You know, I talk to the elders quite a bit, and sometimes in our staff meeting, and love Christmas, love Easter, I mean, this is what it's all about, Resurrection Sunday is what it's all about, but there's sometimes when you just like this, all this sometimes pressure, when you, you know, it's Christmas time, it's Resurrection Sunday, and, you know, everyone knows the story, so what are you going to preach on?

You know, how are we going to, how are we going to, how are we going to give this message that you've heard a million times, or what, but, you know, the reality is, it doesn't get old, it doesn't get old, and, and one of the things that I'm going to share with you this morning is out of one of the, it's kind of a little bit of a different, different taste, but it's out of one of, one of my favorite stories in Scripture, and if you have your Bibles, turn to John chapter 11, that's where we're going to, that's where we're going to be today, and today's sermon is entitled, From Life, From Death to Life, From Death to Life, and so,

last, last week we dealt with the triumphal entry, and when Jesus Christ, He comes in to the city, and we, and when I encouraged you to, whenever you read a narrative in the Scripture, read a few, few chapters prior to, and a few chapters after, because if you just look at one simple narrative, you kind of miss the whole thing, because you read the triumphal entry, those, those verses that we read last week, as Jesus comes in, you would think that everything ended great, because everyone's, everyone's having a celebration,

Hosanna, they're declaring Him, they're, they're putting the, putting the, the, the banner in the ground, that He is the King, He is the King, He is the King, He is our ever-present King, and they're making that declaration, but we know the rest of the story, that it didn't end all that well.

One of the things we didn't touch on last week, that, in our message, that day, that day, it's Passover time, it's the triumphal entry, and it's at that point in time, as Jesus comes in, that's actually during the Passover time, when the Jews were to select their lamb for the slaughter as well too.

So how ironic is it, that Jerusalem welcomes their lamb, on that day, not even fully knowing what they're doing, but they are selecting their lamb, as they lay their garments down, as they take their coats off, and we talked about the meaning of that, they're taking what's most valuable to them, and laying it on the ground, and allowing the King of Glory to walk on it.

And the challenge we gave you last week was to, what is it in your life that we tend to hang on to, and we're not laying down before the Lord?

And we continue, the very best that we have to lay down before the Lord.

And the other interesting thing, and you're getting all this for free, because this has nothing to do with the sermon today, so how about that?

The other interesting thing about this is, as the Jews were to, I was talking with Matt earlier this morning,

As the Jews were to select their lamb for the sacrifice, for the Passover sacrifice, what they would do is, they would bring that lamb into their household for several days, so that the family would become attached to it.

It wouldn't just be another animal that we sacrifice, another animal that we did, we went through this whole thing.

The premise was, you would become attached to it, your family would become attached to it, and now we're going to sacrifice this.

So, Jesus comes in to Jerusalem, and the triumphal entry is the only time that Jesus planned and orchestrated this celebration.

He never wanted a demonstration, but this was important.

And He says, I'm allowing this. I've planned this.

So today we go from death to life. Death to life.

And we talked a lot about a lot of different things within the Christian life last week.

We talked about, you know, some of the people were following Jesus around because of His miracles, and all that and the other.

And as we looked at that, one of the things, the Christian life doesn't stand or fall on miracles.

The Christian life doesn't stand or fall on a lot of these other things that we hold as so dear to the Christian life.

But it does stand or fall on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ did not come out of the grave, then we meet every Sunday, not just today, every Sunday for nothing.

Because that's where the power is.

That's where the power is. It is so important.

One of the things about the resurrection that we need to understand,

I'm not making light of the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead because He did,

but it's not only that He rose from the dead, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is personal.

It's personal.

It's personal because that resurrected living Savior is offered to every man, woman, and child in this world today.

Every man, woman, and child.

That resurrected Christ comes into our lives, not just to forgive us of our sins, past, present, and future,

but to give us the power that we need to live transformed lives.

That's the only way we get the power to live transformed lives.

Curtis, a better Curtis. He's made me new. I am new because of the resurrection power. That's what Resurrection Sunday is all about. It's not about the eggs. It's not about a past event. It's about the present reality of the living Savior who lives to forgive our lives and to change our lives here today. So we'll close in prayer today. There you go. That's everything. That's the Resurrection Sunday gospel there in a nutshell for you guys.

But we're not going to close. Let me ask you a question. As we get into John chapter 11 and we read about Lazarus. We'll tie all this in this morning. Do you ever feel dead?

Are there just, what I'm talking about, are there those areas of your life that are just weighing you down and you feel dead?

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. We're not talking physical death. I mean, there's a reality to physical death. The Bible is very clear on that.

It's on demand. Every person, 10 out of 10 in here will die at some point. You will die. That's just, that's a hard reality. I'm not trying to be weird or whatever, but we're not talking about just a physical death. We're talking about a spiritual death. A spiritual death.

You feel like that there's areas of your life in which you are imprisoned. You're imprisoned over these certain areas. I wish I could overcome this. I wish I could get this behind me.

This, this thing in my life, this thing that I'm dealing with, it's taking the life out of me. It's sucking the life out of me. You ever felt like that?

Okay. Okay. I'm the only one. Let me just tell you. I'm the only one. I'm going to hear from me today. Okay. You know, and you know, it's, it's taken me and maybe it was just some novel temptation and that's how it began. Just some little novel temptation.

But now it's at the point in my life where I feel, I feel dead. I've caved into this thing that seems so novel in the beginning, but now it owns me.

The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead is a portrait and a parallel of this reality of going from death to life. And truth be known, it represents all the drama of this life as well, too.

As we, as we, as we look at this passage, um, all of life sort of goes through this four phase drama, this four phase drama. And we, we find ourselves circling in and circling out of this four phase drama, all of our life, all of life goes through this.

And where there's a situation versus a situation. Okay. We have a situation and then there's a complication and hopefully there's a resolution that leads to a celebration. Okay.

So we, we find ourselves in that little drama circle, all of our lives circling in and out situation, complication, hopefully resolution and then celebration.

The problem is some of us are stuck in the complication. We're stuck in that complication and we can't get past it, uh, over and over again. Okay.

Sin makes life complex. Sin makes life hard. So as we go through this story about how Lazarus goes from death to life, it parallels our saga.

I want you to see that this morning for the story. First of all, is a story of sheer frustration, but it's a story of desperation.

Desperation. Desperation. John chapter 11. Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

So the sisters sent to him saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

Well, the first thing I need you to know this morning is that the sickness that they're talking about is not some garden variety cold.

He doesn't just have a tummy bug. Okay. Okay. This is a serious sickness. This is, this is, this is serious stuff.

It's extremely serious. It's something that if something doesn't happen, he's going to die. Okay.

It's very plain. That's the same. And so these guys are desperate. They're very desperate.

Mary and Martha and Lazarus, they're, they, they're all siblings. And it says that Jesus loved them.

Jesus has healed other people. So he's going to come and do it. He's going to come and heal them. And because of our relationship, this is no big deal. He's going to do it. We, we know the story and he doesn't do it just then. All right. They expected that Jesus would respond quickly to go and heal Lazarus. Some of us have expectations just like that in our own lives, that there are things that we are struggling with. There are things that we are battling with. We've heard all the great stories of what he's doing.

of how God has helped people overcome this and overcome that. And we begin to ask the question, why am I stuck here? Why am I still here? God's doing all this amazing stuff. What about me? What about me? And that sense of desperation comes over in your life. Anybody with me on that? Again, maybe it's just me. Okay. But this is a story of desperation. And so the tension mounts and the tension mounts because now it's a story also of delay.

There's a delay. Jesus delays. Look at verse four. But when Jesus heard this, he heard it, he said, this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God. So that the son of God may be glorified through it. Now, and if you read the rest of the story, you know what he's talking about, but, but they don't know what he's talking about. And I don't even think the disciples understood what he was talking about, but he says, no, no, he's going to be all right. This doesn't lead to death.

Ultimately, ultimately, ultimately. Okay. Verse five. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So if you love them and it's a sickness that it's not going to lead to death, why don't you hustle on over there and take care of it? Right? And it seems like a no brainer. You're going to hustle on over there and take care of this. No, no, no. He loved them. He loved Martha. He loved his sisters and loved Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

In, in sincere theology, we call that that ain't right. That ain't right. He's bad. Sick. Okay. I hear you. I hear you. I'm going to stay two more days.

No, you love them. The dude is sick and you stay two days longer. The point is his delay wasn't because of a lack of care and concern, but it wasn't the right time to demonstrate his glory.

It wasn't the right time. And as you read through this narrative, you'll see it's not the right time. And Jesus is saying, I know you want this. I know you're desperate about it, but it's really not the right time.

Listen, God doesn't always work when we demand him to work.

Did you know that? Even, even, you mean, even if I love Jesus with all my heart, he doesn't work when I know God is not required to work when you demand him to work, you know?

And part of it just may be when, and when you're going through these things, part of it, it may be, it may be because you are, you still have other options that you're playing with.

You say you're desperate, but you have all these other options that you're playing with. You're looking at on the table. Listen to me. There's a difference between being desperate and being absolutely, totally depleted. Anybody with me on that?

And by not going there, he's saying, you're not uncomfortable enough yet. You're not uncomfortable enough yet. Sometimes God stands back from us.

He stands back from us until we get to the point where we are sick of our sickness.

You think about that. Next time you think you're, you think you're desperate. You're just not showing up desperate yet.

You're not really sick of your sickness. You just want to get out of the jam you're in.

That's all you want. You just want to get out of the jam, the situation that you find yourself in.

And no, no, no, no, no. Jesus says, I know you want this, but I've got to get you to a place where I...

something that Lazarus, there's something that Mary, there's something that Martha, there's something that the Jews, there's something that the disciples needed to see. And if they, and they couldn't see it, if Jesus went there immediately. Listen, friends, listen. Sometimes our frustration is a gift. Sometimes our desperation is a gift. We don't see it that way. We don't see it that way. But sometimes

sometimes it is a gift. Well, they're asking, but he's not answering it because he's setting them up for what's going to happen next. They're desperate. Jesus delays. But now thirdly, guess what? Lazarus dies. He dies. You said you loved him. You said you loved him and you let him die. You could have healed him from where you were.

You've done it before. Remember the centurion? He comes along. He says, hey, my son, he's really bad sick. Will you please come to my house and will you heal him? Jesus says, I got a lot of stuff going on here, but I tell you what, because of your faith, go home. He's already made. He's already made well. Go home. He's healed. Jesus could have done that. He could have, but he chooses not to.

And this is interesting because the disciples get involved in all of this. Now, Jesus is having this conversation with his disciples. He's telling him that he's not letting the Jews kill him at this point because it's not yet his time. It's not yet his time.

We pick it up in verse 11.

After these, after these things, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go wake him.

The disciples said to him, Lord, if he's fallen asleep, he'll recover. He's just napping. Right.

Okay. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they, they thought he meant taking rest and sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly knuckleheads. Lazarus has died. And for your sake, I am glad I was not there.

What? Can you imagine the disciples? What's going on here? You imagine, you know, and they knew how much he loved this family.

They knew how much he loved Lazarus. And you're talking about that. You're glad you're glad that he's dead.

You're glad that, that, that you're not, that you weren't there. We're back to that theology again. That ain't right.

That ain't right. Mary and Martha have lost their brother and you're glad that they're suffering.

You're glad. What do you mean? You're glad he was glad because of what he was going to do.

He was glad because all of their options had now been taken off the table.

He was glad because they had no other temptations before them to have any other idols now before them.

He was delighted that they were actually placed in a corner and he was glad that they didn't trust their expectations of him.

They had to trust him. Do you hear what I said?

Some of you need to hear that this morning.

They didn't trust their expectations of him. They trusted him.

Some of us have far more faith in our expectations of Jesus than Jesus himself.

Big difference. Big difference.

They had expectations and they had typecast what they wanted Jesus to do.

They had predicted how he was going to work.

Listen, you know, so, so they had this process that they kind of patterned and strung along together.

Logically, you love him. Logically, you do miracles.

We've seen you do that. We understand that.

And so now he's sick. And so now I said, so you're going to go heal them.

And you don't. And now you say, now you say you're glad?

Absolutely. I'm glad.

I'm glad I wasn't there.

He was waiting for every drop of hope to be gone.

And some of us, we really think that we're crying out for the Lord and asking the Lord for him to intervene in our lives.

And we're really not.

We're coming to a place where it's Jesus plus.

Well, I have faith in Jesus, but I've also got the Supreme Court's going to help us out on this one.

I've got faith in Jesus, but, you know...

And they finally get there. And so, this is a story of disappointment. Mary and Martha, they don't come around and say it, but it's palpable that they feel like Jesus has let them down. You can kind of get that. Verse 17, he picks up, he says,

And when Jesus came, he found out that Lazarus has already been in the tomb four days.

Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

This is high drama. You need to understand what's going on.

They're in the house, and there are mourners coming in to try to console the family.

People with broken hearts. They're weeping. They're wailing because of the loss of Lazarus, their brother.

This is a bad situation. Some of you have been there. You've experienced that.

I've experienced that as a pastor. You go into a house. There's been great loss.

There are people everywhere. Tears are being shed. People are crying.

They're wailing. They're holding each other. They're crying.

This is a mess. This is what Jesus is walking into.

He's walking into this.

Verse 21,

Martha said to Jesus,

Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

I mean, you can hear the tension in her heart there.

You know, he wouldn't have died. Why didn't you come?

Why didn't you come? I thought you loved us.

I thought you loved us.

I can't tell you how many times, especially early on in my Christian life, I've said to the Lord, I thought you loved me.

So let's let me get so critical on these sisters here.

I thought you loved me.

Verse 23.

And Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Now, Martha knows a little bit of theology here.

And so she says in verse 24, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.

And then Jesus gives her the punchline, gives her the reason why I delayed.

Verse 25.

I am.

I am.

I am.

Verb to be.

I am.

Present tense.

I am.

A statement of identity.

I am.

I am.

The resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live.

Jesus says, stop the presses.

This is the reason why I'm here.

This is the reason why I allowed your brother to die.

This is the reason why I allowed all of hope to be taken off the table.

This is the reason that I didn't come and meet your expectations as to what I should do or what I was going to do.

Because you needed to know something at the right time.

And everyone in this place needed to know something at the right time.

That I am.

I am the resurrection and the life.

If we just sang, he's the great I am.

I am the resurrection and the life.

I am.

Yes, there will be a future resurrection.

But I am the resurrection and the life right now.

Right now.

You see, where Jesus is, his resurrection power is available now.

Someone needs to hear that this morning.

Listen, where Jesus is, his resurrection power is available right now.

Right now.

I don't care what you're going through.

I don't care what addiction you may have.

I don't care what you're struggling with.

I don't care what problems you have.

I don't care what's bugging you.

Wherever Jesus is, his power is available to break that, to restore you, to have you, to turn your whole life around.

I am the resurrection and the life now.

When you are sick, when you are sick, you want a doctor.

You don't want a medical book, do you?

If somebody is suing me, I'm going to get Foster to help me.

I'm going to get an attorney to help me.

I'm not going to go rent a law book.

I mean, think about this, guys.

You know, I mean, this may win.

So when you are facing death, if you're facing death, you don't need written documents.

That's right about the resurrection. But Jesus says, but Jesus says, I'm here right now. I'm here right now. And I just want to say to you this morning, some of you I know very well and others I don't. You're visiting. Maybe you're looking for hope. Maybe, maybe you're looking for help. Maybe you're looking for forgiveness. Maybe you're looking for change. I want you to know that Jesus is right here, right now.

Now, the scriptures, it says that when two or more gather in his name, something really cool happens. Guess what that is? He's in our midst. He's in our presence. He's in our presence. You don't have to go through the door and try to find Jesus later this week. He's here right now. He's here right now.

Jesus is who he says he is and was. And Jesus is and who you have really always been looking for. Those of us who have been walking with the Lord, don't you remember that moment when you just realized he was like, oh, he's what I've been looking for my whole life. I've been running.

He's been chasing me down the highways and the byways of life. And even those times when you may have made those decisions to surrender to the Lord and then you continue to just live your own life selfishly. God didn't give up on you. God continued to chase you, to pursue you. It's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. Repentance.

The kindness of the Lord. And maybe subliminally Jesus was saying, and maybe even kind of subtly Jesus is saying to Mary and to Martha, look, you have seen me as your friend.

You have seen me as someone who has done these amazing, great things. But I'm telling you today, you need to see me as your savior.

That's why I waited. That's why that's my message to you. And so the stage is set. It's really high drama. And, you know, you get the picture. Lazarus is dead. He's all the way dead. OK, he's very dead. OK, OK, it's not a flesh wound.

OK, he's dead. All right. And so now Jesus tells Martha to go get your sisters and everybody and come over here and everybody from the house leaves and they come to the tomb.

OK, they leave the village and Jesus is standing there at the tomb. But for all before all this set up, there's there's an interesting exchange in verse 33 where he says it says Jesus was deeply moved and his spirit was greatly troubled.

Now, I'll be honest with you. I've spoken on this text before in the past years. I've I have viewed this as that Jesus was was deeply moved and troubled because of the compassion that he had for Lazarus and his family.

And I do think there's an element of that there. But as I was praying the last few weeks about about going through this message with you this morning and as I did some poking around,

I found that the word that I found that the word that's translated moved in the Greek is a word that's also translated to be angry.

And I believe I happen to believe in context that might be a better way of translating or interpreting this passage that it wasn't so much that he was upset over the loss of Lazarus,

because let's face it, he knows he's going to raise him from the dead. He knows that I think Jesus is more upset because of the ravages of sin.

The ravages of sin. He was angry because death and destruction is the outcome of disobedience.

And when Adam disobeyed God, the shrapnel of pain and alienation and death and destruction, that's been our heritage from that day.

Somebody had to fill the gap. Somebody had to bridge the gap. Somebody had to stand in there.

And I believe Jesus was groaning and deeply moved inside. And when it says that Jesus wept, I believe he's weeping in contrast to the mourners who are mourning.

Okay, the mourners are weeping because the death to them of Lazarus was final.

Jesus was weeping because he was broken. His heart was broken over the devastation of sin.

And I really believe that Jesus...

I really believe that. You know, each one of us, he looks, Curtis, you don't have to do that.

You don't have to live like that, Curtis. You don't have to think that. You don't have to go there.

You don't have to do that. You don't have to have those attitudes.

You don't, you don't have to be addicted to that thing. I have come to deliver you. To deliver you.

I believe that's why he wept. But now we get to the tomb, and all the people are standing around,

and Jesus gives three commands. And we'll land the plane here this morning. We'll land the plane. Three commands.

Verse 38. Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb, and it was a cave.

And a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone.

Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.

King Jimmy says, he stinketh. He stinketh. It's hot. He is decaying. It's been four days.

No. Take the stone away. Take the stone away.

You know, I also believe in the minds of the Jewish people. They had to be thinking, you know, they, Jesus, you know what Leviticus says about touching the undead here.

And you're calling here, you're calling out to remove the stone. But they did, they forgot, okay, the one who cleanses is standing right there.

So he says, remove the stone. Remove the stone. And that's what Jesus says to all of us who are struggling with sin.

That sin causes, we feel terrible. We feel terrible in our lives, in those areas of disobedience in our lives.

His death, his burial, and his resurrection to us today says, remove the stone. Remove the stone.

The second command he gives in verse 43, he says, and when he came to these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

Lazarus, come out. First, he had to identify Lazarus, okay, because if he just said, come out, then every grave would have opened all over the world,

and every creature would have walked out, all the tombs would have been empty, because this is the Lord of creation.

So he's got to make that definition, Lazarus, come out, okay?

It is now time for the people to taste his glory. Come out. Come out.

And this is the same Jesus who stood up in the boat. Remember, the disciples are fearing for their lives.

This storm is going to overtake us and destroy us. And he stands up and says, peace, be still.

Peace, be still. And this is what Jesus utters to us, come out.

Come out. You don't have to live this way. Curtis, come out. You don't have to do... Tom, come out.

You don't have to live this way. You don't have to... Kevin, come out.

This is not what I... This is not what I have for you, what I have in mind for you.

I have... I have come. I have secured your freedom. I have paid the price.

Come out. Come out.

And then he gives the command. He says, unbind him and let him go.

He's still got his grave clothes on.

Jesus says, unbind him, let him be free.

And that's what Jesus does to all of us.

He speaks to us that we might be free.

Some of us have been walking with the Lord for so long, but we still have our grave clothes on.

We're still all dressed up for somewhere we have not been ordained to walk in.

The Lord has called us to...

We're in newness of life.

Guess what? If you're in newness of life, that's one thing I love about when my wife...

When my wife says, we're going to go shopping for you.

That usually means that I'm wearing the same old tired clothes.

She's so tired of seeing me wear the same old tired clothes and everything.

Because I'm fine. We're guys, man.

I wear it until it falls off, you know.

No, we're going shopping.

And in the newness of life, when I get home with those bags from Banana Republic or wherever we go,

and I'll get all those cool clothes, guess what happens to the old stuff in the closet?

It's thrown away. I don't get to keep it.

Maybe one shirt to work in the yard with or whatever, yeah.

But we get new clothes, new garments.

Reesiling His creation back to Himself. That's why Jesus came. That's why we have Resurrection Sunday. You are adorned as a new creature. You no longer walk in those grave clothes because guess what? You put them on. Let God adorn you. When Adam and Eve sinned, guess what they did? They put their own grave clothes on. They created their own fig leaves. God says, take it off. I will give you garments.

And we have the first sacrifice. And we have the first sacrifice that takes place. The shedding of the blood and the skins, the garments that were given to them.

Do you not see the shadowing, the pictures from Genesis to Revelation? The cry for Christ, the need for Christ, and the glory of Christ.

Get rid of Christ. Get rid of Christ. Get rid of that stuff.

I began to think, do you realize there are no recorded words of Lazarus in the Scripture?

I don't know about you, but if that was me, if God raised me, I'd be running my mouth like nobody's business.

I would have had the book of Lazarus.

Maybe there is one. Those are the unwritten books or whatever.

But there's no recorded words of Lazarus in the Scripture, okay?

But there is, there is a record of him coming from death to life.

And that miracle, praise Jesus, speaks volumes.

That speaks volumes.

And that's what Christ wants to do to each and every one of us in our lives, to bring us from death to life.

And you might be thinking, well, Curtis, I'm not really dead, you know.

Obviously, I'm, we're not talking about physical death.

We're not talking about the ability to think and feel and have emotions and enjoy life.

We're talking about that spiritual death.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross and he walked out of that tomb,

he rolled the stone away and said that I have made the path clear.

I have clearly shown you the path.

And when he said, Lazarus, come out, that is an invitation to all of us.

Lazarus, come out.

It speaks to our hearts.

Come to me, all you who are weary, burdened, heavy laden.

And I will give you happiness of rest, rest.

My peace, my peace I give to you.

My peace I leave with you.

Unbind him.

Let him go.

Why?

Because the power of sin has been broken.

The power of sin has been broken.

Once and for all.

Once and for all.

So, what are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

Lazarus could have said, no, I like it here.

I think I'll stay in the tomb.

We kind of chuckle at that, you know.

But we're really close to being that absurd at times.

When we have these situations and God has removed everything.

And he says, why won't you come?

Why won't you come?

I've cleared every path.

Why won't you come?

Why won't you come?

Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place for our sin.

And this morning, if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, you know, this is Resurrection Sunday.

I can't let it go without just letting you know that your guilt can be taken away in the blink of an eye.

Your forgiveness can be granted and can be experienced in the blink of an eye.

What?

Yeah.

That's how my God works.

That's how my God works.

All you need to do is to open up your heart.

Open up your heart.

Pray.

Pray to the Lord.

Maybe a prayer like this.

Lord Jesus, I need you.

I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin.

I turn from my sin.

That's repentance.

I turn.

And let me just say this as well.

This repentance.

This repentance.

You.

I turn from my sin

and I receive you

as my Lord and Savior.

You know, let's just,

let's just,

every eye,

let's just close our eyes here this morning.

We're going to wrap this up.

And I just want to just,

just encourage you that if this morning,

if that prayer expresses the desire of your heart,

let's just pray that together this morning.

Just right where you are,

just nice and quiet,

just to yourself.

You and the Lord.

Lord Jesus,

I need you.

I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin.

I turn from my sin.

And I receive you as my Lord and my Savior.

And friend,

if you prayed that prayer

and really meant it in your heart,

that means that Jesus Christ

is coming to your heart

and coming into your life

and you are His child.

You are His child.

You see,

we are all creation of God,

but not everybody is a child of God.

You are a child of God

when you trust

in the finished work

of Jesus Christ.

But you see,

all the work's already been done.

The work has already been done.

He already died.

He already rose again.

And He already paid the price.

And so He just says,

He says,

come,

believe,

and receive.

Amen?

Amen.

Amen.

This morning,

we are going to

end our service this morning.

I'm going to have the worship team

come up as we close.

And as the worship team comes up,

I'm going to ask our elders

to come up in place.

We are going to celebrate

communion this morning.

And the way we celebrate

communion this morning,

here at Rhema Community Church

is,

can I step here and not feedback?

Is that okay?

Is,

you don't have to be a member

of our church.

We just,

we ask that you are a member

of the household of God,

a child of God.

And so,

the communion table is open

for all those who believe.

And maybe,

maybe you're a parent

of a child that's here

that has not made that profession

of faith to the Lord Jesus.

This is a great opportunity

for you to talk to your child

about what it really means

to participate in communion

and rejoice in the,

in the sacrament of communion.

But this morning,

we do this by intinction.

And by that,

we're going to ask you

in a few minutes

to come down.

We'll have two stations set up.

And the bread will be,

you come and simply

have your hand out.

The bread will be there

and the bread will be,

broken up for you

and it'll be stated to you

that this is the body of Christ

which is broken for you.

You'll take the bread

and you'll walk over to the cup

and it'll be stated to you

that this is the blood

of Jesus Christ,

the blood of the new covenant

shed for you.

You simply dip the bread in

and you partake.

The altars are always open

if you want to spend

some time in prayer.

If you want to spend

some time in prayer

before you come,

we want to give you

that opportunity as well too.

If you want to need

to pray where you are,

there's no rush.

There's no rush.

If you need to beat

somebody at the steakhouse,

go ahead and beat

somebody at the steakhouse.

We're just going to continue

to just rest in the spirit

of the Lord here this morning.

So we celebrate the fact

that during the Last Supper,

Jesus said,

I have longed to have

this meal with you

with His disciples.

And at an appointed time

of the dinner,

He took the bread

and He broke it.

And He said,

this is my body

which is broken for you.

Take,

eat.

Likewise,

the time of the dinner.

During the fourth cup,

the cup of redemption,

typically the cup of redemption,

Jesus stands up

and He says,

a new covenant I have.

It's not like symbolism. Jesus says, do this in remembrance of Him. You know, one of the things I was thinking about as we, as we do this, I was thinking this past week, this is so cool. Resurrection Sunday is all about God redeeming, is it not? Redeeming, redeeming back to a people, back to Himself. Redeeming what the world had tried to do.

And redeeming, and redeeming, and redeeming, and redeeming everything back to Him, right? As we celebrate communion, think about this. Jesus says, take, eat. Right? He gives that invitation, take, eat. The first time that that came about, it didn't end so well, did it? Satan says to Eve, take, eat. And what happens?

Boom. The wages of sin fall upon the world. Jesus comes along, and very poignantly, very poignantly, in the Last Supper, He says, take, eat. What Satan has meant for evil, God uses for good. And He gives us that foreshadowing in the Scriptures. I need you to see that, church. I need you to see that.

Jesus redeems what Satan did. Jesus redeems what Satan did in the brokenness in the garden.

So the invitation this morning is to take, eat. The Lord Jesus Christ. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

If this morning you come, and you would like to, maybe you're sick, and you would like to break off your own piece of bread, you don't want to pass on germs, just simply hold your hand like this, and the elder will hold the bread for you, and you can break your own piece of bread.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.