30 Easter Sermon Ideas
Easter is coming again soon. Are you ready?
Every year pastors have the duty to come up with yet another great Easter sermon. But after years of preaching the same message, you can start to feel like a broken record.
The Easter message should be the same every year. You should preach the good news of the resurrection of Jesus.
But don’t just dust off the same old sermon every year. You can still be creative in the way you tell the story.
So here are thirty ideas straight from the Bible to help get you started.
30 Easter Sermon Ideas from the Bible
- Preach the Easter story from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28).
- Preach the Easter story from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16).
- Preach the Easter story from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24).
- Preach the Easter story from the Gospel of John (John 20).
- Preach about Peter’s denial of Jesus three times (Matthew 26:30-35, 69-75; Mark 14:26-31, 66-72; Luke 22:31-34, 54-62; John 13:36-38, 18:15-18, 25-27) and his forgiveness through Christ (John 21:15-19).
- Preach from Judas’ perspective. His betrayal (Matthew 26:14-25, 47-56; Mark 14:10-21, 43-50; Luke 22:3-6, 14-23, 47-53; John 13:21-30; 18:1-11) and eventual regret (Matthew 27:3-10; Acts 1:16-20).
- Preach about the last supper (Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-13) and the symbolic meaning of the Passover (Exodus 12). Jesus is the perfect sacrificial lamb who shed his blood to save us all.
- Preach about the last supper and the symbolism of Communion (Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-13; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28).
- Preach about Jesus’ final words on the cross (his seven last words).
- Preach about the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus as evidence for his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
- Preach Easter from the perspective of Doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29).
- Preach Easter from the perspective of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:1-3; Matthew 27:55-61, 28:1-10; Mark 15:40-16:8; John 20:1-18)
- Preach Easter from the perspective of Pilate (Matthew 27:2, 11-26, 57-66; Mark 15:1-15, 43-44; Luke 23:1-25; John 18:28-19:22.
- Preach Easter from the perspective of the Roman Guards at the cross and the tomb (Matthew 27:27-28:15).
- Preach Easter from Jesus’ time in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-56; Mark 14:32-51; Luke 22:39-54; John 17:1-18:12).
- Preach Easter from the trial of Jesus (Matthew 26:57-68, 27:1-26; Mark 14:53-65, 15:1-15; Luke 22:66-23:25; John 18:19-24, 18:28-19:16).
- Preach Easter from the Crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 27:27-60; Mark 15:16-46; Luke 23:26-53; John 19:16-42).
- Preach Easter from the symbolism of the temple curtains being torn (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45; Hebrews 10:19-23). Jesus has made a way for us to stand as holy before God.
- Preach Easter from the Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19). The people worshiped Jesus just before crucifying him, and we do the same thing with our sin. We honor God with our lips and rebel against Him in our hearts.
- Preach about Easter from the empty tomb and what it means that our Savior is not dead (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-12; John 20:1-10).
- Preach Easter from the perspective of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-25). Jesus explains how all scripture points to himself and the crucifixion and resurrection.
- Preach from the many Old Testament prophesies that written hundreds of years before Jesus’ time and were fulfilled perfectly through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
- Preach from the perspective of the two criminals who were crucified next to Jesus (Luke 23:32-43).
- Preach Paul’s writing on the resurrection of Christ from 1 Corinthians 15:1-22.
- Preach the Theology of the atonement for our sins from the book of Romans (Romans 5:6-21).
- Preach from Philippians 2:1-11.
- Preach about Baptism and its symbolism of dying and resurrecting with Christ (Romans 6:3-11).
- Preach about how we are crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).
- Preach about Jesus’ Resurrection from the perspective of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22). Jesus is the sacrifice that Lord has provided so that we may live.
- Preach a series through Jesus’ final teaching at last supper recorded by John (John 13-17).
What Else?
I hope this list has helped inspire your creativity this Easter season.
And if you have already planned your sermon for this year, that’s OK. It’s never soon to get ahead on your plan for next year.
Do you have an Easter sermon idea that is not on this list? If so, please share it with me and everyone else in the comments below.
May God bless you and your ministry as you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ this Easter.
I would like to send you an email; the button does not work to pop up your email. consider printing the email address. I have a question about uploading sermons to evernote.
Send an email to: brandon [at] ProPreacher.com
Brandon, these ideas are excellent! Thanks for sharing them. I will definitely save this page for future reference. One I noticed that was not on your list I have used in the past is from Acts 1:1-3. This might be an odd text for Easter, but it has worked for me in the past. I titled the sermon, “The Reality of the Resurrection” and it focused mainly on the “infallible proofs” of Acts 1:3 and Luke 24:39 in an apologetic way on Jesus’ appeal to three senses for proof of His resurrection: 1) Sight (v.3) “presented Himself alive to them,” and “appeared to them,” 2) Hearing/Sound, (v.3) “speaking about the kingdom of God.”, and 3) Touch (Luke 24:39) “Touch me.” This same outline (sight, sound, and touch) will also work with other texts on Christ’s resurrection such as Luke 24:36-49. It may work best the other way around using Luke 24:36-49 as the primary text, and use Acts 1:3 as a cross reference text.
That’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing Matt. I love the sight, sound, touch theme. May have to steal this some time 🙂
I cannot remember where I got that outline or I came up with it on my own but feel free to use it brother! 😀