A New Life Starts Here | Easter at CCV | Full Experience

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The debt that he paid, it's cold and empty Folded linen's where he'd be Don't be alarmed, don't be afraid Jesus has risen, the stone was rolled away

Rejoice, rejoice, cause death is defeated Rejoice, rejoice, he lives again Hallelujah, highest praise, there's nobody in that Rejoice, rejoice, the stone was rolled away He said that he'd do it, he took one breath and proved it From a silence moving, the stone was rolled away Rejoice, rejoice, cause death is defeated Rejoice, rejoice, he lives again Hallelujah, highest praise, there's nobody in that Rejoice, rejoice, the stone was rolled away He's breathing, he's breathing He's breathing, he's breathing We celebrate that today, he's alive He's breathing, he's breathing He lives again He's breathing, he's breathing He's breathing, he's breathing He lives again He's breathing, he's breathing The stone was rolled away He's breathing, he's breathing He lives again He's breathing, he's breathing He's still rolling stones away Rejoice, rejoice His death is defeated Rejoice, rejoice He lives again Hallelujah, highest praise There's nobody in that grave Rejoice, rejoice The stone was rolled away

He's breathing, he's breathing He lives again He's breathing, he's breathing The stone was rolled away He's breathing, he's breathing He lives again He's breathing, he's breathing He's still rolling stones away Amen, we believe that today That God loved us so much that he would send his one and only son to this world To die, but not to stay in the grave To raise again a new life And that's what we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday on Easter, amen? That Jesus is not dead, he is alive All of heaven we read in Revelation chapter 5 responds to that good news We'd love to be able to read that passage of scripture together right now This is what heaven is singing in response to what it is that the Lamb who would die slain has accomplished for all who would believe. Let's read this together. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Jesus we praise you because of what you have accomplished on our behalf. We are made whole. We live in new life because of what you've done. So we respond in worship today. What a joy before him. What a faith. What a faithful friend he has been. To wear my sin and clothe me with his righteousness. Behold the Lamb of God. Blameless when I was not. He came to take my sin and shame away. Behold the Lamb of God. He is worthy. Yes he's worthy. What love. What a perfect love. God with us. Praise the worthy one. He is my king. My confidence.

Behold the Lamb of God. Blameless when I was not. He came to take my sin and shame away. Yes he is. Holy man. Holy divine. Cleanse me with his sacrifice. He rescued me and bought me with his blood. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Bearing the sin of the world. If you're comfortable to do it today, I want to invite you to raise your hands and surrender in worship with him. This is how we respond. Worthy. Worthy. Worthy. Is the Lamb of God. Worthy. Yes he's worthy. Worthy. Worthy. Is the Lamb of God. Worthy. Worthy. Worthy. Worthy. Is the Lamb of God. Worthy. Yes he's worthy. Worthy. Is the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. Blameless when I was not. He came to take my sin and shame away. Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Holy man, holy divine. Cleanse me with his sacrifice. He rescued me and bought me with his blood. Behold the Lamb of God. It is so good to worship together with you.

have a seat. My name is Leo and I get to serve as one of our pastors here at CCV. Thank you for spending Easter here with us and for those of you who are joining us across all of our campuses we just want to say we love you and we're so grateful for you. Well every week during our service we take communion together and communion is one of the simplest things that we do but it carries one of the deepest meanings in our faith. You see the night before Jesus went to the cross he had a meal with his disciples and this is what the Bible says happened during that meal in Matthew 26 verses 26 through 29. During the meal Jesus took some bread in his hands. He blessed the bread and broke it then he gave it to his disciples and said, take this and eat it. This is my body. Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He then gave it to his disciples and said, take this and drink it. This is my blood and with it God makes his agreement with you. It will be poured out so that many people will have their sins forgiven. From now on I am NOT going to drink any wine any wine until I drink new wine with you in my father's kingdom. CCV communion is about remembering. We remember the sacrifice that he made for all of us that day. Communion is about receiving. Receiving his grace, his forgiveness, his love and communion is about rejoicing. We rejoice in the hope that comes from knowing that we will be sitting in his presence again. So today as we take communion together let's slow things down. Let's pause and let's remember. Let's receive and let's rejoice together. We invite all followers of Jesus to join us. We will also have directions and verses on the screen that will help guide this moment. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father thank you for your son Jesus. Thank you for his life, for his death, for his resurrection. Our trust and our faith is in him and him alone. It is in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray, amen. ♪♪♪ Well happy Easter everybody. So glad you're here. I want to start by just asking you a question this Easter that maybe you've never been asked before. It would be this. If you had to pick one image, one picture that perfectly captures Easter for you, what would that image look like? And it could be fun, it could

be serious. Just put something in your head right now. Maybe your image is fun. It's like a, you know, it's the typical Easter egg or maybe Easter egg hunt with lots of eggs or maybe it's this Easter basket that got, you know, epically given to you and you loved it. By the way, see that chocolate bunny at the top? Anybody else remember the chocolate bunny? Anybody get disappointed when your chocolate bunny was hollow? My friends got like solid ones. I broke it up. I was like, what is this? If you had Christian parents, they would try to spiritualize it. They'd say, well, it's hollow because the tomb's empty. You're like, you grow up and you're like, no, it's cause you're cheap. Some of you, your picture of Easter is dressing up and you just know you get dressed up and you look good. And by the way, some of you look great today. You look really good. Although some of you are still trying to get over the trauma of being dressed up and visiting the Easter bunny. You remember this? And you cried and I'm gonna throw this picture in just for you cat lovers, okay? I'm just gonna throw this in and it's super cute. And you know, if you come to CCBI job, cat lovers, I just thought this Easter, this is my gift to you. All right? Although this image, it's AI generated.

And so this is actually what reality looks like. You didn't think I was gonna lay you off the hook, did you? All right. Let me ask you, is there a perfect picture that actually encompasses the true meaning of Easter? I wanna suggest, I've been so giddy this week to teach this to you. I wanna show you this Easter. There's one picture God gave us that is the perfect picture of Easter. And you might be thinking, well, he's probably talking about the cross. And the cross is a great image, but the cross is incomplete because Jesus didn't just die, right? You're like, oh, then you're talking about the empty tomb. Well, the empty tomb is amazing. And by the way, let's make no mistake about it. The resurrection of Jesus is, that's the hinge point of everything about our faith. But even in the resurrection of Jesus, the empty tomb, that picture, it only shows a part because Easter has to include the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus. That's the complete, perfect picture of Easter. So is there one thing that shows that perfectly? And the answer is, there is. And the most amazing thing about this picture is it's a picture that only you can draw or model with your life.

Do you know what I'm talking about? The perfect picture of Easter, believe it or not, is baptism. It's baptism. I mean, let me just show you some pictures of people getting baptized for just a minute for you to take this in. And if you're new to church, you're like, what does getting dunked underwater have to do with Easter? And the answer is, everything. Just think about the message of Easter. The message of Easter is this, that God sent his son Jesus to die on a cross that with his shed blood, that can cover your sin, forgive your sin. And Jesus didn't just die, there was a burial. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and I'm glad it was a borrowed tomb because Jesus only needed it for the weekend. He's the only person in human history that rose from the grave three days later. There was a resurrection, so a death, a burial, and a resurrection. And when you see a baptism, that's what you're seeing. When someone goes, steps into the baptistry, they're saying something has to die. I'm done with my old way of life. And when they go under the water, they say something has to get buried, and my sin and shame is buried by the blood of Jesus.

And then when they're raised out of the water, they're raised to a brand new life with the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit living in them. Think about this, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you when you give your life to Jesus and you come out of that water brand new, amen? Like, that's the story of Easter. And I just wanna say this, Easter is the perfect time if you've never gone all in with Jesus and been baptized. It's the perfect opportunity to do that. And what I wanna pray right up front is I wanna pray that God speaks into your life today, whatever he wants to speak into your life, and that you would be open to God changing your life today. Can we pray to start? God, I just wanna thank you for every person here. I don't know how they got here. Some of them were bribed. Some of them have to come to go to some sort of event afterwards. I don't know, but God, you brought someone here today because they've been chasing everything this world has to offer, and it doesn't satisfy. And Father, you brought someone today to show them that Jesus is the answer they've always been looking for. And as we celebrate Easter,

and we see the perfect picture as baptism, Easter didn't happen just 2,000 years ago. Easter happens every single year. Every single time someone gives their life to Jesus and is baptized, it happens today. So speak to us, all of us, in the name of Jesus, we all pray and we say amen. Hey, if you've got a Bible, I want you to go to Romans chapter six. That's gonna be our main text this Easter. If you don't have a Bible, I'll have all the scriptures on the screen, no worries. Romans chapter six is one of the clearest pictures in all of scripture showing that baptism is the perfect picture of Easter. Just watch this. Romans chapter six, starting in verse three. Or don't you know that all of us who were, say it out loud, baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Did you see it? The death, the burial, and the resurrection, that's what baptism is all about. And when you're baptized, that's exactly what happens. There's a death, there's a burial, and there's a resurrection.

And I wanna walk through each of those and show you the perfect picture of Easter today. But if you miss it all, here's the big idea I just want you to see and someone to absorb today, and here it is, is that baptism is where your old life ends and where your new life begins. I wonder if anybody needs a new life here today. Well, let me show you where it starts. It starts with the death. Jesus died, and when you step into the baptistry, let me tell you, what happens is you're basically saying with your life, something has to die. What has to die? Here's what has to die. My way isn't working. When Jesus went to the cross, He died for our sins. What is sin? Don't overcomplicate it. Sin is you living life your way, not God's way. That's as simple as it is. And anytime you sin, which is like, you're just like, I don't care what God says, I'm gonna do it my way. At some point, I don't care what area of your life it is, I don't care if it's sexually, or with a substance, or with a marriage, or with your finances, however you're living life your way right now, at some point, you just have to admit,

my way isn't working. Because it doesn't work unless you do it God's way. And who has the hardest time admitting this? I think it's the people that are the smartest. Those of you in the audience that are brilliant, you have a lot of money, or you have a lot of power, it's hard to admit your way isn't working. Because you just want to drive forward and go, my intellect will figure this out. My money will solve this for me. Or I'll power up and make it so. It's kind of like my friend Kevin. I told you about, if you were here last Easter, I told you about my friend Kevin. I met him when I was working at Intel, and he has an MBA. He is Mensa level smart. One of the smartest men I've ever met in my life. And as I got to know Kevin, what I realized is that he's lived his life his way. He's tried to solve all of his problems with his intellect, or making more money, or just having more success. And if one marriage doesn't work, I'll try another one. And I'll never forget being at Kevin's second wedding, and the night before he had gotten this huge fight with his fiance, and they almost called the wedding off. And they asked to meet with me that next morning, and I sat down with them, and I will never forget this. I looked into their eyes, both of them, and I just said this. Marriage doesn't work without Jesus. Period.

You can fake it, you can make do, you can be good roommates, but unless Jesus is at the center of your marriage, transforming both of your hearts, marriage doesn't work. And that's why I told them. And then 15 years later, my friend Kevin is in my office at CCV, with tears streaming down his face, saying, my way isn't working. He was getting his second divorce, his life was falling apart. And you know, it's in that brokenness sometimes, and God has to take us sometimes to a place of brokenness, that Kevin just said, my way isn't working, and I'm ready to do it God's way. And he was ready to die to himself, and that's why last Easter, come and check this out, I stepped into the waters of baptism with my friend Kevin, he gave his life to Jesus, and he's been transformed. Now is Kevin's life perfect? No, it's not, but he now has the power of God in his life, and God is transforming him. But what did he have to do? He had to die and say, my way isn't working. And some of you today, Kevin's story is a lot like your story. And I don't know where you're at, but some of you haven't really admitted it. You haven't admitted my way isn't working yet. And maybe God brought you here today for you to just admit that because you know what the definition of insanity is?

It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. That's insane. And some of you are still trying to do it. And so, man, God has you here because he's gonna change your life by you just saying this one thing, my way isn't working, I'm ready to die to that. And you have no idea what hangs in the balance of that. Walking into the waters of baptism may be the most honest thing you ever do to just say the marriage I have, the relationship I'm in, the datings I have, it's not working. I don't care how much counseling I go to, I don't care what I do, it's just not working. Or maybe your mental health, you've struggled with anxiety or depression and it just plagues you all the time. And you've tried everything. And there's lots of good things to try, but you understand without Jesus transforming your heart, what hope do we have? Maybe for you, there's an addiction or a habit or something you're trying to overcome, maybe just even your anger. And you keep telling yourself, I'm gonna change, I'm gonna change. You promise the person, I will change. I will never do that again.

And guess what? You did it again. And you just have to admit, something's not working. Or maybe you're chasing everything this world has to offer, like you just keep telling yourself, I'm just one promotion away from being happy. I'm one new house away from being happy. I'm one making more money away, or whatever your one more upgrade is. And I hope you get to a place in life where you realize there is no upgrade this world can offer you that will fill the void you fill in your soul. It just doesn't. There's a God-sized hole that can only be filled by Jesus himself. And you gotta stop chasing this world. In fact, Jesus said it this way in Mark 8, and what do you benefit if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul? Nothing. Yet this world keeps telling all of us, just fix yourself. Just buck up. It's kind of like, it's like the American way. You know what I'm talking about? As Americans, we're like, I'm an American. We fix things around here. Hoo, hoo, hoo. You know, it's like,

but at what point is America gonna realize without Jesus, this nation will not be who God wants us to be, amen? Like, we need Jesus. That's it. And you just have to admit that. And when you give your life to Jesus to be baptized, you're saying, I gotta die to myself. And Galatians 2.20 is beautiful. It says, when you give your life to Jesus, watch this, my old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, praise God, but Christ lives in me. I like how A.W. Tozer put it. He said this brilliantly. God does not ask you to improve your old self. He asked you to die to it. And someone here, you gotta die to the idea that you can fix yourself or anything can fix you. Only Jesus can. So that's the first step is you gotta, someone's gotta die. Someone's gotta die. Now the second step is after something dies, right, Jesus was buried. And I wanna show you, watch the burial process in baptism. Let's go back to our main text. Romans chapter six, verse three and four says this. Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death.

That's what we just talked about. But then watch this. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death. There's a burial. So the second thing is, with a burial, is something's gotta get buried in your life. What is that? My sin and shame are washed clean. That's what needs to get buried. I hope I don't have to convince many of us that there's a lot of things in our life that need to be cleaned up. You know what I'm talking about? Like there's some stuff we got that it really needs to be fixed. Like, and it's not happening, it needs to get buried. And some of you, you know, your pastor or the things that you wrestle with, you keep trying to bury it yourself. And you bury it, and it was buried, and then all of a sudden, it comes back again. And it needs to be buried once and for all by the power of Jesus. And again, all of us should admit we got sin in our lives, right? We're not all doing it God's way. I hope I don't need to convince you of that. I mean, Romans 3.23 puts it this way. It says, for everyone whose sin has fallen,

for everyone who's sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Do you see the word everyone? That's you, and that's me. Like God has a standard, we're not meeting it, and we need some help. And we need our sin and shame forgiven. And just take, for example, the Ten Commandments, and just be honest. of our campuses, everyone, if you'd participate, how many of you would just say very honestly, at some point in your life, you've broken one of the Ten Commandments? Just hands up. If your hand isn't up, please come up and preach the rest of this message, because wow, you know, my hand's up, and you're like, well, which one did you break, Pastor? It's none of your business, all right? I'm just kidding, I... I want you to know very honestly that I have broken every single one of the Ten Commandments. Now, the first time I told my wife I was gonna tell the whole church that, she was like, what, who did you murder? You know? Someone's like, he ran over a cat, I know it. I know it, I was like, I didn't, but remember, when Jesus interpreted the commandments in Matthew chapter five, Jesus said this,

he said, you've heard it said, don't murder, I say to you, here's his interpretation, the correct interpretation of that commandment, don't even be angry at your brother or sister. You ever done that? Me too. You're like, well, surely you haven't committed adultery. Let's go back to Jesus's interpretation, Jesus says, if you have looked at a woman lustfully, you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. Have I ever looked at a woman lustfully? The answer's yes. Have I ever seen pornography? The answer's yes. And if that disappoints you, I'm sorry, but in this church, I refuse to be someone that stands on the stage and acts self-righteous, as if I don't need the blood of Jesus, just like everybody else, you know? Like, we're not ever gonna be that kind of church. So I've broken all of them. And my guess is, if you started adding the list up, you may have broken all of them too. You lied? Yeah, you've lied at some point in your life. You envied? Yeah, you ever put something above God? Yeah, I mean, you go down the list and you're like, wow, we're host.

Like, we've broken all of them. I have, you have, and that's a big problem, a bigger problem than we like to think about, because the greatest lie that's being told in our world today is good people go to heaven. We like to think, well, I'm a pretty good person. Surely if I'm above average, good people go to heaven. Wrong. No one's good. Can I show it to you clearly? This is straight from Jesus's mouth, Mark 10. Jesus says, no one's good. No one's good except God alone. So all of us need our sins forgiven, or we have no hope of heaven, period. Good people don't go to heaven, forgiven people do, period. Period. Don't ever believe the lie that if I do enough good things, God's like, oh, you're awesome. None of us are awesome. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We all need the forgiveness of Jesus, and when you're baptized, this is beautiful, you're washed clean, not by the water itself, but what the water symbolizes, which is the blood of Jesus that covers your sins. You're washed clean. Watch Acts 22, 16, this is so clear. And now what are you waiting for? Can I pause there?

What are some of you waiting for to get baptized? Why would you wait? We'll talk more about that in a minute, but Paul says this, get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away. Do you see how clear that is? We're baptized, you wash your sins away, calling on his name. Here's the problem, some of you messed up so badly in life, you've held off giving your life to Jesus and being baptized, because you're like, well, I'll clean myself up first. Maybe I'll get clean enough so I can get in the water and God will finally accept me. And man, Satan loves to lie to people like this. The way some of you would approach baptism is when I grew up, my first job was I was a lifeguard at 16. I lifeguarded a local pool through a lot of college, and when you walked into our local pool, there was a sign just like this, please shower before entering the pool. And it was like, bam, you had like, and that's how a lot of you approach baptism. I gotta clean my life up first, and then I'll be able to do this step. First of all, I've worked at a pool, nobody showers before they get in the pool. I mean, nobody does this. And here's what's crazy, God doesn't want you to. There's no sign ever that says clean up

before you give your life to Jesus. And by the way, you've been trying to clean your life up on your own, it's not working. So you come. to God with all your mess, all the dirt, all the brokenness, no matter what you've done. And you wash it clean by the power of Jesus. You don't wait. Don't let Satan lie to you. That is one of the biggest lies on earth. And when you go under the water, you're washed clean. I don't care what you've done. You can be washed clean by the blood of Jesus. And some of you, you have no idea what needs to be washed clean, what hangs in the balance. Some of you have so much guilt from your past sexual sin, from an affair, what you did on spring break, those relationships. And what you did was bad. And guess what? It all gets buried when you give your life to Jesus. It's buried. Some of you have regret with family and kids and an ex and an addiction. The things you did, it gets buried once and for all when you're baptized. There's labels some of you have given yourself or you've allowed someone else to give you, a parent, a teacher, a coach, an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse.

And some of you call yourself, I mean, you say this in your mind, even if you may not say it out loud. You say, I'm a loser. I'm anxious. I'm an anorexic. I'm a drunk. I'm a whore. I'm worthless. God does not label you any of those things. You are a child of God that he is waiting to forgive. And when you are baptized, every one of those labels gets buried. You are a new person. And man, some of you need that so desperately. Jesus buries your sin and shame. And if I could just speak to Christians for a minute, there's some of you that are followers of Jesus that you have been baptized and all those things at one point you buried. And you know what you're trying to do? You keep dragging those up out of the burial. You keep telling yourself things and holding on to shame or sin that God has already forgiven. And it's because Satan loves to call you by your sin. And Jesus never calls you by his sin. God looks at the shed blood of Jesus. He doesn't call you by his sin. He looks at his son and he sees you as clean. You are forgiven. When you are baptized, past, present, and future,

all sin is forgiven. And you need to live in that forgiveness. Can someone just receive that today? Maybe that's what God wants to tell you. But for those of you who have never been baptized, you've never buried it once and for all. You've never relied on Jesus. And when you come out of the burial, the baptistry, come out of that water, guess what? What happens? There's a resurrection. This is the third thing, right? There's a resurrection and we get a new life. Here's what I want to say to you. Not better, brand new. Brand new. Let's go back to our key verse, Romans six. Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death, we die. We are therefore buried with him through the baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we may live, say it out loud, a new life. There's two Greek words for new in the New Testament. One of them means new as in slightly better, the same thing but slightly better. And let me link it for you. If you're here during our Genesis and Revelation series,

I said that in the end of time, and we're living in the end times, I told you that, we get a new heaven and a new earth. That word new there is similar. In other words, it's this earth but perfect in form. It's just similar. This word new here for when you get baptized, it's brand new as in something you've never seen. In other words, your heart is changed in a way that is unfathomable. You can't believe what God can do in your life. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5, 17 puts it this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone. Done. The new is here. Now, does that mean you'll never sin again after you're baptized? Not a chance. No, that's not what's gonna happen, okay? You're imperfect. But now you have the power of Jesus living inside you, God's Spirit, forgiving you and helping you live the life you want to live, to overcome those things that you can't overcome on your own and to become the person God wants you to be. So what is required then to get baptized? Because you can't earn it. You don't perform your way into it. You don't hit enough check boxes to go, I'm ready.

What's required? a free gift that you receive. I say it this way, what's required? It's A, B, and C. You have to admit you're a sinner. Admit that you have broken God's commands and you need forgiveness. You gotta die till your way isn't working. And then two, you gotta believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that he rose from the grave. And then C, you need to commit your life to him by being baptized. And if you're ready to admit you're a sinner and believe that Jesus came to die for you and he rose again and commit your life to being baptized, you're ready, you don't hold off. And what's hard for some of us with thinking that way is everything else in this world, you have to earn. You have to earn the promotion. You have to earn someone's trust and respect even in a dating relationship. But everything else you have to earn. But with this one thing with Jesus, you can't earn it, you don't deserve it. It's a free gift that you just have to receive. And some of you just have to receive it today. And this is where I wanna speak directly to someone here today that has never made the decision to give your life to Jesus and be baptized. And I wanna tell you, there's no better day

to do it than today, Easter weekend. Because Easter and baptism, they're the same picture. Baptism is the perfect picture of Easter, you dying to yourself. You bearing your sin and shame by the blood of Jesus and then coming out of that water, a brand new person, having a resurrection in your life. Whatever was dead in your life, it's gonna be alive by the power of Jesus. And some of you today, you just have no idea what hangs in the balance. You don't. Or maybe you do. There's a couple here today and I've been praying for you because your relationship or your marriage, you fight about the same thing over and over again. And it's so broken that you've either said the D word, divorce, or you've thought it, and you think this thing is done or we're just leaving as roommates the rest of our life. You don't know. And I just want to look at you and say this, with Jesus transforming your hearts, God can change any marriage. I've seen it. There's someone here today that you're past midlife, you're a little older in life, and you think to yourself, well, I'm too far gone. I'm too old.

What can God do with me? You know there's no age limit on God changing someone, right? Some of my favorite baptisms are watching older people because you gotta lay down your pride, you gotta lay down the way you've done life for so long, and you just gotta say, Jesus changed me, and he will. On the flip side, there's some of you as teenagers or young adults here today that, man, you feel too far gone. You've messed up so many ways. You feel so broken inside. You've given yourself so many labels. And I just want you to know that there is no label or nothing you've done is too bad for Jesus to not come and transform your life and to give you the future you want. There's a single person here, a single man or woman that you've just held off giving your life to Jesus and being baptized, and you're almost embarrassed. Get over your embarrassment. There's someone that you were raised in a different religion. You were raised Hindu or Buddhist or Jewish or Mormon. Did you know every single religion in the world is spelled do? You have to do something to be made right with God. And only Christianity is spelled done. It's already done. Jesus died on the cross. He was buried and he rose again,

and it's a free gift that you accept from him. You don't have to do anything. Did you know what hangs in the balance for some of you? This next week, I traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to do the hardest memorial I've ever had to do as a pastor. My cousin took her own life a couple weeks ago. And now we as a family, we have questions we'll never get answered this side of heaven. But I would give anything to grab that beautiful young girl and look her in the eyes and say there is nothing that is so hopeless in your life that Jesus can't solve. And I look in your eyes today, because someone here today, you've thought about taking your own life, that's how hopeless you feel. And I want you to know that when you give your life to Jesus, he brings hope to the darkest situations. It's what he specializes in. So baptism, it's the perfect picture of Easter. And God brought some of you today because he's ready for you to play that picture out with your own life. For you to die to yourself, to bury your sin and shame, and to be resurrected into a brand new person. And right now, I wanna show you the story of someone that's making that decision this Easter. Watch this. When we got to CCV, I think a lot of the messages started talking about baptism

and we had conversations about it too because it was apparent that at CCV, it was different from how I grew up where you just get baptized when you're a baby. It was more about seeing adults who had committed themselves to not only the church, but fully committed themselves to Jesus. Since I did not know what that looked like as an adult and a baptism as you get older, that was really something that I didn't understand. I really wanted to know more, like what did that mean? What is my role? What does that look like? I didn't wanna fail after being baptized. But then I figured that out, I worked through that and I just knew, I knew that I wanted to be baptized. That's all I knew. I didn't take any steps past that. I talked about it a few times when we would go to service and then nothing ever came of it. We're really busy, we have three small children. Why did it get delayed? I delayed it, life delayed it, life delayed it. Schedules delayed it, kids delayed it, sicknesses delayed it. And then another week passed and another week passed and then here we are. We still didn't do it. Yeah. I think when you realize that God and Jesus

is your number one priority, I think that was a big turning point for me because if God and Jesus is your number one priority, then there is no excuse not to get baptized because no matter how busy you think you are, you're never too busy for God. I'm ready to surrender my anxiety, my mental health struggles. I'm ready to trust and let it go. And that's what I'm ready to leave behind. I am leaving behind a part of my ego. I am leaving behind the thought for 42 years that I was number one, that I could ultimately fix myself because I can't. And he showed me that time after time after time and I finally listened. I don't think there's ever a perfect time. I think now is the perfect time. And so if you feel like you are too busy, we're all busy. So just do it now, do it now. Now is a perfect time. And I can't wait to share that with my kids and show my kids like how amazing. So now is the time. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I definitely don't have all the answers, but I'm ready.

We're ready. We're ready. We're ready. Come on. Come on. Come on. And here's Will and Heather right now with one of our pastors, Caleb, at our Midtown Campus. And we get to watch and celebrate with them right now. You know what they're gonna do? They're dying to their way. They're gonna bury all that sin and shame and then come out of the water brand new people. I'm gonna put you guys on the spot. You okay with that? I didn't tell them I was gonna do this. Okay, I didn't tell them I was gonna do this. Tell us, I know you delayed for a long time, but what would you tell the person in the audience that's been putting this off? What would you say? Either one of you. Do it now. Don't delay. Don't wait another week. Yeah, love it. Now's the perfect time. Yep, I love it. I'm so excited what God's gonna do in your life. And Will, something crazy happened a week ago

because Will had a childhood friend he went to junior high and high school with that pastors a church in Illinois that's a good friend of mine. And this guy's named Clayton. He texted me last Sunday. He said, you're not gonna believe this. I've been praying for Will for over 25 years. And he just texted me and said, he's getting baptized. And I said, where are you getting baptized at? He said, CCB. He said, I know that pastor. And man, I'm so excited. And I just know what this is gonna mean, not just to each of you, but to your marriage. Marriage is gonna be transformed. And there's so many of you today, you need a relationship or a marriage transformed. So here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna let Caleb baptize them. We're gonna celebrate like crazy because there's gonna be a celebration in heaven. And then right after the baptism, our band's gonna play one last song. This is my favorite song right now. And during the song, I want you to answer this question. What is God calling me to do? And if God is calling you to be baptized, don't delay. And then I'll come back after that song and close this out. But let's celebrate with Will and Heather today.

All right, Will, based on what you've come to know and proclaim about Jesus, we're gonna baptize you now in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, Heather, based on what you've come to know and proclaim about Jesus, Will and I get to baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. When everything changed. Everything changed. It's even harder to remember. The person I was, the floor I encountered Christ. And I don't walk like I used to, and I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Oh, the blood of Jesus. I cannot explain. Nothing's more real than this. In the presence of God. Oh, when my heart is pierced. When my shame hit the wayside. And my sin at the most high. I was washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, the blood, the blood of Jesus. Oh, oh, oh. It's never been about performance, reflection, or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you, it's only about the blood. It's never been about deserving or earning.

It's a gift that's free to give. Let me tell you, it's only about the blood. Oh, does anybody wanna be holy and righteous? Purified and spotless? Let me tell you, it's only about the blood. Does anybody wanna be worthy and forgiven? Justified, really needed? Let me tell you, it's only about the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it wasn't blood. It could've only been the blood. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know it wasn't blood. It could've only been the blood. Oh, you never can wash away my sin. Oh, you never can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. No precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You can have a seat for just a moment. So, during that song, what was God saying to you? And for some of you, if he was saying it's time to give your life to him and be baptized, I want to challenge you, do not delay. Easter's the perfect time to make that decision. And listen, if you delay, do you understand that partial disobedience is still disobedience? Every time in scripture someone decides to follow Jesus and get baptized, did you know they don't wait? It's like they're, it's immediate. They're like right then. So, at every campus, you can walk straight out of your door, straight to the Baptist room. We have staff there, people there that can help you. And you're like, I didn't come prepared. We're always prepared. We got a change of clothes. We got shorts, a shirt that says change, because that's what

happens to your life. We have towels. We got everything. And you may not have circled this date on your calendar, but God circled this date on his calendar for you. So, it's time to make that decision if that's you. And some of you, some of you got crazy excuses. You're like, well, I mean, I came all dressed up. My makeup's perfect. My hair's awesome. You know Jesus hung on a cross, half naked, bleeding for you. Maybe you can mess up your hair and makeup for him. Come on. Hey, others of you, you're afraid of the water. This is a legit thing. You know, we've done over 60,000 baptisms in the history of CCV. We've never lost someone once. Okay? There's always been a resurrection. So, get over your fear and let your love of God direct you. So, others of you would have questions like, well, I was sprinkled as a baby. I was baptized as a child. I don't really remember it. I mean, is that something I could do again? And the answer is not should you, could you, you should. I mean, I was baptized twice. Did you know that? I was baptized as a child. I had no idea what I was doing. And when I realized that, I said, I need to make the decision for myself. And in scripture, there's no example anywhere of an infant being baptized or sprinkled. It's just not there. And if that was you, you thank your parents for what they did for you. That's a wonderful thing. But you have to make the decision for yourself. Jesus himself was baptized as an adult. So, he's our model. And I would challenge you to just take that step today. Others of you, you'd say, well, I don't want to inconvenience the people that came with me and they're my ride. If you missed your ride today because you went and got baptized, our church will pay for the Uber or Lyft, wherever you need to go, because that's how important it is. So, just no

excuses. Bury your excuses. Die to your way. Bury your sin and shame. And come out of that water a brand new person by the power and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's all because of the blood. It's been said that if there was a thousand steps between you and God, God took 999 of them, and the last step is up to you to just give your life to Jesus. So, I want to pray for you right now. And then, if it's you... you just head straight to the Baptist Street. We're gonna celebrate with you on every campus. And if you're online, reach out, we'll help you out. Get to CCV campus. Father, thank you for what you're doing this Easter. I feel the Holy Spirit just moving in our church. And for the person whose heart is beating fast right now because they know exactly what you're calling them to do. God, help them to take an obedient step today and to watch their life be transformed. And God, for those of us that are followers of Jesus, help us to go celebrate baptisms and to just be more committed than ever to reach people for Jesus, because that's the only way our city, our world, our families, our nation will change. We love you. Thank you for giving us baptism as the perfect picture of Easter. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Happy Easter, everybody. Bye, God bless you. Jesus is living.

If you believe this, live. Jesus is living, believe it. God bless you. Do this. Say, father, thank you. Don't be a rabbi. Thank God. I became a Christian. Come on, let's end with AMY for another piece of video. Let's end with Dimitri. Thank you guys for being here. God bless you. Thank you guys for coming. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.