Easter With Waters Edge Church

♪♪ Happy Easter! Happy Easter, everybody. Oh, come on, are you thankful for the blood today? The blood of Jesus. So thankful. So thankful. Well, welcome to you today, here in New Yorktown, in Newport News, in Virginia Beach, online. A big welcome to the men at Indian Creek. And then here recently, we've been given a special shout-out to some very special people, some of whom are here in the room with us today, many of whom are deployed, watching from military bases all over the world today. Would you help me show some love to our incredible men and women of the military and their families? So thankful. They're so... So thankful for your service. Well, I'll tell you, we are so honored today that you've chosen to be with us. If we haven't met, my name's Stu. This is my wife, Tab. We love... We love you.

We love you. We love you. Can I just tell you that? We love you. You're like, you don't even know me. It's okay, I still love you. We're fully aware that there are many places, many places that you could be today, many places you could have chosen to celebrate Easter, but my goodness, we're so honored, so honored that you chose to be with us today. Didn't you look great? You clean up good. You look like a real church today. Oh my goodness. Hey, can we shout out the Minchville baseball team? I think there's going to be a winning season coming your way. I see you. That's awesome. That's awesome. It's so good. We're so glad you're here today. Tabitha and I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist church, both of us, and in the church I grew up in, babe, I'm not sure if they did this in your church, but every Easter Sunday, the pastor would stand up and he would make this declaration. He would say, he is risen.

And then the congregation, some of y'all grew up in the same church I went to. They're ahead. The congregation would reply with, he is risen indeed. So I thought today we might join our voices with Christians through the ages and millions today who gather in churches all around the globe, celebrating this one truth, that he is risen. He is risen indeed. Come on, I think you can do better than that. He is risen. He is risen indeed. Come on, one more time for the empty tomb and the risen savior. Will you make some noise today, everybody? So thankful. So great. So thankful. Well, I've got a message God's given me I wanna share with you today, but first Tab, I'd love it if you pray for us, pray for the message, pray that our hearts would be open now to receive the word of God. Jesus, we thank you so much for the blood. We thank you for your sacrifice. And we thank you that the tomb was empty and we celebrate that today. God, thank you for every single person

within the sound of my voice today. May they hear from you today. God, with the words that are gonna be spoken in just a minute, would the Holy Spirit speak to them? Would your word come alive to them, for some of them for the very first time and for some of them who have heard from you for years? But God, would it just come alive? And with whatever you say to us today, would our answer be yes? Yes and amen. We love you, Jesus. Thank you for the cross. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We love you guys. Amen. Hey, before you're seated, I know you've already said hello to some folks, but one more time, just find one person, give them a high five and then take your seat. We're gonna jump into the message. I should warn you, we had our first services of the weekend last night. And so I preached this message and afterwards I was in the lobby and getting to talk to some folks and two sweet, sweet senior saints. Let's call them senior saints. Two sweet grandmas.

And you know, at some point, I don't know when it is, I'm probably getting close to it, but at some point you lose the filter. Do you understand what I'm saying everybody? At some point, some of you are sitting with somebody right now and they lost it a long time ago. Others of you are sitting with somebody and you're like, you haven't reached that point, but you lost it already. So you lose the filter. You just kind of say what you're thinking. And so these two sweet senior saints came up to me and one of them said, said, well, pastor, I feel like I need to tell you. Now that's how you know you're in trouble. Cause I'm like, do you really need to? I mean, do you really? She said, I feel like I need to tell you. When you started that sermon, I didn't have any idea where you were going. That's what she said. And then the other senior Saint piped in and she said, no idea. And she said, but finally toward the end and the other senior Saint piped in and she said, finally, finally toward the end, finally, you tied it all together. So I'm just warning you today.

Apparently this message is a little disjointed at the start, but you're going to want to stay till the end, everybody. All right. Stay till the end. Don't log off YouTube. Just stay till the end. It's going to all come together. It's going to make a lot of sense. I want to start with a question. I just want to get your mind thinking true or false, true or false Easter is confusing. Now, before you answer, this is not a trick question. This is not a trick question. Easter is confusing. I want you to think about it. And this is a question really just to kind of get you in the mindset of the message. Easter is confusing, true or false. Let me give you some context to help you answer that question. Like for example, we have some customs around Easter that might confuse you. Like we have a bunny that clucks like a chicken and lays an egg. Have you ever thought about that? And I just want to help you with the answer. Easter is confusing, true or false. At Easter, it is tradition at Easter to eat ham. How many of you are eating ham on Easter? Bacon counts.

Come on, somebody. You're like, yep, check, did that one, okay. But biblically, this is a holiday. This is a holiday that's actually centered around a lamb, not around ham. Think about it. Easter is confusing, true or false. Many, many, many moons ago, someone had the brilliant idea that at Easter, we would dress our kids up and then sit them on the lap of a giant scary bunny and take their picture. I don't know why somebody thought this was a good idea. It seems now like a really bad idea in every one of us. All of us, this is one thing we all have in common. We all have a picture like this, either of ourselves or of our children, because it seems like this was not a good idea. Easter is confusing, true or false. I'll just give you one more before you participate and answer. Now, this one's for all of our online viewers. Hopefully, we have some folks watching from Australia tonight that can maybe explain this to us, because in Australia, I don't know if you knew this, they actually replaced the Easter bunny with the Easter bilby. Did you know that? I know, it's weird, right?

I mean, the Easter bunny is weird enough, but then you got the Easter bilby. They don't have the Easter bunny in Australia, just the Easter bilby, and somehow it's supposed to be better, but it certainly ain't cuter. Can we agree on that? So Easter is confusing. Let's ask the question again, true or false? Easter is confusing by a show of hands here in the room and online, play along over in the chat. How many of you would say, true, true, true, Easter is confusing? Keep your hands up for just a moment. Look around, look around, look around. These are all the honest people in the room, all right? These are all the people who, if I said, how many of you sped on the way to church, your hands would be raised. You can put your hands down. Easter is confusing. I don't know what it is about the celebration of the season. I don't know what it is about all the cultural hype. I don't really know what it is, but I think a lot of people are confused about Easter. I talked to someone the other day and they were telling me how excited they were about Easter. They had all their Easter plans worked out. They had their Easter outfit purchased. I think they were wearing pastels.

They had their Easter brunch plans made for them and for their family. They had the Easter baskets ready, the Easter candy, the photo ops with the bunny. And they told me all about their big Easter plans, and yet there was no Jesus. And I wanted to be like, excuse me, bro, is Easter? Like, where's Jesus? Because he ain't in the tomb, but he ain't in your plans either. Where's Jesus? There's a lot of confusion around Easter. But I wanna make sure today that we leave from here understanding that Easter is not the celebration of the bunny or the egg. or the candy, or the meaningful memories that we'll make, or the family moments that we'll share together. And there's nothing wrong with any of those things. In fact, I'll do all of those things as well this Easter. But the true celebration of Easter, the reason today we've gathered to celebrate Easter is for the sheer fact that Jesus Christ rose from the grave. The tomb is empty and our lives are forever changed. Make no mistake about it, let it be known. He is risen. Jesus is alive. He is alive forevermore. But I gotta tell you, if you feel a little confused, maybe confused about the story of Easter,

the purpose of Easter, the traditions of Easter, the celebration of Easter, if it's a little confusing, or maybe you would say, oh, it's not confusing, but it's just like a little irrelevant. Like it's a story of old, it's 2,000 years old. I don't really see how it applies to my life today. If it feels a little confusing to you today, I gotta tell you, you're in good company. Because Easter's always been a little confusing. Even to those very first eyewitnesses to the Easter story so long ago, Easter's always been confusing. In fact, there's one story in the Bible that kind of captured my attention. Jesus had pulled together his closest followers, his closest disciples, and he was telling them about what was to come. Jesus was actually sharing with them what we're celebrating here today, Easter. And I want you to see their response, because maybe if you're a little confused about Easter, you can relate. The Bible says this, that Jesus took the 12 aside and told them, we're going up to Jerusalem. And everything, he says everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. Jesus, by the way, is referring to himself as the Son of Man, a title he would often use to describe himself.

And he's saying, hey, everything they've said about me, all the prophecies that have been made about me, well, they're gonna come true. They'll all be fulfilled. And they were. In fact, on the day that we celebrate Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, on that day alone, 27 different prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled. Some of them dating back as old as 1400 years. So Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies. And then Jesus starts speaking in a third person. And this is what he says. He says, he will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, and spit on him. They will flog him and kill him. But don't worry. Because on the third day, Jesus said, he will rise again. He'll rise again. But don't miss the next part. Because the Bible says the disciples, they did not understand any of this, any of it, any of it. Like I could get it if they didn't understand some of it. But these jokers didn't understand any of it. I think Jesus was pretty clear. But Easter must've been kind of confusing. Because they didn't understand any of it. They were like, I was sitting in ninth grade geometry class. I don't understand any of it.

I mean, I might as well have been in Spanish class. Like I don't get anything you're saying right now. And maybe that's how you feel about Easter. I don't get it. I don't get it. Maybe for you, it's always been a traditional celebration, but never a meaningful one. Or maybe it's always been a cultural holiday, but never a spiritual one. Maybe for you, it's like, well, actually I do get it. Like I understand the story. I read the book. I watched the movie. I sang the songs. Like I understand what we're celebrating today, but it just feels like it's hard for me to connect to it. It's difficult for me to apply it to my life. It just seems distant or irrelevant, or maybe because of something happening in your life. Maybe because of some circumstances of your life. It all just seems kind of, I don't know, kind of foggy, kind of confusing. Like you lack clarity about it. As I was working on this message over the last couple of weeks, I couldn't help but remember just a couple of years ago, my wife, Tabitha, just a couple months before Easter, had surgery to remove colon cancer. And as we approached Easter, it felt like the weight of all of that,

the turmoil of all of that. the stress and the pressure of all of that, the diagnosis, the surgery, the recovery. It felt like it all just kind of caught up with us and it just weighed heavy on our shoulders. And I remember specifically thinking that Easter is difficult. It feels confusing. Maybe you feel like that today. In fact, just a little more than 24 hours ago, I sat with a family on Good Friday who unexpectedly lost a loved one. And this is how they described what they were feeling that day. It feels like we're in a fog. It feels like we're in a fog. Maybe you feel that way. Maybe the pressures of life, maybe the stress that you're under, maybe the anxiety, maybe the worries about your kids, maybe the concerns about your health, maybe you've lost a loved one. Maybe you've gone through some grief. Maybe you're filled like with anxiety or you're carrying a weight or your mind is distracted or your heart is heavy and you look pretty. I mean, you dressed up well, but down deep on the inside, you'd say, I don't know about this. I don't know about this Easter. It feels a little confusing.

If that's you today, I wanna try to give you some hope. If it's you today, I feel like God has sent me on a sacred mission today, a holy calling today to bring clarity to any confusion, to cut through the noise, to give you the clearest possible picture of what it is that we celebrate on this life-changing, life-altering holiday. Because I can tell you this, if you could just understand it, like I'm convinced if you could just see it clearly, if the fog could be lifted and you could see clearly what this celebration of Easter truly means, I'm convinced it'll change your life forever. I believe that it'll change you, not just for eternity, but I believe it'll change you tomorrow when you wake up. I believe the message of Easter will make you a better father or a better wife, a better spouse, a better child, a better parent. I think it'll make you a better boss or a better employee. I think it'll make you a better neighbor and a better friend. I think it'll make you better at life and make your life better. This message of Easter that we celebrate, that we shout about, that we sing about, that we lift our hands to praise God about, it is a life-changing, life-altering message. And I wanna try to give you as much clarity about it today that I possibly can.

I wanna take you back to that first Easter Sunday morning so long ago, just over 2,000 years ago, because on that Easter, life caused those who were there that day to miss the message. I don't want that to be your story today. Don't let life cause you to miss the message. You probably remember the story. It goes like this. The Bible says, but very early on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance, so they went in, but they didn't find the body of the Lord Jesus. And as they stood there puzzled, they were confused, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. And then the men asked, why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn't here. He is risen from the dead. Remember when he told you back in Galilee that the son of man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day? And then, then they remembered that he had said this. And so they rushed back from the tomb

to tell his 11 disciples and everyone else what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. Look at the response though. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men. So they didn't believe it. They were confused by it. I would submit to you that it was probably just too difficult for them to see it, too hard for them to receive it. They had just lost the one they loved. They had just mourned his death. They were stuck in the sorrow of the moment, the confusion of the crucifixion. It was all just too much to bear. And so on that first Easter, there was a fog. They were puzzled. They were confused, they didn't believe it, and life caused them to miss the message. I thought about asking the team today to just run the smoke machine through the whole sermon, just to run the smoke machine, just to fill the room with a fog, just a fog to try to help you relate to what I'm talking about. Then I realized two problems. One, the smoke detectors would go off. That would be one, but then two, I discovered you don't need that as an illustration

because we all know, we all know what it feels like to live in the fog of confusion. We all know what it feels like for life to make you miss the message, but you can't afford to leave here today confused. You cannot afford, listen to me, to celebrate another Easter lacking the clarity, allowing the chaos to confuse the moment. You gotta know, you gotta know what Easter is truly all about. So I wanna teach you today two messages about Easter that you can't miss. They missed them on the first Easter, but you can't miss them today. You've maybe missed them your whole life, but you can't miss them anymore. Two messages about Easter that you absolutely have to have crystal clear clarity on today before you walk out of here to celebrate this day. Two messages that I believe can change everything for you on this Easter. And here's the first message. You cannot miss the message at Easter that Jesus's cross was for me. His cross was for me. The preparations of the moment, life and the circumstances surrounding Jesus's death caused those at the empty tomb on that very first Easter to miss this message. But I can't let you leave today missing it.

I need you to have clarity on it. I need the fog to lift in your mind. That Jesus, when he died on that cross, when they took his body and put it up on that cross for the whole world to see as he took his final breaths, his cross, it was for me. It was for me. In fact, the angel at the tomb was trying to teach this to the women. I want you to see what he said one more time. The angel at the tomb said to the women, he said, the son of man must be, you see those words, everybody? Must be, say them with me, must be. He must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And then he would rise again on the third day. He must be. The angel was saying it had to happen. Jesus had to be crucified. Jesus had to be betrayed. Jesus had to be arrested. Jesus had to be stripped. Jesus had to be beaten. It had to happen. Jesus had to be nailed to a cross. Jesus had to be hung up in front of the public to be mocked and ridiculed and laughed at and had to happen. Jesus had to be crucified. He had to.

He had to. Jewish historian Josephus says that in Roman culture, that the crucifixion was so vile, so disgusting, so horrific that dignified Roman citizens wouldn't even dare utter the word crucifixion. That's how bad it was. It would be the equivalent of, I don't know, maybe in our society, the F word. They would not say the word crucified or crucifixion. It was that traumatic of an experience. And yet Jesus had to be, he must be, he had to. Why? Let me tell you why Jesus had to be crucified. He had to because he loves you. That's why. It was his love that sent Jesus to the cross. It was his love that caused Jesus to be crucified. He had to because he loved. He loves you, the Bible says this, this is love. Not that we loved God, no, no, no, no, but that he loved us. And he sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Do you know what an atoning sacrifice means? It means a payment that satisfies the punishment of sin. That's what an atoning sacrifice means. It's a payment that satisfies the punishment of sin. Now think about this, Jesus had no sin. Jesus was without sin. So Jesus didn't die on a cross for his sin. So why'd he die on a cross?

For yours and mine. And that just means if you've ever once, ever once fought a bad thought or said a bad word, if you've ever once lied or cursed or cheated or stolen, if you've ever once thought of yourself as better than somebody else, if you've ever once been selfish and demanded your own way, if you've ever, if you've ever once, some of y'all are looking at me holier than thou, like you polished your halos on the way to church today, so let me just put it on the bottom shelf for all of us. If you've ever once responded with road rage in the seven, five, seven, that's all of us. You have sin and that sin must be paid for. And the Bible says that the punishment of sin is death. In the story of Easter, in the message that we celebrate today is this. My sin was paid for on a cross that was meant for me. Jesus, His cross was for me. He died for me. He died for me. And I know we get caught up in the celebration of all things Easter. And it is a glorious, wonderful, incredible day. But please do not let this holiday pass you by without taking a moment to reflect on the blood. We just sang about the blood of Jesus that purifies us, that washes us clean, that makes a way for us to be forgiven. His cross was for me. There is a cross standing in Calvary

that was mine to bear, but Jesus bore it on my behalf. This is the message of Easter, y'all. So I know you're all fired up about pastels and egg hunts and the Easter eggs and the bunny and all the candy. Oh, it's awesome. But I'm fired up today that there is a cross that Jesus died on and it was mine. And He forgave me of my sin because of it. I don't have to pay the price. He paid it already. When Jesus died on the cross, do you know what God the Father did? He took a stamp and He laid it down on that cross and it said, the debt is paid in full for all who will receive it. That's good news. That is good news. Oh my gosh, why is this church so fired up? Why is everybody clapping? Why are we singing so loud? Why we gotta give high fives to everybody around us? I know, I know, I know. It's a little wild. It's a little crazy. But excuse us for being a little excited because we are sinners who are now saved by the grace of God. We gotta get fired up about that. Thank you, Jesus.

It's the message of Easter. Don't miss the message. Don't miss the message. Don't let life cause you to miss the message. His cross was for me. Number two, this is a message you cannot afford to miss today. Jesus's resurrection is my victory. It's my victory. When Jesus came out of that tomb, he won. I said, Jesus won. We should celebrate the fact he won. He defeated death, hell, and the grave. He won. And because he won, we do too. Paul would later say it like this. But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory. How do we have the victory? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, listen. If Jesus had not come out of that grave, there would be no shouting, no singing, no high-fiving. But today we celebrate the fact that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive. The power that raised Jesus from the grave can now live on the inside of you. Think about that. If Jesus Christ could be risen from the grave, if God the Father,

if God the Father could show his incredible power in the most amazing display by raising his own son from the dead, what can he not do for you? Because the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Amen. And this is why it's your victory. This is why. Because today the tomb is empty, the grave has been robbed. You and I stand with hope. You and I can face tomorrow. You and I can walk through a dark valley because the tomb is empty. You and I can face betrayal even by someone we love because we have hope the tomb is empty. We can stand by the grave of a loved one full of hope and not despair because the tomb is empty. You can face a bad doctor's report. You can handle stress at work. You can raise those bad children God gave you. Amen. You can love a unlovable spouse. You can believe that your prodigal child is coming home because the tomb is empty and nothing is impossible for our God. It's so good. Thank you Jesus for the empty tomb. Don't miss it today. I know life puts us all in a fog, but can we just clear the air today?

Can we see it clearly? Oh my goodness. His cross was for me. His resurrection is my victory. Easter changes everything. Changes everything. A few years ago, a friend of mine who's a history buff told me the story of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. If you don't remember learning about that in high school history class, don't worry. None of the rest of us do either, which is why it's such a great story. But in 1815, the battle between Napoleon and England and had really kind of ramped up and Napoleon was about to invade Great Britain. And up to that point, Napoleon had really never lost a battle I mean, he had proven to be a formidable foe. And so Britain and the Allied Army knew that if they were gonna have any shot of victory, that they had to choose one strategically chosen battle and put all their time, energy and resources, all their might into that one battle. They had to pour everything they had into that one fight. And they knew that if they won that battle, that they would likely be able to face victory and freedom. But if they lost that battle, they feared that they might face slavery or even ultimately death for them all. And so they turned to the greatest British general

of their time, the Duke of Wellington. And the Duke of Wellington led the Allied English forces to fight Napoleon and his forces at the Battle of Waterloo. And it said that when the battle began, tens of thousands of people joined together in the center of the city of London, hoping to hear news from the battlefield because on the battlefield fighting were their sons and their husbands and their brothers and their fathers. And as they gathered, they waited all night long through the long, dark, cold night in London, hoping to hear news back from the battle line. And then eventually at daybreak, the couriers sent the message back through signals and it ultimately got back to London where everybody was watching on a big billboard that the courier would write the results of the battle on. And as the signal made its way back finally to London, a dense fog blew into the city square, like it's so common in London. And they watched through the dense fog as they made out the words written by the courier that said, Wellington defeated. Wellington defeated. Bellington defeated. As soon as they read those words, panic struck through the entire city. It's said that people began to mourn and wail and cry and run through the streets of London in fear because they knew what happened on the battlefield

would now be imputed back to them and the loss on the battlefield, the defeat on the battlefield would become their defeat. They were overwhelmed with panic and grief, but there was a small group, a small group of people who stayed in London and just couldn't take their eyes off of what they had seen. They kept looking at that billboard in utter disbelief. They couldn't believe what it said. And about that time, a gust of wind blew through the city and it cleared the fog from the city square. And those who had stayed behind realized that the courier hadn't written two words. He'd actually written three. And as the fog dissipated, they now could see Napoleon was defeated, that Wellington defeated Napoleon. Well, that news changed the entire atmosphere. People's mourning turned to laughter. Their grief and sorrow turned to celebration because they now knew they had freedom and life where they were once facing slavery and death. I want to clear up any confusion that you may have this Easter. 2,000 years ago, when they hung Jesus on a cross, beaten and bloodied, when they put a crown of thorns on his head, when they drove nails through his hands and his feet, when they stabbed him in the rib cage and he breathed his last breath

and they took his lifeless body down and put it into a borrowed tomb and rolled a stone in front of the entrance. It felt that day as if hell displayed a billboard that said, Jesus Christ defeated. And for three long days, all of hell laughed and celebrated while all of heaven and earth wept and mourned. But on Easter Sunday morning, three days later, when Jesus's buried body began to breathe, when he got up out of that tomb and that stone was rolled away, the fog lifted and heaven finished the billboard to announce Jesus Christ defeated death. He defeated sin. He defeated Satan. He defeated guilt and shame and condemnation. And what happened on that battlefield 2,000 years ago can be imputed to you and I. That cross can be yours and that empty tomb can be yours if you will just believe. Jesus said this, I am the living one. I died, but look, I'm alive forever and ever. And I now hold the keys to death and the grave. And whoever holds the keys, can I tell you, is in control. And today, our risen Lord Jesus is in control. He is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our praise.

And friend, he is worthy of your life. Amen. So let the fog be lifted. Let the confusion clear the air. Jesus Christ is alive. Would you pray with me today? Father, we thank you today. We thank you, Jesus, that you are risen. We thank you for the cross and we thank you for the empty tomb. And our lives will never be the same because of it. May the fog be lifted. May all see clearly. Jesus, we worship you. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ He is glorified Forever He is lifted high Forever He is risen He is alive He is alive Forever He is glorified Forever He is lifted high Forever He is risen He is alive He is alive Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Would you be seated for just one moment more We're almost done But the clarity of the Easter story It demands a response Demands a response You can't leave the same

Once you understand the truth That His cross was for me And His empty tomb is my victory It changes us The Bible says this The Bible says that everyone Who calls on the name of the Lord Will be saved Everyone Everyone Everyone That includes you Everyone And that's the response That the story of Easter demands Everyone That means rich or poor That means good or bad That means grew up going to church Or first time you've been to church in years That means going home to celebrate Easter with your family Or going back to a cell block Because you're watching this in a prison Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Will be saved And that can be you today my friend And it really is that simple The most profound message in the entire world Demands a simple response from us It really is as simple as ABC

The A just stands for admit Admit that you're a sinner That you can't save yourself That you need a Savior Admit that what Jesus did on the cross Was to pay the penalty for your sin The B stands for this, to believe And I'm not talking about an intellectual belief You know the Bible says that The devil and the demons They have clarity about Easter They understand it But believe means that you place your faith in it You put your whole life in it A heart belief, a life belief A belief that what happened 2,000 years ago On the cross and in the empty tomb Matters today Belief And then the C stands for confess Just open your mouth and confess Jesus, you're my Savior and my Lord Jesus died on the cross to be your Savior He paid the penalty for your sin to save you He rose from the grave to be your Lord To be supreme, in control In charge of your life So that you could live for Him And can I just say Living for yourself

Doesn't work out for any of us, does it? But why don't you live for Jesus today? Admit, believe and confess That's what our response to Easter is all about So I'm gonna give you a chance to do that before we're done And one more time I'm gonna ask you Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? No one moving or stirring or leaving in this moment I believe it's a sacred, holy moment For someone to respond to the message of Easter Perhaps like never before And if today you've come here and you've realized Maybe for the first time Or maybe for the first time in a long time Hey, that cross, that was for me I admit I'm in need of a Savior And that empty tomb is my victory I believe that Jesus rose from the grave And His power is alive at work today And so I'm gonna confess That Jesus is my Savior and my Lord If that's you, this is a life-changing decision To say yes to a relationship with Jesus And if God brought you here here to admit, believe, and confess. I wanna lead you in a simple prayer, a prayer that would say, Jesus, I want you to be my Lord and Savior. If you'd say today, pastor, include me in that prayer,

I'm gonna give my life to Jesus. I want you to mark this moment so you never forget it. So I'm gonna ask you on the count of three, if you're praying this prayer with me today to come to Jesus, I'm gonna ask you just to shoot your hand high in the air and leave it there. I'm not gonna embarrass you, point you out, call you forward, none of that. I just want you to mark this moment. And when God works in us inwardly, we solidify it many times with a response outwardly. So how many of you today would say, this is my moment to come back to Jesus? I'm gonna admit, I'm gonna believe, and I'm gonna confess in Him. If that's you, one, two, three. Would you shoot your hand in the air? And would you just hold it there while we pray this prayer together? God bless you. God bless you. Online, let us know over in the chat. Hands up all over the room. Anybody else? Just hold it there as we pray this together. And you can say this prayer silently from your heart to God. He's listening. Would you just say, Jesus, I wanna know you.

I want my sin forgiven by you. I wanna live my life for you. Come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. You can put your hands down. God, today we thank you for every person praying that prayer, for all of us encountering the risen Lord Jesus. We celebrate you today. May Easter change us forever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. Come on, everybody. Can we thank God for the empty tomb today? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.