Well, amen, amen. Heights, it is so good to be
with you today. Can you believe that it was snowing
two days ago? Like, what is going on right now?
You guys can go ahead and grab a seat. Man, I
am so excited to be with you today, to welcome
you from wherever you are coming from. Welcome
those of you from our Prescott Valley location
here with us today. Come on, we can be excited
for Prescott Valley location. There we go. Welcome
those that are from our Prescott location that
are here with us today. Come on. Welcome those
who are from our online family that are joining
us in person here today. We can welcome them
as well as welcoming those that are on our online
family as well. And then a special, special welcome
to any of our guests that are here with us today.
We're just so glad that you decided to come and
be a part of this today as we can be one family.
celebrating a risen Savior. Celebrating a risen
Savior, man. And I'm excited. Some of you were
like, I'm not sure if we should be excited. We
can be excited about that. And we're gonna talk
more about that. Just to let you know, I'm gonna
try to say this as quick as I can because my
hair doesn't allow for much sun protection. And
so we're gonna try to get through this as quick
as we can, man. But super excited. I love Easter.
I absolutely love just being able to celebrate
a risen Savior. And I wish I could say that.
I've always loved Easter because of Jesus, but
it's because of the candy. I gotta be honest.
It's because of the candy, right? Because here's
the deal. Reese's does this thing around this
time of year where they find the perfect ratio
between chocolate and peanut butter in their
Reese's eggs. Come on, that is proof that God
exists. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. We
have proof. God exists, man. But here's the deal.
When I was younger, we would do Easter egg hunts.
And this was my time to shine because it wasn't
just about getting the candy. It was about dominating
and finding every possible egg. Like I would
turn into Sherlock Holmes, man. I could find
them anywhere. I could find eggs anywhere. I
love it. But here's the thing. A lot of times
when you go out to do an Easter egg hunt, parents
that are smart will give a limit on how many
eggs so that everyone gets their fair share.
My parents. We're not that smart. But I remember
one year we went out and they said, okay, here,
the easy ones leave for the younger kids, but
the harder ones you can find. The problem with
that though is that they don't actually put a
distinction between what's the easy and what's
the hard. So every egg that I saw, I'm like,
I don't know, seems a little easy. I'm not gonna
keep going. And so I was searching for the hard
eggs the whole time until we got to the end of
the Easter egg hunt. And everyone else that was
doing the Easter egg hunt had a basket full of
like 30 eggs. And I had like five eggs in my
basket. And I'm like, man, I thought they were
all too easy. And I remember the first time realizing
that Easter is supposed to be exciting, but man,
I was full of disappointment when I realized
I didn't get what I was expecting. So I feel
like some of us may have walked in here today
and the only way you can characterize how you're
feeling is a sense of disappointment. Maybe life
just isn't going the way that you had set out
for it to go. Maybe you walked in today and the
only thing that you can say is, man, I really
am feeling this disappointment. Maybe you're
at a place in life where you just want to quit.
Maybe you're at a place in life where you're
kind of at the end of your rope. Maybe you're
only here today because it's what you do on Easter.
You just show up to church and that's why you
came here today. But you're at a place where
this is what you're feeling. And I think sometimes
what we put our faith in fails us. What we put
our hope in fails us. See, I understand this
very well because I'm a San Diego Padres fan.
And right now, just side note, you need to know
they do have the best record in all of baseball
right now. But I've put my faith in them and
I know that at some point they will fail me.
All right, they're gonna fail me. All right,
listen, Dodger fans, I don't need to hear it
right now. I'm not talking to you. Listen, Jesus
loves you. I just don't like you, all right?
But it's okay because the worst of people are
welcome here today. It's okay, we're glad you're
here. We're glad you're here. I'm just kidding.
I'm just kind of kidding on that. All right.
Man, but the truth is that things let us down,
right? I love Reese's. I love them. And then
I look in the mirror and I realize they've let
me down a little bit. They've let me down. All
right, sometimes we put our faith in things that
let us down. It lets us down when we go, man,
this is what I'm putting my faith in, what I'm
putting my trust in, right? That friend that
apparently. isn't as much of a friend as you
thought they were. At that marriage that you
thought would survive, and either it didn't or
it's looking like it's not going to. Maybe it's
your health that you said, well, nothing's gonna
happen, and then your health starts going downhill.
Maybe it's the stress or pressure of taking care
of somebody else. So I don't know what it is,
but a lot of us, we put our faith in things that
end up disappointing us, they end up failing
us, they end up letting us down, and we arrive
to a place where we go, man. I'm just feeling
disappointed. And I think that's a place that's
pretty natural because life has ups and downs,
and that's how they felt on the first Easter
as well. Resurrection Sunday in the Bible, if
you look at the first Easter, they were feeling
pretty much the same thing. If you have your
Bibles, we're going to be looking in the Bible
today, and we're going to be in the book of Luke.
But here's the thing is, is things didn't go
as planned for the people that we see in Scripture.
The nation of Israel where God's chosen people,
he said, man, you are chosen. There's prophecy
saying, hey, you're gonna be amazing. Great things
are gonna come from you. And then all of a sudden
they find themselves in the midst of all of these
prophecies that are supposed to happen. They
find themselves under Roman oppression, under
Roman rule. And they're going, okay, this isn't
how it's supposed to be. And then they get a
little bit of hope because this guy named Jesus
shows up on the scene. And Jesus starts doing
miracles. And Jesus starts doing things that's
attracting crowds. And he's teaching people.
And crowds start following Jesus. And they start
going, I want to know what this man has to say.
And he has disciples. And disciples start showing
up, which are followers that followed him closely
and learned from him. They were his students.
And all this is happening and they're getting
this glimmer of hope. But then all of a sudden
their hope is completely smashed. Because the
person that rode in on a donkey a week before
and they've laid down their coats and they laid
down palm branches and they said, Hosanna, which
means save us or save now. As he rides in one
week later, their hope is crushed because Jesus
is arrested. Because Jesus is sentenced to death
and Jesus is nailed to a cross. And Jesus then
dies on a cross as they poke a spear in his side
and blood and water pours out symbolizing he
is dead. And they take him off of this cross
and put him in a tomb. And they seal him in this
tomb. And all of their hope was completely smashed.
And we pick up in Luke chapter 24, starting in
verse 13. It says this, now that same day, two
of them were going to a village called Emmaus,
about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking
with each other about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with
each other, Jesus himself came up and walked
along with them, but they were kept from recognizing
him. They are walking away from everything that
had happened. They're walking away from it. They're
walking away in disappointment. And I think some
of you are on that walk today. Some of you, that's
the walk that you're in. You're just walking
in this disappointment. You think it's over.
You think it's too late for you, either by something
you've done or something that was done to you
or the situation you find yourself in. You're
walking in going, it's just over for me. It doesn't
matter. It's too late. I'm too far gone. I'm
too broken. And you came in carrying this major
disappointment and discouragement. See, we have
disappointment when our expectation doesn't meet
our reality. When we expect something different
than what actually happens in reality. All right,
have you ever ordered something online before
that doesn't show up the way that you thought
it would? You know what I'm talking about? My
wife, she ordered this amazing giant, this dresser
that was gonna be amazing, and it shows up, and
I think it was made for Barbies, I'm not sure,
but it was like this big, and we're like, what
is this thing? All right, there's an expectation,
and then there's a reality. I remember when my
first two kids were born, they were twins, and
so. I don't know why I didn't expect this, but
we were going in, and I had this picture in my
head of what it was going to be like, taking
my kids home from the hospital and how great
it would be. And I was completely shocked when
the doctor said, hey, no, they need to go straight
to the NICU, the neonatal intensive care unit,
and they need to stay there for weeks. And I
remember the disappointment, the extreme disappointment
for being like, but God, why? This isn't what
I had pictured. Maybe some of you are on that
walk that these people were on here walking away
from Jerusalem going, this isn't how it was supposed
to go. This isn't where I wanted to find myself,
but here I am and I'm on this same walk and you're
discouraged and you're walking in this discouragement,
but I need you to know that sometimes our discouragement
leads us away from our destiny. And today God
wants to speak to you. In the middle of whatever
it is that you brought in with you, God wants
to speak to you because he has conquered all
of that. And as Jesus is walking with these people
here, verse 17, it says he asked them, what are
you discussing together as you walk along? I
love this. Jesus is asking them about his own
story. It says they stood still, their faces
downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him,
are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn't
know the things that have happened here in these
days? What things, he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth,
they replied. They said he was a prophet. He
was powerful in word and deed. He was the chief
priest and the rulers. They handed him over to
be sentenced to death and they crucified him.
We had hoped that he was the one who was going
to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the
third day since this took place. In addition,
some of our women amazed us. They went to the
tomb early this morning, but did not find his
body. They came and told us that they had seen
a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then
some of our companions went to the tomb and found
it, just as the woman had said, but they did
not see Jesus. They're telling Jesus the story
of exactly what happened to him. And Jesus, as
he's walking alongside of them, as he's walking
beside them, he's listening to tell the story
and tell exactly what was prophesied. See, sometimes
we're in a place where even the truth in our
life, when the truth is told to us, it doesn't
get through. We've heard the truth. Maybe you've
seen the truth. Maybe someone has spoken the
truth to you, but sometimes we don't see the
truth even when it's right in front of us. And
I think what a lot of times we like to do is
we like to put people in our life that will just
tell us the lie that we want to hear. We need
people in our life that will speak truth to us,
but we surround ourselves with people that just
reinforce the lie that we've told ourself. My
youngest daughter, she's two. Every night when
we say, hey, it's time for bed, it becomes an
argument and a fight for bedtime. Because she
goes, no, no, it's not time for bed. It's not
night -night time yet. And so we have to take
her over to the door and we have to let her look
outside and say, look, it's dark outside. It's
night -night time. And she's looking outside
into a completely dark sky, into a completely
dark world. And she looks back and she goes,
it's not dark outside. It's not night -night
time. Which is a lie. We see it. We're like,
we can see it with our eyes. We know. And then
she does something very strategic. She goes and
she gets her doll and she brings her doll over
and she looks out the door with her doll and
she has a little quick conversation with her
doll and then she looks at us and she goes, yeah,
she says it's not dark outside either. I'm like,
awesome. Two against one here. This is going
well. All right, but see, that's what we like
to do. We like to surround ourself with people
that will reinforce the lie that we've told ourself
instead of hearing the truth that's right in
front of us. We need to surround ourselves with
people that are gonna speak truth to us, right?
That's why it's important that we're a part of
a family that can speak truth. Listen, we call
Heights a family because we are people that wanna
walk alongside one another. And every single
one of you invited to be a part of this family,
we'd love for you to continue to walk with this
family, to join us at one of our services, at
one of our locations, to be a part of what we're
doing, to say, hey, I wanna be a part of a family
because I need people that are gonna walk alongside
of me when things get difficult and aren't afraid
to speak truth. to me. Jesus is not afraid to
speak truth to them. I love this. After they
say this to Jesus, it says in verse 25, he said
to them, how foolish are you? Jesus is just like,
hey, we ain't messing around. How foolish are
you right here? And how slow to believe all the
prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have
to suffer these things and then enter his glory?
And beginning with Moses and the prophets, beginning
in the beginning of the book, he explained to
them what was said in all the scriptures concerning
himself. See, sometimes we just need truth spoken
over us. Jesus reminded them of God's promises.
That's what he was doing. He said, I wanna remind
you of God's promises right now. We need truth
spoken over us. Can I just speak truth and remind
you of God's promises? Because some of you have
believed a lie for too long and you need to understand
that what God says is true. And God says in Psalm
34, 18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He
says in Romans 8, 28, in all things, God's works
for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose. In Psalm
23, 4, it says, even though I walk through the
darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you
are with me. And I need you to know this, God
is not done with you. It doesn't matter what
the disappointment you're feeling. It doesn't
matter what you walked in with. God is not done
with you. If you're not dead, God's not done.
God has a purpose for you. God has a calling
for you. God wants more for you. And a lot of
times we believe the lie that we've been told,
the lie that we live around in our culture, the
lie that we tell ourself, the lie that the people
we surround ourself with are telling us, but
we need to start listening to the truth that
only comes from him. Jesus speaks truth to them.
It says this. In verse 28, as they approached
the village to which they were going, Jesus continued
on as if he were going further. Jesus wanted
to continue to walk by, but they urged him strongly,
stay with us, for it is nearly evening. The day
is almost over. So he went in to stay with them.
See, I wonder how many times we let Jesus walk
right past us instead of reaching out for him.
I wonder how many times we've been in proximity.
And instead of reaching out for Jesus, we just
let him slip right past. One of the privileges
that I have in my life is I get to be an assistant
coach for Embry -Riddle University. I get to
coach baseball over there. And we have some of
the Embry -Riddle baseball eagles in the house
with us today right now. Come on, can we support
the local boys right now? Let's go. Shout out
to them. I'm glad that they're here with us.
But one of the things we do every year is we
get to go to a spring training game and we take
the team there to have some team bonding and
to be able to watch a game. And so we went down
and we got to watch a spring training game. And
as I was sitting there, I noticed that in the
section right next to me, a famous Hall of Fame
manager was sitting right there. And so I nudged
some of the players next to me. I'm like, hey,
that's a famous Hall of Fame manager right there.
And they go, hey, you should go talk to him.
I'm like, I'm not going to talk to him. He doesn't
want to hear from me. I had to come up with every
excuse right then. I'm like, well, he doesn't
have time for me. I'm not going to go talk to
him. He's not going to want to talk to someone
like me anyway. Why would he want to talk to
me? So we waited until the end of the game, and
finally my player, he's the one that had the
courage to go up and talk to him. And he goes
to talk to him, and he goes, hey, I know who
you are, and this is really exciting. Can we
take a picture with you? And I'm sitting there.
I'm standing there. I'm like, this is awesome.
And so my player then turns to me and hands the
phone, and he goes, hey, coach, will you take
a picture of us? I'm like, bro, I wanted to be
in the picture. What the heck, man? But then
in that moment, I was identified as the coach.
And so this Hall of Fame manager realized and
he walks over to me and he shakes my hand and
he says, hey, coach, you're doing a great job
with these boys. And he talks to me for a few
minutes there and I get the conversation with
him right there. And I was like, all right, I
won. I'll take your picture now, it's okay. All
right, but see, I would have let him slip right
past without saying anything, without reaching
out. See, Jesus was just walking past. Jesus
was gonna continue on going and these people
reached out and they said, no, no, no, hey, stay
with us. Hey, stick with us. And as Jesus was
doing this, as Jesus was reaching out, he's saying,
hey, I wanna just keep going. And he looked at
them and he stayed with them. And Jesus stayed
with them at that moment, right then, right then
and there. And Jesus sits down with them. See,
here's the invitation. Jesus wants to sit down
with you. Jesus wants to sit down with you. And
you know why I know that? Because Jesus went
to a cross for you. We celebrate Jesus. We remember
what he did on Good Friday when Jesus went to
a cross. And sometimes we frame it up in our
mind that Jesus went to a cross because they
sent him to a cross. But the Bible says, no,
he laid his life down. Why did he go to a cross?
He went to a cross. Because he loves you. And
Jesus decided to pay the price for you on the
cross. And when Jesus was nailed to a cross,
when Jesus was beaten and he was bloodied and
he was bruised and he was crucified on that cross,
what Jesus did was he made a way for you to have
a relationship with God. That is the good news.
The good news today is that Jesus made a way.
He paid the price and Jesus went to a grave,
but Jesus did not stay in the grave. And when
Jesus rose from that grave, what he did is he
conquered sin and he conquered death and he made
a way for you and I to have a relationship with
God. And it's a free gift. It's a free gift.
And I talk about my love of Reese's quite often.
And so I got lots of people that are, they're
kind of my suppliers. I have my friend Dory.
She shows up in the office almost every day and
goes, hey, here you go. Here's some Reese's.
So just so you know, this message is brought
to you powered by Reese's. And then I have my
friend Deb. My friend Deb, she'll show up to
me and she did a couple weeks ago at church and
she just comes up and she goes, hey, this is
for you. And I already know what's in it before
she even says it. I know what she's brought me.
I said, why do I get this? Why do I need this?
She looked at me and said, you don't need that.
I'm just kidding. She didn't say that. She didn't
say that. But she said, no, you didn't do anything.
I just want to give it to you. It's a free gift.
See, as Jesus went and he sat down and he started
eating with these people, as Jesus was sitting
with them, it says that they shared a meal. And
they talked about all the things that had happened.
They talked about what was going on. They talked
about their walk there. And they still didn't
know it was Jesus. And then it says this, their
eyes were opened to him. My prayer for you is
this. My prayer is that your eyes are opened
to him today. Maybe you've been around the message
of Jesus, but you've never put your faith in
Jesus. Maybe you've heard it before, but today
is the day that you say, I'm gonna take a stand.
Today is the day that you say, I am going to
make a decision. Because today is my day. And
it doesn't matter what disappointment you walked
in with. It doesn't matter with what pain you
walked in with. It doesn't matter with brokenness
you walked in with. You're gonna leave a new
life today. So here's the thing. Salvation. Salvation
through Jesus is a free gift. But if I never
went and took this gift, it wouldn't be mine.
And if my friend Deb just sat it down and said,
okay, hey, there you go. And I just walked away
and left it there. Somebody else would steal
it and they would eat my Reese's. That's what
happened. It does not become yours until you
reach for it, until you grab it, until you take
hold of it. See, the free gift of Jesus is offered
to you. The free gift of salvation is offered
to you, but it is your job to reach out and to
take it. How do you accept this? It's simply
telling God, listen, I surrender. I'm tired of
trying to do this on my own. I'm tired of trying
to push my will instead of bending and understanding
that your will is what matters. And I believe
that there are some people in here today. I believe
there are some people here right now that it's
time for you to get to a place where you say,
I give my life to Jesus. Because as their eyes
were open to Jesus, as they were sitting at this
meal with Jesus and they were right there, it
says while he was speaking and while he was going
through the scriptures, didn't you feel that
burning inside your heart? So I think some of
you today have felt that. And that's nothing
I've said, but it's all of the Holy Spirit. It's
God working in you. It's God working in your
heart right now. And I believe that you are feeling
that burn inside of you right now because God
is speaking to you and he's saying, hey, today
is your day. Today is your day. It says in the
book of 2 Corinthians, the day of salvation has
come. Today is my day. If that's you today, And
today, maybe you walked in with disappointment.
You walked in with discouragement. You walked
in feeling like this whole life was on your shoulders.
You can leave with new life because the tomb
is empty. And the tomb being empty, this is the
best part, is that tombs are designed to hold
dead things. They're designed to not be escapable
because what's inside of them is dead. But Jesus
rose from the dead. Jesus is alive. And because
he is alive, you and I can escape the tomb. You
and I can run out in glorious victory. We do
not have to walk in shame of disappointment.
We can walk in victory because Jesus conquered
the grave and he provided the victory for you
and for me. And listen. There are so many in
here today that need to step into that victory.
And it's as simple as this. It's as simple as
saying, God, I know that I've messed up. I know
that I've sinned, but I trust what you have done.
I'm not doing this for myself. I'm trusting in
you and putting our faith and trust in Jesus.
I'm gonna pray right now and I wanna give an
opportunity for that. I wanna give you an opportunity
to give your life to Jesus today. I'm gonna pray
and if you're here right now and you know that
today is your day, today is your day to accept
the good news that Jesus died for your sins,
but he did not stay dead. He conquered the grave
so that you have a path to life. I want you to
just pray this after me. Dear God, I know that
I'm a sinner. But God, I know that you loved
me enough to die for me. I place my faith and
my trust in you. I want the new life that comes
only through you. Amen. Listen, if you prayed
that prayer, yeah, let's give it up for Jesus.
Let's give it up for those that prayed that prayer
right now. Listen, if you prayed that prayer,
I need you to know that you are not alone in
this journey. I need you to know that there are
people that wanna come walk alongside of you,
that there are people that are going through
this same journey that have been on this journey
for years, that wanna come alongside of you.
And if you're somebody who prayed that prayer
today, We have people all over this park that
are walking around that wanna give you something
right now. They wanna give you a bag and in that,
there'll be a QR code that you can scan and it'll
take you to a place where you can just say, today
is my day and let us know that you made a decision.
You can also go over here. There's a tent with
a big sign that says prayer right there. If you
wanna talk to someone specifically, there'll
be people there. But right now, is there people
around this park that wanna give you something
to help you? Let us know, hey, I made this decision.
If you prayed that prayer today for the first
time to say, God, I'm giving my life to you,
would you just put your hand up right now? Would
you just put your hand up? We see those hands
all over. People are gonna be bringing you things.
People will be handing you bags that you can
do. Let's praise God for what is happening right
now. Let's praise God for the people that have
crossed from death into life. You can go on our
app or the website. If you've made that decision
today and there's a button there that says, today
is my day. If you click that, it'll let us know
and we wanna reach out to you. We wanna contact
you. We wanna help you along this journey because
saying yes to Jesus doesn't mean that everything's
easy now. It means it even gets harder, but you
don't have to walk it alone because death is
defeated because Jesus reigns victorious. If
you need to talk more about the decision that
you've made today, or maybe you're not quite
ready to make that decision, there'll be people
under this tent over here that wanna talk with
you. You can head over there. You can talk with
them. But I just wanna praise God right now.
God, we love you. God, we praise you. God, we
are so grateful that you stayed. that you stayed
long enough to pay for our sin, but you did not
stay forever. You rose from the grave, God, and
we praise you for that, God. We honor you. We
glorify you for the work that was done in this
park today. This is a normal park, but God, the
presence of Jesus is here with us today, and
we thank you for that, God. We thank you for
everything that you've done. We thank you for
the lives that have crossed from death into life
today. And God, we are so grateful, and we praise
you, God. We worship you, God. We sing your praises
now. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's
praise him.