Forty Days of Proof - Jason Schrock

Good morning, teach you one this morning, glad for your presence.

I'm also glad for the presence of the Holy Spirit

and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Greet you

and his name. I uh appreciate the thoughts as far

as change is concerned. I uh yeah, some of these

things we could get pretty tied up in lots, I

guess you might say as we think about such things.

But I appreciated the thoughts that God does not change,

and the uh the things that we'd like to share

this morning are unchangeable, and so I'd like to uh

to think about those things. We've just come through another

season I guess you would call a Easter season. A

couple of weeks ago, we had communion where we commemorated

the death and suffering of Jesus. Last Sunday, we thought

about a lot about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So

now we've we've been there, we've done that, we can

go on with life. Is that right? So? I am?

I think last Sunday, in a lot of ways, we

celebrated the empty tomb. But I'd like to ask this question,

does an empty tomb prove that Jesus is alive, that

he rose from the dead in a bodily form. And

so when we have the account of what we think

of as the Eastern story of the Resurrection day, you

know the facts of the women coming there to the

to the tomb, the fact of Peter and John running

to the tomb, and Peter going in and John looking in,

and uh, we have the story of the two men

on the way to Amais, and that could verify that

the tomb was empty. The women didn't see a body

laying in the tomb. Neither did Peter and John. Those

two in the way to Amis, they probably didn't really know.

But I'd like to go further here this morning. If

you can turn to this if you want to, or

just listen, but I'd like to use Ax one three

as a text this morning. I'm going to read that

Ax one three says to whom also he showed himself

alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen

of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining

to the Kingdom of God. I've entitled the message this

morning forty days of Proof. And as I've thought about this,

I'm just really impressed. I'm really blessed with how Jesus.

He didn't just rise from the day and then ascend

right away, but there were forty days that he intermingled

with his followers and proved that there was more than

just an empty tomb. You know, Like I said, those

who looked there, they could have concluded that the tomb

was empty. It was vacant, but where was the body?

I think we look at the resurrection as a spiritual thing,

but actually the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact.

There's enough proof and it's well documented that it's irrefutable.

When we think of the disciples, the resurrection was unexpected

and it was proved against unbelief. They really didn't believe

this to begin with. But you know, I think twenty

four hours after Jesus rose from the dead, all of

the disciples except Thomas were firmly convinced of the fact

that Jesus had risen from the dead. They saw him,

they heard him, they talked to him. Was there any

need of any further confirmation than that? Here we have

these witnesses that could verify that Jesus rose in a

bodily way and was alive today. But Jesus. I believe

Jesus knew that it would take more than that to

convince the world, and so forty days following this. This

is very vital to the foundational truth beliefs of the Christians,

and it was during those days that the irrefutable fact

of Jesus rising as a living man was confirmed. There

was no doubt that he had been dead. There was

no doubt that he now lives again. You know, there

were those who would maybe say, well, it was just supposition,

maybe it was a vision, maybe they were hallucinating and

attributed to some mental delusion. But no, Jesus was around

for forty days to prove that it was more than

just imagination, more than just somebody with a strange thought,

to verify the truth that he was alive, to verify

the truth that his body rose from the dead. And

so during that forty days he interacted with his disciples,

although he was not with them continuously. Some of the

appearances were in Jerusalem, some in Galilee, some amount of olives,

some at the seashore, some on the mountain, and with

some there was the sound of his familiar voice. He

showed marks of his crucifixion on his body, there was

sharing of food, there was a sign of miraculous power.

All of these added up to infallible proofs. But you know,

we're only told snippets of what actually took place during

those forty days. And my mind has been going around

on this for probably a couple of weeks what actually happened,

And we don't really know what all happened. But we

have just enough that's told us that we can weave

together some facts, and I guess I would like to

say even some suppositions of some things that were likely

in this story. So first of all, I'd like to

look at the four Gospels, and actually I was amazed

at how little the four Gospels actually say about those

forty days. I'm gonna if you want to follow, you may,

or if you want to just listen, that's fine. I'm

going to go to the end of each of the

four Gospels and just read what I would consider to

be following the resurrection Day. We're not necessarily going to

focus on the resurrection day so much as the forty days.

So Matthew it tells in chapter twenty. It tells about

the the resurrection. It tells about the soldiers who were

paid to tell untruth. But in verse sixteen, it says,

then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a

mountain where Jesus had appointed them, And when they saw him,

they worshiped him. But some doubted, And Jesus came and

spake unto them, saying, all powers given unto me in

heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations,

baptizing them, and the name of the Father and of

the Son of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe

all things whatsoever I've commanded you, And lo I am

with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

So now let's go to the end of the book

of Mark. And we have basically two verses that follow

or that capture the forty days, Verses nineteen and twenty.

So after the Lord had spoken to them, he was

received up into heaven and sat on the right hand

of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, and

the Lord working with them and confirmed the word with signs. Following. Amen.

Going to Luke the last chapter Luke twenty four, beginning

with verse fifty, and he led them out as far

as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed him.

And it came to pass well, it blessed them. He

was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and

they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

and were continuing the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

And so we see that the three what we call

the Synoptic Gospels, basically jumped from the resurrection to the

ascension that Jesus ascended. All right, now, John has a

lot more in during this period. I'm going to go

to John chapter twenty, verse twenty four read all that,

and also or read that and the rest of that chapter,

and then chapter twenty one John twenty, verse twenty four.

But Thomas, one of the twelve called Dinimus, was not

with them when Jesus came. And you know the story

there how Jesus had been where the disciples were the

day of the resurrect of the evening of the resurrection.

But Thomas was out there, and he said, unless I

can see well, I'll read that here verse twenty five.

The other disciples therefore send to him, we have seen

the Lord. But he said to them, except I shall

see his hands, see in his hands the print of

the nails, and put my finger into the print of

the nails, and thrust my hand into his side. I

will not believe. And after eight days now this is

going into this forty day period. And after eight days

again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then

came Jesus of doors being shut, and stood in the

midst and said, peace be unto you. Then saith he

to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands.

And reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side,

and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said,

on him, my Lord and my God, Jesus, saith uno

him Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.

Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence

of his disciples, which are not written in this book,

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus

is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing

ye might have life through his name. After these things,

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea

of Tiberius. And on this wise showed he himself. There

were together Simon, Peter and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathaniel

of Cana and Galilee, and the sons of Zebede, and

two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith under them,

I go a fishing. They send him, We also go

with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately,

and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning

was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. But the

disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith

under them, children, have ye any meat? They answered him No.

He said on them, casting that on the other side

of the ship, and ye shall find They cast therefore,

and now they were not able to draw it from

the multitude fishes. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loves, saith

into Peter, it is the Lord. Now. When Simon Peter

heard that it was Lord, he girt his fish's coat

unto him, for he was naked, and they cast himself

into the sea. The other disciples came in a little ship,

for they were not far from land. But as it

were two hundred cubas dragging the net with fishes and

as soon then as they were come to land, they

saw a fire of coals there, and fish lay there

on in bread. Jesus saith under them, bringeth the fish

which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and

drew the net to land full of great fishes in

one hundred and fifty three, And for all there were

so many, Yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith

under them, come and dine, And none of the disciples

ersk durst ask him who art thou, knowing that it

was the Lord. Jesus then cometh and taketh bread, and

giveth them and fish. Likewise, this is now the third

time that Jesus showed himself to disciples, after that he

was risen from the dead. So when they had dined,

Jesus saith to Simon Peter. Simon's son of Jonas loves

tell me more than these. He saith in him. Yea Lord,

thou know I love Thee. He saith unto him, feed

my lambs. He saith to him again the second time.

Simon's son of Jonas lovest thou me. He saith on him,

YEA Lord, thou knowest that I love THEE. He saith

unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the

third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. Peter

was grieve because he said, unto him the third time,

lovest thou me, And he said unto him, Lord, thou

knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus

saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say

d to thee. When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself

and walkest, whether thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old,

thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird

thee and carry thee, whether thou wouldest not. This spake

he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And

when he had spoken this, he saith unto him. Follow me. Then, Peter,

turning about, sees the disciple whom Jesus loved, following, which

also leaned on his breast at supper. And so said, Lord,

which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith

to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? And

Jesus said to him, if I will that a terry

till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thout me?

Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that the

disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not to them,

he shall not die. But if I will that a

terry till I come, what is that to thee? This

is a disciple which testifies of these things and wrote

these things. And we know that his testimony is true.

And there were also many other things which Jesus did

with the which if they should be written everyone. I

suppose that even the world itself could not contain the

books that should be written. Amen. Then we have a

little more information given in First Corinthians fifteen, which I

want to look at here. Just well, now I'm going

to read that right now, let's just go over to

First Corinthians fifteen, the resurrection chapter, where the apostle Paul

writes about the resurrection, beginning with verse three. For I

delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.

How the Christ died first ends according to the scriptures,

and that he was buried, and that he rose again

the third day according to the scriptures, and that he

was seen of Stephus, and then of the twelve Now

I think that is a resurrection day, that he was

seen of Peter. We had that account that when the

men from that had gone to Amyas came back to

at the top, said that he appeared to Peter, then

of the twelve. After that he was seen of above

five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part

remained under this present summer fall asleep. After that he

was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And

now verse eight goes beyond the forty days and says,

and last of all, he was seen of me also

as of one born out of due time. And so

we have a lot of witnesses, which I want to

show a little bit how the apostles talked about being witnesses. Recently,

I was reading about a journalist that wrote about factual reporting.

How do you report facts? And so here's questions this

His journal journalist would ask, did it really happen? Did

you confirm it? Did you get at least two sources?

How reliable is the information? But you know, the information

we have concerning the resurrection of Jesus passes the criteria

that's needed for an accrid news report. We have the

accounts of Jesus seeing and relating to his eleven disciples

at least three times, now if you notice here and

John said, this is now the third time, the first

being with on the day of the Resurrection, and the

second a week later. And then we don't know how

much time elapsed till he saw them in Galilee, and

so forty days. What happened in forty days? You know,

in a lot of ways, that's a long time. And

I don't think we do violence to the scripture, to

the story to do a little bit of imagining based

on the facts we know. We know that Jesus appeared

unexpectedly and yet in a bodily form at intermittent times.

He wasn't with his disciples all the time. He didn't

to live with them. And you know, I can well

imagine that as they went about from place to place,

that they cast for any glasses here and there is

Jesus going to be around this next corner up over

the hill where we see him again. Well, they never

knew when he was going to show up. He didn't

dwell with them, He no longer sat with them on

a day to day basis, But he appeared to them

in irrefutable ways. So now let's look at some other

accounts of what Peter and Paul had to say. I

already read a little bit about Paul, but going to

the Book of Acts, it was interesting to me to

just see what Peter particularly and then also Paul had

to say about them being witnesses. First of all, in

the second chapter we go to the sermon on the

Day of Pentecost, and in and Peter was preaching to

those who had seen this wonderful manifestation of the Spirit

of God. And in verses thirty one and thirty two

he's talking about Jesus being the son of David. He's

seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that

his soul was out left in hell. Neither his flesh

did see corruption this Jesus has gone raised up, He

firmly declares, he has raised up? Why or how many

caw can I do that? Whereof we all are witnesses.

Those who were there speaking in tongues, those who were

there with the manifestation of the spirit were witnesses. We've

seen this, we know it happened, all right. Then we

go on to Acts three, and you know there was

a story there of of Peter, healing the lame man

at the temple Gate in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,

Acts three, verses thirteen to fifteen. The God of Abraham

and of Isaing and of Jacob, the God of our fathers,

have glorified his son Jesus, whom he delivered up and

denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was

determined to let him go. But he denied the Holy

One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be

granted at you, and killed the Prince of life, whom

God hath raised from the dead. Whereof we are witnesses,

And because we're witnesses is the power that we had

to heal this man? All right, then we could go

over to chapter ten, and you know the story of Cornelius,

how he has been praying. An angel said to send

to Joppa to find one of Simon that's dwelling there

in verses twenty or thirty eight to forty one. As

he's preaching to Cornelius, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth

with the Holy Ghost with power, who went about doing

good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,

for God was with him, and we are witnesses of

all things which he did, both in the land of

the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom he slew and hanged

on a tree. Him God raised up the third day,

and showing him openly, not to all the people, but

unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who

did eat and drink with him. After that he rose

from the dead. So Peter told Cornelius and those that

were there, that Jesus rose from the dead. And actually

he appeared not just to everyone, but to specially chosen

people that I think were believers. He said, even to

us who did eat and drink, not to all people,

but unto witnesses chosen before of God. All right, Now

going to chapter thirteen. Now we go to the apostle Paul,

and he had a sermon in Antioch. I'm going to

read verses twenty nine to thirty one. And when they

had fulfilled all of us written of him, they took

him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.

But God raised him from the dead, and he was

seen many days of them which came up with him,

from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses under the people.

So he was seen many days, which would be the

forty days. And so John said that the events in

Galilee were the third time that Jesus appeared, and now

Paul says he was seen many days. And so however,

all that works now going back to what first Corinthians

fifteen says there that he lists Sephest, which Peter, then

the twelve, the five hundred brethren, James, then all the Apostles,

and last of all Paul. Now the five hundred people

at once. Now that's interesting. We have no other account

of that. Where did that take place? As I was

reading some of the commentaries, We don't know, But there

were those who think probably that was in Galilee when

Jesus was there in Galilee, because there were so many

in Galilee that believed in him. And can you imagine

what kind of gathering was that where there were five

hundred people around him and here was a person that

had been declared dead and he's alive, he's moving, he's talking.

And Paul says, most of them are still alive today

when he had written this, a few of them have

already passed on, fallen asleep. I can about imagine that

before Luke wrote this account in Acts, that he may

have actually interviewed some of them. Probably paulm probably would

have talked to some of them himself. I'd like to

read a few quotes. I'm not great on just digging

into a lot of commentaries, but a few things that

were interesting to me to some things that were written,

some thoughts of people, how the resurrection account could not

be fraudulent, it couldn't be fabricated, It could be hallucinations

of the followers of Jesus because of the appearances of Jesus.

Here's one quote. Think of the character of the witnesses.

Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band

of defeated cowards cowering in the upper room one day,

and a few days later transformed into a company that

no persecution could silence, and then attempting to attribute this

dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication

they were trying to foist upon the world that simply

would not make sense. Then here's another one by John Montgomery.

I don't know who he is. When the disciples proclaimed

the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses, and did so

while people were still alive who had contact with the

events they spoke of. Paul wrote that over five hundred

people had seen the risen Jesus, and that most of

them were still alive. It passes the bounds of credibility

that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale

and then preached it among those who might easily have

refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus. They

couldn't do that. The Jews couldn't do that. They couldn't

come up with the body. It was alive and moving.

When Peter boldly proclaimed the resurrection on the day the

resurrection of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, did any

want to try to refute that? We don't have any

record of that. Did anyone tried to refute that? As

one person said, the silence of the Jews is as

significant as a speech of the Christians. And now here's

another quote. Look at the changed life of James, the

brother of Jesus, and we have James listed there in

one quent and fifteen, believing to be the brother of Jesus.

Before the resurrection. He despised all that his brother stood

for he thought Christ's claims were blatant pretensions and served

only to ruin the family name. After the Resurrection, though,

James is found with the other disciples preaching the Gospel

of the Lord. His epistle describes well the new Resurrection,

the new relationship that he had with Christ. He describes

himself as a bond servant of God and of the

Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to think just a little

bit about James. To me, that's probably one of the

most interesting aspects of this time frame. Likely this James

was the oldest of the rest of the brothers, of

the sons of Mary. I'm going to read from Matthew

thirteen just to kind of get a background. Matthew thirteen

fifty five four to fifty six. And when he was

come into his own country, he taught them, and we're

speaking of Jesus. He taught them in their synagogue insomuch

that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man,

this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the

carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his

brethren James and Josephs and Simon and Judas and his sisters.

Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this

man all these things? And so the appearance of Jesus

to his brother in the flash, his brother James, is interesting.

We don't know the facts, but it's fascinating, and I

just let my wonder a little bit. Now, likely James

was the oldest of the brothers, because he listed first,

and so growing up in the same home, and likely

just several years younger than Jesus. They would have played

together boys, they would have interacted in the home setting.

They would have been under the influence of Joseph and Mary. Now,

when James's brother became I came to adulthood, he began

teaching and going about doing good and even performing miracles,

and many people were going after him. But James was skeptical.

John seven five says, for neither did his brethren believe

in him. And now there's some things going on. His

brother had been put to death in a cruel way.

His people, the Jews, had turned against him, and the

Romans had crucified him. Was he really a criminal? Did

he deserve to die? And now his disciples say that

they see him alive. Can this all be? No, there's

something wrong here. And as he's in deep thought, someone

comes up behind him and says, James, it's a familiar voice.

And turning around he sees Jesus. And you would be

so interesting to know of what that conversation consisted. Did

Jesus remind him of the stories that their mother told

of the time when her first born was born, and

some of the things of the of the shepherds, and

maybe of the angels and the wise men? Did he

do you remember those things that I assume Mary would

have told some of those things? Did Jesus point to

him the prophecies concerning himself? Did he speak to him

of the things pertaining to the king Kingdom of God?

I think, according to our text we could say that

that's what he did. Whatever that meeting was, James became

a firm believer in the deity of Jesus. Then if

we go a little bit further in Acts one, I'm

going to read again our text and then go a

little bit further. Our text says to to whom also

he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,

having been seen in them forty days and speaking of

the things retained to the Kingdom of God. And then

he goes on and tells about the ascension of Jesus

into Heaven Verses twelve and thirteen. Then returned they under

Jerusalem from the mount called Alivet, which is from Jerusalem

and Sabbath Day's journey. And when they were come, they

went into an upper room where abode Builth. And then

the the disciples are listed. It says these all continued

on the court in prayer and supplication with the women,

and marry the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

So by now the brethren of Jesus believed, because they

were part of that group in the upper room. And

so James became a leading apostle in Jerusalem. It thought

that he was the first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem.

He was a one that presided over the Jerusalem Council.

In Acts fifteen. He wrote the Epistle of James, not

as the brother of Jesus, but as a servant of

God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is thought

that the writer to the book of Jude was probably

the other another brother, and he starts his epistle this way, Jude,

the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. And

so our text says that there were many infallible proofs,

or we might say irrefutable proofs of his resurrection. I'd

like to list just a few of the proofs that

I that I gather as I gleaned here. I think,

first of all, he proved that he was human. He

had been dead. There were those that proposed what we

call the swoon there. In fact, number of years back,

I went into a bookstore, a Christian bookstore, and I

saw a book that was talking about the swoon happening

of Jesus and that he didn't really die. But you

know that there was a centurion who had seen many crucifixions.

He verified that Jesus was dead. The soldiers who had

also when they came to Jesus to make sure he

was dead, they would have broke his bones, but no,

he was already dead, so they verified that he was dead.

One thing that I think it is good to remember

that only a human could experience bodily death, and so

Jesus was proving that he was human by dying. And

now he appears in a body that bears the scars

of his torture, and death. He eats. Peter said they

ate and drank with him. That would indicate that he

was not just a spirit. He invites Thomas to touch him.

If he was only a spirit, he would have been

gone in a poof walks, He talks, he interacts with

his close friends. He was human. Secondly, he also proved

that he was spirit. There were no physical barriers that

barred him from moving about. When the door was shut,

that didn't keep him out. I've had to think how

unnerving that must have been for the disciples to be

in a closed room with a locked door nobody could

get in. All of a sudden, here's Jesus in their midst.

So he was a spirit. Number three, he proved that

he is divine, even though he proved his event or

excuse me, even though he proved his humanity. Yet there

is the aspect of being divine again. He performed a miracle,

the draft of fishes. No one else could do that.

Only God could do that. But a greater proof of

his divinity was the ascension. After the forty days, in

the presence of his disciples, he leads him to a

mountain and he blesses him, and while they beheld he

was taken up, and a cloud received him out of

their sight. He ascended to his father. The angels told

the disciples that he was taken up, that he was

taken up from you into heaven. Just a little side

note here. As I was studying this, it just reminded

me of when I was a boy. At home. We

had a picture of the ascension and Jesus was there

with his hands raised and going up, And as a boy,

I thought, you know, that'd be pretty great to rise

up like that. I wonder if I can go too.

It didn't work. I was not called to a send

like Jesus. Okay, that's just a side note. Number four.

He proved that he still had concern for the needs

of his followers by the Sea of Galilee. There he

could have just showed himself, but he wanted his disciples

to be successful in their fishing endeavor. He also wanted

to meet the needs of their hunger. He fixed breakfast

for them. You know, a person concerned only about himself

would not have gone to the extent of preparing for

a hungry crew that had been up all night. And

I had to think how that he had a concern

for the great multitudes. He didn't want to send them

away hungry, lest they faint by the way, and so

he fed them. Five thousand of them he fed them.

And now he was concerned about his disciples that had

been up all night fishing, and he fixed breakfast for them.

One thing that impressed me, Jesus didn't say, what are

you doing gone fishing? There's more important things to do.

He was. He enhanced their efforts that they were trying

to put forth Number five. He proved that he is

still the good shepherd. I was blessed this morning thinking

about that. I was blessed this morning with our bulletin

says in the front. He shall feed his flock like

a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arms

and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead

those that are with young. He told Peter, he said,

to feed my sheep. He didn't say, Peter, you go

and find your own flock. You've not been very faithful.

I'll take care of my flock, you take care of yours. No,

he's told Peter, said, feed my feed my lambs, feed

my sheep. He told him that his flock need to

be cared for. His flock. He is a he's a

good shepherd, He's a great shepherd of the sheep. The

sixth proof that I would like to mention is I

believe that he proved that it was necessary for more

than twelve disciples to witness that he was alive. Why

could not have he just showed himself to the twelve

and let them proclaim it to others? Jesus knew that

the story of his resurrection to be believable, needed to

be by many who actually physically saw him, five hundred

at once. You know, I tried to imagine one of

gathering that must have been and what was going on. Well,

I think according to our text he was speaking of

the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Well, that's

just a little snapshot of forty days, and I just

I can't imagine what all went on. Where all was Jesus?

Where did he? Where did he abide? Where was all this?

I guess as I was thinking about this, I think

I came up with more questions and answers. But to me,

it's been a blessing to just think about this, these

irrefutable proofs. So after the forty days were over, there's additional, many,

many proofs of a living lord. There's been nearly two

thousand years of proof of his resurrection, proof that lives

have been changed, proof that there's been victories one over

sin and Satan and evil. But I'm so thankful this morning,

so grateful and so impressed that Jesus took forty days

to confirm in an irrefutable way that he is alive forevermore,

thank you for your attention