The Empty Tomb | Ps. Keith Pittman | Easter Sunday

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Today is a very sacred day for those of us that are followers of Jesus and those of us who are who are pursuing Jesus.

The reason being is because we recognize that today is powerful because our entire faith is hinged upon this very idea.

The Apostle Paul says it this way if Christ be not raised, then everything we do is in vain.

I love to look at it like this that that Christmas split time, but the resurrection built a bridge for us to experience eternity with Jesus.

These are moments that we get to celebrate together as a community.

I often think about the journey that the disciples were on and what that Saturday must have felt like.

But then there's this beautiful idea of what happens early on Sunday morning.

The Gospel of Luke accounts for it in this way.

He says, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning.

So that would have been our nine o'clock service, not our 10:30 service, which I love you guys.

You guys are still part of the group.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb and they went in, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And while they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes.

So the women were terrified and to bow down to the ground.

Why are you looking for the living among the dead?

asked the men.

He is not here, he is risen.

Remember, he spoke to you when he was in Galilee, saying, It is necessary for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men to be crucified, and he would rise on the third day.

And they remembered his words.

Verse number nine.

Returning from the tomb, they reported all the things to the eleven and to the rest.

That's the disciples.

Mary, Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the other women were with them, telling the apostles these things, literally declaring the empty tomb, the gospel.

These women were entrusted with carrying the gospel message.

But look at what happens here.

These words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.

Peter, however, got up and he ran to the tomb.

And he stooped in, he looked in, and he saw only the linen clothes.

So he went away amazed at what had just happened.

This is a sacred, powerful moment that I believe changes everything for every single one of us.

Today, I just want to spend a couple of moments talking to us about the power of the empty tomb and what it means for us practically.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, I thank you so much for the empty tomb and what it means for us, God, not in just a theological space, but Lord, what it means for us in a practical, day-to-day way.

Father, I pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you.

Lord, I pray for open ears to hear your truth and open hearts to receive everything it is that you want to speak to us today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

And amen.

If if you guys have been around our church or part of our church for any period of time, there's there's a couple of things that you've probably undoubtedly heard me say.

One, that the Philadelphia Eagles are God's team.

That's the first thing.

Let's just get that out the way.

And then the second thing is that I love uh to go to amusement parks uh with my family.

It's one of the things that I love that brings us all together.

And so I still remember when that became a thing for me.

I was much younger, and my family had brought me and my brother down here to Orlando, and we went to our first amusement park, and I remember getting on our first roller coaster, and I was hooked after that.

Like after I had that experience, I knew then that, man, like if I could get a job where I got a chance to like ride around on roller coasters, this is the day before influencers, but if I could get a job doing that, man, I would do that and get paid for it.

I just I loved it so much.

So when I've had my own family, I knew that I wanted to raise them in the ways of the Lord and in the ways of roller coasters.

Those two things were those things were incredibly important.

And so I remember um taking them to different amusement parks, but I knew that for me, I wanted them to go to the same amusement park where I had that initial experience.

You know, some of you parents may have those moments where you want your children to experience the exact same thing that you experienced.

And so we had came here to Orlando prior to us moving here, and then I'm telling them about this ride that set everything in motion for me.

This ride that was so monumental in my pursuit of thrills in this way.

And so we're waiting in a line, it's about an hour and a half wait, and they're like, man, like are you sure this is worth it?

I'm like, listen to me.

This is going to change your life.

This, this, like, this is gonna be a moment in time that you'll tell your children about.

Like, it was one of those type of things this way that I built it up.

We we get on the ride, and quite honestly, the ride was a little bit shorter than I had remembered it.

Anybody ever remember like going and visiting your your old neighborhood home?

Like, man, it seems a lot smaller than what I remember.

Like, it looks like they didn't show much love to this thing since I was last there.

But in the meantime, I still was like, what did you guys think?

I got off the roller coasters just so filled with excitement, and I was having flashbacks of riding this ride with my brother and my mother and my dad.

So I'm thinking that my kids are gonna look me in the eyes and their eyes begin to well up with tears, and they're gonna look at me with a quivering lip and say, Dad, we love you so much.

We're so thankful for your sacrifice, we're so thankful that you've allowed us to be a part of this experience.

We're gonna pass this on from generation to generation.

Let me tell you exactly how my rebellious kids played this out.

After everything that I share with them about the significance of this moment, I was like, hey, so what do you guys think?

They were like, eh.

They basically just stepped on my childhood.

Everything that had had put into motion my passion and my desire for me to even get into amusement parks and riding on these rides, from them, they were just like, eh?

I'm like, what do you mean, eh?

They were like, well, listen, like you built it up and made it such a big deal, but it didn't deliver on the way that you communicated it.

I was like, well, what?

First of all, there's something wrong with you, not something wrong with the amusement park and the ride.

That's the first thing.

But I began to really look at myself and think, like, man, like, have we ever had those moments where you're leading someone to experience something and it fails to deliver on all the promises?

That moment of when you're you're talking about going to a restaurant, someone's like, listen to me, you want to get some good sushi, let me tell you exactly where to go.

What's going to be the best sushi in the entire world?

You go there and you get it, and you're like, this is mediocre at best.

I it tastes like I got it at a gas station.

Like, and and you don't know, you don't know what to say.

And hey, nothing wrong with gas station.

Somebody might work at a gas station sushi spot and it may be blessed by the Lord.

But then what do you what but what do you do in that moment?

When they look at you and they say, hey, so what do you think?

You can either be honest and say, eh, or you can be like, it's the best thing ever and be a liar, but that's between you and God.

That's between you and the Lord.

So we all had those moments where someone hypes something up and we get so excited about it, but it fails to deliver on the promise.

Your expectations weren't met.

All the talking and all the expectation that's building, it just doesn't deliver on it.

Now imagine for a moment, you're one of the disciples.

Jesus says, Come with me and I will make you a fisher of men.

And for the next three and a half years, these dudes have gone on a tour of different cities and they've seen Jesus do some amazing things.

They they've seen Jesus walk on water, they seen Jesus quiet a storm.

They they seen Jesus heal and open up blind eyes.

They they literally seen Jesus like heal a person whose arm was shriveled up.

Like they've seen some incredible things.

So for them, the momentum continues to build, and then they get to Palm Sunday, and now the the culture is finally ready to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Like you can imagine this buildup and this excitement and them feeling like, yo, man, like I am, I picked the right team.

Like, you know, some guys are just bench players, but you pick the right team and you get a ring, and you kind of okay, I digress.

You didn't really contribute, but you were there.

Like, that's what these guys are on this wave of following Jesus, and everything is going good.

And then Thursday night, Jesus gets arrested.

Then on Friday, Jesus gets condemned to death.

On Friday afternoon, he's put into a tomb.

It's sealed.

And now they're wrestling with this idea of what do I do now?

What's next?

I've invested three and a half years of my life.

I I walked away from my family and I'm pursuing this thing, and he said we're gonna be fishers of men, and I'm looking at these Old Testament scriptures about the Messiah coming and putting everything in his rightful place, and now I feel like I'm having this moment where it's not living up to my expectations.

If I could be honest with you, I feel like what the disciples were experiencing is literally what we experience every day.

Because let's be real, I I know what it feels like to sit where you're sitting, to come to church, and every Sunday you hear someone tell you, man, that Jesus is good, Jesus is alive.

You have all these ideas about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, but when you walk out of these doors, guess what?

The pain still seems to be sitting there.

It's not living up to my expectation.

We we get home and the bills are still late, the sickness is still in the body, your tension in your marriage still exists, and you're like, this is not living up to the expectations.

I I thought that this word said that if I do these things, if I confess with my mouth and if I believe in my heart, I put these things into practice, that I'm gonna experience this newness of life, but it feels pretty old and stale to me right now.

What do I do now?

But I feel like in the same way with the disciples, we can also experience this idea of that we've compartmentalized our faith.

And if we can get to a place where we recognize that the empty tomb was not an experience that's supposed to be put in isolation, but if we can integrate the reality into our lives, we can begin to benefit from having a full life.

And in fact, I believe that we often struggle with understanding the power of the empty tomb and knowing that the empty tomb is the thing that gives us a full life.

Because the empty tomb means that we are full of purpose.

The empty tomb means that it's full of God's promises.

The empty tomb also communicates that it's full of power, but we have to learn how to integrate it.

When I look into this text and the way that we approach it, I believe there's a couple of things that are not meant to be compartmentalized on Sunday, but to be implemented into every area of our lives that allows us to benefit from the empty tomb.

Here's the first thing I want you to know.

Because of the empty tomb, that means that we have victory over death.

Let me say that again.

Because of the empty tomb, we have victory over death.

I'm gonna say it until y'all believe it.

Because of the empty tomb, we have victory over death.

You have to understand.

Now we're talking.

No, no, y'all gotta work with me now.

I know it's Easter, but we're not, I'll take this jacket off and roll my sleeves up if I got to, but y'all gotta talk to me a little bit.

Because of the empty tomb, what the Bible tells us that we have victory over death.

Let me tell you why that's so significant.

Because when Jesus died, it looked as if death had the final say.

It looked as if death had the final statement.

When the women went to the tomb to go and visit Jesus, they were bringing with them these oils, these embalming oils that were meant to kind of preserve the body but also mask the odor of death.

They didn't get a chance to do it prior to him being buried as they traditionally would.

So they're showing up to the tomb to finish off and have a kind of like close that chapter.

They can have a little bit of closure.

That was their expectation.

But when they get there, they see that the tomb is open and they get in and they see that Jesus isn't anywhere to be found.

You can imagine how confused they are.

So as they're looking perplexed, they brought the oils with them to cover the stench of death.

Then these angels show up.

And I want to say this the Bible describes the angels, and it says that they appeared in dazzling clothes.

I just want to send a message to uh uh preachers and sneakers.

It's okay for the messengers of faith to have dazzling clothes.

We see it in scripture.

I don't make the rules up, I just follow them.

They showed up, they just showed up in these dazzling clothes.

They stood out, and when they looked at them, they were having this eye contact moment and they said to them, Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead?

Like, you're you're looking for life in an environment that can't produce life.

You're you're you're looking for hope in an environment that that can't produce hope?

You're looking for peace in an environment that can't produce peace.

Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead?

How often are we looking for life in environments that cannot deliver on the promise?

How often are we looking to our jobs to give us fulfillment when our jobs are not capable of doing that?

How often are we looking to our relationships and we're hoping that our relationships are going to give us ultimate fulfillment and we're putting pressure on the relationship that it was never meant to carry?

How often are we looking at our individual accolades, if I get one more degree, if I get one more thing, that maybe that'll be the thing that gives me fulfillment?

We're putting pressure on something that was never intended to carry it.

Why are we looking for the living amongst the dead?

And then we often will bring a lot of energy and strategy to it.

See, when they brought the oils, they were trying to cover the stench of death.

What oils are you bringing to dead relationships that Jesus told you you got to get out of?

What things are you bringing to environments that God said, I'm not in it?

Because when they got there, with all of their preparation, with all of their hard work, they arrived at the place and Jesus wasn't there.

Let me say it this way.

You put all the work into this relationship, you prayed about it, you put all the energy into it, and you got there, and Jesus wasn't even in it.

I'm stepping on toes and I'm glad to do it.

He he he he wasn't even in it.

We we put a lot of energy and effort into this job and into this career thinking that if I can make this amount of money, I'll be satisfied, I'll be fulfilled, and we get to a point where we still feel empty and vacant because Jesus isn't in it.

We have this moment where we're wrestling with how we feel on the inside because we put all this energy and effort into a space that Jesus doesn't occupy.

Why are we looking for the living amongst the dead?

The angels then say to him, Hey, don't you remember that Jesus was with you guys and he he told you that this was going to happen?

Now I understand that Jesus would often speak in parables.

I understand that sometimes Jesus wasn't the most clear.

So I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

So I went back and began to look at the gospels and seeing, was Jesus clear about this?

Was this one of those vague statements that required a theological degree to understand?

And everywhere I've looked leading up to this moment, Jesus was pretty crystal clear where he says, Hey, listen, we're celebrating right now, but I gotta prepare you guys for something.

I'm gonna be betrayed, I'm gonna be murdered, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be put inside of a tomb, but don't worry about it.

On the third day, I am gonna rise up.

He said it multiple times to them, and yet now that they're in that moment, they completely forgot.

I don't know how you can forget such a profound detail.

I I mean, I really do believe that I have a basically good memory, but I am getting to the point where I do forget some of the most common things.

Real talk, I was in a meeting last week, I was there for 15 minutes, didn't know I were there.

They were like, You're the one who called this meeting.

I'm like, why?

They like, I don't know what was.

I'm like, like, I'm getting to that age where I don't even know why I am in certain places.

I just show up because Megan tells me to be there.

I get it.

Like, why are we here?

You're marrying somebody today, like, oh okay, cool.

Like, I don't know.

So I understand that we all can kind of get tunnel vision, but sometimes can miss the skyline because we're so focused on the one thing.

So these women, they were so focused on what they just experienced, this traumatic moment, they completely forgot that Jesus was going to rise again on the third day.

That the angel says to them, Man, listen, you you guys are grieving like it's Thursday when he was betrayed and arrested.

You you guys are grieving like it's Friday when he was condemned to death and he died right in front of you.

You guys are grieving like it's Saturday and you don't know what's going to happen.

But I'm here to let you know it is Sunday, and on Sunday the Bible says that he's gonna rise up again because death doesn't have the final setting.

I understand that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning because he got up.

That lets us know that death does not have the final setting.

There are some things that we have all experienced where we've experienced traumatic events and it looks as if there's no breath in it at all.

But the empty tomb reminds us that death does not have the final setting.

Maybe someone has spoken words of death over you.

Maybe they said that you're never gonna be in anything, you're not gonna account to anything, that maybe the best you can do is try to be like your mother or father, and maybe that's not the most ideal.

The good thing about words of death is that we serve the architect of life, and the Bible reminds us, because of the empty tomb, death does not have the final setting.

This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, oh death, where is your sting?

Oh death, where is your victory?

At one point sin confined us to death, but thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, that we now have victory inside of the empty tomb.

Because the tomb is empty, that means that death doesn't have the final setting.

We are going through seasons of grief as a family, and I know that it was a moment that it hurts, but the Bible reminds me we don't grieve like those who don't have hope.

We understand that when someone says yes to Jesus, that we will be reunited with them because death does not have the final say, only God does.

I'm not sure what you're walking through, I'm not sure what your grief is, but death does not have the final say because the tomb is empty.

This is a powerful idea.

And so now you can imagine that once we understand the power that comes from the empty tomb, we also understand there's hope that comes from it.

We have hope.

Now we're able to have hope.

These women who came to grieve and to and to and to pour out their suffering on the body of Jesus, they came to an empty tomb.

They were reminded about the goodness of God and their power of resurrection, and they left the environment that they came to in despair, they left with joy.

So they go back to the very environment where the rest of the disciples are, grieving, hopeless, discouraged.

They show up, and when they walk in, they say, Bro, you will not believe this.

This is the Keith translation.

I don't know what translation of the Bible you got, but mine is very clear.

It's the Ebonic Keith translation.

You'll check it out online.

Google it.

It says, bro, check this out.

We just came back from the tomb.

It's empty.

He ain't in it.

They're like, bro, what are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Yo, we just went there to go, you know, we came, you know, we had the little ointments, we got the oils, we came there to kind of, you know, cover the body of Jesus.

We got there and and he ain't there.

What do you mean he ain't there?

He ain't there.

What do you mean he ain't there?

He ain't in it.

He ain't home.

He gone.

He gone.

And what the Bible says is that these men were listening to them and was like, that's nonsense.

That doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't know how, in spite of what we just witnessed, you could come in here with hope.

Because I recognize that there are moments that it's hard for people to celebrate something they haven't experienced.

But I also understand how hope can change an atmosphere.

That while they were still talking and saying these words sound like nonsense to us, the women kept talking about the goodness of God in the empty tomb.

And what began to happen is the atmosphere.

Hold on, wait a minute, we're gonna get there.

We're gonna get there.

Give me one second, I'll point to y'all and I'm gonna need y'all to lean in.

But this is what happens.

They continue to talk about it and it begins to shift the atmosphere.

At one point, everybody in there was filled with despair.

Everybody in there rejected the gospel message from these women.

But something on the inside of Peter had begun to rise up and said, Could it be that the tomb really is empty?

Could it be that the resurrected Savior Jesus is gonna allow me to be restored to my rightful place?

That the energy that the women brought into that room, and as they spoke words of hope, it shifted the atmosphere.

And John and Peter got up and said, I'm gonna pursue God.

You see, being a person of hope, it does not mean we're gonna get there.

Being a person of hope, it doesn't mean that you change your mind, but it does mean you change your posture.

Because hope is the fuel that allows you to keep moving forward.

Hope is the thing that allows you to keep going on.

When you go into environments and you're talking about the goodness of God, there may be some people that'll say, That sounds like nonsense to me.

You keep on talking.

You may go into some environments where people will say, I don't understand how you can think that this relationship can be restored, but you just keep on talking because we serve a savior that got up out of that tomb.

And what that reminds me of that if Jesus got up, I can get up.

Because what I recognize, and this is where the clap comes in, an empty tomb means, watch this, wait for it, wait for it.

The empty tomb means an occupied throne.

Let me say that again for the people in the overflow room.

An empty tomb means an occupied throne.

Why do I have hope?

Because Jesus is on the throne, he's not in the tomb.

Why am I filled with joy?

It's because the empty tomb means that Jesus is on the throne.

That means that he is in control.

When he appeared before his disciples, he said, All power has been given unto me in heaven and in earth.

All power, that means that there's no limitation to what God can do.

So, yes, I see the same chaos that you see, but Jesus is on the throne.

Yes, I'm going through the same pain that you're going through, but Jesus is on the throne.

And because Jesus is on the throne, he has all power to get involved and turk all things together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purposes, and that is where we give God some praise in this church.

The empty tomb, it gives us hope.

But then here's the third and final thing I want to share with us is that the empty tomb, it allows us to experience the power of redemption.

Redemption.

To be redeemed means to be restored back into your rightful place.

Something that was forfeited, that you now get it back.

We understand that the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 5, it beautifully outlines this idea of the sin condition that we inherited.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Paul beautifully explains it that because of one man's disobedience being Adam, many were made sinners.

Adam represented all mankind, so because of his sin, we inherited this sin nature, we inherited this broken world.

But he doesn't end it there.

Paul says, However, comma, by one man's obedience, many are made righteous.

That means that on that Friday, That we all define as good, that didn't look good, that means that Jesus took the weight of sin of the world, and now the barrier that prevented us from having fellowship with God has been removed.

That's redemption.

He restored our connection.

You see, on Christmas morning, we experienced a tragic, tragic, tragic event in the Pittman household.

And we didn't want to share it because it was something that was private that we needed to navigate through.

On Christmas morning, I think it was around 9.30, 9.38, if I remember correctly, we lost our internet connection.

On Christmas morning.

See, some of y'all are laughing and like, yo, man, what's wrong with him?

Like, you don't understand.

You don't understand.

See, like, all of my TV is streamed.

You cut off the connection.

I got nothing.

And here's what I initially thought.

I I really thought, I'm like, hey, you know what?

Maybe this is God's providence.

Maybe this is an opportunity for me to spend time with our family.

Because it's so easy to kind of like be together, open a gift, spend some time, take some pictures, go back into your respective corners of the house.

And that was what I honestly thought God was going to do.

He's like, hey, we're going to shut down this internet connection and y'all gonna spend some time together.

I'm like, Lord, I hear you speaking.

Two hours later, I'm like, that's the devil.

I don't even like these kids like that.

I kid, but not really.

Anyway.

So I called, I called the cable company and said, hey, we're gonna send somebody out in three days.

Three days?

Am I gonna get a discount for three days?

Like I'm beginning to negotiate.

I know it's the Lord's day, but I'm upset.

So I'm upset and I'm working through it.

So for the next three days, I'm I'm using my phone as a hot spot.

I'm doing everything I can do to connect on my own strength.

But on three days, the technician showed up.

He upgraded the software and he got us reconnected to the source so that I didn't have to do everything in my own strength anymore.

Some of us missed it.

The technician showed up and he reestablished the connection, he upgraded our software, and now our signal is stronger than ever.

Sin disconnected us from God.

But then Jesus, the great technician, showed up to re-establish our connect, our connectedness to God so we don't have to do it in our own strength, but we do have to log on to it.

Because with the new, with the new update, that meant that all of my old software that was connected to the old Wi-Fi, I now had to go through the the tedious process of logging off of that and logging on to something new.

The power was available, but I had to plug into it.

What Jesus did on the cross is he re-established our connection to God.

That we no longer are separated from the love of God because he made it available through his death on the cross.

This is the beauty of the thing that we have with this idea of redemption.

I believe that Peter is a beautiful example of what it means to be redeemed by God.

Remember, he denied Jesus three times.

But because of the empty tomb, he was able to be restored back to his rightful place.

You see, if Jesus was in the tomb, then he could not have forgiven Peter.

But because Jesus was risen, he looked Peter in the eye and restored him back to his rightful place.

And that is where Paul builds the idea that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

I'm here to encourage somebody right now that maybe you distance yourself from God.

Maybe you've denied him in some way or another, but because of the empty tomb, you were able to be forgiven and restored right back to your rightful place.

That is the beauty of the God that we serve.

It's amazing when we think about what Jesus done when he got up off of that cross and he rose up out of that tomb and what that did for us.

We can integrate that into every area of our lives.

I want to close with this thought because I've been thinking a lot about what does it mean to have this radical experience with God and how does it translate into every area of our lives.

You know, one of the things that I've recognized whenever you go to these amusement parks is that when you get off the ride, it is impossible to get out of the ride without walking through the gift shop.

You ever notice that?

I just, I just I just want to get out of here.

I've already waited for an hour and a half for a ride that takes 48 seconds.

I've been through this journey.

I just I just want to get out of here, but now you make it where I can't get out without walking through the gift shop.

My kids are full adults, and I tell them, listen, don't you break stride, don't give eye contact to nobody.

We're walking out.

We're not looking at a single thing.

They've already got enough for our money.

But but but I but I also think about the psychology of it.

Because here's what they're ultimately doing.

Yes, they're gonna try to get their money.

Get your money, mate.

I understand it.

But but here's here's the other side of the coin.

They know that you just had an experience and they want to make sure you take that experience home with you.

Take it home with you.

Don't don't leave it here because as time goes on, you'll forget what you experienced and you'll move on for from it, and then you'll forget what you went through.

See the Gospel of John chapter 20, when it gives the account of what happens at the resurrection, it actually describes it a little bit differently.

John 20 · chapter mention

What it says is that Peter and John they show up, they see the empty tomb, they don't understand it, and it says, and they went back home.

They just went back home.

I can't think of anything more disappointing than walking with Jesus and seeing him feed thousands of people and you just go back home.

I I can't I can't imagine watching Jesus walk on water and and experiencing this moment and and you just go back home.

I I can't imagine showing up at the tomb and seeing that the tomb is empty and that Jesus is risen, and because I don't understand it, I just go back home.

You know, every every year on Easter Sunday, it it is the it is the busiest day of the year in the church world.

People dress up, they come in, they they smile for the photos, they go and get brunch, they they spend time with family, and my concern is at the end of it, just go back home.

They they allow this monumental moment to just turn into a monument that you took a picture of and that you visit occasionally because they didn't bring it back home.

But what if today it was different?

What if this was the year that we said, I may go back to the same place, but I'm not going back to the same person?

That today is the day that I'm gonna allow the empty tomb to be integrated in every area of my life in such a way that it's gonna transform everything that I do.

Because it's all through love.

John 3 16 says it this way that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe in him will not perish but experience everlasting life.

Love.

The road to redemption is paved with love, this idea of love.

But I also understand that for love to have true significance, it's gotta be reciprocated.

It's it's gotta it's gotta be received.

I still remember when I told Megan that I loved her for the first time.

I didn't say it with confidence though, because I didn't know, so I kind of said it with a question mark.

I'm like, I love you.

Um because I knew that if she didn't reciprocate, I was gonna be like, well, I thought I did, but I don't, and I'm out.

Like you either we the same or we're not.

So I said, I love you.

And she said, I love you too.

I'm like, yeah, I love you.

Like it shifted.

The moment she reciprocated it, it shifted inside of me.

Because if I'm extending love and she doesn't reciprocate it, then it's like I'm just hanging out there hoping that she's gonna respond to it.

But she didn't just respond with her words, she responded with her behavior, and her behavior was being loyal, being faithful, being committed.

We talked every day.

That that love wasn't this abstract idea that we say to each other, but it was this um this idea that we live out with one another.

What if our relationship was with God the same way?

He's telling us that he loves us.

How do we know that?

Because he gave us Jesus.

My question to you is have you responded to God saying he loves you yet?

Have you responded to it?

And if you've responded to it, how are you demonstrating it on a day-to-day basis?

Are you being faithful?

Are you being loyal?

Are you communing with him on a regular basis?

Or are we treating God like a spiritual booty card?

I'll show up when I need something from you and you'll catch me slater.

But what if we begin to shift our paradigm?

With every head bowed, with every eye closed.

I wanna I wanna pose this question.

How are you responding to the love of God?

How are you communing with the love of God?

Maybe your next step is simply to say yes to Jesus.

Maybe you don't have it all figured out, maybe you don't understand everything, maybe you don't have all the doctrine, you don't have all the theology, but what you do know is that God says that He loves you, and today is the day that we respond to it.

If you're here with us today and you're ready to say yes to receiving the love of God, this is a this is a personal moment for you.

I just want you to signify by raising a hand so we can all pray and celebrate together.

On account of three, I'm saying yes to the love of God and saying yes to Jesus.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Yes, we can celebrate that.

Amen.

Amen.

See those hands in the back.

God bless you guys.

Amen.

If you're joining us over in the Overflow or online, we celebrate this moment with you.

What I want us to do is I want us all to stand on our feet.

And we're gonna go back into a brief moment of worship.

Then I'm gonna come back and give us some further instructions.

But but if you're one of the ones that said yes to Jesus, we we want to encourage you.

Don't don't anyone leave yet.

We're gonna seal out worship.

We're gonna give you some more next steps.

But let's all lean into this moment, celebrating the empty tomb and how that integrates into every area of our lives.

Let us lift our hands up, let us receive what God wants to do in this moment.

Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that we that we exalt the name of Jesus.

We celebrate the empty tomb and how the empty tomb gives us the power of redemption.

It gives us uh access to forgiveness, it gives us access to the power that is found in the person of Christ.

We have hope, Lord God, and we thank you and we celebrate that.

So we exalt your name because of what you did on the cross, but more importantly, what you did when you got out of that tomb in Jesus' name.

Come on, family, let's worship one more time together.

Thanks again for listening.

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