Thomas. Jesus said two words to Thomas, 'Touch me.' Touch me. Not 'beat it,' not 'drop dead,' not 'get out,' not 'go to hell,' but 'touch me.' Jesus was not angry or afraid the honest doubt of Thomas. In fact, he warmly invites any and all who have questions about him to come and to seek and to ask and to touch. This is why so many people follow Jesus. They cannot prove that he is not real. Jesus desires that we clear up the haze concerning him.

Many here today have honest doubt. You ask things like: "Did this guy they call Jesus really live?" "Was he really crucified?" "Did he really raise from the dead?" To you, Jesus says today, 'Touch me.' Deal with your doubts. Don't discount them or deny them or run away from them or bury them. Ask your questions. Do your homework. Consider the evidence. Read the Bible. Read secular history. Look at the facts. Listen to smart people who have devoted their lives to determine if the Christian faith is real or a pack of lies. Start your own personal search. Ask all your questions. Get all your answers. Then make your decision.

That is what Thomas did. Thomas weighed the evidence, he fell to his knees, and he said, 'My Lord and my God, I believe in you.'

Need I remind you how sweeping the consequences are for deciding one way or the other about Jesus Christ? Eternity awaits your decision. The death rate in America is very high. The last I looked it was 100%. Our determining if Jesus is real or not is an important decision. In fact, it is the most important decision a person will ever make. Do your homework. Get a Bible and read it. Go to bookstores, read evidence on all sides of the issues.

Have you ever discussed the authenticity of Jesus Christ with an atheist? The conversation will eventually come to this statement when the atheist says, "Well, you believe one way, and I believe a different way, so let's just disagree and leave it at that." That is where you say, "One problem. There is coming a day when we are both going to find out who is right. We are both banking our lives and our eternal destinies on totally different alternatives. We both can't be right on this. One of us is going to hit the jackpot, and the other is going to be a very unhappy camper for eternity. We are both going to find out who is right in just a few years, really."

I am not flying blind in this. I have done a lot of homework. I have probably read a hundred books on the evidence for Jesus Christ. I have done a lot of thinking and talking with people about it. I have weighed the evidence and have come to my conclusions on it. Never be afraid to challenge people to study the Bible or history. They will eventually come to the place as Thomas. Jesus says, "Touch me." They will kneel and say, "My Lord and my God."

How many today are like Thomas was then? You are not at a place that every one of us hasn't been. Seek for yourself. Ask your toughest questions, but then deal with the answers you get. If nail prints are all you need,' I could hear Jesus say, 'I'll show you mine, like I did to Thomas. I'll reveal myself to you if you do your homework and search honestly and act honorably.' How many of you are way past due dealing with your doubts about the Christian faith?

The third sound bite that I want to highlight is a direct challenge that Jesus issued shortly after his resurrection. He was talking to Peter. He simply looked Peter in the eye, and he said without a hint of an apology in his voice, 'Follow me.' If you remember the story, you know that Peter had rejected Jesus three times saying that he did not know Jesus. Jesus later took Jesus aside and said to Peter, "Follow me." Peter looked at his friend John and asked Jesus, 'What about him?" The Lord said to Peter, 'It doesn't matter about him. You follow me."

Perhaps some here today can relate to that. You once followed Jesus, but things happened and for whatever reason you rejected knowing Jesus and you got away from the Lord. Today the Lord says to you, 'It's okay. I understand. Follow me. Stop looking at your friends and acquaintances. Follow me.'

What does 'Follow me' mean? It means to follow my example, follow my teachings. Love people the way I love people. Serve people the way I have served them. Care for the poor the way that I have. Feed the hungry and visit the sick and lonely. Remember forgotten people. Share with the needy. Lift up the downtrodden. Lead high integrity lives. You may say, "But I have sinned." The Lord says, 'So? Follow me.'

I wonder how many of you are willing to climb down from the fence of indecision today and say to the living Christ, "Okay, I'll try. All right, starting today, I will follow you. I will. I don't want to go to my grave, never having honestly attempted to follow you fully, so starting today, I will." Take the risk. Check it out. If it's not a great life allowing my individuality then you can always go back. If his wisdom doesn't work and if you decide it's a hoax then you can always reject it. Today he is walking with you and beckoning you to follow him.

Go out into the whole world and spread the news that fears can be overcome. Go out into the world and tell everyone that Jesus is real today. Go out into the world and tell people that if they will follow Christ their lives will change and be productive. Repentant sinners can find forgiveness, and the shame and guilt can be removed. Alienated men and women can be reconciled to God and walk with him closely.

Go ye, and as you go out and spread the news, people will respond. They will. If you are willing to go out, people will respond. You will be amazed at the number of people that will listen to you. You can make a difference in someone's life. You can make a difference in hundreds of lives. You could do your part to change the world.

Have you ever heard the story about John Scully? Scully was being wined and dined by Apple Computer company when Apple was just getting off the ground. Apple wanted a seasoned executive to provide the leadership necessary to take the company on. Scully was working for Pepsi-Cola Company at the time and was not buying into Apple's proposals. One day Steve Jobs said to John Scully, "Are you telling me that you are going to settle for selling sugar water the rest of your life when you could lead a company that could change the world?" The idea of changing the world so impacted John Scully that he left Pepsi and took the Apple Computer Company to new levels.

Like John Scully, every single person in this place is wired by God to resonate with the challenge of bringing change to the world. When a person is introduced to the love of God for the first time, when a lonely person finally experiences the richness of the companionship of Christ, when a shame-filled guilty person finally finds forgiveness in Christ, when a wandering person suddenly finds a purpose for his life it creates transformation in the life of an individual.

A powerful chain reaction is then set in motion. That transformed person begins to touch other people in his life. A husband affects his wife; parents affect their children. Friends tell friends, co-workers clue in their colleagues, and little networks of Christ followers are formed.

Then churches are established and ministries are launched that really touch people, and pretty soon change is breaking out all over the place. The poor get cared for, the hungry get fed, the sick get visited, the lonely people get loved, needy people get served, wounded people start becoming whole, and before you know it, that corner of the world is changing a little bit.

However, that chain reaction has to be initiated by someone who is willing to go out, someone who is willing to step out. It is done by someone willing to take the chance and come of the shadows and create some action for Christ. Changed lives hinge on those two words - 'Go ye.'

I have a feeling a lot of you needed to come this morning just to hear Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, say to you again, 'Go ye.' Don't settle for spending the rest of your life selling sugar water. There is something more important to be done on the planet than just making babies, making a living, buying some trinkets and toys, and going to bed at night.

We have noted four sound bites from the resurrected Savior. I don't know which one you needed to hear today, but I'll bet you needed to hear at least one of them. Maybe you needed to hear 'fear not.' You need resurrection power today to turn fear into faith in a particular area of your life. You have run into Jesus this Easter Sunday. Allow him to calm your fears.

Maybe you needed to hear 'touch me.' Maybe you needed to be challenged to mark today as the starting date when you are going to resolve your doubts, weigh the evidence and act honorably with the outcome. He has found you today. He invites you to put your fingers in the holes of his hands and stick your arm into his side. Then make your decision to believe.

Maybe you needed to hear 'follow me' because you have drifted off the path. He is saying to you today to not look at anyone else. The past is the past. Today I want you to follow me.

Maybe you needed to hear 'go out.' Start a chain reaction today that will change your world. Take the chance. Change some lives. You can do it.⁽¹⁾