{"id":33038,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/what-difference-does-easter-make\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"what-difference-does-easter-make","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/what-difference-does-easter-make\/","title":{"rendered":"What Difference Does Easter Make?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/19157.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\nOne of my\nfavorite magazines is <em>U.S. News &#038;\nWorld Report<\/em>. I like it because there&#8217;s a section in there called\n&#8220;News You Can Use.&#8221; I don&#8217;t want to waste my time or your time, so\nwe&#8217;re going to talk about news you can use. I want to get right to the point. I\nfeel like the chicken that decided to lay an egg on the California freeway. The\nrooster said, &#8220;Here&#8217;s how you do it. You lay it on the line, and you do it\nin a hurry!&#8221; That&#8217;s what I want to do tonight.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\nwant to ask two questions: Easter&mdash;what does it mean and why does it matter?<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n A lot of people say,\n&#8220;I believe in the resurrection; I just don&#8217;t understand it.&#8221; George\nGallup did a poll that said 84 percent of people who never go to church believe\nJesus rose from the dead. It is historical fact; it wasn&#8217;t done in secret. The\nwhole city of Jerusalem and the whole Roman Empire knew about it. It was news.\nIf CNN had been there, they would\nhave had it live. There are at least 15 historical references to Jesus meeting\npeople, touching people, and talking with people after he had been crucified.\nOne time he cooked breakfast for some people. One time he talked to about 500\npeople <em>after<\/em> he had risen from the\ndead. A lot of people saw him.<\/p>\n\n<p>But\nwhat does his resurrection mean? It means three things: (1) Jesus is who he\nclaimed to be; (2) Jesus has the power he claimed to have; and (3) Jesus did\nwhat he promised to do.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">The resurrection\nmeans Jesus is who he claimed to be.<\/h2>\n\n<p>John\n11:25 says, &#8220;I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me\nwill live, even though he dies.&#8221; Jesus made some outrageous claims when he\nwas here on earth. He said things like, &#8220;I&#8217;m God. I&#8217;m perfect. I&#8217;m the\nonly way to heaven. I&#8217;m the savior of the world.&#8221; A lot of people try to\nmake Jesus a good teacher, but a good teacher would never say that. I could\nteach you good moral truths, and you might say, &#8220;Rick&#8217;s a good\nteacher.&#8221; But if I started calling myself God, you wouldn&#8217;t think I was a\ngood teacher anymore. Jesus was either who he said he was, or he was the\nbiggest liar who ever lived.<\/p>\n\n<p>One\nday Jesus cleared the moneychangers out of the temple. They had turned the\ntemple into something like an Orange County flea market, so he drove them all\nout. They said, &#8220;What right do you have to do this?&#8221; He said,\n&#8220;Because I&#8217;m God.&#8221; They said, &#8220;Prove it!&#8221; He said, &#8220;I\nwill. Three days after you kill me, I&#8217;m going to come back to life.&#8221; He\nclaimed to be God, and his resurrection backs up what he claimed to be.<\/p>\n\n<p>John\n14:6 says: &#8220;I am <em>the<\/em> way, <em>the<\/em> truth, and <em>the <\/em>life. No one can get to God the Father except by means of me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>That&#8217;s\na strong claim. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;m <em>the <\/em>way.&#8221;\nHe didn&#8217;t say, I&#8217;m one way, I&#8217;m a good way, or I&#8217;m one of the ways. Saying\n&#8220;all roads get to heaven&#8221; is stupid. That&#8217;s like saying I can dial\nany phone number and get home. There&#8217;s only one number that will get me home.\nJesus said, &#8220;I am <em>the<\/em>\ntruth.&#8221; That means any other way is not the truth. He claimed to be God.\nHe said, &#8220;No one can get to God the Father except by me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Even\nif you don&#8217;t believe Jesus Christ is who he said he was, you still use him as a\nreference point. God came to earth in the form of a man so we could know what\nGod is like. His name was Jesus Christ. He split all of history into A.D. and B.C. Every time you write a date, Jesus is the reference\npoint. He is who he claimed to be.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">The resurrection\nmeans Jesus has the power he claimed to have.<\/h2>\n\n<p>Jesus\nsaid, &#8220;All power on earth and in heaven is given to me.&#8221; Because he\nis God, he can do everything God can do. In John 10:18 he says: &#8220;Nobody takes my\nlife from me. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it\nup again.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>No\nforce could keep Jesus in the tomb. The Romans killed him, put him in a tomb,\nput a big stone in front, sealed it with the Roman seal, and posted a 24-hour\nguard. They were only trying to prevent the inevitable. Jesus said: They can&#8217;t\nstop me. I can give my life away, and I can take it up again.<\/p>\n\n<p>Maybe\nthat&#8217;s where they get the phrase, &#8220;you can&#8217;t keep a good man down&#8221;!<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>The resurrection means Jesus did what he promised to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>In\nMark 10:34 Jesus says: &#8220;They will mock and flog and kill me, but after three\ndays I will come back to life.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>The\ncross was no surprise to Jesus. It was all part of God&#8217;s plan.<\/p>\n\n<p>When\nyou think about it, there&#8217;s humor in the Easter story. I mean, how would you\nfeel if you had been the guys who put Jesus to death? You publicly execute this\nman in front of thousands of witnesses who see him die, then you have him\nburied, a stone put over his tomb, and a 24-hour guard. Three days later this\nguy&#8217;s up and walking around the city again.<\/p>\n\n<p>The\nangel said: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be frightened. I know you&#8217;re looking for Jesus, who was\ncrucified. But he isn&#8217;t here. He&#8217;s come back to life again, just as he said he\nwould.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>He\ndid what he promised. When God makes a promise, you can count on it. That&#8217;s\nwhat Easter means. Because Jesus did rise, he is who he said he was, he has the\npower he said he had, and he keeps the promises he makes.<\/p>\n\n<p>So\nwhat? Why does the resurrection matter? What difference does it make? It matters\nfor three reasons. Because Jesus is who he claimed to be, has the power he\nclaimed to have, and does what he promises to do<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">The resurrection\nmatters because my past can be forgiven.<\/h2>\n\n<p>That&#8217;s\ngood news. Have you ever been halfway through a project and wished you could\nstart over? A lot of times people feel that way about life. They get halfway\nthrough life and wish they could start over. We have all done things we wish we\nhadn&#8217;t done, said things we wish we hadn&#8217;t said, and thought things we wish we hadn&#8217;t\nthought. We all have regrets. We all feel bad about things. We all have guilt.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n I was watching a\n&#8220;Columbo&#8221; rerun the other night. Johnny Cash was the bad guy. When\nColumbo figured it all out and pulled the trap, Cash said, &#8220;I&#8217;m glad I don&#8217;t\nhave to pretend anymore. The guilt was killing me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n A fellow pastor received\nthis letter: &#8220;I&#8217;m 31 years old and divorced, though I fought the divorce\nbitterly. I feel bad. I have no hope for my future. Often I go home and cry,\nbut there&#8217;s no one holding me when I cry. Nobody cares. Nothing changes, and I\ncontinue to fail. I&#8217;m stressed out emotionally, and I feel I&#8217;m on the verge of\na collapse. Something is very wrong. But I feel so hurt and embittered that I\ncan scarcely react or relate to others anymore. I feel as if I&#8217;m going to have\nto sit out the rest of my life in the penalty box.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>The\ntragedy is, I know a lot of people like that. They can&#8217;t get on with the\npresent and the future because they&#8217;re stuck in the past. Some guilt or regret\nhas tied them down. Sometimes they&#8217;re letting a former relationship mess up\ntheir current relationship. They say, &#8220;I guess I&#8217;ll just have to live with\nthis the rest of my life.&#8221; They&#8217;re running around with this emotional\nbaggage, and they&#8217;re wondering why they&#8217;re not happy.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s\nthe good news. Colossians 2:14 says: &#8220;He has forgiven all our sins and canceled\nevery debt we owe. Christ has done away with it by nailing it to the cross.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>This\nis God&#8217;s pardon program. Jesus nailed it all to the cross. He paid for my\nguilt. That means I don&#8217;t have to pay for it. He was hung for my hang-ups.\nJesus Christ was nailed to the cross, so I can quit nailing myself to the\ncross. He wants to forgive your past. He wants to cancel every debt you\nowe&mdash;emotional debts, relational debts, sins. All canceled.<\/p>\n\n<p>How\nlong do you remember a bill that&#8217;s been paid? I don&#8217;t remember it at all. Once\nit&#8217;s paid, I forget it. The point is this: Once God&#8217;s forgiven it, I can forget\nit. That&#8217;s good news! Even if there was no such thing as heaven or hell&mdash;and\nthere is&mdash;it would be worth becoming a Christian just to have a clear\nconscience; just to know I am free from all those things I&#8217;ve done wrong. Because Jesus is who he said he was, my past\ncan be forgiven. I don&#8217;t have to carry a load of guilt around. It&#8217;s\nunnecessary.<\/p>\n\n<p>Notice\nthis verse: &#8220;There is no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n Those of you who are baby\nboomers, do you remember having an Etch-A-Sketch? What happens if you mess up\nthe picture? You flip it, shake it, turn it back over, and there&#8217;s a clean\nslate. This is God&#8217;s Etch-A-Sketch verse in the Bible. He wants to wipe our\nslate clean.<\/p>\n\n<p>You\ncan walk out of here tonight, knowing that every single thing you&#8217;ve ever done\nwrong until this point is completely forgiven. That&#8217;s good news. That&#8217;s news I\ncan use. No condemnation! Jesus Christ did not come to rub it in; he came to\nrub it out. He said: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t come to condemn the world; I came to save it. I\nwant to change you, I want to help you, I want to give you a new beginning, I\nwant to give you a clear conscience.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">The resurrection\nmatters because my present problems can be managed.<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n Much of life is\nunmanageable. I was reading about Charlie Shedd, an author. He wrote:\n&#8220;Before we had kids, I used to travel across the country teaching a\nlecture I called &#8216;The Ten Commandments for Raising Perfect Kids.'&#8221; After\nhe and Martha had their first child, he changed the title to &#8220;Ten Hints\nfor Parents.&#8221; After their second child, he relabeled the lecture, &#8220;A\nFew Tentative Suggestions for Fellow Strugglers.&#8221; He said after the\narrival of their third child, he gave up speaking on the topic altogether.<\/p>\n\n<p>Maturity\nis when you figure out you can&#8217;t have it all figured out. Maturity is when you\nrealize you can&#8217;t manage all life is going to send you. But God can. And that&#8217;s\ngood news. I can&#8217;t control everything in my life, but God can. So I want to\nhook up with him and let him control it and ask him for help.<\/p>\n\n<p>I\ntalk to hundreds of people, and the number one complaint I hear from people\ntoday is this: &#8220;My life is out of control.&#8221; I hear it a thousand times: &#8220;I feel\npowerless to change the situation. I feel powerless to break a bad habit. I feel\npowerless to save a relationshipI feel powerless to get out of debt. I feel powerless\nto manage my time and my schedule.<\/p>\n\n<p>What\nyou need is a power greater than yourself. You were never meant to live this\nlife on your own power. God wants to have a relationship with you. And here&#8217;s\nthe good news: Ephesians 1:19-20 says: &#8220;How incredibly great is his power to\nhelp those who believe him, the same mighty power that raised Christ from the\ndead.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>The\nsame power that enabled Jesus to rise from death will help you rise above your\nproblems. The same power God used at the resurrection 2,000 years ago can be\nused in your life right now. You don&#8217;t know what the future holds. I don&#8217;t\neither. I don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going to happen next year, next month, next week. I\ndon&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going to happen tomorrow, and neither do you. But it doesn&#8217;t\nmatter, because even though it&#8217;s out of my control, it&#8217;s not out of God&#8217;s. He\nwill give me the power to face it. Philippians 4:13 says: &#8220;I&#8217;m ready for\nanything through the strength of Christ, who lives in me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>I\nwant to help out, God says. Some of you came crawling in here tonight. You&#8217;ve\nhad a tough week. God wants to say to you this: Don&#8217;t give up. Don&#8217;t give up.<\/p>\n\n<p>No\nproblem is too big for God. No situation is hopeless if you&#8217;ll turn it over to\nhim. &#8220;I am ready for anything through the power of positive thinking&#8221;?\nNo, it doesn&#8217;t say that. &#8220;I am ready for anything because I psyched myself\nup&#8221;? No. &#8220;I am ready for anything through the strength of Christ, who\nlives in me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Why\ndoes the resurrection matter? Because my past can be forgiven, my present can\nbe managed, and:<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">The resurrection\nmatters because my future can be secure.<\/h2>\n\n<p>One\nof the universal problems we&#8217;ve all got is death. Let&#8217;s face it&mdash;everybody dies.\nI&#8217;m going to die someday, and so are you. Only a fool would go all through life\nunprepared for something he knows is inevitable. That doesn&#8217;t make sense. But\nsometimes we get so busy in the here and now, we don&#8217;t stop to think about\nwhat&#8217;s going to come.<\/p>\n\n<p>People\ndon&#8217;t like to talk about death. If you don&#8217;t believe me, invite your friends\nover, sit them down, serve them some coffee and pie, and say, &#8220;Let&#8217;s talk\nabout death.&#8221; See what happens.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n They asked some children to\nwrite sentences about what they believed about death. Gilda, aged 8, said,\n&#8220;When you die they put you in a box and bury you in the ground because you\ndon&#8217;t look too good.&#8221; Stephanie, aged 9, said, &#8220;Doctors help you so\nyou won&#8217;t die until you pay their bill.&#8221; Marsha, aged 9, said, &#8220;When\nyou die, you don&#8217;t have to do homework in heaven unless your teacher is there\ntoo.&#8221; Raymond, aged 10, said, &#8220;A good doctor can help you so you\nwon&#8217;t die. A bad doctor sends you to heaven.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>The\nfact is everybody has a deep internal longing to know, &#8220;What&#8217;s going to\nhappen after I die?&#8221; It&#8217;s obvious we&#8217;re going to spend more time on that\nside of eternity than on this side. Here we only spend 60, 70, maybe 80 years.\nThis is just the first inch of the yardstick. This is preschool for what&#8217;s\ngoing to happen in eternity. It is interesting to me that as 78 million baby\nboomers move into middle age, all of a sudden they&#8217;re becoming more interested\nin the hereafter.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>  <em>U.S. News &amp; World Report<\/em> ran a cover article called, &#8220;The\nRekindling of Hell.&#8221; It says more\npeople believe in heaven and hell than ever before in American history. Why?\nBecause people are wondering, &#8220;What&#8217;s going to happen?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>There\nare a lot of misconceptions about heaven. Most of them come from movies with\nbad theology: <em>Heaven Can Wait; Oh, God; All Dogs Go To Heaven<\/em>. These are cute little ideas of what somebody\nthinks heaven is going to be like.<\/p>\n\n<p>What\nis it really going to be like? Let&#8217;s check it out with the source. When you go\nto the Bible, what does God say it&#8217;s really going to be like in heaven and\nhell?<\/p>\n\n<p>Now\nlisten. This is news you can use. This is essential, because one day you&#8217;re\ngoing to stand before God, and you&#8217;re going to need to know the right answers.<\/p>\n\n<p>Number\none, heaven is a perfect place. Total love, total peace, total joy, total\nperfection. \nNo sin, no mistakes, no evil, no bad, no\nerrors. \nIt&#8217;s\nperfect in every area.<\/p>\n\n<p>The\nsecond thing the Bible says is that in order for you to go there, you have to\nbe perfect, because only perfection can exist in heaven. You say, &#8220;Oh.\nWell thanks a lot. That leaves me out.&#8221; Yeah, it leaves me out, too. You\nsay, &#8220;I&#8217;ll never make it if I have to be perfect.&#8221; Right! That&#8217;s the\npoint. Neither will I. Neither will any of us, because none of us is perfect;\nwe&#8217;ve all messed up.<\/p>\n\n<p>There\nare two ways the Bible says you can get to heaven. Plan A is to earn it. That&#8217;s\nthe performance plan. And to earn it you only have to do this: never sin and\nalways do what&#8217;s right for the entire time that you live. Always make the right\ndecision, always say the right thing, never say the wrong thing. Just be\nperfect.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\nIt would be\nas if they changed the rules of the Baseball Hall of Fame and said in order to\nget in you had to bat 1,000 and play error-free ball your entire career. Even\nthe best get 300.<\/p>\n\n<p>Since\nnone of us qualify for Plan A, God came up with Plan B, which is this: You\ntrust Jesus Christ when he says, &#8220;I am the way, the truth, and the\nlife.&#8221; He was the only perfect person who ever lived, because he was God.\nHe came so we could know what God is like. And by trusting and establishing a\nrelationship with him, you get in on his goodness.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Illustration:<\/em>\n My friend Ron Dunn took his\nyoung son to a carnival one time for his birthday. His son picked six boys to\ngo with him, so Ron bought a roll of tickets. Every line he&#8217;d come up to, he&#8217;d\npull off seven tickets and give them to all the kids. When they got to the\nFerris wheel, all of a sudden there was this eighth little kid with his hand\nout. Ron said, &#8220;Who are you?&#8221; The kid said, &#8220;I&#8217;m Johnny.&#8221;\nRon said, &#8220;Who are you, Johnny?&#8221; Johnny said, &#8220;I&#8217;m your son&#8217;s\nnew friend. And he said you would give me a ticket.&#8221; Ron asked me,\n&#8220;Do you think I gave him one? Absolutely.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>When\nyou get to heaven you&#8217;ll say, &#8220;God, I can&#8217;t get in on my own effort. The\nonly way I can get into heaven is because I&#8217;m a friend of Jesus\nChrist.&#8221; John 17:3 says: &#8220;This is\nthe way to have eternal life: by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ,\nthe one he sent to earth.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>That&#8217;s\nwhat the Bible says. Jesus has already paid for your way to heaven. This is\nnews you can use. A Christian is not somebody who accepts a religion. A Christian\nis somebody who has a relationship with God.<\/p>\n\n<p>A\nlot of people try different ways to get to heaven. Some people try what I call\n&#8220;salvation by sincerity.&#8221; It goes like this: &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter\nwhat you believe as long as you&#8217;re sincere.&#8221; Yeah? Just think that one\nthrough. You can be sincerely wrong. I read the other day about a pilot who\nsincerely flew into a mountain. He thought it was lower. He killed himself. He\nwas sincerely wrong. I could pick up a glass of water and take a drink of it,\nsincerely thinking it&#8217;s water, but if it&#8217;s poisoned, I&#8217;d be sincerely dead.<\/p>\n\n<p>Some\npeople think you get to heaven by service: &#8220;I can do all these good things\nand work my way there.&#8221; That doesn&#8217;t work.<\/p>\n\n<p>Some\npeople try &#8220;salvation by subtraction.&#8221; You give up a bunch of things\nand then you get to heaven: &#8220;I don&#8217;t drink, smoke, cuss, chew, run around\nwith girls that do. I don&#8217;t do nothin&#8217;.&#8221; If being a Christian is just a\nmatter of not doing things, then anybody who&#8217;s dead qualifies as a Christian.<\/p>\n\n<p>Then\nthere are people who think they&#8217;ll get to heaven by ritual: &#8220;I&#8217;ll get\nbaptized.&#8221; You can get baptized in the ocean until every fish knows you by\nyour first name. Maybe you&#8217;ll join a church and think that will make you a\nChristian. Sitting in a church will make you a Christian as much as sitting in\na chicken house will make you a chicken. You say you joined the church. If you\njoined the Lion&#8217;s Club does that make you a lion? You say you were born in the\nchurch. If you were born in the car does that make you a spare tire? Think it\nthrough! Use your mind!<\/p>\n\n<p>How\nabout &#8220;salvation by heritage.&#8221; Your mother was a Christian. You\ngrandmother was a Christian. So what? You have to make a personal decision\nyourself. That&#8217;s like saying you&#8217;re married because your mother, grandmother, and\ngreat-grandmother were married. No, you&#8217;ve got to make a personal decision.<\/p>\n\n<p>And\nthen my favorite of all&mdash;&#8221;salvation by comparison&#8221;: &#8220;At least I&#8217;m\nbetter than so-and-so.&#8221; You&#8217;re probably better than me. I don&#8217;t doubt it.\nBut the fact is, God isn&#8217;t judging you according to me or anybody else. Saying,\n&#8220;I&#8217;m better than Hitler&#8221; is like saying, &#8220;I can bench press more\nthan my grandmother.&#8221; God doesn&#8217;t grade on a curve. It&#8217;s either perfection\nor zip! It&#8217;s either 100 percent or Plan B: trust Christ.<\/p>\n\n<p>What&#8217;s\nyour source of hope? Hope means confidence in the Bible. Look at 1 Peter 1:3:\n&#8220;We have been born again into a life full of hope through Christ rising from the\ndead.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Hope\nmeans you don&#8217;t fear death anymore. You&#8217;re not ready to live until you&#8217;re ready\nto die. You can&#8217;t really live unless you&#8217;re not afraid to die. How can you not\nbe afraid to die? By making peace with God <em>now<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n<p>Would\nyou like to have everything you&#8217;ve ever done wrong completely forgiven? Would you\nlike to have a clear conscience? Number two, would you like to acquire a new\npower that would help you manage the problems in your present? And number\nthree, would you like to have your future secured?<\/p>\n\n<p>That&#8217;s\nthe difference Easter can make. Understanding why Easter happened&mdash;why Christ\nrose from the dead&mdash;is not enough. You&#8217;ve got to do something about it. You&#8217;ve\ngot to take some action steps. Understanding what I&#8217;ve just talked about is not\nenough to get you into heaven. You&#8217;ve got to accept it and act on it. You need\nto say to God, &#8220;God, I&#8217;m scrapping Plan A. I know I&#8217;ll never earn my way\nto heaven. I know I never can be good enough. I&#8217;ve already blown it enough\ntimes to know I&#8217;m not going to make the 100 percent thing. So I&#8217;m asking you to\nwork Plan B in my life. Jesus Christ, I want to trust you, follow you, get to\nknow you and have a relationship.&#8221; That&#8217;s how you do it. That&#8217;s how Easter\ncan make a difference in your life.<\/p>\n\n<p>All\nof us came tonight for different reasons. Some of you came because it&#8217;s the\ntraditional thing to do. Others of you came because a friend invited you,\nsomebody who really cares about you. Some of you came because an advertisement\nattracted your attention. It doesn&#8217;t matter why you think you came here. You&#8217;re\nnot here by accident. God brought you here. He brought you here so he could\ncommunicate with you; so he could get you to sit still for 15 minutes so he\ncould say something to you.<\/p>\n\n<p>This\nis what God wants to say to you today: &#8220;You matter to me. I understand\neverything about your life. I know you. I made you, remember? I want to have a\nrelationship with you. I sent my son to die for you. I want you to get to know\nme.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Your\nbackground may be Catholic or Jewish or Protestant or Mormon or Buddhist or\nBaptist. I don&#8217;t care what your background is. I&#8217;m not talking about religion.\nI&#8217;m talking about a relationship with Jesus Christ. That&#8217;s what Easter is\nabout. God knows you. He wants you to know him. So you come with an open heart\nand say, &#8220;God, here I am.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Some\nof you have been close to God in the past. You&#8217;ve drifted away. What does God\nsay to somebody who has drifted away? Isaiah 54:7 says: &#8220;With deep love, I will\nwelcome you back.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Nobody\nwill ever love you as much as Jesus Christ does. Nobody. You matter to God, and\nhe brought you here tonight to tell you that. Jesus Christ died for you to\nprove how much he loves you.<\/p>\n\n<p>We&#8217;re\nall at different levels in our spiritual journey. Some of you aren&#8217;t sure\nyou&#8217;re going to heaven when you die. You need to make sure. Some of you need to\nrecommit your life to the Lord.<\/p>\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s\nhave a moment of silence. Nobody&#8217;s going to single you out or make you raise\nyour hand, so you can relax. Maybe you&#8217;re not sure you&#8217;d go to heaven if you\ndied. Would you pray something like this in your heart: &#8220;Jesus Christ, I&#8217;m\nnot sure if I&#8217;m saved or not. I&#8217;m asking you to save me today. I&#8217;m putting my\ntotal trust in you, and I want to follow you. Thank you for loving me and dying\nfor me. Help me to understand it more.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Maybe\nothers of you have drifted away from Christ. God wants to say to you,\n&#8220;With deep love I will draw you back.&#8221; Would you say, &#8220;Jesus\nChrist, I&#8217;m coming home tonight. I want to get it in gear again. I want to quit\nplaying Mickey Mouse and put first things first in my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>Some\nof you have not found a church home. Saddleback would love to be your spiritual\nfamily. We welcome you here. This is a place for imperfect people. The purpose\nof our church is two-fold: to teach people how to live, and to prepare people\nfor when they die. Those are two things you need. We&#8217;d love to have you here.<\/p>\n\n<p>Finally,\nI&#8217;m sure some of you are barely hanging on; you&#8217;ve been discouraged, depressed,\ndespondent. The pressure and stress has been building up this past week or this\npast month, and you feel overwhelmed. God brought you here tonight so he could\nsay to you, &#8220;Give it all to me. Let go and let me work in your life.&#8221;\nWould you say, &#8220;Jesus Christ, I want to give you these problems I&#8217;m\nfacing. I want to give you my life&mdash;the good, the bad, the ugly. Fill me with\nyour hope and your presence and power. In Jesus&#8217; name we pray. Amen.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"\" class=\"\" align=\"@align\">&copy; Rick Warren\nPreachingToday Tape #223\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\nA resource of Christianity Today International<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">For Additional Preaching Today Resources:<\/h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ppreachingttoday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingToday.com<\/a>\nPerfect web site for pastors! Get top-notch sermon illustrations, relevant articles, preaching tips, and more!<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[307],"tax_ctp_authors":[2811],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[492],"tax_ctp_tags":[3839,3886,4877],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33038","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-rick-warren","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-easter","tax_ctp_tags-eternal-life","tax_ctp_tags-salvation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Difference Does Easter Make? - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/what-difference-does-easter-make\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Difference Does Easter Make? - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illustration: One of my favorite magazines is U.S. News &#038; World Report. 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