April 26, 2025 • 16 mins
This Easter message centers on the foundational truth of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It opens with the global celebration of Easter, highlighting that the church’s power and reach aren’t rooted in tradition, behavior, or even Scripture—but in the empty tomb. The message by Pastor Lonnie dismantles common assumptions by emphasizing that Christianity didn’t start with a book or a movement—it started with a person. Jesus didn’t just teach a message—He was the message. His followers didn’t continue on after His death because of His ideas but because they saw Him alive after the crucifixion. Easter isn’t merely a holiday or a tradition—it’s a personal call to know Jesus, to believe in Him, and to let His resurrection become your own turning point. He is risen. He is the message.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What a day of celebration. Across every continent. In cathedrals
and chapels, in homes, and even in open air fields,
(00:21):
people are lifting their voices in worship today. Why why?
And I'll say why because something happened, Something happened that
(00:42):
was so powerful that it has shaped the course of
human history. And it is also something that is so
radical that it gave birth to a global movement that
(01:04):
we call the Church. But let me start with some
great news. Okay, here's the great news. When we think
of the church. The foundation of the Christian faith is
not Christians. It's not me, I'll disappoint you. It's not
(01:32):
how well we behave historically. We've not always behaved the
best way. So that's not the foundation. So if you're
looking for it in other human beings, you're looking at
the wrong place. The foundation of the Christian faith is
not getting all of your prayers answered. What religion can
(01:54):
I go to and pray through? And which one I
get the most prayers answered? That must be That must
be the one. It has nothing to do with the
prayers you get answered. It's not having every question you
have resolved. Because there is the place for healthy doubt
(02:18):
for good, honest questions. I remember the one disciple said, Lord,
I believe help my unbelief. Right, They're in the Bible.
So I would say, the foundation of the Christian faith,
which is why we are here. It is the empty
(02:40):
two that's the foundation, and it's what we celebrate right here,
right now, on this Easter Sunday. An empty tomb, an
empty tomb. Think about this, Okay, stay with me today.
(03:09):
Regardless of what people are saying about the relevancy of
the local church today, statistically over two and a half
billion people around the globe, two and a half billion,
they are worshiping a Jewish carpenter. Chew on that a
(03:29):
little bit. A Jewish carpenter who never traveled more than
thirty miles from his home, who never led an army,
who never held a political office, who never wrote a book,
and yet one third of the world today calls him Lord.
(03:56):
Think of that? Why? Why? There is no plausible explanation
for that. Accept what we are celebrating today, that is
(04:17):
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, this may be a
surprising fact that I don't think we get our arms
around it as much as we should. And to realize
this and the surprising fact is that for three hundred years,
(04:37):
it's a long time. For three hundred years after Jesus
was crucified, there was no New Testament. Three hundred years,
no one said, like we did this morning, let's turn
into our Bible, in our New Testament to the Gospel
(04:58):
of John, and we're going to read this. Three hundred
years before that, they didn't have Sunday school classes for
over three hundred years. In fact, the phrase New Testament
never even show it up until some two hundred and
fifty years after Jesus died. To me, that's an important
(05:23):
historical reality, and you have to push the question, so
how did this movement, for longer than we were even
a country, survive Roman persecution? How did it outlast empires
and plagues and centuries centuries of opposition? And how are
(05:50):
we gathered here today still proclaiming his name. Mix all
that up in the pot, and we realize that it
wasn't just the message, It was the person. The message
we get in the scriptures, but it's all about the person.
(06:13):
It wasn't because Jesus talked nice ideas or started a revolution.
In fact, Jesus refused to start going and there was
a lot of pressure to start a revolution he was.
(06:37):
The early disciples tried to pit him against the Roman
Empire get involved in that. And what did Jesus say?
His response was, Hey, you give to Caesar what's Caesar's,
but you better give to God what's God. There is
a separation of what is Caesar's and what is God's.
(07:00):
In fact, even Pontia's pilot, they were trying to stack
the deck to get him killed. Pilot. What was his response,
representing the state? He goes, I find no fault with
this man. Okay, So Jesus wasn't trying to overthrow governments
and win an election, or to start a rebellion or
(07:24):
a national religion. So what was his message? It was
himself himself. Jesus didn't teach the message because gang he
was the message. He was a message. And if you
(07:47):
look at this and it just world religions in world's faith,
unlike any religious leader in history. Jesus pointed to himself,
here's what I mean. Jesus didn't say, hey, I want
(08:07):
you to follow my teachings. I gave you a bunch
of parables. I gave you some good stuff. I told
you you'll get love, love, love. I told you all that.
But Jesus didn't say follow my teachings. He said follow
me his words. He didn't say, hey, gang, I want
(08:30):
you to believe my ideas. He said, believe in me.
He didn't come to leave behind a set of principles,
but he came to offer himself himself as the way
(08:55):
and the truth and the life. And guess what when
he died on that Good Friday, the movement it died.
I'm sorry, had died. It was all over. Now have
(09:18):
you noticed, let's go back a few days. He's let's
go back to Friday. Have you noticed that no one
at the cross on Good Friday was thinking, well, Jesus
is dead, but let's keep his teachings alive. No, no,
(09:38):
it wasn't about his teaching. He was the movement. He
was a message. And to push it a little further,
how do we explain that just a few weeks after
(10:00):
Jesus's brutal crucifixion and the disciples, we know they were
hiding in fear. What's going to happen? Now? It took
just a few weeks for his disciples, who had been
hiding in fear, to suddenly, all of a sudden, they're
preaching everywhere, they're public. You couldn't shut them up. Something happened.
(10:28):
They had seen him alive, and their message was clear
and it was simple, and that changed the world. So
what are you going to do about that? What are
we going to do about that? What do we do
(10:51):
about that as a church as individuals who stand before
God individually but also corporately as a body of Christ.
That's what they said in the very streets where Jesus
had been executed, right away, not decades later to kind
(11:14):
of process some things. But the timing was within weeks.
There was a total turnaround in the powerful witness of
the church because something happened and they saw it. They
were not risking their lives for some crazy metaphor. People
(11:36):
don't do that for metaphors. They weren't starting a religion
based on some kind of myth. They saw Jesus alive
and it changed everything. So I would say that the
(11:57):
resurrection is not a footnote. It's the foundation. It is
the foundation, and the reason we're here this morning. Is
it because Jesus said some wise things. Not because Jesus
was a wise guy. No, it's because of what in
(12:23):
John three sixteen, what it says, for God so love
the world that he gave his one and only son,
that whoever believes in his teachings, no, whoever believes in
(12:43):
his philosophy. No, it says, whoever believes in him, in
him will not perish, but we'll have eternal life. So
(13:04):
what about you? What about you online? Do you believe
in him? Not just an Easter story, not just a
fun tradition and having Easter egg hansin all those are fun,
But that's not what He's here is about. Do you
(13:25):
know the person of Easter? You can, We can know
the person of Easter. And Easter isn't a call to
join the church, even though historically it would be a
(13:48):
time people, but Easter is not a call to join
a church. It very literally is a call to join Jesus.
It's all about Christ and he is alive. Will you
(14:09):
join him? Will you join him? Let the celebration go
beyond the songs. I love the songs, but it's got
to go beyond the songs. Let the resurrection be more
than just some historical note. But let Easter. Let the
Resurrection be your turning point. You know the story now
(14:36):
come to know the Savior. Well, how do you get
to know someone? How do you get to know someone?
I think you begin by hanging out together. Hanging out together.
I heard from one of the guys who was at
(14:57):
the Vins fellowship this last Wednesday, it was our first one,
and he said, Wow, it was nice hanging out with
some of these guys because you know, I'd see them
in church and I had I didn't know their story,
I didn't know anything about them, and it was just
so nice to be able to fill in some some
things about those persons and just hanging out. It was
(15:20):
so neat. Well, you are invited, all of you are invited,
and you're welcome to join us in this place and
hanging out with Jesus. What we want to do. We
want to hang out with Jesus. He is in this
(15:43):
very room because he is risen. He is risen indeed,
and he is the message. Oh Man,
What a day of celebration. Across every continent. In cathedrals
and chapels, in homes, and even in open air fields,
(00:21):
people are lifting their voices in worship today. Why why?
And I'll say why because something happened, Something happened that
(00:42):
was so powerful that it has shaped the course of
human history. And it is also something that is so
radical that it gave birth to a global movement that
(01:04):
we call the Church. But let me start with some
great news. Okay, here's the great news. When we think
of the church. The foundation of the Christian faith is
not Christians. It's not me, I'll disappoint you. It's not
(01:32):
how well we behave historically. We've not always behaved the
best way. So that's not the foundation. So if you're
looking for it in other human beings, you're looking at
the wrong place. The foundation of the Christian faith is
not getting all of your prayers answered. What religion can
(01:54):
I go to and pray through? And which one I
get the most prayers answered? That must be That must
be the one. It has nothing to do with the
prayers you get answered. It's not having every question you
have resolved. Because there is the place for healthy doubt
(02:18):
for good, honest questions. I remember the one disciple said, Lord,
I believe help my unbelief. Right, They're in the Bible.
So I would say, the foundation of the Christian faith,
which is why we are here. It is the empty
(02:40):
two that's the foundation, and it's what we celebrate right here,
right now, on this Easter Sunday. An empty tomb, an
empty tomb. Think about this, Okay, stay with me today.
(03:09):
Regardless of what people are saying about the relevancy of
the local church today, statistically over two and a half
billion people around the globe, two and a half billion,
they are worshiping a Jewish carpenter. Chew on that a
(03:29):
little bit. A Jewish carpenter who never traveled more than
thirty miles from his home, who never led an army,
who never held a political office, who never wrote a book,
and yet one third of the world today calls him Lord.
(03:56):
Think of that? Why? Why? There is no plausible explanation
for that. Accept what we are celebrating today, that is
(04:17):
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, this may be a
surprising fact that I don't think we get our arms
around it as much as we should. And to realize
this and the surprising fact is that for three hundred years,
(04:37):
it's a long time. For three hundred years after Jesus
was crucified, there was no New Testament. Three hundred years,
no one said, like we did this morning, let's turn
into our Bible, in our New Testament to the Gospel
(04:58):
of John, and we're going to read this. Three hundred
years before that, they didn't have Sunday school classes for
over three hundred years. In fact, the phrase New Testament
never even show it up until some two hundred and
fifty years after Jesus died. To me, that's an important
(05:23):
historical reality, and you have to push the question, so
how did this movement, for longer than we were even
a country, survive Roman persecution? How did it outlast empires
and plagues and centuries centuries of opposition? And how are
(05:50):
we gathered here today still proclaiming his name. Mix all
that up in the pot, and we realize that it
wasn't just the message, It was the person. The message
we get in the scriptures, but it's all about the person.
(06:13):
It wasn't because Jesus talked nice ideas or started a revolution.
In fact, Jesus refused to start going and there was
a lot of pressure to start a revolution he was.
(06:37):
The early disciples tried to pit him against the Roman
Empire get involved in that. And what did Jesus say?
His response was, Hey, you give to Caesar what's Caesar's,
but you better give to God what's God. There is
a separation of what is Caesar's and what is God's.
(07:00):
In fact, even Pontia's pilot, they were trying to stack
the deck to get him killed. Pilot. What was his response,
representing the state? He goes, I find no fault with
this man. Okay, So Jesus wasn't trying to overthrow governments
and win an election, or to start a rebellion or
(07:24):
a national religion. So what was his message? It was
himself himself. Jesus didn't teach the message because gang he
was the message. He was a message. And if you
(07:47):
look at this and it just world religions in world's faith,
unlike any religious leader in history. Jesus pointed to himself,
here's what I mean. Jesus didn't say, hey, I want
(08:07):
you to follow my teachings. I gave you a bunch
of parables. I gave you some good stuff. I told
you you'll get love, love, love. I told you all that.
But Jesus didn't say follow my teachings. He said follow
me his words. He didn't say, hey, gang, I want
(08:30):
you to believe my ideas. He said, believe in me.
He didn't come to leave behind a set of principles,
but he came to offer himself himself as the way
(08:55):
and the truth and the life. And guess what when
he died on that Good Friday, the movement it died.
I'm sorry, had died. It was all over. Now have
(09:18):
you noticed, let's go back a few days. He's let's
go back to Friday. Have you noticed that no one
at the cross on Good Friday was thinking, well, Jesus
is dead, but let's keep his teachings alive. No, no,
(09:38):
it wasn't about his teaching. He was the movement. He
was a message. And to push it a little further,
how do we explain that just a few weeks after
(10:00):
Jesus's brutal crucifixion and the disciples, we know they were
hiding in fear. What's going to happen? Now? It took
just a few weeks for his disciples, who had been
hiding in fear, to suddenly, all of a sudden, they're
preaching everywhere, they're public. You couldn't shut them up. Something happened.
(10:28):
They had seen him alive, and their message was clear
and it was simple, and that changed the world. So
what are you going to do about that? What are
we going to do about that? What do we do
(10:51):
about that as a church as individuals who stand before
God individually but also corporately as a body of Christ.
That's what they said in the very streets where Jesus
had been executed, right away, not decades later to kind
(11:14):
of process some things. But the timing was within weeks.
There was a total turnaround in the powerful witness of
the church because something happened and they saw it. They
were not risking their lives for some crazy metaphor. People
(11:36):
don't do that for metaphors. They weren't starting a religion
based on some kind of myth. They saw Jesus alive
and it changed everything. So I would say that the
(11:57):
resurrection is not a footnote. It's the foundation. It is
the foundation, and the reason we're here this morning. Is
it because Jesus said some wise things. Not because Jesus
was a wise guy. No, it's because of what in
(12:23):
John three sixteen, what it says, for God so love
the world that he gave his one and only son,
that whoever believes in his teachings, no, whoever believes in
(12:43):
his philosophy. No, it says, whoever believes in him, in
him will not perish, but we'll have eternal life. So
(13:04):
what about you? What about you online? Do you believe
in him? Not just an Easter story, not just a
fun tradition and having Easter egg hansin all those are fun,
But that's not what He's here is about. Do you
(13:25):
know the person of Easter? You can, We can know
the person of Easter. And Easter isn't a call to
join the church, even though historically it would be a
(13:48):
time people, but Easter is not a call to join
a church. It very literally is a call to join Jesus.
It's all about Christ and he is alive. Will you
(14:09):
join him? Will you join him? Let the celebration go
beyond the songs. I love the songs, but it's got
to go beyond the songs. Let the resurrection be more
than just some historical note. But let Easter. Let the
Resurrection be your turning point. You know the story now
(14:36):
come to know the Savior. Well, how do you get
to know someone? How do you get to know someone?
I think you begin by hanging out together. Hanging out together.
I heard from one of the guys who was at
(14:57):
the Vins fellowship this last Wednesday, it was our first one,
and he said, Wow, it was nice hanging out with
some of these guys because you know, I'd see them
in church and I had I didn't know their story,
I didn't know anything about them, and it was just
so nice to be able to fill in some some
things about those persons and just hanging out. It was
(15:20):
so neat. Well, you are invited, all of you are invited,
and you're welcome to join us in this place and
hanging out with Jesus. What we want to do. We
want to hang out with Jesus. He is in this
(15:43):
very room because he is risen. He is risen indeed,
and he is the message. Oh Man,
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