”The End” is NOT the END // Death, Defeated Series (part 1) // Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat.

Heat up

here.

Oh, come on. It's Easter Sunday. Let's

hear it. If you're grateful to be here.

Oh, what an honor to get to be here. My

name is Pastor Drew. I'm the lead pastor

here at Collective Church. My wife and

I, who is up here leading worship, we

started Collective uh almost six years

ago in our living room, but officially

four and a half years ago here at

Millard North High School, and it is an

incredible blessing to get to have you

guys here with us today. I uh I truly I

don't know what brought you here today.

I don't exactly know your story. I don't

know uh if you're like, "Well,

Collective is my home. I've been here

since launch or pre-launch and this is

where I belong." Maybe you are someone

who was invited at the egg hunt or you

saw some signs on the road and you're

like, "It's Easter Sunday. I need to go

somewhere and so I showed up here."

Maybe you were dragged in here by a

friend or a family member and you're

like, "Listen, all due respect, I'm not

even in alignment with you. I don't even

believe this stuff." Or maybe you

believe, but you're like, "I don't know.

I've tried this church thing before.

I've been hurt by it. I I it hasn't

worked for me. And so, I'm not really

quite sure why I'm here." If I'm honest,

no matter what, I find that when I go to

the Lord, whether I've got good motives

or bad motives, he's got a good plan.

And I promise you, I promise you that

God's got a word for you. God's got

something that he wants to speak into

your heart. God's got a revelation to

download into your mind. God has a

healing he wants to bring for you. God

has an impact in a moment that he wants

to change your life forever. The

question is not, is God going to show

up? Because I don't know about you guys,

I already I'm like, hallelujah, he's

here. Amen.

The question instead

is

how hard am I going to lean in? How much

am I going to listen? A collective

for 2026. Our theme is lean in.

The idea is highlighted in in trust in

the Lord with all your heart and lean

not on your own understandings but in

all your ways acknowledge him and he

will make your path straight. In the

same way today I want to encourage you

what James 4:8 says, draw near to the

James 4:8

Lord leaning

and he will draw near to you.

He's got something for you. And so I

want to invite you into that. If you

guys could, if you guys would, I'd just

like to take a second and do a prayer

together.

And you and your with your own eyes

closed and your hands held out to be

able This is a this is a posture of both

surrender, of giving something up, but

also of receiving, of of getting

something from the Lord. And I just want

for us to kind of find ourselves in that

posture. If you can close your eyes, put

your palms up, and I want to pray this

prayer over all of us. Heavenly Father,

Lord, I don't know what each person

walked in here today with.

Father God,

I have no clue.

The pain, the stories, the traumas, the

stuck, the mundane, the fears, whatever

it may be. But right now, Lord, instead

of trying to hide that and shove it

down, we offer it to you. We give it to

you. We ask, Father God,

would you take our mess?

Would you take our distractions?

And would you do whatever you want in

this service?

We open up our minds to receive a

revelation of your knowledge.

right now we surrender and we open our

hearts to receive from you.

And Lord, I pray as I preach this

message, may people not hear my words as

much as they sense your voice.

May your words cut deep into each heart.

And may every single one of us leave

this room

changed.

We give this time to you.

We are ready. We are expecting. We are

filled with faith.

In the mighty name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Amen. Thank you guys.

This is I want to say happy Easter. But

not only happy Easter. This is a special

Easter Sunday because it falls on April

5th, 2026. That makes it the 1,993rd

anniversary of Resurrection Sunday.

Isn't that cool?

In fact, it was it was April 5th, AD33

that most scholars that Christian

tradition and that through study I

myself I agree that this looks to be the

most likely date in history that lines

up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Isn't that so cool? Like today, Easter,

I don't know if you've noticed, Easter

changes its day every year on the

calendar. And so it kind of depends on

when them when the full moon comes and

and all this stuff. And this is actually

the day according to the Gregorian

calendar, according to the old Jewish

calendar, like all of it is just synced

up. It's so cool. And I we know this

because of a couple things. We know this

first of all, not only because the most

historically reliable piece of

literature ever written by multitudes of

people over thousands of years says so,

but also because even outside of the

Bible that there's writings in the

annals of Tacitus and Josephus in the

first century that highlight the

ministry and the life and the

resurrection of Jesus, but also because

we see this in in the testimony of

others. We see this in the uh it it it's

really cool because there's actually uh

you can go back and you look at the

cycles of the moon and you look back

because Passover always started at a

full moon and you'll never guess what

year there was a full moon on that lined

up on a Friday that we see according to

the dates that we see in scripture AD.33

the same year and you'll never guess uh

it is the the earthquake when Jesus

died, they actually got geologists that

have dug into the ground in uh in

Jerusalem and have found that there is

evidence of that same earthquake. Now,

they can't backdate one specific

earthquake and go it was this this exact

day, but they say here's the range and

it looks like it's the earthquake that

is mentioned in scripture.

And there even was astronomers have

looked back and have seen that it was on

April 3rd a April 5th AD.33

that a sudden and ominous blood moon

would have been caused by a lunar

eclipse over Jerusalem.

Isn't that crazy? The heavens declare

the glory of God and the skies his

wonder. Is that not true? Is that not

incredible? We can praise God that we

see evidence of this resurrection 1,993

years later. Amen.

>> Amen.

So today, I want to I want to highlight

make three highlights about the impact,

the trustworthiness, and the response of

this resurrection of what it means for

us today because it's not old news. It's

good news. Amen.

But before we get started, I actually

what I want to do is I want to have

everybody pull out your phones and I'm

going to ask every single one of us to

scan another QR code. This is an Easter

survey. So, I'll get I'll get out of the

way for us. What this is is it just has

super basic information and the whole

point of this is to make sure that we

got all the correct information for

those who are here. We see who's even if

this is your first time, please fill

this out. In fact, I really, really,

really value your information if this is

your first time, if Collective Church

isn't your home, uh because we want to

see not only where are people coming

from, but we want to see uh what topics

are things that you go, why doesn't the

church talk about this more? Why don't

we hit on this? And so, you can pick,

you can highlight some topics that

you're like, this is something that I'd

love to see uh the church I'm going to

keep out of the way over here. uh that

I'd love to see the church hit on. Uh

and also you can talk about like what

service times work best for you as well

as at the very bottom you'll see an

opportunity to be able to highlight what

decision you're making today. And if you

are unsure, many of you may already know

what God's doing in your heart. If

you're unsure, you can leave this page

open for just a second and conclude it

in a little bit because I believe that

God is moving, that God's got something

good that he's doing today and that

there's going to be an opportunity for

all of us to be able to respond to this

good news. Uh, but while we're doing

that, go ahead and fill that out. I'm

got I got a little story if Can I share

a story while we're doing the survey?

>> Go ahead. All right. So, this story is

set in Alabama, 1985.

A man named Anthony Ray Hinton was

convicted of two murders that he

insisted he didn't commit. Yet the

evidence was overwhelming. The jury

found him guilty and the judge sentenced

him to death. The gavl dropped, case

closed. To the world and to Anthony, his

story was done. He had messed it up so

bad. his life.

He He had messed it up so life he had he

actually had no hope for his future and

it might as well his life might as well

have ended at the time that the gavvel

hit the wood. He spent the next 30 years

on Alabama's death row with decades of

appeals going absolutely nowhere. Waking

up every morning unsure of how much

longer he had to live but knowing that

it was not in his control.

Later, new legal review and improved

forensic examination showed that the

evidence used against Anthony was not

accurate and actually was completely

unreliable.

And after years of fighting, finally a

court overturned the once final

conviction. And in 2015, after almost 30

years of being on death row, he walked

out of prison a free man. Isn't that

cool?

So what I don't want to hit on what this

isn't is it's not a story about the

death penalty and policy. But what I

want to highlight is the fact that what

many times we look at our story in the

same way that Anthony looked at his and

he's a strong believer and scripture and

the word of God and his trust and his

faith in Jesus is the only thing that

kept him going in those 30 years in

prison. But

often times when we feel like our story

has met its end,

the tomb reveals to us that it's

actually just a doorway to God's new

beginnings.

Today what I t want to talk about

the title of the sermon is the end

is not the end. When you see at the end,

if you're if you're a fan of Marvel

movies, I know when I'd watch it with my

kids and I'd see that the the scene

closes, the movie finishes, says the

end. But wait, you know, there's

something coming up after the credits,

right? Like I The end is not the end.

God still got a last word. God can

transform your life today.

No matter what your story looks like, no

matter what gavvel has been dropped over

you or what decisions have been made or

traumas you've experienced or mistakes

you have done,

the end is not the end. In fact, we see

this all throughout scripture. We see

this in the life of Joseph with a with a

multicolored coat when he is sold into

slavery and then thrown into prison for

the rest of his life. It's done. That's

where you die in that prison. You see

this with Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego. Three friends about to get

thrown into a blazing furnace because of

their faith in God. And they get pushed

in. The story is done. You see this with

the Apostle Paul when he's preaching and

he's ministering in the gospel in

different towns and he gets stoned to

death and his body dragged outside of

the city to rot on its own.

Yet

this story was not over. Joseph

later gets appointed to second in

command of the most powerful nation in

the world at that time.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego begin

walking around in the midst of the fire

with Jesus himself and come out not even

with a scent of smoke on their clothes.

Paul

gets back up,

walks back into the city and keeps

preaching.

We see this because the story of Jesus

shows that when we feel like it may be

the end,

God may just be getting started. Your

story may feel over. Whether it feels

like you're stuck in the mundane and

you're in the hamster wheel of Groundhog

Day and you just wake up each day, you

go to work, you come back, you make sure

that you're fed, you go back to bed, you

live for the weekend for a little bit,

and then you repeat every Monday and you

just keep it going. Maybe it feels like

your story is over because of a terminal

diagnosis that you've gotten or a

terrible diagnosis you've gotten. Maybe

your marriage is over or might as well

be over. You go, "Ah, that's that's kind

of this is where we are. This it's just

kind of stuck. That's where it is."

Maybe you have committed what you

consider to be an unforgivable sin or

your past and your mistakes and your

decisions have added up and you are now

living in the consequences of terrible

sin. Maybe you maybe you feel like the

gavvel has been dropped over you because

of someone else's decisions, because of

abuse you have endured, because of hurt

you have faced. Yet, I want to tell you

guys, the end is not the end in Christ.

There is a reversal of this that's seen

in the resurrection. And there is no

gavvel that can be dropped over you

that's greater than the gavvel of the

judge. Amen.

There is no sickness that can be

declared over you that is greater than

the healer.

>> Right? There is no sin that is greater

than his grace. There is no problem that

is greater than his redemption. He is a

he's shaping your story.

And the end is not the end. Even for the

disciples that would proclaim and would

say, "Congratulations,

you may have me. You may kill my body,

but what are you gonna do after that?

Because when I leave this earth, I have

had his presence with me here, and I

will step into his presence there. The

end is not the end. And even if you

remove my body from this earth, it

doesn't matter because

the spirit's still moving.

And people have been able to shut up

individuals, but they've never been able

to stop the move of Jesus for thousands

of years. Your story isn't over. Just

like when Jesus ministered in his life

and he ministers perfectly and then he's

brought before judges and he's brought

before Rome and he's brought before the

religious leaders and it feels like it's

going downhill because it is really

quick and he gets convicted considered

guilty of

nothing

and still sentenced to death.

But it's not the story's not over,

right? Like we still got hope. He's he's

hanging on the cross. There still is

potential. Maybe we'll still be okay. He

can get himself off. The angels will

come. I don't know what's going to

happen. And then he says,

"It is finished."

And he says this, it's a Greek word not

for I have lost. It's testy which means

it's the same statement that is made

when an army has conquered another army

has taken over a land and they said the

battle is finished testy and this is

this declaration that he makes

and he breathes his last.

And later the guards come over and

pierce his side and his heart

and already separated blood begins to

pour out revealing that he was not only

dead but he had been dead. They take his

body off the cross. They wrap him in

linens. They put him in a tomb. They

roll the stone over the tomb.

The end.

But we know

we're here today because the end is not

the end. Because your story isn't over.

Because his story wasn't over. And

Sunday morning, he kicks open the tomb,

kicks death in the teeth. And he by his

life and his ministry begins to shout,

"Well, we see in first Corinthians,

death is swallowed up in victory. Oh,

death, where's your victory? Oh, death,

where is your sting?" He rises again and

he shows us that he is greater than all

of it. Come on,

your story isn't over. And this is what

I want to hit on. I want to hit on three

key points. First point here is that the

resurrection of Jesus changes absolutely

everything. If the resurrection of Jesus

isn't changing things in your life,

you're missing the revelation of his

resurrection. Uh the uh the the great

Tim Keller said it this way. He said,

"If Jesus was actually raised from the

dead, if he really got up, walked out,

and was seen by hundreds of people and

talked to them, if he was raised from

the dead, then you know what?

Everything's going to be all right.

Whatever you're worried about right now,

whatever you're afraid of,

everything's actually going to be okay.

Because the empty tomb shows us that the

ending is often just the transition.

As a pastor, I've been able to see this

as I as I walk with people as they

transition from this life into the next.

And it's not a clear end here, begin

there. There's a blurry transition

where you get to see these divine

moments

where you get to see eternity through

their eyes and they're getting to glance

at Jesus for the first time.

And it's those moments that have had me

reframe my understanding of death from

an end to just a transition.

See, his resurrection changes absolutely

everything. If it's true, I can't live

the same anymore.

Which some of you may be going, "This is

all inspiring, Pastor Drew, but it's

I'm in a group of a whole bunch of

people that believe a dude came back to

life 2,000 years ago, and it matters."

Maybe you're in that boat.

Maybe you have friends or family that

are in that boat that are like, "What in

the world?" This weird archaic fantasy

that people believe about this guy from

thousands of years ago and and how how

they how they go to church every Sunday

to be able to celebrate the same thing.

Really, here's here's the crazy thing. I

I actually love that approach.

If you're looking for evidence, if

you're looking for truth, and you're not

trying to do it based off of the framing

of what everybody else is telling her, I

love it. Scripture tells us, "Be

logical. Come reason with me." Come on.

Let's use some critical thinking. I feel

like that is desperately needed in our

culture. Amen. Amen. And in fact, this

is what the Apostle Paul talks about in

1 Corinthians 15 earlier, right before

the passage that we talked about in

verse 14. It says, "If Christ has not

been raised from the dead,

then all our preaching is useless

and your faith

useless."

And we apostles that swear we've seen

him living and walking around, we'd all

be lying. For we've said that God raised

Christ from the dead, but they can't be

true if there's no resurrection of the

dead. And if there's no resurrection of

the dead, and Christ has not been

raised. And if Christ has not been

raised, then your faith is useless. And

you are all still guilty of all your

sins.

And in that case,

every single person who has died

believing in Christ are actually

lost. And if our hope in Christ is only

for this life,

we are more to be pied than anyone in

the world.

If the resurrection's not true,

then

I get it. I get that perspect. Why would

you waste your Sunday mornings?

Why in the world would all these

Christians live sacrificially? They're

giving their their their money to an

organization that probably just wants to

covet and take it and and and hoard and

like they're I I don't know what's going

I don't know why they're doing this. I

don't know why they're making so many

sacrifices. I don't know why they're

putting all this unnecessary burden on

themselves for righteousness. Like just

just live. Just receive. Just party it

up. Just try to have some fun. Just try

to survive as best you can in this world

and h be as happy as you can because

there is no resurrection. There is

nothing once you die. It's done. And we

are finished. Why else would you ever

waste your time believing in a fantasy

that is false? I get that

if the resurrection isn't true, all of

this is worthless, is pointless, is

quite honestly stupid.

But can we pull that verse right back

up? He says, "But in fact, Christ

has been raised from the dead."

And I believe

as believers, we must not only know what

we believe, but why we believe it. And

that's why our second point today is the

resurrection changes everything. But

also Jesus resurrection is trustworthy.

See, this is why I've done so much study

diving into the resurrection and I'm

convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt

that Jesus was crucified on a cross,

buried in a tomb, and rose again in his

living body. Not just a ghost, not just

a spirit, but his living body came back

out, ministered, and was witnessed by

500 people, and it changed the course of

history and eternity.

I believe it not only because we read

about it in the most dependable book as

we talked about, not only because of the

extra biblical resources we talked

about, not only because of the signs in

the earth and the signs in the sky that

all point to it, but also did you did

you know that that Jesus is

statistically impossible?

Statistically speaking, all the

prophecies that lined up in that Jesus

fulfilled, hundreds of prophecies, it is

statistically impossible for anyone ever

throughout all of human history to have

ever fulfilled as many prophecies as he

did.

Yet, he did it.

In fact, if the the stat statistician

that found this out ran some numbers and

he says turns out it's actually more

it's it the possibility of the the all

the laws of thermodynamics just

instantly reversing on themselves is

higher than the probability of Jesus

being a like than Jesus having existed

yet he did. We see this. We see his

testimony. We see how he fulfilled

prophecies many that he cannot even do

his himself. there were 400 700,000

years prior to him. It it prophecies

about his birth, about his play and

where he lived. Things that he can't

control like earthquakes and the veil

tearing. All of these things point to

him. But that's actually not the thing

that convinces me most about the

resurrection.

If I look at the resurrection and I got

to and I got to analyze it, I got to I

got to be convinced. If I don't I never

saw it.

So, I got to see what it was like for

the people who say they did see it. And

I think the greatest testament to the

resurrection

was doing a study on the disciples

after his death and before his

resurrection

and then compare that to them after the

resurrection.

Because you see in this gap when he has

died and either he hasn't been

resurrected or they don't believe he has

or they haven't witnessed it or they

haven't been changed by it and they and

you see this gap. What are the what are

his disciples doing? Because they're not

gathering together going, "Okay, we had

a good thing going. We got to figure out

how to keep this thing. How about how

about we go and we hide uh the body. We

take the body out of the tomb. we go

hide this thing and then we all say that

that this is a good thing and we start

building this whole church thing that he

was talking about. We start doing this

and we become the leaders of it and they

give their money to us and then we start

to let's go. This is going to be great.

Let's build this cult, baby. We don't

see that. What do what do we actually

see? We see that the disciples were

hiding behind locked doors.

We see it says that they were incredibly

afraid.

We see that that even the disciples that

saw go and tell the other disciples that

saw that didn't see and they go and

those disciples go no bro that's not how

death works.

It it you can't just I I really think I

saw him. Cool. I'm glad that you are

like that traumatized by this. I am.

You're seeing things. But listen, that's

not the case. That's not how it works.

And here's the here's it's so powerful

because they they go back to their old

jobs.

They go, "Well, we had a good run. Let's

go back to fishing."

In fact, it's this the the realization

of the resurrection dramatically

changes. And following Jesus after he's

resurrected and the encounters that he

has with disciples and with people and

how he ministers is such a powerful

revelation of Jesus defeating fear,

death, sin, and shame. And seeing this

that this is actually what we're going

to be going through throughout this

series. We're going to be as we as we

continue to talk about this, we're going

to be talking about how we see through

these interactions how joy defeats

darkness. how how love defeats hatred,

how how Jesus defeats death, how fear is

defeated, and that they then these

disciples get this faith and this

courage. And we're going to walk through

all this stuff about and and I just I I

just want to ask you guys, please just

keep showing up. If you don't know what

to do, I promise you that this series is

going to minister to your heart. I

promise you that something in this God's

going to be doing things. Keep showing

up. I want to invite you into that. But

what I want to highlight right here is

the difference that is made after he is

resurrected and the way that they live.

They do not live selfishly for

themselves.

They then go on to be kicked out of

their families, excommunicated from

their communities

because of this thing that they saw.

They go on, they get oppressed by the

religious leaders that they once loved.

They get arrested.

They get beaten.

They get boiled alive.

They get hung s in two.

They're killed.

Every one of the disciples are killed or

should have been. The only disciple who

lived until until he died at an old age

was John. And that was after he was

boiled alive and somehow survived.

And you want to know what all they had

to do to get away from any of that? Just

say, "Okay,

I made it up. We had a thing. His body's

over there. Just let me go. Let me go.

Don't tell anybody. I still got this

good thing going."

The reality is, and and here the other

crazy thing is that this is not People

have died throughout history because of

stories they've been told. People have

given their lives to things because of

something that they were convinced of.

But that's not what happened here. It's

not a story they were told. It's I saw

him with my own eyes. I ate meals with

him. I talked with him. He's living.

He's breathing. I touched him. I can't

tell you that is false. you can do

whatever you want to me but I will give

my life for the fact that Jesus rose

again and these disciples their

testimony lived on and it echoed as we

see for generations and for thousands of

years people continue to model in the

same way giving their lives surren and

living sacrificially going into there's

there's there's stories of missionaries

that would go to places that they know

did not have the gospel and they would

pack their stuff up in coffins to be

shipped with them because they say, "I'm

not coming back. I know what I'm heading

into. I know how dangerous it is."

And yet these testimonies continue to

echo. We see these same things here in

this very church.

We see testimonies of people that have

been changed, lives that have been

healed, depression and anxiety that has

been lifted off, marriages that have

been restored.

how Jesus speaks into a moment and

absolutely transforms everything.

We see the testimony of the resurrection

through the addictions that have been

overcome through the people who have

been so deeply deeply hurt by the

church. Now they're on staff here

collective, right? We see things like

people, we have a hundred different

people here in this church that live and

serve on teams every week, not so that

they can get a benefit, but so that they

can live selflessly and say, "I just

want someone else to be able to get the

same message of hope that I've got."

>> It's incredible what God is doing. He's

moving and the echoes of the

resurrection continue.

In fact, I want to highlight one

specific story here today of a couple of

a family, a part of collective that just

happened this year on the screen.

I'm Tom. This Don Sedick. They're both

here, both uh from Omaha, Nebraska. Uh

been with Collective since last Easter.

>> Probably at the lowest I could have

gotten with the marriage. I was Things

just were not going good. He was

drinking every night.

>> Yeah, we've been together 17 years and I

pretty much um have been drinking all my

adult life. On the way home, I'd just

grab a six-pack um every night.

>> Fridays would be two.

>> Fridays would be two. Um, I would grab

one and put in the fridge and then I

would grab one, go to my buddy's house,

drink one and drink the other one when I

got home.

>> Didn't even want to be around him when

he was drinking. Riker is my daughter's

son. I think of all the the chaos and

the yelling in the house. He was kind of

stuck to me and if I was sitting on the

couch, he had to be on my lap. And he

had started calling him.

I don't want to be here with him. you

have to take me with you. I was to the

point after years of of this just being

done. There was nothing else I could see

that was going to go on with the

marriage. There was no future for the

marriage. I found myself praying, "If

you just tell me when, I'm gone. Just

give me a sign and tell me when and I'm

ready to go."

And I said, "We need to get back to

church." He said, "Nope, we're not

going. We've tried it. It's not working.

We're not going." And we were out just

driving around and happened past your

egg hunt. And I told him when we got

done that day, we need to try this

church. And he's like, "All right, but

it's not going to work." I mean, from

the first time we walked in, I felt like

this is where we belonged. I had a talk

with Morgan. I explained the situation

to her and um we were going through the

fast the next week and she got Tom on a

Sunday after service and asked him so

what do you what are you thinking you're

going to fast and he said oh I think I'm

going to fast potato chips which he

doesn't eat a lot so I mean it wasn't

really a fast and she said oh Tom don't

you think maybe you should fast the beer

and he's like uh eventually um it wasn't

very long After the talk with Morgan, I

woke up one morning and the thing that

was on my heart was, "You're fighting

for the wrong thing. You've got to fight

for your marriage, and if you do, things

are going to be better."

>> With her always pushing me into church,

pushing me into church, she sees how

much better of a person I am

with with God in my life. Last Thursday,

we're we're doing this ache um thing.

Um, I mean, normally I'm picking up a

six-pack on the way home and on the way

home I'm like, uh, let's stop at Five

Below and get some eggs and then let's

stop at Walmart Super Center and get

some candy. And we we're sitting there

um Thursday night and she just looks

over me and she's smiling. It's been

like a 360 for us.

>> I decided to start praying that the

marriage was going to heal. It was going

to get better. We went through the

fasting with Tom giving up his drinking.

Um, things have been turning around

completely. The atmosphere in the house

is lighter. He seems more happy. He's

more patient. Riker's, he's back to

entertaining himself. And it's grandpa.

It's kind of like we're dating again. We

laugh at each other's jokes. We're

finishing each other's sentences. We're

thinking the thing same things at the

same time. And it's really nice to get

back to that because I thought that

there was no way that was coming back

that it was all gone.

>> Jesus rescued us in our relationship as

far as giving us back our marriage and

giving us back the love that we had.

>> Um Jesus rescued us by

giving us back what I thought was

completely lost and would never be found

again. He was able to find it and show

us it was still there.

Amen. Come on. Can we give a hand for

Tom and Don?

It is

It's incredible what God's doing and how

the resurrection continues

to ripple into the lives of those who

follow him today. And just as Jesus

rescued them,

I believe he's got a rescue for you

here. So we got we we look at how the

resurrection changes everything as the

resurrection is trustworthy. How his

plan for you is trustworthy. How God is

trustworthy. And so then this brings us

when I look at this I I have to move

from a question just naturally. They

have to go did from did it happen to do

I believe and then immediately which

means so what am I going to do about it.

The last point I want to hit on is

Jesus resurrection demands a response.

It's kind of like if I if I if I greeted

you out there, someone greeted you out

there and they offer their hand.

If someone offers their hand to you, no

response is not an option. I either

reach my hand out or I turn away and

reject it. I there there is a there's a

response required. this resurrection and

this moment in this time right here. God

made you for this moment in this moment

for you and he is offering his hand

right here saying come on I want to free

you from this prison cell that your sin

has built around you.

I want to offer you freedom here. So the

question I have to ask is what is my

response going to be? But believe it or

not, Jesus already highlights this

before he ever was crucified.

Jesus shares with his disciples and he

says, "Do you want to know what it's

like to be what what we would call today

a Christian? Do you want to know what

it's like if you want to be my

disciples? Whoever wants to be a

Christian must deny themselves,

take up their cross, which is not a

symbol of hope. It's a symbol of death.

It's a symbol of Roman oppression. It's

a symbol of destruction. Take up their

cross daily and follow me. For whoever

wants to save their life is going to

lose it. Whoever loses their life for me

will actually save it. And then what

does this look like? This is then

modeled by the disciples later in the

Apostle Paul writes about what it looks

like for him to live this. In Galatians

Galatians 2:20

2:20, he says, "I have been crucified

with Christ." And it's no longer I who

live, but it's Christ who lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live

by faith in the son of God who loved me

and gave himself for me.

This is the story. I cannot I cannot

just walk away from here and not

respond.

It's a response I must I must give. And

and so I got to ask the question, does

my life look like it's lived in response

to this miraculous crucifixion and

resurrection?

And the best way that I can the best way

that I've heard this said, the best

illustration to be able to highlight who

is what did Jesus do for me is actually

uh it's it's a it's a story

and it it goes like this. There once was

a king who lived in a land far far away

a long time ago. And this king was known

as the most just, the most fair, and the

most loving king to ever have existed.

Every problem that came to his table, he

would handle it in a way that was

incredibly fair and incredibly loving

all at the same time. And one day, he

got a report that someone has been

stealing out of the the king's treasury.

And so he goes up. He makes an

announcement and he says, "Hey,

whoever did this,

come forward. I'm just, so you're going

to get a punishment, but I'm loving, so

it's not going to be too much. 10

lashes. Come forward. You'll get 10

lashes in front of everybody." And we're

good.

No one shows.

The next day, steps up. No one showed

up. So today the punishment is now 20

lashes.

No one shows up.

Day three, 30 lashes. Day four, 40

lashes. Now what is this? This is a

death sentence.

40 lashes was known as a death sentence.

And this is the And so now he says, "Now

come forward. Your punishment has been

egregious.

Not only is it the initial sin, but the

money that keeps on getting taken and

the issue and and the the the reality

that you're not coming forward now is

multiplying your sin. And then

eventually someone came forward

and his daughter walks up to him and

says, "Who is me?"

She shows him the money

and immediately turns and he walks away

and he's got to think about what am I

going to do?

in order to be both just and loving.

I'm just going to I'm going to show her

my love and No, no, no, no, no. Never

mind. Not you. Just put the money back

and we're good. That's not just.

So, I'm going to make her face it. But

that that's not loving. And I love my

daughter so dearly. And as a father who

has a daughter, oh, I get that. And so

he comes out and he says, "I already

made my statement. We're going through

with it."

So they took the daughter. They laid her

over a bench. They ripped open the back

of her shirt.

The dad stood as they lifted up the

whips to begin.

He says, "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop." And

he can't bear it. He can't do it. He

walks over, says, "Hold on. Hold on. She

deserves it. She deserves it. I'm going

to let you give it to her, but just a

second. Just a second." And he rips open

his shirt and he lays on top of her.

He says, "Go."

And they begin. And he takes all 40

lashes and he gives his life for his

daughter, for her sin, for you and me.

the perfect God that designed all of

this and designed what is good and what

is evil. And we have all done what is

evil and we have been the ones to commit

the sin. We have been the ones to

separate ourselves. So our imperfection

separates us from his perfection.

And then that separates us from his

life. The only thing I can get now is

death. That separates us from his love.

The only thing I can get now is wrath.

That separates us from his his his

grace. says, "The only thing I can get

now is judgment."

And so he says, "No, I will give myself

for your sin." And Jesus, I I believe

the resurrection of Come on, can we

stand up? I believe the resurrection of

Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus is

something I cannot leave without

responding to.

So my question for us today,

how are you going to respond?

And I' I'd ask

he holds his hand out to you,

would you give him a chance

and give imperfect people some grace?

Here's what I want to ask.

His design is perfect. His love is

perfect. His plan is perfect. And his

plan is not just if I want to be in the

body of Christ, I can't do so while

being separated from the body of Christ.

He doesn't just call us to to to say yes

to him, but to be he calls us into a

family. He calls us into his people. He

calls us into a community, into a

belonging. This is what he's called us

to.

And I want to invite you

not to say,

"Yes, I'm going to step into this

perfect thing that everything works out

and it's all great." No.

But to step into a perfect God with a

bunch of imperfect people that are going

to mess up a million times over. Now, I

love I love I love what God's doing here

at Collective. I think it's one of the

most extraordinary things I've seen. one

of the I I I I would choose this church

regardless of being the pastor. I would

choose this church to go. I love what's

happening here. But

it's not without its flaws

because we're full of a whole bunch of

people that are really messed up. Amen.

And here's the thing I want to I want to

ask you.

Jesus wants to resurrect your life.

But he can't do so.

A resurrection doesn't happen without a

death.

He gave the true sacrifice. But now we

must respond with laying our lives

and picking up our cross.

So this is why I have us stand. Not

because it's about time to go, but

because we're moving. Sitting is

receive.

Standing is preparation for action. I'm

ready to move. I'm ready to act. I'm

ready to respond. And I want to invite

us into a response today. In fact, if

you're in this room,

there may be three different responses.

Maybe you're following Jesus and you

just need some fresh hope. You just need

to know that the end is not the end.

Maybe

you once were following Jesus and you've

strayed away and you haven't been.

You've run away from his purpose, his

calling, his people, and now God's

calling you. Come back

and you need to come back. Or maybe you

are a part

of a group of people in who who go I've

never I've never by my own decision said

Jesus you're my Lord and I'm giving my

life to you and I surrender.

I lay my life down. I give it up to you.

If you're in that where you are ready to

recommmit

or to surrender your life to Jesus for

the very first time, he's offering his

hand to you.

Would you respond just quick raise your

hand just so I can see it. I want I want

to see. There we go. Come on. I see it.

Let's go. Let's go. Come on. Come on.

Who else we got? Who else we got? That's

some courage right there. Who else we

got?

What's God doing? And if you need to

respond to any of those, God's calling

you back. He's calling you for the first

time. And whatever it is, what I want to

do is we're going to give I want I want

to see your hand because we got some

people praying. We got some people that

want to come alongside you. And you

don't have to do this alone. You weren't

purposed to do this alone. You weren't

created to do this alone. We want to

surround you. We got resources. We got a

free Bible for you. We got steps that

you can take. So, if you got something

and what I want to do is I want to offer

I'm going to pray. And as we pray, if

you still need to respond. Our prayer

team's going to keep our hands up. We're

going to keep their eyes open. If you

got your hand up, they'll come and

respond to you. And no one else no one

else has to know. So, let's close our

eyes. And I want to let God start doing

his thing. If you need a respond right

now, you can throw your hand up.

Heavenly Father, I pray right now in

this place, God, for every single one of

us, God, may we walk out of this place

living like we are the children of a

king who gave his life for us. May we

leave changed. May we leave transformed.

May we leave knowing that no matter what

the stories are in this room, the end is

not the end. That you want to redeem.

That you want to restore. God, I pray

that you begin to do that right here in

this place. I pray, Father God, that you

begin to take the old sins and to turn

them into new stories. You take the old

traumas and you turn them into

testimonies. Father God, you take the

old brokenness and you bring it into

restoration. Father God, that you take

the hurts and you heal them. God, you

take the sickness and you bring it back

into oneness. Lord, I pray for the

division. God, I pray for the bitterness

to be brought into forgiveness. Lord, I

pray for those who are lonely to see

your presence and to find community.

Lord, I pray for those who are in here

who are hurting, who are lost, to seek

you, find your presence, and know

exactly where to go.

Father God, we give our lives to you. We

respond to the resurrection. We respond

to your love. We respond to your grace.

And we will never ever leave the day

again. In the name of Jesus, all God's

people said, "Amen." Amen.

I want to say

please, if we can just take a second

here, please. We're about to close out,

but do not leave this opportunity.

I believe

that God

has this moment for you and you for this

moment. I just I know it. And what you

can do is you can leave this room and

go, "Man,

that was so powerful what God did. Man,

that was so cool. Uh, I don't know what

I thought about that pastor. He's a

little bit too much for me, but I'm

going to like that. It was it was cool

with I got some yogurt. That was fun.

You can leave and go back to everything

exactly the same."

God's a gentleman. The choice is yours.

But if you draw near to him, if you give

your life, if you surrender, and you

say, "I'm going to give this a shot." I

want to say, "This is it. This is all

I'm asking." Just keep showing up.

Just keep showing up. There may be a

thousand different convictions that

you've got. There may be a hundred

different things that you felt like God

said to you today, but please just just

show back up. Follow through this

series. Walk through it. See what God

does. See what he's doing in your life.

See what he's doing in your heart. and

just give him a shot in the midst of a

whole bunch of imperfect people. If I go

allin with him, because he didn't go

halfway with you, if I go allin with

him, I promise you, he's going to show

up.

>> Can we give a hand for the word of the

Lord? Amen.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.