WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.330 I want to tell you as a church this morning. 00:00:01.680 --> 00:00:02.800 This is your day to celebrate. 00:00:02.860 --> 00:00:04.540 This is the anthem of what we're about. 00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:07.880 If you don't appreciate this day, no one will, right? 00:00:08.280 --> 00:00:08.780 And when you think about... 00:00:09.860 --> 00:00:11.730 Today is all about the power of the resurrection. 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:17.660 This was the greatest battle in history that took place for your soul, the day death was defeated. 00:00:17.720 --> 00:00:23.240 Jesus rises from the grave, demonstrating himself as king of a kingdom and inviting you to belong. 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:30.600 The early church had a tradition that when they would celebrate, today they would gather together, and they would yell out loud in proclamation of this victory that Jesus had. 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:35.100 Someone would say, "He has risen," and everyone's saying together, "He has risen indeed." Are you ready for that? 00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:36.340 He has risen. 00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:39.180 "He has risen indeed." Awesome. 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:39.980 I'm going to invite you... 00:00:40.080 --> 00:00:42.200 Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:44.980 In John, chapter 19, we're going to look at this together. 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:52.220 When you think about the power of Jesus's influence, he never wrote a book, never commanded an army, never held a political 00:00:52.220 --> 00:00:59.240 office other than when he was a baby and went to Egypt to escape persecution, he never traveled more than 100 miles outside of his 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:04.739 village, and here we are this morning talking about him because of the victory that he has achieved for us. 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:12.640 When we think about the significance of the resurrection and what it means for us, the demonstration of the trustworthiness of what the resurrection 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:16.180 is has documented historically for us. 00:01:16.220 --> 00:01:23.560 In fact, this morning, when you're coming in, we were offering a book on the table you can grab when you leave if you're interested just about the validity of the resurrection 00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:26.700 and why it's something that we can put our faith in. 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:34.060 When I think in terms of the validity of the resurrection, our faith trusting in that, the Apostle Paul did a wonderful job in 1 Corinthians 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.600 15 as he proclaimed what the Gospel was. 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:44.180 When we think in terms of the word Gospel, the Gospel for us, you're going to see in this passage of Scripture is a proclamation. 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:49.600 It is literally one would go forth into a village, and they would herald the news. 00:01:49.940 --> 00:01:56.780 In terms of a king and a kingdom, when a king would go into battle, the people would wait to hear if the king was victorious, or if they had been conquered by another. 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:04.340 When Jesus sends his followers out to herald the Gospel, it is a proclamation of victory because the king has come, and 00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:05.740 the king has won. 00:02:05.820 --> 00:02:12.980 What Paul is saying here is he's demonstrating the Gospel, and he solidifies for us what the Gospel is, and he tells us it 00:02:12.980 --> 00:02:17.380 is the death burial and resurrection because that is what encompasses the Gospel. 00:02:17.420 --> 00:02:18.360 It's not what we do. 00:02:18.380 --> 00:02:22.320 It's everything that Jesus has done for you, your faith resting in that. 00:02:22.420 --> 00:02:29.500 So Paul says, 1 Corinthians 15:1, "Now I make known to you, brother, in the Gospel, which I preached to you, which you also received, and which you 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:36.660 also stand, by which you were also saved if you hold fast the word, 'I preached you,' unless you believe in vain, for I've delivered to 00:02:36.660 --> 00:02:43.780 you of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures that he was buried, that he was raised on the third 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:48.680 day according to the Scriptures." He encompasses the Gospel message here. 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:49.720 Death burial and resurrection of Jesus. 00:02:50.380 --> 00:02:57.440 One of the things I really love about this section of Scripture is this Scripture also recognizes a credal statement, meaning when you open up the 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:03.370 New Testament, the New Testament is written just within the first couple of decades after Jesus's crucifixion. 00:03:03.640 --> 00:03:07.180 A lot of the letters coming around the 500-600 ADs. 00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:14.540 But this section of Scripture, in 1st Corinthians 15, this is a credal statement that scholars date as early as 32 to 38 00:03:14.540 --> 00:03:18.560 AD, meaning just right after Jesus's crucifixion. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:24.200 The church came together in a concise way to proclaim what the Gospel was, and Paul, he's saying in this passage, look. 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:25.320 "This was given to me. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:31.540 I've received it, and I've also delivered it to you." So Paul's recognized, and this isn't a statement that he's concocted and written. 00:03:31.820 --> 00:03:38.180 This is what the church has pronounced surely after the crucifixion of Jesus to demonstrate what their faith rested in. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.740 In fact, there's a few places in Scripture like that. 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:45.790 Colossians 1:15-20 tells us that Jesus is the fullness of God in bodily form. 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:51.960 Philippians 2:6-10 and 1 Corinthians 15. 00:03:51.980 --> 00:03:59.060 And Paul goes a little bit further in the recognition of this statement and proclaiming how important this is the truth of what is told here, 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:04.980 and he says it like this in verse five, "And that he appeared to Cephas." He's talking about Jesus in his resurrected form. 00:04:05.060 --> 00:04:06.290 Cephas is Peter. 00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:14.180 "Then he appeared to the 12 disciples, and then he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remained until 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:15.960 now, but some have fallen asleep. 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:23.340 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also." "If Christ," 00:04:23.460 --> 00:04:30.500 he goes on to say, "has not been risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain." So he's proclaiming to us the significance of 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:34.100 this moment, and it being the centerpiece of our faith. 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:38.170 The resurrection of Jesus and the faith that we have in this resurrection. 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:42.040 But when Paul does this, he's saying, "Look, don't just take my word for it. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.940 When Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to hundreds if not thousands of people. 00:04:48.020 --> 00:04:55.280 He even appeared to 500 people at one time," and the reason Paul is saying this is because he says in this verse, "Some have fallen asleep, but many 00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:57.980 are still walking around." Look, don't just take my word for it. 00:04:58.040 --> 00:04:59.600 You can talk to these people. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.480 There are eyewitnesses still on this earth. 00:05:01.880 --> 00:05:08.880 In fact, when you read some of the Gospel accounts and into the epistles written to us in the New Testament, especially the Gospel of Luke and 00:05:08.880 --> 00:05:16.140 the Gospel of Acts, the author of both the Book of Luke and Acts was very particular in writing the names of individuals 00:05:16.140 --> 00:05:23.320 as he goes through accounts of stories, because those individuals he spoke with was able to write their accounts, and he wanted people to validate what 00:05:23.320 --> 00:05:24.180 he was proclaiming. 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:28.400 They were eyewitnesses to this event. 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:35.660 Paul wants us to embrace this statement of the resurrection of Jesus, because it is truthful, and because it is urgent in recognition 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:40.480 of what Jesus has done for us, not what we do, but what he has done. 00:05:42.260 --> 00:05:44.500 You could go on the believability of the resurrection. 00:05:46.020 --> 00:05:48.830 We have a book even available to you this morning on that. 00:05:50.900 --> 00:05:53.160 Other proves you think about the resurrection. 00:05:54.220 --> 00:06:01.360 One of the things that I love in addition to the early credal statement here or the idea of eyewitnesses that Paul includes, and the statement is the fact 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.720 that at Jesus's tomb, it wasn't men that discovered the empty tomb, but women. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.520 Now, today, we may not think that very significant, but in Jesus's day, the testimony of a woman wouldn't hold up in the court of law, and 00:06:15.520 --> 00:06:21.560 to have women be the eyewitness account of the first recognition of the resurrection of Jesus Saint. 00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:27.500 That's saying to us that, really, God doesn't care about what we think, but the truth of what is. 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:36.740 One of my favorite thoughts about the resurrection is the experience of the disciples and how they lived their lives. 00:06:36.820 --> 00:06:39.970 If you read the Gospel accounts, you see followers of Jesus. 00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:42.080 When Jesus was crucified, they scattered. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:42.560 They dispersed. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:50.600 But all of a sudden, they come back with a fury of a faith in Christ that leads them to martyrdom. 00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:53.120 How did that happen? 00:06:54.940 --> 00:07:02.000 You think in beliefs today that many people will lay their selves down for this ideology, but when it 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.420 came to Jesus as followers, they didn't lay themselves down for ideology. 00:07:07.640 --> 00:07:10.480 They lay themselves down for a truth claim they could not deny. 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:20.040 They saw Jesus dead, and then they saw Jesus walking around, and 00:07:20.060 --> 00:07:20.600 they would not recant. 00:07:22.020 --> 00:07:24.680 To the end of their lives, they died for that truth claim. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:33.780 There's proofs to the resurrection, demonstration to the validity of what it is, but we could go on there. 00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:34.960 There is no end in fact. 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:36.590 I mean, Google makes it available today. 00:07:36.940 --> 00:07:39.700 If someone was hungry, you don't lack the information. 00:07:39.940 --> 00:07:47.040 I think the place where we find the disconnect in our lives is it's not just a belief that is truthful, but it's also 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:49.720 a belief that's intended to be trusted. 00:07:51.820 --> 00:07:59.000 It's logical at least in the results of the evidence of which are laid out before 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:05.490 us in the resurrection, but it's not just an intellectual assent in our lives of which we acknowledge the resurrection. 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:12.190 It's a statement of belief within our own heart of which we have surrendered our lives to this resurrection. 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:16.710 It's not just a statement of truthfulness, but a statement of trustedness. 00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:26.180 I think when Paul demonstrates the urgency of the resurrection, chapter 15 and verse 14 here, "If Christ has not 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:33.559 been raised, your faith is in vain." He's recognizing in our lives the need for it to become personal for you, to see that this battle 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:40.940 on the cross was Jesus's life given over for you that you may trust in him to this King you were called to belong, 00:08:42.880 --> 00:08:43.620 and that's the question. 00:08:45.920 --> 00:08:48.080 Is this resurrection personal? 00:08:50.780 --> 00:08:53.660 Is this Jesus, your Jesus? 00:08:56.040 --> 00:08:57.090 How do you make it personal? 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:04.110 How do you know you're living out the demonstration of the cross in your own life? 00:09:05.260 --> 00:09:12.880 Well, I think about at the end of Jesus's life as he's dying on the cross for his mother Mary. 00:09:14.110 --> 00:09:17.900 I think the cross was not hard to make it personal. 00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:21.980 In fact, in John 19:25, it says this. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:28.280 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother. 00:09:31.300 --> 00:09:33.890 Let those words sink in the soul for just a minute. 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:42.660 The cross was his mother losing a child. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:52.760 I don't even want to go there and then imagining the depth of where her soul is at, but 00:09:52.820 --> 00:09:53.540 Mary sees this. 00:09:55.720 --> 00:10:02.880 In fact, when you read early in the Gospels, Luke chapter two, "At a time when a young 00:10:02.880 --> 00:10:10.140 mother is to be celebrated for the birth of her child, she takes her baby to the temple, and 00:10:10.140 --> 00:10:15.880 she meets a prophet there, Simeon." Then Simeon says to Mary... 00:10:16.140 --> 00:10:23.160 He blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be 00:10:23.160 --> 00:10:30.460 a sign that would be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed," and look at this," and a sword will 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:39.600 pierce your own soul too." Could you imagine Mary in those moments what 00:10:39.660 --> 00:10:40.560 she would have thought about? 00:10:42.140 --> 00:10:43.880 Maybe and even reflected on those words? 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:49.180 Maybe even spent days of her life just praying that pain would not come. 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:54.740 But here she stands at the cross. 00:10:57.060 --> 00:11:02.820 The torture of the cross being so significant that our English language even came up with a word for it. 00:11:02.880 --> 00:11:09.160 When we use the word excruciating, it literally means "out of the cross." For what? 00:11:10.920 --> 00:11:13.060 For you. 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:20.640 The story is intended to be intensely personal in the anthem of our lives of which we surrender ourselves to this king that loved us so dearly 00:11:20.640 --> 00:11:24.900 that he laid everything on the line for you that you could celebrate a day like this in victory. 00:11:26.540 --> 00:11:27.900 Jesus was hanging on the cross. 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:28.600 It goes on further. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:29.680 In the story, it says this. 00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:37.370 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple who he loved standing nearby, he said to her woman, "Here is your son," and to the disciple, 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:41.140 "Here is your mother," and from that time on, this disciple took her into his home. 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:45.840 He's talking about this disciple as the disciple, John, the Apostle John. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:50.790 In fact, her sister records that John took care of Mary even into the town of Ephesus. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:54.100 History records that John is there caring for Mary. 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:02.340 In these moments when I even think about what's happening in Jesus' life, talking about the idea of the cross being so excruciating. 00:12:02.920 --> 00:12:10.100 If ever there was a moment to just stop thinking about all other people in this world, for just a moment, Jesus, how about we just consider you? 00:12:10.180 --> 00:12:12.720 How about you quit thinking about us for a minute and you just think about you? 00:12:12.920 --> 00:12:16.280 In the final breaths of his life, what does Jesus hold towards us? 00:12:16.680 --> 00:12:23.740 He's still looking out for souls, and he's still thinking, "Where is there one more need that I can demonstrate the love that I desire to lavish on these people?" 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:27.210 He looks out and he sees his mom. 00:12:29.040 --> 00:12:33.800 He said that, "I just want her taken care of." His whole life. 00:12:35.400 --> 00:12:38.940 His whole life about others even down to his dying breath. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:46.520 Hebrews 12:2 says, "For the joy set before him, he endured the cross." I 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:53.080 think of verses throughout Scripture when it describes of Jesus's ministry continuously. 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:59.800 It says, "He is full of compassion." In Luke 19:41, it says this. 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:07.540 When he approached Jerusalem towards the end of his ministry, he saw the city, and he wept over it saying, "If you had known in 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:17.240 this day the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes." Jesus's 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:18.020 compassion. 00:13:20.140 --> 00:13:23.760 In fact, in Matthew trying to reflect the idea of his kingdom and calling people to this. 00:13:23.920 --> 00:13:30.920 Jesus says this in Matthew 9:35, "Jesus was going through all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of 00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:34.920 the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness, seeing the people. 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:42.540 He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." Then he said to his 00:13:42.540 --> 00:13:48.580 disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Then he gives maybe a verse you're familiar with. 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:56.060 "Pray the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers." Jesus's compassion imitating 00:13:56.060 --> 00:13:57.280 so much so here. 00:13:57.280 --> 00:14:04.400 He's even saying to the people around, "Look, if you care about this kingdom, if you care about what it represents, don't let this story die with 00:14:04.400 --> 00:14:04.740 you. 00:14:04.760 --> 00:14:09.980 Let it live through you." In fact, pray that God would move in the hearts of other people to do the same. 00:14:10.300 --> 00:14:11.640 God cares about your heart. 00:14:11.680 --> 00:14:13.080 God cares about this valley. 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:20.460 God cares about people and even to the point of the cross, the last moments 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:21.160 of his life. 00:14:22.880 --> 00:14:28.440 When he could reflect on his own pain, he looks out and he sees further need even in his own mother. 00:14:29.640 --> 00:14:36.860 The compassion of Christ is what makes this cross personal 00:14:39.400 --> 00:14:46.560 because on his mind, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:49.160 That's why this moment is so important. 00:14:51.420 --> 00:14:59.400 I think in terms of a mother or a parent with a baby, a 00:14:59.400 --> 00:15:01.800 baby left unto itself, it dies. 00:15:03.760 --> 00:15:05.840 It's got not the strength to live. 00:15:08.040 --> 00:15:15.300 But a parent has to enter into that child's position to leverage 00:15:15.300 --> 00:15:21.680 its strength, to give of itself that child can find life. 00:15:24.460 --> 00:15:25.300 So it is with Jesus. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:34.700 Paul says in Galatians, "If there were another way," end of Galatians, chapter two, "God would have provided it." If 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.400 we live like there were another way, then Christ died needlessly. 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:46.740 But in our weakness, in our death, the Bible says of our own soul, Jesus 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:47.420 comes. 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:48.280 In fact, listen to this. 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:49.580 Romans 5:6. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.410 Just listen to these words for a moment. 00:15:52.260 --> 00:16:00.020 "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ 00:16:00.020 --> 00:16:03.650 died for the ungodly." Do you hear that? 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:10.710 A baby that has no life within itself, ability to give itself life. 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:11.780 Help us. 00:16:13.400 --> 00:16:17.560 Jesus enters your suffering when you were powerless. 00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:25.060 In fact, he goes on to say, "He died for the ungodly." It's to say not only were you in a position of 00:16:25.900 --> 00:16:32.000 just static, but actually you were in the opposite position of his kingdom, ungodly. 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:36.320 Powerless and ungodly, what can you do? 00:16:37.300 --> 00:16:42.030 But at just the right time, Jesus shows up. 00:16:42.920 --> 00:16:43.850 It goes on in verse seven. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.440 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person. 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:52.360 Though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die, but God demonstrated his own love for us in this. 00:16:52.640 --> 00:16:56.950 While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:06.960 This resurrection is intended to be personal, and the love of God and the compassion of Christ is where we 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:13.900 see this for our lives because this verse is speaking into our own hearts just as Jesus looks out and sees the need of Mary. 00:17:14.040 --> 00:17:16.280 So Jesus looks out and sees the need within our own lives. 00:17:16.280 --> 00:17:20.260 While we're powerless and ungodly, Jesus dies for us. 00:17:20.280 --> 00:17:24.060 While we were sinners, Christ demonstrates his love. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:27.440 Nothing to offer. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.500 There's no way to impress God. 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:35.640 God can already do everything for himself. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:44.780 But the insane thing about this grace is that you're never more loved than you are right now by this God, and 00:17:44.820 --> 00:17:50.110 that he has given everything for you. 00:17:51.140 --> 00:18:00.680 So, Jesus goes on to Romans 10 and says, "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved," anyone, everyone. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.900 The invitation to our lives is this Gospel message is heralded. 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:05.960 It's to grab hold of that. 00:18:06.320 --> 00:18:13.480 When we do as a body of believers, we're not working for our salvation but rather now when we do things for God, we're working from our salvation 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.660 because the love that's been demonstrated in our life... 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:16.640 It's not about what we do. 00:18:16.800 --> 00:18:24.100 It's about what he has done, and that's why we make today and every time we gather together a day of celebration, because Jesus said, "It is finished, 00:18:24.100 --> 00:18:31.440 paid in full." Now, think about Jesus commenting to 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:36.450 his mother the application of relating this cross to our own lives though. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:44.100 If you're a follower of Jesus, it's important just to ask the question, "How did Jesus get his 00:18:44.100 --> 00:18:46.120 eyes off of himself in these moments? 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:56.840 How did he just continue with this attitude of compassion through all of this?" If you ever have 00:18:57.100 --> 00:19:03.900 been on a plane, when you get on a plane, if the plane were to ever go down, Lord forbid, right? 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:06.740 Just so you know, the safest place on a plane is over the wings. 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:09.640 Its pivot point, right? 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:11.440 Front and end, one of those is going to hit first. 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:12.860 Ride on the wing, right? 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:19.140 But if you're ever on a plane and it goes down, they always go through this procedure to let what to do, right? 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:25.660 The event that this thing crashes and you think you're going to make it, oxygen will drop down. 00:19:25.660 --> 00:19:29.370 Before you put it on a child, put it on yourself, because you can't do anything if you're not breathing. 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:31.760 So help yourself before you help others. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.020 When you're in those moments of panic, that's all you can think about, right? 00:19:35.020 --> 00:19:38.300 If you're in survival mode, it's just you, and you got to take care of you. 00:19:38.360 --> 00:19:42.460 Before you can take care of you, or when you can take her you, then you can look outside of yourself. 00:19:42.540 --> 00:19:46.280 But it's not until you take care of you that you can begin to look beyond yourself. 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:50.980 Then there are other times where you ride the plane where you don't think about that part. 00:19:52.260 --> 00:19:58.940 All of a sudden, the pilot takes off the seatbelt sign and says, "You are free to move about the cabin." Why? 00:20:00.490 --> 00:20:06.940 Because the pilot has you in a place of safety, granted your freedom is stuck into a little trailer traveling through the sky. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:09.300 But in that box, you are free. 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:21.060 When Jesus goes to the cross, I think his heart continues to look out because even in the midst of the chaos, he's 00:20:21.060 --> 00:20:22.160 free in the hands of the Father. 00:20:24.540 --> 00:20:31.560 Jesus is free, and to us, it looks like a despised moment. 00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:33.220 But from the beginning, God had already proclaimed. 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:38.040 This is what will be for your heart. 00:20:40.280 --> 00:20:46.060 Jesus continues to focus beyond himself because he entrusts himself to the Father. 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:56.200 In these moments for us, I think the demonstration of the cross is made known in how we 00:20:56.200 --> 00:21:00.340 respond to the chaos of life around us. 00:21:01.800 --> 00:21:08.880 This word compassion literally means from the depth of your bowels, which doesn't really create the 00:21:08.980 --> 00:21:09.770 best of imagination. 00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:11.900 I mean, be thankful for your bowel movements, right? 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:18.580 But when you think about that today, that is not quite what we think about with the happy thoughts there. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.520 Compassion from the depth of my bowels, right? 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:29.780 But what he's really saying is from the depth of your soul, from the being of who you are, compassion. 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:36.120 From the depth of who Jesus is, compassion. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:45.580 That thought becomes important because that thought becomes the nature by which those that understand what Jesus 00:21:45.580 --> 00:21:46.900 has done lived their lives. 00:21:48.780 --> 00:21:51.180 In fact, Colossians 3:12 says this. 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:58.240 "So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved," look at this, "put 00:21:58.300 --> 00:22:05.300 on a heart of compassion." I would say the evidence 00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:12.720 of your faith in the cross is made known in your heart of compassion. 00:22:15.080 --> 00:22:16.280 How do you care about people around you? 00:22:18.300 --> 00:22:18.920 Look at this guys. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:26.100 If I just took it a step further, I'm not talking about people that are easy to love because when I think about what 00:22:26.100 --> 00:22:34.220 Jesus did, he said, "Father, forgive them to the very ones that crucified him." There 00:22:34.220 --> 00:22:41.300 is no limit to this compassion, and God calls his people to 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:42.300 put on compassion. 00:22:44.520 --> 00:22:51.700 But if I just played the devil's advocate for a moment, if the cross teaches us something about following Jesus, we learn it's 00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:53.280 dangerous to care. 00:22:54.620 --> 00:23:01.800 There is sacrifice, and you can get hurt, and sometimes in life, if follow 00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:08.920 this Jesus, we have a hard time living out the hope of the resurrection in a personal way because of the pain that we experience on this journey. 00:23:11.140 --> 00:23:11.720 You get burned. 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:17.880 But people are going to be people. 00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:19.100 There're going to be people wherever you go. 00:23:20.780 --> 00:23:23.260 So, why have compassion? 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:32.840 One of my favorite verses in Scripture that I think juxtaposes the challenges of relationships with the truth 00:23:33.540 --> 00:23:37.330 and the power of God in a personal way comes from the Apostle Paul. 00:23:37.580 --> 00:23:39.740 In 2 Corinthians 12, he says this. 00:23:41.820 --> 00:23:49.100 Thinking about living out this compassion in his life, Paul I think did this wonderfully, but he says, "To keep me from exalting myself, there 00:23:49.100 --> 00:23:50.980 was given me a thorn in the flesh. 00:23:52.300 --> 00:23:59.880 A messenger of Satan to torment me." Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me, and He said 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:04.400 to me, "My grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:09.440 Most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness so the power of Christ may dwell in me. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:16.440 Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecution, with difficulties for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, then 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:22.160 I am strong." People have looked at this and asked the question, "Okay, Paul's talking about this thorn in his flesh. 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.680 What exactly is this thorn?" People have speculated, "Is this thorn an ailment Paul had? 00:24:27.020 --> 00:24:33.600 Is this thorn literally a spiritual being coming over Paul and bringing darkness over him?" He goes on to describe it here. 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:34.600 He says a couple of things. 00:24:34.600 --> 00:24:36.700 He says, "It's a messenger of Satan." You see that highlighted? 00:24:37.340 --> 00:24:40.310 He tells us it makes him walk in his weakness. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:41.600 You see that highlighted there? 00:24:41.700 --> 00:24:43.060 Then look at the very end of verse 10. 00:24:43.080 --> 00:24:44.660 He describes that weakness what it looks like. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:49.020 In insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties. 00:24:49.560 --> 00:24:56.880 Now, people have asked the question, "What exactly is this thorn?" I don't really think that the Scripture leaves us up to speculating. 00:24:57.600 --> 00:25:04.660 In fact, if you just flipped one chapter before this, I think Paul very clearly tells us what this thorn is and aside, when you 00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:07.300 look at this verse, look at the 2 Corinthians 11:13. 00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:14.500 Paul in this passage is starting to talk about false teachers in this chapter, and he starts talking about them being angels of light, 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:20.530 and he says, "Look, they're teaching about of Jesus." But they're using the name Jesus, and it's actually a different Jesus, and I am the same Jesus. 00:25:21.080 --> 00:25:28.260 So he's warning people about this, and he says, verse 13, "For such men are false apostles deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of 00:25:28.260 --> 00:25:31.200 Christ," meaning they're using the name of Jesus, but it's not the same Jesus. 00:25:31.300 --> 00:25:34.460 No wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.360 Look, we said this before for us as a church. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.010 Satan doesn't walk around with a pitchfork in hand being like, "I'm the devil. 00:25:39.100 --> 00:25:41.320 Run and hide." That's not what he wants to do. 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:43.960 He wants to deceive you as an angel of light, so he goes like this. 00:25:44.040 --> 00:25:52.340 "Therefore, it's not surprising then if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." Chapter 00:25:52.340 --> 00:25:56.280 12, Paul talks about messengers sent by Satan. 00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:00.940 In chapter 11, he describes those messengers as people. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:03.730 In verse 30, he goes on and says this. 00:26:03.900 --> 00:26:05.100 "I have to boast. 00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:12.160 I will boast of what pertains to my weaknesses," and between these couple of verses, 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:19.340 he goes and describes all the pain that these people brought them, but he says it brings him to his weakness, which is the same words he uses in this 00:26:19.340 --> 00:26:19.800 verse. 00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:24.820 He goes on to describe there's distress as some persecutions and difficulties, all these brought on by people. 00:26:28.020 --> 00:26:29.690 What's Paul's thorn? 00:26:31.420 --> 00:26:32.680 It's people. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:39.600 What brought the crown of thorns to Jesus's head was people. 00:26:41.280 --> 00:26:42.480 But what does Paul say in this passage? 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:50.640 Yes, there's challenges, but God's grace is sufficient. 00:26:52.460 --> 00:26:54.920 Where did this grace become personal for Paul? 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.400 The cross of Christ. 00:26:59.780 --> 00:27:01.520 His grace is sufficient. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:05.650 So what's Paul doing in this verse? 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:08.700 He's trusting in his pilot. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:14.720 Yes, we all have adversity, and people bring adversity. 00:27:16.540 --> 00:27:17.800 But look at the cross of Christ. 00:27:19.540 --> 00:27:21.250 People brought Jesus adversity. 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:30.560 What God did for us on this day carries far more power and implication on our destiny than what 00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:32.460 any human can bring against us. 00:27:33.780 --> 00:27:40.500 Despite the challenges, Jesus taught us that when the power of his compassion has lived out, greater things happen. 00:27:41.700 --> 00:27:42.900 Resurrection power happens. 00:27:44.580 --> 00:27:51.940 In fact, Paul's teaching us when we embrace this compassion and choose to live in it, his 00:27:51.940 --> 00:27:59.480 strength and our weakness is greater and far better it be for us to boast in that weakness that the power of 00:27:59.560 --> 00:28:01.420 Christ is made known in our lives. 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:07.080 In the end, what Paul did, he made this resurrection personal. 00:28:09.020 --> 00:28:12.900 He trusted in Jesus even in adversity. 00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:17.420 I would say a person of faith, especially in adversity. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:25.960 In fact, Paul's saying that the messengers of Satan, what they're doing for Paul, 00:28:25.980 --> 00:28:33.100 what they're working for Paul is that they're showing Paul if he is truly finding his strength in the cross of Christ. 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:37.060 I would say it like this for us this morning. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.960 The event of the resurrection is more than an event. 00:28:43.380 --> 00:28:50.460 It's intended to be personal, and I hope Romans 5:6 is that place your soul rests to see the 00:28:50.460 --> 00:28:58.220 sufficiency of Jesus that when he hung on the cross and said, "It is finished," that was for your life to 00:28:58.320 --> 00:29:05.360 come to that king, to give your life, and then to ask the question, "How do I know I'm walking faithfully in 00:29:05.360 --> 00:29:12.560 him?" Life is hard, but the way you 00:29:12.560 --> 00:29:16.440 choose to live and walk demonstrates the power of this resurrection. 00:29:18.340 --> 00:29:26.520 Compassion and adversity that even in the midst of your weakness, the 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:30.820 declaration of your soul, your king has won. 00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:37.900 Your pilot will see you through, and Jesus at the end of the day gets the victory, and you become a victor because your soul 00:29:38.380 --> 00:29:39.440 rests in him.