Resurrection Bodies

Let me rewind real quick in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, because Paul has covered a lot of ground. He's been talking about the resurrection. He's going to continue talking about the resurrection in our passage today. Chapter 15, verse 1. Paul said this, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and which you stand, and by which you are being saved. Gospel means good news. If, in fact, you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance of all the things Paul could have delivered to this church in Corinth. He says this was the most important thing he could have said, 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.

The most important news that he could share with this church was, in fact, the gospel. That Jesus came and lived for us, he died for us, that he rose again, so that you and I, if we place our faith in Christ, we too can rise again to newness of life. That's the gospel. Part of the gospel is resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, but also the resurrection of Christ's people. He went on in chapter 15, verse 12. If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there's no resurrection of the dead? Think back to that. If Christ is proclaimed as the time of Jesus and the gospels. You had these two big groups of religious leaders, Pharisees and Sadducees.

They're zealous religious leaders. The Sadducees believed there was no resurrection from the dead. So after Christ raised from the dead, they would say that actually didn't happen. Paul says this is a problem. If Christ doesn't raise from the dead, then you and I don't raise from the dead. We're still dead in our trespasses and sins.

Verse 13, if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised from the dead. If Christ doesn't raise from the dead, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. Verse 16, if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are dead in your sins. Friends, if Jesus is still dead, you and I are wasting our life.

At the very least, we're wasting our Sunday morning. We could be at brunch. There's so much good food all over the valley. If Christ is still dead, we could be playing golf. There's like the golf capital of the world in my opinion. If Christ is still dead, if Christ is still in a tomb somewhere, then you and I, there are so many better things we could be doing.

But if Christ raised from the dead, then it changes literally everything. Verse 22, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order. Verse 23, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order. Then 23, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order. Then it is coming those who belong to Christ. It's not just Christ who rose from the dead. The scriptures teach that you and I will also rise from the dead. Some of us to glory with Christ and some of us will rise to eternal punishment in hell.

Verse 32, what do I gain if humanly speaking I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. If there's no resurrection, let's just live in the dead. the dead. If there's no resurrection, then this is the best life has to offer.

If there's no resurrection, then let's go eat and drink and be merry. If there is no resurrection, let's just go do what everyone else is doing. Let's go live a life with ourself at the center.

Let's go live a life where we just try to please ourself and do what feels good. Let's just live a life that says you do you.

There's no resurrection. Then we're wasting our time. But if there is a resurrection, then the best is yet to come for those who are in Christ.

For those who are in Christ, the best is yet to come. Those who are apart from Christ, friends, this really is the best it gets.

So Paul speaks a lot about the resurrection. There's obviously going to be some questions. There are two questions specifically in verse 35 that we're going to seek to answer today. The first question is this, how are the dead raised? That's a big topic, Paul. People are going to die and then come back to life. How does that even work? And then second question, which I think logically follows from this teaching on the resurrection, is with what kind of body do they come?

If we raise from the dead, how is that possible? And then secondly, what will our bodies be like? That's what we're going to seek to answer this morning. Let me pray for us again, and then we'll hop in. Father God, we come before you with humble hearts and grateful hearts.

Humble hearts, just knowing who it is we even come before this morning. God, you are the creator and sustainer of everything. You are the one and by whom all things holds together. You are the one for whom all things exist.

So God, we come before you with open hearts, asking you to change our hearts for us to love you. Holy Spirit, we ask that you would open our ears, that we would hear our minds, that we could know our eyes, that we could see in our mouths, that we could go out into the world. Proclaim your gospel, that Christ lived, that he died, that he rose again, and that we can as well for those who place our faith in him.

God, we come before you with gratitude, just thanking you for this time where we can sit, listen to your word. We can sit and be with your people. We can stand and sing praises. Father, what a gift it is to be called a child of God.

Father, this time is for you. Use it however you'd like. We love you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Four points to guide us through our passage this morning, because it kind of goes all over the place. Let me be upfront with you. I wish I could answer the question with 100 % utmost clarity. What will our resurrection bodies be like? But Paul does not.

So we'll be leaving church this morning with a little bit of a question mark of what's it going to be like. We'll see when we get there. But what I hope is we can leave church with an excited, joyful, glad heart of knowing what's to come for those who are in Christ, that we will dwell in heaven with Christ forever. Amen. Four things to guide us through our passage this morning. The first are just these questions that are asked, but someone will say, how are the dead raised? It's a a question that Paul doesn't answer. Jesus answers in John chapter six. He says, not all can come to me. Only those who come to me are those who the father has been drawn to me.

And then Jesus makes this statement, and I will raise them on the last day. So how are the dead in Christ? How are they raised? They're raised by the power of God. They're raised by the power of God. With what kind of body do they come? That's the second question that's asked. With what kind of body do they come? Before we get into that, take your Bible, go to John chapter 11. We just got done singing about this, that just like Lazarus, Christ has brought us back to life. I love that song. There's kind of this double entendre going on of where, man, we have been made new in Christ. If we have placed

Ourselves in Christ, we are no longer who we once were. If anyone's in Christ, they're a new creation. We've been brought to life. This resurrection, in a sense, has taken place in our own hearts now. But at the same time, a day will come where we will be resurrected into a eternal body.

Verse 21, you likely know the story. Jesus's best friend, Lazarus, has died. Martha comes to Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again.

Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Even Jesus's earlier followers, they understood and accepted this resurrection from the dead that Jesus was teaching, that he would raise them on the last day. They believed it. And Martha says, no, I know he can be raised from the dead on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. What a claim Christ makes. I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who comes to me, anyone, and

We have people coming through the doors to be with our church every Sunday who feel like, man, if God only knew. If God only knew what was going on in my life, if God really knew who I was, if God had seen my actions, if God has known my thoughts, I don't think he'd have me.

I know God came to forgive sins, but I don't think he can forgive these sins.

Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone, anyone who comes to me, anyone can be redeemed. Anyone's life can be transformed. Maybe this morning, that's what God seeks in your life. Maybe the Holy Spirit will begin drawing you unto himself so that you can experience newness of life here, abundance in life here, and eternal life with Christ later, because he is the resurrection and the life.

With what kind of body do they come? Paul never clearly answers this question. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 29 says this, the secret things belong to the Lord. My translation, the Thomas, says God is keeping secrets from you. There are just some things in life we will never know. There's some things that scriptures teach that we can never fully understand, but Paul still gives some principles that I think are helpful when it comes to understanding what these resurrected bodies might be like. It doesn't give us a clear picture, but I think it gives us some illustrations to understand what kind of body these are. That's the second thing we're going to see, helpful illustrations to understand this idea.

Resurrection bodies. Verse 36, you foolish person, seems like a harsh answer. I mean, pastorally, it'd be great to play that card occasionally. Someone writes in an email, fool. It seems like a legitimate question, so I'm not entirely sure why he's responding this way. Maybe it's because they just missed the point. Maybe the point is you and I get to dwell with Jesus forever.

You and I get to experience a day with no more sorrow, no more pain, perfect peace, community with the Lord, community with God's people. And maybe instead of focusing on that, they want to know more details about it. Maybe they just missed the point of what Paul's been trying to make. You foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. So he's going to give three illustrations here to help us understand resurrection bodies. The first is from seeds, things that grow out of the ground. The second is skin, the different types of skin that God creates and what we see in God's creation order here. And the third is from the flesh.

And the fourth is from the flesh. And the fifth is from the flesh. And then third is from the flesh. And the fourth is from the flesh. And the fifth is from the flesh. And then the third encouragement, third illustration, Paul says, look to the skies and see the stars. Maybe we begin to understand just how different our bodies might be. You foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. He's speaking of our body. Our body's like a seed being sown into the ground. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. In other words, the body that goes into the ground is not the same body that comes out of the ground.

And he says it's kind of like a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it, the body that's sown into the ground, a body that he has chosen. And to each kind of seed, its own body. Imagine with me for a second, I show you a watermelon. This is the first time you've ever seen a watermelon.

You got no idea how plants work, how fruit grows, how chlorophyll, more like borophyll, how all this stuff actually begins to grow and work in the solar system and creation that God has so blessed us with. So I show you a watermelon and I say, guess where this watermelon came from? And you have a thousand guesses. We wouldn't get it right. And then I show you a seed.

And I said, believe it or not, this delicious, gigantic, beautiful, glorious watermelon came from this little seed.

Our initial reaction would probably be like, no, it didn't. No shot. Those two things are way different from one another. That thing is way too magnificent to come from that tiny little seed. That's kind of what he's saying here. Our body's like a seed sown into the ground. And what comes out of the ground when we're raised is even more beautiful and far more glorious and magnificent than we can even try to understand or fathom.

If I were to show you the tiny little three and a half millimeter seed of a sycamore tree that can grow to 300 feet. I said, believe it or not, this giant tree came from the ground. And this little seed, you'd probably say, no shot.

I think that's the reaction we're going to have. You're telling me this glorious, resurrected body that I get to live in for all of eternity with the Lord came from this?

No shot. He turns and says, let's talk about creation. Let's talk about different kinds of flesh and skin. For not all flesh is the same, but there's one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. Just look around. God is really creative and unique. There's so many different kinds of skin and so many different kinds of flesh all throughout creation. If God could create things that are so unique and wonderful in this creation, who's to say he couldn't create something far more unique and far more wonderful in his recreation?

I mean, just a quick glance of Discovery Channel. I was a Discovery Channel kid. If I was ever home from school, I was either watching Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, or Cops. It's one of those three all day long. It was great. Frogs to felons. It was sick. What a good way to spend your day.

But I mean, a quick glance of creation. We've got fins. We've got feathers. We've got skin. We've got scales. We've got all these different things. I looked it up this week trying to figure out, what's the craziest skin out there? You heard of these cuttlefish? You ever seen those? It's like a disco ball squid. It's this thing that lives in the ocean, and it can change. It's colors rapidly. It's amazing. The skin of a rhinoceros is like two inches thick.

Remarkably different from the skin of a jellyfish, which is like 0 .1 millimeters thick.

Wild things. God's created things that can perfectly camouflage, and not just like that animal looks like its surroundings, but like that animal's skin changes its color to blend in with its surroundings. Octopus are crazy. Chameleons are nuts.

God created all of these things for us to see and experience right now. If our minds are already blown by God's creation, who's to say our minds aren't going to be blown in his recreation of our body? It's going to be wonderful. What's it going to be like? Not sure. But it sounds pretty cool.

Next, he says, lift your eyes to the skies. Look at the stars. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind. The glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for stars differ from star and glory. I mean, just look up.

The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim his handiwork, testifying to the goodness and greatness of our Lord.

Some stars, the glory of the stars look a little red. The glory of another star looks a little red. The glory of another star looks a little red. The glory of another star looks a little blue. The glory of another star looks a little yellow. The glory of another star looks a little white.

The glory of one star seems huge and magnificent. The glory of our sun is different from the glory of other suns that exist all over the solar system.

If God can create all these different kinds of flesh, and God can create all of these beautiful, different kinds of stars that reflect glory in different ways, who's to say God can't produce something different? Who's to say God can't produce something different? Who's to say God can't produce truly magnificent in eternity for us he

Helpfully illustrates what our resurrected bodies might be like there's a third thing he teaches here he just shares the difference between our natural bodies that we're in right now and our spiritual resurrected bodies that we'll live in for all eternity verse 42 so it is with the resurrection of the dead what is sown is perishable he's going to compare and contrast five or six times here what's sown is perishable what's raised is imperishable take your bibles real quick if you'd like go to second corinthians 4 16 through 18.

Second corinthians 4 16 through 18 says this so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day our outer self is wasting away anyone feel this a little bit in your life like you're just falling apart

Every time you go to the doctor they recommend some aftermarket part you're going to have to install to fix your broken busted body you need a new elbow you need a new knee you need a new hip you need a new valve you need a new this we got to go in and clear this out we gotta go in and cut that out imagine

That for a sec we show up to church next weekend hey how you doing brother oh you know my outer self just continues to waste away but that's the reality of our existence we peak at like 25 and then it's all downhill from there soon recognize this ain't as good as i once was as good once as i ever was ain't

That the truth though we're falling apart found out recently when i sleep good my back hurts if i wake up feeling rested i also wake up in pain i guess i can't have both i can't feel rested and good i slept in a truck for a few nights on a hunt recently my back felt great but i woke up feeling so tired outer

Self is just wasting away but our inner self is being renewed day by day for the slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison that's what the lord's preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison you can compare it to whatever you want in creation it's all going to fall short

He's preparing something amazing for us something glorious for us for those in christ it's true the best really is yet to come what is sown is perishable what is raised is imperishable there will be a day with no more tears there will be a day with no more death there will be a day with no more fear there's not a family i know that's not touched by cancer by alzheimer's by tumors by some kind of strange sickness that doctors can't figure out

That's our body that's the body that is sown into the ground something perishable but what's raised is something imperishable eternal immortal it is sown in dishonor but it's raised in glory now we do our best to honor people at their celebrations of life at their memorial service we if we don't do that we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we do that we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we're going to die we do an open casket thing we dress them up we make them look as presentable and honorable as possible but even as you stand there kind

Of trying to show honor and celebrating the life they lived and glorifying god for it there's still something dishonorable about it you know it's not them it's

Sown in dishonor but he says it's raised in glory what's raised is beautiful what's raised is remarkable what's raised is glorious

It is sown in weakness it's raised in power it's sown a natural body it's raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body then there is also a spiritual body thus it is written the first man adam became a living being the last adam became a life -giving spirit but it's not the spiritual that is first but the natural and then the spiritual the first man was from the earth a man of dust we're talking about adam

God created adam the first man a man of dust he formed him breathed life into him and became a man the second man is from heaven that's jesus take your bibles real quick if you'd like go to john chapter 1

John chapter 1 verses 1 through 5 and then also verse 14. the gospel of john begins this way in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god all things were made through him and without him was no not anything that was made.

In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is Jesus. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. The one who created the first man came

And lived for us, came and died for us, came and rose again for us. So we wouldn't be just like the first man that lives and dies, but we'd be like the last man that we would be like Jesus, that we would live and die and raise again. Why? Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

He is the one who empowers this resurrection for us. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust. We are all of the dust. Each and every one of us is a man of the dust. Every one of us are of Adam. We are all people of the dust. Congratulations. How's that for a title? People of the dust.

That's all of us. Just as Adam sinned, so too we sin. Just as Adam died, so too we will die. We're all people of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. See, we are all people of dust, but we are not all people of heaven.

This is why Jesus says he is the resurrection and he is the life. Anyone who comes to him shall not die, but live forever. Do you believe this? People of dust can become people of heaven.

People of the first man, Adam, can become people of the last man, people of Jesus. How? By trusting in who Christ is and what he's done for us.

It's the beginning of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul delivered to this church in Corinth first importance that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He lived for us. He died for us. He rose again. So that, though we sin, we would not die this eternal death.

Though we die, yet we can still live. Romans chapter 3 says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. What does that mean? We're all people of the dust. Our first father, Adam, sinned. Therefore, we go on. We continue on in sin. What is sin? God says, don't do those things. And we're like, those are the things I want to do. I want to do those things. want to do. I want to do those things. I like. Don't do that. But it feels good.

Don't do that. It tastes good. Don't do that. I like that. Don't do this. Do this instead. I don't like that.

We do the things we're not supposed to do when we don't do the things that God tells us to do. Both are sins.

Romans chapter 6 says, the wages of that sin is death. It goes on. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. See, God demonstrated his love for us in this. While you and I were still sinners, Christ died for us. Doesn't say while we were good, while we cleaned up our act, while we made ourselves lovely and made ourselves presentable. It says, while we were still sinners.

God looked down on his creation and saw a bunch of people doing whatever they wanted, whatever was right in their own sight, and said, I love those people. I want them. So he sent his only son, his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not die, but have everlasting life.

Yes, of course, we're raised to newness of life in Christ. We experience that abundant life with Christ here and now, and we're raised in resurrected bodies where we get to live with Jesus forever. If only we would confess Christ Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. Sometimes you hear sayings in church like, have you made the Lord Jesus the Lord of your life?

We confess, we agree, and say, Jesus, you are the Lord. I surrender to you. If we confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, resurrection, then too, we can be saved. Not about lip service, not about saying the right things, not even about doing the right things. It's about confessing, agreeing, surrendering to Christ, and believing that God truly is the Lord of your life. He truly did what he said he did.

People of the dust become people of Jesus, people of heaven. He made a way for all of us.

There's a fourth thing, the encouragement that comes from this resurrection. Verse 49, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

I'm going to take my Bible. You can go here if you'd like. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 18. It says this,

I don't know how many people I talked to after first hour who said, you know, I lost my husband in November. I lost my father a year ago. I lost so -and -so. And it's this hope, this blessedness, this hope we have in Christ that the best is yet to come for those who are in Christ is what gets them through.

Knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The hope that someday our broken, busted bodies will be raised in perfection and glory, where we can dwell with heaven forever. That's the blessed hope that we look forward to. We don't grieve like those who have no hope. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we will be blessed with the glory of the Lord. That we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

The Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. We're talking about the end times, eschatology, when Christ comes back to take us home. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. I love this line.

We will always be with the Lord. Friends, that's the hope we have in Christ. We will always be with the Lord.

That's what eternity looks like. Perfect communion with Jesus. Perfect communion with Jesus's people. Verse 18, therefore, encourage one another with these words. Encourage one another with these words. I read a quote from a pastor, Charles Spurgeon, years and years and years ago. Speaking of death and resurrection, he said this, Dear friends, if such be death, it be but a sowing. Let us be done with all faithless, hopeless, graceless sorrow, saying things like, our family circle has been broken.

Yes, but only broken that it may be reformed. You've lost a dear friend. Yes, grieve, but only lost that friend that you may find him again and find more. Than you ever lost. They are not lost. They are sown.

That's the reality for believers. No believer is lost. They are sown. And what's raised in newness of life, what's raised in our resurrected bodies is beyond what we can even ask, think, hope, or imagine. That is the hope and the encouragement we find in Christ.

So I'm not sure where you're at this morning. If you question your eternity, do you feel secure?

When you think of your eternity, do you feel secure? your eternity, do you feel secure? Think about those who've gone before you who have been lost, but you know in their life they were found by Christ. Do you grieve as those without hope, or do you rejoice in knowing that their death was just a sowing?

That the people we've known and love, absent from their body, but they're completely present with the Lord.

You know, it sounds cool and all, talking about resurrected bodies. You know, what are the bodies going to be like? What are they going to do? Don't miss the bigger picture. Someday you and I will die. For those who are in Christ, they will spend eternity with God forever. And perfect, glorified bodies we can't yet even quite understand.

You know, I have four other things written down here talking about what our resurrected bodies may be like. I'm going to fly through them just so you have them. If you want to talk more, we can talk more. But that's the question that this group asks. What kind of body do they come? We have one great example in the scriptures of what a resurrected body may or may not be. And that's the question that we're going to ask. And that's the question looking back at that day in Christ. Does a family have proteins? Do you think Jesus Do you think Jesus thought that that had sin in it? Or does that impact their physical Mitteca産?

Do they know that? Romans 6 says Christ will never die again. Death has no dominion over him. So too it will be with our bodies. We will never die again. We will live forever because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Thirdly, it appears Jesus' body had some supernatural abilities, but Jesus also did all sorts of supernatural things throughout his entire life. There are stories after his resurrection where he appears in locked rooms and totally vanishes and maybe we have those abilities too, maybe not, who knows. If all we do is focus on that, we miss the point and Paul's response to us is the same. You foolish ones.

Fix your eyes on heaven knowing that someday you'll spend eternity with Christ. Don't worry so much about what your body will be like. Fourth, we know Jesus' body is recognizable. When Mary saw him in the garden, her response was rabboni, rabbi, teacher. She saw him, she knew him, when Jesus encountered the men on the road to Emmaus. It says initially he kept them from recognizing him, but at the end of a meal it said they recognized him and they said, how did our hearts not burn within us?

I think we'll recognize each other in eternity. But if we focus on that and fixate on that, I think we miss it.

The beauty of our blessed hope, friends, is that you and I someday will spend eternity with Christ in perfect community with him and perfect community with one another. It's something I want us to celebrate even now as we take communion. You should have grabbed a communion cup on your way in. If not, there may be one in a seat back in front of you or you can slip up your hand and our communion team can run a communion cup over to you.

On the night Jesus was arrested and shortly thereafter led to be crucified on a cross, he was with his disciples. Taking a meal during this meal, he stopped and he took bread and he broke the bread and he said, this is my body which is broken for you. Friends, we do this in remembrance of what Christ has done for us. In the same way, he took a cup and

Jesus said, this cup is my blood of the new covenant. And then he said something interesting. He said, I will not drink this again until the wedding supper of the lamb, which is a feast that you and I someday get to enjoy and celebrate with Jesus in our resurrected bodies for all eternity, perfect communion with Christ, perfect communion with one another. We take this looking back, and gratitude, but also enjoying gladness, looking forward to the communion we have with Christ.

Lord Jesus, we come before you confessing you as Lord. Not making you Lord, not asking you to be the Lord, but recognizing and agreeing that you are the Lord of all creation.

Father, you are the creator, you are the sustainer. We look forward to the day where we will be recreated and sustained, but we look forward to the day where we will be recreated, we look forward to the day where we will be recreated, but we look forward to the day where we will be recreated, by you we look forward to the day where we will be recreated, by you once again.

A day where we will have perfect unity and perfect communion with you and perfect communion with your people. God, it's a day we celebrate. It's a day we look forward to. It's a day that causes us to cry out in our hearts, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, come.

Father, we love you, we thank you, we praise you. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. Life is worth the living, just like you. It's because he lives. It's because he lives, we can say with confidence, come what may. It's because he lives, we can say with confidence and expected assurance, come Lord Jesus, come.

It's because he lives, we know that though we die, yet someday we too shall live in complete wholeness and perfection, perfect peace, perfect communion, perfect harmony with Christ, and Christ's people, if we are people of heaven. If we are people of Christ. Friends, maybe this morning, the Lord has been drawing you onto himself. We would love to pray with you this morning. We would love to talk with you what it looks like for you to surrender your life over to Christ, not to make him Lord, but to confess him as Lord. To see what it means to believe, to see what it means to walk with Christ, in this life, with the expectation and excited assurance that we'll be able to walk with Christ in the life to come.

Our prayer team's down front. They'd love to pray with you. They'd love to talk with you. They'd love to lead you to Jesus and point you on your way. For the rest of us, service is not over until you love somebody. So love somebody well, then go out into the world and live on mission for the glory of Christ and Christ alone. We love you. God bless you. We'll see you next week. Bye -bye.