Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Easter 2016, Part 1: Consider Jesus

Episode Date: March 26, 2016

The deepest love poured out of the greatest sacrifice in history. A love that heals. A love that forgives. A love that welcomes. Join us this Easter as we celebrate the power of Christ’s resurrection. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations across the United States and reaching worldwide through our network churches and church online. If you'd like to learn more about us or if you have any questions, you can always visit us online at life.church. Coming up, we get to join our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle, for his life-changing Easter message. Check it out. With millions and millions of other Jesus followers and hundreds of thousands of churches around. the world. This weekend we celebrate the amazing news that the stone was rolled away. The tomb is empty. Our Savior is not there, but Christ the Lord is risen. And this weekend we unite our faith to give our God praise. I want to thank all of you at all of our churches, our network churches,

those of you at Church Online, thank you for gathering together to celebrate the greatest event in the history of the world. Also, on this weekend, I want to tell you just in our church family, we celebrate something very special to us. We're no longer a church with 24 locations. As of this weekend, we have 25 as we welcome Overland Park, Kansas in the greater Kansas City area, the newest life church location, and we love you all, welcome you into the family. Today, I want to teach on a theme that I've taught on before.

But first I want to tell you about next week. Next week we're actually launching a brand new three-part message series called Love Like Jesus. And what I want to do is look at the greatest love in the history of the world. And for three weeks, we're going to look at three different images of the love of Jesus. The reason I tell you this is because a new message series is the best time to bring someone, get in on the ground floor that starts next week. Today, I've titled this message, Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus.

And what I want to do is just ask you to do that. In a very religious or spiritual pluralistic society, it's incredibly common today for people to believe things like this. It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere. A common belief today is that all roads lead to God, all paths lead to God. Essentially, a lot of people would argue that all religions are basically the same. And what I want to do today is to talk about that just real honestly, real openly, and address what I call a feel-good theology. I don't know if you've ever been across this or not, but as a pastor, sometimes I'll be with a family after someone passes away.

And that's when people start thinking about what happens after this life. And life is so busy, we rarely do that. But someone leaves this earth. And almost inevitably, no matter what, people say things like, well, you know, she's moved on to a better place. If they didn't have anything to do with church, didn't believe much, believe whatever, it's like, well, they're in a better place now. He's moved on to a better place. Grandma's watching over us. I hear that.

Grandma's now watching over us. Now, between you and me, honestly, there's at least two or three times a day. I don't want grandma watching over me. Okay, but that's just kind of my opinion. It says feel good, no matter what we believe, they've moved on to a better place, and so we're going to tell ourselves this. What do you believe about eternal life? Years ago, I used to commute to seminary, and I commuted with two people, a guy and a girl.

The lady, she actually was very passionate about reincarnation. And so she believed that whatever you love in this life is likely an indication of what you were in a past life. And so we had lots of very heated discussions in the car, and she loved nature and trees, and she loved France. And so this lady was absolutely completely convinced that she was reincarnated and used to be a tree in France. So she was asking the other guy, what were you in the past life? And he was kind of having fun with her. He said, so I was probably something I loved. And she said, yes, whatever you love now is probably what you were.

He said, I was multiple women in a past life. That's what I was. And then she asked me, she said, what were you in a past life? And I said, look, I wouldn't reincarnate it. I don't believe that. And she said, well, what if you were reincarnated? I said, I wasn't. She said, what if you were?

I said, well, let me get this straight. You were a tree in France, right? I was probably a dog in France. and I live close to your tree. And so that's what I told her, and I apologize, that you have to know that about your pastor. But anyway, it was a really kind of fun, spirited dialogue of what do you believe about eternal life?

What do you believe? Because a lot of people today would say, well, all paths lead to God. What's really interesting to me is that in our culture today, there's not a lot of controversy when you just talk about spirituality, right? If someone wins a major sporting award or someone wins a Grammy or something, they can say, oh, you know, I thank my higher power.

I thank God. I think the supreme being. And there's not a lot of controversy when you talk about spirituality. It really gets controversial in our culture today when you bring up the name Jesus, right? If you notice that. You can talk about God, higher power, supreme being, and it's not real controversial. but when you talk about Jesus, it gets really controversial. And so I was asking myself the question, why is that?

Because let's be honest. Even the people that don't like Christianity don't debate the existence and reality of a person named Jesus. Hardly anyone will try to tell you that someone named Jesus, an historical figure, didn't live 2,000 years ago. It's pretty much an accepted historical fact that there was a person named Jesus who lived, secular writers wrote about him and such, and so that's really not debated. In fact, it's really hard to find someone sane that doesn't like the teachings of Jesus. They can hate Christianity, but they're kind of down with Jesus. You know, like he talked about loving one another and

helping the poor and forgiving those who would offend or hurt you. And so they don't debate his existence. They rarely dislike his teaching. I think the hang-up for a lot of people would be the exclusive claim of Jesus. That's where a lot of people get upset, because Jesus made a very exclusive claim that rubs every other world religious belief wrong when Jesus said that he was the only way to God. What does that mean in our world today? John 14.6, this is what Jesus said, when Thomas said to him, hey, we don't know where we're going. And Jesus answered Thomas, and he said this, let's say it aloud all of our churches. Jesus said, I am the what? He said, I am the way. He said, and the truth and the life. He said, no one, here it is, here's the claim,

no one comes to the father except how, Jesus said, no one comes to the father except through me. This, I would argue, is the massive hang-up for so many people today in a pluralistic society where everyone wants to argue all paths essentially lead to God. Jesus said, well, I am the only way to God, and therein lies the big problem. Is that true or is that not true? A lot rides on that question. What I want to do today is I want to talk about what is a very common belief, and that is that all paths lead to God. All world religions are essentially the same. And what I want to do is just with sincerity acknowledge that all world religions might have beauty in them, and all world religions might have truth in them.

But if we look at all world religions with honesty, we have to agree that they are not the same. They are not the same, not the same, not the same. And I'll give you a two-minute overview of the major world religions, and you would have to agree, no matter what you believe, there may be truth and beauty and all, but they are not the same. Real quick overview. Buddhism.

A Buddhist will believe there is no God, no type of final existence. Buddhists will believe in countless rebirths, and hopefully you'll end the cycle one day. Hinduism, a Hindu will believe that there is a God, but it's an impersonal God, and this God would be approached through deities or statues or idols. You take both of those religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, and there is no forgiveness of sins, there's no supernatural help, only karma. In other words, if you run me off the road, someone,

else is going to run you off the road. Why? Because you deserved it. And that's essentially what they believe. You take someone, a Muslim, and a Muslim has a different sense of beliefs. A Muslim will worship God, the God Allah, a personal God. A Muslim is going to have no secondary gods. A Muslim is going to have a total ban on idols as opposed to a Hindu. A Muslim is going to say that your standing depends on your works, your religion. religious efforts, how good you are. If you contrast that with someone who believes in new age, there's no personal God, there's only higher consciousness, or perhaps you become one with the universe.

Contrast that with someone who is a follower of Jesus will say there is a personal God who became one of us in the person of his son, Jesus, who was without sin, died in our place for our sins. we're not made right with God by going through idols or other deities or by our good works or religious efforts, but only by faith in Jesus. And so while there may be truth and beauty in many different world religions, we have to agree they are not the same. They are not the same. So when there's a very common belief system, which is all religions lead to God, we have to recognize that they do not all go in the same direction.

So on this Easter weekend, what I want to do is really simple. I just want to encourage you no matter what you believe growing up, no matter what you're doing in your life right now, I just want to ask you very simply to consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. And when I do this, let me just tell you right now, I'm not asking you to consider our church, because our church is not the standard, not the goal, not perfect.

I'm not even asking you to consider the religion of Christianity. because I'm going to make an argument that Jesus didn't come to start a religion, but he came to offer life. He didn't come to make us religious, but he came to offer us the opportunity for a relationship with God. I'm not even going to ask you to consider Christians, because let's be honest, some of them are screwy. Can I say that? Can we just, I mean, can we just be real. I mean, you can meet, listen, you may not like Christianity, you know, all this kind of stuff. You can meet two of them, Christian A, Christian B, and Christian A, you go, you know what?

I don't necessarily believe in all that Jesus stuff, but if he's real, that one does a good job of showing his love. Christian B is angry, grumpy, narrow-minded, bigoted, judgmental, and has bad hair. I don't even understand it, okay? And so I'm not even going to ask you to consider Christians. I won't even ask you to, like, consider me, because if I can just be real honest with you, I won't live up to your expectations. I will let you down. You follow me around for very long and all.

I will sin, mess up, do something stupid, disappoint you, hurt you. I'm not asking you consider me, our church, the religion of Christianity. All I'm going to do is ask you to consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. And I want to look at three aspects of the life of Jesus and just ask you just to consider him and see what happens. The first thing if you're taking notes is this. Very simply, I would love to ask you to consider the ministry. of Jesus.

Consider the ministry, how he lived, how he cared for people, what he did while he was on earth. Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 2, verse 16 and 17, that actually says this about the ministry of Jesus. Mark said, when the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they ask his disciple, why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? In other words, he shouldn't be eating with those. kinds of people. On hearing this, Jesus said to them, I love this. He said, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but who needs a doctor? He said, the sick. Now watch this. Jesus said, I have not come to call the righteous, but who did he come for? Jesus came for the sinners.

I love that. Consider the ministry of Jesus. Jesus loved those whom others rejected. Jesus reached out to those that the religious people despised. There was a time when one woman actually got caught in the act of adultery, and guess what? She was guilty and she was wrong. And all the religious people wanted her to be what the law said she should be, and that is stoned to death. And Jesus came out with all these men circling around her, and he knelt down and started writing something in the sand. And we don't know exactly what he wrote. Some people think he was writing the sins of those men,

one by one, they started turning away. The oldest to the youngest, the young guy's like, oh, stick around. Oh, no, I'm out of here too. And they all left. And Jesus looked at this woman who was guilty and deserved to be punished. And he said, woman, where are your accusers? She said, there are none. And he forgave her and said, go your way and sin no more.

That's the kind of ministry I'm talking about. A Jesus who touched lepers. A Jesus who opened blind eyes. a Jesus who healed deaf ears, a Jesus who called the mute to speak, a Jesus who changed water into wine, which quite honestly has caused some of my Baptist friends a problem even to this day. Right? Jesus who raised the dead, that Jesus. Listen to me, the detractors in Jesus' day did not debate the reality of his miracles.

They just wanted him to stop. Stop doing that. They never said the miracles weren't real. They saw them. Just stop that. By what power does he do these miracles? Somebody, please stop him. Listen, here's what's amazing.

Consider the ministry of Jesus. Some of you, you are a direct miracle because of the ministry of Jesus. Many of you, many of you, many of you, you are not what you once were. Not because of you, but because of the miraculous work of our God who sent his son, Jesus. Consider the ministry of Jesus. I want to just tell you three quick stories about people from our church. Just people who are miracles because of the ministry of Jesus. Let me show you a picture of Teddy and Tanya. They're from South Oklahoma City campus. Unfortunately, years ago, Teddy admits to this and says it publicly that he had multiple affairs. And when their marriage was in a wreck,

thankfully they turned to Jesus and they turned to his church. And the church welcomed them and loved them and helped them. And they found healing and they were transformed and they became absolutely new in Christ. And now, years later, this crazy couple, they are serving together in life kids, serving on the host team, leading a life group. And guess what they do? They mentor other couples and help them through difficult times in their marriage. Why?

Because they've been transformed by the grace of Jesus made completely new. That's a miracle because of the ministry of Jesus. Let me tell you about Dylan. This is crazy. Dylan is the cute kid there in the middle that's so adorable. You just want to squeeze those cheeks. Dylan was diagnosed with a very real, dangerous, and deadly disease. And so immediately they put him on an ambulance to take them down to Fort Worth where a specialist would actually help them.

In fact, I want you to notice the female person there in the picture because she's an important part of this story. They took Dylan from an Oklahoma area down to Fort Worth, where we have a life church in Fort Worth. And so the pastor called ahead and said, can you get your Fort Worth people praying for Dylan? And we're praying for Dylan. And it was confirmed his disease in all the reports are confirmed. And so something happened when they left Awasso, Oklahoma, when two different churches of people were praying for him on a three and a half hour drive. By the time he got there, they went and tested him again at the new place and could not find the evidence of the disease. It was there on one report and gone on the other one.

Everyone was so moved by this that the female that I showed you in the ambulance was so moved now. She and her son are a part of Life Church after that family invited her. and they've become new, transformed by the grace of Jesus. Let me tell you what, that is the miraculous work of people praying and God healing. Let me tell you about Halston. Halston is a guy I actually met. He was a self-proclaimed atheist, but let me tell you why he came to church. He saw what the church was doing in the community,

and even though he didn't agree with what we believe, he liked what we were doing. He said, you're making such a difference. I want to come in and just be a part of that. And so he talked to the campus pastor and said, I am an atheist and I'll leave if you want me to. And the campus pastor said, oh, no, no, you won't. You are exactly who we'd love to be a part. And you are welcome to belong all day long, even if you don't yet believe. So Halston started helping us make a difference in the community.

He got so excited about making a difference. He actually joined the At the Movies Build, which is for people who are serious, a lot of hard work on the final week of the At the Movies Build. right on week number four of a series called Christian atheist, when the campus pastor said, Raise your hand if you want to follow Jesus. Halston did not raise his hand, but he stood up, stood up publicly and said,

I want to become a follower of Jesus, transformed by the grace of God. And this is Halston actually being baptized right there in the middle, picture in the blue shirt. This great young man transformed. Miracles, miracles, miracles. Consider the ministry of Jesus. He hung out with sinners.

I'll tell you right now, straight up, I am a miracle because of the ministry of Jesus, because Jesus reached out to me in my darkest moment. Before I was a follower of Jesus, I'll tell you right now, I lied like crazy, I stole like crazy. I got arrested for shoplifting, I parted my brains out, I could not stop drinking when I tried. One night I beer-bonged a six-pack of beer, beer-bonged, and then drank a little bottle of Seagram 7, and then I went out partying. That's how we used to. We used to to do it in the day, okay? I got so out of control.

My fraternity brothers brought me back home, dumped me in my room and said, you can't play anymore. I said, yes, I can. I'm going out. So I'm running to the girl's dorm because what else do you do when you're drunk and all by yourself? You run to the girls' dorm. And the last thing I remember was running across campus and thinking to myself,

I remember to this day, I cannot even feel my legs and feet hitting the ground. Wow, this is really cool. Fortunately, it wasn't that cool because the next thing I remember, was being back in my room, finding out that I'd passed out with my head hanging over a very major street. Thankfully, some other fraternity guys from another house brought me back to my place. I'd overslept practice, was this close away from losing my scholarship, and woke up realizing I'm in big trouble, and I don't know how to get out.

So I did the only thing I knew to do, got a few guys together and said, would you start reading the Bible with me, and let's just start praying? Well, one night, I left that group, and I went outside to you. a softball field and I knelt down that night one person and when I got up I was not the same person and at the very same moment as luck would have it my big brother in the fraternity who was wilder than I was was in California smoking stuff and and someone gave him a little religious track a little thing that had had the gospel on it and he read it and was so moved by it and he prayed and he came home and he said I got something to tell you I said no I got something to tell you and I got to tell you

first. I said, I don't know how to describe it, but I think I'm, I think, I think I'm going to like follow God. And he said, no, bleeping way. He said, that's what he said. He said, me too. It just happened to me too. And we hugged. And he said, let's go out to get drunk to celebrate. And that's what we did. That's not the right thing to do, may I say. But that's all we knew to do. And that's what we did. And let me tell you what, I am not a better version of the old me. I am a new me, a different me. The old is gone. Behold, the new is come. If anyone, scripture says, is in Christ, they're a new creation. The old is gone, and everything becomes new. All I'm going to ask you to do is just consider Jesus. The guy who hung out with sinners,

who loved them where they were and didn't leave them there. The guy who did miracles, nobody debated the validity of the miracles. They just wanted him to stop. Consider the ministry of Jesus. On this Easter, I think it would be fitting to consider number two if you're taking notes the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus. If you don't know the essential story, it goes like this. For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, Jesus, who was born of a virgin, therefore he did not inherit the sin nature from an earthly father. He lived the perfect and sinless life.

Jesus, scripture teaches us, became sin on the cross, took our own sin. on the cross. Whenever everyone was mocking him and making fun of him and spitting on him, he looked up to his father and he said, Father, while he's hanging on a cross, dying. He said, Father, forgive them. For they don't even know what they're doing.

What kind of love does that? He looked up to heaven and he declared, It is finished. I did what you sent me to do. And then he cried out, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And when Jesus gave his life, the earth went dark. And the ground trembled. And the Roman centurion that was not a believer in Jesus looked on and said, oh, man, surely that man was the son of God.

and the 11 remaining disciples lived the rest of their lives on earth to be faithful to the one who died and rose again. Ten of them, dying the death of a martyr, only John being exiled to the Isle of Patmos did not die the death of the martyr. Peter preached it like crazy. The guy who days before denied Jesus,

denied him again, denied him a third time, never denied him again when he saw the rest of the rest of the man. resurrected Christ. Peter preached it in Acts 315. He said, you killed the author of life to the religious people. But then he said, but God. Everybody say, but God? He said, but God raised him from the dead. And here's the key. This is the most important part for us today. Peter said, we are what? He said, we are witnesses of this. We saw it. We saw it. We, we, I am so convinced I'm willing to die for because we saw the resurrected Christ. We are eyewitnesses of this.

Skeptics will say, well, the Roman soldiers stole his body from the grave. No, no, no, no, no, no. Use your brain. The Roman soldiers would have loved nothing more than to produce a dead body to prove that Jesus hadn't risen from the dead. Other people say, well, the disciples stole the body. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. These unarmed guys went in and overpowered, trained, armed Roman soldiers.

You still would have had the testimony of the Roman guards at that moment. Do you really expect any rational thinking person to believe that 11 average, uneducated men devised the greatest scheme in history, pulled it off, kept it a secret, all at tremendous personal loss to themselves, all the while cheating the world into being a better place. No, no. The best one to me was Thomas. Thomas, he's like some of you. Thomas was just like me. I want to believe, but I still have my questions.

I want to believe, but I still have my doubts. I cannot believe unless I see and touch this risen Christ. Well, Jesus showed up and said, here's where they stabbed me, and here's where the nails went in. Listen, Thomas the doubter, Thomas the one who didn't believe, you know what he did? He became the evangelist that took the gospel to India. That's what he did, to India. And when they said to Thomas, hey, we're going to kill you for your faith unless you deny Jesus.

You know what Thomas said? I will never, ever deny Jesus because I am an eyewitness that he is the resurrected Christ who died for my sins, and I will never deny him. So they drove a stake through his mind. body impaled him as he died for his faith. Why? Because he is an eyewitness to the fact that the tomb was empty and Christ is risen. I just encourage you, consider it. Consider it. Consider the ministry, who he was, what he taught, what he stood for. Consider the resurrection. And the third thing, if you're taking notes is this.

Consider the eternal message of Jesus. Just consider the message. What does it mean to be right with God? How are you right with God? Romans 322 tells us, we are made right with God, not by our religious works, not by being good enough,

not by church membership, not by trying harder, not by giving money, not by being perfect. But we're made right with God by doing what? We're made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus. Jesus Christ. We're made right by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone

who believes no matter who we are. This is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are. This is true for you, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter how bad you've been, no matter how dark your life is right now. Doesn't matter how many people you hurt, how many times you've lied, how much you've stolen, how bad you are. This is true for you. When you call on Jesus, you become brand new. All of your sins are gone and you are made new in Christ. You are not a better version of you. You are a new version transformed by Jesus. I'm not asking to consider religion. Religion is about what we do or don't do. Jesus didn't come to start a religion. He came to offer life. He came to offer a living relationship with a living God. Religion is all about

performance. Relationship is about what Jesus did and it's about knowing him. Religion is spelled D-O-O-D-O-D-O. What would he do? Relationship is all about D-O-N-E when he said it is finished, it was done. Religion says, if I obey, then he'll love me. Relationship says because he loves me through Christ, I get to obey. I just ask you, in a pluralistic world where everybody says, all roads lead to God, let's just be honest and have integrity. There may be truth and beauty in all world religions, but they are not the same. Somebody's right, somebody's wrong.

Here's my deal. Listen to me. if someone predicts their death, predicts their resurrection, dies and rises again, that's the dude I'm going with. That's the guy I'm going with. And when I look at who he was and what he taught

and what he stood for and who was willing to die for him, I believe by faith that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father, but by Him. And I believe because I place my faith in Him, my sins have been forgiven, and I'm a new creation in Christ. And I believe with all my heart that Jesus did not die to make you religious, but he died to offer your eternal life. And when you call on Him, you can be new, not because you're good,

but because he was good and perfect in every way. And that's why we gather to lift up the name of Jesus. Because when we lift up his name, he draws people to himself, and our God will be glorified. Because our God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good. Father, we pray today that you would do a work in hearts, that God, for those who are followers of Jesus, you would build our faith to be more bold with your love.

And for those who need to know you, God, we thank you. that by faith through grace there will be people born into your kingdom all week and long because the tomb is empty Christ is risen and we can find life in him alone. All of our churches, I want to talk first to those of you who are followers of Jesus and you've got loved ones perhaps that are not, people in your family, maybe people that you work with, could be people that you hang out with, it could be anybody. But you say, yes, I'm a committed follower of Jesus, but there are people that you're people that you work with. of Jesus, but there are people all around me that are not. If that's you today, I'd love to pray with you for them, that they would find freedom,

that they would find life, that they would find forgiveness and joy, eternal joy, through the risen Son, Jesus Christ. If that's you at all of our churches, you are a follower of Jesus, and you've got people that you know and love that need to find that truth. Would you lift up your hands right now, just all over the place? God, I pray today in agreement with my brothers and sisters. that your Holy Spirit would do a work. God, first in us that you would give us the boldness to show your love

with grace and truth to people that need your love. God, for those who are far from you and that are hurting today, I pray that you would draw them by grace to your love. For those who may be on top of the world today, but yet still empty that have that God-shaped void, God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would work in them. Do whatever it takes. Got to love them into a living relationship.

relationship with you that would transform their lives. God, for those that may look like they'll never come, they're way too far, give us faith to believe that all things are possible with you. God, that because you are good and because you're working, you could reach those that even seem way beyond, way beyond our ability to see to come to faith. We ask for miracles today, God, that you use us to show your love. Help us to love like Jesus. And God, then we believe that Jesus will do work that only he can do. As you keep praying today, here's what's amazing at all of our churches. I believe there are those of you that God has brought here today because it's time for you

to become a miracle. Now, I want to say it again, you're going to become a miracle. You're going to be different. You're going to be different not because you're going to try harder or become religious, but you're going to be different because you're going to trust in the grace and the goodness of God through Jesus. Let me tell you again, God so loved the world that you say, his one and only son Jesus who was without sin,

who became sin for us on the cross, died and on the third day rose again from the dead. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, no matter what you've done, no matter how bad you've been, no matter how badly you feel about yourself, anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone who calls on his name

would be saved, transformed, and forgiven. You wouldn't become a better version of you. you would become new because of who he is and what he's done. And all of our churches, there are those of you. You may be like me. You were a churchgoer. You had a head knowledge of God, but you didn't have a heartfelt relationship with them. You may be a person that you can't even believe you're around church right now,

but something's drawing you toward God. What is that? That is His love. That is His Holy Spirit. And that's why you're here and you can sense it. And all of our churches, those who say, you know what, yes, I recognize. I have sinned. I need his forgiveness.

I'm empty. I want him to make me full. I don't need religion. I need life today. I surrender my life to him. By faith, I surrender my life to Jesus. That's your prayer today. And all of our churches, would you lift your hands high right now and say, yes, I surrender to you right back

over here. God bless you. Others of you today who say yes, over here on this side, praise God for you, say yes, lift up your hands and say, I surrender completely to him right back here in this section. Man, fantastic. Church online, you click right below me and we together are going to pray. nobody prays alone. Everybody pray, Heavenly Father, forgive me of all my sins. I place my faith in Jesus. Jesus saved me. Be first in my life, the Lord of all. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you.

My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. would you all worship God, praise him, thank him for new life in Christ. We're so thankful to be a small part of all that God is doing in and through your life, and we would love to continue with you on that journey. To find out some next steps in your relationship with Christ, just go to life.church slash next. Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Pastor Craig and hear more from his heart on this amazing Easter message.

Check it out. Hey, Life Church, I want to say happy Easter to you as we've had an amazing weekend celebrating the most significant and the biggest event in the history of the world, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I'm here with Pastor Craig going behind the message of your Easter message and loved it. Thank you. Just want to know a little bit of a backstory for you. You asked us to consider the life of Jesus and more specifically consider the resurrection. Right. I'm curious, when did the resurrection become very real to you? Well, Jonathan, I grew up going to church, but I still thought that Christianity was about my performance.

And although I knew the story of the resurrection here, it wasn't until I was in college that I understood it here and recognized that because the tomb was empty that my sins were forgiven, that's when I stopped trying to perform and was really transformed. And that was the moment I became a new creation. Sure. Now, in your message, you actually asked us to look at all the other world religions. truth in all of them. There's good things in all of them. But the thing that separates Christianity from the rest of them is the exclusive claim that Jesus is the son of God. Why is it so difficult for people to believe that? What's interesting is that people don't debate the existence of Jesus. Almost everybody recognizes someone named Jesus lived. But I think it's that exclusive claim that

he is the way, the only way that it trips people up because we live in an inclusive world and that's an exclusive claim. Also, I think the reality is that we have a spiritual enemy that 2 Corinthians 44 says blinds the minds of unbelievers. And so there's spiritual forces at play against us, and it takes faith to believe this story, but that faith transforms us, faith in Jesus, not our good works, but faith in Him. And when people do take that step of faith, they are never the same. So many of us have that Thomas moment almost. It's like, I got to see it to believe I can't see it. That's what makes it tough. Now, I know that there's a lot of people that are in our lives,

friends, families that either don't believe or they might believe that there are different ways to get to God. How should we as Christians respond to them in that time? Well, again, I think the best way that they'll know what we believe is by how we behave. And so they'll know that we're followers of Jesus by our love. And so we have to be warm, hospitable, full of grace, forgiving, welcoming. and then at the right time share, here's the reason why I'm this way, because Jesus loved me. That's how I'm able to love others. That's great.

It's such a great weekend. We love Easter weekend at the church as we celebrate it, really not just here at Life Church, but with millions of Christians around the world. It's such a great thing. If you want to go back and listen to the message or any other message from Pastor Craig, just go to life.church slash watch. Plus, after this weekend, we've got love like Jesus. Great time to bring a friend that we bring them because whoever finds God.

Finds life. To see if there's a Life Church location in your area, just go to life.church slash locations, or you can always join us for one of our live worship experiences at church online. It's our mission and our passion to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, and we'll do anything short of sin to make it happen because we believe whoever finds God truly finds life.