1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,640 I want to begin by asking you if you've ever had that moment 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,040 where you've been at home and maybe it's like a quiet evening, 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,040 but then suddenly you hear like a loud boom somewhere in the 4 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:13,720 neighborhood. And I'm not fucking like a door 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,760 slam or anything like that. I'm talking like a deep, like 6 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,800 bone rattling. How shaking. 7 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,040 What on earth was that sort of boom? 8 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:23,480 Anyone had that experience before? 9 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,920 And instantly, you stop what you're doing. 10 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:27,960 You look around. You know, if it's me and Susan, 11 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,080 we're looking at each other. And like, what on earth was 12 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,479 that? Was that like a firework? 13 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,000 Was that like my neighbor Derek's trash can? 14 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,040 Like, what on earth just happened? 15 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,000 OK. And then what do you do next? 16 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,200 You you don't stay put. You venture outside out into the 17 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,560 front. And you look around, like, what 18 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:46,960 on earth was that? But you're not alone. 19 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,680 Who else is outside with you? All your neighbors. 20 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,720 And you kind of look at each other like, how did you hear 21 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:53,680 that? They're like, yeah, what was 22 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:54,720 that? You, you guys know the 23 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,400 experience. Anyone, anyone in the room. 24 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:00,720 OK, a few of you, 3 of you. But you guys get you get the 25 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,160 boys. This happens to all of us. 26 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:04,200 And then you don't go there, right? 27 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,720 Maybe you don't find the answer. And So what do you do? 28 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,120 You go online, the community Facebook groups, and no one hear 29 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,160 that boom on the Northwest side. I can hear, right. 30 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,200 Some people are like, it's nothing. 31 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,240 Other people are like, you know, it's an alien invasion. 32 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,280 There's no in between, right? It's either one or the other. 33 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,600 And at this point it's like a meme, this idea of like a 34 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,480 neighborhood boom. Take a look. 35 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,040 There's even this neighborhood boom posting decision charge 36 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,240 somebody made and it all goes it all basically goes to the very 37 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,480 end, which says mind your business. 38 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,160 Do not post about it, right? Like you don't need to post 39 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:38,640 about every boom in the neighborhood. 40 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,760 Why? Well, it's because most booms, 41 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,520 they're, they're nothing. They, they don't matter, They're 42 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:48,280 inconsequential. They don't actually change 43 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,640 anything. And so for a lot of us, 44 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,120 honestly, we don't even bother going outside. 45 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,760 Maybe you hear it, you shrug it off, you move on, right. 46 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,040 The general consensus is if you hear a boom, you just basically 47 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,560 say nothing. To see here, folks, head back to 48 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,880 bed or head back to that show you're watching, or head back to 49 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:12,240 your phone and scrolling or back to your busy work routine or 50 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,760 whatever. So often we're too busy to 51 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:17,880 investigate. We're too distracted to 52 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:19,680 investigate or just too preoccupied. 53 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,920 And so it wasn't times we're we're quick to dismiss the boom, 54 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,240 thinking it's nothing special, right? 55 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,680 We forget about it. And honestly, I think part of 56 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,800 this because we, we would prefer it not to be aliens, right? 57 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,960 We would prefer it to be a simple, anthropological, 58 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,960 tangible explanation. After all, we are rational, 59 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,240 evolved people even when our world is rocked outside of us. 60 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,240 And today, I want to just say this every once in a while, 61 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,320 every once in a while, there's a, there's a boom that you 62 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,400 shouldn't ignore. Every once in a while there's a 63 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,400 boom that's so significant and so earth shattering and life 64 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:06,640 changing that it's worth investigating. 2000 years ago 65 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:13,240 there was an undeniable boom that went off in human history 66 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,200 and and the reverberation in the echoes of that boom have still 67 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,800 been felt and seen even to this day. 68 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:28,080 And the boom was the life and the death and the alleged 69 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:33,160 resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was the boom. 70 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,120 Here's the thing. Every credible historian, 71 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,720 whether they believe in God, don't believe in God, whether 72 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,240 they're atheist, agnostic, whatever, every credible 73 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,040 historian believes a few things about Jesus Christ. 74 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,480 Number one, they believe that Jesus of Nazareth actually 75 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,320 existed, that he was a real person. 76 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,200 Number 2, they believe that he went around preaching about what 77 00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,840 was called the Kingdom of God #3 they know and believe that he 78 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,400 was crucified under Pontius Pilate, under Rome. 79 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,760 And finally #4 we all know that Christianity grew after his 80 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,440 death. That is his apparent of 81 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,680 followers were claiming that he was alive. 82 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:16,480 Now these are these are not up for debate. 83 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,279 These are just like historic known facts. 84 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,720 These this is the reality in which we live. 85 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,520 But the claim of the early Christians and the claim of 86 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:31,600 Christians today is this, that between 3:00 and 4:00, between 87 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,720 the moment when he was crucified and between that moment where 88 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,520 Christianity started to explode, the claim is that Jesus of 89 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:45,840 Nazareth actually came back from the dead in bodily form. 90 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,120 Now, that was controversial at the time, right? 91 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,720 And by the way, it's still controversial even today. 92 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,400 But the fact that matter is this every single part of Jesus life 93 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,000 was controversial from his birth that we celebrate around 94 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,040 Christmas time to his death and Easter even today. 95 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,320 Every part of it was was ripe with controversy. 96 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,280 People trying to figure out who this person was. 97 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:17,480 And one of the on the ways we know about Jesus was through the 98 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:19,760 gospel writers. They sort of wrote a sort of 99 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,920 biography to help us understand the history and events of Jesus 100 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,120 Christ. So for instance, one of those 101 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,840 his name was John. John in his sort of biography of 102 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,200 gospel, he makes these claims that he says this about Jesus. 103 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,080 He says that Jesus was quote God's chosen 1. 104 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:43,280 He says things like that Jesus was the Messiah, Messiah, 105 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,080 meaning he was like the Israelites, chosen people, our 106 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,160 chosen person that would save them and rescue them out of out 107 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,160 of death and defeat and elevate them. 108 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,440 John calls Jesus a rabbi, which is another word for a teacher. 109 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,840 Rabbis at the time would go around and they would, they 110 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:03,400 would invite students to come and follow them to learn their 111 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,840 way and take on their teaching and then reproduce their 112 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,000 teaching to others and teach others the same. 113 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,120 So he would take on these sort of apprentices as a rabbi. 114 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,320 And we see early on in the Gospel of John that Jesus was 115 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:20,440 going around and he was asking these apprentices, the 116 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,680 disciples, to follow him. And so here in this passage in 117 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,680 John 143, we see what happens next. 118 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,960 Verse 43 says the next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. 119 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:37,560 Finding Philip, he said to him, Follow me. 120 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,800 Was it the two words rabbis would say to people when they 121 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,440 invite them to come disciple under them, follow me. 122 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,440 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethesda. 123 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,280 So Philip found Nathaniel and he told them. 124 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:53,640 So Philip receives the invitation, Come follow me. 125 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,840 Then Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and this is what he 126 00:06:56,840 --> 00:06:59,920 says to him. He says we have found the one 127 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:03,920 Moses wrote about in the Law and about whom the prophets also 128 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,480 wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 129 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:10,640 So Philip is making a radical claim. 130 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,120 He's saying, Nathaniel, we we found the guy. 131 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,600 We found the chosen one, the one that we've been waiting for, the 132 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,960 one that our people have been hearing about since we were 133 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,640 young kids, the ones that found in the Scripture, you know, the 134 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,440 the Messiah, the chosen 1, the Savior, we got him. 135 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,440 He's here, but it's from a town called Nazareth. 136 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:36,920 And so I love Nathaniel's reply here, verse 46, Nazareth, can 137 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:41,520 anything good come from there? You see, Nazareth at the time 138 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,040 and this was sort of like a like a backwater town, maybe a 139 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,320 population of like 500 people. And largely it was like pretty 140 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:50,440 despised. This was not a good place to be 141 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:51,920 from. And So what he's saying, 142 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,000 Nazareth, can anything good come from there? 143 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,960 We don't have a great modern parallel to that. 144 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,120 It maybe be like saying someone great came from like Corning IA 145 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,320 or something, you know, I mean, has anyone ever heard of Corning 146 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,960 IA, by the way? OK, if you have to put your 147 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,600 hands down, you're going against my point, right? 148 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,880 Corning IA, right you, you might hear Corning and be like 149 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:14,320 Corning. I would have like grow a lot of 150 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:15,720 corn there. You know, that's kind of the 151 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,280 attitude when it comes to a Nazareth. 152 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:22,080 The fun fact, Johnny Carson's from from Corning, IA. 153 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,920 Did you guys know that? Where are my baby boomers in the 154 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:25,960 house? Make some noise for Johnny 155 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,080 Carson. That wasn't very much noise, but 156 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,440 that's OK. That's OK. 157 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:37,039 Evidently great things can come from humble beginnings. 158 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,720 And Jesus, it says in Scripture that he would be despised. 159 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,520 He wouldn't come with fanfare and he wouldn't come with 160 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,720 notoriety. In fact, he'd come as a servant 161 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,640 of all. He'd come lowly as a baby of all 162 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,600 things. And So what we see here with 163 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:00,960 with Nathaniel is like a very human instinctual response to 164 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,480 Jesus coming from Nazareth. He he meets him with just 165 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:08,520 skepticism, you know, like really, You sure about that? 166 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,640 I think skepticism and for honest cynicism, jadedness, 167 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:17,720 that's kind of the air we breathe today. 168 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,160 Would you agree? Especially as millennials, my 169 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,080 generation, right? Like it is it is our default 170 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,560 language to just be cynical and skeptical and to question 171 00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:27,240 everything. And I get it. 172 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,080 Like that's a human reaction. So maybe for some of you here 173 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,360 today, like you're like at the end there, you're like Jesus 174 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:38,640 back from the dead, really. Like the Christians are the ones 175 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,320 who have all, all of life figured out, know the truth. 176 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,040 Like Christians of all people who belongs to I go to church 177 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,280 and take bread and juice about it may be very strange to you 178 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:49,880 and you may have that very natural reaction of skepticism. 179 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:51,760 I get it. And we're so glad you're here. 180 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:58,120 OK, and so this is the response of Philip. 181 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:00,840 He gets it. There's skepticism. 182 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,080 This is his response. Verse 46, Philip says this, he 183 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:10,040 says come and see. Check it out for yourself. 184 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,880 Come and see this Jesus. You decide for yourself that he 185 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,320 is the one he claims to actually be. 186 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,680 And what this is, is this is a call to investigate the claims 187 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,640 that are being made about this Jesus. 188 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,880 This isn't the only time that people were invited to 189 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,320 investigate this man who claimed to be God. 190 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,720 There was this moment in John chapter 4 where Jesus is at a 191 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,120 well, at a water well, and this woman approaches him. 192 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,280 This is at noon. And so she's out there by 193 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,000 herself. And Jesus does something really 194 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:43,800 scandalous. He strikes up a conversation 195 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,200 with her, something he probably shouldn't have done being in a, 196 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,080 you know, Jewish male talking to a Samaritan woman. 197 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,640 There's like all sorts of dynamics to play here. 198 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,640 But anyway, he takes the time for this woman. 199 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,800 And what he essentially for this woman, what he essentially does 200 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,800 is he starts to read her diary. You know, he starts to tell her 201 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:07,120 everything that she's ever done. And he starts to kind of just 202 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,560 like read her past and he starts to recall the things that she's 203 00:11:11,560 --> 00:11:16,920 done with with men and the sad things that have have likely 204 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,240 been done to her by men. And he takes this moment of 205 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,120 compassion and interest in this woman to reveal to her in this 206 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,400 moment, one-on-one, that he is indeed the Messiah. 207 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,120 And he does a supernaturally feminology shouldn't have had. 208 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:36,760 And this woman is so convinced that she runs and she tells her 209 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:42,280 whole city, her whole town, that she has potentially found the 210 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,120 Messiah. And what are her words? 211 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,000 Very similar to what we just read, John 4/29. 212 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,520 She says, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. 213 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:53,880 And then she asked this question. 214 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:58,800 Could this be the Messiah? She's not even quite sure, 215 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:00,240 right? All she knows is that she had an 216 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,840 encounter with this man Jesus. This man, Jesus said things he 217 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,080 shouldn't have known and he had compassion on her. 218 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,160 He, he revealed himself to be the Messiah. 219 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,040 She's not foolish here, but all she knows is she had an 220 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:12,720 encounter. I wonder if there's some of you 221 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,800 in the room who have had an encounter with God before in the 222 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,120 past. Maybe it was a moment where you 223 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,800 need the protection and he, he came in and swept in 224 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,160 supernaturally. Maybe it was a moment where you 225 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:26,080 didn't know how you're going to make ends meet and all of a 226 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,000 sudden he showed up for you. Maybe it was a moment in a 227 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,400 church like this or maybe at a youth camp. 228 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,600 Maybe it was just a time of of like severe distress and 229 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:37,840 desperation is so you just kind of threw up a Hail Mary prayer 230 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,160 and say, God, I don't know if you're real, but I need you now. 231 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,720 And maybe for some of you, you've had an experience with 232 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,040 Jesus, but maybe you haven't even realized that was who you 233 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,920 had an encounter with. Maybe he didn't realize he was 234 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,000 the Messiah. Maybe the invitation for you is 235 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,320 to explore a little bit further. This woman said, come and see. 236 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,840 Could it be? Is it possible her encounter 237 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:06,400 with Jesus leads to an invitation to investigate? 238 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,440 Come check it out. One more story where someone's 239 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,520 invited to come and see. This takes place on Resurrection 240 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,440 Sunday, the very first Easter. And So what we see is that 241 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,600 there's a group of women who had been following Jesus and that 242 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,400 this, by the way, was also controversial. 243 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,440 Nobody dignified and gave value to women like Jesus, especially 244 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,360 during this time and age where women were not valued. 245 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,120 It's a very patriarchal as a society in 1st century Judaism. 246 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:38,520 And yet Jesus like constantly was the cycling women, taking 247 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,920 time for them on and on. And there was this group of 248 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,920 faithful women who watched him be crucified, watch the horrors 249 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:52,240 that took place, and they were absolutely defeated, His 250 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,840 disciples. And their minds have lost, like, 251 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,360 because they put their faith that Jesus was actually going to 252 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,720 be the savior. But saviors don't usually end up 253 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,200 crucified, hanging from a cross. Saviors are usually mighty, 254 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,160 They're powerful, they reign, they rule, and they kick the bad 255 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,000 guys out. And so the disciples of the men 256 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,440 are hiding in fear, and yet the women are approaching the tomb. 257 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,680 And so here's what happens next. Here's what happens next. 258 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,360 Matthew 28 after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the 259 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,320 week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the 260 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,920 tomb. There was a violent earthquake 261 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:35,000 for an Angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to 262 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,240 the tomb, rollback the stone and sat on it. 263 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,840 I love that picture, by the way, of like an Angel just like 264 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,520 sitting on top of the rolled away stone, right? 265 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,880 It's like God's original flex. I think it's pretty cool #3 266 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:50,520 Verse 3. His appearance was like 267 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,200 lightning and his clothes were white as snow. 268 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:57,120 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like 269 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,160 dead men. So a little bit of context. 270 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,360 When someone passed away during this time, they would carve 271 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,880 rocks or carve tombs into the side of like rock faces. 272 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,200 So they'd be little caverns where they could walk in. 273 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:10,680 They could lay the body on a bench. 274 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,400 And then what they'd often do is they would roll or push a very 275 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,920 large stone over the covering of the tomb. 276 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,920 And then they would seal it maybe with clay or rocks in 277 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,480 order that animals obviously wouldn't get in and, and 278 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,560 desecrate the body. But in this case with Jesus, we 279 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,440 read from the Gospel accounts that Rome took an extra step. 280 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,720 They they not only sealed it with a Roman seal, but then they 281 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,000 also stationed guards to protect it. 282 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,200 And the story of the resurrection says that an Angel 283 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,840 appeared. The the soldiers kind of get 284 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,480 knocked out and then the Angel speaks to the women in verse 5. 285 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,160 The Angel said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that 286 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,720 you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 287 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:01,120 He's not here. He has risen just as he said one 288 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:10,160 more time, these words come and see the place where he lay that 289 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,440 invitation three times overcome ANC. 290 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:19,000 And so the women, they do, they look, they see that the tomb in 291 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:20,800 fact was empty. This stone was somehow 292 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,720 miraculously rolled away where Jesus should have been. 293 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,400 He is no longer. So what do they do? 294 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,200 They start spreading the news like wildfire that he is alive. 295 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:31,840 There's a flurry of investigation that happened to 296 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:33,840 this point. The disciples are riddled with 297 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,440 doubts. They even say it's nonsense. 298 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,160 They're like, they don't get it right. 299 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,120 Dead people don't come back, back from the dead. 300 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:46,440 But the women are persistent. They say no, no, no, just look, 301 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,640 right. If I were to try and convince 302 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,120 you guys that there was an elephant right outside of those 303 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:53,760 windows, right? And I was like, guys, really? 304 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:55,280 I'm serious. There's an elephant right 305 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:57,720 outside those windows. And you guys were like, no, we 306 00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,600 don't believe it now, probably not by now. 307 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,440 And I'm like, no, really, there is an elephant right out there. 308 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:03,760 What would I tell you to do next? 309 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:07,920 I would say no, look outside and see the elephant people. 310 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,720 It's right there that we don't actually have an elephant thing. 311 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:14,920 Ankeny would not allow that. But you get the point, right? 312 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,720 The very next thing I would do, as I would say, come and 313 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,520 investigate for yourself. You don't have to just take my 314 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:22,960 word for it. You just have to turn and look. 315 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,079 And that is what the women are doing here. 316 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:27,760 They're saying, and the Angel is encouraging. 317 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:32,920 Come and see that the tomb is in fact, empty. 318 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,040 Just look. Just look. 319 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,920 A Yale historian, his name was a Jarasloff Pelican. 320 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,400 He wrote it this way, he said. Regardless of what Eddie Owen 321 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,560 may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has 322 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:51,800 been the dominant figure in the history of the Western culture 323 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,800 for almost 20 centuries. If it were possible, with some 324 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:59,240 sort of super magnet to pull out of the history every scrap of 325 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,720 metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be 326 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:05,920 left? This is the mark that Jesus has 327 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,920 had on history. In other words, there was this 328 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:16,920 massive earth shattering boom 2000 years ago and everyone's 329 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:18,360 been trying to explain it ever since. 330 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,120 And really what it comes down to is there's there's two competing 331 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:25,760 narratives when it comes to this Jesus and what actually happened 332 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,800 after he was crucified under Rome 2 competing narratives. 333 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,080 The first narrative is this that Jesus was normal. 334 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,240 Jesus was normal. They, you know, skeptics might 335 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,640 agree, yes, he was real. Yes, he was crucified. 336 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,600 Yes, he died, but the only reason that Christianity started 337 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,520 to spread was because of mass hallucination or the disciples 338 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,680 were trying to come up with some sort of conspiracy. 339 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:48,520 They wanted to believe he was alive. 340 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,880 Or maybe he's a myth or some legend began to form over a 341 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,280 period of time that sometimes happens in history, right? 342 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,080 And so narrative #1 basically says, hey, no need to go on 343 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,440 Facebook and post about it. Nothing to see here. 344 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:04,280 Go back to bed, folks, we're good. 345 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,520 But then there's a second narrative, and the second 346 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:11,280 narrative is not that Jesus was normal. 347 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,480 The second narrative that competes with is this Jesus was 348 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,560 supernatural. Jesus was supernatural. 349 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,720 We would say, how could it be a hallucination? 350 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,400 It's not common for mass hallucination to take place at 351 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,440 the same time. From a psychological perspective 352 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,480 it likely wasn't a conspiracy because yes people have died for 353 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:30,920 things they believed it was true. 354 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:35,280 But why would all of Jesus disciples willingly go to their 355 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:38,840 death without recanting their faith if they hadn't actually 356 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,960 seen him raised from the dead? It doesn't make any sense. 357 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,960 All of the 11 historically were willing to say you know what, 358 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,280 you can just kill me because I know what I saw. 359 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,880 What do you do with that? It likely wasn't a conspiracy 360 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,680 because why would the gospel writers have women be the 361 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,600 primary witnesses of the resurrection at a time when 362 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:01,600 women had no legal right to be testimonies or or to testify? 363 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,520 Doesn't make any sense. Why would they have the 364 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,560 disciples be the ones who are cowardly in the story and hiding 365 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,640 behind locked doors? If it was just a myth, how is it 366 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,840 possible that even months to a few years after there a creed 367 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:18,040 began to form that solidified the very simple facts that says 368 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,200 that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, 369 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,520 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day 370 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:26,880 according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas into 371 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,600 the 12? In other words, myths don't form 372 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,000 that quickly. How is it that Roman crucifixion 373 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,440 was foretold hundreds of years before it was even invented by 374 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,520 the psalmist? And how do we explain what what 375 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,560 Jesus himself said in Matthew 17? 376 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,520 And he said, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the 377 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,680 hands of men, They will kill him, and on the third day he 378 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:56,200 will be raised to life. This is what Jesus himself said 379 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,680 would take place. And then we believe it came 380 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,600 true. So the question for us is that 381 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,440 with these two competing narratives, what if? 382 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,360 What if #2 is true? What if it's all true? 383 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,160 What if Jesus was in fact supernatural and raised from the 384 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:22,280 dead? Just this last month in March, 385 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,600 there was another boom in history. 386 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,800 This boom took place in Ohio. You probably heard the story. 387 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,120 Basically, windows rattled from the boom and explosion. 388 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,720 It sounded like an explosion took place and what people 389 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,240 realized in Ohio was that a 7 ton asteroid had ripped in from 390 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,960 outer space into our reality and it made impact, scattering all 391 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,240 over. In other words, the boom was 392 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,560 caused from something not from this world coming into our world 393 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,800 and making an impact. Now, if you were in Ohio at this 394 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,320 time where this meteorite came and crashed landed in your 395 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,680 state, it would be pretty silly to ignore that it ever happened, 396 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,400 would you agree? Like it'd be pretty silly to be 397 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,640 like, I had nothing to see here, just ignore it. 398 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,000 Like everything's fine. Probably nothing happened, 399 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,640 right? That would be ridiculous. 400 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,400 And I would argue this and as lovingly and gracefully as I 401 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:18,560 can. And I realized there's lots of 402 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,960 different people from all sorts of different perspectives in the 403 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:22,600 room. But I would argue this like it 404 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,560 would be really silly to just ignore the facts about Jesus 405 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,040 life and the facts that are presented before us. 406 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,240 It'd be really, really silly to ignore that there was something 407 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,000 that took place. And I'm not saying that all of 408 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,640 the reasons I gave makes it absolutely foolproof, absolutely 409 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,280 provable. My only point is this. 410 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,200 It's plausible. It's very, very plausible and 411 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:54,080 it's worth investigating. New Testament expert NT right, 412 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:56,920 puts it this way. The proposal that Jesus was 413 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,560 bodily raised from the dead possesses unrivaled power to 414 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,280 explain the historical data at the heart of early Christianity. 415 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,920 In other words, she's saying there is a there is a puzzle and 416 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,560 we have a lot of the different pieces about what happened 2000 417 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,000 years ago. We can see a lot of the picture. 418 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,600 What he's saying is that the missing piece, the missing piece 419 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,400 that fits perfectly to explain it all, is that Jesus actually 420 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,520 rose from the dead. This is an expert in the New 421 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,480 Testament saying this two different narratives competing 422 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:34,840 in narrative #2 changes everything. 423 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,320 If narrative #2 is true that Jesus is indeed supernatural, it 424 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,520 has radical implications for how you and I should live. 425 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,720 This means that everything that he says is actually trustworthy. 426 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,040 It's trustworthy. So what did Jesus say? 427 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,560 Well, he said a lot and some of it was pretty radical, pretty 428 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,800 out there. Jesus said something like this 429 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,280 in John 14-6. Jesus answered, he said, check 430 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:07,200 this out. Jesus said, I am the way, I am 431 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,960 the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father 432 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:17,480 except through me. Now that is a radical and bold 433 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,520 claim for an individual to make. Would you agree? 434 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,720 No one gets to God except for me. 435 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,160 No one gets to eternal life after you die except through me. 436 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:26,960 But this is the claim that Jesus made. 437 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,960 He claimed to be the only way to God. 438 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,840 Pastor John Tyson points out that this differentiates him 439 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,240 from all of the other ways and things that are pointing to all 440 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,160 sorts of different options out there. 441 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:46,040 Socrates pointed to reason as the way, Buddha pointed to a 442 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:51,200 path, Moses pointed to Allah, Muhammad pointed to Allah, 443 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:53,600 Joseph Smith pointed to a new church. 444 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,760 Secular humanism points to itself, and hedonism points to 445 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,960 pleasure as the way. But Jesus comes in and Jesus 446 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:07,960 says it's me, it's me, it's always been me, it's always been 447 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:09,720 about me. It's not a system, it's not a 448 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,200 path, it's not a teaching, it's not an idea, it's not an 449 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:18,320 institution, It's me. He claims that the truth and 450 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,840 salvation is found in him. It's found in a person. 451 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:22,880 It's not on a person you can know. 452 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,680 And so that's why he's called the Son of man. 453 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,360 He calls, he's called the Messiah, he's called the Christ, 454 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:30,960 He's called the Son of God, the Lord, the I am. 455 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:34,400 And Jesus says I am the bread, the light, the door, the 456 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,280 shepherd, the resurrection, and the vine. 457 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:42,360 Jesus says it's me, come and see the church. 458 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,800 Our world is full of people trying to convince you that they 459 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:52,800 know the way. Politicians trying to tell you 460 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:54,880 convince you that they know the way. 461 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,560 Influencers on social media, I know the way. 462 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,880 Follow me. The algorithm is trying to sway 463 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,880 you one way or the other. Marketers trying to get your 464 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,440 money are trying to sway you. Everyone is convinced and 465 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,880 everyone's trying to persuade you that they have the way. 466 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,160 And Jesus, I believe, is the only one who proved that he is 467 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:19,040 the way. And he says that he has the keys 468 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,120 to life, that he, he can unlock the Kingdom for you, you know, 469 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:26,400 lock the way they got. And so when Jesus came, he was 470 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,440 spreading the good news of what's called the Kingdom. 471 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:32,320 It's the idea that that God's rule and reign could be here on 472 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,840 earth now, that it's not just about heaven when you die, but 473 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,040 it's about what he's doing here on earth as well. 474 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,880 So that's why we say as a church that we want to see Ankeny as it 475 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,840 is in heaven. Our prayer is that we would see 476 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,080 the earth around us look more and more like heaven. 477 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,520 Right Again says Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of 478 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,080 God's new project, not to snatch people away from earth to 479 00:26:55,080 --> 00:27:00,000 heaven, but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. 480 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:06,440 And so the good news is this. The good news is this, that you 481 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,080 and I can participate in the Kingdom with Jesus. 482 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,480 How do we do that? Scripture says we do that by 483 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,720 repenting of our sins, by saying, you know what? 484 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,200 The the way I've been living all the wrong that I've done. 485 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,000 I, I am, I am giving up on that. I am sorry for that. 486 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,600 And it's it's instead turning away from our sins, making the 487 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,920 change of mind that leads to a change of direction. 488 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,840 Instead putting your faith in what Jesus did on the cross for 489 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:40,880 you and for me. The gospel writers are clear 490 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,080 that the reason that Jesus died was because our sin had a debt 491 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,560 and Jesus was the one who was willing to pay that debt. 492 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,920 And because God is perfectly holy, and because he's perfectly 493 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,640 good, there was distance between that holy God and a sinful 494 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,920 people, that each of us has gone our own way. 495 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,680 All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. 496 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:05,680 And the good news of Easter is that because Jesus was willing 497 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,960 to go to the cross, if we actually put our trust in that, 498 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,680 we put our faith and bet our lives on till we choose to 499 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,200 follow him. The good news is that that gap 500 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:22,280 between God and us is closed, that God reconciles us back to 501 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,920 himself. That is the good news. 502 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,640 When we repent and turn and and put our faith and trust in God 503 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,880 and we choose to follow Jesus, we now have access to the 504 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,360 Kingdom and everything that God is doing here, both now and for 505 00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:39,280 eternity. After we die, we become children 506 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,720 of God, we become people of love, our sins are forgiven and 507 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:48,920 we move from death to life. This is the claim of the gospel. 508 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:59,760 This is the good news. And so once again, Ohio, there 509 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:04,000 was a man named Jeff Makos. When the meteorite ripped 510 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,040 through the sky and it broke the sound barrier, Jeff says. 511 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:12,560 I heard it and I felt it. And he tells the story about how 512 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:17,360 he had a dream, and in the dream he saw where he could find the 513 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:19,080 meteorite pieces. So what does he do? 514 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,040 He went out and investigated. He went to the exact spot that 515 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,120 he had the dream about. He looked down and there he saw 516 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,800 a crater and found a massive baseball sized piece of 517 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,800 meteorite, exactly what he'd been looking for. 518 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,680 And the question I want to ask about Jeff is what if he had 519 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,800 ignored the boom? What if he'd ignored the dream? 520 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,520 What if he'd stayed asleep and didn't decide to investigate? 521 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,840 And it reminds me of a story found in Matthew 13, which says 522 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,440 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a like a treasure hidden in the 523 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:50,640 field. And when a man found it, he hid 524 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,240 it again and then hit and his joy, he went and sold all he had 525 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,320 and bought that field. In other words, when you find 526 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:03,240 something of great worth, it's worth giving up everything you 527 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:05,720 have in order to claim that thing. 528 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,920 Some events or rooms are worth investigating, no matter how 529 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,880 hard out there they may seem. So I'm going to invite the band 530 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,720 to come forward as we kind of wrap up here. 531 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:23,080 Jeremiah 2913 says you will seek me and find me when you seek me 532 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:27,720 with all your heart. The great boom of 2000 years ago 533 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,880 is still reverberating for us today. 534 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,760 In fact, it's growing louder and louder and louder. 535 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,520 And maybe for some of you, you're here today and you're 536 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,400 skeptical and you're saying, can anything good come from 537 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,400 Nazareth? And maybe the invitation for you 538 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,840 today is to move from sleeping to seeking. 539 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:52,200 The invitation for you is the come and see, maybe first 540 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,800 curious in the room. And maybe you've had an 541 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,880 encounter with God before, but if you're honest, you're not 542 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,600 really living for him. And for you, the invitation is 543 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,720 to move from seeking to believing, to really put your 544 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,960 trust in this Jesus and stop doubting and just believe as 545 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,760 Jesus says. And finally, there's somebody 546 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:15,160 who has been to church a long time. 547 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,240 Maybe you do believe. You believe you have seen the 548 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,120 risen Christ both real in your life and in the world. 549 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,480 But your invitation today is to move from believing to following 550 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,000 wherever you're at, wherever you're at. 551 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:38,200 Make a move towards Jesus. Make a move towards Jesus. 552 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,360 The invitation of Jesus was this Come to me all who are weary and 553 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,200 burdened and I will give you rest. 554 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,760 If you need physical rest, go on vacation. 555 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,360 If you need mental rest you can go meditate. 556 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:04,040 If you need social relational rest, take a weekend by yourself 557 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,080 and binge. You know love is blind or 558 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,320 whatever right? Like those options are out there 559 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:14,520 for you, but if you're here today and you need rest for your 560 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:23,680 soul, Jesus says come to me. If you're here today and you 561 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,200 feel like you lack purpose and you're not quite sure what to 562 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:33,560 do, maybe you're caught in shame and you keep replaying the 563 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:35,920 things you've done over and over in your mind, or you're just 564 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,320 feeling dark or you're down or whatever it may be. 565 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,440 If you're feeling weighty today and you feel like you need to 566 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:48,280 rest for your souls, the invitation of Jesus is come to 567 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,200 me. Come to me. 568 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:57,720 I am the way of truth and life. So if you're not sure what to do 569 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,280 next in life, whether you're not sure what to do financially or 570 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,720 relationally, or maybe your mental health is struggling, or 571 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,560 you're not sure what to do with your future, I, I genuinely 572 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,840 believe this ceramic church. I genuinely believe the next 573 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,560 right step is always moving closer to Jesus. 574 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,960 The closer you can align yourself with the God who 575 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,080 created you and loves you so much, the closer you can get 576 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,560 inside of His will and His plans and His purposes for your life, 577 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,040 the more life seems to just have a way of working itself out. 578 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,640 I'm not saying life is going to become automatically easier. 579 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,000 I don't think that's the case. What I'm saying is that you'll 580 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,080 find that you are aligning yourself with the God of heaven 581 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,480 rather than pushing against him. That's a beautiful place to be. 582 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,240 So Jesus invitation is to come to me. 583 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,400 He is the next right move. He is the next right step. 584 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,880 Come and follow me was the invitation of Jesus to Philip 585 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,520 and it's it's a Nathaniel and it's to you as welcome and 586 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:59,320 follow me. As a church, we are committed to 587 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,840 witnessing a spirit LED disciple making movement in our churches 588 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,720 and communities. In other words, we're all about 589 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,239 becoming like Jesus together. And so we are inviting you to 590 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,679 come on that journey with us. We don't have it figured out all 591 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:13,480 the way. We're learning together. 592 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:19,520 We're having a blast doing it in love and in grace and in mercy. 593 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,000 But we want to see disciples of Jesus become more and more 594 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,080 presence in our communities. We're going to see more and more 595 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:34,679 people come to Jesus as we close the resurrection. 596 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:41,159 Accounts are full of movement from disbelief to belief, full 597 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:45,400 of movement from doubt to decisions, movement from 598 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:50,840 questioning to clarity. Come and see was the invitation 599 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:55,719 then, and it still is today. So wherever you're at, make them 600 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,480 move towards Jesus. Move from sleeping to seeking, 601 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:03,280 Move from seeking to believing, Move from believing to 602 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,400 following. Wherever you're at, this is 603 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,160 God's plan for you from the beginning, that you would be 604 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,040 brought back into relationship with Him, that you would join 605 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,080 the loving family of God, and that you would live for His 606 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,560 Kingdom both in this life and then them into the next. 607 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:20,840 The invitation of Jesus has come to me. 608 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:22,040 Follow me.