Easter Is About... by Pastor Steve Lombardo (2 Corinthians 8:9)

He was cursed for us on our behalf as he bore our sin, as he took our shame, as he paid the penalty that we could never pay so that we could become rich. There's a great exchange that happens on the cross. Martin Luther talked about it this way that Jesus Christ who is righteous and obedient and perfect, He goes to the cross to pay for our sins so we don't have to do it. Somebody else, Jesus, took our punishment. [00:09:06] (31 seconds)  #JesusPaidItAll

But then something changed, and what changed was Jesus rose from the dead. He came back alive, and he met with James, and he meets him. And so we have the book of James. James writes the letter. And you know how he starts out the letter? He doesn't start it out from James, brother of Jesus. No. He says, from James, servant of the lord Jesus Christ. Something changed and that something was the resurrection of Jesus Christ confirming that he was who he claimed to be. [00:15:56] (32 seconds)  #ResurrectionConfirmed

There's some things that I don't wanna get used to, and and this is one of them right here. I don't wanna get used to the fact that Jesus is alive. I don't wanna get used to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but he came back alive on the third day. I don't wanna get used to the fact that Jesus is on the throne and he's coming back. I don't wanna get used to the fact that when I stand by a grave and I grieve that that's the end, that there is everlasting eternal resurrection life in Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna get used to that. Amen? [00:02:27] (30 seconds)  #KeepWonderAlive

And the mission is given to his people, the church. It starts with us. If you know Jesus, if you know the power of the resurrection, you can bring this message in just a simple good relationship way to the people you work with, to the people in your neighborhood. And God wants to use you to bring this good news that Jesus, is rich, became poor so that you could become rich. It's a great thing. [00:27:43] (27 seconds)  #ChurchOnMission

Swooning means he was scourged. He was beaten. He was crucified. He had a spear run through his side, and then he was put in the tomb. And in the tomb for those three days, the air was cool. It begin to fill his lungs. He wasn't really dead. And after the third day, he just kinda crawled out of the crawled out of there. He didn't really die. I don't think that's gonna inspire the disciples to give their life for a beaten and bloodied and defeated Jesus. [00:11:40] (29 seconds)  #SwoonTheoryDebunked

They, the whole time, thought that Jesus was gonna rule and reign and kick the Romans out. And so now Jesus just got crucified and beat up, and he happens to still be limping along. That's that's not the answer. No. What what happened is what historically changed the world, and that is the resurrection. Jesus literally, physically got back out of the grave and is alive today. He appeared to his disciples. He changed their life. [00:12:15] (29 seconds)  #ResurrectionChangedEverything

He reinstates Peter. He forgives Peter, and Peter becomes a rock that our church today is built on. Peter is the rock that the church is built on, and and he witnessed for Jesus. He started churches for Jesus. He gave testimony that Jesus was alive all the way to his end where they commanded him. The persecuting authorities stopped talking in the name of Jesus, the Romans, and he would not do it, and they crucified him. [00:13:50] (29 seconds)  #PeterRestored

So the way that this plan of god comes about that Jesus who is rich becomes poor on our behalf so that we might become rich is accomplished through the resurrection. That's what we're here to celebrate Easter Sunday, that Jesus is alive. Now there's been a lot of explanations of what happened two thousand years ago that changed human history. Mean, you have to have come up with some answer as to why history changed two thousand years ago. [00:10:07] (28 seconds)  #CelebrateResurrection