You're Like the Second Tissue

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. -- 1 Corinthians 15:20 
Take a tissue box, one that is open. Take a tissue from out of the box and put it aside. Another one follows out of the top of the box. 

You can pull and pull and pull and every time you do, another tissue appears. My box says it has 200 tissues. That means for 200 times I can put out one tissue and another one appears. That’s good because you never know when you will have a cold and need tissues. You can always have a lot of them.
 
But look at these tissues and think about the Easter message. The Easter message is that Jesus rose from the dead. He had died and been put into a grave. He was like a tissue in a box. But he came out of the grave. He popped right up and was alive.
 
That’s an exiting story! Someone was dead but now is alive. But it gets better. Our reading says, But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. – 1 Corinthians 15:20
 
See, when Jesus came back from the dead, he opened the door to every grave. Because he died and returned to life, we can also come back to life after we die. We are like the tissues in a box. Jesus is the first one. Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee that we will also be raised from the dead. Because his death paid for the sin that causes our death, we don’t have to stay dead anymore.
 
We will all probably die someday, hopefully someday when we are very old. We will be buried. Jesus also died and was buried. But we won’t have to stay dead. Because he rose from the dead, so will we.
 
Each time you take out a tissue, check what happens when you pull it from the box. As you take out one, it pulls the second one up ready to be used. Then remember Easter. Jesus came out of the grave. When he died and rose again, he made you like the second tissue. You too will be able to come out of the grave and live in heaven with Jesus forever. Amen.