Rejoice! He Is Alive - April 20, 2025

Matthew 28, I've titled this message Rejoice, He's Alive.

Rejoice, He's Alive.

I love the lyric on that song.

I've come to shout and to proclaim.

And I think that's in the heart of every born-again believer to shout and to proclaim that He's alive.

And we're to rejoice.

Matthew 28, in verse number one, it says, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

And behold, there was a great earthquake.

And the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.

And his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow.

And for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men.

And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which 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 dead.

And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee.

There shall ye see him.

Lo, I have told you.

And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples' word.

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.

And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him.

Oh, what a feeling that must have been to see Jesus, the resurrected Christ, on that Sabbath day.

And that wording all hail is what it means is a Cairo.

And it means rejoice, be happy, be well.

And as Jesus is telling his disciples, hey, listen, let's not mourn, let's not complain, let's not be broken, let's not be bitter.

Listen, I'm here.

Rejoice and be exceeding glad.

And you can see that they were just touched in their heart and they fell down and they worshiped him.

And as I look at this passage of Scripture, I began to ask, Lord, who did you show yourself to?

When did you show yourself?

And I started studying through the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And I started putting the pieces together of the harmony of the gospels.

Who did he show himself to first?

Who was second?

Who was third?

Who was fourth?

Who was fifth?

And so in this message, we're going to look at the five accounts that the risen Savior shows himself and how it transforms their lives.

So the very first person, if you're taking notes, is Mary Magdalene, the woman who was full of seven devils, that Jesus reached and cast out those devils and ministered to her and loved on her and she followed Christ and had a deep connection with him.

And you say, well, what was she experiencing?

Well, think about this.

She was hurting, she was in grief, she was in sorrow, she was in sadness.

This physical person who transformed her life was dead and gone and butchered, really, on the cross.

And so Jesus first shows up to her.

And he takes her, if you're taking notes, number one, from brokenness to boldness.

He takes her from brokenness to boldness.

In John chapter 20, she thinks that it's the gardener in the tomb.

John 20 · chapter mention

Now the Marys were there, and they go tell the disciples, and the disciples come back, and they don't see him, and then Mary's there in the tomb, and she thinks it's the gardener, but it's not, it's Jesus.

And the moment Jesus says her name, Mary, she turned herself and saith unto him, Raboni.

And she was going to grab a hold of him physically.

And he says, Whoa, whoa, don't touch me yet.

I have not yet ascended to my Father and your Father.

But go tell the disciples.

And Mary's heart is touched, it's blessed.

And I want to encourage you with this principle from brokenness to boldness.

Jesus meets us personally in our pain.

Jesus sees our grief and our sadness and our loss.

And I want to encourage you, don't let the grief blind you.

Jesus is closer to you than you can ever think or imagine.

He is ever present and he loves you.

Mary was weeping.

She thought it was over.

She had all these emotions, and then Jesus calls her by name, Mary.

Oh, how special that must have been to her heart.

And just with his voice, just with his words, he calms her.

He gives her peace.

He gives her encouragement.

And she goes from mourning and brokenness to joy and to be a message bearer.

And it touches her life.

That's the very first person that Jesus shows himself alive to.

The second person is Peter, Cephas.

You say, when did he show himself to him?

Now this is an interesting thing.

As you study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you don't actually read the account where there's an interaction with Peter.

The word of God just simply says that in Luke 24, 34, the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon, which is Cephas, which is Peter.

And so I got to thinking, what was why why did he show himself to Peter?

And why wasn't it recorded in any of these accounts?

And I believe it's because, number two, if you're taking notes, he's taking Peter from failure to forgiveness.

Remember Peter, that self-assured, confident individual that said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, I'm ride or die, Jesus.

No, uh-uh.

Everybody else is gonna back up, but not me.

I'm going all the way.

And you know what happened.

All that pride, all that macho self-confidence, as soon as Jesus was taken.

Peter's over there cussing like a sailor and acting like he does Jesus.

And when we're AWA with Jesus, he doesn't back up on us.

No, no, no, he doesn't.

And at the right moment, he makes this visit and he takes Peter from his failure to forgiveness.

One of the things I've noticed a lot in pastoring is a lot of times we can we can understand that God loves us and God forgives us, but many times we hold ourselves hostage to our own failures.

And we think, oh, I don't know if I can forgive myself.

Let me just tell you, you need to receive the forgiveness of God.

You're not greater than Him.

If the sovereign King of all the universe in the galaxy says, I love you and I forgive you, receive that.

Humble yourself and receive it.

The failure in your life doesn't have to be final.

It can be a, yes, a setback, but really it can be a setup in a good way.

And I got to wondering, why didn't Jesus, why didn't the Holy Ghost of God give it to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John to put this appointment that he had with Peter?

Why didn't we get any more details on it?

And I want to tell you this there are some appointments that don't need to be broadcasted.

There's some situations in your life, some failures that you've come through, there's some communications that you've you've had.

Not all the world needs to know about it.

There's some situations it's best to just leave it private.

It happened, the details are private, and we're just moving on in forgiveness.

You don't have to share it all.

And I got to thinking, that's exactly like Jesus.

How many of you are glad that not everybody knows your failures?

Thank God for that.

And how many of you are glad that God gives us forgiveness?

And if God could give you forgiveness, can't you give your brother or sister forgiveness?

Can't you give your spouse or your son or your daughter forgiveness?

Listen, I see this with Jesus.

Even though Peter failed him, Jesus still shows up and helps him in forgiveness.

Let me say this to you: don't run from God after your failure.

Run to God.

Though scripture doesn't detail the conversation, we do know that Jesus came calling.

And it was his grace that ministered to Peter's heart.

Can you imagine being there in your failure, knowing that you messed up big time?

And then all of a sudden, the Son of God, the sweet tenderness of the Messiah shows up and he says, I got you, Pete.

I love you, man.

I know that you thought you'd never back up on me.

I know you you were so confident, and now I know you're broken, I know you're hurting, I know you failed.

But listen, I got you.

I got you, son.

I'm with you, I'm for you.

I've got great plans for you.

Remember, I told you after you go through this trial, Satan desired to sift you as wheat.

I told you that.

I tried to give you a heads up, and I know that you couldn't quite all the way prepare for it.

And I told you, after you're converted, strengthen your brethren.

Well, now I'm here.

Now I'm here, Pete, and I love you, and I'm lifting you up.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and though he fall, he shall not utterly be cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

So, Pete, I got you, son.

Can you imagine that embrace?

Can you imagine that hug?

Where all the pain and the misery and the self-inflicted wounds, and what do the people think?

And how am I gonna overcome this?

And should I just give up and throw in the towel?

Or should I commit suicide?

Should I, what should I do?

And all of a sudden Jesus shows up and says, Come to me, Pete.

I love you.

I forgive you, I've got something for you.

You say, How do you know all that?

All I see is that he appeared to Simon.

And then I know later on he's used widely.

And I also know this those who serve Jesus at the greatest capacities are those who realize how much they've been forgiven of.

The one who's been forgiven little, the same serves little.

But the one who's been such a wicked, great sinner, and Jesus comes along and washes it away and takes it away.

Listen, that just like empowers your heart to say, God, thank you.

I don't deserve to be here.

I don't deserve your grace, I don't deserve your mercy, but thank you for loving me and helping me and encouraging me.

Oh, how many you're thankful that God has taken you from failure to forgiveness.

Man, I'm so glad that I got the forgiveness and the mercy of God.

That was, I believe, probably the second visit.

Where you say, what was the third encounter Jesus had?

I believe the third encounter was number three, Cleopus and his friend in Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

These guys are traveling on the road of Emmaus, going to a village.

Now it's about seven miles away, and they're talking about everything that's that's just happened in Jerusalem.

And they're talking about Jesus, and all of a sudden, guess who cruises up?

Jesus.

Hey guys, hey boys, what are y'all talking about?

What?

You don't everything that's happened, you don't, what are you living under a rock?

You don't know what's happening about Jesus and all this other stuff?

And all of a sudden, Jesus reveals himself and gives these guys, Cleopus and his friend, a personal Bible study.

And he begins to say, hey guys, let me show you it's me.

I'm alive, I rose from the grave.

As it says in the law and the Psalms and the prophets.

Check this out.

You know what Moses said over here, and you know what the psalmist David said over here, and you know what it says over here in Ezekiel?

Listen, that's me, that's me, that's me, that's me.

What's up?

It's me, I'm back, baby.

I'm back.

The Bible says that when Jesus is given this Bible study, these guys are their hearts burning inside of them, like, and they're like, hey, Jesus, don't keep walking.

Come with us to our town, hang out with us.

And they do, they have fellowship, they have food, they have encouragement, and the Bible says Jesus vanishes away.

And you say, What is he what is he doing with these guys?

Well, number three, write this down.

Number three, write this down.

He takes them from confusion to conviction.

From confusion to conviction.

You say, What do you mean?

Well, they're confused.

They don't know where to go, they don't know what to do.

Have you ever been there before?

You're confused.

Uh the news, the media, life, work, church, all of it can just be so confusing, and you don't know which way is up and which way is down, and and you thought you had the direction, you thought Jesus was gonna do it this way, and now all of a sudden your life's turned upside down.

And if you haven't been there, just live a little longer.

It's gonna happen.

But what I love when we're confused, Jesus shows up and he gives us clarity, he renews our conviction.

You say, how does he do it?

He opens the word of God to Cleopas, and their hearts ignite with renewed passion.

How many of y'all need some new passion poured into your heart, poured into your life?

You need a good old-fashioned Holy Ghost revival from the Word of God.

Do you remember the time when you used to hunger and thirst to get into the Bible?

Oh, when you couldn't wait to highlight and underline and look at all the concordance and look at the definitions and look at every little bit.

Oh, I'm telling you.

When you get close to Jesus and He starts being your teacher, you get a passion for the Word of God.

And then that passion renews your mind.

How many guys have had some stinking thinking?

Yeah, some stinking thinking.

Well you're thinking on all the wrong stuff, you're thinking on all the trivial stuff and all the mundane stuff and all the wicked things and all the issues of your friends or your family, your church.

And I want to tell you this if you're so focused on the issues and the problems, here's what you're not focused on: the Savior and the solutions, the sweetness and the goodness.

And whatever you focus on begins to expand.

And what I love about Jesus is he focuses them on him.

It's high time we get our eyes back under the hills from once cometh our help.

It's high time we come back to Jesus and say, God, please give me a fresh Bible study.

Ignite my heart with a passion for you, God.

His word is open to them.

These two, they went from being confused and discouraged and walking away to having this Bible study with Jesus, and their life was changed in every single way.

The answer to spiritual burnout isn't walking away from Jesus, but it's walking to Jesus.

The answer when you're in failure and when you're in discouragement and when you don't know what to do is not to get out of church, not to get out of the Bible, but to come to God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul, with all of your strength.

And how about this?

Even when you don't come to him?

How many all?

He came to you.

He found you, he left the 90 and 9 and came after you and loved you and did for you what you can never do for yourself.

Oh, Cleopus and his friend, you say, What happened after Jesus vanished?

After he vanished, it was Sunday night, it says in the text.

And they immediately, I think they they they high-tailed, they split, they ran all the way back to Jerusalem.

We gotta go tell the disciples we saw the risen Savior.

Let's go, let's go.

Can you imagine high-fiving like, let's go! He's alive.

They run all the way back, they go back to Jerusalem, and you say, What do they do?

They go where the disciples are at.

And they began to tell how Jesus, how they saw Jesus and met Jesus, and how he's alive and began to stoke the flame of their hearts.

So you see, a revived person helps revive others.

A hope-filled person gives hope to others, friend.

And so they're bringing it to the other disciples.

And guess what happens next?

Write this down.

Jesus shows up number four.

He shows up to the disciples, and he takes them from fear to faith.

He takes them from being hiding themselves behind closed doors out of fear of the Jews and what's gonna happen.

And all of a sudden, while Cleopus and his friend are communicating that they saw Christ, Jesus shows up.

I want to tell you this.

Jesus shows up when we talk about him.

Jesus shows up when we're when we're when we're elevating him, when we're adoring him, and and he shows up and you say, What does he say to these guys?

He says, Hey guys, look at me.

I'm alive, I'm back.

Look at my hands, look at my side, I'm back.

And you know what he says to them in in John chapter 20, verse 21?

John 20:21

Peace.

Peace be unto you.

You say, why is he saying peace?

Because when you're afraid, when you don't know where to go, what to do, when your leader is gone, when you don't have direction, you're confused, and and you don't know where to go, here's what you need.

You need peace.

How many of you guys, the last week, the last month, the last year, your mind has been pulled in so many different directions?

Isn't it hard?

It's hard.

And I even today, when I was driving here, I've got my heart as a dad and as a pastor, I have so many different people I love and I care about.

People in church, people out of church, people in this nation, people out of this nation.

And I'm I'm trying to focus on Jesus.

I love you, Jesus.

And when my heart stays there, my heart is revived and I'm full of hope.

And then when I look down at some of the pains and the hurts, my mind starts getting uneasy.

And I start uh getting a little bit fearful and fretting.

And and it's because I don't have control of a lot of these things, and it it pains my heart.

And before you know it, I'm living in in a little bit of a confused state, a little bit of a hard, uh pressed heart where there's stress.

And you say, What did you do?

I turn back to Jesus.

I said, Abba, Father, please fill me with your perfect love.

You said perfect love casts out fear.

And so please, I want my heart to be settled.

I want my heart and my spirit to be good, God, please.

Bless my heart so I might be a blessing to others.

Well, Jesus shows up and he says to these guys, all the disciples, peace be unto you.

I'm giving you peace.

As my Father has sent me, even so send I you.

You see, when you have peace from God, you're able to go give peace to others.

When you have calmness and sweetness and stability, you can give that to others.

But when you're confused and chaotic and you don't know which way is up and down, that stress can cause more stress on others.

And so it's very important that you receive the gospel first.

You receive the peace with God first.

Then you can go, and Jesus shows up.

You say, What's he doing here?

He's giving them peace, he's renewing their purpose.

I want to encourage you, don't stay behind closed doors in fear.

Don't live your life afraid.

Too many people live their life in fear, whether it's this pandemic or this medical issue or it's these financial issues.

Listen, in this world, you are going to have tribulation.

That's what Jesus said.

But he said, Be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world.

It's like God is saying, I got you, I'm with you, I'm for you, I got your back, I got your front, I got your side, I am all over you.

Now let's go.

Let's go forward in the glory of God.

I don't know about you, but if I saw the resurrected Savior a few days after he died, and all of a sudden he's showing up, coming maybe through the walls in a place where I'm fearful and I'm upset and I don't know what to do, and he's saying, Hey, I'm giving you peace, and just as I've been sent, I'm sending you.

Listen, I'll do whatever he says.

If he can conquer death, if he can conquer Satan, if he can conquer the grave, and he's verifying it to me, oh yeah, friend, if I got Jesus, listen, nothing's gonna stop me.

How many of y'all got Jesus?

He got Jesus, nothing's gonna stop you.

What's gonna separate you from the love of God?

Shall Principality's powers, shall shall any trial or famine, nothing's gonna stop us?

Because we got Jesus.

And he shows up to these disciples and gives them that sweet peace and that sweet purpose and and encourages them to don't live a locked-up life of a hermit and a monk trying to just do nothing.

Let's live a life where you're where you're stepping out and you're living the abundant life.

Yeah, you're gonna have pains, you're gonna have scars, you're gonna have all these things, and yeah, it's a little bit like, do I can I trust people?

Can I do that?

Listen, you can trust God.

You can trust God to let you move forward, and he's gonna use you.

So he shows himself the disciples.

You say, preacher, who does he show himself to next?

Well, next number five, if you're writing this down, I don't know if it's next in the sequence because I think there's seven days that pass here, eight days that pass here.

But I wrote this down.

He shows up to Thomas.

You guys know what they call him Doubting Thomas.

How would you like that to be your name?

And what Jesus does is he shows up to him, and Thomas wasn't at the Bible study, he wasn't at the evening service on that Sunday night of the first resurrection that Sunday.

And so all these people are there and they're all getting blessed, and I saw Jesus, man, he blessed me.

I see it all, and Tommy wasn't.

There.

And Thomas is like, oh man, I missed it.

I missed it.

They're like, you should have been there.

You should have been there.

Oh man.

And and Thomas is like, listen, unless I see the holes in his hands and the hole in his side, I'm not going to believe.

I got to get my own uh uh uh walk with God, I gotta be able to see it for myself.

Listen, I'm glad you owe you guys got it.

I'm glad Pete got it and Cleopas got it, I'm glad the disciples got it, I'm glad Mary Magdalene got it, but I need a fresh revelation for God for myself.

And so what does Jesus do?

He takes Thomas from doubting to declaring, doubting to dominating, doubting to discovering the power of God.

You say, how does he do it?

Jesus shows up there again with all the disciples, and Tommy's there.

And Tommy's there, and Jesus says, Hey Thomas, how you doing, buddy?

Reach your hands in.

Look at my holes, look at my side, be not faithless, be not doubting, but be believing.

And immediately Thomas falls to the ground and says, My Lord and my God.

You see, when you get a fresh revelation of God, high and lifted up, and you know he's real, not just theoretically, not just intellectually, but a personal revelation from God where he's visiting you and making himself known to you.

Here's what happens in your heart and life.

You bow before his greatness.

You say, My God, my Lord, you're gonna be like Isaiah.

Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lifts.

I'm sorry I doubted.

I'm sorry I backed away.

But you know what I love about Jesus?

Come on.

I love you, I got you.

I know you got doubts.

I know you needed something specific and something personal.

That's why I came for you.

Listen, all over the audience today, everybody watching online, all of us need a fresh new closeness with Jesus.

We need him to make himself known to us just like he did with Thomas.

And so we see here when when this takes place, Jesus is not afraid of your honest questions.

He's not afraid of your doubts.

Sometimes we think, oh, I'm I I have some suspicion, I have some doubts, I'm gonna hold it back.

Listen, Jesus says, bring it to me.

I want your questions, I want you, I want your doubts, I want your confusion, I want your brokenness.

Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, come to me.

Listen, let's talk about it.

You don't have to run away, you don't have to hide, you don't have to be like Adam and Eve when they sin in the garden.

Listen, they tried to cover themselves.

Don't try to cover it yourself.

I will cover you, I will bless you.

It'll be my blood and my righteousness.

That's Jesus.

Come on, let's talk about it.

He opens up the lines of communication where there is no lines open.

And we see here that though Thomas missed that first meeting and he wanted proof, Jesus gave it to him.

And once Thomas saw it, man, he went from doubting to declaring the gospel, declaring the goodness of God, showing far and wide the goodness and the grace of Jesus Christ.

And so today we've covered five different people that saw the resurrected Savior and how it transformed their life.

We looked at how Mary Magdalene went from brokenness to boldness.

We looked at Peter, how he went from failure to forgiveness.

We looked at Cleopus and his friend, how he went from confusion to conviction.

We looked at the disciples, how they went from fear to faith, and finally we looked at Thomas, who went from doubting to declaring.

You say, Well, what ended up happening?

What happened after that, preacher?

Jesus showed himself alive for 40 days, according to Acts chapter number one.

I would have loved to have seen it all.

According to John chapter 21, he even shows up at Galilee and they're fishing.

John 21 · chapter mention

You guys know the story.

He says, Hey, cast the net on the right side of the boat and they catch 153 fishes.

And he tells Pete, Hey, Pete, listen, check this out.

Do you love me more than these?

And he he encourages him in the ministry.

Hey, some of you guys, you need some encouragement.

You need some encouragement.

You're looking at your failures, you're looking at your brokenness, you're looking at your doubts, you're looking at your confusion, and I get it.

There's a lot of a lot of issues to look at.

And if it's not you you're looking at with all your pains and failures, it's others.

And all of that brokenness and all that sadness and all that grief, here's what it's doing: it's causing you to draw back away from Jesus.

Whether it's your own issues or it's the issues of people in your family or your church.

Let me tell you this.

Jesus knows all that.

Bring it to him, talk to him, share it with him.

Let him fill your heart in a way that is personal and helpful, and let him lead you.

So he shows himself alive for 40 days.

And they're going back and forth from his headquarters in Galilee to Jerusalem several times.

And then we see on that 40th day, he's at the Mount of Olives, which is just right across from the temple, right across the Khedron Valley.

And all of a sudden, he ascends up to the right hand of the Father.

And the disciples are looking at him.

Where'd he go?

Where'd he go?

I thought he was gonna set up his kingdom.

I thought we were gonna take care of business.

Where'd he go?

And the angels say, Hey, hey boys, how long y'all gonna be gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, he's coming back.

How many of y'all believe he's coming back?

Man, I believe he's coming back.

Even so come Lord Jesus.

He's coming back.

And you say, What are they supposed to do?

They were supposed to go back to Jerusalem, as he said, and wait for the promise of the Father.

The promise of Joel chapter number two, the promise of the Holy Spirit that would fill them.

And you guys know what happens.

They're in there praying, 120 of them in that upper room, and in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit just ignites a flame of power upon them.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And before you know it, they're preaching and they're teaching.

3,000 get saved, 5,000 get saved.

I mean, it transforms the whole world, friend.

We are here today because of what happened with Jesus Christ.

Amen.

We are here today, saved by the grace of God, baptized in this local New Testament church because of a resurrected Savior.

What a blessing it is.

You say, Well, what's what do we do next with this?

Let me tell you something.

God didn't save you to sit around on the sidelines.

Amen.

God saved you to serve, God saved you to celebrate, God saved you to walk in hope.

You say, Well, what do I do next, preacher?

What do I do next with my life?

I'm glad we have a resurrected Savior.

I'm glad that these wonderful things are happening.

Well, I'm gonna tell you your next steps in our church.

I'm gonna tell you what our purpose and our vision is and how you can connect.

Because listen, a lot of times we overestimate an event and we underestimate a process.

A lot of times people make the high of just one event in their life.

I went to church on Easter Sunday.

Let me tell you this.

Don't let the Easter Sunday be all there is for you.

That's right.

Realize God wants to walk with you day in and day out.

He wants to develop you and your family.

You say, what do we got coming up with the church, preacher?

Well, with the per with the church, we got all kinds of stuff for people.

Tomorrow night we have a ladies' Bible study if you'd like to come.

You can get encouragement, you can get refreshment at 6:30 p.m.

You can grow in grace and have prayer.

Wednesday night we have small groups.

You can dig deep big time and get into the Word of God.

You can sign up on the way out after you take family photos and be a part of a small group where you're learning the Bible.

There's several of them out there.

That's on Wednesday night.

Listen, this Saturday we have a men's prayer breakfast with some preaching about the mighty men of God.

And so this Saturday at 8 a.m., we can here have some breakfast, some preaching, be inspired, be encouraged.

Saturday, this Saturday at 11 a.m., we have a youth rally.

And I'm hoping to see more teenagers reach with the gospel.

You know, I just started studying David Wilkerson.

I connected with the teen challenge a little bit, thanks to Sister Nina.

And I went over there and met with the pastor, and I found out the story of David Wilkerson.

How he went to the gangs in New York, and how Nicky Cruz was gonna cut him to pieces.

And all the all uh Brother Wilkerson was saying, God loves you, God loves you, God loves you.

And he says, I'm gonna cut you to pieces.

And and and Pastor Wilkerson said, Every single piece of me that you cut up is gonna say, God loves you.

Every single piece.

That gang member got saved before you know it, multiple teenagers were getting saved, and God was doing a miracle.

That's what we're doing.

That's why we do youth rallies, that's why we do these meetings, because we want to see people saved.

We want to see their lives transformed.

That's this Saturday.

You say, what else?

What else is going on at the church?

Well, on Sunday, May 4th, Star Wars, Star Wars Sunday, family fun Sunday, we've got a man of God who's been, he's planted multiple churches.

Multiple churches in different countries.

He'll be speaking to us, opening the word of God, and then our children.

Listen, I don't want to raise my kids where they're they loathe coming to church.

I want them to love the Bible and love Jesus and have some great experiences.

And so we'll have some Star Wars themed jumpies and food and all kinds of stuff so that we can create great memories together.

Let me say this to you.

Your life is gonna pass by super fast.

Super fast.

But don't live your life separate from God and from his church.

Live your life saying, Hey, God, I want to be a part of all that you're doing.

Because one day soon we're gonna meet him.

And I hope it's it, I hope we're fulfilling our purpose.

You say, What's our purpose?

Our purpose is to love God.

That's why you're created.

That was the first great commandment.

Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, your neighbor as yourself.

Our purpose is to grow together, not to be separated.

Listen, I know we got problems, we got failures, we got brokenness.

Just reveal it.

It's okay.

None of us is perfect.

Let's walk through it together.

Let's grow together and then we serve others.

We're a blessing to others.

Now, I'm not gonna be 100% perfect and right, neither are you, but we can let the grace of God flow through us and help us.

You say, What's the vision?

What's the vision of our church?

I'm gonna tell you what the vision of the church is.

It's not my vision, it's not your vision, it's Jesus' vision.

You know what it is?

It's Matthew 28, Mark 16.

It's go preach the gospel to every creature and make disciples.

It's not so much about the building, it's not so much about the service times, it's not so much about the clothes, it's not so much about uh the physical things, it's about doing what God wants.

And so if you're and you're in here today and you're like, preacher, I've never been saved before, today's the day for you to receive that hope, that everlasting life.

Jesus loves you, he died for you, he rose again, he is alive.

Amen.

How many of y'all know he's alive?

Come on, he's alive.

And if you've been experiencing brokenness and failure and confusion, it's it's time.

It's time.

Let's give your life to Christ.

In a moment, I'm gonna give an invitation.

I'm gonna ask if you'd like to be saved.

And I want you to raise your hand and say, I'd like to be saved, and we'll walk you through it.

Amen.

And if you're in here and you're a Christian, listen, I know life can be hard.

I know there's all kinds of confusing things.

But let Jesus take you from where you are and bring you to a better spot of healthy spiritual growth.

You do that by saying, God, I here am I.

Speak to me, give me a fresh closeness.

I surrender myself to you and connect into Him.

Amen.

How many of you are glad that He's alive?

I am so glad He's alive.

All hail is what Jesus said.

It means rejoice, be happy, be well.

He's alive.

Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer.