EPISODE · Apr 5, 2026 · 24 MIN

You Can't Explain Away the Empty Tomb

from Naples Community Church's Podcast · host Kirt Anderson

On Easter Sunday, Pastor Kirt Anderson preaches from Luke 24 and asks one of the most important questions anyone can wrestle with: did Jesus actually rise from the dead, and does it matter? He walks through the morning of the resurrection, noting that even the disciples who were there struggled to comprehend what had happened. Peter ran to the tomb and left wondering. The women were the first to see it and declare it. And even in the upper room, the risen Jesus had to show his hands and his side before the disciples could believe. The resurrection was not wishful thinking. It was a reality so strange and unexpected that the people closest to it could barely take it in.Pastor Kirt also takes on one of the most common modern positions: that we can admire Jesus as a great moral teacher while setting aside his claims to be the Son of God. Drawing on C.S. Lewis, he makes the case that this option was never really on the table. Jesus did not leave room for it. The resurrection is the verification of everything Jesus said and did, and Pastor Kirt closes with a personal testimony of how that same resurrection power met him as a guilt-ridden teenager in a chapel, and changed everything. If you have questions about faith, doubt, or what Easter is really about, this message is for you.