If we would all turn to our New Testament scripture reading, Matthew chapter 28. We'll be reading the first eight verses and then 18, 19, and 20. Matthew chapter 28, verses 1 through 8. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, whom which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen. As he said, come and see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead. And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from this sepulcher with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word." And then 18-20, "...And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." And let's have our prayer for divine direction and edification. Oh Fathers, we come before you this day We know that as the text, as we have read, that your son, Jesus the Christ, he did raise from the grave. And Lord, with him, he brought death into captivity. Lord, we ask this day that as we gather in your house in one accord, in one name, that You would just bless this time that we have together. We pray that as we gather around and as we hear the Word of God being preached unto us, Lord, we ask and pray that each and every one of us, our hearts will be open to the Word that You have specifically and specially prepared for each of us. We ask, O Father, that as our guest speaker, Brother Lehman comes and shares what You have given him to speak to us about, the Word of God, We ask and pray, O Father, that it would just touch all of our hearts. We ask that as we hear the word, that you would convict us of the sin in our life. We ask that you would prepare us for the great things that we have yet to see. And Lord, we pray and ask that for those of us and those of our family, and those who are facing trial, tribulations, and things that would seem insurmountable, we have to believe and know that as we read this morning, that Christ rose from the grave. Lord, we ask and pray that all things would be possible through you. We ask that the Holy Spirit would just work in our lives, that He would continue to separate us from the world, that He would continue to sanctify each of us in our lives on a daily basis. And Lord, we ask that this morning that as the Word is preached again, yet again, the sanctification of our lives would be again through this Scripture that You have given to our brother Lehman. Father, we ask that You have blessings upon this message and all that is here today. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I would like to just introduce our brother, Lehman, and his wife, Doug and Leah Lehman. And they have, is that right, six sons? Right? Darius, Zion, Zion, Titus, Solomon, Lucas, and Mormon. You're going to have to fill this in on other things, okay? But if you would, please come and... Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. Your dad and your mom are here, and there's also some other people that that I think Ashley and Justin were married under your dad's ministry, right? So it's like old homecoming week for some. So, yes, it was quite a surprise to walk in this morning to see Justin and Ashley there who, yes, for some years attended the Olympia Bible Presbyterian Church where my father has recently retired in the past three or four years. And for 35 years, he was there. So it's a privilege to be here this morning. And some of you I have known from the past. And it's nice to see the Peterson's here snuck in as well. But it's always wonderful to see brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world and from places that we never thought we would meet them or know them. But we come in a little church like this and we sing songs together and we worship that same Lord. And there's so many things in common just right when we walk in. We know we're doing the same things and we're going in the same direction and we're serving the same king. So thank you for that introduction and for all those prayers and preparation. I feel like we're ready to go. So let's let's get going here as far as and the Lord has put upon my heart this resurrection sermon. I know it's not exactly Easter or anything like that, but resurrection is always something powerful and something great. To consider the title for this message is the resurrection of the king. How should we then think and live? So we meditate upon that. I definitely feel small to take on a passage of this nature and and I should. This is this passage in this this theme, this subject of resurrection is is the highest point of the gospel message. Christ's resurrection and exaltation, these truths form the central event of Christian history and of the message of scriptures. Without this reversal of the ugliness of the cross that Christ suffered, Jesus's death would have been pointless. The resurrection also demonstrates to us God's ultimate victory. In the resurrection, Christ is reestablished in heaven as the Lord of the entire created realm. It is certainly the most spectacular of all the biblical miracles and from a human perspective, the most incredible of Christianity's truth claims. And for that reason, it is abundantly attacked. Christians, like ourselves, are of all men most to be pitied, says 1 Corinthians 15, 19. If these things were not true. Not to be most pity, as if there were other truth claims out there that are greater or more reliable or more trustworthy or more believable. Don't believe that's the reason that we would be most pitiable, but because in a world, if this is not truth, then there is no truth that exists. But we continue on believing in something of this nature. We certainly would be those people who are the most to be pitied. Today, you all may know very well that the reigning philosophy out there is to say that there is no truth. And of course, that's an impossible task right when they start saying that, because you can say to them when they say that, is that a true statement? And that should stop their conversation for a little while. If the resurrection is true, as we believe it is, it guarantees the coming bodily resurrection of all believers, as it says in an abundance of places in the New Testament. And it is the greatest hope that has ever graced the pages of human history. Do you believe the resurrection is true? This is a truth claim that is like a rock. Either it will crush you or you will stand upon it. God's people believe this message of the resurrection, and because they do, Christians need not be afraid. But instead, They need to rejoice and go. The first point that we see here is do not be afraid. A brother has read the text, and I won't reread it. I'm sure this is a familiar text to many of you, but there it is in Matthew 28. We will just go through this whole chapter. But a particular point comes out early on in this chapter And is this do not be afraid. Verse five says, do not be afraid. The angel, the angel says to the woman, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. Now, the other gospels tell us and even here I see in the. In the version that you guys use the NASB, that's why I chose this Bible here, I saw it in your pews. It does say Mary Magdalene, and other Gospels make that even clearer. And Mary, the mother of James, who came this morning. They needed to hear these words, do not be afraid. Because these women were amongst those disciples who had been around the ministry of Jesus for these past years. They had heard His claims. They had heard Him talk and how He is the fulfillment of so many promises. In Him, their hopes resided and rested. But there he was in the grave. It is not without reason that we could think that in their hearts they probably were trembling with expectation. Could you imagine being there that morning? This one who you have been following and you have heard what he claimed to be the words of life and you heard of the possible resurrection that he spoke about in other places, in other times. Could you imagine the anticipation? Could it possibly be true? Maybe, you know, you're creeping along the path there and there is over beyond your view is the grave and you're going very slowly to see what has happened. Could it be true that he was raised? Was the expected Messiah, the Savior and deliverer that we have been hoping in? Was that really him? That one who was presented in the prophecy so long ago, or was he just in the grave? So these women needed to hear, do not be afraid. And God's people today need to hear, do not be afraid. Just as these women did. We, this morning, need to hear, do not be afraid. There's many reasons we could talk about of why we do not need to be afraid. It's the reality of evil in our world. All of you are very familiar with it. Os Guinness brings it out very well in one of his books, Unspeakable, and he says this about evil in our world today, which we all know very well. Kidnappings, car bombings, beheadings, mass rape, genocide, forced starvation. September 11. The Soviet gulag. Nazi Germany camps, Mount Seytong, rigged trials, revolutions, starving babies. Then he goes on to say about the 20th century, the Ottoman massacre of one and a half million Armenians in World War One and the Rwandan and Sudanese massacres in the 1990s, in which nearly three million people died, are like a pair of grisly bookends that frame the 20th century. Leaving aside the 100 million human beings killed in the century's wars, more than 100 million more were killed by their fellow human beings in political repressions, massacre and genocide. Certainly because of the problem of evil in our world, we today need to hear, do not be afraid. Maybe we could talk about the great philosophers of the past three or four hundred years who have risen all their intellectual power against the God of the Scriptures, starting with their own reasoning capacity and and say, no, we will put ourselves above this word of God. We will start with our own minds. And so following some of these great philosophers. came theological liberalism. And now that seems to be of a bygone day. Now we live in the post-modern age. And so many speak. I think maybe you see this at your work. Or do you sense it in your being? Do you sense it on the television in your culture around you? There is no absolute truth. And if you say there is, you are brutal and unkind and unloving and unopen. And we don't accept you if you say there is no truth, because we know there is no truth. So this philosophy is all around us. Don't preach Jesus and say he is the only way, the truth and the life. We still need to hear, do not be afraid. If you look at the decay we see in creation, you guys live in a beautiful area here. A lot of creation, a lot of landscapes, a lot of beauty everywhere. But we see the global catastrophes everywhere, don't we? Hurricane Katrina, we saw the earthquake in Haiti. We have a friend and I know brother talked about his brother-in-law who's fighting with cancer. We have a young man, 18 years of old, maybe some of you know, who is in the throes of death fighting with cancer now. And some of you yourselves have struggled greatly with the physical problems, the decay we see in creation. Lastly, how about the reality of political and social evil that we see all around us? Now, these women were familiar with that as well, weren't they? And their times was similar to our times as far as sin and corruption. Verses 11 through 15 say this. Now, while they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers. and said, You are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble. Sounds like modern day politics, does it not? So we need to hear this message today. All these things we know. Even as we heard a little bit this morning in Sunday school, a result of that fall of man into sin, that rebellion of creation, that rebellion of mankind saying no to God and to his word and saying, rather, we will believe the lie of Satan. We will believe what he has to say. And so the brokenness, a broken relationship between the creator and his creation is well established there in the early parts of scripture. And so we know that all this resultant trouble that we have just gone over is a result of this, of this curse, of this rebellion of mankind against God, the Creator. The passage tells us, certainly do not be afraid, but we may ask the question, why not be afraid? But the answer comes in verse five. And the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." All of you, here it is mentioned in this verse 5, the crucifixion. I'm sure I don't see any guess that I invited from work today, and I wanted to put this in here. But I hope you all believe in the gospel and know what that is. In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4, we see a beautiful and simple presentation of the gospel that Jesus died, was buried and resurrected. is the gospel message, isn't it? God's holiness? A holy Creator? Man saying no to that? A holy Creator God offended in His holiness and cannot deal with sinners because of that holiness? Man's fall. But Christ's redemption? He chose His people. He purchased them. And then He did this great work of living the law perfectly so that the justice of God could be met and He could see a Holy One. And then this Holy One, instead of us being in the pit of depravity and the hole of corruption, Christ says, I will go there. Let me be the one who is buried and I will stand in my church's place. And so Christ redeems us and God imputes the righteousness of Christ, declares us beautiful, holy, righteous. If we're trusting in Him because of what Christ has done. As a side note, could I make a practical The point there for us men who are married, see that kind of love that Christ did and gave to His church? They're ugly. They're sinners. They're wrong. But I will take responsibility for them, my bride, and I will say, I will cleanse them. I will make them beautiful. I will make them holy. I studied biblical counseling. I studied a lot of things about marriage, but nothing comes close to that thought and that comparison. Ephesians 6, verse 4 tells us, love your wife as Christ loved the church. The responsibility that he took upon himself, that was the best marriage advice that I ever received. So significant is the resurrection of Jesus that without it, there would be no church. What we're talking about here today, without it, we would be done. Christianity would be done. First Corinthians 15, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Everything we're doing here this morning, you had to get up and some of you got very pretty and you came to church and you had to bring your children and get them up and all these things that we do. And you come and listen to the preachers and to the pastors speak and teach. It's all empty and vain if Christ did not rise from the dead. I was recently in South America, Brazil, thinking about possibly going to the mission field there. And I met a woman there named Grace in the city of Tennessee, a very, very hot place. I mean, incredibly hot. There she is, a woman about this size, dark woman. One day, she was in a poor neighborhood, like many neighborhoods in Brazil, and she would see, of course, the fathers, like many here, are irresponsible and abandon the family. So many mothers are there at home alone with their children. And these mothers, to put food on the table, have to go and do some kind of work, so they leave. And since there's absolutely nowhere to put these children, literally little kids are left at home, two-year-old, three-year-old children. And they just sit there all day and do whatever they do. role, and it's miserable. In every major city, this is a problem in Brazil. So Grace, this little woman, this little Christian woman of simple faith, started to take some of these kids into her home. And over the years, she's built this up. And now there's over 800 children who go there. And can you imagine the amount of work? Now, of course, she doesn't now do it all on her own. There's workers who help teach the kids and bathe the kids and all these things. And there's a preacher there to teach them the gospel. Great, great ministry. and a great encouragement. I was so, so challenged and blessed by this simple woman of faith. But all that she's done is meaningless if the resurrection is not so. All the preachers today across the globe preaching the gospel. It's also important that we keep biblical history in mind as we think about the resurrection. If we remember the creation and the fall that we just spoke about and the curse subsequent to that rebelling of man. We will understand that from the fall of man onwards, death reigns. In the Old Testament, however, there is a storyline developing, is there not? The story of redemption. Remember, Israel, God's chosen people brought out of captivity and redeemed from bondage. There's the story of kings in the Old Testament. A great king, David, who will rule His people. These stories are being told. There are promises of land and blessing and shalom, peace and prosperity and fullness to life. All this looking forward to something, to some Savior, to a Redeemer who will restore things the way they were originally intended to be. They were seeking in all those times of Old Testament for a new day. And then Jesus bursts on the scene in the pages of the New Testament. And Paul and the Apostle who met the risen Savior on his way to Damascus develop so much of the significance of Christ as we see it there in the pages of the New Testament. And what we see in Jesus there, is it not, is the dawn of a new day. A new age has been inaugurated in that work of Jesus Christ. The last times have been set in motion, and eschatology is about Christ, is it not? And He is risen. He is risen. Redemption has been accomplished and applied. Something amazing happened on that day, and this fact is why we come to worship every Lord's Day. That's why we're here on Sunday morning, the same day those women on the dawn of that day went to see if Jesus had arisen. And so we come in memory of that resurrection on this day. So there's another point that the Scriptures point us to. It says, rejoice, rejoice. Many times in this passage, this command to rejoice is presented throughout chapter 28. If we look at verse 5, the angel said to the woman, do not be afraid. We're going through antonyms and synonyms, an antonym of do not be afraid would be rejoice, be confident. Verse 8 says, and they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. Verse 9 says, And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them, and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him. Verse 10, Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and take My word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me. So there is definitely an echo and even the actual word being used in chapter 28 of rejoice. God's people have to rejoice. Why rejoice? Rejoice because of the supreme authority of the resurrected King. Ephesians 1.21, this passage you know well, I'm sure, says this, which He worked in Christ Jesus when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Do we see why we must rejoice the supreme authority of the king? Colossians 2 verses 9 and 10 say, For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Rejoice, take confidence. Now, there's an objection, isn't there? But I've heard Satan is the God of this age. It's a valid objection and we hear it often and maybe it rages in our hearts at times because it certainly seems that way as we look out into the world. Satan is only the God, little g, of the world system that is in opposition to Christ. He is the One who certainly is in charge of the rebellion and of evil. He is the God of confusion and every pain. In this sense, 2 Corinthians 4, 4 declares He is the God of this age. He is the God of the curse that came over creation, but not over creation. Remember Jesus when Satan comes to Him to tempt Him? Matthew 4 tells us about this temptation. narrative and there he comes in and Satan offers him all these things. Did Jesus believe what Satan said? He answered him with scriptures, didn't he? He turned to the word of God. I don't believe a lie, Satan. I don't believe a lie. You're not truly the one who is in charge over the created realm. Jesus is raised above every power and dominion, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. To Him be honor and glory forever and ever, we should say. We can rejoice because the resurrection is the dawn of Satan's doom. Do you understand, some of you young people, what dawn is? You know that time of the day when you wake up real super early and the light is not fully in the sky yet? Maybe there's clouds probably here. You wake up and there's a lot of like, you know, mist, and you can't quite see clearly because it's so early in the morning. The sun has not risen high and burned off all that moisture yet. And so the dawn is the early part. And so we see the dawn of Satan's doom. It's on its way. The sun is rising. And it's going to happen. He will be defeated. And so we can rejoice in the resurrection. The end of the rebellion has begun. Satan is in the death throes. And his time is limited because Jesus Christ has risen above all. Now, fellow soldiers in the body of Christ, there is a lot of motivation here. A lot of encouragement. I think we, especially the Reformed types, we need to hear this on occasion. We need some encouragement. We need some hope. We need some motivation. Because Satan is doomed. Now you may be asking in your head right now, are you some kind of Pollyanna? You know, you know that little girl, you've seen the movie, right? I don't even know I've seen the movie, but I know the story of Pollyanna. She jumps around happily in everything. Everything in the world is just, she sees it through these rose colored glasses and everything is bright and beautiful for her and she's happy about everything. Am I that way? Trying to give all this hope in Jesus Christ? Am I oblivious to what is going on in the world? Things seem out of control and you speak of the resurrected King? He is already the King and it's raining. But not yet is all rebellion put under His feet. So there's an already aspect to our lives. Already we see it all. It's done. It's accomplished. All in Christ. And we look to Him. Away from ourselves. Away from this cursed creation. And we look to Him. It's already done totally in Him. Everything accomplished. But there's a not yet aspect of that already gained victory. And we see that effect of that not yet all around us in our physical bodies, in our spiritual souls, when that strong man comes out every day to do battle with us. You know which one I'm talking about? That he's really muscular and he carries a club with him. and He comes to do battle with us. Mr. Self, right? Isn't that what John Bunyan calls Him? Mr. Self. That guy who wakes up and He's right there ready to do battle with us. So we know of these struggles in our own soul. Is there a rebellious one here today, possibly? Do you not understand a particular rebellious one that because of the risen Lord, your rebellion is doomed? You will not win in your fight against the Risen King. We could say it like some of the Wild West guys do on the movies. Surrender! Stop in the name of the Risen Lord or you yourself will soon face the judgment of this Risen King. In the face of the Risen King of the universe, you will not be able to slip out, to smoke on something, to puff on something to help you feel better in front of His face. You will not be able to run to Nietzsche and to Kant and in our day to Hitchens and to Dawkins and there find some relief, some argument against that risen King. Not when you stand in front of the lion of the tribe of Judah. Turn your eyes on the risen Savior today before he is your risen judge. He is not only a lion, but he's also a lamb. He came to save lost sinners just like all of us. who are here today. We can also rejoice because of the coming restoration of all things. As we see, Satan's domain has been raided, invaded, taken over, and is being returned to its rightful owner. One day things will be made right, and our good God's total reign will be restored. No more corrupt politics. No more world wars. And the curse of creation even will be lifted, Chapter 8 and 19 talks about that. I think we even read parts of that this morning. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. What a great day that will be, won't it? To live in that splendor and that beauty for all eternity with the risen King. Remember, in the New Testament, this is made clear, isn't it? The wind and the waves, don't they obey the voice of the master? The creation knows who's really the king. And at his command, a hush and a calm comes over the storm and the lame man there with the wizard arm and all the corruption in that day and all the sickness and the leprosy. There was Jesus healing these things. Because nature knows who's the true king and who is the powerful one. You know, there's been philosophers who say, oh, those miracles, come on. I mean, that's just so unnatural. We don't see that thing happening today. That's not the way nature is. Really? What is the way nature is actually supposed to be? Isn't it perfect, the way God made it? So really what Jesus was doing wasn't anything actually that amazing. He was just returning it to its actual normal state. Things ought to be that way that Jesus made them. So wholeness is natural and it will be one day again. The greatest enemy is overcome in the resurrection, is it not? Death itself. is transformed in the resurrection. There's some of you who know people who on this day, on their deathbed, we know a pastor who recently went to see his father. There's death all around us. But death in the Lord Jesus Christ has been done away with in the resurrection. Now, if we belong to Jesus Christ and we are in Him, we belong already to that age, to that glorious day. And we have been exalted with Him in heavenly places. Last point. As a result of all this, what does this passage indicate to us? How should we then live? We've read most of this text today and the part that our brother did not read, we read about the corrupt guards. But the end of this passage says, in light of all these things, what are we to do? What are we to live? What are we supposed to be about? Verse 18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In the fulfilling of this great commission that Jesus has given to us, All of us have a part to play as God's people, do we not? We all have different gifts, different callings, different responsibilities. And we can all go. Go where you can. Where God has put you. All of us can go in prayer. We can all go in prayer as we prayed this morning for the Sudanese missionaries. He's alive, remember, we can pray to him, the resurrected King, and that's our responsibility. So we can go in that manner. Are you a saint that is going, that is engaging your world with the claims of Jesus Christ? Are you doing that in your soul on a daily basis? Are you doing that in your marriage? Are you doing that with your family, in your career, in your singleness? in your old age, in your youth, in your education, in your emotions, in your view of all reality? Are you taking the claims of the resurrected King to that place and being engaged with this time in which we live? Ted Tripp, a counselor, lets us know another way. He's talking about the Kingdom here, but it's very pertinent to the going and what we're to be about. Going is about living for a greater Kingdom than the kingdom of yourself, the kingdom of your family and your job? And where do I live for this greater kingdom? He asks in a resting reply. In my life, in my job, my family. Nothing, you know. We're not all called to go to Sudan. We're just called to be right there in that place where we are. With all our situations and life's callings into that place, go into all the world and take the message of the gospel and bring the claims of Jesus Christ to all those areas. And another thing we can all do is sending. Sending is going, isn't it? In our day, the churches are of low funds because of our economic crisis. And there's so many issues economically all around us. And so how are we supposed to send to places where we personally cannot go? Well, as you come week by week and support your local church, here you're helping send the gospel message here to Gig Harbor. Here you're allowing a preaching place, a place where the message of the King can be spoken. And so we can send in that way. And we can send missionaries across the world as well. In conclusion, I hope that today you have seen the explosive force of this passage. The resurrected King there, before He was raised, under the bondage of death, in that tomb broke its chains and was lifted up into the heavenly realms, taking up all the ultimate problems of evil and gaining dominion over it. This demonstration of God's power is greater than that. Have you ever seen, maybe on the Internet, someone sent you one of those new photos of the Hubble telescope out in outer space? See, exploding expanses of stars, and I don't understand what else is going, galaxies, and it's just mind-boggling. But the explosive force of the resurrection, remember, He's the One, the Creator of all that. All that force and all that power is in the palm of His hands. So what we see in the Scriptures to this day is greater than all of that. Christian, in the light of this, what problem are you facing? Take courage. Take courage in the message of Christ. Are you going to be there on that day which has already begun because of the resurrection? Are you there in that age already now in the promises of Christ? There is good news. You can be there. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. For those of you who know that you will be there. Because you have been made right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through His life, through His death, through His burial, through His resurrection, and through His imputed righteousness to our account. Remember what this passage teaches us. You need not be afraid, but instead you need to rejoice, and then you need to go. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for Your Word. Lord, we are privileged this day to be in a house, in a worship place that believes in the resurrected King. Thank You for that privilege. Thank You that we can be gathered together as a little band of believers. So many refusing to come. So many refusing to hear Your call to worship every Sunday morning. And their ears are closed, but you have opened our ears. And so we praise you for the privilege of being here. I pray you bless your people here in this congregation. Bless Pastor Partain as he returns home this week. Bless his family in the morning of his father's death. And I pray that you bless this place and this church. May it be a place where the gospel message and the claims of Christ and the supremacy of your word would be exalted and be strongly made known in this area of your created realm. So we ask this, Father, praising you for all that you have done. We thank you that you have resurrected from the grave on our behalf. We praise you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Now let us receive the benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you. and give you peace. Amen.