I AM: the Resurrection & the Life

John 11 is a story of resurrection. But it isn’t Jesus’ resurrection. Just before he’s handed over to the Roman authorities to be crucified, Jesus brings his friend Lazarus back to life from the grave. In doing so, he demonstrates both his power over death, and his sympathy in the midst of it. This story reminds us of the authority Jesus has over the grave, but it also reminds us of the severity of our sin. Death is the result of our rebellion against God and his Kingdom. Yet despite our guilt, God still heals us. The resurrection of Lazarus points forward to the resurrection of Jesus, and also to our resurrection. The message of Easter is that like Lazarus, we are dead in our sin and broken from the source of life. But also like Lazarus, Jesus forgives us and promises to one day resurrect us too.

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 I hope today that we can remember that as we look into God’s word and we see these things, that these were real people, that these were real ladies who walked up to that tomb expecting to find grs body there. It wasn’t there. And they ran into these two glowing guys, and man, what an experience that had to be.

But, uh, those were real things. And, you know, that act of those three days allowed us to be a priesthood of believers, allowed us to approach God ourselves, not through anyone. So let’s take a look into Luke 24. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified. They bowed down to the ground. Why are you looking for the living among the dead ass?

The men? He is not here, but he has risen. Amen. Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee saying it is necessary for the son of man to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and rise on the third day, and they remembered his words. Amen. Amen.

I’d love for you to open your Bibles to John chapter 11. Hear me out. The 1990s was the apex of the human experience. It was a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity. If you remember, if you were there, the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and many were declaring that now the war over ideologies is over.

Capitalism has won. Globalization is now on the rise. Not to mention heroes like Michael Eisner, the c e o of Disney churn Disney animation around and gave us movies that will talk about for generations to come. Like Lion King, a Laddin, beauty and the Beast and Toy Story. It’s so good. They just keep remaking those over and over and over again.

And don’t even get me started on TV shows, like Home Improvements, Seinfeld, friends, fresh Prince, and the ultimate show of all time. Boy meets world. Honestly, my guilty pleasure is listening to a podcast called Pod Meets World. Where, where, uh, Topanga, Sean and Eric talk about each episode. And I am not gonna lie, I smile the entire time and relive my childhood, but the nineties doesn’t win every battle against contemporary culture.

I, for one, am glad that I have an iPhone or I probably wouldn’t drive anywhere. I am extremely directionally challenged. I don’t miss the sound of dial up. Anybody remember that? Is it in your head right now? Right. That’s gone. Also, violence, life expectancy, literacy and equality are in a much better spot today than they were even in the nineties.

But I think we could all agree we haven’t reached utopia, especially in the nineties. We thought we were getting there. Again, lion King, but. We’re not Andrew Sullivan. He’s a contemporary British author and political commentator. He pushed back against this notion that all of our progress is making us better and happier.

He said the following, as we have slowly and surely attained more progress, we have lost something that undergirds all of it, meaning cohesion and a different, deeper kind of happiness than the satiation of all our earthly needs. I dare to say that you would agree with that or else maybe you wouldn’t be here today.

Things like medicine and tech, they are on the upward trend, but things like emotional, mental, and spiritual health are at a free fall, at least here in America. Take a look on the screen at this graph that’s tracking the values, uh, that are important to our country. It looked at 1980, uh, sorry, 1998 to now.

Is that on the screen? I can never see it. Perfect. Okay. The first thing you have is patriotism. Was that a 70%? Rate saying 70% of people said, this is an important value for my life, is to be a patriot. Patriotism. In 1998, it fell to 38%. In 2023, the source here is the Wall Street Journal. What about religion?

Has it gotten better or worse? 62% considered religion to be important part of their life. In 1998, it has fallen to 39% in 2023, it has now kind of changed. I don’t know if you’ve noticed where before it was. Sure you have your religion. I think it’s good. Just don’t bother me. Now. It’s the fact that you have a religion bothers me.

You are the problem. What about having children? This is a striking statistic. 59%. It’s really said it’s really important. In 1998, it’s already down to 30%. In modern day community involvement, 47% in 1998 dropped down to 27% in 2023. And of course, the only thing. That has gone upward as money. 31% said it was a strong value for them in 1998, and now in 2023, 43% say it’s a very strong value.

Now, this graph is not a sign of wellbeing and prosperity as a nation, but here’s where we live. I want you to think back to 1998. This was pre Columbine shooting where when you drop off your kid at school, you weren’t worried that it might be the last day you saw them. This was pre nine 11 with all the things that happened then.

But one of them is, it was before you had to take off your shoes to get through security, right? This was pre 2008 where maybe you didn’t have to foreclose your home. This was pre 2016 where politics were still at least a bit civil. This was pre covid where our kids weren’t missing a whole year of education and can’t catch up, and it also wasn’t the time when if you coughed, everyone looked at you with complete disgust.

Shout out to 1998. This was actually even pre-election confusion. The questions you’re asking maybe is, one, do I trust the election results? And two, do I trust the people who don’t trust the election results? We’re in a mess. Happy Easter. By the way, welcome to church. We are experiencing a sense of heartache and depression as a nation, and I would beg to say that also in our own households and in our own hearts.

See, when you live life long enough, you either want to undo your past or dwell on it. Maybe you, your life has been radically shaped today by two to five decisions, and you don’t necessarily wanna relive that period of your life. But if you just tweak a few of those nos into yeses and those yeses into nos, maybe you wouldn’t be so miserable today.

You just think, if I can just undo a few things, Life would be better. Or maybe your life was just all around better back then, especially in the nineties, maybe that was your time. You were younger, happier, healthier. As your body decays and your eyes grow dim, you dwelled on simpler times where nostalgia is your drug of choice.

Now, why start an Easter sermon this way? I’m not sure yet, but no, if we can’t conquer death, we have no choice but to look back. We have no choice but to look at our life and think if I can just undo or if I can just dwell. Many of us are living today living with regrets or living off nost. But Easter is all about the good news that Jesus has made another way, that death has lost its sting, that it has been conquered, and you and I because of Jesus, we don’t have to look back.

In fact, we can look beyond, well beyond into the future with a sense of hope and a sense of gratitude. If you haven’t turned there already, turn your Bibles to John 11. Today’s. It’s about two sisters who are filled with so much pain they wish they can just undo this past week, or at least dwell on something like a month ago.

Now, let me give you some context as you’re churning there, there are four what we call gospels in the Bible is simply that word gospel means it’s a biography of Jesus’s life, and so it’s Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. It’s how we begin what we call the New Testament. Now, John is the most different gospel of them all.

Matthew, mark, and Luke. Those are called synoptic gospels. There’s a lot where they’re in sync and it’s a lot of the same stories. John says, no, I’m gonna do my own thing. And write the story of Jesus in a different way. Not to change the facts, but to change the angle. Uh, for example, John, in fact, we are in a series right now talking about the seven I am statements of Jesus, where you see Moses encountering God and what does God say?

I am who I am. And now Jesus is saying, let me fill in the blank for you. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd. I am the light of the world. And today we’re gonna see his fifth of seven I am statements is what we’re gonna study. But also he loves the number seven. John gives us seven signs of his coming kingdom.

What this was, was a miracle and it would be a glimpse into the future. It would be a glimpse into, Hey, when the kingdom of God is here, nobody goes hungry. When the kingdom of God is here, the blind can now see, well, this is the seventh and final miracle, the final sign that points to the coming kingdom.

Now one more set of context For the sake of time, we’re not gonna read the first 16 verses. Let me summarize it for you. You can always go back and read it later this week. Mary and Martha, they send word to Jesus that the one you love, which is Lazarus is dying. Jesus hears it, acknowledges that God will get glory from it, and then chills out for two days.

They’re saying, get here. Now. He’s on his deathbed. And Jesus says, okay, cool. I love Lazarus. Let me chill. And he’s just hanging out. This is where a lot of pastors they go, God’s delays are not God’s denials. Amen. And this is a whole sermon there. I’ll do that next week maybe, but not today. All right. That is a true thing though.

The disciples did not want Jesus to go to Bethany. This is where Lazarus was because it was two miles from Jerusalem. And if he goes back to Jerusalem, all the six other signs that Jesus has done, all the religious leaders are saying, when we see him next, he’s dead. We’re killing him. We’re done with him.

He’s taken away our power and our authority, we’re done. And so as disciples say, are you sure you want to go back? Cuz Jerusalem is where they’re hunting you. And Jesus loves Lazarus so much, he can’t help but go. Now we’re in verse 17. When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for days.

So again, one would argue he was late. Bethany was near Jerusalem less than two miles away. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Notice this compare and contrast between Mary and Martha.

You also see another example of that in Luke 10, right? Martha’s a go-getter, and Mary is just sitting at the feet of Jesus. You see this again? Martha’s like, let’s look for Jesus. I’m gonna go out and get him. Mary is just chilling at the house, waiting for Jesus to come to her. So in verse 21, Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died yet, even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.

Your brother will rise again. Jesus told her. Martha says something interesting in verse 24. She said, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Now, nerd out with me real quick. The Jews in the Old Testament, they believed in the resurrection. They would often call this the day of judgment.

Now, when you and I think of a day of judgment, are we excited for that? Probably not For them, they could not wait. Why? They were an oppressed and abused people in their eyes. The day of judgment meant those oppressors get what’s coming to them, and now they will finally receive freedom. Now that’s a helpful perspective for those of us.

We’re not conquered. We are by sin, but we’ll get to that later. But you know, by Rome or anything else, we are the people who are fine today. But another thing, take a look at this graph. Actually, can we put the graph up on the screen? This is actually the two different perspectives. The top is the perspective of the Jewish expectation of the coming kingdom and the resurrection.

And the bottom is actually Jesus’ understanding, his, his teaching of what the kingdom is. So if you look at the top here, you have this old world. You see that line there. Now, the old world represents sin, Satan, and death. There’s no hope. This old world is what you and I are used to, right? Disease, people dying too soon, lots of heartache.

And so they had this hope based in the Old Testament, okay? When the Messiah comes, the moment he enters into Jerusalem, the old world will be gone. No more crying, no more tears, no more pain. And there’s New Dawn will arise. We’ll be resurrected and we’ll rule and reign with God for eternity. Now, that’s kind of true.

Look at the bottom part of the graph. What Jesus was introducing all throughout his earthly ministry was saying, okay, look, I am the Messiah, but hear me, you will see the kingdom. The moment Jesus is on the scene, the kingdom is coming. It has come and it’s certainly there after the resurrection. But what we’re gonna see throughout the Bible is we are in this period of overlap, okay?

Where we are in the old world, we still die. We still have sin. We have a lot of stuff that discourages us. However, we also see glimpses of the coming kingdom. We see people who are sick get healed. We see people who were far from God receive salvation. If we had time, I would tell story after story. Here at Passion Creek, we have seen glimpses of the kingdom of God.

Martha didn’t get this. Martha thought it was okay. It’s Old world. And then boom, new world. The reality is, is there is a time of overlap. The Hebrews didn’t understand this, and so Jesus is saying, I will resurrect first, and after that, after that end, when he comes again, then we will all be resurrected.

You with me? I know that was very theological, nerdy, dumb thing right there, even though I just ruined it all with that kind of language. Right now, today, you and I ignore the kingdom. We don’t really have a theology for that often, and we certainly ignore the resurrection. I’m not gonna have a raise of hands, but many of us, I would imagine if I asked if your vision of heaven is just us being souls floating in the clouds.

I imagine a lot of people be like, yeah, that’s, that’s what I believe. That’s not in the biblical text. What we actually have is something more beautiful than that. Now, the gospel is about forgiveness, a clean record, but not only that, we will be holistically transformed, and so in Easter we’re reminded.

We’re gonna be resurrected. Your body will be resurrected again. You will have a body and we will rule and reign with God in the new heavens and the new Earth. And so it’s not about just escaping this planet, how much we hate it. No God’s going to redeem it and renew it and resurrected, okay? That is actually a much more compelling vision in my mind of what’s about to come with Jesus in his second coming.

But let’s look at verse 25, verse 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? What? It’s Jesus saying here. He’s saying, look, I will be resurrected and I’m gonna give that resurrection to you as well, as long as you believe.

Verse 27, yes Lord, Martha told him, I believe you are the Messiah, the son of God who comes into the world. Now, notice Jesus’ response to Martha. Write this down. Jesus is comforting. Martha. With truth. Many times words don’t suffice, but sometimes they do. And in this chaos, the sadness of losing a brother, what does Jesus say?

I am the hope. I am the resurrection. I am the life and life and abundance. He’s speaking truth, especially in a culture that relativizes truth. We often ignore it in the face of suffering, but sometimes we need to hear the truth and clinging to it. And what I love about this answer, don’t miss this. This truth is extremely personal.

Jesus doesn’t say, don’t worry, the universe has your back. No, he says, I have you. I love you. I will be there for you and I will resurrect them. This is Jesus, the God man who died for you and rose again for you. And this truth isn’t powerful until it gets personal. Now, what is this truth? Jesus want us to know this Easter.

Write this down. Since Jesus is God, he alone can rescue you from death. This is one of the main climactic points of this text in John 11. Now Resurrection Sunday. We’d love to talk about how it’s about Jesus’ resurrection, which hear me clear. It absolutely is, but it also points to the fact that you and I will be resurrected.

Now, spoiler alert, Lazaruth Lazarus is about to raise again. Okay? He’s dead. The King James actually says he’s stinketh, but he’s about to raise again. Okay? Showing death does not have the final word overall of history. We can get so innovative and creative, but none of us have an answer for death. Jesus does.

He conquers it and he proves it right here. Now, Lazarus, here’s what stinks about being Lazarus. It’s an amazing story. He gets to rise again, but it’s only a sign of the coming resurrection. It’s not the full substance. What do I mean? Lazarus has to die again. Can you imagine? It’s like, again, like every day I wake up going, thank you Jesus, but man, I know how it feels.

I gotta do this thing. This is Lazarus. So he is just a picture. It’s not the full thing. So Lazarus’s body was not fully resurrected in the sense that yours and mine will be when we believe in Jesus. But this is a glimpse. It is a picture of what will come. Jesus is showing us that life with God and His kingdom does mean no more tears, no more crying, no more pain, no more hunger, no more thirst.

No more darkness. I can go on. And so since we live in this overlap, our community has that privilege to be an outpost of the kingdom and show glimpses of the world to come and the hear and now miracles of restoration, of peace, of love and joy. Now, even though I spoiled it, let’s look at what happens next in verse 28, verse 28, having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying, in private, the teacher is here and is calling for you.

As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. Notice Jesus is still lagging. He’s waiting here. Verse 31, the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, saw that Mary got up quickly and went out.

Fun fact, in this context, in this culture, some people were paid. Their job was to mourn with people at funerals. Anybody good at that? Right? They just, their job was to cry. So if that’s you, you’re born in the wrong millennium. All right? So you would’ve been really helpful 2000 years ago. So they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to cry there.

So it’s great. They were there to help her. As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Have you seen this before? This is literally word for word what Martha had said. Sisters, what are you gonna do? Right?

Exact. And so what is Jesus gonna do? Of course, right? He’s gonna say the same thing back. Nope. Verse 33. When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and trouble. Where have you put him? He asked Lord. They told him, come and see in the shortest verse in all the Bible, Jesus wet.

Notice what’s happening here. Jesus comforts Martha with truth, but Jesus comforts merry with tears.

Easter is a day we celebrate peace, meaning, and hope, but it’s also a time where we process the pain of life, this side of the resurrection in the face of sin, evil, and death. What does Jesus do? He weeps. How long until this pain comes to an end? When will we see racial reconciliation? When will we see the end of poverty?

When will we see the end of broken families? When will we see the end of school shooting? Our main problem is not a political party. It’s not immigration reform. It’s not poverty, the education system, it’s not even social media. The main problem is the human condition sin, evil and death. And in the face of it, Jesus sweeps.

I think I put off a vibe sometimes here that I cry a lot. I promise you I don’t. But the last time I cried, people are nodding their head, I don’t, I don’t appreciate that. Golly, baby, you gotta back me up after service. Yeah, right. But the last time I cried, honestly, was um, just a couple weeks ago hearing the news of the school shooting at Covenant School in Tennessee.

Um, at first I was sad, of course, like we all are. And then it really hit home when, when it was a pastor who lost their nine year old baby girl. I’m a pastor, I have an eight year old. I mean, it just hit home more than. The other stories, right? There’s just a way to really hit home there. And it turns out that actually Pastor Chad Scruggs, he’s a friend of a friend, and so that even hit home that I kind of, I know the people he knows and, and I was just weeping saying, God, when will this end?

This is ridiculous. When will this pain end? And I actually kind of been praying for Pastor Chad and his family, and I was actually, I saw a clip of a sermon that he had preached just before all of this went down. And it was actually on John 11, and it was on this verse, verse 35, where this pastor, not knowing what a couple weeks were ahead of him, he said the following, he says, who in the story knew the ending better than anyone?

The Sunday school answer is the right one here. It’s Jesus. The whole time Jesus knew how the whole thing would go down. And one of the most remarkable things about the story that always gets me. Is that knowing exactly what he is about to do, Jesus sits down and does what He weeps. Do you see that a strong confidence at the end of the story does not undo or justify the absence of grief in the middle?

A mature faith adds its tears to the sadness in our world. Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn all the while not losing confidence and how that sadness will eventually be overcome in him.

What does this tell us about Jesus? Since Jesus is man, he can grieve with you over death. He knew the pain of rejection. He knew the pain of losing a loved one too soon. Jesus knew the pain of getting crucified, and what I’ve been praying for for Pastor Scruggs, He knows the truth of Jesus. And my prayer is that in these, this last month, he has been feeling the tears of Jesus.

And on this Easter, we grieve death, but we also wag our finger in its face and say, but you’re done. You’ve lost its sting. You no longer have the final word. Verse 38, then Jesus deeply moved again. This deeply moved word here actually has the imagery of a horse snorting, like getting ready for battle. So imagine Jesus, he has like this sense of anger and grief, and yet he has resolve cuz he’s staring death at the face in the face and says, watch me.

I love that Now. Deeply moved again. Came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone was lying against it. Remove the stone. Jesus said, Martha, the dead man’s sister told him, Lord, there is already a stench. He’s stinketh, right? Because he has been dead for four days. I looked into the science of what happens to your body in four days, but those of you who know me, I may not.

I promise you I’m not weepy, but I am queasy. So we’re moving on. But a bad lot of bad stuff happens to your body after four days, and certainly it does stinketh. Now, this death and decay comes from sin. Let’s be clear here. We weren’t designed to die, but we chose to go our own way, and as a result, death has in introduced into our story, and we are decaying.

We are disease because of sin done by us, sin done to us and the sin done around us. We are in a mess, but we have Jesus. Look at verse 40. Jesus said to her, didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, father, I thank you that you heard me.

I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here, I said this. So that they may believe, you sent me after he had said this, he shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus come out and the dead man came outbound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, unwrap him and let him go.

Please hear me. This is not an allegory. I love what brother Ron already said. This is actually a story that actually happened. And if you think, oh, those people back then they believed anything that’s chronological snobbery, they would freak out too. If they’re like, no, he’s stinketh for four days and now he’s back, they know something crazy just happened.

And Jesus again is giving us a taste of what will happen to you and me. When we believe in him, we will be raised. And in the case of Lazarus, Jesus actually restored a decomposing stinky body. But here’s the reality. Eventually you and I, you’re gonna die and you will become like ashes. And the beautiful news is even when you become like ashes where you can’t even tell if there’s a body at all anymore, Jesus, out of nothing will resurrect you back into a new life and new creation.

But don’t miss this. When Jesus said Lazarus come out, he was also declaring it was his time to go in. Jesus exchanged his life for Lazarus. See, the final miracle was the nail in the coffin, pun intended. And Jesus knew it. Why? The religious leader says, if this guy does anything more impressive than he’s already done, we’re gonna kill him.

And Jesus knowing, in order to save Lazarus, I have to die. And friends, it’s true for you as well, and it’s true for me. This Easter, Jesus is calling you to come out of the grave. Because he already went in for you and he is the victor who came out again and said, death no longer has the final word. But on our own, you and I can’t bear the weight of sin.

We can’t bear the weight of death. You and I, we can’t really, we can change some things, but we can’t make up for some of our past decisions. It’s done, it’s history. We are who we are. You and I have scarves. You and I have ailments in our body because of past decisions are just because we’ve been living for so long.

What do we do? There’s nothing we can do, but Jesus can see. Death can’t be undone, but it can be overcome. See, dwelling on the past doesn’t keep death from having its way. Just because you love the nineties, like me, you’re still gonna die hopefully in your nineties. How poetic. But anyway, Our only hope is in a resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus who overcame the grave and is so generous in saying this gift I have this victory I have, I now give to you. You just have to receive it. We began today saying, when you live life long enough, you either want to undo your past or dwell on it, and neither of those are legitimate solutions to the problems we face.

Our only hope is in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And then this was another time when I cried. I promise you I’m not a crier, but I was reading this book by James K. Smith. He’s a Christian, author and philosopher, and he was reflecting on the realities of the resurrection In the following away, he says, God does not want to undo our pasts, nor does he want us to nostalgically, dwell in our past.

Grace is not a time machine. Grace is not a reset button. Grace is something even more unbelievable. It is restoration. Grace isn’t an undoing, and maybe you’ve heard the gospel that way, that it’s just simply about forgiveness will undo your past friends. Your past was already done. We have a a more beautiful message.

It’s not just, it’s not undoing. Grace is as he ends the quote, an overcoming, we can overcome your past, overcome your sin, overcome the grave, but it’s not in you. It’s in Christ alone. That’s why Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Don’t look to any other solution. The hope is found in Christ and in Christ alone.

And so what I want us to do as we close this message on this Easter Sunday, I really want to honor God by responding to the resurrection. I think all of us, no matter where you’re at in your faith or not faith, you have an opportunity today to respond. And I’ve been asking Holy Spirit to come and how do we respond?

And as I reflect on this story, Marion, Martha, they each have their own way of coming to Jesus. And you today, you’re gonna have your own way that you’re gonna talk to Jesus and respond to Jesus. But here’s the two things they had in common, and the two things you and I need as well is faith and need.

They had a need that they could not over overcome on their own, but they had faith that Jesus can make a, can resurrect a, uh, a dead body that can resurrect their hopes, can resurrect their peace. And so I invite you actually right now to, to lift up your needs to God. I’m gonna stop talking so much. I’m gonna allow you to reflect, come Holy Spirit

between you and God at this moment. Imagine like your merrier, Martha, approaching Jesus.

What are your needs?

Maybe it’s the pain of a past decision. Give that to God.

Maybe it’s a physical ailment. Give your need to the Father.

You’re maybe like me this week. It’s the grief of death.

Now, I want you to imagine Jesus is weeping with you.

The second thing I want us to invite us to do is to not only lift up our needs to God, but to lift up our faith to God.

Maybe you’re like Martha and you wanna run to Jesus right now. Run to him.

Come Holy Spirit. Maybe you were like Mary, you just wanna feel like Jesus has come to you. You’re just sitting in your needs and your pain. Allow him to come to you.

We say this a lot at Passion Creek. Faith is not about passing a test. It’s not about having all the right answers or doing all the right things. Faith is about placing your trust. And so lift up your trust to God. God, I trust you with this need.

Come Holy Spirit.

And maybe you’re like me where you need to say Jesus, I believe. But help my own belief.

There’s areas where I don’t trust you. Help me God. I don’t want to live this way. I give it to you. God help me. Cause I, I have doubts and I have struggles even in this moment.

And like how I wanted you to imagine Jesus sweeping with you. I also want you to imagine Jesus calling you to come out of the grave, Jesus calling you, saying, I am the resurrection and the life your hope is in me.

Come Holy Spirit.

See God resurrects people who are filled with faith and who are filled with need. May we have both today, just give it to him.

I want to continue responding. Maybe the way that you can respond to this moment is just to sit, and maybe it’s one of those two things. You just, or you wanna weep with God, or you need a pep talk from God. You need the truth to be declared over your life. Maybe it’s a moment of saying, okay, Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief.

But one way to help with that is, is to respond through song.

And so we’re gonna have time for two songs here. And what I want us to do is just to allow this to be a moment between you and God. Don’t worry about your distractions. We actually have neers here on the front. If you just wanna come to the altar, if that’s your way of processing things, we have communion here on your left or right.

Take the bread first representing his body. Take the cup representing his blood. And it’s a declaration that God and Christ I forgiven the. But also this feast, it’s a little, it’s it’s a little bread and a little cup, but in the future, in the coming kingdom, there’s gonna be such a huge feast. And so this is a sign.

This is just a little sign of what’s to come that we’ll feast on the goodness of Jesus for eternity. Let that be a moment where you present your needs and your faith at communion. Or maybe you need to come forward and say, okay, I’m ready to get baptized. Come to me. I’ll be up here, up front. Well, let me pray.

Father God, I just asked you that you would take us where we’re at, that you’d redeem our past failures, but God thank you that you don’t, you don’t just like undo them, Lord, that you actually make something more beautiful because of how we’ve messed it up. And I love that. I love God that we have a resu.

You gotta pray for those in the room who are dying in this moment, experiencing a death to self, recognizing every answer they have to The purpose of life has fallen short. Career advancement doesn’t feel satisfactory like they thought. Families breaking apart whatever it is. God, maybe we just recognize this is what happens when we don’t have you.

Jesus. There’s also people in this room who believe in you, but they feel like they’re experiencing the old world way more than the coming kingdom. And for that, we just ask you, God, that your will be done and your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We asked for signs today. We ask for people who are not fertile to become fertile and, and have a baby.

We ask those who are sick, may they be healed or pleading with you. Cause Jesus, you are the life. You have it all in your hands and we are at your mercy. But more than all those things, those are just signs. We praise you for the substance that one day we will rise again with you. That this earth and all of its groaning will be renewed.

We can worship you for eternity.

Holy Spirit. I feel the finiteness of this moment, distraction can take us away. Anything. God, we give this over to you. Holy Spirit, would you come?

Would you come? In Jesus name, I pray everybody says. Amen. Amen.