WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:04.959 So after Jesus dies, the authorities rush, they put Jesus in the tomb. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.080 The Romans seal that tomb, they guard that tomb. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:14.560 And the next day, is this John 20, where Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and hopes to prepare the body. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:19.519 John 21 and 2, and read some of this reading that we had for today and ponder it. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:20.320 Verse 1. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:27.519 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it's still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:38.880 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:45.840 Two summers ago, some friends and I were hiking in Grand Teton National Park, one of my favorite places in the entire world. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.240 Here's a picture of me up at Delta Lake. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:57.280 That big peak behind that behind my big face is uh that big peak is Grand Teton Peak, 13,775 feet. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.359 If you care, you probably don't care, but that's what it is. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.439 Beautiful lake up there in the Teton, unbelievable place. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:11.359 Now on the way back down, my friends and I are hiking back down, and we're talking to each other, hiking and talking, hiking and talking, we're just having a good time, talking about all sorts of things. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:17.840 Just hiking along, and on the way back down, suddenly we cliff out, which means we we came to a dead end. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:21.599 This trail we were on just ends of the cliff, and that's it. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:23.359 Dead end, nowhere to go. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:30.959 So in our expert hiking skills, we had not been paying attention, and we took a bad trail. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:47.040 And so many people had taken this bad trail over time that it looked like a good trail, it looked like the trail, it wasn't the trail, it was a bad trail to a dead end, but it actually just keeps leading moron hikers like myself, maybe you, I don't know, maybe in on that cliff out situation, into a dead end. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:53.920 Now, to avoid all of this, all we had to do along the way at any point was slow down. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.319 And ask, is this the path that takes me home? 00:01:58.560 --> 00:01:59.840 Is this the path I came on? 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:01.280 Is this the right path? 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.879 Will it take me home? 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:04.640 And I think this is what Easter gives us. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:11.120 Easter does this and Christmas does it, really any Sunday or like a Thursday when you're just like at the end of yourself, right? 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:13.759 Is this the path that I'm on? 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:15.919 Will it take me home? 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:19.120 Or is it leading me just to another dead end? 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:32.479 So we repented of our horrible hiking skills, repented of our hiking sins, we turned around, backtracked, that humble backtrack, and walked back another 45 minutes to turn around and walk back on the good trail another 45 minutes. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.759 So we all run out of our resources. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.520 At some point, we get to the end of ourselves, the end of our rope. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.960 And we ask questions like, will this be okay? 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.360 What do I do? 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:51.360 Is it possible for me to be okay or content or at peace or known and loved? 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:52.400 Known and loved. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:54.719 Where is this victorious life? 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:57.120 Where is this new life? 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:04.879 And that's why we've been saying what we say for 10 years, that we're more broken than we originally thought, because we're discovering that more and more and more. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:08.719 And yet we are loved by God more than we dare to dream. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:10.960 So where is this new life? 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.319 Paul wrote this in Romans 8, 31 through 35. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.800 What then shall we say to these things? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.680 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:28.319 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:30.960 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.919 It is God who justifies. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.240 Who is to condemn? 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:45.360 Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.120 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.840 Point number one is this the resurrection is the story of God's victorious and lavish love to us. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:05.039 Lately there's been a lot of online videos describing women describing their moms as almond moms. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:06.960 Do you have a few of you know almond moms? 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:14.319 You know, this term this came from a 2013 episode of Real Housewives, quality, quality television show, train wreck. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:20.319 You have to have about five quiet times afterward to kind of cleanse yourself of the trash. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:34.560 So this term almond mom has become an online sensation, this term, you know, it's anytime a mom is so controlling over their daughter, particularly, you know, in this ultimate value of like being thin or sculpted. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:44.319 Author Sarah Condon writes this these observations are meant to be relatable and funny, but they also feel deeply sad to me. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:51.519 Because I have my own inner almond mom, just like my mother did, just like her mother did. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:05:00.959 And if we think these almond moms saying this to their kids is terrible, and it is, just imagine what they are saying to themselves. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.680 And of course you can imagine, and I can. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:09.279 Because we have inner almond moms, right? 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.639 It's it's that voice of performance and never enough. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.040 It's the pressure to be something or to be something else. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:16.560 Whatever you are now, it's just not quite it. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:17.600 So you need something else. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:24.720 It's the voice that pushes and condemns, but it never loves you. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:32.480 Never loves you in your actual messiness or weakness or need. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:42.319 And we all have this inner almond mom, and yet we want to be accepted, forgiven, loved, affirmed, approved. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.639 About a year ago, Scotty Scheffler, the pro golfer, he went on a tear. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.680 He won three pro golf tournaments in a six week's space. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.439 Now, just for a pro golfer to win any tournament is amazing. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:55.839 For most of us just to hit a golf ball is amazing. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:59.040 Like just hitting, just hitting it at all is an amazing feat. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:03.920 But he wins the WGC tournament, becomes the number one golfer in the world. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:07.839 He's the best golfer in the world. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:16.639 And in that moment, his dad says to him, I'm more proud of who you are than your golf. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:19.519 You're a wonderful young man. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:22.800 I mean, who doesn't want that hug, right? 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:27.360 Like if that dad's in the lobby, if he's in the lobby, we're lining up. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:33.439 Like we're leaving to shut down the service and let's go on out there and get a hug, let him say that to us, right? 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:41.600 To be loved and affirmed deeper than our performance and our record. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:49.279 And of course, this dad, he knows his son can be selfish and snotty and sinful, just like you, and just like me, right? 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.079 Our families know our families know the truth about us. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:59.600 Last week, my family informed me that I breathe heavy. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:02.639 Nobody told me that yet. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:04.879 Apparently, y'all are aware, I guess. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:05.439 I don't know. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:08.079 My shorts are too long. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:11.920 It used to be cool, it's not anymore. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.040 And I'm a nerd. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:15.120 That I am, in fact, a nerd. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.279 And that's worse is that I tell myself all sorts of things as well. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:27.600 I really did think at 43 that I would be able to handle like the responsibilities of life better. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.079 Like I just don't handle them all that well. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.079 I get very anxious. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:34.959 And I thought I'd be more successful. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.439 I don't even know what that means at this point in life. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:38.959 But I did think that. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:42.399 Probably with bigger muscles. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:47.279 I thought that too, but this is it. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:56.480 But none of that is a final enduring word upon me or my heart. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.920 So in John 20, Peter and John, they rushed to the tomb because they didn't believe what Mary said. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.360 And even when they saw the empty tomb, they didn't believe that Jesus was alive again. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.480 They had all this disbelief in these days right after the resurrection. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:21.600 What's so wonderful is that Jesus pursues his followers in their disbelief to help them believe, that we have a heavenly father who pursues his worn out and wandering children. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.399 I love this quote by priest and author Robert Capin. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:25.360 I've read it before. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:45.519 Trust him, no matter how many waverings you may have, no matter how many suspicions, no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, indispositions, and bratty whining may cause you, you believe simply that somebody else, by his death and resurrection, has made it all right. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.480 And you just say thank you and shut up. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:55.919 The whole slot closet full of mildewed performances, which is all you have to offer, is simply your death. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:08:58.080 It is Jesus who is your life. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:05.440 If he refused to condemn you because your works were rotten, he certainly isn't going to flunk you because your faith isn't so hot. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.279 You can fail utterly and still live the life of grace. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.000 You can fold up spiritually, morally, or intellectually and still be safe. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:18.720 Because at the very worst, all you can be is dead. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:25.600 And for him who is the resurrection and the life, that just makes you his cup of tea. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:34.159 In Colossians 3, Paul teaches the implications of this radical grace, this life in the resurrection, new life. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.919 And so at this point in the Colossian letter, in chapter 3, there's a major shift. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.279 Colossians 1 and 2 are the extravagant promises of Christ's work for us. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:48.639 Just a showering of promises, fully forgiven, fully righteous, secure child, all through Christ's work. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:50.320 It's given to you, it's indicated to you. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:58.080 And then chapters 3 and 4, the shift over to the implication of Christ's promises in our lives. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:07.759 So those indicatives in chapters 1 and 2, those lavish promises we have in Christ, out of come these imperatives, the implications for our hearts and lives. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.559 Colossians 3, 1 and 2, here's where the shift happens. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.240 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.799 Where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:25.440 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.799 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:33.039 So we could say it this way. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:43.600 Theology of glory goes like this. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:52.480 If I get my act together, when I get my act together, if I keep it together, God will save me and have me and sustain me and be pleased with me and smile upon me. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:54.799 If I earn more, have more, pray more. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:56.399 Then I will really be whole. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:00.080 Then I could really be his child, really be right with God. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:04.320 And the problem with the theology of glory is that it creates performance. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.639 And because it creates performance, it will create pretending. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:12.000 And when we have pretending, we're going to have dishonesty and eventually we will have exhaustion. 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:18.080 And because you are told that you should be and you are always getting better. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:23.519 And what we know to be true is that we are not always getting better. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:29.679 But the theology of the cross is the way of faith, it is the new life. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:35.279 God provides salvation and wholeness as I die into Christ. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:44.480 The Baptist preacher I grew up listening to as a child would say, we are buried in Christ as to walk in the newness of life. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:49.919 Colossians 1 and 2 give us the implications in 3 and 4. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:51.919 And God doesn't just endure you. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:58.480 He's not enduring you, He delights in you through Christ's sacrifice. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:02.399 Any justice is absorbed into Christ. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:04.320 That's the love that we have. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:07.360 And he is at work in our hearts and lives. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:09.120 Verse 5, Colossus 3, 5. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:20.080 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual or morality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.879 In these you two once walked. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:24.960 When you were living in them. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:31.519 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:39.279 See, the human heart, my human heart, is always searching for acceptance and a validation, a justification. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:50.320 And when I don't trust that I'm justified by God and Christ alone, I look for that in other ways, and I can do some, and you can do some crazy destructive things. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.320 That's what verses 5 through 8 are. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:58.320 But Paul calls us to live according to how we have already been deemed, Colossians 1 and 2. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:07.759 And so point number two for us is the resurrection welcomes us into a new and free life of resting and growing in Christ. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:10.879 Paul goes on in Colossians 3, 9. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:22.559 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:31.360 So we could say this looking at the book of Colossians, which is helping us make sense of the resurrection, the new life, the resurrected life of people of faith. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:40.399 As we grow more alive to the fullness of God's love for us, we grow in the implications of that love. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.559 So we are not guilt-driven, we are not performance-oriented. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:48.240 We're free from that. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:54.320 We are grace-found, we are grace-centered, we are grace-empowered toward godliness. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.080 Not perfect, perfected in Christ, but not perfect yet. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:00.320 So we are free in becoming free. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.919 And we're not even as free as God intends or wants us to be. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:05.679 But he is at work in us. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.679 This is the new self, the resurrection life. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:12.559 That is the victorious life, not a perfect life, but perfected in Christ and growing. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:13.919 Back to John 20. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.279 Mary is distraught. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:19.120 Verse 11, she's weeping outside of the tomb, and two angels come and they speak to her. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.039 Woman, why are you weeping? 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:27.840 Then Jesus comes and she thinks he's a gardener, which I love that because it's kind of what he's doing here, is he's tending to her. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:31.120 John 20, 15. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.720 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:36.799 Whom are you seeking? 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.279 Supposing him to be the gardener. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:46.639 She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:48.320 Jesus said to her, Mary. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:53.120 She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Riboni, which means teacher. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:08.399 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father, and your Father, to my God, and your God. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:16.799 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:29.440 Point number three is this Jesus loyally pursues you, calls you by name, your name, which means he really does know you, calls you by name, as to welcome you to the Heavenly Father. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:34.000 So there's no almond mom condemnation here. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:40.639 He calls you to your identity as a child of God of the loving Abba Father. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:46.639 Three weeks ago, right when spring hit, I was out of the Kinesaw Trails, maybe four weeks ago out of the Kinesaw Trails. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:47.840 See this picture? 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:50.720 Climbing that great mountain. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:52.720 Not Grand Teton, very similar. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:53.840 It's our Grand Teton. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:54.960 We'll be proud of us. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.720 There's really only one tree blooming at the time. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:03.120 It was pretty amazing as hiking through the forest because there was just this one tree over and over again. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.039 You'd see nothing else was blooming except this one tree. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.279 It's like pinkish purple blooms. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.120 And because apparently I am a nerd, is what I was informed a couple weeks ago. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:13.840 Because of that, when I got back in my truck, I'm like, what's that tree? 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.480 And I'm like, oh, that's amazing. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.120 You know, so it's the eastern redbutt, is what it is. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:20.159 Maybe you knew that. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:21.120 Most of you don't care. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:21.759 That's what it is. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:23.200 It's the eastern redbutt. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:27.039 Now, over the years, a legend formed about the eastern redbutt. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.000 No, it's not Bible, it's not like a chapter in the Bible. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:37.200 It's just a legend, a story formed, because it was believed that Judas Iscariot hung himself on an eastern redbud. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.600 And so the tree became known as the Judas tree. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:46.320 And so the legend says that the tree used to be tall and strong and put together like an oak tree. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:50.399 But it became short and twisted. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:54.960 And just when we wonder whether winter will ever end, right? 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:02.720 Like, is like is it possible for my heart to know new life when life is messy and disappointing? 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:09.440 Just when we think that, the red bud blooms in the forest, the first to bloom. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:13.200 And then the leaf arrives after the bloom. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:15.599 A heart-shaped leaf. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.119 It's a legend group. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:25.039 That a tree that should be forgotten, too twisted, too short, not impressive. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.240 It's covered with the Creator's heart. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:30.960 Now that's a beautiful image for us. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.960 It's a beautiful image for our hearts because we know the feeling of not being put together. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.240 We know the feeling of being all twisted up, or maybe too short. 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:41.359 Maybe you really do know that. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.839 Too skinny, too whatever, something. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:46.720 We're just not what we wish we were. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.359 We're not what God has asked us to be. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:53.839 Yet, yet, and this is why this is a gospel image for us. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:00.079 Yet, his loving heart for us is like a papa to a dearly loved child. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.480 See, the final word, this is what the tomb, empty tomb, gives us. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:09.440 It gives us a final word that is not the death of the cross, which is beautiful. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:12.319 We don't understand the resurrection without the cross, these two things put together. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:22.480 Our sin is put upon him, his righteousness given to us, the work of the cross, and then the final word upon us in our hearts is not death, despair, or disappointment. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.599 They are not the final word on your heart. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:32.559 The final word is a victory outside of yourself and given to you. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.799 Something that we trust in and we rest in, and we're freed within. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.440 It is lavish love now. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:45.200 There's a heart where there should be a thorn, or there's a heart there where that twisted tree should just have nothing. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.000 And there's a hope for heaven for us. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:54.480 That there is a life beyond this world and this earth. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:19:01.200 And all the brokenness will be undone, and all the tears will be wiped away. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:02.880 Let's pray together. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:05.440 God, thank you for your grace to us. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:24.880 That while we are clearly more broken than we originally thought, messy, disappointed in a disappointing world, and yet there's an empty tomb which says there's a final word from you for us, and it is one of victory that's given to us while we are messy. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:20:03.440 And for those of us in this room this morning who are perhaps even painfully aware of how messy they are, broken, sinful, or the broken world put upon them, would you grant the relief of hope, the relief of comfort, the relief of acceptance, the relief of approval and affirmation and welcome that is not earned by their performance, but is earned by the cross and the resurrection, a work given to them. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:11.920 We pray this in the cross and in the resurrection, and by the power of Jesus. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:13.119 Amen.