He is risen.
He is risen indeed.
Yes, He is.
If you didn't know the answer to that, that's all right.
You could just be glad He is risen.
But that comes from an old Christian tradition.
Man, back in the old days,
if you believed that Jesus really did rise from the dead,
you were a radical.
People would look at you like you're crazy.
Now, the followers of Jesus span the entire globe,
all around the world.
And this morning, in all continents across this entire earth,
people are gathered together,
and they're celebrating the fact
that death could not conquer Jesus Christ.
So we're excited about that.
My name is Sam Benal.
I'm the pastor here.
If I haven't gotten to meet you yet, I'd love to do that.
I will be sticking around.
I would say my wife and I, she's home with our sick kid.
The devil was already fighting.
He wanted to keep one of us home.
But listen, I'd love to meet you after the service.
If I haven't gotten to do that yet.
But there's a little thing in each of your pews,
a little paper here that shows you what we have coming up this spring,
as well as our weekly worship schedule.
We'd love for you to take that home,
or if you know someone that could use that and pass it along.
How many of you can imagine waking up in the morning at your usual time?
I'm not going to ask what time you get up.
We've probably got anything from early, early morning hours to a little bit later,
depending on the stage of life and your circumstances.
But whatever time you usually get up,
you wake up,
and it stays dark outside.
How many of you would enjoy that?
How many of you depend on the sun coming at you?
Yeah, Clayton raised his hand.
I would love that.
It means you can go back to sleep, right?
Look, summer break's coming, man.
You'll be able to sleep in a little bit, probably.
Look, we depend sometimes on the sun coming in.
Maybe some of you depend on the sun coming in to get up.
I've got kids in school, so, you know, we wake up before the sun comes up.
But that's all right.
How many of you have been in a part of the world
where there is a period of polar darkness?
Anybody?
Yeah.
There's one, two, just a few of you.
Not a whole lot.
How many of you are aware that there are certain parts
of the far northern part of our globe
where the darkness, for a period of time,
is either 24 hours a day or nearly 24 hours a day?
You're aware of that?
It's depressing.
We don't realize how much we need the sun
and how perfectly God made it to where we depend on the sun.
Our world depends on the sun.
Be weird.
You woke up, the clock says it's 7 o'clock in the morning,
it's still dark outside.
9 o'clock in the morning, it's still dark outside.
Noon, 2 o'clock, 3.30, kids get out of school,
it's still dark outside.
How many of you kids would love having recess in the dark?
You might have fun at first, but eventually you'd get pretty old.
The teachers would not love the liability and the injuries
that would happen with recess in the dark.
Being in the darkness is not fun.
Can be for a little bit.
Can be here and there.
But man, would that get old quickly.
We need that sunlight.
Back when I was a youth pastor, we live in northern Nevada
and I'd led a missions trip up to Alaska
and we visited during a time of year
when it was almost all sunlight all the time.
I took a picture, it was midnight outside
and it was broad daylight.
Midnight and broad daylight outside.
Just the weirdest thing.
Of course, you gotta take advantage of blackout curtains
in those times when you're trying to go to sleep.
But then there is the other time of year
and they said, listen, you enjoy it right now.
It's fun.
But it's not fun when the darkness comes
and it stays.
And sometimes in the far northern reaches of Alaska,
they'll go more than two months in a row
without any sunlight
or very, very little sunlight at all.
So just imagine that.
Put your head there a little bit on Easter morning.
Can you imagine living day after day in darkness?
You'd have to adjust your life to it.
You'd have to rely on manufactured light
as you see here
just to be able to get around.
Into that kind of darkness,
that level of darkness,
Jesus came.
That was the level of spiritual darkness
the world had been trapped in
since the fall of man.
If you've been around church for any length of time,
you've probably heard about the Garden of Eden,
Adam and Eve,
the first man and the first woman
and how Satan seduced them
with the promise of power
and knowledge equal to God
and they believed his lies
and they sinned against God.
And from then on,
the world was plunged into darkness,
spiritual darkness.
They could not see
beyond their own understanding.
So limited.
They couldn't understand.
And God would promise
little bits and pieces of the future.
He would say,
I'm going to send a rescuer.
I'm going to help you.
There's going to be a way out.
But you have to believe.
You have to have this thing
we call faith.
That's what the people
who lived before the coming of Jesus,
all they had to hold on to
was this little thing called faith.
Just little points of light
that would appear.
God might appear to his people
just for a moment.
God might speak through his prophets
in the Old Testament
in increasingly obscure ways
and it was hard to always understand
exactly what they were talking about.
It didn't all line up
until God himself came down.
We talk about it at Christmastime.
I think Christmas and Easter
are inextricably linked.
You can't separate them.
My mom always likes to talk about Easter
and sing Easter songs at Christmastime
and then she likes to talk about Christmas
and sing Christmas songs at Easter time.
But I get it
because they're very connected.
It's all part of the story.
So you go back
to how it began
then you go back
to not how it ended
but how our hope
then began.
And you've been hearing this story read
in little bits and pieces
from the young
all the way up to adults
from the word of God
about how Jesus came
and what he endured
at the hands of mankind.
So, number one,
before we get there,
if you'd like to take any notes
there's a spot in your bulletin
to do that.
If not, if you just want to listen
that's absolutely fine.
But I want to share this quote with you.
We're all stumbling in the dark
and that makes for some pretty
interesting collisions.
Think about that.
You and I are all stumbling around
in the darkness.
Spiritually speaking,
we're all stumbling around.
Except for the light
of the Holy Spirit of God,
we can't see clearly.
So God's Holy Spirit
has to give us that light.
He has to pull the veil
away from our eyes.
And until he does that,
we stumble around
and we smack into each other.
And then you've got wars
and you've got strivings
and you've got fightings
and you've got disagreements
and you've got greed
and jealousy and anger
and all these things
that come from people
stumbling around in the dark.
So this was the world,
get that in your head,
this picture,
this was the world
that Jesus came into.
It was utter darkness.
We could turn the lights off
in this room,
but we've got this stained glass
and we've got the windows
where natural light
would come in.
But can you imagine
if it was the dead of night
and then we turned off
all the lights?
It would be hard
to get around.
It would be hard
to get out of your pew probably.
It would be stumbling
all over each other.
It would be mass chaos
in here
and the fire marshal
would take us to court
or something.
Wouldn't be good.
But this is Jesus'
solution.
Jesus brings the light.
So number one,
Jesus is God's light
in darkness.
This is not anything profound,
but I hope that you can
wrap your head around it
and begin to have faith
in this statement
that Jesus is God's light
in the darkness.
John chapter 20,
we read about exactly
how he triumphed over death.
You've heard little bits
and pieces,
but in John chapter 20,
actually, you know what?
I'm going to go to Luke 24.
So if you were in John 20,
that's okay.
Flip over,
flip back one book
and let's go to Luke 24.
Very early on Sunday morning,
the women went to the tomb
taking the spices
they had prepared.
If you just want to listen,
that's fine as well.
They found that the stone
had been rolled away
from the entrance,
so they went in.
But they didn't find
the body of the Lord Jesus.
Can you imagine
how shocked they were
to get to the tomb
and see this stone
rolled away?
They'd watched him die.
They'd heard he was buried
in this garden tomb
that belonged to
Joseph of Arimathea,
a prominent member
of the Sanhedrin,
and he had graciously,
as a follower of Jesus,
offered up his tomb
for Jesus' burial.
So they go here
to try to honor
Jesus' memory,
brought spices
in lieu of flowers,
and they go in,
seeing the stone
is rolled away.
Who rolled the stone away?
The stone is massive.
Nobody could have done it
on their own.
Who did this?
And his body's not there.
And they're standing there
trying to wrap
their heads around it.
What's going on?
Did somebody break in here
and steal Jesus' body away?
And then two men
appeared to them,
clothed in dazzling robes,
and the women were terrified,
and they bowed
with their faces
to the ground,
and the men asked,
Why are you looking
among the dead
for someone who is alive?
He isn't here.
He is risen from the dead.
Remember what he told you
back in Galilee?
The Son of Man
must be betrayed
into the hands
of sinful men,
and he must be crucified,
but he would rise again
on the third day.
Then they remembered
that he had said this.
So then they rushed back
to tell his disciples.
What Jesus said
came true.
Now it started
to make sense.
Now the scales
started to fall
from their eyes.
Now the veils
started to be lifted.
Because even before,
when Jesus was predicting
his own resurrection
from the dead,
they thought maybe
he was talking
allegorically.
Maybe he was
not being literal.
Like, what?
What does he mean?
Tear the temple down
and in three days
I'll build it back up again.
What's he talking about?
And then he does it.
And he triumphs
over death.
And he triumphs
over darkness.
So Jesus' resurrection
is not an isolated miracle.
It's the culmination
of all the law
and the prophets
that came before.
So when you read
through the Old Testament,
you've got all the law.
You know,
the most famous
illustration of that
is the Ten Commandments.
And we look at that,
that Moses gave
to the people
that God gave to him.
And we say,
this is the law.
But that was not
the only part of the law.
The law went much
beyond that.
It was a very expansive law.
And God's point
with all that
was to point
at how mankind
could never free itself
from bondage
to failure.
failure.
You're never going
to be able
to live up
to this standard
of perfection.
God created
this world perfectly.
This is all
how it's supposed to go.
And you're never
going to be able
to meet that standard.
So this was the law.
And then you had
the prophets.
And you read
through the Old Testament book
and they've got
the prophets
talking about
little bits
and pieces about God.
Revealing a little bit more.
Pointing ahead
to Jesus.
But nobody exactly knew
what that meant
or what it looked like
until Jesus
came.
And then Jesus
was the perfect
picture of God.
The law
and the prophets
was an imperfect
picture of God.
It was
not fully clear.
It was not
fully realized.
But then Jesus
came
and he
was the perfect
clear picture
of who God is,
what he's about.
So if you want
to know
who God is
and what he's about,
you can read
the law,
you can read
the prophets,
they're going to give you
an imperfect picture.
When you look at Jesus,
it all comes
into focus.
That was the difference.
Before,
they couldn't see
clearly.
But then Jesus
came.
He said,
this is who God is.
Now he's with you.
Now you get to hear
him speak
to you
directly.
Now you get to see
how he lives.
Now you get to see
what he cares about.
Jesus is
God's
light.
Without
Jesus,
you're living
in the dark.
And you're
stumbling around.
And you're
bumping into each
other.
And that's what we do.
But Jesus
turns the light on.
And you get to see
God clearly.
You get to see
what he's about.
So,
let's go to Malachi
chapter 4
and verse 2.
Malachi 4
and verse 2.
But for you
who revere
my name,
the son
of righteousness
will rise
with healing
in its rays.
and you will
go out
and you'll
frolic
like well-fed
calves.
Does anybody
raise cattle
in here?
There are
people who
raise cattle
who are not
raising their
hand.
Raise your
hand if you
raise cattle.
There we go.
I'm looking at it.
I know you
raise cattle.
All right.
Or you have
maybe at some
point.
We're in
Clay County,
y'all.
Y'all know
cattle,
all right?
If we go down
in Dallas,
they don't know
cattle as well.
But y'all know
cattle.
When you've
got a young
well-fed
calf,
it wants to
go out
and have
some fun,
right?
But for you
who revere
my name,
the sun
will rise
in the
darkness.
And it'll
be healing
in its
warmth.
And you'll
be like a
young calf
who's getting
enough to
eat.
And it's
got no
worries.
And it
can go
out and
enjoy that
warmth of
the sun.
In a
green
pasture
when the
sun
rises.
Now,
would you
take that
U and
turn it
into an
O?
Because that's
the title
of my
talk today.
Is the
sun
has
risen.
The
S-O-N.
But Malachi
imperfectly
prophesied and
gave us a
little clue.
someday the
sun will
rise.
But we're
not talking
about the
sun that
hangs in
the sky.
We're
talking about
the sun
of
righteousness
or the
S-O-N,
the sun
of God.
And when
he rises,
then healing
will come.
And then joy
will come.
And then
happiness
will come.
And you'll
get to
fully experience
this life
that God
intended for
you.
until then
were still
in the
dark.
The only
thing they
had was
faith.
You know
what the
only thing
that we
have today
is?
Faith.
It's the
same faith.
It's after
the fact
looking back
instead of
before the
fact when
this was
written looking
ahead.
During
Jesus'
time he
was there,
he was
present,
but they
still had
to have
faith that
he was
from God,
that he
was God
himself,
that he
was the
perfect
revelation
of the
father in
the son.
So Malachi
4.2
teaches us
that Jesus
wasn't just
a little
pinpoint of
light.
Jesus was
not just
another prophet
coming to
talk about
God.
Jesus was
God present
with us.
The son
of righteousness
had risen
and it was
shining down
into the
dark world,
the spiritually
dark world.
Now you
don't have
to stumble
around anymore.
Now there's
something,
a physical
perfect being
to place
your faith
in.
It wasn't
just the
imperfect
lives and
words of
the prophets,
it was
the perfect
revelation of
Jesus Christ.
Now we
get the
complete
picture,
not just
a partial
picture.
Jesus is
God's light
in the
darkness.
We see
this
mentioned
in
Matthew.
Let's go
to Matthew
17.
This is
the perfect
picture.
Jesus backs
up what I'm
talking about
here.
The Father
backs it up.
You ready?
Matthew 17,
we call it
the
transfiguration.
Everybody say
transfiguration.
Just making
sure y'all
are with me.
You are.
That's great.
Let's go.
We're nearing
the conclusion
here.
So let's
dive into
Matthew 17.
After six
days,
Jesus took
with him
Peter,
James,
and John,
the brother
of James,
and he led
them up a
high mountain
by themselves.
There he
was transfigured
before them.
What does
that mean?
His face
shone like
the sun.
His clothes
became as
white as
the light.
We get
to see
this divine
light of
Jesus.
Like how
you would
think God
looks,
he shows
that to
them.
Yeah,
this is the
good stuff
right here.
This is what
you've been
waiting on.
I've been
telling you,
I've been
giving you
little clues
that I
am sent
from God
and I
am the
Father
one.
I am
God
himself,
but now
I'm
showing you
this divine
light.
I can't
imagine
what that
was like.
And then
just right
then,
there appeared
before them
Moses and
Elijah.
What did
Moses and
Elijah
represent?
The law
and the
prophets.
This is who
they had
hope in
before.
This is
whose word
they believed.
Moses and
Elijah for
centuries,
if you were
going to
trust in
the one
true God,
you were
going to
believe the
words and
the teachings,
the law
of Moses
and Elijah
because they
spoke on
behalf of
God.
They were
imperfect men.
They didn't
do always
everything right.
They didn't
make all the
right decisions
all the time.
Sometimes they
get angry.
Sometimes they
would lead
imperfectly.
This is the
law and the
prophets
represented
by Moses
and Elijah
appearing with
Jesus,
talking with
him.
And in
verse 4,
Peter said
to Jesus,
God, this
is amazing.
Lord, it's
good for us
to be here.
Look at
this.
It's you.
It's Moses.
It's Elijah.
This validates
you, Jesus.
I mean, I
believed in
you.
I had faith
in you.
But look,
you're right
here with
Moses and
Elijah.
Like they're
appearing from
the dead and
they're giving
validation to
you.
God, I tell
you what, I
got a great
idea.
I'm going to
build a little
shelter, one
for you, one
for Moses, one
for Elijah,
Elijah.
Peter was a
guy who liked
to kind of
dive in and
mix it up a
little bit.
I got this.
I got this,
Jesus.
Brilliant idea.
Let us just
stay here for a
while.
While he was
speaking, while
Peter was
talking, the
father interrupts
him.
And he says,
a bright cloud
covered them,
and a voice from
the cloud said,
this is my son,
whom I love,
with him I
am well
pleased, listen
to him.
Peter, it's
not about
Moses and
Elijah anymore,
buddy.
The law and
the prophets,
that was
partial.
Now you have
the full
picture.
You don't
need Moses
and Elijah
to validate
Jesus.
And then
what happens?
The disciples
heard this,
they freaked
out.
They fell
face down to
the ground
terrified,
but Jesus
came over and
touched them
and said,
get up,
don't be
afraid.
You know
Jesus always
did that.
This is a
little rabbit
trail, but
anytime you see
something amazing
happening and
people are just
freaking out,
you know,
and Jesus
told Peter,
hey, let's go
out and let's go
fishing again.
You've been
fishing all night
and the fish
weren't biting,
but I tell you
what, let's go
one more time.
And Peter goes
out there and
Peter's like,
God, let me tell
you that the fish
aren't biting.
I'm an experienced
fisherman, been
doing it a long
time, I know.
Okay, if you
want to go fishing
sometime, I'll
take you out when
it's a better
time.
But okay, fine,
since you're
Jesus, we'll go,
but I'm warning
you, it's not
going to work.
And then he gets
out there and
Jesus says, put the
nets down one
more time.
And all the fish
in the entire sea
came in and
pulled him in.
And what did
Peter do?
He fell down to
his knees and
said, oh God, I
messed up.
Depart from me.
I don't even
deserve to be
around you.
I'm a sinful
man.
And Jesus said,
get up, fear
not, don't worry
about it.
Jesus' response was
always compassion.
It was never, I
told you so.
It was never, why
didn't you have
faith the first
time?
It was never, when
are you going to
learn?
That's our
responses.
Jesus' response
was, don't be
afraid.
It's okay.
I have compassion
for you.
So if there's
somebody who
speaks for
Jesus, and
that's not their
demeanor, that's
not their
response, then
maybe they're not
speaking for
Jesus like they
present themselves
to be.
Because we see
who God is in
the person of
Jesus.
We see the full
picture.
This is who
Jesus is.
So if you're not
perfect and
somebody's shaking
their finger at
you for it, that's
not coming from
Jesus.
Jesus says, don't
be afraid.
Fear not.
I have compassion
on you.
I have a plan for
you.
Come on, let's
walk together.
That's Jesus.
That is the
Father.
That is God.
And that's what
Jesus said,
this is my
son.
Hear him.
Listen to
him.
The resurrection
of Jesus would
confirm that that
moment back on
Mount Tabor, when
the transfiguration
happened and Jesus
was shown to be
God early.
They got a little
picture.
Peter, James, and
John, that was a
decisive moment.
That was an
integral moment,
especially if you
were a Jew,
especially if you've
been following the
law and the
prophets your whole
life, and the
Torah was what
your life completely
revolved around.
The teachings of the
Old Testament.
That was your
world.
That was your God
almost.
And now God
himself is saying,
this is what it's
about now.
It's about Jesus
Christ.
He's not one voice
among many.
He's the final
revelation of me
that you'll ever
need.
I want to share this
quote with you.
It's going to be hard
to read, so I'll read
it for you.
The resurrection is
not only God's
vindication of his
son, where he
showed and justified
and proved that
Jesus is who he says
he is.
It is the vindication
of all that Jesus
taught.
Easter Sunday,
today, ready?
It's nothing less
than the triumph,
the victory of the
peaceable kingdom of
Christ.
The peaceable kingdom
of Christ.
Jesus' kingdom came
to bring peace, not
war.
So if somebody is
trying to act like
Jesus' kingdom brings
war and conquest,
that's what the Jews
wanted it to bring.
That's why they
turned on him after
they weighed the
palm branches and
said, yes, Hosanna,
Jesus our king is
coming to give us
victory and conquest.
And then, fast
forward, and they're
yelling, crucify him.
He's not who he
thought he was.
The peaceable kingdom
of Christ.
Easter changes
everything.
Easter is the hope
of the world.
Easter is the dawn
of a new age.
It is the rising of
the new Jerusalem
that someday we read
in Revelation is
going to come down
to this earth.
God is bringing
the new.
He said, I saw
the holy city,
the new Jerusalem
coming down out
of the heavens.
That's what Easter
is about.
And it's on the
horizon of humanity's
burned out landscape.
Easter is God
saying, once again,
because this has been
his theme from the
beginning, this is my
beloved son with whom
I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
him.
Jesus is the fulfillment
of all of it.
Jesus is built
on the father.
He's the impersonation.
He's the personification,
not impersonation.
He's the personification
of the father.
Jesus and the father
are one.
Christianity is built
on the person
of the risen Jesus.
It's not built
on principles.
It's not built
on ethics.
It's not built
on tradition.
Christianity
is built
on Jesus.
If your version
of Christianity
doesn't look like
who Jesus was,
then what you have
is not Christianity.
It might be religion,
but you're missing
the resurrection.
You might have religion,
but you're missing
the resurrection.
You don't get
to claim Jesus.
You don't get
to claim the Christ,
so you shouldn't
be calling it Christian
or Christianity
because Christ,
what he taught
is not what you have.
Now, I pray
that the vast majority
of you,
either already have
what Jesus taught
and who he was
or you're ready
to accept it today
because there'd be
no better day
than on Easter Sunday
to say,
I choose Jesus.
I choose the risen one.
And that leads us
to our final thought.
Because Jesus rose,
your world has hope.
Your world,
not just the world,
but your world
has hope.
With all of your hangups,
all of your problems,
all of your circumstances,
maybe all of your pride,
all of your accomplishments,
all of that has hope,
not because of you,
not because of your neighbor,
not because of your family,
not because of your finances,
not because of your status,
not because of anything
that you can do
or anything that you can earn.
Your world has hope
because of one single fact,
Jesus rose from the dead.
Otherwise,
you're still in darkness
like the rest of us.
Otherwise,
we're all still
stumbling around
convincing ourselves
to believe in somebody
that really wasn't
any different
than anybody else.
But he was different
because he did die
and he did rise from the dead.
And that makes it different.
That makes it somebody
to put hope in.
So if your hope
is in anything else
than a risen Jesus,
your hope is unfounded.
So,
people build their lives
around other things.
They build their lives
around control,
success,
comfort,
identity,
even religion.
But not enough people
in politics,
not enough people
on either side of the aisle,
not enough people
in churches,
not enough people
in county government,
not enough people
in school systems,
not enough people
in the workplace
build their lives
around Jesus Christ.
Let that be different
for you and me.
Let us wake up
every morning and say,
today,
I'm going to follow Jesus.
He might lead me places
I'm not expecting.
He might require things
in me I'm not expecting.
He might make me
go against my better judgment
because his judgment
is better than mine.
But because Jesus rose,
your world has hope.
You don't have to be trapped
in your best abilities.
You don't have to be trapped
in your own wisdom.
You have hope beyond that
because Jesus rose from the dead.
2 Peter,
this is the last scripture
we'll read today.
2 Peter 1 and verse 19,
we have this prophetic word
more fully confirmed.
You see what it's saying there?
The prophecies that you read about
in the Old Testament,
all those books of prophecy
and you go through Micah
and Nahum
and you read about Elijah
and Elisha and Samuel
and you read all these
Old Testament prophets
and you see what they had to say
and sometimes it's hard to understand.
You got to really study it out
to try to figure out
what they're talking about.
But Peter,
who walked with Jesus
and was there on Mount Tabor
when the transfiguration happened,
Peter says,
trust me,
we have this prophetic word
more fully confirmed.
I was there
when Moses and Elijah
disappeared from view.
Because you know what happened
back on the transfiguration?
Moses and Elijah appeared
and they're talking with Jesus
and then God speaks,
this is my beloved son,
hear him.
You know what happened then?
Moses and Elijah faded away.
They were left with the only one
they truly needed,
which was Jesus Christ himself.
Peter says,
I was there.
And we have those prophecies
now confirmed.
We have those prophecies
now confirmed.
Fully confirmed.
We've got the full picture now.
And you'll do well
to pay attention to it.
Because it's like a lamp
shining in a dark place.
It's like a sun
rising and shining its light
down into this dark world.
It's like the morning
dawning after a long
and hard night.
until the day dawns
and the morning star
rises in your hearts
like it's risen in mine.
That's what Peter's saying to us.
This is what it's about.
It's about Jesus.
Paul said,
I can't really know anything
among you
except this one thing.
Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
And I can tell you,
I don't know
everything about everything.
You might know more than me
about some things.
We might have different ideas
about some things.
But this one thing I know,
Jesus Christ
and him crucified
and him risen from the dead.
Because of that,
I was spiritually blind.
I was in darkness.
I was stumbling around.
Like all of you were.
Until the morning star,
Jesus,
the light of the world.
Can we say that together?
Jesus,
the light of the world
rose in my heart
and I pray
he's risen in yours.
Would you bow your head with me?
Jesus does not fit
into your life.
Your life depends on him.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the light of the world.
You've heard it
from the moment
you walked into this building
this morning.
You've heard it
in every song,
every scripture reading,
every prayer
that's been lifted up.
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the truth.
Jesus is the life.
Jesus is the full picture
of God revealed
to you and me.
don't build your life
around control,
success,
comfort,
identity,
even religion.
Build your life
around Jesus
and who he is,
what he said,
how he lived.
You read something
in the Old Testament
that doesn't seem
to line up with Jesus.
Compare it to Jesus.
Say,
is this something
in the Old Testament
that I need to
let define me
or do I need to
let Jesus Christ
define me
and whatever I read
in the Old Testament
or the New Testament
point me to Jesus?
Whatever I experienced
in church,
that might have been
like Jesus,
it might not have been
like Jesus.
I need to let it
point me
to Jesus.
That's who God is.
A lot of people
will talk about God.
A lot of people
will claim God.
A lot of people
will call themselves
Christians.
Say,
this is Christian.
The Bible told me
to do this.
Here's what I want
to know.
How like Jesus
are you?
How like Jesus
am I?
That's how I know
if I'm right with God.
If I'm like his son.
Because he said,
hear my son.
Listen to him.
Hear what he has
to say.
See how he lives.
See who he cares about.
See what he does
with his time.
I pray right now
while our heads are bowed
and our eyes are closed
and we're just
in communion
with the Holy Spirit
of God,
I pray that you would
open your heart to him
and say,
God,
change me.
Take over my life.
Make me like you.
Jared's going to lead us
in a song
in just a moment.
you can listen to him sing.
We won't stand.
You can remain in your seats.
You can sing along
if you'd like,
quietly.
But during these next
couple of minutes
before we all leave,
would you open your heart
to Jesus today?
I'm not asking you
to think I'm the best preacher
you've ever heard
because that's not going
to be true.
I'm not asking you
to think that this is
the greatest church
you've ever been in,
but you know what?
It is if this is
where you find Jesus,
the real Jesus.
So would you open
your heart to him today?
Jared,
go ahead and lead us.
It was my cross
you bore
so I could live
in the freedom
you died for.
If you need to pray down here,
this is open for that.
If you need somebody
to talk to,
I'd be happy to meet you
down here and pray with you.
Forevermore.
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
You deserve the praise.
Worthy is your name.
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
You deserve the praise.
Give him the praise.
Worthy is your name.
If you need to turn
to Jesus today,
don't walk out these doors
without making that decision.
Most important decision
you'll ever make
in your life
because he changes everything.
He's not a dead man.
He's alive.
He's there for you.
He's ready to listen.
He's ready to work.
His spirit wants to take up
residence in you today.
And now my shame is gone
and I stand amazed
in your love undeniable.
Your grace goes on and on.
I will sing of your goodness
forevermore.
If you're able to stand,
would you join us in standing
and sing this to Jesus?
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
You deserve the praise.
Worthy is your name.
He is worthy.
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
Yes.
You deserve the praise.
Worthy is your name.
One more time.
Just the voices.
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
You deserve the praise.
Worthy is your name.
Worthy is your name,
Jesus.
You deserve the praise.
Worthy is your name.
Amen.
God, that's our prayer to you today
is you do deserve all our praise.
You deserve all our faith.
You deserve complete control
over our spirit,
over how we conduct ourselves,
over how we think,
how we make decisions.
It must line up with the person
of the risen Christ.
I pray that you would change us today,
make us more like you.
Let us truly be Christian.
living like Christ in this world,
showing people the darkness
can have full, complete light
shown into it,
just like you've shown in our hearts.
We'll thank you for it.
We'll give you for it.
All the praise for it.
All the glory.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Church, thank you so much
for being with us
for Easter Sunday worship.
You are dismissed.
No activities tonight,
but we'll see you back here Wednesday
at six o'clock and next Sunday.
God bless.
Thank you.