Easter Sunday 2026: The God Who Raises the Dead | Acts 2-13 (selected); Romans 4:17-25
-
Read Acts 4:1–31 and Romans 4:17–25 together before starting.
The sermon distinguished between saying “Jesus rose” and “God raised Him.” Before we go further — what shifts in you when you hear it that second way? Does it comfort you, unsettle you, or does it not land at all? Be honest about where you actually are with that.
The sermon named “functional atheism” — believing the right things about God but living as if everything depends on you. Where is that most true in your life right now? Not where it used to be true — where is it true this week?
The sermon asked “What feels dead in you?” and named five areas — hope, joy, dreams, relationships, spiritual life. Which one did you feel yourself flinch at? And here’s the harder question: have you already accepted a verdict of death over it — decided it won’t change — and if so, what would it cost you to reopen that?
The sermon said “No one has ever stood at a grave and said ‘I just need to try harder’ and brought something back to life.” But most of us default to exactly that. What would it actually look like — concretely, this week — to stop trying to resurrect something yourself and instead bring it to God? What would you do differently? What would you stop doing?
The sermon spoke to four types of people: the self-reliant, the exhausted, the cynical, and the religious. Which one are you right now — and which one have you been before? What did God do in that earlier season that you could offer to someone in this room who might be in it now?
The sermon ended with “The first step toward resurrection is not effort — it is admission.” What is the one thing you need to admit — to God and to someone in this room — that you’ve been trying to raise on your own? Who here are you willing to say it to?
-
Easter is a big deal in church — but be real: does the resurrection actually feel like it matters to your everyday life, or does it feel more like something you’re supposed to believe? No wrong answer here — just tell the truth about where you are.
The sermon talked about “functional atheism” — believing God exists but living like everything depends on you. Think about the thing that stresses you out most right now — school, a friendship, your family, your future. How much of your energy goes toward trying to control that versus actually trusting God with it? Be specific.
The sermon listed things that can feel dead — hope, joy, dreams, relationships, your relationship with God. You’re young, and people might tell you “you have your whole life ahead of you” — but that doesn’t mean things can’t already feel dead or stuck. Is there something in your life right now that feels that way? You don’t have to have it all figured out — just name it if you can.
The sermon said “Your weakness is not an obstacle to God’s power — it’s the platform for it.” That’s a big claim. Do you believe that? And if it were actually true — that God specifically uses the places where you feel weakest — how would that change the way you think about the thing you’re most insecure about?
Peter denied Jesus three times and then became the boldest person in the room. That means failure doesn’t disqualify you. Is there something you’ve failed at or messed up that you’ve been carrying around like it’s the final word? What would it look like to bring that to God this week instead of trying to fix it yourself — and is there someone here you’d trust enough to talk to about it?
-
The Bible says “God raised Jesus from the dead.” That means God did something no person could ever do. What’s the most impossible thing you can think of? Now — what does it tell you about God that He can do something even bigger than that?
The sermon said sometimes we try to fix everything ourselves instead of asking God for help. Do you ever do that? Maybe when you’re upset, or when something feels hard at school or with a friend — do you try to handle it all by yourself? What happens when you do?
Peter was so scared that he lied and said he didn’t even know Jesus. But after the resurrection, he became the bravest person in the whole story. Have you ever been really scared about something and then found out you could be braver than you thought? What helped you?
The sermon said it’s okay to feel like something is really hard or even impossible. Is there something in your life right now that feels really, really hard — something you don’t know how to fix? It’s okay to say it. Even grown-ups feel that way sometimes.
God raised Jesus from the dead — which means nothing is too hard for God. If you could ask God to help you with one thing this week — not something you want like a toy, but something that feels hard or stuck — what would it be? Let’s actually pray about that right now together.
