March 24, 2024 • 43 mins
DCN Online | Welcome Home
Join us for #dcnsunday as Pastor Scott leads us in Week 5 of our Sermon Series "3:16."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
Join us for #dcnsunday as Pastor Scott leads us in Week 5 of our Sermon Series "3:16."
and be sure to visit our website https://defiancenazarene.org/
& did you know you could give online? https://defiancenazarene.org/online-giving/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, I want to lead you through this. So we
just had this glorious parade. That's the best way I
can put it. It was a glorious parade, all these branches waving,
and I kind of wanted to just start with that,
with crying out Hosanna, a praise and adoration of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So this parade was happening.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In Matthew Matthew, chapter twenty one, verses eight and nine,
it says a very large crowd spread their cloaks on
the road, while others cut branches from the trees and
spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead
of them and those that follow shouted Hosanna to the
son of David, bless it is he who comes in
(00:46):
the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest of heaven.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh can you picture that? Can you picture this crowd?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, we don't have things like that today. I mean,
we have like a Halloween parade, right, I mean, and
that's kind of a planned deal. You know, Jesus is
riding on a dog. Can you imagine. I mean, I
grew up in a little bit of town about thirty
five hundred, and it would have been, uh, it would
have been really strange, and all of a sudden, a
bunch of people started.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Just you know, this guy gets on a donkey. He
just starts.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Riding down through town and people start throwing and screaming
and just going nuts for him. We don't have that,
but we have this, this story, and we have all
this excitement about the Savior, about who they're calling the King.
And so today I want to we're going to continue
with our series. It's been called three sixteen, based on
(01:42):
John three point sixteen, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Let's pray as we go forward. God, thank you for
this moment.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I thank you for this savior of the world, and
I'm thankful that we get to celebrate his arrival today.
God take your words today, may they penetrate our hearts,
and may your spirit truly have free reign in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So over the last few weeks, we started out with
three sixteen and Pastor Elisa talked about love and the
kind of love that was given to us, this love
in this verse here of God so loved the world
and so.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
We started there and then and then I was able
to talk.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
About this gift that God gave, the gift of Jesus,
Jesus gave of himself.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was a gift that was given to us.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And then last week we talked about whomever or whoever
or whosoever as the different versions of the Bible said,
and Tara was pretty blatant and pretty blunt with it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And says, and who does that mean? Whoever? All of us?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Right? And so today I want to talk about this
little part of it that says believes in him, whoever
believes in him? And so I did what I said,
I kind of did a Tara thing, and I was like, uh, well,
what does it mean to believe?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And basically it means to believe. But I put some
definitions up. I threw them up for you right there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
To accept something is true, feel sure of the truth
of regard as true, to trust in it. And so
I even pulled up the word belief there, and you
can say, to see what it says an acceptance that
a statement is true or that something exists. It's it's
this trust or faith or confidence in something or something.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And so we have.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
This belief of its it's it's true for those who
believe eve in him, this truth of Jesus. And so
we're gonna start with this understanding that everything that I'm
gonna be talking about is based in foundation of truth.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's based in truth.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And so we need to come and we The next
words I have there is I threw in their faith.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And I'm not sure if it's on the screen or.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Not, but in Hebrews eleven one, it says, now faith
is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen. And so we take together this this
truth and this faith truth that what we have before
us is is true, that we there's nothing false about it,
(04:45):
and that we believe in it, and we have this
faith that that what we're being told is true is true.
Now we know we have a world that and it's
always been this way that just because you believe it
doesn't mean it's true. You know that, right, just because
you believe it doesn't mean it's true.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There's there's a lot of real conviction in some.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
People that what they believe is the truth. I mean,
we can go back and things have been proven wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We used to used to think that the world was flat,
and there's some people who still think there it is.
We we have this belief of things, and it was
true until it wasn't true. Today, we're building this message
on the fact that it's true. And then what I'm
believing in and what I'm trusting in is something that
(05:44):
I can hold on to.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Okay, So we're gonna jump and we're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
To the So what is it that we're we're believing in,
What is it that we're who is it that we're
believing in? What is it that I'm believing in? And
so we have to start there. And so I'm going
to start with this premise that we need to understand
that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the savior of
(06:16):
the world. Jesus is the one who saves our souls.
Jesus is the Son of God. And if we don't
start with anything, if we start with something else, if
we start with another spot and we kind of work
our way around, we miss everything. And so we start
with this because we need a savior. We need a savior.
(06:41):
We cannot save ourselves. And so I brought up some
verses here and I have a lot of verses again,
and they took the clicker away from Actually I took
it away from myself, you know last week for those
who weren't here.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I have a hate relationship. I'm not even gonna call
it a.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Love relationship with this clicker that TuS me to change
the screens. And I hadn't used it for a long
time because every time I use it it doesn't work.
I got it to go one time last week and
then it quit on me. So I gave control back
to the booth and I said I'm done. So I've
got a lot of verses and Zach up there is
(07:19):
going to try to keep up with me, so if
he doesn't, I will take the blame.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But I'm gonna blame technology.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In John one seventeen, it says, for the law was
given through Moses, grace and truth came through whom Jesus Christ.
The truth comes through Jesus. See, we're never good enough.
We're not righteous enough, We're not we cannot be nice enough,
(07:50):
we can't be kind enough. We can't do any of
those things. Those are good things. God wants us to
be good. God wants us to be kind, God wants
us to be nice. But I tell you today that
that is not what God is looking for.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
God wants that to be the result of knowing.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Him, not on our own, our own works of doing
that on our own, and is just saying, well, I'm
going to make it because I'm nice. I mean, there's
a lot of really nice people in this world who
don't know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
There really are. But God wants more than that. Jesus
wants more than that.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Ephesians two eight and nine says, for it is by
grace you have been saved through faith.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
This is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,
not by work, so that no one can boast.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
God doesn't want us to work our way in and
say whoo, I got myself into heaven. I got myself there.
I did enough. Because the truth is we can never
do enough. We will always fail, we will always hurt someone.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Anybody ever hurt anybody accidentally.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I mean, you said you did the wrong thing, and
all of a sudden they're hurt and their whole life
is turned around because of something.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I accidentally did. I can't be good enough.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'll never be good enough, and we cannot work our
way with God. But only through Jesus can we find
our righteousness. John fourteen six says, Jesus answered, I am
the Way. I am the Way and the Truth and
(09:34):
the life, and that no one comes to the Father
except through me.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Jesus is the one, the way that we get to
know God the Father. And we have all these people
in the world. We have lots of people in the
world who think that they can find Jesus in their
own way. They think they can figure it out. They
think they can just kind of work as if they're
working a job. God did not set us up that way.
(10:05):
He sent Jesus. We just we just were talking about
We're in Easter week. We're talking about that God sent
Jesus because he is the way.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So so what do.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We have to prove? What do we have to prove
that Jesus is who he says he is. We have
to stick with that, right, I've been telling you this
is truth. Well, where do we back this up?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Now? Some people would say you need to go outside
the Bible.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But I'm I'm one of these to say I'm gonna
stick within the Bible. Now, we could we have some
historical documents out there that talk that Jesus was real.
Other other religions talk about Jesus. All of that is
out there, and I didn't research that, and I wasn't
gonna bring it in. But I'm gonna stick within the Bible.
But the Bible tells me that Jesus is real and
(10:53):
that he's true. And so so let's go with the
testimony of who the Messiah is. So let's go look
at John eleven twenty five through twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And this is Martha Lazarus.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Her brother has died, it says Jesus said to her,
Thus says the Lord, I am the Resurrection and the Life.
The one who believes in me will live even though
they die, and whoever lives by believing in Me will
never die. Do you believe this? And she says this, yes, Lord,
(11:31):
she replied, I believe that you are who the Messiah
an eyewitness account, somebody who's spent time with Jesus. I
believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,
the one who is to come into the world. We
have a person, not just somebody that's going well. I
(11:52):
kind of heard a rumor. This is somebody who is
spent time with Jesus, and she comes down to the conclusion,
I've watched him, I've hung around him, I've seen what
he's done. I believe that you could raise Lazarreuth or
you would have prevented him from dying in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I've come to the conclusion that you are the Messiah.
Can you grasp that. It's like I've seen an accident,
I've seen something.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I've a witness to this, and i can tell you
exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And I'm telling you with my own eyes.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I've seen it, I've experienced it, I've been a part
of it, and this is what I know is truth.
And Mary says that that he is the Messiah. So
then we also have somebody else who has a proclamation
of being the Messiah, of Jesus being Messiah. So we
look at John four twenty five, in twenty six.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
This is the woman at the well.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
This is a Samaritan woman, a woman who we've talked
to him, as Pastor Tera brought up last.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Week, a woman. And I'll just leave it there.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
In Jesus's time, women did not have much status, let
alone a woman who was a Samaritan woman, let alone
a woman who had lived the life that she was living,
that Jesus knew about, who went out to the well
at the middle of the day because of her lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And so we have this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Woman and she says in John, the woman said, I
know that Messiah called the Christ is coming. When he comes,
he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, I
the one speaking to you, I am he. Jesus simply says,
(13:47):
you know, there's some people out there that Jesus never
said that he was God.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
There's some people say, well, Jesus never really said that.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Jesus right here says, I am the Messiah the behavior
of the world. He proclaims it to her at this moment,
and I think it's funny that he proclaims it to
her again, a woman, And I have nothing against women.
But in the time, that was not who you proclaimed
it to. You went to the temple, you proclaimed it
(14:18):
to all those who thought they were important at the day,
and you said I am he. Jesus doesn't do that.
He goes to those of us who are out in
our spots, in our world and going through all the
things we're going through. So now we've got the self
proclamation we have a witness who have claimed him to
(14:41):
be the Messiah. And then now we have proof of
the Messiah. So in John twenty John twenty thirty and
thirty one Jesus says Jesus performed many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in
this book.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But these are written that you may believe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So now we have John writing about all the things
he's seen.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And then all these things were done, all these miracles,
all these great things that were done, and it says
he did so many more than aren't even written.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know, sometimes you.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Hear somebody says, well, the Bible never said that. Well,
that's probably true because the Bible was not a recording, right,
we don't know that. Did Jesus spill a little, you know,
have breadcrumbs in his beard one day?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It doesn't say, but he was human. I'm assuming that
he occasionally. You know, I've gotten worse as the age.
Every time I eat, I dropped something on my shirt.
I think Jesus probably did that occasionally. But it doesn't
say that in the Bible, and so John is saying here,
not everything is recorded, but I'm telling you that I've
(16:06):
seen it. I've seen it, and we recorded some of
this stuff. But man, you cannot believe some of the
stuff we didn't put in here, and all that was
put in there for you so that you would know
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the
one who came to save us and set us free.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, now again we've got our truth.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We've got our truth that Jesus says, and all these
witnesses are saying that Jesus is the Messiah. So that
we have that that I'm gonna build on now. Okay,
So now we have this fairy tale some guy rose
from the dead after being dead for three days.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What that's impossible? How can that happen?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
How can anybody who was dead, let alone? You know,
you hevery once a while, you hear these stories where
somebody's in the morgue or in the hospital and all
of a sudden they wake up and then everybody freaks out.
You know, after like a few hours or whatever. This
is three days. This isn't that, this is three days later,
(17:26):
and you can read the description of what all happened
in order for Jesus to die, the beatings, the cross,
the spear, the crown. You can read all that. He
didn't survive. It wasn't just like, oh, well, he's barely breathing,
let's set him in here. And even if he did
(17:47):
was even Let's take the absurdity of that and say,
even if he was barely breathing three days unattended in
the grave in the ground, you think he'd still be
alive and walk out and.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Go, hey, here I am.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You ever had surgery, you don't walk out and go hey,
here I am. So we need to prove that Jesus
was raised from the dead, that we've come to the
conclusion that that Jesus is the son of God, he
is the Messiah. But we also need to prove that
he was raised from the dead, and so we have
(18:23):
eyewitness accounts. So we're gonna look at Mark sixteen six.
An angel says, don't be alarmed. He said, you are
looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who was crucified.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
He has risen.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
He's talking to people. He say, look he's not here.
And not only that, you're talking to an angel. You're
talking to an angel. Let me tell you something. He's
not here, he has risen. And in Luke twenty four,
(19:01):
it's in one through six. It says, on the first
day of the week, very early in the morning, the
women took the spices they had prepared and went to
the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
but when they entered, they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus. While they were wandering around about this,
suddenly two men in clothes and that gleamed like lightning
(19:23):
stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down
on their faces to the ground. But the men said
to them, why do you look for the living among
the dead.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
He is not here, he is risen. Praise the Lord again, women,
I am the Messiah. He's not here. He's stepping out
(19:55):
to all of us.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
He's showing that again, eyewitness oats, he's showing and he's taken.
And again, if this was just some random guy walked
up and said, yes, oh, the rock was rolled away earlier.
I looked in there there was nobody there. That's not
what it says it says, and two men like angels. Basically,
(20:19):
it was a glowing and they bowed down in fear
of these two individuals, and they recognized that they were
messengers of God that had come, and said, he is
not here.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Why are you looking for him?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And then Matthew twenty eight five says this five through seven.
The angel said to the women, do not be afraid,
for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who
was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just
as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen
(20:55):
from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see him. And now I have told you. Oh,
does this seem repetitive to you? How many witnesses do
you need? How many stories do you need?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I add one more. Paul later has this in First Corinthians.
He's fifteen, starting with verse one. For what I received
I passed on to you as of first importance, that
Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, that he
was buried, that he was raised on the third day
(21:31):
according to scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephis.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
And then to the twelve, and after that he appeared.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
To how many more than five hundred of the brothers
and sisters at the same time, most of whom are
still living, though some have fallen asleep. All right, So
this is more than just like a couple of kooks,
you know what I mean. It's more than a couple
people getting together and saying, hey, let's play a joke.
(22:02):
It's more than a couple people. It says that it
was the women, and then the disciples, and then Peter
Cephas and then five hundred people. Jesus is alive today, folks.
(22:23):
Jesus is alive. We've got our foundation. Jesus is the
Messiah that we have backing. We have witnesses, We have
proof that Jesus not only was crucified and buried, but
has been raised again. But you know what, some people
(22:43):
don't believe that. Some people don't believe it. Even though
we have all of this, and we have all these
witnesses and we have all this out there, some people
don't believe that it is what it is. Why Well,
because I use the word fairy tale. People think it's foolishness.
They can't grasp it, they can't get a hold of it.
(23:04):
They just think it's foolishness. And so in First Corinthians
one eighteen, for the message of the cross is foolishness
for those who are perishing, but to those of us
who are being saved is the power of God.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
They can't grab a hold of it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That just sounds dumb. It just sounds like I can't
believe this. I can't grab a hold of it. And
the truth is they can't grab a hold of it
because probably they just they.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Don't want to.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Their mind and their faith cannot be big enough to
hold on to the something.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That we can't understand. I can't understand it, folks. Can you.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Can you grasp it? Can you hold on to the
fact that somebody was dead three days later they're alive?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
But I've got to the place that I believe it.
I believe it because others have seen it, and I've
believed it because I've experienced it in my life, and
I can experience it in my life. First Corinthians twenty
three and twenty four says, but we preach Christ crucified,
which is a stumbling block to the Jews.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And foolishness to the Gentiles.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
But to those whom God has called both Jews and
Greeks Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God,
it's just foolishness. For some, they can't get beyond it,
they can't hold on to it. And then there's some
who literally they choose ignorance. You ever seen willful ignorance?
(24:32):
Isn't that annoying? Willful ignorance is like, well, I don't know,
you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Right? They did that?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
You know they know, and they're like, I don't know.
And there's some that have this wilful chosen ignorance. John
three point nineteen in twenty says, this is the verdict.
Light has come into the world world, but people loved
(25:03):
darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and he will not
come into a light for their fear of their deeds
will be exposed. It's that old I like what I'm doing,
and if I acknowledge that God, that Jesus is who
(25:24):
he says he is, then I'm gonna have to do
something about it, because then it's real. They'd rather put
their head in the sand, they'd rather run away from it.
They'd rather just kind of pretend that you know that
it's not really real. I don't see it. I'm gonna
(25:45):
put a blinder up. And they choose.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
To do what they want to do because they like it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And let's be honest, sometimes sin is fun, but it's
only sin, only fun for a while, and then it
just starts to destroy exactly what it says it's going
to do.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
But we don't see that. We're like, hey, but I'm
having fun now.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And so they choose this ignorance and they choose to
stay in this, and then Romans eighty five says, it's
our selfish desires. Those who live according to the flesh
have their mindset on what the flesh desires, but those
who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset
on what the spirit desires.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I'm a selfish person. We all are.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We're born in selfishness. And I want things to go
the way I want things to go.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Anybody with me.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I want to do the things that I want to do,
and I don't want anybody tell me what to do.
I didn't like it very much when my parents told me,
and I don't like it when when other people tell
me what I should and shouldn't do. I don't like
being controlled that way. I want to do what I
want to do because I want to do it. It's
(27:17):
pretty good basic logic, there isn't it. I want to
do it, so I'm gonna do it. I want to
do it. But that's not always good for us.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It's not good for us? And so what we're talking
about here is my selfishness gets in the way of
God's righteousness. My self desires to control my life, takes
away the ability for God to step in and help
me live my life. I live my life within this
(27:51):
prison of selfishness, where God wants to open it up
to a life of light and righteousness, but I don't
see that because I'm so focused on me, and there's
so many people who are in our world who that's
all they focus on is my problems, my issues, the
things that I want to do, and so they don't
(28:15):
believe in Jesus because of these coors of the Jesus
was risen from the grave because I I don't want to.
It doesn't fit within my narrative of life. It doesn't
fit with what I want to do. And if I
give my life to Jesus. If I open myself up
to this, this this reality that Jesus is here and
(28:35):
Jesus is who he is. If I open myself up
to that, that's going to change my selfishness. And I'm
gonna have to start being selfless, and I'm gonna have
to start doing things that Jesus wants me to do.
And why would I want to do things that Jesus
wants me to do. I might have to go to church,
(28:57):
I might have to whatever.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I'm not even going to. I'm not going to go
down that list.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Right, John twelve thirty seven. I got a few verses
here twelve twelve thirty seven, forty two forty three. Though
he had done so many signs before them, they still
did not believe him. Man, I think if I saw
(29:24):
all the things that Jesus did, I don't know. You know,
you read this passage is where the religious leaders of
the day watched all the things Jesus was doing, and
they were like, nope, nope, Yeah, I realized he was blind. Oh,
(29:45):
I realized he was crippled. Oh I believe that. I
realized that there was no food and now we fed,
like you know, over five thousand people.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh, I recognize that that person was healed of leprosy.
Oh I got that. Yeah, I get that. Oh I
get that, I get that.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
But yeah, you're just you're a faker, You're you're a pretender.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I don't get it, but I'm not there.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But it just says that though he'd done all these
things and all these signs before then, they still did
not believe in him. But here's why Verse forty two
kicks in. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities, believed in him,
but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it,
(30:32):
so they would not be put out of the synagogue.
For they love the glory that comes from man more
than the glory that comes from God. Oh that one
hurts a little bit. I really care about what you
think of me. I really care about what you think
(30:54):
of me. I don't want you to feel bad about me.
I don't want you to, you know, not include me
in your little group.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I don't want you to, uh, you know, exclude me
from whatever thing that you're doing. I kinda I want
to fit in. I don't want to upset anybody ever
been in some of that I have you ever been
(31:23):
the last one picked. That's not a good feeling. I
want to be included. We want to be included, and
I and I wanna. I want to be invited to
the cool things and I want to be a part
of the fun things, and I want to be a part.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Of all that. And I've told you my story before.
In high school, that was where I lived.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Oh man, I had just enough Jesus in me to
be miserable because I still wanted to be invited to
the parties. I'd go to church on Sunday and I'd
be like, Hey, I'm a good Christian kid. And then
I'd be like, hey, guys, what's going on this week?
I live this dual lifestyle. I thought I could live
in this one and this one because I wanted to
(32:08):
be included and I didn't want to. I didn't want to.
I didn't want to go all in because if I
went all in, then I knew that this would stop.
And that's what they're here, is this vanity, this fear
of not fitting in. And truth is it was cowardice
on my part. Playing cowardice. I just I was just afraid, Well,
(32:32):
what if they don't like me anymore?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Well they won't you laugh at that? That hurts. Oh, oh,
as long as you still like me.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
We have a whole group of people in this world,
some in churches all around the world, who just cannot
buy in that Jesus is the Messiah wholeheartedly because they
cannot get past this. I want to fit in. And
(33:19):
if I, if I, if I buy all the way
into Jesus, my life will change.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
I'm going to tell you today that's true.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It will change, but I'll tell you one hundred percent,
it'll change for the better. The fears that I had
about giving everything up to Jesus were never really never realized.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
When I gave it all up to Jesus, my life
God so much better, so much better, so those who
do believe can receive. Is my next point.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
In Matthew seven thirteen and fourteen, it talks about this
narrow gate.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Enter through the narrow gate.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
For why it is the gate, and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate, and narrow the road that
leads to life.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And only a few find it.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
See, the path that we've been called to go on
is not an easy path. The path that Jesus walked
was not an easy path. Why would I expect mine
to be. We have to take our stance and understand
that it's so easy to just slide by in life
(34:57):
and just let things go and not buy in, and
not believe and not.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Hang on to it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
It's so much easier to do that than say I'm
all in. But we have the choice to believe. In
John twelve, there's a lot of verses here, but in
John twelve forty four through fifty and Jesus cried out
and said, whoever believes in me believes not in me,
(35:24):
but in him who sent me, And whoever sees me
sees him who sent me. I have come into the
world as light, so that whoever believes in me may
not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and
does not keep them, I do not judge them, for
(35:45):
I did not come to judge the.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
World, but to what to save the world.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The one who rejects me and does not receive my
words has a judge. The word that I've spoken will
judge him on the last. For I have not spoken
on my own authority, but the Father who sent me
has himself given me a commandment what to say and
what to speak, and I know that.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
His commandment is eternal life.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
What I say therefore, I say as the Father has
told me. When we reject Jesus, when we reject all
that he has said, when we don't claim him as
the Messiah, we don't believe that he was risen from
the grave. We're not just rejecting Jesus. We're rejecting God,
the father who sent him. We're rejecting the whole scheme,
(36:37):
the whole path that God has placed before us. There's
a lot of people say, oh, I believe in God.
I've told you this story I had years ago. I
had a father of a teenager say to his son.
He was trying to witness to his father and tell
him about Jesus. He says, what, you don't think I'm
a Christian. I'm an American. That's what he thought. I
(37:07):
grew up in America. It's a Christian nation. That was
his mindset. You don't think I'm a Christian, I'm an American.
We have all kinds of people who have this image
of God and who he is, and we've kind of
created all this. But what Scripture tells us is very
clear that the only way to the Father is through
(37:28):
the son, the only way we have that so the resurrection.
Well John one twelve says this. Yet all who did
not receive him, those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Children of God.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
We have the right when we believe in Jesus. We
are now considered sons and daughters of the.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Most High, and we get to hang on to that.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
For those people who felt lost and abandoned in this world,
we have a father that this says, come, I will
take you in. I will be your father, and you
can be my son, and you can be my daughter,
and I will love you, and I will care for you,
and I will take.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Care of you.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
The resurrection of Jesus is impossible. That's what it is,
which is why we believe that He's God. If it
was something that was possible, we would never be able
to hang our hats on it. If it was something
that was possible, we'd never be able to hold on
to the fact that he is God. It's only something
(38:36):
that God could have done. It is an impossibility, but
it makes it worse something. This belief saves us from ourselves,
saves us from our depression saves us from the situations
we're in. This belief saves us from the directions we're going.
It saves us from our bad moments that we're having,
the bad weeks that were going through.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
It saves us from all of that.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
To know that no matter what goes on in this world,
no matter what you're going through, that I've got a
heavenly Father that eventually I'm going to go and stand
before face to face and worship and say Hosanna, Hosanna
and the Highest Oh. It doesn't matter what you've gone
through or where you've been, doesn't matter what you've happened
(39:21):
this week. Someday somewhere down the road, we're gonna stand
before that God and we're gonna have that moment. So
our Hosanna moment is coming. I don't know if you realize,
but palm branches aren't in this passage in Matthew. It's
not the only place the palm branches come out. Let
(39:43):
me read you out of Revelations, chapter seven, verses nine
through twelve. After this, I looked, and there before me
was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and
were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried
(40:06):
out in a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne. And the lamb and all
the angels were standing around the throne, and around the
elders and around the four living creatures. They fell down
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen,
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and
(40:28):
power and strength be our God forever and ever. Amen,
Our day is coming. We have a Christ that says,
whoever believes in me, whoever believes in me, will be
standing with this group of people, this multitude, from every tribe, nation,
(40:57):
people and language, and trying out praise and glory and
honor forever and ever and ever and ever.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Amen. Do you believe today? Do you believe today? It's
my prayer, it's our prayer that you believe, because if
you don't believe, Easter has nothing for you.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Easter is about believing in a God who's loved us
so much that whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him,
shall eternal life.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
I hope you're ready for this week. I hope you're ready.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
To come and contact with the risen Savior. Let's stand together,
let's pray, and then we're gonna sing a song. Well,
why don't we just wrap the service up with the song? God,
you were good? I'm sorry. God, you are good.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Thank you for letting us have this moment. Thank you
for your blessings of Jesus in our lives. God. If
there's anybody who has heard my voice today.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
And they've had doubt, I pray that you make yourself
so real to them right now. May they step out
of that spot they've been and step completely into yours place.
Let them give it all to you, God, let them
test you on it. Let them give it all to
(42:40):
you and see what happens. God, I'm convinced that you
will meet them and show them so much more. God,
thank you for what this week represents and how it
has changed my life.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
God, we love you Today. Let's sing in Jesus
Well, I want to lead you through this. So we
just had this glorious parade. That's the best way I
can put it. It was a glorious parade, all these branches waving,
and I kind of wanted to just start with that,
with crying out Hosanna, a praise and adoration of Jesus.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So this parade was happening.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In Matthew Matthew, chapter twenty one, verses eight and nine,
it says a very large crowd spread their cloaks on
the road, while others cut branches from the trees and
spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead
of them and those that follow shouted Hosanna to the
son of David, bless it is he who comes in
(00:46):
the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest of heaven.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh can you picture that? Can you picture this crowd?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I mean, we don't have things like that today. I mean,
we have like a Halloween parade, right, I mean, and
that's kind of a planned deal. You know, Jesus is
riding on a dog. Can you imagine. I mean, I
grew up in a little bit of town about thirty
five hundred, and it would have been, uh, it would
have been really strange, and all of a sudden, a
bunch of people started.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Just you know, this guy gets on a donkey. He
just starts.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Riding down through town and people start throwing and screaming
and just going nuts for him. We don't have that,
but we have this, this story, and we have all
this excitement about the Savior, about who they're calling the King.
And so today I want to we're going to continue
with our series. It's been called three sixteen, based on
(01:42):
John three point sixteen, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Let's pray as we go forward. God, thank you for
this moment.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I thank you for this savior of the world, and
I'm thankful that we get to celebrate his arrival today.
God take your words today, may they penetrate our hearts,
and may your spirit truly have free reign in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So over the last few weeks, we started out with
three sixteen and Pastor Elisa talked about love and the
kind of love that was given to us, this love
in this verse here of God so loved the world
and so.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
We started there and then and then I was able
to talk.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
About this gift that God gave, the gift of Jesus,
Jesus gave of himself.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It was a gift that was given to us.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And then last week we talked about whomever or whoever
or whosoever as the different versions of the Bible said,
and Tara was pretty blatant and pretty blunt with it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And says, and who does that mean? Whoever? All of us?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Right? And so today I want to talk about this
little part of it that says believes in him, whoever
believes in him? And so I did what I said,
I kind of did a Tara thing, and I was like, uh, well,
what does it mean to believe?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And basically it means to believe. But I put some
definitions up. I threw them up for you right there.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
To accept something is true, feel sure of the truth
of regard as true, to trust in it. And so
I even pulled up the word belief there, and you
can say, to see what it says an acceptance that
a statement is true or that something exists. It's it's
this trust or faith or confidence in something or something.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And so we have.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
This belief of its it's it's true for those who
believe eve in him, this truth of Jesus. And so
we're gonna start with this understanding that everything that I'm
gonna be talking about is based in foundation of truth.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's based in truth.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And so we need to come and we The next
words I have there is I threw in their faith.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
And I'm not sure if it's on the screen or.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Not, but in Hebrews eleven one, it says, now faith
is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen. And so we take together this this
truth and this faith truth that what we have before
us is is true, that we there's nothing false about it,
(04:45):
and that we believe in it, and we have this
faith that that what we're being told is true is true.
Now we know we have a world that and it's
always been this way that just because you believe it
doesn't mean it's true. You know that, right, just because
you believe it doesn't mean it's true.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There's there's a lot of real conviction in some.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
People that what they believe is the truth. I mean,
we can go back and things have been proven wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We used to used to think that the world was flat,
and there's some people who still think there it is.
We we have this belief of things, and it was
true until it wasn't true. Today, we're building this message
on the fact that it's true. And then what I'm
believing in and what I'm trusting in is something that
(05:44):
I can hold on to.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Okay, So we're gonna jump and we're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
To the So what is it that we're we're believing in,
What is it that we're who is it that we're
believing in? What is it that I'm believing in? And
so we have to start there. And so I'm going
to start with this premise that we need to understand
that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the savior of
(06:16):
the world. Jesus is the one who saves our souls.
Jesus is the Son of God. And if we don't
start with anything, if we start with something else, if
we start with another spot and we kind of work
our way around, we miss everything. And so we start
with this because we need a savior. We need a savior.
(06:41):
We cannot save ourselves. And so I brought up some
verses here and I have a lot of verses again,
and they took the clicker away from Actually I took
it away from myself, you know last week for those
who weren't here.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I have a hate relationship. I'm not even gonna call
it a.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Love relationship with this clicker that TuS me to change
the screens. And I hadn't used it for a long
time because every time I use it it doesn't work.
I got it to go one time last week and
then it quit on me. So I gave control back
to the booth and I said I'm done. So I've
got a lot of verses and Zach up there is
(07:19):
going to try to keep up with me, so if
he doesn't, I will take the blame.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
But I'm gonna blame technology.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In John one seventeen, it says, for the law was
given through Moses, grace and truth came through whom Jesus Christ.
The truth comes through Jesus. See, we're never good enough.
We're not righteous enough, We're not we cannot be nice enough,
(07:50):
we can't be kind enough. We can't do any of
those things. Those are good things. God wants us to
be good. God wants us to be kind, God wants
us to be nice. But I tell you today that
that is not what God is looking for.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
God wants that to be the result of knowing.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Him, not on our own, our own works of doing
that on our own, and is just saying, well, I'm
going to make it because I'm nice. I mean, there's
a lot of really nice people in this world who
don't know Jesus.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
There really are. But God wants more than that. Jesus
wants more than that.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Ephesians two eight and nine says, for it is by
grace you have been saved through faith.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
This is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,
not by work, so that no one can boast.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
God doesn't want us to work our way in and
say whoo, I got myself into heaven. I got myself there.
I did enough. Because the truth is we can never
do enough. We will always fail, we will always hurt someone.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Anybody ever hurt anybody accidentally.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I mean, you said you did the wrong thing, and
all of a sudden they're hurt and their whole life
is turned around because of something.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I accidentally did. I can't be good enough.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'll never be good enough, and we cannot work our
way with God. But only through Jesus can we find
our righteousness. John fourteen six says, Jesus answered, I am
the Way. I am the Way and the Truth and
(09:34):
the life, and that no one comes to the Father
except through me.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Jesus is the one, the way that we get to
know God the Father. And we have all these people
in the world. We have lots of people in the
world who think that they can find Jesus in their
own way. They think they can figure it out. They
think they can just kind of work as if they're
working a job. God did not set us up that way.
(10:05):
He sent Jesus. We just we just were talking about
We're in Easter week. We're talking about that God sent
Jesus because he is the way.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So so what do.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
We have to prove? What do we have to prove
that Jesus is who he says he is. We have
to stick with that, right, I've been telling you this
is truth. Well, where do we back this up?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Now? Some people would say you need to go outside
the Bible.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But I'm I'm one of these to say I'm gonna
stick within the Bible. Now, we could we have some
historical documents out there that talk that Jesus was real.
Other other religions talk about Jesus. All of that is
out there, and I didn't research that, and I wasn't
gonna bring it in. But I'm gonna stick within the Bible.
But the Bible tells me that Jesus is real and
(10:53):
that he's true. And so so let's go with the
testimony of who the Messiah is. So let's go look
at John eleven twenty five through twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And this is Martha Lazarus.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Her brother has died, it says Jesus said to her,
Thus says the Lord, I am the Resurrection and the Life.
The one who believes in me will live even though
they die, and whoever lives by believing in Me will
never die. Do you believe this? And she says this, yes, Lord,
(11:31):
she replied, I believe that you are who the Messiah
an eyewitness account, somebody who's spent time with Jesus. I
believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,
the one who is to come into the world. We
have a person, not just somebody that's going well. I
(11:52):
kind of heard a rumor. This is somebody who is
spent time with Jesus, and she comes down to the conclusion,
I've watched him, I've hung around him, I've seen what
he's done. I believe that you could raise Lazarreuth or
you would have prevented him from dying in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And I've come to the conclusion that you are the Messiah.
Can you grasp that. It's like I've seen an accident,
I've seen something.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I've a witness to this, and i can tell you
exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And I'm telling you with my own eyes.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I've seen it, I've experienced it, I've been a part
of it, and this is what I know is truth.
And Mary says that that he is the Messiah. So
then we also have somebody else who has a proclamation
of being the Messiah, of Jesus being Messiah. So we
look at John four twenty five, in twenty six.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
This is the woman at the well.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
This is a Samaritan woman, a woman who we've talked
to him, as Pastor Tera brought up last.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Week, a woman. And I'll just leave it there.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
In Jesus's time, women did not have much status, let
alone a woman who was a Samaritan woman, let alone
a woman who had lived the life that she was living,
that Jesus knew about, who went out to the well
at the middle of the day because of her lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And so we have this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Woman and she says in John, the woman said, I
know that Messiah called the Christ is coming. When he comes,
he will explain everything to us. Then Jesus declared, I
the one speaking to you, I am he. Jesus simply says,
(13:47):
you know, there's some people out there that Jesus never
said that he was God.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
There's some people say, well, Jesus never really said that.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Jesus right here says, I am the Messiah the behavior
of the world. He proclaims it to her at this moment,
and I think it's funny that he proclaims it to
her again, a woman, And I have nothing against women.
But in the time, that was not who you proclaimed
it to. You went to the temple, you proclaimed it
(14:18):
to all those who thought they were important at the day,
and you said I am he. Jesus doesn't do that.
He goes to those of us who are out in
our spots, in our world and going through all the
things we're going through. So now we've got the self
proclamation we have a witness who have claimed him to
(14:41):
be the Messiah. And then now we have proof of
the Messiah. So in John twenty John twenty thirty and
thirty one Jesus says Jesus performed many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in
this book.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
But these are written that you may believe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and
that by believing you may have life in his name.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
So now we have John writing about all the things
he's seen.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And then all these things were done, all these miracles,
all these great things that were done, and it says
he did so many more than aren't even written.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know, sometimes you.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Hear somebody says, well, the Bible never said that. Well,
that's probably true because the Bible was not a recording, right,
we don't know that. Did Jesus spill a little, you know,
have breadcrumbs in his beard one day?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It doesn't say, but he was human. I'm assuming that
he occasionally. You know, I've gotten worse as the age.
Every time I eat, I dropped something on my shirt.
I think Jesus probably did that occasionally. But it doesn't
say that in the Bible, and so John is saying here,
not everything is recorded, but I'm telling you that I've
(16:06):
seen it. I've seen it, and we recorded some of
this stuff. But man, you cannot believe some of the
stuff we didn't put in here, and all that was
put in there for you so that you would know
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the
one who came to save us and set us free.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, now again we've got our truth.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
We've got our truth that Jesus says, and all these
witnesses are saying that Jesus is the Messiah. So that
we have that that I'm gonna build on now. Okay,
So now we have this fairy tale some guy rose
from the dead after being dead for three days.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
What that's impossible? How can that happen?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
How can anybody who was dead, let alone? You know,
you hevery once a while, you hear these stories where
somebody's in the morgue or in the hospital and all
of a sudden they wake up and then everybody freaks out.
You know, after like a few hours or whatever. This
is three days. This isn't that, this is three days later,
(17:26):
and you can read the description of what all happened
in order for Jesus to die, the beatings, the cross,
the spear, the crown. You can read all that. He
didn't survive. It wasn't just like, oh, well, he's barely breathing,
let's set him in here. And even if he did
(17:47):
was even Let's take the absurdity of that and say,
even if he was barely breathing three days unattended in
the grave in the ground, you think he'd still be
alive and walk out and.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Go, hey, here I am.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You ever had surgery, you don't walk out and go hey,
here I am. So we need to prove that Jesus
was raised from the dead, that we've come to the
conclusion that that Jesus is the son of God, he
is the Messiah. But we also need to prove that
he was raised from the dead, and so we have
(18:23):
eyewitness accounts. So we're gonna look at Mark sixteen six.
An angel says, don't be alarmed. He said, you are
looking for Jesus, the Nazarene who was crucified.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
He has risen.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
He's talking to people. He say, look he's not here.
And not only that, you're talking to an angel. You're
talking to an angel. Let me tell you something. He's
not here, he has risen. And in Luke twenty four,
(19:01):
it's in one through six. It says, on the first
day of the week, very early in the morning, the
women took the spices they had prepared and went to
the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
but when they entered, they did not find the body
of the Lord Jesus. While they were wandering around about this,
suddenly two men in clothes and that gleamed like lightning
(19:23):
stood beside them. In their fright, the women bowed down
on their faces to the ground. But the men said
to them, why do you look for the living among
the dead.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
He is not here, he is risen. Praise the Lord again, women,
I am the Messiah. He's not here. He's stepping out
(19:55):
to all of us.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
He's showing that again, eyewitness oats, he's showing and he's taken.
And again, if this was just some random guy walked
up and said, yes, oh, the rock was rolled away earlier.
I looked in there there was nobody there. That's not
what it says it says, and two men like angels. Basically,
(20:19):
it was a glowing and they bowed down in fear
of these two individuals, and they recognized that they were
messengers of God that had come, and said, he is
not here.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Why are you looking for him?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And then Matthew twenty eight five says this five through seven.
The angel said to the women, do not be afraid,
for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who
was crucified. He is not here. He has risen, just
as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He has risen
(20:55):
from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see him. And now I have told you. Oh,
does this seem repetitive to you? How many witnesses do
you need? How many stories do you need?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I add one more. Paul later has this in First Corinthians.
He's fifteen, starting with verse one. For what I received
I passed on to you as of first importance, that
Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, that he
was buried, that he was raised on the third day
(21:31):
according to scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephis.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
And then to the twelve, and after that he appeared.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
To how many more than five hundred of the brothers
and sisters at the same time, most of whom are
still living, though some have fallen asleep. All right, So
this is more than just like a couple of kooks,
you know what I mean. It's more than a couple
people getting together and saying, hey, let's play a joke.
(22:02):
It's more than a couple people. It says that it
was the women, and then the disciples, and then Peter
Cephas and then five hundred people. Jesus is alive today, folks.
(22:23):
Jesus is alive. We've got our foundation. Jesus is the
Messiah that we have backing. We have witnesses, We have
proof that Jesus not only was crucified and buried, but
has been raised again. But you know what, some people
(22:43):
don't believe that. Some people don't believe it. Even though
we have all of this, and we have all these
witnesses and we have all this out there, some people
don't believe that it is what it is. Why Well,
because I use the word fairy tale. People think it's foolishness.
They can't grasp it, they can't get a hold of it.
(23:04):
They just think it's foolishness. And so in First Corinthians
one eighteen, for the message of the cross is foolishness
for those who are perishing, but to those of us
who are being saved is the power of God.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
They can't grab a hold of it.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That just sounds dumb. It just sounds like I can't
believe this. I can't grab a hold of it. And
the truth is they can't grab a hold of it
because probably they just they.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Don't want to.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Their mind and their faith cannot be big enough to
hold on to the something.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
That we can't understand. I can't understand it, folks. Can you.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Can you grasp it? Can you hold on to the
fact that somebody was dead three days later they're alive?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
But I've got to the place that I believe it.
I believe it because others have seen it, and I've
believed it because I've experienced it in my life, and
I can experience it in my life. First Corinthians twenty
three and twenty four says, but we preach Christ crucified,
which is a stumbling block to the Jews.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And foolishness to the Gentiles.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
But to those whom God has called both Jews and
Greeks Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God,
it's just foolishness. For some, they can't get beyond it,
they can't hold on to it. And then there's some
who literally they choose ignorance. You ever seen willful ignorance?
(24:32):
Isn't that annoying? Willful ignorance is like, well, I don't know,
you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Right? They did that?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
You know they know, and they're like, I don't know.
And there's some that have this wilful chosen ignorance. John
three point nineteen in twenty says, this is the verdict.
Light has come into the world world, but people loved
(25:03):
darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and he will not
come into a light for their fear of their deeds
will be exposed. It's that old I like what I'm doing,
and if I acknowledge that God, that Jesus is who
(25:24):
he says he is, then I'm gonna have to do
something about it, because then it's real. They'd rather put
their head in the sand, they'd rather run away from it.
They'd rather just kind of pretend that you know that
it's not really real. I don't see it. I'm gonna
(25:45):
put a blinder up. And they choose.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
To do what they want to do because they like it.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And let's be honest, sometimes sin is fun, but it's
only sin, only fun for a while, and then it
just starts to destroy exactly what it says it's going
to do.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
But we don't see that. We're like, hey, but I'm
having fun now.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And so they choose this ignorance and they choose to
stay in this, and then Romans eighty five says, it's
our selfish desires. Those who live according to the flesh
have their mindset on what the flesh desires, but those
who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset
on what the spirit desires.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I'm a selfish person. We all are.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
We're born in selfishness. And I want things to go
the way I want things to go.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Anybody with me.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I want to do the things that I want to do,
and I don't want anybody tell me what to do.
I didn't like it very much when my parents told me,
and I don't like it when when other people tell
me what I should and shouldn't do. I don't like
being controlled that way. I want to do what I
want to do because I want to do it. It's
(27:17):
pretty good basic logic, there isn't it. I want to
do it, so I'm gonna do it. I want to
do it. But that's not always good for us.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It's not good for us? And so what we're talking
about here is my selfishness gets in the way of
God's righteousness. My self desires to control my life, takes
away the ability for God to step in and help
me live my life. I live my life within this
(27:51):
prison of selfishness, where God wants to open it up
to a life of light and righteousness, but I don't
see that because I'm so focused on me, and there's
so many people who are in our world who that's
all they focus on is my problems, my issues, the
things that I want to do, and so they don't
(28:15):
believe in Jesus because of these coors of the Jesus
was risen from the grave because I I don't want to.
It doesn't fit within my narrative of life. It doesn't
fit with what I want to do. And if I
give my life to Jesus. If I open myself up
to this, this this reality that Jesus is here and
(28:35):
Jesus is who he is. If I open myself up
to that, that's going to change my selfishness. And I'm
gonna have to start being selfless, and I'm gonna have
to start doing things that Jesus wants me to do.
And why would I want to do things that Jesus
wants me to do. I might have to go to church,
(28:57):
I might have to whatever.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I'm not even going to. I'm not going to go
down that list.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Right, John twelve thirty seven. I got a few verses
here twelve twelve thirty seven, forty two forty three. Though
he had done so many signs before them, they still
did not believe him. Man, I think if I saw
(29:24):
all the things that Jesus did, I don't know. You know,
you read this passage is where the religious leaders of
the day watched all the things Jesus was doing, and
they were like, nope, nope, Yeah, I realized he was blind. Oh,
(29:45):
I realized he was crippled. Oh I believe that. I
realized that there was no food and now we fed,
like you know, over five thousand people.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Oh, I recognize that that person was healed of leprosy.
Oh I got that. Yeah, I get that. Oh I
get that, I get that.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
But yeah, you're just you're a faker, You're you're a pretender.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I don't get it, but I'm not there.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
But it just says that though he'd done all these
things and all these signs before then, they still did
not believe in him. But here's why Verse forty two
kicks in. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities, believed in him,
but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it,
(30:32):
so they would not be put out of the synagogue.
For they love the glory that comes from man more
than the glory that comes from God. Oh that one
hurts a little bit. I really care about what you
think of me. I really care about what you think
(30:54):
of me. I don't want you to feel bad about me.
I don't want you to, you know, not include me
in your little group.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
I don't want you to, uh, you know, exclude me
from whatever thing that you're doing. I kinda I want
to fit in. I don't want to upset anybody ever
been in some of that I have you ever been
(31:23):
the last one picked. That's not a good feeling. I
want to be included. We want to be included, and
I and I wanna. I want to be invited to
the cool things and I want to be a part
of the fun things, and I want to be a part.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Of all that. And I've told you my story before.
In high school, that was where I lived.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Oh man, I had just enough Jesus in me to
be miserable because I still wanted to be invited to
the parties. I'd go to church on Sunday and I'd
be like, Hey, I'm a good Christian kid. And then
I'd be like, hey, guys, what's going on this week?
I live this dual lifestyle. I thought I could live
in this one and this one because I wanted to
(32:08):
be included and I didn't want to. I didn't want to.
I didn't want to go all in because if I
went all in, then I knew that this would stop.
And that's what they're here, is this vanity, this fear
of not fitting in. And truth is it was cowardice
on my part. Playing cowardice. I just I was just afraid, Well,
(32:32):
what if they don't like me anymore?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Well they won't you laugh at that? That hurts. Oh, oh,
as long as you still like me.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
We have a whole group of people in this world,
some in churches all around the world, who just cannot
buy in that Jesus is the Messiah wholeheartedly because they
cannot get past this. I want to fit in. And
(33:19):
if I, if I, if I buy all the way
into Jesus, my life will change.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
I'm going to tell you today that's true.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It will change, but I'll tell you one hundred percent,
it'll change for the better. The fears that I had
about giving everything up to Jesus were never really never realized.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
When I gave it all up to Jesus, my life
God so much better, so much better, so those who
do believe can receive. Is my next point.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
In Matthew seven thirteen and fourteen, it talks about this
narrow gate.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Enter through the narrow gate.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
For why it is the gate, and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate, and narrow the road that
leads to life.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And only a few find it.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
See, the path that we've been called to go on
is not an easy path. The path that Jesus walked
was not an easy path. Why would I expect mine
to be. We have to take our stance and understand
that it's so easy to just slide by in life
(34:57):
and just let things go and not buy in, and
not believe and not.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Hang on to it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
It's so much easier to do that than say I'm
all in. But we have the choice to believe. In
John twelve, there's a lot of verses here, but in
John twelve forty four through fifty and Jesus cried out
and said, whoever believes in me believes not in me,
(35:24):
but in him who sent me, And whoever sees me
sees him who sent me. I have come into the
world as light, so that whoever believes in me may
not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and
does not keep them, I do not judge them, for
(35:45):
I did not come to judge the.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
World, but to what to save the world.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The one who rejects me and does not receive my
words has a judge. The word that I've spoken will
judge him on the last. For I have not spoken
on my own authority, but the Father who sent me
has himself given me a commandment what to say and
what to speak, and I know that.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
His commandment is eternal life.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
What I say therefore, I say as the Father has
told me. When we reject Jesus, when we reject all
that he has said, when we don't claim him as
the Messiah, we don't believe that he was risen from
the grave. We're not just rejecting Jesus. We're rejecting God,
the father who sent him. We're rejecting the whole scheme,
(36:37):
the whole path that God has placed before us. There's
a lot of people say, oh, I believe in God.
I've told you this story I had years ago. I
had a father of a teenager say to his son.
He was trying to witness to his father and tell
him about Jesus. He says, what, you don't think I'm
a Christian. I'm an American. That's what he thought. I
(37:07):
grew up in America. It's a Christian nation. That was
his mindset. You don't think I'm a Christian, I'm an American.
We have all kinds of people who have this image
of God and who he is, and we've kind of
created all this. But what Scripture tells us is very
clear that the only way to the Father is through
(37:28):
the son, the only way we have that so the resurrection.
Well John one twelve says this. Yet all who did
not receive him, those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Children of God.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
We have the right when we believe in Jesus. We
are now considered sons and daughters of the.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Most High, and we get to hang on to that.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
For those people who felt lost and abandoned in this world,
we have a father that this says, come, I will
take you in. I will be your father, and you
can be my son, and you can be my daughter,
and I will love you, and I will care for you,
and I will take.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Care of you.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
The resurrection of Jesus is impossible. That's what it is,
which is why we believe that He's God. If it
was something that was possible, we would never be able
to hang our hats on it. If it was something
that was possible, we'd never be able to hold on
to the fact that he is God. It's only something
(38:36):
that God could have done. It is an impossibility, but
it makes it worse something. This belief saves us from ourselves,
saves us from our depression saves us from the situations
we're in. This belief saves us from the directions we're going.
It saves us from our bad moments that we're having,
the bad weeks that were going through.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
It saves us from all of that.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
To know that no matter what goes on in this world,
no matter what you're going through, that I've got a
heavenly Father that eventually I'm going to go and stand
before face to face and worship and say Hosanna, Hosanna
and the Highest Oh. It doesn't matter what you've gone
through or where you've been, doesn't matter what you've happened
(39:21):
this week. Someday somewhere down the road, we're gonna stand
before that God and we're gonna have that moment. So
our Hosanna moment is coming. I don't know if you realize,
but palm branches aren't in this passage in Matthew. It's
not the only place the palm branches come out. Let
(39:43):
me read you out of Revelations, chapter seven, verses nine
through twelve. After this, I looked, and there before me
was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and
were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried
(40:06):
out in a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne. And the lamb and all
the angels were standing around the throne, and around the
elders and around the four living creatures. They fell down
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen,
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and
(40:28):
power and strength be our God forever and ever. Amen,
Our day is coming. We have a Christ that says,
whoever believes in me, whoever believes in me, will be
standing with this group of people, this multitude, from every tribe, nation,
(40:57):
people and language, and trying out praise and glory and
honor forever and ever and ever and ever.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Amen. Do you believe today? Do you believe today? It's
my prayer, it's our prayer that you believe, because if
you don't believe, Easter has nothing for you.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Easter is about believing in a God who's loved us
so much that whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him,
shall eternal life.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
I hope you're ready for this week. I hope you're ready.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
To come and contact with the risen Savior. Let's stand together,
let's pray, and then we're gonna sing a song. Well,
why don't we just wrap the service up with the song? God,
you were good? I'm sorry. God, you are good.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Thank you for letting us have this moment. Thank you
for your blessings of Jesus in our lives. God. If
there's anybody who has heard my voice today.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
And they've had doubt, I pray that you make yourself
so real to them right now. May they step out
of that spot they've been and step completely into yours place.
Let them give it all to you, God, let them
test you on it. Let them give it all to
(42:40):
you and see what happens. God, I'm convinced that you
will meet them and show them so much more. God,
thank you for what this week represents and how it
has changed my life.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
God, we love you Today. Let's sing in Jesus
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