Is Jesus Dead or Alive — Acts 23-25

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Happy Easter. Thank you for having Megan and Paul and I here.

0:10 There is no better place to spend Easter morning than with the people of God. And we're happy to announce that come November, we're gonna have another little one in our family. Thank you. I appreciate your applause even though I am doing none of the work, but I'll accept it anyway. Thank you very much.

0:35 Thank you very much. And so that's a good thing. That's a good thing. Easter Sunday. Let me just pray for the message because this message needs some prayer.

0:48 Father God, we are just blessed to be in your presence this morning on this beautiful Easter Sunday. And Lord, we know that there is more to Easter than just the chocolate bunnies and the Easter baskets and all of that that the world seems to be latched onto. Lord, we are here this morning because we know that Jesus came out of that tomb and that he lives today. Just pray that you would speak through me and bless our hearts with understanding of your scripture. In Jesus name, Amen.

1:23 Today we're going to look at the twenty fifth chapter of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 25. And some of you are going to think this is kind of a strange passage to choose for an Easter Sunday message. But there was a time when the question came up, is Jesus dead or is he alive? And that is what we want to consider this morning.

1:54 So we're going to read Acts chapter 25, beginning in verse 13. And after some days, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king saying, There was a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, about whom the chief priests and elders of the Jews informed me when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him. To them I answered, It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him. Therefore, when they had come together without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in.

2:51 To be brought in. And when the accusers stood up, they brought no accusations against him of such things as I would have supposed, but they had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain man named Jesus, who the Jews claim had died, but whom Paul was saying was alive. So that's the text we're going to consider this morning. For some people, I think for many Christians, Easter is the best of all holidays. I know Christmas gets all the publicity, but if we really believe in the resurrection, this is the best of all of the holy days of the year, is Easter Sunday.

3:34 For the Christian, every day ought to be like Easter. Easter gets a lot of publicity in the world as well. Of course, Christians are not the only ones that celebrate Easter. I I saw this come across CNN this week. You're probably familiar with this practice.

3:53 It's from CNN. Some devout Catholics in the deeply religious Southeast Asian nation of The Philippines will show their faith this Easter weekend with what can be deeply unsettling displays, including self crucifixions and flagellation. Dozens of penitents imitating the suffering of Christ have real nails hammered into their palms and feet, while others drag heavy crosses or crawl on bloodstained hands and knees in cities and towns across the country on Good Friday. Others, I found this was interesting, others dressed as Roman centurions aid the voluntary crucifixions which last a few minutes before the faithful are taken down. Catholic leaders in The Philippines condemn this practice and it is also discouraged by public health officials who recommend tetanus shots before the crucifixion.

4:50 That's what it says, this is CNN. It's got to be true, right? First aid personnel are on hand at these events to help those who collapse from heat and dehydration or who need their wounds treated. Practitioners say that the wounds can take weeks to heal but are a small price to pay to have their sins washed away by these extreme acts. Wow, that is really unusual, that is really unusual.

5:18 So I read about that and then I read two other stories about Easter this week. One was about Target, the department store had a recall on children's Easter eggs. They had a recall of water absorbing egg toys ahead of Easter Sunday because they found out that children could swallow the little egg and it's water absorbing, so it would expand inside the stomach. Here was a statement from Target. We recommend that parents take these toys away from their children and return them to Target immediately for a full refund.

5:53 The toys cost a dollar. So anyway, there's Target struggling with Easter. And finally, I read this week, I see all these things on Facebook, know, this is my source of news, is that 33,000,000 Americans, 33,000,000 of us will eat our Easter dinner in a restaurant today, making it the third busiest day of the year for the restaurant industry. It's Easter Sunday. In fact, if you wanted to get a table for Easter dinner at some of these posh restaurants in New York City, you would have had to book it several weeks in advance and be willing to pay upwards of $180 So I looked up, what do I get for my $180 Easter brunch?

6:37 You get a four course meal consisting of foie gras, lobster, Benedict, prime rib, lamb and caviar. So, I don't know what your mom's cooking there, Megan, but this is my expectation. I saw the jello mold on the counter this morning, so I guess we're not having caviar, but that's alright. Yeah, that's alright. I actually like jello mold, that's just me.

7:04 But for most people, you know, Easter is just a fun day. It's just a fun day. It's harmless, you know, and for most people Easter is going to be over when the company leaves. Or for some people, Easter is going to be over when some pastor somewhere says the final Amen in about half an hour. And Easter has no real significance, they're just going to go on.

7:24 Tomorrow is going to be April 17, just like today is the sixteenth, and life just goes on as usual. But for the early disciples, that wasn't the case. The early disciples never actually got over the initial Easter morning. It was not like they celebrated that day or even that week or even that year. This continual celebration went on for years and years.

7:51 This is what the book of Acts is about. In fact, the scripture we read this morning takes place thirty five years after the resurrection of Christ, not thirty five minutes after the sermon is over, thirty five years later these believers are still passionately proclaiming the good news that Jesus was not dead, but He was alive. And they were still getting in trouble for it. That's what we are reading about today. The Apostle Paul is proclaiming that Jesus is alive and he is getting dragged into court.

8:38 I don't know if you knew that or not. And anyway, were a lot of good courtroom drama. I don't know if you knew there was courtroom drama in the Bible or not, but that's what's happening this morning. And we're going to look at this situation and decide for ourselves, you know, what does it mean? Is Jesus dead or is he alive?

8:56 What are the ramifications of that? I'm just gonna give you a little bit of background. Just for those of you that are not as familiar with this story. This is kind of like last week on Matlock. So last time, the last time we watched this show, here is what happened.

9:12 In chapter 23 of Acts, Paul is before the Jewish Council and he is preaching about the resurrection. This is when the high priest orders him to be slapped in the face and Paul responds, Oh, you're a whitewashed wall. And then he stirs up trouble between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And these Jews are about to tear him apart. This is in Acts 23, I think.

9:35 And the Romans come in and intervene and they take Paul away and after some time, Paul appears before this Roman governor whose name was Felix, an interesting name that some of these Romans had, and this is in Acts 24 where Felix is listening to Paul preaching the gospel and as Paul was preaching about righteousness and self control and judgment to come that Felix was terrified. This is a Roman official, he's terrified of the preaching of Paul and his response is this, go away Paul and when I have a more convenient time, I will call for you. In other words, Felix just put off the issue. He said, I'm terrified at what this man is saying, but I'm not gonna make a decision about this. And of course, that is how a lot of people are when they hear the gospel.

10:21 They just say, well, another day, another day when it's more convenient, when I'm less busy, then I will make a decision except Felix never gets around to it. And then Felix is replaced by another governor whose name was Festus. And he decides, this is two years later, talking about a slow judicial system. Festus decides to bring Paul's case back up before the court, but Festus, the governor, doesn't understand the case. And not only that, but Paul has asked for a trial to take place in Rome.

10:54 See, Paul doesn't... Felix said to Paul, you know, you want to go back to Jerusalem and have this trial. And Paul says essentially, are you kidding me? Those people already think I'm guilty. I'm not going back there to have that trial.

11:06 I know I'm a Roman citizen, so I appeal to Rome. And so they're going to send him to Rome, but the governor Festus doesn't want to send Paul to Rome unless he knows what the crime is that Paul has committed. And Festus is confused. He says, I don't understand what is the issue here. So fortunately for him, King Agrippa is in town and Festus says, and I know this is a long introduction, you're thinking we're never going get out of here, we are.

11:34 I'm just giving you the background. Festus says to King Agrippa, listen here, king, I got this interesting case. There's this man named Paul and the Jews are really upset with him and he wants to go to Rome to stand trial, but I can't send him to Rome, I can't send him to Caesar without saying this is the crime he's committed. So when he came before me, the Jews didn't bring any of these normal kinds of crimes. And as far as I can figure out, this is as far as Festus can figure out, other than Paul having violated some minor superstitions of their religion, This was the issue, that there was this man named Jesus and the Jews say that he is dead and Paul claims that he's not dead, but he's alive.

12:21 That seems to be the issue here. And every time I've read that passage, I've been struck by how this pagan official is able to put his finger precisely on the defining question of all time. Is Jesus dead or is he alive? You see the issue is not about religion, it's not about superstition. We're pretty good at clouding the issue.

12:51 I will confess this. The issue is not which is the right church for me, the issue is not which choir sings the best or which preacher is the most eloquent, the issue is not Calvinism, the issue is not Arminianism, The issue is not should we only sing psalms or should we sing modern worship songs with guitars. That's not the issue. These are all little things. The issue is not whether I like MacArthur or Darby or Spurgeon or John Stott or John Piper.

13:17 Those are not the issue. The issue is not which curriculum we use or whether we have potluck on Monday or Tuesday. The issue is not, should I let my kids have Easter baskets and be visited by the Easter bunny, or maybe I should call it the resurrection rabbit. The issue is none of those things. That hasn't seemed to catch on, by the way.

13:39 I suggested that yesterday, and my mother laughed at me. Not going to call it the resurrection rabbit, apparently. But these are not the issue. The issue is this, is Jesus dead or is he alive? And so, you know, some people are very good at not just clouding the issue, but avoiding the issue.

13:59 I understand. It is easier for me to have a conversation with you about sports than than it is about the gospel. It's easier for me to tell you what I saw on Facebook than to ask you deep questions about your relationship with God. You know, there's this famous phrase that somebody, I don't know who it was, that said this originally, There are two topics that I never talk about with people. What were the two topics?

14:23 Politics and religion. Politics and religion. That's right. You know, I actually think that's too bad. Because just between you and me, those are the two topics I like to talk about the best.

14:33 So somebody says, don't want to talk about politics and religion. I think, well, don't know what's left to talk about. Right? So so because these are the most interesting. Right?

14:42 And they are... And they get people the most worked up. In fact, if you have anything of Christ at all in your heart, we should love to argue and discuss these issues related to the Bible. But the main issue here is that there were these Jews saying Jesus is dead and here you got Apostle Paul saying he's alive. Now we're going look at three groups.

15:11 These last three points are all real small. There are three groups of people in this courtroom scene, and I'm saying that every one of us belongs to one of these three groups of people. On the one hand, you've got the Jews, and the Jews are representing the people who say, Jesus is definitely dead. That's one group of people. And then in the middle, got this group of Roman officials, and the Roman officials represent the people who frankly could care less.

15:47 To them, it's a non issue. Is he dead? Is he alive? What difference does it make? I don't understand what you're arguing about.

15:53 So there's the people who say he's definitely not alive. There's the people who don't care. Then there's the third group and that's represented by the Apostle Paul who is saying, no, no, no, definitely, Jesus is certainly alive. And we want to think about which one of those groups do we belong to today. So let me consider the Jews.

16:14 Now the Jews are here in court and they're saying, Jesus is definitely not alive. Now the commentators disagree a little bit on, did these Jews not believe Jesus was alive or did they just not want it to be told that he was alive? There's a different issue there. See, these Jewish leaders, they knew the testimony of the guards at the empty tomb. What was the testimony of the guards?

16:43 Those guards saw the angel come down and they saw the effects of the earthquake, and they ran and told the Jewish leaders what they had seen. And of course, the Jewish leaders said to those guards, what did they say? Don't tell people this. Here's what you're supposed to say, while we were asleep, somebody came and stole the body. That's what the guards were supposed to say.

17:06 I have this little paragraph from the Los Angeles Times. I was gonna work this into the Christmas message, but as you may remember, that was already ten minutes too long. So I saved it for today. This is from the Los Angeles Times reporting about the theft of a statue of baby Jesus from the township nativity scene a week before Christmas. According to city police, a local woman staged a prank version of a family intervention when she removed the baby Jesus from the nativity outside city hall.

17:39 On Thursday night, Jacqueline Ross was sent to the Northampton County Prison on charges of vandalism and theft. City police say she absconded with the statue of the Christ child around 2AM on December 4 and left it minutes later at a safe space drop off at the St. Luke's Hospital. The drop off is intended to be a place where mothers can safely, legally and anonymously give up newborns. The statue was recovered with minor damage to its foot and hand.

18:12 Township trustees say the statue is worth $2,900. While the trustees slept, somebody stole the baby Jesus. Right? That's what the guards were supposed to say. This was a story that got around and it is commonly reported among the Jews to this day.

18:26 So these Jews are in court. They knew the facts concerning what the guards had said. Not only that, the Bible tells us that there were over 500 eyewitnesses to the risen Christ. And by this time, when this trial took place, there would have been thousands of people in that area saying, you ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart. And so they are standing there saying he's not alive, he's not alive.

18:55 And the question is, did they really think he was not alive did they just not want Him to be alive? Or maybe both. Because, you know, and for us it might seem like a minor issue, but for these guys that was a big deal because here's the idea, if Jesus is alive, then suddenly they are in big trouble. They are guilty of murder if Jesus is alive. Their Messiah came along and they killed him, that's the issue.

19:24 I am innocent of the blood of this just man, that was Pontius Pilate, you will bear the responsibility for it. And they said his blood be upon us and on our children's children. And so if Jesus is alive, well, then they are in big trouble. And in fact, their whole belief system at that point would be founded on a lie. If Jesus is alive, then these leaders are blind.

19:47 Leaders of the blind and their whole world view falls apart and every religion that denies the lordship of Christ falls apart as well. Buddhism is false and Shintoism and Islam and all of these other religions that deny the deity of Christ are false and proven to be false if Jesus is alive. This is a huge deal. And they have to take seriously his claim then that he is the only way to God. I am the way and the truth of the life.

20:17 No one comes to the Father but through me. Well, those just words? Well, it depends on who said them. If they're said by the God who came back to life, those are not just words. We have to accept that there is only one way to God.

20:29 If Jesus is alive and these philosophers like Nietzsche said God is dead. These people are turned out to look like fools if Jesus is really alive. And so the issue in the courtroom for the Jews really isn't even the facts. Is Jesus alive or not? They do not want him to be alive.

20:50 And they're going to do anything to silence the message that it's possible that Jesus actually did come out of that tomb. And they're going to protest and rage against the name of Jesus. And whenever I read this, I think about that line from Shakespeare. I think it's in Hamlet, Methinks thou dost protest too loudly. Right, what is going on here?

21:12 Right, why are they so against the idea that Jesus is alive? But we see that in our country today. People don't really have a problem with Easter. That seems to be fun, chocolate bunnies and whatever. They don't really have a problem with religion.

21:26 Oh, you go to church, that's good, wonderful, wonderful. But they do have a problem when you say that Jesus came back from the dead because that means then you stand in judgment before him. If Jesus is alive, all of a sudden sin is a real issue, and there are consequences to this. If Jesus is dead, well, then you can just kind of behave however you like and everybody sort of is pretty much good and our behavior is kind of acceptable and we kind of live in this neutral space of reasonable good behavior. And that's the way of thinking is very comfortable.

22:13 Here's the second group. Second group are the Romans. This is represented by Felix and Festus and Agrippa and Bernice and these other Roman officials, and they're kind of caught in the middle. On the one side, got the Jews and the Jews are saying, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead. On the other side, have the Apostle Paul, he's saying, no, no, he's alive.

22:34 And in the middle, you got Festus and Agrippa and they're thinking to themselves, so he's alive, so he's dead, so what? Who cares? What difference does it make? I mean, what difference does it make to me if Jesus is alive or dead? To them and to many people today, whether Jesus is alive or not is a non issue.

22:53 You know, that you look at the world, world around us really doesn't care. You would think at a large university like Michigan State where I work, you would think at this large public university that there would be a lot of outright opposition to gospel. But that's not really the case. The fact is that most of my students, and I think the majority of faculty, are just ambivalent about Jesus. It's a non issue to them.

23:23 They got more important things to do. You believe Jesus is alive? Fine. He's alive, he's dead. What difference does it make?

23:29 They just want you to stop bothering them. Right? We had the Gideons out at Michigan State campus this week handing out their little Bibles. And a lot of students took the Bibles, right? I was expecting to see some, you know, rage against these guys.

23:46 Of kids are just walking by, thank you, thank you. And what are they going to do with that? I don't know. I hope. I mean, Gideon's handed out hundreds and hundreds of Bibles.

23:53 I would hope that at least a couple of those kids will take it back and read it. But nobody was belligerent. Nobody throws the Bible in the trash and says, I don't believe this garbage. They might be thinking that, but they're not actually... It's just a non issue.

24:07 They've got more important things to do. And there are some... Here's the interesting thing. You could say, well, no Christian would be in that group. So there's going to be people in some churches today that probably do fall into this group.

24:24 That they would never stand with the Jews and say, Jesus is dead. They would never stand with Nietzsche and say, God is dead, right? They're going to say he's alive. They're not professing atheists, but there are people who call themselves Christians that are actually practicing atheists. They are practicing atheists and they say that's very, it's very telling, you know.

24:48 Sometimes they wear the right t shirt. I got my Jesus t shirt on while I'm cutting the grass. I got all the phrases down. Have a blessed day, brother. Have a blessed day.

24:57 Right? I got my Christian phrases down, but it makes no difference on their life. I mean, they say that Jesus has come into their hearts. Well, that's great. That's wonderful.

25:08 Now, is that going to have any impact on your life? Is that going to change what you do this afternoon or tomorrow or this week? Does it have any impact on how you spend your money? Does it have any impact on the life decisions you make, your vocation or your location? Does it change who you spend your time with or the risks you're willing to take?

25:35 No. Nope. None of that stuff, brother. I just go to church. I like going to church.

25:41 It's good for me. Are you kidding me? You're telling me that the God of the Bible came into your heart and it made absolutely no difference the way you live your life? I don't think that's how it works. That must have been somebody else came into your heart.

25:55 It might have been Baal or somebody came into my heart, right? It makes no difference on your life. That's not New Testament Christianity. No, no. When Jesus comes into your heart, He comes in with all 66 books of the Bible and fire ablazing.

26:08 Remember, this is what John the Baptist said, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, right? And with fire. Our response to hearing the good news should be like those guys on the road to Emmaus. Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened us the scriptures? And so that brings us to the third type of person.

26:44 Is Jesus alive? Then you got the Christian, and the Christian is on fire for God. Here is the Apostle Paul standing up in the courtroom and saying, Jesus is alive. On what does he base this claim? How can any reasonable person stand there in a court and say, I know a guy who came back to life.

27:09 That's what Paul is claiming has happened. And is this just a case? I think it was was Festus who later on says, Paul, Paul, all this learning has made you mad. You're too smart for your own good. Right?

27:23 You're going crazy, brother. Nobody comes back from the dead. That's what the Apostle Paul is claiming. Now, how does Paul make this claim? It does not appear that the claim is based on some logical deduction.

27:37 Well, I have all this evidence. I see the evidence of the... That the tomb is empty. I see that's empty, I know the evidence of the guards, and I have studied different commentaries on this, and different apologetical approaches, and I've come to the conclusion, after weighing all the evidence, that, I guess Jesus is alive. He must actually have risen from the grave.

28:02 That doesn't seem to be why the Apostle Paul believes that Jesus is alive. The reason that Paul believes Jesus is alive is because he met Jesus. That's how you know he's alive. He had an encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. First Corinthians 15, and last of all, he appeared to me also as one born out of due time.

28:26 And in that one instance, Paul's life is totally transformed and he he cannot keep silent about the risen Lord. That's how it's supposed to be, by the way, when we say Jesus has come into my heart. That's not something I just bury in there. I got him. Right?

28:44 It's not that kind of thing. You are supposed to want to spread that news to other people. And that's what the whole book of Acts is about. You've got the disciples who are going and spreading the good news that Jesus is alive in Jerusalem and in Samaria and also the rest of the ends of the earth. There's a difference between knowing that Jesus is alive and knowing Jesus.

29:10 This was the issue. For the Apostle Paul, he had this personal relationship with the Lord God, he had that closeness to our savior, and he was living under that transforming power. A lot of people going to church today, they have all the facts. They have all the facts, but where is the fire? And they have all the right form of worship, but where is the fervor?

29:34 And I have the right doctrines, but am I passionate about telling other people about the risen Lord, or do I just like coming to church? I actually like coming to church. I like you guys, right? I like coming to this church. Megan and I love our church up north in Michigan.

29:53 I love coming to church. I like church, I like youth group and Awana and I like church camp, but it's not really all about me, is it? It's not really all about me. It reminds me of there's an old movie, there's an old James Bond movie that came out in the 70s called Live and Let Die. Live and Let Die.

30:14 I don't know how many of you are into James Bond, but seven. It was not Sean Connery, was somebody else who played James Bond. Roger Moore, Live and Let Die, right? I'm afraid of that approach to the Christian life. I'm just going to live in the grace of God and let the rest of the world die in their sins.

30:39 That is a very dangerous approach to evangelism. I'm going to sing songs about Jesus. That's wonderful. I'm going to memorize the scriptures. Beautiful.

30:49 I'm going to go to retreats and camps and love the Lord. Yeah? Well, what about the rest of the world? I really care about them. As long as I get myself to heaven and I get my family to heaven, I'm happy with that situation.

31:02 This is what some people are thinking. Right? Somebody else's problem. That's why we support missionaries, isn't it? I put that check-in the basket when...

31:10 Well, I didn't because I had to watch the little guy in the nursery. I see he's still in here. Good job, Paul. Good job. He's being a good boy.

31:19 He knows we're almost done. We got nine minutes left. You see, that's why we support missionaries. Aren't we supposed to be the missionaries? Right?

31:26 If Jesus is really alive, if he's really in our hearts, then we should claim, as Paul does in Romans 14, the Lord has given me a priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles may become an offering acceptable to him, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul says, Therefore I will not venture to speak of anything else except what Christ has accomplished. Hey Paul, you want to talk about the cavaliers? No, I want to talk about what Jesus has accomplished. Hey Paul, you want to talk about what you saw on Facebook this week?

32:22 We don't want to be with that group of people who don't care. Is he alive? Is he dead? It doesn't make any difference. We don't want to be in that Christianized version that says he is alive, but we still really don't care.

32:37 We don't want to be in that group. We want to stand with the Apostle Paul and make this bold claim that there was this man named Jesus, the son of God, who died, but now is alive again. You know, if Jesus is not alive, well, we may as well eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Right? That's the approach.

32:59 If Jesus isn't alive, do whatever you want. Eat that extra helping of sweet potatoes and marshmallows. It doesn't matter. Tomorrow you're going to die anyway. Just live your life in all that pleasure.

33:29 You say, saved from what? What are we saved from? You will be saved. You are saved from the eternal horror of separation from God forever. That's what you are saved from.

33:45 You do not want to be in a place where you are separated from your Savior for eternity. Listen, listen, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be chained. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will all be changed. That's what we believe.

34:13 Oh yes, if Jesus is alive, then he is coming again. This is not a one time deal. He is coming back and we need to be prepared for that coming. Because when the perishable has been clothed with imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass. Death has been swallowed up in victory.

34:38 Where, O death, is your victory? And where, O death, is your sting? You know, you could stand out there in that cemetery and you can say this is not the end. Because Jesus is alive, we also will live. There's coming a day when we are going to rise to be with the Lord.

35:02 Awake, O sleeper. Ephesians five fourteen, Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. That's going to happen. I'm a 100% convinced of that because I know that Jesus is alive. I stand with the Apostle Paul and say, I know He's alive.

35:22 It's not that I just know that He's alive, it's because I know Jesus. And I claim these promises to be true. Luke one, Luke chapter one verse 78, Because of the tender mercies of our God, by which the light of dawn will visit us from on high to shine on all those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, that's us, to guide our feet into the paths of peace. There are big time consequences if Jesus is alive. There was a day when the Apostle Paul was called into court, and the issue before the court was this.

36:05 There was a man named Jesus who the Jews say is dead, but who Paul claims is alive. That was the issue before the court. And we know that the day is coming when we too will rise up from the grave. I know that seems hard to think about on some level, but that is what we believe. And the Holy Spirit testifies in my heart that that is true.

36:29 You hear those words and you say, yes, I know that is true. I know what you're saying is true. Your heart is burning within you as you hear these scriptures. And that is a message the Apostle Paul could not keep to himself. At the risk of his own life, he was going to tell everybody Jesus is alive.

36:47 And so as we go forth from this place, let's be encouraged to do that as well. To tell the world the good news that Jesus is not dead, but alive. And Father God, just the thought of that empty tomb thrills our hearts this morning Because we know that our savior lives. Because he lives, we can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone.

37:26 Because I know he holds the future, Life is worth the living just because he lives. Lord God, we're thankful for that. Pray that if there's anyone here that does not know that you are alive, that you will convict them, that you will invade their hearts, pluck them out of the kingdom of darkness, transfer them to the kingdom of light. And we pray in Jesus name, amen.