Why the Resurrection Matters

Matt: Thank you so much for joining us today on the PS podcast. It's a blessing to be back with you. We hope you and your family had a lovely Easter and are excited to talk about our Easter and our Easter message as well as this new series that Wes is starting. Wes, happy Monday. Do you want to kick us off with talking about what we talked about yesterday on Easter?

Wes McAdams: After a sermon is over, have you ever wanted to make a comment, ask a question, or listen to the preacher say more about a particular idea? If so, this podcast is for you. My name is Wes McAdams, and I'll be sitting down with one of my fellow McDermott Road ministers to discuss comments, questions, and thoughts that have come up after the sermon is over. Welcome to P.S., the Post-Sermon Podcast. Thanks so much for listening to P.S., the Post Sermon Podcast. To find out more about this podcast or about the Church of Christ on McDermott Road, you can visit our website at ccmcdermott.org slash P.S. If this has been an encouragement to you, we also hope you will rate and review the show wherever you're listening, as well as share it with a friend. Because we believe sermons are not just for Sunday, but for our whole week and our whole life. Yeah, so we talked about the resurrection of Jesus, but we were also kicking off a new series in which we're talking about life after death. And I thought those two things went together well, but it was kind of a challenge to try to start this new series where we're talking about what to expect after death or where are we going when we die and why are we unafraid about facing death, but also talk about the resurrection of Jesus and why that's central to our understanding of life after death.

Matt: you mentioned, you know, with that a couple of times, you know, with it being Easter, you had guests there and you, you know, you mentioned that you're starting this series with the hope of them continuing with us, but then you're also preaching to an audience that may have some familiarity with the story, but it may not be something that they're focused on every week. So how do go about putting together a sermon with an audience like that and with the extra focus that is Easter Sunday.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, so there's all sorts of like expectations that people have when they come to church, especially on Easter, but at any time. But I'm always trying to think through like who's going to be here this Sunday and on a normal Sunday, on a regular Sunday that has a certain answer. But on Easter Sunday or any sort of holiday that has a different answer. And we had significantly more people here this Sunday. So at McDermott Road, we had over 1100 people. on Sunday and on a normal Sunday morning we might have 900. So we had a couple hundred more than we normally have. And some of those are our church going family members that, you know, typically attend at a different congregation or live in a different town and they're here visiting family. And so they're here just for this Sunday. Then there are other people that maybe this is the only time they come to worship at all throughout the year. And maybe they just pick McDermott Road because we're close in proximity to where they live. And so they came to visit with us on this Sunday for that reason. Or maybe they are members here at McDermott Road, but they don't normally come. And so this might be one of the few Sundays that they come. They feel sort of a cultural obligation or they feel obligation because of family, whatever the reason, there are people here on Sunday that are not normally here. And so you have to... ask yourself, you know, what is going to be the most effective at encouraging them and teaching them and even challenging them to sort of make a commitment or renew their commitment to Jesus and to try to understand where are they, you know, do they believe in the resurrection? And that's kind how I started this week was just acknowledging the fact that most Americans, not just most churchgoers, but most Americans believe that the resurrection of Jesus actually happened. But most of those people say they don't really know why it matters. And that's what I really wanted to tackle this week because I felt like that applied to the majority of people in the room that yes, they believe the resurrection of Jesus happened. I don't have to convince them of the historical evidence and the reliability of the resurrection because they probably believe that the resurrection happened, but they're just not living like for most of us. We're not living like the resurrection is true. Like, what does this change in my everyday life and how does it affect the way that I live my life? And that's really what I wanted to tackle, both for the sake of the person who's almost always at worship and for the person that this might be the only week that they're planning on being there. And so I wanted to really talk about why the resurrection matters, but then also tease, hey, next week we're going to continue to talk about life after death. And if that's something that you're curious about because you know eventually we are all going to die, then we hope that you'll come back because we think this is an important subject for everybody.

Matt: Yeah, so I think there's so much there. And I want to say, you said like 70 % of people in our region of the country, you know, accept that belief in the South. Yeah, that's a crazy number. on some level, an encouraging number and a discouraging number at the same time. But, you know, as you think about, you know, your own ministry, have you had people ask you that question? Like, hey, I believe in the resurrection, but I just don't know.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, in the South, yeah.

Matt: why it matters. mean, I think that's a great, think that is obvious. just, I wonder if you've had people directly ask it that way.

Wes McAdams: No, I've never had anybody say that. That was just based on some articles that I read that said those statistics that people believe in the resurrection, but they don't know why it matters. There were a couple of different articles that were written with that title in mind, but I've never had anybody say that. And I think most people would be embarrassed to say that out loud. think this is right. Absolutely. It's a lot like the sort of question that a kid might ask or the sort of thing that a kid might say.

Matt: I love the honesty in a lot of ways.

Wes McAdams: to say, yeah, that probably happened, but what difference does that make? But adults get to the point where we, especially when we believe that something is true, but we really don't know what difference does that make because nobody's ever told us or explained to us what difference that makes. We're afraid to say that out loud because we don't want to look stupid. We don't want somebody to think we're dumb because we don't know, like, what are the implications of that? What does that mean for my everyday life? And so, yeah, we say we believe it. but we just don't live in a way that's consistent with that belief.

Matt: And so, so with that in mind, like, let's say I was listening Sunday and I might've been in that place and I haven't really ever thought through the implications and I'm just starting to, and here I am on Monday morning and I'm going, okay, I haven't been giving that the credence that I should. What would you suggest is like, you know, maybe a good couple of things to start with in terms of. Now I'm trying to take the resurrection of Jesus seriously. Now what? Does that make sense?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, yeah, I don't know why, but I almost always come back to the Sermon on the Mount. I always come back to like, what did Jesus actually say to do? Like, how did he teach us to live? And so if we believe that Jesus is living and reigning as the Christ, the Messiah, the King, if we believe that he's in charge, not just of my personal life, but in charge of the world, then what does he say to do for those people who believe this is true and who have given their allegiance to him? Like listen to his words, read the Sermon on the Mount and actually practice what would this look like if I applied this to my life? What would it look like? Who are my enemies that I need to love? What are the areas where my eye is causing me to sin? Where is my hand causing me to sin? What would that look like to so dramatically eliminate that sin from my life that it would be almost like lopping off my hand or cutting out my eye? What would that look like in my life if I was going to live in radical obedience to King Jesus? What would that look like if because if I believe that he really is alive and that he's reigning? and that he will return and that I will answer for the deeds done in the body. Like I will answer to him for the way I lived my life in either rebellion or in obedience and loyalty to him. What would that look like on a Monday morning? What would that look like at work or at school? And am I really living that way? And Jesus tells us exactly what that looks like. The Sermon on the Mount is a great example of what Jesus' teachings sound like and look like. And then we have to do the hard work of applying them to our life. But the epistles are all written with that in mind. This is what Paul is doing. He's writing to various individuals and churches to say, because Jesus is king, because Jesus reigns, this is how your questions are going to be answered. This is how your life needs to be corrected. This is how you need to adjust things based on the rule and the reign of King Jesus. And so read the... New Testament with that in mind. This isn't just like a ⁓ pattern, a rule book, a law book. It's not second Leviticus. Like, this is the covenant that we have with our King, with God, through Jesus, and this is what it looks like to live in obedience to His rule and reign or to live in alignment with the truth and the reality that Jesus is alive and that He reigns. Again, as we said on Sunday, a lot of us tend to talk about Jesus in the past tense, like what Jesus did do, how Jesus did talk, what Jesus thought about such and such. And yes, there's a sense in which that's accurate to talk about what Jesus did do while he was on the earth, but we have to stop. talking about Jesus exclusively in the past tense and we had to talk about him in the present tense. What is Jesus doing? What will Jesus do in the future? And what has Jesus said that shapes the way that I live my life today?

Matt: I appreciated you drawing that out Sunday and used a story and illustration about someone literally stating if Jesus was alive today, what would he do in this moment as a way to really make us think through our own perspective. But when you think about that covenant relationship and that covenant ⁓ life, how do you think sometimes we can lose our piece of the relationship. Like, how do we go from, you know, the mental aspect of, know, hey, we've recognized the resurrection is a real event. Now we've decided that it has implications for my life. Now I've started looking at his teachings and how do I restore that heart piece as well as the intellectual piece.

Wes McAdams: Correct me if I'm not answering the question exactly the way that you're asking because I think that's a beautiful question. I think that we have to, we have to behold Jesus. We have to stare at him. We have to meditate on who he is. And the goal is to be, as we've said many times over the last few weeks, that the goal of McDermott Road, the mission of McDermott Road is to help people become more like Jesus. And the only way we become more like Jesus is to behold Him, is to see Him for who He is, to fix our attention, to fix our eyes on Him. And so that is an intellectual pursuit, like actually thinking about what He said and what He's done and who He is. But like you said, it's also an emotional pursuit as well. Like we need to fall more deeply in love with Him. And that happens by worshiping Him. You know, we don't often think about that. We don't often think about worshipping Jesus. The book of Revelation describes the people in heaven, the beings in heaven, as giving the same honor and glory to the Lamb as to the the Ancient of Days, as to the Father. And so we are giving that glory and honor to King Jesus. And that changes us. We become what we worship. We become more like what we worship. If we worship idols and we fix our attention, our eyes, our heart, our mind on the idols of the world, then we will become like them. But we are transformed by being transfixed on Jesus. And so the more we behold him, the more we worship him, the more we fix our eyes on him and our heart on him, the more we are transformed to be like him. And so we sing to him. We sing songs about him and to him. We pray. We pray not only in his name, but I believe we speak directly to him. We talk to him. We pour out our heart to him. We walk with him. Our relationship is not with the Bible. I know that might be a controversial thing to say, but we don't have a relationship with the Bible. And I don't even like to say that we're Bible followers. Yes, we listen to the Bible. We love the Bible. We read the Bible. We do what the Bible tells us to do, but only because these are the words of Jesus. These are the words of our Lord. And I follow him. My relationship is with him. My relationship is not with the book. My relationship is with the King. And we have to develop and foster that relationship. And yes, you can't do that without reading the Bible, but we have to understand that this book is not where our relationship lies. This is just an avenue through which we listen to his words. And so I'm not a Bible follower. I'm a Jesus follower. At least that's what I want to be. And so we have to not just learn the words and memorize things so that we can answer questions on a test, but we have to learn them the way that that you learn the words of the person you love, the person you're in a relationship with. And that's how we have to develop our understanding of who Jesus not was, but is.

Matt: I think that was exactly what I was hoping you to hit in. It reminds me of the illustration that we're a dramatic life in the sense that we're trying to take what we've seen in Scripture and what we know to be true about God and then contextualize it to our circumstances and to our here and now. And a part of that only comes from the ability to be able to put on a certain character is after you've really gotten to know the script and gotten to know what the people do. And I don't say script in like a mechanistic kind of tool, but just as in I've gotten to know who I'm supposed to be to the point that now I can live out of that identity. And that takes the relationship that you're speaking to, that beautiful covenant relationship that we have.

Wes McAdams: think that's a great way to put it. I think that sometimes I like to talk about being baptized as stepping into this story. Like we're all part of a story. I love that idea of it being a script. We are living out a drama. You're either living out the drama and the story that the world has given you and the script and the character that they are giving to you, or you're living out of the story that Jesus is giving to you.

Matt: Hmm.

Wes McAdams: And when we're baptized, we're supposed to be stepping into that story and becoming a part of that story. And like you said, we have to know the script. We have to know what exactly is the character that I have become. Who is that supposed to be? What is that supposed to look like? What's the goal? What's the mindset that I'm supposed to have? And some of us are still living out of the old script rather than the new one.

Matt: Yeah, and to that point, I mean, you talked about idolatry and the other things that are trying to fight for our hearts or that our hearts are drawn towards. Part of that goes back to maybe not actually believing the resurrection, right? That there's still something missing, that there's something we need saving from, that there's some other power that we need to draw into or live into, but we've already I mean, you mentioned the passage about the fact that we are living by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, right? And that's what animates us on a daily basis. And that script is one that I feel like is easy to forget that that same power is available to us. Sorry, I didn't have the reference right in front of me, but it's such a powerful thing that we need to live into.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, absolutely, for sure.

Matt: So we got a couple of questions this week. And one of the things I love about the questions that we get is not only are they from people that are here in person, but today we have two questions from across the country. Our first question comes from Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. And I'll be honest, I'm going to have to look up where Fairfield Glade, Tennessee is after we finish. But this is from Deborah Bellissa. And she writes, I have heard you say you'd be preaching on where we go after death. I've struggled listening to friends say their departed loved ones are looking down on them, or they're dancing with Jesus now, or reunited with loved ones. The Bible doesn't teach that, but I keep quiet, as that's where they're getting their peace. But am I wrong to keep silent? Please address this question.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, great question, Deborah. I appreciate her sending this in. And I think that what we're really going to get into next week when we talk more about life after death is that the Bible really doesn't give us a whole lot of details about what life is like right after we die. The Bible's emphasis is not on what happens right after we die, but what happens when Jesus returns and he raises the dead and we are transformed so that we, our bodies are immortal and imperishable and undefiled. That's where the Bible's emphasis lies. I think what we do know is that we'll be with the Lord. Now, those who are with the Lord now, what are they doing? What are they experiencing? Well, I don't really know. And like Deborah said, sometimes that that speculation can give people some comfort. And I think there's value to that. I think that there's even places in the New Testament that use the dead to motivate the living. And I think that there is some value in that. I'm thinking specifically about Hebrews, chapters 11 and 12. And so in Hebrews 11, the writer of Hebrews, he goes through this, what we often call the hall of faith, and he talks about all of these. people that by faith they did this and by faith they did that and by faith they conquered and by faith they whatever. And so he talks about Abraham and Noah and all of these great pillars of faith in the Old Testament and then he says in Hebrews 12 and verse 1, ⁓ cling so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And so he's calling this group of people that have died, he's calling them a cloud of witnesses. Now I don't think he means witnesses that are witnessing what we're doing necessarily. I think he's saying witnesses in the sense of they're giving a testimony and their testimony is motivating us, the testimony of their life. Now, whether or not they can see us, the text, I don't think specifically says, but it does say that we are surrounded by them. And I think that that is something that we need to do. Like we need to encourage and motivate one another by saying, especially if we had faithful grandparents or a faithful spouse, or maybe even somebody who's lost a child to say that they are surrounding us, that we are surrounded by those who have gone before us. And that should motivate the way that we live. The writer of Revelation, I think does the same thing. I don't want to get too far down into the Revelation rabbit trail, but he talks about those who have been beheaded. This is Revelation 20 and verse four, the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God. And he pictures them as coming to life and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. I think we are living in that thousand year reign right now. I think Jesus is reigning right now and I think the martyrs are reigning with Jesus. And I think that John is writing this in Revelation to motivate the living to be faithful just like these martyrs were faithful. And I think the writer of Hebrews is writing what he's writing to say we're surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. that their testimony should be motivating you to live in a certain way, that we should also picture the faithful dead as surrounding us. I don't know whether they're looking down on us or not. I wouldn't put my stock in that, but I also don't want to say that they have nothing to do with the way that we live our lives. They should have something to do with the way that we live our lives. I have a legacy that my grandparents and my great grandparents have handed down to me. I am surrounded by them. I'm surrounded by their testimony and it should affect the way that I live my life. I should live my life faithfully, not just because of Jesus and because of God, but also because of my family that I love and that I want to see again in the resurrection. And so I would say it's a little bit of both. It's yes, we don't really know what life is going to be like exactly when we die or what they're experiencing now, but we should be motivated by their testimony, by their legacy that they've left for us. And we should picture them as surrounding us and maybe even cheering us on when we live faithfully. And we should also recognize that there is some shame attached to when we break that legacy, when we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing. And I think that's what the Hebrew writer is saying. And I think that's what John is saying in Revelation, that the martyrs who've gone before you are judging you. when you forsake the Lord, when you go in a different way, they're saying, hey, that's not the way I did it. I did it faithfully. And we ought to hear their testimony and be motivated towards faithfulness because of the way they live their life.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Matt: Yeah, one of, ⁓ I appreciate all that. One of the quotes I like from a Christian writer goes so much to the effect of that ethics has lived eschatology in this idea that what we believe to be true about the future, what we believe to be true about what is to come does affect how we live each and every day in our immediate gratification, short-sighted culture. We've lost track of that in so many ways.

Wes McAdams: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Absolutely. We have to live our life recognizing that there is an inheritance that we're either living into, an inheritance that we will receive. We're either living into that with everything that we say and do right now, or we are forsaking that inheritance and we're trading it for the temporary pleasures of this life.

Matt: While we're answering questions, we've got one more that we received from Mr. Dwight Berry. And this one is coming from Gladwin, Michigan. It says, Wes, thank you for your lesson on finding peace, which you talked about, John 1633. It's a hard thing to have because I can remember the times that I know I was not doing the right thing, either by action or words. Reading this verse is helpful, but how can we have peace? with not forgiving oneself or not being what Jesus wants me to be.

Wes McAdams: Dwight, this is a great question, and I'm going to go against contemporary wisdom here. I know that I'm kind of going against the grain because I know a lot of people talk about forgiving yourself. I kind of take a different stance. I don't think we can or should strive and work to forgive ourselves. I don't think that's even a thing. It's certainly not a thing that the Bible ever talks about. And the reason I say that is because it's not us. we are not in a position, we don't have the authority to forgive ourselves. But the good news is, God is in that position. He has the authority to forgive us. And so if God says that we are forgiven, you don't have to forgive yourself. All you have to do is believe Him that He says that He has forgiven you. And that is so much better anyway. And I think there are so many Christians out there who have been forgiven by God and God has declared them forgiven. God has said to them, you are forgiven. Your sins have been taken as far away from you, Psalm 103, verse 12, as far away from you as the east is from the west. And yet we're still saying, yeah, yeah, but I don't forgive myself. It's like, stop trying to forgive yourself and just believe God when he says that you're forgiven. And there is a tremendous amount of peace that comes with that to say, yeah, I still remember those things that... that I did and maybe if it was up to me I wouldn't forgive myself but God who is infinitely more gracious and more knowledgeable and more wise has forgiven me. He has forgiven me through the cost of the blood of His only begotten Son and He gave that gift so that I would be forgiven. Now I have to believe Him and trust Him that I actually am forgiven. Satan is the accuser. The devil is the accuser. He is the adversary and he wants us to continue to believe that we're not forgiven. He wants us to believe that we've got to work in order to be forgiven. Where God says, trust me and I will count your faith, your faithfulness, I will count that as righteousness. And if God says that we are righteous and we are forgiven and we are holy and we are saints and we are justified, who are we to argue with him? And we are robbing ourselves of so much peace when we think that forgiveness depends on us. It doesn't depend on us. It depends on him. He says we're forgiven. And if he says we're forgiven, who are we to argue?

Psalms 103:12

Matt: I think that is so helpful. mean, I can relate with the question. You know, I've definitely felt those things and been in that place. But you're right, it is almost... insincere or at least gives us an opportunity for faithfulness to believe that Jesus is doing and has done the forgiving and we can live in and out of that. How do you think that affects? Because I mean, know we all that ever get up and give messages to other people, we struggle with our own you know, life story and life journey. How does acknowledging what you just brought out affect the way you go about preaching and affect the way you go about teaching other people? Like how does that knowledge of God's forgiveness impact the way you go about lesson prep and all those things?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, such a good question. And it kind of ties into the one of the ways I ended the sermon yesterday. I don't know, I didn't spend a lot of time focused on this, but I said at one point, I can't tell you to be courageous. Like I don't, I feel so unqualified to tell anybody to be courageous. One, because I'm not always courageous. This whole year we're focused on fearless and faithful. I'm not fearless. Like I'm, I'm a cowardly person and I have made so many decisions. I confess that a few weeks ago, like I've made so many decisions based on fear of what other people will think or say about me. And so I, I constantly operate out of a sense of self preservation and trying to preserve my reputation or the way people think about me or my own life or my money or whatever. And so I'm, I am not qualified to tell anybody anything, much less to be courageous. The question is, but is Jesus, is He qualified to tell us and will we listen when He tells us? And so what I want to do when I preach is get out of the way and let God speak for Himself and to approach preaching and teaching as a fellow traveler, as a fellow student, as a fellow apprentice to say, I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to follow Jesus. And so let's do this together. Let's learn this together. Let's walk in this way together and not to come at it as an instructor to say, hey, I've got this all figured out. I'm doing this really well. Watch how I'm doing this or listen to my wisdom. It's one reason I don't like to jump around all over the scriptures when I preach. I like to say, hey, here's what the text says. This Sunday, I tried to stay in the book of John, even though it wasn't from one chapter. But I don't want to jump all over the place because I don't want it to be about me and my wisdom and stringing together different passages. I just want to say this is what the text says because this is what Jesus says. This is who Jesus is. This is who God is and what He's saying to us. Will we trust Him? Will we believe Him? And I need that message as much as anybody. When people come up to me afterwards and say, Wes, you really stepped on my toes today. I always tell them I was just aiming for my toes and if I hit yours as well, that's fine. But I mean, I'm really just trying to figure this stuff out too. And so I'm not trying to come at this as

Matt: Thank you.

Wes McAdams: I'm an expert and I have this figured out, but rather Jesus is King, let's follow him together.

Matt: So to build off of what you just said, you kind of gave a three-part framework and you just talked about it a little bit. But I think it goes beyond, you know, just a presentation or a teaching standpoint to a living standpoint, the three things you brought out about not being able to tell people to be courageous. You said, I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what you've been through. I don't know what you will go through. How does that? affect our one-to-one relationships as well when we're dealing with people. feel like a lot of times our culture is telling us, everybody has to know your story or you have to walk a mile in somebody's shoes to be able to understand them. But this message is pervasive and beneficial to anybody. that kind of what you're getting at or?

Wes McAdams: Mmm. Yeah. And I think sometimes we wear that as a shield. As a shield to say, nobody knows my story. Nobody knows what I've been through. Nobody knows what I'm going through or nobody knows my future. And so therefore they have no right to tell me X, Y, and Z. And so we kind of put on this armor so that nobody can give us advice. Nobody can give us instruction. Nobody can give us correction and say, hey, you're wrong about the way you're doing this or that because they don't They don't know me. They don't know what I've been through. And so we even reject when somebody says, even trying to comfort us through our struggles by saying to us, hey, I know what you're going through. And we say, no, you don't know what I'm going through. And that may very well be true. Like, I don't want to argue with that. mean, yeah, they might have some idea of what you're going through and maybe give them some credit for trying, but maybe they don't. And I just want to acknowledge that. I don't know what you're going through. There's 1,100 people gathered here on Sunday morning. I don't know what all of you are going through. I don't know your struggles, but this isn't me giving you advice. This is the Lord telling you to be courageous, take heart, don't live in fear. And so will we allow the resurrected King to tell us this? Not will we allow West to tell us? Because again, I kind of anticipate that there are people anytime you say, don't be afraid, don't live in fear. Don't ⁓ be courageous, be fearless. I think when I hear that, when somebody tells me that, I want to reject that. I want to say, you don't know, you don't know what I'm going through. Who are you to tell me that? And I just want to say to them, you're right. Who is West to tell you that? I'm nobody to tell you that. But who is Jesus to tell you that? That's the question, because it's him telling you and not me.

Matt: That's a really good place for us to wrap this week. We've got a couple more sermons in the series coming up. What is coming up this coming Sunday?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, I really want to focus on this idea of the disembodied state, the being a disembodied spirit, because unless the Lord comes back, we are all going to have the experience of being disembodied, of our body dying and our spirit being separated from our body, which is what we call death. And so what does the Bible say about the disembodied state? And again, I'll just tell you up front, it doesn't say a whole lot, but it does tell us a little bit. And it tells us that we can be confident. And that's really the main thing. The main thing that I want people to get out of this series is that the objective is to be courageous. It's to be confident. It's to be consistent. It is to abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that even in the disembodied state and in the eventual resurrection, He's got us and He's going to take care of us and we're going to live forever. And we literally, if we follow Jesus, we cannot lose. And that's the main thing that I want people to understand, not to say, I know absolutely with certainty what exactly is going to happen in death and what's going to happen in the resurrection. I don't know with certainty all of those things, but I know with certainty that the Lord is going to take care of me. I know that he's going to take care of all of his people, that he will not forsake his people and that his people will live forever. And that should give us a tremendous amount of courage and confidence. for the way that we live our life today.

Matt: I'm really looking forward to that and I appreciate this encouragement about living the resurrection life and thinking about what is to come and how it affects us each and every day. So if you started going to worship again last week or maybe you went for the first time, we'd love for you to join us again this week in McDermott Road here in Plano or at a church in your local community. So I hope that you have a great week. Thanks.