Countryside Vineyard Church
Easter
  • There's Joy in the House of the Lord
  • Nothing But The Blood
  • My Redeemer Lives
  • God of All Splendor
  • The Lord Will Provide
  • What An Awesome God

      • Mark 4:30-31ESV

      • Mark 4:32ESV

  • Easter 2026

    Good Morning and Welcome to the Countryside Vineyard Church
    My name is Joe Fager...
    For weeks now, we’ve been in Mark chapter 4.
    And Jesus keeps coming back to the same question:
    “If you hear the Word… what are you going to do with it?”
    He talks about seed being sown— the same seed… but different results.
    Not because the seed is different… but because the hearts are different.
    And today… you are hearing the most important Word ever spoken.
    Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus rose.
    And the question is not—do you understand it - or even do you beleive it?
    The question is…
    Will you allow those facts to make a difference in your life?
    Let’s Pray...
    For one to have died… it’s necessary that He first lived.
    Obvious, right?
    But here’s the real question—
    What did His life actually mean for us?
    Because if all we do is admire His life… and never respond to it… then we’ve missed the point.

    I. The Life of Christ

    So I’m going to give you three reasons that the life of Jesus was important to you.

    A. Jesus, Truly Human

    One of the clearest reasons Jesus lived the life He did…
    was to show us what it actually means to be human.
    Genesis 1:26–27 — God created mankind in His image.
    English Standard Version Chapter 1

    26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and

    Humanity was designed to reflect God— to live under His authority, and to carry His authority into the world.
    Adam and Eve had authority over creation.
    And we see glimpses of that again in Jesus.
    Remember the temptation in Mark 1:12-13?
    Mark 1:12–13 ESV
    12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
    Mark 1:13 ESV
    13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
    think about that - Jesus was with the wild animals.
    What does that mean?
    He speaks to a storm—and it obeys Him. (Mark 4)
    He speaks to a tree—and it withers.
    👉 This is not random power. 👉 This is true humanity restored.

    B. Jesus, Truly Relational (People)

    Genesis 2:25 says Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed.
    Total openness. No hiding. No shame.
    Now think about your own life…
    How many people do you have where you are fully known— and not hiding anything?
    Sin broke that.
    But Jesus came and showed us something different.
    He redefined murder to include hatred
    He elevated love and forgiveness above everything (Matthew 5–7)
    And not just in teaching—in how He lived:
    He moved toward the outcast
    The lepers
    The broken
    The rejected
    He didn’t avoid them— He touched them.
    And in that touch:
    He healed bodies
    He restored dignity
    He brought people back into community
    👉 Justice and mercy weren’t ideas to Him—they were His life.

    C. Jesus, Truly Relational (God)

    Genesis 3:8 says Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden.
    That was normal.
    They lived in daily, personal connection with Him.
    Now watch Jesus:
    He calls God “Father”
    He says, “I do nothing apart from Him”
    Everything He does flows from that relationship
    Jesus didn’t just teach about God… He lived in constant connection with Him.
    This is what we’ve been talking about—
    there is no substitute for that kind of life.
    It doesn’t come from trying harder… it comes from being with Him.
    If there is no secret place… there is no root.
    And if there is no root… there is no fruit.
    So now we’ve got a problem.
    Because Jesus didn’t just come to impress us…
    He came to show us what we were created to be.
    Which means the question is no longer—
    “Do I believe in Jesus?”
    The question is—
    “Does my life look anything like His?”
    So if Jesus showed us what real humanity looks like…
    why didn’t it stop there?
    Why the cross?
    Why did He have to die?
    Wasn’t His example enough?
    And the answer is… no.
    Because we don’t just need an example…
    we need rescue.

    II. The Death of Christ

    Here are two reasons the cross matters.

    A. The Cross Dealt With Sin

    The Bible says it plainly—
    Christ died for our sins.
    Not to inspire us. Not just to teach us.
    To deal with something in us that we cannot fix.
    Psalm 51:5 “5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
    Jeremiah says our hearts are the most deceitful things in the world and desperately sick. Jeremiah 17:9 “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
    Isaiah says that everything we do we think is good without God is like a dirty polluted garment Isaiah 64:6 “6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
    Psalm 14:2–3 ESV
    2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
    Paul sums it all up in Romans
    And all have sinned Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
    Not most. Not some.
    All.
    That includes me. That includes you.
    That sin it has consequences:
    Ezekiel 18:4 — the soul who sins shall die Romans 6:23 — the wages of sin is death Hebrews 9:27 — after death comes judgment
    We don’t like that word “sin”… but deep down we all know it’s real. (If God is real then I have offended him)
    This is the bottom line...
    You are guilty and one day you will stand before the throne of God.
    We have a 100% death rate here on earth. No one escapes it.
    after death comes the judgement.
    You will stand there naked and exposed before a holy and just God.
    the Bible says we’ll give account for every idle word. Matthew 12:36 “36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,”
    You will be guilty, no escape you know it and God knows it and everyone who knows knows it.
    The only thing you’ll have to stand on in that day is that you put your faith and trust and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ’s payment for your debt.
    But Jesus did not just take away the fear of punishment for sin.
    He also died for something.

    B. The Cross Restores Relationship

    1 Peter 3:18 “18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”
    Jesus died so that we could be restored to full relationship with God.
    Think back again to Adam and Eve, they heard the sound of God walking in the garden.
    Genesis 3:8 “8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
    There was no distance. No hiding. No shame.
    And sin broke that.
    when the Bible says “to bring us to God”…
    it means Jesus came to restore what was lost in the garden.
    This isn’t some abstract concept that sounds good.
    This means you can actually know Him.
    Walk with Him.
    Hear from Him.
    Live with Him… now.
    This is why the secret place matters.
    Because Jesus didn’t die just so you could believe something about Him…
    He died so you could be with Him.
    So when you hear the gospel…
    you’re not just being asked to agree with it…
    you’re being invited back to God.
    But here’s the key:
    If Jesus stays in the tomb… none of it matters.
    If He stays dead:
    Sin is not defeated Death is not defeated Nothing is proven
    Everything hangs on what happens next.

    III. The Resurrection of Christ

    The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the history of humanity.
    More important than his crucifixion, becasue it proves the crucifixion worked!
    Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14–17 “14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
    But thankfully this one of the most evidence-based beliefs a person can have about events that took place two-thousand years ago.
    right now I’m going to quickly share some of these.

    A. People Actually saw him.

    Named eyewitnesses
    The gospel writers names the women who saw him. (Mary Magdeline, Mary, Salome)
    In other word s he says you can go talk to them
    This isn’t legend, it’s fact. You can check me on it, they’re still alive.
    Post-resurrection encounters
    Paul again in 1 Corinthians 15:6 “6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”
    “Go ask them—they’re still alive”
    This is history, not myth

    B. Not How You Write Fiction

    If you’re making up a story and you want people to believe it…
    there are certain things you would never include.
    The first witnesses to the resurrection were women.
    And in that culture, that actually worked against the story.
    Celsus, an early critic of Christianity, even used that to try to discredit it.
    But that’s exactly what makes it so powerful.
    Because if you were inventing this…
    you would never choose the least credible witnesses.
    The only explanation is simple:
    they weren’t trying to make it convincing— they were telling the truth.
    2. The Disciples look terrible in the Gospels
    Never understading
    Hard of hearing
    slow to understand
    Fearful
    Thomas asks Jesus for proof that he’s really alive.
    Peter, we are in the gospel of Mark which is likely Peter’s eyewitness account of things.
    Can you imagine him telling Mark all of these failures he had throughout his life with Jesus right up to and including when he betrayed Him.
    If you’re writing the story, you don’t make yourself look like that.
    3. Their Lives Completely Change
    Before the resurrection: hiding, afraid, scattered.
    After the resurrection: bold, public, fearless.
    These same men go out and preach this message everywhere—
    and many of them die for it.
    And not for something they believe is true…
    but for something they would have known was a lie.
    That just doesn’t happen.

    C. The Aftermath

    The tomb is empty.
    No body is ever produced.
    The authorities have to make up explanations to explain why it’s empty.
    Because they can’t deny it.
    And then something else happens—
    the movement doesn’t die.
    In that time, there were many so-called messiahs.
    Every time the leader died…
    the movement died with him.
    Except this one.
    This one didn’t just survive…
    it exploded.
    Which leaves us with a simple question:
    What explains that?
    The best explanation is the simplest one:
    Jesus really did rise from the dead.
    Transition to communion / gospel
    This is the gospel
    Jesus lived (the life you could not live)
    Jesus Died (the death that you deserved)
    Jesus Rose (to give us something to hold onto until he comes back)
    If you’ve never committed your life to Jesus, right now is the chance
    Simply your turn attention to Him and tell him in your heart that you know you can’t possibly live up to his standard. (confess)
    You say something like if you died for my sins then I don’t want to do them anymore. (Repent)
    I want to follow you, to turn to you, even if I don’t know how. (Repent)
    I want all this to be true. I want to truly experience life with you starting today. (Belief)
    There’s no magical words in there. it’s just a basic yes to Jesus and no to you living life your way.
    If that’s you today what we’re about to do next is communion.

    Communion and Worship

    There will be some people passing out a cup and little wafer of bread.
    If you just said yes to Jesus for the first time or even just asked him for a reset this morning, you are free to take communion with us.
    If you haven’t made a decision about Jesus I would ask you not take elements this morning.
    I’m not trying to single you out, but we are warned in Scripture not to do this if we’re not committed to Jesus.
    There are Christians who have been walking with Jesus for years who from time to time will skip communion for various reasons, so this is not some sort of identification process we have to find people to bug or anything like that.
    We just believe, that this a holy and reverent act and should only be done with intention and by people who are part of the community of Jesus.
    So when it comes by you can either take the elements or not. No judgment.
    Do Communion

    The Bread (Broken Body)

    Jesus said, “This is my body… broken for you.”
    Broken in our place… offered for our sin…
    so we could be brought back to God.
    Jesus,
    we thank You for Your body— broken for us.
    You took what we deserved.
    You bore our sin in Your body…
    so we could be forgiven… so we could be made whole…
    and so we could be brought back to the Father.
    And right now, we don’t just remember that…
    we receive it.
    In Your name, amen.
    Take and eat.
    (pause… don’t rush this)

    The Cup (Blood)

    Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood… poured out for you.”

    What the Cup Represents

    Forgiveness
    Covenant
    Cleansing
    Access to God
    Jesus,
    we thank You for Your blood— poured out for us.
    Your blood that washes away sin…
    Your blood that makes us clean…
    Your blood that brings us into a new covenant with You.
    Because of Your blood, we are not distant anymore—
    we are brought near.
    And just like with the bread…
    we don’t just remember this…
    we receive it.
    In Your name, amen.
    Take and drink.
    (pause again… let it sit)
    Pray / Dismiss

      • Mark 1:13ESV

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