Embracing Hope: The Transformative Power of Easter

On this Easter Sunday, I began by greeting everyone at Menlo Church across our campuses in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Saratoga, and those joining online. I acknowledged that for many, this might be their first time back in church in a while, or perhaps they're giving God one last chance to speak into their lives. I expressed my desire to connect with three groups of people: the saints, the skeptics, and the prodigals. I emphasized that the love of God is extended to everyone, regardless of their past or doubts.

I then addressed the common misconception that all religions are the same, pointing out that this is a new form of dogma. I challenged the idea that one can live without faith, arguing that everyone places their faith in something, and the question is what or who that will be. I shared the observation that ideology can become a form of idolatry, where a part of the truth is mistaken for the whole, leading to anger and anxiety.

I recounted the historical impact of Jesus' followers, who, inspired by the resurrection, have advanced education, healthcare, charity, and science. While acknowledging the harm done in the name of Christianity, I clarified that we follow Jesus, not those who have misused His name. I then posed a personal question to the congregation about what philosophy drives them, emphasizing the importance of choosing what to place their faith in.

I shared the gospel message, explaining that God created us in His image, with inherent dignity and worth, but sin has separated us from Him. I proclaimed the good news that Jesus lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and rose again, conquering sin and death. I invited those who were ready to turn from their ways and follow Jesus to pray with me, offering them the opportunity to start a new life with Him.

I announced that next week we would begin a series on our bodies, gender, and sexuality, addressing the mixed messages from our culture and seeking clarity and truth. I emphasized that God loves us as we are but calls us to greater dependency on Him.

I concluded the sermon with a prayer for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done in our lives, workplaces, homes, and community. I reflected on the significance of Easter and the hope it brings, not just historically but in the lives of individuals today.

Key Takeaways:

1. Easter is a time when many give God a chance, perhaps their last. As a pastor, I am reminded that every service could be someone's first or last opportunity to encounter Jesus. This perspective fuels my passion to communicate the gospel clearly and compellingly, knowing that it could change a life forever. [01:14:32]

2. The resurrection of Jesus is not just a historical event; it is the catalyst for transformation in our lives. The early Christians went from hiding in fear to boldly proclaiming the gospel because they encountered the risen Christ. This same power is available to us today, offering hope and new life. [39:49]

3. The gospel is inclusive in its invitation but exclusive in its claim. Jesus offers forgiveness and new life to all, but it requires turning from our ways and following Him. This decision is personal and transformative, leading us from death to life. [45:03]

4. Our culture often promotes a form of faith that is devoid of God, but this ideology can leave us feeling trapped and hopeless. The gospel offers a liberating truth that frees us from the lies we've believed and invites us into a life of purpose and hope. [42:32]

5. As we engage in conversations about difficult topics like gender and sexuality, we must do so with both conviction and compassion. Clarity is a form of kindness, and as we seek to understand God's design for us, we can find meaning and direction for our lives. [49:33]

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Matthew 28:1-10 (ESV)**
> Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

2. **John 20:24-29 (ESV)**
> Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

#### Observation Questions
1. What was the reaction of the guards and the women when the angel appeared at the tomb? (Matthew 28:4-5)
2. How did Jesus' followers respond when they first saw Him after His resurrection? (Matthew 28:9)
3. What did Thomas require in order to believe in Jesus' resurrection? (John 20:25)
4. How did Jesus address Thomas' doubts, and what was Thomas' response? (John 20:27-28)

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think the angel's message to the women included the instruction to not be afraid? How does this relate to the overall message of the resurrection? (Matthew 28:5)
2. What does Thomas' initial doubt and subsequent belief tell us about the nature of faith and doubt? (John 20:25-28)
3. How does the resurrection of Jesus serve as a catalyst for transformation in the lives of His followers, both historically and today? [39:49]
4. The sermon mentioned that ideology can become a form of idolatry. How does this concept relate to the way we place our faith in things other than God? [42:32]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt distant from God. How did you respond, and what helped you reconnect with Him? [29:00]
2. The sermon emphasized that everyone places their faith in something. What are some things you have placed your faith in, and how have they impacted your life? [41:50]
3. How can the resurrection of Jesus inspire you to live a life of boldness and transformation? What specific steps can you take to live out this transformation in your daily life? [39:49]
4. The gospel message is inclusive in its invitation but exclusive in its claim. How do you personally navigate this tension in your conversations with others about faith? [45:03]
5. As we prepare to discuss topics like gender and sexuality in the coming weeks, how can you approach these conversations with both conviction and compassion? What does "clarity is kindness" mean to you in this context? [49:33]
6. Think about a skeptic or prodigal in your life. How can you extend the love of God to them in a way that is both genuine and inviting? [30:19]
7. The sermon mentioned that the gospel offers a liberating truth that frees us from the lies we've believed. What are some lies you have believed about yourself or God, and how can the truth of the gospel set you free? [42:32]

Day 1: Encountering Christ Anew
Every service is an opportunity to encounter the risen Christ, who offers a chance for transformation and hope. For those who may be stepping into a church for the first time in a while, or perhaps are on the verge of giving up on faith, this encounter can be a pivotal moment. It's a reminder that the message of Easter is not just a historical event but a present reality that can change lives. The resurrection signifies that new beginnings are possible, and that no matter one's past, the future can be rewritten through faith in Jesus.

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV)

Reflection: What past experiences or doubts have kept you from fully embracing the hope of the resurrection, and how can you allow the truth of Easter to transform your perspective today? [01:14:32]

Day 2: The Transformative Power of Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus is a cornerstone of faith that has the power to transform lives. The early Christians experienced this transformation firsthand, moving from fear to bold proclamation of the gospel. This same power is available to believers today, offering hope and a new way of life. The resurrection is not just a past event to be celebrated but a present reality that empowers individuals to live with courage and purpose.

"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs." (Mark 16:20 ESV)

Reflection: How does the reality of the resurrection empower you to overcome fear or hesitation in sharing your faith with others? [39:49]

Day 3: The Inclusive Call to Exclusive Faith
The gospel extends an inclusive invitation to all, yet it makes an exclusive claim on our lives. It calls for a personal decision to turn from one's own ways and follow Jesus. This decision is transformative, leading individuals from spiritual death to life. It's a journey of redemption where one's inherent dignity and worth, marred by sin, are restored through Christ's perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

Reflection: What does turning from your ways and following Jesus look like in your daily life, and what steps can you take today to align more closely with His path? [45:03]

Day 4: Liberated by Gospel Truth
In a culture that often promotes ideologies devoid of God, the gospel stands out as a liberating truth. It frees individuals from the lies and hopelessness that can entrap them, inviting them into a life of purpose and hope. The gospel message is not just about being saved from sin but also about being freed to live a life that reflects God's design and intention for humanity.

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32 ESV)

Reflection: What lies or ideologies have you found yourself trapped by, and how can the truth of the gospel liberate you to live with purpose and hope today? [42:32]

Day 5: Clarity and Compassion in Difficult Conversations
As believers engage in conversations about challenging topics like gender and sexuality, it is essential to approach these discussions with both conviction and compassion. Seeking clarity on God's design is an act of kindness that can provide direction and meaning in life. It's about understanding and embracing how God loves us as we are while also calling us to a deeper dependency on Him.

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." (Colossians 4:6 ESV)

Reflection: How can you approach conversations about gender and sexuality with both clarity and compassion, and what steps can you take to better understand God's design for these aspects of life? [49:33]

Well, good morning, Menlo Church! Happy Easter! So good to see you. Welcome to all of our campuses in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Mountain View, and Saratoga, and to those of you joining us online. I know it's a big deal that you would choose to celebrate part of your Easter weekend with us, and we do not take that for granted. Thank you so much.

Now, I know that for some of you, today is the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time, that you have been in church. And for some of you, you feel like this is actually God's last chance to be able to reach me, to say something to me, to make a difference in my life. I want to give you a special welcome. I actually let our church know on a regular basis that I want to have a specific conversation with you when I preach. I think about three specific groups of people on a regular basis.

I think about saints—men and women, boys and girls, students who have chosen to follow Jesus and are walking with him imperfectly but faithfully throughout their lives. I think about skeptics; some of you fall into this category. You're not sure what to believe. Maybe you grew up with a faith, but somewhere along the way, you left it. And then there are prodigals—those of you who maybe feel like you've done too much, you've gone too far. Something has happened, either to you or by you or both, that makes you wonder if God is actually even someone that you are entitled to have a conversation or relationship with.

I am so glad that you're here. If you're in the saint category, I hope you brought a skeptic or a prodigal with you. If you're a skeptic or a prodigal, I hope you hear that the heart of heaven and the love of God is extended to you today, as it always has been.

I know that if you are younger in the service today, you are either anticipating Easter fun or you're wondering how quickly you can get back to the Easter fun in your mind. This is what's waiting for you just on the other side of the doors to the service that you're in right now. And I get it.

I wonder, do you know why we celebrate Easter with eggs? There's actually a rich history, both in the church and outside of it, for the way we think about and why we would use eggs. Inside the church, it's a symbol of birth and new life that we may be cutting used to, but for a lot of church history, there has been this idea where the 40 days leading up to Easter, the church would fast from meat and eggs. And then celebrating Easter with eggs as a part of it was a part of breaking that fast.

So that is a little bit of a representation for us of what it means to celebrate and believe for the new life along the way. Now, have we gotten a little carried away? Probably. But don't worry; I'm not going to ruin it for you. I won't tell your parents if you don't.

Here's what I'll tell you, kids: if you're not note takers, you should take this part down. Use it with your parents later. We can just say that the level of extravagance that they show at Easter is a deep reminder of God's extravagant love and grace demonstrated in the resurrection. Okay? And so if they're like, "I think maybe we did too much this year; we went a little far," be like, "Aren't you glad that Jesus went this far for us?" You know, that's for free.

But it's grown-ups, we have heard a phrase for a long time. I bet you could finish it for me: "Don't put all your eggs in..." Right? It's this idea that we should spread out our lives; we should invest our lives financially, relationally, wide across many different categories. And actually, this kind of represents a whole bunch of wisdom in a lot of areas, but it's become a pattern in our spiritual lives and culture as well.

It's a common joke that in Silicon Valley, you can be anything, do anything, believe anything, as long as that anything isn't a Christian. See, Christianity is understood to have exclusive claims that Jesus is the only way. And just so we're all on the same page, every major religion makes the same claim. Scholar and theologian N.T. Wright describes the problem this way: he says it's an interesting observation on today's religious climate that many people now get every bit as steamed up about insisting that all religions are just the same as the old dogmaticians did about insisting on particular formulations and interpretations.

The dogma that all dogmas are wrong, the monolithic insistence that all monolithic systems are to be rejected, has taken hold of the popular imagination at a level far beyond rational or logical discourse. You think, "I have walked away from faith. I'm a person who doesn't live with faith." But even in a culture that has walked away from God, we have found a new thing to have our faith in: it is the lack of faith.

So no matter why you came—maybe for you, you came because someone invited you; maybe you came today because you're at the end of the rope of your life and you're not sure what's next, and this felt like an option to at least check out. For some of you, you just had a really nice outfit and you weren't sure where you could wear it, and Easter seemed like a good option. You look great!

Here's the problem: on Easter, we come face-to-face with why the claims of Jesus are a basket worth putting all of our eggs inside of. Your passions and your purpose flow from the truth of who God is and what he's done for you. So if you don't know your purpose and you don't know the plan that God has for you, you will not find it within yourself; you need to find it within him.

There was a group of people who believed that 2,000 years ago, and God has used them and continues to use that movement to change the world even today. Let's start with where everyone can agree—Christian or not, saint, skeptic, prodigal—we're all on the same page. No credible scholar today, Christian or not, argues that there was not a man named Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago in the Middle East, who taught a group of people who went from a fledgling group looking for the closest exit on a Saturday to the essential group of men and women who were willing to give up their lives for this incredible movement centering around a man named Jesus on Monday.

So what changed? That's why we're here on Easter. See, Jesus had been traveling around the region for three years. And in his final week of life on this earth, one of his followers betrayed him by selling him out to the religious leaders. And after a speedy and unjust process, he was sentenced to death. Again, this is recorded in sacred and secular accounts. This isn't just biblical history; this is history, history.

From there, Jesus would face a brutal beating that killed plenty of people all on its own. And then he hung on a cross for hours until he died for you. He did all of this because 2,000 years ago they needed, and today we need, more than a sage. They needed, and we needed, a savior.

But his followers, they fled. They didn't know Sunday was coming. They hadn't prepared an Easter egg hunt. They had become the hunted. They were a part of a group of people that the authorities viewed as a threat. And because of that, they knew their life faced the same sentence as Jesus if they had been caught.

But then something happened. Matthew's biography of Jesus' life records the moment this way: "Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tombstone. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for the fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you.'"

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "There are three other biographies of Jesus' life in the New Testament of the Bible that fill in some of the gaps and details of this moment in Jesus' life that talk about how Jesus didn't stay in the grave.

And believe me, 2,000 years ago on Easter morning, I promise you, nobody expected—nobody, for sure. That was a common assumption across everyone in the conversation. The boulder that was covering the tomb where Jesus was laid was not put there to keep Jesus in. It was put there to keep people out. They had not anticipated the need for internal security. Jesus was dead.

The women who first discovered Jesus, they had spices that they brought. They weren't spices for the tea they thought they'd share with Jesus. They were spices to care for a corpse because they assumed he was dead. The guards fell over; they fell over dead because of an angel that they didn't expect was coming as they covered and watched over a corpse.

Peter and John go to the tomb because they can't believe the accounts of his resurrection. Thomas, who honestly I think we owe a little bit of an apology to one day because we just call him Doubting Thomas right now—how would you like your name to be connected to a negative characteristic that was the only thing people ever thought about you for millennia? It just feels bad, right?

He sees Jesus after the resurrection, and Jesus says, "I just feel the holes in my skin. It's really me." See, Jesus repeatedly showed up after his resurrection, first to individuals and small groups, and eventually to hundreds of people at a time before he would ascend to heaven.

You can doubt the historicity of these claims. Absolutely, you can. Many do. But you can't dismiss the all-in faith that it produced in this group of people—people who were ready to return to their day jobs. People who were planning, "Okay, how do I go back? Back to the boss that I quit from? How do I return to the trade that was producing the meals and the money that I needed to sustain my life?"

And they go from that to this group of women and men who openly shared about Jesus' resurrection and the power that it provided to save them and others from the hell that they were going to and the ones that they were going through. What happened?

See, this message, this moment, it changed everything for them. And whether you believe it or not, in the history of the world, it's changed everything. It changed everything for us. Our calendar year is a marker of the impact of this person, Jesus. From education and literacy for people because they are image-bearers of God, followers of Jesus have pushed this forward.

To healthcare for all people because of the universal dignity of humanity, Christians have pushed this forward. To social charity organizations who step in in the most difficult crises and moments of history, Jesus' followers have pushed that forward. To scientific and technological advancements because of God's incredible design, even the Christian movement has become a part of the air that we breathe. Christians have pioneered the good of this world for millennia.

Now, people who have called themselves Christians, they have also done great harm. And we have to make sure that when we talk about this, we acknowledge it. We acknowledge that people who have called themselves Christians have been people at times, unfortunately, who have used that to put other people down, to keep other people in bondage, to hurt and harm entire communities.

But I would say this: the really good news of the gospel is that we don't follow those people; we follow one person, and his name is Jesus. And it's not to excuse the harms that have been done, but I would say if you were to take with an even understanding, even in the mixed bag of human contributions, followers of Jesus and the resurrection power that was spawned from this movement 2,000 years ago, you would see a much more positive impact on the world than any event or group ever. It's not close.

So what about you? What philosophy is driving you right now? See, the lie that it's very easy for all of us to believe is that the choice is whether or not I will have faith. That is not the choice. The choice is who or what will I place my faith in. We are all operating on faith all the time.

For you, you have to figure out, will I submit my life to Jesus or will I submit my life to someone or something else? Something, something in your life you are submitting to right now. The question is what? The question is who?

Author John Mark Comer underscores the problem this way. He says, "Ideology is a form of idolatry. It's a secular attempt to find a metaphysical meaning to life, a way to usher in utopia without God. The best definition I know of ideology is when you take a part of the truth and make it the whole. In doing so, you imprison your own mind and heart in lies that drive you to anger and anxiety. It produces, it promises freedom but produces the opposite. It does not expand and liberate the soul but shrinks and enslaves it."

Maybe for you today, you came in skeptical, or you came in today wondering if any of this could possibly be relevant in your life, and what I just read feels like the most true thing about your life that you've ever heard. You find yourself suffocating under the weight that you have placed on top of you. And the antidote of it is the gospel. It's always been the gospel, the good news of hope for all people, including you, available today.

No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter what barriers you believe exist between you and a loving God, there's a man in our church—I think he's in this service actually—who has recently been in the process of addressing cancer in his body. And they've removed a lot of it, but there's still some of it. And every day he looks in the mirror and he is acutely aware of the potential impact if that cancer were to grow back stronger, were to take control.

And he lives every day in light of that possibility that today is the only day that is promised. And while he lives out that reality in a very, very acute way, all of us, if we're honest, live the same reality. The Bible talks about sin, the brokenness that lives inside of us. And when we look in the mirror every single day, will that sin overtake us? Will it take control of our lives?

As we're living, especially apart from Jesus, we have this sickness inside of us. And the gospel is the truth that God made us and that he loves us. And no matter where you've been or what you've done, he loves you. No matter what you think about him, he is crazy about you. That you were made in his image, with infinite dignity, value, and worth.

But that sin, rebellion against God on a personal, societal, and cosmic level has separated us, separated you from the relationship that you were made to exist within. That's the foundation of the gospel. So God, he sent his son Jesus, fully God and fully man, to live a perfect life, the one that we couldn't, to die the death that all of us deserved, and come back from the grave to conquer sin and death, so that if we turn from our way and we choose to follow him, that we will experience eternity with God—not someday, today and forever.

Some of you, you believe that. You've heard that. And for others of you, you're wondering if that could possibly be true. You hope it is. You would love for it to be true. You're just not sure. And I hope that God is whispering peace to your soul right now.

For others of you, maybe it's felt like the circumstances of the last few weeks or the last few months or even the last few years have been leading up to a moment where you say, "You know what? I know it. I know that's true. I know I need to submit my life to that. I'm ready to do it, and I just haven't done it."

And I want to give you an opportunity to do that right now. I'm going to pray a prayer. And I'm going to invite you, if that's you today, that you could pray it with me. And this prayer, it's not a magic spell. It's not an incantation. These are just words. But they are words that could correspond to a decision in your life, to choose to turn from your way, receive this gift that God has made available, and choose to follow him.

So if that's you, if you are ready to pray this prayer, to choose to follow Jesus, I would say pray this in the quiet of your heart. And if you're a follower of Jesus and you call Menlo home, I'm going to ask you to repeat these words out loud with me to give courage to those who are praying it for the very first time.

Menlo Church, pray this nice and loud with me:

"Dear God, thank you for loving me even though I feel unlovable. Thank you for dying for me when you seemed dead to me. I choose to follow you today, to lay down my life, pick up the plan you have instead. Give me a brand new start and the power to live the way you designed me to. In Jesus' name, amen."

I love moments like this and services like these because I know that decades from now, someone's going to ask someone that attended this service, "When did you choose to follow Jesus?" And they're going to describe the moment that you were just in.

Now, before we finish our service with a chance to worship God together, to sing some more, I want to invite you back to church next weekend. Some of you are surprised to discover that we hold services after Easter. We do, every Sunday. It just keeps going. We'd love to have you back.

We are beginning a new series of really important conversations next weekend about our bodies, gender, and sexuality. And if you're like, "Is his microphone working?" You heard it right. In our culture, we are receiving some very mixed messages about all of this, and making sense of it can feel impossible.

I hope that what we can discover together is that there truly is good news in the fact that God has fearfully and wonderfully made us. That he has fine-tuned the entire universe, and yet you are the only part of the universe that when he made humans, he made us in his image. When he made the rest of creation, he said it is good. When he added you, he said it is very good.

And you weren't even wearing your Easter outfit yet. You weren't even born yet. Even though humanity has rebelled and brokenness is everywhere in the world, God has not given up on us. And no, I'm not just talking about one particular community or those people. This is for all of us. The foot of the cross is even for all of us. We all need the same grace. We all need the same forgiveness. We all need the same hope.

And I hope that we'll find it together in these conversations. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Oh, I didn't know that you're one of those churches." And I hope that you'll give these conversations a chance. That you'll discover just like Jesus, we want to offer convictions and compassion in equal measure.

The way that I say that a lot around here is that clarity is kindness. If you've been walking with Jesus for a while, it can be very easy as you're reading the Bible, you're studying, to stumble across something. "I didn't know that. What do I think about that? How do I approach that?" And I believe that this conversation can bring meaning to all of us, can help bring clarity for all of us.

The good news of the gospel is that God loves all of us exactly as we are. No matter what you've done, no matter where we've been, no matter how you identify, God loves you. But he loves us way too much to just let us sit in exactly the life that we're in. He is always calling all of us, including me, to greater and greater dependency on him.

Can I pray for you?

God, there is work in front of us, each and every one of us, to more fully realize your love, to more fully surrender our lives to who you are and what you want to do through us. God, for some of us, this experience of walking with you, it just started just a few moments ago. For some of us, we've been walking with you for decades.

And God, the good news is you have a plan for each and every one of us. You're not done with any of us yet. And so would you, God, would you fan into flame the sparks that you just lit in this room and in rooms across the Bay Area? Would you help this Easter to not just be about the new life we see, but celebrate 2,000 years ago of your resurrection, God, but the new life that you are sparking in so many of us today?

God, we long to see you and your name be made great in even more lives, that the changes we want to see in the world, that your kingdom would come, your will would be done in our workplaces, in our homes, and in our community. God, would you help us to live in light of that kingdom today? It's in Jesus' name, amen.

What's up, everybody? Doing well? Thanks for being here, Mark. Mark's worn or lazy. He's got big places to be. He really does. Yeah. Doing well. Good. Yeah, yeah. Two down, one to go. All right. How's it feel so far? Great. It's been great.

Yeah, yeah. I think Menlo Park is unique because we have this different style at 8:30. Yeah. But I know even though there's one room that is that different style, there are other rooms and more people not in that room than are in that room.

Yeah. So how do you deliver a message that hits all of those even though musically it's different?

Yeah. And then the last two services are the same everywhere in terms of stylistically. Yep. So it makes it easier. But I feel like there's an adrenaline hit that you feel walking into Easter that right about now you're like, "Oh, no. Here it comes."

And so I am notorious for walking around at this moment and saying, "You know what? Hey, this might be our last one, but it's somebody's first one."

Yeah. And it might be their last time that they're giving God a chance. So good. So good.

Yeah. I really believe it. And Easter is such a sweet, special morning, and I think a chance for us to say, "What could God do this time?" Right. And man, thankful that He chooses to use Menlo to do it.

Yeah. So, oh, it's a great question. Well, I mean, I think that obviously most people on many normal weeks are not thinking in the Bay Area, "Oh, when should I go to church this week?" Right. Church is not a factor in their head.

Yeah. But Christmas and Easter are a couple times where it is. And so I think recognizing that we have a moment in culture that I don't think actually is going to exist in culture forever.

And so what does it look like for us to sort of make the most of moments like this? And, you know, really for us, theologically, we believe that what we celebrate at Easter we celebrate every single week.

Right. And so I love that people choose to listen for those nots, like somebody in their life that says, "I'm not ready," somebody that says, "Things are not going well," somebody that says, "I'm not from around here."

Yep. And they say, "Oh, I'd love for you to come with me to my church this weekend."

Yep. And it's a gift to be able to see people do that. And really, ultimately, for us as Christians, if you've been to one Easter service, you've been to a lot of them, right?

Yeah. Like, hopefully, it's fun and you get a chance to see it and celebrate it in a special way. But the Easter story, you're not like, "Whoa, the tomb is empty." Like, nobody expected nobody 2,000 years ago.

But you did. If you've been a follower of Jesus, you knew it was coming. But your skeptic, your cynical, your prodigal friend maybe didn't. Or maybe they had an expectation of church and faith that we can hopefully come back and found it.

And so I hope that that's a way for us to leverage not just Easter, but the spirit of Easter all the time. What does it say? My husband came to Jesus through an Easter message last year. We invited a few families to the service and hope they find Jesus today.

That's amazing. Oh my gosh, that's incredible. I'm not crying.

Yeah. That's, I mean, we did a gospel prayer in the service this year. And I really mean it, right? Like, I know that there are people that they will, decades from now, they will come to us now, talk about the beginning of their faith story was praying a prayer at a service just like these.

Or somebody that says, "You know what? I never really even thought that Jesus was a credible option in my life. And then I came to an Easter service."

And one of the goals for us is that it wasn't as weird as I thought it was going to be. That didn't suck as bad as I thought it was going to. And that's like a touchdown for us. We're pumped about that.

Way to not be weird. Right.

Yeah. Because then hopefully it just leaves the door open for God to be with us, to be able to meet that person through relationships and connections, maybe through the person that invited them.

So we're thankful for that. So good. Thank you. Last one. Best one.

You've got to put people in your life that are close to you and far from him on purpose for a purpose. You're a missionary to those people way more than I will ever be.

Awesome. Thanks, Phil. Thanks for stopping by. Great.

"Christian or not argues that there was not a man named Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago in the Middle East who taught a group of people who went from a fledgling group looking for the closest exit on a Saturday to the essential to becoming a group of men and women who were willing to give up their lives for this incredible movement centering around a man named Jesus on Monday. So what changed?" [35:22](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"We are all operating on faith all the time. For you, you have to figure out, will I submit my life to Jesus or will I submit my life to someone or something else? Something, something in your life you are submitting to right now. The question is what? The question is who? Author John Mark Comer underscores the problem this way. He says, Ideology is a form of idolatry." [42:32](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"The good news of the gospel is that God loves all of us exactly as we are. No matter what you've done, no matter where we've been, no matter how you identify, God loves you. But he loves us way too much to just let us sit in exactly the life that we're in. He is always calling all of us, including me, to greater and greater dependency on him." [50:00](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"The Bible talks about sin, the brokenness that lives inside of us. And when we look in the mirror every single day, will that sin overtake us? Will it take control of our lives? As we're living, especially apart from Jesus, we have this sickness inside of us. And the gospel is the truth that God made us and that he loves us. And no matter where you've been or what you've done, he loves you." [43:53](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"So God, he sent his son Jesus, fully God and fully man, to live a perfect life, the one that we couldn't, to die the death that all of us deserved, and come back from the grave to conquer sin and death, so that if we turn from our way and we choose to follow him, that we will experience eternity with God. Not someday, today and forever." [45:03](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"In our culture, we are receiving some very mixed messages about all of this and making sense of it can feel impossible. I hope that what we can discover together is that there truly is good news in the fact that God has fearfully and wonderfully made us. That he has fine-tuned the entire universe, and yet you are the only part of the universe that when he made humans, he made us in his image." [48:27](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"well good morning Menlo Church happy Easter so good to see you welcome to all of our campuses in San Mateo Menlo Park Mountain View and Saratoga and to those of you joining us online I know it's a big deal that you would choose to celebrate part of your Easter weekend with us and we do not take that for granted thank you so much now I know that for some of you today is the first time or maybe the first time in a long time that you have been in church" [29:23](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"Christianity is understood to have exclusive claims that Jesus is the only way and just so we're all on the same page every major religion makes the same claim scholar and theologian and see right describes the problem this way says it's interesting it's an interesting observation on today's religious climate that many people now get every bit as steamed up about insisting that all religions are just the same as the older dogmaticians did about insisting on particular formulations and interpretations" [32:55](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)

"See, this message, this moment, it changed everything for them. And whether you believe it or not, in the history of the world, it's changed everything. It changed everything for us. Our calendar year is a marker of the impact of this person, Jesus. From education and literacy for people because they are image-bearers of God. Followers of Jesus have pushed this forward." [39:49](Download clip | Download cropped clip | Download captioned clip)

"Now, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tombstone. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow." [36:59](Download clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)