SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Church at the Lookout is an old Colorado and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family and living on his mission to transform the world with all inspiring love.
SPEAKER_00: Visit us online at the lookout.church here because we're celebrating, as the church has been doing for the last 2,000 years, the crowning event in human history, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That is why we're here today.
SPEAKER_00: And for the last 2,000 years, we can't stop talking about it.
SPEAKER_00: It's still relevant, it's still just as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to think right now, I mean, even just today, over 2 billion people around the world are gathering to celebrate Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Two billion people.
SPEAKER_00: That's just alive today.
SPEAKER_00: That's not even talking about human history.
SPEAKER_00: And for 2,000 years, we're coming back around this story that has been transforming lives one at a time.
SPEAKER_00: And families and communities all around the world where the lonely have encountered this story and been able to find home.
SPEAKER_00: Addicts have been able to find freedom.
SPEAKER_00: Victims of hurt and pain have been able to find healing and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: The sick have been able to find healing and the lost have been found in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that we get to do today as we rally around this again is celebrate an eyewitness account.
SPEAKER_00: We get to open the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And when we open the Bible, we see that there's actually four accounts of the life of Jesus and the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to open up to what we call the Gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: And every all four of these like many biographies of Jesus, if you don't know the Bible very well, they all have different nuances to them.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, in particular, was he was one of the disciples, and he uh he was writing to his fellow Jews.
SPEAKER_00: And so when he's writing, that's what he has in mind.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're gonna do together, we're gonna read through Matthew chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: And Matthew chapter 28 is one of the best chapters in all of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking for a place to start, uh if you if you don't read the Bible often, I invite you to open up to Matthew 28.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have your Bible with you, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have it on the screens behind us.
SPEAKER_00: You can always download the Bible app as well.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and we're gonna read this together, enter into the story afresh.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
SPEAKER_00: His appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow.
SPEAKER_00: And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
SPEAKER_00: But the angel said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified.
SPEAKER_00: He is not here, for he is risen, as he said.
SPEAKER_00: Come, see the place where he lay.
SPEAKER_00: Then go quickly and tell the disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: There you will see him.
SPEAKER_00: See, I have told you.
SPEAKER_00: So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And behold, Jesus met them and said, What's up?
SPEAKER_00: And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
SPEAKER_00: This, my friends, is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00: So these women, the Marys, they wanted to be near him, even if he was dead.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to be near his body.
SPEAKER_00: And if you know the story, it's just a couple days before this moment that they were together, the Marys were together at a place called Golgotha, where Jesus was executed by the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it was uh it was a terrible thing to watch.
SPEAKER_00: The worst day in human history, where the Son of God, the creator of the heaven and earth, he came and he put on flesh, and even his own did not receive him.
SPEAKER_00: His best, his best chance to to win hearts and minds, and he he would do that, but he couldn't do that without his eventual death.
SPEAKER_00: And so the Marys are there and watching their son, their friend, their savior be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And and in this next scene, here they are nearing the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but when they get there, they find out that the angel beat them to it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how awesome would it have been to bend this angel and get this assignment from God?
SPEAKER_00: So you're like, hey, I got a fun one for you today.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to go roll away that stone.
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't be too difficult for you.
SPEAKER_00: Feel free to take a break on top of it when you're done.
SPEAKER_00: You can take a seat.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I want you to announce to these two women what has happened.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Really?
SPEAKER_00: I get to do it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just imagine being able to announce the greatest news that the world has ever heard.
SPEAKER_00: That, like, listen, don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you're looking for Christ crucified, which is important.
SPEAKER_00: I know you're looking for the one that you just saw crucified on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: But he's not here.
SPEAKER_00: He got up just like he said he would.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel got to deliver this great news.
SPEAKER_00: And that news, he is not here.
SPEAKER_00: Most days, that's not good news, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for something or you're looking for somebody and you get the news, oh, they're not here, most days that's actually bad news.
SPEAKER_00: But on this day, that's incredibly good news because it's how important it is to know that when you go to a place of death, to understand that even though Jesus has been there and he knows there and he has uh has felt there before, he's not there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: He got up and he walked out.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody praise God in this place.
SPEAKER_00: He got up and he walked out.
SPEAKER_00: So we celebrate that no, he's not in the place that they thought he would be.
SPEAKER_00: He is different.
SPEAKER_00: And when you put your faith in him, you don't have to stay there as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so the angel says to them, I want you to see how not there he is.
SPEAKER_00: And so I invite you to come in and see.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see where he lay.
SPEAKER_00: And so that was kind of the angel's first invitation to them.
SPEAKER_00: Come and see, come inside this tomb and look around, all right?
SPEAKER_00: And that's still important for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's still an invitation that's important for all of us, that all of us get to come in and investigate the scene.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are here this morning and you're here and you're you're checking things out, you're looking around, you have questions, you might even have some doubts, you have some concerns, you have some wounds, maybe even some church hurt from the past.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, the invitation for you this morning is come and see.
SPEAKER_00: Bring all of that to the table.
SPEAKER_00: God is not afraid of your questions, God is not afraid of your searching, God is not afraid that you just need some time to look around and just take out and take a look at the scene.
SPEAKER_00: He has nothing to hide.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's not there.
SPEAKER_00: That's already been dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: So come on in and take a look because Jesus is risen.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the awesome part is this Jesus did not need the angel to roll the stone away.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Some of it's like, oh, that was you know convenient.
SPEAKER_00: Have an angel do the heavy work for you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, listen, the heavy work was already done when he got up.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't need the angel to roll the stone.
SPEAKER_00: He could have walked out just by himself.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, at the next chapter, we see that when he visits his disciples, he just kind of appears, he walks through the wall.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You got some fish, you got something to eat?
SPEAKER_00: He just walks through the wall.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't need any help getting through a wall.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't need any help getting out of that grave.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys know that the angel rolled away the stone, not so Jesus could get out, but so that we could get in and find out what had been done in that place of death.
SPEAKER_00: And he's still opening the tombs, he's still opening the wounds, and saying, Come on in, take a look.
SPEAKER_00: I have been here, but I have dealt with here, and now we are moving to a new and a better life from here.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so the good news is this that he is not there.
SPEAKER_00: He's not buried in the past, he's not buried in the textbooks of history, he's not buried in your past, he has moved to new places in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus never stays where we left him last.
SPEAKER_00: He never stays where we left him last.
SPEAKER_00: And that's good news for us because some of us have some old memories of Jesus, but his invitations for all who call on his name, come and find me right here and right now.
SPEAKER_00: And this is problematic for some people that Jesus never quite does what he's told and he never stays put, all right?
SPEAKER_00: He just moves around.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's not static, he's dynamic.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's a living God, he's not a dead God, he is an alive God.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that every day we get to find out, Jesus, what are you up to today and how do we follow you and be a part of what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this whole thing with a dynamic alive God, that's problematic for people that need that feel like they need to control God.
SPEAKER_00: That's very problematic.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see that what happens in this next piece of Matthew 28 is the men and the women who are trying to figure this out, the Romans, the guards, they have to come up with a different story to explain what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: We can't just go with the story that he actually got up from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We need something else to go with.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's what we read in Matthew 28, the next verse, starting in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: It says, While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, Tell people, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.
SPEAKER_00: And if this comes to the governor's ears, he will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: So they took the money and did what they were directed.
SPEAKER_00: And the story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
SPEAKER_00: The story, it's been spread among the Jews, among a lot of people, that no, he didn't actually resurrect, something else happened.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different versions of what happened to the body of Jesus, and they they exist even today, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's some people who would say, Oh, he didn't really die, you know, he just, his heart rate slowed down so much that they just, you know, they put him into the tomb, and uh, and then he's like, oh, just kidding, you know, he comes out two days later.
SPEAKER_00: The problem with that kind of explanation is you have to understand the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: If you know anything about Roman culture and what they were good at, if there's one thing that the Romans knew how to do, it was how to execute people.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't mess that up.
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to unlive you, all right?
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to make you go away.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they were the best at.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the whole crucifixion was one of the most brutal ways to ever be killed because they knew how to keep you alive for the maximum amount of time, with the maximum amount of pain, completely naked, vulnerable, um, with the lashes on his back and the raw skin from being whipped and being from being flogged, rubbing up against the splinters of a rugged cross.
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to exert pain and they knew how to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: They did not screw that up if that's if that's what you think happened.
SPEAKER_00: Some other people have some really bizarre things.
SPEAKER_00: Some people think that Jesus had a twin brother.
SPEAKER_00: You heard that one?
SPEAKER_00: Kevin?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Kevin Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that they were in it together to fool the world.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do this, you and I, Kevin.
SPEAKER_00: Some people, you like in the story, thought that maybe oh, the disciples stole Jesus' body.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot that would have had had to happen in order for this to make sense.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the one thing that you should just be reminded of.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is an eyewitness account.
SPEAKER_00: And this is Matthew's eyewitness account, but there were several eyewitnesses accounts, and and these scriptures weren't written like hundreds of years later.
SPEAKER_00: It was like within their lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: These are very early manuscripts, very trusted.
SPEAKER_00: And so, if they were going to make up a story, um, it's very unlikely that they would be able to circulate a story without other disciples and other people who were there for the crucifixion, the resurrection, to actually be able to say, no, that's not how that went.
SPEAKER_00: Let me correct you, all right?
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not like time went by and then all these myths started developing, as some people would say.
SPEAKER_00: But furthermore, nobody will die for something that they know is a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So these disciples went from this place, and for the next few dozen years, they were going to all across the land to talk about like, listen, here's Jesus, and he died, and then he got up.
SPEAKER_00: And they went to actually proclaim the good news of what had happened in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and and as they did that, they were met with their own gruesome, horrible death.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the most vile depictions that you could read about.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew himself, the one who was writing, Matthew himself.
SPEAKER_00: Some say he went to Ethiopia, but it's commonly understood that he went and he was burned at the stake.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Peter, Peter, he he went out and he was preaching this new message, and he was so captivated by it that they said, listen, you gotta stop doing, you gotta stop, you gotta be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta stop saying what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Well, we're gonna we're gonna stop this if you're not gonna stop.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter essentially said, Listen, you you do what you need to do, but I cannot tell you what I have not seen.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot, I can't, I cannot pretend to unsee what I've seen.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're gonna crucify me, I would just ask that you do it, not uh right side up, like my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to crucify me upside down, which is what happened to St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, burn at the sake, others thrown off buildings, others fed to lions.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, man, that's gruesome.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's very gruesome.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, you need to understand you don't you don't give your life for something you know that you think is a lie.
SPEAKER_00: You give yourself, you give your life to something that you have seen with your very own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And they saw it with their own eyes, and we get to see it through the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: We get to see the resurrected Christ in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: So what the angel then said, he he moved from with this said, he he moved from come and see where he lay, to said, like, listen, come and see, but now I want you to go and tell.
SPEAKER_00: And they they would go back to Galilee and meet Jesus, and Jesus say, Go and tell.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing is when you come and see, and you see with your own eyes, you move to a go and tell moment.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus' heart is like, listen, if if this means anything to you, if this resurrection changes you, if the truth of this, his aliveness changes you, I want you to go tell every single person that there's an invitation towards grace and mercy.
SPEAKER_00: And there's only one person who's emptied the grave, there's only one person who got away with, and there's only one person offering what Jesus has offered.
SPEAKER_00: It's a relationship with God by faith for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And it's too good to keep to ourselves because the truth is if the tomb is empty, anything is possible.
SPEAKER_00: If the tomb is empty, that means our God is alive and he's still saving here and now today.
SPEAKER_00: And in a few minutes, we're gonna have some uh probably about a dozen people here tell you, they're they're ready to go and tell you what God has done in their life.
SPEAKER_00: And they're they're gonna be getting into the baptism tank here, about a dozen people in a little bit to say, God has done, I have seen Jesus in my life, and I'm ready to tell the whole world what God has done in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna be a glorious moment.
SPEAKER_00: But the way this movement ends, as the women, they they go back to Galilee and they're they're they're slightly afraid, they're really full of joy, and they're just kind of freaking out about what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: And they tell the disciples, and here's what it says, Matthew 28.
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of wrapping up this whole chapter, and this is beautiful for us here today.
SPEAKER_00: It says this, Matthew 28, starting in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which to uh to which Jesus had directed them.
SPEAKER_00: And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and behold, I am with you to the very end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you guys know when you get up from the grave, all authority has been given to you?
SPEAKER_00: You can do whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00: All authority has been given back to you.
SPEAKER_00: So he gets up from the grave, he's surrounding by he's surrounded by some of his disciples, some of them still in disbelief, some of them still doubting, like some of us are here even today.
SPEAKER_00: But he's saying, listen, here's what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to go.
SPEAKER_00: And tell people that have yet to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to baptize them.
SPEAKER_00: And if you just so you don't forget, I am with you now until the very end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Can I remind you today?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is with you.
SPEAKER_00: He is with all who will call on his name.
SPEAKER_00: He is with you.
SPEAKER_00: He's not dead, he's alive.
SPEAKER_00: So all around the world, people go to be near the bodies of the ones that they trust and they follow and they love.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some famous grave sites and tombs all around the world.
SPEAKER_00: There's the tomb of Confucius in China.
SPEAKER_00: This tomb is on a cone-shaped hill, and it also houses the Kong family cemetery where a hundred thousand descendants of Confucius are buried.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Hundred thousand descendants of Confucius are buried.
SPEAKER_00: So you can go to China and visit the tomb of Confucius.
SPEAKER_00: You can also go to Sri Lanka and visit uh a temple of Buddha.
SPEAKER_00: And this parti this particular temple is called the Temple of the Tooth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's they found, uh, according to legend, when uh Buddha died, his body was cremated in India, and he left they would be able to find one remains of a canine tooth, and they retrieved it from the ashes.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to make it to Sri Lanka, you can visit the tooth of Buddha, all right?
SPEAKER_00: And pay homage.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of thousands of people a year go to visit the tooth of Buddha.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you want to go over to Saudi Arabia, you have the mosque of the prophet Muhammad in Medina, and this is confirmed as the final resting place of Muhammad.
SPEAKER_00: Again, millions of people a year take the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to go see the final resting place of Muhammad.
SPEAKER_00: But if you go to Jerusalem today, you're gonna go find a tomb, and what you're gonna see is that there is an open door, and this is the only place that is famous for what is not in it.
SPEAKER_00: He's not there.
SPEAKER_00: So millions of Christians can go there, but we're the only ones celebrating that God isn't actually there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: He's alive, he's not dead.
SPEAKER_00: So, what does that mean for us today?
SPEAKER_00: That means if he's still alive and if his word is true, that means all of us to actually put our trust.
SPEAKER_00: What the Bible says is when we confess, when we believe in our heart and confess with our mouths that he's Lord, his very presence comes upon us and lives in us.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit actually lives in us.
SPEAKER_00: And this is an invitation that's available today.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I know on Easter Sunday, there's some of you here that are that you have yet to respond to the living Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And and maybe you're one of the people who do kind of the Christmas Easter thing, and that's about all you can handle of church, right?
SPEAKER_00: You come and you've you've somebody dragged you here today, somebody coaxed you into being at church today.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, you cannot leave without hearing that Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_00: He's not dead, he doesn't have a tomb somewhere else in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He's alive today.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us the spirit, he's transformed the lives of so many people here.
SPEAKER_00: He can transform your life too if you trust in him and turn your heart towards him today.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you don't have to do the thing where you show up to church every now and then and then and then kind of forget about Jesus the rest of the Week.
SPEAKER_00: It's just this news is too good to settle for that kind of life because he wants to show you how alive he is on a Monday morning, when you're dropping your kids off to school.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to show you how alive he is when you're doing Excel spreadsheets on a Tuesday afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to show you how alive he is when you're going to sports practice on Wednesday evening, when you're visiting with family on a Thursday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and certainly Sunday, Jesus is alive and he wants you to know how alive he is.
SPEAKER_00: Don't settle for anything less.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, we're here because Jesus told us himself that I am with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've been looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have been looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: But you've been looking in a lot of different places.
SPEAKER_00: You've been looking to tomb sites.
SPEAKER_00: You've been looking other places.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've been looking to God by trying harder.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, man, I just I gotta get my act together.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta keep going.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta try harder.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be better.
SPEAKER_00: I need to do more good works.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be nicer.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, listen, we're in this room, not because God makes bad people good, but because God makes dead people alive.
SPEAKER_00: And we're in this room because all of us are raising our hands saying, I'm not good enough in my own works.
SPEAKER_00: Like I can't be good enough for what the world needs.
SPEAKER_00: I need God to save me both from my sins, but to transform me into the life that He's inviting me into, to look more like Him, to be His spirit and His presence on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe that maybe you've been experiencing life to just man, I gotta, I gotta get my craft together.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you can you can surrender that today because when you when you come to Jesus, He says, I'm not asking you to be good enough because I was good enough for you, so you didn't have to be good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Just trust in me and my strength will become yours today.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Jesus has been nothing more than an intellectual pursuit for you.
SPEAKER_00: You've admired him, but kind of from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: And so you've read the history books, you read the biographies, you know, you watch the history channel every April and see the hour-long documentary about the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You've studied him, but uh but but again, I gotta remind you, he's not just a good moral teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just a guru.
SPEAKER_00: He can't be left in a textbook.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he never offered to you just to become an admired teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Come and follow me as your Lord and master, and I will change your life.
SPEAKER_00: I will show you the life that you've always dreamed of, that's in my presence, experiencing the kingdom of God here and now.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe he's been in your mind and not your Lord yet.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just saying, today, don't leave this place without making Jesus the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have tried to manage life without God.
SPEAKER_00: And you're just like, man, there's so much I can do.
SPEAKER_00: I can, I've been able to optimize my own life.
SPEAKER_00: I've taken the online courses, I listen to a lot of podcasts and Instagram reels, right?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have, you know, you have enough money that you can you can hire all the coaches and consultants and counselors and therapists you want to optimize your life and hack your way into the best possible version of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: But again, I want to tell you, there is no substitute from knowing God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: There is no substitute, and you can have the counselors and the coaches go for it, but the invitation for you is to know Him, to know Christ and Christ crucified and Christ resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: He's not an idea somewhere out there.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to know you right here and now.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: And so, and again, it's just so easy for these stories to become familiar, and we can just start trying to fit God into our existing life.
SPEAKER_00: And we think that God is we think that Jesus is, you know, this is a great story, and this will be a great add-on to my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so we come to church hoping to meet him again.
SPEAKER_00: But he's his invitation is I want you to know me.
SPEAKER_00: Not just at church, not just when everybody looks so good, and everyone's wearing their Easter pastels and smells so good.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, it's easy to worship God when everything looks put together, but most of our lives aren't put together, and you know that.
SPEAKER_00: So many of us have things of our life that we wish were more put together.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, That's what I died for.
SPEAKER_00: I died for the real you, not the put together you.
SPEAKER_00: I died for the real you, the you that's that looks a little bit messier than you want people to believe.
SPEAKER_00: That's the you I died for, and I'm not scared of that.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to come and meet you there.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's what I want to do this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want to put an invitation to all of us out here.
SPEAKER_00: And for some of you, you've prayed this prayer before.
SPEAKER_00: You know this, you know the drill, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But some of you, you you know, honestly, you you just you have to you can't leave without an opportunity to give your heart to God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to, I want to invite you this morning, if you're ready to kind of step from the fringe of the whole Jesus thing into the center and say, Jesus, I I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I but I think I I think I want to follow you.
SPEAKER_00: I think I want to learn what it means to trust in your name and give my life to you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to invite you to pray with me today.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to say a prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna invite everybody in the room to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to pray this with me, even if you've prayed it before, you can pray it again with a sincere heart to give your heart to Jesus even again.
SPEAKER_00: But for some of you, this may be the first time you pray this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, this may be the first time since you were eight years old that you prayed this prayer.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, you've been riding off of a past, a life with God that was from your youth, and you've been coasting off of that.
SPEAKER_00: But it's time to renew your relationship with Jesus, and he wants your heart again.
SPEAKER_00: So all of us get to be in the same picture.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Just around the room, close your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to listen to my words and my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And if this is your if this is your prayer as well, make it your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Believe these words in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So say this with me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to new life.
SPEAKER_00: I choose now to turn from my sins, my self-centeredness, and surrender my life to you.
SPEAKER_00: I choose you.
SPEAKER_00: I give myself to you.
SPEAKER_00: I receive your love and forgiveness and ask that you take your place as my Savior and my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Come reign in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Fill me with your love and your life, and give me a new identity.
SPEAKER_00: Restore me, Jesus, live in me, love through me.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody thank Jesus here today.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, if you prayed that prayer for the first time and you pray or you prayed it and you felt like this time I meant it.
SPEAKER_00: Something is happening in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm I'm ready to take a first step.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know everything yet.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of scary.
SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of questions.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's totally okay.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have questions.
SPEAKER_00: None of us have kind of figured this whole thing out.
SPEAKER_00: We're following a Jesus who is alive and he's risen, all right?
SPEAKER_00: None of us are experts at this.
SPEAKER_00: We're all on the journey together.
SPEAKER_00: So wherever you're at on the journey, you get to be there.
SPEAKER_00: But if that's the first time you prayed that in a little bit, I invite you to come and join us up front.
SPEAKER_00: Let us know who you are, and we want to pray with you personally today because we want to walk with you into the Jesus life together.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good day to be alive.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what we're gonna do now.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna end our service, our Easter service is one of the best parts of the service.
SPEAKER_00: Um, baptisms.
SPEAKER_00: And we just read in the in the story just a little bit ago how when Jesus said, Listen, all authority has been given to me, so I want you to go into all the world and make disciples, basically make make, tell people about me and invite them to follow me.
SPEAKER_00: And then when they do, baptize them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is baptism?
SPEAKER_00: Baptism for Christians is a way that we symbolize faith in God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus saves us from our sin, but baptism is something we do to celebrate that that has happened, that when we go under the water, what it means is that we have an old life that's all tangled up in sin and brokenness, brokenness, and darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And that old life is being buried with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then when we come up, we have new life in Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and we celebrate that as a community.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and what's cool is what Jesus said is when you get baptized, um uh He said, You're getting baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit, which basically means when you're baptized, when you're getting baptized, God is putting his name on you and He's sealing you with a new identity for now and forever that this is who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You're no longer who you used to be.
SPEAKER_00: You have now been stamped with the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Which means God's like, I'll put I'd put my name on that.
SPEAKER_00: I'd put my name on that.