Theological Status: COMPROMISED (Worldly/Sloppy)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: A call to move beyond the 'end' of religious rituals to a continuous, active pursuit of Jesus who shows up in unexpected places.
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon offers a compelling narrative of the resurrection and personal testimony, effectively using illustrations to connect with the congregation. However, the homiletical structure relies heavily on moralistic application, urging believers to 'put in the work' and 'embody Jesus' character' through human effort. This approach risks creating spiritual exhaustion and unanchored moralism, as it fails to explicitly anchor the call to action in the supernatural enablement of the Holy Spirit.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — This message exhibits homiletical compromise by anchoring the congregation's response in moralistic application rather than the finished work of Christ. While the core Gospel Framework is compromised due to this omission, the errors are assessed as Major rather than Critical, warranting a Path B classification.
Big Idea: The empty tomb is the exclamation point confirming Jesus completed His mission, calling believers to move beyond the 'end' of religious rituals to a continuous, active pursuit of Jesus who shows up in unexpected places. 00:33:29 ▶️ 📄
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: John 20:1-18
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - No coarse language or pejoratives were detected.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"The sermon focuses on imitating Jesus' character and actions through human effort, rather than relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to transform believers."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 18 | Referenced: 3 | Alluded: 0
📖 View 5 Passages Read Aloud
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John 20:1-3
00:26:35 ▶️ 📄
"early on that first day of the week while it was still dark mary magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance she came running to simon peter and the other disciple the one jesus loved and said they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they put him verse three so peter and the other disciples started for the tomb both were running but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first"
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John 20:5-6
00:28:05 ▶️ 📄
"verse 5, he bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there, but he did not go in. And verse 6 does not surprise me at all. If you've read any Bible at all and you know anything about Peter, it should not shock you that when he gets there, he goes in."
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John 20:6-7
00:28:36 ▶️ 📄
"Peter went straight in. He also saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen."
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Matthew 28:1-6
00:30:13 ▶️ 📄
"After the Sabbath at dawn, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning. His clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him and they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples. He is risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you."
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John 20:11-16
00:42:24 ▶️ 📄
"Jesus had an encounter with mary as well she thought he was a gardener at the woman he said why are you crying who is it you're looking for thinking he was the gardener she said sir if you have carried him away tell me where you put him and I will go get him Jesus said to her Mary and I bet she just recognized at that point the voice and the way he said her name she turned around turned towards him and cried out Rabboni which means teacher"
Key References: John 11:43-44, John 19:30, Matthew 28:1-6
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 4,552 words
📌 View 10 Key Topics Addressed
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The Empty Tomb and Resurrection
00:33:29 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor argues that the empty tomb is the completion of Jesus' mission, contrasting it with the focus on the cross, and questions why this is only celebrated once a year. -
Biblical Narrative of the Resurrection
00:26:35 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor reads and interprets accounts from John 20 and Matthew 28, detailing the reactions of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the disciples to the empty tomb. -
The Disciples' Confusion
00:25:45 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor explores the emotional state of the disciples after the crucifixion, using analogies of post-event emptiness to explain their confusion and the significance of the resurrection. -
The Significance of the Empty Tomb
00:33:17 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor argues that the church focuses too much on the cross and not enough on the resurrection, which is the completion of the mission and proof of God's power. -
Personal Faith and Miracles
00:34:14 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor shares his personal story of being born with a 10% chance of survival as a miracle, illustrating how God's hand is visible in his life. -
Overcoming Church Hurt and Self-Worth
00:37:59 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor addresses how church hurt and low self-worth prevent people from moving forward in faith, noting that many struggle with feeling unworthy of God's love. -
Living Out Faith Daily
00:39:48 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor urges the congregation to live out their faith every day, not just on Easter, by looking like Jesus and helping others. -
Recognizing Jesus in Unexpected Places
00:43:37 ▶️ 📄
> Using the story of Mary Magdalene and a personal anecdote about a youth group member named Jennifer, the pastor illustrates that Jesus can show up in unexpected forms and that believers should keep looking and listening. -
Finding Jesus outside traditional church structures
00:47:28 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor addresses those with 'church hurt,' asserting that Jesus can be encountered through unexpected people and moments, not just within the church building. -
The Call to Mission
00:54:47 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor frames the current moment not as an end, but as a 'kickoff' for the congregation to continue Jesus' story and mission.
🖼️ View 12 Illustrations & Stories
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Sermon Illustration
00:23:33 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about completing a video game to 100% during COVID, feeling lost afterward, to illustrate the feeling of emptiness the disciples might have felt after Jesus' death. -
Sermon Illustration
00:24:36 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor references binge-watching the TV show 'Lost' and the subsequent feeling of being lost, comparing it to the disciples' confusion after the crucifixion. -
Sermon Illustration
00:25:01 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor uses the analogy of eating an amazing meal until full, then wondering where it went, to describe the fleeting nature of the disciples' joy after the crucifixion. -
Sermon Illustration
00:29:16 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor recounts a personal experience visiting a hospital room to find the patient missing and belongings folded, comparing it to Peter's confusion upon finding the empty tomb with folded linens. -
Sermon Illustration
00:32:09 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor describes Mary Magdalene's reaction to the empty tomb, imagining her gasping and running to tell the disciples, highlighting the urgency and reality of the resurrection. -
Sermon Illustration
00:34:14 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor shares his personal testimony of being born with only a 10% chance of survival, describing it as a daily miracle that confirms God's plan and purpose for his life. -
Sermon Illustration
00:35:33 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor contrasts his easy faith with the struggles of friends who remember trauma, divorce, and church hurt, illustrating how these experiences make faith difficult for them. -
Sermon Illustration
00:38:32 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor recounts a counseling session with a man who felt unworthy of God's love because his family didn't love him enough, illustrating the deep-seated issue of self-worth. -
Sermon Illustration
00:40:17 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor uses an analogy of his lifelong fandom for the Cincinnati Reds, noting that he wears his gear and lives out his passion daily, not just on opening day, to illustrate how Christians should live out their faith consistently. -
Sermon Illustration
00:44:55 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor shares a story about a youth group member named Jennifer who comforted him when he was crying, describing her as the first 'voice of reason' that looked like Jesus to him. -
Sermon Illustration
00:45:23 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor recounts a personal story from his youth where a girl named Jennifer, who was dying, comforted him by saying 'I don't have to [know you] because when I was in trouble, Jesus knew me when I didn't know him.' He later received his district license from her, viewing her as a vessel through which Jesus spoke to him. -
Sermon Illustration
00:48:43 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor references the biblical account of Mary Magdalene mistaking the risen Jesus for a gardener to illustrate that Jesus often appears in unexpected forms.
🚀 View 6 Calls to Action
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Pastoral Charge
00:19:17 ▶️ 📄
> Lift personal cares to the Lord in prayer. -
Pastoral Charge
00:19:25 ▶️ 📄
> Join in corporate prayer for personal burdens. -
Pastoral Charge
00:31:06 ▶️ 📄
> Go and tell the disciples about the resurrection. -
Pastoral Charge
00:37:02 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor urges the congregation to share the news of the resurrection with others, mirroring the angel's command to Mary. -
Pastoral Charge
00:44:09 ▶️ 📄
> The pastor instructs the congregation to actively seek and listen for Jesus in their daily lives, rather than expecting Him only in traditional forms. -
Pastoral Charge
00:49:22 ▶️ 📄
> Invite the worship team to come up, instruct kids to come to the front for an egg hunt, and ask the congregation to stand for worship.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Framework | ❌ FAIL | The sermon lacks a clear articulation of the Gospel Framework. It omits the essential doctrines of substitutionary atonement and the monergistic work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, instead relying heavily on moralistic application and appeals to human effort. |
| Soteriology | ⚠️ WEAK | The sermon lacks a clear presentation of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, instead focusing on human response and moral effort. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | Scripture is read and referenced, though the application is skewed toward moralism. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | The hermeneutic leans toward moralistic application rather than redemptive-historical exposition. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | No explicit errors in the doctrine of God were detected. |
| Sacramentology | ✅ PASS | No sacramental errors were detected. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon lacks depth in explaining the theological basis for Christian living, relying on behavioral commands rather than doctrinal grounding. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework ⚠️ Incomplete / Compromised
What is the Gospel Framework? This section audits whether the sermon proclaims the essential foundation of the Gospel: Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, humanity's spiritual need, and salvation by sovereign grace alone.
How this is evaluated:
How this is evaluated:
- Essential Gospel Pillars: The framework is verified intact when the sermon substantively preaches Christ's atonement, declares human inability (articulated through either Total Depravity or the Law's condemnation), and guards salvation by grace alone against works-righteousness.
- Historic Confessional Depth: Deeper theological distinctives (such as the Active Obedience of Christ) enrich theological depth when expounded, but their absence in a focused topical or expository message is not an error and does not compromise the Gospel Framework.
🏛️ Essential Gospel Pillars
✅ The Cross & Atonement (Penal Substitution): Articulated
"jesus died on the cross for our sins and so we see that as a symbol of we were forgiven set free" 00:33:17 ▶️ 📄
❌ Human Inability & Need: Not observed (neither human inability nor divine judgment was contextually proclaimed).
❌ Sola Gratia (Salvation by Grace Alone): Compromised
Soteriological errors detected regarding salvation by grace alone.
📜 Historic Confessional Depth
⚪ Active Obedience of Christ: Not explicitly expounded in this sermon.
Assessed under Confessional Depth diagnostic (SHALLOW). Its absence does not compromise the Gospel Framework.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟠 Major Assumed Gospel (Thematic/Moralistic)
Root Cause: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
The Belief/Behavior: The pastor urges believers to 'put in the work' and 'embody Jesus' character' through human effort, without explicitly anchoring this call in the finished work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why It's Dangerous: This approach risks creating spiritual exhaustion and unanchored moralism, as it fails to provide the theological basis for Christian living. It shifts the focus from God's grace to human performance, leading to despair when human effort inevitably fails.
Biblical Correction: Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
✅ Commendations
Illustration | Personal Testimony
The pastor's personal testimony of being born with a 10% chance of survival and his story of Jennifer provide relatable and emotionally resonant illustrations that connect with the congregation.
Application | Cultural Analogy
The use of cultural analogies, such as binge-watching 'Lost' and the feeling of emptiness after a video game, effectively helps the congregation empathize with the disciples' confusion.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:19] So, after service, I'm just going to have all the kids come up front. We'll have a kids lesson for some of our older kids, just as the sanctuary with you, that is fine.
[00:06:54] So, plenty of options of things happening for our kids today. So let me pray for you, and we'll move on in our service today.
[00:07:03] Hey God, again, we come to you now, and we just thank you so much for this day, this opportunity to gather together.
[00:07:08] as we see many new faces, familiar faces, hear the laughter and the steps of the kids.
[00:07:18] God, I just thank you so much for that freedom of energy and joy today.
[00:07:22] As this is a celebration today, may we not miss the purpose and the point of why we're gathered together.
[00:07:29] And everything we do, let us just lift your name on high today.
[00:07:33] Right now, as we get ready to continue our worship and take our offering, God, I pray that you multiply this time, Give us the many needs of your kingdom here in Northville and beyond.
[00:07:44] We just thank you for all that you're going to do.
[00:07:46] It's your name I pray. Amen.
[00:07:56] Preaching.
[00:08:02] Paul.
[00:08:03] We talk about it too much.
[00:18:31] The different things that happen on the church property.
[00:18:36] Last year we talked about praying for the 700.
[00:18:38] Every week, 700 different individuals end up on this property for something.
[00:18:43] It's the preschool, the pantry, the AA and NA meetings, the workout class, church service.
[00:18:48] this week because I got to sit in the foyer during the prayer walk and just on Thursday got to see how many different people, cars, just individuals were walking this property for many of those different activities.
[00:19:01] I just got to take the chance to pray for each one that I saw. I didn't see everybody, but as I saw them walk by, I just took the time to pray for that individual. God knew who they were.
[00:19:12] And so, I just want to let you know if you're here today that your life is important and you're praying for it.
[00:19:17] And if there's anything in your life that you just want to lift up to the Lord right now in prayer, I'm going to pray and you can just pray to him as well.
[00:19:25] And together we'll lift those cares up to him.
[00:19:27] Let's pray together.
[00:19:30] Hey, God, we come to you now during this time of prayer and we just lift up anything that's happening.
[00:19:37] God, you already know that having this conversation with you in an active faith that you'll take care of it.
[00:19:45] We praise you for Ginger's recovery and a good report for her surgery.
[00:19:51] For all those that are dealing with sickness, even as simple as just seasonal change and sinus pressure.
[00:20:01] For the others that are dealing with different chronic issues or financial issues or relational issues, God, you know exactly what each of these things are.
[00:20:10] together. We lift them to you today.
[00:20:14] I just pray for your presence in a mighty way that we not only talk about the empty tomb, but God, we feel the effects of it today.
[00:20:23] And we celebrate you with all that we have.
[00:20:26] In your name I pray. Amen.
[00:20:29] Alright, at this time, if any of our kids would want to go to the kids' class down in the classroom with Ms. Fern, she's going to have a special Easter lesson for the kids.
[00:20:39] So if any of those kids would want to go to that, we're not going to do our typical up front, hand in the air So Ms. Fern is heading back to class now, so if any kids want to go over there, they can.
[00:20:48] Sailor, are you going? Go out that door right there. Yep.
[00:20:55] And then before we get started in the service today, for the egg hunt afterwards, if we can have a couple adults in each one of the classrooms afterwards, just to make sure that the classrooms aren't completely ransacked,
[00:21:10] so that we don't have to completely reset everything for preschool this week.
[00:21:23] So here's the way that's going to work.
[00:21:24] There's a big classroom in this hallway over here.
[00:21:27] That's going to be our main hub of eggs, right?
[00:21:31] We'll probably need two to three people in there.
[00:21:33] The back classroom over here, some of our bigger kids, and the one beside it for our littles.
[00:21:40] That's just kind of how they're laid out.
[00:21:41] there's also eggs in the hallway and there are 500 eggs all over the place I was out there walking around reading to make sure I got everything and they're like hey we still got 99 more eggs
[00:21:53] and I'm like we got a lot more floor so go for it so on your way out if you're not staying to help with the eggs just watch your feet so it's Easter and I was sitting here this week
[00:22:07] and it's easy for me sitting here during the Holy Week prayer walk experience to focus on this season because it's what i was doing here all all week and so i'd come in here uh to the sanctuary and just kind of make sure things were still good
[00:22:24] after someone would walk through and i'd always see that cross and on friday good friday i came in i was cleaning up and just kind of looked at the the two crosses before i turned out all the
[00:22:36] lights and just said thanks that's it just thanks push the button the lights were off Then yesterday, Saturday, a lot of people I ran into, or if you were on Facebook at all, you could see all the silent Saturday posts about how Friday happened and Jesus said it is finished and Saturday happened and it was quiet.
[00:23:01] Anybody in here play video games?
[00:23:03] Just want to know, anybody?
[00:23:04] A couple?
[00:23:06] Anybody in here ever been to a concert that was awesome, like an awesome concert?
[00:23:11] Anybody in here ever ate a really good meal and you said, this is the best thing I've ever eaten?
[00:23:16] Anybody?
[00:23:19] Those things happen, but then after they happen, it's over, right?
[00:23:26] I remember during COVID, during all that time frame, and we're kind of stuck in our house.
[00:23:33] I started playing this video game that I didn't really ever play before.
[00:23:38] I owned it, but for my insanity and your thoughts about me, I'm not going to tell you which one that was.
[00:23:44] But I started playing it, and I got sucked into the whole story of it.
[00:23:50] Marissa even started helping, like she enjoyed watching it.
[00:23:53] So she ended up helping me find all the things.
[00:23:56] And to this day, it's the only game I've ever completed 99%.
[00:24:00] No, 100%.
[00:24:01] I always end like 99% because I'm not going to go do the small side quest.
[00:24:05] 100% completion on this.
[00:24:07] And it felt like an achievement.
[00:24:09] But after it was over, I didn't know what to do.
[00:24:12] I'm just kind of lost.
[00:24:13] And the game ends and it just takes you back to the home screen.
[00:24:16] And that familiar music that you've now spent like 80 hours playing.
[00:24:20] and it just it's there and it just says do you want to start again not really and i'm not gonna lie i didn't know what to do anybody here ever binge watch the tv show the first show i ever
[00:24:36] binge watched was lost anybody ever go down that rabbit hole anybody yeah the first show i ever did on netflix was lost you talk about feeling completely lost when it's over my google searches for a week were basically the same question.
[00:24:53] What's a show similar to Lost?
[00:24:55] Because I didn't know what to do with my life after that.
[00:25:01] That time when you eat this amazing meal and you probably should have stopped 47 bites ago. But you just can't because it's that good. And then you finally take that last bite and you look at your plate
[00:25:15] and you could throw up. But then you're like, where'd it go?
[00:25:23] McDonald's is not going to taste the same tomorrow.
[00:25:27] As this meal did.
[00:25:30] And it's just over.
[00:25:33] And I wonder, yesterday, if that's what a lot of the people that knew Jesus and were close to Him felt on Saturday.
[00:25:42] The day after the crucifixion.
[00:25:45] Did they kind of just feel like, wait a second, it's over.
[00:25:50] All this good stuff happened.
[00:25:51] We saw Jesus do these amazing things.
[00:25:55] Amazing things.
[00:25:57] And all of a sudden, it's over.
[00:25:59] When He was on the cross, and they were mocking him the soldiers said hey why don't you you know you can get off that cross if you want and the disciples are probably wondering man why didn't he do that because
[00:26:10] if you know anything about the disciples they didn't always listen very well jesus was trying to tell them for three years about what was going to happen they didn't always listen well so i know
[00:26:21] some of them were probably like come on jesus just do it get off that show them your power you can do it we've seen you do these amazing things and then he says it is finished and now what now what
[00:26:35] we're going to read two different sections of scripture today at the tomb the first one's going to be in john chapter 20 you have your bible and want to follow along john chapter 20 starting at verse 1 early on that first day of the week while it was still dark mary magdalene
[00:26:59] went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance she came running to simon peter and the other disciple the one jesus loved and said they have taken the lord out of
[00:27:13] the tomb and we don't know where they put him verse three so peter and the other disciples started for the tomb both were running but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first if you've ever heard me do an easter sermon you know i gotta stop there because john was
[00:27:28] bragging on himself the other disciple which he said which jesus loved a little pat on the back and they said they both took off to the tomb and the other disciple outran peter why is that
[00:27:40] necessary in there somebody's trying to get help come on one step at a time bro i need encouragement not put down so basically they race each other to the tomb to find out if what marion says
[00:27:53] true is it real so peter and the other disciple took off to the tomb both were running the other The disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
[00:28:05] Verse 5, he bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there, but he did not go in.
[00:28:11] And verse 6 does not surprise me at all.
[00:28:13] If you've read any Bible at all and you know anything about Peter, it should not shock you that when he gets there, he goes in.
[00:28:20] Peter is the king of opens mouth, inserts foot.
[00:28:25] And in this case, open tomb, run in.
[00:28:28] There's no hesitation.
[00:28:30] Shouldn't shock us at all.
[00:28:31] So then Peter got there.
[00:28:34] Peter went straight in.
[00:28:36] He also saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head.
[00:28:43] The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
[00:28:51] So I'd imagine that when Peter walked out of the tomb, he was probably looking around and said something like, I kind of see the same thing you did, but he's not there.
[00:29:02] Some of it's even folded up.
[00:29:08] As a pastor, one of the things I get the, I'm going to say privilege to do, for the most part I enjoy it, hospital visits.
[00:29:16] When I was in Ohio, I got a call that said, so-and-so is in the hospital in Zanesville.
[00:29:23] Can you go see them?
[00:29:24] Sure.
[00:29:25] So I drive over to Zanesville.
[00:29:27] I get there.
[00:29:28] I go up to the room that I was told.
[00:29:30] Walk in.
[00:29:31] There's no one there.
[00:29:33] And everything's folded up nicely.
[00:29:35] Like it's waiting for somebody to come in.
[00:29:38] Check around.
[00:29:38] finally was told that they were moved to a different room. But I will say at first that it was shocking to walk in and be like, um, he's supposed to be in here. And the nurses are like,
[00:29:49] yeah, we don't know.
[00:29:54] I imagine Peter's kind of doing that too, but wait a second.
[00:29:57] Stones have been rolled away and there's proof that Jesus was here, but where is he? And we want to go back. We want to go back to Matthew.
[00:30:13] Matthew 28 verse 1.
[00:30:18] After the Sabbath at dawn, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
[00:30:28] There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
[00:30:38] His appearance was like lightning.
[00:30:40] His clothes were as white as snow.
[00:30:43] The guards were so afraid of him and they shook and became like dead men.
[00:30:51] The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
[00:30:58] He is not here. He is risen, just as he said.
[00:31:03] Come and see the place where he lay.
[00:31:06] Then go quickly and tell the disciples.
[00:31:09] He is risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee.
[00:31:14] There you will see him.
[00:31:15] Now I have told you.
[00:31:19] So Mary making her way to the tomb.
[00:31:23] There's this violent shake.
[00:31:25] And all of a sudden, the stone just starts rolling away.
[00:31:30] There's so much in the Bible that happens that is kind of mind-boggling still to me.
[00:31:37] If I were just to see a stone just start to roll away and all of a sudden an angel sits on it and its clothes are like lightning, I'm probably going to be like one of those guards and appear dead.
[00:31:49] I'd imagine that means they passed out.
[00:31:55] And then the angel starts talking.
[00:32:00] Hey, yeah, go take a look.
[00:32:02] Jesus isn't there anymore.
[00:32:03] He's risen, as He said He would do.
[00:32:09] Why don't you go and tell the disciples?
[00:32:13] Imagine she peeks in, has a gasp.
[00:32:18] I don't know if that's just something girls do.
[00:32:20] My mom did a lot growing up when she was surprised.
[00:32:23] But to this day, I still have heart palpitations.
[00:32:27] I'm pretty sure because my mom did that.
[00:32:30] And I'd imagine that Mary let out one of those as well when she saw that the angel was telling the truth.
[00:32:35] but as many encounters as mary's had with an angel i probably believe she also just realized no this is the real deal but looked in and realized that jesus was no longer there he says actually he's ahead of you just go back and tell the disciples you'll see him she probably
[00:32:55] never ran faster than after that moment and there was the tomb was empty can i just be honest about something i don't think we give that enough praise in the church we focus a lot on the cross right
[00:33:17] and rightfully so jesus died on the cross for our sins and so we see that as a symbol of we were forgiven set free but the completion of the story was that he was still to rise
[00:33:29] from the dead on the third day the tomb was empty the stone was rolled away that is the completion of the mission.
[00:33:40] And one day a year we might talk about that.
[00:33:46] And I've done a lot of thinking sitting out in the foyer this week about that very thing.
[00:33:51] Why is it that we only talk about it one time a year?
[00:33:53] It's because the calendar tells us it's Easter probably.
[00:33:57] But more so, maybe because our brains can't fathom it either.
[00:34:04] And I think if it really did, then maybe some of us would live more like it's true.
[00:34:14] The biggest miracle in my life is me.
[00:34:20] For you regulars, you've heard the story.
[00:34:21] I shouldn't be here.
[00:34:22] I'm not going to go into the whole thing.
[00:34:24] Born with a 10% chance to live.
[00:34:26] All of a sudden, God's placed a calling on my life, and here I am.
[00:34:29] That is a miracle enough every day for me to realize that God is real and has a plan and a purpose for me.
[00:34:36] And I'm blessed with that opportunity that I don't remember any of those things from when I was young.
[00:34:40] I don't remember the pain of growing up after all those machines and scars and doctor's appointments.
[00:34:48] I don't remember those things, and I'm glad for that.
[00:34:51] And I'm glad that on some hand, maybe it's come kind of easy to me.
[00:34:55] Faith has come easy because I've heard the stories, I've saw the videos, and I've kind of seen God's hand upon my life.
[00:35:00] And so what do I do with that?
[00:35:02] To me, because God has made that easy for me, it's my job to tell you.
[00:35:08] And so when I read the story of the empty tomb, I think these people that saw it, Mary, Peter, John, probably the guards that fainted, all of a sudden that's easy for them because they saw it.
[00:35:24] So they have to go and tell people about it.
[00:35:29] But not all my friends had it that easy.
[00:35:33] Some people might have heard my story.
[00:35:35] It's not easy.
[00:35:35] It was easy because I don't remember it.
[00:35:39] But my friends, they don't have it that easy.
[00:35:41] They remember that their parents got divorced.
[00:35:43] They remember that their dad died when they were three.
[00:35:48] They remember their mom worked four jobs.
[00:35:51] They remember the church hurt that drove them away from the church.
[00:35:55] They remember all these things that didn't make it so easy.
[00:36:02] And so here's what I tell them.
[00:36:05] I can't help you with that.
[00:36:07] But God can.
[00:36:11] The disciples that Jesus chose came from all walks of life.
[00:36:15] Some of them had a good life, a good way of figuring it out.
[00:36:19] Others came up from a rougher degree, rougher side of life, rougher job.
[00:36:25] Some were younger, some were older.
[00:36:27] Yet Jesus called them.
[00:36:30] He said, follow me.
[00:36:31] And they decided to.
[00:36:32] They got to see amazing things.
[00:36:33] And the same is true for each and every one of us.
[00:36:35] We all come from different backgrounds, different beginnings.
[00:36:39] We all right now work different jobs and are at different phases and stages of life.
[00:36:43] But it doesn't mean that God can't call you to do something great.
[00:36:46] And it doesn't mean that God can't transform your life that you think is worthless into something meaningful.
[00:36:54] And the empty tomb is a continued exclamation point of the promise that that is available.
[00:37:02] If the tomb wasn't empty, the dying on the cross would have meant nothing.
[00:37:05] but the stone got rolled away the linens were empty the angel said yeah just as he said so go and tell others about it so what do you do with that what are we supposed to do with that
[00:37:27] for a lot of us it's just like what i talked about at the beginning we've at times in our life we've seen god do something good it's like the meal we don't want to stop eating or the game
[00:37:38] we wish didn't end or the concert that was amazing and it felt almost like a heavenly moment because everyone was in one accord with each other and it was great we didn't want it to end and sometimes
[00:37:48] in our life we've seen god do these things that stand out and without a shadow of a doubt it is a move of him but what stops us from moving forward with that are things in life that have held us
[00:37:59] back the church hurt our own mistakes i don't know how many times i've had to hear my best friends say if i ever step foot in a church the church is going to get struck with lightning there's
[00:38:10] probably several in here that have said the same thing most of the time what keeps us from the lord as our own personal idea of our own self-worth.
[00:38:23] God, if I can't forgive myself, how can you forgive me?
[00:38:31] I talked to this one guy once.
[00:38:32] He was kind of an impromptu, unofficial counseling session.
[00:38:38] And he was dealing with a lot of hurt from his upbringing.
[00:38:42] And he was at the end of it, after spilling it all out, he said, if the people in my life didn't love me enough to come back, clearly I'm not worth it.
[00:38:53] I've never loved myself.
[00:38:55] How can God love me?
[00:38:58] There's a lot more people that feel that way than I think we would ever realize.
[00:39:06] I was a youth pastor for 18 years.
[00:39:08] And I would say probably 65% of the students I youth pastored felt that very way.
[00:39:14] Those are teenagers, 12 to 18 years old.
[00:39:22] You know, I don't always have an answer for them.
[00:39:25] It's those times where I wish God would, well, roll the stone away in their life in a literal way and just bring an angel down and sit with them and say, hey, you've got this.
[00:39:34] But I do have somewhat of a solution for the church on how to help that.
[00:39:42] You better look like Jesus.
[00:39:48] Every day we have an opportunity to share Jesus with somebody by the way we live.
[00:39:56] We celebrate a day like Easter.
[00:40:00] We dress up.
[00:40:01] We have a great time.
[00:40:02] And churches are inevitably more full on Easter than any other day of the year.
[00:40:07] And we celebrate that.
[00:40:08] And that's good.
[00:40:11] If you're willing to celebrate this, then you better live it out.
[00:40:16] I told you a couple weeks ago.
[00:40:17] I went to the Reds opening day parade and opening day game several years ago.
[00:40:21] I didn't stop wearing my jerseys and Reds gear after opening day.
[00:40:25] I lived out my fandom in the good and the bad.
[00:40:28] And as a Reds fan, it's mostly bad.
[00:40:33] In my walk with Jesus, even though I said earlier that he made it easy, he made it easy for me to have faith.
[00:40:38] My life in the Lord has not always been easy.
[00:40:42] The decisions I've had to make have not always been easy.
[00:40:46] And let me just say this too, because maybe a lot of pastors don't say it.
[00:40:50] I know a lot of church people don't say it enough.
[00:40:51] And it also didn't make me perfect.
[00:40:56] I am not.
[00:41:02] But when I fall, I know where to look, and I know where the hand is that's trying to help me back up.
[00:41:08] And that, to me, has changed everything.
[00:41:15] I read an article this week that at first, it was titled in very much a way that kind of made my eyes big, and that was the point, the click of it.
[00:41:25] Easter's not about Jesus, it's about you.
[00:41:29] But at first, I was like, okay.
[00:41:32] They're trying to be very controversial.
[00:41:35] It got me.
[00:41:36] clicked on it. The point of it was, Jesus he died on the cross, he went to the tomb he went to the grave to complete the story and when he did it was a, like I said earlier
[00:41:51] an exclamation point to the story as a big flashing light to us that he is completely who he says he was and did what he said he was going to do so why should we question it now?
[00:42:02] So we celebrate Jesus on this day and it's an exclamation point to us that hey, he did exactly what he said he was going to do so why do we still struggle to follow the article at the end instead of an eye-popping
[00:42:15] like oh they're trying to be controversial just had me feeling bad about myself at the end yeah i should never question those things and by the way even as a pastor i still question things
[00:42:24] too jesus had an encounter with mary as well she thought he was a gardener at the woman he said why are you crying who is it you're looking for thinking he was the gardener she said sir
[00:42:58] if you have carried him away tell me where you put him and I will go get him Jesus said to her Mary and I bet she just recognized at that point the voice and the way he said her name
[00:43:12] she turned around turned towards him and cried out Rabboni which means teacher and there was an embrace Mary realized Jesus' voice when he said her name when I read this story it makes me realize that even though we've heard
[00:43:37] the scriptures we've heard sermons we've watched podcasts we've seen videos we've talked to people about it sometimes we are still looking for jesus in all the wrong places or are we i firmly believe that through the holy spirit we can have that encounter anywhere mary here just sees a gardener
[00:43:56] and it's not exactly what she's looking for so she doesn't pay attention that the gardener is actually jesus but then he says her name so i don't know what you're looking for in your life
[00:44:09] what you're searching for, what you expect Jesus to look like, how you expect him to show up in your life, can I just tell you, keep looking and listen.
[00:44:22] Because he can show up anywhere.
[00:44:24] I don't think she expected him to be a gardener.
[00:44:26] The last time she saw him, he was on a cross.
[00:44:31] Mary, she turned around, said, teacher, and embraced him.
[00:44:43] I'll share this last story and I'll quit.
[00:44:46] But Jesus, to me, didn't always look like my youth pastor, my pastor, my grandparent.
[00:44:55] Jesus, to me, at one point, looked like a coach who was a grandmother to another girl in a youth group I grew up with.
[00:45:02] If you're a regular here, you've heard me mention Jennifer before.
[00:45:06] Jesus showed up as Jennifer to me more times than not.
[00:45:11] There were times I didn't like my youth pastor, and he's my best friend today.
[00:45:14] But there were times I didn't like him because I felt like he picked on me because I was a middle schooler in a youth group.
[00:45:18] and that was just his way of getting to know us and I didn't take well to that.
[00:45:23] But one night Jennifer saw that I was struggling with something and she just came over and I admitted I was probably crying because I was a little crybaby in 7th grade.
[00:45:36] And I felt a hand on my shoulder and I don't know if I thought it was going to be my mom or grandma because they went to the church and somebody told them that I was whining about something.
[00:45:49] I felt the hand on my shoulder and I looked up and it was Jennifer.
[00:45:52] And she just said, I don't know what you're worried about, what you're going through, But I'm here for you.
[00:45:57] At that time, I knew of her, but I didn't really know her.
[00:46:00] And I was like, you don't know me.
[00:46:02] And she said, I don't have to.
[00:46:03] Because when I was in trouble, Jesus knew me when I didn't know him.
[00:46:10] I will never forget that.
[00:46:12] And to this day, Jennifer was probably the first voice of reason in my life that looked like Jesus.
[00:46:21] The day she passed away, I got a phone call.
[00:46:25] At that time, I was a 20-year-old youth pastor.
[00:46:28] I was a middle school pastor at a different church across town.
[00:46:31] I got a call that said, hey, Jennifer's probably got a couple hours left.
[00:46:35] She's at home.
[00:46:36] If you want to come, say your goodbyes.
[00:46:38] I was in the middle of youth group.
[00:46:40] I wasn't old enough to drive the church van.
[00:46:43] I loaded up the church van with my middle school students, and we went to Jennifer's house.
[00:46:48] I got in trouble for that.
[00:46:52] They hid the keys in a lockbox that I didn't have a key to after that.
[00:46:56] but I went into Jennifer's room and on her mirror that said at the foot of her bed was a little sticky note and on that sticky note was my name and the date that she had that
[00:47:11] conversation with me and underneath she said pray for Brandon every day to this day I wasn't looking for Jesus in Jennifer but I found him through Jennifer so if you are one that's here with
[00:47:28] church hurt today can i tell you you can still find jesus outside the church and this is not a pastor saying you know for family i want my family to come to church i do too but i want them to know
[00:47:38] jesus more jesus could show up and look like anybody and just have the words that we've been needing to hear at just the right time and that can help change your perspective which can change
[00:47:53] your life but i got my first local license as a pastor not as big a deal as your district license or your ordination in the Church of the Nazarene, but I was 15 when I got it.
[00:48:10] And it's customary that the district superintendent or pastor of the church will hand you your district license.
[00:48:15] I requested that Jennifer did.
[00:48:19] So I have a picture of Jennifer standing up front at the platform handing me my district license with the pastor behind her going, Jennifer showed up to me as Jesus.
[00:48:37] I thought she was just Jennifer, and in some ways she was, but Jesus was working through her to speak to me.
[00:48:43] Mary thought it was a gardener, but it was Jesus.
[00:48:46] And I don't know where in life you're going to find something, but just know that it could be Jesus too.
[00:48:51] And that empty tomb that we're celebrating today is the exclamation point that Jesus came, was born, and lived, and performed miracles, and taught, and built relationships, and died and rose again to complete the story, to do everything he said he was going to do for you and for me.
[00:49:11] whether this is the first time you've stepped foot in church in two years or you're the pastor it's just as much for both of us and i am so grateful for that and that today is why we
[00:49:22] celebrate the empty tomb i'm going to invite our worship team to come up this morning and after they do just a reminder again when we dismiss have all the kids come up front and we'll
[00:49:34] we'll divide up for the the egg hunt afterwards but i'm going to invite you to stand too and we worship together.
[00:54:33] One of the scriptures says that with a breath he told them it is your turn.
[00:54:42] It wasn't the end of the story but yet some believe it's the start.
[00:54:47] And so I believe today as we celebrate this wasn't the end but it is the kickoff and the start of something new that we know that Jesus was not lying about and he completed his story and now it's our
[00:55:01] turn. So let's pray together.
[00:55:05] God, I thank you again so much for this day and just for the celebration that is Resurrection Sunday.
[00:55:11] Thank you for the gift of your Son.
[00:55:13] May we go out and continue the mission.
[00:55:18] God, if anybody in here is searching for you and seeking you, I just pray that you show up in a mighty way that's indescribable and can only be you, even if it's not what they thought you'd look like.
[00:55:32] God, use any of us to speak to anyone about you.
[00:55:38] I thank you in advance for all that you're going to do.
[00:55:41] Everyone said, Amen.
[00:55:43] Alright, I'm going to invite all our kids to come up front.
[00:55:46] We'll give some instruction on the Easter egg hunt.
[00:00:19] So, after service, I'm just going to have all the kids come up front. We'll have a kids lesson for some of our older kids, just as the sanctuary with you, that is fine.
[00:06:54] So, plenty of options of things happening for our kids today. So let me pray for you, and we'll move on in our service today.
[00:07:03] Hey God, again, we come to you now, and we just thank you so much for this day, this opportunity to gather together.
[00:07:08] as we see many new faces, familiar faces, hear the laughter and the steps of the kids.
[00:07:18] God, I just thank you so much for that freedom of energy and joy today.
[00:07:22] As this is a celebration today, may we not miss the purpose and the point of why we're gathered together.
[00:07:29] And everything we do, let us just lift your name on high today.
[00:07:33] Right now, as we get ready to continue our worship and take our offering, God, I pray that you multiply this time, Give us the many needs of your kingdom here in Northville and beyond.
[00:07:44] We just thank you for all that you're going to do.
[00:07:46] It's your name I pray. Amen.
[00:07:56] Preaching.
[00:08:02] Paul.
[00:08:03] We talk about it too much.
[00:18:31] The different things that happen on the church property.
[00:18:36] Last year we talked about praying for the 700.
[00:18:38] Every week, 700 different individuals end up on this property for something.
[00:18:43] It's the preschool, the pantry, the AA and NA meetings, the workout class, church service.
[00:18:48] this week because I got to sit in the foyer during the prayer walk and just on Thursday got to see how many different people, cars, just individuals were walking this property for many of those different activities.
[00:19:01] I just got to take the chance to pray for each one that I saw. I didn't see everybody, but as I saw them walk by, I just took the time to pray for that individual. God knew who they were.
[00:19:12] And so, I just want to let you know if you're here today that your life is important and you're praying for it.
[00:19:17] And if there's anything in your life that you just want to lift up to the Lord right now in prayer, I'm going to pray and you can just pray to him as well.
[00:19:25] And together we'll lift those cares up to him.
[00:19:27] Let's pray together.
[00:19:30] Hey, God, we come to you now during this time of prayer and we just lift up anything that's happening.
[00:19:37] God, you already know that having this conversation with you in an active faith that you'll take care of it.
[00:19:45] We praise you for Ginger's recovery and a good report for her surgery.
[00:19:51] For all those that are dealing with sickness, even as simple as just seasonal change and sinus pressure.
[00:20:01] For the others that are dealing with different chronic issues or financial issues or relational issues, God, you know exactly what each of these things are.
[00:20:10] together. We lift them to you today.
[00:20:14] I just pray for your presence in a mighty way that we not only talk about the empty tomb, but God, we feel the effects of it today.
[00:20:23] And we celebrate you with all that we have.
[00:20:26] In your name I pray. Amen.
[00:20:29] Alright, at this time, if any of our kids would want to go to the kids' class down in the classroom with Ms. Fern, she's going to have a special Easter lesson for the kids.
[00:20:39] So if any of those kids would want to go to that, we're not going to do our typical up front, hand in the air So Ms. Fern is heading back to class now, so if any kids want to go over there, they can.
[00:20:48] Sailor, are you going? Go out that door right there. Yep.
[00:20:55] And then before we get started in the service today, for the egg hunt afterwards, if we can have a couple adults in each one of the classrooms afterwards, just to make sure that the classrooms aren't completely ransacked,
[00:21:10] so that we don't have to completely reset everything for preschool this week.
[00:21:23] So here's the way that's going to work.
[00:21:24] There's a big classroom in this hallway over here.
[00:21:27] That's going to be our main hub of eggs, right?
[00:21:31] We'll probably need two to three people in there.
[00:21:33] The back classroom over here, some of our bigger kids, and the one beside it for our littles.
[00:21:40] That's just kind of how they're laid out.
[00:21:41] there's also eggs in the hallway and there are 500 eggs all over the place I was out there walking around reading to make sure I got everything and they're like hey we still got 99 more eggs
[00:21:53] and I'm like we got a lot more floor so go for it so on your way out if you're not staying to help with the eggs just watch your feet so it's Easter and I was sitting here this week
[00:22:07] and it's easy for me sitting here during the Holy Week prayer walk experience to focus on this season because it's what i was doing here all all week and so i'd come in here uh to the sanctuary and just kind of make sure things were still good
[00:22:24] after someone would walk through and i'd always see that cross and on friday good friday i came in i was cleaning up and just kind of looked at the the two crosses before i turned out all the
[00:22:36] lights and just said thanks that's it just thanks push the button the lights were off Then yesterday, Saturday, a lot of people I ran into, or if you were on Facebook at all, you could see all the silent Saturday posts about how Friday happened and Jesus said it is finished and Saturday happened and it was quiet.
[00:23:01] Anybody in here play video games?
[00:23:03] Just want to know, anybody?
[00:23:04] A couple?
[00:23:06] Anybody in here ever been to a concert that was awesome, like an awesome concert?
[00:23:11] Anybody in here ever ate a really good meal and you said, this is the best thing I've ever eaten?
[00:23:16] Anybody?
[00:23:19] Those things happen, but then after they happen, it's over, right?
[00:23:26] I remember during COVID, during all that time frame, and we're kind of stuck in our house.
[00:23:33] I started playing this video game that I didn't really ever play before.
[00:23:38] I owned it, but for my insanity and your thoughts about me, I'm not going to tell you which one that was.
[00:23:44] But I started playing it, and I got sucked into the whole story of it.
[00:23:50] Marissa even started helping, like she enjoyed watching it.
[00:23:53] So she ended up helping me find all the things.
[00:23:56] And to this day, it's the only game I've ever completed 99%.
[00:24:00] No, 100%.
[00:24:01] I always end like 99% because I'm not going to go do the small side quest.
[00:24:05] 100% completion on this.
[00:24:07] And it felt like an achievement.
[00:24:09] But after it was over, I didn't know what to do.
[00:24:12] I'm just kind of lost.
[00:24:13] And the game ends and it just takes you back to the home screen.
[00:24:16] And that familiar music that you've now spent like 80 hours playing.
[00:24:20] and it just it's there and it just says do you want to start again not really and i'm not gonna lie i didn't know what to do anybody here ever binge watch the tv show the first show i ever
[00:24:36] binge watched was lost anybody ever go down that rabbit hole anybody yeah the first show i ever did on netflix was lost you talk about feeling completely lost when it's over my google searches for a week were basically the same question.
[00:24:53] What's a show similar to Lost?
[00:24:55] Because I didn't know what to do with my life after that.
[00:25:01] That time when you eat this amazing meal and you probably should have stopped 47 bites ago. But you just can't because it's that good. And then you finally take that last bite and you look at your plate
[00:25:15] and you could throw up. But then you're like, where'd it go?
[00:25:23] McDonald's is not going to taste the same tomorrow.
[00:25:27] As this meal did.
[00:25:30] And it's just over.
[00:25:33] And I wonder, yesterday, if that's what a lot of the people that knew Jesus and were close to Him felt on Saturday.
[00:25:42] The day after the crucifixion.
[00:25:45] Did they kind of just feel like, wait a second, it's over.
[00:25:50] All this good stuff happened.
[00:25:51] We saw Jesus do these amazing things.
[00:25:55] Amazing things.
[00:25:57] And all of a sudden, it's over.
[00:25:59] When He was on the cross, and they were mocking him the soldiers said hey why don't you you know you can get off that cross if you want and the disciples are probably wondering man why didn't he do that because
[00:26:10] if you know anything about the disciples they didn't always listen very well jesus was trying to tell them for three years about what was going to happen they didn't always listen well so i know
[00:26:21] some of them were probably like come on jesus just do it get off that show them your power you can do it we've seen you do these amazing things and then he says it is finished and now what now what
[00:26:35] we're going to read two different sections of scripture today at the tomb the first one's going to be in john chapter 20 you have your bible and want to follow along john chapter 20 starting at verse 1 early on that first day of the week while it was still dark mary magdalene
[00:26:59] went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance she came running to simon peter and the other disciple the one jesus loved and said they have taken the lord out of
[00:27:13] the tomb and we don't know where they put him verse three so peter and the other disciples started for the tomb both were running but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first if you've ever heard me do an easter sermon you know i gotta stop there because john was
[00:27:28] bragging on himself the other disciple which he said which jesus loved a little pat on the back and they said they both took off to the tomb and the other disciple outran peter why is that
[00:27:40] necessary in there somebody's trying to get help come on one step at a time bro i need encouragement not put down so basically they race each other to the tomb to find out if what marion says
[00:27:53] true is it real so peter and the other disciple took off to the tomb both were running the other The disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
[00:28:05] Verse 5, he bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there, but he did not go in.
[00:28:11] And verse 6 does not surprise me at all.
[00:28:13] If you've read any Bible at all and you know anything about Peter, it should not shock you that when he gets there, he goes in.
[00:28:20] Peter is the king of opens mouth, inserts foot.
[00:28:25] And in this case, open tomb, run in.
[00:28:28] There's no hesitation.
[00:28:30] Shouldn't shock us at all.
[00:28:31] So then Peter got there.
[00:28:34] Peter went straight in.
[00:28:36] He also saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head.
[00:28:43] The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.
[00:28:51] So I'd imagine that when Peter walked out of the tomb, he was probably looking around and said something like, I kind of see the same thing you did, but he's not there.
[00:29:02] Some of it's even folded up.
[00:29:08] As a pastor, one of the things I get the, I'm going to say privilege to do, for the most part I enjoy it, hospital visits.
[00:29:16] When I was in Ohio, I got a call that said, so-and-so is in the hospital in Zanesville.
[00:29:23] Can you go see them?
[00:29:24] Sure.
[00:29:25] So I drive over to Zanesville.
[00:29:27] I get there.
[00:29:28] I go up to the room that I was told.
[00:29:30] Walk in.
[00:29:31] There's no one there.
[00:29:33] And everything's folded up nicely.
[00:29:35] Like it's waiting for somebody to come in.
[00:29:38] Check around.
[00:29:38] finally was told that they were moved to a different room. But I will say at first that it was shocking to walk in and be like, um, he's supposed to be in here. And the nurses are like,
[00:29:49] yeah, we don't know.
[00:29:54] I imagine Peter's kind of doing that too, but wait a second.
[00:29:57] Stones have been rolled away and there's proof that Jesus was here, but where is he? And we want to go back. We want to go back to Matthew.
[00:30:13] Matthew 28 verse 1.
[00:30:18] After the Sabbath at dawn, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
[00:30:28] There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
[00:30:38] His appearance was like lightning.
[00:30:40] His clothes were as white as snow.
[00:30:43] The guards were so afraid of him and they shook and became like dead men.
[00:30:51] The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
[00:30:58] He is not here. He is risen, just as he said.
[00:31:03] Come and see the place where he lay.
[00:31:06] Then go quickly and tell the disciples.
[00:31:09] He is risen from the dead and is going ahead of you to Galilee.
[00:31:14] There you will see him.
[00:31:15] Now I have told you.
[00:31:19] So Mary making her way to the tomb.
[00:31:23] There's this violent shake.
[00:31:25] And all of a sudden, the stone just starts rolling away.
[00:31:30] There's so much in the Bible that happens that is kind of mind-boggling still to me.
[00:31:37] If I were just to see a stone just start to roll away and all of a sudden an angel sits on it and its clothes are like lightning, I'm probably going to be like one of those guards and appear dead.
[00:31:49] I'd imagine that means they passed out.
[00:31:55] And then the angel starts talking.
[00:32:00] Hey, yeah, go take a look.
[00:32:02] Jesus isn't there anymore.
[00:32:03] He's risen, as He said He would do.
[00:32:09] Why don't you go and tell the disciples?
[00:32:13] Imagine she peeks in, has a gasp.
[00:32:18] I don't know if that's just something girls do.
[00:32:20] My mom did a lot growing up when she was surprised.
[00:32:23] But to this day, I still have heart palpitations.
[00:32:27] I'm pretty sure because my mom did that.
[00:32:30] And I'd imagine that Mary let out one of those as well when she saw that the angel was telling the truth.
[00:32:35] but as many encounters as mary's had with an angel i probably believe she also just realized no this is the real deal but looked in and realized that jesus was no longer there he says actually he's ahead of you just go back and tell the disciples you'll see him she probably
[00:32:55] never ran faster than after that moment and there was the tomb was empty can i just be honest about something i don't think we give that enough praise in the church we focus a lot on the cross right
[00:33:17] and rightfully so jesus died on the cross for our sins and so we see that as a symbol of we were forgiven set free but the completion of the story was that he was still to rise
[00:33:29] from the dead on the third day the tomb was empty the stone was rolled away that is the completion of the mission.
[00:33:40] And one day a year we might talk about that.
[00:33:46] And I've done a lot of thinking sitting out in the foyer this week about that very thing.
[00:33:51] Why is it that we only talk about it one time a year?
[00:33:53] It's because the calendar tells us it's Easter probably.
[00:33:57] But more so, maybe because our brains can't fathom it either.
[00:34:04] And I think if it really did, then maybe some of us would live more like it's true.
[00:34:14] The biggest miracle in my life is me.
[00:34:20] For you regulars, you've heard the story.
[00:34:21] I shouldn't be here.
[00:34:22] I'm not going to go into the whole thing.
[00:34:24] Born with a 10% chance to live.
[00:34:26] All of a sudden, God's placed a calling on my life, and here I am.
[00:34:29] That is a miracle enough every day for me to realize that God is real and has a plan and a purpose for me.
[00:34:36] And I'm blessed with that opportunity that I don't remember any of those things from when I was young.
[00:34:40] I don't remember the pain of growing up after all those machines and scars and doctor's appointments.
[00:34:48] I don't remember those things, and I'm glad for that.
[00:34:51] And I'm glad that on some hand, maybe it's come kind of easy to me.
[00:34:55] Faith has come easy because I've heard the stories, I've saw the videos, and I've kind of seen God's hand upon my life.
[00:35:00] And so what do I do with that?
[00:35:02] To me, because God has made that easy for me, it's my job to tell you.
[00:35:08] And so when I read the story of the empty tomb, I think these people that saw it, Mary, Peter, John, probably the guards that fainted, all of a sudden that's easy for them because they saw it.
[00:35:24] So they have to go and tell people about it.
[00:35:29] But not all my friends had it that easy.
[00:35:33] Some people might have heard my story.
[00:35:35] It's not easy.
[00:35:35] It was easy because I don't remember it.
[00:35:39] But my friends, they don't have it that easy.
[00:35:41] They remember that their parents got divorced.
[00:35:43] They remember that their dad died when they were three.
[00:35:48] They remember their mom worked four jobs.
[00:35:51] They remember the church hurt that drove them away from the church.
[00:35:55] They remember all these things that didn't make it so easy.
[00:36:02] And so here's what I tell them.
[00:36:05] I can't help you with that.
[00:36:07] But God can.
[00:36:11] The disciples that Jesus chose came from all walks of life.
[00:36:15] Some of them had a good life, a good way of figuring it out.
[00:36:19] Others came up from a rougher degree, rougher side of life, rougher job.
[00:36:25] Some were younger, some were older.
[00:36:27] Yet Jesus called them.
[00:36:30] He said, follow me.
[00:36:31] And they decided to.
[00:36:32] They got to see amazing things.
[00:36:33] And the same is true for each and every one of us.
[00:36:35] We all come from different backgrounds, different beginnings.
[00:36:39] We all right now work different jobs and are at different phases and stages of life.
[00:36:43] But it doesn't mean that God can't call you to do something great.
[00:36:46] And it doesn't mean that God can't transform your life that you think is worthless into something meaningful.
[00:36:54] And the empty tomb is a continued exclamation point of the promise that that is available.
[00:37:02] If the tomb wasn't empty, the dying on the cross would have meant nothing.
[00:37:05] but the stone got rolled away the linens were empty the angel said yeah just as he said so go and tell others about it so what do you do with that what are we supposed to do with that
[00:37:27] for a lot of us it's just like what i talked about at the beginning we've at times in our life we've seen god do something good it's like the meal we don't want to stop eating or the game
[00:37:38] we wish didn't end or the concert that was amazing and it felt almost like a heavenly moment because everyone was in one accord with each other and it was great we didn't want it to end and sometimes
[00:37:48] in our life we've seen god do these things that stand out and without a shadow of a doubt it is a move of him but what stops us from moving forward with that are things in life that have held us
[00:37:59] back the church hurt our own mistakes i don't know how many times i've had to hear my best friends say if i ever step foot in a church the church is going to get struck with lightning there's
[00:38:10] probably several in here that have said the same thing most of the time what keeps us from the lord as our own personal idea of our own self-worth.
[00:38:23] God, if I can't forgive myself, how can you forgive me?
[00:38:31] I talked to this one guy once.
[00:38:32] He was kind of an impromptu, unofficial counseling session.
[00:38:38] And he was dealing with a lot of hurt from his upbringing.
[00:38:42] And he was at the end of it, after spilling it all out, he said, if the people in my life didn't love me enough to come back, clearly I'm not worth it.
[00:38:53] I've never loved myself.
[00:38:55] How can God love me?
[00:38:58] There's a lot more people that feel that way than I think we would ever realize.
[00:39:06] I was a youth pastor for 18 years.
[00:39:08] And I would say probably 65% of the students I youth pastored felt that very way.
[00:39:14] Those are teenagers, 12 to 18 years old.
[00:39:22] You know, I don't always have an answer for them.
[00:39:25] It's those times where I wish God would, well, roll the stone away in their life in a literal way and just bring an angel down and sit with them and say, hey, you've got this.
[00:39:34] But I do have somewhat of a solution for the church on how to help that.
[00:39:42] You better look like Jesus.
[00:39:48] Every day we have an opportunity to share Jesus with somebody by the way we live.
[00:39:56] We celebrate a day like Easter.
[00:40:00] We dress up.
[00:40:01] We have a great time.
[00:40:02] And churches are inevitably more full on Easter than any other day of the year.
[00:40:07] And we celebrate that.
[00:40:08] And that's good.
[00:40:11] If you're willing to celebrate this, then you better live it out.
[00:40:16] I told you a couple weeks ago.
[00:40:17] I went to the Reds opening day parade and opening day game several years ago.
[00:40:21] I didn't stop wearing my jerseys and Reds gear after opening day.
[00:40:25] I lived out my fandom in the good and the bad.
[00:40:28] And as a Reds fan, it's mostly bad.
[00:40:33] In my walk with Jesus, even though I said earlier that he made it easy, he made it easy for me to have faith.
[00:40:38] My life in the Lord has not always been easy.
[00:40:42] The decisions I've had to make have not always been easy.
[00:40:46] And let me just say this too, because maybe a lot of pastors don't say it.
[00:40:50] I know a lot of church people don't say it enough.
[00:40:51] And it also didn't make me perfect.
[00:40:56] I am not.
[00:41:02] But when I fall, I know where to look, and I know where the hand is that's trying to help me back up.
[00:41:08] And that, to me, has changed everything.
[00:41:15] I read an article this week that at first, it was titled in very much a way that kind of made my eyes big, and that was the point, the click of it.
[00:41:25] Easter's not about Jesus, it's about you.
[00:41:29] But at first, I was like, okay.
[00:41:32] They're trying to be very controversial.
[00:41:35] It got me.
[00:41:36] clicked on it. The point of it was, Jesus he died on the cross, he went to the tomb he went to the grave to complete the story and when he did it was a, like I said earlier
[00:41:51] an exclamation point to the story as a big flashing light to us that he is completely who he says he was and did what he said he was going to do so why should we question it now?
[00:42:02] So we celebrate Jesus on this day and it's an exclamation point to us that hey, he did exactly what he said he was going to do so why do we still struggle to follow the article at the end instead of an eye-popping
[00:42:15] like oh they're trying to be controversial just had me feeling bad about myself at the end yeah i should never question those things and by the way even as a pastor i still question things
[00:42:24] too jesus had an encounter with mary as well she thought he was a gardener at the woman he said why are you crying who is it you're looking for thinking he was the gardener she said sir
[00:42:58] if you have carried him away tell me where you put him and I will go get him Jesus said to her Mary and I bet she just recognized at that point the voice and the way he said her name
[00:43:12] she turned around turned towards him and cried out Rabboni which means teacher and there was an embrace Mary realized Jesus' voice when he said her name when I read this story it makes me realize that even though we've heard
[00:43:37] the scriptures we've heard sermons we've watched podcasts we've seen videos we've talked to people about it sometimes we are still looking for jesus in all the wrong places or are we i firmly believe that through the holy spirit we can have that encounter anywhere mary here just sees a gardener
[00:43:56] and it's not exactly what she's looking for so she doesn't pay attention that the gardener is actually jesus but then he says her name so i don't know what you're looking for in your life
[00:44:09] what you're searching for, what you expect Jesus to look like, how you expect him to show up in your life, can I just tell you, keep looking and listen.
[00:44:22] Because he can show up anywhere.
[00:44:24] I don't think she expected him to be a gardener.
[00:44:26] The last time she saw him, he was on a cross.
[00:44:31] Mary, she turned around, said, teacher, and embraced him.
[00:44:43] I'll share this last story and I'll quit.
[00:44:46] But Jesus, to me, didn't always look like my youth pastor, my pastor, my grandparent.
[00:44:55] Jesus, to me, at one point, looked like a coach who was a grandmother to another girl in a youth group I grew up with.
[00:45:02] If you're a regular here, you've heard me mention Jennifer before.
[00:45:06] Jesus showed up as Jennifer to me more times than not.
[00:45:11] There were times I didn't like my youth pastor, and he's my best friend today.
[00:45:14] But there were times I didn't like him because I felt like he picked on me because I was a middle schooler in a youth group.
[00:45:18] and that was just his way of getting to know us and I didn't take well to that.
[00:45:23] But one night Jennifer saw that I was struggling with something and she just came over and I admitted I was probably crying because I was a little crybaby in 7th grade.
[00:45:36] And I felt a hand on my shoulder and I don't know if I thought it was going to be my mom or grandma because they went to the church and somebody told them that I was whining about something.
[00:45:49] I felt the hand on my shoulder and I looked up and it was Jennifer.
[00:45:52] And she just said, I don't know what you're worried about, what you're going through, But I'm here for you.
[00:45:57] At that time, I knew of her, but I didn't really know her.
[00:46:00] And I was like, you don't know me.
[00:46:02] And she said, I don't have to.
[00:46:03] Because when I was in trouble, Jesus knew me when I didn't know him.
[00:46:10] I will never forget that.
[00:46:12] And to this day, Jennifer was probably the first voice of reason in my life that looked like Jesus.
[00:46:21] The day she passed away, I got a phone call.
[00:46:25] At that time, I was a 20-year-old youth pastor.
[00:46:28] I was a middle school pastor at a different church across town.
[00:46:31] I got a call that said, hey, Jennifer's probably got a couple hours left.
[00:46:35] She's at home.
[00:46:36] If you want to come, say your goodbyes.
[00:46:38] I was in the middle of youth group.
[00:46:40] I wasn't old enough to drive the church van.
[00:46:43] I loaded up the church van with my middle school students, and we went to Jennifer's house.
[00:46:48] I got in trouble for that.
[00:46:52] They hid the keys in a lockbox that I didn't have a key to after that.
[00:46:56] but I went into Jennifer's room and on her mirror that said at the foot of her bed was a little sticky note and on that sticky note was my name and the date that she had that
[00:47:11] conversation with me and underneath she said pray for Brandon every day to this day I wasn't looking for Jesus in Jennifer but I found him through Jennifer so if you are one that's here with
[00:47:28] church hurt today can i tell you you can still find jesus outside the church and this is not a pastor saying you know for family i want my family to come to church i do too but i want them to know
[00:47:38] jesus more jesus could show up and look like anybody and just have the words that we've been needing to hear at just the right time and that can help change your perspective which can change
[00:47:53] your life but i got my first local license as a pastor not as big a deal as your district license or your ordination in the Church of the Nazarene, but I was 15 when I got it.
[00:48:10] And it's customary that the district superintendent or pastor of the church will hand you your district license.
[00:48:15] I requested that Jennifer did.
[00:48:19] So I have a picture of Jennifer standing up front at the platform handing me my district license with the pastor behind her going, Jennifer showed up to me as Jesus.
[00:48:37] I thought she was just Jennifer, and in some ways she was, but Jesus was working through her to speak to me.
[00:48:43] Mary thought it was a gardener, but it was Jesus.
[00:48:46] And I don't know where in life you're going to find something, but just know that it could be Jesus too.
[00:48:51] And that empty tomb that we're celebrating today is the exclamation point that Jesus came, was born, and lived, and performed miracles, and taught, and built relationships, and died and rose again to complete the story, to do everything he said he was going to do for you and for me.
[00:49:11] whether this is the first time you've stepped foot in church in two years or you're the pastor it's just as much for both of us and i am so grateful for that and that today is why we
[00:49:22] celebrate the empty tomb i'm going to invite our worship team to come up this morning and after they do just a reminder again when we dismiss have all the kids come up front and we'll
[00:49:34] we'll divide up for the the egg hunt afterwards but i'm going to invite you to stand too and we worship together.
[00:54:33] One of the scriptures says that with a breath he told them it is your turn.
[00:54:42] It wasn't the end of the story but yet some believe it's the start.
[00:54:47] And so I believe today as we celebrate this wasn't the end but it is the kickoff and the start of something new that we know that Jesus was not lying about and he completed his story and now it's our
[00:55:01] turn. So let's pray together.
[00:55:05] God, I thank you again so much for this day and just for the celebration that is Resurrection Sunday.
[00:55:11] Thank you for the gift of your Son.
[00:55:13] May we go out and continue the mission.
[00:55:18] God, if anybody in here is searching for you and seeking you, I just pray that you show up in a mighty way that's indescribable and can only be you, even if it's not what they thought you'd look like.
[00:55:32] God, use any of us to speak to anyone about you.
[00:55:38] I thank you in advance for all that you're going to do.
[00:55:41] Everyone said, Amen.
[00:55:43] Alright, I'm going to invite all our kids to come up front.
[00:55:46] We'll give some instruction on the Easter egg hunt.
