Last week a new series that it only lasts three or four weeks. It's actually titled A Prelude to Easter. It deals with the actions and emotions of Christ in those weeks and those days and those hours leading up to Easter. And we all know that Easter is a celebration, a time that is really our Super Bowl and I say that not just about churches or about Christians, but Big Branch, it's our Super Bowl. Usually our biggest Sunday are more people here than any other time and it's, you know, it's just a time that it leads us to the death, the burial, and the resurrection, what Christianity is. And so, yeah, we have a big week at Christmas, but Easter, is the time that I believe that if you'll work just a little bit, if you'll put forth just a little bit of effort and you'll pray and try just a little, you can get your unsafe family members here. you can get the unchurched or that family member that hadn't been to church in some time, but it's going to take some work. We was at the funeral home actually twice this week, and I'm sure Glenn would like to thank you for the prayers and you coming. Linda's uncle passed away, pastored a church for over 40 years in Cerrito, West Virginia, and we went to his funeral, and while we were there, there's a family, a husband and wife of one of our members here who was And I know this lady has prayed for her mom and dad to get in church and be here and be a part of our church. And I went up to them and very tactfully, I didn't say, you coming Easter? Or why don't you come to church? But I asked them, I said, have you seen our new building? Have you been in? or got the opportunity to come, and I knew the answer was no before I asked, but I said, well, you know, Easter would be a good time if you would, you know, you can get lost in the crowd. No one will even know you're there. And he said, well, my George will just be there. And I spoke to her yesterday, and she said they went and bought clothes or got their clothes out and had them dry cleaned so that they could come. And before we, you know, mock or say, well, they shouldn't at Easter, you know, it's the only time they, hey, be thankful to God that there's a Super Bowl Sunday when they will come, that they do have the opportunity. I don't care if they wear their hats that they wore to the Kentucky Derby, you know, let them come, because it's an opportunity to get the gospel out, and I promise you, If you'll spend a little bit of time in prayer and put forth that effort tactfully, don't ridicule. If you've got that husband or wife or child, then tactfully invite them to come. Instead of making them feel like well, it's Easter and I gotta go or it's Easter and and and I don't want to go because I used to say I don't want to go because it's Easter you know that's and But don't make them feel that way just just give them an opportunity to come so With that, let me get into the message. All throughout the Gospels, Matthew, I want to always remember I've got young Christians that haven't been saved very long, and when I use the word Gospels, I'm talking about the first four books in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. which primarily, if you read the Gospels, and that's where you ought to start as a new Christian, is I take people to John, and yet if you want to read about the birth and the genealogy of Christ and be put to sleep as far as the genealogy goes, you can start in Matthew, but the Gospels are really primarily fine detail about the life and death of Christ, and mostly, after you get past the birth, just three years of his ministry. And so, if you'll get in and read the Gospels, they was written by four of the disciples, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they, you know, all four men write in detail some of the bold predictions that Christ makes. And there's this harmony of the Gospels and it's all four Gospels even though written by four different men, years apart. We think, well, they sat down together and said, I'm going to write this, and you write about that, and blah, blah. That's not the way it went. I mean, some of these books were written 50 or 60 years, or those pages were written 50 or 60 years by men that never seen, you know, didn't spend much time together, went off in different ways on different ministries, and they gathered some, I'm sure, at the Passover and different things because they were Jews, but Primarily, I mean, they didn't sit in a room and say, I'm going to write this and you write that. And yet they, in harmony, these predictions are consistent and are not contradictive of what each other writes. And all of them are, in fact, a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and so last week we spoke to you about the pressure that Christ felt during Easter and this week we want to speak to you about the predictions of Easter and how it's relevant to our life, the predictions of Easter. And what you really see in Easter and Christ's predictions is the human God-man, Jesus. You see him, you know, gotta think about it. Go back in your mind when this was. Go back in your mind that he's a human. Go back in your mind that he didn't have all the New Testament, know what was, and they didn't know what was about to transpire. Put yourself in that setting and realize that he was making predictions about Easter. And he was making predictions that in fact it was him exhibiting faith that these predictions were going to take place because he was fully human. And yet, he being God, made these prophecies. We call them prophecies, they were predictions. He was telling people, this is what's going to happen. And he wasn't whispering it and writing it in a journal somewhere that they'd find later. He said it out loud. to his disciples and to the places that he went and ministered. And so, in fact, you've got Christ the God-man stepping out on a limb by faith and saying, here's what's getting ready to happen. Here's what's going to take place. And can you, this morning, imagine The emotional thought of the human side of Jesus knowing that if one prophecy, if one prediction is left unfulfilled, all of Christianity is a sham. It's a sham because then they have somewhere to go back and say, well that didn't happen and yet it was predicted. Did you know that there are over 350 prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ? And I'm not talking about just a virgin birth, I'm not talking about Jesus being from the seed or the family of David, our patriarch, but things that were stated hundreds of years in advance of the Acts of Easter. Hundreds of years were stated in Old Testament books in fine detail that he was going to be thirsty, that they were going to give him vinegar to drink, that he was going to be betrayed by a friend. I hold in my hand about fell on my face, I hold in my hand 15 pages that I printed off of the internet, and you can go find it, it's not something that's a secret, that goes through almost every book in the Old Testament And it details a prophecy. It starts in Genesis. The seed of a woman. In other words, he's not the seed of a man. He's going to be virgin born. It's a big deal. That's why it's a big deal if your Bible translation says he's from the seed of a young woman and he's not virgin born by a virgin, then I'd get me a different translation. But the fact is, as it goes all the way through, and every book from Genesis to Malachi, and then over on the other side of it, it gives you the prophecy that where it was, what it said, and how it was fulfilled in the New Testament, hundreds of years apart. I don't think that's by circumstance or by chance that that happens. And I also don't think that it's something that we can just say, oh, that could have happened. But it takes me to a question, though. When I make that statement, and I know that these men that were his disciples and those people had access to the Pentateuch, which is the books of Moses and to a lot of the Old Testament scripture, how did the Jewish people not know that he was the Messiah? You ever think about that? How did they not know Him to be the Messiah, the Son of God? How could they deny today the fact, even this day? Leave off the healings that were witnessed. You say, did those really take place? Absolutely, they were witnessed by hundreds of people and documented by more than one man. It wasn't just something that was drummed up. Leave off the healings. Leave off the fact that, you know, the miracles turning the water, the first one, into wine. Leave off the dead, the fact that multiple, not just one, but multiple people were dead. Documented in the grave was Lazarus more than three days. Behold, he stinketh. Leave that off. Just go to these 350 some prophecies, Old Testament starting in Genesis, clear through Malachi. How could they not know He was the Messiah? How did they not realize that as each one was fulfilled that He was the Son of God? I'm sure there's a simple statement And it's probably the same statement that we would have to use for us today. They didn't know their Bible. They didn't know the Old Testament. They didn't read it, just like some of you may not know the New Testament, because you don't read it. You don't get into it. You don't understand sometimes. But you go from Genesis to Malachi, almost every book, and I still have to say, how did and do they still deny? that Christ was the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. Then you go to Christ himself, and he makes a very bold statement in Matthew chapter 17, or Matthew chapter 5 and verses 17 and 18. And he makes this statement, and Sarah's got it, or Kristen does, they're going to put it up for us. But he says, do not think Look at that, that I came to destroy the law of the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. He made that statement out loud to this group of people that are there. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth shall pass away, Not one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all be fulfilled. He said it's so relevant, it's such a big deal that if there was a T crossed or a period, a dot placed, It's all going to be fulfilled to the smallest fine detail. It's all going to be fulfilled. And early on, if you look at that, you know, those were his words. And then you go to look at some of the predictions that he made in those three years of ministry. It's big, I mean did you realize that he starts predicting his death early on to them in John chapter 7 and verse 4 to his disciples right after he picks his disciples he predicts his death. He even goes into the detail of how he's going to die and he predicts it as a crucifixion in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 2. And then it gets even more. He predicts the betrayal by Judas in all four Gospels. All four men make mention of it in Matthew chapter 26, in Mark chapter 14, in Luke chapter 22, and in John chapter 13. He says, I'm going to be betrayed. He even goes a step farther after he's chosen the twelve. And to make I'm sure, you know, hey, Judas, you're not the only one that's going to be the problem here. He tells all of his disciples that you're going to deny me. Not just Peter. We think Peter because it was so blatant and he singled him out. But they all run from the crucifixion. They all run and will not be identified. And he tells them all. He predicts all the disciples to denial in Matthew chapter 26 and Mark chapter 14. It tells them that in no uncertain terms. And what those disciples that are there those days, what they are seeing and what we get to see because it was documented is the validation early on that Jesus is proving what was stated in John chapter 1.1 and in John chapter 1.14 where it says, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He's proving and validating to them. that He's God and yet human flesh. He's proving the Scriptures by making these predictions and He's telling them, hey, you see Christ not just through 350 predictions and from Old Testament in the beginning in Genesis chapter 2 while still in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve were ever brought from clay and formed and before all of that ever happened, before anything took place in these prophecies, He was God in the flesh and He was proving that. But through faith, His faith, He starts making predictions to His disciples. and to those followers and others. And yet when you hear them and you look at the circumstances and the conversation that goes around them, I don't think they fully understood. I don't think they picked up on Easter. I don't think that they even comprehended some of the things that he was saying. Because he predicts something in John chapter 2 and verse 19 that no one understands. He makes a statement. He says, you destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. What is that? It's what we celebrate as Easter. But to them, it left them baffled. They didn't understand because they made this statement. You, Christ, one person, are going to destroy and build back in three days what it took 46 years to build? That's what they said. See, we have the New Testament. We have years of teaching. We have the benefit of someone's explanation. We have an understanding. Three days? He's talking about the resurrection, the cross, the death, the burial. They look at him like, you're a fool. They even mocked him when he was on the cross about this one prediction to the point that thou and in Mark chapter 15, ah, you're the one that said destroy us the temple and build it back in three days. They were still, while the crucifixion was being placed, while he was put on the cross, while he was hanging there in despair, and the world had turned black at high noon, they were still thinking, you fool, you shot your mouth off one too many times by saying you're going to destroy the temple and build it back in three days. You may have done some miracles, You may have healed some people. You may have turned the water into wine. You may have done some of the stuff with the lady at the well that we read this morning. You may have done all this kind of stuff. And you may even have brought the dead back to life. But you sure didn't tear the temple down and build it back in three days, did you? They mocked him. They mocked him. We see Jesus, the human, making the predictions, knowing God was able and trusting God would fulfill those predictions, trusting that God, when he predicted the resurrection, that no one, no one, not even his disciples understood. But when he predicted Easter. No one understood. No one understood the magnitude of his death and what he was saying. In fact, even those closest to him were in despair, not understanding, when they placed him and rolled the stone in front of the tomb, that he was going to fulfill tearing down his temple and bring it back to life in three days. They didn't know what was transpiring. They didn't understand what he was saying. They didn't understand the power. They didn't understand the promise. They didn't understand the procurement of the resurrection. And all they could see was the physical temple that was there on the mountain of Jerusalem, there on the mount where it was built, that it took 46 years for men to take the stones and the size of the stones. You've seen this week, if you watch the news much, you've seen Netanyahu standing with his hand on part of the temple wall and the two foot by probably four foot stones that had been placed there and part of that that is still standing that was unearthed through archaeology that we call the Wailing Wall. All they could see was those rocks that were there. All they could see was this beautiful temple, and him bragging, I'm going to tear this thing down, and I'm going to build it back in three days. And they probably looked like, yeah, you and those fishermen, no way that's going to happen, you idiot. And they even spoke those words in mockery while he hung on the cross. While he was there hanging, They spoke those words back. When are you going to do this temple gig? When are you going to tear it down? When are you going to build it back? I ask you this morning, what do you see? If I was to read Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6 that says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. What do you see? I remember when we first started thinking about building this facility. I can still hear the naysayers saying there's no way possible we can do that. I can still When we blurted out the figure that even startled me when Ray said it in the first meeting, it'll take $520,000. I looked back in my own mind at the board. The first time I attended here, the offering was $700. I look back at the first budget this church, when we put it together, and Gina and I sat down and put the numbers on paper, and it was less than $100,000 at 94-something. And when Ray said those words, I'm like, what have I gotten myself into? How's this going to happen? But God. I don't know what you see. But I see another building. I don't know what you see, but I see four or five hundred people. I don't know what you see, but I see your loved ones getting saved. I see in going to Youth for Christ or Michael going to FCA, not just a hundred and fifty, but two or three hundred in those meetings and it expanding. You see, what do you see is important because what Christ seen was Easter. What Christ seen was the power of the resurrection. What Christ saw that day was the procurement of your salvation and mine. What Christ saw was victory over the things that set us back that we can't see. And yet what we see. Is big rocks. Temple stones. How's that going to happen? What do you see? What do you see when it says in Matthew, if it states a simple, nothing is impossible for you? That statement wasn't made to anyone. It was made to you, the individual sitting in this room. Nothing is impossible to you if you have the faith just as a grain of the size of a mustard seed. What do you see when that scripture comes? What do you see? What do you see when in Luke chapter 1 and verse 37 it says, God, with God, nothing is impossible. Praise God for the Pentecostals who have the faith to lay hands on each other, believing the scriptures that if you'll come and trust and believe that you can be healed, I read this week or Linda read it to me of Tasha who we fretted over her mom Pam and George and Tasha said this is not the end preacher this is not the end when I stood my mom and my dad's gonna be healed and I thought do you realize what your parent I mean my mustard seed was down here being walked on and yet this week she said my mom's cancer has been healed it's not cancer Against not not stupidity, not some a doctor through examination had told her that she had cancer. What do you see? I'm not in the faith healing business, but I believe my God is able to do anything it's possible. I can tell you that there is instances of you sitting in this room that had cancer, that you've been healed from it and you can give attributes and accolades to the doctors and nurses if you want to for the treatment. And I think God provides those treatments for us. But if you don't believe that they're just ministering medicine and through faith that God's the healer, then you've got a small problem. Because our God is able in all instances. And I ask you this evening, when we look at the predictions, when we look at the promises, when we look at what Easter provided, when we look and look and look, what do you see? Do you see a temple stone? Do you see it as impossibility? We do not have the faith to see the resurrection. We do not have the faith to see the power of what transpired. And we see stones too heavy to lift. We see 46 years. We see stonemasons and laborers and I've seen those pictures of how the temple was built. How that they mounded dirt on the inside so they didn't have to lift the stones. They just set them with block and tackle from a small difference and then would take the dirt back out. I've seen the oxen that were used to pull them in on stone wheeled carts. and those architectural drawings. And I'm telling you when we talk about the temple, the resurrection of lasting for three days and being raised from the dead, we just like the Jews. And so before we get too hard on them. What is it that God has promised you? What is it that he has predicted through the scripture? What is it that all you can see is a stone? What is it that all you can see is the laborers? What is it that all you can see is tearing it down in three years? It took 46 years to build this. What is it? We become overwhelmed. We live in anguish over the humanistic facts and the feats that it would take for our miracle to happen. We live looking at our circumstances through temple lens. We're guilty. When all the predictions, when all the things that Christ talked about didn't have anything to do with blocks and stone and bricks and mortar. It was not the temple he was talking about, he was talking about the resurrection. It wasn't about the building. It wasn't about the money. It wasn't about the prediction. The prediction was not about the scene. It was about what was going to happen on Easter. Ladies and gentlemen, what faith scenario are you looking at this morning through the wrong lens? What this morning are you looking at through a temple lens? What obstacle in your life? What is it that you don't believe is going to be fulfilled or you don't even understand? I use it because they'll allow me to. But I remember the day When Don Reed went in the hospital for the first time when I was an assistant pastor here and Brother Dave said don't go see him, we don't want to run him off. And yet he's one of the few people that are here every week when the doors is open. But we looked at him through a temple lens and said he can't get saved, he'll get mad if you come and see him. And yet I can tell you when God gets involved and starts drawing someone and they come to this church and I can lead them to Christ and it was so simple a child could have done it. We're looking through the wrong lens. What unsaved person is it in your family that still has not trusted Christ that you don't have the faith to believe this morning that this coming Easter they could get saved if you'd get them here? Like Leroy did when he come and walked this aisle. What is it like when Judge raised his hand and said, I'm going to do it? We lose our faith in believing that this can happen in this day and age. And we start looking through a temple lens. We start looking at our unsafe children and think, oh, they'll never work out. We start looking at their lives as teenagers and, wow, I can understand some of your fretting and having fits over it. But what is it? What is it that you think cannot take place? What is it that you just think, oh, my wayward son, oh, my wayward daughter, oh, my wayward mom, my dad, oh, what is it that they're too far from God that He'll never get them back? What is it, your finances? Have you made a mess of your finances? Why don't you just turn it over to God and quit making a mess of it and say, I need your help. And I'm not talking about stupidly throwing your checkbook or putting names of bills in a jar and saying, if you don't quit calling me, I'm not even going to put your name in the jar. I'm talking about, hey, why don't you start trusting God to help you with your bills? Why don't you make a pledge to God? I'll start giving a percentage of my income. And God, I believe that's maybe the first step to doing what's right. What is it? Is it your health? Is it your health that you just can't see God working out? Maybe it's your school. Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe it's circumstances at work. I don't know what troubles everyone in this room, but I'm telling you, the Bible still says nothing is impossible with God. And there's people that if I would start asking you to stand up and give testimony of what God wrought in your life this morning that you never thought would happen, we would be here till tomorrow or the next day standing up and testifying because we could go around the room three or four different times. We forget! We look at these prophecies and just read them off and say, oh, well, yeah, that happened. Yeah, that happened. It's no big deal. It is a big deal because of the resurrection. It is a big deal because Christ through dying on a cross paid the price for our sins and through the resurrection come out victorious on the other side so that we can have victory in this life and that we through faith can have the same examples and predictions that God's going to take care of us. What is it? We sometimes simply fail to look beyond the bricks and the mortar. We fail to look beyond the temple. We've looked to Christ and the resurrection and all that we can see is that ain't gonna happen. That took 46 years. We have trouble believing and trusting with God because we, well, what we do is we want to write down a list of things. Now God, here's the way I want it to happen. Here's the way I need for it to work. Here's the way that this should take place. We want control. That's why we have trouble. Because it has to meet our case scenario. We've got all these facts, God. You've got to do it this way. God doesn't have to do anything inside your box. Because He's already working on the way and the way's already been established. He already knows the beginning from the end and it's our faith. And we get it clouded with temple lands. We get it clouded because we have trouble. We won't turn it over to God in prayer like Christ did the garden. In faith believing God, you can do the impossible. Nothing is impossible with God. What is it? Comfort? Comfort? Is it simply comfort that you need God to work with in your life that you don't believe he can deal with? I watch our families that go through death of the loved one, and I think nothing but the grace of God can deal with that. Words cannot explain, so why even try other than to say, I'm praying and we love you. I look at folks that go through needing rest. I spoke with Gina because I know it's a time of the year where she stresses herself to sickness. I said, honey, go home. I texted her the other evening. I said, it's Friday. I hope you're leaving to go home. Rest, God can give you rest. He made that promise, that prediction. Come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden and I'll what? Rest. What is it? Is it healing? I'm going to tell you a little secret. There's more healing. In the ING of praying. than there is at John Hopkins. There's more healing. At the ING of praying. Than there is at Cleveland Clinic. There's more healing. In Christ. In our faith, believing. All good places, all good hospitals, all good doctors, all medicine, yes. But our faith for healing needs to be in the Savior. Because I know why you're sick. It's sin. Give it to them, preacher. No. There's a lesson to be learned in it. There's a purpose in what you're going through. There's a testimony in that action that God has allowed in your life. Is it chastisement? I don't know, but you do. You know if it is. Because my God's not a God of secrets. He tells you everything he knows in his time. What is it? What is it? Situations, circumstances, outcome. I don't know. But you do. And this morning as the Holy Spirit of God speaks to you about this subject of your faith. I ask you. Are you looking at the temple? For some, maybe only one, I don't know. It's salvation. And this morning, I ask you, how like the children of Israel, how like the Jewish nation, how like that group of people that witnessed the resurrection, can you not believe in a loving Savior that died and paid the price for your sins? And how is it that you won't trust Him? How is it? He made it so simple. And I can tell you that churches and religion and preachers and Christians are the ones that screwed it up, not God. How is it that when He said 99 times in the book of John, believe, believe, believe. And all the testimony of those that were saved throughout just simply by calling Him Lord is what Paul done. How is it that the people in jail with Paul, when Paul said, just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, how is it that you won't trust him and believe? I don't understand. You say, well, it's because I got to go to church and it's because I got to do this, this. No, no, no, no, no. That ain't what he said. All that's after the fact. I'm telling you marriage is in a vow. Marriage is in I do. Salvation is in I do believe. I do. Now that doesn't mean all the foolishness you're going to put up for the next hundred years is not part of marriage. But that's not what got you married. What got you married was I do. And this morning, just like this chair, and I use it because I hear our people use it over and over and over again, you can believe that that's a chair from now on. And say, I believe, I believe, I believe. That's a chair. I believe in Jesus. I believe in the church. I believe in the gospel. I believe in the death, the cross, the burial and the resurrection. There's a difference in the belief that Christ said believe in what you believe. Because what he was saying was you quit trying and to believe is put your trust in me. Take your feet off the floor and sit down in me. I paid for it on the cross. Now, trust me. Quit thinking you've got to go to church, quit thinking you've got to do this, quit thinking you've got to do that, quit thinking you've got to be baptized, quit thinking you've got to be. Let me tell you something. Quit thinking that you've got to join this place. Because at some point in time, this place is going to burn up. And your trust that you put in this is going to be gone. At some point in time, this place may be torn down and another new one built. Quit thinking with temple lenses. What churches and religious people think. Start believing in the gospel and trusting Christ. Let's stand.