The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Exodus 12:1-13Primary text for the sermon, read aloud in full as the foundation for the Passover and blood-on-the-doorpost teaching
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;
4 and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.
7 They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it.
8 They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.
9 Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.
10 You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover.
12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh.
13 The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
Referenced to say that breaking one law makes a person guilty of breaking all of the law
1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”;
4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?
15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,
16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.
25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Read aloud as a prophetic passage pointing forward to Jesus bearing the sins of all mankind
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This Easter Sunday, Brian Hunter preached from Exodus 12 and traced the story of the Passover lamb forward to the cross. The central claim was simple: deliverance has never depended on the condition of the people inside, only on the blood applied to the door. He titled the message "The Blood Is Enough."
What was said
Brian opened in Exodus 12, reading the instructions God gave Moses and Aaron for the first Passover. He slowed down on two details: the extraordinary care required in selecting a perfect animal, and the near-total silence the text keeps about any moral condition required of the families inside. The emphasis of the passage, he said, falls entirely on the blood on the outside of the door, not on the worthiness of the people sheltering behind it.
He pressed into what "perfect" meant for that animal. The household had to inspect hooves, gums, coat, and skin for any defect. The animal also had to be the best from the herd, which made the sacrifice costly, and it lived in the home with the family for a period of days, which made it personal. By the time the blood was painted on the door frame with a hyssop branch, something more than a financial transaction had taken place.
From there Brian moved fifteen hundred years forward to the Jordan River, where John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." He noted what John did not say: not that Jesus would lead a great moral life, not that he would be a great teacher, not that he was starting a religion. The word he chose was "takes away," which Brian contrasted with the blood of bulls and goats that the Bible says only covers sin.
To explain why any of this matters to people who might feel their lives in Jackson are going just fine, Brian turned to Romans 6 and the nature of God's moral law. He used a simple line of questions: how many laws does a person break before they are a lawbreaker, how many lies before they are a liar. The point was not to shame the room but to establish that the consequence for breaking God's law is real whether a person acknowledges it or not. He illustrated this with the image of someone stepping off a building while claiming not to believe in gravity. The falling is not the problem, he said. The sudden stop is.
Brian then read from Isaiah 53, a passage written centuries before Jesus, describing a figure who was pierced for rebellion and crushed for sins so that others could be healed. He placed alongside it the story of Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor, who in 2006 in Ramadi dropped onto a grenade to protect Iraqi soldiers and teammates on a rooftop, dying from his wounds thirty minutes later. The parallel he drew was this: Monsoor's teammates go to Arlington and stand at a tombstone. With Jesus, the tomb is empty.
That empty tomb, Brian argued, is the hinge on which everything turns. Because Jesus was perfect, sin, death, and the grave had no rightful claim on him. He walked through the resurrection appearance to Mary, who tried to embrace him and was told to wait, and the later appearances to the disciples who touched his wounds. He said he knows Jesus is alive for three reasons: what Jesus has done in his own life, what he has seen Jesus do in the lives of people in the room, and because the Holy Spirit was already at work in the hearts of people present that morning.
He closed by bringing the Passover image full circle. The blood was smeared on the outside of the door, visible to all, not hidden on the inside. He invited anyone who had never asked for that blood to be applied, or who had drifted from a commitment already made, to stand. Several people did. He led the room in a prayer of confession and gratitude, then in a spoken declaration of thanks to Jesus, before handing the service over for the offering and lunch.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Read Exodus 12 and notice that the text puts all the weight on the blood applied outside the door, not on the condition of the people inside.
If you stood up during the service or said that prayer in your heart, tell one person this week what you did.
Spend a few quiet minutes and, in your own words, tell Jesus specifically what you are asking him to forgive, the way Pastor Brian walked through it during the service.
If you have been living outside the covenant relationship you once made with Jesus, pray and ask him to reapply that commitment to your life.
Bring someone with you to a regular Sunday service at the TMC so they can experience the smaller, conversational setting Pastor Brian described.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Brian pointed out that the text places a heavy emphasis on the condition of the lamb but says almost nothing about the moral condition of the families inside the houses. What does that tell you about what God was looking at that night, and what does it mean for how you think about your own standing before God?
Brian said that deliverance that night depended on the blood applied, not the people inside. Where in your own life are you tempted to rely on your own moral effort or self-reliance rather than resting under what the blood of Jesus has already done?
El domingo de Pascua, Pastor Brian tomó a la congregación a Éxodo 12, la historia de la primera Pascua en Egipto. Explicó que el cordero sacrificado tenía que ser perfecto, sin ningún defecto, y que su sangre untada en los marcos de las puertas era lo que protegía a las familias dentro de la casa. Lo importante era que Dios no juzgaba la calidad moral de las personas adentro, sino que miraba la sangre afuera. La protección dependía de la sangre aplicada, no de la condición de la gente.
Desde ahí, Pastor Brian conectó esa historia con Juan el Bautista señalando a Jesús y diciendo "he aquí el Cordero de Dios que quita el pecado del mundo." El cordero de la Pascua cubría el pecado, pero Jesús lo quitaba para siempre. Usó el ejemplo del soldado Michael Monsoor, quien cayó sobre una granada en Iraq para salvar a sus compañeros, para ilustrar el sacrificio de Jesús, aunque señaló que la diferencia es que Jesús resucitó al tercer día y sigue vivo hoy. El mensaje central fue este: la sangre de Jesús es suficiente para perdonar cualquier pecado, sin importar lo que una persona haya hecho o vivido.
Al cierre, Pastor Brian invitó a quienes quisieran recibir a Jesús, o regresar a él, a ponerse de pie y hacer una profesión pública de fe. Varios respondieron, y la iglesia oró junta.
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Pasajes bíblicos usados
Éxodo 12:1-13
Romanos 6 (los salarios del pecado es la muerte, pero la dádiva de Dios es la vida eterna)
Romanos 3:10 (no hay justo, ni aun uno)
Santiago (quien quebranta una sola ley es culpable de todas)
Isaías 53:4-6
Romanos 10:13 (todo aquel que invocare el nombre del Señor será salvo)
Read the full transcript7,649 words
I
love it. We're so glad that you're here today. Let's stand up and let's celebrate. And you know it's okay to clap in church, right? I give you permission.
We can do Happy
Easter everybody. He is risen. Thank you so much for joining us this Easter Sunday. I am loving seeing everybody fill into this room. Let's get comfortable.
We're gonna have to squeeze in a little bit. So if there's individual gaps in between your seats, let's squeeze on in. Excited to worship with you guys. On joining us.
Pray for us?
Absolutely. Father God, oh, thank you that you are a God that has conquered death. Thank you for coming and sacrificing your life for us and then saying that your work was not done, that you weren't gonna stay down, that you wanted to conquer all, God. Thank you that your power lives in us and thank you for bringing us all here together today, God. Speak to our hearts.
Open us up to you, God. We wanna meet with you. We wanna see you, God. We wanna experience you. So be with us today.
Join us, God. Let our worship be a sweet, sweet fragrance to you, God. Pray this all in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen.
Let's just take a minute and tell him how worthy he is of us gathering like this today to celebrate what he did. Right? That's why we're here today. Just tell him thank you today. I feel like this next song is the story of my life.
We're
Jesus. Lord, we tell you, you are worthy in this place today of our praise and our worship. We get more fired up over a soccer game or a
We're We're
be that. Cross and thank you for your resurrection today. In Jesus name. And everyone said, amen. Well, if you're new here, pretend you've been here forever because no one else is gonna know because there's a lot of new faces.
Say good morning to someone. If you didn't get one of the homemade donuts made by made by our beloved Gretchen, you had better get one real fast because they are delicious. Turn around and greet someone. We'll take just a couple minutes and then we'll get into the word today.
Morning. Good morning. It's so good to see y'all. Yes. Grab a big juicy donut come find your seat.
Alright. Quick show of hands. How many of you have a fresh haircut for Easter? I see a lot. Uh-huh.
Yep. Yep. It's looking good. Will Baxter, where's Will? Will, come on, let's see that haircut.
Look at that. And your dad combed his hair too, looks so good. You guys look amazing. In fact, turn to your neighbor just really quick and say, you look amazing this morning. Man, you sound so good.
My name is Brian Hunter. Welcome to Tribe. We're so glad that you're spending Easter with us here today. Normally, we meet at a place called the TMC, the Tribe Ministry Center. It's just towards the south end of town.
It's right across the street from what used to be Mad River boating just south of Ron's Towing. But today, since we wanted to make room for all of our friends, we are in here and I want to tell you, I'm so glad that you chose to spend Sunday here. And as we continue with the service, I wanna give you like a a quick little heads up of where we're going and and what all is in store for you today. So for just a few minutes, I'll be sharing a message of hope about the resurrection of Jesus and maybe you think about that all the time or maybe both of those words are brand new to you. It's okay.
I'm gonna it's okay. I'm gonna walk I'm gonna walk you through it. And then, at the end of our short little message, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to respond to what the Holy Spirit may be doing in your heart. And if you're like, holy who? What?
It's okay. He is already working on your heart. He has been working on your heart way longer than you could ever possibly realize. And here's why, because he knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. That's what the Bible says.
He created you for a beautiful and incredible special purpose and part of that purpose is is to have a life giving relationship with him. And so, if this is new to you or if you're like, just hang in there. Hang in there. And for those of you who are on the other side of that moment and you've invited Jesus into your heart and made him the leader of your life, what's your job this morning? Pray.
That's right. Pray. So if you have your bible with you this morning, we're gonna turn to the book of Exodus chapter 12. It's in the old testament. Exodus chapter 12.
And I'm gonna read just several verses to you. And if you are a note taker, you can write at the top of your notes, the blood is enough. That's what we're gonna be talking about today. The blood is enough. Exodus chapter 12 and I'm going to read a few verses.
Oh, just before I read, I need to brag on some artwork that was handed to me. It's a beautiful Easter card. Yep. Yep. Isaac, you did such a great job.
I'm really proud of you. Oh. Oh, it was one of Isaac's daughters. Okay. Easter basket, Easter egg and looks like a cow is getting taken up on a I love it.
I love it. You know my heart. So thank you for this beautiful Easter card. Exodus chapter 12. I'm gonna start reading in verse one and we're gonna go to verse 13.
You can follow along while I read. While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and to Aaron. From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth of this month, each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice. One animal for each household.
Now, quick pause. If you're new to church, if you're new to this God stuff, I know that we've already said a handful of words that you probably don't use in your normal everyday life. Jesus well, I don't know, you might use it as a cuss word, better not today. Resurrection, blood, lamb, sacrifice. One more time.
It's okay. It's okay. You're in good hands. If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, verse four, then let them share the animal with family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat.
The animal you select must be a one year old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects. It has to be perfect. We'll talk more about that in a moment. Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. According to tradition, that animal would come out of the livestock pen and live in the home with the family.
And all of the little girls in the room said, Fourteen days was really awesome in the home. Dad's like, I gotta clean up after this animal. But then but then, the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. That's rough. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and the top of the door frames of the houses where they eat the animal.
That same night, they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal, including the head and the legs and the internal organs, must be roasted over fire. Do not leave any of it until morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.
Verse 11, these are your instructions for eating the meal. Be fully dressed. Wear your sandals. Carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency for this is the Lord's Passover.
Focus in on verse 12. On that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all of the gods of Egypt for I am the Lord. But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking houses where you are staying. Listen.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. The Lord blessed the reading of his word this morning. When you read all of these verses, there are two important things that I want you to pull out of this passage, and that's what we're gonna look at this morning. Just two important aspects to this passage.
The first aspect has to do with the blood on the outside. Couple of unique significant factors about the blood. It has to be from an animal that is what? Super good enough? Perfect.
Perfect. It had to be perfect. Now, know that every parent in here thinks that their little angel, especially in their Easter outfit is perfect. Yep. Go ahead and pat the knee of that perfect little angel right next to you.
One of the two of my little angels is sitting on the front row this morning and she is Perfect. Perfect. The animal I won't have you stand up and twirl, although I should. The animal had to be perfect without spot or blemish. And, if you are not very accustomed to animal husbandry, that might just go right over your head.
But, the idea is that the animal faced very close, careful scrutiny. Whatever animal was selected for a household, it was carefully looked at, and it had to go through rigorous testing in order for it to qualify for it to be perfect. You had to check the the the hooves to make sure that there weren't any splits or cracks in the hooves. You had to look at the animal's gums to make sure that the gums were healthy, that there were no teeth missing, that all the teeth were there in alignment. You would carefully go over the coat and the wool of the animal to make sure that there was no rash or skin disease or blemish or anything like that.
The animal had to be Perfect. Perfect. Once an animal that was selected that was perfect was identified, then it was brought into the household for a period of time to be with the family. Now, two interesting things about that. Number one is if it's a perfect animal from your herd, it's probably the best from your herd.
Wouldn't you want to save that animal for breeding stock later? Wouldn't you want to save that animal so that it could, like, win at four h or something? Wouldn't a better use of that animal be than to just take its own life? But that was the idea. I want the very best, number one.
Number two, when that animal came into the home, it's really easy to kill an animal that you have no personal relationship with. But for a period of time, that animal lived in the home. Every little girl would give that animal a name. Of course, they would name it. They'd put little bows in its tail.
They'd probably put a little rope around its neck and lead it around. So that there was more invested than just a a financial decision. Well, this is the best, but it's got to be sacrificed. More than that, there was there was a connection and a relationship involved with that animal before it gave up its life. When the animal gave up its life, the head of the household would, according to the instructions, would take some blood of that animal and with a hyssop branch, which is like a common scrubby brush vegetation there, they would dip that hyssop into the basin of blood.
They would paint the sides. They would paint the top. They would paint the other side. And part of that animal's blood was poured out in a basin so that you would be surrounded three sixty by that the blood of that animal on the doorpost of the home. And then God says, enter into that home to celebrate Passover.
So I said there were two interesting aspects that I wanted to focus on this morning. The first one was the animal and the blood on the outside of the house. The second aspect was the people on the inside of the house. Now, there's some instructions for the people inside the house, but can somebody look at the text if it's on your phone or in your paper bible? What qualifications or what was necessary or what condition, what was the condition required of the family eating the animal?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they had to be fully dressed but what about the the the quality of the person? Does it say anything about that? Does it say anything about their their condition, their moral condition, like they they had to be perfect?
It doesn't say that at all. Look one more time. There's a great emphasis placed on the animal, the blood outside. Very little is said about the people on the inside. Zoom into verse 13 of your bible and it says this, but the blood on the doorpost will serve as a sign marking the houses where you are staying.
God is speaking and he says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you and this plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. Listen, that night, deliverance depended on the blood applied, not the people inside. That night, deliverance depended on the blood applied, not the people inside. The lamb paid the price for judgment with its life so that the people didn't have to. Oh, that night in Egypt, that very first Passover, it was a foreshadow, it was a taste, it was a morsel of something yet to come.
Fifteen hundred years later, a man walked along the shore of the Jordan River in Judea. There was a large crowd gathered there, and there was a wild man who was standing at the edge of the Jordan River baptizing people. And in the midst of all that was going on, the dust, baptisms, and the preaching by this wild man named John the Baptist, he stopped everything. And he gathered people's attention. And he said, look.
And he pointed at a man walking along the shore of the river, along the riverbank. And he said, behold, which means to look at, pay attention to, consider. And then he said these words, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Come on, y'all. Who is he talking about that day?
Jesus. See, even you people that don't go to church, you know. You know right where I'm going with this. Cause you're smart. John the Baptist was speaking about Jesus.
You see, the blood of bulls and goats, the Bible tells us, only covers man's sin. But there came a man who would not just cover man's sin but remove them completely. That's why John said this. He didn't say, oh, behold the lamb of God that leads a great moral life. He did not say, oh, behold the lamb of God that will be a great teacher someday.
Behold the lamb of God who left us, who will leave us a great example to follow kind of like when we want to. Behold the lamb of God that is starting a religion. He didn't say any of those things. He said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away, removes forever the sins of mankind. The bible even says that as far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our sins from us.
Not north to south because you can only go south for so long before you what? Come back around and start going north again. How far can you go east until you start going west? Sorry for the mind bending questions so early. I know you're just waking up.
It's okay. You can keep going. Right? You can keep going east and never go west. Oh, this is a good question I have in my notes.
Okay, I'm picking up what you're putting down. PB. A lot of young adults call me PB, Pastor Brian. PB. But why would I need a lamb, or even a person to die for me?
Maybe you're traveling from out of town. Most of you live here in Jackson. If you live in Jackson, Teton County, if you're up north of town, if you're down in Star Valley, if you're on the West Bank oops, sorry, did you detect a hint of envy in me? Sorry. West bankers, especially you West bankers.
Hey, we're West bankers now. Yes, West bankers. Blair's like, what? It's okay. So, listen, you don't those of us that live in this area, our life is great.
Even if you're going through a hard time right now, our life is great. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. Millions of people throughout the year come just to get a glimpse of these Tetons and get their picture taken under the elk antler arches. And it goes on the, like, calendar that they have made for their family. And so when we talk about this idea of a lamb or a sacrifice for our sins, for some of us in here, it may feel like a real record scratch, like like, I don't like to think about that.
I don't need to I don't wanna talk about that. And there's this surface level denial that you even need the blood of a lamb sacrificed for your life. But I wanna share the truth with you this morning. Look at Romans chapter six. We'll put the verse up here on the screen.
The bible says that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. So, in this world, if you break a law, you would be considered what? A law breaker. Okay. How many laws does a person get to break before they would be considered a lawbreaker?
You guys are harsh. But it's true, right? If you break one law, whether you get caught or not, if you break one law, you are a lawbreaker. Sin is breaking God's moral law. Question.
How many sins does a person get to commit before they are a sinner? You said it. What is God's moral standard? First of all, you can't use ignorance as a defense because it's unacceptable in a court of law, number one. Number two, the Bible says that he has written his law on each and every human heart.
Even if you can't name or list any of God's laws, the Bible says that he has imprinted it on your heart so that instinctively you know. If you've ever told something that's not the truth, that's breaking God's law, that's called lying. How many lies does a person get to tell before they're a liar? Guys are harsh, but it's true, isn't it? If you've ever taken something that doesn't belong to you, that's called stealing.
How many things do you get to steal before you're called a thief? Only one. The Old Testament has has has 10 laws. You can take a quick, simple test to see if you've broken any of them. We've all lived here in the summer with the tourist traffic, and I know most of you have at least broken this one.
If you even say in your heart, Raka or fool or Turan. Oh, we have some people admitting it right now. They're shaking their heads. I too am guilty. Very guilty.
Or are they too, man?
What aren't you? Oh. Well, we'll find out when you pull out. The bible says this, Romans chapter three verse 10, that no one is righteous, not even one. And in the laws of this land, when a person breaks a law, there is a consequence.
Did you not know that there is also a consequence for breaking God's moral law? Resist as much as you would like to. Deny it as much as you want to. Reject it as much as you want to. That does not absolve you from having to face the consequences.
For the person, maybe in this room this morning, under the sound of my voice, that would say, I don't buy any of that. Let me give you a quick analogy. Imagine I'm standing here on the precipice of a tall building, 200 feet above the deck. And I say, I don't believe in gravity. I reject gravity.
It's a crutch. It's for soft people. It's for weak people. I didn't grow up that way. It's a myth.
Gravity. What happens to the person that steps out? Splat. Splat. Why splat?
It doesn't matter if you believe or not. Gravity is going to do what gravity going to do. Right? And what is the rate of gravity here? Ask a teacher.
9.8 meters per second per second? That's right, Carl. Thank you. The falling is not so bad, it's the impact that will get you. It's the sudden stop on the concrete in the street below.
Okay. Now, why does gravity pull this person down when they step off the building? Because gravity is just doing what gravity does. It has the law of gravity has no capacity for compassion or understanding. It's not like you can say, I don't believe in gravity and you step off and you just float there.
And then while you're floating there, somebody needs to teach you and convince you of gravity and you go, okay, I believe in gravity. Down you go. Now, if you've broken God's law, you may be living a happy, normal, thriving life. You're living in that split second moment where you're hovering out there in space. But the Bible says that there will come a day when you will face the consequences of breaking God's moral law.
I don't want to bum you out. But when you go to the doctor's office, the most loving thing that he can say and do is to be honest with you. If you break one law, you are guilty. And the bible says in the book of James that if a person breaks just one law, he is guilty of having broken all of the law, and a price must be paid. A life must be surrendered and given as a sacrifice.
2006, Ramadi, Iraq. There's a group of soldiers that were moving through the town to clear out the town of rebel insurgents. They had some guardian angels from SEAL Team three that were providing Overwatch and cover for them. And a man named Michael Monsour climbs a staircase with a group of Iraqi soldiers and a few other teammates to provide overwatch as troops clear the streets down below. While they were taking and giving small arms fire, an insurgent pulled a pin on a grenade, stepped out from the building and lobbed it up onto the rooftop.
Now, Michael Monsoor was was kneeled down at the edge of this rooftop, providing covering fire when a grenade bounced off of his chest and fell on the floor right in front of him. He was positioned in such a way that he was right by the doorway. He could have dove through the doorway and been saved and then continue to keep fighting. But he said one word, grenade, and then he dropped down on top of that grenade. It exploded.
Those others gathered up on the small rooftop up there, Iraqi soldiers whom he had not met and did not know, and his teammates who he lived and trained and worked with, all heard a loud explosion. They took cover and when the dust settled, they stood up completely unscathed. Not so with Michael Monsoor. He was basically disemboweled and eviscerated by jumping on that grenade. For thirty minutes, medics worked on him, unable to save his life.
That day, he gave his life for his teammates and friends that he knew and loved, but also for a group of strangers. That was a hero who saved the lives of his teammates. But Jesus lays down his life for all of mankind. Can I read to you just a couple more passages? Isaiah chapter 53 verse four through six.
This is a prophetic promise written before Jesus that he looked to, he looked forward to Isaiah. We look backwards on this passage. Yet, it was our weakness that he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins.
But, he was pierced for our rebellion. He was crushed for our sins. He was beaten so that we could be whole. He was whipped so that we could be healed in your body, in your mind, in your soul. All of us.
I've looked up that word in the Hebrew for all. It means everybody. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's path to follow our own, yet the Lord laid on him the sins of all of us. Here's what's amazing.
When you ask for the blood of Jesus to be applied to the doorpost of your heart, he will do it. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse three. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter where you've been.
It doesn't matter how strong doubt and unbelief and resistance has persisted in your heart up until this moment. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Saved from eternal punishment, separation from God forever. You will be saved from that moment. What you have done, where you have been, what's been done to you does not disqualify you.
The blood is enough. And if the story isn't amazing enough, it would be one thing. Take the story of Michael Mansour that we just talked about. As he laid down his life for his teammates and for other Iraqi soldiers, It would be one thing if he laid down his life and those soldiers who who live today would say, thank you for your sacrifice. Because of that, I get to live.
And they go to visit him at Arlington National Cemetery. They see a tombstone there with his birth date, with the date that he gave his life. And then they try to live their lives in the best way that they know how in light of the sacrifice that he made for them. That'd be one thing, it's pretty amazing. We're still telling the story today.
It's a little different with Jesus. See, when a person when Jesus lays down his life, he was that perfect lamb, that sacrifice. He paid the price for our sin and rebellion and disbelief. And he took the full weight of the wrath of God onto himself by hanging on that cross and he died. He was taken down off the cross, He was laid into a tomb.
I've been to that tomb in Israel, in Jerusalem. And for three days, the disciples and the rest of the world were like, whoops. Now what? But here's something that's interesting. Because he was perfect, He was perfect.
Think in legal terms. Sin, death, and the grave, and hell could not rightfully claim him. And this is what we as Christians get so excited about because on the third day, Sunday morning, he didn't just stay dead but he rose from the grave alive and not in a Casper the ghost kind of way. The first person to meet him was a woman named Mary. She didn't even she couldn't even believe it.
He was standing right there in front of her and she couldn't believe it. And she asked what she thought was the gardener. Where have you laid the body of my Lord? And then Jesus goes, Mary. Oh, and she knew.
It clicked. You don't try to throw your arms around a ghost. Mary went to throw her arms around Jesus and Jesus said, hold on, not yet. I want that hug but but first, I gotta do something. Later, he appeared to his disciples.
He ate food. Disciples touched his hands where the nails were. They touched his side. He is alive. He was alive two thousand years ago and I know that he is alive today because of two reasons.
Three, because he's alive in my heart and what he's changed and what he's done in my life, he has been the lamb that has paid for my sin. Number two, I know so many of you in here have asked Jesus to apply the blood of his sacrifice to the doorway of your heart and you weren't perfect before you asked that blood to be applied. But he did it anyways because he loves you so much. And here's the third reason, because remember at the beginning of our conversation this morning, I said that there would be an opportunity for you to respond because maybe just maybe there's one person in here today that would like to make a public profession and stand to their feet and ask Jesus to apply his perfect blood to the doorframe of your heart to remove your sin and not just give you like a restart, hey, try not to mess up so bad next time, but to actually according to the bible make you a new creation. And I know that he's alive because maybe even just one person in here this morning.
Your heart has already started to pound out of your chest. That is the tenderness of the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart. And he's just asking. He's not gonna like apply the blood if you don't want it. But he's just saying, I'm here.
And I'm ready to apply my blood to your life to forgive your sins. Don't respond just yet but the question is, who needs to respond to that invitation? Either maybe you've asked the blood to be applied in in secret and but you've never made up a public profession of faith. Today on Easter Sunday, you get to do that. Maybe the blood was applied but you have not lived under that covenant relationship and with your actions, your words, your lifestyle, you have rejected that relationship but the holy spirit is knocking on the door of your heart that's saying, come on back.
And you need you know that you need to ask him to reapply. This is not like paint that weathers on the south side of your house. One application is good for lifetime but as a public profession, you need to rededicate your life to the Lord. Consider that. Now, we just let you simmer in the juices for a moment.
Come, Holy Spirit, talk to us. Okay. How I do it? How I do it? How I do it?
I give up. I surrender. How I do it? How do I apply the blood to the door frame of my heart? It's the hardest thing that you'll ever do and the easiest thing that you'll ever do.
In the best way that you know how, you just say in the stillness of your heart, Jesus, will you forgive me? Will you apply the blood of your sacrifice to my life? And then, I don't know, may maybe like the holy spirit would like have you like name some things. I'm not asking you to, like, stand up at the mic or anything, but in the stillness of your heart, you just tell him, here's what I'm guilty of. Would you please forgive me for?
And he says, I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got got you.
I got that covered. I got that covered. Oh, you thought you were thank you for sharing that with me as if I didn't know. He already knows. But I got that covered.
I got you. And then you tell him, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for laying down your life for me.
For being willing to apply your blood to the doorpost of my life. And then the last part is, in the best way that you know how, if he laid down his whole life for you, what's the only reasonable thing for you to do for him? Give him your life in the best way that I know how. Jesus, I'll commit my whole life to following you. Doesn't mean you gotta be perfect because the blood is enough.
Now, this could happen. We're almost done. Lunch brisket's coming. Now, this could happen in the in a super personal private way just between you and the lord. And and that moment is that the key moment that counts.
But there's also something very very powerful that happens. When you make a public profession of your faith, was the blood smeared on the inside of the door? No. It was smeared on the outside for all to see. And so, if you fit into one of those categories that I mentioned ago, maybe you've never asked Jesus to apply the blood to the doorpost of your life or you have but you have not been living under that beautiful covenant relationship and friendship but through our conversation today, you're like, I gotta get back under the blood.
Or maybe, last one, maybe maybe you've made that decision, that commitment, that received that invitation to invite Jesus into your heart and make him the leader of your life, but for some reason, you've never made a public profession of that to stand in the midst of a room full of believers who have done that already and are excited for you. So now is your chance. If you fit into one of those, would you just stand up and stay standing? That's amazing. Thank you, Lord.
Whatever you need to do. Who else? Stay standing. Stay standing. Come on, z.
I didn't see that.
Stay
standing. There's I just feel so strong in my heart that there's somebody that feels like they wanna shoot up out of their chair but it feels as though there's chains and weights around them. In the name of Jesus, I command that those chains fall off and all you have to do is exercise your will. Engage those glutes and hamstrings, probably some quads in there as well. And just stand.
Thank you, Lord. Yes. Just stay stay standing. For those of you who are standing, he's like so good. It's so good.
See a picture in my mind's eye of the door of somebody's heart that is painted not with the blood of Jesus but with self reliance. It says self reliance over the door of their heart. All my friends, everybody has walked by my house sees that painted over my door. What's it gonna be like if it's splashed red with blood? He's like, we'll worry about that later.
One coat is all you need. It's not like you gotta do primer and then another coat and another coat. One coat. Better than Sherwin Williams. Another person has written over the door frame of their heart, too much has happened.
And you've gone out and you've written those things that have happened. One coat of the blood of Jesus is all that is required. But he will not paint over the door frame of your house without your permission. Would there be anybody else? To use the painting metaphor that we've been riffing off of, The brush will be set down in a moment.
The lid of the can will be closed. Maybe you've already like, okay, in my heart, yes, I said that. The invitation now is to just make up public profession of it like Zoe did here today. Alright. Done.
Would everybody please stand up? And if you're near somebody that stood up, would you just put a hand on their shoulder? And I'm gonna lead those people that stood up in a prayer, and I'm inviting all of you by way of support to say that prayer out loud with us, and then we're gonna celebrate. So say, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus.
I've messed up. I've blown it. And I need your blood. I need your blood. I trust.
I trust. Your blood. Is enough. Is enough. Jesus, would you apply your blood to my life?
Forgive my sins and make me a new creation. Okay. Now, for those of you that that raise your hands, you take just a moment in the stillness of your heart, you tell him thank you. You tell him I love you. Whatever it is that you you just have a little personal conversation with him on your own right now.
Jesus. Okay. Now, let's all say this. King Jesus King Jesus. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll do it three times. Thank you. Thank you. Last one.
Thank you. Thank you. For saving me. For saving me. Thank you that you applied your blood To my To my that life.
To my life. In the best way I know how. I'm a chase after you. You. I'm gonna run after you.
I'll be in the skin track that you set. I'll follow every pitch you lead. And I look forward to seeing you face to face after my last breath or you split open the clouds and come running back to earth with the chariots of heaven and the angel armies. Just make up your last little bit. Thank you, Lord, for this life change and let's celebrate.
Let's celebrate. Let's celebrate.
Oh my goodness. We could just keep singing that for a very long time and one day we will. But right now as we close down the service, just a couple more things. We have worshiped the Lord today with our song, with the words from his holy scripture, we have worshiped him by just coming together and making time. And when we get together as a local church called Tribe, we wanna worship him in one more way, and that is bringing our tithe and our offering to him.
And here at Tribe, it's not just something that we check the box. You know, you go to Sunday, you drop some money in the bucket, and it's a you did a good deed. We just think of it much more deeply and much more intimate. We think of it as an act of worship, as an act of trust. Just like pastor Brian said with the lamb, family, it was an important piece of the family and yet they gave their best.
And so we just kind of mimic that when we bring our tithe and then above and beyond that our offering to him because money has the ability to grip our heart no matter how much you have. And so this is just an act of sacrifice saying, it's all yours anyway, Lord. And we love and we trust you so much that we'll give a portion of our very hard earned finances to you and say thank you. So here at Tribe, I'll pray and we'll we'll bring our offering to him, but we don't pass buckets. There's a few ways you can give here at Tribe.
When you walked in the very entrance, there's a little wooden box with our logo. You can put cash or check-in there. You can also give on our website anytime, tribejh.com, and then the easiest way, if you have a smartphone, is to just type a new number like you're texting a friend to 84321, and then you just follow the instructions, and you can give there anytime. So whether you're giving now or another time, let's pray together. Heavenly father, we just come to you with thankful hearts for what you have done for us.
We say thank you, thank you, thank you. And living our lives in obedience to you is the way that we say thank you, and that involves all kinds of things. But today, as an act of worship, we give a portion of our finances to you, and we say it's yours anyway, Lord. Lord, I just pray that every single penny that is brought into this local church called Drive will be stewarded well and go out to do your work. We get to be your hands and feet.
We get to love our neighbor. We get to help people all in your name. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Couple quick things and then I'll have Brian come up, get you guys not out of here. Please stay. We are going to have a lunch unless you have a reservation that you can't quit on. Please stay. We have all this food in the back and we are a tribe family.
We like to do stuff family style, and so we're gonna do that here today. So please stay for lunch, and Brian will give you some more instructions in just a moment. Also, we don't normally meet here at this conference center. So if you are looking to check out a local church, we're a local church called Tribe and our little cute home is right across from Whole Foods. It's a it's called the TMC, the Tribe Ministry Center and it's smaller than this.
It's like a family living room and And that's how we feel like the Lord has asked us to do church. In excellence and do it well, but in a living room style and it's very conversational. If today, he wanted to say something to Brian, guess what? You can at our normal service. You just raise your hand and it's just a beautiful exchange and a dialogue that gets us deeper into God's word and helps them understand.
So that's the TMC. It's at 1200 South 89. We're in we're next to the house with the Lamborghini if anyone has seen that. Just part part right next to the Lambo and you'll be at our church. But Yes.
Oliver will be outside taking a photo of it. We meet at nine and eleven every single Sunday. So join us there. We also have young adults on Tuesday evenings at six. Young adults come to the same space, share a meal, have a message, do some worship.
So, we got a lot going on here at Drive. Pastor Brian, would you come and pray his office? Yeah.
Amazing. Let me give you quick instructions about lunch and then would that be alright if I prayed for you this morning? So when we're done here, you can take your chair that you had your little biscuits in and you can move it around to a table and that will be your little tribe's spot and then you can work your way through the line. Since it is Easter Sunday, you can get a donut if there are any left and brisket. It's Sunday.
It's okay. And then we've got we've got drinks over there for you. So please stay, make some new friends, enjoy fellowship and company with friends that you came with here today. Thank you so much for being a part of our Easter Sunday. A couple of quick thank yous.
Thank you to all of our volunteers that help pull this off. Those that help set set up and those that will stay late and help us tear down when all of this is done. Thank you to our staff. You guys are amazing. Thank you for all that you do to make this and every Sunday and throughout the week an amazing time to be in community here in Jackson Hole.
Thank you to people that that came today. Thank you to Robert for running production today. Lord Jesus, I pray for each and every person here. I lift them up to you and I command a blessing over their life. Lord, that they would encounter you, that they would bask in the beauty of the bright red blood that has been splashed over the door frame of their heart, that they would live their lives empowered and full of humility and joy, and that you would use their lives to make your name famous.
And Lord Jesus, I pray over this meal that we're gonna celebrate together. All for your glory to make your name famous. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you guys so much and I'll see you at lunch.
