Easter Sunrise 2024

trying trying mhm, although if there were some clowns then it would be really cool, it's like the clowns give it a little bit of perspective, like yeah, yeah, texture, something e e e e e I've heard it said that a man could be a mountain just to be with the one who loves how many times has he broken that promise it has never been made I have never climbed the highest mountain but I walk the hill of Calario just to be with you I want to do anything there is no prist I would not pay not only to be with you I would give everything I would give my life I've heard it said that a man would swim in the ocean just to be with the person he loves.

All those dreams are empty and can never be done. I have never swum in the deepest ocean, but I walked over the raging SE just to be with you. I would do anything, what would be the price? I wouldn't pay, no, just to be with you. I will give it my all. I will give my life. Hey, and I know. You don't understand the fullness of my love how I died on the cross for your sin and I know you don't realize how much I gave you and I promise I will do it all over again just to be with you. everything is done there is no price I did not pay not only to be with you I gave it my all yes I gave my life like this hey I am like this hey yes just to be with you oh just to be with you oh just to be with you oh just to I will be with you, good morning everyone and welcome to our Easter Sunrise Service here at Pretty Place.

We are very happy that everyone joined us this morning. They got up early. The forecast will be a beautiful

sunrise

. It's a clear morning here. The stars were beautiful at 4:30 when we got here, so we're excited that everyone is here to celebrate with us, together, we're going to listen to some music this morning and then Corey will have our message for us, but we're grateful. for everyone here and I just hope that your Easter is full of love and blessings and glad that we can all be together this morning. In fact, it is in his newsletter.

In fact, it has the lyrics to the upcoming songs. It's not just a concert I invite you to join me Only in Christ is my hope found he is my life my strength my song This cornerstone this solid ground steadfast through the drought and the fiercest storm what heights of love what depths of peace when fears remain when fighting seems my comforter My All in All here in the love of Christ I am alone in Christ who took flesh the fullness of God in self-denial gift of love and justice contempt for those whom he came to save until in that cross Jesus died the wrath of God was laid aside for every sin upon him was laid here in the death of Christ I live there on the ground his body lay Light of the World by Darkness killed then burst forth and Glorious Day rose from the grave rose again and as he is in victory as the curse has lost its hold on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ guiltless of life without fear of death this is the power of Christ in me from the first cry of Li to the last breath Jesus commands my death, tiny one, no power of hell, no plan of men can disconnect me from his hand until he returns or calls me home here in power of Christ.

I'll Stand our next song is a hymn of Come Thou f Come Thou F of Every Blessing T my heart to sing your Grace streams of Mery without ceasing calling songs of praise louder teach me son sung by flames Tong of praise the mount on the one I am fixed Mount of redeeming love here I raise Myer here for your great help I have come and I hope for your good pleasure to arrive safely home Jesus is me when a stranger asks from the F of God he to rescue me from danger interos su Precious Blood the day I will see your beautiful face dressed BL lava and L how I sing your Sovereign Grace come, my Lord, no longer Terry, take my Rescue Soul send your Angels now to take me to Kingdoms of endless days oh to the Grace , how great is the diary to which I am obliged to me, let your goodness as a nourished by my amazed Heart To You grone to ask me Lord I feel great to live the God I love here is my heart oh take and seal it seal it for the courses above here is my heart oh take and seal it seal it for the last song before our messages Sanctuary Lord prepare me to be a pure and holy sanctuary tried and true with Thanksgiving I will be a living Sanctuary for you Lord prepare me to be a pure sanctuary and tried and true holy with Thanksgiving I will be a living Sanctuary to you one last time, Lord, prepare me to be a pure and tried and true holy with Thanksgiving.

I will be a living sanctuary for you. Hello, everyone. I love listening to Mark Singh. I love it um in the summer. We do Chapel together, I sing with him, I can't sing very well so I can always stand next to him and he makes me feel like I can sing, better, thank you for being here, thank you to everyone who watches me online, thank you. for all those watching on television, thank you all who are here, welcome to the beautiful Place Chapel, this is a preparation for today's morning message. I was reflecting on how this is my fifth Easter Sunrise Service delivering the message in G gille.

I have more times that I have been here, but the fifth since we started and in the last four we have done what you do in any Easter dawn message or any Easter message, you start with the Bible stories that say here is the empty tomb , stories that, there are two or three in the Bible that tell the Passover story, but this time it occurred to me that we've never really talked about the what or the why of how this guy Jesus gets to the Tomb. to surprisingly emerge from the Tomb in the first place, we often begin the story in Luke 24:1 which says this on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the woman took spices that they had prepared and left. to the tomb and they found that the stone had been rolled away uh and then they went in and they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus and why and while they were wondering about this suddenly two men with clothes that shone like lightning stood in front of them and in fear the women bowed their heads and faces to the ground but the men said why do you look for the living among the dead he is not here he has risen and that is where we have started for the last four years and while it is a great place to start I thought we would address this morning the question of why he was dead in the first place, why there was a tomb and why he was where he was just before he entered the tomb and I'm going to To do this, I spend about 10 minutes talking about the way the world works.

I'm going to talk in analogy, I'm going to talk in narrative science and metaphor and then, for the last five or six minutes or 10 minutes, To close, talking about the Scriptures and what they mean for us today here and now, okay everyone , we're okay with that, so I want to do this by reflecting on two symbols today, and I want us to keep them in mind throughout the process. Once we are together the two symbols are the cross and the empty tomb, so two symbols that we must take into account: the cross and the empty tomb.

One thing that's fascinating about me, um, is that I have a habit of eating, what about you, um, how many? If you have a habit of eating, you do it regularly, you don't know when it started, probably at a young age, but it's something you learn very quickly, that when you eat it gives you energy and something about when. you don't eat, you're hungry, that's why when we watch the news and see images of the current famine in Gaza, where 1.1 million people are suffering from catastrophic food insecurity, you realize that there is something special about food when you we eat, we live.

When we don't eat, we die now. I have brought some ingredients to the Chapel. Pro, those of you sitting here are probably wondering why there are vegetables on the cross, here, these particular ingredients that I have brought. I um they are for a sauce that I'm going to make this afternoon uh I have the roma tomato I have cilantro here I have lemon I have a aeno because I like my sauce a little warm um I have lime um The secret ingredients are all piled up here, but the main ingredient of this sauce that I will make later today is the roma tomato uh, now this roma tomato at some point was connected to a vine and that vine in turn was connected to the soil, which was its source of life, from where it got its new nutrients and minerals, so in order for this roma tomato to reach my mouth later this afternoon, it had to be plucked from the vine, it had to be harvested and when it was harvested, it was disconnected from its source of life um and no matter how Well this Roma tomato looks like it's in my hand right now, it's dying in my hand, it's been disconnected from its life source, are we tracking?

So the same goes for the onion. and the lime, cilantro, and jalapeño are all about to die right now, so everything in my next foot sauce was once alive, but has now given its life for me. Isn't everything interesting in the eventual plate of joy? which I'm going to eat with my tortilla chips later, uh, to eat it it had to die, food to give us life has to die first, that's why Twinkies in Mountain Dew are not good for you. Mountain Dew drinkers here are like yeah. but it's green and vegetables are green Cory, nothing in Mountain Dew or Twinkie had to die, so it's not a healthy option for you, so when we talk about foods that are good for us, we often mean foods which were more recent.

Alive, uh, that's why when we talk about fresh food, the closer it is to the date it was separated from that Source of Life, the better it is for us, the longer it's dead, the less nutrients it will have, as the poet in the Book of Genesis. In this way he wrote these words and then God said: I give you every plant that bears seeds on the face of the Earth and every tree that has fruits and seeds and these will be yours as food in the nutritional realm of how the world works. us death brings life what will be on your plate today for breakfast at lunch today will be dead and its death is what allows you to continue living now let's back up and go a little further and examine this ecologically a worm is eaten by a bird The bird is eaten by the cat The cat dies It decomposes on the ground It is eaten by the worm's grandson Think about that for a second because it is integrated into the realm of the ecosystem the concept that death brings life, so the food chain operates on death things to live have to die one of the deepest mysteries of the universe is manure, the manure of what I remember is dead, it's Decay at Camp Greenville, we have a compost pile, it's short for decomposition, but you take these things that are dead and put it on top of other things and somehow it brings life.

Fertilizer comes from the word fertility, which means life, so in the physical realm, in the nutritional realm, in the realm of health, death somehow brings life, it is true in the very fabric of creation, it is not an idea or I thought, out of nowhere, but it is true in this world, so let's go a little further. We probably all have events from our childhood that stand out to us and we remember them as significant or monumental, maybe even shaped us in some way. uh, for me there were two events that stand out as a child, one the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the second, the bombing of Oklahoma City, both caused by religious extremists and one of the most moving things I remember about These two events are the videos and photos of firefighters trying to rescue people.

Some firefighters gave their lives, so the stories that were all over the news and the stories that we told were stories of people who would give their life to rescue someone so that someone else could live and so on. It's a deeply moving thing for us when we see this, when we hear about a firefighter climbing a ladder to rescue someone and dies in the process, it moves us in ways we can't really explain and when we see fire stations, um. that and a couple of people have died and other firefighters are there mourning something inside of us says it's beautiful maybe we can't explain it um but there is something beautiful about someone giving their life for another human being the biblical author John said it so this greatest way Love has no one but to give one's life for another, so when we talk about giving one's life for another we use interesting language, we say it was inspiring.

Now the word inspire comes from the Latin word Sanctus which literally Lally means Spirit or breath when we talk about something that is inspiring we are saying that it gave us life, it gave me breath and when we say that something has expired as a friend, that milk has expired, we want to say that the life or the breath inside the milk has been exhausted, so when we talk about 9/11 or we talk about Oklahoma City um about someone giving their life for another human being we talk about it being inspiring in some mystical way and spiritual it is like their death brought us life maybe someone has done something for you that was beyond gave you more than what you expected and became inspiring for you why because death brings life they are living above themselves It brings you life, let's explore a little more because we have seen that death brings life, it is true.nutritionally it is true environmentally socially relationally elementally so when the Bible talks about God giving life, how does the Bible talk about that?

Well, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, notice the language used in the center of Scripture to describe God giving up life 1 Thessalonians. 4:14 we believe that Jesus died and rose again the first author said that the central claim of these early Christians was that Jesus died on the cross and rose again the empty tomb the cross and the empty tomb were a big problem for these early writers the cross and the stories of empty tombs gave them life Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrates his love because in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us then death death bringing life is true throughout the universe that is why God gives life through the death and we see that this is true so the biblical writers and the first Christians understood this that not only is life through death but when God gives life he does it through death God gives life through the death of Jesus so I'm wondering if the cross and the empty tomb are just this kind of abstract idea out there to say hey, Jesus died for you and rose from the dead or are the cross and the empty tomb already true in how God created the universe to that worked and how it is already working in a million different ways. the cross and the empty tomb is something new that God came up with or was already in the way the world works.

Did God with the cross and the empty tomb just come up with a crazy idea or is this how the flow of the world already works, let me put it this way: life-giving death is true everywhere, but this It leads to a series of thoughts and questions for us, or at least for me, if death were to happen, does death win? Does death have the last word? so let's take a look at three verses from the Bible, I'm going to read them to you, reflect on them and then we close our time together as the sun rises Acts chapter 2: 24 But God raised him from the dead, delivering him from the agony of death because he was impossible for death to maintain its dominion over him Romans 6:8 n the author says something very similar to this he says because we know that since Christ rose from the dead he cannot die again death no longer has Dominion over him and finally second Timothy, uh, this book is a letter from a guy named Paul to a guy named Timothy.

Notice how he puts it in our first verse, it was impossible for death to take hold of him. The Romans verse says that death has no dominion over him and so in this letter it is slightly different 2 Timothy 1:10 but now it has been revealed through the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death, so let's see all three phases together, it was impossible for death to take hold of him. death has no dominion over him Jesus, who destroyed death, so let me offer just a couple of final observations of what this means for us that death could not hold him, has no dominion over him, and that he has truly destroyed the death.

There's this moment in the Book of John Chapter 2 where Jesus is standing in front of the temple in Jerusalem, it's this huge house of God of brick and stone of gold and brick and stone, and he says, destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days. and people listen. They tell him how you are going to do that. It took us 46 years to build this Temple, but he wasn't talking about that Temple, he was talking about himself, essentially he says they're going to kill me and that's where he's going because you don't confront corrupt systems of power like Jesus did and sometimes you don't.

You pay for it with your own blood and that is why he goes to his execution on the cross. If you had witnessed this Divine Life extinguished on the cross, how could you not? Being overwhelmed by despair is the world ultimately a cold and dead place, one would wonder if death has the last word, is it really honest, really dark, so that every time we see any light, any good What we come across, are they like points on a radar? like momentary interruptions um in an otherwise meaningless existence because if that's the case then despair is the only reasonable response it's easy to be cynical but Jesus says destroy this temple and I will rebuild it he says his execution his death would not be the ending is talking about something unexpected that happened after his death, it is talking about the Resurrection The resurrection announces that God does not give up on this world because this world matters, the world we call home, the earth, the blood, the sweat, skin and Light and Water.

God is redeeming and restoring and renewing this world because it matters The resurrection says that what we do with our lives matters in this body that you now inhabit matters Every act of compassion matters Every work of art that celebrates good and truth Matters every act fair and honest business in trade every kind word every garden that is lovingly cared for and provides these ingredients everyone belongs everyone matters and everyone will continue in God's good world nothing will be forgotten nothing will be wasted everything has a place and resurrection affirms that this life and the next are like a perfect reality embraced, graced and saved by God, there is an unexpected and mysterious presence that meets each of us in our lowest moments, when we have no strength, when we have nothing left and we cannot continue. listen to the voice that speaks those words destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it you believe this because that is the question that Jesus asks them and that is the question that he asks us now the friends of Jesus come to the tomb and tell them that he is not here well, They didn't see that coming, isn't he here and there is nothing to fear and nothing can ever be the same?

I will die Jesus says but it won't be the end and when you find yourself assuming it is It's over it's lost, broken and can never be put back together when it's been destroyed and you swear it can never be rebuilt. Wait a moment because at that moment things will have just begun, so this morning you have if you haven't been living your life as if something has changed for thousands of years The resurrection says that today is the day this morning if you have you found yourself in a bit of despair wondering if it will ever get better The resurrection says today is the day this morning if you have found yourself not bringing good work, good art Justice Mercy Grace Love Arms open to this world no it's not too late because The Resurrection says today is the day when death does not have the last word he has risen the tomb is empty life is different praise an Indescribable God from the highest of heights to the depths of the sea creation revealing your disorder from the colors from autumn to the fragrance of spring Every Creature unique in the song he sings All exclaiming Indescribable irrepressible you place the stars in the sky and know them by name you are amazing God almighty indomitable all beaten we fall to our knees as we hum Proclaim that you are amazing God who He has told each lightning B where it should go or he has seen celestial warehouses loaded with snow that imagine that the sun gives rise to its light yet hides it to bring us the coolness of the night that no one can fathom Indescribable uncontainable you B the stars in the heaven and you know them by name you are amazing God almighty indomitable AR struck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim that you are God amazing incomparable immutable you see the depth of my heart and you love me the same you are God amazing you are God amazing thank you for joining us this morning he has risen has indeed been resurrected as we come to a conclusion we want to thank everyone here in person and those online for joining us we want to remind you that we will take a couple of minutes here to reflect on the beautiful message that Corey has left us and watch the wonderful sun rise over the mountains behind us here.

So in closing I would love for you to join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the beauty that you have placed around us this morning as we look at these mountains and the cross before us, we remember that death gives life and that you gave your son Jesus so that we could all have eternal life, we ask you May you guide us through the uncertainties and challenges we face and allow us to bring peace to those around us, please give us the strength to share our pain and sadness and rise. from the grave with you at our side we thank you for this day and the blessings you bring and we pray this in your name amen e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e