Words To Live By - Part 7 - "Wow"

You can be seated. We have been in the middle of a series that we're wrapping up today that I titled words to live by. And what I have been doing is taking one word and talking about how that word we need to implement into our life. And it has a powerful impact. And you know, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from this series.

And it's really done my heart good to know that what I felt like God had laid on my heart was meeting us where we are. Don't you love that about our God? how he's so personal. How he just comes down and meets us right in the middle of our mess. You know, I'm glad that I didn't have to fix myself up before God came to me.

I'm glad I didn't have to figure it out and get it all right and make sure all of my tees were crossed and my eyes were dotted. I'm just glad that I realized all I had to do was cry out to him and he came down into the middle of my mess. Even with my doubts, even with my fears, even my uncertainties, he still met me there.

And I'm speaking to someone today in this room that if you have maybe been here because someone invited you or maybe it's Easter and I hadn't seen you since Christmas. Welcome back to church, Cene kind of Christian. Whatever your circumstance is, I just want you to know you shouldn't be afraid today.

You shouldn't feel like you need to qualify yourself today. And I'm thankful for that because I'm unqualified, too. And you look at your neighbor, they're unqualified as well. Yeah, we all here because of the grace and the mercy of God. And I'm thankful for that. And I want to maybe just kind of say this.

I feel it in my spirit to say, you know what, I feel like there may be even someone here today who you feel like, you know, I'm here because so and so invited me. Or I'm here because it's Easter and I want to make sure my family goes to church because we're in the South and that's what you do.

It's Easter Sunday. You should go to church somewhere. But I just want to speak to something because I feel like the Holy Ghost spoke to me while we were in our last worship service that God was telling me that I needed to make mention of this. I so I don't know who this is for, but I want to be obedient to God.

I believe in that. Somebody thinks that you're too far gone in this room. That your mistakes and your failures and the things that you have said and the way that you've treated God, you have just went past his love. And I want you to know that is simply not true. It's not true.

I just want to say this and please understand my heart when I say this that it it's an arrogant statement to say that your sin is the biggest sin that's ever been committed. That you have went farther than anybody else in humanity has went than nobody else has done or thought or said or been through the things that you've been through.

I want you to know his blood covers all. Hallelujah. It covers all the no matter what has happened, no matter what you've done, no matter what you've said, no matter how you've acted, no matter how you have behaved, none of that matters against the blood. The reason we're here today is we're celebrating an empty tomb.

And that tomb was there because he died on a cross to cover our sins. And today we celebrate that our savior didn't stay dead. I don't believe in dead deity. My God is alive and he is well and he is sitting on the throne and he is as powerful as he has ever been.

So whatever is in the room today and whatever is being represented online, I want you to know our God is more than able to meet you where you are right now in this moment. In our words to live by series, we were looking at these one life changing words. I started off with the word no.

Did you know no is a complete sentence? You can just say no. Period. And there's and I talked about in that first lesson that there there are some things in our life we just need to say no to and we need to move past those things. And the following week or the following service our pastor Michael got up and talked about saying yes to God.

The word was yes. And then we started talking about the word enough. How that God brings us the opportunity in our life to be not only blessed but to realize that all the blessings in my life are not just meant for me to consume. That at some point I realized God you've been good to me.

I've got enough. How can I then steward? How can I be a blessing? How can I be a conduit to those around me? We talked about the word sorry. How that we live in a we live in a world that uses the word sorry, but we don't mean it. What we mean by it is I'm sorry I got caught.

I'm sorry that you feel that way. The truth of the matter is we're not really sorry enough to change. And how we need to learn how to embrace that word of being sorry. And then on Palm Sunday, Pastor Taylor got up and preached a masterpiece about thanks and being thankful in our lives.

He did a great job there. And then this past Wednesday night, yeah, give him a hand. He did a good job. And then this past Wednesday night for our communion service, I talked about the word help. How it is that God loves it when we ask him for help. And aren't we stubborn people?

Well, that fell flat. Let's try that again. Aren't we stubborn people? Yeah, we are. We We're stubborn. We are. But you know what? I have learned. Maybe it's age. Maybe it's, you know, my 49 trips around the sun at this point. I've realized there's just some things I can't do. I'm just better off starting with God.

God, help me. God, help me today. That's I think I don't know there's a better way to start every day than just simply get up and saying, "God, thank you for today and help me today. Thank you that I got out of the bed. Amen. Thank you that there are no no new no new pains and aches and help me today cuz I need help.

Now here we are and it is Easter Sunday and we are excited that you are with us and give a big hand to all of our guests that are with us today. So what's the word for Easter Sunday? What are we going to do here as we're celebrating the resurrection? Well, I'm going to get to it by going back in time.

If you could imagine with me, if we could roll the calendar back a little over 2,000 years ago when there was this man named Jesus and you happened to be close by and you were able to hear him teach and hear him talk and see the way he interacted with people and how it left such an impression on you.

There was just something different about him. He spoke in a way that was not the norm. And the way he conducted himself and the people that he seemed to hang out with, it was it was quite a bit different than anything you had ever seen before. and you were drawn into that.

You wanted to become a follower after him and you were willing to walk away from everything in your life. You left your home and your family and your work and people told you, "You're crazy. What's going on?" You know what what what are you doing? Why are you turning your life upside down to follow him?

But you didn't care because you were convinced that he had it. that what he was doing was real and it was genuine and he was changing things and that could this be the Messiah that your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had all talked about because it seemed like everything was lining up and you were just so drawn in by his by his approach to life.

It was so refreshing. It's something that you just hadn't seen as if as if you were going through a desert and you were so thirsty and all of a sudden you got a drink of cool water. That's the way it felt when you were just in his presence. You were so drawn to it.

And for a while, it seemed like this was just the best adventure you'd ever been on in your life. But you found yourself on a Sunday with a crowd of people as he was coming into Jerusalem and people are cutting down palm branches and laying in front of the animal that he rides on.

And people are saying things you've never heard them say before. And it seemed like, man, this is it. This is this is the moment we've been waiting for. Everything is just coming together. you were thrilled that he would be the kind of king you dreamed of. But it was happening so fast. But that wasn't the only thing that was happening fast because in just a few short days, the same folks that seemingly were trying to make him king were now crying out for him to be crucified as he went through a mockery of a trial.

He had been betrayed. And now you're left with your world spinning and turning and shifting. and you're trying to figure out exactly what's going on because it's it's like you're the pendulum has swung from one side to the other and you're trying to grab a hold of straws just trying to trying to convince yourself is this just a dream?

Is this really happening? I've seen all the things he did. I've seen how he spoke and how he taught. I've seen miracles worked at his hand. I've seen blinded eyes open and dead come back to life again. I've seen the lepard cle the lepers cleansed. I've seen all of these things in my life.

Like what is going on? How could we be here and now we're way over here? It doesn't make sense. And then he dies and you're left wondering, was it all for nothing? Have you walked away from everything that you knew? He's crucified like a common criminal. And in your mind, it means failure.

And you're heading towards deep, deep despair. And on Sunday, you go to the tomb because there's nowhere else to go. But it's very confusing because the tomb is empty and the stone that was there has been rolled away. And the Roman guards that were guarding it are gone. and all that's left in place is a couple of angels and they tell you he's not here.

He's still alive. So, you go and you tell everybody the news, but you're a little apprehensive because you know that Rome's not happy with him. So, you're wondering to yourself, "Am I going to have to go to the cross?" You're trying to figure out where it is that you play a part in all that's going on, but you have this inside you that's been said, "Go tell everybody Jesus Christ is alive.

He is well." What would you have said to yourself if I and I just took three minutes to give you an overview of what they went through? What word would have crossed your mind that I could possibly bring to you? This is going to be deep and this is going to be profound.

It's a threeletter word that I feel like is appropriate by simply saying, "Wow, wow. Wow. What an emotional ride it's been. Wow. What things I have seen. Wow. I can't believe that all of that took place. Wow. Wow, I can't believe that I got to be a part of that. That he didn't exclude me.

It wasn't an exclusive club. Wow. The reward that I have on this Easter Sunday morning when I think about all that took place is wow. Now, when I begin to get really deep on this, because this is what preachers do is we get a thought and then we try to find a Bible to support it.

And we shouldn't do that, right? We should get the Bible and then get stuff from there. But, you know, I had this word, wow, and I'm like, all right, is it in the Bible? Well, no, it's not really there. So then I began to think, well, is this just an English word only?

So as I begin to do some research, I realize that practically every language has some form of wow that is there. And the intention or the definition is always the same. It's being overwhelmed. It's it's something that is almost you don't have anything else that you can say. So you just say, "Wow."

And regardless of the language, it is just there. I feel like there's something that goes down to the core of who we are that we all crave and desire and long to have wow moments in our life. Anybody else besides me like having wow moments? You like just when you see something like, "Whoa, wow.

Look at that." Like, "Wow, that's that's is incredible. That's it's a part of our life. It's universal. Wow." So, I want to walk you through a couple of moments in scripture and try to set this up today the way I feel like God laid it on my heart. I'm going to start at the beginning.

We're going to start at Genesis 1 and then we'll go our work our way down through Revelations. Somebody like, I just checked out. Somebody got wow. Somebody like, wow. Thank you for whoever that was. I'll catch you afterwards and get you a mint. Genesis 1 and one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were really were the first day. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty wow moment right there. There was nothing. And then God speaks and there's something. Now that's awesome. Now the only thing I can do when I speak is I can make my phone answer when I say the name that I'm supposed to say.

If I say it right now, she'll pop up here and destroy my iPad. But you know, that name starts with an S. That's about all my voice is able to do. You know, I wish I could say, "Let there be light." And unless somebody's on the lightboard back there to controlling it, nothing really happens.

We don't have the ability to speak. But God does it. This was a wow moment. This is one of those moments in history that happens. There's so many to choose from. But just to paint a little picture for us today as I set up this message, I think about things that happened in history that I was drawn to.

Like I read a book a couple years ago about the art of flight, the story of the Wright brothers. I don't know about you, but we live in modern time and I don't know if you've ever taken the moment as you've flown on an airplane to think about really all that's going on.

Maybe you shouldn't because it would weird you out, but for those of us who have traveled in an airplane, it's pretty incredible, especially when you understand the story and all the people who died trying to make that possible. And then we get a little frustrated sometimes because, you know, our headphone jack doesn't work right.

How about the fact that you're in a recliner in the sky safely going somewhere? Yeah. So, there's there's wow moments to me. The first flight there at Kittyhawk was a was a wow moment. What about Neil Armstrong walking on the moon? I don't know about you, but that's a pretty cool moment.

That That's a big one right there. I think that one deserves a wow for sure. But what about your own personal life story? What about moments in your life? You know, it never ceases to amaze me the miracle of birth. In fact, I heard it said one time that birth is the most common of all miracles.

I remember when our three daughters were born. Each one of those are just wow moments. All of a sudden, there's a new life that is there. And that's a moment that sticks out to many of us. What about for me? For a young boy, I remember turning 16 and I remember getting a driver's license.

That was a wow moment when I'm when I was away and I'm like, "Hey, I'm by myself." Thinking I knew it all. My dad had just gotten a brand new pickup truck and he wouldn't let me drive it for about three months. And finally, I convinced him, Brother Parker, finally I was like, "Dad, please let me drive your truck."

So, I did. I was about three miles and I ran it into a ditch. I remember able to get out of said ditch. I remember going to the car wash and washing car off or truck off and taking it right back and put it back in the driveway. And my dad said, "You're back so soon."

I said, "I am." He said, "I thought you want to drive my truck." I'm like, "I did. It's okay. I want to get back in mine." Yeah. Wow. moments. Yeah, our life is full of wow moments. So, talking about wow, every one of our lives has wow moments though. Our world is built with wow moments.

Be birth and death are wow moments. But I want to talk about this wow moment that happens around Easter. I want to talk about a few truths today about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the first one, I'm going to go a little bit slow if that's okay on purpose because I know that I have some folks here today that may be just a little bit skeptical about the whole thing.

And my first truth that I want to bring to you is simply this. The resurrection really did happen. It really did happen. It's important because in our day often there are some ideas that tend to float around Christianity and tend to float around Easter and the resurrection. And one of them goes like this that that Jesus was someone who did exist.

He was probably a good man, probably a great teacher, probably was very inspirational and even motivational when he was around, but he was just a man. And it was stuff that happened that was just a natural level. But over time, the stories get embellished. It's kind of like it gets viewed through the lens of someone who who goes and fishing or plays golf.

And you know, the more you talk about the fish you caught or more you talk about that chip shot you had on the green, the better it gets. We tend to get a little evangelistic with that. You know, it started off with it was about this big. And you know, you let me tell it 10 times and she's like this, you know, or I was I was I was I was 20 yards out.

I was 80 yards out. It bounced twice. world right into the cup. It was it was a thing of beauty. Is that just me? I know I'm the center up here. You guys are all great. None of y'all ever embellish anything. Yeah. They a lot of times the story of the life of Jesus Christ in our culture today in our post-Christian world we live in is often times viewed through as well as something that's kind of like a mythical story.

It's it's something he had some followers, but over time the followers have embellished the story. There's there's there's not really as much truth that is there as what they say. But I want to explain for just a few minutes that for the New Testament writers, the resurrection was actually something that happened in their life.

They wrote it as an absolute truth. There's an Oxford scholar named Richard Bockam. He's a brilliant writer. He wrote a book Jesus and the Eyewitness talking about the gospels of the eyes witness testimony. And he talks about how our history that we have, you know, of world history was written on eyewitness accounts.

That's what we have. And so many of us will take bits and pieces we have about figures in history and we have no problem believing that. But we have more evidence for the life of Jesus Christ than any other human being who's ever lived. We have more evidence to support the scriptures than any other piece of documentation out there.

We have we have more evidence to support it but yet it gets scrutinized the most. What I find very different is especially if you consider this between either fork forklore or myth is that serious history depends upon eyewitness account. So we see this take place in the gospels. Luke chapter 1 verse number one.

It reads this way. In so much as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us. Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us. It seems good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things which you have which you were instructed.

Whatever you think about this writing, it is not intended to be symbolic. In fact, as you study out and you read and you discover for yourself that in ancient histories, they were meant to be taken seriously. And the reason they were meant to be taken seriously is because they were written down and they were given in firthand accounts.

There was stuff that just stuck out. There was better maybe the better way to say this is have you ever read a book that had footnotes in it. You know, scholarly works that are there, people that work on the thesis, they're always supposed to supposed to put footnotes in there. What are the footnotes for?

And there they're sightings to support the idea that they have or the quotes that are there for this. And many of you know this that are there. Now, here's the deal. If you read if you read the hungry caterpillar, it doesn't have footnotes in it. If you read Dr. Seuss, it doesn't have footnotes in it.

But things of value, things of worth, things that are saying, hey, this is credible that you can count on it. There's footnotes. So the eyewitness accounts in ancient history are the footnotes that are there. They were put in their details were given in scripture for the purpose and understanding of this isn't just my take.

This is so important. I'm going to write down names of the individuals who also witnessed and seen these very same things as me so that you have the ability if you choose to if you don't believe me then go ask them what happened, what took place. So these these are footnotes that we read and it's important because there are many that are there.

We go to Mark 15 and 21. They then compelled a certain man, Simon and Serene, a father of Alexander Rufus. He was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. Now, I want you to know the Mark who's writing this notes that there was a man named Simon.

Now, Simon is a very common name in ancient Israel. So, because of that, he decides to distinguish him. He declares where he's from. And to even clarify that even further, he says that he's the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now, why is he doing this? Why is he doing this? He's wanting you to know exactly who it is you can go talk to, who the person was.

This wasn't somebody who was just made up, but this is somebody who actually lived. Gives you the detailed account. It's a footnote. It's precisely this way because it had become a part of the community that was there. It's important. Mark is saying, "Hey, I'm writing this." In fact, most all of us believe that Mark is the first gospel account that was written.

And as he's writing it, he's saying, "Hey, if you don't believe me, then you can go check out his sons and ask them. Go ask the man. I'll tell you where he lives." Because this is a true fact in the story of Jesus Christ. In each of these cases, if you go through the Gospels there, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all give accounts of Jesus's life.

In each one of these, there's names given, there's eyewitnesses, there's there's footnotes that back up all the story. So, why am I telling this? Why am I taking Easter Sunday morning to give you a history lesson? Because we're living in a world today where they doubt the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm here to tell you it was a real event.

It was there. Not only that, but I'll give you a little bit more that that gives you some more insight as to the importance of why they did what they did. Luke's writing about the resurrection. He says in Luke 24 verse number 10, "It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

And their words seemed to them like idol tales." and they did not believe that now it's surprising just just back then that someone had trouble believing a woman. That never happens in our day, right? It was meant to be funny. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes we still struggle, right? It's a shame, but it it's still there.

It wasn't until some men saw the that Jesus actually was there, they learned to take it seriously. Now, my point for this, okay? If you've studied ancient history at all, and if you were going to make up a narrative and try to make it believable, and you were going to put down credible eyewitnesses, guess who you would not have written down?

Any women because they couldn't even stand in a court and testify. No one's going to believe a woman. I say that respectfully and with all I love, and I love my wife. She's right here. I always believe her. Almost always. It's in my best interest when I do. Yeah. So, if you're making the story up, right, if you if you're collaborating, hey, let's make the story up.

No one's going to say, "Hey, you know what we should do? We should put some women down." So, you may say, "Well, Pastor Kevin, then why are they listed?" Because they were the eyewitness. Yeah. That's why they're witness. That's why they're listed is because they were the ones that actually seen it. If I was going to make this story up, I would not put women's names down.

I would have put men down. I would have made the story up that way because this way it doesn't seem believable but it actually validates and creds credit to the story that was there. So that's what I want you to know. Number one, the resurrection actually took place. Number two, I want you to know the resurrection changed everything.

The entirety of our history hinges on this story. And but his birth is marked in time when one period ended and one period began. Who else has the ability to claim that? Nobody here. Nobody else that we know of. We all have wow moments in our lives, but they don't change the whole of man like this one did.

I remember in my own life, it was what I think it was what four years ago we went to BA, Canada, three or four years ago. I remember we got up there and if you've never been up there that part of the Rockies and seen it, it is just wow. It really is.

Like I thought I had seen natural beauty until I went there. And it was just I remember we were standing there on that rock pile overlooking Marine Lake and we called it the seven peaks. And guys, you can you can question my manhood if you need to. But I got emotional because of how beautiful.

I thought, man, if I've ever seen the beauty of God in nature, I have seen it right now. It was it was more than my And I know my brain's small, but it was more. It was like my processor was spinning on high trying to trying to process all this and just there was there was a moment of just wow.

Do you remember moments like that in your life? Wow moments. Do you remember how many you remember getting your first paycheck? Do you remember that wow moment when you looked at the IRS and you're like who's SSI and why are they taking so much? Who is who is who is this? Who is taking so much of my paycheck?

Wow. I worked this hard and that's all I got. Yeah. So, we So, life's just making sure y'all still with me. We got some wow moments that are out there. We all have wow moments. They come and they go and the world keeps going on and our problems keep going on. Life and death keep going on.

But once there was a man named Jesus and he came and he taught and he acted and he did things that nobody else had ever done. He talked about God being real and the kingdom being close. At that time, it seemed so far away. It seemed so farfetched. There were so many regulations and so many rules and so many traditions.

It was it was all but impossible to have a relationship. But that he didn't talk about it that way. He spoke in a way that seemed to bring walls down and he seemed to be all inclusive. He seemed to bring everybody in. He talked about God's being infinitely good. He talked about the Messiah had come.

There was this amazing momentum and Jesus died and the momentum seemed to die with him. And do you understand that on Saturday there was nothing left of that moment movement. But on Sunday, the grave is empty. On Sunday, the tomb is empty. On Sunday, the momentum has changed. It has shifted. Things were different.

We're told in one of the gospel accounts in Matthew 28, "So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met him there, saying, rejoice." So they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.

I don't know about you, but there's just moments in scripture when my vivid imagination plays things out that they run into Jesus and he's like, "Tada." That would be Kevin's translation. They put rejoice there, but I can just see him like, "Guess who's back. You thought it was over. It's not. I'm here.

Rejoice." Don't be sad. Don't be upset. Don't be frustrated. I know you think it's over, but hey, look who's here. Look who's here. Rejoice. Be happy. What you thought was gone isn't gone. I told you the whole time, I'm coming back. I'm coming back. They'll tear it down. I'll bring you back. I'll be with you.

I won't leave you. That's why we celebrate today on Resurrection Sunday was a God who didn't stay dead. He came back. He kept his word. He gave a promise. He kept his promise. He fulfilled his promise. That's what we celebrate on Easter Sunday. The resurrection changed everything. We don't have to live in fear anymore.

We don't have to live in defeat. Things come, things go. Life doesn't work out the way we want it to at times, but that doesn't mean I'm defeated. I have a hope to hang on to. I have something to live for that's bigger than just me. Oh, when I live for me, I get disappointed.

I get frustrated. But when I get outside myself and understand there's a God who's already made a way for me. He's already given me the ability to have life beyond this one. And even if I spend the entirety of my life in misery here, there's a hope for a better day that's coming.

One day he's going to come back again. He's going He already did it once. He's going to do it again. And I don't know about you, but I want to be encouraged in that. Not discouraged. Things happen in my life. My body breaks down. My bank account breaks down. My relationships break down.

But guess what? Doesn't break down. My relationship with God doesn't break down. He's there. He's there. He's a faithful and a true

God. The resurrection is deeply personal. Whatever you got going on in your life, we all face this wonder of being born and then know that our life's going to come to an end one day. I was reading I was reading a book, a great book, not not a spiritual book, but it's it's a life book.

You ever read a life book? Just got good life principles. It's called Tuesdays with Mory. Anybody ever read it? Yeah. It's a good book. It's a good read. Really makes you think. In the book, Mory's dying. I'm not giving anything away. Most of you not going to read anyway. Mory's dying. And he makes this statement.

Sister Kennedy. It was so profound. He said, "Until you learn how to die, you're never going to learn how to live." I think that that principle really does apply. I think we got a Bible that talks about that until I've settled the fact, you know what? I'm I'm going to die and he could come back and I'm waiting on him to come back, but if he doesn't come back, I'm going to die.

So, I should just settle that. Too many of us, we want to live in denial, right? Like, I'm not going to die. I'm going live forever. I'm going to tell you what you're going to, right? You probably have noticed that you've changed a little bit. Anybody who's north of 20, anybody north of 20, raise your hand.

You've already noticed that things look different in the mirror. How about those north of 30? Raise your hand. Yeah. You know what? North of 40. Yeah. I can't speak about north of 50. I got a few months left. All right. Give me a minute. But things change. That's a reality. It's a truth.

So, I'm going ask you this question. You've already had your beginning, but where are you at on your ending? And the reason I bring that up is because the resurrection is deeply personal because it helps you work on the ending. It helps you It helps you helps you work on the ending to the point that you have confidence that you know what, death's not the end of me.

See, our world, our culture just says, you know, live your life, do what you want. Meaning, you only got a few years here and then you die. Life's short, live happy. But that's not the gospel message. That's not what the resurrection's about. The resurrection is there's something more, brother Moore. There's something more than just this life to live for.

And if I get caught up in the distractions of what doesn't work out for me here, it has a way of impacting my ending. So, the resurrection is a very personal thing. The most amazing moment in your life will be the moment after you die. We don't talk about that much, right? Because we don't like talking about death.

We get a little nervous. We don't know exactly what's going to happen. It's a good thing in my opinion, especially at Easter to talk about it because one day we're all going to be there. There's an old story about a young boy who comes running into his mom. He been in his bedroom cuz run his mom.

He said, "Mom, mom, mom." She said, ' Do I remember the preacher said the other day that that that we all come from dust and we're all going to return to dust? She said, 'Yeah, son. That's that's what he said. Why are you asking? He said, 'Well, I just looked under my bed and somebody's either coming or going.

I'm not sure. So, here's the reality. I'm going to give you a truth. That's a true statement. In life, someone's always coming and someone's always going. It's a statement. It's true. So, I'm g ask you since we know when we started, right? You know your birthday. I hope you know your birthday.

Most of us know our birthday. We don't know our end date. And all we have is the moment I'm in now. I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. I'm not more more than likely I'm going to be here tomorrow. But there's not a guarantee. Life happens fast. Chassity and I were riding our motorcycle yesterday and we came upon a motorcycle accident.

It was it was it was an ugly one. You don't know. You don't know. So, what what are you saying, Pastor Kevin? The resurrection's personal. It's meant for you to buy into it. The hope that he gives that there's more than life than just where I'm at. That I can settle some things.

I can work on some things. I can have a relationship with him. He came to set things back right from the brokenness of our world. I know there's questions like, well, if he's truly a loving God, then why is there all the hate and why is there all the why is there all the suffering that goes on in our world?

I can and the answers is real easy. Humanity. Humanity. You want to point a finger just be better than some, but there's some better than me. Sin entered the world and broke humanity. It was there. decisions were made. But he didn't leave us alone. There was a plan. There was a plan. There was a plan in place.

He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. See, there was a plan. He didn't leave us on our own. Now, we can choose to go on our own. We can choose to make our own decisions. We can choose to go it our own way. But I'm going to be honest with you.

I'm I'm a decently smart guy. I'm really good-looking. I'm decently smart. But even at my best, I'll fall woefully short and be able to do this thing right. But he I love that he said, "I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll come down there and I'll do life with you."

I love that our God didn't just stay up in heaven and say, "You know what? You guys have made a mess of it. I put you in the Garden of Eden. You had everything you wanted. I put one thing that you were not supposed to get and that's the one thing you guys focused on."

Isn't that like us? Don't touch it. Well, I want to touch it. Right. Isn't that how we are? Don't get near that. But I wanted now. I wouldn't even have thought about that until you told me I couldn't touch it. Like likelihood, I probably never would have touched it. But now that you say I can't touch it, I want to touch it.

Mankind fell into sin. But he didn't leave us by oursel. He made a way. And then when the fullness of time came, he left the splendor of heaven, robed himself in flesh. came to earth to walk among us to experience what you and I experience. Rejection, hatred, pain, frustrations, failures, all those things.

He did all that. Yet, he did it without sin. So that he could die to take our place. So that you and I could have hope that this life isn't all there is for me. That there is an eternity that I get to spend if I if I make my decision to take the resurrection personal, to apply it in my life.

The moment's going to come in your life when you're going to draw draw to the end and it's going to be over and something amazing is going to happen at the end of your life. Either you will see God, you'll see him face to face. Imagine that moment. I think of all the moments, that one's the wow moment right there.

That one's it. You get to see him. You get to be there. Hallelujah. Yeah. What What a wow moment that is. God doesn't want anybody to go without seeing him. So, he says, "You know what? I'm going to give you my grace and I'm going to give you my love and I'm going to give you my forgiveness and I know you've messed up, but he does.

Look, you don't have to qualify yourself. I'll go to the cross. I'll go to Calvary. I'll die. I'll take your place. I'll cover all those things. I'll take care of what you couldn't handle on your own." And then that moment after you die, not only you be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, but here I want to leave this thought with you.

Not only will you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but if you've embraced it, if you've taken it to heart, if you've applied it to your life, you will also be celebrating the resurrection of you. See, there's so much more at play than just coming here on Easter and talking about an empty tomb.

Yes, we celebrate. Victory was purchased for us. We didn't have to do it. He did it on his own. He did it for us. He took all of the punishment of sin. All that his own. But if I will make it personal, if I'll take it in, if I'll apply it, if I if I'll push past my doubts and push past my fears and push past all of my excuses for why I don't do this, why don't if I will just say, "Hey, you know what?

Maybe I could get my life into a better position. Maybe I should embrace this. Maybe I should follow after him. Maybe I should start making some changes. Maybe I should dive into the word of God and just see what it has to say for me." Because maybe life is more than just earning and making money and having some wow moments.

Because there's a final wow moment for you. And how personal you make the resurrection makes all the difference whether or not you get to experience that wow moment. Because when you do experience it, it's not just about his resurrection, but it's about yours, too. So, here's how I end today. Here's why we're celebrating this Easter Sunday.

It is about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. that what he did at Calvary gives you the opportunity to have your sins forgiven, your wrongs. Here's the reality. We all know this. We all know that we've not been good, don't you? You know that, right? Now, when I say that, I mean, not compared to the person beside you, in front of you, because there's some really good people in here.

If I had to compare myself amongst some of the people in this room, I'd be like, "Whoa, I'm not that good. But it's not about qualifying anybody else. It's just about me and it's just about you and where you are in this moment. I'm really digging for just a second here. And I really am going to I'm going to I'm going to close this out and I feel like God has something special for us at the altar.

But where are you right now? It's day just a day where we all get dressed up and look nice and you know cuz we're in the south and we get new dresses. I do actually have a new suit on today. First time in a long time. It doesn't fit. It's a new one.

It's shrunk at the cleaners. Watch that button. It'll come flying off there. Is that what today's about? Is that what is today just about new outfits and pretty backdrops? And I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good Reesei peanut butter egg, but is that all it about? Is that No.

What is the significance of the day? That we have hope. Promises given, promises fulfilled, promises kept, that there's an empty tomb. See, the Christianity is different from all the other religions because it wasn't a progressive buildup. It just happened. It just happened because he said it in order. Prophecies were fulfilled. The Messiah did come.

He died, took our place. He rose again. He ascended. And he gave a promise. I'll come back. I'm going to prepare a place that where I am, you may be there also. And in the same way I emptied the tomb, the same way I'm going to come back. But I'm not going to leave you by yourself.

I'm going to give you my spirit so that it can guide you and it can direct you. It's called the Holy Ghost. Thank you, Lord. And many of us in this room today stand as a witness that God has filled me with his spirit. That I'm not by myself because I know by myself I'm a I'm a mess.

I'm a wreck, y'all. I'm a wreck. But the Holy Ghost inside me, oh, it gives me hope and it directs my life and it helps me make right choices and right decisions. And then with his spirit inside of me, when I read his word, it comes alive and it speaks to me. those same stories that have been read over and over again.

Each time I read it, there's something new that jumps out and stands out to me and it meets me right where I am. Why? Because it's the living word of God and it's identifying with that living spirit that's inside of me that I have hope today. If I could sum it up outside of saying, "Wow," is I would say hope.

hope that you can have hope, that you can have purpose, that your life can have meaning, that you have a message, and that you have a destiny, and that love is triumphed over hate. That's what today's about. That's right. It's personal. It's supposed to be personal. Not just those things, but today means that creation itself is going to be redeemed and that suffering is going to be repealed and that every loss is going to be restored and that God himself will wipe away every tear from every sorrow and I and the sickness and sadness and grieving and mourning and weeping will be no more.

And in that moment when it comes, whether through my death or through rapture will be the wow moment of all wow moments that are there. And what I offer for you today is for you to be a part of that wow moment. So I don't know where you are. I don't know what you're going through.

Many of you are here today and you're you're just here because someone invited you to be here and you were not looking for anything. But I'm hoping that something in this message maybe struck a chord in your heart that maybe there's something more than just living the life. Maybe there's something beyond that.

Maybe maybe there really is purpose and meaning and destiny for you. And I want to say to you, yes, yes, yes. As I've said many times from this pulpit, your mom and dad may not have planned you, but to God, you were not an accident. You're not an accident. He has a purpose for your life.

He has a purpose and a destiny inside his kingdom just for you. So, as I bring this message to a close today, the great gift of Easter that we celebrate is wow is that he took my place. Wow. That he gives me hope. Wow. That I'm not by myself. Wow. And then one day he's coming back to take me to go be with him.

Wow. Wow. Will you bow your heads with me? God, I'm so thankful that the tomb is empty today. I'm so thankful that you are a God who keeps his word. I feel you in such a sweet way right now moving in this room. I pray God that that drawing power would bring each of us to a moment where we evaluate oursel where we can realize God where there's some things we could change and improve inside of us.

Thank you for the hope that that Easter brings. I pray God today that there would be some some that realize their opportunity that has been presented before them in this moment God that you are here to meet them in their needs. in Jesus name. This altar is open. I'd love to pray with you.

I don't know where everyone's at, but I would encourage you before we before we leave today to just make sure some things are right in your life that you would hang on to that hope that's been given to you. So, it's time for prayer. You can pray at your seat if you want to, but this altar is open for any who wants to come today to make sure that they don't miss that final wow moment in life.