March 31, 2024 – Easter Sunday

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y’all it’s Sunday and he’s risen. Well good morning. I want to ask y’all to stand and join us this morning in worshiping the Lord. Hey we didn’t come here today to worship a dead Jew in a Palestinian tomb. We came to worship a risen Savior. He’s risen today. He’s alive today. Some time ago Dennis over here to my left, he and his wife went to

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Israel back in the summer and I had always heard that at the tomb the empty tomb that there was a sign there And I told him I said when you get there I want you to take a picture and let me know For sure if that sign is there and they took that picture and sent it back to me and it simply says He’s not here for he is risen

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It’s an empty tomb, I promise you. So let’s stand together. Visitors, we’re glad you’re here to worship with us today. We want you to feel welcome. Hope you feel at home. You’re here among friends and family. We’re glad to have you today. And we’re just gonna lift our voice today and praise the Lord and worship him. We have a number of baptisms at the end of the service. It’s gonna be an awesome, awesome day. You say, how do you know he’s alive? I know he’s alive because he changed history. I know he’s alive.

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because there’s an empty tomb. But most of all, I know He’s alive because He changed my life and I’m different. God bless you. Let’s worship.

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I see an empty grave.

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Play those tears child, there’s no need to cry Stand up on your feet now, lift your head up high Well don’t wait for tomorrow to lay down your sorrow Freedom is here today Play those tears child, put down your shame And I see an empty grave

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Waking, angels in jubilation, that stone’s been rolled away. I feel the darkness breaking, I bet the devil’s shaking. Somebody celebrate, I see an empty grave.

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Those tears, child, there’s no need to cry Stand up on your feet now, lift your head up high We’re gonna wait for tomorrow, lay down your sorrow Freedom is here today Wipe away those tears, child Put down your shame and I see it empty grave

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Waking angels in tribulation. That stone’s been rolled away.

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I bet the devil’s shaking Somebody celebrate I see an empty grave

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The day those tears child go and tell the news What started in the garden was finished in the tomb While Esau revives the apple of the cusp Three days in the ground Christ our Lord has risen Death to the apple of the cusp

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singing their victory song but a funny thing happened

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You came right

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in me.

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Trying to drag down what has been redeemed

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Stand my ground, stare into his face. Fight back with the power in Jesus’ name, Jesus’ name. You came rising right out of that grave. My sleep went running and my soul got saved. Son of God’s always been a bit of a rebel. You brought life to me and death to the devil. Holy Ghost, you’ve got a hold on me.

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freedom

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down to the devil.

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when he found out.

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You came right

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See we’re running and my soul got saved Son of God, it’s always been a bit of a rattle You brought life to me and death to the devil Holy Ghost, you gotta hold on

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freedom

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in death to the devil.

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Okay, if y’all paid attention to the video, and I’m sure you could, did, because that was a hard one to not have been paying attention to, several things came out of it. When we think of Jesus, whether it’s on Sunday or any other day of the week, whether it’s on Easter or any other holiday of the year, we should always think of him with complete reverence. He paid a final and complete price he did not have to pay.

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He paid an everlasting ransom for unworthy sinners that he did not have to pay. He bought our freedom, our salvation, and our eternal existence with his blood, and he didn’t have to do anything for us at all, but he did. He was condemned so we could be saved. Matthew 27, 37 says, when he was crucified, they nailed a sign above his head, and that sign said, this is Jesus, King of the Jews.

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To them, they considered that sign an accusation, but we should celebrate it as a declaration of his love for us and through him, our passage into eternity with him, for he is our King. Okay. Amen.

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I’m forgiven because you were forsaken I’m accepted, you were condemned

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The spirit is within me Because you died and rose again

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given because you were forsaken I’m accepted you were condemned

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The spirit is within me Because you died and rose again

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Amazing love, how can it be That you my king would die for me

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Love

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It’s true. It’s my joy to honor you.

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unforgiven because you were forsaken I’m accepting you were condemned

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The spirit is within me Because you died and rose again

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How can it be? That you my king would die for me

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He’s the love I know it’s true And it’s my joy to honor

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you

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you

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Jesus you

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you

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says you.

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you

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How can it be that you my king would die for?

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Easy love, I know it’s true It’s my joy to honor you

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Amazing love, how can it be? That you my kid will die for me Amazing love, I know it’s true And it’s my joy to honor you

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Do I?

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sent his only son to save us.

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He died upon a cross for all our sins.

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In the name of Jesus

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He walked out of the grave, they laid him in.

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I serve a savior It’s what I was made for

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His grace and love

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faith from home.

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is greater cause I serve a savior

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This world can be so full

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Pain, it causes cuts, just like a knife.

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says the one who loves his life will lose it and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also believes. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor me.

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I serve a Savior. It’s what I was made for. His grace and love I don’t deserve.

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faith

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is greater as I serve a savior. My life is greater as I serve a savior.

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He is the Lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is He.

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sing a new song to him who sits on heaven’s mercy

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is the lamb who was slain. Holy, holy is he.

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Sing a new song to him who sits on heaven’s mercy seat.

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Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The wasn’t easy to come.

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With all creation I sing praise to the king of kings You are my everything and I will adore you

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The ashes of lightning rose above you Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power To you, the only wise king

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Don’t look out of my

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It’s a con-

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I sing praise to the king of kingdoms You are my everything And I will adore you

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I will adore you

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Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous, fair story. Holy, holy, holy, still no God on my side.

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It’s a piece of cake.

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I see ways to the kingdom come

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I will

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slain the lamb slain innocent innocent precious lamb slain but he rose a lion Jesus

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hear the Savior say, that strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in me thine all-encompassed. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson saint, he washed it white as snow.

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Thy power and thine alone can change in leopard spots and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it by his soul.

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I stand in Him complete. Jesus died my soul to save, but my lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

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Praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead.

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Praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead. Jesus paid it all, all to him. Sin had left the crimson state, he watched it with his own. He watched…

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He washed it white as snow.

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Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.

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you

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stars they went the morning sun was dead the savior of the world was fallen his body on the cross his blood poured out for us the weight of every curse upon him

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final breath he gave as heaven looked away the son of god was living in darkness a battle laid in the grave the war on death was waged the power of hell forever broke the ground became

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And to shake, the stone was rolled away His perfect love could not be overcome Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected king has rendered you defeated For-

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is glory.

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He’s lifted high forever. He is risen. He is alive.

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Shake, cause the stone was rolled away Cause perfect can not be

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Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected king has rendered you defeated. For heavenly is glorified.

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He’s lifted high forever. He is risen. He is alive. We sing how you move.

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We sing hallelujah, the lamb is overcome. We sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah. We sing hallelujah, the lamb is overcome. We sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah. We sing hallelujah, the lamb is overcome.

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We sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah, the Lamb is overcome.

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Praise you, Jesus, praise you. Thank you.

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That’s been good, hadn’t it? He’s a risen Savior. Mm. If you brought your Bibles this morning, take an open to Matthew.

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Matthew chapter 28 and while you’re turning there and I’m going to begin reading in verse one let me tell you a couple of things real quick before we before I forget because at the end of the service I will forget we have a number of people today to be baptized and at the end of the service when I’m done preaching I’ll give you the cue to go get changed and

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Band of Feeologists, be prepared, Dennis, to come back up and sing a song for us in between. Just sorry, just thought of that. But if you came in today, first of all, we’re gonna have an Easter egg hunt afterwards. There’s a lot of children here and we’ve got some folks out there.

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hiding Easter eggs, I told them to remember this isn’t bluebell. We don’t eat all we can and hide the rest. We’re going to… That’s why they don’t let me hide them. But when you walked in, you may have seen a little Jesus. Some of our kids and one of the parents put these out on chairs and they’re hidden all over the church. As a matter of fact, there’s a bunch of them up here. Be sure and get one before you leave because…

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The symbolism of this is not to hide Jesus, but to take him wherever you go and tell others about him, okay? I am convinced you have to, well, you’ll get it out of my sermon here in a minute of why we should go and tell others. And ladies, I got something really good for y’all today, I promise, in this sermon. So you’re gonna really like it. It will clarify some things, I hope, for you.

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We welcome all of you that are here today to worship with us. I look around and there’s a number of families. I met you at the back door and some of you out there. If you’ve never been here, I’m gonna go ahead and reveal my secret. I really can’t see you out there.

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Most people tell me I’m blind as a bat, and that’s probably true. I don’t wear my glasses when I preach because it scares me when I look out there, and I see all those people looking back at me. But the main reason is if I don’t wear my glasses, I can’t really see your facial expression. So you could be digging your tongue out at me. You can be doing the answer. You can be giving me the finger up, you know, it don’t matter. I’m still going to preach because I won’t see your face, all right?

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just the truth and so glad you’re here glad you’re here to worship with us Matthew chapter 28 and we know

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as we gather here today and the very fact that you are here and that I am here and we worship today as Christians, those who follow Christ, I want you to pause for a moment. And maybe you came in today and you thought for just a moment, and I don’t know where you’re at, but maybe you came in today and you thought for just a minute, you know, I don’t know about all this church stuff and I don’t know about all this Jesus stuff and

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And maybe you’re probably like every human being that’s ever lived and you’ve thought or you’ve wondered, is it real? Did he really rise from the grave? I want you to think about history for a minute and how Jesus has utterly changed history. Not just how he changed history, but how his resurrection changed history. Do we live in a world today where so many people say, well, you know, every religion basically is the same. Well, let me stop you right there

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There is no other religion in the world that can claim its God came from heaven, became a man. We celebrate that at Christmas. Emmanuel, God, with us. And there’s no other religion that can say that its God died for mankind, but ours did. Every other religion commands that you die for them, but yet our God saved us by dying for us and in our place. But here’s the kicker. No other religion in the world.

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can boast this truth and that is our Savior is risen. He is alive and you say I told you a moment ago you say how do you know he’s alive? I know he’s alive because because he changed history. I know he’s alive because the Bible which is the most historically accurate book ever found or ever written or ever discovered. Still the best-selling book of all times. It still declares he’s

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reason because he’s changed my life and I’ve witnessed him changing hundreds of people’s lives throughout my ministry. I have seen him change hearts and lives and I got news for you just in case you don’t know it. I tell people and some of y’all been around here while you know this, in my marriage counseling see part of my marriage counseling usually is to try to talk about it I get married.

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Like I think if they’ll counsel with me for just about two or three weeks, you know, I can probably talk them out of it. So any dads in here that got a daughter here wanting to get married, just send them to me. I’ll counsel with them and I’ll tell them. I will try to talk them out of it. I had three daughters. Okay, so I know. Got a son-in-law here today and I love him. I’m grateful for him. I just wanted to make sure he was the right one. You know, I told him all the bad things about her before he married her.

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He’s going, no you didn’t. But I tell people, and how many of you in here are older? You’re older, like me. That doesn’t mean old, it just means older. And how many of you ever, and those of you that may be in here have been married? How many of you, and if you got married young, how many of you remember this? I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman, how many of you remember dating and thinking?

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You know, I love him or I love her, and they’ve got some really good qualities, but along the way you discovered a few of the bad ones. I mean, and in those days it was like, oh, it’s just a little hangup. And in your mind, if you raise your hand and said, this didn’t happen, you’re lying.

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How many of you in those days thought, well, he or she does this or that, and it’s not that bad. Give me a few years, I’ll change them. How’d that work out for you? Some of you ladies are going, I was dating a man in my dreams. 10 years later, I found out our marriage is a couch that burps.

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See, you think we can change somebody, but here’s the truth, you can’t change anybody. Matter of fact, let me give you something else. If you’ve lived long enough, you know this. You can’t even change yourself.

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You have to have help changing yourself. The only one that can change a human heart is Jesus. So I know he’s risen because I’ve seen how he changed my heart and my life and seen how he’s changed many others in here’s lives and hearts too. So that fact alone convinces me he’s alive, he’s real, he’s my savior and he’s coming again soon. So Matthew chapter 28, I want you to read with me the resurrection story.

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And by the way, we celebrate at Easter time.

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We celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and I’m all for it. I think we ought to celebrate it. But I also want to remind you as a Christian that celebrating the resurrection of Jesus ought to be something we do every day of the year. It is the cornerstone, the foundation of our faith. In other words, if Christ isn’t risen, like Paul said, if Christ isn’t risen, then our faith is useless. We’re wasting our time.

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to go fishing this morning and have a lot of good times doing it but he’s risen he’s alive and we know that this morning and so let me read to you one of the four Gospels of the Bible and this one’s written by Matthew and I want you to see what Matthew said and by the way they all record a very similar story the same story and it’s this in verse 1 it says now after the Sabbath

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As the first day of the week began to dawn you ever wondered why christians worshiped jesus on sunday, you know, you get on tiktok Ding-dong or whatever else they got out there you you hear all those other social medias. I cleaned it up guys um Some of y’all are laughing about me My but you get on some of those things today and there’s there’s every Nut in the world That’s got a theological opinion. Have you ever noticed that?

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I mean, there are people out there today that I just scratch my head. I’m like, you can’t be that dumb on purpose.

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They say stuff that doesn’t even make sense. And one of those things is, well, you know, Jews worship Jesus or they worshiped on the Sabbath. The Sabbath in the Bible is on Saturday, and it was for the Jewish people, but we don’t worship Jesus on the Sabbath. We worship him on the first day of the week, which was Sunday, which means that the Christians did that because that’s the day he arose. That just tells me that it was the most important day of their faith. Yes, we had a good friend.

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service. We worshiped, we remembered, we took communion together of Jesus’ death on the cross, but it would have been useless if he was still in the grave, but the fact that he rose from the grave settled the issue. And so it says, after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, it was, you know, notice the words here, it was becoming daylight. I told y’all the other night.

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I love Good Friday services. I have preached and have participated in some sunrise services. I just don’t like to get up that early besides by the time the sun comes up, he done gone. All right, y’all got that? Because it says the dawn, it began to dawn and Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake.

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For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. And his countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow, and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. In other words, they fainted when they saw him. But the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

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Notice the next statement, for he is not here though, he is risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee. Therefore you shall see him and behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring the disciples word.

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They went to tell the disciples that Jesus was risen. Now I want you to think about something for a moment. If the resurrection of Jesus was not true,

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if it were a hoax, if it was some conspiracy, if it was some cover-up. Let me give you a few facts. Number one, when you read in 1st Corinthians, you read that Paul makes this statement. He says that Jesus appeared to the disciples. Jesus later appeared to the apostle Paul on the Damascus road. But he says he was also seen by over 500 witnesses at one time. In other words, when I go back historically and I learn how all of those

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to one story and then give their life under the brutal circumstances that they lost their life. Hey, if you think online, how many of you are old enough to remember Watergate? You remember Watergate with Nixon? If you know anything about history? I mean, it didn’t take but a few days of coming down on those crooks and they all spilled the beans. They couldn’t keep their story. They couldn’t keep it covered up. All these men died. But here’s something else. They would have never, if you were trying to cover something up in this day, they would not have told women first.

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to all four Gospels in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and you find out that…you’ll laugh and you’ll know why here in just a second. It is truth.

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They would not have told the women first. And all four gospels, they record, the Bible records that Jesus appeared to the women first. So women, first of all, let me say to you this. I grew up in a time where I was told, and maybe you were too, that women have a marginal place in the church, marginal place in faith. That’s a lie, okay? You need to understand that. I really believe Jesus spoke and ministered to and ministered with women very often, and you need to know that you have

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vital and important, just as important place as anybody else in the ministry. And so when Jesus appears, he appears to women first. And here’s something you need to know. If you were to be, if you were to go to court and try to prove that Christ arose, like if you were going to make a, a political issue of it, or you were going to go into a court of law in that time, a woman was not admitted or not permitted to testify in court. In other words, her testimony.

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have been disregarded. So this tells me first of all they weren’t trying to cover anything up, but you know I was thinking about that this morning. I was feeding bulls and I’m thinking to myself about this passage and about this what I’m about to say to you and and I’m like okay Lord, I get that they they didn’t the fact that women heard first that he appeared to the women first and then I kept going over that scripture and the angel says go to his go tell his disciples he’s

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testified in court it would have been better to reveal that to men and men could have stood in court and in some religious court or political court and say that Christ is risen we have their testimony would have been more believable than the women if we were speaking legally but why did God why did you choose to reveal to women first that Christ is risen and it dawned on me

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It is a scientific fact that women talk more than men.

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Am I right? It is. It’s a sign that they say women talk nearly twice as much in one day as a man does. You speak words, that’s probably because you’re smarter, whatever, but nevertheless, I’m digging myself out of the hole here. But it is a fact that they told… Jesus wanted as many people to know he was risen, so they told those women. Have you ever been fishing with some guys? You ever seen two guys go fishing?

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We could sit there and fish all day. Guys, help me out. We could sit there and fish all day long and never say two words to each other and just, we just communicated. Like every man in here, you know, you know when we go to the bathroom, you do not speak, you look straight ahead, you wash your hands, you leave, you don’t talk in the bathroom. Now, I’m not saying I’ve ever been into the women’s bathroom, but I’ve been by the women’s bathroom and it’s like a full blown conversation going in there.

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See, we men can do that. We can fish all day long. Never say a word. It might come up within eight hours. Hey, did you hear Jesus was visiting? Oh, I didn’t know that. Okay, that’s great. But women, you’re gonna talk about it. Those women went and told his disciples. They told everybody. And by the way, there’s a lot of times in the Bible when Jesus had an important word, he told women to tell and to go and tell others. So don’t ever think.

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that God can’t use you as a woman to be a witness for Jesus. Every person under the sound of my voice, man or woman, God wants you to be a witness of who Jesus is and that he is risen. In a little bit, you’ll see some people get baptized. And I tell people all the time, and here’s what I want you to know, I want you to know that baptism doesn’t save you.

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I don’t know what denomination you may have grown up in or what church you may have went to. Baptism is very important, but water cannot wash away your sin. It just can’t. If it would have been able to wash away your sin, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to go to the cross. He could have just been baptized there at the Jordan, got everybody else to be baptized and it had been done.

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There’s no power in that water. But here’s what happens when you go to that water. And we baptized by immersion here. And in a moment, you’ll see me talk to the people and ask them about their faith in Christ. And without saying a word, they preach the most powerful sermon that could ever be preached. For far more powerful than the sermon I’m preaching today. And they don’t even have to say anything. How many of you grew up in a time where your mama said, your actions speak louder than your words? My mama always said that. Yeah, you got it. Yep. It really does in baptism.

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without saying a word, you’re showing by your actions that I believe in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that’s the most powerful message that will ever be preached by your actions, what you do, what you say, and you’re showing others how you trust in Christ. But you need to understand.

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Your life, I don’t know how many of you in here have ever had this thing where you’re wanting to witness to somebody, maybe at work, maybe family. How many of you know family sometimes is the hardest ones to witness to? Like, because you know them, you know, it pushes their buttons. I mean, it never bothers me, but I know some people it does. And you wonder if I say something to them, you know, and then behind that really, what is it? It’s that they really do know us.

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Like they know us better than most people. And they know our flaws. And so we worry about what they’re gonna say. Well, look at you, Mr. and Mrs. Christian. I remember when you did A, B, C, and D. And let me tell you something, don’t ever let the devil lie to you about that.

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Because the greatest witness you’ll ever have, especially to the people who know you best and know your failures most, will be your family. And when you witness of how Jesus changed you. How he changed you. Your greatest witness is that he is risen is when you just simply show others how Jesus has changed your life.

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That’s a greater sermon than anything I could ever preach. So I want to give you a few thoughts this morning. And if you have time to write them down, you can write them down. If not, remember them. If you can’t remember them, go back and watch the YouTube, the live Facebook live video or whatever. But remember this. Write it down somewhere. Write in your Bible. I don’t care where. Put it somewhere you’ll remember it. Here’s what the resurrection means for us. And I’m going to share this real quick, and then we’ll go.

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Because Jesus arose from the grave, and I’ve been talking about the fact that I know he rose from the grave because my life has changed and many of your lives are changed because of that, and that’s evidence enough that he changed us. We know we can’t change ourselves, nobody else can change us, only God can change us, and when you see someone who really has a real encounter with Jesus, it changes them. But let me give you something this Easter morning about the resurrection.

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and what it really, really means for all of us sitting here. It first of all means that our lives are not futile or wasteful. See, we live in a time and a day where so many people are wondering what their purpose on earth is for.

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You’d be surprised as a pastor, and you gotta understand as a pastor, I talk to people every day, and I meet people every day, and quite frankly, most of the time, when people come talk to the pastor, they’re not coming to tell me they won the lottery and they’re about to give me 10% of it. Matter of fact, that hasn’t happened yet, all right? That’s not normal.

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In other words, when people come to me, it’s normally because they’ve got something, some turmoil, some trouble, some issue in their life, maybe in their family, maybe it’s an illness, they need prayer, whatever that is. And all of that is certainly worthy of my time and worthy to me to talk to them. But when they come to me, they normally have some really big issues. And without fail, I can’t tell you how many, whether it be young or old, will say to me, man, I know that I have, I know God has something on earth

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me to do, but I’m just not sure what it is yet. I don’t really know what God’s purpose for me being here is. And let me just answer that question for everybody in this room. The answer to that question is the same for you as it is for me or anybody else. It is so that we bring glory to God. Your life is to bring glory to God. And how do you do that best? You do that by witnessing to others, by sharing with others how He has changed your life.

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The difference is, and by the way, if he hasn’t changed your life, you probably don’t know him yet. For the Bible says that when a person becomes a believer, it says that that person who puts their faith and trust in Christ, that old things are passed away, all things become new, and that person becomes a new creation. In other words, I may look like the same, I may smell the same, I may eat the same, whatever, but here’s the difference, I have a changed nature.

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When you get saved, when you really put your trust in what Christ did on the cross, it forever changes you. And the reason it changes you, it changes your nature. Have you ever… I know I’m looking at it across here, and most of you are from farming families or ranching families. Most of you have been around animals to some point.

57:47
If you haven’t, hang on, you may be culture shocked before you leave here, but it’s okay, we’re really normal. How many of you have ever been around a pig? Uh-huh, how many of you ever owned a pig? Would you need, okay, you need to know, my dad’s sitting right over here to my right, your left, and when I was growing up, when we got into something, we kinda got in both feet.

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Like one Easter, my grandfather bought my brother and I a bunny rabbit. Remember that, Dad? My papa bought us both of this little rabbit, and we had this little rabbit for a day. Each we had two. He had one, I had one. But my grandpa had Pomeranian dogs. And so we got it on a Saturday, actually before Easter. We go to church on Sunday morning, we come home, and the Pomeranians had a Himalayan rabbit. They found Himalayan and they ate him, okay? They ate our rabbits.

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My brother and I, you know, we’re little and we’re crying. And my Paul, he just felt terrible. And by now, all the stores are closed on Easter Sunday. And, you know, we’re going back home. And so he gives my dad some money. And he’s like, go buy them boys some rabbits when you get home. So this is back in the day, this is back, the eighties, early eighties. And back in the day, when you’d open a Fort Worth Star Telegram, and there was a farming and ranch section. And it would be half the page.

59:10
And my dad begins to look through there and he finds some guy that’s got some rabbits. So we load his stock trailer, 20 foot stock trailer, we go, this guy’s got 300 rabbits in cages and water bottles and everything. And he’s selling out and my dad bought in. Here we come back home, we didn’t have two rabbits, we had 300. And then I don’t know how many of you know about farming and you know the birds and the bees, we had the birds and the rabbits, all right? And my dad showed us how to breed those rabbits and my brother, I’d be a little,

59:40
school every day. It’d take two hours to feed them rabbits. My brother was a putting those in the bucks cages and before long we had 600, 700, 800 rabbits. You ever heard that multiply like rabbits? Oh yeah we did. We had a lot of rabbits. Well we got into the hog business one time. Had a lot of pigs. So I mean I can tell you everything about a pig. The only way I like pigs is bacon or sausage or ham and that’s about it. I don’t want to raise one. I don’t want to be one because we had over 700 hogs at one time.

01:00:08
I mean, you’ve never smelled stink, stink, till you’ve lived on a hog farm, okay? And I did. And the one thing you know about a hog, a pig, a swine, dirty old swine, is you know that you can take, I’ve seen people do this, and Lord Jesus help you if you’ve ever done this, but I’ve seen people get a pig for a pet.

01:00:35
and they’re gonna give it a bath, put a bow in its hair, bring it inside and let it run around and we need to do deliverance on you. You need help. Dogs, cats, okay, I get it, but a pig in the house. And so, I don’t care how much you doctor up that little pig.

01:00:56
I don’t care how much perfume you spray on it. You take that little pig out for a walk on a rainy day or after a rainy day, the first mud hole he finds, he’s gonna get in it, he’s gonna roll in it, he’s gonna snort it, he’s gonna do everything. By the time you get that pig back inside, he’s gonna be a real pig. He will have done what pigs do, and that’s wallow in the muck.

01:01:21
Because you know why? No matter what you tried to do to change him, you couldn’t change his nature. His nature is, he’s a pig. Let me tell you about the human nature. Human nature is we are sinners. We have sinned against God. We were born into sin. Our sin nature loves to sin. Now this is beyond us. How many of you have ever sinned and said, I like it? Come on. That’s why sin’s so fun.

01:01:51
The Bible says it is a pleasure for a season, but then the Bible also says that the ends of death though, or the ends of sin is death. So without a true heart change.

01:02:04
without a true life change, without a true nature change, you would remain a sinner with a sinful nature. I may look like the same person, I may be the same person on the outside, but the sin nature of me has been changed. It doesn’t mean I’m perfect, it doesn’t mean I don’t sin, what it does mean is that I don’t enjoy living in sin anymore. I have a new nature that has been changed by the power of God through Jesus Christ

01:02:34
He had blood for me and at the cross, at the cross, He took my sin nature on Him and gave me His righteous nature so that when God looks at me, He no longer sees Jeff the sinner, Jeff that would wallow in the mud of sin, but He sees me as Jeff the saint, the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. Nothing that I did, but everything that He did. So the resurrection tells me,

01:03:04
It’s not futile. My life actually has meaning and purpose because Jesus died for me. Second thing I want you to get is that the resurrection means that our failures are not fatal. In other words, our failures do not define us.

01:03:20
Our failures are not fatal in totally destroying us. No matter how broken you are, no matter how much you have failed in life, and if you’ve lived any length of time, you have failed. But your failures aren’t fatal. Your failures will not define you. And here’s the reason why. When Jesus died on the cross,

01:03:48
There’s seven things, that’s four, all right, y’all get it, seven things that Jesus said on the cross. One of the things he said is, I thirst.

01:03:59
The one who can give water flowing into everlasting life cried out on the cross, I thirst. Well, he said on the cross, well he hung on the cross, he looked at the men who were spitting on him, crucified, and he said, Father forgive them. They don’t know what they do, showing mercy in his moment of suffering. Another time he looked while hanging on the cross, he cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God the Father, in that moment, the first time in the history of eternity, God the Father turned his back and turned his back.

01:04:29
toward Jesus his face away because God is holy and righteous and the sin of the world was placed on Jesus. But I always say the reason God did that is he had rather turn his back on his own son than to turn his back on you and I. But one of the things he said while hanging on that cross and to me it’s perhaps the most impactful just before he died he looked into heaven and he cried out it is finished. When you read that in the Greek it literally means paid in full.

01:05:00
If you know anybody who’s ever been to prison.

01:05:04
They go to prison, they do time, serve their time. How do they know when their sentence is done, paid up, satisfied, and they’re free to go? They know it whenever they walk out. When they walk out of the prison, they’re free. Let me give you another analogy, because I’m looking at some of y’all and you’re going, I’ve never been to prison. OK, you’ve been to Walmart pretty close.

01:05:32
You go to Walmart or Sam’s, I’m gonna think of Sam’s, you go and you pay, right, for your groceries, your stuff, all the junk you get.

01:05:43
and you’re going out and you have a receipt and maybe there’s a clerk at the door. I think about Sam’s, I’ve been to Sam’s and so you’re exiting the building and they wanna check your receipt and look at the stuff in your basket and you’ve paid in full, once you’ve paid in full, you’re kind of free to leave the store and as you leave the store, they’ve checked your receipt, it’s been paid in full and now what you went in there to get is yours. You purchased it. What does an empty tomb tell me? The empty tomb tells me that what Jesus said on the cross, it is finished when he walked out,

01:06:13
He said, I walked out to give you freedom from sin. Your failures are not fatal. It doesn’t, you say, well, you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know where I’ve been. You don’t know who I’ve done, what I’ve done to or who I’ve done it to or how many people I’ve hurt in my life. No, I don’t and it doesn’t matter because your sin is not greater than the blood of Jesus. His blood can wash away any sin and he can forgive any person.

01:06:42
I think for a moment about the older we get, the more sin we have in our life. Let me give you evidence of that. How many of you have ever heard the story of Jesus having, sitting around in his teaching and some Pharisees, religious leaders come dragging this woman to him?

01:07:05
And I don’t mean this bad, but I always try to envision the story and what it was like in that moment. So the Bible says this woman had been caught in the very act of adultery. So they drag her there, probably naked, maybe barely clothed, and they said Jesus does not the law of Moses. They’re trying to set a trap for him. Does not the law of Moses say that this woman should be stoned to death? And Jesus is the one who wrote the ten commandments. He’s God. And

01:07:36
Instead of answering them, instead of falling for their trap, because he’s God and he’s a lot smarter than they are, what does he do? He kneels down in the dirt and he begins to write. Now, theologians for centuries have been discussing what did he write? Some say,

01:08:00
because it was God who took his finger and wrote on the stone tablets the 10 commandments. Maybe he began to write the 10 commandments on the ground. Others say, and I kind of like to believe, that maybe he began to write the names of all those guys’ mistresses. No pun intended. You’ve been with Susie, Chuck’s with Susie, Chuck’s with Ina, Dennis is with Linda, and you can just see the blood leave their face.

01:08:30
And Jesus stands back up and he says, let he who has no sin cast the first stone.

01:08:42
And you know what the Bible says next? The Bible says one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they began to drop their rocks and walk away. I kind of feel like it was like this. Hat in hand, like, oh, that hurt. You know why? Because I think the older you are, the more failures you’ve had in your life. That’s why it says that the older to the younger.

01:09:10
begin to drop their rocks and one by one walk away. Their conscience began to condemn them. But I read in Romans chapter eight verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. See, your failure isn’t fatal. And let me give you the final one. It’s this, death.

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isn’t final. What does the resurrection mean? It means death isn’t final.

01:09:46
Someone told me one time that one of the great questions of life is, why am I here? What is my purpose?

01:09:59
Someone once told me that one of the great questions of life is that everyone has to answer is, and they discover the most important days. You realize there are a couple of very important days in your life, like the most important days. And someone said, the day you were born, very important. But perhaps even more important than that is the day you discover why you were born. Everybody looks for meaning of life.

01:10:29
Let’s be honest, we’re of the most educated generation in human history. We have more information available to us in our back pocket in that cell phone than they did to go to the moon in the 60s. Think about that. You have more power in this cell phone than they did on the whole spaceship that took the guys to the moon for the first moon landing. That’s pretty incredible to me. But think about this.

01:10:58
We still have this longing and desire to answer the deep questions of life. And if you’ve never answered those questions or asked those questions, let me tell you one place you will.

01:11:16
As a pastor, I’ve told you I counsel with people all the time. That’s one facet of a pastor’s ministry. The other one is marrying and burying. Someone says, how do I know if you’re going to a wedding or a funeral if I’m wearing shiny boots? If I got shiny boots on, those are my marrying or burying boots. They’re kind of the same.

01:11:42
Some of you are gonna start laughing at me, no jokes. But I do funeral services and I’ve done a lot. And you know, I’ve heard people say this and I’ve heard people ask me when I’m doing a funeral, well, we want you to do our loved one’s service, but please don’t be too preachy. It’s like, what? At a funeral service, myself and everyone else there,

01:12:09
is confronted with the reality of life and that is it ends with death. Like you you might you know they always say two things you’re not going to escape is death and taxes you might evade taxes. In this group yeah I got some tax evaders probably no but you’re not going to escape death you’re not going to get out of this life alive it’s just not going to happen.

01:12:32
Death is part of it. And believe me, as a pastor, when you stand beside a grave site, and you’re standing there next to a casket, and you’re looking down from where I stand, it’s always a thing, and you’re looking down, you can always see into that hole that’s six foot. And let me tell you something. That is not a pleasant view.

01:12:56
And it’s even worse when you’re looking at a family, worse when you’re looking in the face of a mother or father bearing their child.

01:13:05
and you’re thinking, my job, my responsibility, what God’s called me to do is to bring hope and help to this family and some measure of comfort in the worst day of their life when they’re laying their child to rest. When you look down in that hole, you’re faced with what feels like in that moment the finality of death.

01:13:28
You look around a cemetery, and you’ve been to a cemetery, you see all those headstones, and it’s just a graveyard, and you’re reminded the moment you pull in of death. That’s a reality to the human life, and it’s not a good feeling. But I’ll never forget, I was standing at a graveside years ago. I’ve done many funerals since. And I normally say this and remind people of this now.

01:13:58
And I’ll say to them, you know, when we pulled in here today, and I remember it was this little girl who had drowned, and I’m looking at her parents and her grieving family and a host of friends, and it was a hard, hard service to you. And as I’m looking down into that hole, and I’m thinking, what am I going to say next? The Holy Spirit gave this to me.

01:14:24
And I said, folks, I know your heart is broke and I know you’re grieving. And I know when you pulled into this place today, you probably felt like a new measure of darkness fell over you.

01:14:39
And today we stand in a cemetery. Today we gather to bury your loved one. Today we commit their soul back to the Father.

01:14:55
But I said, I want to remind you, and I’ll always go to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 13 through 18. And I will read those verses to them that Paul said we were to comfort one another with. And it talks about the day when there’s a shout, there’s a trumpet, and a shout from heaven. And the dead in Christ rise.

01:15:17
to meet the Lord in the air. And then we which are alive and remain will be caught up in the air to be with the Lord and them forevermore. Therefore comfort one another with these words, Paul says. And I will tell them today we stand in a cemetery, but there’s coming a day very soon. This won’t be a cemetery, this will be resurrection ground. This will be resurrection ground. Death is not final.

01:15:46
because Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave. Those loved ones that we’ve laid to rest, we have hope. And Paul said, I write these things to you so that you don’t sorrow as those who have no hope. Have you ever wondered what a person who’s an unbeliever does when someone close to them passes?

01:16:12
Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of an atheist in their last moments of life? They have no hope. No hope. Death is final. Is it really? Not because Jesus rose from the grave. Death isn’t final. By the way, I feel you all kind of heavy for a minute, so let me help you out. How many of you all know that tomorrow is National Atheist Day?

01:16:42
She didn’t know that. I mean, there’s National Sons Day, National Daughters Day, National Squirrel Day, National Dog Day. It’s like, tomorrow is National Atheist Day. Tomorrow’s April 1st. April Fool’s and the fool is set in his heart. There is no God. You gotta catch up in a minute. Got it, all right. Tomorrow.

01:17:04
The atheist can celebrate because the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. What I’m telling you is you would have to be a fool to go through this life believing this is all there is. This is it.

01:17:18
And the grave is the end. Let me tell you something, because Jesus died and rose from the grave, when I stand at those cemeteries and I stand at those gravesides and I look those families in the face, I can say with assurance and confidence, this isn’t the end. Death isn’t final. Jesus is risen. I wanna switch gears just a moment and I’m closing.

01:17:46
If your life isn’t futile, it’s not worthless and wasteful. If failures aren’t fatal, and if death isn’t final, then my question today for you before we leave is do you know this Jesus? Do you have a relationship with him? I don’t mean do you know about him, do you know him?

01:18:15
Because let me tell you something that is sincere and real. One day, every person under the sound of my voice will stand, body, soul, and spirit. Did you realize that’s what you are? That’s what separates us from the animals.

01:18:36
God made man in his own image, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three who are one. You have a body, your soul, your mind, will and intellect, and your spirit, that part of you that God breathed into mankind, that eternal part that Ecclesiastes says God has put it in the heart of every human eternity.

01:18:59
And one day, did you know that there are two resurrections? There’s a resurrection of the just, the saved. That’s 1 Thessalonians 4 when the trumpet blows, the dead in Christ rise. But did you know at the end of time, there’s another resurrection where the unjust, those who have died not knowing Christ, are also risen from the grave, raised from the grave?

01:19:26
and they stand body. So here’s my point. Every person under the sound of my voice will one day stand before God. Every person will, either as redeemed, saved, forgiven.

01:19:41
Having confessed him as Lord and satan in this life, or those who rejected him, they will stand before him at the great white throne judgment. They will be judged in whether their name has been written in the book of life. They will be judged by the other books. One of those I believe is the Bible. And then whosoever’s name was not found written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire forever. That’s truth. But God…

01:20:10
doesn’t want that for anybody in this room. The very fact that you’re present or hearing me maybe by social media, the very fact you hear me talking about this shows me, demonstrates to me that God loves you, God wants to save you, God wants to rescue you from what’s coming, from the wrath to come.

01:20:31
And he did so at the cross when he poured out his wrath on his own son. So let me ask you, when I was in seminary I heard this question and I’m going to ask you this. If you stood before God today, if you stood before Him in person, and He were to say to you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would your answer be?

01:20:54
Would it if it’s in the first person and by that I mean well God I was a faithful church member or God I I got baptized or God I carried my Bible I gave to the poor I tried to live my life doing good and I got to tell you all of those things and all of those answers Would be worthless In the presence of God. They’re good things. It did be worthless And I’ve often thought what would be the right answer the right what is the right answer?

01:21:25
And bear with me for a second. Easter, I think of the crucifixion. I think of Jesus hanging on that cross. But how do you remember there were two others there that day, too? There were three crosses. There was Jesus in the middle and two thieves, one on the right, one on the left.

01:21:44
You remember the conversation, matter of fact, I preached about it not long ago. I preached concerning, remember one of them, he began to mock Jesus. One of them was mocking him. If you’re really the son of God, come off this cross, save yourself and save us. But then you remember the other thief. He knowing he was an unjust man looked to Jesus, or first he spoke to the, he said, we deserve to be here, but this man doesn’t.

01:22:13
He’s innocent and he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And how many of you remember what Jesus said? He is this is one of the seven sayings he said on the cross. He said, today you will be with me in paradise. Can you imagine that man getting to heaven? Listen carefully, that thief, because he went to heaven that day. He remember he didn’t get to come off the cross and get baptized. He never got to go to church.

01:22:43
and get a church membership or something. Matter of fact, as far as we know, he never read a Bible in just that moment. So he gets to heaven. Imagine this, just follow with me for a minute. He gets to heaven and he says, and maybe there’s an angel that welcomes you to heaven. I don’t think Saint Peter’s doing it. I think Saint Peter’s probably fishing or something like that. I think it’s an angel that meets you there. I think Jesus is there too. But I think it’s an angel.

01:23:13
And perhaps that angel says to him, hey, okay, who are you? What are you? How did you get here? Or why are you here? And I’m sure that thief on the cross probably said, I’m not sure. I’m really not sure how I got here. What church did you belong to? Well, I didn’t. When were you baptized? Well, I wasn’t. What preacher

01:23:43
You know Baptized you when you were a child None Hold on a minute. I go get my supervisor and bring him back. We got to talk about this Can you imagine that just just follow with me? And they come back and they say okay now Who are you again and any towel? and they like well How did you how? How are you here? You were a thief?

01:24:11
on the cross and that man says something like this and this would be our answer to I really don’t even know it’s just that the man on the middle cross said I could come the man on the middle cross Jesus said I could come see salvation isn’t about what you do it isn’t even about what you say

01:24:41
It’s about what he did on the cross. And it’s about his resurrection from the grave. And the only part you and I have in that is that by faith we believe it. And so when I get to heaven, it won’t be because I was a preacher. It won’t be because I baptized somebody. It won’t be because I carried a Bible or read my Bible. It’ll be that I got there because Jesus said I could come.

01:25:11
That’s it. Do you know him? Have you trusted him? Do you believe that when he died, he died in your place? That the sin that he carried there was your sin? And by the way, past, present, and future. All of it. And when he cried out just before he closed his eyes in death, he said,

01:25:41
your past, your present, your future paid in full. Paid in full. And when he resurrected and walked out of that grave, he did that so you and I could come, could come to the Father. He told his disciples in John 14,

01:26:06
He said, I’m going away. When I go away, I’m going to go away and prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. And Thomas looks at him and goes, Lord, we don’t know where you’re going, and we don’t know the way. In John 14, Jesus says, I am the way. I am truth, and no man comes unto the Father except through me. Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave says to you and I, come.

01:26:36
Believe that Christ was the Son of God. Believe that He died for your sins. Believe that He rose from the grave, and He, and He alone will change your life forever, and your eternal destiny, and heaven will be your home. Would you bow your heads with me? Finish. Melissa, y’all come breath.

01:27:06
Right here in this final moments of our service, I want to ask you this question. While heads are bowed, eyes are closed for just a second before we leave today.

01:27:19
has there really genuinely, truthfully been a moment in the time in your life that you humbled your heart before God and you said, God, I believe Jesus is your son. I believe he died in my place on the cross. I believe that he rose from the grave the third day just like the Scriptures say.

01:27:48
and you come to Him with humility and you recognize in this moment, if you or I got what we deserve, it would be hell. It’d be forever in hell. I mean, let’s just be honest. I’ve done some bad, bad things. My good could never outweigh the bad.

01:28:13
I’ve tried for years to change me and I couldn’t change me. It wasn’t until Jesus changed me that my life was different.

01:28:23
What about you? Has there been a moment in your life you can go back to and say, you know what, right there, God changed my life forever. If that’s you, here’s what I wanna ask you to do. You say, Jeff, I never have settled that issue of my eternity, my salvation. Not sure I’ve ever really put my faith in Jesus.

01:28:52
But I want you today, then here’s what I want to ask you to do. I want you to pray a prayer like this. Not to me, to God. I’m just going to help you. And you don’t have to pray exactly what I pray, but you pray something like this. God, I know I am a sinner, and I know I can’t save myself. I need you to change me, God. So today, I come humbled before you, Jesus. I ask you to forgive me of my sin.

01:29:21
I believe that what you did on the cross was for me. I believe they buried you, but I believe that three days later, you rose from the grave. And I accept that invitation today of eternal life and forgiveness. And Jesus, I trust and believe that you are the only way that I can come to the Father.

01:29:50
Please save me. Please change me. I repent of my sin, and I believe on you today. If you prayed that prayer with me today and you meant it, I’m not gonna ask you to get up, not invite you to the front. I just want you to raise your hand. Jeff, I prayed that prayer to receive Christ. Yes sir, thank you. I had several hands all over the building right there. Thank you. Here’s what I wanna ask you to do. I see a number of hands.

01:30:17
Before you leave here today, meet me at the back door. Tell me, hey, pastor, I just want you to know I prayed to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior today. And then here’s the second thing I want you to do. I want you to tell somebody else today. Jesus said if we won’t confess him before me and he had not confessed us before his father, go out. If you really, truly trusted him as your Savior today, I promise you, you won’t be able to contain it. And today you begin.

01:30:45
the greatest relationship you’ll ever have. If you’re here to be baptized, I want you to go ahead and make your way to the back, get changed, and then come back out if you would. Let’s pray together. Father, we thank you. We love you. We thank you for sending your son to the cross. Jesus, we thank you that you willfully went there. At any moment, you could have called down the angels to stop.

01:31:13
what those men did to you. But Lord, it wasn’t their cruelty that put you on the cross, it was our sin. And you suffered, you bled, you died in our place. And I thank you, Jesus, that on the third day, just like you said you would do, you arose from the grave.

01:31:34
today we celebrate that we remember that and we worship you for it and help us to live every day of our life in the humbleness and gratitude of what you’ve done for us We love you Jesus. I thank you for the hands that were raised today I thank you for the souls that you have saved give them boldness and courage to witness and to tell others

01:32:02
what you have done for them today and I pray that soon they’ll follow you Jesus in baptism as a witness and testimony of their new faith and salvation through you we love you we thank you we praise you in Jesus name amen y’all stand with us the band’s gonna leave y’all got can y’all lead us in one

01:32:27
with the congregation. Stand with us, please don’t leave. We’ve got some people coming up forward here in just a second to get baptized. Let’s just sing together one song of worship and give those time in the back to get prepared. Hey, Jeff. Your feet were guided by the Holy Spirit today because you didn’t knock over one Jesus sitting on those steps.

01:32:57
Thank you.

01:33:26
I was a wretch, remember who I was I was lost, I was blind, I was running out of time Sin separated, the breach was far too wide Father, father of the chasm, you held me in your sight

01:33:55
You’ve made a way across the great divide.

01:34:03
Left behind heaven’s throne To build it here inside And there at the cross You paid the debt I owed Broke my chains, freed my soul For the first time I had hope Thank you, Jesus For the blood

01:34:34
Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you Jesus, you have saved my life.

01:34:52
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light

01:35:05
You took my place, laid inside my tomb of sin. You were buried for three days, but then you walked right out again. Death has no sting, and life has no end.

01:35:29
For I have been transformed by the power of the land.

01:35:39
Thank you, Jesus for the love that I have for you.

01:35:46
Thank you Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you Jesus, you have saved my life.

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Into glorious light

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There is nothing stronger than the wonder working power of the

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Calls the sons and daughters We are

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There’s nothing stronger than the one to work and power up. There’s

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We are entombed by our father through the blood of our sons and daughters.

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Thank you, Jesus, for the blessing.

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Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life.

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from the darkness into glorious light

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Glory to his name.

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There to my heart was the bliver

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Glory to His name.

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Amen. Y’all stay right there.

01:38:29
All right. I can’t think of a better day to see somebody get baptized or to be baptized than on Resurrection Sunday, amen? Because with those that you’re about to see.

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who have trusted Christ as their savior, as I mentioned in my sermon, they’re showing us by their action, they’re showing us in heaven alive that they have put their faith and trust in Jesus, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And I’m glad you’re all here to witness today their faith and their new step of faith as they follow Jesus in baptism. All right, come on Stephen, you be first.

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This is Stephen and he’s been coming a while and

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These two fellows, both, but especially Harvey, y’all used to work together. Still do, still do. Okay, see what I’m talking about, being a witness? Harvey was witnessing to him, inviting him to church. Stephen came and he trusted Christ as his savior, and today he wants to follow Jesus and message. Step back, step a little closer. So Stephen, it is my honor.

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to baptize you. You’ve trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is our honor as your brothers in Christ to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death. Raise the walk, we’re moving us along.

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Praise God. All right, who’s next? You’ll be next, Matthew.

01:40:25
This is Matthew, he came and talked to me. Woo, it’s cold. Oh, it’s warm. For those of y’all don’t know, I one time left the heater on the whole time I preached. So that was a long time. And it was kind of boiling the people. So that’s kind of the running joke. Who’s gonna get boiled today? But it beats being cold. Matthew.

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He came to talk to me last Sunday, and we talked with his grandma about whether he understood, and she assured me that he not only understands the Bible and understands what it means to be saved and to follow Jesus. And so he wants to follow Jesus in baptism today. Matthew, have you asked Jesus to be your Lord and savior? Okay. Hold on, I’m gonna pray. All right.

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With Matthew it is our honor to baptize you, our brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death, hold your nose, and raise to walk in the newness of life. Yeah. Good man.

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Thank you.

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Okay.

01:41:52
Alright, white.

01:41:58
Thank you.

01:42:01
All right, this is Wyatt. Wyatt talked to me last week, two weeks ago. Last week, okay, I’m sorry, I’m old. He’s trusted Jesus as his savior and he wants to follow him in baptism. So, Wyatt, you trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, committed your life to follow him. Then it is our honor to baptize you, our brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death.

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Rick’s over here freezing. Raise the wall, kidda’ nudas a while.

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Rick’s so here. I couldn’t do it. Amen. Bless you, brother. God bless you. I bless you. Okay. Teresa, it’s your turn.

01:42:56
Yeah, hold on to her. Don’t let her fall. You can’t let an old lady down. Can’t let an old lady down. Now, James, where you at? Oh, yeah. How many bubbles you want?

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I’m just happy I’m not being poor. Hard times on us preachers. I tease, I get a dollar a bubble, okay, so no. Teresa, you’ve committed your life to follow Jesus and trusted Him as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. Then it is our honor to baptize you, our sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of His death. Don’t make that.

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and raise to walk in the newness of life. Amen. Be careful getting around. Watch her when she gets out, that floor is sweet.

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Okay, don’t let her fall. Watch out for her.

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Okay, Miss Terry? Y’all just watch them right here, don’t let them fall.

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Yes. I baptize her in the Holy Spirit also so that when she comes up out of this water, she is bold and she is who you want her to be. This old washed away and new is coming forth. She is new again in Jesus’ name. Terry, we baptize you today, our sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And from this day forward, your life will be new.

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All the old things that Satan has brought against you will forever be done. In Jesus’ name, I baptize you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death.

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and raise the walk in the newness of our hearts. Amen.

01:45:54
For those of y’all that don’t know, this is Emma. And not long ago, you heard me talk about, on one Sunday, about to prepare to do a funeral service the next day. And that was for one of Emma’s close friends. And he had come here, and God had changed his life. And then he went home to be with Jesus shortly after.

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But that made such an impact in Emma’s life and she got to hear me at the funeral service speak and God spoke to her heart. She came to me last week telling me she had trusted Christ as her Savior and wanted to follow him in baptism here just like her friend would have. Okay? Emma, you’ve trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior?

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and it is my honor to baptize you, our sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in likeness of his death.

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and raise the wall in a moment of silence. Thank you, God. Amen.

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Is there anybody else? Yes. Oh, Johnny. Come on, Johnny. I told you I’m blind.

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Yeah, help him make sure he don’t slip.

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So let’s talk to him. You got your hearing aids out? We’re gonna get them hearing aids out first. Hold on. How old are you, Johnny? Johnny’s 82. 82. And he’s a veteran. And he’s a veteran and he does a lot of work with the veterans here in our county.

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the state and we’re grateful for him, grateful for his service. And at 82 years old, he wants to follow Jesus in baptism. Never too late, never too early in my opinion. And Johnny, we love you and this is gonna be an honor today, okay? Let them get you hearing aids to read it real quick. Yeah, wouldn’t be good. You’d hear all kinds of things when you went under that water.

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is warm. All right, Johnny, you committed your life to follow Jesus and trust him as your Savior. Then upon your profession of faith, it is my honor for us to baptize you, our brother, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death.

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and raise to walk in the newness of life. Amen.

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Is there anybody else? You came today, hey, it’s just a short drive home. We’ll baptize your clothes and all.

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We’ve had some boys here, bull riders, shuck down to their boxers one time and do it.

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We did him a hat and all, didn’t we? All right. Well, y’all give all these a hand today. Ending an awesome day. Isn’t this awesome? We’re proud of each one of you. Proud of you. What a bold, bold statement you’ve made today. Hey, we worship at 10.30 on Sunday mornings. We have Bible study at 6 o’clock. Hold on. We’re not done. This is Michaela, right? Is that your name? Reagan.

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What did you say? Reagan. Reagan, I’m sorry. I apologize. Come on, dad, you help us out. She wants to be baptized. We talked to her about this. I talked to her about this the other day and her brother got baptized when he was a lot younger and with her group of friends, she was wanting to start a prayer group with her friends.

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She’s probably one of the strongest women I’ve ever met other than my wife. She has got a big heart and I didn’t expect this today. And it makes me so proud that she wants to do this. I have tried my best to be the best dad. I have failed multiple times.

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and she has forgiven me multiple times just like my wife and my son. And if nothing more makes me more happy than this because I have walked away from Christ so many times and she and my wife and my son have kept me grounded and to continue to come back.

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Baby girl, I’m so proud of you. And she just turned 17 on the 21st. And I’m so proud of you. OK, y’all get her in. How old are you?

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This man standing here is 48 years old, y’all. Dad’s 48. And he comes and rides bulls here, all right? Steals rides bulls. And he brought his whole family to church today, well, most of your family. And ain’t that awesome? I tell y’all, our bull riding ministry works. We’re getting great, great people and families here. We love each one.

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Yes. Come here. If you believe in God, he will bless you. Amen.

01:51:57
Hehehehe

01:52:03
I’m sorry for calling you, but tell you what, I’m sorry. Reagan, have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and committed your life to follow him? Okay. And upon your profession of faith in our Lord Jesus, it is my honor that we baptize you, our sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death.

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Praise to all.

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Alright, if we baptized you today, stop by and see Linda right there, because we will have a Bible and a certificate for you, but we need to know how to spell your name and do all that right, because I don’t spell very well. Hey, is there anybody else? I’m not gonna close the eye and make sure we don’t have anybody else that needs to be baptized today, that wants to be baptized. Alright.

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We love you. Thank you for worshiping with us today. We don’t pass an offering plate. We have a milk can in the back If you want to give an offering to the Lord today, you’re free to do that We also on the back of your bulletin. There’s a qr code if you some people I know like to give Electronically, I don’t understand all that but they tell me if you know how to do the qr code you can do it All right, but we love you Happy easter. There’s going to be an easter egg hunt out here with the kids Be sure and get one the little jesus’s that laying around

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need one, use it to share Jesus with somebody else, talk to them about it. God bless you, have a great week, and a happy Easter with your family. See you next week.