He Is Risen: Our Proof, Power, and Promise // Pastor Vlad

When it comes to resurrection Sunday, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:14 said the following. If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything. If he would not have been risen, our preaching is pointless. Our faith is really foolish.

It's blind faith. Disciples who went around saying he is risen are nothing but scammers and liars, charlatans. Sin is still sovereign. Death still has dominion. And we who are left have no forgiveness, no future, no hope, and no foundation. But as Christians, we believe Christ is risen. The proof for that is Old Testament's prophets predicted he will rise again.

Jesus predicted he will rise again. The empty tomb proves he has risen. All the critics of Christianity have to provide is the body and all the Christianity is gone. But till this day in Jerusalem, they have three empty tombs but not one body. That tells us that if Jesus wouldn't rise from the dead, we wouldn't have three empty tombs.

We would have one tomb and one body. They cannot find the body. Why? Because he is risen. Disciples who denied Jesus shortly after that were willing to die for Jesus. There was no recompense meaning no payment for that. Nobody in their right mind, maybe one or two crazies will intentionally lie to go and get crucified.

But hundreds of people, thousands of people, that's not possible. And you know what the biggest testimony that he is risen? You and I. Our lives being changed. If Christ had not been risen, you would not have experienced deliverance from demons. You would not have experienced deliverance from shame.

You wouldn't have the story of family reconciliation. It wasn't just some kind of a Jewish guy from 2,000 years ago you have no connection to that changed your life. It was the son of God, the Messiah, and the coming King who is risen. Let's give the Lord Jesus Christ a clap offering for his resurrection.

Now, one German philosopher said the following, the evidence for Jesus's resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things. First, it is a very unusual event. Second, if you believe it that it happened, you would have to change the way you live. And most people, the reason they reject Jesus's resurrection is not because they have no evidence that he rose from the dead.

It's that if you accept that the evidence is real, you are now confronted with the reality that you have to change. And so it's easier to say I don't believe in that stuff than to say I repent for my stuff. So today what I want to touch on is this.

How does this resurrection of Jesus change everything for us? And I want to share with you just three things. How Jesus's resurrection number one is a proof that the payment for our sin was accepted by God. Number two, how his resurrection is a present experience that we as Christians experience today every single day called the newness of life.

Meaning walking in this Christian life changed by the Holy Spirit. And number three, his resurrection, and this is a missing component in many people's lives, is his resurrection is a pledge that something else is coming that we are all looking forward to when we will rise when God will make the new earth when all the pain will be done with and all the evil is going to be removed because his resurrection is what the Jewish people would call the first fruits and that's what we're going to talk about today.

Number one, his resurrection is God accepting the payment for our sin. If Jesus wouldn't rise, then his death was very scandalous, but not very saving. Think about it. Anybody can claim to die for your sins. Think about it. Jesus is not the only one who died wrongfully being killed.

There are people who sit in jail for 20 years and they are wrongfully convicted. A DNA surfaces and we exonerate them. Then they sue whoever put them in jail for a lot of money and then they have a story to tell. There's a book that's written and a movie that's produced.

How do you know that Jesus was not just another victim? Well, Jesus did not die for his sins. Otherwise, he couldn't pay for your sins. Judas admitted Jesus was innocent and said, I betrayed innocent blood. Pilate admitted, washed his hands and said, this man is innocent. Herod, all these guys are crooks.

They all admitted Jesus was pure. Jesus was holy. So, he didn't die for his sins. He also did not die because it was a corrupt judicial system. Because he said, nobody takes my life. I willingly lay it down. And right when they arrested him to prove that, when they said, we're looking for Jesus.

And he says, I am. They all fell to the ground. Tells me he had no problem going like this and all of these guys would have been gone. He did not become a victim of a corrupt system. He willingly gave his life for our sins. Honestly, that's great.

I still have doubt that that was for my sins. His resurrection becomes God's receipt that the payment of Jesus for our sins has been accepted by heavenly court. Yesterday we went to Costco with Sammy and my wife and I practicing Sammy was taking you know in Costco before you exit you have to give them the receipt.

You cannot just exit because you paid. You have to prove that you paid. And they have these precious people standing there with markers and my little boy Sammy hands a receipt to that precious man. And then that man marks that receipt and only then you can exit. See what happened with resurrection is Jesus said it is finished on the cross and God by raising him from the dead puts a marker and hands us a receipt and said he is truly the savior of the world.

Jesus, CS Lewis said is either a liar, a lunatic or a Lord. How do I know he is Lord? Because heaven gave us a receipt. You know we live in a culture today where somebody accuses of somebody and they use this word I got the receipts. Meaning I got screenshots.

I got text messages to prove God got receipts. It's called the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this receipt says Jesus is the Messiah. How does this apply to you and me? That means you can forgive receive forgiveness from your sins. You can receive forgiveness from your shame and guilt.

You don't have to live in shame. You don't have to medicate yourself for what you did through drinking and numbing yourself through sexual immorality or trying to do religious jumping jacks so that you can earn peace with God because God has provided a solution for your sins and that is the blood of Jesus Christ.

And you can be sure that Jesus's blood washes you from your sin because God receives. Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Romans 4:25 it says he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised up for our justification. The resurrection of Jesus is the public declaration that the sacrifice of Jesus was accepted that the penalty was fully paid.

I don't have to doubt God forgives my sins. The empty tomb is my receipt. I don't have to doubt. I don't have to punish myself for what I did. I don't have to live in perpetual shame, cycle of condemnation. I don't have to do that anymore. I don't have to have an ounce of doubt that I am washed and forgiven.

Why? Not because I prayed a prayer. Because Jesus paid a price and God verified it by giving us the proof that his sacrifice was accepted. So those of you who walk around and say Christians have blind faith, my friend, we have receipts. We don't have blind faith. We got receipts.

And receipts is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why we stand boldly and we can look at the person who's committed the most hideous things. Person who cannot forgive themselves, cannot live with their own shame and guilt and tell them if you ask Jesus to wash you, He can restore you.

He can forgive you and you can actually have assurance of that. Not just a blind faith, not just a word from a preacher, a receipt from heavenly God. Can somebody say Amen? The second thing is not only resurrection of Jesus is the past fact. It's a past historic fact.

It's a proof that our sins have been forgiven on the cross. But the secondly is resurrection of Jesus Christ is the present experience. Somebody say experience. And this experience that we experience is that our sin nature has been nailed to the cross. So not only our sins have been washed by the blood and you know anyone can walk around and say that but we got the receipts Jesus resurrection.

And secondly, how does the resurrection affect me now is not only my sins are washed. Well, most of you know the problem isn't with the getting sins washed, it's getting the sinner changed. Because many of us treat our Christian life as God being this garbage can that we keep coming back to and telling our sins and we live in perpetual life of sin, hoping for one day to die where we're no longer bound to this body, no longer in this broken world.

And we're no longer living under the bondage of sin. See, God knew our problem is not just the things we do that we need forgiveness from. Our problem is the thing that does those things is called sin nature. You got it from Adam through birth, and it only leaves through death.

So, this thing that makes the sin, it lives in you. You got it from birth and the only way you get rid of it is by death. And many people live with hope of their death one day. And when they die in the future, man, I won't struggle with mortgage payments.

I won't struggle with these problems. I won't struggle with these problems. And also, I will not struggle with lust. I will not be in bondage to addiction to alcohol. I will not be addicted anymore to rage. I will no longer be addicted to torments at night. I will be free for all when I die.

See, God knew that, that our problem is not only the things we do, but our problem is the thing that does it in us. Think of this, a spider and a spider web. The spider makes the web. See, God provided the cleaning of the spiderweb by the blood of Jesus.

Gave us the receipt of the resurrection. But God did more than that. Resurrection is not only that the spiderweb is cleansed and God gives you a receipt. Resurrection is God takes the spider and kills it. He takes the old nature and attaches it to Jesus's cross and buries it.

And not only buries it, but Jesus doesn't stay in the tomb. Which means you're not just a person whose old life is gone, your new life has begun. Come on, somebody. John 11:25 says the following. I am the resurrection and the life. So, resurrection is not just an event.

It's a person. His name is Jesus. How that we experience this resurrection. Romans 6:4, "therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we should walk in newness of life." The next verse Paul says this, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection."

And then if we skip a few verses, Romans 6:8, now, if we died, I want you to notice, he doesn't say if we die, you know, in the future. He says if we died in the past, so we were buried, we united with Jesus through his death. And he says, "If we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him."

Now, first you're reading this Romans Chapter 6, and you see Paul is talking about your past funeral. And you're like, this is weird. I didn't die. I'm trying to live. And Paul keeps talking about, you were united with Jesus on the cross. You were buried with Jesus in the grave, and you rose with Jesus to the new life.

And you're like, well, that that's no, Jesus died for me. But Paul is taking it a step further and he says, you died with him. Listen again, his blood was for your sins. The cross was for the sin, for the sinner. Think of this. The blood was like a broom that swept the dirt of the spiderweb.

But the cross was like the hammer that crushed the spider. In other words, Jesus took the old you that you got from birth and is saying through the cross, you don't have to die for you to be free from the power of sin. I will take that, nail it to the cross.

I will bring it with me into the grave for three days. I will rise again. And you can now have an experience of a brand-new life full of victory, full of joy, full of righteousness, full of peace, full of the Holy Spirit. When? Not when you die, but when you believe.

Come on, somebody. So, the resurrection of the past gives me a receipt that my sins have been washed by Jesus when I repent. But resurrection of the present is me believing that I died with Jesus. I was buried with Jesus. I can rise with Jesus. And today, not someday, today, my new life can begin.

Now, I know few of you are getting it. Some of you are not convinced. Colossians 3:3, Paul says the same thing. For you died. He said, when did that happen? 2,000 years ago. So, my friend, you don't have to wait for your funeral to be free from the power of sin.

You can look at his death and recognize it was not only for you, you were with him. Jesus's death was not only substitutionary. Remember when you were in school and you had a substitute teacher? So, it wasn't just that that Jesus took your place. Jesus's death was inclusive.

Meaning God took you, didn't repair you, didn't change you, which is kind of depressing because that means we were so messed up. We were beyond fixing. God says you can't fix, we can't fix you. We got to kill you together with Jesus. So the nature I got through birth, Jesus got rid of it through his death.

Now, does this mean I no longer have a temptation with sin? No. There is still part three. But it does mean sin has no power over me anymore. It does mean demons have no power over me no more. It does mean I qualify to live for a new life, not when I die, but today when I believe in Jesus Christ.

Christian life is not I am an old sinner trying to live a righteous life. I've been forgiven. Galatians 2:20 says I've been crucified with Jesus Christ. It is no longer I. Meaning the sin nature the I myself and I the dark unholy trinity. That part is no longer in reign.

Paul says in Romans chapter 6, he says that the body of sin is done away with. He doesn't mean that the body of sin is gone. It's just the body of sin is not operable anymore. I had a moped one time and the battery stopped working. The moped was still there, just didn't work.

What the cross did is it made the engine of the old nature not work anymore. It's just not operable anymore. Jesus took your old self on the cross, nailed it, took it to the grave, buried it, and rose from the dead to say, your new life can begin now.

Amen. The cross is where the old man was crucified and buried with Christ. The resurrection is the proof that a new life has begun. If you come to this Easter service and you hear that Jesus died for you and you do not experience forgiveness of your sins and for those of you who are afraid to trust in Jesus, imagine how foolish would be if you own, you know, $300,000 of debt for your house and I want to pay your debt.

All you got to do is stretch your hand and receive. And you said, no, I'll rather do it myself. You should be hit with 2x4. Why would you not want to have somebody pay that? Now, the thing is this. You actually can pay your debt. $300,000. The debt with God, you cannot pay.

Even if you spend eternity in hell, it won't be enough. So, while you can reject my offer, let's say, now I'm not giving you that offer. I'm not that generous and I'm not that rich. The debt with God you cannot pay. Jesus paid on the cross for you.

To reject it will be a rebellion. It will be pride in yourself. But see God doesn't just offer a payment for your sin. He says I want to give you a brand-new house. I want to give you brand new life. Resurrection of Jesus, I want to take your old self, nail it to the cross, bury it in the grave, and resurrect it.

See, this is why Christians get water baptized. We get immersed into the water. We identify with Jesus. We identify with his death. We identify with his burial, but we also praise God. Don't stay buried in the Colombia River in August when we get baptized. They praise be unto the Lord most high that whoever puts us into the water takes us out.

See, Jesus didn't just take your old life and put it in the grave in Jerusalem. He took your old life and he buried it, left it there and rose up again so you can have a new life. Christian life is not only living free from the old man.

It is living full of the Holy Spirit. Living full of the new life. Can somebody say praise God? And now comes I believe is probably the most ignored aspect of Jesus's resurrection. And I will submit to some of you, most of you have never heard of this. And that's why I want to tell you that the greatest event that changed the world history is the event of Jesus's resurrection.

It changes everything. So not only it changed the past, it's a proof, God's receipt, that the penalty of sin has been paid for and God accepted it. Not only it gives me a present experience that I can experience new life because the old me has been nailed on the cross buried at the grave.

I have risen with Christ. That is my positional righteousness. My practice now is to reckon myself dead to sin. Present my body as an instrument to God. Walk in the Holy Spirit. Be in the community and what theologians call it be sanctified. But that's not all. In Corinthians, I want you to read the scripture with me. 1 Corinthians 15:20.

Paul says this, "Now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who fallen asleep." Now, he's not talking about people who fell asleep in the church that Jesus is now the first fruit for them. He's talking about this is a phrase to describe somebody dying, which is a beautiful phrase because to Christians, death is not the end.

It's just sleep and one day we're waking up. But I want you to read verse 23. Paul says, "But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits. Afterward, those who are at Christ's coming." See, the week of the Passover, our Christian faith is deeply rooted in Jewish faith.

The week of the Passover, you know, where the lamb was killed was the same time Jesus, the lamb of God, was crucified. Not only that, but then they ate unleavened bread. Jesus was put in the grave at that time. But there was one more thing that happened that completed and was a part of the Passover week.

Now, what we call Sunday Easter, resurrection Sunday, if that is easier for you to swallow, but Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. See, in the Jewish practice, in a Jewish week where the lamb was killed, there was an unleavened bread time. And then there's also this Sunday, which was a day after the Saturday, the Sabbath, called the first fruits.

As part of the Passover week, the priest on Sunday morning after the Passover was lamb was killed, after the unleavened bread was eaten, which is symbolic of Jesus's burial in the grave. The priest on Sunday morning would take the first fruit from the harvest. So, let's say you know you got an apple tree and the first apple, but they would take some grain a sheath from the harvest and wave it before God declaring the harvest has begun.

Watch this. Paul is saying this. He said when Jesus died, he was our lamb. When he was buried, he was literally fulfilling the very thing that was happening that week for the Jewish people. It had a deeper meaning to us now. And he says on Sunday morning, this wasn't just a receipt.

It wasn't just your old man who was crucified. Now you got a new life. He says this is also a pledge. God waving a sheath to the world. What happened to Jesus has just started to what's going to happen to every person who dies in Jesus Christ? They will rise again.

Now, when I read that, I'm not going to lie to you. The old me said, "So what? I'm not excited about that." Why? because I'm going to die before that happens and go be with the Lord and I'm going to have no more problems. So, how is this an exciting news?

I want to tell you something. We in the west have embraced hope in escaping pain to be with Jesus. Biblical hope is not you die be with Jesus. Biblical hope was that he comes back with you, reuniting you to your body that's already turned into dust or if you got cremated because it saves money on the funeral cost and finds the dust somewhere that your family scattered in the ocean or whatever mountain you told them to go to, finds every dust, connects you, restores your body to a glorious body, puts you back together, makes this earth new.

Resurrected Jesus with resurrected followers on the resurrected, renewed earth. How is this good news? Every day you live with pain that the world is broken. Every day we hear the news. This guy got bitten by a crocodile. That's the news today, I read. The funding of the government stopped.

This person got run over on the intersection. You hear the news. My mom, who was supposed to be at my wedding, has terminal cancer. You hear the news, this child got abused. Somebody loaded a semi- rifle and went and shot 15 kids in school. And though you have a new life and though your sins are forgiven, but there is an ache inside of every human being, God, when will this be over?

Now, what some of us do is we take a religious ramp of escapism and we're like, Yeah, I know when I die, I'll be out of here. That's not God's plan. Now, that's good that you will experience relief from the pain. God's plan from the beginning when we made a mess of this earth, God's plan from the beginning wasn't to wash off his hands and get all the faithful ones to heaven.

Otherwise, why do you need to be raised from the dead? Why come back to this messed up earth? I want to tell you something. When you encounter pain, when you encounter suffering, when you encounter unimaginable pain in this world and your heart screams, when will this be over?

God, how long, God, when? God, how could you look at that? I want to tell you your God from the beginning when you and I made a mess of this earth had a plan to restore everything to a better condition than the way he handed it to us.

Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only God's receipt at the penalty of sin has been accepted. Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning of your new life because your old life has been crucified, buried and you can rise. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God waving a sheath and saying, I promise you, I pledge to you this broken world.

I will make it new. I will restore the creation that groans every single day. God is not looking at this earth and say, Yeah, let the devil, demons, and principalities, Hollywood, the pagans, let it let them run it. No, no, no, no, my friend. This is God's earth.

He's coming back to it. And the wicked will be uprooted. Jesus will establish his kingdom. He will reign. And I know some of us are thinking, Yeah, he will come in the suit and stand on Sunday morning in the microphone. No, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus is coming as a rightful king of this planet.

His feet will land on the Mount of Olives in Israel. Yeah, the very nation some of you have a struggle loving and praying for. It's that country he's coming back to. And no matter what your political views are or who's discipling you, I want to tell you that your views, Tucker and Candace, cannot change the prophecy, he is coming back.

He will land his feet on the Mount of Olives. He will establish his kingdom. Israel will be saved. Jesus will bring judgment to the wickedness and the evil. And there will be no more suffering on this earth. There will be no more cancer. There will be no more drunk driving.

There will be no more tumors. There will be no more of that kind of a world anymore. And we will be made new. We will be on the new earth. We will be with the resurrected King. When you think of resurrection, it's more than just God putting an exclamation mark to Jesus's statement, it is finished.

It is God handing a receipt and saying payment has been accepted. It is God telling you, you can experience new life not when you die but when you believe and it is God saying as you go through the tension. See some of us think life is about good seasons and then there's bad ones and then there's bad seasons and then there's good seasons.

Kind of like seven years of plenty in Egypt and seven years of famine. But the longer you live, you will understand life doesn't operate like that. It's like train tracks. It's good and it's broken. In one sense, you can have the best year of your life. You just got married.

You got a house. Nobody in your family have a house. And then you hear a family member just got cancer. And you're like, why? How? Why? Life is never just good. Because of this third thing, God waved the sheath and said it's coming. And many of us what we do is that we think the following in Jesus means we don't need that that's coming.

We do. That's why we need to have faith for the miracle today and at the same time hold the hand of the renewal of the creation that is coming. We should always be the most hopeful people. We believe in the supernatural. We believe God can heal. But if it doesn't happen, even if he heals, we're still going to die because that time is still coming where the resurrection of Jesus was the first fruit.

And now we are going to rise. And no, my friend, if you're just thinking you're going to escape, God's plan is bigger than that. He wants to restore this planet. He wants to renew the creation. He wants to resurrect your bodies. And for you to reign and live with Jesus, not just spiritually, but on the renewed earth.

This gives me hope. As I walk down the streets, as I look at our cities, as I look at our region, I don't walk in resignation. Let the antichrist come and takes everything. No, I rebel. I revolt because this belongs to my father. This belongs to my God.

I take care of my city. I take care of my park. I take care of even of my grass. I take care of my body. I know it will be broken. I know one day this stuff will need to be renewed. But why? I know this has been made by my God.

And my God has a plan to restore it. And when I hear a broken sad news, I grieve. I cry. But I don't grieve and cry like one without hope. I say, Come, Lord Jesus. That's why Paul tells us in Titus, he says, "Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God, Savior Jesus Christ."

I will be honest with you. For many years, I was thinking the blessed hope is me dying or getting raptured to disappear from this cursed, sin stricken, atheistic, agnostic, full of woke ideology, alphabet stuff, just all of the I just want to get out. This world is toast.

I don't want to be a part of it. That is not our hope. Our hope is in His coming, not in your leaving. Now, most likely you and I are going to leave before he comes. But please understand, please raise your hope to biblical hope. Don't have hope of you disappearing.

Have hope that God will restore this world. All the pain we know today, we will know no more. All the suffering we see today, we will have no more. God has a plan. And he has given us a pledge. New world is coming. And he will be in charge of it.

Oh, how I long for that world. But until that world, I walk in the forgiveness of my sins. I walk in a new life, resurrection power. I expect the kingdom to come. We do business till he comes. We marry. We have children. We plant churches. We open connect groups.

We serve God with everything with an expectancy. When we see a cancer healing, we celebrate that. And when we see a funeral because somebody died out of cancer, we keep the hope very alive that it's coming. It's coming. We're one more year closer, one more month closer. Not when we're going to fly away.

When he comes with glory, power, and all the good that's going to happen with it. Amen. I finished this message today with this. What do you have to do? The Bible says you have to believe. Now, Christian belief is different than belief of demons. Demons believe, but they're still demons.

So, how do you have faith that's not demon faith? Very simple. Faith requires three things. You have to know the facts. You have to agree with the facts. And you got to trust the facts. Think of the chair before you sat down. Now, you you went through these things automatically right away.

You knew the fact that chair can hold you, right? You agreed that it can hold you. Well, you most of you have blessed the church finances. So, you knew that church ain't going to buy some crappy chairs. You agreed to it. Plus, you paid for it. And thirdly, none of that would work.

The reason why I am still standing even though I believe in the chair, I believe it can hold me, is that I actually never sat on it right now. So, if you know that Jesus died, he rose from the dead. You agree with it, but you never trust in it, you're still going to be standing in your sin instead of sitting in a finished work of Christ.

Christian faith is these three things. You know the truth about Jesus. You agree with that truth. Now you may not agree with it. You say, Vlad, bologna, I don't believe in any of that. That's fine. That's your decision. There will be consequences for that decision, but nevertheless, it is your decision.

Thirdly is when you know and you agree, you actually have to apply and do something about it. You got to trust it. So, you can't just come to an Easter service, say, well, this was great. Thank you for a pep talk. Really liked it. I actually kind of agree with that.

I'm going to go and do my own thing. My friend, your life will not change if you know and agree. Now, some of you here, you actually have a degree in Bible knowledge in Bible, and you can go through this theologically explain it. If you don't commit, sit on it. put the weight of your life on what I'm talking to you, my friend.

You're still not in a biblical faith. I want to invite you today not just to know the fact that the chair can hold you, not just to agree with the fact that the chair can hold you. I want to ask you to sit on that chair. I'm going to ask you to confess Jesus with your mouth, believe with your heart, and commit your life to him and follow him so you can experience the forgiveness of your sins.

You can experience freedom from the sin power, and you can experience hope that one day the presence of sin is going to be removed from this planet and you will reign with this man God Jesus Christ the Messiah. I want you to rise to your feet. Before I give an invitation for salvation, can we just take a moment for the just the next few seconds and just thank Jesus for the blood, for the cross, for the resurrection, and for the hope.

For those of you who have been going through a difficult time, I want to let you know that God is waving the sheath to you. Remind you, he's pledging everything is going to be different. He has a new earth. He has a new planet. And not just the one you escaped from, but the one you return to together with him so that you can see the kingdom come.

For the next 60 seconds, I want you to just, if you're a believer, open your mouth right. Just begin to say, "God, I thank you." in your own words just without any without any fear. Say, "God, I thank you for the blood. I thank you for the cross.

I thank you for your return. I thank you that the Messiah is coming. I thank you that the king is coming. I thank you for the forgiveness of my sins. I thank you, Jesus, that you have gave us the receipt, Lord, that the sacrifice has been accepted by the heavenly court because you rose from the dead.

The things you said are true because the resurrection proves it. Lord, I thank you that my old life has been nailed to the cross, buried in the grave, and I have risen. I can walk in new life by the Holy Spirit. I can live in your life. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Jesus, when I go through pain, Jesus, when I go through suffering, Jesus, when I go through difficult seasons of my life, not only I have faith in you, but I have hope you're coming back. I have hope you're returning. I love you, Jesus.

Layla, would you do that introduction song that you did, so be it just that part. Before I give a call to salvation just want to cement that in your heart right now that the king is coming you can live a new life, you don't have to be in shame you don't have to be in sin's slave, you can live a new life Christian life is not just religious life, it's a new life.

We worship you Jesus. If you're a believer, just raise those hands and just honor the Lord right now for the next few moments. Honor him. He was crucified. He's coming back. He's alive. Thank you Jesus that our testimony is in your blood. Thank you Jesus that our old life has been crucified, buried, and today we can have new life.

Thank you Jesus that we have hope of your return. Thank you, Jesus. We have proof and the pledge and the power to live a new life. Every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're in this room today, I want to give you an opportunity. You already learned, you heard the fact of his resurrection, his death.

I do hope the Holy Spirit was working on your heart that you come in agreement with those facts. But now, I am not going to ask you to just agree. I'm going to ask you if you have heard the truth from the scriptures. If you agree in your heart and you say, yes, that's so good.

This God loves me. Yes, it's so good. This God had a plan for the bad part of me. So good. This God has a plan for the bad part of this broken world. I want this God. I want to follow him. I want to give him my life.

I want to experience forgiveness of my debt. I want to ask you to sit on that chair symbolically, not actually sit in the chair, but I'm going to ask you today to make an agreement to pledge your life. Give your life. What you have to lose is guilt.

What you have to lose in doing that is shame. What you have to lose in doing that is your pride. Is your attempt to please God in your own efforts, medicate your pain. Medicate your sin because you can be forgiven. You can be washed. Now, it comes freely to you.

It cost His Son his life. And not only God offers you forgiveness, He offers you freedom. Freedom from the domineering power of that sin. And He doesn't just offer you freedom; He offers you future. You can look forward and know the world is going to be such a good place.

You look forward to the future because you know God has a plan for it. Every head bowed and every eye closed. If you want to give your life to Jesus and maybe it's happening for the first time, when I count to three, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand.

If you are here today and you have given your life to Christ and, but you haven't lived Christian life, you know these things, but it's been you've been so far from Christ, so far from practicing living your Christian life and today you would like to return to your faith.

I'm going to ask you to raise your hand as well. So, if you're in one of these two categories, when I count to three, I'm going to ask you to slip that hand high. Don't let religious pride, oh but you know, I'm a Catholic. My mom, you know, dedicated me.

Oh, but you know, I'm a good person. Don't let that hold you back. You're good enough to stay out of Benton County jail. You're not good enough to go to heaven. If you would have been good enough, God wouldn't send his son to die on the cross. Don't let this thing I got confirmed when I was 13.

The question isn't what the priest did to you. The question is not what happened as some religious summer camp when you were 13. The question is where do you stand with God now? Seven years has been since you walked with Christ. Today is the time to come back.

Today it's time to come back. One, two, three. Just lift the hand high. If you say, this is me, Vlad. This is me. Hands going all over this room. And some of you came with your kids. Some of you came with your parents. And you would say, what will they think?

You know what they will think? That you're following Jesus. It's the best decision you can make in your life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you raised their hand or you wanted to raise that hand, I'm going to ask you to do something that is very bold, but it's very important.

I'm going to ask you to step out of your seat and come stand here with me right now. I want to pray with you. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. If you're watching us on live stream, you can comment in the chat and say, I want to be saved.

I want to return to Jesus. You can comment there below. God bless you. Come. Come. Doesn't matter how old, how young you are, how long you've been in church, or if it's your first time. Come, come, come. Some of you brought a friend, some of you brought a family member.

You come with them and you say, Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. This is the day we're going to get closer together when we get together with one faith. Some of you here, your family member has been praying for you, for you to come to a service like this and to hear message as clear as you possibly can so that your heart will turn to the Lord.

It's time to respond to God. It's time to not just look at the chair and say, I believe the facts. It will hold me. You know, I choose to stand. It's time to choose to trust in Jesus Christ. Experience forgiveness of your sins. Experience the power of freedom from your sin and hope for the future.

Those of you who are here and watching us online church would you pray together with them? Guys, I want you to stretch your hands like this. Say this out loud with me. Say, Lord Jesus Christ, I believe. You are the Son of God who died on that cross, for all of my sins.

You were buried. You took my old life to that grave. And You rose again. To give me new life. I believe in You. I trust in You. And I ask you. Would You wash me with your precious blood? I repent for what I did. How I lived. I give you my life.

All of it. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I want to walk in the power of Your resurrection. Sin has no power over me. I walk in the Holy Spirit. And right now, I acknowledge the promise of renewed earth of your second coming of resurrection of my own body.

That promise I hold dear in Jesus name. Amen.