Today, we celebrate the best news in the history of the world. The stone was rolled away.

The tomb is empty. Christ, our Savior, is risen from the dead. And we believe that, and we sing

about it. And you're here today because of it.

But some of you, if you were really, really honest, you are clapping on the outside.

But some of you, you're more confused on the inside.

Because in some area of your life, you believe that God can, but God hasn't.

It could be for some of you that there's a relationship that you're praying for God to restore,

and that relationship is still broken.

For others of you, you've been praying for something for a very, very, very long time,

and it seems like that prayer hasn't been answered. The miracle hasn't come yet. And so you may be

worshiping today in faith, and you're not doubting God's power, but some of you may be

wondering about his plan. And that's probably about where the disciples were when they

believed that Jesus might be the Messiah, the one who would change everything. And then they saw

him crucified and die on a cross. and everything that they believed died with him.

Then day one, like for some of you, there was silence. Day two, more silence. The one that they had

trusted and believed might save them was now dead and it felt

like all of their hopes were buried with them. And so today, if you're clapping on the outside,

but maybe hurting on the inside, we're going to wrestle with a very real question. How do you

trust God when you know he can and he doesn't?

Father, we thank you for the empty tomb. We thank you for the promise of your soon returning.

We thank you for the victory that we can have in the risen Christ, freedom, forgiveness,

and the abundant life.

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