2024-03-31 Easter Sunday

Well, it is Easter Sunday, and I want to first thank you all for joining us out here. There’s something really special about this morning. In the most recent estimations there are about 2.5 billion Christians in the world, and on this morning we’re all celebrating the same thing. We’re all talking about the same thing. We’re all focused on the same topic, the same scriptures in our bibles, the same wonder and awe. It’s Easter Sunday. It’s the day we celebrate and reflect on the truth and the reality of Christianity.

Here’s the thing that is different when it comes to Christianity. See, you can have religion simply with some philosophy and beliefs. That’s all it really takes.

You can form a system and a way of living that abides by a specific set of rules or beliefs, and either allow people to choose that or impose that on them, or even say they aren’t allow to be a part of it because you put the parameters and they don’t fit into it.

But Christianity. It’s different because of today. Because of Easter, or what we also call Resurrection Sunday.

Today us and 2.5 billion people around the world are celebrating this fact. That God, the God of the universe, who created everything and everyone, took part in his own creation by becoming human, in the flesh, as Jesus Christ, and lived a completely pure life, never having done anything wrong, so that he could take that body he had been given, and offer it as a sacrifice, not for his own life, or just his friends and family, or even a particular people group, but for all of mankind, because he didn’t just create one people group, he is Creator of all humanity.

That’s what we are celebrating today.

But what I want to look at this morning is three words that Jesus says while he is still on the cross, before he dies, as he is looking forward toward the other side of his death.

If you were with us last week you might remember that we talked about the fact that Jesus IS God, and because he is God He gets to decide when he is going to die. But to model for us what it looks like to live a life of obedience, he submits that authority of choice to God the Father. See, Jesus lived a subjective life, not because he had to, but because he chose to.

In John 19 we can read the story of Jesus being brought before Pilate. Pilate was the governor of Judea, the main location of much of the life ofJesus, where the city of Jerusalem is located. And the Jewish religious leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus, but they did not have the authority to kill him, so they brought him to someone who would and could, the Roman Governor, Pilate. Historians say Pilate was quite a cruel leader. But he was also tasked with keeping the peace, and so he felt like he needed to walk an awkwardly fine line between condemning Jesus or not.

He tries to let Jesus go, but the people won’t have it, they keep pushing him.

So he has Jesus flogged, or whipped with a whip that has lead balls on the end. Meant to inflict maximum damage to the body. And he’s thinking this will be enough. But again, the people won’t have it. They’ve been stirred into such an uproar that when Pilate finally says that he finds Jesus not guilty by any means they shout out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Now, here’s the important part. Again, Pilate is caught in between the people and Jesus. And he says to Jesus in John 19:10, “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

And this is where we actually see the power of Jesus. Again, if you remember last week, I said that God chooses NOT to take control of us as humans, but that he gives us free will, but that he is absolutely 100% in control of himself. No one can take control of Jesus. He chooses when he will or will not die. And they had tried before. Tried to stone him, tried to thrown him off a cliff, but each time he evades their plot, right in front of them. And so he responds to pilate. John 19:11, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.”

What I want you to understand this morning is that no one took the life of Jesus. He gave it willingly.

The book of Hebrews 10:5 says, That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God - as it is written about me in the Scriptures.’”

See, this was always the plan.

The plan has always been that Jesus would come and lay down his life for his people. The entire Old Testament of scripture points to this. But, something obviously went wrong. If that’s the plan, and the Old Testament tells us that’s the plan, then why did so many not believe?

I would suggest to you this morning that it’s the same reason we have a difficult time accepting Jesus in his fullness. What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the thing. The same people that were yelling, “Crucify Him, Crucify him”, just a few days earlier, on what we celebrated last week, Palm Sunday, were shouting, “Praise to God, for the coming King of Israel.” as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

We like the idea of a savior, but we don’t like when he does it different than the way we wanted.

Israel liked the idea of their coming Messiah, but when the Messiah actually came, they didn’t like the way he did the job, so they rejected him. The problem with rejecting your Messiah is that there’s only one of them and you aren’t the one who gets to choose how he does his saving.

So it’s the same thing for us. We want to be saved, but it’s a little harder when Jesus comes along and says we need to live like Him instead of live like we want to live.

All of that to say that back then, 2000 years ago, it wasn’t easy to believe. And there were many who didn’t. But the same is true today. It’s not always easy to believe in Jesus, this man, who said he was God, who was murdered on a cross, and who’s followers say he didn’t stay dead, but that he rose back to life.

And I know it’s resurrection Sunday, but I want to encourage you this morning with three thoughts from something that Jesus said while he was on the cross.

We’re going to jump into the story at a point where Jesus is already on the cross, and he’s about to die. He went through the trial, was beaten terribly, forced to carry his own cross to the point where he can’t and they make someone else carry it for him up the hill where they hung him on the cross. They rolled dice for his clothes, which is the Old Testament actually said would happen.

Jesus looks down from the cross and sees his mother and says to his disciple John who is next to her, “Take care of my mom like she was your own mother.”

And this is where we’ll start reading from John 19:28-30, Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

These are the last few moments of his life, and in these moments he declares for all time the most important words he possibly could, “It is finished!”

But, what does that mean? What is finished? Well, it’s found in the meaning of that word, “Finished”. That word doesn’t just mean that it’s the end. Like you watched a movie, and now it’s done. Or you were reading a book and got to the last page. Or even that you lived your life, like Jesus, pure, faithful, as the Messiah, and now you’ve finished your work - and that would be a fair reading of this scripture because vs 28 starts with, “Jesus knew that his mission was now finished…” same word. But when Jesus says it, he’s declaring much more, not just that he’s come to the end of something, or the end of his life, but that he has completed, or accomplished specific tasks, and now, because he is in complete control of his life and when he dies, he can let the flesh he’s been given, die on that cross.

So, it’s with that completeness, or accomplishment in mind that I want to look at three things this morning. His life, His death and His resurrection, and how all three are an invitation for us to follow him into this completeness.

1. His Life

What does it look like for us to find completeness in the life of Jesus? Or to follow Him toward completeness?

Jesus did everything he did for us:

He lived for us.

He died for us.

He rose again for us.

And I’m confident of that, because without humanity there is no reason for him to do any of that. Read the first part of the bible - It was humanity that messed things up. We took perfection, and in our own desire to be like God and to do it our own way instead of following him toward it, WE messed up.

The story of the Garden is the same story we are living today. Do you remember that story? If you don’t, here’s a quick recap.

Genesis, the first book of the bible, tells us that God created all of the heavens and the earth. And he created the animals, the plants, the water, the fish you name it, he made it. Actually, he made it, and then invited Adam to name the animals.

And he created this special Garden, Eden it was called. And he gave it to Adam and Eve, the woman that he had also created, so that they could live in the garden together, and rule over that garden together. Not in a weird authoritarian ruler kind of way, but in a committed, care taking, way of ensuring it’s good survival. Well, in the middle of the garden, the bible tells us that there were two different trees, one was called the Tree of Life, and the other, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And that second one is the only tree God said they couldn’t eat from.

Scripture tells us that the devil, satan, came to them in the form of a serpent, and convinced them that God was hiding something from them, that if they wanted to be like God all they had to do was eat the fruit from that tree, and then they would understand all things and be like God.

Here’s the problem. They were already like God, In fact, that is exactly what the bible says about Adam and Even, Genesis 1:26-27 says, Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

To me that says, “You didn’t need to try to become like God, because you were made to be like God, BY God, and if you would simply just allow God to show you how to be like Him in the ways you are meant to be, you would fulfill all that he wants for your life in way of a good, happy, fulfilling, life.” BUT, they let the idea of God hiding something from them, or maybe it wasn’t happening fast enough, the idea that maybe they weren’t like God and God was holding back on them so they needed to act on their own to really become like God. That messed them up, and they did the one thing God had asked them not to do.

Now, Two things here: first, God didn’t tell Adam and Eve to not eat from that tree because he was hiding something, or because he was trying to be some sort of buzz kill, it was to protect them.

Now, let me just say this. The concept or idea of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, whether you believe that the Genesis account is 100% literal, or you read it as a story that depicts the way humanity works, doesn’t matter, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the opportunity, through the free will given to us by God, to decide we would rather do it on our own.

That’s what it is. We are going to bypass what God has said, and we are going to figure it out on our own. We don’t need God.

Second thing, society around us will try to say that humans are all basically good. I’ve heard so many people say that, “I’m a good person.” That’s a wonderful thing to say, but by who’s or by what standard are we considered good?

See, the bible tells us over and over again what life looks like when humans try to do things without following the way that God intended for us to live. It’s terrible. It never ends well. It is just simply bad.

And that idea can be summed up in one bible verse. Judges 17:6 says, In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

That’s bad news bears.

When we try to decide for ourselves what right and wrong are, without turning to God who defines right and wrong, we make a mess of life.

In this first part, looking to the Life of Jesus, I want you to hear the words he said from the cross, “It is Ffnished!”

Jesus makes an invitation through his life to humanity, the same invitation that God had made in the Garden of Eden. The same invitation that God made to Israel in Exodus through the Torah, where he laid out a way of life for them to live by. Jesus says this in Matthew 16:24-25, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

So, what is it that Jesus was saying to our lives when he said, “It is finished!” ?

I would suggest to you this morning that Jesus’ invitation to you is to be finished with your own way of life, and to commit to following His.

I would like to make the case for your life that you doing it your way is not the best way, but that giving that up for following the way of Jesus is.

There is no greater life than laying down our own desire for the desires of God. And because of Jesus Christ, because he went to the cross, the invitation given in the Garden of Eden is the same invitation we receive today - to live a life of relationship with God, in community with humanity, living in this world that he created with all it’s blessings he designed.

God wants you to have a good life, but that doesn’t come by doing whatever you want. It comes through following Jesus Christ.

In this life, we are meant to follow his life.

When Jesus was on that cross and he said, “It is finished!” he was giving invitation for you and I to say that to our own way of living. It is finished. I said earlier that our current society will try to convince you that everyone is “basically good”. But here’s the problem with that - It’s based on what we define as good. And more often than not what we decide is “good” is based on what we get pleasure from. But that is misguided and wrong, and leads us to a life where anything we might get pleasure from, right or wrong, we define as good, because it makes us feel good.

This is why we must give up our own way, because our own way doesn’t lead to life, even if it feels “good” in the moment.

True life is found in Jesus Christ, and we must give up our own way of living, in order to truly follow his.

2. His Death

The second thing I want to look at today is why Jesus said, “It is finished!” while he was on the cross.

This is pretty simple, but I want you to hear it clearly. Jesus completed every task he set out to complete. There was not one thing that Jesus intended to do that he did not do. He didn’t forget a part. He didn’t lose track of time and not get to something. He did exactly what he was meant to do in the time he was meant to do it.

Now, I don’t believe God would never take control of my life or your life. He’s given us free will to choose for ourselves what we will do, if we will follow him or not. So he does not take control of us. But God is so in control of his own life. Jesus was so in control of what He did that when he came to this earth he didn’t miss a beat.

Not only that, I believe that everything he did do was highly intentional.

Not only that, but I believe that what was written about him in the bible is highly intentional.

People sometimes say things like, “The bible was written by man, so we can’t trust it.”

Of course it was written by man, but it was by the leading of the Holy Spirit, to tell us exactly what we need to know about life, God, the Spirit, and the life of Jesus Christ, SO THAT we can live a life on this earth that is both honoring to Him, and full of His promises.

At the end of the book of John, the very last verse says this, Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

Yet, we have such a small window into all that Jesus did. I 100% believe that this was by design. Yes, it is intentional. Yes, it is written by human beings. But yes, it is inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit and in that way it is trustworthy and speaks of the life of Christ who IS the true Word of God.

We often talk about the Word of God, but Jesus Christ himself is the word of God. And not just when he was on this earth using words from a human body, but from before time began and will forever be.

John wrote in John 1:1, 14 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

What’s John Saying? John is saying that Jesus existed before he was born on this earth, and will exist after he dies. Why? Because he is the very Word of God, He is the Son of God, He is, as we believe in what we call the Trinity, God the Son.

We believe in the Triune, or Trinity of God. That is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Meaning God exists as one God, yet in three persons. They are not separate from each other, and yet they are individuals within each other. And Jesus is God.

Now, here’s where the death of Jesus is so fascinatingly important.

God can not die.

If God can die, God is not God.

And if Jesus existed before he had flesh, as John tells us, then when his flesh dies, Jesus, who is God, does not die. Just like Hebrews says, that Jesus said, “You gave me a body of flesh to offer as a sacrifice.”

Now, that does not mean that what Jesus went through didn’t hurt. In fact, I think this speaks more to his love for us than anything else. That Jesus, who is God, did not have to suffer and die. He could have walked away. He could have called thousands of angels to his aid. He could have crushed every last Roman soldier and religious pharisee under his very capable feet. Yet, he CHOSE to suffer and die. He CHOSE to feel pain on our behalf. He CHOSE to feel the piercing of the spear in his side, the lashes of the whip, the thorns digging into his scalp. He chose every last bit of that pain for one purpose and one purpose only, to finish what none of us could ever finish.

Let’s go back to the garden for a second. Life has always been taken to cover human shame.

When Adam & Eve mess up, and they eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, just like the serpent had told them, their eyes were opened. Problem was, now they knew they were naked, and they felt great shame for being naked before God, so they hid.

This is an incredibly written passage of scripture. Both physically and emotionally we feel this. When we are physically naked, we feel shame. When we feel emotionally exposed, we feel shame. This passage reads both literal and figuratively in beautiful fashion. But what is God’s response in the midst of it? Genesis 3:21, And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

Now, I know we’re growing meat in labs these days, which is gross, but these were no lab grown animal skins.

A life was given so that our shame could be covered.

When Jesus hung on that cross and said, “It is finished!” he was declaring loud and clear that no other life would ever need to be taken to cover the shame of humanities inability to life perfectly.

God gets it. We aren’t perfect. God knows we are going to mess up. And Just as he covered the shame of Adam & Eve in the garden by taking the life of an animal, Jesus gave up his life, remember, nobody can take the life of Jesus, he freely offers it… for what purpose? To cover our shame.

We aren’t righteous beings. I know, I said everyone would like to simply think that we are all just good people. But we aren’t. Not to say that we’re all bad and evil, but to say that we simply can not be perfect and left to our own devices we will mess things up. So what does Jesus do? He lays down his life to cover our shame… just like the animal in the garden.

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What’s he saying? He’s saying, “You done did mess up, but don’t worry, there’s a sacrifice being made so that your shame will forever be covered.” You get to be made right with God because Jesus was given a body of flesh, that he kept pure, so that it could become a sacrifice to cover our inability to be perfect.

“It is finished!” No sacrifice will ever need to be made to cover shame, sin, imperfection or separation from God, again. Jesus Christ is the perfect and eternal sacrifice for all of humanity.

3. His Resurrection

Now we get to the reason we’re all here this morning. The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

See, all of what I’ve said this morning is wonderful, unless Jesus isn’t actually who he said he is. If Jesus isn’t who he said he is then all of what we’ve just talked about is of no consequence.

If he’s not actually the Son of God, then he didn’t exist before he was born into flesh.

If he’s not actually the Son of God, then Joseph and Mary were lying, and that one and only time there was a virgin birth is a lie.

If he’s not actually the Son of God, meaning He’s God himself, then when his body dies, it’s over.

BUT, if He IS who he said he is. Then all of it is TRUE.

John 11 has this great story. While he was still alive Jesus had a friend named Lazarus, who also had two sisters, Mary & Martha. Well, Lazarus gets sick, and they send word to Jesus, who’s not in town, he’s a good distance away, and he decides to stay where he is for a couple more days.

He finally heads out to Lazarus’ house, but by the time he gets there, Lazarus has succumbed to his sickness and died. Not only that, but they’ve had the funeral and buried him and he’s been in the the grave for 4 days. Not a good look for the guy who can heal people to show up late for a good friend.

Well, Lazarus’ sisters are pretty shaken, of course, and Martha asks Jesus why he didn’t make it in time, if only he would’ve made it in time, he could have healed their brother.

Jesus says to her in John 11:23, “Your brother will rise again.”

And Martha says, “sure, I get that, everyone is going to in the great resurrection at the end of time, so that’s great, but he’s dead now…”

And Jesus says to her, No, listen, you don’t understand… John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

What happens next? Jesus tells them to roll the stone away from the tomb and he yells, “Lazarus, come out…” and sure enough, even though he had died, he came stumbling out of that tomb, wrapped in burial clothes, very much alive!

But that’s not even what Jesus was talking about. This is an illustration to prove an even greater point. See, my assumption here is that Lazarus did eventually die again. We don’t hear of any 2000 year old dudes named Lazarus in the news, right? So, he was raised from the dead, which is an amazing miracle, but it was temporary.

But what Jesus is saying here is that for Lazarus, for Martha who he was talking to, for you and for me, if we truly believe in Him as the Messiah, as the Son of God, as the one who was given flesh to sacrifice so that our shame and our inability to be perfect would be covered by His righteousness and perfection, then when we die, it isn’t the end, because we will live on forever IN him and with him.

Again, this is a great thought, but only if it’s actually true. And how does Jesus prove that it’s actually true? By being what he said he is. What did he say to Martha. I AM the resurrection and the life.

Not just that he CAN resurrect and give life, but that he IS the resurrection and the life. That’s the key.

We receive this life everlasting by connecting our lives to the life of the one who cannot die.

If I am going into the grave, I want to be following Jesus so that on the other side of the grave, the one who cannot die is waiting for me there.

And so we come to Easter Sunday, or what we call Resurrection Sunday.

Just like when Lazarus had died, all of Jesus’ friends and family are weeping and mourning their loss. They had put all of their hope in Jesus - and now he was gone.

The disciples are huddled together in a home, probably hiding from the authorities. Peter still processing his denial. And as much of a shock as it was that Jesus was taken and crucified, none of the other disciples knew that Judas was going to betray them all. Yes, he betrayed Jesus, but he betrayed all of them.

For more than 3 years they walked together, up and down and across the entire nation. Judas was sent out to heal the sick and cleanse the lepers just like the other disciples. Judas was preaching along side them that the kingdom was at hand. Judas was right beside them as they intently listened to the teaching of Jesus. And he had betrayed them all.

The disciples didn’t just lose one friend, they lost two. And as much as they might have wanted to or maybe been able to forgive Judas, they couldn’t, because he was so full of shame he went and took his own life. Matthew 27:3 says that when Judas found out they were going to actually kill Jesus, he was so full of remorse, that he tried to give the money back. And when they wouldn’t take it, he threw it at their feet and ran out of the Temple and went and hung himself.

So in one day these disciples have lost their leader, the rabbi they have committed their lives to, that they truly believed was the Messiah, murdered in front of their eyes in the most gruesome way. And they lost a friend - first to betrayal and then to suicide.

No wonder they are hiding, huddled together in mourning. Everything they thought they knew was gone in a moment. If Judas could betray them, what about everyone else? Who can you trust? And the religious leaders who had Jesus killed, are they out for us too? And the Romans? Are they going to try and come after us?

But, there’s always some brave ones aren’t there? Who are the brave ones here? It’s the women. Let’s read it. Luke 24:1-12:

But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood their puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.

The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples - and everyone else - what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

The women went. They saw. They told the boys who didn’t believe them, except Peter, and in John’s account it also says that John runs with him to the tomb.

But Jesus is no longer there. So what’s the “It is finished!” here in the resurrection?

Let’s read a little bit more from the book of Luke. The angels told the ladies to tell the disciples to wait in Galilee and Jesus would come meet them there. So they do, and in some amazing dramatic stories, the disciples encounter the risen Jesus. And I encourage you this week, go to the end of the gospel accounts and read the resurrection stories. The papers you have with the worship songs on them have them at the bottom of the page. But I really encourage you, read about the encounters that the disciples had with Jesus as the Risen Savior. Because that is the world we live in! That Jesus is alive.

So, In Luke 24:36-39, Jesus suddenly appears in a room with his disciples and says, “Peace be with you,”… But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! “Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that its’ really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

This is the last “It is finished!” that I want to focus on this morning.

Jesus is alive. In the flesh. Not a ghost. But alive in his body for all of eternity. And his invitation for you in that is that he is the resurrection and the life, and anyone who believes in him, which means to follow after him, will walk right through the grave into eternity. That even though our flesh dies, it will be raised to life in Him, and as he said to Martha, even though you die, yet, you will live.

This is the Jesus we worship. This is what Christianity is all about.

That Jesus lived, and died, and rose again. And in doing so he invites you and me to each of those things as well, that we are meant to live as he lived, and yes, we will die, unless he comes again before that happens, but i’m pretty sure we are all going to pass through the grave, but here’s the important part, the grave has been defeated. It doesn’t have the power anymore to keep you. And so the grave is now simply a pass through as we follow Jesus into eternity.

But here’s the thing. This is an invitation on each level, to follow him. If you aren’t following him, you can’t end up where he’s going. If you aren’t following him your path isn’t his path.

I want to extend that invitation to you this morning. Although it’s not my invitation. It’s an invitation 2000 years old, that countless people over the years, and 2.5 Billion people on the earth today have accepted to truly give their lives to following Jesus. See, we can’t and will not ever be perfect on our own. We can’t just live however we want and then somehow cheat death. And we can’t live a life being “good enough” to earn our way into heaven on our own ability or merits. The only way to heaven is to follow Jesus. He gave his life on that cross so that through his resurrection we would know that following him would be fully and wonderfully worth it. It’s the resurrection that makes it all true!

Another thing I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Ya, well that’s just not for me…”

Let me tell you this morning:

You are meant to follow Jesus. That’s what you were created for.

You are meant to be a part of the church. The bible says the church is the body of Christ, his gathered people on this earth. It’s actually what you were created for.

And let me be bold enough to say to you this morning: You were meant to be here this morning and hear this invitation from Him, to follow him into life, so that if and when you die, it is not the end, and you will follow him, through the grave, into heaven for eternity.

This is the invitation that gets proclaimed from the cross as Jesus says, “It is finished!”.

To live our lives following him, so that when we come to the grave, we continue to follow him through death into resurrection life for all of eternity.

Let’s pray this morning, and if you see in your life that you want to take up this invitation I want to invite you to talk to someone here this morning. As we close in prayer here, when we’re done, you can come to me or Kelley, or any number of people here…