461: Jesus Should Have Rented His Grave: Easter Sunday | Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

Want to share with you a picture of myself, so they're perfectly narcissistic. So this is about 1964. It was a great year. The Beatles were hot stuff. And my dad had a bluegrass band, and he played at the only hotel really at Virginia Beach at the time. I remember that weekend running into this long hair group of musicians. I didn't know who they were, but it was the Jefferson Airplane. Pretty cool.

But about three weeks before this Easter Sunday, I had a thing I did every day. And so my mother would tie me as I ran from the front door out to the mailbox or to where the newspaper would come. We got two in those days, two newspapers. And she would tie me, and I kept getting faster and faster, but then I plateaued. Have you been there? You plateaued, and I needed a new strategy.

I watched the races on TV, the Olympics or whatever. And I saw that the great runners did this thing at the end of the race where they would lean into, right? The finish line, and I guess it's quicker to lean than to run this way. And so I thought to myself, "Self, if you would lean forward at the end where your mother's timing, you'll get a faster time." Brilliant strategy. The problem was we didn't have great shoes like y'all do now. We had like little $15 PF Flyers with slick bottoms on them. And as I leaned into the finish line, this PF Flyer slipped, and my face had a date with three brick steps.

I'm not kidding you. I don't know if you've ever gotten whooped up on or hit by a truck or a car—that was worse. It was brutal. I was swollen, man. I mean, this is three or four weeks later. I was swollen. It was so bad, my mother had to hide me so social services would not come get me. And that's my twin sister Leslie Hye, Leslie, if you're listening in cyber world. I looked like a little Lord Fontleroy.

Now, why did I put that up? I have no idea. I have no idea. But it's a cool picture and it just shows that Easter was important to our family.

Who Were the People Raised from the Dead?

Okay, so let me give you a question because I like you guys to think and not just be there like cows looking at me. Who were the people in the Bible, and we'll start with the Old Testament? Who are the people in the Bible who were raised from the dead?

And what I want to say is, like a lot of times Tim will ask questions, and I'm always like, well, the answer seems obvious, but I'm afraid if I say it, I'll have it wrong. So don't be afraid if you mess it up. Big whoop to do.

Who in the Old Testament was raised from the dead? Keep going. How about the son of the widow of Zarephath? Doesn't that ring a bell? Yes. Prophet Elijah. How about the son of the Shunammite woman? So Old Testament, not that many.

Let's go to the New Testament. You may be more comfortable there. Who in the New Testament was raised from the dead? Lazarus, four days dead. He smelled, right? Four days, raised from the dead. Give me some other ones.

Jairus' daughter. Awesome. Man, you guys are good. Who else? Jesus, we're going to get to him. Yes. So we had the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader. We had the son of the widow of Nain. We had Lazarus.

How about what happened when Jesus was crucified? Something happened in Jerusalem with many holy people. They came up out of their graves. Yeah, that's pretty weird, but how about Tabitha, also named Dorcas? And I'm so glad that she had a second name. Could you imagine? Tabitha is tough, but if Dorcas, hey, Dorcas, Tabitha. Tabitha was raised by the Apostle Peter.

And then there's one poor guy who got preached to too long. Do you remember that guy? Uticus, yeah. Hours and hours and hours. I think Paul was preaching. The dude fell asleep, but he fell to his death. I promise not to do that to you today. So we have all those cases.

But what is true of all those people? Yes, they were raised from the dead. But eventually, what happened to all of them? So, you know, son of the widow of Zerafath, the son of the Shunammite woman, Jairus' daughter, the widow of Nain's son, Lazarus. Several holy people came up out of their graves. Tabitha and Uticus. They all eventually died. They all eventually died.

So what we're talking about today is not about somebody that's raised from the dead temporarily only to await their real final death. What happened to Jesus was more than that. He was resurrected from the dead. Not just raised from the dead, he was resurrected. That means he never died again. He's the only one in human history.

The Significance of Jesus’ Resurrection

I remember back when I was a paramedic in the inner city of Richmond, and we weren't very good medics in those days. The medics now are amazing. They're so good. But I remember we did CPR. And I used to tell people, I've done CPR like hundreds of times. But that's a man talking. So this morning, early, I was trying to count the actual number of times I did CPR. It's more than the twenties, okay? But that's the way guys are, all exaggerate. But I did do CPR. I know what it is to compress a chest. I know what it is to hear the cracking of the cartilage. I know what it is to get thrown up on. I know what it is. You know, most of the time when you do CPR, people don't come back to life. That's just a hard fact. Even if they're in the ER, most of the time, at least back when I was a medic, they do not come back to life. Or if they do, not so good.

But we had some that did. I remember doing CPR on this big barrel-chested man. And yeah, he threw up on me, sure. But then they took him away. And when they took him away, you know, he was living, but he didn't look too good. And the next day, his wife came back to our office, where our ambulances were, the next day. And she said, "My husband's in the hospital. He's sitting up in his bed, and he's talking." And she said, "I just wanted to come back and say thank you. You guys, I cannot tell you how surreal it is." Just regular people doing CPR. If you don't know CPR, learn it. You don't want to learn it when somebody's dead in front of you.

Now, I'm going to give you some Old Testament, some Gospels, some Jesus, and then a personal story. And we've got to do it really quick because you all don't want to be here and miss your Easter dinner. Cool? All right.

Old Testament Prophecy and the Resurrection

The Old Testament prophesied, it told, foretold, that God was going to bring a Savior, a Messiah, to save God's people from their sins. He prophesied that. So many different prophets. And one prophet in particular said that not only would he come be a Savior and bear the sins of God's people, but he would also live and be raised from the dead. That's in the Old Testament.

Let me give you just a snippet. I can't read all of Isaiah 53, but you can when you go home. It's amazing. It's probably my favorite chapter in the Bible, Isaiah 53. Here's what it says concerning Messiah, dying, and being raised from the dead:

And they made his grave with the wicked. Remember, two thieves on one on each cross? Two thieves. They made his grave with the wicked and a rich man in his death. And although this was 700 years before Jesus was born, a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. And when his soul makes an offering for guilt. So you see all that? God's going to crush him. He's going to die. It says, "But once that happens, once his soul makes that offering for guilt." It says, "He, Messiah, shall see his offspring." How does somebody who's dead see his offspring? It doesn't make any sense. Unless, of course, he was resurrected from the dead. It says, "He will see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

So that part of Isaiah, and there's some others in the Old Testament, talk about a Messiah who will come to save, and he will be killed. He will be buried. He will be raised, and he will see his offspring and see what the Lord will do through that offering.

Gospel Accounts of the Resurrection

Let's go to the Gospels. Name them. I heard a Gospel of Thomas in there. No, me. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I happen to look up.

So Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we don't have a movie of it, but supposedly history records that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all died for their faith and their belief that Jesus was raised from the dead. And in fact, if those writings are correct, they were all preaching the Gospel. They were all sharing their faith when they were martyred.

And so we read in Matthew, who was killed by a sword. Matthew 28 says this:

An angel said to the women, "Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. For I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, past tense."

And then it says in verse 9, "Behold, Jesus met them." So it's not just that the tomb was empty—that there was this whole bribery scheme with the guards and all that—but it's not just that the tomb was empty and that he wasn't there. He actually was raised and he met them. He met them.

Now we go to Mark's Gospel. Mark is said to have been killed by being dragged with ropes behind a horse. Now, that may be funny in a Western movie. Could you imagine that kind of death? Being dragged by ropes, by horses. It's a slow, agonizing death. Why was he willing to suffer that? Because he was a true believer in the resurrection. Here's what he said, Mark 6:

Don't be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen. He isn't here. See the place where they laid him. Skipping down to verse 9, it says, "Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he Jesus appeared." Again, not just an empty grave, right? It's kind of like Puck's a Tawn y'fill came on out of his hole, and they looked on the hole, and he ain't there, right? Jesus, it says, "He met them. He appeared to them."

Let's go to Luke's Gospel. It says in Luke's account, Luke was actually hung to death or so history books say. He was hung. Again, he died for his belief in the resurrection. I don't know many of us who would be willing to give our lives for our belief in the resurrection, but they did. It says, "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men," or as I like to say, "two dudes, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel."

And as they were frightened, they bowed their faces to the ground, and the men said to them:

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen.

Moving on, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Let's take a quick look at John. John apparently was not martyred, but he was persecuted. He was persecuted for his faith and his belief in the resurrection. John's gospel says this, John 20:

Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. And so she ran and went to Simon Peter. I think she had to wake him up. All the men were sleeping. The women were up early. She ran, went to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, but we don't know where they have laid him." And then it says, and don't miss this part, it says:

And behold, Jesus met them.

So do you see? Old Testament predicts it. All the Gospels, He's not here, He's risen. And then at least two of the Gospels, right there, it says He met them. He met them. And the other Gospels, it happens later.

The Evidence Presented by Jesus’ Resurrected Appearances

Now we go to the book of Acts. And if you're getting tired or zoning out, it's not going to be that much longer, so hang with me, okay? It's not hang with me. So in Acts chapter 1, verse 3, it says this:

I love this summary. I love this summary. This is the cliff notes. And some of you guys know about this, don't you? Monarch notes, cliff notes, I don't know which I’ll use in the modern era, but that's what we used in the old days.

Acts 1 says this:

After His suffering, Jesus presented Himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days, and He spoke about the kingdom.

The question I have for you is, "How many convincing proofs do you need?" I've heard more than one person in this church say, "I'm a man of science. I'm a woman of science. How can I possibly believe in this?" And I'm like, "Well, let me not be mean, but they're people with an IQ, 100 points higher, and years that believe in the resurrection." So let's just start with a little humility.

Some of the greatest scientists—go home and Google this—some of the greatest scientists, the people that invented all these things and discovered all these things, they, many of them, not all of them but many of them, were believers who believed in the resurrection of Jesus. So if you're too smart to believe in the resurrection of Jesus, I want to say, there are people a lot smarter than you who have a little humility. Do the work yourself. Don't just say, "I'm a scientist. I don't believe." Do the work.

Finally, last Bible verse, then we get to the personal part. 1 Corinthians 15. You know 1 Corinthians 15, right? This is the chapter. St. Paul, you know him—Saul before he was Paul. What was Saul's passion? What was he about? What did he do? He persecuted the church.

Now, whether he actually murdered somebody or was an accessory to murder, I'm not exactly sure, but whatever. He helped lead Christians to their death and to their imprisonment. He hated people of the way. 1 Corinthians 15 says this:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. The gospel is always a gift. I don't know about you, but if I was in front of my grandma or my granddad or anybody I loved, and they were on their deathbed, and they said, "Sonny, boy, I want to share this with you before I go. This is the most important thing in life," would you listen or would you be on your iPhone?

But it says this, of first importance, what is of first importance? Number one, that Christ died for our sins. Praise the Lord somebody paid for them because we can't. We don't have the right kind of currency. Christ died for our sins. Number two, He was buried. Number three, He was raised, resurrected on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

And then the rest of this passage just keeps saying:

He appeared, He appeared, He appeared.

He appeared to Cephas, you know him as Peter, He appeared to Cephas, then He appeared to the twelve apostles, then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, more than 500.

What I want to say to you is, if you do not yet believe, I don't want to beat you up because I didn't want anybody to beat me up before I believed. But I do want to ask you the question: if this many witnesses were willing to die for their belief that Jesus was really raised from the dead, how many do you need? More than 500 brothers at one time, many of them were put to death. How many do you need? 501, 503, 600, 5000, 10,000? At what point will you face the hard fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead?

Application and Reflection

Now we come to the landing. Sometimes in sermons, you have crash landings—it's just like being on the, what do you call those little small planes they fly out of Roanoke? It's, you know, Delta Airlines, but it's not really Delta Airlines. Yeah. Okay, so I know we're going just along here, but my nephew flies for Endeavor, and he said the first time he flew into Roanoke, he had about five hours in the plane. That's it. So say your prayers when you fly on Endeavor.

So what's the deal? So what, Christ has been raised from the dead? How does that affect you? Why would you care? What difference would it make in your life?

I'm going to tell you this, I'll try to do it without notes. Have you ever stood at the grave of somebody you loved? Like let's don't be churchy. Have you ever been in front of a casket of somebody you love? Now, if it's a 95-year-old grandmother, it's sad, but I'm talking about somebody who died too early. We have, many of you have, you're Easter people. You know what it is to cling to the reality of the resurrection.

I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Without the resurrection, it's all a lie. They're just dust going into the ground, done, finished. That's why the resurrection is important. And you may go, "Well, Quick, I've never had somebody die in my life." Okay. What about your life?

You've ever seen one of those, we call them hourglasses, sand glasses, and they've got sand in there, and you turn it upside down, and the sand drops through? See, everybody thinks they got a lot more sand in the hourglass than they do. Every Easter I look around and I, it may be weird, but I go, "I wonder how many of these people will not be here next year?" I wonder how many. This will be the last time, the last time that you get to hear the amazing news.

The death is not Victor, death is not King. Jesus Christ has ripped and shredded death. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and the sand in your hourglass or your sand glass keeps dropping, dropping, dropping. And you think you have forever to live, but you don't. And I can tell you, when your sand runs out, you're going to wish the resurrection was true.

Maybe one or two more things. You may go, "Quick, that's awesome." I mean, heaven, pie in the sky, long time from now. What about real life? What about life now?

You see, I know what it is to smile and look happy and to be full of life outwardly, but not really. I needed someone to roll the stone away. I was caught. My freedoms, my choices led me to a place of darkness and a pit of despair, and I could not climb my way out of it.

But I didn't like Christians because I thought they were freaks, and some of them were. But it got so bad, there's a point where you just get so desperate that you'll be like, "I don't like all those Christian people, and a lot of them are weird, but I want to know about Jesus. I want to know—what's He real? Did He defeat death? Would He love somebody like me? My life is a train wreck. Could He give me life?"

You see, I had to be humbled before I could actually even ask the question, and trust me, the Lord loved me enough to let me be humble.

Maybe one less thing. Jesus made a lot of promises in the Bible, right? He throws them out like cards. "I'll never leave your forsake you. I won't leave you as an orphan. I love you. I go and prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also." So many promises. But if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, they're all lies. He's dead and in the ground.

But 1 Corinthians 15, this is the chapter. Saul, who later became Paul—what was hedoing? He persecuted the church. Now, whether he actually murdered somebody or was an accessory to murder, I'm not exactly sure, but whatever. He helped lead Christians to their death and to their imprisonment. He hated people of the way.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. The gospel is always a gift. I don't know about you, but if I was in front of my grandma or my granddad or anybody I loved, and they were on their deathbed, and they said, "Sonny, boy, I want to share this with you before I go. This is the most important thing in life," would you listen or would you be on your iPhone?

But it says this, of first importance, what is of first importance? Number one, that Christ died for our sins. Praise the Lord somebody paid for them because we can't. We don't have the right kind of currency. Christ died for our sins. Number two, He was buried. Number three, He was raised, resurrected on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

And then the rest of this passage keeps saying:

He appeared, He appeared, He appeared.

He appeared to Cephas, then He appeared to the twelve apostles, then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, many of whom were put to death.

What I want to ask you is, if you do not yet believe, I don't want to beat you up because I didn't want anybody to beat me up before I believed. But I do want to ask you the question: if this many witnesses were willing to die for their belief that Jesus was really raised from the dead, how many do you need? More than 500 brothers at one time, many of them were put to death. How many do you need? 501, 503, 600, 5000, 10,000? At what point will you face the hard fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead?

Conclusion

Now we come to the landing. Sometimes in sermons you have crash landings—it's just like being on the, what do you call those little small planes they fly out of Roanoke? It's, you know, Delta Airlines, but it's not really Delta Airlines. Yeah. Okay, so I know we're going just along here, but my nephew flies for Endeavor, and he said the first time he flew into Roanoke, he had about five hours in the plane. That's it. So say your prayers when you fly on Endeavor.

So what's the deal? So what, Christ has been raised from the dead? How does that affect you? Why would you care? What difference would it make in your life?

I'm going to tell you this, I'll try to do it without notes. Have you ever stood at the grave of somebody you loved? Like let's don't be churchy. Have you ever been in front of a casket of somebody you love? Now, if it's a 95-year-old grandmother, it's sad, but I'm talking about somebody who died too early. We have, many of you have, you're Easter people. You know what it is to cling to the reality of the resurrection.

I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Without the resurrection, it's all a lie. They're just dust going into the ground, done, finished. That's why the resurrection is important. And you may go, "Well, Quick, I've never had somebody die in my life." Okay. What about your life?

You've ever seen one of those, we call them hourglasses, sand glasses, and they've got sand in there, and you turn it upside down, and the sand drops through? See, everybody thinks they got a lot more sand in the hourglass than they do. Every Easter I look around, and I, it may be weird, but I go, "I wonder how many of these people will not be here next year?" I wonder how many. This will be the last time, the last time that you get to hear the amazing news.

The death is not Victor, death is not King. Jesus Christ has ripped and shredded death. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and the sand in your hourglass or your sand glass keeps dropping, dropping, dropping. And you think you have forever to live, but you don't. And I can tell you, when your sand runs out, you're going to wish the resurrection was true.

Maybe one or two more things. You may go, "Quick, that's awesome." I mean, heaven, pie in the sky, long time from now. What about real life? What about life now?

You see, I know what it is to smile and look happy and to be full of life outwardly, but not really. I needed someone to roll the stone away. I was caught. My freedoms, my choices, led me to a place of darkness and a pit of despair, and I could not climb my way out of it.

But I didn't like Christians because I thought they were freaks, and some of them were. But it got so bad, there's a point where you just get so desperate that you'll be like, "I don't like all those Christian people, and a lot of them are weird, but I want to know about Jesus. I want to know—is He real? Did He defeat death? Would He love somebody like me? My life is a train wreck. Could He give me life?"

You see, I had to be humbled before I could actually even ask the question, and trust me, the Lord loved me enough to let me be humble.

Maybe one less thing. Jesus made a lot of promises in the Bible, right? He throws them out like cards. "I'll never leave your forsake you. I won't leave you as an orphan. I love you. I go and prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also." So many promises. But if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, they're all lies. He's dead and in the ground.

But 1 Corinthians 15, this is the chapter. Saul, who later became Paul—what was he doing? He persecuted the church. Now, whether he actually murdered somebody or was an accessory to murder, I'm not exactly sure, but whatever. He helped lead Christians to their death and imprisonment. He hated people of the way.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. The gospel is always a gift. I don't know about you, but if I was in front of my grandma or my granddad or anybody I loved, and they were on their deathbed, and they said, "Sonny, boy, I want to share this with you before I go. This is the most important thing in life," would you listen or would you be on your iPhone?

But it says this, of first importance, what is of first importance? Number one, that Christ died for our sins. Praise the Lord somebody paid for them because we can't. We don't have the right kind of currency. Christ died for our sins. Number two, He was buried. Number three, He was raised, resurrected on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

And then the rest of this passage just keeps saying:

He appeared, He appeared, He appeared.

He appeared to Cephas, then He appeared to the twelve apostles, then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, many of whom were put to death.

What I want to ask you is, if you do not yet believe, I don't want to beat you up because I didn't want anybody to beat me up before I believed. But I do want to ask you the question: if this many witnesses were willing to die for their belief that Jesus was really raised from the dead, how many do you need? More than 500 brothers at one time, many of them were put to death. How many do you need? 501, 503, 600, 5000, 10,000? At what point will you face the hard fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead?

Final Invitation and Reflection

Now we come to the landing. Sometimes in sermons, you have crash landings—it's just like being on the, what do you call those little small planes they fly out of Roanoke? It's, you know, Delta Airlines, but it's not really Delta Airlines. Yeah. Okay, so I know we're going just along here, but my nephew flies for Endeavor, and he said the first time he flew into Roanoke, he had about five hours in the plane. That's it. So say your prayers when you fly on Endeavor.

So what's the deal? So what, Christ has been raised from the dead? How does that affect you? Why would you care? What difference would it make in your life?

I'm going to tell you this, I'll try to do it without notes. Have you ever stood at the grave of somebody you loved? Like let's don't be churchy. Have you ever been in front of a casket of somebody you love? Now, if it's a 95-year-old grandmother, it's sad, but I'm talking about somebody who died too early.

We have, many of you have, you're Easter people. You know what it is to cling to the reality of the resurrection. I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Without the resurrection, it's all a lie. They're just dust going into the ground, done, finished. That's why the resurrection is important.

And you may go, "Well, Quick, I've never had somebody die in my life." Okay. What about your life? You've ever seen one of those, we call them hourglasses, sand glasses, and they've got sand in there, and you turn it upside down, and the sand drops through? See, everybody thinks they got a lot more sand in the hourglass than they do. Every Easter I look around, and I, it may be weird, but I go, "I wonder how many of these people will not be here next year?" I wonder how many.

This will be the last time, the last time that you get to hear the amazing news. The death is not Victor, death is not King. Jesus Christ has ripped and shredded death. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and the sand in your hourglass or your sand glass keeps dropping, dropping, dropping. And you think you have forever to live, but you don't. And I can tell you, when your sand runs out, you're going to wish the resurrection was true.

Maybe one or two more things. You may go, "Quick, that's awesome." I mean, heaven, pie in the sky, long time from now. What about real life? What about life now?

You see, I know what it is to smile and look happy and to be full of life outwardly, but not really. I needed someone to roll the stone away. I was caught. My freedoms, my choices led me to a place of darkness and a pit of despair, and I could not climb my way out of it.

But I didn't like Christians because I thought they were freaks, and some of them were. But it got so bad, there's a point where you just get so desperate that you'll be like, "I don't like all those Christian people, and a lot of them are weird, but I want to know about Jesus. I want to know—what's He real? Did He defeat death? Would He love somebody like me? My life is a train wreck. Could He give me life?"

You see, I had to be humbled before I could actually even ask the question, and trust me, the Lord loved me enough to let me be humble.

Maybe one less thing. Jesus made a lot of promises in the Bible, right? He throws them out like cards: "I'll never leave your forsake you. I won't leave you as an orphan. I love you. I go and prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also." So many promises.

But if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, they're all lies. He's dead and in the ground. But 1 Corinthians 15 says:

But in fact, Jesus has been raised. And so for me, all those promises before were just like flowery language. But once I met Jesus, I did meet Him. I met Him. I have heard His voice. I have been in His presence.

So you can tell me all you want about what you don't believe and do you think it's nonsense and it's not scientific? It's like, "But I know that I know," just like they knew that they knew. And so what the resurrection proves to me is that all Jesus' promises are yes and amen. They are true.

They are true. He is not man that He should lie.

So friends, I want to encourage you. Faith sometimes is a lightning bolt, and sometimes it's a long process. But I want to invite you to read the Gospels yourself. See what Jesus, not religious people on TV, see what Jesus actually said. And ask the Lord, "Lord, are these things true? Would You open my mind and drop my defenses and show me who You are?"

Friends, that's my prayer for you this Easter. And I pray that as a result of today, the Holy Spirit will start to bother you in a really beautiful way.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.