The Resurrection Revolutions - Eternity Eyes & Legacy Lives

So um it was Easter and Carissa was very little, Brad's oldest, oh Sarah's too, she was definitely a part of it, and um uh and they said, Carissa, what's Easter?

And she, being a biblically raised child, said um uh colored eggs and a rabbit.

No, she did not say that.

She said Jesus got hurt and they put him behind a rock and he came back.

Okay.

Okay, I'll take that.

I forget how old she was, but she was pretty young.

Well, we're gonna get more of that story tonight.

This is a fun one tonight.

We're talking about the resurrection revolutions.

You know how the Bible introduces in one of the gospel accounts The resurrection?

Says there was a violent earthquake.

I think that's so appropriate that there was a violent earthquake.

Because there was a quake that started at Joseph's tomb And has been rocking the world ever since.

That quake split history in two and made everything B C and AD.

That quake, the tremors of it, reached you Reached to me.

Reach to an apartment on the south side of Chicago and a lost family.

And what started at Joseph's tomb rocked our family and changed us forever.

Made our life be C and A D and your life be C and A D.

And the quake continues all over the world Millions of people have been rocked for what happened on that one morning.

Jesus is still shaking up lives, by the way.

And on that resurrection day.

There were revolutions that took place.

As I was studying this for those six months, I began to see that the resurrection had to do with revolutions in people's lives.

Then And the same revolutions he desires in our lives today.

So tonight, now let's review.

We've been to Palm Sunday Mountain, and we learned that a life accelerant is to live authentically with real worship and real purity.

And then we learned that when we got to to uh Mount Return, and Jesus spending so much time about his coming back, just as he's going to the cross, we learned to live urgently.

And then we got to the battle in the garden, and we learned from Jesus to live surrendered.

And let go of those last veg vestiges of our will for his will.

Our life takes off after that.

We've been to the cross this morning.

What a morning it was.

And on Mount Gogotha, yeah, we learn to live redemptively, that we are here for the reason he came, to help other people find the life that he died to give.

We live to give it to them.

Now tonight we move to the that fifth accelerant for a life that is a legacy life And let's go to the triumph at the tomb.

Matthew 28.

Now, actually I'm going to do a little prologue here.

The verse before this, the verses before this I find amusing.

So what's amusing?

Well, Pilate gives the dumbest order in human history.

Yes, Pontius Pilate, to my way of thinking, gets the credit for the dumbest order in history.

He says to his people about the tomb of Jesus, make it As secure as you can.

Right.

Yeah, it's good luck.

You got the Son of God in there, man, who said he was coming out.

Good luck.

I don't know why that amuses me, but I laugh at that.

Make it as secure as you can.

In light of what happened, that's pretty dumb order.

I know why he did it They were so afraid Jesus would be alive.

Everybody that if there was a way to prove Jesus wasn't resurrected, believe me, they would have come up with it.

The Jews wanted him dead.

The Romans wanted him dead.

Everybody wanted him dead.

All the people extant in that day All the all there's only proof for one side that he's alive.

Even six historians say that he came back to life.

So Now, as the order secure as you can, there's a couple other things that amuse me about the resurrection day.

I'm sorry, this is how I read the Bible.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, let's kind of enter in empathetically here.

All hope seems to be gone.

Everything the disciples left everything for is in that tomb.

The only reason anybody's coming there is to kind of Maybe have somebody move that stone and maybe get in there somehow and and do some what they would be embalming back then.

This is a dark, dark day.

And and uh actually one of the one of the gospel concerts it was dark, and I thought, yeah, not just dark in the sky.

It was dark in their hearts.

After the Sabbath Of course, after the Sabbath, because they're not going to do anything then, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake.

For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone.

And sat on it.

I don't know why.

You probably don't think that's funny.

But I'm like, this stone, this massive stone that they had rolled into this notch in the ground To keep Jesus in it's like the angels like this is a nice chair here.

This is cool.

This is uh I think I'll just sit down and rest here.

We just uh you know did a little resurrection deal here.

And just and then he's sitting on the thing that was supposed to keep Jesus in I'm sorry, it just amuses me.

Anyway, his appearance was like lightning.

His claws were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him they shook.

They became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, this is what angels always say, do not be afraid.

For I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified, right?

Yeah?

Well, he's not here.

This was just a temporary address.

He's not here.

He has risen.

He said he would, just like he said.

Come and see the place where he lay.

By the way, that is the centuries-old invitation.

Come and see.

You did.

You find out he was alive.

Alive for you.

Come and see.

That century, we still give him that invitation.

On the radio, online, on reservation basketball courts.

Come and see.

Then go quickly.

Oh, there's the invitation and here's the command.

Go and tell.

If you want Easter in six words, come and see, go and tell.

After you've come and seen, go and tell.

Go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him.

Now I have told you.

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid, yet filled with joy, and they ran to tell his disciples.

Suddenly Jesus met them.

Greetings, he said.

Now excuse me.

Jesus has just conquered death.

He has just won the greatest, most powerful victory in human history.

Over the enemy that no one could beat.

No Alexander the Great, no Roman general.

Hi.

It's so understated.

I mean, how about like ta da or hey look at me?

It's like what's up?

Greetings sounds like the it sounds like a w you know the equivalent of greetings.

It's so it's like, oh yeah, I conquered death.

Greetings Again, maybe you're like, I don't see this Ron.

It's okay.

That's right.

It's not in the original Greek.

It's in the original Ron.

They came to him.

They clasped his feet.

And they worshiped him.

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.

We're going to get there's a very significant thing about that, which will affect you shortly.

There they will see me.

Well, that's the uh there we could go to the other gospel accounts, but Matthew has a very, very uh great account of of what happened on that resurrection day, perhaps the most complete.

Now are you ready for the resurrection revolutions?

There are six of them.

Here they are.

They're still happening today.

Number one, chickens turned to tigers.

That's a pretty good trick.

Chickens turned to tigers on Resurrection Day.

Yeah?

Let's go to John chapter 20.

Watch a chicken turn to a tiger.

Later, Joseph of Arimathea.

Ask Pilate for the body of Jesus.

Now Joseph, by the way, he was a member of the Sanhedrin.

He was a member of the most powerful ruling group, the big studs, the power elite of Israel, who voted to take, to have Jesus put to death and to go to Rome for the permission to have him crucified.

But the Bible says he was a dissenting vote.

He didn't explain his vote, but he did vote no.

Joseph of Amithe asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.

Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus.

Really?

Oh, but secretly.

Because he feared the Jewish leaders.

With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus.

Oh, Nicodemus!

Remember him?

Notice how he's identified.

The man who had earlier visited Jesus at night, our wine by Simi, right?

He's also Sanhedrin.

So he's a Sanhedrinist.

So he came at night.

Both these guys are undercover Christians.

Pretty hostile environment, I get that.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds.

It was kind of embalming back then.

Taking Jesus' body The two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen.

This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden.

And in the garden, there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.

Because it was a Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was empty, it was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

We're not sure there's traditional identification of where Babatha was and where the tomb is and there's a site inside the gate of Jerusalem that some say is the place.

Many evangelical scholars believe it's what was called Gordon's tomb and Gordon's Calvary.

And uh that's where many Christian groups have an Easter sunrise service.

Wow, would I love to be there then?

Well I was there, I wasn't there on Easter.

And uh just to tell you the geography, it if it means anything to you, there's a um um th the I told you about the the hill that's got the skull like the sunken eye looks like and the broken nose thing and all that And it looks like Skull Hill, you can see that.

And not very far away.

It's a I mean it took me a minute or two at most To walk over to the tomb.

And it's hewn out of rock.

You've probably seen pictures of it.

It's in a rock wall, and there's two chambers in there.

And that's what what many evangelical scholars believe to have been the place where Jesus was laid.

It doesn't matter particularly where which one it was, but it fits this description.

And s several of the geographic details.

But I'm my point is it wasn't a long walk.

I mean it was really g if that's it, it was very close to where he died.

They brought him down from the hill and walked a short distance and Buried him there.

So let's talk about chickens turning to tigers.

Joseph had been a chicken He had been, he was in an environment where people were not particular , you had nothing to gain by loving Jesus, like most of the environments many of us are familiar with.

There was really nothing to gain, and there was something to lose, maybe a lot to lose.

He was a secret Christian for the same reason almost everybody is.

What's the four-letter word?

Fear.

Fear of what?

What are we afraid of that keeps us from telling about Jesus?

Because I've experienced those fears too.

Fear of fear of what?

What?

Fear of men.

Fear of men.

Fear of Hm?

Rejection?

Fear of Why?

Unacceptance?

How about messing up?

I might mess it up, right?

Fear of if you'll analyze all the fears, they have one thing in common.

They're all about me They might not like me, they might not accept me, I might lose some ground with them, I might mess it up, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

The reasons for going past your fear are about them You can either be afraid, or you can be you can be controlled by your fear of what will happen to you if you try to tell them about Jesus, or you can move based on your fear of what will happen to them if you don't tell them.

Should that not be the greater fear?

Now what happens to Joseph here?

Suddenly he blows his cover wide open.

He goes to the governor.

Everybody's gonna know Jesus is in Joseph's tomb.

There's no any more denying.

I mean this is Permanent identification.

Well, he thinks, but he won't be there long.

But permanent identification with the Jesus he didn't want to go up to before It says he went boldly to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body.

What outed Joseph?

What outed Nicodemus?

Well, there's only one thing that changed.

The cross.

They saw the price Jesus paid for them.

And I believe they thought this, if he was not ashamed of them , How could they, or how could we, be ashamed of him?

There's an old hymn, and maybe if you're an old hymn or her, you might remember you might have sung the song.

Not sure if I have or not.

It's called Ashamed of Thee.

No, it's called Jesus and Shall It Ever Be.

Listen to the words.

They're pretty profound.

Old school words.

Jesus and Shall It Ever Be.

A mortal man ashamed of thee?

Ashamed of thee?

Whom angels praise?

whose glory shines through endless days?

Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend, on whom my hopes of heaven depend?

No, when I blush, be this my shame, that I no more revere his name.

Ashamed of Jesus?

Yes, I may.

When I've no guilt to wash away, no tear to wipe, no good to crave, no fears to quell, no soul to save.

Ashamed of Jesus?

Empty pride.

I'll boast a Savior crucified.

And oh may this my portion be.

My Savior.

Not ashamed of me.

I'll tell you this, the enemies of Jesus, the people who don't like Jesus, they're not ashamed.

They're outspoken.

Why would the people who do not know what he can do be unashamed to speak his name?

And the people who have experienced his love and his transformation are the ones who will not mention his name.

Jesus, after the resurrection, changes chickens to tigers.

Second thing is he changes a broken man.

A broken man becomes God's go-to man.

That's a revolution.

A guy who's broken becomes a go-to guy.

I want to read to you two to me of the most moving.

There are a couple places in the resurrection narratives that, yeah, I smile at some of them, but some of them deeply move me.

This is one, and it's two little words.

You could skip over them.

You could read them a dozen times and not pay much attention.

They're over in Mark chapter 16 and verse 7.

Go tell his disciples in Peter he is going ahead of you into Galilee.

There you will see him just as he told you.

Do you know what the two words are?

And Peter.

Well, he's one of the disciples.

What are we making a point of that for?

Well, tell the disciples you've told Peter, right?

You can think why.

I don't think Peter was even with the disciples.

That was another address.

I think he was so ashamed of his denying Jesus that Peter was a separate mission.

And Peter.

Oh yeah?

You still want him?

Make it a point.

Oh yeah.

And Peter.

Didn't mention James, didn't mention John, Peter And I think Peter needed to know more than anybody else that Jesus was alive and he wanted him to know.

Isn't that beautiful?

That is amazing grace.

And Peter.

Luke 24, 34.

Again.

It is true.

The Lord has risen, and now we got it's already happened.

Has appeared.

To Simon.

Obviously, he wasn't with the disciples because she was telling the disciples they would have known if he was with them.

I love this.

This is grace.

I just heard somebody say this the other day.

Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance.

Grace gave him a party.

Isn't that cool?

John 21.

John 21.

Peter's picking a little fishing vacation with the some of the guys who were seven of the disciples there that day.

They're back on the Sea of Galilee.

They realize it's Jesus.

Peter, you know, jumps in, swims, still impetuous.

When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Now I don't know when when he called Simon Peter aside if I don't know how Peter felt if this is like being called to the principal's office, whatever, but he said, let's talk.

Uh okay.

Do you love me more than these?

Uh yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, feed my lambs.

Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you do you love me?

We answered, well yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, take care of my sheep.

Third time, he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, do you love me?

He said, Lord, you know all things.

You know that I love you.

Jesus said, feed my sheep.

I believe this is the most important question Jesus ever asked.

I've studied the questions of Jesus in the Gospels.

I started, I was going to record, I was going to write them all down.

I got at the end of Matthew, I gave up.

There must be, I don't know, maybe a couple hundred questions Jesus asked in the Gospels.

I don't know.

Matthew was like, I'm done.

There's so many.

Of all the questions Jesus asked, this is the most important.

You say, well, whoa, that's a big statement.

Why do you say that?

What did he say was the most important commandment?

Thou shalt Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So wouldn't the most important question be, do you?

Do you love me?

He didn't say, why did you fail me?

He doesn't mention his failure.

He said, I wanna know if you love me.

This is the deciding factor.

I want to know about your love for me.

Why does he ask it three times?

Well, a very logical thing would say, once for each denial, once for each failure.

That could be.

That could be I have another theory.

Mine's a little more cynical.

Do you love me?

One reason to ask it three times is because it's so easy to say yes.

Because you know what the right answer is.

Jesus said, do you love me?

When you go say, no, I'm not sure.

I don't know.

I know this one.

The answer is yes, of course I love you, Lord.

Really?

Wait.

Yeah.

Really?

Don't be so quick to answer that question.

He asked it three times, because part of it, I think, is drilling down to see, do you really love him?

So, um, Jesus' language of love, did you see what it is?

To take care of his sheep.

He says, Will you love me?

Take care of my sheep.

Isn't this interesting?

That's the day that a fisherman becomes a shepherd.

A fisherman becomes a shepherd.

And all the Navajos said, Amen.

Right, there we go.

They're a sheep herding people, and I kid them all the time about it.

We have three sheep at the house, by the way.

Every time Anna comes over, we count them.

She comes and goes, hmm.

So, but this is the day a fisherman becomes a shepherd.

Do you realize what's happening here?

Jesus had just prayed before he was arrested.

That that this very thing would happen, that they would be protected from the evil one, and that they would begin to reach out to other people.

And so he's been so concerned about those he's been given being taken care of, and now Peter says, I'm your man.

And that moment the broken man becomes the go-to man.

Of Jesus.

I love this.

So much good news in this story.

By the way, let's break down what he said.

Whose sheep are they?

My sheep.

People in your Bible study?

People in your church?

The people you influence?

Your children?

Your grandchildren?

Don't you ever get to thinking they're yours?

You've been entrusted with his sheep.

They're not your sheep.

People get in real trouble when they start to think that their sheep.

He said, feed my sheep.

And what was the priority?

He said, before he said sheep, he said lambs.

He said, take care of my lambs.

You know what I take from that?

First priority are the young and the vulnerable.

Later he said sheep.

First he says lambs.

First of all, I want you to take care of the young.

Take care of the vulnerable.

And what's your mission?

To feed them, to nurture them, to shepherd them.

So look at this.

Your failure does not disqualify you.

Your love qualifies you.

Anybody knowing the name Roy Regals?

Come on, sports fans.

Sports trivia people.

Do you know who Roy Regals was?

He's only famous for one thing.

Poor guy.

Hmm, I think you're there.

Yeah.

He was Roy Riggles when he started playing in the Rose Bowl in 1929.

He played for UC Berkeley, and they were playing in the Rose Bowl against Georgia.

And uh were doing pretty well.

He was actually a center for the team.

And somehow centers are not supposed to end up with the ball once they once they snap it.

But he ended up with the ball in his hands.

Centers aren't necessarily don't what to do with that all the time.

He started running.

He knows what to do.

He starts running for the goal line.

With players in hot pursuit.

As he gets near the goal line, he looks over his shoulder.

Their players are in his team's uniform He has wrong way regals forever.

Yeah.

They tackle him But he absolutely they end up losing the game largely because of wrong way regals.

A lot of people don't know the rest of the story.

Because at halftime, Mr.

Regals is literally sitting in the corner like somebody who wants to disappear.

If he could physically disappear, he is he is sitting in the corner slumped and like I'm done.

The end of the pep talk from the coach, the coach says, Regals, you're going in.

He came up to the coach.

He said, coach, I have made the school ashamed.

I've made my team ashamed.

I've failed you.

I should not be playing Here's what the coach said.

Go back out there.

Game's only half over.

The sports writers would say that Roy Regals arrested that game Played an amazing performance.

They did not win.

But he became an All-American that year.

Next year was elected captain of his team.

And they were 7-1-1 the next season under his leadership.

Peter had thought it was over for him at halftime.

But Jesus said to him, Peter, the game's only half over, man.

Get back in the game.

And some of you may feel defeated right now.

Slumped in the corner And Coach Jesus is saying to you, the game's only half over, girl.

That game's only half over, man.

Do you love me?

Get back in the game.

You're still my starter.

Oh, I love it.

Broken man becomes God's go-to guy.

Here's the one I love.

Perseverance.

This is a revolution.

Perseverance becomes a payoff.

I I saw um now Brad didn't get the payoff, but the day after the Yankees were eliminated, this year, wait, just have a moment of silence Okay, that's good.

Um that was for your benefit, Lois.

Um Brad was brave enough to wear his Yankee shirt to the office.

He was doing devotions at Chapel that then so that's a loyal fan right there, even when they're losing.

Any Cubs fans here Why?

No, I mean um I mean what was it a hundred years?

People and Cubs fans are the most loyal in America.

Well I want to introduce you to a loyal fan.

Matthew chapter 27, verse 55.

Many women were there watching from a distance.

That's as they're taking Jesus down from the cross.

This is the darkest moment of all.

They had followed Jesus.

All the way from Galilee, that's like 90 miles away by foot.

They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.

Among them were Mary Magdalene, the mother of James, and Joseph.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Follow this.

They're there when he dies.

They're there when he's buried.

I don't see any guys here.

John was at the cross.

Maybe he took his mother as Jesus commanded.

Maybe he took Mary home.

Maybe that's why he wasn't there, but It's only the girls, only the women.

Let's keep going.

We have some more?

Oh, yeah.

Who shows up at the tomb?

Yep, there they are again.

And Mary?

Mary is there all the way through the darkest time.

All hope is gone.

There is no reason to follow Jesus anymore.

There is no Jesus to follow.

And so here is Mary.

Let's go over to Matthew twenty eight.

Well yeah, we know we did Matthew twenty-eight, one.

Look at your notes.

Mary sticks with Jesus when there seems to be no reason.

She is a velcro disciple.

She sticks to Jesus when all the news is bad.

All there is is dark.

It so looks like, listen, some of you have had some tragic and harsh and hurting and difficult things happen in your life.

At that point, what do you do?

Mary had every reason to go home and just cry. and say it's over.

But she continues to stick with Jesus.

Do you. . .

Only when he does things you like, things you understand, things you can handle.

But when there seems no reason, what in the world is he doing?

Mary sticks with Jesus.

And her stubborn love and loyalty in the darkest times turns out to give her a ticket to the best seat in the house for the greatest miracle that ever happened.

John 20, verse uh 13, 11.

Mary stood outside the tomb yes.

Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept, she bent over to look in the tomb.

Saw two angels in light, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot They asked her one why you're crying.

Well they've they've taken my Lord away, she said.

I don't know where they put him.

At this she turned around.

Saw Jesus standing there.

I just can't imagine this.

But she did not realize it was Jesus.

He asked her a woman, why are you crying?

Who's that you're looking for?

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, sir, if if if you 're the one who carried him away, you know where he is?

Tell me where you put him.

I know he's dead.

Still love him.

I'm still with him.

If you'll tell me where you put him, I'll get him.

This is one of the tenderest moments in the Bible.

Jesus said to her, Mary.

I can't imagine.

She'd heard her name called by him before.

Mary.

Which means teacher.

Mary was the first person on this planet.

Not a disciple, Mary, sees the living Christ.

She had the ringside seat to the greatest event in history, right there outside the tomb, because she was the one who stuck with them.

Then there was no reason to.

Mary gets to see Jesus as no one else ever did.

When you stay with Jesus, when you're hurt and when you're hopeless, you get to see him. as nobody else gets to see him.

When you walk through him with him through the darkest valley, you get to see him like nobody else does him That's why 1 Corinthians 15, 58, which um I've got out of the Living Bible.

We have it up here by the NIV.

Um, but I I Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I like this.

So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable, always working enthusiastically for the Lord.

For you know nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Matthew 25, 21.

You remember this is the ROI when he Jesus says about the coming back with the guy who gave him the talents.

Look what he said.

Well done, been a faithful servant.

You've been faithful in how many things?

How many?

A few.

I will put you in charge of how many things?

Many.

Jesus is the Lord of the disproportionate reward.

You do a little faithful, he does a lot of reward.

I love it.

It will pay off.

It pays off.

Much more than your sacrifice.

So I have a word of encouragement for some of you here who may feel like giving up on something Galatians 6. 9 says, don't be weary in doing good.

For in due time you will reap a harvest, oh if you do not give up.

Napoleon, historically we know, was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

He's in exile now, and one of his former officers Says Napoleon, why do you think the British prevailed at Waterloo?

There are more of you than uh more of uh us than them.

We were better armed.

Why do you think the British won?

And Napoleon is said to have answered.

The British won at Waterloo.

Because they fought five minutes longer.

The message for you from Resurrection Day might be, you about to quit?

You about to give up?

You need to fight five minutes longer.

Mary fought longer.

And she was part of the victory that day.

So perseverance becomes a payoff.

Another uh revolution here is um and and uh uh I'm saving the best for last, but uh a sad story is changed to a hope story.

Yeah, this was a sad story, but John 20, let's look at this again.

Here's what happened.

Would you like to see the first hope story?

The first real hope story about Jesus.

Here it is I have seen the Lord.

That's complicated.

Yeah.

Mary goes to the disciples and says, I've seen the Lord.

She told them that he had said these things to her.

By the way, it says the disciples did not believe her.

This is not the only time in history when men have made a mistake not listening to what a woman said.

Do I hear an amen?

That was all high voices.

Okay.

Um but uh but it Listen, Mary bursts out of that garden and she has got her hope story.

I have seen the Lord.

That's the original hope story.

Every believer has a hope story.

You know what?

Of how you have seen Jesus alive.

How have you seen the Lord?

How have you seen him alive?

That's your you have the same hope story she did.

No, not in an empty tomb, but how he has worked in your life Do you know why you're the best person to tell the people you know about Jesus?

Number one, they trust you.

Number two, you have connection.

You say, Ron, could you come and talk to them?

I don't have any connection with them.

You have empathy with them.

You know what's like.

You're in their tribe.

You know what it's like where they are.

So you're waiting for some more extroverted person, more trained person, somebody owns 100 Bible verses, someone can talk motormouth like me No.

No, you're the one.

Because you got the relationship.

By the way, somebody asked me a very good question.

They said, look, you know, I came to Jesus when I was little.

I was raised in a Christian home.

I really don't know how to do the hope story.

I should have covered that yesterday.

What do you do if you were prenatally nice?

Right?

You say, oh, I was always nice.

I was nice , I was born.

How what do you what do you do?

How do you what's your hope story?

Well I got a little nicer.

Um No, you know how you do your hope story if you're prenatally nice You answer this, you start this sentence, if it weren't for Jesus, tell me, there's no Jesus.

Tell me about your stressful times and there's no Jesus.

Tell me about you as a mom or dad, there's no Jesus.

Tell me about you and your marriage and there's no Jesus.

Tell me about you and your lonely times, your depressed times, and there's no Jesus.

Tell me about the bad news from the doctor and you got no Jesus when he says a word you hope you'll never hear.

Tell me about the funeral.

Tell me about the graveside.

And there's no Jesus.

It's the difference Jesus makes.

That's what people want to know.

They don't want your beliefs.

They want to know the difference he makes.

You've already got the bridge into their life.

You don't have to build one.

It would take me a long time to build a bridge into their life.

You've already got the bridge.

Why don't you cross it with Jesus?

You know what hope means?

Hope means something that could never change did change.

And it changed when Jesus came.

There are three kinds of things that get people to Jesus.

Something you can't fix, something you can't change, or something you can't control.

Those are the things that begin to get people's attention for Jesus.

And by the way, people listen to people from their tribe.

How did Jesus reach Samaria?

Did he go in and have a revival in Samaria right away, set up his tent, and start preaching?

Nope.

Nope, you reach the Samaritans, send a Samaritan to reach him.

And the Bible says many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the woman's, I'll say hope story, testimony.

He sent a Samaria.

Even Jesus said, I'm not the one to go in.

I'm sending somebody, I'm sending one of them in.

Everybody here's in a tribe.

You're in a bunch of tribes.

You're in a generation tribe, you're in an occupation tribe, you're in a recreation tribe, you're in all kinds of tribes.

Your hope story can open a heart like nothing else.

Seriously, it can open a heart like nothing else can.

It avoids all the religious obstacles that keep people from Jesus, because it's it's all about you and all about Jesus.

It's not about religion.

It's unarguable.

Who can argue with your hope story?

Once I was blind, now I can see.

No, you weren't.

No, you can't.

Yes, I was.

I was blind and I can see.

Hello?

Well, the only difference is Jesus came.

No, they can't argue.

They can argue with your beliefs.

They can't argue with your hope story.

And this is important, most important.

Your hope story gives you a natural way to tell his story.

Because you're going to talk about how things were, and when you talk about how they've changed, You're going to talk about how it changed when you discovered that there was a relationship you were supposed to have you don't have.

And your problem wasn't your problem.

It was a symptom.

That you were away from the God who put you here.

And you didn't know why you were here because the only one who knows why you're here is the one who puts you here and you were away from him.

How could you know?

And you found out that you were away from him because you ran your own life.

I said God you run the universe and I'll run me.

I'll be God for me, thank you.

I'll do fine.

I'll hijack my life for my creator and So I was away from him and I really needed him.

I knew I couldn't change without him.

And then I realized how much he loved me that even though I had a penalty to pay, For hijacking my life from the one who gave it to me.

The God who I hijacked it from sent his son to do the dying for the sinning I did.

But he didn't stay dead because the dead man couldn't do anything for me.

Dead man couldn't change me if he's dead.

But he walked out of his grave.

And so that's how the change took place.

Now you know why that's so effective?

It's first person, you're not preaching to them.

It's all about you.

But you've got to make sure you get to his story.

Your story won't change them.

It will open the door.

But you You go from your story to his story, you tell them how his story changed your story and could change their story.

Forever.

It's all about the story.

So that's why the hope story is so, so important.

You want to know how important it is?

Listen to Revelation 12, 11.

They overcame the devil.

How?

With two things.

The blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony.

It beats the devil.

What Jesus did on the cross and what he's done for you.

That combination is a hell-beating combination.

Yeah, I think hope stories are important.

So um one one one other quick thing in John 20, 27, when Jesus appears to the disciples, he says, put put you go ahead, reach out your hand, Thomas.

He he shows his scars.

I would suggest to you that you show yours.

When you let people know your scars and what Jesus has done for those scars You will have their attention.

They'll be listening.

Because every scar you have has a story.

And it's part of the story of your life changing.

Did you know When when Thomas saw the wounds, it validated Jesus being alive.

When people, when you're willing to share your wounds and what he's done about them, it's validation that Jesus is actually alive.

Real quick, walking alone.

This is another revolution.

Walking alone becomes a walk with Jesus.

You know about this.

Here's what's going.

Two guys are walking along the road to Emmaus.

Let's go to the scripture in Luke 24.

Jesus talked uh they talked and discussed what had been going on uh with each other.

Jesus himself came up.

Once again they don't recognize him and he walked along with them.

I don't know if he had a hoodie on or what, but When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, began to give it to them.

Then their eyes were opened.

They recognized him.

And then he disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other, weren't we had holy heartburn.

Weren't our hearts burning while he was talking with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?

Now, here's what's beautiful about this.

This Emmaus walk, please get this beautiful picture.

This is a picture of literally what a relationship with Jesus means.

It means every day you take a walk with Jesus.

Every day you're on the Emmaus Road.

Every day you're taking an Emmaus walk.

And when Jesus opens the scriptures, did you get with that?

He opened the scriptures to us.

Something happens in your heart.

He said, they said our hearts were burning.

When he talked in my heart.

Listen, when you read the Bible, something happened in your heart or just your head?

Or are you just checking the box?

Devotions.

Cry time check.

Did it today I don't talk about devotions anymore.

I used to call it devotions.

It's not, there's nothing important about this, but I don't call it quiet time.

I call it Majesus time.

It's not my Bible time.

I read the Bible, because that's his love letter, and that's where I meet him.

That's how he talks to me.

But it's time with Jesus.

It's not time with the book.

It's time with the person.

Would you let something happen in your heart when you're with them?

Not just have a left brain relationship with Jesus?

How about your right brain having a relationship with them?

Will you feel them?

Not just know more about them.

These guys said, man, all we know is when Jesus opened the scriptures, something happened in our hearts.

It's funny.

You can study the Bible, you can be a Bible scholar, and never feel Jesus' heart.

So step up your game in your Jesus time and ask him to talk to your heart, not just your head.

The Bible is not like any other book.

It's a walk with Jesus, where he joins you on your day's journey I'd say, as the old American Express commercial said, never leave home without it.

Finally, I love this.

This is where we end on Resurrection Day.

A fishbowl.

Becomes a big pond.

Any of you ever had a goldfish?

Kids brought it home from the carnival?

Put it in the goldfish bowl.

About three days later it was in the other bowl.

Last little swim.

Woo.

Um Karen taught me about this.

When you take fish out to the pond, she did this on the farm.

What does the city boy know about it?

Well I knew I was a real expert on cockroaches.

I didn't know about goldfish.

She said I always take the goldfish out to the pond.

It starts growing.

It does, right?

You farm kids know.

They get a bit they can be a foot two feet long And it I I actually called the New York aquarium to verify this.

I didn't believe it.

And uh and uh and it literally told me it said they produce an enzyme that that that retards their growth.

I'm wondering if that's what happened to me.

I produced an enzyme that has retarded my growth.

I may have goldfish syndrome.

I don't know.

But you know what happened to the disciples?

They're a little fishbowl.

Became a big pond after the resurrection.

Look at Matthew 28, 10.

He said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.

Oh, I remember, remember I said we need to just talk about this for a minute Why doesn't he see them in Jerusalem?

Why do they have to walk 90 miles to meet him?

He's in Jerusalem.

There's plenty of places to meet in Jerusalem.

Or someplace closer, why do we have to go all the way up to the north of Israel, to Galilee, from the middle of Israel, to meet?

What's this Galilee thing?

There's only one thing I can figure out.

It's where it all began.

It's where they first heard his call.

It's where they first knew him, began to know him.

It's where all the relationship with him began.

How many of you have a recording of your wedding?

How many do you?

Do you listen to it ever?

The wife said yes, that's great.

You're not the one who needs to listen.

I used I I listened to our tape a number of times, and Then not for a while.

I was like, oh yeah.

Doing good.

Good.

Oh boy, if I graded myself.

Yeah.

I needed you know what?

It was good for me.

Some you know some couples renew their vows Because it's good to go back to where it all began.

Jesus said, guys, I want to take you back to where this all started with me.

Because I'm about to take you where you've never been before.

Some of us need to go back to where it all started with Jesus.

And remember what it was like to find him.

Remember what it was like to be lost and then found.

Go back to when you first heard his voice and the things that you you felt and you knew so so strongly then.

Jesus says, go back to Galilee.

Go back to where it all started.

Because that's where I'm going to show you the next exciting episode of your life.

So Jesus wants to take you back to where it all began so he can take you where you've never been before.

And here's how it happens.

Matthew 28, 18, he says, I love this.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I am over everything in heaven, I'm over everything in earth.

Divine authority.

Divine authority is what allows your life to get enlarged.

This is the declaration.

This is like a blast that launches the disciples into a whole new world of lost people.

It's the platform we stand on.

Jesus says, you got me, I got your back, and I've got it all.

I have got this.

There's nothing about which I can't say I got this Because I run everything in heaven and I'm in charge of everything in earth.

And I got you.

It's the platform we stand on.

It's why we can be bold.

It's the current that powers every time somebody tries to witness for Christ.

You are living for the greatest cause on the planet.

Because right after he says, I got all authority, he says.

The next verse, 2819.

Therefore go.

What's the therefore for?

What's it there for?

What do you see right before that?

All authority is given.

Since I've got charge of everything, you can go and make disciples of all nations.

You know what he's doing?

Any of you watch any of the old gun smokes?

Come on.

I'll bet you have.

Right?

Yeah, Mark, thank you.

You and me.

Karen, Karen made me watch them.

Um Marshall Dillon.

Festus, Chester, Deputies.

You know what that meant?

Marshal Lillon had the government authority as the marshal But he had delegated authority.

Because he had all the authority that the marshal had, because he was his deputy.

Jesus is deputizing us He says you got not only do I have the authority, but I'm deputizing you to be my deputy.

I'm the marshal here But you are deputized with my authority.

Why in the world are you afraid?

And why in the world are you timid?

Why don't you go do some bold things for me I don't know if you've ever been to the tomb of the unknown soldier.

I was there a couple of times.

One time I was really close.

I never I and that's never happened before, but I was right next to the thing when when the and they've been doing this for about 60, 70 years.

The guards live on the grounds.

It's one of the highest honors in the militaries, highly coveted. to be a guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

If you've seen the change, it's very high precision.

Doesn't it's very, you know, the one guy marches in and the other and they the other guy marches off and it's all very precise.

It's very impressive.

Very dignified But I heard what they say to each other.

Yeah, you have to be up close to hear it.

And the guard who's already on duty said, orders remain unchanged.

To which the guard coming on duty salutes and says orders acknowledged For like seventy years One guy said, orders remain unchanged.

And the other guy says, orders acknowledged.

On a hill in Galilee.

The orders were given.

Go and tell everybody.

And that was passed to another generation.

As one generation went off duty, they said orders remain unchanged.

And the next generation comes on and says, order's acknowledged.

And as Keith Green said years ago, every generation of Christians is responsible for its generation of sinners.

And so now the orders have come to us that were given on that hill in Galilee 2,000 years ago.

And thank God somebody was still obeying those orders, or you wouldn't be with Jesus tonight.

Now it's in our hands.

And one thing Jesus promised to them is that they were going to be fueled with what I call divine plutonium.

Plutonium is what basically activates an atomic bomb.

He said, I'm going to give you divine plutonium.

Luke 24, 49.

These guys must have been going, Jesus, whoa, we want us to go to all nations.

There's like, I count 11.

How many do you count?

How are we going to do this?

I'm going to send you what my father has promised.

That was the Holy Spirit.

But they're like, well, we better get going.

But we better get to work.

No, no, no, no, no, don't do anything.

What do you mean don't do anything?

You just told us to go to the world.

Stay.

Stay in the city until you've been clothed with power from on high.

Jesus said, I got a job for you to do.

I don't want you to run out in your spiritual skinmies.

Why don't you get your clothes on first?

What's he talking about?

I wondered about this.

Why does he tell them to stay?

Here's why.

Jesus wants to do a great work in you before he does a great work through you.

He says, I gotta load you up with the Holy Spirit before you start going running off doing stuff for me.

I wonder how many frantic mornings of Ron Hutchcraft's frantic, crazy mornings has Jesus said.

Stay, Ron.

I gotta put something in your tank first.

What are you doing running off already?

Stay until I've given you what you need for this.

He's still saying that to his followers.

He needs to do a great work in you before he can do a great work through you.

So, you ready for the uh accelerant?

From the peak of Mount Resurrection, we see we are empowered.

To live boldly.

Why wouldn't we?

We have resurrection authority.

We have resurrection power inside of us.

You can dare to do some things you've been staying in your comfort zone to not do.

Live boldly My friend Tom was a missionary pilot, some of my heroes.

We flew all over Alaska with these guys.

I flew down to where the Alka Indians martyred the missionaries, landed on this little place that nobody should land.

These guys are my heroes.

I love missionary pilots.

Tom was a missionary Mexico.

I think four passengers and a couple pilots.

Not everybody survived.

Tom did His body was very broken.

He had been working in a remote village in Mexico, flying in things that they desperately needed.

His body was broken all over the place.

Flew him back to the States.

He healed slowly, but healed.

Finally, he was able to be flown back to the village he was chomping at the bit to get back to.

Because he really loved those people.

When he got off the plane, all those people that he had touched were waiting for him with a banner.

That said, Welcome home, Captain Tom When I covered for you and for me.

We may get beat up, may have crashed a couple times.

But when we get home , I pray there'll be a banner there saying, welcome home, good and faithful servant.

Because of Resurrection Day, that's what awaits you.

As the banners unfurled.

And you as the warriors welcome to all.

Hallelujah.

Let's pray.

Lord.

Thank you that living proof, proof that you are alive is not just history, though there is history.

Whether we realize it or not, each one of us is living proof you are alive, for there is no way to explain us without you.

We are resurrection proof in this room.

It's like the the cook here said, I see something in these people.

He's seeing a living Christ.

Doesn't know that, but that's what he's seeing.

Lord, forgive us for living timidly.

For shrinking back because of the price we might pay that we talked to somebody about Jesus, because it might cost us.

Golly, after what it cost you. to give us a life and give us a message, why wouldn't we be worried about the cost?

And the cost of not telling them is an unthinkable eternity for them So Lord, I pray you turn chickens to tigers and help us to be Mary.

Mary loyal to you when it's dark and there's no reason.

Help us to be Peter.

Maybe we failed, but but all you want to know is if you if we love you and we can still be your go-to guy, your go-to girl.

Hallelujah.

Lord, may we make our walk with you each morning, our emails walk, a non-negotiable, not when we get around to it or if we have time.

Everything else fit around that.

And Lord, a lot of us have settled for a goldfish pole faith that is safe and comfy and boring. and bears little fruit.

I pray you would move everyone here to another level of boldness in risking for you Because that's how our life becomes a legacy life.

Thanks for meeting with us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.