0:38
Friends. Good morning, guests. It's nice to have you all here this morning. We're gonna go ahead and get this Super Bowl Sunday kicked off with some worship. So if you guys would please stand with me, we will start singing.
2:36
Blood of Jesus. Now by this, I'll overcome nothing but the blood of Jesus.
2:52
Now by this I'll reach my home
2:56
but precious
2:57
the
3:03
is the flow that makes me this I sing nothing but the blood of Jesus all my praise for this I bring nothing nothing but the blood of Jesus You may be seated.
4:30
Good morning. Good morning. I'm glad to see y'all all here. I I usually don't mill around out there so much when the service is just getting started, but that was actually kinda cool. There are just as many of us out there milling around as there were in here.
4:44
That secondary greeting time is kinda doubling up, but we love that y'all are that warm and friendly and inviting. If you're first time here visiting, we're glad that you're here. I know we've got a whole front row up here because they're on the front row that they're visiting. These guys, I'm from Georgia. Y'all know that.
5:00
You can't help but hear it. And the Dukes of Hazzard was out when I was little. Do y'all remember the Dukes of Hazzard? Yes. Yes.
5:07
I remember it well. Each time that somebody famous would come through town, you know, Roscoe P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg would pick them up, and they would trump up some charges, but they'd let them off if they'd play for them. They'd play a show at the Boar's Nest. Y'all know what I'm talking about?
5:21
So Daniel Petrisca is gonna be bringing some of our message today. So they were in town to do other things, but he called me ahead of time and said they were coming. And so I I don't know why I thought of that. It's arcane reference but but anyway, Daniel's going to speak and I think one of the guys too maybe David's going to speak about one hundred eighty Ministries and Teen Challenge. They're out of Denver but let's pray together first.
5:43
We'll start off that way and then I'll do a few announcements. So, God, thank you for this beautiful morning. I thank you for this beautiful valley. I pray that we would sing forth your glory from every one of these mountainsides, lord. I am amazed by you.
6:00
Stand in awe and God, we just want to bring before you this morning something that's pleasing. Sweet smell and aroma as we worship you. Thank you God for all that you've done for us. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.
6:14
Alright. Couple of things. Monday nights at first B. Wow. Monday nights at first B.
6:23
Meal, music, message. Carl is kinda leading that up, heading that up. The band plays. It's a contemporary worship when and you get that. A meal first, then some music, and then a great message.
6:36
We praise God together. Life groups, there's some sign ups out in the foyer and we're all kind slow about signing up for things around here. We've noticed that over and over but there are some sign ups you can check out, see who's teaching what, where, and if it works with your schedule, please sign up for one of the life groups. It's one of the better ways of getting to know who is in this church. We have a lot of folks that there's not a whole lot of crossover between services and y'all are welcome.
7:03
Why don't y'all stand up and greet each other? So, the band will bring us back in when they start back up.
7:50
And we shall sing some more.
8:22
Holy holy God merciful and mighty God in three Holy holy holy even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your perfect love is casting out fear. And even though I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life, I won't turn back. I know you are near, and I will fear no And I can see the light that is coming for the heart that holds on. A glorious light beyond all compare. And there will be an end to these troubles.
13:00
But until that day comes, we'll get to know you're here on the Earth. And I will fear no need for my God is willing. Praise We're singing, oh no, you never let go through the cum and through the storm. Oh no, you never let go. Every high You have my heart, and I am yours for ever.
15:31
You are my strength, God of grace and power. And everything and power in everything. You're holding your hands till you make time for me. I God. You remain the holy one in my unfailing love.
16:45
You are my rock, the one I hold on to. You are my song, and I sing for you. And everything you're holding your hands till you make time for me. I can't understand. I praise you, God, of earth and sky.
17:17
How beautiful is your unfailing love, unfailing love. And you never change, God. You remain the only one in my unfailing love,
18:16
You may be seated. And children, you may go downstairs.
18:30
As we come to the time of the offering, I want to pray for us. God, thank you for all that you've given us. Lord, thank you for this beautiful week that we've had. I thank you for the snow that brings in the people, that bring in the resources that help this community to stay alive. Lord, I thank you.
18:46
We know that we are connected to you and you, what you do in the world. So, God, I thank you for that and I also ask that you would take these gifts that were given back lord. Take this and multiply that you would extend your kingdom here on this earth lord. May it be here on earth as it is in heaven. May we do your will.
19:06
May we do your bidding. May we give to you sacrifice of praise and sacrificial offering, It's in your son's name. We're thankful. Amen. Thank you, Kale.
22:20
I'm going to invite Daniel to come up here now and he's with one eighty Ministries. You see this slide up behind me and I'll let him tell you more about that. It's a part of teen challenge. Is that right? Teen challenge.
22:31
I'll just let you do it, man. Why don't you come on up? A guy called me, Dave Parenton called me a couple weeks ago and and was talking about this and this is an a ministry that we're fairly close to in Georgia and saw great results. So, I'll just let you do it, man.
22:45
Amen. Thank you, pastor. Thank you guys for having us. I always said if I was rich, the car I would buy would be the General Lee. Probably in a couple of years, I won't be able to slide through the windows but that's alright.
22:58
Like he said, my name is Daniel and I'm the director of one hundred eighty Ministries Teen Challenge. Anybody here ever hear of Teen Challenge Ministries? Amen. Cool. Cool.
23:08
So, we are like a little more modified version of that because it just seems that we draw a lot of people that are involved in motocross and extreme sports and snowboarding. We have a little bit different of a niche to us and how we started drawing those people. I'm not necessarily sure, but it's made our job a little more fun. So we could travel to Jackson and do it. That helps out.
23:27
You know, this program is one branch of about 300 programs in The United States and then overseas as well. So Teen Challenge in the past fifty years has saved hundreds of thousands of drug addicts and people who are broken and lost and redeem them under the covering of the cross of Calvary, set them back on a solid place and put them back out in the world to be better fathers, better husbands. A lot of our guys who graduate our program go off into ministry. We have guys that go overseas all the time to spread the gospel, to help other people who are bound by drug addiction. So we're located in Denver.
24:03
This is a one year very, very, very intense program for some of the most extreme drug addicts. And so, you know, while the premise is, you know, people who are bound by heroin addiction and crystal meth and some of these other crazy things that are coming out every year. It seems like there's a new drug coming out. The legalization for recreational use of marijuana in Denver has just been absurd for us. It has, you know, increased the battle for us because now there's just this very nonchalant attitude about drug use in Denver.
24:34
Literally in the heart where we're located probably within a half a mile stretch there's about 60 dispensaries which for me is absurd drives me absolutely crazy. You know, because the statistics loosely based, know, that if you, you know, use marijuana, you're seventy five percent, eighty five percent more likely to go on and do harder drugs. So we're creating a bigger drug epidemic. And so if anything, we covet your prayers even more now than ever. But the awesome thing is we are seeing great success because the people who come to us, it's not just an open door.
25:04
It's not just, hey, if you're addicted and broken, come in. You have to really want it. You have to really want life change. And the things that we do with these guys, you know, basically, you know, the thing that we're seeing is probably 65% of the guys who come in come from a Christian or church background. And that, you know, that that has kind of twofold.
25:23
That breaks my heart in one aspect and the other is that these guys what we see on a regular basis, they are running from the call of God on their life. And so you get these guys in the program and you saturate them in the gospel, you saturate them in recovery, work and counseling and all this other stuff. But probably the thing we pride ourselves the most on is we have this beautiful sanctuary where we just create an environment for these guys to have a supernatural encounter with the living God. And so the crazy part is you'll have this guy who comes in and he's withdrawing off drugs and that's a terrible scene and that's just what we do for a living and we pray over them and we don't give them any medication. They withdraw cold turkey, which I don't know if you've ever been down that road.
26:02
It's the worst thing in the whole entire world. And we pray and we read the word, the Bible to them and we saturate them in the gospel. And it is a struggle. It's a struggle to stay there and be away from family. But I tell you that the beautiful part about our job is you'll see a guy two months in, three months in, six months in, you know, the Lord works in different ways and you will see a guy who's just at that point where he's ready to snap and he's just barely holding on and you'll walk into work the next day and he's got that look in his eye.
26:30
And it's like it happened. The magic happened last night in prayer or a counseling session. And these guys give their lives to Jesus and they become these like dangerous, radical, like on fire believers, like threat to the kingdom of darkness kind of guys. And it's just absolutely amazing. I love the job.
26:49
And I have some guys here with me, that all of them came out of addiction. You know, it's wild because I come from a Christian background. My dad's a AG minister and how it happened, I really don't know. But all three of his children, myself included became heroin addicts. And how I got down that road still I look back and I'm like, have no idea how it got that out of control.
27:12
And never did I think when I was sticking needles in my arms or smoking heroin and oftentimes trying to take my own life that I ever think for a minute I'd be standing here doing what I'm doing. But by the grace of God, he saved my pathetic life and decided to use a guy like me to be able to speak life into other people. And and again, it's not just addiction. It's we're all broken. We all have issues.
27:35
We all have needs, you know, but the thing is that we have to draw the line in the sand at some point, stand up, be courageous and be willing to outlive some of those struggles. And and I think if a guy like me can beat that, a bum on the streets in New York, I I I think a lot of guys can make it. And so I wanna provide that hope for guys who come into the program and just say, listen, you're not hopeless, you're not lost. Like the kingdom of heaven is gonna advance in your life and accomplish the will of God. And like I said, I mean, it's amazing to get reports from some of our graduates who are like Nicaragua, telling people in small villages about Jesus.
28:12
We got a couple other guys that are going off into the mission field, guys who are working on their master's degrees, guys who are married with kids again who would have never stood a chance. Number one, without Jesus Christ, without your prayers and without one hundred eighty minuteistries. And so we're literally, you know, taking the addiction world by storm and my personal opinion is we're winning the battle. And I and I love that about our Jesus because he only he can do that. And one of the guys that was radically saved through the program, I just want him to come and share a little bit because there's, you know, you could hear from me all day but the proof is in the pudding so to speak and this guy, I'm so proud of.
28:49
He's one of my personal heroes and personal friends And I just want David Smith to come and just share a little bit about what God has done through the 180 program in his life. Let's hear it for David.
29:07
Thanks for having us. I did not expect Jackson Hole to make my legs feel like I just did a tractor pull. So I'm not even gonna attempt these stairs because that's terrible. Well, anyways, my name's David. I went through the 180 program four years ago.
29:28
Daniel hit the nail on the head. For me, had a mother who was just I mean, there was nothing fake or legalistic or hypocritical about her walk with the Lord. I knew Jesus was real. There was times where we would get into these arguments, and I would be so angry. And she would just just this little lady, this little Irish lady, She'd just yell at me, get behind me, Satan.
29:55
And I was so mad, but there was something that was so powerful in controlling my life that wasn't me. That whatever it was, she knew that Jesus had given her authority over it. So I would just stare at her so angry, and I wouldn't be able to speak. So, you know, I went through the one eighty program four years ago, broken, such a broken guy. And for me, I was I was running from the call the Lord had on my life.
30:23
See, I'd I've never not believed in God. I mean, even when I was using drugs, there was these moments where I would say, God, somehow, I know you're gonna use this for your glory. And then I would snap back out of it and be back to using drugs and getting high again. But, you know, something something crazy happened. One night in prayer, the Lord just he rocked me.
30:44
And he showed me over and over again how many times he has saved my life through the years. Just in pictures in my mind, just how many times I should have been killed or overdosed or I did overdose and didn't die over and over and over again, and it broke me. And the Lord just started to speak to me and tell me that I wasn't rejected and that he did have a plan for me and a call for me. And there was nothing I had done that was too bad. There was nothing that I had done that had made him leave me, and that he was still open to have me follow him if I wanted to.
31:19
So that night, you know, I really I believe that I really surrendered everything to the Lord that night at one eighty in the sanctuary. Just this atmosphere of prayer, dark light. There's a staff member at the time named Paul just ran up to me, anointed me with oil when it happened. I was like, what just happened? But it's alright.
31:38
I'm crying like a baby. And, you know, I was I was four years ago, very close to almost a day. And, man, so much has changed. You know, I get to come here and speak with you guys. And I'm no longer an addict.
31:53
You know? I'm I'm a new person. That stuff it's not like I wake up every morning and I'm like, alright. This is day 2,011 and not getting drunk or high. Like, I'm free from that.
32:04
I wake up in the morning and it is what it is. I seek the Lord, and I'm worried about living for him. I'm not worried about not getting high. I'm not worried about not getting drunk. That's freedom.
32:14
You know, that's not like a higher power. I don't read a book. Like, I know I'm set free. I know I'm a different person. I know that Christ is real.
32:25
Nobody could ever tell me Jesus isn't real ever because I've seen what he's done in my life. I've seen what he's done in my best friend's life. I've seen it. So I've been given this awesome platform to to reach people and see my life actually move in these callings and these words that strangers have been telling me since I was a little kid. And it's incredible.
32:52
I get to travel around the country, and it'll just happen more and more and just tell people about Jesus. I get to walk in my purpose again. You know? That's that is one of the biggest tragedies from my generation is nobody walks in their purpose. Nobody even wants to take the time to to find their purpose.
33:12
So we just numb ourselves with drugs and alcohol, and we try and fill that big purpose hole with this little tiny gratification. So the hole just gets bigger and bigger, and we use more and more drugs or whatever it is to cover it up. But like Daniel said, at one eighty ministries, we are fighting that battle. We are putting purpose back in the people who who feel like they're worthless. You know, we're we do.
33:40
We create warriors. We create these guys who are just dangerous for the kingdom, and they understand that it's a life or death situation. And they understand that Jesus is all we need to win in that war, and we get to empower them. And that does not happen with you guys' prayers. I mean, we can't thank you enough for the prayers at one eighty because they're felt.
34:02
And, you know, that's the thing. Like, when Daniel says he leaves to go home and a kid is about to leave, but he comes back the next morning and he's still there, that's your guys' prayers. That's the war being won. On our knees is where we fight the battle. So we just thank you guys for having us.
34:21
Man, we just we're grateful to be here. So thanks for having us pastor and appreciate it.
34:32
You said twenty minutes, right? Now real quick, real quick before I wrap up here. That's like the classic pastor joke. So, we do. We just, we got business cards in the back and, stickers and stuff and we really do.
34:48
If you would just take one of these and stick it on your dashboard, your refrigerator, whatever, getting a glass of milk, whatever in the middle of the night, just look at that and just toss-up a prayer real quick. You know, because this isn't just like some random homeless gangbanger. These are like brothers and sisters. And and I guess I would just encourage you, implore you. Is that the right word?
35:10
Employ you? Yeah. To to if you're if you're facing a struggle yourself, if you have a friend or a family member, not just with addiction, but with anything, and you're just at wits end where like, you know what, nothing I say matters and they're just not listening, do not give up. I mean, that stuff is getting through and you don't even know it. Listen, if we didn't have praying moms or praying family members, all of us on this front row would be dead right now.
35:37
And there were times people would speak things into my life and I'd be like, shut up or like, I'm sick and tired of hearing that. But it was the truth getting through. And we go and we travel all over the place and we see people time and time again just at that spot where they're ready to give up that hope. Do not quit fighting because listen, you know, we live behind the enemy lines every single day of our lives. We see the broken black and white every single day.
36:04
It it's a little bit different when we travel. Everybody kinda we we go to churches where they're comfortable and where, you know, they don't see that every day. But listen, people are dying out there. People are dying and lost in Jackson Hole, Wyoming right now today. And they're counting on Christians and believers like you.
36:21
I mean, my favorite part and I promise I'll finish. My favorite part is I'm on the chairlift, okay? And there's this girl sitting next to me and she's on the phone with her attorney, okay? And I'm like, all right, I'm seizing this opportunity. She's in trouble.
36:33
And sure enough, she whips out a bowl and just starts smoking inside of her jacket, smoking weed. And I'm like, yeah, this is my favorite part right here. And that happens all the time back in Colorado when we snowboard too. And I was like, you got a little trouble with the law? Yeah, got caught with a pound of weed and I can't believe the man's trying to keep me down and all this other stuff.
36:52
And of course she offers me some because she's a very polite person in Wyoming. And so I give her the one liner. She's like, you want a hit of this? And I was like, not unless you want me to start shooting heroin on the chairlift with you that might make me relapse. And she's like, And then it opens the door and all of a sudden this spark, not a spark spark, but opens the door for me to be able to speak a little bit of truth in her before we get off the chairlift.
37:18
And like, I don't know if I changed her destiny at all, but that's not for you to decide. And so I just encourage you to be doing that on a regular basis because we're going to get to heaven one day and we're going to see people there that were like, woah, I didn't even think you were listening. And that rowdy section in the back is teen challenge for sure. So we love you guys. Thank you.
37:42
Yeah. You can do it. Okay.
37:49
Now, maybe I should've had them go at the last. I'm glad. I'm I'm what we're talking about today, what we're getting to in the scripture in our study of John is about Lazarus. The dead being raised and that's what's happening right there. I thought when he called and I looked at the calendar and thought, that's what I'm going be preaching that day.
38:06
That'd be a good day. I'm amazed by how good God is and by how he continually works things out. I have a commercial. Sound?
38:28
Some people have a deep abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country, And some people don't. People start pollution. People can stop it.
38:48
You see that one lonely tear? That one lonely tear did more for pollution control in America than almost anything else they had tried. The keep America beautiful was great, and don't mess with Texas, that was all after this. But that one lonely tear of that Indian. You know, Indians are supposed to be spiritual people.
39:10
We always think of them as spiritual people, and they have a great respect for the land and ecology and all that. So that one lonely tear made you think about chunking the McDonald's bag out the window. And it really did help, and then there was a whole series of these things after that. Why do you think that helped? Why did that matter at all?
39:27
Now, the people made lots of fun of it. You've seen it caricatured on the Simpsons and on everything else. They've made a caricature of this thing but they make fun of that tear. He didn't burst out. He didn't sling a hatchet.
39:40
He just had one lonely tear right there. Anybody know what that says? Jesus wept. It's the shortest verse in the English Bible. It's not the shortest verse in the Greek Bible but John eleven thirty five.
40:06
This is right in the middle of that story about Lazarus and there's something about a weeping savior that is very different than any other god ever. Jesus wept. This week, it wasn't that I was trying to get the memory of the scripture in my mind because this one's really easy. We've all been using this to get to the front of the line at Awana or to, you know, recite your verses so that you have to, oh, I can remember this one, this one, and this one. Oh, yeah.
40:35
Jesus wept. Eleven thirty five. Got that. But if you dwell on this and you just sit back and you think about this, Jesus wept. When's the last time that you wept?
40:46
Was that a deep, deep place of emotion for you? Was it in grief? Was it in joy? Jesus wept. There are three Christian aspects that are expressed in just those two words.
41:02
It's humility, humanity, and holiness. Now, they're so closely related in the person of Jesus that it's hard to to separate em and so if I spill over one into the other, I apologize that they're not these clear perfect categories but humility, humanity, and holiness are what we want to talk about today but before we get to the two the three points on two verses or two words. I do want to read the story of Lazarus because it's fantastic and God communicates through story, David. That's the way God communicates is through our stories but through this story. I won't, I will start in the start in the seventeenth verse.
41:43
It starts in verse one but I'll start in the seventeenth verse. Now, I'm going back to one. Now, a certain man came certain man was sick. It was Lazarus of Bethany of the village of Mary and her sister Martha and it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. Whose brother Lazarus was sick.
42:03
The sisters therefore sent to him saying, lord, behold, he whom you love is sick but when Jesus heard it, he said, this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God. In scripture, a lot of times when it says it's not for this but for that, it's not only for this but also for that. That's a very good way to translate that. So, it's not all, not only for death but also. Also, for the glory of God.
42:33
That the son of God, Jesus himself, may be glorified in it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When therefore, he heard that he was sick, he stayed then two days longer in the place where he was. That seems strange. He hears that Lazarus is sick.
42:52
It's an urgent request and yet he lingers. It says, when he heard, it doesn't say when he heard, he got up and went. He says, when he heard, he lingered. He stayed there. Two more days.
43:03
Then after this, he said to the disciples, let's let let us go to Jerusalem or let us go to Judea again and the disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. Are you going there again? Now, we studied about that last week. At the feast of dedication, they were they were seeking to stone Jesus and so they got out of town. Are we sick?
43:25
Are we going to go there again? And Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world. Who's the light of this world? Jesus.
43:36
Who's the light of the world now? We are. As long as there's light in the world, we need to be doing the works of God. That's what we learned last week. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.
43:53
This he said and after that, he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep and the disciples in their human terms the way that we tend to think first said, lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover. Sleep's a good thing. When somebody's sick, that's a great thing. Now, Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought he was speaking of literal sleep. I love the way John kind of throws that in and then he says, then, Jesus therefore, said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
44:23
No metaphor, Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe but let us go to him. Thomas therefore, who is called Didamus or twins, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Thomas gets a bad rap. We call him doubting Thomas but Thomas is going to go with him even though he knows that there's a possibility that Jesus could be stoned in anybody with him. He's kind of a smarty pants too though.
44:54
Verse 17, so when Jesus came, he found that he had already been dead or been in the tomb four days. Now, tradition among the Jews of that time and since is that the body and the soul are separated at death but that the soul would linger. The spirit would linger above the body and would revisit the body for three days. That was a normal Jewish custom that three days. On the fourth day, he's there.
45:18
There's no doubt. Just like Jesus said, Lazarus is dead. Now, Bethany was near Jerusalem about two miles off. Why does that matter? Where's the Sanhedrin?
45:30
Where are the Pharisees and Sadducees hanging out? Where are the the chief priests, scribes, teachers of the law? They're in Jerusalem. They're in Beth, they're in Bethany is two miles away. How far is two miles from here?
45:42
The Smiths? Yeah. You think news could travel from Smiths? You know what's about to happen? You think news could travel from Smiths to here?
45:53
And many of the Jews had come to Mary and Martha. So, of the Jews out of Jerusalem had come to Mary and Martha to console them concerning their brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him. But Mary sat in the house. Martha therefore said to Jesus, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
46:13
Now, what did Jesus just say? I'm thankful for your sakes that I was not there. Jesus knew what he was doing. He already has said that it was a good thing that he was not there but when Martha sees him, she can't help it. She's in grief and she says, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
46:32
But listen to the cry of faith that she follows it up with. Even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. That's that open ended faith like Mary had at the wedding at Cana. We studied that where she said, whatever he says, do it. And Jesus said to her, your brother shall rise again And Martha said to him another cry of faith.
46:55
I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me shall live even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
47:12
He gives her the chance flat out. Do you believe this? And she said to him, yes, lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the son of God, and he who comes into the world which is another messianic term we get from the old testament and when she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister. Ain't it just like Mary and Martha for Martha to be upfront?
47:30
That's the way she is. I'm sure she was the eldest child. I'm the eldest child. So, she called Mary, her sister, and I've lost my place. Mary, her sister, said saying secretly to Mary.
47:48
Now, this is interesting too. Saying secretly to Mary, the teacher is here and he's calling is calling for you and when she heard it, she arose quickly and was coming to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still lingering in the place Martha had met him. This was private. It was out of town.
48:05
It was not in the midst of the big assembly but the Jews then who were with her in the house and consoling her when they saw Mary rise up quickly and went out followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet. We see Mary three different times in scripture. Twice in John and once in one of the other gospels and the three times that we see Mary, she is always at Jesus's feet. She's worshiping him.
48:33
She's anointing his feet with oil or she has fallen down in grief at his feet and she says, exactly the same thing that her sister said, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Martha's business like Mary's emotional. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews came with her also weeping. The two words right there for weeping and weeping are more like okay? That's you can't spell that.
49:05
So, use weeping but blubbering or crying profusely, really really crying. That's what those words right there, the verbs mean and Jesus, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. Troubled like waves on a sea and said, where have you laid him? And they said, lord, come and see. And then we get to our verse.
49:29
Jesus wept. Now, the the verb there is different from that blubbering. This is like that Indian. That's what made me think of that Indian. It is a tear that emerges and tears that continue to come that don't have any kind of a outward show.
49:49
It's shedding tears. Weep. I also thought of the George Harrison song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Have you heard, you've heard all these other songs that are, he's, you know, my guitar is crying, they're they're wailing on the guitar, they're slashing, whatever but there's this beautiful song that's it's weeping and it's it's subtle. We'll get back to it.
50:12
And so, the Jews were saying, behold how he loved him. But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind have kept this man also from dying. You remember last week, that was just a month or so ago in real time. Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now, it was a cave and a stone was lying against it and Jesus said, remove the stone.
50:38
Martha, again, Martha. Bless Martha's heart. The sister of the deceased said to him, lord, by this time, there will be a stench or in the old King James, lord, he stinketh for it has been four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you, if you believe you will see the glory of God? Jesus's mission was to reveal the glory of God and when he told them to remove that stone, he gave them instruction on how they could help him reveal the glory of God.
51:17
He waited for them to do it. And so they removed the stone. You remember last week with the simple obedience? Jesus tells you to do something, you just do it. Simple testimony.
51:31
Just tell what Jesus did for you. And so they removed the stone and Jesus raised his eyes and said, father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that you heard me but because of these people standing around, I said it like this, that they may believe that you sent me. Jesus already knew what he was going to do. He had already prayed this prayer.
51:59
He had already done what was necessary. He already had the authority to say it and so, when he had said these things so that everybody else could catch up with what was going on, he cried out with a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth. I heard a preacher say one time, the reason he said, Lazarus, come forth is because at the voice of Jesus, if he would've just said, come forth, everybody would've come out. And that will happen.
52:28
That's hoping fully that we've been talking about for so many months. That will happen. Jesus will cry out and all will come out but he specified Lazarus come forth and he who had died came forth bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face was wrapped around with a cloth and Jesus said to him, unbind him and let him go. Jesus wept God, I pray that you'd give us some insight and understanding and into your heart. Paul tells us that we should have the same mind that's in Christ Jesus in Philippians, lord.
53:06
We want to do that and we want to weep with those who weep and we want to rejoice with those who rejoice. Show us how to do that. Let us see those people, lord. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen.
53:20
So, back to the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. Why did he weep? He knew he was going to raise him. Was it for the dead guy?
53:35
You think he was weeping for Lazarus? No. He knew Lazarus was going to be, you know, they're going be hugging each other in just a few minutes. Was he, was he for, was it for Mary and Martha? I think that the text says that it was.
53:48
He was weeping with those who weep just like Paul tells us to do later on. Humility is to me, the difference in those verbs there. This is is a simple past tense from Decruo. It's a verb that means to silently shed tears. Another way of saying is a calm and gentle sorrow.
54:09
It's the only time that this word used in the New Testament. So, it's not anywhere else. You we don't have anything in the New Testament but every time that we have outside of that in any other Greek literature, it's always a very gentle, calm, humble, not showy, not over the top. At the time, the Jewish custom was to almost hire mourners. When somebody would die, the bigger the funeral, the more popular the person and so people would have the Jews out of Jerusalem imported to come in.
54:39
That's why Martha was saying, Mary, come on, Jesus is here. They knew probably part of that casserole brigade. We called it in the South. After somebody dies, there's a casserole brigade that comes in which is good. I don't have any problem with that but they would they came in and they would they would professionally mourn for you and so they wailed.
54:59
I have stood next door to a Muslim funeral which Muslim funeral is very much like a Jewish funeral at this time would have been and they still have professional mourners but what Jesus did was not that. He was not making a show and that's okay. That's not a bad thing. Grief is necessary and good and that and we should go through the process but it needs to be real. He was deeply moved but hit this is to contrast that John does this kind of thing all the time and and as contrast with the verb used for the sisters and the Jewish mourners.
55:33
The humility of a crying God. All power in the universe. When we in our society try to hold back tears, I'm a man. Men don't do that. That's silly.
55:50
Jesus is the ultimate in masculinity. And he cried. His humanity. I thought this quote was great from Godet. The very gospel in which the deity of Jesus is the most clearly asserted.
56:03
Y'all know we've done this from the very first verse of John is also that which makes us best acquainted with the profoundly human side of his life. In Hebrews, I lost the last little bit of that but we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things just as we are yet is without sin. That's great to know your God is that. So, that's humility and humanity. Another episode where we see Jesus crying and he was crying out loud this time.
56:40
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over. Which city? Jerusalem. Where those Jews were from? This is in Luke.
56:49
Saying, would that you even you had known on this day the things that might make for peace in your life. If you knew what would make for peace but now, these things are hidden from your eyes and that caused our savior to cry out. It was before the cross. The redemption cycle was not yet complete. The redemption was not yet available in that way.
57:09
They could still believe on him but they wouldn't do it and he says and now, things are hidden from your eyes and then holiness. Holiness defined as the complete otherness that belongs to God. Now, it's set apart from all others as sacred and it is what God is. I am holy. In Leviticus nineteen two, he says, be holy just as I, the Lord your God, am holy.
57:36
Through Jesus, through the cross, through his death, burial, resurrection, perfect life, all of that. Through that, he has seeded to us the ability to be holy just as he is holy through his Holy Spirit. God is the one true God. He is holy, set apart from all others but as this how does this go with Jesus wept? I looked through about 10 or 12 different Greek Some of them were plays, some of them were poems, some things about the different gods and I was looking for any instance doing Google searches, boolean searches on all kinds of nonsense.
58:14
I like to do research. I like to do that and this actually, Homer's Iliad, this line says it best about the Greek gods. The gods ordained the lot of man to suffer while themselves are free from care. How many people in our society believe that God does not care? How many of them see him as a cosmic killjoy that only wants for us to walk a line, to just do what he wants us to do, not because he loves us but because he can't wait to punish us.
58:48
How many people in our society think that that's true? How many people would put our capital G God up there with that little G God? Many, many, many people feel like that. The Philippians two three eleven down there in Isaiah 53. I've been reading a lot about grief as I'm in the position of pastor now.
59:14
I get a chance to speak to people who are grieving more often than I somebody might on a chairlift or in normal life. And I've been reading a lot about it and the rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep stands out. It really does but the Isaiah 53 passage that says that Jesus, it's a messianic Psalm that says, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. In Philippians two three through 11 says, let nothing be done out of selfishness, vain conceit. But have this mind of Christ within you and it talks about the humility which Christ took unto death.
59:57
Even the death of the cross, a humiliating death and I think he is the light of the world. This is what we were learning last week, and we are the light of the world. We should be all three of these things. We should be humble people. We should not be showy.
1:00:15
The drama should probably decrease. Like John the Baptist said, I must decrease and he must increase. We should be pointing towards him. Humanitarian in church is often heard as a bad word. Can you believe that?
1:00:29
That's just a humanitarian mission. They're going to help people but they're just giving them food. Well, they're starving. Be humane. Look on people with understanding, compassion, forgiveness.
1:00:45
We've been talking about this several weeks. Humility is a great thing and must be probably the quintessential Christian aspect should be humility. Out of that will flow the humanity and if you are both of those things, if you can humbly serve other human beings because God told you to, holiness is going to characterize your life. You need to stay close to the word but you've gotta have an outlet for it. You gotta have an outlet for it.
1:01:14
So, I'd say, it's Renzy. You know, pop on back up here. I appreciate what these guys are doing. I feel like it dovetails perfectly with this. Jesus weeping, our God weeping shows his humility.
1:01:27
It shows his humanity and it shows his holiness and I pray right now, I'm praying. God, for the benefit of those who are hearing, that you would show us how to do these things, that you would show us how to be this way, that you would make us like your son. Ask you to strip away everything that doesn't look like Jesus from our lives, lord. And lord, if there's somebody in here that finds this attractive, that does think, has thought up to this point that you are just a cosmic killjoy, that you just want for us not to have fun and to follow the rules. God, would you show yourself to them in some overwhelmingly gracious and loving way through one of us who know you.
1:02:10
It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. Y'all could stand
1:02:32
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. I see the king kingdom's cause as I walk from earth into eternity. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the Hosanna, hosanna,
1:06:57
I got one more thing for you to consider this morning about the holiness of God and Jesus as he was standing there and he was weeping. I said, yes, it probably was for Mary. It probably was for Martha but the holiness of God allowed him to see. He's completely other while he was fully man. He's fully divine.
1:07:13
He's completely other and able to see the bigger picture. He knew everything about what had gone on. He was there in the garden with Adam and Saul when we surrendered the right to eternal life. When Jesus saw death and what it does to everybody around. You think that he could feel every effect of the cause and to think that the wages of sin is death.
1:07:45
Do you think he was crying just for the fact that this communion had been broken? He cried but then he did something about it. I'm praying that you where you see need, you would take the time to be the person of God that you need to be. Take the time to let it affect you but then do something about it. Remove the stone.
1:08:06
Do what he tells you to do to help that person in need and the blessing is we are the light of the world. Have mercy upon us God. We are the light of the world. Let others see the good that we do and give glory to you. It's in Jesus name.
1:08:20
Amen.
1:09:16
This style.
1:09:23
Healing my heart. Thursday.
1:09:27
Okay? See you. Yep. Take it easy,
