WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.160 Happy Easter. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.679 Welcome to Church of the Grove, and I'm excited that you've decided to join us on this Resurrection Sunday. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.320 My name is Russ, and um I'm looking forward to celebrating with you. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:32.399 Um way back when I was in high school, I would be assigned a research paper or a term paper, and I would be sent to the library where I would use these huge cabinets full of drawers with index cards to help me find information on the topic that I was assigned or that I chose for myself. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:42.640 And then I would take those cards out and I would uh be uh sent to find a Dewey decimal number and a book that was associated with that number. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:48.640 And I would just pull books off the shelf that would help me get information for my topic. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:58.159 And I would be sent to encyclopedias and magazine articles and and and all types of information that I could find in what was called the library. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:04.799 Well, the internet has made the library a bit irrelevant in today's culture. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:12.719 We we can now access on the internet uh all types of information, all kinds of information. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:23.200 Back when I used to do my research, I thought the bigger the stack of books that I had around me on the desk, the more likely that my research thesis was to be true. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.599 Today, man, we have to sift through all types of information that's available to us on the internet. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:40.319 Not only that, is any person, whether they have a degree or not, can post what they believe to be true on the internet themselves. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:55.920 And so not only do we have to filter through all the information that is given to us through library systems, we also now have to sift through people who have posted information that they deem to be true for themselves. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:04.640 And so it's difficult for us to sift through and to ascertain and answer this question, what is true and what is not? 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.400 Which begs us to answer this question. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.479 What is truth? 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.240 How do we determine what is true and what is not? 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:23.039 How do we distinguish between what is truth that is provided and what is lies that are meant to deceive us? 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:35.199 The last several years, we we've even come to learn that these terms of alternative facts or or maybe what is considered your truth versus my truth. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:48.000 And especially in this hot political climate that we're in, um you can have people on different and opposing sides declaring that their truth is the truth. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:03:06.719 And so it's made it very difficult, especially in the past year to a year and a half, as we've been confronted by a pandemic, as we've been confronted by social injustice, um, where people are debating, are masked right or are they wrong? 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.039 Is it mask or no mask? 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.000 Is it vaccine or no vaccine? 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:20.960 And so as we walk through all of this, uh all of these modern issues that we're dealing with, we've got to answer the question, what is truth? 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:35.759 And that's not even taking into account uh the reality that I believe that we are confronted by an enemy, an unseen enemy, an enemy that can't be researched just through our human efforts. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:45.759 And I believe that we're confronted with uh Satan and and all of his demons that are that are wanting to deceive us and to confuse us. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:53.120 As a matter of fact, I believe that Satan is the father of confusion and the father of lies. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:06.800 And he wants to deceive us and to trick us into believing that we can't even uh ascertain truth or in believing that that anybody's truth can be true. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:11.919 And so we've gotta we've got to beg the question, what is truth? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:17.120 We've got to be able to answer the question, how do we ascertain what is truth? 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:28.399 Because here's the reality of what we celebrate today, which is Resurrection Sunday, if the resurrection is true, everything changes. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:35.759 And so this morning we want to invite you into a comp into a conversation where we ask this question, what is truth? 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:40.480 And is the resurrection the pathway to discovering truth? 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:42.879 And here's I want to present you with another question. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:46.560 What if information is not how we ascertain truth? 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:52.480 What if, what if, what if what if the reality is that truth is a person? 00:04:52.959 --> 00:05:02.160 And if we're introduced to a person that is truth, it literally can change eternity and it can change the human heart. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:11.600 So this morning, we want to look look briefly at the truth conversation and answer the question, is the resurrection true? 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.519 And if the resurrection is true, everything changes. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:21.120 And as a matter of fact, the big idea for this morning is this reality. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:26.160 If the resurrection is true, then everything changes. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.560 So if the resurrection is true, everything changes. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:32.560 Now, I know what you're thinking. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:43.680 In the craziness of the world that we currently live in, when it's so hard to even distinguish truth in our day now, how in the world do we begin to distinguish what happened 2,000 years ago? 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:53.600 When we begin to talk about the historical proof of the resurrection, how is it even possible to know if that event truly did occur, like I said, 2,000 years ago? 00:05:54.079 --> 00:06:02.800 Well, we're gonna look at just five real basic points to show us that there is proof that there was a historical resurrection of Jesus. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.959 And then we'll see how that applies, that truth applies to our lives. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:15.360 But see, the first proof that I want us to understand is that ultimately the precautions that the Romans took point to the resurrection of Jesus. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:20.079 Listen to what it says in the Bible in Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 57. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:28.879 It says, as evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:33.759 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:40.639 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean linen cloths, and placed it in his own tomb that he had cut out of the rock. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.319 He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance of the tomb and went away. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:49.040 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting outside the tomb, opposite the tomb. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:54.879 The next day, the one after a preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:04.000 Sir, they said, We remember that while we were still alive, the deceiver said, After three days I will rise again, talking about the statements that Jesus made. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:09.040 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:15.519 Otherwise, his disciples may come and still the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.879 This last deception will be the worst than the first. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.879 Take a guard, Pilate answered. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.439 Go make the tomb as secure as you know how. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:29.759 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a sill on the stone and posting the guard. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:42.480 So here we see there's biblical evidence that when the religious leaders thought that there was a chance that perhaps Jesus' followers would come and still the body and make it look like there was a resurrection. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.000 And so the Roman guards were sent to the tomb. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:52.399 Now, there's different scholars that would ask and suggest how many guards were actually at the tomb. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:08:00.879 We know that there was at least two, but there could have been upwards of 50 different guards that were at the tomb protecting the body of Jesus. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.439 We also know that there's a huge stone that was rolled in front of the tomb. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:14.319 And to think that the Roman soldiers would just have left their post or they would have fallen asleep on the job is very unlikely. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:25.839 We know that the Romans took their guards very, very seriously, and they wanted to make sure that they did everything possible to do their duty to their leaders and to the authority figures. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:35.039 And we know from historical records, we know that there are guards that did go AWOL in different cases, and they were subject to uh incredible amounts of persecution. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:41.120 They were stripped of their clothes, they were burned at the stake because they failed to do their duty to Rome. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:50.879 So the thought of the guards leaving their post or falling asleep on their job and not protecting the body of Jesus and the tomb of Jesus, is very unlikely. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.360 Possible maybe, but not probable. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:01.039 We also see that there's evidence that the historical resurrection took place because of the faith that we see in Jesus' followers. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:08.159 Before Jesus' crucifixion, when he's arrested and put on trial, all of his disciples, all of his followers leave him. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:09.120 They desert him. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:20.399 Peter, who's the boldest of all the disciples, who's constantly speaking up and speaking out, man, he won't even acknowledge that Jesus is somebody that he knows to a young slave girl. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.159 But then after the resurrection occurs, these same men are bold in their faith. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:27.840 They're bold in their witness. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.679 They're standing up and preaching in front of thousands of people. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:39.600 They're doing incredible miracles, they're standing in the midst of the government leaders and authorities with confidence and boldness. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:40.320 Why? 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:43.759 Well, because they had seen the resurrected Jesus. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:56.720 Not to mention that almost all of Jesus' disciples eventually gave their lives because they believed that Jesus was not just the Son of God, but that he was also resurrected from the grave. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.000 I mean, listen to the list. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:07.519 Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down, Andrew was also crucified, Thomas was pierced with a spear. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.200 Philip was arrested and cruelly put to death. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:18.159 Matthew was reportedly stabbed to death in Ethiopia, and James was stoned and clubbed to death. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:29.279 These were men that went through incredible amounts of persecution, but they never rejected their faith in Jesus and that his resurrection truly did occur. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:41.360 Even when you think back over history and you think of uh Nixon and his administration when he was president of the United States and he had his group of men in the inner circle that were all a part of the Watergate scandal. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:53.919 They made a pact saying that they were not going to sell each other out, but when prison time loomed in their future, they quickly sold each other out and were willing to reject the lies in order to protect themselves. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.000 These disciples never did that. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:04.879 They were willing to go to their death because they so strongly believed and they knew that Jesus truly had resurrected from the grave. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:07.519 We also see that there were eyewitnesses. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:21.679 In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul's writing to the church in Corinth, and he says, After that, Jesus appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:30.960 So Paul's writing and he's giving them this idea and this picture that the resurrection is so key to the faith of those that put their followership in Jesus. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.200 And he's saying that the resurrection not only happened, but he's saying that there were eyewitnesses. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:44.000 And that Jesus in the resurrected form didn't just appear to a handful of people, but he appeared to more than 500 men and women. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:57.679 And when Paul's writing this letter to the church in Corinth, he's saying, listen, you can go to Jerusalem, you can go back and you can meet some of these men and women that actually saw the resurrected Jesus in bodily form standing right in front of them. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.519 That's incredible to think of. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.679 If there was no resurrection, then there would have been no eyewitnesses. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:09.919 There would definitely not have been 500 or more people that saw him after his resurrection. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.799 We also see that there's historical claims that prove the resurrection of Jesus. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:24.480 There's Jewish scholars and historians, mainly a guy named Josephus, who was a secular historian, and he wrote this about Jesus back in that time period. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.559 He said, About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:39.679 For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.639 He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.000 He was the Messiah. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:54.559 And when upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to the cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:04.559 He appeared to them, spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:11.840 And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.200 Now this is significant. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:25.840 These are historians outside of what Scripture says that are also saying that Jesus was not just a real person, but that he actually was a resurrected person after his death. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:34.720 And then the final thing, and I think this is probably the most significant proof that we need in knowing that Jesus truly did resurrect from the grave. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.039 And it's that there's no body that was ever found. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:51.840 You would think that if a body was taken from the tomb, if a body went missing, that the Roman leadership and the Pharisees and the Jewish people leaders of the day, that they would have sent people out and teams out to search for this missing body. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:14:00.159 They wanted to put away and take away any upheaval and any revolt that could potentially happen and to crush that. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:09.759 And they would have gone and looked for a body, but there was never a body discovered because the tomb was empty and the resurrection truly did happen. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:19.600 Now these are just five truths, and there's so many others that we could look at and we can read about knowing that Jesus truly did rise from the dead. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:27.360 But let's be honest, it's not just about his information, it's not just about historical facts that change our lives. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:33.039 It's nothing ever changes in our heart, in our mind, when we just have some facts. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:38.000 It's ultimately when we encounter a personal resurrected Jesus in our lives. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:54.720 And so we're going to hear a story from a guy named Pat Hardin, and he's going to share about how he has personally encountered the resurrected Jesus, and that Jesus is ultimately interacting and connecting with people all around our world and our culture still to this day. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:57.200 Because he truly has been resurrected. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:00.960 And if the resurrection is true, it changes everything. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:09.600 Attended Catholic school. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:11.679 I went to Mass every day. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:13.679 I was an altar boy. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:23.919 Won the most religious student award in the school when I was in the eighth grade and considered that perhaps I might be a candidate for the first American Pope. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:26.240 I felt like I was a really religious guy. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.840 I said my prayers every day that my parents and teachers had taught me. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.600 I was literally in church every single day and up on the altar, feeling like I was part of things. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:41.840 And then I got in junior high school and discovered girls and realized the papacy was not for me. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.159 I would never be the first American Pope. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.080 Uh I would rather be married. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:52.639 So by my senior year in high school, I'd been dating a girl for a year and a half, and I told her that things had to change. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:54.399 So we broke up. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:06.960 And just before I graduated, I'd started doing some things that I shouldn't have done that were illegal that altered my consciousness for a brief time and made me feel better about myself. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:23.519 Eventually we got back together right before graduation and uh began a more physical relationship through the little bit of college that I went to before I dropped out due to my involvement with uh mind-altering substances. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:32.879 So getting married at age 20 to that girl, I felt obligated to her since we had both pledged ourselves to each other for life. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.720 We didn't go to church together or separately. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:47.840 I still prayed on occasion, but it was just the prayers that I'd memorized as a kid, thinking of them, I guess, as like a talisman, something that would bring me good luck and good fortune. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:17:02.639 Well, my marriage went downhill fairly quickly, and in four years we were divorced, and I was depressed and suicidal, and wondering what happened to this god that I had I thought worshiped my whole life. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:07.839 So a month before my 25th birthday, I finally convinced a girl at work. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:12.400 I had started a job at the post office a few months earlier, and saw this girl. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.920 So I asked her, just go have coffee with me, and she agreed. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:24.160 We're sitting in a shoney's at four o'clock in the morning, and she's telling me that there's no way she'll go out with me because I'm not a Christian. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.240 And I said, Oh, but I am. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:32.799 She said, Don't you know that Jesus teaches in the Bible you'll know a tree by its fruit? 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.640 So I asked her, What do you mean by that? 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:40.000 She said, Well, you can't possibly be a Christian and live the way that you live. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.880 Because a Christian will have Christian fruit in their life. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:45.519 And I said, So what is this Christian fruit? 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:56.079 She said, Well, according to Galatians 5, 22 and 23, it's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:58.480 I said, That doesn't make any sense. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:06.480 She said, You see, there came a point in my life as a teenager when I recognized that I wasn't following the way of Jesus. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:14.799 So I asked him to forgive me, to come in into my life, in my heart, and to change me. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:17.440 She said, it changed everything. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:21.599 It changed my perspective, it changed what I believe, it changed the way that I live. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.599 And if you're not changed, then there's no way you could know who Jesus is. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.519 So I went home at 5 o'clock in the morning, got on my knees. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.200 Being a good Catholic boy, I thought your prayers didn't count if you didn't kneel. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.599 So I knelt down beside that bed and I poured my heart out to God. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:46.240 I asked him to forgive me for all the things I'd done, legal and illegal, for all the lives that I'd ruined, the relationships that I'd manipulated. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:51.279 And I asked him, if it was possible to forgive me, would he show me how to be a Christian? 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.200 And instantly it felt like someone had plugged me into an electrical socket. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.400 I felt this wave of energy course through my body. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.319 And the next thing I knew, I was weeping into this borrowed bed. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:18.480 I found out months or maybe years later when I read through the book of Acts and studied Paul's conversion, that I had had a similar experience to what Paul experienced on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians when he encountered the resurrected Jesus. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:27.839 And I knew that in that moment, at 5 o'clock in the morning in a borrowed bedroom, that I had encountered the resurrected Jesus. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.960 But I got up from there, I got rid of all my paraphernalia and illegal substances. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:39.119 I went to work the next night and I told this girl what had happened, and she kind of patted me on the back and thanked me for sharing. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:43.920 And for the next couple of days, I kept begging her, please let me go to church with you. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:45.440 Show me what I'm supposed to do. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.480 I want to be a Christian. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:49.039 I'm trying to read the Bible, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.759 So eventually she took me to church with her. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.640 She actually agreed to go out with me and seven months later accepted my proposal and became my wife. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:14.400 And I owe everything I am and have today to Joy for being willing to stand up for what she believed in, for challenging me to consider what I believed and to be willing to make a change if what I believed was wrong. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:18.799 Because I believed if you went to church enough, you'd be a good guy and you'd go to heaven. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.000 I was wrong. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:28.000 So in that bedroom, when Jesus met me at my hour of greatest need, I became a follower of his. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.279 And there's nothing like it. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:46.480 I'm still not perfect. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:51.920 All you'd have to do is ask my family or anybody on our church staff, and they'll tell you I still make mistakes. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:21:01.680 But my prayer every day is that I would be more like Jesus today than I was yesterday, and that I'll be much more like him tomorrow than I am today. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:12.400 I hope and pray that you'll encounter the resurrected Jesus the way that I have, and that you'll have the same desire to follow him more completely today than you ever have before. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:13.519 Thanks. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:17.440 Wow. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:20.079 That's powerful. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:28.640 Hearing the truth and then hearing a personal testimony that brings truth alive. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.839 And what we're talking about this morning is truth. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.279 And we're also talking about the resurrection. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:39.839 And we're saying that truth is actually a person. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:48.720 And if that person rises from the dead, then the resurrection changes everything. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:59.839 The apostle John writes in chapter 8, verse 31 and 32, he says, So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word and you are truly my disciples. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.519 disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:12.079 And so Jesus says that that knowing the truth, and here's what we're saying, that truth is a person. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:17.680 And if we know that person, then truth sets us free. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:24.960 And we experience personally the freedom that the resurrection provides. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.400 And this is why Easter is such a big deal. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.400 There's three things I believe that freedom provides for us. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:35.759 We have the freedom from guilt and shame. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:59.759 And see most people I talk to about Jesus often their argument or their first response or their hesitation to believe in Jesus is to say, hey, if you only knew my past, if you knew what I had experienced, if you knew what I had what I have done, that you would know that I could never be forgiven. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:02.000 I could never experience freedom. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.559 I could never be accepted by God. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.039 They point to their decisions. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:09.279 They basically are pointing to their sin. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:15.680 They're pointing to shame they're pointing to guilt and they feel unforgivable. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:30.559 But the truth is if they would put their faith and they would believe in the person Jesus Christ and believe that he walked out of that tomb and that he rose from the dead then they could experience freedom as well. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:39.279 And so the death and resurrection of Jesus frees us from all past sin and guilt and shame. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:24:02.079 I love the hymn that's titled There is a Fountain and it's speaking about the blood the blood that comes from Jesus on Good Friday and all of that fountain all of that blood washes away our sin and shame but here's what I believe the power that is given to that blood comes from the empty tomb. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:05.759 It comes from Jesus walking out of that tomb. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:12.160 And so the power is in the resurrection to provide for our sins to be washed away. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:47.279 But we're also to experience we also experience freedom from fear and death this past year has bought has brought tremendous anxiety and fear and but the truth is this that Jesus and his death and his resurrection frees us from fear and it frees us from the power of the the grave the power of death and I believe it's this is we have hope not only just hope Peter says we have living hope that comes from Jesus and it comes from his death and it comes from his resurrection. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:51.359 That word hope it literally means profound certainty. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:57.519 And what is the profound certainty where does it come from it comes from an empty tomb. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:10.079 It comes from the power available to us from an actual event in history that changes the story of history but it also changes our own story. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:16.720 And it provides us freedom from from death and freedom from fear. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:23.440 And not only do we have freedom from death and fear we also have freedom from authorities that seek to enslave us. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:38.480 See I mentioned this earlier that we have an enemy is Satan and it's his demons and the powers and principalities that want to rule over us and that don't want us to experience freedom from Jesus and his death and his resurrection. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:26:00.799 The apostle Paul alludes to this in Ephesians chapter 6 and in other places in the New Testament that these spiritual forces want us to be enslaved to fear enslaved to death to guilt and sin and enslaved us and so this reality that there is a there's a battle in the spiritual realm. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:09.440 There's a battle in our minds and so here's what I want you to know that we are victorious through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:19.759 We are victorious through his death and his resurrection so we don't have to be enslaved to these spiritual forces we can walk in freedom. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:28.640 If we believe all this then we must ask the question what do we do with this truth? 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.240 So what do we do with this truth? 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:46.480 As we've seen already we've seen that Jesus there's historical proof and evidence that he truly did rise from the dead we've heard personal testimony of how Jesus has personally changed the lives of individuals. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:55.680 And then we've heard how if the resurrection truly does happen and it truly does exist then it changes the freedoms that we get to experience. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:57.440 So what do we do with this truth? 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:04.960 When we encounter this information when we encounter and hear these stories it provokes some type of response for us. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:09.599 I love what the Bible talks about in James or in John chapter 18. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:28.480 It's the story of Jesus right before he's eventually crucified and it says in John 18 verse 37 it says Then Pilate said to Jesus So you are a king Jesus answered You say that I'm a king for this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:32.559 Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:51.759 Pilate said to him what is truth now I find this story so striking because here he is sitting in front of Jesus and Jesus in his lifetime claimed that he was the way the truth and the life that he is literally looking at the person of Jesus who is truth in bodily form. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:56.880 And Pilate has a response he he has to make a decision what is he going to do? 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:00.720 How is he going to interact with the truth that sits before him? 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:20.640 And so he walks out into the courtyard and there's the Jewish religious leaders there and the crowd of people and he says I find no guilt in Jesus but because it's Passover I'll release one prisoner to you and the crowd begins to yell back at Pilate saying we don't want Jesus we want Barabbas who was a known criminal. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:23.839 So what does Pilate do in the face of truth? 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:25.359 He walks away. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:32.799 Instead of listening to the voice of truth being the voice of Jesus he walks away and listens to the voice of the crowd. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:40.640 And I think for so many of us that's our story that we've heard the voice of Jesus in our lives. 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:52.559 We've encountered truth we've heard the historical evidence we've heard the personal story we've heard what the theological ramifications are for the resurrection but now we have to do something with it. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:29:00.000 And for many people they walk away and instead of listening to the voice of Jesus they listen to the voice of this world. 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:03.920 But if the resurrection is true then everything changes. 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:14.319 That we have a responsibility and an obligation and really there's only one adequate response that we can make and that's that we give our lives fully and completely to him. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:30.240 This is what the Bible talks about that we should be people that when we encounter the resurrected Jesus we understand of the sacrificial death that he died on the cross and the resurrection that happened three days later then as a result we give him everything that we have. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:32.799 We make him our Lord and Savior. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.559 And so this Easter we we want you to make that decision. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:50.640 If the Lord's speaking to you and moving in your heart and in your life we want you to make the most important decision that you can ever possibly make and that's putting Jesus first in your life listening and responding to the voice of truth. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:57.119 And so we say here at Church at the Grove there's three steps it's admitting believing and confessing A, B, C. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:02.799 That we admit that we're sinful, we admit that we've fallen short of God's standard and we're all in that same boat. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:07.839 We've all missed the mark we've all gone away and rebelled against the commands of God. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:09.839 And so we admit our sin. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.359 We confess our sin. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:18.240 But then we believe we believe that Jesus is who he says he is that he died on a cross for our sins and then three days later he rose again. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:26.559 And the Bible clearly says that those that put their faith and trust in Jesus that they'll walk in newness of life they'll be called new creations. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:31:01.200 They'll move from death to life there'll be men and women that will be called children of God that we get a new identity when we put our faith and our belief in him and then we finally we confess him as our Lord and our savior that we accept that he ultimately is our savior where he paid the penalty for our sin but then we also confess him as our Lord which means that he's now calling the shots for our lives that he is the one that's directing our steps and that he is the one that is ultimately the voice of truth in our life. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:08.640 There's no greater decision than you will ever make than putting your faith and your trust in Jesus who is truth personified. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:13.119 And so if that's the step that you need to take this morning I'm going to pray for you in just a moment. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:16.640 But I would love for you to text us and let us know. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:23.359 We've got a keyword set up if you can just text start to follow all one word to 97000. 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:35.680 And that will let us know that you've made this decision and we would love to be able to follow up with you this upcoming week and give you resources on how you can begin to take your next steps in following Jesus. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:50.799 For the rest of us that have maybe put our faith and our trust in Jesus man today should be a day when we boldly proclaim and we boldly walk in the life that Jesus ultimately brings because he is not dead he is alive. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:54.559 And if the resurrection is true then it changes everything. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.839 Let me pray for us. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:59.519 Lord Jesus I thank you so much Lord that you are not dead. 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:05.519 Lord that we can't go to some place in the Holy Land and find your body wrapped in a tomb. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:12.640 But instead Lord you are alive and you are sitting at the right hand of our heavenly Father Lord and we praise you and we thank you for that. 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:20.000 We celebrate and we rejoice in the blessings that we get to experience because of the resurrection. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:26.960 And Lord I just pray for every single individual that's watching this video this morning or today or whenever they might be watching it. 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:37.599 Lord I pray that you would give them the courage and the boldness to not walk away from the truth but that they would respond to the truth by giving their life totally and fully to you. 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:43.920 If they did make a decision to follow you, Lord, I pray that you would give them the courage to text and let us know. 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:50.480 That they would tell a friend that they would tell a loved one someone that knows Jesus that can begin to walk with them through this process. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:33:05.920 And Lord I do pray for the rest of your followers your children that we would live in confidence and boldness not getting distracted by the the things and the lies of this world but instead that we would walk in truth and we would walk boldly knowing that we have a resurrected Savior. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:11.119 Lord we love you we thank you again for this morning for the truth of Easter and it's in your name we pray.