When I first started out following Jesus I thought, “who couldn’t love Jesus? Who doesn’t want Jesus?” I was unaware that there was a declared war from the very pits of hell to tarnish the name of Jesus and his followers. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples the night before his death when he says this; John 15:18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. What is the world? The world is the system that we live in, or the culture that we live in that has rejected God’s rule and the people of the system are only enamored with living for this life, living for physical pleasure, caught up in the objects that people love, full of pride and elitism for what “I” have accomplished. In the world sin looks normal and righteousness seems strange. The world hates the Jesus follower. Jesus and his followers are hated… And why? John 15:18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’ They hate because they reject God. They hate because the word of God has been spoken - verse 22 they hate because they have no excuse for their sin – verse 22 they hate because we make them feel guilty – verse 23 John 16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. This may have been the moment the disciples figured out that following Jesus might actually be dangerous! 2 Kings 6:16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” But Jesus says he overcomes the world. So, the world would take Jesus – and arrest him illegally – and try him unjustly – and beat him without mercy – and brutally murder him on a cross. But something happened. Three days later Jesus busted through death, the stone was rolled away, the guards fled in terror, the Angels rejoiced, and Jesus walked out of the grave showing us that resurrection power overcomes the world. The good news that we celebrate this morning is an empty grave. Ephesians 3:19… and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead… The resurrection; on that first Easter a power entered the world. Resurrection power makes dead things alive and the unbelievable, believable.