Suit Up

What if your current body isn’t built for your true future? We dive into 1 Corinthians 15 with a simple claim that changes everything: you’re wearing an earth suit now, but you’re destined for a heaven suit. Seeds don’t look like the plants they become, and your resurrected body won’t be a polished version of today’s aches and scars. It will be new in kind—incorruptible, powerful, and glorious—crafted to fully express the life of Christ already at work within you.

We walk through Paul’s vivid contrasts and analogies—fish and birds built for their realms, stars each with their own glory—to show why skepticism about resurrection misses the point. Then we zoom out to the story of Adam and Christ. Adam handed down life that ends; Jesus shares resurrection life with those who believe. That shift in identity reframes everything: the outer self may fade, but the inner life is renewed. We look to the risen Jesus as the best preview of our future body—embodied yet unbound by decay—and discuss the mystery of the rapture and the “last trumpet” with curiosity and care, setting speculation aside to center the clear promise: death is swallowed up in victory.

This hope is not abstract. It calls us to live steady, immovable, and generous lives today—loving our families, serving our communities, forgiving freely, and refusing to quit. If death has lost its sting, then our labor in the Lord is never wasted. Listen for a clear, Scripture-rich journey through resurrection hope, a thoughtful take on the rapture, and a grounded call to suit up with faith that works through love.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us what part most strengthened your faith.

Transcript

Suit Up And Opening Anecdotes

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Today's Bible study is called Suit Up. Suit Up. When I was I went through a phase of uh when I was preaching, I always wore a suit and tie. Not because it was I had to. In fact, we were a chill, relaxed church, but I thought it was cool. And I got in really into this Instagram, like an Instagram channel where you'd have tie like really fancy knots, like not just a Windsor or a half Windsor, but like a double, twisted, rose-looking knot. It was pretty fun. I liked it. But then I got here and that's definitely not happening here. Definitely not. And then our son Jordan uh used to wear a bow tie to school in kindergarten. It was his choice. We didn't even tell him to. It was the cutest thing. And then he started a little trend where all the boys in the class were wearing bow ties to school. And then he kicked the teacher, and it was all done. Those are two unrelated stories, but I put them together out of context. Made it sound funny. So all right, we're gonna be finishing up, finishing up 1 Corinthians chapter 15 today. Uh so we're gonna be looking at verses 35 through 58. So I'll just jump in and we'll see what the Lord has for us. But some will say, someone will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive until it dies. And what you sow, do you not sow that body? Or you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases to each seed its own body. So Paul's been teaching about the resurrection, and like we've said, there's been this problem somehow in the Corinthian church, they're like, you know what, the resurrection's weird, so we're not gonna believe in it, and so we're just gonna live our lives like this is the only life that matters. And so that's what what's been going on. And he we've been looking at all these different conversations that he's been having around that topic of them not believing in the resurrection. So another part of them, what they were arguing with him, is they're like, Whoa, what kind of body is this? And he's like, foolish one. And when I read that, I was like, ooh. So I looked up the Greek, and you know what it means? Why are you so stupid? And I was like, Whoa, Paul, calm down. These are your friends. And I think he's getting a little frustrated by their dumb questions. And I'm like, well, okay, why is this a dumb question? But have you ever has you has someone ever asked you a question that just because you know they're trying to get under your skin? I think that's what Paul thinks of this question. He's like, what are you guys talking about? How were the dead raised up, and with but what body do they come? And I was like, Well, why is that stupid? Because I I literally don't didn't understand the context. And as I studied, I realized it's because they were focused on the wrong thing. They were they were asking this question, and it showed that they were just focused on earthly things, and Paul wanted them to have a heavenly mindset. Um, so they were challenging the whole idea of resurrection by fo focusing on basically the philosophical problems with it and the physical problems. Like they're like, how does God raise up a dead body? Dead bodies are gross. Haven't you ever watched a zombie movie ever? They're just gross, and and the cells don't work anymore in a dead body. So, and what if I get burned to death? What if my head gets chopped off? What if I get cremated? And people are like, these are all questions. Like, how is God gonna raise up a body if it gets cremated? The body's so decayed, it's impossible to bring life to that. And Paul's like, these are not the arguments that we need to be having. And some people are like, I don't even want this body anymore. I'm tired of this body.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Any amens to that?

Celestial Vs Terrestrial Glory

SPEAKER_02 4:38

What he's saying here is your body that you're in right now isn't made for heaven. It's made to live on this earth. And what you need is a body made for heaven. Your body doesn't match. It's kind of like that Sesame Street song, you know, one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn't the same, right? Our body doesn't go with, it doesn't match with what heaven. So Paul responds to this argument. He says, What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not uh you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, and perhaps wheat or some other grain. And then Paul gives it a body as he pleases to each seed its own body. So the part that they were forgetting in their thinking was resurrection life, was is in their body right now, and that's the part that blooms and becomes the plants. So your new body is gonna look nothing like this one. 99% of us say, Amen. Except the few models in the room. Who did the cat call whistle? That was awesome. It's gonna be a body that's made for heaven. Uh, so we should expect that we are there, we shouldn't expect that we just have the same bodies, they're gonna be different bodies, and and they're not just gonna be improved bodies. It's not just like you do get a facelift or some Botox or something. Um, each heavenly body is completely unique. Um, it says just like every single one of our earthly bodies is completely unique, unless you're an identical twin, I guess. I don't understand that, but um it says each one is gonna be unique as he pleases. So God, he's excited and happy to choose your new body for you, to form your new body. He his love, he's so excited about you. He's like been planning this, and it's gonna fulfill every desire you've ever had and every need that you've ever had. Your new body is going to be able to experience that, and it's all gonna be able to be fulfilled. This is great news when you have arthritis. When waking up in the morning is like, oh, it takes me 30 minutes just to make it to the shower and like warm my muscles up, right? Well, some people mock the idea of resurrection. Uh they you know, they say, here's a Christian's body lying in a grave with no casket. The atoms in that body are taken up in the grass and eaten by a cow or a kneel guy. And the that's a only down here joke. That's not gonna land in Colorado at all. They're like gonna be like, what's a kneel guy? And then, you know, the the cow is slaughtered and another man eats the meat and takes the atom into his body. Where does the atom go in the resurrection? Well, it's not about that Adam, right? It's the resurrection. Life is the seed that's inside you, and that's the spiritual part that gets a new spiritual body. It has nothing to do with that. All right, you guys know I love Spurgeon, great preacher of the 1800s. So Spurgeon, quote, Spurgeon quote. I like that. Good job. He says, Dear friends, if such be death, if it be but a sewing, let it let us be done with all faithless, hopeless, graceless sorrow. Our family circle has been broken, you say. Yes, but only broken that it can be reformed. You have lost a dear friend, yes, but only lost that friend that you may find him again and find more than you lost, because they are not lost, they are sown. I like that. I like that. So then he's he gives uh the this next part, he gives an analogy of living bodies and heavenly bodies or planets and stars and stuff. So he says this all flesh is not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of man, another kind of animals, and another of fish, and another of birds. He's like, is that hard to understand? There's different things that exist in different environments. You don't make a very good fish, you can't breathe underwater, you're not made for that environment.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

That's what he's talking about. You don't make a very good bird.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

There are also celestial bodies, that means heavenly bodies, and there are terrestrial bodies. That means stars and planets. Celestial means the stars, and terrestrial means things that have planet type bodies. And the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another star in glory. So our resurrection body is gonna match our resurrection spirit that's inside us. It's gonna be a heavenly body made to express every part of our spirit that is in us right now. You're gonna be able to, it's gonna be able to express that perfectly. And so I describe it as like suit up. You need to put on this new, instead of an earth suit, a heaven suit. We need to suit up because each body in space is different, but they're all beautiful and glorious. Have you been seeing all these new pictures that NASA's been putting out every week? My timeline is filled with like NASA photos. I think they're so amazing that God did all these beautiful, incredible stars and nebulas and all this stuff, and he's like, Yeah, someday someone will find it, but he just does it because he's awesome at making beautiful things. And if God spent a day making all the stars, the trillions and trillions and trillions of stars, and they're all individually beautiful, and he knows them all by name, if he spent a day doing that, what do you think your body's gonna be like when he's spent like the last six thousand years planning and working on that?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Your new body. Yeah, it's gonna be incredible.

Four Contrasts Of The New Body

Adam And Christ: Two Lines Of Life

SPEAKER_02 11:15

So he says, so also is the resurrection from the dead. The body is sown in corruption and it's raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor and raised in glory, it's sown in weakness and raised in power. It's sown a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. It's hard to understand what our resurrection bodies are gonna be like. So Paul uses a contrast to help us. He gives us four contrasts between our present physical body and our future resurrection body. He says, Incorruption triumphs over corruption. So you got cancer, tough beans, it's gonna be all right. It's gonna get not just healed, it's gonna be completely the opposite of incorruption or of corruption. It's gonna be incorruption. Glory triumphs over dishonor. Have you dishonored your body by different things? Have you dishonored like the body that God's given you, maybe whatever sins you participated in, and you feel shameful about that? And you're like, is it ever gonna well? God has already cleansed you if you believe in him, but trust me, you're gonna get a new body that is completely glorious. No spot at all. And that is your true identity, even now, so you don't have to feel that shame, but it's good to know that our bodies are not gonna ever have that those consequences of maybe bad choices that we made. It says power triumphs over weakness. Boy, I can describe my body as weak. I go up the stairs and I twist my knee and I'm down for a week. Right? I I sleep wrong and I twist something in my back, and it's just like weakness, I feel like. But our future body is gonna be nothing but power. That's exciting. That's cool. Spiritual triumphs over natural. It's it's raised in incorruption, raised in glory, raised in power. Our resurrection, do you see the word raised? It leads us back to that idea of resurrection. This that the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and he shares that with you is why our future is so glorious, because we share in that same resurrection power. So you're gonna be raised. You're gonna so get ready to suit up. You're get ready for resurrection life to be your only life someday. All the dishonor will be transformed into joy. All of it, all the weakness will become power, all the natural becomes supernatural, spiritual. Everything is healed, fixed, blessed, glorified. Our dead, yeah, and people think, yeah, dead bodies are gross. They're they're always in the Bible, they're described as unclean. You know, that if you came across a dead body in the Old Testament, you were not supposed to touch it because it was unclean, so they would make sure they put it in a grave, right? But this new glorious resurrection body that we're gonna get someday is just as clean and glorious and uh amazing as we think of dead bodies as being unclean or an unglorious. It's it's the opposite. And in the Bible, we actually get three glimpses of our new bodies. Did you know that? One time was when Moses' face glowed, shone with the glory of God when he received the Ten Commandments, because he was spending time in God's presence. So we kind of got like the afterglow was like on him and he was glowing. That was one time. Another time is when Jesus himself was transfigured before the three disciples up on the mountain. It's called the mountain of transfiguration, and he showed them what this new glorious life was gonna look like. And then Stephen, bless you, Stephen was getting stoned by again, not the good kind. He was getting rocks thrown at him, and right before he died, God let his face shine with the glory of this new body, this new resurrection life, because he he was a picture to them of that resurrection life. So those are three times where we got to see it in this world. It goes on and says, and so it is written, the first man Adam became a living being, and the last man Adam became a life-giving spirit. So Paul backs up a little bit and he looks at all of human beings, and he says, There was the first Adam, and there was the last Adam. The first Adam, guess who that was? Adam. Not very hard. Ten Jesus points for all of you, because it was an easy question. Who was the last Adam? Jesus. All right. Someone wanted their Jesus points, but it was too easy, and the answer was Jesus. So I don't give Jesus points when the answer is Jesus. I should give you more, right? There should be double Jesus points. Adam, why does this matter? Why is Paul backing up when we're talking about our new bodies and dying and getting our new bodies in heaven? Because he wants you to understand the whole situation here. The situation is Adam, the first Adam, passed along his life to us, and his life is death. The reason we die is because of Adam. We inherited a life that is going to end. We're alive like he was alive. He was the first one to live, and then him and Eve gave birth to their kids, and then their kids gave birth to their kids, and here we are. We're all here. And we're all alive like him, but we inherited his sinful nature, and so we are spiritually dead even when we're born because of him. So that's why each person needs to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ. So through Jesus and his death and his resurrection, he becomes the second Adam, where he passes along his new resurrection life and spiritual life to all who go to church every week.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Oh, that's not that's not the gospel all who don't ever watch rated R movies. That's not it. Those who never cuss. That's not who gets his life?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

No, it's those who believe, right? It's faith in Christ that give it we are given his life, his righteousness, for free. As a gift, being born again. And what this means is that you no longer have to die Adam's death because Jesus died that death for you, you now have his life, and you get the life of Jesus and the death of Jesus. Um, so Adam's actions led to death, Jesus' works brings eternal life and reconciliation with God, and so this shows us the resurrection life, which is a transforming life for us. Um Jesus rose from the dead, which means he conquered death, but not just for himself, but he wants to share that victory, that conquering of death with you. So you will never taste death the way that he did. That doesn't mean you're not gonna physically die because this body needs to be sown. This dot body needs to be planted so we can get the full resurrection experience, but you will not taste the death like he did. For us, this means we're no longer defined like Adam was defined by sin. That's who he was, that's his identity, and that sin led to death, and that's why everything dies in this planet. Instead, our identity now is that we're made alive in new creations with Christ. Because in 2 Corinthians 5.17, it says this. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So we have his life within us, and we live in the reality of his victory and his grace even today. The moment you believe, you get all of him. And this resurrection life will be your glorified body, but your inner life already has that right now. So your your outward man is perishing, but your inner man is being renewed day by day. That's what Paul said, right? So you have this glorious life inside you right now. Paul goes on in our text. He says, However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of earth made of dust. I was like, made of dust? What is that?

SPEAKER_01 20:31

In the Greek, it means dirt bag. Oh boy. We were we uh dirt bag.

What Resurrection Bodies Are Like

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Okay. He says the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are made of dust. He was a dirt bag, so we're dirtbags when we're born. As is the heavenly man, so are those who are heavenly. You get the nature of Jesus implanted inside you when you believe on him.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, the dirtbag man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Jesus, his image is in you, and you bear his image. Philippians chapter 3, verse 20 says, Our citizenship is in heaven, from whom from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

What we were like Adam, we are more like Jesus in.

Mystery Of The Rapture And Trumpet

SPEAKER_02 22:03

The best example we have of what a resurrection body will be like is what we see after Jesus' resurrection when he was running around on the earth for 40 days. Do you remember that? He could eat, he had a material body, but he was not bound by any laws of nature. He could walk through walls, he could probably fly. I don't know. He wasn't bound by anything, right? So that's somehow that gives us a clue of to what our heavenly bodies are gonna look like. Now Paul says, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Okay, so since sleep is like a soft way of talking about uh our friends dying, um, Paul says that not all Christians are gonna die, even.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Ooh, you guys want to get weird?

Sinai As A Pattern For Calling Up

SPEAKER_02 23:10

All right, there's gonna be this final generation at some point that is gonna be transformed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, and given their resurrection bodies just like woo, yeah, that's a woo. And we call this in the Bible the rapture. Okay, so it's definitely in the Bible. Now we can debate and we can talk about when the rapture is gonna be. You can believe it's before the tribulation, after the tribulation, when Jesus comes back, when Jesus comes back a second time. There's all kinds of different views of that. We'll talk about that another time. I'd love to debate you on it. Just kidding. I actually love all the different views. I do have one that I that I believe in, but that's not what we're talking about today. Today we're just talking about the rapture and what it's gonna be like and maybe uh yeah, what it's like. He says it's in the twinkling of an eye. That means it's a speed of light. Okay? So very, very, very fast, the speed of light. So in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, your body is gonna be completely transformed. If you're alive at the last trumpet. The last trumpet? Well, what what trumpet is this? And so people do a lot of studying. Okay, which trumpet could this be? Maybe it's the last trumpet in Revelation chapter 11. There's seven trumpets of angels, and the angels are like and they blow their trumpets, and then bad things happen on the earth during the tribulation. So maybe that's the trumpet. But it says here, maybe it's the trumpet of God, the trumpet of God. And that's maybe a different trumpet than the trumpet of angels. You see, let's read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16. This is interesting, really interesting. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. Okay, trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. You see those two words caught up? In Greek, those are the words harpazo. Harpazo is translated into Latin, raptus. Raptus translated in English is rapture. So some people are like, rapture's not even in the Bible. No, go to school. It is there, it's right here. Raptus is where is what that word is. They're caught the we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. There's that speed of light thing, together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. Okay, so if this was the last trumpet, and this is when it's gonna happen, when was the first trumpet? Ooh. Well, I'm gonna take you all the way back to the book of Exodus, okay? And this is gonna blow your mind. Look in the book of Exodus, chapter 19. I'll start in verse 13. It says, so let me set the stage. The people have just come out of Egypt, so they're saved, right? They're at, they've they've crossed through the Red Sea. God has destroyed their enemies over here, the Egyptians that were chasing them, and they've walked through the desert, and they're now here at Mount Sinai. And God's like, we need to chat a little bit right here. If I'm gonna take you guys into the promised land, I need to set up some rules for your nation where you're gonna be a special people that I'm gonna take care of. So before they take a journey into their promised land, let me say that again. Before they take a journey into their promised land, God's gonna do some special things with them. He says here, not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow, whether man or beast, he shall not live. Talking about he doesn't want anyone to come close to the mountain, even the priest, only Moses is supposed to come up on the mountain to talk with him, and then he'll take the message God has for the people down to the people. He says, Don't come close. Why? Because they'll they'll they'll die. They'll his glory is gonna be there on that mountain, so you can't see the glory of God in a sinful body. Okay, so then he says, When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near to the mountain. So there's this idea that when they hear the trumpet, they can come near to the mountain. And in the book of Genesis and Exodus, when Moses writes about mountains, it's sometimes symbolic of heaven. Heaven. So in the Garden of Eden, it was like Moses is pictured as being, or God is pictured as being up on a mountain, the mountain of God, and that's speaking of heaven where he lives. All right, so in Exodus night verse 16, he says, Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning. That's actually really important. Remember those times, the third day in the morning. Something important happens in the Bible on a third day, I think. That there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Well, it says Jesus is gonna come with the clouds, right? And here we have this supernatural trumpet sounding from heaven, like a heaven trumpet. And it's like it's getting louder and louder, and it's it's accompanied with thunder and lightning. It's like this crazy supernatural trumpet. All right, and then verse 19 or verse 17 says, And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the mount when the blast of the trumpet sound became long and louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went, went up. Okay? So here we have a type, a picture of the rapture. And it's very interesting because it what is involved? A trumpet, the mountain of God, God coming down and calling his people up to meet with him. All exactly the same as the rapture. Very interesting. So if that's the first trump, and then we have a last trumpet, I think we're gonna hear that same sound that they heard around that mountain. I think we're gonna hear, and I think someday there's gonna be a final generation that hears. That sound and is instantly with Jesus. Hallelujah. It's going to be a great day. So back to our text for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So this last trumpet will be the day that calls his people home. And all the dead people, the dead in Christ, will get their bodies first, and those who are alive will be instantly changed. Okay, so there's where we get lots of questions.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

So if I die today and the rapture's not for a hundred years, where am I? What do I do?

Timing, Death, And Being With Christ

SPEAKER_02 31:04

That's a really good question. Okay, well, we have a couple possibilities. First possibility is you're just in Christ, in heaven, with him. You just don't have your new body yet, you're just spirit. Okay, that's a possibility. Possibility number two is heaven is outside of time. Heaven is not part of our time. God created time for this reality. Heaven is not part of this reality. So when you die now and someone dies a hundred years from now, you might be arriving in heaven at the exact same time. In heaven. Does that make sense? It's all kinds of time travel.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

I could pull out charts and do like back to the future diagrams.

Death Swallowed By Victory

Steadfast Lives And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_02 31:53

But basically, we don't know. Okay? For some somehow, you're gonna get your body, you're gonna be fine. We know that you when you die, you don't just go to sleep and you don't cease to exist. Because Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So you will be in his presence. We don't know if you get your body now or get your body later. Don't know those things, but I think it's the time thing. Because it's kind of like when we watch a parade, we're watching a parade, we just see, by the way, parade, Sarah. I knew I had to remember. Okay, we're going back to announcements. So we're doing the parade on the sixth, fifth, on the fifth, and we're still looking for someone to let us decorate their truck with maybe lights and some stuff. So talk to Sarah. But there's gonna be an announcement going out on Facebook this week with all the information about if you want to come and walk with us, we're gonna hand out glow sticks and tell people Merry Christmas and sing Christmas songs as we walk in the parade. Cool? Alright. So if you're in a parade, you just see, if you're not in the parade, if you're watching the parade, you just see it go by. But if you get in the blimp, right, that's over there on the side of the island, and you look at the parade, you see the whole parade beginning from the end. Why? Because you're outside of the of the perspective of one part of time. So you can see the beginning and the end all happening at the same time. I think that's more what's going on with our bodies and stuff. All right. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruption has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So here we see that death is swallowed up in victory. A resurrected body is not a resurrected corpse, it's a new order of life that will never die again. Death is defeated by resurrection. Freud was wrong when he said, and finally, there is a painful riddle of death for which no remedy has yet been found, nor probably probably ever will be. Compare that with what Paul says: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Jesus chewed it up and swallowed it down, and we don't have to fear anything anymore. So today's a double Spurgeon quote day. Here you go. Two thumbs up. Spurgeon says, I will not fear thee, death. Why should I? Thou lookest like a dragon, but your sting is gone. Your teeth are old and broken. You're like an old lion with no teeth. Why should I fear you? I know you are no more able to destroy me, but you are sent as a messenger to conduct me to the golden gate wherein I shall enter and see my Savior's unveiled face forever and ever. This guy was a poet. Expiring saints have often said that their last beds have been the best they have ever slept on. Sting. Death has lost its sting. I want to just tell you one quick, quick, quick illustration. There was a little girl whose grandfather had died, or something to father had died, and she was on the way to the funeral, and she was like, How you know, talking with her her grandpa, like, did did it hurt when my dad died? And he's like, No, your dad was a Christian, your dad was a believer, so it did not hurt. And she's like, I don't understand that. I mean, obviously he died, I watched him die. So how how did it not hurt? And as they were driving, they pulled up next to this big semi-truck that blocked out the sun for a moment. And he said, Hey, did you just notice that that semi-truck just blocked the the sun? She's like, Yeah. And he's like, Well, did that did that shadow hurt you? Did you get hurt by that? It's a big semi-truck. I mean, it could destroy you. She's like, No, it didn't hurt at all. He's like, That's what death is like for a Christian. It will not hurt at all. We only taste the shadow of death because the real part of death was tasted by Jesus for us, and we're given his life in exchange. What is the point of all this? What's the application for our lives right now? We're just wrapping it up here. Paul gives it to us in the last verse of chapter 15. He sums up this entire entire conversation. He says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Your life matters right now. In this dirt bag that we're living in, this earth suit that we have, your life matters. Love your spouse. Love your kids. Love your friends, love your enemies. Give your life to serve all those people that you meet on this journey called life. Pour it out for them. Never give up.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Keep loving until they love you back or kill you.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Because they can't kill you. And if they do kill you, then pseudo. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Would you guys stand with me? Pretend like we're gonna get raptured right now.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Father, we we thank you so, so much that death, we have the answer for death. We have the answer for the biggest questions in life, and the thing that most people are scared to death of. But Father, we will dance on our graves. We will be alive in such a new and crazy way. We are so looking forward to experience what our resurrection life truly will look like. Father, forgive us for living this life like this is the only life that matters, and help us, we pray, to be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. I pray that we would choose to live our life differently this week, not because we have to, but because we are alive and we will be alive for eternity with you. We've been forgiven. We we love you, Lord, because you first loved us. Help us to clean with all our might, to serve with all our might, to sing with all our might, to be steadfast and love people when it's not exciting, but when it's boring and it's difficult and it requires our time and all that we would want to do, Lord, we put aside to love and serve the people in our lives. Jesus, we trust you. And if anyone in here today needs to know that they've been forgiven of their sins, just turn to Jesus right now and say, I believe you died for me, and I believe you rose from the dead because you're God and you're the risen Lord of heaven. And I ask you to forgive me of my sins and come and live inside me. I want to taste this resurrection life for myself. In Jesus' name we all pray. Amen.