Skip to content Mark 16:1-20 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Adam Mesa Dec 12 · 40 min ...more
December 12, 2024 · 40 min · Patria Sermons
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492K followers
Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
The Surprise of Faith 0:00 Well, if you have your bible, turn to Mark chapter 16. If you've been with us at all during this year, we've kind of, on top of a few worship nights and some other We've been plugging away, over the past 12 months0:13 here we are, find ourselves and the entire chapter of Mark. I won't be able to do every single verse, but we will pull A lot of the things that, you may have not known before.0:29 Explantative. And then the other half is kind of what we're gonna do. How many of you guys have ever surprised someone with like a gift? You ever given like a really good surprise before to someone?0:45 Orchestrated. I did that, and I'll tell on Christmas kind of the same story too, because it connects with the Christmas A1:08 And so I had an idea. Yeah, that's something to celebrate and, excited about. And essentially 10 years ago when I proposed to her, it started a series of kind of unfortunate events. I'd love to say we had1:20 the best I'd love to say we had the best engagement season, but we did it. A lot of stuff happened in our personal family life. A lot of, like I lost to groomsmen. It was1:32 just like it was really And it wasn't really a fun time. And any time we would always filled with, but also do you remember? And it would bring up a couple of those bad1:44 things. I had kind of fixed my head knowing that I would make it to a decade. I had great faith. So I said, if I make it to a decade, I'm going to repurpose because I'm going to try to1:56 give the wedding she deserves. Not in terms of nice, but in terms of just exciting. And no drama at all, even though sometimes we can't escape that.2:09 Proposal. And in October, 10 months later, I had proposed to Ashley again. And, I happened to do it, in Mexico. And I told her, in 12 months, I've already booked this location. We in 12 months,2:21 I've already booked this location. We're getting married at the same exact spot that I'm proposing to you right now in 12 months. Like, I've already put the deposit down. I've already done all the arrangements. I've2:33 already And so that was my surprise. And so I 10 months I worked on this surprise. And there was a couple times that I almost thought it would give away and she would catch it. At first, she said she didn't want to do a2:44 vow renewal. And then about 90 days before I had this plan, she started saying, I think we should plan a bowel renewal. And I was like, no, we're not. No. No bowel renewal because I didn't want to get ahead of it2:56 and have to tell her, well, because I've already done it. I've already done all the planning. So for me, year. It's about 10 months, is how long I3:08 held a secret for. I and did you know in Jesus' earthly ministry, he held a surprise for 33 years.3:20 You see, he gave hints of his surprise at his birth, and we'll see in just a moment, that there were tell signs. 1 of the tell signs that my wife thought that I was gonna repurpose is3:32 because friend who's in the jewelry business, and I said he offered to clean her ring for her. And at 1 day she goes, Hey, do you think that he's not cleaning it and he's like doing3:43 something to it? And I was like, No, that'd be impossible. He couldn't do that. Ultimate, she didn't. And here's what happens. For the3:55 Disciples of and gives us a way that there were tell signs that God has given us from the Old Testament to Jesus's birth, to Jesus's death, of Jesus's message.4:07 But guess what? Even in those moments, Jesus's disciples still didn't put together fully what Jesus came to do. The culmination4:19 of Jesus's engagement surprise. It's Jesus's surprise that said, my death, burial, and resurrection was so that you can be in perfect relationship with God the4:31 father. Everyone thought Jesus was coming and he was going to wear at the time an earthly crown. He was going to kick all the worldly leaders off of their throne. Jesus was going to rule in power and might4:43 But in order for Jesus to do that, first he needs to own the heavenly place. The kingdom of heaven. And then we still look for the day that Jesus will return and set up his earthly kingdom. And so I want you to see for4:55 a moment if you have your Bible. If you like taking notes, we're going to do that together with you because we're going to talk a little bit about it. And more than anything is we conclude this entire book, St. D.5:07 Like we've shared next week. We have a story. Yeah. It's, our Tuesday Christmas Eve service. Then the week after that, it's Tuesday New Year's Eve service. And then the Wednesday5:18 after that, we will launch into the book of Joshua. So we'll spend 12 months in the Old Testament next year. And we'll spend majority of Wednesdays in the book of Joshua. And there's so much richness5:31 in the book of Joshua that I promise you, if you can make Wednesday nights part of your routine, even online, you want to do that for the book of Joshua. But in this case, we find ourselves landing a play on5:43 the book of Maury. And I want you to see some things as you take notes or you follow along. There's some important things to note that we're going to start writing on within our bible.6:05 Today, we're going to learn the scripture as we dig into. So here's what it says. This is a first portion if you're looking at scripture. When the meridomoter,6:17 and Salem bought spices so that they may go and anoint, him, speaking of Jesus. They believe he's in the tomb at this point. And very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they6:29 went to the tune. Here's what I want you guys to notice right away. If you like taking notes, we just lost it. There we go. Well, if you guys want to take notes, can we get can I get a slide up on the6:41 screen? Or want you to see well, how do you work? It says, when Saba was there's what I want you to notice. Does anyone know what day is the6:53 Saba? Saturday. There we go. We already got some Bible scholars in the So here7:07 they are. So it was the day. And the 3 people, they come and they approach Jesus. Let's start over right here. They approach Jesus, and if you interact with your Bible, circle after the7:18 Sabbath. And so you're going to put right here. Here we are on Sunday. This stuff's important to know because what happens is they come, the 3 individuals,7:30 Mary, Mary and Salom come, and what do they come with? They come with spices that they bought. Does anyone know what spices they would have shown up with more than likely?7:43 They would have shown up with either frankincense or and both or and myrrh. Does anyone remember when a time frankincense and myrrh is mentioned in the bible?7:55 At Jesus's birth. Frankincense and myrrh, frankincense specifically was used in ceremonial worship. It's what they would dangle in ceremonial worship and they would, burn8:07 in the synagogue. And so these gifts, the gold that Jesus is given, which we see in a few weeks, represents Jesus' kingdom that he's a and then frankincense represents this fact that8:19 Jesus is worthy to be worshipped. And then the myrrh is generally what was used in ceremonial worship or ceremonial burial because the bodies began to smell when someone died.8:31 And so you would use this to cover up the smell. And so what happens is they show up with 1 of the gifts that Jesus was given at his birth.8:43 So 33 years surprise to come out and say, I was given myrrh at my birth and you're going to use myrrh at my death. And this8:55 happens on a Sunday. And so what happens is they approach Jesus so that they could anoint him and prepare him. Here's what's important and here's what should build your faith. It claims9:07 even more than that none of these things are surprises to God.9:27 Which means in your own life, there are no surprises to God. If he takes this level of care and detail to his son's birth and his son's death, then guess9:39 what? He is utilizing care and detail in your own life. And we take hope and joy that this is the reality. And so, what happens is, and9:50 very early on on the first day of week when the sun had risen, they went next verse. Here's what it says. So we know what day it is now.10:03 And, are we able to go to the next, next, next slide? Or is it frozen? Always the day that you want to10:14 use something the most. Like, have you ever noticed that? It's like, I haven't used this thing in like 6 weeks. And then it's like the day we want to use it. It's not there. Okay. Here it is up on the top. And when they10:25 were saying to 1 another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that a very, large stone had been rolled back.10:39 Next 1. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. I want you to see this for just a moment.10:54 To mark up really quick if you're taking notice. So what happens is Jesus raises on a Sunday. I don't know if you've ever been asked before that someone has asked you.11:08 Friday when that's when Sabbath is or instead of a Saturday, which some people or, on Saturday when the Sabbath is Well, the reality is, is because we as believers, resurrection,11:20 not his death. Amen. So we go to church on Sunday because that celebrates the day. We already read it. It was after the Sabbath. And so we read that. We go to church to celebrate Jesus's resurrection.11:32 Many people have died on crosses, but only 1 has died on a cross and rose 3 days later. And so we go to church on Sunday to celebrate that Jesus is risen. So every Sunday11:44 is what you could call resurrection Sunday. And so you also notice what happens is, is Jesus from basically about noon to 3 pm on11:56 Friday is when he's on the cross and when he passes at 3 pm on Friday. At that time, the sun hadn't set. In the Jewish faith, their days don't operate like our12:08 days, basically from midnight to midnight. In the in the Jewish faith, even still to this day, their days operate from sun up to sun down. That's that's 24 hours from them. So when the sun goes up12:20 to when the sun goes down, that's 24 hours. So on Friday, when Jesus passes away at 3 PM, we would call that technically our Thursday. That that that would be the Thursday. And so then12:32 what happens is on Saturday, so you have Friday, Saturday, Jesus raises on Sunday morning. That's how you get 3 days. Because you may read your bible, and you may be like, wait, if he passed away on this day, that that's12:43 that's technically 2 days. That's not 3 full days. It is if you use their type of way that they tell time. And so what happens is we find that Jesus has risen on a Sunday. And12:55 we find that in this moment, they were saying to 1 another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had already been rolled back for it was very13:07 large. So now we immediately see what happens is, is some type of miracle has happened13:12 because they've expected to anoint Jesus's body.13:12 They've also been so, here we are on a Sunday. It's been 3 days since Jesus. And13:24 this stole this stone is rolled away. And now we find Jesus. And they were saying to 1 another, or are we able to go to the next verse? Or can we just go to the next verse on the on the screen?13:36 We're gonna And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. You go to the next 1. Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of13:48 Nazareth who was crucified. He has risen and he is not here. See the place where they laid him, but go tell his disciples and Peter, that he's going before you to Galilee. There you will14:00 see just as he told you and they were trembling and astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone. So they were afraid. Then what happens for a few verses is Jesus starts14:12 to make a peer and And if you're following along in your bible, I want you to see verse 14. Here's what happens. It says, afterward, he appeared to the 1114:24 themselves and they were reclining at the table and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had14:36 risen, and he had said to them I want you to pause right there. So here's what happens for the disciples. They spent 3 years of ministry with Jesus. They've walked with Jesus. They've14:48 heard Jesus preach. They've heard Jesus heal people. They've heard Jesus on the sermon of the mount. They've seen Jesus walk on water. They've heard Jesus talk about the resurrection. So what happens14:59 is, these individuals come to them. The ones who've seen Jesus eyewitness, Mary Magdalene, and they go to the disciples. They say, hey, we've seen Jesus. He's risen. And their response wasn't, yes. This is what15:11 he's been talking about. This is what he's been preaching about. This is what we've been anticipating. No. Instead, they respond with skepticism and say, If I don't see him, if I haven't seen him, then I don't believe15:22 it. And these are individuals who've walked with Jesus. These are individuals who've heard Jesus's message. These are individuals who've rested and given great faith, and they still15:34 don't believe. Even so much so that the other gospels tell us that Peter picked up his old occupation and went back to fishing. And we look at that, we go, man, these these disciples, they're15:46 wild. They don't trust Jesus like that. They don't love Jesus like that. They don't have faith in Jesus like that. But it mirrors our own relationship with Jesus. The amount of15:58 skepticism we have on a regular basis if God can do something. We look at the care that God has placed in humanity, in his story of Jesus's birth. We see that God has16:10 been involved in all of our lives. And yet time after time, when God wants to show up, we always, not always, but there are times that we always respond to Jesus with skepticism, not faith.16:23 And so in this message, as we see how the disciples reacted, we're meant to also see ourselves in that to say, where are times in my life that I've met Jesus with skepticism? Show me16:35 first Jesus. Show me your hands. Show me the scars. Show me that you care. Show me that you answer prayers. Show me that you love me. Show me that you care about us.16:47 We we signed up for 3 years to walk with you, Jesus, and it's just it's over like that. We all go back to our old ways just like that. But how many times have you and I done that? How many times have we16:59 anticipated Jesus to come, and then we find ourselves back in our old ways? Find ourselves back in our old habits, well, because Jesus didn't match my timeline. Because Jesus didn't match my17:11 needs. He needs to do a better job at proving himself. It was when I was growing up and, still to this day, the family comes to our church and both of their sons, 1 1 lives up,17:23 out of state, in Washington, but, Brandon Landrum, he still comes here at the church. And so I grew up with a family called the Landrums, and their whole family still serves on our security team, and Moe17:35 and Winnie still serve, and they live right across the street from us. And there was a time where the GameCube, the Nintendo GameCube was blowing up. I don't know if anyone's old enough, either as a parent, grandparent,17:46 or just a millennial, that you remember the Nintendo GameCube. That thing was so popular. That thing was so hard to get your hands on. Everybody wanted this thing. 1 day my17:58 mom was checking out at Toys R Us of all places. You all remember? You remember Jesus's play palace called Toys R Us. You guys remember that? And so my mom's checking out at Toys R Us. She sees18:10 a member of the church, and a member of the church is like, hey pastor Cindy, Christmas shopping for the boys. And she's like, Oh, that's great. And she's like, Oh, what what did you find everything you needed? She said,18:21 Oh, yeah, I did. But on their Christmas list was this thing called the game something something or another. And she said, Oh, is it the game? And and she said, yeah. She said, oh, well we have a raffle for it, but I can18:32 misplace 1 if you if you want it. And shoot, favor ain't fair. So my my mom, my mom was like, yeah, well I mean, if it won't get you in trouble, yeah, sure.18:45 So sure enough, on Christmas day, we opened up the GameCube, me and my brother Caleb. Nathan was too cool for for video games back then. He played the flute or the violin or something. Something nerds play. So18:57 he's he's not interested. But me and Caleb, we we freak out. And we're so excited. So we take it up to our bedroom, and then all of a19:09 sudden we hear Moe and we hear Brandon playing outside basketball, because we all shared back like, they had a basketball court on their side of the, the street, and we had 1 on ours. And you could basically play full19:20 court between our 2 houses. So we hear them playing basketball, and we're like, hey, we should tell them we have a GameCube, and then we should invite them over. So we yell out. And we're like, hey, Mo, Brandon, we got a19:31 GameCube come Christmas. Immediately, they're salty. Because they don't know that we're gonna invite them over. Oh, our mom got it. We19:43 just like and so they're taking it in as we're we're rubbing it in. Like, they're like, we don't believe you that you got the GameCube. And we're like, it's plugged in. We can't take don't you hear? Like, so we're19:53 pulling the volume up. Right? We're restarting the system and it makes a little GameCube sound and all that kind of stuff. And they're like, that could be anything. You know? We're like, it is. And then and then20:05 they're like, they're like, prove it. And so we I bring the box, the GameCube box downstairs, and I give it to them. And and then they and then they and then they because we're taught You know kids, we20:17 just do weird things. So instead of talking at the front door, I ran back up to our bedroom to talk from the window from where they were at again. So I hand them the box, and I run back upstairs, and the next thing you20:28 know, I see Brandon and Mo. They're stepping on the box. They're like, you don't have no This is fake. This is a lie. And they're stepping on the game queue. And then we go, fine. And we close the door,20:41 and we shut it, and they never got to play the GameCube. We didn't invite them over. We tried to provide every proof possible.20:53 Outside of them just physically coming up and playing it themselves. But every single proof we gave them the sound of the game being played. We gave them an eyewitness account. Hey, we were playing it right now.21:05 We gave them the package that it came in. Like, hey, this was the game. And because they didn't get the glory of seeing it first, they didn't personally get it first. Instead, they21:17 responded in complete doubt and complete skepticism. And the disciples are met with this same moment with Jesus. Well, if he was resurrected, I think he would probably21:29 show me first. Well, me me and Jesus had a great relationship. Or if he was resurrected, why why didn't he just come here first? Why why did he choose walking with people on the side of a street? Or why21:41 did he choose you Mary? And what were you guys doing? And all these things. But the reality was, everyone else had gone back to their occupations and there were only 3 people that actually cared enough about Jesus's body21:54 to take care of it, even though he was dead. And so they cared about Jesus, even in the assumption that he was still dead, they still followed him, they still loved him. In a dormant22:06 3 day period of 72 hours, everybody else that followed Jesus just went back to everything else. But 3 people said, hey, he may be dead in this moment, but we can still care for him.22:18 We can still love him. We may not be able to hear him right now. We may not be able to see him right now, but we could at least appreciate him for what he's already done. And they're the ones who see him, because their22:29 faith was great. Their care for Jesus was great. But what happens is he sees the disciples face to face, and in that moment, they're still struggling.22:41 They've seen eyewitness accounts. They've heard the great things that have happened that Jesus said would happen. Jesus is in the temple the week of his death, and he says that this place is going to be torn down, and my22:53 it's going to be risen in 3 days, speaking of his own body. And guess what? When Jesus is dead, the whole veil in the temple gets torn down between humanity and God. He's never able to23:05 be restored again. There's all these signs. There's all these moments pointing to, hey, when are you going to choose to follow him? When are you going to choose to believe him? And then here Jesus is face to face23:17 to the disciples, and 1 of them being Thomas goes, first show me the scars. Anyone could look like Jesus. Like, what are you talking about bro? What do you mean anyone could look like Jesus? Jesus had nails in his23:29 hand. Show me the scars and then maybe I'll start believing. And that's often where we find ourselves in our faith. That as God gives reassurance after reassurance after reassurance, we're like show23:41 us the next thing. Oh, I hear the GameCube, but I want I want to Show me the box. Oh, I see the box. Now, okay. I want to play it. Well, I played it, but how come I don't have 1 now?23:54 And we're always measuring God off of all of these dues, and all of these things, and all of these expectations. And here's Jesus's response. I want you to see what Jesus says. Jesus makes a call to them and24:06 he and he he he rebukes them for their unbelief. He's disappointed that the fact that they didn't believe. And then what happens is he starts to give them a decree. And he says, go24:18 into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. But whoever24:30 does not believe will be condemned. And so what happens in that moment that we could pause is Jesus makes it very clear at this time.24:42 And so we see that as Jesus walked the earth in his 33 years, but particularly his 3 years of ministry, there was this continued kind of open invitation to say,24:53 hey, come come and see. Come and experience. Come and receive the kingdom of God. Come and follow the son of man. Believe in the son of God. And there was a lot of those conversations.25:06 Same way with my friends playing basketball outside. I said, hey, we were we were we were just about to be like, hey, come and play with us. It's the only thing missing. All we were all me and Caleb were looking for is25:17 for them to be like, that's ought to celebrate with us of what we were blessed with, of what we saw, and then come and enjoy it with us. So Jesus is at a moment now where he tells the disciples,25:29 go in the world and preach the gospel. Tell them about the great news that the son of man is here, but also make it known that if they reject me in front of man, I will25:40 reject him in front of my father. So now he gets like really sober. Because before all of this, it was the kingdom of heavens at25:52 hand. Follow me. Be part of my mission. Preach the gospel. Now he's telling the disciples, I've done everything I needed to do to prove who I am. Now it's time to make a decision.26:06 Now you got to let people know that salvation is here. Jesus was preaching about the the potential of salvation being in his death and resurrection. But now he did26:18 exactly what he set out to do. And he fulfilled the surprise from his birth that anticipated the king would come. And guess what? The king came because he holds26:30 all authority on heaven and earth. And it wasn't the way that the disciples thought it was going to be done,26:42 later, we could receive Jesus and be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven. And so he says, let them know that when you hear the gospel there's a decision26:54 that has to be made. And then he says this after he said, if they don't receive they may be condemned. And he says, all these signs will accompany those who believe in my27:06 name. They will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents with their hands. And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay27:18 their hands on the sick and they will recover. And so Jesus shares what happens is is during this time as you preach the gospel,27:30 what this is is those were modern day things that were very common fears for someone that was a messenger of a particular weighty message. It's like, oh, what if someone tries to murder me? What27:41 what what what if what if I'm outside and I'm in the wilderness, and all these snakes and animals and come and threaten me? And he and and so Jesus starts to make this decree. What what about what if I don't know the27:53 words that I need to say? I don't know if you've ever thought that before. I've been in conversation with someone, and I've been like, I have no idea what to say right now. Either they share with me something that's28:05 absolutely humanly heartbreaking. I'm like, I don't know what to say to that. Or they say something that they found on YouTube from someone, and they're like, what about28:16 that? I'm like, I don't know. That is such a niche question that you're asking from second Chronicles chapter 2 verses 3 to 4. I don't know that. And so what Jesus is doing28:28 because you're like, I don't remember the last time I held a serpent as a Christian. Don't remember the last time someone tried to poison me. And you're like, I don't how can I relate as a believer?28:40 That's not just what Jesus was talking about. What Jesus was talking about is these fears that if I step out and I share the message of Jesus, will God meet me at the place of28:52 sharing who Jesus is? And Jesus at their time takes everything that a person would do to check off and be like, I'm not I'm not gonna be on the team. Like, hey hey,29:04 Jesus. I was on the team, but I have a fear of snakes. And so, in or you know, in order to travel and talk about you, like I gotta I gotta I gotta stay in a tent and I don't do tents. And so because29:15 that's the animals can get in there. Or or Jesus, I I don't I don't know that I could rely, because you know how these jealous people are. When they're jealous of you, they like they'll poison your drink and and try to29:27 kill you. Or they'll go on social media and they'll talk about you, you know. Or or or or or you'll lose relationships or you'll be hurt in the process or whatever it may be. And so what Jesus says is he29:38 says, when you are talking about me, have boldness that the Holy Spirit's gonna give you words, new tongues. He says, have boldness that a serpent may29:50 try to kill you at night, but he's just gonna pick it up in your hand. And he'll be like, this is nothing. And he's gonna protect you in the nighttime. Or what happens is if someone tries to poison you, it's not gonna30:01 affect you. He's not just talking about poison of drink, he's talking about poison of words. He's he's he's talking about poison of gossip. He's talking about30:13 poison of fear. He's talking about a poison of a DM. He's talking about a poison of a Thanksgiving party that you might have just had. And whatever it is he's saying, if you're moving on the Lord's30:25 behalf, and you've said yes to the Lord, can't say anything about anything else. But if you've said yes to the message of Jesus and living this thing out, he said, what happens is, I'm going to bring about protection30:35 with you. You don't have to worry about that. And so therefore, what he's trying to do for the disciples, is not only trying to create boldness for them, he's trying to create boldness to those30:47 that they would share the gospel with. To say, you know what God? It's on your side and then Jesus closes as I begin to close. Lot of interaction on the screen plan,30:58 but, we all did that with our head tonight, is what we did. So it says this in verse 19. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up to31:10 heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.31:23 So for those next, what would happen is Jesus after he would resurrect for 40 days, he would spend time with his disciples and he would be preparing them for the task at hand. And you notice31:35 when we read, he appeared to 11 disciples, not 12. Because Judas, he had already turned on Jesus. He had hung himself because of the grief that he had had. And so now Jesus, he approaches to the 11. And he31:46 tells them, go and be bold about preaching my message. And don't fear any earthly or humanly thing that can hurt you or harm you. And then he says, and then what's going to happen is in31:58 that moment, he ascends and we ask ourselves where is Jesus now? He's where he was the day he ascended. He sits at the right hand of the father. Other verses in the new testament tell us that he intercedes32:10 for you. Like he knows your name. And as you face this life on earth, Jesus goes for you to the father on32:22 your behalf. And so you have the Holy Spirit working inside of you. You have Jesus who's right next to the father speaking on your behalf, and then you have the father32:33 who's orchestrating everything saying, I got them. I'm under control. Everything is under God's control. Every every season, every place,32:45 every platform, every leader, every nation, every city, every continent is under the hand of God, and under the authority of Jesus. And when32:57 Jesus goes to the right hand of the father, what does he tell us to do? He says, go therefore and preach the gospel. He doesn't say go out and be a good person. He doesn't say go out and give good33:09 vibes. He doesn't say, hey, go give great gifts. He doesn't say find the least fortunate person and help them out during Christmas. Those are expressions of the33:21 goodness of God. But what he says is he says preach the message. Preach the gospel. That he died and rose again. Preach the message. God orchestrated for 33 years, but also33:33 since the creation of humanity that Jesus would be born and die and raise again. If there's any story God wants you and I to tell regularly, it's that 1 and how that 1 has33:44 affected your life and changed your life. That's what he wants you and I to do. I enjoy talking about a lot of other things, but but he doesn't care33:56 about us talking about any of the other things. I enjoy talking about sports. I enjoy talking about business. I enjoy talking about politics. Heaven like, yeah, yeah, Adam. Tell him tell him your theory about what's34:08 going on in the world right now in this country. He like, he's like, that's all he's completely aware of. He's like, Adam, I want you to tell the story again about what Jesus did. God the34:20 father wants to hear his son's story told over and over and over because every person is gonna receive that story in their life differently over and over and34:32 over again. So he doesn't get tired with that story. He doesn't get tired with the gospel. Since he's given it to the disciples, it's the only thing you and I can still repeat that34:44 was 1 of the last things that Jesus had commanded his church to do, real, the miracles he has done is real, the message he has set out to fulfill has been34:55 completed. And anyone who's looking for life and anyone that's looking for hope, call upon his name. Don't stop on God's word. Don't don't don't35:07 don't don't stop on God's worship. Don't put out on prayer and be like, Jesus, you're not you're not meeting my prayers. You're not meeting my needs.35:20 The Holy Spirit is there to enable you everywhere that you go. And Jesus That book closes in Mark chapter 16 with Jesus giving you and I command35:32 to preach the gospel, to baptize people. And then when he gave that, he said, I'm out. And he went to heaven. And what he did was he put that authority in mine and your hands.35:44 And he says the Holy Spirit will work with you, but now it's in your hands. So God wants you and I to participate in that message. And so you and I have an opportunity to first35:56 step to participation as I close is first to do as Jesus said, that as you hear the gospel and the hope of Jesus is the good news, so would you respond in saying, yes, Lord. I choose36:08 to follow you. Whether you're a skeptic today or whether you've been questioning or wondering, the reality is, is Jesus is real. His salvation is36:20 real. And what he did is real. He died on the cross and he rose 3 days later. So as the Holy Spirit speaks to you tonight, whether you're online or you're in this room, I encourage36:31 you that if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and you've never gave in your faith to him today, then right now is the moment to make a choice. You know, I shared about on Sunday, this past36:43 Sunday that everybody has a birthday, but not everybody has a second birthday. In the book of Revelation, it's recorded that the person who would say yes to Jesus Christ and follow him, it's written in a book36:55 called the Lamb's Book of Life. And 1 day, you'll stand before God and your name will be opened in that book. And it will either be confirmed on the date that you made Jesus your Lord and savior as a37:07 second birth, or the person will say the angel will say their name's not recorded here. And that's what Jesus told his disciples. There will be a day that a person will be condemned. In other words, they'll be37:19 rejected not because God wants to reject them, but because they rejected Jesus. And if you reject Jesus, you can't all of a sudden find yourself in the bedroom playing the37:31 Nintendo and going, Jesus, this is all I needed. I just needed to see the GameCube myself. It's too late at that point. God wants faith, because if it wasn't faith and he had to37:43 bring you to heaven to show you, he made the decision for you at that point. There's no way you're not gonna see heaven and see God's goodness, but faith will recognize the fact that you recognize that you37:55 needed a savior, that you needed Jesus. That's what faith is. I I didn't tell my wife, will you marry me? I promise, well, I'll never cheat on you, I'll never have a divorce. And the way that I'm gonna prove it is I'm38:06 gonna lock myself in a jail cell for 70 years and never talk to another woman. That wouldn't be faith. That that would be forced separation to never be able to make that mistake. And so38:18 in other words, when you get married, you're taking a step of faith. When you make vows, that's a step of faith. There's no way you can assure that, other than you saying take this journey with me. And so38:30 when we say yes to Jesus, it's this moment of marriage that says, Jesus, I'm I'm ready to take that faith journey with you. I'm I'm I'm ready to rock with you. I'm ready to I'm ready to commit my life to you in this38:41 moment. And then throughout our life, we begin to reveal as the holy spirit gives you strength. You don't walk into the relationship with Jesus a perfect person. You walk into the relationship with Jesus as a broken38:51 person that allows God to put you back together. Salvation. And so if you're here39:03 in this room or you're watching online, when we all bow our heads and close our eyes, there's going to be some people in here who are gonna be saying this prayer for the first time. They're gonna be rededicating their39:12 life. It's the best decision we could ever make in our life. When we say this prayer, this prayer is not the thing that saves you. All we're doing is affirming the good work that God has already done. So if you're in39:24 this place, would you join me in saying this today? Would you say dear Lord Jesus, in this moment, I confess you as Lord and savior. I repent of my39:36 sins and I believe in my heart that Jesus rose from the dead. And from this day forward, I commit to follow you39:48 for the rest of my days. In Jesus name, amen.Show more In this video 0:00 The Surprise of FaithComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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