WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:06.959 We are in a actually we're we're in a season where we just finished a series in our church. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:14.880 If you've been a part of our community, we finished a series on uh it was titled Here for Him, dealing with the idea of what we do as a Church. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:29.760 And we spent 12 weeks looking at every single thing that we do in the life of the church, hoping to figure out why we do what we do so that when we look at those things, we understand we don't just do them because historically that's just what we've always done. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:33.359 Um, but that we actually have some meaning and purpose behind those things. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:43.520 And so we spent 12 weeks looking at things like preaching and worship and why we even gather, why we eat together and all these different things, just so that we could add some layers to the fact of like here's some purpose behind this. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.560 Jesus didn't just give these commands and go, now go do them. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.439 It was like, because it's good for you, there's this stuff that we should be doing. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:56.079 And so that's never been more important to me uh as it is about this day, Easter, why we celebrate Easter. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:05.760 And so today, we finished our series last week, but with Easter being the way that it is now, I kind of wanted to spend some time just looking at why does the church celebrate Easter every single year? 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.359 Why is this something that we're called to remember uh every single year? 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:19.599 So we're gonna begin by reading a rather long text, but I want to read most of Luke 24, the resurrection story, just to kind of place us in that context, and then we will go from there. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.400 But this is Luke writing in chapter 24. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:29.680 He says, On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:35.439 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:40.480 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:46.640 In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead? 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:48.879 He is not here, he has risen. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:57.200 Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, the Son of Man must be delivered over into the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:59.200 Then they remembered his words. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:03.280 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:08.319 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the others with them who told the apostles. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:12.240 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:19.759 Peter, however, got up, ran to the tomb, bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.400 Now that day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:31.759 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened, and they talked and discussed these things with each other. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:37.280 And Jesus, while they did that, Jesus himself came up and walked alongside them, but they were kept from recognizing him. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.240 He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:50.319 And they stood still with their faces downcast, and one of them named Cleopas asked him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:51.199 What things? 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.080 he asked. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.400 About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.080 But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:10.719 And what is more, it's the third day since all this took place, and in addition, some of our women amazed us. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.680 They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.919 They came and told us that they had seen visions of angels and who said he was alive. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.960 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.599 And he said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:31.039 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into his glory? 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:37.120 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:44.159 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he was going to go on a little further. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.479 But they urged him strongly, stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:49.919 And so he went and stayed with them. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:56.400 When he was at the table with them, he broke bread, gave thanks, or excuse me, he took the bread, but gave thanks, and broke it and began to give it to them. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.639 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:06.479 And they asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked to us on the road and opened the scriptures to us. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.120 They got up, returned at once to Jerusalem. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:15.439 There they found the eleven and those with them assembled together and saying, It's true, the Lord has risen and he has appeared to Simon. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:22.079 Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:26.000 And while they were talking to him, Jesus himself stood among them and said, Peace be with you. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.720 They were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:30.639 He said to them, Why are you troubled? 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.439 And why does doubt, why do doubts rise up in your minds? 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:35.040 Look at my hands, look at my feet. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:36.399 It's me, it's myself. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:37.439 Touch me and see. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.839 A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see, I have. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.240 And when he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:47.279 And while they still did not believe it, because of joy and amazement, he asked them, Do you got anything to eat? 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:51.120 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:54.720 And then he said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:59.040 Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me and the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.600 And then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:10.560 He told them, This is what is written, the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all the nations. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:11.759 This is the word of the Lord. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:13.360 Thanks be to God. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:20.240 That was long, and I apologize that it was long, but it's the story and it's this thing that we're supposed to remember every single year. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.839 Rainy and I have this calendar that's a calendar within the yearly calendar called a redemptive calendar. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:40.160 And it's these four dates for us where we had experienced God breaking in with power and deliverance and things like that in our story that we remember those things every single year. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:44.720 So in January, we have Deliverance Day where the Lord delivered us from people who were genuinely trying to hurt us. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:49.360 And so on that day, we get delivery from wherever Grub Hub, Uber Eats, whatever. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:50.480 My kid loves that day. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.600 He can just order whatever he wants through delivery because it's deliverance day. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:58.720 But we do that, and then we have one on Marriage Day, which like that's our the day that our relationship came back together. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.279 And without that day, we would not be married, we would not have a son. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.879 And so we tell Teddy, you need to celebrate this day more than we do, son, because you would not be here if this day did not happen. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:17.199 We have New York Day in July, where we uh were dealing with a lot of things when we lived in New York and just so much pain there, and uh thought we were gonna lose like fifty thousand dollars or something. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:23.600 It was crazy, just the way that the job had messed us up, and uh the Lord did a really amazing thing, and we didn't lose any money. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:25.519 We actually left with more money than we came with. 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:27.439 It was it was weird, but it was really thankful. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:38.000 So we celebrate New York Day in July, and we have New York style pizza and New York style cheesecake, and we listen to Frank Sinatra and Taylor Swift sing Welcome to New York, and we just go after it, and it's so much fun. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:44.000 And uh anyway, yeah, so we just have these days in our lives, but the point of them all is just to remember. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:51.920 It's you can walk through your year and celebrate birthdays and flag day and president's day and all these different things and go, like, yeah, it's a good year, strong year. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:07:10.720 But for us, we want to be reminded God did a miracle in our lives, and if we don't place that before us and celebrate it before us, we'll just forget that he exists, we'll forget that he's good, and we'll forget that when we're walking through seasons where we need deliverance again, that that's what he does, that he specializes in doing miraculous deliverance and things like that. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:22.879 And so we try and remember those things so that it stays in our hearts, and we want to pass that on to our son as well, so that he knows at any given moment when he needs something big from God, he's not like, I don't know, I've never heard anything that he did. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:31.279 He can hearken back to the days when like the God of my father and mother who did these things, who broke into their story and did this amazing stuff, we want those things to be passed along. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:36.959 And so I say all that to say one, you should have a redemptive calendar, mark out the days where God has done things. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.480 But this day is a redemptive calendar day for the life of the church. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:41.680 Easter has been that day. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:43.680 It changed when they started meeting as a church. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:50.079 They used to meet on Saturday, and then they started meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, because it was like, we gotta remember this. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.040 We have to place it in our rhythms, it has to change everything that we do. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:54.240 We don't want to forget this. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:55.839 So it changed those things about them. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:09.759 And so for us as a community and as a church, and I realize we have a lot of newer people here, but for us as a church, I just want to look at Easter and then consider three things about the resurrection that, like, this is supposed to remind us of these three things. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:11.600 There's a number of things that it could remind us of. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:19.920 But I just want to look at this day, this space is supposed to remind us specifically, as a believer in Jesus, supposed to remind us of these three things. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.279 And so that's what I want to do today. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:28.000 So the first Easter and the resurrection is meant to remind us that our sin has been paid for. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:29.839 Our sin has been paid for. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.720 It sounds simple, but I think this is something we actually struggle with. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.480 Isaiah 53 says, He was pierced for our transgressions. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.159 He was crushed for our somebody has to be crushed for the iniquities. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.759 He was crushed for our iniquities. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.679 The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:53.039 And it's this space where we have to remember this idea that like this is what Jesus did on the cross, and this is what his resurrection testifies to. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:04.960 There's this commentator named David Guizick who says that the cross is the payment for our sins, and the resurrection is the receipt of our sins that it took, like the payment went through, like a credit card that declines. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:06.720 The credit card didn't decline on this one. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:15.519 It's kind of cheesy, but it does actually make a lot of sense because if Jesus were just like any other sinful human, he would have just stayed dead because death has power over sinful people. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:21.360 But because he was not a sinful human, he just took sin of other people and brought it down into death. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:23.360 Now death has no hold on him. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.600 It can't hold him, it has no power over him. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:29.679 And so the resurrection testifies to the fact that, like, oh, it actually worked. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:37.360 He took our sin, he died, buried it, and he, when he rose again, sin stayed there, paid for, but I was he was able to go free. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:44.159 And so Jesus' cross death is our pay is the payment for our sin, and the resurrection is the receipt for our sin. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:56.000 And for us, I think it's so important for us to remember this because when we don't, when we forget that our sin has been paid for, we spend our days trying to pay for our own sins as Christians, and it's not good. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.120 It doesn't feel good, it doesn't, it doesn't look good. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:08.879 And so the way that this works out, and I think everybody is different in this, but the way that it could work out with you trying to pay your own for your own sin, it's like you're just guilt-ridden all the time after your sin. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.159 And if you're a Christian and you struggle with sin, of course you do. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.960 But we feel like this need that like I need to pay it off. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:19.279 And so there's this guilt that we feel, and we we carry that with us, we're heavy with that. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:24.240 Some of us, we shame ourselves and we say shameful things to ourselves as if God's saying that to us. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.759 So we say stuff like, What how could you possibly struggle with this again? 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.440 How do you call yourself a Christian? 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:30.799 Shouldn't you be done with this by now? 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:32.159 Why are you still struggling with this? 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:38.960 And we think that God is shaming us as well, and so we use shameful words to try and slap us on the back to pay for our sins. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:41.600 For some, it's the expectation of punishment. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:50.080 You sin and then you're just looking around for God's hand to like flatten your tire or get you in a wreck or something bad to happen, and you're just walking around going, I know it's coming. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:54.799 Punishment's out there, and then you wait, and then something bad does happen, and you're like, there it is. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:58.159 That's the bad thing that paid for the bad thing that I did. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.240 And so now my sin has been canceled out. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:06.559 And what that does is it ultimately just replaces Jesus' punishment for your sin and you're taking it on yourself. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:09.440 Some people use Easter, welcome, we're glad you're here. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.519 Some people use Easter as their day of atonement. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:17.679 I've lived like crazy this year, or I haven't been to church in a while, and Easter is my like day of atonement to like pay for my sins. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:18.799 Really glad you're here. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.720 And then, like, that's this isn't, I mean, I'm so thankful that you're here, but that's not what Easter does. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:23.679 You don't have to do that. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.360 Easter doesn't pay for your sins. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:28.159 Some people just try and do good things to try and pay off their sins. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:35.600 But when it happens that we try and pay off our own sin, we stop having a compelling faith. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.440 You stop having anything that anybody else would ever want to have. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:46.720 And so you start living with this guilt and this shame and this stuff of waiting and fearing God, of like, what if he's gonna, what's he gonna do now? 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.360 And we stop having this compelling thing that we have this story that's beautiful and wonderful. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:12:03.440 Uh when Randy and I had Teddy um eight years ago, uh, it was almost immediate that like we had people in our lives uh that are not in this room, but people in our lives that are like, so when are you gonna have number two? 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:04.480 When are you gonna have number two? 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:05.840 When are you gonna have number two? 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:08.559 And it was like, man, we just had number one. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:09.279 All right. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.759 Uh but the the biggest issue with the people asking us, when are you gonna have the second child? 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.240 was normally the conversation went something like this. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.559 We show up to their house, they have multiple children, and they're miserable. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:21.600 They hate their life. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:30.320 They're like, When we haven't been on a date in 12 years, you know, and I don't see my husband, and I don't and their house is a wreck, and all and then they're like, So when are you gonna have more? 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.840 And I'm like, Lady, you ain't no poster child for having more children. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:39.120 Like this is not, I don't want your life, no offense. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:45.600 Like, and it's one, I was like, they didn't even hear it, like they didn't even see that, like you just told me how terrible it was and you're inviting me into it. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.519 And to me, I'm like, man, that happens in the church, that happens with Christians. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:56.480 If you're sitting there and you're like, if you're trying to pay for your own sins, it's like uh but you should be a Christian, and it's like, should I? 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:58.000 Like, you seem miserable. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:12:58.720 Like, how's it going? 00:12:58.799 --> 00:12:59.600 Oh, it's going really good. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:04.720 I'm riddled with guilt, covered in shame, constantly expecting God to punish me in some way. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:12.000 So you want to come to church or like, no, man, no one wants that. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:13.120 Like, don't. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:17.360 But the alternative side to that story is like just walking in freedom. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:21.919 I'm just going, like, yeah, I'm a screw up and I'm a hypocrite, but he calls me son. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:23.120 That's what he calls me. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.080 He calls me beloved. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.240 I'm a royal priest in the kingdom. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.159 Like, no one can touch that. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:29.840 And it doesn't matter all these things. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:31.120 He has covered that stuff. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.559 That is who I am for him forever because of what Jesus has done. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.200 Jesus has paid for my sin, so I don't have to. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.600 Jesus was punished for your sin, so you don't have to be, and you won't be. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:42.799 The punishment came. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:46.399 God poured his wrath onto sin, but he poured it onto Jesus. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:59.279 And so you just get to enjoy the freedom of knowing that it's been paid for you, it's been taken for you, and that's a better story, and it's a lot more guiltless story, it's a lot more shameless story, it's a beautiful thing. 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:07.840 And to me, I believe our world and the next generation needs a compelling vision of what it looks like to follow Jesus. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:18.320 And if we give them a vision of what it looks like to follow Jesus that's riddled with guilt, filled with shame, constantly expecting punishment from God's hand in some way, that's just not a vision worth giving our lives for. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:23.679 And it's becoming harder and harder and harder to be Christians if we be Christians that way. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:28.559 But it's super easy to be a Christian and a follower of Jesus when it's like, man, he's covered it all. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:30.960 I'm free, I'm forgiven. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:38.159 And so for us, I want our community here to be the most compelling Jesus followers there are. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:39.840 I want us to walk in freedom. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:48.639 We had people over uh the other night, the Burtons and the Danners over the other night, and uh, I want you all to, I want, I want, I want Christians the way that my son is a son, okay? 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.919 We this nice dinner party, my wife threw the whole thing, it's great. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:57.519 My kid rolls in in his boxer's no-shirt, just like, hey everybody, how you doing? 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.440 I gotta get my books. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.679 And like, just doesn't care. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:05.679 Like, we got tons of folks here, all this stuff, no shame whatsoever. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:06.879 Just just complete freedom. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:09.200 He's like, I'm in my father's house. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:10.799 I can do whatever I want. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.039 I own this, I got access here. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.879 If you don't like that, I got my boxes on, you don't have to stay. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.600 And nobody, I mean, obviously nobody there cared, but he's just like, just free living. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.720 And to me, we need to be like that in the kingdom. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:30.559 We need to walk around with confidence and joy and hope of like, is upcoming punishment coming? 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.480 Heck no, man, that happened 2,000 years ago, so I get to walk free. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:42.960 And so for us, I want us to be the most compelling Jesus followers there are because most people choose not to follow Jesus because they watch other Christians follow Jesus. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.320 That can't be us. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:45.519 Don't let that be us. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:49.120 And it's not a shame place, it's just a space of calling you to higher vision. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.600 Your sin is paid for, you don't have to pay for it. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:52.320 He did that. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:54.480 It should make us grateful, it should make us thankful. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:59.919 We should be the most confident, loving, most trusting people there are because we're like, he's good. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.759 And when things are bad, he's still good. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.039 And I can trust that. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.120 All right, Easter is supposed to remind us your sin is paid for, so you don't have to. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.440 Your sin has been punished, so you won't be. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:11.759 All right, Jesus has done those things. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:18.960 Second, we need to remember, and Easter needs to remind us that when we are of when Jesus' death and resurrection took place. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:21.519 I didn't know how to write this to where it makes sense, so I'm gonna say it well. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:27.919 We need to remember when, like the timestamp on when Jesus' death and resurrection took place. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.519 Now, it may seem odd to consider when. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.519 Why is this important for us to consider when Jesus' death took place, but it is important. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:43.360 Jesus chose to die on a specific day for a specific reason to tell us what he's seeking to do in the lives of people. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:45.600 And so the day was called Passover. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:51.519 He chose to die on Jewish Passover, which is a thing that they remembered if you remember the Exodus in the Old Testament. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:17:14.319 The Passover was when God did this amazing thing in the people of Israel, or the lamb, the spotless lamb, was slain to wipe the blood on the thing, and then death came for the firstborn children, but it actually uh the blood covered the Israelites, but death ultimately crushed and killed the firstborn son of Pharaoh, which to them was God, so death killed the firstborn son of God in Egypt. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:21.920 And so the first Passover, go to the next slide here, the first Passover in Exodus, God poured out the plagues on Egypt. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:28.079 God's people were saved by the blood of the Lamb, but the firstborn son of Egypt's God, Pharaoh, died. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:33.440 And then the Israelites were set free from the slavery and oppression of the Egyptians. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:40.480 In the second Passover, what Jesus is seeking to show us in the second Passover on the cross, God did very something very similar. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:42.480 He poured out his wrath on Jesus. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:47.920 He was the firstborn son of God who died, he was the spotless lamb whose blood saved his people. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.720 But Jesus didn't save us from the slavery and oppression of a nation, he saved us from the power of sin. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:18:06.640 And so what he's seeking to do in this, and when he does it, he's trying to show us that, like just as the people were set free from slavery in Egypt, in bondage in Egypt, I am doing that as well. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.200 I'm just not doing it from the Romans or any people group. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:13.519 I am setting you free from the slavery and the tyranny and the oppression of sin. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:23.680 And so just as Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus leads people to follow him and calls people to follow him, to follow him out of slavery to sin, because that's what the scriptures say. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.720 We were enslaved to sin, but now we've been made alive in Christ. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.079 And so this is why, this idea you can keep it up there. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.640 This is why Jesus died at this particular time. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:37.359 He's trying to reveal something to us, and he's like, this is why he says, Now I want you to follow me. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.799 The way that Moses called the Israelites, follow me from Egypt. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:42.480 And they were like, ready to go. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:45.519 Like, you don't have to ask me twice slavery's bad, I'm out. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.200 And so Jesus runs in, not saying, convert to me, convert to me. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:50.480 He's going, follow me. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:52.480 Let me lead you out of oppression. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:55.920 Let me lead you out of the tyranny of sin and what it has for you. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.000 And so he says, follow me, let me lead you. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.640 He says, read my script, read, read the scriptures because it sanctifies you and it purifies you. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:11.759 And the idea is like it drives the rule and reign of sin out of your heart and out of your life as you read the scriptures, because his word is truth and we're sanctified by truth. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:20.240 That's why he tells us that we should pray, and he gives us these commands, pray because in prayer you can tear down strongholds of sin in your life, you can tear down strongholds of sin in your life. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:25.680 You can set yourself more and more free by actually talking to me and spending time with me. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:39.279 This is what he's seeking to do in your lives, and this is so important for us because the demands that he places on us as a Christian, the things that he's seeking to do, he's not trying to get us to experience the weight of commands and all those different things. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:44.000 He's trying to just tell us, like, hey, if you want more freedom, go that way. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:45.119 Do that thing. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.960 The way that Moses was like, hey, if you want to escape this place, follow me. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.400 Jesus is going, if you want to escape what sin can do in your life, I just want you to follow me. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.039 And so he wasn't trying to hurt them. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.920 Moses wasn't, he wasn't trying to hinder them, he was trying to lead them into freedom. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.559 Jesus is seeking to do the exact same thing. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:10.079 And again, this is important for us because I think if we see, and I think many of us do, we struggle with this, we see the Christian faith as a list of rules. 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:24.319 And so then we feel bad about like, I haven't read my Bible lately, and like, oh, I really need to catch up on the one-year thing, and I really do need to pray more, and we and we kind of see it as like something that we need to do in order to make God like us, but the command isn't given that way. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:26.319 Jesus calls you to follow him to go. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.960 Like every time you read the scriptures, a little bit more of your heart gets free. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:32.240 It's an invitation. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:36.000 Every time you you pray, it's another step in freedom. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.880 Every time you fast, it's another step towards freedom. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:44.559 Every time you love your enemies, that's another step towards more and more freedom from the tyranny of sin and what it can do in your life. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:49.119 Every time you forgive someone that hurts you, that's another step in following Jesus. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.480 He's just trying to give you commands, not like do all this stuff or else. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.799 It's like, do you want to be free? 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:58.079 Like, here's all the things that I'm just just I will lead you there. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.440 All you have to do is follow me. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:01.680 Just put my word into practice. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.119 These things that I've called you to do, I'm not doing it to make me like you. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:06.000 I like you. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:07.119 I died for you. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.160 We don't, we, we got way past liking you a long time ago. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.000 The cross proves that he loves us. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:20.240 Now it's like, but now, even though I have crushed sin, it happened the same in the with the Israelites in Egypt. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:26.000 They are free and they're they're walking out of Egypt, but they don't know how to live free. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.359 Like they don't know how to do it. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.279 They've been told how to live and told how to be slaves for 400 years. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:34.319 Um Shawshank Redemption, anybody understand that? 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:34.720 Okay. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:35.599 Three of you? 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:36.319 Awesome. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.880 Um, you're gonna love this illustration. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:40.799 Uh all three of you. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:53.599 Um But there's this there's this uh moment at the end where Red, I think it's Red, that he he he he's working in a supermarket and uh he has to use the restroom and he keeps going to his boss to ask him if he can use the restroom. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:59.359 And his boss says to him, like, I've told you a million times, you don't have to ask me to use the restroom, just go. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.359 But he doesn't know how to live free. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:04.640 And he says this, he's like, I've spent so much time in jail. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:05.440 I don't even know. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:08.480 I can't even use the restroom unless somebody gives me permission. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:10.079 He doesn't know how to live free. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:11.920 The Israelites are the exact same way. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.720 They're free from Egypt, but they still have Egypt in their hearts. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:18.319 And so God is trying to get them to get further and further into freedom. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:19.920 And I think the same thing is true for us. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:23.680 We are Christians who are enslaved to sin and we don't know how to be free. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:28.160 And so Jesus is going, just follow me, and I will lead you more and more and more into freedom. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:30.720 And so for us, that's the calling on us. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:33.920 And we need to see Jesus' commands that way. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:35.920 And it's like, man, it is not a burden to you. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:50.079 I'm actually just saying, if you want to experience more joy, more peace, more love, more hope, more freedom from these things, if sin is ruining your marriage, then I'm just telling you, follow me in your marriage, and I will drive those things out of your marriage. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:54.079 And then all of a sudden, you'll be sitting there and be like, our marriage is so much better. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:54.640 What did we do? 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:58.160 And it's like, Jesus just led us into freedom in our marriage. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:06.160 If you want that with your addiction or you want those things, and I'm not saying that counseling isn't important, I think it's beautiful and wonderful, and we have our own therapists because we're all screwed up. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:07.440 I think it's all great. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:14.400 But I do think that when Jesus gives us a command to do and we see it like, oh, just another thing, it's like, no, it is an invitation. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:19.359 Please do this if you want to experience more of my life breaking into yours. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:20.720 I have set you free. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:23.519 Now walk in freedom and experience these things. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.519 This is what he's calling us to do. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:28.480 Again, being obedient to him and his commands doesn't make him like you. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.920 He's he's obsessed with you. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:30.880 He loves you, okay? 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:32.400 He's just trying to lead you into freedom. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:33.279 All right. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:42.720 The third thing we need to remember is that we need to remember that the resurrection consistently uh elevates and needs to elevate our view of Jesus. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:46.799 We need the resurrection consistently to elevate our view of Jesus. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:54.400 I struggled with whether I was going to share this because uh, well, you'll see in just a second, but I'm gonna share it. 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:57.920 Um there's this story of a guy named Gary Hoy, okay? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:23:58.880 We don't know this guy. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:23:59.920 He lived in Toronto. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:01.119 Who lives in Toronto? 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:05.599 Um, but he lives in Toronto, he did live in Toronto, but uh, go to the next slide here. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.960 Gary worked at the skyscraper on the left, okay? 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:12.799 It's a building in Toronto, he was a lawyer or something like that. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:19.440 Um and he would always be the guy, he was um, you know, just kind of life, life of the party kind of guy. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:25.359 He would be the guy that would do the tours for the new employees and stuff like that, show them around the office, all the rest of it, 50th floor, whatever. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:26.480 That's what he'd do. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:43.519 And every single time that he would do the tour, he wanted to scare the employees, and so he would uh get a running start and jump at the glass on the inside to show them how unbreakable the glass is and to freak them out and for them to have a memorable first day at the office. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:45.279 You see where this is going. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:49.680 Um that's what it sounded like. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:50.640 Yeah, that was it. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:55.200 Somebody did know Gary Hoy. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.480 Gary is my brother. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:05.759 So one day, it's going strong start so far, this is great. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:11.920 One day, Gary does this, uh, and he's got a group of new recruits. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:12.559 He doesn't. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:19.839 He runs and he jumps into the glass, and the glass doesn't break, it just comes unclipped from the frame. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:30.799 And he and the glass fall 50 stories all the way out onto the pavement below, and Gary died that day, and then the business shut down like a year later because everybody was traumatized. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.400 It's not funny, but everybody was traumatized by the thing. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:37.839 Now, I just found that an interesting interesting story. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:39.599 It has nothing to do with anything we're talking about today. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:40.000 No. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.240 I'm joking. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.440 My point is this he did this a lot. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:49.759 I say he did this all the time, and it's on social media, and you can find it, and I have a link if you want to see it. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:51.200 It's a real story, Gary Hoy. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.880 He has a Wikipedia page. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:26:03.039 Um my point is he did this so much that he grew so used to it going one way that he forgot, we're on the 50th floor. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.480 If it ever doesn't go that way, I'm dead. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:14.240 Like he just got so used to something happening and just so used to that, and he forgot, I mean, literally, the gravity of the situation that he's actually in. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:17.200 If this doesn't go the way that I think it's gonna go, I will die. 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:19.359 I'll leave my family and the whatever. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:27.759 And I think for us, and again, the reason I tell that story is I think the same thing can happen and has happened in the life of the church as it pertains to the resurrection. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:33.279 I think we've grown so used to hearing Jesus raised from the dead that we're kind of like, Jesus raised from the dead. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.240 Yeah, I know. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:34.880 It's great. 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:38.160 And we've grown used to the God man who died and came back again. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:50.480 But all of us, if we were standing in the cemetery someday and we were saying, you know, paying our respects for our long-lost people, and then right next to us, somebody starts digging out of that grave, we'd be like, well, that'd be something worth staring at and figuring out. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:52.400 We'd be freaking out and going, what's happening? 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:53.599 What are we doing? 00:26:53.839 --> 00:27:00.079 And I think for us, we can grow used to and of hearing this every single year, and we lose, like, man, there's something here. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:10.960 It's supposed to, the resurrection of Jesus is supposed to elevate our vision of him so that we see him in this impossible way of doing this impossible thing that no one's ever done before. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:15.440 Uh, one author uh said this, he says, Death. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.960 Death is the great wrecking ball that destroys everything. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:27.519 Everything that we've done, everything that we are doing now, and all of our plans for the future die completely and irrevocably are destroyed when we die. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:32.079 Not a guy you want over for a dinner party, but uh I do think that there's something there. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.960 Death is the great wrecking ball that destroys everything. 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:40.880 And Easter is supposed to be the yearly reminder that that wrecking ball that destroys everything couldn't stop Jesus. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.519 Like it just couldn't actually keep him dead. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:56.319 And so it's supposed to be this thing that stirs wonder in us and just this impos the the view of impossible things that is supposed to elevate our view of Jesus and go like, if he can do that, he can do anything. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:28:03.279 If he can do that, then he can heal my marriage, he can heal the people in my life, if he can do that, he can change a city, he can change anything. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.920 If he can raise from the dead, and that's the great wrecking ball that stops everything, but it couldn't stop him. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:09.759 That means that he is unstoppable. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:25.279 He can do anything and everything, and it's supposed to be this space that raises our vision so that we're it's renewed every year of like, oh yeah, my life has been hard and I've been so focused on the things that I'm doing that I forget that like there's impossibilities available to me because he does impossible things all the time. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:25.920 A.W. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.119 Tozer, in one of my favorite quotes, says this about the church. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:32.559 And I've read it once and I'll read it a lot because I think it's so important for us. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:36.960 But he says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:48.400 The history of mankind will probably show that no people, no people has ever risen above its religion, and the spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:53.920 And then he says, This for this reason, the gravest question before the church is always God Himself. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:01.599 A person will experience God in their lives in direct proportion to what they deep in their heart conceive God to be like. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:05.759 Because we tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:12.000 That line that says, your experience of God will be a direct pro in direct proportion to what you think of him. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:16.240 I think you see that all through the scriptures, and it's an invitation and it's a warning. 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:19.119 If you believe that he will heal, you will see healings. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:24.880 If you don't, you'll never ask and you'll never experience those things because the scriptures testify you have not because you ask not. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:40.960 Your ability to of what's possible will be shaped by the fact of what you actually think God can do in your life because those will be the things that you will, one, see and believe God did that, and then two, those will be things that you actually ask for or don't ask for based on your belief of God. 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:44.720 And so our vision of Jesus constantly needs to be elevated. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:49.359 What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us, especially as Christians. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:56.480 I think we see this idea consistently in the scriptures that you experience what you believe him to be like, and I'm not saying this is a name it and claim it. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:57.759 I'm not that Pentecostal. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:59.200 I'm not, that's that's not who I am. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:00.799 That joke was funny to two people. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:01.200 Okay. 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:08.480 Um but you see that you see this all in the scriptures, this idea of like you experience God in proportion to what you think of him. 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.640