Jesus Has Authority Over Death

We're doing something this year called following Jesus.

We're going through the entire book of Matthew.

We started this a few weeks back, a few months ago rather.

We're doing this all the way down through our elementary school students, and so they're learning the same stuff that we are.

Really exciting.

We're learning about the life of Jesus.

We're just following along and trying to learn as much about Jesus as we can so that we can know him better, we can follow him more closely, because there is no one like Jesus.

And we're trying to do this as literally as possible.

And so we've employed the most fun and entertaining thing that has ever been invented, which is maps.

Everyone loves maps.

And so, as a terrible joke, but either way, here's the map that we have of Israel.

You can see this is Israel, you've got the Mediterranean Sea, you've got the Sea of Galilee up to the top right, the Dead Sea at the bottom, and these are sort of the main regions that were active at the time of Jesus in Israel.

If you ever open up your Bible and you read about, you know, Jesus traveling around talking to people, you'll see these words pop up: Galilee, Samaria, Judea.

And what we've been doing is following along with Jesus.

And so we'll kind of catch you up as quickly as possible.

We'll just kind of follow Jesus along, at least his adult life.

He grew up in a place called Nazareth.

And when he was 30 years old, Jesus went all the way to the southern part of Israel to Judea, where he was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist.

Then he went to be tempted in the desert.

He passed that test, that test with flying colors.

Jesus is awesome.

Then he went back up to Nazareth where he was from.

It was a nowhere little town.

He stayed there for a very brief period of time.

And then he moved to Capernaum, which is this small village on the very top of the Sea of Galilee, a fishing village.

Then he traveled all over the region of Galilee, and he was teaching and he was doing miracles, and word about him began to spread so much so that people started coming from all over the place to see Jesus, to hear him speak.

And that culminated at a message he gave called the Sermon on the Mount.

Then he went across the Sea of Galilee.

There was a storm, he calmed it.

There was a dude that was possessed with demons, there were pigs, it was nuts.

And then he came back across the Sea of Galilee, and that's where we are today.

So there you go.

We're all caught up.

And even if you haven't been here yet, the cool thing about Jesus in his story is that many people didn't join the story until he was a good way into his journey, and it's all okay.

No matter where you are, no matter where you jump in with Jesus, it's always a good starting point.

And so we're picking up in Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read it here in just a second, but just to give you a little bit more context, understand that the theme that we've been looking at these last few weeks is called real authority.

Jesus has real authority.

And I'm actually really glad that we have so many kids in the room, because you guys understand authority like no one else, because you live under authority all the time.

You are all experts in authority, and you know that there are different levels of authority.

Like there's the most basic level of authority, it's just the authority you have with age if you're a little bit older than someone else.

And so if you've ever had like an older sibling, and your parents leave you in the care of that older sibling, you know that you have to do what that older sibling says, sort of.

Kind of.

Right?

My oldest is is almost 14, and sometimes we'll leave home and we'll leave him in charge of our younger kids for a few hours.

And when we get back, we don't expect the younger kids to have followed his lead perfectly.

As long as they have just towed the line to a reasonable degree.

We don't really even care if they made his few hours a nightmare.

Uh as long as everyone's alive and police weren't called, we're pretty happy.

So it's just the lowest level of authority.

You follow it a little bit.

And then you have a higher level.

And this is authority that comes with a position.

So it's a teacher or it's a coach.

As we get older, we have bosses.

Sometimes we even have bosses that have less experience, less knowledge than we do, but they have a title, they have a position, and we have to respect the authority of that position.

And then we could probably talk for hours about all the different layers of authority that there is, but what I want to focus on today is just the highest level of authority possible, ultimate authority.

This is an authority that is complete, it is total, and it's an authority that you have to earn.

You have to win this.

You have to do something that proves to everyone around you that you are who you say you are, that you can do what you promise to do.

You have to win this level of authority.

And if you have it, people will follow you to the ends of the earth.

They will submit to you because they recognize that you can lead them where no one else can.

And we're gonna see today that Jesus has that kind of authority, ultimate authority.

I was trying to think back in my life if there are any experiences I've ever had where I've seen that kind of authority, where someone's been able to impress me that much.

And there were a few that popped in my mind, and I tried really hard.

I'm gonna say this little disclaimer.

Um I talk about basketball way too much.

I recognize that.

I have a problem.

We all have problems.

Uh, but it's also it's March Madness.

And my team plays uh tonight in the Elite Eight with a chance to get to the final four.

I am a Duke Blue Devil fan, I'm sorry, you can hate me, I don't care.

And uh and I have it's a problem though, right?

It's Easter Sunday, and there's just no way God's gonna let the devils win on Easter Sunday.

I thought about that, so I'm a little upset about that.

But then I thought, hold on, they play North Carolina State, the wolf pack.

Jesus is the good shepherd.

Wolves are the archenemies of shepherds, so I think there's a loophole, and I'm fine.

I don't know how it's gonna work out, but it's just on my brain.

Maybe it's on my brain.

But as I thought about this kind of high level of authority, earn it, have I ever had experiences in life where someone has has impressed me that much they've done something that won that kind of authority in my life?

I did have a story that popped to my mind from when I was in the sixth grade, and it has to do with basketball, so just go with me for a second.

So in sixth grade, I got to go to a really cool basketball camp, and it was led by the the coach of our local Division I college, and he had he had done a lot of really cool things in basketball.

His name was Steve Alford, uh, I think it still is Steve Alford, is his name.

And so he had played for the University of Indiana, he had been like a prolific shooter, he played on an Olympic team with Michael Jordan, he played in the NBA, but when I was at that camp, he was just an old guy with stories, right?

Like he told us these things, but here's what I knew.

I was I was in the sixth grade, he was not in the movie Space Jam, okay?

And when I played NBA Jam on my Sega Genesis, he was not a player I could select and play as.

Anyone else old enough to have some nostalgia for NBA Jam?

And he right.

Boom, shakalaka.

Okay.

You guys know what that means.

So, you know, he to me he's telling us all this stuff, but it's kind of like, eh, it's just an old guy.

He was wearing khakis with like a red polo tucked in, kind of like the Jake from State Farm look before that was a thing.

And there just wasn't anything that impressive.

The story's cool, great, but he's sitting there talking to us, and we're just sort of, oh, okay, neat.

And he he pulls out this white sheet of paper and he holds it up.

And it's got some stuff written on it.

He says, hey guys, this is the shooting routine that I did every day when I was a kid.

And I've printed some off for you over at this table over here.

And if you guys will take these home with you and do this every day, you'll be, you'll be amazing.

And again, not in Space Jam, not Michael Jordan, right?

Not even in NBA jam on my Sega Genesis, so not super excited about the white sheet of paper.

And I think he could tell that none of us were enthralled.

And so he said, you know what?

Someone give me a basketball.

And so someone threw him a basketball, and he asked that same kid to go rebound for him.

And and then standing there in his khaki pants and his tucked-in polo shirt, he shot a three, made it, and then another, and another, and another.

And I don't know how long it went, but what I do know is it was a ridiculous amount of time.

And it got to the point where every time he made one, he had made so many in a row, hadn't missed a single one that we were like shouting and cheering.

Every time we went through the night, we're like, oh my goodness, this is crazy.

It went for for several minutes.

It was insane.

And when he finally missed, which felt like it took an hour, he turned around to all of us and he said, Yeah, so uh so that shooting routine is oh, and we just we got up and we ran as if those were like the only copies that have ever existed, and if you didn't get one, you were destined to suck at basketball.

So it was like, and I did that, I did that routine, I did it constantly for years as a kid, all because I saw a guy do something I had never seen anyone do.

And once I saw him do that, I recognized I should follow his lead.

I should do what he says.

I want to be like that.

He won in that moment authority in my life.

Not authority of age, not authority of position.

Yeah, he was a coach, cool.

But he backed it up, he proved something to me, and man, I was locked in from that moment on.

Jesus has that kind of authority, but to a level that no one else has ever had or ever will have, to a level that we can't even imagine, because Jesus, as we're gonna see today, has authority over death itself.

Jesus has authority over death.

We're gonna see that right when we jump into the story in Matthew 9 that we're at.

We're in Capernaum, like I said earlier, right?

We follow Jesus around all over the place.

He's back in his town, and it says that in Matthew chapter 9, as he's teaching, a synagogue leader comes to him, and the synagogue leader knelt before him and said, My daughter has just died, but come and put your hand on her and she will live.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

Now we know from Mark's version of this story a little bit more detail, this man's name was Jairus, and he was the leader of the local synagogue, which means that he was either personally opposed to Jesus a short time before this, or at the very least, he is closely aligned with the people who oppose Jesus.

But his daughter is dead, and death makes us desperate.

So he takes a big risk and he goes to Jesus, and Jesus could look at him and say, Hey, I know who you are and I know what you represent.

Not interested.

But Jesus says, All right, take me to her.

They get up and go and pick up in verse 20.

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.

She said to herself, If only I touch his cloak, I'll be healed.

Jesus turned and saw her, Take heart, daughter, he said, Your faith has healed you.

And the woman was healed at that moment.

When Jesus entered the synagogue leader's house and he saw the noisy crowd and the people playing pipes, he said, Go away.

The girl is not dead but asleep.

But they laughed at him.

After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and he took the girl by the hand and she got up.

News of this spread throughout all the region.

Now, this is not the first time that Jesus has done something like this.

Just a short time before this, we see in Luke's gospel, chapter 7, verses 11 through 15, soon afterward, Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him.

A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate.

The young man who had died was a widow's only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her.

When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion.

Don't cry, he said.

Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it.

And the bearish stopped.

Young man, he said, I tell you, get up.

Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk.

And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Several years after this, Jesus learns that his close friend Lazarus is sick, and he's been sent for because they know that if Jesus comes, he can heal him.

But Jesus delays, and Lazarus dies.

And he shows up several days after Lazarus has been dead and buried.

And it's interesting, if you read that story, it's in John chapter 11, he's upset.

John 11 · chapter mention

He's upset that they've buried him.

And in their culture, you started a funeral right away.

That's why Jairus' daughter uh had a house filled with people who were playing music and crying, because the funeral began immediately.

And Jesus waited days, and he shows up and he's like, Why did you bury him?

He was dead.

It's like a really good excuse to do that.

It's interesting.

It says in John 11 that Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, and a cave with a stone had been rolled across its entrance.

Roll the stone aside, Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man's sister, protested, Lord, he's been dead for four days.

The smell will be terrible.

Jesus responded, Didn't I tell you you would see God's glory if you believe?

So they rolled the stone aside, and then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, thank you for hearing me.

You always hear me.

But I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.

Then Jesus shouted, Lazarus, come out.

And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth.

Jesus told them, Unwrap him and let him go.

Now, by my count, Jesus is three and oh when facing death.

And NBA Jam in the mid-90s taught me that when you go three and oh, something special happens.

Does anyone remember what happens when you go three?

You're on fire.

You're unstoppable.

Right?

That's the way it worked, as a deep cut reference for a very small number of people.

But seriously, yeah, if you 3-0, you're on fire, you're unstoppable.

That means the next time you face it, you're clearly gonna win.

And that's the way this is setting the story up.

Every time Jesus encounters death, it's just like it's nothing.

The little girl's dead, might as well just be asleep.

That boy's in his coffin, no, get him out.

He's been in the ground for four days?

Come on.

Get him out of those grave clothes.

Every time Jesus encounters death, he just like nothing, conquers it.

And so you have to know that if you were one of his disciples and you're following along with him, you've been along this journey everywhere he's gone, Jesus is invincible to you.

Jesus can't be stopped.

He is he's on fire.

He cannot be stopped.

And then Jesus, a short time after Lazarus is raised, he faces death.

They arrest him, and they put him through this phony trial, and they nail him to a cross, and the most unthinkable thing happens.

He dies.

He dies.

All that momentum, that invincibility, it just seems to wither away.

He dies.

He actually dies.

Now we know why he died and why he had to die for us, for our sin, to cover us, to save us, to rescue us, to pay the price for our mistakes, to purchase for us the restoration that we have with God, the friendship that we have with God.

Romans puts it really clearly.

Romans chapter 5, verses 6 through 11, says that when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and he died for us sinners.

Romans 5:6–11

Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good, but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

And since we've been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation.

For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son.

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Jesus died for us.

He paid the price for our mistakes.

He was perfect, he was blameless, he was spotless.

We are not.

But he stood in our place.

And he died, and that's in and of itself, that's beautiful, that's powerful.

But we know that it doesn't end there.

That's why we're here.

That's why Jesus is not just some historical figure, like so many before him and after him, that have lived and done great things and been really interesting and maybe even really inspirational, but they're just a figure in history.

They're someone who lived and died.

That's not the story of Jesus.

His is the story of someone who lived and died and lived again, because we know that in Matthew chapter 28, early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.

His face shone like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow.

The guards shook with fear when they saw him, they fell into a dead faint.

And then the angel spoke to the woman, Don't be afraid, he said.

I know you're looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

He isn't here.

He has risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.

Come, see where his body was lying.

And now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.

He's going ahead of you to Galilee.

You'll see him there.

Remember what I've told you.

The woman ran quickly from the tomb.

They were very frightened, but also filled with great joy.

And they rushed to give the disciples the angel's message.

And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them, and they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshipped him.

And then Jesus said to them, Don't be afraid.

Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.

A short time later, this group of people is meeting and they're talking about what's happened.

And in Luke 24, it says, just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them.

Peace be with you, he said.

But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

Why are you frightened?

He asked.

Why are your hearts filled with doubt?

Look at my hands, look at my feet.

You can see that it's really me.

Touch me.

Make sure that I'm not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, and you can see that I do.

As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still, they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder.

Jesus appeared to many other people over the course of a pretty good chunk of time after this.

In fact, contemporary historians document that over 500 people saw Jesus, eyewitness accounts of Jesus risen from the dead.

He died and he rose again.

No one raised Jesus from the dead.

Like even when Jesus raised the little girl and the little boy and Lazarus, there's actually a biblical precedent for that.

There were a few prophets in the Old Testament that had similar stories where they were able to speak and through the power of God working through them, someone came back to life.

But that's not what happened here.

No, Jesus didn't need anyone else to tell him to come back.

Jesus himself died, and while dead, he rose to life.

No one has ever done that.

That's that's unbelievable.

That's unprecedented.

And like I'm pretty sure the sixth-grade version of me that saw some dude in khakis make 30-something three-pointers and was wowed would be similarly impressed to see a man die, be in a tomb, and a few days later get back up and live.

Jesus is alive.

He has conquered death.

He has defeated death.

And here's what that means.

This is why this is so important for us that we're not just here to celebrate a moment that happened.

This is happening to this day.

Jesus has defeated death.

Jesus has authority over death.

Think about that.

Jesus tells death what to do.

None of us can do that.

We don't have that.

Like we can try to avoid death.

We can just pretend that it's not a thing.

We love to do that.

But we don't get to tell death what to do.

Jesus does.

Jesus has authority over death itself.

It's kind of like that classic movie trope.

If you think about movies that take place in like a high school or something, there's always like a bully, and the bully's undefeated.

And everyone knows not to mess with the bully because if you try to mess with the bully, you know, it goes poorly.

You just don't want the bully's attention to be on you.

But then there's always a new kid, and they move into town, and everyone's like, don't mess with the bully, but the new kid doesn't seem to understand the rules, and he messes with the bully and he beats the bully up, and then the bully is forever defeated.

Right?

Is it the bully loses its luster?

It is not invincible.

And that's the way death is, but we don't often see it that way.

Like as believers, if you've given your life to Jesus, you have to understand that death is not going to have the final say in your life.

You don't have to be afraid of death.

You don't have to worry about it, you don't have to be afraid of it.

You don't have to freak out about it, you don't have to ignore it.

Death is a defeated foe.

Death is a beaten bully.

Because Jesus defeated it and he didn't just do it for himself.

Jesus doesn't do stuff for himself.

Jesus, he just doesn't do things just for his own benefit, ever.

He's not braggadocious.

There's never a story in the Bible of a miracle that Jesus does where he's, like the verse says, and then Jesus said, Hey, check this out.

Like that's not how Jesus is.

He doesn't do things without a purpose, and he didn't defeat death just for himself, he defeated death for you.

He defeated it for you in John chapter, yeah.

That is clapworthy, I agree.

In John chapter 11, same chapter where he raises Lazarus, he's talking to Lazarus' sister.

John 11 · chapter mention

Before he raises him to life, he says, I am the resurrection and the life.

Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying.

Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never, ever die.

Really?

And then he asked this question do you believe this?

And I want to hang there for just a minute.

Do you believe this?

I think that is the question.

Do I really believe that?

I have to ask myself that question, even though I'm a pastor.

Do I really believe?

Do I really believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again?

And I do.

Because I've experienced Jesus.

Because I've felt his presence.

Because I've seen Jesus change people.

And dead people can't change things.

I've seen people live one way, have an encounter with Jesus Christ, and be different.

Like forever changed, never the same again.

Because Jesus is alive.

And here's what that means for us.

And guys, this is so practical.

We have to understand this.

All of us live under authority.

We all live under authority.

We don't like it.

We'd rather that not be the case.

But all of us live under authority.

And we have multiple levels of authority, right?

We have bosses, we have parents, we have whatever.

But it's pretty simple.

Ultimately, in life, for all of human history, people have lived under the authority of death.

You go back to the Old Testament, you see godly men and women terrified of death.

People of great faith that do amazing things on behalf of God or through the power of God, and yet they are still terrified of death because they lived before Jesus.

I don't have this verse for the screen, but Job 14, 14, Job wrote, If only I could know whether or not there was life after death, doing so would give me such relief that I would eagerly await the release of death.

That's what Job wrote.

He was known to be the godliest man on earth, and yet he didn't know whether or not there was life after death.

So in his mind, death has the final say, death has the authority, and I just, I don't know.

But we live on the other side of Jesus.

We know something that Job didn't.

And the truth of the matter is you either live under the authority of death, or you live under the authority of the one who has defeated death.

It's one of those two.

I don't mean to just be blunt for the sake of being blunt, but it's it's truth.

It's one of those two.

Either I live under the authority of death, and I'm just biding my time until death has the final say, or I live under a different authority.

I give my life to the one who defeated death, and now I can be like the Apostle Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, oh death, where is your victory?

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Oh death, where is your sting?

And actually, I don't know how he put that.

It might have just been like him being like, oh death.

Oh death.

Where's your victory?

Oh death, you silly thing.

Because death's been defeated.

It's been defeated.

He goes on to say in verses 56 and 57, for sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gave sin its power, but thank God he gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul knew something that even people like Job didn't know because Paul was one of those people who experienced the risen Jesus.

He was on his way to kill, to capture those who follow Jesus, and Jesus met him on a road to a place called Damascus and forever changed his life.

And Paul saw a dead man alive.

He spoke to him.

And he was so vibrant that it blinded Paul for a time.

And Paul gave the rest of his life, committed the rest of his life to following Jesus, to telling everyone about Jesus, to the point where he wasn't afraid of death at all.

People could try to freak him out, threaten him, no big deal.

In fact, he was in prison.

You can read this in Philippians chapter one, and he has the most bizarre take on death.

He essentially says, you know, bring it on, but not in some cavalier way.

Not in some rebellious way, not in some foolish way.

He just says, look, guys, do what you want to do.

I'm paraphrasing here, but he says, you know, don't kill me.

That would be great.

Because I got a lot of stuff I want to do.

Or you could kill me, and that would actually be better for me because then I'd be with Jesus.

So really, either way.

Like, can you imagine what it would be like to actually have that attitude about death?

Like what it would be like to where, you know, you don't feel something odd in your body and you make the mistake of going online and typing up the symptom, and you're like, I have this is the worst thing that's ever happened.

I, you know, you have a cough and you either have a cold or, you know, a rare disease.

And sometimes it is the rare disease.

But we live in fear of that.

We live in a world that is that is totally afraid of death.

We've never lived longer.

Our life expectancy has never been longer in human history.

And yet we're just as afraid of death, if not more so, than any group of people that have ever lived.

See, we either live under the authority of death, and that means fear and worry, and fear and worry always result in control, and you try to do everything you can to delay it, to pause it, to push it away, and that's fine.

But ultimately you're still under its authority.

Or you give your life to Jesus.

The one who died and told death, No, I'm gonna get back up.

And death had to go, I can't stop you.

You give your life to him and you live under a different authority.

And he says that if you put your faith in him, you have life.

And you have life that is so full, it is so abundant that, yes, yes, death might kill your body, but it won't kill you.

And you have more and greater life to look forward to.

Because he is the resurrection, he is the life, he beat death, and he has authority over death.

And so I just want to ask the same question Jesus asked in worship team, you guys can make your way out.

Do you believe this?

Do you believe by theone here believe that Jesus has authority over death and he's risen and he's alive and we have hope?

Good.

It'd have been weird if I was the only one, because you all came here.

And look, I know that there are those of us who struggle with that.

Like it said that even the disciples seeing him were dealing with disbelief.

Just recognize that if you've ever had the thought, man, well, if I could just see him, I would believe.

Yeah, easy to say.

But the disciples had Jesus standing right in front of them, and even he had to be like, I'll prove it.

Like, touch my scars, look at me, I'm not a ghost.

In fact, if you keep reading in that in that story, it says that uh Jesus says, Hey, give me something to eat, and he eats fish, and they're all like staring at him as if it's gonna fall through him.

You know?

Never before has a man eating fish been an impressive feat.

But Jesus eats the fish and they're like, He's alive, you know, it's crazy.

Just know that even when we say, Man, if I could just see him, I would believe.

Yeah, lots of people have seen things and still struggled.

It's okay to struggle with disbelief, but I'm telling you, it's either death or Jesus.

It's it's who he's the only one that's defeated death.

It's either death or Jesus.

Either I live under the authority of death and it's just this bleak existence, and all I'm doing is trying to have as much time as possible, but it's like a clock, it's like a timer, it's running out, or I put my life under the authority of Jesus and it's just life and more life and abundant life, and death can do its worst, and I'm good.

I don't care because I have him.

And the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in me and lives in you if you've given your life to Jesus.

The same spirit that raised him to life, that's in you.

So we're gonna wrap up the way we almost always do.

We're gonna take Lord's Supper together.

And if you're new, we do this every Sunday.

You're invited to join us.

You don't have to, there's no pressure.

There are cups of bread and juice in the back.

You passed them as you came in.

If you didn't know, I'm sorry.

But you can get up and get one now if you want.

This meal is it's so powerful and it so encapsulates what we're talking about today.

Because this meal represents the death of Jesus on the cross.

Plain and simple.

The bread is his body, the juice his blood.

He died.

That happened.

But he lives.

He died once, he lives forever.

He died past tense, but he lives today.

And so as we take this, we remember why he died and what he died for, and that's me and you, and our freedom.

Our freedom from sin, but also our freedom from death.

So let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for this piece of bread and what it represents.

This is the body of your Son.

This is you, Jesus, perfect and blameless and without sin, and yet hanging on a cross, dying on our behalf.

It should have been us, but it's you.

And Lord, we thank you for that.

Let's take the bread.

Lord, we thank you for this juice.

This represents the precious blood of your Son, Jesus.

We thank you that you died on the cross, that you poured out your blood for us.

It covers us, it cleanses us because it paid the price for our sins.

And Lord, we recognize as we drink this that this represents a moment in time.

But this is not the end of the story.

You got back up, you rose to life, and you prove in doing that that you have authority over death, and that if we have you in our lives, we do not live under the authority of death any longer, and we can say, Oh death, where is your victory?

Oh death, where's your sting?

We are free.

And we thank you, Jesus, because we could not do that on our own.

Let's take the juice.

Kids are amazing alarm clocks.

They let you know when it's been long enough.

I'm glad we should have them in here every week.

Guys, all I'm gonna say as we wrap up, something real simple.

Uh, Jesus is alive, he's risen, and that means you have life.

And so, look, here's what you do with that.

Here's what you do with the life that Jesus has won.

You go live, you go enjoy your day, eat good food, hang out with people you love, watch basketball, don't watch basketball.

Take a nap, stay up late, do whatever you feel like doing today within reason because Jesus is alive, he's given you life, so go live, go enjoy the life that he's won for you.

Have a pep in your step, enjoy your day, smile, hug the people you love.

Let's have an amazing day.

It's Easter, he's alive, and so are we.

Praise God.

We will see you guys next Sunday.