Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. My name is Jason. I've been
asked to give my testimony today. 26 years ago,
I accepted the Lord, put my trust in Him. I was
a Marine, and I lived a life that wasn't quite
so well. My walk with God wasn't a straight path.
There's a lot of turns, a lot of twists. Through
that pass, I found myself drifting away from
God and to God. But what I know is that God would
stay with me. He was faithful to me, showing
me his love and his grace and mercy. I was an
angry person, and God worked on my heart and
changed me, continually never giving up. changing
me to a better person, those that are closest
to me, seeing the change, recognizing it. And
I know that God is closer to me today than he
was 26 years ago. His love, his grace, his mercy
is extended. I'm Missy, and this is part of my
testimony. I struggled with... depression and
anxiety a lot um and i started coming here in
2017 to lifehouse my husband was in idaho at
the time and um i had too much anxiety to go
out there and be with him so we were apart seven
years and until kip finally got through to me
that i needed to be with my husband so i went
out there with a one -way ticket and it was a
lot of anxiety and i struggled a lot but the
lord got me through it and he just showed me
different things that um like fear is actually
false evidence appearing real and that it's okay
to make a wrong decision because god's gonna
get me if i and put me back in the straight and
narrow if i'm wrong Hi, my name's Sean. I'm relatively
new here to the Lifehouse family. The people
here are just amazing, the staff and just everybody.
I'm a two -time recovering alcoholic, and God
has twice brought me from the darkness of alcoholism.
He has saved my relationship with my 33 -year...
bride, Katrina Wieser, and he saved my relationship
with my daughters, Kayla and Carrie. And it just
goes on and on from there, especially over the
last year to six months. The things that he's
done for me is just unbelievable. And I can be
the first one to attest that you will not be
forsaken. My name is Nikki and this is my testimony.
My father, Mark Sunderland, was diagnosed with
a rare kidney disease only about six people nationwide
had and the doctors didn't know what to do. An
over 200 plus pound, over six foot muscular baseball
basketball star became skin and bones very quickly.
My world was rocked. It didn't become real until
the dialysis machines came to the house and tubes
were coming out of his stomach every night. My
mom ended up being a perfect kidney match, and
they had to go under some pretty intense surgery
my junior year of high school. I thought that
even though the kidney worked, we did think that
it was an answer to prayers. Unfortunately, my
senior year of high school, I was told that he
was gone and he had passed away while I was leading
worship at a youth group event. I had lived through
tragedy, grief, loss. and I continued to work
to heal, forgive, and sometimes I did search
for love and affection in wrong places. Even
though years have passed, people have come and
gone in my life. They have always taught and
shaped me to be the person that I am today. I
have been able to find my voice through worship
again, and I am able to picture my dad and Jesus
sitting in the pews while I am doing that, while
they are smiling. My mom was able to remarry
a man who had lost their spouse as well, and
we had gained more family. I continue to strive
to be grateful each and every day. My name is
Chrisanna, and before Jesus changed my life,
I thought I knew him. But honestly, it wasn't
until I walked through a really hard season that
I understood how much I needed a Savior. About
five years ago, I walked through a time of loss,
and one of the things I lost was a marriage I
had that ended abruptly due to betrayal and heartbreak,
and it was a really hard time. And I learned
how much I needed to lean on Jesus every single
day to get through that season. And honestly,
Jesus got me through it. He was my grace. He
was my peace. He never left my side. And I understood
how much I needed a savior in that season. And
now looking back on all the things I lost, I
really see how much I gained because of Jesus.
He has blessed me in a double portion. I have
this wonderful husband, Zach, who's about to
leave worship, who's the father of our kids.
And he's just one of many blessings that God
gave me. He restored so much that was broken
and healed me. And I'm standing here today knowing
that I wouldn't be here without him. my Savior,
and that's Jesus. What if the worst thing in
life that's happened to you isn't the end of
your story? What if the worst thing in your life
isn't the end of the story? What if the worst
sin that you've committed is not the end? What
if the biggest mistake that I've committed isn't
the end? What if the greatest loss that I have
suffered does not mean it's all over? What if
the abuse that you suffered will not define you?
What if the toughest moment in time that you
have had to endure will only lead to a fuller
life? What if becoming new in Jesus It means
that the worst thing that has ever happened to
you or in your life will not become your life,
it will not be the end, and it will not contain
you in any kind of way. What if the worst thing
in my life is only a stepping stone to an abundant
life in Jesus Christ? Jesus stepped out of the
grave over 2 ,000 years ago so that the worst
thing in our lives would not be the end of our
story. Maybe, just maybe, the very beginning
of it. Can we stand and give Him praise one more
time, especially if He has changed your life?
Come on. Give Him glory. Give Him glory. Amen.
Amen. Before you sit down, turn to somebody and
give them a high five. Say, He's alive. High
five and He's alive. Amen. High five and He's
alive. Took me all week to come up with that.
Come on. If you got your Bibles this morning,
I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 27. And
we're going to go to verse 45. And while you're
going there in Scripture, and they're going to
bring it up on the screens for you, if you don't
have a Bible with you, I'm going to pray. And
I'm going to pray that God touches our ears,
our hearts, and our mind as we get ready to receive
the Word. You ready to pray? Father, we come
to you right now in the matchless name of Jesus
Christ. God, we ask that you would prepare our
hearts, that you would prepare our minds. God,
that you would prepare our ears. God, that we
might hear your word. And God, that it might
be an overflow this morning in our spirit. We
give you praise. We give you glory. In Jesus'
name. And everybody said together. Amen, amen.
Listen, I want to give you just a few details
as we lead up to this portion of scripture, a
few details that lead up to the crucifixion and
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the
course, in the course of one night, one night
before Jesus' crucifixion, Jesus is brought before
at least four religious slash political leaders
following his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane
while he's there praying and before the time
of his passion. He first ends up at Ananias,
the former high priest who holds an informal
inquiry. Then they move him to see Caiaphas and
the Sanhedrin. Well, Caiaphas is the high sitting
high priest at that time. All of them quite corrupt.
And Caiaphas brings them before the Sanhedrin,
which is, again, a group of leaders of Pharisees.
They convene in the middle of the night to bring
these false charges against Jesus to accuse him
of blasphemy. Because they don't want to do the
dirty work of taking Jesus out, they then send
him to Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor for the
area, who initially finds Jesus guiltless, but
Pilate doesn't know what to do with him. So he
sends him along to Herod Antipas, who is a local
ruler who questions Jesus, finds out that he's
not guilty and not sure what to do with him,
sends him back. to Pontius Pilate. And Pontius
Pilate reluctantly scourges Jesus. He has a Roman
scourging take place. And then because of the
pressure from the scribes and the Pharisees and
the high priest, he condemns them. He condemns
Jesus to death by crucifixion. As they pass Jesus
around from religious political leader to religious
political leader, back and forth over the night,
Jesus would suffer many beatings. He would be
punched without mercy. He would be spit on. His
beard would be pulled out. He would be beaten
down. He would be stripped naked. He would be
mocked. He would be slapped. And the soldiers
that were there would wear themselves out beating
on Jesus, literally would wear themselves out.
And if that wasn't enough, being punished in
this way for not being guilty, Pilate would order
Jesus to be scourged in an attempt to appease
these Jewish leaders. Many died during a Roman
scourging. A Roman scourging, what they would
do is they would take whoever was accused. They
would chain them to a cement column. Soldiers
who were skilled at what they would do in inflicting
pain, in the maximum amount of pain, they would
take a whip who had long thongs or long strings
attached to them, and those strings would be
embedded in the end with either lead balls, glass,
bone, shards of metal. And what these soldiers
would do in a scourging, they would whip the
person, and once it landed in the flesh, they
would tear backwards, ripping the flesh from
the bones, from the body. sinew and blood and
tissue would be torn away many times till there
was bone that was literally exposed from the
individual. The person who suffered a scourging
would have massive blood loss and their body
would go into shock. And the Bible says that
Jesus was so badly beaten that night that he
was unrecognizable as a man or a human. Once
the beating stopped, Jesus would be forced. to
carry his cross down the Via Dolorosa to a hill
called Golgotha, the place of the skull. So weary
from blood loss and shocked to his body, they
would pull a man named Simon out of the crowd
to help Jesus carry the cross to the place where
he would die. They would lay him on the cross.
They would pin him through his hands, typically
right at the wrist, at the base of the hand,
and through his feet. to the cross and would
raise that cross into the air, suspending him
between heaven and earth. He would literally
die from slow blood loss and asphyxiation as
his body weight pulled down upon his arms and
squeezed on his lungs. The only way a person
who was in a crucifixion could get air was to
draw themselves up on those nails, pull themselves
up. But it did not take long. For those who were
standing by and watching this gruesome torture
take place to begin to realize that the man on
the middle cross hanging between two actual criminals
was no ordinary man at all. Those standing by,
those who are witnessing this horror begin to
realize that Jesus really is someone else. He's
not just a man. He's the son of the living God.
And in Matthew 27, 45, it says this. Now from
the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was
darkness over all the land. Jesus is on the cross.
From noon till 3 p .m., there is no sunlight
that shines. God eclipses the sun and darkness
falls in the middle of the day. And about the
ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabathnai. That is my
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Some of
those who stood there, when they heard what he
had said, this man is calling, they said, this
man is calling out for Elijah. Immediately, one
of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with
sour wine and put it up on a reed and offered
it to him to drink. The rest said, let him alone.
Let us see if Elijah will come and save him.
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and
he yielded up his spirit. Jesus dies on the cross.
From the torture, from the beating, from the
bleeding, from the shock to his body, he draws
his last. And then it begins to happen. Verse
51 says, Jesus dies on the cross. The sun is
covered over for three hours. The earth begins
to shake as he draws his last breath. It begins
to quake. And in the veil, in the temple in that
area was a veil that was four inches thick and
was almost 60 feet long. That veil stood between
the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant
dwelt and out into the outer part of the sanctuary
or the temple area. And nobody went behind that
veil. As a matter of fact, only one time a year,
the high priest would go in to make atonement
for the people and behind that veil into the
Holy of Holies because God's presence dwelt there.
And God's presence was so stronger that the priest
would have to atone for himself before he would
go in and atone for the people. They would tie
a rope to his legs, to his foot, and he would
wear bells on the bottom of his robe. Because
if he went in there in an unworthy manner, the
presence of God would kill him. And they would
just drag him out of that place. When Jesus died,
the earth shook, and that veil was supernaturally
split into representing... the presence of God,
representing access for anyone to the presence
of God. Until that time, only the high priest.
Until that point, no one else could go in. Now,
Jesus pays the way. This was no ordinary man.
Look at what he's done. And it gets even crazier.
Matthew 27, 52 says this, and the graves were
open and many of the bodies of the saints. Now
this particular verse is looking forward just
about three days when Jesus steps out of the
tomb and says the graves were open and many bodies
of the saints who had fallen asleep, died previously,
were raised. And coming out of the graves after
his resurrection, they went into the holiest
city and appeared to many. Man, look what he's
done. The saints who died previously to this
point, the word of God says that when Jesus came
out of the tomb, they came out of the tomb. See,
those who had died previously to this point,
they went to a place that was called paradise.
They did not go right to heaven. There was a
holding place that was called paradise. And Jesus
goes in death and releases them. And when he
rises from the grave, they rise with him. And
they're walking around in the city. Now, I need
you to picture this just a little bit. Could
you imagine being in Jerusalem, right? The crucifixion's
taking place. Jesus has rose from the grave.
You hear about that. You're walking down to get
yourself a Dunkin' Donuts, right? You need a
coffee in the morning. And a guy you saw die
last year, you attended his funeral, is walking
down the street right towards you. How many know
that'd freak you out just a little bit? Come
on, amen? It would me, right? I know I saw him,
right? You think you saw a vision. You thought
you'd see something. But the earth shook. Verse
54 says, let's go back to the cross. So when
the centurion and those with him who were guarding
Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that
happened, they feared greatly, saying, truly,
this is the Son of God. A heathen Roman guard
who knows nothing of the God of the universe,
knows nothing of the God of Abraham and Isaac
and of Jacob. looks at Jesus on the cross when
he dies and the earth shakes and the sun is blacked
out for three hours. And he doesn't say, hmm,
I wonder if that's the son of God, right? Or
he doesn't say, hmm, I wonder if that's a king.
Because right above Jesus' head, they put a sign
that said king of the Jews. He doesn't go, man,
maybe he was king of the Jews. He doesn't go,
well, I don't know, maybe he was just a great
man. Maybe he was a wizard. Maybe this, maybe
that. A Roman soldier who knows nothing of God
looks at him and says, this is the son of God.
He probably has a bigger realization at that
moment that he just killed the son of God, right?
They're already starting to say, look what he's
done. Look what he's done. And if you go on in
verses 55 to 65, they take Jesus' body down from
the cross. They put it in a borrowed tomb. And
the chief priests and the Pharisees who put Jesus
on the cross in the first place with the accusations,
they're worried. They're still worried. Jesus
is dead. He's in the grave. And they're still
going to Pilate and saying, you know, this guy,
we remember him saying something about rising
up three days later. Hey, Pilate, how about you
give us a couple guards? We're going to set a
couple guards outside the door. Of the tomb or
outside the tomb. And by the way, can we seal
that puppy up? Can we seal the rock that's there?
And they're trying to super glue Jesus in, right?
With death and hell. They're trying to super
glue him in. And they know he's no ordinary man
themselves, right? Pilate gives the okay and
they seal Jesus in the tomb and they place soldiers
outside of the tomb. Verse 28 and 1 says, now
after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week
began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
came to the tomb. And behold, man, God was into
earthquakes right back at that moment, right?
And the earth, right? Great earthquake for an
angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came
and rolled back the stone from the door and sat
on it. God only had to send one angel back. That's
all he needed. His countenance was like lightning
and his clothes as white as snow. And the guards
shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
They passed out. They are out on the ground.
You do not stand in God's presence. You do not
stand in the presence of God's messenger. If
you don't know the Lord, he can put you on the
ground. Amen. If you do know the Lord, he can
put you on the ground. But the angel answered
and said to the women, do not be afraid, for
I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen. As he said,
come and see the place where the Lord lay. And
then go quickly and tell his disciples that he
is risen from the dead, and indeed he is going
before you into Galilee. There you will see him.
Behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly
from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran
to bring his disciples word. Two ladies. How
many ladies? Jesus first appeared to the ladies.
Amen? Come on. Amen. And the ladies in the house
said? Come on. Come on. There we go. Yeah, you're
going to applaud. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, rejoice.
So they came and held him by his feet and worshiped
him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid.
Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and
there they will see me. Jesus steps out of the
grave. An angel shakes things loose. He breaks
the seal. Jesus is already out of there. He does
it so the rest of the world can see. He shakes
it. He quakes it. He breaks the seal. He rolls
the stone away. And because Jesus goes in and
conquers death, hell, and the grave, because
he pays the price to do that, how many know we
can too? And can I tell you something? This is
only the tip. of the spiritual iceberg that begins
to break open at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is only a small portion. If you've ever seen
an iceberg, and they put a picture up there of
one, right? An iceberg is a massive piece of
ice that's underneath the water, and typically
all you see is the tip. All you see is what's
sticking out of the top, this little portion.
And ships know this because they won't go too
close because they know they'll crash because
there's a massive piece of ice underneath. That's
what the resurrection of Jesus Christ is. We
read it here, but Jesus steps out of the grave
and there is so much more happening. There's
so much more to all of what Jesus did. Yes, he
conquers death, hell, and the grave. And we can
as well, right? Yes, he pays the full price for
God's wrath on sin. And he takes our place in
that. Yes, Jesus is stepping out of the grave
and offers cleansing from my sin, freedom from
guilt and shame removed right by his broken body
and his spilled blood. Yes, now I'm exonerated
of all charges as a result of my sin in the course
of a holy God. Now I'm free. Yes, Jesus set me
free through salvation and in him and sends the
Holy Spirit to live within me. These are just
a couple things. Holy Spirit comes and resides
in those who follow Christ. He's a guide. He's
an encourager. He's a coach. He's a convictor.
He's a convincer. Yes, he promises me to never
leave me or never forsake me. Yes, eternal life
in God's kingdom is now mine. Yes, kingdom citizenships.
My papers are stamped. They're sealed. Amen?
Come on. And they're mine because of the redemptive
work. One day, I will go to a place. You will
go to a place in Christ. Where there is no death,
there's no sickness, there's no godly decay,
and there is no aging. Praise the God. Roy, if
you're over 50, say amen. Come on. All you young
people don't even know what we're talking about
yet. And the list goes on and on with the iceberg.
But I want to circle you around back to just
one scripture that I read earlier. At the very
end. Matthew 28 .10 says this, and Jesus said
to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brethren.
Say my brethren. Go to Galilee, and there they
will see me. Jesus resurrects from the grave,
pierce the two women, right, Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary, the Mary of James and Joseph,
and tells the women to go to tell the disciples,
tell my brethren. Brethren, here is not just
a term of endearment. That's not what this is
just right here. This is not Jesus coming out
of the grave and saying, what's up, bro? All
right? He's not just coming and saying, what's
up, bro? I busted out. That's not what he's doing
here. That's not the kind of term. And even this
terminology he's using, brother or brother, it's
not even in the context of like what you might
see with a group of military people, right? Who
have been through combat together. They've been
through strife and struggle together. They've
been through war together. And they're brothers,
right? They're a band of brothers. Oh, no, no,
no. This goes so much deeper than that. This
runs so much wider than this. Because at the
cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus
purchases. our adoption into the kingdom. Not
just, hey, what's up, bro? Look what he's done.
Through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, I can be adopted into the family of God.
Not metaphorically, literally adopted in. One
of the most astounding privileges offered to
you and I. Through Jesus as Lord and Savior is
that the Father adopts us into his family. Brothers
and sisters of Jesus. Following the resurrection.
Jesus says this to his disciples. He's not talking
to them as students. He's not talking to them
as mentees or trainees or underlings that are
underneath him or not even servants. He calls
them brothers. Tell them. I'm alive. Jesus purchased
my heavenly adoption papers when he stepped out
of that grave. He paid an enormous price to do
it. He paid with his blood. I don't know if you
know this or not, but the average cost of having
a child in the United States of America right
now is somewhere between $2 ,500 and $3 ,000.
The average out -of -pocket cost for a private
adoption in the U .S. is actually between $40
,000 to $85 ,000 and more. Jesus paid way more.
He paid all of it. He gave his life for ours
so we could be adopted. The Father adopts us
as sons and daughters through the finished work
of the cross of Christ, through faith in him.
One of the most mind -blowing scriptures you're
ever going to read in the Bible is in Romans
8, verse 15. It says this. So you have not received
a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,
you have received God's spirit when he adopted.
Say adopted. Adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him Abba Father. That's daddy, by
the way. All right? Daddy God. For his spirit
joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's
children. And since we are his children, we are
his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we
are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share
his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to
the glory we will receive that he will reveal
in us later. Heirs. Heirs carry the family name.
Heirs have legal rights to the family's estate.
Heirs carry the authority, the privilege, right,
and all the rights that the family can impart.
And in our case, we're not just heirs of some
other father figure that's out there somewhere
in the world that decided to adopt us. In our
case, we're heirs to a king. And not just a king,
the king, the king of the universe. We share
in his glory and we share in his suffering. We
need to get our heads around what Jesus did for
us. Look what he did. God, Jesus leaves heaven.
He leaves the throne of heaven and comes to die
so that I can be adopted. The father sends his
only son to die so that he could have more sons
and daughters. Full of privilege, rights, and
benefits. This is incredible on a Resurrection
Sunday. Worship team, if you'd come. Why is this
so incredible? It is one thing to be invited
to a home or into a kingdom. It is another thing
entirely to be a son or a daughter of the king
or that home. If after service today, you would
happen to drive to my house and pull up into
my driveway and just sit outside my garage door
and try to hop on your phone and jump on my Wi
-Fi, if you tried to find that, do you know what
would pop up on your phone or your device? My
Wi -Fi is called Kip's Kingdom. Yes, I named
it. All right? Yeah, if you drive up in my driveway
sometime, you can just try to hop on your phone.
It'll say Kip's Kingdom, all right? And by the
way, it is password protected, so you're not
getting in. And the reason I made it that, because
I'm the king, and Dixie's the queen in our house.
It's our kingdom, right? It's a small kingdom.
It's just a house. It's a little house. But it's
our kingdom. And it's one thing if I would invite
you to come in for a meal. And we would do our
best. If we invited you to come in for a meal,
well, Dixie would cook the meal because I'm a
terrible cook. But she would come in. She would
do her best. She would bring her best meal forward.
We would do our best to wait on you and serve
you. We would do our best to entertain you along
the way. And that's a wonderful thing. But how
many know that's a very different thing than
if you're a child of mine? Amen? I'm sorry, you
get rights. If I know you really well and I invite
you to my house, I'll even let you root around
my refrigerator, right? Get in my cabinets. But
my children and my grandchildren, they got rights.
My children and grandchildren can come into the
house. They can grab anything they want. They
can use anything they want. They can get the
keys to my car. Not the five -year -old, but
my children can. They're adults. They can get
the keys to my car, take it anywhere they want
to. As a matter of fact, I got official documentation
at a lawyer that one day when I draw my last
breath, everything I have is theirs. I'm going
to give it all to them. Everything I got, everything
in my bank accounts, everything sitting in my
garage, everything sitting in my house, and they
can do whatever they want with it. It is one
thing to be invited. It is another thing to be
a son or daughter of the Most High God. Amen?
Come on. You got to know that. It's an entirely
different thing. I'm going to ask you to stand
this morning. Let me read you one more verse.
1 John 3 says this. See how very much our Father
loves us? For he calls us his children, and that
is what we are. But the people who belong to
this world don't recognize that we are God's
children because they don't know him. Dear friends,
we are already God's children, but he has not
yet shown us what we will be like when Christ
appears. But we do not know that we will be like
him, heirs. For we will really see him as he
really is. And all have this eager expectation
will keep themselves pure just as he is pure.
One day when Jesus returns for his, those who
are saved, we're going to see who we really are
in Jesus as heirs. We've barely began to scratch
the surface of the iceberg of what that means
in our hearts and lives. Jesus paid this. on
the cross, and when he stepped out of the grave.
And what if the worst thing in your life is not
only not the end of your story, but is an opportunity
for the Heavenly Father to pull you into the
family and adopt you into his kingdom and give
you full rights and privileges that God has for
you? What if today for you, if you don't know
Jesus, is adoption day? Amen? New birthday. New
birthday. What if the worst thing that you've
ever done is only the catalyst, or the worst
thing that's ever happened to you is only a catalyst
for the Father to come in and restore back to
you everything that the enemy's stolen? What
if that's the case? A king who holds endless
resources for healing in his hands, and he's
waiting to lavish it on his children. He's waiting
to do it. Look what he's done. Look what he's
done. It's incredible. www .lifehousecog .com.