Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Well, what a day to be together.
[00:00:05] Yeah, what an awesome day to be together in God's presence. To celebrate the most powerful, joy filled, life giving moment of the Christian calendar. This is the day we remember that Jesus didn't stay in the tomb. He's alive. The tomb is empty and Jesus is alive today. Death couldn't hold him. Death could not hold him. He is alive. And because he is alive, everything in my life can change. And everything in your life can change as well. Let's rewind to the very beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. When he said, let there be light, he didn't just flick on a light switch like we would flick a light switch on. When he said let there be light, light exploded out of him at 176,000 thousand miles per second into the galaxies that he was forming. And that light has continued on into the galaxies we know of and the galaxies we don't know of, and maybe even the galaxies he continues to create because he is a creator and he probably doesn't stop creating that same power.
[00:01:15] It was that voice that spoke to Lazarus come out of the grave. And Lazarus did. It's the same power that raised Christ from the dead and rolled the stone away. And Jesus is alive today. It is that power that we celebrate on this day.
[00:01:34] Romans 8, 11. And kids, here's your first clue. The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Turn to somebody beside you and says, the spirit of God lives. Lives in you.
[00:01:50] Come on. The spirit of God lives in you. Now I want you to personalize that. I want you to say, the spirit of God lives in me.
[00:01:59] Come on. The spirit of God lives in me. That means that his power also lives in me.
[00:02:08] Our world is obsessed with superheroes. How many kids like a good old superhero movie? How many slightly older kids like a good superhero movie? Marvel, dc? But you know what? There's others, like really mystical ones and witches and wizards. We are obsessed in this generation with power, supernatural power.
[00:02:29] But there is a power that is greater than any of the power that's portrayed in any of these movies. None of them come close to the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That power, the Holy Spirit, is not reserved just for adults or really amazing spiritual people.
[00:02:46] There is no junior version or kid version of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit is available to every person, regardless of their age.
[00:02:56] It doesn't matter. Yes, that's a yay.
[00:02:58] It doesn't matter what age you are. His power, his spirit is available to us and Today I want to talk about the same power that empowered David to take on Goliath, that spoke to Samuel as a child when he had to give a word to the people of Israel, to the early church, who stood up and boldly proclaimed the gospel message. I want to talk about that power and what it does in our lives. We're going to look at three things this morning that Jesus will raise to life through his resurrection power. You ready for the first one?
[00:03:34] Resurrected relationships.
[00:03:38] Come on. How many people need a relationship to be raised to life?
[00:03:43] Yeah. I think the reality is many of us would find ourselves in a place where there are relationships that are not where they're meant to be.
[00:03:52] We see an interesting passage in Mark, chapter 16. So Jesus has been raised to life. The women go to the tomb, and when they get to the tomb, they discover the tomb is empty. And an angel speaks to them. And this is what the angel says.
[00:04:08] Go tell his disciples.
[00:04:11] And Peter.
[00:04:17] Now, I was pretty sure that Peter was one of the disciples.
[00:04:23] Yeah.
[00:04:25] In fact, he was the one that said, jesus, I'll never leave you. I'll be here right through to the end. But the angel says, go tell the disciples, Peter.
[00:04:37] Now that tells me that the angel didn't think that Peter was one of Jesus disciples because he would have been included.
[00:04:46] But Peter had disqualified himself.
[00:04:51] Peter had said, I don't know this man. Jesus said, before the day is over, you will deny me three times. Before the rooster crows, you will say that you are not one of my disciples. And that's exactly what happened.
[00:05:06] So the angel said, go and get the disciples. And Peter, Peter must have felt like a failure.
[00:05:15] Imagine when that rooster finally crowed and he realized he denied Jesus.
[00:05:20] In Peter's mind, he disqualified himself. He said, I blew it. I messed up my relationship with Jesus, but this is what I love about Jesus.
[00:05:31] Jesus wanted Peter to know, you're still mine.
[00:05:36] You still belong.
[00:05:38] And your failure did not disqualify you. This is the heart of Jesus. He does not give up on us.
[00:05:46] Sometimes we give up on him.
[00:05:51] But Jesus does not give up on you.
[00:05:55] I wonder if somebody needs to hear today that Jesus still loves you.
[00:06:02] He's not mad at you.
[00:06:06] You still belong. Your failure.
[00:06:10] That's not the end of it. It's just a part of the really cool story of God's restoration.
[00:06:19] It's true not just for individuals. It's true for families.
[00:06:24] In reality, we've got families here today with parts of relationships that are a little bit broken. Right.
[00:06:33] God wants to restore and bring to Life that which would seem like it's dead. Parents, kids, siblings. Maybe you've experienced pain and conflict and maybe even anger within your home. Maybe there's tension or there are things that need to be said and dealt with.
[00:06:51] I want to tell you today the risen Jesus can bring restoration and healing to hearts and restoration to families and relationships.
[00:07:04] Can I tell you a quick story?
[00:07:08] Someone hurt me really bad one time. Like really, really bad. Not physically, but emotionally. I felt like I'd been betrayed by them. I was a pastor of a church and they hurt me real bad. My heart was hurting so bad. I was angry, I was offended.
[00:07:27] And this person came and knocked on my door and said, I am so sorry, will you please forgive me? And you know I'm a pastor, right?
[00:07:36] So you know what I did?
[00:07:38] I closed the door on him and said, I can't.
[00:07:43] This is how bad I am as a person without Jesus.
[00:07:46] Even with Jesus, I was wrestling to forgive this person.
[00:07:51] I couldn't. I was hurt so badly that in that moment I couldn't forgive this person because I would have been trying to forgive them in my own strength, which I had none of.
[00:08:06] And I knew when I closed the door, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I had to kind of protect my heart. I thought from this moment and the moment I closed the door, I knew God wanted to have a conversation with me.
[00:08:25] I said, God, I'm sorry.
[00:08:30] Fortunately, I did what I'd been taught to do as a child.
[00:08:34] I took the invitation that Jesus gives which is to come to me.
[00:08:39] Come to me if you're weary and you're heavy laden. If you're carrying burdens, come to me. So I came to Jesus and I prayed and I cried and I cried and I prayed and I said, God, I want to forgive, but I can't. And I felt like God said, I forgave you, Mike, and through that power I'm going to allow you to forgive them.
[00:09:02] And I didn't leave it long.
[00:09:04] I think pretty much by the end of the day I got back to that person and I said, I'm so sorry, will you forgive me? I was wrong. I was holding offence that I shouldn't have held towards you.
[00:09:20] And we made things right and we prayed together. And I'm not saying it's just a quick and easy fix, but we can only forgive others when we recognize how we have been forgiven ourselves.
[00:09:31] And I want to offer this to anyone here that would we remember what Christ has done in forgiving us and in and through that we might have the power, his power to forgive others.
[00:09:48] Jesus wants to bring to life, raise to life relationships that are broken.
[00:09:55] Can we get real today? I've got a little bit real and vulnerable. Would you mind doing the same?
[00:10:01] Would you mind opening up your heart to God right now?
[00:10:05] Is there anyone that you know you're not right relationship with?
[00:10:10] I'm not going to expose it, I'm not going to ask you to talk to anyone about it.
[00:10:15] I'd encourage you to go and talk to that person as and when the time is right.
[00:10:20] But in this moment, come on, children, young people, young adults, adults.
[00:10:28] Is there anyone that we don't have relationship with that we know we would like to have?
[00:10:34] Something's been broken, something needs to be restored.
[00:10:38] Would you pray a prayer with me? It's going to come up on the screen, going to encourage you to just put that person's name in the gap there. You can pray it in your heart. It doesn't have to be out loud a moment with you and God, but if you say, God, I want to forgive this person and I want to make things right, would you pray this prayer?
[00:10:59] God, I forgive. And you fill in the blanks.
[00:11:04] God, I forgive.
[00:11:06] I release them from judgment.
[00:11:10] I ask you to forgive me for holding on to offence.
[00:11:15] Jesus, because you forgave me, I choose to forgive them.
[00:11:21] Amen.
[00:11:24] What we need to understand is that forgiveness is an event and it's also a process.
[00:11:31] So there's a one time moment when I forgive, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm still a little bit angry at that person, any other real people out there.
[00:11:42] And so I forgive again and then I forgive again and then I forgive again. And you know what happens? There's a moment when you think about that person and you have no bitterness, no anger, no hatred towards them. You know what's happened, you have fully forgiven them.
[00:12:01] So I would say this is my advice to you.
[00:12:04] Take as long as it takes, forgive as many times as you have to.
[00:12:10] And by the power of God believing that you would not hold any of that in your life. Can I get a little amen for that? Yeah. All right. Second thing, I'm not going too deep. We all right? We all right on this resurrection Sunday.
[00:12:27] Come on. This is the second thing that Christ wants to bring to life, resurrected hope.
[00:12:35] I want you to imagine kids that you walk with Jesus for those three years. How incredible would that have been when he says, come follow me and he goes and he does all of these miracles. In fact, on the Count of three, I want you to think for a minute, okay? People who know a little bit of the Bible's story. I want you to think of a miracle that Jesus did. And on the count of three, I want you to shout it out as loud as you can, that miracle. Okay, can everyone give us a wave if you can think of a miracle? Okay, I need a few more hands. Come on. This is going to be a really big, loud shout, all right? You got some miracles, okay, on the count of three, I want you to shout out at the top of your voice, a miracle that Jesus did. One, two, three.
[00:13:20] Exactly what I was thinking about.
[00:13:24] Jesus fed thousands of people. He opened blind eyes. He stilled storms that were out of control. He cast demons out of people. Open blind eyes, made the lame walk. Jesus did all of these miracles. And the disciples were thinking, this is awesome.
[00:13:42] This is so great.
[00:13:45] This is the rest of our lives going around with Jesus, seeing miracles take place. And then all of a sudden, Jesus is arrested. The same crowd that was crying hosanna starts crying, crucify him.
[00:14:01] They beat him in the courtyard, in the temple courts.
[00:14:07] They make him carry a cross. They take him up onto a hill, and they crucify him in between. Two thieves, they take his body and they put it in a tomb. And these disciples are thinking, this isn't the plan, Jesus. This wasn't supposed to happen.
[00:14:28] Can you imagine what that would have been like, going to bed that night?
[00:14:32] And then the next night you're waking up on the third day saying, this isn't what I thought it would be.
[00:14:42] Friends, maybe you've had hope deferred.
[00:14:48] Maybe you've had hope that's been broken.
[00:14:53] Maybe your dreams, the things that you longed for, have not come to pass.
[00:14:58] I could tell you many stories of those moments in my life. The things we dreamed and we hoped for that didn't come to pass when we thought they would.
[00:15:07] And that pain is real.
[00:15:10] I'm not asking anyone to just get over it, because we don't get over that stuff.
[00:15:15] But what we can do is bring those things to God.
[00:15:20] And through his grace and through his love and through his mercy, he allows us to grieve and mourn for those things. But sometimes God also restores. And he brings back to life that thing that we thought was broken. And that's the resurrection power of God, the resurrected hope that can come into our lives. I reckon that's how Peter felt right after the crucifixion. He said, I'm going fishing. In other words, I'm done with that life, I'm going back to my old life. Anyone ever had that experience when they've been walking with God and then something difficult happens and we go, you know what? I'm just going to go back to what I knew before.
[00:15:59] That's what Peter did. He went back to what he knew.
[00:16:04] But Jesus didn't leave him in that place the Bible says on the shore. He went out fishing and he saw Jesus and he ran to Jesus, said, jesus, we're back. We're back together again.
[00:16:15] But Jesus had to lovingly restore him. He asked him three times, do you love me?
[00:16:22] Do you love me?
[00:16:25] Peter denied him three times.
[00:16:28] Jesus gave him the opportunity three times to say, I love you, I love you, I love you. And hope was restored.
[00:16:38] And this is what's incredible. Just a few weeks later, in Acts chapter two, Peter, the same one who denied Jesus, Remember, we had go tell the disciples and Peter, just a few weeks later, the Bible says, and then Peter stood with all the eleven disciples and they preached the good news.
[00:16:59] God restored relationship, and he also restored hope. Listen to this. Acts 2. 38. This is what Peter says. Repent and be baptized, every one of you. If you want to know what it means to become a Christian, here it is right here. Repent of your sins and be baptized in water, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far off. And I wonder if there's a child in the building who can tell me how many people got saved after Peter preached that message. Come on, there's a child that knows that one.
[00:17:40] Come on, stand up if you know the answer.
[00:17:42] Hold on, hold on. I'll bring the microphone to you. 3,000. 3,000. Absolutely correct. Wow.
[00:17:54] So just to give you a bit of a context, in the building today, there's probably 500, maybe 600 people in the building here today.
[00:18:05] So five, six times the amount here. That's the number of people that got saved and were baptized when Peter preached that message.
[00:18:15] Wow.
[00:18:17] What would happen if. If that happened here or another church somewhere that thousands of people were saved? We'd have a lot of work to do. Right.
[00:18:29] It's like church would now become about, actually, I need to help someone become a disciple of Jesus.
[00:18:36] How many people in this next season are saying, you know what? I'm up for discipling another person. Give me a wave. Give me an honest wave. Yeah. I am so excited to see those Hands and I would love to come and chat to you. We're going to start something in a couple of weeks time about those who want to make disciples.
[00:18:52] And it's easier than you think it is. Okay. It's not as difficult as we think it is. But in this season we need disciple makers, people who will get alongside somebody else and love on them, spend time with them and be in relationship with them and just talk to them about Jesus and open the word together.
[00:19:12] And I believe our church will change forever. It will never ever be the same. When we have a good portion of our church who say, I am prepared to make disciples of men, of women, of children, of youth, of young people, of families, of the generations.
[00:19:29] We're in an exciting season right now. Come on. Is there an area of hope that needs resurrection? Let's pray this prayer together.
[00:19:39] It's up on the screen. You put in that area. Maybe it's family, maybe it's relationships, maybe it's, you need a house, maybe it's a job, maybe it's something you're believing for. Maybe some of you young people, you need some hope for your exams that are coming up. Right. Seems a little bit daunting.
[00:19:56] Here we go. Let's pray this together. God, I need hope in the area of you. Speak into that.
[00:20:05] Please help me to see your hand at work. Restore what feels lost. Help me to trust you again.
[00:20:13] Amen. Amen. I got one more thought and then we are done. We're gonna eat some food, but we're gonna have a time of worship as the band come and join me. The third thing that we see from the cross to the resurrection is resurrected life. Romans 6, 8, 11. It says if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Come on, kids, there's a little blank you can fill in there. If we die with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Here's the incredible truth. Because Jesus rose from the grave, we don't get a slightly better upgrade on our life.
[00:21:01] We get a brand new life.
[00:21:04] 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If anyone is in Christ, have a look around and see if there's any anyones in this room. Anyone in anyone. Yeah. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.
[00:21:19] The old is gone and the new has come.
[00:21:25] How many people like a new car or a new house or a new boat or just a new meal each day? God, there's something amazing about new. But this isn't an Upgrade. This is a brand new creation. This is what God does in our lives through the power of the cross.
[00:21:45] I was three years old, three years old when I knew that Jesus needed to save me.
[00:21:54] At the age of three, I knew and I understood the power of Jesus to change my life.
[00:22:02] I was afraid. I was fearful in bed at night.
[00:22:06] There was an earthquake once and it terrified me. I thought God was angry with me. Remember my mom had this conversation.
[00:22:15] I said, mom, I'm afraid. I'm afraid that God's angry at me.
[00:22:19] She explained the good news. She said, God's not angry you. God loves you. In fact, he loved you so much that he gave his only son, Jesus to die on the cross for your sins. And don't worry, even at three, I knew how to sin.
[00:22:34] Doesn't take much, does it?
[00:22:38] But at that age of three, I said, I want to give my life to Jesus and I need Jesus in my life. And I prayed a prayer of faith as a three year old. And I gave my life to Jesus.
[00:22:50] You know what? I started preaching in the sandpit at Kindy.
[00:22:54] I started to tell people about Jesus. Four years old in the sandpit.
[00:22:58] One of the teachers contacted my mum and said, look, I don't want your son to be disappointed, but they're not all buying into this whole gospel thing.
[00:23:07] I didn't stop me, I just went for it anyway.
[00:23:11] Come on. At any age, you can experience the power of the resurrection. When we say yes to him, the old, the shame, the guilt, the fear, the sin, it goes. And a new life begins.
[00:23:26] Why do we need forgiveness?
[00:23:31] Because we have this thing called sin that entered the world through Adam and Eve. A desire to be like God.
[00:23:39] A pride that says, I can be as good as God and better.
[00:23:44] Sometimes we wouldn't say it with our words, but we live it in our actions and our lifestyle.
[00:23:51] Kids, here's a really cool moment for you. You get to find out whether your parents have ever sinned. Okay, you ready? You can ask them this and they have to be honest.
[00:24:04] You ready?
[00:24:09] Have they ever told a lie? Go on, ask them.
[00:24:13] All right, yeah. Some of you look it up on stage. Go. I don't know.
[00:24:20] Okay.
[00:24:21] Okay, here's one. Have you ever wanted something someone else had?
[00:24:28] It's called coveting in the Bible.
[00:24:32] Okay, third one. Anyone ever had anger in their heart towards somebody else.
[00:24:41] All right, kids, give us a big wave if your parents have sinned.
[00:24:47] Wow, there's a lot of hands out there.
[00:24:50] What will we do with this?
[00:24:53] But here's the good news.
[00:24:56] Because I'm a sinner that has been saved by the grace of God. Because the old is gone and the new is come.
[00:25:06] And so here's the good news. And we hope that your parents prayed a prayer that maybe we're going to pray in a moment where they ask Jesus to forgive them of their sin.
[00:25:18] See, we all fall short.
[00:25:20] And if we stood before a perfect judge, you know what I have to plead, Judge, I'm guilty.
[00:25:30] And the full judgment of the law would come upon me.
[00:25:34] The Bible says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's not a righteous person, not even one. But actually there was one.
[00:25:43] And imagine if Jesus stepped into the courtroom as the only one righteous, is the only one free from sin and says, I'll take Mike's place, I'll take Joe's place, I'll take Angie's place, I'll take Mark's place, I'll take Graham's place, I will take his place. And then God says, but it will cost you your life.
[00:26:15] Jesus says, I will give my life in exchange for theirs. And that is exactly what Jesus did. Friends, that is the good news.
[00:26:27] That is the resurrected life that is being offered to each of us today.
[00:26:34] And in a moment, I'm going to ask us all to stand.
[00:26:37] And when we stand, we're going to pray a prayer to giving.
[00:26:41] As we pray that prayer, if you have never given your life to Jesus and said, I want to follow you, I want to be one of your disciples, I want to be like you. If you have never done that, or maybe you've been walking so far from God and today your heart, you know, God has drawn you back into you, I'm going to invite you to pray that prayer with me.
[00:27:09] And when you've prayed that prayer, I'm going to ask you just to give us a wave and let us know that that is you who has prayed that prayer. And we are going to celebrate and party like never before.
[00:27:23] Because this is what our Christian faith is all about.
[00:27:28] Seeing the lost come to Christ, old lives be made new and restored. So whether you are 3 years old or 103 years old today, or even 1, or if you can understand what I'm saying, this is a prayer that you can pray.
[00:27:48] In fact, why don't you stay seated as we pray this prayer?
[00:27:53] And I want to say before we pray this prayer, kids, your faith is powerful right now.
[00:28:00] You don't have to wait till you're older for you to have influence. Come on. Teens, teenagers, youth.
[00:28:08] You're not the Future church. You're the now church. You carry something that we need. Young adults. Adults, come on. Those in their 60 plus. You're not being put out to pasture yet, right? You're not done yet. You carry something that this generation needs. You have a legacy and a heritage that you need to pass on to the next generation.
[00:28:36] But we can only do it when we receive that invitation and accept that invitation of Jesus to come.
[00:28:44] This is his invitation to you today. Would you come? Would you come to me?
[00:28:51] Would you pray this prayer with me?
[00:28:54] Heavenly Father, I come to you today. Just as I am.
[00:29:01] I confess that I have sinned and fallen short.
[00:29:05] I ask you to forgive me.
[00:29:08] Thank you for sending Jesus who died on the cross for my sins and rose again to give me life.
[00:29:19] Today I turn from my old ways and I choose to follow you, Jesus. I invite you into my heart.
[00:29:28] Be my Lord, Be my savior. Be my friend.
[00:29:32] Fill me with your Holy Spirit so I can live with purpose and hope today.
[00:29:39] Heal what's broken, restore what's lost. Lead me on the path you prepared for me.
[00:29:47] I believe that because you rose from the grave, I will live with you today and forever.
[00:29:54] Thank you for the gift of eternal life and the promise of resurrection hope. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
