"Easter Sunday" W/Pastor Brad

Transcript

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Amen.

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God is good. And all the time, He is great indeed. A warm welcome to everybody who is here. We greet you in the name of the Lord. We're expectant for how the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us on this very special resurrection Sunday 2026. Maybe you've been here for a while. Maybe this is your very first time. Welcome. Welcome home. We're ready for how the Lord will lead us through his holy, living, and active word. Amen? Well, we're worshiping the Lord through song, we're worshiping the Lord through his word, and we're also going to worship the Lord by way of our tithes and our offering and our giving. We're a giving church, which means we love to give God's way. We love to give the way that God calls us, how he invites us to be a people who are generous. And the first offering that will be brought around is for the general fund. And the second is a special offering that rotates. And the special offering for this first Sunday on April 5 is for Christian education. All right. As the offering is being received, we usually have a whole host of announcements. Today, zero. We're diving right in. All right. Turn to your neighbor and say, Let's go.

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Let's go.

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All right, all right, here we go. We are in this series that uh around this resurrection theme of facing our last enemy, death and resurrection hope. And I want to begin with just simply asking an open question. What was the last thing that you were really surprised over? Okay? When was the last time you were deeply surprised over something? Maybe you were surprised over one of your favorite sports teams that's made it pretty far. Go blue, right? Yeah. Maybe you were surprised by a kid or a child who spooked you as you went around a corner and your heart rate just shot through the roof. That may or may not be me. Maybe you were surprised regarding what happened this past week. Four astronauts took off right on this massive rocket. Three Americans, one Canadian, represent. That is crazy fast. That's LA to New York in six minutes, y'all. That's around planet Earth in 58 minutes. Less than an hour. And with the Earth shrinking in the rear view, they're gearing up to fly closest to the moon surface tomorrow, right? And then prayerfully starting their journey back home. As I've been thinking about this, about 20 years ago, I remember taking a flight. And this particular one was from Chicago to California. I was in my mid-20s. And in this flight, the pilot said, Hey, look over, look through the window, look down below, and underneath you is the Grand Canyon. Now, what you see before you wasn't my photo. In fact, this was taken in 2005. I didn't have a smartphone, a cell phone. Anyone remember those days? If you do, raise your hand. Yeah, yeah. Way back. If I did, though, I would have snapped a photo and it would have looked a bit like this. I remember peering down from this plane that's just thousands of feet up in the air, and getting a glimpse of countless cliffs, sharp bends, and the way the river carved it all, and just being stunned and surprised, wondering, so what uh a river did this? Hmm. Now I have not been to the Grand Canyon, and I believe it's on our family's bucket list one day. But I've been close. Two years ago, I was about a hundred miles from it. My eldest son turned 13, and we visited a little south of the Grand Canyon, a place by the name of Sedona, Arizona, for an intentional father-son trip. And I remember flying, landing, hopping in a car, and pulling up here. My son and I, we stepped out into Coconino National Park and we began hiking. And it only took from the parking lot about a mile or two, and we came across this massive red rock bridge in the middle of Dry Creek Canyon. Let the church go. Hmm, hmm. Now from here, it looks narrow, but it's actually quite wide. It's more than a dozen feet wide throughout the day. People walk over it. And as you're in this place, there is vastness, right? Colors of the landscape around you. And it left us stunned, surprised, and amazed. Now, in preparation for this trip, I had heard about, I had read about, I seen pictures about canyon bridges like this, these rock formations. But I had not experienced it. I hadn't understood it. Maybe like the basketball trick shot uh YouTuber. Maybe you've heard of him. He takes these crazy basketball shots, like shooting a ball from a crane through a rotating massive wind turbine into a net that's harnessed to a wind tower. And once he makes it, he says these famous four words. I understand it now. I understand it now. And then he does it again. Church family, welcome to this morning's Resurrection Sunday. My title for you is simply one word, surprise. Because similarly, the disciples and the women who had followed Jesus had heard Jesus talk about resurrection quite often. Stay with me. They heard him talk about it rising from the dead on the third day, like he had said. They heard about it, but they had not understood what he meant. So they went and they saw the empty tomb after the resurrection that the worship team led us in through the scriptures that we read. And when they saw Jesus alive again, man, he took their breath away. And when they saw Jesus alive, yeah, they saw him walking and talking, eating food and holding his nail-scarred hands for them to see. Today we're going to remember and read this: the truth of the miraculous return to life in Jesus. And my prayer for you today, from the front to the back, is that you understand it and believe it. And the life-transforming hope that it brings. Today we're going to read from 1 Corinthians. This is a passage that we're going to be reading about at the end of 1 Corinthians. And it's like we're jumping at the end of a movie, and the place where this letter was written to this church in Corinth. It was a small church, but a church with a lot of impact. Paul is carefully teaching them hey, here's some basics. Here's some fundamentals of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Because this church, though it was small, man, they had a whole host of issues going on, y'all. Some of which, right, that are applicable to today. There were discipline issues, there were misunderstandings of marriage and sexuality. There were church divisions internally, there were temptations of rallying around different leaders and loyalties. And he he just wants to apply the basics. Let's get back to the basics today. First Corinthians 15 explains the gospel of Jesus, and he explains what we will go through in life and in death in Jesus. So, in honor of God's holy, living and active word, if you're able, please stand to your feet and I'll read the first couple of verses, and I'm gonna need your help on the second. The resurrection of Christ, this is from 1 Corinthians 15. Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel, you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preach to you, otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what, I love this, for what I have received, I passed on to you as of first importance. Let the church say, first importance. So that's a high priority, and let's see what that is. Let's read this good news of first importance together. Here we go. Three, two, one. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. This is the holy word of God. Thanks be to God, you may be seated. Amen. Amen. So, Paul, right, he says that these words, this good news is of first importance. That means no other news is as important as this news. Right? No news is more important than this, nor is any task more urgent than to share it, proclaim it, and to believe it. And he breaks it down with a couple of points, right? Number one, Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was the sinless sacrifice for you and I on the cross. Uh, if you were there this past Friday for Good Friday at the square campus, which is uh which was a multi-site shared service together, there was a powerful depiction of this first point that Jesus was the sinless sacrifice for our sin. In fact, in the book of John, it says, there he is, the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. And on Friday, there was someone who walked around the sanctuary with a very tame young lamb. And as we looked at the lamb being brought through the aisles, such an innocent lamb. It's a symbol, it's a picture of the innocent life of Jesus who has taken your place and mine on the cross. Paul's saying, that's the this is of first importance. We got to know what Jesus has done for you and I. Number two, after his death, he was buried. He was buried in a tomb, right? And then he was raised permanently, he resurrected on the third day, forever. And he appears to a whole bunch of people. I love how Paul has that line. More than 500 people. It's like he's saying, they're all over the place. You can go talk to them, they've seen him. 500 folks. And he is so urgent about this. Why? Why is he so urgent to this young church in Corinth that's facing a whole bunch of issues? He's saying, these are the matters of first importance that you must apply. Well, friends and family, this church in Corinth was easily distracted. They were an easily distracted people. They made every effort to really avoid death. They were distracted by building a dream, the Corinthian dream. Kind of like us, often distracted. For them, it was a proud city. Corinth is one of the wealthiest port cities. There was a Greek temple at the center of this town, the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and sex. And with it came, I'll just say, a very misguided way of life that shaped the whole culture all around it. And there's beautiful Corinthian architecture. They were philosophical, artistic, they were proud of their life, and they wanted to avoid anything related to death. Hmm. Perhaps applicable today. Often distracted to consider the real purpose of life and death. Check it out. In the book, three pieces of glass. Why we feel lonely in a world mediated by screens. Eric Jacobson presents a simple idea with some profound implications about how we view life today. Three pieces of glass that often distract us and distance us from those we love has contributed to, maybe you've heard of this, the epidemic of loneliness in our society today. Three sections, three pieces of glass. The first is the windshield, the second is the TV, and the other is the smartphone. Let's break these down and apply them today. Number one, the windshield. According to the Census Bureau, the national average commute time in the US is 26.4 minutes. All right? One way. Now, commutes aren't inherently bad. In fact, many of us, for many of us, it's unavoidable. We need that time. But think about one person in one car. What does that do? Cars isolate us, right? Limit us, distract us from engagement with those around us. Often we take our best energy, we put it into a car in the morning, and then our remaining energy back in a car with often little left to give intentionally to those who are around us. All right, but let's go a bit deeper. Let's look at some more glass. This time the glass of TV. I had to double check this because I was like, whoa, this is this is next level. One study revealed the typical Netflix user in the US watches 3.2 hours of Netflix a day. Now, if you are far below that average, and I hope that is the case, here's what's actually happening through this glass. We are being formed, right? We're given narratives and values and plot lines of the world that shape our minds and our imaginations. And out of this, shows today are designed to be highly addictive. Help us, Lord. Think about it this way: there are corporations spending billions of dollars right now to make you stay glued to their content, to their world. It's amazing how much knowledge we can retain about complex character histories, multi-season plot lines, and imaginary universes. Same is true with sports, right? Player profiles, stats, teammates, what elementary school they went to, and the athlete's pet name. And we may struggle to know where the Bible speaks about discipling, but we may have no problem recalling every part of our March Madness bracket. Right now, again, there isn't anything inherently wrong with shows or sports, but if we know more about them than what our kids are going through or the challenges facing our immediate neighbors, those around us, our loved ones, then perhaps our priorities have been distorted and distracted. But let's go a bit deeper here. The last glass, the smartphone glass. This one made my head scratch as well. The headblown emoji. According to Michael Easter, the author of The Comfort Crisis, the average American touches their phone 2,617 times a day. All the different touches and swipes. That's two hours, 30 minutes staring in front of a small screen. There is perhaps nothing more demanding of our attention and of our presence today than smartphones, right? Which is why I cherish this very moment and desire to steward this time with you. This may be the one place, the one last place where a group of people take a break from their phones to hear the presence of the Lord and his word together. It is a gift. Now, now, phones are incredible tools and provide connectivity with relationships. I have one, and I'm glad that I do. But I need to wrestle with this question. This is this is for Brad. How often are my children, friends, and loved ones waiting for me to look up from a rectangle piece of glass? How about you? Remember my daughter years ago once, I shared this before, I'm being prompted to share it again, where she wanted to show me a trick that she was doing in the living room, and she said, Dad, Dad, watch me with your eyes. And she was just a toddler at the time. This is why I love today's passage. The Corinthians didn't want to face the important realities of life and death. They were a distracted people. Hmm, how improved have we gotten? Right? Whenever Jesus speaks a word, a life-changing, soul-changing word, there is a revolutionary truth. And this is why we need a word from the Lord to wake us up from distraction, to get us back on track with purpose. Because if you have a pulse, you have a purpose. In fact, everybody take a neck check. Turn to your neighbor and say, if you have a pulse, you have a purpose. Get them both. Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good. Hear the word of the Lord from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. So this is a little bit further on. I love this. Paul says, I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we will be changed. There it is again. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. Check it out, verse 51. Paul is saying, Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep. That is, die. He's saying, not all of us will die. The mystery that Paul speaks of here is that the second coming of Christ is guaranteed. It is more real and true than gravity itself. The mystery that Paul speaks of here is of the second coming of Christ. And some Christians will be alive when Christ comes. Some will be alive, others will be dead. And as we remember on Ash Wednesday, 40 days from today before us, we say these words from dust we come, and we will also return to dust, unless there is an intervention from our God. Verse 51. And this this is the turn. This is the hinge. This is vital. Paul says, We will all be changed. The Greek word there is the word change. Alasso. Madison Church. Say the word alasso. Yeah, it literally means to be set free, transformed. The literal is to be loosened. And in the Bible, it's often meant in a couple of different ways. An ox being loosened from its yoke after pulling a cart, or pulling and loosening up tent stakes to prepare for a journey, or loosening a ship's ropes from a dock to let it sail away, or loosening chains of a prisoner. Freedom from confinement and suffering. This is the last one Paul meant that through death we will be loosened. No longer will we suffer or be imprisoned. We will finally be set free from the sting of death. That's why Paul says earlier to live is Christ and then to die is gain. And if we are honest with ourselves today, sometimes we have a hard time, I know I do, imagining what is beyond death. But scripture gives us a very crystal clear view of what is in store. And here's maybe just a way to break it down because when we've only been here, sometimes here is all we know. Right? A goldfish in a bowl does not yet know the ocean. Imagine that goldfish with a twin goldfish, and they're having a conversation in this fish bowl. The one says, you know what? Hey, check this out. There's a whole world beyond this fish bowl. There's grass, there's mountains, streams, waterfalls, horses and dogs and cats and whales and giraffes, there are skyscrapers and cities, and even goldfish crackers that kids love to eat, which by the way are not us, right? Can you imagine the look his twin brother gives? Are you crazy? That's just wishful thinking. Everybody knows there's no life beyond this fishbowl. This is it. This is all that's here. The ocean is real, even if the fish can't imagine it or see it. One of our shortfalls today is our loss of the sense of the eternal. In fact, in other words, scripture reminds us this here. This is the warm-up, y'all. Elbow your neighbor and say, This is the warm-up. This is the warm-up. We're just getting started. And how it begins is what we see in verse 52, right? This is amazing. That it will happen in a flash. Everybody snap for me for a moment. Yeah. It will happen at the twinkling of an eye. So just blink at your neighbor for a second. That's how fast it will happen. We got snaps, we got twinkling, and then we got this very loud last trumpet. The last trumpet will sound over the whole globe. And two things will change about our bodies: the perishable part and the mortal part. By perishable, this means our fragile bodies, our bodies that decay, wear out, and run down. And if you already know what that means, say amen. Right? Yeah. And by mortal, this means that our bodies in their current state, they must die. This is why C.S. Lewis says in the book, The Great Divorce, he says, nothing, not even the best or the noblest can go as it is now. And I'll add to that, not even Oprah, LeBron, the person that you came with today or yourself can go as it is now. The word reminds us, you are sown a natural body. But through surrender to Jesus and death in him, you rise in him. And this is where our scripture lands in verse 54. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where oh death is your victory? Where oh death is your sting? What do you got, death? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through Jesus, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. And then there's a therefore, and every time you see a therefore, you gotta ask, what's a therefore? All right, help me out. Here we go. Three, two, one. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. And all the Lord asks is that we believe. All he asks is that you take the faith that you have, even today, if it's the size of a mustard seed, and you offer to him. And he can move mountains, y'all, with that seed. Microscopic. Offer to the Lord, as Christy prayed earlier, what you have today in your heart, your faith and your belief in him. Romans 10 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you're gonna be saved. For it is with your mouth which has a purpose. It is with your mouth that you profess what you believe. And it is with your heart that you are justified. For anyone who believes in me, Jesus says, shall be saved. Right? So what is our only comfort in facing this last enemy of death? It's knowing this church that we are not our own. You've been given the divine purpose. That we belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. And He has fully paid for our sin with His precious, innocent blood. The Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. And he makes us wholeheartedly willing and ready to follow Him. And He sets us free from the tyranny. I love this. He sets us free from the tyranny of the enemy and death itself. And he calls us with the belief that we have to just trust Him, to believe in Him and rest in Him. Matthew 11, right? Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary, and that's us, right? All you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will provide rest for your souls. We won't find rest anywhere else. We won't find grace anywhere else. We won't find salvation anywhere else except in Christ alone. Peter said that, right? He said, Where will we go for words of eternal life? Only to Christ, Christ alone. And so maybe today is a day for you on this Easter day of committing to the Lord with your faith. Or maybe it's a recommitment of just a deeper sense of surrender to Him. Amen. Maybe you've got a lot of questions. Amen. We all got them. I got lots, even as a pastor. And I praise God for the ongoing discipleship opportunities here to walk through the trials, the challenges, the questions of life. There is a faithful Bible study that meets on Wednesdays. Elder Esther and John Ferdinands and others help host it up here on the second floor. It's with congregants and folks that live here in the building too, diving into the word, going verse by verse, being a people who are dependent on scripture. That's on Wednesdays. Right now, there's a men's book study called Fighting Shadows, Overcoming Seven Lies that keep men from becoming fully alive. We're halfway through. It's seven weeks long. It's amazing. It's on Wednesday nights here as well. There's a dynamic women's ministry here too. And there are small groups. In fact, this is probably the primary way where you will receive care here within the life of the church, is through small groups. Each of these are opportunities to respond to God's word and to be people who encourage each other to help share each other's burdens because we cannot go through life alone. We cannot go through life distracted and on the on the off-ramp of life. The enemy loves that when we take the off-ramp. But just as the scriptures called Corinth back to holding to the truth of Jesus, that is exactly the relevant word for us today. That because he lives, church, we can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. So know that life is worth living because he lives.