Easter Sunday

He is risen, let's go. Indeed he has. Hey, I know that there are several kinds of people here. When I say he is risen, you say he is risen indeed. And you bet your life on that. Like you've banked your reality on that fact and it impacts everything you do. And then there's probably some people here who are skeptical. Maybe you were invited. This is when you go to church, you know, it's Easter, so you go out of tradition. You're like, I'm not so sure. This guy literally came back to life. But I wanna speak to a third group. And that's like, yeah, I know, yeah, I know. He came back to life, Easter, you know. Died and came back to life. And it doesn't really impact anything that we do. Doesn't impact who we are. Because of Artemis Two in space right now, I've had lots of conversations this past week around space travel. And I don't know if you know this, but as someone who studied A Generation Rising closely and carefully, there's a lot of young people that doubt the moon landing happened. Yeah, some of you are like, huh, interesting. In fact, one study said 35% of people

between 16 and 25 doubt the moon landing happened. And we were in this conversation, and you might think, you know, I don't know. Is that even a real stat? Well, at Harris Creek, we have a residency class every year. And so two years ago, we had eight residents that were here. They come on as an extension of the staff for 10 months, and they're trained in ministry. And out of the eight, we surveyed them. We said, how many of you believe the moon landing happened? And five of them did not think it happened. Five of the eight, okay? And one of them, I've got a friend that believes it happened and one of those residents began to build a case as to why it didn't happen. And my friend was listening. And at the end of their case, you know, talking about wind and the pictures and the angles and where was the camera? And my friend goes, yeah, I'm with you. I don't think it happened. I'm convinced. And so I'm hearing this and I'm a little baffled. So I call a pastor friend of mine, Levi Lusko, who actually wrote a book about the moon landing. And he's a believer, a Christ follower. And I just said, hey, what are your thoughts on this? People doubting the event. And he began to, he actually left me a voice memo on my phone and he just went hard

at the reality that it happened. He said, listen, this was the billions and billions of dollars invested in this project. There was a race to space. It was us versus the Soviet Union. He goes, once we got there, we got there first, we won. The Soviet Union completely shut down their efforts to get to the moon because it had been accomplished. They didn't have a desire to be second there. If anybody wanted to expose that the moon landing didn't happen, you better believe the cosmonauts would be first in line to show the entire world that the U.S. was faking it. And he goes on about this. And my friend listens to it. I played the voicemail for him and he goes, I'm convinced it happened. And some of us, like that's, you came in this morning, you got up, it's Easter, you're going to church. It's the resurrection, you know? And we could probably pour forth some data to try to disprove that it happened. You're like, ah, I guess it didn't. And then pour forth some evidence to show you that it did. I guess it did. Our relationship with that fact is apathetic at best. And in fact, somebody's hearing our discussion about the moon landing and they go, why does it matter? Who really cares? If it happened or it didn't happen, why does it matter?

And I think some of us feel this way toward the resurrection. Why does it matter? The moon landing's been called the greatest achievement in human history. Let me tell you something, this morning, we're gonna talk about the greatest achievement in human history, okay? That's what we're here to talk about. The single greatest achievement in human history, which is Jesus Christ not only dying for your sins, paying for your sins on the cross, his blood poured out for you, but raising from the dead and defeating death. Those two ideas and realities and facts and historical things that happen make up what we call. Christians the gospel the gospel is a greek term. It means the good news. What is the good news? Listen, if you hear me What's the good news? You don't have to go to hell that god loved you so much That he paid the ultimate price to have you as his child Not just 70 years or 80 years or 90 years on earth But forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and he did the work for you And it comes down to what you believe The gospel is that jesus christ died for your sins and raised from the dead and this morning I want to talk about why that the gospel is of first importance So i'm going to be in first corinthians 15 if you want to turn there And I think sometimes we we get stuck on jesus on the cross that jesus died for our sins And in fact this week i'm having a conversation with a young lady And I say if you died today how certain are you that you would go to heaven and she said oh i'm certain

And I said if you stood before god and he said why should I let you in what would you say? And she said because jesus died for my sins, which is a great answer It's just incomplete And I said did he do anything else for you? And she said what do you mean? And I said was there anything else that jesus did for you and she goes well he shows me how to live And I said, yeah, but paired with his death on the cross. Was there anything else that happened? And she goes I don't I don't understand Guys listen the cross Of christ good friday. That was god writing the check for your sins the payment The resurrection easter sunday That's the demonstration that the check cleared okay that he Defeated death and first corinthians 15 verse 19 says this if for only this life we have hope in christ We are of all people most to be Pityed that we don't just believe in christ for our 76 years on earth or 80 years on earth or 100 years on earth We believe in christ because he adopts us to be the sons and god Forever sons and daughters of god forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and we can't have a who cares attitude Why does it matter attitude as we talk about why this gospel is of first importance? We're going to talk about how it saves you how it stands up to scrutiny and how it changes you and the reason That it changes you let's go verse 1 paul writes this letter to a church in corinth who Is questioning the resurrection? They have an apathetic attitude toward do people really raise from the dead? That's a little bit out there paul So he writes this letter and says this now brothers and sisters. I want to remind you of the gospel I preach to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand by this gospel You are saved underline that verse 2 by this gospel. You are saved if If

If You hold firmly to the word I preach to you otherwise You have believed in vain He says this gospel the death and the resurrection of jesus christ for the forgiveness of sins This is what we the church have taken our stand on and it's this gospel It's the one that saves you But he says there are some people Who have believed in vain? What does that mean? Well, they had some semblance of knowledge that jesus died for their sins and raised from the dead and it's had zero None whatsoever implications on their life They just go to church That's it and they are just like a really moral atheist He goes those people they have believed in vain when you're talking about your salvation you're not pointing backwards to a moment when you were at some dawson mcallister retreat or some conference or Or some moment at church camp or you came forward and you said a prayer and you asked jesus into your heart If you're talking about your salvation you point forward to how that decision has changed everything about the way you live your life here on earth Because this is the gospel That saves you that's my first point this gospel Saves you saves you from what? Why do we need saving? Because you sinned against the holy god it saves you from sin and from death And it's just not an idea he says some have believed in vain It's just not an idea that we know it's something that we we It says, hold firmly to. The scripture says, hold firmly to. They say that people miss heaven by 16 inches. It's the distance from your head to your heart. The scripture says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. So there's something about a deep belief in the resurrection of Christ that is contingent upon. It's foundational to our salvation. So we don't believe in it like the moon landing. We don't care about it like the moon landing. It impacts us because it saved us. In Genesis chapter three, well, I'll back up. God creates the earth and he creates us to be in right relationship with him. And had you lived there, it would be like you were living in heaven. There's no death, disease, sadness, heartbreak, no crying, no weeping, right? Everything's blissful. You could talk to God and commune with him. He's right there. He's your friend. There he is, you and God hanging out. And he gives one instruction, don't eat from that tree. It takes us about three chapters to really mess it up. Genesis chapter three, they eat from the tree that they were told not to eat from. And like a tsunami on the planet, sin enters the world. Death enters the world. He says, if you eat from it, you will surely die. Prior to that, no one died. Now someone died. Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world

and through one man, Jesus, he's going to conquer death. He's the solution. So for thousands of years, people have been killing goats and rams as blood sacrifices to trying to cover for their sins until God says, wait a minute, let me unveil my plan now. This reality that we celebrate on Easter, that Jesus was the sacrifice for sin. Anybody, was anybody a lifeguard growing up? You know, those school, you guys, any lifeguard? Not a big lifeguard community? You're like, I'm ashamed that I wasn't. No, it's like, any lifeguard? I was a lifeguard, there you are. I was a lifeguard, there's some of us, okay. You guys are safe, you know, here. Some professionals that have been trained around you. I was a lifeguard. That lifeguard training, it was crazy. It was grueling, and in fact, the first time I attempted, I failed. Because they were like, we want you to swim the length of the pool back and forth 26 times. And I got about halfway into that. And I was like, oh, I'm done, I'm tapping out, you know. Because I had already treaded water for 12 minutes. You gotta tread water for 12 minutes with your hands outside of the water and you're just, your feet kicking. And I was tired, I was like, I'm going home.

This isn't for me. It wasn't until I went back. Because to be approved as a lifeguard, I had to show, I had to demonstrate to them that I could overcome drowning. And in fact, if someone else was drowning, I could save them without drowning myself. To understand or to demonstrate to that authority that I was an appropriate life saver, I had to overcome drowning. I had to demonstrate that I could overcome drowning. Well, for Jesus to be an appropriate savior, he would have to live a life completely free from sin to overcome sin. And then he would have to overcome death to show and demonstrate to you that he's an appropriate savior, someone who could overcome death, which is why the resurrection matters. Because Christ saved you from sin and from death. That's what he did. Verse three, let's dive back in. For what I received, Paul writes, for what I received, I pass on to you as a first importance. What? Second importance, third importance, something that's important? No, first importance. This is the most important thing. What I'm about to tell you,

that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the 12. After that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born. When was that written? Hundreds of years after the resurrection? How long after the resurrection was that written? He says, there are people still alive who saw him. Right? So not long after. And if you're bluffing, right? Like if you are presenting something that's a fib or a legend, you know. You're not gonna say, oh, and by the way, over 500 people saw him, go ask them. That's not a good strategy. That's not a good strategy to spread a lie. Go ask others, don't just trust me. That's what a lot of people, they're in a cave and they read something and they're like, I'm gonna start a religion or I'm the only person that has this revelation. Paul's like, no, go ask others.

They saw him. And then he says that he was one abnormally born and what he means there is because he saw Jesus after the ascension. So when Jesus raised from the dead, he appeared to the apostles, he appeared to Cephas and he appeared to over 500 people. But then later he's like, okay, I really wanna choose someone to take this message forward alongside the apostles. You know, who should I choose? He's like, oh, I'm gonna go with that guy, the one that hates me the most. The terrorist that is leading a revolt against anybody, the one who's killing women and children because they worship me, that's the one that I want to write 60% of the New Testament. So if you're here and you're like, you don't understand what I've done, there's no hope for me, I've out sinned God, you're foolish. God chose one of the greatest sinners on the planet Earth, a murderer who hated him to become one of the greatest missionaries that has ever lived. He may wanna do that this morning. And my second point is this gospel stands up to scrutiny. He's saying, he starts saying according to the scriptures, like this is what happened according to the scriptures, I want you to know.

And then he's like, go ask them. He's like, I don't care what, I don't care what you're, like you should bring your questions. Like you shouldn't just take this at some face value because your third grade teacher said so. Like question it, strengthen your faith. Like grow in your, I don't care, you know, I don't care if you ask questions, I'm not afraid of your doubt, doubt your doubts. We think there's more reason to believe than there are to doubts. Like, let's take it on, no big deal. Let's go, let's rock. He says, according to the scriptures, Psalm 22. Psalm 22 talked about a crucifixion, piercing and mocking. It starts out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The very words that Jesus said on the cross 1,000 years before Jesus shows up, it was written. 500 years before anybody had been crucified, there's a prophecy in the scriptures talking about crucifixion. Isaiah 53 talks about he would suffer, he would die, he would be buried, he would raise from the dead. 700 years before Jesus shows up, the prophet Isaiah talked about him. Zechariah said they will look upon the one they pierced. 500 years before Jesus shows up. So in accordance with the scriptures. This thing, bring your questions.

Brilliant people have embraced this. Oxford historian, Thomas Arnold. Brilliant Oxford historian. Simon Greenleaf, Harvard Law professor. Harvard, okay, not the easiest place to get into. He studies like laws to build a case. And then there was this other guy, Anthony Flew, the most prominent atheist philosopher of the 20th century. All of these guys, Oxford historian, a Harvard Law professor, and the most prominent atheist philosopher of the 20th century who researches Christianity to disprove it and converts to Christianity because of the evidence. They all said essentially the same thing. There's more evidence to support the historical fact of the resurrection than any event in human history. They said there's more evidence for the resurrection than there is the moon landing. Like, listen, you're like, I don't know. They're smarter than you. I mean, come on, probably, right? I'm just saying, I'm going on a limb. Harvard professor, Oxford historian, good chance, possible, they've got a higher IQ than for sure me, for sure me. And they're like, there's more evidence to support this than any historical event we would trust in. And you're like, really? Let's talk about it for a second.

Because there were these 12 guys, right? Matthias replaced Judas. So there's these 12 guys that follow Jesus. It says he appeared to James. Do you know who James is? That's his brother. James worshiped him. Now, listen, I got an older brother. He's never one time ever been tempted to worship me. Like, never. Like, not even tempted to pay me a compliment, you know? Like never, but James, Jesus's bro, he worshiped him. And in fact, all of these guys, the 12 of them, absolute cowards. If you read the gospels, they can't help but put their foot in their mouth. I mean, every time they speak, it's just like, oh no, what are you saying? What are you doing? And when Jesus dies, they're hiding in the upper room, like what's gonna happen to us? There's no hope, we're done for. And then he shows back up. Says he appeared to James and to the 12. And then these cowards, historically supported and documented. People wrote about them, not just the Bible, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Josephus Flavius. I mean, other historians wrote about these events. These guys gave their life for this message.

James, Jesus's brother, they're like, hey, stop talking about the resurrection. It's like, I can't, it's all my brother, come back to life. They take him up to the Temple Mount. They throw him off, thinking they're gonna kill him. They stand over him, he's still breathing. They're like, stop talking about the resurrection. He's like, I can't, I saw it. They beat him with clubs and throw rocks at him till he stops breathing. Peter, bonehead Peter, like foot in his mouth Peter. Peter, right, they come to him. They're like, hey, we want you to stop saying Jesus came back to life. He's like, I'm not gonna stop saying what I saw. My Savior showed back up, met me on the shoreline, made me a meal, restored me to ministry, took away my shame. I'm not gonna stop talking about it. If you don't stop talking about it, we're gonna crucify you. Okay, just one thing I ask, would you do it upside down? I don't deserve to die like my Lord and Savior. But you do what you gotta do because he showed back up. So I'm not afraid of what you're gonna do to me. The other James, he was stabbed with the sword. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Philip also crucified. Bartholomew skinned alive, then killed. Somebody was like, hey, I don't know if you wanna say that

with kids in the room. I'm like, we're here today because a guy was brutally tortured on the side of a road and bled out. It's kind of at the center of everything we believe, and then he shows back up. So Bartholomew's like, you do what you gotta do. Matthew was killed by a spear. Thomas was speared to death in India. Daddy is shot with arrows. Simon sawed in half, not a magic trick. Matthias stoned and then beheaded. John, he's the only one that made it out alive, but not before they boiled him alive, and then sent him to Patmos. My family, we've been in the cave where John lived. Like, we've stood there where the relics of John are, where he received revelation. These are real people. Like, there's not a credible atheist today that denies their existence. Like, these people actually lived, and they died a martyr's death because of what they believe. They don't wanna die for a lie. And it's not something they were told by their Sunday school teacher. It's something they saw firsthand. They said, hey, cowards to courageous. Why? Because they saw the resurrected Lord.

This, my friends, is the greatest achievement in history. Those guys weren't sawn in half and beheaded and shot with arrows and crucified so we could put on pastels and hunt Easter eggs and then take pictures in blue bonnets. They did that so that you would march forward as an army declaring to the world that Christ died for your sins and raised from the dead. What else you gonna live for? What else you gonna do with your life? Like, you can doubt it, but figure it out, man. Like, get on Chad or Claude or go to gotquestion.org or call someone smarter than you that you trust and say, are you sure? And let's figure it out. You know, life is short. We gotta figure this out. And if you start thinking about right now, man, I really hope they figure, I really hope they figure out. I just want you to know as a follower of Christ, there is someone hoping that you are gonna share with their friend who happens to be your coworker or your neighbor or in your carpool line. I'll say this briefly. It's not knowledge. It's not knowledge. I know that chair's there. You say, will it hold you? Sure.

It will hold you. Well, how would I know? I've never sat in it. I believe it'll hold me. You're like, go sit in it. I'm like, nah, I don't know if you believe it. I don't know if you, I believe the chair's there. I believe it will hold me. But to really believe it will hold me, I'm gonna go entrust my life to the chair. Now it's supporting me. My life is in it. I'm secured in the chair. Now I believe the chair will hold me. And there's not a single person watching up on this doubting that the chair will hold me. You know that it will too because I've exemplified it for you. That's what it looks like to place your faith in Jesus Christ. It's not an idea. It's not knowledge. It's you trusting in the death and the resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins. Chin up, chest out. I've been forgiven. I'm going to heaven. I'm God's child. What can mere man do to me?

I belong to the most high king, the creator of the heavens and the earth. Let's get this show on the road. How do you want to use me, God? He'll tell you right here. Verse nine. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. He was a terrorist. He was a terrorist. He was a terrorist leader. I mean, think Osama bin Laden right here. That's Saul of Tarsus. Think Hitler. Okay. Saddam Hussein. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me, whether then it is I or they, this is what we preach and this is what you believed. There's this radical conversion of this guy, Saul. His life changed. Sir William Ramsey, the greatest archeologist of his day, said the greatest, he set out to disprove the gospels. He's an atheist. He's an archeologist. He sets out to disprove the gospels

and overwhelmed by the archeological evidence that supported the biblical narrative, he converted to Christianity. And he said the greatest apologetic of the Christian faith is Saul of Tarsus' conversion, that this terrorist became a missionary for the very gospel that he rebelled against and killed people for believing, right? I would tell you the greatest apologetic of the Christian faith is the empty tomb. Because if you just had a pinky bone of Jesus that they could verify that it's his, if you just had like a toe bone, it would be the single most valuable artifact in the history of history. That tiny pinky bone would be worth, that discovery would shadow King Tut's tomb. All the gold in Egypt, that would be invaluable. And if they found the pinky bone and really verified that it was his, I'm done. Like I'm tapping out. I'm going back to sales, you know? Like I'm wasting my time here. Because if we die, the lights just go out. We get put in a hole and they put dirt on top of us. It's over, but they're not going to, because it's not there, because he raised from the dead. Okay, we banked everything on that reality. And Paul, we think of grace as saving grace, like it saves you.

Paul says, it's grace that I work from. So just to define grace really quick, and it'll be on the screen. People always ask that, hey, what did you say? So here, it's on the screen. Justice is you getting what you deserve. You hit me, I hit you back, that's justice. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. You hit me, I let you off, or I walk away, that's mercy. Grace is getting more than you could ever deserve. You hit me, I give you a million dollars. Grace is you've done something bad, you receive something better than you could ever deserve. That's what God gives us. And Paul is saying, it doesn't just save us, it changes the way that you work and the way that you live. And so that's my third point. The gospel changes you for ministry. The gospel changes you for ministry. It is so unbelievably ironic to me that most of my life, I believed that I had to be good to get to heaven. If you would've said, hey, are you going to heaven? I would've said, I think so. If you would've said, why? I would've said, because I'm a good person, I try to do good things. Here's the irony of that belief. I wasn't a good person

and the things I was doing weren't very good. And then I'm at a club and someone invites me to church and I go hungover and I sit on the back row and I start wrestling with what I actually believe and my life is just owned by addiction and worldliness and narcissism. And I believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and raised from the dead. I read Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and I grew up in church my whole life. But this moment, this idea of grace changed everything. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of yourself, it's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. And I said, oh, it's not me being good that gets me to heaven. It's him being good that gets me to heaven. It's trusting that what he did was for me. That's how I get to heaven. And the irony is that when I believed in that, that I'm saved by grace, then I started to do good things. Then I started to live a life out of obedience that God desires for me. Isn't that crazy ironic? One day I think you gotta be good to get to heaven and I'm bad. The next day I believe it's grace that gets you to heaven, what Jesus did for us, his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins.

And I'm like, well, I wanna live for that guy. If he's gonna lay down his life for me, I wanna live for him. How do you measure success in ministry? It's not that this room is full and the overflow is full and there's lots and lots of people in the lobby right now. That's not how you measure success in ministry. How do you measure success in ministry? Life change. Changed lives. Like I came into this place and I was transformed. I want you to hear my friend Bree's testimony. Would you just watch this for a minute? 2022 was a really hard year for me and my family. My daughter, Blakely, got really sick at 14 months old. We were in and out of the doctor's office. She was hospitalized for failure to thrive. And we eventually found out that she has celiac disease. A couple weeks after that, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and my doctor's like, these are the next steps. This is what I think you should do. I think you need to have a double mastectomy. I had four reconstructive surgeries within a year. I felt extremely hopeless. I felt alone. I felt like maybe I was being punished for things I had done in my past. I went to a really dark place and I just was honestly ready to end it all.

I remember being on the floor in the kitchen and just crying to God and asking him like, please guide me, please help me heal. And a couple weeks after that, one of my best friends invited me to church at Harris Creek. I joined her at church and something changed. I felt the Holy Spirit working on my heart. He was just more present in my life and I started feeling a connection with him. I started coming to Sisterhood. I joined my first Bible study group and I started praying for my family that he would work on their hearts as well. And now we all come to church together every Sunday. It's just beautiful what I've experienced him do, not just in my life, but around me. God pulled me out. He helped me get to where I am today. He grew my faith. Because I want to share my love for him, my gratitude. Yeah, I just want to share it with the world. Today, through the 11 a.m. service, Bree is getting baptized with these people. 26,000 people. And I want to share it with the world. I want to share it with the world. I want to share it with the world. With these people. 26 people will be baptized after the service today. 26 lives changed by the gospel.

26 people that say, hey, I'm going to live different because of what Christ did for me. Not for salvation, but from it, because they're going to be identified with him in his death, burial and resurrection. Raised new life and walk with Christ is what we'll say. And so life change is what God does, but not just to, you know, make good stories and videos and books, if you will. He does it so that you would live a life of ministry and be on mission for him. In summary, the gospel saves you from sin and death. The gospel stands up to scrutiny and the gospel changes you for ministry. The gospel changes you for ministry. Do you know what they did when they landed on the moon? The first thing they did when they landed on the moon, Buzz Aldrin pulled out a vial of wine and a chalice that he had borrowed from his church. And the first thing he did on the moon was celebrate the gospel through communion. Okay, you may not have known that. Would you watch this? Two, one, zero, all engines running. Liftoff, we have a liftoff, 32 minutes past the hour. We're now in the approach phase. Everything looking good. Altitude 42. Houston, you're go for landing. Over. Contact light. Tranquility base here. Vehicle has landed. Houston, Tranquility. Over. Tranquility, Houston. Go ahead. Roger. This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever, wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of

the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way. Over. Thank you. Thank you. And so God, this Easter, we just give thanks to you. Thanks to you for the work that you've done on our behalf, that you died for us, that you covered our sins, that you defeated death and raised from the grave. You've given us the hope of eternal life with you, that we live this life on earth. However long you give us here, that we would live it for you. We've been changed for ministry. You saved us from sin and death. And that reality that you died for our sins and raised from the dead will stand up to any amount of scrutiny. And Lord, you changed us. Would your spirit fall afresh on this place? Unleash the hounds of heaven after our lost friends and family members. Would you save them, God? Help us to be faithful in sharing this truth. We proclaim your goodness and glory now in Jesus name. Amen.