Easter 2026

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- Happy Easter. My name is Jen Meade.

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I'm part of our Crossroads Anywhere team.

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- Hey, my name is Andy Reider,

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Community Pastor for Crossroads Anywhere

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and we are so, so glad that you're joining us this morning.

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- Today we celebrate Easter,

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the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

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It's a day of joy as we are remembering the empty tomb

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and the new life and promises that we have in him.

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- Yeah. But before we step fully into that celebration,

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wherever you are and wherever you're tuning in from,

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we want to pick up the story right where we left off,

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the moments that led us to the empty tomb.

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- Grief doesn't move in a straight line

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through some prescribed phases.

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Instead, it comes in waves, with shock,

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with silence, with denial, with sorrow, with nothing.

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And then everything all at once.

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That's how it was for Jesus's friends,

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their teacher, their friend, their hope was gone,

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executed and buried in a borrowed tomb outside the city.

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The mourning began in grief,

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with just a few faithful friends

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walking through the silence,

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trying to make sense of what was left.

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But somewhere between the darkness and the dawn,

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everything changed. The stone was moved.

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The grave was empty. Jesus was alive.

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Which means that death didn't get the final word

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and the end was never really the end.

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This is Easter and nothing will ever be the same.

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- Two days earlier, Jesus had been executed,

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crucified outside Jerusalem.

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The crowds went home.

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Soldiers finished their job.

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And the man who healed the sick, opened blind eyes

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and raised the dead was now dead Himself.

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His body was wrapped and placed in a tomb,

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and a massive stone was rolled across the entrance.

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For His followers, it felt like the end.

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Hope was buried behind that stone.

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But early Sunday morning, before the sun rose,

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some women walked to the tomb and they kept asking,

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"Who's going to roll the stone away?"

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Because it was too heavy.

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And we know something about stones like that, don't we?

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Grief, fear, regret, things we can't move on our own.

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But when they arrived, the stone had already been moved.

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The tomb was open.

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They stepped inside and He's not there.

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Suddenly angels before them said,

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"Why are you looking for the living among the dead?

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He's not here. He's risen!"

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It wasn't the end.

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The stone was rolled away.

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Death was defeated and Jesus is alive!

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- Easter is all about the reality that

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God makes all things new and broken things whole.

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- Yeah, and the Bible isn't just the stories

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of what has has happened;

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it's the story of what is still happening.

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And that's not just true for someone else somewhere else.

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That's true for you, wherever you are.

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At all sites and across our Anywhere Community,

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we're actually going to be having baptisms right now.

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And I want you to just know what it is that you're seeing.

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Before each person is baptized,

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they're going to be asked a couple questions.

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Specifically, here's what they are, one,

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Do you renounce sin in the work of the evil one

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and determine to follow Jesus?

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And two, simply, just who is your Lord and Savior?

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And I just wonder, like, God might be asking you

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those same questions today.

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- Yeah. If something is resonating with you

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and you're interested in getting baptized,

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we would love to help make that happen.

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You can text "next" to 301301.

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For example, we have six people in Bolivia

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who are about to get baptized soon.

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And we have so many stories

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happening across all of our sites.

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We want to share a couple with you.

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- Yeah. Tom from our Mason site says this:

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I'm getting baptized because after a dark time in my life.

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I believe God spoke to me and he pulled me

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out of the darkness and into the light.

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- Sarah from Westside said:

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I've never been baptized, but in the past year,

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life has brought situations that have felt overwhelming

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and I have always been a believer,

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but I needed to make a change in my life

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and commit my life to God.

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So excited for you, Sarah.

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- Yeah, Brian says this: I've loved God all my life,

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but I was a Sunday Christian.

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But two years ago, I attended Crossroads

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for the first time and became an everyday Christian.

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I have peace and joy like I've never experienced.

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Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Light.

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- You're about to see people get baptized,

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people going public with their faith in Jesus.

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- Yeah, and baptism isn't magic.

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It's not the water that saves you.

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It's just a way of saying, my old life is gone

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and I'm being raised up into new life with Jesus.

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- That's right. You're about to see this.

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And this is going to be a celebration.

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People in the room are going to be cheering and singing.

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So be a part of the celebration

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no matter where you are watching from.

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Let's go.

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- Yes, He is. God, we thank You.

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We thank You that You are still saving lives today.

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God, I'm so thankful that You care about us so much.

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You've never stopped.

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You've never given up on us,

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despite what life may look like

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or the cards we might have been dealt,

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the truth has always been the same.

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And that's that You've been there through it all,

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through it all, through the rain,

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through the valley, through the mountain,

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God, You've been right there with us.

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And so, God, we lift our hands in surrender.

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We say thank You for what You've done,

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and we invite You into our hearts today.

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And for those of us who don't know what that means,

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and we're trying to figure it out, God.

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Well, today, God, would You reach us in a fresh way?

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Would we see someone going down in this water

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and coming back up, saying yes to You

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as a sign that You are real, because that's who You are.

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So we thank You. We love You and we sing.

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We all said Amen. Amen.

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Come on, let's celebrate life, what's happening today.

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Hey, we're so glad that you're with us.

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Why don't you turn to a couple of people around you,

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tell them Happy Easter, give them a high five,

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then you can have a seat.

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- Oh, my gosh, that was awesome. Wow.

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Oh, hey, as a church, can we just say congratulations

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to everybody who got baptized one more time?

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Oh, it's such an honor,

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honestly, everybody got baptized.

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It's such an honor to be able to witness that

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and celebrate with you, you come into the family of God.

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Amazing. Amazing. By the way, my name is Kyle.

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I'm our Lead Pastor here at

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Crossroads, if we haven't met before.

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If you're brand new, before you leave,

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I want to make sure you get an invite back.

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That's what I want to do right now.

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You might be like, "I'm not sure that I want to come back.

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I don't even know what kind of church this is yet."

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Totally get it. That's okay.

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Next week, though, we have a weekend that I think

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will give you a flavor for who we are as a church,

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what we're called to.

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See, we believe that God wants us to preach

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the message of Jesus in a language

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that people can understand.

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That's what you'll experience today.

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But not to keep that message inside of church walls.

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The resurrection power and hope of Jesus

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was never meant to stay inside of a building,

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but meant to be carried outside that building

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by people who believe it.

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So next week, we're talking about that,

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about how we Go as a church.

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In fact, there's something that if it's your first time,

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man, you are invited to do it with us.

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We call it Go Day. It's happening May 16th.

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It's when we go outside these walls

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to serve the communities that were part of.

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It's an amazing day.

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Would love, love, love to have you jump in

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and do that with us.

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Today though we got more Easter story to cover.

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We are only getting started today.

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And to unpack the Easter story

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and help us see the personal in it and the power in it,

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please welcome Chuck Mingo.

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They're ready, Chuck. They're ready.

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- Ready indeed. Amen, Amen.

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Well, hey, it is amazing to get to see

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the celebrations of baptism.

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I don't know about you guys,

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I am a sucker for families getting baptized.

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Like you want to make me cry, you to make me just bawl

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like when I see fathers and mothers and their kids.

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It is just amazing to see that.

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And speaking of life, I had a pretty significant

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life milestone happened this week.

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And so before I tell you how old I am,

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I have a question: How old do I look?

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39. I'll take 39. I'll take that.

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Absolutely. I'll take that.

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Well, actually, I actually turned 50 years old this week.

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It was a blessing, celebration. [cheers]

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I'm really, really happy for it.

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And one of the things that I learned is that

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when you turn 50, these people find you.

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I wasn't looking for AARP,

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but they sure enough, were looking for me.

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I got this in the mail, and it's like the first line

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is welcome to the 50s Club.

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And so I am in the 50s club.

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You know, it's funny though, I was a little bit offended,

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I have to be honest, just a little bit offended by it.

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Because I'm like, look, I don't need discounted pancakes.

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I can still run.

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Well, I can run, but only with these Brooks shoes

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and only after significant stretching

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and preferably with a day in between to rest and recover.

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But you know, I can still run.

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But the other thing I realized is, like my wife,

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I'm married to an amazing Puerto Rican woman.

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Love her. Maria.

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And she has lots of terms of endearment for me.

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But the one that she's taken to recently is Bajito,

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which sounds really cute until you realize it means

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little old man in Spanish. That's what it means.

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And I don't know if I'm more offended

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by the little or the old man part, but, like, you know.

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So I got AARP hunting me down.

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I got my wife affirming it that maybe

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I am not as young as I used to be.

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But I got to tell you, I don't feel 50.

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I don't know what 50 feels like, but I don't feel 50.

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I have energy, there are some things that

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I feel more excited to run after in my 50s,

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than even in my 20s or my 30s or even my 40s.

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But there's definitely these reminders, aren't there?

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They're definitely these reminders

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that you're getting older, you know,

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you get some unwanted mail,

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you get a nickname from your wife

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that feels just a little bit too accurate.

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Or this, you know, there's some people in our church,

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some of you guys here, you're not even 25.

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So you might be like, well, how does one know

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you have gotten old?

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I'm going to give you a foolproof test

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of when you know you're getting old.

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When you sit down in a chair,

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but then when you get up out of the chair,

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you make noises that used to belong to your grandfather.

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[grunting] Oh, yes, that's how you know that

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maybe you're not as young as you used to be.

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But there's something human in this tension of aging, right?

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Because, look, we all know how our story is going to end.

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We all know that we're going to face death one day.

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I don't know about your research, but my data suggests

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that the death rate is hovering right around 100%.

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And if that's true, then we're all going to die someday.

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But am I the only one that doesn't feel

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like I was made for death? Doesn't feel like that.

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There's something in me that says not yet, not me.

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And so we keep loving and building and creating.

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There's something in our soul that says

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I was made to live.

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And what I want you to lean into today is that,

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yes, you were. You were made to live.

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Believe it or not, you were made to live forever.

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And so that craving in you isn't crazy.

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It's actually a clue of why we celebrate Easter

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and why it matters.

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Friends, I got good news for you today

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because there is an empty tomb,

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death has lost its sting.

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Death has lost its sting.

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And that has an implication in your life,

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not just in the afterlife, but right now,

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if you choose to believe it

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and if you choose to celebrate it.

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If you choose to believe it and you choose to celebrate it.

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That's why Easter matters.

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Because for 2.6 billion people who identify

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as followers of Jesus on this planet,

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that's the hinge point in our story.

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The resurrection isn't just a religious tradition.

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It's a declaration that in Jesus death will not

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and never does get the last word.

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That's what we get to celebrate today.

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It really is a wonderful story:

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Jesus rising from the dead, the empty tomb

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and what it means for your life.

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But the question is, can you trust it?

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And if you trust it, what difference

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does it make in your life?

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That's what we're going to dig into for the rest of our time.

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Let's pray. God, I pray that You would continue to do

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what You've been doing all weekend long,

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which is to help us see things in this story.

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For some of us, we are too familiar with this story,

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and there are some things that maybe we have downplayed

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or forgotten that are implications

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of what happened in that grave,

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what happened in that garden all these years ago.

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And God, I just pray that You would open our eyes,

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give us something fresh today.

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And there are others of us in here,

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maybe we're here because somebody invited us.

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Maybe we feel forced to be to church today.

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But God, there's something for all of us here.

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So I pray that You would speak,

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that You would take my meager words

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and You would do with them what You do all the time,

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which is a demonstration of Your Spirit and of power.

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I pray that would happen in our time. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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So let's start with some history.

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It is widely accepted that Jesus of Nazareth lived,

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lived in the first century in Judea,

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and that He was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

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who was the Roman governor at the time.

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So you don't really have to make a leap of faith

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to believe that, both Christian

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and non-Christian historians agree on that.

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You've got Jewish historians like Flavius Josephus,

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who was in Jesus' time, who were writing about His life.

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You've got Tacitus, which was a Roman historian

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writing about Jesus in his time.

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These are contemporaries of Jesus,

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so you really don't have to check your brain

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at the door to believe that.

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And I want you to know Crossroads is a place

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where you don't ever have to check your brain at the door.

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If you're new, you just need to know like, hey,

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I'm not assuming that you believe everything I believe

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about the resurrection.

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You might be like, what? Really?

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You really think that actually happened?

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Last year, last Easter, I think we did a really good job

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of laying out the case for the resurrection,

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the many proofs of it.

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And so if you go to

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Crossroads.net and search Easter,

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if you want to do a deeper dive after today,

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just want you to know that's available for you

00:34:57

and you can belong in this church before you believe.

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And I'm so glad for that.

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So wherever you are, I'm so glad that you're here.

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And I want to talk about today

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what compels me to believe that Jesus literally

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and physically rose from the grave.

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And it has to do with the idea that

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this wasn't something that Christians added to the story

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later in the game, because it was advantageous.

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This was a part of the faith from the very beginning.

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In fact, one of the earliest writings about the resurrection

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is what we're going to be looking at today.

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1 Corinthians 15. It's a section of a letter,

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the guy named Paul who was starting churches

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in different cities in Greece and Turkey and the like

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was helping people understand the risen Jesus

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and follow Him.

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He wrote these words about the resurrection,

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starting in verse three, where he says:

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For I delivered to you as of first importance.

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I want to just stop there.

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When you hear that word, first importance,

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you need to understand this is the foundation.

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Nothing that I'm going to say,

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nothing that Paul's going to say matters

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if what I'm about to say now is not true.

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This is the do not pass go, do not collect $200

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foundation of our faith and the celebration today.

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What is the first importance?

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He says that Christ died for our sins

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in accordance with the scriptures,

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that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day

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in accordance with the scriptures,

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and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the 12.

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Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time,

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most of whom are still alive,

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though some have fallen asleep.

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Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

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Last of all, as to one untimely born,

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He appeared also to me.

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You're going to hear me use this phrase today

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the Good News or the Gospel.

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Those are interchangeable.

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Gospel is a Greek word that means Good News.

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What is the Good News of our faith?

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And I'm going to start by saying something

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that might sound shocking to you in a church.

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It is not good news if Jesus just died on a Cross.

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That's not good news, because guess what?

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There were other people in the first century

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claiming to be the Messiah who also died on Roman crosses.

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And we don't celebrate them.

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Times not dated by their name. No.

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There's a lot of people who died on a cross

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saying they were saving humanity in Jesus's time.

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You can do the research.

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There's actually a handful of them that you can research

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and understand a little bit more about their movements

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and how their movements died.

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No, it is not good news that Jesus merely died on a Cross.

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The Good News is that He died on a Cross

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and He rose again. That's the Good News.

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We need both. [applause] We need both.

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In fact, Paul is so clear about this that he puts it this way:

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And if Christ has not been raised,

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your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

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Then those also who have fallen asleep,

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who have died in Christ believing this

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have perished. Because they believed a lie.

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That's basically what he's saying.

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If in Christ we have hope in this life only,

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we are of all people to be pitied.

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So this is an anchor,

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and it's such an early anchor in the church.

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These words that Paul wrote were not penned

00:37:55

50 years after the resurrection.

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They weren't penned 100 years after the resurrection.

00:38:00

These words were written 20-25 years after the resurrection.

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That's why Paul says, if you don't believe me,

00:38:07

the blacksmith down the street saw the risen Jesus.

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You can visit these people who literally were among

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the 500 people who saw Him at one time.

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500 people don't have a mass hallucination.

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That doesn't happen. You can ask these people.

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So it's one of the reasons I believe this

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is because Paul was writing these words

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so close to the time that they actually happened.

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But I also believe it because he says

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He also appeared to James.

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This James that he's talking about is the brother of Jesus,

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the brother of Jesus of Nazareth.

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Yes, after Mary and Joseph had Jesus,

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what we celebrate at Christmas,

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Mary went on to have other children.

00:38:42

And James is one of them.

00:38:43

And can you imagine what it would be like growing up

00:38:46

in a house where your oldest brother claims to be divine?

00:38:50

Some of you are like, I grew up in that house.

00:38:54

At least my parents thought my sibling was divine, right?

00:38:57

You know another thing, right?

00:38:58

And it's so interesting because you can imagine that

00:39:01

James, during the life of Jesus.

00:39:03

In fact, we have the history.

00:39:04

He didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah

00:39:06

before Jesus died on the Cross and rose again,

00:39:08

he didn't believe that.

00:39:09

In fact, there's a section in the biography

00:39:10

of Jesus's life where all of his brothers

00:39:12

are teasing Him and they're like,

00:39:14

hey, aren't you supposed to be the miracle worker?

00:39:16

Why don't you go and show yourself in Jerusalem

00:39:17

and do some magic tricks?

00:39:18

Like, they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

00:39:21

And yet James saw his brother die on a Cross,

00:39:24

a bloody death that had 100% effectiveness rate.

00:39:26

Jesus was truly dead.

00:39:27

He saw his brother buried in a tomb.

00:39:29

And I don't know if it was three days later

00:39:31

or four days later or seven days later,

00:39:33

but at some point, the risen Jesus appeared to James

00:39:38

and it changed his heart.

00:39:39

And history tells us James became the leader

00:39:42

of the Jerusalem church and actually died for faith

00:39:46

that his older brother was, in fact, God.

00:39:48

Now let me tell you something, nobody's going to die

00:39:51

for something they believe is a lie.

00:39:54

At the mouth of a lion,

00:39:56

at the risk of a sword about to go through your heart?

00:39:59

Nobody in that moment has a problem saying,

00:40:01

"Wait a second. Rose from the dead.

00:40:05

Maybe, maybe, maybe his ideas live on."

00:40:08

No no, no. But but even facing death,

00:40:11

person after person believed,

00:40:13

"No. I gotta tell you what I saw."

00:40:16

Something changed in terms of their equation

00:40:18

of the sting of death.

00:40:19

So listen, today you may not be there. You may not.

00:40:21

You may not believe what I believe about the resurrection.

00:40:24

That is okay.

00:40:25

Historically speaking, though, you do have to wrestle

00:40:27

with why did the early

00:40:29

Christians believe it so strongly

00:40:30

they were willing to die for it?

00:40:32

And here's something I don't think any of us

00:40:35

need trouble believing.

00:40:37

We may be in a different place

00:40:38

in what we believe about the resurrection,

00:40:40

but I don't think any of us struggle with

00:40:42

the idea of the sting of death.

00:40:45

I think we've all felt the sting of death.

00:40:47

I talked about it and, you know,

00:40:48

it's kind of a light thing,

00:40:50

but it did kind of sting when I got this from AARP.

00:40:52

I mean, you know, it's like they're offering me

00:40:54

a free trunk organizer, by the way.

00:40:55

So I am going to do that. I'm going to get that.

00:40:59

But that's kind of a small thing.

00:41:02

I think we confront the sting of death

00:41:04

in some way more visceral and quite frankly, painful ways.

00:41:09

Don't we feel the sting of death when we stand at

00:41:11

the graveside of someone we love and have lost?

00:41:14

Don't we feel the sting of death when we get

00:41:16

the call that nobody wants that cancer

00:41:18

is what they found on the report?

00:41:21

Don't we feel that sting of death when we lose

00:41:23

someone we care about to an overdose,

00:41:25

to an addiction that they could not overcome?

00:41:28

Don't we feel the sting of death when we have

00:41:30

a marriage that we thought would last forever,

00:41:33

but it ends in a painful divorce?

00:41:35

We're familiar with the sting of death.

00:41:38

We feel the sting of death in wartime.

00:41:40

When I see the pictures of 20 something year old

00:41:42

young men and women who have lost their lives,

00:41:44

we feel that sting of death for their families.

00:41:47

We feel the sting of death in injustice.

00:41:49

We feel the sting of death in hospitals

00:41:51

and hospices all over the country.

00:41:53

And Paul is very clear, the sting of death is sin.

00:41:58

The sting of death is sin.

00:42:01

I think there's something in you and in me

00:42:04

that knows death is not the way it's supposed to be.

00:42:08

And I think that same part in you understands.

00:42:11

And there are things in my heart that aren't

00:42:13

the way they're supposed to be either.

00:42:15

This is the sting of sin.

00:42:17

And I'm not talking about breaking spiritual rules.

00:42:19

I'm talking about the ways that we choose against God

00:42:22

time and time again.

00:42:24

Who among us hasn't said words we wish we could unsay,

00:42:29

hasn't done things we wish we could undo,

00:42:31

hasn't become a person in some way, shape, or form

00:42:34

that we said we would never become?

00:42:36

And yet here we are, doing that thing over and over again,

00:42:39

even though it's destroying us,

00:42:41

or it's destroying the people that we care about the most.

00:42:43

You know why that happens?

00:42:45

It's because all of us have been infected and affected

00:42:47

by the sting of death called sin.

00:42:50

The Bible puts it this way in Romans 5:12:

00:42:52

Therefore, just as sin came into the world,

00:42:55

meaning that it came into the world through one man Adam,

00:42:58

and death, through sin.

00:42:59

And so death spread because all sinned.

00:43:02

And here's the thing: if God is truly good

00:43:06

and He is perfect and He is just,

00:43:10

He can't just turn a blind eye to your sin.

00:43:13

He can't turn a blind eye to my sin.

00:43:17

What is the real sting of death? It's this.

00:43:19

It's not just that we're going to die someday;

00:43:21

it's that when we die, we're not ready

00:43:23

to face a perfect God because

00:43:26

His perfection has to deal with our sin,

00:43:29

has to judge our sin,

00:43:31

and we cannot be in relationship with God

00:43:34

unless our sin gets dealt with.

00:43:36

But God said, "I have a plan to deal with your sin.

00:43:40

The plan is I'm going to send My Son Jesus

00:43:43

to live the perfect life you can never live.

00:43:45

And because of that, I'm going to put

00:43:47

all of the consequences, all of the guilt of your sin,

00:43:50

I'm going to put it on Jesus,

00:43:52

and He's going to suffer a horrible death on a Cross,

00:43:55

a death that you and I deserve

00:43:56

for the ways that we violated God."

00:43:58

And here's the beautiful thing about the resurrection.

00:44:00

If the Cross is God saying, I've made the payment.

00:44:04

Then when Jesus walked out of the tomb,

00:44:06

it's confirmation that the payment went through.

00:44:09

That's what happened in the resurrection.

00:44:12

That's why we need an empty tomb.

00:44:15

That's why we need an empty tomb.

00:44:17

What is the Gospel?

00:44:18

In simple terms, it is that Christ died for your sins

00:44:22

and rose again, and rose again.

00:44:26

He was raised.

00:44:27

Lots of people at Crossroads are speaking Espanol.

00:44:29

And so in Espanol it's

00:44:31

Cristo murio por nuestros pecados Eyal resucitado.

00:44:35

He has resucitado.

00:44:37

He is our rescuer and He has come.

00:44:40

He has come and delivered us in a way

00:44:42

that we couldn't deliver ourselves.

00:44:44

Paul is so convinced of this, I love this,

00:44:46

he's so convinced of this

00:44:48

he starts to trash talk death in the Bible.

00:44:52

Look at what he says about death, in verse 55 he says:

00:44:54

Death is swallowed up in victory.

00:44:56

O death, where is your victory?

00:44:58

O grave, where is your sting?

00:45:00

He is trash talking death.

00:45:02

Now I gotta tell you, it's April now,

00:45:04

but I watched so much basketball in March.

00:45:06

Oh my gosh, I'm still watching a lot of basketball.

00:45:08

I love March Madness.

00:45:10

I love college basketball players.

00:45:11

I'm watching men's, women's, doesn't matter.

00:45:13

I'm watching it all.

00:45:14

And I had a chance to take my sons to an NBA game last week.

00:45:18

We went and saw LeBron play in Indy and it was awesome.

00:45:21

It was awesome.

00:45:22

Thank God I saw them then because

00:45:23

the Lakers are going downhill.

00:45:24

If you're a Lakers fan you know what I mean.

00:45:26

But um oh my gosh. But anyway.

00:45:28

I realized as I was watching the game

00:45:30

and I teased my sons about this, that because I'm 50,

00:45:33

that means I grew up in the golden era of basketball.

00:45:38

I did, I did.

00:45:40

Michael Jordan, can I get an amen somebody, right?

00:45:43

Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley. Yeah.

00:45:46

You know Magic Johnson.

00:45:48

How about this one, Larry Bird?

00:45:51

Yeah. I grew up in the era of basketball that's epic.

00:45:53

And so I was thinking about this because Larry Bird,

00:45:55

if you know anything about Larry Bird,

00:45:57

one of the best people to ever pick up a basketball.

00:45:59

Dude was just unbelievable.

00:46:00

He was also a prolific trash talker. Prolific.

00:46:04

Let me give you an example.

00:46:05

One time they were playing the Knicks.

00:46:07

They're down by a couple

00:46:08

and the Celtics coach calls a timeout.

00:46:11

Larry Bird was being guarded by

00:46:13

a guy named Xavier McDaniels

00:46:14

who was like a lockdown defensive specialist.

00:46:16

Like that was what he did.

00:46:17

And Larry Bird, before he's gone to his bench

00:46:19

and the coach calls timeout.

00:46:21

Larry Bird goes to Xavier McDaniels

00:46:22

and says at the three point line, he says,

00:46:24

"Xavier, after this timeout, Imma get this shot right here.

00:46:26

I'm gonna shoot it and we're gonna win this game,"

00:46:28

and he walks over to the bench.

00:46:31

And Xavier McDaniel says, "I don't know

00:46:32

what my coach said in that huddle

00:46:34

because all I had was Larry Bird in my ear."

00:46:38

Comes out of the timeout, Celtics draw up a play.

00:46:41

Larry Bird gets the ball

00:46:42

right where he said he was going to get it,

00:46:44

shoots the ball and wins the game.

00:46:46

You know you're a baller when you can back up your trash talk.

00:46:50

Here's another example, again, epic three point shooter.

00:46:53

He participated in the three point competition.

00:46:55

And he goes into the locker room.

00:46:57

These are the best three point shooters in the NBA.

00:46:59

These are probably the best people

00:47:00

shooting the shot in the world.

00:47:02

He goes into the locker room

00:47:03

and says to all of the other contestants,

00:47:05

"So which one of you is ready to finish second today?"

00:47:09

Then goes out and wins the three point competition.

00:47:12

Backed up his trash talk.

00:47:14

Well, I want you to know that I think

00:47:16

Paul is onto something when he starts to trash talk death.

00:47:20

I think he understands the kind of swagger

00:47:23

Jesus had when He beat death.

00:47:25

So I want you to go with me in your imagination right now.

00:47:28

And there is a place, I believe there is a place called hell.

00:47:30

There is a place that if we don't trust in Jesus, we go.

00:47:33

It is not a good place.

00:47:34

And it is where Satan and sin and death dwell

00:47:38

and where they reign.

00:47:39

And you can imagine that on Good Friday

00:47:41

after Jesus died on that Cross, that somewhere in hell

00:47:45

there was a locker room, and Satan and sin and death

00:47:49

had their drink of choice because they were sitting around

00:47:51

and saying, "Can you believe that this Jesus

00:47:54

thought He was actually going to beat you to death?

00:47:56

That He actually thought He could defeat you?

00:47:57

Where is He at now? He's in hell with us."

00:48:00

Why do I say that?

00:48:01

Because one of the earliest claims that we have

00:48:03

from our faith is the Apostles Creed.

00:48:05

And it includes these lines:

00:48:07

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

00:48:09

was crucified, died and was buried,

00:48:11

and descended into hell.

00:48:14

Jesus descended into hell.

00:48:17

It's a whole message for a whole other time.

00:48:18

But you can imagine that locker room they were celebrating.

00:48:21

And I'm thinking they started that celebration on Friday.

00:48:23

Whatever they wanted to use to celebrate,

00:48:25

they were doing it all.

00:48:26

And I think that celebration went into Saturday

00:48:29

as they looked around and said, "Look, where's Jesus?

00:48:31

Jesus is in the grave with us.

00:48:33

He's in hell with us."

00:48:34

And then something happened on Sunday morning

00:48:36

that they did not expect,

00:48:37

because Jesus walked into that locker room

00:48:40

and looked at hell and looked at Satan

00:48:42

and looked at sin and said, "Which one of you

00:48:44

is ready to finish second today?"

00:48:46

Because it's not Good Friday, it's Sunday morning.

00:48:50

Later on, Jesus would say it this way.

00:48:52

He said I'm the Alpha and the Omega.

00:48:54

I'm the first and the last.

00:48:56

I hold the keys to life and death.

00:48:59

I think Jesus dangled those keys in front of them

00:49:01

and said, "Let me tell you what I'm going to do.

00:49:03

On Sunday morning I'm going to come out of this tomb

00:49:05

at this time and I'm going to walk out

00:49:07

with victory over life, victory over sin,

00:49:10

victory over hell, and not just me,

00:49:11

but everyone who will trust me."

00:49:14

Because you're a baller when you can back up your trash talk.

00:49:17

Oh death, where is your victory?

00:49:19

O grave, where is your sting? Woo. Man.

00:49:25

I don't know if you guys saw this or not.

00:49:27

I've been watching so much basketball.

00:49:28

I really have been watching so much basketball.

00:49:32

And a couple of weeks ago, something happened last week.

00:49:36

I called the head butt seen around the world.

00:49:38

If you're a UConn fan, you remember UConn

00:49:40

had this amazing comeback victory over Duke. Unbelievable.

00:49:43

And Dan Hurley, their coach coming out of his shirt,

00:49:46

coming out of his coat.

00:49:47

And here it comes, here it comes,

00:49:48

with all the swagger of a coach who just won,

00:49:50

headbutts a referee.

00:49:55

I don't know why he didn't get a tech for that,

00:49:58

but all I'm telling you is that's some kind of swagger.

00:50:00

And that's the kind of swagger Jesus had

00:50:02

when He walked out of that grave.

00:50:05

That's why it says this in Colossians 1:

00:50:07

18. He, Jesus, is the beginning,

00:50:09

the firstborn from the dead.

00:50:10

What does that mean?

00:50:11

Actually, the word firstborn here is a financial term.

00:50:14

It's a financial term.

00:50:16

And what it means is Jesus's resurrection

00:50:18

was the final payment for your sin debt.

00:50:21

Man, anybody had a final car payment. How's that feel?

00:50:25

Anybody ever paid off a student loan?

00:50:27

Can I get an amen, somebody? How does that feel?

00:50:30

Anybody ever paid off a mortgage

00:50:32

and now owns a house free and clear?

00:50:34

I'm not there yet, but I want to get there.

00:50:36

I know that feels great.

00:50:37

You know what, friends, spiritually speaking,

00:50:39

because of the empty tomb, you have a zero balance.

00:50:43

Don't miss that. You have a zero balance

00:50:46

because Jesus paid that debt for you.

00:50:48

That's why the resurrection means everything,

00:50:51

because it's the resurrection of hope.

00:50:53

I know it's a hard world to live in right now,

00:50:55

but we have hope, not just in the afterlife,

00:50:59

but in this life.

00:51:01

It's the resurrection of purpose

00:51:03

because Jesus didn't die just for your life to end someday.

00:51:06

No, you're going to live on forever with Him

00:51:08

having more joy and more ecstatic purpose

00:51:11

than you could ever imagine.

00:51:12

It's the resurrection of power.

00:51:15

It's the resurrection of perseverance.

00:51:16

Because if Jesus walked out of the grave

00:51:18

and that power is available to you,

00:51:20

you can get through anything.

00:51:22

You can get through that divorce.

00:51:24

You can get through that addiction.

00:51:26

You can get through your grief

00:51:28

because of the resurrection power that's available to you.

00:51:31

I was asking God, I'm just like, God,

00:51:33

what do you want to say to our church this Easter?

00:51:36

Is there anything specifically that You want to say?

00:51:39

And I feel like God gave me a word,

00:51:40

and the word that he gave me was,

00:51:42

"I want everyone here to know,"

00:51:44

this is God speaking to me now,

00:51:45

"I want everyone here to know

00:51:47

that because of the resurrection, you can exhale.

00:51:50

You can exhale."

00:51:54

I think we're all collectively holding our breath right now.

00:51:57

We're holding our breath because of

00:51:58

the things happening in the world around us.

00:52:00

We're holding our breath because of the things

00:52:02

that are happening personally in our lives.

00:52:04

And I think God just wants you to know, today,

00:52:06

because of the resurrection, you can [exhales] let it go.

00:52:09

In fact, I want to do that right now.

00:52:11

Everybody take a breath in on three, one, two, three

00:52:14

and just let it go. Just let it go.

00:52:17

Do you hear that? Do you hear that?

00:52:19

That's what's available because of the resurrection.

00:52:22

In fact, in the Old Testament, when Moses said,

00:52:24

"God, will you tell me what your name is?"

00:52:27

God said, "My name is Yahweh."

00:52:30

Literally every time we breathe, we are breathing in

00:52:33

and breathing out the name of God.

00:52:35

Friends, you can exhale. You can exhale.

00:52:40

So what does Resurrection Sunday have to do with your Monday?

00:52:44

We see the answer in Romans 8:11, it says:

00:52:47

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus

00:52:48

from the dead dwells in you,

00:52:50

He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead

00:52:52

will also give life to your mortal bodies

00:52:54

through His Spirit who dwells in you.

00:52:56

Did you catch that?

00:52:58

That the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead

00:53:01

lives in you.

00:53:03

When you trust Jesus with your life

00:53:05

the same spirit lives in you.

00:53:08

I need some crowd interaction on this one.

00:53:10

Throw out a number between 10 and 100.

00:53:15

50. I love that number 50. Man. 50, love it.

00:53:20

All right, listen, if you knew, guaranteed,

00:53:24

nothing was going to change it,

00:53:25

that three years from now,

00:53:26

you were going to inherit $50 million.

00:53:29

How would that make you feel? 50 million.

00:53:32

Do you think that might impact the level of hope

00:53:34

that you walk around with in life?

00:53:35

Do you think it might make it a little bit easier

00:53:38

to be generous or to be grace giving

00:53:39

if you knew that was coming your way?

00:53:41

It wouldn't inoculate you from all suffering.

00:53:43

But do you think it might help you have

00:53:44

a different perspective on difficulties and suffering?

00:53:47

Do you think it might become the driving thing

00:53:50

that's driving your choices as you think about

00:53:52

not just the next three years, but the next 30 years?

00:53:55

Well, friends, what I want to tell you is

00:53:56

because of the empty tomb you've got

00:53:58

something coming to you that's worth

00:53:59

way more than $50 million.

00:54:01

It's way more than $50 billion, $50 trillion,

00:54:04

however high you want to go.

00:54:05

Your eternal future is secure.

00:54:09

And that should change the level of hope we live with.

00:54:12

That should change how generous we can be.

00:54:15

That should change how we can love

00:54:17

and how we think about the future

00:54:19

because our future is secure.

00:54:21

And I wonder if you're in here today,

00:54:24

but you've never received that life from Jesus.

00:54:27

It would be a disservice for me to share

00:54:30

this Good News with you

00:54:31

and not give you a chance to receive it,

00:54:34

not give you a chance to put your faith in Jesus.

00:54:37

So I want everyone in here to close their eyes,

00:54:41

because I want you to have a moment between you and God.

00:54:45

And maybe you're here today

00:54:48

and something clicked for you.

00:54:50

The penny dropped and you're like, "Oh man, I --

00:54:53

I didn't know, I didn't know that this is

00:54:55

what it means to follow Jesus.

00:54:56

I didn't know this is what Jesus did for me.

00:54:59

And I want that."

00:55:00

If you're in here today and you would say,

00:55:02

'Today, I want to put my faith in Jesus

00:55:03

for the first time, I've not done

00:55:05

that, and I want to do that."

00:55:06

I'm going to ask you to do something bold.

00:55:08

I'm asking you just to put your hand up,

00:55:09

while every eye is closed. It's just between you and God.

00:55:12

Put your hand up if you would say,

00:55:13

"Today I want to receive Jesus for the first time."

00:55:15

I see those hands. I see those hands.

00:55:19

And more importantly, God sees those hands.

00:55:22

And I just want to invite you to pray some words after me.

00:55:24

Not that there's magic in these words,

00:55:26

but today you get to mark a moment of faith.

00:55:29

And I want to guide you into that.

00:55:31

You can just simply repeat these words:

00:55:32

Jesus, I believe You died for my sins.

00:55:38

And Jesus, I believe You rose from the grave.

00:55:45

So I want Your life to be my life.

00:55:50

Please forgive me for my sins

00:55:54

and give me Your life so that I can follow You.

00:56:00

Would You fill me with Your life giving Spirit

00:56:04

so that my life is secure, both now and forever? Amen.

00:56:12

Amen. Praise God, if you just prayed that prayer,

00:56:15

praise God, praise God. Welcome, welcome.

00:56:19

What you received cannot be taken away from you. So good.

00:56:24

And now Easter becomes an anniversary for you to remember,

00:56:27

that was the day that marks the day that I received

00:56:30

and stepped into this life that Jesus has to offer me.

00:56:32

So good, so good.

00:56:34

I got something not just for you

00:56:35

if you just prayed that prayer, but for all of us,

00:56:37

because we were talking about like,

00:56:39

what would it look like for us to take

00:56:41

this resurrection power into our lives

00:56:43

beyond just this gathering right now?

00:56:45

And so if you want to, you can take out your phone

00:56:47

and I'm encouraging you to do this,

00:56:48

take out your phone and text the word "awake" to 301301,

00:56:54

the word awake.

00:56:56

And here's what you're going to opt into if you do that.

00:56:58

You're going to get a series of seven texts this week.

00:57:01

They're going to come at different times.

00:57:03

They have different prompts.

00:57:04

And they're all meant to just remind you that

00:57:06

the same power that raised Jesus from the dead

00:57:08

is available to you.

00:57:11

And I pray that it just meets you,

00:57:12

and I'm praying it meets me in the moments this week

00:57:14

when I just need to be reminded about Easter Sunday.

00:57:18

So I pray that that encourages you and strengthens you.

00:57:21

Got one more scripture to share with you.

00:57:23

I love that Paul, after writing these sweeping words

00:57:26

and taunting death and all the things,

00:57:28

here's how he finishes first Corinthians 15:58,

00:57:30

with these words he says:

00:57:32

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast,

00:57:34

immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,

00:57:38

knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

00:57:41

I love that Paul doesn't end with some lofty,

00:57:44

practical application, but he ends with

00:57:46

what I call street level application.

00:57:48

He says, hey, because the resurrection happened

00:57:51

and because that life is in you, hey, be steady,

00:57:54

don't quit, keep loving, keep creating, keep building.

00:57:59

And by all means, keep celebrating.

00:58:02

Keep celebrating, because if this is true, y'all,

00:58:05

silent Christianity doesn't make any sense.

00:58:09

Reserved Christianity doesn't make any sense

00:58:13

if the resurrection is real.

00:58:14

If the only time we celebrate it is when we get real quiet

00:58:17

and be like, oh God, thank you so much for your resurrection.

00:58:20

Oh no, no, no.

00:58:21

If there's ever a day to get loud,

00:58:22

if there ever a day to get excited,

00:58:24

it is this day. It is Easter Sunday.

00:58:27

Are you with me? Are you with me?

00:58:33

So I want to help us.

00:58:34

I want to help us finish in a spirit of celebration

00:58:38

that is fitting for Easter Sunday.

00:58:40

Y'all ready for this? Y'all ready for this?

00:58:42

All right, so listen, I think we have a lot to learn

00:58:44

from our brothers and sisters around the world

00:58:47

because there are some powerful,

00:58:49

ecstatic Easter celebrations that we can go to school on.

00:58:52

Let me give you one.

00:58:53

In the Philippines last night

00:58:55

and into daybreak this morning,

00:58:57

they did what's called Salubong.

00:58:59

And what Salubong means is a divine encounter

00:59:01

with the risen Christ.

00:59:03

Salubong starts at night with two separate parades

00:59:06

going through the streets.

00:59:08

One parade is all the women are marching and walking

00:59:12

through the streets with a statue of the mother Mary.

00:59:15

And Mary has a veil over her face because for her

00:59:18

it's not yet Easter morning.

00:59:20

And so she is mourning the loss of her son.

00:59:22

And so that procession of the women is quiet

00:59:25

and prayerful and even mournful as they think about

00:59:28

the tension that Mary was living in.

00:59:30

Where as the same time,

00:59:32

the men are having a parade of their own,

00:59:35

and the parade that the men are having is with the risen Christ,

00:59:38

and they are walking with the risen Christ,

00:59:40

celebrating because they have seen

00:59:42

and experienced the resurrection.

00:59:44

And what I love about Salubong is that daybreak

00:59:46

on Easter morning, the two processions meet,

00:59:50

the two processions meet.

00:59:51

They removed the veil from Mary,

00:59:53

and then everybody begins to celebrate and dance

00:59:56

because they've had a divine encounter with the risen Christ.

00:59:59

It's so good. And don't miss this.

01:00:01

My friend who's Filipina was telling me about this.

01:00:03

She said, "Chuck, don't miss this.

01:00:04

Philippines is a very matriarchal society,

01:00:07

and there's a reason that Mary has the role she plays

01:00:10

when they take the veil off, and it's this.

01:00:12

If anybody would have known that it was for sure

01:00:15

the risen Christ, it would have been his mama.

01:00:19

And so the worship and the celebration doesn't start

01:00:22

until Mama confirms that is my baby.

01:00:24

My baby was dead. My baby was buried.

01:00:27

But my baby is alive."

01:00:31

And we can have that Salubong moment with Jesus.

01:00:35

I'll give you another one. Give you another one.

01:00:37

In Greece and in Greek Orthodox Church

01:00:39

here's how they celebrate Easter.

01:00:40

It starts before midnight.

01:00:42

So they would have started this last night before midnight.

01:00:45

And the church is dark

01:00:46

and people gather in the dark church.

01:00:48

And again, there's a heaviness

01:00:50

because it's not yet Easter Sunday.

01:00:52

But right past midnight, the priest comes in

01:00:54

and lights a candle and yells at the top of their lungs,

01:00:57

Christ is risen!

01:00:59

And when they do that,

01:01:00

everybody begins to light their candles

01:01:02

and they respond, He is risen indeed!

01:01:05

So I want us to take a page from our Greek brothers and sisters.

01:01:08

I want you to take out your phones right now,

01:01:09

and I want you to put your phone lights on.

01:01:12

And I'm going to teach you guys this call and response,

01:01:15

and we're going to celebrate Easter

01:01:16

commensurate with the way that our brothers and sisters

01:01:19

do around the world.

01:01:20

So I'm going to say Christ is risen.

01:01:22

And when I say that, you're going to respond,

01:01:23

He is risen indeed. You guys ready?

01:01:25

Christ is risen! [response]

01:01:29

All right. That was -- Give you a B plus, a B plus.

01:01:36

I think you can do better. I think you got more in you.

01:01:38

Honestly, sometimes, seriously.

01:01:40

It's not uncommon in these Greek churches after Easter,

01:01:42

after they have the mass and everything,

01:01:44

they literally have fireworks break out.

01:01:45

So I want us to have verbal fireworks as we do this.

01:01:48

You guys ready? All right.

01:01:49

Christ is risen! - He's risen indeed!

01:01:52

- Yes! Christ is risen! - He's risen indeed!

01:01:56

- Christ is risen! - He's risen indeed!

01:01:59

- Christ is risen! - He's risen indeed!

01:02:03

- Yes! Stand up on your feet. Stand up on your feet.

01:02:06

Stand up on your feet.

01:02:10

Crossroads, we are not ending quietly today.

01:02:13

We are not ending quietly today.

01:02:15

We are going to celebrate because Christ is risen.

01:02:21

We're going to sing.

01:02:22

We're going to sing about a name.

01:02:24

We're going to sing about a name who conquered death.

01:02:27

We're going to sing about a name who opened up a grave.

01:02:30

We're going to sing about a name that breaks every chain.

01:02:33

We're going to sing about a name

01:02:35

that knows you and knows me and offers us life.

01:02:38


01:02:41

because there's a Savior in here.

01:02:42


01:02:45

because He gives us His Spirit.

01:02:46


01:02:49

because there's freedom for us today.

01:02:51

So come on, let's sing this song together.

01:03:03

- Come on, let's sing it together.

01:06:20

- Come on, sing it louder.

01:08:41

- Come on, come on, come on.

01:08:46

All right. Listen, listen.

01:08:48

We are not done. We are not done.

01:08:53

I grew up in a small, black Pentecostal church.

01:08:58

And I want to free you to be your best Pentecostal self

01:09:01

for just a few minutes, if you're okay with that.

01:09:04

So we're going to sing one more song.

01:09:06

And here's the thing, I want you out in the aisles.

01:09:10

I want you out in the aisles.

01:09:11

Look, I'm gonna start a conga line up in this church.

01:09:15

I'm gonna start a conga line up in this church.

01:09:19

Don't let me be the only person in the conga line

01:09:22

up in this church. Are you with me?

01:09:23

Are you with me? Come on, let's sing.

01:13:59

- All right, truth be told, I feel a little 50 now.

01:14:02

I feel a little bit like.

01:14:04

But we're gonna do it one more time,

01:14:06

because if there's ever a day to celebrate, it's today.

01:14:09

It's today. Go out in the power of the resurrection

01:14:12

and let it change your life.

01:14:14

God bless you guys. Happy Easter.

01:14:18

- He is risen indeed. That was so fun.

01:14:20

- Yes! Hey, if something stirred in you today,

01:14:22

don't just move on to brunch and miss it.

01:14:25

This is a chance for you to connect with God in a new way.

01:14:27

- Yes, we want you to experience God in a new way today.

01:14:30

And if you're ready for hope and change

01:14:32

and a trust in Him, you can go to Crossroads.net/yes.

01:14:36

We would love to connect with you.

01:14:37

What you saw on stage, what you just experienced

01:14:40

was real joy in knowing a Jesus who loves you

01:14:45

and wants you to have a life that is full.

01:14:47

- That's right. And we want the reality of that presence.

01:14:50

We want the reality of God's presence to be something

01:14:53

that you don't just experience on Easter.

01:14:55

We want you to experience it every day.

01:14:57

So Chuck actually has prepared a little experiment

01:14:59

in God's presence for you.

01:15:00

This is daily text message interruptions just for one week.

01:15:03

It'll wake you up to the reality of God's presence in your life.

01:15:07

Just text the word "awake" to 301301

01:15:10

for these daily reminders of God's presence.

01:15:12

It's not just an Easter thing,

01:15:13

it's an everyday reality for you.

01:15:15

- Yes, and if you're ready to become

01:15:17

more fully alive in your faith,

01:15:19

we have a cohort starting called Truly Alive.

01:15:21

It starts on the 12th of this month,

01:15:23

and you get to grow alongside other people

01:15:25

in our community and our church who want to have

01:15:27

a faith that is real and active and transformative.

01:15:31

You can learn more about that and sign up

01:15:32

at crossroads.net/cohorts.

01:15:35

- Yeah. Hey, one more thing for you.

01:15:36

I want you to come back next week for a new series

01:15:38

called Future You, because who you're becoming

01:15:41

and who you want to be doesn't happen by accident.

01:15:43

You get to build and create that person day by day.

01:15:46

That's what we'll be talking about starting next week.

01:15:48

- Thank you for being with us.

01:15:49

We hope you have an incredible Easter

01:15:51

filled with joy and celebration.

01:15:53

- That's right. See you guys next time. Happy Easter.

01:15:56

- See ya.

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