Jesus is alive, he's well, he's coming back.
Today may be the day, amen. I'm a little tired because we started our day at about six something in the morning at our first service. We did that because Jesus rose from the grave early and we like to have those sunrise services. I don't question God, but when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask him, could Jesus not have risen from the dead at three o'clock in the afternoon?
I'm tired. I was listening to Pastor Adrian Rogers, he said years ago, he and his wife visited the Soviet Union when it was still standing, and they went to Moscow and they went to the tomb of Vladimir Lenin. And they said, when you go into Lenin's tomb today, Lenin is there, they actually have a crystal box and you can look right in there and see Lenin's body, it's embalming and it's laying there.
And they said once a year, what they'll do is they'll take the body out, they'll clean off the mold and the mildew so it'll be presentable, but they always clean him behind closed doors because you never want to wash your dirty linen in public. Anyway, he said we go there and it's Easter Sunday. And on Easter Sunday, we're going through Lenin's tomb and he said at that time, there was a statement written above him that said this, he was the greatest leader of all peoples, of all countries, of all times. He was the Lord of the new humanity, he was the savior of the world.
Incidentally, did you know that's all in past tense? Was, was, was, our Jesus is, is, is. But you're not supposed to speak at all in Lenin's tomb, you're supposed to be totally quiet. And he said, but my wife couldn't help it, she's usually a rules follower, but it's Easter Sunday, she's read that blasphemy above Lenin's body and he said as she walked by each Soviet guard on that Easter Sunday, guarding Lenin's body, she repeated Christos Vasqueus, Christos Vasqueus, Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive.
Your man is dead, our man is alive. This, dictators rise and dictators fall, but Jesus is still alive. Lenin rose up, said he's gonna stamp out Christianity and he died, but Jesus is still alive. Mao Tse Tung rose up, said he's gonna stamp out Christianity in China, but he died and Jesus is still alive.
Stalin rose up, said he's gonna stamp out Christianity in the Soviet Union, but he died and Christianity is still alive. It's interesting, I was watching the news last night, President Biden has proclaimed today, Easter Sunday, National Transgender Day, yet banned any religious themes at this year's annual White House Easter egg event. So we can celebrate transgenderism on Easter Sunday, but no, no, no, no religious displays for the Easter egg event. Patetricians are upset about that, but I gotta remind you, 50 years from now, Biden will be dead and forgotten, but Jesus will still be on the throne, he'll still be alive, he'll still be ruling, he'll still be reigning forever. Incidentally, they did a follow-up on that statement and they said, no, no, we're doing this in the name of inclusion.
I'm not sure if that inclusion includes in-vaxed homeschoolers who believe in Jesus, remind me to check on that, I'm not sure if they're part of inclusion or not. You have to give them credit, it takes a lot of guts to do this on the holiest day of Christianity. On the other hand, nothing says I want to go to hell like celebrating the day that Jesus walked out of the tomb by making it National Transgender Day.
So at any rate, but here's my point, this happens. They rise and they fall, but Jesus is still alive. There was another anti-Christian dictator in the first century named Nero. Paul writes the book of Romans to talk to Christians living in Rome during the days of Nero.
In a sense, it's the calm before the storm. Shortly after writing this, Nero is gonna take off the gloves and he's gonna come at Christians. He's gonna burn down half of Rome and then blame it on the Christians. And he's gonna kill them, but not just kill them, he's gonna torture them.
He's gonna dip Christians in tar, tie them to posts and light them so there'll be human torches at his garden party. There's soon going to be political turbulence in Rome. Within a few years of writing this, Rome will see four emperors in one year. Could you imagine that in America?
You have a president, this president kills him and he takes over, that president kills him, he takes over, that president kills him. Could you imagine the turmoil? They're about to live through persecution, political turmoil, and they're also living in a very decadent time.
Materialism had reached its peak in Rome during this time. And so if you're the apostle Paul and you want to write these Christians to give them some encouragement, what would you say to encourage them? What doctrine would you go to in the Bible to try to encourage Christians living in turbulent times? It's interesting, of all the different things Paul could talk about, he chooses to encourage Christians by taking them back to the Easter message. So turn, if you would, to Romans chapter eight, verse 10.
And here's how Paul encourages the church at Rome. Again, these are people who had to go through, you know, you and I are, we get upset, or I know what persecution is like, Stephen Colbert said something bad about Christians on the late night news, that's not persecution. You and I don't understand what persecution is.
These people are about to experience persecution. And Paul says to them, Romans 8, 10. But if Christ is in you, that the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Three words of encouragement Paul gives these people based on the Easter message.
First word of encouragement is this. He says, be encouraged because Jesus Christ lives inside of you. Look at verse 10. But if Christ is in you.
Look at verse 11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, let me explain something. When Jesus Christ was on earth, he was in a finite human body. He could only be in one place at one time.
If the Shroud of Turin is a genuine image of Jesus, which I believe it is, then Jesus was about five foot 11, 175 pounds. He was a finite person living in a finite place at a finite time. When Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was buried and came back to life and ascended to the Father and sent his Holy Spirit, now watch this, through his Holy Spirit, Jesus can now be in a million places at one time.
Jesus Christ lives inside of us because of that Holy Spirit. I don't understand it. It's metaphysical.
It's beyond my comprehension. But what Paul is saying to Christians, as I know your world's about to fall apart, I know they're about to come at you, but be encouraged because Jesus Christ lives in you. Watch this. If you're new to cross assembly, one thing I keep telling everybody is, in this messed up, depressed, anxious, scared world, or as our campus over at Benson said, this scared world, in this messed up world, listen to me, you and I need to have boldness and confidence. We need to walk with our head held high, our shoulders back, a little bit of divine cockiness.
Let the world be scared. You and I need to be bold and strong. And the key to that is knowing Jesus lives right here inside of us. And this is all over the Bible, incidentally. For example, in Joshua chapter one, verse nine, don't be afraid, because God is with you. Isaiah 41, 10, do not fear, for I am with you. Deuteronomy 31, six, do not fear, for I am with you. Isaiah 43, five, do not fear, for I am with you. Haggai 2, five, my spirit is with you, so don't fear. Genesis 26, four, God says to Isaac, do not fear, for I am with you. Jeremiah 1, eight, do not fear, for I am with you. Acts 18, 10, do not fear, I am with you. You think I might be trying to tell us something? When you start understanding that Jesus is not only to watch this with us, but that verse 10 says, in us?
In us? I'm gonna tell you something, how can you be scared? Jesus is with us.
That's his first word of encouragement. Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ has been risen from the dead, he's seated at the right hand of the Father, he has sent his Holy Spirit, now Jesus, by his Spirit, is in us. I love this story, I've read this before to the church, it's been a long time ago. Pastor John Ortberg, pastored in Southern California, he says, many years ago, I was walking in Newport Beach, a beach in Southern California, with two friends.
Two of us were on staff together at a church, and one was an elder at the church, so there's four of them, and they're all just basically pastors. We walked past a bar where a fight had been going on inside. The fight had spilled out into the street, like some kind of Clint Eastwood old western movie.
He said several guys were beaten up on another guy, he was bleeding from the forehead. We knew we had to do something, so we went over there to break up the fight. He said, I don't think we pastors were very intimidating, all we did was walk over there and say, hey you guys, cut that out.
It didn't do much good. Then all of a sudden, they looked at us with genuine fear in their eyes. The guys who had been beaten up on the one guy, they stopped, and they started to slink away. I didn't know why until we turned and looked behind us, and out of the bar had come the biggest man I think I've ever seen. He was something like six feet seven inches, maybe 300 pounds, maybe 2% body fat. He was just huge. We pastors called him Bubba, not to his face, but behind his back, we called him Bubba. Bubba didn't say a word.
He just stood there and flexed his muscles. You could tell he was hoping they would try to have a go at him. All of a sudden, my attitude was transformed, and I said to those guys who were walking off, yeah, you better not let us catch you coming around here again. I was a different person.
Why? Because I had a great big Bubba beside me. I was ready to confront with resolve and firmness. I was released from anxiety and fear. I was filled with boldness and confidence. I was ready to help somebody who needed some helping. I was ready to serve where serving was required.
Why? Because I had a great big Bubba standing beside me. I was convinced that I was not alone.
I was safe. If I were convinced that Bubba were with me 24 hours a day, I would have a fundamentally different approach to my life. If I knew that Bubba was behind me all day long, you wouldn't want to mess with me, but he's not. I can't count on Bubba, but again and again in the Bible, we are reminded that one who is greater than Bubba has come, and you don't have to wonder whether he'll show up or not. He's always there. You don't have to be afraid. You don't have to live your life in hiding. You have a great big God, and he's called you to do something great, so get on with it.
Isn't that great? We ain't got a Bubba, but we got an Abba who's with us, and he's never gonna leave us. And so Paul says to the early church, I know it's about to get rough. I know some of y'all are gonna be killed.
I know some of y'all are living in this crazy rat race called Roman culture. I get it. Don't be afraid.
Why? God's presence is in you. He's with you. And then the second word of encouragement he gives us this.
Hey, this life is temporary. Look at verse 10. Though the body is dead because of sin.
Here's what he's saying. Let me remind you, your physical body is going to die. Some of y'all have come to cross assembly to get a word of encouragement from Pastor Chad today. Here's my word of encouragement. All y'all go and die.
There we go. Unless a rapture occurs first, we're all going to die. And the Bible over and over and over reminds us that we're going to die.
It sounds counterintuitive. The Bible tells us that as encouragement. Here's what the Bible say. All these things you think so important today, where you live, what you do, what kind of income you do, all this stuff that's so important to you right now, it's all gonna pass away.
Hey, we get so wrapped up over politics and money and what kind of retirement do I have and what does my 401 look like? Paul is saying to these people living in Rome, don't worry about that stuff. Don't get obsessed with that stuff.
Don't be proud of the fact that you live in North Rome and you drive the latest Tesla Chariot and you're wearing the Gucci Togas. Don't worry about that kind of stuff. I'm just telling you all that stuff is gonna pass away one day, we're all gonna die, all this is temporary. It sounds weird but there's something encouraging about that.
It may seem counterintuitive, but it actually encourages you. I was reading a book on World War II, there was a young soldier at the Battle of Guadalcanal. He's there after the first day of the battle and he knows tomorrow he's gonna die.
And it says in that book that he wrote this in his journal that they later found, quote, when you know you're going to die, every day has a special, bright, delicious, poignant taste to it that normal days just don't have. Wow. And again, Paul is saying to the church, it's all temporary. It's all going to pass away, stop being so upset. If I could give you a word of encouragement today, I'm not saying quit your job and I need you to work, work hard, make a lot of money so you can tie the cross assembly, so I can pay this building off, do all that good stuff. But don't get obsessed with this stuff.
It's all gonna end. James Dobson talks about his grandma. He said, my grandma was a sweet little old lady.
She's a little widow lady. And he said, grandma was the sweetest, nicest old lady I'd ever met until it came to one thing. He said, she loved playing Monopoly. He said, she was cutthroat when it came to Monopoly. And he said, it wasn't just that she was a great Monopoly player and she would take everything you got. Sweet little old Granny was cocky as well.
He said, she would always win, that's bad enough. And then when she would get through, here's how she'd always say to the person that she'd just beat, she'd say, don't worry, one day you'll learn how to play this game. And he said, I just got obsessed.
I just wanted to beat Granny at Monopoly. And he says, when I was 10 years old, one summer, I played every day with a friend of mine. And he said, I got ready.
That fall, I visited my grandma. And she said, you wanna play some Monopoly, James? He said, yes, ma'am, I do.
And he said, we played Monopoly, it's like a three or four hour Monopoly session. And when it got over, he said, I won. He said, when I finally took everything she had, I jumped up, in your face, old lady, I'm there.
And he said, I'm running around the place, cocky, arrogant, doing my little dance. He said, she's just sitting there with her arms folded, with a smile on her face. She just let me have my little celebration. And when I got through, she said, you done? He said, yeah, I think I'm done. And she said, congratulations, I'm proud of you. I know you've been wanting to beat me for years.
You finally did it. She said, but there's one more lesson about Monopoly you gotta learn. And she took the box, and she took that board, and she put all the stuff I had earned, the power company, the train, Park Avenue.
She poured all that back in the box, folded up the board, put it in there, and put the lid on the box. And she said, in the end, it all goes back in the box. And beloved, all this stuff that we get so obsessed over, so panicked over, so torn up over, Paul is saying, church at Rome, in the end, it all goes back in the box.
That's my word to you today. In the end, one day, one afternoon, when it's over, we're gonna have a special service for you. We're gonna wheel your box into this church. And all those degrees, and all those memories, and everything you've worked for, it's gonna go back in the box, and we're gonna close the lid to that box.
And it's over. And my question for you is, what happens after that? The apostle Paul says to the church at Rome, be encouraged, Jesus is with you.
Number two, be encouraged, all this is temporary. And then he says, number three, be encouraged, because death is not the end for you. If you know Jesus Christ, if you're a born again believer, if you've been saved, death is not the end. Look at verse 11, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. What he's saying is, look, what happened to Jesus is gonna happen to you. The moment you die, the moment Jesus died, your body and your spirit are separated. Your spirit goes to be with God, and your body goes in the ground. And I don't know how long your body's gonna be in that ground till Jesus Christ comes back. But here's what Paul is saying, the day is going to come when God is gonna raise up your mortal body, did you know this? He's gonna raise up your mortal body, it will be a renewed glorified body, it's gonna meet your spirit in heaven, and you're gonna be in heaven with Jesus Christ forever in a new glorified body. That's what he's saying right there.
And it's not just here, it's all over the place. 1 Corinthians 15, your bodies are going to come back. Revelation chapter seven, verse nine, John is looking into heaven, he's looking to heaven. And he said, watch this, he says, I saw people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in heaven. Which means our cultural distinctives here on earth continue in heaven. Because when I was young, first couple churches I went to when I was a little kid, it was all white people. So I just assumed when everybody died and went to heaven they all turned white.
That's not the way it is. If you're an African American on earth, you will have a glorified African American body. If you're a Latino on earth, you will have a glorified Latino body.
If you're an Anglo on earth, you'll have a glorified Anglo body. If you're a Yankee on earth, you'll have a Yankee body in heaven. If you're a southern redneck on earth, you're gonna be southern in heaven.
I'm just telling you, every tribe, tongue, and nation are going to be there in heaven. God says, I'm not giving you a different body, I'm gonna raise up this body. There's a plan for you, look, death is not it for you. If you're a born again believer, there is a divine body for you. And you say, now wait a second, I'm gonna be cremated when I die.
How's God gonna bring that body back? I was on the ground for 500 years and I decomposed into black dirt. You know, I talked to a guy one time and his job was to move a cemetery. And it was a really, really old cemetery and I said, what did you find? He said, you know what I found, no bodies. He said, a couple bones and just a lot of dark dirt. I don't know why I just shared that, it's kind of depressing.
But at any rate, that's what he found. How's God gonna raise all that up? Answer, ain't my problem, it's his problem, he'll do it, he's God, he'll figure it out. Just don't worry about it, just trust God in that thing.
I have thought about this before. We frail human beings, as stupid as we are, we can get one strand of human DNA from 1,000 years ago and in theory, we can clone that and create another human body. If we can do that, don't you think God can do that? The law of thermodynamics says matter can neither be created nor destroyed. I don't care if you're cremated or decomposed, that body is still going to exist in some form and God has the ability to bring that back. In fact, I love this great quote from John Donne, from the 1600s, he was a scholar.
John Donne says this, listen to this. Where are all the atoms of the flesh that have decomposed? What about all the ashes of bodies burned 1,000 years ago? What about all the bodies drowned in the ocean, which are now jelly at the bottom of the sea?
What about the arm that was lost and buried in Europe and the leg that was lost in Africa or Asia? What about the fact that a worm will eat our dead body and then that worm dies and molders into dust and that dust is blown into a river and that river tumbles into the sea? Still God knows in what part of the world every grain of every man's dust lies and as he calls forth the bodies of the saints and the twinkling of an eye, that body that was scattered all around the world will come together and sit down at the right hand of God in a glorious resurrection.
That's God right there. And so to a group of Christians who are about to be persecuted, tortured, killed, living in this materialistic age, Paul says to them, don't be afraid, Jesus is with you. Don't be afraid, all this stuff you're so worried about, it's temporary. Don't be afraid, death is not the end for you.
God's got a big plan. And for the past 2,000 years, the hope of Easter has set Christians apart from the rest of the world. I read this past week, it was a New York Times article. Don't ask me why I was reading the New York Times, I was reading the New York Times article and they're talking about a guy that, he was a celebrity that claimed Christianity was sort of the end of his life and how different he was. And this New York Times article said, I've never read this before, that back in the first century Christians were accused of being drunk because they walked around unafraid of death unlike everybody else. Everybody else was like, aren't you afraid of dying?
What's your deal? They're not afraid. They weren't drunk on wine, they were drunk on the Holy Spirit and filled with the word of God. They understood that this was not their home. Listen to me, this is not your home.
You don't belong here. We got this idea, I gotta remind you, because a lot of y'all are acting like we are in the land of the living and we're going to the land of the dead. If you're a Christian, listen to me, you are in the land of the dead, but praise God, we're headed toward the land of the living. That's who we are in Jesus Christ. And that's been true for the last 2,000 years.
It has set us apart. 125 AD, the Emperor Hadrian is confused. He's like, the more I kill Christians, the more this movement grows.
I'm trying to kill them and stamp them out and they keep multiplying. And so he's trying to figure out what's going on and so he sent the philosopher Aristides to try to figure out why is it they die and yet the movement multiplies. And I love this letter. Aristides writes back to the Emperor Hadrian. He said, Emperor, these Christians are weird people. Any righteous person of their number dies and passes away from the world, they rejoice. And they give thanks to their God as if that person was leaving one place and going to a better place. In Rome, have you ever heard of the catacombs of Rome? It's like this underground network of tunnels. I used to think they just buried Christians there. They actually buried Christians and pagans in those catacombs.
Again, 600 miles of tunnels. And they have uncovered pagan, people who didn't know Jesus, their tombs and read the inscriptions and pagan inscriptions read like this. Here's one, quote, live for the present hour since there's nothing else after you die.
That's real encouraging, isn't it? Here's another pagan tomb they found. They found this inscription that said, I lift up my hand against the gods who took me away at age 20 even though I had done them no harm. Wow. Here's another pagan inscription on one of their tombs. Traveler, curse me not as you walk by for I am in darkness and I cannot answer you.
Wow. But then in these catacombs, they have found Christian tombs. And they've translated the inscription on those tombs.
Let me give you some example of these. Here's one Christian tomb in a catacomb. Quote, here lies Marcion put to rest the hope and the dream of eternal peace. Here's another one. Carried away by the angels, called away, he went to God in peace.
Here's another one. Victorious in life, victorious in peace, and victorious in Jesus Christ. Do you see the contrast between the two? We have a hope the world just doesn't have. And believe it this Easter, I'm just telling you, that ought to set us apart. The last several weeks I told you something that has really bothered me.
I'm reading now the stats. Depression, fear, anxiety, is higher in our society than it has ever been. And the science, they're all scratching their heads. I guess we just keep taking medicine.
I don't know what to do. I'm gonna tell you what we do. As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we raise our hands and we raise our voices and we praise the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we pray the first prayer that's ever recorded in the ancient church, maranatha. Even so, come back quickly, Lord Jesus. We're ready for you to take us home. That's what we do.
It's something powerful about that. 1799, in Fieldkirk, Austria. Easter Sunday, and the town woke up to find that the armies of Napoleon had encircled the town. They said, we're over it, we're done. Napoleon is gonna come in, kill us all, and wipe out the town. And so, they called an emergency meeting of the town council to try to figure out what do we do?
And they all met together. They're confused and panicked. They said, we don't know what to do. We don't have the weapons.
This is the best army in the world surrounding us. They're all panicked and they discuss for a while what are we gonna do. And then the pastor of the church in Fieldkirk interrupted the meeting and said, guys, I don't know what y'all gonna do, but me and my church, we're gonna celebrate Easter like we always do.
See you later. And he left that town meeting and went to his church and the church just gathered together and began to worship the risen Jesus that Easter, just like they'd always done. And they began to ring the bells of that church, just like they had always done.
Here's what's interesting. The French army, Napoleon's army, hears them all of a sudden ringing bells like crazy and they said, whoa, the Austrian army must have come during the night to relieve them. The other army must have come.
We better get out of here. And they retreated away from the city because they thought another army had come. Another army had not come. Those bells they were hearing were the celebration of God's people praising Jesus Christ. Those bells put that army to flight. And I'm telling you, when you raise up your hands and you praise the risen Jesus and you praise the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and you say one day I'm gonna go home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, this world is not my home, come back quickly Jesus, come and get me, when you start to praise the risen Savior, it puts demonic armies to flight. The enemy flees, the demons flee, depression flees, anxiety flees when we worship the risen Jesus Christ. Stand with me now if you would. If you, listen to me, if you don't know you're going to heaven when you die, if you're not certain that Jesus Christ lives in you, you need to listen to me.
The best news I could ever give you starts with the worst news I could ever give you. Bad news is you and I are sinners. We ain't gonna get into heaven because of that sins. Heaven is a perfect place and we're imperfect people. Our sin is, why would God just let sin back into heaven and start this whole mess all over again? God's like, heaven's a perfect place, your sin, I can't allow it back into heaven. Somebody's gotta pay for your sin. I'm not just gonna let everybody off the hook. Somebody's gotta pay for your sin.
Either you gotta pay or somebody else gonna have to pay. Praise God, 2,000 years ago God himself paid for your sin through his son Jesus Christ. Every wicked thing that would keep you out of heaven, God put on his son Jesus Christ, he died in your place. And now if you'll return away from your sin, turn to Jesus and surrender your life to Jesus, Lord will come into your heart, he'll forgive all of your sin and when you die, the moment you draw your last breath here on planet earth, you're gonna open your eyes and see Jesus in heaven. If you're not certain that you have eternal life and you're going to heaven when you die, I want you to bow right now. Now mantras don't save you.
This robotic, repeat after me, say these words, you'll be saved, that doesn't save you. Jesus saves you. But I want you as you bow your head right now, I want you to imagine there's only two people in this church right now, you and Jesus. And if this captures what's going on in your heart, I want you to say this to Jesus, I want you to mean it. Say to him, Jesus, say to him right now, I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. But Jesus, I believe you died for my sins.
Say that to him. I believe you, Jesus, you paid the price for my sins. I believe you were buried. And I believe three days later, God raised you from the dead. Now this is so important, say to him, Jesus, I turn away from my sin, and I turn to you. Say this to Jesus, Jesus, please forgive me of all my sins. Come and take control of my life.
Take me to heaven when I die. In Jesus' name, amen. Man, it's been a good day. I mean, it started with Johnny, I don't know if none of y'all got in here and got to hear Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash here today. We have Banjos, Harmonicas, it's been a great day.
But listen, it's ain't about Banjos, Harmonicas, and Johnny Cash, it's all about Jesus. And I'm gonna ask you right now, saints of God, lift your hands, lift your voices, and let's just praise, I can't think of a better way to close out an Easter service than to praise the risen Savior, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Can we praise him right now? Let's sing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And all praise, all praise, to the name above all names.
Jesus, you reign, you're the name above all nations. And all praise, all praise, to the name above all nations. Hallelujah. Every voice will proclaim, there is no higher name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In ancient ways we will sing, there is no higher name. Hallelujah. Every voice, every voice will proclaim, there is no higher name. Hallelujah. In ancient ways we will sing, all praise, all praise, to the name above all names.
Jesus, Jesus, you reign, you're the name above all names. I can't remember who I was talking to, it was like last week or the week before, he said, I invited a friend to Cross Assembly. And that guy said, I'm never gonna be at that church again. He said, why? I'm not making this up. He said, I think it's some kind of neo-Nazi cult. Well, first that guy had a shaved head and then he did his hand like this.
So let me explain something here. Shaved head is I'm going bald. The Old Testament says when the priest dismisses people, he used to raise his hand and just bless them. And this isn't some weird gibberish I'm saying, when I speak what I'm about to speak, it's the Hebrew of Joshua 1.9, where a man named Joshua is about to experience demons, giants, he's about to go take new territory for the Lord. Everything is about to come against him and he's a little bit nervous.
You ever been there before? And God says, Joshua, calm down. Chazak v'yavatz. Al ta'erot v'al t'khet. Ch'i imcha adonai heho b'hoi b'shet lach.
Ch'i imcha adonai heho b'hoi b'shet lach. Which means cross assembly, be bold, be strong. Are y'all gonna be afraid?
You'll be terrified of anything. Why? Because the Lord your God is gonna be with you everywhere you go in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
