 The words of that very early Christian greeting the Lord is risen Are we sure the Lord is risen Amen, but first we have to go back Adam oh, Adam You shall not Surely die Adam my dear husband Where are you? You shall not surely die Adam in 2020 between 55 million and 60 million people Did surely die and that doesn't include the approximately 70 million according to the Guttmacher Institute latest figures of 2019 The approximately 70 million children that were murdered in the womb You shall not surely die The biggest lie ever sprung on the human race You shall not surely die Except for those living right now on planet earth Every single human being with two exceptions that we know of has died and the statistics we're talking about now are just the observable physical casualties Then there are the spiritual casualties the spiritual deaths Humanity was created as we heard last evening with a God-given connection a life-giving connection to their creator And what has happened to every responsible human adult? dead in trespasses and sins is how Paul wrote to the Ephesians to describe The state of humanity billions and billions and billions of people are living and have lived and died without this God-ordained Connection and they're going into eternity without him That lie was sabotage of the entire Human race and that spiritual death my brothers and sisters we know is inconceivably greater than physical death, but I tell you brothers and sisters on Easter morning the son of God struck a Death blow to death itself So we can ask the question Adam. Where are you and? I tell you we have the answer to that question in first Corinthians 15 45 We found Adam and so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a Quickening spirit a life-giving spirit in the ESV Of course the implication is here that the first Adam was made with this God-given connection to his creator But he lost it and he died But the last Adam the founder of the new human race Came and he gives life back again as we heard Preach so well last night and he is the answer to that unspeakably vile trick played upon the human race by Satan And we have many voices in the world today and many of them probably most of them are still just recycling that same lie Repackaged you shall not surely die and Maybe there are some of us here this morning that are like that little dog bang Who ran out onto the football field and there was a clamor of voices? Calling to him from every direction But there was no dominant voice and that little dog stood there on the football field turning in which every which Direction because he was confused Maybe you've been listening to many voices There are many voices the voice of popularity the voice of money the voice of pleasure and sexual immorality the voice of Possessions and power and influence and maybe it's just the many voices of Responsibility that are calling us to a life of overbiziness But today my dear friend In the voice of Martha to her beloved sister The master has come and he calleth for thee Will you hear him? Do you hear him calling your name? Is this the weekend that you should reorient your life To the voice of the one who's conquered death Do you hear him above the noise or maybe you should turn your ears to that voice? That still small but dominant voice that's calling all mankind Should you turn to that voice maybe for the first time and Above all the din we hear this voice of love We hear the voice of the second Adam the last Adam who bore the sins of the world upon himself and Shed his blood as the perfect sacrifice We hear the voice of that last Adam who entered death and dismantled it and When he got up out of the grave He flung off death like a young man flings off the bed covers when he gets up in the morning In doing that by going into death by giving himself over to death and by coming out the other side He demonstrates to us today 2,000 years later his complete mastery of it and We hear the voice of that last Adam who not only Destroyed death and dismantled it by his resurrection He not only did that but the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 tells us that He destroyed him who had the power of death notice that past tense who had the power of death That is the devil and the devil had it until Easter morning when Jesus destroyed him Praise the Lord now all which are in Christ Jesus Who walked not after the flesh but after the Spirit are free from the law of sin and death and How are they free from the law of sin and death? They are freed by a new law that came into force on Easter morning the law of life in Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus have made me free from the law of sin and death There's a new principle now in brought into humanity a quality of life That is stronger than death and we heard last night how that back in the old days if you reached out and Touched a leper you were made unclean But Jesus reversed that curse and this law of life in Christ Jesus that was in him Reached out and now he cleanses the leper with that life The curse has been reversed and now life is the dominant force So now about a year ago. I was meditating on Acts chapter 1 verse 3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs Being seen of them 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God So that phrase many infallible proofs Really stuck in my mind and I began to realize that I needed to adjust my thinking on the resurrection a little bit Now I have accepted the resurrection by faith out of the gospel accounts all my life And I still do more firmly than ever But Paul says here that we have many infallible proofs and when I began to think of the resurrection as Being documented by many infallible proofs I began to realize that the resurrection is Part of concrete human history just as the reign of Julius Caesar or King Henry the 8th it is part of human history We have historical data for what happened there on Easter morning I began to realize that the resurrection can be looked at differently than say the existence of God We don't have eyewitness accounts of people who saw God Now we can make deductions on many things that point to the existence of God We can make a very strong case for the existence of God through various kinds of deductions But the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is different from that We don't just make deductions We have courtroom discovery courtroom evidence Court cases have often been one on the basis of one good witness We have hundreds of witnesses people who saw Jesus After he was known to have died and we can accept the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead With the same historical certainty as we accept the fact that George Washington Was the first president of the United States of America And it's a crying shame that they don't have the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the secular history books With the same kind of certainty Let's take a look at the infallible proofs of resurrection and of the resurrection And there are many of them and we'll look at four of them this morning Number one is Jesus death by crucifixion. This is a historical fact that can be Validated by multiple sources outside the gospel accounts We don't need those other sources outside the gospel accounts for us to believe that Jesus died on the cross But they're there and they validate they help validate the gospel accounts even though we don't need any validation And obviously it's true that if Jesus were to rise from the dead He had to die first so that is a historical fact Jesus death by crucifixion secondly Multiple eyewitnesses of his resurrection after he rose from the dead even skeptics like Bart Ehrman Acknowledge, it's obvious that his disciples believe that he rose from the dead So let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 15 I want to spend a little bit of time at the beginning of this chapter and first we'll note The various eyewitnesses that we see here in this account in the verse Five first eyewitness listed here is Peter and then we have the 12 Which would have been Peter James and John and all the rest except for Judas of course After that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once this must have been by the way I just now thought of it after Matthias was ordained to take Judas's place because there was 12 500 brethren at once and Then and some of them by this writing had already died And then he was seen of James and then finally after that the apostles again and Finally after all that list of more than 500 we have Paul the apostle himself met Jesus on the Damascus Road The bottom line is that here we have at least 500 eyewitnesses that could have been called Into a first century court as eyewitnesses to the risen Messiah Jesus Christ Folks, it's an open and shut case. It really is 500 eyewitnesses The third thing the third infallible proof is the disciples world-changing message The disciples were so convinced about this that it happened that they turned the world upside down with their teaching about a resurrected Messiah and Christian tradition has that all but one died a martyr's death for what they believed and here's the important thing People will give their lives for what they believe to be true But they will not die for what they know is false and Even so even secular historians who don't believe in the supernatural Acknowledge that Jesus disciples gave their lives for a Jesus that they believed rose from the dead and Now we have the early creeds as another infallible proof of the resurrection and I want to spend some time on this one There's very early creedal data Preserve that even the skeptics acknowledged that was written. They were written as early as AD 33 to AD 35 So that when Jesus met Paul on the apostle on the Damascus road and called him to be an apostle there were already creeds circulating Among Christians and this would have been about 35 probably 35 at the latest 36 AD When Paul was converted already then there were creeds being circulated among the churches that taught that Jesus died Was buried and rose again and the fact that these creeds were being circulated so early Means that if Jesus resurrection had been a lie The disciples preaching about it would have been thoroughly debunked By people who were right there and knew the facts if they would have been otherwise and the creeds would have never gotten off the ground But the fact that the creeds did get off the ground that they were generally accepted and Circulated widely among the Christian churches at a very early date and that they still exist in the New Testament as It was canonized and that they testified to Jesus death and resurrection This all means that they stood the test of contemporary fact checkers and they're reliable and Here we have a creed in 1st Corinthians 15 that I would like for us to read together Recite together If you have the King James go to verse 3 of chapter 15 in 1st Corinthians And this is very very precious to me and almost wants to send the goose Goosebumps up and down my back because as we read this we are entering into Some of the very earliest material of the early church So let's recite together a verse 3 down through verse 7. I'll try to take it a bit slowly For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and That he was buried and that he rose again the third day According to the scriptures and that he was seen of CESAP and then of the 12 after that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present But some are fallen asleep after that he was seen of James Then of all the apostles Thank you. And of course back then it would have been most likely Greek not English So it would have sounded a lot different. This is an ancient creed and I'll explain why it's an ancient creed in just a few minutes Let's talk about 1st Corinthians From what I could find there's general consensus that 1st Corinthians was written on Paul's third missionary journey in about 55 AD Before any of the Gospels so the material that we just read was being circulated Earlier that any of the gospel accounts of Jesus death and resurrection Even some of the main skeptics acknowledge and we don't need their word But they acknowledge that 1st Corinthians was written about 55 AD and was written by Paul the apostle The book is not in doubt even by secular historians again. We don't need them But there's a reason for believing why 1st Corinthians was written about 55 AD and here it is Obviously the book was written Sometime after Paul established the church at Corinth and we can assign a precise date For Paul's visit to Corinth and the establishing of the church there Because we can establish that almost more price precisely than any other particular date in the New Testament because a fellow by the name of Galeo Was proconsult of Achaia in in the records of the Roman Empire. We have it and He was proconsult in AD 53 The records show and the proconsuls at that time held power for only one year He was there at AD 53 and in Acts chapter 18 We read that Paul appeared in front of this Galeo So it had to have been AD 53 and so likely 1st Corinthians was written within two years or so or around AD 55 now, let's talk about this creed which we just recited along with Multitudes of believers who've recited it the world over for now 2000 years So we know it's a creed because Paul introduces it in the original translated He says which I also received Delivered in verse 3 he introduces the creed with the words delivered and received and these are technical rabbinical terms for passing along holy tradition and with these words he's giving credit to established Christian tradition that he has received and now he is passing it along to the Corinthians and in fact He had delivered it before he wrote the book. He had delivered it. I Delivered unto you. This is past tense at the time. He's writing so he would have delivered this to the Corinthians at AD 53 Now the other reason we know it is a creed is because of the style and rhythm You know when you write a song there's a meter. There's a rhythm like la la la la la la la la la that kind of thing This has it in the original and it's a it's a method that was used to help Illiterate people retain truth. It was put in a rhythmic cadence meter kind of thing in the original So we know it's a creed now If you go back to verse 3 And look again at that phrase for I delivered unto you first of all that which I received He had delivered this to the Corinthians in AD 53 what he had received This means that somebody gave it to Paul sometime prior to that Now we don't know exactly when he received this creed but there is a Theory out of Galatians and we do not have time to go there, but it's fascinating There's a couple of theories out of the book of the Galatians chapter 1 Where Paul goes kind of over the timeline of his early minister. You remember he's he went to 14 He spent 14 years in Arabia Well first he went to Jerusalem and he spent some time in Arabia then he went back to Jerusalem Well, there's some couple of theories that can be developed out of that on how Paul received the creed as early as AD 36 or maybe as late as AD 47 or 3 to 14 years after Jesus had died and went back and rose and went back to heaven And that's getting a little bit technical or I realize but either way in that what I'm trying to say here in the Galatians theory whether Paul received the creed only three years or 14 years after Jesus death resurrection and ascension either way Three or 14 years Statistically is a very short time Historically speaking the way historians do ancient history 14 years is nothing Scholars have other ways of dating the creed in 1 Corinthians 15 and some come within just a couple of years of Jesus death using other means than the Galatians theory the idea or the reality that this creed was in Circulation just a few years after Jesus death and resurrection this means that as early as 36 AD and possibly as late as AD 47 People all over the Christian world were convinced that number one Christ died to he was buried three he rose again and four He appeared to Peter to the 12 to 500 people at once then to James and all the Apostles and the early Christians were convinced enough about this to put these facts into a creedal form and Circulate them around the churches and if these events again hadn't happened The creeds would have never become creeds because it was early enough that there were plenty of Contemporaries who would have still been living who could have debunked it and said hey This didn't really happen if it didn't happen, but it happened Brothers and sisters Jesus rose from the dead and we have the record preserved and we can stand on this as part of world history Did George Washington become the first president of the United States of America? We're pretty sure that he did We can be even more sure that Jesus rose from the dead But this is Saturday morning and less than 24 hours ago You were on that hillside outside Jerusalem You've just heard those hammer blows less than 24 hours ago Iron upon iron clay clay clay and Then you see them raising the cross Then you turn your head away as you hear that horrific thud As Jesus cross has dropped into the whole dug for it and his body spasmed in pain and his blood is Flowing from the lacerations all over his body and at that time you do not yet know What that blood means the scriptures have not yet been open to you and You do not yet understand the prophecies of the Psalms and the prophecies of Isaiah 2 and 53 and all the rest And how that Jesus blood must be shed for the sins of the world. You don't know that All you know is that the man who had done so many miracles the man you had staked everything on is hanging there like a common Criminal dying and you feel so utterly broken this so utterly broken less than 24 hours ago Helpless and alone and you wish you could die and you hear him cry It is finished and then into the father into thy hands. I commit my spirit, and you know it's all over He is not coming back He is gone Can you imagine how Peter and John and the rest actually felt this wasn't some casual acquaintance there Hanging on the cross in front of them. They had left everything They had left their family their vocation their fathers They had left their own status and their own reputation for his cause They thought he was going to lead a revolution Night and day they had been with him for three years This wasn't how it was supposed to end But it's over. It's clearly over All is lost And I imagine there would have been medical terms today for the shock that those people must have entered into in the trauma of that hour The whole world turned as black as the sky on that day Maybe there's somebody here today Who is in a Saturday You're in that day in between Something horrible has just happened Maybe the death of a dream or the death of a loved one Maybe you've lost your reputation or maybe there's guilt and shame because of the tragedy of sin and believing the lies and Your world is pretty dark The sky is black and You're not sure if you can ever hope again and all is lost Is there anyone here who is facing the kind of discouragement that's so deep that you could cry out with Jesus My God my God. Why has thou forsaken me my dear friends? If we didn't know the rest of this story It would be black indeed There wouldn't be any hope would there we might as well all go home and live it up eat drink For tomorrow we die But there is the rest of that story and we know it well And what I was thinking about this morning and I was thinking about the rest of the story I was thinking about that astonishing sight It must have been if you could have been there to see those two grown fishermen racing down the path Trying to get there first Charging at stop top speed on Sunday morning toward the tune Let's read that account together Matthew chapter 28 Matthew chapter 28 if you have the King James Let's read this record loud and clear For the world the seen world and the unseen world Especially for the devil and his angels to hear Shall we read this? Acts I'm sorry Matthew chapter 28 verse 1 in The end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn Toward the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre and Behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow and for fear of him the keepers did shake and Became as dead men and the angel answered and said unto the women fear not For I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified He is not here for he is risen as he said Come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is Risen from the dead and behold he goeth before you into Galilee and there ye shall see him Lo I have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy and Did run to bring his disciples word Now over in John chapter 20 you can listen as I read John chapter 20 in verse 3 Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre and they ran both together and the other Disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre and he's stooping down and looking in saw the linen claws lying Yet went he not in then come a Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulchre and See it the linen clothes lie and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen clothes But wrapped together in a place by itself, you know a thought came into my mind about that No, Jesus rose from the dead who who folded that linen That who folded that napkin that was about his head who did that Do you think young men who sometimes have a hard time making your bed? And I know I'm getting very practical here this morning. Do you think we can learn something from the example of Jesus here? I believe Jesus did that. I believe he took the time The author of all law and order and creation. I believe he took the time to fold that napkin. Let's keep reading And he then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre And he saw and believed for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead Then the disciples went away again unto their own home But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre and See as two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain and They say unto her women woman Why weepest thou and she said unto them because they have taken away my lord And I know not where they have laid him and when she had thus said she turned herself back And saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus Jesus saith unto her woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou and she supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him Sir if thou have borne him hence tell me you where thou hast laid him and I will take him away Jesus saith unto her put your name in there Mary Put your name in there Jesus saith unto her Mary She turned herself and saith unto him Rabbuna, which is to say Master will you say that back to your Lord in your heart? I've thought and thought and tried to imagine what it must what it must have been like To go from the blackness of despair like they did to this glorious Understanding that dawned on those disciples after the scriptures were open to them and they began to understand That there is something much much bigger going on here than they had ever dreamed I don't get tired of thinking about the change that happened in Peter You know he we know that story well He collapsed in for that servant girl and in for those people and then we're like 40 days later or something like that He was standing in front of the sandhedra Telling them what they had done to Jesus crucified their own Messiah without any trace of fear in his body And that's so amazing to me Peter was so bold in the book of Acts and we don't have time to go there But not too long ago I went through the book of Acts and I studied all the addresses the public addresses that were given the sermons the preaching and the Personal testimonies and if you look at those public addresses that were given in the book of Acts just about every one of them The resurrection is central to that message We'll just go to Peter's first message and take a look at that and you see what I'm saying by that Acts chapter 2 When Peter is preaching there on the day of Pentecost We have his sermon goes from verses 14 to verse 36 in Acts chapter 32, I'm sorry Acts chapter 2 of of those 23 verses that comprise the record of his sermon Nine of those verses Have to do almost half the words have to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ His Lord and Master and actually the crucifixion Although the crucifixion was central to those people too. They didn't neglect that either But in this particular sermon it only gets a couple of short references The resurrection and the gospel of Jesus was at the the resurrection Was at the center of the of the gospel for those early believers It was a compelling reality to them. It had just happened And I I'm thinking We need to celebrate Easter More than once a year And I've come to the place where I kind of think to myself We should celebrate Easter at least once a week on the Lord's Day We should have some reference to the resurrection Somebody should get up and say hey, this is the day that Jesus rose from the dead And we can look back on his death and resurrection Today and we can look forward to that eternal day when he'll return again So what does the resurrection mean for his followers in daily life now on saturday august 21st 2021 2,000 years later, what does the resurrection actually mean in daily life? And we talked about the fact and we heard last night how that the last atom Is a life-giving spirit who reversed the curse The law of life in christ jesus now has made me free from the law of sin and death And the resurrection demonstrate To us it first demonstrated to the apostles and it demonstrates to us That the life that had been present among them For three years That life could not be quenched by killing the body Jesus was indestructible invincible irrepressible immortal I like those four words indestructible invincible irrepressible immortal And above the noise of this world if you're standing out there kind of in confusion not sure which voice to hear Above the noise of all that the master calls for you And he's calling your name and my name Mary Mary Would you like to live the kind of life that I lived when I was with you? How would we like to live the kind of life that jesus lived? victory over sin victory over satan victory over the world full of grace and truth full of peace and joy Sacrificial love overflowing from his life gracious words meekness and gentleness indestructible invincible irrepressible immortal life All of the above are the qualities that are wrapped up in the eternal life that jesus offers to all who believe Am I exaggerating it? No How do we get this life? It says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus who walked not after the flesh But after the spirit for the law of the spirit of life In christ jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death There's a two-letter word there one each time in verse one and in verse two in christ jesus in christ jesus Those two letters are bursting with possibilities In christ jesus I'm gonna give a little very imperfect illustration So do you believe it's possible to go from Washington dc to la in six hours dc to la in six hours 3000 miles in six hours Well, I can at a fast walk. I can do four miles an hour 24 miles maybe in six hours That's a long way from 3000 miles But getting from dc to la is possible If in six hours Is possible if you get in the right Vehicle and it requires a certain commitment to do that too Your ticket must be paid for a certain way and you have to agree to the terms You have to agree to the set time of departure and so forth and you drive to the place Where the airplane will leave You check in your luggage Certain things aren't allowed You go through a screening process the narrow gate and you arrive at the boarding area And then you do a very amazing thing You along with Hundreds of other people maybe Walk onto an apparatus That is basically a thin tube with flimsy looking wings hanging onto it And motors hanging onto those wings And those wings hanging outside your window Are full of some of the most flammable substance known to man jet fuel And you follow the instructions of the flight crew and you get ready for takeoff And then you along with the other hundreds of people on the plane Do an amazing thing you do an amazing thing You totally commit your lives To the two or three fellows that are sitting up there at the front of that airplane And those fellows up there might not be all that old or experienced They're probably they probably fairly experienced. I hope so You trust those people whom you have never met To run this machine That's filled with explosives and you trust them to run that thing straight down the runway, hopefully Without blowing it up And before they reach the end You hope they will get that thing up into the air. So it's it's flying flying And you trust those fellows to run this machine 600 miles an hour Six miles up in the air For six hours 3,000 miles without wrecking it And sometimes you look out the window and those Flimsy wings are going up and down like this And you are concerned that they might fall off And then you hope That at the other end when you arrive at la you might look down You might be able to see that tiny strip that narrow ribbon of concrete down there And you think to yourself how in the world are they going to put this thing on that little thin strip of concrete But they do Again about 250 miles an hour And you hope that they get it stopped before they reach the end of the of the track You know the only reason that we feel safe getting into these machines Is because there's a documented historical record of safely transporting the passengers who get inside of them I tell you flying from dc to la requires A commitment of the whole life You really have to get fully on board But how hard is that How hard is getting on board and complying with what is required on the airplane? How hard is that relative to the challenge of getting to la in six hours? You don't have to help fly the airplane You don't even have to flap your arms The engines and the people running the plane Do all that All you do is commit yourself to getting on the plane Then it is possible for you to do the impossible to get to la in six hours Can you live like jesus? Can you live as he lived? The chance of living like jesus in your own strength Are less than getting from dc to la in six hours by flapping your own arms. You can't do it You can't possibly live like jesus but Through his death and resurrection he has opened the way For you and i to be In him To be united with him In him and here's the promise that he gave his followers Before shortly before he died He said in john chapter 15 verses 4 and 5 abide in me And i in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine No more no more can ye accept ye abide in me I am the vine you're the branches He that abideth in me And i in him The same bringeth forth much fruit For without me You can do nothing Abiding in him We've known that but it is still the only way it is the secret To his kind of fruitfulness And abiding in him requires more than just an intellectual faith About the things about him the devils believe and tremble And i can intellectually believe that it's possible to travel from dc to la in six hours But believing that and actually getting into the plane Are two different things Could be two different things they're no they're not necessarily two different things That's why i get into the plane But they're not necessarily the one and the same thing Entering into jesus resurrected life does require A total commitment to jesus and his kingdom It requires A surrender of my will and of my life To his will and to his life He's at the controls of this thing He directs my path do you want to live an impossible kind of life though? Which do you choose you want to walk to la? Or do you want to fly? Once we make that total commitment fasten our seat belts and trust him to take us We do discover that his yoke is easy and his burden is light And we discover that we're flying This is how the christian life is actually meant to live Be lived Do you hear the voice of the master? Don't wait in confusion and weariness Any longer Run to the one who is calling you Above the crowd The one who conquered everything By his death and resurrection Why would you want to do anything less than that? We've got the courtroom data We've got everything on our side Let's not be shy about it And there's one thing that I haven't even mentioned And i'm sorry we don't have time. Well, yes, I will mention it And that is how his resurrection affects The future of those who commit their lives to him Can we recite romans 8 11 together? Now i'm sort of used to thinking about Romans 8 11 as being for the present reality Because I studied the passage more I'm not giving up the present reality in that in that verse But maybe it is pointing more toward the future reality And the resurrection of our own bodies So can we say that together? But if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead Dwell in you He that raised up christ from the dead Shall also quicken your mortal bodies By his spirit that dwelleth in you The same power that raised him up 2000 years ago we have the promise That that same power will raise us up Will quicken our mortal bodies Our past is wrapped up in his death and resurrection Our present is wrapped up in his death and resurrection And our future is also And I want to close With just one verse. I wish I could read more from this exuberant passage In first peter chapter one If you have a chance today, maybe in your quiet time or whenever you have time to reflect Just read first peter chapter one about the first 10 verses or so And he is so exuberant and he is so Enthusied about The future but here's why in verse three Blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ Which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope By the resurrection of jesus christ From the dead Amen I've asked brother linwood if he would lead us in the song lift up your glad voices