A New Day Dawning | Easter Sunday Message

Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend the bestselling book Cold Case Christianity from former detective J. Warner Wallace. That's a book we're offering this month to our listeners Cold Case Christianity written by detective J. Warner Wallace. A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospel. So get your own copy of Cold Case Christianity. It's our offer for this month for your gift of any size. Request yours for a limited time at Harvest.org.

Matthew chapter 28 and the title of my message is A New Day Dawning. Now when I was a little kid I used to collect snakes. I loved snakes. I read books about snakes. I would go out and hunt and find snakes and bring them home and tame them. I was just literally obsessed with reptiles in general but specifically with snakes.

So there was one snake I bought at a pet store in Costa Mesa and I talked my mom into taking me down there to get it and we drove in the trusty old Ford Starliner. Look at the picture. I couldn't find my car but it looked just like this in blue. And by the way it was blue because it was light blue but then we went to a paint store called Earl's Shop. If you laughed at that you're old.

Okay. He used to have a commercial on television. I can't even believe this now. He'd say, I'm Earl's Shop. I'll paint any car any color for $29.95. 30 bucks for a paint shop? And we got one and he did paint the car and the windshield and the tire. Everything.

A lot of over spray. Anyway so we drove the old Starliner there and we picked up the snake and I put him in the little terrarium in the trunk. And we're driving home and when we got there I opened up the trunk and the terrarium is there and the snake is gone. Somehow that little snake got loose in the car and my mom said, I'm never driving this car again. Well a week passed and she had to drive the car so she's driving along but very conscious of the fact that there's a live snake in that car somewhere.

She was afraid it was going to come and bite her. So anyway she comes to a stoplight. She's waiting and she feels a cold coil drop on her ankle. She opens the door. Jumps out. She's running into the street screaming. A police officer happened to be nearby and he went in. She said, there's a snake in the car. And he looked and it was actually a loose hose that had dropped. But she never drove the car again and gave it to me.

And that's what this message is all about. How to get a free car. Lose a snake.

God bless and happy Easter. But you know the thing I look back on now is I hated that car. I didn't think that car was cool. Now I look at it and I say, I should have kept that car. That car is totally cool now. But then I thought, oh it's not a cool car.

I parked it in some field and just left it when it wouldn't start one day. So why do I tell that story? Really I have no idea. I have to remember. Oh fear.

Yes. I was afraid. And there's a lot of things that can scare us.

Or rather I should say my mother was afraid. Things that scare us in life. The world is full of fear. There are things that are scary in our world today. Of course we are living in an age of anxiety. An age of fear. You have geopolitical problems like the emergence of China as an economic and military superpower.

Being especially aggressive of late. Iran developing nuclear weapons and they've been very upfront in their intention to destroy Israel and even to destroy America. Then you have the threat of terrorism. Then you have school shootings.

Then you have all the things that happen. Then there are our personal fears. We have the fear of losing our health. Losing our family. Losing our livelihood. And then there's the fear of failure.

The fear of rejection. And of course there is the fear of death. Now I think we should be concerned about death. We need to be aware of death. We need to be prepared for death. But as a Christian we do not have to be afraid of death.

And let me tell you why that is. Because Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. The Christian no longer needs to fear death. At the cross Christ defeated sin. At the empty tomb he defeated death. Death died when Christ rose. Easter was the death of death. I love this statement from Jesus in the last book of the Bible. The book of Revelation.

Where he says do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead. I am alive forevermore and I hold the keys of death in Hades. I am in control of this. I am glad he has the keys because if I had them they would be lost by now.

I am always losing my keys. I don't know about you. But we do worry about things like this and we really shouldn't. And we worry about how long we will live. And the funny thing or not funny but the ridiculous thing about that is you can actually worry yourself to a shorter life. It can actually affect you physically. And even Jesus said can all of your worries add a single moment to your life. And yet there are so many people who are obsessed with finding ways to live longer.

I read recently that AI artificial intelligence can now even predict with some accuracy how long you should live. Now look I think we need to be practical. I think we need to think about what we eat.

I think we need to be practical about exercise. I hit the gym a couple times a week and I am up to 100 crunches a day by the way. Pretty good. 100 crunches. Nestle's crunch. Very good.

You should try them. I eat 100 in one sitting. That is fantastic. I even read an article about some billionaires that are on a mission to cure aging. One known billionaire was going to get a computer chip implanted in his brain and another billionaire is undergoing blood transfusions from young healthy donors between the ages of 16 and 25 because he thinks it may reverse aging. But it has had a different effect on him because after he got the blood transfusion he ended up in a movie theater for the new Minecraft movie screaming whenever chicken jockey appeared on the screen and throwing popcorn. If you didn't get that that is because you are old.

There is a movie Minecraft. I don't want to talk about it. You figure it out.

Google it okay. But the Bible says we live our life like a story that has been told. You know we don't decide when life starts or stops but we have everything to say about that dash in the middle but Jesus says to us don't be afraid.

Here is another point. The resurrection of Jesus replaces fear with faith. The resurrection of Jesus replaces fear with faith. Let's read Matthew 28 now this beautiful account of the resurrection of our Lord on the first Easter Sunday. Early on Sunday morning as the new day was dawning that is why I gave that title to this message.

A new day is dawning. As the new day was dawning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven rolled aside the stone and sat on it.

His face shone like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the woman don't be afraid. He said I know you're looking for Jesus who was crucified.

He isn't here. He is risen from the dead just as he said what happened. Come see where his body was lying and now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and he's going to get a view into Galilee.

You'll see him there and remember what I told you. Now look what happens next. Drop down to verse 9 or rather verse 8.

The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened and they were filled with great joy and they rushed to give the disciples the angels message and as they went Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him and they grasped his feet and they worshiped him and Jesus said don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee and that they will see me there. Wow.

I love this. Consider the backdrop to what we have just seen. In their estimation Jesus had failed in his mission. You see they thought Messiah would overthrow the powers that be and would establish his kingdom on the earth. So in their case they thought Christ would drive away the tyranny of Rome and he would rule but they didn't read their Bibles carefully enough. Because if they had they would have discovered that before he would reign as king of kings and lord of lords he would come as a suffering savior and he would die on the cross for the sin of the world. The promise of this goes clear back to the book of Genesis and the first Messianic passage there in Genesis 3 where after Adam and Eve fell into sin the Lord said there is coming one who would bruise Satan's head and Satan would bruise his heels.

So it was like game on. Messiah is coming and all the passages of scripture from Psalm 22 that prophetically says they pierced my hands and my feet to Isaiah 53 that gives a vivid description of the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. Everything was pointing to this mission. Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed and he is in the New Testament revealed. It is all there and he spoke of it constantly. He would spell it out. He would say the son of man I am going to be crucified.

I am going to rise again from the dead three days later. And somehow this just went over their heads. They collectively missed the memo and so when Jesus was crucified they thought he had somehow failed in his mission when in fact everything was going according to plan. That is God's plan. And so the women come to anoint the body of Jesus. Not to see the risen Lord. They go to anoint his body and a shout out to the ladies here. Women were the last at the cross and the first at the tomb. Ok. So let's not forget that.

You go girl. And in particular Mary Magdalene. He cast seven demons out of her. She owed her very life to him and she was rewarded for her faithfulness. By the way at the cross the Bible specifically tells us she was close to the cross. While the others were at a distance she was close enough where he could see her. She wasn't afraid of repercussions.

She didn't care about what could happen to her potentially. She just wanted to be near to her Lord. And Jesus saw her there. And so she was rewarded big time when he appeared to her before anybody else. And he even said her name.

But this is such a beautiful truth. And you know women they seem to somehow have a perception that men don't have. Example just watch women talking to each other.

My wife has a little small group in our house. So all the ladies come and they start talking. And it is like a rumbling sound downstairs. And the pitch gets higher and I walk through the space and I can't understand what anybody is saying. But somehow they are all talking at the same time understanding one another and I am just mystified by it all. So often the ladies have a perception the men don't have. Now if they could just get ready in time we would be on to something. Come on I had to throw something in there for the guys.

What do you want? It says they were very frightened and filled with great joy. Have you ever experienced happiness and fear at the same time?

Maybe on your wedding day or the birth of your first child or when you bought your first house or getting on that roller coaster. Oh it is happiness and fear. For me now it is just pure fear. There is no happiness or fun for me anymore in riding roller coasters. I have given it up.

As I get older ordering something new off the menu is taking a risk for me. But he was alive. Now imagine if there was social media back in this day. What would they have posted?

So here we put something together. Here is Mary Magdalene's potential post. You know the tomb is empty. Repeat empty. And then look on the bottom. Peter. What?

Be right there. I mean this would go viral. This would break the internet.

Right? If there was social media when Christ rose again from the dead. But the message was going out. And one of my favorite post resurrection stories is the two disciples on the Emmaus road.

They had heard Jesus was risen but they dismissed it. Well women said you know. I don't know. Really?

Come on guys. So they are walking along and who joins them but Jesus himself. And he engages in their conversation. Their faces were downcast. And he says guys this paraphrase. What is up? What is going on?

Why do you look so sad? They said are you the only one in Jerusalem who has not heard about Jesus of Nazareth a prophet mighty indeed. We had hoped. Past tense. He would have been the one to redeem Israel.

But it has been three days since he was killed. So now they are telling Jesus about Jesus and they are not doing a very good job. Over on Maui there is a sunglass hut. And I went in there looking at some sunglasses and I asked a couple of questions and the young lady working there said has anyone ever told you you sound like Greg Laurie? I said yeah I have heard that. And I said I met him once. Really? I said he is a total jerk.

Really? He is rude. I didn't like him at all.

Then she starts defending me to me. No. He is good.

I listened to him on the radio. I like him. No.

No. He is a jerk. And this went on for a few moments and then I finally said actually I am Greg Laurie.

And I think she thought no you actually are a jerk aren't you. You just. You confirmed it in front of me right here. So they are telling Jesus about Jesus.

They are not doing a very good job. Then he says how foolish you are and slow to believe all that the prophets have predicted. And so they completed their journey and at the end they sit down at a table and they break bread and now Jesus reveals themselves. See they didn't know it was Jesus. Now they know.

And then they said oh we should have known. Didn't let our hearts burn within us while we walked on the way and he opened to us the Word of God. See they started their journey in depression and fear and they ended it with joy. And on this Easter of 2025 maybe you come here sad today. Maybe you have lost a loved one. They were with you last Easter.

But they are gone. And that is again the whole point of Easter. That death does not have the last word.

Easter does. Again death died when Christ rose. And the hope that we have as Christians is simply this. We will see our loved ones who have died in faith again. The nonbeliever does not have this hope.

Oh I know they like to think they do. They may think they have it but only the Christian has this guaranteed hope. Another story I love is when Jesus went to Mary and Martha. Their brother was sick and they asked Jesus to come and do something. He arrived late and by the time he got into town there in Bethany Lazarus had actually died. And Jesus had even missed the funeral. And Martha approaches him and says, Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died.

Let's paraphrase. You messed up Jesus. We were depending on you.

You could have done something. You could have healed him. And Jesus says your brother will live again. Oh I know Lord and the resurrection and all that.

Martha listen to me. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Then he asked her, do you believe this?

See a lot of times they will say oh yeah yeah I know I know. I have read that. I believe that. Do you really believe it? Because if you really believe it you don't have to fear death. And if you really believe it you know you will see your loved ones again.

And this is the great hope. You go but Craig you are delusional. Everybody dies.

I know that. We die physically. But our soul lives on. Our soul lives on and we are in the presence of the Lord.

And where does it live on? It lives on in the presence of God. And if you want to have that hope you have to be born again. Jesus said you must be born again.

You could sum it up like this. If you are born once you will die twice. But if you are born twice you will die once.

Does that make sense? If you are born once that is physically you will die twice. You will die physically and spiritually. But if you are born twice that is born physically and born again you will die once.

Yes your body will die but your soul will live on. You say I don't know what this means as born again. A spiritual rebirth is when you ask Christ to come and live inside of you. And He forgives you of all of your sin and He makes you a new person on the inside. Not a perfect person. Not a flawless person. You are still you. But you are a forgiven person. A new person in Christ. Old things passed away.

Everything becoming fresh in you. But I think people have this faulty concept of God. Well I don't know if I want to become a Christian I am going to lose my freedom and I am going to have to live according to God's way. And it is so restrictive and miserable.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Being a Christian is when you are truly set free. I no longer have to be addicted to any substance to bring happiness or fulfillment because it never really did.

But I now have the freedom to walk with God and to know God. Reminds me of a story I heard of a father and son that went into a hardware store and there was a big old jar of candy sitting there on the counter and the owner of the store looked at the boy and said, Son grab a handful of candy. And the little boy turned over and looked up at his dad and didn't grab the candy. The hardware store owner said again, Son grab a handful of candy. It is free.

Go ahead. It is ok. Again the little boy looks up at his dad. A third time the hardware store owner says, Son grab some free candy.

Again the boy looks at his dad. Finally his dad reaches in, grabs a big handful of candy and they are walking out. And he said, Son why didn't you grab that handful of candy?

And the little boy said, Because dad your hand is bigger than mine. God's hand is bigger than yours. He wants to bless you beyond your comprehension. I love Jeremiah 29 11 where the Lord says, I know the thoughts that I think towards you says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope.

The Bible says God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond that which we could ask or think. So Jesus says, Don't be afraid. You say, but Greg you don't know what I am going through right now. I have every right to be afraid.

I don't dispute that. But I am just telling you, you can replace your fear with faith. The Bible says, Don't worry about anything. Pray about everything and the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Turn your panic into prayer. Turn your worry into worship. Turn your fear into faith.

By the way this statement, Don't be afraid. That is not the first time Jesus said this to His disciples. He used the same phrase, the same language, the same words when they were out on the storm-tossed sea of Galilee on one occasion. The storm was so bad the disciples were despairing of life when suddenly in the distance they see a form approaching them walking on the top of the waves. They thought initially it was a ghost the Bible says. And then they realize it is not Casper. It is Christ.

And Simon Peter gets so excited. He says, Lord if it is you tell me to come. But Jesus says to them, Don't be afraid.

Same thing. Guys I know you are freaking out. I know the storm is bad. But I am in control of all things. Don't be afraid. Peter says, Lord if it is you tell me to come. Jesus says, Alright come. Peter did what no other apostle did. He put it all on the line. He swung his leg over the side of that boat.

Put it down on the water. Brought his other leg out. Stood. Took his first step. Took his second step. And then he began to sink. And Jesus reached down and grabbed him and pulled him up. And said, Oh you of little faith why did you doubt? See he was sinking.

Why? Because he took his eyes off Jesus. Fear makes us sink. And when we take our eyes off of the Lord we can sink in despair.

We can sink in fear. So I say to you this Easter of 2025 lift your eyes up and look to Jesus Christ. He can change everything for you. A new day dawned for the first century church when Christ rose. And a new day can dawn for you as well. But keep your eyes on the Lord. Years ago Jonathan who was just up here doing announcements and has spoken at the sunrise service and Good Friday services and God's using them so powerfully.

Have you noticed that? How God's using Jonathan. Isn't that wonderful? So he wanted to learn how to scuba dive. So we were over on Maui and there's a little course you could take and they'd take you out on the dive. So he went through the training and the instructor said would you like to go through the training? And I said no I'm certified. Because indeed I was.

I'd been certified like I don't know 15 years earlier. And I thought I knew everything I needed to know about scuba diving. And so they went through the whole course. Now we're gonna go out on a dive. So the next morning we get up and it was really rough water. All the boats are bobbing back and forth and I was hoping the dive was canceled and the instructor says no we're gonna do it.

Okay. So we get in the boat and we're kind of shaking back and forth and we put on all that scuba gear. You've got the vest that's inflatable.

You've got the tanks. You've got the regulator, the master fins, the weight belt, all the gear on you. And the way you get in the water is you fall backwards into it. That's the last thing you want to do when you have all of that weight strapped on you.

But that's how you get in. And so I got really nervous but I didn't want Jonathan to know I was nervous. I was actually scared. But the guy says okay you ready let's go. So we all fall backwards in the water and we get under and we breathe a little bit through our regulator and we're feeling a little better but it's still pitching a lot. And I looked over at Jonathan and his eyes were as big as saucers.

He's just a kid still. He was really scared. And the instructor said to Jonathan look at me and remember your training. And I looked over at the instructor like. What was the training again?

I've forgotten everything I ever learned about this and I feel like I'm gonna drown right now. I thought that was a good piece of advice. Look at me and remember your training.

In effect Jesus would say the same to you and me. Look at me. Stop looking at your circumstances. Stop looking at your emotions. Look at me. Look at me.

Lift your eyes up. The resurrection of Jesus proves that God keeps his promises and we can be sure of that. So the great hope that we have is he walks with us through this life and then meets us in the afterlife. So I was back in Washington DC last week and I had the opportunity to go to the White House for a small little dinner with the president and it was a wonderful time. People ask me what is he like in person. He's very personable. He's a good listener. He's very funny. And he is very easy to talk to and likes to be around people. I think he's a good listener. He's very funny.

And he is very easy to talk to and likes to be around people. I think we spent around four hours with him and not only did we have a nice dinner but then he said would you guys like to go upstairs and see the family quarters. We're like yes. And right before we went up we took a little picture. Here's the picture that we took. And so you see me in there over to the left. And then we went upstairs and I tell you these pastors they were like kids in a candy shop right. And he's telling us about all the portraits on the wall and we went into the Lincoln bedroom and there is the desk that President Lincoln sat at and wrote letters.

There's the bed that's extra long as you can imagine that the president slept in. And so it's all really an incredible thing. And I really appreciate a statement that the president made for Easter.

He made this statement as follows. Through his suffering we have redemption. Through his death we're forgiven of our sins. Through his resurrection we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning the stone is rolled away.

The tomb is empty and light prevails over darkness and death does not have the final word. That's a pretty good statement from a president. Quite a contrast in National Transgender Day last Easter which the White House was promoting. And then he quoted Billy Graham when he said God proved his love on the cross when Christ hung in blood and died. It was God saying to the world I love you. So fantastic. Okay so we had this wonderful dinner and the next day they were gonna have a worship service at the White House.

This has never happened before. And I was invited to participate. And it was fantastic. And then Franklin got up and gave just a beautiful gospel presentation.

And it was a great time. I also after it was over with met Carolyn Lovett the press secretary and said hello to her and told her what a great job I thought she was doing because she's so bold in her faith as well. But I almost didn't get in. So here's what happened.

You have to go through secret service to get into the White House. So there's an entrance that you go to and I went in and I gave them my driver's license. They said your name is not here. I said oh no I'm invited. In fact I'm participating.

Yeah your name's on the list go. Okay. So I went out and I made a couple phone calls and they said did you fill the form out? Oh I don't think I did. So they send the form to me.

I'm filling it out on my phone. So I jokingly shot a video. I said let's shoot a video. And I'll just say I'm outside of the White House and I can't get in. Will I get in?

I don't know. And then I posted it. And in the caption I explained that I finally did get in but people didn't read the caption.

They thought oh I didn't get in. And Newsweek ran a story on it. I'm not kidding. Look at this. This is real. This is real. Okay so. This is real. Now let me explain. The headline is real.

The picture is AI. Okay so. Do you know what Grok is? Grok. Okay so I went to Grok and I said I want a picture of Greg Laurie being kept out of the White House with Secret Service agents. And that's what it created.

Not too bad. So the picture's fake. The headline was real.

And they made a whole new story. A pastor can't get in White House. But my point that I made was hey I did get in obviously but my point was sadly there's gonna be people that stand before God one day and their name will not be written in the book of life and that will be the ultimate tragedy.

And Newsweek put that in the story as well which I appreciated because that was the whole reason that I put that post out there. Because one day we're gonna stand before God. And you think well I believe hopefully when I get into heaven why would you be so uncertain about something that is so important? It's eternal.

It's eternal. You wanna be prepared. See I wasn't prepared. I didn't fill out the form. It was my own fault. But thankfully I was given an opportunity to fill it out at the last moment and get in. But when you stand before God and death has occurred there's no little form you can fill out really quickly. It's too late. There are no chances after death.

Thousands before none after. And you'll stand before God and the Bible says if your name is not written in the book of life then you're eternally separated from God and there's no turning back. Oh man you don't want that to happen. See Jesus died on that cross for your sin. So you could be forgiven of your sin. You say well Greg I'm a good person. Maybe you are. I've met some pretty good people who aren't Christians.

They're just good in general. But you're not good enough to get to heaven. Because you still break God's commandments.

You still fall short. And one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven. The Bible even says if you offend in one point of the law you're guilty of all of it. So heaven is not for good people. It's for forgiven people. Forgiven people. No matter what you've done God will forgive you. So on this Easter of 2025 I want to close with this. Are you sure you'll go to heaven? Has Christ come into your life?

You say well how does this happen? What do I do? Number one admit you're a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Secondly recognize that Christ died on the cross for your sin. The Bible says God demonstrated his love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

I love the way the apostle Paul personalized it when he said of Jesus he loved me and he gave himself for me. Thirdly you must repent of your sin. See some people think that being a Christian is just acknowledging certain truths to be true or accepting a creed. No being a Christian means you put your complete faith in Christ and you turn from your sin. The Bible says God has commanded people everywhere to repent. The word repent is a military term.

It means to do an about face. So you've been walking away from God. Now you walk toward God. Turn from your sin and then you must receive Christ into your life.

This is the most important element we need to discover. Being a Christian is a relationship with God. It's Jesus living in you. Does he live in you?

You say well I'm not sure. Listen if he is in your heart you'll know. Do you think if someone moved into your house in the middle of the night and they were maybe cooking a late night meal you would somehow be aware of it? I'm not comparing Jesus to someone just moving in. But the point of it is if he's in your life you'll know.

And if you would say well I'm not really sure then maybe he isn't. And that can be rectified because you can receive him into your life. Jesus says behold I stand at the door and I knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Would you like Jesus to come into your life right now? Would you like to be forgiven of your sin?

Would you like to know your name is on the list and you'll get into heaven? If so I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do it. My last point is you must do it now. Do it now. Don't put it off. Don't say well you've given me something to think about maybe in a month or a year or maybe I'll come to your crusade and do it.

No don't wait till then. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Let's all pray. Pray this after me. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on that cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn now from my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my savior and my Lord as my God and my friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer Jesus. In your name I pray. Amen. God bless each one of you. God bless you. Praise God.