WEBVTT 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:08.640 Hi, it's Pastor Jonathan, and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:15.359 We hope today's message will talent and help you take the next step that you follow. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:20.160 How's everybody's Easter morning been so far? 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:21.440 Yeah, pretty good. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:22.239 Yeah, good. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.359 I like it, Will. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.519 I like the enthusiasm in the room. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.719 Uh, some of y'all still like to be a little half asleep, and that's cool. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:32.719 We we gathered for worship about an hour and 15 minutes before, normally. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.679 Normally it's 10:15 on a Sunday morning. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.960 Um, but no doubt you've probably had a pretty good Easter morning. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:45.439 Uh many of you, when you woke up, you had an Easter basket that uh your mom or dad maybe had prepared for you. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:51.840 Uh, then you had a special Easter breakfast, uh, and then you got on your special Easter outfit. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:59.359 And if mom and dad wanted you, you know, you you took a picture with brother and sister in those new Easter clothes. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:06.319 Uh everything was great about Easter morning, uh, maybe until the moment when everybody got into the car, right? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.359 Yeah, everyone gets up at the right time. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:18.159 They all uh get dressed, they have breakfast, everybody even seems to be getting along, but your entire family uh piles into the car. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:23.040 The car starts just fine, but then this light uh appears on your dash. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:29.200 If we can go to the next slide, this light appears on right there, that low fuel indicator light. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:34.000 Did anybody drive to church this morning with the low fuel indicator light on? 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:38.319 We got we got some guilty as charge people already in the room. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.120 I like it. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:40.719 Let's be honest this morning. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:43.120 Keep it 100 in this place, okay? 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.719 Uh authentic. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:59.280 Um, or maybe you're that person who, yeah, not only did you drive to church led by that uh orange glow, but you've been letting that orange flame guide you for like three days in a row. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:02.879 Like you are pushing it to the bounds. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.520 Personally, the appearance of that light kind of leaves me a little unsettled in my car. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.960 My kids, the moment it comes on, they're like, Dad, you have to go to the gas station. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:14.080 I'm like, Yeah, I do. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.479 Like, how long can I actually go uh before I run out of gas? 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:24.240 Because it reminds me of um this hot summer day when I was 16 years old. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:30.960 When I was 16 years old, I had a 1979 Chevrolet pickup truck. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:32.800 I know, pretty amazing. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:45.280 And just so you know, it did not have a low fuel indicator light, nor did it have a functional gas gauge, which meant that no matter how much gas was in the tank, it always said there was a third of a tank. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:47.439 Now, let me tell you, that's what it didn't have. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:03:02.479 It didn't have the light or the gas gauge that worked, but it did have like an extended bed, had white wall tires, it had an eight-track player inside, um, it had a camper shell, and it had a gun rack. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:12.080 Oh, and it also had the not-so-faint smell of cigarette smoke because it had been my granddad's truck and he would burn through a couple packs a day. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:19.439 So that was my uh first car that I drove from 16 through 18, and it makes sense why I really never had a date in high school. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:30.800 Um, so one Sunday afternoon, I'm going to go meet some friends actually at church, and my mom and dad's house is probably a mile and a half from the church that I grew up attending. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:36.240 I'm able to cross over I-30 and Benton and I'm about to take a left onto the service road. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:37.039 I've stopped. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:46.080 I'm gonna take a left onto the service road, and I moved my foot from the brake to the gas, and my truck just completely died. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:52.960 On that day, my truck wasn't just low on fuel, it was out of fuel. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:56.159 The tank was empty. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:04.319 So, is anyone this morning willing to admit that you've run out of gas before and found yourself stranded on the side of the road? 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:06.159 Anyone willing to admit that? 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:08.159 There's a few honest folks in the room. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:14.879 Others of you are well, liars, because I know it's happened to more of you than the few that raised their hands. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:22.319 And anytime you have an empty tank and you're left stranded on the side of the road, you have this bitter taste in your mouth, don't you? 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:23.920 This bitter taste. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.800 Um, it's kind of a mixture of embarrassment. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.319 I can't believe I did that. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:29.519 Frustration. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.680 Why didn't I just stop at the gas station that I just drove past? 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.120 Disappointment. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.360 There's even some anxiety in your mouth that you taste in that moment, and there's some loneliness too. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:46.879 Now, of course, some of you, you've never run out of gas, and good for you. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:54.319 Um, but you've still tasted the pain of what it means for something in your life to be empty. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:58.800 Now, it could have been the empty was just kind of more of an annoyance. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:00.480 More of an annoyance. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:17.199 Um, yeah, so like on Saturday morning, you woke up and you were really looking forward to that cold piece of pizza for breakfast, but um, you open the uh refrigerator door and the pizza box is like still in the refrigerator, and you open the box and it's empty. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.839 Has anybody ever had that happen before to you? 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.759 It's because the pizza goblins got out in your home in the middle of the night and had the last piece. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:45.920 Or maybe your annoyance was you're just trying to get out the door to work or to school, and um you need to brush your teeth, and you go and grab your tuba toothpaste, and there is nothing in it, um, and you can't find another full tube of toothpaste in the entire house, so you just have to have stinky breath the rest of the day. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:46.720 Yeah. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:59.040 Um, but there are other times in life when empty, this sense of something not being full, is actually more of a stinging pain, and it really does kind of hurt. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:24.480 Um, you may think of it like the empty room that no one showed up, no one showed up that was invited, or or you think of it uh it just communicates no one cares about you, or it's that trusted person in your life who made a promise and didn't keep it, and you felt the heartache of empty words. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:32.000 You know, in the English language we spell empty E M P T Y. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:37.920 But here's the funny thing about this word empty, E-M P T Y. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:49.839 If you erase the E and then you phonetically sound out the remaining four letters, the sound that they make is still empty. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:07:03.120 And then if you erase the P and you phonetically sound out the remaining three letters, the M, the T, and the Y, the sound they still make is empty. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:10.079 And then if you erase the Y, you're just left with the M and the T, and phonetically their sound is still what? 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:11.439 Empty. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:20.079 And then you erase those final two letters, and now the slide, it's empty. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:28.800 It's as if we can't outrun or escape empty in our life. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:42.959 We we experience its sting in in so many spheres, but the most painful sting of that word empty is when we experience it in the depths of our soul. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:48.160 You know, all of us at one time or another in our life have felt that pain. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:55.519 In that moment when we feel our soul is empty, we wonder if our life has meaning. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:00.480 We wonder if our life has value, if our life has a purpose. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.879 The author of the Old Testament book, Ecclesiastes, he puts it this way. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:10.720 He says this he says, everything is meaningless, completely meaningless. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:20.560 If you exchange the word meaningless with the word empty, you wouldn't change his message one bit. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:28.639 Some of us, when we feel that emptiness in our soul, we we try to numb the ache. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.799 Sometimes we just try to entertain ourselves to keep our mind off of it. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:41.279 We binge another show on Netflix, we scroll through Facebook or Instagram, um, we drown in cable news coverage. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:48.000 Other times to numb the ache, we shop online, we try to buy more things. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:52.639 Still other times uh we eat more and we drink more. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:58.000 Other times we just try to ignore the ache or the pain altogether. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:09.360 Other times we just decide we're gonna work harder at our job because we want to earn that credibility, that meaning, that respect that we're missing inside of us. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:26.399 But did you know this that no matter how much entertainment you consume, um, how many purchases you make, no matter how much you eat or drink, how much you earn, none of those things will make you feel any less empty. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:38.559 You may fill up your time, you may fill up your house, you may fill up your stomach, you may fill up your bank account, but they will never fill up your soul. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:53.279 Did you know this that over the last 80 years, uh researchers have determined this that life in America over the last 80 years has steadily become easier and more prosperous. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:58.720 It's a more comfortable life that we live than we did 80 years ago. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:14.320 Yet, at that same time, people's experience, especially among young adults, people's experience has been more filled with dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and anxiety. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:23.440 In other words, no matter how hard we try to fill our lives, to fill our soul, they are it's still empty. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:27.840 And here's the thing about that word empty. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:34.639 We not only experience it within us, we see it all around us. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:41.200 We see it in the headlines about a war being waged. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:46.320 We see it in headlines that tell us that addictions are growing. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:51.679 We see it in headlines and reports that polarization is increasing. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:11:14.720 You see the way we treat one another, when we decide we can cut one another down, when we decide we will not give anyone the benefit of the doubt, and we're just gonna make them feel worse about themselves, that says that the life of that other person is empty, that it is meaningless, it doesn't have value, it lacks purpose. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:36.320 And when a life and when a world kind of lives out this emptiness that we're experiencing on a level of our soul, when we when we live that out, we get caught up in this endless cycle of frustration, anxiety, disappointment, and even despair. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.600 Do you think those four words describe our world right now? 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:49.840 Frustration, anxiety, disappointment, and despair. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:56.000 Listen, when it comes to the human condition, here's the fact of the matter. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:00.399 We're empty and we need an answer. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.120 We're empty and we need an answer. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:18.000 And there is only one answer for a soul and for a world that is racked with frustration, anxiety, disappointment, and despair. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.759 And the answer is Jesus Christ. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:28.320 Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:41.519 He is alive, and what our soul craves and what our world needs to fill it is the powerful name of Jesus Christ. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:58.720 Our world that is racked with frustration and anxiety and disappointment and despair needs the message of hope that ushers out of the empty tomb. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.759 The answer is Jesus for your life and for the world. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.120 Because listen, here's today's main idea. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:14.480 Think about this an empty life needs the empty tomb. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.440 An empty life needs the empty tomb. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:32.639 What your empty life needs, and what this empty world needs is to have a relationship with the Lord of the empty tomb, the one who walked out of it and conquered death. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:38.000 He is the one who can fill us with hope. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:45.200 So listen carefully this morning to the story that John tells in chapter 20 of his gospel. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:51.600 Listen carefully to this story, and I want you to see if you can find yourself in these verses. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.200 Place yourself in the middle of this story. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.759 I'll start reading with verse 19. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.399 John 20, verse 19 says this. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:09.360 That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.519 Suddenly Jesus was standing there among them. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:26.879 They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:33.919 Again he said, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.480 Then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:51.039 John's gospel tells us that on the first Easter evening, the disciples of Jesus rendezvous with one another at a safe house. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:59.279 The lights are dim, the curtains are drawn, the doors are locked, entrance is only granted if you know the password when you knock. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.000 They couldn't take any chances. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:11.600 Because on that first Easter evening, the disciples, they're going to take every precaution because they are afraid. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.039 That's what John says. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:14.320 They are afraid. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.360 They are motivated by fear. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:25.039 They fear that if they are found by the Jewish leaders, they will suffer the same fate as Jesus. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:29.600 Arrest, trial, conviction, crucifixion. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.759 Here's what you should notice. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:45.519 In the span of just a week, the primary motivating factor in the lives of the disciples had completely shifted. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:53.600 On the Sunday prior, Palm Sunday, the disciples are motivated by faith. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:59.120 They are motivated by the belief that Jesus is God's Messiah. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:07.279 Motivated by the belief that through Jesus, God will liberate Israel from the oppression of Rome. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:15.519 So they are motivated by faith, which means their lives are brimming with value and purpose and meaning. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:27.600 And then the cries of the crowd on that Palm Sunday, as they say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, they only reinforce the faith that they are experiencing in that moment. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:35.120 And then one week later, the entire script has flipped. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:43.279 Once motivated by faith, now the disciples are motivated by fear. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:45.440 Motivated by fear. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:48.720 Here's what I know about fear. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.519 In small doses, fear is healthy. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.320 Fear is healthy in small doses. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.000 It's what motivates a child not to touch a stovetop. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:07.759 Motivates a child not to stick a fork, a metal fork, into an electrical outlet. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.000 Fear in small doses is completely healthy. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:18.400 But I think sometimes we forget that fear is a controlled substance. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.680 In larger doses, fear, it paralyzes us. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:34.400 In larger doses, fear injects into our veins that frustration, that anxiety and disappointment. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:40.319 And then when we overdose on fear, what happens is we are filled with despair. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:50.960 That's why too much fear quickly makes the soul feel as if it is empty. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:52.960 Do you see what happens? 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.720 Too much fear. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:04.640 Too much fear makes us feel empty on the inside because we're experiencing all these intense negative emotions. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:12.160 And fear, it blinds us to the promises of God. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:21.440 In that very moment, the disciples had forgotten the promise of Jesus. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:30.480 Often he had taught them something like this in Mark 8:31 that he, Jesus, would suffer many terrible things. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.799 He would be killed. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:37.680 But three days later, he would rise from the dead. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:46.400 Jesus had promised the events of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:54.319 He said they would occur, but the disciples had forgotten the promise because fear was the motivating factor in their life. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.799 They were trying to save their skin. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:14.720 So in that moment, that first Easter evening, it's my guess that those disciples huddled in that room with behind a locked door, with curtains drawn to dim lights, they feel an emptiness that you and I are all too familiar with. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.759 All because of fear. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:26.720 All because they're blinded to the promises of God. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:36.319 And it was caused, get this again, it was caused by nothing more than a change, albeit a dramatic change in circumstances. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:42.240 So, child of God, here's the question right now I want to press into for just a minute. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:49.839 What's the change in circumstance that has blinded you to the promises of God? 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:51.839 What's the change? 00:19:52.000 --> 00:20:05.759 It could be a dramatic change that now leaves you motivated by fear, and your life feels empty, without meaning, without value, without purpose. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:21.519 Dramatic change of circumstance, like the loss of a job, the loss of a spouse, the loss of a friend, or a doctor's report that was not what you were hoping for. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.880 A challenging season with a child that pushes you to the brink. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.119 Or just the pain of growing older. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:39.200 Each of those change in circumstances, listen, they are dramatic and they are difficult. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:52.079 And I'm not suggesting in any way the pain you feel isn't real, that it isn't warranted, and that a twinge of fear isn't natural. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:01.440 But if you find yourself paralyzed, paralyzed with frustration, disappointment, and despair. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:11.200 If because of this change in circumstance you just feel empty in your soul, you need to be reminded of the promises of God. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:17.359 A promise like Psalm 34, verse 18, that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:25.279 A promise like 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 7, that says, Give all your worries, all your worries. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.200 Don't hold any worries to yourself. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:29.200 Don't try to handle it on your own. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:34.880 Give all your worries and your cares to God, for He cares about you. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:39.839 Promises like these, here's what they remind us. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:45.200 Promises like these remind us that God's eye is always on his child. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:54.240 And the person who God sees, that person has value and meaning and ultimately purpose in this world. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.279 Your life is not empty because God's eye is on you. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:07.279 Remember those promises, but most importantly, listen, remember the promise of the resurrection. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:19.279 Remember the promise of the empty tomb, because it's the promise of the empty tomb that injects peace and joy into our veins. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:24.640 An empty life needs the empty tomb. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:32.480 So just imagine that you're in the room with those disciples, feeling that gnawing emptiness on the inside. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.079 And then out of nowhere, Jesus appears. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.160 Mary Magdalene had told you that he's alive. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:42.799 He didn't know if you believed her. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.799 But now you see Jesus with your two eyes. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:48.960 You see him for yourself. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:56.720 You see his wounds, his scars, and then he speaks. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.640 The first word out of his mouth is peace. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.759 He says, peace be with you. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:14.720 The peace that Jesus speaks in that room is a peace that reconciles, that starts a relationship. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:27.519 It's a peace that is a word of welcome, saying, because of my cross, because of my resurrection, your place in the family of God is now secure. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:36.640 Ultimately, when Jesus says, peace be with you, he is telling his disciples this very important message. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:40.720 You now can have a relationship with God. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:51.119 You can experience that life-giving, soul-filling relationship with your Heavenly Father. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:24:01.119 And listen, friends, nothing counters the bitter taste of emptiness, like a relationship with the Creator. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:12.000 Nothing gives meaning and value to our lives like knowing the God personally and intimately who created you. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:16.400 An empty life needs the empty tomb. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:29.200 And it's Jesus' empty tomb, the fact that he's the Lord of the empty tomb that allows us to enter into this life-giving relationship. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:41.599 That's why the immediate reaction of the disciples in that moment, Jesus says, peace be with you, and then joy is coursing through their veins. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:50.559 Joy, the opposite of that intense frustration, the opposite of that intense despair that they had just felt. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:54.000 Now, joy is pumping through their veins. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:59.200 Joy, it's the automatic response of the peace that Jesus offered. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:18.400 Because joy is produced when we experience that personal, thriving, intimate relationship with the God who created us when we realize that the message of the empty tomb is real, that Jesus is alive. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:31.920 Real joy recognizes that you are a member of God's family and you share in the victory of Jesus Christ. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:41.440 Child of God, here's the invitation today to let that message, that reality of the empty tomb, echo deep within your soul. 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:54.880 And whenever you are tempted to overdose on fear due to the circumstances of life, the headlines we read, remember that the tomb is empty. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:01.200 And let the peace of Christ and the joy of Christ course through your veins. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:06.720 But don't just remember and recall the message. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.119 You got to share the message. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.640 Because remember what? 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:14.720 An empty life and an empty world needs the empty tomb. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.000 At the end of the story, Jesus simply does this. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:21.039 He commands his disciples to go. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:26.160 He sends them and then he empowers them with the Holy Spirit. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:33.119 He sends them out into an empty world to proclaim the good news of the empty tomb. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:48.000 So that more and more people can experience that very same peace and that very same joy in their life that only comes through a relationship with the God who created them. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:56.799 Sometimes I think we forget that the message of Easter is not just for us, it's for everyone. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:00.720 An empty world needs the empty tomb. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:02.480 They need the message of hope. 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:06.559 Don't keep the message of hope confined within these walls. 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:12.240 Tell everyone that you can that Jesus is alive. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.759 Back to what we said at the very beginning. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:28.960 The condition of our world outside of Jesus, the condition of a life outside of Jesus is emptiness. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:35.519 But Jesus is the answer to the emptiness we experience. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.400 So the question this morning is just simply this Have you trusted Jesus? 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.359 Have you trusted Jesus? 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:54.799 Have you called upon the name of the Lord and trusted that Jesus is the only Son of God and by His sins, by His death, the sins of the world are forgiven? 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:01.599 Have you trusted in Jesus that by the power of his resurrection you can be welcomed into the family of God? 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:14.880 Have you trusted in Jesus, the one who has been forever and now reigns and will one day come again to rescue his church and to redeem all of creation? 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:20.799 Have you trusted in that Jesus, the one who's the Lord of the empty tomb? 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:33.119 And if you trust in that Jesus today, here's what I know that the emptiness you feel, you feel in this moment will be filled by Him. 00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:55.039 And that, the disappointment and the frustration and even the despair that you know you don't want to talk about it, you want to ignore it and act like it's not there, but that all those feelings that are very, very real, Jesus comes into our life and he gives us peace. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:57.680 And he gives us joy. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:05.279 Peace and joy that come only through a relationship with our Heavenly Father. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:08.640 Will you trust Jesus today? 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:11.920 Let's stand together. 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:25.200 Almighty God, we celebrate the message and the hope of the empty tomb this morning. 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:35.920 What tremendous power you displayed through that act. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:39.359 No greater miracle have you ever performed. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:48.160 And we thank you that we can share in that hope by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:54.559 And so I pray specifically at this hour for the person who has yet to trust in Jesus. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:59.119 That today they would say, I want to make a decision for Jesus. 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:02.960 I want to experience that peace and joy that only He can offer. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:08.720 I want to experience and now live in an eternal relationship with my Heavenly Father. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:14.160 Oh God, I want to be filled with the hope of Jesus Christ. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:20.160 And God, I know there is that person in this room or many in this room who need to make that decision. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:27.440 Holy Spirit, give them the courage to step out and say, I want to trust in Jesus Christ. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:37.839 Holy Spirit, give them the courage to put their hope and their trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Lord of the empty tomb. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.000 We pray this in His name. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:40.960 Amen. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:51.039 As we prepare to sing now, now is the time when you can respond if you are ready to put your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:52.240 Let's sing.