We have such an amazing church, don't you think? And it's so fun to just be a part of what God's doing. And I just want to just kind of go into this in case, because I know some on Easter, some people travel. And you go visit family and you're gone.
And we had a bunch of people here between Albany and Colesary. And at 2,800 people walk through the grounds, not counting our Easter egg hunt on Easter weekend. And so incredible things happen. But some of you weren't here.
So I just want to walk through a little bit of what happened on Easter Sunday just to kind of set the table for where I'm going this morning. Is that okay? And so we talked on Easter Sunday just a little bit about this. It's just going to do a two minute recap of what we talked about.
And we kind of went through the story of the disciples and the followers of Jesus. They left their businesses. They left their families to follow this person named Jesus. And they get there.
And then it says, after he dies and he's in the grave, a couple of those followers go, we had hoped he was a messiah. All of their hope comes crashing down. They have the triumplet. They think he's going to be the messiah, the savior.
They're going to bring him out of Roman control and from Roman control. And they watch as they lead Jesus in. The hosanna, the way of the palm branches, they're putting the co-tail, the donkeys walking out. They're thinking, this is it.
It's coming. It's going to happen soon. And then all of a sudden one of his disciples betrays him. And all of a sudden in just a few short hours, he's now standing before Pilate and Pilate.
I can't find anything wrong with him. But according to our customer, release either Jesus or release this prisoner, who do you want? This terrible person, Brabas. We want Brabas.
And they're watching as the person that they put all of their hope and their trust in comes crashing down. And they watch as he gets beaten. And he gets taken up the hill to go gotha, the place of the skull. And we watch that take place in our own life.
And we watch him die. And we talk about on Easter, we just talk about the idea. Some of you have watched some moments in your life where you feel like a Friday experience. Some things have died.
Things you put your hopes in your family, your business, your dreams, your kids, your whatever have. All of a sudden we've watched things in the moment. We've had to walk through something and just go, man, this wasn't what I dreamed it was going to be. And it comes crashing down in front of you, like a Friday experience.
And then Saturday, we look at the story of Saturday. In the Bible, there's nothing that talks about what happens except for one verse. They went home and they put spices together. They did this to prepare for the body.
That's all we know. But yet we know that when we walk through some of those moments, the reality that sets in up, this is my new reality. This is what I'm going to have to deal with now. That spouse that walked out, they're really not coming back.
The friends that were with me, they're not, all that, I don't have that anymore. They're not going to walk back into my life. The report you got from the doctor, the new realities I'm going to have to live with this, the thing that you dabble with it, you didn't think it was going to be a deal now you're addicted to. And we walk in and then all of the questions, all the things that go with that whole thing of God, I gave you my, we follow you Jesus.
We left everything and now all of a sudden you're gone and you're dead and we have those questions like God, in the season of my life, how do we get here? But then we have Sunday and hope begins to arise and things begin to change and things begin to happen. And all of a sudden there begins to be hoped for a future that maybe you didn't see a way out of some of the things that you're in and I can imagine the feeling as they're watching this take place. And now they're, they go to the tomb and he's not there and I can imagine they're thinking, this is my new reality but in all reality it's not.
This isn't what I have to deal with the rest of my life. This is what I'm have to face. And they're walking through this whole process going, no look at what just happened. Now the story and they can't put all together, they're still questioning, they're still wondering.
And so this morning I just got a message until end then. And then what happened? Cause I just want to, we so often, have you ever wondered why Jesus didn't immediately just ascend to heaven after his resurrection? Why did he just go into heaven?
Why did he just go, hey all right, I've done what I came to do, I'm just going to hear this is awesome. It's part of the resurrection story that so many times we just skip over what happened next. You know we celebrate the empty tomb and sing the songs of victory, but then we fast forward straight to his ascension and now where he's at the right hand of God, but there's some key things for the church that happened in that time period. But from after he rose from the dead to before he went up to heaven and I just want to hit on those today.
We rarely pause and ask what did Jesus do after the resurrection? And yeah for the 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension were far from silent. There weren't moments that were silent, that Jesus was active, he was intentional, he came alongside and wanted to teach us to cycle some things and walk through some things. And so I just love what he did, the answer is just an historical event, it's a personal event for you and for me and for the disciples.
Those 40 days were not filler, they were intentional and they revealed something about the heart of our savior and how he cares for people and how he cares for you today I think. So let's look this morning at just some reasons on why Jesus remained on earth for 40 days after his resurrection. First one is this, if you're taking notes, you want to write this down? If you're not taking notes then don't write it down.
It's got to work. This is the case you're wondering, this is just you're either right or not. So I don't know why I said that. But here's what goes through my mind sometimes.
My wife goes, this conference is going to end on Saturday at 2.30. And as you know where my mind went, you should probably go to the dentist. 2.30. That's what's going on in my mind, the front row is trying to get away from my message.
She says 2.30 in my mind goes, someone should go to the dentist, come in there 2.30. Okay, anyway, anyway, I don't know. So point number one, reason number one, to prove he was alive. The resurrection wasn't just the spiritual idea, the thought it was a physical, historical reality.
You see in a world of skeptics, even doubting disciples, right? His disciples are doubting, they're wondering they're questioning. Can you imagine you put all your hope in this person and now he's dead and now some people are coming to say, brave and even though you maybe knew that in the back of your mind somewhere that that's what he talked about, you're still going, somebody took him, somebody walked in there, took the body, see somewhere even Thomas, the disciples are like, I don't know if I can believe the story and I'm not gonna believe unless I can touch it myself and see it myself. And I think sometimes we sit in church today and we're like, we kinda are like, we doubt the idea that Jesus rose to the dead, we doubt it, and we can't grasp, we grab hold of that idea.
And this is what he was trying to do. He's trying to show people the reality I am alive. I'm not dead, it wasn't a vision, it wasn't a ghost, it wasn't this story, that was a legend story, he stood in front of them, he spoke with them, he ate some meals with them, why? So they could understand, I'm not just some vision here, watch me, I'm gonna pop this piece of bread in, check this out, and it stayed in, it didn't just fall, they're gone, I'm real, I'm here.
And I think so many times we need to understand that we just, he needed to prove to the disciples that what he had taught him when he told him that he is really alive, it's such an important piece to them, but I think it's an important piece to us that we can learn from like, now all of a sudden, what they begin to believe and transform their life, we can take on to that and say, listen, if the people are close to him, they're starting to transform the way they live, it should as well because hey, there's something true about what happened. See, he appeared first the woman at the tomb, then the Peter, then the followers on the road to Demis, and then the ten disciples behind locked doors, then the Thomas, and finally over 500 people at once, and here's what says in 1st Corinthians 15, 6, then he appeared more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, not today, they're not still alive, that'd be crazy, that they lived over 2,000 years old, though some of honestly, this has then appeared to James, who's James, Jesus brother, why? Because Jesus brother was a skeptic, Jesus brother didn't believe that Jesus was, I mean can you imagine your own brother, we've talked about before, your own brother, like yeah, I'm the Christ and I say, yeah right, there's zero chance, you're the Christ, there's zero chance in the Messiah, but he appears now to James, who ends up becoming one of the leaders of the church, there's something that took place in James, he'd be gonna realize, oh what he talked about, what he said is actually true, teenagers stay awake with me this morning, because there's something here for me, I know he just came out for retreat, but there's something that is here for you, there's some truth in what we're talking about, it's so important, we just grab all the reality of this, this is last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me later on, he appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, right? Jesus comes, why are you persiming me?
Why should many of your appearances, why does he do this? Because Jesus knew how fragile their faith was, and how fragile your faith is. And you can read the story of what happened, you're like, yeah, right, it really happened, and then he goes through, you go, hey, appear to this person, you appear to this person, you appear to this person, you appear to this person, you appear to this person, you appear to these 500, oh wait, they're not just making this thing up, the reality of what happened, he confirmed again and again that the tomb was empty, the resurrection wasn't just an event, it was a person alive, present, and walking around with them, I wanted to just understand that that is such a huge piece, I think to why I believe, because all of these people that were around him began to believe and understand and grab hold of this, see what those appearances did was transform the way the followers that lived. So they were denying him, afraid of him, they running from what they're doing to him at the cross, and after seeing him, everything changes, think about this, everything changes, now if you don't know this, 11, because they brought in another disciple, after Judas kind of killed himself, they bring another 11 of the 12 disciples died of martyrs death, they were running from it, but because of what they saw, and because that Jesus showed up into their world, into their realm, they saw, hey, there's something to what he was talking about, and it transformed the way that they lived their life.
There's something that we can grab from that, as a church today, the reality that Jesus did, the second thing is this, is to teach them the truth of God's word, the whole reason that he came back was, I just wanna emphasize some things of the truth of God's word, that there's some things that were in the Old Testament, that were spoken about me, that become a reality now in what I did it to cross, there's some things that maybe you didn't grab hold of before, but I just wanna point him out to you on the way here, that there's a bunch of things that took place there, and he's coming back to say, the scripture is real, it's true, there's truth in the word of God, listen, if we can grab hold of that, what's in the Bible is true, and he's coming back to his disciples to say, and his followers will listen, I'm gonna teach you some things about this, and we're gonna walk through this, one of the most powerful post resurrection accounts, the scene on the road to the end, is we read it, yes, or last week, the whole idea where we had hoped that he was gonna be our Messiah, right, but following farther down, it says this, or basically kinda recap, two of the followers are walking, they're confused, and heartbroken over what had just happened in Jerusalem, Jesus joins them, and though they don't recognize him, he listens patiently, then he gently rebukes them, and he says this, and he said to them, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe, that all, believe all that the prophets have spoken, so he starts going, hey, do you, I don't know if you're not real fool, he gets basically, no, I didn't say that, he's nicer than I probably would be, I'd have to teach you, he looked at me, why do you yell so much? It's like two year old kid, I'm like, I just, I don't know, I just, I just was passionate about this, I started explaining to two year old, we say, so we go, hey, you're getting this, the prophets spoke about this, he's trying to, he's getting there, what does he do next, he opens the scriptures 26 and 24, what was it necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter in his glory, and beginning with Moses, and all the prophets, he interpreted them in all the scriptures of things concerning himself, so think about this, he goes back to all the prophets, he goes back to all of the stuff, all the way back to Moses, he starts walking him through, hey, I wanna tell you about this, and see how it's said here, and now you saw what happened, and they're like, oh wait, you saw what he talked about here in scripture, and now we're at this spot, hey, you know what it says, he's gonna be crushing, okay, and Jesus was at this point, they don't even realize Jesus is standing there talking about it, and he's walking through this whole process, I mean, think about, can you imagine, so it says, all the thing about this, it's crazy, think about it, they're over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus, hey, this is what's gonna happen, and this is what takes place, and so he's sitting down with them going, hey, I wanna walk you through all of them, not some of them, all of them, hey, remember when I said this, here's what happened to Jesus, oh, I get it, oh, you remember what happened here, that's why small groups and life groups are so important for us to get understanding of the word of God, because it transforms, it gets inside of us, it's like hey, check out the reality of this, to this, the reality of what happened there, this was said, and this happened, and all the prophecies, in fact, it says in scripture, or it says, as you look at scripture, that there's, he was referenced, he was referenced 1845 times in the Old Testament, Jesus was, it says he went through all of them, now that had to be a crash course, he might say, sitting down like dude, you're talking about 845 times, for like, get it already, like what was said, that really happened, I get this, but he's going through all the, I mean, things like this, I could imagine, you guys remember the story of Abraham and Sarah, Abraham's 100, Sarah's 90 years old, right? And they've been expecting this child, they haven't had one yet, about a being, they have a child that 90 years old, I don't know if that's how it works, about a being about a bang, but that's what happened in my mind right now, and so at 90 years old, she has a child, now it's Isaac, right, Abraham and Isaac, and Isaac grows up, he's a teenager, and God tells Moses, or God tells Abraham, he's talking to you, I want to take your son, and can you imagine he's telling this story, I want you to take your son, you're gonna walk up this specific hill over here, some people think it's the same hill, I don't know if it's true, but some people say it's the same hill, Jesus walked up on the way, oh God, I don't know, so I'm just, anyway, I want you to walk up this specific hill, what I want you to do is you're gonna take your son up there, you're one and only son, and you're gonna take your son up, you're gonna sacrifice him on this altar up there, and so can you imagine that as a dad, like okay, this makes no sense, so I'm taking his son up this altar, or up this mountain, right, he's on his way up this hill, and he gets there, and he puts him on the altar, he's getting ready to kill, he's getting ready to kill, and there's a sacrificial animal over here, that's in the bushes, why don't you bring that put on there, and he's going, do you see what had to happen, that Jesus had to walk, Isaac carried the sticks, Jesus carried the sticks, walking up the hill, and then all of a sudden Jesus had to be the sacrificial lamb for your standard for mine, and he's trying to get the pieces, he's gonna go like, this was just a story then, it's not just a story now, these two kind of, is foreshadowing what took place, and can you imagine just the understanding and the things are going on in their life, they're like wow, yeah, that's incredible, and it goes on to say this, and it says in Luke 24, 32, later after they finally recognized, and they still don't know what Jesus is, we're not a hearts burning within us while he's speaking to us on the road, wasn't there something going on going, hey, there's something to this, what he's saying, oh yeah, that makes sense, there's something going on in second, all that makes sense, and putting two and two together, this happened, this happened, the Bible said this had to happen, and then we watched it happen with Jesus, oh that happened, and we're watching it take place, and I can just imagine things in their heart be gonna burn like, there's something to what we're reading, there's something to what this guy's telling me, there's something to this, see the risen Christ didn't just show up, he taught, he interpreted scripture, he connected the dots from Genesis, all the way through to Malachi, he's going, hey, connect this, I know you saw this, I know you saw this in the Old Testament, to the New Testament, and he's connecting all of the dots, and he showed them the cross and the resurrection, wasn't some deed to her, wasn't some problem that happened, it was the destination of what needed to happen, that all throughout the Old Testament is talking about this day, and now Jesus goes across, and he's teaching them through the process, it's pretty amazing, he's proven that God keeps his word, and he still does today, there's promises that you can grab in God's word that were there for you, to grab a holder for your situation, he's trying to realize that his word was alive, inactive, and it still is alive and active for you today, he's wanting to grab a hold of that, the third reason is he wanted to build the faith of his followers, Jesus' disciples were shaken, fear, confusion, doubt, fill the air, so the resurrected Christ met with them where they were, literally where they were, spiritually where they were, he appeared in lock rooms, he walked on roads, he joined them at meals, he showed up in their confusion, not with condemnation, but with comfort, so take Thomas for example, they call him what, the doubting Thomas, right, he wasn't there the first time Jesus appeared, so the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless this is John 20, 25, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I'll never believe, I don't care what you guys are telling me, well there's zero chance I'm believing, unless I see it myself, I love that Jesus, in that moment he doesn't say, Thomas come on buddy, figure it out, and I love that because some of you, you have doubts and you have concerns and you have questions and you have questions that God's doing, hey I wanna come right to where you're at, to your questions, to your concerns, to your doubts, to your fears, and I wanna, I did it, then I'll do it now, I'll walk you through some of the things, it's okay to have the questions, it's okay to have the doubts, it's okay, his disciples even had him with what they had been and what they had walked through, so how would Jesus do, he came back, he showed Thomas's hands and his side, and Thomas responded to worship, he said in John 20, 26 to 28, eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, could you imagine that? You'd serve doors are locked, I'll say Jesus pops in the room, yeah, yeah, think about some of the things that happened, Jesus rose from the desk, his actually dead people got out of the graves, they started walking on the city, I mean, oh Uncle Jimmy, like, what's going on?
You know, like where did you come from, we say, I mean, I don't give him that, that's a whole other deal, but can you imagine, Jesus now walks into a room, through a locked door and he's standing there but yet, he's throwing himself, he's touching me right here, I'm here, I'm legit here, I'm not some ghost, I'm not, you can see right here, touch my hand, touch my hand, he says, she just came and stood among them and he said, peace be with you, someone's maybe, just need to hear that, this morning, he came, just no matter your questions, no matter your doubts, no matter your concerns, you go listen, hey, peace, it's gonna work out, we're gonna get through this, we can figure this out. They said to Thomas, put your finger here, and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it on my side, do not disbelieve, but believe, Thomas and my Lord, my God, he says, notice that Jesus didn't crush it out with guilt, he confronted with grace, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me, he said, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed, John chapter 20, that's us, that we believe even though we didn't see, but the reason some of us can believe is because of the stories of the disciples and what they went through, that they could prove that it happened, so he can come back and lean on this, years down the road, it's a direct encouragement to us today, the fourth reason is this, to keep them focused on the mission, the resurrected Christ just didn't come to strengthen his followers, he commissioned them, the reason he came was to commission his followers, the great commission was a crescendo of multiple appearances where Jesus repeatedly reminded his disciples, you're my witnesses, you've seen it, you've experienced it, you've heard the stories, you've read the scripture, now you'll be a witness to this, there's truth in the scripture, there's truth to that, that was raised from this, there's truth to all of this, you can grab ahold of this, now you're to be my witnesses, the same is for us today, that we're supposed to be the witnesses, we've experienced this, we've experienced this, we've had no idea what this is, the same message of I want you to go into all the world and it's the same today as it was then, that's what the church, well you know what they say, there's interesting, they say eight out of 10 people come to church and they were just asked, it used to be four out of 10, today's what, there's a hunger for the things of God, right now they say eight out of 10, what if our church would just do the mission that God asked us to do, take the gospel, it says to go to the other most parts of the year, that speaks to central Minnesota, we got a lot of farmers, other most parts, he's talking to you guys, he's talking to the city, he's talking to the church and the country, go to the other most parts, okay, sorry, I was dumb, I'm, I'm, I'm, sorry, but Luke 24, let's get back to this, Jesus tells them, we'd be done way earlier if I didn't have tangents, the things that they say, Luke 24, Jesus tells them that the repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, and I think the church as a whole misses out on this one, repentance and forgiveness, there's gotta be a point where there's repentance, there's not just free rolling, I can do whatever I want, I can live whatever I want, I can talk to everyone, no, there's repentance and forgiveness, thousands of churches today will tell half the story, just like the guys on the road, they'll talk about crucifixion, they'll talk about the perfect life, they'll talk about Jesus being nailed across, they'll talk about the nine inch pegs that being stuck, you know, stuck through his wrists and through his feet, they'll talk about all that, but they'll leave out the whole idea of repentance, it's not a word that a lot of people like to talk about, we don't like the idea in the country, but I've got to turn from the sentence in my life, there's this moment where Jesus messes with repentance and forgiveness, not just forgiveness and love, not just, this message has been warped and incomplete and it leads no one really to where Jesus wants us to go to. See, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10 just says this, Godly sorrow brings repentance, that leads to what, to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation.
See, there should be a sadness in our hearts because of the sin that's in our lives, I love Romans chapter 12 verse 9, it says, love must be sincere, hate what is evil, cling to what is good. There's a moment in our lives where we've got to, I hate the sin that's in my life, I can no longer live this direction, I can no longer keep going that direction, I can no longer keep doing this, and why? Because sin breaks the heart of God. Yeah, I think, can you guys tell me this morning?
Cain has no idea what he's already gonna do. See, God's on one side, the world's on the other. Let's just, that's just for you, you be God. You're not, okay, now you're not God, I'm, it's my wife.
You were not God, but for the illustration you are, you got that? You're not God, just tell everybody. Okay, I'm kidding, you're not God, you're the illustration, you're the world. There's a reason I put you over here.
I'm just kidding, I'm joking, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But God on one side, the world on the other, see repentance is turning away from the world and turning towards God. Repentance is this idea is I'm turning away from the world, I'm turning away from sin and I'm turning my life to God. I'm saying this is the direction I'm going, I'm leaving my past, I'm leaving the sin behind me, I'm leaving that back there.
I'm not living in that anymore, I'm going this direction with my life. There's this moment, this thing. See, what do you do? What do you do is, is so many of us are trying to do two things at once.
We're trying to live in the world, we're trying to live for God, we're trying to live in the world, trying to live for God and God's saying, no, it doesn't work that way. We don't live in sin. In fact, what else you can be like with darkness, they don't go together. It doesn't work that way.
You've got to come to the spot where you go, hey, I've got to say, well, we'll just get in this. I'll just go quick here. See, repentance is a picture of us drawing near to God. When we move towards God, he moves towards us, when I take a step towards God, God takes a step towards us.
It's this idea, this concept, this thing that's happening, repentance is a picture of that. See, here's what it says in James 4, 8 through 10. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you've done. It's not just this whole, oh, I'm like, God, forgive me. God, I messed up.
No, there's a moment where something inside is broken. God, I'm so sorry for the mess I've made in my life. I'm so sorry for the sin. I'm not just going to keep running and doing the same thing.
There's this repentance moment. There's something going on. I mean, torn between two worlds. And God, this thing's been winning out.
And God, forgive me for that. There's this brokenness. There's this moment. It's just didn't let the tears what you've done, let there be sorrow and deep grief.
Not just like, I just not that big of a deal. Sometimes I think the church thinks the sin that's in your life, there's no big deal. I can just do whatever I want, not a big deal. No, he's saying, let there be deep grief inside your heart.
Something that kind of, it comes down into the deep inside of who you are. Let there be sadness instead of laughter. Don't just blow it off like, not a big deal. I mean that there's no, there's not, there's sadness.
I can't believe I broke the heart of God. I can't believe I did this. I can't believe I made that decision. And gloom instead of joy, humble yourself before the Lord.
And he will lift you up in honor. He says your loyalty is divided between two. You pull this way, you pull that way. You pull towards God, you pull away from God.
Every time I dabble in sin, here's what I do. Every time I dabble in sin, I turn my back on God. Every time, every time I dabble with sin, I'm turning my back on God. I say, no, I want this more than I want to, because here's the reality is I can't look both directions at the same time.
I got some things in my peripheral, but I'm either turning one direction, my head's turning, I'm going there, or I'm going this direction. He's saying, repentance is turning from this and going to this or living for sin and going this direction. He said, come on, there's this, there's this moment. There's this time.
He said, listen, I'm trying to get you. Every time I dabble and say, turn my back. I turn my face in the world in contrast. That's what we do with our lives.
So you can't face both at the same time. If you're here today struggling halfway in and halfway out, you're going to turn one way or the other. See what every time, every time, here's the thing, every time it happens is every time I turn this way, I take a step towards God, he takes a step towards me. But every time I do this, and I turn this way, I take a step away from God.
And God and sin can't be in the same place. And so he doesn't take a step towards me. He stands there waiting for me to come back here and take another step. And so there's this separation that happens.
And they say, that's what we got to do is we have this God, this moment where there's this repentance going. I don't want to do this anymore. I keep going away from where God wants me to go. In church, he's calling us to repentance.
You guys can go ahead and be seated. Praying, reading the Bible worship, showing up at church. Those are moments of taking steps towards God. There's other things we could come up with that we could do moving the direction.
But let's do it. We can't move towards God every single day. We need to repent daily, not just every once in a while, not just on Sunday to go wake up, oh God, just forgive me. God, I don't want to go after those things.
I'm not trying to go after those things. I'm trying to go after you. This is what I want. It's what the idea of holiness, you must turn from your sin.
See if we don't turn from our sin, there's a whole other idea and concept. That's hell. God's grace is there, but there's a definite. I call for repentance.
So we go through, come to a close this morning, skipping a bunch of things. And Luke 24, 45 said, then they opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And they said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer on the third day, rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. Beginning from Jerusalem, you're saying, listen, we got to take this, now this message, that you've got this thing that God's done in your life, you got to take it somewhere else.
Before they could go, they had to wait, especially for Holy Spirit to empower them, and Luke chapter 24, go wait, wait, the Holy Spirit's gonna come, I want you to go there and wait. And Matthew 28 just gave the full mission, therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son of Holy Spirit, teach these new disciples obey, all the commands, not some of them. I've given you, and be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, we're forced to end, and he knew every, he made sure that everyone knew their task.
The task is still the same church. It's for us to get the gospel of what Jesus did to everyone that doesn't know. To make disciples, to preach the gospel, to baptize believers, that's just not my job, it's a church's job. Teach obedience and know he would be with them to the end.
The risen Christ didn't just rise, he mobilized the people, the last one, this is super quick. Is he, just to remind us he's coming back. Find Jesus stayed for 40 days to give his disciples a preview, and what was to come in Acts 1, is they're still looking out toward his ascension, two angels appear and say, then this Jesus will come in just the same way as you've watched him go into heaven. This wasn't a good buy, this is I'm coming back.
Until I get back here, the 40 days between the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection and the king who rose one day will return again for his church, closing thoughts, the last couple of things, it's important for us to understand that the 40 days following the resurrection weren't a pause in the plan, they were a pivotal part of the plan. Why? Because we grabbed so much from what happened in those 40 days in our life. He's still doing the same thing today.
Jesus stayed to prove he was alive, to confirm the scriptures, to deepen our faith of the followers, to mobilize the disciples for mission and to prepare us for his return. He meets you in your doubts, he opens his word to us and he allows it to come alive. He calls us into his mission, he reminds us that hope is alive, and that our king is returning, so as you're flaked back on Easter, don't miss out on the next 40 days. On what Jesus did, don't stop at the empty tomb.
Remember the risen Christ has spent 40 days with his disciples and who still abides with us through his Holy Spirit today. So I don't know where you're at, I don't know what's going on in life every head by every other close just for a moment. You're in this room today, we're just talking about some important pieces to why Jesus came. He came to just to prove that he was alive.
And some of you, you just need to hear that today. You just need to realize that, yeah, there's some of the reason he's stuck around with the show as disciples, hey, I'm not dead any longer. I'm still in this, I still got this, and for some of you in the room, that's what you needed to hear today, that he is alive, he's active, he's here for you. Then he didn't just do that, but he wanted to come alongside and open some scriptures and go, hey, here's the truth of God's word, some of you, you've had a hard time believing God's word.
And I hope today as you look at this, that Jesus started pulling things out and pulling things out to prove all of these things, these prophetic things that were told about in the Old Testament were true in the New Testament, were true at the death and burial and the resurrection of Jesus. And then he didn't see that. And then he goes on, he wanted to encourage you, those that had doubts and concerns and struggles. And you're in the room today, and maybe some of you fit in one of those three camps this morning, you're struggling, you just need to go out and show up, you just wonder God where you've been, what's going on, you say, listen, I came to the disciples and the midst of their craziness, I'm here for you too.
I came here in the midst of their struggle with the midst of their battles. And some of you just, I just needed to hear that, the to buy into this whole thing that God really did die and rose from the dead again. You say, no, look around, you say this to me, you're talking to me, Kermit this morning, come on, cross them, yeah, yeah, yeah. A bunch of us, here's the next part though, repentance.
Some of us, we've been living in sin, and not thinking it's a big deal. We've been running our own race, it's the race that God's got for us. And this morning he's calling you, you say, come on, there's something about turning from where you've been and going in the direction of Jesus. And some of you, there has to be a moment of this spot of holiness, he's calling you out of Jesus, here we go, hey, there's something inside, I'm sorry God, I messed up, I've been making some decisions that be going down the wrong road.
I, today God, I just call him, I asked you to forgive me, maybe some of you in the room, you haven't gotten down that road ever. And you've been kind of just playing the game of church and God's saying, he's calling you out to a spot of holiness. He's calling you out to a spot of like, of repentance this morning and say, Kirby, you're talking to me this morning, come on, cross room, that's you, come on, hands up, cross room, that's you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, lots of you, come on, if that's you this morning, yeah, he's calling you into something. Yeah, you see, it's time to repent, time to get some things back in order.
It's not time to play the church game, it's time to figure this thing out. You go, I'm all in God, I'm all in. Last question I'm gonna ask is this, this morning, it's just maybe some of you have never given your life to Jesus. You've never given Jesus a chance and you're in the room today, you say, you know, Kirby, I've never given my life to Jesus.
If there's a God that loved me so much, he came and died across and just didn't stay dead, but rose to the dead. From my sin, he was a sacrifice from me. I need that today, I've been given that for a minute, I've not lived before and he's saying this to me, I just want to give my life right today. He says to me across the room.
Yeah, what else? Anyone else? You just stand with me this morning. Here's what I want to do this morning.
I know it's hard for someone to make a step like this, but if God's speaking to you, if there's some things that you just been questioning, why don't you just say, I just need to give these things to God. Maybe there's a moment where you just gotta go, okay, it's time for me to repent. I'm coming to a spot where saying, God, I'm not going back, I'm turning over. This thing that you are pursuing you, I'm coming to repent, I'm saying, God, I want to give you my life.
Here's what you do as a band saying, I just want us to just make a spot in an altar where we say, okay, God, I just need you in this moment. I need to speak like other things that you've done, the things that you spoke to. I want your word to come alive, and my life has been as it been. But I want to commit to getting into your word and understanding the truth out of there.
It could be a multiple of things this morning, but as a band saying, I just want you to come about this one saying, God, here it is. I'm repenting, here it is, I'm recommending your word. Here it is, I'm trusting in you again. Come on as they sing, watch it, just come.
We're the Lord, we're the Lord, we're the Lord. We're the Lord, we're the Lord. We'll receive power and wisdom and majesty unto you, Christ our King. Select your end, Father, eternal, you receive and the wisdom and majesty to you.
Christ our King, just come. Imagine still to you, Lord, He's unto you, Christ our King, to then your end. Now we come today. God, each one of us may be in our chair and altar just come into you in a different thing.
Maybe it's an here you stand, we're just covering. Maybe it's just got to commit to your word. Maybe it's just a moment where you're like, I just need you to meet me and send my doubts and some of my questions and some of my concerns. Maybe I'm just coming to say, God, I know you're coming back and I'm just going back to God to that spot as I'm going on mission.
I want to be on mission to what you're calling me to do, to reach the people that are in my world. And so God, we just come as a church in different areas in different spots, all coming to the same reality that we want you in our life, that we want to live our lives abandoned to you, God's sold out to you. So God, I pray for those that are walking through doubts and fears, come on, meet them right now, like you did with the disciples. God, for those that are just wanting to know that, God that your word is real, I pray as they open your word, that truths would come alive.
God that you get plugged into place, God, for those that are on mission, put people in their path that they can reach. God, I pray you give them boldness and faith. God, I pray for those that are in this room. God that they went and waited for the Holy Spirit.
God that even in this moment, you baptize people with your Holy Spirit. God, for those that are coming up and talking to repentance. God, we come not to just lay in here, but to not go back to what we've done. God, we pray your presence, it would sweep this altar, would sweep this room, cover us, forgive us, help us God.
They got it. God, I just want to give you my life. We would have to just repeat this very dear Heavenly Father. I come to you today.
Thank you that you sent your son Jesus, to dying across from me. God is so cool that he didn't stay dead, but that Jesus you rose. And so God, I pray to help me not to live out of life. There is a Savior.
Help me not to live free, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Well, thanks for being here. If you want someone to pray to you, we'll be around.
Otherwise have a great week. We'll see you next week. Thanks for being here today.