Easter at the Crossing

I can't help but be curious today. I wonder what would.

The outcome be if I hated out a questionnaire to

everybody and it had one question on it, and the

question was simply this, What is the point of Easter?

What is the point of Easter? What would you put down?

Some people would put Jesus and you get.

A little gold star on your paper.

Some of you little kiddo's might put Easter Bunny, Easter

egg hunt, and some of you might put.

Hope, Joy, resurrection.

Some people might say doubt myth tradition, And I understand

if you're that's where you're at today. Even early in

my calling into ministry, I remember coming upon this season

where I really struggled with is Jesus Christ?

God? Did Jesus Christ resurrect? And I remember coming to.

This struggle because you know, I some insecurities because I

had been.

Called in the ministry. I went to Bible College. But

once I choked to Bible College, all the ministry that

I had done before I went.

To Bible College, it was all pretty much a disaster.

I was pretty lousy at ministry. Each fouray into ministry.

Was you know, just another bombing and send it, and

I'll tell you a couple of those.

My youth pastor wanted to invest in me and train me,

and and so he said, hey, James, tomorrow and we'll

take you on your first hospital visit.

So my mom and dad make sure they went out

and got me a.

Sport coat and and just to get all ready to

do that official church ministry, and and my youth pastor

told me that we would stop at McDonald's on the.

Way to the hospital.

But when he picked me up that morning, he said

that the person we were going to go see had

taken a turn for the worse. And I said, so,

he said, we got to hurry up and get to

the hospital. And my response to that was what about McDonald's.

And He's like, man, we got to get to the hospital.

I'm like, but you said we were getting McDonald's.

And if you're a man of God, then you're a

man of your word. And I just.

Kept pestering him until he finally said, okay, okay.

I said, listen, five minutes isn't going to make a

big deal.

We go, we get McDonald's and then we get to

the hospital. And like I said, I grew up in

this church so I pretty much knew everybody pretty well.

And I walk into the hospital room and I go, hey,

how's everybody doing?

And then I realized I did not read the room first.

And I look around. Everybody's got tissues in their hand.

They're like, he just passed away. And let me tell you,

if there was a look that could send you straight

to hell, that was a look that my youth pastor

gave me. And all the way home he just kept saying,

you just had to have McDonald's, you just had to

have me.

So that wasn't the good first day of ministry.

And then shortly after that, my church asked me to

host a Sunday morning service. I met this stup every announcement,

I jumbled the prayer.

It was just a disaster. And my youth pastor told

me of a.

Broken heart that you know, the board of trustees had

met and decided that maybe James shouldn't do any any

more hosting. And I never did again. And so I'm

all of at Bible College and I'm like, man, I'm

pretty lousy at ministry. And then I'm taking these classes

and I asked this question, how do I even know

if Jesus is God.

I grew up in the church. I actually didn't ask

that question.

I actually never asked myself, do I really believe he resurrected? Why?

Because I grew up in church and a lot of

times these things are just assumed if you grow up

and you hear this stuff all the time.

And so here I am.

I'm like, man, I'm really lousy at ministry. I'm not

even asked these questions. And if I'm gonna go in

ministry and be really, really lousy at it, I better

make sure that.

I really am convinced that Jesus.

Is Christ and that he resurrected, because it's going to

be a long road either way. And so I went

to the library the next couple of months.

And one thing I can do, I can read for hours.

I can just sit and read, and I read everything

I can get my hands on for the Resurrection. Against

the Resurrection. I still remember this moment in my life,

this distinct moment where I pushed away from my desk

and I said out loud, he did it. He overcame death.

He's my God, he has my life. And I said, Lord,

you got it. And I remember thinking I'm gonna give

my whole life to ministry. I'm never going to look back,

even if I'm lousy at ministry.

Now, that's my story.

That's my unique personal experience with trying to figure out

whether Christ is Christ, if Jesus is God. At the

resurrection happened, and after I came away from studying that,

I've never looked back.

And wherever He leads me.

That's where I want to go because I'm convinced of

the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, some of you might

be saying, right now, James, good for you.

That's not my story.

I grew up in church and nothing I saw says

Christianity's really Some of you might say, well, good for you.

But you didn't have my childhood. You didn't go through

what I went through. God didn't rescue me. And I

want you to know.

My heart absolutely breaks for you, and with great humility

and with a broken heart for some of you, here's

what I want to.

Ask you today.

Will you consider Christ again? Even though you've had pain

and disappointment, Will you consider Christ again?

And I get that the roadblock is real.

I have a family member who years ago, mother went

to the hospital and they said she's okay. She came

back home and had a metal emergency a little bit

while after that, and while the paramedics are working on her,

he went into the other room and he says, God,

if you're real, you will save my mom. And she

passed away that night. And we as a family know,

or his friends know, we don't bring up christ or Christianity,

and if we do bring that up around him, it's

not going to be a pleasant conversation.

So I get that some of you are in that

boat today.

And even if God didn't answer your prayers or rescue

or change your situation, and you even thought.

How on earth could a good God allow this?

In spite of those very difficult questions, I would like

for you to consider becoming a follower of Jesus. Why

here it is because Easter changes everything.

Easter changes everything.

Let me clear some roadblocks for anyone today who might

have some robots. The foundation of Christian faith is not Christians, okay.

The foundation of Christian faith is not the.

Behavior of Christians.

The foundation of Christian faith isn't even an answered prayer.

The foundation of Christian faith isn't having all of your

questions answered. What is the foundation of our faith. The

foundation of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

and Easter addresses something big.

Why are we here today? Can you explain why we're

here today two thousand years later?

Why is one third of the world following Jesus Christ,

a man who, by the way, never traveled in his

three years of ministry more than thirty miles away from

his home. He never wrote a book, We don't have

one of his sermons digitally recorded, and yet two thousand

years later, a third of the world call him savior.

There's no plausible explanation other than this what we celebrate today.

Think about this way. We go back through history and

I bring up the name Nero. Okay, think about Nero

for a second. Now, A lot of you have heard

of Nero, but I doubt that there's more than five

people in this room that could tell me one reform

that Nero made while.

He was emperor.

But we do know that he persecuted Christians. Here's Nero,

an emperor of Rome, and he is a footnote in

the story of Christ.

What about Caesar Augustus.

Caesar Augustus, he changed the world, He instituted new systems.

He was the most powerful man in the world. He

was a genius at what he did.

And you know, I doubt many of us could name

his reforms what he did, but I do know this.

Every Christmas we bring up Caesar Augustus. What do we

say about Caesar Augustus?

We say that he called for a census, a decreed

that made Jesus as his mother and father, Mary and

Joseph go to Bethlehem so that the could be fulfilled.

Guess what, He's a side note in the story of Jesus.

And here's the thing. The most powerful men in.

History become side characters in the story of Christ. How

on earth did a handful of followers survived the first

century the Roman Empire and multiplied to the point where

there's a bunch of little churches around the Mediterranean rim

And now two thousand years later, you're sitting here, we

know this happened. Is undeniable. The question is how did

a third of the world come to know Jesus? And

by the way, this reason for why a third of

the world came to know Jesus, this viewpoint on the

rise of Christianity, This doesn't match any of the other

movements in history, and it's because of jesus message. Okay, See,

Jesus' message was a problem for most people. Okay, the

message of Jesus was a problem.

One. He did not advocate for an insurrection.

He didn't say, all right, people, come follow me, We're

gonna flip this place upside down.

No, he wasn't a liberator.

He didn't come say I'm gonna take care of this group,

or take care of this group, I'm gonna free this group. No,

he wasn't a liberator. He wasn't a revolutionary.

People kept trying to make him a revolutionary.

They would come to him and say stuff like, hey,

should we pay Caesar taxes, knowing that if he said

we shouldn't pay Caesar taxes, there.

Would be a revolution.

Instead, he said this, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,

and give to God what belongs to God. In other words,

go ahead and let Caesar have the things of this world.

You belong to God, he created. You serve him. Jesus

talking awful lot about kingdom.

And he talked about his kingdom, and people.

Will get excited, or are you gonna start a new

kingdom a new country? And then he would say, oh,

by the way, did I forget to mention my kingdom

is not of this world. Jesus was an insurrectionist, he

was in a liberator, he wasn't a revolutionary.

So when they brought him the pilot, pilots.

Like, I can't do anything to this guy. He hasn't

done anything wrong, and they still yelled out, crucify him,

crucify him. The Jewish people and those who follow Judaism,

they try to say that Jesus was trying to usurp

their laws or break their traditions, or break their laws.

And here's what we have.

We actually see that Jesus raise the standard of Jewish law.

What he says, you've heard that the law that says

love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But then Jesus said,

but I say love your enemies. So no talk of insurrection,

no talk of liberation, no talk of revolution. What was

the problem with Jesus's message? Then, what was the problem

with Jesus's message?

Here it is.

Jesus message was a problem because Jesus' message was all

about Jesus.

Okay, it was all about Jesus.

Never once did he say put your trust in my

principles or my revolutionary notions. He instructed his followers to

trust in him, and that was a big problem.

And that's what.

Makes the rise of Christianity absolutely unexplainable except for what

we celebrate.

This weekend Easter.

One day, Jesus was with his disciples or at Cesarea Philippi,

and it was a place that was renamed after Caesar Augustus,

and he starts talking about.

Who do people say that I am? Who do people

say that the son of man is?

And Peter said this, Peter said, you are the Christ,

the son of the living God. Now Jesus didn't go whoha, wha,

wha what who whoa? Peter, don't get anxious here you've

gone a little too far. No, no, no, here's what

Jesus said. He said, you're right. Not only are you right, Peter,

but you didn't come up that on your own. God

told you that.

Now that's a problem for some. And here's the question.

Was Jesus talking or can he actually back it up? Well,

we see this story unfold where Jesus finds out.

That his very close friend Lazarus was very sick, and

his close friends Mary and Martha they sent word saying.

The one you love is sick. He's gonna die. It's

really bad.

And so his disciples say, all right, Jesus, let's go

see him. And then Jesus says, what and let's wait

a few days. And now this was a major problem.

You got to even wonder why they even put it

in scripture because it makes Jesus look bad. Okay, because

Jesus basically says, you know what, let's wait.

Till Mary and Martha's heart is absolutely crushed.

Let's wait until they experience the pain of this death,

and then I'll show up. And that's exactly what he did.

Lazarus dies, the family is devastated. Then Jesus shows up,

and man, when they see Jesus, they're not happy. They say, Lord,

if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

In other words, Jesus, you were late and you did not.

Answer our prayer.

Jesus, you're making it very difficult for us to believe

your message. And what Jesus does next is extraordinary. He

doesn't say, Martha, and Martha, let me explain to you

what life after death is like. He didn't say, Martha,

let me explain to you how the resurrection works. No,

what does he say. He looks at those women who

are grieving, and he says, I am the resurrection and

the life. The one who believes in me will live even.

If they die.

And so he basically says, you know what, I'm not

here just to tell you about it. I'm not here

to explain the resurrection. No, I am the resurrection in

a life.

And Jesus says this to them, and he says it

to us today.

He says, listen, everyone whoever exists, you have one major problem.

And here's that problem. You will die someday. There's not

a person in this room who will not pass away

and die someday.

And then Jesus says, I am the answer to that problem.

There is no other answer to that problem. I am

the answer to your biggest problem, and.

That is death.

And then guess what Jesus does, just to show them

that he is telling the truth. He walks up to

that tomb and he says, Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus,

who've been dead for a couple of days, comes out.

And when this resurrection happens, people's minds are blown. But

let me tell you what else happened. They did the

Jews were not happy with Jesus, and it was at

that moment that they decided that they are going.

To destroy him.

But see, it's in that moment that Jesus taught us

that hope isn't just theoretical. And I don't know about you,

but there's times where I need hope to be more

than theoretical. I need I need to see hope realized.

Early on, when I was first in youth ministry, we

were in the middle of a youth service. We had

done our prayers, we had had our games, we had

done our worship, and it was a good night, and

all of a sudden, busting through this side door is

a short, little middle aged mother. She comes in and

she's bawling, she's wringing her hands. And I knew this woman.

She was a very shy woman, very much a person

who would never want attention on herself. And when I

saw her, immediately my stomach dropped because I had three

of her kids in my youth group, and I knew

that their father had been really on his deathbed, needing

an organ transplant, and so when she bust into that

room cry and I thought, oh no, their dad just

passed away, and out of this small broken voice, she

cries out, he's got a owner. And all of a sudden,

those three boys, the sons, jump up and they run

out the room.

Their girlfriends follow them, you know, because it's youth ministry.

And then that night our youth service turned into a

prayer choir, and we just prayed and prayed and prayed.

I went down to Cincinnati that night, spent the night

with that family in the hospital, and we.

All woke to good news. Hope was realized. A new

life had begun. See, hope has been realized for all

of us as well. See, we all faced that problem

of death.

But because of Jesus, if we were in Christ, we

no longer have that problem because he is the resurrection

and the life, and we know that, and that's why

you are here today.

See again, not longer.

After, after Jesus resurrected Ladrius, human history faced its greatest problem.

Because remember what I said, After Jesus resurrected Lazarus.

They were like, we gotta stop this guy. His his

following is getting too big.

We got to destroy him before he uproots our whole

religious system. And so shortly after this, Jesus was killed

by crucifixion. Now here's something that you might not have

thought about before. But when Jesus died, the hope of

his followers died with him. See, when Jesus died, there

was no one at the cross going okay, all right, team,

let's get together.

We got to spread his teachings. No, no, that didn't

happen at all. And you know, when Jesus died, his

movement died with him. Why because he was the movement.

He was the message, he was the center.

It wasn't about his principles, his parables, or his ideas.

It was about Jesus.

And by the way, we've seen this over and over again,

when the leader dies, the movement dies. About one hundred

years before Christ came Spartacus, his great gladiator in Rome.

He rebelled against Rome, and seventy thousand people came to

him and he starts going all the way through Rome

and he is destroying Rome's army. And then one day

it all caught up with him and he was killed

in battle. After Spartacus died, someone else didn't take up

the leadership.

Spartacus movement died.

Same thing happened with Jesus when Jesus died, his movement died.

And think about this.

You know, three years of ministry, thousands of followers, massive influence,

and then he dies just like Spartacus. His followers scattered,

they ran, they hid, and they lost hope. What the

Bible say. Then all the disciples left him and fled.

When Jesus died, the movement died with him. All right,

So why are we here today two thousand years later?

Why is a third of the world followed Jesus. Well,

Easter solves this mystery. And here's how it unfolded. After

Jesus is crucified. Let's look at what happened. Okay, it

says now on the first day of the week, Mary

Magdalene came to the tomb early while it's still dark,

and she saw that the stone had been taken away

from the tomb, and so she ran and went to

Simon Peter and the other disciple, the other disciples John

and said to them, they have taken the Lord out

of the tomb, and we do not know where they've

laid him.

Now, pay attention, why is this important? Because she didn't

go to the disciples saying Christ has risen. No, there

is no one stating by the tomb going ten nine

eight seven. No, no celebration. He's gone.

See when he died, they thought he was gonna stay dead.

So when the women went to the empty tomb, they

did not assume a resurrection. They assumed somebody stole the body.

And that explains why the men responded this way, he says.

But there words seemed like an idol. Tell they did

not believe them. They said, something's alf how can they

move that stone? And so Peter went out with the

other disciple, John, Both of them were running together, but the.

Other disciple out ramp here. So John's ahead of him.

Reached the tomb first, and stooping to look in, he

saw the linen cloths lying there.

But check it out.

This shows you again the credibility of scripture.

He didn't go in. Why didn't he go in? Because

John was a little bit freaked out.

And then Simon Peter came following him, and Simon went

in first, and he saw the linen cloths lying there,

And finally John gets up his courage, it says.

Then the other disciple toald about John, who had reached

the tombe first.

Also went in and checked this out and he saw

and believed. Here's the guy that spent three years with

Jesus Christ. Okay, and finally he believes it wasn't his teaching,

his miracles, or his crucifixion, but.

It was the empty tomb. And after that they start

spreading the message of Jesus.

And remember, this is a group of guys. This is

a group of guys who believe he was dead. This

was a group of guys who scattered. Peter who went

around said no, no, I didn't know him. Peter denied him.

The disciples all right away in head they were scared

to death.

What changed?

What made them go out and start preaching the gospel?

Because they saw the living Christ. They saw the resurrected Christ.

And here's these guys who were scared of their own shadow.

A few days later, they stand before all the powers

to be and they.

Preach a four point message. Okay, here it is you

killed him, God raised him. We have seen him alive.

Now repent, that's bold. What's the difference? They saw the

living Christ, so we asked, it isn't today. How does

the resurrection of Jesus Christ solve history's greatest mystery?

How did the Church survive? How did this movement begin?

How did the Church survive the first, second, third, fourth,

and fifth and sixth century? In one word, Jesus, the

resurrected Christ see the Resurrected Christ not only solves history's

greatest mystery, but more importantly, it punctuates the point of

the crucifixion. The whole point of the crucifixion is simply this,

so your sins could be forgiven. If you're here today

and you're a follower of Christ, it is because Christ

took upon your shame and your sin on the cross.

So what does this mean? Christ did not die in vain.

It also means that when Jesus says that I am

the resurrection and Life, it means that there is life

after death. See Jesus resurrection only change history, but it

also changed the future. All of us have hope, all

of us have a future because our greatest problem, which

is death, Christ overcame. And there's nothing like watching a

future change.

You know, if you would have came to me a

year ago.

On Easter Weekend, and if you'd have looked at me

and said, hey, by this time next year, your daughter

will be at celebrate recovery every Tuesday night. She'll be

helping volunteer on Thursday night with childcare. She'll be a

little Buddy on Sunday morning, helping kids with unique issues

or challenges. And she'll be in the young adult class

every Sunday, all the while going to Anderson University. If

you'd have told me that this past fall, after studying

the Gospels and being able to ask questions to her professor,

that she would have gave her life to Jesus, I

would have told you that's too.

Much, that's too far out.

It would have been unbelievable. Why Because I had watched

her for years. She wanted nothing to do with Christianity.

She has had years, or matter of fact, for days

and months and years of darkness. She didn't believe that

Jesus was God.

What on earth?

What on earth would need to happen.

To transform her life? And let me tell you something.

It was the power of the resurrection, You and this church.

I've asked you many times to pray for my daughter.

You pray for my daughter. A few months ago, she

gave her life to Christ.

And let me tell you something.

She's different, our household is different. And let me tell

you our future is different. There are some of you

here today, Amen, there are some of you here that

don't have hope in future. But let me tell you something.

Christ can change your future. You see, Christ changes everything.

He's still in the miracle business. He's still resurrecting hope

and hopeless situations. He's still bringing light into darkness. He

is still our hope, our God, our savior, our king,

our creator, and a sustainer of the universe. All things

are possible. Why because of Jesus And why are we

here today. It's not because it's teaching tradition or because

it's a holiday. We're here because of the resurrection of

Jesus Christ, and because the resurrection is true.

Here's what we know.

Your past does not define you, Your sin does not

condemn you.

Your future is not finished.

There is hope when the doctor says it's terminal. Okay,

There's hope when you think that your marriage is over.

There's hope when your.

Minds it starts racing in it won't stop.

Why Because Jesus not only gives us life after death,

but he gives us new life. Here we have hope

because of Jesus Christ. So here's how we close today.

Everything in our life rises and falls on two questions.

Do you believe that Jesus walked out of that grave

or not? And secondly, what are you going to do

with him? And here's what I want to do today.

I want to give an opportunity for those who maybe

to come into a relationship with Christ, or there are

those in this room today who used to follow Christ

but you've walked away, or really you're in a situation

where you're just going through the motions and you've been

going through the motions for a long time. Today, I

want to invite you to start following Christ passionately again.

If you want to do that, pray that prayer with

me and begin these steps today. Let's pray.

Jesus. I come to you.

And I believe that you resurrected from the dead. I

believe that you were crucified for my sins.

I believe that you are God.

Will you please forgive me of my sins, forgive me

of my pride, forgive me for wanting to run my

own life. Today I hand my life over to you.

I want to follow you, and I want you to

my Lord and my God, lead me, guide me, save

me if you pray that prayer with me with all

the eyes closed in the room, can you just raise

your hand if you prayed that prayer with me. See

those hands, Amen, Amen, I see those hands. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

For those of you who have been following Christ. Today

is today we celebrate.

And so while we're in this posture of prayer, I

just want you to take a moment and praise God

for his resurrection. Number two, are there things today that

you need the power of their resurrection to take over

in your life? Is there something that you need to

hand off to God and say, God, I need you

to intervene and I need the power of the resurrection

to overtake the situation.

Let's go for the Lord now. Prayer h.

M hm hm m m hmmm.

Mm hmmmmmmmm.

For you today and humility, and we give you praise

for your goodness. Thank you Jesus for loving us, Thank

you Jesus for dying for us. Thank you Jesus for

your grace and your mercy Holy Spirit. We trust you

with these situations that just lift it up to you

now and for.

The rest of this day.

Lord, we want to honor you and we want to

give you praise as we continue to worship you today