All right, this morning, everybody, we're gonna start a little different today. Everybody in the room, everybody in this sanctuary right here, right now, it's Easter Sunday. We come here to celebrate just what Brian sang, but I want you to do me a favor today. I want everybody in the room, I know it's gonna sound a little strange, but just close your eyes. Shut your eyes, I'm looking around the room, I can see if anybody's cheating, okay? Everybody's a little nervous right now. Everybody's just sort of quiet. Let's be still in this moment together, just for a few moments together. I want you, just for a few moments, to think, whether you call Him Savior or not, I want you to think about what Jesus Christ did for you and me. The quietness and the stillness of this Easter Sunday morning, I want you to sit there and think of the pain and the suffering, the beatings. The book of Isaiah tells us that Jesus was unrecognizable. He was beaten so bad. Hung on a cross. Jesus did this willingly. Lovingly. Why? Because He loves you and me. So we're sitting here in the quietness of this room, the stillness of what Jesus Christ did for you and I. The pain He took, but now do a 180. That Jesus that died for you and I, He arose. He's living. And as you have your eyes closed this morning, guess what? He's right here with us. He's in this room with you and I. Father God, we're thankful for this morning. God, we are thankful for the celebration of Easter. God, we're thankful that you loved us enough. God, you loved me enough. I didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it. I'm unworthy, I'm a mess up, I'm no good. And yet because you loved me so much, you sent your one and only son to pay the price for my sin and my shortcomings. And God, we celebrate today because He rose again and we serve a living Savior. God, we love You this morning. As we get into Your Word today, God, I pray that we would be reminded, not just today but every day, of Your great love for each person in this room. We pray all these things in Your name. We pray, believing with all of our hearts. Amen. This morning, I want you to open your Bibles to the book of John, and I'm gonna get a little excited this morning. I'm gonna tell you, it's Easter. That's one reason I'm gonna get excited. The second reason I'm gonna get excited is because I'm gonna preach a message that tells us of God's goodness to us, and Jesus, just how much he loves us. And the title of the message is, if you received one of the postcards, the title of the message is, Because He Walked Out. Now I know if you listen to country music, how many folks in the room listen to country music? Go ahead, it's okay, you can be honest, okay. Okay, because see, I put my hand up too. I listen to country music as well, okay. And if you listen to country music and you listen to it long enough, and I've listened to it most of my life, being a Nashville born kid, and just West Tennessee and Texas, country music I like. So if you saw the title of my message, you're going to think, oh man, he's going to pull out a guitar and start singing to us, okay, because he walked out. Because Jesus walked out of the tomb, we have some wonderful, wonderful things that are shown to us in Scripture. We have some reminders this morning of how great a marvelous God we serve. And I can't even begin to imagine. Now listen, church, this morning we could list a list longer than me of just how good Jesus is. Amen? We can. Now I'm going to give you three. Okay, let's back up, okay? Again, all right, I'm looking at Ray here, okay? Now see, I could've said, I'm gonna give you 23, and that's when y'all would've gone, oh, good grief, why'd we come this morning, okay? I said three, okay? Hallelujah, all right, just three, okay? We're gonna do three things this morning, and we're gonna leave this room in celebration and encouragement because of just how good He is to you and I. And it's a wonderful, wonderful thing. I've already broken my rule this morning. I told somebody yesterday that I was gonna do this right here, okay? Right here, I was gonna do this. Do y'all think I can do this? No, no, I can't. And she said she was gonna bring an air horn and blow it every time I moved from behind the pool pit. She's not doing it, so she's failing on her job, and it's never gonna happen, okay? I had a guy once tell me, he said, if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear it? And the second question was, can Brother Mark preach if his shoes were nailed to the floor? Probably not, okay. But anyway, looking at scripture this morning in the book of John and looking at what we see here is just amazing. And simply because he walked out, because Jesus got up, he walked out, he rose from the dead. Listen, we have everything to be joyful for this morning. We have no reason to be down and out and sad and discouraged. And here's the truth, Easter is something we should live every single day. We should. But too much of the Christian world, too much of those that say we believe in Jesus Christ, too many of us that say we fill the pews and we sing these songs and hymns and pray songs and we listen to K-Love and we read our Bibles and we pray and we do all these things, too many of us live a defeated, hurting, sorry life. And the world looks at it and goes, why? How? How in the world are you like that? You say you serve a risen, living Savior, and yet you walk around and you're defeated, and you're depressed, and you're hurt, and yet we serve a Savior that literally got up and walked out of the tomb. Walked out. Now, it's an impressive thing to look at that tomb, to stand in front of it, and to see it firsthand. Kathy and I have been to Israel, and we've stood in that spot, believed to be the spot of the tomb. And I can tell you, it's pretty overwhelming to see that spot, and to think, and to see, and to actually feel and know. Jesus literally got up and walked out. He did it. He's alive. You understand that in today's culture, in today's world, we are the only religion that serves the one true God? You hear me? I'm not afraid to say that, because we are. We are the only religion in the world, and I don't like calling it a religion, because church, we're not a religion, we're a relationship with Jesus Christ, you hear me? But we're the only ones that serve a living Savior. He's alive. We don't talk about somebody that's dead. We talk about somebody that is alive. and well and living. And so this morning in the book of John, chapter 20, verses 19 through 22, and then I'm gonna skip over to verse 30 and read through the end of the chapter, and it reads like this from the New King James Version, and then it says, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Verse 21, so Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he has said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained, verse 30. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. I don't know about you, church, but I can read this story repeatedly and read it over and over and over again. It should be a great encouragement to us. Amen. It should be a great reminder to us that as we celebrate this, we see some wonderful things that Christ does for you and I. And I want you to be encouraged this morning. I want you to be able to leave this place encouraged and in a celebratory mood because you've been in the presence of the King this morning. Maybe you come in this room today and you are struggling. Do we have struggles in this world, church? We do. Do we have hurts in this world? We do. Do we have financial struggles? Do we have marriage struggles? Do we have addictions? Yes, we have those things, church. And when we come into this place, we should not come into this place and feel judged or knocked down, but we should come into this place. And when we leave this place, we should feel encouraged and lifted up. And that's my prayer this morning on this Easter Sunday, that as we read these verses and we see what Jesus does for us today, we see three things that He says to us, and we can leave this place this morning knowing that He loves us so very much. so very much, and I want you to understand that this morning. Maybe I'll miss the three points, because I want you to understand this morning. Jesus loves you so very, very much, and you say, preacher, we hear that all the time, and you see that all the time, but do we really grasp how much He loves us? Do we really understand the love of a Savior that can look at me, I'll personalize it, They can look at me, I do not deserve Jesus, do you hear me? I don't, you can say amen, you can jump up and down on that one, because I do not deserve him. I'm not worthy of him, I'm not good enough, I'm not anywhere in the ballpark. I mess up too much. and yet he looks at me in my pitiful state and he still says, I love you. I died for you. I was beaten for you. I'm willing to change you. For me, that change occurred July 7th, 1993. Seems like a long time ago now. As a teenager, God changed me. Have I been on the uphill ever since? No, asked my wife. No, but He changed me. On that day in Gulf Shores, Alabama, this guy right here admitted his need for a Savior, admitted his need for the only person who can change my life, who can fulfill this book that we're reading out of today. And that's what he did for me. This morning, maybe you do not know the risen Jesus Christ. Maybe you do not have a relationship with him. Now listen to me and look at me. I promise I'll get to my sermon. This is too important. Attending church your whole life is not a relationship with Jesus Christ. Look at me. It's not. Getting up every morning and praying and saying your prayers before a meal is not a relationship with Jesus Christ. Some of y'all are stunned right now. Going to church with your grandmama is not a relationship with Jesus Christ. A relationship with Jesus Christ is when we admit our need for Him. We admit that we're a sinner. We admit that we've messed up and that we will believe in Him and confess our need for Him and our sins before Him. That is the beginning of a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you hear me? All those other things should come, amen? They should be a product of that first step. But until we have that relationship, until we have that first foundation, all we have is just a bunch of religious act. It starts with a relationship. This morning a risen savior is looking at every person in this room and he's saying right now, listen, if you don't have that relationship, if you only have religion, let's get the first step right today. You hear me? Here's three of them this morning. Let's look at it together. The first thing that he says, and we see in verse 19 is this. He says something to the disciples. He simply says, peace be with you. How many in the room would like to be able to just sit here this morning and go, I'm peaceful? You know what peaceful is? You know what that means, to be peaceful? It's hard to be peaceful in today's world, is it not? It's hard to be peaceful in today's world. Is it, okay, all right, here we go again, all right, here we go now. It is tough to be peaceful, amen? It is tough. I don't watch the news anymore, you know why? Because it takes my peace away. And I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, Fox or CNN, I don't watch either one of them. Peace be with you, is what Jesus says. This morning, he's saying to you and I, listen, he's saying, I give you peace. In other words, if you look up peace, peace is freedom from trouble. In other words, I'm gonna give you peace. You're gonna have trouble in your life. You're gonna have trouble in your walk. You're gonna have trouble in your marriage and your finances. You're gonna have trouble in your relationships and in your work, amen? Jesus says, listen, I can give you peace in those situations. I can bring the trouble away from those things if you rely on me. I can bring calm to the storm. Now, imagine being the disciples, okay? They're sitting here, and all of a sudden, here he is, right? Peace be to you. Okay, I don't know if that Jesus spoke or not, I don't know how he spoke, okay? But I don't have the sandals or the ponytail either, but peace be to you, okay? I don't know, I may, wait a minute. You know what's going on here? That's what he tells each one of us today. I don't know your situations. I know somebody that does. Isn't that crazy? I don't know your situations. If you need help, I'd be glad to help you. I've got two ears. I know it's hard to believe that I can be quiet, but I do have two ears. I can listen. Don't ask Kathy about that. She may give you another answer, but I do have two ears. I can listen. But peace be with you. This morning, we can be at ease. We can be at peace. And in the world that we live in today, church, I can tell you right now, that's a beautiful gift. That is a wonderful gift. So tomorrow morning when you wake up and it's Monday morning, how many in the room love, I mean love, Monday mornings? There's like one kid in the back going, I don't know what he's talking about, I'm gonna put my hand up. Love it. But how many of y'all just love Monday mornings? Just think about that. Yay, I get to go back to work. Or for some of us in the room, yay, I've already been at work since 3 a.m. And yet you can think to yourself tomorrow morning, I've got peace. I'm okay. Sure, I'm gonna go in and things are gonna be backed up. Sure, I'm gonna go in and there's probably gonna be some issues. Sure, there's gonna be something broken or something that's gonna have to be fixed. But you know what? It's okay. Jesus gives me calm. in the midst of the storm. He gives us that today if we believe in Him. Here's the second thing, and now this is where I'm gonna try to keep my hands in my pockets, okay? It goes on to say, though, in verse 21, he says it again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, as God has sent me, I also what? I send you. So this morning, We see peace and we see purpose. I don't know about you, but I like my life to have purpose. Do you? Okay, I don't know. I'm not the kind of guy that wants to wake up and sit around all day and then go to sleep and then wake up and sit around all day. He says in scripture this morning, he says, I am sending you. Again, I'm having trouble keeping my hands in my pockets right now. He gives us purpose today, Church. He gives us such a purpose worth living for that I don't know how we can possibly miss out on worship or miss out on prayer or miss out on the opportunity to know Him better. He gives us a purpose that actually has meaning to it and meat to it and something that has value to it in such a way and He says, listen, you're my mouthpiece, you're my vessel, I'm sending you out into this dark world, into this crazy world, and I'm giving you a message, and I'm giving you something that you can share with them so that you can literally pull them out of darkness, out of hate, out of sin, and you can give them a saving knowledge of me. I don't know, church, but that gets me just a little excited. It goes back to talking about the lines in Walmart. I shared that with you a few weeks ago, right? Right? Okay, there you are. Okay, some of you are like, I wasn't here, I'm not saying a thing. That's okay, that's okay. Listen, I know it's crazy to think that. But listen, we're given opportunities left and right in our walks with Jesus Christ. And he says, I'm giving you a purpose. I'm giving you the opportunity to be sent by me. And you know what most people say? Well, I'm not a preacher. Ultimately, I'm not either, I'm just a child of God that gets to spread the news, okay? And that's how I can say that, okay? But listen, He gives us a purpose and a mission, and He says, listen, I'm opening doors for you, and too many times we miss it because we're just so consumed with ourselves, we forget we have a bigger purpose in this world. And I am talking about the line of Walmart. Listen, folks, I just moved here from Walmart Central, Walmart headquarters. I mean, our house was 10 miles from the world headquarters. I mean, we were smack dab in Walmart Wally land, okay? We were in it. And I can tell you, they rearrange the stores, amen? They do in northwest Arkansas a lot worse than here, I can tell you, okay? But when you go in Walmart, they're gonna rearrange it, and they're gonna mess it up, and you're gonna have to buy about 30 extra dollars anyway, right? So rather get mad about it, why not live out your purpose? Make somebody else mad. Tell them about Jesus when they're spending an extra $30, right? It's all good. But he gives us so many opportunities, yet we miss it. In church, I'll be the first to tell you, I think it's just selfishness, and it's selfishness on my part. There have been numerous times, numerous times. You know what, there have even been times, I'll confess, I'll confess, because you're my brothers and sisters, okay? There have been times since we've lived here, and I've only been here three, help me out here, somebody can help me out here, help me out, three and a half weeks, something like that. You know, there have been times I've missed that opportunity. There have been. You know, Thursday, the kids got out at noon, right? Well, I learned something about Kahoma when kids get out at noon. Everybody, I mean everybody, goes to the Dairy Queen. Took me 35 minutes to get a burger, mm-hmm. Yeah, and there I am standing in Dairy Queen. I was about to get my witness on, then Jimmy came in and just messed it up. I'm just kidding. But you know, there it is. It's one of those times. I mean, I'm standing in Dairy Queen on half of Cahoma, OK? Literally. I mean, probably half of the middle school track teams in there getting big gulp Dr. Peppers before they go run their district runs. You know, it's crazy to be 13 again, you know? And I'm standing there for more than a half an hour. Do I take that opportunity? Did I? No, I didn't. I missed it. I could have used every excuse in the book. Well, I had my kids with me. Or I saw Jimmy, me and Jimmy. He made fun of Tennessee again. It made me mad. You know, every excuse in the book. We could have gone through it. But the fact of the matter is this. God says, I am sending you See, if we faith and believe in Jesus Christ today, if we're His child, we claim that relationship with Him, it doesn't stop there, guys. Look at me. I promise I'll wrap it up. It doesn't stop there. That's not where it stops. If it's a genuine relationship, if it's a genuine life change, it starts there and it goes into what I'm talking about. When He says, I'm sending you, it's not just for preachers and music ministers and deacons. It's for every child of God that can speak. Now, there's too many people in the room to go around this morning, but I bet we all can speak this morning, amen? Careful, husbands, how loud you say amen on that one, okay? But we can. And so he says to us this morning, you have a purpose. And the quite truth of the matter is this, folks, it's a privilege. It's not just a purpose, it's a privilege. You say, oh, you're a preacher, of course you're gonna say that. No, it's a privilege. It's a privilege when you get to speak life into someone. It's a privilege when you get to speak to someone and maybe it encourages them just enough to maybe put a smile back on their face where it hasn't been there for a few weeks, you hear me? You know who gives us the power to do that? What does it say in this passage as well? What does it say? It says that He literally breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. Now, I know we're Southern Baptists, but I can see a Pentecostal moment happening right there. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Amen, Barbara, listen. Those disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what happens to you and I at conversion. Do we understand that? He breathes the Holy Spirit into you and I. I have the Holy Spirit in me. I have God himself inside of me, and it pours out of me, and that makes me shout a little bit, okay? Because he gives me a purpose. Far beyond my imagination. You say your purpose is to love and shepherd First Baptist, Oklahoma. You're right, you're right, that's one of it. Build relationships here, that's what we're doing. We're gonna keep doing it. But if I'm not shepherding you to be the sent children of God that we're supposed to be, we're all gonna be failing together. He sends us and it's a privilege. Here's the last one this morning. How beautiful is this? Again, verse 31, it says, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. This morning we have a promise from God. You know what that promise is? We have life. Doesn't that feel good? How many of y'all feel dead right now? Don't answer that one. All right, all right, let's leave that one alone. You may have life. Man. See, before Christ, whether you like this or not, we're dead. Do you hear me? We're dead. It's that simple. It's truth. But when we come to Christ, we're made new. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if anyone is in Christ, their new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here. We are reborn in him. He gives us life. Now that is worth celebrating. We have a promise today, church. When we walk out these doors today, We don't walk out into a world that's in darkness and struggling and dying, because see, we walk out alive. We have a life. And so when we walk out into this world, church, look at me, I promise I'll wrap up. When we walk out into this world, look at me. That life that we give is because He lives in us. We've been remade in Him. He is our Savior. I'll tell you what, church. You say that's an Easter message, but here's the thing. That's a Monday message. That's a Tuesday message. Help me out. It's a Wednesday, a Thursday, Friday. It's a Saturday. It's when you're sitting in traffic. I have yet to find that traffic around here, okay? Now, where we moved from, we had some traffic, okay? Ah, man. Oh, yeah, get the kids, get the kids to school. Oh, don't miss that, don't miss that at all. Stop lights and backed up wrecks and all that kind of fun stuff. But when you're sitting in traffic, if you found it around here, okay? Okay, if you get to the train tracks and there's a train and you're sitting there, okay? And you're in the ninth car, an 11 car pileup, okay? Don't get angry. Don't get upset. Because God is so good to us. He is. We celebrate Easter today, and I am so, so, so glad each one of you are here. I'm so glad you chose to be here. But I hope before you leave this place, you understand one thing, one thing. If you understand nothing else, please understand this. The only way we have new life The only way we're alive in Him is when we admit and believe in Him. That's it. It's the only way. You can't take classes. You can't attend church 75% of the time, bring your Bible 30% of the time. It doesn't work that way. Admit you need Him. Maybe today is the day of salvation. Maybe today is that day when you say, I need that relationship with Him. Here's the fact that I know for sure, Jesus desires that relationship with you more than anything in the world. I found that out in July of 93. I certainly haven't forgotten it. But maybe today, you can realize that yourself. Father God, we are so thankful for this morning. God, we're thankful for your word. God, but I do earnestly pray this morning, God, if somebody's sitting in these pews right now, and God, they have a religion and not a relationship, God, I pray today that they could turn their hearts over to you. God, that they would desire what you desire from them, and having a beautiful relationship together. God, we do celebrate today the many promises that you give us. And God, we thank you for life. We thank you for life. with blessings literally overflowing, too numerous to even list because you're so good to us. We give you the praise for it. As we go into this time of invitation, this time of commitment, God, it's not gonna be long. If there needs to be a decision, it needs to be made. God, I ask that you would freely move for it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. I ask you to stand with me this morning. We do have a time of invitation. I'm not a long invitation guy, though. The Holy Spirit's gonna move. He's gonna move. I'm not gonna linger. So this morning, if you do not have that relationship with Jesus Christ today, I pray that you would leave this Easter Sunday knowing that you have new life, a real life. Maybe this morning you just need me to pray with you. I'd love to pray with you. If you have some troubles in your life right now and some struggles, listen, I'd love to encourage you this morning. Maybe this morning you're just looking for a home. We'd welcome you in. As we sing, we allow the Holy Spirit to move.