Would you pray with me please. Father in heaven, we thank you that we have victory in Jesus, victory over death, victory over addiction, victory over divorce, got victory over cancer, got victory over the craziness of this world, because we know that Jesus rose from the dead, which means he has all power. So God, we pray today that you would open our eyes, God, pour into our hearts the things you would have us know, and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Thank you, you can be seated.

Man, man, man, man, you look so good. Can I say that, you look great. I, I mean, just there's something about Easter and the people at Easter that makes you look, you just look awesome. And so for all of our campuses, all the way down to the Gul Coast, this will be our 15th uh experience this weekend, and we're reaching people from Jones County all the way down the Gul Coast, and and it's been exciting. So happy Easter. Let me start with this: he is risen. Yeah, yeah. Now I'm want to do something, because in the first century they did this, and and I'm going to say "he is risen," and then you're going to say "he is risen indeed." You ready? He is risen. He is risen indeed. Yes he is.

And when they said that in the first century, many people were saying that because they'd actually seen Jesus. A lot of people don't know this, but 500 people saw him over a 40-day period. Many of those people, they actually ate a meal with Jesus. Uh, many touched the scars in his hands. I mean, many kind of heard his teachings. And so it wasn't just like he appeared to a few people in in private; he appeared to a lot of people alive. Now I'm going to tell you, if that happened to you, you go, "hey, he is risen indeed." You say, "well, I'm not sure I believe all that. I mean, I came today so I go to M's. Matter fact, I want you to be shorts because she's got, you know, coconut cake." But here's the reality: if you look at a calendar, you believe in Jesus, because they date the calendar based on when Jesus was born, before Christ and AD. I know, Domin, the year of Our Lord.

This is what Chuck Coulson said, I'm just looking at this a minute ago. He said, "I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate" — he was involved in this Watergate thing — "proved it to me." How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and they proclaimed that truth for over 40 years, never once denying it. And everyone was beaten, tortured, pelted with rocks, and put into prison, and they would have not endured that if it weren't true. He said, "but Watergate," and brw, this is this thing that he was involved in, 12 of the most powerful men in the world, "and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks." He said, "you're telling me 12 apostles could keep alive for 40 years? Absolutely impossible." Here's the thing about Jesus: he really did live, and he really did die, and he really did rise from the grave. No other religion can say that. Mohammad is still in the ground. Gandhi is still in the ground. The Dal Lama, the 15th one, he will be in the ground. You, you can name any religious leader you want to name, and none of them claimed to be God, and none of them came back from the dead.

But here's what's so ironic, and and and I, I was reading this and I had to go back and remind myself of this, because none of the disciples believed Jesus would rise from the dead. Did you know that? Not one of them believed that. Because when after the the third day, they were all hiding. They were hiding out, and they were depressed, and they were despondent, and they felt like he, Jesus, had let them down. They thought he was going to be a military leader, he was going to bring in this great kingdom. And so nobody believed that Jesus would rise from the dead. The people that saw all of his miracles, the the people that saw him raise people from the dead, the people that saw him feed thousands of people, they saw that, but they did not believe in him, and they were despondent.

See, here's the thing: many of you, you've come into this weekend, and a lot of things are happening in your life where you're like, "I'm just ready to give up. I mean, I prayed and prayed and prayed, and and I've done this and that, and God is not coming through for me, and and I'm going to be here and I'm going to listen to you, but I've just given up." Here's the thing: sometimes when it looks like God is doing nothing, he's really doing everything. Now, you haven't lived long enough to know that. I've lived a long time, and and I've seen there have been times when I've just given up. There are times when I'm like, "God, you're not there. God, I just don't see this happening." And then over a period of time I see miracles, things that I prayed for, and I believed the promises of God, but I wasn't willing to go through the process of God.

And so today, when they thought nobody was going to listen, that there, this whole thing about Jesus was dead, three billion people are gathering to worship Jesus, because he's not dead, he's alive. And when you begin to think 300 years after this event that the Roman Empire made Christianity their national religion — listen, this whole thing about Christianity, man, it is real. He, he is a real person. He, he rose from the dead for you. He wants to live with you, have a relationship with you.

So today I want to talk about two people, and it's a sermon I've never preached before, and I, I've been interested, I've had one person out of all of our uh experiences that have heard a sermon on this. But it's about two people walking to a us on the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Has anybody heard a sermon on that? The two people that rose, that were walking to Aus from Jerusalem, they gave up on Jesus. They're walking from Jerusalem, they're no bodies going to a nobody town. This not do exist. Anybody heard a sermon, that nobody, me either. And and here's the thing, I'm like, "God, I don't want to preach a sermon that nobody's ever preached on, because there's probably a reason." And it was kind of like he impressed on me, these are two no bodes that were going to nowhere, and that many of you, you're in a crowd of people and that's how you feel. I, I mean, you're surrounded by thousands of people and you're like, "I'm a nobody going nowhere." And I'm here to tell you that Jesus thinks you're a somebody, and we think you're a somebody, and we think God has a plan for your life. He's not going to give up on you, and we're not going to give up on you, no matter what you've done or where you've been. Jesus rose from the dead for you, not just for me.

And so you, "I'm not sure I believe that." Well, here's two people that are nobody, and and they're walking down the road. And for some reason Jesus feels like that, like, "what I'm going to do, like I'm, like, like I would just like go up to Jerusalem, like the temple," and been like, "w." No, no, no, he picks two people that are walking down this road, and they're talking to each other. In in in in Luke chap 4, and I want you to hear the story. And my wife said, "you need to slow down" last night. I was waiting her to come in, tell me how great I was, and fall at my feet, and and say, "can I wash your feet?" And then still waiting on that. And uh, but but she said, "you need to slow, you're, you're, I know you're excited, but you need to slow down, because we can't understand what you're saying." And I'm like, "honey, we've been married a long time." But here, I'm going to try to do that with the scripture, okay?

Chapter 24:13, and here's the story that you you' never heard a sermon on. "Now the same day, the same day that Jesus rose from the dead, there were two of them going to a village called Emas, about 7 miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking to each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked alongside them, and they didn't recognize him. And he asked him, what are you talking about along the way? And and they stood still, their faces were looking down. And one of them named Copus asked him, are you the only one vis in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he said, what things? About Jesus of Nazareth, he replied, he was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. And the chief priests and all the rulers, they handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to to redeem Israel. And and what is more, it's the third day since all this took place. And in addition to some of that, our w our women were, they amazed us. They went to the tomb early in the morning, and they didn't find his body, and they came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Now some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. And he said to them, he said, how foolish you are, and slow to believe in what the prophet have spoken of. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in the scriptures concerning himself. And as they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued as if he were going to keep walking away from them. And they said, hey, stay with us, for it's nearly evening and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with him. And when he was at the table with him, he took the bread, he gave thanks, he prayed, he broke it, and began to give it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. And they asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scripture to us? And then they got up and they returned at once to the Jerus, to Jerusalem, and and they told the disciples all that they had experienced."

Now, you're like, "well, what does that mean?" Well, I was asking myself the same thing. And I think what God is saying to me and to you is that if you want to experience Easter every day, there's some things you can do. Like, like this excitement that you've had about this weekend, and you know you're here, and like, you know, you kind of feel something different, and you kind of see something different in our world. If you want to experience that, there's some things you can do. And the first is accept the truth about Jesus.

See, here is two guys, or guy and a girl, we don't know. And and the reality is, they didn't believe in Jesus. They didn't believe that he was Lord, that they didn't believe that he was who he said he was. I mean, there are 300 prophecies about Jesus having to die on the cross for the sins of the people, and they didn't believe that. Oh, they read, oh, they knew it. Well, I'm not saying they didn't believe, they they knew it, but they didn't believe it. And see, my theory is that's a lot of us, that, you know about Easter, I don't have to tell you about Easter, I mean, you, you know all the information about Easter, and and the reality is you don't really know Jesus personally. CS Lewis said it this way, that Jesus, because of who he said he was, he said, "I'm God," and because he said, "I'm going to die and rise from the de," and he rose from the dead, that he's either Lord, liar, or lunatic. He said, "you have to decide." See, you can't just say, "hey, I think he was a great guy, and and like, he makes my life better, and I love to pray to Jesus, or I love to pray to Mary, or I love to pray to whoever." No, no, no, no, he, he's not just a good man. He is the Lord. He is Creator God. He is the CEO of the universe. He is the kingpin.

And they were disappointed with Jesus, and I think this is so funny because not funny, ironic, because they were walking away from Jerus, Jem, to a no-name place. Now it's a mayus, now they can't find it. But they're walking away from Jerusalem, not to Jerusalem. So the reality was they believed in their head, "hey, this is Jesus, he's a prophet, he's done all these things," but they didn't believe in their heart that he was Lord. And so they're walking away, and they they've given up on Jesus. Some of you have given up on Jesus. There's things that have happened in your life, things that you prayed for, you had an aunt that got cancer and she didn't get healed, and you've walked away from Jesus, and you've given up on him. Here's the thing: Jesus never gives up on you. You need to receive that. "I don't care what you said, but you don't know what I did last night." No, I don't want to know. Jesus knows, he still loves you. He's never going to give up on you. But the first thing you do is, like, like you just got to start somewhere and say, "you, you know what, I believe Jesus really is God, I believe he really is the Lord of the universe, he is the Lord of the world."

Here's the second thing: you commit yourself to Christian community. Now I love this, because these two people are walking along side by side, it's it's two, you know, two people. He say, "wherever two are gathered together, I'm there with them." And they're walking along and they're having a dialogue. Now, now what I'm doing is monologue, I'm talking and wondering if you're listening. I, I'm not kidding, if you ever done this, if you ever spoke anywhere, you know, everybody's got different expressions and doing different things. You tell some people, like, "man, would you please hurry up?" Some, like, "man, what are you talking about?" And so they're walking along and they're having a dialogue. And that's why it's so important to get you out of rows and get you into circles. It's why we have house churches. It's why we get you in a position where you can talk about your faith, so that you can know where you are, and somebody can know about you, because that's really important.

But they were looking down. Here's the thing: some of you, like, God is interrupting your life, and you're looking down. And I think for us, for me, you know what I look down to mo, most more than anything else? My phone. You check the screen time on your phone lately? I me, I mean, it's like our best friend. You said, "no it's not." Oh, you leave your phone somewhere and see what you do. You calling everybody, "you see my phone? I got my 360, my my phone's de. You see my phone? You see my phone? You see my phone?" You lost your best friend, you lost your best friend. Here's my best friend. Listen, Christianity is not virtual, it is reality. It is face to face. You need other people and they need you.

I don't know if you kept up lately with what happened in Nashville with a young man named Riley Strain. I was just fascinated. I, I've got friends in Nashville and family, and and so I was, I was really kind of fascinated because I couldn't find this kid. And and he was at a place, he was at a bar called Luke's 32 Bridge. Anybody been there? Luke 32 Bridge. It's not, it's not a trick. I've been there. You've been there, I know you have. And and and I, but I was witnessing, you know, I was there witnessing. It's a target rich environment. I mean, man, I going to tell you, talking about some lost people up in there, like, like it was so lost, like they were proud of being lost. I'm like, "woo man, want hope they come Easter. I me, this place is crazy." And so if I had Lea with me, okay, so just let you know, when there by myself, cu I all those women lusting after me, okay, go ahead. But but but he left the bar, and as you know, if you know the story, um, he, he died. They found him in the river, and they think maybe he was off by himself and he fell in and he drowned. And and the parents of some kids that had lost children like this, let's say children, he's probably 25, started a thing on Tik Tok called "never leave your wingman behind." Never leave your wingman behind. You, you, you never know that that that having somebody in your life could save your life. See, this, you guys know that you would never go into war by yourself. You don't leave your wingman behind. You, you know that community is important.

The third thing is a call to action. Because here's Jesus, and he's walking alongside this couple, and they kind of interrupts them, and begins to tell them about all the prophecies in scripture. And and and they're like, "yeah, we know that, yeah, yeah, oh we, yeah, we've heard that, yeah that's good, was it, was that," didn't matter. So see, here, here they are, they're believing all these things, but but they're not trusting in that to really changed her life. See, I know you believe in Jesus, but is he changing your life? Is he, is do people see him working in you? See, this is one of my fears. I, is anybody in here struggle with their weight besides me? Thank you. We don't like the rest of you. But I figured out what I would do, because uh, there's been a lot of basketball on, you know. And and so I decided what I do to lose weight is I'm going to watch a lot of people exercising. And so so I've been watching Caitlyn Clark. I mean, she's doing step back by, I mean, like, just unbelievable. Last night, you know, watching, watching NCAA. And and while I was watching people exercising, I was eating a bowl of ice cream. Blue Bell, it's on sale, okay, like you had to do it, you know. And so sometimes, like, I'm on my way, like, to do the thing I know I should do, and then I see those three letters, KFC, and like, I just start got getting crazy. And it dawned on me, so many people are like that, but with their faith. "Well, I know what I'll do, I, I'm going to really grow, I'll watch more people talk about faith and do faithful things," and they don't see any difference in their life.

See, here's the thing about Jesus: there is a call to action. And so finally Jesus is walking off. Jesus not going to strongarm you. See, this is the cool thing, some of you right now, he's walking up beside you, and you kind of feel something inside you. He's walking up by you, and like, he's giving you a chance. He's giving you a chance. And you kind of fumbling, so he goes, okay, he's walking off, ain not going to make you believe in him. Jesus said, "gentlemen, you don't want to believe, okay, well, you want to do your thing, you want to believe in her, okay, go good luck with that." Just kind of, you keep walking, he keeps walking. And so they stop him and say, "would you come home with us?" I mean, sometimes you just got to start somewhere. "Jesus, would you, sir, would you come home with us? I don't even know, would you come home with us?" And the Bible says while they were breaking bread, their eyes were opened. And that's been my prayer for this weekend, that that you would invite Jesus. You say, "I believe, I believe in him." Okay, but but invite him home with you so that your eyes can be opened, so that you can experience him, so that you can move in the direction of making him a real part of your life.

June the 30th, 1859, uh something pretty amazing happened. Happened, this is before the Wallendas. Uh, there was a man named Charles Bl blondon, and and Charles decided he was going to walk — this true story, you can Google it, uh, it's not a makeup preacher story — and he decided he was going to walk from the Niagara side in in Canada, okay, across the Niagara Falls from Canada to the US. And and uh, 25,000 people showed up. Oh, that's my brother right there, and he should have gotten a better outfit. I mean, like, come on man. And and so 25,000 people showed up to watch him walk across that wire, okay, which is over eight football fields long over the Niagara Falls. And they're all there. Why? To watch him fall. I mean, like, that's why you do those things, like, "he going to fall, you know he going to fall." And and he walks across, he he walks across on to this side, to the US, and then he walks back across. "Do you believe I could walk across this Ro?" "We believe, we believe." He's walking across, and walking across, and walking across. And he says, "do you believe that I can push this wheel Bearer across this tight rope?" And they yelled, "we believe, we believe."

So you be the crowd, okay? You ready? Then when I say, "you believe," you — uh, "do you believe I can push this wheel bear across this stage?" That's weak. So he gets a wheelbarrow, and and he begins to push the wheel Bearer across the rope. This really happened, my brother is walking across that rope with a wheelbarrow. I pay see that, you know. Yeah. And he, he push it across, he pushes it across to the US side, then he pushes it back across to the Canadian side. And he yells out, "do you think I can push a person across this rope in this wheelbarrow?" And they yelled — thank you, one person believe. And he said, "okay, who will be first?" True story, all the kids want to do it, I don't know why that is.

See, my fear is with Jesus, we love the fact that he walk the tight rope from death to life. "We believe, we believe." But when it comes to stepping out there with him, backtrack. See, you can't follow Jesus from the crowd, you can only follow him on the tight rope. When guy raised his hand, that's my brother right there, he's scared spitless. That's a picture Christianity. You ain't nothing about what you do, you don't save yourself, you don't, you're not good enough. You buckle up with Jesus and let him walk you through whatever you're going through. Jude, the brother of Jesus, Jude 24, he said, "to him who is able to keep you from falling and present you blameless on that day." I know Jesus was the Savior, you know why? Ain't no little brother going to worship another brother. Jude was martyred all the way to his grave. Jesus is the Savior.

Oh, Copus, I did a little work on Copus. Don't name your kids that. They martyred him in the same came home where he broke bread with Jesus. It'll cost you to follow Jesus. It's worth it, because 2,000 years ago my Jesus, he stepped out of that tomb, walked that tight rope for you, cuz they knew you couldn't do it. Grab a hold of him. Most exciting thing in my life has been holding on to him while he has walked me through the craziest stuff you have ever seen in your life. It's been so much fun. He is so much fun, man, he's so good.

Would you bow your heads? Maybe you're here and your heart is warmed right now, and he's opening your eyes. In just a moment when we sing, and at all of our campuses and all of our venues, if if you want to walk the tight rope down to talk to somebody and pray with somebody, walk down to the cross and unload some stuff on Jesus that he can carry for you. If you want to take the Lord's supper and just take the the bread and break it like his body was broken, take the juice that symbolizes his blood that was shed for you. Listen, the reason you have a chance is because of Jesus death. He offers to give you life. I'm going to give you just a moment to prepare your heart. Let Jesus come beside you, so that your hearts can be warmed and your eyes can be opened.