EASTER CHANGED EVERYTHING

Pastor Corey Mantz

Woodland Church

Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026

(Matthew 28:5-7, NLT) “Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

1.  God turns my despair into hope

(John 20:15-16, NLT) “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”  She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.  She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.”

LAP:  Trust God even when you cannot see what He is doing

2.  God’s power transforms my life

(Romans 6:4, NLT) “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

(Ephesians 4:22-24, Message) “everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”

• Sinful to forgiven

(Ephesians 1:7, GW) “Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.”

• Broken to made new

(2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT) “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

• Orphan to Child of God

(Galatians 4:5-7, NLT) “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.  And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

LAP:  Transformation begins when you rely on God’s power, not your own

3.  God gives me a message to proclaim

(Matthew 28:6-7, NLT) “Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead”

LAP:  Easter is God’s declaration that death has been defeated and hope is alive

*LAP – Life Application Point