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The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates that love wins and is unstoppable, refusing to stay buried in the grave. Discover how this unstoppable love meets your deepest needs, offers new life, and empowers you to live out the resurrection story every day.

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Transcript

Celebrate The Empty Tomb

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, who's ready to celebrate the good news that the tomb is empty today? Are you ready to have a party? Are you ready the Northwest and the free month to say that Christ has won? The victory is done. Are we celebrating? Let's give it up, right? And here's the good news. Let's keep shouting and praising the good news and letting say, No, you lost! Jesus won! And we're gonna shout them at him until we're done and forever and through eternity we get to celebrate this good news everywhere, every day.

Why We Need Resurrection Love

Mary Finds Hope At The Tomb

Jesus Knows Your Real Name

Grace Creates A New You

Choose Four People To Pray For

Lock Prayer On The Campus Fence

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Have you thought about being locked out? Have you thought about things getting locked up? Have you thought about when you have locked your gate, locked your car, locked your home? When we think about getting locked, we realize we're locking something out. Or we're locking something in. And then there's a juxtaposition of that as well. To be locked in. Which means that we are uber focused on something in our lives that tells us we're locked in on this. Nothing else is gonna dissuade us, nothing else is gonna persuade us, nothing else is gonna distract us. Well, tonight we get to continue to share the good news that Jesus is locked in on you to unlock you from the pits of hell. That he has risen over the grave to give you victory today over sin, death, and the devil. And that you no longer are locked out of heaven because he's locked in on you. And heaven's gates are wide open, and people, you and me and others, are being rescued and ransomed and redeemed and pulled out of the locked gates of hell because the resurrection blew those locks off. And what we know from the Easter victory reality that we celebrate today is that love wins through Jesus. And love is unstoppable because love won't stay buried in the grave. Love refuses to quit, and love is unstoppable for you and for me and for everyone, everywhere, every day. This is Easter today, where we will go from Jesus being the OG of the best burger chain ever, in and out, to actually being the one who, well, gives us all knowledge. And in is for knowledge, right? Go big red, we know that, right? So here's the knowledge we know from Jesus and the resurrection today. Jesus meets your need. Jesus knows your name. Jesus gives you new life. So, what is the need? Why do we need this love unstoppable for us today? Well, if I asked you a question right now, have you ever done something wrong against another human being, a husband or a wife? Has your husband or wife ever been correctly angry at you? Have you ever been upset with a child, not because they did anything wrong, but just simply because you had a bad day? I had that happen to me this week. I got mad at my kid, and afterwards my wife was like, that seemed extreme. And I said, Yeah, I just had a really bad day. That was super extreme. I need to go talk to her. Have you ever done something wrong against a neighbor? A coworker? Have you ever just had a moment of anger and you decided to take it out on a stranger and cut them off or take their rightful spot in the parking lot? Have you ever just said something flippant to a stranger, kind of figuring, at least I can get some frustration out? I I think all of us, I know all of us, would say, yep, been there, done that, may have done that on the way here. What about have you done anything wrong against God? And I think in this spot we say yes, but we have to remember what the consequences of that are. That because we have wronged God in his sovereignty and in his call, and in the in the Christian faith from the scriptures, we're called that we are to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and I failed in that. And we're to love our neighbors as ourselves, and we just discovered we failed in that. And there's a consequence for that. And that consequence is that we would be locked out of heaven, we would be locked out of spending eternity with God because He is perfect and we are not. And so we have a need. Everyone in this room, whether you're a lifelong believer, whether you're an Easter attender, whether you're a skeptic, or whether you're here because there's brunch at the end of this, you have a need. Romans 5, 12 through 14, and I want to invite you again, read the red with me. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin. And in this way, death came to all people. To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not charged against anyone's account, where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from a time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. And so the need is the reality that we are outside of the kingdom of God. And Jesus came to live the perfect life that you and I could not live, and to die a sacrificial death on the cross, and to carry all of your sins. He who knew no sin became sin, so that you would not be responsible for your sin in being separated from God. And he rose victoriously to meet your need and to give you love unstoppable. So the disciples they came on Easter morning afraid, scattered, hiding, because they didn't understand the resurrection yet. And Mary, grief stricken, confused, and without hope, also comes to that tomb. And as Mary looks into that tomb, what does she see? She sees no body in the grave, she sees the cloth lying there, she doesn't understand the hope that is given. And love unstoppable is on full display. Because the resurrection didn't happen because we were strong and said, No, God, you cannot die. It happened because we were lost. Jesus came to meet the need that you have to spend eternity with him. And Jesus identifies your need. Which means that he gives you forgiveness, mercy, that the empty tomb isn't one with wrath, but it's filled with love unstoppable for you. That now your my sin is forgiven, and the gates of heaven are open for you today. This is the resurrection power that Jesus meets with your need. Because he also knows your name. Jesus knows your name, and love unstoppable is to know your name. There's power in knowing the names of one another. There's something that happens when someone uses our name in a kind way. There's something that happens when we break down a wall by sharing a name. Whether it's our waiter or our waitress or whether it's a grocery cart attendant, or whether it's a person passing us in the hallway. No one likes to be called hey you. No one likes to be said, hey buddy. We want our names used. Because in our name it becomes relational and personal. And Jesus knows your name. In John 20, the power of the name comes as Mary stood outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and one at the feet. And they asked her, Woman, why are you crying? She said, and I don't know where they've put him. And at this she turned around and she saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't realize it was Jesus. And he asked her, Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you're looking for? Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where have you put him and I will get him. And Jesus said to her, Mary, Mary. And she turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, Raboni, which means teacher. Jesus said one word to her. And he called her by name. Mary. Notice this though. He used just her first name. And and and I think he said it in this kind of like, Mary. In a voice that she would have recognized and she would have heard. In a name that would have come with love and tenderness and kindness. Notice what he didn't say, as she was wondering, where is this Jesus who he had told that he would be risen on the third day and that she didn't understand it? He didn't say to her, Mary Elizabeth, wife of Joseph of Nazareth, right? Like use her full name of trouble, right? When our parents do that to us. No. Mary. In this tenderness and this kindness. And notice, notice here that he doesn't correct her theology. He doesn't chastise her for why she would be looking for his body where she knew and had been told it would be gone. He doesn't rebuke her. He doesn't give her any instructions. He just says, Mary. The very first sermon on Easter Sunday wasn't long. It wasn't the entire council of God. It was simply saying a name. It was one word. Now, I know some of you are thinking, hey, Greg, maybe take a hint from Jesus. A one-word sermon, not a bad idea. Let me put your minds at ease. I'm not Jesus. So I need more than one word. But he says a name. Tenderly and lovingly, caringly. And in saying that name, he fills her with peace and hope and calmness and a reality that it's going to be okay. Can I tell you today that Jesus knows your name intimately? Not your social media handle. He doesn't care about that. He's not enamored with your likes or your follows or your platform. He doesn't love your quippy little sayings. He doesn't love the video. He doesn't love your food reviews. Doesn't care about that. He's not interested in your Sunday best and what you show up here like. No. He knows your real name, the real you that you carry every day. He knows you completely. Your name, your thoughts, your desires, your inward being. And here is the good news. Don't let that scare you today. Because what that means for you is this. What it means is the reality and the truth that because he knows your name, that you are not a failure to him. That you haven't gone too far to be outside of his care and his love. That he's not disappointed in you or your decisions that you've made. The empty tomb tells you today the resurrection power of Jesus knowing your name right now and every second of the day tells you that no matter who you are, no matter what you've done or where you've been, that the empty tomb is an intimate love unstoppable given for you because no one is insignificant, no one is forgotten, no one is a failure, no one is lost. The resurrection of Jesus says to you today that everybody is a somebody and he loves you intimately. Amen. And that's the good news of Easter. And that's why we celebrate Easter not on one day, but every day. We live in this Easter reality. And Jesus identifies you personally to receive love unstoppable. So never think that God's grace is for anyone and everyone, but not you. Because it is individually for you. No matter what doubts you carry, no matter what wonderments you carry, no matter what baggage or skeletons are in your closet, his love is unstoppable for you. And what does that do? When you know someone has met your need and knows your name and cares about you intimately, it changes our lives for how we relate to them. Now, put on the reality that God Almighty has met your need completely and loves you completely and has met all your needs to live everlasting and eternally and knows you intimately, how will that change you? Love unstoppable means that there is a new you. So let's discover what the new you looks like. Because it is a tremendous gift. Paul wrote about this in Ephesians, right? In Ephesians 2, he said this. He's like, but because of God's great love for us, he who is rich in mercy has made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. That's how much he loves us. It is by grace you've been saved, and that God has raised us up with Christ and seated in him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he would show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in the kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, but it is a gift from God. The gift of God is yours, and now what do we do? We use it. We use that gift. We live every day in this reality of a new life. That grace moves us, changes us. We don't do the things of God in order to receive the merits of God, but because we've been given the grace of God. And so it flows out of us naturally. Love unstoppable isn't just about you, it flows through you. John kind of wrapped up his gospel chapter of the resurrection account in this wonderful way. Think about this for a minute in John 20. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which aren't recorded in this book. So there's a lot of miracles we don't even know about. But these are written, the ones that are there, are written so that you would believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you would have life in his name because he has met your need and he knows your name, and now you have new life. You and I, we get to live eternally. Because what we know is the resurrection isn't something just something that Jesus experienced, it's something that you participate in every day. You get to live the resurrection story. Every single day. You are a living witness of his love. And when you know who you are, a name known by God, with all your needs met by the resurrected and risen Jesus, you know why you're here. And this is where the resurrection takes hold. Because the good news is that this resurrection power, this risen reality, the empty tomb, was not for the twelve to savior. It wasn't just for the women to rejoice in. It wasn't for the people of Jesus' day. It was for all human beings, for all time going forward, for the generations to come. That Jesus knows their name. But if you don't know who you're gonna tell, then who will you really tell? And that's why we have to identify those who need to know Jesus. Because if Jesus rose for you, then he also rose for those who he's placed around you. And it's important for us to know who needs to know the good news of Jesus today, right here, right now. It's important for us to identify those people who are what I like to say are far from God or fans of God. These are the people that you know them. They're in your circles. Maybe they're a coworker, maybe they're a neighbor, maybe they're a friend, maybe, maybe they're a family member. Maybe they're a neighbor. You know them. They're the ones that that you would say, I don't even, you don't even believe in Jesus. They're the ones that on Easter Sunday they're sitting at home. They're the ones that are saying, give me thoughts potentially. I need good wishes. And so what I want to challenge us to do as Easter people who know the good news of Christ with us is to identify four people who are far from God or fans of God. And this is called the my four. And you'll be able to identify them and to write their names in them. And I want to tell you something, I've been doing this in my personal life as I've been preparing for this message. I've been doing this, and I I gotta say today that one of my four I actually get to replace. Because a while ago I talked about Jesus, and they said, I want to know more. And they came to know who Christ is, and so now I have another name that I've put there. Because what happens when we identify those four people, and all I'm gonna invite you to do right now is just pray for Jesus to give them faith, to open a door. I'm not telling you to call them on the way home, maybe if God's leading you to do that, but all I'm calling you to do is just pray for them. Pray that the Holy Spirit would give them the same faith that is spoken about in Ephesians 2. That they would be unlocked from the gates of hell. And they'd realize that the gates of heaven have been opened up. Because what once was locked away for all of us, love has rolled away through the empty tomb for us today. And so, what I want to invite you to do right now is to pray to God. Who are the four names that you would fill on your list that are fans of God, meaning they like Jesus, but they don't necessarily believe, or they're far from God. That today they're still behind the gates of hell, locked away. We're gonna take a moment and I'm gonna invite you to just pray to the Lord to give you those four names right now and to identify those. So, so right now I just want to invite you to pray over four names. Right now, who are the four that are fans or far from God. Now at your campus, there are locks, and there are fences at your campus in the front, and we want to invite during this last song across all campuses, Living Hope, to come forward and to take a lock. And if you have your four names that you are gonna be praying that God would unlock them from the gates and the pits of hell, and you have those four names identified, then I'm gonna invite you to place that lock on the fence at your campus and to lock it in. That now the gate of heaven is open for them. And we're gonna illustrate across all campuses the four names of people that we are praying for that would know the resurrection power and would spend eternity with us. And if you don't have four names, then you're gonna take a lock and you're gonna take it home, and you're gonna pray. And then once God gives you those four names and you've identified those four names, then you're gonna bring your lock back with you, and all campuses will have those fences still up at whatever week it may be, and you're gonna lock it in.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

And we're gonna see the gates of hell released open, and the population of those who are going there will be depleting, and the population of heaven will be growing because the Easter victory and the Easter story today is a story that opens up the gates of heaven for all people everywhere, because everybody is a somebody, and some Jesus working for you. So get on your feet and all campuses on the sweet single symbol, twice in a lot, and then you know the four on the wall is coming up, Jesus coming by this by man, it's the fan of small promoting one for love.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Let's sing the living home and let's release the gates of hell to open the love of Christ.