His Love Poured Out - Easter Sunday 2026

Welcome/Egg Hunt Instructions - Dan Wagner

Announcements - Jill Schnibben (Introduce Teachers & Kids)

Day School Kids sing

He’s Alive - Praise Team Call to Worship

Welcome Home

Guests QR code in program, Online Followers: Facebook @crosscreekfl and YouTube @crosscreekflorida

Introduction - The irritating Grace of Spring

We had hoped to be gathered in the park today - beautiful green grass beneath our feet and sweet spring sunlight filtering through the trees. But as we know, our plans are not always God’s plans. Instead, we are dealing with a seasonal phenomenon that is just as much a part of His Creation: The Tussock Moth Caterpillar.

They’ve emerged in epic proportions this year, clinging to the Oak trees, the buildings, the sidewalks, and seeking the highest shelter to build their cocoons. To us, they are a nuisance - their irritating hairs cause painful stings, and many of us have jokingly labeled them “the 11th plague.” But there is a profound irony here. These creatures, like many things in God’s Creation, are a living illustration of His promises. And in all their stinging and swarming, these caterpillars remind us that transformation often feels like a problem before it feels like a promise.

Inside the cocoon, a caterpillar doesn’t simply grow wings; it literally dissolves. To become something new, its old form must be completely broken down into a liquid-like state—a silent, hidden, and total "death" to its previous life. In the same way, the restoration of our world required a transformation just as radical. It demanded a price only our Savior’s blood could pay, turning the "death" of the Cross into the beginning of a New Creation.

The Resurrection is the definitive proof that God’s love cannot be contained. It cannot be stopped, it cannot be avoided, and it certainly cannot be buried. Jesus entered the “cocoon” of the grave, taking our “stinging,” sinful nature upon Himself. His blood is the life-giving force of the New Covenant. It doesn’t just cover our sins; it is poured into our hearts to transform us into something entirely different - no longer “caterpillars” bound for earth, but “butterflies” destined for heaven.

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come before You today as willing vessels of your love. We may feel fragile, weary, and even stinging from sins and plagues of this life but we thank you that you do not discard us in our messy state. Instead, You fill our jars of clay with the life-giving treasure of your presence.

As we walk through Your Word this morning, let Your Spirit pour into us. Open our eyes to see the empty tomb for what it is: the definitive proof that Your love cannot be buried. Soften the soil of our hearts so that the seeds of Your New Creation can take root.

May we never be the same again. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Part 1 - The Genesis of Love (Love Poured Out Through Creation)

Creation was the first act of God’s love poured out. Every corner of that original Garden was designed as a paradise of delight—a living witness to His bounty and goodness.

In Genesis 1:26 God says: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” This is the ultimate expression of His affection. God didn’t create us out of necessity, but out of an overflow of His own heart. He distinguished us from the rest of the world y designing us for relationship - with Him and with each other. He “poured” His very breath into the dust to bring us to life.

The first thing we should reflect on this Easter morning is that your life is not an accident of biology; it is a deliberate extension of God’s divine love. When God finished His work, He saw everything He had made and declared it was “very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

In John 20 we find an profound theological echo of that first Garden. Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb while it is still dark and finds the stone rolled away (John 20:1). As she stands weeping at the mouth of the empty grave, Jesus asks her: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” (John 20:15) Scripture tells us she “supposed Him to be the gardener.”

This minor detail is actually the heartbeat of the Easter narrative. When Mary looked at the empty tomb and saw a man she thought was the gardener, she didn’t just mistake His identity; she revealed His mission. By placing the tomb in a garden, the Gospel of John is tying the burial of Jesus back to creation - He wasn’t just buried as a corpse in a cemetery, He was planted like a seed in a garden.

Mary saw more than she realized, making a profound statement: The Resurrection of Jesus is the “New Creation.” Where the first Adam lost the garden to a grave; this Second Adam turned a grave back into a Garden. The Gardener has returned, bringing new life and new hope into the hearts of His created people, and now we are the living witnesses to His bounty and goodness.

Living Hope - Congregational Worship

Part 2 - The Cost of Love (Love Poured Out Through Jesus)

In the first Garden, the first Adam - formed from the dust of the earth and the very breath of God - missed the mark. He and his wife, Eve, veered away from their relationship with Him, choosing to disobey the One they loved. In that moment, sin entered the world, and the perfection of Eden - a world without sickness, death, or even stinging caterpillars - was no longer their reality.

A friend once asked me, “Why did God put that tree in the garden in the first place? Why make it so easy to sin?” The answer is found in the very nature of love. Love is a choice, and love has a price. True love requires vulnerability and the risk of pain; If God had kept us in a padded room with no options not to love Him, could we really call it love?

In John 15:13 Jesus told His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” God demonstrated this uncontainable love by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to lay down His life for a broken world. As the “Second Adam” Jesus was fully human, and fully God. He would not miss the mark; He passed every test on His way to the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, pouring out His love with His very life. As Romans 5:8 reminds us: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

To understand this sacrifice, we must look at the history of blood atonement in Scripture. After the fall, God made tunics of skin to clothe Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), providing a covering that allowed them to exist outside of the perfect Eden environment. He established blood as the provision for covering the cost of sin, stating, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood... it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’” (Leviticus 17:11)

The Passover Lamb is one of the most powerful shadows of this truth. Since the Exodus, the Jewish people have observed the Passover to remember how the angel of death “passed over” homes marked with the blood of a spotless lamb. This wasn’t about moral superiority; it was about obedience and covering. Exodus 12:13 says: “The blood shall be a sign for you… ...and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

At the Last Supper, the disciples would have recognized that Jesus was not just sharing a meal - He was fulfilling this ancient covenant as the ultimate Passover Lamb. for centuries, the blood of lambs had provided a temporary covering, but Jesus was about to provide a permanent cure.

This is where the transformation happens. The shadow of the Passover Lamb meets the reality of the Bread of Life. On the night He was betrayed, He took the bread, He broke it, and He transformed the ‘bread of affliction’ into the Bread of Life. he took the wine and transformed the ‘cup of judgement’ into the Cup of Redemption.

Distribution of Elements (Instrumental Worship begins)

As we reflect on the cost of this love, I’m going to ask the ushers to distribute the elements now. (pause)

Please take a cup and pass the basket to the person next to you. Once you have your elements, please hold them so we can partake together as one body. (wait)

(wait until the congregation is served and quiet)

Just as the Jews cleared every crumb of leaven from their homes to prepare for the Passover, we come together now to clear our hearts. We don’t come to this table because we are perfect; we come because the Gardener has invited us to be replanted in His grace.

Before we partake, we want to ensure that every heart here is ready to receive. If you are here this morning and you realize you’ve been hiding like Adam, or you feel the “sting” of a life lived apart from the Gardener, I invite you to pray this prayer with me now in the quiet of your heart.

Prayer of Salvation - New Believer Slide

Father God, I admit that I have lived with sin in my heart. I have tried to make my own plans and walk my own paths, and I have found myself broken and empty. But today, I believe the report of the empty tomb. I believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who poured out His life for me. I believe that his arms were outstretched on the Cross to redeem me, and that He rose again to give me a New Creation life.

Lord Jesus, I confess You as my Lord and Savior. Wash me clean with the blood and water that flowed from Your side. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I accept Your gift of life, and I look forward to the day I drink that Fourth Cup of praise with You in the Father’s Kingdom.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today for the first time, you have just passed from death to life. You are now a part of the family of God, invited to this table not as a stranger, but as a redeemed child. Look at the bread and the cup not just as symbols, but as the “fueling liquid” of your own transformation - the proof that your old life has dissolved and your New Creation life has begun.

Now, let us partake together as one body.

Communion Slide

Please take out the bread. When we eat this, we aren’t just remembering a historical event; we are reclaiming God’s original intention for our lives: to be living witnesses of His bounty and goodness.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took this bread - flat, striped, and pierced - and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Let us eat together. (wait)

In the same manner, Jesus took the Third Cup of the Passover - the Cup of Redemption. Please open the Cup.

This was the Cup associated in the Passover meal with God’s promise in Exodus: "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.” Think of that image: Jesus holding this cup, knowing that within hours, His own arms would be outstretched on a Roman cross to pay the price for our freedom.

He said: “This cup is the new Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Let us drink together. (wait)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes!

Precious Love - Chris Tomlin

Part 3 - Vessels of Love (Love Poured Out Through Us)

The barrier between God and man was forever removed at the Cross. When Jesus breathed His last, the heavy Temple curtain - the wall that kept us from the Holy of Holies - was torn from top to bottom by the hand of God. The debt is paid. The “sting” of sin is gong. No ritual, no rite, and no religion could do what Jesus did by pouring out His life. Every shadow and every promise reached its appointed fulfillment when He cried out, “It is finished.”

But love is a two way street; and it remains a choice. Why did God put that tee in the garden? Because He desires what we desire: to love and to be loved in return. His sacrifice on the Cross wasn’t just a legal transaction, it was an invitation into a genuine, intimate relationship.

Romans 5:5 tells us that God pours His love directly into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Imagine a life where you don’t just know about God, but you walk with Him and talk with Him in the garden of this life, experiencing the constant affection of your Creator.

Nothing can contain the matchless love of God. He chose to pour the extraordinary love of Christ into “jars of clay,” vessels that are fragile, common, and easily broken. But here is the beauty of the Gospel: it is through our cracks and our brokenness that the Resurrection light escapes the jar and reaches the world.

To be a follower of Christ is to be a vessel that is perpetually being emptied for the sake of others. God has given you life and breath not to be served, but to serve - pouring out this love through radical forgiveness in your relationships and sacrificial service in your community. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 reminds us that though we are “hard-pressed on every side,” we are not crushed. We carry the “death of Jesus” in our bodies so that His life may be revealed through our very weaknesses.

We may have started this morning way of the “plague” in the park, but we end in the presence of the Gardener. In the first garden, we hid among the trees because of a “stinging” guilt; but this morning, we see that God has a higher plan for every sting and every struggle.

As we leave this place, let’s ask ourselves: If I am a willing vessel of God’s poured out love today, what does that look like tomorrow? When you are hard-pressed by life or perplexed by unfair circumstances, look at the caterpillars and remember: it’s only temporary.

What looks like death - the consuming, the crawling, the stinging - is actually a necessary part of the process. Your struggle is not a tomb, it may be a cocoon - God’s workshop for a New Creation. This week, don’t hide your imperfections and struggles. Let the light of the Resurrection pour through those cracks into a world that is desperate for the Spring.

Closing Prayer (Stand)

Heavenly Father, we thank You that the tomb is empty and the Gardener is at work. We thank you for the Cup of Redemption - for the outstretched arms of Jesus that paid the price for our peace and invited us back into Your presence.

Lord, as we leave this place, we ask that You would equip us with everything good for doing Your will. May the ‘stings’ of this past season be healed by your stripes. May we not just be observers of the resurrection, but participants in it. Help us to be the “jars of clay” through which Your love is poured into our families, our schools, and our workplaces.

When we see the caterpillars this week, remind us that the struggle is temporary, but the Resurrection is eternal. We are no longer crawling in the dust, but rising in His grace.

He is Risen!

(He is Risen indeed!)

Amen!

Benediction - Closing Slide

Now, please join us for a final song before you go in peace to love and serve the Lord!

You have plenty of time to get to the egg hunt zones before it begins. Remember to wait outside the marked area until it’s time. You are warmly invited to stay for Cinnamon Rolls, Coffee and fellowship - there are also baskets there for your tithes and offerings. The flowers are also our gift to you, one per household please. What a Glorious Day!

Glorious Day - Praise Team send off