You are invited to move beyond just checking a box for Easter and truly encounter the living God. Don't let the weight of sin keep you separated from the relationship you were created for. Take the step of surrender today and let Jesus lead you into the freedom of His resurrection life.
Good morning, Real Church. Good morning. My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor here. There's no place I'd rather be.
There's nothing that I'd rather be doing. And this is my beautiful, amazing wife. She's our worship pastor. And she pastors with me, and, it's just full of Jesus. So we're there's no place we'd rather be, and and we wanna say thank you so much for choosing to spend your Easter Sunday here with us.
Maybe, why don't you step forward? And our prayer is that you encounter the presence and the power and the love of Jesus in a very real way. Because we know that when you encounter his presence, his power is love, you're left never the same. You're actually forced into the valley of decision, where you're confronted with the reality of his life, and you have to choose whether or not to move forward with him in deeper and deeper levels of surrender, or to stay the same, which is to choose yourself instead of him. And man, I just love you enough to share the truth that cunningly, because I know experiencing his truth with love, when you remain in that the bible says the bible doesn't say the truth sets you free.
The bible actually says, if you remain in his truth, then you will know the truth and experience freedom. Amen? So I got my wifey on the stage because I want her to just pray over you, to pray over us, and to pray over me, so that God would would speak in a powerful way, and we had experienced and encountered the love of Jesus. Thank
you so much, Jesus. Thank you for for making a way for us to walk back into the arms of a good and loving God. It's humbling to to know that you took the penalty of death, hell, and the grave on our behalf. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for what today represents, Jesus.
Thank you that Easter is not not all about the bunnies and the ham and the eggs, but it's all about you, Jesus. We love you. Thank you for every person throughout the world who is going to church today. Those those who are are seeking some kind of a satisfaction in their life, Lord, that may not even know why they came to church. Thank you for those who are at real church today who came for that very reason.
Lord, I pray that you will encounter them in a way that they cannot deny that the king of the universe actually loves them, that the king of the universe is not mad at them, but wants *relationship with them, Lord. Lord, thank you for the people all over the world who are celebrating your your family, God*. Thank you thank you for your family members all over the world who are lifting you high and magnifying you. Lord, I pray there is a roar in heaven because of what's happening on earth today. Lord, we love you.
We worship you. We adore you. I pray for new life today. While spring represents new life, Lord, I I know that that what you did over 2000 years ago on the cross and then your resurrection means new life for people today, Lord. We love you.
We adore you, Lord. I pray for Dave. I pray that you will anoint his words. Lord, I pray that they will come with such gentleness, but also the the piercing sword of your truth, Lord. Lord, I pray that people will receive it and understand that every word that is spoken here is from a place of true genuine love.
We love you. We adore you. Thank you so much. We magnify you. Let's just take a moment and magnify him as the king of kings and lord of lords.
I said magnify him as the king of kings and the lord of lords. We celebrate more for a football game than we do for Jesus sometimes. Get on your feet and lift high the name of Jesus. We love you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
We magnify your name. Thank you for your majesty. You are worthy of our praise. You're worthy, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray.
Amen.
Amen. I I am who I am today in large part because of that woman's prayers. That's nothing like a praying wife. Don't forget it. That's nothing like a praying wife.
I'm I'm so thankful for her, the mama she is to my children, and the the pastor she is to to you guys. Amen? Amen. Amen. So I was I had a plan.
I had a plan. I've been thinking about this message for a few weeks, and every time that I thought about this message, I had this certain plan of this grand story of creation and the resurrection that I was gonna share with you guys. I was excited about it, and, even had the notes written down in my computer. It's a message that I've preached multiple times, was gonna tailor it for today as it's just awesome. I was ready.
It's ready. I knew the Lord was gonna use that to speak to you today. And then I get here on Friday night, and our church is amazing. We set this whole place up to look like a church on Friday nights, and many hands make light work, and there were so many hands, I was not needed. So I helped pull out the chairs.
No. Actually, we didn't even have to pull out the chairs this Friday night. I usually do that. So I snuck away to the back, and I just sat down in front of my computer screen. And I asked the Lord, okay.
I asked him again, what is it that you wanna do Sunday morning? And I just began to write, and wrote a whole new message. And I believe like the Lord said, I believe the Lord said, make the *resurrection* clear. So that's my goal. I wanna make the resurrection clear to you today.
Today is Easter. It's really *resurrection* Sunday, where we celebrate the fact, the fact that *Jesus* rose from the dead. The 1 they call the prophet Muhammad, he's dead and in the grave. It's a false prophet. The 1 they call those that they call Buddhas, dead in the grave.
It's a false religion. The ones they call the Krishna's, the incarnation of Vishnu and Hinduism, or whatever sect of his Hinduism is, they're holy men, they're dead and in the grave. But most religions point to Jesus, point to Jesus as a good teacher, a good prophet. The problem is, he didn't just die on the cross, but he rose from the dead, and he claimed. And he claimed that no 1 can get to the father except through him, that he is the door.
So I have a door right here, a doorway, and the only way to experience eternal life on the other side of it is this 1 door. Narrow is the way, and the way looks like a man named Jesus. It doesn't look like Mohammed. It doesn't look like Krishna's. It doesn't look like being good enough and doing everything that you can.
That's not the way you're gonna hit a wall and fall off. The way looks like a man named Jesus Christ. He is the only way, and he's the only 1 who rose from the dead. His death, burial, and *resurrection* is very, very real and very important. It's more important than just getting a 3 day or a 4 day weekend so that you can get off of church, get off of work or get out of school, experience some more video games or experience some more time with your family, celebrate some things, which those are good things and important for you.
But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is way more important than that. It's more important than you just being able to come to church on a Sunday and "check it off your box" that you did the Easter thing this year. Although that's a good thing, his resurrection life is way more important than that as well. He died and he rose again so that you could become alive today, spiritually, and that spiritual resurrection, that life in you could impact your daily life for the rest of your life. But I'll also say this, the bible says in 1 Corinthians-15 that if it's only for this life that we have hope in Jesus, we are a people of all people the "most to be pitied".
There are many blessings of experiencing a life with *Jesus* in this life. There are many rewards of walking with him. There is righteousness, peace, and joy that you experience through every storm. That is a 100% true. But even more important than all of those things is the fact that Jesus, when he died on the cross, he didn't just die for your sin, he died as your sin.
He, *2 Corinthians-5:21 says, became your sin*. And in that moment, he cried out from the bottom of his heart, my God, my God. Psalm 22 1, he's quoting because he's fulfilling every prophecy about him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The first time he called him God instead of father.
Because in that moment, he becoming your sin was forsaken by the father so that you could be eternally accepted, so that you could experience the life of God. And when it was finished, he cried out to Telestai, it is done. The price has been paid. Death has been won. And then he said these words, the most trusting words anyone could say up to that point.
Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. *Jesus*, although he was never not fully God, he was fully God, chose to limit himself to live life as a man, and died on a *cross* having become your sin, paid the price for your sin, but having never sinned on the power of an indestructible life, he trusted his spirit into the father's hands knowing truth, knowing that he would be resurrected from the grave. And because he was, you can experience that same life. Because he was, you don't have to have fear of death. But not only can you live with this the confidence that you've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, A testimony, assurance of what's to come because you know him in relationship with him.
It's so real to you. There's been a real change. Not only can you experience that, but you can know just like Jesus because he's washed you clean, because you've when you surrendered your life to him, he put his resurrection life in you. You can know that you die completely forgiven and made righteous in him, also an indestructible life because of Jesus, and raised to new life so you can trust, if father, into your hands, I commit my spirit as well. It's pretty awesome.
Some confidence that you can have in this life. So I wanna prove to you that the resurrection happened. I wanna make the resurrection clear. I wanna prove it. If I was going to prove that the resurrection happened, I would probably like, just rationally and intellectually talk into your mind, I'd probably start with the 500 witnesses, the 500 people that saw Jesus after he died on a cross and was buried in a tomb.
So they they literally saw the resurrected Lord before he ascended to the father. He appeared to them, showed his hands and his wounds. But not only that, in scripture, Paul later writes about, hey, these 500 witnesses, if if you doubt it, go and talk to them. Like, if if the resurrection of Jesus was this great hoax and this great lie that actually didn't happen, you wouldn't write go talk to the 500 people because then somebody actually would and debunk the lie. Except the resurrection is not a lie.
It actually happened. If if if I were going to try and prove to your rational mind that the resurrection happened, I'd probably talk about the fact that the first person that saw Jesus rise from the dead that it's documented was a woman who was a demon possessed woman, looked cast down by society. Probably, many scholars would believe that that she was a prostitute before she met Jesus, but Jesus changed her. And 2000 years ago, if you were going to try to make a hoax, a lie that everybody believed so that it could, you know, impact people, maybe make a little money off it or or have a little power. You wouldn't use a woman as the first person that saw Jesus raised from the dead.
Because 2000 years ago, the testimony of a woman meant nothing. But yet, the first person that saw Jesus raised from the dead was Mary Magdalene, and it's off her testimony, the first evangelist, that the disciples came to know that Jesus rose from the dead or heard about it. If I were going to try to prove the resurrection to you rationally in your logical mind, I'd I'd probably talk about the comparatively instantaneous documentation that every other history book that you read, most of them, they talk about their historical figures. They were written 2 or 300 years later, but but what we have in the Bible, the gospels, the the New Testament letters were written 25, 30 years, 35 years some after Jesus rose from the dead. So historically speaking, that's that's instantaneous ancient history, the the ancient documentation.
It's a big deal. If I were gonna try to prove this to your rational mind, I might talk about the volunteer suffering that happened. The disciples didn't get around a fire after *Jesus* died and rose from the get dead and said, you know what? I got this good idea. Let's just lie to everybody and say that he rose rose from the dead.
And you know what? I know that we're gonna be crucified, some of us for it. I know some of us will will be burned in oil, others be burned at the stake, you know, but but, hey, it doesn't matter. This is gonna be fun, guys. No.
Volunteer suffering, the very ones that were scared to death, I mean, actually ran out of their clothes. It talks about 1 person. In scripture, he ran out of his clothes when they took Jesus to be crucified. Those very ones, the ones that denied Jesus, after he rose from the grave, they saw him, and he breathed into him the Holy Spirit and gave him the gift of the spirit. Then they stood boldly in the streets, even at at at the warning of prison or of death, they still boldly proclaimed him.
And torturers would say to them, just recount Jesus. Just recount the fact that he rose from the grave. Just re just say that he didn't, and we won't do this, and they would not do it. Instead, they stand confidently, would not give up what Jesus had done, and they were beheaded. They were burned at the stake.
They were crucified. 1 refused to be crucified like their master. Instead, he was crucified upside down because he didn't count himself worthy to be crucified like that. The resurrection life that they experienced in their life was so worth it. It was worth dying for.
They would rather be tortured unto death because of the relationship that they had with *Jesus* than go back on their friend and their lord. Maybe I'd talk about the empty tomb. The fact that you wanna debunk a hoax, you just show a body, man. But yet, the Roman soldiers that were guarding him, the test of death chose to say, no, an angel appeared to us. There's never a body produced because there isn't a body.
*Jesus* rose from the dead. His body lives. He lives, and it matters. We could take time, lots of time to dive into those things. Books have been written about those things.
But if I did that today, I'd get way too scholastic, and maybe just give you some head knowledge, and you'd feel good about your ego that you when you walked around here. And I don't wanna stroke egos today, instead I wanna impact your heart. I wanna capture your heart with the truth of his resurrection life. I want I want your heart to be pierced unto change. I want you to experience the same experience the first hearers of the gospel experienced in Acts-2:37 when it says, when they heard this and said to Peter they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do?
And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every 1 of you for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the promise of his resurrection life. The Holy Spirit in you and on you makes your life proof of his resurrection. So I'm trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to give you proof of his resurrection today. Maybe some of you have experienced that today. Maybe during worship, you experienced tears, or even as I'm speaking now, some of you experienced tears.
You've been cut to the heart, maybe. Maybe some of you experienced what we call the Holy Ghost goosebumps. The tingles, the presence of the Holy Spirit. All that is is the Holy Spirit, *God*, working on you, drawing you into a relationship with him because he loves you. He's not mad at you, and he wants you to know him.
Maybe for some of you that already have a relationship with him, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit drawing you into deeper levels of surrender, deeper levels of a following him all out because he wants you to go all out. So I'm gonna lean in to the proof of his resurrection life. Why did Jesus rise from the dead? I'm gonna read this. So that you could be made alive today, so you could live the rest of your life experiencing more and more of his resurrection life, and not fear death because you've experienced his life so much that you know in the depths of everything that you are, that you will be with him for eternity.
You can taste and see that the Lord is good. You can be sealed with the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Christ, knowing him and walking with him. I know that today isn't just some gain to you, that and that's not why you're here. You're not just here going through the motions of an Easter tradition because you know deep down, there is more. It is possible to see the results of his life in you and through you on a daily basis.
Your desires actually can be transformed. Your habits can change. You can be transformed by his resurrection life so much that you turn around and see that your life is the example of what a what the Bible calls a "new man, a new woman", a new creation. The Bible says you will know them by their fruit, by the results of their life. Your life is destined to exemplify the results of a changed person.
I know that you really, deep down, you hate hypocrites that merely put on a face, check religious things off their boxes, but live under themselves. Deep down, you know that it's possible to be *transformed* such that from the depths of your heart, you live for another. To actually experiencing, living experience, living all out for Jesus, being touched by heaven, having a "burning fire in your heart" that you can't contain, where you can't help but to run after him more and more every day. This is what happens when you receive his resurrection life. You actually change.
You can't help it. It's why he came. And the change is the proof that he's alive. I'm not talking about a living like living a Jesus incorporated life where you incorporate him into your heart as long as it aligns with your comforts and what you want and your timeline. I'm talking about a life where you've been captured by the love of God, the goodness of God, and you completely adjust your life to go after him in everything and with your everything.
Jesus is the treasure in the field that you have discovered. You went away and "sold everything" to purchase it. You realize that Jesus is worth your everything because of the taste of his resurrection life. And like a bug drawn to light, you've been drawn to the light of the gospel, knowing that when you fully surrender, you get zapped and raised up to a new creation in him. This is what the bible talks about in 2 Corinthians-5:17, where it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. I'm proof of the resurrection of Jesus. I grew up, got to know Jesus, was led to Jesus as a 4 year old kid. So I got to grow and go through becoming a man with Christ.
It doesn't mean I didn't struggle Going through my teenage years, going through my young adulthood, learning the different things, and really in different areas struggling and having to surrender all the more in those different areas to allow the resurrection life of Christ to change me from the inside out. From 14 to 22, I went through depression in a real way where I thought I was going crazy. My uncle's manic depressive, my aunt's schizophrenic, and when the lack of clarity in my mind would hit, I would be afraid. And in those times, I'd lean more into Jesus because he was with me, and I rejoice with all my heart in him because he's my joy. And over those 8 years of mental torture and mental pain, I learned that he is the rock and foundation of my life, and when he fully healed me, because he does, he's the healer.
He became your peace if you'll let him. I learned that because of Jesus, my depression can turn into joy. I struggled with insecurity and lots of it. It looked like pride to everybody else, but really, it was an overfocus on what everybody else thought about me, fearing failure because if I fail, I'd let everybody else down. *God* used that to break me of me and teach me that I can be secure in the purposes that he has for me, that it doesn't matter if I fail, I can "fall forward" into him.
He he picks me up and makes my failure into a success because he works all things out for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. Set me free from the fear of failure. Set me free from fear. When you know him and you walk with him, you realize you don't have to fear anymore. There's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
So I don't have to fear punishment of of my failure instead. I know he's gonna work it out. He changed me from an insecure man, boy, and then an insecure man, into a man who's completely secure in the purposes that he has for me, and that's because of Jesus, a living Christ. That's not just because of some mental growth and mental ascent, emotional intelligence, although those are good things. No.
It's the power of God that's transformed me. He changed me from a selfish man. That really came out in my marriage. First 5 years of my marriage, I was I I loved her for what she could do for me. So I really loved myself more than I loved her.
Selfishness is sacrificing another for your sake. Love is sacrificing yourself for the sake of another. And Jesus said to love your wife as Christ loved the church. And so in that area, he began to resist me and break me by her prayers. I began to meet Jesus in my marriage in a real way where he transformed me and taught me what it means to lay my life down for my wife.
Living a life with *Christ* and following Jesus, he'll oppose your pride until you get humble and begin to reflect him in the areas that you've always resisted him. And it's worth it. He's the best friend, a friend that'll stick closer than a brother, and he's worth dying for. I don't fear death anymore because I'm so captured by his life. To be absent from the body is to be 1 with him.
Prove it. I went to Pakistan, shared the gospel with security guards carrying a k carrying a k 40 sevens. They gave their life to Jesus because they saw his life in my eyes. So if he can turn this depressed, insecure, selfish man because of a life with him and his resurrection life, him walking me through it into someone who's experienced and is living from joy, security, the purposes he has for me, and is learning more and more what it means to love, to lay my life down for my wife, for my kiddos, and for you, and he can do that for anybody. I'm proof of his resurrection life, but not just me.
You're like, oh, but you're a pastor. But you're the you're supposed to live like that. No. No. That's called being a Christian.
You're not called to live anything less. You're actually called to live more, to do the same things I do and even greater. Let me tell you a story. This past Wednesday, I'm in the jail. Not because I was did something wrong.
I went out preaching the gospel in the jail. But I've been going to the jail for a while now, and about a month and a half ago, this new guy came in, we're gonna call him Tee. Tee. Tee came in, Tee looks hard. Muscled up white boy with tattoos all over him, tattoos on the back of his eyelids, tattoos all over his face, bald tattoos all over his head.
You'd think he was in the Aryan Brotherhood. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I share the same gospel with him that I'm sharing with you that day.
The first, like, 10 minutes, he gives his life to Jesus. Boom. But that's not the story. The story is this, that same day he gave his life to Jesus a month and a half ago, I taught him and taught all of them to share the gospel. He set goals to go share the gospel with at least, like, 3 of his his, pod mates, people he's in a cell with.
Come back the next week, guess what he did? He did it. He said, man, they rejected us. I said, dude, "obedience is your success". He's responsible for the results, you're responsible for just following him.
The smile on his face is proof of the change in his life. A month later, this past week, in the jail, the guy's like, we're sharing testimonies of what God has done. T's like, man. He's like, it's crazy. You know, I I used to be I used to be a brawler, bro.
He's like, yeah, man. Somebody do something wrong, I mean, just the littlest thing, I take their head off. I believe him. And he's like, in this past week, somebody crossed me, and I went to go at him, and man, know, I said some stuff, and I felt bad about it, so I apologized. He said, and I didn't even do anything wrong, and I still apologized.
He's got a smile on his face. Resurrection life has hit that man's heart. This isn't just 1 story. This happens every day. This church is full of people that have experienced real life change.
I'm not talking about religious junk. I'm talking about where you've actually been changed and you really know him. Like he's become the source of your love and your life. It's more than just religious junk. I'm talking about, man.
A *relationship* where you can't wait to get around other believers. You can't wait to get in the word. You're drawn into deeper levels of of habits of following him. And when you don't, you feel bad about it because you miss him. That's Christianity.
That's going to church. And if you don't have that man, you're missing out. If you if you know Jesus that way, like, and and and you've been transformed, and you are unashamed to boldly stand about it, stand up right now. Yeah. Amen.
Now, those of you who are standing, I'm gonna challenge you. A testimony is 3 I I I like to just teach people to share a testimony in in simple ways. 3 adjectives that describe you before Jesus, and then you met Jesus, he changed you from the inside out, and then 3 adjectives to describe who you are now because of that change. If you are unashamed to boldly share that or try it, I want you to stay standing. Everybody else, sit down.
Dang. Alright. Let's test it out. Let's see. Miss Alexis.
Right?
Yes.
I know your name. Okay. I'm gonna hold the mic for you guys because I know we got some talkers in here. But would you just give me 3 adjectives of who you were before you met Jesus?
I was self conscious, I was depressed, and I was anxious.
And is Jesus the Lord of your life?
Yes, he is.
Has he changed you forever?
Yes, he has.
Okay. So just authentically for you, what what is the result of his resurrection life in you? What what who have you become today?
Confident in who he has created me to be. I have an identity in him, and I've been "set free". I'm at peace. Wow.
Do you believe that if he did that for you, he can do that for anybody? Yeah. Amen. Amen. Let's say to somebody else, miss Tony.
That woman said, I knew it. Alright. "3 descriptive words".
Vulgar, angry, and depressed as well.
Is Jesus the lord of your life?
"Yes. He is."
Has he really changed you from the inside?
Yes. He has.
Alright. Give me 3 descriptive words of of how what he how he's changed you.
Just joyful most of the time.
Yes. You are.
I know to just turn to him so I'm not looking to myself or to fix anything. I don't know what the word is for that, but that 1. And love. I just feel love. "Come on".
I love it. Let me go to somebody. Oh, if he's done that for you, you think he can do it for somebody else? Absolutely. Come on.
Let me go to somebody else standing that I don't know that I don't know. Let's go over here. Sir, do you mind if I get you 2? Yeah. Sure.
Okay. Great. What's your name, sir? Eric. Eric, is Jesus the lord of your life?
Yes. He is. Alright. Give me 3 descriptive words before Jesus. Say lost, angry, and high anxiety.
High anxiety. And and you met Jesus. He changed you from the inside out? Yes. I did.
Alright. So just authentically, give me give me 3 changes. If I get 3 descriptive words of who you are now because of him. Kind, patient, and graceful. Come on.
It's powerful. Powerful. You believe he can do that for anybody? Yes. I can.
Come on. And what's your name? Dana. Miss Dana? Yes.
Is Jesus the lord of your life?
Yes.
Okay. So give me 3 descriptive words of who you were before Christ.
Angry, insecure, and frustrated.
Come on. Alright. And Jesus changed you from the inside out? Absolutely. And because of him, today you are what?
Peaceful, joyful, and secure in him.
Secure in him. Come on. That's powerful. Let me get let me get 1 more. How about you, sir?
Mister Ty, would you would you say, well, give me 3 descriptive words of who you were before Christ.
As insecure, just kinda mean, not not like the fellow you're talking about, but not so nice to my wife.
Yeah.
Can't really think of another 1. There's a lot
of them. Fair enough. And then because of Jesus, you've been changed from the inside out?
Yes, sir.
Give me 3 descriptive words of who you are now.
Loving, confident, secure in him. Come on.
If he can do that for you?
Yes, sir.
He can do it for anybody. He it
for anybody. That's Come on.
You guys give him a hand. You guys can be seated. "Praise the lord", man. I wanna I wanna always be confident and stand for *Christ* if he's changed my life, if he's the real deal. And man, I wanna tell you, if you didn't stand, God loves you.
He cares for you. Like that change, I'm not I wasn't trying to point you out in any different way or anything. I just want you to see, and seeing these people that have have stood up, man, they're cheering for you. They've prayed that you would come today. Yeah.
They love you. And, man, here's the deal. Jesus really died on a cross to really save you from yourself. Yeah. So I wanna ask you 2 questions.
Actually, let's just let's have everybody stand up. We have sitting down, standing up, sitting down. I wanna ask you 2 questions. And I want you to ask yourself this in your heart, in your mind, you don't have to answer this out loud, but really answer this in your heart. Do you believe First question, do you believe that God created you to have a **"real relationship"** with him?
I was supposed to answer in your heart. I know out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I get it. Tell your mouth to be quiet for this next part. Do you believe that God created you to have a real relationship with him?
He did. Second question. Do you believe that **sin separates people** from a relationship with God? Many say yes. Some people, a lot of people, about half the people I talk to on the street say no to that 1.
And I say, why not? They say, because God's a a "forgiving God". I say, absolutely is. What's the cost of forgiveness? You ask for it.
No. That's not what it says. If a husband asks his wife for forgiveness over and over and over, but continues doing the same thing, does she feel like you really wanted to change? Ask any wife in here. No.
Absolutely not. The bible says repent. *Confess* and repent. So it's, I realize I'm a sinner, I can't change on my own, So God, I'm giving you my life. I need you.
See, to be forgiven of your sin, you have to actually believe that Jesus died and rose again. But not just believe that it happened, even demons believe that, but they don't follow Jesus. You gotta believe it happened so much that you're willing to say, I'm gonna "follow you instead of myself". I'm a follow what you say instead of what I feel. That's repentance, turning my life to you.
Does that mean you're gonna get it right every single time? No. But he's gonna put the Holy Spirit in that moment. You're you're taking yourself off the Lord of off the throne of your own heart, and making Jesus the Lord of your heart. He's gonna forgive you of all of your sin, past, present, and future.
He's gonna take the weight of shame and guilt off. And then that resurrection life we're talking about, the Holy Spirit, he's gonna put inside of you to lead you like a father leads a daughter or a son. So you can know his voice. So when you make a mistake, the Holy Spirit's gonna be like, hey, that wasn't that wasn't who you are in Christ. And you'll be like, oh, man, you're right.
It's called confession. You're right. I I don't wanna ever wanna do that again. That's called repentance. Help me, Lord Jesus, to not do that again.
I'd love to. He picks you up like a father picks up a daughter who scraped her knee. Baby, let's keep going. That's your relationship with the God of the universe for the rest of your life. And if you've never experienced that resurrection life, that kind of a relationship with God where you're following him and you know you want it, I wanna give you an invitation.
I'm gonna ask you, are you ready to surrender your life to Jesus? So if that's you, if you if you say, I hear that, I believe God gave me, God God wants a relationship with me, I know sin separates people from God, and I know that I've been a sinner. I've been living for myself, but I'm ready to surrender to Jesus right now. I'm ready to give him my life. I'm ready to experience the resurrection life of Jesus in my life.
If that's you, want you to raise your hand boldly. I see you. Come on. Raise your hand. Now, mister Robbie.
Robbie is our resident evangelist. Robbie, would you go to the back? I'm not gonna make you come forward, but I am gonna ask you to step out to the back. If you were serious about that, Robbie, raise both hands. He's in the back by the TV.
Would you step out and go to him? He's gonna lead you to surrender to Jesus. He's gonna pray a prayer with you. So if you're serious about surrendering to Jesus right now, would you go and and just step back to Robbie? *God* bless you guys.
Come on. Those of you that are serious. There were multiple hands raised, and I wanna encourage you, don't stay in your seat, take this step. Now, for for the rest of you, I know that this message was encouraging, but it was also challenging. Right?
Because God is challenging you to live a deeper life of surrender.