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[0:00] He is risen. He is risen indeed. Yes, He is. If you didn't know the answer to that, that's all right. You could just be glad He is risen.

[0:10] But that comes from an old Christian tradition. Man, back in the old days, if you believed that Jesus really did rise from the dead, you were a radical. People would look at you like you're crazy.

[0:22] Now, the followers of Jesus span the entire globe, all around the world. And this morning, in all continents across this entire earth, people are gathered together, and they're celebrating the fact that death could not conquer Jesus Christ.

[0:39] So we're excited about that. My name is Sam Benal. I'm the pastor here. If I haven't gotten to meet you yet, I'd love to do that. I will be sticking around. I would say my wife and I, she's home with our sick kid. The devil was already fighting.

[0:50] He wanted to keep one of us home. But listen, I'd love to meet you after the service. If I haven't gotten to do that yet. But there's a little thing in each of your pews, a little paper here that shows you what we have coming up this spring, as well as our weekly worship schedule.

[1:03] We'd love for you to take that home, or if you know someone that could use that and pass it along. How many of you can imagine waking up in the morning at your usual time?

[1:15] I'm not going to ask what time you get up. We've probably got anything from early, early morning hours to a little bit later, depending on the stage of life and your circumstances. But whatever time you usually get up, you wake up, and it stays dark outside.

[1:33] How many of you would enjoy that? How many of you depend on the sun coming at you? Yeah, Clayton raised his hand. I would love that. It means you can go back to sleep, right?

[1:43] Look, summer break's coming, man. You'll be able to sleep in a little bit, probably. Look, we depend sometimes on the sun coming in.

[1:54] Maybe some of you depend on the sun coming in to get up. I've got kids in school, so, you know, we wake up before the sun comes up. But that's all right. How many of you have been in a part of the world where there is a period of polar darkness?

[2:10] Anybody? Anybody? Yeah. There's one, two, just a few of you. Not a whole lot. How many of you are aware that there are certain parts of the far northern part of our globe where the darkness, for a period of time, is either 24 hours a day or nearly 24 hours a day?

[2:28] You're aware of that? It's depressing. It's depressing. We don't realize how much we need the sun and how perfectly God made it to where we depend on the sun.

[2:45] Our world depends on the sun. Be weird. You woke up, the clock says it's 7 o'clock in the morning, it's still dark outside. 9 o'clock in the morning, it's still dark outside.

[2:57] Noon, 2 o'clock, 3.30, kids get out of school, it's still dark outside. How many of you kids would love having recess in the dark? You might have fun at first, but eventually you'd get pretty old.

[3:09] The teachers would not love the liability and the injuries that would happen with recess in the dark. Being in the darkness is not fun. Can be for a little bit.

[3:22] Can be here and there. But man, would that get old quickly. We need that sunlight. Back when I was a youth pastor, we live in northern Nevada and I'd led a missions trip up to Alaska and we visited during a time of year when it was almost all sunlight all the time.

[3:43] I took a picture, it was midnight outside and it was broad daylight. Midnight and broad daylight outside. Just the weirdest thing.

[3:54] Of course, you gotta take advantage of blackout curtains in those times when you're trying to go to sleep. But then there is the other time of year and they said, listen, you enjoy it right now.

[4:05] It's fun. But it's not fun when the darkness comes and it stays. And sometimes in the far northern reaches of Alaska, they'll go more than two months in a row without any sunlight or very, very little sunlight at all.

[4:20] So just imagine that. Put your head there a little bit on Easter morning. Can you imagine living day after day in darkness?

[4:31] You'd have to adjust your life to it. You'd have to rely on manufactured light as you see here just to be able to get around. Into that kind of darkness, that level of darkness, Jesus came.

[4:51] That was the level of spiritual darkness the world had been trapped in since the fall of man. If you've been around church for any length of time, you've probably heard about the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman and how Satan seduced them with the promise of power and knowledge equal to God and they believed his lies and they sinned against God.

[5:21] And from then on, the world was plunged into darkness, spiritual darkness. They could not see beyond their own understanding. So limited.

[5:33] They couldn't understand. And God would promise little bits and pieces of the future. He would say, I'm going to send a rescuer. I'm going to help you.

[5:43] There's going to be a way out. But you have to believe. You have to have this thing we call faith. That's what the people who lived before the coming of Jesus, all they had to hold on to was this little thing called faith.

[6:01] Just little points of light that would appear. God might appear to his people just for a moment. God might speak through his prophets in the Old Testament in increasingly obscure ways and it was hard to always understand exactly what they were talking about.

[6:18] It didn't all line up until God himself came down. We talk about it at Christmastime. I think Christmas and Easter are inextricably linked.

[6:31] You can't separate them. My mom always likes to talk about Easter and sing Easter songs at Christmastime and then she likes to talk about Christmas and sing Christmas songs at Easter time. But I get it because they're very connected.

[6:44] It's all part of the story. So you go back to how it began then you go back to not how it ended but how our hope then began.

[6:56] And you've been hearing this story read in little bits and pieces from the young all the way up to adults from the word of God about how Jesus came and what he endured at the hands of mankind.

[7:13] So, number one, before we get there, if you'd like to take any notes there's a spot in your bulletin to do that. If not, if you just want to listen that's absolutely fine.

[7:25] But I want to share this quote with you. We're all stumbling in the dark and that makes for some pretty interesting collisions. Think about that. You and I are all stumbling around in the darkness.

[7:39] Spiritually speaking, we're all stumbling around. Except for the light of the Holy Spirit of God, we can't see clearly. So God's Holy Spirit has to give us that light.

[7:51] He has to pull the veil away from our eyes. And until he does that, we stumble around and we smack into each other. And then you've got wars and you've got strivings and you've got fightings and you've got disagreements and you've got greed and jealousy and anger and all these things that come from people stumbling around in the dark.

[8:14] So this was the world, get that in your head, this picture, this was the world that Jesus came into. It was utter darkness. We could turn the lights off in this room, but we've got this stained glass and we've got the windows where natural light would come in.

[8:28] But can you imagine if it was the dead of night and then we turned off all the lights? It would be hard to get around. It would be hard to get out of your pew probably. It would be stumbling all over each other.

[8:38] It would be mass chaos in here and the fire marshal would take us to court or something. Wouldn't be good. But this is Jesus' solution.

[8:52] Jesus brings the light. So number one, Jesus is God's light in darkness. This is not anything profound, but I hope that you can wrap your head around it and begin to have faith in this statement that Jesus is God's light in the darkness.

[9:10] John chapter 20, we read about exactly how he triumphed over death. You've heard little bits and pieces, but in John chapter 20, actually, you know what?

[9:22] I'm going to go to Luke 24. So if you were in John 20, that's okay. Flip over, flip back one book and let's go to Luke 24. Very early on Sunday morning, the women went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared.

[9:33] If you just want to listen, that's fine as well. 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. Can you imagine how shocked they were to get to the tomb and see this stone rolled away?

[9:48] They'd watched him die. They'd heard he was buried in this garden tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, and he had graciously, as a follower of Jesus, offered up his tomb for Jesus' burial.

[10:04] So they go here to try to honor Jesus' memory, brought spices in lieu of flowers, and they go in, seeing the stone is rolled away.

[10:17] Who rolled the stone away? The stone is massive. Nobody could have done it on their own. Who did this? And his body's not there. And they're standing there trying to wrap their heads around it.

[10:29] What's going on? Did somebody break in here and steal Jesus' body away? And then two men appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes, and the women were terrified, and they bowed with their faces to the ground, and the men asked, Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?

[10:44] He isn't here. He is risen from the dead. Remember what he told you back in Galilee? The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and he must be crucified, but he would rise again on the third day.

[11:03] Then they remembered that he had said this. So then they rushed back to tell his disciples. What Jesus said came true. Now it started to make sense.

[11:14] Now the scales started to fall from their eyes. Now the veils started to be lifted. Because even before, when Jesus was predicting his own resurrection from the dead, they thought maybe he was talking allegorically.

[11:30] Maybe he was not being literal. Like, what? What does he mean? Tear the temple down and in three days I'll build it back up again.

[11:41] What's he talking about? And then he does it. And he triumphs over death. And he triumphs over darkness. So Jesus' resurrection is not an isolated miracle.

[11:55] It's the culmination of all the law and the prophets that came before. So when you read through the Old Testament, you've got all the law. You know, the most famous illustration of that is the Ten Commandments.

[12:09] And we look at that, that Moses gave to the people that God gave to him. And we say, this is the law. But that was not the only part of the law. The law went much beyond that. It was a very expansive law.

[12:20] And God's point with all that was to point at how mankind could never free itself from bondage to failure. failure. You're never going to be able to live up to this standard of perfection.

[12:33] God created this world perfectly. This is all how it's supposed to go. And you're never going to be able to meet that standard. So this was the law. And then you had the prophets. And you read through the Old Testament book and they've got the prophets talking about little bits and pieces about God.

[12:49] Revealing a little bit more. Pointing ahead to Jesus. But nobody exactly knew what that meant or what it looked like until Jesus came. And then Jesus was the perfect picture of God.

[13:03] The law and the prophets was an imperfect picture of God. It was not fully clear. It was not fully realized. But then Jesus came and he was the perfect clear picture of who God is, what he's about.

[13:23] So if you want to know who God is and what he's about, you can read the law, you can read the prophets, they're going to give you an imperfect picture.

[13:35] When you look at Jesus, it all comes into focus. That was the difference. Before, they couldn't see clearly. But then Jesus came.

[13:47] He said, this is who God is. Now he's with you. Now you get to hear him speak to you directly. Now you get to see how he lives.

[13:58] Now you get to see what he cares about. Jesus is God's light. Without Jesus, you're living in the dark.

[14:10] And you're stumbling around. And you're bumping into each other. And that's what we do. But Jesus turns the light on. And you get to see God clearly.

[14:22] You get to see what he's about. So, let's go to Malachi chapter 4 and verse 2. Malachi 4 and verse 2. But for you who revere my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.

[14:44] and you will go out and you'll frolic like well-fed calves. Does anybody raise cattle in here? There are people who raise cattle who are not raising their hand.

[14:56] Raise your hand if you raise cattle. There we go. I'm looking at it. I know you raise cattle. All right. Or you have maybe at some point. We're in Clay County, y'all.

[15:07] Y'all know cattle, all right? If we go down in Dallas, they don't know cattle as well. But y'all know cattle. When you've got a young well-fed calf, it wants to go out and have some fun, right?

[15:23] But for you who revere my name, the sun will rise in the darkness. And it'll be healing in its warmth. And you'll be like a young calf who's getting enough to eat.

[15:37] And it's got no worries. And it can go out and enjoy that warmth of the sun. In a green pasture when the sun rises.

[15:52] Now, would you take that U and turn it into an O? Because that's the title of my talk today. Is the sun has risen.

[16:04] The S-O-N. But Malachi imperfectly prophesied and gave us a little clue. someday the sun will rise.

[16:16] But we're not talking about the sun that hangs in the sky. We're talking about the sun of righteousness or the S-O-N, the sun of God. And when he rises, then healing will come.

[16:28] And then joy will come. And then happiness will come. And you'll get to fully experience this life that God intended for you. until then were still in the dark.

[16:41] The only thing they had was faith. You know what the only thing that we have today is? Faith. It's the same faith.

[16:53] It's after the fact looking back instead of before the fact when this was written looking ahead. During Jesus' time he was there, he was present, but they still had to have faith that he was from God, that he was God himself, that he was the perfect revelation of the father in the son.

[17:16] So Malachi 4.2 teaches us that Jesus wasn't just a little pinpoint of light. Jesus was not just another prophet coming to talk about God.

[17:28] Jesus was God present with us. The son of righteousness had risen and it was shining down into the dark world, the spiritually dark world.

[17:39] Now you don't have to stumble around anymore. Now there's something, a physical perfect being to place your faith in. It wasn't just the imperfect lives and words of the prophets, it was the perfect revelation of Jesus Christ.

[17:57] Now we get the complete picture, not just a partial picture. Jesus is God's light in the darkness. We see this mentioned in Matthew.

[18:15] Let's go to Matthew 17. This is the perfect picture. Jesus backs up what I'm talking about here.

[18:26] The Father backs it up. You ready? Matthew 17, we call it the transfiguration. Everybody say transfiguration. Just making sure y'all are with me.

[18:37] You are. That's great. Let's go. We're nearing the conclusion here. So let's dive into Matthew 17. After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and he led them up a high mountain by themselves.

[18:50] There he was transfigured before them. What does that mean? His face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. We get to see this divine light of Jesus.

[19:03] Like how you would think God looks, he shows that to them. Yeah, this is the good stuff right here. This is what you've been waiting on. I've been telling you, I've been giving you little clues that I am sent from God and I am the Father one.

[19:16] I am God himself, but now I'm showing you this divine light. I can't imagine what that was like. And then just right then, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah. What did Moses and Elijah represent?

[19:29] The law and the prophets. This is who they had hope in before. This is whose word they believed.

[19:41] Moses and Elijah for centuries, if you were going to trust in the one true God, you were going to believe the words and the teachings, the law of Moses and Elijah because they spoke on behalf of God.

[19:57] They were imperfect men. They didn't do always everything right. They didn't make all the right decisions all the time. Sometimes they get angry. Sometimes they would lead imperfectly. This is the law and the prophets represented by Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus, talking with him.

[20:17] And in verse 4, Peter said to Jesus, God, this is amazing. Lord, it's good for us to be here. Look at this. It's you. It's Moses. It's Elijah.

[20:27] This validates you, Jesus. I mean, I believed in you. I had faith in you. But look, you're right here with Moses and Elijah. Like they're appearing from the dead and they're giving validation to you.

[20:41] God, I tell you what, I got a great idea. I'm going to build a little shelter, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, Elijah. Peter was a guy who liked to kind of dive in and mix it up a little bit.

[20:53] I got this. I got this, Jesus. Brilliant idea. Let us just stay here for a while. While he was speaking, while Peter was talking, the father interrupts him.

[21:07] And he says, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased, listen to him.

[21:26] Peter, it's not about Moses and Elijah anymore, buddy. The law and the prophets, that was partial. Now you have the full picture.

[21:38] You don't need Moses and Elijah to validate Jesus. And then what happens? The disciples heard this, they freaked out.

[21:51] They fell face down to the ground terrified, but Jesus came over and touched them and said, get up, don't be afraid. You know Jesus always did that. This is a little rabbit trail, but anytime you see something amazing happening and people are just freaking out, you know, and Jesus told Peter, hey, let's go out and let's go fishing again.

[22:10] You've been fishing all night and the fish weren't biting, but I tell you what, let's go one more time. And Peter goes out there and Peter's like, God, let me tell you that the fish aren't biting. I'm an experienced fisherman, been doing it a long time, I know.

[22:21] Okay, if you want to go fishing sometime, I'll take you out when it's a better time. But okay, fine, since you're Jesus, we'll go, but I'm warning you, it's not going to work. And then he gets out there and Jesus says, put the nets down one more time.

[22:34] And all the fish in the entire sea came in and pulled him in. And what did Peter do? He fell down to his knees and said, oh God, I messed up. Depart from me. I don't even deserve to be around you. I'm a sinful man.

[22:44] And Jesus said, get up, fear not, don't worry about it. Jesus' response was always compassion. It was never, I told you so. It was never, why didn't you have faith the first time? It was never, when are you going to learn?

[22:56] That's our responses. Jesus' response was, don't be afraid. It's okay. I have compassion for you. So if there's somebody who speaks for Jesus, and that's not their demeanor, that's not their response, then maybe they're not speaking for Jesus like they present themselves to be.

[23:24] Because we see who God is in the person of Jesus. We see the full picture. This is who Jesus is. So if you're not perfect and somebody's shaking their finger at you for it, that's not coming from Jesus.

[23:41] Jesus says, don't be afraid. Fear not. I have compassion on you. I have a plan for you. Come on, let's walk together. That's Jesus.

[23:55] That is the Father. That is God. And that's what Jesus said, this is my son. Hear him. Listen to him.

[24:08] The resurrection of Jesus would confirm that that moment back on Mount Tabor, when the transfiguration happened and Jesus was shown to be God early.

[24:25] They got a little picture. Peter, James, and John, that was a decisive moment. That was an integral moment, especially if you were a Jew, especially if you've been following the law and the prophets your whole life, and the Torah was what your life completely revolved around.

[24:41] The teachings of the Old Testament. That was your world. That was your God almost. And now God himself is saying, this is what it's about now.

[24:52] It's about Jesus Christ. He's not one voice among many. He's the final revelation of me that you'll ever need.

[25:03] I want to share this quote with you. It's going to be hard to read, so I'll read it for you. The resurrection is not only God's vindication of his son, where he showed and justified and proved that Jesus is who he says he is.

[25:16] It is the vindication of all that Jesus taught. Easter Sunday, today, ready? It's nothing less than the triumph, the victory of the peaceable kingdom of Christ.

[25:30] The peaceable kingdom of Christ. Jesus' kingdom came to bring peace, not war. So if somebody is trying to act like Jesus' kingdom brings war and conquest, that's what the Jews wanted it to bring.

[25:46] That's why they turned on him after they weighed the palm branches and said, yes, Hosanna, Jesus our king is coming to give us victory and conquest. And then, fast forward, and they're yelling, crucify him.

[26:00] He's not who he thought he was. The peaceable kingdom of Christ. Easter changes everything. Easter is the hope of the world. Easter is the dawn of a new age.

[26:12] It is the rising of the new Jerusalem that someday we read in Revelation is going to come down to this earth. God is bringing the new. He said, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of the heavens.

[26:25] That's what Easter is about. And it's on the horizon of humanity's burned out landscape. Easter is God saying, once again, because this has been his theme from the beginning, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

[26:41] Listen to him. him. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of it.

[26:54] Jesus is built on the father. He's the impersonation. He's the personification, not impersonation. He's the personification of the father.

[27:07] Jesus and the father are one. Christianity is built on the person of the risen Jesus. It's not built on principles. It's not built on ethics.

[27:18] It's not built on tradition. Christianity is built on Jesus. If your version of Christianity doesn't look like who Jesus was, then what you have is not Christianity.

[27:30] It might be religion, but you're missing the resurrection. You might have religion, but you're missing the resurrection.

[27:41] You don't get to claim Jesus. You don't get to claim the Christ, so you shouldn't be calling it Christian or Christianity because Christ, what he taught is not what you have.

[27:56] Now, I pray that the vast majority of you, either already have what Jesus taught and who he was or you're ready to accept it today because there'd be no better day than on Easter Sunday to say, I choose Jesus.

[28:12] I choose the risen one. And that leads us to our final thought. Because Jesus rose, your world has hope. Your world, not just the world, but your world has hope.

[28:26] With all of your hangups, all of your problems, all of your circumstances, maybe all of your pride, all of your accomplishments, all of that has hope, not because of you, not because of your neighbor, not because of your family, not because of your finances, not because of your status, not because of anything that you can do or anything that you can earn.

[28:47] Your world has hope because of one single fact, Jesus rose from the dead. Otherwise, you're still in darkness like the rest of us. Otherwise, we're all still stumbling around convincing ourselves to believe in somebody that really wasn't any different than anybody else.

[29:06] But he was different because he did die and he did rise from the dead. And that makes it different. That makes it somebody to put hope in. So if your hope is in anything else than a risen Jesus, your hope is unfounded.

[29:21] So, people build their lives around other things. They build their lives around control, success, comfort, identity, even religion.

[29:40] But not enough people in politics, not enough people on either side of the aisle, not enough people in churches, not enough people in county government, not enough people in school systems, not enough people in the workplace build their lives around Jesus Christ.

[30:05] Let that be different for you and me. Let us wake up every morning and say, today, I'm going to follow Jesus. He might lead me places I'm not expecting.

[30:17] He might require things in me I'm not expecting. He might make me go against my better judgment because his judgment is better than mine. But because Jesus rose, your world has hope.

[30:31] You don't have to be trapped in your best abilities. You don't have to be trapped in your own wisdom. You have hope beyond that because Jesus rose from the dead.

[30:44] 2 Peter, this is the last scripture we'll read today. 2 Peter 1 and verse 19, we have this prophetic word more fully confirmed. You see what it's saying there?

[30:55] The prophecies that you read about in the Old Testament, all those books of prophecy and you go through Micah and Nahum and you read about Elijah and Elisha and Samuel and you read all these Old Testament prophets and you see what they had to say and sometimes it's hard to understand.

[31:10] You got to really study it out to try to figure out what they're talking about. But Peter, who walked with Jesus and was there on Mount Tabor when the transfiguration happened, Peter says, trust me, we have this prophetic word more fully confirmed.

[31:28] I was there when Moses and Elijah disappeared from view. Because you know what happened back on the transfiguration?

[31:38] Moses and Elijah appeared and they're talking with Jesus and then God speaks, this is my beloved son, hear him. You know what happened then? Moses and Elijah faded away.

[31:52] They were left with the only one they truly needed, which was Jesus Christ himself. Peter says, I was there. And we have those prophecies now confirmed.

[32:02] We have those prophecies now confirmed. Fully confirmed. We've got the full picture now. And you'll do well to pay attention to it. Because it's like a lamp shining in a dark place.

[32:15] It's like a sun rising and shining its light down into this dark world. It's like the morning dawning after a long and hard night. until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts like it's risen in mine.

[32:35] That's what Peter's saying to us. This is what it's about. It's about Jesus. Paul said, I can't really know anything among you except this one thing.

[32:51] Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I can tell you, I don't know everything about everything. You might know more than me about some things.

[33:03] We might have different ideas about some things. But this one thing I know, Jesus Christ and him crucified and him risen from the dead.

[33:16] Because of that, I was spiritually blind. I was in darkness. I was stumbling around. Like all of you were. Until the morning star, Jesus, the light of the world.

[33:29] Can we say that together? Jesus, the light of the world rose in my heart and I pray he's risen in yours. Would you bow your head with me?

[33:45] Jesus does not fit into your life. Your life depends on him. Jesus is the answer.

[33:56] Jesus is the light of the world. You've heard it from the moment you walked into this building this morning. You've heard it in every song, every scripture reading, every prayer that's been lifted up.

[34:10] Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. Jesus is the full picture of God revealed to you and me.

[34:20] don't build your life around control, success, comfort, identity, even religion. Build your life around Jesus and who he is, what he said, how he lived.

[34:38] You read something in the Old Testament that doesn't seem to line up with Jesus. Compare it to Jesus. Say, is this something in the Old Testament that I need to let define me or do I need to let Jesus Christ define me and whatever I read in the Old Testament or the New Testament point me to Jesus?

[35:01] Whatever I experienced in church, that might have been like Jesus, it might not have been like Jesus. I need to let it point me to Jesus. That's who God is.

[35:13] A lot of people will talk about God. A lot of people will claim God. A lot of people will call themselves Christians. Say, this is Christian. The Bible told me to do this.

[35:25] Here's what I want to know. How like Jesus are you? How like Jesus am I? That's how I know if I'm right with God. If I'm like his son.

[35:36] Because he said, hear my son. Listen to him. Hear what he has to say. See how he lives. See who he cares about. See what he does with his time. I pray right now while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're just in communion with the Holy Spirit of God, I pray that you would open your heart to him and say, God, change me.

[35:58] Take over my life. Make me like you. Jared's going to lead us in a song in just a moment.

[36:09] you can listen to him sing. We won't stand. You can remain in your seats. You can sing along if you'd like, quietly. But during these next couple of minutes before we all leave, would you open your heart to Jesus today?

[36:29] I'm not asking you to think I'm the best preacher you've ever heard because that's not going to be true. I'm not asking you to think that this is the greatest church you've ever been in, but you know what? It is if this is where you find Jesus, the real Jesus.

[36:43] So would you open your heart to him today? Jared, go ahead and lead us. It was my cross you bore so I could live in the freedom you died for.

[37:08] If you need to pray down here, this is open for that. If you need somebody to talk to, I'd be happy to meet you down here and pray with you.

[37:18] Forevermore. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise.

[37:31] Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise.

[37:43] Give him the praise. Worthy is your name. If you need to turn to Jesus today, don't walk out these doors without making that decision. Most important decision you'll ever make in your life because he changes everything.

[37:56] He's not a dead man. He's alive. He's there for you. He's ready to listen. He's ready to work. His spirit wants to take up residence in you today. And now my shame is gone and I stand amazed in your love undeniable.

[38:18] Your grace goes on and on. I will sing of your goodness forevermore.

[38:29] If you're able to stand, would you join us in standing and sing this to Jesus? Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise.

[38:42] Worthy is your name. He is worthy. Worthy is your name, Jesus. Yes. You deserve the praise.

[38:56] Worthy is your name. One more time. Just the voices.

[39:26] Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise.

[39:38] Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise.

[39:53] Worthy is your name. Amen. God, that's our prayer to you today is you do deserve all our praise. You deserve all our faith. You deserve complete control over our spirit, over how we conduct ourselves, over how we think, how we make decisions.

[40:13] It must line up with the person of the risen Christ. I pray that you would change us today, make us more like you. Let us truly be Christian.

[40:24] living like Christ in this world, showing people the darkness can have full, complete light shown into it, just like you've shown in our hearts.

[40:41] We'll thank you for it. We'll give you for it. All the praise for it. All the glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church, thank you so much for being with us for Easter Sunday worship. You are dismissed.

[40:52] No activities tonight, but we'll see you back here Wednesday at six o'clock and next Sunday. God bless. Thank you.