You would please just make yourself make your way to a table and happy Easter everybody. Happy Resurrection Sunday we are here today to celebrate with the church around the globe celebrating in every nation around the globe a celebrating resurrection of Jesus and so we're here to do that today if you're a guest we just want to say welcome we're glad you're here and would you please stand your feet with me as we prepare to welcome Jesus into the space Father God we thank you for today we thank you you're the king forever and we're here to celebrate you in Jesus name would you bless this gathering of your people everybody said amen amen all right where's the Lord sing I got I got a firm foundation our you know solid ground relations are asking for think it up we know what song now she can we trust forever in your name the name of Jesus can we trust we trust the name of Jesus you are the only king forever you are the only king forever forever forever you are become from here is you thank you forever you are the only king forever ever you are being tortured you are being a man now you're a sound in love and justice you will bring everything you will We'll bow. Great. Great rain, correct citations.
Our hope is anger that your name, the name of Jesus. Oh, whoa, we trust the name of Jesus. You are the only king forever. I'm mighty God I lift you higher.
You are the only king forever. Forever more. You are victorious. You are the only king forever.
I'm mighty God I lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Forever more. You are the toria.
Your kingdom has no way. We lift your banner. We lift the name, as you raise your reign. Your kingdom has no way.
We lift our name. We lift the name of Jesus. From as you raise your reign. Your kingdom has no way.
You are victorious. You are the only king. I lift you higher. You are the only king forever.
You are the toria. There's another song. Little bit faster. One thing of place to eat this weary soul.
This backbones. There we go. I try. I try with all my might.
But I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting. A backbone. And just when I'm without road, I'm met a man.
Then he told me that I was the master. I think I say good because you heal my heart. You change my name forever free. Not the same.
I think the master. I think the savior. I think I. Whoa.
Night. Whoa, I cannot deny what I've seen. Got no choice but you believe. My doubts are burning.
Like ashes in the wind. Whoa, so long to my whole friends. Burning and bitter. There's you can just keep them moving.
No, from now till I walk. I'll see you how wayward sun has found its way back full. He turned me round and plays a piece. All the ground.
I think the master. I think the savior. Because you heal my heart. You change my name forever free.
I think the master. I think the savior. Whoa, I think. All right, we're going to sing this part super, super loud.
Because what this says is, he'll lost another one. And I am free. So if you are free today, we are going to declare that yes. All right, here we go.
He'll lost another one. And I am free. Oh, I am free. Oh, I am free.
He'll lost another one. And I am free. I am free. Oh, I am free.
He'll lost another one. I am free. Oh, I am free. I am free.
He'll lost another one. I am free. I am free. Oh, I am free.
Let's go. He'll lost another one. I am free. I am free.
I am free. Because you pick me up. You turn me around and plays my feet on the solid ground. I think the savior.
Because you change my name. You turn me around and plays my feet on solid ground. I think the master. I think the savior.
You hear because you heal my heart, you change my name forever free I am not the same, I think the master, I think the savior, I thank God Thank you Lord, that hell lost another one and we are free, we are free indeed because of all that you have done Lord we celebrate the fact that you have risen and in your resurrection there is power in your name Oh we love you Lord, we thank you for saving us, we thank you for your atonement of our sin God we are forever changed because of you Thank you Lord This is a new song for those who have been with us for a long time But what the song talks about is that going to this chorus, we are praising the Lord, His mercy is more His mercy is stronger than darkness and new every morning And our sins are many, but His mercy is more Our sins are many, His mercy is more And we are just seeing about that in this today, this true statement That regardless of what we have done, His mercy, oh His mercy Is what His saved us and redeemed us Thank you Lord Praise the Lord, His mercy is more New every morning, our sins they are many, His mercy is more What love could remember, no wrongs we have done Our nations all know we meet, count's not there some Thrown into the sea without thought of more sure Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord, His mercy is more It's stronger than darkness, new every morning His sins they are many, His mercy is more What patience would wait as we constantly roam What Father so tender is calling us home He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Oh praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new every morning Our sins they are many, His mercy is more What riches of kindness He lavished on us His blood was the payment, His life was the cost We stood beneath the dead, we could never afford Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more Oh it's more, praise the Lord, His mercy is more Than darkness, new every morning Our sins they are many, His mercy is more When we're time, praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than dust, new every morning Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Let's sing that one more time Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Every morning, our sins they are many, His mercy is more Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Jabayur heads with me Father it is good to sing your praises this morning To exalt your name in the assembly of your people To remember your death and sacrifice your mercies that are more They far outrun our past, they far outrun Lord our sin your mercy far outruns all of these things We thank you for new life that you've given us a new identity as your sons and daughters And today we are able to sing and celebrate and rest in the reality of what you did for us Not what we do for you, but what you did for us And we say that you did it all and you did it well Thank you for atoning for us and thank you for conquering sin and death and hell and the grave To give us new life and to make us your children Lord we invite you to hear today Jesus would you come walk amongst us today Jesus would you lay your hands on every person in this space And I pray Lord your whisper the whisper of your love the whisper of your truth the whisper of your reality God would pierce every single one of our lives our souls our minds afresh today let resurrection life touch us We welcome you here Jesus in the power of your spirit Oh to bring new life to bring new life Even the dead areas of our soul of our life you bring new life And I declare today that you make all things new that you were able to make all things new that you are not limited by our own weaknesses our own narratives you are not limited so we say come be God amongst us today do what you want to do amongst us today Jesus name we do this would you just open up your hands just open up your hands to Him and just as a consecration would you just say Lord here I am just say here I am just say I'm open to you I'm just open say come breathe on me come breathe on me Father we commit ourselves to you for us today as your people come breathe on us come open our minds to hear your truth and word today would you come burn in our hearts the beautiful truth of resurrection life and all God's people said amen amen amen can we give the Lord a hand today your worthy Lord your worthy of our lives yes and amen worship team thank you guys so much man I appreciate you guys for leading us at this time we are going to release our kids and our kids leaders to go to kids church so we bless you guys have a great time today and while that's happening you guys are welcome to take a seat yeah we'll get this at a firm all right all right good morning everyone welcome to Easter Sunday here at every nation church for those of you who may be new today my name is Perry I'm the lead pastor here and I have the privilege of being your host today in our morning and what we're going to do you may notice that you are sitting at tables for some of you this may be new to come into a church gathering where we're seated at tables but I want you to know for us this is really intentional at every nation church here we believe that life and being the church is better done in circles than rows because we believe that when we gather we come together that God wants to grow us relationally as well as spiritually and so we're going to get a chance at your tables just to welcome one another to introduce yourselves but also we're going to actually introduce a question at your table that you get a chance to answer and we invite you to do that we're going to give you a few minutes just to chat at your tables and then I'll be right back in just a moment and guide us in the rest of our gathering so God bless you guys enjoy introduce yourselves oh here's a special question what's something simple that made you smile today or this week so share one of those incursments with one another and we'll be back in just a few minutes oh no the name will I pray for you all right good morning happy Easter the resurrection day as some like to prefer that over happy Easter so good to see you this room is so full of life which is right isn't it yeah it's so good my name is Danielle I am a pastor I used to be the teaching pastor here but now I'm no longer on staff but I do come in and serve and teach from time to time and I help equip our preaching team kind of behind the saints that's one of the ways I volunteer so I'm glad to be with you this morning it's a beautiful day in there and in here and one of the things that we like to do here at every nation is when we read the scripture we like to stand like it's a fully embodied experience so I'd actually like to ask you one more time to stand up please as we read the word of God I'm gonna read it this is from the NIV actually I'm not gonna read it we're gonna see hello sir you know grab parries Mike this is an audible that we just pulled at the team that know we were doing so I asked Franklin to read the word for us today thank you thank you so Luke chapter 24 verse 115 on the first day of the week very early in the morning the woman took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb they found the stone road away from the tomb but when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were wondering about this suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them in their fright the woman bowed down with your faces to the ground but the man said to them why do you look for the dead he's not here he has risen remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee the son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners be crucified and on the third day be raised again then they remembered his words when they came back from the tomb they told all these names to the 11 and to all the others it was Mary Magdalene Joanna married a matter of James and the others with them who told this to the apostles but they did not believe the woman because the other words seemed to them like nonsense Peter however got up and run to the tomb bending over he saw the strips of living in line by themselves and he went away wondering to himself what had happened now that same day two of them were going to a village called Amelus about seven miles from Jerusalem they were talking with each other about everything that had happened as they talked and discussed these days with each other Jesus came up Jesus himself came up and walked along with them this is the word of the Lord thank you Franklin thank you Lord for your word preserved for us through history and time God I pray that you'd open our eyes to see not just the words but to see you and the power of your spirit Lord in them open our heart to receive it our ears to hear you and maybe not just be hearers of the word but doers of the word for Jesus thank you God for today bless this time and we pray you have your way in our hearts amen amen can be seated I'd like to invite you to picture this scene with me on the very first Easter early in the morning while the city is still sleeping a group of women are quietly moving through the streets carrying burial spices carefully prepared probably expensive think a tank of gas in 2026 what they're doing in that moment is a sacrificial act of love in Jewish burial customs anointing a body was really one of the most loving most intimate things you could do you didn't send someone else you went yourself and that's the scene in the story that's playing out for them that story that's motivating their actions makes sense to them they had watched Jesus die they had seen where he was buried they knew exactly where they were going and they knew exactly what they were going to do anoint his dead body with the spices but when they arrived they see something they didn't expect the stone is rolled away they walk in there's no body to anoint just an empty space where Jesus had been sit without him in permanent Luke describes them in the text that we just read and says they were wondering the Greek word there doesn't quite fill in or sorry the English word doesn't fill in the whole aspect of the Greek word which is they were perplexed completely at a loss as to what was happening their minds had no category for what their eyes were seeing in the story they were acting on that morning in the narrative driving all their preparation and planning Jesus is dead and dead people don't move they stay where they were laid but the real story in front of them isn't that story is it in the next moment we read two figures appear in a blinding light the women drop to the ground in terror and the angels say something to them that rings out why do you look for the living among the dead that question I think is a key to what's happening it's not a rhetorical question it's diagnostic let's consider who these women are for a moment if you're not familiar with the story these women are devoted followers of Jesus they're not enemies they're not skeptics they're not strangers they followed him they listened carefully to what he said they served him they loved him they got up while the city was still asleep to take care of his body and yet they're living out of a story that has been looking for the wrong thing the dead body of Jesus their preparation they're planning their emotions their thoughts their steps were all organized entirely around a story that they held but it's a story that's not true Jesus had told them three times in Luke's gospel that he would be crucified that he would die and then on the third day he would rise again they'd heard it more than once but listen carefully their hearing of it didn't change what they would believe and it didn't change their behavior when the time came so when he died they defaulted to the only narrative that felt real he's gone his dead body needs care we need to orient our life around preparing and taking spices to his tomb that actually felt the most true for them and the most loving response their grief was real their love for him and devotion were real but the story they're living from was wrong and we read it wasn't just the women that were living from a false narrative they went to the disciples they told them about the story yet when they hear the news the very thing Jesus had promised would happen they call it nonsense not because it contradicts what Jesus said but because it doesn't fit what they think the disciples the women are holding on to a different story Peter to his credit of course he runs to see right and then he finds the linens there and it actually says he's also wondering which is a different Greek word that one needs astonished or maced but in any event whether it's the way the women are wondering or the way the disciples are wondering the problem is the same in both scenarios the physical evidence isn't enough to break through because it's not the problem isn't a lack of evidence right they both saw it with their eyes the problem is the narrative they're clinging to in just in case we're not convinced that that's what's happening we go to the road of the two enemias they're downcast they're processing their shattered hopes and the reason Jesus himself walks up beside them and they don't recognize him why because they're so inside their story they're so inside their narrative of loss and disappointment it's so real they can't even see who's standing next to them they can't see the true story that Jesus had promised would be true if you go back and read that text later in verse 25 Jesus caused it out specifically he says how foolish you are and how slow to believe what the prophets have spoken they just don't believe it the patterns consistent across every person in the passage in fact when you open the gospel of Luke it starts with a story of Zacharias not believing the word from the angel it's a really consistent pattern their actions their emotions their relationships all of it's being driven by narrative that isn't true but the tragedy is the story the true story was available to them they just didn't let it be more real than the narrative they were living from now i think it's easy to point fingers at some a character you know or real person in a story especially when you can see the next page over and be like why are you so hard headed right have any of you ever believed in acting from an narrative you thought was true only to find out later it wasn't maybe parts were but your interpretation of those parts turned out to be the wrong story yeah i have it can be so embarrassing and it can be hurtful which i think is perhaps one reason why we cling to the one we're holding so avoid that embarrassment that we were wrong especially if it's about people or things we care about so i know it can be hard to admit it when we hold on to false narratives so i'll go first okay i have a vivid memory of when i held onto an act on an narrative i believed but wasn't true and this is so humbling when my four kids were young i kept a bowl of fruit out on the kitchen counter i figured if it was out there and they could see it they would be more likely to eat it i was trying to encourage healthy eating habits well one day i noticed an apple had been taken out of the bowl a bite or two had been taken out of it and then they put the apple back in the bowl i was so annoyed i grew up with food insecurity and to this day i don't like wasting food i'm working through so i cut out the bite marks i did throw that away thank the lord slice the apple and i served the apple alongside a lecture about not wasting food uh for lunch that day and told me at least next time put it in the fridge and save it for later right like that's reasonable well everyone in our house denied having done it every single one of them well a few days later this same thing happened another apple bites missing in the bowl same situation and i knew somebody was lying right are you with me you're like somebody's not telling the truth and i've got pretty young kids there the evidence was right in front of me i reason i had to be one of them no one else was living in our house i was confident i had all the facts i needed i was making a logical conclusion so that second apple i cut it and i served it for snack with another lecture and if you night flater i was in the kitchen we kept the computer in there now sitting there working on the computer it was late everybody was asleep it was a very quiet in the house and i heard a noise and i turned and i saw a rat coming from behind the refrigerator headed straight for the fruit bowl i gasped it ran back behind the fridge and when i recovered from the shock the full weight of what i had done settled on me i fully believed one of my children had taken bites out of the apple and put it back in the bowl i had all the evidence i needed i was so convinced of my narrative i found my children rat pit apples not once twice you guys the story i believe that was wrong i was confident and i was wrong thankfully all my children are healthy and grown with no side effects at least not from the apples they may have side effects for my parenting but as hilarious and awful as that true story is here's what i want you to notice i did it maliciously construct the narrative that one of them was lying i wasn't trying to be unfair i looked at the evidence available to me i drew the most reasonable conclusion and i became certain so certain that one of my when all of my children told me something different i decided they were all lying rather than consider my narrative might need revision and the reality is we all do this constantly and our tv our phones news and now ai encourages us to do that and probably now more than ever it's so important that we hold our narratives loosely i just sent another a video and i think i'm pretty discerning i sent a video to one of my sons he's like mom and say i i i then i looked at all the comments not one person mentioned that it was ai but as i looked really close i thought yeah i think it is we have to hold our narratives loosely and honestly it can happen so fast we don't even know it in relationships maybe a friend is distant they don't engage they didn't respond to a text in several days and it might even be that situation where you know they read it and they didn't respond in an effort to be discerning about that we get judgmental let me say that again in an effort to be discerning we end up getting judgmental because we're filling in the blanks of why we decide we know exactly why and we treat them based on the story we're holding on to it happens at work right somebody gets a promotion and you begin to feel in a narrative maybe about favoritism maybe about your place in the company about what may or may not happen and then you begin to act on it relationally emotionally maybe for weeks or longer and it's all based on your interpretation of what you think are the facts and we ignore that we don't actually have all the evidence or something could be missing in our story i think it happens so casually we don't even know it as i begin to learn about a lot of this i've been studying a lot about communication i began to listen for people's stories and sometimes i would lean in and say something along the lines of do you know if that's the reason for sure and often confidently and quickly they would say yes because it feels true and perhaps because when we live believing our own narratives long enough it has the flavor of fact so why am i talking about this on easter because the narratives we believe determine how we live and the eastern narrative is one of the most important true stories that can change your whole life if you believe it if you're a Christ Father in this room i want to help you see the women at the tomb were not unfaithful to Jesus the disciples were not lacking in their commitment they were true followers of Jesus and they were human beings doing exactly what human beings do which is living from a story that felt most real then narrative they were living from was louder in their souls than the truth that Jesus had given them even though they were really devoted my guess based on what i know about human nature and even just reading the rest of the gospels is they had a pattern of living from narratives that were filled in by their own assumptions and ideas and they struggled with letting go of those and letting what the truth that Jesus was giving them replaced it therefore when it mattered the most and that's when it comes out in those high-stress situations when it mattered the most the default was their pattern like them i think if we let incomplete or false narratives drive our interpersonal relationships with one another guaranteed the same pattern is at work with your relationship with God guaranteed narratives are powerful forces they leave like groove marks like on a dirt road and it's driven over again and again and then it's got those embedded grooves because you see Jesus told them he would rise but they were living like he was dead preparing planning emoting like he was dead if you get quiet and you're sold this morning and you listen for the narratives that are driving you i wonder what you'd find i think a key is to look at how you're acting because it's narratives that drive that based on what you're believing most importantly what's a narrative you believe about God it may not even be a narrative that you chose deliberately so listen it might be one that formed in disappointment when you didn't get the outcome you hoped for and it were groove in your soul or maybe it formed in fear and you concluded God isn't a very loving God or you had a season where you were praying and praying and praying and nothing happened and it formed a groove maybe it was a narrative given to you from a family member or a friend a narrative that says God isn't real or if he is he doesn't really come through for me he doesn't care about us personally he's actually close i'm on my own in this world these are all some of those background narratives that can form and then impact our emotions if you find yourself worrying a lot maybe deep down there's a belief that he's powerless if you carry anxious burdens maybe you're living as if he's unaware maybe it's just that you plan on living today as if God's not very relevant to your life then you're living like he's dead so as a pastor i want to hold this tenderly i know how real this can be even if you've never said it out loud these kinds of stories in our soul can still drive our emotions and actions every day it can cause us to live prayerless wordless norm and missing the truth of the resurrection let me encourage you if you're not an off lift your head right now let me encourage you God has a different story for you to live from the angels question cuts right through the narratives that shrink who God is why are you looking for the living among the dead said another way if you don't believe the resurrection narrative you won't live the resurrection life nor will you encounter its power think about the narrative you're living from are you organized around a reduced version of who Jesus is it doesn't include the power of resurrection life do you prepare plan and live with some modern version of carrying around burial spices as if he's dead because what you believe informs how you live for the women and the other disciples the belief that he was dead did not alter the reality of his resurrection let me say that again the belief that he was dead didn't alter the reality of his resurrection it only altered their life and their experience of the resurrection the tomb was empty whether the women understood it or not the linen lay there in his body didn't whether peter believed it or not the tomb on the road were downcast and depressed and despairing but Jesus was walking right beside them their emotional state didn't change the truth they simply didn't recognize him so i want to say if you're ready to get honest this Easter about the narratives that drive you i want to point you to Jesus because in the text Jesus doesn't mean he walks with them and reminds them of the truth in the text the angels don't harshly rebuke the women they simply reminded them remember how he told you and then they gave him truth and that's who God is he brings truth alongside the story that you're living and he lets us see there's a resurrect resurrect to Jesus that has gone before you to give you a life that isn't based on sin and death it's based on forgiveness and eternal life even though you may have experiences and narratives that have buried him you might have pain that causes you to invest in burial spices i want to remind you of the true story he is risen he is risen he is risen he is risen amen and his resurrection holds supernatural power to transform you your narrative and your pain as we receive his truth it can change how we think and live each day Jesus has risen he kept his word in the implications of that story are echoing through history and all across this city today as his resurrection is proclaimed it's far greater than any other story in forming your life hopelessness can change the hope fear can change and be transformed by faith pain of loss can find comfort in Jesus so this Easter i want to invite you to consider what are you going to do about the truth of his resurrection alongside the other narratives you were living from like i said i know subjecting our narratives to investigation for truthfulness is humbling but choosing to cling to them is worse i was so humbled about the truth about those apples then i had to tell my children that i was sorry i had to humble myself thankfully that hadn't heard anyone but often our narratives about people can damage relationships it can be costly to our emotional health and in the case of Easter living from a pattern of untrue narratives and not checking those narratives can mean you live and die like Jesus is dead instead of receiving the truth that he's very much alive breaking the pattern of believing false narratives is a choice that echoes into eternity for my skeptics in the room i want to encourage you to check in your narratives about what you believe about God is not a question of succumbing to naive optimism this is a smart city you're smart people in the room and i want to assure you there are a lot of historical and scientific evidence and facts proving the resurrection of Christ we're not going to go into details about today but we actually are having an event this week that you could go to to find out more about that but i wonder if like the disciples it's not about the evidence it's about the narrative you're clinging to and the reasons that you cling to it for those who aren't skeptics but you're hurting i'm going to encourage you checking your narrative about God is not about ignoring the experience that you've had it's about re-examining how you interpret it and whether you will choose to let the living resurrect to Jesus be more real than your current interpretation of that story will you let it be more real than your fear or disappointment or real than the answers that the world gives more real than the narrative that formed like a groove in your hardest season and i want to point to Jesus again because he's well acquainted with pain he's well acquainted with betrayal he's well acquainted with loss he is he's not numb to those things so we can either receive him in his resurrection life or we can reject it we can live and die based on the power of the resurrection of Jesus for our sin and forgiveness or we can live and die based on our own truth live your truth is that the popular mantra and then face the consequences of that choice in eternity but you even face the consequences today don't you like monday morning i want to ask you if you don't live like Jesus is resurrected and his power is available to you how's that working out for you so the invitation this Easter is will you let his resurrection life be louder and more impactful than the narrative you've been living from and if you say you want it to be louder let's talk just for a minute as we begin to close about how because the invitation of Easter is not about believing just believing a historical fact it's about reorganizing your life around a person a living person named Jesus the women the disciples their problem was a narrative problem and the fix wasn't just trying harder it was remembering the angels and Jesus both said remember and believe it was about remembering but and believing and letting it then inform their life they choose to believe they chose to believe the resurrection narrative and they lived a resurrection impacted life and we get to see it in the next pages let's consider if you did the same what would replacing your narratives with the resurrection narrative look like so let's consider this what narrative is currently running your emotional life is it fear about the future there's a lot of evidence you guys that would make that feel very real isn't there just pick up social media the news it's so real you know what's also real Jesus is risen he is alive he is present and there's a promise of eternal life with him that redeems all this chaos biblical hope isn't blind optimism it's hope that says Jesus is risen and whatever happens good or bad it's still true that he's alive and it's still true that he'll redeem me in all this mess that's biblical hope that's living with their resurrection alive in your soul that you see the news and you go that looks real bad Jesus you are risen you're alive and I pray over this and I pray your kingdom calm your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and you take some authority over those emotions and fear and anxiety that's trying to bury you you get to choose which narrative drives you maybe your emotions are filled with grief that it has hardened you maybe into hopelessness maybe there's a hope for a relationship that you've written off or a bully you now believe in a version of yourself that you've decided is permanent and unchangeable that doesn't at all sound like resurrection life how does the resurrection resurrection story impact those things Jesus can move into your story your emotions your beliefs the same way he walked out of the tomb the same way he walked on the road to mayus alive present patient walking with you and reorienting your truth to the true truth and the good news is if you invite Jesus to reorient you today guess what you don't have to wait and figure it out those two on the road to mayus had not figured it out yet Jesus was walking with him and teaching them along the way that's the gospel it's not just about you figuring it out you invite him believe that he's resurrected invite him to change you Luke 2 says later it says the tomb on the road they're like where our heart's not burning within us when he talked because there's like something supernatural that happens when you get next to Jesus and the truth begins to inspect your narratives it starts to burn out the false ones so I want you to think about what you came in with this morning okay not what you'd say if somebody's like how are you doing good good fine good I'm from the south that's what we do good good everybody's good yeah good good no I want you to think about the real thing the narrative underneath the one that's been quietly shaping how you feel when you wake up in the morning how you read your circumstances how you relate to others and to God when no one else is watching what's a primary narrative informing you right now say it to yourself acknowledge it and ask is that narrative true or is it a story that you were given or constructed out of a hard season is it a story that you've acted on long enough that it feels like that like the story about those apples on the bowl like the disciples calling his resurrection nonsense well you let the truth get into the narratives you're holding he's not in the tomb you guys he's not among the dead he is risen he's present he's active and he's moving and he will move in the specific circumstances of your life he will come alongside your narratives and help you walk in truth so whatever you've been treating as dead or beyond hope about your faith or your future your sense of who you are in him your desire for relationship he may be asking you the same question the angels ask those women why are you looking for the living among the dead if you stop looking for the living among the dead you'll find the resurrected Jesus and he offers the guarantee of restoration no matter how bad things are restoration is assured it isn't magic it doesn't always come in a minute sometimes there's like a supernatural restoration anybody ever experienced that like you get an instant supernatural restoration anybody ever experienced that real slow drip restoration like an IV yeah yeah and some of us won't experience it until the other side of eternity and that is the gospel all three are true but it is promised and his resurrection proves it so the key is the angel said is you must participate in looking for the living Jesus and not live like he's dead so if you two things we're gonna close if you have never put your faith in Jesus if you've never oriented your life around a living Jesus you can do that today you don't have to wait you can say I've been feeding my soul right rap bit not apples you can either let me let your table know that you might trust you can come up after and we can pray with you and get some folks to pray with you but I want to urge you don't lead here without the greatest true story changing your life I went for it at a church I knew no one I was 19 years old and the power of the resurrected Jesus hit my life and changed me and I've never been the same never I can verify that Jesus is alive and that he brings resurrection life and power into your life if you'll look for him among the living and if you're like maybe the disciples or the women and you believe in Jesus but you're getting honest and you're like yeah I think I often live from stories that look more like he's dead those feel more real sometimes I want to give you a practical tool we have taught this at various times in our church but it's called the four Rs and it's just simply a way to pray to replace false narratives with the truth and it's called four Rs because it starts with four words that came with our the first one is to repent and you guys repent not a bad word repent is a gift it's a beautiful word it means you get to stop what you're doing and turn and do something different it's a beautiful gift father I repent for believing the lie the narrative that when I asked you to get quiet about your emotional life or what you wake up with in the morning on the pillow what narrative start there and the second one is receive God's forgiveness receive it I repent for believing that narrative I repent for spending all that money on burial spices and then replace Holy Spirit what's the truth that replaces that narrative how Jesus you are risen I'm gonna speak out over it and how does your resurrection life and power inform me to live different and then finally I am one of those preachers that believes in the devil my preacher used to say are you one of those preachers that believes that there's a demon behind every bush he goes no I believe there are 10 you have to rebuke the devil the whole story of Job and all his issues we as the reader can see at the beginning that the devil is a key player but Job and his his guy friends never acknowledge the demonic never they're just trying to sort it all out between just the natural world and there is a key player there they didn't acknowledge we need to acknowledge him and take authority and rebuke him and something rises up in you when you do it it's beautiful so we're gonna take a few minutes to just sit with these and because we're not interested in you coming to church and checking it off your to-do list okay we want to not just be here but doers of the word so let's do the word for a few minutes and sit with the Holy Spirit okay and then I'll come back up and we'll transition Holy Spirit thank you that you're an ever-present help and sometimes it feels awkward to just kick quiet the Lord it's what we need or we invite you into the story that we're living out of Jesus would you help us to see truth would you remind us walk with us and I pray Lord for my brothers and sisters that we Lord together would live the resurrected life that the power of the resurrection of the risen Jesus would invade our emotions our mental health about our spiritual life our workspace our friendships our relationships and God you'd empower us to be emotionally and spiritually mature grabbing a hold of narratives and saying I don't know I don't know why that is the way that is I'm going to stop filling in the narrative Lord and will be more gracious I think as a result and experience you even more will bless you in Jesus name so we're going to transition into chatting at the table and this is totally optional you can say I'm just here to listen if you'd like but we want to encourage you to be the church not just come to church and share what's maybe something God's doing in you maybe now or even just before and what's the next step you can take this week toward Jesus I want I skipped over this part but I just want to say that believing false narratives is distinctly human it's kind of a survival tool we we do it and sometimes we need to act fast without all the facts right but in relationships horizontally and vertically we don't need to just survive we need to thrive and capture those narratives and not let them cause us to be reactive so anyway I just want to say you're in good company because it's very human but let's take a few minutes and get to know each other and share what God is doing if you would pray with me Father God we thank you for just the opportunity Lord to begin to share what we're hearing what we're learning from your story Jesus all of us have narratives that we need you to redeem that we need you to restore that we need you to take the resurrection narrative and let it replace the narrative we've been living from in areas of our life and we just thank you for your tenderness with us Jesus your love for us your shepherding of us you know our weaknesses and we're just so grateful Lord that you come like a beautiful shepherd to say let me walk beside you and let me give you a different narrative Jesus let I pray you'd help all of us to repent of the narratives we've had to receive your forgiveness and to replace them with truth this week and Lord please help us in areas of our life stand up on our feet and rebuke the devil out of areas of our life and reclaim areas of our life for resurrection life I pray for your power for us this week that you would fill us with the spirit the resurrection spirit in us that we could reclaim those spaces and take authority over them and you'd restore that to each and every one of us in Jesus mighty name everyone said amen and amen I want to thank you pastor Danielle for bringing God's word us today we love you we appreciate you yeah thank you very much you're gonna notice on your tables in the middle of the table there are a couple cards one is a connection card one is a prayer card and we want to invite you whether you're new or have you been around for a while the connection card is a way for us to get to know you a little bit to let us know a little bit about you we would love to take you to coffee it's something we love to do and so if you wouldn't mind taking a moment to fill out that connection card especially if you're new today let us know who you are we'd love to connect with you take it again to know your story or introduce you to our community in a way that makes sense and that prayer card is there if you have a prayer requested maybe God touched your heart in a specific area and you're like man I really need prayer you can write that on that card and drop both the prayer card and the connection card in the black box on your way out we'd greatly appreciate that as part of our worship and kind of closing up our moment today for Easter we do let you know this part of our worship is giving and I want to thank all of you who give faithfully financially to support the work of this church to give to Christ your generosity through tires and offerings is enabling us to be the church to make disciples of Jesus and to impact our city it's a beautiful thing and so I just want to let you know if you've been around for a while if you're currently not giving we'd love to invite you to join in the joy of giving by becoming a monthly partner and one of the best ways to give is through our app most people I think give through the app or through bill pay and you're welcome to join in that now just a quick reminder for those of you who are around the last six weeks for our belong study that we just walked through if you haven't had a chance to fill out the belong form yet I want you to know that that is available it is on our app we'll also send that out in our email and also there's the physical form right here that's on the tables on the table on the way out if you haven't got a chance to fill that out I want you to know that belong form that has to do with acknowledging your in a sense membership with every nation church that you belong here I want to know that that form is going to be open on the website until April 14 so you've got still a couple more weeks to pray through that and process that and there's an option on that form should you want to speak with a pastor or one of elders about some of your questions about our church or theology things like that you can mark that on the form and we're going to follow it with you and look forward to having coffee and to share with you now a couple things more before we close is next Sunday we're excited a couple things we're going to have a welcome lunch so those of you are new if you like to get to know us a little bit more about our church right after the gathering the second gathering next week we're going to have an open luncheon and we'd love you to join us great way to meet people discover a little bit more who we are and also next Sunday we are kicking off a brand new study a brand new series in the scriptures where we're going to be looking at the sermon on the mount we're going to be looking over the next several months at Jesus' vision of what the good life is what does it mean to flourish in life in his vision through the sermon on the mount so we're excited to be joining you with that so please come next week and I want you to know that every single week through the sermon amount is a great time to bring a friend if you have someone who's exploring christianna you're curious spiritually this is an amazing study to bring them on in on and get to listen and walk with Jesus through his sermon on the mount now as we prepare to close and I'm just going to pray up an addiction of you but I want you to know too today we're having baptisms we have at least I think four people who are getting baptized today in water and I want to invite you you don't have to rush out of here we'd encourage you to stick around because in about 15 minutes we're going to start baptisms right over here and welcome you to observe that cheer on those who are coming to faith in Jesus you're also going to get to hear a little bit of their stories of how God's changed their life so it'd be a lot of fun so stick around with us and also now this is not super spiritual but we have donuts over here we brought them especially for you and so lint is over so those of you who've been fasting like myself sugars in so please grab a donut on your out or cup of coffee or tea stick around and connect with one another let me speak this blessing over you as we close today may the God who raised Jesus from the dead give you courage to release every false narrative you've been holding and to receive the words of Jesus as having being more real than what you feel or fear or soon as people of the resurrection you are now sent into your homes into your relationships and your work to live and love and tell a different story that he is not here he has risen in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen love you guys thank you for being with us today happy Easter every resurrection day have a great week bless you see you community groups let me down you got me you got me this is for real you will never let go never let go it's more than just we're trapped beyond my control I am Kichor you're pulling me closer and closer this is love this is your love Jesus I'm found me to free her all right if you're getting baptized today please go ahead and get changed up if you're getting baptized today please go ahead and get changed up and meet us down front thank you to rise makes my heart come alive suddenly brought to life when I met you