Welcome to Venture Church. So glad that you're here today. Glad you were able to, uh, brave the weather, whatever that looked like in your area, whatever it is looking like in your area right now. I don't know. Um, I, I know that there's been a, a lot of folks, we've, we've had some conversations this morning.

A lot of folks kind of in our communities that have experienced, um, uh, some, some destruction, some, some damage. And so, man, just know that, that we are praying for you, uh, praying for the families. Um, and we'll, we'll, we'll pray more about that, where we'll talk a little bit more about that and, and pray, uh, later on. And so, uh, lemme tell you about today. Okay?

Here's where we are today. We are kicking off a new series as we kind of turn the page into the Easter season, right? We are two weeks away, uh, from Easter weekend, which if you don't know this, okay, is a really, really big deal in the Christian Church, okay? Um, all across all of our communities where venture church is, um, and this is true of many communities, right? But, but certainly where we are, uh, across all of our communities, uh, more people will gather in the church on Easter weekend than any other weekend throughout the year by far, right?

It's a big deal. And so here's where we are as a church. Here's where heart is, and kind of as, as a teaching team, as we sat down and we began to plan this season and kind of think through this time is, is really like, we just don't wanna miss the moment. And what I mean by that is, it's, it's really, really easy to, to approach this season, um, and, and kind of get focused in on the event. 'Cause it is, man, it takes a lot to, um, to do a, an Easter weekend where rooms will be full and there's extra experiences and there's resources.

I mean, there, there's a lot that goes into it. And so we don't want to, um, to get through this, this season and, and look back and think, well, that was a high attendance day, but did we miss the moment, right? So like, we, we wanna make sure that we mean, we, we understand and we feel the, not just the weight, but like the excitement and the joy and the celebration around it all. Okay? And so we're gonna spend the next several weeks kind of pulling on some of the threads in the Easter story and kind of examining and, and examining the things that God has, has woven all throughout his word.

Paul said this way, um, one Corinthians 15, he said that, uh, if, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, which is what we celebrate on Easter weekend, right? If Christ has not been raised from the dead, which is to say that if the cross has not been bloodied, if the tomb is not emptied, then Paul said that, that our preaching is in vain. Our fate is in vain, and we of all people are most to be pitied. And so what Paul is articulating there 2000 years, almost 2000 years ago, about this moment that we are getting ready to celebrate as a church, is that it is the thing, not just that like our church calendar revolves around, but it is the thing that time revolves around. Like it is the thing that all of time has been building towards and building from.

And so we don't wanna miss it. We don't wanna miss the moment. Let, lemme show you this graphic. I think this is really, really cool. Um, so what you see here, okay?

And it's, it's a little hard to, to decipher, I understand, but hang with me, okay? Across the bottom, all these little gray lines that you see, those are Scripture references, okay? Different chapters verses throughout the Bible. Uh, and, and what you, the, the colored lines, right? Connecting all the different lines across the bottom are the, the times that a reference is, uh, referenced somewhere else, or a Scripture is referenced in another Scripture.

So this is a visual representation of the 60 something thousand cross references in Scripture, okay? There's a bunch of them right now. I show you this, uh, not really to overwhelm you because I know like that's, that's a response. Like I can see this to be honest with you, and I kind of nerd out a little bit. Um, like I have fun with some of this stuff.

Uh, but I realize that that probably the more sane response to this is overwhelmed, right? Like, you look at this and you think, man, come on. Like I, I'm struggling to read a couple of, a couple of verses, a couple of chapters a day and understand what's happening. I get it. I I'm with you, I promise.

Um, how, how am I supposed to understand all of these different lines and references? There's no way I can understand that. And you're right. I don't think that's the point. I don't think the point, I don't think anybody can, can actually like, know all of this and have it memorized and, and know a hundred percent of what's happening here.

That's not the point. I show you this, um, one because I wanna underscore the reality that like, when we talk about the Bible, we're not talking about a, a book, right? Like, like I have a Bible that's bound together with like, I wanna say leather, but it's definitely not leather. Um, but like, this is not just a book, right? This, this book is, is a combination of 66 different books, different, um, histories and, and letters and songs and poems all, uh, recorded, collected, and then put together, right?

So this isn't a book. It's 66 different books that all tell one story, right? One story of God's goodness among his people. I've heard a pastor say before that all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation can be summed up by simply saying God with us. That's the whole point, right?

All of what all of what Scripture tells us is Easter God with us right now. Understand that as we, we zoom in, right? We're gonna zoom in on like a particular section of all these little pretty lines over here as we zoom in on some of this one little section of Scripture being the Easter shore. And we start pulling in, pulling on some of these threads. Like understand our goal is not random Bible trivia.

I'm not against Bible trivia, okay? I'm not against Bible drills. Did the thing understand? Okay? Not against that, but, but that's not our goal.

Our goal is not like the Bible facts because let's be honest, there's a lot of people that know the facts. There's a lot of people that know a lot about the Bible, but don't know the heart of the father. And that's what we're after, right? So our goal isn't just to, to know the things. Our goal is to better understand the story that God is writing because that's the story he's inviting us into.

Like, don't, don't get this twisted, don't get it backwards. We don't invite God into our story. It'd be a really terrible story, honestly. Right? 70, 80 years of foolishness with like a little bit of divine sprinkled in there, hopefully, right?

Like we don't invite God into our story. God is inviting us into his story, the story that he's been writing since the beginning of time. The story of redemption and rescue and his love shown throughout his creation. That's the story that God is inviting us into and you and I to be a part of. And so we wanna better understand that story because that's the story you and I are invited to live out.

And so let's do this. Okay? Uh, I wanna show you a couple of verses in Matthew. Matthew chapter 26. We kind of turn the page into the Easter season, uh, and we'll use that as a little bit of a roadmap for today, um, to kind of, kind of paint the picture for where we're going.

Okay? So Matthew chapter 26, lemme get my mark here, Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 17. It says, now, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? He said, Jesus said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

And the disciples did is Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. Now let me, let me uh, tell you a little bit of weird thing, a little weird thing about myself, okay? So me all judge me for this. It's okay. Uh, when I am looking forward to a movie, there's certain movie that's coming out that I've been looking forward to.

I even catch myself doing this sometimes with, with, uh, episodes of TV shows that I'm, I'm watching, I'm keeping up with, although we don't watch a whole lot of television, but I, I very rarely go to the movie theater, okay? Um, mainly 'cause I don't have $75 for a movie in popcorn. But very rarely do I go like, watch a movie, even if it's one that I'm really excited about, I'm looking forward to. But what I will do is I will wait and I'll do this intentionally. I'll wait till after the movie drops.

I'll wait a few days, or I'll wait after the episode drops and I'll wait a few days and then I will intentionally go read the spoilers and here's why. Okay? Hear me out on this most good, uh, movies or good shows. Like there's some sort of hook, right? There's some sort of like unexpected twist going on, um, that, that you don't see coming.

There's some sort of like character that's gonna be introduced or reintroduced in some way. There's always some sort of tension that's either gonna be revealed or relieved somewhere. Usually kind of two thirds of the way through the thing, right? Whatever it is. And so, what I love to do, I just, this is fascinating to me.

I love to kind of get a glimpse of what that thing is, what that tension that hook is gonna be. Because really good content creators, uh, can, can weave, they can thread details all throughout the story that build that tension in ways that, that you may not realize, right? This is why you, you ever watch any of those like recap videos about different shows and there's all these Easter eggs throughout the shows. You're like, you didn't see this. Well, it's 'cause you didn't know what was coming.

And then you go back and watch the movie, you go back and watch the episode and it's like, oh man, that was that thing. And that's why they had that conversation and that was that Easter egg or that side story or whatever. Like, it, it's meant to, those details kind of woven throughout the story are meant to kind of fill out your understanding of what's going on so that when that tension is revealed or relieved in some way, it's like, oh, right. So what I love, I love to kind of get, 'cause I'm not watching a movie twice, that's what it boils down to. Um, and so I, I love to like kind of get an understanding of what that hook's gonna be, so that as I watch it, I can, I can see those threads.

I love to watch how content creators will put those threads and those details throughout the story. Well, I think that's what God is doing here, right? As we read this text in Matthew three times in three verses, not an accident that Matthew tells us this moment is revolving around what the Passover, like three times in three times. Like it didn't have to be repeated that many times, right? For us to get it.

But we see it over and over and over again. Hey, you ready to go through the Passover? Where do you want us to fix the Passover? I tell you what, let's go there and eat the Passover, right? Like, we get it.

It's the Passover. And Matthew's not the only one that that does this. All of the New Testament writers tell us that this moment leading into the, the Easter weekend, right? Like this is, this is just moments before what we would call the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper, right? And after this meal, uh, Jesus is gonna be arrested.

Here's a spoiler by the way, if you don't know this story, okay? Spoiler alert, after this meal, Jesus is gonna be arrested. He's gonna be crucified. He'll give his life up for us, he'll be buried and three days later he will raise to walk in new life, right? That's how the story goes.

But here, there's some details. The fact that it is the Passover is an important detail that that's, that's woven throughout the story that's meant to kind of fill out our understanding and our application of what's happening here. So that as we look at, as we look at the Eastern narrative, it's not just, oh yeah, I've seen this story before. Right? Like, I want you to see the, the Easter eggs that that's woven throughout the story to really get a picture of the beauty of it all.

Okay? And so let's do this. Here's what I wanna do today. What's the Passover? Okay, the Passover, when talk about the Passover, it is a, a yearly celebration.

And this would've been going on for, for decades or centuries. It is a yearly celebration where the Israelite people would gather together, they would share a meal, they would worship together, and they would remember, right? This is all about worshiping and remembering God's presence, God's provisions, and God's promises, presence, provisions and promises. And so here's what I wanna do, okay? I wanna go back to the, the, the place where this story begins in the Book of Exodus.

And I wanna show you these themes, okay? I wanna show you how these three themes kind of come out in, in the, in the Exodus story, in the Passover story, and then bring that forward into the, the New Testament and the life of Jesus and why that's important to us. Okay? Y'all tracking with all that? You wanna do that?

Alright, good. Exodus chapter 11, turn back to Exodus chapter 11, it, second book of the Bible. It's not all that hard to find. Um, if you go back to the beginning and flip a little bit, you'll find an exodus, Exodus chapter 11. While you're turning there, lemme kind of give you a little recap of, of, um, what's happened up until chapter 11.

Okay? When we open the page of Exodus, uh, the Israelites, God's people are slaves in Egypt, okay? For generations, they've been slaves in Egypt, but the nation has grown. They've proliferated, there's a bunch of them in Egypt as slaves. So God raises up a man named Moses.

Moses is, uh, an, uh, an Israelite who's kind of in the form of an Egyptian. He's, he's, he's an Israelite. He's born to the Israel, uh, nation, but he is raised in Pharaoh's house, the, the king of Egypt, if you will, right? So he's, he's raised in Pharaoh's house like an Egyptian. And so God raises Moses up and he speaks through Moses to proclaim the freedom of Israelite people, right?

Like, you know, the song, God goes to the Pharaoh, let my people go that whole deal, right? Pharaoh refuses, he rejects God's call, God's command to follow in his way. And so then God sends 10 plagues on Pharaoh, on Egypt that are all designed to, to reveal like the seriousness of, of sin and disobedience, but also to reveal God's sovereignty like God's power, God's God's control, God's might, right? And so we get to Exodus chapter 11, we're gonna pick up the, the 10th and final plague, um, here in, in Exodus chapter 11, verse four says, this says, so Moses said, thus says the Lord. So Moses is repeating God's words here about midnight.

I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who's behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle. Now let's pause right here for just a second and acknowledge that like this is a really tough thing to read, okay? This is, this is one of those passages that's really hard to wrap our minds around because you read it and like it makes sense then while, while why people may struggle, while you may struggle and think like, man, there must be a difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, right? Because we read verses like this that talk about the death of, of children, the death of firstborn among all of these families. And then we, we think about a Jesus in the New Testament who preaches hope and tells us to love our enemies in turn the other cheek.

And it's like those two things don't line up right? And, and then you'll have a preacher like me who will say something like, well, listen, God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And you think, I kind of hope not, like I kind of hope God outgrew that I kind of, I kind of hope God is, is not still in that season. 'Cause I don't know about that, right? And so what we, what do we do?

We tend to shy away from, from these verses. We, we tend to shy away from these stories and just kinda hang out in the gospels and the story of Jesus. 'Cause that's a lot easier to understand and apply. But under, like, here's what I want you to see here. Okay?

There's not a distinction and a difference here. As a matter of fact, we see God's goodness on display in the story. And, and here's what I mean by that. The, the whole story of Moses, right? Like starts with, with Pharaoh issuing a decree that all of the, the sons, right, all male children born to the Israelites are to be put to death.

And so there's this whole story where like the midwives start and then they stop. And so then Pharaoh sends out his armies and the, the Egyptian people carry out God's com or carry out Pharaoh's command to, to slay, to kill the the male children born to the Israelites. What Pharaoh is doing is wiping out like an entire generation, right? It's, it's genocide. He, he, he wants a generation of the Israelites to grow up knowing that there are no male children to carry on the line.

This is where the story starts with Pharaoh. And then even after that, like, don't miss I said this, this is the 10th plague. So even after that moment, God sends nine other plagues on Pharaoh and on the Egyptians that are all meant to show, Hey, you're sinning. Hey, you're, you're disobeyed. Hey, you've missed the mark.

And they all give Pharaoh an opportunity to turn, to follow, to realize, to see the sovereignty, the power, the might, even the goodness of God. And every time Pharaoh and the Egyptians reject God's call and they continue to worship their own throne. And so we get to this point where, listen, this is not like some kind of divine vengeance or retribution from God. Like this isn't God sitting in heaven thinking, what's the absolute worst thing I can do? Oh, I know I'm striking 'em all dead.

That's not what's going on here. What's happening here is, is God is releasing the, the, the inevitable consequence of sin and choice back on Pharaoh and the Egyptians after multiple opportunities of calling to follow, to repent, right? Paul says in in Romans chapter one, there's the whole section in Romans chapter one that talks about this, where, where it says that God will turn us over, God turns us over to the desires, to the passions that we pursue, the things that we give ourselves over and worship to, that God will eventually turn us over to the, the inevitable consequences of those things, those passions, those desires, those things we worship. And listen to me, IIII don't understand how that fully works in God's justice. Like I wish I, I wish I did, but like I don't get it fully and I don't understand like, is there a time period?

Is there, alright, it's nine chances to say no. And then the 10th one's real bad. I like, I don't know, but here's what I do know, okay? I, I do know that like the emphasis of Scripture is really clear that God is not actively working towards this moment. No.

What, what, what the emphasis of Scripture is, is that God is actively working against it. We see it over and over and over again that God is trying to hold back the consequences, the destruction that's caused by our sin and our choices, right? We even see it in this story, Exodus 1223. So if you skip over a chapter from what we just read, um, it says, for the Lord will pass through. So he is re he's retelling what he just said, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians.

And when he sees the blood on the lentil, we'll get to all this in just a minute. And on the two door posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not. This is the language that's important for us right here will not allow the destroyer to enter your house and to strike you. So even in this story, there's this clear picture that God is the one who is holding back destruction. God is not the destroyer, he's the protector.

He's holding back the destroyer, which we see in the New Testament, right? Is the wages of our sin. The wages of sin is death. The salary that our sin earns is destruction and God is holding that back. But there comes a point in his justice where he turns us over to the sins and disobedience the things that we pursue in life.

But what I want you to see in this story is even in a passage that's really difficult for us to wrap our head around, that the whole emphasis of, of this plague is that where God's presence is, is life. God's presence always leads to life. It is only when it is, only when God's way is removed is only when, when, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians reject God's way that death and destruction enter the story, which is where our story begins in Genesis, right? But where God's presence is, life is to be found. Alright, let's keep reading the story.

Um, Exodus chapter 12, pick up verse three. It says, tell all the congregation of Israel, tell all the congregation of Israel. Lemme say it again. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbors shall take according to the number of persons according to what each can eat.

You shall make your count for the lamb. Alright? Pause right here for just a second. Here's what's happened, okay? God has given a warning, here's what's gonna happen at midnight, okay?

The, the, the consequences of sin and choice is gonna be turned back on you. There's the warning, but what's happening here is the provisions being given. God has offered a provision, a way of escape, a way of protection to say, I've given you the warning, here's what's gonna happen. But I'm giving you another way to, to not endure it and notice who does he say it to? Tell all the congregation of Israel, thi this provision, this protection that God's gonna offer.

It's not based on any kind of merit system, right? It, it's not about, Hey, look, tell the slaves who's made it really far. Hey, look, tell the ones who can do the work without cussing out their boss. Hey, tell the ones who actually keep a smile on their face. Tell all the congregation of Israel, tell all of them.

I got a way for 'em. I got a way to escape. Here's what I want you to see. Here's what I needs you to see in this. God's provision is fully dependent man.

It is fully dependent on his grace, not our ability. Like, uh, I think about, um, I think about the New Testament verse, right? Um, that, that we are saved by grace through faith, not by any man's work, not by any man's doing so that no man may boast, right? We are saved by grace through faith. God's provision is fully dependent on his grace, not our ability.

And I love that little detail in verse four, that last verse we read right there, that well, hey, uh, God, I don't know if you know this or not, but like I'm a slave. I like, I haven't really had a chance to earn a whole lot of money. Like what if I don't have a lamb? And God even provides a way there that God even provides a way for the ones who couldn't bring the means to the table for the sacrifice. He says, well, that's why I've put community around you, right?

That that's why, that's why we would say all of the time here, right? That you're not meant to walk this life along. That that community's important, that you need people around you. It's the beauty of the local church now, right? That, that we don't have to do this thing alone.

That, that there are people who can share burdens, can carry, we can carry one another's burdens. I mean, we've got story after story after story just in this church of, of how you have have carried burdens with one another. It's a beautiful picture of God providing through his people. One more piece of this story, okay? Let's get down to, or pick back up verse five.

Verse five says, your lamb shall be without blemish a male, a year old. And that that age there all has to do with kind of innocence in that culture. You, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Keep going. Verse seven.

Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil, that's the thing above the door. So the take the blood, put it around the door of the house in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire with 11 bread and bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Now skip down to verse 13. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

And when I see the blood, I will pass over here. We get our word right. I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So God's provision is built on a promise. And here's the promise where the blood is, I will pass over.

Right? But here's what I need you to see in all of this. Okay? God's promises are always found or fulfilled in obedience. The sacrifice could have been made, okay?

They, they, they could have sacrificed the lamb, they could have had the meal, they could have talked about it with one another. They could have sang the songs of worship. But God didn't say, Hey, where you've had the meal. God didn't say, Hey, were you sang the songs. God said, where the blood is, I will pass over.

The sacrifice could have been made, the rituals could have been followed, but if the blood wasn't applied, the promise wouldn't have been fulfilled in their life and God was gonna fulfill his promise. But in those who obeyed what he had commanded, knowing the way, like we've been talking about the way of Jesus for the past seven, eight weeks, right? Knowing the way means nothing without Following the way It is this story, right? It's, it's all of this and there's a lot more, there's a lot more threads we could pull on. But it's, but it's these ideas, right?

Like the, the presence of God bringing life, the, the provision of God to bring protection and healing the promises of God where the blood is. It's this story, it's these themes. It's these ideas that's on the heart, on the mind of Jesus and the disciples when they gather in the upper room and they have that last meal together. And Jesus' intention, I believe this wholeheartedly, Jesus intentionally uses this moment. I believe this 'cause what Scripture tells us, he uses this moment intentionally to bring in a brand new Passover where he's gonna offer through his presence, a provision and a promise.

He's gonna give us a brand new freedom. Not from slavery and sin in Egypt, but slavery from our sins. He's gonna bring us a brand new promise that there is hope not just in this life, but hope in the life to come. Because God put on flesh and came in the form of a man. He was present.

And through his son a blameless, spotless lamb. He provided a way for us to know freedom. This is why Paul says in one Corinthians five, that, that Christ Jesus is our Passover lamb. He's our Passover lamb who's been sacrificed 'cause his life was laid down, his blood wasn't spilled on an altar. It was spilled on a cross and it was a sacrifice made not so that we would have to repeat it yearly, but once and for all so that we could have freedom and know his grace provided for us.

Freedom from sin, new life, hope for eternity. A picture of a lamb laying down his life for us. That's What we're meant to see in the Easter story. But don't miss it, okay? The same is true for you and me as it was of the Israelites in Egypt.

The blood has to be applied. The sacrifice could be made, it was made, the blood was spilled, it was spilled on the cross, right? We can share the meals, we can have the worship, we can remember it, we can talk about it. We can do all the things, but the blood has to be applied for the promise to be fulfilled in our lives. Paul said in Ephesians that those who are far off or brought near through the blood, the blood has to be applied.

Well, what does that look like? How do I do that? I don't have a door post to go spread it around with a SEL branch. Romans, I think, I think the easiest way to understand, that's Romans 10, right? Paul said that all, all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

That's the promise. That's the promise That there, that there's salvation, that there's hope. So how do I find that to call on the name of the Lord So The blood is applied when we understand that our life is then laid down to him as Lord. And so what does that look like? Well, it looks like, hey, on Monday when I go to work, his word is what guides me.

On Tuesday when, when I'm struggling with my family, it's his truth. That is a light unto my feet and a lamp into my path, right? It is knowing that it is his way, his purpose, not mine, but my life, my desires, my passions, my worship, my pursuit are his. He is Lord. So here's what I wanna do, okay?

A little bit different, but here's what I wanna do. Across all of our campuses, let me invite you. Bow your head, close your eyes, okay? We're not gonna do any stand moment right now. We're not gonna do any raise your hand moment right now.

Nothing, nothing wrong with that. Okay man, I just wanna simply invite you to pray with me, okay? And then, and then we're gonna have a time of worship and response. Now, if you're, if you're at one of our camps or maybe you're watching online today, and you know, I mean you've known the way, you've heard the promise, but you don't know him as Lord, I just wanna offer a prayer. I'm gonna invite you to pray with me, okay?

And then we're gonna have a time of worship. We're gonna have a time of response. And across all of our campuses, our team will tell us or tell you how you can like take a step in that with us. Okay? I just wanna give you a chance to pray here.

Lemme invite you, pray, okay? You can, you can, you can say my words. You can say words like it. Lemme just invite you to pray with me. God, my life is yours.

God, thank you for the blood. Thank you for the sacrifice of your son. I could not earn salvation, but you have freely offered it. And so God, I give my life to you. Oh Lord, save me if that's you.

If you've prayed that prayer, man, as we sing, as we worship, here's your opportunity to sing louder than you ever have to worship. Louder than you ever have. But don't leave too soon, okay? 'Cause we're gonna, we're gonna tell you how to take a step, how to walk with us in this. Lemme pray over all of us and then we're gonna go into a time of worship and response.

Would we thank you for the stories of salvation, for the stories of eternal rescue that will come out of this place today. God, we thank you that your blood has been spill, that your blood has been applied. Would we thank you that it is by grace that we are saved God? 'Cause we know and we know we can never do it apart from your goodness. So God, thank you Lord.

We give you all the praise, all of the glory, all things we ask in your name. Amen.