Easter at Thanksgiving | Pastor Chris Kouba

Turn in your Bibles if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Before we um we get we get going.

Um I think there are some there's some times when it is appropriate and right for us to be reminded of who we are and where God is.

Every burden will be lifted in his presence.

Every trophy will be laid down at his feet.

Think about how hard you try for those trophies.

Think about how much those trophies matter.

And there's gonna be a moment when we're gonna be in front of the king, and you're gonna be like, this is not.

There's a name that reigns above all others.

Jesus Christ.

The king above all kings.

Father, we come before you today, and we recognize that you are the King of Kings and that you are the Lord of Lords.

We thank you for the testimony that we've already been able to celebrate, that you changed lives out of the fact that we saw a man in addiction who now is able to give testimony to the fact that that was his former life.

Because you've made all things new.

Thank you, Father, for the testimony of an 11-year-old who showed us today what it looks like to be buried with Christ and raised to walk in a new life.

I pray, God, that you would do things in that life where they would follow after you with such fervor and passion, they know nothing other than the testimony that the king is the king.

And all of our burdens and all of our trophies are going to be laid at your feet.

So, Father, we praise you, invite you into this place.

And as we open up your word and as we hear your truth, I pray, God, that our hearts would be changed.

This wouldn't just be like another church service, another time of sitting under the truth of your word.

But Father, may it stir the affections of our hearts so that we don't treat it like an academic exercise.

But instead, Father, may our worship be worthy of the one who deserves it.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

And amen.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your family or with your friends or whoever it is that you had a chance to gather with this past week.

I read an article recently that stated that Thanksgiving is the most popular holiday in America.

I was shocked to hear that, but Thanksgiving is slightly higher than Christmas and Memorial Day, and it is said to be the number one holiday that exists in America.

It's also reported that there are 400, let me get you the number right,$431 a person spent this past week on food, decor, and drinks on Thanksgiving, an average of$431 per person.

88% of Americans consume Thanksgiving turkey, which translates to 46 million turkeys eaten on Thanksgiving.

I don't know about you, but we got together as a family, went up to Dallas and got to see Hillary's family.

Always loved getting a chance to be able to do that and to be together with all of them.

And it's so interesting.

We kind of do the same thing every year, and you kind of want that to be the case.

Like we want things to be as traditional as possible.

And so, you know, you get the question like there's only one person likes this particular pie, yet we still make the pie, right?

Because that one person still likes it.

Only one person likes this one side dish, but you know what?

We make a big ol' helping thinking that some this year, some people are gonna decide to like it.

They never do, but it's the same thing, right?

You've got it all laid out, you've got all the different things that are there.

It's so traditional.

What I've always found, though, the most interesting about Thanksgiving, despite all of its traditions, for us, we're gonna sit on the couch and we're gonna watch the Lions game and we're gonna watch the Cowboys game, and now we're gonna watch whatever the next game is now at the end of the night.

And so you got all of these traditions that take place, yet for us, we never eat the Thanksgiving meal or we never eat turkey any other time the rest of the year.

I don't know about you, but I don't know if you do that or not, but but like for us, it's like a it's a one and done thing, maybe a leftovers, perhaps the next day because we don't want to move, right?

Kind of a thing.

But at the end of the day, it's like you only eat it for one day, yet there's all this nostalgia that exists about that one day, but the carryover effect is really short-lived.

31% of people, it's reported, actually eat the Thanksgiving meal outside of Thanksgiving Day.

I'm just kind of curious, how many of you actually eat turkey and dressing and all the different things outside of Thanksgiving Day?

Would you raise your hands?

Okay, you're the large minority.

I just wanted you to know that, okay?

That's awesome that you do.

I wish we would, because you do all this work, you do all this thought and all of this attention given to this one moment, yet it isn't replicated any other time the rest of the year.

The message title today is Easter at Thanksgiving.

What I want to talk to you about is Easter.

And you're saying, well, Easter, it doesn't have its own day.

And yes, it does have its own day, although at Easter you only spend$177.06 per person.

However, it is the lead of all of the holidays in milk chocolate sales.

Okay, so that's pretty exciting at Easter time.

Easter, of course, is the Super Bowl of the Christian.

It is the time when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

And here's what I want us to consider today.

Is Easter the same thing as Thanksgiving to where we celebrate it one day, but it doesn't really matter the rest of the year?

Is Easter one of those things that we get all excited about and we have all these traditions about, and we spend all of this time and energy and focus, and people come from all over the place to come into the church, and we all celebrate the same story every single time, but now that we're at Thanksgiving, does it still have any effect?

1 Corinthians chapter 15, we're gonna look at the story of the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

We're continuing in this series, we're actually finishing it up today, this look that we've been doing most of the fall in the book of 1 Corinthians, finishing up the series specifically called Against the Grain today.

And here is the question I want us to consider: why does Easter matter at Thanksgiving?

Why does Easter matter at Thanksgiving?

What we've seen in the book of 1 Corinthians is that at the very beginning of the book, it was a more of a theology of the cross.

It began to talk about why the cross, despite the fact that it's really hard to understand and how it doesn't make sense to the to the Greek or doesn't make sense to the to the Jew, it is the thing that is the salvation by which we allows us to have all of our hope and our life built upon.

It gives us theology.

In the middle section, it gives this big chunk at 1 Corinthians where it talks about some of the practical issues that were going on in the church there at Corinth.

And the issue that you had was that this church was acting way more like the world than being distinctively different.

And so Paul needed to address a number of different issues, which he does throughout the middle section, and now he comes back at the end of the book in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and he gives a whole chapter, 58 verses dedicated to the theology of the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

He's gonna tell us why the resurrection matters.

He's gonna tell us how we can prove it, how we can think about it logically, and then we're gonna see as well how we should then live in light of it.

Let's begin reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 1.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

It says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word, I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of them who are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

The resurrection is true.

This is the point of the first eleven verses to show that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not some oh yeah footnote on the end of a long story.

But instead, it says that the gospel story is of first importance.

This means of all the things that you hear, of all the things that you're gonna know, of all the things that you're gonna learn, this is the most important of all.

Now we know that in the book of 1 Corinthians, a lot of different topics have been addressed.

We saw at the beginning of the book that the issue of favoritism was addressed.

We then saw in chapters five and six the whole issue of how do you deal with conflict and how do you deal with lawsuits, and what do you do whenever you have disagreements in the church.

We then began to see an entire chapter that was dedicated to the issue of marriage and singleness in the church.

How does that whole thing look?

We then looked and saw what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, 9 and 10 about what do you do with the debatable issues?

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

What do you do with those gray areas?

How do you handle the things that aren't super clear, but they're also things that kind of of conscience.

How do you handle those types of things?

We then looked at a chapter, chapter 11, which talked about head coverings.

What are you supposed to wear when you gather in the worship service?

We talked about the Lord's Supper.

What is the Lord's Supper supposed to look like?

There's supposed to be order to it.

Last week we talked about the issue of spiritual gifts and what does spiritual gifts do, and how does that whole thing look?

And all of these things are important.

But he now gets to chapter 15 and he says, Look, this is of first importance.

Like of all the other things that are really a big deal, this is the biggest deal of them all.

What is this?

Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Folks, don't let your familiarity with this cause you to miss how big of a deal this is.

Like if this is true, it changes everything.

Like if this right here is actually legit, then it changes and shapes how we interact individually, how we interact as a community, and how we're supposed to respond as a church.

If this right here is true, it gives meaning and purpose to everything that we do in our lives.

If this is legit, then Easter matters at Thanksgiving.

How do we know if it's true, though?

Ultimately, Paul gives us three different ways to prove that the resurrection is true.

He tells us about the empty grave, he tells us about the multiple witnesses, and he tells us about changed lives.

Let's first of all look at this the idea of the empty tomb.

I took a group to Israel a couple of years ago.

It was an incredible time to be together, and we went to the spot where they have the grave where Jesus was buried.

And I want to show you what we saw when we got there.

Take a look.

It's empty.

Like I've seen it with my own eyes.

It's empty.

And I want you to understand that that is a problem if you're trying to say that Jesus did not raise from the dead.

You got no body, you got no evidence.

You instead have an empty grave.

There is nothing that is inside of the grave.

In fact, the early church, the Romans themselves and the Jews, they had to figure out how to explain.

They didn't deny that the grave was empty.

They instead tried to figure out a plot to describe, well, how did this thing go down?

Look at what it says in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Look at what it says in verse 12.

And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, Tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.

And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.

So they took the money and did as they were directed.

And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

This is the explanation that people have for the resurrection.

If they don't believe it, then they want to say, well, then the body was stolen.

They're not denying that there is an empty tomb.

They're saying, no, there is, but this is how we're going to explain it.

But then it says that he appeared to Cephas.

Cephas is Peter, another name for Peter.

And then it says that he appeared to five hundred men.

Now, if he appeared to one person, you could easily discount him and say that that guy was making it up.

You appear to five hundred people, you got a miracle on your hands.

Like you got some evidence that's taking place.

N.

T.

Wright is an Old Testament scholar, and here's what he says.

He says if we'd only had an empty tomb and no eyewitnesses, critics would have concluded that the body was stolen.

If there were only one eyewitness but no empty tomb, then we we would have concluded that the witnesses were deluded or hallucinated.

But the two together make for convincing evidence.

You then see Paul argues and he says that he went from being a persecutor of Christians, one who used to go from town to town to town, trying to find people who were basically followers of Jesus so that he could arrest them, so that he could beat them, and ultimately so that he could kill them.

And along the way to Damascus, the Bible says that he got an appearance to him from the risen Lord himself, and it caused him to go from being a persecutor and a murderer of Christians to now becoming an evangelist wanting to tell people about Jesus.

Folks, that's what happens when you meet Jesus.

Because it's changed my life.

For you, your story may not necessarily be like as drastic and as elaborate as Paul's, but you know what it means to where you used to be this way, and then you met Jesus along that one time, and then now all of a sudden you're this way.

Some of you are here today, and maybe you've are here with your family, or maybe you're here with some friends, and you're you're kind of not sure about the church thing.

This is just kind of what y'all do around the Thanksgiving holidays.

You don't want to, you don't want to make anybody mad, and so therefore you're just here.

But one thing you have been wondering is that why is my cousin or why is my aunt or why is my brother or why is my friend, what what's different about them?

Like they used to be this way, and now all of a sudden they're this way, and I can't really explain it.

Yeah, I mean, I know they do the church thing, but I've done church before, and it doesn't lead to that.

Here's the thing they didn't do church, they met Jesus.

That's what happened.

You want to know what leads a guy to be able to get up there in the baptistry waters after a couple of weeks ago, being in a situation to where he was at his wit's end, having tried all kinds of various things to be able to be a fulfillment in his life, and ultimately came to the end of himself to now be up in the baptism waters with the smile that was on his face, and with the smile that I see now, being able to give testimony to you, it's Jesus.

Jesus changed his life.

And so, my invitation for you today is this what you're doing isn't working.

So instead, I would encourage you to realize this the resurrection is true.

We know that it can be proven, there's an empty tomb.

We know that there were multiple witnesses, and so therefore, even to this day, historical evidence says that Jesus has been risen.

But I also would simply tell you this: He can change your life.

And because the resurrection is true, Easter still matters at Thanksgiving.

Let me give you the second thing I want you to see today is this the resurrection is matter, Easter matters at Thanksgiving, not only because the resurrection is true, but because the resurrection is relevant.

What we believe is not just some facts about an old guy who did some stuff like it's a history class.

We believe matters because of how relevant that it is for our lives.

Because of our standing and our status that it changes before God, because it explains how to make things right.

Keep reading with me in verse 12.

He says, Now, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

Paul uses an interesting argument.

He goes by preaching about the negative to argue for the positive point.

He says this whole thing that we do, getting up uh every week on Sundays, coming to church, being together, listening to a guy talk about the Bible, singing songs out loud next to people that you may or may not know, it's all pretty pointless if Jesus didn't raise from the dead.

Like, let's be honest, there are a lot better things that we could choose to do with our time rather than the church and being a follower of Jesus.

Like, if you are not, if Jesus didn't raise from the dead, like what are we doing?

Like we could all be going out and playing golf, we could be playing tennis, we could be going and watching football, we could be doing sleeping in, we could catch up on stuff.

Like this whole thing of the exercise of getting here and figuring out parking and figuring out where you're gonna sit and all these various elements, like it, it's it's a lot, okay?

Like I gotta be in a small group and I gotta serve, and it's like all this stuff that's being required.

And it doesn't make a whole lot of sense if we're just worshiping a dead guy.

But here's the thing, we're not.

That's why it's worth it.

That's why we gather together and we sing, oh come at us.

Adore him.

That's why we gather and we sing and we say, He is the king above all.

That's why we have the opportunity to be able to gather with people that we may not necessarily know and sing and worship, and it does something, not just where it reminds us intellectually of some truths in our head, but it stirs us in our heart.

Where now all of a sudden we begin to have hope.

It moves from an intellectual thing to something where you're like, this is worth giving everything to.

It's relevant in every single way.

Keep reading with me though, in verse 15.

Look at what he says, we are even found to be misrepresenting God.

Because we testified about God that he raised Christ.

And he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

This may be the worst part of all if the resurrection is not true, because here's what it means: there's no hope for you to be better.

There's no hope for you to change.

The Bible says that we're all born sinners, that we're all inherited the sin from our father Adam.

But it's not just that we inherited it, we also do things that also cause us to be labeled accurately as a sinner.

And the Bible gave us this plan along the way to where there's this sacrificial system to where whenever you commit crimes, whenever you do things against God, you have to go and allow someone on your behalf to make a sacrifice so that your sins can be paid for.

The problem is you keep doing them and you keep having to make sacrifices, and it's this bloody cycle over and over again.

Hebrews chapter 10, look at what it says in verse 10, 11.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

It says, And every priest stands daily at his servants, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

For a single offering he has perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified.

He was the ultimate sacrifice, and while that is great, and that pays for all of my past sins, what does it do for any future sins that I may commit?

But the Bible tells us that Jesus, after he had given this sacrifice, rose from the dead three days later, thereby defeating the power of sin and the power of death.

Here's what this means: this means that while I still have the sin nature that lives inside of me, I don't have to be bound and a slave to my sin, saying that there's no hope for me to bring about change.

Instead, I know this I can war against my sin, I can fight against my sin, I can seek the face of the Savior and know this.

I can actually change.

Folks, let me ask you this some of you, you want.

You want to change in your relationship with your hand.

You want changing your relationship with your change in your relationship.

If the resurrection of Jesus Christ is true, you realize that you have hope and you have the ability to fight and to war against your sin, knowing it's not gonna be easy, but it does mean that you can have victory.

Romans 13, 14 says this, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

Because of the resurrection, I don't have to be you I used to be.

Because of the resurrection, I don't have to live as I used to live.

Because of the resurrection, I don't have to act like I used to act.

Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, the old has passed away and the new has come.

And the two baptisms that we just saw, we gave the same expression each time.

Whenever we put them underneath the water and we brought them up, we said these words buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.

We literally saw a picture of what it looks like to have my old life being put down into the water, and I come up and look, I know I still can see those sins, and I know I still have some of that sin nature in me, but guess what?

I can walk with my head up and my chest out, knowing this, I'm not bound to what I used to do.

I'm different.

You want to know why Easter matters to Thanksgiving?

Because you're not bound to your sin.

But instead, you can achieve victory.

Look at what the scriptures say.

Continue on in verse 18.

Then those also who had fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

The holidays are a hard time for a lot of people.

The holidays, particularly whenever you gather together as a family, maybe you experience this year, represent an empty chair.

An empty chair is the place where your loved one is at.

And you knew it was coming.

You prepped for it.

You talked yourself about it, but it's just different when it's there.

When you're in that moment.

Death is so final.

Death is just so the sting, it just and you're gonna get better over time and all of that, but it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't remove the sting.

It's still there.

It's like a it's like a nagging reminder.

This is not how it's supposed to be.

Maybe for some of you, that's exactly what you experience at this Thanksgiving.

But if the resurrection is real, and if I'm a believer in Jesus and the person that died is a believer in Jesus, what this means is this I don't have to walk through an empty chair without any hope.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13 says this, that we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring him with those who have fallen asleep.

Just as Jesus was resurrected, our bodies will be resurrected as well.

Which means this we can know with certainty that if you know Jesus, you have hope.

I can take comfort in knowing that eventually there's gonna be a feast and we're all gonna be together.

Folks, for some of you who are walking through the throes of grief, you hang on to the hope of the resurrection.

You allow the truth, not just the concept, not just the well-wish, not just the I hope it gets better, but the truth that Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose from the dead, and because that you will see your loved one again.

And because of that, you can endure and persevere and keep going, knowing this.

That that reunion will be worth it.

Easter matters at Thanksgiving because it's true.

Easter matters at Thanksgiving because it's relevant.

Let me tell you what that should mean then.

The resurrection calls you to action.

The resurrection calls you to action.

The conclusion of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, uh, Paul is so inspiring.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

He makes his theological case, he makes his logical case, and then he makes his practical case for why it matters.

Pick up with me in verse 50.

It says, I tell you, this brother's flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all asleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?

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

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This speaks to the fact that we don't see setbacks or suffering or death the same way as someone else who doesn't know Jesus, because we know that the resurrection means that our trials and our struggles and our situation is only temporary.

Romans 8, verse 18.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17 and 18.

2 Corinthians 4:17

For this light momentary affliction, I know some of you are like, man, this does not feel light, and this does not feel momentary.

And I would simply tell you this: it's both.

It's both.

This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

You may be experiencing pain and trials and struggles and setbacks.

And let me just tell you, you are not promised on this side of eternity to be removed from all of those things.

However, the resurrection gives us perspective that says, even though I struggle, even though I strain, even though I may be persecuted, even though I may die, death doesn't win because the resurrection means that I will one day be resurrected myself into a new body.

And that new body won't have to worry about calories on Thanksgiving Day, and that new body won't have to worry about aches and pains that just show up, or reading glasses, or cancer, or pain, or death, or all the things that we deal with.

But instead, we can know this this resurrected body will be with our Savior exactly the way that it was meant to be live.

What does this mean?

This means you need to lay it out on the field.

Leave it all out there.

This means you hold nothing back.

This means you live with a death-defying obedience that says, no matter what I face, it can't touch me and it can't hurt me because I know where I'm going.

And even though I may be experiencing some minor difficulties and strains and struggles along the way, with every breath I have, I'm gonna give it to serve Jesus and to make him know.

I'm gonna let the trials that I experience remind me that I was never made for this life to begin with.

But I'm gonna let the victories that I experience remind me that the very best day that this world has to offer is not even worth comparing to the worst possible day in the life that I have to come.

And let it lead me to live in such a way where I risk it all because ultimately I know.

I would simply tell you this: you keep fighting, you keep going, you keep persevering, because you'll discover this, it's worth it.

For the person who's lost reputation, or the person who has lost status or influence, or the person who has stood up for their faith, and maybe perhaps along the way has not gotten the promotion that they thought they deserved, or maybe even got fired from their job.

I would simply tell you this it's worth it.

Whatever temporary setback that you have, it's not worth comparing.

And eventually one day you will step into his presence and that you will see it was not in vain.

So be bold and death-defying in your obedience.

Only one life to live twill soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

Because of the resurrection, it's worth it to go all in, to keep serving, keep sacrificing, keep investing, knowing that none that you are doing is in vain.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes?

All across this room.

And if you're watching me online, let me invite you to do the same.

Let me ask this question: Do you know Jesus?

Have you received the most important thing of all?

First importance.

Salvation through a relationship with Him.

You can do that today.

It comes when you believe that Jesus died on the cross and he rose from the dead and you follow him.

If you've never received Jesus in your life, I want to ask that you do that right now.

Just pray this simple prayer of faith with me.

Dear God, I want to receive your son Jesus as my Lord, as my Savior.

I believe that He died on a cross for me.

I believe that He rose from the dead, and right now I receive Him into my life.

You save me.

You make me new.

You change me forever.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Would you look up here if you just pray that prayer of faith with me?

I'm gonna ask you to do something that seems maybe bold, but I promise you.

We're gonna do something called an invitation.

Let me take public next steps here in the United City.

So I'm gonna ask you if you're in the balcony, what you'll do is you'll just go down to the bottom of the steps.

We got folks that are waiting there for you.

If you're down here in this lower section, we've got some folks that are all on the front.

You just come and find one of them and tell them you just pray to you to give your life to Jesus.

We'll take it from there.

We want to answer some questions that you may have.

We want to pray with you, we want to celebrate and get some information from you.

Others of you need to come and join the United City Church.

This is your home.

You know that it's your home, you know God's leading you here, and we'd love nothing more than for you to lead the way today by coming and joining United City.

Others of you need to come and be baptized, that's your next step.

This is your going public moment.

Come and let us schedule your baptism.

Maybe others of you just need prayer.

Maybe you're struggling to allow the hope of the resurrection to be real in your life.

That's okay, but don't do it alone.

Let us pray with you.

Let us pray for you.

Let us come alongside and lift up your knee before the Lord today.

Father, I pray you would move in these moments we have left.

Give people boldness and courage to make life-changing decisions in these moments.

In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you, and so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed a note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's gonna be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye bye.