Sheryl Brady - The God of Surprises

Matthew 28 is where we’re going to go today. The Bible says in verse 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.» And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven. He came, rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook with fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, «Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. He’s not there anymore, but just come see the place.» And go quickly and tell his disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee, where you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.» So they went out quickly from the tomb, with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples the word. As they went out to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, «Rejoice!» So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, «Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.» I want to live my text from the fifth verse: «But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know what you’re looking for. I know you’ve come to see Jesus, who was crucified, and I know exactly what you’re looking for.'» For the next few moments, I just want to simply talk from the subject: The God of Surprises. The Spirit of the Living God, we thank you for this awesome day—the day that we commemorate, the day that we celebrate, the day that we say thank you for the price you paid for us. Thank you for going down for us, and thank you for coming up for us. Thank you that we might have life now and have life everlasting. Thank you for your glory, and thank you for your power. Today, as we sit and stand in the sanctuary to receive from your word, I pray that your anointing would just ooze in this place, find every hearer that is in this room. Thank you for touching me to declare your word. Let it come alive; let it leap off the pages today. May your people see your word and let it impact our lives. May we walk out of here today with a fresh awareness that Calvary was real, but the grave was real too. Yet, I thank you that more than any of that, the resurrection was real and that you are still alive. You are yet alive, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon you, and with your stripes, we are healed today. Speak your word in here. Give me power to persuade the hearts of men. We will always give you the glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus' name, have your way here, God. We lean into this moment; do whatever you want to do. You’re God; this is your church, this is your day, this is your service, this is your people, this is your house. Be at home. In Jesus' name, somebody shout Amen! On your way down, just hit somebody until they say, «The God of Surprises!» Watch out, watch out, watch out, watch out—He’s the God of Surprises! I’ve heard it said that one of the ways you can take a text and preach it over and over again and make it slightly fresh and new is by giving every person in the text a voice at the table. So today, I might just shine a little bit of a different light, but I want to talk to you about not just Jesus—we’re going to talk about Him—but I want to talk to you about this woman. Her name was Mary. She had been through it all. She saw it all; she endured it all. With tears rolling down her face, her eyes were swollen nearly shut; her head was pounding with the pain that the stress of the last few days had caused her to endure. The agonizing pain, and yet she wakes up in the morning before the day does, and she sets her face like a flint to go towards the tomb where they had laid Jesus. It was Sunday morning, but I like how John said it: John said, «But it was still dark.» Sometimes it’s possible that it will still be dark, but you’ve got to move anyway. You’ve got to do what you’re assigned to do; you’ve got to do what you’re called to do. It’s dark sometimes; you can’t even seem to put one foot in front of the other. John said it was dark, but there was something in Mary that said it doesn’t matter. I’ve got to get up and do what I’ve got to do. It wasn’t just a dark Sunday; it was a very dark Sunday. It had been dark since Friday—dark because of Peter’s denial, dark because of the disciples' betrayal, dark because Pilate was a coward and he couldn’t make the right decision to set an innocent man free. Dark because the most excruciating pain ever felt by someone was endured that day by Jesus. Dark because…