You Don’t Have to Check Your Brain at the Door! | Easter 2026 | Pastor CJ Johnson

Well, Happy Easter, everybody. Welcome to Northview. I'm excited to be at church today. Thrilled that you are with us. And a shout out to everybody across all of our locations. If you're new to Northview, we are one church meeting across multiple locations. In fact, the majority of our church does not attend the Carmel location. I think sometimes that is lost on this room. But to do our due diligence and to make sure everyone is recognized on this special weekend, we do want to give a shout out to our Lafayette location, Flora campus, as well as our Anderson campus, Greentown, Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers, Brookside, Benford, three prison locations, and online, as well as all of you here at Carmel. Can we just say hi to everybody? Welcome to Northview. And we say it often as a courtesy to our guests. If you're new for the first time, just know we've learned and recognized that we are not for everybody, but we do believe we are for somebody. And we pray that somebody is you. And we pray that this is a space that you can anchor yourself in and begin growing in your faith, as well as your relationship with some of the remarkable people seated alongside you.

However, if you walk away and you think to yourself, ah, it's just not for me, we get it, and that's okay. Our prayer would be that you would find yourself just rooted in a church. And the good news about our community all throughout Central Indiana is we are surrounded with amazing, wonderful, God-honoring churches that continue to preach the gospel and point people to Christ. And can we just celebrate all the churches this weekend in our community? We really are blessed. But for the next 30 minutes, I get to serve as a pastor in your life, and I am excited to share the greatest story ever told. And I recognize that some of you, this may be your first time ever really leaning into this story. It may be your first time even dawning the doors of a local church. One thing that I love about our church in this season is there is a noticeable trend among non-believers, especially skeptics, showing up and engaging in the dialogue every single week. And so to all of our non-believing friends who are here this week, personally, I'm just honored that you are here. And I'm afraid that we've already weirded you out a little bit. Anyone remember your first church experience

where you're like, ah, that's a little strange? Just because something's strange doesn't mean it's not productive. And it makes me think of Richard Simmons. My mom grew up subscribing to his workout videos, and he would have homegirl in the living room sweating to the oldies. And it was strange, but it was productive. And I think some of the things that we do when it comes to our faith are certainly unique and for some odd. I would just encourage you for the moment, would you just maybe suspend or hold your judgment loosely and recognize that there are strange things happening all around us? You may think about just what happened in terms of worship, and you're thinking, I'm standing next to one person who's weeping, another person who's belting the song off key, and at moments, they all just shoot their hands up in the sky, and I don't know what's going on. And it is certainly unique, but if you're a hip hop fan, you don't judge the person who's trying to breakdance and spin on their head. If you like rock and roll music, you don't judge the person jumping into a mosh pit headbanging. And if you lack rhythm and listen to country music, you dance in a line, right? Listening to some guy lose his tractor,

his dog, and his wife. But here, we respond in gratitude, and at times, we lift our hands in the sign of surrender and just an openness to receive from God. And it may be strange, but it doesn't mean it's not productive. Can I get an amen? We are so honored that you are here. You know, recently, I heard this story of this man, his wife, and his mother-in-law, who had gone to the Holy Lands to visit all the historical sites there that are captured in the Bible. And anyone who's ever had the opportunity to go on one of these trips, know firsthand what it is like and how life-changing it is to actually step into the Bible and to see how verifiable this story actually is. And so, they were out there, and while they were out there, the mother-in-law passed away. It was a real tragic situation. And so, they're kind of figuring out what the plan is moving forward. And the husband is told, well, you basically have two options. You can either pay what would cost you about 15 grand to have her flown home so you can have a funeral in the States, or for $150, you can bury her right here in the Holy Lands.

To which the man was like, well, you know, we'll just pay the $15,000 and bring her home. And the guy was like, well, I'm just curious. I mean. and it's a lot cheaper, but two, it is very unique to be able to be buried in the Holy Lands, to which the guy said, yeah, but 2,000 years ago, a man was buried out here and he came back to life. And I cannot afford to take the chance. Something happened here. And whether you have been a Christian for a long time, whether you're new to the faith or whether you're not a Christian at all, something happened here. Something took place in this region in a very unique time in history that jumped outside of its context. And it has had a ripple effect all throughout human history. And all around the globe, not just throughout central Indiana, millions of people, as we speak, are gathered celebrating and adoring this Jesus. Something happened. And in the time of Jesus, there was this historian, this physician who was hired by this man by the name of Theopolis. And Theopolis hires him to basically do a research project. Hey, would you just gather together all the facts and would you pull all the data together and would you interview everyone

who was a part of this situation? And that man's name was Luke and he writes this report. And that report is now found in the library of 66 books known as the Bible. And Luke tells it to us this way in chapter 24, verse one, says, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And while they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living? Among the dead, he is not here, he has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, the son of man, this is Jesus referring to himself, must be delivered over to the hands of sinners to be crucified and on the third day be raised again. And then they remembered his words. And when they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the others. And it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the others with them

who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women. Someone say rude, right? Because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb and bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves. And he went away wondering to himself what had happened. And what did happen? You see, at the time of Jesus, unbeknown to most, humanity would receive a meteor from heaven that would strike the foundations of the earth and leave human history forever changed. Jesus Christ, the God himself, the infinite becomes an infant and is born to teenage parents living in poverty in a town called Bethlehem. He's living in a remote time of history and an undeveloped time of history. And this man grows up to live a perfect, flawless life. As he grows in stature, his flawlessness is so commendable and so unique. At the age of 30, he then begins his earthly ministry and he invites 12 individuals to be a part of his ministry team, to join him as disciples. And they were unqualified, unimpressive, uneducated, not the type of people you would expect God to say, hey, you can be in my inner circle. Nonetheless, they traveled with him for three years and they got to have a front row seat as he introduced his ethic of love,

as he began to teach on the values of the kingdom, as he performed miracles and as he predicted his death and his resurrection. Ultimately, he enters the city triumphantly with courage in his face and he picks up a cross and he marches to Golgotha's Hill and it is there in public in the middle of daytime that he is publicly humiliated and executed on a Roman cross. He was taken down, he was buried in a tomb and three days later, he rose from the grave. And folks, I believe this. is not just the greatest story ever told. I 100% believe this is historical fact and the greatest event that has ever happened in human history. Something happened. And the question is, well, who's responsible for his death? Some will say, well, clearly the Romans. It was them thrusting the spear into his side. It was them putting the crown of thorns upon his head. The Romans are responsible. Others will say, well, no, it was the Jewish leaders and the religious elite who were threatened by him. They murdered Jesus. And sure, those answers are true, but they're incomplete. When you answer the question, who is responsible for Jesus's death, if you don't include your name, you are missing the point. This Jesus came for the world, and that includes you.

And this promise of redemption is personal and available to every single person, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you've done. It does not matter. There's not a single person on this speck of dust within this galaxy that is outside the reach of God's tender mercy. It really is amazing. There's this old hymn that puts it this way. He says, "'Twas I that shed the sacred blood. I nailed him to the tree. I crucified the Christ of God. I joined the mockery. Of all the shouting multitude, I feel that I am one. And in that den of voices rude, I recognize my own. Around the cross, the throng I see, mocking the sufferers grown. Yet still my voice, it seems to be, as if I'm mocked alone." And folks, here's the gripping truth. Until you recognize that the cross was done by you, you'll never be able to fully receive and experience all that the cross has for you. Jesus Christ showed up and paid ransom and his one flawless, perfect, righteous life paid the ultimate price and covers every single one of us. This truly is a remarkable moment in time. In fact, every time we reference a date on the calendar, in many ways, we are tipping a hat to this moment that reset the hands of time in which our calendar dates reference this moment.

And in this situation, things that we believe as Christians, they're always gonna come with pushback. It's always gonna come with doubts and skepticisms and cynics and critics are always gonna lean in with their thoughts and opinions. And that's okay. I come from that camp of people. But know this, if you were to truly do your own research, you would find that what we believe is more historically verified and academically sound than you realize. And most will throw all kinds of bizarre objections. One I will hear is people will say, he didn't resurrect, he was resuscitated. And there's a significant difference between resuscitation and resurrection. The calendar date of these events eliminates that immediately. He was in a tomb for three days. That is far outside the reach of someone being able to perform CPR and bring a person back to life. Jesus was completely physically annihilated on that Roman cross. He was tucked in a tomb. And what makes this moment so gripping is the fact that he redefined reality and he came back to life. Because he lives, you and I can face tomorrow because he stared our greatest obstacle in the face.

Death is undefeated. It's a universal fact that at some point we all breathe our last breath. And in this moment, we discover because of his resurrection, death is not a dead end. It's not a prison. It is now a passage that because of the finished work of Christ, we now have access to our heavenly father. This is an amazing thing. You know, see, throughout history, the Jews were expecting a liberator. There was promises and prophecies for centuries on end that one would come, the chosen one, the Messiah, and he would set his people free and he would save them and he would liberate them and he would be a mighty leader. And so they started to assume that he would show up and lead the way other great leaders in human history have led, with brute force. Yet to the contradiction, Jesus doesn't lead with brute force. He instead leads with sovereign love. And he flips the paradigms upside down and he redefines how you and I ought to get the most out of this life. But over the ages, many people tried. There were so many insurrectionists and revolutionaries, individuals who would try to build a revolt and rally the troops and say, hey, let's storm the castle. Now's our time.

Let's overthrow the Romans. And what happened to those guys? They were arrested, they were executed, and they were buried. And you know what you find is none of them are continued to be honored to this day. Their death didn't spark some movement. Their death didn't come with this swell of allegiance from their followers that say, hey, now in honor of this person, let's give the rest of our lives to taking their work, their efforts, their message around the globe. No, once the leader was dead, the legacy was dead. And then shows up Jesus, and different than those who were arrested and executed and buried, something different happens among his followers. Something so profound that it would create within them a resolve and a courage to face the evil and the wickedness of our world and to go out there with the good news declaring to anyone who would listen, this God loves you more than you could ever imagine, and he is still alive and on the move. It is amazing. It makes me think of years ago, I came across this article, a group of people put together what they were calling the Barbie Liberation Project. Essentially what they did is they found this popular Barbie toy at the time that had one of those buttons on the back where if you pushed it, the Barbie would say a couple of statements.

And so they had a bunch of people going buy these Barbies, and then what they did is they unscrewed the back of the Barbie, and they took out the voice box, and they replaced it with one from a GI Joe. They put it back in, and then they returned the toys to their store. And so that Christmas came around, and little girls were opening their Barbies all to push the button in here. You're going to die, Cobra. And you weren't expecting that to come out of those Barbies. And when you look at these individuals who are part of this original story, and you see how unqualified they were, you see how timid and scared they were, you see their own objections and their own skepticisms. Yet on the other side of their experiences with the resurrection of Christ, they well up with an unexpected courage to face the odds and the evil one. And there's this Japanese author by the name of Shisaku Endo, and I like how she puts it. She says it this way. She says, if you don't believe in the resurrection, you will be forced to believe that something hit the disciples that was every bit as amazing, maybe different, yet of equal force in its electrifying intensity. What she's saying is you just can't say, well, this is some urban legend.

It's some scam. It's some hoax. No way. You cannot produce such a remarkable, tremendous movement that still functions with great vigor to this day if something truly profound and powerful didn't take place. And that is the resurrection. These men who, for the most part, only knew of a small town called Galilee take this message to the uttermost parts of the world, and the gospel jumps outside of the context. It crosses borders. It clears oceans. It lands on every continent. This is the greatest story ever told. And I love getting to teach the Bible, and I think it's important for everyone to understand, if you're new to Scripture, maybe new to the faith, I think Scripture can be daunting for most. No, it is, again, not a book. It's not a novel. It's better understood as a library of 66 books, of which four of those books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are known as the Gospels. These are the four books that encompass the life, the teaching, the ministry, the miracles, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. And so if you're new to Scripture, what I would always tell people is, you don't wanna start on page one.

You will bump into a naked couple, a talking snake, and a magical piece of fruit, and you're gonna be weirded out right away. You should get to know Jesus. Every book, every page, every paragraph, every sentence, it points to and is fulfilled in Jesus. And the better understanding you have of Christ, the better you are able to move through all of its text with greater clarity and comprehension. But another thing that I think is helpful is when I first started reading scripture, I just had a hard time walking away from it without an action step. I needed something practical. How do I apply this to my life? And years ago, something I started doing is when I read, I just circle all the verbs. And today, I just wanna share with you six verbs, six action steps that were taken by the people who experienced the resurrection for the first time in its first occurrence. And maybe, just maybe, they will be enlightening to us. It says that the women prepared. And what did they prepare? They prepared spices for the body, as was the custom. This is how you attend to a dead corpse. And it was also how you would honor the deceased. And so they show up and they are prepared to find what? A dead Jesus. And instead, he's not there.

They are prepared, but in many ways, they're unprepared. And in my 22 years of sincerely following Christ, I will say one of my favorite things about him is he is so predictably unpredictable that you can try your best at times to prepare yourself for what he has next, all to find yourself humbled yet delighted by the fact that you were unprepared for what he had in mind. I just wonder how many of you are with us this weekend who you might find yourself in this moment prepared yet unprepared. It makes me think of all the things that come with Easter. Maybe you prepared for the egg hunt. You prepared baskets. Maybe you prepared for the family photo. Maybe you prepared the meal that you're gonna enjoy after today's service. But have you truly taken time to prepare your heart and mind for the gripping reality that the Son of God died for you and rose again for you? It is a remarkable thing. And much of the faith journey is preparing to be unprepared. Living with eyes wide open and a heart ready to receive the unthinkable and just enjoyable things that God has in mind for each and every one of our lives. It says they prepared and it also says they found. They show up to the tomb and again, what are they expecting to find?

Jesus. But instead they find an empty tomb. And I just think Jesus is hilarious. I think he's so comical. Most people approach the Bible with such boring goggles on. They read it two dimensionally and they don't think through the tension or the tone. They don't think through the facial expressions. A lot of times when I read scripture, I get the feeling Jesus was smirking. They have no idea what's about to hit them. But Jesus is so interesting. He makes me think of that Dos Equis man from those beer commercials. Those are classic commercials. The Dos Equis guy, the most interesting man on the planet. And they always have like those taglines. He lives vicariously through himself. He bowls overhand. He's won the Lifetime Achievement Award twice. His business card says, I'll call you. That guy was interesting. Jesus is far more interesting than the Dos Equis man. If any one of us would have pulled this off, what would we have done? We would have posted up at the tomb. All there to wait for our friends to arrive so we can like dismount and be like, here I am. I told you. But he doesn't do that.

He doesn't offer us shortcuts. He doesn't give us easy answers. Instead, he extends an invitation for you and I to go on an exhilarating, fulfilling adventure of faith with him every single day. And they show up looking to find Jesus and he's not there. How do they encounter him? He finds them. As the story unfolds, Mary is in the garden and she thinks nearby is a gardener until he turns around and says her name and she realizes it is Christ. And in that moment, Jesus finds Mary. The disciples, they assume that it's a hoax. They too thought it was a scam and they thought someone stole the body. And they believed that they were gonna be punished and blamed for the disappearance of his body. So they find themselves hiding in a house with the doors locked and Jesus finds them trembling in timidity and he meets with them in that house. A couple other followers of Christ are making their way down this road to a town called Emmaus. is full of grief and sorrow, thinking that all their hopes have been crushed. And Jesus somehow disguises himself in a way that they don't recognize him. He comes up alongside them and he walks what is arguably a seven mile journey with them. And he hears their frustration and he hears their grief

and all the things that are on their heart. And then at the end, they realize it is Christ. He found them. Peter was overwhelmed with shame, overwhelmed with regret, couldn't get rid of the guilty conscious from denying Christ and bailing when it mattered most. And so he resorts to a former way of life. I don't have what it takes. I'm no good, I'm a lost cause. And he goes back to being a fisherman and Jesus once again finds Peter fishing and stands at the shore and invites him to come and join him for breakfast on the beach. They show up and they find an empty tomb. They don't find Jesus. But the good news is, is Jesus finds them. Guys, I just think this is so great. In fact, this is my story. Many of you have heard how I stumbled into the faith. When I was in college, we had lost before the tournament. And so we had our whole spring break to enjoy with other college students. And back in the day, MTV would host these really bizarre parties on Panama City Beach. And me and my teammates went down there and I remember the first night we were at this MTV event and we had just finished a Petey Pablo concert. Come on, where are my real ones at? Who listens to some 90s hip hop, right? And we come out of this club and I am drunk,

I'm high, I am in rare form. And if you're new to Northview, just know, I keep my dirt on the surface so you don't have to dig, okay? And this guy sticks his head out this white van that was parked on the curb and he says, hey, does anyone need a free ride? And I was like, yes, all of us do actually. None of us is fit to drive. And they give us a ride to our next spot. And for the entire week, this group of guys with their big white van offered us free safe rides from place to place during our entire time in spring break. And it was at the end of that week that we discovered that they were Christian students from Eastern Michigan University down there serving reckless college students like myself. And folks, when I was heading in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons, God still found me and got it right. Anyone thankful for a God who comes searching after you that he finds us along our broken path? It's amazing. And fundamentally, this separates the gospel from any other major world religion, from any other leading thought or philosophy that's out there. The gospel is so uniquely set apart. In fact, this is something that in my rebellion, I bumped into. I was raised in a wonderful home,

raised by amazing parents, godly parents. In fact, my father was a pastor. Yet I had this skeptical nature. I was a cynic and I just was full of doubt. And so I thought religion was this clunky mechanism that parents use to control their kids as a way of giving them some false hope and coping mechanism. And I just couldn't stomach what my parents represented. It was a bad part of my life and a true aspect of who I was in that season. So I get off to college and I'm hell bent on winning this argument with my father. I remember growing up hearing him recite this verse that was written by the Apostle Paul who said, if Jesus Christ is not resurrected from the grave, well, consider all of scripture rubbish. It's meaningless. You can throw it out the door. And I remember thinking, there it is. I just have to win one argument with my father. And so I sign up for all of these odd electives, all these world religion classes, philosophy classes, where I was wasting scholarship money on things that had no value to my degree. But I was so insistent on winning this argument with my father all to get into these courses and discover, okay, Christianity can make some very unique claims that nothing else can. There is a historical verification to this faith

that is quite impressive. But one of the things that really stood out to me is every major world religion Every major philosophy around the world kinda has a main thing in common. They all have a leader, a founder, who came saying, hey, here's the recipe, here's the standard, here's the strategy, here's the code of ethics, here's how you behave. And if you do it well enough and you're really good at it, maybe just maybe you can get to God. Maybe just maybe you can achieve your own serenity in eternity. You can do it. The pressure's on you. This is how you get to God. And the gospel is so radically different. The gospel doesn't tell us how we get to God. It tells us how God came to us. Jesus Christ splits the skies and he comes on a solo rescue mission for you and I, and he takes two pieces of wood in the form of a cross, and he bridges the gap and covers the chasm between us and our Heavenly Father. And it's through his sacrifice that we now have access to our Heavenly Father. They found an empty tomb. And why was the tomb, well, why was the stone rolled away? Was the stone rolled away so Jesus could get out? No, I believe the stone was rolled away

all so that they could step in, all so that they could discover the true life that Jesus died to give them. So they prepared, they found, and the third thing is, is they entered. They stepped into an empty tomb, discovering they're unprepared for the moment, discovering that what they were expecting was inaccurate, yet they stepped into a place that challenged their assumptions. And what I love about this season as a church is, we've referenced it before, is the growing trend of non-Christians showing up, hanging out. And I just think it is so great that still to this day, there are individuals who are willing to enter a place that challenge their assumptions. And maybe, just maybe, if you sit in this space long enough, you might find God clarifying some things that you have wrong. They stepped in, and they allowed their assumptions to be challenged. And then scripture says they wondered, they considered what was happening. Right from the very beginning, what you find are critical thinkers, people who are reasoning with the moment. This assumption that to be a Christian means you have to check your brain at the door, well, that's nonsense.

From the very outset, you find individuals showing up, thinking on their feet, asking hard questions, and leaning in with curiosity. And they were full of wonder. Like, what happened? You know, there's this quote from Albert Einstein who put it this way. He said, he who can no longer pause to wonder and stand in rapt awe is as good as dead. His eyes are closed. When was the last time you were filled with awe? When was the last time something took your breath away? When was the last time you thought, whoa, that's amazing. There's a good chance it had to do with creation. Maybe you were at the edge of the Grand Canyon and you thought, amazing. Maybe you were staring out at the oceans, the mountains, or maybe the sky. Maybe it was your first time experiencing an ultrasound where you were thought to yourself, oh my goodness, that's breathtaking. Here's the thing, we all can relate to creation filling us with a sense of awe and wonder. I do not think it is that big of a stretch if creation can fill you with awe. Is it really that big of an ask for you to allow the creator himself to fill you with awe?

There is something so stretching to the heart and mind when you open yourself up to what Jesus has for us. What I love is they make their way to the other disciples and they're like, hey, he's risen and Peter jumps to his feet and he runs to the tomb and it says, Peter also entered. And it says, Peter also wondered. Like what happened here? And there's that detail that is really important to Peter's thought process. It says, Peter wondered as he saw the strips of linen lying there by himself. Well, what's he's thinking? At the moment, again, Peter thinks that this is a scam. He too thinks it's nonsense and he thinks someone has stolen the body. And he shows up and he sees the strips of linen and he's thinking to himself, wait a second, why are the strips of linen still here? If you're gonna pull a heist and do your best Ocean's 11 and sneak in there, in in the middle of the night, and you're gonna get the tomb out of the way, and you're gonna get in there before the Romans catch you, what you're not gonna do is unravel the body, the very thing, the strips of linen, that were separating you from this annihilated corpse that was tatted up by the Romans. There's no way you'd walk into the tomb and be like, hurry, quickly unravel it,

and then you grab a slippery leg, and I'll grab a slippery arm, and let's run out the door with it. You wouldn't do that. And again, Peter is staring at this thing, and okay, something unique happened here, and I gotta get my mind around it. And I would just say for the person who's still full of doubts, something unique happened here. You owe it to yourself to try to get your mind around it. If you were truly trying to dupe humanity and pull off some scam, this isn't how you would do it. For starters, you would not send a group of women to be the first ones to witness it and testify about it. The reason I say that is at this time in history, women didn't have any value. They didn't have any rights. Their opinions carried no weight. They were not allowed to testify in the courts, and so the fact that women got to be the first witnesses to testify is not a really good strategy if you're trying to develop some hoax that will dupe and trick people. You also wouldn't include the fact that the original team, the leaders of this whole thing, also thought it was nonsense. There are certain things about this that are just so raw and candid, and the more you get into it, you start to realize,

man, this is more concrete than I realized. What's amazing is history documents show that over 500 people witnessed and testified to experiencing Christ beyond the grave. Think about that, over 500 witnesses. Come on, American, consider our judicial system. How much weight does our judicial system give to one eyewitness? Most cases, that's enough to seal the deal, and over 500 eyewitnesses were like, I seen him. I was with him. I experienced him. And lastly, no, not lastly, two more. One, they wondered, then they remembered. You see, Jesus was, at times, really repetitive. He would say some of the same things over and over and over again. He said, hey, guys, I'm going to die, and then I'm going to resurrect. I'm going to die, and then I'm gonna resurrect. In case you two weren't listening, I'm going to die, and then I'm going to resurrect. For the people in the back, I'm going to die, and then I'm going to resurrect. And then he dies, and no one sees it coming. It's like he's been saying the whole time what he was gonna do, and why is that the case? Because it just seemed too good to be true. But here's what you have to understand. This miracle was not new information.

This miracle was confirmation. And what does it confirm? Our God never lies, and he always gets the job done. And they remembered, and some of you maybe need to remember that this Easter weekend. Our God never lies, and he always gets the job done. And there are things that he will confirm in and through your life, and the cross and his resurrection is the greatest confirmation of that. He gets the job done, he never lies. And I close with this. They prepared, they found, they entered, they wondered, they remembered, and they told. Women make their way to the disciples. And here's one of the gnarliest details in all of it. Who is the first person in human history who gets to carry the message he is risen? Mary Magdalene. Homegirl was crazy, like literally. We are, and scripture tells us what her story was, that she was oppressed by seven demons. And we don't have the time to unpack all that today. You're gonna have to come back to Norfew on a normal weekend for that. But what we do know is she had a very difficult past. And not only was it difficult, it was very known. Entire community would have discredited this woman. And Jesus says, you be the first to tell him. I just think that's amazing. 20 years ago, Kristen and I were attending

the small church of about 70 people, just sometimes how we do here at Northview, an individual got up on the platform and said, hey, we need someone to lead a youth small group. And so Kristen and I were like, all right, we'll do it. And that was the first time I'd ever taught the Bible. And I've been teaching the Bible ever since. And my entire journey, I've always thought, man, it's so crazy that in a room full of so many wonderful people and some spiritual giants and people who I just really admire, that I get to be the one who gets to stand up here with my broken past and all my mistakes and all the things that I've done wrong. And I get to tell you, hey, this God is truly remarkable. And there's nothing that you've done. He knows everything about your life, every detail, everything that causes shame, every lie you've ever told, every mistake you've ever made, all the things that keep you up at night, all the regret that fills your heart, all the things that come with so much insecurity and guilty thinking, He knows all of it. And if anyone else in your life had that type of information, they would either cancel you or run. But not Him, He shows up and He says, I'll take them. I will lay down my life for theirs and I will gladly receive them as my own. And one of the great delights and privileges we get as Christians is just telling the next person

how we found Jesus. And so in this moment, my goal is not to get some of you to make some impulsive emotional decision. I think some people get frustrated with me that, hey, there should be more of an urgent call to action. I just have no desire to be a part of cultivating some cultural Christianity. No, I want you to truly, sincerely as a critical thinker, responsibly think through who this Jesus was, what He accomplished and what it means for your life. And when you are serious and sincere about your devotion, I want you to surrender your life fully to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and to receive Him as God and His full pardon and grace all so that you can truly experience the life Jesus died to give you. Don't make an impulsive decision. Make a concrete decision that comes with some resolve. I am going after Christ, the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, amen? So at this time, I'm gonna ask all of you stand to your feet and pray with me. Let's say a word of prayer and allow people to respond to the gospel and we're gonna close lastly with this anthem. So would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me? Dear only Father God, we thank you for sending your one and only Son, Jesus in the flesh, God Himself, all to live among us, all to die for us. And God, we are so honored that by His sacrifice, we can be grafted into your family.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're not a Christian and you are in that space within your heart where you truly want to place your faith and confidence in Christ and receive and experience His personal relationship that He came promising. I'm gonna say a prayer and I'd encourage you to say it along with me in your heart. It's not a magical prayer. It simply articulates the matters of your heart as you place your faith and trust in Christ. But I would say this, say, dear heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son to die on a cross for my sins. Today, I repent of all my wrongdoing and all of my shortcomings and I ask for your forgiveness and I receive your grace. And today, I proudly declare and believe that you died on a Roman cross. You were buried in a tomb and three days later, you resurrected from the grave, redefining reality. And I place my full trust and confidence in the finished and sufficient work of your achievement there on Golgotha's Hill. And I am choosing to follow you for the rest of my life as my Lord, my Savior, my God and my King. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.