In his sermon, 'The Resurrection Changes Everything,' Pastor Jerry Zepnick explores the profound impact of the resurrection on the life of a true believer. He emphasizes that the resurrection transforms every aspect of a believer's existence, from their heart and mind to their actions and purpose. Drawing from Luke 24, Pastor Zepnick recounts the narrative of Jesus' resurrection, highlighting its unparalleled significance in human history as the cornerstone of God's redemptive plan. He challenges believers to consider how the resurrection has changed their lives, urging them to live in the light of this transformative event daily. The sermon underscores that the resurrection is not a mere annual celebration but a continual source of victory over sin, inspiring a life of holiness and eternal purpose. Pastor Zepnick also contrasts the resurrection's power with lifeless religious practices and warns against cultural distractions that diminish its significance. He affirms that the resurrection is essential to the Christian faith, providing hope for eternal life and a foundation for witnessing to others. Throughout the sermon, the resurrection is portrayed as a powerful, necessary, and life-changing truth that demands a response of faith and transformation.

Music Morning, church family. What a blessed day. He is risen. Today's the day and so the The title of the sermon today is The Resurrection Changes Everything. And this is speaking of the life of the true believer.

What it means to them, what it does to the heart, to the mind, to the soul, to the body, to the testimony, to the life of a true believer. The resurrection changes everything. I have a subtitle underneath it that says, what will we do with the resurrection of our Jesus? What are we going to do with the resurrection of our Jesus? We're born-again believers.

If that's the case, we have to decide that. What are we going to do with the resurrection of our Jesus? We're born again believers. If that's the case, we have to decide that. What are we going to do with the resurrection of our Jesus and what that means to us?

And so our text today is Luke chapter 24, verses one through 12. I want to read through that. It is one of my favorite accounts of the testimony of the resurrection. And so if you wanna follow along, that's Luke chapter 24 verses 1 through 12. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which she had prepared.

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here.

He is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all the things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.

And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb, and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves and he departed marveling to himself at what had happened. Father God, This morning we thank you for your love. We thank you for your sacrifice. We thank you for a risen Savior, Lord God, that we too can have redemption, Father.

Let our work in our lives to the point where we never take for granted the gift that we have in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, I thank You for today and I pray for our hearts to be shaped and molded through the teaching and preaching of Your Word and Your Holy Spirit upon us in Jesus' name, Amen. And so, I'm going to back up a little bit. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, which was, as we recall, it was Christ coming into Jerusalem on a donkey and everybody bowing before Him. It was the coronation of the King, but it was a false coronation because the following Friday, the same people were yelling to crucify Him.

And so when we go from that event, we go from there three days later, we have what is this morning, the resurrection. And the reality that the glorious resurrection that we celebrate today is the, from the beginning of human history to what will be the end of human history. It is the most important event that has ever, ever happened. No amount of wars or any birth or death or anything from the beginning of human history to the end of human history comes even close to the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what we celebrate today.

No event ever in human history reaches the importance of it. And again, in John 20, 31, I'm going to read that because I'm not in the book of John, but this is all written in the same purpose. It says, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Okay, you can have life in His name. You can be resurrected as well unto eternal life.

Okay, so that is the 11. The 11, when they heard this and got to know this, they were changed. And when they met the risen Jesus, They went from being scared to being bold. And so my question today is, how has it affected our lives? That's what I want us to grasp ahold of today.

What has it changed in our lives? Meeting the resurrected Christ. If you're a born again believer, it has happened to you. No, I'm not saying that you saw Him face to face or physically He walked up to you. I'm saying The Spirit of God worked in your heart to convict you of sin.

You repented. You came to Christ. And you were born again. New affections. New goals.

This life didn't hold it for you anymore. It just didn't matter anymore. And so, they were changed. And what about us? Because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the crowning point of God's redemptive plan for a lost and fallen humanity.

And it's the cornerstone of all Christianity. It's the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We've got to get this right. We can't miss it. We can't walk past the resurrection of Christ.

We can't celebrate it once a year and fill our bellies with Easter eggs and chocolate and then just move on. It's not why Christ died and rose again. And in all reality, it has reversed the curse of Adam. It has reversed what Adam did in the Garden of Eden. He sinned and it fell upon all mankind after.

1 Corinthians 15, 22, and 23 says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at his coming. See, those who are Christ. That's why it's important to know that you're Christ, to be in Christ, like John 20, 31 says, that believing you may have life in His name. If you don't believe, if you are not in Christ, you will not have life in His name.

And so it marks the completion of Christ's sacrifice, which means our sins are forgiven and we're set free. Do you ever think about that really? Do you really? Your sins being forgiven. Your Jesus hanging on the cross drinking the cup of God's wrath that our sins might be forgiven.

And we could be set free. That burden of sin that I carried around my whole life until I met the risen Savior, and that load of sin that I carried on my back fell off. Jesus saves. It's also our guarantee of redemption. It's our guarantee of heaven.

The message of the Bible is that death is not the end of anyone. It's not the end of any single person. But that every human that has ever lived or ever will live, will live forever. You will live forever. So am I going crazy?

Is this some universalism I'm talking about that everyone's getting saved? No, it's not. It's going to be a life eternal, either in eternal death or an eternal life, in eternal suffering or in eternal joy with Jesus, whether a person believes that or not. So you can be here today and you can say, you know what, I really don't believe that. I don't believe that to be true, that I'm gonna live forever, either in heaven or in hell.

I don't even believe that there's a hell. Well, that's too bad, Because it is. It's so. There isn't a physical heaven and there is a physical hell. And you will spend your eternity in one or the other whether you believe it or not.

God is sovereign whether you believe it or not. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father whether you believe it or not. You can say, I don't believe that. You know what?

You will someday. Because your knee will be bowed, your tongue will confess it, either from heaven or from hell. You will confess it someday, either from earth, heaven, or hell. And so, The next verse I have is Philippians 2, 9-11. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth.

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. This is why we were created, for the glory of God the Father. The first point I have today is the resurrection is powerful. The resurrection is powerful. The guarantee because of Resurrection Sunday is that all who trust in Jesus Christ will be raised unto eternal life.

Oh, there's one. Yeah, I was looking for that. That all will be raised, all who trust in Jesus will be raised to eternal life. All who trust in Jesus. This is not a once-a-year event.

This is not something that it happens today and then We can have family over, we can feast, we can have fun and sweet fellowship. This is for us to etch in our minds, our hearts, our souls, the reality of the impact of the resurrection of our Jesus on our daily lives, not just once in a while. So this is every day. It's what a true believer's life is like every day, to live in light of the resurrection of Christ. So this is not just a light that you turn on one day a year and you turn it off.

We live in that light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ every day. And so it is what empowers us to live in victory. See, we are in a battle. We are in a battle against sin, against the culture, against our own nature. And we fight that fight, but we fight that fight as a Christian from a platform of victory.

And the resurrected Christ allows us that victory. We are working in our lives right now, fighting that fight from a platform of victory because we will win it someday. We will go home. And so it allows us to live in victory, enabling us to die to that daily sin in our lives and to live a new life of holiness, a life of purpose in Jesus Christ, a life of not just purpose, but eternal purpose. Our vision quits going from this kind of stuff around here to up there.

And all of a sudden what's up there is what matters and not this junk around here. Everything starts to look pale down here. And that eternity in Jesus starts to look really cool. It takes our fire and our affections. Romans 8-11 says, but if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, who raised Christ from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Did you hear that? Life in your mortal bodies through His Spirit. Isn't that something? Don't you want more of that? Yeah, I do.

It is of such importance to the Christian doctrine, to the fundamental of the Christian faith, that it's been attacked right from the beginning. It's why the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin, they bribed the Roman soldiers to lie about it. Or just say that somebody came and stole the body, that it didn't rise from the dead. The resurrection gives us such hope that even some modern governments in the world that allow state-run Christian churches, they allow the church to preach Jesus Christ, to preach His life, His teachings, they allow it, but they limit the teachings of the life of Christ to stop after the crucifixion and the burial. And that leaves a person with only religion, only for this lifetime, and there is no living Savior.

And we serve a living Savior and I can testify to that. And so this is something that has been not just recently, but from the beginning of time, from the beginning of the church until today, it has been attacked, the resurrection of Christ. And it leaves you with just religion, which just lasts while you live here, because religion is about people. It's got the Bible and the Gospel upside down, because it's about people. The Gospel is about Christ.

It's about the glory of God. It's about our lives being a reflection of Christ. It's not about people and our happiness. He's more concerned with our holiness than He is our happiness. And that puts Him first.

And so, The resurrection of the dead is outlawed in some places. And Christianity's great hope that eternal life is a glorified body with Christ in heaven. It's forbidden to be talked about. It's forbidden to be taught. And so the portions of Scripture that contain that, they crop them out.

They don't allow that. So when you do that, Christianity becomes as lifeless as any other religion that is based on your works and not the finished work of Christ. And so, I have to look at what we have in light of all that and the deception that people are forced to live in. I have to look at the gift that we have in the full counsel of God's Word, and the freedom we have to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And how because of that freedom It seems like it's taken for granted and it just doesn't matter to people.

And that's really, really sad. And so the resurrection is everything to the believer. And even Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, 17a, he wrote, and if Christ has not risen, your faith is futile. If Christ has not risen, your faith is futile. You know that through the millennia, thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, God only knows how many, have given their lives preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Preaching the resurrection, the hope, the salvation of and in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit living in a person. Thousands have given their lives to go past what other religions teach or stand on, to go to life in a resurrected Christ. And that is the difference. And so we serve a risen savior. No other religion on the planet has that.

Our God lives and He reigns. This brings us to the second point that the resurrection is necessary. The doctrine of the resurrection, it's essential teaching of the Christian faith. It is fundamental and it's essential teaching of the Christian faith. And without it, hope for eternity for us is futile.

And that's why other religions and cults have to have a way that you have to dress, you have to walk, you have to talk, you have to give, you have to do multiple things to get to a position that you may, you may be good enough. Then you can hope. Then you can hope that you can enter into the heavens some day. That's not Christianity. That is opposite the point of Christianity.

So it's no wonder the devil bothers even true Christians. Even Christians, he bothers them by having them doubt the impact of the resurrection. Because it's no small deal. We've got to make a big deal about it. You can say big deal.

It is a big deal! Let's make a big deal about it. This is the resurrection of our Savior, and without it, the devil knows that we don't have hope for the future. That we don't have hope for our own resurrection. See, He conquered sin and death, and He rose from the grave that we can have victory over sin and death and rise from the grave when He returns, Right?

This is important to us. So the resurrection of Jesus, it's imperative. It's not negotiable in the Christian faith. Jesus is the risen King, victorious over death, recognized by His disciples. It's validated by Scripture.

It's enthroned over all creation. It's even documented in history. But Ephesians 1, 22, and 23 says, and He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. See, this is God's church. Anything else is not a church.

It is not God's. When you deny the resurrection, you deny that you belong to God's church. So, and he put all things under his feet and head over all things to the church. That includes you. That includes me.

Whether admitted, whether surrendered or not, every knee will bow, every tongue confess. It's not just a doctrine that we need to believe in our heads. Okay, I don't want you to be confused. It's not just a doctrine that we plug in our heads and say, oh, that's right, that's a good doctrine. I need to believe that.

I need to understand that. And so I'm going to write that down, believe this, there, now we're good. No, It's a surrendering to that. And so, it's a truth that changes the believer. It's a truth that changes our lives because we're changed, because we're not that anymore.

The resurrection is scientifically impossible, right? It can't happen. I mean, there've been a couple cases where some wing nuts, you know, they think that they did something. But it really, the resurrection is impossible. But it's historically true.

It's historically documented. It's biblically true. And it's history making. It's earth shaking. It's life transforming.

And it's got to transform the life of the believer. It's eternity changing truth. And so it's... When it's graphed, when it's believed, when it's lived, when it's received, it changes eternity to the believer. There's no way around it.

It does. And so Philippians 3, 10, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death. So you may believe in it, but do you understand how it changes your life? How it changes your life? Not on Sunday alone.

Every day of the week. You may believe it, but does it change your life? You may see the theology behind it, But has it yet changed your choices? Has it changed your behavior? See, our text shows us this today, how this event changed the lives of the 11 disciples from being hiding men.

They took off. Even Peter denied Jesus. And he said, I'll never deny you. He denied them. He took off.

And the Judas hung himself because he betrayed Jesus. The eleven that were left, they thought about maybe just going back to fishing. Ah, this didn't work out, man. That was a long stint with that guy, but they killed Him. They killed Him.

And now it's done. Now they could come after us. We've got to run and hide. I've got to find something else to do, right? They were scared men.

And they went from being scared men to being bold men, who all saved John, gave their lives for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every one of them went from running, hiding, to losing their heads, getting cut in half, getting burned to death, getting boiled. All of them. That's what they did to John. They stuck him in a pot of boiling oil and it didn't kill him.

And they decided, we can't kill this guy. What are we going to do with him? Well, let's put him on this island of Patmos over here. He won't do any harm over there. Right?

And then we start getting the books. Praise the Lord for His work, His salvation, His preservation. Amen! This is the evidence of knowing the risen Jesus. This is the evidence in their life of seeing and meeting the risen Jesus.

What is the evidence in your life of meeting the risen Jesus? What is the evidence of my life of meeting the risen Jesus? And so we have to ask ourselves today, Have we met Him? Have we met Him on the road in our life? Has He come to us?

Has He visited us? Has He sat down with us? And if He has, would we know it? What has happened? And what difference has He made?

The third point that I have today is the resurrection is a witness. This account that we read in Luke 24, it defied the disciples' understanding and experience. And they couldn't get it, they couldn't believe that outside of, it was so far outside of their comprehension. It defied their understanding, showing that God works outside of human comprehension. Showing that God works outside of human expectation.

This is our God. He works outside of that. It is way beyond what these men could have ever imagined. Even though Christ Himself told them ahead of time that this would take place. Jesus told them this is going to happen.

And when it happened, they all freaked out and they didn't understand it. In John 14, 19a, he said, "'A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. And again in John 16, 19, and 20, he said, now Jesus knew that they desired to ask him and he said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said? A little while and you will not see me, and again in a little while and you will not see me, and again in a little while and you will see me. Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

This morning we have joy. Jesus even told him more plainly in Luke 18, 31-33. He said then, He took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and He will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. He will scourge Him and kill Him, and the third day He will rise again." They told Him this.

He told them that. And they still didn't get it. Think about this. It was one thing for the disciples to have a head knowledge of the Scriptures concerning the Savior coming to the world and offering forgiveness of sin. But the rising from the dead was so thought to be in the future at the second coming, at the time of God's judgment day.

So when Christ appeared soon after His death and burial, it was so stunningly shocking to the people that they could not, they couldn't believe it. It blew them away. And so I want to take, and I struggled if I should use this example or not, so I'm just going to, But if we take an example, a current situation in our own lives to help us to understand, and I'm sure she would be okay with it, for those that don't know we lost Violet three days ago. And so what if today, Violet came walking in that door in the back, she came up and she sat down. What would that do to us?

Three days later. What would that do to us? Would we take a second look and be like, you've got to be kidding me, I know this isn't true. This is weird. What is this?

Imagine how they thought. Imagine what they thought about that and how it shocked them. I want us to be in our hearts and in our lives so in awe of our resurrected Jesus that it changes our life, that we can't be us anymore, that we have died to ourselves, that we live in Him. See, to see This is of the utmost importance. This is the reality that Christ is risen and that has a transforming impact on our lives.

The question I have, has the power of the risen Christ has an impact on your life? Has it had a transforming impact in your heart, in your walk, in your life, in your work, in your play, in anything that you do. We see it in the 11 disciples, what it was to meet the risen Jesus. But how about us? How about us?

Was it just something that happened? Oh yeah, He's saved now. Go get baptized, alright. Now, let's go on with life. What about the impact that it is to your family, to your friends, to your co-workers?

What a powerful witness to others. In Acts 4 33, it tells about the disciples. And there's a picture of a guy on that. See that picture? It's like this, right?

It's like a man preaching with power, right? It says, and with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." See, this is the truth of it. The disciples didn't have power. They met the resurrected Jesus. They had power.

That's got to be with us too. 1 Corinthians 15 says, oh death, where is your sting? Where is it? It's not there! Christ defeated it.

If God's greatest act of mercy toward mankind is in Christ's crucifixion, then His greatest gift of grace is given in Christ's resurrection. I'm going to say that once more. If God's greatest act of mercy toward mankind is Christ's crucifixion, then His greatest gift of grace is given in Christ's resurrection. And that greatest gift of grace that we've ever gotten better than anything you've ever had. How does it impact our walk?

How does it impact our life? This is because it means that Eternal life is now a real hope for all that repent. For all that look at God, and they know that He is sovereign, that He is holy. And they look at themselves, they understand that they are not, that they need the risen Savior. They need to receive the blood of Christ on the cross.

And they repent and trust in Christ. Death does not get the last word. It's not the final destination of a person. Why don't we use the resurrection as a tool for witnessing? It's fantastic because the resurrection, there is no fear of death.

There's no fear of the grave. There's no fear of eternal damnation, and we live in that. It's not something that you do once, and you check it off, and then it's like, whew! I got that behind me. Now I'm good to go.

No, it's not. It's something that we live in. It's something that is our hearts and our lives. See, by Christ rising from the dead, He shows God the Father's acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Here we go.

Here's one. By Christ rising from the dead, He shows God the Father's acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. That sacrifice on the cross was received. The cup of God's wrath that Jesus drank every last drop of that belonged to us. Jesus was that offering and God received that offering.

He rose Jesus from the dead. There we go. Not only that, but Christ Jesus is also a very present help in our daily lives. Christ is not a distant Savior. It's not something that happened a couple thousand years ago and we sit on it today and go, yeah, that was cool, man.

I'm glad that that happened for me. It's a very present help in a time of trouble. He is alive. He is alive and he is so close you can't get any closer than him living inside of you, right? I mean I'm close to my wife.

I love her but we can hug and but Christ lives inside, inside of a person. So Christ is not distant, He's alive to intercede for believers and offer the strength to face challenges in life that come every day. John 14, 18, and 20 says, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. At that day, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you." Amen!

This is the glory of salvation. He's in us. We are in Him! This is mind-blowing. Today, Resurrection Sunday, it's indeed a celebration for the Christian church as we acknowledge the resurrection of our Savior.

The victory over the grave. His victory over the grave. The stone rolled away. He conquered sin. He triumphed over Satan.

But again, this is for those who belong to Him. Those who have surrendered their lives to Him. Those who have given their hearts and lives to Him. This is for true Christians. Those who have been born again and we have been learning about while we've been going through the book of John, it looks like this.

This is how it looks to a believer. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." That's how it looks. And for the rest of the people, today is a hope of, I don't know, a ham followed up by a chunk of carrot cake maybe and a basket of chocolate.

And I'm not saying that that's wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong to have ham, okay? It's not a sin to eat ham. We're not that way. And I'm just saying that that's not our focus.

That's not what we look forward to on Resurrection Sunday. What a miserable distraction the world can be when you get to know and see what today is really about, right? For a real believer, we see the risen Savior. We've met Him on the road of our life. He's changed us, He's shaped us, He's molded us, and He lives inside of us.

And then you get this other stuff, and it's like, yeah, okay, but look at this, you know? Is that how we live? Is that how we really think? See, I don't want to be a curmudgeon, you know. There's not a lot wrong with this other stuff, but God didn't crush His Son.

God's redemption plan forever throughout history has been attacked by culturalism. But this plan that came together that we celebrate today, the resurrection of Christ, it was a price God paid. He crushed His son. He raised him from the dead. He conquered sin and death so that we can have Christ eternally.

So that we can celebrate redemption. Not so that we can celebrate a rabbit that lays eggs with a basket of chocolate. See, I'm just trying to give you a contrast of the silliness versus the reality. And it's not wrong to have a piece of chocolate or ten pounds of chocolate, I don't care what you want to eat. But the risen Savior is what today is.

And it's what our life is about all the way across. And so as we as we know the resurrected Christ, we celebrate that resurrection today. We need to purpose, let's purpose to live life in this celebration, in this light of the resurrection. Don't take on the ways of the culture, don't take on the ways of the world, and instead live in that light, live in that power of Christ. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available in you today.

Okay, you Remember Lazarus? Jesus said, Lazarus rise and come forth. And Lazarus did. He didn't say, he had to say Lazarus come forth because if he wouldn't have used a name, all the dead would have came forward. He said, Lazarus come forth And Lazarus came forth.

That power of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is no different than when you were born again, when I was born again. It's a miracle. It's a miracle. Take something dead and making it alive. That power is available to Christians today.

How little we use it, right? It seems anemic. But it's there. It's true. 1 John 5.20.

It reads, And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. See, let us not just celebrate today, but by living in this celebration, we can bring the light of Christ into a world that desperately needs it. See, we're created as Christians.

We were saved unto a celebration in Christ, in this resurrection. It's not always going to feel like a party, But we're saved unto this, unto being this light bearer that walks forward from salvation to bear this truth to others. This is what we're created for. And so do we walk in that? So if we don't celebrate, if we don't see this, we have to question our salvation or our purpose in life in the first place.

If we don't celebrate or share the resurrected Christ, if we don't live in that light every day, it's fair to ask if you've met Him. It's fair to ask that. And it really matters because a person's eternal destination is at stake. If we start to see souls the way that Christ saw souls, He went across the Sea of Galilee to save the demoniac that was bashing up graves, right? That was living in the tombs.

He cast out the spirits, the man got saved, and he left. One man. He met a woman at a well, and he told her about living water that she can have. She got saved. That's our job.

That's our job. How many people can get saved? See, it really matters. When you see a person's eternal destination, when you have a heart for souls, to know Christ is to possess eternal life. That's our message.

And you can know Him today. You can know Him today. And if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior today, I beg you, I plead with you to pull me aside after and we'll talk. But to know the risen Savior and to have that effect on our hearts and lives is paramount. Your life will never be the same and you will never be sorry.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you, Father God, for the love that you've shown us through your Son. His death, His burial, His resurrection, Father God. We thank you so much for the love that you have shown us, undeserving, Lord.

Father, may we take that love and show it to others. Give us, Father God, I pray, boldness to walk in Your ways, to walk in Your truth, to understand and to proclaim the resurrection every day with our life, Lord. I pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.