April 22, 2025 • 58 mins
Pastor Scott Silcox unpacks John's unique resurrection account, revealing how Christ as the Gardener restores what was lost in Eden and calls each of us by name in our own garden seasons.
• Seeing John's gospel as an intentional theological framework rather than just chronology
• Understanding how John connects the creation narrative to Christ's resurrection
• Recognizing the three different reactions at the empty tomb—Peter's shame, John's belief, Mary's seeking
• Appreciating how Mary's "mistaken" identification of Jesus as the gardener reveals his true identity
• Experiencing the power of personal recognition when Jesus calls Mary by name
• Tracing John's artistic connections between the garden of Eden and the garden tomb
• Finding hope in Christ as the one who breathes new life into defeated, frustrated disciples
• Embracing the invitation to let the Gardener tend to our lives
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.
For more information about ourchurch, please visit
therockfamilytv Now.
Join us for a message fromPastor Scott Silcox.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh, it's going to be a great day today.
It's a Resurrection Sunday.
Resurrection Sunday,resurrection Sunday.
I don't know about you, but asI sat here this morning and
going through worship, I'm justtelling you I'm energized with
the idea Christ with us.
(00:41):
I'm energized with the conceptand the idea that Christ paid it
all and that he didn't leave itlike that.
How many know, three days laterhe conquers death, hell and the
grave.
For you, for me, for the world,and today that is what we're
(01:01):
talking about here, easterSunday.
Now it's going to be a littledifferent today.
I mean shocker.
But you know they left me aloneto my own vices today, where I
could just come up with whateverwas in my heart.
And I'm going to just tell youI feel like God has really given
me just a thought that I wantto seed the ground with today,
(01:22):
and I use that language onpurpose.
For most of you that aren'tvisiting with us today, that are
in the room, you know thatwe've been going through a
series in the garden narratives,right, and we've been tracking
this idea that God has beenshowing up in every garden
season of our life.
Can I tell you, if you're inthe room today, you don't have
to worry if you've missed out.
This won't be insider languagefor you.
(01:44):
You won't.
You won't feel on the outskirtson this conversation, because
this is real simple.
If you boiled it all down tothis is that Christ has always
cared about your future.
Christ has always beenintentional about what he has
done and allowed and it's allbeen getting you to a place
(02:05):
where you could stop torecognize him as father, as Lord
, as friend, as protector, asguide, as gardener.
And today we're gonna talkthrough that.
But, if it's okay with you, Iasked the team to do this today.
I want to kind of get in anatmosphere and we're going to
(02:28):
kind of set this little tone,because how many know there, if
you have your Bibles open up toJohn 20, john 20.
We're going to just stay in thegospel narrative that John puts
together, because I want toshow you something real
intentional about John'sintentionality, about how he
wrote the gospel.
(02:49):
But there's some very keythings in this that I think
we're going to walk away with.
But before we do that, I justwant to set an atmosphere.
I want to set the tone, get ourhearts and our minds in this.
So if we have that first screen.
Let's go to it.
And then, if you'll help mewith this, guys, and lower the
lights for me and I want to talkto you about this idea behind
(03:16):
me is a sunrise from israel.
I want you to just imagine withme for just a second.
I want you to just imagine withme for just a second that in
John's gospel, the 20th chapter,mary Magdalene gets up early,
can't sleep.
She's making her way to thegarden tomb.
(03:40):
She's gonna go find out.
Really, she's going there to dowork.
She's going there to prepare,just bring closure, probably, to
what is a difficult season thatthey're walking through as a
family.
I want you to think with me forjust a second.
This shouldn't be hard foranyone who's lost someone before
(04:00):
.
But how many know that in thedays after the cross there is an
immense amount of fear.
We know that because thedisciples all found themselves
hiding out and worried andafraid.
That started even at the Gardenof Gethsemane.
Right, we know this that thedisciples, in fear of their own
lives, begin to abandon Christ.
Imagine with me over the nextfew days as Christ continues to
(04:27):
walk out his obedience to theLord, as he begins to give up
his life.
Because how many know nobodycan take it but he gives up his
life and in that process, howmany know that there's a lot of
emotion in the room?
How many know that there's alot of emotion in the room?
(04:51):
It's likely the disciples andthose that follow Christ had
seen crucifixions before, butthis one's different.
This is your friend, this issomebody you walked and did life
with.
This feels personal.
It's your son.
(05:12):
You imagine the agony on hismother, knowing what she bore
and carried and protected,guarded, instructed.
Oh, they'd all heard themessage.
(05:37):
They'd all heard Christ saythis is the way I have to go,
this is what is going to bringlife to the masses, this is
what's going to happen.
But how many know?
In that moment it feelsdifferent Because it's a reality
.
You don't want to be true.
What about the anxiety thatcrops up when you think, if
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that's what they'll do to thisman, what will they do to us?
At least this guy had healingin his hands.
This guy had revelationknowledge.
And I'm just a bystander, I'mjust one of the guys.
Loss has a tendency to do this.
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I don't know about, about you,but when I've experienced loss
in my life, someone personal, itcauses me to take a time of
reflection.
You can imagine.
For the last three days there'sbeen a lot of just
self-evaluation.
I mean, know, know that whenyou're facing loss, no matter
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really who it is and reallydoesn't matter how close or
distant it is, if you hear aboutit you pause.
Over the last few days we'vehad the unfortunate.
It's not a privilege, but it isat times, as we've heard
stories of family members thathave passed away.
(07:07):
Even in this room it causes me,even this morning, watching a
sunset up early and feeling andtrying to connect with what,
what were the disciples feelingin that moment.
There's a, there's a tension.
That's there, right, do youfollow?
(07:28):
There's an internal questioning, like, have you ever done this
before?
When you reflect on the loss,you start to reflect on how much
time you have left.
Isn't it interesting that wehave a tendency to try to figure
out how to preserve what wehave and then it causes me to
(07:49):
immediately reflect on how muchI wasted.
You understand what I'm sayingCauses me to look back in regret
.
I don't know about you.
There's things in my life thatI regret.
I don't know about you.
There's things in my life thatI regret.
(08:10):
I think of Peter, could youimagine Christ says you're gonna
deny me, and as strong and aspowerful and as focused as you
are, you couldn't see that flawin yourself.
Until the right scenario, andhe stumbles.
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He's a loss for words.
Wonder what's going on in hismind.
I was that close, anybody know.
You can only imagine Peter'sprobably working in his mind.
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If I had just stayed, what wouldhave happened?
Could I have made a difference,could I have helped?
Maybe they would have crucifiedme and not him.
That's a lot of pressure we puton ourselves at times.
I would just tell you this.
I would say a lot of times weput undue pressure on ourselves
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that Christ never intended forus to carry.
But there's Peter strugglingwith it and the disciples, all
of them.
I don't know about you.
If I was there, I'd tell youwho's the topic of conversation,
or at least he's.
At the second conversation,it's Jesus first, but it's
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where's Judas, and what can wedo to him?
Come on, somebody Listen.
If you're, if you're, if you're, if you're the select few that
I get to call my boys andthere's a few in this room that
I can call my boys you better bethinking this way.
Somebody betrays me.
I would like to know.
There's some vengeance beingplanned.
Somebody betrays me.
I would like to know there'ssome vengeance being planned.
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Come on, can we all act likethe disciples were more
Christian than they were?
They weren't.
They tried to kill a man in thegarden.
Right, there's a lot of angerand frustration, confusion, and
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this is the scenario.
We find John 20.
It's packed with tension andJohn begins to write in a way
that is really interesting.
We're going to talk about it ina second, but I wanted to just
set the tone.
This is what's happening.
This is where Mary's at.
This is where Mary's comingEarliest part of the day.
(11:01):
Can't sleep.
Got to get to the tomb, gottaget closure.
It ended too weird.
It was strange Couple of guysthat aren't even in deep
relationship with him.
Those are the guys that got thebody of Christ, probably
because we were all hiding away.
I wonder how they treated it.
(11:24):
I wonder if they handled thebody well.
I wonder if they took care ofit.
Let's go find out.
Would you bow your heads with me?
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word.
We thank you that what you didfor us we couldn't do for
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ourselves and we are eternallygrateful today.
Today, I'm asking you, lord,would you open up our hearts,
our ears, our minds to receivewhat you have for us today, god.
I pray that when we leave heretoday, we leave encouraged,
focused, seen.
God.
That's our desire.
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It's God, that we would be morelike you, god, that those
stubborn areas of our life thatwe've been avoiding or hiding or
denying we.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
We give you access to this nextfew minutes as we go through
your word.
I pray that it come alive to usin such a real way.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
We give you access to this nextfew minutes as we go through
your word.
I pray that it come alive to usin such a real way.
(12:29):
We give you glory, we give youhonor, we give you praise In
Jesus' name.
Amen, john 20.
Can I read this passage to youreal quick?
It's a fascinating passage andI'll tell you why here in a
second, but I wanna read it toyou Early in the morning, and it
says this now on the first dayof the week, mary Magdalene came
(12:57):
to the tomb early, while it wasstill dark, and saw that the
stone had been taken away fromthe tomb, and so she ran and
went to Simon Peter and to theother disciple to whom Jesus
loved, and said to them theyhave taken the Lord out of the
tomb.
We do not know where they havelaid him.
Let me pause right there.
John is just.
John is just all about himselfhere.
The other disciple whom Jesusloved.
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This is John writing abouthimself.
Anybody got somebody in theirfamily like that Doesn't matter
what the conversation is,they're the center of attention.
But there's John.
So Peter went out with the otherdisciple and they were going
toward the tomb.
Both of them were runningtogether, but the other disciple
, outran Peter.
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Do you love this?
Outran Peter?
Do you love this?
This is the.
This is the alpha males at eachother.
Right, we both got the news andit's a foot race to the tomb
and John's letting the wholeworld know that he's faster than
Peter, as if that was the thingwe needed to focus on.
A bunch of dudes, a hundredpercent.
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A bunch of dudes right here,and I love it.
Both of them are runningtogether, but the other disciple
outran Peter, and reached thetomb first, stooping in.
He looked in.
He saw the linen clothes lyingthere, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came followinghim and he went into the tomb
he has no boundaries Saw thelinen clothes lying there and
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the face cloth which had been onJesus's head, not lying with
the linen clothes but folded upin a place by itself.
And then the other disciple whoran, had reached the tomb first
, also went in and he saw andwhat Believed this is important,
pay attention to that languageand then the other disciple who
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had reached the tomb first, wentin and he saw and he believed
for as yet they did notunderstand the scripture that he
must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples went back totheir homes.
I'm going to pick up verse 11here.
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb and she wept.
She stooped to look into thetomb and she saw the two angels
(15:10):
in white sitting where the bodyof Jesus had lain, one at the
head and one at the feet.
And they said to her woman whyare you weeping?
What a weird question to ask ata graveyard, isn't that strange
?
Needs to be noted.
It's not only asked once bythem, it's asked twice.
(15:30):
Check it out.
Having said this, or they havetaken my Lord away and I did not
know where they have laid him.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Verse 15,.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Why and whom are you seeking,supposing him to be the gardener
(15:52):
?
She said to him, sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away.
And Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned and said to him inAramaic, rabboni, which means
teacher.
Jesus said to her do not clingto me, for I have not ascended
(16:15):
to the father, but go to mybrothers and say to them I am
ascending to the father, andyour father to my God and your
God.
And Mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
An amazing, amazing passage ofscripture.
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I'm going to tell you why I'mchoosing to take this Easter and
focus on the gospel narrativeof John.
John is fascinating becausethere's something that needs to
be noted here.
First and foremost, if you knowanything about the book of John
, you know this.
John is writing this maybe 50,60 years after this has happened
.
Now this matters a whole lot,and why it actually matters to
(17:00):
you and I in such a very realway, and that is this, is that,
john, unlike the synopticgospels they're laying out kind
of like this line by line orderof events.
Not John.
John is putting a frame aroundthe narrative.
He's saying let me show youwhat's important about the
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gospel message.
He's he's writing it for thispurpose, so that other
generations will understand thepurpose of Christ.
Where, where?
See, if you're like me, you'vebeen reading Matthew, mark and
Luke and you're just like, bythe time you get to John, you're
like, yeah, rinse and repeat,it's the same thing.
But I would just warn you,don't, don't pass over John so
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quickly, because it's in Johnthat you actually get the, get
the deeper revelation.
How do we know that here here?
Think about what John has seen.
Up into this point, john'salready gone through an era of
persecution.
Up into this point, john'salready gone through an era of
persecution.
Nothing, nothing solidifies thegospel more than watching your
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buddies be killed on beingkilled for for the gospel sake,
john.
John has got a lot ofexperience.
At this point, he's seeing thegrowth of the church.
By the time John's writing this,the church is exploding by the
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time John's writing this he istrying to help other generations
understand how to not letculture change the gospel
message.
See, at this time, all of asudden, jesus has been passed
away, but now the narrative,over 50, 60 years, is starting
to tweak a little bit.
Churches are starting to add alittle to it, people are
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starting to take a little fromit.
How many know that the power ofthe message begins to get
diluted, of the message beginsto get diluted, and then John
turns and puts for lack ofbetter words pen to paper and
says I have to make sure youunderstand the true
understanding of this.
Now, this is fascinatingbecause John is not just trying
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to get us on the same page, buthe's bringing a language that
has become common knowledge tous over the last few weeks as
we've studied the garden.
But he is actually, from thevery beginning, tying Genesis
and John's gospel.
They're actually linkedtogether and in fact it's a best
that you read if I wouldencourage you to read in the Old
Testament, genesis, thatchapters, those chapters, early
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chapters of creation, really thewhole book, and then
immediately read in the NewTestament, the book of John,
because if you'll do that you'llstart to see he is trying to
bridge the story together.
Now, why are we doing that?
Why would he even think to dothat?
How many know this?
That the New Testament is theOld Testament revealed.
The Old Testament is.
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Is the New Testament concealed?
It's tucked away, it's hidden.
In reading the old, you canfind what he's actually doing in
the new and vice versa, how.
He has been present from thebeginning and John is the guy
who frames that in for uspresent from the beginning and
John is the guy who frames thatin for us.
It's an amazing, amazingaccount.
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How do we know that?
Go to John one and it says thisin the beginning was the word?
Does that sound familiar?
Sounds like the opening ofGenesis, right?
He identifies him as the word.
What else makes makes John'sunderstanding of the gospel
interesting?
He has a couple of thingsinside of that where he's
constantly drawing the churchand the believer back to the
understanding that you have beenthought of, prepared for from
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the beginning of time.
He doesn't want anyone to losethe idea that Christ had you in
mind from the very beginning.
Other narratives that you findin the gospel of John.
Well, first and foremost, thereare quite a few stories that he
doesn't use, where the synopticgospels are giving you like a
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line by line.
He actually takes only ahandful of things Christ does
and he brings a revelationaround those handful of things
Miracles.
There are certain things inJohn that you'll never see.
One of those is this narrativethat we're talking about today
with Mary Magdalene, thisencounter at the garden tomb.
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Anybody familiar with the I amstatements?
Do you guys remember this?
It's John who actually put thisin his narrative and you guys
know this.
He says I am the what, the way.
Okay, let's stop right there.
I'm the way.
What is he talking about?
What is he talking about?
How many know that there wasone way into the temple, one way
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into the tabernacle?
There's this entire narrativethat he's constantly bringing
back to us.
I am the light of the world.
What's he talking about?
John's trying to help.
You see that at the verybeginning, even as God is
establishing the church, thetabernacle, where he's going to
be, he's going to be what Adamhad goofed up separation from
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the Lord.
Then he reinvents and comesback to us and he simply says to
us I need to be with you andI'm going to come up with a way
to be with you through thetabernacle, through the system
of worship.
And it's interesting becausethen John's saying I don't want
you to miss this, because hesays I am the light.
What does that mean he is?
He is what.
He is the menorah.
What is in, what is in thetabernacle?
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What is there?
He is the menorah.
I am the bread of life, theshow bread.
Yeah, you can go through everyone of these statements and you
can turn around and link itdirectly back to why?
Because John is trying to getour attention.
Do not miss what's happening.
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You ever watched a movie withsomebody who just won't listen
to the movie?
I have a child like that and Ilove him dearly, but he gonna
ask questions from the veryget-go.
Stop asking questions.
They're gonna get to it, yeah,but yeah, what if?
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And what is that?
And why did they say that?
It's like be quiet, listen,listen, it's a movie.
It's weird like that.
They kind of like do all ofthat and they tie it all at the
end.
So if you'll just be quiet tothe end, we'll get there.
How many know?
John is trying to say that tous.
Stop talking during the movie.
Pay attention, pay attention.
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There's so many of us that walkinto church and you're in your
own narrative.
You open your Bible and you'reso deep in your own narrative
you can't see what the Father'strying to tell you, because
you're smarter than him.
It's so easy to jump toconclusions and jump to
scriptures that sound better orfeel better or make you feel
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better, but how many know theBible is meant to press against
you, to form you, to shape you,to guide you, and that means
patiently letting him do thework.
John's trying to say to us thismorning slow down and let him
do the work, let him work right,let him do what he's doing.
Can I bring some things out inthe scripture?
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I'm going to start by a quotethat I like.
It's from GK Chesterton doesthis gonna work?
Yeah, there it is.
On the third day, the friends ofChrist, coming at daybreak to
the place, found the grave emptyand the stone rolled away In
varying ways.
They realized the new wonder,but even they hardly realized
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that the world had died in thenight.
What they were looking at wasthe first day of a new creation,
with a new heaven and a newearth and, in a semblance of the
gardener, god walking andwalked again in the garden in
the cool night of the evening,but in the dawn.
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What happened in this passage?
I'll tell you what happened.
I'm going to go through acouple of these things because I
think they're important John 20.
And I'll start with the firstone.
Here at the top it says now, onthe first day of the week.
Now, many of us would have readthat, probably heard me read it
at the beginning and justglossed over it.
But what's happening is John isgoing to start tying in the
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garden narrative right here.
And what is he saying in thebeginning?
What was happening at thisnarrative?
What's happening?
What John's trying to tell us isthat on the very first day,
he's putting an emphasis thatwhatever it was yesterday that's
over, there's a new day.
Can I tell you, when Christgave up his life, when he was
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what most believe, he was buried.
But I'm here to argue that hewas planted.
Mary shows up looking forsomeone's buried.
She's unaware that he's beenplanted and the first fruit of
Adam is alive, powerful.
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First day.
Many of us are living cycledlives of reversing and doing and
reliving life in a way.
But can I tell you, when Christcomes in, it's a new day.
When you accept Christ intoyour life.
It's no longer a cycled life,it's a new day.
When you accept Christ intoyour life, it's no longer a
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cycled life, it's a new day.
That baptism they're talkingabout.
That baptism is a symbol of anold being put to death and
raised to life again.
It's a new day.
It's fascinating why heemphasizes these stories, for
instance down here when hestarts talking about the
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disciples.
It's interesting to me thatthree people show up to the tomb
in this narrative Peter, john,mary.
All three have a totallydifferent encounter.
I've read this hundreds oftimes, dr Deacon, when I've read
this a hundred, I even heardyou become John a couple of days
ago, and I mean this last week.
(27:52):
I have just come alive withwhat John was trying to
communicate.
Let me give you an example.
Peter comes in right in, looks,sees the linen cloth there and
it says he walks away unchanged.
It doesn't change him.
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Now.
This is why this is why Ibelieve that's the case.
I'll say it like that I believethat's the case.
Because of this, peter is stillliving in shame.
Do you know how disappointingit is to show up hoping to see
the Savior alive, only to findout not only is he dead, but
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he's gone and now there's no wayout, there's no way back.
For Peter, it feels likethere's no future.
I royally messed it up and I'llnever get it back again.
There are people here today.
You walked into this room, intothis garden, and you had the
same perspective.
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I can't get right.
Christ left me, he's abandonedme, he's given up on me.
I'm here to tell you nothingcan be further from the truth,
unbeknownst to Peter.
He's gonna get that restoration, and I love it, and in like
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superstar style too.
Three denials, threeacceptances, and the only way
Christ will do it Isn't thatgreat?
Denied him three times, gavehim three opportunities to
declare the lordship of Jesus inhis life.
Peter's going to get that, butin this moment he doesn't get.
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It is going to get that, but inthis moment he doesn't get.
It Looks in, steps out, and Ijust imagine there's an
incomplete feeling.
John, john finally steps in.
I love this.
Then the other disciple, whohad reached the tomb first, also
went in and he saw and believed.
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Now, this is, this isfascinating.
Why?
Because John's trying to tellyou something.
John is not working through.
Shame, john.
In fact, this word believe hereis actually a word that is is
to say he has given himself overto grab hold of truth.
It's not just believe with hismind.
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It's like.
It's not like.
It's like oh, I believe nowthat's great.
No, no, no, he's.
He's made a physical turn.
It's a verb used for him toturn in the way of grabbing hold
of the truth.
This is the beauty of what Johnhas done.
He looks in, sees the exactsame thing Peter does.
How many know there are peoplethat will walk into this room in
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the exact same thing and see asituation totally different.
You may be in this room andyou're saying I'm hearing the
same message, but there is noconviction because shame looms
too much in my life.
You may be another person whowalks in here and says I can see
the work of the master, I cansee that he's never left me or
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forsaken me.
I can see that he has a destinyand a purpose on my life and I
have to respond.
This is John.
John leans in and he responds.
He walks out, not upset thathe's gone.
This is the posture that hetakes.
This is what it looks like.
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It's that he knows he'll seehim again.
Totally different.
Peter walks out saying I don'tknow if I'll ever be changed.
John walks out and says I justhaven't seen him yet, but I know
he's alive.
That's a total differentrevelation versus why.
You see here at the end, wherehe says for as yet they did not
understand the scripture that hemust, what he must rise from
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the dead.
All of a sudden, thatrevelation light bulb comes on.
That's what he means.
Now, listen, we're acting likethese guys are the best
Christians.
Listen, can I just say it likethis?
I've said this so many times,but I think it's important today
to just qualify this.
And that is this even thedisciples didn't really
(32:15):
understand everything Christ hadsaid, and you know that.
How do you know, kelly?
I'll tell you how you know,because none of them showed up
on the third day.
Because none of them showed upon the third day, I will raise
up again in three days.
They're like, yeah, I don'teven know what he was talking
(32:39):
about.
But, mary, for all the peoplewho say you know, women in
ministry isn't a thing.
I don't know, it's weird, butin two of the major instances
(33:03):
that Christ shows up on theearth and leaves it and returns,
he uses women to declare it.
Not a bunch of dudes.
They're over there lickingtheir wounds and yet there are
people, who women in this camp,who believe, who believe they
(33:25):
see it.
Give an example.
Let's look at the encounter withMary.
Mary goes into the tomb rightHer turn.
Now the other two discipleshave headed home.
She stays there, continues toweep.
She stays there, continues toweep, goes inside the tomb and
(33:48):
what does she see?
Two angels.
Two angels.
Now get this.
Follow John.
One sitting at and one sittingat sounds familiar, like the
mercy seat, like the Ark of theCovenant.
What John's trying to get youto understand is is what is
(34:13):
happening in this moment is soimportant.
The presence of the Lord, whichAdam denied at one point, right
, he wanted his way.
Adam.
And Eve, which Adam denied atone point, right, he wanted his
way.
Adam and Eve.
Follow the narrative, followwhat he's doing.
He then shows up in a new gardenbringing resurrection, life,
(34:33):
and saying and proclaiming I amthe way.
And Mary's looking in as a nodto what the mercy seat, the two
angels.
Guess what else is about tohappen.
She's going to turn and seeJesus.
(34:54):
Now follow me on this.
Mary has become the new Eve,jesus, the new Adam.
When he responds, he says woman.
When he responds, he says woman, pilate would call Jesus the
(35:23):
man.
Come on somebody.
So now we have a restoredgarden with a new Adam and a new
Eve.
And listen to me, hear what I'msaying on this.
The new Eve is no longer hidingfrom the presence of the Lord,
but says why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for In thegarden of Eden?
(35:45):
In the garden of Eden, eve ishiding from the Lord.
In the garden tomb she'slooking for him.
When you see what John's tryingto get you to see, you can see
(36:09):
the full restoration of life.
You know what happens to mewhen I think like this, when I
let the Lord do what he's doingthrough the scripture, like this
, it makes me find a level ofpeace and comfort in my today
that I didn't have yesterday.
Oh, there's worry in this room,there's frustration, there's
(36:30):
disappointment, but when youread this, it gives you hope.
There is hope available for you, there's something to anchor
yourself to.
Oh, I know that there'sdisappointment, but, man, when
you can see what he's donethrough resurrection for you,
(36:54):
jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be the gardener?
Supposing him to be thegardener Mistaken identity.
She says where have you takenhim?
Just show me, I'll take him.
You know what we have, colonelMustard, with a candlestick in
(37:17):
the library.
That's what we got In Mary'sworld.
She still has not gotten hereyes opened yet.
She doesn't see all of thesethings.
But John, in reflection,looking back, is able to see.
Look at what the Lord did.
And there she sits, she'strying to just be consoled,
(37:46):
closure, and she supposes him asthe gardener.
Here's what John's trying tosay to us.
He has always been the gardener.
See, the misunderstandingoftentimes is we're constantly
looking for something that isright in front of our eyes.
(38:08):
The invitation to you today isto allow the gardener into your
garden, your life.
You realize that you are justtiny gardens.
When you give the gardeneraccess to your life, he will do
work, lasting work,transformative work.
(38:30):
You're like I don't need it,I'm good by myself.
Yeah, turns out you don't havea green thumb.
Yeah, turns out you're not thatgreat at it.
Right, come on to be honest,you just ain't that great at it.
That's why you need it.
She mistook him for the gardener.
(38:51):
She mistook him for thegardener Mistaken identity, or
is it?
I love this response.
I want you to hear this.
She said to him sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away and listen.
Listen, jesus says Mary, mary,hmm, jesus says Mary.
(39:24):
I want to just.
She's already talked to him.
There's been conversation,right.
Where have you taken him?
His response why are youweeping?
Who are you looking for?
He knows there's already beendialogue.
(39:49):
Now I find this fascinating.
How is it that you can hear himtalk and not recognize him
Until he says your name?
Yeah, you're in the room today.
I'm going to just tell yousomething he knows your name,
(40:20):
something he knows your name.
There are times where you feellike you can't hear him, times
where you feel like it's distant.
Can I give you good news today,he knows your name.
Came across this cool picture.
I'll share it with you.
You're the worship team to helpme and we'll close up Christ
(40:40):
the Gardener.
This is a Rembrandt 1638.
I don't know if you know this.
I'm sure you know this, butthere's always a depiction.
Artists have done this foryears, so they choose Bible
(41:01):
scenes and they bring it to life.
I know it's kind of funny tosee the angel.
Seems a little shocked too.
It's like snap, I didn't thinkJesus was gonna be here, I
thought we were on assignment,anyway.
I didn't think Jesus was goingto be here, I thought we were on
assignment, anyway.
I don't think that's what.
Sorry, I mean, I'm sorry.
(41:26):
You know me, then you know this.
I geek out on this kind ofstuff and I love it, love art.
Here's the cool part about thisRembrandt.
You know, rembrandt actuallylocked in on the John narrative
(41:47):
probably more than any otherartist that has ever been.
And I mean that because it'snot that he was the only one who
did, you know, art withinspiration from John.
It's that he understood John.
Now, that is fascinating to me,because if you're an artist,
you recognize something aboutthe way John wrote the gospel.
(42:10):
He actually wrote it as anartist, if you would.
He was painting a picture.
So it isn't too far-fetched tothink that those that quite
literally had the gift of artwould naturally connect to the
way he's framing the story.
Rembrandt did that well.
In fact, he did some things inthis photo that I find
(42:32):
fascinating.
First and foremost and you see,he's got his, his, his big
brimmed gardener hat on.
He's got a spade in his hand.
He put this imagery togetherbecause I think it's interesting
for us to understand is thatfor Mary and for our future and
(42:54):
for eternity, he has pushed andput himself.
Rather he has put Christ inposition in the way of serving,
tending, caring, planting,weeding and uprooting, pruning.
(43:14):
Do you guys remember that?
Remember in Matthew when hetalks about being pruned?
The great news in that story isthat everyone in the story gets
cut.
Some get cut off to die, someget cut off to bear fruit.
Christ the gardener.
Right.
(43:36):
Rembrandt understands that.
If you notice, he doessomething really interesting.
All the light that he puts heemphasizes it.
On the left side of the image,three things come into focus
there.
He de-emphasizes the tomb.
In a sense there are two angelsthere.
You kind of see one sneaking inthere at the end.
(43:58):
That's the head and the footthere.
But he puts the light here.
Why?
Because Rembrandt understandsthat in the gospel narrative of
John he's constantly bringing usback to the tabernacle, just in
the background.
There you see, see it, that isactually the temple, the thing
(44:19):
that Christ said he wouldrebuild.
How is he going to do it?
Through the garden, through hislife.
It says in the temple that theveil was rent.
Do you remember that, just asChrist's body was torn John is
explaining as Christ's body wastorn so is the veil rent in two.
(44:44):
Why?
Because the presence of theLord, its pursuit is us, lord,
its pursuit is us.
What Adam did in destruction,what brought death into one
garden, jesus brings life intoanother, out of obedience.
(45:07):
Rembrandt understands that andhe depicts this.
But here's what makes this onereally special His emphasis is
on Mary, not Mary crying.
By the way, this is Mary'shonest response to hearing her
name called.
The entire thing really isabout capturing the awe and
(45:31):
wonder that Jesus, when he saysmy name, when Jesus calls you by
name, how many know, in thatcall is life, in that call is
hope, in that call isrestoration, in that call is
(45:54):
hope, in that call isrestoration, in that call is
peace.
It's all available in thismoment.
One I didn't know who you were.
I thought you were the gardenerand he's like.
And you were right, mary, don'tweep and don't hold on to me.
(46:18):
I haven't been to the Fatheryet.
There's tons of stuff to talkabout here, like, for instance,
the end of John's gospel.
I'm just going to tell you, youguys remember, in Genesis,
jesus formed man.
Right, the old dust pile formshim.
(46:41):
What does he do?
Breathes on him.
He's alive.
Fast forward.
Go there with me, john.
I'm gonna mess up somebody'sPentecostal life right here.
(47:03):
Okay, go back and read the endof his gospel.
What does he do?
He says hey, mary, I want youto go tell them.
I'm gonna come show myself tothem.
Sins of women, first andforemost.
That wouldn't have been goodnews.
Do you hear what I'm going tocome show myself to them?
Sins of woman, first andforemost.
That wouldn't have been goodnews.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
Culturally, she wouldn't havehad anything to say.
Was an eyewitness from a male,then we can't, we can't trust it
(47:26):
.
Do you think that cared aminute?
Do you think Mary cared aboutthat?
No, because she had seen himand he had called her by name.
She made a beeline to thedisciples, said y'all need to
get your stuff together.
He is alive.
I saw him.
He's the gardener.
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He's what, mary?
You saw the gardener and youthought it was Jesus.
I know it was Jesus.
He called me by name and sentme with this message.
Isn't this cool?
John talks about him showinghimself to the disciples.
And what does he say?
He shows them here I am, I'malive.
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And then he breathes on them.
What's John saying?
Just like in Eden, christputting life in the lifeless
bones of men Fast forward in anew creation.
A new world has begun.
Then you got to breathe lifeback into a defeated, frustrated
disciple group, people who arehurt, wounded, frustrated, don't
(48:33):
know where to go next.
Can I tell you Jesus is here tobreathe life in your lungs
today, and in the same way hebrought the disciples alive,
right, he says I'm going tobreathe on you because this is
going to give you the grace tomake it to Pentecost.
I'm breathing life into you soyou can make it to the upper
room.
I need you to get there becauseI'm sending, I'm leaving with
(48:57):
you the Holy Spirit.
But how many know the HolySpirit had already shown up, he
had already breathed fresh lifeinto them.
Would you bow your heads with methis morning?
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
Thank you for your word.
This is our desire, lord thatyou be glorified, you be lifted
(49:28):
up.
You are the true resurrection,the life you can be trusted.
They're amazing, god.
I pray for those who are joiningus today, for Easter, for those
that are leaning in thismorning.
My prayer is that you wouldhelp each and every one of us to
see how unique and special thatwe are, but, more importantly,
(49:48):
who we are in your sight, notwho we are in our sight.
Who we are in our sight isfearful and scared and worried
and frustrated.
And no, no, no, no, no.
What do you see?
What do you hear?
Maybe in this room this morning, and you say I need to hear my
(50:11):
name, I need to hear my name.
I need to hear my name JohnTracy, ken, brian, joyce, joyce,
(50:38):
emily.
Here's what you need to know.
God knows you.
He knows you better than youknow yourself, and he has known
you from the beginning of time.
And today he reminds you of hislove and care for you.
There's been nothing thatyou've seen, done, experienced
that has known you from thebeginning of time, and today he
reminds you of his love and carefor you.
There's been nothing thatyou've seen, done, experienced
that has separated you.
(50:58):
There's nothing so vile that hecan't cross the lines and reach
you.
Today he calls you by name Mary.
Why are you weeping?
Who are you looking for?
(51:22):
If I could ask any questiontoday, I guess that's what it
would be.
Why did you show up today?
Because your mom told you to,because your family promised you
a meal after this and they'regonna cash in.
I promise that's not why youshowed up, because you've been
(51:46):
on a trajectory with the Lordfrom the very beginning and he
has been guiding this day fromthe beginning of time.
And today he calls you by name.
If you're here today, every headbowed, every eye closed, you
say Pastor Scott, this is for me, man, I need to respond to the
Lord that loves me.
(52:07):
I need to respond to a risenSavior.
I need to respond to thesacrifice that Christ made on my
behalf.
I needed this.
I needed to understand that hehas been there from the
beginning and that he sees mewhere I'm at today, and I'm
ready to respond to that inprayer, not going to embarrass
you, not going to make you moveout of your seat this morning,
(52:29):
but if you're here today, yousay you know that's me.
I want to respond to the lovethat Christ has for me and he
has provided for me.
And I'm tired of running, I'mtired of being frustrated, I'm
tired of the anxiety.
I seek the peace Mary's lookingfor.
I seek the revelation Peter waslooking for.
I'm seeking God, the closure ofa past life and the hope of a
(52:53):
new one.
That's you today.
Would you slip up your hands soI know who I'm praying for today
?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,in the balcony.
I see you in the balcony.
I see you on the floor.
Come on there more.
I see you up there in thebalcony Praying for you.
Praying for you, I mean that.
Come on.
(53:14):
Are there any more hands?
No one's looking around, justyou and the Lord.
Yes, I see you in the balcony,right there, praying for you.
Sir, I'm praying for you today.
This is a new day.
I see you in the balcony upthere.
Oh, this is great.
I see you down here on thefloor.
I'm seeing it Right over there.
I see you.
See you.
I'm seeing it Right over there.
I see you, see, with your handlifted up in the back corner
over there.
I see you.
(53:40):
Would everyone do me a favor?
Would you stand to your feetreal quick and let's pray For
those that raised their hands.
You know who you are and I'mgonna pray for you today.
This is the only thing I askyou to do.
If you raise your hand today,I'm asking you to do one thing.
I'm going to pray for you today.
This is the only thing I askyou to do.
If you raise your hand today,I'm asking you to do one thing.
I'm not going to ask you tomove out of your seat, I'm not.
I'm going to ask you to do onething.
There's a card in the seat backin front of you.
(54:02):
I'm going to ask you to take it.
All I'm asking you to do iswrite down us at one of the tea
tables out there.
We're going to be.
A whole crew of us Pastors areout there.
I want you to tell somebody whatChrist did in your life.
Why?
Because we believe this.
We believe discipleship is thekey to having a successful
(54:26):
relationship with the Lord.
Recognizing Christ as ourSavior is one thing, but growing
in his ways that's anotherthing.
And how many know that's acommunity effort.
Don't do that alone.
Likely, the reason you're heretoday is because you tried it on
your own.
Don't do it by yourself.
(54:46):
We invite you to be a part ofthis community and give us a
chance to walk you through thedecision that you're making
today to follow Christ.
If you're here today and you didsay yes to the Lord and you
raised your hand.
I need that.
Can I pray over you?
I want you to pray overyourself as well.
There's no magic pill.
There's no like magic word.
It isn't.
You know what it is.
(55:07):
It's an honesty from your heart.
It's an honest conversation.
I'm tired of trying to do thison my own, and I give you access
to my life.
Can I take it a step further?
It's not just believing in yourhead when you become a
Christian.
It's about allegiance.
I'm going to teach on this inthe next week, couple of weeks
(55:31):
or so, because I think it.
It's important.
But this is about allegiance tothe father.
He.
He is inviting you to receivehim as lord, not as a good idea.
Lordship, which means he rulesand reigns over my life.
Kelly, it's not.
It's not a, it's not a goodidea.
(55:52):
It's not a.
Oh, oh, yeah, I'm cool with, oh, yeah, I'm cool with Jesus.
No, he's my Lord, he's mysavior and there's a deep
allegiance to him in his ways.
Amen, that's what salvation is.
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
God, I thank you for the handsthat were lifted today.
God, I pray even now.
God, you would move on thehearts of every single man,
(56:14):
woman, boy and girl in this room, and I pray for your revelation
of truth, of grace, god,knowing that you have paid an
ultimate price and you arevictorious through death, hell
and the grave, and you havereceived us back to yourself.
You created a new creation inus, god.
That is what we are doing today.
God, for those who lifted theirhands today, I thank you for the
courage and the boldness.
(56:35):
You created a new creation inus, god, that is what we are
doing today.
God, for those who lifted theirhands today, I thank you for
the courage and the boldnessjust to say I want you to be
Lord of my life.
I give you access, I give youpermission.
Speak to me, call me by nameand then give me the grace to
walk out faithfully what you'veput in my heart passion to know
you, desire to grow in you.
(56:55):
Give me the courage that Ilacked yesterday.
But today is a new day.
Today is Resurrection Sunday,where the things that were dead
in my life, they come to bearfruit in a good way.
This time, god, you resurrectin every single one in this room
(57:17):
, in their life.
God, that's our desire today.
See you lifted up, youglorified, you magnified.
God, we give you permission tomove in the hearts of the people
of this room today, in Jesus'name.
Everyone said Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
We hope and pray this message was encouraging and
impactful.
Join us live on our website orFacebook on Sundays at 9 and 11
am.
You can stay connected with uson Facebook and Instagram at the
Rock Family.
Have a Jesus-filled week.
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.
For more information about ourchurch, please visit
therockfamilytv Now.
Join us for a message fromPastor Scott Silcox.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh, it's going to be a great day today.
It's a Resurrection Sunday.
Resurrection Sunday,resurrection Sunday.
I don't know about you, but asI sat here this morning and
going through worship, I'm justtelling you I'm energized with
the idea Christ with us.
(00:41):
I'm energized with the conceptand the idea that Christ paid it
all and that he didn't leave itlike that.
How many know, three days laterhe conquers death, hell and the
grave.
For you, for me, for the world,and today that is what we're
(01:01):
talking about here, easterSunday.
Now it's going to be a littledifferent today.
I mean shocker.
But you know they left me aloneto my own vices today, where I
could just come up with whateverwas in my heart.
And I'm going to just tell youI feel like God has really given
me just a thought that I wantto seed the ground with today,
(01:22):
and I use that language onpurpose.
For most of you that aren'tvisiting with us today, that are
in the room, you know thatwe've been going through a
series in the garden narratives,right, and we've been tracking
this idea that God has beenshowing up in every garden
season of our life.
Can I tell you, if you're inthe room today, you don't have
to worry if you've missed out.
This won't be insider languagefor you.
(01:44):
You won't.
You won't feel on the outskirtson this conversation, because
this is real simple.
If you boiled it all down tothis is that Christ has always
cared about your future.
Christ has always beenintentional about what he has
done and allowed and it's allbeen getting you to a place
(02:05):
where you could stop torecognize him as father, as Lord
, as friend, as protector, asguide, as gardener.
And today we're gonna talkthrough that.
But, if it's okay with you, Iasked the team to do this today.
I want to kind of get in anatmosphere and we're going to
(02:28):
kind of set this little tone,because how many know there, if
you have your Bibles open up toJohn 20, john 20.
We're going to just stay in thegospel narrative that John puts
together, because I want toshow you something real
intentional about John'sintentionality, about how he
wrote the gospel.
(02:49):
But there's some very keythings in this that I think
we're going to walk away with.
But before we do that, I justwant to set an atmosphere.
I want to set the tone, get ourhearts and our minds in this.
So if we have that first screen.
Let's go to it.
And then, if you'll help mewith this, guys, and lower the
lights for me and I want to talkto you about this idea behind
(03:16):
me is a sunrise from israel.
I want you to just imagine withme for just a second.
I want you to just imagine withme for just a second that in
John's gospel, the 20th chapter,mary Magdalene gets up early,
can't sleep.
She's making her way to thegarden tomb.
(03:40):
She's gonna go find out.
Really, she's going there to dowork.
She's going there to prepare,just bring closure, probably, to
what is a difficult season thatthey're walking through as a
family.
I want you to think with me forjust a second.
This shouldn't be hard foranyone who's lost someone before
(04:00):
.
But how many know that in thedays after the cross there is an
immense amount of fear.
We know that because thedisciples all found themselves
hiding out and worried andafraid.
That started even at the Gardenof Gethsemane.
Right, we know this that thedisciples, in fear of their own
lives, begin to abandon Christ.
Imagine with me over the nextfew days as Christ continues to
(04:27):
walk out his obedience to theLord, as he begins to give up
his life.
Because how many know nobodycan take it but he gives up his
life and in that process, howmany know that there's a lot of
emotion in the room?
How many know that there's alot of emotion in the room?
(04:51):
It's likely the disciples andthose that follow Christ had
seen crucifixions before, butthis one's different.
This is your friend, this issomebody you walked and did life
with.
This feels personal.
It's your son.
(05:12):
You imagine the agony on hismother, knowing what she bore
and carried and protected,guarded, instructed.
Oh, they'd all heard themessage.
(05:37):
They'd all heard Christ saythis is the way I have to go,
this is what is going to bringlife to the masses, this is
what's going to happen.
But how many know?
In that moment it feelsdifferent Because it's a reality
.
You don't want to be true.
What about the anxiety thatcrops up when you think, if
(06:03):
that's what they'll do to thisman, what will they do to us?
At least this guy had healingin his hands.
This guy had revelationknowledge.
And I'm just a bystander, I'mjust one of the guys.
Loss has a tendency to do this.
(06:25):
I don't know about, about you,but when I've experienced loss
in my life, someone personal, itcauses me to take a time of
reflection.
You can imagine.
For the last three days there'sbeen a lot of just
self-evaluation.
I mean, know, know that whenyou're facing loss, no matter
(06:46):
really who it is and reallydoesn't matter how close or
distant it is, if you hear aboutit you pause.
Over the last few days we'vehad the unfortunate.
It's not a privilege, but it isat times, as we've heard
stories of family members thathave passed away.
(07:07):
Even in this room it causes me,even this morning, watching a
sunset up early and feeling andtrying to connect with what,
what were the disciples feelingin that moment.
There's a, there's a tension.
That's there, right, do youfollow?
(07:28):
There's an internal questioning, like, have you ever done this
before?
When you reflect on the loss,you start to reflect on how much
time you have left.
Isn't it interesting that wehave a tendency to try to figure
out how to preserve what wehave and then it causes me to
(07:49):
immediately reflect on how muchI wasted.
You understand what I'm sayingCauses me to look back in regret
.
I don't know about you.
There's things in my life thatI regret.
I don't know about you.
There's things in my life thatI regret.
(08:10):
I think of Peter, could youimagine Christ says you're gonna
deny me, and as strong and aspowerful and as focused as you
are, you couldn't see that flawin yourself.
Until the right scenario, andhe stumbles.
(08:37):
He's a loss for words.
Wonder what's going on in hismind.
I was that close, anybody know.
You can only imagine Peter'sprobably working in his mind.
(08:58):
If I had just stayed, what wouldhave happened?
Could I have made a difference,could I have helped?
Maybe they would have crucifiedme and not him.
That's a lot of pressure we puton ourselves at times.
I would just tell you this.
I would say a lot of times weput undue pressure on ourselves
(09:22):
that Christ never intended forus to carry.
But there's Peter strugglingwith it and the disciples, all
of them.
I don't know about you.
If I was there, I'd tell youwho's the topic of conversation,
or at least he's.
At the second conversation,it's Jesus first, but it's
(09:43):
where's Judas, and what can wedo to him?
Come on, somebody Listen.
If you're, if you're, if you're, if you're the select few that
I get to call my boys andthere's a few in this room that
I can call my boys you better bethinking this way.
Somebody betrays me.
I would like to know.
There's some vengeance beingplanned.
Somebody betrays me.
I would like to know there'ssome vengeance being planned.
(10:09):
Come on, can we all act likethe disciples were more
Christian than they were?
They weren't.
They tried to kill a man in thegarden.
Right, there's a lot of angerand frustration, confusion, and
(10:36):
this is the scenario.
We find John 20.
It's packed with tension andJohn begins to write in a way
that is really interesting.
We're going to talk about it ina second, but I wanted to just
set the tone.
This is what's happening.
This is where Mary's at.
This is where Mary's comingEarliest part of the day.
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Can't sleep.
Got to get to the tomb, gottaget closure.
It ended too weird.
It was strange Couple of guysthat aren't even in deep
relationship with him.
Those are the guys that got thebody of Christ, probably
because we were all hiding away.
I wonder how they treated it.
(11:24):
I wonder if they handled thebody well.
I wonder if they took care ofit.
Let's go find out.
Would you bow your heads with me?
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
Heavenly Father, we thank youfor your word.
We thank you that what you didfor us we couldn't do for
(11:46):
ourselves and we are eternallygrateful today.
Today, I'm asking you, lord,would you open up our hearts,
our ears, our minds to receivewhat you have for us today, god.
I pray that when we leave heretoday, we leave encouraged,
focused, seen.
God.
That's our desire.
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It's God, that we would be morelike you, god, that those
stubborn areas of our life thatwe've been avoiding or hiding or
denying we.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
We give you access to this nextfew minutes as we go through
your word.
I pray that it come alive to usin such a real way.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
We give you access to this nextfew minutes as we go through
your word.
I pray that it come alive to usin such a real way.
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We give you glory, we give youhonor, we give you praise In
Jesus' name.
Amen, john 20.
Can I read this passage to youreal quick?
It's a fascinating passage andI'll tell you why here in a
second, but I wanna read it toyou Early in the morning, and it
says this now on the first dayof the week, mary Magdalene came
(12:57):
to the tomb early, while it wasstill dark, and saw that the
stone had been taken away fromthe tomb, and so she ran and
went to Simon Peter and to theother disciple to whom Jesus
loved, and said to them theyhave taken the Lord out of the
tomb.
We do not know where they havelaid him.
Let me pause right there.
John is just.
John is just all about himselfhere.
The other disciple whom Jesusloved.
(13:20):
This is John writing abouthimself.
Anybody got somebody in theirfamily like that Doesn't matter
what the conversation is,they're the center of attention.
But there's John.
So Peter went out with the otherdisciple and they were going
toward the tomb.
Both of them were runningtogether, but the other disciple
, outran Peter.
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Do you love this?
Outran Peter?
Do you love this?
This is the.
This is the alpha males at eachother.
Right, we both got the news andit's a foot race to the tomb
and John's letting the wholeworld know that he's faster than
Peter, as if that was the thingwe needed to focus on.
A bunch of dudes, a hundredpercent.
(14:03):
A bunch of dudes right here,and I love it.
Both of them are runningtogether, but the other disciple
outran Peter, and reached thetomb first, stooping in.
He looked in.
He saw the linen clothes lyingthere, but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came followinghim and he went into the tomb
he has no boundaries Saw thelinen clothes lying there and
(14:25):
the face cloth which had been onJesus's head, not lying with
the linen clothes but folded upin a place by itself.
And then the other disciple whoran, had reached the tomb first
, also went in and he saw andwhat Believed this is important,
pay attention to that languageand then the other disciple who
(14:47):
had reached the tomb first, wentin and he saw and he believed
for as yet they did notunderstand the scripture that he
must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples went back totheir homes.
I'm going to pick up verse 11here.
But Mary stood weeping outsidethe tomb and she wept.
She stooped to look into thetomb and she saw the two angels
(15:10):
in white sitting where the bodyof Jesus had lain, one at the
head and one at the feet.
And they said to her woman whyare you weeping?
What a weird question to ask ata graveyard, isn't that strange
?
Needs to be noted.
It's not only asked once bythem, it's asked twice.
(15:30):
Check it out.
Having said this, or they havetaken my Lord away and I did not
know where they have laid him.
Having said this, she turnedaround and saw Jesus standing,
but she did not know that it wasJesus.
Verse 15,.
Jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Why and whom are you seeking,supposing him to be the gardener
(15:52):
?
She said to him, sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away.
And Jesus said to her Mary.
She turned and said to him inAramaic, rabboni, which means
teacher.
Jesus said to her do not clingto me, for I have not ascended
(16:15):
to the father, but go to mybrothers and say to them I am
ascending to the father, andyour father to my God and your
God.
And Mary Magdalene went andannounced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that hehad said these things to her.
An amazing, amazing passage ofscripture.
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I'm going to tell you why I'mchoosing to take this Easter and
focus on the gospel narrativeof John.
John is fascinating becausethere's something that needs to
be noted here.
First and foremost, if you knowanything about the book of John
, you know this.
John is writing this maybe 50,60 years after this has happened
.
Now this matters a whole lot,and why it actually matters to
(17:00):
you and I in such a very realway, and that is this, is that,
john, unlike the synopticgospels they're laying out kind
of like this line by line orderof events.
Not John.
John is putting a frame aroundthe narrative.
He's saying let me show youwhat's important about the
(17:26):
gospel message.
He's he's writing it for thispurpose, so that other
generations will understand thepurpose of Christ.
Where, where?
See, if you're like me, you'vebeen reading Matthew, mark and
Luke and you're just like, bythe time you get to John, you're
like, yeah, rinse and repeat,it's the same thing.
But I would just warn you,don't, don't pass over John so
(17:50):
quickly, because it's in Johnthat you actually get the, get
the deeper revelation.
How do we know that here here?
Think about what John has seen.
Up into this point, john'salready gone through an era of
persecution.
Up into this point, john'salready gone through an era of
persecution.
Nothing, nothing solidifies thegospel more than watching your
(18:12):
buddies be killed on beingkilled for for the gospel sake,
john.
John has got a lot ofexperience.
At this point, he's seeing thegrowth of the church.
By the time John's writing this,the church is exploding by the
(18:36):
time John's writing this he istrying to help other generations
understand how to not letculture change the gospel
message.
See, at this time, all of asudden, jesus has been passed
away, but now the narrative,over 50, 60 years, is starting
to tweak a little bit.
Churches are starting to add alittle to it, people are
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starting to take a little fromit.
How many know that the power ofthe message begins to get
diluted, of the message beginsto get diluted, and then John
turns and puts for lack ofbetter words pen to paper and
says I have to make sure youunderstand the true
understanding of this.
Now, this is fascinatingbecause John is not just trying
(19:23):
to get us on the same page, buthe's bringing a language that
has become common knowledge tous over the last few weeks as
we've studied the garden.
But he is actually, from thevery beginning, tying Genesis
and John's gospel.
They're actually linkedtogether and in fact it's a best
that you read if I wouldencourage you to read in the Old
Testament, genesis, thatchapters, those chapters, early
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chapters of creation, really thewhole book, and then
immediately read in the NewTestament, the book of John,
because if you'll do that you'llstart to see he is trying to
bridge the story together.
Now, why are we doing that?
Why would he even think to dothat?
How many know this?
That the New Testament is theOld Testament revealed.
The Old Testament is.
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Is the New Testament concealed?
It's tucked away, it's hidden.
In reading the old, you canfind what he's actually doing in
the new and vice versa, how.
He has been present from thebeginning and John is the guy
who frames that in for uspresent from the beginning and
John is the guy who frames thatin for us.
It's an amazing, amazingaccount.
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How do we know that?
Go to John one and it says thisin the beginning was the word?
Does that sound familiar?
Sounds like the opening ofGenesis, right?
He identifies him as the word.
What else makes makes John'sunderstanding of the gospel
interesting?
He has a couple of thingsinside of that where he's
constantly drawing the churchand the believer back to the
understanding that you have beenthought of, prepared for from
(20:58):
the beginning of time.
He doesn't want anyone to losethe idea that Christ had you in
mind from the very beginning.
Other narratives that you findin the gospel of John.
Well, first and foremost, thereare quite a few stories that he
doesn't use, where the synopticgospels are giving you like a
(21:19):
line by line.
He actually takes only ahandful of things Christ does
and he brings a revelationaround those handful of things
Miracles.
There are certain things inJohn that you'll never see.
One of those is this narrativethat we're talking about today
with Mary Magdalene, thisencounter at the garden tomb.
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Anybody familiar with the I amstatements?
Do you guys remember this?
It's John who actually put thisin his narrative and you guys
know this.
He says I am the what, the way.
Okay, let's stop right there.
I'm the way.
What is he talking about?
What is he talking about?
How many know that there wasone way into the temple, one way
(22:04):
into the tabernacle?
There's this entire narrativethat he's constantly bringing
back to us.
I am the light of the world.
What's he talking about?
John's trying to help.
You see that at the verybeginning, even as God is
establishing the church, thetabernacle, where he's going to
be, he's going to be what Adamhad goofed up separation from
(22:30):
the Lord.
Then he reinvents and comesback to us and he simply says to
us I need to be with you andI'm going to come up with a way
to be with you through thetabernacle, through the system
of worship.
And it's interesting becausethen John's saying I don't want
you to miss this, because hesays I am the light.
What does that mean he is?
He is what.
He is the menorah.
What is in, what is in thetabernacle?
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What is there?
He is the menorah.
I am the bread of life, theshow bread.
Yeah, you can go through everyone of these statements and you
can turn around and link itdirectly back to why?
Because John is trying to getour attention.
Do not miss what's happening.
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You ever watched a movie withsomebody who just won't listen
to the movie?
I have a child like that and Ilove him dearly, but he gonna
ask questions from the veryget-go.
Stop asking questions.
They're gonna get to it, yeah,but yeah, what if?
(23:34):
And what is that?
And why did they say that?
It's like be quiet, listen,listen, it's a movie.
It's weird like that.
They kind of like do all ofthat and they tie it all at the
end.
So if you'll just be quiet tothe end, we'll get there.
How many know?
John is trying to say that tous.
Stop talking during the movie.
Pay attention, pay attention.
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There's so many of us that walkinto church and you're in your
own narrative.
You open your Bible and you'reso deep in your own narrative
you can't see what the Father'strying to tell you, because
you're smarter than him.
It's so easy to jump toconclusions and jump to
scriptures that sound better orfeel better or make you feel
(24:19):
better, but how many know theBible is meant to press against
you, to form you, to shape you,to guide you, and that means
patiently letting him do thework.
John's trying to say to us thismorning slow down and let him
do the work, let him work right,let him do what he's doing.
Can I bring some things out inthe scripture?
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I'm going to start by a quotethat I like.
It's from GK Chesterton doesthis gonna work?
Yeah, there it is.
On the third day, the friends ofChrist, coming at daybreak to
the place, found the grave emptyand the stone rolled away In
varying ways.
They realized the new wonder,but even they hardly realized
(25:09):
that the world had died in thenight.
What they were looking at wasthe first day of a new creation,
with a new heaven and a newearth and, in a semblance of the
gardener, god walking andwalked again in the garden in
the cool night of the evening,but in the dawn.
(25:33):
What happened in this passage?
I'll tell you what happened.
I'm going to go through acouple of these things because I
think they're important John 20.
And I'll start with the firstone.
Here at the top it says now, onthe first day of the week.
Now, many of us would have readthat, probably heard me read it
at the beginning and justglossed over it.
But what's happening is John isgoing to start tying in the
(25:56):
garden narrative right here.
And what is he saying in thebeginning?
What was happening at thisnarrative?
What's happening?
What John's trying to tell us isthat on the very first day,
he's putting an emphasis thatwhatever it was yesterday that's
over, there's a new day.
Can I tell you, when Christgave up his life, when he was
(26:21):
what most believe, he was buried.
But I'm here to argue that hewas planted.
Mary shows up looking forsomeone's buried.
She's unaware that he's beenplanted and the first fruit of
Adam is alive, powerful.
(26:45):
First day.
Many of us are living cycledlives of reversing and doing and
reliving life in a way.
But can I tell you, when Christcomes in, it's a new day.
When you accept Christ intoyour life.
It's no longer a cycled life,it's a new day.
When you accept Christ intoyour life, it's no longer a
(27:08):
cycled life, it's a new day.
That baptism they're talkingabout.
That baptism is a symbol of anold being put to death and
raised to life again.
It's a new day.
It's fascinating why heemphasizes these stories, for
instance down here when hestarts talking about the
(27:29):
disciples.
It's interesting to me thatthree people show up to the tomb
in this narrative Peter, john,mary.
All three have a totallydifferent encounter.
I've read this hundreds oftimes, dr Deacon, when I've read
this a hundred, I even heardyou become John a couple of days
ago, and I mean this last week.
(27:52):
I have just come alive withwhat John was trying to
communicate.
Let me give you an example.
Peter comes in right in, looks,sees the linen cloth there and
it says he walks away unchanged.
It doesn't change him.
(28:12):
Now.
This is why this is why Ibelieve that's the case.
I'll say it like that I believethat's the case.
Because of this, peter is stillliving in shame.
Do you know how disappointingit is to show up hoping to see
the Savior alive, only to findout not only is he dead, but
(28:34):
he's gone and now there's no wayout, there's no way back.
For Peter, it feels likethere's no future.
I royally messed it up and I'llnever get it back again.
There are people here today.
You walked into this room, intothis garden, and you had the
same perspective.
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I can't get right.
Christ left me, he's abandonedme, he's given up on me.
I'm here to tell you nothingcan be further from the truth,
unbeknownst to Peter.
He's gonna get that restoration, and I love it, and in like
(29:19):
superstar style too.
Three denials, threeacceptances, and the only way
Christ will do it Isn't thatgreat?
Denied him three times, gavehim three opportunities to
declare the lordship of Jesus inhis life.
Peter's going to get that, butin this moment he doesn't get.
(29:44):
It is going to get that, but inthis moment he doesn't get.
It Looks in, steps out, and Ijust imagine there's an
incomplete feeling.
John, john finally steps in.
I love this.
Then the other disciple, whohad reached the tomb first, also
went in and he saw and believed.
(30:06):
Now, this is, this isfascinating.
Why?
Because John's trying to tellyou something.
John is not working through.
Shame, john.
In fact, this word believe hereis actually a word that is is
to say he has given himself overto grab hold of truth.
It's not just believe with hismind.
(30:29):
It's like.
It's not like.
It's like oh, I believe nowthat's great.
No, no, no, he's.
He's made a physical turn.
It's a verb used for him toturn in the way of grabbing hold
of the truth.
This is the beauty of what Johnhas done.
He looks in, sees the exactsame thing Peter does.
How many know there are peoplethat will walk into this room in
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the exact same thing and see asituation totally different.
You may be in this room andyou're saying I'm hearing the
same message, but there is noconviction because shame looms
too much in my life.
You may be another person whowalks in here and says I can see
the work of the master, I cansee that he's never left me or
(31:12):
forsaken me.
I can see that he has a destinyand a purpose on my life and I
have to respond.
This is John.
John leans in and he responds.
He walks out, not upset thathe's gone.
This is the posture that hetakes.
This is what it looks like.
(31:32):
It's that he knows he'll seehim again.
Totally different.
Peter walks out saying I don'tknow if I'll ever be changed.
John walks out and says I justhaven't seen him yet, but I know
he's alive.
That's a total differentrevelation versus why.
You see here at the end, wherehe says for as yet they did not
understand the scripture that hemust, what he must rise from
(31:55):
the dead.
All of a sudden, thatrevelation light bulb comes on.
That's what he means.
Now, listen, we're acting likethese guys are the best
Christians.
Listen, can I just say it likethis?
I've said this so many times,but I think it's important today
to just qualify this.
And that is this even thedisciples didn't really
(32:15):
understand everything Christ hadsaid, and you know that.
How do you know, kelly?
I'll tell you how you know,because none of them showed up
on the third day.
Because none of them showed upon the third day, I will raise
up again in three days.
They're like, yeah, I don'teven know what he was talking
(32:39):
about.
But, mary, for all the peoplewho say you know, women in
ministry isn't a thing.
I don't know, it's weird, butin two of the major instances
(33:03):
that Christ shows up on theearth and leaves it and returns,
he uses women to declare it.
Not a bunch of dudes.
They're over there lickingtheir wounds and yet there are
people, who women in this camp,who believe, who believe they
(33:25):
see it.
Give an example.
Let's look at the encounter withMary.
Mary goes into the tomb rightHer turn.
Now the other two discipleshave headed home.
She stays there, continues toweep.
She stays there, continues toweep, goes inside the tomb and
(33:48):
what does she see?
Two angels.
Two angels.
Now get this.
Follow John.
One sitting at and one sittingat sounds familiar, like the
mercy seat, like the Ark of theCovenant.
What John's trying to get youto understand is is what is
(34:13):
happening in this moment is soimportant.
The presence of the Lord, whichAdam denied at one point, right
, he wanted his way.
Adam.
And Eve, which Adam denied atone point, right, he wanted his
way.
Adam and Eve.
Follow the narrative, followwhat he's doing.
He then shows up in a new gardenbringing resurrection, life,
(34:33):
and saying and proclaiming I amthe way.
And Mary's looking in as a nodto what the mercy seat, the two
angels.
Guess what else is about tohappen.
She's going to turn and seeJesus.
(34:54):
Now follow me on this.
Mary has become the new Eve,jesus, the new Adam.
When he responds, he says woman.
When he responds, he says woman, pilate would call Jesus the
(35:23):
man.
Come on somebody.
So now we have a restoredgarden with a new Adam and a new
Eve.
And listen to me, hear what I'msaying on this.
The new Eve is no longer hidingfrom the presence of the Lord,
but says why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for In thegarden of Eden?
(35:45):
In the garden of Eden, eve ishiding from the Lord.
In the garden tomb she'slooking for him.
When you see what John's tryingto get you to see, you can see
(36:09):
the full restoration of life.
You know what happens to mewhen I think like this, when I
let the Lord do what he's doingthrough the scripture, like this
, it makes me find a level ofpeace and comfort in my today
that I didn't have yesterday.
Oh, there's worry in this room,there's frustration, there's
(36:30):
disappointment, but when youread this, it gives you hope.
There is hope available for you, there's something to anchor
yourself to.
Oh, I know that there'sdisappointment, but, man, when
you can see what he's donethrough resurrection for you,
(36:54):
jesus said to her woman why areyou weeping?
Whom are you seeking?
Supposing him to be the gardener?
Supposing him to be thegardener Mistaken identity.
She says where have you takenhim?
Just show me, I'll take him.
You know what we have, colonelMustard, with a candlestick in
(37:17):
the library.
That's what we got In Mary'sworld.
She still has not gotten hereyes opened yet.
She doesn't see all of thesethings.
But John, in reflection,looking back, is able to see.
Look at what the Lord did.
And there she sits, she'strying to just be consoled,
(37:46):
closure, and she supposes him asthe gardener.
Here's what John's trying tosay to us.
He has always been the gardener.
See, the misunderstandingoftentimes is we're constantly
looking for something that isright in front of our eyes.
(38:08):
The invitation to you today isto allow the gardener into your
garden, your life.
You realize that you are justtiny gardens.
When you give the gardeneraccess to your life, he will do
work, lasting work,transformative work.
(38:30):
You're like I don't need it,I'm good by myself.
Yeah, turns out you don't havea green thumb.
Yeah, turns out you're not thatgreat at it.
Right, come on to be honest,you just ain't that great at it.
That's why you need it.
She mistook him for the gardener.
(38:51):
She mistook him for thegardener Mistaken identity, or
is it?
I love this response.
I want you to hear this.
She said to him sir, if youhave carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him and Iwill take him away and listen.
Listen, jesus says Mary, mary,hmm, jesus says Mary.
(39:24):
I want to just.
She's already talked to him.
There's been conversation,right.
Where have you taken him?
His response why are youweeping?
Who are you looking for?
He knows there's already beendialogue.
(39:49):
Now I find this fascinating.
How is it that you can hear himtalk and not recognize him
Until he says your name?
Yeah, you're in the room today.
I'm going to just tell yousomething he knows your name,
(40:20):
something he knows your name.
There are times where you feellike you can't hear him, times
where you feel like it's distant.
Can I give you good news today,he knows your name.
Came across this cool picture.
I'll share it with you.
You're the worship team to helpme and we'll close up Christ
(40:40):
the Gardener.
This is a Rembrandt 1638.
I don't know if you know this.
I'm sure you know this, butthere's always a depiction.
Artists have done this foryears, so they choose Bible
(41:01):
scenes and they bring it to life.
I know it's kind of funny tosee the angel.
Seems a little shocked too.
It's like snap, I didn't thinkJesus was gonna be here, I
thought we were on assignment,anyway.
I didn't think Jesus was goingto be here, I thought we were on
assignment, anyway.
I don't think that's what.
Sorry, I mean, I'm sorry.
(41:26):
You know me, then you know this.
I geek out on this kind ofstuff and I love it, love art.
Here's the cool part about thisRembrandt.
You know, rembrandt actuallylocked in on the John narrative
(41:47):
probably more than any otherartist that has ever been.
And I mean that because it'snot that he was the only one who
did, you know, art withinspiration from John.
It's that he understood John.
Now, that is fascinating to me,because if you're an artist,
you recognize something aboutthe way John wrote the gospel.
(42:10):
He actually wrote it as anartist, if you would.
He was painting a picture.
So it isn't too far-fetched tothink that those that quite
literally had the gift of artwould naturally connect to the
way he's framing the story.
Rembrandt did that well.
In fact, he did some things inthis photo that I find
(42:32):
fascinating.
First and foremost and you see,he's got his, his, his big
brimmed gardener hat on.
He's got a spade in his hand.
He put this imagery togetherbecause I think it's interesting
for us to understand is thatfor Mary and for our future and
(42:54):
for eternity, he has pushed andput himself.
Rather he has put Christ inposition in the way of serving,
tending, caring, planting,weeding and uprooting, pruning.
(43:14):
Do you guys remember that?
Remember in Matthew when hetalks about being pruned?
The great news in that story isthat everyone in the story gets
cut.
Some get cut off to die, someget cut off to bear fruit.
Christ the gardener.
Right.
(43:36):
Rembrandt understands that.
If you notice, he doessomething really interesting.
All the light that he puts heemphasizes it.
On the left side of the image,three things come into focus
there.
He de-emphasizes the tomb.
In a sense there are two angelsthere.
You kind of see one sneaking inthere at the end.
(43:58):
That's the head and the footthere.
But he puts the light here.
Why?
Because Rembrandt understandsthat in the gospel narrative of
John he's constantly bringing usback to the tabernacle, just in
the background.
There you see, see it, that isactually the temple, the thing
(44:19):
that Christ said he wouldrebuild.
How is he going to do it?
Through the garden, through hislife.
It says in the temple that theveil was rent.
Do you remember that, just asChrist's body was torn John is
explaining as Christ's body wastorn so is the veil rent in two.
(44:44):
Why?
Because the presence of theLord, its pursuit is us, lord,
its pursuit is us.
What Adam did in destruction,what brought death into one
garden, jesus brings life intoanother, out of obedience.
(45:07):
Rembrandt understands that andhe depicts this.
But here's what makes this onereally special His emphasis is
on Mary, not Mary crying.
By the way, this is Mary'shonest response to hearing her
name called.
The entire thing really isabout capturing the awe and
(45:31):
wonder that Jesus, when he saysmy name, when Jesus calls you by
name, how many know, in thatcall is life, in that call is
hope, in that call isrestoration, in that call is
(45:54):
hope, in that call isrestoration, in that call is
peace.
It's all available in thismoment.
One I didn't know who you were.
I thought you were the gardenerand he's like.
And you were right, mary, don'tweep and don't hold on to me.
(46:18):
I haven't been to the Fatheryet.
There's tons of stuff to talkabout here, like, for instance,
the end of John's gospel.
I'm just going to tell you, youguys remember, in Genesis,
jesus formed man.
Right, the old dust pile formshim.
(46:41):
What does he do?
Breathes on him.
He's alive.
Fast forward.
Go there with me, john.
I'm gonna mess up somebody'sPentecostal life right here.
(47:03):
Okay, go back and read the endof his gospel.
What does he do?
He says hey, mary, I want youto go tell them.
I'm gonna come show myself tothem.
Sins of women, first andforemost.
That wouldn't have been goodnews.
Do you hear what I'm going tocome show myself to them?
Sins of woman, first andforemost.
That wouldn't have been goodnews.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
Culturally, she wouldn't havehad anything to say.
Was an eyewitness from a male,then we can't, we can't trust it
(47:26):
.
Do you think that cared aminute?
Do you think Mary cared aboutthat?
No, because she had seen himand he had called her by name.
She made a beeline to thedisciples, said y'all need to
get your stuff together.
He is alive.
I saw him.
He's the gardener.
(47:46):
He's what, mary?
You saw the gardener and youthought it was Jesus.
I know it was Jesus.
He called me by name and sentme with this message.
Isn't this cool?
John talks about him showinghimself to the disciples.
And what does he say?
He shows them here I am, I'malive.
(48:10):
And then he breathes on them.
What's John saying?
Just like in Eden, christputting life in the lifeless
bones of men Fast forward in anew creation.
A new world has begun.
Then you got to breathe lifeback into a defeated, frustrated
disciple group, people who arehurt, wounded, frustrated, don't
(48:33):
know where to go next.
Can I tell you Jesus is here tobreathe life in your lungs
today, and in the same way hebrought the disciples alive,
right, he says I'm going tobreathe on you because this is
going to give you the grace tomake it to Pentecost.
I'm breathing life into you soyou can make it to the upper
room.
I need you to get there becauseI'm sending, I'm leaving with
(48:57):
you the Holy Spirit.
But how many know the HolySpirit had already shown up, he
had already breathed fresh lifeinto them.
Would you bow your heads with methis morning?
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
Thank you for your word.
This is our desire, lord thatyou be glorified, you be lifted
(49:28):
up.
You are the true resurrection,the life you can be trusted.
They're amazing, god.
I pray for those who are joiningus today, for Easter, for those
that are leaning in thismorning.
My prayer is that you wouldhelp each and every one of us to
see how unique and special thatwe are, but, more importantly,
(49:48):
who we are in your sight, notwho we are in our sight.
Who we are in our sight isfearful and scared and worried
and frustrated.
And no, no, no, no, no.
What do you see?
What do you hear?
Maybe in this room this morning, and you say I need to hear my
(50:11):
name, I need to hear my name.
I need to hear my name JohnTracy, ken, brian, joyce, joyce,
(50:38):
emily.
Here's what you need to know.
God knows you.
He knows you better than youknow yourself, and he has known
you from the beginning of time.
And today he reminds you of hislove and care for you.
There's been nothing thatyou've seen, done, experienced
that has known you from thebeginning of time, and today he
reminds you of his love and carefor you.
There's been nothing thatyou've seen, done, experienced
that has separated you.
(50:58):
There's nothing so vile that hecan't cross the lines and reach
you.
Today he calls you by name Mary.
Why are you weeping?
Who are you looking for?
(51:22):
If I could ask any questiontoday, I guess that's what it
would be.
Why did you show up today?
Because your mom told you to,because your family promised you
a meal after this and they'regonna cash in.
I promise that's not why youshowed up, because you've been
(51:46):
on a trajectory with the Lordfrom the very beginning and he
has been guiding this day fromthe beginning of time.
And today he calls you by name.
If you're here today, every headbowed, every eye closed, you
say Pastor Scott, this is for me, man, I need to respond to the
Lord that loves me.
(52:07):
I need to respond to a risenSavior.
I need to respond to thesacrifice that Christ made on my
behalf.
I needed this.
I needed to understand that hehas been there from the
beginning and that he sees mewhere I'm at today, and I'm
ready to respond to that inprayer, not going to embarrass
you, not going to make you moveout of your seat this morning,
(52:29):
but if you're here today, yousay you know that's me.
I want to respond to the lovethat Christ has for me and he
has provided for me.
And I'm tired of running, I'mtired of being frustrated, I'm
tired of the anxiety.
I seek the peace Mary's lookingfor.
I seek the revelation Peter waslooking for.
I'm seeking God, the closure ofa past life and the hope of a
(52:53):
new one.
That's you today.
Would you slip up your hands soI know who I'm praying for today
?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,in the balcony.
I see you in the balcony.
I see you on the floor.
Come on there more.
I see you up there in thebalcony Praying for you.
Praying for you, I mean that.
Come on.
(53:14):
Are there any more hands?
No one's looking around, justyou and the Lord.
Yes, I see you in the balcony,right there, praying for you.
Sir, I'm praying for you today.
This is a new day.
I see you in the balcony upthere.
Oh, this is great.
I see you down here on thefloor.
I'm seeing it Right over there.
I see you.
See you.
I'm seeing it Right over there.
I see you, see, with your handlifted up in the back corner
over there.
I see you.
(53:40):
Would everyone do me a favor?
Would you stand to your feetreal quick and let's pray For
those that raised their hands.
You know who you are and I'mgonna pray for you today.
This is the only thing I askyou to do.
If you raise your hand today,I'm asking you to do one thing.
I'm going to pray for you today.
This is the only thing I askyou to do.
If you raise your hand today,I'm asking you to do one thing.
I'm not going to ask you tomove out of your seat, I'm not.
I'm going to ask you to do onething.
There's a card in the seat backin front of you.
(54:02):
I'm going to ask you to take it.
All I'm asking you to do iswrite down us at one of the tea
tables out there.
We're going to be.
A whole crew of us Pastors areout there.
I want you to tell somebody whatChrist did in your life.
Why?
Because we believe this.
We believe discipleship is thekey to having a successful
(54:26):
relationship with the Lord.
Recognizing Christ as ourSavior is one thing, but growing
in his ways that's anotherthing.
And how many know that's acommunity effort.
Don't do that alone.
Likely, the reason you're heretoday is because you tried it on
your own.
Don't do it by yourself.
(54:46):
We invite you to be a part ofthis community and give us a
chance to walk you through thedecision that you're making
today to follow Christ.
If you're here today and you didsay yes to the Lord and you
raised your hand.
I need that.
Can I pray over you?
I want you to pray overyourself as well.
There's no magic pill.
There's no like magic word.
It isn't.
You know what it is.
(55:07):
It's an honesty from your heart.
It's an honest conversation.
I'm tired of trying to do thison my own, and I give you access
to my life.
Can I take it a step further?
It's not just believing in yourhead when you become a
Christian.
It's about allegiance.
I'm going to teach on this inthe next week, couple of weeks
(55:31):
or so, because I think it.
It's important.
But this is about allegiance tothe father.
He.
He is inviting you to receivehim as lord, not as a good idea.
Lordship, which means he rulesand reigns over my life.
Kelly, it's not.
It's not a, it's not a goodidea.
(55:52):
It's not a.
Oh, oh, yeah, I'm cool with, oh, yeah, I'm cool with Jesus.
No, he's my Lord, he's mysavior and there's a deep
allegiance to him in his ways.
Amen, that's what salvation is.
Heavenly Father, we love youtoday.
God, I thank you for the handsthat were lifted today.
God, I pray even now.
God, you would move on thehearts of every single man,
(56:14):
woman, boy and girl in this room, and I pray for your revelation
of truth, of grace, god,knowing that you have paid an
ultimate price and you arevictorious through death, hell
and the grave, and you havereceived us back to yourself.
You created a new creation inus, god.
That is what we are doing today.
God, for those who lifted theirhands today, I thank you for the
courage and the boldness.
(56:35):
You created a new creation inus, god, that is what we are
doing today.
God, for those who lifted theirhands today, I thank you for
the courage and the boldnessjust to say I want you to be
Lord of my life.
I give you access, I give youpermission.
Speak to me, call me by nameand then give me the grace to
walk out faithfully what you'veput in my heart passion to know
you, desire to grow in you.
(56:55):
Give me the courage that Ilacked yesterday.
But today is a new day.
Today is Resurrection Sunday,where the things that were dead
in my life, they come to bearfruit in a good way.
This time, god, you resurrectin every single one in this room
(57:17):
, in their life.
God, that's our desire today.
See you lifted up, youglorified, you magnified.
God, we give you permission tomove in the hearts of the people
of this room today, in Jesus'name.
Everyone said Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
We hope and pray this message was encouraging and
impactful.
Join us live on our website orFacebook on Sundays at 9 and 11
am.
You can stay connected with uson Facebook and Instagram at the
Rock Family.
Have a Jesus-filled week.
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