When Hope Calls Your Name (Easter full service)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ What's the greeting of the dismissal vote... [♪ doesn't enter chord smoothly...music fades away...] ♪♪ On keyboard... succor patterns and marks... except Ball. South. Cinnamon Hearts... Backdrop. Parish. Active... Power.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know, behold the future, and life will be worth the living just because He lives, oh, because He lives, I can't wait to follow, because He lives Oh, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know, behold the future, and life will be worth the living just because He lives, and life will be worth the living just because He lives, Come on, somebody lift this guy up some praise, yeah, he's ready, come on! Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free, hallelujah, take that flossing strain on me, you have broken every chain, and salvation is your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope Come on, let me hear you say this, you killed the burning, you sealed the promise, your buried body began to breathe, do you believe that, church, out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me

Oh, come on, church, I want to hear you say this, come on, hey! You killed the burning, you sealed the promise, your buried body began to breathe, out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me Jesus Christ is the victory, hallelujah, praise the one who set me free, hallelujah, take that flossing strain on me, you have broken every chain, and salvation is your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope Jesus Christ, my living hope, hallelujah, praise the one who set me free, hallelujah, take that flossing strain on me, you have broken every chain, and salvation is your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope Jesus Christ, my living hope Come on, let's give God some praise in this room, hey, church, he is risen, come on, he is risen, say that one more time, he is risen all across this room, amen, let's continue to worship our God The kingdom of God upon the throne, your majesty enshrined, surrounded by the endless song that all of heaven sings Come on, let us all sing Wonderful, marvelous, glorious, omnipotent, righteous and mighty. We praise you, we lift you up, we magnify, we glorify, we exalt you, we exhort you, we adore you. Hallelujah. Can you give us some praise right here where you are? Yes, we're repeating your praise, God. Sing, the one who was. The one who was. And the one who is. And the one who is. With behold the great I am. Can we sing with holy hands? With holy hands. Can we lift them high? Lift them high. To our God, the Lord of all. To our God, the Lord of all. To our God. To our God, the Lord of all. And we sing, holy, wonderful, marvelous, glorious, omnipotent, righteous and mighty. We praise you, we lift you up, we magnify, we glorify, we exalt you, we extol you, we adore you. Hallelujah. Holy, wonderful, marvelous, glorious, omnipotent, righteous and mighty.

We praise you, we lift you up, we magnify, we glorify, we exalt you, we extol you, we adore you. Hallelujah. Glory to the Lord. What slaying. Glory to the King. Who prays. Glory to the one. Worthy of all. There is only one. Who saves. There is only one. We praise. There is only one. Worthy of all. Glory to the Lord. Glory to the Lamb. What slaying. Glory to the King. Who prays. Glory to the one. Worthy of all. There is only one. There is only one. Who saves. There is only one. We praise. There is only one. Worthy of all. Glory, wonderful, marvelous, glorious, omnipotent, righteous and mighty. We praise you, we lift you up, we magnify, we glorify, we exalt you, we extol you, we adore you.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to the King of kings and the Lord of lords, we give you praise. Yeah. Everything that happens sing this song to the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We lift up our hands and we lift our cry. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All over the world let's lift our hands and join in. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We sing hallelujah. Hallelujah. All over the world we sing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. To the king.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We give you glory. Hallelujah. We give you all. Oh, glory, we worship you. We worship you, all the day. You are worthy to be praised. Come on, church. Everything that has to end, lift up your voices, right here, right now. We give you all. We give you all. Oh, glory, we worship you. We worship you, all the day. You are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy. Come on, one more time. One more time. We sing. We give you all. Oh, glory, we worship you. We worship you, our Lord. You are worthy to be praised. We worship you, our Lord. We worship you, our Lord. You are worthy to be praised. Come on, somebody. Hallelujah.

Give Him a round of applause. Hallelujah. Come on. Praise God. Come on. Let's just stay right here for a second. Let's take a moment to just give the Lord a shout of praise from the bottom of our hearts. Come on. Let me hear you. Praise God. Praise God. Church, would you join me in praying together for the rest of our time of worship. Father, we thank You for Your grace and mercy. We thank You for guiding us to this place today by Your spirit. We thank You for sending Jesus to die on a cross on our behalf and to be resurrected that we might have new life through Jesus Christ. And Father, as we spend this time in worship, we pray that the name above all names would be lifted high, the name of Jesus. Father, we know that Jesus has risen and He has risen indeed. So we take this opportunity to celebrate and to worship the truth and living God. The name above all other names. The name that brings hope. The name that brings victory. The name of Jesus. And it's in His name that we pray all these things.

And the whole church said together amen. Amen. Come on, let's give God some praise. Yeah. Praise God. Praise God. Yeah. Listen, Willow Creek, go ahead and take your seats and greet somebody, welcome them to church while you're doing that. Let somebody know you're glad that they're here. Praise God. Tell you, I was over there singing and I'm not sure, I think I have allergies because there was like some tears flowing or something. It must be allergies. We are so glad that you're here. My name is Dwayne. I get the privilege of welcoming you with my good pastor and friend. I'm Stephanie Haugen. Yeah, praise God. And we are so excited that you're here. We're glad that God led you to this place today. And we get the privilege again of welcoming you. So listen, if you're new to Willow Creek, I want to extend a special welcome to you and let you know that we're glad that you're here. And if this is your first time in a long time at Willow Creek, welcome home. We want to invite you to connect here.

We want you to do more than just experience the worship in this moment. We would love to have you get connected here. So when you walked in today, you should have received a card. If you didn't get one of those cards, would you just put your hand in the air and we will make sure that you get that card. And on that card, there's a QR code that you can scan. That's something we call our digital connection card. It's our way of allowing you to reach out to us, letting us know that you're new. And then we will help you with the next steps or maybe even the first steps of faith and getting connected here. They'll give us a little bit of information about you, but as we reach out, it'll tell us how we can best serve you. and help you on this journey of following Jesus with Steps of Faith. One of the first and best steps that we invite you to take is also on that card is something called Discover Willow. And that's gonna happen on April 28th. We'd love for you to be a part of that. There'll be some of our pastors there. We get to share the heartbeat, the hope, the mission, and the vision of Willow Creek. And while we do church the way that we do church, there's even a meal provided for you. And on that card, you can sign up for that journey of Discover Willow. And you can also do that at willowcreek.org slash Next Steps. Speaking of Next Steps, there's actually an area

right out in our lobby area called the Next Steps area. That's also a place for you to get connected here at Willow. We would love it if you would stop there. We'd love to get to know you. Ushers, you can come on down to the front now and hold on for just a minute. But here at Willow, we celebrate when the ushers come forward because we celebrate generosity here at Willow Creek. Because when you're generous, you're able to partner with God in the work that he is doing here and all over. And so I would love to read a verse for you right now from the Bible. This is from 2 Corinthians 9 verse 12 that says, this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. So whether you're new or maybe you've been around here for a while, it doesn't take you long to be able to see that we are people here at Willow Creek who love to serve and we love to give. And just like this verse says, we wanna serve out of an overflow of all that God has given to us. And so what does that look like here at Willow? Well, a few things. First, we have a student and kids ministry

that meets every week. They have events and programs, it's just awesome. We also have adult ministries that help adults grow in their faith, like Rooted and Groups. And we also have our Compassion and Justice Ministries that serve globally and globally through our care center and through partnerships. And so we would love to invite you to be a part of that generosity journey here at Willow Creek and we wanna make it really easy for you to give. You can go to willowcreek.org slash give. You can also give via Venmo or as the bags pass by in just a moment. So would you please pray with me right now as we collect our offering? Jesus, I come to you right now with a heart of gratitude for just today and this space to be together and just worship you. And God, I just pray in this moment as we give back to you, Lord, please take it and multiply it to build your church and kingdom, bring hope to our world. We are so grateful. And in your name I pray, amen. Ushers, you can go ahead and collect the offering. Now, while they're collecting the offering, I wanna take a moment to invite you to continue this journey with Willow Creek.

And so next week, I'd love to invite you to something we call around here, the celebration of hope. Anybody ever heard of that? Yeah, okay, okay. Praise God. For those of you who may be new to Willow Creek, the reason why we get so excited about celebration of hope is it's an opportunity for our whole church to celebrate the hope that God has shared through Willow Creek all around the world. And man, we have had the privilege of doing some phenomenal ministry all around the world. And so we invite you back to be a part of next week's journey. And over the next three weeks, there's gonna be three distinct focuses of effort that we'll take as a church. The first week, we get to celebrate all that God is doing in Latin America. And we've got some great things planned for that time. We have some popsicles that we'll be handing out in the hallway. I'm gonna try to say this word, but you help me. It's called paletas. Paleta, you got it. Come on, I am bilingual with one word. Paletas, we're gonna hand those out in the hallway. We're gonna have a 16-piece mariachi band on the stage here to participate in worship.

And then the big one, we have a ministry that we call Willow Espanol. They're gonna be joining us in this space, and we're gonna have a bilingual worship service beginning next week, praise God, to celebrate all that He's doing around the world. Yeah, it's gonna be a wonderful time. We'd love for you to be a part of that. And then the second week, we're gonna focus on the region of Africa. And we're gonna hand out some coffee samples from that region. We're actually gonna celebrate through something that we call seed packing, where our whole church gathers together and we pack seeds to send all around the world, every kind of vegetable that you can think of, and all of that to make a difference and impact for God in the globe. And then that last week, we're gonna be celebrating all that God is doing in the world, and we're just gonna collectively worship together. You are not gonna wanna miss any single week of celebration of hope. So make sure, make sure that you are here. So good. Yeah, praise God. So Easter is a celebration of Jesus's victory over death. This was an event that took place

that changed the course of history and changed our world forever. It was one event. But today, there are lots of little events of ways that. Jesus is transforming people's lives, and we'd love for you to hear the story of three different people and how Jesus is changing lives today. I was happily married until I wasn't. I felt like I was completely falling apart. I sought acceptance and love in the streets. So at about the age of 13 years old, I was introduced to drugs. I was really trying to find out where I was with God. I mean, I grew up in a church, but I always felt like something was missing. None of the problems were getting solved. Issues were going unaddressed, and I could see the pain that I was causing Maria. I was always afraid that God was angry with me. I was so heavy-weighted with all of this guilt and baggage and was just very hard to live. When I went to prison, I felt my life was over. My life has been tainted now. Everyone is gonna look at me differently. I got to a point where enough was enough, and so I left. And I was just like so frustrated. So it was just in my mind that I'm going to end my life when I get home.

When I got out of prison, I went back to using drugs again, and I overdosed. I had no pulse. The apartment shared a driveway, and I was turning in, and my neighbor, he was coming out with a bag of trash. He struck a conversation with me, and he saw me holding a Bible. And he asked me, was I saved? And I said, that's what I've been trying to find out. When my wife went to the hospital and I woke up, I realized that this wasn't just causing pain for me, but it caused pain for my family, my wife, my mother, my sister. And it was at that moment that I realized I can't do this on my own. I left the home, but God was still holding me. I found that I needed space, but God was still gripping me. I felt like I needed to escape, and I walked away. But God still was holding my heart and my hands, even when I couldn't see it. He took the time to listen. He shared the gospel with me. We knelt and we prayed. But before I could finish that prayer, God just poured out this, I call it liquid love. It was just over me, into me, and it was bubbling up.

I didn't understand it, but I knew that I had what I had been searching for. My wife introduced me to Willow Creek, and I joined the recovery group who has showed me I am worth something, that God does love me. Maria had a car accident, totaled the car, and everything in me was compelling me. Go take care of your wife. In my spirit, God said to me these words. You're trying to leave her for things you don't like, and I have never forsaken you, and you do things I hate. It was a reminder and a chastisement. It changed me forever. That neighbor that helped me became my husband. Right now, I'm about six months that I'm sober now. Maria and I are fully reconciled. We will celebrate 18, 19 years of marriage. To me, hope is living. Hope is Jesus. Hope is God's unrevocable grit on whatever remaining confidence you have, that he is capable and faithful to fulfill every promise he made. There is a God who does hear you. There is a God who does love you. No matter how many mistakes you've done in your life, he is there, and he will be there to pick up the pieces with you.

All right, welcome to Willow, and happy Easter, everyone. How are you doing today? It was good? Hey, great to have you. Here, I love listening to stories of life change like that. Because Easter's this reminder that the tomb is empty. And because the tomb is empty, there was not just life for Jesus, we can also experience life through Jesus. And so you heard in the stories, there was a marriage that felt like it was dead, but we believe in an empty tomb that can bring things back to life. You heard a story of somebody who was struggling through addiction, but you don't have to stay there because we believe there's an empty tomb that can provide freedom and new hope. When it comes to somebody who's really struggling with depression and the world feels so incredibly dark, my friends, we believe in an empty tomb, that there is life, there is hope, there is grace that found in Jesus. Are you grateful that there's an empty tomb that we get to celebrate today? Well, I do want to welcome all of you here. I want to welcome those of you joining us online at all of our Willow locations. A big shout out to Huntley and Crystal Lake,

to North Shore South Lake Wheaton, and also a big shout out to our friends who join us from the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Great to have you. Happy Easter to you as well. Now, I don't know what you have planned later today. A lot of us, we have Easter traditions, right? And sometimes there's an Easter egg hunt as a part of that tradition. How many of you either have or are planning to do an Easter egg hunt of some kind? A lot of us, right? My boys are older now, so we don't do as many Easter egg hunts as anymore. They're 18 and 16 now, but when my boys were little, we loved a good Easter egg hunt. I remember a time when my boys were real little. They were probably, I don't know, four and two. We went to one of our neighborhood community Easter egg hunts and so we were there and there were lots of kids. I probably grossly underestimated how many kids and how many parents were gonna show up at this thing. As I'm there with my two boys, again, they're real little, like two and four, but there's a sea of eggs that were in front of us. And I'm pretty competitive. And so I'm like sizing up the other kids and their parents. I'm recognized, we're outmatched. My kids are little, these kids are big.

I'm gonna have to run a little interference on their behalf. Now, they kind of anteed it up a little bit. They told us that there's candy in most of the eggs, but they put $20 bills in two eggs. And so that's exciting for most. My boys were too little to care about $20 bills. I thought, I'll give them a Hershey Kiss and they'll give me the $20 bill. This is gonna be great. As I remember, they sounded the horn. These kids scatter everywhere. My boys' little legs, you know, are running. We're so far behind everybody else. I found myself blocking other kids so my kid's gonna get an egg, right? Probably cashed in my pastor card that day. But my son finally got to an egg. I remember he picked it up. He looked at it, he was so proud of himself, and he opened it up, there was nothing inside. It was one of the raw eggs that didn't have even a piece of chocolate candy inside. Now, again, I'm pretty competitive. Some of you are like, ditch that egg, let's go find, there's more eggs out there, let's go find another one. But he didn't budge. He just stood there holding this empty egg and he was kind of content with it. It's almost the moment, you know, around Christmas when a kid opens up a Christmas present

and they're more interested in the box than they were the toy in the box? That's this moment. I'm like, buddy, there's a lot more eggs out there. There's chocolate for days. There's a couple $20 bills we can go get. And he just is stuck, kind of admiring his empty egg. Now, I tell you that story because sometimes that's our experience in life, that we roll up to life and there's something about our life that feels somewhat empty right now. Maybe it is a relationship or marriage that's really struggling and it feels pretty empty. It was once thriving, but now it just feels like something's off. Or maybe it's the job that we were so excited when we extended that offer, but now it just feels like it's just so mundane. That maybe we're still physically present, but our heart's been disengaged for a long time. It just kind of feels a little empty. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe it's kind of our entire life in of itself feels a little empty. I don't know what you walked in with today. I don't know what you're carrying, but I'm here to tell you what I told my boy years and years ago. My friends, there's way more to life than what you're experiencing right now.

And I believe with all my heart that Easter is this declaration that because the tomb is empty, your life doesn't have to be anymore. And I want you to know about a Jesus that gives hope, that gives life, that gives a new future, because my friends, the tomb is empty, and that changes everything. So I want to take us back to the very first Easter. To literally the first person who ever. saw Jesus physically alive after he resurrected. We're gonna be in the book of John chapter 20. So if you got a Bible, you go to John chapter 20. I'm gonna meet you there in just a moment as we meet this woman by the name of Mary. Now just so we're all on the same page, this is not Mary, Jesus' mom. This is Mary, Mary Magdalene. Now if you know anything about Mary Magdalene, you know that Mary Magdalene had a checkered past. In other words, she didn't always get it right. Maybe that's kind of the nice way to say it. Her existence probably was pretty dark for most of her life. I mean, if she was holding an egg which was her life, there would have been emptiness around every corner. Luke even records a detail about her that at one point when she encountered Jesus, that Jesus cast out seven demons for Mary Magdalene.

Now no matter what that means, it gives this description that there was a darkness that was all over Mary's life. She would have been a social outcast, she would have been a spiritual outcast, she would have been on anybody's invite list to anything. She would have had nobody and nothing. The life that she lived had to have felt empty until she met Jesus. When she met Jesus, everything changed. And isn't that just like Jesus? He always seemed to have a disproportionate interest in those who were forgotten or marginalized by everybody else. And it was through her encounter with Jesus that everything changed. Her life took on a whole new meaning. She had joy that she didn't have before. She found love and grace and forgiveness. She had purpose and meaning that the once empty life now was filled with something different. Jesus had changed her entire life. And because of that, she stuck really close to Jesus. You might have called her a very close follower of his back in the first century. Now that wasn't necessarily formally true. She wasn't one of the original 12 disciples, but yet she followed Jesus. She saw him teach, she watched him perform miracles. She saw all the amazing things that he did.

And he was everything to her because he gave her her life back. And that's why the last three days have been so hard because she's having a hard time putting together what's just taken place. To this one who's changed her entire existence, he was arrested, he was tried in this mock of a trial. He was eventually pinned to a tree. Now while others scattered, Mary didn't. She stayed really close. She was at the cross when Jesus was crucified. She was at the tomb when he was buried. And here you are the very first Easter morning before the sun even came up, Mary was making her way toward the tomb. She was full of grief. Her life was flipped upside down. She didn't really know what to do, and so the only thing she knew what to do was to go to the tomb. And that's where we find her in the book of John, chapter 20, verse one. As you find this picture of Mary who is running toward hope in the dark. She's running toward hope in the dark. Here's verse one, it says this. It says, early on the first day of the week, while it was still, what? While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

Now what's interesting about John, the gospel writer of this book, when he's given his eyewitness account, he knows that it was dark. Now what's interesting about John is John is highly symbolic, uses all kinds of imagery. He's very interested in theology. So when he describes that it was dark, it was not just a statement about the time of day it was. He's also describing the feeling that everybody would felt. Certainly the sun had not risen. But it also just kind of felt dark all the way around. For Mary, it was dark outside, but it was dark inside her world as well. And that's why I'm so amazed that in the midst of her own grief and pain and hardship and darkness, she went to the tomb. She went toward hope even in her darkness. Now what I'm amazed by that is oftentimes, me and you both, we do the exact opposite. That when life gets really hard, oftentimes we disengage, we run the other way, right? Like when a relationship goes on the rocks or when a marriage is really struggling, oftentimes the people are moving opposite directions and not toward one another. The job that was once such a thrilling experience, now we're having a hard time showing up. They even have a term for it now. They call it quiet quitting, that I'm physically present,

but I'm totally disengaged and moving the other direction. Or maybe for some of us, life has thrown us enough curve balls and have been difficult enough that we find ourselves moving away from God, moving away from church, moving away from community. That's what's most natural to us. When the going gets tough, oftentimes we get going. And that's what's beautiful about Mary is she does the opposite. Her world is spinning. She's full of grief. It's really really dark and she finds herself moving toward hope that Easter morning And here's what she's about to find out. It's a powerful truth for you and me both and that is Resurrection doesn't happen in the light It happens in the dark Think about that for a moment That the resurrection happens in the darkest of moments That you don't find healing without a season of pain You don't find hope without a season of disillusionment There is no resurrection without a death That in the hardest moments that we walk through in life my friends the greatest news about Easter is that there is hope There is no dark that is too dark that that prevents you from experience the hope that can be found in Jesus And so the beautiful message of Easter is move toward hope when you're in the dark You know, what are the darkest places I imagine? what it's discovered post-war war two and After the war had concluded there were some people who went into those now vacated concentration camps We're just unbelievable atrocities and darkness that claimed the lives of countless many people When people went into those now vacant concentration camps in one of the camps, they actually found this inscription on the wall That was written by somebody who was at the camp Here's what it said. I believe in the Sun

even when it's not shining I Believe in love even when I'm alone. I believe in God even when he's silent And so if you ever find yourself in life wrestling through some sort of like emptiness Easter's a reminder that the tomb is empty so that your life doesn't have to be You can actually move toward hope in the dark And when you do My hope is that you would find the hope that you weren't expecting That you might be somebody who finds the hope that you weren't expecting when when Mary showed up at the tomb She found that there was a stone that was rolled away Now her immediate reaction or immediate instinct was not that a resurrection had taken place or immediate thought was Somebody has taken his body and she panics as any of us would and so she runs back to town to the house Where she knew that Jesus disciples were out. She's like guys. You got to come with me. Somebody's taking the body We got to go. Basically. She needed some backup And so that's where we pick it up the very next verse and here's what it says. So she came running To Simon Peter and the other disciple the one that Jesus loved And she said they've taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they put him Now she goes back to these disciples. One of them is named and one of them is not so it's Peter and It's the other disciple of the disciple whom Jesus loved Now what we know if you read the entire Gospel of John, you know that that's how John refers to himself in the gospel He refers to himself as the other disciple or the disciple whom Jesus loved most commentators will say it's actually this profound display of humility That he didn't want the spotlight on him, even though he was the one pinning the book They didn't want to take any credit. He only wanted to be known by the name of Jesus He was only known as one who was loved by Jesus. What a remarkable mark of humility That's why the next verse is funny to me So here's what it says next Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first The most humble guy out there Wants to make sure you know

He smoked Peter in a footrace to the tomb He's taking it to his grave He's gonna make sure you know about it that if you ever want to know who the faster disciple was I'm not gonna name my name But you know, don't we that's the kind of where he's at And so John makes his way to the tomb first John stops at the door of the tomb doesn't go in. Here's what it says next It says that he bent over he'd look at the strips of linen that were lying there But he didn't go in he stopped at the door of the tomb Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb that's just like Peter Peter was super impulsive He always acted first thought about it later That's so it's not surprising that Peter eventually blew by him and went right into the tomb Peter also saw the strips of linen that were lying there as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus head the cloth Was still lying in its place Separate from the linen. So there's a lot of language about these Grave clothes these linens that were laying behind. Now you can kind of pick it up in the English translation. If you go back to the original Greek, which is what this was written in, and you look at it, you basically have the indication that these grave clothes were neatly arranged, almost as if they were folded and put aside. Now I'm deeply convicted by that. The very first thing that Jesus did when he busted out of the grave is he folded his laundry. I hate folding laundry. I've got laundry in my dryer that's been there longer than Jesus was in the tomb. So I'm kind of convicted that the very first thing that Jesus does is he nicely arranges and folded his laundry before he goes. Now why in the world would John record that detail? That seems like a very odd and kind of ironic detail to spend so much time talking about. Well again, remember the context. They thought that that somebody had taken the body. Here's why that detail is there, is because grave robbers don't do laundry, right? Grave robbers don't do that. I mean, you think about any kind of theft that's ever taken place, they trash the place. It's chaos everywhere. And so when

Peter and John get in, they look in and they're like, this is not a robbery. This is not the scene of somebody who's done something like that. This looks intentional. This looks purposeful. This looks like God might be up to something. And it's in these details that we're reminded of this truth that Easter is not about God making bad people good or good people better. Easter's about God making dead people alive. Easter's about God breathing life back into that which didn't have life. It's not just about making good people better. It's about dead people coming to life and what a moment for both Peter and John as they're trying to take it all in and kind of assess the situation. It must have been just mind-boggling or perplexing to take it all in. And so John continues to write about this earth-shaking type of moment. And so it says in verse 8, it says, finally the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, just in case you missed it the first time, let me remind you who the faster disciple was, okay? And so he got there first, but he stopped at the door and says, so finally the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, he also went inside and look what it said. He saw and he believed. The only evidence he had was no body in folded grave clothes. And for him that was enough. It said that he believed. What I love is that he didn't have a lot of information. He didn't have it all figured out. He probably couldn't connect all the dots, but yet there was enough for him to believe that God might be doing something bigger than he could understand at the moment. You get at this idea even in the very next verse. It says that they still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. It's almost on the surface it looks like a contradiction, doesn't it? Then on one hand it says they believed, and the very next verse it says, but they didn't really understand. Because oftentimes we think we have to have full understanding in order to believe. Like I got to have all the information, I got to check all the boxes, I got to understand how it all connects, and then maybe, just maybe, then I'll believe. Because sometimes we come from this posture of being a little bit of a skeptic. But what I love is the reminder of this truth, that you

can believe even before you fully understand. And for some of us that's the best news in the world, because candidly you might have walked in here a little skeptical. Maybe you're invited by somebody, you're like, I'm not really sure about all this. That's okay. The question is, is there enough evidence that you know that there is a God, that that God is good, that God wants good for your life? And sometimes you don't have to have it all figured out, you don't have to have all the dots connected, you don't have to even understand your current circumstance. You can believe. Because oftentimes understanding comes in hindsight and not in the present. I would say it this way, you can be standing inside the miracle and still be working to understand it. Don't miss the miracle that you're possibly sitting in, in this moment. That was John and Peter's reality. Again, they hadn't pieced it all together, but it was a powerful moment nonetheless for them. Eventually it says this, the next verse, it said, then these disciples, they just went back to where they were staying. And so they have this earth-shattering moment and they're like well time to go back home and so they go back home but Mary doesn't go with them Mary went and got them because she was so afraid but after they left she didn't go with them she stayed at the tomb why does she stay at the tomb I'm not sure but maybe because it's her grief that kept her there it's the pain that she was experienced that kept her there she still didn't have explanation of where this body was and so it kept her there and I think that sometimes the thing that keeps you closest to the pain is the same thing that keeps you close to the miracle do you believe it it's sometimes it's actually the hard thing it's the dark moment it's the emptiness you feel sometimes the pain is actually God's greatest gift to draw you to himself let me tell you about a God who doesn't waste anything in the hardest moments of our lives can actually be the very things that keep us close to God's greatest work and movement in our life because sometimes the thing that keeps us close to the pain is the very thing that keeps us close to the miracle and it postures our life for this last truth that my prayer for you is that you would hear hope call your name that you'd hear hope call you by name I mean

think about the moments when your name was called in what you immediately experience emotionally now for some of us we think about the moments where we were trouble as a kid and your mama used your middle name right as a maybe the the the emotion is fear instantly but there's also so many positive moments that we experience when somebody calls our name think about if anybody who's graduated from anything and you're part of a graduation ceremony you sit through hours there's the most boring at graduation ceremony of all time name after name after name but then they call your name it all of a sudden everything shifts for you doesn't it you think about all that led to this moment this accomplishment to have your name recognized in front of everybody I think about another moment maybe when you're a kid you're out on the playground you have two team captains choosing teams nobody wants to be the last pick but you weren't because they called your name in the moment they call your name there's this excitement because somebody wants me they want me to be on their team there's something really thrilling about when somebody calls your name or maybe you're at a fundraising event you buy a raffle ticket they throw it in the barrel they spin the barrel around somebody reaches in grabs the ticket and calls your name sometimes your name can come with such exhilaration and such excitement when we hear our name but when hope calls our name there's something that happens particularly for in a time of pain or of crisis there's something about when somebody calls us by name it was years ago I was at this church camp in the southern Rockies it was in New Mexico it was a camp I've been to a lot of different times and I was back again and I loved this camp loved what it does and and because it's in the the mountains oftentimes we would take hikes to different mountain peaks and every week we would always do a hike to Hermit's Peak it was the furthest hike that we would do probably six to eight miles round-trip it wasn't a technical climb and so anybody could really do it as long as you just had the the endurance to go that distance but because of its distance we'd always have people sign out before they went to the hike and then sign back in when they came back from the hike and that's just

to make sure that everybody was accounted for now certainly on the hike you try to stay together make sure everybody was on the right path going the right direction all that kind of stuff and this day was no different everybody signed out everybody journeyed to the top of Hermit's Peak it's beautiful we took all the pictures we celebrated that we had made it and then we were ready to go back down when we finally got to the bottom we all signed back in and there were two young people that didn't sign back in one high school guy one high school girl and so we thought maybe they just didn't sign back in maybe they forgot to maybe they didn't understand so maybe they're just somewhere around camp and so we searched all over camp asked everybody we knew nobody had seen them since we left for that hike now we found out much later that the guy knew a shortcut and so it went off the path and she followed him ladies if your dude tells you he knows a shortcut God love him don't follow him And so she follows him and they get off the path, they lose a sense of direction, they find themselves in the wilderness of the Rockies, and they don't know where to go. They don't know where to turn, they don't know how to get back to camp, and that's a pretty daunting thing when you're a young person in the wilderness not knowing where to go. There's a lot of fear associated with that. Not only were they scared, we were scared too. We sent teams of people everywhere we possibly could trying to find them. We couldn't find them. As night was coming, things got really concerning, because at night, you know, animals come out, it gets really, really cold, we were really concerned for the safety of these kids, and so we actually called the local search and rescue to come help us out. It's actually pretty cool. You know, they show up with helicopters and sniffing dogs and all kinds of things, but they're very organized, they divided us into multiple teams, they gave us really specific instructions. They gave us exact plans of action of where to go.

As a part of one of those teams, we were given the instruction that literally every step that you take, you call out their names. You yell it to the highest volume you could. You yell it into the darkness, you yell it to the trees, you yell it to the silence, you just simply yell their name, and never stop yelling their name. We were finally able to discover them hours into the night. When we found them, as you could imagine, they were scared, they were rattled, you might even say somewhat traumatized, but after talking to them a little later, they said the moment we had hope was not a moment we saw a familiar face. Long before that, we had hope when we heard somebody call us by name. When you hear your name in a situation like that, it fundamentally changes everything. That was Mary's experience. She hangs back at the tomb, she is full of grief, full of despair, still doesn't understand everything that's going on. She goes into the tomb. Baba records that she encounters two different angels in the tomb, interacts with them as though that's a normal thing to do. Then she turns around, and there's a figure behind her. She doesn't recognize that it's Jesus, she thinks it's the gardener for the tomb area. I don't know why she didn't recognize him. Maybe because her grief blinded her. Maybe she had cried so many tears it blurred her vision. Maybe Jesus looked different after he resurrected, I don't know. She was looking at him face-to-face but doesn't realize who it is, and Jesus says, why are you crying? Who is it that you're looking for? She quickly responds, thinking that he's the gardener, have you taken his body? Because if you've taken him and put him somewhere, just let me know, I'll go get his body, I'll bring it back. And then Jesus, I would assume with a heart full of tenderness, says one word, Mary.

And it changed everything for her. I mean one word, and her life changed. One word, and the resurrection became personal. Like one word, and her entire world began to reorient itself. You know, science actually tells you if you're ever in a moment of crisis or panic, and you hear a trusted voice call your name, your body physically reacts to that. Your heart rate will slow, your blood pressure will go down, your breathing slows because your body will tell you it's going to be okay. That trusted person's got you, he will see you through. Mary's body was telling her even in the moment, it's going to be okay. Hope was calling her name. Now for me this speaks such volumes in a world that we live in that is pretty impersonal. Oftentimes you and I are often known by a number rather than our name. I mean think about it, the IRS knows you by your social security number. Your bank knows you by your account number. The state knows you by your driver's license number. Your insurance company knows you by your policy number. We live in this very impersonal world. Even those that should know us, and should know us deeply, and should know our stories, oftentimes they don't acknowledge our name in the way they should. A parent that didn't pay enough attention to us. A friend that just felt like we were replaceable. An employer that cut us loose without a second thought. You and I live in a very impersonal world. So do not miss the truth of Easter that the God of the universe knows and calls you by your name. Mary, David. Paul, Maria, Jose, Tyshawn, God knows you and calls you by your name. It changed everything for Mary, and if you're willing to receive it, it can change everything for your life and for mine as well.

I mean, for Mary, it flipped everything upside down. This woman who came into the garden weeping, she leaves a witness, look what it says, it says, Mary Magdalene, she went to the disciples with this news, I have seen the Lord. Like, I've seen him with my own eyes, and she told them the things that he had said, told them that he had said these things to her. I mean, the significance was overwhelming. This woman who came into the garden full of grief and emptiness walked away with hope, joy and exhilaration. It was this recognition that because the tomb is empty, her life didn't have to be empty any longer. Jesus changed everything. I think the same is true for you as well. When hope calls your name, everything changes. Maybe you would say, well, that's good for Mary, but that can't be true for me. My past is too messed up, I'm too far gone, it's not possible that God has that much interest in me. Can I remind you who Mary was? Like, Mary had a very checkered past. Mary would have been outcast by everybody in the world in which she lived. But you would have had nothing and nobody except for a God who knew her and called her by name. I don't know what you brought with you today. I don't know what emptiness that you're experiencing. But I know of a personal God who knows it more intimately than you do. And that God knows you and He calls you by name. And you don't have to have it all figured out. The disciples didn't. You don't have to even fully understand it. He just asked you to believe. You know, sometimes after a weekend, I'm in the lobby and I'm hanging out with other people

and sometimes somebody will come up to me and they'll say, Sean, I felt like you were speaking directly to me. You ever had that experience? Can I give you a little inside scoop? I wasn't talking directly to you. But maybe God was. Because God has this way of taking His Word, the power of stories that are shared, maybe a lyric of song, and that God has this way of taking those types of things and helping you see your own story. Can I describe that experience for you in this way? That's God calling you by name. And maybe some of you are having that experience today. Maybe you walked in somewhat skeptical and you're like, man, I think that God is speaking directly to me. Don't ignore that moment. He is. He's a God that knows you and loves you and calls you by name. You're not too far gone. It doesn't matter what your past looks like. It doesn't disqualify you for the life that God came to give you. My friends, the tomb is empty, so your life doesn't have to be. So for some of us, we've never declared that belief, a belief in a one true God who's a good God who wants good in our life. The Bible tells us that if we confess with our mouth, if we believe with our heart, it actually says that we are saved. That's what God came to do, to save us, to reconcile us to Himself. And if you've never made that faith commitment, today is your day to make that commitment. For others of us, maybe we've made that before, but for whatever reason, instead of running toward hope in the dark, the darkness called us to run the other way. And maybe we've been distant from God and distant from church and distant from the community.

I don't think you're here by accident. I think that you're here because hope is calling. your name. And so maybe there's somebody that needs to reaffirm that belief. To say, God, it doesn't all make sense to me yet, but I do believe. I commit myself to follow you. God, I want to walk a life of fullness and joy and purpose and meaning that's only found in the person of Christ. So I want to give you the chance to express that belief to him. I'm gonna say a simple prayer. If you want to give your life to follow Jesus for the first time, if you want to recommit your life to follow Jesus again, I would invite you just to say this simple prayer with me. You don't have to say it out loud. You can just say it in your heart as we pray these words together. Can we bow our heads and pray together? God, we say thank you for Easter. God, what a declaration that the tomb is empty. Because, God, we don't want to live a life that is. God, we recognize that every other religious leader that's ever lived, Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, every one of them has a tomb somewhere in this world. They have a grave marker of some kind, but not you. You're alive. You're alive and you're working in our lives today. And so, Father, we just say thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Thank you for the resurrection and rising again. God, would you forgive us our sins? Would you give us new life? Would you help us overcome what we're facing in this moment? God, we give our lives fully to you. We yield our lives fully to you. We pray that in Christ's name. With every head bowed, with every eye closed, if you can make that commitment for the first time, or if you made that commitment again and reaffirmed today, would you just express that commitment by raising your hand in this moment? Say, God, I do believe in you. I do believe in the resurrection. God, I do want this new life. As hands are going up literally all over this room, Father, I just ask that every single person reaching out to this moment would experience you in a personal way, calling them by name. Fathers, we reach out to you. God, would you reach back to us, that we can walk with you in the life ahead? God, we love you. We say thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.

Come on, let's praise God. Now, in just a moment, we're gonna have an opportunity for those of you who have said yes to Jesus, and those of you who have recommitted your life to respond. I want you to know right from the onset, though, that you have made the best decision you could ever make in your life. God is gonna do the work, praise God, of changing you, transforming you from the inside out, praise God. And our rightful response, when God grants us hope and victory, is to respond in worship. And so I want to invite you to stand to your feet, Willow Creek, and let's sing one last song of worship together. Come on, church. Let's sing this out together. We'll sing your name. Your name, your name is victory. All praise. All praise will rise to Christ our King. Your name. Your name, your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ our King. Your name, your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ our King. Your name, your name is victory. All praise will rise to Christ our King. By your Spirit I will rise. I will rise from the ashes. To the resurrected King. The resurrected King. In your name we come alive. In your name I come alive. To delay your victory. The resurrected King. His resurrected King. By your Spirit I will rise.

From the ashes of your feet. The resurrected King. In your name we come alive. In your name I come alive. To delay your victory. Come on, one more time, we say it. Oh, we come alive in your name, the resurrected King. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Oh, thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. Thank you Jesus, we come alive in your name. A happy Easter, God bless you, we'll see you soon.