Apostles Creed - pt. 12

All right, please turn in your Bible to 1st Corinthians,

chapter 15 if you don't have a copy of the Creed.

I shared it this morning in Boxer, so we're going to read

the Creed together at the end of the message.

So if you have a copy, you're good to go.

If you don't, you can find that one in Boxer if you know it.

That's good. 1st Corinthians 15. So most of the creed focuses on

what's already happened. And then we had a couple

sections that talked about what is still to come.

We said that Jesus, he will come to judge the living and the

dead. And then we said we believe in

the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Catholic

Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, and

now, today, the resurrection of the body and the life

everlasting. These are things still to come

that we look forward to. Hope is the motive for for

almost everything that we do. Like you came here this morning.

There was some hope, You know, you might not have thought about

it, but there was a hope in particular inside of you.

You're like, what are you hoping for?

Well, I'm hoping to be refreshed.

I'm hoping to be blessed. I'm hoping to draw an ear to the

Lord. There's something in you that

brought you here. There's you have hope for the

afternoon, even. We have small hopes.

We have big hopes, You know, I hope the weather clears up.

I want to go out on the boat. There's all kinds of things that

we do with the motive of hope. I keep going to the gym.

Why? I keep hoping that these muscles

are going to grow. It's been a really slow process.

But hope keeps me going to the gym over and over and over.

I keep drinking protein and trying to eat as much protein as

possible. I'm holding out hope that at

some point I'm going to look like Mr. Universe might take a

while. But that's a hope.

So we've got hope. That's all the time giving us a

a reason. It's always the thing that I'm

looking forward to. The same is true in the Kingdom.

There is a great hope. There's the blessed hope, the

return of the Lord, the life everlasting.

This is a great motive for God's people.

We don't have hope only in this life, the scripture says, but we

have hope for life everlasting. In First Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

It's interesting, you know a lot of times the scripture, the

Bible is not super systematic on the back end.

Humans we like systematic. So we make books and we make

study guides and we say I want to make a systematic theology

about this. Like, here's a systematic

theology of, you know, redemption.

Here's a systematic theology of healing.

Here's a systematic theology of, you know, the end times,

whatever it may be. And I've got to take verses and

and piece together. The Bible was not written in a

systematic way. Although it's glorious, it's

perfect and it's right. It's not the way that we often

organize it. And then you come to portions of

Scripture that preach themselves, where it's

explicitly playing that we're talking about one thing for an

extended area and an extended point of time. 1st Corinthians

15 is like that. First Corinthians 15 is all

about the resurrection to come, Christ's resurrection, and then

the resurrection for all of us. Because Jesus was raised, you

will be raised. Your body is not going to stay

in the grave. Your body is not going to stay

in the grave if you're, if you were, if you're sent off to sea

like an old king and they shoot flaming arrows into you, your

body's not going to stay in the sea.

The Lord is going to redeem all things.

He has a glorious way that he's going to do it.

And we get to see what that looks like today.

So we're in First Corinthians 15.

I'm going to read a lot of scripture because I want you to

have a lot of faith and the word of God certainly does better

than than my preaching. And in this portion in

particular, it's going to serve us really well.

So First Corinthians 15, verse 12.

1 Corinthians 15:12

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can

some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

He's saying if crisis if Christ is raised, how can you say that

others won't be raised from the dead, that other people aren't

going to be raised from the dead.

Verse 13 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.

We are even found to be messed with misrepresenting God,

because we testified about God that he that he raised Christ,

whom he did not raise. If it's true that the dead are

not raised. For if the dead are not raised,

then not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile or

meaningless or worthless, and you are still in your sins.

So obviously, again, like much of the New Testament letters,

corrections being brought to the church, there's some false

teaching that's crept in. Some people started go, oh, are

we going to be raised from the dead?

Or are we just going to be spirit bodies because there was

conflict around what? Will our bodies stay in the

grave? Are we just going to be these

disembodied spirits floating around in eternity?

No, in fact, no. We will have a resurrected,

glorified body. Your entire being.

Your your body, your soul and your spirit.

You might be thinking, I thought the spirit and the soul were the

same thing. They're not though.

The soul would be your mind, your will, your intellect, your

emotions. So you're you're physical,

you're mental and you're spiritual.

You're a three-part being. You're one, but you're 3.

That's a familiar principle, right?

You've heard of that before, somewhere.

It's almost like you're made in his image.

So what verse did I leave us off on?

1718? I'm getting different votes

here. 18 Dylan said it with confidence.

So we're going with Dylan here, then those who have fallen

asleep in Christ have perished. He's saying if there's no

resurrection, then those people are doomed because they died in

a lie. If in Christ we have hope in

this life only we are of all people, most to be pitied if we

only have hope for the here and now.

Like people should pity us. They shouldn't mock us.

It should be. There should be a sadness.

There should be a kindness. There should be a gentleness to

us. But in fact he corrects all of

that. Now he's following.

He was he was walking that logical argument out to its end.

If Christ hasn't been raised, what does that mean?

Well, then we're all doomed. Let's be very clear.

It's not. Well, I think this has happened.

No, no, no. If that then that, he says.

But let's be honest, let's be clear.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

The first roots of those who have fallen asleep in death is

what he means. For as by a man came Death.

Who's that man? The death came by Adam the first

Adam. By one man came.

Death by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead.

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

alive, but each in his own order.

Christ the first fruits. Then at his coming those who

belong to Christ, Then comes the end, when he delivers the

Kingdom of God to the Father after destroying every rule and

every authority and power. That doesn't sound very nice,

Jesus. That doesn't sound very Christ,

like Christ. Let's read that one again.

Then comes the end when he delivers the Kingdom of God.

So God the Father has given the Kingdom to the Son.

Jesus is going to make his enemies his footstool.

And after that's been accomplished, he returns all

things to the Father and says, Father, you gave me the power,

the authority, and now I return the Kingdom to you.

The Father is pleased in the Son.

The Son is pleased in the Father, for he must rule then.

Oh, sorry, Verse 24 again. Then comes the end, when he

delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every

rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his

feet. The last enemy to be destroyed

is Death. The last enemy to be destroyed

is Death. Death is an enemy.

Death is not a friend. Death is not a warm blanket.

Death is ugly. Death is brutal.

Death is wrong. Death is brokenness that came

through Adam. In God's original design, when

we go to the garden, there would have never been death.

God wanted to make his people. I love you.

You love me. Fill the earth with my glory.

Fill the earth, subdue it. You conquer, you rule, you

reign, multiply and and we all live happily ever after.

That's God's perfect will and His intention.

It was man represented perfectly through Adam.

You and I were represented perfectly through Adam.

So we don't look, we don't look to Adam and go man if I had been

there. No, Adam is our legal head.

He's our federal head. He's the perfect representation

of humanity. So in doing so in in his sin

against God, now death comes. Spiritual death came first to

Adam and Eve, then later physical death, and then the

tournament that comes from brokenness.

A universe that is decaying, a universe that is falling into

disorder at all times. Things fall apart, right?

We know that over time you leave something alone long enough,

rust starts to show up. You leave something alone long

enough, things start to break. This is never God's intention.

This was never his plan or his will.

And yet he brings resurrection out of it.

If Adam hadn't sinned, we don't have the glorious resurrection.

So God's love. We said this last week.

God's love abounds in our sin. Should I go on sinning then?

Of course not. We say I died to sin.

How could I live in it any longer?

The Christian would never say. How much can I get away with?

The Christian says I'm free from that bondage.

I'm free from the bondage of sin.

And I have the utter relief now of holiness.

And though I still sin, I get to confess my sin and be cleansed

from unrighteousness because my heart actually wants Jesus.

I actually want what God wants. This is his design.

This is our perfect. This is his perfect will.

But because of all of the brokenness, we do have a real

enemy. We have death.

We've all tasted death. We've all seen death.

We've all lost loved ones, some of us very close.

We have many mothers in our church who have lost babies,

many fathers who have lost babies.

I, for the first time in my life this past year, watched someone

die. I was there.

I was honored to be at my grandfather's side as he went

into glory. But it there was a sweetness to

it. And at the same time it was

clearly, I could clearly recognize an enemy.

There was a sweetness because the Lord was with us.

And at the same time, you're just recognizing this is wrong.

It's wrong. There's a wrong thing happening

here. What was the hope?

What was the sweetness of it? Well, the sweetness was a St.

going into glory. And the scripture says that the

death of his Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord.

So there's a sweetness, there's a closeness, there's a nearness.

God is near to the broken hearted.

So all that's real. And yet the Lord says, I'm going

to undo this. So as I watch my grandfather

die, I also knew and had the promise of everlasting life to

knew that he won't be left to the grave or, you know, he was

cremated. So the Lord will reconstruct in

some glorious fashion something even greater than what was we

like? What will he be like?

He was 25. Again, that will be a massive

understatement compared to what the scripture reveals for what

the resurrected body and the resurrected life is like.

You won't be left behind. God loves the physical world.

He built it. God doesn't hate things.

God doesn't hate the material world.

This is a foolish idea that Christians have sculpted at

times where we think the physical, if I could just shed

the physical, if I could just shed the physical, God doesn't

hate or condemn the physical. God's going to redeem the

physical. There's there's limitations and

there's problems. God's going to remove all of

those. In resurrection, all things will

be made new. And when it says all things will

be made new, he doesn't mean okay.

We'll start, We'll rewind the tape and it will be in aging

again. That's not what he means.

We're not going to rewind the tape and then it will just push

play again only to need to be rewound again.

That's not the idea of the resurrection of the body or life

eternal. The idea is eternal life

presently continuously, Eternity in a moment continuously.

So yes, we enjoy length of time, but we enjoy the quality of it

as well. Jesus will not let our enemy

death get away with it. God hates it.

He hates death. That's why he beat it.

That's why Jesus owned it. That's why Jesus beat death.

How do you beat death with resurrection?

He tasted it. He drank the full cup and then

still he rose victorious. Jesus has the first word.

Jesus has the last word because he is the word.

He says. I am the Alpha, I am the Omega.

I am the beginning. I am the end.

There's nothing too great. There's nothing too difficult

for him. You really believe that?

Some Jewish guy. 2000 years? Yes.

Yes. Is it in the Bible?

Count me in. You really think that this fish

swallowed this guy? Yeah, Yeah.

Is that so hard to believe? Not if you know who God is.

When you believe in a God, when you believe in the living one,

the all powerful one, all the other stuff becomes ridiculously

simple and very easy. He's how can he defy the laws of

physics? Because he invented them.

He can do whatever he wants. He doesn't operate within the

limitations that you and I are stuck in.

He put us inside of time. He put us inside of space.

He put us inside of matter. He's not limited by any of this.

He's outside of it. He invented in the beginning.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

What do we see there? We see space.

We see time. We see matter.

Those were created things. My mind can't grasp any of this,

and the scripture doesn't tell me that it will.

The Scripture doesn't say God has placed eternity in the minds

of man, but it does say God has placed eternity in the heart of

man. This is why you and I have these

endless longings that are not fulfilled on the earth.

It was CS Lewis who said something.

He said the the only logical explanation for for the things

that I feel is I I have this drive.

I have this desire for things that this world can never

satisfy. The only logical explanation is

there something beyond this world.

That's the only logical explanation because I am

insatiable in my desire for something.

Until I come to the Lord, Until the Lord comes to me, I'm

unsatisfied. And even still, though we walk

with him, we do long for the day when our faith becomes sight.

We long for that moment. I had a dream the other day.

I don't even believe it was a dream from the Lord because it

was like, weird. And, well, there's plenty of

dreams that can come from Lord that are weird.

We know that from Scripture. But I won't get it.

I don't believe it was a supernatural meeting with the

Lord. You know, I could have met

Dwayne the Rob Johnson in a dream.

And you know, that doesn't mean that the Lord wanted me to do

that. But in my dream, I met Jesus and

it was just such a simple and joyful thing, and it wasn't very

long. You know how dreams are.

As soon as you wake up and you try and remember, it's like it

vanishes right away. But it was just such a a sweet

and glorious thing. All I did was fall down at his

feet because somebody else was like, that's Jesus.

So I went and dove down at his feet and I'm just crying right

away, but I'm looking for his wounds to make sure because I

was like, is this really him? And he showed me they were in

like a weird spot and I didn't understand it all.

So but he showed me I was like, it was such a deep satisfaction,

such an ultimate fulfillment. He wants our joy to be complete.

That's why he says, I'm going to bring you to me if it if this

was as good as it gets and if this was as good as it needed to

be, then he would leave it as it is and say, hey, this is how I

want it to be. And I and I always want you to

to be at a distance. But as we're going to see later,

that's not how he wants things. That's not how he leaves things.

Let's keep going here. Y'all, y'all are going too slow

this morning. We need to move along.

Verse 32. Oh I need.

I want to keep reading from verse 32.

So yeah, verse 32, he says. What do I gain, Paul?

Again what do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with the

beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, he's

saying if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for

tomorrow we die for Do not be deceived.

Bad company, ruins, good morals. Wake up from your drunken

stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning for some.

Have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame, Paul.

That doesn't sound very Christian.

You're not supposed to shame people, are you?

No. There's a loving shame.

There's a healthy shame not to condemn endlessly into the abyss

of despair, but to restore. I want to shame you.

To restore you. Hey, knock it off.

That's bad. That's gross.

That's dirty. You made me feel bad about

myself. Good.

Come on, up higher. There's a better way.

There's a better place. Welcome to being loved verse 35.

But someone will ask, how are the dead rays?

With what kind of body do they come?

You foolish person. What you sow does not become,

does not come to life unless it dies sowing and reaping.

We're thinking about seeds now, and what you sow is not the body

that is to be but a bear kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other

kind of grain. But God gives it a body as He

has chosen. And each and to each it's kind

of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same,

but there is one kind of flesh for humans, another for animals,

another for birds, and another for fish.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies.

But the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of

the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun

and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars.

For star differs from star and glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead.

What is sown is perishable. He's making.

He's comparing our body to a seed.

We put a seed in the ground. Seeds are not impressive

compared to what they're going to produce.

Think about it. You know, we're used to it, you

know? Yeah, you plant that and now the

plant shows up. But that's crazy, right?

If you look, you show a little child a seed.

The first time in kindergarten, you're like, we're going to

plant this and like, what's what can that do?

It's a little Pebble. It's a rock.

And now this thing begins to emerge in Acorn.

OK, it's neat. It has a little hat on that

looks cool, but Can you imagine what it could be in 100 years?

Of course you can't. You can't.

You would never have any idea it.

It has to go down and die. And now something else.

What? What?

What? Like a bigger acorn?

No. Like a like a more colorful

acorn. No, dude, it's it's it's more

glorious. So we think about our body going

down into the ground. What's going to come up?

Am I going to be, like, 25 again in the resurrection?

First of all, I don't know. Second of all, it's going to be

far more glorious than the thing that gets planted.

It's going to be you, and yet it's going to be better.

You know, you put you, a child would never believe, a person

would never believe that the Caterpillar goes into this thing

and spins itself tight. You're like, is it just going to

go die now and like, know something crazy is going to

happen? Like what?

It's going to be a bigger Caterpillar when he comes out.

No, no. This beautiful winged creature

is going to be flying and fluttering around now.

It's it goes in to die. A glorious resurrection comes

out of it. Something bigger, something

better. There's a glorious resurrection.

Verse 42. So it is with the resurrection

of the dead. What is sown is perishable, but

what is raised is imperishable. So our body can die, but our

resurrected body is imperishable.

It'll live forever. It is sown in dishonor.

It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness.

It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body.

It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,

there's also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, The first

man, Adam became a living being. The last man, Adam, the last

atom, became a life giving spirit who's the last atom?

Jesus. But it is not the spiritual that

is at first, but the natural and then the spiritual.

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust.

The 2nd man is from heaven, as was the man of dust.

So also are those who are of the dust.

So we're like Adam. All of us are like Adam.

He's from the dust. We're from the dust.

Limited, broken, fallen, And as is the man of heaven, so also

are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image

of the man that is of dust, we also shall bear the image of the

man of heaven. Praise God.

So right now we're very we're acute, acutely aware of how we

bear the image of Adam. We feel that.

We see that all the time and our temptation to sin.

Even as people who love the Lord Jesus Christ in our fallen

nature, in our flesh, it still has temptation or unrenewed

mind. We still see brokenness.

We still see death. We still cry tears.

We still feel pain. These bodies are wearing out.

The older we get, the more we realize this, the younger you

are, the more you think it's no big deal.

I'm a middle-aged man now and I realize man, like.

I went to sleep last night. How did I wake up?

In worse shape than when I went to sleep?

Like I felt good when I got in the bed.

You would think that sleeping all night would make me feel

better. But now my neck is, like,

bothering me. You know what's up with these

pillows? Or what did you do to me while I

was asleep? Natalie.

And then I'm. I'm told that it doesn't get

much better as you age. So this outward man is perishing

day by day, but the inward man is being renewed day by day.

But the Lord is not going to leave these bodies behind.

His brokenness is not normal, although it's common.

He says it's going to. I'm going to put it into it and

I'm going to restore all things. In verse 32 you see Paul, he

sarcastically. He sarcastically points out if

this is as good as it gets, then just focus on physical pleasure.

If you're not an immortal, then you may as well just get it, get

get it. While the getting is good.

Focus on the most that you can get.

If there's no resurrection of the dead, if if we're truly

going to be left behind, then there's no reason that you

shouldn't pursue all physical pleasure possible.

But the resurrection of the body is practical.

If you believe your body will be raised from the dead and

glorified, you will live differently in this body.

You'll care for it differently. You'll think about it

differently. You'll practice resurrection

daily, like Jesus commands you to.

This is why he says in verse 34, stop sinning.

Why does that? Why is that in the middle of

this whole section, you'll be raised from the day.

You'll be raised from the day. You'll be raised from the day.

You'll be raised from the dead. Stop sinning.

You'll be raised from the dead. What does that have to do with

anything? How would how would that relate?

How does that tie in? Why was he?

Why would he bring this rebuke in it?

We're to lay down our cross daily and we're resurrected by

the Holy Spirit. Like we said, even though the

outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day

by day. Our body is the seed.

It goes in like an acorn. What can this really do?

But it has an incredible resurrection.

Put a strawberry seed into the ground.

Tiny. What can this actually do?

But later, this is going to be something beautiful and

something delicious. One day they were going to put

our bodies into the ground, but what will come later will be far

more glorious than we ever have now.

It's a morbid thought unless you believe in the resurrection, to

realize that this thing's going to decay.

That's why the that's why the funeral business is the way it

is. Like we're going to preserve

you. Your body's going to last.

You're going to be in a casket which is going to be in another

casket like because I don't like the thought of my body decaying,

right. People don't like it for all of

human history. That's what happened.

You just put them in the ground and or or you got a tomb if

you're really fancy. But I don't like the thought of

that decay. Well it's common for everybody

if. Unless, unless the Lord comes.

But if he tarries another thousand years, you and I, these

are going to be skeletons. These are going to be bones.

I don't. That's not very pleasant.

But you're not left behind. To be absent from the body will

be to be present with the Lord. And then, at the glorious

resurrection, all things will be totally restored.

What does it look like? We don't know.

Right now we see through a glass dimly.

We can't quite tell, but we know it's far more glorious than what

we can imagine. God cares about the body.

He cares about the physical world.

He made you. He called you good.

We don't despise the material world.

And yet he is still going to make all things new.

And then, just as we shared in Adam's death, we shared his

death, we shared his sin, we shared his decay, his

brokenness. Even so, we will share in

Jesus's life Jesus's holiness. Jesus is righteousness, Jesus's

glory and Jesus's wholeness. Flesh cannot receive all that

God has intended for us, which is why, as he points out in

verse 51, he says we will all be changed.

I'll read to you in verse 50. I tell you this, Brothers, flesh

and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the

perishable inherit the the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, 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 the 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 which is written, Death is swallowed up

in victory. Oh, death, where's your victory?

Oh death, oh grave, where is your sting?

This is good news for us Saints. You're immortal.

Every person you ever interacted with is an immortal being.

There's no such thing as a mere immortal.

Everybody matters. Everyone has been made in the

image of God, and it means something and it counts for

something. And because you know that you'll

be raised up, you. The work that you do for the

Lord, you know isn't for nothing.

You know that what you do in your body matters.

What you do with your body matters.

What you do to your body matters.

What you allow for your body matters because it's God's

temple, and it is your offering that you lay on the altar for

God. Well, it's just my body.

Careful, it's not. It's the temple of God.

It's his. Everything's his.

Everything's his. So I want to lay this on the

altar. How?

In every way. That's why we're called, to be a

living sacrifice. If I don't take up my cross and

follow him, I'm not worthy to be His disciple, is what Jesus

says. The body will be raised.

And now let's keep talking and dig in here in our last on the

back end of things as as we look at the life everlasting.

I want to point out first of all that life everlasting is not

just that eternal timeline that's included.

But that's not all we're talking about.

Life everlasting is not just. I can't die.

That would feel a bit like a trap.

I would think Walking down an endless hallway that you can't

escape from. It's just welcome to the

hallway. You can never die.

Like somebody please shoot me. I'd like to escape this.

Like, no, you get to live forever.

Aren't you happy? Well, no.

Because I didn't want just duration.

I didn't just want length of time.

I wanted the quality. I wanted the joy.

More importantly, I want him. He is the reward.

But the scriptures make clear that everlasting life, although

our English translation usually summarizes it, eternal or

everlasting. We think about a timeline, but

there's multiple things communicated in the original

language that all the original hearers and readers would have

understood. It's a glorious wholeness packed

into everything. It's all there so that we're

talking about a quality of flourishing, A thriving life not

just limited by length of time. Go to Revelation, Chapter 21,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Revelation 21. We're going to rejoice over

these verses and we're going to close by reciting the creed here

in a few minutes, and then we're going to enjoy communion

together. First chapter 21, verse one.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the 1st heaven and

the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of

heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the

dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God

himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall

be no more. Neither shall there be mourning,

nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have

passed away. Be comforted, Saints, This is

good and glorious news, and this is coming for you.

This is your future. This is what you can expect in

Christ. Your God is good.

You use your wildest imagination to imagine the the goodness of

God and you won't come close. It won't be enough.

God is better than you think. Your faith will be sight.

Your God will dwell with you. Your God and Father will

personally wipe tears from your cheeks.

He will comfort you. He will reassure you and give

you the new creation as He joins us in it.

World without end. Amen.

Verse five. We'll keep going here.

And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making

all things new. Also he said, write this down,

for these words are trustworthy and true.

And to me. And he said to me it is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life

without payment. The one who conquers will have

this heritage. I will be his God and he will be

my son. I am making all things new.

Jesus is bringing his resurrection power to his entire

universe. When he says all things, he

means it. There's nothing outside of his

creation. So all of space and whatever

space is expanding into which I suppose is God himself, He's

making all things new. He's resurrecting everything.

Adam broke it. Jesus is healing it.

He is restoring it and making it all new.

And at this time he's going to perfect everything forever.

That's why he says it is done. If you're thirsty, he'll give

you the water of life. Your Father and my Father

Church, your God and my God. They're really going to be with

us. And we can't even begin to

imagine how sweet it's going to be as we walk with the Lord, as

we enjoy all the Saints, as we enjoy the the heavenly city.

Read, Read The END of Revelation.

Encourage your heart. A lot of times people read the

middle of Revelation, like, what's this dragon eating this

baby? Like, what's happening here?

Like, there's plenty of questions, there's plenty of

Revelation. That's up for debate, and

Christians love to fight about it.

But it's sweet because you got the first couple chapters of

Revelation where everybody's in unity, like, OK, this is plain.

And then the last few chapters of Revelation, everybody goes,

This is also plain, like, it's going to be good.

There's no debate there. It's going to be really, really

good. We're going to be resurrected.

We're going to live with our God forever.

The Lamb is going to get all the praise, all the glory and all

the honor. And we will praise His name

forever. Look in verse 22 of of chapter

21. And I saw no temple in the city,

for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it.

For the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth

will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut

by day, and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the

nations. But nothing unclean will ever

enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but

only those who are written in the Lambs Book of Life.

We'll look here in in chapter 22 as well, versus one through 5.

Then the Angel showed me the river of the water of life,

bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and from the

Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city, also on

either side of the river, the tree of the Tree of Life, with

its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation's.

No longer will there be anything accursed that the throne of God

and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship

him. They will see his face, and his

name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more, and

they will need no light, no light or lamp or sun.

For the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign

forever and ever. Verse 12.

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me

to repay each one for what he has done.

I am the alpha and Omega, the 1st and the last, the beginning

and the end. Verse 17 The Spirit and the

bride say, come, and let the one who hears say, come, and let the

one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires to take the

water of life without price. Verse 20 and 21 He who testifies

to these things says, surely I am coming soon.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus, the grace of

the Lord Jesus, be with all. Amen the life everlasting that

we believe in. When we say, I believe in the

everlasting life or I believe in the eternal life, it is the full

life, It is the abundant life. It is the thriving life with God

Himself, who has pleasures at His right hand forevermore.

You are an eternal being, and because of Jesus is sacrificing

your faith in Him. You will live in endless length,

but equally important, you will live with endless joy.

I believe in the resurrection of the body.

I believe in the life everlasting.

And that's good news, because I know who my God is, I know His

nature, I know His character, and you do as well.

And then that brings us to the very last word in the Creed, the

Amen or the Amen, depending on how we're feeling on that

particular day. So Amen is not the period on the

end of prayer. Amen is simply saying truly.

Amen is saying, I believe, Amen is saying, so be it.

Amen is saying, it is done. So This is why we say it to

close prayer. And This is why you can say it

when you hear the word of God preached, when when you agree or

when you believe or when you receive, you can go, Yes, you're

saying it's true, it's right, it's good.

You're putting your hearty faith into something.

So now we're going to recite the creed together.

Let's stand. We're going to do it with joy.

We're going to do it with boldness.

We're going to do it with faith. I think I did.

I turn that off. Okay, I messed this up then.

And then we're going to receive communion together.

So like I said, if you have Boxer, I dropped it in there

with joy. I believe in God the Father

Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was

conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and

was buried. He descended to hell.

The third day He rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God

the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge

the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the

forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the

life everlasting. Amen.

Amen. Ah, hey, you may be seated.

We're going to prepare our hearts right now.

Chris and Kayla are going to service the elements.