- Hello and Happy Easter. I'm Kim, one of the Highrock pastors. Thank you for joining our celebration of Jesus's resurrection
and victory over death. We believe it is the greatest, most significant moment of all time. And just as it has brought hope and life to millions upon millions of
people throughout history, we hope it will bring hope
and life to you today. As busy as our lives are, it can be easy to forget just
how powerful this moment is. So over the course of Lent, we have been encouragi
ng
one another to remember, to remember the truth about who God is and the truth about who we
are as God's beloved people. As we begin our worship today, I invite you join me in
this call and response. - My upbringing, I was born
and raised as a Christian. My mom was the orchestra conductor, so we attended church every Sunday. However, as I grew older, I began to wonder if all
of this faith was mine, and also, the worldly
things begin to distract me from my relationship with God. I would say my
spiritual journey always has been a rollercoaster, the highest of the highs
and the lowest of the lows. One of the times that
God really spoke to me, that, "I'm always here, no matter what. "Where you are in your
life doesn't matter, "I'm here, and you have me." I was baptized as a baby, when I was Ellie or
Ariya's age, by my parents, and taking this moment to pause
and remembering my baptism is also to remember God's grace to us, God's gift to me, and to
my family, and our lives, it's something
very special. - I grew up in a completely different, as a non-Christian family. My mother's side of the
family, they were Buddhists, and for my dad's side,
he and his whole family works directly for the Chinese government, so to have a religious belief,
it's kind of frowned upon, but all that changed until after met Isla. So, she asked me to go to church soon after we started
dating long distance, and, you know, for me, at the time, I think I really, really liked her, so I really wanted to just
, I would do anything to capture her heart. I would just remember at that
time I was sitting there, listening to the choirs, listening
to the the worship songs, listening to the sermon,
and it was very real. I just felt at peace, and then the words start making sense to me, and I found myself just
wanting to close my eyes, and just open my heart to just listen. (gentle guitar music continues) - We did a lot of research
on what to name our baby. We really liked the name
Eliora, because it was so
unique and beautiful, and it had the
meaning of, "God is my light." We pray that Ellie would
always look for and follow God, both in good and bad times, because God will be her truest
of true light of her life, and that God will bless her
with the brightest future. - This is Ariya. She 11 months old. Right around the time we
conceived Ariya, Isla had a dream about a white tiger swimming in the ocean, so that's how we came to name Ariya. It carries the meaning
of, "A lion of God," and then, we al
so want her
to be the beacon of light, to be courageous, and to be brave, and now, we are getting
baptized as a family, and it's a true blessing. - Please join me in prayer, asking God to illuminate the truth we find in the Scriptures. Let us pray together. Our Scripture reading this Easter Sunday comes from the Gospel of Luke 24:1-12. Follow along in your own Bible
or on the screen as I read. Hear the Word of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Thanks be
to God. - Happy Easter, my friends. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. We've said that a few times already, and some of you love it. We couldn't shout this enough. Everything about Easter is thrilling, the story, the candy, the pastels. But to others of you, kind of like the disciples
on the first Easter, it sounds like nonsense. In fact, this whole event
seems like nonsense. All of the dressing up and
pretending to be excited about a preacher with a
parlor trick 2,000 years ago, as if any of
that matters today. Seems like nonsense. Listen, if that's you, then you're probably
watching with someone today, maybe your parent, spouse, or a friend. In which case I want to thank you, because it was a big deal to them and you were willing to play along. Maybe you even restrained yourself from explaining to them why it's nonsense. In which case, thank you again
for being so gentle and kind. This guy we're talking about would have really appreciated that. Yeah, yeah, I know. You think that's
nonsense too, but he would have, so thanks. Actually, even if you are a Christian and are quite sure that
Jesus rose from the dead, making a big deal about
Easter year after year can also feel like nonsense these days. Easter is supposed to be
filling us with joy and hope, but have you seen what's
happening out there? This is bigger than "Barbie"
getting snubbed at the Oscars or even bullies at school. I'm talking about the conflicts
in Gaza, Ukraine, and Yemen, while China stares hungrily at T
aiwan. Closer to home, people keep whispering that our increasing hostility
over politics, the economy, education, abortion, DEI, BLM, LGBTQ, immigration, gender, and guns could lead us toward civil war. Meanwhile, depression and
crime are on the rise, while birth rates and life
expectancy here are declining. And so is faith. US church attendance is dropping for many reasons perhaps, but in part because in light
of all the ambient injustice and despair these days, celebrating the defeat of death
sounds like nonsense. And that's exactly how
Jesus's friends felt that first Easter too. They'd been so joyful a week before because they thought
Jesus was going to overturn the Roman Empire and evil itself! You know, Jesus was going to erase
poverty, injustice, and war! But fast-forward a few days, and somehow evil had won again. It's like a casino. You may think you're winning at first, but the games are designed to make sure the house
always comes out on top. Jesus went toe to toe
with the a
uthorities, and he seemed to have them
right where he wanted them. But it turns out that he'd
fallen right into their trap. They had him arrested and
executed in front of everybody. Evil won again. Do you ever feel like evil and darkness are winning? Like there's no point in
fighting or even hoping 'cause evil always wins in the end. I felt that so many times. Times when someone I trusted hurt or deserted me, leaving me questioning
whether love is even real. Times when I've tried everything, but
I'm not getting anywhere. Some of you feel like that at school. Others when trying to find a
spouse or figure out a career. Michelle and I felt that
when we couldn't have kids, and our marriage was toxic. We tried everything but
we're getting nowhere! Our hope was just denial or naivete. That's how Jesus's friends felt the Friday Jesus was crucified. They saw his last breath. They held his dead body. They wept. Not just because their
friend had been killed, but because their hope had died with
him. It would always be this way. Injustice, evil, and
death will always win. So they didn't wake up
that Easter morning, put on pastels, and joyfully
shout, "He has risen!" No, they were licking their wounds, hiding from the authorities, and probably berating themselves for being so foolish to hope again. Hope only leads to disappointment. Right, they should have known better! It's smarter to be cynical so
you don't have to get hurt. A lot of us live that way, these days more than ever. It seem
s like the only
intelligent way to live. Because they say that the key to happiness is low expectations. So it's safer to be cynical about politics, the economy, your family, the future, and faith. You won't get as hurt if you don't hope in the first place. George Carlin observed that That was the disciples that weekend. They'd been enticed by Jesus into hope, but only got hurt again. They'd never be that naive again. And that's when some women barged in claiming that Jesus was alive, but to the
men, freshly
hardened from their recent hurt, their story sounded like nonsense. So they didn't believe it. They refused to believe it. "How dumb do you think we are?" That says, “Fool me once,” “shame on” “shame on you.” “Fool me - You can’t get fooled again.” The disciples heard the story
about Jesus's resurrection, but didn't believe it. So there's no reason to feel awkward if you secretly feel the same way. Given the reality we see around us in the headlines and
in our personal lives, it se
ems like nonsense. You can't believe it. (scoffs) Death being defeated, tell that to the people in
Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine. I get it. Hope is hard these days. It's easier, it's safer to be cynical. But today, I want to make a case for hope. I want to justify feeling
joyful about Easter. I want to explain why cynicism is not realism after all. I'm not going to review all of the evidence for the resurrection or enumerate the reasons
it makes sense to believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus.
I've preached on that before, and there are many wonderful books that make that case convincingly, often written by people who
also thought it was nonsense before they started investigating it. But I want to ask a different question. Even if Jesus did
actually come back to life three days after being executed, why should you care? How does it make any difference when despite whatever may
have happened 2,000 years ago, death and despair seem to
be in full control today, Easter was obviously good
news for Jesus, but why is it good news for you? It didn't seem like good news when the women we read about arrived at Jesus's tomb Easter morning. It seemed like the worst news. Jesus had been murdered on Friday night, and one of those women
was Jesus's own mother. So you can imagine how she's feeling. It was Jewish custom to wrap
corpses almost like a mummy, but to fill the wrapping
with aromatic spices designed to mask the
smell of rotting flesh. But because Jesus was crucified just before t
he Sabbath began, they hadn't had time to get the spices. So his body was simply wrapped
and placed into the tomb. The women arrived first
thing Sunday morning with their spices, but found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. That didn't make sense. I mean, not just because the stone weighed several thousand pounds, but also because there'd
been Roman guards stationed to ensure that no one
tampered with Jesus's corpse. Who did this and why? Mystified, they went in, but they did
n't find Jesus's body. Can you imagine how
they were feeling then? Devastated. It's said that a lot of
people imagine their lives to be like a movie and are trying to figure out
what kind of movie this is. For years, Mary thought she'd been given a special supporting role in the story of God rescuing her nation from Roman occupation, but that Friday night, when
the plot took a tragic turn, she realized she had the story all wrong. Jesus, who was supposed to be the hero, was captured and crucifie
d. Suddenly it was clear this
wasn't a story of triumph. It was a tragedy. Jesus was defeated. Hope was defeated because even God had been
overcome by the world's evil, it must have felt like things
couldn't get any worse, but that Sunday, the story
took an even darker turn. She discovered Jesus's
corpse had been stolen, probably to desecrate
him as a cruel warning to anyone else wanting to
challenge those in charge. Jesus, the hero of the story, had been killed and humiliated. So at that moment
, Easter
didn't seem like a victory, but a tragedy. The story was over, until two men appeared out of nowhere, shining like pure light. The NLT translates this,
"clothed in dazzling robes," but literally it means they
were clothed in lightning, which makes more sense of
why the women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. These guys aren't just bleach-bright, like, you know, Mr. Clean. They are blindingly bright! And suddenly the entire
story shifts again. Actually it's the mom
ent
Mary finally remembers what story she's actually a part of. There's an important part
of the movie-making process that audiences don't see. Long before the cameras start rolling, even before the actors ever meet, each of them is sent the script. And that first readthrough
can be surprising. As they read, they gradually discover what kind of story it is and what part their character plays. Is this an action movie, a comedy, sci-fi, or romance? Am I the hero, the villain, the damsel in distres
s? Am I the star or a sidekick? It's common for actors to read their character's lines out loud so they can hear how they sound and even try out
different ways to say them that match what they imagine
their character might be like. But sometimes they come to a scene that changes everything. Up to that point, they
imagined this character to be mighty or meek, confident or insecure or
virtuous or villainous, but suddenly discover they've
gotten the story all wrong. In some movies, like "The Usual
Suspects" or "Fight Club," it's only in the final pages of the script that the true identities of the characters are finally revealed, requiring the actor to start all over, rereading from the beginning, because only now that he knows the ending can he understand the role he's playing. I think that must be a bit like what those women were feeling as they watched their Savior die on Friday night, and even more so as they
stared into an empty tomb. We had the story all wrong. We were foolishly ima
gining
ourselves as victors, but we're the losers again,
just like we've always been. At least that's what they thought until one of the bleach boys asked them an intriguing question. Why are you looking among the dead for someone who's alive? Why are you looking
for God in a graveyard? The answer seems obvious enough. Because this is where
his dead body was put, in this tomb, and usually, dead people don't move much. I mean, usually they stay
wherever you left them. That's true about dead peopl
e. But Jesus isn't here. He's risen from the dead. What? These women's minds
must have been spinning, but why are they surprised? They made a classic mistake
that we too often make. They decided what kind
of story they were in based on just one scene. That would be like Mel Gibson reading the script of "Braveheart" and concluding from the
beginning that it's a romance. Liam Neeson reading the
opening scenes of "Taken" and assuming it's about a suburban dad navigating the complexities
of his daug
hter coming of age. Or the execs at Comedy Central seeing the first scenes
of a cartoon about kids and assuming that "South
Park" is appropriate for kids. If you've seen any of those, then you know that's
definitely not what they are, but you could be tricked if
you drew your conclusions based on a single scene. That's what Mary and
her friends were doing. When they saw Jesus die, they assumed they were
just extras in a tragedy where evil and darkness win again. And that's the story many
of you
think you're in too. And I can understand why. As you look at the present circumstances, our politics, economy, and culture, I mean, all of which
seem to be getting worse. Or more personally, you
suffer a devastating setback or you receive a scary diagnosis, and it's easy to conclude that you're in the final
scenes of a horror film. It can be hard to have hope. But here's the trick. Mary and her friends
got the story all wrong. Because they were judging
the genre of the story by one dark scene.
What they got wrong is that although Jesus's death was
an essential plot point, it wasn't the conclusion. Not even close. But they should have known that because Jesus had given them the script. This is exactly how the
story is supposed to go. So why are you searching for your Savior in a cemetery? But the way this weekend would work out isn't the only thing that Jesus
told them back in Galilee. He revealed the entire plot all the way to the final credits. So it should have been clear that this
movie isn't a tragedy. It's a love story. Ever since humanity walked
away from God and Eden, God's been chasing after us,
determined to win us back. We are the bride. We keep running, resisting, rebelling, and suffering so much from
our self-centeredness and sin, but God is relentless. A few years ago, when
Pastor Eugene Peterson died, his son said during the eulogy that despite decades of preaching, he only ever had one sermon. Every time he wrote something new, he was just dressing up
the same
old message. That message? Mary's story, your story is not a horror film or a cautionary tale, though, at moments, it feels that way. It's not a war movie either. No matter what has
happened to you in the past or what happens in the days ahead, those are just scenes
in an epic love story. Mary and the other women were
so overwhelmed with emotion that dark Easter weekend that they forgot what Jesus had told them. Just like you may have forgotten it today, or maybe you never heard it before. But
from the very beginning,
Jesus insisted that all of this is a love story. Jesus didn't come to defeat the Romans. He came to defeat death so that he could have us forever. That's why we call this Passion Week. We associate the word passion with love, but it comes from the word for suffering. Because what it really
means is to love so much that we're even willing to suffer. Jesus loves us so much that he's willing to suffer. So step aside, "Notebook." Jesus shows us what
passion really looks like
. He was so determined to be
reunited with us forever that he was even willing to be arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified. He was willing to die so that he could dismantle
death from the inside. The Bible explains that Jesus endured the cross for the joy of bringing home his bride. That's you. Jesus endured the cross because he could see the end of the story, and so can we! Because Jesus didn't just tell us what would happen that Easter weekend. He also showed us the final scene in John's fam
ous Revelation. We read, Once you know how the story ends, you know what kind of story it is, and only then can you
discover the part you play in the story. And that's why when they
remembered what he had said, they rushed back from the tomb to tell the other disciples
what had happened. God's real, God's alive! God's here, keeping his
promises that seemed impossible! God's love, it's relentless! Friends, I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed by a moment that we forget what this movie is abou
t. So many people today are struggling with identity and purpose. We don't know who we are, why we're here, or what we should be. We look for answers from politicians or influencers on social media. But why do you look for
the living among the dead? They don't have the
answers you're looking for. You can't know who you are until you know the story you're in. And that's why we celebrate Easter. It reminds us of what he said, that he so loved the world. He so loves us. He's relentless. It reminds
us of who we are, his beloved, the one he was willing to die to save. It's nice to know the conclusion, but how does that help us today while I'm still struggling and scared? There's a concept in
cinema called plot armor. When Tom Cruise is in a scary scene, you never worry about
whether he's going to make it. This moment may look precarious. It seems like this mission is impossible. But you know he's going to triumph somehow because he's the star of the movie. The fun of the movie is
figuring o
ut how he'll pull off, despite the impossible odds. Sometimes it feels like we're
living in an action movie or a horror film. But friends, you're living a love story, and you are the bride. So you may not know how you'll get there, but if you receive Jesus's invitation, you know you'll make
it to the final scene. And once you know that, the scenes that seem scary or hopeless, well, suddenly don't seem so
scary or hopeless anymore. Bad things may happen
as the plot progresses, but evil can never
win. Because this is a love story. It always has been. But still we fear, "Oh, what
if something happens to me before that final scene? What if I don't make it all the way?" Easter. Easter proves Jesus's
power even over death. And if he can defeat death, he can save us from anything. Anything. Anything? Disease? Yes. Rejection? Yes. Betrayal? Yes. What about my own sin? Yes! Addiction, depression, anxiety, attachment disorder? Yes. How about AI? I mean, nukes, corrupt companies, systemic racism,
civil war? Yes, yes, yes, anything! On Easter, Jesus defeated death itself, which means that anything
else is easy for him. So like Tom Cruise's characters, we can take risks because if we follow Jesus, we know that we can't fail. I mean, at least not for very long. Now I'm not suggesting riding
a motorcycle off a cliff, but we can risk being
generous with our finances. We can risk reaching out to
someone who may reject us. We can risk forgiving someone who hurt us. We can risk confronting
inju
stice even if it'll cost us. We can risk saying no to a temptation because Jesus has shown us
that trust and obedience, even hope and joy are the
only things that make sense. When you know what kind of story we're in, you may suffer and stumble, but you already know the final scene, and Jesus has proven his power to get you there no matter what happens. You may have heard that the Bible's most
frequently repeated command is, "Do not be afraid." But sometimes that seems impossible when there's so
much to be afraid of, which is why Scripture's
second most common command is, "Remember." You know, I still feel afraid sometimes. Maybe it's about finances, the future, politics, or my kids. My initial temptation is to
try to take control somehow, maybe by cutting corners or fudging the truth or fighting angrily. I want God to tell me
why this is happening or how I can fix this! But what actually helps is when I slow down to
remember what Jesus told me. Remember that all this is a love story,
even though this scene
doesn't feel that way. I just have to play my
character faithfully and trust God to figure out the rest. I don't have to understand the details. I just need to fix my eyes on Jesus. He is the hero of the story. When things feel overwhelming or dark, don't deny reality. Instead, remember what's most real. Remember what Jesus promised. Remember how he died
for us on Good Friday. Remember what he did to death on Easter. And most importantly, remember why he did all that. Beca
use his love for you is relentless. Your entire life is a love story. And when you remember that, hope, joy are suddenly the
only responses that make sense. Fear starts to seem like nonsense. Remember. When the women grieving
in a graveyard remembered what Jesus had told them, it changed everything. They realized they had
the story all wrong, and they ran to share this good news with their friends who
were hiding in fear. It was too good to keep to themselves. Friends, this good news is too good
to keep to ourselves. So let's share it with our friends who may feel hopeless or afraid. Let's share the script with them. Let's tell them about the final scene. Let's tell them about
the plot twist at Easter that changed everything. Let's declare with confidence and delight, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. - Today, Pastor Dave helped us remember the kind of story we are in. We are in a love story that will end with God wiping
away every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or
sorrow or crying or pain. All these things will be gone forever. Friends, where are the
places of pain and sorrow in your life now? What feels hopeless? Where does it feel like death has won? Take a moment now to bring
those things to God in prayer. Now, brothers and sisters, remember these promises from Jesus. "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing
in me will never die. Behold, I am making all things new."
Thanks be to God. At Highrock, we are committed
to creating communities that participate in this story. We join with God and one another to bring life where there is death. If you are not connected, we
would love to welcome you, hear more of your story, and discern some of the
meaningful steps to connection. Click on the QR code or on the
link in the video description to fill out a Connect Card, and we will be in touch. You can also partner with us financially through the link on the QR code. An
d now, sisters and brothers, receive this benediction. May the grace of our
risen Lord Jesus Christ, the love of our Heavenly Father, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Now go in peace to love
and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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