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Happy Easter. 
What a what a wonderful day to 

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celebrate the resurrection of 
our brother, our Lord, our 

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Savior. 
So good to do that together. 

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I'm, I'm just, you know, been, 
I've been, I've been celebrating

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Easter all morning. 
I hope you have too. 

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And, and I'm, I'm really excited
to celebrate here today as we 

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talk about living the Easter 
life. 

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We've been talking for weeks now
about being faithful in a world 

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stacked against us or in a 
system stacked against us. 

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Easter, Easter is what makes 
that possible. 

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And, and starting today and for 
the next several weeks, we're 

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going to talk about what it 
means to live the Easter life. 

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But one of the things it means 
to live the Easter life is that 

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we recognize that we are living 
because of Easter. 

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We are living in a world turned 
upside down. 

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Now to talk about that and to 
illustrate that, I I need to 

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tell you a story. 
It's one of my favorite stories.

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Does anyone here know the story 
of the world's greatest 

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cornflake? 
Nobody. 

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Good. 
Good. 

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Now I will shorten the story 
because it's way too long to 

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tell the story if I tell the 
whole thing. 

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Way too long to tell as part of 
a sermon. 

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In fact, it can be quite long. 
I once told this story was with 

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very polite friends on a car 
trip. 

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I believe it lasted 3 1/2 hours.
So so I'm not going to be that 

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long with it today. 
But I do want to tell you the 

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story of the world's greatest 
cornflake. 

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He was, in fact, the world's 
first cornflake. 

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And as he came down to chute 
into the world's first cornflake

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box, he landed at the bottom of 
that box. 

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And then all the other 
cornflakes got piled on top of 

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him. 
So he pushed and he shoved and 

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he shoved and he pushed and he 
pushed. 

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He shoved and he pushed till he 
got to the top of the box, being

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the great little cornflake that 
he was, went down that box and 

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on down the conveyor belt, got 
to the end of the conveyor belt.

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There was a bin at the end of 
the conveyor belt to collect the

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boxes to take them to another 
part of the factory. 

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And that box fell into the bin 
and it landed upside down and he

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was back at the bottom of the 
box. 

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So he pushed and he shoved and 
he shoved and he pushed and he 

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pushed and he shoved and he 
pushed till he got to the top of

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the box. 
Being the great little cornflake

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that he was. 
Now it was taken to another part

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of the warehouse where it was 
placed in a crate. 

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That box was placed in a crate 
in order to be placed in a 

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truck, and it was placed in a 
crate that was on a pallet. 

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And when they picked that box 
out of the bin and placed it on 

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the crate, they turned it upside
right side up again. 

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And so the cornflake was back at
the bottom of the box. 

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So he pushed and he shoved and 
he shoved and he pushed and he 

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pushed and he shoved and he 
pushed till he got to the top of

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the box. 
Being the great little cornflake

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that he was. 
Forklift came, picked up the 

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pallet with the crates on it was
taking it across the warehouse 

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to the truck loaded in the truck
was late on a Friday afternoon. 

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The forklift driver was tired, 
wasn't really paying attention 

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thinking about the game that 
night. 

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And he had a bump and the crates
fell off and that box was upside

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down on the bottom of the 
warehouse. 

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So that cornflake pushed and he 
shoved and he shoved and he 

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pushed and he pushed and he 
shoved and he pushed till he got

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to the top of the box, being the
great little corn flake that he 

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was. 
Well, of course people came. 

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They still need to get the box 
of the corn flakes on the truck.

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So they came and they picked 
them all up, put them back in 

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the crate, put them back on the 
pallet to be loaded into the 

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truck. 
And of course, when they did 

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that, they put the box back 
right side up and the corn flake

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was back in the bottom box. 
And so he pushed and he shoved 

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and he shoved and he pushed and 
he pushed and he shoved and he 

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pushed till he got to the top of
the box. 

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Being the great little corn 
flake that he was. 

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They loaded that pallet and 
those crates into the back of 

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the truck. 
The truck was driving down the 

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road. 
It was rough Rd. 

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It was bumpy Rd. 
There were lots of potholes on 

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the road. 
I'm not going to say where it 

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was, but you know, you know, 
with a lot of potholes on the 

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road and, and it was shaking and
shaking and shaking. 

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And that shift, that corn flake 
right back down to the bottom 

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box. 
Well, he pushed and he shoved 

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and he shoved and he pushed and 
he pushed and he shoved and he 

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pushed till he got to the top of
the box being the great little 

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cornflake that he was. 
Now we're stopping the story 

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there. 
I usually tell that story and 

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how long the ghost depends on 
how polite the audience is until

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someone says, hey, does this 
story ever end? 

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I just told you I got 3 1/2 
hours once. 

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Does this story ever end? 
To which I replied, no, it never

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ends. 
It's a cereal. 

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Thank you very much. 
Thank you very much. 

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I'll be here all week. 
The corn flake, The corn flake 

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in that box remind me very much 
of the message that I believe we

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have today for Easter and what 
it means to live the Easter life

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in a world that has been turned 
upside down. 

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You see, go systems might be 
stacked against you, but at 

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Easter God has turned the world 
on its head. 

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God has turned the world on its 
head. 

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So. 
So the fact that the systems of 

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this world are stacked against 
you might be stacked against us,

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ultimately is not relevant, 
ultimately doesn't matter, 

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because God has turned the world
on its head. 

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When the women went to the tomb 
that morning, they expected to 

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find Jesus dead in the tomb. 
They had seen him on the cross, 

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the one they thought was the 
king, the one they thought was 

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the Messiah, the one they 
thought was the Savior. 

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They had seen him crucified, 
killed by the Roman Empire and 

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his body placed in the tomb, and
they thought that was the end of

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the story. 
But then they got to the tomb 

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and everything got turned upside
down. 

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He wasn't there, the Angel said.
He is not here. 

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He has risen just as he said. 
This had never happened before. 

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People have been raised from the
dead before, but always there 

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was a prophet there. 
There was a person of great 

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power and and righteous standing
with God there to do the 

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raising. 
There was no one there like that

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for Jesus. 
Jesus had just risen from the 

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dead. 
And Mary, one of the folks at 

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the tomb, I got to think maybe 
she remembered something she 

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said all the way back before 
Jesus was born. 

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When she was pregnant, went 
visitor relative Elizabeth, and 

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inspired by the Holy Spirit, she
said this of God and the baby 

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she was carrying. 
He has brought down rulers from 

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their Thrones and has lifted up 
the humble. 

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Jesus will take the people on 
top and bring them down and take

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the people on the bottom and 
lift them up. 

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She prophesied that about her 
son before he was ever born and 

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then after he was born and they 
took Jesus to the temple to be 

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circumcised and they met 2 
prophets there and one of them, 

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Simeon, had this to say about 
Jesus. 

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This child is destined to cause 
the rise, rising, and I'm sorry,

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destined to cause the falling 
and rising of many. 

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This child is going to turn the 
world on its head. 

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The people on the bottom are 
going to be on the top. 

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The people on the top are going 
to be on the bottom. 

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And both parts of that equation 
are important because Jesus 

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isn't just taking the people on 
the bottom and lifting them to 

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the top. 
Jesus is taking the people on 

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the top and putting them on the 
bottom. 

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The first will be last as much 
as the last will be first in the

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Kingdom of heaven. 
This is what Jesus came to do, 

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and this is what is accomplished
at Easter. 

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The world turned on its head, 
and we see this at Easter in a 

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number of different ways. 
We see it first of all in that 

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the crucified slave triumphs 
over the Roman Empire and the 

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local authorities and religious 
elite. 

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The Romans crucified lots of 
people. 

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The Romans crucified thousands 
of people, and they did it for a

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very specific reason. 
It was part of their strategic 

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plan. 
There was a lot more poor folks,

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There was a lot more powerless 
folks out there than there were 

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rich and powerful folks. 
And the people that were rich 

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and powerful needed to make sure
that the poor folks knew what 

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could happen to them if they 
stood up against the powerful 

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folks. 
And so when they saw fit, they 

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would take them and they would 
crucify them always for the 

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purpose of saying we are in 
charge, not you. 

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We have the power, not you. 
The Romans have almost 

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exclusively crucified slaves. 
The thing was, if someone wasn't

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a slave that they wanted to 
crucify, they would make him a 

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slave. 
There's records of people that 

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that were leaders in the Roman 
government, senators even, that 

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were stripped of their position,
stripped of their status, 

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stripped of their citizenship, 
turned into slaves and then 

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crucified so that the Roman 
Empire can say we own you, your 

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life is at our pleasure, we can 
take it whenever we want. 

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There's nothing you can do about
it except Jesus said take your 

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best shot. 
Crucify me if you want crucify 

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me. 
I will not be your victim. 

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Ioffer my life willingly and my 
life will not end on your cross.

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My life will end, will not end 
on my life will not end. 

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I will die on your cross, but I 
will rise again and live forever

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in the Kingdom of my father. 
Jesus, the crucified slave, 

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triumphs over the Roman Empire, 
the most powerful force in the 

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world at that time. 
Instead of life ending and 

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death, now, death ends in life. 
Anyone here like clowns? 

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Is anyone here like clowns? 
You like clowns? 

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Awesome. 
I like clowns. 

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Anyone here hate clowns? 
Yeah. 

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OK, we got folks that hate 
clowns. 

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I got good news or bad news for 
you, depending on your 

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perspective. 
You might not know this, but 

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clowns started in the church. 
I don't mean that pastor's a 

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clown. 
That's not what I mean. 

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What I mean is that now this is 
hard to believe, but it's true. 

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There have been times in church 
history when pastors preached 

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really long, boring sermons. 
Really. 

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I'm serious. 
It happened. 

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It happened Back in the Middle 
Ages. 

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This was apparently a regular 
thing. 

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And so clowning was developed 
when the congregation got so 

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bored that they were like, you 
know, drifting off, not paying 

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attention from a door behind 
where the pastor was preaching. 

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A clown would emerge. 
And without speaking, they would

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only do mine. 
They would do something to draw 

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the attention of the 
congregation back to what the 

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pastor was saying, not to 
distract, but to draw their 

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attention back. 
And in doing that, they were the

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makeup that we traditionally 
think of as clown makeup, which 

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was white on 1st. 
White symbolized death. 

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White had symbolized death in 
ancient cultures for years and 

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years and years and years and 
years. 

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This was nothing new. 
It was nothing unique. 

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People, when someone died or 
when they wanted to remember 

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death or symbolize death, 
Everyone, everyone has skin 

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color. 
They would take ashes or some 

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other white substance and cover 
the color of their skin to say 

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that life ends in death, to 
remind folks that life ends in 

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death. 
Except the clowns and the church

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put the white on, and then they 
put the color on top of the 

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white to remind the people in 
the church that we know life 

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does not end in death. 
Death ends in life. 

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And that's the origin of 
clowning. 

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That's where it came from. 
So the next time you're watching

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it, just think of Jesus. 
You know, it's hard sometimes, 

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but clowns are there. 
They can remind us of Jesus, 

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that our life does not end to 
death. 

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Our death ends in life. 
And that happened at the 

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resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
And that is the promise that 

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stands in front of all of us who
put our faith and our hope and 

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our trust in Jesus Christ that 
our life won't end to death. 

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Instead, our death will end in 
life. 

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Another way that the world was 
turned upside down was that 

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women were made the first 
apostles and evangelists. 

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The women, depending on which 
gospel we read, it's different 

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women. 
They, they, they don't all tell 

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the exact same story, but they 
all tell us that the women were 

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there first and that the women 
were first appointed as 

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apostles. 
That word apostle. 

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What happened? 
What? 

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Oh, was it a bug? 
Oh, I had, I had a ladybug 

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landed on my neck during the 
sunrise service this morning. 

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Yuck. 
So, so where was I? 

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Women? 
That word apostle, that word 

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apostle in the New Testament 
just means one who has been sent

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out. 
And the Angel first came to 

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these women and sent them out. 
The Angel said to the women, go 

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quickly, tell his disciples, he 
has been, he has risen from the 

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dead. 
He's going ahead of you into 

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Galilee. 
There you will see him. 

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And what they were sent out to 
do was share the good news of 

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Jesus's resurrection, which made
them not only the first 

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apostles, but also the first 
evangelists, the first sharers 

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of the good news. 
And that turned the world on its

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head And Jesus's day and age and
that culture and that time and 

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that place, women were not 
considered credible witnesses. 

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That's why one of the reasons 
why we can say if this whole 

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00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,480
story was made-up and is a lie, 
it's a really bad lie because 

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people making up this lie would 
not put women as the first 

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apostles and evangelists. 
You would put men there because 

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that's more easily believed. 
But the story is that the women,

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that God turned the world on its
head from the very beginning of 

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the resurrection, and he sent 
the women as the first apostles.

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To who? 
To the men who'd been following 

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him for all those years. 
He didn't go to them first. 

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He came to the women first. 
Jesus came to the women right 

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after the Angel told him. 
Jesus said, showed up and said 

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to them, do not be afraid. 
Go and tell my brothers to go to

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00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,040
Galilee. 
There they will see me. 

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So instead of sending the men, 
instead of the men being 

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00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,240
appointed first, it was the 
women who had spent all those 

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years following Jesus who were 
first sent out as apostles and 

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as evangelists. 
Easter turning the world on its 

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00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,120
head. 
And finally, the strategies of 

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the powerful that we see are 
powerless to stop the tactics of

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00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:43,640
the crucified slave. 
Rome crucified people 

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strategically to send a message.
It was the part of the way that 

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00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,640
they maintained control over a 
vast empire of diverse 

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00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:59,120
ethnicities, religions and 
politics through brute force and

272
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,920
violent intimidation. 
And Jesus said I will not be 

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00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:08,240
your victim Ioffer my life. 
I could call 10,000 angels. 

274
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They could come and set me free.
But I'll die on your cross, not 

275
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because you want me to die 
there, but because I choose to 

276
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,720
die there. 
I choose to die. 

277
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What you intend as an act of 
punishment and retribution and a

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00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:27,560
display of your power will 
instead be an act of grace and 

279
00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:33,720
mercy and salvation and a 
display of God's power over even

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00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,000
the Roman cross and the Roman 
Empire and the religious elites 

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00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,480
that are manipulating things 
behind the scenes. 

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00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:47,880
That's what happens at Easter. 
The crucified slave, his tactics

283
00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,200
of love and mercy and 
compassion. 

284
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,640
What a crazy. 
There's no strategy, but what a 

285
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,360
crazy tactic. 
Hanging on the cross and praying

286
00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,560
for forgiveness for the people 
crucifying you, explaining to 

287
00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,560
God they don't really understand
what they're doing. 

288
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,680
But that's what Jesus did from 
beginning to end. 

289
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:13,520
Compassion, love, mercy, grace, 
truth, right up to the point 

290
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:18,160
where he died and rose again. 
And those tactics overwhelmed 

291
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,760
the might of the entire Roman 
Empire. 

292
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:27,080
There was nothing Rome could do.
Nothing Rome could do in the 

293
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:32,200
face of Jesus tactics, the 
tactics of a crucified slave God

294
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:37,080
brings restores order to what 
sin has disordered. 

295
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,040
See our our minds and our 
perceptions of life and the 

296
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,400
world are so disordered that 
that we think of, and I've 

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00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,120
phrased the whole title of the 
sermon and I repeatedly in the 

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00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,600
message of God turning the world
upside down, that at the 

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00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:53,960
resurrection Jesus was turning 
the world upside down. 

300
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:55,960
That's the most natural way to 
say it. 

301
00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:59,840
The most accurate way to say it 
is that at the resurrection God 

302
00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:05,520
turned the world right side up. 
It had been upside down since 

303
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,960
Adam and Eve ate that fruit, the
tree of the knowledge of good 

304
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:10,960
and evil in the Garden so many 
years before. 

305
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,359
And sin came into the world and 
death came into the world, and 

306
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,240
now God is not turning things 
upside down. 

307
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,560
Really, from our perspective, it
feels that way, but He's turning

308
00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:26,000
things right side up. 
We get it confused because our 

309
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,720
perceptions are out of whack 
because we're born dead into a 

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00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:34,920
dead system and we don't even 
really know what life is. 

311
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,320
I have taught and said for years
that when when, when God told 

312
00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,320
Adam and Eve, if you eat from 
the fruit of the tree of the 

313
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,200
knowledge of good and evil, you 
will surely die. 

314
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,400
And then they ate, but they 
didn't die. 

315
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:51,280
But what if they really did die?
And, and the problem is, is we 

316
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,880
just don't recognize death when 
we see it. 

317
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,960
And we don't recognize life when
we see it because we've never 

318
00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,440
really seen someone really 
alive. 

319
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,120
No one had until Jesus rose from
the dead. 

320
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:09,920
Here's a way of thinking about 
that. 

321
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:15,160
Dallas Willard talks about this 
in his book Divine Conspiracy. 

322
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:20,280
I think it's a wonderful book. 
And he tells the story of pilots

323
00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,440
in the Air Force training on 
fighter pilots flying fighter 

324
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,320
jets. 
And they were learning to fly on

325
00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,000
instruments alone. 
They were, it was a night and 

326
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,840
they were flying on no visual 
instruments alone, so no, no 

327
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:37,440
visual reference points for them
as they're practicing right now.

328
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,880
And then they receive the 
instruction to pull up and one 

329
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:46,120
of the pilots pulls up, does the
gesture and the move with the 

330
00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:50,160
stick to pull the plane up and 
fly straight into the ground 

331
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:53,880
because she was upside down and 
didn't realize it. 

332
00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:00,120
This is how we live. 
This is how human beings live. 

333
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:08,640
We live born upside down and and
what is really up seems down to 

334
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,760
us, and what is really down 
seems up to us. 

335
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:15,840
And so when God puts the world 
right side up, it feels like 

336
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,840
everything's being turned upside
down because those on the 

337
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,840
bottom, God is lifting to the 
top, and those on the top, God 

338
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,960
is pushing to the bottom. 
And we can't forget that part of

339
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,240
the equation because that's part
of it too. 

340
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,640
Now, anyone here, MCU fan, 
anyone like Marvel movies, 

341
00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,160
Marvel Cinematic Universe? 
I love you, man, but I don't 

342
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,680
love the MCU anymore. 
I used to love the MCU, but not 

343
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,640
anymore. 
I think the MCU has become 

344
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,240
boring. 
They've got a real problem. 

345
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,440
And the problem is the 
multiverse, right? 

346
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:53,360
That's it. 
The mall. 

347
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,760
If you don't know, if you're not
a nerd like Brenna and AJ and I,

348
00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,160
the multiverse is this, that 
it's in the, in the Marvel 

349
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,320
Cinematic Universe, loosely 
based on some sort of science, 

350
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,720
that, that there are an infinite
number of universes out there. 

351
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,440
And in that infinite number of 
universes, everything that can 

352
00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,280
happen does happen. 
And what happens now in the 

353
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,280
Marvel Cinematic Universe is if 
someone dies, even a really, 

354
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,680
really important character, it 
doesn't matter. 

355
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,160
They just find that same person 
in another universe and bring 

356
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,320
them in. 
And so never whatever really 

357
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:31,480
dies, there's no tension it it 
makes for boring storytelling. 

358
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,120
And we're getting that. 
You know, they're trying to save

359
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,160
it with a new Avengers movie in 
which they're bringing back Iron

360
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,000
Man and they're bringing back 
Captain America, all these 

361
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,840
people that had a heartbreaking 
death in Avengers End Game and 

362
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,240
now they're going to come back. 
And but they've been doing that 

363
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,880
for years. 
I just think it's boring because

364
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,320
there's no stakes anymore and 
it's boring storytelling. 

365
00:20:54,720 --> 00:21:01,360
However, that's the blessing of 
Easter, right? 

366
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,800
The the curse of the MCU is 
death ends in life. 

367
00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,240
Everyone who dies comes back to 
life if the fans really want 

368
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,080
them to. 
It's a curse for storytelling, 

369
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,280
but in the Easter life, that's 
the blessing. 

370
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,160
Death ends in life, and now 
there's still heartbreak, 

371
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,160
there's still loss, there's 
still pain and separation. 

372
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,520
But ultimately we know that that
death will not be the end, that 

373
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,760
life will be the end for that 
person. 

374
00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,320
And we have that hope and we 
have that confidence. 

375
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,720
We have that blessing that our 
lives will not end in death. 

376
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,800
Our death will end in life. 
And while it makes for Bory 

377
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:47,680
storytelling, it makes for a 
wonderful grace and peace and 

378
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:53,960
living when we can face our own 
cross and say, yeah, OK, kill 

379
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,000
me, All right, God will give me 
my life back. 

380
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,680
You took my family. 
It breaks my heart. 

381
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,560
I lost my family. 
I wanted more time with my 

382
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,240
family, but God's going to give 
them back to me and me back to 

383
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,760
them. 
You can take the lives of 

384
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,960
whoever you want to take, but 
God can give life back to 

385
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:16,960
whoever God wants to give life 
back to. 

386
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:19,840
And that's the blessing of 
Easter. 

387
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:25,160
There's still pain, there's 
still death, but there is a 

388
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,560
sequel. 
And we know the ending, just 

389
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,320
like we know the ending to every
Marvel movie that's been made in

390
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,320
the last 10 years. 
We know the ending. 

391
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,680
We know the ending. 
For us, that's good death, sins,

392
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,040
and resurrection. 
One day Jesus will return. 

393
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,360
The dead in Christ will rise, 
and the scripture says we'll 

394
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:49,080
rise to get this. 
We will reign with Jesus 

395
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,000
forever. 
The dead will be lifted up to 

396
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,920
the top to live on high with 
Jesus. 

397
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,040
Now, I don't mean on high in the
sense of way up in the 

398
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,440
spiritualized heavens someplace.
This will happen on earth. 

399
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,800
The dead rise on earth. 
We have bodies. 

400
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,680
We're not cast for the friendly 
ghost, and we reign with Jesus 

401
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,840
in the Kingdom of God, which has
now come fully and completely on

402
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,680
earth. 
When that resurrection day 

403
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,480
happens for us all, we know the 
ending. 

404
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:24,120
If you don't know the ending in 
your own life, take care of that

405
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:29,040
today. 
The promise is most clearly and 

406
00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:35,480
directly for followers of Jesus.
And it's this has been turned 

407
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,400
into sort of a religious 
territorialism and religious 

408
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,520
triumphalism. 
But if if we think of death as a

409
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:48,480
disease and Jesus is the cure, 
it's not about being a Christian

410
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,560
or being a church member. 
It's about turning to the one 

411
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,720
who has life for everyone and 
making him the center of our 

412
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,600
lives, saying, Jesus, I belong 
to you, not to me now you're 

413
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:03,720
not. 
I don't want you to just be my 

414
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,360
savior. 
I want you to be my Lord and 

415
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:09,280
King. 
And I want to live my life your 

416
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:13,600
way and in service to you 
because I know that you will 

417
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,320
raise all of your servants to 
life in the end and all who 

418
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,760
follow you in the end. 
I want to be part of your family

419
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,240
because your family you will 
raise to life in the end. 

420
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:26,760
I think there's going to be a 
lot of people there that we 

421
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,160
don't expect to be raised. 
I hope I'm one of those people. 

422
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,440
You know, a lot of people don't 
think I'll be there, but you 

423
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,720
know, I'm hoping because of the 
mercy of Jesus Christ. 

424
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:47,080
But the clearest and surest way 
to have that hope is to 

425
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,200
surrender our lives to Jesus. 
I'm not going to do every head 

426
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,600
bowed, every eye closed thing. 
I got a lot of that preaching 

427
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,600
when I was growing up. 
I found it really annoying. 

428
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,000
I got saved like 14 times 
growing up. 

429
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,480
I don't do those kinds of 
sermons, but take care of that. 

430
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,640
It's not complicated. 
Just talk with God about it, 

431
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:08,200
surrendering your life to Jesus 
and making Jesus your Lord and 

432
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:09,960
and having that hope for 
yourself. 

433
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,400
If you're uncertain about that 
today, look, hey, right, see it 

434
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,880
cornflakes. 
Boom. 

435
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,800
My very first gift. 
It's the first gift I've ever 

436
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,280
made. 
So I don't take it doesn't take 

437
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:27,280
me much to impress myself, but I
I made that and and if you 

438
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,120
pronounce it Jif, then then 
you're wrong. 

439
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,960
But I love you anyway. 
It's either either way. 

440
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:36,280
I call them gifts. 
But we the good news, really 

441
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,040
good news for us is, is we're 
not the little Cornflake. 

442
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:45,360
Little Cornflake had to push and
shove and shove and push to get 

443
00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:49,840
himself to the top of the box by
climbing up and over and on top 

444
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,480
of other people to be the 
greatest little cornflake. 

445
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,360
Our mission and Our Calling is 
exactly the opposite. 

446
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,960
We're not in a race to the top 
for power and authority over 

447
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:04,160
others. 
We are in a race to the bottom 

448
00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:09,400
to join Jesus in serving others.
Remember, the greatest among 

449
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,360
you, Jesus said, is the servant 
of all. 

450
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,080
We're in a race to the bottom 
because we know that God is 

451
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,600
turning the world upside down. 
We don't have to struggle to 

452
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:21,960
get. 
We don't have to struggle. 

453
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,080
We don't have to strive. 
We don't have to to get to the 

454
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:28,000
top. 
God's turned the world upside 

455
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,440
down. 
If we can get to the bottom and 

456
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,200
serve others with love and 
humility and grace and 

457
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:39,360
compassion in the name of Jesus,
then when that turning over is 

458
00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:42,360
revealed for all the world to 
see, we have that hope that 

459
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:44,680
Jesus will have us at the top of
the box. 

460
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,440
And we don't have to step on 
anyone to get there. 

461
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,480
That's the hope that we have in 
living this Easter life. 

462
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,120
We're going to talk more about 
that over the next few weeks. 

463
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,960
But in a world that's upside 
down, we're not in a race to the

464
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:58,360
top. 
We're in a race to the bottom. 

465
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,320
And we're trusting in Jesus to 
set all things right in the end.

466
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,880
In Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.