Origins of Easter - April 6, 2025

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

So last time I gave a sermon, I committed the ultimate offense of a speaker

to commit. I went past noon.

I know the audacity of me.

Well, today I give the tech guys permission to use the stop sign once it hits noon.

But I was thinking I'm gonna have a stage name you guys okay you want to hear it.

One who is long-winded but then

that could be taken the wrong kind of wind so I'm still working on it but we'll

we'll think on it a little bit more but at least for the sake of the nursery

workers I hope that I'm not a two-time offender of going past the time today

I want to focus on the origins of Easter.

The next few weeks, you will be hearing of Jesus and his triumphal entry into

Jerusalem and everyone shouting, Hosanna!

Hosanna! Save us! To the excruciating experience Christ suffers through on the

cross, causing his demise.

But the best you'll hear of is his victory over death three days later. Oh, yes.

His resurrection, the foundation of salvation.

Hallelujah. That is great news. But where did the customs for these holidays come from?

Why are there bunnies everywhere in the stores?

And why are all my delicious candies shaped like an egg right now.

I don't understand what is going on.

So let us open up our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 17 through 19.

Ephesians 4:17–19

Ephesians chapter 4. And I will ask you to stand as we read God's word together.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Verse 17 through 19. I'm reading out of the NIV Bible.

And so I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as Gentiles do.

In the fertility of their thinking, they are darkened in their understanding

and separated from the life of God.

Because of their ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts,

having lost all sensitivity,

they have given themselves over to sensuality, so as to indulging in every kind

of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Let's honor God and pray together over the scripture.

It is such a blessing to be here today, to have this opportunity to meditate

on your word, Father God, I ask, Lord,

that during this sermon we reflect on our own lives and the way we worship you, our Heavenly Father.

Show us how to intentionally worship. We ask you, our mighty and wondrous God,

to give us revelation and understanding of who you are, and that we are empowered

through the Holy Spirit to live holy,

sanctified lives, because it is according to your will, Father.

Lord Jesus, help guide our every step so that we never have to do it on our own.

Thank you, Lord, in Jesus's precious name. Amen. You may be seated.

This sermon has three parts to it, beginning with before Christ.

The Lord God never wanted his children to walk in the ways of the pagans.

They were to be set apart, anointed and sanctified by him and his commands.

Things were going great. The Lord is blessing them.

They're giving their worship and praises to him. They are conquering other nations

and taking over their cities.

And God is very pleased with the Israelites and gives them very specific instructions

on how to handle the pagans' worship places.

Destroy completely all places on high mountains, on hills, under every spreading

tree where the nations you are disposing worshiping their gods.

Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and burn their ashtrapols in the fire.

Cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

God warns Israel not to worship the way of pagans or to worship their pagan gods.

You must not worship the Lord your God in their way because in worshiping their

gods, they do all kind of detestable things the Lord hates.

They have even burned their sons and daughters in the fires as sacrifices to their gods.

See that you do all I command you. Do not add to it or take away.

Deuteronomy 12, 31 through 32.

All is good for a time, and then it happens. They start to investigate the temples.

This is like the 10th one we've tore down. I'm going to kind of investigate

what's going on here, and the holy places that they were supposed to destroy.

And they want to know how the pagans worship their gods.

It starts off just small, and it's a small little clay idol.

I won't smash this one. It's kind of pretty.

I'll keep it for myself. But then it progresses into, well, it's not a big deal.

I'll add a few prayers to Baal alongside the worship of our Lord God.

That way, I'll increase my prosperity. That'll do it.

The little things start adding up. Soon the land was filled with idols and false gods.

The nation that turns away from God always turns to other gods.

In doing what was detestable to the Lord, they invoked him to anger.

I warned you. I did. Fine.

You want to worship their gods and be like them? I shall remove my hand and

I shall give you over to them.

Which, guess what? It always results in disaster.

Throughout all the Old Testament, the Israelites do not heed God nor his prophets' warnings.

Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

They served the Baals and Ashtoreths from Judges 10.6.

It becomes a very redundant pattern of disobedience and repentance.

I'm so glad our Father has the patience and mercy that He does.

With how many times this pattern happens, it's a lot.

It's the whole Old Testament. This is the pattern.

But still today, we do the same pattern.

My goodness. Thank you, Lord. Oh, my goodness. I love you so much.

The nation that turns from God will always turn to other gods.

The reason is actually very simple.

When God is removed, the need to worship him still remains. That's from Jonathan Kan.

What are you choosing to put before God in your life? What's your worship and energy going to?

Those are really good questions to ponder.

So the second part, after Christ's resurrection, this is truly my favorite part of this whole study.

Praise God! What a wonderful thing that Christ lives! Amen! Oh, we love him so.

Now the early church is getting started. Up to this point, Christ has focused

on ministering to the Jewish people, telling them he was the Messiah they had been waiting for.

He was there to fulfill the law.

Now, a fantastic thing is about to happen. Salvation was going into the Gentiles and all the world.

Many believers are from the grafting on of the wild olive shoot,

the Gentiles, us, to the olive tree root, the Israelites.

It wasn't until after Jesus' resurrection that he appeared to the disciples

and instructs them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

The disciples went out proclaiming the good news and baptizing those that believed. How awesome is that?

That is our salvation going on. So now we're to the point where Jesus gave the

greatest commission to the disciples and the Holy Spirit, or helper as Christ called him,

was now dwelling in the Christians and guiding them.

I searched for the ways the early Christians in church celebrated Easter or

Christ's resurrection.

I couldn't find how they celebrated Easter, for Christians at least,

but what I did find, the early Christians emphasized the Passover lamb and Christ's crucifixion.

They celebrated the Passover festival and the day of resurrection,

which was known as the day of first fruits.

We as Gentiles being grafted onto the olive root through Christ are not commanded

to become Jewish people,

but it is very wise to become familiar with the celebrations and festivals our

Father God has deemed holy and good.

The Passover began on the eve of escaping Egypt in Exodus.

The Jews were commanded to sacrifice a perfect lamb, spread the blood of the

animal over the doorpost so that the judgment of God would pass over their house.

Here's the fulfillment in Christ of this celebration.

The Passover prefigured the death of Christ as our sacrificial perfect lamb.

Day of the first fruits was the first day of the week after Passover.

Commemorating the offering of the first harvest to God.

Here's the fulfillment in Christ of this celebration.

Paul writes that Jesus's resurrection was the first fruits of those who would

be resurrected through Christ's resurrection served as the first fruits of all

believers who would be raised in Christ Jesus.

The timeline of these celebrations just seems so spot on and are exactly what

the Lord had commanded us to do in remembrance of him.

So, what changed?

Why did we stop partaking in these festivals that the Lord gave us?

I don't know. Oh, the people in charge. That's what changed.

Now I introduce you to number two.

The Roman Empire enters in. At first, Rome was against Christianity 100%,

did not like Christians.

They persecuted Christians resentlessly, massacring them and making sport out

of torturing believers and killing them for their games.

Christianity was viewed as a threat to the established order, and rightly so.

They very well should feel threatened.

Jesus was a rebel. He was challenging established norms and disregarding man-made rules.

He was against the organized religious leaders, saying they were like whitewashed

tombs, outwardly appearing and beautiful, but inward full of dead men's bones and unclean,

uncleanliness and symbolizing their hypocrisy and lack of true righteousness.

A people that were bold and empowered by the Holy Spirit would be a scary thing to the establishment.

Christians know that our Heavenly Father held power and authority.

Feared the Almighty God rather than mere human mortals puffed up with self-importance

and the illusion of power and control.

Pretty much, this was a group of people that the powers that be could no longer control.

So, well, if you can't beat them, join them, right?

Well, at least that's what Constantine did.

Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity took place in 312 AD.

Granting religious freedom to all in 313 AD.

This is a really good thing, it seems.

There's no longer a fear of the newfound religion.

Rome is starting to understand Christ and his salvation plan for the whole world.

That is, until the Roman Empire hijacked the whole Christian movement and made its own.

If you can't beat them, join them and take back control.

In an attempt to push the expansion of Christianity,

Constantine practiced incorporating pagan festivals into Christianity to make

it more acceptable and familiar to the heathen worshipers, right? Isn't that cool?

Oh my goodness. See that you do all I command you.

Do not add to it or take away from it. Deuteronomy 12, 32.

We just talked about this. They watered down the gospel.

Oh, it just makes me cringe. It's not good. This is called syncretism.

It is the practice of combining different beliefs.

It involves merging and assimilating different religious beliefs.

The Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, they address theological disputes within the

Christian church and to decide on a unified doctrine.

Which is good, but man, I wish there were more early church believers at that

council that were a part of it.

But Pastor Quincy, we're Nazarenes. We're not Catholic.

How does this affect us? Or we're just not a denomination at all. Why should I care?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Because the Nazarene's Council of Nicaea resulted in the Nicaean Creed,

which the Nazarene Church still affirms today.

That isn't a bad thing. It's not. The Creed emphasizes the Trinity.

God is one being in three persons, yes, and the divinity of Christ.

Those are good things. It's just to say Rome had an influence to our denomination as well as others.

And for the rest of the world, the Roman Empire influences us through our calendars,

choosing what holidays shall be celebrated, when they will be held,

and even going as far as adding a few months and changing two of the names to

an emperor and his nephew.

How fun keeping it in the family. The Romans were pagans before conversion in the fourth century.

They used syncretism and took holidays that they were already celebrating and

slapped a Christian name on them onto the festivals.

This was to ensure greater assimilation with the up-and-coming Christian narratives

and movement that are going on in the empire at that time.

They simply mixed paganism with Christianity, creating a completely false belief

and that had false worship of our Messiah.

All ancient pagan religions and occult practices today stem from Babylon.

Oh, we've all heard of that.

The first one-world religion.

Let me assure you, this isn't an attack on Catholics.

Many are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But I will say, Catholicism, the closer you reach to the top into who's in control.

It's steeped in occult practices. It's not good.

Let me read the excerpt from this book titled The Externals of the Catholic Church.

It's interesting to note how often our church has availed herself of practices

which were in common among pagans.

Thus, it is true in a certain sense that some Catholic rites of ceremonies are

a reproduction of those pagan creeds,

but they are the taking of what was best from paganism,

the keeping of symbolic practices which expresses the religious instinct common to all races and times.

This was a Catholic priest, John F.

Sullivan. So he was involved in it, and he says it did involve paganism.

Now, I'd like to show you a video that explains a pagan celebration and ritual.

This video will make it very clear why God hates pagan worship. He uses the word hate.

All right, Go ahead and run the video. It goes all the way back to the great-grandson

of Noah, Nimrod, who was a great hunter on the earth, and when he died,

he was deified, and he became the sun god. He was the very first sun god.

His name was called Baal.

His wife, Semiramis, also died, and she went to heaven,

but Baal wasn't ready for her, So they sent her back down in a giant egg because

ancients believed that eggs were a fertility and the whole earth was actually born out of an egg.

And the egg hit the Euphrates River, broke open.

And the very first thing that she did was she turned a bird into an egg-laying rabbit.

And there's where you get the rabbit and the eggs.

And they, every year on the first Sunday after the spring equinox,

on a sunrise service at dawn,

the priest of Ishtar would impregnate virgins on the altar at the same time,

slaughtering and sacrificing the three-month-old babies from a year before and

dipping the eggs of Ishtar in the blood of those newborn infants.

And I know that is disgusting, but it's important for you to know how and why

God hates the gods of Baal worship.

Is because it is the antithesis of the love that he has when Yeshua said,

let the little children come to me.

You have Baal, the sun god, and you have his wife, Ishtar.

In English, the anglicization of Ishtar, or Astarte, or Ashtaroth,

as you see in the Bible, is Easter.

We have a whole teaching on that called Truth of Tradition. If you haven't seen

it, I encourage you to take a look at it.

But that goes into an hour and 50 minutes detail on that subject.

But to stick with this, the reason why I go through that story real quick is

so that you understand there is a battle in the heavenly realms.

How many know those scriptures are true when it says that we do not fight against flesh and blood?

We fight against principalities and powers of this present darkness.

So you got to follow the breadcrumbs of the enemy. And that's going to tell

you how he's going to show up at the end of time.

Didn't he always say, just like it was in the days of Noah.

So we better go back and find out what it was in the days of Noah.

Because back in the days of Noah, this is what we find.

We find this crescent moon and we find the sun.

Last but not least. That just makes my heart sink just to hear what they did.

It literally makes you sick to your stomach.

I'm actually going to start crying because it's just terrible.

The atrocities that these worships of Baal would commit to their own babies.

And just like we talked about at the beginning, God's people were sucked into

this culture, this pagan worship.

Well, at least we know where the bunnies and eggs came from.

So, does anyone want to guess how the day of.

The day that we pick for Easter to celebrate is determined.

Nope, it's not during Passover like the early church celebrated,

nor the day of first fruits.

That's right, the first Sunday after a full moon during the spring equinox,

during the Babylonian celebration of Ishtar,

a fertility sex goddess, a.k.a.

The queen of heaven. It was a celebration of her conception of Tammuz.

The world default of worship is the occult practices in the Babylonian religion.

Satan saw it worked. It really did work, and he never got rid of it.

After the Tower of Babel, the gods and goddesses just got different names because

God confused Babylon's languages, leading them to scatter through to different nations.

But it all goes back to Nimrod, Baal. We hear about Baal a lot in Old Testament.

And Semiramis, his wife, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, and her divine conception of Tammuz,

her child Tammuz, was also Nimrod incarnated.

It was just, it was all over the place.

So people had been looking for a promised savior since the beginning after the

fall of man, the one that would crush the serpent's head.

And Ishtar, the queen of heaven, And Ashtoreth convinces her followers that Tammuz was that savior.

Not even close. Not even close. Tammuz ends up getting killed by a wild boar at the age of 40.

And here's something really interesting. I knew about some of these facts when

I started to dive in deep.

This is really interesting. I learned while studying Lent is a Catholic rite.

It's a 40-day period of penance, prayer and reflection, preparing for the celebration of Easter.

Do you want to know where that comes from? Well, Lent was a command given by Ishtar.

The 40 days represents one day for each of her son's years lived.

40 days of no meat.

It's to be a time of meditation on the secret mysteries of Baal and Tammuz.

At the end of these 40 days, Ishtar proclaimed that the Babylonian followers

must eat a pig on that Sunday since Tammuz was killed by one.

Oh man, not the succulent ham too.

Oh my goodness. First the devil eggs, now the egg hunts, then the bunny.

My decor is all out the window now.

Satan has found a way to bring others into who don't know worship of our Messiah.

He brought these people in using tactics and calculated deceptiveness to get

more energy from people through false worship.

Yeah, we grew, but are we worshiping our one true God?

Oh, it's just, it's really infuriating to steal the worship and praises of our

Heavenly Father. It's insulting.

Church, let me tell you, the past week I have been so conflicted.

There has been a battle warring inside of me that's seeking truth,

possibly making people uncomfortable, or following the flesh,

going along with the majority of people, and not taking a stand against false idols in my life.

I've been feeling a conviction of this false worship.

It's the children's ministry that is distributing eggs out to you all for an egg hunt.

Talk about hypocritical. I have been going through it, guys.

All I can say is God is moving in big ways, and I come to you with these findings

to start this conversation.

Let's start this conversation. We're ready.

It has been a prayer. I'm going off script. Oh, no. It has been a prayer of mine.

Lord, show me what we need to start discussing in your time.

Some of these things we're not ready to talk about, but it's truth.

And we need to start talking about truth. We are in the end days, you guys.

My babies, my babies are going to be raised up in this. I want them to be as

close to our Lord and Savior as possible.

To not veer away in these false idols and false worship. No more false. We're done.

We're with truth. We're always with truth. Can I get an amen and just cheer

for God? Oh my goodness. Thank you, Lord. We need truth.

Oh, it is. It's scary times that we live in, but we have a magnificent God that

will help guide us through all this craziness and all this falsalities.

So, yeah, I have been going through it. And we may not do egg hunts. We have better ideas.

We are so creative nowadays, guys. We got Pinterest. I mean, come on. We can do this.

So i come to you with these findings to start

this conversation to search for truth in christ

jesus learning and growing in

truth is uncomfortable learning is uncomfortable if

somebody tells you that it's not they're not learning anything they are just

stuck in their ways it is uncomfortable divorcing oneself from the world is

very difficult it really is we have been a part of it for so long to try to

take away feels like we're chopping an arm off,

but we can take courage and continue on finding strength and peace and comfort.

Oh, he is such a consoler.

In our Lord and Savior. Thank you, Christ Messiah. Oh, he will never leave us.

Oh, yes, he's so good to us. So last part, a guide for the Gentiles and the Jews.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live in your lives in him, rooted

and built up in him strengthened in faith

as you were taught overflowing with

thankfulness see to it that

no one takes you captive through hollow deceptive philosophy which depends on

human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of the world rather than

christ oh that really hit good.

That was Colossians chapter 2, 6 through 8.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Ooh, that was, thank you, Lord. That was awesome.

So, our celebrating of Christ's resurrection and conquering of death is not meant to be once a year.

That's for the world. They can, they're like, whoa, yeah, Jesus,

one time I come to church and we're gone.

This is not supposed to be once a year. It's supposed to be every moment we

live as a new creation in Christ.

Every day we should be in reverence in what the Lord has done for us. It's amazing.

I think we've been surrounded by it so much we just become dull.

Stop. Let your heart not be hardened. Let it be open.

Let it be an open wound to the world because our Savior and our Lord and our

Father will protect it. But we need to have hearts, Lord.

Oh, his sacrifice and salvation planned through his death and resurrection,

redeeming us back to Father God and giving us eternal life.

Is the whole foundation of our faith, shall be rejoiced in constantly.

Not just every day, just constantly. Every time you're like, wow, I am saved.

That is insane just to think of that we have a relationship with the Creator God.

He hears everything that we say to Him. He communes with us.

I don't think you guys are understanding.

Traditions, a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on from

one generation to another,

it was unbelief and Egyptian traditions

that hindered the Israelites from entering into the promised land.

The generations that held on to Egypt in the past,

they had to pass away for Israel to be fully dedicated to God and were finally

ready for that promised land that God had promised them.

Don't follow in suit.

This is a warning for us. Don't miss out on the extraordinary blessings God

has in store for you. Don't miss out, you guys.

And I don't want our generations to die off to be ready for this.

We can learn new things and do this right now.

Now is the time. There is no later anymore. We can no longer just sit in the

pew and just go on with our life. We're in a fight right now.

He was talking about the spiritual battle that is going on.

I don't think the church understands that is true.

We're in a battle. We are warriors. We are joyful warriors, and we love life,

and we love people, but we are still in a battle.

So put on your full armor of God.

Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 against idolatry, emphasizing that

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

participating in pagan rituals, even indirectly, I don't really celebrate.

Kind of over to the side, it's still a form of fellowship with demons.

Incompatible with Christian faith. It's incompatible. It does not work. This isn't happening.

One of my dear loved ones says, you're not going to talk about the demonic stuff, are you?

Yes, I am. Because if you're not a part of Christ, you are part of the demonic.

You are part of Satan's kingdom. So we have to talk about the demonic.

This church is going to start talking about the things that,

oh, we don't want to talk about that because I can't really explain it. So it's okay.

Let go of control. Let go of control. Let God take lead. He knows what he's doing.

So we need to just follow in suit and learn how to worship him.

As the body of Christ, we must stay united in and under Christ the head,

under his instructions and commands to us.

Paul goes on in verses 31 and 33 of Corinthians chapter 10.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the Church of God,

even as I try to please everyone in every way.

Which we know that's not possible. You can't ever please everybody.

For I am not seeking my own good. I am not seeking my own good,

but the good of many so that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 10, 31, 33.

Israel had mixed, they mixed their worship of the holy one true God.

How much more holy can you get? And they still did it. They still mixed worship with Baal worship.

It's furiating. Just as we today mix our worship service with worship of false

gods and traditions of the world,

it's not up to me to convict you of your ways and choices.

That's not my job. That's the job of the Holy Spirit.

We must cast out our pride. This is our responsibility.

Cast out your pride. It's okay to be wrong. I'm wrong about a lot of things,

and I make mistakes every day.

Cast out your pride. Be like, Lord, I really need your help,

and crucify the flesh. The flesh is what has not gone to Christ yet.

The flesh is what's still holding on to the world, still holding on to tradition,

to step aside and let Christ take lead. This is the way it's supposed to be.

When you aren't consciously making choices or deliberately following Christ,

you will naturally go back to following the world.

Remember, church family, we, all of us, the church, are supposed to shape the culture.

When did this change? We're supposed to shape the culture. We're supposed to

be bold in Christ and do impossible, magnificent miracles through the Holy Spirit.

Why have we become so silent?

The culture should not shape us, but that's how it is right now.

People are wanting to be in the culture, and I show up to church, and I try.

The world should be wanting to break down our doors trying to get to know this

Christ Jesus, the only one that has defeated death.

He is the only one. He is the only way to the Father.

All that we do needs to be Christ-based. Listen to this. Actually,

write this down. I'm pretty happy with this jingle.

So, all that we do needs to be Christ-based, not tradition-laced.

Ew. No lacing of the traditions anymore.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used

to live when you followed the

ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit,

who is now, right now,

working in those who are disobedient.

The whole world. He's working in the whole world.

All of us also lived among them at one time. That is so true.

Some parts, I'm more comfortable with the world. It's taken a lot to be able

to come together as one body in Christ.

Sometimes it's more comfortable to just go back, but that's death.

That is death. It feels real nice for a little bit, but that is death.

And I don't want to be separated from God. I'm not doing that anymore.

So we have all lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh.

What we have not crucified to Christ yet is our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

Thoughts can be of the devil, you guys. No thought is of our own.

It is either angels trying to encourage us or demons trying to bring us down.

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. We truly were.

That's why it is so awesome, Christ Jesus. Oh, he is amazing.

This was Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.

Ephesians 2:1–3

Our way of thinking should be changed once we sincerely follow Christ,

the Messiah. We no longer worry of the things of this world.

Our mindset should be on what pleases God. What is God's will?

Our Heavenly Father is our priority, and it is Him who we seek to please.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outlined from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.