APR 1 2018 | David the Fugitive S1E9 | Luke 24

Sea Change Church · David the Fugitive S1E9 · "Luke 24" · Adam Stadtmiller · April 1, 2018
Luke 24
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Wonderful to be here and to just celebrate who God is and what God's doing in these days. Amen? So good to be together. Two things, if I may, we've had such a wonderful, wonderful response this morning. Opportunity to gather for worship here. There are still some people not able to make it. And one of them, I want to give greetings from a dear woman named Jet Watson. Jet just walked up the hill, carried a couple of scones to her.

And she says she just loves this place and loves you all so much and is praying. She is getting close to 100 and served in the city schools for many, many years as a teacher, as a principal. Students stop by her house still just to say hello. And so Jet sends her love to all of us. The second thing is you'll notice Pastor Adam and I have dressed up a little bit today.

And a simple word, this tie that I'm wearing is in honor of one of my students. I teach at Bethel Seminary here, church history. But for years, lectured at USD and one of my students named Jess, after the course was over, after the grades were in, gave me this tie. And this tie reflects something special, both because I think it's pretty, but also because she crashed the course and said she wanted to sit on the floor three hours at a shot, a tile floor, just to hear about Jesus.

And I honor that so much. And I came away from that saying, God, give me that same spirit. Give me that same attentiveness, even when it's not convenient or doesn't seem quite right. Picturing Jess and she brought friends to sit on the floor over at USD campus and just hear about Jesus and learn to love him and follow him and be empowered by him.

So a word as we come to the word, we are in Luke chapter 24. This is the story of Easter. It is history. It is beauty. It is centered on our Lord. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

And while they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood before them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.

And then they remembered his words. And when they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up, ran to the tomb.

Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves. And he went away wondering to himself what had happened. God's word to us. Lord, please bless this word. And Pastor Adam, as he shares with us, help us to find a word for us. For your kingdom's sake. Amen. Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it, my friend. Good to have you. If you are brand new, I have to just let you know what's going on with this.

A lot of people want to know about that hair. It's a midlife crisis, is all I can say. Some buy Ferraris. Some get in new relationships. Those are neither options for me. So I had to do something, and that is, I call it a mohawk. So it's part mullet. So right here, a little party in the back. Okay? And then part mohawk. So just so you know, that's what happens.

It shouldn't last long. Okay? So just hold on tight, you know. I figure if the pews are full and you've got A-game clothes on, you can do your hair however you want. But we will see. So my wife is putting up with it. But nonetheless, give you a little insight of what is happening up here. You know, as long as we're talking Adam fashion, a new suit, $99 at Marshall's.

First suit I've ever worn in five years. A lot of sport coat, right? I know the originals like it. So if you were here before I got here, I know you like suits. So here you are. There you go. See you in five years. We'll have another one. 99 bucks. I should have got two for one. Perry Ellis. Hashtag Perry Ellis. Sorry. Welcome to our brood. We are looking at life today.

And what does it mean to have life? What does life actually mean? Where does life come from? Is it possible to be living in distraction or in vice and things that often look like life but actually be marching towards death? Life has elements of joy. Not just happiness because I think happiness is less than joy. Life has peace. Life has faith. It has the ability to sustain you.

It has the ability to sustain others. Life is something that Jesus says in John chapter 5 to a woman who had had many problems in her life and was living a life to death trying to find relationship after relationship. He said that I can give you living water and it will bubble up over you. And if you have never had a faith that you have tried to examine or experience Jesus or perhaps you're a person that's been following Jesus for 20 years but you're not experiencing life.

Something needs to change. And maybe today will be that pivot point where we begin to harvest life. This is a year at our church where we've been talking about victory. It is a year where we are talking about life and how to live abundantly and live a life of peace and joy. Create a culture like David and we'll be jumping back into that series next week.

Who was able to take other people who had been victimized and lead them to victory. The Bible itself is a storybook. A lot of people tend to try to minimize the Bible into a rule book. The Bible is not a rule book. There are definitely commands and things that God speaks about. But the Bible is a storybook that talks about individual people, broken people, and God's desire to be close to them.

And I love the stories in the Bible but especially around the resurrection, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection. I'm fascinated by all the characters. There's probably 50 to 60 characters that are mentioned in that time when Jesus starts marching to the cross. Maybe more. Each of them, whether it be Simon who carried the cross or Simon Peter who denied him.

Whoever it is, these different people and their stories. The Roman centurion. It is these stories that allows us to harvest a deeper understanding of what God's really trying to do. If you look at the Bible as just a rule book, am I measuring up? It really falls short of what God's intention is. God's heart is in this book. And his heart for people is in this book.

And it is a book that for over, you know, 4,000 years in Scripture or 3,500 years and 2,000 since Jesus has brought life to people. It is renewed and it tells these stories. And what are some of these stories? Well, we've heard about Moses. He was a man that most people don't know was a murderer. Moses was a murderer. He had murdered somebody in Egypt.

He had been raised as an Egyptian. He was a Jewish boy. But because they were, you know, under threat, he was put into a basket and went down the river. And Pharaoh's daughter found him and raised him as her own son. And he ended up murdering somebody in maybe his early 20s or something like that. And was forced to leave. Maybe a little bit older, but was forced to leave Egypt.

When he leaves Egypt, he's wandering from God in the Midian. And then all of a sudden, he notices something that was strange. And as we'll see in a moment, God is often found where you don't expect him. And so he's in a desert and there's a bush that's burning, but it's not being consumed. And he walks over and he stands there and a voice speaks to him.

And he says, you were on holy ground. And the story of Moses from going to be a murderer, a reject, to leading people into their freedom, to being a man that, it says in the scripture, spoke to God like a friend speaks to a friend. The Bible is about friendship. The Bible is about relationship. The Bible is about people. And do not accept any lies that try to foist upon the Bible that it is only about rule keeping.

It is the last thing I would say the Bible is about. And it is about some rules. But it is about relationship. The next person we see is people like David. He was a king who was raised and became a fugitive on the run. He had been anointed as king, but then cast away. And we're studying him. We have four more weeks in the study as we see how this man began to get strength when life had him on the run.

We'll talk more about that next week with David. David is somebody, if you go to the Effizzi Gallery in Florence, you're going to see that Michelangelo was able to put together a statue, to carve out of the statue a lifelike figure of David. David is still alive today in the story and in the narrative and the eternal narrative. And the scripture says that his kingdom would last forever.

Why? Because out of his kingdom, Jesus was born. We have Jonah. And in four weeks, six weeks, we're starting a new series called Uber Whale. And it is about, that's pretty funny, right? Uber Whale. So you're like, what did he just say? It is about living life. That's Harry's, by the way. I took that from Pastor Harry. That was his sermon. He is about living life when you feel like you're in the belly of a whale.

How do we live life when you feel like you're in the belly of a whale? And, you know, I just find the more and more I walk around off this campus or out of my house into the culture, that I feel like our culture is in the belly of a whale. How do we find life and obedience and to follow God? You have Mary Magdalene, a woman who it says, it doesn't say she was a prostitute in the scripture, but it says she has a lot of issues.

She had seven demons and becomes this incredibly good friend of Jesus that was there and did not deny him or run when he was on the cross. Her story is powerful. You have Peter himself who did deny Jesus, just like Judas, but had the ability after the denial to find his way home. He knew where home was. And the question for you is, do you know where home is?

When things go wrong, do you know how to get back? A lot of people these days have no idea of where home is. One of the things we try to do here as a group is to create a home. People come in all the time. They say it felt like home and maybe this is your first time. And you've walked in and you smell what we're cooking. You're like, this feels like home.

This feels like home. And what we're trying to do is create a spiritual home where we can walk through it. Ordinary people. I want to say that you could have been in the Bible. Let me say that again. Your story could have been in the Bible. These are normal people in the Bible. We want to turn them into the heroes of past, the heroes of Norse mythology, the heroes of Greek mythology to make them seem mythical.

The Bible does its best to make them normal. And your story matters to God. The Bible is a love story. It is a story that has a lot of things that will cause you to misunderstand and laws and these whole things. But if you can get through that and find the people. I want to say if you're looking at the Bible for the first time, read about the people.

Don't start with Deuteronomy, okay? There's some people bits in there. Don't start with the numbers and the Levitical laws. Find some people, the gospels, and begin to read about the people. And say, does that sound like my story? The Bible also talks about life. We're going to talk about life. And life is an interesting thing. Scientists don't understand today where life comes from.

Where does the essence of the soul come from? Why? How do we exist? How did all things begin? One of the things Stephen Hawking said, who just recently passed away. And I really did admire his ability to soldier on through very difficult situations. I mean, I think many as believers we have something to learn there. But what Hawking said was, while we cannot disprove God and science cannot disprove God.

And that's true. A scientist has to have faith that God does not exist. So either you're a scientist and you decide, as a scientist, that God does not exist. You have to have faith. Just like someone who decides that God does exist. Both sides of the equation require faith. But he said, we cannot disprove God, but science has made him unnecessary.

I have found that statement wanting. I've been in this long enough to know that people want more than just a material life. Madonna said, I'm a material girl living in a material world. I just wanted to quote Madonna at that point. Because I'm from the 80s. C.S. Lewis talks about materialists and this idea of materialism. If you can touch it, it exists.

But did the greatest philosophers of all time think that? Did the greatest thinkers of all time think this in regard to life? When Descartes began to decide or think about, how can I know that I'm here? How do I not know that I'm in the matrix? Actually, he didn't say that because that came out in 1999. But nonetheless, this story about there's this big cosmic dream going on.

Let me ask you, how do you know that you're not just part of someone's dream right now? How do you know? You don't know. You can't know. It might feel real. Can you prove that you're real? This is what Descartes thought about. The age of enlightenment. He began to think, what makes us real? What makes us alive? And in the end, he came down to the simplest of all forms.

That he could bring it to the most base element. And he said this, I think, therefore, I am. Like that was it. He had come down. That the only thing that he could prove was that he was thinking. And my question is, how do you know you're thinking? But that's as far as he could take it down. And is that enough life? I've got to say that that thought for me, I find wanting.

I find something beyond that that I have found ever since I was 12 years old when Jesus made himself real to me. That the sky has been bluer than it was before. That the water has been able to quench my thirst more than before. That hope has come up in valleys of darkness and depression. And like it says in Psalm 23, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

So I will fear no evil. So often I've wanted to lay down in the valley of the shadow of death. And I love that scripture because it says, as a person of faith, we will soldier on and walk through the valley. It is a life of faith that has come alive. And I just ask you, are you alive? Do you feel alive? Or does distractions seem like life? That next vacation to get away.

When you're on that vacation, you feel alive because you've distracted yourself. Or we spend so much time on the internet because it just gives us a distraction. A fantasy world. Planning trips we probably can't afford to go on. The house we'll never buy. Whatever it is. Or going toward some addiction or some relationship. Because they make us in the moment feel so alive.

But is it possible that if all those things that bring happiness were stripped out of your life, is it still possible to have joy? Is it still possible to be alive? And let me ask you this. In the worst of times, are there moments when you feel greatly alive? I want to say that following Christ has not been easy. I think it's one of the most courageous things that you can do.

Norse mythology talks about after the battle of Ragnarok, that there is a tree that has nine roots. And one of the roots is hell. And it says that when someone passes away, this is a little deeper than the Marvel. Okay, so if you've only seen the Marvel movies, I'm going a little bit deeper here on this one. Okay? That there is another root. And that root is called hell.

And the people that go there went there to hell because they did not die courageous deaths. I want to say faith is courageous. I want to say faith is so much more courageous than just believing in what you can see. What you can see to believe in is so easy. And maybe you're still just waiting for that thing you can see, but something inside you is calling you to believe in something that you cannot see.

And Jesus says to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and believe. We cannot prove God, but this does not make him unnecessary. We cannot disprove God, but this does not make him unnecessary. And I would argue that a life of faith, a life of believing in something bigger than yourself, is the most courageous thing that you could do. When we believe, when we don't believe in God, a God higher than ourself that has answers beyond ourselves, we then become God.

There's only three options. You become God, where you are in charge of all your decisions. You define truth for yourself. Two, you submit to the social consciousness of what they say is being God, and they will tell you what is right, which you see a lot of happening now. We are harvesting and sourcing our morality on a constant sliding schedule.

There's only one thing that you see in the moment of popular opinion. Whatever people think in the moment is what is right. And I have to say, in 30 years, it is going to change drastically. And many of us will be looked at, even believing the best things today, and they're going to be saying, you know, they were whatever, you know, bigots or whatever.

It's going to be on a sliding scale. Either you're God, the society that you live in is God, or you're going to let God be God. And even saying that there is no God puts you in the place, does it not, of making all the ultimate decisions. Those are the three options. All require faith. The question is, is are you experiencing life in the decision you have made?

Do you have those moments where you harvest life together? The Bible has some questions here as it speaks about life. But before that, I want to give this Thoreau comment. Now, my daughter, I had talked to you earlier. I said that you loved Thoreau's, what was the book called? Yes, Walden. I'm your teacher for that class, right? But you didn't like that book, did you?

Aspects, right. Thoreau said this, most men, and I would say women as well, lead what? Lives of quiet desperation. Question. Question to you. How desperate is your life? If all your dreams never came true, could you still be joyful? It's a good question. We live in a world right now that says, if you don't meet your dreams, if you don't get to do all the things that you think you should do, and everyone is entitled to have their dream, that's a lie.

Okay? Just FYI. You can have the ability to try, but not everyone's going to get their dream. My question to you is, if you don't get your dream, can you still have joy? Can you still have peace? Can you still have contentment? Can I say something? I've been in this game a long time, and I've met a lot of people that have climbed the mountain and gotten to the top of their dream.

And the question when they get to the top of their dream is what? What's next? What's next? And so all of you that are climbing, you can continue to climb, but then you get to a place where you've met all your dreams, you've succeeded at every place, and maybe you know that person that has succeeded at everything, at all the spectrums that the world says, but yet they're still unhappy.

Life has to come from somewhere else. And so the question is, can you never get the shiny golden thing that you want and still be happy? That's life. To have contentment. To know that you have a God that says, you matter to me, and I love you, and knowing that God loves you is enough. Because I have found it very easy in my life to believe in God. Believing in God has never been an issue.

Some people struggle with that. Some people struggle with anxiety, like myself. Other people struggle with loneliness. I've never struggled with loneliness. I was telling my friend the other day, I said, I don't remember ever having a lonely thought. He says, maybe you like your company too much. I said, maybe. Maybe. You might be right. I've had very anxious thoughts.

I've had seasons of panic and all that. So if you're an anxiety person, I get you. Just say, here, I got you. Okay, I know what you're talking about. God has healed me of that. But I've never experienced that loneliness that comes with that. But at the same time, I know that having a God who cares for me has been able to solve and meet me in the darkest of places.

And God will meet you there as well. Let's look at a couple questions the Bible asks. And the Bible asks some phenomenal questions. I came up with five questions that I love in the Bible. I think the Bible asks better questions than it gives. I won't say gives answers. I think the Bible answers some, asks some really good questions. Here's the first one.

Genesis 3.1, 3.11. And God said to Adam and Eve, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? And in that question, could have been asked, where did the shame come from? You see, beforehand, there was no shame. Shame is one of the things that binds us. Shame will destroy your life. Shoulds, would have, could have, these things will destroy your life.

Jesus died on the cross to take away all shame and guilt. We live so often in a constant world of shame and guilt. How's your shame meter? Is your shame tank full? Maybe it's time to empty that. The blood of Jesus and knowing that Jesus died on the cross so that you would have no shame to live. A reckless abandon of freedom. If you were free from shame, how free would you be?

How much more life would you have? Great question. Exodus 1.3.13. Moses asked a question to God. He says, I'm going to go speak to the Israelites. And he says, what is your name? Who shall I tell them sent me? You know, if you're seeking God, I know a lot of Christians that have followed Jesus for 15 or 20 years and they still don't know God. They made a decision.

They had a moment. But they've never really gone forward in that. I want to say, if you're that believer that has an experience, occasionally you get that sense that, wow, the sky becomes bluer. The sun becomes more bright. The peace comes like a river. The hope comes when it should be desperation. You're thinking to yourself, why do I feel hopeful right now?

Where is this coming from? You have no idea. It makes you better than you are. And to be the best you can be is a low bar. We want to harvest the eternal to work with God so he can make us better than we could ever be on our own. Please don't be the best you can be. It's such a low bar. God wants us to go to the highest bar, to the next place and to ask him and say, who are you?

Hey, that's a great question even if you've been following Jesus for 50 years. He is an eternal God and one day we will be with him in eternity and he'll say, let me show you about a rainbow and he'll throw it up in front of you and then for 2 million years he will blow your mind as he tells you about it and you'll be blown back again and again and just when you get to the point where you think you might be getting to barely understanding and scratching the surface of what he meant when he created it he'll say, let me tell you a little bit about how much I love you.

It says in Revelations that he'll give every one of us a stone with our name on it that's your true identity. He knows who you are. You know, you don't have to figure out and worry about who you are. Ask God, who am I? Who are you? And as you come to know God he will show you who you are and he'll say, let's talk for 4 million years although there won't be time in heaven but let's talk for 4 million years about how much I love you and how I created you and let me tell you about me and my goodness.

No, now I'll turn over here and I want to show you this canvas of hope. Let's dig into hope and it'll be 50 million years will go by and it'll feel like you have only been there 30 seconds and you'll be filled over and over by the glory and the goodness of God. That's heaven. This boring thing is bunk. It's wrong that God will be there and he wants to show you.

So a great question, God, who are you? Write down these questions this week because we're going to invite you into a six-week exploration into who Jesus is, into Christ following. Many people say, I don't believe in God but they've never tried really seeking him. Many people would deny Jesus but they've never looked into it. It's like denying something scientifically but never doing an experiment.

Have you ever really tried to follow Jesus? Have you ever looked into what he says? Christians get a really bad rap. Very few people I see say negative things about Jesus. A few haters. But Jesus is pretty provocative and he's pretty awesome. I want to do a whole series on things I never, Jesus never said. That's not what I meant. That would be the name of the sermon.

Things get attributed to Jesus all the time. I didn't mean that. That's not what I meant. Ask him who he is. Isaiah 6, when wanting to save the world, God says, who will I send and who will go for us? He's looking for people that want to make a difference in the world and bring life. And he's asking, who can I send? And I guess the question maybe to you is, have you ever asked God what he wants to do with you?

God, send me wherever you want. I'll do whatever you want. It's a bold, courageous prayer. Who will I send? Perhaps it's you. Then one of my favorite questions, que et veritas. It's a Latin phrase that Pilate said to Jesus when Jesus spoke about truth. Pilate looks up and he says, what is truth? It's a great question today. In an age with no standards, we're in an age where truth is all relative.

If we're in an age that has no boundaries, that is moving towards no structures, Pilate asked the same thing people ask today. What is truth? And do you know what truth is? God is an anchor of truth. We don't believe that all truth is in the Bible, but the Bible leads to all truth. And there you will be able to find and harvest direction and an anchor. And finally in Mark 8, 29, circling the tower now, ready to come in for a landing soon.

Jesus says, but what about you to Peter? Who do you say that I am? Peter answered, you're the Messiah. I love that. Moments later, he'd been cleaning his nets, his normal day, cleaning fish out of his nets. Next thing, Jesus walks up in a net cleaning moment in the glorious monotony of life, not where you'd expect to find him. And he says, hey, would you push out into the water?

Can I borrow your boat? Peter says, yeah, borrow my boat. Jesus gets in, it talks a little bit, but then like Jesus does, he calls him a little deeper, right? And he says, hey, get in the boat with me, push off from shore, let's go into deeper water. And then before you know it, Peter's walking on water. It is amazing how God will call you bit by bit if you just meet him at your nets, let him get into your boat, push out offshore.

Maybe you'll walk on water, but better than walking on water, Peter, the next time he got into that water, he had denied Jesus. He didn't care about walking on water anymore. He just wanted to see his friend. And when he jumped in the water to get back to Jesus, it says was on the shore, he swam. And I've always wondered what was going on in his mind. I would have loved to see, I mean, we've seen all the Mark Spitz, you know, and all these different athletes who swim, and you've watched that in the Olympics.

But I would have loved to have seen that swim and wonder what was going on in his mind as he got his way back to Jesus. And I got to tell you what, he probably wasn't thinking, I wish I was walking on water back to Jesus. He just wanted to dive into that refreshing water and get back to the Savior that loved him and that he knew to have another chance. And Jesus met them there.

Maybe you need another chance. Maybe you screwed up. Maybe you've made your life a mess, a wreck. Maybe it's time to turn around and God is saying, come, harvest this with us. The question is, Jesus is going to ask you, who do you say I am? Who do you say I am? Coming in, turn your notes over. The question of the day is why do you look for the living amongst the dead?

That's the question of today. Where are you looking for life? Are you on the fifth boyfriend in a row? Twelfth business deal. Everything looks good, great. Addiction. Is it distraction? Does it have those moments but leave you wanting in the end where you just got to have more? Where are you looking for life? And the question that the angels asked is so good.

Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? I want to say, if you're wandering in graveyards, get the hell out. Get out of the graveyard. Get to a place where there's life. Surround yourself with people who want to see the best for you. And I heard someone say to me this week, only tell your friends, your best friends, your successes. They're the only ones that want to see you succeed.

Find people that give life to you. Are you hanging out with people that bring death, that speak death? It says in the scriptures that the words give life and death. Is your mouth a mouth that gives life or does it give death? Is it constantly critical? Maybe a 30 day critical fast would be a great decision. Maybe 30 days of getting away from relationships, you know, of friendships or whatever they are that are negative, you know, whatever it would be to get out of the cemetery and move on to life.

Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? Maybe it's time to check yourself into that 28 day clinic. Maybe that, and this, I have no idea in my mind so I'm making this up, but maybe that shoulder issue or that wrist that no longer needs those pills anymore. Maybe it's time to throw those away and to get honest and to get sober like so many of us in this congregation have.

Why do you look for the living amongst the dead? The entire Christian life is about life. Every bit of the Christian message comes down to life. The opportunity to resurrect what was dead and like Joe said, bring life. It all boils down to life, eternal life. Three scriptures will come in. Genesis 2, 7, it says, the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils and the man became a living being.

God breathes life into you. It's a great question. God, would you please bring life into me? Jesus in John 1, 4 says, in him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. So in Jesus there is life. If you want to have life, follow Jesus. It will chase you down and lay at your feet. If you want abundant life, and the Greek word here means super abundance.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. How's your life? I'm not saying are you living? How's your life? And do you have life? And if you don't have life, then I say it's time to make a change. We want to invite you here for the next six weeks to lock shields with us, to come into our family, to join us tomorrow night as we speak about what we're doing here, and to come and be with us as we grow.

This church is growing not because we put on a good show. There's a lot better shows in town. We don't have a smoke machine. You know, we don't have all the different things. We're not Disneyland. But the heart of God is beating here. And I know it and I love coming. And it keeps me alive. The safest place, the Lord said to me recently, is being right where I am, right here amongst you.

We are broken people. We are ordinary people. No perfect people are allowed. But if you want to come and spend and say, my life's not going the way I want it, it's not going to get better immediately. But move into life. We invite you here for the next six weeks. Join us tomorrow. I said, Jesus is rarely found where you look for him. That's true. Look for him this week.

The final thing I want to say, go to the end of your notes, it's God's passion to bring life to the dead areas of your existence. Where is your life dead? And where does it need to be renewed? And to say to Jesus, in the most courageous, profound way, even, I love the death in my life. And we can become addicted to death. Humankind is addicted to death. We can love our sin.

We can love our addictions. We cannot want to get rid of things. But to say to God, I want to give you the ability to change my heart. To come in and to make a difference. Bring life to this. You know, few people can imagine what their life would look like if it was abundant. What it would look like if they got away from those things to bring death. The final verse there says, and this is a posture of heart that I want to offer to you for the next six weeks.

Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in. He saw the linen closed by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. Maybe it's time for you to rise and run to where you think life is to look in and to marvel at what you see and spend time wondering and asking questions and seeking God. So I challenge you for the next six weeks, come be with us.

Six weeks at this church, six Sundays in a row. Come, be a part, harvest life. And if you don't notice a difference in your life, then I would encourage you to move on, to go find a better way and a better path. But if you do find something, stick with us because for 90 years we've been here and Jesus has been here for 2000 and God's been here for eternity and he wants you to know how much he loves you.

Jesus loves you and we love you. Let's stand.