to make a transition here. In the classic novel, The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas, has this fictional Roman Marcellus who watches the life of Christ, and he writes letters back to Fiancé Diana, who is in Rome, as he's in and around Jerusalem watching the goings on around Jesus. He tells her about his teachings. He tells her about his miracles. Then he tells her about the arrest and the crucifixion. Then he tells her about the resurrection. And then finally in a letter, he tells her he's decided to become a disciple of Jesus. And in her letter, a response is what? His Fiancé Diana writes back. What I feared was that it might affect you. It is a beautiful story. Let it remain so. We don't have to do anything about it, right? The beautiful story. We don't have to do anything about it, right? Our passage this morning is from John chapter 20. We're going to read verses 24 through 31. I'll give you the context. If you've been out for a little while, this is your first time with us. Really glad you're here. The context is this Easter Sunday. Jesus rises from the dead and he makes his first appearances. He makes five appearances, according to the Gospel of five appearances, to different sets of followers, disciples on that day. And that night he appears to his disciples. Judas has already killed himself. Thomas is missing. We don't know where he was. The others, the others of the disciples, and a number of other followers of Christ, apparently, are in a room together locked and chambered room. And Jesus appears to them and says, peace be with you. In verse 24 says, now Thomas called didimus. One of the 12 was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see the nail marks in his hands. I put my finger where the nails were, but my hand into his side, I will not believe it. Week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them, though the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. And he said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God. Then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen you have believed. Jesus did many other miraculous signs and the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Let's pray. My Lord and my God, Father, we echo Thomas's exclamation now 2,000 years in county. Well, thank you for written word that reveals to us the living word Jesus. My prayer this morning is always that you will take these words from the pages of the Bible, pages of your written word, to write them on the tablets of our hearts. For some of us we have hearts of stone we have yet to yield to you. For others our hearts have been made alive, but they are a little stony this morning. Lord, that you would take these words and write them on the tablets of our hearts. Give us hearts of flesh that beats and live for you so that this day we would be transformed more and more into the image of Jesus and whose name I pray. Amen. Well, let me ask you, when you get bad news, I mean really bad news, what's your proclivity? Do you want to surround yourself with people who love you and can comfort you? Do you want the comfort of friends? Or are you the kind you want to crawl in the hole and pull the hole in action if you left alone? That's Thomas. Thomas, while the other disciples and other followers had clung together and lean on each other for comfort and then encouragement, as the risen Christ appeared to them, Thomas was off somewhere by himself, looking his own wounds and trying to make sense of the loss of his leader and his friend, Jesus. You know, Thomas is, Thomas is your little Winnie the Pooh theology. Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Well, if you don't, I'm suspicious of your salvation. If you don't like Winnie the Pooh, I have loved the Pooh stories since I was this big. Thomas, if you don't know, just look it up please. Thomas is your, you know, you are the donkey and it's not much of a tale, but it's mine. You know, nothing but gloom and doom. Your glass is not only half empty, but whatever's in it is probably fitted and you can't drink it. That's your next Thomas. Gloom and doom, all is lost. Jesus is lost and pleased. Don't come to me. Your nonsense about seem risen from the dead. Please. This is not a time for wishful thinking. That's Thomas. That's Thomas. Thomas only appears ten times in all four gospels, ten times five of those are in John and most of the mentions of Thomas are right here in chapter 20. There are a couple of other notable appearances that Thomas makes in the gospels. You may remember when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, it's happened back in John chapter 11, Jesus frags his feet and goes to Lazarus and time to save him, but then Jesus says in John 11 verses 14 to 16, talking to the disciples. So he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and for years say, I'm glad I was not there, so you may believe. But let us go to him. Then Thomas called didimus and I should say didimus just means twin. Thomas is a twin. Then Thomas called didimus said to the rest of the disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. This is Thomas. Thomas is a stoic. Thomas is a Presbyterian, folks. We're stoics. I know the Presbyterian pastor in the Northwest, I think I've told you about him. He carries a card that says, I am a Presbyterian. In case of accident, don't call anyone, I was born to suffer. Folks, we're stoics. We're Presbyterian. We're Thomas. Now there's one other major episode that Thomas features in. Before I talk about it, let me ask it. I want to mention some names to you. If you know who they are, just nod your head or were waving. The way in here know who Ralph Branca is Ralph Branca, I wouldn't think so. How about the name Tracy Stollard? Now, Al Downing, I wouldn't think so. Unless you are a hardcore baseball geek. You don't know these people. Let me tell you, Ralph Branca, now this goes back a few years to October the 3rd, 1951. He threw a pitch in the bottom of the 9th inning for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Bobby Thompson, New York Giants, hit for a home run, a walk-off home run, and completed the Dodgers spectacular collapse. And the Giants won the pin on one pitch, so my Ralph Branca, he lives in Dodger, Lauren, in for me. He threw the pitch, that became known as a shot herd around the world. They know Bobby Thompson, as he hit the home run. A lot of people don't remember Ralph Branca, threw the pitch. Tracy Stollard threw the pitch that Roger Mera, I'm just saying I'm thinking that I'm sorry. Tracy Stollard threw the pitch that Roger Mera's hit for home run number 61, where he broke Babe Ruth's single season record. In my opinion, that's still the illegitimate record, but that's what I was worth. Al Downing was a guy who threw Henry Aaron's home run record-breaking pitch number 715. Well, that's great. Can't worry about this baseball geek stuff. These guys don't matter a whole lot in history, except they set in motion something that changed the course of history. They serve something up that set in motion a historical event. What's this got to do with Thomas? I'm glad you asked. John chapter 14, this is the final night before Jesus was arrested and crucified. Did they have the Lord's supper? Jesus says to them, John 14, these words familiar to you, do not let your hearts be troubled, trusting God, trust also in me. And my father's house, there are many rooms that were not so, what have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going. So how can we know the way? And Jesus said, in words that every Christian ought to know, I am the way and the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. We all know John 14, 6. You know who asked the question? It was Thomas. It was Thomas. And when we call doubting Thomas, now let me bring you back to John chapter 20. We got Thomas here. He wasn't with him the Easter night resurrection. We don't know where he was, somewhere else. He wasn't with him. So he didn't see Jesus. And Thomas is a skeptic. I want you to understand he's a skeptic. He's not a cynic. What's the difference, Kent? A skeptic says, I'm not going to believe you just because you tell me it's true. I'm not going to take you word for it, but if you can prove it to me, if you can make your case, I'm going to consider what you have to say. The cynic says, my mind is made up. Don't bother me with the facts. I don't care what the facts are. My theory is entirely correct. It's the facts that are misleading. That's the cynic. That's the cynic. I'm a skeptic, folks. You're looking at a recurring skeptic here. I don't believe anything just because of my tells me. Bernie Goldberg, the reporter. I'm sure it's a well known saying, but he's been here a few times. He said the reporters. Credo is, if your mother tells you something, get a second source to confirm it. Well, that's, I'm kind of that way. I don't tell my mother. I said that, but I'm kind of that way. I'm going to just take people their word. But if you can make your case, I'll listen to you. And you might convince me. I'm not a cynic. If you're talking to a cynic, whose mind's made up, don't waste your breath. Don't waste your breath. That's pearls before swine. Thomas is a skeptic. Thomas is a skeptic. And I don't look down on Thomas. I really don't. You understand that Thomas really wasn't any different than the other disciples. Other than John, who saw the grave closer in the tomb and believed, all the rest of them, they didn't believe until they saw Jesus either. Jesus had to appear to them in that locked and shuttered room, and then they believed. Well, Thomas just is a weak late. That's all. I'm not, I'm not down on Thomas at all. Thomas is a skeptic. And I understand that I speak his language. After Lord Tennyson said this, I'm slightly paraphrasing it. He said, there's more faith in honest doubt than in half-hearted creeds. There's more faith in honest doubt than in half-hearted creeds. And I love something Frederick Beaker says about that. He said, doubt is the ants and the pants of faith. Doubt is what makes you get up and move and do something, but I got doubts. I got questions. I need to go do something with him. You go, let's try and say to our young people, you go to the source. And you ask your questions. You go to the scripture. You go to somebody knows the scripture. You go to God in prayer. He said, I'm really struggling with this. I don't understand this. This doesn't make sense to me. I don't get this. I'm doing this a lot. I'm reading through the Old Testament again, and I read through the Old Testament before. And I come to these places where God seems to be so harsh on some people, and I said, God, why? Was it really all that necessary? And I don't think God's the least shaken up by my questions. He's not shaken up by yours either. He's not intimidated by, he's not threatened by, he's not nervous about you asking questions. He's not, not to office throw him one big. You go to God with your questions. And Thomas has an honest skeptics doubt about Jesus until Jesus appears to him. Thomas, with Thomas, seeing was believing. Seeing was believing. You know, the scripture doesn't say you had to go up and actually put his finger in the nail prints in Jesus' hands, put his hand in where the spear was plunging. He didn't do that. He saw, and he said, my Lord and my God, one of the most striking acts of worship in all the scriptures, certain in all the gospels, my Lord and my God. Jesus elicits strong reactions from people, and that's really what I want to spend the rest of the time as we're talking about. Jesus elicits strong reactions from people. He did back then. He still does today. He's in frequent magazine articles, things about the life of Jesus. And now we found his tomb, every Easter. He's on the cover of Newsweek and Time, and what was he really like, researching for the real Jesus, as if they couldn't read the Bible. Primary source documentation is stored in the college. After going running after the gospel Judas, these bogus things, but it sells magazines because we're still fascinated with Jesus. 2,000 years later, we're still fascinated by the man. I am unaware of any other person of antiquity who generates this much interest, this much controversy. Now, the seizures do, and they were seizures. They were emperors of the greatest empire in the Western world up to that point. Herod doesn't, Josephus, the historian, he doesn't. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are giants, and they're important, and they're very influential to this day. They make great contributions. They're not on the covers of magazines. Alexander the Great. He's not on the cover of the magazine. We're not that fascinated. We're fascinated by Jesus. Nobody else generates that much attention today, and the skeptic here says, oh yeah, well what about Muhammad? I know your heart. I'm one of you. What about Muhammad? What about Muhammad? First of all, he's five under 70 years later, born in 570-80. You can understand something for the Muslim. For the Muslim, Muhammad is not the issue. Believe it or not. You have to make a cartoon about him. He becomes the issue. But you understand, for the Muslim, Muhammad is not like Jesus is for us. No, for the Muslim, the Korean, their book is what? Jesus is for us. They don't get to have them through Muslim and their belief system. They get to have them through obeying the Korean. Yeah, you can generate controversy about the Korean if you rip a page or you throw in a wave, say, yeah, you can generate controversy. But the issue for them is a book. For the Christian issue is a person. His name is Jesus. Jesus engenders strong responses in people. He's briefly mentioned three to you. First of all, he elicits admiration in the gospels. You know this. He gets lots of positive attention from the mass. He performed miracles and he feeds the multitudes and he heals people. He gives life to the dead. He teaches great lessons. He teaches like no one ever taught before. They say he teaches not like the scribes and the Pharisees. He teaches like one with authority. They say he has done all things well. Surely Messiah when he comes won't do more than this man will he? The culmination is an outpouring. What we call Palm Sunday, the last Sunday of Jesus earthly ministry before the crucifixion where he goes into town riding on the donkey and the people pour out of Jerusalem and the pilgrims coming for the Passover and the ones who come from Bethany were raised Lazarus and they meet there going up the mainstream Jerusalem. They throw down their palm fronds and they shout, Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna. Hosanna. Blessed is the king of Israel and the masses admire him. It's not just the masses. I mean when he's born, imagine I from the east, wise men, scholars, astronomers, they follow a star to come and pay homage to the infant king. You know they didn't get there when he was born. They got there sometime later. They started looking for him when they saw a star in the east. Matthew 19 tells us there's a rich young ruler who's intrigued by Jesus and comes to him wants to know what I have to do that goes away sorrowful. John 3 there's Nicodemus a Pharisee. These people were the elite, the cream of the crop of Israel that are highly educated, very influential. Nicodemus comes to him by night. And then we just read in John 18 and 19 were pilot the Roman governor. He's intrigued by Jesus. He doesn't see Jesus as a bad person. He doesn't seem as a threat. Somebody to be eliminated, somebody exterminated. He's intrigued by the person of the Christ but he feels like it's better to sacrifice him than put up with the consequences. And then as Joseph of Arimathea we meet toward the end here. He's the one that donates the tomb for Jesus just briefly. You can have it as long as you're going to need it. Matthew tells us he's rich. Mark says he's a prominent member of the council. John just tells us he's a disciple but a secret one. Then you go down through history there are so many people who admire Jesus. You know like Gandhi, admire Jesus greatly. Gandhi had one picture in his house. There's a painting Christ. He thought that the sermon on the Mount was one of the most sublime things he'd ever read. So why didn't he become a Christian? He said very simply I like your Christ. I don't like so much your Christians. I don't see it in them who live like he did. So Gandhi did not become a Christian. What might have happened? What? How might India have been different? Had Gandhi embraced Christ as Lord? How might the world be different today? Gandhi embraced Christ. You know who Kenneth Clark is? Sir Kenneth Clark, great historian, British historian in the last century. He put together a television series called Civilization, hugely popular at the time. He lived and he died without ever coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ. But there was a moment. There was a moment for Kenneth Clark. We went into some cathedral, some beautifully appointed church, probably like ours, maybe more stained glass. And what he called an overwhelming religious experience. This is what he said. I'm quoting my whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more intense than anything I had ever known before. But this, what he called the gloom of grace. He didn't receive it because he was afraid. What his family would say. What his family would say. He knew his life would have to change. He thought his family might think he'd lost his mind inside. He said, what if it didn't last? What if that joy he experienced? What if it didn't last? What was illusory? And so he said, I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course. What sad words. You know Craig Ferguson is. He's a late late night talk show host. He's on CBS after lettering. He's a scot. And he's extremely bright, very talented. I'm not recommending him to you by the way. You're up there late, but he's extremely bright, very talented and for a long, long time, probably 15, 16, 17 years. He was a sloppy fall down drunk by his own admission. He drank mass of the mass. It's amazing. The mass is still alive. I came at time. He's living in London. Besides, he's going to go home for one Christmas to see his family. He's been away from him for a while. He's going to go home to see his family. He's got a flight booked on Christmas day. Christmas Eve night spends night and London goes to see a friend of his. He owns a bar, a friend Tommy serves him up beer and then another next thing. You know, Ferguson just passes out drunk. He wakes up the next morning. Well, this is Sunday morning. So I will only say in a disgusting and deplorable state. He's passed out drunk. Mr's flight. He's so disgusted with himself. He's going to kill. He's going to take his own life. He's going to get out from the bar. He fell asleep in a loft above the bar. No memory of how he got there. He's going to get out. Leave the bar and go throw himself off a bridge into the Tim's river and just end it all. We pull himself together. He goes downstairs and there's his friend Tommy. He would also fast out tonight before these up cleaning up his bar. Christmas day. And Ferguson gives him a lame excuse. Well, he's going to go see if he could find a flight or somebody to get back to Scotland, which is not what he was going to do. He's going to kill himself. And Tommy said, no flights today. You can't get to Scotland today. For instance, well, I'm going to try. And this is what happens. Tommy, suit yourself. He said, but surely you'll have a glass of sherry on our Savior's birthday. I turned this Ferguson and I turned this all. He had poured his both glasses of sherry and was holding them out. Not little glasses either. These were half-pints. I didn't want to be rude. Tommy was a nice guy. Anyway, I could have a sherry of still be dead by nine o'clock. I walked back to the bar and he handed me a glass. I raised it, clinking mine against his. The baby Jesus, I said. The infant Christ, he said. And we both took long draughts. God helped me. But I can still taste how wondrous that sherry felt going down. Bitter and sweet and harsh and smooth all at the same time. The heavenly time sued the palpitations of my erratic and troubled heart and restored my breath from shallow panic to even calm. As though the Lord himself had taken his cool hand in my furrowed brow. As the warmth spread through me as if from a thousand loving sons, I completely forgot about killing myself. And I don't even like sherry. I hope he'll take the next step and do business with the one who saved his life. I really do. A lot of people come to Jesus with great admiration. He's a very admired person. There's another reaction we get though. People come to him and then they're separation. I told you earlier, it's public ministry. He's met with mostly approval. This time goes by and it's clear that he's not going to just dance to their tune. He's not going to be the political Messiah. They all want him to be and deliver them from the hated Romans. People began to pull back from him. Started with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They saw him as a threat to their power, to their position, to their influence even, to their way of life and their livelihood. And even the people that he fed with the five clothes and two fish, you know, the masses back in John chapter 6 and they all believe when he's not going to give them more free bread, they all begin to leave and go away. I love what happens in John chapter 6. From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the twelve. Simon Peter answered, you know, Peter gets it wrong so often. He makes it fool of himself so often, but listen to this. Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. The masses were leaving him. The twelve said, where else are we going to go? I don't know about you. I claim the other words a lot. When Christianity gets tough, I say, well, where else am I going to go? Where else are we going to go? Who else has words of life? Eternal life. The same multitude is in the ones who goes on. I was on a blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. A few days later, they be yelling, crucifying. We have no king but Caesar. And there's this separation. He knew what was going to happen. He knew you read the parable back in John, chapter 25, the parable of sheep and the goats, the ones who minister to him in the least of these and the ones who go, he knows. Then Luke, chapter 27, when John, the Baptist of Cyprus, come to him, John's in prison, awaiting execution. He just wants to know, are you the one? Are you the one? Are you worth John losing his life for or should we wait for somebody else? Jesus says, go back and report to John what you've seen and heard. The blind received sight. The lame walk. Those who have leprosy are cured. The deaf hear the dead erase and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. He knew he was the lightning one, the dividing line. He knew it was going to separate the sheep from the goats, the admirers from the followers, the disciples from the people who just wanted free bread. He knew that separation. In these cases, both the dividing line, it isn't over doctrines and denominations, it's over Jesus. It was back then. It's still list today. C.S. Lewis, one of the most chilling quotes I've ever read, talks about when they come to Jesus, this is in the end of Matthew chapter 7 where the ones who built their house on the rock, the ones who didn't, they come to Jesus and they say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do these things in your name? Cast out demons and Jesus says, depart from me. You cursed of my father. I never knew you. C.S. Lewis says, banished from the presence of him who was present everywhere. He raced from the knowledge of him who knows all. There's a separation around Jesus. It's real folks. It's not just rhetorical. He separates the house and then there's adoration. There's adoration. There's adoration. There's adoration. We're back here at Thomas. The other disciples told him we've seen the Lord, but he said, unless I see in the ill marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand inside it will not believe it. And look what Jesus says in verse 27, and he said after saying, peace be with you all of you. In the marvelous words, he says to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands. You touch your hand, put it in my side, stop doubting and believe. If you were Jesus, what would you have said to Thomas? What would you have said? Okay, Thomas. Is this enough for you? Would you have reviewed him for his lack of faith? Jesus done the grace that he extends to when we called doubting Thomas and I'm telling you he was no different than the disciples and he's no different than me. The grace and the mercy that Jesus extends to him, he says, here you go, Thomas. This is what you need to believe. Okay, here you go. Put your hands here. Put your fingers here. Love and acceptance, his lack of criticism, judgmental and folks, if Jesus could extend that extended to Thomas, we can extend that to one another, huh? When we come up short, when we have our doubts, when we make a mess out of things, if Jesus could extend that grace to Thomas, we can extend that to one another. And then Thomas responds with one of the clearest, most dramatic acts of worship, as I told you in all of the Bible, Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God. This is the only place in the gospel where somebody directly calls Jesus God. They say, the Son of God, He's the Holy One of God. Thomas calls Him God. You understand for a Jew to call someone God? He's breaking the first and second commandments, all the pieces, unless it's true, unless it's true. Let me say something here that will maybe apply everybody, especially when it says to our younger people. Oh my God, OMG, all the variations off of that. Don't do that. Don't do that. You're cheapening his name. I don't know that you're actually breaking that third commandment about taking his name in vain, but I'm not sure you're not. Not all those variations of it. Don't do that. I know your culture doesn't. They don't know any better. You do. We do. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Oh my God, OMG. And it varies on it. Do you'll smell? No. Don't cheapen his name. He's God. Respect him. Reveal him. Call him father. But don't do that. Oh my God, when you see a car accident, that's when you say that. Oh my God. When you see something, it's really horrific. Okay. But not. I said never. Don't cheapen. Jesus told him because you've seen me, believe. Blessed are those who have not seen. And yet, but you realize that's everybody after that first generation of my witness view. I witness disciples. That's everybody. That's us. That's us. We didn't see him with our eyes. And yet we believe in Jesus's blessed. Blessed are you. Faith requires us to believe what we have not seen, but one day it will reward us by allowing us to see what we have believed. Near your song was so on point. Your father has now seen what we're talking about. So is my dad. So had the people you've lost have gone before you. In Christ, if they know Christ, they have now seen what we believe. What we believe to the eyes of faith, what we see in a mirror dim that they see face to face, what we know in part, they know in full. It's all real to them. And they may have told you before, but my old friend, Pat Arnold, Pat was a missionary in Cuba. Castro sees power. Pat was the second to last missionary off the island with Castro's goons yapping at his heels and Pat left Cuba where he thought he was going to minister for the rest of his life. Lands in Miami is at the downtown YMCA with a suitcase of his belongings and his dreams. One of I do now got. But Pat picked his life back together and continued on in missions for us his life. By the time I knew Pat, he was probably somewhere in the later 60s and Pat died maybe five, six years ago, congestive heart failure. But in his hospital room in Delan, he'd moved up there to be near his son. His name was Thomas. As Pat was slipping in and out of consciousness toward the end of his life. I don't know, I maybe told you just before, but bear with me while I repeated. It came a point on the last day of Pat's life and he died just before Christmas is about five years ago. Where sometimes in the room with him, Pat would be out of consciousness for a long time. They'd come to a little bit and he came to and he said, tell him, tell him they don't have to applaud. Tell him not to applaud. They don't need to applaud. Thomas said, that, that, that. You're in a room with me. We're in room such in such a hospital. I said, no, no, I hear a pause. I hear a pause. Tell him they don't have to applaud. You know what he was hearing? That great cloud of witnesses surrounding him, welcoming him home. He wasn't delusional. He was hearing, he was hearing the welcome home committee. They were applauding him. Welcome home son. Well done. Good and faithful. Well done. Well done. I want to say verses 30 and 31 to the next week because I want to say more about them than I want to take the time for now. Why did John write all this to us? Well Diana said to Marcellus, it's a beautiful story. Beautiful story. Why just, why just let it be that? Just, just leave it at that. We don't really have to do anything about it. Now do we? I'm telling you, using Thomas's case study. You gotta do something folks. You either say, I don't believe it. I'm not going to believe it. There's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise. What you fall at his feet and you say, my Lord and my God, it's one of the other folks. Do it now. Do it in the day of judgment but it calls her response. What's yours? What's yours? Let's pray together. Our Lord and our God, we don't understand why you would do what you did for us. The nails and the thorns and the scourging and the, Lord the whip, the spear. You would do all that for us and then you turn and look at the doubter, the one who is the skeptic and say, what do you need to believe? Here, here it is. You need to see the wounds. You need to see the nail prints. Here they are. You need to hear the story. You need to hear the proclamation of the word. Here it is. Now, Lord God, Lord God, that you who would sacrifice your son would extend that call to each and every person in this place for the first time versus never places his faith in Christ for the thousands of time. For those of you who know him but need to be reminded, it calls for response from us. This day is promised in our Lord and our God, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for being with us today. Receiving the Lord's benediction. Go now in the love of God, the Father, the grace and mercy of God, the Son, the fellowship and companionship of God, the Holy Spirit and live the life. Amen.