Arcade Church Service 4-26-20

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning arcade search this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it welcome to our Sunday morning service we are so glad that you have joined us this morning for our online service we hope that you're staying healthy and safe during this shelter-in-place we do miss seeing you we miss worshiping the Lord together with you but we love to see your participation here also if you're a guest for the very first time this morning we'd love to say hello to you in a more personal way like to get to know you and that can be accomplished by texting us text arcade guest 2 for 8 for 8 for 8 or you can go to arcade Church comm right there on the home page there's a place where you can fill out the guest information and we just love to get to know you while you're on the website take a look around get to know us a little bit our purpose at our church is to get as many people as possible to see hear and follow Jesus and that website will give you a lot of information as to how we do that also if you have questions you can email us at info at arcade church.com we also want you to know that the staff is still praying for you our kid is a praying church and we are still engaged with our members wanting to know what it is and how we can pray for you letting us know your prayer requests or your praises that would be great and you can do that by texting arcade prayer 2 for 8 for 8 for 8 or you can visit our Cade Church comm /prayer stand to your feet let's get ready to worship with our families in our living rooms wherever you are this morning worship our good God who is the only way the only truth and the only life [Music] tres [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] when darkness tries to roll over my bones when sorrow comes to steal the joy i when brokenness and pain is all I know oh I won't be shaken no I won't be shaken coz my fear doesn't stand a chance when I said the chance [Music] doesn't stand a chance [Music] Oh your eyes captain to [Music] afraid to leave my past me [Music] doesn't stand a chance [Music] a chance [Music] [Music] [Music] it stand a chance [Music] stand a chance [Music] doesn't stand a chance said it and a chance [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amazing love that welcomes me the kindness of mercy that bought with blood wholeheartedly my soul undeserving god you're so good god you're so good god you're so good you're so girl to [Music] Wow [Music] I am [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] No [Music] [Music] and sure this life brings suffering before die will remember what Calvary has bought for me both now and forever [Music] you're so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] sooo you're so you're so good [Music] over the past couple weeks we've been highlighting some of our Acadians who've been loving their neighbors and showing God's love this week we get to visit with Carol Biggs who's been busy doing something very cool let's take a look hi my name is Carol Biggs and I am a member of RK church I've participated in making masks I've been doing some for my co-workers at the hospital where I work I've shown some masks for other local health care facilities I've shown some for friends and I've also had the opportunity to sew some masks for the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier even though it seemed like a small thing to me to sew some masks I realized that it was something that God had prepared for me to do when I had the opportunity to learn to sew years ago and it was something that he just allowed for me to do in this unusual time and I could do right here from my home during this shelter-in-place time so I just like to encourage each of you to think about the abilities that God has given you and how you might be able to do a small thing to help someone else with that Thank You Carol for loving your neighbor in such a tangible way something we might consider small can mean the world to someone else if you or someone you know has been loving their neighbor please let us know info at our Kate Church comm have you been joining us at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. with pastor Craig this has been a really wonderful time to get together virtually to practice some good spiritual disciplines that we can use in our everyday lives so what has God been teaching you through this we'd love for you to let us know in the comments have you visited our pages web page recently if you go to a church comm slash kids you'll find the weekly Bible story video activity pages YouTube channels worship playlists we even have fever's sermon vino so you can follow along with pastor Craig in my video this morning we have some of our own Sunday School teachers that will be reading Bible stories you'll find under the storytime button there's new stuff every week so check it out and let us know what you think today right after service you can find the ID for that over on our Instagram accounts for high school it's our Katie HS group from middle school is AC second storey good to see y'all as you can see even though we are not meeting in person there are still so many ways that we are ministering to our community and we need your help to continue to do so giving to arcade is a way for our members and our regular attenders to continue worshiping our great God there are four easy ways to give to arcade first you can go to our website at arcade church.com /give you can go and download our app and click on the gift tab you can text the word arcade give all one word two four eight four eight four eight or you can mail a check or cash to our street address at thirty nine twenty seven Marconi Avenue Sacramento California nine five eight two one we are so grateful for the many people that have continued giving through this time let's pray father we are grateful for the people in this church the people in this community thank you for the many people who are watching today please bless them please bless this time that we have together thank you for ministering to us thank you for loving us in Jesus name Amen [Music] good morning arcade family and anyone else that's joining us online with Facebook live or YouTube we're really glad that you're with us and no doubt you have already been blessed by a lot of the gifted artists that we have here at arcade Church and I'm very grateful that they have led us in our living room and our family room in our kitchens in the glory of Christ I really appreciate their giftedness if you have your Bibles would you go ahead and take them and turn to Acts chapter 1 the book of Acts it's the fifth book of the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John acts and I want to be read some scripture and we're gonna focus on that a little bit this morning and hopefully walk away with some some pertinent application right so Acts chapter 1 and we're gonna begin reading at verse 6 acts 1 verse 6 so when they had come together they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel this is the time after Jesus had risen from the dead and Luke kind of begins his book in this way Jesus says to them verse 7 it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth and when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven as he went behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven this Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven let's pray Lord God thank you for your word thank you for the stability the security the clarity that it brings we have much to learn from this text this morning Lord and so I pray that we are allowed to do that by your glory and by your grace and the holy name of Christ amen well the series title of this sermon series is abide and admittedly that's not really a term or a word that we use a lot around here we don't use the word abide to describe anything it's it's it's a Christian word it's a Bible word and I'm okay with that I think that we should have our own words that apply to Scripture but in case you're looking for a kind of a definition I've got one here on the screen abide it means obey observe follow keep to hold to conform to stick to defer to pick your poison pick whatever definition you want because it all fits and what this is what we're talking about here is is this every one of us that is watching this we are all abiders every one of us there is something or someone in our life that we obey observe follow keep to hold to conform to stick to defer to there is something or someone in our life that we abide in that we abide with and so the issue is during these times of crises that we are currently in that stuff tends to bubble to the surface it tends to come to the surface what we truly abide in we can say every Sunday of the year that we abide in Jesus that we abide in Christ we can say that but then during times like this that we are currently in it would be very easy for us to see that what we really abide in is this or this or this but it's not Jesus I wrestled with that myself and so what we're doing in this abide series is just talking about Jesus because that's what the Bible tells us to do if you join me in the mornings at 7:00 a.m. and if you're not I'd love to have you join me on Facebook live or Instagram live we're memorizing John chapter 15 verses 1 through 17 together and it's a tough memory work but the word abide comes over and over and over again in that text because that's what we are to do and so it seems to me that we're going to talk about abide that we should talk about Jesus because we're called to abide in and so when we started back last fall is just covering the life of Jesus and the major events and let's face it we've got some major events in the life of Jesus for example we've got these significant holidays that are surrounding the life of Jesus and three significant events at Christmastime it's all about Jesus birth on Good Friday it's all about Jesus death on Easter Sunday it's all about Jesus resurrection and we rehearse those in American culture those are the three big days but here's what happens there are other events in the life of Christ that are just as vital just as important as these events and they are Jesus Ascension and Jesus return what about those what what about Jesus ascension what about Jesus return so we want to talk about those in this abide series and how significant those truths are during this time of pandemic let's take first of all the Ascension of Jesus and cover that this is this is huge for us pic picture this you're a member of a demolition team and your job is to blow a hole through a mountain so a train could go through your job is to make a tunnel and so you get all the necessary dynamite explosives and and you get your crew to strategically put the dynamite in places where the most explosive power can happen the most granite can blow away so you can build this tunnel and so you spend several days making sure that the dynamite is placed in just the right place and the date comes for the blast and so you you you pull back out of the blast radius and you get your crude and you make sure everybody is safe and you because you're the foreman you get the count down for for the blast five four three two one nothing five four three two one nothing you look at your crews what's what's going on why didn't why didn't you detonate the dynamite and the who goes what detonator we didn't bring a detonator the dynamite is rendered useless unless it's detonated I would say this the birth the death the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the dynamite the Ascension is the detonator we're going to talk more about that next week when we talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives but understand this is how vital the Ascension is and this is kind of one of the Forgotten things about the Bible primarily because this is the event where Jesus kind of disappears but it's because of this event that you and I have been given power of the Holy Spirit he says I read in the scripture reading and in verse 8 of chapter 1 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth this doesn't happen unless Jesus leaves physically and so this morning before we get into this I just want to talk about the Ascension there's all kinds of artwork and I really enjoy artwork I'm not really an art snob or aficionado I just like I like pretty pictures and and the art world has represented the ascension of Jesus Christ very very well I want to show you three portraits here's the first one and this is probably the one that we would think of I can I can remember I think I had a picture Bible when I was a child and this was very similar to the picture that was in that and so this would be the traditional Jesus ascending to the Father and so it's well it's very well done my favorite is this one though this is my favorite picture where these two people these two men are talking to the Apostles and they're just they're just looking up I mean can you imagine in my mind's eye I'm thinking of these disciples and they're seeing Jesus float up and I gotta believe that somewhere along the way one of them in Hebrew or America Aramaic said dude they have seen so many things they've seen him walk on water they've seen him calms storms they've seen him raise the dead they seat him feed thousands of people with very little food they've seen miracle after miracle after miracle they did not see this coming that's why I like this picture here because Jesus is absent he's not even there but these disciples are looking up I bet this is my favorite and then this one this is this is the the feet only Jesus this one just strikes me funny this this goes back about 600 years it's just just the feet of Jesus and you see the scars and the disciples and they're surprised look I I like that that's just to give you a little bit of artwork I think it's always fun to see those kinds of things before we get into the application though I do want to talk about some of the things that are referred to in the passage first of all the post resurrection Jesus spent 40 days on the earth he spent 40 days on the earth and that's a couple of questions what why the forty days what was the significance why didn't on Easter Sunday Jesus rise from the dead why didn't he just beam up right then why didn't why didn't why did he wait almost a month and a half well the text shows us that this is why the first reason is because he wanted to give many proofs of the resurrection we didn't read this passage in the scripture reading but it says this in chapter 1 verse 3 he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days he knew that was impossible for them to actually contemplate the reality of the resurrection it was just so hard to sink in and so for those that month and a half although almost that month and a half he is appearing and reappearing to them to prove to them that he really is physically alive that he has defeated both sin and death so that was one of the reasons but then another reason that we're given in the text that we didn't read for scripture reading is he wanted to teach them about the kingdom of God there was more for them to learn and it says here again in chapter 1 verse 3 and speaking about the kingdom of God what the the idea of the kingdom of God the disciples mind and what the reality of the kingdom of God was in Jesus mind were two different things even after three three and a half years of hearing Jesus preach about the kingdom of God it still didn't sink in I really rest in that because there's a lot of things about Jesus that still don't sink in for me and so jesus spent that that 40 days telling them more and more about the kingdom I think there's another reason though why Jesus spent 40 days with them it's not in the text it's I think it's I think it's there but I think it's this one to wean the disciples from depending on Jesus physical presence it was just about a month and a half or two months prior to this when Jesus tells his disciples the night he's betrayed guys I'm leaving and where I'm going you can't come they hit the roof there's in no way there is no way you're leaving whatever you're going we're going with you no you can't come with me where I'm going and I think that Jesus had to spend those 40 days in his resurrected body convincing them that he really has risen from the dead teaching them more about the kingdom but then also appearing and reappearing reappearing and showing him that you need to learn to live without my physical presence in that same conversation that Jesus has with the disciples before he's crucified he says it's in your best interest it's it's it's good for you it will be better for you that I go and we'll talk more about that next Sunday but those are that's the reason for the 40 days the other question I have about this passage is this what's with the cloud did you notice that in verse 9 it says in verse 9 and when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight I why a cloud why couldn't Jesus just float up without the cloud what the significance of the cloud I wish I could spend the entire sermon on the cloud but I'm not going to but I will say this keep in mind and one of the things that we try to hit hard here at arcade church is that the Bible is one story with many episodes I'm guessing during this pandemic and quarantine you have probably binge on something on prime or Disney or Netflix with your family you've just gone through and what that is is one story with many episodes the same is true for the story of the Bible it is one story many different episodes that contribute to that story and the story of the Bible can be voiced many different ways but I'll just say it this way it is God's Way of reconciling to himself sinful hostile rebellious people like I say there's other ways to say that but that's the main story of the Bible is that God glorifying himself by redeeming by reconciling his enemies to himself but then there are different places in the Bible that talk about that one of the things that we learn about God mainly in the Old Testament is that God is invisible that anybody who sees God dies but God wants to show himself present to his people so how does he do that think back to the wilderness wandering in the book of Exodus when the children of Israel wandering around in the desert how did they know where to go because by day there was a pillar of what cloud that was God's presence leading them he wanted them to see that he was present when they when they constructed this portable tabernacle and they and they got it done and they got it ready to open for worship what does the Bible say a cloud descended upon the holy of Holy's God wanted them to see that he's present with them what happened when Solomon's Temple was dedicated in second chronicles what happened there is said that a cloud engulfed the Holy of Holies God wanted his people to see his presence with them fast forward in the New Testament when Jesus is on the transfer Mount of Transfiguration and he appeared there with the Elijah and Moses what happened there a cloud descended upon them the disciples exactly what this was that's why luke says in chapter 24 of his gospel the disciples walked away even though they were saying goodbye to the physical presence of Jesus they walked away with joy why why did they do that because they saw that Jesus claims of being God were true he was engulfed by God's presence himself now we're talking about wrapping our minds around something wrap your mind around this Jesus ascending in a cloud is the first time that a man has been in the presence of God since Adam was in the garden a physical human being present with God since the garden that to me is is huge it is so significant so what does the Ascension mean today here in a nutshell here's what the Ascension means a day there is a man with a certain height a certain age a certain look a certain weight who bears the scars in his hands and his feet and this physical human being is in the presence of God right now see the Ascension wasn't Jesus spirit ascending it was Jesus physical body ascending into the presence of God so think about this just for one moment as you are listening to this there is a physical person a physical human being who has paid the ultimate sacrifice and won the ultimate victory who is alive today right now somewhere else some say Idaho I don't know but he's alive somewhere else and he's doing things on her behalf so I want to spend the rest of the time this morning just talking about that but I want to talk about a very general question the big question is where is he and what is he doing okay if Jesus is alive and the Bible says that he is he's physically but he's somewhere else that Bible says in heaven in the presence of God where is he what is he doing well here's the simple answer to this the simple answer is exactly what we need him to do is Jesus sitting around this heavenly pool and his flip-flops and sunglasses drinking a drink with an umbrella in it waiting for the father to make his move is that what he's doing no jesus is active he is doing things because we need him to do things so if you're taking some notes just write these things down Jesus is active because we need him to be active number one if you're taking notes we need someone who can rule in our best interests I know that this sounds somewhat self-centered but let's face it those are the kinds of rulers that we want to follow we want to follow someone that has our best interests in mind in November you and I are going to vote and we will probably vote somehow for the candidate that we think has our best interests in mind now who knows that they do or not we can be really jaded and cynical about that but but the bottom line is that's when we think we we want our best interest to be considered and so we will probably vote for someone with that in mind Paul talks about this in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 if then you have been raised with Christ he's talking that's what happens to us when we come to Christ we to experience a resurrection of the soul there will be a day when we'll have a resurrection of the body or how about you but experientially that's very much what happened to me when I profess my faith in Christ is that I became alive internally in a way that I wasn't before that if then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God now notice what he says they're seated at the right hand of God what's that about well we get a picture of this in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 well my favorite pictures in the New Testament Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he up holds the universe by the word of his power after making purification for sins now get this it says here he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high he set down let me tell you why that's significant I've got a picture here or a mock-up of the temple this would be Herod's temple this would be a mock-up of Herod's temple not Solomon's Temple but this is the temple that Jesus would have seen in his time you look at this and it's it's huge it's it's humongous and you look at this part and you're thinking yeah I know some churches that kind of look like that and so you go in there and what do you find what what what you will not find anywhere inside this behind this wall you will not find any chair to sit down no place to sit down you think a place of worship would be like what we have at our facility where we have all kinds of places to sit down well in the temple nope you know folding chair nothing there for anyone to sit down and yet there is constant around-the-clock activity inside this there are priests doing things cleaning things changing the showbread doing all different kinds of things there is all kinds of activity going on within the temple and the reason is because there is never a time when we are not sinning and sin is continually having to be atoned for and so the priests work is always always going on it is never done there is no place as they are doing their priestly duty for them to sit down because it's always going on that's the significance of what Colossians 3 says and Hebrews chapter 1 say Jesus Christ sat down when he said on the cross it is finished that means that the priests no longer have to be active all of this with the death of Jesus was rendered inactive in reverent it didn't matter anymore that's why the veil was ripped into because no longer do people need to go through a veil no longer do animals need to die no longer need to cleanse your hands ceremonially because jesus christ has done everything it's done it's over and now he sits down it's over he's he's ruling now he is the ruler who rules that's what rulers do they sit down they are enthroned and they rule and they call the shots that's why Paul says in chapter three verse two set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on the earth well when we set our minds on we set our minds on this that Jesus Christ and his work is done he it's not in a matter of doing his work is done so does that mean that he's inactive no it means that he's ruling that he has set his authority over sin and over death our two greatest enemies and now he rules the entire world that's why he said in Matthew 28 right before he ascends the father all Authority has been given to me under heaven and so all of this authority is there and so we can rest and the reason why we can rest is because he says in in Colossians three three and four for you have died and your life is hidden I love this phrase don't you hidden with Christ it's tucked away in the life of Christ where Christ begins and where you are finished we don't know the line is blurred there because we are hidden in Christ when Christ who is your life when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory we'll talk about that last part in weeks to come so what what's the lesson here I think the lesson is this because Jesus rules we can trust his plan to make things right during this pandemic it looks like other forces or at play it looks like everyone else is in control but Jesus our president our governor our legislators senators are doctors it looks like everybody else is in control and Jesus and us are out of control keep in mind there was a day 2,000 years ago outside Jerusalem where it looked like that Jesus was the only person on the planet who was not in control but three days later we found out that just wasn't the case during this time of crisis it is important for us to talk to ourselves not listen to ourselves but talk to ourselves Jesus rules he is ruling with authority and all power and so the issue for us as believers is not who's in charge but rather are we going to follow the one who is in charge are we going to trust him but then there's something else that we need with the Ascension of Jesus and this is that and that's this we need someone who understands the life we live we need someone who understands the life we live I want you to imagine this imagine that you have been accused of doing a despicable crime doesn't matter just pick a crime you've been thrown into jail and right now you are in dire need of legal counsel and a lawyer has been appointed to you and the lawyer comes into your cell the door closes behind it's just you and your lawyer in this cell and as you talk and as you get to know this lawyer you you begin to find out that this lawyer has understands completely where you're coming from he understands the crime that you've committed because he was accused of that as well and you find out that this lawyer is so I sympathetic and identifying with you in all different aspects is just so wonderful to be able to find that this person understands everything that you're going through do you realize that there is a person with a real height a real weight with the real face with real hair scars and his hands his feet his side who understands come completely what you're experiencing right now the writer of Hebrews helps us out a little bit with this in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 and on the writer of Hebrews says since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God he wants to make sure that we understand who the pride priest is now I understand that we don't use high priest a whole lot the reason why we don't is because we already have one we have one in Jesus let us because this is true because this is true let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin understand the amplification and the implications of Jesus being our high priest let us hold fast to our confession we can hold we can assure that Jesus being our high priest we know that this is the right high priest for we do not have a high priest was unable to sympathize whether we have someone who understands he's been in the cell with as he understands our weaknesses he understands our issues he understands our problems but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin and this is where a while ago I would be saying okay whatever writer of Hebrews I get it but the bottom line is I mean let's face it Jesus Jesus was playing he lived life with a stacked deck he was perfect he's a son of God he's the Messiah that that must mean that his battle with sin is not as intense as mine is because because I don't I I don't think he can sympathize with the with the battle of a temptation that I battle with I don't think that he can understand exactly what I'm going through when it comes to these kinds of things I just don't buy it I used to think that I used to I used to minimize this pastor's thinking that Jesus that's really great it's it's wonderful it's a hallmark moment but the truth is the battle I have with temptation is so tense there's no possible way that a perfect human being could understand the battle I have turns out that CS Lewis has helped me understand this a little bit I've got this quote from mere christianity i highly recommend during this pandemic you read it it's a great book this is what he says about this no man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good I'm gonna read that again I just think that's so well said no man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good a silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means this is an obvious lie only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is after all you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against and not by giving in a man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later that is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in we never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it and Christ because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means the complete realist so when we say there's no way that Jesus can identify the temptations that I have in a way that's true because the temptation he faced was far more intense than whatever I faced and the reason why this truth is significant is because right now in heaven there is a physical man with a certain weight and a certain height certain hair color scars in his hands and feet inside that understands completely your experience in mind he understands the worry the anxiety the temptation that you are facing every moment of every day so what's the lesson here's the lesson because Jesus understands the life we live we are never alone because he is alive somewhere and he is ruling over us this ruler understands I don't know what you think about President Trump don't know don't care but I do know this there is no way that President Trump can undo can can be able to sympathize with a homeless person there's no way that anyone of wealth could ever sympathize any ruler could sympathize with a homeless person the way that Jesus Christ can sympathize can empathize and identify with you and with me the beauty of this reality is this Jesus is physically alive and he has some we're ruling over us and as he rules over us and he sees you fall under temptation he does not come along and says what porn seriously alcohol come on I had so much greater temptations of that and I was perfect and so you've got to be what I was if I could overcome sin you can overcome sin come on let's go let's go you gotta stop sinning and try harder I love a Trier and so you gotta get going that is not that Jesus who has ascended to the Father he is our high priest who sympathizes with us he understands he has been tempted far greater in greater depth than you or I and that is not to rub our nose and our failures but rather to say I understand what you're going through and he understands right now this is not some day in the future it is right now this resurrected ascended king ruling over us understands he understands and he sympathizes with what we are going through alright I love that that my king is not saying you got to obey the rules and if you don't obey the rules you're out of my kingdom Morales has no come on come on in I get it I understand your struggles I understand your pain I understand every aspect that you're facing and you can trust me because I have overcome what you are what you are doing and I will overcome and you will overcome those things in me but not by yourself you need me as your high priest then the third thing that we need that's very important that we need we need someone to speak on our behalf go back to that jail cell where the lawyers meeting with you in the jail cell and your loving the fellowship your loving the fact that this this this lawyer that is in the jail cell with you understands and sympathize with your situation you are so grateful to have this person beside you but after about three or four hours of conversation you kind of think in yourself I'm really glad you're here with me I really am I'm really glad that you sympathize with me but shouldn't you be in the courtroom defending me speaking to the judge on my behalf I mean isn't that what lawyers do that is exactly what Jesus Christ is doing right now he's ruling he's sympathizing and he's speaking he's defending he's advocating on our behalf Romans chapter 8 I looked for opportunities to always insert this into sermons who is to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who was at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us he is speaking to the Father on our behalf why because he is the one who died he is the one who was condemned he is the one who rose and our life is hidden with him and at this very moment think about this at this very moment and I don't know how it works someday we will but right now I don't have a clue but right now right now there is this person this physical person with a certain height in a certain way certain hair color certain complexion with scars and his hands and his feet and his side and he is speaking to the father to the judge on your behalf saying father you can accept them there in me so as you look at me you can see them they have placed their faith in me to save them and because of my work on the cross they are no longer guilty of sin because I paid for that guilt I think that that's huge especially during times of pandemic think think about this go back to the image of the temple this this whole thing right here this whole part it was built I mean it took years to build but it was built really for one day of the year one day no our our campus an arcade Church it was built primarily to be to be occupied 52 days out of the year Lord willing it would be occupied even more here in the next few months I hope I pray someday but this this this wasn't built for Saturday or Sunday this was built for one day called the day of atonement built for that and what would happen he's the high priest out of the tribe of Levi would go into the temple court and through this gate and there he would wash his hands and a basin symbolizing his own sins that he is a sinful person to the high priest is sinful he would wash his hands and then he had walked over to an animal a living animal like a lamb or an oxen and he had placed his hands on the animal this animal has never done never never wrong he would place his hands on the animal to symbolize a transfer of sin so he's taking his sin and he is the high priest of the entire nation of Israel and so he's taking the sins of the entire nation on his hands and he's putting them on the animal saying that the sins of the high priest and the sins of the animal have been transferred and the sins of Israel have been transferred to this animal it's weird I know it's it's beyond our wildest imagination but that's what God commanded in the Book of Leviticus chapter 16 so he places his hands on the animal and then they kill the animal this animal that's done nothing wrong it is completely innocent of anybody's sins let alone their own and yet the sins of the people is transferred to this animal and then it dies why because that's the penalty of sin is death the high priests and I'm cutting it way short here but the high priest then takes some blood of that innocent animal and he walks into this holy place of the Holy of Holies this building right here and there was a veil there that's the veil that was torn into when Jesus died in the cross the veil is in this large room and he goes behind the veil which was the symbolic presence of God and there the high priest would be met with the Ark of the Covenant maybe you've heard of that before and on the Ark of the Covenant was a seat nobody sat there but that was the symbolic presence of God and the high priests would take blood and sprinkle it on the seat that seat had a name it was called mercy the mercy seat thus making blood atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel this is what Jesus has done on the cross he has stood in the place of Israel he has borne the brunt of sin of the world upon himself and now he intercedes he is the legal counsel for us we have been declared not guilty we have been declared innocent of all charges because of the work of Jesus Christ and so he stands before the Father and he makes intercession for you and for me this consummate lawyer is defending us as Satan as his demonic vow is demonic hordes even sometimes our own Souls condemn us there is Jesus speaking on our behalf and so when we hear about Jesus and what he's doing right now he's not somewhere else but rather he is speaking on our behalf and I hear here's the lesson because Jesus is our advocate we need not fear the judge I love again how the writer of Hebrews says it in chapter 4 verse 16 because we need not fear the judge we don't just go about our daily lives as if nothing ever happened because we need not fear the judge let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need the reason why we can go to the throne of grace with confidence is because Jesus took on our sin he became our high priest instead of him killing an animal and using that blood he allowed himself to be killed as a sacrificial lamb and his blood was seen before the Father and it was accepted and so now we can approach our Father with great confidence knowing that there we will receive grace mercy to help us in our time of need our unit time of need I am there's stuff going on there's a lot of stuff going on that's very very scary and so what we can do about this is that we can be able to go before our Father and we need not rely on our obedience in the presence of God I want this want again I'm using this a lot I want your mind to wrap around this truth you going into the presence of God he does not demand that you have a perfect record you need not wait until you've obeyed for a week then you go to God I've heard dozens of times I don't really want to go to God I've got to work on me first you've missed the whole gospel the whole gospel is that God will accept you because of Christ not because of you this is a beautiful thing we talked about the birth the death and the resurrection those are the things that Jesus has done the Ascension is all about what Jesus is doing there is never a time in Christ when you go before the throne of grace where God says yeah you've been way too bad get out of my presence there is never a time like that so you never have to worry about mustering up your performance or mustering up your obedience to go into his presence and on the flipside you need not think that his blessing is because you've been good if things are clicking on all cylinders and life is great you need not think well it's because I've been behaving but then you need not think when things are going poorly and for a lot of us they are that you've been behaving badly this is God who rules and he is ruling through His Son Jesus Christ and this wonderful ruler sympathizes with us and intercede and because of that he intercedes on our behalf because his blood sacrifice was acceptable to God so now you and I during times of crisis of pandemic where we just don't know what's gonna happen when this is all over if it ever gets over we need not worry because we had this ruler who identifies with us and we can be able to go in the presence of God and thoroughly be met with acceptance and love so just real quick to review because Jesus rules we can trust his plan to make things right because Jesus understands the life we live we are never alone because Jesus is our advocate we need not fear the judge I I so desperately want this to sink into my own heart but certainly into yours as well because these truths I'll tell you right now for me these truth these truths are like an asthmatic inhaler they help me breathe they helped me they helped me get ground in an anchor deep in the truths of God they allow me to to rise above what I see what I hear in the news source what I'm experiencing with friends and family with loss of wages loss of jobs finances it can absolutely go we could go crazy but the truth of Jesus Christ allows us to rise above those allows us to breathe the clear air of his love and His mercy over us I last Sunday after our online service I when I went for a bike ride on the American River Trail I think the American River Trail is probably one of the best-kept secrets in Sacramento I love it there I've got hundreds of times I know every inch of it just about and so Sunday I was gonna get into a quick quick bike ride didn't have a lot of time but I went out for a couple of hours and I go down Garfield to Fair Oaks and I go through the neighborhoods and get on the bike trail at William pond part and I get on the trail and I swear it was like I 80 at Quinton time I mean there were people everywhere I've been on it when super crowded I have never seen it so crowded as this typically I don't want to have to weave in and around crowds so I would have turned around and found another route to go for a ride but I may be conceived anaz an introvert I want to be around people and so I decided to go on the trail and it was just constant people it was a thoroughfare of pee the beautiful thing was it was families there were there were at Grandma's and Grandpa's and aunts and uncles and moms and dads and teenagers and and middle schoolers and toddlers and everyone was smiling and there were tricycles and little bikes with with training wheels and it was just really great I couldn't stop grinning just seeing these families and this one episode there was his little boy probably I don't know probably five or six years old and clearly clearly he was learning how to ride the bike and his dad was right behind him push him and the dad was smiling saying hey I got you I got you I got you and the little boy was pedaling thinking he's got it he's got it he's got it and he is just smiling like he's learning how to fly and in his mind he probably is and the thing that made me pause in fact I slowed down just to watch you probably thought I was kind of creepy but but I just watched because I just loved this little boy he was dressed in a spider-man costume it was just great because spider-man's my favorite superhero and I'll wrestle you for it because he's the best and I was just grinning and seeing this and seeing these children all of them were grinning and smiling and laughing and having a wonderful throwing rocks in the river and and darting around chasing squirrels it was a wonderful sight to see all of these Sacramentans enjoying the beauty of the American River Trail and it dawned on me and I knew I was going to be preaching this series as I saw all of these children just loving life loving that moment I had this thought I wonder if this little boy or that little girl understands the burden of mom and dad and what they're carrying right now I know what's going on that mom and dad they have probably had cut wages or they've lost their jobs they've had to wait in line at unemployment maybe they've already spent their their incentive check from the government and they don't know what's gonna happen and yet there they are and that little boy that little girl they are just smiling oblivious to what is going on and yet mom and dad are there making sure that their children are smiling and loving life and showing that moment there's a couple of different applications with that the first one is may you do that may you enjoy those moments mom and dad I know that you are facing some very big decisions in your life a lot of stress and you want your children you want to shelter your kids from that stress who's going to shelter you Jesus who rules the ascended Lord who has a real body with a real height and a real weight with real scars in his hands and his feet who sympathizes with you and rules over you you can trust him because he is constantly interceding to the father on your behalf that's what Jesus is doing right now but then I got to thinking - there's another application and as well throw this out to you there's all kinds of talk about what life is gonna look like when the quarantine is lifted and how things are gonna be different they're gonna be different in my life because I'm gonna magma it turn over some things and I'm gonna I'm gonna change some things and that's really great I think that's very important that you think about what your life is gonna be like when the quarantine is lifted what I'd like you to think about is right now well the quarantine is here because we have no clue when this is gonna be lifted and this is where I'd like to introduce to you it just another hashtag hashtag is the in thing I want to challenge you with this hashtag not wasting my waiting while we wait for the quarantine to be lifted I want to challenge you don't waste this time because here's the thing moms and dads you have more family time and you've ever had before that your children been born probably no sports going on no no dates no going out to a movie and dinner no proms no events like that it's pretty much you know what the kids do the homework in the day time and the night is wide open and when I'm hearing from our parents is they're going for walks maybe the American River bike trail there there there there playing board games like monopoly or risk or Rocco there they're going there they're eating dinner together as a family what what is that they're doing all of these things as a family could it be that the Jesus who rules over us is saying this is what is important this is the life that I want you to live now and you weren't learning this before so now learn this and that's why I'd like to introduce to you not wasting my waiting is share with us stories of things that you are doing as a family not to brag about it but to encourage us we're not wasting we're not waiting for the corn team to be lifted to get back to normal we are not going to waste our waiting now we are we are taking advantage of this time together eating dinner together putting the phones away playing board games going on walks maybe watching a Netflix or prime or Disney together as a family how great would that be why why can we do that because we can be like those children on the American River bike trail we are just smiling why because we have someone ruling over us he is ruling over us and he loves us and he knows far more what we're going through and even than we do and he is kind and he intercedes on our behalf that is what the ascended Jesus is doing now let's not waste our waiting let's pray god help us with this it's hard enough to to contemplate the reality of the resurrection but then to add to that that there is this man who lives right now in your presence interceding on our behalf sympathizing with us ruling over us by faith we trust you we love you we thank you for what you've done you did it and we glory in what you've done we pray these things in the holy name of Christ our ascended Savior may the god of endurance and encouragement Grady to live in harmony with one another that together with one voice you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore a welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you and we all say together for the glory of God have a great day I love you what a great morning worshiping and learning the truth of the Scriptures together our k church you know if if today is the first time that you are really following Jesus with belief and trust in who he is would you send us a message text us at four eight four eight four eight the words arkaid follow and we will be in touch with you ASAP also don't forget let us know how you're spending your waiting here's our hashtag not wasting my waiting we can't wait to see what you guys are up to look forward to seeing you through [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Arcade Church

Views: 988

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Arcade Church

Id: -USox6iXbt8

Length: 90min 37sec (5437 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 26 2020