Easter 2026 - Recognizing Jesus

[00:00:00] Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey, there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to, so we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church, and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message. [00:00:34] If we haven't met yet, my name's Tom. I have the privilege of serving the church as the lead pastor on eldership with Eric and Mike. And I'm just delighted to be with you this morning celebrating Resurrection Sunday. So happy Resurrection Sunday to you. [00:00:48] This is the day when we celebrate what God has done in and through the person of Jesus Christ, the God man. Jesus Christ, that he lived the perfect life that none of us ever could. And he died the death that all of us deserve. And in our place as our substitute, demonstrating his power, his authority over sin, over Satan, over death. And you know what else he demonstrated in doing that? [00:01:07] He demonstrated his great, passionate love for you and for me. And so if you walked in here this morning and maybe you're in a tough season, maybe you're like, hey, man, I'm just happy to be here. Getting out of the house was tough. I know we all try to look our best on Easter. It can be hard and chaotic getting out of the house. But if you're here and you're like, you know what? It's been a hard season. [00:01:27] If you don't hear anything else I say to you, like, Easter means that there's a God in heaven who has gone to great lengths to demonstrate and to reveal to you his love for you because you matter. Okay, Can I get an amen? [00:01:42] Beautiful. Okay, so here's how the rest of the morning is gonna go. If you're new with us, just so you're not, you know, freaked out, what are these people gonna do? What are they gonna make me do? Church on Easter. It can be kind of a scary thing. It's not gonna be scary. I'm gonna preach a message to you. We're gonna have a time of reflection and response. We're gonna celebrate some baptisms after that, and then we're gonna clean up and head out, and you can go to Easter dinner, Easter lunch, whatever you have planned. Okay? So this morning, I got a lot to share with you, so go ahead and Grab your Bible if you have one, open to Luke chapter 24. [00:02:11] Luke, chapter 24. If you don't have a Bible with you, no worries. The words are gonna be on the screen for you. You can follow along. [00:02:18] If you do have a Bible with you, you just need to know I'm gonna be in the Christian standard Bible translation. That's. [00:02:25] So if you have a different translation, it might be kind of tricky to follow along in your Bible, but the words will be there for you as well. [00:02:32] Now, the reason I'm taking you to Luke 24 this morning is because, guys, I really believe that there's something special here for each one of us. Whether you've been following Jesus for a really long time, whether you're just curious about Jesus, whether somebody dragged you here because it's Easter for all of us. I think there's something really, really special and personal here for each one of us. And in Luke chapter 24. Now, really quickly, Bible quiz. [00:02:57] Anybody know who wrote the book of Luke? [00:03:01] You guys are. You don't even need me to preach to you. You guys got this? Yeah, Luke. Okay, so really quickly, here's what you need to know about Luke. [00:03:07] Luke was a physician. [00:03:09] He's a doctor. And not only was he a doctor, he's a historian. [00:03:14] It's a pretty remarkable historian. But on top of being a doctor and a historian, Luke, he would accompany the Apostle Paul, one of the original kind of church fathers. He would accompany the Apostle Paul on some of his missionary journeys. And the reason that Luke wrote this book is the reason why anybody puts pen to paper. There's a purpose behind that. And his purpose for writing this book was to report, hear me, to report historical, eyewitness accounts of Jesus life, his ministry, his death, and Jesus resurrection. Okay, what we're gonna do this morning is we're gonna focus in on the last chapter of Luke, Luke chapter 24. We're gonna start in verse 13, so you can kind of find that and put your pointer finger there. [00:04:02] But before I jump into reading this, what I wanna do is I just wanna pray, okay? So I'm gonna invite you to join me. Let's pray together. [00:04:21] Father, I just want to take a moment and thank you for your grace and your love, your mercy on my life, on all of our lives. [00:04:34] Jesus, would you help me to honor these precious people? [00:04:40] I don't want to do anything that gets in the way of what you desire. For each one of us, I thank you for the lengths that you've gone to to declare and demonstrate your love and Your power. [00:04:54] And I ask, spirit of the living God, that you would open each one of our eyes to see Jesus more clearly and that you would use your words to do so. [00:05:10] You're wonderful, Jesus. There's nobody like you. [00:05:14] Kind and faithful and generous, sacrificial, loving, powerful. [00:05:21] Help us to see you this morning. We pray, and all God's people said together. [00:05:24] Amen. [00:05:26] Okay, so we're gonna pick up here in verse 13. [00:05:29] You got 24 chapters prior to where we're picking things up. So I'm just gonna kind of bring you up to speed at this point. Jesus has tortured brutally, okay? He's been flogged. If you're not familiar with flogging, it's a form of whipping that like, literally kind of rips people's flesh off their back. It's really brutal. Most people would die just in flogging. So he's been tortured, he's been flogged, he's been crucified, he's been nailed to a piece of wood, okay? He's been killed, he's been executed, and his dead body has been laid inside a tomb just outside the city of Jerusalem, okay? Real place, real tomb. [00:06:00] And at the front of that tomb, they've rolled this massive stone to block the entrance of that tomb, right? [00:06:06] And three days later, you guys know the story. Three days later, early in the morning, on the very first Easter Sunday, some women, they make their way to that tomb and they see something kind of concerning. They see that massive stone, it's rolled away. [00:06:24] So they go inside, they investigate, and his body is gone. [00:06:28] The body of Jesus Christ, who had just been murdered, executed, crucified, is gone. Okay? And then what happens in that moment, if you know the story, it's kind of crazy, okay? These angels from heaven show up, which, you know, most people haven't had an encounter with angels like that, but we read it, it happens. The angels show up, and it freaks these women out. And they're like, oh, my gosh, the angel. This is crazy. It freaks women out. And then the angels give them they hate. They're like, hey, why are you looking for him here? He's not here because he's alive. [00:07:02] That's what we pick up here in verse 13. [00:07:04] Okay, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read a fairly large portion of Scripture for you this morning, but I'm gonna read. I'm gonna pause and talk and then read some more and pause and talk. So here we go. We're gonna go Luke, chapter 24, starting in verse 13, we're gonna go all the way through. Verse 48. Buckle up, here we go. [00:07:18] Some of you are like, dang it, I was hoping we'd be out of here really fast. You will be. [00:07:24] Trust me. [00:07:26] Verse 13. Now, that same day, same day, very first Easter Sunday, okay? Same day, two of them, really quickly, the two of them there. We're gonna find out later that one of these guys, his name is Cleopas. [00:07:38] We don't know who the other person is. [00:07:41] There's speculation. [00:07:42] Most Bible scholars think it's his wife. Okay? So it's this guy Cleopas and probably his wife. Okay? So two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which is about seven miles from Jerusalem. So they're on this road, these two people, they're walking from Jerusalem, real city, to. To Emmaus. That's where they find that they're walking on this road, okay? Verse 14. Together, they were discussing everything that had taken place. [00:08:09] And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them. [00:08:18] Look at verse 16. But they were prevented from recognizing him. Okay, pause. So you have these two people, they're walking along the road to Emmaus, okay? And they're talking about all the stuff that's happened the past few days. [00:08:31] What stuff are we talking about? We're talking about Jesus getting executed on the cross. We're talking about the things that he's saying, the things that he's doing, all this stuff, right? The things that he's been teaching. The reports that his tomb is empty after his crucifixion. They're talking about all this stuff, right? And it says. I don't know if you caught it. It says that they were discussing and arguing. [00:08:47] This is evidence that this is, in fact, a married couple, okay? They are discussing and they are arguing, right? [00:08:54] So what does that mean? That means they're just. They're not on the same page about what happened. [00:08:59] They're not on the same page about what happened, okay? And then in the middle of this conversation, another traveler on the road shows up, and it's Jesus, the man who, three days prior, was crucified and buried in a tomb. [00:09:17] And did you catch it? It says that they were prevented from recognizing him. [00:09:25] You could deep dive study this. All the really brilliant Bible theologians, and here's what you'll find out. No one really knows why. [00:09:35] You could speculate, but no one really knows why. Here's what we do know. We do know they have no idea it's him. [00:09:46] Friends, I want you to consider what that means for just a moment. [00:09:52] Hear me. Jesus can be real close and you can have no idea. [00:10:00] Let's keep reading. Verse 17. [00:10:04] Then he asked them, what is this dispute you're having with each other as you're walking? [00:10:10] And they stopped walking and looked discouraged. If you have a pen, underline that in your bible. Discouraged. [00:10:17] Verse 18. The one named Cleopas told you about him already. He answered, jesus, and he says, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that happened there in these days? [00:10:28] Verse 19. What things? Jesus asked them. As if Jesus doesn't know what happened. Okay, listen, if you had any experience with God at all, you know, this kind of stuff happens all the time. God has a way of asking questions he already knows the answer to. [00:10:46] Why would he do that? [00:10:49] Maybe, just maybe, he just wants to simply engage with you. [00:10:54] Let's keep reading. Verse 19. [00:10:56] What things? Jesus asked them. So they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, powerful in action and speech, so in word and in deeds, powerful in action and speech before God and all the people. And how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. [00:11:19] But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Israel is just the people of God. Okay, besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened. I want to focus in. Pause for a second. I want to focus in on the. They were hoping. [00:11:38] In other words, Jesus wasn't what they hoped he would be. [00:11:44] He wasn't what they hoped he would be. Anybody else know what that feels like? Let's get real here this morning. [00:11:51] I felt that way before. Okay, maybe it's like, hey, here's one that's happened in my life and one that I see fairly often. [00:12:01] Somebody in our lives gets sick, like, seriously sick, and you pray, God, God, heal them. God, please heal them. Please take this away from them. Please heal them. [00:12:16] And despite the prayers, they don't make it. [00:12:24] Am I the only one that's ever experienced that in life? [00:12:29] Like, have you ever asked God for something and the outcome wasn't what you hoped it would be? [00:12:38] Right. The divorce still happened. [00:12:41] Those test results that you're praying for, they actually came back worse. [00:12:45] This happened to me this week, guys. A beloved family friend. [00:12:50] She's been struggling with some serious health issues. We started to see some improvement. We're praying, we're praying, we're praying. [00:12:56] She's back in the hospital. She's in the Hospital right now. [00:12:59] And I'm like, I've been praying and this is serious. This isn't like, oh, you know, quick overnight. This is serious stuff. [00:13:10] Maybe it's like, God, I'm struggling with anxiety and depression's bringing me down. And it feels like it's beyond me. And I'm crying out to God, God, are you there? Do you exist? [00:13:20] I'm crying out to God. And like, even though I'm crying out to God in prayer, the anxiety and the depression's still there. [00:13:28] Like anybody ever looked to Jesus and things didn't go the way that you hoped. [00:13:36] Guys, some of you know exactly how these two people on the road felt. [00:13:41] The discouragement, the disappointment. Listen to me. The letdown. [00:13:50] Jesus wasn't what they hoped he would be. [00:13:55] Let's keep going. Verse 22. [00:13:57] So remember, Jesus is responding. [00:14:00] He's asking them, right? He's saying, what things are you guys talking about? And this is their response. Continue in verse 22. Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, and when they didn't find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. [00:14:22] Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said, but they didn't see him. Okay, pause again. Side note really quickly, the fact that women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb. Hear me, it's one of the strongest pieces of evidence that this really happened. [00:14:39] You'll talk to different people and they'll have different opinions on the Bible, have different opinions on Jesus, different opinions on Christianity, different opinions on a lot of things regarding Jesus and what his ministry and his life and his death and his resurrection. And some of the things that people will say was like, ah, well, it's kind of like metaphorical. It's not really like a real thing. [00:14:55] Listen, like, this is really, really strong evidence. Even non Christian scholars will acknowledge, like, this doesn't make any sense, that this is in here. [00:15:04] Cause here's why. If the original biblical writers, if they're writing just to kind of. [00:15:09] Just to kind of convince people and persuade people of this untrue thing. And if they're doing that, there's no way in the world that they would have said that. The first witnesses, the primary witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, to even the empty tomb, were women. [00:15:25] Women were mistreated pretty significantly 2,000 years ago. Here's one of the things you need to know about that. Their testimony wasn't even accepted in court. [00:15:34] So if you're trying to make up a story that just is kind of like. And trying to persuade people to believe it, this is the last thing that you would include in here. The only plausible explanation for why multiple biblical writers would say that the first witnesses to the empty tomb were women was because that's what actually happened. [00:15:55] Really strong evidence here. [00:15:58] So at this point, I don't know if you caught it. We see multiple reports of an empty tomb. Okay? That original group of women, they then go tell other people who then are like, no way. They run to the tomb, they go see that it's empty as well. Right. So you have multiple reports of an empty tomb. [00:16:15] And these two people that Jesus is engaging with on the road that don't know it's him, they don't know what to make of it. [00:16:22] And they're discussing it and they're kind of arguing about it and. Right, let's keep going. Verse 25. [00:16:28] Jesus said to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe. All the prophets have spoken. [00:16:36] He's referencing the Old Testament Scriptures. Verse 26. Wasn't it necessary. Underline that word, necessary. Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter his glory? [00:16:50] Then beginning with Moses, first five books of the Bible. He's referencing the Bible here. First five books of the Bible is written by Moses. Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself and all the. What he's saying. The entire Bible's about me at this point. They just have the Old Testament. This isn't the New Testament. The whole thing's about me. Okay? Now, it's fascinating to me, friends. It's fascinating to me that the resurrected Jesus, like, he could do whatever he wants. He's the resurrected Jesus. [00:17:18] He decides to engage with these two people, like the ones let down by Jesus, like, he wasn't what they hoped he would be. [00:17:34] They were discouraged. They were disappointed. Jesus said, did you catch it? Jesus says they were slow to. What? [00:17:40] Talk to me. [00:17:42] They were slow to believe. [00:17:46] Slow to believe. [00:17:50] Dude, that's my story. [00:17:53] That's my story, man. My story. Like, listen, even from, like a really young child, I was never, like, an atheist. I never took on that worldview. I always, you know, there is a creator. There's, you know, there's a God. I never was in that space. [00:18:07] Like, I always believed in God, right? But hear me. Believing in God is very different than believing God. [00:18:16] I'll say that again. Believing in God is very different than believing God. If you Read the book of James in the New Testament. He kind of talks about this in some wild ways. He goes, you know, the demons believe in God because it's different. Like, Satan, the devil, the enemy. Hear me. The enemy of all of our souls wants to see your life destroyed, Wants to see you spend eternity experiencing the wrath of God and separation from God and the people you love. [00:18:45] Satan believes in God. [00:18:49] Believing in God is very different than believing God. [00:18:53] It's different than trusting and obeying what he says. [00:18:57] You with me? Nod if you're understanding me. Shake your head no if you have no idea what I'm saying. [00:19:02] Okay, great. Easter is a lot of fun to preach. [00:19:06] Believing in God is different than believing God because, listen, guys, God's word says some difficult things. [00:19:16] There's some things in the Bible that, like, I wouldn't put in there. [00:19:21] Thankfully, I don't know near as much as he does. I'm not the creator of the universe, but let me just give you some examples of things that are difficult. [00:19:30] So God's word says, in humility, consider others as more important than yourself. [00:19:39] Like, sure, maybe like that guy over there who's got it all together and, you know, is just awesome. But this guy, no way is that guy more important. [00:19:49] Consider in humility, consider others as more important than yourself. How about this one? Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. [00:19:59] Does that come naturally to anybody in the room? [00:20:02] No way. [00:20:05] Like, inside of me. You know what's crazy? If we did an experiment where we could just, like, have this magical microphone and put it up to our foreheads that would, like, play all of our actual thoughts over the loudspeaker. We'd all hate each other. [00:20:18] There's no way we'd get along, because the stuff that we think sometimes is pretty twisted. [00:20:24] But this idea of, like, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute. No way. What? [00:20:31] How about, like, dude, you cross me, we're done. [00:20:36] You betray my trust, we're done. [00:20:39] That's our natural human bent. How about this one? God's word says, don't repay evil with evil, but overcome evil with good. [00:20:49] This is the idea of, like, somebody wrongs you, you don't wrong them back. [00:20:52] I'm really trying to teach my kids this one. [00:20:55] My daughters. It's so funny. I'm not gonna. Don't worry, Mila. I'm not gonna share too much. But, like, one of them will instigate something with the other, and then immediately the other one will be like, I'm now justified to be A total mean person. Like, it just happens all the time. But this idea of repaying evil for evil, that's the natural, fleshly human response. Can I get an amen? [00:21:14] Okay, cool. So I'm not the only broken person in the room. Don't repay evil with evil, but overcome evil with good. [00:21:20] Like, think about that. This one actually makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? [00:21:24] Like, if we just keep repaying evil with evil, the whole planet just starts spiraling out of control. Maybe, just maybe, that's the result of why things are as jacked up as they are right now. So it makes perfect sense. It's just. It's just really hard to do. [00:21:41] How about this one? [00:21:42] God's word says, be content with what you have. [00:21:48] Listen, man, I want a new pair of skis real bad right now, okay? This last winter was terrible. There was no snow. [00:21:55] Some of you guys in the room like to fish, too. I want a new fishing rod real bad, okay? I want a trip to Hawaii. That sounds great. There's nothing wrong with those things. [00:22:04] But God's word says, be content with what you have. [00:22:11] Some of you, the reason why you don't experience joy in your life is it's being stolen from you because you're being fed a lie. That the things that you don't have are responsible for why you don't have joy. [00:22:24] There's actually a transcendent joy that you are made to experience that your heart longs for. But be content with what you have. How about this one? God's word says it's better to give than to receive. [00:22:35] Ah, man, come on. That's cute at Christmas time, but the rest of the year? Really? [00:22:42] Nah, man, brace yourself. There's more. God's word says, no sexual activity outside of marriage. [00:22:51] Quiet. [00:22:54] How about this one? God's word says marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman. [00:23:00] That means not one man and one man. That means not one woman and one woman. [00:23:05] How about this one? Jesus goes even farther. [00:23:07] God's word says even looking at another person lustfully means you've committed adultery in your heart. [00:23:16] Okay, listen to me. God's word says some difficult things. [00:23:24] God's word says, when someone offends you, forgive them and don't stop forgiving them. [00:23:35] Guys, listen to me. Acknowledging God is real is one thing. [00:23:42] Submitting to what he says is best, that's something else entirely. [00:23:48] Believing in God is different. It's very different than believing God, believing that his ways are better than my ways. [00:24:01] Maybe, maybe, just maybe, these two people in this passage Aren't the only ones who are slow to believe. [00:24:12] Maybe we have a lot more in common with them than we think we do. [00:24:18] Now, this begs the question, why on earth would the resurrected Jesus pursue these two people? Why would the resurrected Jesus pursue these two discouraged, disappointed, slow to believe people? [00:24:33] Do you want to know the answer? [00:24:36] Because there's no one like Jesus. [00:24:40] There's nobody like Jesus because he's incredible. Listen to me, if you're taking notes, here's a point for you. The reason why is. Cause Jesus draws near to the discouraged and he seeks out the slow to believe. [00:24:53] There's nobody like Jesus. He draws near to the discouraged and he seeks out the slow to believe. Friend, if you're here and you've ever felt let down by Jesus, or you find yourself choosing your ways over his ways, hear me. [00:25:07] You. You are exactly the type of person that Jesus wants to walk with. [00:25:17] I want you to look back at verse 26. [00:25:24] Jesus says, wasn't it necessary? I had you underline that. Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory? He says it was necessary. If you're wondering was Messiah, it just means Savior. Okay? [00:25:40] He's saying it was necessary for the Messiah for the Savior to suffer as brutally as he did. And here's the thing. Like, I know it's Easter Sunday, and we want to talk about the resurrection. We want to move on from Good Friday where he experienced the suffering and the pain and the death and all the things. But, like, can we just acknowledge the reality? Whether you believe it or not, could we just acknowledge the reality that the person Jesus, the things that he experienced, the suffering that he experienced? Okay, you had the physical pain, right? You have all the. The torture, the beatings, the floggings, the crucifixion, the nails through the hands, the nails through the feet, all that stuff. Like, they ripped his beard out of his face. That's gnarly stuff. Okay, so he had all this physical pain. [00:26:16] But goodness, the emotional pain was gnarly. [00:26:19] Like, listen, the dude is betrayed. Sorry, Lord, I called you dude. He's betrayed, and he's abandoned by his closest friends, the people closest to him in the world. Like, they literally. One of them betrays him, the other one, some of them deny him. The rest of them flee when he gets arrested unjustly, illegally. [00:26:40] I just. [00:26:41] Oh, God, my people left me, man. [00:26:44] They left me hung out to dry. You ever felt that? That. That'll stick with you, man. You'll be in therapy for decades over that stuff. Like that. [00:26:52] So there's the physical pain, there's the emotional pain, there's also the spiritual pain, the spiritual pain of absorbing, absorbing the full wrath of God. [00:27:09] And Jesus says it was all necessary. [00:27:12] Why? [00:27:17] If you read the Bible, you'll see two things. [00:27:21] Well, you see a lot of things, but I'm going to boil it down like super duper synthesize it. [00:27:27] You'll see these two things if you read the Bible. One, God really loves people, but he really hates sin. [00:27:37] He really loves people and he really hates sin. Now what is sin? Sin is just breaking God's laws. God has ways. He's a king. He's a king with a kingdom, right? And his kingdom has laws and rules. And those rules aren't to like harm us. They're not to like hold out on us, to not have us experience life that thrives. No, no, no. The rules are there literally for human flourishing if you wanna flourish as a human being. [00:27:59] What's his? Joe Rogan, the podcaster, he has literally come out and said, like, yeah, I'm not a Christian, but like, if you follow the way of Jesus, that is you do life God's way, things are gonna go really good for you. Okay, so even non Christians are seeing this and going, yeah, that actually is a pretty good recipe for human flourishing. The reason we don't do it is cause we have these fleshly desires and we think we know best. We think we know what we actually need, we think we know what we actually want and we act on that in selfish ways that causes the world to literally like to fall apart. [00:28:31] So what is sin? Sin is just breaking God's laws. It's rejecting his ways. And the truth is, every single person in this room, myself especially, we all do this. [00:28:40] We all sin against God. And hear me, we sin against people that God loves. [00:28:48] But because God is holy means he's set apart, he's perfect, he's righteous. And because he's just. [00:28:55] And because he actually loves people, he must punish sin. [00:29:00] Can you imagine him? Can you imagine someone experiencing something atrocious? Think the worst thing you could possibly think experiencing to someone at the hands of another person could be murder, could be all sorts of terrible things. You can use your imagination. [00:29:12] And then God going, yeah, well we're not gonna deal with that. [00:29:16] That would be incredibly unloving. No, because he's just. Because he's loving, he must punish sin. [00:29:21] Punishing sin is necessary. [00:29:27] And because of that, because of that reality and These people, early 2000 years ago, they fully, their worldview they understood this. But I think we kind of lose sight of this in our modern, mostly secular environments. Listen, this is one of the reasons. Because of the necessary punishment for sin. This is, please hear me. This is literally why the gospel is joyful news. If you're wondering, gospel just means, literally means, joyful good news. So it's a report of what's been done. Right now if you turn on tv, you can turn on the news. They're not always reporting facts. They're trying to give you propaganda and stuff to kind of like they want you to be formed by their way of thinking. That's not what I'm talking about when I say news. I'm talking about authentic news, like reporting that something has happened. The gospel means good, joyful news. When was the last time you heard information? You heard a news report that made you really excited? That made you like, wow, that's awesome. That's bringing joy. That feels really good to hear. That's what we mean when we say gospel, okay? And the reason why the gospel is such good news is because God put on the person of Jesus. So God became a man. And what he decided to do, millennia back before he created the earth, he made a decision. He was going to do something for you and for I, for all of mankind. He took the punishment of sin upon himself. [00:30:46] So instead of you and I being punished, God goes, no, I'll be punished in the person of Jesus. So hear me, Jesus is punished. [00:30:54] You and I can be pardoned. [00:30:58] It's what theologians call the great exchange. [00:31:02] Talk about a good deal for me and a terrible deal for Jesus. [00:31:07] The great Exchange. Jesus is punished so we can be pardoned. [00:31:11] It's not something that you earn, okay? This idea of a gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it's not based on, like, you do enough right things, become a quote, good person and so that you can receive what Jesus offers you. That's not how it works at all. [00:31:26] There's no merit. [00:31:29] There's zero merit. It's literally, here's a free gift of grace. Do you want it or not? [00:31:36] That's what makes it such joyful good news. [00:31:39] It's grace for sinners to be set free. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer. So back to our passage. The resurrected Jesus, he basically has a Bible study with these two people. He has a Bible study with these two people. He helps them understand the scriptures. He helps them see that it was nice, necessary for him to suffer. Why? Because our sin demands it. [00:32:04] Let's Keep reading verse 28. [00:32:10] They came near the village where they were going. [00:32:14] And he gave the impression that he was going farther. [00:32:18] I love this verse 29. But they urged him, stay with us because it's almost evening. [00:32:24] Keep that in your back pocket. It's almost evening, and now the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. [00:32:32] Look at verse 30. It was as he reclined at the table, they're having dinner with them, that he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. [00:32:45] Verse 31. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. Okay, pause again. [00:32:55] Okay, so this is wild. Okay? They're sitting around the dinner table. Just imagine you're in this space, okay? Imagine that you're in this moment. They're sitting around the dinner table, okay? [00:33:05] And it says that in a moment, their eyes were opened. [00:33:11] Now, obviously, their eyes were physically already opened. Something deeper is happening here, right? [00:33:17] There's a deeper level of spiritual eyesight that is getting enlightened in this moment. So they're now seeing Jesus clearly. It says their eyes were open. They saw Jesus for who he really is. [00:33:31] What a moment. [00:33:36] In the summer of 2003, some of you weren't born. [00:33:42] I had graduated high school. Summer of 2003, I got a phone call from a friend. [00:33:49] Her name is Ebony. [00:33:51] Some of you know, that's my wife, my now wife, so my friend Ebony calls me. [00:33:57] Ebony worked at In N Out Burger, and she. One of the things that was really cool at the time. I don't know if they still do this or not. Maybe you guys will know, but they had an annual company picnic, and In N Out Burgers. Company picnic's not like, let's go to the park and play volleyball. [00:34:13] It's way cooler than that. They, like, would rent out amusement parks and give you all the free food. And even some years, it was all In n Out much. In n Out, you could eat, like, desserts, and you have the amusement park. It was awesome. [00:34:28] So that year, the In N Out company picnic was at Knott's Berry Farm. Anybody been to Knott's Berry Farm? [00:34:34] Okay, before it turned into the chaotic, insane mess that it is now, it was actually a really fun place. [00:34:40] And so she goes, hey. [00:34:43] Her girlfriend that worked at the store with her, at the In N Out Burger with her, said, hey, they get to bring a plus one. And she was like, hey, I'm gonna bring a guy. You should bring a guy. And EB's like, I don't wanna bring a guy. Like, you know. But then she thought she's like, okay. You know my friend Tom? That would be cool. We could have fun. No expectations, no weirdness, that kind of thing. [00:35:03] So she calls me, she invites me to this, and I'm like, that sounds awesome. [00:35:08] Let's roll. So I meet up with them. We go to Knott's Berry Farm. We're having a great day. [00:35:15] We're, like, having fun. We're belly laughing. We are, like, cracking jokes. We're going on all the rides. We're eating way too much food and then going on the rides, which you can only do when you're, like, a teenager. If I do that now, I'm going to have, like, terrible bad things will happen issues. Thank you. Thank you, ez. That's exactly right. [00:35:32] We're having this great day. But something. Something crazy happened that day, guys. [00:35:38] Something I didn't see coming. [00:35:45] I saw Ebony. [00:35:50] Like, I saw her lips. [00:35:54] I saw her smile. [00:35:58] Listen to me. I saw her personality. [00:36:02] I saw, like, an element of her beauty that I hadn't seen before. Like, I just. Something happened to me and I saw her and it changed everything. [00:36:17] And we've been together ever since. [00:36:23] My eyes were opened to her glory. [00:36:27] To her beauty. [00:36:35] Friends, have your eyes been opened to Jesus? [00:36:41] Please hear me. Have your eyes been opened to Jesus? [00:36:46] His glory, his beauty? Like, have you seen him for who he really is? [00:36:51] Not for who other people tell you that he is? Not for goofy dudes with gray hair with a Britney Spears face mic on an Easter Sunday tell you who he is? I'm talking like, have you. [00:37:03] Have your eyes been open to Jesus? [00:37:08] Have you seen him for who he really is? For how gracious he is, for how incredibly patient he is, for how holy he is, for how sacrificial he is. Listen to me. For how loving he is, radically loving. For how powerful he is, for how kind he is, how faithful, how good. [00:37:27] Have your eyes been opened to Jesus? [00:37:31] These two people in this passage, that's what happened to them. Their eyes were open to Jesus. In that moment, they saw him for who he truly was. A view. [00:37:43] Cause hear me, it changes everything. [00:37:51] Dude, this week I saw this video on YouTube of this guy. His name's Perez Hilton. [00:38:02] Some of you know who Perez Hilton is. If you don't know who Perez Hilton is, he's like a. He was like a blogger, Internet guy. He would. He would basically, like. He would. He had a blogger. He just. If I understand correctly, he would just kind of like, throw shade at celebrities and kind of. It was like gossip and just that kind of thing. But I guess he, like, took off. He was, like, a big deal in the Internet world and all this stuff. But the reason I'm bringing him up is because he was, like, for decades, like, adamantly publicly anti Christian. [00:38:34] Like, seriously? Not just like, no, I'm not into that stuff. Like, attacking, like, bad. Like, whoa. Like, that's crazy. Okay, I see this video and it's this guy and he's crying and he's like, what? He goes. He goes. [00:38:52] He's crying and he goes, I guess he got really sick. He was in the hospital. [00:38:58] And he goes, when I was in the hospital, he goes, God revealed himself to me. And the dude's crying and like, I can't. I don't know all the. I don't know all the specifics. I just know a couple clips I saw. Maybe YouTube it, if you want to. [00:39:10] The stuff that he was. The stuff that he would say and do to Christians publicly as a person with a lot of influence was like, it's pretty gnarly. And he's on film crying, going, when I was in the hospital, God revealed himself to me. And this is what he is. He's crying and he goes, I'm so grateful. [00:39:28] He's like, I'm taking my kids to church. He's like. [00:39:32] He's like. He's all in on Jesus. This is a guy who's super anti Christian. And in a moment, everything changes. His eyes are open to Jesus. Friends, have your eyes been open to Jesus? [00:39:47] I'm not asking if you believe in him. [00:39:51] I'm not asking you if you acknowledge that he's real. [00:39:55] I'm asking if your eyes have been opened to him for who he really is. [00:40:03] So these two people from this passage, their eyes are open to Jesus. And then something supernatural happens. Okay, hopefully you caught it. [00:40:12] The resurrected Jesus disappears. [00:40:19] Keep reading verse 32. [00:40:23] Then they said to each other, these are the two people from the road. Now they're around the dinner table. They said to each other, weren't our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the scriptures to us? Okay, so get the picture here. [00:40:39] They have this epiphany. They're like, oh, it's like the moment in the movie, you know, when it zooms in. It's like, oh, goosebumps are coming. Here we go. They're like, it was Jesus the whole time. [00:40:49] It was Jesus the whole time. [00:40:51] And you catch what it says. It says their hearts were burning within them. [00:40:57] Let me ask you a question. [00:40:59] How long has it been since you felt your heart Burn like. I'm not talking about eating greasy pizza. [00:41:06] I'm talking. Listen to me. I'm talking, like, passion, like. I'm talking, like, when your inner man or your inner woman is so moved, it's so alive, you feel like you're on fire. [00:41:17] You've felt it. If you're a human being, you have felt that feeling before where you're like, I'm alive, man. [00:41:23] Do you know when was the last time you felt your heart on fire? [00:41:27] How long has it been for you? [00:41:30] Listen, I've lived in some different places in California. [00:41:34] I've lived in really highly dense, like, urban places. I've lived in the suburbs. They have their pros and their cons. No matter where you live on the planet, no matter where you live in the country, in the state, gosh, in the valley, there are pros and cons to everywhere you live. [00:41:48] One of the cons of suburban life is it has a way of numbing people. [00:41:55] It has a way of numbing people. It's like, okay, work, school could drive the kids literally everywhere all the time, and then repeat. [00:42:07] Maybe if you're lucky, you get to do a Costco trip. [00:42:13] Everybody over 30 gets it. Everybody under 30 is like, I don't want to go. [00:42:20] But you know what I'm talking about, man. [00:42:22] Suburban life has a way of, like, it numbing people. [00:42:26] Life can start to. It can start to feel a bit mundane, right? Where that fire in you, it just starts to fade. [00:42:40] Listen, if that's you, look at what happens with these two people. [00:42:47] They said to each other, weren't our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the scriptures to us friends. Listen, do you want your heart to burn again like you want your passion for life to come alive? Listen to me. Get with Jesus and open your Bible. [00:43:09] I dare you. Watch what happens. [00:43:12] See if your heart does not burn within you once again. [00:43:17] All right, let's keep going. I'm taking too long. Verse 33. [00:43:22] That very hour, they got up and returned to Jerusalem. Okay, picture. Remember I told you what time it was? This is dinner time, right? That means it's getting dark outside. [00:43:31] Okay, These guys are. These guys. There's no Uber. [00:43:34] They can't catch a train. Okay, These two, they're not guys. I don't know if they're guys, but we know Cleopas is the guy. So these two, they're headed seven miles back to Jerusalem in the dark on foot. Okay, it says they found the 11. The reason it says 11, there's the original 12 disciples, minus Judas, cause he betrayed Jesus, right, and killed himself. Okay, Pretty gross. [00:43:55] And those with them gather together. So they come upon these followers of Jesus, these disciples of Jesus, this group of people. You have the original leftover leaven and you have other people, those with them gather. Verse 34, who said they're gonna now give these two people from the road, they're gonna give em a report. Verse 34, who said, the Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon, that's the apostle Peter, verse 35. Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Okay, so stop for a second. I want you to notice more reports are starting to come in. Okay, more reports are starting to come in. The list of people who have encountered the resurrected Jesus is growing, right? You have these two from the road, they had this remarkable encounter with Jesus around the dinner table, right? They're saying, no, Peter, Simon, he's now encountered the resurrected Jesus too. He's got a story too. He's got a testimony too. Now if you fast forward in your Bible, you come to First Corinthians, chapter 15, written by the Apostle Paul to the church. It's a letter to the church in Corinth. He writes to them, just fast forward, I don't know, a couple decades. And he says that the list, this list of people, these real people that have encountered the resurrected Jesus, he goes, the list gets up to over 500 people, okay, 500 people. And what Paul says is he goes, most of them are still alive. You can go talk to them, like go ask them questions. These people are real, right? So history tells us something about this list of over 500 people who physically saw and experienced and witnessed and encountered the resurrected Jesus. Jesus. History tells us that many of them suffered greatly for their claims. [00:45:26] Some of them were killed because of their claims. [00:45:30] Now I don't know about you, I wouldn't die for a lie. I'm just not going to do it, especially with Christianity, because Christianity is opposed to perfection. [00:45:40] It's not something that you earn. So you're not going to earn points with God because you propagated something that wasn't true and embellished. That doesn't work that way. [00:45:51] I wouldn't die for a lie. I don't know about you. Let's keep going. I'm way behind verse 36. [00:45:56] As they were saying these things, right? They're sharing the testimonies of seeing him resurrected. [00:46:01] Get this, he himself stood in their Midst, he said to them, peace to you. [00:46:12] Some of you need to hear that this morning. God's message for you isn't, I'm ashamed of you, Isn't, you could do better, isn't, why are you such a screw up? It's not any of that crap, it's peace to you. [00:46:29] Peace to you. [00:46:30] Verse 37. But they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. Why are you troubled? He asked them. Why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see. Because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you can see, I have. Having said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Verse 41. But while they were still amazed and in disbelief because of their joy, he asked them, do you have anything here to eat? [00:47:02] So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence. Okay, pause. [00:47:08] This group of disciples, they are in shock and in disbelief. Okay? They saw Jesus killed, they saw his lifeless body, they saw him buried, and now they're seeing him alive. He's talking with them in person and it says that he shows them his hands and his feet. [00:47:27] What was in his hands and his feet? [00:47:30] Holes. [00:47:32] Yeah, holes from the nails where he was hung on a cross. [00:47:44] Whole nother sermon. But his resurrected heavenly body has holes, has scars. [00:47:54] So Jesus is like, guys, I'm not a ghost. [00:47:57] Like, I'm not a ghost. It's me, it's really me. Look at my physical body with the physical holes. In fact, watch me eat this piece of fish. [00:48:08] He's showing them. Listen to me. It's really him physically. [00:48:14] William Barclay, Bible theologian, says this quote, the risen Lord was no phantom or hallucination. [00:48:24] He was real. [00:48:27] The Jesus who died was in truth the Christ who rose again. [00:48:32] Christianity is not founded on the dreams of disordered minds or the visions of fevered eyes, but on one who in actual historical fact faced and fought and conquered death and rose again. [00:48:46] Hear me. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not symbolic, it was not metaphorical, it wasn't even a vision or a hallucination. It really happened. If you're a note taker, write this down. Real people really encountered the resurrected Jesus. [00:49:04] Real people like you and me really encountered the resurrected Jesus. [00:49:13] Alright, let's finish our passage. Verse 44. [00:49:17] I'm going to try to move fast. [00:49:19] He, Jesus, told them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled again. Old Testament, verse 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Does that sound familiar? He's been doing Bible studies this whole passage. Okay, so he does another one here. He wants them to understand what the Scriptures say. Listen, he wants you and I to understand what the Scriptures say as well. Let's finish it off. Verse 46. [00:49:51] He also said to them, this is what is written. [00:49:56] He's summing it all up. [00:49:59] The Messiah, Savior will suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. [00:50:21] So Jesus, he just told them that because of Easter, because of the cross and the resurrection, a message is gonna get proclaimed because of what's happened, a message is gonna go out. It's gonna start in their city, it's gonna start in Jerusalem, in their city, and it's gonna make its way to all nations. That means every people group. Okay? Don't think borders. Think bloodlines. [00:50:47] Every person, it's gonna make its way to everyone. Now, did you catch what the message is? [00:50:53] The message is repentance for the forgiveness of sins. That's the message. [00:50:58] The message is you have the opportunity to repent and experience forgiveness for your sins. There is a condition, though. [00:51:08] The condition is repentance. That's what faith and repentance and trust and obedience, they're like. They're, like, connected in Christianity. Okay, what does repentance mean? Repentance is a changing of direction. [00:51:21] It's a changing of the mind and a changing of the behavior. It's. I'm walking this way now. I'm gonna walk. I'm gonna turn around. I'm gonna walk this way. Okay. [00:51:31] I'm walking this way towards sin and doing things my way. And kind of I'll pick and choose. I'll do some of the things God's way, but I'm gonna do mostly my way. I'm walking this way, and it's a repentance. It's a turning of directions and going. I'm not headed that way anymore. Now I'm heading more towards God's way. That's repentance. So it's not just like a, I'm sorry, it's a. I'm stopping and I'm turning this way. It's a turning around. It's a changing of direction. It's a turning away from eternal punishment towards eternal life. [00:52:05] Easter, the Cross and the Resurrection is what makes that possible. [00:52:13] Why you and I can be forgiven because Jesus willingly laid down his life to pay the debt of our sin. Do you see it? [00:52:25] That's the message. [00:52:27] That's the message. [00:52:30] You and I can be forgiven because Jesus paid the debt for my sin. Some of you, if you're honest, you've been carrying shame and guilt for things that you've done throughout your life. You've been carrying it for way too long. [00:52:54] You don't have to. [00:52:58] You're sitting in a room full of people right now who have made really poor choices. [00:53:06] You're sitting in a room full of people who are no better than you. [00:53:13] Do you realize what Easter means? [00:53:16] It means you can actually experience the freedom of being forgiven of your sins. [00:53:27] It's the greatest offer that's ever been given to anyone. [00:53:35] Can I just say, like, if you're here because somebody invited you, They invited you because they wanted you to hear the message. [00:53:45] Not my message. [00:53:47] The message that Jesus is talking about in this passage. [00:53:51] Hear me. If you were invited here by someone, it means they really care about you. [00:53:57] They didn't invite you so that you'd come hear me talk and you'd feel worse about yourself. [00:54:01] They came here to hear. So that you would hear the message that you are worth the blood of God. [00:54:08] You are worth the blood of Jesus Christ. [00:54:11] I can't think of a higher price tag than that. [00:54:14] They're here because they really care about you. They really love you, and they want you to hear Jesus message, and they really care about your soul. [00:54:25] All right, I'm running out of time, so I'm going to close with this. Ben, would you come up? [00:54:36] I was hoping the AC would be working this morning. [00:54:43] Now, one of the things that's tough about opening this passage, opening this chapter with you guys is I wish I had more time. [00:54:50] I wish I had more time to, like, read you the rest of this chapter and unpack it for you. Cause the rest of this chapter, guys, is spectacular. The rest of this chapter. Here's what happens. I'm just gonna summarize for you. It concludes with Jesus. He basically takes those group of disciples. He takes them on essentially a hike to a mountain, and then he ascends into heaven right in front of them. [00:55:12] Crazy. Like, physically gets carried up into heaven. They're watching him going, we thought the resurrection was a crazy party trick. This is insane. [00:55:23] Like, they're watching God ascend into heaven. Okay, and what happens next? It literally reshapes the course of history. [00:55:31] It reshapes the course of history because what happens next, what God does, changes. Everything he sends his holy Spirit. [00:55:46] Listen, the resurrected Jesus, he's in a physical body. Amen. [00:55:52] How many places can a physically body be at one time? [00:55:56] 1. [00:55:58] I mean Jesus remarkable. He reveals Himself to over 500 people. He was working, man. [00:56:04] He was, he was still working. Like that's a, that's a lot of people, right? [00:56:11] A physical body has physical limitations. [00:56:14] That says a lot about God's humility that he would even take on human limitations. That's a whole other sermon. [00:56:21] But hear me, listen. [00:56:25] God's spirit not bound by humanless. [00:56:32] God's spirit can be in Africa right now and in Earl Stanley Gardner Middle School in Temecula, California at the same time. [00:56:46] History tells us over 500 people saw the resurrection of Jesus. That's a lot of people. Listen. [00:56:51] But the list of people who have had life changing encounters with the spirit of Jesus, it's much, much, much longer list. [00:57:01] Latest Data says over 2 billion people have had life changing encounters with the spirit of Jesus. [00:57:11] Now what I love about them is that they're all personal. [00:57:15] Like all of them, they're like custom tailored for the individual. The spirit of Jesus revealing himself to individuals in personalized ways. I recommend referenced. [00:57:25] Is it Perez Hilton? I already told you that story. Do you guys know about some of the stats that are coming out around like Muslims coming to faith in Jesus? [00:57:33] It's bananas. [00:57:35] Like, listen, all over the world in the millions, Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus in spectacular ways. I want to read this because I want to mess it up. [00:57:45] Listen to this. This is wild. [00:57:48] 25% of Muslims in the Middle east who become followers of Jesus do so having seen him first in a vision or a dream. [00:57:59] Just Google or YouTube. [00:58:02] Muslim dream. Man in white. [00:58:05] The consistency among all of these millions of people that are having these encounters with the spirit of Jesus, it's incredible, guys. And these are people who know little to nothing about Christianity and yet they're having these life changing encounters with the spirit of Jesus. [00:58:22] It changes their life. [00:58:26] I know I'm going long and I know some of you guys have Easter plans, but can I tell you about my first experience? [00:58:34] Okay, so my parents, they had a getaway and they had a stay with a trusted family friend for the weekend while I could get away. Which parents do that? [00:58:47] It's important. [00:58:49] So they have a stay at this trusted family friend's house for the weekend and they were church going folks and so they bring us to their church stuff. And I'm now I find myself sitting in a youth group in an environment. Listen to me. I have no idea. I have no business being there. [00:59:09] I'm like, what is happening? I've never experienced anything like that. I'm sitting in here and I'm hearing. I'm hearing the pastor. It's like a youth pastor. He's talking about how the church is the body of Christ and how a body has different members, like different parts, and they all contribute to the health of the body, right? And so to illustrate this, he starts handing out these pieces of paper, like these big kind of cardboard cutout pieces of paper that have parts of the body written on them. So he goes and gives one kid. There's probably 50 kids in the room. He gives one kid the ears and one kid the nose, and, and one kid the feet and one kid the hands. And he goes, hey, you, what's your name? And I'm like, I'm Tom. [00:59:43] And he's like, I've never seen you before. I'm like, yeah, it's my first time. He goes, here, you're the eyes. [00:59:47] Okay. And he has us all stand up front, kind of like we do with our kids. I'm super uncomfortable. I don't want to be there. I feel like this is weird. I'm not paying attention, but I'm holding this sign that says eyes and to close this youth gathering. [01:00:03] He says, okay, let's bow our heads and pray. [01:00:06] I'm standing there, guys. [01:00:09] I close my eyes. I don't know what to do, but I'm just kind of going with the flow. [01:00:14] Something crazy happened to me. [01:00:20] My eyes start shaking, like I'm not doing it. [01:00:29] Something's happening to my body. [01:00:31] And I'm like, what is going on with my eyes? Like they're freaking out. [01:00:35] And it hits me. I'm holding this sign that says eyes. [01:00:44] I'm like, oh my gosh, maybe this is real. [01:00:53] I wish I had time to tell you my wife's story. I don't. [01:00:57] She had a remarkable, oddly enough, in a youth group as a teenager, a life changing encounter with God that she can't deny. Like, what do you do with that? Hers is more intense than mine. [01:01:13] And listen, there's so many stories in this room. God, I wish I had more time. Sorry, guys, but there's so many stories in this room. Real people having real encounters with the spirit of Jesus. Here's my question for if you don't remember anything that I've said, have you encountered the spirit of Jesus? [01:01:29] If you're not sure, you haven't, have you encountered the spirit of Jesus? And here's maybe the more important question, do you want to? [01:01:39] Do you want to. [01:01:40] Friends, Jesus can be real close and you can have no idea until you do. [01:01:51] If you're here this morning and you're open and you're like, yeah, I'm open. [01:01:57] If you want to encounter the spirit of Jesus, I believe he wants you to encounter him this morning. If that's you. What I want to ask you to do is I want to ask you to close your eyes and bow your head. [01:02:17] All I'm going to simply do is I'm just going to give you a simple prayer that you can then pray to the Lord and then we're just going to wait. [01:02:33] Here's the prayer. [01:02:42] Jesus, I don't want to be blind to who you are. [01:02:51] Will you please reveal yourself to me? [01:03:04] Just wait. [01:03:13] Beautiful. I can see it. I can see him touching some of you. It's beautiful. [01:03:17] Just wait. [01:03:19] Don't rush this. [01:03:27] On Tuesday of this week, I woke up in. My right eye was super red and it started to get so bad that I couldn't even open it. And it got to the point where it was so painful whenever I would see light, like, I didn't think I was gonna be here, it got so painful, like, whenever I would see light that I couldn't handle, I had to close my eyes. [01:03:51] And I really feel like Satan desires for some of you. He wants your eyes to stay closed to Jesus. [01:03:57] He wants your eyes to stay closed to the light of the world. [01:04:02] And so, Father, I just pray right now that anything that would hinder your beloved from encountering you, from having eyes to see you, I just want to pray that he'd be broken now in the name of Jesus, Some of you, you're gonna feel sensations in your body like I talked about. That's the spirit of God. [01:04:24] That's the spirit of Jesus. [01:04:27] Some of you, maybe you feel it in your eyes, maybe you feel it in your ears. [01:04:33] Some of you, he's bringing thoughts to your mind right now. He's bringing memories to your mind right now. [01:04:39] You didn't know at the time, but he was with you even then. [01:04:55] Thank you, jesus. [01:05:01] Some of you, you're feeling really uneasy right now because you know your resume doesn't stack up. [01:05:13] I'm here to tell you right now, one of the most beautiful things that the spirit of Jesus will do is he will bring things to the forefront of your mind that are keeping you in slavery and in bondage. [01:05:27] He doesn't bring those things to your mind to condemn you. That's what Satan does. He Brings those things to your mind to free you. [01:05:35] That's what salvation is all about. [01:05:39] If that's going through your head right now, that's the spirit of Jesus wanting freedom for you because he loves you. [01:05:47] And so, Father, I just pray all over this room. I ask right now for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of your son. [01:05:53] I ask that the eyes of our hearts, all of us in the room, would be enlightened. We'd be able to see you for who you really are. [01:06:02] I pray for everybody this morning who is who you are doing work with them. I pray that they would take this moment with them and know that this is not because of some guy on a stage or some band playing really good music or captivating or this is literally their maker intervening in their life so that they would understand who you are, what you've done, and their value in your eyes. [01:06:27] Thank you. That there's nothing that you aren't willing to forgive. Jesus, we love you. We, we thank you, we bless you. We celebrate you this Easter Sunday and we pray these things in your name. Amen. [01:06:39] Will you stand with me if you're able? [01:06:45] I appreciate you guys putting up with me for longer than normal. I know it's hot. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to have a time of response. If you're on the prayer team this morning, would you make your way to the front? If you need prayer for any reason, I'm talking any reason at all. God. God brought something to your mind. There's something on your heart, something for a loved one. There's trusted men and women up here who would love to pray for you. Trusted, trained, incredible people. Let them bless you. I believe God wants to meet with you in that space. If he's revealing, if he was doing work with you, maybe part one is that and part two is what he wants to do and you receiving ministry from him through trusted individuals. Okay, we're gonna fill this room with praise. If you're a guest with us this morning, I want to encourage you to do something. [01:07:27] Just listen to people sing. [01:07:30] Just listen to this room sing. These are people who have experienced Jesus in life altering ways. [01:07:37] What would cause these people, not all of them have good singing voices. Right? [01:07:41] What would cause them to publicly gather in a room and sing praises to someone they can't see? [01:07:47] Because they've had life changing encounters with his spirit and he's leading them in, guiding them and transforming them. Check it out. Okay. Love you very much. Enjoy him. And then in just a bit. [01:07:57] Mikey will be up to close us. Okay? Love you guys very much. Happy Easter.