[0:00] The Bible reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. Please follow along in your bulletin. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
[0:22] And they found a stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing.
[0:41] And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the man said to them, Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen.
[0:54] Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
[1:09] And they remembered his words, and returned from the tomb, and reported all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James.
[1:26] Also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them.
[1:37] In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul later wrote, For I delivered to you, as of your first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, 10 to the 12.
[2:01] After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as the one untimely born, he appeared to me also.
[2:21] I say to you, for if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. You are still in your sins.
[2:33] Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitted. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
[2:50] This is the reading of God's word. One of the neat things about being on a journey together is you see God change people's lives and work into people's lives and move them and make them different.
[3:04] I get to see those things happen in couples and in individuals and in kiddos. As we think about Easter and hope, I asked Kelvin and Cindy, who have been a part of Watermark since we started dreaming about it, maybe two or three years ago.
[3:20] They were in our community group at our sister church when we were there at Island. Cindy is a part-time volunteer worker, puts up with the office, and Kelvin is on the transition oversight board that oversees all the money and things like that.
[3:35] I've asked them to come up, and we're just going to ask them some questions, and I promise not to embarrass them too much. Hey, guys.
[3:47] It might be easier taking it sitting down. Okay, so I have to ask the first question to Cindy, and this is unscripted totally, but as you know, in our church office, everyone gave up cigarettes before they joined staff.
[4:07] So at least it seems like everyone did. So I just wanted to see how many packs did you smoke a day. I used to. Well, hopefully you don't do that anymore.
[4:19] Well, okay. So, yeah, you can get me later. Guys, I just wanted you to share, can you maybe introduce yourselves to those people who are seeing you for the first time here and just share a little bit about who you guys are.
[4:35] Okay, I'm Kelvin, and this is Cindy. Basically, we came to, we were born in Hong Kong. We were both born here, and our families moved to Australia when we were still kids.
[4:47] And that's, you know, where we became Christians in our teenage years, and then later on we met each other during university. And the Lord has blessed us with two beautiful girls, Esther and Harley.
[5:01] And, yeah, and, you know, and... Just getting that shot in you. Did I get that photo in there? Right, yeah, yeah. It's very important.
[5:12] It's all about photos. Yeah, and we had our kids. And then five years ago we came back to Hong Kong. A job back then brought me here.
[5:23] And back then we found a church to attend. And for, you know, for quite a while we were attending a church, literally just attending a church. We'd never volunteered to help with anything.
[5:36] We'd never joined a community group. And then we realized that our faith and our spiritual lives were just going downhill. We're not growing. And so Cindy and I prayed for a community group.
[5:47] And behold, you know, we found Tobin's because his group actually allowed kids. And then we had kids. And back then everything was too hard. You know, we had young kids, and it was just way too hard for anything.
[5:59] And that's, you know, and that's when we got to know Tobin a bit. And after a year or so, we were called to consider, you know, be involved in planning a church at a place called Area 15.
[6:14] And for those of you who didn't know, that is like the reverse of Area 51. And that's where we are today now. And that was the name that we took before Watermark came about.
[6:25] And as Tobin mentioned, Cindy now works part-time as a finance manager for the Watermark office. And I mainly serve with the worship team and take a few pictures. And Albert's part-time today.
[6:38] Cool. Yeah. So as you've been on this journey and you're learning, and I know that there are some very difficult times in transitioning over. We all had kids who loved where we were at.
[6:50] And there's all these tensions and those things. But in the midst of all this time, what would you say are some of the things that God's been teaching you or you've been learning? God's really been encouraging me so much by, first of all, letting me work at Watermark.
[7:05] The people there have taught me so much and they've really encouraged me. And then God's been changing my heart. This is the Australian school system, right?
[7:17] You just write it right down there. You just kind of read it off your palm. God's been really changing my heart. And it started during a meeting when my boss told me to share my testimony with one to three people a week.
[7:33] And I thought it was impossible. Nobody could do that continuously. And then I haven't shared my testimony with anybody for years at that point. And I thought my role as a Christian was just to bring people to church and you would do the magic and they would love God somehow.
[7:51] And so... Yes, and then... But I thought, because God loves me so much that Jesus, He would let Jesus die on the cross for me.
[8:07] Why shouldn't I share my testimony? And why can't I? Jesus died on the cross. I'm not going to die by sharing my testimony. I need to die of embarrassment. So, you know, that was the case.
[8:19] So God's changed my heart to be a bit more courageous, especially on stage as well. Eric stopped laughing. I'm so scared.
[8:32] So I thought of people who I've met, who I meet during the week, prayed for opportunities to talk to people about my testimony and was mindful of people who I could talk to.
[8:46] And it started off with that. And it actually started off when I was having a facial. I couldn't see them. They couldn't really see me. And so it made it easier.
[8:56] Shared my testimony with my beautician. Getting my hair done. They love to talk. And then, so I'm very thankful that God's changed my heart to want to share my testimony now.
[9:13] Yeah. So as you guys think about, like, Easter being hope and what that means for you as a family and what God's been teaching and doing in your life, because some really neat things have happened.
[9:26] So what would you say that that idea of hope translates now for you guys? What's God doing? Yeah, I've seen some amazing changes happening in our families.
[9:42] I think one of the things that happened not so long ago was, it's a story behind this. Basically, for many, for the whole year, actually, when we have communion here, you know, our six-year-old daughter would ask us, you know, why can't she have communion, you know, have the cookie and the drink?
[10:06] And we would explain to her that, no, no, no, you can't do that. And she goes, but I love God, you know. And then we're like, no, no, no, you can't do that. But then we would use it as a teaching time and to share with her what the bread was about and what the cup was about.
[10:21] And so, you know, she just kept asking and we kept sharing. And she always said, oh, Daddy, I want to eat the biscuit, you know, I want to take a drink.
[10:32] And then we would just, you know, we tried to explain to her that, you know, the biscuit is actually Christ's body. It was broken for us. And the cup was representative of Christ's blood was spilled for our sins.
[10:46] And then we also share with her, not expecting that she'd understand it all, that, you know, the Bible warns us that if we don't truly trust in God and we take the cup and the bread, we would be eating and drinking of our own sins, which is very bad.
[11:01] You know, so we try to explain that to her and then she somehow just, you know, a bit disappointed and we go on. But then on the 26th of February, which is not so long ago, Cindy was spending time with her during communion and she asked her, you know, would you like to accept Christ?
[11:19] And she basically said, yeah, I would like to do that. And then we also always check and verify, you know, whether it was authentic, right? And then Cindy would ask, you know, so why, you know?
[11:32] And Esther said, I want to trust in God. This is from a six-year-old. And so we could no longer doubt and then Cindy basically just prayed with her during the communion time.
[11:44] And then a few days later, you know, we checked on her again and then I asked her, Esther, now that you've prayed and accepted Christ into your life, how do you feel?
[11:56] And then she said, we were just walking along the road and she said, Daddy, I feel like a new person. And it was like, well, okay, a new person. All right, do they teach that in Sunday school here?
[12:10] But anyway, from that, we've seen really dramatic changes in her life. Before, you'd notice that we sit on the second row here. You took my seat there, by the way.
[12:23] We sit there and then she used to, you know, just stand there for weeks and months and she would not sing a word of worship in the morning. She'd just be standing there and just, you know, looking around, you know, giving me a hug, you know, sitting down, being a bit bored.
[12:40] But now, she would actually ask us, you know, to join the Easter choir and sing for us in worship. And during the school interview, she would ask, you know, at my birthday party, did we sing song and worship God?
[12:56] Obviously, we didn't, but, you know, we sang happy birthday, right? Yeah, but unfortunately, she couldn't be here today because she got sick. But she actually wanted to come up and share with you guys how she feels.
[13:07] Wow, that's great. That's great. That makes it, I remember that first, the next first communion, when you guys took communion as a family and she took it for the first time, that was amazing.
[13:17] And especially, and just to see her face and all that. And I just thought, I think that's why God has the church here, right? The church is here to reach people who don't know him and to present the love of Christ and to help them take the next step in their spiritual journey.
[13:32] I want to pray with you guys and just pray for Holly and now pray for Holly and thank God for Esther and her life. Can we do that? Let's pray together. Well, we thank you for this day.
[13:42] We thank you for Kelvin and Cindy and just even as you are knitting them together as husband and wife and as they walk with you. Father, we just thank you for the mercy and grace that you've poured out upon them.
[13:55] We pray for their family and for their marriage that they would just continue to seek you and trust you for your goodness. And Father, we just praise the amazing transformation that happened in Esther.
[14:07] We just thank you that you worked in her heart, in her eyes, and in her mind. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us as a church to be encouraging to her, to come alongside of her, and to instruct her about your son, Jesus Christ.
[14:20] And Father, we pray for Holly that she would come to know you at an early age and that she would do mighty things for your kingdom. So Father, we just thank you for this family and I know there are countless families like that in here right now and throughout this Area 15.
[14:36] We pray, Lord, that they would also have these stories of transformation and come to know you. And we pray these things for your son Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks, guys. Thanks. Okay, so you gotta be careful what the kids learn when you're teaching them, right?
[14:52] Especially, I don't know what kind of underwear Jesus wore. Linen, I guess, or something like that. Let me see if I can get this up here. How you guys doing?
[15:04] Okay, well, I feel like after the video I can just stop and do nothing because that's all you need to know. Jesus rose from the dead and he loves us.
[15:17] Easter, for me, is an amazing time. I didn't grow up in a family that were churchgoers. We would be called, I guess today, we'd call us CEOs, Christmas and Easter only people.
[15:33] And so we were CEOs and the thing that I realized about Easter was a couple things. One is, you always go to church on Easter. The second thing that we were told is everybody gets new clothes.
[15:46] So we always got a new set of outfit for Easter and we always had to be nice when we went to church on Easter. We didn't quite understand the whole Easter bunny thing or what Easter was about, but one of the things I remember even as a young kid on a military base was that Easter was about new beginnings and hope.
[16:09] The Easter was about hope. And I've been thinking about that a lot just for this time and for this service here, praying about what can I share that deals with hope in our life?
[16:23] Because I realize that all of us are at different stages in our journey. All of us are dealing with different things in our life. All of us need a different type of hope in some ways, but in some ways we need the same type of hope.
[16:38] And so the question I want to ask you is what do you hope in? If we were having a Starbucks cup of coffee and we were just by each other and I were to ask you a question, what do you hope in right now?
[16:53] What is there in your life that if was taken away your life would fall apart? your wife, your husband, your kids, your job, your money, your title, your integrity, your health?
[17:24] What is it that you ultimately hope in that if this thing were to be removed that you would fall apart and I went on this kind of quest and I was asking people the last couple weeks what is it that they hoped in and I asked a friend who I've been developing a relationship with a long time.
[17:43] He's not here right now. He said he would never come to church. He's a rugby player. I don't quite understand what being a rugby player and never coming to church has to do with anything.
[17:55] But as we talked about hope and what we hope in, he gave an answer that I'd never heard before and it really disturbed me. I didn't really know how to answer it and I asked him what do you hope in and he looked at me squarely in the face and he said nothing.
[18:12] And I looked at him and I was like, what? And he said nothing. I hope in nothing. And then he went on to explain to me his world view.
[18:23] He said basically that this world began with nothing and that when he dies there will be nothing. And as he lives life he says that his life basically exists between the nothings.
[18:42] I kind of went, whoa! Somebody's been reading a lot of French and German philosophers here. But I was intense. I actually didn't really know what to say when he said that.
[18:54] And so for some reason in my head I just asked him this question because sometimes when people talk about their philosophy then it's different when it gets down into their life. And I asked him, well how's that going for you?
[19:09] Is that working? And he got really quiet. And I think maybe in one of the few honest moments in his life he said, no.
[19:22] Not too good. I'm lonely and I fear the nothingness. First time I ever heard somebody say that.
[19:34] I fear the nothingness. I fear the nothingness when I consider my past and all the people I've hurt and wronged. And I wonder if there's a God I'm in big trouble.
[19:45] I fear the nothingness when I look at the world around me and I see it out of control. And there seems to be no hope. I fear the nothingness when I think of my future my family my kids.
[19:57] I wonder what my kids are going to hope in as they see me as a dad hoping in nothing. And trying to come to grips with the fear that I feel.
[20:08] Sometimes I just wonder if I should eat and sleep and die. And the minute he said that it kind of spoke to my head because I was like well that's that's the passage that's what the Bible says. And so I asked him well how did you hear that?
[20:20] He said I think I heard it in some kind of movie on an airplane. But as I thought of my rugby friend for these 15 minutes that I get the chance to speak to you I wondered what is it that we hope in today?
[20:37] Do we hope in the nothingness? I mean I think if we're honest some of us would have to say throw away all of my costumes and all of my mask and all of the cars and everything I hide to protect myself that is my life.
[20:54] One modern philosopher said it this way he said that we live in this age of crisis in the age where the world has lost its story. Again I've never heard anybody say that before but he says we're in the age of crisis and the world has lost its story.
[21:09] It has no purpose it has no hope life used to have meaning and purpose but now all I think of when I look around in the world is nothing. I see no hope for the sufferings of the world I see nothing that will bring meaning I feel nothing.
[21:28] Have you ever heard somebody say that? I was like whoa I said okay let's go get a beer and lighten up a little or something like that but I think that if we're honest and we pull away our veneer that each one of us in here is hoping for something.
[21:49] Some of us are hoping I think like the verse in 32 that's in your bulletin here some of us are just kind of wanting to live life and we find hope in just finding things that give our life meaning we become gatherers we gather stuff we gather people we gather education we gather titles we gather relationships we gather money we gather trophies we gather families and we hope that as we gather all these things that they actually give our life meaning and purpose I mean that's what we're hoping in that ultimately if I get enough of this then I'll be happy I'll feel secure and I'll be out of the nothingness some of us in here I think we're trying to find hope in being religious we think in our mind and I was here we think in our mind well I believe in a God and if I follow all the rules if I do all the right things if I come to church if I serve if I tithe if I do all the things if I know the lingo I know the Bible verses I know how to quote these things if I do all these right things if I live by my strength if I live by my intellect if I live by my will if I live by my goodness then I'm going to be and find hope but what I realize is that person is just as bad off as the first person because as I walk down that road
[23:06] I still struggled with self I don't know how to say it I always make up words up here I struggle with fixing myself I struggle with saving myself I struggle with redeeming myself and the Bible says that if we are one of these two people that no matter how hard we try no matter how much hope and power we give in our lives that we ultimately end up in this pathway of discouragement and despair and spiritual deadness and ultimately hopelessness and it's interesting because the passage today is the passage about hope in all the Bible I mean I don't know if you realize that when you read it I've read it hundreds and hundreds of times and sometimes I just kind of skim through it and I don't think about it but it is the passage of hope it's important to realize that in Jesus' day historians tell us that there were at least two dozen messiahs that came about do you know that two dozen messiahs?
[24:15] two dozen men who came forward they gathered large groups of people around them they led a movement and the movement was a movement of hope and freedom from the Roman government and historians tell us that out of those two dozen men all of them were captured all of them were killed and after their death all of their followers disbanded and disappeared all of their followers lost hope except for one group the followers of Jesus and something happened to the followers of Jesus that took them from guys who were running and hiding and fearful and hopelessness to a place where they started a movement that changed the face of history in the world and it's found in this passage right here if you look at your bulletins we're going to read it together really quickly and just go through it Luke 24 1-11 but on the first day of the week it's early dawn they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared and when they found the stone rolled away we have pictures of it up here they entered into the tomb and when they entered in they didn't find the body now it's very interesting to me this passage has a lot of craziness to me because we're studying Luke as a church and what we realize in this passage is that over and over and over again
[25:36] Jesus is saying hey kill me in the third day I'm coming back hey kill me in the third day my body is resurrected hey kill me and it doesn't matter if you kill me because in the third day I'm coming back alive but when we get to this passage in the Bible in Luke 24 there's no one at the tomb it's because his disciples didn't believe it I mean they didn't have a way to comprehend what he was talking about they had never seen a resurrection like he was talking about and they weren't at the tomb I mean this was the greatest event in human history and there was no one there I mean if we we make an announcement that there's going to be a new stamp or a new Hong Kong dollar bill the next morning at 530 there's 5,000 people lined up to get these dollar bills and these stamps 5,000 people for a stamp and a dollar bill or a free little chess set but here Jesus says this is going to change everything and no one is there at the tomb isn't that strange they didn't believe they saw him crucified and they lost hope in fact the thing that's even harder is the first people to the tomb are the women and everyone knows that women are worthless that's not what I mean but that's what in Jesus' day that's what they said they said you couldn't trust the testimony of a woman in fact when it says when they were saying that what they said made no sense in Chinese it's la lao dao dao two old ladies talking but they didn't understand it
[27:19] I mean for the first 200 years every Greek philosopher who tried to disprove Christianity he always used the fact that the witnesses were women and everyone knows you can't trust a woman because they're hysterical and so Luke uses women to verify this amazing event and they come into this tomb and they're perplexed the word means at a loss they don't know what to do and two men were told later in Matthew and Mark that they're angels they stand there in gazing clothing and the women in verse 5 were terrified they bowed their faces to the ground and the men said to him why do you seek the living one among the dead and then in verse 6 they say 8 words and these 8 words give ultimate hope to Jesus' disciples they say 8 words and these 8 words give ultimate hope to you and me and the words are on the screen he is not here but he is risen these 8 words change history these 8 words give his disciples hope that no other group of followers had these 8 words push men to sacrifice their lives and they die some of them terrible deaths were these words and it's not just these words because if it was just these words in a closed tomb it would mean nothing and if it was a closed tomb and someone walking around that looked like Jesus it would mean nothing and if it was an open tomb and there was no body it would mean nothing but there was an open tomb and Jesus walking around amongst the people for 40 days and it meant everything it changed everything the resurrection of Jesus Christ changed these people it changed the movement it changed the Roman Empire it changed the world but none of his disciples believed in it at first until they came into the tomb and they heard these words he is not here for he is risen can you just for the sake of wanting you to hear this and so we can hear it as a church can you repeat that after me he is not here for he is risen one more time he is not here for he is risen he is not here for he is risen changes everything it changes the nothingness in our life it changes the hopelessness that the disciples have and it changes the hope that you and I have when I think of this passage there are three things that stick out to me and we are told not to say three things in preaching class but these things are important and I want to say them to you that an empty tomb and a savior walking around means that our past is forgiven an empty tomb and a savior walking around means that our past is forgiven and no matter how hard no matter how bad we have blown it an empty tomb brings forgiveness mercy and grace this is what I wish
[30:35] I could have told my rugby friend but I didn't have enough courage to do that because he was tough and he believed in the nothingness but an empty tomb changes everything it's very interesting in this passage because every time in all the gospels Jesus asked for Peter now you've got to remember this is important because Peter blew it Peter was in the garden he was there he could have stuck up for Christ and at the end he denied Christ three times with profanity and he ran away and every time Jesus says bring Peter bring Peter bring Peter now if I were Jesus and I said bring Peter it meant I wanted to get in trouble I wanted to kick him out of the club because he screwed up but what we see in the gospels is he takes the guy who failed the worst at the most critical moment and he loves him he changes him he brings grace and redemption into his life and an empty tomb means that no matter what you've done in your past no matter how bad you've screwed up no matter where your fears are an empty tomb in Jesus walking around means that all those things are fixed an empty tomb in a savior walking around means that my worth and my identity my significance never changes
[31:56] I mean think of this we live in a world where everything is changing so quickly information technology our jobs we wonder if we're going to have a job the next day we wonder if we're going to have money the next day I have friends that wanted to retire and now they're worth one half of what they were before and they can't retire and some of my friends were looking at our portfolios and every day were going and looking at the bank account and saying what am I worth and what can I do and when can I retire and how am I going to survive in an empty tomb says it doesn't matter because God is in control and he can take care of you and that he paid the most expensive thing his son Jesus Christ the greatest cost and that cost is never going to diminish so when you walk into the earth to the work and your boss creams you or slams you your spouse is angry at you or your kids disobey or you lose your job or whatever happens in your life and the doctor tells you you have cancer it doesn't really matter because your worth is secure and God is in control and he's going to take care of you because he took care of his son an empty tomb and a savior walking around means that our future is not at risk that there's more to this life than the nothingness and because we have an empty tomb and we see Jesus in teaching and we know that he resurrected we know that his words are true and we can trust him you see if Jesus was still in the tomb as Paul says in Corinthians we might as well just eat and drink and fornicate and do whatever
[33:32] I don't know if we can say fornicate in church but fornicate because that's all there is in life because when you die you just go to the worms you go to the nothingness but because there's an empty tomb and Jesus rose it meant that his words were true it meant that when he paid for our sin that God said the payment is accepted because if his payment wasn't accepted Jesus would still be in the tomb and we'd be walking around in our sin and we'd be looking for another Messiah but because Jesus is resurrected and there's an empty tomb our future is secure because God accepted him in our place and so on this Easter when you leave here I want you to remember a couple things and one of them is no matter how bad you've blown in the past an empty tomb means forgiveness no matter where you're at no matter where your stock is no matter how you judge yourself and your worth your title how people see you it doesn't really matter because when they look at you and when God looks at you he sees his son Jesus Christ and that never changes and finally an empty tomb means that our future is secure and we can trust God with everything we can trust him with my life we can trust him with my finances we can trust him with my family we can trust him with everything because he's good now I don't know where you are today in your journey
[34:55] I don't know what you're hoping in I don't know what you're trusting in I don't know if your life has a story after working in ministry for 30 years I'm pretty sure that there are some of us in here whose lives have no stories and our lives have no hope and no meaning but the story of the resurrection the story of Easter is that you don't have to continue being surrounded by the nothingness for Christ erupted from the grave to free us and bring us back from the family I shared this with a friend and he said well why don't everyone believe if it's that simple that's a good question isn't it if you can prove it and it's just right out there why doesn't everybody believe it's that simple I was like dude that's a that's a great question and I thought about my life and I realized probably some of us don't want to believe because we don't want to stop being God in our life and if we believe in a Savior who's risen that means that we're not God anymore but there is really a God and we have to deal with him somehow and that makes me feel uncomfortable if you're like me it's just because
[36:24] I was intellectually lazy I mean I saw the information there but I didn't really want to think about it I didn't want to pray about it I didn't want to say okay God if you're real will you show me I was just lazy but the message of Easter that we want you to hear that I want you to hear that you can run out of here afterwards hopefully you'll go to the outreach because we're going to have a great we have 800 Easter eggs we've been praying for good weather we have food we'll have drinks and ice cream but the message of Easter the message of Jesus is that Jesus is God he came to earth to live a life that we could not live he was crucified to pay a debt that we could not pay to satiate a holy righteous God that he was put in a tomb and three days later he rose and that resurrection changes everything if we understand that I was working on my sermon last night and my five year old came into my room
[37:29] I should have just let her come up here and do the sermon it would have taken me two minutes she comes in and she goes what are you doing and I said I'm working on a sermon she goes well tomorrow's Easter right and I said yes and she goes that means Jesus rose from the grave right and I said yes that means God loves us right and I said yes you want to come do the sermon next week but that's the message of Easter and our hope and our prayers wherever you are at in your journey that you would join us as a church family in taking the next steps towards an amazing savior who's walked out of an empty tomb and he's walking around right now let me pray Father we thank you for this day we thank you for the tomb we thank you for your word we thank you that you did not leave us for the nothingness but that you gave us ultimate hope and ultimate purpose and an ultimate relationship with your son
[38:30] Jesus Christ I realize even now that there are many of us here who this is probably the first time they've been in the church or they haven't been in a church for a very very very very long time and Father I pray that you would speak to them I pray that they wouldn't be intellectually lazy I pray that they would realize that there is a God and they are not him and Father as we come together as a family and journey together and help each other and encourage each other I pray Lord that you would show yourself to them and Father for the rest of us in here who are your children but we're still trying to live a religious life help us to realize that you've already paid all of our debts help our lives be one of response to what you've done for us help us to realize that you're good because you're good we can trust you with all things even things that we're even afraid to talk about and so Father we pray that this
[39:31] Easter Sunday this new Sunday this day of new beginnings that you would give us a new beginning in our hearts that we would find hope and peace and love and we pray all these things in your son Jesus holy name amen okay so choir great amazing job Melissa thank you for all you guys everybody up there is just who are you young man that was great guys hey that was I just want to share with you right afterwards at one o'clock we're having an Easter egg outreach on the podium up there we'd love to invite you just to come grab some food hang out with the families there it's from one to three the church will provide drinks and ice cream cones afterwards so just grab some food and come hang out and if you're not in a community group that's focused on doing an outreach we still need your help to help us with the outreach that would be a great great event also next week we have a church wide buffet lunch and so we want you to invite you to come it's on the house as everything is in Hong Kong on the house and so we'll eat out there right afterwards so invite a friend this will be a great opportunity to introduce them to the church and to the community and what's going on here and on April 17th a Tuesday we're going to start a marriage class six weeks meal included guys
[40:54] Tuesday night Tuesday night 730 at the community center finished by 945 food fellowship and a great program that we were going to go through of what it means to love and respect each other so wives bring your husbands husbands bring your wife and sign up on the table or online and beyond that I have one thing to say it's Easter that means that Jesus rose from the grave and he loves us right that's what my five year old told me and I believe five year olds right so guys we're so glad you're here and we hope that as you leave here that you would bask in that truth of God's relationship and desire for you there'll be people up front with the lanyards on who have been trained to pray for each other and pray for people so if you have a prayer request please grab them and just pray and I'm going to close with just a quick prayer I just feel like if you've never invited Christ into your life I'm just going to do a quick prayer of what that looks like and just because I feel like we need to do that as we talk about a church reaching out and we'll hopefully see you at one o'clock so let me pray for us dear Jesus thank you for rescuing me from the nothingness
[42:08] I come before you now and I give you my life and who I am I trust you to be good I trust you to be God I trust that the grave is empty and that you are alive as I walk in that faith and that power I ask that you would fill me with your spirit show me the hope that the disciples had help me to walk in the newness of life on this day which is all about newness and hope Easter and Father for the rest of us I just thank you for what you're doing in our lives that we're on a journey and we're taking baby steps just help us to encourage each other in those steps we pray for the outreach and the fun today and the podium pray that it doesn't rain help us to have fun and just to enjoy this beautiful day you've given us a day of hope and a day of newness we love you and we pray these things in your son Jesus name amen God bless you guys we'll see you back here we'll see you over there at one hopefully and then we'll see you back here next Sunday you