Well, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We welcome you and encourage you to find your seats, silence your electronics, and let us be still before the Lord for a moment to prepare our hearts for worship. Peace. you so so you I want to welcome all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to Dayspring Fellowship. We are delighted to have you worshiping with us this morning, and I want to encourage you, if you're visiting us for the first time, we want to give you a gift in the form of this booklet, Ultimate Questions, by John Blanchard. It's a little booklet, but it actually does go through the ultimate questions of life and give true and transformative answers to uh... to them and so uh... please take their their free on the hall table please take one and we would love to have a record of your visit if you could sign a rest uh... guest register that's out on the hall table uh... as well and then uh... i want to direct your attention to your bulletin what you'll see that uh... on uh... every sunday morning at nine forty five right here in this room we have a little bible study uh... a sunday school lesson for adults and we're working through 1 and 2 Samuel right now with a rotation of men that the Lord has raised up to teach us this book. It's been very encouraging and life-changing for us who have been attending. If you were providentially hindered from being with us this morning, that was recorded and you should be able to grab that this week and listen to it, and I encourage you to be here at 945 next week. You'll see also that our sermon passage for next week is John chapter 20, verses 19 through 23. So just a short little passage that I want to encourage you to be meditating upon and perhaps using in your family worship time or your private devotion time in preparation for our gathering next week, just to allow God's word. to continue to speak into your life and shape your soul. Across the page there, you will see that we are in need of a volunteer to serve in the gospel ministry of the AV room, which is just over here to your right. It's a little room where we have our audiovisual equipment. You will be fully trained. That is provided for you. Please see our Deacon Rob Parchman if you want any more information about this opportunity. It is truly a special opportunity because what goes on in this little room is once a month you'll get to go in there and And you'll get to actually live stream and record everything that happens in this room. And you won't miss out on any of it. You'll miss out on being out here and sitting in the pews with your brothers and sisters. But you'll hear it and see it all from in there. And you'll be allowing the gospel of Jesus Christ to go out to the shut-ins, the sick, those who are day-springers at home, live-streaming this service from their sickbeds or from their living rooms, but also out into all the world. And we get the statistics on these things. Our messages are viewed in countries, some of them closed Muslim countries, all over the world. So it truly is just one of the most magnificent gospel ministries that you can be a part of. here at Dayspring. So I just want to encourage you to pray about joining that ministry. It would just be one Sunday a month to join that rotation. Also on the second Wednesdays throughout this new year and into the next, we're going to be gathering in the Fellowship Hall on those Wednesday nights at 545, Brown Bag Supper, just bring a little something to eat. And then we're going to come into this room at 630, and we're hearing marvelous testimonies of God's grace in the lives of Dayspringers. This is a great way to just marvel at how God works his redemption in the lives of his people. It also helps us to get to know one another better. I gave my testimony last month, and many of you got to know me better. This Wednesday evening, we're going to be very blessed to hear our sister Candice Estrada's remarkable testimony about God saving work in her life. So I want to encourage you to be here this Wednesday, 545 for the Brown Bag Supper. Or you can come right at 630 and join us in this room for our time of testimony. And then the Dayspring Ladies are hosting a wedding shower tea party in the Fellowship Hall this Saturday for our sister Leslie Mercado. They are not registered for gifts, but will welcome gift cards or funds for their honeymoon. You can reach out to Sandra for details. The wedding itself will take place on Saturday, March the 15th. right here in this room, and you are all invited to attend, so we are excited for the happy couple. Also, you'll want to mark your calendars for Sunday evening, February the 23rd. This is our annual business meeting, so this church has a business meeting only once annually, so we encourage those of you who are members to attend. It's always an important time to thank God for his provisions and blessing in the previous year to make plans for the current year. We have many challenges ahead and so you want to be here to hear about them and to pray about them and to see what the Lord would have you to do to help us in the new year. So if you are a Day Springer, you're expected to attend this meeting. It'll be at 6 o'clock p.m. on Sunday, February the 23rd. And then finally, the annual Bunyan Conference is coming up. I was just talking yesterday with the president or the chairman of the board of Providence Theological Institute. He's super excited. I'm super excited. I think this year is going to be one of the greatest conference years that we have. It'll be at Grace Church in Franklin, Tennessee, June 22nd to 25th. So if you haven't yet locked in your summer vacation plans, I would encourage you to make a trip out to Tennessee. It's going to be a great time. Speakers are going to include Dr. Joshua Griever, Josh is a great friend of mine. He's gone on to become just a remarkable New Testament scholar and author and professor, and our own missionary to South Africa, Paul Karstens, will be coming back from Africa for a brief visit to speak at this conference. We'll get to have fellowship with him. Pastor Blake White, a good friend of this church, Pastor Gary George, also a good friend of this church, will be speaking. I'll be speaking. And the church that hosts us are just a marvelous, warm fellowship of folks who've been pastored for over five decades now by the same pastor, Bill Sasser, who was a good friend. of our founding pastor, Jackson. So just a great, great time of fellowship. I encourage you to join us. I will be there and I will also be on sabbatical for 12 weeks of the summer. And so this might be a good time to enjoy some fellowship with me during a time where you're not seeing me as regularly as you're used to. I think that's it for announcements. So if you would, take your blue hymnals and turn with me in the blue hymnal to hymn number 82. We're going to be both in the blue and the red hymnals this morning. But we're starting with hymn number 82 in the blue. So hold your place there, and please stand together for our call to worship. Our call to worship this morning comes from the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Colossians. May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Let us sing together. I heard an old, old story How a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning Of His precious blood's atoning Then I repented of my sins And won the victory O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever! He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing, how He made the lame to walk again, and caused the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea Of the angels singing and the old redemption story And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Let us pray together. Our great Father and our God, we do arise and praise you today and give you thanksgiving for plunging us to victory in the blood of the Lamb. We pray that you would guide us by your Holy Spirit in worshiping you this morning, that you would go before us in power and make all of our restless thoughts to cease. that you would cause us to be still and to know that you alone are God, that you are our help in times of trouble, the deliverer and the protector of your people, your church. We thank you that your patience and your mercy are so great to us. We thank you, Lord God, that when we deserved the flood of your wrath, You gave to us new hearts to delight in your word, and eyes of faith to behold your glory, ears to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd, and yet we confess, Heavenly Father, that we have often strayed from that voice, away from the paths of righteousness. And all of our sins against you present a list of accusations to our conscience. And yet we know that they will not and cannot stand because you have laid them all upon Jesus, our substitute in life and in death and our advocate even this moment before your throne. Lord God, open the eyes of our hearts afresh today to the gospel. Deliver us from everything that dims the brightness of your glory, everything that prevents us from taking our deepest delight in you. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have countless times answered our cries for mercy with grace upon grace. And we thank you for always coming to our rescue. We bless your holy name, because your anger lasts for a moment, but your favor, your love, lasts for a lifetime. We thank you for clothing us in the perfect righteousness of Jesus, accepting us in him and seating us with him in the heavenly places. Conform us now to his image and meet with us as we Enter this time of corporate worship. We pray that these next hours together, that our singing would be pleasing to your ears, that you would hear our prayers, that you would shape us and speak to us through your word, by your Holy Spirit. Ensure that your people are well-fed and built up in their holy faith, and see to it that you would receive for yourself all laud, honor, and glory in worship. for Jesus' sake, and in his name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Please take your blue hymnals again and turn to page 292. We sang about the victory of Jesus, but that victory gives us assurance, and this song that we're gonna be singing is a song of assurance for why we live. Greg spoke this morning in our Sunday school hour about waiting. And there is uncertainty in waiting. And there is uncertainty in this life in many times, but there's also assurance that we can live today and we can live for tomorrow because he lives. So let us sing, Because He Lives, 292. God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. He lived and died to bar my pardon. And empty grave is there to prove A Savior lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living just because he lives How sweet to hold a newborn baby And feel the pride and joy he gives A greater still There come assurance This child can face uncertain days Because he lives Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because He lives And then one day I'll cross the river I'll fight life's fight No war with pain and thin as death Gives way to victory I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because He lives You know, on that note, we can just go home now. Well, we actually have another song to sing. It's in the red, 286. 286 in red, Worship Christ, the Risen King. Christ has conquered death and hell. Sing as all the earth rejoices, resurrection anthems swell. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the risen King. See the tomb where death had laid him, empty now its mouth declares. Death and I could not contain him, for the throne of life he shares. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ the risen King. Hear the earth protest and tremble, see the stone removed with power. All hell's mendiants may assemble, but cannot withstand his howl. He has conquered, he has conquered, Christ the Lord, the risen King. Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock and sinners cheer, but the truth proclaims a wonder, thoughtful hearts receive with cheer. He has risen, He has risen, now receive the risen King. We acclaim your life, O Jesus, now we sing your victory. Sin or hell may seem to save us, but your conquest keeps us free. Stand in triumph, stand in triumph, worship Christ the risen King. Amen. Now we're at the reading of God's Word. Morning. The scripture today is Jeremiah 31, 10 through 14. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations. Proclaim it in distant coastlands. He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd. For the Lord will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion. They will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord, the grain, the new wine, and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then maidens will dance and be glad. Young men will, and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness. I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty, declares the Lord. We celebrate that Redemption Every Lord's Day here at Dayspring, and we want to invite you to partake with us as we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. We ask three things of you. First, we ask that you trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. You are not one who puts any confidence in the flesh, in your own good deeds, but rather you are a wretched sinner who has received the unmerited favor and salvation of the Lord. He has taken a ruined sinner and reclaimed you as his own trophy to his grace and glory. So you're one who has been saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for his glory alone. And secondly, we ask that you be a baptized believer, but we do leave the details of your baptism up to your own individual conscience. And third, we ask that you not be under church discipline from your local congregation so that we might respect the work of our Lord as he builds his church in the world. as we prepare ourselves to partake of the Lord's Supper and celebrate this communion. Let's turn in the Red Hymnal again to hymn number 427. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, he composed this one in the year 1866 for his congregation, specifically as a communion hymn. 427 in the red. Let's remind one another. that amidst us our Beloved stands. Amidst us our Beloved stands and bids us view his pierced hands, points to the wounded feet and side, blessed emblems of the crucified, but for luxurious modes When at his table sits the Lord, The wine, how rich, the bread, how sweet, When Jesus dines the guest to meet. If now with eyes defiled We see the signs, but see not Him. O may this love the scales displace, And bid us see Him face to face. O glorious bridegroom of our hearts, Your present smile I have in part. Let every saint your glory see. and a very challenging week this week. There were multiple personal, professional, medical or legal trials that we had to endure. How did you face them? Well, according to James chapter one, we each were supposed to count it all joy, my brothers. when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now, I don't know about you, But I'm not sure that I was entirely successful at being joyful in the midst of trials this week. You might say, wait a minute, am I supposed to be happy when something bad happens? Well, that's not what this passage means. It means that we are joyful because we recognize that the Lord is at work on us. It's not because we're suffering in a trial, but it's that God is using that trial to do work in us, to shape us according to the image of the Lord Jesus. And that is an encouraging thing. That's why we're joyful. The trial still hurts. but it is ultimately for our benefit. When we endure through the trial, we are like the Lord Jesus, who endured every trial on our behalf. We are promised that if we belong to him, we will have trials, because he had them. He had them to the full extent. And if we are His, we are not greater than the Master, and so we will have them as well. We're joyful because He triumphed over them, and through Him, as we just sang, we have the victory. It was purchased for us by His own blood on the cross. So since He has done this for us, and will always be with us, press on through until the end. For he will never leave us nor forsake us. And so I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Brothers and sisters, let's take a moment to examine ourselves. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that though in our weakness we may stumble and fall, the Lord Jesus is there with us and he picks us up and we carry on for he sustains us and he enables us to persevere And through his strength and his work in us, we have victory. And we are strengthened to endure whatever trial that you have before us to the point where we are thankful for the work that you do in us. But though it is painful, Lord, we want to be like Him. For He paid it all for us. Lord, if there are those here who do not know your Son, as Lord and Savior, break that hard heart. Open their eyes to the true joy that is available. Have them flee to the cross to be washed in his blood that they may have the victory in Jesus. We ask this in his name for his glory. Amen. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. When we had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is the body of the Lord which was given for you. This is the cup of the new covenant shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. Please take your blue heminals again and turn to page 588. 588 in the blue in the garden. I come to the garden alone. while the dew is still on the roses. And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known. He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet. The birds hush their singing, and the melody that He gave to me within my heart is rising. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. I'd stay in the garden with Him, Will the night around me be falling? But he bids me go through the voice of woe His voice to me is calling And he walks with me and he talks with me And he tells me I am his own And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. Not many people know that that hymn was written about the passage in John 21 that I'll be preaching from this morning. It was the theologian R.C. Sproul who first pointed that out to me. Well, if you would, take your red hymnals, turn with me in the back of the red to page 799 in your red hymnals, 799 in the red. We're going to read responsibly Psalm 40, verses 1 to 11. Please stand together. I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy depth, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock, and he gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, but put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord, my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us, no one can recount to you. For I to see and to tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced. Then I said, here I am. I have come. It is written about me in the scroll. I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly. I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly. Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord. May your love and your truth always protect me. Let us pray together. Our merciful, gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, for your living, active, effectual Word, for sending your Word out to rescue us when we were perishing, for forsaking your Son upon the cross in our place so that we might not be forsaken as our sins deserve. Lord, for lifting us out of the slimy pit and setting our feet upon a rock. We pray, Heavenly Father, this day that we would cast all of our cares upon you and wait patiently for you to hear our cries. We've each gathered to you this morning with individual needs and burdens, and you look upon the heart, Lord, so you know all of them, and we ask that you would comfort your people, that you would do your sovereign work among us, that you would lead us and shape us and send us on the way that would prosper us, that we would thrive. We pray for all who are sick and unable to be with us this morning, for Sarah and Marie and Frank and for Sandra and all, for Chuck, for all who are at home and down, Lord, we pray that you would lift them. We pray, Lord God, that you would have mercy upon our neighbors All of those to whom Dayspringers shared the good news of the kingdom of Jesus this week, we ask for the Spirit's work in their hearts to use that imperishable seed to cause them to be born again, to bring them to repentance and faith in Jesus. We pray for our nation in which we sojourn, Lord, for President Trump and all of the leaders in our government, that you would have mercy upon us by guiding them in wisdom We pray for the orphans in India, Lord, that you would continue to protect and provide for them through this church, especially that you would provide these children with salvation. We pray for all of our missionaries, for all who labor to tell the world about Jesus. We pray that your word would go forth in saving power and that you would add to your church daily as many as are being saved. We pray that you would be adding to your church today at Emmaus Baptist Church in Georgetown, that you would fill Pastor Marshall Canalis with your Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom there. We pray that all Israel might be saved. And finally, oh Lord, we pray that the whole earth might be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In Jesus' name and for His sake we pray, amen. Well, you may be seated and our children may go out to Children's Church at this time. And as they go, please turn with me in your copy of God's inspired, inerrant word back to the Gospel of John and to chapter 20. John 20. You know, there are certain phrases and sentences that you hear in life that can change everything in an instant when you hear them. Can you think of any of them? Think back over your life to something you've heard that changed your life forever. Here's one. Will you marry me? Changes everything, right? I mean, your boyfriend gets down on one knee, reaches into his pocket, pulls out the little black box, opens it up, and says those four words, and everything changes. You know what it is that changes your life, guys? It's when she says yes. Or maybe even more, if she says no. Here's another one, guys, that I know many of you have heard that changes your life. Three little words. Honey, I'm pregnant. Changes everything. Sometimes it's joyous stuff like that that changes your life, isn't it? Sometimes it's little phrases and sentences that change your life and they're not joyous at all. It's cancer. That'll change your life. Congress declares war. He didn't survive the accident. She didn't survive the operation. So many little sentences, so many little words that encapsulate the moments of our lives that change everything. Well, this morning, I want to take you to a story in John chapter 20, where it wasn't four words or three words or two words that changed the person's life. It was one single word. And when this woman heard it, it transformed everything. You'll be helped to follow along John chapter 20, John 20 starting in verse, we'll start in verse 10. Verse 10's sort of a hinge verse. It ended our last passage, it kind of begins this one. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn't know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. It's just a wonderfully poignant and tender story, isn't it? Of Mary Magdalene being the first person to see the risen Jesus in this way, especially hearing him say her name and all of its joyful surprise, its astonishing happiness, to see the way that that one little word spoken to her by Jesus transformed her entirely. She saw the world in a completely new light, right? She went from being this bereft, grief-stricken mourner to a person just filled with this sparkling, radiant joy of knowing that Jesus, her teacher, her friend, her Lord, is alive. I am so glad that you're here today, and I want to encourage you to come back again over the next few Sundays, and to invite people to come with you, because what we're going to see is this life-transforming pattern. If you let your eyes just sort of scan over the next couple of sections of the book, we just read 11 through 18, And then the next two, right? Jesus appears to the disciples, and then Jesus appears to Thomas. If you look at all of those, what we're going to see is just this remarkable series of three times where this very same thing happens. The same thing that happens to Mary happens to these other people in the next two sections. Jesus, he appears to these various people, first Mary in our passage today, then the disciples in the next one, and then the one that we know as Doubting Thomas, which we'll talk about in a few weeks. It's not really the best name for him, but he is, he's Doubting Thomas to us. And what you'll see as we make our way through these sections, is that there's going to be a pattern, a pattern that emerges in these stories, a kind of three-step progression in the narrative that happens the same way every time. And when you see that kind of progression, when you see that sort of repetition in the way that John narrates it, that means that he's trying to teach you something. He wants you to notice the pattern and to figure something out from looking at it. So let me just tell you what those steps are so you can be aware of them. The first step that you're going to see in all three of these stories, including our passage today, is that you've got someone sunk. in some kind of very human emotion of some kind. It's very different in each case, but it's an emotion every single time that is born of unbelief. That's not to say that these Human emotions are always born of unbelief when they show up in our own lives. But in these accounts, the emotions that are there, that these people are sunk in, every single one of them is born of unbelief in their lives. So for Mary today, it's gonna be, the emotion that she is sunk in is inconsolable grief. And we're going to talk a little bit about why her grief is carried along by unbelief. In the second story, when Jesus appears to his disciples, the emotion that they are sunk in is anxious fear. And then for Thomas, of course, it's just this stiff, intractable stubbornness in his in his refusal to believe that Jesus is alive. So first step in every one of these stories is that they're all sunk in some sort of unbelieving emotion. In the second step, what basically happens is that each one of these people is confronted in their unbelief by Jesus. And he doesn't confront them all in the same way. He looks at what emotion they're sunk in, and then he engages them right at the aching point of their unbelief. That's the second step. And then the third and final step, the final one, is that when they are confronted by Jesus, these people are utterly and completely transformed by that encounter. And so you see the point that John is driving home to us here in these three stories. It's that when you encounter and know the resurrected, risen Lord Jesus, It is a life-changing moment. And there's no obstacle that Jesus cannot overcome in order to bring you to that life-changing event. When you become a Christian, when you understand that Jesus has risen from the dead, every obstacle is overcome and the Spirit brings you to life. So, you know, Christianity is not just something you add to your life. It's not just like an enriching activity that you do on the side for your family's sake. It's not something that you do so that your kids will grow up in a moral environment. No, when you encounter the resurrected Jesus, It changes everything, right? It's to have your life, your whole entire existence turned upside down and to be made something utterly new. That's why the Apostle Paul was exactly right when he said, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, new creation! Well, today it's Mary. It's Mary. And the main idea is this. The main idea, to know the resurrected Jesus is to be transformed. To know the resurrected Jesus is to be transformed. We're gonna look at this passage in those three progressions, so three points to the sermon. And basically, what these are are steps in Mary's experience of seeing the resurrected Lord Jesus. So here they are. First, we're gonna look at verses 11 through 14. That is a storm of grief, a storm of grief in verses 11 through 14. Number two, a flash of life, verses 15 and 16. And then finally, number three, the dawn of mission. Looking at those last two verses, 17 and 18. So a storm of grief, 11 to 14, a flash of life, 15 to 16, and then the dawn of mission, 17 and 18. All right, so point number one, the storm of grief, looking first of all at verses 11 through 14. The last time that we saw Mary in this story, the last time sort of the camera sort of focused in on her was in verse two, where she had run from Jesus's tomb back into the city to tell Peter and John that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and she just assumed that Jesus's dead body had been stolen by grave robbers. Well, she told Peter and John that, and apparently in their haste, Peter and John just left her behind in the city because they got into this foot race, if you remember from last week, running, racing to the tomb. We really don't see Mary again until right at the beginning of verse 11 here, where she's once again alone at the tomb. John tells us that Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. She still locked in the same grief that she'd felt since she watched her Lord Jesus being tried and mocked and flogged and crucified. and it has consumed her like a hurricane. You know, we don't know much about Mary Magdalene. We know from her name that she was from this village Magdala, which was nearby. But what we do know, the little bits and pieces and sort of snippets of her life that we get in the Gospels tell us that she was an intensely devoted follower of Jesus, very close to Jesus. In fact, maybe more than anybody else in the story, she loved him deeply. and she had reasons to. Luke tells us that at one point the Lord Jesus had cast seven demons out who were tormenting her. Traditionally, in church history, she's said to have been a prostitute whom Jesus saved from that life of sin. We don't really know that for sure. There's little hints here and there that that may have been the case, but it's not a certainty. that she was ever a prostitute. What we do know is that Jesus saved her from something awful and terrible. He saved her from the terror, from the oppression of seven dark spirits, seven demons, and she loved him for that. I know many of you have experienced demonic oppression, and you know what it's like to experience deliverance from the nightmare of that by the hand of Jesus. Mary knew that deliverance, too, and she became one of Jesus's closest followers. She's there with him through the last hour before the crucifixion. You know, all of the Gospels, they mention explicitly that she was one of those who was present there at the cross. She was one of those who caught his body when the Roman soldiers wrenched out the nails and lowered Jesus's corpse from the cross. She did the preliminary preparations for his burial. It was all hurried. on that day because the Sabbath was quickly coming, but she had done it and then she'd come back early this Sunday morning to finish the job. There was nobody, literally nobody, who was closer to the crucified Jesus than Mary Magdalene. When everyone else went to their homes for fear of the Jews or whatever it was, when everyone else abandoned Him, She and a few other women with her, they stayed with him, and she did it because she so loved him. He had saved her from her sin, saved her from seven demons, and she adored him for it. That's what the Bible tells us about Mary. So it's not really surprising then that we find her here in verse 11, on the morning of this Lord's Day, standing before the tomb, weeping. Now you can imagine why Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. John mentions it at least two times in that one verse. She's caught up in weeping, and it's not hard to understand why. I mean, not only had her friend and master, teacher, been cruelly killed by the Romans, but now, as far as she knew, he'd been dishonored in the most horrible and degrading way because some grave robbers had come and actually stolen his body, desecrated it. It's a kind of final indignity to him and his followers. So Mary here, she was just distraught, and it's understandable. But here's what I think John is trying to teach us in this. Here's what I want you to learn from this. For all we can understand about Mary's grief, and for all that we can sympathize even with Mary's grief and her tears and her pain, The fact remains that John wants us to see in this little story is that she was lost in it. She was lost in her grief. It was a hurricane in her heart, and it caused her all of that grief. It caused her to miss the glory of what was right in front of her. Let's look at some of the details of the story. First, look in verses 11 and 12. She stoops there in the midst of her tears to look into the tomb and look at what she sees in verse 12. She saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. Now think about that. John just identifies these guys as angels. Other gospels will describe them as being not just in a normal kind of white, but in a dazzling white, like a light that would put your eyes out with all of its brightness. And they're sitting there in all of their dazzling brightness where Jesus had been, one where his head had been, and that turban is neatly folded and laid, and one where his feet had been. Remember from last week, you've got the grave clothes lying there, just like John had seen when he stooped and looked into the tomb, which was the very thing, remember, that convinced the apostle John to believe that Jesus really was alive. You've got everything laid out for Mary right there. And so it makes the angel's question in verse 13 make a whole lot of sense. Look at it, they ask her, Woman, why are you weeping? Now, we don't know exactly the tone that the angels said that in, whether it was a compassionate tone or more of a rebuking tone. We don't know exactly, but I think the holy angels, they can't exactly relate to human fallenness and unbelief, right? I mean, you've got an angel in another gospel that asks the women, Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen, just like he said he would. Well, this one asks a great question, too. And you know, I wonder if there was just some kind of angelic incredulity in him. Grave clothes arranged neatly here. Empty tomb, bright angels. Why are you weeping? He told you. He told you he was gonna rise on the third day. Why aren't you seeing this, Mary? I think that's his question. And Mary's response to him shows just how furious this storm of grief in her heart really is. Notice what she says there in verse 13. She said to them, they have taken away my Lord and I don't know where they've laid him. I mean, it's just, it's a tenacious unbelief that she's got there, isn't it? In the face of all of this, everything that she is seeing, she is sticking to her story, sticking to the assumption that what has happened here, regardless of the grave clothes, regardless of the angels, regardless of the rolled away stone and the empty tomb, regardless of what Jesus has said about rising again after three days, that she's clinging to what has happened here, she thinks, is really nothing more than that Jesus is dead, and his dead body has been stolen. In the face of all of this evidence, that's what she's sticking to. And then it gets worse. Look at verse 14. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she didn't know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener, right? Can't be Jesus, because he's dead. So supposing Jesus to be the gardener, said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I'll take him away. I mean, it's just incredible. It's incredible. Here's Jesus standing right in front of her, face to face, and she probably doesn't even look in his face. She doesn't recognize him. She even tells him, the risen Lord Jesus, that his own body has been taken. It's incredible. Now, you know, to be fair to her, it's not all that unusual in the gospel accounts, these stories about Jesus' appearances after the resurrection. It's not unusual for people to just not recognize Jesus at first. It happens several times. On the road to Emmaus, they don't recognize him. Out on the Sea of Galilee, they don't recognize him. But John, here at least, John seems to be piling up road signs that Mary, in her mind-numbing grief, just bombs right past without paying any attention. whatsoever, the empty tomb, the grave clothes, the angels, Jesus himself, none of it phases her in her insistence that what has happened here is that the body's been stolen, and that's that. She is adamant about it. She is sure of it. She is as certain as she can be that Jesus is dead, and yet she's wrong. I mean, think about that for a second. Why was she so sure? I mean, what had locked her so firmly into that certainty that it was grave robbers who did this? I mean, think deeply about it. What had locked her in? What is she having to presuppose here for her to be so certain that that's what happened? What certain presupposition had to be lodged in her mind that would have created this belief that his body's been stolen and that this continuing deep swirling storm of grief that was swallowing her soul. What presupposition would do all of that in her heart? Well, I'll tell you what the presupposition was. She had to be certain. She had to be beyond a shadow of any reasonable doubt that Jesus was still dead. That's what she had to believe. That's the belief that was causing the grief. That's the presupposition that was causing just this ironclad certainty That's what's happened here, what I'm looking at, grave robbers, right? It's what blew her past the empty tomb, the grave closed, the dazzling angels, the risen Jesus himself, and still insist his dead body's been taken. She didn't have any room, no room at all in her mind or heart or soul for the possibility that he may actually be alive just like he said he would be. She was sure that Jesus was still dead. You see the point that John is driving at there? At this point in Mary's life, right here, she had right down at the bottom of her heart what you might call an invincible unbelief. Nothing could get through to her. Peter and John couldn't get through to her, the empty tomb couldn't get through to her, the grave clothes didn't get through to her, nor the angels, not even looking Jesus in the face, could get through to her for all her grief. over having lost her friend in death, whom she so deeply loved, who saved her from bondage and oppression. For all of that, there was no way. She just would not believe that he was alive. She couldn't do it. She had been sledgehammered by grief, and she was weighed down and closed off by invincible unbelief. You know, the Bible says that either this is or this was true of you today. That if you're a Christian right now, at some point in your life, you were weighed down and closed off by invincible unbelief. Unbelief that nothing could break through. The Bible talks about it when it says that we are, as human beings, we are dead in trespasses and sins, right? Not just incapacitated, not just sick, not just drowning, but drowned, right? Dead at the bottom of the ocean, dead in your trespasses and sins. You ever think about that when it comes to you, that when you became a Christian, it wasn't just a matter of you sort of turning over a new leaf? It wasn't just about you making a decision? It wasn't just about you overcoming the objections or the questions that you had about Jesus and bringing yourself through careful study and reflection and contemplation to a moment of clarity and acceptance and belief? you were dead, spiritually dead in invincible unbelief. And what it took for the Lord to overcome that was an absolute miracle, a miracle greater than Jesus speaking to the corpse of his dead friend and shouting into that rank tomb, Lazarus, come out. If you're a Christian here today, it's because Jesus shouted into the rank tomb of your dead soul, and he shouted, live, and you came alive. You get that through your head and deep into your heart, you start to understand what that means, and it does a couple of things in your life. For one thing, it just reminds us of what a miracle God's grace is, that you are a believer at all in Jesus. You didn't do that. Your heart was stone like Mary's. It wasn't your decision that brought you to Jesus. It may have felt like that. I understand. In the human experience, we see the glory and the beauty and the wonder of Jesus and his salvation, and we move to accept him. That's what it feels like to us. But what John is telling you is that by the time your eyes opened and you saw the beauty of Jesus, he had already called your name. and brought you to life, right? He's the one who broke through the invincible unbelief. He's the one that shattered the rock in the bottom of your soul and caused your spirit to come alive. Just like the hymn that we often sing says, I sought the Lord. It's number 466 in the red, one of my very favorites. I sought the Lord. I did that. I sought the Lord, but afterward, I knew he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior, true. No, I was found of Thee. Another thing that this understanding does, to understand that every human being is spiritually dead, weighed down and closed off by this invincible unbelief, that understanding also gives us hope that God can save anybody he wants to at any time he wants to. You know, some of you in this congregation have been praying for family and for friends for decades to come to the Lord Jesus in faith. I know you have, because you've prayed about these people on Sunday mornings and at prayer breakfasts, and you've told me about it, and you've written to other elders to ask them to pray about it, and you've been doing that for years. Well, if that's you, don't give up. never give up, even if it's somebody that seems to be at the very end of their life, like my father-in-law, Louie, like Chuck's mom, Fern. We don't give up, because when the Lord decides to save somebody, when he decides to shatter that granite block of invincible unbelief, he does it miraculously with just a word from heaven. You don't know and I don't know when God might speak and break the granite in that person's heart. But keep praying that he will. And don't grow weary in that good work. But I want you to think about something else before we move on. Just one more thing. Mary had this rock of unbelief in her heart, right? She was certain that she knew something about Jesus, and what she knew about him was that he was dead. Jesus was dead, and she knew it. And the fact that she knew it was her problem. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was dead. What messed her up, though, is that that just wasn't so. So here's a question for you to think about. What is something in your life, in your mind, in your heart that you are quite certain of about Jesus that might just not be so? That's an incredibly hard question to answer because you don't naturally question things that you are quite certain of, right? And the reason you don't question them is because you're certain of them. And the reason that you're certain of them is because you don't think they deserve any questioning. So it's a hard question to answer, but there are times in life when God will shine just a little bit of light into those corners, or he'll shake things up a little. He'll shine some light on assumptions that you're making that just aren't the case. So what might that be for you this morning? Maybe it's a rock-solid certainty that Jesus is never gonna save that person. Maybe you've become just absolutely certain after years that Jesus is never going to give you victory over that besetting sin. Maybe you're absolutely certain that Jesus is never gonna love and save you. So you've become certain that God can't and won't save someone who's done everything that you've done. Friend, if you're thinking that one, I can tell you right now, straight up, that that one is not true. There is nobody on the face of this planet that is too deep and too dark for God's love and God's grace to save them. When Jesus died on that cross, it wasn't just part of the curse that was exhausted, it was all of the curse. Jesus will save you this second if you will come to Him in faith and put your trust in Him. He will save you. Don't ever think for a second that He won't. Well, here's point number two. second part of Mary's experience, a flash of life, a flash of life. So in verse 14 here, Mary, she questions the angels, and then somehow, apparently, she becomes aware of someone else standing behind her, you know, when you get that sense that someone else is there. And so she turns around, and John just says it flat out there in verse 14. She turned and saw Jesus standing there, but she doesn't recognize him. And then in verse 15, it's interesting, Jesus asks her two questions that I think, as readers of the Bible, especially if we're familiar with the story, we have a tendency to sort of run over these two questions without thinking about them nearly as much as we should. So look at verse 15. Jesus says to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? You know, when the Lord asks questions, it's never because he lacks information, right? Genesis 3, Adam, where are you? He knows exactly where Adam is. And what's he doing? He's confronting Adam. He's drawing Adam out. and confronting him in his unbelief. Here it's the exact same thing. Jesus knows exactly why she's weeping. He knows exactly who she's looking for. And once you realize that, then you realize that Jesus, he isn't just asking these questions for a rhetorical punch or to get a conversation started. He's not playing the role of the gardener here or something with these questions. He's actually confronting Mary at the aching point of her invincible unbelief. Let me show you how that is. It's confronting her at the aching point of her invincible unbelief, and I want you to see it. So the first thing he does, look at those questions really carefully. First thing he does is he asks her the exact same question that the angels just asked her. Woman, why are you weeping? Of course, if he had let her answer that question, she would have had a ready answer to that question, wouldn't she? She would have said, I'm weeping because my friend is dead, and now to top it all off, grave robbers have come and they've stolen his body, and that is painfully sad to me, and therefore I am weeping. She'd have a ready answer to that, and Jesus knows it. And now look at what he says next. It is a direct challenge to that unspoken answer. He says to her, whom are you looking for? And he doesn't just want her to say the name. He wants her to think about the name. Whom are you looking for? Think about who it is that you are here in this graveyard looking for. You're looking for Jesus. You're looking for the one who cast out seven demons from you. That's who you're looking for. You're looking for Jesus Christ, the one who saved you from your sin and transformed and changed your whole life. You're looking for Jesus, the one who walked on water and healed the sick and made the blind to see and the lame to walk and raised your friend Lazarus from the dead and who told you again and again and again that he was gonna rise from the dead on the third day, which is today. That's the Jesus you're looking for. And Mary, If that's who you're looking for, why are you still weeping? There's just depths of truth and wonder in those two questions, aren't there? And they're exactly the questions that you and I need to ask ourselves often. Dear woman, why are you still weeping? Don't you know who it is who sits upon the throne of heaven? Don't you know who it is who loves you and cares for you and who died for you? If you do, why are you still weeping? Dear man, why are you so unsettled and so anxious and so afraid? Don't you know who it is who sits upon the throne? Don't you know who it is who is sovereign and in control over every circumstance of your life? Dear Christian, why are you still bowing before sin and letting it be your master? Don't you know who it is who has set you free from the bondage of that sin and made you his child and adopted you into his kingdom and set you on high with Christ Jesus? Dear Christian, why are you still serving sin? Dear church member, Why are you still harboring bitterness against your brother or sister in Christ? Don't you know that the one who forgave you of far more than you will ever forgive anyone else calls you now to forgive? Why? Why then, if you know him, why are you still harboring bitterness? But Mary doesn't hear him. She doesn't get it. She answers with the same assumption that is still just deeply lodged there in the bottom of her heart, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead. This I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, he is dead. So Mr. Stranger, if you've moved him, tell me where he is and I'll put him back in the tomb where he belongs because he is dead. And then with one word, That rock of invincible unbelief in the bottom of Mary's heart is just shattered. The granite is broken through, and the light of heaven shines into her soul, and all he says is, Mary. It's such a beautiful word, especially when you consider what he could have said to her in light of her invincible unbelief. He could have rebuked her. He could have called her a whitewashed sepulcher. He could have said, oh, you woman of little faith. Or he could have said, didn't you hear me when I told you I was going to rise again? But none of that, just Mary. Mary, of all the things that he could have said, it's the tenderest, most loving, gentle, most wonderful thing imaginable. Mary says her name. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. And when he has brought out all his own, he goes before the sheep And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. You know, I've often wondered if, you know, in the halls of heaven, when the Lord does that miracle of salvation in a sinner's heart, I wonder if the same basic thing happens, right? I wonder if the way he does that is to just lovingly, savingly, Say your name. Joan. Bill. Jessica. John. I wonder if that's how it is for all of us at the moment when our invincible unbelief is shattered and our souls come to life and our eyes just pop open and we see the beauty of Jesus. Does he speak our names tenderly just like this? I don't know, but for Mary, the second that she heard her Lord speak her name, her soul came to life and she knew him. She knew immediately who he was. She addresses him, with this Aramaic word, raboni, which John helpfully translates for us. He tells us that that means teacher, that actually it's not just teacher. For those of you who've studied a little Aramaic, you know that the ending, it's a possessive first person pronominal suffix, which means my. She responds to him, my teacher. Now, of course, that's not the highest theological thing that Mary could have said there, right? I mean, she doesn't call out, my Lord and my God, like Thomas is about to do a couple passages later. She doesn't say, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And maybe she doesn't say those things because she doesn't understand everything yet. But what she does know now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that her beloved teacher, Jesus, he's not dead. He is alive and her grief and her tears and her fear have just been obliterated by the joy of that recognition, that understanding. Well, what about you? What about you? I wonder if you have had that moment yet. where you realize that, oh my stars, Jesus really is who he claims to be. He really is alive and he really does transform people and save them from their sins and give them eternity. I wonder if you've ever had that moment yet because for every Christian, there is such a moment. Sometimes it's more dramatic than others. We have the joy of hearing about some of these wonderful moments on these second Wednesday evening testimonies all throughout this year and into the next year. There are many Christians who can't even exactly kind of pinpoint when it happened, because for them it's more like a sunrise of understanding in their souls. Other people's, it's a dramatic, blindingly flash of light, but it happens for everybody, right? Light breaks through the granite of unbelief, shatters it. For every Christian, the darkness is replaced by light. I wonder, friend, I wonder if that has happened to you. Maybe, maybe this is the day in the halls of heaven If this is how God works, God says your name and you come to life. What's that gonna feel like? You know what that's gonna feel like? It's gonna feel like your heart, your soul looking at Jesus and just toppling over into faith in Him. You're just gonna see all of a sudden how simple It really is. Thought it was so complicated. And you're gonna see just how simple it really is. No works, no getting yourself right, cleaning yourself up, right? None of that stuff. Just simply letting go, humbling yourself, surrendering, toppling over into trusting Jesus. Maybe that is happening to you right now. Maybe God is strangely, warmly calling your name. If so, resist the temptation to take your heart and prop it back up into unbelief. Trust Him. Fall over into faith and trust in Jesus. Look at His beauty. See His glory. Stare at His salvation and trust Him. Maybe this is the moment when your name just rang out in the courts of heaven and the angels rejoiced. Well, thirdly, finally, the dawn of mission. The dawn of mission. This is kind of the third step here in Mary's experience, right? Storm of grief first. Then it's this flash of life when Jesus brings her to spiritual sight by saying her name. And then point number three, the dawn of mission. Okay, so something clearly happens. It's left out, John doesn't tell us, but something clearly happens. Either Mary wraps her arms around Jesus' neck or something like that. John doesn't tell us, but something happens between verse 16 and 17 that gets this little rebuke from Jesus in verse 17. He said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. So it's difficult, there's several things about this verse that just kind of cause us to scratch our heads. Christians have been doing that for a thousand years over this passage. You know, there's just the question here in verse 17. Why does Jesus forbid Mary to touch him here? But just a few verses later, like literally just a few verses later, he's gonna encourage Thomas to touch him. And there are several other times after his resurrection in other Gospels and in other places where people do in fact touch Jesus. So it doesn't seem to be against the rules or anything really for anyone except for Mary. So here's another puzzle. Look at the verse carefully. Why does Jesus tell Mary that the reason she can't cling to him is because he hasn't yet ascended to the Father? What does that have to do with anything? What's the logical connection between those two phrases? Well, lots of answers have been given throughout history, and there's just no way to be totally sure. I'm not going to list them all, but I will tell you that I think that what's going on here is that Jesus is telling Mary that she cannot relate to him now after the resurrection. She cannot relate to him in the same way that she related to him before the resurrection. He's saying things have changed. So the way I'm inclined to read it is something like this. Mary. don't cling to me, don't hold onto me in the flesh in the same way that you did before my resurrection, as if I'm merely still your mortal friend. For although I have yet to ascend to the Father in glory, I'm about to. And when that happens, our relationship is gonna change. So I think that's the best logic. It's a message that in That in-the-flesh relationship that Mary enjoyed with her teacher, that in-the-flesh relationship that the disciples enjoyed with him, that friendship relationship that they enjoyed, that's changing now. There's gonna be distance between him as the first fruits of the new humanity, God's redeemed, glorified humanity, and them. He's risen, they're not yet risen. He's ascending on high, and so the relationship's going to change. In other words, they're not going to relate to him in the same way. And what Jesus makes another point about in the same verse is that they're also not going to relate to the Father in the same way now, or even to each other in the same way. And this is glorious. Notice the possessive pronouns. He says to Mary, go. Go tell my brothers. my brothers, that I'm ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Do you see what that's saying? That's saying that in the wake of Jesus's death and resurrection, When you become a Christian, you become so united to Jesus that you are pulled into a relationship with the creator of the universe that reflects the very relationship that Jesus has with him. It's not the exact same thing, right? Jesus as eternal God, the son, has a unique relationship with the eternal father. But in his redeemed humanity, We're united. We're brothers. We're adopted and made sons and daughters, just like Jesus the King is a son. This risen man's father is our father, if we're united to him by faith. This risen man's God, who he worships, is our God, if we're united to him by faith. Did you know that up until this point in the Gospels, Jesus has never, not once, referred to his disciples as brothers, my brothers. They're friends, they're followers, they're sent out ones, they're my disciples, all kinds of things, but he has never called them my brothers until right now. You see the point? Jesus's death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father changes everything. Look at what else happens here. When Mary sees him, he then sins her. You see that? He sins her, commissions her with a message, a mission. This is the beginning of the Christian mission. She goes off and she tells others about the resurrected Jesus. And what we're being taught here is that that mission and goal, it's not incidental to the Christian life. It's what we do. It's what we do. Have you ever wondered why? when we're saved. Why God doesn't just then and there transport us out of this rotting, festering, violent, disease-ridden, spiritually darkened world to bring us to himself. Why it is that we're just left down here. It's because of one and only one thing. The mission. It's the only reason you're still here. I'll be blunt. When you get up every morning, the mission is the only thing you're supposed to be doing. Now, there's a lot of pieces and parts to the mission, but it's one and only one thing that we are still here for on this dying planet as Christians. Anything else? Everything else is just a distraction from the mission that you are on, that you are called to. Last thing, I just want to kind of wrap it up in a bow for you. But do you see how Mary's experience here, these three points, the storm of grief that she was in, the flash of life that Jesus gives to her, and then being sent on the mission after all her relationships are transformed? Do you see how Mary's story in this passage is exactly your story? If you're a Christian here today, it is exactly our story. First, lost in unbelief. Second, called to life in Jesus. And then third, sent out with the good news. That's who we are as Dayspringers, the people of the risen Savior transformed And now we get to go out and tell others the good news. Let us pray. Our risen Lord, we thank you and we praise you for your goodness. We thank you that you are the risen one. We thank you that you change and transform blind unbelievers into seeing believers by your divine resurrection power. When you call us by name, keep us faithful to the mission. In your precious name, the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Please stand together. Be sure to greet one another and enjoy fellowship one another, and I want to encourage you this Wednesday evening to be here for our testimony series. We'll be hearing the glorious testimony of our beloved sister Candice Estrada, and you don't want to miss it. If you're able to make the brown bag supper, it'll be at 545 in the fellowship hall. Otherwise, we'll see you in this room at 630 Wednesday evening. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.