WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.320 There's a moment when something might seem wrong, 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:10.500 but you're not ready to say it yet. So you check. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.699 You look at your phone again. You wait a little 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:18.500 bit longer for them to respond. You tell yourself, 00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:22.199 you know, they're probably just busy. But the 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:25.500 longer the silence stretches, the louder your 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:30.160 imagination gets. I remember a time in my life 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:33.799 when if I didn't answer my phone, my mom did 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:36.939 not assume that I was busy. She assumed I was 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:43.140 dead in a ditch somewhere. And one night when 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:46.619 I didn't respond to her phone call, at the age 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:50.960 of 21, at 11 p .m. on a weeknight, she called 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.039 the police. Because in her mind there was no 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:57.759 other explanation whatsoever. Now I tried to 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.000 explain that there can always be other possibilities 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.579 when someone is not replying Sometimes I might 00:01:03.579 --> 00:01:07.640 be working late or maybe I just didn't hear my 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.400 phone or you know I might actually have friends 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.560 and be out with people Let's not go there though 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:17.840 But you know once that fear sets in it's hard 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:21.599 to shake it Because when you don't know your 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:25.920 mind fills in the gaps We all do that When we 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.799 don't have answers, we create the explanations. 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:33.700 Sometimes we assume the worst. Sometimes we try 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:36.920 to convince ourselves it's not that bad. But 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.000 either way, we're trying to make sense of what 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:44.980 feels uncertain. And that works until the uncertainty 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:49.760 disappears. Until there's no more maybe. Until 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:54.120 something, someone is no longer possibly gone. 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:58.620 but definitely gone. And that's exactly the tension 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:02.459 we see in the story of Lazarus. At the beginning, 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:07.519 there's still hope. Talking with his disciples, 00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:13.419 he's sick. You know, that's not the same as Lazarus 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:16.439 is dead. It's a very different feel. You see, 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.960 there's still time. There's still possibility. 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:22.740 There's still the sense that maybe things will 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:28.139 turn around. But you see, time passes, and Jesus 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:33.900 delays, not by accident, but deliberately. You 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:36.939 know, it's almost as if he seems to be tempting 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:42.060 fate, as if he's pushing what might happen. You 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:46.240 know, we see what's going on here with Lazarus, 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:50.580 but Jesus seems to be pretty confident, so I'm 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:54.930 sure it will turn out okay. But then the message 00:02:54.930 --> 00:03:01.689 comes. Lord, He's dead. And everything shifts. 00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:06.229 That moment whenever you know that you were expecting 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:09.150 something, and then you realize that what you're 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:13.449 expecting is no longer even on the table. You 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:15.750 see, this is no longer a situation that needs 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:21.550 healing. It's a situation that is final. And 00:03:21.550 --> 00:03:25.039 yet, even then, there's still a part of us that 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:28.800 resists that finality. There's a part of us that 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:31.919 holds back from believing what it is that we 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:35.639 have heard. You've felt that before, I'm sure. 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:41.580 The stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:47.520 Finally, though, acceptance. When something happens 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:50.990 that just doesn't seem possible, Your first instinct 00:03:50.990 --> 00:03:54.409 is not to accept it. It's oftentimes to question 00:03:54.409 --> 00:03:58.590 it. There's got to be a mistake. You misunderstood. 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:02.150 That can't be right. There has to be another 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:06.469 explanation. You see, God's people have always 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:09.250 wrestled with that tension. The tension between 00:04:09.250 --> 00:04:13.490 what we see and what we trust. Because fear and 00:04:13.490 --> 00:04:17.720 faith, between the grave that seems final, and 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:21.540 the promise that is absolute. See, even in our 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:25.680 doubt, God calls us to stand before the tomb 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:29.879 and to hear his word. It's like hearing something 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:34.019 so unlikely that your mind refuses to process 00:04:34.019 --> 00:04:37.180 it. It's as if someone were to come in and tell 00:04:37.180 --> 00:04:42.560 you that Chuck Norris had passed away. And you 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:45.990 would not immediately accept it, would you? You'd 00:04:45.990 --> 00:04:47.910 think, no, there's got to be a misunderstanding. 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:52.509 See, this is the guy who never did a push up 00:04:52.509 --> 00:04:57.990 because he always pushed the earth down. The 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:01.449 man who was bitten by a King Cobra after four 00:05:01.449 --> 00:05:05.850 very difficult days, the King Cobra died. The 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:09.629 man who gave death, as we had once heard, a near 00:05:09.629 --> 00:05:13.959 -Chuck Norris experience. See a man though whose 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:16.420 Christian faith has been known for a long time 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:20.279 and for which we are truly grateful But you see 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:24.420 that instinct That resistance that reaction of 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.779 this cannot be true where you keep trying to 00:05:27.779 --> 00:05:32.300 confirm it See that's exactly the kind of tension 00:05:32.300 --> 00:05:37.879 around the tomb of Lazarus What would it have 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:40.939 been like to be walking there to be one of the 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:44.290 disciples wondering Maybe Jesus knows something 00:05:44.290 --> 00:05:48.370 we don't. Maybe it is that as we're getting there, 00:05:48.389 --> 00:05:50.769 Jesus is going to reveal that everyone was wrong 00:05:50.769 --> 00:05:53.910 and Lazarus was just sick and everything is really 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:56.709 okay. He knows more than any of us do, right? 00:05:57.790 --> 00:06:00.870 But by the time Jesus arrives at Lazarus' tomb 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:04.110 with those disciples, there is no uncertainty 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:11.029 left. Lazarus is gone. So then, why did Jesus 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:15.759 still come? He doesn't avoid the religious leaders 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.180 that everyone knows is trying to arrest him. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.379 He doesn't hesitate because of Thomas or the 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:25.079 others wondering if this is when they too will 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:29.060 lose their lives. See, Lazarus has been in the 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:32.879 tomb for four days. Not hours, not recently, 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:39.180 but four days. See, by Jewish belief, a spirit 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:43.279 hovered over the body for three days. maybe even 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.160 possibly to be revived or restored. Beyond that 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:53.399 though, death was final. And by day four, decomposition 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:58.279 had begun. The tomb smelled. The friends had 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:02.220 lost all hope. Mary and Martha were grieving 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:07.459 deeply. But what happens? Jesus says, take away 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:12.639 the stone. And the response is immediately, Lord, 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:19.879 don't. Just don't. We have already accepted what 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:24.779 is happening. See, this is Martha speaking. The 00:07:24.779 --> 00:07:27.259 same Martha who had just confessed, I believe 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:30.060 that you are the Christ, the Son of God. And 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:32.600 yet, here she is standing at the tomb saying, 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:37.180 please don't open it. Because, if we're honest, 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.870 faith and fear They can sit right next to each 00:07:41.870 --> 00:07:45.810 other. See, it happens with us all the time. 00:07:46.410 --> 00:07:49.670 See, she believes in Jesus, but she also knows 00:07:49.670 --> 00:07:53.069 what's inside of that tomb. She knows what four 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:56.829 days means. She knows what four days smell like. 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:01.370 And Mary, Mary had fallen at His feet earlier, 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.709 weeping. You could hear it in her voice, Lord, 00:08:04.709 --> 00:08:07.149 if You had been here, my brother would not have 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:11.610 died. See, we can hear anger and accusation, 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:16.490 but it's grief wrapped in faith that doesn't 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:19.829 understand what is supposed to be happening next. 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:25.910 But Jesus doesn't correct them. He doesn't rebuke 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:30.889 them. He weeps. Not because he doesn't know what 00:08:30.889 --> 00:08:35.549 he is about to do, but because death is not what 00:08:35.549 --> 00:08:40.500 he created us for. and he also knows what his 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:45.279 friend had just been through. And standing there 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:48.740 between their faith and their fear, Jesus still 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:54.500 says, take away the stone. Because by now, see, 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:59.419 the reality, it seems undeniable. See, there's 00:08:59.419 --> 00:09:01.860 no life left. There's nothing to check. There's 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:05.149 no pulse. There's no breath. And if we're honest, 00:09:05.429 --> 00:09:09.149 that's the part that we try to avoid too. You 00:09:09.149 --> 00:09:13.309 see, we as people, we don't mind dealing with 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:18.350 things that are struggling. We don't mind fixing 00:09:18.350 --> 00:09:21.509 things that are broken. Whenever something is 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:25.250 just having a difficult day. Whenever something 00:09:25.250 --> 00:09:27.870 just needs a little oil, a little grease. Whenever 00:09:27.870 --> 00:09:30.629 someone just needs an encouraging word or just 00:09:30.629 --> 00:09:34.279 a moment. Maybe if someone just needs... an extra 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.580 can or an extra box of food, if someone just 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:40.440 needs an opportunity to have a smile put on their 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:44.519 face, we don't mind dealing with the struggles. 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:49.840 But when something feels completely dead, like 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.379 all people are without Christ Jesus, we don't 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:58.799 want to face that. Because as long as that tomb 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.340 stays closed, Maybe there's a little space for 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:07.500 denial. And beyond that denial, we could finally 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:12.419 just let go of the hope. But you see, even Lazarus 00:10:12.419 --> 00:10:15.360 is not the furthest point of hopelessness in 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:18.360 our story today. Because at least with Lazarus, 00:10:18.379 --> 00:10:21.419 there was still a body. There was still a place 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:24.779 to go, a tomb, a name, a memory. Whenever they 00:10:24.779 --> 00:10:27.940 were struggling, there was still somewhere that 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:32.779 they could come to. But then we turn to Ezekiel, 00:10:33.059 --> 00:10:37.440 and we don't find a body. The prophet is brought 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.679 into a valley, a valley of dry bones. These are 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.639 not recently dead. They're not freshly buried, 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:51.860 dry, scattered, disconnected. No bodies, no faces, 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:55.559 just the remains of what used to be. There's 00:10:55.559 --> 00:10:59.159 not even a person anymore. just the remains of 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.440 what used to be. See, Israel had been conquered. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:06.240 They'd been exiled, removed from the land. Years 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.580 had passed. Even God's promises seemed lost. 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:14.340 These were not the bodies of people that they 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:18.070 had known individually, but this image. was meant 00:11:18.070 --> 00:11:20.629 to communicate what Israel had gone through. 00:11:21.049 --> 00:11:24.570 In that imagery of Ezekiel, the exposed dry bones, 00:11:24.590 --> 00:11:27.350 they mattered even more than we might realize. 00:11:28.529 --> 00:11:32.269 These bones were not abandoned, just by themselves, 00:11:32.909 --> 00:11:36.850 they were also dishonored. Because burial had 00:11:36.850 --> 00:11:40.970 been denied, dignity had been denied, identity 00:11:40.970 --> 00:11:44.370 had been denied. We don't even know who they 00:11:44.370 --> 00:11:49.990 are! They don't even have names. Because bones, 00:11:50.730 --> 00:11:53.789 they weren't supposed to be left out like that. 00:11:54.330 --> 00:11:58.110 Even after battle, they were supposed to be buried. 00:11:58.450 --> 00:12:02.149 Because burial meant dignity. It meant you belonged 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:04.669 to a people. It meant that your story mattered. 00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:09.309 But these bones? They were just left out there. 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:14.000 Exposed. Forgotten. See, this isn't just about 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.159 death. This is what it looks like when people 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:19.519 begin to believe that even God's promises don't 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:23.440 come through for them. When not only life is 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:26.080 gone, but whenever people think that meaning 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:30.759 feels like it's gone as well. I'm sure none of 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:34.080 us has ever struggled with the feeling that maybe 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:37.360 we've been exposed. I'm sure none of us have 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.289 ever felt like we've been forgotten. I'm sure 00:12:40.289 --> 00:12:42.590 none of us have ever felt like we had no meaning. 00:12:44.090 --> 00:12:47.149 But you see, God brings Ezekiel into that valley 00:12:47.149 --> 00:12:50.409 and asks a question that almost feels absurd. 00:12:51.629 --> 00:12:58.450 Can these bones live? What? Okay, the honest 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:01.870 answer is no. No, God, there's not a chance that 00:13:01.870 --> 00:13:05.549 these can live. They're bones. What do you expect? 00:13:06.470 --> 00:13:09.250 Not after this long. Not in this condition. Not 00:13:09.250 --> 00:13:14.809 with nothing left to work with. Not after this 00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:19.470 long in our lives. Not when we are in this condition. 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:25.190 Not when we have nothing left to work with. But 00:13:25.190 --> 00:13:31.009 you see, God tells Ezekiel to speak. Bone to 00:13:31.009 --> 00:13:34.700 bone. structure where there was none, sinew, 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:39.259 flesh, skin, bodies coming back together. It 00:13:39.259 --> 00:13:42.179 feels like a horror movie at first. Strange, 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.139 unsettling, unnatural, because they look like 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:49.899 bodies, but they're still not alive. How often 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:56.019 it is that we feel like a body, and the life 00:13:56.019 --> 00:14:01.820 just isn't inside of us, until God says, breathe, 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:09.419 and the breath enters them, and they live. Hold 00:14:09.419 --> 00:14:13.480 on to that, because we need to go back to that 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.820 tomb. Because in that moment, Jesus doesn't just 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:19.379 stand in front of death and observe it. He doesn't 00:14:19.379 --> 00:14:23.399 just accept what has happened and that nothing 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:28.019 can change it. He speaks into it. abstractly, 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:33.539 not generally. He speaks by name. Lazarus, come 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:43.120 out. And the man who is dead walks out. He's 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.379 still wrapped, he's still marked by death, but 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:49.980 he is undeniably alive. And that's when everything 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:53.019 begins to come into focus. Somewhere in that 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:58.440 moment, the person who said, Don't is now standing 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:02.980 face to face with what Jesus can do because what 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:07.539 we're seeing in this moment, this is not personal 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:11.419 improvement. This is not recovery. This is not 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:15.399 things just got a little bit better. This is 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.460 not about taking something that was weak and 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:19.700 making it strong. This is about taking something 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:25.080 that was dead and making it alive. That's where 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.460 this becomes more than some dreamlike story or 00:15:28.460 --> 00:15:32.000 a vision. Because if we're honest, most of us 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.899 don't think of ourselves or our lives that way. 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:41.039 We may think, I need to do better. I've got some 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:44.220 things to work on. I'm not exactly where I think 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:48.399 I should be. The Scripture doesn't describe any 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.059 of our conditions that way. It doesn't say we're 00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:56.759 struggling. It says we're dead. Dead in our sins, 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.519 dead in our ability to fix ourselves, dead in 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:02.480 our capacity to create life where there is none. 00:16:02.980 --> 00:16:07.779 You cannot improve something that's dead. You 00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:10.940 cannot coach the bones into making themselves 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:14.580 into a body. You cannot encourage a corpse to 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:19.480 wake themselves up. Life has to come from outside 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:24.789 all of our power. And it's even more so with 00:16:24.789 --> 00:16:28.809 what we see in Jesus. Because with Lazarus, Jesus 00:16:28.809 --> 00:16:33.190 interrupts death from the outside, but then in 00:16:33.190 --> 00:16:38.169 His own resurrection, He breaks it from the inside. 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:42.769 See, the people, when they saw Jesus, they didn't 00:16:42.769 --> 00:16:45.690 wonder on that cross if He might have avoided 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:48.840 death. They didn't think that he had just gotten 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.879 a little sick. They saw the crucifixion. It was 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:57.960 finished. He was done. So when he rose, it wasn't 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.100 a question of whether he might have avoided death 00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:04.380 in the first place. It was a declaration. Death 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:09.400 does not get the final word. And that changes 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:12.869 everything. Because now the question is no longer, 00:17:12.950 --> 00:17:16.109 can God do something with what's left over? The 00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:18.490 question is, what if there's nothing left and 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:23.930 He still calls it to life? And that's where this 00:17:23.930 --> 00:17:27.970 becomes personal. Because every one of us has 00:17:27.970 --> 00:17:30.630 places in our lives that feel like that valley, 00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:35.630 places where something has dried up, where hope 00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:40.380 has seemed thin, where it's been gone. Places 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:43.599 where it doesn't just feel broken, it feels over. 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:46.460 Sometimes it's not just painful. Sometimes it 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:49.700 feels like something was missed. Like something 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:54.660 that was supposed to happen didn't. Like maybe 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:57.559 we stepped outside of what God was going to do, 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:01.819 and we think that there's nothing left. And now 00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:04.799 we're just left with what's left, or maybe there 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:10.579 was never anything in the first place. But maybe 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.460 we also think about that with the people in our 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:17.440 lives. And sometimes for those who don't know 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:21.460 Christ, we just assume that maybe we just need 00:18:21.460 --> 00:18:26.259 to leave dead alone. But the promise of the Gospel 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:29.559 is not, I will help you fix what's broken. It 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:32.640 is, I will bring life where there is none. The 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:36.390 same voice that called Lazarus calls you. The 00:18:36.390 --> 00:18:38.829 same breath that filled the dry bones is given 00:18:38.829 --> 00:18:42.329 to you. It isn't about becoming a better version 00:18:42.329 --> 00:18:46.630 of yourself. It is about being made new. The 00:18:46.630 --> 00:18:52.089 old is gone and good riddance. That new life 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:54.269 is not something that we're just waiting for 00:18:54.269 --> 00:18:58.809 some day. It has begun now. The faith that you 00:18:58.809 --> 00:19:02.549 have, the life in you, the trust in Christ, that 00:19:02.549 --> 00:19:06.990 is not self -generated. That is resurrection 00:19:06.990 --> 00:19:11.650 at work right now. And that is the same resurrection, 00:19:11.930 --> 00:19:15.009 not just for your life now, to get rid of the 00:19:15.009 --> 00:19:19.190 old, to move into the new. That is for every 00:19:19.190 --> 00:19:24.630 person you know in Christ as well. Even the ones 00:19:24.630 --> 00:19:28.529 that you think have no hope of ever coming to 00:19:28.529 --> 00:19:32.809 trust Him. Because that's what the Word of God 00:19:32.809 --> 00:19:38.769 does. is it changes dead people into living ones. 00:19:40.250 --> 00:19:45.170 And as much as we love to joke about some things, 00:19:46.230 --> 00:19:48.829 we joke about people like Chuck Norris. We talk 00:19:48.829 --> 00:19:51.990 about all the amazing ways in which he defied 00:19:51.990 --> 00:19:55.490 all logic, and he counted to infinity twice. 00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:58.950 He coughed up a man to check his closet every 00:19:58.950 --> 00:20:02.299 night for Chuck Norris. and destroyed the periodic 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:04.819 table because he only recognizes the element 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:10.819 of surprise. Because Chuck Norris is in Christ, 00:20:11.819 --> 00:20:14.180 he will stand with us in that resurrection too. 00:20:15.099 --> 00:20:17.940 And that's what I actually care about. Not because 00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:20.700 of strength, not because of reputation, but because 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.200 the same voice that calls the dead to life calls 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.480 all who belong to him by faith. So the question 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:29.940 for you today is not is there still a little 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:33.799 life left to get up and get going again the question 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:39.019 is Do you hear his voice? Because he is calling 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:44.180 He is speaking He is bringing life out of death 00:20:44.180 --> 00:20:48.759 for you and for everyone in this world so one 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:53.200 day That voice will call again and the graves 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:58.250 will open and what feels final now will not be 00:20:58.250 --> 00:21:01.730 final after all, because death does not win. 00:21:02.589 --> 00:21:08.750 Christ does, and in him so do you. Thanks be 00:21:08.750 --> 00:21:09.109 to God.