April 17, 2025 • 23 mins
What comes to mind when you think of Easter? Colorful eggs, chocolate bunnies, family meals, pastel decorations? While these traditions create cherished memories, Easter's profound spiritual significance often gets overshadowed by its festive trappings.
Debbie and Greg Gold, our mother-son hosting team, take us on a journey from Genesis to Resurrection Sunday, unpacking Easter's true meaning. They begin by sharing their personal "highlights of the week" - Greg giving away his cherished Olive Garden breadsticks to someone in need and Debbie volunteering at a church Easter egg hunt where she witnessed pure joy on children's faces. These stories set the stage for a conversation about generosity, gratitude, and perspective.
The Golds then dive into the biblical foundation of Easter, tracing it back to humanity's separation from God in the Garden of Eden. They explain how Jesus's ministry, death on Good Friday, and resurrection three days later fulfilled God's redemption plan. Through a thoughtful exploration of scripture, particularly John 3:16, they illuminate Easter's core message: God's extraordinary love prompted the ultimate sacrifice, offering forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.
What makes this episode special is how the Golds balance theological depth with relatable warmth. They share family Easter traditions while emphasizing the holiday's spiritual significance. For those seeking deeper understanding or those curious about Christianity's central celebration, this conversation offers clarity without judgment.
Whether you're a longtime believer or simply curious about Easter's religious significance, this episode provides both insight and invitation. As Debbie beautifully puts it, "God is not mad at you, he is mad about you." The discussion concludes with a simple prayer for those ready to begin or renew their spiritual journey.
Ready to see Easter with fresh eyes? Listen now, and discover why this 2,000-year-old event still transforms lives today. Share this episode with someone who might need its message of hope and connection.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, this is Debbie and Greg Gold mother and son
team and you are listening tothe you Are Not Alone podcast,
where we are going to navigatelife together.
Navigate life together.
Hello listeners, today isepisode three of our season two
(00:34):
and we do with Easter.
It's just around the corner,right, greg?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's coming up quick.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it's.
In the next couple of days wewant to talk about what is the
true meaning of easter, butbefore we jump into that, let's
talk about our highlights of theweek, greg all righty, you want
to go first or me go ahead, allrighty.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Uh, so I was driving, I don't know where I was, I was
coming back from something, andI see this guy oh that's right,
no, we, we had Olive Gardenthat day and I was like I was
driving home and I saved thebreadsticks because those were
always really good, you know.
And I see this this guy on thestreet and he has a sign.
(01:15):
That was like it was a reallypowerful message and I really
liked it.
Oh gosh, do you recall what itwas?
It was like united by God, um,determined by faith, or like
some, like really nice messageyeah.
Nice for, yeah, for him, and Igave him the bread sticks and I
found some a bag of Cheetos inmy car too, and I saw those in
(01:38):
your car.
Yeah, they're gone now and, uh,his face lit up like a light
bulb so I just felt super goodabout that.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So there's my highlight of the week, so I
remember us sitting there, andthe only thing that was left
over were the two breadsticksbecause I didn't have any and I
remember you going oh, I betthese would be really good in
the air fryer, so you werereally looking forward to coming
home and trying those in theair fryer and you're.
That's really you know.
(02:05):
That makes me proud.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I'm well also like it just for a grown man to accept
something from a younger kid ina car, and it just the whole
ride home.
I realized how blessed I was,because I wasn't feeling that
good that day it was kind oflike a crappy day, I guess, and
the whole time home I was likethinking I have a roof over my
head, I have a car, I have cleanfeet or clean food, clean feet,
(02:28):
sure, clean feet.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, I don't know if I'd go that far.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, just saying but yeah, that felt really good,
awesome.
So what's your highlight of theweek?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Highlight of the week for me was Definitely hands
down.
City Reach.
Our church, does a big Easteregg hunt at the H-E-B Center
here in Cedar Park and I signedup to help with registration.
So I was registering andgetting the kids and the parents
(02:57):
registered in and it was soawesome.
I got to see all thesebeautiful children of all ages
and some of the girls weredressed in the cutest little
Easter outfits.
Yeah, and one little girl hadher Christmas outfit on.
So you know, maybe theycouldn't afford a you know cause
.
You'll think of pastels andpretty things like that for
Easter and more red.
It was definitely a red dress,but you know the the confidence
(03:20):
she had with that.
Or you know this one little boygoes I had gotten.
When we checked in asvolunteers, you got a red
T-shirt that says how can I helpyou, and then bunny ears if you
wanted to wear them.
Well, I took the bunny ears,but I had my faith hat baseball
cap on.
Faith over fear.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And so I just stuck them in my little bag under the
table and this one little boygoes.
You end up in seven or eight, Ican't remember he goes.
I wish I had some bunny ears, Igo.
Well, wishes do come true.
And I reached down and grabbedmy bunny ears and I gave them to
him, and then look on his facewas just priceless and just in
awe and shock and oh my gosh, Icouldn't you know like he
(04:01):
couldn't believe it was that onesaying it's like?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
it's the little things in life, yeah like, yeah
it?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
was so, so awesome and it was really cool too.
They had egg hunt um area forthe big kids it was like 200 000
eggs, right that they stuffed.
Yes, yeah it's pretty big dealand then and they had another
area for the theles like aboutfive and under maybe six or
seven and under, and it was justreally, it was just a gift to
(04:30):
be able to walk around and seeeveryone so happy and the little
kids just full of joy.
And then after a certain while,I mean, people were kind of
slowly coming in and so Istarted walking around and then
I'd come back to the table andif someone was wanting to get
signed in and there were plentyof us there, so I'd come back to
the table and if someone waswanting to get signed in and I'd
look there were plenty of usthere, so I'd say, okay, are you
signed in, you ready to go?
And then I'd say, you want, letme take you to the Easter egg
(04:51):
area for you, like the littlekids.
So just, I wouldn't ask, Iwould just say let me take you
to the Easter.
Oh sure, that would be great.
And you know, I don't know, itwas just a beautiful day in so
many ways.
And, um, steve Weatherford, hewas the one that gave the major
talk.
He's an NFL player, punter, hewas a punter.
And now he's Christian first.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Oh, steve, that was the guy that talked at our
church that one time, right, Ibelieve.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
He has spoken at our church.
Yeah, that name soundedfamiliar, so you brought that up
.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I'm like wait a minute yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He's a speaker and an entrepreneur and he's got six
children.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
He has six kids Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And he was given autographs and I was standing
there thinking I'm going to getan autograph on my little name
badge and then I had it aroundmy neck and this boy must have
been maybe that age and, um,he's like Steve signed it on his
sleeve of his, his t-shirt.
I am never washing this shirt,it's just so so adorable.
(05:56):
And um, and so, anyways, nice tomeet Steve.
Um, I've seen him preach at thechurch, but um, anyway, so yeah
, it was.
That was my highlight.
There were so many beautifulthings coming out of spending
five hours of my day serving.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Uh, priceless.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I slept in that day and I was like.
I saw it in the.
I saw on city reaches Instagram.
I was like, wait Easter eggtomorrow.
And then woke up and I sawyou're gone.
I'm like, oh, she's probablyvolunteering with the Easter egg
thing and yeah yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It was beautiful.
Okay, let's talk about Easter.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Easter Easter, easter Easter.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Greg, tell me, what is Easter, what?
What is the meaning of Easter?
Oh, what are your thoughts?
What do you think of?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Easter bunny?
Obviously those big chocolateEaster bunnies too.
That sometimes you used to giveme those and I don't think I
ever finish them because it'sjust so much chocolate.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Especially the solid ones, correct?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, the solid milk chocolate ones.
Yeah, yeah, bright colors wewere just talking about.
Do you have anything to wearfor church this Sunday?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Uh-huh, I'm like, I think I do.
They're like pastels.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Mm-hmm.
Pastels, that's what you callthem, the bright pinks, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The pretty blues.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And then I just saw you got a ham in the fridge too.
I did Mm-hmm, that's going tobe good Egg coloring, easter
baskets that was my favorite.
Family meals, gift giving andjust Easter decorations lots of
Easter eggs.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I love to decorate Bright colors and stuff so
bunnies everywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, and those are things that I think we do, and
it creates traditions infamilies right.
And they're just traditions areso wonderful because we later
in life we can go like me as aparent.
Oh, we did this and I rememberme and my sister, or my sister
and I sitting on the couch.
(07:45):
I said to correct that um,sitting on the couch, um with
our little Easter baskets, andmy mom would always dress us in
the same dresses oh, yeah, likematching matching oh cool so we
were like two years apart.
so then what would happen,though, is so we would grow out
of our dresses, but I would getLinda's dresses as a hand
hand-me-down, so I really nevergot new dresses, they were just.
(08:06):
I had to wear the same dressbasically for like four years or
something, so I wore out mysize and then I had to get her
size.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, hand me down, hand me down, so
yeah you know, not just a familywith um, not just a family with
Low tradition.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, just very low middle class, low middle class,
and yeah, that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
My favorite thing as a kid was just finding the
Easter basket, because you wouldalways hide it.
So, and you'd hide it good.
I mean it'd be either behind adoor, in a closet, like in a
drawer sometimes, yeah, it'd beall over the house.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It'd be like hit really hidden.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Good, so you put in high places, low places, so that
was always fun finding it andthen seeing what I got every
year so different assortments oflike toys and chocolate and
candy.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So yeah, and then I remember doing the easter egg
hunts.
We'd gather some of theneighbor kids and I'd go outside
and plant the eggs outside, andthen there would always be
money in there.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know toys and candy, but some would have like
just maybe quarters and dimes.
And then there'd be maybe onewith a five, and then maybe a 10
and a 20.
And it was always who's goingto get the big one right?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, who's going to get the $20.
It was so fun.
Yeah, I loved it.
That was our tradition.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, so anyway, I'm hoping we can either give you
ideas for your traditions or Iknow you have some of your own
too.
But yeah, traditions are good,but what is the true meaning of
Easter is really what we'regoing to talk about today.
Easter is really what we'regoing to talk about today, and
(09:50):
it is not the, as Christmas isthe birth of Christ.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Easter is more about the resurrection yes, or the
death and the resurrection yes.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So Good Friday is the day that he sat on the cross
for six hours in agony and pain.
He sat on the cross for sixhours in agony and pain and then
on the third day he rose again,which would be Sunday,
resurrection Sunday.
That's what we call it.
So yeah, two of my mostfavorite holidays, for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Christmas and Easter.
Yeah, Easter always felt like areally bright.
Well, yeah, it is a brightholiday for me.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I mean all the eggs and the colorful colors, a kid.
It was one of my favorites, soyeah, and typically for our time
of year.
Here, our trees are budding,and this is march.
And april are my two of myfavorite months because you can
be outside and do things withoutthe heat bearing down on you,
and yeah, it's not like 90degrees all the time, yeah, so
yeah, which hopefully I'm out ofhere, that we're out of here
this summer.
We'll see how that goes, yeah,anyway.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So I don't know what else should we say about easter
I don't know why don't we justset the stage by like starting
out with what happens in genesis?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
that's a good idea yeah because it's so.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Obviously.
It's the first book of theBible where the beginning of
creation is reported, and herewe find the account of God
creating Adam and Eve in theGarden of Eden.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And what did God tell them not to do?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Oh, don't eat fruit from the knowledge, from the
tree of the knowledge of evil.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah from the tree of the knowledge of evil?
Yeah, because he.
There's also a tree of life,which is what if we um embrace
that?
We are embracing god and whatit says in the bible and trying
to live our life?
Surrender, surrounded aroundhim, yeah or surrendering to, I
think, you almost said it.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, and I think that's a perfect, a perfect
thing to say um and in genesis 2, 16 through 17, I mean, it says
you are free to eat from anytree in the garden, but you must
not eat from the tree of theknowledge of good and evil, for
when you eat from it you willcertainly die.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So yeah, and then adam was a perfect yeah, because
I don't think god meant you'regoing to die.
But what happened was Well, sinwas created.
Sin was created.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Directly disobeyed God Right.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And so, with sin being created now, the only way
to have eternal life is Is to gothrough Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So, and that's what Christians believe and um
eventually, they were temptedinto eating uh, eating the fruit
from the tree.
And at that very moment,humanity was corrupted by sin
and separated from God.
So that's the beginning, so, ohso, as I said earlier, humanity
(12:40):
became separated from God whenAdam and Eve ate the fruit.
Then Jesus was born and died onthe cross so that we would have
a way to God once again.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Mm-hmm so.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
During Christ's ministry here on earth, he
preached the gospel of thekingdom of God and made claims
that he was the son of God.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Right.
So you know he was on earth forwhat?
33 years 33 years.
Yes names that he was the sonof god, right?
So you know he was on earth forwhat?
33 years, 33 years, yes, so his, his whole thing was, you know,
talking about him being the sonof god, but you know that he
was the son of god and a lot ofa lot of things in the new
testament that are talked aboutare, are mentioned and set up to
this time when jesus is bornand, you know, walks through his
(13:21):
life and dies at 33.
But, yeah, when he was on theearth, you know doing all his
things and traveling around, heperformed miracles.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
A lot of them.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, as proof that he was the Messiah.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Son of God, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
You know, some of those were like he used five
loaves of bread and two fish tofeed 5,000 people, so he just
multiplied all that.
His resurrection from the deadright.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
We're celebrating this weekend here Lots of
healing too, like healing theblind man and then healing the
man who couldn't walk as well,or leprosy.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I remember that one too, reading scripture on that
for sure.
Yeah, so anyways.
Uh, some chose to follow jesus,and others challenge his claims
, calling them radical.
Um, then, eventually, theromans arrested jesus, and for
his preaching and his claimsthat he was the son of God, and
then he was sentenced tocrucifixion.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So again, like we mentioned, that was on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
In Scripture Matthew 27, verse 45, says From noon
until three in the afternoon,darkness came over the land.
Jesus died at 3 PM that Friday.
His body was wrapped in a cleanlinen cloth and placed in a
tomb that had been cut out ofrock.
A big stone was rolled in frontof the entrance to the tomb.
And then on the third day, orthat Sunday, it's in the morning
(14:59):
there were two women that wentto visit the tomb and found that
the stone had been rolled awayand the tomb was empty.
The women wondered if the bodyof Jesus had been moved or
stolen.
And then in Luke 24, verses 4through 7, it says this while
they were there well, I'm sorrywhile they were wondering about
(15:21):
this, suddenly two men inclothes that claimed to like
wait that, wait sorry.
Two men in wait reset reset.
Two men in clothes that gleamedlike lightning Hello, thank you
.
God stood beside them and intheir fright, the women bowed
(15:42):
down with their faces to theground.
But the men said to them why doyou look for the living among
the dead?
He is not here.
He has risen.
Remember how he told you whilehe was still with you in Galilee
the son of man must bedelivered over to the hands of
sinners, be crucified, and onthe third day.
(16:04):
So again it goes back to thembeing warned.
A lot of things in the Biblethat happened earlier on were
stated and nobody really knewwhat was going to happen, but
these are all the things thatare now coming to fruition in
the New Testament.
So Jesus' resurrection provedhis claims and provided final
(16:31):
and undeniable proof that he wasthe Son of God.
So that was just anothermiracle.
How does that happen?
Right, it had to be a miracle.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So that's the Easter story.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That is the Easter story in a little nutshell.
I think that, yeah, it's allabout the traditions and the
things that we do with ourfamilies, but we really had to
remember the real reason for theseason, as we say for Christmas
.
It was about Jesus dying for usso that we could have
(17:09):
forgiveness of our sins andeternal life in heaven and be
with God once again.
So, going back to that Adam andEve, where there was that break
and you will surely die, therewas that break and you will
surely die to, if you justaccept Christ into your heart,
you will have once again.
When you your time on thisearth has ended, you will have
eternal life in heaven.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I go.
And one of the most famous andwell-known verses in the Bible
is John, chapter three, 16,which reads can I?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
can I interject?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
here yeah what.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, so if if you're like new to christianity or you
know you're, this would be thea perfect um bible verse to
memorizing.
We talk a lot about memorizingverses so that when in
situations, we can pull, pullscripture into our mind and say
it out loud to help us getthrough a situation.
So but this because this is oneof the most famous ones if you
(18:04):
would take some time to memorizeit, it would be beneficial.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah.
So God so loved the world thathe gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in himshall not perish but have
eternal life.
So for God to love the world.
I mean God loves all of us.
Yeah, the obvious is love isthere for.
I mean God loves all of us.
Yeah, the obvious is love isthere for us, for the taking,
and it's unconditional.
He loves each of us equally, nomatter what we've done in our
past or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So that's like he doesn't care about that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
That's what a lot of people are, like, you know
afraid of religion orChristianity or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, they think they're not good enough, or they
think I've done this and this,so I want to say that this is
such a good little phrase Iheard recently.
You know, god is not mad at you, he is mad about you.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Isn't that great.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Then he gave his one and only son.
God gave the most preciousthing he could give son Jesus.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Sent.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Jesus to live on the earth and then, 33 years later,
to pass on the cross and thenrise again.
That whoever believes in him.
In order to benefit from God'slove the love that is there for
our taking we have to believe inJesus and accept him into our
hearts then shall not perish buthave eternal life.
When we leave our time here onearth, we will then go on to
(19:20):
live eternally in heaven.
So this scripture- teaches usabout.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I just want to say, greg, that was a great little
breakdown and unpacking of thescripture John 3, verse 16.
Thank you for that.
I appreciate that.
Okay, so Scripture teaches usthat the endless love God
demonstrates by sacrificing hisone and only begotten son, jesus
(19:49):
, for our salvation of mankind,and that anyone who believes in
his son will not perish but haveeternal life.
And that just makes me soexcited.
I've been walking my walk withChrist for 20 years and my life
yeah, life isn't easy, but lifeis better because I have a
(20:09):
relationship with Jesus and, um,I wouldn't have it any other
way.
So I just want to encourageeveryone to consider opening
your heart, to, uh, acceptingChrist into your heart, so that
you can be forgiven, forgivenessof your sins, have a fresh
start and look what God's goingto do for you.
(20:30):
It's it's going to be amazing, Ipromise.
But uh, your walk reallystarted when you were about was
in 14.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So you would have been about 11.
Well, I was.
2014 was when you got baptized?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I was 12 actually, I believe.
Okay, so, yeah, yeah, so, um, Iknow you've seen your life
change in ways you've grown thatyou maybe oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean, I can't speak for you, but oh, I knew I
wanted to be baptized from ayoung age.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
So I loved it so.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'll never forget that moment.
So okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So Christ died on the cross so that we could be
forgiven of our sins and haveeternal life.
I think we've beaten that point.
You know whatever, but whoknows?
You really maybe can't say itenough, but this is a gift, and
if you want this for yourselfand you are ready to receive
Christ into your heart right now, we want to say this simple
prayer for you and we'll say afew words and then you can
(21:25):
repeat it to yourself.
Put your hand on your heart.
And did you want to say it,greg?
You can say it if you want.
Okay, father God, I love you.
I want to get to know youbetter and live by your ways.
Thank you, jesus, for dying onthe cross so that I could be
(21:46):
forgiven of my sins and haveeternal life in heaven.
Please forgive me of my sins,come into my heart.
I receive you as my Lord andSavior and in the name of Jesus
I pray.
Amen, all right, well, congrats.
If you um said that prayer.
(22:06):
I want to wish you all a veryblessed and a happy Easter, no
matter where you are in yourwalk with Christ.
Um, go check out our website,debbieandgreggoldcom, also the
um the website website.
You'll have a PDF download ofmy first Bible study I've
(22:27):
written, which is all aboutgetting started with your
personal relationship with JesusChrist, whether if you're a new
believer or you are a believerbut you really don't know what
that means.
This would be a good time foryou to take a look at that.
You can download it for $9.99.
Um, anything else, greg, onyour end that you would like to
(22:48):
share Y'all?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
have a happy Easter.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Visit our website.
Visit the website Listen to uson Apple podcasts.
We're on.
We're on a lot of things rightnow.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So we're growing and so, yeah, go ahead and listen in
and share with your people too.
That's how we're going to touchmore people with the love of
Christ, and I guess that's it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I guess so.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
All right, we love you all.
Thank you for listening andwe'll, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We'll talk to you next time.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yes, there you go.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
All right.
Hello, this is Debbie and Greg Gold mother and son
team and you are listening tothe you Are Not Alone podcast,
where we are going to navigatelife together.
Navigate life together.
Hello listeners, today isepisode three of our season two
(00:34):
and we do with Easter.
It's just around the corner,right, greg?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's coming up quick.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it's.
In the next couple of days wewant to talk about what is the
true meaning of easter, butbefore we jump into that, let's
talk about our highlights of theweek, greg all righty, you want
to go first or me go ahead, allrighty.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Uh, so I was driving, I don't know where I was, I was
coming back from something, andI see this guy oh that's right,
no, we, we had Olive Gardenthat day and I was like I was
driving home and I saved thebreadsticks because those were
always really good, you know.
And I see this this guy on thestreet and he has a sign.
(01:15):
That was like it was a reallypowerful message and I really
liked it.
Oh gosh, do you recall what itwas?
It was like united by God, um,determined by faith, or like
some, like really nice messageyeah.
Nice for, yeah, for him, and Igave him the bread sticks and I
found some a bag of Cheetos inmy car too, and I saw those in
(01:38):
your car.
Yeah, they're gone now and, uh,his face lit up like a light
bulb so I just felt super goodabout that.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So there's my highlight of the week, so I
remember us sitting there, andthe only thing that was left
over were the two breadsticksbecause I didn't have any and I
remember you going oh, I betthese would be really good in
the air fryer, so you werereally looking forward to coming
home and trying those in theair fryer and you're.
That's really you know.
(02:05):
That makes me proud.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I'm well also like it just for a grown man to accept
something from a younger kid ina car, and it just the whole
ride home.
I realized how blessed I was,because I wasn't feeling that
good that day it was kind oflike a crappy day, I guess, and
the whole time home I was likethinking I have a roof over my
head, I have a car, I have cleanfeet or clean food, clean feet,
(02:28):
sure, clean feet.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, I don't know if I'd go that far.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, just saying but yeah, that felt really good,
awesome.
So what's your highlight of theweek?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Highlight of the week for me was Definitely hands
down.
City Reach.
Our church, does a big Easteregg hunt at the H-E-B Center
here in Cedar Park and I signedup to help with registration.
So I was registering andgetting the kids and the parents
(02:57):
registered in and it was soawesome.
I got to see all thesebeautiful children of all ages
and some of the girls weredressed in the cutest little
Easter outfits.
Yeah, and one little girl hadher Christmas outfit on.
So you know, maybe theycouldn't afford a you know cause
.
You'll think of pastels andpretty things like that for
Easter and more red.
It was definitely a red dress,but you know the the confidence
(03:20):
she had with that.
Or you know this one little boygoes I had gotten.
When we checked in asvolunteers, you got a red
T-shirt that says how can I helpyou, and then bunny ears if you
wanted to wear them.
Well, I took the bunny ears,but I had my faith hat baseball
cap on.
Faith over fear.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And so I just stuck them in my little bag under the
table and this one little boygoes.
You end up in seven or eight, Ican't remember he goes.
I wish I had some bunny ears, Igo.
Well, wishes do come true.
And I reached down and grabbedmy bunny ears and I gave them to
him, and then look on his facewas just priceless and just in
awe and shock and oh my gosh, Icouldn't you know like he
(04:01):
couldn't believe it was that onesaying it's like?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
it's the little things in life, yeah like, yeah
it?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
was so, so awesome and it was really cool too.
They had egg hunt um area forthe big kids it was like 200 000
eggs, right that they stuffed.
Yes, yeah it's pretty big dealand then and they had another
area for the theles like aboutfive and under maybe six or
seven and under, and it was justreally, it was just a gift to
(04:30):
be able to walk around and seeeveryone so happy and the little
kids just full of joy.
And then after a certain while,I mean, people were kind of
slowly coming in and so Istarted walking around and then
I'd come back to the table andif someone was wanting to get
signed in and there were plentyof us there, so I'd come back to
the table and if someone waswanting to get signed in and I'd
look there were plenty of usthere, so I'd say, okay, are you
signed in, you ready to go?
And then I'd say, you want, letme take you to the Easter egg
(04:51):
area for you, like the littlekids.
So just, I wouldn't ask, Iwould just say let me take you
to the Easter.
Oh sure, that would be great.
And you know, I don't know, itwas just a beautiful day in so
many ways.
And, um, steve Weatherford, hewas the one that gave the major
talk.
He's an NFL player, punter, hewas a punter.
And now he's Christian first.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Oh, steve, that was the guy that talked at our
church that one time, right, Ibelieve.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
He has spoken at our church.
Yeah, that name soundedfamiliar, so you brought that up
.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I'm like wait a minute yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He's a speaker and an entrepreneur and he's got six
children.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
He has six kids Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And he was given autographs and I was standing
there thinking I'm going to getan autograph on my little name
badge and then I had it aroundmy neck and this boy must have
been maybe that age and, um,he's like Steve signed it on his
sleeve of his, his t-shirt.
I am never washing this shirt,it's just so so adorable.
(05:56):
And um, and so, anyways, nice tomeet Steve.
Um, I've seen him preach at thechurch, but um, anyway, so yeah
, it was.
That was my highlight.
There were so many beautifulthings coming out of spending
five hours of my day serving.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Uh, priceless.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I slept in that day and I was like.
I saw it in the.
I saw on city reaches Instagram.
I was like, wait Easter eggtomorrow.
And then woke up and I sawyou're gone.
I'm like, oh, she's probablyvolunteering with the Easter egg
thing and yeah yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It was beautiful.
Okay, let's talk about Easter.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Easter Easter, easter Easter.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Greg, tell me, what is Easter, what?
What is the meaning of Easter?
Oh, what are your thoughts?
What do you think of?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Easter bunny?
Obviously those big chocolateEaster bunnies too.
That sometimes you used to giveme those and I don't think I
ever finish them because it'sjust so much chocolate.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Especially the solid ones, correct?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, the solid milk chocolate ones.
Yeah, yeah, bright colors wewere just talking about.
Do you have anything to wearfor church this Sunday?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Uh-huh, I'm like, I think I do.
They're like pastels.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Mm-hmm.
Pastels, that's what you callthem, the bright pinks, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The pretty blues.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And then I just saw you got a ham in the fridge too.
I did Mm-hmm, that's going tobe good Egg coloring, easter
baskets that was my favorite.
Family meals, gift giving andjust Easter decorations lots of
Easter eggs.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I love to decorate Bright colors and stuff so
bunnies everywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, and those are things that I think we do, and
it creates traditions infamilies right.
And they're just traditions areso wonderful because we later
in life we can go like me as aparent.
Oh, we did this and I rememberme and my sister, or my sister
and I sitting on the couch.
(07:45):
I said to correct that um,sitting on the couch, um with
our little Easter baskets, andmy mom would always dress us in
the same dresses oh, yeah, likematching matching oh cool so we
were like two years apart.
so then what would happen,though, is so we would grow out
of our dresses, but I would getLinda's dresses as a hand
hand-me-down, so I really nevergot new dresses, they were just.
(08:06):
I had to wear the same dressbasically for like four years or
something, so I wore out mysize and then I had to get her
size.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, hand me down, hand me down, so
yeah you know, not just a familywith um, not just a family with
Low tradition.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, just very low middle class, low middle class,
and yeah, that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
My favorite thing as a kid was just finding the
Easter basket, because you wouldalways hide it.
So, and you'd hide it good.
I mean it'd be either behind adoor, in a closet, like in a
drawer sometimes, yeah, it'd beall over the house.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It'd be like hit really hidden.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Good, so you put in high places, low places, so that
was always fun finding it andthen seeing what I got every
year so different assortments oflike toys and chocolate and
candy.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So yeah, and then I remember doing the easter egg
hunts.
We'd gather some of theneighbor kids and I'd go outside
and plant the eggs outside, andthen there would always be
money in there.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know toys and candy, but some would have like
just maybe quarters and dimes.
And then there'd be maybe onewith a five, and then maybe a 10
and a 20.
And it was always who's goingto get the big one right?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, who's going to get the $20.
It was so fun.
Yeah, I loved it.
That was our tradition.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, so anyway, I'm hoping we can either give you
ideas for your traditions or Iknow you have some of your own
too.
But yeah, traditions are good,but what is the true meaning of
Easter is really what we'regoing to talk about today.
Easter is really what we'regoing to talk about today, and
(09:50):
it is not the, as Christmas isthe birth of Christ.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Easter is more about the resurrection yes, or the
death and the resurrection yes.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So Good Friday is the day that he sat on the cross
for six hours in agony and pain.
He sat on the cross for sixhours in agony and pain and then
on the third day he rose again,which would be Sunday,
resurrection Sunday.
That's what we call it.
So yeah, two of my mostfavorite holidays, for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Christmas and Easter.
Yeah, Easter always felt like areally bright.
Well, yeah, it is a brightholiday for me.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I mean all the eggs and the colorful colors, a kid.
It was one of my favorites, soyeah, and typically for our time
of year.
Here, our trees are budding,and this is march.
And april are my two of myfavorite months because you can
be outside and do things withoutthe heat bearing down on you,
and yeah, it's not like 90degrees all the time, yeah, so
yeah, which hopefully I'm out ofhere, that we're out of here
this summer.
We'll see how that goes, yeah,anyway.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So I don't know what else should we say about easter
I don't know why don't we justset the stage by like starting
out with what happens in genesis?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
that's a good idea yeah because it's so.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Obviously.
It's the first book of theBible where the beginning of
creation is reported, and herewe find the account of God
creating Adam and Eve in theGarden of Eden.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And what did God tell them not to do?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Oh, don't eat fruit from the knowledge, from the
tree of the knowledge of evil.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah from the tree of the knowledge of evil?
Yeah, because he.
There's also a tree of life,which is what if we um embrace
that?
We are embracing god and whatit says in the bible and trying
to live our life?
Surrender, surrounded aroundhim, yeah or surrendering to, I
think, you almost said it.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, and I think that's a perfect, a perfect
thing to say um and in genesis 2, 16 through 17, I mean, it says
you are free to eat from anytree in the garden, but you must
not eat from the tree of theknowledge of good and evil, for
when you eat from it you willcertainly die.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So yeah, and then adam was a perfect yeah, because
I don't think god meant you'regoing to die.
But what happened was Well, sinwas created.
Sin was created.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Directly disobeyed God Right.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
And so, with sin being created now, the only way
to have eternal life is Is to gothrough Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So, and that's what Christians believe and um
eventually, they were temptedinto eating uh, eating the fruit
from the tree.
And at that very moment,humanity was corrupted by sin
and separated from God.
So that's the beginning, so, ohso, as I said earlier, humanity
(12:40):
became separated from God whenAdam and Eve ate the fruit.
Then Jesus was born and died onthe cross so that we would have
a way to God once again.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Mm-hmm so.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
During Christ's ministry here on earth, he
preached the gospel of thekingdom of God and made claims
that he was the son of God.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Right.
So you know he was on earth forwhat?
33 years 33 years.
Yes names that he was the sonof god, right?
So you know he was on earth forwhat?
33 years, 33 years, yes, so his, his whole thing was, you know,
talking about him being the sonof god, but you know that he
was the son of god and a lot ofa lot of things in the new
testament that are talked aboutare, are mentioned and set up to
this time when jesus is bornand, you know, walks through his
(13:21):
life and dies at 33.
But, yeah, when he was on theearth, you know doing all his
things and traveling around, heperformed miracles.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
A lot of them.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, as proof that he was the Messiah.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Son of God, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
You know, some of those were like he used five
loaves of bread and two fish tofeed 5,000 people, so he just
multiplied all that.
His resurrection from the deadright.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
We're celebrating this weekend here Lots of
healing too, like healing theblind man and then healing the
man who couldn't walk as well,or leprosy.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I remember that one too, reading scripture on that
for sure.
Yeah, so anyways.
Uh, some chose to follow jesus,and others challenge his claims
, calling them radical.
Um, then, eventually, theromans arrested jesus, and for
his preaching and his claimsthat he was the son of God, and
then he was sentenced tocrucifixion.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So again, like we mentioned, that was on a Friday.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
In Scripture Matthew 27, verse 45, says From noon
until three in the afternoon,darkness came over the land.
Jesus died at 3 PM that Friday.
His body was wrapped in a cleanlinen cloth and placed in a
tomb that had been cut out ofrock.
A big stone was rolled in frontof the entrance to the tomb.
And then on the third day, orthat Sunday, it's in the morning
(14:59):
there were two women that wentto visit the tomb and found that
the stone had been rolled awayand the tomb was empty.
The women wondered if the bodyof Jesus had been moved or
stolen.
And then in Luke 24, verses 4through 7, it says this while
they were there well, I'm sorrywhile they were wondering about
(15:21):
this, suddenly two men inclothes that claimed to like
wait that, wait sorry.
Two men in wait reset reset.
Two men in clothes that gleamedlike lightning Hello, thank you
.
God stood beside them and intheir fright, the women bowed
(15:42):
down with their faces to theground.
But the men said to them why doyou look for the living among
the dead?
He is not here.
He has risen.
Remember how he told you whilehe was still with you in Galilee
the son of man must bedelivered over to the hands of
sinners, be crucified, and onthe third day.
(16:04):
So again it goes back to thembeing warned.
A lot of things in the Biblethat happened earlier on were
stated and nobody really knewwhat was going to happen, but
these are all the things thatare now coming to fruition in
the New Testament.
So Jesus' resurrection provedhis claims and provided final
(16:31):
and undeniable proof that he wasthe Son of God.
So that was just anothermiracle.
How does that happen?
Right, it had to be a miracle.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So that's the Easter story.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That is the Easter story in a little nutshell.
I think that, yeah, it's allabout the traditions and the
things that we do with ourfamilies, but we really had to
remember the real reason for theseason, as we say for Christmas
.
It was about Jesus dying for usso that we could have
(17:09):
forgiveness of our sins andeternal life in heaven and be
with God once again.
So, going back to that Adam andEve, where there was that break
and you will surely die, therewas that break and you will
surely die to, if you justaccept Christ into your heart,
you will have once again.
When you your time on thisearth has ended, you will have
eternal life in heaven.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I go.
And one of the most famous andwell-known verses in the Bible
is John, chapter three, 16,which reads can I?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
can I interject?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
here yeah what.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, so if if you're like new to christianity or you
know you're, this would be thea perfect um bible verse to
memorizing.
We talk a lot about memorizingverses so that when in
situations, we can pull, pullscripture into our mind and say
it out loud to help us getthrough a situation.
So but this because this is oneof the most famous ones if you
(18:04):
would take some time to memorizeit, it would be beneficial.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah.
So God so loved the world thathe gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in himshall not perish but have
eternal life.
So for God to love the world.
I mean God loves all of us.
Yeah, the obvious is love isthere for.
I mean God loves all of us.
Yeah, the obvious is love isthere for us, for the taking,
and it's unconditional.
He loves each of us equally, nomatter what we've done in our
past or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So that's like he doesn't care about that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
That's what a lot of people are, like, you know
afraid of religion orChristianity or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, they think they're not good enough, or they
think I've done this and this,so I want to say that this is
such a good little phrase Iheard recently.
You know, god is not mad at you, he is mad about you.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Isn't that great.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Then he gave his one and only son.
God gave the most preciousthing he could give son Jesus.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Sent.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Jesus to live on the earth and then, 33 years later,
to pass on the cross and thenrise again.
That whoever believes in him.
In order to benefit from God'slove the love that is there for
our taking we have to believe inJesus and accept him into our
hearts then shall not perish buthave eternal life.
When we leave our time here onearth, we will then go on to
(19:20):
live eternally in heaven.
So this scripture- teaches usabout.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I just want to say, greg, that was a great little
breakdown and unpacking of thescripture John 3, verse 16.
Thank you for that.
I appreciate that.
Okay, so Scripture teaches usthat the endless love God
demonstrates by sacrificing hisone and only begotten son, jesus
(19:49):
, for our salvation of mankind,and that anyone who believes in
his son will not perish but haveeternal life.
And that just makes me soexcited.
I've been walking my walk withChrist for 20 years and my life
yeah, life isn't easy, but lifeis better because I have a
(20:09):
relationship with Jesus and, um,I wouldn't have it any other
way.
So I just want to encourageeveryone to consider opening
your heart, to, uh, acceptingChrist into your heart, so that
you can be forgiven, forgivenessof your sins, have a fresh
start and look what God's goingto do for you.
(20:30):
It's it's going to be amazing, Ipromise.
But uh, your walk reallystarted when you were about was
in 14.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So you would have been about 11.
Well, I was.
2014 was when you got baptized?
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I was 12 actually, I believe.
Okay, so, yeah, yeah, so, um, Iknow you've seen your life
change in ways you've grown thatyou maybe oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I mean, I can't speak for you, but oh, I knew I
wanted to be baptized from ayoung age.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
So I loved it so.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'll never forget that moment.
So okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So Christ died on the cross so that we could be
forgiven of our sins and haveeternal life.
I think we've beaten that point.
You know whatever, but whoknows?
You really maybe can't say itenough, but this is a gift, and
if you want this for yourselfand you are ready to receive
Christ into your heart right now, we want to say this simple
prayer for you and we'll say afew words and then you can
(21:25):
repeat it to yourself.
Put your hand on your heart.
And did you want to say it,greg?
You can say it if you want.
Okay, father God, I love you.
I want to get to know youbetter and live by your ways.
Thank you, jesus, for dying onthe cross so that I could be
(21:46):
forgiven of my sins and haveeternal life in heaven.
Please forgive me of my sins,come into my heart.
I receive you as my Lord andSavior and in the name of Jesus
I pray.
Amen, all right, well, congrats.
If you um said that prayer.
(22:06):
I want to wish you all a veryblessed and a happy Easter, no
matter where you are in yourwalk with Christ.
Um, go check out our website,debbieandgreggoldcom, also the
um the website website.
You'll have a PDF download ofmy first Bible study I've
(22:27):
written, which is all aboutgetting started with your
personal relationship with JesusChrist, whether if you're a new
believer or you are a believerbut you really don't know what
that means.
This would be a good time foryou to take a look at that.
You can download it for $9.99.
Um, anything else, greg, onyour end that you would like to
(22:48):
share Y'all?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
have a happy Easter.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Visit our website.
Visit the website Listen to uson Apple podcasts.
We're on.
We're on a lot of things rightnow.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So we're growing and so, yeah, go ahead and listen in
and share with your people too.
That's how we're going to touchmore people with the love of
Christ, and I guess that's it.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I guess so.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
All right, we love you all.
Thank you for listening andwe'll, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
We'll talk to you next time.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yes, there you go.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
All right.
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