Resurrection Hope: The Weapon Against Despair | Easter Weekend | Josh Leake

Good morning, everybody. Good morning, good morning. And happy Resurrection Sunday. I just wanna welcome all the APC family. It is so good to be together today. I've been looking forward to being together like this on Resurrection Sunday. And also welcome to God Behind Bars and Somerset. You're part of our family. We love you guys. And I also just wanna say welcome. If you are newer here, maybe you're just visiting for Easter, glad you're here. Seriously, thank you for being here and for celebrating with us. And this is a very bittersweet honor for me. If you've been around Allison Park, you know my dad, Pastor Jeff, passed away two months ago, tragically from a heart attack after leading the church for almost 35 years. So all 32 years of my life, on Easter Sunday, he was up here preaching. And so it's moments like this when I really feel it. I really miss him on days like today. Hearing him speak was just such a comfort. So it's obviously bitter for that reason, but it's sweet because this is the church that raised me. I grew up here my whole life.

So being able to preach here on Easter, this is a huge honor for me. I'm excited to share the message. And the theme of Resurrection Sunday is hope. It's the idea of what we're talking about here. And the universal human experience of hope is we're used to putting our hope in things where sometimes we're let down by the thing we put our hope in. It doesn't meet our expectations. Things don't go the way that we think that they should. And I remember growing up, my dad was very clear with me about two things. He said, number one, I'm never gonna take you camping. So he took my older brother once, and he was like, that's it. It's never happening again. And then he told me, I'm also never gonna take you to Disney World. He was like, that's too expensive. Do it on your own time. So he kept that promise. We never did either one of those things. But I married a woman who loved both of those things growing up. So I started going camping once I got married. And then once our kids got old enough, we have three kids, we were like, it's probably time to do Disney while they're at this perfect age.

And it was gonna be my first time too. So we planned a trip two years ago to go down and visit Disney World. And we were all excited. It's gonna be a very special time. We were gonna go to the Disney Park for one day and then just kind of hang out in Florida for the rest of the time. But I was pumped about this. We have a picture here of me and my girls on the Pittsburgh tram, no longer there at the airport. I'm sad about that. I loved that. It's such a good memory. So my oldest son is not pictured here. But we were pumped about this trip. And so we got to Florida and it was the night before we went to Disney. We were staying in a hotel. We're out at the pool. There's a restaurant out in that area. And I got super hungry. So I went to order myself a chicken sandwich. Now, when this chicken sandwich came, there is a scale that exists within all of us that you don't even know that you operate by, but you operate by it all the time. And it's called the Hungry-Nasty Scale. It's the hungrier you are,

the more nasty the food that you'll put up with. So there are certain people, you gotta get to a certain point, like an eight on the hungry scale to put up with gas station hot dogs. And I've met some people who will do gas station hot dogs at a lower hunger level. It's disgusting. But for me, I got this chicken sandwich. And when I saw it, my hunger level was like eight or nine. I was super hungry. And if you had been there with me, you would have said, Josh, do not do that. That does not look right. It did not look cooked. I'm not even sure that it looked like it was real food, but I was so hungry. I was like, whatever. This is why we need accountability. People who can keep us in check when the hunger level is out of control. So I ate this chicken sandwich. Halfway through, I was like, this is not a good idea. Three hours later, I'm throwing up in the hotel room, and I was like, this is really not a good idea. And I spent most of that week in bed, just in pain. So didn't turn out the way that I hoped. But I met Donald Duck while in excruciating stomach pain. So worked out, I guess. My hopes for that trip did not pan out

the way that I was thinking it would. Again, we're talking about the word hope. And I know there's some people in the room here today where your hopes for how life would go were not met. Maybe you're stepping into a new season, and it's not how you thought it would be, or you just got hit by news or a life change or something, and your hopes came crashing down. So this is actually the circumstances that led up to the resurrection moment. Because before the empty tomb, the disciples watched their master and their leader, their teacher, who they thought was the Messiah, Jesus, be crucified at the hands of their enemies. So they have to go into hiding because they're worried if the Jewish leaders did this to Jesus. we're probably next. So the next time we find the disciples, they are behind locked doors, questioning everything. They're wrestling through, what did we even just give the past couple years of our life to? Was he who he said he was? Why did this happen? Why did he die? Was this all a waste? What does this mean? Grappling with it. And in fact, they're grappling with all of this so much that they start to question

when they hear about the empty tomb. They don't even believe that it could be true. So let's read this moment here now, the resurrection moment in Luke 24, verse one. We'll read this in just a second here. Okay, verse one says, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone, rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. And in their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, the son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. Verse eight says, then they remembered his words. So clearly it had not clicked for them what Jesus had said and what had actually happened, how those things line up. We'll continue verse nine.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. And then look at this, verse 11. But they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Why? Because they had grappled for days with what does this mean? Did we waste our time? Picture yourself as a disciple, watching the crucifixion, brutal, horrible, of your master. Then you go into hiding, and the first day you're grieving, you're afraid, you're scared, and then night comes and you probably don't sleep at all. And then more time passes, days that pass. So now when these women come and they're like, the tomb's empty, their response is to feel like that doesn't, that can't be true. And the last verse we'll read here, verse 12. Peter, however, got up, ran to the tomb, and bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. So all the disciples feeling like that can't be. There's no way that that's true, because we saw it and we've moved on from this. Peter, even in the empty tomb,

seeing Jesus's grave clothed, his response is, what could this mean? Because he didn't wanna jump to, it must mean that he's resurrected. It seemed like nonsense. Seemed too good to be true. And this idea of something that's too good to be true is a usually useful defense mechanism for us. Because if something seems unrealistically good, you should see if there's a catch to it. So this makes me think back to the ads that were really popular, that were actually just a virus back in the day. But this might still be a thing, I have no idea. But do you guys remember these? On the old, big, hunky Windows desktops, you'd get an ad that would say, free cruise, click here. You guys know what I'm talking about? I remember being in the library as a kid, I was like eight years old, playing a game. It was like public library, public computer, and I'm playing a game on this computer, and it popped up and it said something like, you've won $1,000. So I sprinted to my mom and I was like, mom, mom, mom, mom, $1,000, they picked us. And she was like, no, no, no, that's a scam. It puts a virus on your computer. And my eight-year-old brain could not comprehend. I was like, I don't think you're allowed to lie

on the internet, that's illegal, it has to be. I think we have $1,000 on our hands here. Turns out most of what people do on the internet is just lie, but, so too good to be true. Too good to be true. If something seems too good, it can't be true. And this was what they were wrestling through. And this is also most people's view of Jesus and the resurrection and faith, is they think it's wishful thinking. It's coping with the hard realities of life. You put your faith in something so you can deal with pain. It's blind faith, it's optimism, it's something that isn't true, but it makes you feel good. That's some people's view about what this is. But if Jesus hadn't rose, and if God didn't exist, then the only logical conclusion would be absolute despair. What I mean by that is, if there is no higher reality, Beyond humans, we create our own meaning. There's no ultimate meaning, there's no ultimate purpose. Everything is relative, and so suffering is meaningless. Success is meaningless. Everything is empty, you're an accident, and when you die, that's it. No one will remember you. The sun burns out, game over, that's the end. Okay, that's what a lot of people believe. But all the evidence historically points to the fact that Jesus really did resurrect from the grave. And because he did truly rise, we have hope

that there is higher meaning and purpose and justice in a future beyond what we can see here. There's hope that's unique to the resurrection. So resurrection hope, it's a confident expectation and assurance that Jesus is alive. But resurrection hope, and this is what I wanna focus on today, resurrection hope has sort of a defiant quality about it. It has a resistance to the hard things of life. So this is the main point here today. Resurrection hope is a weapon against despair. So it's got a resistance quality to the hope. It's not just confident expectation, but it's actually pushing against despair. Despair is the total loss of hope. So it's misery or agony from feeling stuck, like you're in a pit of sorrow or sadness and wondering, is it ever gonna get better? We often come face to face with despair when the things of life that give us hope or meaning are shaken or removed from our life. So there's a lot of us in the room that have multiple times experienced this kind of despair because the things that we have derived meaning or hope from have been shaken in our life or have been totally removed. And we come face to face with, does anything mean anything? Am I ever gonna get out of this sorrow or this pit of sadness that I've been stuck in? It's like when we get hit by despair,

it's like the hope gets sucked out from you, like getting gut punched, the air gets knocked out of your lungs. And we can't predict when these things are gonna happen. It's totally out of our control when life will take a turn and all of a sudden the things that were our stable foundation are just not that way anymore. We have no ability to know when life is gonna throw it a gut punch. Life doesn't really ask for our opinion before it throws a gut punch and we get hit with despair in that way. And these moments of feeling crushed are also the moments that make us wonder, God, where are you? God, if you're really good, where are you in this moment? Is it ever gonna get better? Is it meaningless? Is this all there is? And despair, the loss of hope, threatens to swallow us up. But because the resurrection actually happened, because it is historical truth of what really happened, it's not just a coping mechanism. It's only a coping mechanism if you wish something to be true, but it's not. But I believe all of the historical evidence points to the fact that the resurrection really happened and Jesus is alive, which means it's not an empty comfort. It grounds us in reality that our desire for purpose

and meaning and beauty is found in King Jesus. Resurrection hope, it is a weapon against despair. Despair is not the way that things are supposed to be. Despair is not the way that things are supposed to be and resurrection hope is a weapon against that. So Romans chapter five, verse one says this. Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We've been justified, meaning we're in right standing now with God through our faith in Jesus. Not through our good works, not through church attendance, we're in right standing with God through faith in Jesus. Verse two, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And then I love this part. And we boast, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The glory of God. So resurrection hope is what today's about. It's a weapon against despair that tries to swallow us up. And my prayer for each one of us today is as we leave here, that we don't just leave with a good tradition or a memory of the story or even a memory of a theme, but we fixate on the person of Jesus Christ who is alive and who gives us hope that there is more to life than what we see in front of us. Okay, so I wanna talk about a couple of ways that resurrection hope is a weapon. First of all, resurrection hope. It's a weapon that remind us, number one, pain is not pointless.

Pain is not pointless. So these are the two big questions of life. You've probably heard this. Two big. questions is, is there a God, and why is there so much pain? Everybody wonders these questions. And the second one kind of rides on the first one. If there is a God, and he really is good, then why did my health take this turn? Why is my family in the state that it is? Why do things have to be this hard, or this painful, or this difficult? Why isn't he stepping in? But again, here's the thing, if Jesus hadn't rose, and God did not exist, then our pain truly is pointless. Because ultimately, nothing truly matters. Success doesn't matter, pain doesn't matter, because we all end up in the grave, in the fertilizer pit, and like I said, the sun burns out, and it's all over. No one will remember anything, it's all meaningless. The most successful person who's ever lived, who has all the achievement, and all the money, and all the recognition, is really no different than the person who suffered their whole life, because they both end up dead, no one remembers them, and that's the end of life and existence. So no one has good, complete answers to the question of pain. Sometimes people ask that in anger towards God,

if God was really good, then why? But the thing is, no one has pain figured out. Sometimes we know why, but often we don't. But because Jesus rose, the important thing to recognize is our pain is not wasted. Our pain actually connects us deeply to the heart of Jesus. Because when we're in the moments where we feel like we're in that pit of sorrow, where we feel like we're not gonna come out of this feeling of despair, we actually connect with a similar place to where Jesus was. Because before Jesus was arrested and crucified, he was in a similar emotional state. Matthew chapter 26, is right before he's arrested, he says to his disciples, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. So God in human flesh is overwhelmed by grief and sorrow and despair to the point of death. Jesus' path to victory was through pain. Think about this, the all-powerful God of the universe could have chosen to come down as a human and destroy his opposition and humiliate his enemies. But instead, he chose to willingly surrender to be tortured by his opposition and to allow his enemies to kill him and insult him. And actually, at the height of Jesus' pain, at the height of Jesus' suffering physically on the cross and spiritually, he's carrying the weight of the curse of sin and his enemies are hurling insults at him, what does Jesus cry out? He says, father, forgive them

because they don't know what they're doing. Jesus at the height of his pain said, father, forgive them. His pathway to victory was through pain, he didn't avoid it. We don't always know why pain happens, we don't always get that answer, but I love how Tim Keller's a pastor who passed away a few years ago. He said this, when we're asking God, why did you allow this pain? We do know one thing, it can't be that he doesn't care. It can't be that he doesn't love us because God was so moved by our pain and by our sin that he came and he suffered to save us. And again, at the height of his pain and rejection and insults, he said, father, forgive them. So again, let me say it, pain is not wasted with Jesus. Not only does he know your pain, he's been there, he's experienced that, not only that, but he can redeem it, meaning he can turn it around so that the very things that you thought would destroy you, the things that you thought would stop you in your tracks, the hurt that you thought would crush you, the loss that you thought would come to define you, resurrection, hope says, you're gonna have to go through it, but there's a God who's faithful to bring about resurrection on the other side and he will pull you through every time. Come on, somebody say amen to that. Amen.

Resurrection, hope, it's a weapon. It's confident expectation in who he is, but it's a weapon to push against the despair of life. So resurrection, hope reminds us, one, that pain's not pointless. Number two, it reminds us fear is not your master. So I've been thinking a lot about moments with my dad over the past two months, obviously, and one of the ones I was thinking about was, you know, when I was younger, I was terrified of everything as a little kid, like six or seven years old. Some of you remember me at this age, if you have been coming here a long time, bowl cut Josh at this age, just skittish and, jumpy at everything and I never wanted to be separated from my parents so I would sit every week in church front row with my mom and we would leave church my older siblings would talk about how great kids church was kids zone and On the way home. They'd be like man It was so fun in kids church, and I wanted to let them know that I had just as good of a time So I'd be like well, you should have heard the message today. It was powerful in adult church I didn't know what I was saying, but I was like I had just as good of a time as you did So my dad wanted to help me get out of this Fear always needing to be around my parents always being controlled by fear so when we would go to Amusement parks, I remember at the same age six or seven years old We went to Kennywood one day amusement park in the area and we Sat off every ride me and him together because I was terrified of every ride So he sat on the bench as everybody else rode things with me And I remember at the end of the day his dad instinct kicked in and the dad instinct is what says We paid good money for this son

So you're gonna ride something before we leave this park so I Clutched that merry-go-round for 60 seconds Whimpering in fear while that creepy carnival music plays in the background my dad wanted to coach me Not to be ruled by my fear because fear and worry often do get us in a chokehold Anxiety about the unknown Can suck the life out of our soul put us in a chokehold It's the unknowns of life. It's the question What if so if pain what we were just talking about asks the question why God? Why did you allow this fear is what asks? What if this were to happen what if I were to experience this What if I lost my money or my health or my family or my kids or my job? What if this doesn't go? Well, what if it's anxiety about the future and the tactic that the world around us uses is Actually one of the tactics that the enemy uses Which is to keep us fixated on the things we cannot control Let me say that again the tool of the world through social media through news through headlines as a constant fire hose of Anxiety and things that are beyond our control. It's the same tactic as the enemy which is to keep us constantly anxious and fixated on things that are beyond our control Constantly mastered by fear worrying about what's next but resurrection Hope reminds me that because Jesus is alive. My ultimate security is not in on anything on this earth So health and money and friends and success will never bring me ultimate security Because I'm not guaranteed another day on this earth But what I am guaranteed is that every single day that I'm breathing the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead that left an empty tomb behind Lives in me so I can wake up in the morning and I can stare Uncertainty in the face and say I've got a higher King who's in control Resurrection hope it's a weapon that reminds us That the pain of our past is not pointless. He redeems it it reminds us that the what-ifs of the future the fear of the future is not your master and Then the third thing number three

Resurrection hope is a weapon that reminds us evil is not unanswered So when we look around it feels like there's constantly new Levels of evil that were exposed to that seem to go unchecked Looking online we see Horrible things all the time. There's constant evil. There's we see violence. We see crime We see pickles hidden underneath chicken on a chicken sandwich. That's evil. That's wrong Chick-fil-a I love you, but that's disgusting. That's evil Hit it hiding whose idea was it let's hide radioactive cucumbers underneath Underneath the sandwich, so you're surprised by disgusting evil we see Evil all the time on a daily basis that we see constant things that threaten to overwhelm us We see news headlines that make us wonder Is anyone gonna do anything about this? They just gonna get away with this type of evil. It's overwhelming and Again if Jesus hadn't rose if God didn't exist then every twisted and corrupt act Every horrible thing that we ever hear about it will go unanswered it means the good will die young and People who do corrupt evil horrible abusive things can live a long life and it will go completely unanswered and honestly, if God didn't exist then there's no such thing as evil, because it's all subjective. Evolution says, the strong eat the weak. That's how life goes. But resurrection hope reminds us what we already know deep down, evil is very real. But it also reminds us that the king is alive and he is coming back someday to bring complete justice. That's not wishful thinking to recognize that evil is very real and not subjective. So Acts chapter 17, verse 31 says this, for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed, which is Jesus.

He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. So what's the proof that God is gonna bring justice and restoration, it's the empty tomb. Because it reminds us the king is alive. And so when you feel overwhelmed by the evil you see and you feel helpless by headlines or by things that are happening locally or in your family or world, and it feels like God is silent, we have to remember that he is not absent, but he is patient. Second Peter chapter three says, God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So we love the idea of God being patient with us. But when we think about God being patient with evil out there and other people, we don't really want that. But I'm so grateful that God has been patient with me. And God is patient so that others have the opportunity to turn to him. But what we remember on this day is the overwhelming historical evidence points to the fact that that grave was empty, which means one day hope will triumph, good will triumph and evil will receive justice. Aren't you grateful for that? So resurrection hope reminds us the pain of your past is not pointless.

The fear, the what if of the future is not your master. It reminds us that there is justice for evil coming. And then the last one, resurrection hope is a weapon that reminds us death is not permanent. So my dad was my hero. I know a lot of you know this. He, one of the things I admire most about him is that he was a man of complete integrity. He was the same man everywhere you saw him, on the stage, off the stage, at home. There's no one I respected more than my dad. And he meant and believed every word he preached. I saw him live reflecting the heart of Jesus every day. And one of the things that has resurfaced in the past two months is this clip of him from his podcast with my older brother, talking about death, talking about life after death and Jesus. And so I just wanna play this quick little 90 second clip of my dad talking about this. So let's check this out together. Let's say I don't get my heart's desire and live to 87. Let's say I died sooner than that. That means my runway on earth has gotten really short. I feel like I've lived my life well. I don't have a lot of regrets. If God were to call me home today, I'm ready to go. I feel like I would hear well done, good and faithful servant.

I'm not intimidated by that. I said to Melody the other day, I'm actually less afraid of dying than I am of aging. Because the aging process is so unpredictable. And so that's very uncertain to me. Dying is certain. I know it's gonna happen. I know where I'm going. I'm totally confident in that moment. In fact, I look forward to it in some ways to the transition of being in the presence of God and being able to celebrate. So because I've lived my life in a way that I'm not ashamed, I'm not afraid of that shortening runway. And my wife and I, Mel, we've now had 37 years of marriage together. And I'm sure that I would miss her. And of course, I wanna see my kids continue to do what God's called them to do. And my grandkids grow up and I'd love to just live to see my great grandkids, all of that stuff. But I know that my life is in the hands of God. And if death were to come sooner than 87, I'm good with that. So I remember when I watched that, death does not get the final word. I really believe that. My dad preached that and believed that with every bone in his body.

It doesn't make loss easy, but resurrection hope reminds me that because the tomb is empty, that one day I will stand face-to-face with King Jesus and I'll be reunited. with my dad. Death doesn't get the final word. And death feels wrong because it is wrong. It's out of place. That's not just coping. This is the cost of sin, our disobedience to God. The curse of sin is what introduced evil into the world. And the reason God came to earth, that Jesus came here was to break the curse of sin so that now death is just a transition point. So I just want to say if you're at a point where you're struggling, maybe you're wrestling with despair or frustration or a loss of hope or things didn't go the way that you thought they would, let me just breathe some life and hope into you now. The cross and the empty tomb are the ultimate message of God's nearness to you this morning. When we're in a place of despair, usually is when we cry out for God to answer on our terms. I've done this. I know many of you have as well. When you're in a place of despair, God, if you're real, then blank. Write it out in the sky. Speak with an audible voice. We wait until we think it's time and then we demand an answer on our terms. We don't think straight during seasons of despair, but this is what's beautiful about these moments together as a church, is we remember the resurrection is God's sign to his people that he loves us and he's committed to us even through pain and suffering and death. I'm so grateful for that. One other thing I want to say, the resurrection reminds us we got to live for more. It is so easy to just live for what's right in front of you. It's easy to just live for money. It's easy to let your career dictate your life. You put all your hope in one thing right in front of you, your marriage, your kids, and if anything happens to any one of those things, it's despair. But what I'm reminded of when we talk about the empty tomb and when I see this video of my dad is, we've got to live for more because our life here is just a breath. It's here and it's gone and we can get caught in living for the high highs of life, pleasure, everything's good, I'm happy, and then when despair comes, we drop to the depths and we say, God, where are you? If you were real, you would have blank. But what this reminds us of, what Resurrection Sunday and what I know my dad would say if he were standing here is, your life has more purpose to

it than just pleasure and pain right in front of you. So we remember Jesus is calling for us to live surrendered, to live for more, to trust his goodness. So would you just close your eyes with me as we prepare to close the service this morning. So I know that some of you, you're wrestling. Maybe you've been far from God. Maybe you walked with him at one point, you were surrendered to Jesus, but now you're not. Or maybe you have never truly surrendered to Jesus. Maybe you believe in a God, maybe you even believe in Jesus, but you've never surrendered to him. There's a huge difference because what Jesus teaches and what we consistently see in the Bible is, being a good enough person will never earn you anything. Coming to church won't earn you anything. The Bible says, how are you saved? How are you in right standing with God so you know where you're spending eternity? It's by grace through faith. It's faith in Jesus and surrender to him to say, when I try to be my own king, it doesn't go well. So this is why Jesus came into the world because we invited in evil through our rejection of God's leadership. It introduced sin, it introduced the curse of sin that brought evil, and God had compassion on us because there's nothing we could do to save ourselves. So he rolled up his sleeves and he came down, Jesus living a perfect life and dying on the cross to absorb the cost of our sin and evil in our place so that you and I have the ability through grace and by faith to be in right standing with Jesus. It's the truth of reality. Life has purpose. Life has meaning beyond what you decide. Pain is not meaningless. Despair is not the way that things are supposed to be. And the way you spend eternity in heaven is by surrendering to Jesus by grace through faith. And so I want us to pray this prayer all together. I'm gonna lead us in a prayer and I want you to repeat after me. And the Bible talks about this idea that it's a prayer of surrender from the heart. There's no magical words. It's a prayer of the heart to say, Jesus, I don't want to just live for the high highs and the low lows. I want to live for more. I want you to be my king. I need your forgiveness. So if you want to pray that prayer, let's just pray this together. Whether you've prayed it a million times, whether this is your first time and you're saying, Jesus, I need to come back to you, or I need to come to you for the first time. I'm just gonna lead us in a prayer. Let's bow our heads, close our eyes,

and just repeat after me. Say, dear Jesus, thank you for dying on that cross. Thank you for suffering in my place. Lord, I need your forgiveness. I need you to heal me. Cleanse me of my sin. I want you to be my leader. I need your love. I need your hope. So I surrender to you. Be my king. In Jesus' name. Everybody said together this morning, amen, amen. So as we close this Resurrection Sunday service together, the team is gonna lead us in a song, and you probably are not familiar with this song. I want you just to kind of sit back, let these words speak to you. And let's focus in on what resurrection hope means, right? One of the ways we do this is through worship songs like this where we remember, I'm not the center of the universe, right? Jesus is. So they're gonna minister this song to you, and I'll be back out in a few moments to close this out. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ On a hill in Israel, mercy spoke for me ♪ ♪ Mercy spoke for me, mercy spoke for me ♪ ♪ It was hung on God's last chain, His death for liberty ♪

♪ His death for liberty, His death for liberty ♪ ♪ May I never boast in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And may I not forget the blood He shed, it is by His death I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive, I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive, I am alive ♪ ♪ What a humble sacrifice, love that washed me clean, love that washed me clean ♪ ♪ Oh, love that washed me clean, what a blessed mystery, it's punished me in my plea ♪ ♪ It's punished me in my plea, it's punished me in my plea ♪ ♪ May I never boast in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And may I not forget the blood He shed, it is by His death I am alive ♪ ♪ And may I never boast in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And may I not forget the blood He shed, it is by His death I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive, I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive, I am alive ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm alive because You're alive ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, Jesus rose and picked up my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm alive because You're alive, I'm alive ♪ ♪ Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ And has lost his grip on me ♪ ♪ Oh, Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Jesus rose in victory ♪ ♪ Jesus, I'm forever in His hands ♪ ♪ Oh, Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ And has lost his grip on me ♪ ♪ Oh, Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Jesus rose in victory ♪

♪ He's alive and I'm living in Him ♪ ♪ Oh, Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ And has lost his grip on me ♪ ♪ Oh, Alleluia, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Jesus rose in victory ♪ ♪ He's alive and I'm living in Him ♪ ♪ So may I never put in anything ♪ ♪ Except the cross of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ And may I not forget the blood He shed ♪ ♪ It is by His death I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive ♪ ♪ Because of Christ I am alive ♪ As we close now, would you just turn your face toward God like this? Jesus, we set our eyes on you this morning to remember that you are our hope. Our hope and our security is not in this world. It's not in any possession. It's not in any other person. Our hope is in you, Lord. And you take the things of our past and you redeem them for good. And you remind us that the fear of the unknown is not our master. So we trust in you. We trust that you're alive and you're our leader. Now just stretch forth your hand like this. Let me pray a prayer of blessing over you before we go today.

I just pray that this morning, the spirit of God would remind you every day that because the tomb is empty, Jesus brings hope to every corner of your life, even when you don't feel it. I pray that you would be reminded of that truth. I pray for courage and clarity and wisdom. And I pray that the Lord would bless your family as you go this week. In Jesus' name, everybody said together this morning. Amen and amen. Awesome. Guys, thank you for being here this Easter Sunday. It was great to have you. Have a great weekend.