Gateway Church Live | “The Place Jesus Meets Us” by Pastor Daniel Floyd | April 4–5

family. We're so excited to worship with you. Come on, let's put our hands together. Jesus is risen. We have a reason to praise today. I'm praising the valley. Praise on the mountain. I'm praise when I'm sure. Praise when I'm dedicated. I've got a reason to play the Lord.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Praise the Lord. I'm praise cuz you're so praise cuz you raised cuz you rose and defeated the grave. I'm praise cuz you're faithful. Praise cuz you're true. Praise cuz there's nobody greater than you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat Heat. Heat. Christ is risen. Hallelujah. Come on, King Jesus praise. Hallelujah. Yes. Jesus is alive. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. We lift you up to worship you today. You're worthy of all the praise. I'll cast my mind to Calary where Jesus bled and died for me.

I see his wounds, his answers. My savior alone that cursed me. His body bound and drenched in tears. They laid him down in system. The ed by every soul Messiah still and all. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forever more. Forever days we will sing your praise.

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God. All the break of dawn the son of rose again will tremble where the angels ro for Christ the king. Come on. Oh, crazy. I die. He shall return in rose of white. The blazing sun shall pierce the night and I will rise among the saints.

My gaze trans the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ might be home. Oh hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost it on me. You have broken every chain.

This salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your very body began to breathe. And out of the silence, the roaring light. Declare the grave has no. Come on, we celebrate. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. There's hope in Jesus today.

There's hope in Jesus. Well, let's sing it together one more time. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You have broken every chain. Salvation Jesus Christ my Everything changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to.

I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside out. Hallelu. Hallelu. You know it was the blood. It could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. It could have only been the blood.

Oh, thank you Jesus for your blood. I cannot explain. But nothing's more real than this. In the presence of quiet. Although my heart experienced when my shame hit the wayside and my sin met the most high. I was washed from the inside. I was washed from the inside.

Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was. It could have only been the blood of Jesus. Only your blood Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus. Wonder working power. It's never been about performance. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Could have been the blood. Could have only been the blood of Jesus. Come on. Aren't you grateful today for the blood of Jesus? for what he did for us on the cross. Only Jesus.

Only Jesus. And the blood is enough for you. The blood is enough for me, Jesus. Thank you for what you've done for us. We celebrate you today. that you took the cross for us to take our shame and our sin, to take grief, to take the weight of sin off of us.

You took it on yourself and we are so thankful. Come on, church. We're so thankful. Aren't you so thankful? Thank you, Jesus. We sing this hallelujah one more time. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood.

Could have only been the blood. Thank you, Jesus. Happy Easter, Gateway. It's good to be home this weekend. Cody and I love you so much. And we just want to say also again to Pastor Daniel and Pastor Tammy, we love you. We honor you. Thanks for having us home this weekend.

Love you and your family. Love you guys. It's good to celebrate what Jesus has done. This is Philippians 2. And it says this, "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges and he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

And when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God his father and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Come on, that's what Easter is about today. We celebrate what Jesus has done for us to the glory of God the Father. Thank you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. We're going to sing this song together across all of our campuses all together this morning and just continue to worship Jesus together.

Thank you, Jesus. You chose to grace the world and you so love the hands that turn the universe surrender to the cross. Despite the sin that separated us, you took the fall once and for all. Salvation's in your blood. What a worthy name. Jesus, son of God. I lift it up.

You deserve the praise. What a worthy name. Jesus, son of God, high lifted up. You deserve the praise, all the glory, all the honory. You deserve it, Jesus. Hope too cold to resurrect. You beat the grave as you raised the firstborn from the dead. In everything you have preeinance, the first, the last, the great.

I am beginning in the end. What a worthy name. Jesus, son of God, high and lifted up. You deserve the praise. What a worthy name. Jesus, son of God, high lifted up. You deserve the praise. You deserve the praise. You're the only one worthy. Jesus, on your head, the victor's crown.

Hell retreats and heaven shouts at the name. The name of Jesus. Risen King of righteousness. Knees will bow and some confess. I believe the name the name of Jesus. All this rock will sing songs of joy rise again. The name of Jesus. Christ will reign forever. Heat. Heat.

What a worthy name. Jesus son of God. Oh, you deserve a worthy Jesus. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. I the name of Jesus could not hold you the veil to before you started the b of sin and gra the heavens are roaring praise for you.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, come on church. You can do better than that. What a powerful name. The name of Jesus. We're so glad you're in church. Happy Easter, everybody. Happy Easter everybody. Okay. >> You know, the Bible says that there's no other name under heaven by which men and women might be saved than the name of Jesus.

And maybe you're here today and you're new to church and you're uh like, "Wow, these people are really excited." It's because today we're not presiding over a funeral, but the tomb is empty. and Jesus is alive forever more. And we're just so honored uh to be able to celebrate together that fact and the power of it in our lives.

You know, I was reading this morning um the story of the resurrection and the and it said this. The angel said, "He's risen just like he said." And I thought, "Wow, the ultimate promise kept." I just want to encourage somebody today that if he kept that promise, then he's good on all of his other promises.

He's good on all the other promises. Right. >> That's right. Church, can you help me welcome all of our campuses today? All of our campuses across Gateway Family. Those of us joining us online at our gatherings, you know, help me honor the men and service women that we have that might be away from their families this season.

We love you and we're so grateful for you. To our prison ministries, we love you. We're so glad that you've tuned in today. And um you know, when the women came to the tomb early that morning, the angel was there and said, "He is not here. Come and see.

Come and see that the tomb is empty." And then his next request was now go and tell. And that's our prayer for you this weekend. That you would come and see the risen savior. For some of you, maybe experience him for the very first time, but that you wouldn't keep it to yourself.

That you would go and tell that Jesus is the true and the one and only living hope that this world so desperately needs. And I want you to know today too that um maybe you haven't heard it in a long time, but we love you very very much.

And also there is a God in heaven that loves you so much that he would send his one and only son for you and for me that we might be able to share life with him eternally one day, but have a full life here on earth today. >> That's right.

And maybe you're here for the very first time. So are we. It's our very first Easter >> at Gateway in Texas. >> All right. Maybe you're here for the first time in a long time and we would love to connect with you. And we also want to give a shout out to all those setting an additional seating today.

Thank you for being in God's house today. Um, but there's two simple ways for us to connect with you. And that is by text is one, and we promise we won't spam you, but you can simply text the word connect to 710. And uh we would love to just make sure you're informed about everything that's happening in the life of the church.

God is doing so many wonderful things in Gateway Church in this season. But the other way would be to go to Connect Central after the service and our team there would love um to connect with you, get to know your name, hear your story and help you find out about where you can get plugged in to everything that God is doing here.

And um in that same vein, can we put our hands together for all the volunteers? Everyone that's serving across this whole weekend, we're so grateful for you. >> And I have one more thing. Can we thank Carrie and Cody? >> Yes. >> Are they just not the best of the best?

I adore you, Cody. I adore you, too, but I really adore Carrie more. And um you know, I know this is their home, so I might just be praying prayers for them to I don't know, maybe come home forever. So anyways, we love you. Thank you. Love you so much.

Let's honor them one more time. Their giftings. >> Well, before you have your seat, why don't you meet somebody around you, learn a new name, greet someone, and uh make a new friend. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. I want to say welcome again to everybody. We're so glad you're here on Easter weekend.

What a great weekend to be in church, right? I love it. Um, hey, I want to draw your attention to one thing before we get into the message, and it's simply this. You're going to receive this card on the way out. And it just shares with you some of the great things coming up really all the way through the month of July, um, beginning with the new series starting next week.

I hope you'll be in church next weekend. We're going to talk about between Sundays, how to have a faith that doesn't fade. How many of you know sometimes like you get inspired on Sunday and then Wednesday morning you're like, "Help me, Jesus." And uh so we're going to talk about that the next few weeks.

How to how to have a faith that stays fueled for the journey. Um and then of course there's so many wonderful things happening for families this summer. Um summer bash for our elementary, our younger kids. And then of course Youth Con, you don't want to miss Youth Con.

Parents, get your kids scheduled. Men's night's coming up. So so many good things coming up. Make sure you get that on the way out. We want you to be a part of all that. Well, I want to bring a message this Easter to you entitled this, The Place Jesus Meets Us.

The Place Jesus Meets Us. If you're the note-taking type, you can write that down. If not, go ahead and write it down anyways. All right, let's go to the Lord in prayer one more time. Father, we honor you today and we're so grateful to be in your house celebrating your risen son and the life that that brings to us.

And we're so thankful. And I pray today that you would speak to every individual person. And we all come from different places uh facing different things, different backgrounds, but your spirit has a way of tailor making the message to each one of us. So would you do that?

Our hearts and minds are open. We play pray you'd speak to us and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So I went to high school in the 1900s. Come on. Anybody else with me? 19. Okay. Few of you. Okay. I'm just showing my age, 19.

Think about that for a minute. That's pretty wild, right? Um I was living in RAW outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, a little town called Smithfield, North Carolina. Um lived there only my freshman and sophomore year. And in my sophomore year, uh became friends with a guy named Shane.

And Shane was a year older than me. And Shane could drive. And so Shane became a dear friend because how many of you know when you graduate from mom and dad driving you or getting off the bus, it's like a good day in your life, right? And so Shane would drive me to school every morning.

Um we would go to McDonald's, get breakfast burrito, had to go on a diet after that. Um uh but Shane had the car. He had a 1993 Camaro with te-tops. Matter of fact, I brought a picture for those of you that didn't live that during that glorious era of time.

There it is. Quite the ride. So, when we rolled up on campus, big man on campus. I mean, it was legit. I don't think y'all are getting the gravity of this. I mean, look at that thing. It's epic. No, but we would so we uh we rode to school every morning and one Friday night we decided that we were going to go to Raleigh.

It's about a half hour drive. We're going to Raleigh and we were going to go to the mall because for some reason everyone in the '9s you went to the mall and you didn't shop cuz you were broke. You just walked around. I don't know why. We still don't know why, but we just walked around the mall and so that's what we did.

Well, we're on the way back from the mall. We're on the interstate. We're going about 70 75 miles an hour or so. And Shane, my buddy, goes, "Hey, watch this." Which are the last words of every guy's thing that goes wrong, right? And so he's like, "Watch this."

And what he meant to do was he was going to he was going to hit the gear stick in neutral and then pop it back in drive, like rev it up and just have it like, you know, jump a little bit. Well, he made the mistake of hitting it too hard and it went in reverse at about 70 mph.

And when it went in reverse, what we didn't know later is that there was a fail safe in the car that would shut the thing down so it didn't damage the engine. And I'm no like mechanic. I don't know anything about cars. If you're broke down the side of the road, I'll pray for you.

That's what I can offer you. I can call a mechanic. Um, but I do know there's a transmission and that is not good on a transmission. And so this thing died completely. I mean, the electronics, everything went down and we went to the side of the road, tried to crank it back up.

It wasn't working. We got out of the car, sat on the embankment cuz we're on the side of an interstate. And somebody came along that felt sorry for these high school kids. They end up calling the cops. So, blue lights and red lights and am I mean, everything shows up.

A wrecker shows up. And then finally parents show up. I was like, I should not be in trouble. I was a passenger in this deal. I did not do. So my buddy Shane, his dad showed up and Shane said before we got there, he's like, I mean, he was distraught.

He's like in tears. He's like, "My dad's going to kill me. I've ruined this brand new car he bought me." So Shane's dad show up and he didn't kill him, but he got close. There was some choice words and there's some elevated moments. I just walked away. I was like, I'm not a part of your family.

I'm just a passenger. I'm just a passenger. That's all. And I was thinking about this as we think about Easter and we think about Jesus that some of us when we're in the not so great moments of our life, the the proverbial we're broken down on the side of the road.

You know, the moments that don't make the highlight real is what I'm talking about. You know, it's it's the we only post the wonderful moments. It's the picture you took five times today to finally get the kids to smile after you yelled at them for Come on, don't look so spiritual in church today.

We know how it goes, right? It's the great family vacation photo. It's not the one where all the kids are arguing and you're just like, "Why did I even bring you on this vacation? I could have left you at home and had a better Okay, I'm just kidding.

I'm talking about the the moments that we wish no one knew about. The moments that we're not so proud of. the decisions that that we feel like if someone knew maybe they wouldn't see us in the right light anymore. I'm talking about those moments. And I think in those moments we think Jesus shows up like Shane's dad with a scowl on his brow with a disappointment in his voice with a finger pointing with the heavenly taser gun just waiting to zap you because of what you did.

And so as a result of that, we end up living life going, I'd like God close enough that if I have an emergency, but I don't want to get so close that he sees all the details of my life. And I want to propose to you this Easter and show you from the book of John that just maybe Jesus meets us in a different way than Shane's dad.

Maybe he comes in a way that would surprise you. So I want to look at the Gospel of John. There's four Gospels in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And John gives us some some visits that Jesus makes post resurrection. I want to call it the post-resurrection tour.

All right, everybody. Like he made t-shirts, there's dates on it, city stops. Okay, it's not true. It's a joke. It was funnier than how you responded. The other services got it. this. I don't know what that says about you all. Okay. So, he makes some stops and he goes to three individuals.

And from these three individuals, I think we'll learn three things. Number one is this is where Jesus meets us. He meets us in our quiet questions. I want us to look at John 20 24. Begin reading there. It says, "Now Thomas, also known as Ditimus, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." A week later, his disciples were in the house again.

And Thomas was with them. Though 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. See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. stop doubting and believe. And Thomas said, my Lord and my God.

And then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. So here's the scene, the picture that John is painting for us is there was a moment where all the disciples were together minus Thomas and Jesus appears to them and shows that he is the resurrected Lord that the that what he predicted actually did happen.

Well, they get Thomas and Thomas comes back and he's like they said, "Hey, we've seen the Lord." And he goes, "Nope, don't buy it. I don't believe it." Thomas is a bit skeptical. Thomas has some questions about it and and so then Jesus visits them again whenever Thomas is in the room and a matter of fact the doors are locked and and if someone appeared through the wall to you you would need to hear peace be still right and so Thomas is in the room that time and Jesus goes hey you can touch my hand you can feel my side I'm not I'm willing to give you proof and for some of us today we are we are represented by Thomas I relate to Thomas is more analytical Thomas needs more why behind the what?

Thomas doesn't want a fake faith. Thomas doesn't want a faith that's just like lip service. Are y'all tracking with me? That's not not just like I believe, but knowing inside he's kind of wrestling with some things. He's got some questions. Can I just tell you today that Jesus isn't put off by your questions that if you're here today and you're like, I don't know.

I I want to believe, but I just got some questions about I don't understand some things that Jesus doesn't push you away. He's not repulsed by that. He He He's willing to answer the questions. And Thomas had some of those. He he was a thinker. He was He wanted to know.

He he wrestled with some things. I I like Thomas a lot. Thomas gets a lot of like shade. People throw shade on Thomas. I'm like, "Why you throwing shade?" Matter of fact, he's forever known as doubting Thomas. How would you like one moment to define your whole life? >> Aren't you glad God doesn't do that to us? >> I mean, he had one moment, everybody.

He had one moment where he doubted. One moment where he needed some proof. Aren't you glad that God isn't like, "Well, jacked up Jason." That's who that's how I see him. Prideful Paul. There he is. Are y'all with me? Aren't you thankful God doesn't do that to us?

But this is Thomas. Thomas just needed some answers and I I think all of us have some quiet questions that things that don't make sense, right? >> And we kind of like just maybe push them down instead of going I can bring them to God. Can I tell you something?

You can bring matter of factresurrection tour included a doubter. Jesus intentional with his time wanted to go to Thomas. And some of us today, that's where we are. We we we want to believe, but we just got some questions. We need some proof. We we Can I tell you something, too?

Christianity isn't It is faith, but it is faith in facts. It's not faith in just a hope. So, no. He appeared to 500 people. Are y'all with me? Like, he got up out of the grave. There's extra biblical recordings, historical recordings that the appearance of Jesus like he got up out of the grave.

I'm just not putting my faith in some hope or some wish or just one day. No, it is in the person of Jesus Christ who lived a sinless life, dead, died the death you and I deserve to die, lived a life we could never live, and rose again three days later, proving that he is who he claimed to be, the son of God with the power to take away the sin of the world.

My faith isn't in a fairy tale, everybody. There's proof for it. And some of us wrestle with questions. I love what the author John Akuff said. He said, "If you're wrestling, that means you're moving close because you can't wrestle with somebody that's far away." >> I just want you to know today, if you're wrestling, you got some things that don't make sense, and they're real.

You You prayed and didn't get to the answer to the prayer. They got the diagnosis, you believed for healing, and they passed away. Creates some questions. It's tough. And Jesus doesn't run from those. It creates some questions like, "Does he see me? Does God love me? Does God even know I'm here?

Does he care about the details of my life?" And I wonder for Thomas if the root of his doubt wasn't disappointment in his life. Because disappointment can lead to doubt. Doubt can lead to cynicism. Cynicism can lead to mistrust. And I wonder for some of us today if we kind of keep Jesus at a distance in our life because we're just disappointed with how some things went down.

I mean, think about it for a moment, right? Thomas is with Jesus following him. I mean, these disciples, they left a whole lot. They laid down businesses. They laid down reputation. And it started out with just 12 of them. Then it got like 72 of them. And then hundreds are following them, thousands are following them, right?

And I know Peter's like, I'm going to be the VP of marketing for this movement. Like, you know, Matthew's like, I'm going to be CFO of this thing. Like I mean the the movement is just growing and it's moving and then all of a sudden he's dead and they're left with nothing.

I imagine there's the disappointment of what could have been, what should have been, what maybe would have been. And so he needs some proof. He's like, I believed once, but I need I'm going to need a little bit more this time. And can I tell you something? Jesus meets us in that place.

And Jesus, if you'll let him, will meet you in that place. He not only meets us in our quiet questions, but he meets us in our failure. Aren't you thankful today that Jesus meets us in our failure? I want us to look at Peter as an example of this.

Now, to look at this example, we've got to back up a little bit and we've got to go back to pre-rucifixion. If y'all with me, say amen. All right, so we're going to rewind. If you ever had a cassette player, you hit play and rewind at the same time.

Makes that noise. Try it. Go to a vintage shop and get one. You got to back up. So Jesus and Peter are in this discussion and they're in the garden that's coming near the end of of Jesus' life. And Peter's like, "Man, I'm with you. I basically they didn't have guns, but he's like basically I'll take a bullet for you."

That was kind of the sentiment Peter was saying. And Jesus says back to Peter, "Peter, know you're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows tomorrow morning." And so, if you know the story, Judas betrays him. The officers come and they get Jesus out of the garden.

So, from the garden, they took him up to Caiaphas's house. And at Caiaphas's house, there is a courtyard area and that's where Jesus is. The other gospels let us know the scene looks like this. There's some fire pits around there. People are gathered around them. Jesus is over here.

Peter's falling at a distance. Some of the disciples have dispersed because they just don't know what's happening. And Peter's denied Jesus once. He's denied him a second time. And then this is where we enter the text in Luke 22 gives us the insight into this. And it says about an hour later after his second denial, another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him for he's a Galilean meaning he lived around the Sea of Galilee where the majority of Jesus' ministry took place."

And Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." The the original language makes it much more emphatic than this. I don't know that he was cursing at the man, but that it was on the edge of that. Are y'all Are y'all following me? This is how vehemently he was saying, "I don't know what you're talking about."

And just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed, and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. And then Peter remembered the word the Lord has spoken to him before the rooster crows today. You will disown me three times. And he went out and he wept bitterly. Can you imagine this scene for just a moment?

I mean, think about it. Jesus is in Caiaphas's courtyard. He's being brought up on charges, kind of a kangaroo court. I imagine he's he's tied up or two Roman soldiers on either side of him. Peter's over at a distance. And at one point, the text tells us that he was by one of the fire pits cuz a a young girl, like a a teenage girl, said, "You're with him."

And that was one of the denials. So, he's over at a distance watching what's going on. And then he does it again. the rooster crows and then Jesus turns and looks straight at Peter. I don't know about you, but I just imagine that shame had to overwhelm him in that moment.

He locks eyes with the Savior on the third time that he denied him. The moment that Jesus needed Peter the most, the moment that he like needed him, hey, I need you to be with me in this moment. Peter denies him. And I can imagine shame overwhelmed him in that moment.

Because here's what failure is. Failure is the gap between who we want to be and who we show up as. And Peter wanted to be allin. That's what he told him the night before. I'm with you, Jesus. I'm I'm all in. I will never leave you. I'll never deny you.

You know, I'm all in. That's who he wanted to be. And who he showed up as was someone who lacked the courage to not deny him whenever people were pointing out that he followed Jesus. And I don't know about you, but I found myself in that place in life many times.

The dad that I want to be and then the dad I show up as. The friend I want to be and the friend I show up as. The spouse I want to be and then the spouse that I show up as. How about this? The follower of Jesus I want to be and then the one I show up as sometimes.

And in that gap is where we feel failure. And when we feel failure, you know what comes soon is shame. And here's what shame says. Shame doesn't say, "I did something wrong." Shame says, "I am something wrong." And for some of you, that is the narrative that the enemy of your soul plays over and over in your mind.

You are something wrong. Why do you even try? How could God ever love you? You did it again and you'll do it another time and you'll do it another time. See, that's just who you are. Your mom was that way. Your dad was that way. That's just the cycle you're in.

You'll forever be like that. You're you're just an angry person. You're just a prideful. You're just a And what we do in those moments is we always revert to the familiar. We never move forward in faith to the future God has for us because shame always causes you to hide.

Shame always causes you to retreat. Think about in the garden, right? Adam and Eve in the garden, they sinned. Shame filled them. What they do? They hid from God. Because that's what always happens. Failure leads to shame. Shame leads to hiding. It is the human experience. You may even be here and you may be like, I don't even know if I like believe in Jesus.

I don't know. come into this church thing. I'm just here cuz my mom made me come. Thank God for your mom. It is the human experience that failure breeds shame and shame breeds hiding. And that's what Peter did. And in John chapter 21 is where we find Peter.

And Peter has gone back to fishing because Peter was a fisherman. Three years earlier, Jesus came on the Sea of Galilee to these fishermen and said, "Hey, are you catching anything?" thing and they said, "No." And he said, "Well, throw your nets on the other side." And I imagine in their mind like, "You're the son of a carpenter, not a fisherman, but we'll try it."

So they threw their nets on the other side. Had a big catch. And then he called them to come follow him. And he said, "I'll make you fisher of men." And now, three years later, Peter has returned back to that same spot. And I wonder if Peter thought, "There's no way he could use me now.

There's no way he would want me now because of what I just did to him." And so I'll go back to what I know. Well, the scripture says that Jesus is on the shore and he's cooking up some fish and somebody in the boat goes, "It's the master.

It's Jesus." And so the Bible says Peter jumps out of the boat and he runs to the shore and he comes to Jesus. And Jesus is cooking a meal for them. And he he does this dialogue with him that you find in John chapter 21. If you've ever read the Bible, you've probably read it.

And he says to him, "Peter, do you love me?" And Peter says, "Lord, you know I love you." And then he said, "Well, feed my sheep." And then he did it a second time. He said, "Do you love me?" And he said, "Lord, you know I love you.

Feed my sheep." Then he did it a third time. Peter, do you love me? And Peter's like getting a little frustrated now. He's like, "Lord, you know that I love you." And he said, "Well, feed my sheep." And there's so many incredible things in that little text. Like like the words Jesus uses for love are different.

And and they kind of turn up the commitment each time. And and there's this whole beautiful thing of how he denied him three times and then he asked him if he loved him three times. It's like you you mess up three times and we're going to wipe it out because I know that you love me.

Are you following me? But here's my question. Why use a shepherd analogy with a fisherman? Peter doesn't know anything about sheep. He fishes for a living. Why use that an why didn't you use a fishing analogy, Jesus? It would relate more. It's more relevant to who you're talking to.

And I never understood this till I was in Israel. And I was with a a Bible scholar in Israel who said, "Here's why most likely potentially Jesus used a shephering analogy and not a fishing analogy with a fisherman." And it's this. Because fishermen who fished for a living would take their catch to the market to sell.

Well, if there were bad fish in the batch, they would throw them out because they wouldn't take bring money at the market. But a shepherd would leave the 99 to go get the one and would never let one run away. I wonder if in Peter's mind when he denied him, he thought like a fisherman and said, "If I would throw out bad fish, surely Jesus is going to throw me out and he can't use me."

But Jesus showed up on the shore of Galilee to say, "Peter, I don't think like a fisherman. I think like cuz I am the great shepherd and I will leave the 99. I will come back on this shore and I will come and find you, Peter, because I love you and I am for you."

And here's what I want you to hear today. Maybe you walked in here today and you're like, "Man, I don't even know why I'm here. I don't even know how God could love me. I'm just coming because it's what I'm supposed to do on Easter is show up at church and I'm one of those bad fish and he probably wants to throw back."

Can I tell you something? Jesus doesn't think like a fisherman. He thinks like a shepherd. And he will pursue you and come after you with grace and mercy and love. Anybody thankful today that we have a great shepherd who goes after the one. So he meets us in our quiet questions.

He meets us in our failure. But finally, he meets us in the weight we carry. How many of you know that life can be weighty? Can be heavy at times. One of the individuals that Jesus meets on the post-resurrection tour is Mary Magdalene. The Bible says in John 20:1 that now Mary stood outside the tomb crying and she wept.

And she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been one at the head and the other at the foot. And they asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They've taken my Lord away," she said. She thought they had stolen the body.

And I don't know where they have put him. At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not realize it was Jesus. And he asked her,"Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you were looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

And Jesus said to her, "Mary." and she turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic Raboni, which means teacher. If you're unfamiliar with Mary's story, it's a powerful one. Mary, when she met Jesus, was bound by so much. And Jesus, the Bible tells us, cast demons out of her and he set her free.

So, you can imagine the affection and the affinity that she had for Jesus. And now all that is gone because he's dead. And it tells you from all their responses, they didn't really believe him when he said, "I will come back alive." If they really believed he would come back from the dead, they wouldn't be grieving.

They wouldn't be d crying. They wouldn't have returned to fishing. They'd have been waiting. They'd have been outside the tomb like by the stone. They've been like, "I'm posting this." You know, I wonder in your life if you've ever been beside the grave of grief. That's where Mary is.

Maybe it's not the grief of someone that you lost. Maybe it's the grief of a broken relationship, a marriage that didn't make it. Maybe it's the betrayal of a friend that you confided in. Maybe it's the grief of the emotional weight of life. See, we don't all cry like Mary, but we all carry some kind of weight.

It's the human experience. We carry the weight of the pressure of life, the weight of responsibilities, the weight of relationships, the weight, the emotional weight of life, the mental weight of life. We all carry weight. And it's in the weight that Jesus meets Mary. And I love I love this detail in scripture that she's grieving and she doesn't even see it's Jesus.

She thinks it's the gardener. She's so overwhelmed by grief she can't even see straight. I I imagine you've been there at times where you're so overwhelmed like like life is so heavy you're like I don't even know if I'm thinking right right now. I don't know if I'm even seeing this situation correctly right now.

This is where Mary is. And in the middle of this, Jesus just simply says, "Mary," have you ever had a moment in life where it felt like a whole film reel went through your mind in a split second? You know what I'm talking about? Are y'all with me?

Like it just felt like like someone said something that brought back a thought or you experienced something or a smell or whatever it is, it brought back and it like took you back to elementary school like in a moment. It's like you saw the whole thing like in a second in your mind.

I just have to wonder for Mary if that's not what happened in that moment. I wonder when he simply said her name if she flew back to the moment where he first said her name where she was so bound and lost and and hurting and no hope and there was no one that could help her.

But then she met Jesus that day and he called out her name and he set her free and he invited her on this journey. She was one of the ones that would have been following these disciples and she would have saw the tomb of Lazarus and the resurrection and she would have saw the mount of biatitudes and the teaching and she would have saw blinded eyes open and she would have saw 5,000 being fed with fish and loaves.

She would have done I wonder if in a moment like all that went by like a movie reel in her mind and he said her name. He called out her name. It had to be some level of intense emotion because the Bible said she cried out, "Teacher." She didn't she didn't say like, "Oh, hey, it's you.

You did it. You got up." It wasn't just a passing thing. There was this whale of emotion where she cried out, "Teacher," cuz she recognized that voice. When he called her name the first time, everything changed. Everything changed. Listen to me. Everything changed. And I believe today that Jesus is calling your name.

For some of you, you've carrying the weight of life and you think you're supposed to carry it all by yourself. Jesus is calling your name to say, "No, I step into the weight you carry. I meet you in that's the place I meet you and I'll I'll walk with you in this life.

I'll journey with you because surrendering your life to Jesus is not about heaven one day only. It's about heaven today. It's about walking with Jesus step by step, day by day, moment by moment. And he invites you in. He meets He meets you in your questions, meets you in your failures.

He meets you in the heavy places of life. And our response as he moves towards us is to move towards him in faith. Faith that says, "I don't have all the answers, but I'll begin the journey with you." faith that says my failure, no matter how great, cannot separate me from the love and the grace of God.

The weighty moments in life that say, "I'm willing to lay my burdens down at your feet and realize I don't have to carry this all on my own." See, Christianity is the only world religion that doesn't start with I. I'm a moral person. I go to church. I have a membership.

I read my Bible. I'm nice to others. I'm generous at times. No. Christianity starts with he. He came born of a virgin. He lived the sinless life you and I could never live. He died on the cross dying the death we really deserved. He was in the grave for three days.

But praise God, he arose on the third day and he lives forever more. It is all about him. It is not about us. And some of you think, well, for me to come to God, I got to figure some things out in my life. Can I tell you, it's the opposite.

You come to Jesus and he'll help you figure some things out. Well, pastor, I got I don't know enough about the Bible. I don't even know where the dinosaurs came from. I love the story that Pastor Alistair Beg tells. He said, "I wonder what the conversation was with the thief on the cross when he got to heaven."

You know, there were three crosses. Jesus was in the middle, two thieves on either side. One thief blasphemed Jesus. One thief surrendered and said, "You are the Messiah." And Jesus said to him, "Today you'll be with me in paradise." And he said, "I wonder what that conversation went like."

He said, 'I wonder if he got to heaven and the angel met him and was like,"Hey, why are you here?" And he's like, "Well, about that." The angel's like, "Do you do you at least have a membership at a church?" He's like, "Yeah, never got one of those."

And maybe that angel was like, "Let me call a supervisor in." So maybe Gabriel shows up and he's like, "Do you have a Bible?" He's like, "Never heard of that. Do you know the doctrine of sanctification? Like, yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about. And then, could it be that that angel says, "Well, then how did you get here?"

And Pastor Alistair Beg said, "I imagine maybe the man said something like this." All I know is the man on the middle cross told me I could come. And can I tell you something today? No matter how you got here and no matter how life has looked before you got here today, the man on the middle cross says you can come.

His arms are opened wide with grace and mercy and forgiveness. And all he says is come. I grew up in an old hymn that said it like this. Just as I am. That's how you come. And today I want to give you the opportunity to respond to the God who is moving towards you, the God who meets you.

I want to invite you to take a step of faith towards him. The Bible says that if we'll confess with our mouth that he's Lord. Really, that means that God, I'm done calling the shots of my life. I'm giving you control. And we'll believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.

We will be saved. You may be thinking, "Pastor, what am I saved from?" Well, you're saved from the penalty of sin, which we all deserve to pay. But thank God, Jesus paid for it on the cross. So my question today is as he draws near to you, will you draw nearer to him?

Will you by faith surrender your life to Jesus? And today I promise you according to the scripture will be a day of brand new beginning. I want to invite you to pray with me as we close today. Will you bow your head and close your eyes all across the room?

I believe God God is speaking to so many of you that for some of you, you've never surrendered your life to Jesus. And for some of you, you strayed away, you know, in your heart that you're far from God. There was a season in your life where you were walking closely with Jesus.

And that's not been the case lately. Can I tell you something? Jesus isn't showing up today like Shane's dad. He's showing up with grace, forgiveness, with kindness. And so, in just a moment, I'm going to lead us in a prayer, and it's just me helping you communicate your heart to God's heart.

If you'd say, "Pastor, that's me. I I need a fresh start. I need a new beginning." The Bible says, "If anybody's in Christ, they're a brand new creation." Here's the great part. All things pass away. All the old and everything becomes new. Today can be a day of a fresh start for you.

So before we pray, I just want to know who I'm praying with. We're not going to come to you or point you out. But when I count to three, I'm just going to ask you to shoot your hand up high enough and long enough for me to see like so many have over the weekend.

If you say, "Pastor, that's me. I need a fresh start. When I get to three, hands are already going up. One, two, three." You just shoot your hand up high. Just keep it up. Keep it up. God bless you. God bless you. Hands up all over the room.

I see you. But more importantly than that, God sees you. And the Bible tells us all of heaven is rejoicing over the step you're taking. You can put your hands down, church. Will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up?

Just say, "Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus name. Everyone said amen.

Come on. Can we celebrate those who made that decision? Powerful. Hey, listen to me real closely. If you just made that decision, it's the greatest one you've ever made in your life. And we want to help come alongside you in this journey. And there's two simple ways for you to communicate with us that you took that step of faith today.

One is simply by text. You can text Jesus, just that word Jesus, the name Jesus to 710. Or you can go to connect central. I mentioned it earlier. Our team would be there. They'd love to serve you. You can just say, "Hey, I made I prayed that prayer, made that decision."

Then there's also a third way, and that is in a moment. We're going to close our service with just one simple chorus, but our prayer team is going to be down front and in the balcony. And we would love to join our faith with yours if you just come and say, "Hey, I made that decision today."

Okay, we'd love to celebrate with you and help you in the next steps of this journey. Maybe you're here and when I talked about, man, the weightiness of life or some other part of the message spoke to you and you'd say, man, I want someone to pray with me.

We would be honored to do that. And so, in just a moment, our team's going to make their way down front. Our prayer team, they'll be in the balcony as well. I'm going to have us stand. Team's going to lead us in a short chorus. And when they do, you just make your way out.

And uh we'd love to pray with you. You're like, "Well, I'm not a member of Gateway. Doesn't matter to me." We pray with everybody. All right? So, you just slip out. We would love to serve you in that way today. Why don't you stand with us? I'm going ask our prayer team members if they would to make their way to the front and up in the balcony.

If God is speaking to you, you need prayer for any reason, let us serve you today. You make your way out and we'd love to join you in prayer. >> Oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was born with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, come to the altar. The father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bomb with the preious bloodior. Isn't he wonderful? Sing hallelujah. Christ is rising before him for he is Lord of all.

Sing hallelujah. Christ is ris. >> Amen. Amen. And church, can we put our hands together one more time and just thank God for such a powerful message. A great reminder today that he knows our name and he meets us where we are. Amen. And I I just want to let you know we have prayer team members here at the front.

We also have prayer team members there in the balcony. And then in every additional seating room, we have prayer leaders that would love the opportunity to pray with you. And so even as I get ready to close out the service, if you have a prayer need, you just keep coming forward as we would love the opportunity to pray with you.

Just a couple of reminders for you. First of all, next Sunday, everybody say, "Next Sunday." Next Sunday, you don't want to miss Pastor Daniel's going to begin a brand new series entitled Between Sundays. And then not only that, next Sunday is Water Baptism Sunday. And so, yeah, we can give it up because some of you made a decision to follow Christ today.

Or maybe some of you made a decision many years ago, but you have never taken that next step of obedience, which is water baptism. And this is a way that we make a public profession of our faith in Jesus. And so, I want to encourage you if you've given your life to Christ but haven't been water baptized, next Sunday is your day.

Uh, you can sign up at Connect Central after service or you can just show up next Sunday and after our 9:00 service and our 11:00 service, we'll be baptizing. We have everything that you need. A change of clothes, a t-shirt, hair products if you need it. Whatever you need, we've got it.

But we'd love to celebrate with you next weekend. Also, on your way out, make sure you grab the uh event card that has all the information about some of the upcoming things we have going on here at the campus. And then lastly, if you are new to Gateway Church, we're so excited that you chose to celebrate Easter with us.

Come on, church. Can we put our hands together one more time for all of you that are new here? So thrilled you chose to be with us. And as Pastor Daniel said, we would love to personally connect with you. There's an area called Connect Central located in the lobby.

I'll be there along with some of our leaders. Would love to meet you, shake your hand, answer any questions that you have. And we also have a gift for you. And so if you have a moment, stop by Connect Central. And if for whatever reason you can't do that, or if you're joining us online, you can just text the word connect to 7:10 and we'll follow up with you there.

Let me pray a blessing over us today out of Numbers chapter 6. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. God bless you and we'll see you next Sunday. in the way I will worship till the breakthrough comes.