Sunday AM Recap
April 5, 2026
Resurrection Sunday
Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/sklbhxhjMxU?si=9V-sQmghrlr5t8k0
Apostle Susan Powers opened with questions the Lord had asked her and that she was now asking the congregation:
“Why did you come today?”
“What are you looking for?”
“Who are you seeking?”
She then shared something from Chaim Bentorah:
You know because we can be very immature in our faith God sometimes has to meet us on our level of expectancy. Growing up in a fundamentalist church I was taught that the way to be spiritual and experience God’s presence was to read your Bible every day and pray. So I faithfully did that and I felt the presence of God. However, one day I learned that God was merely meeting me on the level of my expectancy because one month I got lazy. I did not pray or even read my Bible for a whole month. Then one day as I was just walking to my car I suddenly felt the presence of God just like when I was reading the Bible and praying. I thought, “Wait a minute this is not supposed to happen, I am supposed to pray and read the Bible then it will happen. I mean that is what my church teaches.” I felt the Lord gently saying at that moment, “I can fill you with my presence any time I want, I was just meeting with you on the level of your expectancy. But now the time has come for you to grow up, to learn of me not necessarily as someone has taught you but as the Bible teaches you. It is time to move beyond ritual and into a relationship with me. I want to fill you with my presence when I want to, not because you perform some ritual. I want you to start praying and reading my Word not to try and get my presence as a reward, but to do it because you just love to do it.”
Stacea Kuhen led worship
During worship, Apostle Susan Powers had the following Word from the Lord:
I hear the Lord saying: “I have set you free. But do you want to be free? Rise up, rise up, rise up, oh glorious bride. Rise up, rise up”…(obscured)...”fragrant, comes from pressure, comes from the presence, the weight of his presence squeezes out the oil. Make ready, make ready, make ready. He is coming, He is coming, He is coming. Choose wisely. Ask for the pressure of the presence of the Lord, that you may have oil in your lamps.”
Early Childhood Worship
Link: https://youtu.be/0xgK_E_Elqk?si=0VDUXas-etL99fbR
Bible Story: The Triumphal Entry
Bible Verse: John 3:16
Message: Pastor Jeff Spangler
“Resurrection Sunday - He is Alive!”
EVERYONE is in need of a Savior. Age doesn’t matter. Every one of us falls short of the glory of God.
Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Let’s tell the story again…but different.
Facts:
He is risen.
He trusted the message to the women. In this culture, in this time, women were not valued to carry a message. Isn’t it just like Jesus to turn it upside down and give it to the women first?
Jesus came out of the tomb, and his disciples, his brothers, weren’t there. Could there have been some disappointment? But that’s not what the Word says…you can’t let God down, you weren’t holding Him up!
HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR YOU. There was a price to be exacted for YOUR sin - the wages of sin is death. And He voluntarily paid that debt…FOR YOU. So you can choose something beyond the debt. There is a way! He is the ONLY way!
He is the way.
He is the truth.
He is the life.
More facts:
He appeared to them, in many tellings. Hundreds of tellings of those who witnessed and saw Jesus alive.
Tombs burst open and people who were dead were up and walking around.
Think about that. It would be unsettling if that happened here, to us. We don’t have that expectation - and neither did they. A power was released that was dynamic and much different than they thought.
We’re not worthy. We still want to sit on the throne, we still want the tree that belongs to HIM. But it’s HIS chair and it’s HIS throne.
More facts:
The Jewish leaders couldn’t find the body.
The Roman leaders couldn’t find the body.
The disciples were scared and hiding.
So no one could produce this body - and then He showed up and started showing Himself over and over again.
It’s not the way you think it is.
The disciples in the week leading up to Jesus’s death and resurrection were expecting one thing and experiencing another - a new perspective.
The gathered for Passover Wednesday night
Wednesday night to Thursday at sundown: Taken, beaten, carried the cross to Golgotha. Still Thursday.
At noon it was covered in darkness. Nature began to groan because the God of the universe is hanging on a cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me.” He began Psalm 22 - a cry of David’s heart. That God has NOT forsaken them. NOT forsaken Him. That culture and those people would know IMMEDIATELY what He was saying.
Most of the disciples had scattered.
He died Thursday and went to the tomb. He went to the grave. Disciples are scattered. Thursday night - this is a Special Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread. Now it’s another Special Sabbath - Friday. He is still in the grave.
Friday night into Saturday - Sabbath. Day 3. And on the first of the week, He rose again. Sunday morning.
Matthew 28:16-28
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Verse 17
17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
Some still doubted. We know the disciples went on to do great things, and we know they weren’t perfect.
Verse 19
9 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
In other words, Go make your own Talmidum.
Verse 20
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Teach them to obey
“AND REMEMBER I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS” - because we forget.
We are ALL sinners and fall short of the glory of God. We are not better than anyone else. He desires ALL to be saved, although there will be some who reject the Way. But we are not to sit in judgment on that.
“Teach them to obey - everything I commanded you.” When Jesus came out of the tomb, He called them disciples. He looked at them apples and said “I see the seed in there.”
My Jesus said “I see you” - God came out of that tomb, risen with power and authority, knowing who He was and who You are, and He said “go and tell my disciples I see you, and I am with you” - instead of being condemned because she thought He was the gardener, she had JOY.
The seed has been put IN YOU. Get past all the stuff that will rot away - today, get excited for HE is open, and every apple has a seed!
It’s not the way you think it is - they had run away but He was still calling them disciples. He still calls YOU disciples.
Remember that Matthew is the study of Jesus as King. And Jesus as King SEES YOU.
He still called them brothers. They had run and hid - He still called them brothers. This is deeper than disciples. He calls YOU brothers. He did this for YOU. He wasn't mostly mad at you or disappointed in you. He did it anyway - in spite of you!
He loves you. He loves you always. But it’s not the way you think it is - He chooses you anyway! It doesn’t mean He likes it when you do something wrong - but He chooses you!
There must have been a time, in these 11 men, that God put something special in their hearts that drew them to that ministry
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[b] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
This is about a year and a half through Jesus’s ministry. He’s healing, He’s teaching, and not once did He say “I am the Son of God.” In the first year and a half, He did not say it.
He asks here, “who do the people say I am?”
Who do they say I am - today? They said various things. Still do.
Then He said “who do YOU say I am?” The seed was being planted - and that’s where we end this week in preparation for next week.
He knew that He had put new seed in them. He knew when He told the women to go get the disciples that He had put good seed in them.
Peter responded “You are the Messiah! The Son of God!” It was not honorable to tell people who you were. It would not have been honorable for Jesus to proclaim who He was. You let your actions speak for you - not proclaiming who you are and how cool you are.
It looked like the disciples had left it all and run away. But He had spent a year and a half putting good seed in them. Jesus knew what was in there. He knew when He appeared that day - it’s in there. He knows it’s in you. No matter what you are struggling with today.
I see you
I’m with you
I want you to love me
So I’ll do these things that show my love for you - not because you have earned it
That’s the way of Jesus Christ. To recognize He is revealing Himself.
It’s not our job to be Jesus to others. It’s our job to get out of the way so they see the Light through the cracked pot.
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