Beyond the Tomb: What Christ’s Descent Means for Our Ascent

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I'm so glad that you are here.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
I invite you to come and settle in to prepare your hearts for worship with the prelude this morning.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:22:07] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:22:33] Amen.

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
My name is Reverend Tony Ruth Smith.
[00:23:22] I'm the co-pastor here along with my husband Wes and it's always good to be together in God's house.
[00:23:28] We are continuing a series of sermons that we started back in
[00:23:33] August, I guess?
[00:23:35] Maybe September.
[00:23:36] Anyway, we asked you all your questions and we've been answering those questions.
[00:23:41] Faith is full of things that we don't fully understand and we're still exploring and trying to understand and learning.
[00:23:48] And God loves a good question.
[00:23:51] God loves us to wrestle and to wonder and to... Ooh, hello.
[00:23:59] They found me.
[00:24:01] I was trying to use my outside voice but I'll pull it back down now.
[00:24:05] So we are excited about all these questions.
[00:24:08] So we're continuing to ask a series of questions around death and resurrection.
[00:24:13] And so Wes is going to be tackling some of your harder questions.
[00:24:16] And since we're talking about death and resurrection, we're singing lots of Easter songs.
[00:24:20] And who doesn't like singing Easter songs?
[00:24:22] If that doesn't make you feel good inside, I don't know what does.
[00:24:25] So we are grateful for you and grateful that we are together today.
[00:24:30] So I'm going to invite you to stand and join in the greeting and call to worship.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
This new day is fresh with possibility to encounter the living Christ.
[00:24:51] With bright eyes let us search.
[00:24:55] This new day is fresh with possibility to understand the living Christ.
[00:25:04] With engaged minds let us ponder.
[00:25:04] This new day is fresh with possibility to be moved by the living Christ.
[00:25:14] This new day is fresh with possibility to respond to the living Christ.
[00:25:24] This new day is fresh with possibility to serve the living Christ.
[00:25:34] This new day is fresh with possibility to praise the living Christ.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
Sister people, raise your voices on page 304.
[00:25:50] Let's join together in song.

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Christ has brought us heaven's choices and clean music let us sing.
[00:26:56] Alleluia, Alleluia, Christ our people let us sing.
[00:26:59] Fear of death can no more stop us from our passing here below.

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
For our Lord had powered us to triumph over every foe.

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Every day to God, since Easter, I've heard His exultant song.
[00:27:49] When in trouble, when in trouble,

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Please remain standing for
[00:28:16] Our affirmation of faith now just sometimes when we say the Apostles Creed and sometimes when we say things like the Lord's Prayer that we're so familiar with you can almost kind of slip into cruise control
[00:28:31] Don't do that today.
[00:28:32] If you look in your hymnal on page 881, you don't have to look there, but if you look in your hymnal, you'll see an asterisk after the phrase was crucified, dead, and buried, saying there's in the traditional creed, there's another line inserted there.
[00:28:45] We're inserting that line from the traditional creed into the creed we're saying today.
[00:28:50] It will all make sense when I preach this morning.
[00:28:54] So let us say together the Apostles' Creed found on 881 or on the screen.
[00:29:00] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
[00:29:20] He descended into hell.
[00:29:23] The third day he rose from the dead.
[00:29:26] He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:29:32] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
of the Holy Spirit

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
As disciples of Christ, we are encouraged to greet each other with the peace of the Lord.
[00:30:54] It is not the peace that the world gives, but only the peace that God can give, that surpasses all of our understanding.
[00:31:03] So as we greet each other today and as we go out into the world and we greet each other outside of these walls, let us greet each other with the peace of the Lord.

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
[00:31:49] Let's take a moment to reflect on what we have learned so far.

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[00:33:20] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.
[00:35:16] Thank you.

[00:35:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
As we prepare to give immersion, join me in the prayer of illumination.
[00:36:04] God of all power, open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts with a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
[00:36:12] Help us to hear your voice, to see your ways, and to receive with joy your truth.
[00:36:18] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:36:21] Today's reading is from Ephesians 4, 7-10.
[00:36:26] But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.
[00:36:30] Therefore it is said, when he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive.
[00:36:36] He gave gifts to his people.
[00:36:39] When it says he ascended, what does it mean
[00:36:42] but that he had also descended into the lower parts of earth.
[00:36:47] He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things.
[00:36:56] This is the word of God for all people.

[00:37:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Amen.
[00:37:08] Good morning church.
[00:37:18] Let us pray.
[00:37:23] God, we thank you for the gift of this place and this time, for the gift of worship, and for the gift of your Word.
[00:37:32] May your Word take root in our hearts and bear fruit in our lives.
[00:37:38] And now, God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.
[00:37:47] Amen.
[00:37:50] All right, so as we continue our series answering some of your curious questions about faith,
[00:38:00] I want to remind you of our ground rules of how we're approaching some of these.
[00:38:06] We are going to continue engaging with humility, remembering that we don't have all the answers and that when it comes to issues of faith and God's nature and the work and person of Jesus and the work of the Spirit and all that stuff,
[00:38:24] That we need to engage all of that with humility.
[00:38:30] Trusting not in our understanding, but putting our trust in God and leaning on God.
[00:38:38] Second rule is that we're going to continue to be grounded in Scripture.
[00:38:42] that that's our starting point and that we're going to take seriously what we read and God's Word and that's going to guide how we think about these questions and then finally we're going to continue wrestling while trusting so we're not going to back away from a question or a topic because it's difficult
[00:39:08] but we're going to wrestle with these things while trusting God and trusting in God's goodness and in God's grace so we continue our making our way through some of the questions you asked over the summer and our question this morning where was Jesus from Good Friday to Easter Sunday
[00:39:35] Now, a few months ago, when we were grouping the questions that you all submitted, grouping those questions into our current series, I remember this question grabbing my attention.
[00:39:46] And at the time, I didn't give it too much thought other than thinking that it looked interesting, and it was.
[00:39:53] I had fun this week.
[00:39:55] Normally, that's a setup for me complaining.
[00:39:59] about how hard it was, but this was fun.
[00:40:01] I had fun looking at this, and as it turns out, it's a much deeper and more interesting question than I initially thought, and it leads to some surprising and hopefully helpful places.
[00:40:15] We're going to spend a few minutes looking at what Scripture tells us, and then we're going to spend a few minutes looking at some Christian history.
[00:40:24] And then we're going to look at how both Scripture and history and tradition might help us live out our faith as disciples today.
[00:40:35] So there are a couple places in Scripture in addition to what Karen just read to us in Ephesians, a couple places that address where Jesus was and what He was doing between His death and His resurrection.
[00:40:50] The first is something that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 12 verse 40 and he's talking to the Pharisees and he's saying, you know, demanding a sign and Jesus says, no sign will be given to you except the sign of Jonah.
[00:41:07] And then Jesus says in verse 40, for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.
[00:41:19] One way of thinking about that phrase, the heart of the earth, is that it refers to Jesus being dead and buried.
[00:41:28] It would be similar to us using the phrase six feet under.
[00:41:33] That's maybe what we could think about when we read heart of the earth.
[00:41:36] So the answer to the question of where was Jesus between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning would be in the tomb.
[00:41:43] And what was He doing?
[00:41:46] Nothing, because He was dead.
[00:41:52] Well, it's more complicated than that.
[00:41:56] So, we're going to talk just a minute about ancient cosmology.
[00:42:00] Now, not cosmetology, that's completely different, but ancient cosmology.
[00:42:06] All right, so quick, don't think about it.
[00:42:08] Which direction is heaven?
[00:42:08] Point to heaven.
[00:42:11] Where's hell?
[00:42:13] The fact that we point up and down
[00:42:16] will tell you that we still live with echoes of ancient cosmology.
[00:42:22] Because if you think about it, you understand that we are on a sphere that rotates, and so whichever direction we're pointing changes constantly.
[00:42:34] We still have these echoes of ancient cosmology, even though when we picture how the earth and the sky and our universe is structured, it's very different from how ancient people pictured it.
[00:42:48] Tony Ruth talked last week about how ancient people thought about the heavens, that we have what we would call the sky, and then you have that second heaven, what we might call the outer space or a canopy, and then above that you have the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, which is God's realm.
[00:43:11] We don't think about it that way.
[00:43:14] But it's similar.
[00:43:15] We think earth, sky, outer space.
[00:43:18] But ancient people would not have had a mental image of the solar system.
[00:43:23] You can picture a solar system, right?
[00:43:25] You can picture what that might look like.
[00:43:28] We picture orbits and rotation, circles and spheres.
[00:43:34] That includes how we tend to picture the structure of the earth with its core and mantle and crust.
[00:43:40] And if you do a quick image search of core, mantle, crust, you don't see horizontal layers, you see sections of a sphere.
[00:43:50] Ancient people would not have had that mental image.
[00:43:53] They didn't know anything about the crust, the mantle or the core.
[00:43:56] They pictured horizontal layers.
[00:44:00] Then the underworld and then pillars that hold up the earth and underneath all of that was a primordial sea which was sometimes represented by a sea serpent or a sea monster.
[00:44:12] That's just a quick snapshot.
[00:44:14] Ancient cosmology is really complicated and it's fascinating.
[00:44:18] I could spend an hour but we've got to move on.
[00:44:23] The scribes and Pharisees who were listening to Jesus say this in person.
[00:44:28] would have thought that Jesus was referring to the Jewish underworld or Sheol when he said the heart of the earth they would have thought under the earth there was the land or realm of the dead that they refer to a Sheol and that's what they would have pictured and Peter picks up on this idea in his first letter first Peter in chapter 3 verses 18 through 19 Peter says this
[00:44:55] Jesus was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit in which he also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.
[00:45:05] He doesn't say hell, he says the spirits in prison.
[00:45:10] And in chapter 4, verse 6, Peter says that the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead.
[00:45:18] Like I said, Peter doesn't mention hell.
[00:45:19] He talks about prison or the spirits in custody, which likely refer to souls who were in Sheol.
[00:45:28] Paul talks about this idea in the reading from Ephesians which we heard a few minutes ago saying that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth which is where Sheol was thought to be located.
[00:45:42] From these three Scripture references along with a couple of more that aren't as explicit.
[00:45:48] Over a few centuries, the idea grew that Jesus descended into hell when He died.
[00:45:55] The belief about this, it became known as the harrowing of hell.
[00:46:00] I think we might have that.
[00:46:02] Do we have that slide up?
[00:46:05] Maybe not.
[00:46:06] The harrowing of hell.
[00:46:09] No, not that one.
[00:46:11] You're fine, leave it there.
[00:46:14] The belief about that first appears near the end of the fourth century, late 300s.
[00:46:20] Starting in the fourth century, the belief in the harrowing of hell was widespread enough that it even made its way into some creeds, including the Apostles' Creed, which we read the traditional version of earlier.
[00:46:34] And you notice the line, we included, and he descended into hell.
[00:46:39] That idea started in the late 4th century.
[00:46:45] So it got me thinking what was happening at that time in the late 4th century that led to the appearance of this doctrine, this concept of the harrowing of hell that was considered important enough to be included in the Apostles' Creed.
[00:47:03] So earlier in the 4th century, around 321ish I think,
[00:47:08] The Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and paved the way for the Christian faith to go from being a persecuted, marginalized faith to being formally recognized and approved by Rome as a legitimate religion, meaning it was under the protection of Rome, no more persecution, and eventually to becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire.
[00:47:36] The church went from being persecuted to being liberated and feeling relieved after Constantine's conversion and by the end of the century feeling triumphant and dominant as the official religion of Rome.
[00:47:51] And so if the gospel could be accepted by the emperor himself and the Christian faith could be merged with the Roman Empire, then there's no limit to where the gospel could be proclaimed.
[00:48:05] Not even hell itself is off limits.
[00:48:10] And so you can see how maybe that seed of the idea was forming about Jesus upon His death before the resurrection descending even into hell to proclaim the gospel.
[00:48:21] Now the late fourth century and early fifth century were marked by a lot of theological debates that had once been hidden and secretive because of persecution.
[00:48:32] These debates were now public and drew the interest of really powerful people all the way up to the Roman emperor.
[00:48:39] A lot of these debates focused on the Trinity and on the nature of Jesus.
[00:48:44] So questions about what happened between the crucifixion and the resurrection were understandably raised.
[00:48:52] And it led to this idea of the harrowing of hell.
[00:48:57] And while the image of Jesus storming the gates of hell, defeating Satan and proclaiming the gospel to souls in hell, including Adam and Eve before being resurrected, that sounds pretty awesome.
[00:49:09] I mean, I'd watch that movie.
[00:49:14] It's just not supported by Scripture.
[00:49:18] It's really an example of imaginative speculation that eventually became part of Christian tradition, and for most people in the 21st century, it looks pretty weird and confusing, does it not?
[00:49:33] So where does this leave us?
[00:49:38] What happened between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
[00:49:43] You probably won't be surprised to hear me say, I don't know.
[00:49:48] Neither do you.
[00:49:51] We weren't there.
[00:49:57] I believe that Jesus was physically dead and buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.
[00:50:05] All four Gospels tell us that much.
[00:50:08] What might have occurred spiritually in that time period is beyond our comprehending.
[00:50:16] The idea that Jesus proclaimed the gospel and freed souls from the prison of death, whether that's Sheol or some other ancient conception of hell, that can point us to some powerful truths about God and our own journey of faith as disciples.
[00:50:36] So point number one, the idea that Jesus descended even into death or Sheol or hell or wherever can speak to us about the extent, the extent of God's rule.
[00:50:53] There is no place where God does not rule.
[00:51:00] This tells us about the rule and reign of God
[00:51:05] and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:51:07] Hear this word from Colossians 1, 17 through 20.
[00:51:10] Jesus, He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
[00:51:15] He is the head of the body, the church.
[00:51:17] He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, or the first resurrection, so that He might come to have first place in everything.
[00:51:25] For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things.
[00:51:34] All things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.
[00:51:42] All things.
[00:51:43] Jesus is Lord of all creation, of all that is, seen and unseen.
[00:51:49] So we get the sense of the scope in Colossians, even the cosmic scope of the reign of Christ.
[00:51:57] So it tells us about the extent of God's rule, this idea of Christ ascending to the dead and to the heart of the earth or Sheol or wherever.
[00:52:08] It can teach us and tell us about the reach of God's grace.
[00:52:14] So the extent of God's rule and the reach of God's grace and this great truth that nothing can separate us from the love of God and Jesus Christ.
[00:52:25] Hear what Paul says in Romans 8, 38 through 39.
[00:52:30] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:52:50] Nothing in life or in death, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
[00:52:59] And so we think about the reach of God's grace.
[00:53:03] And so we get to number three.
[00:53:05] And this is where it kind of intersects with our lives as disciples in a practical way.
[00:53:14] Number three, the way of Jesus, the way that we follow as disciples, the way of Jesus is both ascent, ascending, and descent, descending.
[00:53:27] If we are hoping to grow in faith and maturity as Christians, we have to embrace both ascent and descent.
[00:53:38] Now if we assume that our lives as Christians is supposed to be constant ascent, constant progress, constant improvement, then we will not be well equipped
[00:53:54] to handle the inevitable struggles, griefs, failures, and times of crisis that happen in life.
[00:54:02] The idea that true Christian faith always and only results in happiness or constant improvement or contentment, only contentment, you see where the prosperity gospel comes from, right?
[00:54:15] That if you have enough faith,
[00:54:17] You'll be wealthy or blessed or happy or content all the time.
[00:54:23] That idea actually leads to more pressure, guilt, and confusion when that doesn't happen.
[00:54:32] So if being a Christian is supposed to make you happy all the time, what happens when you're not happy?
[00:54:38] It's either a failure on your part or on God's part.
[00:54:43] And so thinking that being a Christian is only about ascending is not helpful.
[00:54:50] For some people, there's a temptation to go the other direction and to focus too much on descent.
[00:54:59] Thinking that being a Christian means beating ourselves up or beating up other people for sins and failures and shortcomings or this idea that we can never do enough or we can never be enough.
[00:55:13] To be truly loved by God.
[00:55:17] Or maybe we see faith and discipleship as a constant battle or struggle and so we never find peace.
[00:55:27] The idea that true Christian faith only leads us to a place of guilt
[00:55:32] and constant attention to failures and shortcomings leads us to despair, robbing us of the joy of the Lord and the peace that comes from truly trusting in God's grace.
[00:55:47] We need both descent and ascent and Jesus Christ sets that example for us.
[00:55:55] Primarily in our belief in the Incarnation that God the Father and God the Son are one, that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus of Nazareth, fully God and fully human, that God came down to us in the person of Jesus Christ, descended down to us.
[00:56:13] The idea that Jesus died on the cross and then descended into Sheol or the underworld or the heart of the earth or hell is yet another example of Jesus' willingness to descend, to be lowered even to the point of death on a cross, even into death for our sake.
[00:56:32] The ascent is the resurrection.
[00:56:36] And for Jesus, the ascension to God's right hand
[00:56:40] But that ascent of resurrection points to our ultimate hope of resurrection, this idea that God raises us up.
[00:56:51] And so in our daily life as disciples, we might think of descent as those things we need to let go of, those things we need to get rid of, or those things in our lives that God needs to remove or to heal or forgive.
[00:57:07] We could think about it as sins, our shame, our pain, our woundedness.
[00:57:14] Recognizing, acknowledging, and confessing that to God can feel like dissent.
[00:57:21] It can feel like we're descending.
[00:57:24] And when we open ourselves up to God by confession and repentance and by accepting God's grace for ourselves, God lifts us up.
[00:57:33] raises us to newness of life, renews and restores us.
[00:57:38] We can think of that as ascent, pointing us to the even greater ascent of the promise of resurrection, which is our ultimate hope.
[00:57:48] In our lives, every aspect, family, relationships with friends, work or school, in our faith,
[00:57:58] includes both ascent and descent, up and down, joy and sorrow, sin and righteousness, birth and death.
[00:58:08] You get the point, I hope.
[00:58:12] Through it all, God is with us.
[00:58:15] God's grace goes before us in all of the ups and downs.
[00:58:19] Wherever we go, whatever happens, God's grace, the grace revealed to us in Jesus, is always going ahead of us.
[00:58:29] And nothing can separate us from God's love and God's grace.
[00:58:34] Thanks be to God.
[00:58:36] In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[00:58:39] Amen.
[00:58:42] As Pastor Kerry plays, I'm going to lead us in a time of prayer.
[00:58:48] And there'll just be a few moments of silence in the prayer for you all to lift your prayers to God.
[00:58:56] So I'm going to ask you to hold your hands out like this in a posture of receiving.
[00:59:04] Let us pray together.
[00:59:08] Gracious and holy God, we thank you for your love for us that is always with us.
[00:59:17] God, help us to remember that nothing can separate us from your great love.
[00:59:24] We thank you for your grace that always goes before us.
[00:59:29] God, help us to remember wherever we go, your grace is always already there going ahead of us.
[00:59:38] And God, there are places in our lives, or in the lives of someone we love, there are places in our lives that can feel like descent.
[00:59:50] God, that can feel like we're heading down.
[00:59:58] God, that are difficult for us.
[01:00:05] Sometimes, God, that's sin.
[01:00:07] Sometimes that's shame.
[01:00:08] Sometimes that's something we know we need to let go of so that we can take hold of you.
[01:00:14] And God, that's difficult.
[01:00:15] So whatever we're dealing with in our lives that feels like a descent, God, we pray that you would remind us of your grace.
[01:00:35] and God just as there are times or situations that feel like descent God we know what it feels like to be raised up by you those times it feels like we're ascending and so God for whatever in our life feels like it's it's a blessing from you that feels like you are raising us up God we in prayer we lift our praise and gratitude gratitude to you for that
[01:01:05] God for the gift of life and and breath for the gift of love and and relationship for friendship for the family of God here in our church
[01:01:31] God for all the ups and downs of our relationships, God we give you thanks and we pray now in the silence of prayer, we pray for those we love that you would raise them up as well.
[01:01:57] We pray right now, God, that you would be with all of those whom we love who are struggling, who are hurting.
[01:02:03] God, those who are sick, those who are in pain, those who feel despair.
[01:02:12] We pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, remind them of your presence and your love and your grace.
[01:02:20] Help us, God, to be messengers of that love and grace for them.
[01:02:26] Lead and guide us this week, God, as your disciples.
[01:02:31] Help us day by day to be more like Jesus and to share the love of Christ wherever we are.
[01:02:44] We thank you, God, for hearing our prayer, for answering our prayer, and we pray that you would conform and shape us to your will so that we might be faithful.
[01:02:54] We ask all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[01:03:05] Thy kingdom come.
[01:03:07] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[01:03:11] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[01:03:20] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[01:03:25] For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

[01:03:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I started earlier this year inviting you to think about, when we think about our offering, to think less about what God wants us to give and a little bit more about why God wants us to give.
[01:03:58] What does God want for us?
[01:04:00] Not what does God want for
[01:04:03] To be done with that money that is given or the resources or the time or the talent.
[01:04:08] But what changes in us when we cultivate a spirit of generosity?
[01:04:13] How does it change our hearts and shape us to walk more faithfully with the Lord?
[01:04:20] In the spirit of that, we are inviting you to think today a little bit with some curiosity.
[01:04:27] To engage your giving life with the same curiosity that you were asking all these faith questions with.
[01:04:34] To ponder what would happen in your life if, what would happen if,
[01:04:40] What might God have for you?
[01:04:42] What lessons might He have for you?
[01:04:43] What life might He have for you?
[01:04:46] So whether you're giving online, and I hope there'll be a QR code on the screen, whether you're giving online or through our church app or in the mail or in the offering plate, however it is that you, how you give, today I don't want you to think about the how or even the what, but more the why.
[01:05:09] and what God wants for you.
[01:05:11] So I invite you to give your attention to the screen.
[01:05:14] We have just a video that will invite you to some of those questions.

[01:05:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
My feet are frozen on this middle ground.
[01:05:33] The water's warm here but the fire's gone out.

[01:05:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I've played it safe for so long, the passion left turns out Safe is just another word for regret So I step to the edge and I take a deep breath We're all down to live, but we're all just scared to death And this is the part where my head tells my heart It should turn back around, but there's no turning back now I'm going on
[01:06:41] Welcome home my child, well done.

[01:07:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I was lost, I was blind, I was running out of time Sin separated, the breach was far too wide But from the far side of the chasm
[01:08:08] You held me in Your sight Now You made a way Across the great divide
[01:08:20] 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
[01:08:45] Thank you Jesus for the blood applied Thank you Jesus it has washed me white Thank you Jesus you have saved my life
[01:09:10] brought me from the darkness into glorious light you took my place laid inside my tomb of sin you were buried for three days but then you walked right out again and now death has no sting
[01:09:40] and life has no end for I have been transformed by the blood of the lamb thank you Jesus for the blood applied thank you Jesus it has washed me white
[01:10:08] Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life Brought me from the darkness into glorious light There is nothing stronger than the wonder work
[01:10:42] All the sons and daughters we are ransomed by our Father through the blood.
[01:10:58] The blood.
[01:10:58] Thank you Jesus for the blood.
[01:11:04] Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life Brought me from the darkness into glorious light
[01:11:31] Glory to His name.
[01:11:39] Glory to His name.
[01:11:46] There to my heart was the blood applied.
[01:11:55] Glory to His name.

[01:12:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Praise God, the Word of blessings full.

[01:12:44] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
[01:12:45] Praise Him, all the

[01:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
Our closing hymn is Crown Him with Many Crowns.
[01:13:14] It's on page 327 in your hymnal and also on the screen.

[01:13:21] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[01:13:39] Let us pray.
[01:14:15] All eternity!
[01:14:38] Hath in the Lord of hosts the triumph o'er the grave, And rose victorious in the strife, The hosts began to sing.
[01:14:52] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[01:15:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The nation of the world will reign, And round its fears we'll fear, Here from the paradise we'll stand, And faithless death we'll see.

[01:16:00] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[01:16:22] Amen.

[01:16:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
If you are interested in serving at a local mission, engaging your faith in that way, which I would encourage all of you to do that, we have set up a sign-up genius.
[01:17:11] You can access through our app.
[01:17:14] It says Volunteer Opportunities.
[01:17:16] And you can sign up to go with
[01:17:20] Pastor Tony Ruth, Kevin, Carrie, to go serve around the Mooresville area, Feed in C, Christian Mission, Bridge of Hearts.
[01:17:32] So just go on the app and look up Opportunities to Volunteer and it'll take you to that page where you can sign up and serve with one of us and just have a wonderful time kind of putting our faith into practice in that way.
[01:17:44] Also, I want to announce something new that
[01:17:48] We're offering, Pastor Tony, Ruth, and I, we just this past week released first episode of a new podcast called Faithing Out Loud.
[01:17:59] And it's 15 minutes-ish, just enough for your commute or as you're, you know, fixing dinner or whatever, just 15 minutes.
[01:18:10] And we're actually answering some of those questions you asked, maybe some that didn't quite make the cut, but also addressing just topics of faith.
[01:18:19] That will be released on a weekly basis.
[01:18:22] So, Faithing Out Loud, anywhere you listen to podcasts, you might want to check it out.
[01:18:27] We're having a great time putting that together.
[01:18:30] All right, friends.
[01:18:31] So go with this benediction.
[01:18:33] May the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:18:35] May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
[01:18:39] May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, give you peace.
[01:18:42] In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[01:18:45] Amen.

[01:18:55] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.