This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
Here is the tone of this Easter message: it’s not just a date on a calendar, but the living reality of who Jesus is. The big idea is simple and bold:
Jesus is the unstoppable king.
Wax seals and guards: the plot that could not hold
After Jesus died and was placed in the tomb, the Pharisees came to Pilate. They argued that Jesus had promised He would rise in three days. Their fear was that the disciples would steal the body and stage a “fake resurrection.”
But Pastor Todd emphasized this: there is nothing Jesus does that is fake. Everything the Lord does is real, powerful, and exactly what people need at the right time.
The response? Pilate placed a seal on the tomb (wax), set guards there, and treated that as if it could prevent what Jesus already promised.
Wax could not work. Guards could not stop him. Because Jesus is the unstoppable king.
The unstoppable king has you in His heart and on His mind, and is coming for you. He wants to reveal there is:
- no sin that can’t be forgiven
- no depravity that can’t be cleansed
- no sickness that can’t be healed
- no need that He can’t fill
Because He is the unstoppable King.
Matthew 28:1-4, where fear meets the living God
In Matthew 28, the story begins at dawn:
Matthew 28:1-4 “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”
Pastor Todd paused here to underline something we can easily skip over if we read too quickly: angels are real spiritual beings, and they play a role in God’s salvation story.
Real angels still minister
It is easy to think of angels as cartoons or decorations. Pastor Todd challenged that directly with a clear contrast: you do not have to believe in Santa. And please do not treat Easter as if it were about the Easter Bunny.
Instead, believe in angels. They are real, and they still minister to God’s people.
His reasoning was powerful: when angels appear in Scripture, they do not just announce themselves. They reveal the presence and power of God. In Scripture, people sometimes almost assume the angel’s appearance is the Lord Himself because they carry God’s power and presence.
When angels come, God shakes things up
In Matthew 28, the angel’s arrival came with a violent earthquake, and the guards shook and collapsed “like dead men.” Pastor Todd connected it to another pattern in Scripture.
Acts 4 describes believers praying amid persecution, and the building and ground shaking as God moved.
The point is important: God is not opposed to shaking things up. God may shake a building. God may shake a person. And often, it is not to harm, but to awaken, renew, and fulfill His perfect plan.
Sometimes God shakes things off of us that keep Him at arm’s length: stinking thinking, beliefs that have kept people from experiencing God’s goodness and love. When God shakes you down, it will be for your good.
“Do not be afraid”: the angel’s message is a promise, not a rumor
The angel spoke to the women. Pastor Todd highlighted how the angel addressed their fear with truth.
Matthew 28:5-6 “Do not be afraid… He is not here. He has risen just as he said.”
The phrase, “Just as he said” is important.
And that phrase carries the heartbeat of resurrection confidence. Everything Jesus does happens “just as He said.”
Every time God answers a prayer, it is “just as He said.” Every blessing that comes is aligned with what God has already promised, whether it came as a specific word to someone or from God’s Word itself. Jesus wants us to recognize his faithfulness to fulfill his every word.
God’s word does not fail: Jesus’ whole life followed the promise
Pastor Todd walked through the life of Jesus as proof of it will be “just as He said.”
- Jesus was born under lowly circumstances, in a manger with animals around Him, and yet it was the right beginning because it happened just as the prophets said.
- Jesus lived for around thirty years, began His ministry at about age thirty, and what He came to do unfolded as promised, just as he said.
- Then He was crucified, placed in the tomb, and came out with power exactly as promised.
This matters for the present. Our lives are not out of control if we surrender control to the Lord. There is a plan, purpose, path, and journey. And everything ahead will happen “just as He said.”
The “living among the dead” question: where you look matters
Pastor Todd added detail from Luke’s account, where the angel asks why people would look for the living among the dead?
In Luke’s wording as it was preached, the question repeats themes like:
- Why look for life where there is only death?
- Why look for happiness where there is only sadness?
- Why look for joy where there is only pain and suffering?
- Why look to entertainment and things that do not satisfy when God’s plan is to fill you with the Holy Spirit?
It is a confrontation of misplaced hope, and it points back to resurrection life. The women would not find Jesus among the dead, and we won’t find life in earthly things that are not able to give life.
“Afraid, yet filled with joy”: what worship looks like when we encounter Jesus
Matthew continues with how the women responded:
Matthew 28:8 “So the women hurried… afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
Pastor Todd pointed out the surprising combination: they were afraid, and filled with joy. He framed it as a healthy place to be when Jesus begins to move.
When Jesus begins to move and make himself personally known, and it can feel like your life is about to change in ways you did not anticipate. There can be fear because old patterns will be challenged. Jesus is coming after the parts of life that are unhealthy and can drag you down, dimming your joy. False belief systems will be confronted. Even destructive patterns of thinking can be comfortable, so Jesus wants to disrupt those patterns with his truth.
Suddenly Jesus meets them, and fear melts into worship
Then the account turns:
Matthew 28:9 “Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.”
Pastor Todd’s takeaway: when you draw close to Jesus and allow him in, fear melts away and worship takes over. The heart shifts from dread to surrender: that is when worship becomes the natural response.
Jesus sends them to Galilee: in the place of trouble
Jesus gives them an instruction:
Matthew 28:10 “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Pastor Todd asked a practical question. They were in Jerusalem. Why go to Galilee?
His answer focused on the character of Galilee. Galilee was not as “popular” politically and religiously. It had trouble. It had governing authorities who avoided it, and even the Pharisees tended to avoid it.
The common phrase was “Can anything good come out of Nazareth in Galilee?” That region were known for trouble, problems, crime, and sadness.
Yet Jesus said to his disciples, “I want to meet you in your Galilee.”
Your “Galilee” is where Jesus is willing to meet you
This was the closing emphasis of the sermon: Jesus, the unstoppable king, is ready to meet you in your Galilee.
And Pastor Todd made it very clear:
- You do not have to clean yourself up.
- You do need to acknowledge what is real in you, including the pain.
- That place in you where the trouble is, the “Galilee” where the mess is, is where Jesus wants to speak, love, manifest His presence, and bring freedom.
He is not afraid of our Galilees. He is willing to go there because that is often where people need Him most.
Resurrection power is not limited to one day
Pastor Todd closed by reminding the church that Easter is a holiday on the calendar, but resurrection day is something celebrated every day.
The power of Jesus’ resurrection flows constantly.
You do not have to wait until early April to receive resurrection power and life. Jesus is here for you now.
Application questions
- Where have you been trying to look for “life” in places that only seem dead?
- What is your personal “Galilee”?
- Are there beliefs or “stinking thinking” that God might be shaking off to bring you closer to His goodness and love?
- When Jesus begins to move, do you tend to feel more fear than joy? How could surrender and worship change that response?
- Which promise from Scripture can you lean on today, trusting that God will do “just as he said”?
