When We Encounter Jesus

When We Encounter Jesus

Good morning. Good morning Church. Thank you for coming. Welcome. It’s good to be if you on easter morning, if you knew this isn’t a corporate event that you’re crashing, This isn’t a wedding uh, reception that you’re crashing, crashing. This is the gathered, uh, body of Solar Church Church and so friends, family, visitors. Welcome. We’re glad you’re here with us. As we look to the bible, look to the Lord in prayer as we reflect on what happened this morning in christian history, I’m gonna try to do my best to define terms and avoids specialized jargon. Uh, first question you all have in your mind is why is my pastor wearing a jacket? Well, it’s easy. The camera adds £15 and a jacket takes off 20. So that’s the obvious reason if you didn’t know that. So, but let’s uh, let’s pray, let’s look to the Lord as we work through this topic here. Lord, thank you for today. I thank you for what you’re doing in all of our lives. We we need you got to bring clarity. We need you to bring conviction Lord, We need you to give us courage. Lord to be the men and women have called us to be I said you to instruct us and make us hungry for your word. I pray that you would encourage us in your word, impressed deep into our souls any lesson that you want to teach us out of the word of God this morning, we commit this time to you in jesus’ name. Amen. Okay, so what is going on in Christianity? Why are all of your friends who are usually quiet on social media, posting and sharing easter memes and easter stuff? So I like to just give you a little update on holy week and what that is. And so we me and Jordan have pulled together a slide here that we’d like to work through some photos talking through the historical timeline of holy week leading up to this morning, resurrection sunday easter morning and so last sunday across the world, most of Christianity celebrated palm sunday, it’s when jesus coming in and trample entry into the capital city of Jerusalem, the people are throwing down palm branches and they were throwing down coats to honor the coming messiah. His popularity was at an all time high. Everything he said, everything he did went viral. People loved him. It was a highlight reel of jesus. He just got done healing, a dramatic healing of a three day dead Lazarus who was dead in the tomb for three days, he healed him and brought him out of out of the grave, jesus celebrity, he’s at the peak of his popularity and then monday comes on monday, you see jesus is just his savage, he goes rogue, he’s flipping tables, making whips, driving out the money exchangers are taking advantage of people. And during the largest building on the largest jewish holiday of the year and he completely empties the building physically clears out the biggest building on the busiest day and he calls out the religious leaders, his enemies. It’s a huge, it’s an epic day. The city is on pins and needles, This young rabbi who’s been tearing it up all around the surrounding country and the surrounding cities have finally come to the largest city in the jewish population and scholars shared an analogy which I’m gonna, there’s uh, if you ever like grab the beehive and shook in the beehive, I haven’t either. The closest I did as a boy was my mom had these garden and she’d have miracles around the garden to keep stuff away and I would go along and I grab a B and I’d shake it in my hand and throw it down. I’d run away my sisters and I would run away until I got stung by a bee in the hand and then I stopped doing that, Jesus took the religious elite leaders of the capital city of Jerusalem on monday he violently shook them to their core, every one of them is mad at him, All of Jesus’ rivals, all of his enemies. They’ve all consolidated forces, they have one objective and that’s to take jesus out and to kill him, Jesus completely, flexes on the religious leaders are real power play of authority in the biggest building and the biggest show in town. That’s monday on Tuesday after he calls out the religious leaders having no authority Tuesday, Jesus goes and teaches openly and publically in the temple. It’s his last closing arguments, it’s his manifesto, it’s his last time speaking as a free man openly and publicly. When jesus leaves the temple, he after being dramatically emptying the temple on monday on on Tuesday he calls them out the religious leaders for being corrupt down Tuesday, they start plotting on how to kill and arrest jesus on Wednesday juice and his crew. They kick it, they rest up on Wednesday, they go underground, they go silent, they stay off the grid, jesus stays at the home of Simon, the leopard mary, the brother of Lazarus, The sister of Lazarus. She comes in and she anoints his feet with a $20,000 bottle of perfume and Jesus says she’s doing this and preparing me for for my burial, which is coming later in the week and history says christian history and jesus said that the church will never forget this beautiful worshipful act of mary. On thursday, Jesus predicts he’ll be betrayed by judas. Jesus walks through the last supper, jesus washes his disciples feet, modern day communion that we take at the end of our service is in light of remembrance of jesus and what he’s done for us, how his body was broken for us, his flesh was torn for us, like the bread is Samberg symbolically broken and torn and how his blood was spilt for us, like the elements of the bread and the cup that we consume, Jesus told his disciples to do this in remembrance of him were so our church do that in remembrance of him as we gather the amount of all of the kurds next. It’s an all night prayer vigil, there’s a line of torches coming to arrest jesus. The enemies of use have consolidated power and they got organized and they sent a group of soldiers out to go and get him. All of Jesus’ disciples flee and they hide friday friday night, early into friday morning, the chief priest of Saint Hadrian, the enemies of jesus call a secret trial which is illegal according to the jewish law to have a night trial a secret trial. Their verdict, the judge, jury and executioner where the religious leaders, the enemies of jesus and their verdict was to crucify jesus which enters the christian branding of the cross, which is at their day, a modern day execution chair. But the jewish people have to escalate to the roman government because they’re an occupied people group at that time in history, they don’t have the authority to execute and crucify anyone. They have to escalate the pilot. The governing local authority pilot interviews Jesus sends him to Herod, who sends him back to pilot and they appeased the mob, Jesus severely beaten and flogged and he’s nailed to a cross, Juice’s followers watching whore and unbelief as these events occur, she just ends up dying of asphyxiation, grasping for his last breath on the cross. His followers are rocked and they scatter a roman guard. Later on comes by of his spear and runs it through the rib cage into the heart of jesus and blood and water come out, he’s died, his heart has been penetrated, jesus, jesus dead. God is dead On saturday. It was the only day in history where God was dead. His body was lied in a tomb and she was repeatedly over his public ministry said that he would die and three days later, raised from the dead, he said that all the time is a recurring theme in his public ministry, that he would die and be raised from the dead. His enemies. They jumped on the opportunity, approached the roman government and they told the roman government about this and that they convinced the roman government to send soldiers to protect the tomb of a dead man in that day, if you’re a guard, a professional roman soldier and you lost a prisoner, you’re supposed to hold in custody, your family and your whole household to be killed in front of you and you’d be killed at the end as a breach of duty. And so these soldiers are highly motivated to protect a dead man in a tomb. They’re like family and their occupation is to keep this, this body dead, keep this body safe. The enemies of jesus mobilized the military, the largest military, the strongest, most elite military with swords and weapons, which not other people had and they protected the tomb and then on sunday, which brings us to resurrection morning easter morning Chapter 24 of Luke, the first six verses where those phrases were pulled from that video, we just watched that is the Resurrection Morning, Easter Morning, the pinnacle of Christianity, the reason we are gathered people, if easter morning is disproved, if you can disprove the easter resurrection morning did not happen. All of Christianity is off, the charade is out and this is over the world would never be the same again because Jesus rose from the dead, he said he would do it, he died, he was dead and he rose from the dead against all odds and the enemies of God try to put down this young jewish christian following all of mankind’s history builds tension to that day and all of the church history begins after that day, the day that Jesus died, defeated, Sin, satan and death. It is an amazing big day for christians. This days feel the significance, meaning it is a holy special near and dear data. Many of us, there is power in the resurrection, there’s this day gives you swagger, holy confidence to go throughout your life because God came and visited this planet. He died for us and he rose from the dead many women. This is a big day and we’re excited to come together and be reminded of this day as a church as they gathered people. Our title for the sermon is what happens when we encounter jesus. There’s many different angles. You can look at the last, the last day of jesus before the next day after erosion that there’s many different angles you can take as a church. And so I was encouraged with Zain and I talking earlier this week, We thought we would tag team a little bit and look at Luke 23 the day before today, The Day Before Today Luke 23. If you would look on the screens or look on your device or your Bible, we’re going to dive into Luke chapter 23 and look at these three different people groups defined in Luke 23, all of them have a face to face, intimate encounter with Jesus Christ and all of them respond in a different way. I think it’s good, it’s good for your soul to be reminded of these different people. It’s instructive. Dear soul. So let’s look at luke 23 picking up in verse one, then their whole assembly rose up. This is the enemies of jesus after they got him, abducted him out of the garden of Gethsemane. All of the whole assembly rose up and brought him before pilot first two, they began to accuse him, jesus saying, we found this man subverting the nation in opposing payment of caesar tax, so caesars and saying that he himself is a messiah, a king. So pilot asked him, are you the king of the juice? He jesus answered him, said you have said it, it’s like a non answer, You have said it verse four, pilot then told the chief priests and the crowds, I find no grounds for charging this man. This is the first of three times that in this chapter, pilot is saying this man is innocent, he’s not done anything wrong, this is a farce. Three times he repeats himself that Jesus does not deserve death. The jewish religious leaders, they had authority, but it was a spiritual authority and they didn’t have a physical authority. The pilot had the physical authority to execute a person. So they have to appeal and spin the narrative to pilot that this man is subverting the nation. He’s stirring up mobs and he’s trouble seeing in history, pilots all over your ancient history books that you have at your house and pilot has the narrative has a career, you can trace him throughout his career and this time in pilot’s career, the jewish capital City was a very honoree city at this time. There’s many mobs, many, much social arrest and pilot’s job is to oppress the people and keep them calm. And they have another mob forming another time in pilot’s career and he’s been warned by his leading governor cesar person that if this happens again, he’s on thin ice and he’s about to be done. He has to keep this oppressed people group oppressed the jewish people. They can’t have these mobs, they can’t have these late night meetings, they can’t be stirring the pot up and lying the whole city up. The religious leaders need him to rule on their side. They need him to give permission to put jesus to death, They need him to execute the death of jesus. Large crowds. Large mobs are defining the end of pilots career here and this is a horrible situation. Pilot pilot didn’t care about the religious laws, he cared about his career, he cared about his image, he cared about keeping his position. The enemies of jesus are spinning at that, jesus is guilty of sedition and jesus guilty of treason against the roman government. And we pick up in verse five, but they kept insisting he stirs up the people teaching throughout all of judea from galilee where he starts, even to hear the capital city of Jerusalem. When pilot heard this, he asked if the man was a gasoline galilean. Finding that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem during these days because of the holy week, because of the celebration, the jewish people were having pilots being like any savvy politician and finds a way out and says if I can send this hot mess over here to Herod Herod, responsible and Herod’s Next on the line, you’re like Herod, Herod, Herod Herod. That sounds familiar. Mike, I was here a year ago at christmas and you talk about Herod killing all those babies and the magic. I and you know Bethlehem and the manger see here is the title, you’ll see six different times in your bible, it’s like an honorary title given to this king of this district of galilee. Yes, Herod’s great grandpa and then Herod’s grandson was the hair to read about today, The great grandpa, Herod was the one in christmas time. And there’s also a different hair that goes after peter in the bible, in a different hair that goes after paul in the bible, it’s kind of like an honorary title attached in front of the rest of their name. So pilot hands it off to Herod, hoping that Herod will take care of this, so you can avoid this controversy. Herod is an enemy of jesus, but their joint problem with jesus makes him friends with pilot. You’ll see first eight Herod was very glad to see jesus for a long time. He wanted to see him because he had heard about him and I was hoping to see some miracle performed by him. So he kept asking him, but Jesus did not answer him. The chief priests and the scribes stood by ven imminently accusing Jesus. It’s interesting Jesus didn’t answer, Herod. Jesus says nothing. Hour after hour, question after question Herod and the enemies of jesus, arv imminently attacking and accusing Jesus of all sorts of wrong inherit is wanting to be entertained, inherit is asking them all sorts of questions. Remember, the bible claims that jesus is God and God stands before an evil king and evil religious leaders and he is silent. God has nothing to say to this evil king. God has nothing to say. These evil religious leaders. Why did Jesus say nothing? Question after question. Our after hours a night went on as false accusations and fake accounts and fake depictions of his ministry and what he said, and when he did or played out, it’s just full court smear campaign is occurring and they’re attempting to kill him and jesus silent. Then verse 11, when Herod with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in a brilliant robe and send him back to back to pilot, jesus knew they had no interest of listening to him. Herod was asking God questions, jesus questions, and he was not listening to any of the answers. His mind was made up, he was on full mock mode, full slander mode and he wanted to be entertained. Some people ask you questions, those of you who are followers of jesus christ you get asked questions by people, friends, family, in your neighborhood, in your network, you get asked questions and sometimes people don’t really care what you think or what you’re gonna say, they just want to attack you, they want to mock you want to be entertained by what you say and what you do. 48 of American Christians self identify as Christian people, but their definition of what a Christian is and what Christian believes and what a Christian holds to that world view is not the same as authentic Christianity in the Bible, There’s this convenient is the belief confession of a who Jesus is and what he’s done for you, that is really shallow in most Christians minds, 48 of our nation is not real authentic believers. We know that 48% what they think and what they feel their beliefs, their subjective to their whims. Week to week, authentic Christianity is inconvenient, authentic Christianity will be mocked by our culture, authentic Christianity will be mocked in the public square. I was reading a, I was showing a part of a book from a brother earlier this week in our meeting he was talking about or an author, Parker palmer talking about a functional atheist people who live in complete denial of who jesus is, but they profess to know who jesus is with their mouth, but their theology and their live ology, their lifestyle is in direct conflict with their beliefs, what you think and what you do those, if those are not the same men, women, you can easily fall in the same camp as this first person we’re looking at Herod, marginal Christianity floats in and out of churches, living a non committed life. They practice of what they really believe. What they really value, reflects the public, reflects the culture, does not reflect the bible reflects people. We can give lip service to God, but life service to what the culture demands of us, just like Herod. We too can mock jesus and Christianity with her life. We can disprove the authenticity of someone’s walk because our shallowness of our walk, our hypocrisy of our walk, the first person is Herod. He represents the natural man, he’s interchanged, he’s entertained but unchanged. He has questions, he doesn’t care about the answers, and his main desire is to be entertained by God, the Son of God. Do a miracle for me, Jesus share amazing little poem for me, Jesus share a little snippy parable. I’ve heard about jesus, razzle and dazzle me God, but he has no intention of changing his life. Harry represents the natural man. In the end, he really wants to be entertained, he wants to be dazzled, he wants short snippy sermons with a feel good pastor and we do this as a culture. We have celebrity pastors that entertain us that make us feel better about our lives. Self help pastors, positive pastor, guru, pastor and many people in America walk into Christianity and walk away entertained and unchanged and our real God we bow down to is not the god of the bible, jesus, it is the god of the culture. Why was jesus silent and Matthew seven? It talks about jesus saying don’t cast your pearls before pigs because they’ll trample the pigs in the mud or they’ll bite on them and they realize it’s not food and they won’t be interested. There’s a time and a place to realize that I am not going to be receptive here about what I shared. This person does not care about my response and jesus really demonstrates for us when and where and how we should open our mouth and share things to people. Herod is the first person, the natural man he represents, the person that wants to be entertained by God and unchanged has a full netflix account and watched all kinds of things that has been entertained to death, spiritual death and someday physical death. The american church. We are an entertained culture. We are entertained appeased people group. Let’s go on verse 12 that very day Herod and pilot became friends previously they had been hostile towards each other verse 13. Pilot called together the chief priests and the leaders and the people and so we see the mob is reassembled verse 14 and said to them, you have brought me this man as one who subverts the people and in fact after examining him in your presence, I have found no guards, no grounds to charge this man with with those things you accused him of. Neither has Herod because he sent him back to us. Clearly he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore I will make, I will have him whipped and then release him. Pilot is clear that from this, his understanding of roman justice, jesus is completely innocent Pilots. The second character we read about in Luke 23 when pilot encounters jesus pilot represents to us the fearful man, a fearful response to jesus if jesus, jesus and jesus god, there’s implications of that on my life and there’s a fearfulness in his heart. His convictions are on cell, to the mob, to the public, to the culture, he wants to get in the good graces with the public. Pilot is a man of compromise. Pilot is a man fear er pilot is a man pleaser, his real principles, he lives by his popularity and fear of being censored by the public was his true god. He worshipped, pilot is like many of us in this american Christianity, many of us can see jesus see God see the things of God, the people of God and we become fearful because we know the culture and we know the world, the devil in the flesh. We know that it’s not an easy road to walk and we pull back in fear, we pull back from christian community, pull back from the bible, we pull back from church, we pull back from each other because we know if jesus is real and he rose from the dead, there’s implications of that fact on my life, in my real idol bowed out, my bow down to the real God I worship is the god of this age, the god of the public, the god of the culture. Many of us can be related to pilot, We can see God and respond in fear going on in verse 17. Some of your translations in your bible and maybe in your bible, it may not be in your bible verse 17, you might go from verse verse 16 verse 18 Verse 17 says for according to the festival, he had to release someone to them. It’s a little bit of colour commentary, a little bit of context on what’s going on in this whole narrative for what’s happening. Matthew and Mark have verse 17 color commentary in their bible. Some bibles have footnotes that explain this, but the most reliable account of luke verse 17 is missing. Some early scribes help us as readers but original Lukes accounts mrs this nice context, it’s not key to the whole narrative what’s happening, but it’s a nice color commentary about what’s happening. 1st 18 introduces us to the third group, The 3rd Group, The Mob. Then they all cried out together, take this man away released Barabbas to us. He has been thrown into prison for a rebellion that has taken place in the city. He stirred them up like this, jesus guy is getting accused of stirring at the mob and for murder. Pilot wanting to release jesus addressed them again but they kept shouting, crucify, crucify him a third time he said to them why what has this man done? I have founded him no grounds for the death penalty, therefore I’ll have him whipped and then released pilot we’re seeing here is trying to reason with the unreasonable justice and reason are missing from the mob But verse 23 but they kept up and pressured. They kept up the pressure demanding with Loud voices that he be crucified and their voices one out. So this third group we read about when they encounter jesus the model represents the angry man, the angry person. I think this last year in american public, our culture has taught us this. It’s not true that prevails. It’s whoever talks the loudest and the longest you just have to keep talking. You don’t have to be right, but you have to keep talking, keep dominating the narrative in the public square Verse 24. So pilot decided to grant their demands and released the one they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed jesus over to their will and now it’s easy for you and I just sit here and judge them and think how could they, what a bunch of, come on. Even the previous chapters, all the disciples abandoned him, judas, peter, paul, paul, john Simon, all of those guys, you’re like what is happening? How do they all fail when they needed to arrive and be there the most these people all just failed. We can sit here and criticize these people. But if we’re intellectually honest, if you’re honest with yourself intellectually, you have been hair it. The person who didn’t care and treated God of contempt and desire to be entertained and walk away unchanged. You have been pilot the fearful, compromised person who wants to appease and appeal people and not not obey God and you have been like the angry person that just keeps shouting at God and raging at God and justice and reason have no are there missing from your mind and feelings? Are your true king that has been us? We can relate to all three of those different groups as we look at this chapter. But if you’re honest, all of us, we have to relate to Barabbas. Barabbas. Barabbas mike, I haven’t stirred up sedition, I haven’t killed no one Barabbas in this, this this story narrative is the definition of the everyday man. His name is, the generic name means is a son of a father. That’s what Barabbas means in the original language, It’s like the most john smith name you can have. He’s the everyday guy in Jerusalem, but he killed someone and everyone knows he’s guilty. He’s completely and totally guilty. The Bible gives us something to prove our guilt. The 10 commandments. There’s 10 of them and I always forget them here in the moment. But don’t lie. Can you raise your hand? Are you a person who’s never told a lie in your life? You’ve all lied. I’ve lied. Big lies. Little lies, cheating on your taxes are still in fruit at walmart, grapes at walmart lying is lying. We’ve all lied. All misrepresentative. We fibbed, we fudged numbers. We’ve we’ve lied, stolen. We’ve stolen the value of things, cars. That’s a different level of grand theft. Larceny, but we’ve stolen answers on test, credit at work. That wasn’t belong to us. We’ve stolen looked with lust on someone. We’ve all committed adultery in our hearts. We’ve all looked with less than other people, lied, steeled, adultery, blasphemy. And take the Lord’s name in vain. Used God’s name as a cuss word. We’ve done that. It’s four. There’s six more 10 Commandments and the purpose of the 10 Commandments approved that All of us, the bible says in romans 3 23. All of us have sinned and fall short of the God’s standard of perfection. All of us have sinned. I can keep going on the 10 commandments. A few more. Then I’m going to look at my Bible and exodus. The 10 commandments designed to be like a mirror that reflects you are not perfect. And that’s why jesus came and died. Jesus came and died for non perfect. People just came and died for sinners just came and died for people that are sinners. Every one of us can be overwhelmingly proven guilty. Like Barabbas, he’s 100 guilty and everyone knows it just like you are 100 guilty and you know it too. Barabbas has a record, he has a history. Barabbas, Barabbas is on borrowed time. Barabbas is on death row, Jesus took the place of rabbits, rabbits was supposed to be the third person hanging in the cross between jesus is one in the middle of the two thieves on either side brackets is supposed to be in the middle. This is Barabbas cross that just takes, jesus takes the place of punishment and wrath and gives Barabbas freedom when he deserves punishment, all of God’s wrath, all the punishment that Barabbas deserved, Jesus took everyone in this narrative, every one of them Herod pilot. Each member of that mob Barabbas our stand are going to stand before the judgment seat of God. All of us in this room are going to stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account for every thought word. Indeed every text message you sent everything you did or you should have done that. You know you should have done. All of us have been found wanting and we’re going to stand on the right side of history with jesus in front of us giving an account for you and for giving you or not, depends on who you think to use his and what have you done with him in your life if you I’m a history major. Right, so I have to put up with me sometimes. So I’m supposed to be a history teacher in high school. It’s supposed to be my job. Bc. In the bible, history of history, mankind. Bc stands before before christ A. D. Stands for ana ana ana Dominy in the year of our Lord And then for 1500 years this has been the gold standard of how to do history, how to do dates you like Mike. I remember that in my history textbooks because it’s been it’s been phased out Bc ease before common era and cE is common area like okay that sounds familiar but Christianity’s claim is scandalous. It’s a huge bold audacious claim that jesus is God. He said he would die and right from the dead and jesus came lived and died and rose from the dead. And Christianity is like prove it, prove it not right, prove it wrong. History, theology debate, there’s all these, there’s a lot of work that goes into this and if you can prove that jesus christ did not rise from the dead, you would be a millionaire. If you can write that book out and prove to the historical community, to the theological community, to the cause and effect what happened culture at that time, to prove that jesus christ did not rise from the dead, you’d be a millionaire, you just debunk Christianity, you just debunk the largest religion on the planet. The most audacious claim in Christianity is that jesus rose from the dead and he was God and it has not been disproved. I mean, like scientifically historically legitimately written off and it’s a big problem in our culture. And so we’re trying to wash away this whole resurrection thing and making an easter thing and here’s your easter egg and there’s probably religious meaning to that, I forget, but there’s we’re trying to move on and gloss over Christianity’s highlight reel of Christianity that jesus christ claimed to be god and died on the cross and rose from the dead. Easter is attempting to be cancelled at some myth, some folklore, but the resurrection history, the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, it’s life changing and it’s world changing and for 1500 years history is built for the climax of Jesus’ life, his death and his resurrection and then the New Age 80. Rikers after B. C. A. D. Look at 1st Peter one for 3 11 in verse three, what we’re looking at next week, it says this praise be to the God and father of our Lord. Jesus christ in his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus christ from the dead, the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead Philippians 289 says this and being found in appearance as a man talking about Jesus, he humbled himself by being obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exclude him, exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. If you’re in my bible, you have to flip the page. But chapter 24 of Luke. But come Sunday, Jesus proves his authenticity improves the resurrection power of jesus christ that he is god. Everything is real Christianity gets its authenticity from easter morning from resurrection morning, there’s a christian tradition that churches have been doing for centuries that there’ll be a call and response. So the worship leader of the pastor, each other can call to each other and say he has risen and you’re supposed to respond and say yes, he has risen, he has risen, indeed he has risen. Indeed, men and women, there’s, there’s meaning, their significance, there’s lifestyle change that needs to occur because jesus, not just some teacher, prophet thought, you thought provoker, he’s a person who claimed to be god, which makes him crazy unless he was god. He died dramatically and publicly was executed and killed and protected by the largest military of the day and he rose from the dead. No other religion claims that if the resurrection of jesus is true, the resurrection is the most important event in human history. Everything in Christianity rises and falls based on the resurrection claims of easter Morning. The resurrection worldview, the resurrection worldview that jesus christ lived and died and rose from the dead. That is in direct competition with the pre modern worldview, Those worldviews don’t play together the resurrection worldview is in direct competition with the Islamic world view. They don’t play well together. The resurrection worldview is in direct conflict with the secular world view. The resurrection worldview is in direct conflict with the technological world view. If jesus lived and if jesus died and Jesus rises from the dead and claimed to be god, that is the biggest claim in Christianity is the truest truths of all truths. Jesus is the only religious leader that claimed to be gone. I mean, that claimed to rise from the dead, she’s the only religious leader that claimed to rise from the dead, Jesus, the only god in all the world religions that has suffered. Think about this, have ever been betrayed, Jesus has, have you ever, have you ever been marginalized, Jesus has, have people ever lied about you? Jesus has, and people ever spoken poorly of you or attacked you, Jesus has, have you ever lost a child? God has Christianity. Only faith that’s founder claimed to be God died and actually rose from the dead after he predicted he would die in right from the dead. And Christianity is the only faith that has a suffering God who suffered and bled and lived among us and died for us. That is a unique christian trait. If you can prove that Jesus didn’t live die and rise from the dead. If you can disprove what we’re talking about this morning, I will gladly change my career. I had a great career before this, I can gladly change my career. Set me free. Just proved this. You could be rich. I will go to some other occupation. There’s 30 plus prophecies about Jesus last 24 hours that are documented in the four accounts of Matthew, Mark Luke and John and there’s 300 some total different prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in his lifetime. There’s 574 verses in your bible written thousands of years before Jesus came lived, died and rose from the dead. That are about Jesus’ life Acts 17 says this. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent because he has set a day where he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead proof proof. God gave jesus a divine power to rise from the dead, proof of his coming judgment is found in easter morning, proof of our future rising of Jesus. Found on easter morning. There is so much power in the cross and there’s even more power on resurrection morning, men and women, all that we have that is in Christianity is because Jesus rose from the dead. This next series we’re kicking off the identity we have in christ and that identity flows into all of our relationships with christian and secular with the powerful life were called to live is laid out in first peter, it’s all built under the premises of Jesus Rose from the dead and because of that you have resurrection power living for your monday and for you Tuesday and for your Wednesday and for those hard people that love and those hard relationships to love and those difficult areas in your life where you believe lies about yourself, you don’t believe your true identity as a son or daughter of a resurrected king jesus, that’s where we get our true swagger from as christians, the resurrection of jesus christ. It is amazing, it is worthwhile data think of and reflective and that’s why all the songs we sang this morning, we’re about that If you if you now keep that in mind this resurrection narrative. So many songs we sing on sunday mornings here at this hour, church is reminding you of the resurrection of jesus christ men and women. It is the highlight reel of Christianity, there is so much strength in that. Will you pray with me? Zane is gonna close us out. Lord, I thank you for thinking for easter morning. The resurrection of jesus christ, you’re a good God, you didn’t just die and leave us alone but you rose from the dead and you gave us the holy spirit and you gave us the resurrection power that exists because of jesus christ. I thank you for his work. He did. I think if the blood he spilled his body that was shredded for us Lord, the wrath of mankind, my Wrath, this room’s Wrath, the Church’s Wrath of all the things we’ve ever done, all the punishment. Well, it was poured out on jesus christ I purchase. Really help us to relish that revel in that. I pray it. We’d be honest, Lord with you and do business. A few Lord, jesus name, We pray. Amen.