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Happy Easter. I'm gonna try one more time. Happy Easter awesome, awesome. Well, uh, we've already had one gathering this morning and gotten to uh to just celebrate Christ and celebrate the resurrection. Um, and so it's so fun to get to do that again uh at this 11 o'clock hour. Uh thank you for being here. Um if you are a guest here at Point Community Church, just want to say welcome. We're glad you're here. Uh we hope that you feel encouraged and we hope that you really find uh that we believe that Christ is our life, um, that we don't have anything in and of ourselves that can offer you hope, but Christ is the hope of the world, that he is life. Um before we move on, a couple of things. One, uh when you came in the room today, if you did not get a worship guide, it's that that piece of paper half folded. Uh, there's actually some ushers at the back of the room. If you'll lift your hand real quick, they'll get you one of those. And uh, you can find a place to take notes today from the message. Uh, you can find a place to um connect with us and find out how you can get more involved at Point Community Church if that's something you're interested in. Um we want to be more than just a Sunday gathering as a church. We want to be a community of people, a family. We call ourselves a family of Jesus followers who are on this mission to make disciples of Jesus in all of life for the glory of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so uh that's who we are. And we would love to help you get connected if that's something you're interested in. Um couple of things, too, is that you'll notice within there uh there's some there's some uh events coming up, ways to connect men. I think there's a men's retreat listed in there. Um also on the back of it, you'll find a daily reading plan where you can read the Bible every day. And we're hoping uh that you spend time in God's Word, even if that's brand new to you, you've never done that before. I encourage you to read God's Word. Um, it is living, uh it is it's life-changing and so life-giving to read God's Word. Um, so last night uh I was a little bit concerned we were gonna have an issue because we were approached by someone uh a couple days ago that said, Hey, we would love to be baptized on Easter. Is that possible? And it just so happened that it was uh a dad and his little son. Uh, and and so uh I said, sure, like we have a policy here. If you approach us and you say you want to be baptized, we're gonna we're gonna make it happen. And and so in order to make that happen, I came up here last night and uh started to fill this little baptism pool over here on the left, and I texted uh the guy who normally fills it up. I said, How long does it take to this thing to fill up? And he says, Well, uh, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half. So I was like, Okay, well, I got a few minutes here, so I start the hose. I've got my oldest son with me, and we run over South Park Meadows to get something, and we come back at like the 40-minute mark, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm got plenty of time. And I walk through that back door back there, and this thing is just overflowing, flowing out water everywhere. And I'm like, oh no! And so I'm just like taking off, doing my you know, forced gump impression, and um go to the hose, turn it off, and then we just start cleaning up mess and grabbing like a trash can and dipping water out, throwing it outside. And uh I didn't tell them that we had the trash in the anyway, but um um and then uh pumping the water out, and then my son and I are sitting here and we're we're like we got mops and we're mopping it up and you know, just trying to get it all up, thinking this is this could have been really, really bad if we hadn't walked in the door when we did. Um, but what was interesting is as I was picturing that baptism pool over here overflowing and the water literally coming out over uh the sides, uh I felt like God just prompted me. And it was one of those moments where he just said, Listen, uh, I want to pour my spirit out in this place and that it wouldn't overflow. Uh and I don't know, you know, some people might think, well, that's just silliness, but to me, it really was meaningful because it was a reminder that that's the God that we serve. He wants to fill us to overflowing. And I my prayer, even as I was praying with my son, walking around this room and mopping, and putting I was just praying that we would sense God's presence and that his power would be made known and then it would overflow into the streets of Austin and the places where we live and do life, because we have no life in ourselves, but he is life, and his Holy Spirit is life, and he wants to overflow in our lives, uh, in our families, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods. He wants us to know Christ. And what you will discover if you stick around point, if you're a guest here, and maybe this is a uh one-time uh visit for you, but if you spend much time with us, you will find out pretty fast we do not have it all together. We don't know everything. Uh we have our own struggles and confusions, we have doubts, and we have fears, but we are walking in the grace of Christ. We're walking in the power of the Holy Spirit to be new and to be different. So we uh we know that without God, we're done. And without God, without his spirit, this service is an empty, vain religious practice. But with God, in his presence, there's life change. There's life. And that's what we're praying today. That's what we're asking for today. That's what I'm asking for today is that even though I had to have this little scary moment and uh mop the floor, I was reminded again of the Holy Spirit and the way the Holy Spirit works and what he wants to overflow in our lives. So, we are celebrating Easter today, celebrating the resurrection, but we are continuing on in our teaching series here at Point Community Church. We didn't stop, we didn't kind of go a different direction today. We're gonna continue to teach through the book of John. That's what's the Bible uh book that we've been in. And so the gospel according to John, if you have your Bible, I encourage you to pull that out. If you don't, there's actually some under the chairs around you if you want your to look at that. And if you don't own a Bible, uh feel free to take one of those Bibles under the chairs. I can't guarantee that they're in great shape. Um, but if you want to grab one of those and take it with you, if you don't own one, I encourage you. Here's a copy of the Bible for you. We'd love that to be a gift to you. Um the words will also be on the screen above me this morning as I teach. But we're gonna look in John chapter 14. That's the next passage that we're coming to. And I thought, isn't that so awesome how God always just puts it right where we need it to be, uh, the morning we need it to be there. And so I want to just tell you ahead of time this passage we're gonna go to today is so good on a resurrection Sunday. I think we could teach the resurrection from any verse in the Bible because we know that all of it points to Jesus. But this is a great passage this morning for us to meditate on, to think about. And so I want to read it to us, verse 1 through 6. And I actually think that some of you can identify with these disciples we're about to read, and I'll explain why in a minute, but let's read it together. John 14, 1 through 6. Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may also be. You know the way to where I'm going. Lord, Thomas said, We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Let me pray. God, we just pray right now in this moment that you would speak to us by your spirit. God, I know that the men and women and children in this room, they don't need to hear, they don't need to hear from me. I might be the person speaking, and it might be my voice, but I pray that your spirit would speak to each and every person in this room and speak to me as well, God. Just remind me of the beauty of what you have offered us. I pray that we'd be encouraged today. Would you help us just avoid distractions? Would you remove those distractions from us today as well? We praise your name. Amen. If you have a pulse, you know that life is difficult. That it's hard. Right? If you have a heart beating in your chest, if you pay attention at all, you know that this world is broken, that it is not what it should be. Uh we see people starving to death in the world. We see terrorism, both in our own country and abroad. We see so many things in this world that are not okay. And in this passage, I want to draw your attention to the way he starts out in this section of scripture where Jesus' words, these are red letter words in my Bible. If you have a red letter edition, you'll notice it's Jesus talking. And he says to his disciples, his twelve, he says, Your heart must not be troubled. Your heart must not be troubled. So why would he use those words? Well, because their hearts must have been troubled, right? Um, I don't think what Jesus is saying here is that uh his disciples should never be concerned or unsettled or uncomfortable or never struggle a little bit as they look at the world around them. Why is that? Because just previously in the passage, uh Jesus is washing his disciples' feet, and it actually talks a little bit about Jesus feeling turmoil in his own heart, and it says his heart was troubled because he knew what one of his closest disciples was about to do. One of his closest disciples is about to betray him. Jesus also is getting ready to go to the cross, and we know that when he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane shortly after this conversation, he's troubled in the spirit because he knows the weight of what he's about to bear. So I don't think Jesus is saying that it's never okay to feel unsettled, to feel a little bit like uncertain, or struggle a little bit with just the reality of this life because this world is broken. I mean, I don't think it takes a lot of intelligence to figure that out. And all of you in this room who've come in today, you've probably come in having experienced a little bit of that brokenness, right? Pain, maybe in different forms than some of the people sitting right around you, maybe similar forms to the ways the people around you have experienced it. But what about these disciples? Why were they troubled? What was wrong with them? Well, I would submit to you that we get the answer in some verses in the previous chapter, at the end of chapter 13, and here's what it says in chapter 13, verse 33. Again, Jesus talking to his disciples, he says, Children, I am with you a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So his disciples, who've left everything to follow him, are now being told that he's leaving them and they can't come with him. Do you think that would mess with you a little bit? I mean, these guys had left their jobs, fishermen had left their nets, uh, tax collector left his tax collector table in business. Uh, these guys had followed Jesus, they said, We're gonna come after you, and then he says, I'm going away and you can't come with me. And they're looking at him like, What? In fact, we know that because Peter says this. This is verse 37. Lord, Peter asked, Why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. You've got to love Peter, right? He always is talking. There's a word there for us. Jesus replied, Will you lay down your life for me? I assure you, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times. So Peter's not only now disgruntled, a little unsettled, troubled in his heart, because uh he's been told Jesus is leaving them and he's not gonna that he can't go with him. He's now troubled and he's struggling. Why? Because he's told he's gonna deny Jesus three times. He's like, thanks, Jesus. Like, what a you know vote of confidence here. Right? I thought, you know, I love you. I'm saying I'll lay down my life for you, and you're telling me I'm gonna deny you three times. Of course, we have hindsight in this whole thing. We know he does. He actually does deny him. He he tries to separate himself from Jesus and save his own skin. The point is that these disciples are not in a good place. And I guess the truth of the matter is, is if there's anything that should trouble us in life, it's separation from Jesus. I mean, if there's anything that should really get us concerned, it's being disconnected from Jesus. But Jesus says to them in the midst of this, do not be troubled. You may or may not realize this, but when the world was created, people didn't have troubled hearts. In the Garden of Eden, this word, this Bible, this scripture, go back to the very beginning in the book of Genesis, and it tells us that when God created the world, it was perfect. In fact, what that means is that there was no conflict, there was no trouble in the heart of humanity at that point. I know it's hard for us even to imagine. I can't even begin to imagine. Like, what would life look like if I wasn't at conflict with people or with God or with creation? The Hebrew people, they have a word shalom. You probably have heard it before if you spend any time around Jewish people, and they talk about shalom, and that really is this idea that there's not this conflict or this war going on between human beings and their creator God, and there's not this conflict going on between people where they're at each other or they're just uh frustrated, and there's strife and there's envy and jealousy and all these things that happen here. And there's also not even uh strife or or issues or or problems, conflict, you might say, with creation itself, where we see now natural disasters and we see pain and suffering coming, where the world and people are just not jiving. And I would say to you that in God's original intent, that wasn't a part of the story when he created a perfect world, but since the fall, since the moment humanity said, God, we want to be in charge, not you. And they bought the lie of the enemy. What happened? Conflict. And that shalom was fractured. That shalom, that peace with God, that peace with each other, that peace with even creation was fractured. And from that point forward, we're all living in the reality that this world is broken and it's messed up. And so we now live with troubled hearts. And some of you walked in this door, the doors of this place this morning with a troubled heart. Maybe you walked in because you're confused at life. You don't know how to fix the problems that are in front of you. Maybe you're uncertain about what the future holds for you and your family. Maybe you're angry. I mean, maybe you're just angry at life, angry at the fact you think God has treated you unfairly. He's not delivered what you thought he should deliver in your life, your situation, your circumstances just don't feel good. Maybe you're like, God, you gave me the wrong spouse, God, you gave me the wrong kids, God, you didn't give me enough money. God, I mean, seriously. We can wrestle with that, can't we? Because as human beings, we look at the world and we're like, there's gotta be something wrong here. And we we are we are fractured, we are dealing with the curse, we are dealing with the fall, we are dealing with this conflict. There's resentment, there's fear, there's stress, there's addiction, there's you know, sickness. But I would tell you today, there is hope in the midst of all of that. And that's why the resurrection is so awesome. You see, Jesus speaks into that. He speaks into that trouble in our hearts, and he says, what? This is gonna sound real simple, it's gonna sound real churchy, but this is what he says. He says, what? Believe in God and believe also in me. And I would tell you that the solution to troubled hearts is to put our trust in God, namely Jesus. To put our trust in God, the creator God. Now I know some of you immediately push back and say, you want me to trust a God who's given me this? You want me to trust a God who lets this stuff happen? I mean, I talk to people in Austin on a regular basis who their view of God is that God is this mean being if he exists, who's just there laughing while we down here suffer away. And I would tell you that that's not what the Bible teaches about our God. And Jesus says to them, believe in me. Put your trust in me. Your troubled heart, I can deal with that. Believe in me, trust in me. And he says that same thing today. The tense of the verb there actually is a verb that conveys that we are to continue believing, to keep believing, right? In the words of the great theologian's journey, don't stop believing, right? We keep believing, we keep on believing. Once you put your faith and trust in Jesus, then you keep learning how to practice trusting in Jesus, walking in Jesus. And so this message is not just for those who've never put their trust in Jesus today. The question is, is if you have, if you're a child of God, are you believing Him right now? Are you putting your trust in Him right now? Or are you, like so many that I know, and even my own heart, when I'm not trusting Jesus, fixing yourself, finding your own way, trying to manufacture something, maybe even trying to save yourself by good works, by some self-salvation project that you've decided will help you to get what you want. And I would say to you that the only hope we have is to put our trust in God, to put our hope in God. This does not mean that you're gonna get all your questions answered this side of heaven. This does not mean that you're gonna never be confused again. This does not mean that you won't ever suffer again. But it does mean that you have one who understands your suffering and will meet you in your suffering and will lead you and will guide you, and he will work on your behalf. You know, there's a verse in Proverbs, it's the book of wisdom in the Old Testament. In Proverbs 3, some of you guys have been in church a long time, some of you may be new to church experiences or gatherings like this, but we're regardless, this is a passage that's so good for us as human beings to hear. Proverbs 3, verse 5 and 6, it says this trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Yes, you guys know this. And all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Now that's a beautiful passage. It is very hard to live that way. It's like, I will trust you, God, until the money runs out. I will trust you, God, until my wife's being a jerk. I will trust you, God, until my kids are rebelling. I will trust you, God, until I have a job I don't like. Now I'm using those specific examples because those that's where rubber meets the road. It's one thing to come to a service, sing songs, to hear a message, say amen, clap, all those things. But when you're in really life every day, when you're in the nitty-gritty of everything, do we trust God then? And I can tell you right now that if I'm honest about myself, assessing myself, because sometimes people think preachers get like a free pass, you know, to holiness. No, my wife can attest that is not true. Okay? And in those moments, I'm not believing truth. I'm not walking in truth, I'm not trusting God. Thankfully, I am a child of God, regardless of my performance. Thankfully, his grace is working, and I'm getting, I'm growing up, thankfully. But the same is true for you. Do we trust? You know, one of my favorite things is a dad, we have six kiddos, and and and uh fun things with our kids is to teach them to swim. It's also scary. And we've had some moments at the pool. It's like we have some pretty brave kids. Uh they just kind of just barrel into the pool. Um, but it's getting warmer again, and we'll spend some time at our community neighborhood pool. And, you know, we go down there and we're very first teaching them to swim. You know, one of the things that always happens is these kids they get to the point where they're ready to jump off the side of the pool into the water. And as a parent, I'm sitting there and I'm watching my child on the bank on the little concrete on the side of the pool, and I'm like, okay, come on. And they're like, uh, you know, hesitating. Is dad gonna catch me? Is he gonna, is he gonna actually like keep me from drowning? Or how's this gonna go? Now, I don't know if that's an indictment against previous things I've done to them or what. But my kids eventually they get the courage and they s they jump out. And and then I just let them drown, you know, slumber around the water for a little while and like grab them by the neck. Hey, look, you made it. You like, and they never do that again. No, that's not how it works. As a dad, I like they jump in the water and I catch them and they go, Oh, dad got me. And the next time it's easier, and the next time it's easier, and the next time it's easier. Now that's a silly illustration, but I will tell you that all of life is practicing stepping out in faith and in things we can't see, but trusting that the Father's heart for us is good and that he will catch us. He was not gonna let us just sink into oblivion. But he actually will meet us in that. And he's given us in given us instruction, he's given us a clear plan for how to go after this life, and if we will step out in faith and trust him, he will meet us there. But the problem for you and the problem for me is control. We like to be in control. We like, we want to determine what the step is. We want to decide how it works. We want to decide what God should do. And we tell him in our prayers God, you got to do this or else. Like, who's in charge here? What I would say to you this morning is that God is saying to us through these words of Jesus to his disciples, believe in me. Trust me. Step out, and I will meet you there. So what actually happens when we trust Jesus? This is exciting stuff, okay? What actually happens when you choose to trust Jesus? And the fact is, is that sitting in church for years isn't the same thing as trusting Jesus. It's not the same thing as believing on Jesus. That could be a part of that. In fact, I hope that every person here has at some point put their trust in Jesus, but there are people who go to church every week who've yet to trust in Jesus for their salvation. But I would tell us that when we have trusted Jesus, when we become a child of God, when we step into the kingdom of God, guess what? We now have hope for the future. You know what helps a troubled heart? Knowing where we're headed. Knowing where we're headed. And I would say that this looks like this: we have an eternal home purchased by Jesus in God's presence. We have an eternal home purchased by Jesus in God's presence. That's the hope that we have. That's the hope for the future. Now I want to address that for just a minute. Because in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 9, Apostle Paul is writing there and he says these things. I think this is awesome. He says, What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind, God prepared this for those who love him. God has a redemptive plan for humanity. And he has it prepared for us. And we can trust him. Did you notice what Jesus said in the passage? After it says, Your heart must not be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. He says, What? In my father's house are many dwelling places, many rooms. And if not, I would have told you, I am going to prepare a place. Now, I'm going to date myself here, but some of you grew up in church. Some of you didn't. But some of you grew up in church and you remember an audio adrenaline song called Big House. Anyone talking about? Even nobody who audio adrenaline is anymore? Okay? Yeah. They're cheesy now. They were awesome then, okay? Just don't tell them that. But here's the thing. They had this song. It was just come and go with me to my father's house. It's a big, big house with lots and lots of room. Silly, right? We had all these motions. It's a big, big table with lots and lots of food. It's a big, big yard, or we can play, and you're supposed to yell at your favorite sport. Always say football. But here's the deal that song is speaking to something that we all know, according to scripture, is actually true, and that is that God has a place for his people for eternity. An eternal home. And Jesus is saying those exact things. He's saying, In my father's house are many dwelling places. He's saying to those disciples, I am leaving you, yes, but guess what? We have an eternal home. You have an eternal home, disciples. And now today we have an eternal home that's being prepared. And I believe that we need to be reminded of that when we're in the midst of the tragic hardship of this painful world. And I'm not telling you that all life here on earth is terrible. I'm just telling you that, again, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that this life does not always feel good. It does not always lead to comfort and to peace. To shalom. It leads to brokenness, hurt. We do a good job covering it up. Sometimes at church we can be the most fake and plastic people. How's it going? Oh, good. How's it going with you? Good. But under the current, under the hood, take the mask off, and we're like, it's not been good. Struggling. And it's okay to struggle. And it's okay to acknowledge that we struggle. In fact, Jesus can meet us in that and we can help each other through that. But notice, this is an eternal home that we have a future with God. He uses the word prepared by Jesus. Notice with the words. I would have told you, I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back to receive you to myself. Prepare, prepare. Says it twice. Go to prepare a place for you. Now, does this mean that God is on his heels? He's like somebody says, hey, I'm coming to your house and he's got to run home and like throw stuff under the bed and stuff a closet full of junk so it doesn't look bad so he can like present a good picture? Is that what we're talking about here? He's like, wait, wait, wait. Let me go home. I've got to put an addition on the house. There's not quite enough room for you guys yet. Is that what he's saying? I mean, you think God is like on his heels and caught off guard? No, Ephesians 1, I'm not gonna put it on the screen for you. It tells us that before the foundations of the world were laid, before he spoke the world into existence, he had what, chosen his people. I'm not even gonna try to explain all that to you this morning. But I will tell you this that God has a plan, a redemptive plan, a rescue plan. He is not caught off guard. When Jesus says, I'm going to prepare a place for you, he's not saying, Well, uh, we realize we have a few more people coming than we thought, so I better get back up there in heaven and get this thing in shape. He's saying the next step of the plan is to go to the cross so that I can purchase what I've already secured for you, what has already been planned before the foundations of the world. I am going to go and purchase that for you with my very blood, with my very life. Now, the disciples don't get it. We had the beauty of hindsight. We can look back and say, oh, that's what he's talking about. Disciples didn't get in the moment, but he's saying, listen, men, brothers, there's a house that's being prepared for you. And it's going to be prepared because I myself am actually going to go to the cross and pay the price for your redemption, for your forgiveness. Now, here's the last thing I would say about this. This eternal home is not just any mansion. I remember as a little kid going to the small Baptist church in Danbury, Texas, and singing with my grandparents, Victory in Jesus. And I've heard about a story of a mansion in glory, and I was like, as a little kid, I'm like, mansion in glory? That sounds boring. Who wants a mansion in glory? What is that? I mean, that's what I thought that my picture of heaven was just like this massive building, like the Biltmore home in North Carolina had recently visited at that time. Like, well, that's great. We got a big house. Great. Awesome. Listen, here's what's beautiful about heaven. Heaven is all about the presence of God. What makes heaven great is not streets paved with gold, seas that are crystal, big massive mansion to live in. I don't know if you've already picked your neighbor. Some of you have said, I don't want that one, God. Thankfully, like I said, all that stuff will be done away with, right? But here's the thing. What's really beautiful about heaven, in fact, Revelation even says it, is that in heaven, we don't even need a son because God's glory lights up everything. It's his presence. And in fact, the psalmist says that in God's presence, some of you don't believe this yet, but in God's presence is the fullness of joy. Everything that we want, everything that we feel restricted by and hindered by, everything that we are pressing forward to in, we're going to receive in Christ, and we are with God's presence. In fact, John says in another place, he says that this is eternal life, to know God and to be fully known by him. And in that place, there will no longer be this hindrance, these barriers that we feel even in this life. In fact, last night I sat in the back row and finished my Bible reading plan. I've been just finished reading the Bible in 90 days. I've never read it that fast before. It was awesome. It was a different type of reading. And I don't want to say, like, pat me on the back. I'm like, it was a good discipline for me and to read through the Word of God again. And as I was finishing it up, I was sitting there reading the last five chapters of the book of Revelation and praying over this room and praying God would work. Not because God inhabits chairs, by the way, or walls or ceilings and all that stuff. God doesn't inhabit stuff. He habits people. But asking God to move in this place. This is a space set aside to meet with God. As I was praying, as I was reading, I came to Revelation chapter 21. And I just have to read just to snip it for you, okay? If heaven doesn't make you excited, it's probably because I've said before, you think it's sitting on a cloud with a fleece diaper on playing a harp, right? That is not the scripture at all. That is not a picture of heaven. That's the cartoon version. And some of people have actually thought that that's the case. I don't know why, but anyway. Listen, here's what heaven is described as in Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. And I also saw a holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bridegroom adorned for her husband. And then I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look, God's dwelling, catch this, is with humanity. God is with us in heaven. And he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. And he will, catch this, wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist. That's awesome. Our greatest enemy, the thing we fear most, stress about, worry about the most, will be done away with. That's not like possibility of happening. It's going to happen. It's definitive. It's a promise from God. Grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer because the previous things have passed away. Now I could go on. This is a snippet. I get excited when I start talking about this. This life is good. I feel like I've been blessed beyond measure. I love my wife. I love my children. I love this church family. I love getting to live in Austin, Texas. We live in a beautiful time with technology. I'm thankful for AC. I'm thankful for good food. I'm thankful for. But you know what? This compels in comparison to what it's going to be like to be in the presence of our God. This is nothing. The best days here are nothing compared to what it's going to be like to be with God. And so that hope for a future that Jesus is promising here in his passage to the disciples, that hope that's also promised to us carries us through when our hearts are troubled. It carries us through when life is not going as planned. When we're on plan D and E and F when we thought we were going to be plan A. Some of us are on Z this morning. Maybe starting over the alphabet. And God says, I will meet you there. I love you. I am for you. I'm with you. I have a plan. But some of you are thinking, well, what about now, Nick? That's great. Then and there's great, but I'm living like right now. I'm in this moment right now. What do I do now? That's great. I have a hope for a future. And by the way, our hope for the future is not in possibilities, it is in promises. But no, there is something for us now, even in the waiting. In fact, we have what I would say is help for today. Now, how do you have peace right now when you turn on the news and there's a bomber delivering packages to people's doorsteps? What do you do and how do you deal with nations that are threatening nuclear war? What do you do when you get a cancer diagnosis or somebody you love dies unexpectedly? What do we do when those things don't go our way? What happens when our spouse has an affair? What happens when our children rebel and reject us and run off and do their own thing? What do we do right now? And I can tell you what we do. We believe in Jesus. We put our hope in Jesus. We rest in Jesus' promises. And even in the here and now, we have the Holy Spirit to help us endure and persevere under trial. You see, I have to jump ahead, even though we're not teaching it this morning. I jump ahead in John 14, just a few verses ahead to verse 16. And I want to read this to you. We're going to cover this in a couple of weeks, but I want to say it because this is so essential. This is so essential because I want you to understand God cares about your marriage right now. God cares about your job now. God cares about your family. He cares about your health. He cares about your life now. Not just then and there, but he cares about it now. And he has offered us hope and help now. Here's what it says in verse 16. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor. If you notice reading the text, it's capital C counselor. To be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The word is unable to, the world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him, but you do know him because he remains with you and in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming to you. What is he saying? If you are a child of God, the Holy Spirit now is inside you. That means God is in you. He is with you and He's in you. That word counselor there is the word paraclete means the helper. And the beauty is he's not just helping you from outside, he's helping you from inside. He's helping you to believe truth. He will lead us into truth. You know why people need to be in church? It's not because we need to go and do some religious things to get check boxes and say we're good and no God accept us into heaven. We need to be in the church environment so that the Spirit of God in each one of us can help each other remember truth. Like that's what Hebrews 10 tells us when he said we should spur one another on towards love and good deeds. So the reason we encourage people all the time at Point Community Church to get into a small group is so that you actually have people who know you, know what you're struggling with, and can speak truth by the power of the Holy Spirit into your life. Can remind you of the Word of God that when your marriage is going in the toilet, that you have hope in Jesus still. That when you don't have enough money in your bank account to pay your bills that month, you can still put your hope in Jesus. That when you are dealing with sickness and you're not guaranteed to make it through the end of the year, that you can still put your hope in Jesus. Because there's an eternity waiting for his children. Are you with me? This is why we as Christians have good news to share. This is why Christians ought to be the most joyful, passionate people on the planet is because we have the cure for the problem. And the resurrection declares that that cure is legit. See, we now have the Holy Spirit in us if we are God's child, if we have put our trust in Jesus. You don't have the Holy Spirit if you haven't put your trust in Jesus. He's working in the world, he's working in people who are his children, but if you have never sensed the Holy Spirit in you, it may just be that you're not one of his children yet. But if you call on Jesus and if you cry out to him, if you put your trust in him and you say, okay, God, I know I could never be good enough to get to heaven, because that's one of the biggest lies, right? I can never, never get to heaven, I could never get to heaven by being being good enough. Good enough is not gonna happen for us, okay? That is a lie from the pit of hell that we could be good enough to get to heaven. Another one of the biggest lies in this room is that God doesn't love me or doesn't care about me. The cross declares that for all time. God loves you, so he died for you. But if you've never received that gift, if you've never put your trust in that gift, you never put your hope in salvation in Christ alone, then you don't have the spirit. But if you have, you have the spirit. Now the goal is to listen to the spirit. And he will help you believe truth. He will help you believe and walk in life. Now, some of you are saying this exactly what Thomas said in this passage. Did you notice Thomas? Does anybody know what his nickname is? Doubting Thomas. In fact, after Jesus is resurrected, he comes back and he's there in the upper room with the disciples, and he's like, uh, I'm not so sure this is legit, Jesus. I'm not sure you're actually resurrected. I mean, he's like right in front of him, right? Let me put my hands in your wounds, let me put my hands in your side, let me just check these things out. And I can appreciate that. I mean, I appreciate he's like bold enough to just say, I want to check things out. But in this passage, notice what Thomas says. Verse 5. Lord, Thomas said, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And if we needed it to be any more clear, Jesus just lands it. Boom. I know I'm talking about mansions and preparing that for you. I know that I'm going away, but I'm coming back for you. But if you didn't know this, Thomas, if you didn't know this, people in Austin, Texas in 2018, April 1st, Easter. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to God except through him. That is the answer. Some of you may know this, that recently, Billy Graham, one of the greatest evangelists, one of the greatest preachers, called the, you know, the pastor of America. He recently died at 99 years old. And his son was having the conversation with him. Dad, when you you pass away, what do you want on your tombstone? And he said, I want a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then under it, I want the verse that will continue to declare the gospel long after I'm God. He said, I want John 14, 6 on there. Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Now you may know somebody, I know some people. Billy Graham preached to 215 million over the course of his life, roughly, in 185 countries around the world. And the consistent message that he preached to dignitaries and to poverty-stricken people was that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to God except through Jesus. And the reason he preached that is because those were Jesus' words himself. It wasn't a message he made up, it was a message that's in the Word of God. And so if you were sitting in this room and you think that there's some other way to God, there's some other mountain you can climb, there's some other practices you can do, there's some other things you can do. Listen, I want to make sure we are crystal clear this morning. There's only one way to God. I know that's not a popular view. I know that we have a world around us saying, well, how can these people be missing it? Listen, we as God's people have to go to his word and bank on his word, and his word says that Jesus alone is salvation. And that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved. And so I would say to you this morning on this Easter Sunday morning, you can receive the gift of Jesus Christ as your Savior. You can do that if you are willing. And my prayer is that you would be willing. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He came and he lived a perfect life. He died a painful death. He was victorious over our greatest source of trouble, spiritual death. And he is in this room now by his spirit asking you and me to put our trust and belief in him. Now, if you are already a child of God, let me just kind of close with this today. If you're already a child of God, man, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate Easter. Let's celebrate the resurrection. The greatest day in human history. Let's celebrate. And when your heart is troubled, when my heart is troubled, when we are starting to be anxious and fearful and worried, let us look to God and say, God, I don't understand this mess and this chaos. I don't like it. But I trust your heart. And I pray that God, you would give me comfort and peace in my own heart and help me to proclaim comfort and peace to others. Help me to tell other people, my neighbors, the lady cutting my hair, the person who sits in the cubicle next to me, the person who I get there's checking out my groceries at H E B. Wherever we are, we get to tell people the good news, starting with accountants. That says we're victorious, not losers. Because we know the end of the story. We know that Christ is the victor. And because of his victory, we can now have victory. So take heart, believers. Take heart. In this world, Jesus said in John 16, we will have trouble. But what? Jesus says, I have overcome the world. Take heart. Be encouraged this morning. He has conquered the world. Lean on the counselor of the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk more about that in weeks to come. So please, if you want to know more about how the Holy Spirit works, we're going to be discussing that in the coming weeks. It's so so important we understand God with us now. But if you've never put your trust in Jesus, if you've never actually received the gift of salvation, then I would just simply invite you right now in this moment to stop and say, before I move on, I want to put my trust in Christ. I want to receive the gift. It's a gift. And I would say this. It helps me to think of it this way. If I walked up to you and said, hey, I want to give you a new car, here's the deal. You have to just receive these keys from me. And then tomorrow I showed up at your doorstep and said, okay, I need you to start paying me for that. That's not a gift. And some people treat salvation that way. And what I'm telling you is that he said, I want to gift you salvation. Now, he also says that means we have to give up our own self-salvation. Give up our attempts to save and rescue ourselves. But what an incredible and amazing exchange. To lose our foolish little life so that we might gain his glorious life. That's the beauty of the gospel. That's the beauty of the good news. I love you in this room. I don't know all of you. I wish I could sit down with each of you and like have this conversation one-on-one versus just talking at you in a sense. But I pray, I pray that you would know the love of Christ. I would pray that you would know the love of Christ and that you would receive from him. Because he is good. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Let's pray. God, I thank you so much for the men and the women and the children in this room. And I pray that even right now, in this very moment, God, I'm asking, I'm pleading. Even if I'm singing songs over here, I'm just pleading, God, Holy Spirit, would you help people to see your beauty this morning? Would you open our eyes and open our hearts to receive? God, would you help us to live? Like we're we're not just trying to become better people here, God. We're not just trying to be more moral, to follow the rules better, to have a better reputation. We are going from being dead people in our sin to being alive. We're going from being enemies to becoming your children adopted by you, Jesus. And I just pray that this morning in this place that you would help people move from that place of death to life. And I also pray, God, for us who are alive to live daily, believing and trusting in you, the eternal home we're going to have with you. The helper we have called the Holy Spirit that's with us now to walk in truth. So just thank you, Jesus. Thank you that you came out of the grave. Thank you that those disciples, they didn't just see you go to the cross, they saw you come back and walk among them. You're awesome. You are awesome, God. Far better, far more majestic than we can even begin to imagine. As we close together this morning, we invite you to sing with us. We're going to have just a minute of reflection before we do start to sing, and Alex is going to give some instructions to that, but we want you to sit for a second, not to make you feel uncomfortable, but to listen and say, God, is there anything you want me to hear? And is there anything you want me to do? And so we would invite you to do that. These guys are just going to play a little bit and then give us instruction. And around the room, there are five tables set up. And on those tables, we have communion elements, Lord's Supper elements. And so if you're a believer in Jesus, you're a child of God, we ask you to check your heart, make sure that you haven't, you're not walking in deliberate disobedience of sin, but just ask God to show you if there's anything in you that needs to be dealt with. And then as you feel freedom, that you would go to the table with someone else, another believer in the room, and you would take communion, and you would take the cracker, and you would take the juice, and remember that the cracker represents Christ's body broken, and the juice represents Christ's blood shed. And then you would remember that Jesus didn't stay dead, but that he came back to life. And that's why we can celebrate his death because we know he didn't stay dead. We can also remember that it was through his broken body and his blood shed that we have eternal life, that we have our forgiveness of our sin. And so I encourage you to do that as we just sing and reflect and remember. But don't miss an opportunity on Easter 2018 to get right with God.