Everything Changes: Now What

It's so good to see y'all! Welcome to Graceway! Whether you're viewing online or in person for the first time, welcome! Come on, let's worship the King! Derek's going to lead us! Come on! Come on! Sing, You're great now! Sing, King Jesus! Come on! Come on! Sing, You're great now! Sing, King Jesus! No other name! There's no stronger! Say, when we call on Your name! Things change, yeah! When we call on Your name! Sing, King Jesus! No other name I know! No other name, King Jesus! There's no stronger! Say, when we call on You! Things change, yeah! Things change, yeah! When we call on Your name! There is power in the name of Jesus! So much power in Your name! Come on, church! There is power in the name of Jesus! So much power in the name! There is power in!

So much power in! There is power in! So much power in! Say, things change when we call on You! Things change! Say, things change, yeah! Say, things change! Say, I'm free! Say, I'm free! I'm free! I'm free! When I call Your name! When I call Your name! There is healing in that name! There is breakthrough in that name! I call You Savior! When I call Your name! When I call Your name! When I call Your name! When I call Your name! Come on, say! Sing, King Jesus! No other name! King Jesus! And no stronger! And when we call Your name! Things change, yeah! Will we call on Your name? Sing, King Jesus! No other name, I know!

King Jesus! And no stronger! And when we call Your name! Things change, yeah! Will we call on Your name? Oh, come on, we can do better than that. Come on, somebody shout the name of Jesus. It's the only name that saves, and it's worthy of all praise. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you healer. Risen and reigning in power. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you savior. Worthy of glory forever. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call your name. I have a king. With dominion over death. He holds the keys of life. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. In the heights above, he holds a key. He holds a key. In his holy male scarred hands. He is the hill. That has crushed the serpent's head. I'm resurrected, great I am. I call you Jesus. Something in power. Something comes out of the grave. Every time I call you Jesus, I call you. I call you savior, worthy of glory forever. Every time I call your name, chains break, dry bones wake. Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake. Every time I call your name, chains break, dry bones wake. Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake. Every time I call your name. There's power in the name of Jesus. Come on, somebody say Jesus. Come on, call on the name of Jesus in this place. Yes, Lord. Where, oh death, is now your sting? And where, oh grave, your victory? Come on, church. Where, oh death, is now your sting? And where, oh grave, your victory?

Where, oh death, is now your sting? And where, oh grave, your victory? Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus. Come on. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you healer. Risen in reigning power. Come on. He's raising you to life today. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you savior. You're worthy of glory, something comes out of the grave. Every time I call your name, chains break, trials awake. Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake. Every time I call you, dead people come alive. Somebody's being raised to life this morning. Dead people come alive in the name of Jesus. Dead people come alive. Dead people come alive.

Dead people come alive in the name of Jesus. Come on and give the Lord a great big shout of praise. What an incredible thing it is to sing your testimony on a Sunday morning. That God has brought something dead to life today. Come on, you should give God a shout of praise for that this morning. For what He's done in your hearts. Man, it's good to worship with you all. If I haven't met you yet, I'm Pastor Jeremy. I'd love to shake your hand and meet you, especially if you're new here. You can come and greet us and a few of our leaders at Guest Central when the service is over. And if you are new here, we're so glad that you are. In the seat back in front of you is a connect card, or there's a QR code you can hit. We'd love to just begin to connect with you and tell you what's going on at Graceway. Today, y'all, is Baptism Sunday here at Graceway. I'm so excited, so excited for that. And I want to just remind you of a couple of things. Number one, if you're new to faith, and maybe last week you were one of the people who gave their life to Jesus Christ here on Easter. And you haven't been baptized yet, I want to let you know that you have the opportunity to do that today. And I know some of you are like, but I came in looking so cute. And that's okay. I have everything that you could possibly need for your baptism upstairs. And so here's my invitation to you. Is get baptized today. Right, why wait? Why wait? Now look, if you've got family that you're like, I've got to make sure my family and my friends are here, great. We're doing baptisms next Sunday as well. Okay? But if that's you today, what I want you to do is walk out those doors. Go to the next steps desk and say, hey, I need to be baptized today.

Or I need to be baptized next week. We will get you taken care of and we'll baptize you in the next service. You won't miss anything. But it's an incredible thing for us to see what God has done in your life and what we're going to witness in just a few minutes. So y'all, the way you were excited already through worship, be as excited when you see these folks up there who are saying exactly what we just sang. That God brought something dead to life. And I'm telling everybody about it. I'm coming public with my faith. Absolutely awesome. I'm going to invite our ushers to go ahead and make their way down. And as they do, we're going to receive today's tithes and offerings. And I want to remind you, what is it when we give? It's us seeking first the kingdom of God. In our finances, it's us saying, hey, I know that this paycheck came to me, but it's the Lord's. It's God who gave me the gifts to do the thing that I do. And it's our way of just returning back to him what he's given to us. That's what giving is. So let's go to the Lord in prayer as we keep worshiping. God, we thank you that we can stand in this place today and declare the name of Jesus over everything. That we can sing our testimony. God, that I can remember back in August of 1991, you brought my dead bones to life in salvation. And, Lord, that testimony is echoed in this room all over this place. And so, God, today we proclaim thank you, Jesus, for our salvation. And, Lord, if there's one person standing in here today who's still not sure, God, I pray today, Holy Spirit, that you would impact their heart with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, we thank you for the baptisms that we're about to witness. People who are saying, I'm going public with what I believe. God, we pray for their blessing today and for their honor, for you to be glorified in what's happening. And, God, as we prepare to give, we say thank you, Lord, for your abundant goodness to us, God. Thank you, God, for our daily bread.

And so, Lord, as we return back to you, what's yours, we ask for you to bless this offering. God, we want to see your future kingdom come right here into the present. And what a gift it is to be able to worship you. We thank you, God. We give you the honor, the glory, and the praise. It's the mighty and matchless name of Jesus we pray. And all God's people said, amen. Let's keep singing. Father, we're desperate for you. You're wonderful. Lord, I'd find you heaven. Who thought you'd fill me in Who knew you'd make good my mistakes You're nothing like I thought you were, you're bad What a God, what a God What a God, what a God Here's what I thought I thought you'd show up for perfection But what kind of God looks for the lost They say it's over for us again But you said, no it's not, no it's not You said, no it's not, no it's not What a God, what a God Come on, our brothers and sisters are getting baptized today, let's witness Come on Come on Come on Come on Come on Come on Come on

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♪♪ ♪♪ Come on, let's celebrate with our brothers and sisters. Come on, let's celebrate with our brothers and sisters. Come on, let's celebrate with our brothers and sisters. You are my everything. What a God, what a God. I've seen you move. What a God, what a God. Deathly coming back to life again. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. Let's go. Cause at the highest place I reach. The highest place I reach is on your feet. And I've done it all. It's the best thing that I've seen. In the all glory. We want your glory. Your love has changed my life. For I am satisfied. You are mine. If one word is the only thing I need. Then I'll burn it all. If I kill your heart. And never see your hand. I've done it all. No treasure of this.

For I am satisfied. You are my everything. You are my everything. Come on for those of you who have a relationship say God you are. You are my everything. Your desire of. God you are. You are my everything. I surrender. God you are. You are my everything. We will worship you. God you are. You are my everything. God you are my everything. Come on can you lift your hands all over the room. You are my everything. You are my everything. Come on say it. You are my everything. Amen, amen, amen. Come on let's pray together God I thank you. Lord I thank you for being able to be in a place long enough to watch kids be born. Watch you save. And then watch them get baptized. Lord I thank you for my friend Justin who got to baptize not one, not two, not three, but four daughters today. Woo! Lord you are changing family trees. I thank you for John and Cheryl who got to baptize son and daughter today. Lord I know how long that story has been going.

Amen. Lord I thank you for young men. and not so young ladies and everyone in between Lord your promises are true you heal us you save us you redeem us and I thank you thanks Lord thanks Lord for everybody's in the room I know some of them don't know me don't know people got baptized and I just pray that you'll help them to understand just the goodness of following you the grace of following you the stability and the promise of following you and I pray today Lord that you'll save people and set people free and call people into true purpose today that you'll do things that only you can do in this house today as you have been doing we thank you today God we love you we praise you and in Jesus name all God's people said amen and amen hey welcome to church y'all so good to see you once you pass some peace say hello to somebody around you and then grab your seat all right a quick passing of the peace the peace has been passed how are we are you good all right all right hey if I haven't the chance to meet you my name is Tim I'm the lead pastor here if you're first-time guest man thank you for being here we're we're thrilled to have you come on church say hello show some love to the first-time guests we appreciate you thanks so much for it if you're watching us online we appreciate you being here let us know how we can serve you pray for you and then fellas men church members at Crossroads Correctional and Ozarks Correctional we love y'all happy Sunday to you hey so it's a week after right we had Easter last week it was it was a good day it was a good day about 4,000 people in the building another 2,500 people watching literally from all over the world almost 6,600 people celebrated Easter at Graceway but the thing that I'm really excited about is we had over a thousand spiritual decisions last week over a thousand it's pretty incredible pretty incredible we had 205 people who said I need to get baptized so if you're like I don't like watching baptisms you should probably just skip the next six months all right because we're gonna be baptizing a lot of people if you did sign up come on don't let that decision kind of drift away make sure make sure

make sure come on we want to see some more baptisms don't we family absolutely 405 of you said I need to go to growth track I need to get clear on who I am need to get clear on purpose so next service is growth track step one so if you signed up last week said I need to get going make sure you head over that way and then 339 people said I need to get discipled 339 people it's incredible 38 of those were at Crossroads Correctional Facility and so we're excited about that speaking of that hey if you are a mentor here at Graceway a spiritual mentor and you are discipling somebody have discipled somebody have gone through training next week next Sunday after third service I am going to be leading a mentor training in this room we'll have a light lunch for you make sure that you're here please okay 339 people on top of about 600 people already are saying I need to get discipled which means we need the mentors come on somebody all right so if you're a mentor I need you in the room if you're done getting discipled and you haven't gone to training make sure you're here after third service last week we did ABCDE we had 284 y'all said I need to recommit my life to Jesus 284 of you now there's a bit of a cliche in the church it's the guy who gets saved every week right so let me let me just pass to you for a second what you said happened last week is that your life had drifted from under the care covering and kingship of Jesus and recommitment isn't just in and out in and out in and out okay recommitment is I've drifted and I'm coming back and I'm staying and so if you're one of those almost 300 people who said I've drifted but God is calling me home come on get your heel in the ground all right get into a small group get discipled go to growth track do the function of obedience to solidify that decision, amen? Okay, we had 72 people for the very first time God saved last week, 72 adults. That's an incredible, incredible number. And then what I'm excited about is in our kids ministry, we had a bunch of kids up there and 74 of them

gave their lives to Jesus last week. Pretty awesome, pretty awesome. 130 of y'all said, I need some more time. It's been seven days, so maybe today, huh? Yeah, maybe today. Two of you said, I'm never becoming a Christian. I hope that you are here today, we're praying for you. And then one of the most interesting pieces of data that the team got to me this week is we had six kids who said, I'm never becoming a Christian. So I say that because I want you to be praying for the families of Grace Way, okay? There is a war. As real as what's going on in the Middle East for our kids. And if this is a church like God says it is, those are our kids. Come on, it takes a village, it takes a church. That's not their kids and you don't care about them. No, if you're a church member here, that's our kids. And I will tell you that I pray on the regular. I pray for our pastors and for our staff. We don't do kids rebel and walk away from the Lord here at Grace Way, okay, in Jesus' name. And so be praying for our kids. Be praying for those six kids. Obviously, there are some things going on in their hearts. There's a battle over their hearts. And I'm praying not only for those 74 kids who gave their lives to Jesus, but in the next,

let's not even wait a year, shall we? In the next couple months that God would save those six kids who said, I'm never becoming a Christian. Amen, amen. So why don't you just take a second, let's praise God for just, man, a good Easter, amen? Absolutely, so fun. So fun to see what God is up to and what God is doing. So this is the next day, right? This is, last Sunday was Easter. This is the day after, next time that we're together. And I was thinking about this. You know, the human brain tends to lock on to an event that is coming up as kind of the culmination of things. It sounds like this. Hey, once I get married, right? Once I get my degree, once I get the job, once I make this amount of money. Humans, God made your brain, God made our brain, highly future-oriented to the extent that the brain's reward system has to do with things like dopamine is actually activated as much or more in anticipating an event than the actuality of an event. Have you ever had this experience? Like, bro, I can't wait till this happens. Then it comes, you're like, it's all right. Yeah, it's all right. Psychologists call this affective forecasting,

not effective, affective, like your affection. And it's not effective because of how inaccurate our forecasting is. But what scientists know is that the way that our brain works on the once I is that our brain kind of stops there. It doesn't think about what happens after the thing occurs, right? So the wedding ends, and you're like, what do I do now? Well, now you start serving your spouse. Oh, I was just looking forward to the wedding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The degree is finished. What do I do now? Well, now you go get a job. Oh, ugh. And then you get a job, and they say, we're gonna pay you this much, and now what? Well, now you gotta get up early and look nice and go work, because they aren't paying you for nothing. Oh, I didn't think about that. I know, I know. That's how this works. That's how this works. And Easter, Easter is not exempt, is it? So we gather in the room, we celebrate, we declare God defeated death. And the church calendar, one of the graces of the church calendar is we get to celebrate it. And one of the concerns of the church calendar

is we kind of aim at it, but we never go, okay, now what? So the resurrection isn't an isolated miracle. I told you last week that to the point of the resurrection, the bully on the block was death. Yeah, the man was death. And in order to be the man, you gotta beat the man. That's Easter. Jesus comes, and he confronts the man, and defeats the man to make clear that he is the man. That's Easter. That's Easter, yeah. And in Easter. Easter is less a day and more a redefinition of reality. You see, in the church, we talk about Easter day. That's not the way the Bible talks about it. The Bible talks about Easter as the invasion of a new reality, the beginning of a new creation accomplished through the resurrection. So the question around Easter is not, did it happen? This is why every year when you come to Easter, I do not pick up this question, did Easter happen? One, I have found that people wanna argue about whether or not Easter happened don't really want the answer, they just wanna argue. Two, that's not the question that the Bible affords us. The Bible actually doesn't afford us some of the questions that we think are fundamental, like does God exist, Genesis 1,1, in the beginning God, right?

Like resurrection, the question isn't didn't happen, the question is, okay, it happened, so now what? And what I don't want you to do is I don't want you to think to Easter and not think past Easter into the experience of Easter. Resurrection is real, it's not symbolic, it's not inspirational, it's not metaphoric. It doesn't just change a day, it changes, according to the Bible, it changes everything, which means that Easter is about your past. Easter is about your present, Easter is about your future, Easter is about the legacy that you are leaving. And Easter, the size of Easter, the footprint of Easter is significant enough that it demands a response. So here's the question, what are the next steps of a life ordered by the reality of the resurrection? I'm not interested in the beliefs of the resurrection, I'm interested in the experience of the resurrection. I'm not interested in the doctrine of the resurrection, I'm interested in the actions that are produced by the resurrection. If the resurrection is true, it's been a week, now what? Now what do we need to do? And what I wanna say to you is that the resurrection biblically is the overarching narrative for how we interact with the world, for how we view ourselves, for the identity that we carry. The way that the Bible talks about the resurrection is like a pair of glasses that clarify and change how we see everything.

Anything short of that is a misunderstanding of what Easter is. If you relegate it to a day, if you relegate it to a story, if you relegate it to a doctrine, it is smaller than the way that the Bible talks about it. I'm preaching 178% better than y'all responding right now. 178, you say that's not a real number, you're not giving me a real response either, all right? Come on, talk back to me. Talk back to me, we're talking about Easter. So let's talk about resurrection and let's talk about it less like we did last week of what is it and more about, okay, now what? Let's talk about your past, let's talk about your past. Romans 8 and verse one says this, there is therefore, in light of all of this, now, not later, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, how? Through the resurrection. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteousness required of the law might be fulfilled in us. The Bible says because Jesus is alive, condemnation is gone. Now that's so easy to say, isn't it?

But what it means is that shame has no authority in your life. What that means is that if you are experiencing condemnation as a Christian, if you look back in your past and have regrets that are formational in your presence, what that means is that you are allowing that influence from that shame. Here's what it means, shame has no adhesive on it. It's not supposed to be able to stick, it's supposed to fall off, you're supposed to go, oh, that's, ew, what is that? But that's not what we do. We wholesale incarnate it into our identity and we say things like God loves me, comma, but. The resurrection means that the law, now think about this, the law is fulfilled in you because of Jesus. Have you ever read the Old Testament? The law is, it's oppressive. Can I tell you the 10 Commandments, I don't even survive the 10 Commandments. And the 10 Commandments are like the pre-appetizer. The 10 Commandments are supposed to be like the easy parts of the law. I'm not even talking about like skin disease and sacrifice and all that kind of deal. Like the law is the representation of the totality of the performance of somebody who is trying to mimic the holiness of God.

That's why it's crazy for a Christian to be a legalist. You are setting out to lose. The law is undefeated. And the Bible says that Jesus comes, does what needs to be done, and that the law is fulfilled. What does that mean? It doesn't mean that the standard is taken away. The standard is still perfection. It means that Jesus comes, goes to the cross, rises again, and that when God looks at you, he says, woo, perfect. You say, how is that possible? Here's how it's possible. If you are in Christ, there is therefore now no adhesive, no condemnation, no stickiness. Forgiveness does not have a comma after it. It does not have a dot, dot, dot. It does not have a colon or a semicolon. You can thank my English teacher for all these punctuation references. Watch, it doesn't even have a period after it. It has an exclamation point after it. The resurrection is God's public historic verdict. What's the verdict? The cross worked. The cross worked. No condemnation is a judicial phrase. It is God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the judge of judges,

banging on his heavenly desk with his heavenly gavel. Tim is acquitted. Tim is innocent. Tim's sins are cast as far as the east is from the west, and I do not remember them any longer. And this is not how Tim feels about Tim. This is what God declares to be true about Tim and about you. What does this mean? It means that if the resurrection is true, your worst moments are not your identity. In fact, they don't even inform your identity. They don't even touch your identity. Martin Luther says the sin underneath you is great. And let's not get, let's not minimize the brokenness. I'm not saying your sin doesn't matter. It does. It costs Jesus's life. And it would have cost you yours. The sin underneath you is great, but the righteousness above you is greater. Maybe we could say it like this. Come on, come on, Crossroads. The sin that is behind you is great. You're sitting where you're sitting because the sin behind you is great, but the righteousness that is above you, the grace that is above you is greater, is greater. This is why we're trying to put churches

in correctional facilities. We're making a theological statement. Yes, your sin matters. You are incarcerated, but you can be incarcerated in the physical and free in the spiritual. And you can be inmate number in the physical. And a son of God in the spiritual. Come on, tell me about your past. Tell me what you did. Tell me how it still haunts you. Tell me how you still reference it. Tell me how you haven't been able to walk out of the shade of it. To which I say, see, that's because you think Easter is a day. You don't understand it's a reality. You don't understand it's a reality. You don't begin by improving your life. You begin by trusting that Jesus changes your life, changes your life. You need to learn how to preach the gospel to yourself every day. Come on, once a week is not enough. Don't come in here and think that I am going to get you filled up for seven days. No, I am just trying to equip you to preach the resurrection to yourself tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. Now, let me be clear, your feelings matter.

Your feelings matter. We're not the kind of church that says, ah, feelings are dumb, they're not real. No, they're real, God gave them to you. But they can't be your authority. And some of you have regrets and shames and condemnation and you feel it, and I'm here to declare over you, yes, your sin was great, but the righteousness above you is greater and the tomb is empty and the judge has slammed the gavel on your life. That's not who you are. That's not who you are. And God, in His wisdom and grace, provides us a personal and public statement to certify this reality. Do you know what it is? It's baptism. It's baptism. We just watched a bunch of people get baptized, and let me be clear, none of those people became Christians by getting baptized. No, no, no. They are Christians, which is why they got baptized. And what they're saying, I know we don't like it, but here's what's happened, hey, do you know today that God saved you from your sin? And you see, did you see him doing this? Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Then I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of His death. What does that mean? All that past, it's gone, it gone, right? Raised to walk in newness of life. Now why does God give us baptism? Because you need a staple in your life.

And you need to do it publicly. You can't baptize yourself in your bathtub. That's not how it works. You do it in front of somebody. So in six months, when you start to go, bro, I feel condemned, someone in your small group can go, yeah, yeah, but I just saw you get baptized. Like what did you get baptized for if you were going to act condemned six months later? You said the old is buried and gone. Tell me about what you did that didn't get buried. Whoa. Well, I mean, I guess nothing. What are they doing? They're gospeling you. You need to get, can I tell you why some of you are stuck in your past? Because you ain't ever been public with your faith. And so you don't have a stone to walk back to. And so we don't know what's going on in your heart or your mind. You're just walking around feeling condemned, but if you got up in those waters, we could say, yeah, yeah, but yeah, yeah, but yeah, but carny girls, I saw y'all get baptized. I saw your dad baptize you. Come on. You're free. Come on. You aren't condemned. Come on. There's no shame. Right? Come on, Matthew. I saw John baptize you. Come on.

I watched. Remember? Remember? Here's your next step. If you haven't been baptized, get baptized. You say when? Today. What? Today? Pastor Jeremy said, we got trunks, we got hair dryers, we got deodorant, we got all the stuff. Come on, this isn't about you having a good hair day. Not that I would know anything about that. And by that, I mean every day is a good hair day for me. Come on, somebody. This isn't about you having a good hair day. This is about you putting a staple in your life to remind your heart in a public fashion, my past is buried. It's not who I am anymore. Number two, your present is different. Your past is different because of the resurrection and your present is different. So Jesus didn't just rise, Jesus rised to reign. Okay, Acts chapter one, Jesus resurrects. He disciples the disciples who become the apostles and in about 40, he appears to about 500 people, but he trains a handful of people and then in Acts one, he ascends back to the father. In Acts one, Jesus is taken up and Luke's language echoes Daniel seven in which the son of man receives dominion. Here's what I mean by that in common terms. Jesus doesn't ascend back to heaven to walk around on golden streets.

He didn't get to heaven and go, good to be back y'all. No, he ascends to heaven to a coronation. He ascends to heaven to claim a throne. He ascends to heaven and the final punctuation of the resurrection is the ascension. The resurrection, he earns the throne, the ascension, he sits down on it. Are you with me? Okay, so the resurrection doesn't just save you. Remember I said to you last week, the cross doesn't save you. Where your cross, hey, watch, you see this, look at that, okay. But I said to you last week, I'm going to say it to you again, this, this doesn't save you. It looks good around a chain, don't it? Come on. But this doesn't save you. This is just a medium of death. Come on, put a machete or an AK-47 around your chain. Because that's all the cross is. The resurrection saves you. But it doesn't just save you. It realigns you. Easter is not asking for your agreement. Easter doesn't say, please admit that this happened. That's why I'm not trying to convince you. Because the Bible isn't trying to convince you. The Easter doesn't ask for your admiration. Oh, that's really cool. Easter is not interested in that. Do you know what Easter requires? Allegiance. Remember I said to you, Jesus defeats the old regime

and becomes the king. And if authority has shifted, being a Christian means allegiance has shifted. Not agreement. Not admiration. Not the apologetic, let me tell you why the resurrection. Ah, you're missing the point. You're missing the point. Resurrection is about rule. And this changes your present, or it should. You're not drifting. This isn't random. You are participating in a living kingdom under a reigning king. Now, what does that mean? It means I'm not leading, I'm following. It means I don't come to the king and say, let me tell you what I need, king. I come to the king and say, can you tell me what I need, sir? Too many Christians think of Jesus like a credit card in their back pocket. Here's what I need, king. And we call it prayer. No, no, no, no. When you understand the resurrection, you understand I'm following the king. And it changes how I handle my money. Because it's the king's money. It changes how I handle my dating. Because I'm part of the king's court.

Changes how I think about my marriage. Changes how I think about raising my kids. Changes how I think about work, why? Because I'm a part of a kingdom and I am submitted, I am aligned under the rule of the king. You see, if you misunderstand Easter and you just make it a day, you misunderstand a lot of things. You think you're in charge. You think this is about you. Oh, wow, you don't understand Easter. Because we made it a day with pastels and chocolate and bunnies. No, no, no, no, no. Easter is about raising money. No, no, no, no, no. Easter is about regime change. And a Christian is somebody who says, I'm going with a new king. And what does that mean? It means I die to myself. It means I take up my cross. It means he lives through me. It means what he says goes. It means this ain't a negotiation. It means this isn't a democracy. This is a monarchy. This is a monarchy. And this should affect your present. So in Acts chapter one, Jesus ascends.

Acts chapter two, we see how resurrection people order their lives. And what do they do? They devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles. They become people of the book. Why? Well, I need to figure out about this king and this kingdom. Oh, Matthew chapter five. Oh, Sermon on the Mount. So I'm supposed to be living like this. Oh, interesting. Oh, so Romans 13. And here's how I deal with authority, whether I agree or not. Oh, Matthew chapter six. Oh, I can't lay up for myself treasure in heaven or moth and rust crops. Who said that? Jesus. Yes, but the king. It's not suggestion. And you see what happens. And I'm gonna hang on this room just for a minute more. Okay. What happens is, because we grew up in America with our rights and our declaration of independence, we think that we're bringing our territory to the king.

No, no, no, no, no, sorry. When you become a Christian, you lose your territory. It's not yours anymore. You give him everything. Why? Because the tomb's empty. Because the tomb is empty. And so they devote themselves to teaching. They commit themselves to fellowship. Wait a minute. So the king says, I'm a part of a family. Well, I mean, I guess I should get to know my family. So then you understand that if you come to church 1.2 times a month, you see why that's a problem? Yeah. You only read your Bible in church. church, you only come to church once a month, they were formed in prayer. They were shaped, don't miss this, in shared life. So what's your next step? To move from attending to belonging. You can't do this kingdom living thing on your own. Why? Don't, please don't miss this. Because isolated faith is unformed faith. Can I tell you why you're struggling in your faith? Because you're trying to do it by yourself. And YouTube doesn't count. No, no, I watch them on, no one's talking about watching, we're talking about participating. Can you imagine if your thumb was like, I'll just watch.

No, man, I need you to be moving, I can't, you're opposable, I can't pick stuff up without you. No, no, I'm just watching. How many Christians in America do you know? I'm a part of that church. Have you ever been there? No, I watch it online. Get out of here. Get out of here, you can't, oh, you know, my bad. You don't understand Easter. You don't understand what Easter made you. And so you think that you can just bootstrap the Christian faith thing and you're going to receive all the promises of God that you're not going to get stuck in your past, that you're going to gladly submit to Jesus because you're just that godly? How's that going? Here's your next step. Sign up for D1. It's really, it's, why does D1 exist? For this reason, to give you a place to work out your faith. And 339 of you said last week, I need that. That's why next week I need all the mentors in the room, because we got on top of hundreds of people wanting to get disciple. Now because of Easter, I got another 339. Come on, mentors. Come on, mentors. God is gifting us with His move and with His grace. Let's not let it fall to the wayside. You still with me? Number three, your past is different, your present is different, and the resurrection means your future is different.

Yeah. Listen to this piece of theological teaching that the Apostle Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 15. I tell you this, brothers. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. For behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye and at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound. And the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. For this perishable body, right, must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that it is written, and this is a little biblical trash talk. You ready? Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where's your victory? Oh, death, where's your state? I thought this was going to hurt more. This is it? This is all you got? You are the one that we've been afraid of this whole time? What does Paul say? When the perishable, this, okay, and you've heard all kinds of different versions of it, this does not last. And to that I say, good riddance. When the perishable puts on imperishable and when the mortal puts on immortality, then when we arrive in glory, we will stand in a circle and we will trash talk death. In the first few seconds of glory, we're going to look at each other and go, everyone's walking around tripped up by death.

That's what Paul's saying. The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in light of all of that, in light of glory, in light of trash talking death, in light of, you ready? My beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why, Paul? Because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Paul builds a comprehensive theology around Easter. Easter is the down payment on the resurrection of all things. We are in the in-between, between the physical resurrection of Jesus and the ultimate resurrection and redemption of all things. And Paul says when we get here and Jesus returns at the sound of a trumpet, we will all put aside imperishable and mortality and we will receive imperishable and immortality and we will mock death. Therefore, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because you know that what you do matters. That's what Paul is saying. Because the resurrection is coming, we know that suffering will end. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, this light momentary affliction is preparing you for the eternal weight of glory. Here's what Paul is saying in my vernacular, oh, you think this is heavy? And based on your perspective and the weight of sin and death on this side of eternity, it is. It's terrifying when the doc says it's not good. But what Paul is saying is that when you get to glory and feel the weight of glory, you will look back on that and go, oh, that was light. That was momentary. Yet, he doesn't say it's not affliction. It's more like a mosquito bite than a death sentence is what he's saying.

You don't understand the weight of glory. Because the resurrection is true, death is defeated and your labor is not in vain. So Christian hope is not optimism. We are not saying I hope this works out. We are saying if the resurrection is true then, it will be true there. Christ is risen, so therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, live like it counts. Every act of faithfulness, every hidden obedience, every sacrifice, every intentionality, live like it counts. Come on, date like it counts. Why? Easter. Come on, be generous like it counts. Why? Easter. Come on, work like it counts. Why? Easter. Easter came and Easter's coming and in between. Abound in good works. You say my life doesn't have any purpose or meaning. Oh, you don't know about Easter. You think Easter's a day with pastels and bunnies. No, no, no. Easter's a down payment on the certainty that the king has come and is coming back. So, live with intentionality and then watch. That intentionality, that certainty leads to a different legacy. So, my past is different, my present is different, my future is different, which means my direction is different, which means my destination is different as well. And the Bible talks about this in Matthew 28. Listen to what Jesus says.

This is after the resurrection. Jesus comes and says to them, all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Don't just run right past that. What? Why, Jesus? Oh, my bad. Because I walked out of the tomb. He says because the tomb is empty, all authority in heaven and on earth is in my pocket. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded. And behold, I am with you always. Till when, Jesus? Till the end of this age when ultimate resurrection occurs. Until resurrection. Okay, resurrection here, resurrection coming. Until then, abound in the work of the Lord. What work, Jesus? Okay, I just walked out of the tomb. All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and what's the good work? Make disciples. Make disciples. Ephesians 2, for by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not of your doing. Listen, you can't think you can earn salvation if you understand Easter. It's a gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one can boast. Period. Next sentence. For we are his workmanship.

That word in the Greek means his crafted work of art. You are not your past. You are God's crafted work of art. You are not your performance. You are God's crafted work of art. You are created in Christ Jesus for good works. You're not saved by your good works, but you're created to good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So Paul says to the Corinthians, resurrection has come, resurrection is coming, abound in the work of the Lord. Be steadfast and immovable. Jesus says, here's the work. All authority is mine, go therefore and make disciples. Paul says to the Ephesians, you were created for a good work. You aren't saved by a good work, but you're created by a good work. So what does that mean? It means the resurrection doesn't just change your destiny, it also changes your direction. It changes your purpose. You have a new identity in Jesus. Your identity is not your past. It's not I'm a Christian, but I used to be. No, it's just, I'm a Christian, period. There is no used to be, it's gone. Your identity is not your performance. Look how good I am.

Look how religious I am. Oh no, Ephesians two, none of that matters. No, no, you're God's workmanship. And don't miss this, Romans eight. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for our good, comma, to those who are called according to his purpose. So let me explain it to you. You all still with me? Some of y'all stop at, God works everything together for our good. Like there's a period there. Like everything's supposed to make sense. That's not what it says. It says God works everything together for our good, comma, to those who are called according to his purpose. So let me help you. Part of the reason you struggle with certain events in your life is you aren't clear on what your purpose is. Once you understand your purpose and superimpose that on that event, you go, oh, that's why, that's why that happened. Oh man, the reason I'm passionate about that is because of that. That's crazy, I never thought about that. Watch, some of you sit here and you do this to me. You come up to me in the lobby and you go, I need to figure out my purpose. And I say, go to growth track.

Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh. And then you go through life and listen, the growth track's not the point. You with me? What it does is it gives you a set of glasses to look back on your life and go, oh, that's why my childhood was so crazy. Doggone it. Because you're looking at it through the lens of purpose. But if you just look at it through the lens of emotions and feelings and ought to and should have and wish it would have been, it's not going to make sense. It's not going to make sense. God works everything together for our good. Identity in Christ, come on, please don't miss me on this, is the only identity that is received and secure, that is not achieved and is not fragile. Who you are in God, it is received. You don't earn it. It is secure. You can't lose it. It is accomplished, not because you're awesome. And it is not fragile. You cannot lose it. But don't miss this. You don't decide your purpose. You discover your purpose. Why? Because the king is sitting on the throne. So you don't go to the king and say,

here's my purpose, king. You go to the king and you say, what's my purpose, king? See, this idea of independence and self-actualization is the very thing that is creating problems for you because you don't understand Easter. You don't understand. You don't decide. You ask. You have calling. You're designed on purpose. You have spiritual gifts. You have a story. You have wiring, which Ephesians two and verse 10 says, was prepared beforehand. Before you were a twinkle in your mama's eye, God already had predestined a purpose for you. The question is, do you know what it is? You are sent. The resurrection leads directly to the great commission. This is not optional. Jesus resurrects, shows up, says, hey y'all, just got all this authority on heaven and earth in my pockets, go therefore. Easter makes you a missionary. You say, I'm not a missionary. You are a missionary. It just might mean that you're not a good one. It's the natural outcome of the resurrection for the church to be on mission. Leslie Newbigin says, the church is not the goal

of the gospel, it is the instrument of the gospel. Come on, you are not saved to sit, you are saved, sent. So what's your next step? You wanna guess? What did you say, Cody? Go to GrowthTrack. Go to GrowthTrack. And here's the good news, 355 of you and 50 of you met at Crossroads. So I need to go to GrowthTrack. Is GrowthTrack the point? It's not. You getting clear on who God is, who you are, and why you exist on this side of eternity is the point. And if you don't know, I bet you aren't living in it. And if you aren't living in it, know it or not, you are losing promises and breaking things. It's the reason you hate work, because all that work is for is the weekend. Can I tell you that's never going to fulfill you? It's never going to fulfill you. Start now. Start today. Step one is happening today during the third service. Serve the body. Invest in people. Share your faith. Disciple somebody. But please don't miss this. Your purpose is not discovered in belief. Your purpose is discovered in obedience. God will not tell you your purpose while you sit there.

He will tell you your purpose as you go. Why? Because you don't need your purpose to sit. You need your purpose to go. Some of you are waiting on information from God. Look at my face. It is not coming. Why? Because it already came. I just need to know more. I just need to study more. I just don't know why God isn't. Listen. Go therefore. And as you go, God's going to shape you because you're a part of a church. And as you go, God's going to give you favor and anointing. But please hear me. I'm trying desperately to help you. All that favor, all that power, all that anointing. You don't need it while you sit. That's why you don't have it. That's why you don't have it. Closeness to God, favor of God, anointing and action. You're sitting. I promise you, if you get moving, God will become new to you as you obey. You don't need Him to be anything different than what you're doing now. The resurrection is not simply a belief to hold. Guys, I'm desperate for you to understand this. The resurrection is not a belief to hold. It is a reality to pursue.

It is not thoughts to think, theology to believe, doctrine to espouse. It is a kingdom that is actionable. Can I tell you what I'm afraid of? This year, we had almost 500 more people at Easter than last year. This church is growing. Over 1,000 spiritual decisions, 1,000. Think about that. And what I'm afraid is I'm afraid that our church is going to continue to grow and continue to decide, but never do. Go to Groszak. Get discipled. Get baptized. Why? Because God's favor and blessing and anointing is not in the sitting and believing. Come on, we've tried that for a long time here in America. It is in the going and obeying. If you signed up for baptism, hell ain't going to keep me from getting baptized, let alone a good hair day. If you signed up to get discipled, I'm getting discipled. I will spam the office over, I'm getting discipled. I have purpose. I don't know what it is. I'm going to Groszak. I'm canceling everything. I'm going to Groszak. I'm going four weeks in a row. I've got to get clear on this. Why? Because the resurrection is true and it's not a belief. It's a kingdom with a king and a constitution and an action.

The power of God is in you, but it will lie dormant in you until you obey. So what's your next step? What's your next step? What's the next curriculum you're going to do? What's the next belief you're going to investigate? What's the next blog you're going to, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Easter. What's your next step? And some of you said last week, I need more time. And I'm not trying to be funny, but it's been more time. I'm not going to do a big altar call and turn this into a big thing. Please do not delay. Please, please do not meander. Please do not, Christian or non-Christian, mosey. The king has come. Come on. The king has come. The kingdom is here. We're a part of it. We live in a broken world. Heaven and hell are real. We're trying to make it hard to go to one in Kansas City. And that doesn't happen by church people getting into a room and commiserating around what they believe. It happens from people taking steps, sometimes deeply uncomfortable steps. Why? Because the king has come and he's worthy of my steps. Let's not get to next year and grow more and decide more and commiserate more. God has spoken. We asked him to and he did. And now it's time to do for God's glory and our good. Amen? Amen. Why don't you stand up? Prayer team, why don't you come on down? If we can pray for you about anything, serve you in any way, please let us know. Come on down. If you came prepared to give and you didn't, you can do it at the boxes in the back. Let me pray for you and then we'll get out of here, okay? God, I thank you that you have come. And Lord, I thank you that you have spoken. And Lord, I admit to you that sometimes the way that you speak is not as dynamic as we thought. And I admit to you that sometimes we make big decisions and don't understand the weight of the decision that we made. And Lord, I believe that this past week, seven days ago, the God of the universe spoke to over a thousand people in this church and said, here's what I want you to do. And I pray, Lord, that this would be a house, not only of hope, but of obedience. And that people would take steps toward the king and toward kingdom and therefore receive the

blessing and favor and anointing and all the things that we long for, not in the inactive, passive, suspicious, cynical, sedentary Christian life. No, God, I'm following you. Here I come, God. I'm going to do this step. I'm going to trust you for the next. I'm going to do this step. I'm going to trust you for the next. I'm going to do this. I'm going to trust you for the next step. And as I go, my past is behind me. You're shaping my present. My future is secure and my legacy is being changed. My destiny is being changed. My family tree is being fixed. You're changing everything about me, God. And I can't believe you would do that for me, but I'm grateful. And so, God, here I come. What's the next step? We trust you, God. Speak to us, lead us for your glory and our good. Bless us as we go. Help us to take your presence with us. And in Jesus' name, we pray. And all God's people said, amen and amen. I love you, church. I'll see you next week.