Easter 2026 - Message Only | Crossroads Church

Well, hey, it is amazing to get to see the celebrations of baptism. I don't know about you guys, I am a sucker for families getting baptized. Like, you make me cry, you make me just bawl. Like when I see fathers and mothers and their kids, it is just amazing to see that. And speaking of life, I had a pretty significant life milestone happen this week. And so before I tell you how old I am, I have a question. How old do I look? Thirty-nine. I'll take thirty-nine. I'll take that, absolutely, I'll take that. Well, I actually turned 50 years old this week. It was a blessing, celebration. I'm really, really happy for it. And one of the things that I learned is that when you turn 50, these people find you. I wasn't looking for AARP, but they sure enough were looking for me. I got this in the mail. It's like the first line is, welcome to the 50s club. So I am in the 50s club. You know, it's funny though, I was a little bit offended. I have to be honest, just a little bit offended by it because I'm like, look, I don't need discounted pancakes. I can still run. Well, I can run, but only with these Brooke shoes and only after significant stretching and preferably with a day in between to rest and recover. But, you know, I can still run. But the other thing I realized is like my wife, I'm married to an amazing Puerto Rican woman, love her, Maria, and she has lots of terms of endearment for me. But the one that she's taken to recently is bejito, which sounds really cute until you realize it means little old man in Spanish. That's what it means.

And I don't know if I'm more offended by the little or the old man part, but like, you know, so I got AARP hunting me down. I got my wife affirming it that maybe I am not as young as I used to be. But I got to tell you, I don't feel 50. I don't know what 50 feels like, but I don't feel 50. I have energy. There are some things that I feel more excited to run after in my 50s than even in my 20s or my 30s or even my 40s. But there's definitely these reminders, aren't there? There are definitely these reminders that you're getting older. You know, you get some unwanted mail. You get a nickname from your wife that feels just a little bit too accurate. Or this, you know, there's some people in our church, some of you guys here, you're not even 25. So you might be like, well, how does one know you have gotten old? I'm gonna give you a foolproof test of when you know you're getting old. When you sit down in a chair, but then when you get up out of the chair, you make noises that used to belong to your grandfather. Oh, yes. That's how you know that maybe you're not as young as you used to be. But there's something human in this tension of aging, right? Because look, we all know how our story is going to end. We all know that we're going to face death one day. I don't know about your research, but my data suggests that the death rate is hovering right around 100%. And if that's true, then we're all going to die someday. But am I the only one that doesn't feel like I was made for death? Doesn't feel like that. There's something in me that says not yet, not me. And so we keep loving and building and creating.

There's something in our soul that says I was made to live. And what I want you to lean into today is that, yes, you were. You were made to live. Believe it or not, you were made to live forever. So that craving in you isn't crazy. It's actually a clue of why we celebrate Easter and why it matters. Friends, I got good news for you today. Because there is an empty tomb, death has lost its sting. Death has lost its sting. And that has an implication in your life, not just in the afterlife, but right now. If you choose to believe it and if you choose to celebrate it. If you choose to believe it and you choose to celebrate it. That's why Easter matters. Because for 2.6 billion people who identify as followers of Jesus on this planet, that's the hinge point in our story. The resurrection isn't just a religious tradition. It's a declaration that in Jesus, death will not and never does get the last word. That's what we get to celebrate today. It really is a wonderful story. Jesus rising from the dead, the empty tomb and what it means for your life. But the question is, can you trust it? And if you trust it, what difference does it make in your life? That's what we're going to dig into for the rest of our time. Let's pray. God, I pray that you will continue to do what you've been doing all weekend long, which is to help us see things in this story. For some of us, we are too familiar with this story. And there are some things that maybe we have downplayed or forgotten that are implications of what happened in that grave, what happened in that garden all these years ago.

And God, I just pray that you would open our eyes. Give us something fresh today. And there are others of us in here. Maybe we're here because somebody invited us. Maybe we feel forced to be the church today. But God, there's something for all of us here. So I pray that you would speak. You would take my meager words and you would do it. them what you do all the time, which is a demonstration of your spirit and of power. I pray that would happen in our time. In Jesus' name, amen. So let's start with some history. It is widely accepted that Jesus of Nazareth lived, lived in the first century in Judea, and that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor at the time. So you don't really have to make a leap of faith to believe that. Both Christian and non-Christian historians agree on that. You've got Jewish historians like Flavius Josephus, who was in Jesus' time, who are writing about his life. You've got Tacitus, which was a Roman historian writing about Jesus in his time. These are contemporaries of Jesus. So you really don't have to check your brain at the door to believe that. And I want you to know, Crossroads is a place where you don't ever have to check your brain at the door. If you're new, you just need to know, like, hey, I'm not assuming that you believe everything I believe about the resurrection. You might be like, what, really? You really think that actually happened? Last year, last Easter, I think we did a really good job of laying out the case for the resurrection, the many proofs of it. And so if you go to Crossroads.net and search Easter, if you want to do a deeper dive after today, just want you to know that's available for you, and you can belong in this church before you believe. And I'm so glad for that. So wherever you are, I'm so glad that you're here. And I want to talk about today what compels me to believe that Jesus literally and physically rose from the grave. And that has to do with the idea that this wasn't something that Christians added to the story later in the game because it was advantageous. This was a part of the faith from the very beginning.

In fact, one of the earliest writings about the resurrection is what we're going to be looking at today, 1 Corinthians 15. It's a section of a letter, the guy named Paul, who was starting churches in different cities in Greece and Turkey and the like, was helping people understand the risen Jesus and follow him. He wrote these words about the resurrection, starting in verse 3, where he says, for I deliver to you as a first importance. I want to just stop there. When you hear that word, first importance, you need to understand this is the foundation. Nothing that I'm going to say, nothing that Paul's going to say, matters if what I'm about to say now is not true. This is the do not pass go, do not collect $200 foundation of our faith in the celebration today. What is the first importance? He says that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. You're going to hear me use this phrase today, the good news, or the gospel. Those are interchangeable. Gospel is a Greek word that means good news. What is the good news of our faith? And I'm going to start by saying something that might sound shocking to you in a church. It is not good news if Jesus just died on a cross. That's not good news, because guess what? There were other people in the first century claiming to be the Messiah who also died on Roman crosses. And we don't celebrate them, time's not dated by their name. No, there's a lot of people who died on a cross saying they were saving humanity in Jesus' time. You can do the research. There's actually a handful of them that you can research and understand a little bit more about their movements and how their movements died. No, it is not good news that Jesus merely died on a cross. The good news is that he died on a cross and he rose again. That's the good news.

We need both. We need both. In fact, Paul is so clear about this that he puts it this way. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep, who have died in Christ believing this, have perished because they believe the lie. And it's basically what he's saying. If in Christ we have hope, in this life only we are of all people to be pitied. So this is an anchor, and it's such an early anchor in the church. These words that Paul wrote were not penned 50 years after the resurrection. They weren't penned 100 years after the resurrection. These words were written 20 to 25 years after the resurrection. That's why Paul says, if you don't believe me, the blacksmith down the street saw the risen Jesus. You can visit these people who literally were among the 500 people who saw him at one time. 500 people don't have a mass hallucination. That doesn't happen. You can ask these people. So it's one of the reasons I believe this is because Paul was writing these words so close to the time that they actually happened. But I also believe it because he says he also appeared to James. This James that he's talking about is the brother of Jesus. The brother of Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, after Mary and Joseph had Jesus, what we celebrate at Christmas, Mary went on to have other children. And James is one of them. And can you imagine what it would be like growing up in a house where your oldest brother claims to be divine? Some of you are like, I grew up in that house. At least my parents thought my sibling was divine, right? You know another thing, right? And it's so interesting because you can imagine that James, during the life of Jesus, in fact, we have the history. He didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah when Jesus, before Jesus died on the cross and rose again.

He didn't believe that. In fact, there's this section in the biography of Jesus's life where all of his brothers are teasing him and they're like, hey, aren't you supposed to be the miracle worker? Why don't you go and show yourself in Jerusalem and do some magic tricks? Like, they did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. And yet, James saw his brother die on a cross, a bloody death that had 100% effected his rape. Jesus was truly dead. He saw his brother buried in a tomb. And I don't know if it was three days later or four days later or seven days later, but at some point, the risen Jesus appeared to James. And it changed his heart. And history tells us James became the leader of the Jerusalem church and actually died for faith that his older brother was in fact God. Now, let me tell you something. Nobody's gonna die for something they believe is a lie. At the mouth of a lion, at the risk of a sword about to go through your heart, nobody in that moment has a problem saying, wait a second, I rose from the dead. Maybe his ideas live on. No, no, no. But even facing death, person after person believed, no, I gotta tell you what I saw. Something changed in terms of their equation

of the sting of death. So listen, today you may not be there. You may not believe what I believe about the resurrection. That is okay. Historically speaking though, you do have to wrestle with why did the early Christians believe it so strongly they were willing to die for it? And here's something I don't think any of us need trouble believing. We may be in a different place on what we believe about the resurrection, but I don't think any of us struggle with the idea of the sting of death. I think we've all felt the sting of death. I talked about it and it's kind of a light thing, but it did kind of sting when I got this from AARP. I mean, it's like they're offering me a free trunk organizer, by the way, so I am gonna do that. I'm gonna get that. But that's kind of a small thing. I think we confront the sting of death in some way more visceral and quite frankly painful ways. Don't we feel the sting of death when we stand at the graveside of someone we love and have lost? Don't we feel the sting of death when we get their call that nobody wants, that cancer is what they found on the report?

Don't we feel that sting of death when we lose someone we care about to an overdose, to an addiction that they could not overcome? Don't we feel the sting of death when we have a marriage that we thought would last forever, but it ends in a painful divorce? We're familiar with the sting of death. We feel the sting of death in wartime. When I see the pictures of 20-something-year-old young men and women who have lost their lives, we feel that sting of death for their families. We feel the sting of death in injustice. We feel the sting of death in hospitals and hospices all over the country. And Paul is very clear, the sting of death is sin. The sting of death is sin. I think there's something in you and in me that knows death is not the way it's supposed to be. And I think that same part in you understands, and there are things in my heart that aren't the way they're supposed to be either. This is the sting of sin. And I'm not talking about breaking spiritual rules. I'm talking about the ways that we choose against God time and time again. Who among us hasn't said words we wish we could unsay? Hasn't done things we wish we could undo? Hasn't become a person in some way, shape, or form that we said we would never become,

and yet here we are doing that thing over and over again, even though it's destroying us or it's destroying the people that we care about the most. You know why that happens? It's because all of us have been infected and affected by the sting of death called sin. The Bible puts it this way in Romans 5, 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world, meaning that it came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread because all sinned. And here's the thing. If God is truly good and he is perfect and he is just, he can't just turn a blind eye to your sin. He can't turn a blind eye to my sin. What is the real sting of death? It's this. It's not just that we're gonna die someday. It's that when we die, we're not ready to face a perfect God because his perfection has to deal with our sin, has to judge our sin, and we cannot be in relationship with God unless our sin gets dealt with. But God said, I have a plan to deal with your sin. The plan is I'm gonna send my son, Jesus, to live the perfect life you can never live. And because of that, I'm gonna put all of the consequences, all of the guilt of your sin. I'm going to put it on Jesus and he's going to suffer a horrible death on a cross, a death that you and I deserve for the ways that we violated God. And here's the beautiful thing about the resurrection.

If the cross is God saying, I've made the payment, then when Jesus walked out of the tomb, it's confirmation that the payment went through. That's what happened in the resurrection. That's why we need an empty tomb. That's why we need an empty tomb. What is the gospel? In simple terms, it is that Christ died for your sins and rose again and rose again. He was raised. Lots of people at Crossroads are speaking Espanol. And so in Espanol it's Cristo murió por nuestros pecados y el resucitó. He has resucitó. He is our rescuer and he has come. He has come and delivered us in a way that we couldn't deliver ourselves. Paul is so convinced of this. I love this. He's so convinced of this. He starts to trash talk death in the Bible. Look at what he says about death. In verse 55 he says, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, grave, where is your sting? He is trash talking death. Now, I gotta tell you, it's April now, but I watched so much basketball in March. Oh my gosh. I'm still watching a lot of basketball. I love March Madness. I love college basketball players. I'm watching it. Men's women's, it doesn't matter. I'm watching it all. I'm watching it all. And I had a chance to take my sons to an NBA game last week. We went and saw LeBron play in Indian. It was awesome. It was awesome. Thank God I saw him then because the Lakers are going downhill. If you're a Lakers fan, you know what I mean. But, um, oh my gosh. But anyway, I realized as I was watching the game and I teased my sons about this, that because I'm 50, that means I grew up in the golden era of basketball. I did. I did. Michael Jordan. Can I get an amen somebody? Right. Michael Jordan. Charles Barkley. Yeah. You know, Magic Johnson. How about this one? Larry Bird. Yeah. I grew up in an era of basketball that's epic. And so I was thinking about this because Larry Bird,

if you know anything about Larry Bird, one of the best people to ever pick up a basketball. Dude was just unbelievable. He was also a prolific trash talker. Prolific. Let me give you an example. One time they're playing the Knicks, they're down by a couple and the Celtics coach calls a timeout. Larry Bird was being guarded by a guy named Xavier McDaniels, who was like a lockdown defensive specialist. Like that was what he did. And Larry Bird, before he's gone to his bench and the coach calls timeout, Larry Bird goes to Xavier McDaniels and says at the three point line, he says, Xavier, after this timeout, I'm going to get this shot right here. I'm going to shoot it and we're going to win this game. And then he walks over to the bench and Xavier McDaniels says, I don't know what my coach said in that huddle because all I had was Larry Bird in my ear. Comes out of the timeout, Celtics draw up a play. Larry Bird gets the ball right where he said he was going to get it. Shoots the ball and wins the game. You know you're a baller when you can back up your trash talk. Here's another example. Again, epic three point shooter. He participated in the three point competition and he goes into the locker room. These are the best three point shooters in the NBA. These are probably the best people at shooting this shot in the world. He goes into the locker room and says to all of the other contestants, so which one of you is ready to finish second today? Then goes out and wins the three point competition. Backed up his trash talk. Well, I want you to know that I think Paul is onto something when he starts to trash talk death. I think he understands the kind of swagger Jesus had when he beat death. So I want you to go with me in your imagination right now. And there is a place, I believe there is a place called hell.

There is a place that if we don't trust in Jesus, we go. It is not a good place. And it is where Satan and sin and death dwell and where they reign. And you can imagine that on Good Friday, after Jesus died on that cross, that somewhere in hell, there was a locker room and Satan and sin and death had their drink of choice because they were sitting around and saying, can you believe that this Jesus thought he was actually going to beat you, death? That he actually thought he could defeat you. Where is he at now? He's in hell with us. Why do I say that? Because one of the earliest claims that we have from our faith is the Apostles Creed and includes these lines. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried and descended into hell. Jesus descended into hell. It's a whole message for a whole other time. But you can imagine that locker room they were celebrating. And I'm thinking they started that celebration on Friday, whenever they wanted to use to celebrate, they were doing it all. And I think that celebration went into Saturday as they looked around and said, look, where's Jesus? Jesus is in the grave with us. He's in hell with us. And then something happened on Sunday morning that they did not expect because Jesus walked into that locker room and looked at hell and looked at Satan and looked at sin and said, which one of you is ready to finish second today? Cause it's not Good Friday. It's Sunday morning. Later on, Jesus would say it this way, he said, I'm the Alpha and the Omega. I'm the first and the last. I hold the keys to life and death. I think Jesus dangled those keys in front of them and said, let me tell you what I'm gonna do. On Sunday morning, I'm gonna come out of this tomb at this time, and I'm gonna walk out

with victory over life, victory over sin, victory over hell, and not just me, but everyone who will trust me. Because you're a baller when you can back up your trash talk. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, grave, where is your sting? Woo! Man. I don't know if you guys saw this or not, I've been watching so much basketball. I really have been watching so much basketball. And a couple weeks ago, something happened last week. I call it the headbutt scene round the world. If you're a UConn fan, you remember UConn had this amazing comeback victory over Duke, unbelievable. And Dan Hurley, their coach, coming out of his shirt, coming out of his coat, and here it comes, with all the swagger of a coach who just won. Headbutt a referee. I don't know why he didn't get a tech for that, but all I'm telling you is that's some kind of swagger. And that's the kind of swagger Jesus had when he walked out of that grave. That's why it says this in Colossians 118, he, Jesus, is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. What does that mean? Actually, the word firstborn here is a financial term. It's a financial term, and what it means is Jesus's resurrection was the final payment for your sin debt.

Man, anybody had a final car payment? How's that feel? Anybody ever paid off a student loan? Can I get an amen, somebody? How does that feel? Anybody ever paid off a mortgage and now owns a house free and clear? I'm not there yet, but I want to get there? I know that feels great. You know what, friends, spiritually speaking, because of the empty tomb, you have a zero balance. Don't miss that, you have a zero balance. Because Jesus paid that debt for you. That's why the resurrection means everything, because it's the resurrection of hope. I know it's a hard world to live in right now, but we have hope, not just in the afterlife, but in this life. It's the resurrection of purpose, because Jesus didn't die just for your life to end someday. No, you're going to live on forever with him, having more joy and more ecstatic purpose than you could ever imagine. It's the resurrection of power. It's the resurrection of perseverance, because if Jesus walked out of the grave and that power is available to you, you can get through anything. You can get through that divorce. You can get through that addiction.

You can get through your grief because of the resurrection power that's available to you. I was asking God, I'm just like, God, what do you want to say to our church this Easter? Is there anything specifically that you want to say? And I feel like God gave me a word, and the word that he gave me was, I want everyone here to know, this is God speaking to you now. I want everyone here to know that because of the resurrection, you can exhale. You can exhale. I think we're all collectively holding our breath right now. We're holding our breath because of the things happening in the world around us. We're holding our breath because of the things that are happening personally in our lives. And I think God just wants you to know today, because of the resurrection, you can let it go. In fact, I want to do that right now. Everybody take a breath in on three. One, two, three. And just let it go. Just let it go. Do you hear that? Do you hear that? That's what's available because of the resurrection. In fact, in the Old Testament, when Moses said, God, will you tell me what your name is?

God said, my name is Yahweh. Literally every time we breathe, we are breathing in and breathing out the name of God. Friends, you can exhale. You can exhale. So what does Resurrection Sunday have to do with your Monday? We see the answer in Romans 8, 11. It says that the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Did you catch that? That the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you when you trust Jesus with your life. The same spirit lives in you. I need some crowd interaction on this one. Throw out a number between 10 and 100. 50, I love that number 50, man. 50, love it. All right, listen. If you knew, guaranteed, nothing was gonna change it, that three years from now, you were gonna inherit $50 million, how would that make you feel? 50 million, do you think that might impact the level of hope that you walk around with in life? Do you think it might make it a little bit easier to be generous and to be grace-giving if you knew that was coming your way?

It wouldn't inoculate you from all suffering, but do you think it might help you have a different perspective on difficulties and suffering? Do you think it might become the driving? thing that's driving your choices as you think about not just the next three years, but the next 30 years? Well, friends, what I want to tell you is because of the empty tomb, you got something coming to you that's worth way more than 50 million dollars. It's way more than 50 billion dollars, 50 trillion dollars, however high you want to go. Your eternal future is secure. And that should change the level of hope we live with. That should change how generous we can be. That should change how we can love and how we think about the future, because our future is secure. And I wonder if you're in here today, but you've never received that life from Jesus. It would be a disservice for me to share this good news with you and not give you a chance to receive it. Not give you a chance to put your faith in Jesus. So I want everyone in here to close their eyes, because I want you to have a moment between you and God. And maybe you're here today, and something clicked for you, the penny dropped, and you're like, oh man, I didn't know. I didn't know that this is what it means to follow Jesus. I didn't know this is what Jesus did for me. And I want that. If you're in here today, and you would say, today, I want to put my faith in Jesus for the first time. I've not done that, and I want to do that. I'm going to ask you to do something bold. I'm going to ask you just to put your hand up. While every eye is closed, just between you and God, put your hand up if you would say, today, I want to receive Jesus for the first time. I see those hands. I see those hands. And more importantly, God sees those hands. And I just want to invite you to pray some words after me. Not that there's magic in these words, but today, you get to mark a moment of faith. And I want to guide you into that. You can just simply repeat these words. Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. And Jesus, I believe you rose from the grave. So I want your life to be my life. Please forgive me for my sins, and give me your life, so that I can follow you.

Would you fill me with your life-giving spirit, so that my life is secure, both now and forever. Amen. Amen. Praise God. If you just prayed that prayer, praise God. Praise God. Welcome. Welcome. What you received cannot be taken away from you. So good. And now Easter becomes an anniversary for you to remember that was the day. That marks the day that I received and stepped into this life that Jesus has to offer me. So good. So good. I got something not just for you, if you just prayed that prayer, but for all of us. Because we were talking about what would it look like for us to take this resurrection power into our lives, beyond just this gathering right now. And so if you want to, you can take out your phone, and I'm encouraging you to do this. Take out your phone and text the word AWAKE to 301301. The word AWAKE. And here's what you're going to opt into if you do that. You're going to get a series of seven texts this week. They're going to come at different times. They have different prompts. And they're all meant to just remind you that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you. And I pray that it just meets you. And I'm praying it meets me in the moments this week when I just need to be reminded about Easter Sunday. So I pray that that encourages you and strengthens you. Got one more scripture to share with you. I love that Paul, after writing these sweeping words and taunting death and all the things, here's how he finishes 1 Corinthians 15 58 with these words. He says, I love that Paul doesn't end with some lofty practical application, but he ends with what I call street-level application. He says, hey, because the resurrection happened and because that life is in you, hey, be steady. Don't quit. Keep loving. Keep creating.

Keep building. And by all means, keep celebrating. Keep celebrating. Because if this is true, y'all, silent Christianity doesn't make any sense. Reserved Christianity doesn't make any sense if the resurrection is real. If the only time we celebrate it is when we get real quiet and be like, oh, God, thank you so much for your resurrection. No, no, no. If there's ever a day to get loud, if there's ever a day to get excited, it is this day. It is Easter Sunday. You with me? You with me? So I want to help us. I want to help us finish in a spirit of celebration that is fitting for Easter Sunday. Y'all ready for this? Y'all ready for this? All right, so listen. I think we have a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters around the world, because there are some powerful, ecstatic, Easter celebrations that we can go to school on. Let me give you one. In the Philippines, last night and into daybreak this morning, they did what's called Salubong. And what Salubong means is a divine encounter with the risen Christ. Salubong starts at night with two separate parades going through the streets. One parade is all the women are marching and walking through the streets with a statue of the mother Mary. And Mary has a veil over her face because for her it's not yet Easter morning. And so she is mourning the loss of her son. And so that procession of the women is quiet and prayerful and even mournful as they think about the tension that Mary was living in. Whereas at the same time, the men are having a parade of their own. And the parade that the men are having is with the risen Christ. And they are walking with the risen Christ, celebrating because they have seen and experienced the resurrection. And what I love about Salubong is at daybreak on Easter morning,

the two processions meet. The two processions meet. They remove the veil from Mary and then everybody begins to celebrate and dance because they've had a divine encounter with the risen Christ. It's so good. And don't miss this. My friend who's Filipino was telling me about this. She said, Chuck, don't miss this. Philippines is a very matriarchal society. And there's a reason that Mary has the role she plays when they take the veil off. And it's this, if anybody would have known that it was for sure the risen Christ, it would have been his mama. And so the worship and the celebration doesn't start until mama confirms, that is my baby. My baby was dead. My baby was buried, but my baby is alive. We can have that Salubong moment with Jesus. Give me another one. Give me another one. In Greece and in Greek Orthodox Church, here's how they celebrate Easter. It starts before midnight. So they would have started this last night before midnight. And the church is dark and people gather in the dark church. And again, there's a heaviness because it's not yet Easter Sunday. But right past midnight, the priest comes in, lights a massive candle and yells at the top of their lungs, Christ is risen. And when they do that, everybody begins to light their candles and they respond, he is risen indeed. So I want us to take a page from our Greek brothers and sisters. I want you to take out your phones right now and I want you to put your phone lights on. And I'm going to teach you guys this call and response. And we're going to celebrate Easter commensurate with the way that our brothers and sisters do around the world. So I'm going to say Christ is risen. And when I say that, you're going to respond, he is risen indeed. You guys ready? Christ is risen. All right, that was—give you a B plus. Give you a B plus. I think you can do better. I think you got more in you. Honestly, sometimes—seriously, it's not uncommon in these Greek churches after Easter, after they have the mass and everything, they literally have fireworks break out.

So I want us to have verbal fireworks as we do this. You guys ready? Alright, Christ is risen. Crossroads, we are not ending quietly today. We are not ending quietly today. We are going to celebrate because Christ is risen. We're going to sing. We're going to sing about a name. We're going to sing about a name who conquered death. We're going to sing about a name who opened up a grave. We're going to sing about a name that breaks every chain. We're going to sing about a name that knows you, that knows me, and offers us life. We're going to sing about a name because there's a Savior in here. We're going to sing about a name because he gives us his spirit. We're going to sing about a name because there's freedom for us today. Come on and let's sing this song together. Come on, let's sing it together. Come on, lift it up. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Some day come out of the grave Every time I call your name, yeah I have a key to prove It's opening over death He holds the keys In His holy nails stands He is the King That has crushed the serpent For my resurrected great I am I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave

Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones awake Every time I call your name The gates of heaven shake Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones awake Every time I call your name The gates of heaven shake Every time I call your name There's something about the name There's something about the name Come on, sing today Oh, death is not your state Oh, great You're Come on, sing it louder Oh, death is not your state Come on, tell it Oh, great You're the victory Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive In the name, sing it again Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive In the name, I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior

Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call your name Chains break, dry bones awake Every time I call your name The gates of heaven shake Every time I call you Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Come on, come on, come on All right, listen, listen We are not done We are not done! I grew up in a small black Pentecostal church and I want to free you to be your best Pentecostal self for just a few minutes if you're okay with that. So we're going to sing one more song and here's the thing, I want you out of the aisles. I want you out of the aisles. Look, I'm gonna start a conga line up in this church. I'm gonna start a conga line up in this church. Don't let me be the only person in the conga line up in this church. You with me? You with me? Come on, let's sing. Let's sing. You get all the praise, always. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, we sing. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always.

I've got a God who is for me, yeah. He's known for making a way. He fought the battles so I wouldn't have to. All glory belongs to His name, yeah. I've got a God who's been faithful, yeah. Far more than I can explain. Through every season, in spite of my weakness. He gave me the song I could sing. And I came to praise Him. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. I came to praise Him. That's why I woke up today. Oh, we say, I came to praise, I came to, I came to praise. We say it out loud, we say. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. I've got a King who is with me. And He put your shame in the grave. With you held Him back, and now I never have to. And He did it all in three days. I came to praise Him. What did you come to do today? I came to praise Him. That's why I woke up today. That's why I woke up today. He gave me breath in the Lord, I came. I came to praise Him. Oh, we say, we say.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night. I'm singing in the night. Oh, that's how I fight. I'm singing He's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing He's holy. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night. I'm singing in the night. Oh, that's how I fight. I'm singing He's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing He's holy. For the rest of my life. I'm singing He's holy. For the rest of my life. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. I'm singing in the morning.

I'm singing at night. I'm singing in the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing He's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing He's holy. I'm singing He's holy. For the rest of my life. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Why can't you pray? We say, can't you praise? Why can't you pray? The devil ain't out of my way. The devil ain't out of my way. We say it once. I can't you pray. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I can't you pray. We can't you pray. I can't you pray. I didn't come to sit in my seat seat. I can't you pray. I feel a little 50 now, I feel a little delight. But we're gonna do it one more time because if there is ever a day to celebrate, it's today. It's today. Go out in the power of the resurrection and let it change your life.

God bless you guys, happy Easter!