Easter At Celebration

Well, hello, everybody, and, of course, we want to say hello to those that are in our overflow in the concourse. We are grateful that you are here, and Celebration Church, we also have our locations watching. We've got 13 correctional facilities. Those that are in prison and in jail, we're thinking about you today. We have our locations in Mozambique, Africa, watching. And we also have our two Naples, Italy campuses. We've got probably close to about 1,000 people that attend our campuses from the Naval Air Station, which is home for the Sixth Fleet, and other things that are happening around the world. In fact, many of the decisions that are being made that is happening in the world today are coming from people that are at Celebration Church. And so we're honored to be with each and every one of you. Celebration Church, can we just join everybody today? Good to see you guys. And I want to say there's a bunch of great churches here in the Austin area. And if you just find one, I want to say to you, find one, plug yourself in for a year. Give God a year, and your life will be changed, because it's so important that you just don't try to do this on your own. And I just encourage you, we would love the privilege and opportunity to be a part of your life. Lord, we just thank you. Speak to us. We thank you, Lord, for your word. At the entrance of your word, we are not in darkness. We are in the light. And everyone said, amen. Well, Lori and I met in Baton Rouge. Our kids were born in South Louisiana. We pastored in Napoleonville, Louisiana.

We lived in Assumption Parish. One red light, and it blinked. The reality is we lived in the home of Swamp People. And living there for years, we met Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, and Fontenot. You may think, well, how do they relate to Eastern? God died for the Cajuns, too. And I want to tell you a story about Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, and Fontenot that leads into Easter. You're going to see in a moment. It does have a connection. It's really high academic. Here it is. Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, and Fontenot are standing at the casket of their friend who had just passed away. And you've got Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, Fontenot, and they are looking at him and thinking about all the great memories that they had back in the swamp and eating alligator and crawfish. And Boudreaux turns to Thibodeaux and Fontenot. And he says, you know, we next. We're going to be in that casket pretty soon. We better think about what do we want people to say about us when they're looking at us in the casket. So Thibodeaux, what do you want people to say about you? He said, man, I don't know. Give me a second. Boudreaux said, I'll go first. He says, I know. I want my family to say he loved us. I want people to say, I love my children. I love my wife. I love my family. Thibodeaux said, man, that's deep.

That's really deep. That's a Cajun accent, by the way. So Thibodeaux, what about you? What do you want people to say about you when they look at you in the casket? He goes, I want them to know I love my hunting dog. That dog was a good dog. Yeah, that's pretty deep. And then they turn to Fontenot. And they say, Fontenot, what do you want them to say about you when they're looking at you in the casket? He said, that's easy. I want them to look at me in that casket and say, look, he's moving. I don't care how funny you don't think that is. I think that's funny. Because how many want to be moving after you're dead? Thibodeaux, he got a lot of it, Boudreaux, Fontenot, they got a lot of it right. The reality is you will be moving. The question is, where are you moving? And that's what Christ came to do. Christ moved to this world so we could move in the next. But not just in the next, but in the now. He came to give us the same power. He came to give us, of course, this power that had to be performed through the cross. And of course, at the cross, being the lamb of God, took away our sins because no one can move into God's kingdom. No one can move with God in sin. We have to be forgiven. And he paid the price for us. He paid for it all. And he paid for it so that you and I would not be, in fact, he would prove it all so

that you and I would not be in the dark concerning life's questions. Acts chapter 17, Paul the apostle who wrote two-thirds in the New Testament, he knew Christ was the answer to all of life's questions. He knew the big questions were answered in Christ, which are, number one, where did I come from? Like, in other words, who's the creator? What's his name? Is there someone behind all that we see? Is there somebody behind this universe, behind this world? Is there a person and can I know him? Or is it just random? Did everything just kind of smash together and we get these feelings and these emotions and we got these hearts? there a divine design behind it all? And of course, I lean towards the reality and I think that's why Christ came, was to answer that question, that he is our father. I think the second question that we all have is who am I? Like, how am I made, who am I? My identity question. Where do I get my identity from? Is it just from my mom, is it just from my dad, or do I self-identify? Do I create myself, do I create my own identity, or have I been made with an original intention by the divine designer with a unique thumbprint or a fingerprint that no one else has? Reality is, is that each and every one of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. The third question, God bless you,

is the thought about meaning, and that is what's the purpose, what's the meaning? Why am I here for? Why am I created? What am I called to do? Called for a purpose, born for a purpose. Of course, the greatest day, two greatest days of your life is knowing that you were born again, and then the second greatest day is why you were born. Knowing that you're living in the lane that God has designed for you. Fulfilling the call, fulfilling the purpose, the destiny that it has for you. So that's the meaning, that's the third question. The fourth one would be what are the morals, what are the values, what are the truths that make this world go? In other words, can I just have my own truth? Can I have my own value system? And I can treat people the way I want to, or is there someone who has the commandments, the laws, the values, the ways that lead to life? And then the fifth one, and that is where is eternity? Where do we go? Is there life after death? Are we like Fontenot gonna be moving? And the reality is that's why Christ came. And this is what Paul says in that Acts chapter 17 before we get into the heart of the message.

Paul says it like this, because Paul, he was an anti-Christ man for much of his life, anti-church man. Didn't want anything to do with the ways of God. He wanted the ways of religion, but he didn't want anything to do with Christ until Christ appeared to him. And Paul would later say these words, God has fixed a day, or in other words, there's an appointed time for the world to be examined, for you and I to be examined. And he's gonna judge. He's gonna judge the world. He's gonna judge every man, every woman. The Bible says in or according to righteousness, which Christ, the righteous one, the one who was righteous died for the unrighteous. The one who knew no wickedness, the Bible says became wickedness so that we could be led to God. He says in righteousness, we're going to be judged or by him, Christ, according to Christ, we're gonna be examined. Having God, having furnished or proved that Jesus was the answer to all of life's questions. And how was this proven? By raising him from the dead. The proof is in the pudding. The proof was in the resurrection. No one has ever been brought back from the dead.

There's been resuscitations, but never resurrection. Christ was the firstborn among many. He died and he was raised. And he said to the disciples over and over, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to die. He told his disciples, I'm going to die. They're going to betray me. They're going to condemn me. They're gonna try me. They're gonna break law after law, religious law, civil law. I'm just telling you how it's gonna go down. And then they're going to take me. And then they're going to not only accuse me, they're gonna flog me. They're going to whip me. They're gonna mock me. They're gonna spit on me. And then they're going to crucify me. And then they're gonna nail me. But then they're gonna bury me. And then he goes, and then I will come back from the dead. What is he saying? Of course, he's saying to us, it's the way of the cross. And the reality is, is we all have to, not paying for our sins or the sins of anyone else, are we walking this way of the cross? But Christ came and he took the cross

because you and I are walking in a world that has to go through Fridays and Saturdays. It's not if you're gonna have pain, you're gonna have pain. It's not if you're gonna have situations in which you feel betrayed, you're gonna feel that way. You're gonna have that happen to you. You're gonna have days like Friday, where you feel crucified. You feel condemned. You feel attacked, misjudged, misunderstood. You're gonna have Saturdays where you don't know what is taking place. And that's the silence of the Saturdays. Or you could say the silence of the Lamb. You're wondering what in the world is going on. But Jesus said, but that's not the end. The end is going to come not with death, but with life, for I will be raised from the dead. And that which I came to do, that which I was brought to this world to do, to give the answer to, watch this, to give an answer to the mystery of God, the mystery of life, and all the questions that you may have, the answer is Jesus. Not another religious leader, nor Christ, was a religious leader, but if you try to categorize all the religions of the world, no other leader or founder of that religion claimed what Jesus claimed. Because they couldn't conquer death. Only God could conquer death. Only God could forgive us of our sins. Religion, man-made religion, which is much of even today, even in versions of Christianity has us trying to get to God when God has gotten to us. You and I don't ascend to God, God descended to us. And it's not us, it's Him.

And so with this news, they watched Jesus. They watched Him being taken, being brought to the trials. They watched Him being crucified, and now we come from Friday to Saturday, we come to Sunday morning, and the Bible tells us Sunday morning on the first day of the week, Luke chapter 24, early in the dawn, they went to the tomb, taking, interestingly, after Jesus told them, I'm going to come back from the dead, they came to bury the dead with their spices and with their funeral arrangements. You don't pay respects to a living man, you pay your respects to a dead man. And they fully expected Jesus to be dead and in the grave. So coming for a funeral, not by faith, but coming for a funeral, they came. And as they entered into the tomb, there they see that the stone has been rolled away. There they realize that Jesus is not there and that He is gone. And then the angel appears. The Bible tells us, then the angel comes and says to them, He's not here. I love how he says, He is not here, and then these words, remember how He told you. I think the translation should be, remember, bonehead, how He said over and over and over. This should not be a shock. What does it take for you to understand? In fact, as many times as He told you, you still didn't get it. Few verses later in Luke 24 and 11, not only had they had this divine invitation or this divine revelation by the angel, now those that did not see the body of Jesus in the tomb are now meeting and seeing other disciples. And no matter what it was, whether it was a supernatural word or a word from an eyewitness, these words seemed to them and to all of those disciples as an idle tale. That word there just simply means, it was empty of power. Now the reality is, the words were not idle. They were empty. That word there, it's an interesting word, idle. It just means insignificant. It means without power.

You can bring it into our context, blah, blah, blah. It's just rhetoric. It's just theory. It was just talk. It doesn't mean anything. The word that we have in the English that identifies with the same word is the word twaddle. T-W-A-D-D-L-E. When's the last time you woke up and said the word twaddle to anyone in your life? Well, let me tell you about twaddle. Again, that's what it means. It's just twaddle. It's just jargon. They were told that this Jesus, it's not jargon. He's the power of God, but they just had in them this which would block them from receiving this, of course, unbelief. Twaddle produces twiddle-dee and twiddle-dum, because look at the next verse we're going to read in verse 13, and then now you have twiddle-dee and twiddle-dum, two disciples. The Bible says these two disciples standing there, hearing but not receiving. It says they would begin to make their way back to their home, and their home is in a village called Emmaus. And they begin to make their journey back on the road to Emmaus. I call this not the road to Emmaus, but the road to a mess, because they are now going back to what they used to be. They gave this God a chance, they gave this Christ a chance, and now because it all was just talk, it was empty, it was rhetoric, they are now going to just go back to their old life. They're going to go back home instead of following Jesus. And as they were talking and walking and discussing, verse 14, that word discussing means questions. They had a lot of questions.

In fact, they probably began to think, why do we follow this Jesus? Why do we believe? I thought he was going to be the one. But in the midst of their questions, in the midst of their doubts, in the midst of their pain, Jesus himself, Jesus, the person, the person, the reality of this living person, drew near and began to walk with them. And it gives us this word that he didn't just bash or barge in, he merged in with them. How many like when people know how to get on an interstate and merge with the traffic? Not too fast and not too slow. And Jesus just kind of merges in the traffic, getting involved with their life. And the Bible says their eyes were not able to recognize Jesus. I'm going to tell you why. They could not see the supernatural Jesus because they had been consumed by the natural problems of life. The immediate, the immediate, the natural took away the supernatural. This is what happens to all of us. We get blinded by our Fridays and our Saturdays. We get blinded, we get hindered from seeing Christ who's there because of the overwhelming nature of life. And Jesus talking to them says, so what is all of this about? And they stood still. Notice what it says. Hearing Jesus, not knowing it was Jesus, what are you talking about? What is this conversation? And they stopped dead in their tracks, they stood still looking sad. In other words, that word sad is not just sad as in depressed or there's this tone of sorrow, there's an anger in this same Greek word. They're sad and they're mad. And when you're diagnosed, as I was meeting with one of the families after church last night and she was just diagnosed with tumors, stage four, she goes, I'm not just sad, I'm

mad. They're mad. They're angry because they maybe have wasted their life or wasted their belief. And then when Jesus hears them and sees them in this condition, Cleopas answered, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened? Have you just flown in here from California or somewhere like that? Who are you? Are you out to lunch? And then Jesus takes it to another level. Cleopas, of course, saying this to Jesus, Jesus said to him, what things? No, talk to me, baby. Give me something. I'm going to tell you what God does when you're pouting. He pulls that pout out of you. He's going to get you to talk. He's going to get you to converse. How many know confession is good for the what? You might as well say it because he sees it. And the Bible tells us he sees and he knows their condition. And so he is pulling it. He's drawing it out because you can't get healed while you are in the dark. You are only as healthy as your secrets. And you got to deal with those secrets. You got to deal with those hidden parts of your life. That's why God always goes to the inner man. God is not interested in the outer man. He's interested in the inner man being conformed into the likeness and the image of truth who is Jesus. And so the Bible says concerning Jesus of Nazareth. That's the things we're talking about.

They go on to say, we thought, and of course we declared that he was a prophet, mighty indeed and in word. I think they were there on the miraculous moments of Jesus' life. They saw the healings and the deliverances. They probably saw the miracles of the bread and the fish being multiplied. We knew that God was with this man. And then it says, and we then watched the priests and the rulers take him and brought him to crucifixion, verse 21. We had hoped. We had this anticipation. We believed that we were going to be delivered and be redeemed, but it looks like it's over. Looks like it's finished. It looks like we bought the lie. And besides all of this, here it is the third day. We were told he would be raised on the third day. The disciples said there were some opinions that he was raised from the dead. They – watch what it says. The women said that an angel had visited them and spoke the words that Jesus was alive. I think it went like this. You know when women get together, they see things. I'm not saying that. That's what Bible says right there. Careful when women have their margarita party. You know what I'm saying. You just – you don't want to get in the middle of that. That Friday wine day, you don't – and I think that's probably what they're thinking. They're seeing things. And Jesus, the next words out of his mouth are what? Foolish ones. Slow in your heart to believe.

The word there means foolish ones, not fools. Same word for foolish is the Greek word for the Galatian foolish, oh foolish deceived Galatians. Who has fooled you? Who has bewitched you? You have bought the lie. Your heart has bought the lie that God isn't real. Slow in your heart, that word there also means slow or thick, insensitive. In other words, you have not kept the faith and your heart has become dull because the word of God and the story of resurrection has been blah, blah, blah. The worst thing that can happen to you is to hear Easter message after Easter message and it just becomes blah, blah, blah. Words, words, words. Yeah, Jesus is alive. What? That's the angels, what? Yeah, I heard. What? Yeah, it's true. But it doesn't change anything. It's not changing my attitude. It's not changing my position. It's not changing my faith. It's not changing. I'm going to still be the miserable soul that I was, but I believe he's alive. That's impossible. How can you meet this man? How can you say that Jesus is alive and remain dead? Jesus is saying to these disciples, you've been fooled, you've been tricked, you've been put under a spell.

And it happens to all of us. If we're not careful, our hearts just become conditioned to hearing it and nothing changes us. And he says to him and says to Cleo and his wife, who I do believe was probably his wife, we don't exactly know, Jesus begins to say, didn't Christ tell you that he had to suffer? From the word of God, he begins to tell them from Moses to the prophets. And it says he gave over and over the predictions, over and over the prophecies concerning Christ. And as he was giving them the scriptures along the way, notice it's not just geographical, spiritual. They left Jerusalem in the light, and now they're going back in their own will, in their own way, living out of their own flesh and not by faith. Now they're in the darkness of Emmaus. And Jesus intending to keep walking, intending, in fact, he gave the look that he was not going to stay with them. They say, it's too late for you, whoever you are, for you to keep traveling. Why don't you come in and have a meal with us? Why don't you come and stay with us? As he acted to keep going further, but they urged him strongly, stay. They gave him an invitation, and he went in, and he stayed with them, and he broke the bread as they were at the table reclining. He blessed it, gave it to them, and all of a sudden their eyes are open. This is what he did in the miracle of the loaves and the fish. And now they went from their eyes, in verse 16, being unable to be open, now their eyes are opened, and he leaves. I love this about Jesus. I hate it about Jesus, but I love this about Jesus. He doesn't stay. Because he knows if he doesn't mature them into walking by faith and not by sight, they won't last long. God is wanting to move you.

He matures you on the inside before your outside ever changes. He has to grow you up. And the only way that you're going to grow is when you don't see him, though he's there. When you don't feel him, he's there. When you begin to have these questions, he is there. there. All of a sudden, as their eyes are open, and I don't think that was because of a sovereign providential reason that their eyes were open. I think their eyes were closed and their eyes were open because they refused to remember the God who said he would be raised from the dead. And when they remembered, their eyes started to work again. Then immediately, as Jesus vanishes, they said to each other, look at this word. Now we know why our hearts were burning within us while he was talking to us from the scriptures. That very hour, that very moment, they didn't stay there. They got up, they went back to Jerusalem and they went right back to where they were with the church, with the 11. And then they were not just back into their community. They began to hear the stories that Jesus has been risen indeed. And now instead of being on a road to a mess, they are on a road as messengers. God is alive. Can I tell you what we learn in the seven mile lesson? Can I give you seven lessons real quick before we go on seven miles? Mile markers, milestones, lessons, however you want to take it. Number one, no matter how wrong you are, no matter how bad a direction you are in today, can I tell you the resurrected Jesus will meet you even when you're going where you're not supposed to be going. You might've walked in here today going, I have a wrong attitude about church. I'm only here because my grandmother said, if I want ham and turkey, I have to go to church. Where are my people at? Where are the people that were forced to come to church? Let me see your hand. Probably you're out in the concourse cause you're late. You've been wrong about this whole day. You're sitting here and God has been talking to you. I don't care how wrong you are about life. I don't care how wrong you are about people. I don't care how wrong you are even in your attitude and your faith right now. He's there. He was in your car. He heard you talk about me on your way to church here today. There'll be all those people. I don't want to sit in the traffic. I don't care. Neither does God cause he loves you and he's patient. Oh, he's going to change you, but you need to know that no matter how, how bad. In fact, when we've all gone our own way, we've all chosen our own route.

God comes to us because that's what it takes. Number two, the resurrected Jesus is always doing more than we can see and feel. He was doing it. He was working even when we couldn't see him. They didn't know he was talking, even though they didn't see him and hear him and recognize it was Jesus. He's working all things out. He causes the universe and the world to work on our behalf for God causes all things to work together according to our good and for our good. That's how powerful he is. No matter what's going on your Friday and your Saturday, there's an answer. Number three, the resurrected Jesus goes out of his way for ordinary and common people. I love this Cleo. This guy's from like Mayberry RFD, Cleo. Anybody named Cleo is from Tyler, Texas. He has to be from Tyler or Odessa. It's one of the two. And you may think I just want to be left alone. You know what happens to people that lose hope? You know what happens to people that just have lost their breath? They've lost their motivation. They start to walk by themselves. Just leave me alone. I don't want anybody calling me. You ever been so down where you just didn't want anybody, even your friends, you don't even want to talk to. I mean, there's people that love you and you're like, I can't, I can't even take a call. Leave me alone. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the spam effect. You ever get calls from spam? Oh, I had a call on my way to church last night and I answered the phone. Hey, spam, what you're going to do, what you got to say. And sometimes when we get so down in our lives, we just, we, every phone call spam, every phone call is ignored. God won't let you go. And this is what I love about God and his love to Cleo. The fourth one is that resurrected Jesus isn't forgetful of our suffering and our pain. You notice he started talking to them about the pain and the suffering of Jesus. I mean, he didn't want you and I to think he can't identify with us. He knows your pain. He knows you're suffering and he knows that we get angry and we get mad and we get sad. We've walked the cancer journey. Laurie, seven months pregnant with our first son, 34 years ago, year and a half into our marriage. Is having literally her stomach open and they're removing body parts to start chemo and radiation And we're serving God. We're youth pastors seven months pregnant We're sad, but we're mad But we knew the answer Because our God knows suffering and he knows pain He knows how to take your Sundays

He knows how to take those days that led to those days and resurrect it Here's another one the resurrected Jesus knows that we need the written Word of God. Do you know Jesus did not just say You just need to see me. He says you need to see me in the Bible You know, the greatest need you have after today is for you to have a relationship to Christ in the written Word that Christ Has given us you need your Bible and If you don't go to your Bible your heart will never burn the reason why their heart burned was from the scriptures They said that's why we had heartburn a Christian will always be a dead cold Christian when you're not in your Bible when the church leaves the Bible I Don't know but I think Christ withdraws from that church and The closer you get to Christ in his Word, can I just tell you the more your life starts to come alive The more your family starts to come alive your marriage starts to burn again your kids burn for God Don't disconnect from your scriptures This is why we do what we do here at Celebration Church. We believe in the supernatural power of God unapologetically But we're also a very Bible centered church line upon line text upon text and For you to study the scriptures, you got to know the context not just the text and that's why we want you to have a Relationship to what Christ said you got to have a relationship to here's number six. The resurrected Jesus wants an invitation This might be the most important part. Jesus had every intention to walk right past their village their home but they said stay Jesus watch this this day can wait a thousand years Watch this this day can walk right by you Because you never said Come to me You have to invite him

You know, there used to be a thing in this world called a bank remember when banks Had local branches now all of our money guys is in the clouds. I don't care who you are. It's just It's been more money. It's It's out there way more money. It's just driverless. It's just out there Well when you went to a bank back in the day You'd walk in and before you could have a relationship to that bank before you could get the resources of that bank or a loan from that bank You had to make a what? deposit You know what your deposit is Jesus I confess And I invite you in my heart if you don't do that, you can't know him I just assume that he's going to come into my I just assume that I'm gonna wiggle or Move in the grave one day After death no, no, no whoever calls upon the Lord Shall be saved You got to make the confession with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord The Bible says you cannot be private. You got to go public and when Jesus said this he says if you will confess me before men I'll confess you before my father and The Bible says he moves in and he breaks bread and they fellowship. That's what relationship is. It's fellowship It's food the Bible talks about in heaven the marriage supper of the lamb, I don't know if you do I like to eat and Heaven is gonna be a perpetual party feasting on the goodness of God And then the last one number seven the resurrected Jesus is the answer In other words they got their answer Now we know what it's all about the origin the meaning

our identity The values the principles the way we treat people and What is our future? It's in heaven because of Christ He gave him the answer on the road and they didn't just stay on that road. You have to reverse course You can't keep going in the wrong direction. It's called repentance and all of a sudden they had a new Bible And they didn't just have a new Bible. They had a new direction. They had new vision We tell you they also had a new relationship and they went back to the community called the church. I Know I haven't seen some of y'all since Christmas. I like you. I love you, but I want some more of you You know what I'm saying? God loves you You can't do this alone My father was an NFL football coach. I would go to LSU, one of the highest academic universities in the history of America. It's just unbelievable. It's the MIT of the South. No, I went to LSU on a football scholarship, which means Scantron bubble test. You know what I'm saying? And we don't read. We know Cajun jokes. But I will tell you, I met Christ, and I met my answer. The day my dad died was the day I saw Jesus. And what was supposed to be the worst day of my life and the worst season of my life, the very first funeral I'd ever attend, was my father's death. But I met Jesus the day my dad died. With every head bowed and every eye closed. Maybe you walked in here with the worst day of your life. Maybe the most difficult season. Maybe you're in a Friday. Maybe you're in your Saturday. Today's Sunday. He's alive. How many would say, Pastor Joe, I want to invite Christ? I don't care if you've said it a million times. How many want Jesus to be invited in your life? Let me see your hand. How many want Jesus in your home, your marriage, your heart, your world? How many want, like Fontenelle, I want to be moving after I'm dead. But I want to be moving to heaven. If you don't confess Christ, you can't have this life. Can we say this out loud? Lord Jesus, because of you, I can move. I can go to heaven because I'm forgiven.

You are the answer to why I'm here. You're the answer to who made me. You're the answer to who am I. Lead me. Guide me. Not by my power, but by your power. You are my Lord, my Savior. And all of God's people said, can we just thank God for his kindness and his mercy today?