Tyler Lynde: Let's look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 9.
Tyler Lynde: I wonder if you can guess what we're going to talk about this morning.
Tyler Lynde: Yes, the title of today's message is A Living Hope.
Tyler Lynde: A Living Hope.
Tyler Lynde: So let's look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 9.
Tyler Lynde: And this is where we're going to gather our uh important information from the scriptures that we're going to dissect together.
Tyler Lynde: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Tyler Lynde: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the uh tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Tyler Lynde: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcoming of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Tyler Lynde: Let us pray together.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we thank you for what you've already accomplished in this morning.
Tyler Lynde: You woke us up this morning.
Tyler Lynde: You caused there to be breath in our lungs.
Tyler Lynde: You gave us the ability to gather together in this place as one family, one body, as a part of the larger body of Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, you allowed us to enjoy a rich time of praising and worshiping you with all of our hearts, our souls, and our minds.
Tyler Lynde: And Lord, now as we begin to open your word together, we ask that you would cause your word to come alive on the inside of us, that it would not just be something that we read and forget or that we get excited about in the moment, and then later on it fades away.
Tyler Lynde: Father, we ask that this word would be an enduring word for us, that it would produce the type of crop that you desire for it to produce in each and every one of our lives.
Tyler Lynde: And we give you glory for it in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So when you hear the word hope in this life, in this world, most of the time, what are you thinking of?
Tyler Lynde: You're thinking of a wish.
Tyler Lynde: Like, I hope that it doesn't rain on Easter.
Tyler Lynde: Or I hope that it's warm on Easter.
Tyler Lynde: Or I hope that, you know, on and on.
Tyler Lynde: I hope that I pass the test.
Tyler Lynde: I hope that whatever.
Tyler Lynde: I hope that I'm, I hope that I grow taller.
Tyler Lynde: I hope that I grow smaller.
Tyler Lynde: I hope, I hope, I hope.
Tyler Lynde: Right?
Tyler Lynde: So that's the world's kind of hope.
Tyler Lynde: And honestly, there's another kind of a little bit more negative side to hope in this world, and that is hope that is based on things that are temporal.
Tyler Lynde: So hope that's based on money or based on uh status or based on power or fame or any other things that we could name that people base their hope on, right?
Tyler Lynde: As long as there's a certain amount of money in our checking account, we have hope.
Tyler Lynde: But if that if those dollars begin to shrink and things begin to change in that aspect of our lives, then it begins to cause us to lose hope, right?
Tyler Lynde: Now, the Bible kind of hope is different than the hope of this world.
Tyler Lynde: Aren't you glad for that?
Tyler Lynde: In our Bible passage today, in this beautiful sort of doxology, the Holy Spirit uses Peter to spell out for us what living hope is, what it looks like, and how it, how to apply it to our lives, past, present, and future.
Tyler Lynde: So let me give you a definition for living hope.
Tyler Lynde: And this is by no means an exhaustive definition.
Tyler Lynde: This is just one that we can work with today.
Tyler Lynde: So living hope is a confident expectation, a confident expectation of God's blessing based on his promises.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you have proved out in your life that God is true and faithful to his word and to his promises?
Tyler Lynde: And that is what our living hope is based upon.
Tyler Lynde: It's based upon the fact that God speaks, he speaks blessing, he speaks promise, and he fulfills that which he speaks, right?
Tyler Lynde: One of the reasons that we're here today is because he blessed us with a new covenant in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And we're going to talk about some of the elements of that as we move through this sermon this morning.
Tyler Lynde: And because of that new covenant, we have right standing with God because of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: So we have confident expectation.
Tyler Lynde: Unlike the empty, dead hope of this world, this living hope is energizing.
Tyler Lynde: It's alive, it's active in the soul of every true believer in Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Are you experiencing living hope here this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: If you aren't yet, I believe that you will by the time that you leave these doors this morning.
Tyler Lynde: It is an undying and permanent hope that is not based upon circumstances or situations.
Tyler Lynde: It's not based upon how you feel or you don't feel.
Tyler Lynde: This is a hope that's based on him, not on us.
Tyler Lynde: And that's a hope that we can count on.
Tyler Lynde: So where does this hope come from?
Tyler Lynde: It says in our passage that Father God is the source of our living hope.
Tyler Lynde: Remember what it says: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: The passage starts with turning our attention to the God who is worthy of all blessing and glory and honor and power and praise and dominion.
Tyler Lynde: I could go on and on.
Tyler Lynde: He alone is the one who loved us enough to give us his son.
Tyler Lynde: And we could quote it together this morning.
Tyler Lynde: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
Tyler Lynde: How great the Father's love is for us.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: And that is why we're here today, and that is what gives us the ability to experience living hope.
Tyler Lynde: Now notice that in this passage, one of the few places that the full name of Jesus is listed.
Tyler Lynde: And I just want to quickly point to the three parts of it.
Tyler Lynde: So the first one is Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Lord means that Jesus is the sovereign one with the exclusive right to rule in hearts and lives.
Tyler Lynde: Is he the Lord of your life this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Okay, um, we're gonna decide on that as we move along because that was not very strong.
Tyler Lynde: The second thing, he is also Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus is the savior who saves his people from their sins.
Tyler Lynde: Is he your savior this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Wow, okay, savior, yes.
Tyler Lynde: Lord, we're working on.
Tyler Lynde: All right.
Tyler Lynde: And the third one, the third one is he is Christ.
Tyler Lynde: He is God's anointed one, the Messiah sent from heaven to restore mankind to God, and he has been exalted to heaven's highest place.
Tyler Lynde: That is it.
Tyler Lynde: Do you believe this morning that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: So we know that God, in all of his love for us, is the source of living hope.
Tyler Lynde: And what was God's motive for doing this?
Tyler Lynde: It's mercy.
Tyler Lynde: The motive of our living hope, that God, God's motive for our living hope is mercy.
Tyler Lynde: It says, according to his great mercy.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you know mercy is not something that we deserve?
Tyler Lynde: In fact, mercy is giving us the opposite of what we deserve.
Tyler Lynde: And all of us deserve, if we were to get the just reward for the sins that we've committed, all of us deserve to die and to be separated from God forever.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know his mercy made a way for us to not have to do that, but to be restored into right relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: That's how great our Father's love is for us.
Tyler Lynde: And why do we need this?
Tyler Lynde: Ephesians 2 clears it out very uh spells it out very clearly.
Tyler Lynde: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
Tyler Lynde: This is our story, by the way.
Tyler Lynde: This is our testimony.
Tyler Lynde: Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
Tyler Lynde: Let's just stop right there.
Tyler Lynde: Is that the end of the passage?
Tyler Lynde: What are the next two words?
Tyler Lynde: But God, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
Tyler Lynde: By grace, you have been saved.
Tyler Lynde: This is the good news this morning.
Tyler Lynde: This is the truth that we proclaim to you from the word of God, from the mouth of God Himself.
Tyler Lynde: You see, the reality is that all of us have a past.
Tyler Lynde: All of us have a category in our lives, a chapter in our books that we could call BC.
Tyler Lynde: What does BC stand for?
Tyler Lynde: Before Christ.
Tyler Lynde: All of us have that story.
Tyler Lynde: All of us have that as a part of our lives.
Tyler Lynde: As sinners, we had no hope beyond the grave, like I said before.
Tyler Lynde: We were separated from a holy God, and we had no way of bridging the gap between us.
Tyler Lynde: But thanks be to God, because of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, God found a righteous basis upon which he can save ungodly sinners and still be just himself.
Tyler Lynde: Christ Himself has paid the penalty for our sins.
Tyler Lynde: Christ Jesus Himself paid the penalty for full satisfaction has been made.
Tyler Lynde: Our debt has been paid in full.
Tyler Lynde: The claims of justice have been met, and now mercy can flow out to those who obey the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: We can participate in the merciful plan of God by obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And we're going to talk about that again more as we move through this message.
Tyler Lynde: So, what did God save us to?
Tyler Lynde: He saved us to a living hope.
Tyler Lynde: God saved us to a living hope.
Tyler Lynde: He said, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
Tyler Lynde: The theological word for this is regeneration.
Tyler Lynde: Regeneration is new birth.
Tyler Lynde: We use several uh terms that you can mix together or use independently of each other, interdependently, right?
Tyler Lynde: You can use them to replace each other.
Tyler Lynde: Trying to find the right wording.
Tyler Lynde: So regeneration, new birth, being born again.
Tyler Lynde: It's when the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life to a spiritually dead sinner.
Tyler Lynde: Creating a new heart and enabling them, us, to put our trust in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: This is the work of our Heavenly Father through Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Tyler Lynde: The spiritual, holy, and heavenly birth results in us being made alive to God and restored to right relationship with Him by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who conquered death, hell, and the grave.
Tyler Lynde: Help me out a little this morning.
Tyler Lynde: This is resurrection day.
Tyler Lynde: The resurrection of Jesus itself is the reason for our hope.
Tyler Lynde: And so many times, rightfully so, we talk about the power of the cross and the importance of the cross.
Tyler Lynde: And please don't mishear me this morning.
Tyler Lynde: That is absolutely fundamental.
Tyler Lynde: That is absolutely a foundational part of our salvation.
Tyler Lynde: But let's not forget the power of God as well.
Tyler Lynde: The power of God that causes a dead person, a dead man, dead in sins and trespasses, to be made alive unto God once again.
Tyler Lynde: The resurrection of Jesus is the reason for our living hope.
Tyler Lynde: He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: We know that Jesus was brutally murdered on a cross.
Tyler Lynde: We know that before that, that he was lied about, that he was mocked, that he was spit upon, that his beard was ripped out, that he was beaten beyond belief, that a crown of thorns was placed on his head.
Tyler Lynde: We know that he was forced to carry his own cross until he couldn't carry it any longer.
Tyler Lynde: And then Simon the Sirene had the privilege and honor, although at the time may not have known what it was to help carry the cross of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We know that Jesus himself was laid down upon the old rugged cross and those spikes were driven into his hands and his feet.
Tyler Lynde: We know that that cross was raised up, bridging a gap between heaven and earth.
Tyler Lynde: And we know that Jesus, when he was on that cross, cried out, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.
Tyler Lynde: And finally, his final words, it is finished, declaring that the price had been paid, that the victory had been won, and that death no longer had a grip over those who had put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: This is the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: We know that after his death, that he was taken down from the cross, that he was laid in a borrowed tomb, and there was a stone that was rolled in front of the tomb to ensure that nobody could come and steal him, as uh steal him away.
Tyler Lynde: A garrison of soldiers was sent to guard the tomb because the religious leaders were paranoid because they had heard rumors about the fact that in three days something was going to happen, and so they did everything within their power to try to keep the body of Jesus contained within a borrowed tomb.
Tyler Lynde: And I want you to know, Neil and I and many others in this room have been to Israel, and I have been to the very garden tomb that they say that the body of Jesus was laid in.
Tyler Lynde: I walked into that tomb, I looked around it, I inspected it as best as I could, and I'm here to tell you this morning, Jesus is not there.
Tyler Lynde: He is alive.
Tyler Lynde: And we're gonna read this passage from Matthew 28.
Tyler Lynde: Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Tyler Lynde: And behold, there was a great earthquake.
Tyler Lynde: For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Tyler Lynde: I love that bold move.
Tyler Lynde: His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.
Tyler Lynde: And the fear of him, for the fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.
Tyler Lynde: But who's dead now?
Tyler Lynde: But the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
Tyler Lynde: He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.
Tyler Lynde: Come see the place where he lay.
Tyler Lynde: Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: And behold, he is going before you to Galilee.
Tyler Lynde: There you will see him.
Tyler Lynde: See, I have told you.
Tyler Lynde: So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.
Tyler Lynde: And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings.
Tyler Lynde: And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.
Tyler Lynde: And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.
Tyler Lynde: Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
Tyler Lynde: My friends, Jesus Christ of Nazareth may have been dead, and we know that he was.
Tyler Lynde: But how many of you know he didn't stay dead?
Tyler Lynde: He didn't stay dead.
Tyler Lynde: The same God that breathed life into Adam breathed life into the second Adam, and he rose again from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: And if that's not proof enough, these passages that we have, we know that he was seen by over 500 people before he ascended into heaven.
Tyler Lynde: The living Christ is the one who makes a living hope possible.
Tyler Lynde: In the resurrection, God revealed his complete satisfaction with the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: And once again, it proved that he has been given authority over death, hell, and the grave.
Tyler Lynde: This is the gospel.
Tyler Lynde: You see, the resurrection is the Father's Amen to our Lord's cry.
Tyler Lynde: It is finished.
Tyler Lynde: Our Heavenly Father, just as He had done many times before, in opening the heavens and saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased, He did it once more in a grand scale by raising his son from the dead, proving that the sacrifice was enough and that it was accepted and that we could be free forevermore.
Tyler Lynde: The reality is because Jesus lives, we can live.
Tyler Lynde: Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can be resurrected.
Tyler Lynde: Jesus, as our conquering king, did not just regain life for himself.
Tyler Lynde: That would have been miracle enough.
Tyler Lynde: That would have been amazing enough, but he was raised from the dead as a sort of first fruit of many others who would come, including those who are sitting in this room and millions of people around the globe who are together raising voices and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ this very day.
Tyler Lynde: He is our conquering king, and he came to give us life and life more abundantly.
Tyler Lynde: Romans 6 says, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Tyler Lynde: For we have been united, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Tyler Lynde: How many of you have experienced the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in your life?
Tyler Lynde: How many of you are made alive unto God?
Tyler Lynde: How many of you can say, because Jesus lives, I live.
Tyler Lynde: Come on.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: Also, we can have living hope for the future.
Tyler Lynde: This living hope reaches back into our past and reached us when we had no way to reach Him.
Tyler Lynde: This living hope also reaches forward into the future.
Tyler Lynde: It says to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading kept in heaven for you.
Tyler Lynde: Not only do we get to experience the resurrection power of our God here in this earth, but there is something far greater awaiting us in the near future, God willing.
Tyler Lynde: And not only hope uh have we been given the gracious gift of salvation, we've also been promised a future inheritance.
Tyler Lynde: Look at these descriptive words so we can help kind of understand what this inheritance is like.
Tyler Lynde: It's imperishable.
Tyler Lynde: What does it mean that something's imperishable?
Tyler Lynde: It can never corrode, it will never crack, it can never decay.
Tyler Lynde: It's everlasting.
Tyler Lynde: It is undefiled, which means nothing can tarnish it or stain its purity.
Tyler Lynde: It's perfect in every way.
Tyler Lynde: It is unfading, it will never lose its value, glory, or beauty.
Tyler Lynde: This is the kind of inheritance that is waiting for us.
Tyler Lynde: This is the kind of inheritance that we look forward to participating in someday.
Tyler Lynde: Are you excited for that this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: There's one of two ways that you as a human being can experience this great inheritance that we're talking about.
Tyler Lynde: The first one is to pass from this life into God's glorious heaven.
Tyler Lynde: We can pass from this life into God's glorious heaven.
Tyler Lynde: And we even have some in our body who have experienced this tearing even recently, where somebody that they've loved very deeply has passed from this life into the next.
Tyler Lynde: Let me tell you something about heaven.
Tyler Lynde: Heaven is an amazing place, heaven is wonderful.
Tyler Lynde: When believers pass from this life, there is no fear, there is no darkness, there is no trouble.
Tyler Lynde: We close our eyes for the last time in this lives, and we open our eyes on the other side, standing at the gates of heaven.
Tyler Lynde: And we are surrounded by the glory of God.
Tyler Lynde: And before we know it, we're looking into the very eyes of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: This is the promise of heaven that we will be with him.
Tyler Lynde: To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Tyler Lynde: There's no more suffering, there's no more pain, there's no more sorrow, there's no more crying, there's no more disease, there's no more sickness, there's no more fighting, there's no more hatred or anger or any of the things in this life that try to strip away our hope.
Tyler Lynde: It's all gone.
Tyler Lynde: There's only hope in heaven, there's only life in heaven, there's only joy in heaven.
Tyler Lynde: Do not fear heaven, my friends.
Tyler Lynde: The only thing that we should fear is if we're not ready for heaven.
Tyler Lynde: We're going to talk about that a lot more.
Tyler Lynde: The other way that we might experience this inheritance is to experience the triumphal return of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: I'm here to tell you that Jesus, before he left this planet, as he was talking to those same disciples that saw him after he was raised from the dead, he said that he was going to leave, but that one day he was going to what?
Tyler Lynde: He was going to return.
Tyler Lynde: He was going to come again.
Tyler Lynde: And 1 Corinthians 15 says it so beautifully.
Tyler Lynde: Listen to these words.
Tyler Lynde: Behold, I tell you a mystery.
Tyler Lynde: We shall not all sleep.
Tyler Lynde: In other words, we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
Tyler Lynde: For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Tyler Lynde: For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Tyler Lynde: When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Tyler Lynde: O death, where is your victory?
Tyler Lynde: O death, where is your sting?
Tyler Lynde: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Tyler Lynde: But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: It's not our inheritance, it's his inheritance that he gladly shares with us.
Tyler Lynde: Come on.
Tyler Lynde: When Jesus returns, he's going to make everything right.
Tyler Lynde: If you can imagine the beauty and the glory of the Garden of Eden mixed with the beauty and glory of heaven.
Tyler Lynde: And I want to tell you quickly, when I was about nine years old, I was a fearful child.
Tyler Lynde: And I was dreaming one night and I had a dream about heaven.
Tyler Lynde: It was as if heaven descended in front of me and it was cut in half like a sphere.
Tyler Lynde: And all I could pick out, all I could discern, all I could see was the brightness of that place.
Tyler Lynde: And it was like the brightness filled my room, but more importantly, it was like it filled my soul.
Tyler Lynde: And from that day on, something changed on the inside of me.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not saying that you have to have an experience like that in order for you to be able to believe in a stronger way.
Tyler Lynde: But for me as a child, I am so grateful that God gave me that ability for just a moment in time to understand how amazing his gift of grace is.
Tyler Lynde: You see, when Jesus returns, like I said, he's going to make everything right.
Tyler Lynde: Evil will be vanquished, righteousness will be restored, we will be glorified.
Tyler Lynde: Do you understand that we will be changed?
Tyler Lynde: That we will be glorified, that these old bodies will be no more, that they will be changed, that we will have, that our joints will not hurt, that our eyes will see clearly, that we will no longer have torment or terror, or that our souls will no longer be burdened by the hurt and destruction and devastation of this life.
Tyler Lynde: It's going to be amazing.
Tyler Lynde: He's going to restore his kingdom, and we're going to experience that reign and rule forever and ever and ever.
Tyler Lynde: This was his original intent, and this is the intent that will be.
Tyler Lynde: That will be.
Tyler Lynde: From the heart.
Tyler Lynde: A man shall confess with his mouth and believe in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and he will be saved.
Tyler Lynde: And so I'm just going to simply, at the close of this time together, I want to introduce a third category as well.
Tyler Lynde: You may be here this morning and you know all of these things, and you've even experienced living hope in your life, but you're going through a season and a time where you've been running from God, something happened that disappointed you, or you just made a decision.
Tyler Lynde: I don't want to do this anymore.
Tyler Lynde: And you started going in a different direction.
Tyler Lynde: I'm here to tell you that the mercy of God, just as it was available for the prodigal son, when he recognized, he came to his senses, he recognized that things were better in his father's house, and he returned home, waiting to beg forgiveness.
Tyler Lynde: He ran to him, put his robe on his back, put his ring on his finger, said, Let's kill the fatted calf.
Tyler Lynde: Let's rejoice together.
Tyler Lynde: Let's celebrate.
Tyler Lynde: For my son who was dead lives again.
Tyler Lynde: So if you're here this morning and you've been walking on the fence and you recognize that you want to live in this hope that we're talking about, I want to encourage you, return to Jesus today.
Tyler Lynde: Return to him today.
Tyler Lynde: I just ask that everybody close your eyes this morning because, and the reason for that is just because I want this to between you be between you and God.
Tyler Lynde: I don't want anything else to influence you.
Tyler Lynde: Like I said, these three categories.
Tyler Lynde: That he did come to this earth, that he did live a perfect life, that he was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin, that he did show us who God was and tell us who God was, that he did take upon himself the sins of the world and the shame and the guilt, and that he was crucified on the cross of Calvary, and that he was buried in a tomb, and that on the third day he did rise again from the dead.
Tyler Lynde: If you recognize here, maybe for the first time this morning, that that is the Jesus that you need in your life, and that you're ready to give up your own way of trying to figure this out.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not going to embarrass you, I'm not going to call you down front, but I am going to ask that you just raise your hand in your seat where you are.
Tyler Lynde: That you here this morning.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: Is there anybody else here this morning?
Tyler Lynde: Just raise your hand where you are.
Tyler Lynde: There's no embarrassment.
Tyler Lynde: In fact, everybody in this room is ready to celebrate with you.
Tyler Lynde: Because we've all walked down this road before.
Tyler Lynde: And we are so grateful for the loving kindness of our God.
Tyler Lynde: Anyone else this morning, just raise your hand up.
Tyler Lynde: Raise your hand.
Tyler Lynde: I just want to acknowledge, I want to pray with you.
Tyler Lynde: Okay.
Tyler Lynde: If you're in that second category of person, you recognize today that this world and the pull of this world or the hurt that you've experienced, whatever the case is.
Tyler Lynde: By the way, I'm not trying to say that things haven't been difficult.
Tyler Lynde: We've all gone through very hard places.
Tyler Lynde: I'm just feeling specifically that there's somebody here that hypocrisy has caused you to doubt the truth about Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: I'm here to tell you this morning.
Tyler Lynde: God loves you and He's perfect in every way.
Tyler Lynde: And you can trust Him.
Tyler Lynde: I'm sorry that people have disappointed you.
Tyler Lynde: That should not have happened.
Tyler Lynde: But I'm here to tell you that God is perfect in every way.
Tyler Lynde: Don't miss out on the inheritance that God promises those who believe because of somebody else's unfaithfulness.
Tyler Lynde: Let it be between you and God alone.
Tyler Lynde: So if that's you this morning, you recognize I'm not as close to Jesus as I need to be this morning.
Tyler Lynde: I'm not living with hope the way that God intended for me to live.
Tyler Lynde: And I'm ready to return to the God of my salvation.
Tyler Lynde: Would you also just raise your hand with all the eyes closed in the room?
Tyler Lynde: Thank you.
Tyler Lynde: Others, thank you.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: I thank you, Lord, for what you're doing in this room this morning.
Tyler Lynde: I also want to speak to those who are watching online.
Tyler Lynde: This is a moment for you as well.
Tyler Lynde: Encourage you to take this seriously.
Tyler Lynde: God may be moving in your hotel room right now, wherever you are.
Tyler Lynde: Don't resist him.
Tyler Lynde: Receive, receive, and embrace him this morning.
Tyler Lynde: So I'm gonna just pray a prayer and then I'll pray for believers at the end.
Tyler Lynde: And I'll ask us to stand at the end in just a minute.
Tyler Lynde: So this is I'm just gonna pray a few words, and the words themselves, like I've said before, are not magical or mysterious.
Tyler Lynde: The words themselves are just simply an acknowledgement of need.
Tyler Lynde: And so you can pray just from your heart, your words to God's ears.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna pray just a simple prayer that you can follow along with if you're not sure exactly how to pray this morning.
Tyler Lynde: Prayer isn't what saves us, but it is a beginning point of showing faith in God.
Tyler Lynde: So just pray this prayer in whatever way you choose to.
Tyler Lynde: God in heaven, I acknowledge that I'm a sinner.
Tyler Lynde: I have disobeyed you in the way that I've lived my life, and I am truly sorry for that.
Tyler Lynde: I ask that you would forgive me and cleanse me and wash me so that I could be made clean and be made new today.
Tyler Lynde: I believe in Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde: I believe that he is the savior of the world, and I ask that he would be my savior and my Lord here this day.
Tyler Lynde: I accept him into my life.
Tyler Lynde: Holy Spirit, I ask that you would fill me completely so that I can be transformed and changed and to become more like Jesus every day for the rest of my life.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you for your mercy, thank you for your love in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Now for those who are returning to the Lord today, just pray a prayer.
Tyler Lynde: You know that you know how to do this.
Tyler Lynde: You've done it before.
Tyler Lynde: Just engage your heart with his heart.
Tyler Lynde: Father, I pray that you would help those who are returning to the God of their salvation today, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Help them to see you as a merciful, loving God who wraps his arms around them and welcomes them home.
Tyler Lynde: Father, I pray that from this day on they would experience living hope in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: Now for the rest of us here this morning, if you need an increase in the way that you put your your your faith and your hope in a living Savior that produces living hope in your lives that causes you to rejoice in the midst of trouble and trial and tribulation.
Tyler Lynde: If that's you this morning, would you join me by standing and let's pray together for each other?
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Father.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Yes, thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Just just reach out to receive from him.
Tyler Lynde: There's nothing I have to offer you, but he has everything to offer you.
Tyler Lynde: So Father, we ask in Jesus' name this day that you would once again pour out your spirit upon us, Lord God, that we would be restored to that living hope that we already know that you've provided for us, that we would experience in our day-to-day lives what it means to believe in you, to trust that you have given, that you've won the victory and that you've given it to us as an inheritance.
Tyler Lynde: Help us, Lord God, to live out the rest of the days of our lives, rejoicing, filled with joy, singing, dancing, praising you, filled with hope, expressing this joy to others that don't know you yet.
Tyler Lynde: Father, help us to be filled to the fullness of who you are.
Tyler Lynde: And what your living hope is in us and through us in Jesus' name.
Tyler Lynde: As we're standing this morning, we want to finish the service out by taking communion together.
Tyler Lynde: And there's a beautiful verse, a few verses in 1 Corinthians 11.
Tyler Lynde: I want us to focus on one part of this, but I want to read it to you.
Tyler Lynde: It says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.
Tyler Lynde: Do this in remembrance of me.
Tyler Lynde: In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Tyler Lynde: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
Tyler Lynde: Listen to this.
Tyler Lynde: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Tyler Lynde: What is it that we can do that's symbolic of this waiting for our future hope?
Tyler Lynde: Even while as we experience it in the present, communion is a gift that God has given us to help us to bridge the gap, to remind us of the wonderful gift that Jesus Christ provided.
Tyler Lynde: And just quickly, if there's anybody who didn't receive elements yet this morning, just raise your hand and we'll get those to you quickly.
Tyler Lynde: All right, there's a there's some over on this side and some right here.
Tyler Lynde: Just raise your hand.
Tyler Lynde: All right.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Father.
Tyler Lynde: Joshua, would you just come?
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: I want to pray over the bread.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna ask Joshua to pray over the cup this morning.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: Who has the mic for him?
Tyler Lynde: There we go.
Tyler Lynde: I just also um want this to be a holy moment.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: I know we've taken communion a lot in the last month, but we couldn't go through Easter and celebrate all of these wonderful things and not remember the sacrifice until he comes.
Tyler Lynde: So, Father, we thank you for this bread.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you that it symbolizes the broken body of Jesus Christ that was broken for each and every one of us.
Tyler Lynde: Father, out of obedience to your word, we take of this bread and we do this in remembrance of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Joshua Gruber: And likewise with the cup, it represents the new wine, the new covenant.
Joshua Gruber: The blood poured out, your precious blood, Lord, poured out once and for all, for all of us, for our sins.
Joshua Gruber: God, we thank you for your blood.
Joshua Gruber: We do take this in remembrance of you.
Joshua Gruber: We remember you and what you did on that cross.
Joshua Gruber: And we thank you.
Joshua Gruber: This is not about us.
Joshua Gruber: This is about you and what you did.
Joshua Gruber: So, God, we thank you.
Joshua Gruber: We thank you for your blood.
Joshua Gruber: We praise your name, Jesus.
Joshua Gruber: You may take the blood.
Tyler Lynde: Thank you, Lord.
Tyler Lynde: I'm gonna pray a blessing over you and then release you.
Tyler Lynde: My hope is that this isn't just a Sunday morning experience.
Tyler Lynde: My hope is that we take this with us and that we live on it, that we feast on this wonderful truth that we've been given from the Word of God this morning.
Tyler Lynde: There's gonna be a prayer team here at the end.
Tyler Lynde: If you have prayer requests, please come.
Tyler Lynde: And also, if you ask Jesus to come into your life and to save you this morning, we want to talk to you.
Tyler Lynde: We want to pray for you.
Tyler Lynde: We'd love to give you a new Bible to have.
Tyler Lynde: So if you would come also at the end and pray with those that are here, we would appreciate it.
Tyler Lynde: So may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Tyler Lynde: May He cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Tyler Lynde: May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace in the beautiful, resurrected Son of God, name of Jesus.
Tyler Lynde: Amen.
Tyler Lynde: God bless you guys.
Tyler Lynde: Happy resurrection day.