Hope Of The World: Ressurection Sunday | Easter Sunday | Ps Ben Moir

Come [music] on, church. If you know the

goodness of God in this building, let's

make some noise for our risen King. If

you have a testimony of his goodness,

let [music] the person next to you know

because our God is not dead in a grave.

He is risen. So if you know that God,

make [music] some noise from him this

morning. If you know that God, let the

person next to you know cuz he is a good

God and he is risen.

[music]

Lord, we just thank you in this place.

We thank you, Lord, that you went to

that cross on that Friday,

that you [music] paid the debt that we

could not pay, setting us free from

death.

[music] And Lord, we worship you because

you raised again on that Sunday morning.

So God, we give you all the praise. We

give you all the honor. We give you all

the glory that is due unto [music] your

name.

We thank you, Lord. And in your mighty

name, all [music] the saints sent. Amen.

Come on, let's give our God a shout of

praise. [music]

Come on. Who is excited to be in the

house of the Lord this morning?

>> [music]

>> God is good and all the time so good.

Well, you can take a seat and as you're

[music] sitting down, turn to the person

next to you and say, "He is risen."

Welcome to church this morning. Welcome

to Resurrection Sunday. I'm so excited.

If you are a guest with us today, if

this is your first time, come. Let's

make some noise for all the guests in

the building today. We are so excited

that you are here with us. Uh my name is

Ben and I get the privilege of serving

as uh one of the associate pastors here

at Elevation Church. But this morning I

get the honor of sharing the word of God

on this holy Easter morning. So if you

got your Bibles, let's turn to one Peter

1. And if you don't have your Bible,

there's going to be a mega Bible on the

screen behind me. So let's go to verse

three.

Blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ. According to his

great mercy, he has caused us to be born

again to a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

dead.

I don't know what you've walked in with

today. I don't know what your life has

looked like. I don't know what your week

or even your last night has looked like.

But what I do know is that every person

needs some hope.

that we can we we can live a long time

without water, without food, even

without air. Some people try to make it

a hobby to see how long they can hold

their breath. But we can't live a second

without hope. Despite what's going on in

the world,

we can look at the world and wonder

what's going on. talks of war,

increasing cost of living, random

addresses on a Wednesday night,

whatever it is, we need hope. And there

is a hope. This morning, I've come to

let you know that there is a hope

available to you. And his name is Jesus

Christ. He is the hope available to you.

So that's what I want to talk about this

morning. And the title of my message is

this, hope of the world. Let's pray.

Lord, I just thank you. Lord, I just

pray over this message this morning that

as I preach, I pray it's your words, not

mine. You tell me what to say. Stop what

needs to be stopped. Translate that

which needs to be translated.

That nothing falls upon deaf ears, Lord.

That your your word pierces hearts this

morning. Open our eyes to see, ears to

hear.

Speak for your servants are listening.

And everyone said, "Amen."

I feel like we've all walked into

situations before where we've expected

one thing, but we've received another.

Like we went to an engagement party, but

bait and switch, it was the wedding, and

you know, you're severely underdressed,

and you're like, "Why am I here?"

or you've been invited to a black and

white party, didn't quite get the memo

and you walked in with your brightest

red jeans. It's not a personal story. Um

or maybe you've been wanting that one

gift. You know, you're you're you're 10

years old and all you want is that one

gift. I know I I always love

PlayStation. I just wanted a

PlayStation. And it gets to that that

Christmas morning and you're opening the

wrapper and you see those words,

PlayStation. You're like, "This is

amazing." You're opening it, you're

like, "Yes, mom. Thank you so much." You

open the box and out falls all the books

that she bought you. You're like,

"Thanks, Mom."

Or maybe

you were at your grandma's house and you

were looking around in some random

closets and you found this cookie tin

and you're like, "Woohoo!

I am so excited. I'm by myself and I got

a tin of cookies." And then you open it

and what do you find?

Grandma, grandma, grandma, what are you

doing to me? I was even talking to

someone yesterday about this and they

said, "I actually don't even believe

that they ever sold cookies in this

tin."

I I believe it was always sewing

equipment. Right? And we can laugh about

these moments that sometimes we're

expecting one thing and just we we

receive something else. But there are

times in our lives, if we're honest with

ourselves, that this becomes a bit of

our life story. We're expecting one

thing and we receive another. We we we

live healthy per uh healthy active

lives. We we don't drink. We we don't

smoke. We do all the right things. But

then in one moment your life changes

because you're given a lifealtering

medical diagnosis. Or maybe you've, you

know, you've worked hard at that job,

that career, you've believed for that

promotion only to be looked over time

and time again and now made redundant.

Or maybe you've saved. You've done what

everyone's told you to do. You bought

the house. You invested. You did all the

right things. And now you're facing

financial emergency. And you can look at

your situation. You can look at your

life and go, "Well, what what have I

done wrong? What's the point of this? Is

if every time I try and do something,

it's like one step forward, 10 steps

back." And we can look at our lives, we

can look at our situations, and we can

ask the questions, "What's the point?

Why me? And we can end up feeling

nothing but hopeless

and we just God.

Why is this happening? And I wonder if

that's how the disciples felt on that

Saturday 2,000 years ago between Friday,

the death of Jesus, and Sunday, the

resurrection. And and if you're

unfamiliar with the Easter story, the

the reason that we celebrate Easter is

because that our God Jesus, he came down

from heaven onto earth. He put on flesh.

He lived a perfect life and then one

day, one Friday was beaten, was bruised,

was broken, was murdered, killed, and

crucified upon the cross.

But then after three days on the Sunday,

he rose again. He is alive. He He came

back from the dead. The tomb is now

empty. And this is why we celebrate

Easter. But maybe you're wondering,

well, if the end goal was him to be

alive, why did he even have to die in

the first place? And it talks about it

in Romans 3:23.

Romans 3:23

It says, "For everyone has sinned, we

all fall short of God's glorious

standard." See, God is is perfect. God

is good. God is just a holy God. But

because we have sinned, we actually

can't step into his presence.

And because of our sin, we've actually

broken our relationship with him. We are

now separated beings from our God. Ever

since the the Garden of Eden, when Adam

and Eve ate that fruit, creation,

humanity was separated

from our God. But then in verse 24, it

says this, "Yet

yet God in his grace freely makes us

right in his sight. He did this through

Christ Jesus when he freed us from the

penalty of our sins."

Why did Jesus die? So we did not have to

pay the debt of death because of our

sin. But now because of Jesus dying on

the cross, we can now step back into

relationship with our God. Ever since

Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, God has

been working a plan to restore and renew

his relationship with you. Not all of

creation as a whole, but you personally

individually.

If you're here in this room and you're

wondering why me, God loves you so much

and he wants a relationship with you

this morning. And this is why we

celebrate. Because it's not our own

works. It's God's power that draws us

in. It's not our works. We can't bring

anything good to the table. We can't

through our own good works be like,

"Well, I've kind of been a good person,

so I'm going to go to heaven." Right?

That's not how it works. And it reminds

me of this of a couple of months ago uh

where me and my family were packing our

car getting ready to uh go on an

adventure that day and we're going to be

late home uh home late that night,

right? And as we were packing the car, I

was packing the the boot. I just hear

the door close and my son at the time, 5

years old, comes over and goes, "Dad,

I've locked the house."

To which I was like, "Awesome. Hold on a

second. Where are the keys?"

Still inside.

And I'm like, "I'm so thankful that you

wanted to do this." Cuz he's like,

"Yeah, I locked it to keep the bad guys

out." I'm like, "Enough TV." But

at the same time, I was like, "Oh my

goodness, how do I get back in the

house?" because we were coming home

late. I'm like, I'm not dealing with

this at 10 p.m. at night. I'm dealing

with this now. Thankfully, we're in our

garage. So, I got out every tool, being

the man of the h man of the house, got

every tool possible out, and I went to

work at this door to no avail. And I

could not get back in. So, I was like,

"Okay." I walked out of the house, tried

to check every every other door. Nothing

was open except for one window that was

only about this far open. And I'm like,

"Well, I'm not even going to bother

trying to climb to the second story cuz

I ain't fitting in that."

And I came back and I'm still trying to

open the door. And my wife is just like,

"Call a locksmith." And I was like, "No,

I'm the man of the house. I got this."

But this is what it's like when we try

and bring our good works to God to get

into heaven. It's just never going to

work. And Jesus is over the side just

like, "Get a locksmith.

and his name is Jesus. How good is that?

He has the keys to our eternity. He has

the keys to heaven and he's ready and he

wants to call you home this morning.

It's not our works. It's his grace and

his mercy. This is why we celebrate

Easter. And if you don't know Jesus or

maybe have never truly made a decision

to follow Jesus, at the end of the

message, I do want to give you an

opportunity to respond. But we know

because we we know that Jesus rose

again. We know the tomb is empty. We

know that Sunday came. But on that

Sunday, on that Saturday, 2,000 years

ago, the disciples didn't.

And I just wonder what what they would

have been going through, what they would

have been feeling, the hopelessness,

the man that they put all of their trust

into, all of their faith into now dead.

See, like Jesus had a huge following,

but these 12 disciples,

they followed him for years. They they

they walked with him. They talked with

him. They learned from him. They they

even saw all of the miracles that he

performed with their very own eyes. And

because of this, they knew who he was.

See, in Matthew 16, Peter declares him

as the Christ. He declares him as the

Messiah, the chosen one that was sent to

save humanity. And in Matthew 14, while

on a boat, all of the disciples say,

"You are God. You are the son of God."

So, they knew that he wasn't just an

ordinary man. They knew that there was

something special about him. They knew

he was the Messiah. They knew that he

was the chosen one. They knew he was

God. But what they didn't know is that

he had to die in order for all of this

to come to pass.

And on that Saturday,

they knew that this man was God, but now

he's dead

in a tomb, in a rich man's tomb. And I

just wonder what kind of hopelessness

they would have been feeling.

Just what do we do now?

What's next?

Like, is there something else? Is there

another guy going to come along?

And my question for us this morning is

this morning, do you feel hopeless?

Maybe you're faced with a situation

that's just not changing. You're

carrying a weight that you just don't

know what to do with. You're hiding pain

that no one knows about. Your heart is

breaking

for something you can't stop.

You're looking for a way out. You're

searching for something else.

But there just doesn't seem to be a way.

And this is where Jesus comes in because

on on that Saturday, the disciples

didn't know that Sunday was coming. But

we know that Sunday has already come. We

know that Jesus is not dead. We know

that Jesus is alive. We know that Jesus

is not in a tomb. He is risen and he is

in heaven

victorious. He is alive. And because he

is alive,

there is a hope available to us today. A

living hope, as it says in one Peter, a

living hope is a hope that is anchored

on a living God. Because ordinary

regular hope is just an expectation or a

or or an or a thought that maybe in the

future something positive might happen.

But this is based on our own uh our own

works, our own skills, our own thoughts,

maybe even what your belief is in

someone else. But see, a living hope,

this pure hope, this holy hope, this

sure hope that is available to you this

morning is not based on some future

possibility. No, it is based upon a past

and present reality that our God is

alive. That is what it is based off.

Because he has risen, there is hope

available to you today. And that is the

living hope

that is available and ready for you to

step into this morning.

So as we come to a close, I want to talk

about what this living hope looks like

in your life. So as we go through one

Peter, we see all these ways and all

these uh evidences of what this living

hope looks like. But there's two things

I want to focus on this morning. Number

one, we are born again. It says in verse

three, "Blessed be the God and father of

our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his

great mercy, he has caused us to be born

again to a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

dead." Like this is not a physical

rebirth, right? There was even a guy in

one of the gospels that when Jesus

talked about being born again, he was

like, "How do I be born again? I can't

like go back into my mom and come out

again." And Jesus is like, "No, we don't

do that. It's not a physical rebirth.

It's a spiritual one. It's a spiritual

rebirth when the Holy Spirit comes into

our lives and changes us, transforms us

from the inside out. This moment that we

are born again is the moment of our

salvation. The moment that we say

goodbye to our old life and say hello to

our new life. That our old life is over

and we get to step into resurrection

life, new life, a new beginning. Just

like Jesus Jesus when he rose from the

grave, when we step into new life, that

is what we are doing. And that is why we

have baptisms on Easter Sunday. Come on.

Who's excited for baptisms this morning?

Because baptisms, it represents and it

and it it shows this this moment of new

birth, this moment of a new beginning,

saying goodbye to our old life and

saying hello to the new life, the life

and the hope that we can find in Jesus

Christ.

And it's also looking forward to a

future hope to a future time where God

and Jesus will he will come back and he

will create a new his creation. He will

transform h all of creation. There will

be no more sickness. There will be no

more sorrow. There will be no more pain.

There will no be no more crying. There

will be no more death. Nothing. It will

all of creation will be made perfect.

But we don't have to wait until a future

time for that to happen. We can step

into this new life today, this new birth

today. It is available to you this

morning because one moment in the

presence of God can change your life. He

can take away that pain this morning. He

can take away that sorrow this morning.

He can take away your your your

suffering this morning. He can take away

your hopelessness this morning because

that is what he achieves on the cross.

So when we step into a living hope, we

get to be born again.

And the second thing we see in one Peter

is that we receive an inexpressable joy.

In verse eight, it says, "Though you

have seen him, though you have not seen

him, you love him. Though you did not

now see him,

you believe in him and rejoice with joy

that is inexpressable and filled with

glory.

As the band come, there is this there is

this notion that if we step and when we

say yes to Jesus that our life becomes

perfect.

But what we see in scripture is that is

just not the case. We still go through

the same trials. We still go through the

same struggles. We still go through the

same troubles. But the difference is

when we're filled with a living hope and

we're filled with an inexpressable joy,

we can walk into our situations.

We can walk into our situations with a

strength and an assurance that our God

is greater. We can step into those

moments, those circumstances, knowing

that our God is bigger, that our God is

stronger. Doesn't matter what the world

may look like. My God is the same

yesterday, today, and forever more.

So that's what ava that is available to

you this morning.

Maybe you walked in here. I don't know

what your your Saturday night looked

like.

I don't know what your week, your your

year has looked like.

But we don't need to stay on [music]

Saturday.

We don't need to stay on that day

wondering what's next.

And Tim Keller,

he puts it [music] the best, I think,

when he says these words.

If Jesus Christ was actually raised from

[music] the dead, if he really got up,

walked out, was seen by hundreds of

people, talked to them, if he was raised

from the dead, then you know what?

[music]

Everything is going to be all right.

Whatever you're worried about right now,

whatever you're afraid of, everything is

going to be [music] okay.

And I came here this morning to tell you

one thing, friend, that our God is not

dead in a grave. Our God is not hanging

on a cross. He is not like other gods

dead. No, our God is alive this morning.

And because he [music] is alive and

because of the cross, he has defeated

sin. He has defeated death. He has

defeated the grave. He has defeated your

hopelessness. He has defeated [music]

your depression, your anxiety, your

situation, your circumstance, whatever

you are going through, our God [music]

is king over it all.

So friend,

on this Sunday morning, the tomb is

empty. And because the tomb is empty, he

is the hope of the world.

So I don't know [music] what you what

your walk looks like. I don't know if

you've ever made a decision to follow

Jesus. [music]

Maybe you have in the past,

but today

it's time to to [music] respond to

Jesus. Today it's time to say yes to

Jesus cuz he is calling your name this

morning. He's not calling the name

Elevation Church. He's calling your

name. Your name individually.

He knew you before you were even in your

mother's

womb.

Before you were even conceived,

he knew you.

And friend, he is calling your name this

morning. He is calling you home this

morning [music] into a new life, into a

new beginning. And he is calling you

that into a hope that is living, that is

redeeming and available. All you need to

[music] do is respond.

Cuz we are sinners separated from our

God, but he died [music] and he rose

again. That is our hope that we get to

hold on to this morning.

So, in a [music] moment, if that's you,

I'm going to give you an opportunity to

say yes, an opportunity to [music]

respond. So, with eyes closed across the

room,

friend, he's [music] calling you. He's

calling your name.

I don't know what you're going through,

but he does. And he has a hope available

for you this morning.

So if that's you, if you want to say yes

to Jesus this morning, if you want to

respond to Jesus today, on the count of

three, I'm going to ask you to boldly,

boldly raise your hand. Cuz one,

he loves you so much that he [music]

sent his son to die for you. Two,

Jesus walked to the cross for the hope

that was set before him. And that hope

was you. So if that's you in the room

this morning, if you need that hope, if

you want to say yes to Jesus, three,

raise your hand right now. If that's you

in this room, just lift it up high so we

can see if there's anyone in this room

that wants to respond and say yes to

[music] Jesus. This morning

we had four amazing people in our first

service respond. And I just feel like

there are a few [music] people in this

room wrestling. You're wrestling. You're

like, I I I believe, but do I need to

raise my hand? Well, no. You don't need

to raise your hand.

But I encourage you, raise your hand

boldly right now because yeah, I see

that hand come off. So good. And I feel

like there's a few others here in this

room. Come on, let's celebrate [music]

with these people that are making this

decision. This is the best decision that

you can make

cuz we want to know who we're praying

with, who we're believing for, and who

we're walking alongside [music]

cuz we do do this journey together.

So, if there's anyone else that wants to

join this amazing person that has

[music] responded to Jesus this morning,

Just lift your [music] hand up.

But church, right now, we're going to

say this prayer together. We're going to

say this prayer because we are a church

that does life together. So, repeat

after me. Jesus, I give you my life. I

give you my all. Thank you for dying on

the cross. Thank you for this living

hope that I now receive. I declare you

Lord and Savior.