July 21, 2024 • 39 mins
DCN Online | Welcome Home
Join us for #dcnsunday as Pastor Scott leads us in message titled "Wholly Holy."
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 message titled "Wholly Holy."
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):
Children's church.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
We why do we We've been doing this for ever?
How can we never remember children's Church? I don't understand.
Maybe I just get excited. Maybe that's what it is.
We excited because we're going to share what the the
words of the Lord with us today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So I don't know what the deal is with that.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
But well, this morning, I want to uh tell you
we're going to start to I've got I'm preaching this
Sunday and next Sunday. It's a it's a two week
uh mini series. Wow, bless you, Wow, two week mini
series that is happening this week. And it's it's It'll come.
The titles is holy, Holy, Holy Holy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I just thought that was kind of catchy. You guys
caught that right. It's just kind of a little catchy,
little play on words there. But I want to talk
to us today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's it's it's a message about Mary Magdalene. And uh,
I don't know if I've ever actually preached on Mary,
uh any any of the years of my life. I
don't know if I've ever actually even taught on Mary.
And so let's let's read a little bit out of Luke.
If you got your Bibles now, I've got a ton
of notes this week, and they're going to try to
(01:11):
keep up with me. I have a lot of scriptures
up here, but if you want copies of my notes
this week, just let me know. I'll make sure you
get them, because I just have a lot of different.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Verses in here, and we're going to try to. We're
going to try to.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We're going to put them to the test up there
today and see if they can keep up. But we're
going to read out of Luke chapter eight, verses one
and two, and here's what it says. Soon afterward, he
went through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the
good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve
were with him, and also some women who had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from
(01:46):
whom seven demons had gone out.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Oh, let's pray God, thank you for your word.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I pray that you take the message that you have
provided for today.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I pray God that they are people people who hear.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My voice today don't really hear my voice, but they
hear yours. May our hearts be tender to the words
that you have. May your spirit be real and may
you touch us where we're at today in Jesus name.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So Mary Magdalene restored is what we're talking about today.
We read in this little passage. It's just what an
intro to somebody to scripture. Right, Mary Magdalene was with
Jesus who had been healed of seven demons. Now let's
think about that. So let Mary Magdalene. That's not her
(02:41):
last name. You guys realize that, right, like Jesus Christ
or Jesus of Nazareth, that's not his last name. Right,
that's not the name. It's Mary of Magdalah. Magdalo was
a city. It was a city of where Mary was from.
Mary was, as you know, was a very common name,
and so they had to distinguish which Mary and who
Mary and who Mary and where they sat throughout scripture
(03:03):
and all these different places. So Mary of Magdala is
where it is, and she is mentioned in all four Gospels.
She's mentioned twelve times in the Gospels, more than most
of the apostles are mentioned. Uh, it's ironic, ironic that
she was the witness is a woman you know when
we see where later in scripture, and we're going to
(03:24):
hit some of that where she witnesses the Jesus resurrected.
And it's ironic that the scripture talks about a woman
that was the first witness of Christ being risen due
to the fact that a woman's witness during the time was.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Not considered valid. It was not considered valid.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
But scripture tells us, and and and the Bible tells
us Jesus felt it was important for a woman to
be the first to reveal who that Christ had risen
from the grave. She had restored women from She was
restored back to the garden, made in the image of God.
She was empowered, including redeem Was it jesus significance moments
(04:05):
he was.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
She was again as I mentioned, she was at the cross.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
She she led him to the cross, or was with
him when they went to the cross. She she was
at his resurrection. She was the first evangelist. But prior
to all of that great stuff, Mary was out of
her mind. A lot of the research, you know, basically
say well, she probably had some kind of a mental illness.
(04:32):
Now it's very specific. She had seven demons removed.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Out of her.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now, I'm sure that created some mental issues, but I
don't know what all that means.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
But my my impression is is is that Mary was
out of her mind. She was, you know, a mess.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
She was disheveled, she was you know, couldn't couldn't control
herself most of the time. She was just uh, she
was battered and she was brewed. Oh I put here.
She was in agony, she was lost. She had lost
all control and maybe all dignity. I'm certain, I mean,
she just she had no control over who it was.
(05:11):
Now it says that it doesn't say she was afflicted
with one demon or two demons.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That says seven.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And as if you know anything about scripture, if you've
studied at all, seven in the Bible, for for whatever reason,
is a very significant number. I Mean, the list goes
on and on and on, and I'm not going to
take the time of all the areas where seven is
mentioned in scripture. But the concept of seven is completeness
or wholeness.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So when it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Says that Mary was I'm projecting here, when it says
that Mary was consumed by seven demons.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was completely, it was whole, all of who she was.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It was it was this complete wholeness of who she
was was consumed by these demons. And because of that,
the image of God was destroyed in her. She was
never no longer the embodiment of this image of God.
(06:16):
So we're gonna start pulling up our verses here. We're
gonna start in Genesis Genesis one twenty seven, it says,
so God created man in his own image and the
image of God.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He created him male and female.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
He created them at the beginning, it says in Genesis
one and two. And this is not on the screen.
It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit
of God was hovering over the waters. And we have
this image that that God created man and woman in
(06:53):
his image. It says in his image, he created them
male and female. But prior to that, it says that
the whole world was in empty, and God brought all
that together and was formless, and darkness was over the surface.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Of the deep.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
But then at the end of day six we read
in Genesis one thirty one, and God saw everything he
had made, and behold, it was very good, and there
was evening, and there was morning the sixth day.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So we have this great emptiness.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We have this creation happening where God is creating and
he's creating, and he's creating, and he gets done. He
makes or in the process, he makes man and woman.
And it says he doesn't make animals in his image,
he doesn't make anything else in his image, but he
makes you and I in his image, and he gets
done with all of that, and he says he doesn't
(07:51):
just say it's good, but it's very good.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
However, we know, as Paul Harvey, for those.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Who are older, the rest of the story, don't We
We know the rest of the story. And so in
Genesis three we read G. Three twenty three. Therefore God
sent him out from the garden of Eden to work
the ground for which he was taken. He drove out
the man, and at the east of the garden of
Edeny placed a cherub him and a flaming sword that
(08:20):
turned every way to guard the way to the tree
of life. Mankind messed up. They made choices. They decided
to go against God. And then we get all the
way and it just goes downhill for that, and it
goes downhill fast.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
We get to Genesis chapter six, and if you were.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Just reading a normal novel, all of a sudden, you know,
it's like you're reading your chapter one.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's like, hey, everything's great.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And then chapter six everything completely falls apart. The world
quickly devolved into darkness and Noah and chapter six says
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every indication, every intention, of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Continuously, that
(09:08):
we no longer sought God, but we sought evil. And
from that moment on, from that moment, from from where
we were in the garden to this moment of chapter
six to the moment we are today, we have been homesick.
We've been longing to get back to the garden. We've
been longing to get back into the presence of God.
(09:31):
To fill this longing in our hearts, to fill this emptiness,
we try to fill it with anything and everything where
we want to get back to the beginning, but we
don't know how to get there. And it's and it's
like a puzzle, you know, don't you hate that everybody's
put together a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Tara had a rough time Pastor Tarah had a rough time.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
With the One with the Shapes I wanted to get
that today and show her how to do it, but
I just said, you know, I'm gonna I'm picking on
it today because I know she's.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Watching and I want her to know that we all noticed.
But don't you hate it?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You know when you put together it's a five hundred
piece or two hundred and fifty piece or a thousand
or whatever many piece puzzle, and you get to the
end and you're.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Like, there's no more pieces, but I got a hole.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I mean, you've been working on it forever and ever
and ever, and you've gone through it all and there's
a piece missing, and you just open the box so
you know you didn't lose it.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So it's not on the floor.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That hole, that emptiness, that same feeling is in our hearts.
There's just something where we kind of look good on
the outside. We have the box, we look great, but
then when you start putting this together, and there's just
a hole somewhere in us, and we're always longing and
we're not complete, we're not whole. Ecclesiastes three eleven says
(10:58):
he has put in eternity in a.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Man's heart that nothing can satisfy.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We have eternity built within us, and nothing can satisfy that.
We try to fill it with anything and everything. We
grab into all these things, whether it be relationships or money,
or jobs or whatever it is. We try to figure
out what these things are. And our world is longing
for this eternity. But we see this paradise lost in
(11:28):
Genesis two and three. It was whole, it was perfect,
It was the perfect place. The garden was perfect. But
we're longing for a home but can't get there. But
often we settle for chaos. We settle for the emptiness,
(11:51):
the void. We settle for filling that gap with whatever
it is that we have, that emptiness, that meaninglessness. And
then the garden we have, we settle for broken relationships.
The garden created the fall in the garden created a
broken relationship between.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
God and man mankind and Adam and Eve.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
It created this, this this relationship that became strifeful. I mean,
right after they get kicked out, we hear about that
they have children, and what does one of the children do.
It kills the other, and it just goes on and
on and so the relationship between God and mankind is broken.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So question number one that I have for.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Us today is what do you do when things are formless,
empty and meaningless in your life?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What do you do? What do you try to fill
it with?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
How are you trying to fill that meaninglessness? How are
you trying to to feel that those those empty moments
in your life? The question number two I put, can
the shattered image image of God be restored? Can it
ever get back to the garden? Can we ever make
(13:19):
it back to the image that we were made in
the image of God, male and female? He created them?
Can we ever get back to that image? And if
we can, which I'm proposing that we can today, what
does that look like?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
What does that look like? For us? And so let's
start with this. This is wholeness. This is wholeness.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
We're gonna pull up Mark twelve, Mark twelve thirty says,
and you shall love the Lord your God with all
of your heart, and with all of your soul, and
with all of your mind, and with.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
All of your strength.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And then Matthew twenty two thirty nine says, and the
second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So how does this look What does wholeness look like?
What does wholeness look like?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
For us.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
So let's take a look at Mary's Let's take a
look at Mary's life. We know what brokenness looks like
in her life. We can imagine. It doesn't give a
whole lot of description, but we have a real idea
of what brokenness looks like. Anytime that someone can be
claimed and said, oh, and by the way, they had
seven demons, we have a pretty good feel for what
(14:45):
brokenness looks like. And if you want to look at brokenness,
look around our world. You can see it in the
faces of people you love and people you know. So
I thought, since Mary was broken, and she was whole,
completely covered and demons the seven, I thought, I'd give
(15:06):
you seven ways that God creates wholeness in our lives
this morning. And so number one, she took what she
had to support the ministry of Jesus. If you look
in those first verses there in Luke eight one and three,
it says soon afterward he went on through the cities
and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the
(15:29):
Kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him, and
also some of the women who had been healed of
evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Echusrah
Herod's household manager, and Suzanne and Susannah and many others
who provided for them out of their means. See when
(15:53):
Mary we read more about Mary, Well, let me read
Mark fifteen here and I'll go through this a little
bit more. Mark fifteen says, when he was in Galilee, they,
which was included Mary, followed him and ministered to him.
There were also many other womens who came up with
him to Jerusalem. So we have this group of women,
and we understand that when we come to Christ in
(16:15):
order to be whole.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
When Christ comes in our.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Life, part of our responsibility to wholeness is understanding who
God is and ministering, excuse me, and ministering on his behalf.
It says, and we have to support the ministry of
what Jesus is doing. And it talks about that Mary
and the women, the disciples and the apostles. They were
(16:41):
going around town to town Jesus was going and they
were the one funding the mission. They were the ones
who had means for whatever reason. There's different reasons why
they could have had money. We can read through that,
and I don't need to go through that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
But what it tells us is is that.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
They went out of their way to minace her to
Jesus and the disciples. They went out of their way
to pay for things. Meals, they went out of there
and supplies. They went out of their way. I'm assuming
they went out of their way. It says that they
ministered to them. I don't know what that all consists of,
but I mean, you can imagine what that means. You know,
(17:18):
they helped take care of things, They helped assisted.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
In things that they were going on.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
If they were traveling here and they needed something, they
stepped in. They potentially made meals, right, they carried stuff, whatever.
But the point being is in order we see that
Mary's we see that Mary's wholeness is tied to when
when she was at one point she didn't know Jesus
(17:47):
because of the demons, and she met Jesus and it
says she turned and began to minister to Jesus and
she began to sacrifice herself for Jesus. So I put
this on there, and it's going to show up on
the notes there. It says restoration to wholeness is recognized
through serving, serving Jesus, serving or ministering to others, both
(18:13):
both physically and financially. The wholeness of who we are
as believers in Christ and falls in this category. As
Number one here is that our responsibility is to minister
to others in our efforts.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Physically, we have to.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Do something, we have to do something, and then we
also have to we have to give something. And as
a preacher, you know, we have a bad rap. Every
peacher is always asking for money. I'm not asking for
your money. I don't care if you give it to
me or not. But if somebody next to you needs
(18:50):
some money for whatever reason, minister to them financially. See
that's what I'm talking about. Of course, the church runs
off money and all those other things.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
But the point being.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Here is that Mary took what she had, what God
had given her, her abilities, her skill sets, her finances,
her resources, and she applied that to ministry.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
To help Jesus and the disciples.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Number two, as I put, she was willing to take
a risk. And so we see Mary at the crucifixion.
In Mark fifteen forty, it says there were also some
women looking on from a distance among them were Mary
Magdalene and Marry, the mother of James the Younger and
of Josephs and Saloam. And then in John nineteen twenty
(19:39):
five says, but standing by the cross of Jesus were
his mother and his mother's sister, Marry, the wife of Clopus,
and Mary Magdalene.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Who don't you see standing at the cross the disciples?
Thank you? He don't see the disciples at the cross?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We understand, and we read that they all scattered when
all this happened.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
They scattered. But Mary took a risk.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
What's the risk that she could be called a disciple
of Jesus who is being crucified the Roman soldiers that
the powers of the day, the Jewish Council, could have
taken these women and any of the disciples and done
what they wanted with them. But we see that Mary
(20:30):
was willing to take a risk. She was willing to
stand at the cross. And I put on here restoration
to wholeness is recognizing those willing to be present, to
show up and to be counted.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Wholeness in Christ are for those who have.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Boldness in Christ, those who are willing to take the risk.
You know, it's really hard sometimes to share Jesus, not
that somebody's gonna abuse me, like physically.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I don't have that fear that if I say, hey.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Do you know Jesus, and they're gonna just, you know,
start beating me. But I could get embarrassed, they could
tell me no, they could make me feel bad, and
I'll be uncomfortable and all these other things, right, and
it's a little hard. I remember when I was a teenager.
I don't tell this story a lot, but it's a
true story. I was, I was, I was in my car,
(21:33):
and there was I was back in the day when
I was kind of in that age that I've told
you about where I kind of had enough Jesus to
make me miserable but not enough to follow him. And
you know, those the year those years for me, there
was this girl, but always this girl. There was this
(21:53):
girl and I was talking about going to church or
something and and she said, oh, are you one of
those Christians?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And me wanting to impress, I said no.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Because I didn't want I didn't want the wrath of
whatever that meant.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Now she may have been like, oh, I am too,
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
My point being is is we're a little scared, and
I wasn't willing to take the risk and put my
neck out.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
And those who are our whole.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
In Christ, those who have filled that hole in Christ,
should have the ability to say, I am restored by
the King, and let me tell you about the King.
I should be able to stand on that I show up,
I'm there. Number three I put. Mary understood the assignments.
(22:51):
She took the responsibility it was what to come, and
prepared herself for it.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
In Matthew twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a
clean linen shroud and laid it in his own tomb,
which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled
a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and
went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there
sitting opposite.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Of the tomb.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
They knew what was coming, and in order to do
what they knew what that they had to.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Do, they had to be involved and be present. She
knew the assignment. She knew that that body it was.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
We were where we were over a sabbath, you know,
weekend in the timeframe, and they knew that that body
was going to lay in there, and that on that
morning they were going to have to go back. They
were going to have to go and wrap that body,
prepare the body for the burial that's already been buried,
(23:55):
and do the work. And in order to do that,
they needed to know where Jesus was. And the truth
is in that not everybody knew where the bodies were
going to be after they've been crucified. Jesus was actually
in a strange position because most of the time they
just took those bodies down and threw them on the
garbage heaps. They didn't get a proper burial. So she
(24:16):
had to know where it was that Jesus was being buried.
And so restoration to wholeness is recognized. And those who
know their purpose in the mission of Christ and are
prepared for it. We've been talking about the mission and
your mission and your purpose. Wholeness in our Christian walk
comes with understanding what our purpose is and how we
(24:38):
fit into this big picture of the body of Christ.
Not everyone is called to preach, aren't you glad? Not
everyone is called to be organized, aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Some are right?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I mean, I've spent an hour and a half trying
to get all the technology in this place working.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
This morning, the guirrels were gone. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know, it takes people who have talents and skills
and all these other things. But we have to know
our purpose, and we have to work within our purpose,
and we have to prepare and do the things within
our purpose because that's how we figure our wholeness in
the Body of Christ. And I don't know if you
ever thought about this, is if one piece of the
puzzle of Christ has taken out, the puzzle's got a
(25:27):
hole in it when one of our Body of Christ
are not fulfilling their responsibility that God has ordained them
to do and to be a part of. When you
do not step into it and you don't prepare for
it and you let it slide, you hurt the body
of Christ. And there's a hole in the body of Christ.
(25:48):
And I can't stress that enough. I can't stress that enough.
The abundance that comes in a church comes through those
who are here and those who participate. Every time you
hear in a church that you know, hey, we need, hey,
we need, hey, we need it's because somebody has not
(26:09):
necessarily stepped into their role and we're constantly searching for
somebody to step into their role and their purpose. So
number four Mary did what was difficult. Mark sixteen, when
the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene Marry the mother of
(26:30):
James and Saloam, bought spices so that he might go
and anoint him, and very early on the first day
of the week with it, when the sun had risen,
they went to the tomb. Can you imagine we've all
lost somebody. I've been in some of those bad situations
where you had to take care of a body, and
(26:54):
I've had to do that with some loved ones, and
I've had.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
To do some crazy things.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But to marry in the ladies there that decided that
they knew the responsibility and it was not going to
be an easy day.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Can you imagine it was not going to be an
easy day.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
They got up knowing that they were going to get
spices and things to wrap the body of Christ that
had been absolutely destroyed, that had been laying there now
for a few days.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Right, It was a difficult.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It was a difficult task, but she knew that she
had to step into those moments. Restoration to wholeness is
recognized in those who do what's necessary to serve Jesus even.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
When it's hard. It's hard sometimes serving Jesus truth is,
it's really inconvenient. A lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Times he likes to do things they don't want to do.
And I've told you this is this is my confession
to the church. You guys know, I'm not the most
I'm not the best at bedside manner and coming and
(28:16):
see people. I struggle with it, coming and doing visitations,
coming in and into your homes. And the truth is
as comfortable as I get up here, and that's that's
a miss, that's a weird thing. But as comfortable as
I am up here preaching and in front of a group,
(28:36):
getting in a one to one conversation with somebody, I
have a real hard.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Time with it. I know. You tell you guys like, yeah, right, no,
it's true.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And and so I know that in order to be
a better pastor, in order to be more of who
Christ has called me to be, I have.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
To stretch myself at times. I have to.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
You know, Pastor Terrorists, she's so organized and she's so
good with people. And Pastor Lisa, she doesn't know a stranger,
but you know, they give me my list and say okay,
you need to go visit people, and I'm like, okay,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Jesus. Right, it's not that I don't love people. I mean,
I absolutely love you all. You know that. I think
you know that.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It's just I don't know how to have that strange
conversation all the time. But God has called us, Jesus
is calling us that when we are restored, we have
to step into the hard things. We have to step
into the uncomfortable things. We have to step into the
difficult things. We have to stretch ourselves and to the
(29:44):
point it hurts sometimes, and we just have to do that.
Number five I put Mary was invested in Jesus. In
John twenty, verse eleven, it says, but Mary stood weeping
outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stood to
(30:04):
look into the tomb.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And then verse.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Fifteen says this, Jesus said to hear her, woman, why
are you weeping? Who are you seeking? Supposing him to
be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you
have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him,
and I will take him away.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
We will catch this in a second here.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
But we understand that when when Mary and the others
went and told the disciples. They all she went. They
came back. The disciples looked and were like, now.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
What, and they went away. But Mary stayed. Mary stayed.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
She was completely invested in Jesus and she was like
devastated that he wasn't there. But then that last part
of that scripture it says, sir, if you've carried him away,
tell me where you are and laid him, and I'll
I'll take him.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
She was invested. She was weeping that he was gone.
She was like, what have they done with Jesus? What
have they done with the one I love?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Restoration to wholeness is recognized in those who are emotionally invested.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
In and long to see Jesus.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I know at times we are not. Let's just be honest.
That's what we're supposed to do. Right we're at church.
The preacher, you hope, is being honest with you. We
are not the most energetic emotional church, are we. I
have not seen anybody running up and down the aisles recently,
(31:52):
and we sometimes were kind of like, hey, put a
smile on your face.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
We say that from up here every once in a
while because.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
We see you guys don't. We've said this too. We
can see you right, and then you'll get a few
of us who will raise our hand.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
We get a little excited. I get I get a
little excited. I'll be like, right, that's my emotion coming
out right, per somebody who's whole.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
If you ever, if you ever got to the place
where where you've been redeemed, where you've been saved, if
you were drowning in a lake and somebody pulled you out,
you'd be exhausted, but you'd be so thankful and your
emotions will be overwhelming. You ever been in a spot
like that where something horrible happened. I remember I got
(32:43):
in a fight as a teenager and I didn't even lose,
but afterwards, I just all the emotion, the adrenaline. I
just started weeping. And my friends are like, what's wrong.
I say, I don't know. You want to fight? When
Jesus makes us whole, we ought to get a little
(33:07):
excited about it.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I'm not saying you have to run the aisles. I'm
not saying you have to walk across the seats. I
don't have to say. I'm not saying all of that,
But somewhere along line. Mary was weeping because her Savior
was gone, and she recognized that she longed for Jesus
to be back. And I pray for the day that
we begin to long for the Savior to be back,
(33:33):
for us to get a little excited that we've gathered
together on a Sunday morning and praised our Savior and
in a given moment that some music is playing. And
I'm not saying again that you have to get super
crazy or anything like that, but it sure would be
nice if you got excited that the Savior that we're
singing about put a little something in you. And you
(33:55):
can see I get a little emotion about this. I
love my Christ, I know what He's done for me.
I'd love to come and worship. I'm so thankful for
our team. I'm thankful that that they they came, and
they practice and they work and they use their gifts.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And we don't need music.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
We don't need music, but man, it's something about when
God brings the music together and the Holy Spirit begins
to fill the room and we begin to listen and
we begin to sing, and we get to begin to
get invested in what's happening, and all of a sudden,
I can't stand still. You've been there, some of you
have been there, and somewhere you lost it. Mary waited
(34:39):
on Jesus. Mary waited on Jesus is the next thing.
Mary waited on Jesus. The disciples had departed, she stayed.
John twenty ten says, then the disciples went back to
their home. So Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And
as she wept, she stooped to look inside the tombs.
(34:59):
Red of wholeness is recognizing those who wait on Jesus
when even when all seems lost, broken or meaningless. Anybody
ever felt lost, broken or life was meaningless. Wholeness in
Christ understands that when those moments come in, you dig
your heels in and you get on your knees and
(35:21):
you say, God, my prayers seem like they're bouncing off
the ceilings and nothing seems to be happening. But God,
I'm hanging on and I'm gonna hold on until I
hear your voice, until I hear an answer, until that
thing happens that I've been crying out to you to
happen in my life. And God, I realize that it
feels empty, and it feels like I'm going through this
struggle in my life, and I've got all these issues
(35:43):
that are happening.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
But God, you are the God, and I will wait on.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Your answers today. And wholeness is a person who believes
that God is the God who could answer our prayers,
and that we will wait on his answers and not
try to find our own, that we will get a
little to that place that we just say, God, this
(36:07):
is beyond me. This is way beyond anything I can handle,
This way beyond anything I can do. But I will
wait on the Lord, and I will hear him answer.
Number seven Mary honored or worshiped. She obeyed and proclaimed
(36:29):
the good news. I already mentioned that Jesus first appeared
to Mary. Jesus first appeared to Mary. Do you guys
catch that? And he said, go and tell the disciples,
the apostles, what has happened.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
He used a woman who had no standing in.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Society to proclaim the greatest news that was ever told.
And what does she do? Let's read John twenty sixteen.
Jesus said to her Mary. She turned and said to
him in Aramaic raboni, which means teacher.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
And I wanted to understand it's not like, hey, teach,
it was teacher. I can't kneel my niece. Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
This teacher, is this worship, this reverence, that you are
the Messiah, that you've called yourself out to.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Be Rabboni, she cries it out. I can't believe it's you, teacher.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for
I have not yet ascended to the father. But go
to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending
to my father and your father. Do you catch that
word your father, my father, and your father, woman of demons, woman,
(38:03):
my father and your father, to my God and your God.
That's powerful stuff. Mary Magdalene went and announced the disciples,
I have seen the Lord.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I have seen the Lord.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
And Luke twenty four says this, why do you seek
the living among the dead.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
He is not here, but he has risen.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Remember how he told you while he was in Galilee,
that the son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men and be crucified. And on the
third day rise and they remembered his words, and returning
from the tomb, they told all these things to eleven
and all the rest that was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
and marry the mother James and the other women with
them who told these things to the apostle, they became
(38:50):
the voice of the one. The Messiah has risen. Messiah
is real.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Don't you remember he told us this was going to happen,
and I have seen Jesus restoration to wholeness is recognized.
Children's church.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
We why do we We've been doing this for ever?
How can we never remember children's Church? I don't understand.
Maybe I just get excited. Maybe that's what it is.
We excited because we're going to share what the the
words of the Lord with us today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So I don't know what the deal is with that.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
But well, this morning, I want to uh tell you
we're going to start to I've got I'm preaching this
Sunday and next Sunday. It's a it's a two week
uh mini series. Wow, bless you, Wow, two week mini
series that is happening this week. And it's it's It'll come.
The titles is holy, Holy, Holy Holy.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I just thought that was kind of catchy. You guys
caught that right. It's just kind of a little catchy,
little play on words there. But I want to talk
to us today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's it's it's a message about Mary Magdalene. And uh,
I don't know if I've ever actually preached on Mary,
uh any any of the years of my life. I
don't know if I've ever actually even taught on Mary.
And so let's let's read a little bit out of Luke.
If you got your Bibles now, I've got a ton
of notes this week, and they're going to try to
(01:11):
keep up with me. I have a lot of scriptures
up here, but if you want copies of my notes
this week, just let me know. I'll make sure you
get them, because I just have a lot of different.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Verses in here, and we're going to try to. We're
going to try to.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
We're going to put them to the test up there
today and see if they can keep up. But we're
going to read out of Luke chapter eight, verses one
and two, and here's what it says. Soon afterward, he
went through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the
good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve
were with him, and also some women who had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from
(01:46):
whom seven demons had gone out.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Oh, let's pray God, thank you for your word.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I pray that you take the message that you have
provided for today.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I pray God that they are people people who hear.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
My voice today don't really hear my voice, but they
hear yours. May our hearts be tender to the words
that you have. May your spirit be real and may
you touch us where we're at today in Jesus name.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So Mary Magdalene restored is what we're talking about today.
We read in this little passage. It's just what an
intro to somebody to scripture. Right, Mary Magdalene was with
Jesus who had been healed of seven demons. Now let's
think about that. So let Mary Magdalene. That's not her
(02:41):
last name. You guys realize that, right, like Jesus Christ
or Jesus of Nazareth, that's not his last name. Right,
that's not the name. It's Mary of Magdalah. Magdalo was
a city. It was a city of where Mary was from.
Mary was, as you know, was a very common name,
and so they had to distinguish which Mary and who
Mary and who Mary and where they sat throughout scripture
(03:03):
and all these different places. So Mary of Magdala is
where it is, and she is mentioned in all four Gospels.
She's mentioned twelve times in the Gospels, more than most
of the apostles are mentioned. Uh, it's ironic, ironic that
she was the witness is a woman you know when
we see where later in scripture, and we're going to
(03:24):
hit some of that where she witnesses the Jesus resurrected.
And it's ironic that the scripture talks about a woman
that was the first witness of Christ being risen due
to the fact that a woman's witness during the time was.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Not considered valid. It was not considered valid.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
But scripture tells us, and and and the Bible tells
us Jesus felt it was important for a woman to
be the first to reveal who that Christ had risen
from the grave. She had restored women from She was
restored back to the garden, made in the image of God.
She was empowered, including redeem Was it jesus significance moments
(04:05):
he was.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
She was again as I mentioned, she was at the cross.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
She she led him to the cross, or was with
him when they went to the cross. She she was
at his resurrection. She was the first evangelist. But prior
to all of that great stuff, Mary was out of
her mind. A lot of the research, you know, basically
say well, she probably had some kind of a mental illness.
(04:32):
Now it's very specific. She had seven demons removed.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Out of her.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Now, I'm sure that created some mental issues, but I
don't know what all that means.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
But my my impression is is is that Mary was
out of her mind. She was, you know, a mess.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
She was disheveled, she was you know, couldn't couldn't control
herself most of the time. She was just uh, she
was battered and she was brewed. Oh I put here.
She was in agony, she was lost. She had lost
all control and maybe all dignity. I'm certain, I mean,
she just she had no control over who it was.
(05:11):
Now it says that it doesn't say she was afflicted
with one demon or two demons.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That says seven.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And as if you know anything about scripture, if you've
studied at all, seven in the Bible, for for whatever reason,
is a very significant number. I Mean, the list goes
on and on and on, and I'm not going to
take the time of all the areas where seven is
mentioned in scripture. But the concept of seven is completeness
or wholeness.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So when it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Says that Mary was I'm projecting here, when it says
that Mary was consumed by seven demons.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It was completely, it was whole, all of who she was.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It was it was this complete wholeness of who she
was was consumed by these demons. And because of that,
the image of God was destroyed in her. She was
never no longer the embodiment of this image of God.
(06:16):
So we're gonna start pulling up our verses here. We're
gonna start in Genesis Genesis one twenty seven, it says,
so God created man in his own image and the
image of God.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He created him male and female.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
He created them at the beginning, it says in Genesis
one and two. And this is not on the screen.
It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit
of God was hovering over the waters. And we have
this image that that God created man and woman in
(06:53):
his image. It says in his image, he created them
male and female. But prior to that, it says that
the whole world was in empty, and God brought all
that together and was formless, and darkness was over the surface.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Of the deep.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
But then at the end of day six we read
in Genesis one thirty one, and God saw everything he
had made, and behold, it was very good, and there
was evening, and there was morning the sixth day.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So we have this great emptiness.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We have this creation happening where God is creating and
he's creating, and he's creating, and he gets done. He
makes or in the process, he makes man and woman.
And it says he doesn't make animals in his image,
he doesn't make anything else in his image, but he
makes you and I in his image, and he gets
done with all of that, and he says he doesn't
(07:51):
just say it's good, but it's very good.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
However, we know, as Paul Harvey, for those.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Who are older, the rest of the story, don't We
We know the rest of the story. And so in
Genesis three we read G. Three twenty three. Therefore God
sent him out from the garden of Eden to work
the ground for which he was taken. He drove out
the man, and at the east of the garden of
Edeny placed a cherub him and a flaming sword that
(08:20):
turned every way to guard the way to the tree
of life. Mankind messed up. They made choices. They decided
to go against God. And then we get all the
way and it just goes downhill for that, and it
goes downhill fast.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
We get to Genesis chapter six, and if you were.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Just reading a normal novel, all of a sudden, you know,
it's like you're reading your chapter one.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's like, hey, everything's great.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And then chapter six everything completely falls apart. The world
quickly devolved into darkness and Noah and chapter six says
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every indication, every intention, of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil. Continuously, that
(09:08):
we no longer sought God, but we sought evil. And
from that moment on, from that moment, from from where
we were in the garden to this moment of chapter
six to the moment we are today, we have been homesick.
We've been longing to get back to the garden. We've
been longing to get back into the presence of God.
(09:31):
To fill this longing in our hearts, to fill this emptiness,
we try to fill it with anything and everything where
we want to get back to the beginning, but we
don't know how to get there. And it's and it's
like a puzzle, you know, don't you hate that everybody's
put together a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Tara had a rough time Pastor Tarah had a rough time.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
With the One with the Shapes I wanted to get
that today and show her how to do it, but
I just said, you know, I'm gonna I'm picking on
it today because I know she's.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Watching and I want her to know that we all noticed.
But don't you hate it?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You know when you put together it's a five hundred
piece or two hundred and fifty piece or a thousand
or whatever many piece puzzle, and you get to the
end and you're.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Like, there's no more pieces, but I got a hole.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I mean, you've been working on it forever and ever
and ever, and you've gone through it all and there's
a piece missing, and you just open the box so
you know you didn't lose it.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So it's not on the floor.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That hole, that emptiness, that same feeling is in our hearts.
There's just something where we kind of look good on
the outside. We have the box, we look great, but
then when you start putting this together, and there's just
a hole somewhere in us, and we're always longing and
we're not complete, we're not whole. Ecclesiastes three eleven says
(10:58):
he has put in eternity in a.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Man's heart that nothing can satisfy.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We have eternity built within us, and nothing can satisfy that.
We try to fill it with anything and everything. We
grab into all these things, whether it be relationships or money,
or jobs or whatever it is. We try to figure
out what these things are. And our world is longing
for this eternity. But we see this paradise lost in
(11:28):
Genesis two and three. It was whole, it was perfect,
It was the perfect place. The garden was perfect. But
we're longing for a home but can't get there. But
often we settle for chaos. We settle for the emptiness,
(11:51):
the void. We settle for filling that gap with whatever
it is that we have, that emptiness, that meaninglessness. And
then the garden we have, we settle for broken relationships.
The garden created the fall in the garden created a
broken relationship between.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
God and man mankind and Adam and Eve.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
It created this, this this relationship that became strifeful. I mean,
right after they get kicked out, we hear about that
they have children, and what does one of the children do.
It kills the other, and it just goes on and
on and so the relationship between God and mankind is broken.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So question number one that I have for.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Us today is what do you do when things are formless,
empty and meaningless in your life?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What do you do? What do you try to fill
it with?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
How are you trying to fill that meaninglessness? How are
you trying to to feel that those those empty moments
in your life? The question number two I put, can
the shattered image image of God be restored? Can it
ever get back to the garden? Can we ever make
(13:19):
it back to the image that we were made in
the image of God, male and female? He created them?
Can we ever get back to that image? And if
we can, which I'm proposing that we can today, what
does that look like?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
What does that look like? For us? And so let's
start with this. This is wholeness. This is wholeness.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
We're gonna pull up Mark twelve, Mark twelve thirty says,
and you shall love the Lord your God with all
of your heart, and with all of your soul, and
with all of your mind, and with.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
All of your strength.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And then Matthew twenty two thirty nine says, and the
second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So how does this look What does wholeness look like?
What does wholeness look like?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
For us.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
So let's take a look at Mary's Let's take a
look at Mary's life. We know what brokenness looks like
in her life. We can imagine. It doesn't give a
whole lot of description, but we have a real idea
of what brokenness looks like. Anytime that someone can be
claimed and said, oh, and by the way, they had
seven demons, we have a pretty good feel for what
(14:45):
brokenness looks like. And if you want to look at brokenness,
look around our world. You can see it in the
faces of people you love and people you know. So
I thought, since Mary was broken, and she was whole,
completely covered and demons the seven, I thought, I'd give
(15:06):
you seven ways that God creates wholeness in our lives
this morning. And so number one, she took what she
had to support the ministry of Jesus. If you look
in those first verses there in Luke eight one and three,
it says soon afterward he went on through the cities
and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the
(15:29):
Kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him, and
also some of the women who had been healed of
evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Echusrah
Herod's household manager, and Suzanne and Susannah and many others
who provided for them out of their means. See when
(15:53):
Mary we read more about Mary, Well, let me read
Mark fifteen here and I'll go through this a little
bit more. Mark fifteen says, when he was in Galilee, they,
which was included Mary, followed him and ministered to him.
There were also many other womens who came up with
him to Jerusalem. So we have this group of women,
and we understand that when we come to Christ in
(16:15):
order to be whole.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
When Christ comes in our.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Life, part of our responsibility to wholeness is understanding who
God is and ministering, excuse me, and ministering on his behalf.
It says, and we have to support the ministry of
what Jesus is doing. And it talks about that Mary
and the women, the disciples and the apostles. They were
(16:41):
going around town to town Jesus was going and they
were the one funding the mission. They were the ones
who had means for whatever reason. There's different reasons why
they could have had money. We can read through that,
and I don't need to go through that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
But what it tells us is is that.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
They went out of their way to minace her to
Jesus and the disciples. They went out of their way
to pay for things. Meals, they went out of there
and supplies. They went out of their way. I'm assuming
they went out of their way. It says that they
ministered to them. I don't know what that all consists of,
but I mean, you can imagine what that means. You know,
(17:18):
they helped take care of things, They helped assisted.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
In things that they were going on.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
If they were traveling here and they needed something, they
stepped in. They potentially made meals, right, they carried stuff, whatever.
But the point being is in order we see that
Mary's we see that Mary's wholeness is tied to when
when she was at one point she didn't know Jesus
(17:47):
because of the demons, and she met Jesus and it
says she turned and began to minister to Jesus and
she began to sacrifice herself for Jesus. So I put
this on there, and it's going to show up on
the notes there. It says restoration to wholeness is recognized
through serving, serving Jesus, serving or ministering to others, both
(18:13):
both physically and financially. The wholeness of who we are
as believers in Christ and falls in this category. As
Number one here is that our responsibility is to minister
to others in our efforts.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Physically, we have to.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Do something, we have to do something, and then we
also have to we have to give something. And as
a preacher, you know, we have a bad rap. Every
peacher is always asking for money. I'm not asking for
your money. I don't care if you give it to
me or not. But if somebody next to you needs
(18:50):
some money for whatever reason, minister to them financially. See
that's what I'm talking about. Of course, the church runs
off money and all those other things.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
But the point being.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Here is that Mary took what she had, what God
had given her, her abilities, her skill sets, her finances,
her resources, and she applied that to ministry.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
To help Jesus and the disciples.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Number two, as I put, she was willing to take
a risk. And so we see Mary at the crucifixion.
In Mark fifteen forty, it says there were also some
women looking on from a distance among them were Mary
Magdalene and Marry, the mother of James the Younger and
of Josephs and Saloam. And then in John nineteen twenty
(19:39):
five says, but standing by the cross of Jesus were
his mother and his mother's sister, Marry, the wife of Clopus,
and Mary Magdalene.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Who don't you see standing at the cross the disciples?
Thank you? He don't see the disciples at the cross?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We understand, and we read that they all scattered when
all this happened.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
They scattered. But Mary took a risk.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
What's the risk that she could be called a disciple
of Jesus who is being crucified the Roman soldiers that
the powers of the day, the Jewish Council, could have
taken these women and any of the disciples and done
what they wanted with them. But we see that Mary
(20:30):
was willing to take a risk. She was willing to
stand at the cross. And I put on here restoration
to wholeness is recognizing those willing to be present, to
show up and to be counted.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Wholeness in Christ are for those who have.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Boldness in Christ, those who are willing to take the risk.
You know, it's really hard sometimes to share Jesus, not
that somebody's gonna abuse me, like physically.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
I don't have that fear that if I say, hey.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Do you know Jesus, and they're gonna just, you know,
start beating me. But I could get embarrassed, they could
tell me no, they could make me feel bad, and
I'll be uncomfortable and all these other things, right, and
it's a little hard. I remember when I was a teenager.
I don't tell this story a lot, but it's a
true story. I was, I was, I was in my car,
(21:33):
and there was I was back in the day when
I was kind of in that age that I've told
you about where I kind of had enough Jesus to
make me miserable but not enough to follow him. And
you know, those the year those years for me, there
was this girl, but always this girl. There was this
(21:53):
girl and I was talking about going to church or
something and and she said, oh, are you one of
those Christians?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And me wanting to impress, I said no.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Because I didn't want I didn't want the wrath of
whatever that meant.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Now she may have been like, oh, I am too,
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
My point being is is we're a little scared, and
I wasn't willing to take the risk and put my
neck out.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
And those who are our whole.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
In Christ, those who have filled that hole in Christ,
should have the ability to say, I am restored by
the King, and let me tell you about the King.
I should be able to stand on that I show up,
I'm there. Number three I put. Mary understood the assignments.
(22:51):
She took the responsibility it was what to come, and
prepared herself for it.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
In Matthew twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a
clean linen shroud and laid it in his own tomb,
which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled
a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and
went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there
sitting opposite.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Of the tomb.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
They knew what was coming, and in order to do
what they knew what that they had to.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Do, they had to be involved and be present. She
knew the assignment. She knew that that body it was.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
We were where we were over a sabbath, you know,
weekend in the timeframe, and they knew that that body
was going to lay in there, and that on that
morning they were going to have to go back. They
were going to have to go and wrap that body,
prepare the body for the burial that's already been buried,
(23:55):
and do the work. And in order to do that,
they needed to know where Jesus was. And the truth
is in that not everybody knew where the bodies were
going to be after they've been crucified. Jesus was actually
in a strange position because most of the time they
just took those bodies down and threw them on the
garbage heaps. They didn't get a proper burial. So she
(24:16):
had to know where it was that Jesus was being buried.
And so restoration to wholeness is recognized. And those who
know their purpose in the mission of Christ and are
prepared for it. We've been talking about the mission and
your mission and your purpose. Wholeness in our Christian walk
comes with understanding what our purpose is and how we
(24:38):
fit into this big picture of the body of Christ.
Not everyone is called to preach, aren't you glad? Not
everyone is called to be organized, aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Some are right?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I mean, I've spent an hour and a half trying
to get all the technology in this place working.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
This morning, the guirrels were gone. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You know, it takes people who have talents and skills
and all these other things. But we have to know
our purpose, and we have to work within our purpose,
and we have to prepare and do the things within
our purpose because that's how we figure our wholeness in
the Body of Christ. And I don't know if you
ever thought about this, is if one piece of the
puzzle of Christ has taken out, the puzzle's got a
(25:27):
hole in it when one of our Body of Christ
are not fulfilling their responsibility that God has ordained them
to do and to be a part of. When you
do not step into it and you don't prepare for
it and you let it slide, you hurt the body
of Christ. And there's a hole in the body of Christ.
(25:48):
And I can't stress that enough. I can't stress that enough.
The abundance that comes in a church comes through those
who are here and those who participate. Every time you
hear in a church that you know, hey, we need, hey,
we need, hey, we need it's because somebody has not
(26:09):
necessarily stepped into their role and we're constantly searching for
somebody to step into their role and their purpose. So
number four Mary did what was difficult. Mark sixteen, when
the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene Marry the mother of
(26:30):
James and Saloam, bought spices so that he might go
and anoint him, and very early on the first day
of the week with it, when the sun had risen,
they went to the tomb. Can you imagine we've all
lost somebody. I've been in some of those bad situations
where you had to take care of a body, and
(26:54):
I've had to do that with some loved ones, and
I've had.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
To do some crazy things.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
But to marry in the ladies there that decided that
they knew the responsibility and it was not going to
be an easy day.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Can you imagine it was not going to be an
easy day.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
They got up knowing that they were going to get
spices and things to wrap the body of Christ that
had been absolutely destroyed, that had been laying there now
for a few days.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Right, It was a difficult.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It was a difficult task, but she knew that she
had to step into those moments. Restoration to wholeness is
recognized in those who do what's necessary to serve Jesus even.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
When it's hard. It's hard sometimes serving Jesus truth is,
it's really inconvenient. A lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Times he likes to do things they don't want to do.
And I've told you this is this is my confession
to the church. You guys know, I'm not the most
I'm not the best at bedside manner and coming and
(28:16):
see people. I struggle with it, coming and doing visitations,
coming in and into your homes. And the truth is
as comfortable as I get up here, and that's that's
a miss, that's a weird thing. But as comfortable as
I am up here preaching and in front of a group,
(28:36):
getting in a one to one conversation with somebody, I
have a real hard.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Time with it. I know. You tell you guys like, yeah, right, no,
it's true.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And and so I know that in order to be
a better pastor, in order to be more of who
Christ has called me to be, I have.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
To stretch myself at times. I have to.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
You know, Pastor Terrorists, she's so organized and she's so
good with people. And Pastor Lisa, she doesn't know a stranger,
but you know, they give me my list and say okay,
you need to go visit people, and I'm like, okay,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Jesus. Right, it's not that I don't love people. I mean,
I absolutely love you all. You know that. I think
you know that.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
It's just I don't know how to have that strange
conversation all the time. But God has called us, Jesus
is calling us that when we are restored, we have
to step into the hard things. We have to step
into the uncomfortable things. We have to step into the
difficult things. We have to stretch ourselves and to the
(29:44):
point it hurts sometimes, and we just have to do that.
Number five I put Mary was invested in Jesus. In
John twenty, verse eleven, it says, but Mary stood weeping
outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stood to
(30:04):
look into the tomb.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
And then verse.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Fifteen says this, Jesus said to hear her, woman, why
are you weeping? Who are you seeking? Supposing him to
be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you
have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him,
and I will take him away.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
We will catch this in a second here.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
But we understand that when when Mary and the others
went and told the disciples. They all she went. They
came back. The disciples looked and were like, now.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
What, and they went away. But Mary stayed. Mary stayed.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
She was completely invested in Jesus and she was like
devastated that he wasn't there. But then that last part
of that scripture it says, sir, if you've carried him away,
tell me where you are and laid him, and I'll
I'll take him.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
She was invested. She was weeping that he was gone.
She was like, what have they done with Jesus? What
have they done with the one I love?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Restoration to wholeness is recognized in those who are emotionally invested.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
In and long to see Jesus.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I know at times we are not. Let's just be honest.
That's what we're supposed to do. Right we're at church.
The preacher, you hope, is being honest with you. We
are not the most energetic emotional church, are we. I
have not seen anybody running up and down the aisles recently,
(31:52):
and we sometimes were kind of like, hey, put a
smile on your face.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
We say that from up here every once in a
while because.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
We see you guys don't. We've said this too. We
can see you right, and then you'll get a few
of us who will raise our hand.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
We get a little excited. I get I get a
little excited. I'll be like, right, that's my emotion coming
out right, per somebody who's whole.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
If you ever, if you ever got to the place
where where you've been redeemed, where you've been saved, if
you were drowning in a lake and somebody pulled you out,
you'd be exhausted, but you'd be so thankful and your
emotions will be overwhelming. You ever been in a spot
like that where something horrible happened. I remember I got
(32:43):
in a fight as a teenager and I didn't even lose,
but afterwards, I just all the emotion, the adrenaline. I
just started weeping. And my friends are like, what's wrong.
I say, I don't know. You want to fight? When
Jesus makes us whole, we ought to get a little
(33:07):
excited about it.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I'm not saying you have to run the aisles. I'm
not saying you have to walk across the seats. I
don't have to say. I'm not saying all of that,
But somewhere along line. Mary was weeping because her Savior
was gone, and she recognized that she longed for Jesus
to be back. And I pray for the day that
we begin to long for the Savior to be back,
(33:33):
for us to get a little excited that we've gathered
together on a Sunday morning and praised our Savior and
in a given moment that some music is playing. And
I'm not saying again that you have to get super
crazy or anything like that, but it sure would be
nice if you got excited that the Savior that we're
singing about put a little something in you. And you
(33:55):
can see I get a little emotion about this. I
love my Christ, I know what He's done for me.
I'd love to come and worship. I'm so thankful for
our team. I'm thankful that that they they came, and
they practice and they work and they use their gifts.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
And we don't need music.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
We don't need music, but man, it's something about when
God brings the music together and the Holy Spirit begins
to fill the room and we begin to listen and
we begin to sing, and we get to begin to
get invested in what's happening, and all of a sudden,
I can't stand still. You've been there, some of you
have been there, and somewhere you lost it. Mary waited
(34:39):
on Jesus. Mary waited on Jesus is the next thing.
Mary waited on Jesus. The disciples had departed, she stayed.
John twenty ten says, then the disciples went back to
their home. So Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And
as she wept, she stooped to look inside the tombs.
(34:59):
Red of wholeness is recognizing those who wait on Jesus
when even when all seems lost, broken or meaningless. Anybody
ever felt lost, broken or life was meaningless. Wholeness in
Christ understands that when those moments come in, you dig
your heels in and you get on your knees and
(35:21):
you say, God, my prayers seem like they're bouncing off
the ceilings and nothing seems to be happening. But God,
I'm hanging on and I'm gonna hold on until I
hear your voice, until I hear an answer, until that
thing happens that I've been crying out to you to
happen in my life. And God, I realize that it
feels empty, and it feels like I'm going through this
struggle in my life, and I've got all these issues
(35:43):
that are happening.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
But God, you are the God, and I will wait on.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Your answers today. And wholeness is a person who believes
that God is the God who could answer our prayers,
and that we will wait on his answers and not
try to find our own, that we will get a
little to that place that we just say, God, this
(36:07):
is beyond me. This is way beyond anything I can handle,
This way beyond anything I can do. But I will
wait on the Lord, and I will hear him answer.
Number seven Mary honored or worshiped. She obeyed and proclaimed
(36:29):
the good news. I already mentioned that Jesus first appeared
to Mary. Jesus first appeared to Mary. Do you guys
catch that? And he said, go and tell the disciples,
the apostles, what has happened.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
He used a woman who had no standing in.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Society to proclaim the greatest news that was ever told.
And what does she do? Let's read John twenty sixteen.
Jesus said to her Mary. She turned and said to
him in Aramaic raboni, which means teacher.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
And I wanted to understand it's not like, hey, teach,
it was teacher. I can't kneel my niece. Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
This teacher, is this worship, this reverence, that you are
the Messiah, that you've called yourself out to.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Be Rabboni, she cries it out. I can't believe it's you, teacher.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for
I have not yet ascended to the father. But go
to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending
to my father and your father. Do you catch that
word your father, my father, and your father, woman of demons, woman,
(38:03):
my father and your father, to my God and your God.
That's powerful stuff. Mary Magdalene went and announced the disciples,
I have seen the Lord.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I have seen the Lord.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
And Luke twenty four says this, why do you seek
the living among the dead.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
He is not here, but he has risen.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Remember how he told you while he was in Galilee,
that the son of Man must be delivered into the
hands of sinful men and be crucified. And on the
third day rise and they remembered his words, and returning
from the tomb, they told all these things to eleven
and all the rest that was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
and marry the mother James and the other women with
them who told these things to the apostle, they became
(38:50):
the voice of the one. The Messiah has risen. Messiah
is real.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Don't you remember he told us this was going to happen,
and I have seen Jesus restoration to wholeness is recognized.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!