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is really geared towards those that want to know more about the Lord.

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We have a school of ministry here that we call spirit. And it just starts once a year, you know, and and so sometimes we need to engage before September. So if you’re newer here or just excited about what God’s doing, we want to invite you to come. Brian and Pinnell. Whitmer are going to be teaching the class and heading it up.

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It’s just four weeks, and it is an amazing opportunity to just begin to dive into what God is doing, what God who God says you are, what he’s doing in the earth, and just the the foundational pieces of who we are as believers. So we’re excited about that. So if you are interested, come. It’s going to be in this building, in the classroom, in the back here where we do all of our spirit training and

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Not. 1226. No. April 12th, 2026.

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It’s almost there. Next Sunday. Next Sunday. All right. Amen. Well, happy Easter again, everybody. It has been a wonderful day. Thank you, George and the worship team. I have to say, I’ve been leading worship for a lot of my life and, it is time to pass the baton. They are amazing. Who I’m so grateful for what God is doing here.

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The Lord is so faithful to challenge me and my faith sometimes. You know, George sent me his song list on Friday before I sent it out, and I was like, I don’t know, how is that going to work? And it was fantastic.

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And God is like, see, you’re not in charge here. So faithful to remind me that I am not in charge. And every time I try to be, he shows up in ways that are so unexpected and so beautiful and amazing. I just have to step back and I’m in awe of his wonder and his love and his presence, his grace and his mercy for each and every one of us.

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Amen. Amen. Well, today is Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday.

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So today, I want to talk to you about a man named Jesus. It wouldn’t be Easter Sunday without talking about this man. Name. Jesus. You see, Jesus was a man who lived on the earth 2000 years ago. It is a historically documented fact that this man, Jesus, changed the course of history. So Jesus was born in a very mysterious and miraculous way to a young virgin girl named Mary.

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And the account of his conception and birth was not just miraculous, but was the fulfillment of the prophets of old. The Son of God had come to earth. Jesus grew, and he learned of his father in heaven and of his earthly father. He taught in the temple as a boy, and he learned obedience. And he became a builder of both wood and of men.

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And when he was 30 years old, he began to teach and preach about his father in heaven and about the kingdom of God. That is available to us now. He cared about the poor. He healed the sick. His love was endless and available to all. He taught lessons about faith and kindness and God’s ability to make things from our most humble offerings.

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Jesus rejected the hypocrisy of the religious, and he taught a higher law, the law of love. Oh, and he made a lot of people angry doing it. Three years of preaching to the masses. Teaching his disciples. Performing miracles after miracle, all culminating at the week of Passover. One of the large Jewish feasts. There were hundreds of thousands coming into Jerusalem to celebrate this feast, and the news of Jesus’s miraculous exploits had traveled far and wide.

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And when he arrived in Jerusalem and rode in, they celebrated as we celebrate Palm Sunday. The whole crowd was celebrating and singing Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Oh, and over the next few days, Jesus overturned some tables in the temple. He tussled with the religious. And he continued to teach his disciples and prepare them for what was to come.

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And on the first night of the Passover, Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples. And he foretold of his betrayal by one of them. And the disciples denial of him.

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Jesus knew that it was the night that he would fulfill his purpose. He took his disciples and he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Full of anguish and distress. He prayed to his father, my father. If it’s possible, please let this cup pass. Let this cup of suffering be taken away.

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But not my will. Yours be done.

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At that time, Judas, one of his disciples, showed up with the priest’s guards, and they arrested Jesus in the middle of the night. They took him to the High priest where the elders were gathered, and they put Jesus on trial, and they declared him guilty of blasphemy. And they bound him, and they brought him to Pilate, the Roman governor, early in the morning.

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And now Jesus, standing there before Pilate accused, he stood silent. He didn’t defend himself. He didn’t argue his case. Even Pilate knew there was something wrong. But the crowd was louder than the truth.

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He gave the crowd the choice to either free a guilty man, Barabbas, or free an innocent one. Jesus. But the crowd chose Barabbas. They said, release the guilty one and crucify the innocent. Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him! And at that moment, the innocent was condemned so that the guilty could go free.

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They mocked him. They beat him. They whipped him. Tore flesh from his back. They crowned him with thorns.

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Bleeding and bruised. He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

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He carried what we could not. Then they led him away to be crucified. The worst death you could die. They nailed him to a cross, mocking him, spitting on him. And he died crying aloud. It is finished.

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And the earth shook and Jesus died.

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Then they laid him in a tomb. Death seemed to have the final word. What was this all for? The teachings. The miracles. Just for him to die. Can you imagine? The disciples who walked with him for three years were convinced that he was the Messiah. And then this. The ridicule, the shame, the pain.

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The finality of death was upon them.

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And then we get to Luke 24.

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This is very early that Sunday morning, the women made their way to the tomb carrying spices that they had prepared. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary. Jesus’s mother. And arriving at the tomb, they discovered that the huge stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside. So they went in and looked, but the tomb was empty and the body of Jesus was gone.

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And they stood there stunned and perplexed. And suddenly two men in dazzling white robes, shining like lightning, appeared above them. Terrified, the women fell to the ground on their faces. And the men in white said to them, why would you look for the living one in a tomb? He’s not here, for he has risen. He has risen. Have you forgotten what he said to you while he was still in Galilee?

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The son of Man is destined to be handed over to sinful men, to be nailed on a cross. And on the third day, he will rise again. And all at once they remembered his words. And leaving the tomb they went to break the news to the 11. And to all the others of what they had seen and heard.

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The empty tomb.

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Everything stands or falls at the empty tomb. Everything we as Christians stand for. Everything we believe in stands or falls at an empty tomb.

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It’s not about a teaching. It’s not about a value system. It’s not even a moral code. It’s at a tomb.

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The tomb isn’t just part of the story. It is the story.

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If it’s not empty, nothing changes. But if it is, everything changes. Everything changes.

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Let’s go back to a moment. For a moment here in Luke 24 said, imagine. Just imagine this picture. These women had seen Jesus crucified. They watched him die. They watched them bury him. They watched the stone be sealed. The grave was final. The story should have been over. But here they are, coming early in the morning to do what they would do in their tradition.

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By bringing these spices to the body in their grief and in their pain.

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They were not expecting anything but death. When they got to the tomb.

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They were not remembering what Jesus told them. They were not remembering his teachings. They were consumed in the grief of the moment that they were in. They were consumed with the death. The rejection by the disciples. Everything culminated in this moment of despair. And they were coming in grief to anoint the body of Jesus. As is their custom.

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And instead of finding death, they found resurrection.

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They arrived in the stone was gone. The body was gone. There wasn’t a celebration. There was confusion. Look what is going on here. I watched them put his body there. I watched them roll the stone there. What is happening? Who stole his body? What are they doing? Confusion was what they had.

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They’re trying to understand what happened when they were shaken by the presence of two angels. Terrified.

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Verse five. The angel spoke to them and said. Why do you seek the living among the dead?

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That word living there means the one who is alive right now. This is not like spiritual language, right? This is physical reality.

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This was a right now, not a past. Not a future, a current present. Now.

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He’s not here. He’s alive. Can you imagine that fear? Can you imagine the confusion? They showed up in their grief, not expectation. But God showed up in the miraculous. And I want to encourage some of us today that there is some grief that we’ve been walking through. And sometimes it’s hard to come expecting God to move. When you’re surrounded by grief and pain and sickness and all the things that are coming against you that don’t make any sense, like Jesus dying made no sense.

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But God says, I don’t even need you to come with expectation.

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Come with your grief.

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And let me show up with the miraculous.

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This is not just about the women. This is about us. Why do you seek the living among the dead? So often we look for life in dead places.

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It’s what we’re used to.

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The women had only really ever seen death. They only saw death when they brought spices. Not expectation.

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We don’t expect resurrection. We say we believe God, but we often don’t expect him to move. So again, why do we look for life and things that can’t give life?

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We look for peace and things that leave us empty. Purpose and things that don’t last life and what’s already dead. Not because we’re foolish. Because it’s what we’re used to.

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Sometimes it’s easier to hold on to what we know, even when it’s not working. Then to trust what God is actually doing.

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You see, heaven interrupted uninterrupted. That thinking in the garden. Something different happened. Their faith was stirred. They remembered what Jesus had taught. That on the third day he would rise. The angels proclaimed, he is risen, risen, meaning to stand up, awake, arise, cause to exist, restore, heal, to make war against. That’s what risen means. See, the tomb is where everything Jesus said is proven.

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He is risen. He is risen. The tomb, not even the cross, is where Jesus proved it.

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It’s at this moment where everything Jesus said was about to be proven.

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His identity was proven.

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Jesus didn’t just teach. He claimed he disrupted a lot of people with his claims. He made a lot of people angry with his claims. John 219 he said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Everyone’s like, really? Come on, you know, I’d be that person.

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Mark nine. He taught this to his disciples as the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men and they will kill him. And after he is killed, he will rise the third day. But they didn’t understand this saying and were afraid to ask him about it.

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I mean, for us it feels pretty clear, right? Like hindsight, 2000 years forward. You have the evidence, right? But imagine being there in that moment. And Jesus said stuff like this. See? Like spiritually phrasing this, like maybe this supernatural thing because they had in their minds what Jesus was supposed to do. He was establishing his kingdom. He was the Messiah.

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And they kept missing these really important pieces. Like, don’t be surprised because I’m going to die. But don’t worry, I’m going to be raised. And they didn’t understand it. You see, anyone can make claims about God. Anyone can speak about him, can speak truth. Anyone can inspire a crowd.

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But Jesus said, I will go to death and I will come out.

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The tomb is where that claim was proven. His identity.

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His authority was proven.

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Jesus didn’t just speak about life. He claimed authority over death. John 1018 I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up. This is real power. Real authority. He didn’t say, I hope to survive this thing. He said, no, I have authority over this.

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The tomb is where the authority is proven. His promises are proven.

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Jesus made promises that only mattered if he lived. None of the promises he made made any difference if he died and stayed dead. They only mattered if he lived.

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John 1125 I am the resurrection and the life.

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And that sounded so cool until he died.

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Because if he stayed in the grave. These are just words. But the tomb is where every promise of Jesus either holds or collapses.

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Commentator. And he, right, says the resurrection is the point at which all the lines of the story come together. I love that. You see, everything Jesus said. Everything Jesus did. Everything he claimed comes down to this moment. He is not there. He is risen.

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He is not there. He is risen. The proof has been established. The verdict is in. Every claim he made stands every promise. He spoke. Every word he said is true because he is not there. He is risen. Paul said it like this in first Corinthians 15 he said, If Christ is not alive, you are still lost in your sins and your faith is a fantasy.

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In other translations it says your faith is useless or futile. Now Paul is not raising doubt here. He’s revealing what is really at stake, trying to help us understand that without the resurrection, since still defeated, death still wins. Jesus was just another teacher that made promises he couldn’t keep. The repeat after repeat after repeat. But he is risen.

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He was not there. The tomb is empty. You know that even historians who don’t even believe many of them agree that Jesus was executed by Roman crucifixion, that the tomb was empty. That his followers said that they saw him alive because there was hundreds of accounts of it documented, and that their lives were completely changed. They know they can prove.

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They agree that the Roman soldiers didn’t generally make mistakes. They were a very efficient army. They knew how to do their job. If they were going to kill someone, they died. If they were supposed to guard something. It was guarded.

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They also agree that nobody ever produced a body.

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And they also say that people don’t generally die for something they think is a lie.

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And Jesus is followers followed him with such conviction that many of them died for their faith.

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So the question really isn’t about if something happened. The question is, what explains it? And the answer is he is alive. Yes, he is alive.

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When Jesus died, the earth shook and the graves were opened. You know, his resurrection didn’t just stay in one tomb. It started opening others. Ha, ha. So what does this empty tomb mean? It means the cross worked.

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It was not in vain. Romans 425 says, Jesus died for our sins. He was raised from the dead to make us right with God on the cross. Jesus said, it is finished. But the empty tomb proved it and declared the victory is one that the king is alive. Sin is answered, and you can be made right with God.

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It’s not about our works and doing all the right things. It’s about his blood and his mercy. That was poured out on the cross and the power of God that raised him up, that can raise us up to. That is what is it? It’s about what does it mean? It means that death is not the end. That’s right.

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Death is not the end.

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The grave is not a wall. It’s a doorway.

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When Jesus died, said the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. Not the bottom. From the top. The temple had this veil between the holy place and the holiest of Holies. And inside the Holiest of Holies was a place that only the priests could go. And it happened after all of these steps, starting with sacrifice and blood and the washing of water, and then worshiping in the holy place.

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And this was set up by God many hundreds of thousands of years prior, so that their sins could be atoned. The priest would enter into the place, the holiest of Holies, because that’s where the presence of God was. God dwelled in this room. And when Jesus died.

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The veil. It was actually this really thick curtain. They say like, really, really thick.

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It tore in half.

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Top to bottom.

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Top to bottom.

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We see this in Matthew 27. And Jesus shouted again and released his spirit. And at that moment, the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. God is saying that the barrier to his presence is gone.

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Jesus came to remove this barrier. So say you don’t have to go through anybody else for forgiveness of sins. You don’t have to go through anybody else to find me. You have full access into the presence of the father. That is what the empty tomb did. He gave us access to the father.

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Hebrews ten says, by his death, Jesus opened a new and living way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.

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You see, the cross removed the barrier, and the resurrection restored access to the father.

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The tomb is empty.

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The tomb is empty.

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Jesus walked out of a grave. Which means everything he said is true.

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He broke the power of sin. He broke the power of death. The king is alive. The kingdom is here. And the way is open to us.

00:31:02:27 – 00:31:19:26
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So what does that mean for me and for you today? It means you’re not stuck in your past because sin has been dealt with.

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It means you’re not trapped by death because the grave has been broken. And it means you don’t have to try to fix yourself.

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Because the way to God has already been opened. Yeah. You know, guys, this isn’t just something to believe in. This is something we can actually step into.

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There is a life that Jesus is offering to us today. It’s not just about an inspiring story.

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That’s about resurrection. It’s about life.

00:32:12:22 – 00:32:17:22
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You don’t need to try to be a better version of yourself.

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You just need new life.

00:32:22:10 – 00:32:31:20
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And it’s available. It’s available to us. You don’t have to be anybody special.

00:32:31:22 – 00:33:00:02
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It’s available to us. Jesus went into every walk of life to bring hope, to bring healing, to bring deliverance. That is who he is.

00:33:00:05 – 00:33:05:19
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You know, I believe that God is challenging us today.

00:33:05:21 – 00:33:15:02
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That we don’t have to stay where we are.

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We don’t have to carry what we’ve been carrying. Because I see a weight sometimes.

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And we’re not intended to bear alone.

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He wants us to turn to him. And whatever place we’re at.

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And come find the heart of the father.

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Because he went to death for you. And he rose from the grave for you.

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So that we could have life.

00:34:05:14 – 00:34:14:17
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And not just not go to hell. Life. Although that’s a great thing. Yay!

00:34:14:20 – 00:34:47:27
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But the life he’s offering is so much more. The life that he’s offering is peace here and now. In the midst of chaos. It’s joy in the midst of things that don’t make sense. It is hope. It is freedom. It is deliverance. It is forgiveness. It is mercy. Totally undeserved. This is the life that he is offering us today.

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You.

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I want to take a moment because I believe that this is. It doesn’t have to just be a message today.

00:35:04:24 – 00:35:10:07
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But then it can be a moment in our lives.

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When we respond to the love of the father.

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Where we respond to his wonderful love.

00:35:26:27 – 00:35:55:27
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That’s the heart of a good papa, a good father who loves so deep and so wide, bigger and greater than anything that we could imagine. His love is what draws us today.

00:35:56:00 – 00:36:05:10
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The way is open today and he is inviting us in.

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If this is the first time you’ve heard of this, Jesus.

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Today is your day to receive him.

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As your Lord and your Savior. Savior. It’s really, really simple. It’s a really simple prayer. All it is, is, Lord, I believe you died on the cross and that you rose again for me. And I receive you to be my Lord and Savior. It’s that simple. There’s no crazy actions.

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It’s believing it in your heart and saying it with your mouth.

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That he is Lord and you will be saved. And he’s inviting us into this relationship with the father. But it doesn’t stop there. Salvation is just the first step. And he’s inviting us into this place. A full life. And I believe that there are some of us here today that know Jesus, maybe haven’t been stepping into the fullness that he has.

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Maybe some of us think we ought to get our lives on track first. I get all I gotta get everything together. No you don’t. He’s got you. Maybe some of us think, well, I do have my life all together.

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And that’s okay too. Let me tell you, he’s got a better version of it for you.

00:37:51:09 – 00:38:18:18
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We can live in good hope. We can step into the greatness of who he made you to be. So he’s inviting us to be. To come. However, you are to receive him. Whether it’s the first time or to step into the fullness of who God has called you to be.