WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:00.800 Well, good morning. 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.280 Welcome. 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:02.000 Glad you're here. 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome to Christ the Redeemer. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.919 My name's Russ Masterson, the pastor here. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:07.280 We're excited you're here with us. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.000 Whether you're visiting, you got here through family. 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.119 Maybe you wanted to come, maybe your family made you come. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.599 We don't know, but we're glad you're here either way. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:22.559 Excited you're here with us to celebrate Easter, to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:29.440 We have a few things just we know it can be difficult to connect into an existing church, and we have a newcomer chat coming up. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:33.439 All this is in here, so I'm not going to cover, but just the newcomer chats coming up. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.039 We have a church picnic coming up. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:36.880 We have empty nesters group. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.719 If you're an empty nester, your kids are out of the house, or maybe they should be out of the house. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:42.320 That also will cover you. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:43.280 You're good there. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.079 We have an empty nesters event coming up. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:48.880 You're welcome to look at those things. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.560 So let's pray very quickly before we get into the sermon. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:00.320 Lord, I pray as we open your scriptures that you would teach us. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:12.319 You would open our hearts to see something anew and a fresh and perhaps be reminded in a really needed and wonderful way that you are life. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.760 You are life now, you are life eternal, you are the life we need. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:17.120 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:17.920 Amen. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:20.799 A couple of weeks ago, I was texting with a friend of mine. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:22.079 It was during March Madness. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:31.040 We were both watching a game, and he was where he lives in his town, and I was where I live in my living room and sitting on the couch, and we're texting back and forth about the game. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:31.840 Do you see that shot? 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.599 Oh, amazing shot, you know, back and forth. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:39.680 And I'm texting and hitting, you know, the little up air, you know, texting, and then the little up air, boom, hit it. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:43.200 And immediately I'm getting what is so rewarding, right? 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.560 The three little dots. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:44.959 Right? 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.599 So like like we are together. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:53.840 Me and my friend, like he is here with us, and the three little dots, and we're going back and forth, back and forth. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.280 And then I decided I decided to change the subject. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:07.920 And I I kind of put my opinion out there about something, and and then I was wanting his opinion on it, and no dots. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:10.639 Right. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:13.120 This this this feeling. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:16.400 Like I changed the subject, and all of a sudden there was no dots. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:17.919 He wasn't replying. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:19.919 And like, what does this mean? 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:21.840 Like, where where did the dots go? 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:22.800 Where did he go? 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:30.319 I mean, you you think this person likes you, maybe they love you, maybe they're your friend, maybe they're family, and all of a sudden there's no dots here. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:32.000 It's just silence. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:33.439 It's just silence. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:35.520 And it's painful, right? 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.960 We all know it. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.800 Jane Howe at slate.com, she wrote an article. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:43.520 Texting means never having to say goodbye. 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:44.719 Here's what she says. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.199 The implication is comforting. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.520 That your friends will always be there for you, literally at your fingertips. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:55.199 Foregoing the formalities of hello and goodbye implies a certain closeness. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:01.439 You can jump into talking about Martha Stewart's Instagram post, complaining about public transit, or swap click-hole articles. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:07.360 And there's some evidence that people who text more tend to report feeling less lonely and closer to their friends. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:21.840 But as anyone who's ever sent a vulnerable text knows, it can be jarring to put a message out into the world and get nothing back, leaving a message hanging in a void until the next time the conversation picks up. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:34.319 The etiquette of texting is, of course, different than an in-person conversation, but it can still feel like your conversational partner's silence means something. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:35.520 Right? 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.039 We know what she's talking about. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:51.759 We've all felt this because it's so good to have the immediate interaction back and forth, but the moment we become vulnerable with an idea or a thought or a feeling, all of a sudden those dots mean a lot more. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:57.520 And if they're not there, if they're not there, we're just not quite sure what to make of that. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:00.240 All of a sudden the response time of the response means everything. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:15.599 Maybe you're texting with a sweet someone, you get you go on a first date, and and you take her out to Chili's and you thought it went so good, and then you may wake up the next morning and you felt so good about that date, and you wake up the next morning and you you're thinking, is it too early to text? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:17.120 When can I text? 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:19.839 When can I say, like, you know, had a great time? 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:21.519 Like, when can I when can I communicate? 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:22.399 Don't you have to wait a day? 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:23.839 Don't even wait, you know, midday. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.000 So you just I'll wait until the middle of the day, you know. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:30.800 So you wait until the middle of the day and you you text, like, had an awesome time, period. 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:39.680 You don't want to seem too eager with the exclamation marks, just a period, and then you want to be fun, and so you do like a celebratory, like dancing cat meme, okay? 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:47.600 You know, you're kind of playful, celebratory, and you send it, and you're very nervous about the whole thing, and you get nothing. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:50.399 No, no dots. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:52.319 Nothing. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:56.720 Maybe you shouldn't like chilies. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:01.920 Maybe it was the cat. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:04.319 Maybe it was that was too niche. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.879 Should have gone with Michael and Dwight raising the roof. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:08.480 You know, that's a classic. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.480 Maybe you shouldn't have used the word awesome. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:13.680 Maybe that was too much. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:15.600 Should have gone with great. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:17.439 Something safer. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:22.720 Five minutes go by, ten minutes go by, an hour go by, you're checking your phone throughout the afternoon. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:25.680 You're getting more, I mean, it's you're like, it's over. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:27.360 She doesn't like me. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:30.480 And you know where we go from this. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:32.240 I don't have what it takes. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.160 Nobody really likes me. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:35.199 I don't really have any good friends. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:38.959 Pretty sure my family does love me, hate my job, hate my life. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:41.199 This is how fast it goes in our minds. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.879 I'm worth nothing because I haven't received these three dots back. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:56.959 Then finally in the evening, you're sitting on the couch you hate, and you're the house you don't like, and the town you're not sure you should live in, you know, the whole world's, and finally your your phone dings or vibrates. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:00.720 Sorry, comma. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:03.839 I had no coverage all day. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:05.759 Exclamation mark. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.920 Horrible conference at my boss's ranch. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:13.839 Period. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:16.160 Busy this weekend. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:17.759 Question mark. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:21.519 Right? 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.920 I mean, just relief. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:25.360 Right? 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:29.439 Just relief because the silence is over. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.360 Aaron Zimmerman's a priest in Houston, and he says this. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:41.680 He says, sadly, we're all just waiting to be confirmed that we are as horrible as we think we are. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.279 And the silence is just confirming this. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:53.759 Because we have this inner voice that says, at any age, at any age, this inner voice that says, you still don't have what it takes. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:00.480 And then Randy or Judy, she doesn't, you know, he doesn't reply to your text. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.600 And never mind, she was at her boss's ranch, or she dropped her phone in the toilet, or he's having spleen surgery. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.439 Like, never mind, any possibilities of that. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.639 It's all judgment, the silence is judgment. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:17.920 In our sinful, fragile nature, we will interpret the silence as judgment. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:21.839 You see, we need breaks and silence. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:22.959 We needed it. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:28.000 And the good news of Easter that stands in human history. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.720 So we don't have to worry about what God thinks about us. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:36.720 Because the silence is over. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.560 We have it forever, yes. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:49.120 I will die for you because I love you, and I will verify I have the authority by rising again. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:53.839 Our reading was Luke 24, rereading that, verses 1 and 2. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:59.439 But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.600 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.319 But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:13.199 So these ladies, they go to prepare the body with no expectation of the resurrection. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.600 I mean, all of Jesus' followers at this point had bailed. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:19.600 They didn't expect this. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:20.879 They thought this thing was over. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:24.800 Never really believed his words about the whole resurrection thing. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:32.960 Verse 4, while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:40.240 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:42.000 He is not here, but is risen. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:51.039 Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise? 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:53.279 And they remembered his words. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.159 And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:07.519 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.200 But these words seemed to them an idle tale. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.600 And they did not believe them. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:19.039 So maybe the resurrection for you has always sort of been your issue with Christian faith. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.440 Like kind of everything else you'll take. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.759 But the resurrection is sort of like that's where this is an idle tale. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:27.519 This is too much. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.840 And I would just say, you're in really good company. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:34.960 If you think that, or you've ever thought it. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.240 Because all of Jesus' original followers thought this. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:46.480 They documented their own skepticism to say, this is understandable to be skeptical about this. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:59.200 But then these same people that had walked away and were skeptical, these same people radically turn in such a short period of time and are willing and die for this event. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:13.600 Peter was one of these guys, and at the crucifixion he denies even knowing this Jesus, following this Jesus to a teenage girl. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.279 That's how scared he was. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:19.519 Maybe teenage girls are something to be scared of. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:26.320 Verse 12 says, But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:31.120 He saw the linen clothes by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.679 In 1 Peter 1, 3 through 5, this is his letter. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.759 He wrote this later in life. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:11:04.320 Jesus 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 our salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.519 So one main kind of overarching point, just an Easter point. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:23.440 We need Easter because we need to know Jesus has the authority on the cross to forgive and grant forever righteousness to us. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:26.639 That was a long sentence. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:38.879 We need Easter because we need to know Jesus has the authority as God on the cross to give us full forgiveness. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.799 Forever forgiveness. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.919 Full righteousness, forever righteousness. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:51.279 Meaning, this means the resurrection verifies what the cross is proclaiming. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.120 On Monday, if you're keeping up with the news, Notre Dame, the cathedral in Paris began to burn. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.200 I'm sure all of us kept up with that a little bit. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:00.799 You saw some images along the way. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:08.399 You saw everybody doing their humble brags online of when they were in Paris and their pictures there at Notre Dame, making sure you knew that they were there. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.879 Love going to Notre Dame every year in the spring. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.240 You know, that kind of thing. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:15.440 Gotcha, gotcha. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:16.639 You get to go to Paris every year. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:17.519 We got it. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:21.519 850 years old. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:27.519 Probably the most famous Christian sanctuary in the world. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.480 I mean, people built this sanctuary. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.679 The roof was made of 52 acres of trees. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.159 Each beam was one tree. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.399 This thing stood through kings and queens and wars. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:49.840 Christians had been worshiping in that building for 500 years before a building was built in our country. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:58.879 It has seen nine centuries of worship of Jesus. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:05.600 Firefighters fought through the night, and they eventually they got the fire out by the morning. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:08.799 There's this beautiful image, I don't know if you saw it, I was looking through some different images. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:23.759 There's this beautiful image of a photographer took in the sanctuary looking forward, and there's ash and destruction all the way, but then the altar didn't burn, and then a gold cross was standing still there. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:25.840 And that was really beautiful. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.360 That was a beautiful image. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:33.519 I I think even more beautiful, at least maybe that sounds almost sacrilegious to say something that's even more beautiful than that. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:44.720 Maybe equally as beautiful was this image that during the fire, people had come, people in Paris had come, and they were they were praying and they were grieving all around this building. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:48.480 This was their home, this was their home of worship. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:56.159 And they're praying, and then they began to sing hymns. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:03.840 Even the most precious thing can burn. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:13.279 And yet our faith is not constrained to a place or a building, or silver or gold. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:24.399 Peter keeps writing in verse 6, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:44.000 So that the 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 of the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.600 Some of you probably, some of us feel like we've been through fire, right? 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.480 Even now, it's hard sometimes to come to an Easter service. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.480 You kind of feel like I gotta dress up and pretend like everything's great. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:57.039 We're good at doing that at church. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:03.440 And maybe it's hard because you're sick, or he's sick, or she's sick, or that person passed away this year. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:09.679 Or finances are hard, or job is hard, or parenting's hard, or dealing with your parents is hard, perhaps. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:14.720 Or maybe you're 13 or you're 30 or you're 70, and you're just not what you thought you would be. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.879 You're not where you thought you would be. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:21.440 And career or money or life or romance or faith. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.600 It's very possible. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:29.840 And here's what Peter is saying to us. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:31.039 Four points. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.120 Don't worry, that wasn't all intro. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.960 This is actually the end of the sermon. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:35.679 Four points. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.200 It's not like, oh, here's the beginning. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:38.240 Not the beginning. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.320 Some of you got scared. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:50.159 Number one, because of his resurrection, we do not have to live in fear of death, distance from God, or fear in life. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:51.200 Number one. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:59.919 Number two, because of his resurrection, we can live in hope, no longer enslaved to sin, but wrapped in his righteousness. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:14.159 Number three, because of his resurrection, you have a wealth of righteousness and identity beyond this world, which can never be taken from you. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:28.240 And because of that, we are freed into a life of confession, gratitude, growth, praise, and glory and honor of Jesus Christ. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:33.279 And in case you're starting to worry after that last sentence, how are you gonna keep all that up? 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:34.559 And what if you fail? 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.440 And what happens if you could could you lose it? 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:46.720 Verse 5, what Peter says, who by God, you you by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:53.440 And placing faith is not a measurement, it's a placement. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:17:01.519 It's a placement of your neediness and trust in God to be for you what you have never been able to be. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:07.519 In Jesus we die, and in Jesus we are risen. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:14.240 My brothers and sisters, you are forever God's beloved in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:16.000 Hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:17.279 Let's pray together. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.839 God, thank you for the good gift of Jesus. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.440 Thank you for you in Jesus. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:29.599 Your manifestation in this world that the silence is broken. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:33.359 We do not have to wonder what you think of us. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.039 That while we are sinners, you came to die for us. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:51.279 That in Jesus we die, and in Jesus we rise again, that we have a soul reborn by the power of the blood of Jesus. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:18:06.400 And we are freed into a forever absolute forgiveness and righteousness that claims us and gives us a wealth of identity that can never be taken away. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:08.640 Amen.