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[0:00] Yeah, wouldn't it be great if you had your own personal guru when making big life changes? Like someone you could just, not just ring up, but would actually be part of your life and you could get ideas from.

[0:14] Let's say, for example, you're taking a big step like, I don't know, getting married. And you had someone wise that you could ask and they would say, listen, go for it.

[0:26] Sometimes you need that. What about getting fit? Not sure what to do. It's always helpful to have someone tell you how to get fit.

[0:38] Or maybe you need to change your diet. There's so many different diets these days. You want to make sure you choose the right one. Or what about a new business venture? It's so helpful to have someone there alongside you telling you, hey man, do this, don't do that.

[0:52] I've made these mistakes. This is going to help you. This will help. This is going to make a success of what you're trying to do. But big things, not just small things. You've probably been taken for a ride at some point by some bogus guru.

[1:06] I mean, there's so many out there, aren't there? You just open YouTube and how many people are telling you to invest in Bitcoin or do this new fad? Sometimes well-meaning advice, but maybe you've taken well-meaning advice that didn't work.

[1:20] Or worse, you actually had someone who pretended to be helpful but actually wanted you to fail. Maybe, especially a business venture.

[1:31] What about the biggest life change we can go through? Going from life to death. What kind of guru are you going to have that's going to help you with that bit of information, to do that successfully?

[1:48] That's a big one. You'd really want someone who knew their stuff, wouldn't you? If you could listen to the person who held the keys to life and death and Hades, you'd want to listen to that person.

[2:08] That would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? Well, join me in Exodus chapter 24 as we start there and consider how we can have the power of Christ spoken to us.

[2:26] How do we listen to Christ as our leader, not just a guru, but as a lord of life and death? And some interesting things that we're going to discover in Exodus that will help us navigate our way to listening to Christ, listening to the resurrected one.

[2:48] Well, there are so many different things telling us how to live life on earth. Which way to go? Up or down? Left or right? What's right?

[2:58] What's wrong? What we're going to discover in our section in Exodus is that we need to listen to words that come from heaven. And there's really just two places, two locations of information about how to live life well.

[3:14] There's information that comes from God, information that comes from heaven, and there's information that happens in our sphere, on planet earth. We either listen to ourselves, or we listen to others, or we listen to people who are...

[3:27] There's entities sort of in between heaven and earth that are part of this broken world that we somehow think are from heaven, but they're really not. There's only very few people from heaven that know what they're talking about.

[3:45] We want to listen to words that come from heaven because they help us live better lives here on earth, because words from earth are really bad at helping us live well. So you've got this section in Exodus 24, and we're looking at the second half from verse 10, from verse 9 and 10.

[4:06] Although we can take a whole section, really. And what we've got is you've got the people of Israel meeting at this mountain. You've got God who's in heaven, but he...

[4:21] In the story in Exodus 24, he comes down to earth, but he sits on top of the mountain, doesn't he? He doesn't come all the way down to the bottom where the people are. Remember that? You notice that?

[4:32] He stays on top of the mountain, and then they get invited up, and they see just underneath, you see this pavement of sapphire, this beautiful... That's the pavement. That's the paving stones, by the way. So not cement, not nothing, sapphire stones, and then the feet of God himself.

[4:46] And they sit and they have that meal. Do you remember that from last week, from Friday? God is on the mountain. He wants to speak to his people, but they can't go up there.

[4:57] Well, they can if they've been covered in the blood of Christ. But even then, God doesn't... He still doesn't speak to them directly. He calls Moses and says, Okay, Moses, I want you to come up here, and I'll talk to you, and then you are going to give the words to the people.

[5:15] You are going to give the words to the people. So have a look at verse... We'll start at verse 3. Just wanted to notice the words that Moses is engaging in.

[5:27] He's the mouthpiece of God for the people here. Verse 3. Are you with me in chapter 24? Yep. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules.

[5:39] And the people responded, We're going to do everything you tell us. Verse 4. Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Verse 7. He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.

[5:55] That's the book that we've been looking at over the last few weeks, from chapter 19 to 24. And again, they responded, Yes, we will do everything you say. And then especially verse 12. The Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commandments, which I have written for their instruction.

[6:21] Moses is highlighted as the one that goes up. What's interesting is that the word up is found seven times in the Hebrew text, and the word mountain is found seven times as well.

[6:32] Obviously a significant word. There's only one person that goes up onto the mountain. That's Moses. All the way up. So later on at the end of chapter 24, there's verse 17.

[6:43] The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.

[6:58] So what's going on here? Well, first of all, it tells us something about God's word, that God's word is special. It's a word from heaven. It's not when God speaks to his people, it's not their word that he's giving them.

[7:14] He's not repeating them to what they know. It's not Moses' word. Moses goes up to take God's word to his people. These are special words because they come from God.

[7:24] So everything in this text is saying, I've got words to tell you, but I'm going to sit here on top of the mountain, you guys are down there below, and there's a person in between that can tell you these words. God's words are special.

[7:37] And these words are going to tell them about a way of living that kind of belongs on top of the mountain, if I could put it like that. A way of living that comes from heaven. Words that if the Israelites listen to will pull them.

[7:51] So they're at the bottom of the mountain. Moses is over here. Okay, let's put this. This is the top of the mountain. Israel is down here. God is here on the top. Moses is in between.

[8:02] And so God speaks the words to Moses to hear. Moses takes the words down. And the feeling is that if they hear those words that come from heaven, their life is going to not stay down here at the bottom.

[8:17] Earthy. Earthly. Listen to me. I've got stuff to tell you from heaven about how to live. Don't come live with me up here. I don't want you to come and live with me in heaven.

[8:29] I want you to stay down there, but I want you to listen to stuff that comes from heaven. Don't listen to stuff that comes from down there. If you can paraphrase it like that. Secondly, these words are going to be easy to know.

[8:42] Ooh, words from heaven. How are we ever going to know? So, I don't know. Moses can say what he likes. Well, I'm going to write it down. I'm going to write it down. Moses, you're going to write it down in a book so that everyone can just read it.

[8:53] If you want to know what God says, you just have to open the book and read it. It's going to be an easily accessible word, but still a word that's got power from heaven. Why is this important?

[9:07] What's the point of having words from heaven and not words down on earth for God's people to listen to and to respond to and how to live their lives? Well, here's an illustration that might help a little bit.

[9:22] Moms and dads, you've left home every now and then. At what point can you leave home and you have your kids stay at home by themselves and not burn the place down?

[9:33] Not yet. Okay. Well, let's say there's a family with mom and dad and let's say there's four kids, a couple of teenagers and some younger ones that are very young.

[9:49] Who are they going to tell to the kids? Who must the kids listen to? The youngest one or the oldest one? The one at the bottom or the one, the oldest one? So he's going to listen to the oldest kids.

[10:03] Does the oldest kid listen to the youngest kid how to now run the house while mom and dad are gone? Is he going to listen down or is he going to listen up to mom and dad? What's going to happen if he listens to the youngest kid?

[10:18] It's going to be a mess. We actually did that once in my house, listened to my brother and we set the garage on fire. It was just a toy garage, but it's okay.

[10:30] But we've got to start somewhere. We thought it was a great idea at the time until mom came back. So, you don't, when you want to know how to live life, well, the way that God has structured authority is that you don't listen to, here, bottom, the young ones.

[10:53] You listen to people who know what they're talking about, the ones up there. there's another reason why God wants him, wants his people to listen to the words that come from heaven.

[11:10] The next story in Exodus, instead of listening to God, the people, God says, listen, they've got the Ten Commandments.

[11:21] The next story from Exodus 24 is about Exodus 32. It's the story of the golden calf. So, God says, don't make any idols. No, we're going to make idols.

[11:32] Actually, what happens is, there's a word from God in our text here in 24. There's a word from God, don't make idols. We won't make idols. Okay, we'll make idols. So, they say, we'll do everything that God has said. Oh, no, we'll make some idols.

[11:44] They say, we'll do what you say. Don't make idols, we'll make idols. God says, listen, don't mess around. Be pure and holy. Don't mess around with the people of, don't sleep around.

[11:56] We will do everything you say, we're going to sleep around. First thing they do. God says, don't get drunk. Oh, we're going to, and they throw a party. So, we'll come up, we're going to get there later in our series.

[12:10] But when you don't listen to the words from heaven, you go so quickly, you go so quickly, dim a car, down on planet earth. We just have this inbuilt ability to not know what to do with our lives and to mess it up completely.

[12:22] If we don't, listening to words that come from, from God. And so you don't, you really don't want to live your life based on words that come from earth.

[12:37] You want to have someone in your life from, not from earth, that can tell you how to live life properly. They can give you life-giving words that preserve your life and let you live a good life.

[12:48] Because the problem with earth is it's a place of sin. It's a place where things don't work well. It's a place full of really bad ideas about how to live life.

[13:00] Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Don't eat the fruit tree. Okay, we won't eat the fruit tree from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Who is it that gets them to eat that fruit?

[13:12] An angel? How does he come to them? Not as someone from heaven, but in the form of a snake. Something from earth. So that's how the Bible sees if you're looking at advice, a guru, how to live your life, the Bible is don't listen to the stuff that happens on planet earth.

[13:34] Don't listen to yourself. Don't listen to other people. Make sure you're listening to me, God. I've got the words that I know what I'm talking about. It's like having these words written down is like having the factory default settings.

[13:45] You know when you've got something at home you're trying to fix or build but it doesn't go well and a little smoke puff starts appearing when it shouldn't appear? You quickly grab the manual because the people who made it know how to make it, how it works.

[13:59] It's like that with God's words. It's like that with God's word. With this thing. They've been written down for us. We've got them. We can follow God. We can understand. We can know what it is that he, how he's supposed to live our life.

[14:11] So friends, we must be careful who we listen to on how to live life on earth. God's word brings life and freedom. Every other message that doesn't have its origin in God promises the stuff that God promises life and freedom but instead delivers death and pain and chains.

[14:36] Now the problem in our story is that in the Old Testament the Israelites said they'd listen to God but we know that they didn't. Just a few chapters later they're throwing it all out already. They didn't care about this knowledge that came from heaven and they didn't listen to the people that God sent and that's because they had this sin thing blocking their way.

[15:00] So God gave them a covenant but in the storyline of the Old Testament he realized that their problem wasn't going to go away. They're never really going to listen to the people God sent. He's got to make a new covenant with them.

[15:12] A covenant that's going to not just be written in words on the outside but a covenant that's going to hit them in their heart that's going to change them from the inside. And they need a new covenant mediator.

[15:24] Moses gives them words that are written down on stone. He wants to send he's got to send someone that can give them words that are going to be written on our hearts. Someone that they will listen to.

[15:34] That covenant mediator in the New Testament is Jesus. He's the one that has come from God. It's interesting to compare Christ and Moses.

[15:48] Moses is amazingly important but he comes from earth and he goes up to the mountain. In Christ we've got someone who comes down from heaven to earth. Speaks to us about the stuff from heaven.

[16:00] Then goes further down on the cross into the bowels of the earth in death then stands up again out of death and now has gone back up to heaven and has sent his Holy Spirit down.

[16:13] So this person Christ is way more important than Moses. The words that he's able to speak, the things that he's able to do for his people are of just a hugely different order of magnitude.

[16:27] He is one who far outstrips Moses when it comes to knowing the words of God. Moses goes up and gets words from God. Jesus comes down from heaven to bring God's words to us. But it's only when he goes back up after his resurrection that real change starts to happen for the first time in history who are able to listen to the person that God sent them.

[16:51] So that's the importance of the resurrection. It's the thing that breaks this problem of the human heart that doesn't listen to God. It just has that power, the cross and the resurrection together.

[17:02] So turn with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. We're going to look at resurrection and the power of the resurrection of Christ.

[17:18] The power of the resurrection of Christ. How do we obey? How do we do these words, the words that God said you need to do?

[17:31] How do we do them? Israel couldn't keep them. How is it that we're able to obey? Paul is thinking of that exact question. He's wondering, what about sin?

[17:44] Sin is the thing that blocks it. This thing in our heart that says, now I'm not going to listen. It blocks our ears. From verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound or grace may increase?

[17:56] By no means. we die to sin, how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

[18:19] So this is where the resurrection comes in. Because Christ has been raised from the dead, if you are included in him by baptism, by faith as well, you are going to get raised from the dead.

[18:35] Your sins have been taken care of. You've got a new way of living, a new power of life. That's the import of verse 4. Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too, Christians, may live a new life.

[18:51] That's a life that listens to the one that God has sent. And he's able to take his words in and go, yes, I'm actually going to do what he says. Not like the Israelites in the Old Testament. Yeah, we'll do it, but then we're not going to do it.

[19:02] Christians are the first people in human history that have been able to keep the words of God. But it's the power of the resurrection that gets them there.

[19:14] You now have the same power over sin and every evil thing that stops you from listening to God that Jesus has when God raised him from the dead. I just want to share some words from Martin Luther.

[19:29] He's got some insightful comments on who we must listen to about the reality of our situation when thinking through sin and righteousness or sin and life. Old way of living. Sin is the old way of living.

[19:40] But in Christ, we've got resurrection power to live a new life. And he says, you know, these two things are struggling within us. He says, Paul turns my eyes away.

[19:52] I should have it on the screen. Paul turns my eyes away from my sin and directs him to Christ. For if I look at my sin or listen to my sin, they will destroy me.

[20:04] Therefore, I must look to Christ who has taken my sins upon himself and crushed the head of the serpent. What has now become of sin? There it lies under his feet.

[20:16] Christ has conquered sin by dying. And what does that mean for me? Now I can defy death, the devil, sin, and hell, and they do me no harm because of what Christ has done.

[20:30] But, Luther continues, the question arises, if Christ has taken away death and our sins by his resurrection and has justified us, why then do I still feel death and sin within me?

[20:42] I've got this struggling going on inside of me. Why is that? Luther's answer, feeling and faith are two different things. Feeling and faith are two different things.

[20:57] We said at the start that you want to listen to words that come from heaven because those words speak the truth to you. Your feelings don't come from heaven. Your feelings come from inside you. And we can be very quick to trick ourselves into thinking no, I haven't been able to, I can't conquer sin.

[21:13] I can't live this life that God wants me to live. It's too hard. That's you listening to your feelings. Luther says don't listen to your feelings. Go on faith. Listen to what God has said.

[21:23] Faith is listening to what God has said. It's the nature of faith to lay aside reason. I'm not going to listen to the world around me. I'm not going to listen to myself. Close your eyes and submit absolutely to the word and to follow it in life and death.

[21:38] faith. Faith says no, I'm not going to listen to my feelings about my sin, about the brokenness of the world, about the pain. I'm going to listen to God's word about what Christ has done and who I am and what I can do.

[21:51] Does that make sense? Feeling doesn't extend beyond that which may be apprehended by reason and the senses, which may be heard, seen and felt and known by the outward senses.

[22:03] He's saying feelings is just you base your feelings on what you see and what you know on stuff here on planet earth, on the stuff around you. Don't do that. Rather listen by faith to the words that come from God about what he's saying about you.

[22:17] Since Christ has in fact died for our sins and was raised for our justification, our feelings must not be considered, but we must constantly insist that death, sin and hell have in fact been conquered.

[22:29] Although I feel that I am still under the power of death, and sin and hell. See what faith does? It clings to what God says. I'm going to believe that about my situation.

[22:40] I'm not going to believe my weakness, my feelings that I can't do it, what I've been told by other people maybe, that you're not good enough, that you can't make it. I'm going to listen to what God says what I've got in Christ.

[22:55] Just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may now live a new life. life. Resurrection gives us the power to live this new life that God tells us how we can live.

[23:13] My question then is, who are you listening to when it comes to how you live your life? life? Who are you listening to when it comes to how you live your life? Are you listening to the resurrected one?

[23:25] To the one who's gone, come from heaven, come to earth, died, and rose again? Surely, he's the one to listen to about the reality and the truth of my existence.

[23:41] No one else. Not my feelings, not anyone else. Have a look at what Christ does later on in chapter 6 of Romans.

[23:54] Verse 8. Oh, actually, let's start at verse 5. It's important. If we have been united with him, like this in his death, that's being baptized and going down with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

[24:17] Paul isn't thinking, well, Paul's got two resurrections in mind. The resurrection now to a new life now, and of course, the ultimate resurrection of our bodies, just like Christ was raised from the dead.

[24:29] Verse 6. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with. So your old lifestyle, that's stuck up on the cross with Christ. You don't have it anymore.

[24:41] It's not yours. It became his. So you can be a new person. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

[25:02] So consider yourself dead. Christ died on that cross on Good Friday? That was your death. That's your sin. You're no longer that person. You're someone else. Who are you?

[25:14] Well, verse 8, if we've died with Christ, we believe that we also will live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again.

[25:26] Death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. so that you get raised a new person in Christ with this ability to conquer sin and to conquer death and to conquer your fears and to conquer your worries and to conquer your weaknesses.

[25:50] You've got that power now because it's not you living. Jesus is living in you and not Jesus who came down to planet earth and died on the cross. Jesus who came from heaven, this heavenly being that came down to earth, died on the cross, dead, and then three days later stood up.

[26:09] Now you don't know anyone that powerful. That's the most powerful person that you can have in your life. A dead person coming back to life and then giving his life to everyone else who wants it.

[26:20] It's an incredible exchange. Are you listening to this person, this person who's got mastery over death and sin and all evil things?

[26:35] Maybe you're here for the first time. Maybe you're visiting and you haven't actually put your faith in Christ yet, in this person who's been raised from the dead. Maybe you're wandering all over in your life.

[26:49] You don't know where to go. You don't know how to deal with the problems in your life. You've got that guru we were talking about. You don't have that guru. You're your own guru, the best person you know how to live your life. You know you've got problems, but you don't know how to fix them.

[27:04] Well, I want you to take seriously the words of the risen Christ about how life can be had in him and how you can have a changed life. The thing that stops us from wandering around in this life is the resurrected Christ pouring his life into our lives.

[27:21] It's like a mighty river giving us direction. In verse 12 in Exodus 24, where God says he's going to give people instruction. That instruction is on the outside.

[27:32] Christ gives us instruction on the inside that we actually do listen to him. When we go a little bit wayward, we actually we're going to listen to him. That instruction, it's like, it's a direction.

[27:47] It gives you a direction. instruction. I don't know if you've ever tried walking across a strong flowing river. It's pulling you and you can't, it's pulling you in one direction.

[28:04] That's the, that's the, so the thought world behind this word instruction, in fact that's the, that's the, it's the Old Testament word Torah. The whole Old Testament, the things that Moses gives his people.

[28:15] it's, it's going in this direction. If you go in this direction, you'll have life. That's what it's like having the life of Christ pouring into you. It's like this mighty, unstoppable flow of water, of life-giving water that he promises.

[28:33] Mighty power that causes us to move in the same direction that he wants us to. And not just go, yeah, I'm just going to go, yeah, this, I'm going to take a shot left. I'm just going to try this, see you over here.

[28:45] No, this river, this instruction, this resurrected power that comes through us, keeps us moving in this, in this direction, the direction of life. Are you damning up the river in your life by not listening to Christ's instructions for daily living?

[29:02] By searching for meaning and power in salvation, and salvation in other things? By not trusting Christ's words, but trusting your thoughts, your feelings, the reality around you, rather than what Jesus has said.

[29:18] And for Christians, well, we've got this power available to us, but our tendency is to play the victim card. Man, we play that card really well. To sell ourselves short, to tell ourselves we don't have the power.

[29:32] And when a small, tiny little blip of a problem comes our way, oh, I just can't, I just can't, I just don't have the power to stop. To stop what? When you've got the power of the resurrected Christ in your life, compare the power of being raised from the dead with whatever issue you're trying to deal with in your life.

[29:55] Who's, who's, you've got Christ, the conqueror of death, the one who's gone up to heaven and has sent the Holy Spirit. He's, if you're a Christian, you've got that power available to you.

[30:06] Is there any problem, any conceivable sin, any conceivable evil, any conceivable response that you can't lay at the foot of Christ and say, well, I'm going to try and do what Jesus tells me to do.

[30:17] No. If you don't do it, it's because you consider your problems bigger than the words of Christ. I can't fight these problems. I just don't have the power.

[30:30] You know, when, I think it was Michiel's translation, he says we've been given weapons of righteousness later on in chapter 6. I'm just going to read from verse 11 and 12.

[30:42] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, don't let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Don't offer the parts of your body as instruments of wickedness, is the NIV.

[30:56] Michiel's translation as weapons of wickedness. But rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And offer the parts of your body to him as weapons of righteousness. Well, that's a cool translation.

[31:09] Because you want to fight this fight against bad things, against bad thoughts, against bad actions in your life. Now, so you've got these weapons.

[31:22] How mighty do you think the weapons of Christ are? The resurrection, the Holy Spirit, his word. Those are some powerful weapons. There's nothing that can stand against him. The devil tried his best on Good Friday.

[31:33] And three days later, Christ just pops out of the grave. He's like, oh, I'm back. Round number two. Let's go. You know, in the anime universe, for those who enjoy cartoons, I'm sorry, but for those who know anime, it's Japanese type of cartoons.

[31:50] The characters have these crazy, humongous swords that they fight. I mean, it's just ridiculous. They stand this, and the sword, if I'm an anime figure, I'm that's got a sword that will just soar up to the heavens.

[32:04] And they can kill anything with those swords. I mean, that's what they're there for. They're going to kill dragons. Whatever evil comes away, these swords are there to take them out. We take it, this huge sword, the resurrected power of the living Christ, and we don't see a dragon or a mighty beast.

[32:23] There's a little caterpillar of a sin. I know. Oh! You know how, when our people react to cockroaches? Ah! I can't fight that! Oh!

[32:34] And you're like, well, yeah. Whap! If you just took your sword, the thing that God says you've got in Christ, and just go and kill it, you're going to kill it.

[32:49] It's like saying that the sword, the weapon that God has given us in Christ, this resurrected power, is useless. by not fighting, and not thinking that I have enough power, I'm going to talk myself out of victory.

[33:03] I'm not even going to begin to fight. I'm going to play the victim. Friends, God doesn't want victims. He's given us victory, so he wants victors.

[33:17] We were powerless. We were a victim. We were held strong by our sin. But what Jesus does on Good Friday, and on Resurrection Sunday, is he takes those chains, and says, no, you're free now.

[33:30] You don't have to live like that anymore. In Christ, we're no longer victims, but like him, we are victors. But, you know, I'm really bad at telling myself these things.

[33:43] I don't know about you. That's why we need a guru. They help us, because they help us get on and tell us, no, don't listen to that, listen to this. Well, the cool thing is, we've got brothers in arms in this fight against sin and evil and against stupid ways of thinking, of me convincing myself that I'm not strong enough.

[34:05] How good are you at telling yourself that you should live a new life in Christ when problems come your way? Most of us are not that good at it. What's helpful is to have someone come alongside and say, hey, man, let me remind you of what you've got in Christ.

[34:22] This new life that we're living in Christ is not to be lived alone. It's to be lived in community. And if you noticed in Exodus, in a passage in Exodus, you don't have to turn back there, God takes Moses up, but he leaves some of them behind.

[34:39] He says, Moses, come up, I'm going to give you these words, but I'm going to leave some of them behind so that there's daily disputes, things that are going wrong, you've got people to listen to. So I'll just read from verse 13.

[34:51] Moses set out with Joshua his aid, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God, and he said to the elders, wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and her are with you, and anyone involved in dispute can go to them.

[35:04] So there's what God wants is for us to listen to him, but then he speaks through other people to us, other Christians to us, to receive help for living this new life.

[35:16] This is why we need each other. I'm really bad at talking to myself. I can make myself a victim, no problem. I can make the smallest problem look really, really, really bad.

[35:28] I can go into complain mode, upset mode, or just down in the dumps mode very easily. So I need people in my life that can tell me to shake it off and keep going.

[35:41] Think of a gym buddy. And when you go to gym, and he spots you, hey man, one more, and you can't do it.

[35:52] He says, no, you can do it. You can do it. I know you can do it. Just keep going. Give me one more. Friends, what I want to say is that we're each other's gym buddies. I've got a friend that when I'm down, he talks me out of it.

[36:06] He's got his, when I start complaining, he says, let me just break out my little violin and play along with you. Shame. Poor little thing that's so tough.

[36:18] I thought you were a Christian. Yeah, I'm a Christian. Oh, but you've got the power of Christ in you. Didn't Christ rise from the dead? Yeah. So do you think you can do this thing?

[36:31] Yeah. Tells you to drink a tall glass of man up. Get your big mama pants on. Let's get going. Get into the fight and fight with every sinew, every ounce of strength, with total faith in the words that are in the Bible that come from Christ, that tell us about our reality in Christ.

[36:55] Total trust in the resurrected power of Christ and you will overcome everything you need to live a godly life. You can do this. You've got people to help you.

[37:08] Get some strength in your arms. Stop playing the victim. Realize what you've got in Christ. Share with them some verses. We've got all these verses that we got from the service today.

[37:21] Fantastic verses about the power of the resurrection. Go alongside someone. Pray with them. Read them some verses. Those are some powerful things.

[37:31] Those are not to be taken out of. Those are serious weapons of war. God's word and God's people. These are the powerful things that God has given us to fight and win.

[37:46] One last thing about who Jesus is. Here's a hymn. It's not on the screen. It's my favorite hymn from the early church. We don't sing it anymore. But I quote it often at Easter time because it tells us about Jesus.

[37:57] actually let me remind us about one thing about Christ. Turn with me to Revelation 1.

[38:09] It's better to have the words of scripture. We don't need. Man-made words are cool but scripture words are. The whole point is we're trying to hear the words from God about God about our reality.

[38:25] John is seeing a vision. From verse 12, chapter 1 verse 12.

[38:41] John turns around. I see a voice that's speaking to me and when I saw, when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands. Remember this is very metaphoric language or symbolic language.

[38:53] And among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe, reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.

[39:10] His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.

[39:20] His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

[39:33] He placed his right hand on me and said, don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

[39:54] Friends, Christ has risen. Amen. Let's pray. Well, Father, your word is so good to us, and you've not left us without a witness.

[40:14] You've left us with your words, otherwise we'd be so lost. We'd have to stare death in the face all by ourself. We'd have to live life by ourself, and we'd just make a total mess.

[40:27] But you've sent Christ into this world, the man from heaven who knows your words, who is you, who is the word of life, and we killed him, but death couldn't have the last word over his life, and the word of life came back to life, and has given us life.

[40:47] Father, will you continue to pour that life-giving power into our lives and help us to realize that we've got this conquering mighty warrior on our side to overcome all evil and sin and to live a godly life.

[41:03]  For Jesus Christ's sake, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.