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The Guts and Glory of Easter 0:00 If you have a Bible, I want you to hold a spot in Hebrews chapter 2. Welcome to this special Easter session, the guts and the glory of Easter.0:12 You know when we talk about what happened that first weekend where Easter actually happened in history, what are we talking about? We're talking about the greatest weekend0:25 in human history. We're talking about the greatest comeback in human history. We're talking about the greatest hope ever burst for humanity0:37 in human history. And we're talking about the greatest result for all who believe in the person of that weekend and the work that transpired on that weekend, that0:49 very first Easter. You know, when you hear the words, guts and glory, we usually connect ourselves to someone with the willingness or1:01 courage to pay a personal price in order to to win a victory and the glory that goes with it. And it usually dials into this1:12 turning hour or a turning moment where there's a courageous act or an aggressive act of love, where a hard choice is made for a higher1:24 purpose. That is Easter. That is exactly what happened. The guts and the glory. See, it's not suffering as1:36 a consequence of doing something wrong. It's nobly suffering for a higher purpose. And we read that in scripture.1:48 In Hebrews chapter 2, we read this, listen in for the guts and the glory of Easter. The scripture says in Hebrews 2, God,2:00 for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his2:12 suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. So now, Jesus, and the ones he makes holy, have the same2:24 Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. Did you catch that? A man,2:36 in a turning moment, a leader, makes a decision to suffer, why? In order to bring people into glory.2:49 His guts, our glory. Now, what did Jesus having guts mean exactly? Right? I wanna dial that in for3:01 us, and if you have the downloaded notes, I want you to write this down. G u t s. GUT stands for giving up trusting3:13 self. That's GUTS. And that's exactly what we see Jesus do at Easter in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see him giving up trusting himself.3:25 We read in Matthew 26, it says, he went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, My Father, if3:37 it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.3:49 You see, when when God requires spiritual guts, spiritual courage from us, this is exactly what it4:01 involves. Now, when God calls us to a moment where we have to have some spiritual guts like Jesus, we can respond in 1 of 3 ways. We can respond in4:13 pride, which says to God, hey, you know what? I hear what you're saying, but no thanks. We can respond in fear, where I hear what you're saying, God. I see what you want me to do, but you know,4:25 if I do it your way, I'm gonna lose something. I'm gonna lose comfort. I'm gonna suffer. So I'm gonna choose to control that myself. And so out of fear, we don't4:36 respond with guts. Or we can respond in faith, which is what Jesus models for us. He says, this is not gonna be comfortable.4:49 It's not gonna, I wish it would be another way, and yet not my will be done, but your will be done. What is that? He gives up trusting self, and5:01 he trusts God, and he takes action toward God's will. Now what's my reaction5:13 to Jesus's action? This is the question that we all need to ask ourselves. Easter happened. Jesus having guts happened. Jesus5:25 taking courageous action happened. What's my reaction to Jesus taking action? And there's 3 responses that we're gonna5:37 talk about in this session, where God is hoping that you'll respond in some specific ways? What is my reaction to Jesus' action? In other words,5:48 what's God hoping we'll do? Is he hoping that we're gonna respond kinda culturally and have a have a nice Easter dinner and maybe go to church? Is he hoping that we're gonna respond factually like, well, you6:00 know, the resurrection actually happened and Jesus rose from the dead and this is how we know and this is how we prove it? Does he want us to respond theologically Like redemption happened, justification6:13 happened, right? Forgiveness happened, or does he want us to respond perhaps in some other ways? Well, let's look at 3 responses God is hoping you will have this6:25 Easter. And the first response is that the cross becomes deeply personal for me. If you're at home and you're watching this, let's say that out loud.6:37 The cross becomes deeply personal for me. In fact, the reason we know God hopes that the cross will become deeply personal to you is the very words of6:49 Jesus himself talking about going to the cross. When he says in John 15 13, there is no greater love than to lay7:00 down one's life for one's friends. Do you see how that just drips with power when Jesus says that?7:12 What's he talking about? He's talking about the transforming power of sacrifice. What does Jesus know? Well, he knows that genuine sacrifice, when seen and experienced7:24 personally, erases all doubt about someone's commitment to you. Isn't that true in life? Like there's people who do a lot of this. They say, yeah, let's do that. I'll do this.7:36 There's that. And then there's the people who do a little less of this and a little more action. And they pay a personal price in order to connect with you or to do something7:48 for you. That's the person that you don't doubt their commitment to you. In Latin, they call it acta non verba. Actions are louder than words. And that's8:00 where Jesus is talking to the disciples, and he's saying, hey, there is no greater love than this, than to lay down one's life for8:12 one's friends. When someone does something very personally sacrificial for you, you end up kind of saying to yourself, woah,8:25 you would do that for me? I mean, we're just not used to it. And in fact, Jesus is intentional. He's saying, hey,8:37 I'm gonna do the 1 thing that I can do so that you will do the only thing that you can do in response.8:50 It's that personal. You see, little sacrificial love, that requires that that creates little loyalty. Right? But big9:02 sacrificial love, man, that that's a great responsibility. You you take it to heart. It eliminates any fear or doubt in terms of trusting someone. It gives you9:14 the guts to trust. Right? Now, Jesus love is the ultimate sacrifice. And what does the ultimate sacrifice demand?9:26 Ultimate commitment and loyalty and responsibility. Why? There is no greater love than this.9:38 So the cross requires you to become more deeply personally connected to Jesus. That's what God's hoping.9:50 He wants to take you over, listen to me, He wants to take you over emotionally. He wants you to say to yourself, when you look at the cross, you just go, wait,10:02 he would do that for me? And that's what every rescued person says of their savior or their rescuer. You you found me. You came10:14 for me. You rescued me. That's why my life verse is Psalm 40 verses 1 and 2. I turned to the Lord and he heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, and10:26 he set my feet on a rock. He gave me a firm place to stand. You know, I don't know what your slimy pit is this Easter. I don't know if it's a slimy financial pit, a slimy10:38 marital pit, a slimy personal pit, a pit of negative emotions. I don't know what it is, but a slimy pit is 1 that you can't get out of. But man,10:50 imagine being rescued and redeemed from that slimy pit by the power of the love of God manifested through11:01 Jesus and him showing you how much he loves you and wants you to trust him through laying down his life for you. So that's the first response. God's11:13 hoping you'll have this Easter that the cross would become deeply personal to you. The second response that God's hoping you'll have is that the cross will become deeply practical for11:25 you. You see, the cross is more than just, woah. The cross and the love shown there takes over11:37 your whole life. You see, God just doesn't wanna take you over emotionally, whereby you see what he does for you and it just it just grabs your heart. He wants to11:49 take you over motivationally. Listen to what the Bible says in second Corinthians 5 15. It says this, he died for everyone, so that those12:01 who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. You see what happens When12:12 you when you let the cross become personal for you, it takes over your motivation. Now, if you're a follower of Jesus, sometimes you probably struggle12:25 with motivation. Well, why do you think Jesus has us do communion as the church is to remember what he did on the cross in a practical way12:36 and find again our motivation. He took the bread. He said, this is my body given for you. And after that, he took the cup and he said, this is the blood of12:48 the new covenant. Many will be forgiven because of it. And so when we when we come to Christ, when we believe in him, when we look at what he did13:00 that first Easter weekend on that Friday, it's supposed to grab us emotionally. It's supposed to take over motivationally. You13:12 and I don't have to, like, search for motivation if we're planting ourselves at the cross on a regular basis. We find our deepest13:24 motivation. We stop living for ourselves, and we start living for Christ. How do we do that? By choosing things that show love for him and show13:35 love for other people. Jesus made it that simple. If you're grateful for what I did for you, start choosing to do those things that13:47 show love for me, and your own life, and start choosing to do things that that show that same sacrificial love that I showed you for13:59 other people. See how practical that is? And that's what God's hoping will will come to the surface and be a result of you reflecting and responding14:11 to the Easter gospel message this year. That the cross would would be deeply personal to you, that the cross would be deeply practical to you, take you over14:23 emotionally, take you over motivationally. Right? The third response that God is hoping that we'll have this Easter is that the cross becomes deeply purposeful14:35 for me. Alright. We got the cross is personal. The cross is practical. It takes over our motivation. The cross becomes deeply purposeful for me. What does that14:47 mean, Kenny? It means that Jesus dies for sin, and now what's my focus? I'm now dying to sin. I'm gonna start14:59 separating myself from the things that put my Lord and savior on the cross. Listen to the scriptures, the Apostle Paul talking about15:11 how the cross has become deeply personal to him. He says this, My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer15:23 I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and15:35 gave himself for me. What's God's Word saying to us this time at Easter? Saying, okay, this is Jesus, right?15:47 He was crucified with you, Jesus is in me, and now the the the savior who was crucified15:59 for my sin, who now lives in me, now I'm crucifying sin in my life. I'm putting sin to death. Jesus dies for sin,16:11 I die to sin. Right? Now think, think of maybe a Medal of Honor winner. Okay? You might have seen that at the White House. The16:23 President of the United States comes and he stands behind the Medal of Honor winner, and they they put and clip a medal, on on their uniform, around their neck. They put it on. It's just a16:35 solemn ceremony. Why? Because that person receiving that medal has risked their lives to save other lives and not all Medal of Honor winners live. In fact,16:47 many of them, most of them die and they're given a Medal of Honor posthumously. And when you read the stories of people who were saved17:00 by a medal of honor winner, they all say the same thing. You say, what did they say, Kenny? 100 percent of people who live17:12 because someone else died for them say this, I don't want their sacrifice to be in vain. You see, that resonates.17:25 Sacrifice speaks. Sacrifice eliminates doubt. Sacrifice takes you over emotionally. Sacrifice takes you over motivationally.17:36 Sacrifice takes you over in your purpose. It elevates your sense of stewardship and responsibility to the sacrificer.17:48 Right? You see how when the Bible says, so my old self was crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.18:01 So now I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You see how that that spirit of wanting18:12 to honor the sacrifice is present in every believer? You see, the cross remolds us personally. The cross refocuses18:24 us practically, takes over our motivation. But then the cross redirects our energy purposefully. We start doing things which18:36 show love for God and for people. Jesus dies for sin. We start dying to sin. So my question18:48 to you, the big questions are what have you done with what Jesus did? What have we done with what Jesus did19:00 that first Easter? What am I doing now with what Jesus did? You see, 1 question goes to salvation. What have I done with what Jesus did? Have I believed in his19:12 person that that he's God, and that that God died for me? Have I believed in that for me personally, and let it go deeply into me, let it be personal19:24 and practical and purposeful, but what am I doing now with what Jesus did? Have I reacted to what19:36 Jesus did for me? And maybe it's a case of maybe you did at 1 time and you had a really high motivation and you saw the cross, and maybe this19:47 Easter, I think there's there's there's lots of us, and I think there are some listening to my voice right now where Easter is gonna be a catalyst for you. Easter, you're coming19:59 back to the cross. You're seeing the suffering of your savior, and you're seeing the love of your savior. You're seeing the courage20:12 of your savior. You're seeing the guts of your savior, where if you believe and you come back, you're gonna start living for him personally.20:23 You're gonna let the practical nature of the cross take over your motivation. You're gonna let the purpose of the cross, Jesus dying for sin, and you're gonna start dying to sin,20:36 not because you have to, but because you want to. The action of Jesus, that's my point, the action of Jesus sacrifice for us is20:48 only meaningful if it is meant with an authentic reaction and response by us. And20:59 that reaction and that response, some of you are listening to this like, I wanna react. I wanna respond. I see his love. I see the purpose. Him paying the price that I should have paid, and and21:11 you're ready to respond initially. What do you do? You believe. Say, what do I believe in? I believe that Jesus is the son of God and that21:23 Jesus died for my sins. In Romans 10 9, it's really clear that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the21:35 dead, you will be saved. That is God's word to you. Perhaps you're watching this and you're ready to believe and21:46 become a child of God. Everyone is a creation of God, but not everyone is a child of God. You move from becoming a creation of God to a child of21:58 God by receiving and believing in the person and work of Jesus. That's what the Bible says. To as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God,22:11 even to those who believe in his name. So if you're ready to react to what Jesus did on the cross, that that first Easter weekend,22:23 you believe. Okay. Now what do you do if you're already a believer? Right? Well, it's it's not together that different. What what saves22:35 a person and puts them into God's family is also what sustains a person. Right? It's a lifelong and daily reaction in response to God's22:47 love. We just live it out every day. We remind ourselves every day who we are. We've become a child of God through the person and work of Jesus on the cross.22:59 And we're so grateful, and today, I'm gonna live in response to that love. The life I now live, just like the Apostle Paul says, I live by faith in the Son23:11 of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So now faith in Christ becomes the filter for how we live, how we do relationships, how we make decisions, how23:23 we make choices. Big questions of Easter. What have I done with what Jesus did? What am I doing now, today, with what Jesus did?23:35 And if if Jesus's guts, him giving up trusting self, yet not my will be done, but your will be done, father. If if Jesus's guts compel me23:48 to personally, practically, and purposely respond, if that's what guts do, the hope of glory pulls me forward. So I've got24:00 the cross pushing me to live for God, and then I have my hope of glory pulling me forward. Isn't that cool? The cross behindShow more In this video 0:00 The Guts and Glory of Easter24:02 The Hope of Glory
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