In the beginning, He spoke.
He spoke in everything we know. The Earth, the stars. Even us.
All came into existence.
By his word, by his son, and he loved us.
Then we fell.
But thankfully, God spoke his plan over there.
In that moment.
I find it really interesting.
The symbolic fabrics we see throughout the Bible. And especially throughout Jesus’ life and ministry.
At his birth, we see him wrapped in swaddling cloths.
This was an act used in preparation for a sacrificial lamb.
They would wrap each area of the lamb to signify its perfect condition.
No blemish, No spot, no defect, a perfect sacrifice.
In the gospels, We see the people lay down their garments or fabrics on the road for Jesus, proclaiming he is king.
Only a few short days later, Jesus would be the trade, taken into custody, and tried as a criminal They mocked him, and gave him a purple cloak, like a king would wear.
They crucified him, and fulfilled prophecy by casting lots for his garments.
And upon his death, the veil was torn.
The final symbol of our access to the holy of holies.
But what difference does any of it make?
What do we gain from a prophecy being fulfilled? But a Jesus, hanging dead, on the cross.
Quite honestly. Nothing. But thank God. The story doesn’t end there.
I had him in use sinning.
They broke god’s law, and they or a broke relationship with God.
And when a law is broken, a debt is owed.
Which for you and I was far beyond anything we could ever pay. But Jesus good.
You see, but the penalty for sin is death. So Jesus paid that debt.
He died. So we could live.
Christ raises himself from the dead and bookends his life with yet another piece of fabric.
Jesus folds his head wrapping and sets it in the tune This is believed to be a symbol of his completed work over death and the grave.
The story begins with the tragedy.
Yes. But it ends in absolute victory.
God’s plan all along was to restore us, to him, to bring us back to relationship with him.
He paid our debt that would have cost us eternity without him. He fixed it.
And he gave us a gift.
I know now.
This is why he came. It was all. For us.
Hallelujah. Father, we praise you. Yes, lord. God, how could we not praise you?
Hearing that truth, reading that truth, seen that truth portrayed on a page, but god, you are the technicolor god.
You are the god that is so transcendent. Thank you father that this morning is what it is.
We thank you father god that by this morning in history.
The grave was broken, sin defeated, life eternal, guilt removed, Christ is risen and we are risen with him.
We thank you father god. We pray in Jesus name and all god’s people said, Amen. Church. Listen.
You know what to do. He has risen. He has risen. Indeed. You may be seated, everybody.
God bless you. And, uh, thank you for dealing with the, uh, soap. Yeah. The the rain.
In Southern California, this is a catastrophe outside.
But, um, the theme for today is, uh, get up.
Just told you to sit down, stay there, but the theme is called get up.
And, uh, we’re gonna be looking at this in our Sunrise service this morning.
And at some point in time, this, uh, pay close attention to this because, that’s the the sun should start rising behind us, uh, trying to make it as as authentic as possible for you guys today.
You. Yeah. You’re welcome. And we’re we’re grateful to the to the graphics team for that creativity I don’t know if you’ve ever visited.
Um, yeah, you can thank them for all that.
In fact, I wanna thank, you know, you need to know this.
I I wanna thank everybody who was involved, volunteer, and and I hate using the word volunteer.
I don’t like that because it sounds it’s not it’s not enough. Team members.
That’s better than a volunteer. You know what I mean?
Because a volunteer volunteer, a team member is more powerful.
Those of you who made today happen, it’s to pivot like we just did.
There are thousands of chairs set up outside, both in the courtyard and out on the pavilion area.
We rented a gigantic screen system with trailers. All of that stuff.
All installed this week, and we’re in here. But, uh, but the thing is this.
And about 3 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock this morning, the team pivoted and had to just relocate the efforts inside this building today.
We weren’t gonna be in here. For Sunrise service.
And that just takes a lot of skill, and it takes a lot of teamwork.
And so I am thankful for each and every one of you and all of you who’ve made this happen.
Absolutely awesome.
So I
don’t know if you’ve ever been to Hertz Castle up in, uh, San Luis Obispo area, But if you’ve never been, you should go.
It’s, uh, America’s True Castle. It certainly is the only castle in California.
The Hurst Castle, from the, uh, the Hurst Empire of all of their great wealth and all.
But I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there were 2 rules that William Randolphhurst, uh, employed, uh, there at the castle.
Number 1, if you were ever invited, And when you go there, you’ll see the ledger of those who were invited.
If you were ever invited, Your invitation had no expiration date.
If you were invited, you could come for the whatever events or festive thing that was going on, And you could stay as long as you’d like.
There was no expiration date on your invitation. How’s that for an invitation? Everything was covered, by the way.
Food, lodging, and it was palatial. And again, you should go see it.
Uh, the bath the some bathtubs and swimming pools are lined with gold.
The second rule was William Randolphhurst said, You are not allowed to speak about death, and you cannot mention the word death, Anywhere on this castle and castle grounds, William Randolph Hurst was so terrified of death that it stopped him.
He had listen, his his empire being worth $20,000,000,000 richest man in the world and on his grounds, he would have ice shipped down to San Luis Obispo so they could have ice.
He had Giraffes. He had Zebra running on loose on the property.
He brought the world to himself because he wanted paradise, but he was terrified of death.
All of his money, everything that he could achieve could do nothing for Tuesday, August 14th, 1951 in Beverly Hills, William Randolph Hurst was taken by death.
With all that he had, it couldn’t stop death.
In church family this morning, I wanna celebrate with you. I’ll read it to you.
Out of Luke’s gospel, chapter 24, the Bible says now in the 1st day of the week, On Sunday is the 1st day of the week.
Very early in the morning.
They and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
This is an amazing statement because the Bible tells us that on Saturday, the women had prepared all the spices for what they were about to do on this resurrection morning in the dark.
And I made mention about this on our Good Friday service. That’s kinda awesome. Think about this.
It’s a little technical piece, but you might say, well, who cares?
Listen, during the Sabbath from the sunset of Friday, they were not to do any work at all.
Remember They were not they were to do no labor whatsoever to be observant Jews.
Jesus is crucified. He’s laid in the tomb. Everyone goes to their home.
Morning, weeping, confused, scared, the disciples are hiding, but the women got together, and they broke the rules.
They went to work. And I want you to think about that.
They went to work. They prepared the spices.
And some scholars, by the way, have concluded that the ointment that it would have been assembled, the various oils to prepare the saturation of all of the wrappings of a man 6 feet tall would have taken somewhere near a £150 of oils and fluids.
And the women would have taken that on this early morning.
They were going to anoint the body they were gonna try to figure out somehow how to deal with the stone, but they were determined So number 1, they did work on the Sabbath, not supposed to do that.
And then they traveled to this morning early, early in the dark.
And Rome had forbid that that big great stone be moved.
The guards were standing there on duty And as the women are in route, something happens.
But just know this. They were not supposed to be doing what they were doing.
And they were never they were forbidden by the law to prepare these spices for Jesus’s body.
You see, Jack, it’s a little late, isn’t it? They were supposed to prepare all of this.
Traditionally, all for the person is buried. That is true, but it wasn’t gonna keep them.
See, everything’s upside down in this moment and yet exactly right side up.
They were going there because love drove them there.
And there would have been oh, there’s always some sort of a person like this that would have been saying, Now ladies, ladies, you can’t be doing this.
It’s against the rules. You should not do that. That’s too heavy. You’re not supposed to lift anything.
You’re not supposed to go anywhere. You shouldn’t be doing this.
There’s always somebody like that in your life that is always gonna be telling you how something should not be done.
And on top of it, listen, even if Moses would have been there himself, he would have probably said something like this.
Look, I know what was written. But something’s going on.
This must be the fulfillment of everything that I spoke about, the prophet spoke about.
So you go ahead and break those rules. Remember, the rules were made for man.
Man was not made for the rules. The Bible tells us. And those women, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Hell itself could have tried to stop them on that morning.
It wasn’t gonna keep them from getting to the tomb. Why?
Because what transcends what’s written down in rules is love. In fact, I wrote this down.
Hopefully, it blesses you. God gave it to me. I think he did.
If it blesses you, he gave it to me. If it falls flat, then it’s all on me.
The answer to god’s law for us is our love for him.
There’s no greater movement in your soul than to have love for god.
And how can you not fall in love with what you’re about to hear?
They’re moving with all of the spices and oils that they had prepared verse 2.
But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
Then they went in and did not find the body of the lord Jesus, and it and that as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold 2 men stood by them in shining garments.
That’s another way of Saint Angels. These are not 2 guys dressed in Sunday suits.
Then as they were afraid and they bowed their faces to the earth, They said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?
Don’t you love that? I mean, I I’m sure they were gentle and saying it, but maybe I don’t know.
Maybe maybe there’s a little bit of divine sarcasm and all of that.
In other words, ladies, what are you doing here for crying out loud?
Why do you seek the living among the dead?
You go to graveyards to pay respect to dead people. Ladies, you’re in the wrong spot.
He’s not here, they said, but has risen Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.
And on 3rd day, rise again. And they remembered his words.
That verse 8 means that it instantly came back to their memory. What a beautiful thing.
Look, I don’t know how you are young. I remember being young.
Now that I’m older, it’s like, you know, you’re trying to talk about something.
You’re trying to recount or share something. And it’s like, wait, what what was that thing? What was that thing?
Wait. Hang on a minute. And then you start losing it. Like, oh, man. I can’t remember.
And then when you get it, the conversation could have moved on.
You could be talking about the, you know, whatever. Then 20 minutes later, you go, I got it.
It was this. And, uh, that’s the Greek word means that that’s really what happened.
When the angels said it, they went, oh my goodness. That’s right. The light came on.
On this morning, the light came on.
The light came on to shine the truth of what god had said to them.
Some of you have grown up with the gospel.
And this resurrection morning brings you to this service today, and you got in the building thank god for you.
Listen. There’s a couple thousand people that never made it in this morning.
But you are here And you’ve known about Jesus.
You kinda remember some of the things that he has said or what the Bible has taught you, But I pray that this morning, there’s a great Sunrise s o n in your life that you snap out of it and you wake up because now my friend’s time is late and you know it.
But the light dawned upon their reason and they’re thinking verse 9, then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the 11.
11 because, you know, they had 12. Their short one, Judith went out and hung himself.
And all the rest, and it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles, and their words seem to them like idol tales.
Oh, stop telling stories, ladies. Don’t you know, we saw him die. Come on women.
Come to your senses. He’s dead. These are the great apostles. He’s dead. We saw it.
Happened. Great men of faith that they were. They were hiding out.
And when the women came and gave the news that the Bible had foretold about and that the angels had spoken about and that Jesus had said himself, They didn’t believe them.
That’s encouraging. Right? Are you there today? Maybe. Maybe. It’s like, I don’t know.
Well, just don’t stay in the realm of, I don’t know.
You can know the evidence is right before you. But Peter arose. God bless Peter.
But Peter arose and ran to the tomb.
And stooped down, and he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves and he departed marveling to himself at what had happened.
Now after the Sabbath, as the 1st day of the week began to dawn.
Matthew chapter 28 tells us, watch the overlay of this.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb and behold, there was a great earthquake.
For an angel, the lord descended from heaven and came down and rolled back the stone.
Notice it’s the angel that rolled back to stone, but when the angel rolls back to stone, Jesus is already gone.
I love that. Jesus had resurrected from the dead and walks through the stone.
This shouldn’t excite all of you who are going to heaven because the Bible says we’re gonna get a body like his.
Listen. You could touch him. You could feel him. Eat, which was amazing.
Jesus ate with the disciples after the resurrection, but the food he ate didn’t fall onto the floor.
But he but then he walked right through walls. Don’t you want a body like that?
I’ll pick a body like that. We’re gonna that’s part of the glorified body. You see, that’s a ghost.
It’s not a ghost. It’s a glorified body. You can touch and feel.
And then the next thing, you can be somewhere else. Whoop. Oh, that sounds very fun to me.
And the angel rolled back to stone, and just to be sassy, He sat on it.
I wonder if he folded his arms too. And his countenance was like lightning.
And is closed, whitest snow. And the guards okay. These were no wimps.
The guards shook for fear. And became like dead men. They thanked it.
But the angel answered and said to the women, do not be afraid For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, he is not here for he is risen.
As he said, come see the place where the lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dad, and indeed he is going before then into Galilee.
Friends, that’s about ninety miles north. From the tomb. There you will see him.
Behold, I have told you. Verse 8, Matthew chapter 28.
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy.
That’s a good combo, by the way. That’s not fear like being scared. It’s fear as an awe.
They’re in awe. Would you love to have had like a drone or somebody running alongside with a camera as the women were running to go to tell the disciples, and they’re so excited and they they had to be talking about it.
You know they’re talking about it. They’re running, and they’re can you and what about the oh my gosh.
Can you believe it? I should have known. How did we doubt? I don’t know. I didn’t doubt. Yes.
You did. I knew you. We all did stuff, and they’re running, and they’re going.
That was my workout for the day.
Verse 9 tells this.
And as they went to tell the disciples behold, Jesus met them. Stop.
Jesus met them. Anybody says, rejoice. Rejoice. This is a powerful word.
We can be so proper. I don’t think you guys. You’re in 5 you’re in the 5:30 AM.
Service. You can be pretty rowdy by now. You’ve been up for hours.
The co the coffee has already kicked in. When Jesus says rejoice, it’s like, yes. You know, It’s like, alright.
These women were pretty amped, and they probably had no coffee. They had the thrill of reality.
The reality of this world can absolutely sap you of all life and hope.
The reality of the lord god almighty does the exact opposite.
It feels you with power, joy, grace, mercy, and in the incredible ability to see through the dark and through the fog.
And Jesus says to them, one grand, a beautiful word rejoice. Be happy. Absolutely.
Jump for joy, ladies. Yeah. Freaked out is what I would have maybe interpreted as.
So they came look at they came. Now remember, they were they were running.
So they must have stopped, I assume. Maybe not. I don’t know. He says, rejoice.
And they came, and they tackled him. It says there that they held him by the feet.
They dove and grabbed it, grabbed his feet, hanging on to Jesus, and they worshiped him.
Proskaneo. Beautiful word in worship.
The word, Proscanao means, by the way, Proscanao, uh, to go to lipoprostate, prostrate.
Proscanao is too it’s a word of a, uh, a dog licking the master’s hand.
You know how your puppy cannot do. It can’t it it has to lick your hand.
Your puppy’s so happy to be in your life. And if your puppy will go You know?
Isn’t it a great, you know, just at the day, I forget where I was at, but there was this amazing dog.
The owner was inside the building.
The dog was waiting for the owner to come back out, and I walked by some other man walked by.
And he said, that’s a beautiful dog. And the dog’s just like, on duty.
He’s like, I’m waiting for my master.
And it’s like, you we we walked and we said, wow, beautiful dog is dog like, And when his master came out, the dog went nuts, like he’d never seen his master before, but for the first time, it’s as though the doors opened up, and he came out of the tomb.
And the dog went crazy.
The dog knew his master 5 minutes before earlier, but the dog greets the master coming out of the store like Jesus coming out of the tomb.
It’s like the guy came out and said, rejoice, and the dog went crazy.
And the dog began to lick his hand.
I told the guy that we want we witnessed this. I said, that’s listen.
If if we could have more people in this world like dogs, the world would be an amazing place.
Is that not true? Proscanae or worship means to lick the hand.
And they’re worshiping him. The Bible tells us they’re worshiping.
And the scripture says, in verse 10, that Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.
Go. And tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there, they will see me.
Get up and go. What a powerful truth this is to get up and go.
And they went to Galilee. They went.
And, uh, one of the things that in my mind that I see this happening, granted it may not have gone this way, but I kinda see it in such a way where the women come rushing in to announce to the disciples, the great news, And I wonder how that came down because the angel I gave the command, and then Jesus gives the command.
And so the women arrive to tell the disciples.
And it took me back to the days.
I don’t know if they do this anymore, but when I was a little kid, we used to have show and tell in school.
And show and tell was a very, very awesome thing because you took something that you were very proud of to show your class, and then you told them all about it.
The women had come to tell them Jesus has risen from the dead, and the angel had come to shell them.
But everything was culminated.
And in the fact that today, my friend, Jesus Christ, is risen from the dead, and it’s not a dream It’s not wishful thinking.
Listen, this reality, this truth was not only according to the Bible eternal, but this reality and truth actually took place if you believe it or not.
Yes. That’s right. Your belief in it or not is irrelevant Hallelujah is not predicated upon you.
It is a fact that Christ is risen from the dead. And that he transforms lies.
And then what he said and what the Bible says about him is gonna come to pass, And it’s best for you to rejoice and then to go.
To rejoice in the fact that he’s resurrected from the dead should give you an eye on ending energy and awe and praise in serving him.
Life has its difficulties. Life has death. Life has pain. Life has sorrow.
But god. It listen.
The Bible is so real that it doesn’t tell you that if you come to Christ, you’ll never be said again.
You’ll never have sorrow. You’ll never have death. The Bible doesn’t say that.
The Bible tells you that all of these things in life that you you and I experience in this world.
The Bible tells us that we do not have to face it alone that god will walk with us through all of these things.
Even to the awesome promise The Bible tells us in the Psalm that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
The shadow of death, listen, friends, is exactly that.
It’s the shadow of death until death comes. Once the moment death comes, you’re no longer in the shadow.
Do you understand that? Oh, man, what’s gonna happen to me? You know, I’m I’m sick. I’ve got cancer.
I’ve got this problem where I got whatever the deal is. I’m this way. And I’m gonna die.
Or what about the when the day comes and I die? Listen, technically are you guys listening? Yes.
Technically, you and I are going through the valley of the shadow of death right now.
Is it why I feel a fight pastor?
You’re still going through the valley of the shadow of death right now. And it culminates to a crescendo.
And then there’s the great escape or the great release for the believer, death, and then you die.
And the moment the believer dies, the moment he lives. She lives. Yes.
The believer goes immediately to Jesus. We’ve gone through the valley of the shadow of death.
By the way, it’s a shadow.
When you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of this life, You have to have sun shining.
You have to have a light source to create a shadow. Right? Yes.
He’s the son of god. Maybe spelled s o n always. Yes. Not maybe. Certainly.
But sometimes spelled s u n in a way. He’s beaming. Like a lighthouse beaming.
Isn’t it great? Have you ever been, uh, at an airport where it’s snowy or cold or rainy or whatever it is and dark, and the plane is taken off, and it’s it looks more like a submarine than it does a plane.
And you finally pull up and you’re going through and you’re wondering, how engines run with water going through them like this.
And it’s kinda like this is interesting.
And then all of a sudden, you break through the cloud layer and you’re in the sun.
That sun has always been shining, even though there might be a storm in your life.
The sun is always shining. And Christ is always shining. Jesus is alive.
The Bible says never to die again. He lives forever.
And the Bible says, because Christ lives, you and I live forever.
You would be but you’re just sitting a moment ago about death for the believer. Listen.
This is a big deal. For the believer, death is actually a welcome sight for the believer.
You understand that? Yeah. Are we allowed to talk like that?
Only if you’re a believer in the lord Jesus Christ, you can talk like that.
Listen, if if you’re if you’re scared of death, you don’t understand what god did at the cross.
Look, let’s be honest. We’re human. I I’m not I’m not thrilled to get needles.
I don’t like needles. I don’t like tubes.
And I don’t like doctors coming in and saying, does this hurt? No. And they look disappointed.
They go like, does this hurt? No. How about this? No.
I’m fine right there. What about this? Listen.
For
the believer This body of ours may be hurting in this world, but it’s only our bodies.
The inside of us, listen, the moment you and I, as a believer, pass from this world into the presence of Christ, I always like to think of it as this way that are spirit on the inside has outgrown our bodies.
It’s time to go. And we’ll get our bodies again someday in the resurrection, but that’s That’s that new fancy model.
I’m wondering what that’s gonna be like.
I mean, it’s I’m not joking when I say this, please forgive me to dance.
But There’s just something kind of heavenly like about smelling the smell of a brand new car.
If women would wear that perfume, men would would be all over their neck Oh, do you love me?
No. No. It’s the smell of your perfume. It smells like a brand new car.
This is a bra something brand new smells amazing, right, the new body. We’re gonna get a new body.
What’s oh, right? So hey. No it’s probably got a tag on it.
No deodorant needed. All the ramifications of death removed. Because Christ is risen. Yeah.
And he lives. What a glorious truth and we celebrate his resurrection today.
God and his goodness.
The beautiful fact of the matter is that when the Bible tells us that they returned to the tomb, they went back to that tomb with prepared spices And they’d later, that word tells us that they were to rest.
It redefines what rest means, in my opinion.
Christ being risen from the dead, finding out about that. Listen.
Don’t think for a moment that might take in a a vacation that you’re going to arrest.
Don’t think by staying in bed for 3 days, you’re gonna rest.
You know, I’m just gonna shut down. I’m a guy I gotta rest.
Listen, I wanna tell you right now, and this will bear witness of the truth of what we’re talking about.
You can take a cruise around the world. And not talk to another human being.
You could stay in your cabin or hang over the balcony for a 180 days.
Get off of that ship and you have maybe physical rest, but you have no rest.
You have no rest on the inside. You’re still troubled. You’re you’re listen.
The inside of you is like an angry sea.
You find the same drama that was in your heart and mind before you got on that ship.
It’s the same drama in your heart and mind when you get off the ship.
You still have family issues. You still have all of the issues of this life.
The awesome thing is this that Christ being risen from the dead? He gives you true rest.
You see, listen, were the women busy on Saturday when the rules said they shouldn’t be?
Yep. But, listen, there’s no evidence that they had grown tired.
When the when it they were to being Sabbath rest, shabbat rest.
This may blow some of your Jewish minds, but listen.
Them preparing the spices and all the stuff they did and running to the tomb the way that they did.
I believe they had never been more at peace, more at rest for this one reason.
Even though they had not yet known Christ was risen from the dad, they were going to worship him.
That is a supernatural approach. As far as they’re concerned at that moment, he’s dead.
What do we do? Let’s go worship him. Are you catching the apparent contradiction?
Let’s go worship him who’s dead. That makes no sense. You wanna do that?
Go to Lenin’s tomb in Red Square in Moscow. Lennon’s dead, and you can look at him.
He doesn’t look dead. He looks amazing, actually. But he’s dead. Still there?
Think about that. People wanna follow Marxism or Socialism, They’re founders dead.
Think about this. Well, that’s no. That’s politics. Hey. Hey. Hey. Listen.
The politics of this world’s gonna evaporate. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Why don’t you follow him whose tomb is empty this morning? Cause he’s he got out of there.
He got up, and he left. He’s gone. And I’m gonna ask you to
be thinking about that this
morning. Not right now, but in a moment, I’m gonna ask you on this day, on this morning, that if you’ve never made a commitment to Jesus Christ, I’m gonna ask you soon to publicly do that.
And here’s a little clue. If me just saying that right now, you heard inside your own head.
Oh, boy. That means god’s speaking to you.
Some of you, you just heard yeah. Amen. I remember doing this. Awesome.
Some of you are saying, I think I think I need to go now.
Some of you might be hearing inside of your head.
You know, you say you know me, but nobody knows you know me.
God might be saying to you today, I want you to go public with me because, frankly, friend, I wouldn’t mess around one more moment.
I’m dead. This is not hype. I’m telling you right now.
As of this morning, it is 6:25 6:26:26 AM.
We’ve never been this close to the return of Christ than right now at this very second.
And you might say today.
Well, I don’t believe in him, and I don’t believe in that.
At 6 26 still, this morning, You’ve never been this close to drop in debt and see an eternity.
Think of that. None of it.
Well, I should say all of us have never been this close to forever.
But the Bible tells us that now in this life and in this time, it’s appointed under every human wants to die and then comes the judgment.
But watch. The Bible commands that while we are alive, we must accept Christ.
We must come to him while we’re living.
Did you know that the Bible teaches there’s no second chance after death?
You say, oh, let’s not what I read. You read the wrong book, friend. You should read the Bible.
Now is the time. Today is the day. This is the acceptable time.
Christ is risen from the dead, and he said, I’ll meet you in galilee.
You don’t have to go to galilee to meet him.
This gospel the Bible said 2000 years ago will be preached in all of the world.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.
And on this morning in history, He listen. He rose again from the dead, so technical and legal.
He rose from the dead, to make sure that everything he purchased on the cross is put into place and activated in your life.
Thank god. He didn’t leave that to angels. Thank god. Hallelujah. Listen to this.
Thank god he didn’t leave it to some pastor Priest Pope or evangelist.
Man, that would have been flubbed up. Catastrophe. He didn’t leave it to anybody.
He paid the price for our sins that we committed against god.
And then he rose again from the dead because, listen, he couldn’t help it if you think about it.
There was no sin in him.
I love this picture that’s always been in my mind, that Christ hanging on the cross, and the moment that he died on the cross.
Imagine death walking around him. Imagine if death could be personified. It’s walking around him.
And it’s figuring out how to pull him down into hell where it’s been taking everybody for thousands of years.
How do we do this? And it’s what listen. Death walks around perfection, and there’s no handle.
There’s no crack. Def examines him.
And they death can’t get it. It’s hand on him.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, when he rose again from the dead, he legalized as it were and made public the breaking of death and the breaking of the tomb.
Death is defeated. The tomb has been emptied, and that is an absolute fact that though your body may go into this earth, You will not be there.
All your friends will come to your funeral service.
All of your friends will come, and they got all these sad faces Oh, Jack results. It’s so sad.
Jack is dead. Don’t ever say that. Don’t ever come to my service and say Jack’s dead.
Come to my service. You need to bring party hats and those little whistle things that, uh, that bring confetti.
Because I won’t be there. You might be there. God bless you. I won’t care. I’m gone.
I’m with him. Just know this. You may be at my funeral, but I ain’t there. I’m with him.
And you can have that same assurance because what god did, he’s done for you.
Let’s pray together right now. And I’m gonna ask all of you to remain seated.
Heavenly father, we ask now in Jesus’ name, lord god almighty, that by the power of your holy spirit, you might speak to those this morning that before heaven and the angels of heaven, And before all men as it were, you’re speaking to those number 1 who’ve been somewhat of a Christian, almost a Christian, a covert Christian, if anything possible exists like that, But today is the day for them to get out of their pretending and to be public, to go pub public, to get up God were praying today for the person who knows that they’re a sinner.
They know that if they died, that it wouldn’t fare well with you, that they have guilt and shame, and they’ve broken your law.
They’ve had other god’s loves, pursuits, lust, passions, that have controlled their lives, and they wanna be free.
They wanna experience resurrection today. I’m gonna ask you to speak to them, father god.
I’m gonna ask you to speak to the person who may love you, but they’ve just been so fearful which is a sin.
Fear is a sin. Boy, isn’t that something think about it, my dear, friends, fear.
During the COVID area era, fear became some sort of a sick virtue.
That’s never been true, and it never will be true.
Fear is a sin. You’re not trusting god.
And you don’t have to put on a mask to cover your face.
You can put on a mask that’s covered your life and you’ve even put on a mask of religion.
And god is saying to you this morning, that needs to die.
And so while as we play this worship song together, Christians worship if god is speaking to any one of you this morning, to seal the deal as we put it, to publicly accept Christ as lord and savior, to join in with the women, to join in with the disciples and get up because he alone is worthy.
You can get up and come to the front of this altar this morning and go public with Jesus.
He went public for you. You can go public for him.
If you truly believe that he died for your sins and rose again from the dead, that you’re gonna give your life to him, and you’re not gonna look back.
You’re gonna come. As we sing, you get up and come and forget about fear.
In fact, fear will be the evidence that you should do this in Jesus name. You get up.
Almighty god and father, risen lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
We praise your holy name, and we thank you father for a miracle has happened this day.
There is no way that men and women and teenagers can all come to the agreement.
At the same time, on the same issue, like what’s just happened here just now.
Yes. That is the work of almighty god. How beautiful lord? Irregardless of financial status or not.
Whatever pigmentation is of the skin. Whatever culture we have come from.
What an evidence you’ve given us that your love, this love, is the greatest, greatest reality, and the world needs it today, not more politics, not more division, not more racism, not more whatever.
The world needs Jesus. And god, we praise you this morning.
For those who have come to receive you, those that are here out loud, friends, pray this prayer, mean it from your hearts, God will hear you.
Even though all of you are praying it, he knows the inside of your heart. Church family.
If you’d like to recite it with them, I think it’s great. Sounds wonderful.
And I think it might even If it helps upset hell, if it if it ties a knot in Satan’s tail, It’s a beautiful thing for you guys to come along these brand new believers.
Those of you who are about to pray, we want you to know.
You may or may not feel something in a moment.
Some but some of you say you felt this or that. It’s a re it does that’s good.
It doesn’t matter, though. This invitation that you’re willfully making, this is listen.
This is your step.
It’s not a step, and you need to do 10 more steps to get get to heaven.
It’s this step that gets you to heaven right now.
If you live 1 hour longer, then the rest of your life is called being a disciple.
But let the world know that if today you pray to accept Christ, And in 5 minutes from now, you perish.
You go straight into the arms of Jesus. Yeah. You are safe. In his arms.
Will you pray this prayer out loud? Dear lord Jesus?
Dear lord
Jesus. Bring your healing upon me. Body, soul, and spirit.
I receive your salvation. Because I proclaim.
Christ crucified Christ crucified. And risen from the dead. And I decide
from
this moment forward to follow Jesus My lord and savior.
My lord and savior. My lord and savior.
In his name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.