Living Evidences of the Resurrection of Christ

And not only that, but also the resurrection of Christ is the great is the great truth, the great fact that verifies all the other claims of Christianity that came after the lord Jesus ascended back to heaven. The things related to salvation in the church even even and we mentioned it this morning, even the, even the fact that we worship on Sunday itself can be viewed as an evidence of the resurrection of Christ. Well, how is that? Well, because you remember the early church, the very first believers were what? Were Jewish.

They were Jewish Christians. They believed in Christ, but they came from a Jewish background. And of course, they went to synagogue on Saturday, on the sixth day, the seventh day of the week, and all of a sudden they believe in Christ and a new pattern develops, even though they’re Jewish, which you could say even competes in some way. Although the the New Testament, the New Testament day of worship, that Sunday, the first day of the week, is not a Sabbath. I know some people have tried to describe it as a Christian Sabbath. There is nowhere in the Bible that that is taught. Yet, the similarity is in this, that we we meet on Sunday in the same ways that that the Jews met on the Sabbath day for worship in the synagogue.

But something happened in history that caused that radical change. For for the Jewish believers. Now, imagine being a Jewish believer in the first century and you’ve been going to synagogue, you know, you’re during your life as a Jewish person and then and then Christ comes and of course, you believe in him and now, you wanna meet with Christians, you can’t really go to the synagogue because over time, you know, the synagogue started to excommunicate and keep people out of the synagogue who had believed in Christ.

And so now, you’ve been booted out of the synagogue, you’re no longer welcome there as a believer in Christ, and so you are worshiping with the people of God, the church, on the first day of the week. And that transition happens, and that all happened very very likely because of the day of the Christ’s resurrection. So, even Sunday, all of these years later, the first day of the week is still practiced as a matter of scripture and as a matter of tradition, the day that the church gathers and meets together because that was the day that Christ rose from the dead and that’s what made it distinctive. So, we’ve looked at all of these these evidences for the resurrection of Christ and we’ve seen how the resurrection of Christ is the basis for all of these other truths and and and just another one as we go, another another truth that is based in the resurrection of Christ. We we talked about this morning briefly is the second coming of Christ. Remember, we closed in our invitation song and it was it was about the the coming of Christ but that can’t happen unless Christ is risen.

That can’t happen unless Christ is risen. As he ascended bodily, as he ascended resurrect, in a resurrected body, but a physical body, so he will return, not spiritually, not metaphorically, but He will return literally. He will return physically. And so, the truth of the resurrection of Christ is the basis for all of these things. Now, what I wanna look at tonight is I wanna turn that around in the reverse.

Turn it around in the reverse. You know, the resurrection of Christ, and this is what we’re gonna look at tonight, has produced effects in our lives, in each, in the life of each and every person here in our church. Did you know that? The resurrection of Christ has produced effects. So that historical fact, which is a present fact, has produced effects that are evident right now. Its power persists in our lives now.

And if the effects of the resurrection of Christ persist in our lives to this day, those effects then in turn are also an evidence of the resurrection of Christ. If Christ really rose from the dead and if those, if his resurrection produces these kinds of effects, then they ought to be evident in our lives, they ought to be visible, they ought to be the power of the resurrection should be seen in our lives like the Lord has said.

But by contrast, if Christ is not risen, no matter what the claim of that power of the resurrection is, it should be totally and completely impotent, totally and completely void of any power if that fact is not true, if Jesus has indeed not risen. There would be no resurrection power at work in us because that claim would be built upon a lie if the resurrection were false. So, we’re gonna start in John 11 verse number 25, let’s read it, John 11 verse number 25.

The Bible says this, of course, is in the context of the death and raising again of Lazarus. I’m careful not to use the term resurrection because we know that although Lazarus was raised from the dead, he was not raised from the dead in the same manner as the Lord Jesus was, and how do we know that?

Because he died again. And I I just think poor Lazarus, right? But I guess the second time around probably wasn’t nearly as as bad as the first time around, just I’m just me guessing here, but but but of course Lazarus was raised raised from the dead and that’s in the context of what we read here, verse 23, if you notice it says this, Jesus said, saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said unto her, this is this is one of the most powerful verses in all of the Bible, I think. In response to her saying, he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. What she’s what she’s in essence saying is, Jesus, you’re here and the resurrection of the dead is over here and you’re just kinda two separate things and Jesus kinda verbally like shakes her.

And says, I am the resurrection and the life. It’s not separate from me. I am it. The thing of which you speak, you’re looking at him. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Let’s take a moment and pray and ask the Lord for his help as we study the word. Lord, we come to you now in Jesus name. Thank you for your word.

Lord, help us please to understand these truths. Help us not only to understand them, but they would become a part of us and we would see. Help us, Lord, to see the power and truth of the resurrection of Christ in our very lives as believers. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. So, as you could see in the context of this verse, the death of Lazarus is both the death of Lazarus and the context of the resurrection at the last day, which is what verse 24 talks about.

Jesus makes a broad and generalized statement of his being the resurrection and the life. He says, as I said, I am the resurrection and the life. But I wanna ask you a question, what does that mean? It sounds powerful, and indeed it is powerful. But how to put our finger exactly on what that particular power is and what it was referring to, that’s a little more a little more complex.

What does it mean that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? What does that include? Of course, in the context, you know, he’s answering questions directly from Martha and Mary, or Martha in particular, and he’s he’s obviously saying, I’m the resurrection and the life, as it regards Lazarus death. Right? Lazarus will rise because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. That’s that’s pretty straightforward. And then and then it also is in context to the resurrection at the last day which is of course the the final time when when the righteous rise from the dead, we that’s referred to in our vernacular as the rapture of the saints.

And so the the resurrection of the body, the resurrection of the saints is also tied directly to the lord Jesus Christ. And so, we know I am the resurrection and the life refers to both of those things, but there’s more to it than that. There’s more to it than that. It says this, look at the second part of verse 25, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

Now, you gotta be careful when you see the word dead because we can automatically assume we’re referring to physical death. Now, are we talking about physical death here and physical resurrection? For sure. That’s part of it. Lazarus has died. Lazarus will rise again. The resurrection of the dead is the physical resurrection of physical bodies of the saints. But, notice it says, he that believeth in me. Now dead people, generally speaking, don’t believe in Christ, and yet it says, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, which strongly indicates that those who were, even though they’re dead, can believe in Christ.

You could say, well, that’s only talking about people who have believed in Christ before they died and then they died. Well, it’s definitely true there, that’s true, for the saints will rise who have believed in Him, who have fallen asleep in Jesus, but there’s another layer. Let me ask you a question. Is the resurrection of Christ only about our physical body or is there another layer or facet or aspect to his being the resurrection and the life? Oh, there’s a lot more to it.

There’s a lot more to it. When a person comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible describes that a sinner, someone who is without Christ as dead in trespasses and sins. Now their life, physical life is vibrant, their heart is beating and their blood is pumping and their lungs are breathing, but spiritually they’re dead in trespasses and sins. They are alienated from the life of God. And they come to Christ, the Lord calls them and he woos them and brings them to conviction and brings them to repentance and then they they put their faith in Christ and he that was dead is made alive.

This is what the lord, one of the things that the lord is talking about and I think this is why he speaks in so generally, where what he says can be applied to several different kind of situations. He says, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, I was once in that condition, yet shall he live. I have also experienced that condition, as I hope you have as well. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

So is that physical death? What I’m saying is there’s something more going on here, right? That’s why it’s curious. And for a believer, we know that this body might die, but when you look at it on the spiritual side, that which Christ has made alive by his power will live forever. The body might die, but the soul, the spirit, the inner man that has been made alive will never ever ever ever die, will never experience physical or spiritual death again.

Believest thou this? This is what the Lord says. So what does it mean then to live? Whosoever liveth and believeth, yet shall he live. And this is what I wanna show you. This is kind of the starting point of the truth and the effects of the resurrection that last up until our day, that are evident in our very lives. Look at Romans chapter six if you would.

Romans chapter six. Romans six, notice verse three, or verse number two rather. Verse two says this, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. We talked about this last Sunday if you remember, but we were focusing on the the death part. Now we return here, not to look at the death part, because we’re in Matthew 28 now. We’re gonna look at the life part.

Verse four, therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. The truth being described here is very simple. It’s the unity of the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection. Now, know I’m repeating myself a little, but I’ll I’ll I’ll be brief and then we’ll move on to the next thing. But it is the truth that because the Lord Jesus took our sins upon himself and was our representative on the cross, when He died, it was it was our death with Him. And when He was buried, we were buried with Him. The Bible actually says, our verse number six, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him. So that’s what we’re talking about here. That the body of sin might be destroyed.

So we were crucified with him. We were buried with him, but that doesn’t, it doesn’t end there. We’re raised with him. In the same way that we died with Christ because he is our representative and our sins were upon him, so in his we share in his resurrection. In our mind, when I say that, might raise to the rapture of the saints. But that’s not just, that’s part of it, that’s not all we’re talking about.

Because it says here, verse five, or verse four rather, it says, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. You know what that is? That is now. That is a resurrected life now. The walk of the Christian. The walk of the Christian.

Now, so there is a connection between the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the believer. The old man, look at it verse number six again, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. Verse four, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. So, you think of that old man which was a man of sin and bound in sin under the power and dominion of sin, which is that wicked nature that we have from our father Adam.

That that one was crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ and buried in that grave and and was was was killed. Remember, Christ our representative. And now we’ve been raised from the dead, which we just saw a minute ago. We’ve been raised from the dead with Christ. He rose, we rose with him. And we’re we’re not the old man is not risen, but now we have a new man.

The new man. And that new man, that new man produces a personal walk of righteousness because of the resurrection of Christ. It is a renewed life unlike our previous life, which was a life dominated by sin. Sin that was in us dictated what we should do as a master. It said do this and we did it. It it commanded and we obeyed. That’s that’s what we’ve been talking about in our school of scripture class, we were covering Romans six on Friday.

The idea that sin has dominion, verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. It’s a ruler. That’s speaking of a person before they know Christ. But now that we have, that old man is dead, sin has been, the power of sin has been destroyed, verse seven, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Verse 11, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Because we’ve been raised with Christ, sin does not have the power to rule over us as a master any longer. We have a new master and that master is Christ and he, through the new man, is the one who now directs our way and is no longer in the way of sin but is in the way of righteousness. Verse 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to god, notice this, a new master, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.

So now listen, this is the wonderful truth. Before you knew, before I knew the Lord Jesus Christ, we were ruled by this wicked sin nature, and it drove us, it drove us to sin. And this is something that’s repeated over and over in the Bible. And that nature in us, even we weren’t tempted, the temptation was within as a part of our flesh. And it drove us to sin, it commanded us to do its will and its wishes.

And all we had to do really was we just had to let off the brake a little bit and it would do its thing. It would lead us to all kind of wickedness and evil. That master has now been dethroned, and a new master is in charge. We’re under a new dominion. And that dominion is no longer sin, but that dominion is God himself. That dominion is righteousness. So in the same way that sin commanded us and drove us and we were its servants, that is it was our master. In the same way now God by the by the spirit of God and by the new life in Christ, we now have a new master. And in the same way that sin drove us, the sin within us, the wicked corrupt nature drove us to commit acts of transgression against God’s law. Now, we have righteousness which is also driving us but not towards sin but toward righteousness.

In other words, there is an active working of god in every believer that drives him toward righteousness and holiness and truth in the same way that that sin existed before when it was master.

And I trust you know exactly what I’m referring to. Because as a believer, you have an old nature, his power has been eradicated, but the nature is still there. You don’t have to obey Him, but do we not often sometimes do yield ourselves to that nature. But then we have a new nature, right? That is created in righteousness and true holiness and God is working in us to do his will, to do righteousness. And you as a believer, listen, ought to sense and know what it’s like to have God leading you. Romans chapter eight says, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s this this holy nature, this new resurrected life in us that is driving us toward righteousness and godliness and holiness and toward our Lord.

Do you know what that’s like to have God in you working? I’m not talking about like trying to work something up, oh no. This is an outside force working in us driving us. You know it’s a miserable existence to try to live as a Christian without a resurrected life. That is miserable. When you’re trying to, through your own energy of the flesh trying to do everything the Lord wants you to do, impossible, utterly impossible and miserable to boot.

Now look if you would at chapter eight, Romans chapter eight. Romans eight verse number two, or verse number one, look at what it says to start. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For, notice the words very carefully, for the law of the spirit of what? What does it say? Everybody looking?

Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. What’s the law of sin and death? It’s what I just got done describing. This wicked corrupt nature that loves and longs for sin and drives us to it. There’s a new law. There’s a new principle at work. There’s a new power. And it is the power of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Have you ever noticed the number of times that the resurrection of Christ is associated with the spirit of God? Have you ever noticed that? Jesus was raised by the power of the spirit of God. Here the spirit of God is connected to the life of the resurrection of Christ, which is the life that’s also working in the believer.

This is a reference to the resurrection power of Christ. Look at Ephesians chapter one. This, I believe this will get more clear as we go through these other other passages. Ephesians chapter one.

Verse number 19. If you look at verse 18, these are all the blessings and present possessions, spiritual possessions that every child of God has in Christ. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of your calling, of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And verse 19, again, this is a present possession.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe? Let me stop right there. What power are we talking about here? What power is at work? It’s what it says, right? Exceeding greatness of his power to usward. According to the working of his mighty power. What is this power? Oftentimes, I live my life and I don’t feel like I have very very much power in anything.

But god says, there is a mighty power working in us. Do you see this? What is that? What power are we referring to? Keep reading. Which power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set it, set him as it at his own right hand in the heavenly places. This is the power that works in us is the same power that that raised Christ from the dead. You see this?

The same power of the resurrection is the one working in us every moment of our lives as a believer. This power of new life in Christ. Look at chapter two if you would. Look at chapter two verse numbers verse number verse number four. Ephesians two verse four.

But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins. You see the dead? You see the dead, right? Somebody dies, Jesus died on the cross and He was buried and rose again, new life. This is not referring to physical death, this is spiritual death. Even when we were dead in sins, hath, what does it say, quickened us together.

Don’t you love that? That means, you know what it means? That means spiritually on the inside, we have been made alive, right? We’ve been made alive. That can only happen by the power of God. But here’s the thing, now that we’re alive, what is that living part of us? What does what does he do? What does he want? How does it work? You know what it does? It is the living part of us that drives us to righteousness.

It is a nature that wants holiness and it works in us every single day of our lives and this is why every Christian, every child of god should have a life that is characterized by upward growth because god is working in us. His life, he is alive in us. Now look at this, I want you to get this because we’re gonna see this repeatedly. Hath quickened us together, what does it say?

The next two words. With Christ. Quickened with Christ. When was Christ quickened? As in resurrection. So what is the what is the connection? The connection is Christ rose and that power of life that brought him from the dead is the same power that quickened us spiritually and gave us new life that drives us toward godly and righteous things.

The quickening being performed upon the believer is with Christ. It is the same quickening as he experienced in his resurrection. In other words, the believer shares in the same resurrection in the spiritual realm because that’s what we’re talking about here and it’s not, listen, the believer shares in the resurrection of Christ, that’s not referring to only the spiritual realm, because it extends also to the physical. Because as Christ rose, so will our bodies also rise as well. Look at Philippians chapter three.

Philippians chapter three. Verse number Verse number eight, yea doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dumb. Paul speaking here, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, what does it say? And the power of his resurrection.

We’re repeating ourselves, are we not? This is becoming a theme. How is the power of Christ’s resurrection demonstrated and felt in our present life. This is not is not happy think. This is not happy talk for us to to work ourselves into a a lather about about these things. No, there is an actual power at How many of you how many of you have ever seen one of those induction stoves?

You know what I’m talking about? In other words, it’s a it’s it’s a glass top, but it has these elements under the glass, and you take a metal pan and you set it on there and it doesn’t heat up. Right, it doesn’t heat up, there’s nothing visible, it doesn’t turn red, you put your hand to it, it’s not hot. In fact, you take the pot off and you touch it, after the glass can heat up, but the actual element does not heat up, it’s just the pot heats up.

If you’ve never ever seen that. Now, you look at that and you’re like, ain’t nothing there, ain’t nothing going on. But you a pot of water on there for five or ten minutes and you will see that even though it’s not evident with the visible eye, you will see a power at work.

And if I could just use that kind of crude example to describe what I’m describing here, the power over the resurrection of Christ at work in every believer. You can’t see it. You can’t see it, but that resurrection power is at work in each one of us.

It is shown in the believer spiritually now and look at verse 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. That’s the second part of the resurrection, the effects of the resurrection. The first is the resurrection of the saint to new life spiritually, which then drives him to righteousness in this life now.

But then later, that same resurrection power as it concerns the physical body will also be shown when the body is raised from the dead and we’re looking forward to that day when that wicked nature in our body is eradicated forever finally.

So it affects both for the believer. It affects both for the believer. Notice what it says at the end of verse 21. According to the, what does that say? According to the working. We saw that word in Ephesians, right? We’re gonna see it again. Working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Do you know what God is doing in you by the by the power of the life, the resurrection life of Christ in you at this moment?

You know what he’s doing? He’s subduing all that wicked sin in our lives. All those evil habits, all those desires for wicked things in our flesh, the resurrection life in us, Christ in us, the spirit of God in us, we’ll see the new birth in us is working every moment to subdue and put all of those things down.

And that’s also true of the physical resurrection too. Because that’s what it’s talking about here. Now look if you would at Colossians chapter, we’re almost finished, Colossians chapter two.

Verse 10. Verse 10 says, and you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom, that is in Christ, are ye also are ye circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off of the body of sin, of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Notice the wording, this should remind you of Romans six. Buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are what?

Risen with him. That’s right now. This is not future. This is not the body. This is the inner man. Ye are risen with him at this moment through the faith of the What’s that next word? Operation of God. This word operation is the same word we’ve seen working two times in Ephesians and Philippians. This is God operating, God working in you by the spiritual man, the new man, the Holy Spirit.

God working in you, notice what it says, through the faith of the operation of God, who hath, what does it say? Raised him from the dead. Resurrection. Last one I want to show you is in first Peter chapter one.

One Peter chapter one. Verse three. First Peter one three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again. What’s another word for that?

Born again, alright, that’s what we’re talking about. Begotten us again, created new. Okay, so we’re talking about being born again here. Hath begotten us again unto a lively, notice the word live, that’s related to the word life, lively hope by what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. See that? The new birth in this passage, it connects the new birth to the resurrection.

So, we’ve used different terminology in Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, to describe what is essentially very similar or the same characteristic, which is this. Every believer in Christ, because he died with Jesus, was buried with Jesus, that old wicked sinful man, has been raised again with a new man. You might call it a divine nature, we call it the new birth, new creation, the spirit of life in us, but however we wanna term it, whatever facet we want to use to describe it, it is there is a life in us which is the same power that raised Christ directly from the dead, which is at work in us at this moment.

And just as your sin, your wicked sinful nature before you knew Christ drove you to to give yourself to sin and to commit wickedness in god’s sight, so you have a new nature because you have been raised with Christ. You are alive in him and that living resurrected man in you wants and loves righteousness and godliness.

And you know what that is? That, first of all, that is present in every single child of God. So this means that every single child of God is a living evidence of the resurrection of Christ. Because the power that was demonstrated then is the same one that is at work in us now. If the resurrection were not true, there would be no power here and now. If the resurrection was just a falsehood that was an invention, a fantasy, a hallucination, or how it whatever rationale there that have been used to deny it. If if if that’s all the resurrection was, then there is no power now because the power that works in us is that same power that was at work then. And because but because that power is evidence in in us, that drives us to righteousness and works that is the operation of god working in us to do the will of god, to do those things that are pleasing in his sight because it is at work in us, it therefore provides evidence that Christ, that power of his resurrection is real.

The last thing I wanna say is this, which is the kind of the cutting part. As a believer though, in your practical experience, Romans chapter six is all about it. Paul tells us to that we should not yield our members, our body, as instruments of unrighteousness under sin but yield ourselves unto god. So, there is a a a decision. There is a an action we must take, that is we must yield to God’s working in us. Because we can definitely resist it, and we can choose to yield ourselves to the work of the wicked flesh that we have in this body.

But we do have God in us working in us. All we must do is yield. Thank God for that. Thank God it’s not dependent on our power. It’s God working. We just say, okay, just get out of the way of the Lord working in your life for crying out loud, right?

But in in practical experience, now we’re getting into Romans seven, we find that a lot more difficult than I’ve just described it, have I not? Do we not rather? We find it a struggle. And we find ourselves sometimes not living in a way and walking in a way that is consistent with the power of a new life. The resurrected power of Christ in us, do we not?

We find ourselves living not that way. And here’s the cutting part. If we live a life on a daily basis that is dominated by sin, whose power has, God tells us, has already been broken. If we live a life where we are yielded to evil, where we’re full of anger and bitterness and wrath and strife and hatred and lust and envy and all of these vices that this flesh longs after.

If that characterizes our life, you know what we’re doing? It is not because if it’s a lack of power in us. That’s not the problem. What we’re doing is we’re practically denying the resurrection.

Because the resurrection of power of Christ is in us, the new man, and he wants righteousness and our life is supposed to be evidence of that fact. A Christian, Christian’s lives are supposed to be holy and godly. They’re supposed to stand out, right? That’s what it means to be salt and light. We’re supposed to stand out as righteous, shining lights that are shining because because it’s not us. It’s god in us. It’s his power at work and that’s, I mean, some people are like, man, well, you’re just a holy roller, whatever. It’s like, you have no idea what you’re talking about. If God wasn’t in me, would have not one little small chance at anything.

The Lord wants evidences of his resurrection lived out in the lives of all kinds of people, each one of us. His power works in you, his power works in me to create a holy, to create a godly, a kind, gracious, merciful, loving believer and disciple. But when our life is not consistent with that, and it is not consistent with the resurrection power of Christ in that way, then we’re actually denying the power of the resurrection.

We’re demonstrating the opposite. We’re saying we don’t say it with our lips and we don’t even intend to necessarily, but we’re saying there’s no power in the resurrection. What effect does that have on me? But it should have a huge effect, should it not?

And indeed we should be people whose lives are dominated by the master of the resurrection of Christ who works in us without fail every moment. Let’s pray.