He Is Risen – Now What?

Standing Firm in Shifting Sands: The Gospel in a Transformed Culture
Series Introduction

“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’” (John 20:21, ESV)

Good morning, friends! Easter Sunday has come and the greatest announcement in human history has been declared once again: the tomb is empty, death is defeated, and Jesus Christ is alive. But now the sun rises on a new morning, and we step back into a world that did not change overnight. Today we begin a journey together, one that starts at the empty tomb and walks straight into the middle of our complicated, shifting, challenging culture.

The Resurrection Is a Commission

The risen Jesus did not find His disciples celebrating in the streets. He found them hiding behind locked doors, afraid of what the world outside might do to them. And yet, even there, He did not tell them to stay hidden. John 20:19‑21 records what happened: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’” (John 20:19‑21, NIV)

That is stunning. The very first word the risen Christ speaks to His gathered people is not a strategy, not a battle plan, not a political program. It is peace. And then, from that peace, He sends them. The resurrection is not a retreat from the world. It is a commission into it.

This matters deeply as we begin this series. We are not gathering around a defeated Savior, hoping to hold the line until things improve. We are gathering around the risen King who has already won the decisive victory and who now sends His people into the world as witnesses. Paul captures this posture in 2 Corinthians 2:14: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Corinthians 2:14, NIV) We march in a triumphal procession already underway. The parade has been won. We are simply carrying the fragrance of Christ through the territory.

Walking Wisely in the World He Sends Us Into

But we must be honest about the world we are sent into. Paul does not romanticize it. In Ephesians 5:15‑16, he writes: “Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15‑16, NIV) The days are evil. Walking wisely in evil days requires understanding the days we are actually living in, and that is precisely what this series is designed to help us do.

Over the weeks ahead, we will walk together through the specific challenges our culture presents to those who hold to the truth of God’s Word. We will examine how objective truth has been redefined as personal preference. We will look at how all authority, including God’s authority, has been treated with deepening suspicion. We will consider how God’s beautiful design for marriage, family, and human identity has been systematically dismantled. We will face the reality that speaking biblical truth increasingly carries a social cost. And in every devotion, without exception, we will return to the same unshakeable foundation.

We approach none of this with despair. We approach it as people who know what Peter declared in 1 Peter 1:3‑4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3‑4, NIV) The inheritance is secure. The hope is not fragile or wishful. It is living, sustained by a living Savior, anchored in a resurrection that no cultural force has ever been able to undo.

This series is not a call to anger. It is not a political program. It is not nostalgia for a previous era of cultural Christianity. It is a call to the same thing Jesus called His disciples to in that locked room: receive His peace, understand where you are being sent, and go. First Corinthians 15:58 gives us our marching orders with clarity: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)

Standing firm does not mean standing still. It means being immovable in Christ while being fully engaged in the world He loves and died for. The empty tomb is not a memory we celebrate once a year and then set aside. It is the living reality that defines every morning, including this one. Jesus Christ is risen, He reigns, He sends, and He goes with us into every conversation, every challenge, and every cultural moment we will face in the days ahead.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the resurrection of Your Son and for the living hope it secures for all who trust in Him. Thank You that Easter is not simply a Sunday celebration but a daily reality that changes everything about how we see the world and our place in it. Forgive me for the times I have kept my faith locked behind closed doors, afraid of what the culture outside might say or do. Forgive me for treating the victory of Christ as though it were fragile, as though the world’s noise could somehow drown out the declaration of the empty tomb.

Today, I receive the peace You speak over me and I accept the commission You place before me. Open my heart and mind through this devotional series to understand the world You are sending me into. Give me courage to stand firm on Your Word when the culture shifts beneath my feet. Make me a faithful, joyful witness to the risen Christ in every corner of my life. I trust that my labor in You is never in vain. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

As you step into this new day, carry the announcement of Easter with you not as a fading echo but as a present reality. The same Jesus who walked out of the tomb is walking with you into whatever this day holds. The world around us is genuinely complex, and this series will not pretend otherwise. But you are not navigating it alone, and you are not navigating it without an anchor. His Word holds. His promises stand. And His risen presence goes before you into every shifting, uncertain, and challenging day ahead.

To God be the glory.

Pray, praise, and give thanks, for God is good and His mercy endures forever.

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