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Andy Stanley - Easter Bystander Part 7 Invitation to Believe · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Well, I absolutely love Easter. And when you're the pastor and it's Easter,
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everybody already knows what you're going to talk about Christmas and Easter, and
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some preachers struggle with that. In fact, every once in a while I'll
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get a text This week I did from pastors like, hey, pray for
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me. I'm trying to figure the Easter thing out. I'm like, figure
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the Easter thing out. My goodness, this is like the super Bowl.
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I mean, this is like the thing, this is like, this isn't
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peripheral, this isn't Hey, have you heard the one about? This is
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the one everybody abody's heard a little bit about, and we get to repeat
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it and talk about it because at Easter, obviously we celebrate the resurrection of
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Jesus. But the point of it is that Easter actually points to the answer
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to a question that everybody should ask. And I don't want to say it's
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the most important question in the world, because you may disagree, so I
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won't go that far. But I'll tell you what. It's a really important
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question, and it's a question everybody should ask. And if you haven't asked
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it since you were a kid, or maybe you haven't asked it since you
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left faith, or you haven't asked it as a Christian in a long time,
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you should ask it. This is the question everybody should ask at some
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point in their life, and Easter points to the answer to the question,
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and the question is who is Jesus and the Resurrection? This is so important.
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The resurrection is what convinced his first century followers that he was the Jewish
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Messiah, that he was the Son of God, that he was God in
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a body. It wasn't his teaching that convinced them. It wasn't even his
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other tricks or his other miracles, depending on how you interpret those things that
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convince them. It was the resurrection. And the resurrection has been convincing people
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ever since. But if this is your first time with us at any of
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our churches, or a first time to tune in or to watch online,
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here's something you need to know about us. We don't believe that Jesus rose
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from the dead because the Bible tells us so it is way way, way,
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way better and more substantial than that. We believe Jesus rose from the
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dead because the first century follower of Jesus named Matthew documented the life of Jesus
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and documented the resurrection. And we believe because a Greek named Mark, who
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is a friend of Peter, got Peter's story out of Peter and concluded in
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the first century that Peter was telling the truth and that Jesus actually rose from
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the dead. And we believe because a doctor named Luke, who was also
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a Greek, who traveled around us in the area of Judea and traveled around
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the world with the apostle Paul, came to the conclusion that he'd met enough
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people who'd seen the resurrect of Jesus that Jesus was alive, and he gave
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us an account we call it the Gospel of Luke. At the beginning of
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that gospel, he says to the person he was writing this for, oh,
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excellent Theophilis, I have sat down, like many have, to give
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an orderly account of the events that took place among us. And we believe
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because the apostle Peter, in the two letters he left the first century church,
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declared that Jesus rose from the dead. And we believe Jesus rose from
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the dead because this is my favorite. James, the brother of Jesus,
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concluded his brother was his lord. What would your brother have to do to
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convince you he was your lord? Exactly? And James did not believe Jesus
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was his lord. When Jesus was doing his earthly minute history, he was
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not impressed by his sermons. Apparently, he was not impressed by his tricks.
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He was not impressed by the supposed miracles. But James, the brother
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of Jesus shows up as the pastor of the church in Jerusalem and is stoned
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because he will not go along with the religious tradition. Because he insists that
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his brother, his crucified brother, who rose from the dead, was his
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lord. And we believe because the apostle Paul, who stepped onto the pages
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of history, is someone who was committed to doing away with the church.
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Concluded that Jesus was in fact the Jewish Messiah, he was the son of
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God, and that he actually rose from the dead. And he knew this
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because of a personal revelation and because he spent so much time with Peter and
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Andrew and James and John and James the brother of Jesus, and these extraordinary
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brave men documented what they saw, documented what they heard, documented what they
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heard from others who had seen the resurrected Jesus, and these documents were collected
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and they were protected, and many years later they were combined and put into
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a volume we call the Bible. But long before there was the b I
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B l E. There were men who were witnesses of and friends of witnesses
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of the resurrection of Jesus. And besides that, the story of Jesus isn't
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even worth telling. The story of Jesus wasn't even worth telling or documenting apart
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from the resurrection. Apart from the resurrection, Jesus was just another Jewish rabbi
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that went off the rails. Apart from the resurrection, Jesus is just another
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wanna be messiah executed by Rome. They come and they go, And the
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people who were closest to Jesus are so excruciatingly honest. In fact, it's
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one of the reasons you should take their account seriously. They do not write
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themselves into the story as heroes in the story. They write themselves into the
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stories as doubters, because in fact they doubted. They expected Jesus to do
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what all dead people do. Do you know what all dead people do?
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They stay dead. Nobody even and his closest followers, even the most committed
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among them. Nobody expected nobody. Nobody was standing outside the tomb counting down
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from ten backwards on Easter morning ten nine eight Q the Son seven six.
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Nobody was out there because every single person who loved and was devoted to Jesus
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determined they had been fooled. They had been tricked. He was not who
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he claimed to be, because the problem with Jesus was not what he taught.
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The problem with Jesus was not what he did. The problem was Jesus.
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With Jesus was what he claimed about himself. And if he was telling
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the truth about who he was, clearly he lied. Because you can't crucify
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the resurrection and the life. You can't execute God's Messiah that the Jews had
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been waiting on for hundreds of years. You can't put the son of Man
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to death. The other person that was an eyewitness and a follower of Jesus
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who gives us his account is John Matthew Mark Luke. John and John was
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a witness of both the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, and he details
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both for us. But like the others who followed Jesus. He did not
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expect either. He did not expect a crucifixion, and he did not expect
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a resurrection. Do you know what he expected? He expected a king.
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John tells us that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead just two miles from
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Jerusalem, a miracle that went beyond all the other miracles, because Lazarus hadn't
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been dead for a few hours, they'd already had the funeral, and just
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a few miles outside of Jerusalem. So many Jewish people put their faith in
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Jesus after the resurrection of Lazarus, because it was an undeniable act of God
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for anybody who saw it. That many, many, many Jewish people put
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their faith in Jesus, and there was a ground swell of support. They
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had all the momentum they had the crowd. John said, after the resurrection,
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many many, believed in him. The problem was it was too many
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who believed in him, and Jesus in it. He's back in Jerusalem decided
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they'd had enough. Something had to be done. If they didn't do something
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about Jesus, as in their words, the whole world would go after him.
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They knew Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for Passover. The city would be
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crowded. They decided this was their best opportunity to take him out. They
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would wait till after all the festivities were over, as people were leaving the
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city, thousands and thousands of visitors and travelers in the city at that time,
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they would isolate Jesus from the crowd. They would arrest him, and
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they would make sure they could convince Rome to ultimately execute him. So as
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Jesus and his disciples leave the area of Bethany and move toward Jerusalem, the
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crowd knows he's coming. The city is full of spies, the city is
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full of fans. This is there's so much patriotic zeal during Passover in Jerusalem.
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Passover was a reminder to the Jews that God, once upon a time,
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a long time ago, had delivered the nation from the bondage of the
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Egyptians. And they hoped one passover would come along when God would deliver the
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nation from the bondage of Rome. And perhaps this was that passover. Because
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there was so much momentum behind Jesus, perhaps it would be during Passover that
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he would rip off his rabbinic robe and declare him self King. As he
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makes his way into the city, he's met by hundreds and hundreds, maybe
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a thousands of fans declaring him Lord, declaring him king. It gets political
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very quickly. He comes into the city a few days before the final Passover
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Sabbath. He makes his way to the temple, He teaches and preaches.
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He works his way freely through the city. People are watching him at all
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times, waiting for that moment when they can carve him away from the crowd.
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And while he's there, Judas runs out of patience, goes to the
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temple leaders and says, I can isolate him from the crowd. I can
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isolate him and his few followers at a time that it will be easy for
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you to arrest him, And he does his deal. Toward the end of
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that week after he came into the city, Jesus celebrates the final Passover with
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the twelve and while he is there, he increases their expectation that perhaps this
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is the time he will declare himself king. While they're having that meal,
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Jesus announces that he's establishing a brand new covenant. And for these Jewish young
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men who'd been raised listening to Torah and being taught the prophets. They knew
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that the prophet Jeremiah had prophesied that one day God would in fact declare a
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brand new covenant with his people. And Jesus indicated that this is that time.
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I am about to inaugurate the covenant with all of mankind that God promised
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so many years ago. A covenant, he said that will be established.
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And they had no category for this. That would be established in his blood
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and his blood, and then he said this, The terms and conditions of
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this new covenant are very simple. Once upon a time, the terms and
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conditions of a covenant were very complicated because they were given to a very very
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specific group of people. But this is a covenant for the whole world.
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This is an arrangement between God and the human race, and the terms and
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the conditions are very simple. It is one new command. You are to
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love each the way that I have loved you. You are to love each
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other, not the way you've been loved, not the way you want to
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be loved. This isn't do unto others as you would have others do unto
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you. This is a whole nother thing. Gentlemen. You are to love
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each other you are to love the world the way I have loved you.
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And the next day he would put on a demonstration of love that would take
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their breath away. And this was to be the trademark, this was to
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be the brand of this brand new movement. Clearly they thought he is about
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to declare himself king. Clearly he is about to do something for the nation.
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But unbeknownst to them, Jesus was about to do something for you,
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and for you, and for you and for the whole world. They leave
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that meal, and that very night, as you know, Judas has betrayed
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Jesus. He's worked it all out. He's isolated from the crowd. He's
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in the garden. Judas knows his pattern, Judas knows his abbots, and
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Jesus is arrested. He's taken to the High Priest, where he's falsely accused.
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He's beaten. Later, they take him to Pilot because they want Jesus
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executed, and they want him executed quickly before the crowd changes their mind about
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who this false messiah really is. They take him to Pilot. Pilot doesn't
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want to have anything to do with it, but they convince Pilot to talk
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to him. And Pilot comes out and says, seriously, I can find
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nothing wrong with this man. There are no charges worthy of death. And
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they say he must die. He must die. So Pilot gives in and
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decides, you know what, I will have him flogged. I'll have him
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beaten with an inch of his life. And surely when I bring out the
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beaten and broken and bloody want to be king. Surely the crowd will change
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and they won't force me to execute they're king. And he has Jesus flogged,
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and he brings him out, and he's looking for mercy from the crowd,
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and instead they say, no, it's not enough. He must die.
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He must die because he claims to be the son of God. He
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must die because he claims to be a king. And Pilot, if you
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are a friend of Caesar, you cannot be a friend of this man,
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and you cannot be allowed this man to live. And Pilot relents and he
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gives in, and John, who was there for all of this, says,
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at that point the soldiers took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own
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cross, he went out to the place of the skull. Again. John
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is writing this as an old man thinking back he's dictating this, probably because
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he's too old to see. He probably can't write by this time. He's
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dictating this, and somebody is taking this down in Greek, because Greek is
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the language of the Empire, that part of the empire, And this is
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a story for the whole world, not simply a part of the world.
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And he says he was taken to the place of the skull, and there
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they crucified him. No details are given, because no details are necessary.
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Everyone who would hear this story in the first century, everyone who would hear
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this story in the second century, had seen or had seen the aftermath of
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a crucifixion. He was crucified with two others, one on each side,
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and Jesus in the middle. And then John records the words of Jesus from
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the cross. And John gives us a detail that would be unnecessary unless it
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were true. In fact, he gives us a detail that would be easy
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to discount or show that it wasn't true unless it was true. John said
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that as he stood there, gazing and wanting to look away, but gazing
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and wanting to look away, he stood beside Mary, Jesus' mother, and
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Jesus said to him, John, Mary is now your mother, and Mary
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John is now your son. And this was Jesus way of saying, take
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care of my mom. And John said, I was there and I heard
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him utter his last word when he said it is finished. And then he
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said, I watched as he bowed his head and died. And then John
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does the most unusual thing. These are words that if you are reading the
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Gospel on your own, you would get to these words and skip right by
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because they don't seem significant, they don't seem to carry any meaning, and
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they are extraordinarily, extraordinarily important. John pauses, reflects, and this then
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makes this statement not for his immediate audience, but for future generations, for
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us, for you. And here's what he writes. The man talking about
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himself, the man who saw it. In other words, I saw this.
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I didn't hear about it, I didn't read about it. I saw
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it. The man who saw it is given his testimony. In other words,
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I'm swearing to you that this is exactly how it happened. The man
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who saw it's given his testimony, and his testimony is true. And he
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knows he says, and he knows that he tells the truth, and he
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testifies, so that and then it's as if John reaches out through the ages
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and grabs each of us by the shoulders and looks into our eyes, and
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he says, my testimony is true and testimony, and I testify so that
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you also, like me the eyewitness, so that you also, even though
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you were not there to see it, that you also would trust that I'm
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telling you the truth, and that you also would respond like I responded to
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this story, that you also may believe, to which we may respond,
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well, that's easy, John, So far, so good. So far
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are we got to want to be Messiah that gets executed by Rome? I
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believe so far you got a rabbi who kind of went off the rails and
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fooled his followers, and finally the religious leaders caught up with him and got
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rid of him. We believe so far Rome simply crucifies another wanna be king.
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I mean, we believe, it's easy to believe, to which John
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would say, no, not that part. What happened next, Not that
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part. It's this next part you'll have a hard time believing. But I
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promise to you, I promise you, I swear to you you my testimony
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is true. What happened next happened? I was there, I saw it
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all. Later, he says, later, Joseph of Arimathea, a specific
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name, so much detail, ask Pilot for the body of Jesus. Why,
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because you couldn't bury a crucified body unless you bribe someone, the centurion
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on site or in this case, pilot. They asked Pilot for the body.
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With Pilot's permission, he came and he took the body away, and
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he was accompanied by somebody that showed up earlier in God's John's Gospel, Nicodemus.
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He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at
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night at night, and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes in about
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seventy five pounds of things to embalm Jesus's body. Why because these men expected
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Jesus to do what dead men always do, stay dead. And taking Jesus'
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body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen.
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This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. This was John's way of
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remembering, Oh, yeah, there will be people who hear this account,
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hopefully, who read this account, hopefully that don't understand all the Jewish customs.
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I want them to understand what happened at such an important moment. At
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the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the
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garden a new tomb, a cave in which no one had ever been laid.
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And because and because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since
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the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. This was his way of
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saying. They were in a hurry. The sun was about to set.
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Once the sun set, the Sabbath began, and none of this work would
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be lawful as when the Sabbath began. So they hurriedly prepared jesus body for
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burial, put him in this tomb this cave, had their slaves roll the
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stone in front of it, and they left, and John along with Peter
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and perhaps others, but for sure John and Peter, they disappear into the
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city as well. We don't know what John did that night. We don't
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know what John and Peter talked about that night, but they knew that these
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last three years of their life were a waste of life. They were so
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convinced Jesus was who Jesus claimed to be. And the fact that he was
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arrested so quickly and crucified so quickly. I mean, these events went by
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so quickly. They were just beginning to catch up emotionally. We don't know
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what they did that night. We don't know what they did on Saturday,
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but John tells us that early Sunday morning they were awakened, assuming they slept
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at all, they were awakened to someone banging on the door. And certainly
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their first thoughts is the officers or the soldiers have found us. But then
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they realized Roman soldiers don't knock, They just kick in the door and come
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in. So they go to the door and they open the door and there's
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Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most devoted followers. She had
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followed Jesus for a long time because Jesus had delivered her and Jesus had performed
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a miracle for her. She was one of the women that followed Jesus that
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was so grateful because Jesus consistently elevated the dignity of women and elevated the dignity
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of children and elevated the dignity everyone. And she was so broken hearted,
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like all the women followers were when Jesus was crucified, and she's banging on
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the door. They opened the door, and she's panicked, she's sobbing.
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They can barely understand what she's saying. And she says to Peter and John,
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they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know
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where they've put him. We went to the tomb to make sure his body
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was properly prepared. The stone was rolled away. We looked inside and there
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was nobody someone, and she assumes what anyone would assume. Not a miracle,
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not a resurrection. No one writes themselves into this story as heroes or
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believers. None of them believe Jesus would rise from the dead. She looked
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into an empty tomb, and she assumed what you would assume in the first
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century. Somebody has stolen the body. Someone has taken the body of our
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lord, and we don't know where they, whoever they are, put him.
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And John tells us that whereas they had been hiding the night before,
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suddenly they felt the urgency of the moment, and they knew where Jesus's body
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had been put the night before. John says, so Peter and the other
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disciple speaking of himself started for the tomb. Both were running, but the
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other disciple talking about himself, outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Now
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this is an interesting detail. I have a theory. By the time John
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dictated this, I think he chuckled. By this time, Peter had been
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executed in Nero's rome, and he thought to himself, I think it's safe
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to tell this detail. Peter's not here to be embarrassed. I outran him
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to the tomb. People should know that. And then John steps back and
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realizes, Okay, but if I'm going to tell that part of the story,
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I have to tell the entire story. John says. When I got
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there, I got to the outside of the tomb and I bent over and
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I looked in at the strips of Linnen lying there. But I'll be honest,
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I didn't go in. And why didn't he go in? It was
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dark, it was a tomb. It's a Johnasty. He's no hero.
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He's as confused as all of Jesus' followers were on this first Easter morning,
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he said. Then eventually my friend Simon finally caught up. Then Simon Peter
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came along behind me, and he went straight into the tomb. And why
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did he go straight into the tomb, Because he was Simon Peter, and
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that's what Simon Peter would do. Simon Peter didn't wait. He spoke too
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soon, he acted too soon. He was always getting into trouble. And
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he went straight into the tomb. And John says, here's what we saw.
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We saw the strangest thing. We saw what we did not expect to
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see, because when someone steals a body, they take the body and everything
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with it. But what we saw in that moment convinced us that the world,
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our world had changed. He saw the strips of lenin lying there,
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as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus head. The cloth
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was still lying in its place, separate from the lenin. This wasn't a
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mess, this wasn't a rushed job. Thieves would not take time to dis
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embalm or unembalmed a body. And John finally musters up the courage to step
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inside. He says, finally, I'll admit, finally I was late.
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The other disciple who had reached the tomb. First, I do want you
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to know that also went inside. And then John gives us his formula.
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This is the formula we find throughout the Gospel. This is the formula he
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wants to leave his readers with because it takes us to the epicenter of the
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Christian faith. And John said, speaking of himself, he saw, and
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when he saw, he put two and two together, and he believed.
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And his world changed because the resurrection of Jesus reframed his entire life. It
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reframed everything about his life. Suddenly it dawned on him everything Jesus taught was
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true. Everything Jesus said about God the Father was true. He realized that
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in the moment when they had that difficult conversation, that final pass over,
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when Philip said, hey, Jesus, just show us the Father, and
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Jesus said, that crazy thing that should have gotten you know, this is
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when everybody should have gotten up and left the room. And Jesus looks at
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Philip and looks at the guys in the room and says, if you've seen
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me, you've seen the Father. I am as close to ever understanding what
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God is like as you'll ever get. Why do you think I came and
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in the moment when it dawned on John that we don't know where Jesus is,
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but clearly he has risen from the dead. I saw him crucified,
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I saw him died, I saw him embalmed, I saw him buried.
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And he has risen. And suddenly everything lines up for John, who could
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imagine? Who can imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such
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boundless grace? He invited a tax gatherer to follow. He elevated the dignity
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of every single person, and he spoke to centurions, the rich, the
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poor, the empowered, the disempowered. The God of Ages has stepped down
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from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. This was his message,
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that in the beginning was the word, and the word. Don't ask
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me to explain it, he would say. All I can say is the
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word, which is God became flesh and dwelt among us. The best way
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I can describe it, he would say, is this. It's as if
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the light of the world entered the world and lit up the world for us.
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And on that Easter morning, when I recognized that he had risen from
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the dead, it all came together for me and John and Peter and the
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others would eventually see Jesus alive from the dead. They would have conversations.
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John, you should read them records many of these conversations, but one in
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particular I want to read to you as we close. You see, when
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Jesus was crucified and everybody knew the game was over, and there was no
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movement to keep moving, there was no cause to keep going. There was
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nothing to keep alive because Jesus declared too much about himself. This wasn't like
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some of the other movements in culture where people, you know, the leader
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goes away or the leader is assassinated, and people want to keep the dream
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alive, or people want to keep ideas alive, or people want to keep
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the teaching alive. There was no teaching to keep alive because Jesus so much
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of his message was all about him, So there was no future. And
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when they realized there was no future, they scattered. Peter and John stayed
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in town. Some of the disciples went back to bethany where Lazarus lived,
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and some of the disciples we don't know where they went. They just knew
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that there was a price on their head, and one of those disciples was
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Thomas, and John gives us the detail of jesus first encounter with Thomas.
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He says this, now, Thomas, one of the twelve, was not
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with the disciples, or he could have said, was not with us when
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Jesus came to the rest of us and we told him, we said,
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Thomas, Thomas, we have seen the Lord. Because jesus sidings were circulating
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all over Jerusalem and in that vicinity, and apparently Thomas heard about this,
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that people are saying that Jesus is back from the dead. And Thomas makes
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his way back to the area, makes his way back to the city,
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and he finally reconnects with the disciples and they're like, Tomas, where have
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you been the Lord? He is alive. But Thomas isn't superstitious. Thomas
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has just felt like he just spent three years of his life chasing a false
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messiah. Now he's not going to spend the rest of his life chasing a
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ghost and a rumor. And he says to them, fellas, unless I
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see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were
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and put my hands into his side, I will not believe John, I
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love you, but your words not enough. Peter, I love you,
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but I think you're seeing things. The rest of you, guys, I
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love you, guys, but no, I'm not going to dedicate the rest
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of my life talking about a dead man who came back to life unless I
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see him, and who could blame him. A week later, so much
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detail his disciples. We're in the house again, and Thomas is with them,
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and John says, I know this is odd, but I'm just telling
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you how it happened. I've just asked you to try that my testimony is
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true. I have suffered for what I believe. I've been exiled for what
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I believe. I'm telling you this is how it happened. We were in
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the room and the doors, I promise you they were locked, and Jesus
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came and stood among us, and he said peace be with you. And
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of course he said peace be with us, because he scared us to death.
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And then he looked at Thomas. Then he looked at Thomas and he
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said, Thomas, put your finger here. See my hands. Reach out
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your hand and put it to my side. It's me. It's me,
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Thomas. I love this. The literal Greek translation of this verse that in
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some of our English Bibles gets a little wonky, is literally this, do
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not be unbelieving but believing. Do not be unbelieving but believing. John included
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this little piece of narrative because again, it goes back to his central theme,
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do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him,
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my Lord, and wow, my God. And then Jesus told him,
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Thomas, I understand why you doubt it, Thomas. I understand why
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you didn't believe. Thomas. You're just like the rest of these guys.
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Don't let them fool you. Don't let them give you a nickname like doubting
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Thomas, because none of them believed. All of them doubted. Not one
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single guy in this room believed I was risen from the dead until they saw
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me, even when they looked into that empty tomb. Don't be deceived,
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don't be an unbeliever, be believing. And then are you ready for this?
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At this moment, Jesus leaves his immediate context, and he looks through
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the ages, and he looks at you, and he looks at me.
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He leaves his immediate context, and knowing that this story would be told for
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generations and for centuries. With you in mind and with me in mind,
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he says to the group gathered that day, Blessed are those who have not
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seen and yet have believed. You believe because you've seen. But blessed is
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that future generation. Blessed are the people that come after you. Blessed are
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the people you tell John, Blessed are the people that read your account.
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And Matthew. Blessed are those that reads your account. And Peter, Blessed
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are those that read your account. Blessed are those future generations that hear and
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believe but have not seen. And then John closes his account with this.
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He closes it with an invitation for all of us, and his invitation is
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simple. It's what he has said throughout his gospel. John would say,
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I just want you to believe that, and then I want you to trust
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in. I want you to believe that my testimony is true, and I
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want you to believe that Jesus is who Jesus claimed to be. And once
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you're convinced that he's who he claimed to be, I want you to take
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one more step. I want you to place your trust in. I want
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you to believe that I want you to believe in. I want you to
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believe that. I want you to believe in. Here's how he says it.
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He says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples.
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We saw them which are not recorded in my document. But these the
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ones I've selected, the conversations I've selected, the signs I have selected,
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the miracles I've selected. These are written not simply so that you would know
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what happened. These have been written by me, and I've ordered them in
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such a way that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son
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of God. That's the belief that I want you to take my word for
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what he said about himself. I want you to believe that, and then
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I want you to do one more thing. But these are written that you
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may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
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by believing, you may have life in his name. I want you to
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believe that, but I want you to personally trust in and why. If
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we were to ask John why, these would be our words, not his,
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but this would be his message. He would say, I'll tell you
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why, because there came that morning that sealed that punctuated that authenticated the promise.
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His buried body began to breathe, and out of the silence that we
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thought would be silent forever, the roaring lion declared, the grave has no
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claim on you or me, For God so loved the whole world. John
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concluded after being with Jesus that he gave us his only son, the light
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of the world, the world the word became flesh, that whoever here it
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is believes in him would not be lost to God, would not perish,
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but have John says, don't ask me to explain it. I'm just telling
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you would have eternal life. That was Jesus's invitation to John. That's your
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heavenly father's invitation to all of us. And our hope this Eastern season is
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that that would become personal for you, that based on John's account, you
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would believe that, and then you would trust in