Easter 2025 | Todd Jones

Well, amen, amen. Heights, it is so good to be

with you today. Can you believe that it was snowing

two days ago? Like, what is going on right now?

You guys can go ahead and grab a seat. Man, I

am so excited to be with you today, to welcome

you from wherever you are coming from. Welcome

those of you from our Prescott Valley location

here with us today. Come on, we can be excited

for Prescott Valley location. There we go. Welcome

those that are from our Prescott location that

are here with us today. Come on. Welcome those

who are from our online family that are joining

us in person here today. We can welcome them

as well as welcoming those that are on our online

family as well. And then a special, special welcome

to any of our guests that are here with us today.

We're just so glad that you decided to come and

be a part of this today as we can be one family.

celebrating a risen Savior. Celebrating a risen

Savior, man. And I'm excited. Some of you were

like, I'm not sure if we should be excited. We

can be excited about that. And we're gonna talk

more about that. Just to let you know, I'm gonna

try to say this as quick as I can because my

hair doesn't allow for much sun protection. And

so we're gonna try to get through this as quick

as we can, man. But super excited. I love Easter.

I absolutely love just being able to celebrate

a risen Savior. And I wish I could say that.

I've always loved Easter because of Jesus, but

it's because of the candy. I gotta be honest.

It's because of the candy, right? Because here's

the deal. Reese's does this thing around this

time of year where they find the perfect ratio

between chocolate and peanut butter in their

Reese's eggs. Come on, that is proof that God

exists. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. We

have proof. God exists, man. But here's the deal.

When I was younger, we would do Easter egg hunts.

And this was my time to shine because it wasn't

just about getting the candy. It was about dominating

and finding every possible egg. Like I would

turn into Sherlock Holmes, man. I could find

them anywhere. I could find eggs anywhere. I

love it. But here's the thing. A lot of times

when you go out to do an Easter egg hunt, parents

that are smart will give a limit on how many

eggs so that everyone gets their fair share.

My parents. We're not that smart. But I remember

one year we went out and they said, okay, here,

the easy ones leave for the younger kids, but

the harder ones you can find. The problem with

that though is that they don't actually put a

distinction between what's the easy and what's

the hard. So every egg that I saw, I'm like,

I don't know, seems a little easy. I'm not gonna

keep going. And so I was searching for the hard

eggs the whole time until we got to the end of

the Easter egg hunt. And everyone else that was

doing the Easter egg hunt had a basket full of

like 30 eggs. And I had like five eggs in my

basket. And I'm like, man, I thought they were

all too easy. And I remember the first time realizing

that Easter is supposed to be exciting, but man,

I was full of disappointment when I realized

I didn't get what I was expecting. So I feel

like some of us may have walked in here today

and the only way you can characterize how you're

feeling is a sense of disappointment. Maybe life

just isn't going the way that you had set out

for it to go. Maybe you walked in today and the

only thing that you can say is, man, I really

am feeling this disappointment. Maybe you're

at a place in life where you just want to quit.

Maybe you're at a place in life where you're

kind of at the end of your rope. Maybe you're

only here today because it's what you do on Easter.

You just show up to church and that's why you

came here today. But you're at a place where

this is what you're feeling. And I think sometimes

what we put our faith in fails us. What we put

our hope in fails us. See, I understand this

very well because I'm a San Diego Padres fan.

And right now, just side note, you need to know

they do have the best record in all of baseball

right now. But I've put my faith in them and

I know that at some point they will fail me.

All right, they're gonna fail me. All right,

listen, Dodger fans, I don't need to hear it

right now. I'm not talking to you. Listen, Jesus

loves you. I just don't like you, all right?

But it's okay because the worst of people are

welcome here today. It's okay, we're glad you're

here. We're glad you're here. I'm just kidding.

I'm just kind of kidding on that. All right.

Man, but the truth is that things let us down,

right? I love Reese's. I love them. And then

I look in the mirror and I realize they've let

me down a little bit. They've let me down. All

right, sometimes we put our faith in things that

let us down. It lets us down when we go, man,

this is what I'm putting my faith in, what I'm

putting my trust in, right? That friend that

apparently. isn't as much of a friend as you

thought they were. At that marriage that you

thought would survive, and either it didn't or

it's looking like it's not going to. Maybe it's

your health that you said, well, nothing's gonna

happen, and then your health starts going downhill.

Maybe it's the stress or pressure of taking care

of somebody else. So I don't know what it is,

but a lot of us, we put our faith in things that

end up disappointing us, they end up failing

us, they end up letting us down, and we arrive

to a place where we go, man. I'm just feeling

disappointed. And I think that's a place that's

pretty natural because life has ups and downs,

and that's how they felt on the first Easter

as well. Resurrection Sunday in the Bible, if

you look at the first Easter, they were feeling

pretty much the same thing. If you have your

Bibles, we're going to be looking in the Bible

today, and we're going to be in the book of Luke.

But here's the thing is, is things didn't go

as planned for the people that we see in Scripture.

The nation of Israel where God's chosen people,

he said, man, you are chosen. There's prophecy

saying, hey, you're gonna be amazing. Great things

are gonna come from you. And then all of a sudden

they find themselves in the midst of all of these

prophecies that are supposed to happen. They

find themselves under Roman oppression, under

Roman rule. And they're going, okay, this isn't

how it's supposed to be. And then they get a

little bit of hope because this guy named Jesus

shows up on the scene. And Jesus starts doing

miracles. And Jesus starts doing things that's

attracting crowds. And he's teaching people.

And crowds start following Jesus. And they start

going, I want to know what this man has to say.

And he has disciples. And disciples start showing

up, which are followers that followed him closely

and learned from him. They were his students.

And all this is happening and they're getting

this glimmer of hope. But then all of a sudden

their hope is completely smashed. Because the

person that rode in on a donkey a week before

and they've laid down their coats and they laid

down palm branches and they said, Hosanna, which

means save us or save now. As he rides in one

week later, their hope is crushed because Jesus

is arrested. Because Jesus is sentenced to death

and Jesus is nailed to a cross. And Jesus then

dies on a cross as they poke a spear in his side

and blood and water pours out symbolizing he

is dead. And they take him off of this cross

and put him in a tomb. And they seal him in this

tomb. And all of their hope was completely smashed.

And we pick up in Luke chapter 24, starting in

Luke 24 · chapter mention

verse 13. It says this, now that same day, two

of them were going to a village called Emmaus,

about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking

with each other about everything that had happened.

As they talked and discussed these things with

each other, Jesus himself came up and walked

along with them, but they were kept from recognizing

him. They are walking away from everything that

had happened. They're walking away from it. They're

walking away in disappointment. And I think some

of you are on that walk today. Some of you, that's

the walk that you're in. You're just walking

in this disappointment. You think it's over.

You think it's too late for you, either by something

you've done or something that was done to you

or the situation you find yourself in. You're

walking in going, it's just over for me. It doesn't

matter. It's too late. I'm too far gone. I'm

too broken. And you came in carrying this major

disappointment and discouragement. See, we have

disappointment when our expectation doesn't meet

our reality. When we expect something different

than what actually happens in reality. All right,

have you ever ordered something online before

that doesn't show up the way that you thought

it would? You know what I'm talking about? My

wife, she ordered this amazing giant, this dresser

that was gonna be amazing, and it shows up, and

I think it was made for Barbies, I'm not sure,

but it was like this big, and we're like, what

is this thing? All right, there's an expectation,

and then there's a reality. I remember when my

first two kids were born, they were twins, and

so. I don't know why I didn't expect this, but

we were going in, and I had this picture in my

head of what it was going to be like, taking

my kids home from the hospital and how great

it would be. And I was completely shocked when

the doctor said, hey, no, they need to go straight

to the NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit,

and they need to stay there for weeks. And I

remember the disappointment, the extreme disappointment

for being like, but God, why? This isn't what

I had pictured. Maybe some of you are on that

walk that these people were on here walking away

from Jerusalem going, this isn't how it was supposed

to go. This isn't where I wanted to find myself,

but here I am and I'm on this same walk and you're

discouraged and you're walking in this discouragement,

but I need you to know that sometimes our discouragement

leads us away from our destiny. And today God

wants to speak to you. In the middle of whatever

it is that you brought in with you, God wants

to speak to you because he has conquered all

of that. And as Jesus is walking with these people

here, verse 17, it says he asked them, what are

you discussing together as you walk along? I

love this. Jesus is asking them about his own

story. It says they stood still, their faces

downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him,

are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn't

know the things that have happened here in these

days? What things, he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth,

they replied. They said he was a prophet. He

was powerful in word and deed. He was the chief

priest and the rulers. They handed him over to

be sentenced to death and they crucified him.

We had hoped that he was the one who was going

to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the

third day since this took place. In addition,

some of our women amazed us. They went to the

tomb early this morning, but did not find his

body. They came and told us that they had seen

a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then

some of our companions went to the tomb and found

it, just as the woman had said, but they did

not see Jesus. They're telling Jesus the story

of exactly what happened to him. And Jesus, as

he's walking alongside of them, as he's walking

beside them, he's listening to tell the story

and tell exactly what was prophesied. See, sometimes

we're in a place where even the truth in our

life, when the truth is told to us, it doesn't

get through. We've heard the truth. Maybe you've

seen the truth. Maybe someone has spoken the

truth to you, but sometimes we don't see the

truth even when it's right in front of us. And

I think what a lot of times we like to do is

we like to put people in our life that will just

tell us the lie that we want to hear. We need

people in our life that will speak truth to us,

but we surround ourselves with people that just

reinforce the lie that we've told ourself. My

youngest daughter, she's two. Every night when

we say, hey, it's time for bed, it becomes an

argument and a fight for bedtime. Because she

goes, no, no, it's not time for bed. It's not

night -night time yet. And so we have to take

her over to the door and we have to let her look

outside and say, look, it's dark outside. It's

night -night time. And she's looking outside

into a completely dark sky, into a completely

dark world. And she looks back and she goes,

it's not dark outside. It's not night -night

time. Which is a lie. We see it. We're like,

we can see it with our eyes. We know. And then

she does something very strategic. She goes and

she gets her doll and she brings her doll over

and she looks out the door with her doll and

she has a little quick conversation with her

doll and then she looks at us and she goes, yeah,

she says it's not dark outside either. I'm like,

awesome. Two against one here. This is going

well. All right, but see, that's what we like

to do. We like to surround ourself with people

that will reinforce the lie that we've told ourself

instead of hearing the truth that's right in

front of us. We need to surround ourselves with

people that are gonna speak truth to us, right?

That's why it's important that we're a part of

a family that can speak truth. Listen, we call

Heights a family because we are people that wanna

walk alongside one another. And every single

one of you invited to be a part of this family,

we'd love for you to continue to walk with this

family, to join us at one of our services, at

one of our locations, to be a part of what we're

doing, to say, hey, I wanna be a part of a family

because I need people that are gonna walk alongside

of me when things get difficult and aren't afraid

to speak truth. to me. Jesus is not afraid to

speak truth to them. I love this. After they

say this to Jesus, it says in verse 25, he said

to them, how foolish are you? Jesus is just like,

hey, we ain't messing around. How foolish are

you right here? And how slow to believe all the

prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have

to suffer these things and then enter his glory?

And beginning with Moses and the prophets, beginning

in the beginning of the book, he explained to

them what was said in all the scriptures concerning

himself. See, sometimes we just need truth spoken

over us. Jesus reminded them of God's promises.

That's what he was doing. He said, I wanna remind

you of God's promises right now. We need truth

spoken over us. Can I just speak truth and remind

you of God's promises? Because some of you have

believed a lie for too long and you need to understand

that what God says is true. And God says in Psalm

34, 18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He

says in Romans 8, 28, in all things, God's works

for the good of those who love him, who have

been called according to his purpose. In Psalm

23, 4, it says, even though I walk through the

darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you

are with me. And I need you to know this, God

is not done with you. It doesn't matter what

the disappointment you're feeling. It doesn't

matter what you walked in with. God is not done

with you. If you're not dead, God's not done.

God has a purpose for you. God has a calling

for you. God wants more for you. And a lot of

times we believe the lie that we've been told,

the lie that we live around in our culture, the

lie that we tell ourself, the lie that the people

we surround ourself with are telling us, but

we need to start listening to the truth that

only comes from him. Jesus speaks truth to them.

It says this. In verse 28, as they approached

the village to which they were going, Jesus continued

on as if he were going further. Jesus wanted

to continue to walk by, but they urged him strongly,

stay with us, for it is nearly evening. The day

is almost over. So he went in to stay with them.

See, I wonder how many times we let Jesus walk

right past us instead of reaching out for him.

I wonder how many times we've been in proximity.

And instead of reaching out for Jesus, we just

let him slip right past. One of the privileges

that I have in my life is I get to be an assistant

coach for Embry -Riddle University. I get to

coach baseball over there. And we have some of

the Embry -Riddle baseball eagles in the house

with us today right now. Come on, can we support

the local boys right now? Let's go. Shout out

to them. I'm glad that they're here with us.

But one of the things we do every year is we

get to go to a spring training game and we take

the team there to have some team bonding and

to be able to watch a game. And so we went down

and we got to watch a spring training game. And

as I was sitting there, I noticed that in the

section right next to me, a famous Hall of Fame

manager was sitting right there. And so I nudged

some of the players next to me. I'm like, hey,

that's a famous Hall of Fame manager right there.

And they go, hey, you should go talk to him.

I'm like, I'm not going to talk to him. He doesn't

want to hear from me. I had to come up with every

excuse right then. I'm like, well, he doesn't

have time for me. I'm not going to go talk to

him. He's not going to want to talk to someone

like me anyway. Why would he want to talk to

me? So we waited until the end of the game, and

finally my player, he's the one that had the

courage to go up and talk to him. And he goes

to talk to him, and he goes, hey, I know who

you are, and this is really exciting. Can we

take a picture with you? And I'm sitting there.

I'm standing there. I'm like, this is awesome.

And so my player then turns to me and hands the

phone, and he goes, hey, coach, will you take

a picture of us? I'm like, bro, I wanted to be

in the picture. What the heck, man? But then

in that moment, I was identified as the coach.

And so this Hall of Fame manager realized and

he walks over to me and he shakes my hand and

he says, hey, coach, you're doing a great job

with these boys. And he talks to me for a few

minutes there and I get the conversation with

him right there. And I was like, all right, I

won. I'll take your picture now, it's okay. All

right, but see, I would have let him slip right

past without saying anything, without reaching

out. See, Jesus was just walking past. Jesus

was gonna continue on going and these people

reached out and they said, no, no, no, hey, stay

with us. Hey, stick with us. And as Jesus was

doing this, as Jesus was reaching out, he's saying,

hey, I wanna just keep going. And he looked at

them and he stayed with them. And Jesus stayed

with them at that moment, right then, right then

and there. And Jesus sits down with them. See,

here's the invitation. Jesus wants to sit down

with you. Jesus wants to sit down with you. And

you know why I know that? Because Jesus went

to a cross for you. We celebrate Jesus. We remember

what he did on Good Friday when Jesus went to

a cross. And sometimes we frame it up in our

mind that Jesus went to a cross because they

sent him to a cross. But the Bible says, no,

he laid his life down. Why did he go to a cross?

He went to a cross. Because he loves you. And

Jesus decided to pay the price for you on the

cross. And when Jesus was nailed to a cross,

when Jesus was beaten and he was bloodied and

he was bruised and he was crucified on that cross,

what Jesus did was he made a way for you to have

a relationship with God. That is the good news.

The good news today is that Jesus made a way.

He paid the price and Jesus went to a grave,

but Jesus did not stay in the grave. And when

Jesus rose from that grave, what he did is he

conquered sin and he conquered death and he made

a way for you and I to have a relationship with

God. And it's a free gift. It's a free gift.

And I talk about my love of Reese's quite often.

And so I got lots of people that are, they're

kind of my suppliers. I have my friend Dory.

She shows up in the office almost every day and

goes, hey, here you go. Here's some Reese's.

So just so you know, this message is brought

to you powered by Reese's. And then I have my

friend Deb. My friend Deb, she'll show up to

me and she did a couple weeks ago at church and

she just comes up and she goes, hey, this is

for you. And I already know what's in it before

she even says it. I know what she's brought me.

I said, why do I get this? Why do I need this?

She looked at me and said, you don't need that.

I'm just kidding. She didn't say that. She didn't

say that. But she said, no, you didn't do anything.

I just want to give it to you. It's a free gift.

See, as Jesus went and he sat down and he started

eating with these people, as Jesus was sitting

with them, it says that they shared a meal. And

they talked about all the things that had happened.

They talked about what was going on. They talked

about their walk there. And they still didn't

know it was Jesus. And then it says this, their

eyes were opened to him. My prayer for you is

this. My prayer is that your eyes are opened

to him today. Maybe you've been around the message

of Jesus, but you've never put your faith in

Jesus. Maybe you've heard it before, but today

is the day that you say, I'm gonna take a stand.

Today is the day that you say, I am going to

make a decision. Because today is my day. And

it doesn't matter what disappointment you walked

in with. It doesn't matter with what pain you

walked in with. It doesn't matter with brokenness

you walked in with. You're gonna leave a new

life today. So here's the thing. Salvation. Salvation

through Jesus is a free gift. But if I never

went and took this gift, it wouldn't be mine.

And if my friend Deb just sat it down and said,

okay, hey, there you go. And I just walked away

and left it there. Somebody else would steal

it and they would eat my Reese's. That's what

happened. It does not become yours until you

reach for it, until you grab it, until you take

hold of it. See, the free gift of Jesus is offered

to you. The free gift of salvation is offered

to you, but it is your job to reach out and to

take it. How do you accept this? It's simply

telling God, listen, I surrender. I'm tired of

trying to do this on my own. I'm tired of trying

to push my will instead of bending and understanding

that your will is what matters. And I believe

that there are some people in here today. I believe

there are some people here right now that it's

time for you to get to a place where you say,

I give my life to Jesus. Because as their eyes

were open to Jesus, as they were sitting at this

meal with Jesus and they were right there, it

says while he was speaking and while he was going

through the scriptures, didn't you feel that

burning inside your heart? So I think some of

you today have felt that. And that's nothing

I've said, but it's all of the Holy Spirit. It's

God working in you. It's God working in your

heart right now. And I believe that you are feeling

that burn inside of you right now because God

is speaking to you and he's saying, hey, today

is your day. Today is your day. It says in the

book of 2 Corinthians, the day of salvation has

come. Today is my day. If that's you today, And

today, maybe you walked in with disappointment.

You walked in with discouragement. You walked

in feeling like this whole life was on your shoulders.

You can leave with new life because the tomb

is empty. And the tomb being empty, this is the

best part, is that tombs are designed to hold

dead things. They're designed to not be escapable

because what's inside of them is dead. But Jesus

rose from the dead. Jesus is alive. And because

he is alive, you and I can escape the tomb. You

and I can run out in glorious victory. We do

not have to walk in shame of disappointment.

We can walk in victory because Jesus conquered

the grave and he provided the victory for you

and for me. And listen. There are so many in

here today that need to step into that victory.

And it's as simple as this. It's as simple as

saying, God, I know that I've messed up. I know

that I've sinned, but I trust what you have done.

I'm not doing this for myself. I'm trusting in

you and putting our faith and trust in Jesus.

I'm gonna pray right now and I wanna give an

opportunity for that. I wanna give you an opportunity

to give your life to Jesus today. I'm gonna pray

and if you're here right now and you know that

today is your day, today is your day to accept

the good news that Jesus died for your sins,

but he did not stay dead. He conquered the grave

so that you have a path to life. I want you to

just pray this after me. Dear God, I know that

I'm a sinner. But God, I know that you loved

me enough to die for me. I place my faith and

my trust in you. I want the new life that comes

only through you. Amen. Listen, if you prayed

that prayer, yeah, let's give it up for Jesus.

Let's give it up for those that prayed that prayer

right now. Listen, if you prayed that prayer,

I need you to know that you are not alone in

this journey. I need you to know that there are

people that wanna come walk alongside of you,

that there are people that are going through

this same journey that have been on this journey

for years, that wanna come alongside of you.

And if you're somebody who prayed that prayer

today, We have people all over this park that

are walking around that wanna give you something

right now. They wanna give you a bag and in that,

there'll be a QR code that you can scan and it'll

take you to a place where you can just say, today

is my day and let us know that you made a decision.

You can also go over here. There's a tent with

a big sign that says prayer right there. If you

wanna talk to someone specifically, there'll

be people there. But right now, is there people

around this park that wanna give you something

to help you? Let us know, hey, I made this decision.

If you prayed that prayer today for the first

time to say, God, I'm giving my life to you,

would you just put your hand up right now? Would

you just put your hand up? We see those hands

all over. People are gonna be bringing you things.

People will be handing you bags that you can

do. Let's praise God for what is happening right

now. Let's praise God for the people that have

crossed from death into life. You can go on our

app or the website. If you've made that decision

today and there's a button there that says, today

is my day. If you click that, it'll let us know

and we wanna reach out to you. We wanna contact

you. We wanna help you along this journey because

saying yes to Jesus doesn't mean that everything's

easy now. It means it even gets harder, but you

don't have to walk it alone because death is

defeated because Jesus reigns victorious. If

you need to talk more about the decision that

you've made today, or maybe you're not quite

ready to make that decision, there'll be people

under this tent over here that wanna talk with

you. You can head over there. You can talk with

them. But I just wanna praise God right now.

God, we love you. God, we praise you. God, we

are so grateful that you stayed. that you stayed

long enough to pay for our sin, but you did not

stay forever. You rose from the grave, God, and

we praise you for that, God. We honor you. We

glorify you for the work that was done in this

park today. This is a normal park, but God, the

presence of Jesus is here with us today, and

we thank you for that, God. We thank you for

everything that you've done. We thank you for

the lives that have crossed from death into life

today. And God, we are so grateful, and we praise

you, God. We worship you, God. We sing your praises

now. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's

praise him.