April 1, 2025 • 36 mins
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Pastor Joshua explains the real reason for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Contrary to society, We believe in the trinity. Jesus is the son of God and God at the same time. Satan wants to destroy the historical Jesus and replace him with a post-modern one.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
no more sickness, no more pain,no more mourning over there.
And forever I will be with theone who died for me For the day
(00:28):
number eight.
Glorious day that will be.
For the day that will be whenmy Jesus I shall see, when my
Jesus lies in sin and I lookupon his face, the one who saved
(00:51):
me by his grace, and he takesme by the hand and leads me
through that promised land.
For today, glorious day thatwill be.
Praise God, what a day,glorious day for me.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Praise God.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Josh, it's a beautiful song and it's going to
be a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
What a glorious day.
Praise God, I made a lot ofmistakes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You worked your lungs that time.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I made a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I haven't played this in a while, but isn't that a
neat thing.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It is Praise God.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's how we define success.
I mean we fail in life.
God teaches us and we succeedright.
Sometimes I say what I know ofsuccess is if I never learned
what failure is, so God's.
He's the master teacher.
He teaches us.
I don't know if you want tosing another song or get some
scripture.
What you want to do, where do?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
you want to go?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
everybody want to hear the word.
You want to hear one more song?
Where's everybody at?
Oh, she wants to hear the word.
So have we opened up in aprayer at all?
Okay, perfect, so we're goingto be celebrating the
resurrection of christ, you know, and I always ask myself how
relevant that is to the worldthat we live in today, because
(02:15):
we live in a world and a systemthat they overlook the
resurrection of christ.
It's just not that big of adeal.
Or, if you want to worship thecorrect Christ, the Christ in
the Bible, the way, the truthand the life, the only way to
God, people will call youjudgmental, they will say that
(02:36):
you're being non-tolerant, and Ican give you an example of that
, because we are going to betalking about why we're
celebrating Resurrection Day.
I just had an incident yesterdaywhere I have somebody that's
particularly a differentreligion than me.
It's my father, and I love myfather very much.
(02:58):
You know, because I'm justpersonal here, I'm sharing the
story.
So we went out to breakfastprobably about a week ago, and
I'm a Christian Flat out.
My family knows it.
You know I'm the crazy preacherin the family, but I love
Christ, right, my father.
He's the Jehovah's Witness.
So we have two different viewson who Jesus Christ is, on who
(03:23):
Jesus Christ is.
They don't believe in theresurrection, they don't believe
that Jesus Christ is the son ofGod, but God in the flesh at
the same time.
So this gets interesting, andI've learned to accept people
where they're at.
You know, if anybody talkedabout wanting to argue somebody
into the kingdom of heaven, Iwas notorious for that.
I was about the worst there was.
(03:45):
You know, when god, god reachedme in prayer and through
humility and the spirit, and hetaught me to look at things in a
different way.
So, as we're sitting there forbreakfast, you know, my dad says
, josh, jesus christ is not godin the flesh, jesus christ is
just the son of God and hebasically doesn't have that kind
of power that he says in theChristian scriptures.
(04:07):
Okay, so I says, dad, I saidyou have to understand something
.
I said we got to set someboundaries here, because I want
everybody to know that God has apersonal relationship with each
one of us and in order toaccess that relationship, we
truly have to know who ourSavior is, who Jesus Christ is.
(04:32):
So, as we're sitting there andwe set these boundaries and we
had a great breakfast, we had anunderstanding after that and we
left.
We parted ways.
My dad's never really beenaround in my life.
So the way that God taught mefor forgiveness is through a
really broken relationship withmy father.
I never really knew him, eventhough he lived five miles down
(04:55):
the street.
I really don't know who he is.
I don't have any memories.
I'm barely learning who thisman is right.
So I lost about 10 years inbitterness and resentment
against my own father.
I was that angry until God setme free.
And forgiveness is a miracle andthe only way we can experience
the fullness of God is byforgiving those who trespass
(05:19):
against us.
So as I go home, against us.
So as I go home, my fathersends me some material in the
mail to join his religion.
Okay, and this is a big deal tome, because I told my dad, I
said you do know I'm going tostudy to be a professor.
You know I go, you know I'm.
This is my whole life, this isall I do.
I mean I love God.
(05:40):
So I said I'm probably the lastone you want to try to convert,
right?
But he did it anyways.
And the reason I'm bringing thisstory up is because the world
will try to take the true Jesusaway from us.
Life will, society will, tvwill, everything is against the
(06:01):
Christian in a post-modern world.
So where's this at in the Bible?
Well, jesus said it himself.
So I don't like pontificatingon what I think I know.
I like talking about Jesushimself.
And this is what Jesus says inLuke 12, 41.
(06:23):
He says these are pretty fierywords from our Savior.
Right, because Jesus knew whohe was the God man, the one that
descended out of the heavens tobear the sins of the world so
that we can inherit eternal life.
(06:44):
And he says I came to cast fireon the earth and would that it
would already be kindled.
I have a baptism to be baptizedwith, and how great is my
(07:04):
distress until it isaccomplished?
Jesus was stressed to a highdegree, thinking about taking
the weight of the world, the sin, and being crucified for our
sins, because he knew he was theSavior.
Do you think that I have cometo bring peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but ratherdivision, rather division.
(07:30):
For from now on, in your ownhouse there will be five divided
three against two and twoagainst three.
They will be divided fatheragainst son and son against
father, mother against daughterand daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against herdaughter-in-law and
daughter-in-law against hermother-in-law that's
prettyin-law against hermother-in-law.
That's pretty strong words,right?
You know what?
Because Jesus was sayingthere's going to be people out
there that are not going toaccept the truth that I'm going
(07:54):
to lay down my own life becauseI am God, I'm the son of God, I
have the power to do so and I'mgoing to take it up.
And the only way to be saved,the only way for salvation, is
to accept that free gift of melaying down my life.
(08:16):
For sinners, what a beautifulGod we serve, that we serve, a
God that's willing to give hislife for us.
I remember somebody compared itone time.
It would be like you have acriminal and they committed the
most egregious crimes and theywere sentenced to life in prison
(08:39):
, but on top of that, capitalpunishment, and it would be in
the sense, at a weaker sense,but like the president, united
states, walking in and talkingto the ward and say, hey, I want
to substitute my life for his,and then go into that man's cell
and saying I've pardoned you ofall your heinous crimes in your
(09:01):
sin, and I'm going to take yourplace.
Why?
Because I want to, because Ilove you, because I'm taking the
sin of the world upon me.
So when we think about tomorrowand we celebrate Easter, it's a
beautiful thing that I can besaved from myself.
(09:26):
I woke up today and I said, toldmy wife, thank God, he's such a
glorious God and she goes.
Why?
I said because he saved me frommyself.
Paul says I'm a wretched humanbeing.
The things that I do I don'twant to do, things I don't do I
want to do.
Sin is alive in all my members.
(09:46):
Christ gave us that gift,cleansed us, baptized us when we
received the Holy Spirit.
So we'll get into another songand then we'll talk about what
truth is and how Christdemonstrated the resurrection
(10:07):
from his own words Praise God.
You know, I went hiking thismorning for about a good hour
plus, woke up really early and,uh, the thing about hiking is I
have to have a gps on my phoneor you get lost.
I remember one time I went towhite tanks and I thought I was
(10:29):
going to carry a little bottleof water with me and the sun
came up.
It was summertime and I waspraying because I knew the way
out.
But I had about a good hour andI would have been done.
I probably would have had aheat stroke and collapse and
potentially died or be airliftedout.
So as I'm hiking, you know Ihave a compass, it's a GPS.
So as I'm hiking, you know Ihave a compass, it's a GPS.
(11:01):
And Pilate, in John 18, askedChrist what is truth?
That truth guides us throughlife, that truth rescues us.
And I would like to read therecording of Pontius Pilate
asking Jesus this questionbecause it pertains to his
resurrection.
So, when life gets difficult,when life gets tough, when we
(11:21):
feel lost, this is our GPS, thisis our compass, this is what we
read when we pray to our God torescue us out of the wilderness
.
So Pilate entered hisheadquarters again and called
(11:45):
Jesus and said to him and thisis after Jesus was set up he was
sold out.
They captured him and he saysare you the king of the Jews?
Him, and he says are you theking of the jews?
Jesus answered do you say thisof your own accord or did others
say it to you about me?
Pilot answered am I a jew?
Your own nation and chiefpriest have delivered you over
(12:06):
to me.
What have you done?
These Jews were waiting eons,millenniums, for Christ to come,
but they wanted a politicalrevolutionary.
They didn't want a personcloaked in humility and his plan
(12:27):
was to free the slaves ofspiritual slavery.
Plan was to free the slaves ofspiritual slavery.
Before I came to Christ, beforeI was saved, I know and I
experienced spiritual slavery,and captivity is real.
Jesus answered my kingdom isnot of this world.
If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would have been
(12:50):
fighting that I may not bedelivered over to the Jews, but
my kingdom is not from thisworld.
Then Pilate said to him so youare a king?
Jesus answered you say that Iam a king.
For this purpose I was born andfor this purpose I have come
(13:11):
into the world to bear witnessto the truth.
What is the truth?
Think about how much money wespend in society, movies, makeup
.
I mean trying to people try tochange their own appearance
because they're trying to figureout what the truth is.
(13:32):
And I'm not saying that wecan't look good and do our hair
and all this other stuff right,but people are searching for
such an identity because theydon't know the truth in Christ,
including this governor, thisrich governor, pontius Pilate
says what is truth?
And this is so fascinating.
It's simple.
(13:53):
Truth is very simple, right.
It doesn't come in a big book.
We don't have to hear 20lectures, it's not going to come
from a motivational speaker.
Christ says this, and this alone.
Everyone who is of the truthlistens to my voice.
That's it.
(14:13):
When we're saved, god gives usthe holy spirit, and in hebrews
it says that it's a deposit.
God gives us a deposit, likewhen you go buy a house or you
go put something down and theysay, okay, you own it now and
come later and pay the rest, andit's fully yours.
God says I've proved that youbelong to me.
(14:37):
I proved that you're saved.
I proved that you've beenresurrected before death,
spiritually, by giving you theHoly Spirit and sealed you with
a guarantee and a promise tospend all eternity with me.
And if you can hear my voice,you know what the truth is.
(15:01):
After he had said this, he wentback out and told the Jews I
find no guilt in him, but youhave a custom that I should
release one man at Passover.
So who do you choose?
And, long story short, theywanted a murderer, a barbarian.
(15:23):
Barabbas.
That's who they chose, becausethey couldn't accept that Christ
is the truth.
It except that christ is thetruth.
You know, I was reading a bookby supposedly the world's
greatest philosopher, stephencarwell.
It's called the beginning ofeverything and he's a
declarative atheist and aphysicist and astronomer and
everything else.
He got all these titles and itwas fascinating because this is
(15:47):
like supposedly the mostbrilliant man in the world,
right?
And he said it pains me thatwhen I die, that I know I'm
going back to non-existence,that my families, my friends, my
memories are going to flee backinto utter darkness.
And as a declared atheist and aperson that rejects a cosmic
bully, rejecting God, this isthe fate that I've chosen to
(16:11):
live with.
And that's supposed to be themost brilliant philosopher in
our country today.
And Christ says all you have todo is hear my truth.
People always say, pastor, whatis true?
This is stronger than aconscience.
I mean when God speaks to youin your heart and moves your
(16:33):
spirit.
It's like he screams into youand he talks to us and he speaks
to us.
I could defy my conscience allday long.
People can even sever theirconscience.
They can get rid of it, theycan ignore it, but when you're
saved, you have a relationshipwith Christ.
You're redeemed by his bloodand you know truth.
With Christ, you're redeemed byhis blood and you know truth.
(16:57):
It's immovable.
It's a beautiful blessing andyou just feel loved.
Even though I have my familymembers, my dog that I love, my
friends that I love, there is nosatisfaction in this world
knowing that my Savior loves me,satisfaction in this world
knowing that my savior loves me,and that is the most special
(17:17):
relationship I will ever have inmy entire life.
People will fail me, peoplehave failed me, I have failed
myself, but god is so faithfulhe never fails us.
There's no turning of shadow,the Bible says in God there's no
darkness, there's only light.
There's no mistakes.
(17:37):
There's no going back andhaving a do-over.
For him, everything he does isperfect.
And guess what?
He laid his life down, chose topick it up.
He laid his life down, chose topick it up.
Raise Lazarus and we get tospend eternity raised and meet
(18:03):
Lazarus, be with Christ and seeGod with our own eyes.
That's what Resurrection Sundayis about.
That's what tomorrow is about.
That's what today is about.
We, as Christians, will not letnobody distort the truth, take
the truth away from us, call usnon-tolerant, non-acceptable.
(18:25):
The most loving thing we can dois tell somebody what Christ
did in our own personal life.
Now, if that's not tolerant,then I don't want to be tolerant
and I don't want the world totolerate me.
Ain't that right?
Call me what you want, becauseof Jesus' own words.
(18:49):
You know we're going to singanother song.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And we, as Christians , should listen.
Yes, god is talking to us, andsometimes we don't do it, we
don't listen, and we need tolisten.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Amen.
That's so true, because youknow how many times have we said
in our life you know what, god,I got this.
You know what?
Just take the back seat, I'mgoing to take the wheel,
everything's going to be okay.
And usually it does not endvery well, right, it ends in
disaster, but the Holy Spirit,it guides us through everything.
Hey, you know what?
Be patient this time, don't saya word.
(19:27):
This time, it's time to speakup.
It's time to show love.
It's time to be strong.
Right, that's our guide, it'sour compass in the dark.
Always compare, before we sing asong, always compare a person
that does not have the light ofChrist as a person stumbling
around in the dark.
You're just stumbling, have youever woken up?
And it's completely dark andyou're just searching and
groping for the light switch andright when it turns on, you go
(19:48):
oh, finally.
I didn't like the dark thatmuch.
It didn't feel good beingtrapped in here, but the light
came and the dark fled and youknow when I was saved.
The only way I can describe itis that light switch being
turned on and I can see, not indarkness anymore.
(20:09):
That is a beautiful gift,something money cannot buy,
something.
The world cannot give us thismost precious gift to be made
alive when I was once dead, forI was blind.
Now I can see.
Would that the truth?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Kind of fit right into what you were talking about
there, brother.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It was a beautiful song.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
A lot of times we do that.
We run around in our lives.
You know we're blinded.
You know we've got scales overour eyes.
We don't see our lives.
We know we're blinded.
You know we've got scales overour eyes.
We don't see the truth.
We don't see what's going on.
We listen to what's around usinstead of seeing what the Lord
has for us.
Yes, jesus is the light of theworld.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Light of the world.
Isn't that amazing, isn't thatgreat that Jesus is the light of
the world.
So so we know what truth is.
Truth is simply hearing thevoice of God being saved.
It's not too complicated.
Pontius Pilate had a discussionwith Jesus.
(21:06):
Jesus said he's the truth andthe truth is I am the way to God
, I am the truth.
Meaning truth is defined by meand I am life, I am the
resurrection.
That is what Christ is.
So, as we worship in word andsong, he demonstrates that in
(21:31):
the book of John, chapter 11, inraising Lazarus from the dead.
And it's fascinating.
I have some situations where Iget some calls in my family.
My aunt right now is not doingtoo well and she's ill and we
don't think she has a whole lotlonger.
She's saved, and I was talkingto a friend recently about it
(21:53):
and I go.
It's fascinating that we'reburied right.
You go to a funeral I've donefunerals and we're put in the
ground.
It's because that's a symbolicof death, which is we're meant
to come back out of the ground.
The opposite side of that isresurrection.
It's not normal to perish.
(22:13):
It's not normal to grow old.
It's not normal to die.
Look, I'm 43 this year, when Iwas 23,.
Things were a lot different.
You know, I'll testify to that.
It's like, man, this knee hurts, my shoulder hurts, my neck
gots a kink in it.
Now, right, and we'll bedancing on streets of gold with
our creator brought back to ouryouth, worshiping him for all
(22:39):
eternity.
People say, josh, you're stillrelatively young.
I said there's a lot I stillmiss.
Sometimes, when I think aboutthings in the past, I miss it
drastically.
Sometimes it makes my heartchurn when I think about my kids
and how little they were.
You know, it just makes me wantto cry some days.
I said, man, I miss them days.
Man, if I could just go backand just live them one more time
(23:03):
.
See my kids when they werelittle, stumbling around,
falling Daddy, I need you, Ilove you.
Right?
She says, guess what?
I got something better thanthat.
I got something better thanthat.
I will raise you from the dead.
Chapter 11.
Now there was a certain man thatwas ill, lazarus of Bethany,
(23:25):
the village of Mary, and hersister, martha.
It was Mary who anointed theLord with ointment and wiped his
feet with her hair, whosebrother, lazarus, was ill.
So the sister sent to himsaying Lord, he whom you love is
ill.
(23:46):
Christ is always demonstratinghis love.
That's his mark.
You loved him, christ, youcould have came here beforehand.
He's ill.
This illness does not lead todeath.
It is for the glory of God, sothat the son of God may be
(24:06):
glorified in it.
As we're going to see, jesushas the king, the keys of life
and death, in his hand.
Now.
Jesus loved Martha and hersister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that Lazaruswas ill look at this he stayed
(24:28):
two days longer in the place hewas.
He meant for Lazarus to pass.
Why?
Look what we have.
It's recorded for us.
You can go to secular history,even Josephus.
(24:50):
He's a Ebonite Christian whichhe didn't believe in the full
deity of Christ, but he evenrecords in secular history.
There was a man named Christ, asecularist, raising people from
the dead.
He's considered the greatestJewish historian.
And he said it Did he cause aruckus?
(25:11):
Christ did yeah, he did.
So we don't only have itacknowledged through the Bible,
we can acknowledge it throughsecular history.
So he stayed two days longerthan after this.
He said to the disciples let usgo to Judea again.
The disciples said to him Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking
(25:34):
to stone.
You.
Are you going there again?
Jesus answered are there not 12hours in a day?
If anybody walks in the day, hedoes not stumble because he
sees the light of this world,but if anyone walks in the night
, he stumbles because the lightis not in him.
(25:56):
You know what Jesus is saying.
I got work to do.
It doesn't matter what you,what you say.
Yeah, I know they want to killme.
There's a bunch of unsavedsouls all over the place.
Everybody's stumbling, gropedaround in the dark.
Nobody can see.
The light switch ain't turningon.
I'm here to save humanity.
After saying these things, hesaid to them our friend Lazarus
(26:18):
has fallen asleep, but I go toawaken him.
The disciples said to him Lord,if he has fallen asleep, he
will recover.
Now Jesus had spoken of hisdeath, but they thought that he
meant taking a restful sleep.
Then Jesus told them plainlyLazarus has died and for your
(26:41):
sake, I am glad that I was notthere so that you may believe.
But let us go to him.
So Thomas called the twin saidto his fellow disciples let us
go, that we may die with him.
And that's what we arecelebrating today the way, the
(27:05):
truth and the life.
Nothing else.
I know society this is mypersonal beef that I have with
society we take the day of Jesusand we like to dumb it down.
I mean, you watch TV.
It's all about a rabbit now, Iget it.
The kids got to find Eastereggs, I get all that, but
there's nothing.
There's not even nothing aboutGod anymore, nothing about
(27:26):
resurrection anymore.
And I told my wife, I said thisworld has just dumbed
everything down.
And Jesus says I have to gobecause people are in darkness.
Jesus says I have to go becausepeople are in darkness, they're
walking in the dark.
And this is the day where weget to proclaim the lights are
turned on, the darkness is nomore, the captives are set free.
(27:50):
He took captivity and liberatedit because he chose to lay down
his life and pick his life uponce again for all of our
benefit.
So as we celebrate theresurrection of christ, christ
says I am the resurrection andthe life.
(28:11):
And the reason why he says thatis because he knows death is
the enemy.
It just is.
You know, I'll give you anexample, my personal life.
You know.
I was laying next to my wifeone day and I said man, I'm sad
today.
I said just, you know, I'm inlove with you.
Things are so good.
Things are going great rightnow.
You know we're aging and I knoweventually one of us aren't
(28:36):
going to be here.
You know it really breaks myheart, but thank God for the
hope that, no matter what, Iwill be reunited with my wife
one day again in heaven.
Now, when Jesus came, he foundthat Lazarus had already been in
the tomb four days.
(28:57):
Bethany was near Jerusalem,about two miles off, and many of
the Jews had come Martha andMary to console them concerning
their brother.
So when Martha heard that Jesuswas coming, she went and met
him, but Mary remained seated inthe house.
Martha said to Jesus Lord, ifyou had been here, my brother
(29:21):
would have not have died.
But even now I know thatwhatever you ask from God, god
will give you.
Jesus said to her your brotherwill rise again.
Martha said to him I know thathe will rise again in
(29:41):
resurrection on the last day.
So what is the whole point ofSunday?
What is the whole point ofJesus coming?
What is the whole point of whywe worship him?
Jesus said to her I am theresurrection and the life.
(30:02):
Whoever believes in me, though,he die in the last day.
He said I am.
Whoever believes in me, thoughhe die, he shall live, and
everyone who lives and believesin me shall never die.
Do you believe this?
She said to him yes, lord, Ibelieve that you are the Christ,
(30:24):
the son of God, who is comingin to the world.
Isn't that amazing?
I mean, I believe this.
I mean, this is not.
This is not a book of fiction.
I believe this and I know it'strue.
I live my life by this.
What would the world look likewithout a savior, without
(30:44):
resurrection?
It'd be cruelty, right.
We would just look up in thesky and say what's the point of
all this?
This doesn't mean anything.
I feel lost like a speck ofsand on the seashore.
Mean anything?
I feel lost like a speck ofsand on the seashore.
But God says I am the way, thetruth and the life.
(31:10):
I'm the resurrection.
When she said this, she went andcalled her sister, mary, saying
in private the teacher is hereand he is calling you.
And when she heard it, she rosequickly and went to him.
Now, jesus had not come intothe village, but was still in
the place where Martha had methim when the Jews who were with
her in the house consoling her,saw Mary rise quickly and go out
(31:31):
.
They followed her, supposingthat she was going to the tomb
to weep there.
Now, when Mary came to whereJesus was and saw him, she fell
at his feet saying Lord, if youhave been here, my brother would
have not died.
You see, in a lot of otherreligions they don't have a
(31:53):
personal God.
You know, even Muhammad said inhis Muslim Koran that he
doesn't even know if he's goingto go to heaven, and he was
supposed to be the leader ofIslam.
He said God cannot be known,it's impossible.
When I die, I don't know ifAllah is even going to accept me
, because God is impersonal.
(32:13):
In other religions God isimpersonal, and I'm going
somewhere with this, even thoughI disagree a thousand percent
with that Religion.
Look what the Bible recordshere in history.
When Jesus saw her weeping andthe Jews who had come with her
also weeping, he was deeplymoved in his spirit and troubled
and he said to them where haveyou laid him?
(32:35):
They said to him Lord, come andsee.
And Jesus wept.
The creator of the world brokedown crying and wept profusely
Because he can identify with ourpain, with our suffering, with
our loss with our hopes, withour dreams, and he is the
(33:02):
resurrection.
So the Jews said see how heloved him.
But some of them said could nothe who opened the eyes of a
blind man and also kept this manfrom dying?
Then Jesus deeply moved again,again came to the tomb.
It was a cave, a stone laid infront of it.
(33:24):
Jesus said take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of the deadman, said to him lord, by this
time there will be an odor, forhe has been dead four days.
Jesus said to her did I nottell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?
So they took away the stone andJesus lifted up his eyes, said
(33:46):
father, I think that you haveheard me.
I knew that you always hear me,but I said this on account of
the people standing around thatthey may believe that you sent
me.
When he had said these things,he cried out with a loud voice
Lazarus, come out.
The man who had died came out,his hands and feet bound with
(34:12):
linen straps and his facewrapped in cloth.
And then Jesus said to themunbind him and let him go.
When we're resurrected, god'sgoing to say come out, even
though we die and we're presentwith God in the spirit and we
get to be with him in the spirit.
(34:33):
We never experienced death, butthere is a time when he will
open every grave up in thisworld, in this city, in every
small town, and say come out andreunite our spirit with our
body that is perfected, the sameone that he could walk through
walls with, he could transfigure, he could leave.
(34:55):
He says you get that gift.
Lazarus, we know, died again.
He got sick again because theend has not came.
But guess what?
We're already saved, we'vealready been resurrected.
(35:15):
What a glorious God we serve.
So if we would bow our headsand we can pray, say our final
prayer Lord, we thank you forgiving us the ultimate gift,
which is you laying down yourlife, you deciding to pick it
(35:39):
back up and giving us the giftof resurrection, also on the
last day, so we can spendeternity with you.
I pray that you bless everyonehere in their moments of joy,
sadness, happiness and comfortevery single person, because
(35:59):
only you know where they're aton any given day.
Lord, we glorify you, we loveyou and use us in your kingdom
in mighty and powerful ways.
In Jesus' name, amen.
There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
no more sickness, no more pain,no more mourning over there.
And forever I will be with theone who died for me For the day
(00:28):
number eight.
Glorious day that will be.
For the day that will be whenmy Jesus I shall see, when my
Jesus lies in sin and I lookupon his face, the one who saved
(00:51):
me by his grace, and he takesme by the hand and leads me
through that promised land.
For today, glorious day thatwill be.
Praise God, what a day,glorious day for me.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Praise God.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Josh, it's a beautiful song and it's going to
be a beautiful day.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
What a glorious day.
Praise God, I made a lot ofmistakes.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You worked your lungs that time.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I made a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I haven't played this in a while, but isn't that a
neat thing.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
It is Praise God.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's how we define success.
I mean we fail in life.
God teaches us and we succeedright.
Sometimes I say what I know ofsuccess is if I never learned
what failure is, so God's.
He's the master teacher.
He teaches us.
I don't know if you want tosing another song or get some
scripture.
What you want to do, where do?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
you want to go?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
everybody want to hear the word.
You want to hear one more song?
Where's everybody at?
Oh, she wants to hear the word.
So have we opened up in aprayer at all?
Okay, perfect, so we're goingto be celebrating the
resurrection of christ, you know, and I always ask myself how
relevant that is to the worldthat we live in today, because
(02:15):
we live in a world and a systemthat they overlook the
resurrection of christ.
It's just not that big of adeal.
Or, if you want to worship thecorrect Christ, the Christ in
the Bible, the way, the truthand the life, the only way to
God, people will call youjudgmental, they will say that
(02:36):
you're being non-tolerant, and Ican give you an example of that
, because we are going to betalking about why we're
celebrating Resurrection Day.
I just had an incident yesterdaywhere I have somebody that's
particularly a differentreligion than me.
It's my father, and I love myfather very much.
(02:58):
You know, because I'm justpersonal here, I'm sharing the
story.
So we went out to breakfastprobably about a week ago, and
I'm a Christian Flat out.
My family knows it.
You know I'm the crazy preacherin the family, but I love
Christ, right, my father.
He's the Jehovah's Witness.
So we have two different viewson who Jesus Christ is, on who
(03:23):
Jesus Christ is.
They don't believe in theresurrection, they don't believe
that Jesus Christ is the son ofGod, but God in the flesh at
the same time.
So this gets interesting, andI've learned to accept people
where they're at.
You know, if anybody talkedabout wanting to argue somebody
into the kingdom of heaven, Iwas notorious for that.
I was about the worst there was.
(03:45):
You know, when god, god reachedme in prayer and through
humility and the spirit, and hetaught me to look at things in a
different way.
So, as we're sitting there forbreakfast, you know, my dad says
, josh, jesus christ is not godin the flesh, jesus christ is
just the son of God and hebasically doesn't have that kind
of power that he says in theChristian scriptures.
(04:07):
Okay, so I says, dad, I saidyou have to understand something
.
I said we got to set someboundaries here, because I want
everybody to know that God has apersonal relationship with each
one of us and in order toaccess that relationship, we
truly have to know who ourSavior is, who Jesus Christ is.
(04:32):
So, as we're sitting there andwe set these boundaries and we
had a great breakfast, we had anunderstanding after that and we
left.
We parted ways.
My dad's never really beenaround in my life.
So the way that God taught mefor forgiveness is through a
really broken relationship withmy father.
I never really knew him, eventhough he lived five miles down
(04:55):
the street.
I really don't know who he is.
I don't have any memories.
I'm barely learning who thisman is right.
So I lost about 10 years inbitterness and resentment
against my own father.
I was that angry until God setme free.
And forgiveness is a miracle andthe only way we can experience
the fullness of God is byforgiving those who trespass
(05:19):
against us.
So as I go home, against us.
So as I go home, my fathersends me some material in the
mail to join his religion.
Okay, and this is a big deal tome, because I told my dad, I
said you do know I'm going tostudy to be a professor.
You know I go, you know I'm.
This is my whole life, this isall I do.
I mean I love God.
(05:40):
So I said I'm probably the lastone you want to try to convert,
right?
But he did it anyways.
And the reason I'm bringing thisstory up is because the world
will try to take the true Jesusaway from us.
Life will, society will, tvwill, everything is against the
(06:01):
Christian in a post-modern world.
So where's this at in the Bible?
Well, jesus said it himself.
So I don't like pontificatingon what I think I know.
I like talking about Jesushimself.
And this is what Jesus says inLuke 12, 41.
(06:23):
He says these are pretty fierywords from our Savior.
Right, because Jesus knew whohe was the God man, the one that
descended out of the heavens tobear the sins of the world so
that we can inherit eternal life.
(06:44):
And he says I came to cast fireon the earth and would that it
would already be kindled.
I have a baptism to be baptizedwith, and how great is my
(07:04):
distress until it isaccomplished?
Jesus was stressed to a highdegree, thinking about taking
the weight of the world, the sin, and being crucified for our
sins, because he knew he was theSavior.
Do you think that I have cometo bring peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but ratherdivision, rather division.
(07:30):
For from now on, in your ownhouse there will be five divided
three against two and twoagainst three.
They will be divided fatheragainst son and son against
father, mother against daughterand daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against herdaughter-in-law and
daughter-in-law against hermother-in-law that's
prettyin-law against hermother-in-law.
That's pretty strong words,right?
You know what?
Because Jesus was sayingthere's going to be people out
there that are not going toaccept the truth that I'm going
(07:54):
to lay down my own life becauseI am God, I'm the son of God, I
have the power to do so and I'mgoing to take it up.
And the only way to be saved,the only way for salvation, is
to accept that free gift of melaying down my life.
(08:16):
For sinners, what a beautifulGod we serve, that we serve, a
God that's willing to give hislife for us.
I remember somebody compared itone time.
It would be like you have acriminal and they committed the
most egregious crimes and theywere sentenced to life in prison
(08:39):
, but on top of that, capitalpunishment, and it would be in
the sense, at a weaker sense,but like the president, united
states, walking in and talkingto the ward and say, hey, I want
to substitute my life for his,and then go into that man's cell
and saying I've pardoned you ofall your heinous crimes in your
(09:01):
sin, and I'm going to take yourplace.
Why?
Because I want to, because Ilove you, because I'm taking the
sin of the world upon me.
So when we think about tomorrowand we celebrate Easter, it's a
beautiful thing that I can besaved from myself.
(09:26):
I woke up today and I said, toldmy wife, thank God, he's such a
glorious God and she goes.
Why?
I said because he saved me frommyself.
Paul says I'm a wretched humanbeing.
The things that I do I don'twant to do, things I don't do I
want to do.
Sin is alive in all my members.
(09:46):
Christ gave us that gift,cleansed us, baptized us when we
received the Holy Spirit.
So we'll get into another songand then we'll talk about what
truth is and how Christdemonstrated the resurrection
(10:07):
from his own words Praise God.
You know, I went hiking thismorning for about a good hour
plus, woke up really early and,uh, the thing about hiking is I
have to have a gps on my phoneor you get lost.
I remember one time I went towhite tanks and I thought I was
(10:29):
going to carry a little bottleof water with me and the sun
came up.
It was summertime and I waspraying because I knew the way
out.
But I had about a good hour andI would have been done.
I probably would have had aheat stroke and collapse and
potentially died or be airliftedout.
So as I'm hiking, you know Ihave a compass, it's a GPS.
So as I'm hiking, you know Ihave a compass, it's a GPS.
(11:01):
And Pilate, in John 18, askedChrist what is truth?
That truth guides us throughlife, that truth rescues us.
And I would like to read therecording of Pontius Pilate
asking Jesus this questionbecause it pertains to his
resurrection.
So, when life gets difficult,when life gets tough, when we
(11:21):
feel lost, this is our GPS, thisis our compass, this is what we
read when we pray to our God torescue us out of the wilderness
.
So Pilate entered hisheadquarters again and called
(11:45):
Jesus and said to him and thisis after Jesus was set up he was
sold out.
They captured him and he saysare you the king of the Jews?
Him, and he says are you theking of the jews?
Jesus answered do you say thisof your own accord or did others
say it to you about me?
Pilot answered am I a jew?
Your own nation and chiefpriest have delivered you over
(12:06):
to me.
What have you done?
These Jews were waiting eons,millenniums, for Christ to come,
but they wanted a politicalrevolutionary.
They didn't want a personcloaked in humility and his plan
(12:27):
was to free the slaves ofspiritual slavery.
Plan was to free the slaves ofspiritual slavery.
Before I came to Christ, beforeI was saved, I know and I
experienced spiritual slavery,and captivity is real.
Jesus answered my kingdom isnot of this world.
If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would have been
(12:50):
fighting that I may not bedelivered over to the Jews, but
my kingdom is not from thisworld.
Then Pilate said to him so youare a king?
Jesus answered you say that Iam a king.
For this purpose I was born andfor this purpose I have come
(13:11):
into the world to bear witnessto the truth.
What is the truth?
Think about how much money wespend in society, movies, makeup
.
I mean trying to people try tochange their own appearance
because they're trying to figureout what the truth is.
(13:32):
And I'm not saying that wecan't look good and do our hair
and all this other stuff right,but people are searching for
such an identity because theydon't know the truth in Christ,
including this governor, thisrich governor, pontius Pilate
says what is truth?
And this is so fascinating.
It's simple.
(13:53):
Truth is very simple, right.
It doesn't come in a big book.
We don't have to hear 20lectures, it's not going to come
from a motivational speaker.
Christ says this, and this alone.
Everyone who is of the truthlistens to my voice.
That's it.
(14:13):
When we're saved, god gives usthe holy spirit, and in hebrews
it says that it's a deposit.
God gives us a deposit, likewhen you go buy a house or you
go put something down and theysay, okay, you own it now and
come later and pay the rest, andit's fully yours.
God says I've proved that youbelong to me.
(14:37):
I proved that you're saved.
I proved that you've beenresurrected before death,
spiritually, by giving you theHoly Spirit and sealed you with
a guarantee and a promise tospend all eternity with me.
And if you can hear my voice,you know what the truth is.
(15:01):
After he had said this, he wentback out and told the Jews I
find no guilt in him, but youhave a custom that I should
release one man at Passover.
So who do you choose?
And, long story short, theywanted a murderer, a barbarian.
(15:23):
Barabbas.
That's who they chose, becausethey couldn't accept that Christ
is the truth.
It except that christ is thetruth.
You know, I was reading a bookby supposedly the world's
greatest philosopher, stephencarwell.
It's called the beginning ofeverything and he's a
declarative atheist and aphysicist and astronomer and
everything else.
He got all these titles and itwas fascinating because this is
(15:47):
like supposedly the mostbrilliant man in the world,
right?
And he said it pains me thatwhen I die, that I know I'm
going back to non-existence,that my families, my friends, my
memories are going to flee backinto utter darkness.
And as a declared atheist and aperson that rejects a cosmic
bully, rejecting God, this isthe fate that I've chosen to
(16:11):
live with.
And that's supposed to be themost brilliant philosopher in
our country today.
And Christ says all you have todo is hear my truth.
People always say, pastor, whatis true?
This is stronger than aconscience.
I mean when God speaks to youin your heart and moves your
(16:33):
spirit.
It's like he screams into youand he talks to us and he speaks
to us.
I could defy my conscience allday long.
People can even sever theirconscience.
They can get rid of it, theycan ignore it, but when you're
saved, you have a relationshipwith Christ.
You're redeemed by his bloodand you know truth.
With Christ, you're redeemed byhis blood and you know truth.
(16:57):
It's immovable.
It's a beautiful blessing andyou just feel loved.
Even though I have my familymembers, my dog that I love, my
friends that I love, there is nosatisfaction in this world
knowing that my Savior loves me,satisfaction in this world
knowing that my savior loves me,and that is the most special
(17:17):
relationship I will ever have inmy entire life.
People will fail me, peoplehave failed me, I have failed
myself, but god is so faithfulhe never fails us.
There's no turning of shadow,the Bible says in God there's no
darkness, there's only light.
There's no mistakes.
(17:37):
There's no going back andhaving a do-over.
For him, everything he does isperfect.
And guess what?
He laid his life down, chose topick it up.
He laid his life down, chose topick it up.
Raise Lazarus and we get tospend eternity raised and meet
(18:03):
Lazarus, be with Christ and seeGod with our own eyes.
That's what Resurrection Sundayis about.
That's what tomorrow is about.
That's what today is about.
We, as Christians, will not letnobody distort the truth, take
the truth away from us, call usnon-tolerant, non-acceptable.
(18:25):
The most loving thing we can dois tell somebody what Christ
did in our own personal life.
Now, if that's not tolerant,then I don't want to be tolerant
and I don't want the world totolerate me.
Ain't that right?
Call me what you want, becauseof Jesus' own words.
(18:49):
You know we're going to singanother song.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
And we, as Christians , should listen.
Yes, god is talking to us, andsometimes we don't do it, we
don't listen, and we need tolisten.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Amen.
That's so true, because youknow how many times have we said
in our life you know what, god,I got this.
You know what?
Just take the back seat, I'mgoing to take the wheel,
everything's going to be okay.
And usually it does not endvery well, right, it ends in
disaster, but the Holy Spirit,it guides us through everything.
Hey, you know what?
Be patient this time, don't saya word.
(19:27):
This time, it's time to speakup.
It's time to show love.
It's time to be strong.
Right, that's our guide, it'sour compass in the dark.
Always compare, before we sing asong, always compare a person
that does not have the light ofChrist as a person stumbling
around in the dark.
You're just stumbling, have youever woken up?
And it's completely dark andyou're just searching and
groping for the light switch andright when it turns on, you go
(19:48):
oh, finally.
I didn't like the dark thatmuch.
It didn't feel good beingtrapped in here, but the light
came and the dark fled and youknow when I was saved.
The only way I can describe itis that light switch being
turned on and I can see, not indarkness anymore.
(20:09):
That is a beautiful gift,something money cannot buy,
something.
The world cannot give us thismost precious gift to be made
alive when I was once dead, forI was blind.
Now I can see.
Would that the truth?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Kind of fit right into what you were talking about
there, brother.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It was a beautiful song.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
A lot of times we do that.
We run around in our lives.
You know we're blinded.
You know we've got scales overour eyes.
We don't see our lives.
We know we're blinded.
You know we've got scales overour eyes.
We don't see the truth.
We don't see what's going on.
We listen to what's around usinstead of seeing what the Lord
has for us.
Yes, jesus is the light of theworld.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Light of the world.
Isn't that amazing, isn't thatgreat that Jesus is the light of
the world.
So so we know what truth is.
Truth is simply hearing thevoice of God being saved.
It's not too complicated.
Pontius Pilate had a discussionwith Jesus.
(21:06):
Jesus said he's the truth andthe truth is I am the way to God
, I am the truth.
Meaning truth is defined by meand I am life, I am the
resurrection.
That is what Christ is.
So, as we worship in word andsong, he demonstrates that in
(21:31):
the book of John, chapter 11, inraising Lazarus from the dead.
And it's fascinating.
I have some situations where Iget some calls in my family.
My aunt right now is not doingtoo well and she's ill and we
don't think she has a whole lotlonger.
She's saved, and I was talkingto a friend recently about it
(21:53):
and I go.
It's fascinating that we'reburied right.
You go to a funeral I've donefunerals and we're put in the
ground.
It's because that's a symbolicof death, which is we're meant
to come back out of the ground.
The opposite side of that isresurrection.
It's not normal to perish.
(22:13):
It's not normal to grow old.
It's not normal to die.
Look, I'm 43 this year, when Iwas 23,.
Things were a lot different.
You know, I'll testify to that.
It's like, man, this knee hurts, my shoulder hurts, my neck
gots a kink in it.
Now, right, and we'll bedancing on streets of gold with
our creator brought back to ouryouth, worshiping him for all
(22:39):
eternity.
People say, josh, you're stillrelatively young.
I said there's a lot I stillmiss.
Sometimes, when I think aboutthings in the past, I miss it
drastically.
Sometimes it makes my heartchurn when I think about my kids
and how little they were.
You know, it just makes me wantto cry some days.
I said, man, I miss them days.
Man, if I could just go backand just live them one more time
(23:03):
.
See my kids when they werelittle, stumbling around,
falling Daddy, I need you, Ilove you.
Right?
She says, guess what?
I got something better thanthat.
I got something better thanthat.
I will raise you from the dead.
Chapter 11.
Now there was a certain man thatwas ill, lazarus of Bethany,
(23:25):
the village of Mary, and hersister, martha.
It was Mary who anointed theLord with ointment and wiped his
feet with her hair, whosebrother, lazarus, was ill.
So the sister sent to himsaying Lord, he whom you love is
ill.
(23:46):
Christ is always demonstratinghis love.
That's his mark.
You loved him, christ, youcould have came here beforehand.
He's ill.
This illness does not lead todeath.
It is for the glory of God, sothat the son of God may be
(24:06):
glorified in it.
As we're going to see, jesushas the king, the keys of life
and death, in his hand.
Now.
Jesus loved Martha and hersister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that Lazaruswas ill look at this he stayed
(24:28):
two days longer in the place hewas.
He meant for Lazarus to pass.
Why?
Look what we have.
It's recorded for us.
You can go to secular history,even Josephus.
(24:50):
He's a Ebonite Christian whichhe didn't believe in the full
deity of Christ, but he evenrecords in secular history.
There was a man named Christ, asecularist, raising people from
the dead.
He's considered the greatestJewish historian.
And he said it Did he cause aruckus?
(25:11):
Christ did yeah, he did.
So we don't only have itacknowledged through the Bible,
we can acknowledge it throughsecular history.
So he stayed two days longerthan after this.
He said to the disciples let usgo to Judea again.
The disciples said to him Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking
(25:34):
to stone.
You.
Are you going there again?
Jesus answered are there not 12hours in a day?
If anybody walks in the day, hedoes not stumble because he
sees the light of this world,but if anyone walks in the night
, he stumbles because the lightis not in him.
(25:56):
You know what Jesus is saying.
I got work to do.
It doesn't matter what you,what you say.
Yeah, I know they want to killme.
There's a bunch of unsavedsouls all over the place.
Everybody's stumbling, gropedaround in the dark.
Nobody can see.
The light switch ain't turningon.
I'm here to save humanity.
After saying these things, hesaid to them our friend Lazarus
(26:18):
has fallen asleep, but I go toawaken him.
The disciples said to him Lord,if he has fallen asleep, he
will recover.
Now Jesus had spoken of hisdeath, but they thought that he
meant taking a restful sleep.
Then Jesus told them plainlyLazarus has died and for your
(26:41):
sake, I am glad that I was notthere so that you may believe.
But let us go to him.
So Thomas called the twin saidto his fellow disciples let us
go, that we may die with him.
And that's what we arecelebrating today the way, the
(27:05):
truth and the life.
Nothing else.
I know society this is mypersonal beef that I have with
society we take the day of Jesusand we like to dumb it down.
I mean, you watch TV.
It's all about a rabbit now, Iget it.
The kids got to find Eastereggs, I get all that, but
there's nothing.
There's not even nothing aboutGod anymore, nothing about
(27:26):
resurrection anymore.
And I told my wife, I said thisworld has just dumbed
everything down.
And Jesus says I have to gobecause people are in darkness.
Jesus says I have to go becausepeople are in darkness, they're
walking in the dark.
And this is the day where weget to proclaim the lights are
turned on, the darkness is nomore, the captives are set free.
(27:50):
He took captivity and liberatedit because he chose to lay down
his life and pick his life uponce again for all of our
benefit.
So as we celebrate theresurrection of christ, christ
says I am the resurrection andthe life.
(28:11):
And the reason why he says thatis because he knows death is
the enemy.
It just is.
You know, I'll give you anexample, my personal life.
You know.
I was laying next to my wifeone day and I said man, I'm sad
today.
I said just, you know, I'm inlove with you.
Things are so good.
Things are going great rightnow.
You know we're aging and I knoweventually one of us aren't
(28:36):
going to be here.
You know it really breaks myheart, but thank God for the
hope that, no matter what, Iwill be reunited with my wife
one day again in heaven.
Now, when Jesus came, he foundthat Lazarus had already been in
the tomb four days.
(28:57):
Bethany was near Jerusalem,about two miles off, and many of
the Jews had come Martha andMary to console them concerning
their brother.
So when Martha heard that Jesuswas coming, she went and met
him, but Mary remained seated inthe house.
Martha said to Jesus Lord, ifyou had been here, my brother
(29:21):
would have not have died.
But even now I know thatwhatever you ask from God, god
will give you.
Jesus said to her your brotherwill rise again.
Martha said to him I know thathe will rise again in
(29:41):
resurrection on the last day.
So what is the whole point ofSunday?
What is the whole point ofJesus coming?
What is the whole point of whywe worship him?
Jesus said to her I am theresurrection and the life.
(30:02):
Whoever believes in me, though,he die in the last day.
He said I am.
Whoever believes in me, thoughhe die, he shall live, and
everyone who lives and believesin me shall never die.
Do you believe this?
She said to him yes, lord, Ibelieve that you are the Christ,
(30:24):
the son of God, who is comingin to the world.
Isn't that amazing?
I mean, I believe this.
I mean, this is not.
This is not a book of fiction.
I believe this and I know it'strue.
I live my life by this.
What would the world look likewithout a savior, without
(30:44):
resurrection?
It'd be cruelty, right.
We would just look up in thesky and say what's the point of
all this?
This doesn't mean anything.
I feel lost like a speck ofsand on the seashore.
Mean anything?
I feel lost like a speck ofsand on the seashore.
But God says I am the way, thetruth and the life.
(31:10):
I'm the resurrection.
When she said this, she went andcalled her sister, mary, saying
in private the teacher is hereand he is calling you.
And when she heard it, she rosequickly and went to him.
Now, jesus had not come intothe village, but was still in
the place where Martha had methim when the Jews who were with
her in the house consoling her,saw Mary rise quickly and go out
(31:31):
.
They followed her, supposingthat she was going to the tomb
to weep there.
Now, when Mary came to whereJesus was and saw him, she fell
at his feet saying Lord, if youhave been here, my brother would
have not died.
You see, in a lot of otherreligions they don't have a
(31:53):
personal God.
You know, even Muhammad said inhis Muslim Koran that he
doesn't even know if he's goingto go to heaven, and he was
supposed to be the leader ofIslam.
He said God cannot be known,it's impossible.
When I die, I don't know ifAllah is even going to accept me
, because God is impersonal.
(32:13):
In other religions God isimpersonal, and I'm going
somewhere with this, even thoughI disagree a thousand percent
with that Religion.
Look what the Bible recordshere in history.
When Jesus saw her weeping andthe Jews who had come with her
also weeping, he was deeplymoved in his spirit and troubled
and he said to them where haveyou laid him?
(32:35):
They said to him Lord, come andsee.
And Jesus wept.
The creator of the world brokedown crying and wept profusely
Because he can identify with ourpain, with our suffering, with
our loss with our hopes, withour dreams, and he is the
(33:02):
resurrection.
So the Jews said see how heloved him.
But some of them said could nothe who opened the eyes of a
blind man and also kept this manfrom dying?
Then Jesus deeply moved again,again came to the tomb.
It was a cave, a stone laid infront of it.
(33:24):
Jesus said take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of the deadman, said to him lord, by this
time there will be an odor, forhe has been dead four days.
Jesus said to her did I nottell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?
So they took away the stone andJesus lifted up his eyes, said
(33:46):
father, I think that you haveheard me.
I knew that you always hear me,but I said this on account of
the people standing around thatthey may believe that you sent
me.
When he had said these things,he cried out with a loud voice
Lazarus, come out.
The man who had died came out,his hands and feet bound with
(34:12):
linen straps and his facewrapped in cloth.
And then Jesus said to themunbind him and let him go.
When we're resurrected, god'sgoing to say come out, even
though we die and we're presentwith God in the spirit and we
get to be with him in the spirit.
(34:33):
We never experienced death, butthere is a time when he will
open every grave up in thisworld, in this city, in every
small town, and say come out andreunite our spirit with our
body that is perfected, the sameone that he could walk through
walls with, he could transfigure, he could leave.
(34:55):
He says you get that gift.
Lazarus, we know, died again.
He got sick again because theend has not came.
But guess what?
We're already saved, we'vealready been resurrected.
(35:15):
What a glorious God we serve.
So if we would bow our headsand we can pray, say our final
prayer Lord, we thank you forgiving us the ultimate gift,
which is you laying down yourlife, you deciding to pick it
(35:39):
back up and giving us the giftof resurrection, also on the
last day, so we can spendeternity with you.
I pray that you bless everyonehere in their moments of joy,
sadness, happiness and comfortevery single person, because
(35:59):
only you know where they're aton any given day.
Lord, we glorify you, we loveyou and use us in your kingdom
in mighty and powerful ways.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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