Pastor John Nixon II | "Folded Grave Clothes"

because of all the things that are happening both within our church family and outside in the world you may have a similar situation and this is one of the reasons why i think it's so great that once a quarter we come to this table because i think it helps to recalibrate us in a way doesn't it you know we always know and remember what jesus christ did it's kind of always maybe in the back of your mind maybe not maybe maybe you don't really think about it actually until communion sabbath i don't know but once every three months we get a reminder about how much we are loved but how much god cares about us and about the fact that even though there's so much despair we do have something to be happy about because one day soon jesus will come and we'll be able to go to heaven with him so we shared a lot of sad news today during church service but i'm hoping that the reminder of christ's sacrifice will make us feel a little bit different today as we leave this place so i want to talk for a few moments about a particular aspect of the communion service now you may not remember but the last three communions when we preached we talked about the different aspects of communion looking at the sacraments particularly as we considered because we said sometimes we do this so often that we just do it over and over again we might even realize what it is that we're doing there's a tremendous amount of symbolism here that's associated with this table and so we talked about the bread i think i guess three communions ago and then we talked about the grape juice we talked about the foot washing first actually now that i think about it we started with the foot washing then it was the bread then the grape juice and now we're on the fourth part it's kind of the longest series we've ever had here almost a year long this is the fourth and we're going to be talking about the tablecloth tablecloth that's on the table actually represents something and it's important for us so that we understand the title of our message this morning is folded clothes folded grave clothes let's pray father i thank you so much for the spirit of god who attends to us every single sabbath when we come to church but you're also in work and our lives all the time and i thank you even the invisible times the things that we don't know are happening you are sustaining us you are keeping us and right now in this moment we need a word of encouragement from your word so that we might be able to be transformed into what you want us to be father give us that word today as we contemplate your folded grave clothes in jesus name we pray amen john chapter 20. what book did i say everybody john chapter 20 starting in verse 1 and reading to verse 10. now um guys in the booth i messed something up and i have no idea if it's possible to switch this right now i have no clue is there any way to change the version right now from niv to new king james can that be done okay thank you switch it real quick and i'll switch here i won't read from my script instead i'll read from my from my phone uh the new king james version of the bible john chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 and i'll give you a second to be able to make that switch thank you very much for that i believe it's john doing it if i'm not mistaken my son john and thank you for mikhail for all you do every single week as well john chapter 20 starting in verse 1 reading to verse 10 this is the new king james version of the bible the bible says now on the first day of the week mary magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb then she ran and came to simon peter and to the other disciple whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken away the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb so they both ran together the other disciple outran peter and came to the tomb first and he stooping down and looking in saw the linen cloths lying there yet he did not go in then simon peter came following him and went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there and the handkerchief that had been around his head not lying with the linen cloths but folded together in a place by itself then the other disciple who came to the tomb first went in also and saw and believed for as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead then the disciples went away again to their own homes let me go back to verse 8 where it says then the other disciple that's john he's the author of the book he never refers to himself in the third person he always calls himself the other disciple came to the tomb first went in saw and believed um yeah yeah he went in and saw and believed what in the world did he believe in that moment at what he saw folded grave clothes she can hardly sleep during the night her lord has just died and all she can think about is showing his body some final kindness before sunrise she anxiously and hurriedly makes her way to the tomb someone has been there before her as she arrives she's devastated she realizes in that moment i'm not the first one here someone got here first even before she gets to the grave she can see that that giant stone has been moved out of its place so now mary begins to panic she runs toward the sepulcher and as she arrives the result is much worse than she originally imagined jesus is no longer in the tomb and she begins to sob uncontrollably she assumes that someone has stolen his body from that place and she runs back to simon peter and reports the matter to him peter gets john and they take off running toward the tomb john outruns peter and arrives first and notices right away that the grave clothes of jesus are still here and like a good crime scene investigator peter takes note of the position of christ's burial garments and also that they are neatly folded how interesting i'm sure you've seen the popular show on tv before called csi have you seen that it's so popular in fact that they have like four different spin-offs of the same show csi miami csi new york csi vegas and i just found out today there's a csi cyber never heard that you heard of that show people love csi its purpose is to showcase the vital importance of the people who come to the scene of the crime after everything is over to examine things a little bit better to get a more accurate picture of what took place and so it's an interesting story they're simply using the power of observation and using some specialized techniques and some other technology in order to try to reproduce what it is that happened at that crime scene they weren't there when it happened but they're so good at their job that after they're done with their little process they're able to almost duplicate exactly what it was that happened they're crime scene investigators by the way we're supposed to be just like that every time we come to the bible who says amen to that today we're supposed to be biblical csi's reconstructing the scenes that we find in the bible we weren't there when they happened but god sometimes puts things there for us to notice it's beneath the surface we may not read it if we just read over kind of fast we may not notice it but if we're really looking for it we can find little nuggets of truth that will help us to know jesus a little bit better to get a clearer picture of who he is even though we've never seen him who says amen to that today so peter's powers of observation kick in in this story as he scans the tomb on that day he sees the folded grave clothes of jesus that are left behind and he knows in that moment that something strange and unusual has happened what is the meaning of this remarkable scene of all the gospel writers john is the only one who mentions the folded grave clothes of jesus you look back and you see matthew mark and luke don't say anything about that and he must have had a reason for doing so what lesson does he mean for us to get today from these folded grave clothes the first thing three lessons the first one is this the folded grave clothes suggest that christ's body was not stolen repeat after me jesus left the tomb deliberately say it again jesus left the tomb deliberately you believe that say amen now you already know the end of this story so you're cheating you already know how this happens but but try to put yourself back in the place of mary and peter and john as they come to the tomb they don't know the end of the story and jesus is trying to communicate something to them in this situation and it helps us to get a better glimpse of him as well we all should be excited that jesus left the tomb deliberately mary's first conclusion was actually an illogical one based on the scene for some reason she feared from the very beginning that something peculiar was going to happen to the body of jesus so she had the right impression but the wrong outcome according to one bible writer this is what this uh commentator says stealing dead bodies was a rare practice in those days but had robbers stolen the body he continues they would have certainly taken its wrappings as well and had they left the wrappings they would certainly not have they would certainly let them in disarray it does not seem logical that someone would steal the body of jesus and then take the time to fold his grave clothes before they exit the tomb christ's folded burial garment are an indication that jesus was not stolen there was something more deliberate going on here isn't it so nice of our lord to leave a little message in the tomb so that when his followers came they would not have to be in despair jesus went to great lengths to let them know that even though they were feeling terrible about the situation i'm okay everything is all right i've got this under control you have nothing to worry about if we take time to look and pay attention around life you know sometimes the circumstances of our lives are so bad so dire so desperate that it makes us sort of miss things that god has put there for us just as a reminder that everything's gonna be okay i got this you don't have to worry i'm the god of the universe jesus was not the victim of some elaborate grave-robbing scheme he made a deliberate exit from the tomb it was not an accident and he wants us to know that here's the second thing that we learn second thing the folded grave flows teach us that jesus is not haphazard or careless about anything repeat after me even the most random things have meaning in god's reality in fact in fact if you believe in the creation story that god is the one who ordered everything that we see and created it all then you will understand that nothing is random the bible says the lot is cast in the lab but every decision is from the lord god is deliberate in our lives even this little mundane stuff has meaning the fact that he does not just ball up his garments and toss them into the corner of the tomb shows us something distinct about the character of god something we should take note of jesus is careful about everything including things that we think are insignificant christ handles the humdrum situations of life that we find monotonous he he handles them with care and precision he is meticulous about things we find monotonous he is careful with the things we find commonplace he is measured about the things we think are minor he doesn't just do the right thing in the important situations of life but even when the not so important things happen jesus is being serious about it giving meaning to even the mundane everything with our god has meaning who says amen to that today and we need a god who is thorough like this with trivial things because it means he won't forget about trivial us we're not as significant not quite as significant as we might think we are not not by ourselves have you ever thought about how small our world is in comparison to the rest of the universe you ever thought about that in fact we aren't even the biggest planet in our own solar system a tiny world in the corner of the universe that god cares about with his infinite love there are six billion people on this planet right now and the bible says every one of those people's hairs are numbered god knows each one of us intimately he listens to all of our prayers when we pray he takes special care of the things that we think are unimportant so there's hope for us yet isn't there he cares and by the way it is god that gives us our importance our importance is derived from him so everything else in the universe says we are basically nothing but there's one person in the universe that demonstrated we're worth everything you know why because he put his arms on the cross just like this this is how much you're worth to me servant of god says this it was christ himself who had placed those grave clothes with such care when the mighty angel came down from the to the tomb he was joined by another who with his company had been keeping guard over the lord's body as the angel from heaven rolled away the stone the other entered the tomb and unbound the wrappings from the body of jesus she's describing now what happened when the angels came to get jesus to go back to heaven she continues but it was the savior's hand listen listen she's saying jesus didn't unwrap himself and angel did that but then she says it was the savior's hand that folded each and laid it in its place in his sight who guides alike the star and the adam there is nothing unimportant order and perfection are seen in all his work isn't that a great thing to hear that what a wonderful quote nothing is unimportant to jesus including you and me last one third and final lesson the third you guys know i always preach shorter on communion sabbath the third and final lesson is this the folded grave clothes prove that jesus will come again repeat after me i can't wait for jesus to come [Applause] you believe that saying that today i mean i'm telling you every time i look at the news or step outside my house i think to myself even so come lord jesus i'm ready to go i've got some stuff down here that i like and i enjoy but you know what it's nothing in comparison what i'm enjoying when i get to heaven and i'll never have to worry about my aching knees again on my back that's been bothering me all week or feeling sore after working out none of that stuff will happen in heaven can't wait for jesus to come to to get this last point though we have to go to a piece of jewish tradition that i've read about before it's actually a little bit disputed but it's okay i think it still brings the point home here it is the folded napkin had a lot to do with the master and the servant in jewish tradition when the servant set the dinner table for the master he made sure that everything was exactly as the master wanted and then the table was furnished perfectly and the servant would wait just out of sight while the master ate his food and waited till he was finished before he would actually clear the table now if the master was finished eating he would rise from the table wipe his fingers he would wide up the napkin toss it onto the table and the servant would know he's done and now when he gets it from the table the servant could come and clean everything off but if the master got up from the table and folded the napkin and laid it beside the plate the servant would know that even if the master got up from the table the servant should not clear things because he planned to come back to continue eating [Applause] so so you want the napkin up it means i'm done you folded it means i'm coming back now i want you to know that on that day when jesus folded his grave clothes he was sending like a morris code message to his people so that they would know down to the ages that everything was okay that they wouldn't be uh despaired or anything like that but he also wanted a message to get all the way down to us 2000 years later that i'm leaving this tomb and i'm leaving this earth and i'm going back to heaven but i will be back and when i come back i'm taking you with me jesus is coming soon he's coming again and he's coming for anybody who wants to go with him i want to be there one day what about you jesus cares about us and he will return so the folded grave flows mean a lot to us and let me just tell you the folded tablecloth represents that folded grave clothes now we don't have it on there on top but on a normal communion sabbath pre-covered what would happen is there would be a tablecloth that's covering the entire thing deaconess would come up in their white they would take the tablecloth off and then they would fold it right in front of our eyes so that we could see if you've seen it done before haven't you you've been to hundreds of communions it happened all the time while they're folding that we're supposed to be saying jesus is coming back he's going to take me home with him one day and i want to be ready everything here the whole symbolism is there the foot washing gets us ready we're able to um reconcile with each other the bread represents the broken body of jesus the blood represents excuse me the the grape juice represents his spilled blood that cleanses us from sin and that tablecloth that's on top when it's folded it reminds us of the folded grave clothes of jesus tells us three things the folded grave clothes suggests that christ's body was not stolen he left that tomb on purpose the folded grave clothes show us that christ is not careless about anything cares about little old you and me the last thing is the folded grave clothes prove that jesus will come again you believe the word of god raise your hand if you do if you want to understand and to appreciate this communion table even more raise your other hand now look up and say i surrender praise the lord so every time we have communion we're always supposed to have a foot washing and usually this is the time that we do it but you guys know that things have changed a little bit since the pandemic so what we've decided for the last i don't know year and a half is that we would have communion service but we would not have foot washing here in the sanctuary or in the church or anything like that just because there are too many aspects of it that are hard for us to keep it safe and so what we're going to do here in the sanctuary we will have a video that we watch with some music playing and those of you that are watching online at home right now you'll have the opportunity to be able to do the foot washing in the safety of your dwelling get your basin and your water get your towel and while that's happening for us here i wanted to just meditate on what it is that jesus christ has done and remember that he loves you with an everlasting love and that if jesus could sit down in front of his own disciples and wash their feet a perfect lord and savior who never did anything wrong to them he could do that he was demonstrating what we should be willing to do with each other so now is the time to have a heart of reconciliation it's not time to hold grudges it's not time to hold things over people when they did something wrong to you forgive and let it go today meditate on that today as we watch this video father in the name of jesus i want to thank you thank you for those folded grave clothes and what they mean for us i'm asking god that you would do something special for us in our hearts today as we participate in this service just after the video when we come back and we and we take that uh bread and and that juice and we drink and eat it lord i'm asking that you would do something inside of us to remind us of what jesus christ has done we do this today in remembrance of you help us to never forget may we live like we know that jesus loves us and that he's coming back for us may it exude and and and go into everything that we do and lord i ask that you would keep us until you come in jesus name we pray amen [Music] the love of god is [Music] it goes beyond the highest star [Music] bow down [Music] is [Applause] [Music] and strong itself [Music] is [Music] the ocean fell and were the skies [Music] on earth [Music] [Music] don't stretch [Music] and strong itself [Music] [Applause] [Music] the love [Music] [Music] hey [Music] there is a fountain [Music] and it's filled with blood [Music] um [Music] they lose [Music] is [Music] filled with blood drawn from emanuels [Music] beneath [Music] my losers taught me a long time ago [Music] [Music] [Music] see [Music] oh [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] beneath [Music] they're guilty oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] and what can make me hole again [Music] [Music] i am very happy to have uh these two elders here with me today eldon rosalind elder rosalind marcel you have a new iphone 8 last name tell me what it is again this is rosalind marcel redman thank you elder dunbar henry our uh head elder they'll be leading us in some scriptures and some prayers as we get ready for our communion verse 26 and as they were eating jesus took bread blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body continuing in verse 27 and 28 then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins and as is our custom we have prayer over the bread and the wine and i would encourage you to assume whatever posture of prayer is comfortable for you we are going to stand and remain standing and bow our heads and if you choose to stand that's fine if you choose to kneel that's fine as well let's pray dear father in heaven we are so unworthy and yet because of your love you make us worthy thank you for choosing to allow your body to be broken and even while it was being broken you weren't thinking of yourself you said father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing and so father please bless this emblem the symbol of your broken body we give it to you thank you in advance in jesus name we pray amen heavenly father we are so grateful for your blood that was spilled for us so that we could be clean father my prayer is that each person here today that has come with guilt and pain and things that the devil reminds them of reminds us of lord i pray dear lord that as they drink what represents your blood each one will know that it can cleanse us it will clean us from all the darkness in our lives all the things that are hidden all the things that we're ashamed of we can go away today clean in the name of jesus thank you so much for the power in your blood amen [Music] you can take your plastic cup now and open the first part of it it's a little difficult sometimes you have to peel off the top layer and you will get to the wafer that represents the broken body of jesus and as we take it together we want to remember what it is that jesus christ did for us let us commune together [Music] [Music] thank you jesus for your body amen now the grape juice you can take off the other piece of plastic as we hold this grape juice in our hands we remember that it represents the spilled blood of jesus that same blood that cleanses you from all of your sin as we commune together we want to remember what he did let us commune together thank you jesus for your blood amen so i was [Music] i was i was contemplating uh this and i was thinking back to the good old days when our deaconess made that bread that tasted so much better and the grape juice that we would drink that tasted so much fresher and i thought to myself that in in some ways this might be an even better representation in this sort of messed up form because this terrible little plastic cup kind of reminds me of my life reminds me of the stuff and the junk that i go through and i think about this and i mean it's flimsy you know you can i can squish it right now with my fingers you know the other cups that we had were so much nicer my life isn't that nice when i taste that good bread you know we actually had a friend that would make us communion bread that was unblessed and would give it to us and we would eat it tastes so good and don't you love that bread the bland taste of this bread doesn't doesn't quite do the same except that it reminds you the bland life that you live sometimes there is no perfect representation of jesus because we are living in an imperfect world but this is a symbol of the blood and body of jesus christ he actually came down to this earth left perfect heaven took on our messed up form lived in a messed up world so that he could live his perfect life as a substitute for ours spill his perfect blood so that we could be covered in it [Music] and then went back to heaven and pleaded that same blood on our behalf a job he's still doing right now but he won't do that forever at some point michael will stand up and he will take his flight to come back here to earth and at that point he was filthy let him be filthy still he was holy let him be holy still but when jesus comes and that cloud the size of a man's hand starts to get larger and larger when i look up and i see jesus face i don't want to be struck down by the power of his brightness i want to be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air so i can spend eternity with him what about you [Music] amen so i love it when we sing when we all get to heaven i'm assuming that okay good that's what we're doing i love when we sing that our communion sabbath because it doesn't say when some of us get to heaven or when just a few of us get to heaven we can all be there and i'm determined to make it what about you it's all about jesus and what he has done for us in this sacrifice so i'm happy we can sing that today let's do it please join me in standing those of you who are in your family units you're more than welcome to grab your neighbor's hand and raise it if you don't if you're by yourself just raise your hand on the chorus when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be let's stand together and sing this song sing the wondrous love sing the wondrous love of jesus seeing his mercy and his grace in the mansion's bright and blessed he'll prepare for us a place when we all when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be jesus will sing and shout the the victory pathway crowds will overspread the sky but when traveling days are over not a what a day of rejoicing that will be for when we see jesus we'll sing and shout the victory so let us then be true and faithful trusting serving every day just one glimpse of him in glory will the toils of life repay when we all when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be for when we all when we see jesus will let's sing that course again when we all get to heaven when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see jesus we'll sing and shout the victory onward to the prize before us soon his beauty will be whole soon the pearly gates what a day of rejoicing that will be for when we all see i have one more in my spirit can you sing that course again when we all get to heaven when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be for when we all see jesus will sing and shout the victor amen amen [Applause] father we just want to make it to heaven we don't want anything to disqualify us or to change anything his life has been hard enough and we're ready for you to come so help us to be ready may we live every moment as if today could be the day that jesus christ returns [Music] lord when you come we don't want to just be the only ones that go we want to be instruments to allow others to come to a saving knowledge of jesus as well so use us as a church help us not to be so focused on ourselves that we end up forgetting about the world and then losing our own salvation too we get busy right here in this area letting people know that jesus is soon to come and that he wants to save everybody help us to be ready thank you for all you've done thank you for jesus thank you for his love that is demonstrated for us every single day may we understand it and appreciate it even more and may it transform us from the inside out help us to leave this place but never to leave your presence in the glorious name of jesus let everyone who wants to go to heaven one day say together amen and amen god bless you please be seated we have a special offering that we collect on communion sabbaths and we want to make sure you know about it i think they're going to set a plate out there somewhere and you can get it together uh this offering is for the poor and we always do it on community staff we don't forget about that today so if you would get something from your your handkerchief not your handkerchief your uh purse or your uh or your wallet thank you got a handkerchief on my mind now i did not forget something uh but i did mention it in the one call but i didn't do it today and that is i'm not quite ready i need was one more step that i need to go through before we present to you the nominating committee list so i'm sorry about that uh but you'll get an email sometime this week that will allow you to see the list and you'll be able to vote on it and everything and then we'll ratify it fully next sabbath when we come back to church so thank you for your patience with us with that we just got one more step and we will make sure that we get that okay well it's time for us to go but i want to make sure that i say goodbye to those of you that are online thank you for joining us again today what am i doing you got a lip to me because i don't know what that means oh community fun day thank you there's something on the screen he wants to read thank you very much tomorrow at 11 we're having our community fun day thank you for that mikhail community fun day is happening here from 11 to 3 at our church right across the street want to make sure that you're there hopefully you can come and be there for us it'll be loads of fun okay now for those of you that are watching online thank you for joining us we're glad that you were here we'll be here again same time next sabbath at 11 30. until then remember the happiest place in the world is in the will of god god bless you our ushers will come now and dismiss you [Music] you

Channel: Takoma Park SDA Church

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Keywords: Sabbath Worship, TPC, Takoma Park SDA Church Live Stream, TPC Live Stream, SDA, Seventh Day Adventist, Seventh-Day Advenist, Sabbath, #TPC, Pastor Henry Wright, Pastor Chris Cheatham, Pastor Wesley Knight, Pastor Anwar Ottley, Pastor Daniel Xisto, Pastor John Nixon II, Takoma Park, Takoma Park Church, Takoma Park SDA, Pastor Michael Kelly, Pastor John Nixon, Pastor Griselda Jobe, Pastor John Nixon Sr, Pastor Trevor Kinlock

Id: REQG-cdSgvU

Length: 49min 56sec (2996 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021