You Believe the Resurrection. Have You Surrendered? - Death to Life - Matthew S7E4

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] You know, life is full of distractions, all sorts of difficult things, and you know, this is an opportunity to worship together, dive into God's Word and lean in for what He has for us. Yeah, and no matter where you're watching from, welcome. We are moving for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. So if you're one of our outposts, welcome. If you're watching from your truck, if you're at your home, if you're halfway across the globe, you are part of this movement. Hey, we want to know where you're listening from.

So watching from. So go ahead, put your name in on there, where you're watching from, or even if you've got a prayer request. You've got people ready to pray with you. So welcome. Yeah, most definitely. You know, this is an opportunity, you know, as we jump into services this weekend, where we are wrapping up season seven. Yes, we are. Season seven of the Book of Matthew, and you know, we're going to be talking about the resurrection and services this weekend, and then, you know, as we think about this idea of seasons, you know, you think about Netflix seasons. And you know, one season ends, and you're anticipating what's happening next. We'll have good news for you next week, we'll be in season eight, where we launch neighbors to nations. Yeah, it's going to be incredible. And we're going to be five weeks going through all about the next two-year discipleship journey will be taken as a church. And so I want to challenge you, don't miss a single week, these next five weeks, lock in. If you're within driving distance of one of our physical locations, stop by there, watch online. You do not want to miss a single week. We believe that God has something for you, and we even have a discipleship journal packet thing for you, that you can walk through the next five weeks of where we're going as a church. Yeah, neighbors to nations is a two-year discipleship initiative, and part of that initiative is to find community. Jump into biblical community, you're in a disciple group, I'm in a disciple group. We need people walking alongside us towards Jesus.

We only Mac carries with the calm around here. And so you can text the word next to 44-1122, and you can find a disciple group, and you might open that page and get a little overwhelmed, because there are disciple groups everywhere around the world. And we have something on October 26th called Discover Groups. These are going to be hosted at our campuses by our campus pastors and online by our online ministers. And it's an opportunity to experience what a disciple group is and to find one for you. Yeah, the disciple groups are incredible, and special shout out to someone out there. Her name is Missy. She's a boss. She's launched an online disciple group, and that thing branched off into three more disciple groups that have been going from that. So if that's you, you need to take that next step, join a disciple group, and you go to the server groups, or maybe you need to lead your own disciple group. But guess what Missy did as well? She launched an outpost as well, and so man, God's got sent them for you. So always be thinking, what's my next step of obedience? If you're not into the disciple group, that is your next step. Yeah, you know, I think Missy's story just shows us, you know, everyone is looking for biblical community. And so, you know, you have an opportunity to lean in and join one through Discover Group. So we're ready for all that God is going to do in our services. So grab a Bible, grab a pen, and something to write with and get ready to worship together. Let's go baby. Good morning. Welcome to the Church of 1122. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer.

We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. We see you in the summer. (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language)

(singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Free and warm ♪ ♪ God of the Lord ♪ ♪ God of the Spirit ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King ♪ ♪ Come on, sing praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Free and warm ♪ ♪ God of the Lord ♪ ♪ God just sing ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King ♪ ♪ God of the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King ♪ ♪ God of the Lord ♪ ♪ Praise forever ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ I save you, God, to me ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ ♪ My save you, God, to me ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then sings my soul ♪

♪ My save you, God, to me ♪ ♪ How great thou ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ ♪ My save you, God, to me ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ ♪ How great thou are ♪ - Come on, y'all, by this way. ♪ Come out and shoot before you ♪ ♪ Your demons wrought and free ♪ ♪ I'll be next to loving me ♪ ♪ King of my just feet ♪ ♪ There is no power in love ♪ ♪ For every great thing ♪ ♪ We follow the power ♪ ♪ And the presence of the great are ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ The great are, yeah ♪ ♪ The great are, yeah ♪ (upbeat rock music) [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, in his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the woman, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who's crucified." He is not here, for he has risen as he said. God raised him up, losing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. He is not here, for he has risen. A great light dawns in Galilee. Some sing mad man, some say he came. One to work in rebel priest. Jesus Christ the Nazareth. He knew well what it would take, to free us all from sin and grief. A perfect man would have to die, and only he could pay that price. Friday's good 'cause Sunday's coming. Don't lose hope 'cause Sunday's coming. Then when you're done, you better start running. Friday's good 'cause Sunday's coming. They let their soldiers take it in. They send a train with a kiss. They're before the mock crowd. Yeah, like a lamb to the slaughter didn't make us out. They didn't carry that cross to Calvary. And he shed his body set us free. The redemption of the world is always hard Friday's good 'cause Sunday's coming

The dawnless hope this Sunday's coming Tell your girl you better stop running Friday's good 'cause Sunday's coming Oh yes Let him breathe his light And bow his head The Son of God And man his death With bloody hands Tears on their face And they laid him down Inside the grave But that wasn't the end That wasn't the end That wasn't the end Let me tell you what happened next We'll be calling before the dawn And find that soul had already gone We'll be looking inside the angels' cell And while you're looking for the living of love The dead is alive He's alive All in the air he is alive Give him praise Lift him high All in the air he is alive He's alive He's alive All in the air he is alive Give him praise

Lift him high All in the air he is alive All in the air All in the air All in the air All in the air All in the air Now Jesus hands Upon the throne All heaven seek To him We watch him wait Like a gun bright for the groom O church, rise He's coming soon Lord, thank you that you are living and active That you are here today You're not just some historical figure that we read about But you are here today through the power of your Holy Spirit Redeeming broken and dead hearts And letting us walk into resurrection life That you bought for us because you were forever seated At the right hand of the Father, Jesus And so we celebrate your victory We celebrate your resurrection That you'll never fail us You'll never leave us You're not going anywhere So we just step into the light of eternity today As your church, as your bride, as your ecclesia

Say you are worthy of our worship You are worthy of our praise Forever and ever and ever In Jesus' name we all say Amen and amen Y'all can take a seat Amen Welcome to the Church of 1122 Where we are a movement for all people To discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ As a church we've been walking through the gospel According to Matthew all year this year And today we're going to land the plane on season 7 Where we have been looking at the arrest And the crucifixion of Jesus And today, I don't know if you know this Happy Eastern October because we are going to celebrate The resurrection today Not just looking at it in the text At the end of the service We're going to celebrate the resurrection through baptism So get excited about that The end of one season means the beginning of the next And next week we start season 8 In the gospel according to Matthew the last season for us And we've entitled it "Neighbors to Nations" And it's not just the start of the last season in Matthew for us It's actually the start of a two-year discipleship journey for us As a church where we are going to be leaning into the great commission Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 where Jesus said

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" And it's such an important conversation for us as a church We've created a discipleship guide that you'll get when you come in next week And we have one for every one of you But we don't have one, Caitlin, if you leave yours and the nail salon or Ron, I don't know, what future potential mayors do in their free time, but don't leave this whatever you're doing. Hold on to it, write your name into it, put it somewhere where you'll bring it every week. It's a five-week series, let me challenge you. You're gonna wanna be here all five weeks. This is a significant faith family conversation, and speaking of faith family, every week that I'm up here, I wanna do whatever I can to help you make this place your place. Whether this is your first week here, or you've been here the whole time we've been running, one of the ways that we do that, that you don't just attend a service here, but you belong to this amazing, big, beautiful family. It's by being in a disciple group, and I know that that can be hard to figure out, which disciple group do I get into, or how do I start one? Well, starting on Monday, October 26th, as we walk through this series through November 16th, on Monday nights from 6.30 to 8, I'll be here, I'll have food and childcare.

The best combination of two phrases you could have, food and childcare, gonna get an amen, parents. Join me here, we'll walk through the sermon, we'll talk about it together, I'll introduce you to some friends, and I'll help you find your place here. Right now, we're gonna continue to worship, so grab a Bible, grab a pen, and something to write on, and let's listen to this testimony. - I was sitting on my dorm room floor with my roommate, and we were doing our homework. I was, as I'm kind of telling her how I'm feeling, she kind of started broaching me with little questions. I kept reiterating like there is something missing, I am feeling alone, and I asked the question, is this God? Like, well, what do I do about that? And she was like, you pray, was I, I don't know how to do that. I was like, I don't know what to say, I don't know how I would do that. And she was like, it's really, all you need to do is ask to be saved, ask for him to be with you, and that is all you need to do. And she was like, but I'll do it with you, and she reached her hands out, and I grabbed her hands, and she prayed with me. It was like an immediate weight lifted off.

(dramatic music) From that moment, I began to kind of pursue that relationship. It was very slow at first, but the deeper that I got into it, it's kind of like, you're just gaining momentum, you're gaining speed, you wanna be a part of the kingdom of God, then I definitely saw that. Since I was saved, going to church has become a huge part of my life. Worship for me is the place that I feel the Holy Spirit the most, and I was here on Eastern. I am standing there, and we are worshiping, and I am watching all of these people get baptized on the screen. I'm watching it happen, I'm singing, and it just felt like an overwhelming, like, you need to go and do that. And I turned to my friend, and I gave her a look. And she kind of gave me a look back, and I was like, I need to go do that right now. Like, right now I'm gonna go do that. And she was like, okay. And we were just like, ran out there, and we got in the line, and I was prayed over, and I was baptized, and it was joyful. (dramatic music)

- It felt the right thing, just the right moment, the right time, to clear it to others, to clear it to myself, and to clear it to him, that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and that I deeply believe that. (congregation applauding) Amen. 11-22, it's so good to be with you, and invite you to open up your Bible, So the Book of Matthew, chapter 27. Matthew 27 will start in verse 57, here in a second, picking up what Pastor Joby left off last week. Before we jump in, let me tell you two things. First of all, if you're a Christian, and you're here while the Jacksonville Jaguars are playing, solid chance that you're going to have, and congratulations. That's like confirmation of your salvation. And if you're not a believer, and you're here, when the Jaguars are playing, I'm just telling you God's coming after you, so you're probably out of listening today. But I'm glad you're here, man. We're going to do two things. We're sort of landing the plane on the gospel of Matthew today, celebrating greatest events in human history, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ

from the dead, y'all ready? I'm excited about that. And also, we're going to celebrate that by giving anyone here that feels like right at the end of the message, it's gonna be a short message today, shorter than normal to be baptized. If God's been at work in your heart, baptism is a picture of the resurrection of Christ. Christ was buried and he was raised to the newness of life and that's what we're gonna do today, give you the opportunity to be baptized, public profession of your faith in front of God and everybody that you belong to Jesus. So let's, we're gonna pick up where Pastor Joby left off last week at the cross, but I wanna begin by asking you a quick question. Have you ever thought about how often you can put three words in the English language together? And once you hear those three words, those three words have the power to change your life. Probably not, but I did. And I was thinking about it, you know, you start dating a girl at some point and things are going well and you're being a gentleman, you're being awesome and pointing her to Jesus and eventually she looks at you and says three words. She says, I love you, right? And once she says that, man, your life is probably never the same 'cause you think,

man, I love her too. And so you continue to date and one day you decide you wanna marry her. And you get down on a knee and you ask her to marry her and she looks at you and says, yes, I will. Three words, but make no mistake, gentlemen, those three words will change your life. And then you get married and you both get jobs, you get an apartment, two incomes, life is good. And then one day that sweet girl walks up to you and says three words that will really forever change your life. She says, I am pregnant. You know what I'm talking about changing your life? Parents, can I get a name in? I'm talking about make you poor for the next 22 years. It will change your life. Man, there's all kinds of three-word combinations that once you hear them, your life is never the same. But listen, today in the text, we're gonna see three different three-word combinations that in my humble opinion have more power to change your life than any three-word combinations in the history of the English language. Number three, number two, number one. Let's look at number three here for a second. I actually don't have the scripture on the screen, but Pastor Joby addressed it last week. It's in John 19, 29. Jesus is on the cross.

He says, the jar of sour wine stood there. So they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he says, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. There's just three words, right? There's three words, but I'm gonna tell you, those three words are far more powerful than even than I am pregnant. Amen? 'Cause it is finished. Here's what it means for you and for me. It means the sinless Son of God has shed his blood. It is finished. It tells us that the veil of the temple that had separated us from the presence of Almighty God has been torn from top to bottom. And now you and I can go boldly before the presence of God because of the blood of Christ. It's just three words, it is finished. It is maybe summed up best by that old hymn, one of my favorites that said, my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Oh, my soul, you listen here. As amazing as those three words are, it is finished. Church is still Friday at this point.

And Jesus, as he cried out those words, he breathed his last breath. And in that moment, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ has died. Let's read it together, Matthew 27, 57. And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. And he went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Church is Friday. And they call it good Friday for a reason, here's why. Because Satan has been defeated, make no mistake. When Jesus said, it is finished, he's finished, it's over. It's Friday, they call it good Friday, because our sin has been a tone for by the blood of the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. It's Friday, and the Scripture has been fulfilled, but it's Friday. is laying lifeless and a cold, dark grave. It's Friday, but Church of 11.22, I have really, really good news for you, and that is Sunday is coming. Sunday's coming, and when Sunday finally comes, when Sunday finally comes, another three words

are gonna be spoken, and when you hear and believe and surrender to those three words. Everything changes. Matthew 28.1, now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, his clothing wide as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men, but the angels said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus "who is crucified, for he is not here." Here it is, "for he has risen." Amen. Greatest three words, you and I will ever hear. He is risen. There are no other words that have ever been spoken that have the power to change your life and eternity like those three words. Church, I know that because they've changed mine radically, completely changed mine as a matter of fact. Those three words have changed, transformed lives from every generation since that moment, from every continent, from all over the world, you've got old and young, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, famous, unknown, powerful, powerless for 2,000 years, people's lives have fundamentally,

radically been changed, we'll talk about in a minute, when they've heard those three amazing words, "he is risen." Now, here's what we're gonna look at today. Here's what we're gonna see today. And this is really huge, and I want you to tune in, especially if you've been around church for a while. We're gonna see today in the text, and I think there might be a few of us that haven't seen this in the text. I'm gonna say that because I hadn't seen it in the text, when Pastor Jobey and I Thursday night did the Deepen podcast, he said he'd never seen it in the text, and he's super smart, and so we ought to pay attention today, because here's what we're gonna see. It's one thing to hear those words, he is risen, and we're gonna see that it's something else to believe those words, and then we're gonna see that it's something all together different to surrender to those words. Because what we're about to see here today is that there is gonna be two groups of people in the text, in the Bible, we're gonna see them, two separate groups of people, and both of them are gonna be eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. Both of them are gonna see it, and the crazy part is both of them are gonna believe it. You're gonna say two groups, see the resurrection, see the empty tomb, and we're gonna find out

they both fundamentally believe that Jesus rose from the grave, and what we're gonna see from the scripture is that only one of them is gonna spend a turn to you in heaven. How in the world is that possible? Well, honestly, what we see today at the end of Matthew, I think it's one of the scariest places in the Bible, it ranked right up there in my mind with Matthew chapter seven where Jesus is talking about the group of people on the last day that are gonna say, Jesus, we did this in your name, and we did that in your name, and we did this in your name, and Jesus is gonna look at him and say, "Depart from me, I never knew you!" Y'all, that's scary. But then here, what we actually see is a group of people, listen carefully, they saw the empty tomb, they believe Jesus rose from the grave, but because they were not willing to walk away and to renounce their former life, even though they believe in the resurrection, they're gonna say no to Jesus. They knew all the facts about the resurrection, but because they couldn't walk away from their own life, they're gonna say no to Jesus, and they're gonna lose everything. We're gonna see in real time the literal picture of what Jesus said when he talked about, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world

but forfeits his soul. We're about to see some guys make the decision to say no to Jesus and they're gonna forfeit. How is that possible? Well, we're gonna see it and understand what's going on. You got to go back to Saturday, right? Just read that he is risen. He's live. Let's jump back in time to Saturday, and I'll show you how this happened Look at Matthew 2762 Matthew 2762 Saturday morning Jesus is still in the tomb This is the next day that is after the day of preparation the chief priest and the Pharisees He's the guys that that had Jesus killed they gathered before Pilate and Said sir, we remember how that imposter said while he was still alive After three days, I will rise again So the the chief priests and the Pharisees go to Pilate after the death of Jesus and they say hey Pilate We remember that Jesus kept saying that after he died three days later. He was gonna rise again Which is kind of fascinating because Jesus said that how many times like ten times and the disciples never heard it But apparently the Pharisees were paying attention. It's a little side note there And so they they're like man he kept saying he's gonna rise from the grave He goes therefore verse 64 therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day Let's just disciples go and steal them away and tell the people he's risen from the dead and the last fraud Will be worse than the first So Pilate said to them you have a guard of soldiers go Make it as secure as you can So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and Setting a guard. All right. So here's what's going on so far chief priest Pharisees. They remember Jesus said that on third day He would rise again now remember at this point. They don't believe he's gonna rise from the grave But they remember Jesus said he would and so they're thinking what's gonna happen is that his disciples are gonna come steal his body from the tomb and then tell everybody see Jesus rose from the grave and they're gonna like start a religion or whatever and So they go to Pilate and say hey, we can't let that happen

And so is there any way you can secure this tomb so the so they can't get his body out and Pilate Roman governor says this he says here's what you need to do was seal the tomb and Let's take a guard and you guard it so that nobody can mess with it. Now. Here's the situation check this out They have a stone and by the way you remember it said a great stone They got a great stone in front of the tomb to keep the body in They've taken a seal and we don't know what kind of seal it was but they sealed the stone to keep everybody else out And they took professional soldiers that are armed and are guarding it to keep anybody from interfering church They have done everything humanly Possible to secure that tomb, but there was one thing that they had not accounted for and that was the power of Almighty God And we're about to see Matthew 28 one Now after the Sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week Mary Magdalene the other Mary went to see the tomb and Behold there's a great earthquake For the angel now pay attention carefully. We've heard this a bunch Try to try to see this in your mind And behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and Sat on it, which I've always thought that was kind of funny. It's pretty cool The angel rose back to stone and sat on the stone when I get to heaven I'm a hug Jesus. I'm a hug my mom and I'm going right to that guy and go bro. Why'd you sit on the stone? It's super cool, but why'd you do it? Roll the way the stone sat on it now check out his appearance because it matters his appearance was like lightning and His clothing Was white as snow. All right, so you have an earthquake Angel ascends from heaven descends from heaven. He looks like lightning So I don't know that that's pretty intense. He looks like lightning and And then sits on the stone, right? So this is not like a one of those little naked baby angels with a harp

Did you see like this is this is Michael or Gabriel? We don't know but he's a big deal. He looks like lightning and apparently Apparently he was pretty intimidating because I want you to watch the response of these professional soldiers Right, I want you to look at verse Matthew 28 for I want you to watch the response It says and for fear of him talking about the angel the two the two soldiers and for fear of him the guards trembled and became like So I looked that up, did some research on that sentence and looked in the original language. The word "trimbled" is not like they kind of shaken. It's actually a really intense word. It means to shake violently. And so one thing we know about these guys is even though they were professional soldiers and they had one job, that's to keep the stone from being rolled away. Angel came, rolled away. It looks like lightning. When they saw him, they started shaking violently because they were so afraid of this angel. It just matters here in a second. They were aware that they were encountering a supernatural being. They were shaking violently and it says they became like dead men. And I didn't know what that means. I had to look that up to him like, does that mean they died? Does that mean they passed out? What does it mean to become like a dead man? And here's what I'm convinced of after studying this for a minute. In the Greek, it really means one or two things. Either they passed out or they were playing dead. And I am convinced and I'll show you what I mean and here in a few minutes at the end of the message, I'm convinced they did not pass out because listen, what we're about to see in a minute is these guys are going to go and they're going to tell the chief

priests everything that happened. I think they were playing dead. I think those dudes were sitting there doing their job and they looked up and there's an angel descending from heaven and they look like lightning and they're literally shaking and they're like, hey bro, what are we going to do? I don't know, man. That's an angel played dead. All right. That's right. They just laid out. We're going to see in a minute they heard everything. Okay? Now, look at verse 5. The angel begins to speak, doesn't talk to the dudes they're playing dead on the ground, but he does start talking to the women. In verse 5 he says, "But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified, for he is not here, for he has risen.'" Now watch what he says next. He says, "Come and see the place where he lay." Come and see. The place where he like rose away his stone, soldiers like playing dead, angel looks at the women and says, "Hey, Mary, Mary, come in here and see where Jesus laid." Now, fascinating side note, I don't know if you've ever paid attention to before, but Jesus is not in the tomb right then. He's already alive. He's already out of the tomb. How do we know that? Because the angel is super clear. He says, "He is not here." And so somewhere in the morning, the Lord resurrected Jesus.

Jesus is alive. He's conquered death at this point. He says, "He's not here. He has past tense, risen," and then he says, "Come and see Mary where he used to lay." Church question, if Jesus isn't in the tomb, why did the angel roll away the stone? You ever thought about that? It wasn't to let Jesus out. He's already out. So the reason that the angel rolled away the stone was not to let Jesus out. He rolled away the stone to let the two women in and see. Why does that matter? I'm going to tell you why it matters. And it's actually a really, really big deal. And I've heard Pastor Joby talk about this before, but I want to remind you what this means is that two women were the very first eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay? Now, in the 21st century, United States were like, "Okay, great. Awesome." But back in the day, that's a really, really, really, really big deal. I'm going to tell you why. Because one of the push facts on the resurrection is it was all a fake. It never really happened. Peter, James, and John decided, "You know what we're going to do? We're going to start a religion. We're going to fake the resurrection, and then we're going to write about it and send it out there, and we'll start a religion, and we're going to get tortured to death, but we're never going to admit it." Sad note. But that's this to me right here, the fact that the text admits that the very first eyewitness of the resurrection was a woman to me definitively proves.

One hundred percent proves that this was not some made-up story, but this actually happened. I'm going to tell you why. Because back in that culture, women were considered second-class citizens. Women could not testify in court. Did you know that? And so if you were making up a story, the whole thing first eyewitnesses of the resurrection were, and it's all made up, there is literally zero chance that Matthew would have written down in a fabricated story that a woman was the first eyewitness of the resurrection they absolutely would not have done it. Would it immediately been discounted? The reason that Matthew writes that Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness of the resurrection is because Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness of the resurrection. Now what's even crazier is who Mary was. Now, if you've been in church at all, you've heard that Mary had a past, and she did. Church history recounts that Mary was a former prostitute. Did you know the Bible actually never says that? It's possible that she was, but here's what the Bible does say about her is that she was demon-possessed, and not only was she demon-possessed, but she was demon-possessed. She had seven demons. That's a lot of demons, y'all. This is a woman that is likely completely ostracized by everyone. I probably think she's mentally ill. If she's had an encounter with men, it's no doubt because they are using her. One line is this was a woman that was fundamentally and hopelessly broken. She was hopelessly broken until she met a man named Jesus Christ, and listen, and I want to say something because this is the whole thing where I'm going today. When she met Jesus, Jesus did not make Mary a better person. When Mary met Jesus, Jesus didn't fix some of her issues. Church, what the Scripture tells us is that when Mary met Jesus, Jesus made Mary a brand new creation.

He like made her...he fundamentally transformed her life. He didn't make her better. You don't make people that are possessed with seven demons better, but if you're Jesus, fundamentally change your life. As a matter of fact, I want to read a Scripture to you because that's what today, that's what the resurrection, that's what baptism is all about. In some of you, man, I want you to hear it, fresh ears today. Second Corinthians 5, 17, it talks about what happens in your life in my life when we encounter Jesus. Are you ready? Paul said this. He said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ," that just means if you put your faith into Jesus and you've trusted into Jesus, he said, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." He says, "The old has passed away." That means the old you is gone and it said, "Behold, the new has come." Now listen, I was reading that this week and I thought, I wonder why Paul said, "Behold, the new has come." You ever thought about that? Because Pastor Joby teaches us all the time, "Bobble doesn't waste words." So I'm like, "There's a reason the word behold is in there. It's a cool word, but we don't walk around saying behold all the time, do we?" I found out this that behold, almost every time you see it in the Bible, they say the word "behold" because they're kind of trying to get your attention because a miracle is about to happen. I'll throw out the Scriptures, "Behold miracle." For example, I'll tell you a little quick funny story, get your brain around this. I'm going to say something, you think I'm just trying to be funny, it's actually a true statement. I am the most mechanically stupid human being you've ever personally met or seen in your

entire life. Like I'm horrible at it. I just can't do it. There's a couple of things I'm decent at, but my dad, my dad, as I grew up, he was so frustrated with me. He was a Captain and Dallas Fire Department, he just built things with his hands and I just can't do it. And it's not like I'm lazy, I work hard, I just can't do this. And I remember back in the day, I wanted to go to West Point and so I'm starting to apply for it. Had good grades, all that stuff. And by the way, I saw the blue angels yesterday, you Navy people, man, y'all are incredible. That little side note there, that was unbelievable. God bless the USA. But anyway, so I was wanting to go to West Point and my uncle was the guidance counselor in the high school and he said, "Well, Matt, you need to take the Azvab test." I'm like, "Cool, I'm decent at tests, so I take the Azvab test and I discovered really quickly. It's all just a bunch of mechanical stuff." It's like, which way do you turn the screw? It's like I'm reading a foreign language. And a few days later, my uncle calls me in his office and he says, "Well, I got bad news and good news. What do you want first?" This is a true story. I said, "Well, man, give me the bad news." You're not going to West Point, you're gonna have to go to A&M being the core. You ain't getting to West Point. Whoop.

He sounds like, "Okay, what's the good news?" He said, "The good news. "Don't email me, this is a true story." He said, "The good news is that your test "were so bad you qualified "for the special education exemption on the test." (audience laughing) And so it'll up your score just a little bit. And so, like I would never come in here saying, "Behold, I'm preaching this sermon." 'Cause that's not a miracle. I have just done it a few times, but for example, if my truck broke down on the way here and I opened up the hood and I did a few things and fixed it and drove in here, the first thing I would do is walk into this church and say, "Behold, I have fixed my truck." 'Cause it's a miracle, right? The Bible, that's what it's saying. Let me read it to you one more time. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come to miracle. Paul doesn't say that if you're in Christ, behold, you become a better person. Come a better person is not a miracle. You can watch Dr. Phil and become a better person. He says, "Behold, if you trust in Jesus, "Jesus is gonna take all the old stuff

"that's messed you up for so long "and He's gonna be done with it "and He's gonna transform you miraculously "into a brand new creation." Why? Why? Does God choose to reveal Himself first? Greatest moment in history. Why does God choose to reveal the resurrection first to a former demon-possessed, hopelessly broken woman? Doesn't say. I have a feeling, I have a feeling it's this, it's my theory. The reason that the Lord in His grace and awesomeness chose to reveal the resurrection first to a former demon-possessed, hopelessly broken woman. This is my theory. It's because He wanted you and me to know. He wanted you to know. He wanted me to know. That the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof. That if He can radically fundamentally change her, He can radically and fundamentally change you. Man, that's why. That's my theory. Why is it the birth of Christ that they choose to go and the angels go to a bunch of shepherds first? That's because they didn't have access

to the sacrificial system. It's like today in the city of David, there has been born for you, a savior, who is Christ, the Lord. It's screaming from the rooftops, the heart of our God. Nobody is too far gone to be saved by the blood and the life of Jesus Christ. That's the message this morning. Nobody, nobody, nobody. If He can save her, if He can save me, He can change and save you. I'm gonna lay on the plane today by saying a couple more things. Number one is, what do you think her response was? I don't have time to go through the scripture, just got a couple minutes left and we're gonna give you an opportunity to respond today through baptism. But Mary's response, what do you think her response is? She, this man that had completely fundamentally changed her life, had brought her from death to life. She loved him desperately. He had died. She's going to the tomb to see him. He's not there. The angel says, hey, Mary, he's alive. What do you think her response was? She's like, all right.

The angel's like, go tell the disciples she takes off running and as she's running, Jesus calls her name. See it, Mark, he calls her out Mary. And she sees him and here's the response. It's gonna matter in a second. She throws herself at his feet. She wraps her arms around his feet and just starts weeping and worshiping. When Mary saw definitively the empty tomb, her response was surrender and worship. I'm gonna show you one more response. There was another group of people that were eyewitnesses to the resurrection that morning. We've already talked about them. You were the guards. We'll see what happens next. This is the part that Pastor Joe was like, man, I have never drawn the dots for this. Matthew 28, 8. Actually, no, it's not Matthew 20. That's Mary. They departed the dead. This is Matthew 2811, it's the guards here. Guards get up from plan dead and it says, while they were going behold some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priest all that had taken place. All seems like a lot. So the guards, after Mary takes off, angel disappeared, they're like,

all right, let's quit playing dead. They get up, they go into the city, they find the chief priest, and they tell the chief priest everything that happened. They're like chief priest, we're standing there doing our job and an angel came from heaven. You know how we know he came from heaven? 'Cause we saw him come from heaven. And that dude rolled away the stone by himself and sat on it. We were so scared, well they probably didn't say that part, but they told him everything that happened. They're like, Jesus is not there. It was not the disciples, it was an angel, he's alive. Now what do you think that the chief priests are gonna do? They're obviously gonna fall like Mary on their knees and worship God, right? Toom's empty. Jesus says everything he ever said he was. He's alive. God sent an angel, like this is real. Obviously they've made a mistake. Jesus is the Messiah, so they're gonna renounce everything. They're gonna repent. They're gonna fall down on their knees, and they're gonna worship and give their lives to the risen King of Kings in the Lord of Lords, right? Look at Matthew 28, 12. And when they assembled with the elders,

and so the chief priest left there from hearing the testimony that Jesus is alive, they go to the elders. They assembled with the elders and taken counsel. They gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers. And said, tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while they were asleep. If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed. And the story has been spread among the Jews to this day, unbelievable. It's one of the most haunting verses in the whole Bible. Scripture's clear, the soldiers and the chief priests from everything we can tell completely believed that Jesus rose from the grave. But instead of surrendering to Jesus, they did the math, listen, almost done. They did the math on what it was gonna cost them. If they surrendered to Jesus, and worship Jesus, like Mary. Like man, if I follow Jesus, I might, I'm probably gonna lose my job. If I follow Jesus, I'm gonna lose my position and my power. If I follow Jesus, I'm gonna have to admit to everyone that I was completely wrong. If I follow Jesus, I'm gonna have to give up the security of my future, and church, they did the math, they did the math on what they were gonna have to give up in order to follow Jesus, and they chose the job, and they chose the position, and they chose the power,

and they kept all the stuff in the world, and they forfeited their souls. They forfeited their souls. Jesus, he didn't talk about hell a ton. But when he did, he said this, he said that, he said that hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus said that, not me, Jesus did. Weeping sorrow, hell is gonna be a place of sorrow. So it's gonna be a place of gnashing of teeth. I've only gnashed my teeth a couple of times that I can remember, number one, and I fell out of a truck one time, dislocated my knee, and I gnashed my teeth in pain. There's a couple other times I remember, this is kind of dumb, but it's just a thing. When my little boy was three JD, we were throwing the ball, and he just couldn't catch it, and this is a kid that ended up getting walk-on offers in D1 schools, a good athlete, and I just had a bad day at work, and I was frustrated, and I just yelled at him, like, really, like, catch the ball, or something stupid, 'cause I'm stupid, and he just lowered his head, and to this day, every once in a while, I think about it, I go, regret. You gnashed your teeth because of regret. This I know, when those men were separated from God from all eternity, and we know it's for all eternity, when they think about that moment, I promise you they're gonna gnashed your teeth

because gosh, church, salvation was this close. Pastor Joby, last week, said this, he said, "Some of your hesitant to completely surrender to Jesus because of what you might have to give up." Then he said something really profound. He's like, "Yeah, you're going to have to walk away from sexual morality." They said, "But all you're doing is trading it in for the peaceful fruit of righteousness." He said, "Yeah, man, you might have to give up personal control of your finances and be all in to the kingdom of God, but all you do is trade it in for experiencing the joy of generosity." He's like, "Man, yeah, you might have to give up addiction, but yeah, you're going to experience a freedom and a peace like you never have." Church, can I just tell you, man, can I just tell you, I'm telling you, if those Roman soldiers, somehow some way could come speak to us today, "I am telling you, this is what they would say. They would say, "Do not miss your chance to give your life to Jesus. Do not miss your chance, it's not worth it." And if you're fine, if you're not sure, I told you there were three three word combinations here's the last one, and I'll pray. There was one more thing that was said, three word combination that actually does have the power to change your life, and I want to speak specifically to anybody in the room that's still hesitant to go all in with Jesus. Listen to this, Matthew 28, 6, the angel speaking, he's speaking to the women, he says, "He is not here, for he is risen," watch what the script says, "as he said," as he said, come and see the place where they say, "This hit me like a ton of bricks this week." Angel has two messages for the women that woman. Number one, first message, he is risen, Jesus is alive. Here's the last message, the angel had for the women, "Jesus is always true to His Word." Jesus kept saying, "I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again," guess what? He died and he rose again. So what does that mean for you and me?

I'm going to take my glasses off for this, are you all ready? If Jesus can be trusted when He says, "I'll rise from the dead," He can be trusted when He said, "You follow me, you're going to have the fullness of life." If He can be trusted to conquer death, then He can be trusted when He says, "I will take your sin which separates you from a holy God, and I will cast it as far away from you as the east is from the west." If He can be trusted when He says, "I will rise again," then He can be trusted when He says, "I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you, and I am going to prepare a place for you, and you will be with me forever." Church of the tomb is empty, anything is possible, and the tomb is empty. Let's pray. This morning, if you sense that God is revealing to you your need to walk away from your past to trust in Jesus and be made a brand new creation, I want to invite you today to do something. If there's something inside of you right now that you just sense, "Man, yeah, that's me." Maybe you've been coming to church for a while, that's not the thing. You're like, "Nope, I need to be made brand new." I need a miracle, like Mary, I need to encounter Jesus, it's time for me to surrender, it's time for me to embrace the reality that He's alive, and He's my Lord to save your church. If that is you today, I want you to raise your hand right now, really high, lift it up. Thank you. Keep it up just for a second. Father, God, I thank you so much for your word, and thank you that you can be trusted. Thank you that the empty tomb is proof that you are who you say you are. And Lord, I ask you that in this time, over the next few minutes, that you would just continue to be a miracle worker in our hearts and lives. Lord, I pray that there'd be a ton of folks today in the sound of my voice that years from now, they would look back at this moment and say that was the moment. and everything changed.

And we'll give you the glory in Jesus name. Amen, amen. Church, would you stand with me? And we're gonna respond this morning. And here's how we're gonna respond. There's two ways. If you're a Christian, I got two jobs for you. If you're a believer, you're like, I'm trusting and crying, I got two jobs for you. Number one, we're gonna worship because if the tomb is empty, then we need to be singing at the top of our lungs. Amen. So when we're gonna sing at a second, you go crazy. Two, there's gonna be some people that come forward because they're ready to like, I wanna make a public profession of my faith. Man, I'm following Jesus, man. I don't care what I gotta give up, I'm coming. And they're gonna come here in a second. And we're gonna baptize them. And we say, we'll baptize you and name the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. And they're gonna go under the water. And when they come up, it's a picture of being buried with Christ. And risen again to walk in the news of life. When they come out of that water, I want you to lose your ever-loving minds. Go crazy, man.

I want them to hear it. And for those of you that are ready to sing, man, I'm ready. I'm ready to publicly say, I'm in. Man, I'm gonna pray like a five-second prayer. As soon as I say, man, we're gonna start singing. You come forward down at the front. There's gonna be people that have T-shirts for you. They're gonna tell you what to do. And man, listen, it don't matter. You don't matter, you're gonna get wet. You're not gonna care because your life's gonna be forever changed. So as soon as I say, man, wherever you are, if you're ready, you come forward. We're gonna celebrate you. And by the way, so is heaven. Read your Bible. All right, here we go. Lord, we love you. Thank you for this day. Lord, let this be a celebration of who you are and what you've done in Jesus' name. Amen. You come right now. (gentle music) ♪ No one caught, sin remained ♪ ♪ Inside the life in worship ♪ ♪ To fix our eyes upon the cross ♪ ♪ We're on to him ♪ - Hey, church, this is Steve.

Steve, I got a couple of questions for you. Do you renounce the sins of your past, the ways of the world, anything dark and demonic you've been connected to? And do you pledge allegiance to Christ alone? - Yes, I know. - And who is Jesus Christ to you? - Jesus Christ to our Lord and Father. - Amen. Based on that public proclamation, we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (gentle music) - Hey, church, this is Laurie. Laurie, two questions for you. What verses this? Do you renounce the ways of your past, the ways of this world? Anything dark or demonic you've been attached to and pledge your allegiance to Christ to Christ alone? - I don't. - And who is Jesus to you? - My Lord and Savior. - Based on that profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. ♪ In a way ♪ ♪ All I see ♪ ♪ Is about to know ♪ - Hey, church family.

We have Rich with us this morning. Rich, I've got two questions for you before I baptize you. Do you renounce the sins of your past, the ways of this world? Anything dark or demonic you've been connected to? And pledge your allegiance to Jesus Christ. - Yes, I do. - Who is Jesus? - My Lord and Savior. - Amen, brother. On your profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (gentle music) ♪ Christ is Jesus, Father ♪ - Sarah, do you renounce the sins of your past, the ways of the world, anything dark and demonic you've been connected to? And do you pledge allegiance to Christ alone? - I do. - And who is Jesus Christ to you? - Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. - Amen, based on that public proclamation, we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (gentle music) ♪ Yeah, where is your sin ♪ - Church family, this is my good buddy, Corinne, and I'd be honored to ask you two questions.

Do you renounce the sins of your past, the ways of the world, anything dark or demonic you've been connected to? Do you pledge your allegiance to Christ to Christ alone? - Yes, absolutely. - And who is Jesus Christ to you? - Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. - Brother, based on your public proclamation of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it is my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (gentle music) - Hey, church, this is Dalton Dalton. Do you renounce the ways of your past, the ways of this world, He is my lord and savior based on that profession of faith We baptize you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit Hey church family We have land in here who's 14 turns 15 next week and mom here ready to baptize him land I've got two questions for you. Do you renounce the sins of your past the ways of this world anything dog But demonic you've ever been connected to and pledge your allegiance to Jesus Christ. Yes, who is Jesus? My lord and savior. Come on. All right, land in Because of your public declaration your mom's gonna baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit Where is your victory at all? Samford they got a question for you. Are you turning away from your sin? Are you gonna follow Jesus with your life? And who is Jesus? Amen buddy rest your place of faith we baptize the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit do you renounce the sins of your past the ways of the world anything dark and demonic you've been connected to and do you Pledge allegiance to Christ alone. Yes. And who is Jesus Christ to you? My lord and savior Amen based on that public proclamation. I baptize you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit

Just as Caris Caris Do you promise to say no to your sin no to the world and say yes to Jesus and what he wants you to do? Yes, and who is Jesus to you? Jesus Christ is my lord and savior Right amen based on that profession of faith your mom baptizes you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit He's body Hey church fam, this is Bailey Bailey. I got two questions for you before I put you in the water Do you renounce the sins of your past the ways of this world anything dark and demonic you've ever been connected to and played You're allegiance to Jesus Christ. I do who is Jesus my lord and savior upon your public declaration I baptize you my brother and the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit Are you turning from the sins of your past the ways of this world anything dark and demonic you've been connected to You can pledge you to live your life to Christ alone. Yes, and who is Jesus? Amen based on that profession of faith we baptize you my sister the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit Jamie do you renounce the sins of your past the ways of the world anything dark and demonic you've been connected to and do you pledge allegiance to Christ alone? Yes, and who is Jesus Christ to you? Amen based on that public proclamation. I baptize you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit Hey, Benny, do you renounce the ways of your past the ways of this world anything dark or demonic you've been attached to it Let your allegiance to Christ Christ alone. Yes, and who is Jesus to you my lord and savior based on that profession of faith I baptize you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit The church family, this is Julia. How beautiful and special is this her sister just got baptized mom is yeah This is incredible Julia. I got two questions for you before I put you in the water Do you renounce the sins of your past the ways of this world anything dark or demonic you've ever been connected to and pledge your allegiance to Jesus Christ Yes, who is Jesus to you? Upon your public decoration, I baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit Me of you are you turning away from your sin and are you gonna follow Jesus with your life? Yeah, and who is Jesus my lord and savior a man basically profession of faith We baptize my brother in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit Oh a Hooray, hooray, hooray

- Hey churches, it's Judah, Judah. Do you promise to say no to yourself into the world and say yes to Jesus? - Yes. - And who is Jesus to you? - My Lord and Savior. - Based on that profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) - Christ, are you turning away from the sins of your past and ways of this world? Anything dark and demonic you've been connected to and are you pledging to live your life in Christ alone? - Yes. - And who is Jesus? - My Lord and Savior. - Amen. Based on that profession of faith, we baptize my brother in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (upbeat music) - Micah, do you promise to say no to the world, to say no to sin and say yes to Jesus? - Yes. - And who is Jesus to you? - My Lord and Savior. - Based on that profession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (singing in foreign language) ♪ I'll sing it for the world you call us ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the world you call us ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the world you call us ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the world you call us ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the world you call us ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ All that is within me forever ♪ ♪ The King of Kings, the Lord of love ♪ ♪ And the Lord of love ♪ ♪ And the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ All that is within me ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ I'll sing it for the heavenly God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord of soul ♪ ♪ All that is within me ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord and pray the heavenly God ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ All that is within me ♪

♪ All that is within me ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ Amen and amen, church. Let's take a moment to celebrate with the 90 men, women, children, and students, all our gifts that trusted in Jesus and the 110 who went public with their faith. Today, listen, there's still time. If you're here, you don't have to leave it. That's the step that the Good Shepherd is calling you to take. You get down here, we'll baptize you, everyone else. We love you like crazy. Can't wait to see you next week. Be free. (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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