Easter 2023

Tim Rivers | April 9, 2023

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Transcription

Come on. Make some crazy noise for the reason Savior, how? Come on now. Oh, come on now. Make some noise because Jesus has risen. Make some noise that he's not in a tomb. He's not in a grave. He got up. This is the only reason that we're here. All 51 weeks of the year are all because of this one event that Jesus got up and because he got up. You get to get up. I get to get up.

Amen. Woo.

All right. I feel like preaching. All right.

I feel like preaching. Welcome everybody. If you're a guest here, we want to say Welcome to Embassy City Church. We pray that you receive everything that you need from the Lord and more. If you're watching online, thank you so much for being with us. You could have watched a thousand different channels, but you decided to be with us, and so thank you so much for being with us. I believe that God's going to do something special in this service today. It's been a great weekend so far. Easter weekend is like the Super Bowl of church. If you're traditional though, you know it's resurrection weekend, man, it ain't Easter, it's resurrection, but I do feel like preaching. I just wonder if there's about two or three people are going to help me preach. I heard a couple people over here. Is there anybody in this section? How about over here in this section? I'm not going to preach long, but I do feel I preaching because this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. David said I was glad when they said it to me. Let us go into the house of the Lord.

Come on.

Okay, I hear you. Okay, grab your bibles. Let's go to Luke chapter 24, the book of Luke chapter 24. Some people think that resurrection day is like a sad day. It's not. That's right. It's celebration day. That's right. It's party day.

Because he didn't stay dead.

Right.

Luke chapter 24, by the way, y'all look good. You got that Easter outfit on. I even had to bust out the suit, man. I had to get the suit out. Remember when we used to be in suits every Sunday, 37 buttons, pants, looser, look like a dress, pointy shoes, they flipped up. You know what I'm saying? Some of y'all hadn't been saved long enough, you know what I mean? Someone's been there, done that, had to go to the back of the closet and get something. All right, Luke chapter 24, verse number one. But on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taken the spices they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. By the way, this is your scriptural reference for being bedazzled. You have a bedazzled outfit on. Just tell 'em you got Bible for it. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek the living among the dead?

Well, he was supposed to be dead.

He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise and they remembered his words and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 to all the rest. Now, it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seem to them as idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter Rose and ran to the two stooping and looking in. He saw the linen close by themselves, and he went from home marveling at what had happened. I want to take my title from this last verse in verse number 12. This is after Peter runs to the tomb, he stoops in. He's looking expecting to find the body of Jesus, but instead, he only sees Graves clothes and nobody body, and when he saw it, he went away scratching his head, marveling, perplexed at what had happened. So for the next few minutes, my title for today is, see, what had happened was,

Ha, have you ever had such an experience in your life that when you went to tell somebody you knew they weren't going to believe you? So you have to preface it with, see, what had happened was I once was lost, but now I'm found. What had happened was I once used to be strung out on drugs, but I got to church and what the programs couldn't do for me, Jesus did for me. See, what had happened was my life has been rearranged. What had happened was Jesus wasn't planning on being in the tomb for long. So that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to be talking about what had happened. Amen? Amen. Dear Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice that you paid to purchase our salvation. I pray that in the next few moments as we dig into your word, that you would give us ears to hear, a heart to receive and a mind to understand. Help us to walk out of here differently than the way we walked in knowing Lord Jesus, that the resurrection gives us an opportunity to live a resurrected life. So we thank you for we give your name all the praise and glory in Jesus name, and everybody say amen. One more time. Give Jesus some praise

In this place. Oh, come on somebody. Come on, somebody. Give him praise according to how you feel about him. Come on, give him praise according to what he's done in your life. Give a praise according to how you feel about him.

Woo.

Oh my God.

All right. Let's talk about what had happened. There are a lot of words that we could use to describe the life and ministry of Jesus, and a lot of them would be true. We could use, for instance, a word like inspirational because when you consider the life of Jesus, even at an early age, you would have to conclude that he was an inspirational individual. Think about the fact that Jesus at the age of 12 was able to catch the attention of very astute men in the synagogue. You have to be inspirational to do that. When you read the be attitudes or you read how Jesus would tackle very heavy subjects by telling parables and allegorical stories, you would have to agree that Jesus was inspirational. Think about the fact that thousands of people would travel from miles away just to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear him teach. No doubt Jesus was inspirational, but we could also use the word revolutionary because not only was Jesus inspirational, but he was also revolutionary. Jesus was notorious for pushing against the status quo, upsetting the apple cart as if it were, he was known to push against what everyone thought was normal or what everyone thought was basic. Jesus was revolutionary. Think about the fact that Jesus said, if you want to be the greatest, you got to be the least.

If you want to be the first, you got to be the last. Jesus even said, if you want to gain your life, you have to first of all lose it. These are very revolutionary terms, and Jesus used these often. Another word that we could use for Jesus is impossible. Jesus did the impossible. Even when you think about the immaculate conception, the fact that Mary came to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Now we read the passage and it's normal to us, especially if you've been raised around the church. But imagine this has never happened before, and now this young woman who is a virgin is pregnant with a baby, and everybody in the neighborhood thinks that her and Joseph were doing some things.

Come on now.

So they all of a sudden think that she's shady, but every time they ask her, so is this Joseph's baby or is this Ephraim? She says, no, I'm with child by the Holy Spirit. Come on,

For real. It's impossible, right? When you think about the miracles of Jesus, think about it. Jesus healed the sick. He raised the dead. He caused blinded eyes to see He caused lame legs to leap again. He raised the dead. He caused the lepers to be cleansed. He healed the woman with the issue of blood. He was able to tell what people were thinking. You would think that this is impossible, and if Jesus was just a mere man, it would have been impossible because the Bible says that with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. This gives evidence to the fact that Jesus wasn't just a man, but Jesus was God and man say it. But I think the word that we could use that properly encapsulates and it bridges the life and ministry of Jesus, it would be the word love, because everywhere that Jesus went, he exemplified what it means to love.

He loved his disciples, so he called them. He loved the rich young ruler. So he told 'em the truth. He loved his mom, so he turned water into wine. He loved the multitude, so he fed them everywhere that Jesus went. Jesus demonstrated what it meant to love. But the greatest demonstration that Jesus displayed of love wasn't the miracle signs and wonders. It wasn't the great words that he taught. It wasn't the sermonettes, it wasn't the parables. It wasn't the allegorical stories. The greatest demonstration of love that Jesus displayed is the fact that Jesus was willing to give his life to purchase our salvation, right? Because he in the Bible says in John chapter 15, verse 13, that greater love have no man than this, that somebody would be willing to lay down their life for his friends. Jesus was willing to lay down his life for people he never met. That's right. Now, if you, I don't know how spiritual y'all are, I'll laid out my life for my wife or my kids or my family members, the ones that at least that are very close to me. But if we are at a restaurant somewhere and a gunman comes in and says their life for yours,

I'm going to tell em, sir, give me 60 seconds and let me pray the salvation of prayer. Lets just make sure that you going to get to heaven and we meet you on the other side. I know y'all are spiritual. Y'all would say, yeah, I'll take the bullet. I would have to think about it, sir, give me some time to think about it. But Jesus was willing to give his life for you and for me. Now, we're here to celebrate the resurrection, okay? And we're going to talk about the resurrection. But can I tell you, you cannot get to the resurrection without, first of all talking about the death. That's right. You can't get to the empty tomb without first talking about that. There had to be a body in the tomb, right? You can't talk about the resurrection without first of all talking about the crucifixion.

Come on. In fact, the resurrect, the word resurrect means to change of state from being dead to being alive. So we have to talk about the cross because the cross is the place where God's love and his holiness embrace. The cross is the greatest display of God's love toward us. For the Bible even says to God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We have to talk about the significance of the cross because it was not possible for bulls and ghosts to take away the sins of the world. It was not possible for any man to take away the sins of the world. It had to be Jesus Christ, Lord.

And so we have to talk about that fateful night when Jesus was betrayed with by one of his disciples who sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, and how the Roman guards showed up and they arrested Jesus in the garden and they drug him from one courthouse to the next. Getting passed back and forth between Pilate and Harry. And Jesus kept going back and forth six different trials to try to figure out if he was, they could not find anything that would make him guilty. And yet when Pilate said, is there anybody who would stand up in attest to what he is saying, nobody stood up. So Jesus was falsely accused. And Pilate, he rendered the execution to be done through crucifixion. So they took Jesus and they took him to the bottom, to the basement of Pilate's palace, and there they begin to beat him ferociously.

They begin to whip him with a cat of nine tails, and a cat of nine tails is a long whip that would have bone fragments and glass and rocks woven into the whips. So then when they would slash the prisoner, then when they pull back, it would rip off flesh. And Jesus had to take these stripes on his back and on his belly and on his thighs and on his and his arms so that Jesus was no longer recognizable by the suffering that he had to bear. In fact, the Bible says that they plucked the beard from his face. They stripped him of his clothes. The most shameful thing for men in that time was to be naked and exposed. And so they made Jesus walk around naked and exposed, but they didn't stop there. They also pressed the crown of thorns on his head, and they didn't stop there.

They placed the cross on his back and made him carry the cross up Golgatha's Hill until they get to the top of the hill when they stretched his body out on the cross, and they drove long spikes through his hands and through his feet. It was a painful experience that Jesus had to go through. And yet the Bible says as he was going through it, he could have called 10,000 legions of angels down to rescue him. But the scripture says that lack of lamb, he opened not his mouth. Lord Jesus went through all of that when they erected him, he stood there between heaven and earth, spread out his arms as it were symbolically, reaching all the way back to eternity, passed in the garden where sin first entered the world and reaching with the other hand all the way back to eternity, future.

And Jesus then took all the sins, passed, present and future, and he brought it on himself. And the scripture says that it was such a phenomenal display that the sky in the middle of the day turned black. And Jesus cried out, Eli, Eli, Lama, and I, which is to say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Right? This was the first moment when Jesus, the son of God, who had perfect communion and fellowship with the Father for the first time, felt what it was like to be separated from the Father. Yes. And he did it all because of you and me. Yes. And then Jesus with his last breath, he begins to pray and he says, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. What kind of mercy is that? What kind of grace is that? To look at the people who are crucifying you and say, father, don't even put this on their account.

Put it on me. Right? So Jesus sit there and he hung between heaven and earth, and with his last breath, he cried out, it is finished. And we stand here today and we have to ask the question, what was finished? Come on. Jesus didn't say that I'm finished. He said, it is finished. What was finished? The price that had to be paid. Jesus paid it, right? The sacrifice that had to be made, Jesus made the sacrifice. All the debt that the enemy had over the people, past, present, and future was taken care of. When Jesus cried, it is finished. This tells me that whatever you go through in life is already done. The Victory's already won. You may not realize it yet, but let me preach and tell you it is finished. Whatever is going wrong in your life, it is finished. In fact, Isaiah even preached about it and he prophesied about it.

He said he was whipped. He was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him. When Jesus died, he died from my peace. When Jesus died, he died from my hope. When Jesus died, he died from my vision. When Jesus died, he died from my future. When Jesus died, he died from my family. When Jesus died, he died to cover every sin that I would ever commit. When Jesus died, he took care of it all. One song says Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson state, but he washed me white as snow. Somebody thank God that he died for you.

And here's the thing about the crucifixion. If we just stopped at the crucifixion, we would say that that would be enough because how great of a display of love is it that somebody would lay down his life for you. But the fact is, if Jesus did not resurrect that, he would've just faded into the backdrop of history. Because if Jesus doesn't re didn't resurrect, we could apply the same words that we apply to Jesus to other people in the Bible. We could say that Solomon was inspirational because he was considered the wisest man on earth. We could say that David was revolutionary because he was able to win Israel 40 years of peace. We could say that Moses knew how to love because he was willing to give his life to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. We would have to say that Elijah did the impossible because he was able to lay down on a boy who was dead and resurrect him back from life.

But Jesus didn't stay dead. Come on. If it wasn't for the resurrection, we would say that Jesus was just an ordinary man, a great prophet, a great rabbi, someone who was a great mentor, someone who taught really well. But the resurrection was the culminating event that signified that Jesus truly was the Messiah because until Jesus was resurrected, every person who ever did anything great in the Bible had to die. Can we talk about Abraham? Abraham was the father to many nations, but he died, right? Isaac was the promised son, but he died. Jacob wrestled with God, but he died. Joseph had a dream, but he died, right? Sson killed a thousand Philistines with a job, one of a donkey, but he died. Elijah called down fire from heaven, but he died. She saved despise, but she died. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, but he died.

No, Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised Land, but he died. Ruth, she was able to influence the government, but she died. David killed the Goliath, but he died. Somon wrote all kinds of amazing verses, but he died. The amiah built the wall, but he died preaches. Daniel slept with lions, but he died the heat for three Hebrew boys went into a fiery furnace and survive, but eventually they died. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up in this trained fields, the temple, but Isaiah had to die. Everybody that ever lived that ever did anything great in the kingdom of God eventually had to die. And so when they looked at Jesus, Jesus hung on the cross, but eventually Jesus died and they treated the body of Jesus the same way that they did everybody else. They wrapped him in grave Graves clothes.

They put him into a tomb that they had to borrow because Jesus didn't even have the money to get his own tomb. They put him in the tomb, and all of a sudden when they put him in the tomb, they just forgot about him. And it was Friday, and they said, Jesus has died. It's the day before the Sabbath. So we got to get him in the tomb because you know on the Sabbath, we can't really work. And then on Saturday, everybody was doing their own thing. The disciples went back to doing what they had always done. They were disappointed because they really thought that Jesus was the Messiah. But now Jesus is dead. All the multitudes who ate from the fish and five loaves of bread who still had crumbs dripping off of their beard, went back to doing what they always did. We can talk about the sky turning back to blue.

We can talk about Satan and his M start. They had finally won the victory. We can talk about all the prophets that wrote about Jesus sitting there wondering What in the world happened? We thought that Jesus was the Messiah, but what they didn't know is that on Saturday while everybody on Earth were doing their thing, Jesus descended down and to the lower parts of Hell, and he walked up to Satan and said, Satan, you got some keys that belong to me. I want my keys back. I want my keys back. I got the keys, the keys, the keys, the keys.

You got the keys of death hell in the grave, and I want it back. And so Jesus snatched those keys back from Satan. And then on the third day, early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, made their way to the tomb expecting to find the Jesus that was dead and buried. They came with their pretty little spices. They were going to spice up the body of Jesus. But when they got to the tomb, they realized that the tomb and the stone had been rolled away, and they don't understand where were the guards at. And they were perplexed at this. And two angels appeared on them in dazzling clothes and said, why are you seeking the living among the dead?

I love this because it always makes me wonder, what in the world were the angels thinking? Don't they know that they were expecting to see the dead among the dead? Come on now, because Jesus was dead the last time they saw him, which was only a day before. And yet when they got to the tomb, Jesus had got up. And here's the thing. Here's the about what Jesus did. Jesus didn't do anything new, but he foretold it through the mouth of David that you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will I suffer thou holy one to seek corruption, but he is going to raise up from the death. And when he got up, he didn't just get up just like anybody else, that he got up with all power in his hand.

Oh Lord, I'm about to preach now because some of y'all think that Jesus got a little bit of power. He's got all power, all power over sickness, all power over disease, all power over failure, all power over sins, all power over addictions, all power over insecurities, all power over generational curses, all power over broken marriages, all power over. There's still children all power over sickness, hell and grace. Jesus got it all. Jesus said, there's not one thing that I don't have power over, but when Jesus got up, he didn't just get up for himself. When he looked at his disciples, he said, I have all power and now I'm going to give you that same kind of power. But I want to draw your attention to this one phrase in the Bible where Jesus says that on the third day, I will rise again. Now, I don't know about you, but for me, when I read things in the Bible, I get very curious, why did Jesus get up on the third day, right?

Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever asked the question, why didn't Jesus get up on the second day? Oh, why didn't he get up on the fourth day? Why didn't Jesus get up seven days later? Well, anytime you see something in the Bible, you have to apply. The theological term is called the law firsts, which means that you go back and look at where's the first mention of three days? Well, and naturally it takes you back to Genesis, right? So Jesus said 21 times in the Gospels, the three days was important. Now, the apostles and Jesus understood the power of three days they were Jews, and they understood that in the Hebrew numbering system, the number three represented wholeness and completeness. The number seven does as well. But the number three comes before seven, and seven represents that it is complete, it is done, it is finished. So they understood that there was a significance through the three day cycle. That goes all the way back to Genesis. And when we go back to Genesis and we look at God creating, we see that God created on the first day the lights, and then on the second day he creates the sky. But on the third day, the Bible says that God created the plants and the trees bearing fruit from the ground. So God on the third day creates for the very first time something that's living from something that was dead. Come on, man.

Amen. Alright.

God says, from the very beginning of creation, I'm setting a pattern that on the third day I will resurrect out of dead ground something that is living that has seed to bear more fruit. Come on, beautiful. Oh, y'all believe me. Okay, so let's follow this. So on the third day is the first day that God created something living from the ground. Then God creates the fourth and fifth day. And then on the second, third day, which happens to be the sixth day, God creates again creatures that crawl on the ground and Adam and Eve, and he says, Adam and Eve, I'm going to form you from the dust of the ground. So on the sixth day, which was the second, third day, God created again life out of something that was dead. Not only did he give life to something that was dead, but God said, I'm also going to provide you with seed so you can multiply.

Oh, y'all still ain't following me. All right, let me give you a little more word. So the next time I see the three days, I see it with Abraham. Abraham, God comes to him, says, Hey, I'm going to give you the promised son, Isaac. And so j Abraham has Isaac, and then God says, Hey, look, Abraham, I want him back. And so Abraham says, you want what you gave me back? And God says, yeah, I want you to give it back soon. Abraham says, where shall I offer a sacrifice? Where should I offer Isaac up as a sacrifice? And God says, don't you worry. You just go on a journey and I will tell you when the time is right. And the Bible says that Abraham is on his way to go sacrifice his son. And on the third day, come on, man, he finds the place where he's going to sacrifice Isaac, and he goes to sacrifice Isaac. But right when he is about to sacrifice Isaac, God says, hold on. I know that you are willing to sacrifice Isaac, but on the third day, I will provide you a ram in the thicket, which is going to be the atonement and take the place of your son. So two things that you already find on the third day. One, God gives you new life out of dead things. And two, God provides atonement.

It ain't hitting. I can hit me. So you know what I did? I said, I better go look at the scripture some more. So the next time I find the third day I see Moses, Moses has just led the children of Israel out of Egypt. They're on their way to the promised land. And God says to them, he says, you look, you've been in bondage for too long. You've been hung up with the Egyptians for too long. You have gotten into a habit of living a dead life as slaves. I'm bringing you out of deadness and I'm taking you to a promised land. And God says to Moses, I'm going to give you a new covenant to make you a new people. I'm going to give you new life, and this is what God says. I need you to start preparing. And God didn't show up on the first day.

He didn't show up on the second day. But the Bible says on the third day, God descended down upon the mountain of Sinai and he gave them a new covenant. What you start to realize is that on the third day, God provides for us new life atonement and he gives us a new covenant. So it was no surprise that when Jesus got up on the third day, he got up saying, I have come to bring you new life. I've come to bring you atonement, and I come to bring you a new covenant. No longer do you have to live in your grave, but you'll be set free on the third day. This is why Jesus said, when he prophesied about his resurrection, he said, it's going to be like Jonah who will spin the belly of the world. How many days? Three days and three nights.

But the belly of the well couldn't hold Jonah back at the end of the day. On the third day, God said, I need you to open your mouth and I need to spit you out so that you can declare to the people of Neah that there is new life, that there is atonement, and there's a new covenant that y'all want some more word. Y'all want some more word. That's why Jesus spoke through the prophet Jose up and said, I'm going to do something new in your life, not just the first day. On the second day, I'm going to bring your revival, but on the third day, I will revive that which was dead. I'm here to preach and tell somebody, today is your third day.

Oh yeah, I'm here to preach and tell somebody. I'm not just here to tell you a wonderful story about the resurrection. I'm not here just to preach you the sob story of the crucifixion. I'm here to tell you that whatever's dead in your life, when you get in contact with Jesus, Jesus will resurrect anything that has died in your life. Today is somebody's third day. It's not the second day. It's not the first day. It's not the fourth day. It's your third day. Somebody you can get up out of your grave and say, God have resurrected me. Somebody give Jesus the third day type of praise. Come on, somebody. Get Jesus a third day. Top of praise. The Bible says that if the spirit was dwelt in Christ, which raised up Christ from the dead, dwell in you also, it will quicken your mortal bodies. What I'm here to preach and tell somebody is Jesus didn't just come down across and was raised the third day because he had nothing to do. He got up so that you could get up. He gave his life so that you could have life. He got up out of grave, all power so that you can have power. I'm preaching right now to somebody.

It's resurrection Sunday. It's the third day. We don't serve a God who's dead, dried up, who can't talk. We serve a risen savior. Somebody give him praise in this place. My God, have mercy. I wish somebody really give him praise, a Sunday morning type of praise, a resurrection type of praise, arisen savior type of praise. I wish you'd give God praise. He resurrected your life. Some of us know what it was like to be in a grave, but God showed up.

Woo.

Some of us know what it was like to have a dead marriage, but God resurrected it. Some of us know to have a dead vision, but God resurrected it. Somebody knows what it was like to have a dead hope, but God resurrected it. Somebody give God praise in here. Not you really mean that.

Woo.

This Sunday, some of y'all, some of y'all are wondering if, why is he screaming? Because I once was dead,

Sleeping in a grave, but I met Jesus. And when Jesus showed up, he said, whatever I touch comes to life. That's why when he called Lazaruth, he had to say specifically Lazarus, because if Jesus would've just said, come out every grave that was ever dug That's right. Would've emptied out. But Jesus had to specifically say, Lazaruth, I just want you specifically to come out. But here's the cool thing about what Jesus did when he got up out of the grave, no longer did he just call Lara, he said, but unto who so will right. Let him come and drink from this living water.

Who? Lord.

So what am I here to do? I'm not here just to make you feel good. I'm here to preach and tell somebody. Today is resurrection day. Yeah. Today is your third

Day. Yes.

I don't know what has died in your life, what's in a tomb in your life. But Jesus is here to resurrect it. It's good to bring it out of the crave. Some of you, your vision is in a tomb. Your hope is in a tomb. The stone has rolled there, and you've gone back to put some spices and nurse the grave of dreams that never happened. You, you've, you've brought spices to nurse the vision that never came through. Yeah. You came to put spices on the marriage that never healed.

Wow.

The ministry that never flourished. Wow. And for many of us we're still living in the second day, but the significance of the resurrection is that it wasn't just for Jesus. Cause when they came and they saw Jesus, the disciples said, okay, what do we do now? Can't you just stay with us? And Jesus, as long as I'm with you, I can be limited. But when I leave, I'm sending forth the comforter, the Holy Spirit. Yes. So the Spirit, when it comes into you, everything that was dead, it's the third day, new life, new hope, new covenant, resurrection. Anybody need resurrection in your life today, all across this house. If you would stand near your feet, I would be remiss if I didn't reach out to somebody who may be in this place. And you are spiritually in a grave. You've been around the church, but you don't know what your relationship with Jesus is like. You are uncertain what would happen in your life if Jesus would come today. Can I tell you the whole reason that we preach 52 weeks out of the year is because Jesus got up. Yeah. If Jesus would've stayed in the grave, the story would have been no different than anybody else. But the fact that he got up, you get to get up. Yes. The fact that he gave his life means that you can have life. The fact that he suffered means that you can be healed

Because it's somebody's third day. So with all heads, bow, eyes closed. I want to pray this prayer for those of you that are in this place that would say, I don't know what my relationship with Jesus is like right now. I've been around the church. Maybe this is your first time. I want to pray with you. Say this with me and say, dear Jesus, acknowledge my need for you. Believe that you came, you died. You rose again on the third day, and you did it all for me. So now, Jesus, come into my life. Be the Lord of my life. Take over, resurrect me. Help me to walk in the newness of life. I thank you, Jesus for hearing my prayer, and it's in your name that I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Somebody give Jesus some praise for all those that prayed it for the first time.

Now, this is what I want you to do. If you prayed this prayer for the very first time, we're about to go into a time of worship. But before we do that, I have to stop and tell you this, that if you prayed that very, very first time, your next step is water baptism. Cause here's what the scripture said. We are buried, therefore, with him in baptism, so that justice Christ was raised from the dead. We also may raise to walk in the newness of life. Baptism is the sign that you have been buried with him. So if you've never been baptized, I need you to sign up to get baptized next month because God is going to give you new life. That's right. Now, here's what the rest of us need to do. We need to make up our mind right now that I will never walk like a zombie again. I got to unbutton my jacket. I'm sorry. I'm preaching to somebody right now and tell you, this is the moment where you decide I will no longer be a spiritual zombie. I will no longer live a dead life. I will never walk out of here just doing life the same old way. The reason why you're here, God is trying to talk to you and tell you that today is your third day. So every morning you wake up. Remember what Jesus did on calorie, but most of all, remember that he got up from the grave. Anybody thankful that Jesus got up?

Come on, somebody. Give him a resurrection type of praise right now. Come on, come on, come on, come on.