CHRONICLES OF A KING: 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.

Hey church, I pray that your holy week has been as impactful as mine and my family has been.

You know, we've been really just looking at this narrative of the Chronicles of Jesus and really unpacking day by day just the power of the of the last week of the earthly ministry of Jesus.

Last week we started off with Palm Sunday, this powerful moment where Jesus goes into Jerusalem and really gets ushered in as a king who's all who's ultimately bringing in peace.

And off the course of the week, and we've shared this with you through our devos, we've we've unpacked the monumental moments and movements that Jesus made.

And today is the day of celebration because we know on Friday was the day that he breathed his last breath and uttered out those words, it is finished.

It was a very somber moment, especially for the early church.

But for us, we we have the advantage of recognizing that the tomb is empty.

So what I want to do now is I just want to unpack some of the key things and the powerful moments that we've seen in the final week of Jesus' life.

We see that powerful moment where he was risen from the grave.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me here in the Gospel of John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

All of the Gospels tell a powerful story about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

And so today what we're going to do is we're going to take different pieces from each of the Gospels to get a really full picture of this powerful moment that radically changed all of the world.

Our goal is to try to give us a 360 perspective of just what the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus really meant.

So imagine the matrix and how they had the camera that allowed us to get all the angles.

That's what we're going to do right now.

But beginning here, at the Gospel of John, chapter 20, looking at verse number one, it says this.

John 20 · chapter mention

Now, when the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid them.

So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb.

Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

So stooping in and looking in, they saw the linen clothes lying there, but they did not go in.

Then Peter came, following him, and he went into the tomb.

He saw the linen clothes laying there, and the facecloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying on the linen cloths folded in one place by itself.

Then the disciple, whom had reached the tomb first, he also went in and he saw and believed.

There's a lot for us to unpack in this moment, and there's some other elements that I want to bring into this.

But this powerful moment of where the disciples are sitting and in silence and wondering what their next steps are going to look like.

That moment when Mary comes to them and tells them that the tomb is empty.

Bible tells us that they rush to go to the tomb to take inventory for themselves, and it is discovered that the tomb is empty.

That is my encouragement for us today, guys, is knowing that the tomb is empty.

Simply put, that is the title of our message.

The tomb is empty.

So let's pray and let's unpack a couple of things in the scripture.

Lord, we're so thankful that the tomb is empty.

We're thankful for the for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we come with open eyes so that we can see you.

We come with open ears so that we can hear you, and we come with open hearts that we can receive everything that you have for us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Here's what I want to do, real quick, church is I really want to give you a condensed version of the entire Bible leading us up to this moment.

Now I know that's a daunting task, but I think that we can do it together.

So let's breathe deep and let's go in.

Here we go.

So in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

See, when I said beginning, I literally meant the beginning.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And the Bible tells us that he created man in his own image, that we are created in the image to God, to be bearers, to be ambassadors for the king.

That ultimately was our job description.

But the Bible tells us that even though we had that powerful job description to reflect and represent God in the world that he created for us, the Bible says that sin quickly entered into the picture.

That's right, by Genesis 3, a serpent comes in and it convinces Adam and Eve, our parents, to partake of a fruit that God did not want them to partake of.

And now sin and by by definition, death now entered into the equation.

That consequence was now a reality for all of mankind to inherit as a result of the acts and the behavior of one group of people.

The beautiful thing is that it sounds as if there's no hope, but even in that moment, God had a plan.

That's right, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, the Bible talks about how God, even in that moment, had begun to institute a plan that will ultimately require the death of his son, but would bring redemption to his people.

Genesis 3:15

So in Genesis 3.15, he talks about how through woman that a child was going to be born, and that child was going to be able to defeat death, but it's going to come at the cost of his life.

From that moment forward, we see everything in scripture leading to that powerful moment.

In fact, what we'll notice in the Bible is that every time God's people try to move forward to fulfill this plan, there was opposition from an adversary.

Ultimately, what it is, it's God's redemptive plan, God's plan to redeem all of mankind and bring in wholeness and healing to his people.

But there was always an adversary that was making every effort to shut it down.

Whenever we see moments of opposition in Scripture, we know it's the enemy's goal and job to keep God's plan from being activated in the lives of God's people.

I want you guys to hear me right now that God has a plan and a purpose for your life, that he has a vision for your life.

And every time you face opposition or resistance for that plan, that's the adversary trying to keep you from walking in the fullness of what God has for you.

But the reality of it is this: in the same way that God had provision for his people then, is the same way that he has provision for you and your family right now.

What the scripture tells us is that Jesus, 2,000 years ago, was born.

And the scripture tells us that unto us, that a child was born, that unto us a son was given.

The prophet Isaiah does a great job at helping us to understand and paint this picture of what this momentous moment really meant.

It meant that we have now this precious child who was born who would ultimately bring about salvation for all of mankind if we could just receive it.

Jesus lived a perfect life.

He lived a life that we would never be able to live.

And ultimately he ended up dying on the cross.

Here's what I want you guys to get into your spirit.

I want you to write this down that he lived a life of justice, of equality, of freedom, of love.

But there were those who benefited from injustice, inequality, and oppression that hated that message to the point that they decided that they wanted to kill him.

You can only imagine the tension, as many people didn't understand that the death of Jesus was necessary in order for it to be the birth of a new creation, a new man inside of the kingdom of God.

This is where we find ourselves in this moment, that Jesus breathes his last breath on what we refer to as Good Friday.

But for the disciples, for his followers, it was anything but good.

Everything that they had believed in, everything they had placed their hope in, had just died and uttered his last breath.

It's in this moment that we find ourselves that the disciples are scattered.

They're afraid.

Understandably, they are they're concerned about what their next steps are going to be.

But the Bible says that there was a group of women.

They were stirred in their hearts to go and visit Jesus at the tomb.

Now, the Bible says that when they were walking on their way to go to the tomb, that they actually began to have a conversation with themselves and they began to say, How are we actually going to be able to get in and anoint his body because the grave is closed?

Like, how are we actually going to do it?

But they continued to walk it out anyway.

What they didn't realize is that on the other side of that burden that was on their heart, that God has sent an angel to roll back this tomb, to roll back that stone so that they could have access.

Here's what I want us to see: that God had placed something on their heart, but they didn't know how they were going to do it.

But if they did not go to where they were supposed to go, they would not have seen what they were supposed to see.

I'm not sure who that's for right now, but I believe that there's some among us that God has placed something on our hearts.

Something that we know that we feel a burden that we're supposed to do.

But if we allow ourselves to begin to ask questions, even as they did, well, the door is closed right now.

How are we going to gain access?

It doesn't seem like it would make any sense for us even to take any step further because we don't have the strength or the ability to open the door up.

But God was already working on the other side.

Listen to me, friend.

I don't know what the burden is on your heart.

And right now, from your perspective, it can look like the door is closed and that you don't have access.

But we serve a God that can send messengers, that can send people, and that can stir other people to open up doors that you can never open in your own strength.

Respond to the places that God is calling you to go so that you can see what God is calling you to see.

This is where we find ourselves.

And when they arrive there, they see that the tomb is empty.

This, my friends, this is the good news.

The fact that the tomb is empty.

Now, in real time, they didn't understand what that meant.

They didn't know what that looked like.

But imagine that for a moment.

The idea of something being empty is good news.

Now I'm not sure about you, but in ordinary scenarios, there's not many things I can think of that when something is empty, that's good news.

Case in point.

When my refrigerator is empty, that's not good news.

When my gas tank is empty, that's not good news.

When my bank account is empty, that's not good news.

Ordinarily in the world that we live in, whenever something is empty, it's not something that makes us happy.

It's not something that gives us peace.

It's not something that brings about excitement.

But inside of the kingdom of God, it is the empty tomb that allows us to know that we can have a full life.

Man, that's a powerful thought for us right now.

And it's because of that empty tomb we know that we can gain access to something that we can never do in our own strength.

What are the things in your life right now that maybe you feel are empty?

What are those areas of your life that you know that they need to be filled with something other than what you have right now?

I believe it's moments like this that we can begin to exchange our emptiness for the empty tomb so that we can begin to walk in the fullness of what God truly has for us.

You know, friends, when I look at this passage of scripture that is the thing that literally has changed all of mankind, I believe there's a couple of observations that can be an encouragement for us on this Easter morning.

I believe that the empty tomb means that we are filled with hope, that we can be filled with hope.

What I want to take a moment to do is just uh have a forensic look at a few things that we can see in this passage of scripture that can be an encouragement for us to give us the proper perspective.

Here's the first thing I want us to say.

The Bible says that that when Mary had arrived at the tomb, there were a couple of ingredients that were there that was giving her glimpses that there was yet still to be hope.

The Bible takes great detail to let us know that that sitting inside of the empty tomb was the linen that once wrapped Jesus up.

The clothing that once wrapped him up, the grave clothes is what they often call it in scripture.

The things that they wrapped him up with when he died was now sitting inside of the tomb, just sitting there neatly.

In fact, another account of the gospel says it was folded up neatly in its proper place.

Now, the the idea that maybe there was some grave robbers that came and stole Jesus out of his tomb, the whole idea that the linen was left behind, it actually debunks that.

Because I don't know about you, that, but when someone is breaking into a home, they typically don't have time to wrap everything up neatly and put it back in its proper place.

It's normally a place filled with panic, it's been ransacked.

So we realize that in this moment that the clothing of Jesus was beautifully laid down as if someone had taken it off, put it down, and decided that they don't need to wear that right now.

I'm not sure about you, but if you were to look in my closet right now, you'll find some things laying around because whenever I'm in a rush, I uh things can get scattered really quick.

But the Bible is teaching us that when Jesus got up, that he wasn't in a rush, he wasn't filled with panic, he wasn't filled with any fear, that he had the wherewithal to fold it up neatly and to put it down, as if he was saying, I don't need to wear this anymore.

You know, there's a season where the garments that we wear are a reflection of where we are.

You know, there's a season when I used to live up north and we had a winter time.

And in that winter time, we had winter coats, we had some things that we had to do to cover us because of the elements that we would face.

But then when we moved to Florida, thank you God for Florida, that when we moved here to Florida, that there were certain garments that we just didn't have to wear anymore.

We could actually put those things up and box them away.

You know what the linen that was left behind from Jesus is meant to be a message for us?

Is that it is time for us to upgrade our wardrobe, that some of us are still wearing the grave clothes of the past when God is trying to bring us into a new season of life.

It's time for us to take inventory of ourselves and ask ourselves, what are the clothing, what are the items that I'm wearing, what are the things that I'm carrying that God has tried to deliver me from, but I'm wearing clothing from a previous season.

This is why when we see that Lazarus was resurrected from the dead, the first thing that Jesus said is remove the grave clothes.

That means that there was a season when maybe it was appropriate for you to wear the garments of depression.

There was a season when it was appropriate for you to wear the garments of grief.

There was a season when it was appropriate for you to wear the garments of fear, but now you're entering into a new season, and you can leave those garments right in the tomb because the empty tomb allows us to be filled with hope.

Listen to me, friends.

I want you to take inventory of some things in your closet, and maybe God is saying that you are dressing out of season.

It is time for you to stop carrying the baggage of condemnation and start wearing the garments of hope, to start wearing the garments of righteousness, to start wearing the garments of love, the garments of peace, the garments of joy, that we see that the linen that is left behind is meant to say that it's time for us to exchange our old uniforms for something far more new and powerful that we can put on Christ.

The other thing that we see in this passage of scripture is that there is this moment where where Mary is grieving, and she is grieving so so deeply.

But the Bible says that an angel appears to her and he says these powerful words to her, Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead?

What a powerful question, friends.

That as we that we see that that God sent a messenger to a person that was deeply grieved and saying, You're in the wrong spot if you're looking for love.

You're in the wrong spot if you're looking for hope.

You're in the wrong spot if you're looking for joy.

Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead?

If I could be honest with you, friends, I know that this was the case at seasons of my life, and I'm certain that it is for some of us.

We're looking for life in areas that God is telling us to move on from.

We're looking for peace in areas that there is no peace.

We're looking for joy in areas that there just isn't any joy.

Why are we looking for the living amongst the dead?

Maybe that God is moving us on from some places, and the best thing that we can do is move to where He is instead of where we think we want to be.

That question is powerful and is one that I think we can ponder.

But why are we looking for, why are we looking for signs of life in environments where God is saying, but you need to move on from this space?

That question is one that is powerful.

That is one that that challenges all of us.

But yet, but yet Mary was still filled with grief.

She was still conflicted in this moment.

So what the Bible says is that even though the angel was trying to invite her to move on, that she began a sense of presence behind her.

You and I both know this by the passage of scripture that it was Jesus, but for her, she she honestly thought it was a gardener.

She thought it was someone who was tending the garden.

And so she says, like, Lord, where have they where have they taken my Savior?

If you could just tell me where he is, I'll go and retrieve him.

She didn't even recognize that Jesus was right in front of her.

The Bible says that she looked at him but didn't even know who he was.

That means that there's times when we can be so filled with grief, that we can be so caught up in our feelings and our emotions that we don't recognize life when we're looking at it.

So what scripture tells us is that is that Jesus calls her by name, Mary.

She hears his voice, she sees his face, and that somehow, because it became personal, she was able to get this profound clarity that the person she was looking for was right in front of her.

Here's what this means for us, friends.

There are times where God will show up, that he will call us by name to make it personal, to get our attention, to let us know that he's there with us the entire time.

But the beautiful thing is this Mary's initial reaction is that she wanted to grab a hold of Jesus.

She wanted to cling on to him.

But he gives this response.

He says, Don't cling on to me.

There's another place that I have to go to.

Don't cling on to me because there's something else that we have to do.

Don't cling on to me because our mission isn't completed just yet.

In other words, what what Jesus was communicating to Mary was he was simply saying this if you try to hold on to me here, you'll never get to the place that you're supposed to go to.

You see, Mary had a calling on her life.

She was literally commissioned to be the first person to carry the message of the gospel.

You heard me say that correct.

She was commissioned to be the first person to carry the message of the gospel, the good news that Jesus was risen, that was trusted to Mary, that was trusted to a woman, that was trusted to, that was trusted to a person that in society at that time would have been a person that they would not have considered her voice to have any value.

We see immediately that Jesus is carrying on his ministry of allowing those who have been oppressed to be sitting at the seat of honor.

This is the powerful moment that we see that takes place.

That Jesus is saying, if you keep me here, you'll never get to there.

If you keep me here, you'll never get to the place that I'm ultimately calling you to be to.

And this is what I think for many of us, so often we have we have reduced Jesus to just be the person that forgives us of our sins and we cling on to him in the middle of our sin.

God, forgive me.

Forgive me, forgive me.

And he's like, okay, I forgive you, but let's move on from this place.

Let's move on from this brokenness, let's move on from this despair.

There's an assignment on your life, there's a calling on your life, there's a purpose on your life, and if you hold on to me here, you'll never get to the place that I'm leading you to go to.

What is the things that we're trying to hold on to Jesus in an environment where God is trying to lead us to the next?

This is the question that was posed to Mary.

Don't cling on to me because there's so much more that we still have yet got to accomplish.

You see, it's in this moment that we realize that not only does the empty tomb give us a sense of hope, but also the empty tomb, it means that we are filled with peace.

Here's what we understand is that the moment that Mary is given her instructions to go back and tell the disciples about what's going on, the Bible says that they are now in this room, shut in.

They're actually a little bit afraid.

They're a little bit concerned about what the consequence is going to be with them being followers of Jesus.

You know, there were many that were celebrating that Jesus was now gone because they considered him to be a fraud.

So now the followers of him were scattered and they were afraid because they didn't know if their lives were on the line as well.

So the Bible says that they that they were shut in, that the door was locked, that they were closed and off to themselves.

They didn't know what to do, they were filled with fear, is what the Bible literally says.

But it's in this moment the Bible says that Jesus shows up.

And when Jesus shows up, he leadedly speaks the words, peace be unto you.

Shalom, wholeness.

This powerful idea of God transmitting his wholeness to his people.

Even though they were shut in, it's powerful to know that Jesus wasn't shut out.

It kind of reminds me of passages of scripture like Matthew 18, where it says, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst.

There's these powerful moments where people are gathered, and it may seem like they're shut in, but God is never shut out.

It kind of makes me remind myself of the story of Noah as he went into the ark and the Bible says, and they were shut in on the ark.

They were shut in, but God wasn't shut out.

It makes me think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and how they were thrown into the fiery furnace and they were shut in into the fiery furnace with flames, but there was yet another in the fire because you may be shut in, but God isn't shut out.

I want to encourage you right now, friends, that we're in the middle of a pandemic.

And for many of us, we may feel shut in our homes, shut in fear, shut in with anxiety.

But even though you may be shut in, God is not shut out.

That when Jesus shows up, he speaks a word of peace.

He speaks a word of wholeness, he speaks a word of miracles and breakthrough and signs and wonders.

When Jesus shows up into your situation, he is bringing peace to it.

So not only when we look at the life that we live and recognizing that the empty tomb can fill us with hope, the empty tomb can fill us with peace.

But the other thing that the empty tomb does is it fills us with his presence.

There's this exchange moment that takes place where Jesus is talking to his disciples, he's given some instructions, allowing them to know that it truly is him.

And what he does is he breathes on them.

Now, for you and I, that could seem like a pretty weird thing to do.

But the Bible says that he breathes on them and he says these words to them receive the Holy Spirit, receive the Holy Ghost, which is the tradition that I came up in.

In other words, let me impart a part of myself on the inside of you.

For the disciples, they they didn't know what life was going to look like because they just wanted to have Jesus next to them, their their rabbi, their leader, their friend, the one that they love.

But it's this powerful moment where Jesus said, like, it's better that I go so that I can actually leave something with you that will empower you to do so much greater than what I have even done.

The Bible says that he imparts his spirit on the inside of them.

This is the process of us being filled with the presence of God.

No longer is God on us, but now God is in us.

See, the tomb is empty, which means this.

No longer is he there because now he is here.

There's a beautiful idea of knowing that where the presence of the Lord is, there is liberty.

That where the presence of the Lord is, there is joy, that where the presence of the Lord is, there is freedom and breakthrough.

That means that all of us have the ability to be walking in freedom and peace and joy at any given moment because the presence of God is on the inside of us.

Whenever the tomb is empty, that means that we are filled with his presence.

I don't know what areas of your life you may feel empty in right now, friends, but I assure you that the empty tomb means that you are able to have a full life.

But there's a question that you have to ask yourself.

What are the areas of my life that are empty?

Are there any areas of my life where I'm trying to cling on to Jesus when he's trying to lead me to another space?

Are there any areas of my life where I have not accepted the finished work of the cross?

You see, Jesus' mission was this to take our place at the cross so that we could take a place with him at his table.

That's the powerful invitation that the cross provides for us.

But we have to respond to it.

We have a part that we have to play in all of it.

That Jesus, that when he died on the cross and that he was raised from the grave, that it was an invitation for us to be a part of something that will radically change history for the rest of all of mankind.

The Bible tells us this in John 3.16 that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

That word perish means this.

It means destruction, it means death, it means loss.

It's basically adjectives that define the word empty.

That Jesus died for us so that we can live for him.

But we have a choice to make, friends.

We can continue to live lives that are empty, or we can choose to exchange our emptiness for the empty tomb so that we can be filled with hope and with peace and with his presence.

That simple exchange of emptiness is a That allows us to be filled with wholeness and freedom.

I suspect that many of us probably relate to Martha more than we know.

That we can be in the middle, we can be in the middle of a graveyard and not recognize that God is turning it into a garden.

We can be in the middle of a season of grief and pain and suffering and not even recognize that Jesus is in the midst trying to get our attention and saying to us that you're not supposed to linger here, that there's another mission and assignment that I have for you.

We have a choice to make.

We have a choice to make.

Whether we want to be in the grave or we want to be in the garden.

You know, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10 that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and that we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, that that is how we experience salvation.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

That is how we experience wholeness.

That is how we experience healing.

And what I suspect is this I imagine that there's some who are watching this right now, and maybe you feel empty.

You feel empty of hope, you feel empty of joy, you feel you feel empty of purpose, you feel empty of value.

Could it be that you're you're standing inside of a graveyard right now, but Jesus desperately wants to turn that into a garden, a place where life can be produced from it?

But we have a part of play.

If you want to confess that Jesus is Lord, surrendering your emptiness for the empty tomb so that you can be made whole, so that you can experience wholeness, we wouldn't give you an opportunity to do that.

A simple prayer, a simple belief, a simple confession has the ability to turn your graveyard into a garden.

I want you to pray this prayer with me out loud as a declaration and as a sign of agreement to what the Bible says, so that we can change your emptiness for the empty tomb, so that you can experience the wholen that God has for you.

Because the reality of it is this if we don't make that exchange, we will end up living a life where we're eternally separated from God.

Eternally empty.

And that is not the will of God.

It's not his will that anyone perish but that all comes of repentance.

If you want to make that decision, if you want to recommit and make that decision, I want you to pray this prayer with me.

It's going to come up on the screen.

Lord Jesus, I confess you as the Lord of my life.

I repent of my sins.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name.

If you prayed that prayer, we truly do believe that you are now repositioned yourself to turn your grave into a garden.

We would love to hear from you.

The worst thing you could do is make that decision and not let someone know.

I want you to text the word decide to 25101 so that our team can come alongside you, resource you, pray alongside you, and equip you with any and everything that you need.

I believe that God is turning all of our graves into gardens because that is the power of the God that we serve because of the empty tomb.

So, what I want us to do now is I want us to go into a time of worship.

And after that, we're going to have a time of communion to really seal in what God is doing.

But I believe it's, I think it's only fitting for us to recognize that we serve a God who is able to turn our graves into gardens.

Treasures that fade never know, and you came along, you put me back together, and every sire was now satisfied hearing you love.

There's nothing.

To show you my weakness, my failures and flaws you've seen them all, you still call me friends, cause the God of the mountain is the God in the valley.

There's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again.

Oh there's nothing.

Better than you, there's nothing.

Better than you, Lord, there's nothing.

Oh, there's nothing.

Better than you, Lord, there's nothing.

Better than you, Lord, there's nothing.

Nothing is better than you know.

You're the only one who can you turn morning to dancing, you give beauty for actions, you turn jam into glory, you're the only one you gave.

You turn morning to dancing, you give beauty for action, you turn shame into glory, you're the only one.

You turn graves into gardens, you turn bones into armies, you turn seas into highways, you're the only one who can you turn graves into gardens, you turn bones into armies, you turn seas into highways, you're the only one who can.

You're the only one who can.

Church, what I want us to do now is get our communion elements and and in this somber moment of understanding that it's only God that can turn arms that can only turn bones into armies, that the God that is able to take mourning and turn it into dancing, these powerful things.

And it's all possible because of the resurrected body of Christ.

So he says to his disciples at the Last Supper, foreshadowing everything that's gonna take place, he says that this is my bread, my body.

It represents the broken, the brokenness that I'm gonna go through so that you can be made whole.

So as a family and as a community, I'm gonna ask us all to take the bread out with understanding that that is through the broken body of Christ that we are able to be made whole.

As you take it into your hand, allow me to pray for us.

Lord, we thank you for the bread, and that it's your body that is broken so that we can be made whole.

Let's take it all together as a family.

These are moments that we have an opportunity to celebrate this every day in our homes if we so choose, of celebrating the finished work of Christ on the cross.

And what he says about his blood, he said it's shed for the remission of sins.

It's through the shed blood of Jesus that we have forgiveness, that we have healing, that we have wholeness.

So as a family, I want to pray for us as we partake of the juice and celebrate the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Lord, we thank you for your shed blood.

It is through that that we can come boldly before the throne of grace and we can experience salvation and healing.

In Jesus' name.

Let's take the juice together.

Amen.

Church, we love you.

We're so grateful that you would allow us to come into your home on such a special sacred day.

We pray that God be with you, that his face may smile upon you, that he lift up his kindness upon you, and that he gives you great, great peace.

We love you.

We can't wait to see you next week.

But make sure you post us.

Let us know what God is speaking to you through this season, and know that we are with you every step of the way.

God bless you, and we'll see you soon.

Well, hey church, we hope that you enjoyed the message today and church at home.

Listen, we want to encourage you, if any of you out there who watch this, if you wanted to make a decision for Jesus, or maybe you already did make a decision for Jesus, whether it's by committing your life to him for the very first time, or maybe some of you out there you recommitted your life.

We want to know about that.

And we want to celebrate with you.

So what we want to do is we want to encourage you to text the word decide 25101 and what you are going to get back is all the information and every next step that you need to take in your relationship with Jesus.

And also, church, during this time, and we want to celebrate with you if God is moving in your life, and we also want to pray with you and so take a moment also to text the word connect to the number 25101.

And then don't forget, if you're in need, you're part of our family, man.

And families, we take care of each other.

So you can text the word care to 25101 as well.

But hey, church, we love you.

Thank you so much for uh tuning in today.

Also, hey, remember, share this on your social media platforms, let some people know about what God is doing, and let them know the good news that Jesus has risen and it's Easter Sunday, man.

This is awesome.

We love you, and we'll see you next week.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

We'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you've heard today.

If you'd like more content like this, or you'd like to connect with us, go to celebrationorl.org.

We hope you join us next time.