 He is a day of Thanksgiving because Jesus is alive. I want somebody to let them know how glad you are to be standing beside them this morning. In fact, you might ask them, hey, if you lost weight, come on, ask them that right there. They'll be your friend for life. Don't anybody sit down. This will be the first, probably in the history, I'm about to do a selfie with all of y'all. All right, everybody smile and say Jesus is alive. All right, ready, one, two, three. That's awesome, that's never been done before in history. There it is, right there. Huh? Oh, wait a minute. You can't have a picture without the poo master. I love it. Ha, ha, ha, ha. You might be jealous because your church is not as fun as this, but I'm just telling you, come to pace because pace is the place, right? Amen, you may be seated. Father, we thank you today for your love and your grace to us. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that today is a day of celebration, of the risen Christ, may our lives reflect the fact that you're not dead and in the grave, but you're the living God of glory. We give you praise for it in Jesus' name and everybody shout a great big amen. Amen, God bless you for being here. I want you to get ready in a moment. You're gonna get a chance to be a giver into the kingdom of God and after all that the Lord has given to us, how much more should we respond in kind? Now, listen, I need you to scoot over if you can because there's more that are waiting in the four year to be able to get in this room and we need you to tighten up really tight. And that's good, amen. Just, and when they come sit down in your lap, just let them just sit right on next to you on the floor or whatever. Usher's, if you will, get them in the building as soon as you can and God bless you all for being here. What a wonderful crowd on Easter Sunday morning here. We welcome you. If you are a first-time guest with us or it's been a long time since you've been here, would you slip your hand up? We wanna acknowledge you this morning. Amen, God bless you for being here right here. Amen, over here. Come on, let all of our wonderful guests know how wonderful we are and glad to have them. And I want you to just, have I got a camera up front, no? All right, so turn your face around. Where is it at? There it is, shoot that right there. Everybody look at this camera right here and welcome people watching around the world right now. Would you do it? Come on, give them a great big hand clapping and God bless you. Praise God, we're so glad to have all of you joining us here today. We're so glad also to be able to have the wonderful ministry and the ladies from Over in Crestview from Saving Grace. Saving Grace, ladies, would you stand up? Come on, stand up. Amen, come on, give them a great big God bless you. So glad to have you every time you get the chance. Those of you that are our first time guests with us or it's been a long time since you've been with us, would you please, when you're leaving out the door this morning and going out into the foyer, into the main foyer here, if you will, on your left-hand side, stop in at Guest Central. There'll be people waiting there, not only to greet you, but we've got a special gift to be able to give to you. And just for you being in attendance here today, just a little bit of information. We won't hound you, but we do have a gift for you and we want you to make sure that you are welcome here in a very special way, so don't forget that. God bless you as you're here this morning. Also wanna mention to you that if you, coming in the front door, you saw where there was photo booths that were out front, some flowered areas and park bench that you can take pictures of. Feel free to do that inside of the foyer as well and on the north side of the building as well. You feel free to stop by with your family and make today's day of worship together as a family, a special event, post that out and be sure to link that hashtag to pace assembly. We'd love to be able to share with you and your family on this very, very special day. I'm so glad that in the middle of all of what our national media and so forth wanna decline religion, I can tell you, reading a statistic just this morning that more people than not believe that Jesus Christ is actually alive. I wanna know, does the church believe that he's actually alive? Yes he is. You're gonna know more about that in just a few moments when I preach this message and I want you to stay for the entirety of this service today. Just a couple of things you need to be aware of. Don't forget the announcement that you heard preservice for the upcoming event at Wahoo Stadium for the medical freedom and save our country rally. We want you to make sure you're there for that and we're glad to be able to have Pastor Jose's son, Jose Jr. who's pastor in Guatemala, stand up. Jose? Amen. We're so glad to have him and other members of the family that are here yesterday. Oh, I didn't see you, stand up. Elvin and Carla, this is the first time they've been back to pace assembly. In fact, Elvin, I don't think you've ever been here before. They've never been to pace assembly. On the 21st of this month, a week from this coming Friday, we will launch the third Latino Fest and they have come from, come here Elvin, you and Carla, come here real quick. Bring your family, bring your children, would you? Come on, yeah, bring your kids. Would you welcome them? They came from Escapulis, Guatemala where they passed to the great church there for Kitchen of Love, all the way to Pace Assembly to help us build the ministry of Latino Fest. Come on up here. Hey, bud. Hey, how are you, my friend? Good to see you, good to see you. This wonderful family, just turn around and face everybody that way. I don't know, I saw you had it in here, is that, you can speak enough English, can't you? I tell you what, you tell everybody in Spanish that's out there because I've got some wonderful Hispanic folks that are in this building, listen, you welcome and let them know how much you tell it. Just tell them. Spanish? Yes, in Spanish. Okay, or English. No, mucho gusto. Eso, es un placer para mí estar aquí. Gracias por este momento, por esta oportunidad que nos dieron, Pastor, thank you por estar acá. Somos de Guatemala de Ministerios Cocinas del Amor en Escapulis, muchos de ustedes lo conocen, muchos de ustedes están apoyando la visión, así que gracias. Amen. Come here, Carla. Would you greet everyone? You can do it in English, Spanish, whatever you want. It is a truly pleasure for us to be here. It was a dream, now the dream came truly pleasure and it's a privilege for us to be with you. You are our family and I know we are your family, Christ. Okay, so let me not make it hard for you, greet everyone and spend it. Es un placer para nosotros estar acá. Era un sueño el venir acá, ahora el sueño es realidad, estar parados en este lugar. Ustedes son nuestra familia y yo sé que para ustedes, nosotros somos su familia en Cristo, amen. The reason why I wanted to bring them up here and their beautiful children is because every month on the first Sunday of the month on Mission Sunday, there is support that comes from this church into their lives. They are the pastors in Escapulis, Guatemala where we've had the privilege of being able to go down many, many times and actually build a multipurpose building there where you have given tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to reach the people there in Escapulis. There's thousands and thousands of people, including thousands and thousands of children every Christmas that you have ministered to especially, but every week they live right there what is the most impoverished area of all of Guatemala and they've been pastoring that church there and ministering to those people in the mountains, teaching them, literally opening up schools for the children and teaching them and helping them to get instruction up in the mountains. Many other things that they do, literally farming and construction and everything else, it's gonna, whatever it takes, that's what they're doing. Every month you support this family to stay where they are so that they can keep ministering to the lives of people that need Jesus in a desperate way. So I wanted you to get faces and names so you can make sure you're praying for them because ladies and gentlemen, this is what it's all about and I believe that God is gonna continue to reward this great ministry that's going on. They have been able to come by invitation of course of the head of all of the kitchen of love which is Carla's dad and Jose's dad, Pastor Jose Alvarez will be with us next week as he comes into town and from starting tomorrow, they've already started actually, they're gonna be going out in the highways and hedges in Pensacola, Pace, Milton, wherever it's at, inviting people to come to this very special Latino Fest that will start on April the 21st, 22nd and 23rd that weekend and it's gonna specialize upon the families and children. Carla and Elvin have a very special ministry to children. He literally turns into a clown overnight. So the calmness that you see right now is not who he truly is. And I'm gonna just tell you if anybody can get kids laughing and jumping and hopping and having a great time in Jesus, it's this beautiful couple. And I want you to pray for them that God would give great success on that next weekend and I want you to pray, I want you to get your kids here whether they understand the language or not, that's irrelevant. What is relevant is that we get together and see one body of Christ, red, yellow, black and white, Hispanic, English, Portuguese, come on somebody, that is the body of Christ. You believe it? Listen, I don't want them to leave here until you stretch your hand on this Easter Sunday morning towards them. I wanna pray over them and believe God that he's gonna increase them and this week give them great entrance and doors in multiple locations. Father, we thank you for what you're using and lifting up and raising up in this very special hour and this wonderful family. God, the Alvarez family entirely helping us coming alongside to be able to build this ministry. I pray that you would give them great success in the field in this area this week and may the spirit of God and the anointing rest upon them in the days that are ahead. We give you glory for it in the mighty name of Jesus and everybody believes it, shout a great big amen. Come on, give them a great big God bless you this morning. Amen, come on, give them a great big God bless you. I couldn't be more thrilled for what God is doing and reaching out to the different dialects, different peoples that are even living in this area. And one thing about it, we're gonna open the doors up. I was a little bit slammed on social media this past week for someone's thoughts of what this church is and what they only heard me say in one portion of a context. I wanna make it clear to everybody here and those of you who are watching, these doors are open to everybody, whosoever they will at any time, any place. Make sure you know that. We love everybody, we want you to come, we want you to meet Jesus, we want you to fall in love with the Lord and serve the Lord and raise up another whole generation and that's what this coming Latino Fest is gonna be all about. Now I want you to take your smart devices and your tablets and whatever it may be or the envelope that's provided for you or at the end of the service when you're leaving out, there are buckets that are available at every exit so that you can be able to give. If you wanna give cash, you can do that. We've already had some folks in just this past week said I'm ready to give a car to the church and the house to the church and the property to the church and we'll turn it into cash and reach another soul with the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the ways we're gonna do that and one of the ways we're doing it now is to be able to put Bibles in the hands of people. So this morning for those of you that haven't been here, you need to reach up underneath your seat right now. There's a golden ticket in this building for a brand new Bible we wanna give away and when you get it, hold it up real high. We wanna see the ticket wherever the ticket is across the auditorium. All of you that are watching online, just keep watching because we'll send it to you as well. Come on somebody, reach around and there may be some empty seats right beside you that may have a ticket up underneath it. Maybe you haven't reached far enough. Some of you haven't been on your knees in a while. Get on your knees and pray. Taylor, where is it at? Where is it at? It's over here somewhere. Come give, hey, come over here and help me find this because they're obviously not able to. Yeah, just run wherever it, you know where it's at? Oh, Ben knows where it's at, Ben, where is it? Well, what is up? Help him. Listen, if we gotta dig the ticket out too, I might have to give the Bible to somebody else. Come on now. There's no ticket. You forgot where it was? All right, you're in my preaching time now. I might have to turn a squirrel loose in here. I don't know what I'm gonna have to do. Go give the Bible to somebody. Where is it at? Hold the ticket. Run it over there, son. Come on, give her a great big hand for finding the ticket. Listen, we're gonna make this easier next week. We're gonna paint the chair gold or something. I don't know. Every weekend throughout this entire year, we're giving away a Bible. For people that are watching in Kenya, and if they can show me where the places are that people are watching from, I know Kenya is watching today. Beautiful people there that are pastoring an orphanage. Just a few weeks ago, this church sent the entirety of that group of orphans and their pastors brand new Bibles in their native language of Swahili. Come on, give God praise for that, amen? And so every weekend, we're giving away Bibles. And some of you say, well, this is just taking a little long. Well, let me tell you something. The best thing you can get is a Bible. And I wanna put one into everybody's hands this year. So I want you to make sure that you're here and come back even if you're just waiting on a free Bible. Now, you gotta wait till I call it out before you reach up underneath there and find the ticket. But rest assured that our wonderful staff is gonna hide it in such a way that you'll not be able to find it for decades, but it'll be all right. There's somewhere there's a golden ticket in the room. All right, let's receive the title offering. Listen, the way that you can be able to respond through the app, through the website that's available, or the envelopes, the buckets that are in the back, or on the QR code that is up there, you can scan that QR code. It'll take you right to the portal that can give you the place where you can be able to be a giver. Today, my friends, out of the grave, we respond to the fact that Jesus Christ is not only alive, but the greatest gift that has ever been given in Jesus Christ is not only alive, but he's alive right now in this place. And so today, as you respond and giving, let's see what God is going to do to bless the kingdom of God because you respond today, and may God bless you for doing that. Father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege we have to give. We believe, Lord, today that you are the blesser. We don't worship the blessing, we worship the blesser. We recognize, Lord, that every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. I pray today, mighty God, that you would bless your people and people that are here in this building, perhaps for the first time, or maybe it's been a long time, people watching online. I pray that you would show yourself so mighty to them on this day, Lord, that they'll never be the same, that their lives will be changed. Lord, that's something that they could never pay for. They could never give enough because you've given that great free gift to us, eternal life. We believe today, Jesus, that you're lifted up inside of this place in every offering of worship and we give you praise for it in the mighty name of Jesus and everybody believes it, shout a great big amen. God bless you as you give today. I want you to turn your hearts towards the Lord as the worship team, choir, and the band comes back because in a few moments, I'm going to preach a message to you. Can I get a witness? And I want you to make sure that you're listening closely because today it is my desire to see this entire congregation and those of you that are watching online, after this service, you hit the streets in the power of the Holy Spirit and become in these last days the witnesses that God has called you to be. You can only be a witness, ladies and gentlemen, if you've had personal experience with what you're testifying about. But I can assure you the moment that Jesus Christ comes into your heart and life, you'll never be the same. You'll want everybody to know about it. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Amen. Anybody been touched by the hand of the Lord, he's blessed your life before? Come on, throw that other hand up in the air right now and just open your mouth and give him glory as they come and lead us in worship this morning. Get both of those hands up in the air on this resurrection Sunday to give him your glory and to give him your praise to say, Lord, I surrender right now. I thank you for that cleansing blood. I thank you for the blood that flowed for me from the cross. Come on, open your mouth and just love the Lord this. And it's never been as vivid and real to me as it is today because with the attack that is coming against the family and especially against children in this hour, I had never really seen this song as much in the light of the hour we're living in. And he put it in the right frame and the writer wrote the right words for this moment, for this hour, for this time we're in right now. How many of you recognize we're in perilous times all around the world? But the writer said it like this, because he first chapter of the book of Acts. I will declare to you this morning, ladies and gentlemen, that the only hope for America and the only hope for this world is none other than a living savior, Jesus Christ. Men are trying to put together peace plans. They're trying to put together things to make the world work. And the more they attempt and the more they try, the more it slips out of their hands. But I'm gonna tell you whose hands it is in this morning. It's in the hands of the one who holds the world in the palm of his hands. Today I wanna draw your attention to the word of God. In the book of Acts chapter number one, where Dr. Luke, the namesake of the book of Luke or the four gospels, said that I come to set things in order. I've come to declare and set things in order. And after the gospel of Luke, Luke finds it necessary to write a second book, the author of the book of Acts, he is. And this is the gospel according to Luke. And he says this is where he began to preach. But the book of Acts is the continuation of events that took place after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bible says he would show himself alive for 40 days with many infallible, undeniable truths. The Bible is a document, in fact it is a divine document of eyewitnesses and expert witnesses. There's five kinds of witnesses in the legal realm. One of them is an eyewitness, person who was there, been there, done that, saw what took place with their own eyes and gives testimony to that. But out of all five of them, the only one that fits our category here today is what is called an expert witness. An expert witness is someone who has had personal involvement. They weren't there at the time, but they've had a personal involvement and give testimony to the facts of how that event has taken charge of their life. So it is that the message today, can I get a witness, I believe is going to touch the lives of people if you're open or hard to it. In chapter one of the book of Acts, the former treatise have I made, the former writing I made, Otheophilus, of all that Jesus began, both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments under the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive. After his passion, after his crucifixion, by many infallible proves, being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait, wait for the promise of the Father which saith he you have heard of me. Or John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, this is what everybody wants to know, the political question, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? You're gonna take over. Are you gonna be president? Are you gonna be king? Are you gonna be the one that's in charge sitting on the throne and Jesus responded in verse seven? It's not for you to know the times or the season, the exact certainty of that moment which the Father had put in his own power. Well, then what is our part? But ye shall be, ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and into the uttermost parts of the earth. You're supposed to be witnesses if you're a believer. And sometimes we think it's a witness being filled with a Holy Ghost to speak in tongues and et cetera, et cetera. But ladies and gentlemen, the witness is not for you to be able to manifest the gifts of the Spirit. The witness is the witness that lives on the inside of us of the resurrection power that lives on the inside of every believer today. I believe God's gonna speak to our heart today. Lift your hands towards heaven and let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we believe today, God, that you are not only able but that you're going to speak to the hearts and lives of people in a powerful way. So today, Lord, arrest our minds and our hearts because this day is not about Easter eggs and bunnies. This is the season that we celebrate the resurrection. May someone leave here today celebrating the resurrection like they have never celebrated before. And for it all, we give you glory, honor, and praise in Jesus' name and everybody shout a great big amen. Look at your neighbor and ask him, can I get a witness? That's what I wanna know. A witness, a witness defined is someone who attests to a fact or an event. A witness is one who gives evidence of the truth and the facts. One who is personally knowledgeable of something or the fourth definition found in the dictionary, a public affirmation by word or example of religious faith or conviction. I'm concerned today that we don't have enough people truly convicted of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that they're willing to go over the top or do whatever it takes to be the witness that God has called us to be. So it was between the cross and the resurrection, a horrible time. They watched Jesus go through the torment and the shame and the pain of the crucifixion and the Bible says that darkness covered the earth and everyone scattered. Jesus' followers went into hiding and the veil of the temple was reined in twain. Earthquakes took place and graves were opened up and when Jesus died, his disciples felt like giving up. They went into hiding. They went into despair. They went into fear and confusion. In fact, Simon Peter remembers thinking about it and he is saying in his own self, you can only imagine. I said I would never betray him, but I did. How can I ask him to forgive me now that he is dead? Mary, the mother of Jesus said it's done and you did it. You killed him. Now leave him alone because if I could just hold him for a little while, my son, the one that I gave birth to, the Messiah, the one that would be the one claimed and I believe Mary said to be the chosen of God. Jesus, his name was given to me by an angel. Just let me hold him a little while longer. I can see them ripping him from her arms to quickly get him into the grave because that needed to take place before sundown to comply with Jewish law and all of them were thinking what do you do when all hope is gone? When hope is gone, you wanna give up. And if those religious and political leaders could have reproduced a half dead or maybe barely resuscitated body of Jesus Christ, they could have stopped the rumors that were going around that he's actually alive. I wanna tell you before you wanna look at this in time past and say that's way back in biblical time, the same operation of denying that he is alive is happening in our world right now. The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the hinge upon which Christianity hangs. It's held up by eyewitnesses and expert witnesses of testimony. The apostle Paul said that if Christ is not raised, then your faith is in vain. Us being here today is completely a loss if Jesus Christ is not alive. Acts chapter number one, the Bible says that Jesus walked around for 40 days showing himself alive for 40 days with many infallible proofs. In other words, eyewitnesses saw him walking around, not a ghost, not some kind of other figure, not some other Christ, but the Christ who got up from the grave was walking around alive for 40 days. Now, if you really wanted to kill him, you had 40 days after his resurrection to try because Jesus wasn't hiding. In fact, the Bible says that this thing was not done in a corner. It's very visible, it's very much in front of us to this day right now. It's important for you to know that when they saw him, many of them seeing him with their own eyes, not just hearing about it, it changed their lives so much that through the decades and eons of time past to this very day, hear me, to this very day, to people that did not see him alive physically but know him to be alive in their spirit, they were willing to lay down their lives, be tortured, be put to death, hung on a cross upside down, martyred for the cause of Christ. And in fact, before you say that you are a witness of Jesus Christ, let me tell you the meaning of that word in the book of Acts is martyred. So when you say, I've been born again, I'm saved, I'm a witness of Jesus Christ, you're saying, I'm prepared to be a martyr for the cause of Christ. Let's make it very, very clear because while you enjoy the opportunity to sit in this building here today and go through an Easter Sunday celebration of the resurrection of life, somewhere on this globe, perhaps watching me now in Kenya, where the attacks of terrorist groups like Makino Faso have been killing pastors and Christians by the thousands. And it's not just cliche and sitting in their buildings, they're literally saying we will die for the cause of Christ. I would say in America we better wake up because we're in a situation now where Christianity has been put into the bullseye, literally. That's the reason why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so important because there is no writing in history that has ever been subject to such intense scrutiny as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today the witnesses are living on, the lives of people that have experienced a new birth, a born again experience, and the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is on the inside. The one message the early church had was the hope of the resurrection and the hope of Jesus Christ's return because he was alive. How did it affect him? It permeated every sermon. It was part of every conversation in the catacombs of Rome where the Christians held church services in secret, just like they do in North Korea, just like they do in Russia, just like they do in Iran. Right now the conversation was, keep your eyes toward Jesus because he's alive and he's coming again. So Jesus wasn't slipping around by accident. As a matter of fact, he found a worshiper and she became the very first witness. Her name was Mary. He found her worshipping out of a sacrifice because she had been there done that and because she wasn't what she used to be. The Bible said on the first day of the week came Mary to the tomb to worship with spices. It was Mary Magdalene. The woman of whom seven demons were cast out, she knew him, she saw him. She saw them beat him and mocked Jesus and put him on the cross. She saw the blood dripping down and his body wrapped up in the tomb where the guards were there and she saw the stone be sealing that grave and no one could move it and yet that wouldn't stop her. Any one of those disciples who tried to keep her from anointing Jesus at Simon's house, she said, no, I'm going to the tomb and when she got there, she said, I responded to the gardener she thought and then Jesus spoke her name, Mary, Mary. She had heard that voice before when he called the seven demons out of her. She recognized that's not the gardener, that's you master, that's you rabbi, that's you rabboni. Mary was not ashamed of the gospel. In fact, Mary became the witness and Jesus says to her, can I get a witness from you? Go back and tell your, my brothers and Peter that I was dead but I'm alive forevermore. Jesus was looking for a worshiper to be a witness and Mary said, I'll be that witness. I'll tell you, my friends, if you've ever had Jesus touch you and if you've ever touched Jesus Christ before, you'll know like Mary that he's not just somebody passing by, he's the one who gave me life and life more abundantly. On Jesus' post resurrection tour, he went in search, in fact, he tracked down two wanderers on the road to a place called Emmaus and he made them witnesses. Two men who had just left Jerusalem and had heard the report of the women but they didn't go by the tomb to check and see if Jesus was there. They got up and went home. Hopeless and in despair they walked and they spoke of the crucifixion and they spoke of the blood and the beating and their hope that Jesus would be Messiah and along comes Jesus walking beside them. They walked seven miles to a place called Emmaus but Jesus pursued them, he chased them down and he started talking to them about the events that were happening and Jesus said to these two men, hey, what are you talking about? And they said, what do you mean? What are we talking about? Where have you been, stranger? They're talking to Jesus. They tried to describe what was going on and then Jesus started a Sunday school class on the road to nowhere. I wanna tell you before the Lord lets you go nowhere and be a nothing, God will chase you down and make you what he's called you to be. The Bible says that he made out like he was gonna go on but they grabbed him and compelled him and said, come in the house and stay with us because no one has spoken to us like this before. When he came in and sat down, the Bible says that Jesus took bread and he took the wine and in their presence they watched him as he broke the bread. I can imagine something cheering in their spirit at that moment thinking, wait a minute, we've seen this happen before where 5,000 people got fed. Something feels different about this and the more Jesus went on and broke the bread and drank the cup, suddenly the Bible says their eyes were open and he was revealed in the communion and then he disappeared out of their sight. They said to themselves, wait a minute, didn't our hearts burn within us when he opened his mouth and spoke? Didn't he read every intricacy of our lives and told us what we needed to be and who we are? These two became witnesses. He said, hey, will you be a witness for me? And they said, oh yes, we will. The Bible says that they got up in Luke 24 and these two went back to Jerusalem. They entered into the place where the disciples were gathered together, the Bible says, and they found all of those disciples hiding in despair and they said, the Lord has risen indeed. He's appeared to us. They told him the things that were done by the way the Bible says and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread. Amazing. There's another witness for you. He stopped by the house. Jesus did immediately after that Emmaus conversation and found a bunch of disciples hiding in fear. A bunch of warriors that were wondering, is the same thing that took place to Jesus' crucifixion? Is that gonna happen to us? Oh wait a minute, do you mean that if I give a witness in the public and someone doesn't like it, do you think they might haul me before the court or sue me because I claim the name of Jesus Christ or that I believe he was a sinner or maybe that my life has been changed by Jesus so much that I don't do the things I used to do and I actually believe the Bible is true. Could it be that I could be persecuted in the 21st century for the cause of Christ? Yes! And you know what Jesus says to you like he says to those worrying disciples? Can I get a witness out of anybody who will stand for me today? We're just like those worrying disciples. They didn't know what was gonna happen next. But Jesus walked right through the wall. I said he walked through the wall. He didn't need the door because he was the door. And he gave all of them peace and he gave them purpose and he gave them power to accomplish what they were going to need to do. He said I'm alive and it's gonna be all right. I wanna tell somebody here and somebody watching right now, you may be going through the trial of your life but if you'll stay with Jesus Christ, you can know not just today but tomorrow and the next day. Jesus is alive and it's gonna be all right. There might be somebody here that was like the missing disciple in this occasion. Thomas called Didimus said, I won't believe him unless I can put my hands into his scars and into his side. Jesus said, go ahead. But blessed are those who haven't been there to put their hands in these scars and in my side. And yet, and yet on the ninth day of April in the year of our Lord 2023, they still believe. Have I got a witness in this house this morning? Bible says that these disciples were instructed by Jesus Christ when he said to them, thus it is written and thus it behooves Christ to suffer and to rise again on the third day. Luke says in verse 20 or 47 of chapter 24 and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye, he said, are witnesses of these things. See, it's a dangerous thing to be in this church this morning because once you know that Jesus is alive, you can never unknow that Jesus is alive. Once you know something, you can never unknow it. I don't care. All my memory, oh, I need to take a vitamin. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a witness on the inside of you that if you ever start forgetting what is going on, the Holy Ghost will remind you that Jesus is alive in the morning, in the evening, when the sun goes down. Oh, I feel some glory in this room this morning. A very unlikely witness to Jesus Christ's resurrection was not a person, but a place. It was the empty tomb that became a witness. Now, nobody ever declared that he's still there. And I've been to Israel twice. And both times that I went into the tomb, I found out he is not here. He is risen just like he said. Now, Lenin, Vladimir Lenin is still entombed in wax in Russia's square. And Stalin is still in the grave in Saddam Hussein and Hitler and all the evil ones of all of the ages are still in tomb, whether they're incarcerated, burned up or whatever that it may be. But Jesus, the one that people hate the most and the one that people love the most, he's alive whether people like it or not. What does the tomb say to us? The resurrection means coming back to life. That's what the resurrection means. Coming back to life. We hear a lot of talk about revival today. I want you to know you can have a personal revival today if you'll meet Jesus and you can come back to life. Let me tell you, God never intended any of us to die. That's the reason why that as I've stood by the bedside of those that have been passing from this life into eternity, that no matter if they have an oxygen mask on or not, they're reaching for that next breath because this body was not made to die. We were made to live. God never intended for us to die and death came because Adam sinned in the garden. Adam lived 930 years. Methuselah, the oldest man to live, 965 years. After the flood of Noah, the earth was flooded for the judgment of God because of sin and violence and all that was going on and the rains fell and something happened to man and God cut the days of man short to 120 years. And then you read in the scripture in Psalm 90 where the Bible says that the average age and length of time for a man is 70 years, three score and 10. When it started, God intended for us to live forever. The lifespan here on earth, God cut short and now it's appointed into man once to die and after that, the judgment and what does that do? That means that every one of us are headed towards the grave. That means until Jesus Christ comes again that if we died today or tomorrow, that the undertaker would come and take us, prepare our body and we would be placed into a tune. I wanna let you know Peter was preaching in Acts chapter number two and he said this, he meant of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God, among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves know. Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Whom God has raised up, listen to this, having loosed the pains of death, listen because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. You know what the Lord is saying? I've got a witness in an empty grave because nothing that man could do, roll the stone in front of it, blot his name out of the history books, cancel him in culture, none of that is gonna stop him because if the grave can't hold him, ladies and gentlemen, then neither can man or governments or kingdoms or kings can never hold him back. The stone was in the way and Mary knew it but she came on anyway. By the time she got there, the stone was not in the way any longer. Moved by great angels, not to let Jesus out but to let you and me in so we could be a witness of the fact that the grave is empty, no longer occupied. Some of you may have heard it before but I will tell you Joseph of Arimathea begged for the body of Jesus and Jesus didn't even have his own burial site. He had no tomb, he had no tombstone. Joseph of Arimathea said, give me his body, we gotta prepare him and they rushed to get him in the ground and they said, roll the stone away there and seal the stone just in case somebody tries to come along and steal his body. That didn't stop him. I said, that didn't stop him. You know why? Because Jesus said, I don't need a permanent place. I only need it for the weekend, that's all I need. By the time that the disciples and Mary arrived there, they find the witnesses and two angels sitting on that stone that had been rolled away. This is one of the greatest lines, one of my favorite in all of the Bible, they said this to them, why seek ye the living among the dead? Why are you coming to this graveyard looking for a live man? My friends, you and I have walked through graveyards and we've had to put our lovens in the ground and my old mom and dad are laid in the ground there, that body, that emaciated body laid in the ground in the cemetery in Fort Walton Beach but I wanna let you know something, my dear friends. If the stone was rolled away and the resurrection power of Jesus got up on that third day and walked out alive, there's a promise that the tombstone or the slab or the casket or anything else cannot hold the body of the believer, sown in weakness, raised in power. Because Jesus lives, you shall live also. That's a good place for somebody to give him glory and praise. Even the grave, even the grave is a witness because when the stone rolled away, the grave's mouth was open. You know what he said? Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? The sting of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that even wicked people can give testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? They might not want to, but they're compelled to because it was guards that had been placed at the tomb to guard the door, the stone and to make sure that no one would come because the rumor was out that the disciples were gonna steal his body and the Bible said in Matthew 28 and 4 and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became his dead men. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wanna know what all the hype is about today with political and religious authorities and leaders, here what I'm saying to you. Religious leaders had heard that while those guards were there around that grave, wondering what was going to take place and that great angel came, the Bible said and roll the stone away in their presence. The earth shook and their knees knocked together as they realized something supernatural was taking place. They were the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus and they weren't even believers. Jesus let wicked men see him alive because there's nothing like people who don't claim Jesus Christ to give testimony that Jesus is really alive. And it's gonna happen more and more in these last days. You know why? Because the religious authorities heard these guards when they ran back to the praetorium to tell them we saw an angel. The religious authorities, the ones that condemned Jesus were standing there and the guards opened their mouth and said, we saw an angel come down. Well, what else did you see? Well, he rolled the stone away. Well, what else did you see? Well, he got up out of the grave. Who did? Jesus did. I think at that moment they might have thrown a cliche in there and said, shut your mouth. But see, once you've seen something, you can't unsee it. Once you know something, you can't unknow it. And they told the whole story how Jesus walked out alive. And left them standing there, shaking in their shoes. Ooh, that day's gonna come again, my dear friend. You better be ready for it. It could happen before we leave this place this morning. What are those religious leaders say? The same thing religious leaders are saying today. They said, listen, you can't tell that story. If that story gets out, we're done. You don't get it. Here's what they did. The religious leaders paid the guards off to keep their mouth shut and not tell the story that Jesus is alive. And the political and religious leaders were together on the whole, let's call it, conspiracy. So they called up Facebook and social media and said, don't let the algorithms get over here and let those Christians put out there that there's a cross and an empty tomb on an Easter Sunday morning. We gotta cancel all that out because if the word gets out that Jesus is alive, somebody might believe it and be born again. So we gotta stop those Christians. Today they wanna shoot people and today they wanna put them down, but I've got news for you. Every time believers have been persecuted, there arises another group and another generation to declare he is alive forevermore. I feel some glory in here from generation to generation. Those religious and political leaders said, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you settle down, guards. Here's your story. They gave them a story to tell. They gave them a lie. They said, this is not a Russian hoax. This is a hoax. This is a lie we want you to tell. Tell everybody you fell asleep and the disciples stole his body. This is not this hoax. Oh, what happened next? See, you think I'm making this up, but you can read the scripture. They brought him before the council to find out what are these guards seeing? They brought him before the Senate just committee. Interrogate, tell us what's going on and here's some money to lie. I just wanna say standing flat footed here because nobody else will say it. You can't pay me enough to deny what Jesus Christ has done inside of my life. I don't know about you. You can sit on your hands if you want to, but as for me and my house, I know he's a lie. You better lie about it, boys. Cause you know if you tell the truth, it's gonna be you. See, it was against the law for guards to fall asleep. They would have been executing. They said, we gotta get together on this. You want us to lie? Oh yeah, you can't tell the real story. Here's what they said. What happens if the governor hears? They said, don't you worry about the governor. We got that covered. You should read this Bible, it's in here. They say, can I get a witness? Oh yeah. Here's a witness from wicked guards. Here's a witness from wicked religion. Here's a wicked political system that must give a witness. Pastor, how's that gonna happen? I'll tell you how it's gonna happen. Don't you worry about when it happens? You just need to know it will happen. How's it gonna happen? This is the way it's gonna happen. The Bible says, one day very soon, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. One day, ladies and gentlemen, Hitler will have to declare, I'm not the one in charge. It's him, Jesus. One day Saddam Hussein will have to say it, let me, it's Jesus that's alive. Some people don't, might not believe this next witness. But the Bible declares in Matthew 27, and the graves upon Jesus' resurrection opened up, and the bodies of the saints who slept in the grave came out of the grave after his resurrection. Now watch this, because this is gonna be a stretch for you right here. They got up alive and walked around in the holy city, testifying of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Come on now. What happened? Jesus came out, but he didn't come out by himself. He came out followed by the saints of old from paradise held by Satan in paradise. And when Jesus got up, the saints heard him say, this is the way out of here, follow me. And the saints got up from the grave and walked around the city witnessing. You know what they said? One of them said, hello, my name is Isaiah, I'm here to tell you he's alive. One of them said, my name's Obadiah, I'll tell you he's alive. One of them said, I'm Nehemiah, I'll tell you he's alive. One of them said, I'm Jeremiah. And ladies and gentlemen, right now in the heavenly portals, according to Hebrews 12, we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses that are telling us right now, not only is Jesus alive on the Easter, but he's alive Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and we get to celebrate him on the first day of the week. Can I get a witness from them? I'll tell you when the witness happened. Oh, you better read this Bible. Because Jesus was put into the tomb and somebody said, well, he died spiritually. Oh no, no, no. Oh no, the Christ, the body of Jesus was laid on a coal slab wrapped up in a cloth, but the Christ went down into the abyss, down into paradise. And when he got down there, he went through hell like a tornado. And on his way through, he saw hell and snatched the keys from hell and he snatched it from death and he snatched it from the grave. And do you know why I ain't afraid of no death and no grave and no hell? Because Jesus holds the keys of death, hell and the grave. I am he that was alive, dead, and I'm alive forevermore. Can I get a witness today? Jesus is walking outside of the city on the conclusion of 40 days, walking around alive. And the Bible says that, listen now, because I would hear you tell, if the media that we have today was alive back then, and believe me, they were, they would have said, well, only a few of his followers saw him, are they credible witnesses? But you better read this Bible. Because the Bible says when Jesus got ready to go back to his father in heaven and sit down on the right hand of the father, he was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses in those days. Jesus stood there and told him, you go back in Terry and Jerusalem until you be endued from powerful on high. And suddenly the glory cloud of God enveloped Jesus Christ and suddenly gravitational hold on his physical body had to turn loose of a brand new body. Somebody said, how are we gonna be raptured out of here? We shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Our body shall be like his. Whatever's holding us on the ground right now will have no hold. Every believer has got an exit that is gonna happen and it's called the rapture of the church. After 40 days, death couldn't stop him. After 40 days, he's risen and nobody can put him back in the grave. And the apostle Paul said that if the resurrection didn't happen, then your preaching is in vain today, Joey Rogers, that your faith is in vain, that all this singing and all this believing and all this coming to church and all this giving and all that you do, you're still in your sins and your hope is gone if Jesus is not alive. But he is. I don't know how else to describe it except for I'm an expert. Have I got any expert witnesses in the house? I missed a few of you. You're not experts like I am. See, at nine years old, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. He came in and the devil went out. I did some bad stuff up to nine years old. And so Jesus Christ came in and at 10 years old, he filled me with the power of the Holy Spirit and I began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. And now, ladies and gentlemen, there's a witness on the inside of me that lets me know whether you deny him, try to expunge him. Today, they wanna write another Bible and say Jesus is out of it. We wanna make it gender neutral and all of this. I came to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, there is but one hope, one gospel, one faith, one baptism, one Lord in you all and above you all. His name is, and I get a witness this morning. Here's the final witness because all those were back in biblical times. But what about today? Jesus said, you go and tarry in Jerusalem. Don't you leave Jerusalem until the promise comes. 400 people, they said, approximately loaded up the upper room and by the time the 10 days were over, he was alive for 40 days and 10 days of celebration went on in heaven. He prayed the Father in on the 50th day, Pentecost day when it had fully come. They were all in one mind and one accord in the upper room and suddenly they heard a sound from heaven. Like as if a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and cloven tongues of fire set upon them and they were filled with the power of the Holy Ghost and began to preach the gospel as living witnesses and the church was born on that day. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ promised that he would give us power to be his witnesses. You know, the reason why many of you don't witness today, you claim Christianity but you're not telling anybody about Jesus is because you're afraid of what people are gonna say to you and what they think. You might get canceled, you might get expunged, you might get off from Facebook because you posted something that could be controversial. Ladies and gentlemen, today Christianity is controversial. Today Jesus is controversial. Today and in the days that are ahead, the very book I preach from the Bible will become the most controversial book in all of the United States and the world. But ladies and gentlemen, I'll not stop preaching. I'll not stop testifying. I'll not stop telling people that Jesus is alive and there's hope in him. I'll not stop talking about the cross and the blood that is available for all of our sins. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I hear the songwriter said it like this. If God is dead, who's this living in my soul? Jesus left them with the promise that was to come and when Jesus arrived in heaven, there was a new angel standing at the gate. He looked out and said, who is it that's coming? And Jesus said, lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors. Who are you that's coming? You look like someone I might know. Jesus said, be lifted up, you everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in. How do you know that the Holy Ghost has come because Jesus came and sat down at the right hand of the Father? And he prayed the Father, the Bible said, and the Father sent the comforter, the power of the Holy Spirit. Now I'm amazed at people that get afraid of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, but will watch all kind of horror movies and everything else under the sun. I'm amazed at people that get all nervous when people begin to talk in tongues at a church and see the manifestation of the Holy Ghost, but if they hear somebody speaking in Spanish and they don't understand what it is, they're perfectly fine with it. Ladies and gentlemen, over 15 witnesses on the day of Pentecost spake in the native language of all the countries that were there and what were they saying? The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus is alive, Jesus has been resurrected. The Holy Ghost gave them power to open their mouth in a Roman society that would have put them to death for insurrection. You gotta make up your mind. Are you gonna serve the Lord now? I submit to you, you won't do it without the infilling of the Holy Ghost today because the intimidation factor is greater than it's ever been before. How do you know, Pastor? Because the Holy Ghost has come to bear witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I wasn't there when he got up from the tomb. I wasn't there when he walked around for 40 days alive on this earth. I didn't see him when he was crucified on the cross, but I know him to be alive because he is living on the inside of me right now. Have I got a witness in this house with anybody? Jesus is asking his church in this hour. I'm not talking about the world. The world does not know him and neither can they receive the Holy Spirit without Jesus being alive on the inside of him. Hear me. The Lord is asking, can I get a witness from my own people? Listen, in a time when whole denominations are denying the virgin birth of Jesus, can somebody witness of the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin? Have I got a witness that he died and lived a sinless life and he was on this earth for alive for 33 and a half years and they crucified the King of Glory and that his blood has washed my sins away and I'm a free person today. No matter what my color, my racial background, my social background, no matter where I came from, the blood of Jesus Christ has washed my sins and I'm freed today by the blood of Jesus Christ because the world is going to continue to deny Jesus like they always have. It's only gonna get worse. You may not like me for telling you this, but I can tell you the media focused upon an individual who went in and shot up a Christian school and to this day they have not made any kind of acknowledgement of the six Christian people that died at the hands of an evil heart. Pastor, don't talk about all that. Oh my friends, that's the reality of where we are today. So now you gotta make up your mind because there are modern day witnesses today and the first one that's always come to mind for me is in the very first real mass shooting at a school in Colorado when two shooters went into that school dressed in solid black with trench coats down to their legs, down to their ankles and when they got to the location where a girl by the name of Cassie Bernal was in that room, they made her kneel down and they dropped a double barrel shotgun into her face and said, deny Jesus or die. And the other living classmates gave testimony to Cassie Bernal who had just come to a youth meeting and given her life to Jesus a few weeks prior. You wanna know why your kids need to be in youth services and children's ministry on Wednesday night and on Sunday morning like they're doing right now because you don't know the day that they're gonna have that question posed to them and you better have enough Jesus in them to testify like Cassie Bernal did. I cannot deny my savior Jesus Christ. She died but after all, a witness is a martyr. I could go down the list right now of modern day martyrs who are to this day giving their life for the cause of Christ. Your day is coming, your day is coming. My day is coming. I don't know when I'll preach my last message in this place. But Lord, let it be about the power of the blood. Let it be about the power of the resurrection. Let it be about the authority of the king of glory who is still in charge. And ladies and gentlemen, it is with great proof that he gave witness of the resurrection. All the earth had trembled. All the men that walked with him had turned and run away. They crucified the savior. Then they laid him in a tomb. The life that once brought love and hope slipped away that afternoon. Satan gleamed with pleasure that day at Calvary. For he had thought that he had won like him. All of the demons of hell began to cheer. Did they know that therein was draw? Just like Jesus said, he broke the curse of sin and death and he rose, Jesus is alive. Victory and the grave has been dished, lives forever. He is lost as he. The curse of sin is broken and we have because we could tell you all about the living Christ and I'd give you a chance to know him and we will have missed every part. So here's Jesus. I give you Jesus. I give you Jesus who can heal your broken heart and bind up your wounded spirit. I give you Jesus, the one you've been longing for and looking for all of your life. I give you Jesus, the one who can cause peace to come into your heart and life. I give you Jesus, the giver of eternal life. If today you don't know Jesus as your savior, the best Easter gift that you can get is not in a basket, but the one who came out of the tomb. If you want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life, maybe you've drifted away from God and today you wanna recommit your heart and life. Slip up your hand right where you are right now. Hands that are going up around this building right now. Perhaps those that are watching online, I want you to pray this simple prayer right out loud with me and I want you, everybody in this building to pray this prayer, those of you watching online. It's a prayer that invites Jesus to come in and be the Lord and savior of your life. If you mean it when you say it and believe it in your heart, Pastor, don't I have to do something? Don't I have to make my own way? No, he already did it on the cross. He paid it all, but I do have to give my heart and life to him. I have to belong to him. So today we're gonna do that collectively. Come on, pray this prayer right out loud. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. I'm a sinner in need of the savior and you are that only savior. Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the cross. I believe you were buried and on the third day you rose again from the grave. Today I want you to be the Lord of my life. Forgive me of my sins. Wash me in your precious blood. Make me brand new. I'm tired of my old life. I want your life. Holy Spirit, come in. Fill me and make me a witness today. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. And amen, if you've just prayed that prayer, come on, give the Lord praise for it. That's what this church is all about. If you've just prayed that prayer and you mean business, I want you to come straight towards this front when this service is concluded and tell one of our ministers that are around this altar about what the Lord has done. We want to put some material in your hand. Some of you are, there's a new daddy going home today. Some of you, there's a brand new mom that's going home today. Babies, you're getting a brand new house. The Lord is gonna change everything at your house. How many of you know we need Jesus like we've never needed him before? I want to make this pronouncement blessing upon you because ladies and gentlemen, I believe we're this close to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming again. He didn't get up out of the grave just to go back to heaven and stay there and we hear. Oh no, no, no. Don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me and my father's house or many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself and that where I am there, you may be also. Note this, ladies and gentlemen, he's coming in a moment that you think not. I'm saying to every one of you in this building and those of you watching, be also ready for in an hour that you think not the Son of Man is coming. How many of you would say right now, Pastor? I know right now, be on the shout of any doubt. I'm ready to meet him. If he comes right now, wave your hand at me right now. Throw that other hand up in the air and thank God your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. For those of you that prayed that prayer, I want you to come to this altar as soon as we conclude this service. Lift those hands for this blessing this morning, would you? This comes from the Book of Numbers chapter six. It's the Aaronic blessing. Now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you and may the Lord make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious unto you and lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace now and forevermore in the name of Jesus Christ we pray it and let all the witnesses shout a great big amen. If you gave your life to the Lord, come and meet Pastor Teese right here by the zip, Ben or the Charlie. There's photo of places out front. Be sure to do that. My wife and I will be out there in a moment to greet you. God bless you for being here today. For all of you that are seniors, all the Easter lilies that are on the platform are available for all of our seniors. So if you're a senior here at this church, they can get a Easter lily to take home with them. God bless you, my friends. We'll look to see you Wednesday night and next Sunday at 10 o'clock. Jesus.