There's More To Your Story | Easter Sunday | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for joining us for this week's message from Zoe Church. We are celebrating Easter Sunday and the fact that our God is not dead. We're going to jump into our Easter message in just a moment, but I'd like to thank everybody that gives to and through Zoe. If you'd like to worship in the area of your tithes and offerings, you can go to our website and give there. But let's jump in as we celebrate that the stones been rolled away. Our God's not dead. Matthew, go to Matthew 28. Look at this. Verse number five. The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has, what's that word up there? He has risen just as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you in the Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the woman hurried away from the tomb and after yet filled with joy, she ran to tell the other disciples and suddenly Jesus met them there. I want to tell somebody today, you might not expect Jesus to show up, but I want to tell you for somebody today, God will suddenly meet you at the right place at the right time. We serve the God of the suddenly.

1:33 Amen. Suddenly Jesus appeared. He said, greetings. In Spanish, bienvenidos. Sorry. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. And then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, or for us, that's Rancho Cucamonga, and there they will see me. I want to preach a message today. Write down the title. It's called There's More to the Story. And I just love this because I know we're celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, the fact that the stone was rolled away. But I want to tell somebody today, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's more to the story. And I want to encourage you, there's more to your story. God's not done with you yet. There's always more with God.

2:31 Come on, everybody clap and thank God if you believe that God's got something for your life today. There's more to the story. In fact, some of us don't like the last chapter of our life. We don't like what's been written in the last season of our life. Don't you worry. God's not done writing your story yet. And this was just, God was just getting started when his son rose from the dead and the stone was rolled away. There's more to the story. There's more to the story. I want to give you four things to encourage you on Easter Sunday this year. Write down number one. He didn't come to make bad people good. He came to bring the dead back to life. See, the story is not just that he came and wanted to make some bad people and turn them into good people. No, our God came because he wanted to bring dead people and bring them back to life.

3:27 So the mission of Jesus was not so that he could take some people that were morally corrupt or not morally sound and turn them from bad folks into good folks. I want to just encourage you. Good people don't get into heaven. You don't get into heaven because you're good. you get into heaven because you believe in the man that was better that rose from the dead. His name is Jesus. And his mission was not to take, you know, we got some bad folks in LA. I just got to be honest. We got some people in LA that need Jesus. Somebody say amen. We got some people that drive down to Inglewood to go to this new arena that think that one day these people are going to win. How corrupt do you need to be people? but Jesus didn't come to save Clipper fans although we believe in deliverance in Jesus name somebody say hallelujah he didn't come to make bad people into good people he came to bring death to life look at this in Ephesians watch on the screen I love this scripture Ephesians 2 and you he made alive who were once dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we also once conducted ourselves we used to in the lust of flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we were by nature children of wrath just like everybody else. Oh, I love verse four, but God. Hold on, I got to get my preacher out right there. But God. Let me do it one more time. Is that all right? It's just so fun to say, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us.

5:23 Come on, clap right there if you believe that. Come on, I was dead. I was dead in my sins. I was a son of disobedience. I couldn't help but fulfill the lust of the flesh. I was in the air of the way, living in the spirit of this world. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent his one and only son to die for the sins of the world. So I went from death to life in the power of Jesus. So I want to encourage you today. Jesus didn't come to take a bunch of bad people and turn them into good people so LA could have really good citizens and really good people. That's not the point of the message of the resurrection power. It's beyond turning bad people into good people. It's taking dead people and making them alive.

6:09 Now I don't know about you, but I feel the spirit of alive in this room today. I feel it. I feel the spirit of alive, alive to worship, alive to love, alive to be glad, alive to be joyful. Come on, everybody clap. If you're alive today, I'm alive Why are you so alive today because you came to the 10 30 not that 9 a.m. Okay, I get that But we are alive because the spirit of jesus lives on the inside So i'm alive to love i'm alive to serve i'm alive to help i'm alive to give Because I have been brought from death To life He didn't come to give me a little bit of bad into good. No, no, I was transferred from death into life. That's all the power of Jesus at work in my life. Write down number two. He did not come to improve your story. He came to bring you into his story. He was not coming to edit and tweak your story to make some adjustments. I'm going to make your story just a little bit better.

7:20 You know, like, I don't know if you remember where you were growing up, you had to turn in a paper, and you've written an essay, or you've written a paper, and you turn it into a teacher, or you turn it into an editor. And the editor marks it up and says, you can't, this sentence doesn't go well, and this is bad punctuation, and no, this is not, no, this paragraph needs to be edited. God's not trying to edit your story. Beyond that, he invited you into his story. You've been invited into the kingdom of God. the greatest invitation the world has ever known is that he didn't just bring an edit. Come on, I got an invitation. Oh, I love these scriptures. We're going to read two verses right here. Colossians 1. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son. You ever transfer from your savings to your checkings?

8:14 Don't judge me. it's called moving money around so I feel better about it you were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his son who purchased our freedom on the cross and forgave us of our sins. Oh, I love this next one. Second Timothy one night, he has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and his own grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. It was not to help you live a better life. It was to invite you into his life. I'm just telling you, come on, clap and thank God. You've got an invitation from heaven into the kingdom of God, into his marvelous light, into the plans and the purpose of God.

9:13 You've been transferred from one kingdom into a new kingdom, and that is all because of the love and the power of Jesus Christ. And I just want to encourage you today. God's inviting you. Have you ever showed up to a party thinking that you were like, you know, you made it or like, man, this is a great invite. Like, man, this is, I feel special. And you showed up and some people were also at the party. You didn't think we're getting the invite. Don't lie in church. Has ever happened to you? Like you rocked up thinking like, yeah. You see somebody else? You're like, wait, hold on. You got invited. Changes my whole demeanor. See, there's some people that have been invited into heaven that you're going to walk around like, you got in? I didn't think none of my cousins was getting in. See, the invitation of heaven is not for the elite. It's not for a certain tribe or tongue or language.

10:11 It is not for a socioeconomic standard. Jesus said, go to the highways and the byways and invite anybody. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and his only son. Come on, that whomsoever. Come on, clap today. Whomsoever shall believe in him. will not perish but have everlasting life. See, the gospel is so big, it does not care about what you've done or where you've come from or your last name. The gospel is for anybody walking, anybody breathing, anybody that's a sinner in need of grace. Give him a praise today. This is an invite. He wasn't trying to edit and maneuver your story. No, he was inviting you into his story. He invited blind Bartimaeus. He invited the man lowered through the roof. Don't do that to our ability. This is new. He invited people that were tax collectors. He invited notorious sinners because that is the power of the gospel. It is not for a few. It is for anybody that would call on the name of Jesus. And see, some of us think that God's just trying to tweak our story and trying to edit a little bit and trying to just, you know, just let's change this paragraph.

11:26 Let's change this thought. This is a good, this is a, oh, this is a good one. No, he's not trying to edit your story. He is trying to invite you into his story, into the kingdom of God. You've been invited by heaven from darkness into light. You've been invited from heaven, from the air of this world into the spirit of his world. You've been invited to stop living for you and to start living for God. The invitation came, the paperless post is in your Gmail, and God wants to know, will you reply, yes, attending, no, I don't want any part, or yes, I'm thinking about it.

12:07 There's this one dude that got to invite this one guy in the Bible. He's like a trust fund kid, and he's a mad wealthy kid. And he comes to Jesus. He's like, yo, what do I got to do to get in? Like, yo, what do I got to do? And Jesus is like, oh, I love this guy. And he's like, well, you know the commandments. He's like, man, I've been kept up, man. Yeah, I know them. Yeah, 100%, yeah. Yeah, I know the commandments. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, I went to Sunday school. And he's like, all right. He's like, okay. Well, here's the deal. Go sell everything you have and then come follow me. And it says at this, the young man walked away with sadness. He rejected the invite to come follow Jesus. And I wonder what you'll do with the invite today. I wonder if you'll say, you know, yeah, that's cool for Easter. That's cool, but I don't want to live for God. I'm praying today for you that when that inbox hits with that paperless post that you'll say, I'm following God with all my heart, soul, mind, and my strength.

13:23 I don't want to live in the kingdom of darkness. I want to walk in the kingdom of God. He's not trying to edit your story. He's trying to invite you into his story. Write down number three. I love this one. He didn't come to be added to your life. He came to take over your life. See, this is where a lot of us get it wrong. We think we're just going to add a little Jesus. I'm just going to add a little church. I'm just going to add a little faith. Add a little Bible. God does not want to be added to your life. He wants to take over your life. Don't get it twisted because in LA, we're just down to add everything. I'm going to add a little cold plunge. I'm going to add a little, I'm going to add infrared. I'm adding collagen. I'm adding, I'm going to add smoothies with cockroaches. I'm adding it. I'm just, just adding it. Just like, don't judge. I'm adding. No, no. Don't add God to your life. He wants to take over your life. I'll never forget when I was, yeah, come on.

14:18 We can pause. We can pause for a good clap of praise. So a lot of us get ourselves in trouble. We get frustrated because it's like, I know God. I know what's right. I know what I should be, but he's just at. God's not interested in being fifth in your life. God's not interested in being tenth in your life. God says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be taken care of. so God wants to be first in our life he's not trying to be added this is a hostile takeover this is God becoming Lord over your life look here I love this scripture Jesus said to his disciples whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves take up their cross and follow me whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life they'll find their life I'll never forget when I, when I first moved to LA, the first time I moved here in the nineties, in the late nineties, Shaq and Kobe era. Come on somebody. And you know, three peats. And, and I was a youth pastor in the San Gabriel Valley. I was a youth pastor in the El Monte for a number of years. And in those days I used to go speak at a lot of the public schools.

15:39 They'd let us have Bible club at these public schools. And I get to go into a public school and preach about Jesus in the middle of the day. And so there's a high school I used to go to a lot called Rosemead, Rosemead High School. And I used to go preach there. And I was smart enough to know that I could get no kid to show up at Bible club unless I had free pizza. So I would stop by Little Caesars and preach the gospel. And so I'll never get this, this Rosemead High School started to explode. We went from a little classroom into, you know, like this huge choir room. And there were, the tennis coach was the guy that like sponsored us and would allow me to host. and he's an old guy, getting ready to retire kind of guy, Mr. Marciello, and he's a fiery fella. This is a fiery fella. This is the kind of guy, like, you just would never mess with Mr. Marciello. Just like, if he says something, you're like, salute, you know, just like that kind of guy. And so I'll never forget, when we were in the choir room this one day, we probably had like 125, like, massive amounts of teenagers in this choir room. And I got up, and your boy preached the gospel. I mean, I tried my best, you know. I'm just like, you know, Clipper fans and Cowboy fans and rancher cook among us. I'm just, I'm trying my best. I'm just trying my best. And that day, I promise you about half the room raised their hand at the end of the service, at the end of the Bible club and gave their life to Jesus. I'm telling you, up to that point in my life, it was the highlight of my life. And so I walked, I didn't, there was no stage, you know, I just walked to the left. I walked to the left and I was like, nailed it. You know, it's just like best thing I've ever seen, you know, just kind of like, I was just like, that's it, you know? And I walked to the left of the host, Mr. Masiello, I'll never forget. He came front and center, you know, to close the Bible club. And he's like, that's good, Chad. That's good. And I know that you got saved today, but I'm not interested in him being your savior. I want to know if he's your, and he had a finger that was like up to here. I want to know if he's your Lord.

17:46 And I think he undid every kid that got saved. Like, I think every kid in the room is like, nah, we good, man. Like, thanks for the pizza, bro. I'm out. I just never forget. That's good, Chad. That's good. But I want to know. I'm just standing to the side like, oh man, thanks, man. Praise God. Praise God. Do you reimburse gas? Okay, thanks a lot.

18:13 He was right, man. He was right, though. He was right. He was right. A lot of people want Jesus to be their Savior. Not a lot of people want him to be their Lord. And Jesus said, you will never find your life until you lose it. You'd never be fulfilled until you die.

18:34 To live is to die. He's not trying to be added to your life. Everything changed. I just started to add church into my, you know, it's like part of my rhythm. It's really been helping my anger issues. He doesn't want to be added. He wants to take over. Amen. That's a takeover. And the question is, if you're going to leave today like the rich young ruler, like, ah, man, that's too much, man. That's way too much. That's way, man, where you're at, that's tall tale. That's too much, sir. Or will you gladly go, you know what? I've tried everything the world has to offer, and it left me empty, and it left me wanting more, and it left me dry, but I tasted a water that changed my life and I feel something springing out of me.

19:33 Jesus said, you'll never thirst again. doesn't want to edit your life. Doesn't want to be added to your life. He's trying to invite you into his story. He's trying to take over who you are. By the way, let's just be honest. You're really bad at being the leader of your life. Have you noticed that yet? We have. I got friends I'm like yo if you just let me take control I will I will help you don't look at them. Somebody's like, no, God wants to be the shepherd and the leader of your life. Amen. Here's the last one. Number four. I love this thought so much. Put it on the screen. He didn't come for an event.

20:31 He came to give you his power. Jesus was not interested in this one massive stone rolling event that we would all once a year rally around and dress up and have brunch around. He was not interested in the event. And that's the problem for us. A lot of us, we love events. Oh, man, do we love events. We love events so much in America. We love the Super Bowl. We love the Masters. We love March Madness. We love Coachella. We love Zochella. We love all of it. We love events. And we think that today is about an event. It's not about an event. Today is not about the event of Easter. Today we're paying tribute. We're giving honor. But it's not about this day. It's about every day. don't get it twisted in your head that it's all about easter no it's all about jesus it's about jesus today it's about jesus tomorrow it's about jesus on tuesday come on clap and give him praise i'm living for god this ain't a sunday thing this ain't a once a year thing this is a every day i'm trying to follow and give you glory and give you honor kind of thing. It's not an event, not for an event, not for an event. You got to understand that. Jesus did not come. Jesus wasn't scheming in heaven going like, oh, this is what I'm going to do. And I'm going to get it so big and they're going to love me so much. Target sales are going to be off the charts. Oh man, I'm going to, they're once a year, I'm going to have them. It's not about an event. It's about him giving you the power of his spirit. Jesus would tell the disciples all the time, somebody better than me is on the way. Somebody better than me is coming. And the disciples are like, yeah, right. Yeah, right. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, right. He's like, no, somebody better than me is on the way. The helper, the comforter, the convictor, the reminder, the revealer is on the

22:39 way. And the Bible says the same spirit. Come on. He was dead in that ground for three days. How dead was he? Dead, dead. Three days dead. You got to stink now dead. He was dead, dead. He was dead. He was dead because he was defeating death for you and he was defeating sin for you. And he was proving that he was not a prophet. He was proving that he was the Messiah. and the Bible says he rose, he rose from the dead. He rose from the dead. You know how much power you got to have jolting through your body to rise from the dead. And the Bible says that same spirit that raised him lives in you. Not an alternative spirit, not an inferior spirit, not a different spirit, same spirit, that same spirit that started to rustle him and same spirit that started to wake him and same spirit that started to get him up. Same spirit that rolled the tomb. Same spirit. That's the same spirit that lives in you today. And I wonder if some of us, the problem with your life is you're living a powerless life.

23:50 A lamp cannot shine unless it's connected to the source. Some of us are like, why can't I forgive them? Why can't I get over this? Why can't I break this generational curse? How come I can't? How come you can't do it in your own power? That's why Jesus said, I'm going to give you the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will allow you to love and forgive and reconcile and heal and build the power of the Holy Spirit. You're just not connected to the source. You're not connected to the source. Last week, Thank you. something happened to me that has not happened in a long time.

24:38 My phone died. never happened you ever have your phone died It is a helpless situation. What am I going to do? talk to other people. I was kind of walking around like, what's going on up there?

25:11 Has anybody tried to reach out? There is no better feeling than when you plug in your phone and the apple appears, and it's just shiny, and you're like, hope is on the way. And then finally, depending upon the strength of your cord, finally, the time appears. You swipe. I'm preaching to somebody right now.

25:49 Open up your phone and you're waiting for your messages to load. I wonder how many of us are stuck because you're not connected. he did not come for an event he came to give you power supernatural power in your own strength you could never do it in your own plans, you can never fulfill it. But you get Jesus working on the inside and the power of the Holy Ghost, all of a sudden, let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich. Because of what? Oh, y'all don't understand what I'm saying to you. I'm talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. Look at this.

26:40 Romans 8, Romans 8, but if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than thinking of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the spirit of Christ won't know what we're talking about, but for you, come on, say you, but for you who welcome him in whom he dwells, even though you still experience all the limitations of sin, you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it? That if the alive and present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself. When God lives and breathes in you, and he does as surely as he did in Jesus, you are delivered from that dead life with his spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ. Come on, let's clap and thank God for that today.

27:48 Woo! Woo! There it is. So Jesus, Jesus is not like, you know, I'm gonna defeat death and sin and once a year they are going to go nuts. A tradition like no other. No, no, no. He wanted to give you daily power so that tomorrow you can get up and you're like, I don't think I can make it anymore. And I don't think I can do this. And I don't think I can stay in this. And I don't think I can still go to that. No, God's going to give you supernatural strength to accomplish the plan and the will of God for your life. It was not an event. It was to give you power. It was not to edit your life. It was to invite you into his life. It was not so he can be added into your story. He wants to take over your story. He's got a plan for your life. I don't know if you knew that, but God's got a plan for you. God's got a destiny for you. God's got good things in store for you. The best is yet to come.

28:46 Come on, clap one more time. Praise Him. Stand to your feet with me. Stand to your feet. We're going to pray.