 I want to share with you today about our risen king. Only a risen Savior can save a dying world. Jesus Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15-17, he says, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Christ conquered death. Disciples, they testified of it. Therefore, they're not deceivers. Sin is not sovereign. Death doesn't have the final say. And our sins are not going to ruling over our life because Jesus rules over our life, amen. 2000 years ago, what happened is that Jesus was prophesied about that he will not remain dead. David prophesied about it. Jesus came to this earth and he spoke of himself. He says, I will be betrayed. I will be killed. And then he says on the third day, I will rise again. Most disciples dismissed that. Pharisees did not dismiss that. When Jesus died, they decided to not only put him and put body guards to guard his tomb so that disciples don't steal it, but they put one of the best of the best to guard the tomb of Jesus. They put a seal on this tomb. And on Friday, Jesus was buried. On Saturday, it was the Sabbath, so no activity was done by Jewish people. And the scripture says that an early Sunday morning, there was an angel that came and this angel didn't help Jesus to get out. This angel came to remove the stone to let the world know he's no longer there, that he is risen. And the Bible says women came early on Sunday morning to anoint the dead body. They didn't come to see a risen savior. Disciples didn't expect him to pull this off or rise from the dead. They thought it's over, but when they came, they saw that the tomb is empty, that the stone has been rolled away. And the angel of God was sitting inside and saying, hey, I just wanna let you know, you're looking for the dead person, he's no longer dead. He is, like he said, is risen. And he'll meet you at the Galilee. That Sunday night, these women told disciples, and on Sunday night, the scripture says when they were closed, Jesus came together and he said to them, peace be to you. As the Father sent me, I sent you. He breathed on them and he said, receive the Holy Spirit. I wanna let you know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so crucial because all four major religions of the world are based on philosophical propositions. Of all the four religions in the world, they're based on personalities rather than philosophies. For example, Judaism, the father of Judaism, Abraham died in 1900s BC. The Buddhist writings say the Buddha died with that order passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind, 483 BC. On June 6, 632, 80, Muhammad died. You can go and visit their grave places. None of them claim that they will rise from the dead and none of them rose from the dead. These religions do not teach that their founders rose from the dead. But in 33 AD, Jesus died, came back to life, appearing to 500 people over the period of 40 days. Scholars tell us that there is more evidence that Jesus Christ came out of the grave than the Julius Caesar ever lived. A German philosopher said this, the evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things. First, it's very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live. Most people reject the resurrection of Jesus not because they have evidence, it's because that evidence will have to confront their life and now they're responsible. One of the founders of the Harvard Law School, Simon Greenleaf, he was actually considered the greatest single authority and evidence in the entire literature of legal procedure. He wrote a book called Treatise on the Law of Evidence in 1842. He was actually an atheist, but he accepted a challenge by his students to investigate the case of Christ's resurrection. After personally collecting and examining the evidence based on the rules of evidence which he helped to establish, Greenleaf became a Christian and wrote the classic testimony of the evangelist. After investigating the resurrection, and this is what he said, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most verifiable fact of ancient history. Three reasons why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is such a big deal and why a lot of Christians, what you saw with our president, announced with this day being the day for visibility for the trans community and for many Christians, it's a very sacred holiday, but it's not just a holiday, there has a meaning behind that. Maybe you're not a Christian today and you're like, why is it a big deal? Perhaps you came to see one of your friends getting baptized and your idea is that this is just a hoax. People just worship a dead guy. Well, he's not dead anymore. He's alive. I talked to him this morning. He lives inside of us. He changes lives. His disciples were cowards and he turned them into courageous missionaries. He still takes a drug addict and changes it into a person that is free. He takes a prostitute and make her into a chai's taste woman. He takes a drunk man and makes him into a sober. He can take an angry person and give himself control. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. But why does it matter to us as Christians? Number one, Jesus' resurrection means that our past can be forgiven. The good news of Jesus' resurrection is that God placed the bad we deserve on Jesus. God placed the bad that we deserved on Jesus and then he placed the good that Jesus deserved on us, on the cross. I want you to notice that we have committed sins. We have done things that are not pleasing to God. Not only we have committed sins but the scripture makes it clear that we also are sinners. Meaning sin is something that we are. In fact, we are worse as a people than what we do. Meaning we commit sins because we are sinners. And the problem with being a sinner is that you actually don't think you are one. You downplay your sin. We all do. We think it's not a big deal. We just hide under this quote, nobody's perfect. But in reality we are worse than we are. So what God did is he gave us the law so that the law will show how bad we are and how righteous God is. The law brings guilt. The law brings shame. And God allowed for that so that we can be reminded and in our self deception and in our blindness we can be convicted and be burdened by the weight of our sins so that when we hear of the gospel we run to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. The law is like a mirror. It's to show how messed up you are. But how many of you know mirrors don't fix your hair. The law is like the thermometer. You put it to measure your temperature but how many of you know swallowing a thermometer doesn't get you cured. The law is like the straight line to show us how crooked we are. But it is Jesus that brings that salvation and that forgiveness. What happened 2000 years ago is that Jesus came and not only he took my sin upon himself the scripture says he fulfilled the law that I could not keep so that I would be delivered from the sin and from the law and I will live in love with God. On the cross I experience forgiveness of the sins. On the cross I experience freedom from the sin. This principle of sin, this power of sin and on the cross I experience freedom from the law. Not so I can live lawless but so I can live in liberty loving Jesus and living for the glory of God. Now what I just said sounds really cool. How do you know that's to be true? There's a lot of people that died innocent deaths though they were not perfect but there are many people who were on the death row and were executed and were innocent. What is to say that Jesus's death was just like one of the innocent people who died and he was executed as an innocent man. Anybody can say I died for your sin. How would you know that? The Bible says sin brings death. The only way to verify if what Jesus said is true is this, if the sin held him in the grave because it holds every person who is a sinner. If Jesus died not for your sin but for his own sin, the sin would hold him in the grave because death comes because of sin. But the Bible says that death couldn't hold him. Why? Because he was not a sinner and therefore what happened is that Jesus died for your sin not for his otherwise he would stay dead. See, Jesus's death on the cross was verified by God raising him from the dead. Have you ever went to pay for something and your credit card? It looked like functional but it was already maxed out. And in an embarrassing moment, you put that in there and then there's that weird demonic sound that comes out from the machine. Rrr, rrr. And then the lady looks at you or the man looks at you and says, do you have another card? I said, no, no, no, I thought I paid it off and you put it back in and you put the card in. I mean, you have a mode of payment. It's just the machine is not accepting it. See, Jesus submitted the payment for our sin. The resurrection is God accepting the payment of the sin. Validifying and authenticating and saying the payment for the sin has been accepted. That's why the Bible says he rose for our justification. God accepted the payment for our sin. God put an exclamation mark to Jesus' statement. It is paid in full. That's why all of the sins Jesus was dying for on the cross, they were your future sins. He died 2,000 years ago. You haven't committed any sins yet. You were not even born. He died one time for my sins of the past, for my sins of the present and the sins of the future. And I am covered in Jesus today. I no longer have to live in shame and guilt. I walk in the grace of God. I no longer live under the law, meaning the law doesn't regulate my relationship with God. What regulates my relationship with God is the grace of God. I am God's child. I still keep the law. Why? Because I want to please God, but I don't have to keep the law to be the child of God. You know, I was looking at my son in the last 11 days and I have not had my son agree to any terms and conditions before he was born. I didn't send him doctor's sign and says, would you agree to clean up after yourself, wash the dishes, keep the curfew and then you'll be welcomed in this family. No, he came in and because of that love, he hasn't done anything. Now once he grows up, there will be some rules, but these rules, they don't condition our relationships. They only confirm it. For a Christian, the law, the commandments, the good works, they don't condition our relationship with God. They confirm our relationship with God. We have a relationship with God that is based on love and grace. I find it interesting that if you look in the scriptures, Jesus rises from the dead in John chapter 20 verse 17, it says this, Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my, I want you to look at this verse carefully. What is it says over there? Go to my what? What does it say there? What does it say there? Can you say louder for second century? Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and what? Come on, say it a little louder for those on YouTube. I'm ascending to my God and to, in John, Jesus never called his disciples brothers until the resurrection. He never called the heavenly father their father until the resurrection. Jesus then my father and your, why? We just became a family. I am your Lord, I am your savior, but after the resurrection, he said, you are my brothers now. He is the firstborn of the creation and God has adopted us into the family. Jesus being the begotten son of God, now Jesus made room, him being the son of God, who became the son of man so that the sons of man can become the children of God. He says, I wanna let you know, go tell my brother, he doesn't say my disciples, my brothers, because we are family. We go from failure to family. We go from sin to sonship. We go from struggle to being identified as his. As Christian, we don't live every single day doubting our salvation. We live every single day devoted to our savior, Jesus Christ. The second thing the resurrection offers us is it gives us hope for the future. Resurrection guarantees that I am forgiven of my past. I am part of God's family. Resurrection also deals with my future. So many people are scared of the future today. You realize if you are making a minimum wage, you probably cannot afford housing. People scare us today and tell us that the world will end in five or six years because of global warming. People are afraid to go to school. Most people are actually afraid to get licenses. People have a fear of the future. And honestly, if you're not a believer, there is a reason to be afraid of the future. People are afraid to get married. They are afraid to have children. They're afraid to go to school because they don't know what's gonna happen. The war in Russia and Ukraine, the war in the Middle East, the crazy stuff that's happening, the inflation and everything. What I love about Christian faith, not only it gives me peace with my past through the blood of Jesus, but it gives me hope for the future. The Bible says, the Bible says this about our God. It says this, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in the believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Theater one and three, it says this, blessed be the God of our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. I wanna let you know something happens is that life is broken into three parts. The first part is in the womb. You spend about nine months, eight months, 10 months. Hope nobody spends there 10 months, but nine months is pretty ideal. The second stage of life is you go from an embryo to an earthly stage. Earthly stage, you spend 80 years, 70 years, 100 years, maybe 120 one day, but a short amount of time. There is one more stage. It's called the eternity stage. Now, if you are in the womb and somebody sends you a message and says, listen, there is a world out there. You can walk and learn to speak. You will tell that person who tells you that message, you crazy. I don't know if that's true. Have you noticed when a baby's come out and I can testify of that, a lot of crying happens. Mama crying, daddy crying, the baby crying, everybody crying, but it's actually not a death of the baby. It's a transition from one world to another. When we go from the earth into another world called eternity, a lot of crying happens. Everybody crying. The only people not crying is the person that's dead, because they're rejoicing in heaven. Why? Because of the resurrection of Jesus, death is not that end. It's a door. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, death has no sting. Death is just a shadow. The greatest enemy of humanity is death and Jesus defeated death on the cross. He defeated by sin, by dying and he defeated death by being risen from the dead. And that is why because he has defeated death, I fear no death. Because he has defeated death, the devil can no longer use death to imprison us. If you're not afraid of death, you will have hope. And because of Jesus' resurrection, we have hope. No, we don't have hope in the second coming of Donald Trump. We have hope in the second coming of Jesus Christ. We have hope that one day, he, the king of kings and the Lord of lords, one day, the first and the last, the one who loves and the one who judges will come back on this earth and he will make all things new. We have hope that he is the healer, but even if we don't see healing, one day we will have brand new bodies. We have hope that heaven is our home. This earth is just the hotel. And that's why while we pack, we pack light. Why? Because we know the real home is not on this side of eternity. It's when we have new bodies, when there will be no more tears, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no more curse, there will be no more night and there will be no more demons, curses and sickness and disease. We live with hope. The scripture says in Hebrews chapter six, verse 19, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters the presence behind the veil. Hope is an anchor. Somebody say this with me, say hope is an anchor. An anchor secures a vessel to the bed of the body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. Anchors are symbols of hope. They have a special place for Christians. Something I found out that Christians would actually use symbols in catacombs in Rome. You will see symbols over Christians places where they would be hiding and the symbol wouldn't be just a fish. It was an anchor. They would use that to guide other Christians to the secret places that Christians would meet is using an anchor for a Christian Christ. The future that we have gives us this anchor that when life gets shaking, when someone dies, when there is an unanswered prayer, unmet expectation, something takes place you didn't expect or anticipate and you don't know what to do and life wants to throw you to the right or to the left. You have an anchor that holds you steady. See, some of you men, some of you women, adults, life is unpredictable. Life has storms, vicissitudes and shifts. What keeps us anchored is not our education. What keeps us anchored is not our retirement fund. What keeps us anchored is not paid off house. What keeps us anchored is not good health. What keeps us anchored is something greater than us that is linked not to the bed of the ocean, but the Bible says our anchor is in the Holy of Holies in heaven. We are connected to the future. Our future is bright. Our King is coming. Our past is redeemed and our future is secure because our anchor is Jesus Christ. Hope is one of the essential things for Christians. Hopelessness today marks our generation. Despair, suicide, one of the highest leading causes of deaths among a young generation is suicide. This is what happens when you don't have hope. When you don't have hope, it's like you don't have oxygen. When you have negative expectation, you're looking into the future and you're expecting only bad things to happen. I will get divorced, I will get cheated on. I will most likely have a miscarriage. I will have an accident. This sickness will claim my life. See, your God is not a debited downer. Your God is not pessimist. Your God is not fearful. Your God is God of hope. He looks into the future and he knows the bad things will get worse, but he says, you're on my side. And because of my son's resurrection, you have hope. So when life gets crazy, when life gets shaking, make sure you have an anchor. I don't believe in Jesus only because of eternity when I die. I believe in Jesus is because when life gets crazy and I cannot hold on to anything, the anchor holds me steady. It's not that I hold on to God. It's that he holds me steady. I'm not strong. He is the strength of my life. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid of? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My anchor is secure. My anchor is steady. My anchor is strong. You will hit seasons of your life that doesn't have answers. It will have difficulties. And the only thing that will get you through is not a bottle of whiskey. It's not going to the fridge and feeding yourself with more and numbing your pain with food. It's not running to your past nor is it running from people. It's having an anchor that holds you steady and still. I saw my best friend die in front of my eyes when I was nine years of age. It was shocking, dramatic, traumatizing. But see, even at the young tender age of nine years old, my parents taught me death. No matter how bad it is, it's just the door. And yes, was it painful? Yes. But it was not painful as a person who has no hope. I just knew now I have one more person I'm looking forward to meet in heaven. Because for me, death is a shadow in the valley. It's not a sting. It's not an end. Because Christ defeated death, defeated the grave. And therefore I walk with my chin up even in the valley of the shadow of death. Do I have an explanation for everything? No, but if He, the anchor holds me steady, I will be steady. And I'll walk out of this side, of this season, onto the other side of breakthrough and God's blessing. Come on, somebody. And the third thing that the resurrection gives to us, not only it guarantees that our past has been taken care of, our future has been secure, but the last thing is it gives us faith for today. Jesus meets with his disciples and the scripture says on the same day, so it's Sunday, Sunday evening, on the first day of the week, the doors were shut and disciples were assembled for the fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you. In fact, three times Jesus used the word peace be with you as a greeting. You know how we would greet people? Hey, hi, hello, what's up? You know what Jesus is greeting after resurrection? You don't see that during His ministry. But after resurrection, the Bible says in here, they were afraid. There was no peace, there was fear, there was turmoil and Jesus shows up and His greeting and He greets them three times like this. He says, peace be with you. What does this tells me? I can have faith for today because the Prince of peace is with me and everywhere I have the Prince of peace, I can have peace even if there is potential anxiety, even if there is potential fear, even if there is potential defeat, I can have peace in that situation. Jesus wants to speak peace into your situation today. He wants to speak peace to your mind today. Maybe in your mind there is no peace. In your mind there is turmoil and you're a believer. You're a Christian, you know that your sins have been forgiven, you know that you have hope for the future but right now, even as I'm speaking, your mind is going, whew, nonstop! The Prince of peace wants to come into your heart right now and tell your mind, your thoughts, peace be still. The scripture says, if you continue to read in verse 21, He said, peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, I also sent you. Not only we find Jesus is peace, we also find His purpose. And if you go a little bit down, the Bible says he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. And in verse 14, it says this, now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. Not only he showed and brought peace. And this is not just Jesus coming in and you're anxious. And Jesus saying, Hey, just, just be quiet. I'm not speaking to the baby to be quiet, but he's saying, Hey, just, just be calm. Everything's going to be all right. But the Bible says disciples couldn't catch any fish. And Jesus says, flip the nets to the other side and they caught many fish. Jesus comes to some disciples and they're so discouraged. He opened the scriptures to them. He came to other disciples, Thomas, and the scripture says that he was so doubtful that Jesus showed him his scars. But then he comes to Peter and the rest of them who couldn't catch any fish and he showed them the supernatural. Jesus till this day still shows his power to his disciples. Jesus till this, till this day, still gives peace to the troubled mind till this day, Jesus still gives purpose to Christians in spite of persecution, in spite of the craziness we're living in. We have a purpose for being on this earth. We have a purpose for being in tri-cities. We have a purpose for being born in 2024. We were not born in any other generation. Jesus says, as the father sent me, I sent you, you will go into all the world and make disciples for all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And there's nothing communist, fascist, Nazis, atheism, agnosticism, demonization, nothing they can do. Witchcraft cannot stop that. Why? Because the risen Savior is raising you up to deliver. The risen Savior is raising you up to plant churches. The risen Savior is raising you up to start on the shame clubs. Jesus says, my resurrection is not a time to hide. My resurrection is a fire in your bones. It is going to be a fuel for your mission. As I sent you, you will go into all the world. And the critics will say they churned the world upside down. And the critics will say these people filled Jerusalem with the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the power that devil has no nothing against. We have peace. Somebody say peace. We have purpose. Somebody say purpose. And we have power. Somebody say power. Maybe your nets have been empty. There is power that rose Jesus from the dead to come into your life and fill your nets with breakthrough. Maybe you come here and today you have disease and sickness that is deteriorating your body. And yes, it is good to remember that one day the Lord is going to give us a new body. But by his stripes we were healed. The power of God can touch you right now. Right there where you are sitting, he can give life to your mortal body. Maybe you are here today and all you've known in your family is lack and poverty and shortage. You've done your best. Nobody ever went to school and you fishing on one side and catching nothing. Jesus Christ is standing on the shore of your boat today. And he wants to show his glory to his disciples. He wants you to flip your nets to the other side. He wants you to be to break the generational trauma in your family. He wants you to be the one to be the first one to get a degree in your family. He wants you to be the one to be the one who will throw the nets to the other side and have an own home in the family. Not so that you can be rich and wealthy so you can have a breakthrough. And rise above the limitation in your family for the glory of God. That's why I'm in school. I tried to go to school. You know, my family were not allowed to when they were younger. In Russia, Communists didn't allow you to go to school and get educated. And it was hard when I just finished high school, it was hard to go to college. I tried twice, three times and I quit about after a month. I joined school. It's like this generational something and about two years ago. And I realized I don't need to go so that I can do what I do. But I also want to break things so that my son, my children will be educated when we have the opportunity so that I can be a better at my calling and leave a legacy so that we can see more people in our church, not only are educated by people that go to school to make a difference for the glory of God. I want to encourage you. The resurrected king wants you to throw nets to the other side. You can experience breakthrough in your life. Maybe the doctors have said you cannot get out of this situation. There is a great physician and he wants to bring a shift and change in your life. Vlad, you're just building people's hope up. Yes, I am. My God is a God of hope. And I want to raise your hope up and let you know God is greater than your situation. God is bigger than your past. Your failure doesn't define you. Your failure is not final. Listen, death is not that end. It's just the door. You are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. You can do all things through him who strengthens you. He is on your side. And the Bible says that because of him, we will win over the world. We will conquer against the world.