Easter at CityBridge
Sermon Notes
Most of us know Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. But this Easter Sunday, Brad Kirby asked a question many of us haven't sat with long enough: what does that resurrection mean for you, personally? Opening Ephesians 1, Brad works through six specific gifts that belong to everyone who trusts Christ: gifts chosen before the world was created and guaranteed by the Spirit of God himself. This message isn't a recap of a miracle that happened two thousand years ago. It's an invitation to open the treasure chest and see what's already yours.
Key Takeaways
You were chosen before the world existed. Before there were planets, stars, or time itself, God chose you in Christ, and the reason had nothing to do with you, because you didn't exist yet.
God didn't just set you free. He made you family. Adoption into God's household means he looks at you the way a grandmother looks at a grandchild she raised: "I always forget. To me, you're 100 percent mine."
Your forgiveness is complete, not conditional. The word "forgiven" in Ephesians 1 literally means to carry away, and Psalm 103 tells us how far: as far as the east is from the west.
You have an inheritance nothing in this world can touch. The riches that belong to followers of Christ are spiritual and eternal, stored somewhere no market crash, diagnosis, or loss can reach.
The Holy Spirit in you is God's personal guarantee. His presence is a down payment, a seal, a promise that everything God says is yours is already secured by the one who has never broken a promise.
Discussion Questions
Before today's message, how would you have described what Easter is about in your own words?
Brad described what we have in Christ as a treasure chest — which of the six gifts (chosen, adopted, accepted, forgiven, heirs, sealed) landed most personally for you, and why?
What does it do to you to hear that God chose you before the world was created, and that the reason had nothing to do with you?
In what area of your life are you still living as if your sins haven't been fully forgiven and carried away?
Brad said the Holy Spirit is God's guarantee, like an engagement ring — a promise that he is serious and not going anywhere. What would change in your daily life if you genuinely rested in that security?
If everything Ephesians 1 says is true about you right now, what is the one thing you need to stop believing about yourself that contradicts it?
This Week's Challenge
Choose one of the six gifts from Ephesians 1 — chosen, adopted, accepted, forgiven, heir, or sealed — and write it somewhere you'll see it every day this week as a reminder of who you actually are.
Transcript
What Is Easter, Really?
Americans will spend roughly 21 billion dollars on Easter this year. Most of it on candy, eggs, bunnies, and food. According to Barna, only 42 percent of Americans can identify Easter as the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead. That means roughly 81 percent of people have no clear picture of the most significant event in human history.
But here's what might surprise you: Christians can miss it too. Not the facts, but the depth. We know the story so well that we stop being moved by it. The goal today is to open the lid on what Easter actually contains and find that it is far more than any of us have let ourselves believe.
The Treasure Chest
There was once a wealthy man whose greatest treasure wasn't a Picasso or a Rembrandt. It was his son. When his son died in battle, sacrificing himself to save a fellow soldier, a painting arrived at the father's door. Not a masterpiece by the world's standards. Just a portrait of his son carrying that wounded man through the chaos of battle.
He hung it above his fireplace and never took it down. When the father passed and his estate went to auction, the auctioneer opened with that portrait. No one bid. Finally, the gardener paid ten dollars. Then the auctioneer closed the auction entirely. The will said it plainly: whoever gets the Son gets everything. That is what we have done with Easter. The world wants the blessings without the Son. But you cannot get the treasure without him.
Because He Is Alive, We Have Been Made Alive
Ephesians 2 tells us that before Christ, we were dead. Not struggling, not searching. Dead in our trespasses and sins, following the course of this world, by nature children of wrath. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ.
That is Easter. Not just that Jesus returned to life but that because he did, we did too. The resurrection is not a miracle we observe from the outside. It is something that happened to us. And Ephesians 1 tells us exactly what we have been made alive to.
Alive and Chosen
Ephesians 1:4 says God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before there were planets, stars, or pews. Before there was time as we know it. He chose you. And the reason had absolutely nothing to do with you, because you didn't exist yet.
He chose us in him, not in ourselves. These riches aren't something you manipulated or earned. They are in Jesus and because of him. And the purpose of that choosing? That we would be holy and blameless before him. He didn't just select you. He already had a plan to make you righteous before the universe was built.
Alive to New Family
Ephesians 1:5 says he predestined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ. He didn't just set you free from sin. He saved you into his own family. In the Old Testament, the word "father" appears only 14 times across 39 books, and almost always in cold, impersonal uses for an entire nation. Then Jesus comes, and everything changes.
He calls God "Father" nearly every time he opens his mouth. Not a formal title. The word is closer to "Abba." Closer to "Daddy." That is who God is to you now. The sovereign Creator of all things is your Father. And like a grandmother who forgot her grandchild was adopted and said, "I always forget that. To me, you are 100 percent mine," that is how God looks at you.
Alive to Grace
Ephesians 1:6 says we have been blessed in the Beloved to the praise of his glorious grace. We are accepted. Not mostly accepted. Not accepted on good days. Accepted because of what Christ accomplished, not because of what we could pull out of our own pockets.
Most people, when asked why God should let them in, start listing reasons. Good deeds. Decent track record. More good than bad. But Scripture is clear: any righteousness I try to present on my own is, as Paul says, like filthy rags. The only answer that holds is Christ. He gives us his righteousness, his right standing before God, because we have none of our own.
Alive to Forgiveness
Ephesians 1:7 says that in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. The word "forgiven" here literally means to carry away. He didn't just forgive your sin. He removed it. Psalm 103 tells us how far: as far as the east is from the west.
That is not a short distance. East and west never meet. He has carried your sin somewhere you will never catch up to it. Because Jesus is alive, your past is not. The resurrection is the receipt that the cross worked. You are not mostly forgiven. You are not conditionally forgiven. You are completely, fully, eternally forgiven. Stop introducing yourself by your worst moment. God doesn't.
Alive to His Purpose
Ephesians 1:8–10 says God has made known to us the mystery of his will, his plan to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. When Paul uses the word "mystery," he doesn't mean something eerie and unresolved. He means a sacred secret that has now been unfolded.
You were on the outside. He brought you to the inside. All of history, from Adam and Eve forward, was moving toward the moment of Jesus. None of it caught God by surprise. He already had the plan. And now he has let you in on it.
Alive to a Kingdom Inheritance
Ephesians 1:11–12 says we have obtained an inheritance in him, predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things. Romans 8:16 puts it plainly: we are children of God and, if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
God owns everything. And he is your Father. That doesn't mean life will be easy. Paul is clear: those who desire to live godly lives will face real difficulty on this planet. But the inheritance that is truly yours is spiritual, eternal, and imperishable. No market crash, no diagnosis, no loss can reach it.
Alive to Guaranteed Security
Ephesians 1:13–14 says that when you heard the word of truth and believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. The word "guarantee" means a down payment that secures the final purchase. Like an engagement ring. It is a promise that says: I am serious. I am not going anywhere.
God has given us his Spirit as that guarantee. Everything he says you are. Everything he says he has done for you. Everything he says you possess. All of it is guaranteed by the one who has never broken a promise in the history of existence. You can bank on it.
