I Am - The Savior of the World I Crossroads Students

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Hey, I'm Jason. And we're actually at the end of our series, ♪♪ called the I Am Series, where we talk about all the statements that Jesus made about himself. And if you haven't watched the series, it's on YouTube, but also if you're just joining us for the first time, this week, I think, is the most important week. This week, what we're talking about today, the resurrection of Jesus. If it didn't happen, you should leave and never come back. Like, this is it. This is the whole shebang. I don't know about you, but I love movies. I watch movies all the time. I don't even like TV shows much, but I love movies. And every good movie, there's some bad movies out there, and every good movie, there's a wait-for-it moment. Those wait-for-it moments happen in our life all the time, and they can feel like hours

when they're only seconds passing. You know, you text that guy that text that says, I like you. Actually, you girls are never that honest about your feelings. How dare you? But then there's, like, the moment, and then the text bubble comes up, and you're just like, what are they gonna say? There's that moment where you text your friend that really difficult thing or that really exciting thing or that really sad thing, and there's that wait-for-it moment. We love movies like this. This is Finding Nemo, where Nemo is in the bag, and he's dead, and everybody's freaking out, and his dad Marlon sees him, and he's upside down, and he's like, no! What happened? He died. And then it's like, wait for it. And he winks at the camera, and you're like, oh, he's actually alive. Like, it's crazy, right? There's that moment

where Moana has the heart of Te Fiti, and Takaa is there. And there's a moment where Moana gets to the island. She has the heart of Te Fiti, and she realizes in that moment that Te Fiti is Takaa, and it's like this crazy, and then, you know, the song sings, and she walks back and places. It's like that wait-for-it moment is crazy. Every movie has these. The Incredibles, right? The bad guys. The bad guys. The Incredibles, right? The bad guy. Syndrome. His hair like mine, and he's rocket packing up with the baby Jack-Jack, and all hope is lost. And then Jack-Jack gets his powers, and he just goes, hey, I'm on. Syndrome. And, like, absolutely destroys him. Like, it's those moments that are amazing. Every good movie, in fact, one of the best movies of all time, has this moment.

All hope is lost. The heroes are battered and bruised. Society, the world is going to end. The bad guys are winning. And then, wait for it. On your left. Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Yvonne Beck! Avengers! Assemble. Yvonne Beck! Like, literally, like, does that not? Did you stand up and cheer at your sight? Like, that is, like, the moment. The climax. Like, that is the pinnacle experience. Like, all hope was lost, and then the heroes showed up. Our story, the story of the world, has this moment. There was this guy named Jesus. He lived 2,000 years ago. And not only did he claim that he was God, but he lived a perfect life, and then he died on the cross.

And then, I believe that he rose from the dead. He defeated the grave, he defeated sin, and he overtook the world. He took the reins and control of the world. world from the evil one into God's hands again. And in that, He saved our souls. That's what Christians believe. And in fact, if you're a Christian and you don't believe that, you're not a Christian. You're in the wrong place. We believe that Jesus is alive still. Not that He didn't die. He did die, but He rose from the dead. And that means He is power in your life and in my life too. It's incredible, not only did He raise from the dead, He predicted that He was gonna raise from the dead way beforehand. You see, in the book of John, we hear this story of Jesus had this really good friend named Lazarus. And Lazarus got sick and he died. And Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, decided to stay two more days where he was, and Lazarus died. And by the time Jesus shows up, Lazarus has been dead for four days. And people are sad and there's mourning. And people honestly are angry. They're like, Jesus, if you were just here with your power to heal, like you could have saved him,

but now all hope is lost because he died. And Jesus looks at him and He says, don't worry. I'm gonna bring Lazarus back from the dead. And one of His followers are there, they're like, Jesus, I know. I know the end of the story that's been predicted over and over again that Jesus is gonna come back and He's gonna wake everybody up and we're all gonna go to heaven. Well, they're like, we're sleeping now, but we're gonna wake up. And literally, like, she's like, Jesus, I know. I know that you're the Messiah and I know eventually He'll be in heaven, but like, I miss Him here on earth. And Jesus looked at her and He said, no, no, no, no. You're not understanding. Now I want you to read this with me. Jesus told her, your brother will rise again. Yes, Martha said, He will rise when everybody else rises at the last day. Jesus told her, no, no, no, no, no. I am the resurrection and the life. And anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. And everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? She said, yes, Lord. You see, this is crazy. In this moment, Jesus is telling Martha,

you don't understand. It's not about did He die now or did He won't. He said, I have the power of life inside of me. This is what Jesus is claiming. He said, I have the power of resurrection inside of me. And if you believe in me, the dead things in your life will come back to life and you will live forever in relationship with God if you believe in Jesus. And Martha says, I believe. And Jesus does something wild. He says, take me to the spot. And He says, Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus, literally four days dead, rises from the dead and walks out as a display of Jesus's power in conquering of death. In this moment, we get a picture of all of our lives having new life, being able to be resurrected from the dead. What's crazy about this, though, is that Lazarus eventually dies. Like, sure, he got resurrected from the dead four days after he had died. And I don't know what he was seeing there. I don't know where he was. I don't even know how you come back from that. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, how do you go back to your old job? Like, how do you go back to your job? Like, hey, you know how I died? I'm back and I'd like to get a paycheck again.

Like, how do you even exist in that? But eventually Lazarus died. And if you know the story, Jesus died too. Jesus went to the cross and died to pay a price that you and I had to pay. Jesus didn't die because He needed to die. He was innocent. He lived a perfect life. But God, His Father, and our Father said that anyone who sins, anybody who messes up deserves death. And Jesus heard that and He was like, God, no, no, no, don't kill them, kill me. Send me as the sacrifice. Let me pay for their sins. And because Jesus lived a perfect life and then died, He defeated death because death is supposed to be a punishment, but you can't punish an innocent person. So Jesus paid for all of our sins and death could not hold Him. And this prophecy, this prediction of the future that He said in John actually came to fruition. Jesus rose from the dead and never died again. And Jesus' promise is the things in your life that are dead and the areas of your life that feel like death, that in Him, He can redeem them, restore them, heal us, and that there's a promise for a hope in our future. I didn't recognize this.

I didn't necessarily even understand how to believe this until something really tragic happened in my life. I went over to a friend's house and They had a daughter who was six and I started hanging out with the daughter and the friends were great and my wife wanted friends and that's totally fine and those guys were great to hang out with but this girl was playing Hungry Hungry Hippos and I destroyed her in Hungry Hungry Hippos. I played like an hour of Hungry Hungry Hippos with a six-year-old girl. It was incredible. I had so much fun. And two weeks later we got a call and this little girl was in a car accident and she passed away and in that moment I was kind of shook. I kind of feel like Martha, like God, I'm so angry. If you loved her, you would have protected her. What happened here? She was innocent. What's going on? I remember putting on a tie and going to the funeral and just really wrestling with what am I going to say to their parents? How do you tell someone whose daughter died at six years old? There's nothing you can tell them so I'm like wrestling, trying to figure it out and I get up to the front of the line and it's my turn to talk to the parents and I don't even know what to say. I just kind of break down. I said, I'm so sorry. And I remember the mom who was driving the car in the car accident grabbed my face, turned it to her face and said, don't worry Jason, she's with Jesus. And in that moment, in that moment I recognized that there was a belief inside of those parents that I hadn't been walking in. See they believed that Jesus defeated death and so on the worst day of their lives they

had hope about a future that Jesus was going to resurrect all of us and that one day they would see their daughter again. I think about that all the time, not just their faith, but I think about that in my life too and maybe you should be thinking about that in your life. If Jesus really did rise from the dead, if we really do know the end of the story that we win because of Jesus, then how should you and I be living totally differently than we're living today? The Bible goes on and it says the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in you if you believe in Jesus. Like not even saying that the same power that you could go raise people from the dead, although I believe you can, but think about it this way, the same power that raised Lazarus from the dead, the same power that will raise all of us into heaven when we die, those of us who believe is living in you and can redeem the broken and hurt things in our life. Jesus' promise to you is a life with him is a life to the fullest. He offers you love like the world cannot offer you. He offers you joy like the world cannot offer you. He offers you peace like the world cannot offer you. He offers you relationship like the world cannot offer you. And he is the only offer in the world that's credible for eternal life. Why? Because he raised from the dead himself, which means that you and I have a power because he raised from the dead. If you're in here today, you're watching online, you're like, I don't really know what I believe about this Jesus thing. Can I just tell you, 500 people talked to Jesus after he came back to life. 500 people saw him and interacted. They ate with him. They had breakfast with him. They hung out with him. They touched Jesus in his resurrected body. And I don't even get to pretend. I understand. I know how that works. But here's what I know. Jesus rose again after Jesus died on the cross.

The disciples scattered, like everybody just went home and went away. And they were basically about to give up on the mission that Jesus started. And then something changed. And most of those disciples gave their lives without denying that Jesus really did rise from the dead. The whole point of this whole Christian thing that we're doing, the whole point of following Jesus is that we should follow him because he defeated death for you and for me. And it should change how we live. What would your life look like if you believed that you won in the end? Like, how would this world affect you less? How would the stresses and the burdens of this world affect you less if you realize that in the end you are going to win? Not because you had anything to do with it, but because Jesus won. That's your story. And that's my story if we believe Jesus is who he said he is. And Jesus saying, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus, I want more of that. my life. I want more life. And God, there are things inside of me that I feel like are dead, and I just pray that you would redeem them, you would heal them, and you would bring them back to life. I have seen your power work in those around me. God, that you would powerfully work in me, and our students, and our coaches, and our leaders today. God, we reveal yourself as the resurrection and the life. Amen.