That choir huh, they got one more. They got one more. It's the knockout punch. Well, I just want to say again thank you for joining us and if you're a guest man, you couldn't have made our day more special. I've met so many of you on the way in. I look forward to meeting you immediately after service and church family. Let's take a minute and welcome our online campus. They're watching in this region and around the world. I'm thankful that you're with us today. Hope you're having a beautiful Easter. And, man, I'm going to tell you what. I am ready to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it? Today?

The year was 2005 and our family was living in Houston, texas, at the time, and this was pre-twins. So this was just the party of four. We called ourselves the C4, party of four, and it was Evan or not. No, it was Ethan, I don't even know. I got so many kids I don't even know their names anymore. It was Ethan and Elliot and Ershon and I and you know this is 2005. I mean, it's one of those things where you kind of forget, like how fast technology changes. And so this was before the iPhone was out. But I still and this will surprise you young people, but there was a day I was a trendsetter when it came to electronics. Now I got the smallest phone in the world, but that's on purpose.

And so, back in 2005, I had one of the first smartphones. It was like a combination and if you know this, you gotta give me an amen on this. It was a combination of a Palm Pilot and then it was a phone, a Treo was the brand and it was um. So I mean, you guys are like looking like deer in headlights, you don't even know. Google it, it's worth the Google. And so I had this little smartphone and I had it in a like a leather case that I carried it in. It looked real professional and proper and it had a spot for my wallet and my cash and it zipped up real nice and clean and it was. You know, that phone was definitely too big to try to put in your pocket. That's why I had to carry it in something. And so I had this little wallet and it had the phone in there and I would carry it everywhere I went. And you know, I don't know if you've been around me or if you've been around Ethan at all. You know we like to set stuff down and we can't remember where we set it.

And on this day in 2005, we were packing up to go to lunch and so we loaded the boys in the car and I made sure everything was set. And while they were getting in the car, I don't know, I was talking, putting stuff in the back of the truck, and I set that wallet phone on the bumper of our expedition Ford Expedition and we got in the car and started driving to lunch, and it was about five miles. We went over bridges and through the city and made it to the spot to have lunch and we got out and we were about to walk in the restaurant I was like, oh, I don't have my phone in my wallet with me. I must have left it in the car. So everybody stops. I go back to the car and it's not in there and I look under the seat and I look everywhere. I'm like boys, did you take it? Are you playing a trick on me? They're like no, dad, it's not us. And as I go to tell her, it's like man. I guess I left my wallet at home to see if she had her money, hopefully. And so it was like I looked on the bumper and there was that wallet and phone sitting on the bumper Made it the entire five mile trip from our house to lunch.

It's the year I learned that sometimes, in spite of our own faults and failures or our forgetfulness and folly, we're gifted a second chance. We find ourselves in the middle of a second, even a third chance. Even though we don't deserve it, we get another chance at it. We're graced with an opportunity to try it again. Why don't you turn to your neighbor and say this is gonna be my favorite Easter ever? And to the one you've been ignoring all service, just bump up and say, because you're here, yeah, I see, just helping you out, just helping you out. Man, what a powerful week we've had.

We spent this whole week journaling and devotions of the Holy Week, the final days of Jesus's life on earth and the final days of his ministry. And then Friday we gathered with monastery, our young adults, ministry and pastors Ben and Priscilla and had a really powerful Good Friday service as we reflected on the cross. And then, saturday we woke up early and grabbed several hundred and hundreds of donuts, so much so that Pastor Matthew couldn't even see out of his car. It was full of so many donuts, and then we brewed about 600 cups of coffee and we served Oak Park and the surrounding area at their annual Dash and Scramble. We like to call it Easter Egg Hunt, but they call it Dash and Scramble. So we did that Saturday. And then here we are today, on Sunday, and the stone is rolled away Amen.

So I want to dive into the scripture and text today, as I share with you things we should remember on this Easter. Tell your neighbor, don't forget it. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse one, says this Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the good news I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and you still stand firm in it. It is the good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you, unless, of course, you believe something that was never true.

In the first place, I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins. Just as the scripture said, he was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day. Just as the scripture said, he was seen by Peter and then by the 12. And after that he was seen by more than 500 of his. That was for the Corinth church, not for a free church. Then he was seen by James, and later by all the apostles and, last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him, for I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God's church.

It's really, really incredible that we get this passage of scripture from Paul to remind us of the important things, and this Easter I want to lean in and remind you of some things. You know, a reminder is a powerful thing, because often, in this world of chaos and confusion, we don't always need to find something new, but we need to find something true. And truth has a name. His name is Jesus. What Jesus did on the cross over 2,000 years ago is more than historical, although historically, scientifically, even medically, we can prove without a doubt that Jesus did die on the cross, that he was buried in a tomb and that that tomb is now empty. We can prove that without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus did die on a cross, that he was buried in a tomb and that that tomb is now empty. We can prove that without a shadow of a doubt. But what he did is more than just historical. It's transformational. I know because my own life has been transformed. I know because I can look out across this audience and see lives of people whose hearts and lives and families have been transformed by the power and the wonder working blood. It's transformational. I know that because I've received a favor that I could never earn and a gift that I could ever never purchase. That is the price that Jesus paid for my life.

So let me give you some things to remember this Easter. Number one this Easter I will remember what is most important, what matters most. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 and three. He says for I handed to you as of first importance what I in turn had received. He says listen, I'm gonna mark something that needs to be recorded as the most important thing in your life, which means we have our opinions and we have our preferences and we even have our Easter fit. And all of that finishes in a distant second to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves us, and Paul says if you hold on to it, it will save you. And can I just say if you're in a season of uncertainty, if you're in a season of unknown, just hold on to the gospel and let the gospel do what it will do and it will save you to the utmost. So he says. I want you to remember what matters most, and what are those things that matter most? First, I would tell you the thing that matters most is that Jesus died for us. He died for us 700 years before Jesus died on the cross.

Isaiah wrote in a prophecy this In Isaiah 53 and 3, he said he was despised and rejected by mankind. A man of suffering, familiar with pain, like one whom people hide their faces. He was despised and we held him in low esteem. Surely, he took our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we were healed. And then Isaiah the prophet closes by saying we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him Jesus, the iniquity of us all. He died. He died a terrible death on that cross. When we see the images of that opening song, jesus paid it all. And we just see the images of that opening song. Jesus paid it all and we just see the artistic expression. I don't think it compares to what he truly experienced. But Jesus died for us More than a thousand years before even the punishment of crucifixion to a cross was invented.

We find that the psalmist writes this in Psalm 22, beginning with verse six but I am a worm and not a man. This is a messianic, a Jesus prophecy. I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They hurl their insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord. They say Let the Lord rescue him, let him deliver him, since he delights in him. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircle me. They pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me. Listen. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. The psalmist, over a thousand years before even the idea of crucifying somebody, the most lowest and most shameful punishment in public humility. The psalmist writes this is what's gonna happen to our Savior. Jesus died.

Paul says don't just remember that jesus died. You need to remember that jesus was buried. He was buried, but not just in any tomb. He was buried in a borrowed tomb because when you're getting up in three days you don't need your own. So jesus died and he was buried, just just as the scripture said, and then he rose again. The Bible says he rose again on the third day, and I would tell you that the world is littered with tombs of the bones of prophets and kings and philosophers, littered all over the world. But can I tell you what? There's one tomb that's empty, littered all over the world. But can I tell you what? There's one tomb that's empty. There's one tomb that the stone has been rolled away because Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. So you need to remember what's most important.

Number two you need to remember, you need to remember the power of the third day. You know Jesus rose on the third day. You've read it, we've talked about it. If it's your first Easter, that might be the first time you've heard it, but we've all heard it once or twice at least. Rose on the third day. You know God is a God of patterns and promises. There's something powerful about the patterns and promises of God when they go together, and the power of the third day. What is so interesting about the power of the third day?

Well, in creation week, the creation story, it was on the third day that God brought together the idea and produced trees and seed bearing fruit that would produce after their own kind. That was on the third day. He created the law of seed time and harvest and in Genesis, chapter eight, the Bible says that as long as the earth exists, there will be seed time and harvest. It's amazing you plant a seed and the Bible says in John 12 and 24, unless a seed dies and goes into the ground, it cannot bear much fruit. And so you take that seed and you crush it and you push it into the ground and you bury it. And then for day two which could be a day or several days, but a season of day two exists and you don't see anything happening in the ground. But then on day three seed time and harvest a plant breaks through that ground, new life is formed, there's flowers that begin to bloom. We've seen it all over Chicagoland over the last couple of weeks.

Listen, we moved into a house a couple of years ago and we haven't really finished doing the flower beds in the front. But the people before us, they must have planted some daisies before we. We were there and literally we have. We were laughing about it because we have one daisy in the front and one daisy in the back and we don't do anything to protect them or we don't cover them up when it's freezing. And all of a sudden in the spring, here comes that daisy, right on time.

It's the power of the third day. You know there were other instances in scripture about the third day. What about Jonah? Jonah runs from God, refuses to preach to Nineveh, Ends up in the belly of a whale and on the third day the whale spits him out and he says you know what? I think I'm going to go preach to Nineveh. You probably would too. What about Abraham, who was promised to be the father of nations? And finally, at a hundred years old, god lives up to the promise and Abraham becomes the father of Isaac. And then God asked a peculiar thing Abraham, if you love me and you trust me, will you sacrifice your one and only son on the mountain? And Abraham walks Isaac up the mountain in a three day journey and on the third day as he lays his son on the altar. The Bible says God himself provided a lamb in place of Isaac on the third day.

I don't know what kind of season of life you're in. Maybe you're in a day one season and you've gotten bad news. You've heard the doctor's report and it doesn't sound well. Maybe you've gotten, you've had, this unexpected betrayal by people in your life. Maybe you're in a day one season. Can I tell you, just hold on. It might be day one, but there's a day three coming. Maybe you're in the season of day two and it's dark and silent and around the tomb there's tears and mourning and it seems like heaven has been shut off and your prayers bounce off the ceiling. But can I tell you, can you just hold on If day one is tragedy and day two might despair, but can you just hold on Because day three is coming in and on day three the stone's going to be rolled away. There's going to be life breaking through the darkness. There is a new thing God's going to do in your life and it will be beautiful. The Bible says he makes all things beautiful in its time. You see, if Jesus was the seed and the cross was the soil, you became the harvest of his righteousness.

Remember the power of the third day and then, finally, this Easter. This Easter, remember the power of his appearing. Paul tells us he appeared to Peter. Peter denied that he knew Jesus, even though he had been in close proximity for over three years, had seen every miracle Peter who had walked on water. Peter who made the confession that Jesus is Lord and Savior of all. And when he said it, jesus was like Peter, you are a rock, and upon the rock of that revelation I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Peter who says no, I never knew him, I don't know who he is, I don't know what he's done. That Peter Jesus appeared to, which says if you spent your whole life running from and denying him, he still is going to appear to you.

He appeared to the apostles and the disciples, the doubters, the ones who wandered and went astray. He appeared to them. He appeared to over 500 of his followers on the hillside before ascending into the heavens, leaving the promise of the Holy Spirit. He appeared to James, but then Paul says he even appeared to me. Even though I was born late in the game, I'm the last person you would ever think Jesus would show up for. I'm the least of all the apostles. I don't have the pedigree. I didn't spend those three years with him. He showed up for me and if we lean in and pay attention, if he would show up for somebody who persecuted the church, imprisoned and even killed those who were establishing the New Testament church in the day he said, as if I was born at the wrong time on the wrong day, on the wrong side of the tracks, he still appeared to me. He still appeared to me and if he will appear to that group of misfits, fearful, forgetful, failures, full of folly, if he'll appear to all of them, I know he'll appear to you Because he's still appearing to the broken. He's still appearing to the hurting. He's still appearing to the doubtful. He's still appearing to the broken. He's still appearing to the hurting. He's still appearing to the doubtful. He's still appearing to the skeptical. He's still appearing to the one that doesn't know if could ever get better. He's still on his way because there is no limit to how far he'll go to find. You Leave the 99, if I have to, to find the one who needs me most.

And you ask what makes it all possible, what makes it possible that Jesus could die on a cross, that Jesus, dying on a cross, be buried and on the third day rise again? Is it the power he walks in? 100% God, 100% man? Yeah, power, walking with the keys to death, hell and the grave? Yes, it's his power, but it's not only his power. Is it how much he loved us? No greater love does a man have that he would lay down his life for a friend. Does he love you? Yes, he loves you, but is it his love that makes it all possible? Is it power? Is it love that makes it all possible? It's the power, it's love, his obedience to the Father that in the garden, before he's arrested, he's saying Father, if there's any way, let this cup pass, but nevertheless, in obedience, thy will be done. If it must be, I'll be obedient all the way to the cross. Was it his power? Was it his love? Was it his obedience?

And I would tell you church, church, it's his holiness, his purity. You see, you and I were born into a broken world. We're born broken and we're born separated. The Bible says enmity between us. There's a space between us. When we talk about sin in church life. We're not really talking about the actions. We're talking about the space between us and our Heavenly Father. We were born to be in relationship, but when we're born, we're born apart from Him because of Adam and Eve and the decision they made. And really we like to blame Adam and Eve, but we actually make that decision over and over again so many times in our own life.

I'll do it my own way, I know what's best for me, I'll get it together later, but it's his holiness that makes the difference. You see, we were born corrupted, but he was born of an incorruptible seed and in that seed he multiplies righteousness in you. It's not just that he died for us. He died as the perfect, spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice for us. When we receive communion, remember I told you they killed the lamb, applied the blood over the doorstep. That's exactly what Jesus he himself became the lamb, perfect in sacrifice, spotless, without blemish, holy, holy means pure, sacred and set apart. It was his holiness. And the Bible says in Romans 5, 8, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us. It's how he showed his love, commended his love. Yeah, he loved us in our sin, but he didn't just die for our sin. He became sin so that we might become righteous. You see, it's his holiness. It's his holiness when Peter. When Peter says you need to be holy because Jesus is holy, he's not setting an unreal standard, although if we attempt in our own, we can never be good enough, but thank God he is. We can never do enough good, but thank God he already did and in His holiness he purchased our salvation.

In Hebrews, chapter 7, verses 26 and 27, the ritual yearly was for the priest. He first, the high priest first, had to cleanse himself and then he could go into the presence of God where the ark of the covenant was what's where the Ark of the Covenant was, what's called the Holy of Holies, into that space. He had to cleanse himself, then he had to go into that space and he had to do that every single year. You know what Hebrews tells us? That we have a high priest whose name is Jesus that is holy and because he's holy he doesn't have to cleanse himself. In fact, he doesn't even need to go back into the Holy of Holies every year for our cleansing. The Bible says he did it once and for all on Calvary's hill. He paid the price. Listen, the price was holiness and Jesus paid it in full for you and for me.