*Title:* Resurrection of the Heart — Pastor Kyle Baldwin, April 4, 2026

On the weekend the church turns its thoughts toward the resurrection, Pastor Kyle Baldwin begins not with an empty tomb but with an honest diagnosis: the heart, apart from Christ, is bent toward sin. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9), and from our youth the imagination of the heart leans toward its own desires (Genesis 8:21). We do not merely make mistakes now and then; our very natures are inclined toward ourselves. But that is not where the sermon leaves us, because the gospel’s good news is that we do not have to stay that way. The same power that raised Christ from the dead — the power Ellen White says will raise His church and glorify it with Him — is the power that can raise a heart still beating in a body dead in sin.

To show what that power looks like, Pastor Baldwin walks through three times Jesus raised someone from the dead, each one a foretaste of resurrection morning. First, Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:41–42): undeterred by the news of her death, Jesus entered the home and spoke softly, in the familiar language of her own house — “Talitha cumi,” damsel, arise — and she got up and walked. He speaks to each of us in language we can understand, and right now His voice, through the Holy Spirit, is calling our hearts to wake from the death of sin. Then the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:14–15): Jesus met the funeral procession, touched the bier, and said, “Young man, arise” — and the young man sat up and spoke. Resurrected people show evidence: they walk, they speak, they move. So it is with a heart raised from sin — reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God (Romans 6:11), get up, and do something for Him.

The final story is the one everyone knows, and it is the one that removes every excuse. Lazarus had been dead four days, buried and entombed (John 11) — further along in death than either of the others — and Jesus still brought him back. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), because the thought of losing us breaks His heart; then He had the stone rolled away and cried, “Lazarus, come forth.” It does not matter how far you think you have gone from God, Pastor Baldwin says: He can bring you back to life. The sermon closes with an invitation that is also its title: let God revive your heart now, prepare it over the coming week to be restored, and discover that the greatest resurrection of all is the resurrection of your heart.

*Key texts:* Jeremiah 17:9; Genesis 8:21; Mark 5:41–42; Romans 6:8–11; Luke 7:14–15; John 11:35, 11:43 · *Also referenced:* Ellen G. White, Youth’s Instructor (on the power that raised Christ); Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 343 (on “Talitha cumi”)

*Watch:* https://youtu.be/SISmRaEsB4k · *Listen:* https://cloud-1de12d.becdn.net/media/original/9f9e8c7f0adc8346a610ac889b242513.mp3