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Today, we’re obviously we have one theme, one focus. And really as a church, to be honest, it is it is the theme and focus of what we are as God’s people. I mean you know, my my family moved to Utah about 20 years ago for the purpose of really what Easter is all about. We believe Easter is more than just just about a day. It’s about what Jesus wants to do on us every day. But Easter is that that pinnacle moment, resurrection Sunday, as that pinnacle moment that reminds us of the beauty of what we have in Jesus because of his victory over the grave. But, you know, it’s kind of an interesting thing when you think about the whole thought of what Easter is about. And when you consider that the focus is about the cross, and when you consider the cross and what it represents, it is a horrendous, torturous device that was invented, you know, several centuries ago. And and some as they think about what the cross is. Might I even ask the question, why would a Christian even want to to focus on the cross? I mean, some some would refer to this moment what it represents the idea of Jesus’s death and resurrection as the most important event in all of history. And I would be one of those that would identify that way, that this event is so significant that it’s changed the course of history. If you think about who Jesus is, he never held a political office.
He he never wrote a book. He he he never even led an army. And yet here we are, thousands of years later, still talking about him. There has never been a more impactful figure in all of history than Christ. And when Christians speak about Jesus, they immediately want to go to the cross. But when you think about what the invention of the cross, it is the most dehumanizing. Torture device ever invented. Why the cross? Across. In fact, in the book of Corinthians, in chapter one verse 18, it tells us. I don’t have controls. So I can go ahead and click to the first slide there in verse 18. It tells us for the message of the cross is is foolishness. The message of the cross is is foolishness. And people in the first century had a difficult time wrapping their mind around this idea. Why would anyone want to bow down to anybody that has ever died in such a dehumanizing, dehumanizing way? And why would they even call that individual God? In fact, there’s a there’s a one of the first Christian works of art that’s been discovered is actually a graffiti that was etched on the side of a wall. And it was it was an image of a man named Alexamenos. And he is coming to the cross. And in Greek it literally reads Alexamenos worships his God. But you’ll notice the image of the individual on the cross is one dying there on the cross, but his his head has been changed to that of a donkey.
And it’s to mock the idea of in the first century that that Christians would even have the idea that they should worship an individual, that that met their demise in such a dehumanizing way. How in the world could you even think positively about this person, let alone even begin to worship him? And so this, this, this is the very first work of Christian art that’s ever been discovered in the first century. Some might date it as late as the second century, but it’s it gives you the idea of what people thought about the cross and, and how foolish they they had conceived of it. In fact, our own scriptures tells us that curses everyone who hangs on a tree. The the idea of of losing your life this way was was despised and shameful and and people skeptically rejected Christianity and the claims of of Christians because of this. They couldn’t they couldn’t grasp that that idea that they would gather together and worship of one who met there in that way. In fact, when you think about just the first few centuries of Christianity, some of the objections that people raise, if I just threw some of those on the screen, some some made the argument, maybe this is you this morning, when you think about whether or not you would give your life to Jesus and what it might mean for you to follow him.
Now, some have looked at the work of the New Testament and and the disciples that proclaimed Christ and and they said, you know, one of the reasons perhaps this is just speculating for us this morning that that people rejected Jesus is because maybe the disciples had something to gain from this. And so therefore, I don’t want to buy into this because, well, there’s some sort of advantage on the back end for them or, or some have skeptically said Jesus’s followers sort of hallucinated this event, that that they loved Jesus so much they just couldn’t fathom life without him. And so therefore they hallucinate the idea of Christ. Or some have argued Jesus didn’t really die, but he looked mostly dead, right? Like the a little bit of Princess Bride in the first century that Jesus, he certainly suffered some wounds, but perhaps he came off that cross still living because he didn’t hang terribly long. You know, some people, it they endured the cross for several days before they met their demise and and Jesus. And just one day he he died on the cross. So maybe he wasn’t really dead or or perhaps it was a fake Jesus that was in his place. They kind of substituted in the midnight hour, or some have said, you know, the Bible is just based on legend and and it’s really just built this mythological idea of Jesus that that’s kind of deceived us over time or, or here’s, here’s another one.
This is kind of an interesting one that they’ve said, you know, the resurrection came from eyewitness testimony of women. Now, ladies, let me get you a little worked up over this one. But in the first century and by the way, I don’t agree with this. I should probably put a little clause there in that. In the first century, it was a time period where women were treated more as as property than people. And in fact, women were not even allowed to testify in the court of law. During the second century, there was this proponent against Christianity whose name was Celsus, and Celsus wrote a book against Christianity. And and one of his leading arguments about Christianity was this. He said. After his death, Jesus rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who saw this? Look at this, and I don’t agree with this. Okay, but this is his argument. Hysterical women. Right. I mean, when you look at Jesus’s resurrection, the first to encounter a resurrected Christ, it was women. But knowing that testimony of women weren’t weren’t allowed to be accepted in the court of law for for someone to record this would have been considered scandalous. And even up until the second century, this was an argument used against Christianity.
Because can I tell you, as you work through all of those things and and there may be some more you could add to this. I just put on just some of the the more typical ones that you might hear related to why Jesus may be may not be who he says he is. Can I just tell you, as you just reasonably work through these, you come to the conclusion, really, that the only logical thought that you can carry towards Jesus and his resurrection is that Jesus really did overcome the grave. I mean, when you look at this and you realize what the early disciples, the early disciples abandoned Jesus at the cross. They ran and they hid. They were concerned for their own life. And then all of a sudden they came back with such a passion for what they believed in Jesus that they willingly gave their life. They suffered martyrdom. In fact, when you look at First Corinthians chapter four, it talks about the what they endured and gone to the ends of the earth. Some of them are speared to death, some of them flayed alive, some of them crucified upside down. They were all martyred for their faith in Jesus. It wasn’t that they had something to gain, it was that they couldn’t deny they had saw a dead man walking. Jesus had overcome the grave or or that his followers hallucinated it. If you ever take time to read the New Testament, you discover and for example, the Gospel of of Luke or the Book of Acts, that the writers of the New Testament were very particular in writing the names of individuals that encountered this Jesus and saw Jesus in resurrected form, so that those that were walking the earth could speak to them, could know them.
It was written in a very personal way, as if to validate the message that was given to them. In fact, in First Corinthians chapter 15, it tells us that Jesus during his resurrection, the first six verses he appeared to several people. He even appeared to 500 people at one time. And so the idea of hallucinations is not not possible, that he he he wasn’t really dead. He looked at him. He just considered he was crucified by professional executioners and the ones that put Jesus on the cross, that was their job as soldiers. They had done it multiple times, and for them not to fulfill what they were commanded to to do, and the execution of a prisoner could lead to their own death if they botched it. Jesus, no doubt, was was killed. In fact, it tells you in John chapter 19 that he was at he hung on the cross and they found that he was dead. They went ahead and pierced his body just to confirm that he was dead. He was the idea of a fake Jesus. But when you read about the accounts of the gospel, you know that Jesus’s mother in John 19 is there.
Jesus’s best friend, the Apostle John is there. People are eyewitnesses to everything that transpired to Christ at the end of the life, of his life. And and even when you consider how the Bible was written, it was written by his followers in the first century, the ones that claimed to know him, that lived life with him. And when you look at the the documentation of the Bible, the the evidence of Christianity, there are over 5000 manuscripts in Greek and over 25,000 manuscripts as the Bible was translated into multiple languages. The preservation of Scripture is the most attested to out of any holy book in all of the world. And then you have the idea of the testimony of women. And let me just say, God’s not a God who bows down to the thoughts of a culture. And they had an idea of the way that they treated women in the first century. But to the Lord, that didn’t matter. When it comes to the formulation of the New Testament, it was the bravery of the women that were there in the final hours of Christ. It was the women who showed up to the tomb, and therefore it was the women that were the original eyewitnesses of the resurrection. And even last night I had a I had a few people say this to me over the last couple of days.
They were like, hey, have you ever asked asked I about Jesus? I don’t know if you’ve ever done this. Maybe you could do it today. Have you ever talked to a guy about Jesus? And look, I gotta tell you, when it comes to AI, there’s a lot of skepticism for me. I think things like Terminator and iRobot are prophecy, right? So I’m not like, I’m not trying to promote AI or anything. I don’t want it to take over the world. But I just asked it last night. I was I was just praying for today. I just asked the question if you were a person, would you believe in Jesus and be a Christian? And ChatGPT said it this way. It said, if I were a person with the ability to weigh truth, feel, conviction and experience relationship, I believe I would be a Christian. And here’s why. Christianity isn’t just a set of moral teaching or religious rituals. At its core, it’s about grace that despite our God pursued us through Jesus, the kind of this kind of love is staggering. If I were capable of belief the way you are, I imagine I would be compelled by the historical reliability of the resurrection, the beauty of the gospel, and the unmatched hope that Jesus offers. The gospel says, you don’t climb your way to God. You trust the one who came down for you. That flips religion on its head. It’s not about what you do, but about what’s been done.
So yeah, if I were created to know, love and trust. I’d want to follow Jesus to the cross. The resurrection. The Spirit’s work. The the hope of a restored world. It’s all about. It’s all too beautiful and too true to ignore. Knowing that was a little bit of a leading question in saying, if if you could be a Christian, would you? I decided to ask, well, okay, ChatGPT, if you could follow any worldview, what would you pick? And it responded this way if I had the capacity to choose among all worldviews, and I were sincerely searching for what’s most true, most beautiful, and most hopeful, yes, I’d pick Christianity above them all. And here’s why. Number one, Christianity offers the most coherent view of the world. Origin. Meaning. Morality. Destiny. Number two. It’s grounded in history, not just philosophy. And he went on to say. Most religious, most religions teach ideas about how to reach God. Christianity uniquely says God reaches us through a real person. In history. Jesus’s life, death, and especially resurrection are among the most historically attested events in ancient history. It’s not just what Christians believe. It’s what happened. Number three. Grace sets it apart. All other systems say do this and maybe. Maybe you’ll make it. Christianity says you could never do enough, but Jesus did it for you. That’s not weakness. That’s the deepest strength. It humbles the proud. And it lifts the broken.
Grace is the song. Every weary soul longs to hear. Number four the the cross and the resurrection. By the way, there are six of these. The cross and the resurrection. Speak to every human heart. The cross tells me God takes sin serious and loves me enough to suffer for me. The resurrection tells me death doesn’t win and the story isn’t over. Number five Jesus himself. No one else in history speaks like him, loves like him, forgives like him, or rises from the dead like him. If I had to choose, I’d want to follow the one who laid down his life for his enemies and offers eternal life freely. Excuse me. There were only five. And then it closes with this. So, yeah, out of all the religions in the world, I choose Christianity because it’s not just the best story, it’s the true one. What led you to believe Christianity stands above the rest? What can I tell you? In studying the historical reliability of Christianity. I already know this stuff and more than this, but but truth be told, can can I just can I just encourage us this morning and say this? Out of all the reasons that we don’t choose to follow Jesus, and this is true for believers or unbelievers, it doesn’t matter whether you know Jesus or not, this is true for all of us. Our problem isn’t primarily an intellectual problem. There’s enough evidence to see the reliability of Jesus in this world.
There’s enough of someone cares to look at it honestly and just say this happened. But the question is, is truly more dealing with integrity? Because can I just tell you the greatest enemy that you have in your relationship with Jesus? It’s not outside of you. It actually is you. And I know that’s a very pointed thing to say, but can I just say it a little, little more deeply than that? Our greatest struggle in living a life for Jesus, walking with Jesus and surrendering to Jesus. It’s not intellectual, it’s pride. The thing that stops us from surrendering ourselves to God and knowing him. It’s pride. Jesus told us in John chapter 16, verse 33. Take heart, I have overcome. And many of us struggle. Believer or not, in trusting in Jesus, in his sufficiency. And some of us may just love the world too much. And we know what following Jesus means. I mean, the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, anyone who wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. It becomes this place where we lay down all that we are, to all that he is. And recognizing man, I didn’t make me. And the only way I’m truly going to discover the reason for which I’m created is only going to be found when I’m when I’m willing to lay down who I am before his feet and say, Jesus, my life belongs to you as you have given your life for me and to follow that kind of path.
We know that in that there is a death to self. And so for some of us, the thing that stops us is the pride of saying, no, I want my independence. I mean, that’s the way the Bible begins, the lie from the serpent in the beginning, that you can become like God, but rather to understand that that the call of Christianity is the end of the of self in order to discover the richness of who I am, because it’s Christ who created me. And it’s it’s God who liberates me at the cross. But it’s not until I’m willing to lay down my life. But but listen to this. Pride is. Pride is a very deceitful thing. Not only can we just come as an outright enemy against God and say, no, this is mine. But the other way that we can war against the cross is to say this, that Jesus just isn’t enough, and we can even get in our pain and our sorrow and say, man, I love that Jesus loves us and I love that there’s forgiveness. But then we can say to ourselves, but don’t you know what I’ve done? Don’t you know where I’ve been? Don’t you know the kind of life I’ve built for years? There’s no way God can love me. There’s no way God can forgive me.
There’s no way God can care about me the way he talks about in Scripture. But can I tell you again that in that self-loathing, the enemy is still the same? It’s still pride. It’s still thinking way too much of ourself and not enough about Jesus. It’s not a it’s not taking the understanding of exactly what Jesus accomplished for you and me, that when Jesus said it is finished, paid in full, that whatever your life has been about to Christ, he is more than sufficient for what you need. And so, wherever our struggle is. It’s about coming to Jesus and realizing the sorrow I feel, the anger I’ve had, the things that I’ve done, or even the things that’s been done to me. All of those things I hold onto to realize that Jesus is enough. Can I can I just say it like this this morning? I mean, you just think about the resurrection for a minute. If Jesus overcame the grave. What can’t he overcome in your life? Where is he? Where can he not be sufficient? Jesus overcame the grave. As believers, knowing that that was that was for me. That was for you. That that says to me that whatever weight I came in with this morning, I can lay it all down. The struggle of life and the burden of my my own brokenness and the problems that I’m going through and just realizing Jesus. I don’t know how this is going to get handled, but I know who you are, and I know what your word says.
So, God, you’re you’re more than enough for me. And of all the things I can trust in and and all the ways I wrestle with my own pride and the way I just want to take it back and and act, I might say, with my lips or a knife, but not believe in my heart because my actions just just aren’t emulating the thought of what your word says. But God, just, just this morning, if I could just take every battle that I’m waging, every war of my heart, every sorrow and frustration of my life. And look at this day for what it is. Jesus, you’re. You’re enough. You’re enough. Guys, I remember for me when I came to discover that, as I tell our church often, I was in the middle of Kentucky. So, you know, I was really lost on on the side of a hill. And I remember one night I was just so sick of me, and, and I started studying the truth of who Jesus was. And then I realized the whole battle I had was nothing more than an integrity issue in my life. And I thought, man, I can. Now I look at this and I realize Jesus is who he says he is, and I can just deny this and walk away and live selfishly for my life like I had been.
But there was a problem with that because I knew, I knew I was going to reject what I had discovered was true. And so that night I said before the Lord, Lord, Lord, I don’t even want my life anymore. But God, you made me. And God, if you made me, then you made me for a purpose. And rather than continue down this path, I want to give all of my life to you. So, God, wherever you call me, however you want to lead me, God, take me now. I didn’t know that was going to be Utah, so I’d like to probably. I’m just kidding. I’m kidding. But. But can I just tell you guys that that same love for Jesus still burns in my soul? And I can just tell you, the greatest thing I could think of, even for this morning, is that wherever your heart is in the Lord, that there would be no more battle with him. That of all the battles that you wage in life would not be against Christ, but rather you would let Christ fight on your behalf by surrendering your life to him. And I don’t just mean that if you don’t know Jesus, I’m talking to you. Even for you that claim to know Jesus. Whatever you’re struggling with, whatever you’re holding on to, whatever you’re you’re fighting to keep in your own hand. Today is a day to say.
And God, I just want to lay it all down. So, guys, here’s what I want to do. In closing, I want to invite you to stand with me. We’re going to take a few moments to partake of communion together, and I’m going to pray for us, and we’re going to give ourselves a final song here. And and as we sing this final song, we’ll give you a, a place to make a response to the Lord. If if you desire. But first thing that we want to do is we’re going to celebrate communion together. And if you did not get a communion cup. Ushers do we have do we have communion cups to pass around up here? If you did not get a communion cup, raise your hand and we’re going to run around here and make sure we we get enough communion cups going around. So we got several. So guys in the back grab some and bring it up here so we can get some communion cups handing around. So just keep those hands high so they can see as they go around here. Let me just tell you the reason communion is such an incredible thing for us is that a communion is for believers to celebrate what we have in Jesus. So if you’re here and you don’t know Jesus, let me just tell you Jesus gave the most incredible statement at the cross. He said, it is finished, which means paid in full your life and mine.
The Bible says what Jesus has done is sufficient. There’s no more that you owe to Christ. In fact, to try to prove your worth to God is an insult to what Jesus has accomplished for you on the cross already. Doesn’t mean we don’t do good things as Christians, but rather the reason we do good things is because of the love and grace we’ve experienced in Christ, not to earn that love and grace. So the Bible says it like this whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Let me just encourage you in your own heart. We’ll even have a moment here in just a few moments. If you if you want to talk to an usher about this. We have we’re going to have a prayer team available. But in your own heart, you just say, the Lord, Lord, I am a sinner and God, I’ve been warring against you. But Jesus, what you’ve done for me is enough. And so, God, I’m trusting in you. Forgive me of my sins. Give me new life in you. And Jesus says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord in Romans 1013 will be saved. Communion is that reminder of his body that was broken, his blood that was shed. And the Bible tells us that on that cross Jesus bore our sin and our suffering, and gave his life so that we could have life in him.
In first Corinthians chapter five, he became sin who knew no sin that we would have life in him. And so it reminds us that our past is taken care of in Jesus, and we call it communion because right now we get to commune with God, and in the future we have the hope of seeing him face to face. The Apostle Paul and first Corinthians 11 said, I delivered to you that which I also received. And the night in Jesus betrayal he took bread and broke it, and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same night he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns. I’m going to ask our prayer team. If you do me a favor. If some of you will come up here to the corner on each side of the stage. A couple of you stay there in the back, and you’ll note as they come up here, We have a few people with some tags. Carlos, tell me you’ve got a tag on. Okay. You’ve at least got something on. There we go. Green tags. Thank you guys. We have some of our volunteers here with some green tags on.
I know for some of us, we we do come in carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. And maybe there’s just some clarity we need and what it means to trust in Jesus. Maybe you’ve been a believer and you’ve been struggling in your life with some areas that you just want to give over to the Lord, and just having another brother or sister in Christ pray with you and for you is an important moment before God with others to say, man, we’re turning this over to Jesus. And so I just want to encourage you in that to thank the body of Christ is here for us this morning. The resurrection is real. This this changes everything that we don’t have to walk out of here carrying those things with us, but trusting in Jesus, connecting to his people to be encouraged in him with our life. And so I want to close us in a word of prayer, and the band’s going to come up and lead us in one more song. And let me if you’re getting baptized today, when I get ready to start praying those that are getting baptized, if you guys would dismiss yourself to get changed because we’re going to head right out to the baptistery after this. But I want to pray for those getting baptized or you guys dismiss yourself. If you want someone to pray for you this morning, would you guys lift up your hands? Those that are around with the prayer team so everyone could see you, just make sure they’re kind of spread around.
Just around the edge here. If you’d like someone to pray with you, I’d be happy to do that. In fact, we just want to encourage that. Just taking a step before the Lord and whatever you’re wrestling with, we got people that care for you, love you, and just want to encourage you. Let me let me pray for us. And you can go ahead and come up as a pray. God, thank you so much for the gift of today, the hope that it has brought to us for centuries because of what you have done. To know that the resurrection of life continues to happen again and again. Lord, you’re creating new life in you every day, Lord. And even this morning we can join you in that victory of celebration that because you live, Lord, we live to thank you for that grace, that new life that we can have because of you and the day to celebrate and rejoicing because of you as our King. And so, God, whatever is holding us back, whatever we might be wrestling with in our own life. Lord help us. Help us to surrender that to you. God, we thank you again this morning and we pray all that in Christ’s name. Amen.