Shepherd. Savior. King. (Easter 2025)

Well, hello everybody.

Happy Easter to you.

Here at Real Life Church, we love celebrating this time of the year because it's an opportunity for us to tell the world that Jesus is alive.

God's Word says in Matthew 28 for us to go into all the world and make disciples.

We're so honored here at Real Life Church to have people literally from around the world, with so many cultures and nationalities, and you get to hear some of that right now as we tell the world in our own way.

Christ is risen, and in Hebrew it's Hamashiach Kam Letehe, and so if you're a first-time guest or if this is your church home, we all need to remember Christ is risen.

At this time of the year, we celebrate that Jesus came to this earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross and then rose again, because, for God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son that whoever, wherever, believe in him, they shall have eternal life.

We wish you a happy Easter from Real Life Church.

Come on church, let's celebrate.

That Isn't that amazing.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Well, good morning everybody.

Happy Easter to you.

Look at your neighbor and tell him real quick.

Tell him, say you look so purdy today.

Go and tell him you're purdy.

That's how we say where I come from.

Yeah, some of y'all makes you feel uncomfortable.

Yeah, handsome, whatever works, whatever works for you Now.

It is so good to see you today.

Welcome to Real Life Church and happy Easter everybody.

Happy Easter.

It is awesome that we get to celebrate that Jesus is alive.

Come on one more time.

Let's put our hands together and celebrate that.

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

It is so good, so good to worship the Lord together.

I want to do something, take care of one piece of business real quick before we just jump into God's word, and that is inside your worship guide.

When you came in today the bouncers or the worship guide, hand routers either way it works for you they would have handed you a worship guide and in that worship guide is this thing called our Easter Connect card.

And so if you have those real quick, I want you to wave them at me real fast, kind of obnoxiously, let me see.

Yeah, you're like oh, actually I had to pull that out.

Yeah, absolutely, if you were to have snuck by those people, we got you covered and you can scan that QR code and at some point during the service.

We would love for you to fill this out, and the reason why we do this is because Easter is the one time a year when everybody shows up on the same day, and, since you do, we want to make the most of it, and so it's just an opportunity for us to pastor you and letting us know if anything has changed in your life over the past year.

If this is your first time with us, we would love for you to fill that out so we can just send you a thank you for being with us today.

And then also, on the back of it, there is something that we call a spiritual survey that we take at the end of the service together, we all do together, and when the service is over with, we will have some folks with baskets at every double door exit for you, so you can turn those back in.

Okay, all right.

Well, once again, we are so excited to celebrate this time of the year and, yes, we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every day, but especially on this day, we just take it to a whole new level that God is good, just trying to see what kind of relationship we're going to have today.

How many people is going to be mad at me before the service is over and all the time?

Okay, good, we're going to have some fun today, all right?

Yeah, we're going to just get you ready for all you introverts.

We're going to testify to each other just a little bit today, and I saw some of your countenance fall just then.

It's going to be okay.

There's so many places in the Bible that talk about the mission that Jesus came to this earth to do to die, to rise again.

But one of the ones that I love so much that we're going to talk about today if you've got your message notes is a moment when Jesus is looking at the crowd and he says a thief's purpose, or the thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.

Look at your neighbor and say that's bad news.

It is.

It don't care who you are.

Nobody enjoys that, all right.

But Jesus says my purpose is to give all of us a rich and satisfying life.

Look at somebody and say that's the good news?

Of course it is, and you know why.

He says because I am the good shepherd.

You knew we had to talk about it one more time before we ended our series and if you're with us normally.

We just finished a long series talking about the good shepherd and he keeps going and he says the good shepherd sacrifices his life for his sheep.

I am the good shepherd, I know my own sheep and they know me.

And then I love this.

He says no one can take my life from me.

We could just pause right there and say the reason why we celebrate Easter is because nobody made Jesus do what he did.

He wanted to give his life for us because of his great love for us.

And he says I sacrifice, I give my life voluntarily, for I have the authority to lay it down when I want and also to take it up again.

Tell somebody I said that's the best news, right there, that's the best news.

And you know what the best news is is that Jesus went down in the grave.

He died, but, man, he got up.

And because he got up, we have the opportunity to have life today, and I love that.

He says the opportunity to have life today and I love that.

He says the thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you can have life.

Well, how are you going to do that, jesus?

I'm going to do that.

I'm going to give you life by being that shepherd king that you need.

I am going to move in your life.

I'm going to give you some amazing things that you don't even realize you need.

Number one is not only am I going to give you life, but I'm going to be like a shepherd to all of you, and that's amazing when we think about it, but especially in the first century context, when Jesus said this.

That would have been so phenomenal to that audience, because during that time, especially in the area that Jesus lived in, there was so many things not going well in their world, like, for instance just as a list, they had problems with their government, the Roman rule that was just crushing them from the outside in.

They had cultural issues, where people didn't know how to relate to the different things the Romans were doing.

They had religious issues like how do we serve God in a God-honoring way?

Everybody's saying something different.

And then financial issues, and the reason why is because there's always financial issues, whatever century you live in.

And then there's personal issues, which means, if none of that else is bothering you, I still got family.

That's crazy, right.

I still got all those different things.

That's going on and he looks at them and he says not only am I here to wash away your sins, I'm here to be your good shepherd.

And what's amazing about that is fast forward 2,000 years later and the list that we have that we still deal with is exactly the same.

Like we still have all of these 99 issues, including all the way down to.

People still have personal issues.

I don't know if you ever heard this one before, but everybody you know has a private battle that only they know about.

Look at your neighbor and say he's talking about you.

Everybody, everybody you know, has a private battle that only they know about.

As a matter of fact, there's so many of these different things that's going on as I was doing a little bit of research, and they were a lot of different sociologists and psychologists and all the ologists are actually calling this generation alive right now.

They call it the anxious generation, the nervous generation, and some of y'all are shaking your head.

No, I don't know where you live, okay, but in my world, yes, it seems like everybody's had a little too much coffee.

We're all kind of just a little bit, you know, and there's a thousand reasons why, but I think we could all agree that it would be nice if everybody could just, but that's easier said than done, isn't it?

We live in an anxious generation.

As a matter of fact, I saw this one story I thought was so great, and it says this.

It says if you can start your day without caffeine, if you can be cheerful, ignoring the aches and pains, if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it, if you can deal with tension without medical help and if you can sleep without the aid of drugs, chances are you must be the family dog, of course, and also it's worth saying the family dog because everybody knows cats wake up in a bad mood, okay, and then it goes downhill from there.

It's Easter.

I had to get one cat joke in.

That was the only one, okay, but the reality is, is we live in a world that other than Precious?

Here, the rest of us live in a world that other than precious?

Here, the rest of us, we got issues, we live in an anxious generation.

And what would happen if we, as the church, would realize and then tell as many people as we could, if you're taking notes that because our shepherd king, because Jesus lives, we have hope for tomorrow Because Jesus lives.

We don't have to live like everybody else feels like they have to live, but we have hope for tomorrow.

Look at your neighbor and say he's my hope, he's my hope.

And here's the thing the the people of the time, when they heard that Jesus said I'm going to be your shepherd, they would have been like wow, for us, we're like and Because we don't get it.

But what they would have understood is that is not the first time that God used the symbolism of a shepherd to talk about his relationship with his people.

As a matter of fact, himself him calling himself the shepherd was another way of him saying I'm the guy, I'm God, because way back in the nation of Israel's history there was a book called the book of Ezekiel.

Now we've actually been reading this together as a church and if you'd like to read God's word with us, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000, or I got you.

You can scan that QR code and it will automatically send you the chapter we're reading.

But for some of you who have been reading this, it's been so interesting.

Some people have been reading this with us and they have said it has been the worst journey of their life Hurts my feelings just a little bit, because Ezekiel's mean.

Okay, he don't mess around, he's mean, but some of y'all have said you have loved it because you just see how we all still need Jesus.

Even back then they needed God and they were going through so many things look so much like what was going on in the first century and so much like what's going on now.

What was amazing is, right in the middle of all this judgment that was going on, god started talking to the people and he said I want to find a way to help show you what I want to be in your life and the kind of hope I want to give you.

The best way I can describe it is if I were to define myself like a shepherd.

And he says this, and I love when he says this.

Look at how many times he takes personal responsibility and says the word I.

He says the sovereign Lord says I myself will search and find my sheep.

I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock.

I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered.

On that dark and cloudy day, I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the sovereign Lord.

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away and I will bring them safely home again.

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away and I will bring them safely home again.

I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak Wow.

And so that's why, when he said I am the good shepherd, they would have said, wow, he's really going to be that.

Because they would have remembered a long time ago where God made them a promise.

He said one day, I'm going to be the hope you've been looking for.

Be that, because they would have remembered a long time ago where God made them a promise.

And they said he said one day, I'm going to be the hope you've been looking for and I'm going to do all these great things.

And can I tell you, nothing has changed.

He still is the hope that we have, and that because Jesus is alive.

That's why we celebrate the way we do today is because we still have that hope, and what I want to do is I want to encourage all of you today.

That's the goal.

Today is just to remind us of the hope that we have because Jesus is alive, and I don't know what hope that is, that maybe some of us need to celebrate today, some of us need to remember today, or some of us need to ask for today.

But I want to take this and I want to give you three reasons why.

No matter what you're going through in life, if you have Jesus, you have a reason to have hope.

And so look at your neighbor and say let me testify.

Go tell him, let me testify.

It's going to be that kind.

We were good and we went bad.

Okay, now look at them and say he's my hope.

He's my hope.

Let me tell you why they told you they don't know.

Maybe Let me tell you why they said he's my hope.

Here's the first one, and that is this Easter reminds us of the hope that King Jesus is alive and he is able to guide us.

He's able to guide us.

Somebody say guide us.

He's able to guide us throughout our life.

Notice how he said I am the good shepherd.

I'm going to find you wherever you are.

I lay my life down, I take it back up again and then I'm not done.

He said this.

He said I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the sovereign Lord.

We just stop there and say isn't it amazing that God doesn't delegate his love for you?

God doesn't, he doesn't sit there and find an angel or find somebody else to take care of you.

He himself is interested in you and in your life and in helping you find the way that he has for you to go.

That is one of the reasons why we love God's word here at Real Life Church is that God's word teaches us how he wants to guide us through life, among many other things.

God's word is like a spiritual GPS that helps us Because, if we're honest, we don't always know which way to go.

You know, as a shepherd, the reason why he has to guide the sheep is because they don't know where to go, and so it's the shepherd who comes on and he kind of pushes them this way and he pushes them that way.

And that's why God's word is so important is because it's through his word that he leads us and he guides us, because he's not interested in just saving us, but he wants to guide us through life.

That's why Easter is about the beginning but it's not the end, because he's with us in all things and knowing how God does all this it reminds me of.

I was trying to think of an illustration to describe, kind of, how this works, and one of the ones I could think of is back a long time ago, for just a little while, I tried to be an elementary school music teacher.

You can laugh, it's okay.

That's why I'm doing this today.

That didn't work out too well for me, right?

A lot of people are gifted in that Not me, okay.

And I tried it for just a little while.

And I'm telling you, one of the most amazing groups of people I ever met were preschool teachers.

I mean, when we get to heaven, there's not going to be a line, but if there was, it'd be like Mother Teresa, all the preschool teachers throughout history would be like you get to go in first, we'll wait on you.

Because it was amazing and I got to watch this firsthand and I watched a lot of these preschool teachers, this one in particular that I would have like a music class with them and then they'd go out to recess and she would say, okay, kids, we're going to go out to recess and you know, they're still little and so they don't line up, they scatter in that general direction, right, I mean, it's like, it's like herding cats.

They get that rough general direction and they're, they're ready to go and they're, and they're saying I want to lead, I want to lead, no, no, no, it's okay, I got.

And that lasts for about 30 seconds before the questions start.

Ms Teacher, can I go to the bathroom?

I've got to go potty.

Ms Teacher, I've got to boo-boo.

Come take a look, ms Teacher.

She touched me, he hit me, she's looking at me, I have a runny nose, all the things, and I'm sitting here like I'm not even in charge and I'm going go play, You're fine, go go play, you're fine, go play, go play, right.

And she's just like okay, baby, that's going to be okay.

Hey, listen, we'll take care of that in a little while you go ahead and go into the bathroom.

No, we're not going to go home right now.

Just tell him not to touch you ever again.

Just, I mean she's just dealing with it, right, she's just.

I mean it's amazing.

And I remember this moment and I remember like, how did you do that?

And I love her answer.

Her answer was because I love him.

He's my babies.

You know, that's what I'm here for and that's what I think about, when I think about God.

And now I don't know what it's like in your life, but when God says be free, that lasts for me about 30 seconds before I come back up to God.

I'm like God, hey, listen, I got a boo-boo right here.

God, my nose is running.

God, they're touching me, they hit me, they said something about me.

He's like hey, hey, hey, listen, it's okay, it's fine, go get back in the game, it's going to be all right.

And then, if you were to ask Jesus why he does that, you know what he'd say Well, they guiding us.

He never gets tired, and one of the reasons why we celebrate Easter is because he's alive.

We have the hope for tomorrow that, no matter what we find ourselves into, he never says hey, I've already answered that prayer, go back.

He doesn't do that.

He says come to me.

As a matter of fact, he said it like this he says give all your worries and cares to God.

Why?

Because he cares, he cares about you.

We celebrate Easter?

Because the king is alive and because he's alive, he guides us.

Another way he guides us is God's word says don't worry about anything.

Instead, what do we do?

Get God involved, pray about everything.

Tell him what you need.

Come up to him whatever it is.

If it's a runny nose, if it's a broken relationship, we tell him about it and thank him for all he's already done.

Then you will experience the peace of God which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

One of the things I love about God is we celebrate Easter because our King walks with us.

Our King walks with us throughout our life.

Now can I tell you, if you don't have any other reason to have hope in Easter, we have hope that our King is alive.

Therefore, no matter what you are going through, no matter how difficult, no matter how hard, you will never go through it alone.

As a matter of fact, god's word says though I walk through the valley of the very shadow of death, I will not be afraid.

Why?

Because he's going to.

He takes us by the hand and he goes to.

And the reason why is because of what we celebrate today Jesus is alive.

Look at your neighbor and say he's my hope.

He's my hope.

Why is he your hope?

Because you know why.

Because he guides me.

You know another reason why he is our hope is because God's word teaches us that King Jesus is alive and able to find us.

He's able to find us.

Somebody say God's not blind, he's not nearsighted, he's not farsighted, he don't have to have his bifocals on to see you.

He's got you wherever, wherever you are.

He said it like this.

He said I will search for my lost ones who strayed away and I will bring them safely home again.

Man, I get so excited about Easter because I know that there's people, even in this room, that it's time to come home.

It's time to come home.

You've been going here and you've been going there and Jesus has been luring you this whole time.

And today's the day, now's the time to come home.

But the thing is is that a lot of times we don't realize that Jesus is on the search for all of us and that we may think we're lost, but he knows exactly where we are you ever been through seasons of life where you felt like that nobody knew you, nobody cared, nobody.

Everybody else is being blessed, everything else is going right for everybody else, but not you?

And then somebody says where's your hope?

Have hope in Jesus.

I'm like well, I mean I do and all.

But it is hard.

If you ever felt that way, you're not alone.

As a matter of fact, there's a lady in the old Testament named Naomi.

You ever heard of her?

Most people haven't.

That's why, actually, starting next week, we're going to start a whole series on the book of Ruth called Redeemer.

We're going to talk about Naomi, we're going to talk about Ruth, because it's amazing what God does through what other people think are forgotten and they're not.

You know, the story of Naomi is that she, younger in her life, she got married, and then her and her husband had two kids and they went off to a foreign land to go and try to do whatever it is they wanted to do.

They were going to try to go, maybe strike it rich.

We don't know exactly why they went, but they went, and while they were gone, tragedy struck and the Bible said that this left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.

We don't know exactly what happened, but at some point, while they were gone, the two sons grew up and they got married, and at some point the husband and the two sons died, and then one of the daughters-in-law was like I'm out too, and so they left.

All that was left was one other daughter-in-law named Ruth, and she couldn't shake her off.

She was like, hey, wherever you go, I'm gonna go too.

And so the Bible said that Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by her daughter-in-law, ruth, the young Moabite woman, and they arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, and this was one of the most horrible things.

When she got home, people were like hey, naomi.

She said, don't call me Naomi, my name is Mara, which means bitterness, because she said God don't know me, he's forgotten about me.

If he does know me, he's only here to destroy me.

God doesn't know me.

You ever been in that spot where you don't mean it?

But yet you kind of do Like where's God?

What's going on?

You know?

What's amazing about the resurrection is it reminds us of what God is willing to do and that he's not forgotten any of us, and that gives us an everlasting hope.

Naomi thought that she was forgotten and nobody saw her and nobody knew what was going on.

But actually, just a couple of chapters later, there's this guy named Boaz who's talking to Ruth, and the first thing he says to her is I know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law and I have heard about how you left the land to live here among complete strangers.

In other words, she thought that she was forgotten, but God was already bringing her to mind to other people that God was already doing more than she realized.

And then look what he said may the Lord, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.

In other words, that there are people who see you and that the Lord sees you as well.

You may think that you're forgotten, but you're not, that God's actually doing amazing things in your life, and what was so phenomenal about this is, through a crazy set of circumstances that only God could put together, ruth ends up marrying this guy, boaz, and at the end of the story they said to Naomi, they said the neighbor women said now, at last, naomi has a grandson again.

God started her life all over again, but not just any son.

They named him Obed, who became the father of Jesse, and Obed was the grandfather of David, if you don't know who David is.

He became the second king of Israel, and David is the great, great, great, great grandfather of Jesus.

And so she thought she was a nobody from nowhere and had no value.

She didn't realize that because of her willingness to stick it out and to keep moving forward.

God was doing more than she realized and she became the great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus.

And the reality of it is is no matter who you are, you may feel lost, but you are never forgotten.

That's the hope of the gospel that Jesus is alive and because he is alive, you're never forgotten, that God sees you and that he knows you.

And the reason why we have hope today is because he guides us and because he finds us.

What does it look like when God finds us?

God's word says I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the.

That's the hope that we have.

That's why we celebrate Easter.

It's because our king is alive.

And because he is alive we have hope for tomorrow.

That means we have hope that he will guide us and that he walks with us.

We also have hope that he finds us and that we celebrate Easter because our King sees us.

Our King sees us, and if you don't hear anything else, I want you to hear that you may feel lost, but you're never forgotten.

And that's why we can stand with tears in our eyes and say, god, I don't know what you're doing, but I know you're doing something, because if you would be born and if you would die and if you would rise again, god, there's nothing impossible for you.

So I trust that you are guiding, I trust that you see me in all things, and that gives me hope.

One more time, look at your neighbor and say he gives me hope.

That was terrible.

Look at somebody else and say he gives me hope.

He does.

You know why?

Because he guides us.

He gives us hope, because he finds us.

And here's one more he gives us hope because King Jesus is able to heal us.

He's able to heal us Of every broken place, of every difficult thing that we go through.

He is able to heal us.

That's one of the things I love about God.

So much is that he talks about how he guides us through life, and then he talks about how he finds us in every area, and then he ends off with saying this.

He says and I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

He will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

What I love about that is wouldn't it be enough if Jesus died on the cross, rose again and said the rest is up to you?

I mean, it's enough that he rose again and we have that opportunity.

But what I love is he rose again and then he goes to work on us.

Then he starts to systematically go to war with every broken place in our life and untying the knots that we tie ourselves into and start bringing us freedom and all those different areas.

And one of the reasons why we celebrate Easter is because we can look back at where we were and we can see where we are.

And we may not be where we want to be, but, man, look at what God's done, look at the things that he has done and how he's healed us.

And what I love is one of the greatest things that God wants to do for all of us is he wants to heal us of every broken place.

That's one of the things, actually, that was part of the story of Easter that we often overlook.

Like, as a matter of fact, part of the story of Easter that we often overlook, like, as a matter of fact, it says in the book of Mark.

It says when they entered the tomb, the women were shocked, and of course you are, because the tomb is empty.

And now there's an angel talking to you.

All right, that's like the most understated statement.

Like, if an angel talks to me, I'm gonna tell you I'm shocked, okay.

And then he says this.

He says don't be alarmed.

Which, by the way, I'm looking at an angel, I'm going to be alarmed, he said, but don't be alarmed.

You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He isn't here.

Say amen, somebody.

He is risen from the dead.

Look, this is where they laid his body.

Other words, he is risen.

Let me prove it to you.

And that's the moment where we normally end and we kind of get our Pentecostal two-step going Like come on, jesus is alive, hallelujah.

That's it.

Right, that's the moment Some of y'all are going.

Are we doing that today?

Yeah, no, we're going to move on.

But here's the thing, that's where we start the Jericho march, like it's good, but here's the thing he's not done.

Like, before they can walk off, I love this so much the angel's like wait a minute Now go tell the disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee and you will see him there, just as he told you before he died.

Now Jesus didn't say told you so, but the angel did.

It's like jokers.

He was telling y'all this whole time what he was going to do.

That's kind of like my interpretation of what he just said.

But here's the thing.

We kind of read right over the including Peter part, but that's huge, because you know, what happened Is, on the night that Jesus was going to be betrayed, he sat with his disciples at what we call the Last Supper and he said guys, you know how I've been telling you I'm going to get arrested, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again.

All that happens tonight.

And they were all like what?

Only one guy spoke up and it wasn't a good thing, it was Peter.

He's like no, that's cap man, we're not going to do none of that, that's not happening, that's fake news, you are not going to die.

And then he said this he said if I have to die beside you, if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.

And then Jesus, as only Jesus could, was like okay, well, peter, tonight, before the next morning, before the rooster crows, you're going to deny me three times.

No, never going to happen.

Well, the Bible said that when the pressure was on, he denied him three times.

The book of Luke said, when he denied him the final time and the rooster crowed, they were in a place where Jesus could look for him.

And while Jesus is being accused by all these false accusations, he looks and he finds Peter and he sees him.

Can you imagine?

It's one thing to deny Jesus.

It's another thing to deny Jesus and then him be looking at you.

I mean this didn't happen, but in my mind I see Jesus kind of going.

You know it's fine man, but I did tell you, and the Bible said that when he noticed what had happened, he went off somewhere and he wept bitterly.

He wept bitterly, but you know what I love Is, as soon as Jesus rose again, the first message was he's alive.

I'm going to prove it.

Tell Peter, jesus is looking for him.

Live.

I'm going to prove it.

Tell Peter, jesus is looking for him.

Jesus is looking for Peter.

Now, if you don't know my Jesus, you tell Peter, dude, you need to get out of town because Jesus done rose again and he's after you.

First thing he said was where's Peter?

Hey, listen man.

He told you.

He told you get out of town if you don't know my Jesus, but if you do, the reason why he was looking for Peter is he was the first person he wanted to say it's okay.

As a matter of fact, three times he denied Jesus.

Three times he said Peter, do you love me?

Of course I know you do.

Of course you do.

I still got a plan for your life.

You know what I love?

It's.

The first thing on Jesus' mind when he rose again was healing people, healing them of all their broken places and all those different things.

And can I tell you, even right now, while we're having a good time and enjoying Easter, jesus is looking for you, and he's not looking for you to condemn you.

He's not looking for you to cast judgment on you.

He's looking for you to help you and he's looking for you to say I want you to be part of my family.

And the reason why that's so awesome is it was written in the gospel of Mark.

Mark got his stories from Peter, and so Peter is telling Mark, in spite of the Holy Spirit.

Hey, don't forget to tell him.

He asked for me why, man, that's embarrassing.

No, no, you don't understand my Jesus.

Don't forget to tell him Look what he did, Look what my Jesus did.

In other words, he was saying God did not go through all that trouble sending his son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.

He came to help and to put the world right again.

I don't know why you thought Jesus rose again, but he came for you and he came for me and he came to help.

Well, pastor, I don't need help, you sure, because I can't pay for my sin myself, but I know a guy and his name is Jesus, and because he is alive, he gives us hope and we celebrate Easter because our King helps us, because he helps us.

Which leads me to a question.

I want to end our time together with and it comes from a story One of my favorite favorite teachers.

His name is Professor John Lennox.

He's a Christian, one of the foremost apologists in the entire world.

Years ago he was on a subway and, as he was going from place to place, he got out his Bible, started reading his Bible and he said he noticed that there was a young man looking at him, but didn't want it to look like he was looking at him.

You ever had that happen?

You ever been that person?

As soon as they make eye contact, you look away.

You know just me.

All right, fine, all right, fine, fine, fine, all right.

But here's the thing.

Finally, professor Lennox made sure he made eye contact.

And that, and Professor Lennox made sure he made eye contact and that guy was like I see you're reading your Bible.

Yes, sir, yes, sir, I am.

And he said you don't really believe that, do you?

You ask the foremost apologists in the entire world about the Bible.

He's got some answers for you, okay.

And he said of course I do.

And he started just very kindly going back and forth Let me tell you about this, let me tell you about this, let me tell you about this.

And just absolutely telling him about who Jesus was.

And it was amazing.

But Professor John knows most people don't have a problem with facts, they have a problem with giving their life over to him and understanding what the resurrection means.

And so, after he finally kind of had proven his point, he put his Bible to the side and he asked him one question and that was this what hope have you got?

And he said the young man was honest.

And he said, professor, I don't have any hope.

I do.

And he said beyond all the things I told you, that tells me that that Bible is true.

That Bible tells me this truth, and that is this that because our Jesus lives, we have hope for tomorrow.

So he said, he asked can you give me something that can give me that kind of hope?

Young man said no, I can't.

It's because Jesus is alive, and because he is alive we have hope for tomorrow.

It reminds me of an old song we used to sing.

It says because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because he lives, all fear is gone and because I know he holds the future, this life is worth living because he lives.

And can I tell you, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what it is, jesus has a promise for all of us.

And he says this he says I am the resurrection and the life.

Anyone who believes in me somebody say, anyone, anyone, that means it doesn't matter Anyone who believes in me will live.

What is that life?

Well, the Bible says this.

It says that all are sinful, that there is none righteous.

No, not one.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Hey, listen, I'm not a sinful person, I'm just.

I just make mistakes from time to time.

You know what those mistakes are.

There you go All right, yeah, I've never sinned.

Well, that was your first one.

You're lying, right.

We all have.

We all have and here's the thing the cost of that sin death.

Someone's got to pay for that sin, but the gift of God is eternal life.

What salvation is is saying Jesus, I can't pay for my sin.

And he says I'll pay for it.

But what I love about it is, he said God demonstrated his great love for us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us.

And then he said if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart, give allegiance from your heart to him, you will be saved.

That's what salvation is.

Is it saying Jesus I confess that I'm a sinner and I need your salvation.

And if you've ever experienced the love of God like that, can I tell you you may have 99 issues, but Jesus ain't one of them.

And that's what Easter reminds us is it reminds us to clear away all the fog, clear away all the issues, clear away all the things and remember that because of Jesus, we have hope.

And that's kind of what I want to end on today, and that is, if you have that Easter Connect card, I'd love for you to pull that out for me one more time.

I want you to turn around on the back of it and it's got a spiritual survey that we take every year and it's an opportunity for all of us to take a spiritual next step and for all of us to take a moment and just celebrate in one kind of way.

And I make a promise to you everybody in this room is in one of these four categories.

One of them is you're saying today I am celebrating my relationship with Jesus Christ and in just a moment we're going to bow our heads and give you an opportunity to mark that down.

If that's you, man, isn't it good to know Jesus?

Isn't it good to have such a savior like him?

And that we may have 99 problems, jesus isn't one of them.

And it just reminds us that today I am celebrating that he is my king and my eternal life is secure in him.

That's the hope that we have.

Maybe you're in here and you say today I'm committing my life to Jesus Christ, today's your day.

Today's your day.

It's time to come home to Jesus.

In just a moment we're going to have a moment of worship.

The band's going to lead us to one more song and I know at some churches you go to, people will ask you to repeat a prayer and all that.

And I got no problem with that.

But you ever done that before and you have no idea what you're saying Because you're trying to remember what the guy just said.

I think he said Jesus, jesus.

What the guy just said, I think he said Jesus, jesus.

You know.

And then you get to the amen.

You're not really sure you know.

This isn't like a magic spell and hocus pocus.

Now you're a believer and this is a commitment in your heart.

You're giving your life to Jesus.

No, turning back, no, turning back.

And so when we have this time of worship, we have written at the bottom the prayer of salvation, and what we would love for you to do is to take a moment and pray this prayer to God.

It says this.

It says Jesus, I confess you as Savior and Lord.

I confess that I am a sinner and need your salvation.

I'm sorry for my sin.

I accept what you did on the cross to wash away all my sins.

I give you my life.

Thank you for loving me In Jesus' name, amen.

If you pray that prayer, and you mean it with all of your heart, as best as you can, the Bible says that all of heaven rejoices when one of his children come back home.

Jesus himself said the only way I can describe it to you is like being born again, and you'll go from knowing about the love of God to experience the love of God for yourself.

Maybe you're in here and you're not number.

You're not A, you're not B, maybe you're C.

Can I tell you, I'm so glad you're here.

Always dreamed of a church that would have space for people who would say today, I would like to ask questions before committing my life to Jesus Christ.

I was there, I wanted to believe, but I just didn't know enough yet.

If you have the courage to mark C, we would love to send you some information so you can make an informed decision about knowing who Jesus is.

And then, if you're here, and if you're D, I'm so glad you're here, you're almost done.

D, I'm so glad you're here.

You're almost done.

I never intend to follow Jesus as my Lord and Savior Awesome.

If that's you, man, have the courage to mark that.

And I wanna make you a promise we're not gonna add you to our call list.

We're not gonna come see you with a free loaf of bread and a track.

We're not gonna do that, but we are gonna add you to our prayer list.

I gotta warn you, the Holy Spirit will follow you to the ends of the earth and he'll never stop until you come to know him, until you come to know Jesus.

And I have to warn you, there's been a couple of years where we've had people take this and they would mark B and they would say last year I was a D, because he's never going to stop.

Which one are you?

If you're celebrating your relationship with God, it's okay to celebrate while tears are flowing and saying I don't have it figured out, I've got issues, but it changes nothing about the goodness of God.

If you're in here and you're B, today's your day.

It's time to come home as we worship the Lord in just a moment, it's your opportunity to pray the prayer of salvation.

If you're C, I want you to mark that down.

We're going to get in touch with you so you can take those next steps, and if you're D, we're going to pray for you, and God is by no means finished with you yet.

Let's bow our heads in prayer right now.

Father, thank you so much for today.

Thank you, god, that you're with us and that as many people that are in here the different things that you want to do in our life, god, I'm thankful that you are for us in more ways than we can imagine and that all of this, all of this celebration, all of these moments are here for this moment, so that we can celebrate you, so that we can confess you as Lord, so we can investigate who you are and so that, holy Spirit, you can begin that chase that'll never end.

God, I pray for those who they're celebrating Easter but they're struggling with things.

I pray you'll help us to remember your goodness and remember that if you came, if you died, if you rose again, nothing is impossible.

I pray for those who are gonna receive you today.

I pray in the name of Jesus you'll silence the voice of the enemy.

Let them listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and to take that step of faith.

And, god, I'm thankful for what your resurrection means, and that is that, because you live.

We have hope for tomorrow.

In Jesus' name, we pray amen, amen.

Would you stand with me all over the house this morning, as I was telling you the band is gonna lead us in a final song of worship.

I don't know how you need to respond to this.

Maybe, if you're in here and you're a Christ follower, it's just an opportunity just to lift your hands to him and just be thankful for who Jesus is.

If you're in here and you're going to give your life to Christ, this is your moment, while everybody else is worshiping.

That's your next step of worship.

If you would like to receive special prayer, we have a prayer team standing in the back.

We'd love to pray with you about whatever's going on in your life.

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