So grateful that we get to be together and we
get to just make it here today and we get to
worship God. And I know that for some of you
it was difficult getting here because I've realized
Easter can be kind of stressful. Easter can be
stressful. How many of you got in a fight with
your spouse on the way to church today? Don't
answer that. Come on now, that was a trap question.
I was trying to get you. Don't answer that. Easter
can be stressful. Tensions can be kind of high.
You've got to figure some stuff out. You've got
to pick out the right outfit. How many of you
ladies, this is your fourth outfit that you tried
on? Again, don't answer that. Come on now. It
can be kind of stressful. You got the right clothes.
Parents in the room, it can be kind of stressful
getting the Easter basket together for your kids.
You're like, this is a lot of work. And then
whoever invented this, come on now, dying Easter
eggs, dear Lord, that is not acceptable. I'm
just saying, it's stressful. When are we going
to do this? When are we going to make this happen?
All right, one of the most stressful things around
this time of year is doing everything you can
do to avoid the peeps candy, because that's stuff
nasty. All right, that's nasty. I'm just saying.
You got to avoid it. All right, some of you disagree
with me. It's okay. You can be wrong. We still
love you. We're glad you're here. All right,
that's stuff nasty. I can be stressful around
this time of year, and I'm going to be honest,
for some of you, walking into church today can
be stressful too. Maybe you feel like you don't
belong. Maybe it's not part of your regular rhythm
when it comes to just your life. And so a church
is kind of a weird place for you to be at. Maybe
you're like, I just, I don't fit in here. I don't
know what's going to happen in this building.
I don't know what to expect. And so maybe you
feel a little stressful just being in here. And
I want to put your mind at ease right now. Listen,
we don't have any expectations on you. We don't
want anything from you. In fact, we want something
for you. We hope that you are able to rest in
Jesus this morning. All right, that's what we
want for you this morning when it comes to your
experience. So you can just take a deep breath.
You can rest. You can relax. It doesn't need
to be a stressful situation for you. When it
comes to speaking, I'm going to break the speaking
code here because as a speaker, we're taught
you got to kind of build it up. You can't tell
them exactly what you're talking about. You got
to lead them to that. And I don't break all those
rules right now. I'm going to tell you today,
this is what this is about. I want you to get
this today. I want you to understand that Jesus
wants to meet you where you are to take you where
he is. Jesus wants to meet you where you are
to take you where he is. Let me pray for us real
quick. God, speak to us today. Amen. What? Were
you guys expecting something else? I told you
I was praying real quick. Some of you did not
believe me. That's because you've listened to
Pastor John before. And when he says real quick,
book your whole afternoon. I'm just saying. How
many of you ever been on a camping trip that
didn't go as planned? You planned it, but it
didn't go as planned, right? Like maybe you planned
everything, all the details, and you're like,
I got everything that I need to go hike to this
rural place because I'm not going to have access
to anything. So I got to pack everything and
you packed perfect and you get there and you
realize you forgot water and you're going to
die because you have no water. Or maybe everything,
the plan was perfect and you got everything planned
out perfect and then you get to where you are
camping and it rains and that changes everything.
Right? We have these experiences where we plan
out but then it doesn't go as planned. You know
what I'm talking about if you've ever gone to
sleep on an air mattress and woke up on the ground.
You know what I'm talking about? When it just
starts deflating and you're like, whoa, this
was not fun. You know that for sure. If you have
shared an air mattress with someone that deflated
and it turns into a taco and you're like laying
on them in the middle of the night, you're like,
this is not how this was supposed to go. We can
have plans and we can plan as much as we want,
but oftentimes things don't go as planned. But
God's plans never fail. God's plans never fail.
And God had the perfect plan. By sending Jesus
to come camping on this earth. This was not his
home. He was just camping. You're going to go
on this camping trip on this earth. And in so
doing, making it so that we could live this life
like we are just camping. Over the last several
months at Heights, we've been talking about this
concept of just camping. The concept is this.
This is not your final home. You were never created
to live here forever. And oftentimes we set up
shop like this is it. This is all that matters.
But when you understand that your faith and trust
is in Jesus, your life is in his hands, you can
view this life that we live as just camping.
Because this isn't our future home. We're just
stopping by. And so we're going to look more
at what this idea of just camping is and how
Jesus just camped so that we could live our life
like we're just camping. A couple of months ago,
I gave in to my kids asking and asking and asking
and asking. Parents, you know what I'm talking
about, right? When they get to like the 474 ask
and you're like, fine, whatever you want. And
so we got a dog and they had finally asked enough
to where I said, yes. Why are you clapping for
that? Come on now. This is crazy. I get no support
from you guys. You guys are always on their side.
And so I said yes to getting this dog in. We
got this dog in. He's only like five months old
now, but this dude, he wants to be up in your
business at every moment. You know what I'm talking
about? Like he wants to be where the people are.
Like you come and sit on my couch and he's going
to be like right here. You're like, bro, personal
space. Like this is crazy. If you put him outside
because you're like, okay, people are here. I
know you want to be where the people are. You
put him outside and he just stands right at the
window. You're like, dude, come on now. All right,
so that's him. He wants to be where the people
are at all times. He's like, I just want to be
with you. For all of human history, since the
beginning of time, God wants to be with his people.
God set in motion this idea of living in union
with people, in relationship with them, in creation.
He created everything. And he put Adam and Eve
in a garden and he walked with them. In relationship
with them, he's saying, I want to be with my
people. And because of sin, the relationship
was broken and God's going, I still want to be
with my people. And so as the Israelite people,
God's people are wandering and they're moving
about, they had this thing called the tabernacle
where God's presence was in it because he's saying,
I just want to be with my people. And as the
nation of Israel is conquered and they're fighting
battles and they're doing all these things, it
gets to a place where God goes, okay, here we
go. I want to be with my people. And so he sends.
Jesus. He sends Jesus as God to be with his people.
It says in 1 John 1, 14, the word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us. All right, Jesus
became flesh. He put on flesh and blood and came
to this earth. And we have seen his glory, the
glory of the one and only son who came from the
father full of grace and truth. God looked at
Jesus and he says, hey, listen, I've got a wild
camping trip for you. I'm sending you on a camping
trip right now. And he sent Jesus as a human.
And the only way humans make their way into the
world is by being born. And so he sent Jesus
as a baby to be born. And we celebrate at Christmas
time this baby that was born, that was promised,
that was foretold, that was prophesied. And this
baby Jesus was born into the world. And this
baby did not stay a baby. He continued to grow.
And the Bible says he grew in wisdom and stature.
And as he continued to grow in wisdom and stature,
it became very clear that he was not just a normal
person, right? Because he was fully human, yes,
but he was also fully God. And that this person
who was fully, fully human and also fully God
found himself in a place where he came for a
purpose. And it says in 2 Corinthians 5, this
will be our main text for this morning, 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. It says, God made him who had no
sin. Jesus who had no sin. Jesus did what we
could not do. He never sinned. And that's crazy,
right? That's wild because for a lot of us, you're
like, how do you go without sinning? Like I've
literally sinned like four times since I've been
on stage right now. I've judged some of what
you're wearing. I was like, ooh, that's what
we wore to church today. Cool. Like I judged
you. I sinned just being here. And some of, don't
be, don't act like you're better. You judge someone
too. You're like, oh. We sin. It's our nature.
Some of you, you're like, wait a sec. I didn't
sin. I can stay away from sin. That's in our
nature. You cannot stay away from sin. You have
sin nature. If you don't believe me, let me ask
you this. Have you ever met a two -year -old
before? They're evil. And nobody had to teach
them how to be evil. Like you never sat your
two -year -old down and were like, okay, listen,
I want you to yell no. Now I want you to yell
mine. Now I want you to yell, no, mine, and hit
someone. Like you never had to do that. They
just know. It's in them. They're evil. Because
they have sin nature like all of us. We have
this nature in us that is bent to sin. We have
a sin problem. And that is all of us. So what
it means for you is this, is you can drop the
act here. Heights is not a church where you have
to show up and pretend to be perfect. You can
drop the act. All right, you're a mess. I'm a
mess, right? Some of you walked in, you're like,
if this guy can do it, then I know I can, right?
Our pastors are a mess and that should give you
hope. I literally, last night, I almost had to
sleep on the couch for my conversation with my
wife because I was picking out what I was going
to wear today. And I was like, I think this is
the perfect shirt. I'm going to wear it. And
she goes, that is see -through. And if you wear
that, you need to wear an undershirt. And I was
like, I'm not wearing an undershirt. And she
was like, yes, you are. And so you can thank
her today for all the things that you're not
seeing right now, okay? I'm just saying. Again,
that's crazy. That's wild that you're clapping
for that. Yes, thank you. Thank her for that.
I'm a mess. We're all a mess. And this is where
we find ourselves, the mess that we are, but
Jesus was not. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 .21,
God made him who knew no sin. Jesus never sinned
to be sinned. for us. Jesus became sin on our
behalf. Jesus became sin on our side. He took
your sin. He took my sin. He took all sin in
order to pay the price for sin. He said, I'm
going to take all of the sin, even though I did
not, I'm going to become sin on your behalf to
pay the penalty for that sin, right? Jesus was
just camping. And when you go camping, you have
a purpose. You don't just show up and go, okay,
what happens? Whatever happens, happens. All
right, and some of you are like, no, that is
my camping trip. I just want to sit in one spot
and drink as much soda as I can. All right, that's
what you want to do. But that was your purpose.
You knew that's what you were going to do. Jesus
came camping with a purpose. This is not his
final home, but he was here for a reason. And
this is what it says about Jesus. Hebrews 4 .15,
for we do not have a high priest who is unable
to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have
one who has been tempted in every way. just as
we are, yet he did not sin. He can empathize
with us. Jesus gets it. He gets it. You ever
been betrayed by a friend before? Jesus understands.
So is he. You ever gone through a difficult time
in your life where you're going, God, why am
I even going through this? Can you take this
away from me? I don't even want to go through
this. Jesus has to. Have you ever been in a painful
spot where you have pain and suffering in your
life? Jesus can relate because he has too. Have
you ever had your closest friends turn their
back on you and walk away when you needed them
the most? Listen, Jesus can relate because he
has too. Jesus gets it. Jesus understands what
it's like. We don't have to look at Jesus and
go, okay, he doesn't understand because Jesus
meets us where we are. Jesus wants to meet you
where you're at. I think some of you don't like
church or the Bible because you're tired of hearing
about perfect people. You're like, I would read
the Bible, but it's just, I can't relate because
it's full of perfect people and I'm just not
that. I would go to church more, but I just can't
relate because it's full of perfect people. I
get it. I grew up in church and growing up in
church for me, it was like, I think I'm okay
with this Jesus thing. I think I like Jesus.
But I looked at the pastor and I'm like, man,
I can never be him. He's perfect. Like he drove
a perfect car. He wore the perfect suit and the
perfect tie every time. The guy was perfect.
His hair didn't go gray. It went silver. I don't
even know how it happened. I was like, this is
wonderful. You're majestic. He was so perfect.
I'm like, I can't do that. And I think sometimes
we look at the scriptures and we go, it's full
of perfect people. We think it's just this all
-star lineup in scripture. And it is. We see
these characters in scripture, these people in
scripture, and they are an all -star lineup.
You have people like Peter who walked with Jesus.
He was Jesus' right -hand man. Like, how cool
is that? He walked with Jesus as Jesus' right
-hand man. And Jesus looked at him and he said,
listen, upon this rock, I will build my church,
Peter. And Peter got to push the church forward.
The first century church was driven by Peter
obeying what God had done. He's an all -star,
man. I would look at guys like Paul. Paul wrote
most of the New Testament. Right, guys in here,
some of you, you won't even write a note to your
wife. This guy wrote most of the Bible. This
guy's an all -star. This guy planted churches,
and most of the reason that we do church the
way that we do today is because of what Paul
did, the way he started it, the way he set into
motion. Paul's an all -star. All right, ladies,
Mary Magdalene. She's an all -star. She's amazing.
Do you know that Mary Magdalene funded Jesus's
ministry? His ministry wasn't free. Somebody
had to pay for it, and she funded it. She's Moneybags
Mary. That's who she is. She funded his ministry.
We all need a Moneybags Mary in our life. And
that's not to be disrespectful. That is such
an honor that Mary got to fund Jesus' ministry.
She got to take her hard -earned money, and she
got to pour it into advancing the gospel through
Jesus. That is an honor. We look at these people
in scripture and we go, man, they are amazing.
They're all -stars. And yes, they are. But do
you truly know their story? Do you truly know
their story, right? Because Peter, that we look
at and we go, this guy's an all -star. This guy
was getting rebuked by Jesus all the time. Jesus
looked at Peter one time and said, get behind
me, Satan. He called him the devil. You think
you're having a bad day? Jesus called Peter the
devil. He was rebuking him all the time. Peter's
like, man, Jesus, I got your back. Number one
homie right here. Ride or die. And then as soon
as Jesus gets arrested, you know what Peter does?
He goes, I don't even know him. I don't even
know who he is. He denies that he even knows
Jesus. Not once, not twice. Three times he denies
that he even knows him. Some of you have maybe
denied Jesus and said, Jesus, I don't even know
you. But you know what Jesus did? Jesus met Peter
in his mess. He met him where he was. In the
mess that was Peter, he met him and the resurrected
Jesus goes to him and he says, Peter, do you
love me? He says, then work for me. Then join
my team. Then feed my sheep. He restores him.
He met him in his mess and he restored him. Mary
Magdalene, the Bible tells us that she... had
seven demons that possessed her. She was possessed
by seven demons. And we don't have a detailed
account of how that manifested, what she did
with those demons, but I'm guessing she wasn't
a joy to be around. I'm guessing she was involved
in some pretty scandalous activity. In fact,
there's speculation that she was involved in
prostitution, that she was involved in sin, that
she was involved in a lot of things. And Jesus
met her in her mess and he restored her. All
right, Paul. Paul was the guy who walked around
and Paul was like, listen, I want to kill Christians.
That's what he did. In fact, not only did he
kill them, he had people that worked for him
that killed him. He was like the mob boss that
would order hits on Christians. He's like, go
kill them. Go kill them. Bible says he was breathing
out murderous threats against Christians. And
in the middle of that, when he's going, I want
nothing to do with Jesus. And maybe that's some
of you. I want nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus
met him exactly where he was at in his mess and
he restored him. He said, hey, come follow me.
Come be on my team. Not because you've done amazing
things, but in your mess that you are, saying,
hey, come be a part of my team. See, I don't
know how you walked in today, but maybe you feel
like you're too messed up. Maybe you feel like
you are too much of a mess because of what you
were doing last night or the night before. or
the addiction that you have, or the thing that
you walked in. And I need you to understand this.
It doesn't matter how messed up you feel. Jesus
wants to meet you in your mess. Jesus came exactly
right now, and you are sitting here right now
because he wants to meet you in your mess. Not
because you deserve it, but because he loves
you enough to say, I want to restore you. And
I think that we have this misconception often
that we say, I got to get my life together, and
then I'll come to Jesus. I just got to get some
stuff together. I'm going through some stuff
right now. And once I get that together, then
I'm going to come to Jesus. And we have it backwards
because you can't get your life together enough
to come to Jesus. Jesus is what gets your life
together. Jesus wants to meet you exactly where
you're at. Second Corinthians 521, God made him
who had no sin, right? Jesus to become sin for
us. Why? So that in him, we might become the
righteousness. He wants to meet you where you
are to take you where he is. Jesus camped for
the purpose of building something permanent.
He said, I'm just here to camp, but I'm building
something permanent for you. I'm building something
permanent that is not this world. Because it
doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out
that our world is a mess. All you have to do
is get on your phone. All you have to do is turn
on the news. All right, when was the last time
you turned on the news and it was like, tonight
at 10, great news. Wonderful things happening.
No, the world's on fire. Everything's burning.
Things are blowing up. It's terrible. We live
in a messed up world. And oftentimes we go, okay,
this world is a mess. I just want to escape it.
I just want to get past this. I want some hope
in the middle of this mess. And here's what this
is. The hope in the middle of the mess that we
have is this, is the permanent home that he paved
the way to by becoming sin on our behalf is in
his presence. It's paradise. It's no more pain.
It's no more suffering. It's no more brokenness.
It's just restoration in the presence of the
Lord. That's what he came to build. It's freedom.
It says in 2 Corinthians 3 .17, Where the spirit
of the Lord is, there is freedom. And I don't
know how you walked in today, but what I know
is this. The freedom that you've been searching
for in your life is not when you reach a certain
dollar amount. The freedom you've been searching
for in your life is not in that drink. It's not
in that drug. It's not in that relationship.
It's not in any of the things that you try to
escape your life to find the freedom in. The
freedom that you are searching for is only found
in Jesus. That is the only place you find freedom.
Years and years ago, a year before I started
dating my wife, and we started dating when we
were teenagers, so a long, long time ago, my
wife and her family was living in a small town,
and this small town was about an hour away from
any town where they could do any real shopping.
And so my wife and her sister, they drove, to
town to do some shopping. And the town that they
lived in was a mountain town. And so it took
some very sharp mountain roads to get to their
town with cliffs on one side and a mountain on
the other. And as they were driving home from
shopping this day, their car failed and their
car failed in their steering and their brakes.
So they found themselves on this mountainous
road with no steering and no brakes. They went
towards the mountain to try to stop. And as they
went up, they ended up rolling. They rolled across
the street, and they rolled down about a 300
-foot cliff. And over and over and over as they
rolled down this hill, not knowing when it's
going to stop, not knowing what is going to happen,
fearing that this is the end of their life, by
God's grace, the car landed on all four tires
at the bottom of the hill. And they put the car
in park, and they took the keys out. They kind
of checked if they had everything. They said,
we've got to get out of here. And so they took
off, and as they ran, they were about 50 feet
away from the car when the car blew up. It caused
a 50 -acre forest fire. And by God's grace, as
this is happening, there were some firefighters
nearby that were cutting line, and they immediately
saw this accident. And again, living in a small
town, the firefighters knew the car, they knew
who it belonged to, and they immediately rushed
to the scene of the accident. And at the road,
they stopped. Without following protocol and
tying down to the truck or to anything else,
they immediately just ran down the hill and they
passed by. My wife, who was running up the hill
as the fire was chasing her, they said, was there
anyone else in the car with you? And she says,
my sister. The firefighters continue to go down.
And again, by God's grace, in the middle of the
fire, there was one circle of green where she
had passed out and she was laying right there.
And they picked her up. And they took her out
of danger. These firefighters showed up in the
middle of a dangerous situation, in the middle
of a mess. And they said, we are going to run
in the mess to rescue you and take you out to
a better place. And by God's grace today, they
are both alive to tell of his story, to tell
of his grace. But man, I think about those firefighters
that had a choice to run into the flame, to run
into the mess, to run into the brokenness, to
save somebody and bring them to a better place.
1 Peter 2 .24 says this, he himself bore our
sins in his body on the cross so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness. By his
wounds, you have been healed. Jesus's camping
trip was actually a rescue mission. And Jesus
came into the mess that is this world to do what
you and I cannot do to save you and take you
to a better place. Jesus camped so that we could
live like we are just camping. But here's the
thing. If we're going to live like we are just
camping, you're able to live like you are just
camping if your eternity is secure. So what does
this mean for us? What does this mean for you
and me and all of us today? It means this, that
Jesus switched places with you. What you deserve
because of your sin, because of your brokenness,
because of your mess is to pay the penalty for
your sin, which is death. But Jesus took your
place and he took your punishment on a cross.
But here's the thing, we're not here to celebrate
a cross today. A cross is an instrument of death.
And many, many people died on a Roman cross.
Thousands and thousands of people died on a Roman
cross. It is not unique in any way, shape, or
form that somebody would die on a Roman cross,
but there is only one person that died on a Roman
cross that did not stay dead. And Jesus... The
miracle is not in the death, it is in the resurrection
because we are here to celebrate a resurrection
today. We are here to celebrate that the tomb
is empty. And when Jesus resurrected from the
dead, what he did is he broke the power of sin
and death. What he did is he broke the power
of sin and death for all time and in your life
as well to pave a way for you to be with him
in eternity. Because of his resurrection, you
don't have to live like you're dead. Because
of his resurrection, you don't have to suffer
the consequences of your sin. Jesus made a way.
And we get to celebrate that resurrection. Because
what the resurrection means is it means that
he's given you a free gift. A free gift. Say,
I paid for you. And here's the thing about a
free gift. You don't have to do anything to earn
a free gift. That's why it's free. It's already
been paid. It's not because you're good enough.
It's because Jesus loves you. But you do have
to receive it. You do have to receive the free
gift. The payment was made, but if you don't
let him make that payment, then you have to make
that payment. At the wages of sin is death. And
he says, I paid for it. And I broke that. And
we cannot talk about heaven without talking about
hell. And we don't like this part. And I think
I have to address the elephant in the room here,
that I think a lot of times when it comes to
a block between us accepting what God has done
is we go, okay, but I can't understand or accept
how a loving God would send people to hell. And
I need you to understand this. God doesn't send
people to hell. People's sin sends them to hell.
God is inviting you to heaven. God is saying,
I paid the price for you, but God will not force
you to go to heaven. God will not force you to
make that choice. And when we in this life go,
God, I wanna live how I wanna live and I wanna
push against the free gift that you've given.
I wanna choose to not accept it. God is not gonna
force you to go to heaven. He's gonna go, you
chose to pay for it yourself. You chose to do
it on your own. And he's gonna allow you to go
where you choose to not take his. Payment for
what you've done. And so today what God is inviting
you to is to accept the invitation of his free
gift. And I want to give you the opportunity
to accept the free gift that God has offered
by meeting you in your mess. Not because you
have it together, but because you don't. He said,
I'm going to meet you where you are to take you
where I am. And so I want to give you an opportunity
to respond. To that today, some of you, you need
to respond for the very first time saying, I
accept what Jesus has done on my behalf. And
some of you, maybe you've accepted it, but you
need to realign your life to say, I need to live
like I believe that. And so would you just bow
your heads right now? This isn't anything special
or it's just to focus right now. And so if you're
here right now and you know that you need to
accept his payment on the cross, that he's trying
to meet you where you're at. so that you can
walk in victory. Why don't you just talk to God
right now and tell him this, and this isn't a
special prayer or anything. All it is is just
saying, hey, I agree. I need you. Tell Jesus
this. Just say, God, I know that I'm a mess,
but I know that you took my sin on to pay the
penalty that I owed. Accept your payment. God,
I pray that I can walk in the truth of accepting
your payment, that I can walk in victory. Now,
if you prayed that, this isn't anything special
either. This is just, there's something about
making a physical motion to signify a spiritual
decision. And so if you prayed for the very first
time to allow. Jesus' payment on the cross and
his victory over death into your life, I want
you to just put your hand up. Just say, that's
me. I prayed that today. Say, that's me. Yes,
Jesus, I acknowledge that this is me. For those
of you in here who maybe you've prayed that before,
you've said, yes, I acknowledge, Jesus, that
you paid for my sin and you resurrected from
the grave. But maybe you need to realign. Just
talk to him right now. Invite him in to talk
to him. God, I wanna invite you into this place
right now. God, that your Holy Spirit is working
on hearts right now. Lord, I thank you for the
gift of salvation through Jesus and through the
empty tomb. We celebrate the empty tomb. God,
I am so humbled that you would allow me the mess
that I am. to find salvation in you. Thank you,
Jesus. We praise you. We worship you. We pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.