A Living Hope | Easter

Why don't you take out your notes, we're gonna dive into our Easter 2026 message, and I want to talk to you today about hope. I want to help some people who feel like they've lost their hope, or maybe it's just a very difficult, very painful season. Even looking at what's going on in the globe, there's a lot of hopeless situations out there, and I'm gonna work my hardest on giving you your hope back, not based on your circumstances changing, not based on how you feel, but based on an event, a factual event that happened 2,000 years ago, the most powerful event in human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna show it to you in one passage in the book of 1 Peter. It's written by Peter, the disciple, as he's writing to a church that's in the midst of serious pain, serious hardship. Maybe it's very similar to what you're going through today. And Peter writes this passage, and he says it this way. He says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Like, we can praise God, and here's why. We praise Him because in His great mercy. That word mercy means that we do not get the judgment we deserve. So in His mercy, He's given us new birth, so that's a fresh start, that's our salvation, into a living hope. Can you say those three words out loud with me? A living hope. One more time, everybody at every campus. A living hope. A living hope. How do we have a living hope? Here's how. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He tells us there's a living hope because Jesus rose from the grave. That's what I want to talk to you about for a few minutes today. That's why I titled today's message, A Living Hope. A living hope. I think it'll be something you'll never forget, because your situation might seem hopeless, but because Jesus rose from the dead, there is nothing too difficult for our God. We can have a living hope. Can I hear a good amen today across Tampa Bay? There's all kinds of situations where we lose hope. It happens to all of us. Maybe you're driving on I-4 towards Orlando, and you have hope that they have fixed the traffic problem by Disney, and it happens every time where your hope is lost. When you get right about that celebration exit, and you sit there, and you go, when will they fix this? I have lost my hope. You lost your hope. I had a moment just a couple weeks ago where it was a hot day, and I was craving a McDonald's McFlurry. Don't judge me. We've all had those moments that only a McFlurry can fix. I get to the drive-through, and I say, I'll have one McFlurry. They said, I'm sorry, the machine is broken. You've had the same scenario. Y'all judged me hard, but you've all had it happen. I'd lose my hope. You had hope that you would lose 15 pounds. This would be your year,

and you've only got 25 to go. You're losing hope. You had hope that you'd have a great pet in your home, and you show up with a cat. You've lost hope. You know the rules. Had to throw one of those in there for Easter. I had a moment a couple weeks ago. I took my four oldest children. I have five kids. My wife and my youngest stayed home. As they did that, we went to Colorado for this event. My whole job was just to keep them alive, keep them healthy, get them back home. I was like, I can do that. I'm calling Katie all the time and figuring out all the things I need to do. We make it through the whole trip. It's a miracle. No injuries, no problems. We get on the plane to go back home, and we have to go through Atlanta. How many know you always got to go through Atlanta? I don't know. When you die, you're going to have to go through Atlanta. It's just what happens. Something about Atlanta. We're flying through. We have to go back into Atlanta. As we land in Atlanta, we're ahead of schedule. I'm telling Katie, I'm like, this is amazing. I'm doing such a good job. We're getting home. As we land in Atlanta, a hailstorm hits the city. The airport shuts down. They tell us every 30 minutes. They come on the intercom, and they give us hope. Hey, your crew's coming. We're making it happen. Your flight's not getting canceled. This starts about 8 o'clock, then 8.30. 10 o'clock, I'm starting to lose hope. About 10.30, I'm giving up hope on Delta. 11 o'clock, midnight, I've given up hope on the entire aviation industry. They keep saying, we're just looking for the crew. I'm like, I'll be the crew. Let's just do it. I'll buy a costume right now. Let's go. Let's run this thing. 3.30 in the morning, they come over the intercom, cancel the flight. You just lose hope in those moments. I'm walking around Atlanta, almost 4 o'clock in the morning, trying to find a hotel. It's just a hopeless situation. We've all had that. We've all had those moments where we lost hope. Maybe you're walking into Easter today, and you had this dream idea of what would happen in your life, and you've lost hope. You've lost hope. Maybe you had this belief that, man, this marriage is going to work. You've lost hope, and you're gonna overcome that addiction. You've lost hope. Here's what hope is. Hope is this firm belief that things can change for the better. This is what it means to have hope.

Like I actually have a belief, a desire, that you know what, no matter how dark it is, no matter how difficult it is, I have hope that things can get better, and it's easy to lose hope. It reminds me of this Polaroid camera. This Polaroid camera. Anybody remember Polaroid cameras? Anybody remember these moments? Like these are cameras. Some of y'all are like, I've never seen anything like that. It's not on your phone, what do you mean? There was a time before 2010 where people took pictures with film in it. It's crazy. And Polaroid pictures are amazing, so I thought it'd be fun. So who can I take a picture of? All right, I'll get you right down here. Okay, you ready? Y'all do a little smile, okay? So here's what you do when you do this Polaroid picture. All right, so good, this is gonna be your Easter photo, or forever. You take the picture, and what happens when you take the picture is you look at it, and if you don't understand, then that's not what I saw. That's not how you look.

That's not what I see. I think some of y'all are looking at life right now, and you go, I had this vision, I had this plan. I had this dream. It's not what I saw. It's not turning out the way I thought it would turn out. And if you don't know the system, if you don't know what's going on, then you end up throwing it away because you've lost hope. Some of you, you've thrown away the marriage because it didn't look exactly the way you want it to look. You've lost hope. Maybe you've thrown away that vision for your health. You've lost hope. Maybe you've thrown away even that purpose that God has for your life, because you go, it's just not turning out the way I want it to be, and you're losing hope. That happens to all of us. You had this dream, and you had this desire, and you give up on it. You give up on it because it's not looking the way you thought it would look. What is that thing that you've given up on? What is that purpose? What is that marriage? What is that freedom? What is that health? What is that spiritual life you've given up on

because you've lost hope? I want you to see this through the lens of one of Jesus' disciples, a guy by the name of Peter. Now, let me tell you about Peter, because Peter is the ultimate Florida man. You know what I'm talking about? He's a man's man. I mean, Peter is a fisherman. He's tough. There's a story in the Bible where Jesus is now betrayed and arrested, and Peter pulls out a sword and cuts a guy's ear off. How many know you want Peter in your corner? He's that guy. So Peter's story starts with him as a fisherman. He's doing well. He's got his own business. Everything's going well, and then Jesus steps on the scene and says, "'Come, follow me,' and Peter makes this crazy decision to give up everything and follow Jesus. You gotta think of the hope. Man, this is the Messiah. This is the miracle worker. He sees the miracles start happening. He hears the teachings. He sees the multiplication of food. He sees even the dead race. Peter has seen the miraculous,

and in this moment, you gotta think his hope is so high. This is what I always dreamed of, and then Passover happens. As Jesus is in the upper room, he tells them, "'Hey, I'm gonna be betrayed,'' and Peter goes, "'No, no, no, you'll never. No, no, nobody will ever turn on you,'' and what happens to Jesus? He's betrayed. He's rejected. He's beaten, and Peter's watching this. He's watching this moment as Jesus is beaten and then nailed to a cross. You gotta think Peter's hope was lost. As Peter's hope is lost, then at this moment, Jesus on the cross, as he's suffering, he says these unbelievable words, "'It is finished.'" It is finished. The phrase, it is finished, for us as Christians, makes us cheer in victory, but can you imagine it through the lens of Peter, the one who had put all of his hope in this Messiah, who he had seen nailed to a cross,

and now Jesus himself would say it's finished. For Peter, these words look like my hope is finished, my dreams are finished, my purpose is finished, my life might be finished because I might be next, but Peter was looking at it through the lens of that side of the cross. It would all make sense three days later when Jesus would be resurrected from the dead, and now he would reveal himself to guess who? Peter. And as he shows up to Peter, Peter would now connect the dots. That it is finished did not mean that his purpose was gone and his hope was gone, but it is finished is the greatest words of hope that's ever been said, meaning the power of death, the power of sin, the power of the enemy, they are finished. God has overcome them and because of that we can have victory. Are you grateful for what Jesus did for us on the cross? It is finished. It's a message of hope for all of us because of what Peter saw after the crucifixion. That's why Peter can write this passage, praise be to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ and his great mercy. He's given us a new birth, a fresh start into a living hope. Through what? Through Peter's good works? Through Peter's way of getting himself, he's got his act together? No, no, no, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can write it on your notes this way, because Jesus rose from the grave, anything is possible. Anything is possible. I don't know what you are struggling with right now in your life, but because Jesus rose from the grave, anything is possible. Your story's not over and Peter would be the first to tell you, I know the struggle is real. I know the pain is real, but I also know the resurrection power of God is real. I've experienced this even in my own life of seasons of hopelessness. If you don't know our story at Radiant, Katie and I started the church 12 years

ago. As we started the church, we had this dream of impacting Tampa Bay. We started in a rundown dollar theater in South Tampa. Now, if you don't know about this dollar theater, it was a mess. It was, by the way, rated in the top 10 most haunted places in Florida. That's where we started Radiant Church. As we started the church, we prayed for years that God would miraculously give us property. Not for a building's sake, we never cared about buildings, but just as a tool to reach this community. Throughout the years, we ended up launching campuses all over Tampa Bay. God would miraculously give us these properties, but nothing in South Tampa. We would believe God, and we would fast. I would find properties, I'd walk around them, and then they'd get sold off. I'm telling you, people in South Tampa love land. They will pay a lot of money for it. I was so frustrated. I had disappointment after disappointment. You know the story that about a year ago, we got a notice from the new owners of the plaza that the church is in in South Tampa. The notice was, hey, basically we're going to tear the whole thing down at the end of 2027, so you guys got to find somewhere else. Now, not only do I have this dream of finding property, now I have a deadline, and I'm feeling the pressure of the world. God, did I hear you right? I thought you wanted us in this community. This isn't going to happen, and I started to lose hope. You've all done that at times. You've all had those moments like Peter, where it's so dark, where the picture just doesn't seem to make sense, and you're going, God, what do I do? I'm so grateful for my wife. My wife continually reminded me of, even in our passage today, of, hey, it's not your problem. It's God's problem. Hey, it's not your power. It's God's power. Hey, it's not your solutions that are going to get it solved. It's God's solutions. He's going to get it solved. I continually had to get my hope on, not what I can do, but in our resurrected Savior, that if what I believe is actually true, then no matter how dark it seems, God will come through. You might not know this story, but about six months ago, God miraculously gave us property here in South Tampa. I'm telling you, we cried as a church. We cheered. It's under construction right now. Thank God for all those people that are in a tent with 500 plus people and overflow, and people all in these rooms all over South Tampa. You're going, what's the solution? God's doubling our impact in South Tampa through the new property that he's given us for the glory of God. Before you cheer, and it was all done debt-free to the glory of God. Come on, God, it's good. Don't tell me your story is over. Don't tell me your situation is too big. Our God can come through for you. He is not dead. He is a living hope that we can put our trust in. Let me give

you three points today, because I'm a preacher. Everything has three points, and it's Easter, so I got to give you three points. Number one, we need this living hope, number one, because the world is broken. The world is broken. Things don't naturally drift from bad to good. They tend to fall apart. Things don't just come together. They just don't become good. Some of y'all are dating Mr. Broken right now. You know what it's like. We all have those worlds where we want to do what's right, but we don't. It's not It's not easy, I don't know if you ever tried to eat healthy, it's not easy. All these people come up, they're like, oh I love my beet juice, it's just amazing. I'm like, no you don't, it's gross. You know what I love? I love a hot Krispy Kreme donut. That's what I love. One day, just one day, put me on the conveyor belt. Let me go underneath the glaze to the glory of God. Somebody make that life goal happen for me, alright? But it's not good for you. Why? Because we're broken, our food is broken, our relationships are broken, which is why you need this series starting next Sunday, because I'm going to help your broken relationships learn how to mend and be all that God's called you to be. Our dreams are broken, our hearts are broken. Here's the thing, without Jesus involved, things are naturally broken. And what do we do? In our brokenness of society, we go to the things of this world. We go to the world systems to fix it. Oh, if we just get this person elected, oh then it's all solved. Doesn't work. Oh, if I just date this person, oh, and you go, if I just get in that relationship, it's going to be fixed. And then you realize that person is called a person.

And they've got issues. And it's broken. If I just hit this number at my work, I'll be financially secure, I'll no longer be broken, and you hit that number and you realize something's still missing in your life. None of it satisfies, because the systems of this world do not satisfy us, but here's what you have to understand. That's why Jesus showed up. You see, when you see the brokenness of our world, you have to understand the origin of it. The origin of it is broken because man sins. And not just Adam and Eve sin, because some of y'all are like, I'm going to get back at Adam and Eve, I'm telling you one day. No, no, no, let me just tell you. You would have done the same thing, and you do the same thing. Sin is in this world, and it's breaking it. And your pain is not proof that God is absent. Some of y'all are dealing with tremendous pain, and you go, God must be nowhere to be found. No, no, no. It's actually proof that we live in a world that is broken and caused by sin. And this sin, which is in all of us, breaks every part of us. And we can't fix it in and of ourselves, but that's why Jesus came. And that's why he brings us hope. Here's your second point. You have to understand, first of all, the world is broken. The second one, and this is where hope is found, that Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up. Jesus does what we couldn't do for ourself. You see, throughout history, Christianity has been trying, I mean, people have been trying for generation after generation to fix this brokenness of sin.

But this is why Christianity is different than everything else, because what humans have tried to do on their own, to climb themselves out of this hole of sin and depravity and issues and try harder and do more, give more money, be kinder, all these things, you can't fix it. Here's why, and I want you to get this. You can't fix a spiritual problem with human effort. Let me say it again. You cannot fix your spiritual problems with human effort. You cannot get yourself out of the issues you're in, in your soul, by doing things that this world has to offer you. You need a solution outside of you to fix inside of you what is so very broken, and that's why Jesus showed up. What man could not do on its own, Jesus came, God in the flesh, and he dwelt among us, and he shows us the character of God, that inner brokenness, God shows up. God sees, God cares, and God can fix it. Can you give him some praise? That's who our God is. Galatians 4 tells us, but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those. Like we're broken, we're separated. God redeems us, brings us back to himself so that we might receive, look at this beautiful phrase, sonship. You know what this means? This means that we were out of God's family, now we're adopted in to be sons and daughters of God. You're not separated any longer because of Jesus. He comes close. He does not, I love this about God, Jesus is an avoider. I want you to think about this. Do you know people that avoid situations, they avoid hard conversations, they owe you

a little bit of money, and you see them in the grocery store, and they avoid you. You know what I'm talking about? We have avoiders all over our lives. My kids, my kids sometimes they avoid problems. I had this moment the other day, and just to give you a little insight on the Burke family. We were sitting in the living room, and I'm like, something smells bad. So I told Katie, I was like, something's wrong. So our three youngest kids are upstairs in their own little bathroom. So I was like, something's messed up, so I go up there and I go and see the toilet, and it's totally full. This is way too much information on Easter Sunday. But we're a family, might as well. So it's totally full. So I go and call the kids and I'm going, how long has this been like this? They're like, oh, two weeks. We just keep using the restroom on it. I know a lot of information you're going to walk away with today about the Burr family. I said, who's going to fix this? They're like, oh, we just thought somebody would. We are the somebody. There's nobody else. We're it. You've got to tell us this thing. Like, the problem

doesn't get solved when you avoid it. The problem gets solved when you confront it head on. And the problem of sin is not solved when you try in your own effort and just avoid it and going, I'll eventually figure it out. It gets solved when you hit it head on, and that's what Jesus did. He lived a sinless life, died a horrific death for your sins and for mine, and here's the good news. Jesus doesn't avoid what is messy. He meets us right in the middle of it. And if you ever doubt the character of God, look at Jesus, because Jesus shows us that God shows up in the middle of our mess. He shows up in the middle of our mess. And what does he do? He goes to the cross. He dies for you and for me, and he lives, he hangs there painfully for us. And that's where he says that phrase, it's finished.

And it looks like it's over, but that's not the end of the story, and that's why we celebrate today. He's a living hope. The world is very broken. Jesus shows up, and the resurrection changes everything. I just want you to write it down. I want you to take a little picture of this. Hold on to this. When you need hope, realize the world's broken, sin's real. Jesus shows up. That's the character of God. And the resurrection changes everything. When we feel like it's hopeless, God is working behind the scenes. He shows us that this wasn't the end. He shows up through the resurrection and shows us that no matter how difficult the situation, how tough the situation, he is our living hope. Let me encourage some people today. Some of y'all are in a marriage, and it seems so broken. It'll never be fixed. Let me just tell you, you don't know who our God is. Our God is a living hope. He's not in the grave. He's been

resurrected. Anything's possible with our God. You go, this addiction is too strong. You don't know my God. He's a living hope. He's not in the grave any longer. He's been resurrected. He came out of the grave so you can come out of that addiction. You go, I'll never walk into my purposes. You don't know my God. He is a living hope. You know what that means? That no matter how difficult it is, God brought you out. He will bring you into victory. He overcame the grave. Nothing is impossible with our God. And it wasn't just because of what happened back then. That same spirit is alive for your life right now. Romans chapter 8 says it this way, and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, and that's what we have as believers. We have the spirit of God living inside of us. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. Meaning this, that as a Christian, every time you face something difficult,

you remember the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is living inside of me, and if it's living inside of me, nothing is impossible with our God. And here's what I want you to take away today, because the resurrection of Jesus is not just an event we celebrate. It is the hope that we carry. The resurrection of Jesus. The factual event that happened 2,000 years ago. It's the hope that we carry that it's not over with your life. Check out this one story. We got married at a very young age and started a family almost immediately. We just never had the foundation that was truly needed. For a long time I felt like I was just destroying everything that I had helped build. Turned to drugs and alcohol to make my problems go away. Just started to become someone that I didn't even recognize myself.

I was completely hopeless because the devil had me convinced that there was nothing I can do to fix what I had broken. It was really difficult to watch the person that you love like the most become somebody that was unrecognizable. I would literally say we were probably holding on by a thread. We were looking in the area for a local church. The orange flags were like right there because we live right at the roundabout. We pulled in the parking lot. As soon as we walked up, everybody was just like, Hi, good morning, good morning. And we're like just bolting for the door because we were just in such a bad place. I was there as a last resort to try and fix our marriage. And I just walked in, we sat down, we received the message. All the thoughts that I was having on not being able to restore what I had broken, that all changed that day when Pastor Aaron said, if you're a person that's looking to give your life to Jesus, raise your hand. So I raised my hand. I remember once my hand went up, so did all the problems. I was just tearing myself apart and God slowly stripped those things away. And being baptized was the next step to building that relationship with God. Having Jesus at the forefront of our marriage was what was missing the last 20 years of the marriage. We needed to have Jesus as the foundation. If you feel that your situation is hopeless and you've tried everything, then I would say you haven't tried Jesus. Because Jesus restored our marriage and he restored hope in my life and he restored hope in our family. We all think we have big problems and that we have to face them on our own. But Jesus suffered the most pain for all of us, for all of our sins, for all of our needs. He died on that cross to give us hope, to free us from those sins. He will restore what was once broken. Come on, Radiant Church. Come on, church, as we're celebrating. No matter how difficult your situation is, because Jesus overcame the grave, nothing is impossible. You know, it's back to our Polaroid. Remember our little Polaroid? The picture's developing. I didn't throw it away. I didn't throw it away. You know why I didn't throw it away? Because I have a little bit of faith in the product.

I know if you just give it enough time, guess what? It's going to turn into something. So this is going to be your little Easter gift. Here's the reality. When it comes to your life, many of you have just stopped putting your faith in God because it didn't turn out exactly the way you wanted it to be in your moment. Put your faith back in Him. His character is good. He is faithful. When you give Him your sin, when you give Him your trial, when you give Him your future, He always comes through for you, not on your time, but in the perfect time. It's not just about the here and now. It's not just about the problems you're going through right now. It's also about your eternity one day. Because everybody at the sound of my voice, one day will die. One day will have a moment where they stand before God, and you're going to have this moment where He says, Why should I let you in? And it's not going to be because of your good works. It's not going to be because of what you did. Look what Peter said. Here's what it is. It's because of God's great mercy that He gave us a new birth, a fresh start. We got saved. How did we get saved? How do you get saved? Not through your own good works. Through a living what? Hope. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You're putting your hope in a resurrected Savior, and that's not just for here and now, but also into an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade. And that inheritance is kept in where? Come on, everybody at every campus, kept in where? Heaven. Let me just tell you very clearly, heaven and hell are realities. And what you do in this life really matters and determines where you'll spend there. And it's not going to be your good works. It's you putting your hope in Jesus. And that hope and that faith in Jesus is your only ticket into an eternity in heaven. It's all that we have. So I want you to think about Peter. I want you to go back 2,000 years ago.

If you were Peter, who would you have put your hope in? You've got to think. I mean, we look at it and go, of course you'd put your hope in Jesus. But 2,000 years ago, you wouldn't have put your hope in Jesus. You know who you would have put your hope in to save you? Caesar. Greatest empire. It stretched from Spain to the Middle East to North Africa to Europe. Nearly 60 million people, about one fourth of the global population was under his rule. His word was law, his image was stamped on coins. They called him Lord. Some even called him the Son of God. So that's who you would have trusted in. He was the one that was supreme. At that moment, in a small little village, there was Jesus. There was the one who had no army, no platform, no political influence, no wealth, just a handful of ordinary followers and a message about a kingdom that they couldn't even see. If you were alive back then, you would have done what most did. Put your hope in Caesar. Not in Jesus. I mean, Caesar had all the wealth, all the reach, all the world. And Jesus, he was the one that was crucified. It looked like Rome had win.

It looked like his story was over. But we fast forward 2,000 years. And you know who Caesar is now? A salad. That's who Caesar is. A footnote in history. But Jesus today will be worshiped by billions around the globe because he not only went to that cross, he resurrected 2,000 years later. And he's our soon coming king. He's worth you giving your hope to. Come on, church, give him better praise than that. He's the one we put our hope in. Would you stand all across Tampa Bay as I close out this message? Some of you all, the only thing you're gonna walk away with is, Caesar is a salad. Tweetable moment for the day. I know with a group this many people, so many campuses, and I know there's so many people who've lost hope. I know some of y'all are in that dark, dark season and you're just going, I just don't see how it's gonna work out. Put your faith back in a resurrected savior. The God that's working all things together for the good. Easter is our hope.

That because he rose from the grave, nothing's impossible. Just close your eyes all over Tampa Bay. Nobody moving around. I think we're gonna enter the most important part of this service. But I want you to reflect for just a second. Let the Holy Spirit do a deep work. Get your eyes on Jesus right now. Have you lost your hope? Have you put your hope in him? Just take a moment right now. Let God do a deep work in your heart. Let's sing this out together. ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ We're singing about our living hope. Look at this next part. I love this part. This is about the resurrection. ♪ You have sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ Come on, Radiant. ♪ Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared the grave ♪ ♪ He has no claim on me ♪ ♪ Jesus, yours is the victory ♪

♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ Just take your hand, put it right over your heart right now. Lord, help us to renew our hope in you. That because you rose from the grave, nothing is too difficult, nothing's impossible. No situation is too far gone, no matter what seems dark. You are working behind the scenes. We trust you. In Jesus' name.