It's Easter Sunday, and we had a wonderful service with several visitors. I was given only one question to ask the congregation today... "Do you believe in the resurrection. Do you really believe?" My text was Mark 16 with "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him" (v.1 KJV), and "And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid" (v. 8 KJV) as my primary text.
The observation from the text is the women went to the tomb expecting to find it empty. Jesus had clearly taught His disciples He would be crucified and then resurrected, yet all of His disciples were living as though He were truly gone. We do the same thing today. We say we believe in the resurrection, but we do not behave with an expectation of our resurrection!
I am convinced one of the reasons lies in our lack of relational accountability within the body of Christ. We save 'em, dunk 'em, incorporate 'em, and then abandon them. Jesus had personal, relational, and accountable discipleship. I am beginning this with several in my church. My prayer is we will see the same results Jesus had according to His promise... “I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12 HCSB)