“Easter is not about bad people becoming good people. Easter is about dead people coming alive!” – Pastor Des Wadsworth

Yesterday we had the privilege of having Des Wadsworth, our future Lead Pastor, as our guest speaker. Des preached through Luke 23, we sang songs about the resurrection, and were reminded of the uniqueness of Christianity’s perspective on salvation: that it is by grace alone! If you missed yesterday, you can listen to the sermon here: Outrageous. We hope that the summary below is encouraging and reinforcing!

By The Numbers

2,215 –  people who joined us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this Sunday

1,800 – (approximate) number of cookies that were eaten

100 – purple and white balloons

53 – people who signed up to be baptized

17 – people who committed to follow Jesus for the first time

Sermon Summary

1. Which of the Two Men are you?

Des had us look at the two men who were crucified on either side of Jesus in Luke 23. He asked us the question, “which of the two men do you identify with? The one who was bitter, had a hard heart, and sarcastically wanted Jesus to serve him? Or the other man, who was humbled by his sin, knew that he was getting what he deserved, and sincerely asked Jesus to remember him?”

2. Do vs. Done

We are all tempted to seek to do things to please God and earn his favor – this is not the gospel! The good news is that “it is finished!” such that God has been pleased by the work of Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. Being a Christian is not about doing but rather about believing what has been done on our behalf by Jesus. Jesus, being raised from the dead, gives us a gift – we dare not seek to add to it!

3. We are called to be “the Resurrection with Skin On”

When we follow Jesus, we participate in his resurrection and have new life. We are witnesses to the power of the resurrection and must walk in that power in our daily lives! As Des said, “Tempe needs to experience the fulness of the power of the resurrection! And you (the church) are how that will happen!” We must embody the work of Jesus for we are in Christ and thus are the resurrection with skin on.

4. Be Baptized

We got to witness 7 people be baptized yesterday during our services. Des elaborated on the symbolism of baptism in that we associate ourselves in with the life (walking up to the water), death (yielding ourselves to the water), burial (being dunked under the water), resurrection (being raised out of the water), and glorification (being wrapped in a towel/robe) of Jesus. What a powerful image of our union with Christ! Publicly declaring our love of Jesus through baptism is a testimony to how Jesus publicly declared his love for us by being crucified in the public square.

Going Forward - New Sermon: Why? 

Next week we begin a new sermon series: Why?

April 12th we will ask and answer the question: Why Jesus? April 19th we will ask and answer the question: Why Church?

We hope this short two week series can build upon how we were challenged by God on Easter and be a time to lay a foundation for all who are new to our church.