 Good afternoon, Pastor David. Hi, John. It's been a few days, huh? It's been a while. Welcome back from Israel. Yeah, welcome us back from Israel, right? Two weeks. We want to welcome those who are joining us this afternoon for a random moment with Pastor David unfiltered, and we've really missed our church. Yep. And but we had a great time in Israel. Yes, we did. So this is a plug. If we go back next year, you guys have to go. It's one of these, it's an amazing trip. Well, we're hoping to be able to go back and if we do go back, God willing, it would be in March, probably the early portion of March or the last week of February, somewhere in that area. And yeah, I mean, we're still jet lag. We got back two days ago, but it was, it's always a wonderful trip. I think it was, how many times have you been there? This was my fifth time. Your fifth time. Yes. And every time it's different, a different experience. And it's like, it's brand new. Yeah. You know, we go to the same, we go to the same sites, but you get something different. You know, and this is kind of what leading on what I want to speak about today with you, Pastor, is, you know, there's sites in my mind that are very significant to me. And I think one of the places that was one of, there's two places, the Caesarea Philippi. And but the most significant place is where we spend time in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we go to the place of the crucifixion and the tomb. And, you know, we're coming up on Good Friday this Friday, and then we're coming up on the biggest day of the Christian's life is the Resurrection Sunday. And Pastor, how important is it as believers that we always center our beliefs and our walk with Christ on these two days that help us remember what Jesus done for us? Well, you know, John 3.16 is a core verse for every believer. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Right? John 3.16, I believe that every church is built on that one verse. That's the most famous verse in the New Testament, at least. And it should be the verse that is foundational for all ministry. You know, in our day, people seem to get power and change confused in some ways. We think that we can change the world through voting in the right person or by being aware of various things that relate to political change. And I think that as a Christian, we should be aware that we are salt and light. We should vote our conscience. We should be aware of issues. All those things are very important. And I don't think that the churches should necessarily not share things of that nature. It's critical importance and all of that. But the center of the church and the center of the message will always be that God loved the world and gave His Son. And so when we gather together on Good Friday and we gather on our Sunday morning for our Easter morning services, these are celebration events. What makes Good Friday good is that God sent His Son to die on a cross so that He might, it may be made possible for our sins to be forgiven, for us to receive eternal life. If He died on our behalf, God so loved the world He gave, you know, but the core belief is not simply that a man died, Jesus died, but our faith is resting securely and solely on His resurrection. The fact that He not only died, but that He was raised from the dead on the third day is the cornerstone of our ministries, it's the cornerstone of Christianity. So as we gather to celebrate the reality of our Saviors taken upon Himself our sin, and then we gather again the following Sunday and the third day that this one who took upon Himself our sin and died was raised from the dead. Well, that's a great celebration. It all hinges on everything that we believe on is the resurrection. You know, you mentioned John 3.16 and I was just thinking about, you know, people who grew up, especially myself, I've grown up in the church. And of course, veered away, but you know, John 3.16 was one of those verses I memorized to get a candy barn Sunday school. And because I grew up with it, there was a sense that I took, I've taken so many years, I've taken that verse for granted until I got to a place where I really understood that. And when we understand that as believers, then it always focuses and points to the resurrection of Christ. Well, you know, I was reading some posts today, various posts in social networking and and one post caught my attention where this fellow said, we've never had an Easter egg hunt, but we're going to have one because I think that the community should have fun. And as I as I was reading that, I was asking myself, and no, not in a belligerent way, but in a thoughtful way, I was thinking, is that where the church has gotten? We've come to the point where we think we need to make church fun, especially on the day that we celebrate the most glorious thing that ever happened, that Jesus is competing with Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. And and people are coming to celebrate in a in a fashion that it's not necessarily spiritual, but is just a lot of fun, you know, as our little greedy children run to find the eggs and all of that. I wonder if that's the right lesson to be teaching now again. I think every parent has a responsibility of raising their children and and doing whatever they feel is best for their children to to to form their faith. But for me, I never confused the two. I never felt that church is a fun place. Church is a place of joy, but not necessarily of entertainment. And most certainly isn't something that a resurrection day is certainly not something that I'm going to advertise in the newspaper so that people will come with their baskets and the babies and and get some free prizes. I mean, my goodness, this is is this where we've gotten in the church that we're so desirous of getting people in that we actually will bribe them with with these kinds of things. And so I was I was reading that today and it and it did bother me. But it also made me more more aware of how we as as Christians and I as a spiritual leader of this church. How am I presenting these events and how significant are they? And what do we want to see happen as we present these things? And and again, it all comes back to Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. And if he was not resurrected, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1517, then in fact, our our faith is is is futile. It's useless. We, you know, Christ died in vain. And I just think that we need to to keep the cross and resurrection the center of every church service and every gathering because it's through the death of Christ and has taken upon himself our sin. And and are receiving the promise of life by the one who died and came back to life. That that is what we need to celebrate. And so I look forward to spending time on Good Friday emphasizing, you know, Jesus Christ, why what he died for. And I especially will be concentrating on the last comments that he makes to a thief on a cross when the man says to him, Lord, remember me. And then on Sunday, we'll celebrate the reality of the risen Christ. I got a preview of that. That's why yes, it's going to be good. And so I want to invite you guys on Good Friday. We have 12 o'clock services on Friday. And at 7 p.m. the 12 o'clock service is in the chapel. The Noons, the 7 p.m. service will be in the sanctuary for our church. The Spanish speaking part of our church will be on Good Friday, 7 p.m. in the chapel. So we have our English speaking services at noon in the chapel. 7 p.m. in the sanctuary. Spanish speaking will be 7 p.m. in the chapel. And then resurrection Sundays at 8 30 and 11 a.m. And so it's how about the Spanish ministry on Sunday? They are meeting at 11 a.m. as well. In the chapel. In the chapel. Yes, thank you for reminding. So invite your friends and family to come on out, church family. The significance of Good Friday. And as Pastor David said, the cornerstone, what we all focus on is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so I want to invite you guys to come on out. What a great way to celebrate our risen savior. I mean, walking out of the tomb, that's all I thought about when we were visiting the garden tomb. Amen. He has risen. Amen. And so he has risen guys and we look forward to joining us. And Pastor, thank you so much for your time. Of course. Look forward to your message on Good Friday evening and on Easter Sunday morning. Thank you guys for tuning in and God bless you.