1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,600 Welcome to the Lightly Salted Podcast. 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:08,500 These are the readings and sermons of St. John's Lutheran Church of Park Rapids, Minnesota. 3 00:00:08,500 --> 00:00:13,940 They are offered so that the Word of God would shape and strengthen you to be what he calls you to be, 4 00:00:13,940 --> 00:00:15,940 salt and light. 5 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:19,540 You can find us at stjohnspr.org. 6 00:00:19,540 --> 00:00:21,540 Now, on to the Word. 7 00:00:21,540 --> 00:00:26,840 Our first reading for this, the sixth Sunday of Easter, 8 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:31,840 is recorded for us in the Acts of the Apostles, the 17th chapter. 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,640 Paul has moved from Thessalonica and he is now in Greece 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,840 and he has an opportunity to proclaim the good news of who God is 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:47,240 and especially to point the listeners to the fact that Jesus, who God raised from the dead, 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,240 is the appointed judge. 13 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,240 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 14 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,840 his spirit was provoked within him. 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,840 As he saw that the city was full of idols. 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:04,840 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons 17 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,840 and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:15,840 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. 19 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:17,840 And some said, 20 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,840 What does this babbler wish to say? 21 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,840 Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,840 because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,840 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Arap- 24 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:36,840 hmmm 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,840 It either comes out or it doesn't. 26 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,840 Arapagos saying, 27 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,840 May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting. 28 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,840 For you bring some strange things to our ears. 29 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,840 We wish to know therefore what these things mean. 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,840 Now, the Athenians and foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing 31 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:03,840 except telling or hearing something new. 32 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,840 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Arapagos, said, 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:13,840 Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 34 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,840 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, 35 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,840 I found also an altar with this inscription, 36 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:22,840 To the unknown God. 37 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,840 What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 38 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,840 The God who made the world and everything in it, 39 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:32,840 being Lord of heaven and earth, 40 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,840 does not live in temples made by man, 41 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,840 nor is he served by human hands, 42 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,840 as though he needed anything, 43 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:46,840 since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 44 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,840 And he made from one man every nation of mankind 45 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,840 to live on all the face of the earth, 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,840 having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 47 00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,840 that they should seek God, 48 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:04,840 in the hope that they may feel their way toward him and find him. 49 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,840 Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 50 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,840 for in him we live and move and have our being, 51 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:14,840 even as some of your own poets have said, 52 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,840 for we are indeed his offspring. 53 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:20,840 Being then God's offspring, 54 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:25,840 we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, 55 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,840 an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 56 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,840 The times of ignorance got overlooked, 57 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,840 but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 58 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,840 because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness 59 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,840 by a man whom he has appointed. 60 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:51,840 And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. 61 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,840 This is the word of the Lord. 62 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,840 Thanks be to God. 63 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,840 Our Epistle reading, we continue reading through the first letter of Peter. 64 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,840 We're in the third chapter. 65 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:12,840 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 66 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,840 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, 67 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,840 you will be blessed. 68 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:21,840 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. 69 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:24,840 But in your hearts, regard Christ the Lord as holy, 70 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:28,840 always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you 71 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:32,840 for a reason for the hope that is in you. 72 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:38,840 Yet, do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, 73 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:43,840 so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ 74 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:46,840 may be put to shame. 75 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:50,840 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, 76 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,840 than for doing evil. 77 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:58,840 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, 78 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:02,840 that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, 79 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:07,840 but made alive in the Spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 80 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:12,840 because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, 81 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:17,840 while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, 82 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:21,840 were brought safely through water. 83 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:25,840 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, 84 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:31,840 not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience 85 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:36,840 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven 86 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:40,840 and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers, 87 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,840 having been subjected to him. 88 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:48,840 This, too, is the word of the Lord. 89 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:50,840 Thanks be to God. 90 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:55,840 The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the 14th chapter. 91 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,840 Glory to you, O Lord. 92 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,840 As we are nearing the end of the Easter season, Ascension being this Sunday, 93 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:11,840 our Gospel reading actually takes us back to a time before, or on the night of Jesus' betrayal, 94 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:16,840 before the cross, before the tomb, and before the resurrection, 95 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,840 when Jesus is instructing his disciples and says to them, 96 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:25,840 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 97 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:29,840 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, 98 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,840 to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, 99 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:39,840 whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. 100 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:45,840 You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 101 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,840 I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 102 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:53,840 Yet a little while, the world will see me no more, but you will see me. 103 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,840 Because I live, you also will live. 104 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:05,840 In that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 105 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:10,840 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. 106 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:17,840 And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. 107 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,840 This is the Gospel of our Lord. 108 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,840 Praise to you, O Christ. 109 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:34,840 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 110 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,840 As I mentioned in the introduction, our Gospel reading today 111 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:47,840 took us back to the night of Jesus' betrayal, before the trial, before the cross, before the tomb, 112 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,840 and before the resurrection. 113 00:07:50,840 --> 00:08:01,840 Jesus tells his disciples, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 114 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:07,840 Now here's the thing, that statement is not a command from Jesus. 115 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,840 Telling us what we ought to do as Christians. 116 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,840 Rather, it is a statement of fact. 117 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,840 It's a description of reality. 118 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,840 Jesus' teaching that love shapes who we are and what we do. 119 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,840 Love isn't lazy, love isn't invisible, love always acts, 120 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:38,840 and if we could love perfectly, our entire life would be that of doing his commandments. 121 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:44,840 Because they are really a description of perfect love. 122 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:51,840 The first table, the first three commandments, the perfect love toward God. 123 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:57,840 It means that we would love God with all our heart, all our soul, with all our mind. 124 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:03,840 And the second table, the commandments four through ten, tell us of perfect love toward our neighbor. 125 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:08,840 Which means, simply, you will love your neighbor as yourself. 126 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:14,840 And so if we love perfectly, this is exactly what we would do. 127 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,840 This is what our life would look like. 128 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,840 We would automatically keep all of the commandments, 129 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:27,840 because they are a description of the Christian life. 130 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:40,840 Which just begs the question, are they a description of your life? 131 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:50,840 Well, on the one hand, on my really good days, I do quite a few things that are pretty good, right? 132 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:57,840 I mean, nobody has ever charged me with manslaughter or anything like that. 133 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:03,840 I've been faithful to my wife. 134 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:13,840 Well, okay, let's maybe, we'll check about that sort of lying, deceiving, gossiping thing. 135 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:21,840 Oh, but certainly loving God all the time? 136 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,840 If we're honest, the answer is no. 137 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:35,840 If we're honest, we meant what we just confessed at the beginning of our service. 138 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:41,840 Most merciful God, we have not loved you with our whole heart, 139 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:48,840 and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 140 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,840 We have failed both tables, the commandments. 141 00:10:52,840 --> 00:11:00,840 We have failed each and every commandment, instruction, and guidance given by God. 142 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:09,840 We do not, and we have not lived the Christian life, because we have not loved perfectly. 143 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:15,840 Because the original sin, the sin that we were born with, the commandments, the Christian life, 144 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:21,840 perfect love, is actually beyond our reach. 145 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,840 So where does that leave us? 146 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:33,840 Well, actually, and perhaps ironically, that leaves us right where we need to be. 147 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:42,840 Acknowledging our sin and inability and our failure is actually the first step in living the Christian life. 148 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,840 To look at the commandments and to see in them a standard that we cannot attain 149 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:54,840 is to receive them and to know exactly how God intended them. 150 00:11:54,840 --> 00:12:02,840 Because while God's law gives guidance to life, it is in itself not a life-giving thing. 151 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:07,840 Rather, the commandments show us our sin, they show us our need, they show us our failure, 152 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:15,840 they show us our lack of love and our lack of life. 153 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:22,840 They show us that on our own, we cannot live the Christian life no matter how hard we try. 154 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,840 And when we acknowledge that truth, we are right where God wants us to be, 155 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:32,840 because it is when we are dead in our trespasses and sins that God gives us life. 156 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:38,840 True life, Christian life, Christ life. 157 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,840 And that's the key. 158 00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:47,840 To understand that Christian life is not something that we are able to do or to accomplish, 159 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:52,840 but that it in fact is a gift that is given to us from God. 160 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:57,840 It is a gift of His grace. 161 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:03,840 And so Jesus in the gospel continues telling His disciples where this life comes from. 162 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:10,840 Because I live, Jesus said a little bit later, you also will live. 163 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:17,840 In other words, our life is grounded in His life and apart from Him, you have no real life. 164 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,840 But because He lives, we also live. 165 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:30,840 Because He died and rose again, we who are born without life, without love, also rise to new life in Him. 166 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:37,840 And so given this life by and in Jesus, that's where we begin to love and to live 167 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:44,840 as He has loved and as He has lived, to live the Christ life, the Christian life. 168 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:49,840 And how this all happens, Jesus also tells His disciples. 169 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,840 After describing the Christian life, He then tells them how it will come about. 170 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:59,840 And it's not from what they do, but rather from what He will do. 171 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:07,840 And I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. 172 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:12,840 He dwells with you and will be in you. 173 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,840 Another helper, Jesus says. 174 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:21,840 Well, the first helper was Jesus Himself, the Son of God become man to take our sin, 175 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:29,840 to die for our sin on the cross, to rise in victory over our sin in life again. 176 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:37,840 This work of Jesus conquering our sin, our death, even our enemy, the devil, that's what earns forgiveness of sins. 177 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,840 That's what brings a gift of new and even eternal life. 178 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:47,840 And it is this new life that we celebrate the entire Easter season and in fact the entire church year 179 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:53,840 because every Sunday is a little Easter. 180 00:14:53,840 --> 00:15:01,840 But though Jesus has earned this gift for us, it's not enough because the gift needs to be given, doesn't it? 181 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:08,840 I mean, imagine you purchase your Christmas gift, you wrap it up, 182 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,840 but then it's never taken out of the closet and put under the tree. 183 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,840 The gift would be incomplete. 184 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:18,840 And so it is with our salvation and the redemption earned by Jesus on the cross. 185 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,840 It must be given after all. 186 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,840 It is a gift. 187 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:29,840 And so Jesus says, I will send another helper and this one will give you what I have earned. 188 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:31,840 This one will join you to me. 189 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:40,840 This one, as we confess in the Nicene Creed, is the Lord and giver of life. 190 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:47,840 And this promise of Jesus came true for the disciples first on the day of Pentecost 191 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:54,840 as he asked his Father and as he sent to his disciples to his church his Holy Spirit. 192 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,840 But it's not just the disciples. 193 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,840 This gift of God has been given to you. 194 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,840 The Holy Spirit has been given to you. 195 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,840 For many of us it was a gift in the waters of holy baptism 196 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:14,840 when God himself is at work uniting us to Jesus' death, to his resurrection, 197 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:19,840 to giving us this new life, this Christ life. 198 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:26,840 The Holy Spirit is given to you every time the word of God is proclaimed. 199 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:31,840 Every time we hear the blessed words of absolution, the forgiveness of our sins, 200 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:38,840 the new life is given to you again as a gift. 201 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:43,840 And the Holy Spirit is given again as a gift in Holy Communion. 202 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,840 Whereas we receive the very body and blood of Jesus, 203 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:55,840 the Holy Spirit strengthens and keeps us in this new life, this Christ life. 204 00:16:55,840 --> 00:17:00,840 The gift of the Spirit is not just given once and then, well, we're left to go it on our own 205 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,840 and take care of and sustain this Christ life? 206 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,840 No way! Because we know it's impossible. 207 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:10,840 We know how much we continue to sin. 208 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:16,840 We know how corrupt our thoughts and our emotions are. 209 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:25,840 As we considered at the beginning of the sermon, we don't keep the commandments. 210 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:33,840 We fall and we fail, even as Christians. 211 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:40,840 And so the Holy Spirit is the gift that God keeps giving. 212 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:46,840 He keeps pouring the Spirit on us and giving us the gift of forgiveness. 213 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:54,840 And as Jesus says, so that he might dwell with you and be in you. 214 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,840 Jesus says, I do not leave you as orphans. 215 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,840 He comes to us and his Spirit comes to us and through them the Father lives in us also. 216 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,840 And there we have new life. 217 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:12,840 There we have the Christ life. 218 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,840 And this is a life that we are now privileged to live. 219 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,840 It is not a life of perfection. 220 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:26,840 It's not even a life of ever increasing holiness in us. 221 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,840 As if we'd have something to be proud of because look how far I've come, baby. 222 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,840 Our sinful urges still get the best of us. 223 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:39,840 Our sinful thoughts harass us constantly. 224 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,840 Our emotions would deceive us all the time. 225 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,840 Our sinful flesh and the allurements of the world. 226 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:55,840 There's always a temptation to live the high life instead of the Christ life. 227 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,840 And so living the Christ life is not about achieving perfection or holiness, 228 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:01,840 something we can't do. 229 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:09,840 It is about receiving Christ's holiness and perfection. 230 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:16,840 The Christ life is begun, it is continued, and it is ended in the death and resurrection of Jesus. 231 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:23,840 A life of constant dying in repentance and confession and being given the new life of the forgiveness of our sins. 232 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:29,840 And as we live and move and have our being as Paul would say in Christ, 233 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,840 in the gift of His life and His Spirit, breathing His Word and receiving from Him, 234 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:40,840 then the life and love of Christ will be evident in your life as well. 235 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,840 And with His love you will begin keeping His commandments, 236 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,840 loving and serving and sacrificing. 237 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:56,840 Because Christ lives in you, you may even have the audacity to lay down your life, 238 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,840 giving up and going out of your way for others. 239 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,840 Not because you have to, but because Christ lives in you. 240 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:10,840 Not because you have to do this to merit a relationship with God, 241 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:22,840 but simply because you are a child of God, living the life of Christ in you. 242 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:28,840 When we pray as Jesus taught us, thy kingdom come, 243 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,840 we're not just praying that God's kingdom would come at the end of time, 244 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,840 but that it would also come to us here and now. 245 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:42,840 His kingdom of grace and love and forgiveness in His Son. 246 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,840 And how does the kingdom of God come to us now? 247 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,840 Well, the small catechism tells us the answer. 248 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,840 Very similar words to what Jesus spoke here. 249 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,840 God's kingdom comes when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, 250 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:06,840 that by His grace we believe His Holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. 251 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,840 God's kingdom comes in the gift of the Holy Spirit, 252 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:13,840 who grants us faith to believe God's Word. 253 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:20,840 The Holy Spirit who gives us life, the life of Christ to live. 254 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:27,840 And this Christ life, we will live not only here and now, but also in eternity. 255 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,840 After all, Jesus said it, because I live, you also will live. 256 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:34,840 And that's not a command. 257 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:40,840 That's a promise. For Christ is risen. 258 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:44,840 Hallelujah. 259 00:21:44,840 --> 00:22:05,840 May the peace of God found in the life of Christ be yours now and forever. Amen. 260 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,840 Amen.