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We are instructed to give meat in due season. Earlier today, many of you were at Mr. Pickett's funeral service. Mr. Bradford did a very nice job with that. I really appreciate him doing that. The family did ask that we conduct the service, and it was done very nicely. In a portion of the Scripture we're about to read, it talks about the elementary principles of Christ.
Let's take a look at Hebrews 6, because in this section of Scripture is the sermon for today. Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6, starting here in verse 1. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of doctrine of baptism, of laying out of hands, of resurrection of the dead, of resurrection from the dead, and of eternal judgment. Now, I want to take a closer look at the resurrection of the dead today.
I want to do that because, as you and I look at that subject, understanding the resurrection is fundamental to so many of our basic foundational beliefs. It helps us understand the role of Jesus Christ, helps us understand the role of the church, helps us understand the plan of God for every human being who has ever lived or ever will live.
So it's important for us to understand this. I know it says it's an elementary principle, but certainly it's good for us from time to time to go through these and re-familiarize ourselves with these. Let's turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. God says something here that's very interesting as we look at the subject of the resurrections. We're not going to be just talking about the first, we'll be talking about all three today. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 22-24. 1 Corinthians 15-22, For as an Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order. That's one of the key phrases I want to emphasize. Each one in his own order. Christ the first-roots, after those who are in Christ, that is coming.
Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power. So the basic idea here, as we say, each one in their own order. There's an order of the resurrections. Each resurrection is different.
Each resurrection is unique. Each resurrection has its own characteristics. But there is one characteristic that binds all three. Now today, you can give a sermon or a series of sermons, probably, on each and every one of these by themselves. So today is going to be a little more of an overview. But in the overview, there is a constant thread that runs through the discussion of each of these three resurrections. And that thread is the mercy of God. My theme statement for today is this. The resurrections reveal God's mercy to mankind. Yes, even that third resurrection. The resurrections reveal God's mercy to mankind. And of course, mercy has a number of ways you can define it.
Favor, kindness, compassion, a number of different ways. And we'll be using a number of those definitions as we go along. Okay, first resurrection. Again, overview, more of an outline. The expression of first resurrection proves there's got to be more than one. There has to be two if you're going to say the first resurrection. Now, of course, we're going to see today, and as you know, this is nothing new to you, there are three.
Who takes part in the first resurrection? The first resurrection will be comprised of those who have died in the faith, members of the body, and those who are physically alive in the faith at Christ's return. Today, as we heard in the funeral sermon, Job 14. Let's turn to Job 14. I think that's a very important place to begin our discussion. Whenever I give a funeral sermon, I go to Job 14, just as Mr. Bradford did today. Job 14. Job being thought to be by the scholars the oldest book we have in the Scriptures.
Job 14. Verse 14. On a day like today, when we've taken one of our beloved members and we've had a funeral for Mr. Pickett, obviously, as we were sitting in the hall there earlier this morning, and many of you were there, and I certainly appreciate the fact that you were there. That means an awful lot to the family. Stephen Pickett made mention of that. It means an awful lot. My dad died and we did his funeral in November, about this time of the year, in November 1977.
I was 25 years old. I can still remember a good many of the faces of the people who came to that funeral. That was many years ago. But here in Job 14. Verse 14. If a man dies, shall he live again? Very important Scripture for us to think about. And you think about those of us who were there today, all the different people who were in that room. I don't know how many people were there, 150 or more.
But all different walks of life. Some may not believe in God at all. But when you're there in a funeral parlor, you think about things like this. When we die, what happens to us? Does it make any sense from God's perspective that a human being would go through life all that they would learn? All the character that has been built. Yes, mistakes were made, mistakes were overcome, and all those sorts of things.
But especially for those of us in the church, all that we learn, the character, the development. And then for all that to be lost in the grave, does that make any sense? Of course it doesn't make any sense. Of course it doesn't make any sense. We appreciate the fact that there is a resurrection. Verse 14. If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service. Yes, life is hard. All the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes. You know, a discussion here about the resurrection. There's coming a time for a change. You shall call, I will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands. Now that is the mercy of God. The mercy of God in terms of understanding that there is a resurrection. That life does not end in the grave for the Christian. And frankly for a whole lot of other folks, right? Billions upon billions of people. We'll talk about that as the sermon goes on.
But life does not end because of death. For those of us who are going to be in this first resurrection. You know, the change will take place. God is going to call. We are going to answer. We are going to be resurrected. And it's a beautiful thing. And let's turn to John chapter 8. You know, we take this for granted, but we should not take it for granted.
Over the years, because of my profession as a minister, because of just being in a church, having a large family back in Michigan, I've been to a lot of funerals. Some in a church, some out of the church. And I've seen all sorts of things at funerals. You probably have as well. I've seen people so overcome with grief that they would cry and wail uncontrollably at a funeral. I've seen people who almost tried to crawl into the casket with the person, because they wanted one last opportunity to touch the deceased.
I've seen all sorts of things. And you may have as well. But notice something here in John chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The truth that we understand about the resurrection gives us freedom of thought, freedom of understanding. Yes, we grieve. It's good that we grieve. But we need to grieve with understanding, with the understanding that there is a resurrection, for those of us who are going to be in that first resurrection.
There is a resurrection, and God wants us to understand that, and Christ does as well. I'm not going to turn there, but in John chapter 11, you've got the story where Jesus Christ knew that his beloved friend Lazarus had died. And Christ said, first of all, Lazarus is sleeping, which is an interesting way of talking about death. When you're talking to people there around the water cooler, at work, or wherever, and people are asking you questions, you know, the 1 Peter 3.15 thing, about death, you can say, well, it's kind of interesting because, you know, Jesus Christ talked about it as a type of sleep.
The apostle Paul talked about it as a type of sleep. And people said, oh, yeah, well, and then you can begin working and talking with them about, well, you know, you've had a nice, nice sleep, a nice rest where you go to bed and you shut your eyes, and next thing you know, it's the next morning, hours have passed. You had no awareness. Such is death. And of course, you can bring in the Scriptures. I'm not going to do it here. Bring in the Scriptures, the Ecclesiastes, the dead know nothing and all that sort of thing.
But the truth makes us free. Christ said He was going to see Lazarus, who had fallen asleep. He had died. And then Christ said, I'm going there to resurrect Him. I'm going there to wake Him up. Jesus Christ, when He arrived on scene, again, John 11, I'm not going to turn there.
He sees that people are wailing, they are crying, they are beside themselves. And Jesus Christ, the Scripture says, was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. And then the Scripture says, Jesus Christ wept. He knew He was going to resurrect Lazarus from the dead.
Why did Jesus Christ weep? Jesus Christ wept because He saw people who had no hope, people who didn't understand about the resurrection, who didn't know how to properly grieve. And yet, brethren, we have been blessed with the knowledge of the resurrection. In that sense, God is showing us His favor, His compassion, His mercy. Let's turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. There had been people dying in this little church in Thessalonica. They were fully expecting Christ to come in their day, but Christ wasn't coming, or hadn't come, and people were dying.
And they were asking Paul, what gives? What's up? And some probably were being overcome with their emotions. Verse 13. Paul writes, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. God has been merciful to us. We have hope.
We understand. I couldn't help but as I looked at Mr. Pickett, in his next waking moment, he'll be there with our Father. And God is probably going to say to Jack, Hey, Jack, how would you like to know how to engineer a whole universe? And I'm sure Mr. Pickett will enjoy that, being an engineer. I'm sure he'll have a lot of questions. Those sparkling blue eyes of his will light up, and he'll have that smile. It was interesting. They had different pictures of Mr. Pickett on board, as you can see, and there was a picture of him next to his B-29 bomber.
At the end of World War II, that was state-of-the-art. A pressurized cabin, all that sort of thing. And I thought, well, there's the crew. And I was talking to the son, Stephen, only one now is left of that crew, I think crew of 11. I said, now let me see if I can pick out Mr. Pickett. I got him. Now, as observant as I am, I didn't notice there was a red arrow pointing to Mr.
Pickett. But before I noticed the red arrow, I said, that's Mr. Pickett. How did I know? Because of his smile. That's one of the things I remember about Mr. Pickett, that beautiful smile he had. And there he is, and that was right. But let's continue on here. We don't want to grieve as others who have no hope. We've got hope. It doesn't mean we're not sad. It doesn't mean we miss the people. I miss my dad all the time. He's been gone since November 1977.
My dad was not in the church. He wasn't even close to being in a church. But boy, he was my best friend when he died. I was 25. He was my best friend. He had a tremendous amount of worldly wisdom. I enjoyed his company. I enjoyed his sense of humor. I look forward to the day when he will live again.
And I will say to him, you know, dad, that church you didn't want me to be a part of? It's actually a pretty nice church. Let me tell you about it. I'm sure he'll fight me for a while, but I've got time on my side. Verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord by no means precede those who are asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with a trumpet of God, and a dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Now that is a statement that is a profound statement. When you take a look at the whole of the Bible, what do we have in Genesis 1, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27? God created man in his image, for dominion, for rulership.
Genesis chapter 1, and was made mention today in the service earlier this morning. Revelation chapter 21, verse 3, the Father is going to come down and live with us, from one end of the Bible to the other end. We shall always be with the Lord at the time we are resurrected, from that point going forward. To me, that is another instance of the great mercy of God, the great compassion, the great favor that God shows us. Let's go to a companion scripture over here, a companion in terms of the same topic. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting here in verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
But at the resurrection we will inherit. Why? Verse 51. All day tell you mystery. We shall not all sleep, again there's that phrase, but we shall all be changed, as we talked about there in Job. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Here is another aspect of the mercy of God, the favor of God, the compassion of God. We're not going to be in this veil of tears.
We call flesh any longer. We're going to be made into spirit beings. Tremendous mercy from God. Tremendous. You know, when we're young, we think we're indestructible. We think we can do almost anything. But as the years roll along, we realize we've got this limitation, that limitation. You know, just tying your shoes can be a limitation from time to time. You know, like the old saying, when you bend over to tie your shoes, I wonder if there's anything else you can do while you're down there.
So here we see the great mercy of God, the great love that God has for us as human beings. Continuing on here, verse 54. So when this corruption is put on incorruption, this mortal is put on immortality. Eventually brought the past, the thing is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? So there comes a point where even death itself is defeated. And when you go to a place like we were this morning, and you witness people who don't know the truth that we embrace, it is so much that it talks to the mercy of God, that God is a better plan than what people who are without the knowledge of the God, who don't understand.
We understand where God has shown us mercy. Okay, characteristics of the first resurrection. I'm going to give you a few of these, and then we'll move on to the second. Characteristics of the first resurrection, number one. It takes place at the second coming of Christ. From that point, we'll always be with them, those who are going to be in that resurrection. Number two, it's a resurrection to immortality. Physical bodies will be changed to spirit.
And of course, number three, only the dead in Christ and those in Christ who are alive and is coming who are in the first resurrection. There is a whole lot more I think we can add to that, but I just want this to be succinct. Moving on to the second resurrection. What about those who never had an opportunity to hear the truth? Billions upon billions of people.
Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 4. You may be wondering why I'm turning there. It will be evident in just a moment. This is the second resurrection we're now looking at. 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 4, Verse 16. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ. Now this resurrection is the first resurrection we're seeing here, but there's another resurrection of those who aren't in Christ, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
So what about all these people who have died? Some people say, well, God is fair. And that's true. God is fair. But what does that mean? God is fair. Does that mean if you're a good Buddhist, and you do everything that a Buddhist should do, you're going to be in the kingdom?
No. Doesn't mean that. Let's take a look at Acts, Chapter 4. Acts, Chapter 4. Acts, Chapter 4, and Verse 12. Acts 4, 12. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. So people have to have an understanding about Jesus Christ, the plan of God.
Now, we've got Christians, or people who followed God in the Old Testament, they looked forward to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Of course, we look back in time, historically, at the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But we have to understand who the Christ was. Ephesians, Chapter 2. Ephesians, Chapter 2. Apostle Paul here speaking. Verse 11. Ephesians 2, Verse 11. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in a flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision made in a flesh by hands, that at that time he were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
So this speaks to an awful lot of folks who've lived and died. Have to have an understanding of Jesus Christ and who He was, what He was, what He taught, and so forth. So with that understanding, what do we do with all of these people? Let's go to Revelation. Chapter 20. Revelation, Chapter 20 is one of the more important chapters when it comes to doctrine and the Scriptures. Because here we see all three of the resurrections. Revelation, Chapter 20. We've got a time frame here. Revelation, Chapter 20, Verse 7. Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison.
We'll go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose numbers are the sand of the sea. We've covered this in the past. And they went up in the breath of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints of the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire in Brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Now, Verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.
Now, this can't be talking about the first resurrection, because the books had already been opened to that group.
The books here is referring to the Bible.
The Bible is open to those who were in the first resurrection, but hadn't been opened to these folks.
And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. That book also had not been opened until this time. So again, this can't be referring to the first resurrection. This is talking about the second resurrection.
And the dead were judged according to their works, once they come to understand what's required of them, once they come to understand what salvation is, who Jesus Christ was, what Christ did for them, and so on.
And they were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.
Well, that already took place for those in the first resurrection, right?
Now, this is not talking about a second chance. And a lot of people, when we discuss this with people, they will think we're talking about, oh, you're saying everyone's got a second chance, or these people have a second chance. No, we're not saying that. What we are saying is they're going to be resurrected to physical life. We'll see that in a moment. Resurrected to physical life, but this is their first opportunity to understand God's truth.
Everybody gets one shot. Not two, not three, not multiple. One good, full, God-given, God-ordained opportunity.
And this now, the Bible is open to them, the book of life is now open to them, and they have an opportunity. Let's go over to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37.
The people who come up in this resurrection are resurrected back to physical life. As we were taking our tour of the home office, we went into the part of the building that's brand new, where the new studio, the TV studio and all that is, but on the second upper floor, they have some offices.
I think it's one of the members' husbands who's not in a church, heard about what we teach on this subject, and he drew this marvelous, very colorful painting. It was several feet across, it was several feet high. It was really quite an interesting-looking painting, very colorful. But what the painting depicted were some people were skeletons in the grave, some people were partially coming out of the grave with flesh being put on them, and you kind of saw the whole workings there of that situation. It was really marvelous. It was something to be seen. Chapter 37 here, verse 5, Thus as the Lord God to these bones, Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. So these people are going to receive the spirit of man to live again. I will put sinews on you, talking about muscle, and bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you. And you shall live, then you shall know that I am the Lord. So here we see people being brought back to flesh so they can be taught, so they can understand, so God can show them His mercy. This resurrection is an aspect of God's mercy, of God's compassion, of God's favor upon these people who never understood. And then you shall know that I am the Lord. I don't know what God's going to do, but some of these people may not have known they died in their sleep, but as they take a look around, they'll say, This is a different world than I last remembered. Drop me down to verse 9. Also He said to me, Prophesly I send a man, and say to the breath, Thus as the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on thee slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on her feet, an exceedingly great army, billions upon billions of people. Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, Our bones are dry. They've been down there a long, long... Their bones probably aren't even in existence anymore. Turned to powder long ago. Our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. But no more, because God is resurrecting them. Now they will have a hope. Now they have an opportunity for eternal life as they follow God and learn the ways of God. Verse 12. Therefore, prophesy and say to them, Thus as the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves. Tremendous mercy from the great God. Tremendous mercy. Verse 12.
Therefore, prophesy and say to them, Thus as the Lord God, Behold, my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Verse 13 we've read. Verse 14. I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, says the Lord. So not only will these people have the opportunity to be human beings again, the spirit and man, they will have the opportunity to have God's Holy Spirit. And take part in this tremendous covenant. Verse 26, same chapter. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them, and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in the midst forevermore. My tabernacle shall be with them, and indeed I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So once again here, in the Second Resurrection, for those who never had an opportunity, they'll be given an opportunity. And we're hoping that 99.9% of these people take that opportunity, accept Christ as their personal saviors, and will be a part of the family of God forevermore. Okay, characteristics of the Second Resurrection. Number one, it doesn't take place until after the millennium is over. Number two, a resurrection to mortal life. Number three, God will give those in this Resurrection the opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit, and receive eternal life.
And of course, number four, they will have a second mortal life, but they will have their first opportunity for salvation.
That brings us now to the Last Resurrection, the Third Resurrection. And you may think, how in the world does God show mercy to the people in this Resurrection? Hang on. So the First Resurrection is comprised of the first root saints from the time of Adam and Eve to the return of Jesus Christ. The Second Resurrection, for those who were drawn by the Father, never had an opportunity, didn't understand, but they will be given an opportunity at that time. So there's only one category of people left. One category of people left to be resurrected. Those who utterly rejected God's offer to inherit eternal life. Now you might ask, and people have asked, well, Mr. D., why doesn't God just leave those people in the grave? Why bring them up just to kill them again, to take their lives again? Why do that? Why do that? We'll get to that in a moment. Let's go back to Revelation 20.
We didn't cover the First Resurrection in this chapter, but it's there in the earlier verses. Second Resurrection there in chapter 20, verse 12. Let me look at verse 13. Verse 13, And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them.
And they were judged, each one according to his works. Now, they were not judged according to the works of the Bible. They already rejected that. They already rejected that. They were being judged according to what the way they chose to live, apart from God and apart from God's ways.
Notice that the Book of Life is not open to this group, because they did totally reject God. They are judged according to their unrepentant works. Their unrepentant works. Verse 14 and 15, Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. So here we see John describing two inanimate objects, death and Hades, being cast into the lake of fire. It signifies a couple of things.
Number one, the termination of the grave. And number two, the destruction of death itself. The destruction of death itself. But again, why not just leave these people in their graves? Why bring them up? Does the Bible give us an answer for that? It sure does. Let's look at Romans 14. Romans 14. Romans 14, verse 10.
But why do you judge your brother, or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This is why they're resurrected.
Because they too. Your works are going to be tested. The people in the second resurrection, they're going to have the opportunity for testing and so forth. And not only testing, but being judged. But here we see this group also. All stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. Verse 31-32. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit in the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate one from another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from his goats.
We drop down to verse 46. And these will go away into the everlasting punishment, but they're righteous into eternal life. So there is a judgment to be made. Both for those going in previous resurrections to eternal life, and those into eternal punishment, everlasting punishment.
John chapter 5. John chapter 5, verses 28 and 29. Do now marvel at this. Verse 28, For the hours coming which all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth, all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.
Resurrection of condemnation. And certainly we wouldn't want to miss... And again, we can add other scriptures to everything I've said today. As a matter of fact, we have a study paper you can go online and take a look at that summarizes all three of these resurrections. And of course, I did some research before doing the sermon by looking at that study paper. Malachi 4 Malachi 4 For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven. This is verse 1.
All the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts. And that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness shall arise, with healing in his wings. And you shall go out and grow fat like a red... like a stall-fed calves. But you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. On the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. So there is a resurrection of condemnation. There is a resurrection to eternal death.
There is a resurrection to this punishment, and simply ceased to exist for all time. How is this merciful? You know, brethren, God doesn't desire for suffering to continue perpetually. There's got to come an end to suffering. We see that in the latter chapters of Revelation. And so, in that sense, God is showing his mercy. Enough is enough. We're going to put an end to the suffering.
We also see that because of this resurrection, it's an eternal example of what happens to sin. We see through this resurrection that justice does prevail. We see through this resurrection, the third resurrection, that the resurrected saints are going to not have to be grieved by unfinished business laying there in the grave. That all sin must be dealt with, and all sin must be destroyed. The earth becoming one big ball of fire, because the earth was full of sin.
It's got to be cleansed. So, brethren, today we've taken a look at these three resurrections. All three resurrections show the mercy of God. To his saints in the first resurrection, old and New Testament saints, to those who never had an opportunity to understand, and then will be given an opportunity to understand. In a time when Satan won't be around. Satan had his shot at those people when they were physical human beings on this side of that resurrection. But when they're resurrected, in a general resurrection, Satan is not going to be there to hurt them anymore.
But they will have an opportunity from the God family, from God, from Jesus Christ, from us, to learn the truth. The third resurrection is for the purpose of that final judgment. When the wicked will be destroyed because of their sin. The sin that they never wanted to repent of, and they wanted to embrace. That can't stand forever. So hopefully if you've got any questions about any of this, you can see me after services. Or if you want, you can go to our website and read our study paper on the three resurrections.
Randy D’Alessandro served as pastor for the United Church of God congregations in Chicago, Illinois, and Beloit, Wisconsin, from 2016-2021. Randy previously served in Raleigh, North Carolina (1984-1989); Cookeville, Tennessee (1989-1993); Parkersburg, West Virginia (1993-1997); Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan (1997-2016).
Randy first heard of the church when he was 15 years old and wanted to attend services immediately but was not allowed to by his parents. He quit the high school football and basketball teams in order to properly keep the Sabbath. From the time that Randy first learned of the Holy Days, he kept them at home until he was accepted to Ambassador College in Pasadena, California in 1970.
Randy and his wife, Mary, graduated from Ambassador College with BA degrees in Theology. Randy was ordained an elder in September 1979.