The Greatest Escape! - April 20, 2025

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

I just want to wish you again a happy Resurrection Day. and you already know

what the sermon's going to be about, so there's no surprise there.

Well, this is a special day, and you know, we have all these kids up here,

and they remind us how important it is to have that childlike faith.

And you know, that childlike faith, think back when you were kids,

the things that you would believe or the things that your parents taught you,

and later that grew into an exercise of faith that perhaps you share now,

an exercise of faith and believing in Jesus and who He is and what He means to you.

And when I was a kid, I grew up in the 80s, okay?

A great time to grow up, you know, 70s and 80s, but mostly in the 80s.

And I grew up in the era where they had video stores when VHS tapes came out,

you know, and those kind of things.

Not none of the streaming things, but you could go down to Blockbuster Video

or another video shop and you could get movies.

And they did something great in those days, which was good for our Christian

family, is they would show the network premiere of a movie on TV,

which means they took out the cussing, they took out the inappropriate parts,

and you could kind of see the story about what was going on.

And I remember one movie in particular.

It's called Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. You know that guy

still makes movies today?

That's amazing. It joins a long line of other great escape movies,

like The Great Escape, about POWs escaping during World War II,

about some other ones, Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.

I don't know if anyone watched those.

We have Madagascar, Escape to Africa, if you watch that cartoon.

And any of my sci-fi friends in here, Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

You know, that's another good escape movie, but none of them compared to the

Escape from Alcatraz movie.

You know, it's based on this story that perhaps you heard or those of you that

lived in California, especially the Bay Area, you're very familiar with that.

You know, escaping from Alcatraz, they said it couldn't be done,

an island, a prison out in the San Francisco Bay.

No one's going to escape there. Where would they go to the water and who's going

to survive something like that?

But there were three men, against all odds, who sought their freedom,

who sought to be free from this place that incarcerated them,

this inescapable fortress.

But these three guys did it. They broke free.

They broke out. And it still remains a mystery today. Did they die in the bay? Did they succeed?

Exactly what happened? And we're not going to answer that today,

but it leaves that question in your mind. And it's that kind of idea that when

we think about today, what did the disciples, the early disciples,

the ladies that went to the tomb, what did they have in their mind?

Imagine the tomb of Christ sealed, soldiers protecting it on the outside to

keep the body of Jesus secure on the inside.

And think when the ladies first came, when the disciples came and they saw the

tomb, the stone rolled away on that Easter morning.

And he was gone, not as a fugitive, but as a victor over sin,

a victor over death itself.

What must they have thought with all this going through their minds?

We don't know about the Alcatraz fugitives, but I think we know a little bit

of something about where Jesus is, and it's not in that grave anymore.

As a matter of fact, we'll see in Scripture today how Jesus appeared to those

after he rose again, even 500 brothers at once.

We think about the power of this, the greatest escape, the greatest escape of all.

Think about what Jesus went through in the last week before his crucifixion.

You know, there was another man that was raised from the dead.

His name was Lazarus. Now, he, of course, later died.

But Jesus performed this miracle, and it really upset the religious people, the Pharisees.

They sought even more so to kill Jesus, to get rid of this thorn in their flesh.

They kept messing up what they were trying to do. And, of course,

as Jesus, we talked about last week of this triumphal entry,

going into Jerusalem, and people shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And really the expectation that he would lead a revolt against the occupiers

and be setting God's people free, enabling them to live as God wanted them to live.

And then as the week went on, we see Jesus surveyed Jerusalem,

went back to Bethany, came back, and we see a clearing of the temple in the court of the Gentiles.

It's the only place where Gentiles, non-Jews, could come to worship,

and they set up a market in there.

And Jesus said, this is supposed to be a house of prayer, but you've made it into a den of thieves?

Boy, from then on, there was just this opposition. There was this testing,

this trying, reaching the climax on Thursday.

As Jesus had his meal with his disciples, washed his disciples' feet,

showed them the nature of who he was as the Messiah was one that would be a servant.

And how even at the table that they shared in common, there was one set there to betray him.

And Jesus said, hey, go and do what you got to do. Do it quickly, Judas.

And then how they went to the garden to pray. And Jesus went there and he was

struggling with what was to come.

And he asked his closest disciples, hey, pray with me. And so he goes and prays.

He comes back and he finds his disciples conked out asleep.

And if you ever did one of those 24 hours of prayer, that could have been you. It's been me before.

Pastors always take the overnight hours, right? That's what we were taught.

Sometimes you doze off, and that scripture comes to mind as you wake up.

Couldn't you even keep watch with me for one hour?

We know Jesus continues to pray, sweat pouring off him like drops of blood,

and then the betrayer comes. Jesus is arrested.

Jesus has tried in a kangaroo court, if you will, trumped up charges, hearsay, half-truths.

After Judas had betrayed him, he was arrested and tried all night,

brought before the Roman authorities and Pontius Pilate.

End up getting compared to a common criminal rabble rouser named Barabbas.

And Pilate asked the crowd, who do you want to be set free?

Barabbas or this Jesus, the king of the Jews?

And the crowd who used to say, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now instead, we're saying, crucify him, release Barabbas, crucify him.

They called for the crucifixion of Jesus.

And we know the long march with Jesus after he was beaten, after his beard was

ripped out, after the helmet or the crown of thorns was crammed onto his head,

he was given a cross to carry all the way to the place of the skull,

Golgotha, where he was crucified.

And through the sayings on the cross, made it very clear of what Jesus' mission

was, on how he was truly going to defeat sin, how he would defeat even death in the process.

And when he said his last thing on the cross, it is finished.

The debt has been paid in full. He cried out to God, into my hands I commit my spirit.

Into your hands I commit my spirit. And he breathed his last breath.

And we know this dead Jesus, he was dead. He wasn't faking it.

On the cross. The cross, horrible, horrible punishment for an innocent man.

To see if he's dead, they plunged the spear into Jesus' side and the blood and

water poured out. The blood had begun to coagulate, to separate.

They knew he was dead. They put

him in that grave. And that's what had happened through this last week.

Of course, the followers, the disciples, so distraught, so confused.

And we know that those who followed on Saturday night, they didn't know if it

was the end or not, but some had hope, but all would be made clear in the morning.

And when we look to the scripture this morning in John chapter 20, we see John's account.

John 20 · chapter mention

It's very lengthy. So if you'd like to stand, you can. If you'd rather sit, that's okay.

But let's honor the reading of the word this morning from John chapter 20 verses 1 through 18.

John 20:1–18

The word of the Lord says this, early on the first day of the week,

while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone

had been removed from the entrance.

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one who Jesus

loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him.

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running,

but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

He bent over and looked at the strips of linen lying there, but he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb.

He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth,

that had been around Jesus' head.

The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside.

He saw and believed. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus

had to rise from the dead.

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels in white

seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, Woman, why are you crying?

They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they have put him.

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not realize that it was Jesus.

Woman, he said, why are you crying? Who is it that you were looking for?

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away,

tell me where you've put him and I will get him.

But Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,

Rabboni, which means teacher.

Jesus said, do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to my father.

Instead, go to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my father and your

father, to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went to his disciples with the news. I have seen the Lord.

And she told them that he had said these things to her.

May God bless the reading of his word to your life today. You can be seated.

We think about the greatest escape that there ever was, the greatest escape

that Jesus was a part of greater than Alcatraz,

greater than any prison breaks by any fugitive, because this escape was an escape

over death itself, was an escape over sin,

something that neither of those things applied to Jesus.

And we see the greatest escape was an empty tomb and a risen Lord.

And then with this, we see three things that I just want to start with.

First of all, we see the great discovery. As you heard from the Scripture,

early in the morning, the women went and the stone was rolled away.

If you look through each of the Gospels, they cover the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And each one, they have a little different slant or a little different perspective

on it. It's great to do that.

On this day, I encourage you, if you haven't yet, go through and read every

single account. but the stone was rolled away and the focus was upon the empty tomb.

The focus was that there was no one inside.

All that was inside were the linens, the grave clothes, the burial clothes.

And I love what it says in Matthew, in Matthew 28, 8, when the angel says, he is not here.

He has risen just as he said.

But Jesus rose again from the grave.

This is the great discovery that led to some great reactions.

I love the little bit in our text today as we see Peter and then the disciple

who will not be named because it's John, and John's not going to write his own

name in his own writing here.

And so John, he says, the one who Jesus loved, John the Beloved,

says they had a little sprint race to the tomb after the ladies went back and

said, hey, they moved Jesus' body and we don't know where it's at.

Well, yeah, well, let's go see. And so Peter and John take off.

John, of course, was more fit or lengthy or in his stride or whatever.

He reaches at first, looks in, and then Simon looks in.

And it's interesting in the exchange with Peter. Now, remember Peter,

one of the last things he said to Jesus was, hey, I'm not going to betray you.

I'm not going to sell you out. But yet Jesus told him before the rooster crows

three times, you're going to deny me that same amount.

And in fact, he did. And so can you imagine being Peter? You've run to the tomb.

He's not there. And the thoughts that must have been going through his head.

But then we see the interaction with John too.

John the Beloved, as he looks in, and as he sees it, and he just believes.

He just had faith. Maybe the things that Jesus said were starting to click with

him, and he had faith even with Peter's bewilderment.

We know it's going to take a few chapters, a little bit of time before Peter

really feels restored by the risen Christ in a conversation that they have later on.

But we see here the great reactions. And then we see Mary, Mary Magdalene,

the reaction that she gets, that she has.

She's equally as confused. She's worried.

We're here to anoint the body. It didn't have a proper anointing before he was buried.

We're here to do this, but his body's been stolen. It's not here anymore.

And the confusion that just went around her mind.

She makes this great discovery, this great discovery, encounter,

if you will, an eyewitness encounter, as she sees the angels after the guys

go back, go away, go back home.

And she sees these two men sitting in the tomb, the place where they laid him.

And she turns around and she sees Jesus, the first eyewitness to the risen Christ

right here, Mary, the special place that she holds to hear Jesus' first words,

which when we think about calling out her name, Mary.

Now that triggered her recognition of who he was.

And like any reaction, someone you haven't seen in a while or you've really

missed, man, you just grab onto him.

So she jumped at his feet and held on so tightly, never wanting to let go of him and lose him again.

Of course, Jesus says what he says, but she has this incredible eyewitness account.

We see all of these things we've just read, and we think about the idea that

the resurrection is not just a spiritual idea, something we that believe in

God and gather together to worship.

It's not just something that's spiritual, something that we just kind of believe

without any proof, because when we look at the Scripture, it's a historical

event. It's a physical event.

It's something that happened that was attested to by many. And here's another

scripture I want to share with you, 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 through 8.

1 Corinthians 15:3–8

The Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth these words, For what I received

I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according

to the scripture, that he was

buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures,

and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve,

after he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time,

most of whom were still living at that time, though some had fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James and then to the apostles, and last of all,

appeared to me also as to one abnormally born, Paul says of himself.

The credibility, the credence to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Our faith would be a lot different if we just celebrated some guy who died in

a tomb for some good things that he believed.

Well, we wouldn't have the power that we live in today. We wouldn't have the

victory, I don't think, that we could share in today.

But here in this incredible escape, this greatest escape, we see Jesus showing

himself to many, to many more.

And so what's the significance of all this?

First of all, we know that victory is declared.

Don't you love that? I hate those kind of football games or basketball games

where they just keep taking timeouts and timeouts and extending the end of the

sporting competition, especially when the team that keeps doing it is losing

anyway. They're not going to win.

Oh, timeout, timeout. Or official replay after official replay, officials timeout.

Boy, praise God this didn't happen with the victory that was declared with Jesus

Christ. Victory over sin, folks.

Those things that everybody is guilty of from the time we're born,

we can have victory over that through Jesus Christ.

Victory will have all those past sins forgiven. We praise God for that,

to have all sin forgiven.

If you think about it this way, Romans 4.29 says, he was delivered over to death

for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

That justification, that theological word means you're justified,

that your sins have been forgiven, and so you match up right with who the Lord expects you to be.

We say a verse, Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of what God expects.

All of us have pulled an arrow and shot at the bullseye in a target,

but missed the target completely.

We're not justified in our own works and what we do, but Jesus has made us that

way. Think about it this way.

Jesus' death on the cross, it paid the penalty for my sin,

paid the penalty for your sin, but it's his resurrection that shows that God

accepted the sacrifice because now he has victory over that sin,

victory over death itself,

which is the result of sin.

The wages of sin is death, the scripture says, but the gift of God is eternal

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It's because Jesus rose from the grave, we know that God accepted his punishment,

the punishment for you and me that was placed on Jesus, that the sacrifice was sufficient.

And that through the resurrection, we can have victory. Oh, you got to get excited

about that because there is that victory over sin.

It doesn't have to have control over you any longer because of what Jesus did.

When you submit yourself to God, when you ask him to forgive those sins,

you can stand up free from that, free from those entanglements.

Boy, you can live as God really wants you to live in the freedom of who he's made you to be.

All right. He's giving you victory over death as well. Death could not hold him.

He defeated humanity's greatest, greatest enemy there. And once and for all, he will defeat it.

Once and for all, when he returns to say, that's it, no more. No more of that stuff.

I read this last week, but I need to read it again. 1 Corinthians 15, 54 through 57.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, the mortal with

immortality, then the saying that is written will come true.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, he gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we know victory is declared. We also know that Christ's identity is confirmed.

There was no identity confusion with Jesus Christ.

He knew who he was. He was who he proclaimed, and then he proved it all through the resurrection.

He showed that he was who he said he was.

Look at Romans 1.4, and through the Son, and excuse me, and who through the

Spirit of holiness was declared with the power to be the Son of God by his resurrection

from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The scripture in Romans says that this was the proof of who Jesus was by raising

from the dead, by overcoming that power that nobody else could overcome.

That once and for all we know who, and we know who Jesus is,

but the significance isn't just a victory declared.

The significance of this isn't just that he was who he said he was,

that his identity was confirmed.

But we know that he secured hope through that. I mean, what would our faith

be like if we just worshiped a dead Savior?

Yeah, he's kind of a Savior. He died for my punishment, took my punishment,

but I guess we'll make a trip over to the Middle East and see him.

No, you can't, because he's not there.

Don't even know where the exact tomb is. There's some speculation,

but that tomb doesn't matter anymore.

What matters is that Jesus has given us a hope, A hope to live above the fray

of sin. A hope to live a life of holiness.

A hope that we can be who God has created us to be with the gifts and talents

He's given us to serve other people and be fulfilled like that.

See, the hope is secured that we can have eternal life.

Life everlasting. You can see in John, Jesus said to Mary or Martha,

I can't remember which right now, but I am the resurrection of life.

He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever believes in

me will never die. And then Jesus asked, do you believe this?

You believe in the possibility of eternal life. The fact that you can be with

God forever and ever, placing your faith in him.

But it's not just something future. It's new life now, folks.

You can live right now in the newness of life that God brings whenever I baptize someone.

That's part of what I say as I'm dunking them and lifting them up.

And they usually don't hear that phrase as I'm bringing them back up out of the water.

You're buried with Christ through baptism and his death, but you're raised through

the power of the resurrection into newness of life.

I don't know anyone in here if you had a reputation before.

You had a reputation, good or bad, but usually not good.

You come to Christ, that Christ forgives you. And some people will still look

at you as though you had that reputation that you used to have.

But Jesus transforms your heart. He transforms your life. And later on,

you meet those same people. They're like, something's different about you.

You're not that same person you were in high school, or you're not the same

person I used to work with.

Something's different. There's a transformation that happens through the power

of God, through his Holy Spirit.

New life now that you can live into.

I love what it says again in Romans 6, 4, we were therefore buried with him

through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the

dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Goes on in Ephesians to talk about living out this new life because the glorious

riches that is available to us through Jesus Christ.

That in Jesus, you have everything you need to live the life that God wants

you to live. And if there's something there that you need, maybe you really don't need it.

Trust God for how he wants you to live because we think about the significance of this.

You're just not saved to sit in a pew and just have fire insurance for a great

judgment that's coming one day.

God hasn't saved you to do that. God has a purpose for you.

He's got a plan for your life. And that plan for you is so that you can bless other people,

not so you can just grow up and go to church and then go home and do whatever

you want, but to go home and then to live out who God is wanting you to be,

who God has created you to be.

I love this choir that we had up here today.

I love the worship leaders that we have. I love our ushers and greeters,

our children's ministry workers, our youth workers, our Bible study leaders. God has gifted them.

He's given them talents to do what they do.

It's not by accident that they're doing because God had that plan for them.

And God's got a plan for you.

Some of you don't think you can do it, but I got to tell you,

if you have that faith in God, you step out in faith and say,

okay, God, what do you want me to do? He's going to answer that prayer.

He's going to say, come here, I got something great for you to do. All right.

We love this. There's new life in Christ. What we know last on this significance

point, is that our faith has been founded.

1 Corinthians 15 is a great chapter. If you look in that passage,

starting in verse 12, you kind of read through that.

Paul begins to reason that if Jesus Christ has not raised from the dead,

then our faith is futile.

Our faith is weak. Our faith is meaningless.

But he ends that by saying, ah, but death has been defeated,

but sin has been defeated, that you have victory in Jesus and you can live into

that. And that's what our faith foundation is all about.

As we sing, we serve a risen Savior.

He's in the world today. I know that he is living, no matter what men may say.

We think about the truth of this.

And so I want to talk to you as we close here about our great escape.

How do we live then in light of the resurrection?

How do we live now in the light that Jesus died for our sin?

Folks, he died for your sin personally, the sins of the whole world,

and he rose again from the greater. How do you live now?

Well, first of all, it means we live with hope that no matter what comes against

us, no matter what we come against, that we can trust the God that he's going

to work out things as he intends.

Think about again, Romans chapter 8, verse 28. God works all things together

Romans 8:28

for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

We think about living with hope that no matter the darkness or difficulty,

we have an unshakable hope because Christ is risen.

We also live without fear, especially the fear of death. We don't have to be afraid anymore.

Perfect love casts out fear, the scripture says. We don't have to be afraid.

The judgment's already been taken care of. The judgment was placed on Jesus

Christ as he died on the cross, taking the punishment for your sin.

There's no fear anymore when you hide your life in Christ. That punishment has

already been taken care of.

So now you can live free and be the person that God wants you to be.

To live that life of holiness, the things you couldn't do before.

You tried to do good. You tried to do right.

But in the end, it just blew up in your face and you ended up doing what you

wanted to do and doing sinful things anyway.

That's been taken care of now. Now you can try to do those things that are good,

that are right, that are holy, that are just,

and you'll find a success in that when you do them motivated by the Holy Spirit

of God, when you seek to be the person that God has created you to be.

Live without fear. You don't have to fear of judgment. Live in that freedom.

Live with purpose and live transformed.

You are not the people you used to be. You're not the person you used to be

before you came to know Christ.

So live like it. Live into the transformation.

Now, I know a lot of church people. I don't know anybody here,

maybe. But perhaps you grew up in the church and you grew up knowing how to wear a mask.

That even when things weren't good, you put on that church mask and you went

and you said, no, everything's fine.

How are you doing today? Oh, I'm just fine. When maybe you really weren't,

or maybe you were involved and just stuck in a sin you couldn't get out of and

you went to church and instead of coming to an altar and just letting go of

that, you just had your mask. Oh, I'm fine.

Everything's good. Even though you're heartbroken inside, even though you felt

like a hypocrite. And that's just inside of a church.

Think about the transformation that we can allow God to have in us,

that resurrection power when we decide that we want that change,

when we decide that no matter what happens, I'm going to live for God.

I'm going to ask God to forgive my sin, and I'm not going to turn back to it.

I'm going to keep going forward.

I'm going to keep ascending the heights of who God wants me to be. We can do that, folks.

And so I want to call you this morning to a response.

For those of you who've been in church for a while, for those of you that have

trusted Christ for a while, you've placed your faith in him,

you've asked him to forgive your sin, you're trusting him for your salvation.

What's the next step that God wants you to take? What's the next step that God

wants you to take in faith?

I'm not talking about giving an offering, not talking about coming to another Sunday school class.

Although if either of those things is what God's calling you to do,

go for it. No, I'm not gonna stand in the way of that.

But maybe it's the next step of faith in your growth with Christ.

Maybe you have put on that mask, and maybe it's time that God just wants you

to put that mask down and just be real with him. And say, this is me, God.

I ain't much to work with, but here I am. God will do that. He'll transform your life.

Maybe you've never made a commitment. Maybe you're like, yeah,

I've explored the Christian thing, but I met some Christians.

I don't want to be like them.

Hey, I can't argue with that. I've been that person before.

I've been that person that puts on a good show, but inside, I was struggling.

But thanks be to God, there was an altar that I could go to.

There were some brothers I could talk to.

There were some brothers who spoke some hard truth to me in love to bring about

the transformation that I needed to get rid of that sin once and for all,

not to go back to it again.

I don't know where you're at today, but I just want to give you that time to respond to God.

Are you trusted in his resurrection power today?

Do you know he can forgive your sin? I don't care what you've done.

I don't care who you were, but you could be transformed and be a new person

in Jesus. Is that you today?

Is God speaking to your heart saying, hey, I want you to get rid of this sin?

You can do it today. The people in this room, there's no judgment here because

we've all been in the same place before.

So I wonder this morning, would you come? Would you come and just reaffirm what

God has done? Live in the power of the resurrection.

Would you come and receive the power of resurrection? Receive the power for God to forgive your sin.

Come and receive the marching orders God has for you. You're not here by accident today.

There's never going to be a day exactly like this.

Never, ever again can you believe it. So take advantage of it today.

Take advantage of God speaking to your heart.

And if you'd like to come down, I'm just going to be down here and I'd love

to pray with you or talk with you or set something up for later.

But don't leave here today without settling some things with God.

If you're convinced that you've got something that needs to change, that's the first step.

Take the second step, which is actual physical step, and come forward and let's

talk. There's other brothers and sisters here who would love to pray with you as well.

I just want to encourage you today. While the hour is near, while Christ is

near, while we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

make that commitment to follow Him.

You're not going to find another risen Savior in any other religion.

There's only one God. There's only one Jesus.

There's only one that can forgive your sin.

So would you come today? I invite you to stand.

If anyone would like to come down, I just invite you this morning.

Music.

But death will bite. Sin will bite you.

There's a punishment for that if you don't trust Jesus and him taking your punishment.

So this morning, why don't you give up that sin? This morning,

why don't you ask him to transform your life?

Why don't you ask him, come and ask him to fill you with his Holy Spirit.

Let God move in you. I'm going to pray for you. I'm just going to be here while

the Holton sing and finish this out. If you'd like to come, I just invite you.

Father, thank you for the attention of everyone here. Lord, thank you for just

a wonderful day of worship.

Lord, I love these people. You first loved them, God.

Jesus loved them so much, he died on a cross for them. And so,

Lord, I just pray in the solemnity of this hour, in the holiness of this hour,

God, would you speak to our hearts?

There's something that needs to be forgiven, Lord. I pray that you'd forgive it.

Lord, if there's someone here this morning that does not know you,

God, I pray that I can make that introduction, that others will make that introduction to him today.

Lord, we just want people to live into the resurrection power in their daily lives.

And so, Lord, speak to our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.