If you would, turn to Mark chapter
five. Mark chapter five. I want to read basically the
end of the chapter from verse 35 forward. Mark chapter five,
verse 35. While he yet spake, There came from the ruler of
the synagogue's house certain which said, thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the master
any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, be
not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, save Peter and James and John the brother of James. And
he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth
the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when
he was come in, he saith unto them, why make ye this ado and
weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all
out, He taketh the father and the mother of the damsel and
them that were with him and entered in where the damsel was lying.
And he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her, Talitha
Kumi, which is being interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arise. straightway the damsel arose
and walked, for she was of the age of 12 years, and they were
astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly
that no man should know it, and commanded something should be
given her to eat." I've got this entitled, Five
Things About Jesus Christ, and that you'll find here in this
passage. But as the introduction, I actually have something a little
different. Because I've had this in my head here for a while,
and it's kind of got stuck to the point where it's going to
come out one way or another. So this is the time. Because
at the beginning of this, I just want to point this out. Because
I consider this a general rule from observation and from study
of the scriptures. And people can take this any
way they want. But this is a truth of God's word. Our Lord did not
and does not ignore females. I'm glad you agree. Because it's
the truth. Now I've been bad and watched
television and some things on the internet. And I see other
religions, and I see the way women are treated in these religions,
and I don't like it. That's my personal opinion. Walking
behind, not allowed to speak, wearing special clothes, ignored,
possibly abused, and all of it under the guise of religion.
Okay? Custom is one thing, religion
is another. And I'm going to tell you this,
even in some places where it's named Christian, And I still
don't like it. Because that's not the way our
Lord treated anyone. Now I'm not here as a crusader
and I'm not espousing feminism. I do believe in equal work for
equal pay because I want it. And everybody else should have
it too. But I do understand decency and order. I understand and believe
that a woman is not to usurp authority. of a man and not to
teach. And I mean, that's just what
it says. I believe that just like I believe
God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son. It's the
same scripture. I understand that preaching in
public is to be done by men called of God to that vocation. And
we are sadly lacking in that part in other places. But I also
understand this, men, naturally, are idiots. Now, women too. I'll be equal opportunity that
way. I know that the natural man and the woman always seem
to get this wrong in one or the other extreme. It goes all this
way to the right, all this way to the left. Our Lord is our
example here. And our Lord gave the first woman
to Adam to be a help, meet for him. A partner, not a possession. And I do know this, our Lord
interacted with women. Verse 25 right here, the woman
with an issue of blood. Mark chapter five. The woman
of Samaria at the well, the Gentile woman who would eat of the crumbs
of the master's table. Great faith, great faith. Mary and Martha, the sisters
of Lazarus. Mary Magdalene, of whom he cast
out seven devils and who followed him. The woman with the alabaster
box of ointment. The woman who bathed his feet
with her tears and dried them with her hair. In the gospels,
we see Jesus Christ speak with women. listen to women, comfort
women, and save women and men. And he, Christ, is our example. I was gonna say that he went
out of his way to save women, but he didn't, because that is
his way. Anyhow, that's out of the way.
Here in this account, we see the parents, actually the father
first, of a 12-year-old girl. This actually starts in verse
22. And that incident with the woman with the issue of blood
comes in between. He's on his way, getting ready
to go to this fella's house, and they're being thronged, and
that's when the woman with the issue of blood touches him. Then
after that incident, after Christ spoke with her, and she was healed
of her issue of blood, Yet while he spake there came from the
ruler of the synagogue's house certain that said thy daughter
is dead And why trouble us thou the master any further? This father came to Christ because
his daughter was sick ill Badly ill and now this man is told
that she's dead And don't bother the master anymore Well first things first, nobody
tells the master what to do. That's what it means by him being
the master. Second part is, let's see what the master says. Because
that is the part that counts. Now this is all true, everything
said here was said then. Those men said that, that whoever
it is that came from his house said, your daughters did. That's
a truthful statement that was spoken. It was wrong, but it's
a truthful recording of that statement. Let's see what the
master says. As soon as Jesus heard the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, the
father, be not afraid, only believe. Because Jesus always knows what
is going on. Your circumstances are just that,
they're your circumstances. But trust me, he put you there. He's keeping you there until
he takes you out of that circumstance. He knows exactly what's going
on, and this man was afraid. He'd been told his daughter was
dead. a 12-year-old girl. That's a
shock to any parent. But Jesus is not only always
aware of what's going on, he is always in control of what's
going on. That is what we mean when we
say the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only does he know what's
going on, he's in control of what's going on. Now, what other
people mean when they say sovereignty, I don't care. Well, I do care,
but it don't matter. But I'm gonna say it don't matter
several more times in this sermon, so I don't wanna use it every
time. Because what other people say about sovereignty is not
what we're talking about in this place. We're talking about the
one who is in complete control of every circumstance and every
person in those circumstances. Jesus is always there. I can tell you this. Jesus is
always there where there's a contrite spirit and a broken heart. He will not despise. What did
he tell this man? Be not afraid. Only believe. Only believe. These are the words
of the one who created faith, is the author and finisher of
faith. He says, be not afraid. And the
only reason not to be afraid is that you believe him. The only cure for fear, said
it last week, is faith. That's what he says here. Be
not afraid, only believe. And who's telling you to believe?
The master is. The master is. And who's he telling
you to believe? The master. Is he in control
or is he not? Does he know what he's doing
or not? There are preachers out there,
and you can see them on television, they talk Like God has no idea
what's going on down here. They're fools. It'll show out. It'll come out. Trust me, their
own words will condemn them. But this man was told by the
Lord of glory, personally, be not afraid, only believe. And that is the only way possible
not to be afraid in this world. in our circumstances. Mark five, verse 37, he suffered
no man to follow him, say Peter and James and John, the brother
of James. What's this got to do with anything?
Jesus is picky about who goes where. What did we just, he's in control,
okay? More to the point, Jesus says
who goes where. And when, and why, and how, and
don't worry about it, he's in control. Everyone does not get to see
everything. Sometimes wish you do. I wish
sometimes I knew more of what was going on. And sometimes I'm
glad I don't. when I find out some things that
are going on. Some only get to hear. Some get
to see. Peter, James, and John got to
go. Guess what? Somebody come and told Mark,
because Mark wrote it down. And we get to read it. But you
get to the point where you see the words of John said, you know,
if all the works of all the things that Jesus did just while he
was here, just while he was here, I suppose the world could not
contain the books. We've got more here than we can
comprehend in this book right now. And what we've got is exactly
right and exactly perfectly recorded for our rebuke, admonition, exhortation,
and for our proclamation. Everybody don't get to hear everything.
Everybody don't get to see everything, but here's this. We only have a smattering in
this book of what he did and what he's doing. But we do know
this, wherever he is and whatever he is doing is just like everything
in this book, perfectly right. Whether we know it or not. I don't understand the mess in
the Middle East because to me it is a mess. I know there's
a lot of people over there who want to kill a lot of the people
over there and some of them over here. All I know is please don't
come gunning for me because my wife has a gun. And she may not
know it, but I do. She hits what she aims at. I've
been on a target range with her. It's the truth. And yes, you
break down my door, I will probably shoot you. Well, not you guys,
but I don't expect you guys to break down my door. This is the way it is. This is
the way it is. I will defend my wife to somebody
else's death if necessary. I'm going to try not to die myself.
I'm opposed to that. But this is the way it is. We don't know what's going on,
but he does. We don't know everything he's
doing, but guess what? He's doing. He is doing, and
he is doing right. Right now. So he's picky about
who gets to see what. But whatever he does is to the
glory and honor of the Father. Every single thing. Verse 38,
and he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and
seeth the tumult. I like that word, tumult. and
them that wept and wailed greatly. Let me tell you something, there's
always a tumult somewhere. Always. And I'm gonna tell you
something, Christ showing up can cause one. Been there, done that on a Sunday
night service down in Elgood. Don't want to do that no more,
Walter. I've been in a tumult. Okay? I don't need any more tumults.
But there's always a tumult somewhere. Now, I don't know who these people
are, and here's one of them. It doesn't matter who these people
are. Some people say they were professional mourners. I don't
know. I assume friends and family showed
up. And there are some people, when somebody dies, or they think
somebody dies, or somebody's really sick, there's somebody
who do have a tumult. They raise a ruckus. And basically
what it means, they're loud. And it's like, oh God, oh. Listen, God can hear you if you
whisper, okay? I mean, it's just, anyway, I'm
not gonna get into that, but that's what, all we were told
is they were in this house and they were weeping and wailing,
and from the words that our Lord uses later here in just the next
verse, it was loud, okay? And when he was come in, he saith
unto them. Now these are the ones that are
weeping and wailing and having a tumult. He says, why make ye
this ado? And weep. See, not only were
they noisy, they were crying. The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. Now, here's a point I want to
make very clearly. Jesus will contradict everyone
with the truth if everyone is wrong. He will contradict, his
word contradicts the natural will of man. It contradicts the
natural mind of the natural man. It contradicts the natural mind
of the believer. There's a good reason sometimes
I don't know what's going on, Walter. Because it would contradict
me. And that's okay, I've been contradicted
before. And I will be contradicted again, because I am often wrong.
But this book is always right. And when he says, why are you
making this much ado? He means, shut up. And you're gonna see it here.
All we are told, they're in this house, they're weeping and wailing,
and Christ asked him, why are you raising this ruckus? This
word means a clamor. A clamor, actually it means a
tumult. I like that too. This girl is not dead, she's
sleeping. Now this is not mere fancy. This
is the truth of God. This is the truth of God as spoken
by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This girl was not dead. And that's
what he meant, because that's what he said. That's a fact then. She's not
dead. Because this is also a fact.
If Jesus Christ said she's sleeping, she's sleeping. He's wrong when everybody else,
excuse me, he's right when everybody else is wrong. He's right when
I'm wrong and he's right when you're wrong and these people
were wrong. They didn't take it well though. Understand Jesus Christ knew
the difference between dead and alive. Ask the sisters of Lazarus. He told his disciples where they
went, to Lazarus. No, Lazarus is dead. That's what
he said. And guess what, that's what he
meant. And Lazarus was dead. He telling these people, this
girl's not dead. Y'all got premature wailing.
That's it. I'll have shot off too soon with
the weeping, and the wailing, and the crying out, and the ruckus,
and the ado, and the clamor, and the tumult is not needed
here. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
in the house. He'll tell you when to weep and
wail, if you're to weep and wail. He'll tell you when to mourn,
but this ain't the time. I like that. I like that. Nothing
is beyond His power, even if she was dead. Even if she was
dead, it would be beyond His power. Oh my. And here we go. Religion's answer to Jesus Christ.
The secular world's answer to Jesus Christ. And they laughed
Him to scorn. And they laughed Him to scorn.
What was it? The guy came and said, your daughter's
dead, don't trouble the master anymore. He's being nice, right? Then he gets back to the house
and he says, she's not dead, she's sleeping. And they laughed
him to scorn. You don't know anything. You
can't tell us nothing. We know death when we see it.
Well, that may be so. Not in this case, but it may
be so. but it's for dead certain, this
is true. You don't know the life when
he's talking to you. That's why they laugh in the
scorn, why? They don't know him. And this is the natural reaction
of the natural man to the words of God. And it was God manifest
in the flesh, God himself speaking to them. telling them the truth. And they laughed him to scorn. And people wonder about the depravity
of man. This is how they treat the Lord
of glory. How they gonna treat you? Let people see Jesus in you.
Oh good, fat lot of good that'll do ya. Not unless he's in them. Because if they don't see him,
they ain't gonna see you. You know? That whole thing about
the way the world, religious world talks about soul winning
is hooey. That's just one worm convincing
another worm that he's right. And guess what? You're both still
worms and you're both still in the dirt. Because you're still
in the pit from which he hadn't digged you yet. They laugh him to scorn. But
oh, that's okay. He didn't reply to them. I love
this part, I do. I love this part. And they laughed
him to scorn, but when he had put them out. What? Jesus didn't explain himself? Jesus ain't in explaining business.
Said a few weeks ago, he came to preach to men. He came to
do his father's business. And guess what? His father's
business at that point in time was to put somebody out. Jesus wouldn't push anybody away. Well, I didn't say he pushed
anybody away. The scriptures didn't say he pushed anybody
away. It said he put them out. You know why? Do you know why? I can tell you why. They belonged out. Now is that saying they died
and went to hell and all that? I got no idea about that. All
I know is that right here in this place, they needed to be
out. And guess what? They were out. And he put them
out. He didn't have James and John
do it. The Sons of Thunder. No, he didn't have Peter do it. They cut that fella's ear off
later. He put them out. And I'm gonna tell you something,
if he puts you out, you're out. And you ain't coming back in
until he says so. It's very simple. They didn't
belong here. And it was none of their business
what was going to happen afterward. They may have thought it was
their business. They may have tried to make it their business.
But guess what? He still put them out. I am well aware of the fact that
I got this feeling they didn't go quietly. But you know what? It don't matter whether you go
quietly or noisy, you're going. It's sort of like that old song
about the bar. It's closing time, I don't care where you go, but
you can't stay here. Jesus puts you out, you're out.
And he's the only one that can bring you in. Guess what? Now, now, now at
this time in this house is exactly who Jesus Christ wanted in this
house and no one else. And you can take that any way
you want. And you better get used to that
idea. We don't push anyone away here. There have been some people
leave, but we don't push nobody. All we do here is get together
and try and preach the word of God. We pray, we sing, and we
preach. And we preach twice, which sometimes
for some people is two times too many. Sometimes one time
is too many, because we've had them left in between services. But guess what? We're not pushing.
He's putting. And that's the God's honest truth.
We're not pushing, he's putting out. They think it's their idea. Sovereignty of God. Sovereignty
of God. If you ain't supposed to be here,
you ain't gonna be here. And I don't care whose idea it is,
you ain't gonna be here. He'll put you out. We don't push,
he don't push. He either puts you in or he puts
you out. Or actually you're out or he
puts you in or he don't. But some people have wandered
in here. And some people have wandered right back out. And
there are some people that were brought up in this place and
they wandered themselves out. I'm not pushing. I'm just telling
you the way it is. If you don't want you in the
house he's in, you're not gonna be in the house he's in. And
that's just, you gotta get used to that idea too. It's tough.
It's tough when it's your family. It ain't so bad when it's obnoxious
strangers. I'll be honest. I could do without obnoxious
friends, much less obnoxious strangers. Not anymore we don't. Thank God. They went out from us, that it
may be made manifest that they were not of us. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, having this seal, whether one that names the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. See, there's a big difference
between departing from iniquity and departing from here, where the
gospel's preached. A lot of people think they're
departing from iniquity when they're departing here. They are mistaken. And they are deluded. And sometimes somebody gives
you strong delusion that you should believe a lie. Wonder
who that could be. Sovereign Lord. He put them out. He put them out. Now, how about
some good news? And he took the damsel by the
hand and he said unto her, Talitha Kumi, which is being interpreted,
damsel, I say unto thee, arise. You go through all that to get
to this. I can give you some good news right off the bat.
It's a good thing when Jesus takes you by the hand. That's a good thing. You know
why? Because at least he ain't putting you out. Just to start
with, he took her by the hand. Jesus Christ does not touch everybody. I know that's a negative statement,
but it's a true statement. He only touches the ones whom
he is willing to touch. More of that sovereignty stuff.
And he surely did not and does not take everyone by the hand. I mean, that shows compassion,
shows mercy, and I'm gonna tell you something, it shows intimacy.
You don't just grab people by the hand, even sick people. You
know? Not unless you know them. Not unless you got a relationship
with him. Not unless you can do something for him. Just a
little comfort. I'm gonna tell you something,
there's a lot more comfort in his hand than there ever will be
in mine. And if he takes you by the hand,
listen, that's a harbinger of good things. That's a harbinger
of good things. Then he spoke. Damsel, arise. Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. I say unto thee, who's talking? The master. The master's talking. And I can tell you this. The voice of the master has the
power. The voice of the master is the
power. Nothing less will do than the
voice of the son of God. And nothing more is needed than
the voice of the son of God. All them people been put out.
Who he took in there? The father and the mother, and
Peter, James, and John. Who's talking though? He is. As far as we know, Peter, James,
and John never said a word the whole time. Because when it comes
to this part here, when he's taking someone by the hand, and
he's saying arise, the words of the preacher don't matter.
The words of the preacher haven't gotten anywhere yet. She's laying
down sleeping. Lazarus was dead. Same thing,
they're not listening until he takes them by the hand and they're
gonna hear his voice. John chapter five, just a second,
just gonna read those two verses because I love those two verses.
John chapter five and verse 24. And I forgot to mark it, but
I got it in here. Verses 24 and 25 of John chapter
five. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. Past tense. If you hear and you
believe, you're already alive. What, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Also past tense.
But here's the future tense. For those who don't already hear,
for those who don't already believe. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the,
what? Voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear, what? Shall live. Now that's talking
about regeneration. That's talking about bestowing
life. before it's talking about faith
and believing for those who had already heard what this voice
here, verse 25. Because you can go down to verse
28 and it talks about those that are dead and in the graves. There's
a difference between those dead in the graves and those that
are dead walking around on this planet. When this man takes this
damsel by that hand of hers and says unto her, arise. with that
voice that speaks only truth, with that voice that is only
power. Guess what that little girl's
gonna do? She's gonna get up. She is going to arise. Like I
said, nothing less will do than the voice of the Son of God,
but nothing more is needed. Not for this. Not for this. There's more to come. He's gonna
say something here at the end. And straightaway, straightway,
the damsel arose and walked. Y'all gonna talk about walk again?
We talk about walk all the time. I like walk. I wish I could do
it better. But there ain't no walking till
you've been a rose. What comes first? Here's people
who wanna walk to get a rose. They wanna walk till they rise
up. Ain't the way it works. Ain't the way it works. It's
not the way he works. It's the way man works. If you
can clean yourself up and not be a drunk, you can join any
church in this country. They'll be happy to have you. But that ain't the way he works.
He raises you up first and then you walk. And he spoke it and it happened. The daughter was awake. She rose up and she walked. Why? Because the master said
so. And there is no other reason
here. There's no other reason. There's no other reason here
because there is no other reason. And they were astonished with
a great astonishment. Their daughter was awake, upright,
and whole. She was moving. She had been
laying on her deathbed, extremely sick. Not dead, sleeping, but
not dead. But still, it was serious. So
bad, they couldn't do anything but what? Ask Christ for his
help. And he straightly charged him
that no man should know it. You know what? Those ones he
put out, he said, don't tell them. Oh, you shameful thing. Are you
against preaching to people? No, I'm not against preaching
to people. I am against casting pearls before swine. And sometimes,
some things are none of your business. And none of their business. And that's just the way it is.
He told them, don't tell nobody nothing. I don't know whether
they listened or not, I'm sure they told somebody. You can't
help but keep it, you can't keep it in. What Earl used to say,
it's gonna leak out on you sometimes. But then he says, and commanded,
commanded, commanded, commanded, she should be given something
to eat. That's what happens after you arise up and begin to walk. You get to feed. You get to feed. And guess what? He's gonna give
you some sheep food if you're one of his sheep. Now, you may
be a lost sheep, you may be a found sheep. But I'm gonna tell you
something, once he finds you, gives you life, you're gonna
have something to eat. He'll send you a message, he'll
send you a man, he'll send you the preaching of the gospel in
written form, in spoken form, on the radio, on the television,
on the internet, you will hear the gospel and you'll believe. He that heareth and believeth
in me has everlasting life. Why? Because he that has everlasting
life, is made alive, is going to hear and going to believe
because they have an uncircumcised heart and uncircumcised, or a
circumcised heart and circumcised ears. and they're gonna hear
the truth and they're gonna believe it. And guess what? They're gonna
walk. They're gonna walk some more. That's why you eat, so
you got strength to walk some more. Five things about Christ. Boy, I am, well, we're running
a little late. Five things about Jesus Christ
from this thing, from this account. Number one, there is always hope
with Jesus Christ. People will tell you to stop
bothering the master. You tell them, go away. There's
no hope without him. But there's always hope with
him. And sometimes his answer is no. And it may be no 70 times. But all it's gotta be is yes
once. You know? All it's gotta be is yes, just
once. That's all it takes. Is one touch of his hand and
one word from his mouth. I like that. There is always
hope with Jesus Christ. Because there is never a time
to quit on him. Because no matter what you've
done, no matter who you are, male or female, rich or poor,
sick or well, Jew or Gentile, old or young, that's no matter
to the master. And no matter who you are concerned
with. This father came on behalf of
his daughter. And the master came into his
house. No matter who you are concerned
with, there is always hope with Jesus Christ. Secondly, do not dispute, deny,
or disagree with the word of Jesus Christ. He won't make you look like a
fool. He'll show you for the fool you are. I mean, that's
why I wrote it down. I wrote it down. He'll make you
look like a fool. No, no, no. He don't have to
make you look like one. You are one. If you deny his
word, you dispute his word, you disagree with him, and if you
laugh him to scorn, you're laughing up the wrong tree. Because if you think you know
better than the Lord of glory, that qualifies you as a fool. Thirdly, Listen for the voice
of the Son of God. I've already said it. There ain't
no secret. His voice is the power of God. Not my voice. His voice. See, if you don't hear Him behind
what I'm saying, from His word, His words exactly sometimes,
you're not hearing Him. You can hear me all you want.
Which is probably not much, it's okay. That's why some people
left. Because his voice, I said it
before, I'll say it again, I'll say it forever if I can. His
voice is all that is needed. And his voice is everything that
we need. Even now. Even now. He commanded her to eat. How
you gonna eat unless you can hear his word? Because sheep
food is for sheep. And sheep desire sheep food. And if they don't, there's something
wrong with the sheep. Or it's not a sheep. Fourthly, look for the results
of his voice. His voice always has results. There are always results, positive
and negative. People being brought into that
house and people being put out of that house. His voice always
has results. And one of the results, especially
this one here, life, life. Those that he speaks to who are
dead in trespasses and sins shall live. And they shall arise and
they shall walk. Look for the results. I'm not
saying you're always gonna see it. I'm not saying you're always
gonna recognize it. But sometimes it does leak out on people. Because
one of the signs of this life is that a person craves more
of this life. What is it? They hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and what? His righteousness. Guess what? A result of life
is wanting to hear the words of the master. Yeah, that's true
now. Because if you don't want to
hear him, you don't want to hear nothing. If you won't hear him, you won't
hear anything. Fifth thing, say there's always
hope. Don't dispute or deny or disagree. Listen for his voice, look for
the results of his voice, and here's the fifth thing, be astonished
and rejoice. That word there used is where
we get our word ecstasy from. They were ecstasy with great
ecstasy. They were astonished and joyful.
The mother and the father were there when this child was brought
up, when she arose and walked. And they commanded those parents,
he commanded those parents to feed her, let her eat. And they were astonished with
great astonishment. There is rejoicing in heaven
when he gives eternal life. And we get to rejoice also here. And we better. If you can't take
joy in someone coming to Christ, you don't know Christ. And that's
just honest truth. Because we are not a big number.
And I love to see people come and believe the same God I believe.
Because we are few. Few there be that find it. Those
are his words also. Broad's the way, many's on it,
and guess what? The end of that road is destruction.
Guess what? They got put out and not brought
back in. But there is a narrow way, there
is a straight gate, and few there be that find it, and the only
ones that are finding it are the ones that he takes by the
hand and he says, arise. We're not finding it on our own.
We do find it. But it's because he found us. Be happy with his work. Be happy
with his work. Because he is. There's rejoicing
in heaven. We can stand a little rejoicing.
Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this time and this place.
Most of all, thankful for you, Lord. son came down from heaven
and became a man still being God I don't understand it but
Lord we are thankful for it and he came and dealt with foolish
men on this planet and he came and gave his life for the sheep
and he suffered and died and was buried. But Lord, he did
arise the third day and ascended to you, obtaining eternal redemption
for us. Thank you, Lord, for all you've
done and all you're doing. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach your word. And in Christ's name, as always,
we pray.