Claimed | Pastor Chris Kouba | Easter at United City Church

Well, happy Easter.

How are you guys doing?

It is so good to see you.

Thank you so much for being here.

I want you to turn to your neighbor and I want you to say he is risen.

I want you to turn to your other neighbor, the one you are trying to avoid, and say he is risen indeed.

Man, it is so good to see you.

Uh this is so exciting.

This is our fourth Easter service of six.

We're so grateful to have not only all of you here in the room, but all of you in our overflow and all of you in our overflow of the overflow, and all of you in the overflow of the overflow of the overflow.

We are so grateful that you are here.

Hopefully, you have an opportunity to have that card.

I do want to ask you to pull this out for me.

Everybody, uh, do this with me.

If you would please, we do a little tradition here at United City that we want to continue.

We've been doing this the last few years.

Uh, and so we're asking for everybody to please for the south.

This isn't one per couple or one per family.

We're asking every single person to be able to participate in this.

There are two things.

Jason already mentioned to you, your information at the top, uh, but there are two specific things that I want to mention to you at the beginning of this message that we're asking from you.

One, on the back of the card, you see there that we've got an opportunity for you to write a prayer request.

Would you please let us know how we can pray for you?

Uh that we know that the Bible is powerful and it speaks about the power of prayer.

And we want to make sure that every single time you list one of these prayer requests that are here on the back of this card, we will personally pray for those things.

So please make sure to do that.

I also want to bring your attention to the front of the card at the very bottom, the bottom portion there.

One of our core values here at United City Church is that we say the Bible speaks.

And in just a moment, I'm gonna do what I do at the beginning of every single message that we do here at United City Church.

I'm gonna ask you to open your Bibles too.

So we're not asking you whether you think we should preach the Bible.

That's not gonna be a thing we're gonna talk about, okay?

But we do want to know what topics you want to hear the Bible taught on.

And so what we're asking you to do, we've got a bunch of different topics that are listed there.

You can choose from any of those.

You can choose as many as you want that you want to hear about.

Or there's also maybe there's something that you're thinking about that's not on the list.

Would you just let us know in that other category?

Or we also have a spot where you could write out a book of the Bible that you would like to hear preached on here at United City.

I want you to know we listen to you.

Like we follow your guidance on this Easter survey.

And the reason we do it on Easter is because the one time everybody shows up at the same time.

So we figured it'd be the easiest way to get this information and it shapes what we do.

In fact, the last two years, the number one topic that has been requested has been end times and spiritual warfare.

And we did a sermon series last year on that very topic.

Earlier, Jason mentioned the tap tags.

You can use that to be able to access that message series if you weren't here to be able to hear that.

We also know the number two topic that has been listed has been the topic of forgiveness, which we've been in a series the last few weeks.

And we'd love for you to join us again.

You can find that on the tap tag that is there in front of you, or the QR code uh that has been on the screen.

So thank you so much for filling this out and letting us know how we can serve you best in our preaching and teaching ministry.

Grab your Bibles and open them up with me to 1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

1 John chapter 1.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

It's towards the back and the end of my Bible and yours as well, and would love for you to follow along with us as we're gonna key in today on two specific verses.

As I mentioned that Easter survey, one of the top things that have been listed has been the topic of forgiveness.

And that's what I want to talk to you about today.

Because I believe that there are some of you that are carrying something that maybe you can't seem to put down.

Maybe you have some guilt over what it is that you have done.

Maybe you've got some bitterness that has been building up towards somebody that has hurt you.

Maybe you're not even really sure why you're here today.

Maybe this is a tradition in your family, and so therefore, you're just going along with everybody else trying to make mom happy.

Maybe there's a girl who you're really into, and she said you need to come to church, so you know what you did, you got dressed and came to church.

All right.

And I don't know what your story is, but I know this.

God has a desire to speak to you today, God has a desire to meet with you today.

And what I want to tell you about is a God who doesn't just tolerate your past, but he paid for it.

And I want to give you a chance to receive something today that can change the rest of your life.

What I want to tell you about is three things that you need to know the problem, the solution, and the result.

Number one, the problem, number two, the solution, number three, the result.

Let's look at 1 John chapter 1 in verse 8.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

It reads, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

First thing I want you to see today is this.

It's the problem.

It's the problem.

Notice what this verse doesn't say.

It doesn't say, if you've done really bad things.

It instead says, if we claim to have no sin.

Our problem isn't just what we've done, it's the story we tell ourselves about what we've done.

We are a culture from the very beginning of blame shifters.

Adam blamed Eve in the garden when he messed up and took ate of the fruit he wasn't supposed to.

Eve blamed the snake.

The snake didn't have a leg to stand on.

It's a bad joke, I know.

I know.

Here's the thing, folks, nothing has changed.

Like people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid taking ownership of their mistakes.

We minimize, we rationalize, we redirect.

Let me get a little more personal.

I minimize, I rationalize, I redirect.

When my wife Hillary has something that she wants to tell me about that I'm not doing right, I'm not quick to say, oh yeah, I totally did that.

I'm quick to say, well, no, it's because of this.

I just passed the blame, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

Here's the truth at some level.

Every person in this room, every person watching me, every person wherever it is that you are listening to these words knows this is true.

That you have done some things that you should not have done.

And there are some things that have been left undone that you know you should have done.

The Bible has a word for this gap that exists between where if we're honest, we know that we really are, and what we also know where we should be.

The Bible calls that gap sin.

The word literally means to miss the mark, and every one of us has missed it.

Look at what it says in the next verse in 1 John 1, verse 9.

1 John 1:9

He says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I want you to notice it's a condition at the beginning of this verse.

If we confess our sins, the condition is confession, not perfection.

Not fix yourself first, not get your life together.

But if you confess, that means you stop pretending and you start owning.

Some of you are not able to hear the good news of Easter Sunday because you aren't yet willing to admit first the bad news.

The invitation today is to move from I may have a problem to I have a problem to I am the problem.

I want you to think about the last time something went wrong in your house or your marriage or your workplace or your school.

Was your first instinct to say, what did I do wrong?

Or was your first instinct to say, who else is responsible for this?

We have a hard wiring that keeps us from owning the things that could actually set us free.

We instead just deflect, we distribute blame everywhere except in our hearts.

First John 1 9, look at what it says again.

If we confess our sins, there's the problem.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That middle phrase there, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, tells us about the story of Easter.

It tells us about the solution.

We know what our problem is.

Now the Bible tells us what our the solution is.

It says that God is faithful and that God is also just.

The Bible at times and plays other places calls him merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love.

We also know that he is holy, he is right, he upholds justice.

All of these things leads to, it says there, the forgiveness of our sins.

What does this mean?

Psalm chapter 103, verse 12 says, As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Psalms 103:12

Let's do a little geography lesson.

I want you to think if I was to get into an airplane and I was to fly due north, and I was to fly all the way up to the north pole, and I was to cross the boundary lines of the North Pole, I would be going heading north.

I crossed the North Pole and now I'm going what?

South.

If I was to then fly all the way south and go down to the South Pole and I cross the South Pole, I'm now no longer going south, I'm going what?

North.

I want you to know the psalmist here says that when God forgives us, he throws our transgressions not as far as the north is from the south, which would be a really long way.

He says that he throws your sins as far as the east is from the west.

In the same way, if I was to get into an airplane and I was to begin to fly east, you know what I would never hit?

West.

West and east never converge.

What I want you to see forgiveness means is this it's not like God just keeps your sins in a vault to pull them out if you need to be reminded of them.

But instead, God throws them away to where they are no longer able to be found because East and West never come together.

That's how far he removes our transgressions from us.

How?

If sin is real, if it's a genuine debt, then how can a just God simply wave it away?

A judge who lets guilty people walk free isn't merciful, he's corrupt.

And the Bible's very clear it says that the wages of sin is death.

So here's the tension.

How can I have a God who is loving, who wants to forgive, but also have a God who is just and can't pretend that debt doesn't exist?

How do you satisfy both at the same time?

Every other religion in the world answers that question the same way.

You work it off, you do enough good things, you follow enough rules, you perform enough rituals, and eventually the scales might tip in your favor.

You pay your own debt over time.

Some of you, that may be your story.

You're trying to do more good than you've done bad.

And what you realize is how exhausting that is because it never works.

But Christianity answers it completely different, and that's what makes Easter unlike anything else in human history.

Because God didn't lower the standard, he didn't pretend the debt didn't exist, he didn't give you a payment plan.

Instead, he did something that no one else in human history has ever done.

He paid the debt himself.

Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, which means that he was the only sacrifice sufficient to cover the weight of what we owe, but he also is the only sacrifice close enough to us to be able to stand in our place.

He absorbed it.

The debt didn't just disappear, it was paid for.

I want you to visualize like you have some maybe medical debt or some legal judgment and legal debt that you are having to deal with.

Maybe for some of you, you're not having to imagine this.

This is your life.

This is what you're dealing with personally at home.

You've tried everything a payment plan, negotiations, just avoiding it and acting like it's not real.

Nothing seems to work.

Then one day you receive a letter.

You're expecting it to be another demand, expecting it to be another fine, expecting it to be another penalty to mount to the growing debt that you have, and you're shocked to open up that letter and you see what you thought was going to be judgment, instead says your account has been paid in full.

Can you imagine what that would feel like?

Not reduced, not deferred, paid.

You didn't earn it, you couldn't afford it, someone else paid it for you.

That's what Jesus did for you, which now means you don't have to spend another day trying to balance a scale that Jesus has already tipped in your favor.

You don't have to be good enough or clean enough or far enough along.

The payment has already been made.

The question now is, are you gonna continue to make payments on a debt that no longer exist?

And then, folks, I want you to think about the resurrection.

The resurrection isn't just the cherry on top of a good story.

The resurrection is the entire reason why we are sitting in this room on this particular Sunday morning.

Here's why it matters.

If Jesus died on the cross and he stayed dead, he'd be just another martyr, a good teacher who made the ultimate sacrifice.

He'd be inspiring, no doubt, but he wouldn't be saving because a dead savior can't help you.

A dead savior has no power over your guilt or over your shame or over your grave.

But three days later, something happened that changed everything.

The tomb was empty.

The resurrection is God the Father saying that what Jesus the Son did worked, the payment was sufficient, the sacrifice was accepted, the debt is gone, the empty tomb is the receipt.

It's proof that the transaction has cleared.

You ever look at your bank account?

And sometimes after you've charged something that you're not quite sure was the best thing you should have been doing, and you see that it says there pending transaction, you know what I'm talking about?

And you're just kind of hoping that somehow that pending transaction will just go away and not show up on the actual transaction statement?

It never does.

It never does.

And I want you to know that every single sin that you've ever committed will eventually show up on your statement.

But also you need to know that if you were to pay your bill, there also has a time period where that payment says pending transaction.

And if you don't get that cleared and the credit card statement is not paid, then you will not be able to use that credit card or it's just gonna keep racking up debt.

I want you to know this.

Because of Jesus, and ultimately because of his resurrection, that pending transaction of the payment has cleared.

And there is nothing that can remove it.

Because of the cross, your sin has been paid for, because of the resurrection, that payment holds forever.

He didn't just die for you, he also lives for you right now.

Folks, let's just talk about it.

If that's all we got, that would be enough right there.

Like forgiveness alone would be extraordinary.

But we didn't just get forgiveness, we got something more.

Look at what 1 John 1.9 says.

If we confess our sins, there's the problem.

If we, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, there's the solution.

And then here he gives us the result.

And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

What I want you to see is that when God forgives us, he erases your past and he gives you a new future.

Here's the result.

I want you to take a look at the screens and just see a little picture of what God does when he forgives you.

But they they gave up on me.

I was rebellious and uh just doing drugs in a way like it numbed everything, so I was just kept going, running it.

I wanted to be out of this world, you know, not alive, that led me to prison.

Um found out that I was pregnant.

After I had her, I went back to prison and I got released May 5th of 2022, and I was like, oh wait, like I don't I don't have anywhere to go.

Didn't have anybody that cared for me.

A birth certificate, a social security card.

All that was like lost before I went to prison.

And so the one person that I had was a lady that I went through with the adoption agency, and so the chaplain got a hold of her and she's like, okay, wait, we'll figure something out.

So she called me on a Saturday morning, and she's telling me all of these things that are going on with Bailey.

She's still healing from having a baby, she's going through post quantum depression.

I got off the phone and I looked at my assistant and I said, We should not do this.

There's so much more that that I feel like that this this girl needs.

And I said, But God's just punching me in the gut.

Like we have to be there for her.

We called the chaplain back, and she got on the phone and I said, You're coming home to Oaks of Righteousness.

Oaks of Righteousness is a discipleship program for women coming out of prison to help them heal from past trauma and focus on being transformed in Christ to be the woman that God created you to be.

I remember just feeling like I was home, like I was safe, pulled out of darkness.

For sure.

Charity, she was the one that whenever I got autos, they would open up to her about basically my whole past and everything.

And so that opened the door for me to let her know like I didn't have any family.

My mom passed away, so and then I've never met my real dad, but like it just welcomed me like like mom and dad would, and um, open their hearts, do family stuff, you know, watch movies, go out to eat.

Woke up Christmas morning super early, yeah, and unwrapped presents.

I felt like uh my my inner kid was being healed for sure, you know.

I was like, this is what family's about.

I mean, in my head, oh my god, I ever want this to end.

Somebody made a joke about I don't know why you guys don't just adopt her.

What started our relationship from an adoption finishes with her being adopted by us.

I'm her daughter now.

Like, even whenever I get married, I'm still holding that last name.

Like, when I get married, it's just gonna be my husband's last name.

That's how much it means to me.

We're adopted by God, you know, and even though he's placed the earthly family in my life, like ultimately the old me is gone.

God has literally like restored my life from death to life, you know.

My name is Charity Feight.

My name's Bailey Brienne Fike, and I'm Jeff Fike.

Jeff and Charity, and I think Bailey may be here too as well.

Um, it's just amazing to see you guys in the life of our church and the story.

Um, you know, it's interesting technically after Bailey served her time, like her record was clear.

Like her debt was paid.

But she had no family, no birth certificate, no one willing to claim her.

And by all accounts, she was walking into nothing but.

A shameful and hurtful past with very little hope of having a different future.

What she wanted was to be wanted.

First John 1 9 says that Jesus not only forgives you, but he wants to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

The word cleanse isn't just legal language, it's restoration relational language.

It means that he wants to make you new, not just pardon you.

He wants to put his name on you.

The Bible calls this adoption.

Romans chapter 8, verse 15 says, So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.

Romans 8:15

Instead, you receive God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him Abba Father.

You don't receive a spirit of obligation, you don't receive a spirit of probation, like you're on trial and still proving yourself.

You receive a spirit of adoption.

I don't know if you realize this, but when Jeff and Charity adopted Bailey, she was an adult.

And there's not a lot of legal benefits to do that.

Like nobody required them to do that.

Like their taxes didn't get better when they adopted Bailey.

It didn't even make their lives more simple.

They wanted her to know that somebody chose her.

Not because they had to, not because she was perfect.

But because they wanted her.

He adopts you not because he needs you.

He adopts you.

Because he wants you.

Bailey's birth certificate that she didn't even have used to tell one story: a story of abandonment, a story of brokenness.

Now the birth certificate that she proudly waved in the midst of that video tells a very different story.

Not because the past was a race, but because somebody with authority stepped in and wrote a new name on that birth certificate.

And that new name allows her past to have a very promising, hopeful future.

I need you to know today that your history does not get the last word.

I want you to know this that your past doesn't define your identity.

But the one who made you has stepped in and has written his name over your story, and he wants to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

If you would, go ahead and grab the card.

Part of our annual tradition is not only to take our Easter survey asking you for feedback on what to preach about and what to speak to you about what God's Word says.

But if you'll turn it to the back, we also are inviting you to take a spiritual survey.

I need you to know this is the most important thing we're gonna do today.

And for some of you, many of you, it could be the most important thing that you do in your life.

What I'm gonna ask you to do is to allow me to explain all four options, and then I'm asking you to evaluate which one of these options represent where you are right now.

I need you to know there's only one per person.

Don't check three boxes or two boxes, just check the one that most resonates with where you are today.

The first one, A, represents this.

You are already a Christian.

You are already a Christian.

Whenever people adopt a child or an adult in this case, many times what they'll do is they'll recognize that day by calling it their gotcha day.

You ever heard of this before?

You've seen people that celebrate their gotcha day?

The gotcha day is the day when everything changed in that person's life.

Bailey's gotcha day is July 31st of 2025, last year.

And what that means is on that day, she went from this is who I was to now this is who I am.

It's a clear defining moment where a transition has taken place.

My question for you is this do you have a gotcha day with Jesus?

I'm not asking if you go to church, I'm not asking if you go to Easter every year, I'm not asking if your family is religious.

I'm not even asking if you could pass a basic Bible knowledge quiz if we were to give you one.

I'm asking, has there ever been a moment when you confessed your sins, you've received the forgiveness of Jesus, and you've experienced the cleansing that comes when he cleanses you from all unrighteousness?

Have you had a day, a moment, when you move from death to life?

Maybe some of you are saying, Well, I'm not really, really sure.

Then I would tell you, don't pick A.

Let A be the one when you know this was my gotcha day and moment.

If that's you, in just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to check the box A and praise God for you.

B represents, I want to begin a relationship with Christ.

Some of you might say, you know, there's something to this Jesus guy.

Like, if he legitimately did all the stuff that you just said that he did, like I kind of want in on that.

I know that I've got a debt that I cannot pay, and I want his payment and his cleansing in my life.

And I've been thinking about this, or maybe even today I felt it, and I want to do that.

In just a moment, would you check B?

Others need to check C.

C stands for considerate more first.

Like you know, this is important, like you know, this is something that you're gonna need to address, but maybe you're not quite sure yet.

You're not quite ready.

You have more questions.

I want you to know United City Church is a place that it's okay to have questions.

We will allow you to belong before you believe.

We believe we're gonna take God's word and we're gonna open it up and we're gonna tell you what it says and allow your questions to have a safe place to be answered.

If that's you, thank you for your honesty.

Would you in just a moment check C.

Others of you might need to check D, which stands for I don't ever intend to.

One, I just want to thank you for being honest.

I would much rather you tell me the honest truth as opposed to telling me what you think I want to hear, but I need to be honest with you.

I am praying for you.

I am praying that God would reveal himself to you, and that even though you don't intend whatsoever to pursue him, you would realize that he already, even right now, is pursuing you.

If you would take that card out, I want to ask you to check one of those boxes, A, B, C, or D.

Everybody in the room, individually, where are you today?

You need to know the most important question that you'll ever be asked is where you are in your relationship with Jesus.

Some of you, even while I've been preaching, you've had this feeling kind of welling up inside of you.

Like you need forgiveness, like you need a relationship.

And just a moment ago, you checked B and you realize it's time.

Like it's time for me to confess my sins.

It's time for me to receive that forgiveness, it's time for me to experience that cleansing, that claiming.

It's time for you to receive what God has already offered to you.

I want to ask everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes, both Overflow, those in the lobby, all of you that are hearing my voice.

If you're here today and you want to have a relationship with Jesus, you want to know for sure that your salvation is secured.

You want to know that that pending transaction has cleared for sure.

What I'm gonna ask you to do is to pray this simple prayer with me.

If you just check B, wherever it is that you are, pray these words with me.

Say, dear God, I want to have a relationship with you.

God, I want to be claimed by you.

I believe you died on a cross.

I believe you rose from the dead.

And right now, on April 5th, 2026, I give my life to you.

I ask you to save me.

I ask you to adopt me.

I ask you to make me new.

Thank you for your forgiveness, for the promise of an eternal future with you.

It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Would you look up at me?

Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

If you're there in the overflow room, I want you to do it as well.

If you're out in the lobby, I want you to do it as well.

If you're here in the room, what I want you to do, all of us.

If you just prayed that prayer with me, if you check the box B, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna count down three, two, one, and I'm gonna ask you to lift your hand up.

I'm not asking you to do the little side hand, I'm not asking you to do this kind of stuff.

I'm saying full out, locked elbows all the way up, like you're proud of it.

Like you're celebrating because we wanna have an opportunity to celebrate with you.

So are you ready?

If you prayed that prayer with me, if you check box B, wherever you are, here's what I want to do.

Ready?

Three, God loves you.

Two, be bold and courageous.

Ready?

Three, two, one.

Lift your hand up if you pray that prayer with me.

Praise God for you guys.

Praise God for you, praise God for you, praise God for you, man.

Praise God for you.

I see you guys.

I see you.

Praise God for you, have a member, but I see you, man.

I see you, man.

Come on, have a mess, have a full man.

Please gotta find the club of you.

Praise God for me, in the lobby, in the bubble.

Let's come up with the ball of the silver.

Let's come up with the Yes.

Alright, here's what I want you to do.

No matter where you are, if you're in the room, if you're in the lobby, if you're in the girl track, wherever you are, I want you to get your cards out.

This is the time when I need you to turn them in.

I want everybody to pass your cards to the right.

Everybody pass your cards to the right, and we're gonna have the opportunity to get those from you at this time.

Hey, I do want to make sure that you know, no matter where you're hearing me speak today, that some of our staff team is gonna be up front.

If you've got a prayer need, we want to pray specifically with you.

You can come up front and pray with one of our team members.

In addition, if you've got questions, you want to talk to somebody, maybe you've got a few more things you want to wrestle through related to your decision, we would love to talk to you about that.

Our team members will be up front.

Next week, in response to our Easter survey, we're launching a brand new sermon series that I want to invite you back for called The Song of Us.

We're gonna be going through the book of Song of Solomon and looking at marriage and dating and relationships and all the things that go along with that.

And I'm telling you, if you knew what God's word said about this topic, you'd be reading the Bible a lot sooner than you're doing you are right now, right?

I mean, it is crazy what it says in there.

It is pro-marriage and pro-relationships and pro-dating, but it all has to be done the way that God desires, and we want to walk you through what that looks like by walking through this book.

You don't want to miss starting next week, 8:30, 10 and 11:30.

We have all the cards, team?

Oh, we got them?

Sweet.

Here's what I want to ask you to do.

As we close today, if you're in the lobby, growth track, do the same thing for me.

I'm gonna pray a prayer blessing over you as we dismiss.

So, what I'm gonna ask you to do in an act of receiving this blessing from the Lord, would you just put your hands out like this so that you can receive it?

And would you bow your heads all over this place, all over this building?

Let me pray these words over you and now may the God of peace who brought the Lord Jesus back again from the dead equip you with all that you need to do his will.

May He produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ all that is pleasing to him.

To him be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Happy Easter, United City.