Trusting the Father: Because He Lives

Happy Easter. Please, have a seat. Good morning. Man, it's so good to be together this morning, isn't it? What a way to start Easter morning.

Whew. We had lots of fun in the first service. We'll see if we can keep. Keep up the fun. We'll see.

Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Josh, and I really, genuinely want you to know that. That I'm glad you're here today. I'm really glad that you're here today. Whatever it took to get you out the door and into these doors today, whatever it was, I'm glad you're here today. Easter Sunday has a unique energy that it comes with, doesn't it?

This unique group of people. Some of us here are regulars. We would call Whitewater home. We're here all the time. Some of us are just in town visiting.

We with family. We don't intend to come back at all. We're just here, we might come back next Easter. Some of us, we traditionally have just come on Easter and Christmas because that's the way that we grew up, and that's why we're here today. Some of you walked in and maybe you're thinking, hey, I'm trying to check out a church and see if this might be the church that I would like to call my home church.

And then others of us will. We'll call it loving Coercion. Some of you were lovingly coerced into coming here today. Maybe a deal was struck. If you promise to come to Easter, I won't bother you again until Christmas.

Maybe your spouse played that card. It's just one hour. Just come for the kids. Maybe you did that. Maybe Nana promised lunch afterwards.

Okay? Maybe your mom knocked on your door this morning and said, jesus raised from the tomb today, the least you could do is raise up out of bed and come to church.

Listen, however you got here, however you got here, that's fair, and I'm glad you're here. Whether it was voluntarily or through some loving coercion, I'm glad you're here. And I believe it's not an accident that you're here. I believe you're here on purpose, with a purpose. And I believe the fact that you're here is actually the answer to the prayers that I have been praying and others have been praying this week for you to be here today.

Because Easter is not just a holiday. Easter is a declaration that death doesn't get the final say. Easter is a declaration that broken things can be made whole, impossible things can happen. That Hope can rise from the wreckage of our mess because of the blood of Jesus. And I want to ask you that same question that Laura just asked you.

Would you just be willing today? Would you just be open handed enough to say that if God has something in mind for you today, that you'd be willing to receive it? Because I believe that if you're willing, if you're open today, God's gonna be faithful. He's gonna show up and meet you right where you are, right in the middle of all your questions, right in the middle of all your drama, right in the middle of all your brokenness and baggage and shame or whatever you came in with today. He will meet you right there.

And here's the great news. You just walked into a room full of people just like that, all walked in with some baggage, all of us walked in with the past, all of us walked in with some shame and broke. And you're in good company. That's the kind of church we are. We're actual real people, turns out, and we hope that you get to experience that today.

Now, as we get into this, I want to pray and just ask God to come and bless and pour out. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, Father of the Resurrection, we come to you today broken, needy, having not figured it all out yet. And I pray that you would meet us there, right there, open our hearts to you today. And would you do something powerful not just for those who already, who don't already know you, but for everyone who walked in the door.

Would you do something powerful today to invigorate our faith and call, call us out to something? We ask for your blessing today. I can't preach a great enough sermon, we can't sing beautiful enough songs to do eternal things. Only you can do that. So we ask that you would, in Jesus name.

Amen. Well, today we wrap up this series that we've been in for the last three weeks. It's been a great series called Trusting the Father. And the whole point of this series is that we would step onto this path with Jesus. The path that began at the moment of his earthly ministry ran through the cross and to the empty tomb.

And Jesus started his time of ministry with a fast, a time of fasting in the wilderness. And as part of this series, many of us have been practicing a fast too. Predominantly from food, but also from media and from other things as well. And all this isn't because we're trying to be perfect. And all of this isn't because we're trying to earn something from God or because the church calendar or church leaders told us that we had a bunch of rules to follow.

All of this is on the way to stirring up a hunger in us. Choosing to be hungry for the one thing that can actually satisfy us, which is Christ himself. Hunger not just for food, but for the presence of the Father. And we've been training our hearts to long for this. And today the fast breaks.

Today we step into feasting. Today I push the button on my coffee grinder. Baby. Yeah. Now, I limited myself to one caffeinated cup of coffee since I've been off of it for three weeks.

You didn't need a squirrel with a red Bull up here, okay? And when I push that button and my nostrils received that glorious aroma of perfectly roasted beans and that cup was pressed to my lips and that heavenly nectar touched my tongue, I did not just drink a cup of coffee. I worshiped this morning. Not the coffee, but the one who made the coffee. The one who gave us such a good gift.

He didn't have to. He could have just given us water to drink. He chose to give us the possibility of coffee. Praise God.

Here's the thing. Without the fast and without some level of faith to believe that God made good gifts, that is nothing more than another cup of coffee. But this morning, it was worship. It was worship of gratitude for the one who gives good gifts. That's a joy.

The feast after the fast. That first sip, that first bite, it's not just self indulgence. It's pointing to God. It's hungry for him. It's worship.

See, feasting after fasting is a reminder that sacrifice leads to celebration. That the path of denial can end in delight. Not because we earned it, but because he's good, because he's generous. It's actually a picture of the kingdom the Bible describes. The kingdom where the hungry are filled and the broken are mended and made whole.

Where the dead come to life. Feasting reminds us actually of the joy of the resurrection. It's this tiny little echo of the joy of the resurrection. So we feast. We feast with joy, with gratitude.

Not forgetting the fast, but actually made more alive because of it. So I say dig in church. It's time to feast. It's time to feast. But fasting isn't all this series has been about.

Like I said, it's been about stepping onto this path with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry all the way through the cross. And it's been a time for us to either remind ourselves or maybe learn for the very first Time that Jesus did not step onto this path for himself, to give himself glory. He stepped onto this path to give the Father glory and to give us life. He stepped onto this path willingly. The path of self denial.

The path of death and suffering. For you, for me. He did this for us. And we followed him on this path from his baptism to the wilderness to Gethsemane to the cross. And today we crest the hill, and as we come over the other side, we see the empty tomb.

I've thought a lot about this path metaphor over the last several weeks. The significance of being on a path. Some of you will know my family, we love to hike. We love to go to national parks. And back in 2021, we were out at Mount Rainier National park out in Washington State, and we were on a five and a half mile out and back hike to a place called Ptolemy Peak.

It's this beautiful hike. And so we get through the first mile and a half. It's very easy. It's pretty flat. It's all through the trees and you can't see a whole lot.

And after about a mile and a half, the trees open up and we look up ahead of us and this is what we see. This is what we see. Now, when you look really closely all the way at the top, we'll circle it here for you. There's a tiny little square up there. See that?

That's where we're going. That's the fire lookout. Okay?

And I do a little math in my head and I realize over the next mile and a quarter, we have 1500ft of elevation to gain. That's 150 flights of stairs, not 150 steps. Some of you got winded between here in the car. Okay, listen, that's 150 flights of stairs. And my kids are 12, 11 and nine at this point.

And they look up and they see that's where we're going. And they are officially done with this hike.

Dad, do we have to go up there? All the way up there? I'm already tired. We've been hiking for three days. I'm too tired.

We can't do that. That's too hard. I've kind of felt the same way, honestly. I was looking at it and thinking that is way higher than I thought it was going to be. And we can't even see the path from where we're standing because it's covered up by the trees and it's daunting.

But what kind of dad am I if I let us quit at this point? Right. And so, after some less than gentle conversation, we headed out on the path. It was tough. The trail was all in the thick trees and it was just switchback after switchback.

And we couldn't really gauge our progress on the trail because we couldn't see where we had gone because of the trees. The only way we knew that we were going somewhere was because our water bottles were getting emptier and our packs were getting sweaty on our backs and our kids were complaining more and our legs were burning. But we just kept slowly going up the hill. And as we got closer to the top, something interesting happened. You'll experience this if you do much hiking.

People who had already been to the top, they were coming down and they were cheering us on as we were headed up the hill. You're almost there. You guys are doing great. You're doing great. It is totally worth it.

Don't quit now. You've got this. And we kept up the hill exhausted. And then as we finally get to the top, we clear the trees and step out into the opening. And this is what we see.

It's just absolutely stunning. This beautiful turquoise leg down at the bottom. If you look past the little one's shoulder there, there's a little trail down there. That's where we came out into the opening and went. Oh, no.

This beautiful turquoise lake, beautiful giant Mount Rainier in the background. And we just like we stood up there in awe. And all of a sudden my legs didn't hurt. And all of a sudden I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I was so tired and my knees hurt and my feet hurt and my water was dwindling and my pack was so sweaty on my back, no one was complaining anymore. We stayed up there for about an hour and a half and we had lunch and we sat in silence.

We took some pictures and we watched others step up into this opening and go, wow, wow. But I'll tell you what we didn't do at the top. We did not build a house and stay there. We don't live at the top of Ptolemy Peak because it's an out and back hike. It was never intended to be the destination.

It was supposed to be a stopping point on this trail for us to step out into an opening after a grueling hike and see something beautiful and gain perspective and awe and wonder in the beauty of God's creation and thank him for. For such a good gift. That's the point of the hike. And the path that Jesus was on was similar to our path to Ptolemy Peak. Now his was far more grueling.

His actually ended in death. But his path was an out and back hike too. Not the final destination. It was a stop on the way to gain some perspective, to open up to a new reality. And as he crested the hill of the Cross, when it looked like he was too tired, when it looked like it was all over, when he breathed his last breath, everything opened up.

And a new reality and a new perspective and a new opportunity was sitting there. And suddenly it's worth it. Not the final destination, a stop along the way. And here's the thing. A reality that opened up that day is that now he invites all of us to step onto the path with him.

But as the sun set on Friday evening, after he was crucified, I can only imagine that night, all that night, for all of his followers, those who had spent the last three years with him. It would have felt like an agonizing eternity. And Friday night was the beginning, as the sun said, it was the beginning of their Sabbath. Which meant they can't go anywhere, they can't work, they can't even cook at the house. Everything had to be prepared the day before.

But they were watching their Savior die, or hiding in fear. And I just imagine how agonizing that was for them to be stuck at home with their thoughts and their fears and their worries with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Jesus is dead, really dead. Not passed out, not hiding somewhere. They watched him breathe his last breath.

They watched a spear go up into his side and watched blood and water flow. They watched his limp and dead body carried away and the one that they just left. Everything to follow is gone.

His disciples are locked up in a room, scared to death that the religious leaders are going to come for them next to crucify them. They're not having a prayer meeting. They're not resting. They're not reading a book. They're in agonizing fear and they are hiding.

The women, man, they just want to go to the tomb. They just want to go and take care of Jesus body. At least they could do that after everything he's done for them. And they know that that body was hastily taken as the sun was coming down. And they wanted to just go, but they could not go.

They were stuck. They were stuck pacing and worrying. And there's doubt, man, there's so much doubt. Was he really the Messiah? Did we just throw away our whole lives to do this?

How could this happen? And the switchbacks through the trees are so thick that they cannot see that There is any way to the top, and all they can see is an impossible path before them.

They didn't know what we know, and no one was coming down from the top cheering them on. To them it felt like the end.

They gathered some spices and as soon as they could get out the door, the sun started rising on Sunday morning and they quickly traveled to the tomb, believing that they're going to find his hastily body. Luke 24, starting in verse one on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And other gospels say that they were wondering where the body went. They just assumed that someone had taken it.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them in their fright. The women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He's not here. He is risen.

Remember how I told you? How he told you? Weren't you? You were there with him in Galilee. He already told you this.

Don't you remember? He said, the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again. And then it says, then they remembered his words. And just like that, the trees open up and they crest the hill and everything they thought they knew is flipped upside down. He is not here.

He is risen. Can you imagine the emotional whiplash of this moment? This jolt of grief turning to confusion, and confusion turning to awe. The tears that they cried out of heartbreak are now replaced with this cautious wonder, hopefulness. And it finally clicks.

Then they remembered his words. He did say that this would happen. I didn't think it was possible. I didn't think he actually meant that. But he promised this.

And the women run to tell the disciples what they've seen. A few of them rush to the tomb for themselves. And soon after, over the next 40 days, Jesus begins appearing to lots of different people over time in lots of different places. He appears to Thomas and meets him there in his doubt and says, it's okay that you doubt. You can touch the scars in my hands, in my feet, in the hole in my side.

He met two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were leaving in sorrow and defeat, and he encourages them. And then he meets his disciples and calls them onto a new path. And I don't want us to sanitize this scene. The disciples are not polished saints.

These are young men who didn't get it. They still don't get it. These were the same men who just a few days ago, they were falling asleep in the garden as Jesus was talking about going to death. He's agonizing in prayer and he says, can't you just stay awake? This is the same guy, Peter, who just a few nights ago said, I would die for you.

I would die for you. And immediately, under some quick pressure, he gives in three times.

All of them ran. All of them were scared. None of them were qualified. None of them were deserving. We read in Matthew 28:16.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee because the one who had completely turned his back on him, Judas, was gone to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Can you believe that? Jesus has fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah.

He has raised three people from the dead. They've watched him do this. He's walked on water. He's performed incredible miracles. He's made blind people see.

He has fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fishes. And still some doubt still, after all of that, this means there's hope for us, those of us, which is all of us who still meander through moments, if not whole seasons of doubt.

But not only does he accept and love these disciples, he does the unthinkable. He hands to them the keys of the kingdom and makes them responsible for now sharing this incredible reality with the rest of the world. And it worked. You know how I know? Because we're in Cleves, Ohio, talking about it.

He didn't give them the keys because they were ready or perfect, but because he was ready and he was perfect. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me there. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Church let's be clear.

Jesus did not go to the cross and rise from the grave so that we could get out of hell and live in spiritual mediocrity in his basement for the rest of our lives. The resurrection of King Jesus isn't just a spiritual safety net. It's a seismic shift in the way that everything works from here forward. And it isn't just for us. It is for all who would come and believe.

And it's a call for us who are in Christ to do something, to go. He didn't just walk the path so we didn't have to. He walked the part of the path that we couldn't walk because we are not perfect. And now he is calling us to step on the path with him, both the out and back path to the cross. To deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him.

And the thru hike that leads from the moment that we take our first, first breath all the way through the time of eternity. And my deepest longing is that all of us listening today would wake up, wake up. There is life being offered here that comes from nowhere else. And the absolutely pivotal responsibility we have is to step onto the path and to call others to join us on the path too. And you may be hearing this and you're thinking to yourself, I can't do that.

It was grueling for me to show up today. I don't even want to be here right now. My life is too messy. I've done terrible things, unspeakable things. I have such an ugly path.

I don't have faith to take one step on that path, let alone make it up that hill. But if the tomb is empty, if death has been beaten, if Jesus actually walked out of the grave, if he is the King of resurrection, there is nothing that he cannot resurrect in our lives. There is no habit too strong. There is no relationship too broken. There is no past too messy or dirty or grimy or shameful.

The resurrection of Jesus isn't just good news for a distant afterlife. It matters now. For now, life. And for those of us who still doubt. Welcome.

Welcome to the path. Maybe you've been hurt by people who said they were Christians and maybe that wounded you deeply. Maybe you're confused. Maybe your questions haven't been answered yet. Maybe you're just unsure about this.

Maybe you're mad at God because you've lost a loved one and you're holding that against Him. There's still a way to step onto the path. Jesus didn't just come for the already convinced. He didn't just come for the good ones. He came for the broken, the skeptical, the exhausted, the shame filled people whose hearts are broken and needy.

He came for all who would come and believe. He rose again so that you could rise too. Not just someday, today. Yes, even you. Yes, your story.

Hear me, church. Yes, you. Yes, if you're still sitting here going, no, not me. Yes, you. Yes, me.

You don't Know my story. You don't know the baggage in my past and the impossible nature of me standing here this moment. It's impossible. Yes, he came for you. He came for you.

And you don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to clean yourself up. You don't have to come to Jesus and say anything other than this. I believe and I want what you're offering. I believe and I want what you're offering.

And he will meet you right there. Because here's the thing about his path. Every length of the path is a trailhead for his path. There is everywhere you want to. You can take a step onto the path, you just have to be willing.

But it's going to cost you something. It's going to take an out and back path to the cross. Not for real, grueling physical death. Our path looks like self denial. And let me just say, death to self.

You don't like that old person anyway. Nobody does. I hate that guy. Come on, you've looked in the mirror, haven't you? I've looked in the mirror.

I hate that guy. Here's the beauty that what's on offer, we get to look Satan in the face and go, yep, that Josh is dead, baby. That's what's on offer.

And so if you're worried about what you're going to have to give up, all the rules you're going to have to follow, you don't like that guy anyway. And Jesus died so that you could step onto the path. And if you're stirred up at all by any of this, get started, take a step. If you're interested in a conversation or prayer here, we got a few songs, we got communion here in a little bit and then we, we've got some folks that are gonna be over here at the bottom of the ramp and they would love to pray for you. They've already been praying for you.

I told you, you being here today is the answer to the prayers I've been praying. It's no small thing. They'll be there. They wanna talk to you, pray for you, pray with you. Just come.

If you're interested in a conversation, make that happen today. If you need a Bible, if you've never dug into the word, grab one. They'll be on the tables at the exits. They're for you, they're free. Take it with you and just pray a simple prayer and God teach me something as I dig in and watch him unlock your eyes to learn new things about him.

If you're from out of town. And you are not connected with a local church. Get connected with a local church. Do it. Go find one.

And get into Christian community with other believers and get on this path. Share your life with them. Start somewhere. And if you're local and you're interested, something's stirring up in you. But today's not the day.

You're just not ready yet. Can you do one thing? Just do one thing. Just come back. Just come back.

Not because this is a magical place, not because we're perfect people that figured it all out, not because there aren't other good churches, but just come back because God brought you here today. Maybe he's got more for you tomorrow, next week. And this is a room full of people, some of whom are just beginning on the path. Some of them are halfway up and about to quit. And some of them have already been to the top and they're coming down.

All of them would love to walk with you and cheer you on. That's how God made the church. That's why the church exists, to be the hope of the world, to be real Christian community. And if you are in Christ today, don't miss this. Don't miss this.

You're not done. The top is not home. Gosh, I cannot say this enough to you. The only reason you got to go to the top is so you can put your pack down and grab your water and head back down and find those who fell off the path. The weary and the broken and the thirsty and the needy and the ashamed.

That's the only reason you get to the top.

And how dare you? You waste it by only staying there and just cheering when new people come over the hill. How dare you waste what Christ has done for you. We are not the church if we do not go back down that path. This is the call to go.

Easter is not just about being saved for now and some point in the future. It is about being the church. That's the kind of church we must be. Or it's all for nothing. We gotta go church.

It's not about us making it to the top. It's about how many others we can help get there, too. Don't keep it to yourself. So wherever you are on the spectrum of faith, there's more. There is more and more and more and more and more.

He is an inexhaustible well that never runs dry. There is more, and here's the thing. Today is resurrection. Sunday King Jesus is alive. And if we let it, his resurrection will change everything.

We are the only ones keeping it from doing so. It will change everything if we let it. And it's time that we start living that way. Would you stand? We're gonna sing this song this declaration that there is no other way there's no other way Christ is the only way to salvation he's the only way to crest the hill to give us any reason to come back down Will you declare that with us now let's sing.