“Do You Believe in the Resurrection?” - Pastor Scotty Brown

He is risen!

Yay!

Yeah, much better than the first service.

Okay.

Alright, hey, if you got a Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

My message is, "Do you believe in the resurrection?"

And in Matthew chapter 22, I'm gonna kinda get after this.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

I went on a long last time, and I gotta get a boy to the airport.

Or my wife does, but...

In Matthew chapter 22, some questions start coming at Jesus.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

And I don't know if you got questions. I got questions.

Scott questions? I got questions.

And a good teacher, I think, is always ready to field some questions,

especially when they come with a tone of desiring to learn,

and desiring to know the truth.

A lot of people ask questions, and they could care less,

and we'll see some of that today, but...

Here in Matthew chapter 22, Jesus first gets hit by the Pharisees

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

when they ask him about taxes.

A political question, right?

Should we pay taxes?

I don't know. What do you guys think?

Not! No.

Sorry, it's coming, like it or not.

And anyway, so they try to trip him up.

They said, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar or no?"

And Jesus, in his classic being full of knowledge and wisdom,

addresses them in Matthew 22, 18, and says,

"But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said,

'Why do you test me, you hypocrites?

Show me the tax money.'

So they brought him a denarius, and he said to them,

whose image and inscription is this,

and they said to him, 'Caesars,' and he said to them,

'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,

and to God the things that are God's.'"

And when they heard these words, they marveled,

and left him and went their way.

Right? He shuts them up, because hey, if Jesus says,

"Yes, pay taxes," right, then he's basically against the Jews,

and the Jews believe that their money could be spent on something

much better than giving it to Caesar.

So they felt like he would be against God if he said,

"Yes, pay taxes to Caesar."

But if he said, "No, don't pay taxes to Caesar,"

then he would be in trouble with Caesar.

So they really thought they had him over a barrel.

But he goes right to the heart of the issue,

and that's what I love about the Lord,

is he will put his finger right on your heart,

right where you're at in your life,

and he'll convict you, and he'll whisper in your ear,

"The Lord's gentle. He doesn't kick the door of your life,

and go, 'I'm here, you know, Lambo, you know, Lambo, God, Lambo.'"

Okay, never mind.

But he says, "Whose image? Whose image is on the coin?

It's Caesar's image. Well, then give it to Caesar.

It's his."

But what he suggests, but he doesn't necessarily say,

is whose image is on you?

Whose image is on you?

The Bible says that we are created in the image of God.

Then you need to give to God what's his.

"Our life is not our own," the Bible says.

"You and I have been bought with a price,

the precious blood of Jesus."

We heard the question this week

when we were in Costa Rica, what's more important,

the death of Christ or the resurrection?

Well, other people have died before,

but I'm really thankful for the death of Christ

because the Bible says that his blood that was shed there

on Good Friday cleanses me from my sin,

but nobody's ever risen from the dead never to die again.

And not only does he have eternal life,

he offers eternal life to you and I.

So which is more important?

It's kind of like saying what's more important,

the lock or the key, right?

And both are powerful, but the resurrection is the pearl.

It's the completion of the gospel, the resurrection.

And do you really believe in it?

Now, if you really believe in it,

it totally affects the way you live your life.

If you truly honestly believe in the resurrection

of the Lord Jesus Christ and his promise

that you and I will be resurrected as well.

So we automatically should give to God that which is his.

And I've found that when you do, life is so much better.

Right?

And so that was the first question.

The next question is more of a doctrinal question.

We read it, read along with me in verse 23 of Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

"And the same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,

came to him and asked him, saying, 'Teacher,

Moses said that if a man dies having no children,

his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.

Now there were with us seven brothers.

The first died after he had married and having no offspring,

left his wife to his brother.

Likewise the second also the third, even to the seventh.

Last of all, the woman died also.

Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of the seven shall she be,

for they all had her.'

Jesus answered and said to them,

'You are mistaken not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God,

for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage,

but are like angels of God in heaven.

But concerning the resurrection of the dead,

have you not read what was spoken to you by God,

saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at his teaching."

Amen.

Jesus just knows how to shut people up.

Right?

He lands base these guys, these Sadducees, right?

The Sadducees were the religious liberals of their day.

There weren't many of them, but they were very wealthy and very influential,

these Sadducees.

And this group accepted only the authority of the first five books of the Bible.

The Sadducees did not believe in the spirit world, in the doctrine of the resurrection.

Acts chapter 23 verse 8 says,

Acts 23:8

"For Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit,

but the Pharisees confess both."

And so the Sadducees, the old saying in Christendom, right,

is, "Say there's no resurrection. That's why they are sad, you see."

And, and, that would be very sad, would it not?

I don't know about you, but if this is all there is, it's terrible, right?

If this is the only hope you got, you don't have hope, life after death,

do you believe in the resurrection?

I mean, really believe.

Because when you do, it does, it totally changes your life.

So this second question, this question that the Pharisees come with are,

you know, there's one political, one doctrinal, Gino Grassi,

the pastor of South Denver, Calvary Chapel, he said this,

"Now we know that politics do divide and doctrines do divide.

The fact that politics divide does not eliminate the need to be governed,

and the fact that doctrines divides does not mean that there is no such thing as truth."

Politics divide, right?

Got some Dems and some Republicans in the room?

Maybe not.

Just wondering.

But they're divided, are they not?

Right?

And there is the left and the right,

and there is light and darkness, and there are fools,

and there's those who are wise, and you see all in the political realm.

My old buddy said, "Politics is a compound Greek word that means 'poly',

which means 'many', and 'tix', which means 'blood-sucking parasites'."

Those of you in politics, no offense, right?

Hopefully you're doing it God's way, right?

But neither one of these groups could care less about the truth, right?

When they came to Jesus with these questions, they didn't want the truth.

They simply wanted to get rid of Jesus or embarrass him or humiliate him,

which is pretty hard to do against God.

You're not going to overcome him.

You're not going to be more wise than him.

The Bible says the foolishness of God is more wise than the greatest wisdom of mankind,

and it's so true.

But people ask sometimes questions, not because they want to know the answer.

A lot of times it's just because they want to start an argument.

I get people talking to me all the time about stuff,

about things that I've said from this pulpit,

and I've said some things from this pulpit

that probably aren't overly popular, and that's okay.

I'm a big boy. I guess I can take my lumps.

But a lot of questions are just really stupid.

Stupid questions.

And I've heard people say there's no stupid questions.

I have to disagree.

There are some stupid questions, right?

You know, in Christendom, you hear all these growing up in your Christian walk, you know,

"Can God make a rock so big that he couldn't carry it?"

Now, the people who ask that, they don't really want to know the answer, right?

They just want to try to fumble somebody up to come up with some stupid answer.

And really, when you think about the character of God,

the answer would be obviously no, because that would be a stupid thing.

Why would he do that?

Or how about this one?

Where did Cain get his wife?

Well, we all know that one.

He went to FarmersOnly.com.

Because Cain was a farmer.

Founding some chick with covered oils.

Or how about this one?

Did Adam and Eve have a belly button?

That's a good question.

Not.

Right?

They didn't have an umbilical cord because they were created, right?

But who doesn't know that God didn't go, "Goo, goo, goo, there's your navel."

Some debate on whether it's an innie or an outie.

I don't know.

Who cares?

It's a stupid question.

So, the Sadducees are right in vain with those stupid questions.

They talk about this woman who married seven brothers.

My first question is, "She must have been a bad cook."

But it's actually ridiculous when you think about it.

Now, they're alluding to a law that was actually in the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy 5 verses 5 through 10.

Deuteronomy 5:5–10

It talks about God so loves the family and He loves the airship of family and it's His design.

That's why this same-sex transgender stuff is such a stench in the nostrils of the Lord.

I'll get some emails on that.

Got a smoking one while I was gone on the whole supporting Israel thing.

God so loves this idea of family that if a man was to die without having any sons, that his brother had the duty to raise up a son with the dead man's wife,

that he would have an heir and that his name would continue on.

That's God's heart.

But these guys are just ludicrous in thinking, you know, a lot of Bible scholars think that they were kind of snickering back and forth thinking they were really going to get Jesus to come up with some kind of a silly answer.

But they didn't even believe in the resurrection.

And they had this skewed view that life, if there was in fact a resurrection, that life would continue like we experience it now.

Who would want that?

Who would want life to continue like we experience it now?

Trouble, heartache, sickness, death.

I mean, no, I'm looking for something much better.

And I'm thinking there is something much better.

But this wasn't a new idea.

Even in the law of Moses, it went clear back to Genesis chapter 38.

Genesis 38 · chapter mention

You guys remember the story, right?

When the family drama was getting too much for Judah, you know, after they sold Joseph.

And he's just like, ah, and he throws in the towel and he leaves and he marries a cane to that woman.

He has a son named Ur and he takes a wife for him and Ur dies.

Actually, God kills Ur because he's wicked.

And but, but Judah had another son named Onan and he gave him to that to that wife to raise up an heir to his brother.

But this dude was just as wicked and actually in the sex act, he admitted his semen on the ground.

And so that he didn't have to raise up an heir to his brother.

He hated the whole, it's a lever rate bow as how it's spelt or a lever rate marriage.

It means brother-in-law that he was supposed to do that.

Because the Bible says in Malachi that God seeks, listen, God seeks godly seed.

That's why he loves this whole holy matrimony between a man and a woman.

Because from a man and a woman can come godly seed.

That's God's heart.

That's his love.

That's his focus is us.

He loves us.

So when people come along and say that the same sex thing is okay, that's a lie right out of the pit of hell.

Right?

It is a lie because it does not produce life.

It does not produce life.

It only produces death.

And that's what sin produces, right?

The wages of sin is death.

And so, so they're there.

They come together with this ludicrous story and Jesus answers them.

And in verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God."

He says, "You're mistaken."

Actually the word for mistaken there is deceived.

You have deceived yourself.

Have you deceived yourself?

Do you know what truth is?

Or should I ask you this?

Do you know who truth is?

Because ultimately truth is a person and his name is Jesus, right?

He said, "I am the truth."

And basically he says, "You don't know what you're talking about."

Now many people don't understand the Bible.

They are ignorant of the scriptures.

Not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God, what Jesus is saying here, their mistake was rooted in two causes.

First, they did not know the scriptures because obviously they didn't read the entirety of the Old Testament.

They only held on to the first five books.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

And so they didn't, they hadn't read about a lot of the things that the prophets talked about and that were prophesied in the Psalms.

They weren't embracing these things and in the book of Isaiah, they were talking about a future life and a future kingdom known as the Millennial Kingdom.

They didn't know of these things.

They were ignorant.

They didn't know God's Word.

And secondly, they did not know the power of God being basically anti-supernaturalists.

They didn't believe in the supernatural.

And no wonder they're sad.

This was true of them even though their religion, in their religion, they were highly trained.

They were very knowledgeable in what they knew and what they supposedly believed.

It is possible for a person to have much Bible knowledge and yet fundamentally not know the scriptures.

Right? I talk to people like that a lot.

In fact, I got chastised here.

Like I said in an email while I was gone and they were quoting scripture to me.

But you have to take the entirety of the scripture.

You can't just single out one thing and make your own doctrine from it.

And they said that the Jews were condemned in this email.

The Jews were condemned because in John chapter 8, Jesus said they were liars and of their father, the devil.

John 8 · chapter mention

But when you take the entirety of the strict scripture, you look at Romans, right?

It says that all men are liars.

So the Jews must be worse liars than you and I. Let God be true and every man a liar.

It says they're in Romans.

And so they also alluded to the verse that says you must hate evil.

Therefore, because the Jews are liars, they're evil.

So we must hate them.

But in the entirety of the scripture, in Luke chapter 8, Jesus calls his disciples evil.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

So we're supposed to hate the disciples too?

This person who wrote this email to me, if you're here, you do not know the scriptures or the power of God.

Because the power of God can actually convert a Jewish soul.

He did it.

Right? Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, they were saved men.

They were part of the same hedon.

They were Jewish men.

They were religious Jews that got saved.

And Jews are continuing to get saved.

When you hate,

you're very possibly disqualifying yourself.

So, the power of God.

The Sadducees denied supernatural truth just as the existence of angelic beings and the bodily resurrection.

They had a fundamental doubt of the power of God to do beyond what they could measure and understand in the material world.

Many today are like the Sadducees in this respect.

Right?

I believe it if I see it.

And yet God calls us to believe without seeing.

You remember Jesus, right? When he had his little encounter with doubting Thomas at the resurrection.

Thomas says, "Unless I put my hand in his side and I stick my finger in the hole of his hands, I won't believe."

And you guys remember the story Jesus shows?

Hey, Thomas, look here. Go ahead. Stick your hand in there. Right here.

Here. Right? Let's see.

Can you hit the hole? Let's go.

He said, "Blessed are you, Thomas," and he falls down. You remember what he says?

"My Lord and my God."

And Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Thomas, for saying you believe, but more blessed are those who believe without seeing."

And so that's where faith comes in.

That's where believing in the resurrection.

Now, when I came to faith in Christ,

I was still young and death still had a little bit of a hold on me, but not nearly the grip that it had on me before.

I was still competing in rodeos and I had some friends get killed riding bulls and I continued to do it knowing that it could be.

And one of them big boogers step on your noggin, it's kind of like a zit.

Pop that, baby. Pop your head wide open.

And, um, but I had put my faith in Jesus and I was walking by faith knowing that if I did die, which some had, I was okay.

Because I believed. I believed that this life wasn't it, that there was more.

Matthew Poole, the Bible scholar says this, he says, "If you knew the power of God," speaking of the Sadducees,

"If you knew the power of God, you would know that God is able to raise the dead.

If you knew the scriptures, you would know that God will raise the dead."

He going to do it. He's going to raise the dead, righteous and unrighteous.

And we need to believe that. We need to be ready for that.

Job asked the age old question, right? In Job chapter 14, verse 14, "If a man dies, shall he live again?"

Job 14:14

And then he kind of answers his own question. "All the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes."

The Bible says that when Jesus comes, you and I are going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye, like that we're going to be changed.

We're going to receive a new body.

And as hard as Job's life was, he had hope of something better.

And we know that at the end, holy cow, he gets it all.

The Lord increases, doubles everything that he had lost.

His patient faith kept him there.

But in chapter 19, he says, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, that he shall stand at the last on the earth.

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh I shall see God."

Job knew of the resurrection.

He believed it.

Do you honestly believe in the resurrection?

Do you know that God has the power to raise you?

If you don't, I would like to give you that opportunity today.

You can know that you're going to be raised from the dead.

You can know that you possibly may be able to escape death and take part in the rapture of the church.

First Thessalonians chapter four, read it and get excited.

Then in verse 30, Jesus says this, "For in the resurrection..."

This is suggesting Jesus believes in the resurrection.

Is there a greater authority on God's word than Jesus?

In fact, in Revelation, when he comes back, isn't it written on his thigh, the word of God?

He is the word of God, the living word of God.

Jesus believed it. He says, "For in the resurrection, they neither marry or are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven."

But this new body that we get is, it's different.

It's different than this body.

One pastor said, "God gives us a body appropriate to where we are."

Right? With this body's appropriate on the earth.

We love procreation. God loves his image. Right?

And we get to be a part of that.

In the life to come, when we get our new body, right?

God's going to give us a body appropriate to where we are.

We're going to be in his presence.

We're going to actually be able to see him face to face, to see the full essence of God.

Has any man ever seen the full essence of God?

I don't think so.

Because the Bible says you can't and live.

Right? Jesus said no one has seen God at any time in the full essence.

Jesus was, yes, God in human flesh, but he was veiled by flesh.

The God of heaven.

That you and I couldn't stand in his presence being a sinful, fallen creature.

But there's a time when we're going to be.

Not all about you, but I get a little giddy when I start thinking about it.

Warren Wiersbe says this, "Jesus did not say that we would be angels when we are glorified in heaven.

He said we would be as the angels, in that we would be sexless and not married or given in marriage.

The foolish stories we hear and the cartoons we see about people dying and becoming angels are certainly unbiblical.

And that's so true.

When people tell me when their loved one dies, well, they're an angel.

No, they're not.

You know, if they're with Jesus, they're a glorified human being.

And the Bible says that we get to judge the angels.

Right now, we're lower than the angels.

And the Bible says that angels desire to look into these things, this whole salvation thing.

It kind of behooves them.

That you and I have a choice.

You have a choice today, whether you're going to believe in the resurrection or not.

You have that choice.

Have you made it?

I can't wait.

Because God gives us those bodies.

1 Corinthians 15 tells us all about it.

Right?

The difference between the body here on earth, like taking a kernel of corn and putting it in the ground.

And then the plant that comes up from that corn, does it resemble anything like that kernel?

No.

Inside it, you see it.

Because then you get all kinds of questions about how it...

Well, will we know each other or nothing?

Well, Charles Spurgeon said, "Well, I sure hope we're not more stupid in heaven than we are here."

I would hope we would know each other.

It's going to be incredible.

I always read this passage.

If you have a Bible, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I'm going to be kind of quick here.

2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Always read this at funerals.

And as you get older, this becomes more...

Has more substance to it.

It says, "For in this we groan," chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 2,

2 Corinthians 5:2

"For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven.

If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed,

that mortality," that's this carcass, "may be swallowed up by life.

Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God."

Jesus said what?

"I go to prepare a place for you."

Right?

"And if I go, I'm going to come and I'm going to receive you unto myself.

In my Father's house are many dwellings."

Dwelling place.

He's making me this dwelling place.

I'm thinking it's going to be about 6, 10.

I'm just kidding.

But I know this is going to be good.

It's going to be so different, right?

The Bible talks about that there's no sorrow there.

There's no pain there.

There's no tears.

There's no need for sleep, right?

The light is the lamb.

You can read about it in Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Powerful stuff.

David Guzik says, "The glory of heaven will be on you, and you will be on your own."

David Guzik says, "The glory of heaven will be a relationship connection with God that

surpasses anything else, including present family relationships."

You're going to have a relationship with God that

is like nothing you've ever experienced

when you believe in the resurrection,

when you taste of the eternal life that Jesus has for us.

Maybe you haven't tasted that yet because it's obvious that we get a little taste of it here.

When you know the Scriptures and the power of God.

Or could I say, when you know the Scriptures, you know the power of God.

Because Hebrews 4-12 says that the word of God, it's living and it's powerful.

It infuses you and I with power when we partake and we put it in our hearts.

So many people, they've never read the Bible.

Listen, I am a bonehead when it comes to studious stuff.

I'm not a very good reader.

I barely graduated high school.

There are a couple girls helping me get through special ed.

But I've been reading the Bible now for over 30 years.

I think I've read through the Bible probably about between 25 and 30 times.

And I receive more life now when I read God's Word than I did 25 years ago.

That's the word of God.

If you're not reading the word of God, you're not going to experience the power of God.

And they just throw a hand in a glove.

So start reading.

Yeah, we got that thing, you know.

And I got it with me, it was my other Bible, that hang on thing.

It's fascinating the scriptures that we read through while we were in Costa Rica.

It was just like it was spot on.

You know, the old saying, wherever you're at in the scriptures is where you're at in life.

It was just like, bam, bam, bam.

Wow, God's really speaking to us.

And we're experiencing the power of God.

When we went there, we worked a lot, right?

We worked a lot. We got tired.

But we had some people praying that on the way, the people that we would encounter,

the people we encountered on the way there and the way back,

I sat with a little boy and his grandma when we flew back from, I flew from Atlanta to Bozeman.

And he told me his name.

He says, "My name is Ian Grandpre Hurst." Right?

So his grandma started telling, it was a Christian, they were Christians.

His grandma started telling me, he said, "This little boy," he said, "several years ago, his dad died."

His mom remarried this incredible Christian man that he has an older brother and older sister.

He said, "After that, she got cancer. She died, my daughter.

Now this man, this stepdad is raising these three kids, these three kids."

And she said, "It is amazing to see what God has done in this family."

Christmas day, their house burnt to the ground.

Yeah, this little boy, he's nine years old and he looks at me and he says,

"Everything happens for a reason."

Nine years old.

I'm going, "You're my new hero. I think I love you.

Can I change my middle name to Grandpre?"

I'm just thinking, this boy's got it. Right?

He's got it. He's not tripped up by death.

He knows his dad and his mom are in a good place.

They're with Jesus and he can't wait to get there at nine years old.

These guys are bringing this whole marriage thing to Jesus and he's going,

"You don't even get it." Right?

There's no need for that.

I know some people are bummed about that.

Now I'm not really.

I mean, I am crazy about my little bride.

We've been going on 37 years now.

Everywhere with my Connie is sweeter than the year before. Right?

But she has had to put up with me for those 37 years. Right?

It's kind of like the Mormon missionaries that went and was telling this woman about eternal marriage.

"You can be sealed to this man for time and eternity."

She goes, "You get out of my house. Don't you ever come back."

And the missionaries were taken back. They're going, "Ma'am, we're so sorry. What did we do?"

She said, "I've been married to this bum for 25 years. I dang sure ain't going to be married to him forever."

So finally, verses 31 and 32, Jesus takes them to their own scriptures.

He said, "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read?"

Jesus Christ is indicting these religious people for not reading the Bible.

What would he do to you if you stood before him today?

Have you not read what was spoken to you by God saying,

"I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

God is not the God of the dead, but the living.

Now get it. This is New Testament times. This is the time of Jesus.

They're back there a couple thousand years.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He said, "I am their God." He did not say, "I was their God."

He is their God right now because they are alive.

Right? And Abraham is speaking in Luke chapter 16 when you see Abraham is alive and well.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

He's in paradise. He's speaking to the rich man.

He says, "You guys, I'm not the God of the dead."

Right? "Only the God of the living."

Souls, listen, souls do not die.

They get a new body.

So there's two resurrections.

The first one is the one you want to take part in because you get a new body.

It's as the angels, the Bible says, right?

Man, you get to go to and fro, you know, travel at, I don't know, Mach 10, maybe.

You get this new body.

But listen, the second resurrection, they get a body that seems to burn for all eternity.

Where Jesus said, "Their worm does not die," speaking of torment,

"and their fire is not quenched," speaking of the heat and punishment of hell.

Which body do you want?

Listen, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive.

Why? Because Jesus is alive.

Amen?

Jesus Christ is the cure for death.

Have you taken the cure?

He's the death eater. He's the death conqueror.

James chapter, excuse me, John chapter 11, 25, "I am the resurrection and life.

John 11 · chapter mention

He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9, "He tasted death for every person," Jesus did,

Hebrews 2:9

"everyone who would accept him."

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 15, "That he came to release those who through the fear of death their whole life have been shackled."

Hebrews 2:15

Are you set free from the fear of death?

That's what the resurrection brings.

Right? You can't be defeated.

This body is actually invincible until God's done with it.

My closing question to you is, do you believe the word of God and the power of God?

Because if you do, you will resurrect and receive that new body.

Because the word of God is living and it's powerful, sharpening a two-edged sword, right?

Able to divide against bone and marrow and against soul and spirit.

In the last verse, it says, "And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at his teaching."

This is an astonishing thing, this resurrection.

It's a glorious thing.

More Costa Rica, they shut down from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday to celebrate the Passion Week.

And yet, so much of it, so much of them there are like the Sadducees.

They don't really believe it.

They think they know, but they don't really know.

I want you to know that you can know, but it comes with the words of your mouth as you confess the Lord Jesus

and believing in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.

That's the conversion experience, right?

That you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.

And I want to give you that opportunity now as the band comes up to play this last song.

The prayer team is going to be over here as these guys are singing this song.

I want to invite you, if you've never, if you've never received the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you want to believe in the resurrection, the resurrected Christ is a person,

then come forward and these guys will pray with you during this song.

Just come on up.

It doesn't matter who you're with.

They'll wait for you.

Don't be embarrassed, right?

Jesus was not embarrassed to go to the cross for you.

And he hung there absolutely totally and completely naked on your behalf and mine.

So please don't be embarrassed.

You just come and you receive him.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for resurrection Sunday.

Lord, will we focus on the fact that you went into that grave and you conquered it, Lord.

You overcame, Lord.

You offer us life and hope and peace, even the midst of turmoil in this life.

And so Lord, I just pray for those who need to just make that commitment.

Lord, they needed to just come to you and bow the knee because of how great you are.

You did what no one else has ever done in the history of humanity.

You're the greatest hero who has ever lived and died only to come back to life and offer eternal life to all of your subjects.

We love you.

That's you today.

Just cry out to him.

Like I did when I was 23, I said, "Oh Lord Jesus, I'm such a mess.

I need you to come into my life and take it over.

I've hurt people. I've hurt myself. I've done things that are just so shameful.

Forgive me.

Calm and indwell me.

Fill me with the power of your Holy Spirit to live this life that you're calling me to."

That's your prayer. He's going to hear you.

He heard this fool and he's filled me with life now and forever.

May that be the case for you today.

In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.

Let's all sing.

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