He Is Not Here, He Is Risen
First B Jackson
2025-04-20

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Check. Check. Hey. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to First Bee.

If you do us a favor and not leave any empty seats between you, that'd be helpful. And if you could come to the front, that'd be great. We have lots of seats up front. Would you consider moving towards the front and not leaving any seats between you? Towards the middle is the best too.

Thanks so much. We're gonna get started in just a minute. Come towards the front and the middle. Thanks.

Apologize in advance. Good morning, and happy resurrection Sunday, everybody. He's risen. He's risen. One more time.

He is risen. He is risen.

Oh, I love it.

And here's the good news from Matthew 28 to lead us into worship. And would you stand? It's on the morning of the third day, the women went to the tomb where Jesus was buried, and the angel said, do not be afraid, for I know you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He's not here. He's risen.

Just as he said, come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly tell his disciples he's risen from the dead. That is why we are here. Wow. We are a full house, aren't we? And you look wonderful, by the way, very colorful today.

But even that's not the point. The point is the empty tomb that Jesus is alive, and because he lives we also live. Would you join us in singing with enthusiasm, not because I told you to, but because you want to. He rose.

Rose. Hallelujah. Christ arose. Just our voices. He arose.

Arose. He arose. Hallelujah. Rise to rose.

Amen. It's okay to celebrate. It really is. Alright. You can have a seat for a moment.

We've got, just a couple announcements for you.

Alright, everybody. Good morning, and welcome to First Baptist Church. We're absolutely delighted to have you all here today. Regularly, we have so much going on here at First Baptist Church. We got we got rid of our regular bulletin and just started doing an online thing.

But Awana is on tomorrow. It's our kids program. It'll be here at 05:45. It's so much fun. This place just lights up.

Carl, what's going on tomorrow?

Oh, boy. It's the we start to do derby cars tomorrow. And I think we got a little buzz in the microphone. Maybe his, maybe mine, but we've got derby cars tomorrow for our TNT kids. We're gonna start cutting them out.

So much fun. If you haven't been to that, it is a raucous good time. It's so great. And today, just as a reminder, there is no Sunday school only for third through fifth grades and and junior and senior high. Those are the only two that do not have Sunday school today.

They'll be released in just a little bit after the song service. But normally, we have those that we just want everybody to be in here to worship with us today. And for all of the rest of the information, for Bible studies, for small groups, for gatherings, for group dinners, go onto our website and you can find out a whole lot more information. We're absolutely delighted you're here to share this day with us. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back with a little song.

My head. I've seen all the good news of God and the savior's faithfulness. And all my life you have been faithful. Running me. And all my life, you have been faithful.

All my life, you have been so so good with every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God I will sing oh, I will sing, oh, I

I these these songs, I'm I'm thinking of your determination to go to that cross for us. And it's not that that we loved you, but that you loved us first. And God, you were absolutely determined to go to that cross for us to die in our place for our sin, and and we sing of this. Not just your death, but of course, Lord, your triumphant resurrection. And that's why we're meeting here right now singing these songs is because you are our living God.

First Peter one to three to four. This is this is what it says. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his great mercy. He's given us a new birth into a would you say it with me if you know it? Living hope.

A living hope. We we serve a risen living savior who's present with us right now through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance. Think of this. Just let's rest on this for a moment. Into an inheritance.

That's eternal life that can never perish or spoil or fade. That's the good news. That's the good news.

Jesus Christ, my name. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages

Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment, and this is the worship through giving part of the service. If you're visiting for the first time, you don't need to feel obligated to give, but if you wanna give, please do. Please do. We're encouraged to give with cheerfully and gratefully.

But our ushers are forward here, and I'd love for you to sing with us as the words come up here for the next song. We've been singing everything about Jesus' life and his death and resurrection, and we're singing what we are about to hear. But before we sing, Philip. He's Philip's one of our elders. And Philip, may I ask you to pray, and we'll just give thanks here.

Amen. Amen.

I think I

have an announcement here. Oh, that's it. So there is Sunday school. And would somebody remind me for what age is filled? So there is Sunday school for nursery and kindergarten through second grade.

So kids, you're welcome to do that if you want. For all the others, I'd love you to stay up here with me. And I'll keep the message really simple for you too. And also I'm not very long winded. I'm sorry.

I I know I seriously, I need you to know that I'm not really a long winded person, and so the message may, I mean it might be short, and that's that's okay, but as long as we get the content. Isn't it good to sing of the resurrection? Says the worship leader. Right? Of course.

Which we which we do every Sunday. We sing these songs every Sunday, but this one is very, very special because Easter marks that day on the calendars when we look back at that great and glorious day when Jesus' disciples went to that tomb early on Sunday morning, and they expected to find Jesus' body, but instead what do they find? It's an empty tomb. That's right. And two a oh, let me turn this on.

And with two angels, and they give them this message. Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. This is a life changing message.

We would not be sitting here, standing here, singing here together if this wasn't true. This is important. This is a victory here. This is what Easter is about, that we serve a living savior. He's in the world today.

I know that he's living, whatever some may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer, And just the time I need him, he's always near. Sing it with me if

you know it. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me.

Along life's narrow way. He lives. He lives. Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives.

He lives within my heart.

May we never lose that sense of awe and wonder of the resurrected Jesus. You know, we can we can we go, yeah. Yeah. It's Easter. Jesus rose from the dead.

Yeah. It's Easter. Jesus rose from the wait a second. This doesn't happen every day. This is a huge deal and I'm happy to be sharing John's account of the resurrection here from chapter 20 verses one through 18.

Ray was asked to officiate a wedding this week in Georgia for his family. He's also preaching at his hometown church, his little hometown church in Shiloh, Georgia. And his message last week was this, the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. And we'd say it again and again and again and again because this is true. In light of the resurrection, I could not get away from that right there.

I could not get away from it. God's steadfast, loving, kind, merciful, loyal, faithful love, it endures forever. Why? Because God is love and he is eternal. He is forever and the resurrection proves it.

But I need to back up here because if a person has never heard that message, if a person has never heard that before you go, why are you guys seeing so loudly? Why is everything about Jesus life and death and resurrection for you guys? What is up with you? What would it mean for them? What does this mean for all of us?

And if I could just lay it out here simply. Let me see if I got a clicker here. There it is. There it is. This is why the good news friends, is such good news.

G o s p e l, God our sins, paying everyone life. I like little acronyms. And this is just the cookies on the bottom shelf here. Starts with God. God, in the beginning, God.

The eternal, infinite, self existing one in love created us to be with him. Do you know that? Do you know that? In love, God has made you, knit you together in the womb from the very beginning, in his image, in his likeness, and he gave us life, and he gave us breath, and he gave us meaning, and he gave us purpose.

And he said, was good. It was so so good.

And in love, he also gave us free will because that's what love does. It gives us a choice. We have choices. And we could choose to trust him. He gave us a lot of yeses and he gave us one no.

We could choose to trust him or we could choose not to. And when we didn't, sin entered the world and it fractured the relationship with God and it has not been the same since. So, oh, our sins separate us from God. This is the gospel. So that is what's true.

We've all missed the mark. We fall short of God's glorious standard. In thought and word indeed, our conscience tells us so, the scripture tells us so, the broken were world tells us so. And there's a way that seems right to us, but in the end, it leads to death or eternal separation from God. And furthermore, those sins cannot be removed by good deeds.

We've tried and tried and tried. God gave us the lie, gave us the sacrificial system, that's what the old testament is about to atone or make right for our wrongs, but it was just a temporary system. We missed the mark again and again. That's the bad news. Right?

There is not good news without bad news. But the good news is this, that in love God says, world, I've got this. I've got this. I'll send my son Jesus. He'll be the perfect, spotless, blameless, sacrificed once for all.

Once for all. The righteous, that's him. For the unrighteous, that's us. He died in our place for our sin so that we could permanently permanently have right standing with God. So p, paying the price for sin, Jesus died and he rose again.

This is no small thing. This is a life changing message. This means peace within, peace with God. And everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life, and everyone means everyone. You know the verse that God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him won't perish, but have eternal life and that is through faith in Christ.

We pass from life to life. And here's the proof, just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, this is like a week before his own resurrection. Lazarus sister is so broken and she is so upset, and she's like, you could have stopped this. What is going on here? And Jesus tells her, I am the resurrection and the life.

And that I am statement that he used there was a declaration of his divine eternal nature that he was from the very beginning. He said, anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. And then of course, Jesus himself raises from death. And because he's risen from death, through faith in him, we will rise from death too. He says that in John fourteen nineteen, if you want to look at it, you want an address, here it is.

Because I live, you'll also live. It is by believing in him that we have life in his name. And here, let me back up one. Life with Jesus starts now and it lasts forever. That's a hard thing for our minds to comprehend, but that is what's true.

In John 10 Jesus says that the thief comes to steal and to kill and to destroy, but Jesus came so that we would have life and have it abundantly or to the full measure beginning right now. This isn't just eternity and the sweet by and by, but it's life, abundant life right now and then into eternity. That's why the resurrection is so important because it gives us hope and it gives us a future. And again, love gives choices. We can choose to accept or reject.

And my prayer, my prayer church, is that these this eyewitness account of the resurrection recorded by John will affirm and stir our affections for Christ so that we would believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God and that by believing in him have life in his name. Alright. So gospel message. Are you ready to get in the scripture? Shall we do it?

Here it is. Here's the good news. Early on Sunday morning while it was still dark, so Friday Jesus is crucified. He's declared dead. He's placed in a tomb hurriedly, hurriedly because the Sabbath is coming.

There's the day of rest there Friday night and Saturday. So Friday is crucified, declared dead, placed in the tomb. Now the third day, this is Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. Mary. So I want to get a little background here because we can hear names that go, okay, Mary Magdalene.

Wait. There's a history here. There is a sweet, sweet history here in relationship with Jesus. A devoted follower, loved him dearly. Luke chapter eight records her story when Jesus casted seven demons from her.

Now, me pause there for a second. Not one, not two, not three, but seven demons. I can't imagine what this would have looked like, felt like, awful. Seriously, can you imagine the torment that Mary had before she experienced Jesus? And then when Jesus heals her, the peace and the liberation that she had after being healed by him.

I say this because every one of these followers has a story. And since Jesus, every believer has a story too. Who we were before him and who we've become since he's enter his lives. Since he's enter our lives. If I could share mine, it's that I did not have a peace and joy that I have today.

I do not have I did not have a peace and joy that I have today. When I tried to run, when I knew that God was pursuing me and I tried to run and ignore, I was miserable friends, like seriously, I was miserable. And then as I said, alright. Alright. I believe this.

I do trust you. I know that you love me. I know that you're pursuing me. That's when it clicked. That's when it clicked.

That's when I had that peace. That's when I had that joy. What's your story? I'm not asking you to tell me your story right now. That'd be a little bit weird, but would you think about it?

Would you think about it this week? And if you do not yet have a story, can I give you hope to say, oh boy, he's pursuing you? You may not even know it yet, but he's pursuing you. So Mary's story is one of peace and freedom because of Jesus. She was there at the crucifixion.

Sweet, sweet woman. Many of the disciples have fled and she's there. Show her love and gratitude. And now, she's the first to arrive at the tomb. The first one, and look at this.

She found the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. By the way, this would have been a very large stone, not like a little boulder. This could have weighed up to 4,000 pounds. How Mary thought she was going to move a stone to finish anointing Jesus' body with burial spices? I don't know.

But that's what love does, it just goes no matter what. And as it turns out, she didn't have to move that stone because it had already been moved. Matthew 28 tells us there was a great earthquake and an angel of the Lord rolled the stone away and he sat on it. I love that little detail in Matthew like, no problem. Yeah.

I'll have a seat for a moment. Like, I love it. The power of God, kinda like, there's that. Verse two, and what did Mary do? Well, she ran and she found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved.

She runs to tell Peter and John. By the way, John's referring to himself here as the one whom Jesus loved. And we might laugh at that, but but he didn't call himself that in a braggadocious way. It's a it's a humble self effacing way of saying, friends, my identity, it's not my name. Being loved by Jesus, that's my identity.

And these guys have a story too. We think of John. I mean, we could go back and and and share everything. I won't. But think of John reclining against Jesus as you would a close friend.

Think of Peter Peter being called by Jesus when he's fishing. He's just doing his job and Jesus meets him there, right there at his job and goes, hey Pete, you're gonna be a fisher of men now. And Jesus calling Peter out of the boat later on when Jesus is walking across the water and Peter comes, if it's you, let me come to you. And Jesus says, alright, come on. And he starts to walk toward Jesus, then he sinks and help me, help me.

And then Jesus lifts him out of the water and Peter's walking. I mean, that's quite a history. And all these countless miracles that they saw Jesus perform, even a time when they both turned tail and ran, when Jesus was arrested just four days before this. There's a deep love for Jesus when they're running to that tomb, but I would imagine there's probably some remorse there too. If I only had done this or that, oh, why did I run away?

Why did I say that? Why did I do that? And if I could just see him again, if I could just talk with him again, I want to run away. So Mary runs to Peter and John, she says, they've taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him. Come with me.

Check this out, please. Are you saying are you seeing the same thing that I'm seeing? And three and four says, that Peter and the other disciples started out for the tomb. They gotta see this. What?

The stone is rolled away? He's not there. What? And they start running for the team tomb, and they're both running, but the other disciple outran Peter, and he reached the tomb first. John wants us to know, if there's any doubt, he's the faster one.

I just find that funny. I love it. Five, he stooped and he looked in and he saw, now I put that in green, He saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't go in and that word saw there just seems simply means to look. Stupid and look. Just to see in the physical sense with his eyes.

Not much more than that. He didn't even go in. And Simon Peter, he arrived, he just goes inside. I'm going in. Does that so seem like, you know, does that so match his his his character?

Yeah. I'll step out on the water. I'll slap off a guy's ear if I need to for you, Jesus. Do you remember when Peter did that in the garden? Jesus heals the man.

The impetuous Peter, it's they've calmed that for a reason. He goes, I'm going in. Step out of the way, John. And he also noticed, I've highlighted that word notice, the linen wrappings line there, that word implies that's a deeper sense of seeing, with attention, with contemplation. Beyond just that physical sight, he looked with a sense of awe and wonder like, Seven.

While the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings now, if this was done by grave robbers, right, thinking logically through this. If this was done by grave robbers, number one, why why would they have taken the wrappings off Jesus' body? Why would they do that? And especially if they were in a hurry, because this was a grievous offense. Grave robbers because it was a it was a thing.

Grave robbers could have could be tried and put to death if they were caught. And two, why why would grave cloths be neatly folded there, the head cloth? Josh McDowell, in his book Evidence That Demands a Verdict, he notes that well ordered grave cloths left neatly folded suggests that Jesus' body had been removed without human interference. Without human interference. This is all to say.

This is an important detail that I'm glad that John gives us about the resurrection. These uninterrupted grave cloths. Eight. Then the disciples who had reached the tomb first, that's John if you were wondering. He also went in, and I've highlighted this word again, saw.

He saw and he believed. Now this word, that word saw means to see and to perceive. So it's both the physical act of seeing, but also understanding with the mind. He had an intellectual and spiritual comprehension of what had happened. Like, ding ding ding.

Oh. Oh. Nine and ten. For until then they still hadn't understood the scriptures that said, Jesus must rise from the dead. Friends, it clicked.

May I ask you something? If it's clicked for you, when was that moment? Can I ask you just to think back on it? You know, because if someone's been a believer for a long time, you can kind of just take it for granted. When did it click for you?

Where were you? What happened? I think it's important to remind ourselves of that story when we first when we first truly understood. They remembered Jesus' words, but more importantly, they under stood. They didn't just know, they knew.

They understood that Jesus fulfilled the scriptures by dying and rising again, and then a 10 is so abrupt, then they went home. The gentleman that they were there's Mary weeping at the tomb. Sorry, Mary. We're going home. Oh, we get it now.

We're going home. Verse 11, Mary standing outside the tomb crying and as she wept, she stepped she stooped in and she looked. I love that this is how God reveals himself to the humble and the broken. What does she see? Two white robed angels.

One sitting at the head, the other sitting at the foot of a place where the body of Jesus had been lying. Like, how awesome for God to send his ministers and messengers to the sweet, humble, broken woman. Doesn't that just show doesn't that just show God's love? Here, let me comfort you here. Let me give you a good good message here.

God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Back to the angels, they were there to announce Jesus' birth. They ministered to him after his temptation in the wilderness. They strengthened him in the garden before his crucifixion. The one dude rolled away the tomb and sat on it, angel.

And now here they are to comfort Mary. How gracious is God? How gracious is God? 13. Woman, why are you crying?

The angels ask. Seems like a strange question to ask, doesn't it? I'm at a cemetery. I just lost someone I love. But she answers this.

She says, because they've taken away my Lord, she replied, and I don't I don't know where he is. She frantic. What a terrible thing. She is overcome with grief and despair, and to add insult to injury, she goes there to anoint Jesus' body to pay her love and respect for him one more time and the not the body's not even there. This is awful.

14, she turned to leave and she saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. Now this brings up a lot of questions, doesn't it? By the way, for me too. Why didn't she recognize him?

Could it have been her grief? Maybe. Could she not see through her tears? Maybe. Was it because it was still dark?

Could it have been that Jesus glorified body was different in appearance than his earthly body? Friends, I'm not sure. But that's okay because that's not the most important detail. The most important thing here is as Paul says in first Corinthians, for what I received, I passed on to you as a first importance. This is what's most important, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, he was declared dead, and then on third day, he rose again.

And there are witnesses to prove it according to the scriptures. That's what matters most. That's what matters most. And look at this tender moment between Jesus and Mary in verse 15. Dear woman, why are you crying?

Jesus asked her. Who were you looking for? And she thought this guy she thought Jesus was the gardener. In 1638 Rembrandt painted the scene to depict that moment. There you see Jesus with his little gardening hat on and a shovel and I love his little knife belt.

I'm not sure what the knife was for. I obviously, I'm not an art major like Ray. Okay? I just want to be clear about that. But I always love when he shares maybe just a little portrait or or something to depict a scene.

By the way, Ray, if you're listening, we miss you. And I'm sorry I butchered this. I know you would give us a detailed account of Rembrandt and and and and all that he, you know, I go, and he's a little bit of white there, and there's sun shining on there, and there's an angel, and Mary's crying. Yeah. That's me.

Sir, sir, she said, if you've taken him away, please tell me where you've put him. I I will go and get him. Again, Mary is not thinking clearly. How's she going to carry the dead weight of a body? But again, love doesn't consider those things.

She was ready to do whatever to annoy Jesus' body and show her love and devotion one more time. And 16, with one word, with one word, everything changed. She went from sorrow and grief to joy and elation. Jesus called her by name, Mary. Just one word.

She knew his voice and she turned to cry and cried out to him, Raboni. This is Hebrew for teacher. Teacher, teacher it's you. Can you imagine that elation that she felt to hear his voice again and see him risen? She was there at the crucifixion you guys.

She saw him die. My mind it goes to John 10, when Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd. This is John 10 is probably one of my favorite chapters in all scripture, because I love the analogy, the picture of Jesus as the good shepherd because he is. He says, his sheep follow him. Why?

Because they know his voice. Friends, may I ask you something? Do you know his voice? Do you know his voice? And if you're going, I I I don't yet.

I mean, all he's asking is that we call out to him. Mary heard his voice, she went running, tackle hug. And from the sound of it, she wouldn't let go, like she was clinging to him. Look at this and Jesus says, don't cling to me Jesus said and and listen, I would suspect it's not like, hey, get off me lady. Not like, not that.

I don't picture, that's not Jesus character in nature. I picture Jesus going with a smile on his face and a laugh in his voice. Mary, Mary, Mary, I love you too. Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. You gotta let me go here sometime.

But I mean, doesn't this show you just how deep and personal this is? Just how much that Mary loved Jesus? Just how tenderly he dealt with her? Jesus said, for I haven't yet ascended to the father. But go find my brothers and and listen, I it's so good that I'm not I'm not the savior of the world because if it were me, I'd go.

You go and find those weasels that abandoned me in the garden. They couldn't even stay awake, and they ran away. One of them just ran away, net it. You'll tell those guys that I'm alive and I'm looking for them. No.

It was nothing like that. Go and find my brothers. This is the first time he uses that word brothers. He's called them friends, he's called them servants, and now he calls them brothers. This is my family.

This is my family now. And tell them I'm sending to my father and your father, to my God and to your God. Get the word out. Get the word out. There's more to come.

And then we're gonna end with verse 18. Mary Magdalene found the disciples and she told them, I've seen the Lord, and she gave him his message. Because that's what love does, it responds in loving obedience to a savior who gives life and life to the full measure. And how awesome, just consider this for a second, that Jesus gives Mary the task of delivering that message. He gives Mary the task, someone with a checkered past that was redeemed by Jesus Because God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

The sweet, humble, believing woman he goes, I want you're you, you're my person. I want you to convey this message. That's who Jesus is looking for. Imperfect, humble, willing, obedient servants. Can I say that again?

Imperfect. Friends, you know how imperfect I am? I am just amazed sometimes that I get to stand up here and talk to you. Like, do you really know me? Do you know how imperfect I am?

Because we all are and that's the point of the gospel. That's the point of the gospel. Nobody could be good enough. It's that we need a savior, that we're fallen, that we're broken. We need saving.

And what is he looking for? Humility, willingness to carry the good news of his love and forgiveness. So I'm gonna stop there at eighteen, but keep reading this week, would you? There's just one more chapter in John. It just it get it only gets better from there too.

And as we close, I want to bring us back to the purpose for which John wrote this book, and that is that we might, let's say it together, believe. Believe. That Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by, say it again, believing in him we'd have life in his name. One closing thought, when Peter and John, they they ran to that tomb, they noticed that Jesus wasn't there. Upon first look, they noticed, they saw.

But when they looked again, there was a spiritual comprehension. A spiritual comprehension that led to belief. If that is you

and you go, yeah, yeah,

of course, Carl, I believe it. Why are you saying this again? Let's never lose that sense of awe and wonder of a of a belief that God has given us the faith to believe. May I encourage you to grow in that grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and share it. To him be the glory now and forever.

Amen. He's he's found you. You found him. Grow in it. But I will say this too, if you're like one of the Athenians, we're going through the back of the book of acts right now.

In acts chapter 17, Ray's talking to the Athenians and he gives them the message of the resurrection. These are my favorite people by the way and I mean that. They heard about the resurrection they said, yeah, I don't know. I'll hear more about that later. And some just said, he's a babbler.

But there are others who heard the good news and they go, I'll hear more about that later. If that's you, come on back. Come on back. Acts is a great time to come in right now and and and just see the the how the church grew, and how those who didn't believe became believers. Come on back.

In some form or fashion, we share about the resurrection every week because it is truly life changing and life giving. It's the good news that gives us hope and a future. And I'll say this, if you're on the edge of belief, if you know that God is pursuing you but you are on the edge of belief, may say this, don't wait. Do not tarry. Do not wait.

Press in without delay. Billy Graham would often say, you may never be as close as you are right now to professing faith in Christ. And if that's you, may I invite you to pray this simple prayer with me. And, Ben, can I invite invite you back up? But would you bow your heads with me?

I'd love to pray together on this. Then we'll sing. God almighty, I thank you for the power that raised Christ from the dead. We, God, collectively as the church, thank you for the power that raised Christ from the dead. We do know that we have fallen short, God.

In thought and word and deed and scripture, it tells the kingdom of God is at hand. Turn away from sin. Believe the good news. God, would you forgive us? Would you forgive us the wrongs that we've done?

We do believe that you went to the cross. We do believe that you've died in our place for our sin, and that you triumphantly rose again. And we put our faith and trust in you. God, would you lead us from here on out? And thank you for the promise of eternal life by believing in your son.

It's in his name we pray. Amen. Listen, some go, Carl, I've already prayed that. And and and if that was just an affirmation of your prayer, praise God. But if you're going, no, no, this message, that that message that you shared in John, that one hit home today.

That was it. This is the turning point for me. Would you tell me about it? Somewhere along the line, would you come and grab me and just tell me about it because I wanna know. Because if you put your faith and trust in Christ, it's not a journey to be walking alone.

Like, this is a journey to be walking together. It really is. And as the body of Christ, we we want to walk with you. So let's close in one one last song. Shall we?

And and would you mind turning this one off for me? Thank you. Oh, I might need this. That's right. Let's stand together.

When I was your foe, still your love fought for me. You have been so so good to me. I feel nowhere. Paid it off for me. You have been so so kind to me.

Well, the overwhelming, everrending, reckless love of God. Well, ending reckless life of God.

And friends, to us, does seem reckless, but to God, it's just lavish. It's absolutely lavish, the love that he has for us. So I wanna leave you this benediction here from Romans 15 before we part with the good news of this resurrection. May the God of hope, and hope here, friends, means the expectation of what is sure and certain. Hope is sure and certain.

May the God of what is sure and certain, eternal life with him through faith in Christ, fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you might overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. May God bless you and keep you and make his face shine on you and be gracious to you, look on you with favor, and give you his peace. Happy resurrection Sunday, everybody. Love you.