Ten More Minutes on The Empty Tomb

Easter Sunday moves fast, but the empty tomb deserves more than a quick drive-by. We sit down for a longer, calmer conversation about the resurrection of Jesus and why it still lands with force, even when you have heard the story for years. We also share a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes to welcome thousands, and why serving matters when the room is full of people at every point on the faith spectrum, from first-time guests to long-time believers who need the gospel to feel alive again.

We dig into a counterintuitive idea: real spiritual growth often comes from being reminded, not being impressed by something new. The human heart drifts, quietly and naturally, until truth feels distant. That is why the angel’s words at the tomb matter so much. The disciples were not given a novelty, they were brought back to what Jesus already said. We talk about how that same dynamic plays out in preaching, in daily Bible reading, and in the slow work of discipleship.

Then we shift to the trustworthiness of the resurrection account and why certain details strengthen it. Why would women be featured as the first witnesses in that culture if someone were inventing a believable myth? We also explore other classic evidences for the resurrection of Christ, including eyewitness testimony, early Christian creeds, the transformation of the disciples, and the stubborn question of the missing body.

We close by getting personal about the assumptions we make when life hurts. Money pressure, relationship fallout, and seasons that feel final can trick us into deciding God is done. One restoration story proves how wrong that can be. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

Transcript

Welcome And Easter Momentum

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to 10 More Minutes, an original podcast from Cross Point Church, where the title is just a suggestion, and it is definitely never a restriction. I'm Ryan Ritchie. I'm back again with David Rogers, and we're just happy uh to have the chance to spend a little bit more time. You know, whether it's 10 more minutes or 10-ish minutes, uh you know, the point is this Sunday doesn't have to be the end of the conversation. It really can be the beginning of the conversation, and we'd like to take a little bit more time. This Sunday we celebrated with the thousands in attendance here at our campus and the millions gathering around the world.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Did you like that?

A Smooth Sunday Powered By Volunteers

SPEAKER_03 0:39

The resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Uh, but Easter Sunday tends to move even a little faster, right? And a lot of celebration trying to pack into a small window of time. But that means that we have our work cut out for us today. There's more content that we get to cover and more things we get to talk about. And so we're gonna go back to the empty tomb and we're gonna take 10 more minutes. Yes. All right. Start the clock. It was Easter Sunday. You've had a couple of days now to sort of get some rest and recover, but you know, what did you think about our services? And man, it was packed.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Oh, it was packed. I I really uh I'll tell you something. Uh one of the things I've had some conversation with some people about was how smooth it went though this year. Since being in this building, you know, every Easter we have thousands of people here, right? And um, and but this this year it seemed like everything went so smoothly. You know, there was we didn't hear, I didn't hear afterwards that there was all these problems in the parking lot or you know, things that were happening inside, lack of volunteers. I I'm gonna mention that this coming Sunday though.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

You know, just the how proud I am of our church for stepping up and serving during you know the the biggest day of the year.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

It takes a lot of people uh to pull off something like uh you know, welcoming so many from the community in on Easter Sunday. It's an awesome time to see our church just as full as can be, packed to the seam, some extra services to pull the whole thing off. Right. But uh man, from child care workers to welcome team to security and parking. Everything. Uh production team. We we had a service that ran smoothly with nothing technically wrong at all, and a lot of great worship leaders as well. And so, man, it was it was a ton of fun. It was. And it's one of those that you kind of just put in your back pocket as a memory that you treasure in ministry. And I thought you did a phenomenal job leading us through a story of the empty tomb. You know, Easter Sunday is one of those Sundays when, you know, just like Christmas, you're you're preaching a very similar message to one that you've done before. And I thought what I'd do today, maybe just a little bit different than what we've done in the past episodes, is I took like pages and pages of notes from your 30-minute message uh on Sunday. And uh I've got three quotes that I kind of wanted to pull out of that message, and I thought we could spend a little extra time on each of those quotes to maybe just unpack some things that uh that maybe didn't make it in on Sunday morning. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Yeah, sure.

Learning Means Remembering The Gospel

SPEAKER_03 3:11

All right, so so here's my first one, and I think it really just applies to the idea that Easter is that very common message, and and it kind of applies to the art of preaching too. But you said on Sunday, you said that learning is not about always learning something new, but about being reminded of something you've already been taught. Right. And I loved that. I thought that was an awesome little one-liner to throw in there. And and and man, that really does apply to the art of preaching. And sometimes you feel like there's nothing new that I can add to this that's been, you know, shared and taught to the scriptures that have been written and given to us from the the savior above. And and Easter Sunday is kind of one of those where you're preaching that very familiar story, but it's that central message. It's right, it can grow, you know, mundane. It can almost seem like it's you know familiar, but it's the most miraculous story that's ever been told. Right. And so it requires that kind of attitude and and heart. And you certainly brought it yesterday, but you know, talk about how you feel like you you you maybe relate to that, that, that, that line sometimes of net maybe not saying something new, but just helping people remember what they already know.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Right, right. Well, I I think I've I've shared this with you before, where um Easter and and Christmas specifically, those two are probably my least favorite uh times of the year to preach. And the reason is because of the f familiarity. Yeah, you know, the fact that we we preach the same thing uh every year, and it is challenging to try to figure out how you can approach uh that miraculous story um uh differently. And and you and you really can't approach it differently, right? It's it's a truth, uh, whether it's the incarnation of Christ or whether it's the resurrection of Christ, you have to share that story, yeah, right? And uh, but you just feel like you just preached it yesterday. Yeah, you know, and it's uh the clock moves fast, the calendar moves fast, the calendar moves fast too. And so it it is challenging, but I I think I told you uh Sunday when I came in, uh I said, I am I am so excited about preaching this message. Yeah, you said I'm jacked up. I know, I know, I and I was, I genuinely was, and uh and I think this year it was just a little bit different for some reason for me, yeah. You know, that uh that that was the case.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Well, we were praying all week long.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

You were kind of not feeling great all week long, and yeah, still a little bit, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

You can kind of hear it still there, but uh, we were certainly praying for you to feel better and to be used of God, and I feel like you came feeling good Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Yeah, we uh, you know, I think there's I think there's really uh two things that uh that I meant by that statement. You know, um I I do think that oftentimes when we're reading scripture, you know, we we should be in the word every day. And so as we're studying the word, you know, we come across passages, uh, some more than others that we've been through many times before. Yeah. And um, and I think um, you know, a lot of times the text is what um you know is is that that's so familiar to us, um, the story of the resurrection. We can go to any of the gospels and read that story, but it's all basically the same. Yeah. And we read the story, and and I think that's what makes it a little bit challenging to preach something different, but you got to stay true to the text, you know. But I I think um this time, I think what I found myself doing was being reminded that people are at different places in their spiritual walk. You know, uh we talk a lot around here about discipleship pathway. Yeah. And if you think about discipleship pathway, you you know that there are some people in the church, in the congregation on on Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday, that uh don't have a relationship with Christ. That's right. And so for them, hopefully the uh the message, I mean, I I would say the message is probably not familiar if they've even heard it at all. Uh there's spiritual babes out there, those that are have got a brand new walk with Christ. Maybe they they got saved two weeks ago, and here's their first Easter, you know, and maybe they haven't really heard the story.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

I run into people every week, and one of my first questions just in diagnosing my relationship with everyone is hey, how long have you been going here? That's right. And it's amazing every week when the answer is this is our third week. Right. You know, this is our second week. Yeah, we're loving it, kind of thing. And so you kind of assume that everybody just has a relationship with their church and they've been there for a while, but they know the story and it's a uh a new week for somebody.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Yeah, and we've even had people that approached uh even coming, you know, sort of uh transitioning over from other denominations where maybe preaching is a little bit different. Yeah. And uh I've had people uh a lot of times say, Man, I'm I'm just growing so much, you know. And and I look at a text that is so f familiar, and um and I think, man, well that's that's great, you know. But maybe they just haven't heard it, you know, before. So it's uh I I think that's what sort of brought a fresh perspective for me this Sunday, you know, this past Easter is just thinking about the reality that uh that people are in different places. And even for the mature believer, you know, and and that's really what I meant that statement for, you know, being reminded. Uh I wanted to help them understand that, you know, um as you are reminded of a great truth. I know for me personally, uh that story just came alive all over again. Yeah. And how many times have I not only heard it but preached it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Well, being reminded can kind of become routine for some people. You can. You know, you hear some people at times in any church, but uh but here we've heard it too, and it's this idea of people that will leave a church and they'll go say things to you like, I don't know, I just don't feel like I'm being fed. I just don't feel like I'm getting something out of this. And every time that happens, it's always usually from somebody that's very fringe, that haven't really plugged in terribly, don't have great relationship, and then they come later and tell you this kind of complaint about not being fed. And I oftentimes I just feel like, you know, where are you gonna go to hear something you haven't already heard? It's all written down, it's been written down for us and preserved for generations, and it's not always about going to be enlightened, it's about going to be reminded. And I just think that's amazing. Um, you know, the common position of the human heart is drift, right? Is drifting. And I've said this analogy before, I've shared it with you before, and many people watching probably are heard heard me say this, but you go to the beach and you set up your your towel and your umbrella and your little piece of paradise, and then at some point you venture out into the ocean. Well, beach, you know, whatever, however you want to say it. I'm not really a beach person. I'm not either, but you know, some people say that. You go and you set your whole thing up, you've got everything, you try to keep everything with without sand on it, and you know, keep the shade. But at some point you venture out into the ocean. Right. And when you go out in there, you start crashing into the waves, you get a little further out, and uh you you maybe spend some time out there and you turn around and look back, and you are nowhere near where you started. Your little piece of paradise is way over there somewhere, and you pushed you over here. You are not where you started. And the thing about it is that you didn't want to drift. Right. And you didn't know you were drifting. But when you turned around, you realized you weren't where you started. Right. And when you get to that place, it's really difficult to fight against the current to stay where you were planted, right? And uh, that's the natural condition of the human heart. We drift, we didn't know we were drifting, right? And we didn't want to drift. But when we're not intentional about planting our feet and fighting against the current to stay where God has planted us, it's the natural condition of the human heart. Right. And that's why being reminded is so key. Because these same truths that we committed to are not truths that we actually are living by.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

You know, and so we really need to hear it again. And your analogy from Sunday was the idea that uh, you know, Jesus had already taught his disciples what he was going to do, that he was going to be crucified, that he was going to be buried, and that on the third day he would rise again. And here the angel is reminding them at the tomb. You've already been said, you've been told that this was going to happen. You know, and so they were just being reminded.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

And they remembered his words. Yeah. You know, I thought that uh that's one of the things I brought out this time was the fact that they came to this understanding that these wasn't something new, but this was something that had they had been taught and just needed to be reminded of.

Evidence The Resurrection Really Happened

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah, that was really cool. Here's the second one. You mentioned also on Sunday that the inclusion of women in the account of the empty tomb actually points to the reliability and the trustworthiness of the story. You kind of talked about how um if you were trying to make up a convincing narrative, some made-up story that you were sharing with people to try and add credibility to your made-up story, you would have chosen the most respectable kind of men that you could think of at that time because the testimony of a woman you said was not admissible in court. And uh and so if they wanted to fabricate a lie, they wouldn't have done it this way. Right. You know, and so you kind of talked about that as a, I think, like a proof of the trustworthiness of the scripture and of the idea that the empty tomb really was the empty tomb and the resurrected Son of God really was the resurrected son of God. Um, I thought we could maybe just spend some time talking about some other proofs, right? And that sort of led me down a different train of thought. So, so maybe give some thoughts on what's another kind of proof of the empty tomb? What's another um, you know, reason that we can have confidence that this story is true?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah, I um that's that is actually the very first time I've ever preached that about the women. Um, and uh, and and I don't even remember because I tried to look uh back in my study uh where I even read that or saw that, you know, and and uh but it was it was really remarkable to sort of come to this understanding that these women uh were would not have been the ones that the disciples chose to to give the first testimony of Jesus' resurrection. Yeah. And uh, and so for me it was a wow moment uh because I think it adds to that list of things that we have preached on uh that are the evidences of the resurrection. Right. Uh I think uh for me, I think um, you know, one that I've I've preached many times is the fact that hundreds of hundreds of people were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus. That's right. And uh, and and I love what Paul says as he's writing to the Corinthians, uh, when he's writing to them, and then this is just something that is just truly amazing to me. He says, uh, then Jesus appeared to more than 500 brothers, and this is part I love, at one time. You know, it's not like all these brothers said, Yeah, that happened to me too. But it was at one time that Jesus appeared to these to these brothers, hundreds of people. Uh, and our all eyewitnesses of a resurrected Jesus, uh, he goes on to say, most of whom are still alive, and those some have fallen asleep. Then he said he appeared to James and then to all the apostles, and then last of all, as to one untimely born, he also appeared to me. And so Paul gives this testimony that I also saw the resurrection, resurrected Jesus. And so I think to me, one of the things that we often preach as the evidence is is the um is the eyewitnesses, and not just a few, but the the hundreds of eyewitnesses uh that that spoke of seeing and and and experiencing Jesus, you know, resurrected. Um I think also I think about um how the disciples, you know, when the the resurrection is not the end of the story, it's the beginning of the story. For sure. And uh, you know, we we see in the book of Acts where they they continue to go and do what Christ had started. Right. There it's up to them now to go out. And one of the things that we get uh um from a lot of um extra biblical sources um is the the stories of those who died sharing their faith. Uh and it wasn't because they were sharing their faith, it was because they refused to recant uh what they saw with their own eyes. That's right. And people said that can't be a truth. Yeah. And and and they said, Well, you know, it is a truth. And they say, Well, if if you're gonna continue to teach that, we're going to take your life. And they said, Well, then take it.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

You know, they were willing to die. Nobody's usually willing to die for an untruth that they've lied about.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Right. That's right. At some point, you're like, Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

I think what adds a little bit of more like remarkable evidence to that point about the the disciples is the idea that this was a complete transformation from where they were on Friday. Right. You know what I mean? Like these disciples were in hiding. Right. They were denying, right. They were running away from Jesus and their identity with Jesus, maybe with the exception of John, every other one of them is not found at the scene. Right. And then all of a sudden, when the spirit indwells them, there's a complete transformation of their belief in this story and their conviction to live life for it. For it. You know, and uh so just the idea that they've been completely transformed, and I think too, the idea that we still see lives completely transformed in the same way by the same spirit. When you see that so many times, you know it has to be true. Our own experiences and our own testimony can be an evidence and a proof that this is a true and a real story.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

I love too you brought up 1 Corinthians 15. In that same chapter, Paul gives a creed in that chapter, you know, early on in the I think it's verse 3 or something like that. And he talks about how, you know, uh Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. He was buried and then was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And that is kind of this early creed that it seems like he's quoting. Right. It seems like he's sort of, you know, giving something that everyone would have already shared and known. And so it's kind of a little evidence that even the church itself has been sort of disseminating some of these memorized scriptures and memorized creeds that they can adhere to, that they can learn, that they can hold fast to. And so that the church from the very earliest days, you know, would have absolutely believed that this was true is something that I think adds credence to us. You talked about um extra biblical sources. There's Jewish sources like Josephus that talk about that, you know, hey, they claimed that it was true and they're out there doing it. You would think he'd be trying to prove it wrong, and he couldn't prove it wrong. That's right. And so I think that adds weight to it. Um, and even just the idea that the empty tomb itself, I think, is right is a proof. Where's the body? Where is it? You know, it's still empty today. And um, I think you know, many that uh were in charge of all of that, in charge of the crucifixion, in charge of the burial, in charge of the ceiling, they would have been completely embarrassed by the idea that this had been totally gone awry from their plans. And uh, and so I think you know, they would have been able to investigate it, to figure out where the body is, to, to, to do all of that, and and nobody could. Right. You know, and so there's there's all sorts of evidence that this is a real true story. There's really not a shred of evidence that it possibly could be a fabricated story, right? You know, and uh there's even some some scripture that gives us an idea that they were trying to fabricate a lot, you know, from the very early stages. And uh, and it was it was impossible for them to really squelch the spirit of God moving. Um and even you know, in the book of Acts, you talked about even the idea of like after the persecution, it wasn't like when the twelve were gone that the work of God ended.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Right.

How The Empty Tomb Breaks Assumptions

SPEAKER_03 19:16

You know, the spirit of God continued to move, and uh and and uh that's I think the the greatest proof of all is that he's alive today and he's working today. And it's encouraging, I think, to know that it's not just built on wishful thinking, right? You know, it's not built on fables or good feeling stories or emotional connections, it's built on truth. Truth. And it's it's rooted in that, it's grounded in that. Um I got one more thing. You you talked about this idea that the empty tomb confounds our assumptions, okay, you know, and it confronts our assumptions. And um you talked about how the disciples and and these women maybe even just had this assumption that the story was over, you know, this assumption that um that the body of Christ was still buried in a tomb and and that they were gonna have a funeral, you know. We kind of talked about that. And you know, even in our life we have assumptions about our how our life should go, assumptions about how God is going to work in our lives. And when things don't add up, you know, we begin to have questions. And so the resurrection story itself is a is an expectation-shattering story. And in our lives, we still maybe function with similar assumptions, unclear about how God moves. And I wonder what are some common assumptions you think that we're still making today when it comes to our relationship with God.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Um that that's probably, you know, we talk about 10 more minutes. If I had 10 more minutes, I probably would have gone into that more. Um I think there's a lot of them uh that that people come to me with, um, and and I see it as them making an assumption uh about how things are turning out. But I think um, you know, we often go through some very difficult circumstances. I mean, life is full of difficult circumstances and situations. And um, and people will oftentimes come to me and uh and I I can see that they have already just sort of given up because of this difficult situation. Uh I think one of them uh is probably one of the most uh popular because I think it brings conflict into marriage and everything else, but uh financial situations. Yeah, you know, and and when people go through difficult financial situations, whether they've lost a job and there there's no longer an income coming in or they've made poor choices and and suddenly their finances are uh you know have gone awry. Um a lot of times people will come and talk to me and they they seem to think it's the end of the world. You know, uh that there's no way out of that ass that situation. And um uh another big one. I think is broken relationships, uh, whether they've completely ended or whether they're going through something now. Yeah. And they again make an assumption that uh that it's over, that that you know, God couldn't possibly heal this broken relationship. And uh, and I know that they feel that way because when I ask them, you know, well, have you prayed about it? A lot of times that's just seems so foreign. Like that they'll even admit, oftentimes they'll say, Um, well, not really. You know, and I'm and I'm thinking, well, why wouldn't God be the first place you turn to? Uh, and so uh I feel like when the comments I was making there, the point I was trying to make was that um the the women that when they went to the tomb, they had made an assumption that the life that they had known for the last few years following Jesus, it was all over. And they they came to an empty tomb expecting to find his body, uh to to uh apply spices to a corpse and finish the funeral process. And uh and that's that's exactly where they were. Uh same place we find ourselves often is um is just making this assumption that was wrong. It was it was not what was happening.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Or it wasn't what God could do. And uh they had again they had forgotten the words of Christ, the teachings, but but they had made this assumption and and and little did they know God was working uh in the background. Yeah, you know, God was working um and and doing miracles while they um were just sort of sitting idle in life, and so um Yeah, I think sometimes we carry assumptions too that say, um, I'm assuming this doesn't apply to me. Yeah, that's a big one.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

You know, like when we walk through something of difficulty, sometimes we go, that difficulty came upon me because somebody else messed up. Right. Because somebody else hurt me, because somebody else did something inappropriate, you know, or or didn't carry their weight or whatever you want to say. And we go, so whatever is going on here, it doesn't apply to me. And I'm just waiting to be delivered from it in a sense. And uh, you know, I I I try to remind people sometimes when we're talking about being reminded, you know, whatever it is you think you've already learned, you haven't. All of us are still in seasons of learning and growth. And uh none of us are to the point where we've mastered, you know, any bit of our relationship or our walk with Christ. You know, we're all still kind of um, you know, at a in a sense, you know, in our infancy trying to figure things out all the time and you know, one decision away or one step away or one thought away from anything anybody else could do too. And sometimes these things visit us, and I think the first thought that I want to encourage people with is what is God trying to teach you now? You know, what do you think you know God's trying to walk with you through now? What is it that you could possibly take away from this and grow from this and to not just start with the assumption that God's not working on your heart too? Right, you know. Um, but you also see where people just sort of think that um, man, God's kind of finished, you know. Um where do you tend to to assume sometimes that God's finished when he's actually still working? Where do you see that in people's lives?

A Marriage Restored Past The Breaking Point

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Uh there's a really cool story, uh, testimony, really, um uh of a situation that took place one time with Linnell and I. We um so we had this this lady that was attending our church, and this goes all the way back when we were in the the warehouse. I mean, you know, we were in our infant, uh our infancy uh as far as a church plant, we were we were probably less than a hundred people, yeah, you know, and we were just trying to build it. And we had this lady who came to our church, and every Sunday she would sit in the back and she she just seemed so discouraged and depressed. And and Linnelle had built a little bit of a relationship with her. Um, and uh, but anyway, she approached me one day and asked for some counseling. And um, and I thought it was, you know, it was it was something that she probably needed, and we started meeting a little bit with Linnelle and I with her, and and she started talking about how she had been uh she had gone through a divorce a couple of years earlier. And in that divorce, uh she she basically confessed that it was her fault, you know, that this is you know was a decision she wanted and and her life was just over. She had made this assumption her life was over. And so she she asked us, she said, is there anything you guys can do? And I I didn't know her ex-husband, I didn't know who he was or anything, and and she told me about him and asked me if I would meet with him, and so I reached out to him. Uh, I didn't know what he would say, you know, but I reached out to him to see if there could be any sort of uh restoration that takes place. And so uh he agreed to meet with me and we met. And as we were talking, um he he was just really bitter toward this this lady. Um he was really hurt by you know how she had ended the relationship and he was going through a real tough time, and I was sitting there and I was talking about, you know, I was saying all the things like, well, you know, God could restore the marriage or or whatever. Yeah and and all of a sudden he says, he says, Well, I'm engaged to be married. And I said, Oh. And I said, uh, I I didn't know that. And he goes, Yeah, we're we're gonna be getting married in about two months, and we're engaged, and I'm I'm moving on. And he's he was very matter-of-fact about it. And uh, and at that point, I made the assumption the marriage was over. Like, who who how do you counsel through this? You know, here's this guy as he's already got someone else he's engaged to, and and but at the end of our conversation, he said, but I'd be willing to meet with her if it'll help her move on.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

And so I said, Oh, well, let's do that, you know, because she's obviously hurting pretty bad. So we did that, we met, and during that time, he didn't hold back. He was very, I would say ugly to her. You know, he was very uh bitter and hateful, and uh so much so that she eventually stood up and walked out of the room. Linnell followed her, and uh, I just sat there with him. And then at the end of the conversation, I said, Well, listen, let's just let's just move on. Let's just all move on. And uh, and he said to me, he said, uh, well, I'd be willing to meet with her. And I said, For what though? Yeah, you know, why? I mean, you're about to be in uh be married to someone else and and all this. And he says, I don't know. I just feel like maybe, maybe that's what God would expect of me to maybe just meet with her. And I said, Well, I said, we could do that, but I said, What's the end goal here? And he says, Well, I just want to help her out, you know. Well, long story a little bit shorter, two months later, I married I remarried him. Wow. We saw God just do an incredible now, you know, where he he just realized that that uh that God was working in his life and her life, and they became an integral part of our church. They were very much a big part of our church, and to this day they're still happily married. Wow. We saw God just restore that relationship. Um and uh and it was just it was it was one of these situations where they assumed the marriage was over, I assumed the marriage was over, Lynnell assumed the marriage was over. Nobody considered what God could do, and yet God did what he does best.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

Yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

It was a really powerful story. Uh I heard from them just the other day uh as they uh texted and reached out to me and just shared how how beautiful God is in their lives.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

Yeah, that's awesome. I think a lot of us have moments like that where we sort of quietly decide uh this isn't how I thought my story was gonna go. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

And and it's not at all what we were expecting.

Life Is Not Linear Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Maybe it doesn't it doesn't have a hope or it doesn't have a chance or it's just so far off track that I don't really think I can get back on track. And I think some of us have those kind of thoughts, and it's always encouraging for me to think about how you know life really isn't linear. Right. You know, when when you're a believer, there's a point A and a point B. Point A is I've decided to follow Jesus. Point B is I'm now living with Jesus. Right. You know, and the rest of it is called life, you know, and the rest of it is kind of this sanctification life process and and full of a lot of ebb and flows. But we don't go straight from point A to point B, most of us, you know. Uh most of us go sort of up here and then and then way down here, and then we circle back to the same places we've been in over and over and over again until we finally have some steps forward and we see how God uses every bit of those highs and lows, every bit of those ups and downs to continue molding us and transforming us into uh the the image of Christ so that one day we can live with him in eternity. Right. And all of those highs and lows are really a part of the grace of God working all things together for our good, even though we have no idea how it's working. And sometimes it's just that he could do something incredibly miraculous and we can be reminded just once again of how good he is, right and how how wonderful his works are for us and his hand is to us. That's right. Yeah, that's a neat, neat deal, and that's proof of resurrection right there, too. Isn't it? Hey, thanks for joining us again today, David. Thanks for helping us come back and sort of talk a little bit more about the empty tomb. Uh, this was a neat one today. And yeah, Cross Point family, thanks for giving us just a few more minutes and and sitting with kind of this message of resurrection. It was a great Easter Sunday. Thank you for everybody that volunteered and helped us to pull it off. And thank you for all that were there with us, just worshiping their hearts out and being reminded once again of just how awesome our God is and how much he still saves. And so uh until next time, uh, we hope that you join us again for 10 more minutes. New episodes every Wednesday. And so we'll see you then.