The Hope You Need - Saddleback Easter Service

Everyone welcome to Saddleback Church We are so glad that you're here and I want to let you know that you have come to a celebration We're here to celebrate the greatest moment in human history The moment that Jesus rose from the grave with all power He triumphed over sin. He triumphed over shame He triumphed over death and so today I have an announcement and that is that the tomb is still empty and That Jesus is worthy to be called King of Kings Lord of Lords All hail all hail The King of Glory Jesus All hail the power of Jesus' name Let angels proclaim Bring forth the royal diadem Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all Lord of all Bring forth the royal diadem Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all We've come to crown him Lord of all We've come to crown Jesus Lord of all Lord of all Let's stand today and fill this room with praise for the King of Kings Lord of all We came from the darkness

In the darkness we were waiting Without hope and without light Till from heaven you came running There was mercy in your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the dirt We sing Praise the Father Praise the Son Praise the Spirit Three in one Oh God of glory Majesty Praise forever to the King of Kings We lift you up To reveal the kingdom come And to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation You did not despise the cross For even in your suffering You sought to the other side Knowing this was my salvation Jesus for our sake you died Praise the Father Praise the Son We sing Praise the Spirit Three in one

Oh God of glory Majesty Praise forever to the King of Kings In the morning that you rose All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good For the Lamb had conquered death And the dead rose from their tombs And the angels stood in awe For the souls of all who come To the Father are restored And the church of Christ was born And the Spirit lifted the lame As the gospel of old shall rise ♪ He who shall not pay by His blood and in His name ♪ ♪ In His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ has resurrected me ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son we sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ We love the God of glory, majesty received ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son we sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ We love the God of glory, majesty received ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son we sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ We love the God of glory, majesty received ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪

♪ We love the God of glory, majesty received ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ We love the God of glory, majesty received ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ Can you feel it, risen and reigning in power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave, every time ♪ ♪ Every time 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, chains break, dry bones break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, chains break, dry bones break ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake ♪ The angel said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen! Just as he said, Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen from the dead. He has risen from the dead. That is good news today. He has risen from the dead. Jesus lives! He has risen from the dead. And because he is alive, Dead things come alive. Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus

I believe 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. I call you Jesus. I call you, I call you, Jesus. Prison is waiting in my heart. Something comes out of the grave. Something comes out of the grave. Every single time. Every time. And because Jesus is alive, our only response today is to give Him praise. All the praise He deserves. And I'll praise when I'm doubting I'll praise when I'm numbered And I'll praise when surrounded Oh, whatever the circumstance Because praise is the water My enemy's drowning As long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to praise the Lord Oh, my soul I will praise the Lord Oh, my soul I'll praise when I feel it And I'll praise when I don't

I'll praise because I know You're still in control My praise is a weapon It's more than a sound My praise is a shout That brings Jericho down As long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to praise the Lord Oh, my soul Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Oh, I won't be quiet My God is alive How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Come on and praise the Lord Come on and praise the Lord Come on and praise the Lord Come on and praise the Lord Praise God, you're sovereign Praise God, you reign Praise God, you rose and defeated the great Praise God, you're faithful Praise God, you're true Praise God, there's nobody greater than you Praise God, you're sovereign Praise God, you reign Praise God, you rose and defeated the great Praise God, you're faithful

Praise God, you're true Praise God, there's nobody greater than you Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Praise the Lord Oh, my soul I won't be quiet My God is alive How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet My God is alive How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet My God is alive How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord Oh, my soul Here we go Repeat after me Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord Well, welcome to Easter at Saddleback. We are so glad that you're joining us for worship today as we get to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the hope that that brings, but we have people that

join our online services from all over the world and even our extensions joining us from all over the world right now. And so we just want to welcome you. We're so glad that you're here and we want to invite you to, if you're watching on YouTube, leave a comment, let us know where you're watching from and maybe even respond to someone else. We love getting to see who joins us for worship each weekend. That's right. And if you're new to Saddleback or if this is your first time checking out a church, we hope that you would feel welcome joining us. We would love to connect with you. And so here's what you can do. You can hit the link in the description down below or download our Saddleback app. On the app, you can set your campus to online community, open the notes section, and then access our digital program there. The Saddleback app is actually going to be a great tool for everybody who's joining us online today. So make sure you have that open. Not only are you going to be able to access the message notes, but Pastor Andy is going to invite us to fill out a next steps form later on today. So you'll need the app to access all of that and engage with our whole service today. Yes. Make sure you get the app. So you're ready to do that when the moment comes, but we get to gather together each weekend and we get the opportunity to worship Jesus and to thank Him for all that He's done in our lives. But we don't want to be a church that just worships during our weekend services. We want to be a church that goes into our local communities and brings Jesus to those in need as well. And so that's why we have our Love Local initiative.

Through our Love Local initiative, one of the things that we do is at many of our campuses, they gather and collect food and box them so that they can distribute them into the community. And just recently we were able to compile and box over 13,000 boxes of food for the local community. It's truly amazing. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. Every box comes with donated groceries, a handwritten letter, and connections to local support. You see, these boxes aren't just impacting people in our church, they're impacting people in our communities as well. It's all part of our efforts to love local and impact our communities. And so if you'd like to give a gift and be a part of our efforts in impacting our communities, you can give in one of two ways today. You can give on the Saddleback app or by texting the word GIVE to 83,000. Well, as you give your gifts, let's go ahead and join the worship team as they lead us in another song. As they lay between us, how high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ, my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken, I am forgiven. The King of Kings calls me his own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours. Forever, oh Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name Jesus Christ, my living hope It wasn't nails that held Him on that cross, it was love It was a love that saw you long before you ever took a breath A love that knew every failure you'd carry Every secret you'd hide, every shame you'd try to bury And that love stayed anyway And in the darkest moment history had ever seen Hope was being written, a promise coming to fruition Because when Jesus died, He didn't just lose His life He took something The guilt you replay, the habit you can't shake The anger that spills out of you The fear that wakes you up at night The voice that says you'll never change He took it And when they laid Him in the grave, it looked finished Stone rolled in place, hope sealed away But heaven wasn't worried Because three days later, breath filled lungs again A heart started beating again And Jesus walked out And that changes everything It means your story doesn't end where you messed it up It means shame doesn't get to name you It means what feels buried in your life doesn't have to stay buried Because when Jesus rose again, so did our hope

And that hope is redeeming and healing That hope is making us new That hope is not dead That hope is alive Then came the morning that sealed the promise Your very body began to breathe Out of the silence, the morning lighted Tears fell and rain has broken on me Jesus, Yours is the victory Hallelujah, there's no one who set me free Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain Yes, salvation is on me Jesus Christ, my living hope Jesus Christ, my living hope Hallelujah, my living hope Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives All I fear, it is gone Because I know, I know, I know He holds the future Anybody know what I'm talking about tonight? Come on, we say this life is worth the living Just because He lives This life is worth the living Just because He lives He lives, I'm so grateful that he lives this life He is worth the living just because he lives Amen, he is alive and this changes everything

Because he lives, we can have hope Because he lives, we can face the future Because he lives, we don't have to walk in shame Because he lives, we don't have to live with worry He is alive today, so one more time, can we thank Jesus, can we honor him, glorify him We honor you Jesus, we give you glory So Father, we thank you so much today that we get to celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive We thank you for the hope that we have for our lives in this moment because of an empty tomb And God, we recognize that every person who is here today, that there are some at different places And what they need today is the hope that comes because you live Pray that you would touch every heart, that you would move in power Lord We invite you Holy Spirit to open our eyes to your word In Jesus name, amen, amen, amen Hey, before we sit down, can we thank the Saddleback Worship Team for leading us here All right, now you may be seated I want to say happy Easter to all of our campuses and those of you who are joining us online Extensions, we are so glad that you're here today This is Easter weekend at Saddleback and we are celebrating The joy that we have in our hearts is because Jesus is alive Almost 2,000 years ago on Sunday morning, the disciples walked up to the empty tomb The stone had been rolled away, there was nobody in the tomb And today we rejoice, we celebrate because we have hope as a result of this Easter message So today I want to talk about that hope Wherever you are in your journey of faith, whether you are new to church Or you've been following Jesus for a long time This message is a message of hope for you So today my message is titled, The Hope You Need So I'd like to invite you, if you will, you can pull out your message notes And as you do, you'll notice inside the program you receive There's a card that looks like that, this And I want to invite everybody to pull this out All of our campuses, if everybody could get

this card I want to share with you just one really important thing about it At the top, you'll see there's a short survey that I'm going to lead you through in response to this message of hope at the end of my message So I want to encourage you to keep this handy And there are going to be some of you today that this is a day that everything changes for you This is going to be the day that you receive the gift of eternal life and begin a relationship with Jesus And I cannot wait to lead you through that at the end of our time But I want to begin with a question And the question I want to start with is this, what is hope? If I were to ask you for a definition of hope, I wonder what you would say Maybe there are some of you today that you have hopes that your team would win the Final Four I'm a big Michigan fan, so I have hope today Maybe you would say, I hope on the way to work traffic's not that bad Or I hope my teacher doesn't find out that I use chat GPT for my paper But that hope sometimes is just wishful thinking Now that way of thinking about hope oftentimes gets clouded with our thinking that hope might be an emotion or just a frame of mind And there is a kind of hopefulness that you feel when you know something great's in front of you Like when you know you're going on vacation or maybe for some of you, family's coming over for Easter And there's just this expectation of what's in front of you But what we need is a different kind of hope that goes beyond our circumstances And that's what we're going to look at today I want to give you a very brief definition This is hope definition we're going to work from today It's a confident expectation anchored in the truth A confident expectation that is anchored in the truth So if your hope is anchored in your circumstances, you'll find yourself constantly moving back and forth, living in despair So where do you get that kind of hope? Well, in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19, the Bible makes a statement It says, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure It enters into the inner sanctuary behind the curtain

and where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered in on our behalf. So we're gonna look at a hope that is anchored in the life, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It's a hope that's beyond this life. It goes for all eternity. And we're gonna look at a very brief story found in John chapter 11, and it's gonna come on the screens. We're gonna walk through a story where Jesus reveals his power to a group of people, his disciples, and three of his very close friends. Now, in John chapter 11, it's good for us to know a couple of things. John was one of the early followers of Jesus. He recorded miracles that Jesus performed, seven of them in particular. And he actually writes down that there were many more things Jesus did, and he makes a statement, all the books in the whole world could not contain all that Jesus accomplished. But there are seven miracles that he highlights. We're gonna look at the last of the miracles before the resurrection when Jesus comes from death to life. Now, in John chapter 11, Jesus finds out about a friend of his, Lazarus, who's sick. Now, Lazarus, his buddy, lived in a town called Bethany,

just a couple of miles from Jerusalem. And you might have heard of his two sisters, Mary and Martha. So Mary and Martha, Lazarus, they live in a town called Bethany, and Jesus finds out about Lazarus' sickness. There's a problem. You know, Jesus has done a lot of miracles and healing, but when he finds out about Lazarus being sick, he waits for four days to go to Bethany. And when he walks to Bethany, we're gonna read the story of what happens. He gets close, and Martha finds out that Jesus is nearby, and she comes out to greet him. And I want you to notice what it says. It says, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, "'if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'" Now, I wanna ask you, underline that statement. If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus then said to her, "'Your brother will rise again.' Martha answered back to him, "'I know he will rise again "'in the resurrection at the last day.'" So Jesus makes a statement, he's gonna rise again. And Martha says, I know it's coming. There's resurrection at the end of this life.

But Jesus makes a statement back to her, and he says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die, and whoever lives in me or believes in me, they will never die. And he asks a question to her, do you believe this? Do you have faith that I am the resurrection and the life? Well, she responds, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. So Jesus has an interaction with Mary. She comes up, she says, if you had been here, my brother Lazarus would not have died. So Lazarus has been dead now for four days. Jesus has waited too long, and then Mary's gonna come out. So Martha goes and gets Mary and brings Mary out to Jesus. And so it says, after she said this, she went back, called her sister Mary aside, and said, the teacher is here and is asking for you. Well, when Mary heard this, she got up, and she quickly went to him. Mary reached the place where Jesus was, and she saw him. She fell at his feet, and she just said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Underline that one more time, the exact same thing. So Martha says, if you'd been here, this wouldn't have happened. Mary says the same thing. And when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along also weeping,

he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him, he asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. And in verse 35, I want you to see the shortest verse of the Bible. John 11, 35 says, Jesus wept. He was stricken with grief, tears flowing from his eyes as he recognizes that his friend Lazarus is dead, and he sees both Mary and Martha in their grief. Now, after Jesus grieves a few more moments, it says that he was once more deeply moved, and he came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance, and Jesus said, take away the stone. But they said, Lord, no, we shouldn't take the stone away because by this time he smells really bad, he stinks. It's been four days. Well, Jesus just kind of ignores this objection and says, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they took away the stone, and Jesus looked up, and he said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me. Now, I want you for just a moment to pause in this story because it almost seems cruel. that Jesus waits four days to come. And you gotta ask the question, why? Well, Jesus is weaving together this story

to reveal the glory of God and to reveal who he is. And in this moment, John is gonna make very clear he is the resurrection and the life. And Jesus is gonna do something that none of us have the power to do. He looks into the grave where Lazarus is, and it says, when Jesus said this, he called out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. And I wonder how long that period of time was. Was it 10 seconds, a minute? And all of a sudden it says, the dead man came out. His hands and his feet were wrapped with strips of linen and cloth around his face, and Jesus said to them, take off these grave clothes and let him go. This is beautiful. Jesus has the power over death, and he speaks into Lazarus' life, speaks into the grave and calls him forth. Lazarus goes from death to life. Now, right in this story are three very important truths that give us hope today. And the first one is this, he, God, he, Jesus, is the God who can. He's the God who is able. And when we sing songs to him and we come to church, we're not coming to sing to a God who's dead. We're not coming to sing to a weak, anemic God that is sitting in a counselor's office trying to figure out how to get his life together. He is powerful and mighty.

And I think it's interesting in this moment how Martha has this belief about Jesus, who he is, but her circumstance doesn't align with what she believes to be true. Have you ever had that happen? Where there's a part of you that believes that God is able, believes that he's powerful, but you look at your marriage and you're like, man, if God was that powerful, why would my marriage still be so bad? Or if God was that powerful, why would my kids struggle so much? Or if God really has the ability, why do I still feel so empty on the inside? If God really is able, then why does my life look like it does right now? And it's a very important question. It's the very question Stacey and I were asking back in 2012. We had been married at that point for nine years. We had been trying over and over again to have kids. Now, truth be told, Stacey wanted to have kids way before than I did. And I find a lot of men similar to that. She was ready. And we started trying first, first few months, we started trying with our first. We had our oldest, Cademan. Now, after that, we kept trying, and for months that turned into years,

we were unable to get pregnant. God blessed us with our son, Sammy, that we adopted. And we had two kids, but we knew that our family was not complete. And so we kept praying, we kept trying, month after month, year after year. Finally, in the fall of 2012, Stacey was pregnant. And we were so thrilled. That was one of the most joy-filled days of our entire lives. And that day, I remember we were just kind of rejoicing in the fact that God had answered years of prayers. Well, a few weeks later, Stacey goes into the doctor, and everything's fine, so she does a normal checkup. And then she goes to her second checkup. And when she's there, a little over a month and a half later, the doctor takes his little machine out and goes over her stomach and says there's something wrong with the heartbeat. And Stacey and I, both at that point, just kind of overwhelmed, trying to figure out what do we do, how do we respond. And she says, well, does that mean that the baby's still there? The doctor says, yeah, the baby's still there, just as an irregular heartbeat. I want you to come back over the weekend, and we'll see what happens. So we prayed that whole weekend, we prayed.

God heal the baby, we prayed that you'd work it out. We believed that you gave us this child. We're so expectant. And on Monday morning, we'd already planned to take the kids, Sammy and Cayden, on a vacation from Northern California to San Diego. We go back, and Stacey goes into the doctor's office, and he does his thing again, and looks at her and says, no heartbeat. The baby's gone. And that was a long ride. As we traveled from Northern California to Southern California, just the ache in our hearts. God, we know that you're able. We believe that you could have healed that baby, that you could have taken care of that problem. We believe that you are a God who is able. And I want you to notice what Jesus says to Martha, because maybe some of you are there today, there's a part of you that believe he's a God who's able, but then there's a part of you that your circumstances don't align with that. And Jesus gives to Martha, this is important, Jesus gives to Martha the ministry of truth, and he speaks to her. And he says this, he looks at her and he says, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. And Jesus is saying so much in this moment.

Jesus is saying not only do I have resurrection power, Jesus is saying I am resurrection power. And he's forecasting to the cross and the empty tomb that he will defeat death, that he will overcome the grave and that power that is available into him. See, what has to happen in our hearts, there are moments in our lives when circumstance and truth don't line up. And you have to decide in that moment, where does your anchor go? Does your anchor go into the situation that is not as though it should be? Or does your anchor go into the truth of who God is? That as Jesus says to Martha, I want you to choose to believe. I want you to choose to believe in the dark what you believed to be true in the light. And there are some of you today that you're in deep, dark grief. Some of you are in a very painful moment and God wants to speak into your heart. Today he wants to shine hope into the grief, into the pain that you could see that he is a God who can. He's a God who can heal. He's a God who can save. There is no sin that God cannot forgive. There is no marriage that God cannot restore. There is no relationship that God cannot reconcile. There's no son or daughter that God cannot bring home.

He is a God who can. And sometimes we have to choose to believe when our circumstances are speaking against what we know to be true to put our hope in an anchor beyond this life that he is a God who can. And the beauty in this passage is that Martha doesn't run from Jesus. She runs to Jesus. So I want to ask you today to bring all of that grief to him. Some of you that are in a horrendous situation that you thought your life would be very different. You didn't think you'd be single or lonely this long. You didn't think you'd feel empty this way. And God is saying, come to me. Bring your problem, bring your pain, come to me. And as he spoke to Martha, he gives the ministry of truth. He is the God who can. But he's not just the God who can. He's the God who cares. And you see in his interaction with Mary something very different. I find it very interesting that Mary and Martha say the exact same thing to Jesus. And yet Jesus says something entirely different to both of them. Jesus gives to Martha the ministry of truth, but to Mary he gives the ministry of tears.

And I want you to notice again, when he saw her weeping, and he noticed all of the people around who were weeping, he was deeply moved. And then it says in verse 35, and Jesus wept. He entered into the pain. He grieved with her. He embraced her. Jesus did not say to Mary, oh Mary, I'm about to bring Laz back from the dead. Stop whining, stop crying. No, Jesus comes in with his embrace and he shows her love and he weeps with her, tears flowing from his eyes. And what you see in this passage is a God who is able and a God who also is concerned. And he's fully God and fully man and human flesh. And he reveals this humanity that he cares about the needs of our lives. He's able to enter in with compassion and kindness and love and wrap his loving arms around us in whatever circumstance we find ourself in today. Now, one of the parts of that story that I shared a few moments ago of our trip to Southern California, we had to drive back to Northern California and that meant that we had to travel through the ugliest part of California, Central California. And if you're from there, God bless you, we love you.

But you know that there's a reason why a lot of people move from Fresno to Orange County. You get it. Now, we have an extension there. God bless you. Hopefully you don't close down after this conversation. I remember we were traveling up over the grapevine coming up the five and we entered into Central Valley like a few hours traveling through and just over the grapevine, we looked up and there in the distance was a rainbow right over the road. And for hours as we traveled back home, that rainbow never left. And it was like God saying, I know it's hard. I know it's painful, but I'm right here. I'm with you. I'm going to wrap my loving arms around you. I will never leave you or forsake you. And so many times in pain, I found this one promise from God to be so comforting. I wonder if you'll. We'll read it aloud with me from Psalm 34, verse 18. Let's read it together. It says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Aren't you so grateful that we have a God who is close to us in our pain, that he doesn't push us away, doesn't say, well, if you could just move on through that grief, he draws near.

And it reminds me of a time when our daughter, Karis, had had a really bad day and she was like, really mad at the end of the day, crying. And so I just walked up to her and I said, let me give you a hug. And she's like, no, I don't want a hug, I'm mad. And so I said to her, I said, it's okay, you don't have to have a hug, but if you want one later, I'll give you one. So I went and laid down in bed and she went to bed and about 15, 20 minutes later, she came down the hall and she said, Daddy, can I have that hug? Can I have that hug now? Some of you, you need a hug. You need a hug from Jesus. And he's saying, I love you. Don't turn from me, turn towards me. He is a God who cares, cares about you. He cares about every worry. He cares about every moment of anxiety. He cares about all the loneliness and he's able to enter into it with you. I wanna encourage you today to bring that to him and to not miss the reality that he is both a God who can and he is a God who cares. This is so profound. This is what makes him so different from every other God that world religions worship. He's powerful and mighty and he's near, he's kind and compassionate.

And the whole message of the cross, the whole message of the gospel is the convergence of these two things. So when Jesus marches over to the tomb and he speaks to Lazarus' dead body, it's the same voice, the same words that has called creation into existence, the same God that with his words speaks into the grave and he calls Lazarus forth. And what we see in this is that not only is he a God who can and a God who cares, but he's also a God who will. That everything that he promises to accomplish, he will. He's not a God who is somehow thrown off of his timeframe because the Gulf Sea is closed down in a war right now. He's not a God that is thrown off by the chaos in our world. He is sovereign and weaving all things together with his great plan and the time that he's giving to us, as the Bible says, he is not slow in keeping his promises. In fact, he's giving us more time that we might turn to him with our whole hearts. And it's in this story that John is making a very powerful point with the last of seven miracles. Because at this point, Jesus is gonna make a turn to the cross. And from the end of this miracle, the Pharisees and religious leaders are gonna do everything that they can to kill Jesus, to murder him. And Jesus knew that this resurrection of Lazarus

was the very thing that would cost him his life. But he is illustrating, not only does he have the ability to call Lazarus forth, but he would also say, I have the ability to lay down my life and take my life back up. Now, a lot of us have a hard time taking ourselves back up out of the bed at the end of a night. And Jesus says, no, I am able to be placed into a grave, crucified, and three days later, rise again. He is the God who will. And I want you to notice these words that he speaks. He says to Lazarus, come out. Come out of that grave. And there are some of you today, that's what he's saying. You are invited into life. He is a God that makes dead things alive again. He gives hope into hopeless situations. He takes souls that are dead and hearts that are stony and brings them to life. And today we worship a God who will accomplish all of his good promises that he's made to us. Now, Lazarus comes out. And the Bible says that when he does, he's all tangled up in grave clothes. And we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. But I want first to acknowledge, that there are some of you that like Lazarus,

that you feel dead on the inside. There's a part of you spiritually that you realize your life is hopeless. And what Jesus comes to offer is the gift of life. He comes to give the gift that resurrects our souls and calls us into life. into eternal life so that, like he says here, we never have to taste death, that in the moment we breathe our last breath in this life, we go to spend eternity with him. And some of you today, your decision, your response is to receive that gift of eternal life from Jesus, the hope that comes from the empty tomb. And at the end of our service, we're gonna celebrate those who've made decisions to follow Jesus. We're gonna do that with baptism. Now, baptism is not what saves someone. It simply represents that death-to-life decision. It represents a person being made alive in Jesus. And Romans 6.4 says we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. I'm gonna give you an invitation to get baptized today in just a few moments. Some of you are ready to take that step, all of our campuses,

but there are some of you today that need to go public with this new faith in Jesus, this decision that represents your old way of life that passes. And as you go into the water, a demonstration of that old life into new life with Jesus. And he gives that gift to us. So in just a few moments, I'm gonna tell you how you can do that. But I also wanna notice something very interesting about this passage. You know, for us in our culture, we don't fully understand what they would have implicitly knew when they read this passage. Lazarus was in grave clothes, which would have been one strip of linen from his toes all the way up to his feet. And so when he came out of the grave, he did not come out of the grave like, yo, what's up? Laz is back. He came out of the grave tied up like a mummy. And Jesus looks and says, break that brother free. Like, get the grave clothes off of Lazarus. Undo all those linen strips, set him free. And notice, Jesus gives new life, but then he calls his disciples

to help new life translate into walking in freedom. So he gives the gift of eternal life, of new life, but his people, his church, we're here to help you walk in the freedom that comes from him dying on a cross and resurrecting from the dead. So maybe you're new to Saddleback and just exploring this thing. We wanna invite you to go on a journey with us. We wanna walk alongside you to help you live into the kind of freedom that Jesus offers, that this message is all about. In fact, that's what we do as a church. And we need one another. We need Jesus to bring us from death to life spiritually, but we need one another to help us live into that new life. This is why we do things like small groups. There's something that happens in a community of people around a table or around in a circle just loving and serving each other. And this is about what we, this is why we do serving here as a church because something happens when you walk in the life of a church with other people. So we wanna invite you to go on a journey with us. Some of you, that journey might be, if this is your first time, just to come back next week. We start a new message series called Path to Peace. It's all about living with peace and stepping out of anxiety, but there's some of you today

that you've just been kind of come into church. And now's your moment to go all in with Jesus and go all in with the church. And I wanna ask you to make a commitment today to give one year of your life to fully following Jesus and engaging in his church, to let us as a church family come around you and unravel some of those grave clothes. And I wanna make you a guarantee. If you jump in with your whole heart, your whole life, engage in this church, and your life is not radically changed after fully going all in, I will leave this church with you and go to a new church. Because I am so certain that God will change your life if you fully engage. Some of you, that's your step today. You're still walking around in the grave clothes. And God wants you to be a part of a church family that helps you live into freedom. Now there are others of you that today, if you're honest with yourself, you still don't believe that he is a God who will. And what we pray for more than anything else is that you would encounter the life-changing love of the living God. And in John chapter 17, verse three, it says this. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. Our prayer is that you would know God today, that you would encounter him and begin a relationship

with the living God. And I wanna share in just a few moments an opportunity that you have today, that we all have to respond to this gift of eternal life that God is offering to us. See, our church is a big church that feels like a small family. Lots of people, bunch of one lives put together, individuals that care about Jesus and want others to experience the love of Jesus. One life loving another one life and there's something that happens when we experience the fullness of that life in Jesus. And there's a couple in our church who radically was changed by one family loving them with the love of Jesus and they experienced the gift of eternal life as a result. Let's watch their story together. So three years ago, when Andy and Stacey first got here, they introduced the One Life Campaign to the church. And the idea was you would write down the one life that you wanted to see in heaven with you one day. And so I wrote down my one life and it was Francine. And after Rex wrote his, he looked at me and he said, who'd you write down? And I go, Francine. And he said, I wrote down Harold. And that's the couple who live upstairs. So God clearly put them on our hearts. We live upstairs on the third floor, the top floor.

And we met Andy and Rex when they moved in here. They just had a giving feeling about the both of them. We'd invite them to church and they just couldn't. And so we just kept being their friend. And then one day we were coming home from church and we noticed they were pulling in and we said, oh, where you guys been? And they said, well, actually we've been going to Saddleback. We were like, what? It's made a big difference in our life. I mean, I feel like I have a family. I'm where I need to be. We just sensed something different was going on. They were really loving it, really enjoying it. And then in January, kind of the unthinkable happened to us. And that was that Rex was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And man, that was a gut punch, but you know, we knew God's faithful and he's going to walk this with us. It's going to be a long journey. But what I was amazed at was the prayer he prayed often. And we talked about it all the time. And that was, he said, God, don't let my suffering be for nothing. And that always really touched me because I thought, gosh, even in his suffering and chemotherapy and the road he had ahead, he was so committed. And so we noticed that he would talk to Harold out by the parking lot.

They'd be talking and they would be talking about heaven. When he was feeling really bad one day, probably about six months ago. And I, are you okay? And he said, yeah, it's a win-win. And I said, a win-win? He says, yeah, I either get a life extension for the doctors or I'll be in front of Jesus and God when I pass. And it's still so touching. That phrase, don't let my suffering be for nothing. Let it be to point people to Jesus. Over time, especially with Harold and Francine, ended up being the very thing that was the answer to Rex's prayer. At the return gathering in 25, Andy said, if anybody out there has not yet accepted Jesus Christ fully in their heart, stand up. I stood up and the tears started coming down. So the next day they shut up at our door and walked in kind of beaming. And then he said, Pastor Rex, can you baptize us? And Rex was like, bald head, not knowing if he felt good enough to get up and around. But he said, the first day, the first Sunday, I feel better. We're in that water. Rex baptized them. And it was an amazing day.

And I couldn't help but think of Rex's prayer. His life affected their life, their eternity. Harold will still say, I get to spend eternity in heaven because of that guy. And what a gift. I am so grateful that we were blessed to have Rex and Andrea, our neighbors. God placed them here for us. And I could forever be grateful they brought us to God. Rex succumbed to his cancer on March 8th, just a few weeks ago. And we keep seeing the fruit of his prayer. He baptized Harold and Francine the weekend of March 8th, but he went home on March 8th. And Harold and Francine came downstairs and they said, it's our year anniversary of when Rex baptized us. It was just a little reminder that God has us. And I get to continue to watch Harold and Francine do their life with him. It really brought my faith closer because of the strength that they've been going through through this cancer. They told us often, how can anybody go through what we're going through without Jesus? There's nothing in your life that you have to go through, that you have to go through alone. That God promises He'll be there. He promises He's faithful. He promises that He will walk alongside.

The minute that you decide, I want to follow Jesus, everything changes. It's never too late. It's never too late to accept God. Thank you. You know, the Bible never tells us that we won't have pain and sorrow in this life. In fact, it says exactly the opposite. But the very thing that God promises is that He will walk with us through the pain. And He promises us from His word that this life is not all that there is. And so on March 8, one year after Harold and Francine were baptized, and when Rex breathed his last breath in this life, he did not die. He's more alive than you and I are in this moment in the presence of Jesus for all eternity. And there's a lot of loss. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of grief. And even just seeing that video, I know for so many who know Rex, there's a deep ache in our hearts with somebody that we deeply love. But we have a hope that's beyond this life. And Jesus gives that hope to us that in all of the chaos, in all of the confusion, in all of the brokenness of this world, He died on a cross. He took our sin and nailed it to a cross. He tasted death for three days. And then He came forth victoriously.

He proved that not only does He have resurrection power, but He is resurrection power. So when He says, I am resurrection, I am the life, He gives that gift to you today that your soul, that your life might be anchored not in your circumstances, but a God who will. And there are all these promises from God. And I want to encourage you. This is so important. The question is not, will God keep His promises? The question is, when? When will God fulfill all of His thousands of promises? God has all eternity to fulfill His promises. But some of you today are in the when. When is God going to heal my marriage? When is God going to restore my body? When is God going to help me with my anxiety? When, when, when? And I want to encourage you, friend, to turn to Jesus and to put your hope in Him, to put your hope beyond this life. As Hebrews 6, 19, I just want to read it one more time. We have this hope from an empty tomb into eternity with Jesus as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure into the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, which our forerunner Jesus has entered in on our behalf. And He's coming back one day. And what He will ask you is the very question that He asked Martha when He interacts with her

and He speaks, He says, let's look at this together. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the one who brings life. And the one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. And then He finishes with this question. Do you believe? Do you believe this? And I want to ask you today, do you believe? Regardless of what we believe, this is true. And for all eternity, those who are His will spend their eternity with Him, worshiping Him. And that eternal life begins in this moment and goes forever. In John chapter one, verse 12, the Bible tells us how we receive. It says, to all who did receive Him, to those that believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. There are some of you today, this is your appointed day to begin your new life with Jesus and be born again, to receive the gift of eternal life, to believe on the Lord Jesus who died on a cross for your sin and conquered the grave and turn your life over to Him. And in that moment, eternal life begins.

It will never end. You will know the one true God and He promises to come and fill you with His spirit and do life with you and walk through the circumstances that you're in. He promises that He draws near and when you turn. to Him with your whole heart, you find Him. So today, my friend, I wanna invite you to receive that gift of eternal life from Jesus, to believe in Him, to open your heart to Him in this moment right now. So I'd like to invite you at all of our campuses to close your eyes and bow your heads for a moment to receive this gift of eternal life. There's some of you, you know the Spirit of God is stirring on the inside of you, and you know that this is your day to turn over your life to Jesus, to believe in Him. If that's you, right now in this moment, I'm gonna lead you through a very simple prayer, and in your heart, you can repeat after me. Just say, dear Jesus, I believe you died on a cross for my sin. I believe that you rose again from the dead. Just tell Him, confess your faith to Him. I believe. And say, I choose to entrust my life to you today, the best I know how. I give you my life. Please forgive me of my sin.

I'm choosing to follow you. Thank you for the gift of eternal life. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen, amen. Can we celebrate today, every person that prayed that prayer? Amen. Now, for just a moment, with nobody moving around, I wanna lead you through a response, and then we're gonna go into a time of worship. We're gonna sing two more songs. We're gonna have some baptisms, but I wanna ask you, if you will, to pull out this card, and on the card, you're gonna see four responses. There's a response for everyone. I wanna ask everybody to go ahead and grab this card. Everybody who's a volunteer, who's a part of Saddleback, if you're new, just everybody grab this card, and you're gonna see today there are four decisions. One is the decision to say, I'm already a follower of Jesus, but I'm deciding I wanna grow more this year, and we wanna help you with that. On the back, you'll see a little place that you can say, send me the book that is about saying yes to Jesus, and we created this new book to kinda help you in your journey spiritually. We'll send that to you through email, if you just mark A, and then there are some of you that today, you made that decision.

You prayed that prayer to begin a relationship with Jesus, and we wanna celebrate with you and resource you, so if you will circle B, that today, you are beginning to follow Jesus with your life. We'll celebrate with you, come alongside of you. Some of you, though maybe today, it's not so much beginning, but it's beginning again, and at one point, you're walking with God, but you need to come home, and you're saying today, I wanna begin again, so you can circle that. Just say B, and I'm gonna begin again. We believe once you decide to follow Jesus and receive the gift of salvation, you're always saved, but there's something about a fresh start in coming back home, and then C would be, I'm considering following Jesus, and I have questions, and we wanna journey with you. If there are questions that you have about God and help you take it at your own pace, and then finally, that D is saying, I'm declining God's offer, and we wanna respect that, and just thank you for being honest. If that's where you are today, you're welcome here. We're so glad that you're here with us, but in a moment, we're gonna give you about 30 seconds. Your campus pastor will come up at all of our campuses and tell you what to do with this card, but I wanna ask you just to take about 30 seconds if every person can go ahead and circle the letter that is them, and then fill out your name,

and then in just a moment, we'll tell you what to do with these cards. So take about 30 seconds now, and then we'll conclude in about 30 seconds. God. Jesus, we thank you today for the gift of new life in every person who has made that decision to follow you. I pray, Lord, for each person that's coming home to you, others that are exploring what they believe about you. We thank you that you can, you care, and you will for every person we can trust in you and your name. Amen. Amen. If you just said that prayer with Pastor Andy and you accepted Jesus as your Lord and as your Savior for the very first time, we just wanna celebrate with you. That decision to follow Jesus is the most important decision that you will ever make in your life. And so we are celebrating with you that you have this new hope and this new life with Christ. And we would also love to come alongside you and be praying for you as you. start your journey with Jesus. So you can let us know that you said that prayer by filling out a Next Steps card. That Next Steps card that Pastor Andy was talking about in his message, just take it out right now by opening the Saddleback app, or you can click the link in the description

if you're watching on YouTube, and let us know that you said that prayer. And I wanna invite everybody to fill out that card as well. We all have a way that we can respond to today's message, whether you're selecting A, B, C, or D, we all have an opportunity to respond right now. And so we invite you to fill that out. But we also have a little gift that we wanted to give to you today for coming and celebrating Easter with us, but our team put together a Yes, Saying Yes to Jesus devotional, where it helps walk us through what it looks like to build spiritual habits and spiritual disciplines in our life. And so if you fill out that little survey and just check the box that you want that, we'll make sure to send that to your email so that you can receive it. And if there's something that you might need prayer for in your life, let us know through that survey as well. We would love to be praying for you. Every Wednesday as an online community, we gather together on Zoom and pray for our church and pray for you. So let us know how we can be praying for you. But we are gonna continue to worship in just a second. And as we do that, you are gonna see people getting baptized.

And the people getting baptized have said yes to Jesus. And now they are publicly declaring their faith through baptism, saying He is the Lord of my life. And we wanna invite you to celebrate with us as we watch these people. And also, if you made the decision to follow Jesus today, or maybe you made the decision to follow Jesus in the past, but you haven't taken the step yet to get baptized, well, Easter is a great time to do it. So you can let us know that you wanna be baptized through the QR code that you're gonna see on the screen, or just leaving a comment on the Next Steps card that you're filling out as well. But will you join us as we celebrate these baptisms and as we continue to worship together? ♪ I was washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All because of you, oh hallelujah, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I'm clean, sin was stained on me ♪ ♪ Shame was running deep, but love was spilled on Calvary ♪ ♪ Oh hallelujah, I'm clean, and God, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm ransomed and redeemed, I'm standing in your victory ♪ ♪ Oh hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All because of you, oh hallelujah, I'm clean ♪ ♪ It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me ♪ ♪ You paid it all up on that tree, oh hallelujah, I'm clean ♪

♪ Your love has overdone, your mercy is supreme ♪ ♪ I'm dancing in your victory, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ Oh I'm as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All because of you, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ I'm as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ Here we go! ♪ Cause you took away my shame, and you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the door, from hallelujah here I come ♪ ♪ Oh you took away my shame, and you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the door, from hallelujah here I come ♪ ♪ Oh you took away my shame, and you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the grave, from hallelujah here I come ♪ ♪ Oh you took away my shame, and you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the grave, from hallelujah here I come ♪ Washed in the water, washed in the blood Here we go! Oh, hallelujah Oh, hallelujah Oh, hallelujah Oh, hallelujah Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood It's good news Oh, hallelujah I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood All because of

Oh, hallelujah Thank you so much for joining us for service today What a really powerful and great message from Pastor Andy We're so grateful that we got to celebrate Easter with you Now before you go, we want to remind you one more time To fill out that Next Steps card So that we can get to know you and connect with you So go ahead, head to the Saddleback app and fill it out there We're truly glad that you joined us today And as you head out of service today We want to remind you to share the service with a friend It was such a powerful testimony that we got to hear A beautiful service and a wonderful message And so we can see the difference that we can make in someone's life When we share Jesus with them It's an eternal impact that we are making And so we want to encourage you Just send a quick text to someone Sharing this Easter message with them Well we hope to see you again for Path to Peace We love you so much and Happy Easter Happy Easter www.pastorandy.com