Hey, my friends.
Happy Easter,
It is a good day.
I'm so happy to be here with you.
Thank you for joining us on this Resurrection Sunday.
Yeah, I know there's a lot of places you could choose to be, but you're here.
I appreciate that.
It's going to be a great time
as we continue together looking at the resurrection story.
I'm thankful it's not too hot.
We got some fans for you, which is good.
I got my hat on to keep the bald head from getting to read.
But we'll be okay.
We'll be okay.
We're going to go through the book of John and just not the book of Joshua.
Like, I didn't sign up for that.
A chapter in John, chapter 20.
It's about the resurrection story.
But before we get into it, I just want to say
thank you to our flip side team for putting this on there.
So much that went in behind the scenes
and everything getting ready for all of us.
I appreciate my team so much and stuff going on with the kids,
and all the different rooms we have.
They just got a great, great, great staff and volunteer team.
And what a great video screen here too, right?
Like, that's a guy in our church named George.
He owns that.
He let us use it today.
And I'm just going to preempt graduation season.
That's a great thing for you to rent from him for all your graduations.
Approve. If you love your kids or not.
So just kidding.
Just kidding, just kidding. Hey,
I want to draw our attention
to, to a big idea.
And that is this, the resurrection
is not just a historical fact.
It's a personal invitation.
I want you understand that, Tom.
You can follow with me on the screens back there.
Do that.
The resurrection is not just a historical fact.
It is a personal invitation.
And I want you to listen
for yours this morning.
Of all the world religions and all the world philosophies,
every one of them, except for for every one of the world's religions
and world's philosophies, are built on the teachings of its founder.
Only four are built on the founder themself
and those for Judaism
just built on the founder of it of Abraham
Christianity and its founder Jesus.
Buddhism and its founder Buddha
and Islam and its founder Muhammad.
Those are the only four world religions that are built on its founder,
not just the teaching of its founder, and of those for those only one
that claims its founder to have died
and risen and is alive today, only one to
all the others have never made that claim because they can't make that claim.
Their founder died and stayed married.
Only Jesus.
So Christianity is not only unique,
Christianity is singular.
And what sets it apart is what we celebrate this day.
The resurrection.
More.
Every other religion ends at the grave
in Christianity.
Jesus walked out of it.
And for the last 2000 years,
his followers, Jesus followers have been gathering on Sunday morning
because it is the day of the week that they celebrate this resurrection.
And on this day in particular,
for 2000 years have been celebrating what happened
that we commemorate on this day the empty tomb.
And I want to suggest to you this
that what you see at the empty tomb will determine how you live.
I want you to understand that
what you see at the empty tomb will determine how you live,
as it did for the three that we'll look at in the Gospel of John chapter 20.
Today, there were three people
who were first at the empty tomb, and into what they saw
determine the decisions they made and the course of their life.
The same is true for me and you.
And so I just want to walk through this.
If you have a smart device,
John, chapter 20, it's also on the screen.
Let me just read what the Bible says.
Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene,
remember that name came to the tomb early while it was still dark,
and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple.
The one whom Jesus loved,
and said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we don't know where they have laid him.
Why don't you understand what happened on that first early morning
before the sun comes up, Mary.
Sleepless night, not understanding what was going on,
or all of her world and her hopes and her dreams have just come crashing down.
And she just can't sleep. If you've been there. Yeah,
yeah.
There's so much on your mind.
And so much on your heart that you don't have answers to.
You're just sleepless. This was Mary.
And the Bible says this woman, Mary Magdalene,
came to the tomb.
There's this scene
that says this familiarity breeds contempt.
Okay? It's true. In marriage.
It's true in relationships.
You get too familiar with people.
You start to hold them in contempt.
The same is true for the resurrection.
It's such a common story now.
It's it's like like we all have heard this story over and over and over,
and because we've heard it is familiar and the dangers
that familiarity breeds contempt.
We just don't find the on the wonder in it anymore.
Well, for these in John 20, they had never heard, they never seen.
They said nothing like this. It happened.
And so they're not approaching this with eyes and ears that have heard this before.
It's this is brand new information.
And so Mary Magdalene,
sleepless, tormented in turmoil, goes to the tomb. Why?
Because she knew who Jesus was to her.
Mary Magdalene, her name was Mary.
She was from the town of Magdala.
The significant thing about that is the Bible
tells us that out of Mary, Jesus cast out seven demons,
seven
now you got to know
if there are seven demons that are comfortable living in a person.
That's a pretty bad life, right?
And the fact that she was from Magdala, because what we know
historically is Magdala was a hotbed for prostitution.
And so you have this woman who's possessed by seven demons
living in the town of prostitution.
What do you think had been done to her?
What do you think she did?
You understand?
And Jesus says that Jesus coming to Mary, cast demons out of her
and restored her and created a brand new woman in her.
And so when she is thinking that this Jesus has died,
the only thing she can think of is, I have to go to his tomb.
I have to go there is significant
that the first eye witness of the resurrection was this Mary,
someone that the rest of the world
would have cast aside as beyond help
was worthless.
This is the one
that, in God's divine plan, was chosen to be the one
who would be first.
I witnessed the empty tomb.
She. What was she going to do
at the tomb when it says the stone had been rolled away?
That stone that covered the interest.
The tomb was anywhere between 2 and 3 tons.
What was she going to do?
She wasn't going there to expect a resurrected body.
She was going there to visit, of course, behind the three ton rock.
What was she going to do?
She didn't know, but she just had to go. Why?
Because there was this love in her.
Because love makes us
act even when we can't explain why.
And her love for Jesus.
Because the love she got back from first from Jesus propelled her to go.
And she goes.
Jesus had radically changed her past, and I love the fact
that she's the first one who sees.
Because what I know about my Jesus is this there is no past that so permanent
that God can't erase, and there's no past
that's so dark that God cannot redeem.
This is the God that rose from the grave in Jesus.
And I
love the fact that it's Mary who was first there.
Now, I also like the idea that when she goes
to Peter and John and, and and she's like, hey, they moved him.
Who's the they
do you ever you ever know people like that that speak in general?
I know like in big generalities.
Like everybody thinks this, everybody says it, everybody's doing this.
Who's everybody.
But this is what happens
to just in ignorance on the whole day.
Like we don't know where he is.
And I love the fact the writer of this gospel is John.
And he says, these two disciples, Peter and the one Jesus love.
That's John's humble way of saying, meet.
So he's like, look, I don't want to brag and say, I was the guy there.
I'll just say, it's the one Jesus loved a whole bunch.
That's what he's saying.
Silly, silly, silly.
Look at this.
So we're going to be introducing these three at the tomb.
Verse three.
So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going towards the tomb.
Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter to him.
First see how humble he is.
There's something about him that says, look, I know this is inspired
Word of God, but I just going to make sure that everybody
for all eternity knows that I'm the fast one.
Where am I?
Oh, verse five and stooping
to look in, he saw the linen cloth lying, lying there.
But he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came following him, and we enter the tomb.
He saw the linen cloths lying there,
and the face cloth which had been on Jesus's head, not lying
with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, John, back to him who had reached the tomb first.
There it is. Thanks for your humility.
Also went in and saw and believed, for
they did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.
And the disciples went back to their homes.
These three,
three people, three different responses.
Three people, when they saw the same tomb, saw
the same evidence, came to different conclusions.
I want you to stand when the Bible says that John got there first
and looked in and saw.
There's three words used first saw in this little passage.
The first one, John got there first and looked in, and the Bible says that he saw.
Pull that up.
Tom, I want you to stand with these words. Are
the first word is a Greek word, Aleppo.
And it just means to see and to notice.
Like when you see and you notice the screen there, it's beautiful
when you look at, you know, said Tree Aleppo, I just see and I noticed it.
That's all it is.
And so all John did was walk in. He just saw.
He just noticed. Oh, there's there's clothes or cloth on the ground.
He saw there was no understanding.
There was there was no contemplation.
He just noticed it.
The second word when Peter walks in and Peter saw, that's the second word
called three.
Oh, and that's where we get our English word theater.
And it's when you look in the same direction for a long time
and you start to realize something's going on, but you can't quite make it out.
But you know that something is happening, right?
Like you're watching a movie, you're not sure how it's going
to get to the end, but you know, something's happening.
So Peter walks in and he sees there rattle, something's going on.
I don't know what. Something's going on.
And then the third word, when John takes a moment
and that Greek word, what he saw is on.
And that's to see with comprehension.
He notices
the cloth on the, on the ground and the head piece, and he says,
now he knows what he comprehends and what the Bible says, right?
John saw and what to remember and what believed.
He didn't believe when it was just Aleppo.
He didn't believe when I was there at all.
But finally at the Idan Peace.
Now I'm seeing with comprehension.
And here's what I want us to understand.
Some of you here have seen this story just with Aleppo.
You just notice that it's Easter.
There's eggs.
My kid gets candy. It.
I used to do this when I was young.
And you're missing the wonder.
The resurrection.
Some of us see it in stereo.
We look and we know and we see.
And we know something's going on.
But we really haven't grasped it and comprehended it.
We're so familiar with it that we hold it in contempt.
And it's not special and amazing anymore.
There's some of us,
and perhaps some of you will become this today.
That sees with it on.
It's more than what I've seen before.
And now I comprehend what has happened.
You see, what you see is the empty tomb
will determine right
how you live.
It's a powerful story.
See, the tomb was open.
We got in.
Since the tomb was open, not so Jesus could get out.
The tomb was open so we could see in.
And when you see in what eyes do you have Aleppo?
They are real.
Or on.
Knowing that he rose is not enough.
You can know with all you can know, with the real.
But the invitation is to eat on
concrete. Hand
what Jesus has done.
The reason why John
is at this place and now he believes,
is because he saw it on the clothes, the cloth.
Here's why it was so transformative for him
that moved from Aleppo all the way to honor.
And here's why.
Because in the ancient times,
when the Jews would wrap the dead bodies for burial,
they would take each individual appendage and wrap it separately
so the leg would be wrapped separately from this leg,
this arm separately from this arm, all wrapped up and then folded
over and wrap the entire body without the head being wrapped.
So all of this body was wrapped separately, individually,
and then in unison,
and then the head would, would be wrapped
on top of all of these, these wrappings,
they would be soaked in spices and oils and ointments
and fragrances and,
about 100 pounds worth of fragrances and oils.
And so you take
this man, Jesus, probably a hundred and 7,075 pounds.
Add another 100 pounds to him because of barrel spices.
What did Mary think she was going to do when she got there?
Even if she could get this body, it's like 275 pounds,
but this body is all wrapped.
And then what would happen over that, as the days would take by
all of these ointments would start to dry and crystallize
and harden like a cocoon.
When John looked in
what he saw, we know it from the Scripture.
Is all the cloth in perfect
shape and form, just deflated.
And he had comprehension
how Jesus passed out because of blood loss and then revived in the corners
of the tomb and somehow, out of a straitjacket, unwrapped himself.
The cloth wouldn't be undisturbed and just simply vacant.
It would be a mess.
If people had stolen the
body, the cloth wouldn't be there in the first place.
If the disciples have stolen the body and unwrapped it first,
there's no way they could wrap up all the cloth again.
There's no body.
Whoever was able to disprove the resurrection,
the Jews would have loved to.
The Romans would have left who nobody could.
And when the disciple looked in and saw
that the cloth wasn't disturbed, it was just empty.
He knew that the only logical explanation was the resurrection
and so he saw with Ayden and believed
and man him.
And it was powerful. Oh,
not only that,
it's just a little bit of trivia for you.
The head cloth.
The tradition tells us that
when the Jews would meet together and eat supper together,
if the get and invited guests over, if the guests felt loved
and welcomed and appreciated
and honored and enjoyed the meal, they would take the napkin
and crinkle it up and throw it on the plate like it was so good.
It just it was just a this is awesome.
But if the guest did not feel loved,
not appreciated, dishonored,
and did not enjoy the meal
as a subtle sign of disapproval,
and the statement says, I will never be back to this particular place again.
They would fold the napkin and set it down.
And what Jesus was saying in this moment that John saw with
Ayden is that I came and you rejected me.
I came and you didn't show me love.
I came and you didn't honor me.
I came to my own.
The Bible says I my own rejected me.
I am never coming back to this place of the grave again.
I've done it once for you.
It's powerful. Man.
This is the resurrection story.
Let me just read this next set of verses here, verse 11, if you follow along.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb as she wept.
She, stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting
where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
This is awesome to me, because she's not ready to go home.
She hasn't seen her Jesus yet.
She wants something more.
She doesn't want the null.
If she wants the relationship, she wants to experience.
And she's sitting there and there's two angels.
There's three places where angels actually showed up in Jesus's life.
One was at his birth,
the second was in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and one is praying and sweating drops of blood.
And they came to minister to him.
And the third was as resurrection.
And this is the only place they're sitting because the work had been done,
there was nothing else to do.
Look at what the Scripture says
in verse 13.
They said to her, woman, why are you weeping?
What she's
that just sounds like really like she's a woman at a grave.
Of course she's weeping.
I think they knew why.
I think they wanted her to MIT. Why,
she said to them, they they're they're all again.
They they whoever they are.
Well, everybody, they've taken them away.
They've taken away, my Lord. And I do not know where they've laid him.
Having said that, she turned around and saw Jesus standing,
but she didn't know who it was, didn't know it was him.
Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Why?
Who in whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be gardener, she said, sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where they have laid him, and I'll go.
Take him away.
She'll know what to say.
And Jesus comes and says, what?
Why are you crying?
He wants her to come to terms with with the emotion of her own heart.
And the
thing I love about this interaction is that Jesus is right there
with her, in her grief and in her despair and in her pain.
He's there. She just couldn't see him.
And I wonder for how many of us were in those moments of despair
and turmoil and questions and doubt
and fear as though Jesus is here with us?
Do we miss him?
I fear we do.
She missed him.
She thought it was the gardener.
If I can be, this is just my own humor.
And so those of you who are part of my church understand me.
And I don't offend you, but some of you are not usually part of my church.
And, I don't mean to be, not politically correct, but I get her thinking.
He was a gardener.
There's a guy in the garden named Jesus.
What else is she going to think?
I got funny, Tim.
You okay?
That's pretty funny,
You know what to do
in verse 16,
Jesus said to her, Mary.
She turned and said to him in Aramaic rabona,
which means teacher.
I love the fact that Jesus preaches
a one word sermon to her.
He doesn't have to address her grief, her
doubt, her fear, her confusion, her pain.
He just has to say your name.
It's a one word sermon that will change your life.
When you hear Jesus call your name.
Mary,
a one word sermon changes
everything for her.
Mary is overwhelmed
and in her overwhelmed nature.
He calls her name.
And this is why this is what it means.
Well, let me just read 1780 and I'm going to come back to this.
I'm gonna tell you something else.
Jesus said her, don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father, but
go to my brothers and say,
say to them,
I'm ascending to my father, and your father and my God and your God.
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord,
and that he said these things to her.
Here's what happens.
And this is why it's so important for you to hear Jesus say your name.
When Jesus says your name, it means a couple of things,
and I want you to understand
what it means that Jesus knows your name and says your name for those up time.
The first thing it means is that he knows you.
He knows you.
If you can't find Jesus, he can still find you.
When he finds you, he calls your name.
And the thing that it means when he calls your name is that he knows you
personally.
And because he
knows you, he wants your attention.
So he calls your name.
And the reason he wants your attention
is because you matter deeply to him.
And so he calls your name.
You matter deeply to him.
So he has something for you.
He has, he has.
He has something for you
because your name.
Because he's waiting for your reply.
I believe with all my heart that he's calling me your name.
He's calling all of our names.
Some of us are going to hear,
and some of us are going to realize that he knows me.
I matter to him.
He has something for me and he's waiting for my reply.
That's what's going on.
When he calls Mary's name.
And I love the fact
that he says, don't, don't cling on to me.
What he's saying is, don't hold onto me so tightly.
You you, you're holding on me so tight I can't, I can't move like
let me go a little bit. Why?
Because he has a mission to fulfill
and he says, don't hold onto me so tightly, but go.
What are you saying to this woman?
Is this I have a mission and you have a commission.
You go tell who.
What do you say?
You go tell who do you remember?
You go tell who. My brothers.
It's the first time he's called anybody.
He's call the disciples. His brothers.
They've been servants.
They've been disciples.
They've been apprentices.
They've never been his brother. Why?
Because the resurrection turns religion into relationship.
You understand?
And that's the call of our name.
You matter so much.
I know you. Sure.
I want a relationship with you.
My brother, my sister.
And I love the fact that Mary, this Mary
who's past had condemned her future, that God redeems it
and she becomes the first missionary of the resurrection.
Well, what an awesome woman.
And I think Jesus would say the same to us.
I've got a commission for you.
Let me just wrap up with this.
The story isn't quite done.
It goes on for about a week, and John 20.
And in verse 19, on the evening of that first day.
So Jesus crucified, buried
early Sunday morning, they go to the tomb.
He's not there.
This is Sunday night.
The first day of the week in that evening, the doors being locked
where the disciples, were there because they were afraid of the Jews.
Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again,
peace be with you as a father who sent me, even I am sending you.
And we had said this.
He breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.
If you withhold forgiveness, from any it's withheld.
What he's saying is just agree with heaven with what's been happened.
But I love the fact that Jesus shows up in the midst of the disciples
in an upper room.
They had heard the story that he was resurrected,
but they were still living in fear.
And that's my concern for some of us.
We've heard the story.
We might even believe it, but we still live in fear.
And Jesus had to show up in the middle of them.
And his first words were, these guys, every one of them.
But John ran away from him at the right, at the crucifixion.
Every one of them doubted, every one of them denied him.
And what is his first words to these losers?
What is it?
Peace be with you.
And you watch him to understand it so much.
He says it twice.
He says, I'm not holding your past against you now.
I've raised so it could be erased.
Your yesterdays gone.
All that stuff before is gone.
I offer you my peace now quit trying to prove yourself.
Quit trying to be impressive to me.
I offer you my peace.
And he says it twice.
I love the fact
that Jesus doesn't shame his followers for their failure.
Some of you need to hear that
Jesus doesn't shame his followers for their failure.
He died to forgive it
and in his place offer you his peace.
Peace I give you.
Look at verse 24 and 25.
Now Thomas, one of the 12 called
the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other side told him, we've seen the Lord when are excited.
And what is Thomas saying?
Unless,
unless something's happened, I'm not going to believe it
unless I see his hands.
And the marks of the nails.
I placed my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand inside.
I will not believe.
He said, your testimony to me is not enough.
See what happened?
Is Thomas as a believer, Miss Church?
And because he missed church, he missed Jesus.
Understand this.
He was a believer, but not a longer.
And Jesus didn't just call us to believe, he called us to belong
to him and to each other.
Thomas missed it.
He believed, but he didn't belong.
And because of that, he missed the joy of the Lord.
And he says, unless
he was waiting for evidence in the very midst of the people who had the evidence,
and still waiting and dragging his feet.
The Bible says Thomas was the twin.
Guess who?
I think he's a twin of?
Me and you who wait
and make excuses for why you don't believe.
I haven't seen enough.
Yeah, yeah,
it hasn't been explained clear enough
yet, have.
It's time to let all your.
Unless.
Die in the shadow of yesterday.
Say goodbye to the.
Unless as of yesterday.
Don't be his twin.
He refused to believe.
Despite the testimony of everybody around him.
Verse 26 and 29.
And I'll be done.
Eight days later, the disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them,
although the old doors were locked because they're still living in fear.
Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
They had heard those words before,
even for the one who was a skeptic,
even for the one who still had excuses and reasons.
Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands.
Put your hand and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve any longer,
Thomas answered, my Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me?
Now watch this blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed.
Guess who that is?
Me and you.
It's Jesus,
a special blessing upon us when we believe.
No, we haven't seen him like Thomas did.
And yet we believed all.
I love the fact
that Jesus said, peace to you, oh skeptic,
I didn't come to condemn you.
I came to show you my love.
And will you see me with it on and believe?
Friends, I want you to understand what belief means.
Belief means about four things that I came up with.
It's more than mental agreement.
It's surrender.
To believe means to surrender not just to agree with
an in surrender.
Belief means this
that I am separated by God from sin.
And it means that I believe that
Jesus is the only way to the father.
It means that I believe that faith
in Jesus demands my surrender
to him of my life.
And belief means that
repentance leads to following,
just not agreeing
leads to following.
See, resurrection is not just a historical fact,
it is your personal invitation
to come and believe.
And I don't want you to miss the empty tomb.
I don't want you to miss him calling your name.
Believe is trusting.
That leads to turning at least to following.
And that's your invitation this morning.
There's one more
Bible verse I want to share with you is from the book of First Timothy.
First Timothy chapter two, verses five, six and seven.
Look at what it says, for there's one God,
and there's one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
The living Bible says it like this.
Pull up that graphic.
The Living Bible says it like this,
that all people are on one side and God is on the other.
That's how that verse reads.
And this morning I want you to grasp this,
that us and our humanity are on one side, God is on the other.
And there's a great chasm between us,
and we cannot make our way over to God no matter how hard we try.
Yeah, we try.
We try to be good and it falls short.
We try, we try to be religious and it falls short.
Pull up that next slide.
We try all these things of our behavior.
We try to be generous and it falls short.
And it might feel like some things
get us closer across, but nothing gets us all the way across.
And everything.
We try to jump the chasm to get from where we are to where God is fall short.
And the end of that pit of falling short.
The Bible says his death.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and the wages of sin is death.
And this is what we try all our lives to try to get close to God,
to try to be near him, to try to follow him.
And when we try all these other things, inevitably, and you know this,
and I know this because we've tried it and we failed and it's worn us out.
It all falls short.
And so God said, I need to bridge the gap.
They can't get to me. I must go to them.
And so what the Bible says is that enter Jesus
on the cross.
And God says, I'll bridge the gap
by my son on the cross.
And because he's done
that, he's invited us to move from where we are
through Jesus to the father.
Do you understand?
Here's what I want you to do
in your mind's eye right now.
Put yourself right now, not where you wish
you were, not where you want to be right now.
Where are you
in that journey?
You're somewhere.
Some of you haven't even tried
to leave this side of the cliff.
And you know.
And you feel how far away from God you are.
Where are you?
Some of you have taken steps, and you're trying.
You're trying your hardest.
And you really are a good person.
But you're not there.
And you're working hard and you're trying hard and you're striving hard.
But you know that you just.
You just can't. Like, there's something there's.
I got to,
And there are some of us who have understood the depravity of our own sin
and realized God's grace and his love and his mercy shown to us
through his son on the cross.
And have this beautiful relationship, communion with the father.
When rather than condemnation from him, we hear peace, peace,
peace.
Friends, let me ask you,
if you can't with certainty
pinpoint yourself with God
through the cross of Christ,
why don't you do that right now?
Will you allow me to lead you into this?
This is the resurrection.
And he is for you.
And is calling your name.
I want you to pray with me.
If you've never made
this conscious choice and decision
to make Jesus the Lord of your life and accept what he did on the cross
for the very first time, I invite you to pray a real simple prayer.
I admit, God that I'm a sinner.
I've not lived up to your perfect standard,
and I am admit it.
Thank you that you loved me enough
to send your son Jesus to die on the cross
for my sin.
This morning I accept Jesus's work.
And this morning I'm going through him to get to you.
Father. Yes.
I accept you, Jesus, as my Savior.
And father, I want to live forever with you.
Just say that.
Some of you, this isn't your first time.
It's a more of a recommitment.
And it feels like you have watched that bridge back
and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
And I want to invite you in this moment
to recommit yourself.
Say, Jesus, I realize what you did on that cross for me.
Father, I
recognize again with understanding how much you love me.
Jesus, I hear you calling my name.
And I want to reply,
I choose to follow you.
I choose to follow you with my life.
I don't even know what that means, but I but I want to do it.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
Some of you are coming back.
It's a recommitment and it's important.
Whether it's your first time or a recommitment
of some other time, you hear him calling your name
and he wants to make all your yesterdays forgotten and gone
and create a new a new person.
It's by a confession of faith.
So here's what I'm going to do.
Those of you
just in this moment of prayer right now, we're still in this moment of prayer.
If you prayed that prayer for the first time or
as a recommitment of yourself to God, would you just slip up your hand?
I'm gonna pray over you. Just slip up your hand. Thank you.
Thank you. A whole bunch in the middle. Thank you. On the left.
Good, good. On the right. Right here. Good.
Raise up your hand. Hi. Just hold it. Thank you.
Good, good.
Just keep that. Keep it up. It's all right.
Your shoulder muscles are going to be okay.
Keep your hand up. I'm gonna pray over you.
Thank you.
Good good good good.
Anybody else in the back? Good.
Anybody else?
Thank you. Good. Do this in faith.
I'm going to pray over you. You're going to receive this.
Just good right there. Good on edge. Good.
Good good.
Just receive this.
Pray with me in your spirit and thank you right there.
Good.
Pray with me and just received this.
Father, thank you for these hands that you see because they represent
hearts, that you love, people that you died for Jesus.
You said that your eyes run to and fro about there to see those
whose hearts are firmly committed to you, that you may strongly support them.
These with their hands now are strongly committed to you.
That's what they're saying.
Be for them on their behalf.
God, come upon them.
By your spirit. Come in them.
Make all their yesterdays gone, all their excuses disappear.
All the stuff of their past.
God created them a new heart and a new life
and a new present and a new future that they may follow you fully.
Thank you that you love us.
Thank you.
That another hand. Good.
Thank you.
He's calling your name.
See with comprehension what's going on
right now?
In your own spirit, say God, I follow you.
Jesus, I follow you.
Thank you for forgiveness, I am yours.
That's my declaration today.
I am yours.
Father, I thank you for your hands.
And father, thank you for this time. Thank you for these people.
Thank you that you have visited them, that you have spoken
their name, that they have seen you, that they have heard you.
I pray in the name of Jesus now that you would empower them
and strength into to follow you with their life,
and through them you would show all the people around them
what a follower of Jesus looks like.
Now, because they're yesterday's gone
and they're tomorrow's brand new.
Jesus, we love you.
We praise you.
In your name I pray. Amen.
Hey, hey.
I think he deserves a round of applause for what he did.
Hey, here's how we're going to wrap this up.
Now, listen, we're going to sing another song.
It's all about your yesterday being gone now, okay?
It's all about you. Yesterday being gone.
Here's my invitation.
I would love for you
to communicate with us what God has done and is doing.
A couple ways to do that.
Those QR codes on your chairs go there.
That's a way you can communicate with us.
There's a connection button there to communicate.
This is what God is doing, what he just did.
This is my commitment.
Please do that.
Those cards, you can fill out those cards.
Take him to the welcome booth right there.
We have a gift for you.
Any of you who watch this.
I wrote a book about the foundations of the Christian faith
and what it means to follow. Pick it up. It's free.
If you made a commitment, sign that card and take it there.
Here's my other offer.
Some of you
want to pray
and want to talk with someone right now.
I would love to be that person.
We would love to be that person.
So I'm is going to be here during the song.
After the song.
If you just want to come,
you want to
let's talk about a commitment you made or you just want prayer
over something in your life.
You want to see God step in and do something
that you've not had done yet.
Just come. Let's pray.
I know I got John and Laura down here.
I got Bob and Jennifer back over there.
I got Dennis and Jamie somewhere over here.
They're going to. I haven't even told they're going to do this.
You guys, you're going to do this.
You're going to stand up on the edges and down front here.
Any of these people standing kind of off to the side, like
they'd love to pray with you, you understand?
Yeah.
Hey, listen, I love you.
It's been great to be together. You need a church home.
You come back Sunday at the Maywood Center, nine and 1030.
Okay?
It's going to be a good day.
Today would be a great day next Sunday.
Let's sing a little bit.
Yes, indeed. Hey, it is a good Sunday. Hey.