Salt + Light Fort Worth

So, um, we are gonna
be in Acts chapter one.

Uh, so if you wanna pull up a Bible
or an app, we're gonna be there.

Um, and as you pull up a Bible or an
app, um, talk to me, um, in the past

few weeks, what's one of your favorite
things that you've told someone about?

Favorite people, favorite teams, favorite
bands, restaurants, podcast, movies.

What's one of your favorite
things you've told someone about?

Thank you.

There's a show called Laugh.

Uh, last one Laughing.

Last one.

Laughing.

It's hilarious.

There you go.

Okay.

Alright.

There you go.

What's something you've told
someone about Engagement?

Yeah.

Okay.

A few people.

Yeah, it's good.

I feel annoyed talking about it.

You feel annoyed talking about it.

The rest of us are not though
You, you, you talk about it

more than the rest of us.

A baby.

A baby.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There you go.

What?

Dating.

Dating.

Hmm.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Why do you tell people about these things?

Why do you tell people about these things?

I'm excited.

We're excited.

Any other reason you want other
people to be excited with You?

Want other people to be excited with you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is something you love, it's
something you're excited about, it's

something that's important to you.

And, and, and we like to talk
about what's important to us.

We like to talk about things we love.

Uh, my friend Jeff Selt, who started
Soma, the, the network of churches

we're a part of, um, he says We're
all evangelists for something.

We're all evangelists for something.

Whatever we love the most,
we talk about, is that fair?

Whatever we love the most, we talk about,
I, I wanna take that a step further.

It's not just about words.

It's not just about talking about
things like we'll shape our lives

around the things we love the most.

Right.

We'll shape our lives around the
things that we love the most.

So we'll shape our day
around family rhythms.

We'll shape our work schedule around
leaving work and going on vacation.

Um, we'll spend, some of us
have spent dumb amounts of money

traveling to see all the Dave
Matthew shows in Texas around 2001.

Hypothetically, some of us have done that.

Um, every one of us, every one
of us has something or someone

that primarily shapes a lot.

You did it too, probably.

Uh, we were at one of the same concerts.

All right.

There you go.

Yeah.

Um, every one of us has have, have
people or things that shape our

lives, whether our whole lives or
different seasons, and we all have

things that we tell people about.

In other words, we're all evangelists.

And so over the last month, as we've
talked about doubts, we've seen them from

different angles, this kind of stuff.

We've come to this place of like, what
does it look like to, to talk about Jesus.

And so today, before we, um, see and
get to witness and celebrate some

baptisms and baby dedications next
week, I wanna look at one final angle

of this conversation about doubt.

And that's this.

For followers of Jesus, the resurrection
gave a whole new direction to their lives.

The resurrection gave a whole
new direction to their lives.

So like in mere days after
Jesus' resurrection, we saw a

massive change in his followers.

In, in the years that followed,
uh, we saw an impact on that.

And specifically, I wanna shape it like
this, because of the resurrection, Jesus'

followers shaped their lives around Jesus.

They told the world about Jesus
and they gave their lives.

For Jesus shaped their lives and
also gave their lives for Jesus is

different, and so that's not just true
though of Jesus's first followers.

If you call yourself a follower of Jesus
today, that's God's charge to you as well.

That's God's call on us as well.

Easy, sometimes hard.

Lots of times.

Um, so I wanna pray
and then we'll dive in.

So, father, would you meet us in the
difficulty of this, would you help us

to, to see and learn and glean from
your first followers and to follow you

with the same boldness and willingness
that they were willing to follow you?

It's in your son's name.

Amen.

All right, so here we go.

Because Jesus was raised, his followers
shaped their lives around Jesus.

Uh, some of you have read the Bible
and or watched the chosen, um,

what was true of Jesus' followers
before they followed Jesus?

What'd they do with their lives?

Who were they?

They were fishermen and
tax collectors and doctors.

Doctors and zealots.

Zealots, yeah.

Insurrectionists is
another way to say that.

There's very few kids in here.

They're prostitutes.

They were housewives.

They were demon possessed.

They were the fringes of society.

They were the poor, they
were the, the lepers.

They were, they were
a lot of other things.

What were they after they followed
Jesus, what were they after?

The resurrection?

Same thing.

Discipled.

They were the same.

They were some of the same things.

Lepers weren't as much,
um, 'cause of healing.

Um, but yeah, they were the same things.

And yet many of them had left
those things because they became,

it was said over here, disciples,
evangelists in the verses, Nicole

Red, they were God's witnesses.

They were God's witnesses.

You'll receive power.

Jesus promises when the
Holy Spirit has come on you.

And you'll be my I witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria.

It's like the surrounding state
and the like less popular state.

So it'd be like Fort Worth
and Texas, and also Oklahoma.

And then the ends of the
earth is what he's saying.

There he'll be my witnesses.

And the Bible says that after Jesus
died, before he rose, some of his

disciples went back to fishing.

They went back to what they knew.

At least two of them hit the road
and were going home to Emmaus.

That's their presumed home.

They were returning to their regular life.

The disciples after Jesus died were going
back to what they knew, tax, collecting,

doctoring, insurrection against Rome.

They were going back to what
they knew, which makes sense.

If you look at the history for centuries,
Israelites, the Jewish people had put

their hope in God's promised Savior.

God had told them to put their
hope in his promised Savior.

And at the time when Jesus walked
the Earth, multiple people had

claimed to be that messiah.

Jesus wasn't the only one.

Do you know this?

Jesus wasn't the only person
who was a good teacher.

He wasn't the only person who
opposed Roman rule and even

some aspects of Jewish religion.

He wasn't the only one who came in
and declared himself to be the king.

He wasn't the only one who was crucified.

So as much as his followers put
hope in him, when he died, it seemed

like their hope had been misplaced.

It seemed like, here's another
person claiming to be the Messiah,

who's not another false Messiah.

It's actually like, here's
another false messiah.

But in my mind, I'm like, I can't
say that out loud that that's what,

that's what people would've thought.

Here's another one.

We put our hope in the wrong place.

We'll return to normal life.

We'll go back to our boats.

We'll go back to our nets.

We'll go back home to Emmaus.

We'll go back to whatever it looked like.

The, the disciples, two of them on the
road to Emmaus, said this outright.

I, I love the honesty here.

They said we had hoped.

He was the one to redeem Israel.

This is Luke 24 21.

If you wanna look it up later.

It's, it's, it's such an honest moment.

We had hoped he was the one to redeem.

Israel had hoped.

Do you sense the longing in that?

Like they're not just stating
fact that's past tense.

They're saying we no longer hope in that.

The hope we had, that Jesus was the
one to redeem that hope is now lost.

Why?

Because like other people who
claim to be Israel's Messiah,

this one was dead now too.

And so these disciples were sad,
they were hopeless, but in a

sense it was like, ah, it's over
time to get back to regular life.

But then something changed.

Because when these two, the same people
who said we had hoped he'd be the one

to redeem Israel, who had lost hope,
when they encountered the risen Jesus at

dinnertime, and you know this story, Jesus
met them on the road, walked with them.

They didn't know it was him.

Over dinner, as he broke bread, they
realized this is the risen Messiah.

Yeah.

After that, the followers on
the road to Emmaus said this.

He presented himself alive after
his suffering by many proofs,

appearing to them after 40 days and
speaking about the Kingdom of God.

And while staying with them, he ordered
them not to depart from Jerusalem.

Luke 24.

Verse 33 says this,

they rose that same hour
and returned to Jerusalem.

And they found the 11 and those who
were with them gathered together

saying The Lord has risen and
has indeed appeared to Simon.

They rose that same hour, went
back to Jerusalem, found the

11, and said The Lord has risen.

Okay, here's facts.

Now we're back on track.

Three facts about this.

Uh, Emmaus was seven miles from Jerusalem.

Not a far distance today, but
back then that was a two and

a half, three hour long hike.

The resurrected, Jesus had been with them
at dinner, which means they were gonna

go back to Jerusalem when nighttime.

Third fact, people didn't travel at night.

It was dangerous to travel at night.

And yet something important
enough happened that they

knew this was a big deal.

They could not stay in
Emmaus even, even overnight.

It says that same hour they
started to return to Jerusalem.

They didn't stay in Emmaus, they
didn't stay still, and they would never

return to their normal life again.

They raced back to Jerusalem.

They arrived late as one commentator
said, probably breathless and

dusty, to find their friends.

And then they shared what they'd
seen, and they, so far as we know,

never went back to their normal life.

And these two weren't alone.

The, the, the tendency would've
been to disperse after.

A Messiah died after a follower.

A sect leader.

A cult leader died, and yet
Jesus had told them to stay.

. Jesus presented themselves himself to
be alive after his suffering by many

proofs, appearing to them during 40 days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.

And while staying with
them, he ordered them what?

Not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait
for the promise of the Father, which he

said, you've heard from me, John, baptized
with water, you will be baptized with

the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

So, so the tendency would've been
to disperse, but Jesus had appeared

to them and told them to, to what?

To not go, to stay, to wait.

They knew who Jesus was.

If this wasn't Jesus telling them to
do this, what would they have done?

If someone had sent a messenger or someone
had showed up saying, Hey, I saw Jesus.

He told you that, that you should
stay, what would be the tendency?

Yeah, right.

Something changed in them.

They knew it was a big enough
deal not to disperse, and then

again, you'll receive power.

You'll be my witnesses.

And what happened exactly that.

And so the beginning of Acts
chapter two says this, when the

day of Pentecost arrived, they
were all together in one place.

They, they obeyed Jesus.

So that's worth noting.

They did stay in one place and suddenly
there came from heaven, a sound like

a mighty rushing wind, and filled the
entire house where they were sitting and

divided tongues as of fire, appeared on
each and rested on every one of them, and

they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

And they began to speak in other
languages, other tongues, as

the Spirit gave them utterance.

You'll receive power and
you'll be my witnesses.

And then God kept his promise.

So those followers who ran from
Jerusalem ran back never to return.

In other gospels, we see that the
followers who returned to fishing

met the risen Messiah and gave
up their nets for a second time.

And again, so far as we
can tell, never to return.

The followers who were skeptics and
doubters, which we've seen all month,

turned to faith and belief, and some
of them stayed in Jerusalem, and some

of them went to the proverbial Texas,
and some of them went to the Oklahoma,

the less desirable regions, and some
of them went to the ends of the earth.

And, and so it just, it
just begs some questions.

Of us.

What is important to you such
that you would be willing to shape

and change your life around it?

What do you shape your life around?

What?

What gives form to your life?

What things or people or desires,
what are so important to you that you

would leave your home, you would leave
your job, you would leave your state,

you would leave your sense of normal.

And there are legit things, school job
opportunities, adventure relationships.

The potential of relationships like
these are, these are things that,

that, that, that are legitimately
causes to, to leave normalcy.

But what's the theme in all of them?

It's something important to you.

It's something that you would love.

It's some yearning for more.

Those things are worth sacrificing.

They're things worth giving up.

Your old.

And stepping into something new.

Fair.

And so as we've been talking about
doubt and doubt, specifically around

the resurrection, we've gotta see this.

Jesus entered and enters
past tense and present tense.

Jesus enters people's normal lives
and gives them a new purpose.

Jesus enters things that we
think are important and says,

but there's something more.

Jesus looks at the things we love.

And says that there's more.

This was so important that Jesus' first
disciples and frankly, people in other

parts of the world sacrificed family.

Some of us in, in this part of
the world sacrifice jobs or homes

or upward mobility or reputation,

Jesus rearranges our priorities.

The resurrection is so important.

These disciples are willing to
give up everything, everything

and shape their life around Jesus.

And y'all, God extends that
same invitation to us today.

If, if you don't follow Jesus or you
know someone who doesn't, you, you still

shape your life around something or
someone, you still have a most important.

There's something that says I'll satisfy.

There's something that says
I'm worth your highest love.

There's something that says I'm worth
giving up home, family, job, reputation,

normalcy, comfort for, and the question
is, do those things keep their promise?

Are they truly worth it?

Or do you, does your friend,
does your neighbor need a better

story to reshape your life?

And then if you do follow
Jesus, that same thing is true.

Jesus still looks at you and
says all those other things.

You still love all those other priorities.

You still have all the other
things you still call important.

I'm, I'm still inviting
you into a better story.

How willing are we if we follow,
if we say we follow Jesus?

How willing are we to shape our
lives around God's will, around God's

mission, around the resurrection life?

He offers us around the risen Messiah.

And for some of us that might
mean leaving homes and jobs and

other callings, other loves.

For some of us it might mean, and,
and in some ways this may be harder.

I it's, it's a different kind of heart
seeking God's kingdom, pursuing his will,

being done on earth as is, as it is in
heaven in the home, and workplaces and

families and relationships that we have in
just our normal even pre-Christian life.

Because Jesus was raised just
like his first followers, God

still invites his followers today
to shape our lives around Jesus.

And the question is, will you?

Second thing, because Jesus was raised,
his followers told the world about Jesus.

This goes without saying, I
believe, but to be witnesses.

Somebody has to talk.

This is true of courtrooms.

This is true of news cameras.

You talk about your favorite
band, you talk about your favorite

movie, your sport, the show
that you and Christine enjoyed

watching you talk about engagement.

And to do that, you have to use words.

So the word gospel, you may know
this, the world changing, life

changing truth of Jesus', life and
death, and resurrection and reign.

The word gospel literally means good news.

It literally means good news.

It's not a Christian word.

It's a word that, that, that we, that,
that, that early in, in, in history we

looked at and said, Hey, if, if there's
gospels out there, if there's other

forms of good news and there's other
forms of good news, early Christian

said, this is the best good news.

This is the capital G gospel.

But if there's going to be good news,
if you believe something is good news,

you want to tell people about it.

Yeah, that's what Jesus' followers
did after the resurrection.

And so evangelism as a term gets
a really bad rap today, and that's

somewhat understandable because as
with so much of of Christian life, it's

become programmed and we teach methods
and put a lot of fear into people.

Whereas if you don't hit these
exact methods or do these verses

in the right order or this kind
of stuff, you failed at it.

And they can sound angry.

Evangelists can sound really angry.

It can sound very fake.

There's a lot of reasons that people
can look at Christian evangelists

and go, yeah, it's, it's worthy
of at least a, a reconsideration.

But at its heart evangelism
is simply telling people about

something that's important to you.

Evangelism is, is, is telling people about
something or someone that you love, and

evangelism is hoping that they will find
it important and they'll see it as good

news and they'll learn to love it as well.

So again, we're all
evangelists for something

and if you follow Jesus, the best
good news, the best gospel, the best

thing worth saying, I think this is
important, and I hope you do too.

I love this and I hope
you will love this too.

Is, is Jesus,

and, and this is interesting.

I don't know that we
think about this a lot.

No matter what people around us believe.

Everyone in the world is
looking for good news.

We agree with that.

Everyone wants something to be
better than it's everyone's looking

for hope, satisfaction, joy.

I mentioned last week, um, that New
York Times had put out an article

just that morning on Easter morning.

And I dug into a little
bit more this week.

Um, and essentially the, the theme of
the article is that since the 1990s,

secularism in the US has been on the
rise and religion in the us not just

Christian religion, but all religion on
the, in the US has been on the decline

starting in the 1990s, but over the
last five years or so, I dunno what

happened five years ago, but something
caused a crisis and people started

asking big questions five years ago.

Since then, recent studies have have
shown that that trend might be reversing.

And, and it studies not just of kind
of down and out and like easy, you

know, kind of, kind of gullible folks.

These are educated, successful,
wealthy, and also not educated

and successful wealthy people.

Just a good broad reaching studies.

And, and, and today some of the studies is
what the article reported, 92% of adults

in the US hold some spiritual belief.

92% have some spiritual belief.

Again, not Christian, not
Jesus, not even religious per

se, but some spiritual belief.

It's a long, really, it's a long,
intriguing, really good article,

but I wanna summarize some of it.

Here's, here's some of the point.

Uh, it's written by a
woman named Lauren Jackson.

This is what she looks like.

Um, in 2015, researchers at Harvard
began studying where these Americans were

turning to express their spirituality, and
the answers included, I love this yoga.

CrossFit, SoulCycle, supper
clubs and meditation.

Oprah tried sound baths.

Gwyneth Paltrow advertised energy healing.

And then she goes on in
talking about the study.

She says, many of the demographic,
uh, demographers, psychologists,

sociologists, and statisticians that I
spoke to offered the same explanation.

Americans simply haven't found a
satisfying alternative to religion.

Again, it's not just Christianity.

I wanna be clear.

I wanna be, I wanna be full of integrity
with this woman's article, but, but of

all the things she tried, and I'm just
summarizing a little bit of it, she

goes into, into depth in some of this,
hasn't found a satis, haven't found

a satisfying alternative to religion.

And concurrently there is, quote,
an overwhelming empirical support

for the value of being in a house
of worship on a regular basis.

On all kinds of metrics.

Mental health, physical health, having
more friends, being less lonely, and then

they, she walks through this, this kind
of studied and, and backed up data set

of things where folks who participate
in religion are happier, healthier,

significantly less likely to be depressed
or to die by suicide, alcoholism, cancer,

cardiovascular illness, or other causes.

They're likely to feel
gratitude, more gratitude.

More peace, more of a sense
of connection with humanity.

I just wanna be clear, New York Times
is not Christianity today, right?

It's not a denominational
supported, vested interest.

Improving that religion is a good thing,

but then at the end of the article,
the author gets a little bit personal.

I.

And she seems to capture the heart
of what she's writing about and

the heart of what she's seen.

The heart of what these
studies are proving.

She's making it personal.

She says, I want a God.

I want it all to be true.

Miracles, souls, some sort of cosmic
alchemy that makes sense in the chaos.

And then here's the part that
stood out to me for years.

I haven't been able to say that publicly,
but it feels like something is changing.

That maybe the culture is shifting,
that maybe we're starting to recognize

that it's possible to be both
believing and discerning after all

New York Times last week.

And, and I want to admit as I read
this, like her, her perspective, a lot

of the articles very much about this
life, it's about personal benefits.

It's about, you know, personal,
uh, personal wellness, personal

what, what makes me feel good?

What, what makes me feel right and better?

That kind of stuff.

That's fair.

If you want another point of view
that doesn't look as much at this

life and doesn't have as much
feel good kind of ethos to it.

Um, there's a YouTube video about 10
years ago, uh, no, 20 years ago now from

a, from a gentleman named Pin Gillette.

Anyone know who Pin Gillette is?

He was.

He is half of the famous Vegas
magician group, Penn and Teller.

He's also an outspoken atheist and he
posted a video, you can look it up.

He equates people who know Jesus, that
don't tell other people about Jesus.

He equates those people to being hateful.

So again, on one hand you have
New York Times happy, feel better

if you pursue religion here.

Here's what, what Penn Gillette says,
and this may sound stark to you, but he

says, if you believe that there's a heaven
and a hell, and people should, people

could be going to hell or not getting
eternal life, if you think, well, it's

not really worth telling them because
it would make it socially awkward.

He says, how much do you have to
hate someone not to proselytize?

Proselytize is just a, a more negative
connotation word for evangelism.

If you believe there's a heaven in
hell, people could be going to hell

and you're not telling 'em 'cause you
think it makes you socially awkward.

How much you, how much must you hate them?

How much do you have to hate somebody
to believe everlasting life is

possible and not tell them that?

I mean, if I believed beyond the shadow of
a doubt that a truck was coming at you and

you didn't believe the truck was bearing
down on you, and a certain point, there

is a certain point where I tackle you.

And this is way more important than that.

Whether or not you agree with his
posture or not, or even his words or not,

there's something compelling to that.

Here's the point.

Jesus' heart broke for a lost
and dying and hopeless world.

And through history, Jesus
sends his followers into a lost

and dying and hopeless world.

And so whether we are motivated by a
message of eternal life and potential

damnation like this, or whether we're
motivated by there's good news for a

more abundant life, heart, soul, mind,
and strength sounds a lot like physical

and spiritual and emotional health.

Like the New York Times article
or whether there's some other

motivation, 'cause there's lots of 'em.

All of these things are true
because of the resurrection.

Both what Pen Gillette and
Lauren Jackson say are good news.

They're not the entire good news
of the gospel, but they're parts,

parts of good news of the gospel.

Both are part of the message that
Jesus charged his followers in

the first century and today to
share with the world around us.

So Peter did.

In Acts two, God brought 3000 people from
death to life as Peter boldly, counter

culturally shared the good news of Jesus.

And also we can get kind of hung up on
like, I can't do that with 3000 people.

Peter did it another time and
one person came to know Jesus.

The first non non-Jewish Christian
was a guy named Cornelius.

It was because Peter had
some conversations with him.

Philip shared the good news of Jesus,
and God saved an Ethiopian palace

official, and if you're ever in
Ethiopia, you would see that even the

government still credits the faith
of that country to that one instance.

A man named Steven did, and he
started this guy named Saul, whose

job was to find and eliminate
people whose face were was in.

Jesus started Saul on a journey toward
his own faith in Jesus, and on and on.

The Bible gives his examples.

In first century scholars and emperors
and nobles and businesswomen, and

people on the fringe, and Jews and
Gentiles, and everyday people just

like you and me from every tribe and
tongue and nation are all part of the

kingdom of God because Jesus' first
followers told the world about Jesus.

And so there's a couple questions to ask.

Who's part of your proverbial world?

And if, if, if you're a Christian, who
did God send you to with the same message

that he sent his first followers out?

And do you love them enough
to tell them about Jesus?

Not in angry ways, not
in like a fire hose.

I'm only gonna talk to
you once kind of way.

Do you love him enough to tell him
about Jesus as God opens doors?

Finally, because Jesus raised
from the dead, his followers

gave their life for Jesus.

We've already said Jesus' followers
shaped their lives around Jesus,

but there's more than that.

All these people we just mentioned,
Paul, Peter, Steven, literally

every one of Jesus's first followers
except one that we know of, died.

For the name of Jesus,

each was killed for their faith.

Each was killed for their public witness.

Each was killed for their weird life
and their bold message, Jesus is Lord.

But each would say it was worth it.

The amount to which they loved Jesus.

The amount of importance they placed on
their risen Messiah made it worth it.

The first 70 years of the Christian
faith, so till about AD 100 there

were in the high hundreds or low
thousands of people killed for their

faith in Jesus by 300 ad that number
was in the tens of thousands by 400

ad there were over a hundred thousand
people killed for the name of Jesus.

That's still true in
parts of the world today,

and so again, it's worth asking.

On one hand, if you, if you doubt
Jesus, if you doubt the resurrection,

if that many people are willing
to shape and give their life for

anything, shape their life around
anything, give their life for anything.

Isn't it worth considering
the validity of that thing?

And if you do follow Jesus, whether
you doubt in this moment or don't,

how willing are you to die for him?

It is admittedly not a comfortable
question and it's hard to ask in our

culture today in the USA, like, it
feels unlikely that you would have

to give your life for Jesus, but
that's not a guarantee here forever,

and it's certainly not a guarantee in a
whole lot of other parts of the world.

It's hard to shape our lives around Jesus.

How much harder is it?

Would it be for us to say, I'm truly
willing to give my life for Jesus

fair?

I'm gonna close with this
as we move into communion.

Um, these things are not just the
right responses to the resurrection

for Jesus's first followers.

These same things are Jesus',
call and charge an invitation

to his followers today as well.

And at the same time, I don't
want to come at you the week after

Easter and just make you feel any
guilt, make you feel any shame.

I want to come at you the week after
Easter and go, this is urgent and,

and this is an invitation and there's
so much grace that God meets you in.

Wherever your answers will
be to those questions.

'cause let's be honest, there's
in implicit right answers to

each of the six questions.

I put six or seven
questions I put up there.

And let's be honest, not all of us
would answer them in the right way.

None of us would.

And yet there's good news because
whether you believe in Jesus or

not, whether you shape and give your
life for Jesus or not, whether you

tell your people about Jesus or not.

Jesus already gave his life for you

and so there's nothing you
can do to earn it more.

There's no quota of how many people
you tell about Jesus in a given week

to keep his death sufficient for you.

He already gave his life for you, and
that's really good news and that's grace.

Here's how Peter said it in
Acts two, just after Jesus's

promised, spirit gave him power.

As Peter fulfilled his role as
God's witness Jesus of Nazareth.

A man attested to you by God
with mighty works and wonders

and signs about God, signs.

Excuse me, that God did through him
in your midst, as you yourself know

this, Jesus delivered up according to
the definite plan and foreknowledge

of God, you crucified and killed
by the hands of lawless men.

But God raised him up losing the
pangs of death because it was not

possible for him to be held by death.

Let all the house of Israel, and this
would be true for all of Jesus's people

throughout eternity and all the world
frankly, but let all the House of

Israel therefore know for certain that
God has made him both Lord and Christ.

This Jesus who you crucified.

Whether you do any of the things
we're talking about or not,

Jesus is your good king, and
Jesus is your Savior and Messiah.

He already did far more than we
could ask or think or imagine.

We just sang.

Jesus gave it all.

This is what we believe and
declare and shape our lives around.

This is what we give our lives for.

This is, this is what some people
are gonna put on display next week

as they get baptized, saying, this is
the most important thing in my life.

The former priorities, the lesser love,
the sin, the brokenness, all that stuff

died in Jesus' death, died in Jesus'
death, and I have eternal and abundant

life and a better message and a better
purpose through Jesus's resurrection.