Why The Miracle of Easter Can Change Your Life Forever - Louie Giglio

Easter is the most significant day in history, and Jesus was the most significant person who ever lived. You know, he was more than just a religious leader, more than just a good teacher, more than just a good man. He was a good man, but so much more than that. He was more than a prophet, more than a moral teacher. Jesus Christ was one of a kind. God in human skin come down to give his life for the sins of the world. I was so glad on Good Friday we got a gift on Good Friday. Does anybody know that we launched a rocket into space on Wednesday? I am so glad you sat on the front row. This has been the most unimpressive news I have ever shared publicly. I'm not really sure what happened. We launched Artemis 2. This is going to be a manned mission to the moon. I think in 2026, 2027 we'll all have enough technology to know that they're really going. And something really special happened on Friday because for decades we haven't seen a photograph of Earth. The International Space Station is not high enough in orbit to see the entirety of Earth, but the Orion capsule, screaming away from Earth right now to a orbit of the moon, is far enough away. And on Friday, astronaut Reid Wiseman took a photo out of the window of the Orion capsule, came back to Earth. The photo is called Hello World. Good Friday's gift to humanity. And if you really want to geek out just a little bit, some of you are probably never going to geek out over there. You're like, oh yeah, that's Earth. Great, cool, move on. Some of you are geeking out like me right now. Look at one o'clock on Earth. Do you see it? That's the aurora right over the edge of Earth. On Good Friday, we got this gift. And I couldn't help but hear Jesus' words. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life. From heaven, Christ came to that Earth to give his life for you and me. He died, Jesus did, at three o'clock on Friday. And for the Jewish person, Sabbath was coming at sundown. And so I'm not saying his burial was haphazard, but it definitely was a rush job. They had to get Jesus' body off the cross. They had to move him to a nearby cemetery. They had to arrange very quickly a borrowed tomb and wash his body to wrap it as

much as they could, to prepare it with the spices for burial as much as possible, and to get his body in the tomb so that they could be home by the time the sun went down. But on Sunday morning, they were coming back. Once the Sabbath had ended, their plan was to go back to the tomb and to finish what they'd started on Friday. And so these ladies came to the tomb. They didn't come to see a miracle. They didn't come to see a resurrection. They didn't come to be a part of a story that we're sharing at church today, thousands of years later. They came because they knew he was dead and they wanted to finish a proper burial for him. But something happened when they showed up that they didn't plan on. John's account of it goes like this in chapter 20. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple. Now the other disciple is John, the one who's writing this first hand account of what happened. And he went to the other disciple also. She went to the other disciple also and then he kind of clarifies the one Jesus loved and said to them, they've taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple, John, the one writing this, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Check. hoping to look in, he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen clothes lying there and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. Now, can we just pause for a moment? That little key, I think a lot of times we're just gonna go right by this gospel account.

So they looked in the tomb, Peter ran into the tomb, they saw the linen cloths that had wrapped the body of Jesus on the ground, and then nicely folded on the shelf by itself, the piece of cloth that had gone around Jesus' head. What in the world is that about? I think that's God's gift to the investigating mind. Easter is the most significant event in the history of the world, and it is supernatural and miraculous. Jesus came back from the dead. So you know that this has the power to start a movement to change lives all through history, but you also know that it needs to be investigated. And my friends, I'm telling you today, that angel did not move the stone to let Jesus out of the tomb, that angel moved the stone to let you and me into the tomb to see what God has done. And if you're a questioner, an investigator, if you need facts and evidence, God moved that stone so that you could go in and see for yourself what God has done. And this is probably the most investigated event in the history of the world. And yet here we are 2,000 years later, and no one has disproved it. Do you know why? Because Jesus is alive. And there are little footnotes everywhere.

There are little clues everywhere. Oh, come on, it's Easter, so it's okay to clap on Easter. There are little clues everywhere, and one of those little clues, if you are an investigator, if you do have questions and you do wanna sort of turn the stones over, no pun intended, God's left this clue for us there, this neatly folded cloth. Because surely no grave robbers, A, are gonna take the wrapping off Jesus. They're gonna grab the cloth and grab that and use it as a sack to probably carry the body. They're certainly not gonna get in there in dark and say, hey, let's get all the grave clothes off first and then let's take the body out. But they're definitely not gonna say, wait, hold up a minute, guys. I know there's some very bad guards out there who are watching over this tomb, but can we just pause just for a minute while I fold up this little one piece of cloth really neatly and nicely and set it over here? No, no grave robbers are folding up any cloths. The cloth is the clue that when Jesus came back to life, he took the wrap off of his head, the head of the king of kings and said, I have all authority, I've got all the power, I've got the ability to come back to life and bring people back to life. I'm gonna fold this cloth up

that has been on the head of the king of all the ages and I'm gonna lay it nicely and neatly right here as a sign the king was here and he is alive. Well, yeah. You know, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, by the way, we're trying to have a miracle resurrection here and John just won't let it go. He needs to let us know that when he and Peter ran, he got there first. The tomb is empty. Claws are on the ground. Neatly folded. I got here first. Don't be that guy. He also went in and he saw and believed. He saw and believed. John had been with Jesus. They'd been together for years. But on this day, in this moment, he saw and believed for as yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. They'd heard Jesus predict his death and his resurrection. They had heard him foretell these events, but somehow it just didn't add up. until this moment. And when John went in and he saw those cloths on the ground

and that one folded neatly on the shelf, when he saw it, he believed, not believed like, oh, I believe that's your Bible up there on the table. No, he believed like, I'm putting all of my trust and all of my confidence in the finished work of Jesus. He is who he said he is, and he did what he said he was going to do. He was dead, but he is alive. And I believe full confidence and trust in him. And then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And now there were two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they've taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn't know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him and I'll take him away. And then Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to him in Aramaic, rabbi, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I've not yet ascended to the father,

but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And that he had said these things to her. That's the proclamation of Easter. I have seen the Lord. I have heard him call my name and I've seen him. I've had a revelation. I've had my eyes open. The dots have all connected now. I had heard about him, but now I've seen him. I've heard the stories about him, but now I've seen him and I believe in him. That's what Easter is all about. It's what Passion City Church is all about. When you came into the gathering at Cumberland today or came into the gathering here at 515, you saw light bulbs on the wall. And a lot of you around Passion City Church, you know what that's all about. Some of you coming today as a guest or with a friend and you're like, that's kind of weird, there are light bulbs everywhere on the wall. As you come in the front door here, out on the oval, that big Jesus's life wall, a Jesus's life out as you're coming into Cumberland today, what is that all about? Every one of those light bulbs represents somebody

who has that story. I have seen the Lord, not physically seen him, but my spiritual eyes have been open and I realize now who he is. Maybe they had heard about him. Maybe they had an aunt who went to church and talked about him. Maybe their coworker knew about Jesus and they had heard about him from them, but now they've come to a place in life where they said, I have seen him. I've heard him call my name and my eyes have been open to see. And once they make that decision to put their trust in him, to believe in him, to step into the empty tomb and say, I see and I believe, I wanna trust Jesus, his death, burial and resurrection for my salvation. And they take that step of faith. They take a light bulb, they'll put their initials on it or a scripture verse or the date or some other, something else that means something to them. And they'll put it in one of the empty sockets and it will illuminate as a testimony, as a story to every one of us when we come to gather, when we leave the gathering that Jesus is life and he's still bringing people to life. Let me tell you about a couple of the bulbs. This bulb is Allie's bulb. You can't see her writing on there unless you got really, really close.

It's a beautiful story. This bulb is 18 days old. Allie just put her faith in Jesus. Allie's been searching for the last few years. She said that she'd been doing a lot of self-help. She'd been through some therapy. She'd been working on her mental health and self-improvement but she said, even though those things were good, none of them led her. to what she was looking for. Her daughter in first grade said to her a few weeks ago, mom, why doesn't our family go to church? She said, I wanna go to church, mom, and I wanna learn about God. And so Allie looked for a church, found Passion City Church at Trillis. And the second Sunday that we moved into our new location there in February, she came to the gathering, one of her first times ever in a gathering like this. She didn't grow up in church, Allie didn't, she didn't know about Jesus. But sitting in that gathering, she realized this Jesus they're talking about is who I've been looking for all this time. And she started inching her way toward Jesus. She has a friend who's a part of Passion City Church, Trillis, and she started walking that journey with her. She started asking questions and trying to navigate what it looked like

to come into a relationship with Jesus. She said to her friend, after one of the Sundays, she said, man, at the end of the gathering, I almost made that decision to say, I wanna put my faith in Jesus, but I was nervous to do it in front of all those people. And her friend said, Allie, you don't have to make that decision in a gathering on a Sunday. You can put your trust in Jesus anytime and anywhere that you decide you wanna do that. And she said, oh, I'm so glad you're telling me that because I want you to be there with me when I do it. A few Wednesday nights ago, March 18th, at a T-ball game, Allie and her friend are sitting there, I'm sure totally engrossed in this massive competition. No, they're sitting there talking it through. And the more they're talking, Allie is saying to her at the T-ball game, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to put my faith in Jesus. And so they get up and go away to a little quiet place at the T-ball field. And right there, Allie prayed with her friend and put her faith and her trust in Jesus. And Allie, just 18 days ago, went from spiritual death to spiritual life because of the resurrection power of Jesus. Allie was at the nine o'clock gathering this morning. I got a chance to meet her

and say hi to her for the first time. Let me tell you about Tammy. Tammy was in a hard season of life. Her husband was in a battle with cancer. And when her husband died, the grief and the pain and the loss tipped her over the edge into a precipice that just slid into addiction. And for eight years, Tammy was under the cloud of alcohol, but she had a breakthrough. And she went to be with our friends at a great organization called Agape. And the beautiful thing about Agape is, is that they bring the women from their organization to church at Passion City Church Cumberland on occasion. And on October 15th, 2023, a van load of them came to church at Passion City Church Cumberland. The beautiful part of that story is, is that the van they came to church in that day is a van that you provided for Agape through your Above and Beyond Giving in 2020. And so here are these precious ladies in this van that you provided on their way to church. And at the end of the message at the 1145 gathering, people were given an opportunity to put their faith in Jesus. And hands just shot up right over here. Seven of these women that morning put their faith in Jesus. And one of them was Tammy, who said yes to the love of God, who said yes to understanding that God wasn't against her,

that he was for her, that God didn't hate her, that he loved her, that he had a purpose and a plan for her life. And she said yes to Jesus that day. And Tammy is now two years sober, loving God. She is in the gathering at Cumberland right now on Easter Sunday, alive from the dead. A light bulb is a story of God's faithfulness and goodness and how when we put our trust in him, he brings us from death to life because of the resurrection power of Jesus. I'm gonna tell you one more story. This story is a story, one of the most powerful stories that I've ever been a part of. In February, 2021, right out in the oval right here at 515, one of the couples in our church had come to a core class and they got the phone call right here that every parent dreads. They got the call that their 29-year-old daughter, Brooke, had been tragically killed in an automobile accident late that afternoon in Kansas, where she and her husband lived. A tractor trailer coming opposite her on the interstate with a load of metal pipes lost control and the load came over the concrete barrier into Brooke's lane and into her oncoming car and she instantly died. She left her Bible and her devotion open on the ottoman in the den when she left the house that morning. Her husband, Tom, was assistant tennis coach

for the women's team at the time at the university where they lived and Tom probably wouldn't have said he was against God, but he definitely wasn't a follower of Jesus, but he'd had a front row seat of watching Brooke's relationship with Jesus and he knew what it looked like to see somebody walk with God and grow into God's purpose and plan for their life and in the days that followed her death, turns out he'd been thinking more about God than he had let on and he sat down with a friend and he put his faith and his trust in the finished work of Jesus and right then and there in the midst of all the grief of her death, Tom went from death to life in Jesus. Amen. His bulb came from the cross wall out by the door that you're gonna walk past on the way out. The way it got in there was unreal. We had Brooke's celebration of life service right here. Brooke believed in the empty tomb. We left to go, and the pallbearers were walking beside Brooke's casket down the main corridor here toward the door with Tom. All the rest of us were behind. And unbeknownst to any of us, Tom, somehow from somebody on our team, had gotten a light bulb and written his initials on it.

And he tucked it at the welcome desk up by the door. And as soon as Brooke's casket got to the door, he told everyone, stop. He walked over, took the bulb that he had placed there with his initials on it, and went and walked up the ladder onto the cross wall and put his light bulb in the wall, saying, I have gone from death to life. I have gone from death to life because of the resurrection of Jesus. That is a picture of resurrection life. Brooke is not there. Only her body is in that casket. And Tom is alive because of the witness of her life and because of the prayers of the people who had taken a light bulb when we first put the Jesus's life wall up and had prayed for it every day. Some people took a home, put it by their bed. Some people took a light bulb, put it in the cup holder of their car. Some people put it on their desk at work. That light bulb represented a neighbor, a family member, a co-worker, someone that they knew didn't have a relationship with Jesus. And they prayed for their light bulb. And Dana and Steve Naylor, Brooke's mom and dad, took a light bulb, too. And they prayed for it every single day. And that light bulb they prayed for was Tom. When Tom's light bulb goes back in that wall, which it will today, that's Steve and Dana's light bulb, too.

And if you're in this gathering today and you do not have a relationship with Jesus, I guarantee you there's somebody praying for you right now. They may know that you came to church today, or they may not. They may have heard that you were coming on Easter, or they may not know that you're here, but there's somebody praying for you right now. And they're praying that you would see and that you would believe, that your eyes would be open to truly see how much God loves you and that he has given his son for you. I wonder today, I wonder if this is your light bulb, because I can't think of a better day than Easter 2026 to say yes to the saving work of Jesus and to put your trust and faith fully in him.