We are really
excited to continue this series of
messages that really is all about the power
of the Resurrection in our daily lives. And we're going to jump
in John chapter 20 today. So if you have your
Bible, John chapter 20 is where we're going to be. I want to bring to
you a message that I'm calling Right In The
Middle, Right In The Middle. Could you say that out
loud, Right In The Middle? Right In The Middle. John chapter 20 verse
19 is where we're going to pick up the story. We're looking at
some different people who were impacted
by the Resurrection as we realize that's our story. We are the people impacted
by the Resurrection. We began last week
with Mary Magdalene. Did you guys enjoy
learning about Mary? I mean, there was just
something so great about her. John 20, we're going to see
Jesus's closest friends, the impact the
Resurrection had on them. It says in John 20 verse
19, man, I'm so confused. All right, John chapter 20
verse 19, then the same day-- that's the same day as the
Resurrection-- at evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples
were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in the midst and said to them,
peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed
them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were
glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them
again, peace to you. As the father has sent
me, I also send you. And when He had said
this, He breathed on them and said to them,
receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of
any, they are retained. Verse 24, now Thomas, called
the twin, one of the 12 was not with them
when Jesus came. And Father, we thank
you for your word. We thank you for what you
want to speak to us in it. We thank you so much that
what you're doing in us and what we are receiving from
you in these moments gathered together, we always say
we're one house many rooms. Today, we are one House in lots
and lots of different rooms, in lots of various
states of emotions and what's all
happening out there. But I pray we would just
hit pause for a second. I pray that we would
have the perspective that comes from remembering
that you are God immortal. You are outside of
time, and you sit enthroned above the
circumstances that cause there to be fear and
trouble on this planet. And you are doing
something far bigger, and you are far more powerful. And so I pray that
in our hearts, there will not be
a trace of anxiety because we would be
choosing faith over doubt and that we would remember
that you are our good shepherd. And you said, do not
fear, little flock. It is my Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. So it is not for us to seek
to control the circumstances. It's for us to realize that
you are above the circumstances and that you want to give
us peace and power so that we can then be your hands
and feet in this broken world. And we pray this all,
asking especially that if anyone has
joined into the broadcast today on the internet or
television or podcasts and they don't
know you as Savior, we pray that you would
draw them to yourself through your Holy Spirit. And we ask this in Jesus' name. And we all said together, amen. We all said together, amen. Wonderful. Well, the middle seat is kind
of the seat I have today, and usually it's not
like the hot seat. It's not like the hot commodity. There are window seat
people on airplanes, and there are aisle seat
people on airplanes. Everybody participate in
your own environment here. Window seat people,
show me your hands. Airplane, that's what
we're talking about. And then aisle seat
people, show me your hand. OK, see, I'm an aisle seat
person because I need control. But I have often missed out
because my beautiful wife, the only one on this platform
that I can break and violate the six foot rule with
is a window person. So I sort of get the benefit. I get the control of the aisle,
so I can come and go as I want. But you're a window person. And so as long as it's a
two-by-two configuration, we get the benefit of both. Right. Right, if it's a three across,
we don't do the weird-- I have to be in the window seat. One time I got on a plane, and
I got assigned the middle seat. And I could tell
the husband and wife beside me were husband and wife. And I was like, oh,
do you want to trade? They go, no. He likes aisle. She likes window. I was like, this is weird. It is a four and a
half hour flight. True story, I'm stuck between
these two not-so-small people, if you catch my
drift, who did not want to be around each other. But Jennie likes the
window for the view because that's just Jennie. Look at the colors go by. Me in the aisle, I need to
control the circumstances, but she'll tell me if there's
anything beautiful going on. But no one loves the middle. If I had continued on-- window seat, aisle seat-- who's a middle seat person? Yay, not having an armrest
that's mine, right? I mean, the reality
is, the middle seat is the one that we all dread. In a car, being in
that middle seat it's like having a
fish the seat belt, having people on
both sides of you. We don't like the middle. Why? Because in the middle, to put
a word on it, we feel stuck. When we're in the middle of
something, we feel stuck. And that's true in a seat. That's also true in a situation. When you're in a project, when
you're trying to do something, the beginning is exciting, and
the ending is a celebration. It's the middle where
you get bogged down. I'm going to start
this business. Oh, that's so fun. Here's how I'm going to do it. Throw the ideas
on the whiteboard. There's nothing too
big in this stage. This is the ideation. Our app's going to do this. Our product's going to do that. This is what the song's
going to sound like. Throw anything at
the board, right? We're just brainstorming here. Go nuts, right? Write some checks. There's no account yet. That's in the middle that
we make up the bank account. That's in the middle
that we make the LLC. That's in the middle that we
get with the Secretary of State, in this case Corey
Stapleton, and make sure we can legally do it. That's in the middle
all that stuff happens. But here, it's just like,
we're going to hire this. We're going to go there. In the middle is when
everything gets difficult. Because in the middle,
you're like, oh man, all that stuff that
was on the whiteboard, someone's actually got to do it. Someone's actually
got to execute. Who's actually going to be
taking care of those details, right? In the middle, we
feel like we're equally far from
where we started out, but we're also just as
far from the ending. In the middle is when it's
most tempting to give up. Let me show this to you
in the but in the Bible, book of Nehemiah, probably the
greatest instance of a project undertaken by a people. In 52 days, we're going
to build this wall. We're going to go boldly where
no one's ever gone before. Well, we're told in
Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 6, so we built a wall, and
the entire wall was joined together-- notice-- up to half its height,
at the halfway mark. OK, the whole wall
is done, halfway. It's going to be a big
wall to keep people out, but it's just halfway done. Notice the next verse I have
on the screen, verse 10, then Judah said, the strength
of the laborers is failing, and there is so much
rubbish that we are not able to build the wall. What happened? They hit the slump
in the middle where we've gone from, this is
the best idea I've ever had to this is hard
to this is terrible to I'm terrible to there's
no way we're going to finish, right? And the morale is just
flagging in the middle, which is exactly what happened
the last 50 times you've tried to clean your garage. You had the best intentions. You pulled everything
out into the driveway. We're doing this. But then at a certain
point, you go, let's just shove it back in. No one will know. I won't tell if you won't tell. We won't have the Instagram
post of how clean it looks, but that doesn't matter. Just shove it in. We don't need a park
in the garage anyway. What do we have that garage for? It's for our stuff. It's not for our cars. It's for our stuff. And the storage unit is
for the auxiliary holding ground for the stuff that
can't fit in the garage. The driveway is for
our cars, right? That's why I like in the south. They just don't even care. They just stroke throw their
stuff about everywhere, just wherever. Anything's our garage. But it is in the middle
that this happens. It's in the middle that our
fears can also overtake us. One of the most scary
things Jesus' disciples ever went through was, of course,
the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Notice it says in
verse 14 verse 24, and this is when they
gave up all hope, the boat was now in the middle
of the sea, tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. It was in the middle that they
really began to lose heart. It was in the middle
when they lost focus. It was in the middle when they
thought they were going to die, when they thought they
were going to drown. And that is exactly
the emotion of what's happening in Jesus'
followers here on the day that He
showed up in the midst. They were in the middle of it. They were afraid. They felt stuck. They didn't think
they were ever going to get out of this situation. And I love that
the text says, they were all in one room
with the doors locked. I guess you could say the
disciples had a lot in common with everybody watching
this broadcast today. A lot of you feel stuck
in the room you're in. A lot of you feel like, in
this room with the door shut, the walls are creeping
in on me, right? I can only do homeschooling with
my kids for two more minutes. I try, but then it's really
five hours of Disney Plus and then Netflix, right? It's like, I tried
to do homeschool. I printed out something,
but then the printer said that we're out of toner,
and so I couldn't figure it out. And now I just give up, right? This is not happening. It's just a melting down. That's how the
disciples felt there. They said that the
doors were locked. The text says that. The Greek is more emphatic. It says that it's
locked and barred. So there are double
locking the door. Why? Because they were afraid. They felt like they
were going to be next. In a very real
sense, they risked being arrested as
Jesus' accomplices here in this moment. They were spooked. One commentator really
describes the way they were kind of
huddled together as almost like every
sound was foreboding. They could just expect at any
moment the knock at the door. They could expect at any moment
the crowbar to take the hinges, and now they're going to be
stormed in with the SWAT team to be arrested. I also think it's pretty epic
that this is the disciples, and verse 10 says,
it's minus Thomas. It's the disciples,
which were how many disciples, Bible students? 12, minus who now is dead? Judas is dead, and
Thomas isn't there. That means that they're
abiding by CDC regulation. There were 10 or fewer
here in this room until Jesus showed up. And how cool is this? When the 10 became 11,
they all caught something. Come on. That's really good. When the 10 became 11,
they all caught something. So stay at home. Stay in your room. I'm just doing my part
to help with awareness in this situation. It's in the Bible,
when the 10 became 11, they all came down
with something. But what they came
down with in the moment was the spirit of calm. Jesus came into the
room, and that's OK. Your 10 can have Jesus in
the midst of it, right? Your small group in your house,
your family in your home, when it has Jesus in the middle
of it, there will be calm. And Jesus chose
intentionally to show up when they were in the middle
of this moment of fear, in the middle of feeling stuck,
when they felt quarantined, when they felt
locked up, when they felt like they couldn't get
out is when He chose to come. I like how the J.B. Phillips
translation puts verse 19. It says, in the evening-- so
that means it's also dark. When it's dark out, it's scary. When it's dark out,
it's foreboding. So when it was
dark, when this says they were met together with
the doors locked for fear-- there was fear in their hearts-- Jesus came and stood-- notice-- right in the middle of them,
right in the middle of them. They're huddled up,
and He appeared right in the middle of
their circumstance and said, peace be with you. So comfort was the outcome of
his inserting Himself right in the middle. And I really believe is the
word from God for our country and for this world and for
our church at this time and for you personally that
right in the middle of what you are facing, of what
we are going through is where Jesus wants to show up. Like He did when the
disciples were on the sea, he's going to show up
right in the middle of what you are facing. And when He shows up, you
can expect to be calmed. You can expect to be calmed. He will always calm you. The Bible says that Jesus
showed up right in the middle. And what was the outcome? The outcome was the
disciples-- five things-- were calmed, first of
all, by his presence. I want you to see in this text
that the presence of Jesus made all the difference,
for how they went out was the exact opposite
of how they came in. They came in afraid. They came in all hunched over. They came in with
their hoodies on. And they went out triumphant. They went out bold. They went out comforted. It was like a child that
comes into the parents' bed with a nightmare crying
and frantic and sweaty, but then eventually the
calming of that moment can cause the child to go
out differently and hopefully rapidly. Get out of here, right? Calmed, the disciples were
calmed by his presence. When we read the
book of Acts, we see Peter standing up boldly. We see John proclaiming. We see they're standing
there with perfect posture, completely unafraid, unfazed. They're beaten, and they're
told, never preach again. And they say, we
can't listen to you. We respect you. We honor you as the
authorities over this nation, but we will listen to God. And if you have to
beat us, then beat us, and we will count
it an honor to be beaten for Jesus Christ's sake. That's a different disciple,
any way you look at it. Hiding in the corner
afraid, Peter denying Jesus, and they go out bold, and they
go out completely composed. What's the difference? The difference is his presence. They thought that when
Christ died on the cross, they were saying goodbye
to the presence of Jesus in their lives. But when He rose, and
more specifically, when He ascended, He
secured for all of us the particulars of his presence
at all times in every place because through the
spirit of Jesus, He is present in every
gathering, in every home, every life of every
single Jesus follower has the promise of the
presence of God at all times. Why would they be
calmed by his presence? Because his presence
unlocks peace. Why? Because Jesus is
the Prince of Peace. What that means then is
He doesn't give peace. He is peace. Listen to me, Jesus
doesn't give us peace. He is peace, and
that's how He could speak to the
situation, the words that He did of I
give you my peace. Notice in Ephesians
2:14, Paul tells us, He, Himself, is our peace. Now, we then have to reframe
our understanding of what peace is because we often
think that peace is the absence of
trouble, but peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of God. If Jesus is the
Prince of Peace and He is present in a situation,
then even in trouble, you can have peace. So right now in the
midst of this virus, in the midst of
economic uncertainty, in the midst of perhaps
unemployment and fears and worries, rightfully
so in some cases, some of those things
are real and they have to be worked
through, but right there in the midst of your situation,
Jesus offers his perfect peace because He is your peace. And so in growing
close to Jesus, you are always moving closer to
peace, calmed by his presence. And the result of
this situation, of them encountering Jesus
and realizing that He is alive and He would not be
taken from them by death, nor would He be taken from
them by the ascension, then what they realized
is we can then be calm. And I love that the
book of Acts tells the story of young
heroes rising up, fueled by the presence of God. And my prayer and
this time is that God would raise up a generation
of specifically young heroes. I'm speaking to you
high school students and junior high students. I'm speaking to you young
people, college students. I'm believing for an awakening. I'm believing for a quickening. In these last years,
we've just heard so much about this generation and
what this generation is. But I'm telling you, God
is speaking a new word over this generation. It's time for a
generation to rise up, as only propelled by the Holy
Spirit would make possible, and to speak peace to a
world that's full of fear. And that God has allowed what
has transpired in these days-- not caused it. This coronavirus and
in all sickness and all death is caused by the
brokenness of this world through it being given
over to futility because of Sin. So never was it
God's plan, but God has always, from
before eternity passed, had the plan to overwhelm the
difficulty with his goodness. And that's what He's going
to utilize to cause his peace to flood through this
world is his people gripped by his presence, consumed by
his glory who then can rise up, young heroes unafraid
to show his love. Secondly, they were
calmed by his words. So his presence, just
being there with them, changed their demeanor,
changed their situation. And they were also
calmed by his words. For as He opened his
mouth, He spoke the words, I give you peace. My peace, I give to you. Peace be with you were the
words out of his mouth. They were calmed by his words. The circumstances didn't change. They were still very much in
danger, and all almost all of them, except for John,
would go on to die deaths. So their great fears
actually came to pass, but they no longer
had reason to fear it. So what they were
facing didn't change, but the resources of his word
in them was what changed them. He gave them the word peace. Now, we referenced it
before, but now let me define it for you because
it's different than how we refer to peace. We would throw the peace sign. It's kind of like,
hopefully things don't go bad for you or
maybe a victory in trial or we would think of it just
as the absence of challenging circumstances, right? Make peace, not war. The absence of conflict would
be how we would describe peace, but that's not the
biblical sense. The word Shalom, which is the
idea Jesus is tapping into, was just deeply rooted
in the Middle Eastern culture and this
belief system that we find in the Old Testament,
the Jewish faith. And the idea of Shalom spoke
of a wholeness of well-being that came from God giving
you every good gift. Someone said that's how you
could best define Shalom. May you receive, when
He says, may God's peace be with you, Him saying, may
God give you every good gift, may God give you
every good thing, may you be totally well
spiritually and physically, may in every way you
receive God's wellness. And we can have
that wash over us, and that can allow us to know
that He is not only with us, but He's for us and wants
to give us every good thing. And if we don't have it, that
means it's not a good thing. And if He hasn't given
it to us, then that means that either
we don't need it, or He has a plan to give
it to us down the road. And so we can trust Him. We can be calmed by
his words, calmed by his presence
in our situation. I've been hearing
a lot of people talk about, and rightly so,
how when we get through this, we're going to celebrate. And I think there's
a place for that. I think there's a place
for sort of framing this thing as something
that too is going to pass. It feels like it's ongoing. And quite frankly, the way
they keep talking about well, it was 15 days,
and then well, it could be over by July and
eight weeks of this regulation. And I think, to
some extent, it's a little bit unhelpful
just to fixate on, when is this going to be over? I mean, it's human to
want to have a timetable. It's human to want to
understand the dynamics at play. But at the same time, I
would say this, yes, we should believe this
is going to pass. And certainly, this is
not going to be the end. But at the same
time, let's not wait till it's over to
celebrate, meaning let's not give God the praise only
when this is all over. I think that to be a
spiritual early adopter or to be a people of faith
would be to take Him at his word that He has a plan,
that He is going to work all things
together for good, and this is not how
it's all going to end. It's going to all
end with Christ returning and setting
up his kingdom. That's the end, so
this is not the end. But as we anchor our
hearts with his words, what are we able to do? We're able to find shelter
in the storm, not shelter when we get to the
end of the storm, not I'm going to
believe God when He gives us all through this. But no, we're going to find-- and I'm sorry to use this
phrase because it's all over the country
right now-- but we're going to find shelter in
place, shelter in place, in the place that
we're in, not shelter when we get through
this, shelter on the other side of this. We're going to find
shelter in place, in the middle of our storm. Matthew 18:20,
where two or three are gathered together in my
name, I am there in the midst. So yes, He's there with us
as we gather corporately in larger settings, and I can't
wait for when we get back. I think we should celebrate. We're going to have the
greatest party ever when this is all over
for sure, and that's true of life ending as well. There's going to be the greatest
party when this life ends, when this trial ends and we
get to come back together. It will be so amazing. But where two or three
are in an apartment, where three or four are in a house,
where two or four are in a dorm room, where you even seemingly
feel alone in your situation, I'm telling you, He
is there in the midst. You can anchor your
heart to his word and celebrate now and rejoice
now that He has a plan now. He's up to something now. He's still seeking to give
you every good gift now. And so his peace is with
you, total well-being right now, shelter in place,
calmed by his words, calmed by his presence,
and calm by his wounds. Now, this is an interesting
one, but the text actually says, if you look at verse
20, they saw his wounds. He showed them his
hands and his feet then the disciples were glad. He showed them his wounds
then the disciples were glad. That is to say, their gladness
was already, of course, there seeing Him and already
there hearing from Him. But then the text says,
knowing that they were afraid, He went on to show them his
hands, show them his wounds, and then their
gladness boiled over. The amplified translation
talks about their joy being filled with exultant joy,
being filled with exultant joy, meaning their joy just
went to a different level when they saw his wounds. Why would his
wounds comfort them? For one thing, it
gave them confidence that it really was
Him, of course, that He was the person who
they saw die in the cross. They were convinced. Now, this is some theology
over our head, right? Any time we get into
this stuff, we're dealing with things that
are too lofty for us to really understand. But we know that Jesus was
in his resurrected body. Now, when you die
and go to heaven, when I die and go
to heaven, we're not going to be in our
resurrected bodies. Our bodies are going to stay
here on this planet in a grave. And at the return of Jesus
Christ at the end of the age, those bodies will
be resurrected. You're like, what
are we going to live in the meantime in heaven? I don't know. Maybe He's got a loaner for you. Maybe your spirit
will be allowed to take on properties of a body. But the Bible does
not tell us that. But what it does tell us is
that Jesus, Himself, came out of the grave in his
resurrected body. So this is how He was
able to physically eat. Because in a minute, we're
going to see Him eating food. And in fact, in verse 39 of
Luke 24, same story, it says, behold my hands and feet. It is I, myself. It's not someone else. It's I, myself, same
Jesus you saw die. It is I, myself. See my wounds, same wounds
you saw on that cross. Then he says, handle me and
see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones
as you see I have, OK? And then in that same
passage, He says, you still don't believe me. Give me something to eat? And He starts to eat, and He's
like, can a ghost do this? Kind of ghost do that? I love this. He says, the spirit
doesn't have bones, right? Ghosts don't have bones. Touch me. When have you ever seen
a ghost have bones? You're like, Disney movie? Like, the bones dancing? Dem bones, you know
what I'm saying? Right, but He says,
ghosts don't have bones. Give me some food. Watch me eat, right? Look at my wounds. Check them out if you need to. So what we need to understand
is that He was proving to them He was actually risen. And some of our great
fears are death is the end. Some of our great
fears are when we lose someone we love that I'm
never going to see them again. And that we, ourselves,
going into the grave, if this coronavirus does
kill one of us or two of us or more than that of us,
that there would be a great fear that life would be over. But He's saying,
no, look at how I came through to the other
side, and guess what? You're going to come
through to the other side. Everybody you love in Christ
is going to come through to the other side. And just as Jesus is
still Jesus, Himself, you're still going to be
Leon yourself, I, myself. And what comfort that gives
you, what peace that gives you, dealing with death,
having to face death. They were comforted and
calmed by his wounds, But. It's more than that
because the last time they saw those wounds, they
represented the worst thing that had ever happened
to these disciples. We cannot properly explain to
you what Jesus meant to them, for there is nothing in
our culture even close, though being in
an election year, being in a time when we're
thinking about presidents and elected officials, and
in this crazy to think even in the midst of all
of this, of course, many are trying to use this
for their own advantage. Well, this wouldn't
have happened if this, and this wouldn't have happened. And the reality
is, well, I'm not going to even talk about that. But I will say that
the disciples had all of their hopes
pinned on Jesus, not only as a spiritual leader but
also as a political messiah, also as the one who is
going to save the nation and fulfill all the prophecies
from the Old Testament about what the nation of
Israel was meant to be. And they thought that they
were going to be in his cabinet when He took office. So when He was killed, their
whole dreams for the future were just shot down in a second. When Pilate washed his
hands, and he said, let Him be crucified,
everything they thought that life was going to
be like just all of a sudden in a moment vanished,
and those wounds were the center of it all. Those wounds, in their hand,
were to them, the worst thing imaginable. And now He brings those
same wounds to them and says, check it out. You thought life was
over because of this. I'm telling you, God
is, through this moment, calming them with the reality
that we need to be gripped by. And that is whatever we take to
be the worst thing imaginable, God has a plan to reconcile
all things, even to Himself. He has a plan to redeem it. He has a plan to
restore it, and not even death can stop
that from happening. The Resurrection and the
promise of eternal life tells us that
Jesus will not only make up for the difficult
things that we've had to face by giving
us a life forever, but He actually will restore
dreams that died in our hearts before we left this world
to go home to heaven. He's saying, not even
death can stop me from doing all that
I've planned to do. And this, that you
took as evidence of God not having control
over the universe, is actually how He was
intending to accomplish it. This is how C.S. Lewis
put it once when he said, heaven, when we finally
fully experience it, it will work backwards. And it will take all the heart
sickness and all the grief and all the despair
we ever felt here and actually cause something
glorious to burst forth. And we'll, in eternity, see
it go, oh my God, you just made up for that. You just restored that. And I think one of my favorite
examples of this happening in a microcosm is when Moses,
after dying, got to come back at the transfiguration
and step foot for the first time in his entire
life inside the Promised Land. And we look at his
whole life, it all pointed to getting
to the Promised Land. He died because of
his sin and didn't get to the Promised Land. And Jesus was like, just chill. I'm going to take you back
with me, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure style. And Jesus did, in fact, bring
Moses into the Promised Land. I'm sure he was
looking around like, I died thinking this would
never going to happen. And whatever you have
in your heart that you feel like it can't happen
because this, it can't happen because of the grave,
let me just tell you, God gets the last word,
and you will watch heaven work backwards, just as
He showed them the wounds and said, you thought
your life was over. You thought your
dreams were over. I was just getting started. Even after the grave,
even after death, I am restoring all
things to myself. Calmed by his wounds. This also is amazing to me
because He's reminding them, as He shows up showing
his wounds to them, that Jesus' focus is always on
what He has done for us and not on what we need to do for Him. He didn't show up
into this classroom and go, hey, what's your
memory verse for the week? Tell me it to me. He didn't show up in
this room and go, hey, you keeping any of the
Ten Commandments lately? I'm looking at you Peter, right? Liar. He didn't come into
this room and say, what are the beatitudes from
the Sermon on the Mount in what order, right? He came in his room and goes,
look what I did for you. He's saying that heaven and
relationship with God walking in the middle of
the storm with peace is not about what you do for me. He's saying, it's about
what I have done for you. Take confidence. And what Jesus has
done for them always comes before what He
calls them to do for Him. And then, number four, we're
getting close to the end here, they were calmed by his mission. So after they were anchored
by presence and peace and anchored by
his payment He made for them on the cross with these
wounds in his side, his hands, his feet, He then
gave them a mission. And they, were
calmed by that, too. The mission, of course,
was as the Father sent me, so I also send you. And the word send is
a diplomatic phrase. It's send, but not
just send an errand. It's sent with an
official mission on behalf of the embassy. You see, they now were
a part of a new kingdom. They now were approaching
a brand new way to be human and filled with his
peace, just like you are as a Jesus follower. You are you are on a
diplomatic mission. Your kingdom is
heaven, and you now have sort of diplomatic
immunity even from some of the ways
this world operates. And you get to live
on a higher level. You get to live above the storm. You get to soar on
wings as eagles. And in all that you do, you
are sent into your home. You are sent. Some of you who work for
UPS or work for a hospital, work for a grocery store
or a food delivery, you are sent into the
situation that you are in. You are sent into this. You are not just going to this. You are not at the whim
of this crazy world. You are sent into the situation. Sent, mom and dad,
into your home, sent. I was thinking about how
when we normally gather, we fill up rooms. For us as a church,
we fill up rooms across Montana and in Salt Lake
City and Portland and Jackson Hole. And families come in,
and they check their kids into classrooms, and then
they get greeted by a team. And they come into
rooms like this and sit down with
expectation to hear from God with friends who they've
brought who don't know God, with prayer requests
and with offerings. And we come and we gather,
believing that as we gather, there's peace. As we gather, we're
going to be calmed. As we gather, we're
going to be comforted. But what I saw this
week, because I was studying, that blessed
me so much was He said, as the Father sent me, I
send you, so peace to you. He repeated Himself. Do you see it in verse 21? So He said to them,
again, peace be to you. As the father sent
me, I sent you. If you forgive the sins
of any, they're forgiven. If you retain the sins
of any, they're retained. Which, what does that
mean, you're thinking? It means the same thing
that Romans 10:14 means. How can they know unless we go? How can they hear
unless someone preaches? How can they believe
unless someone points them to look to Jesus? If we don't preach,
if we don't go, if we don't take the diplomatic
mission, the official work on behalf of the
embassy of heaven, how can anybody in the world
ever know if we, his people, don't take the news to them? But what I like is He showed
up as they gathered with peace. But as they were sent out
on mission, he, once again, spoke peace. What does that mean? Yes, I love the gathering. I can't wait till we can
one day gather again. And even in a greater sense,
I can't wait until heaven when we'll all be gathered forever. But until then,
let's not forget, there's not just peace
for the gathering. There's also peace
for the scattering. As we are sent, as we are in
homes, as we're separated, even in quarantine,
don't forget, Jesus didn't have to unlock
the door to get into the room. With your door locked, with
the quarantine firmly in place, there's shelter in the storm. There's peace as you believe
you are on mission, doing what God has called you to
do, being right where you are, right here, right now. They're calmed by the mission. And then lastly,
and we'll end here, they were calmed by his spirit. For Jesus didn't just speak
peace as He sent them, He breathed on them. And I realize, He should
have had a mask on. Too soon? But Jesus, the 11th joined
the 10 that were in this room, He breathed on them. And as He did, He said,
receive the spirit. And the same spirit that is
able to come upon all of us as we receive power to be
sent, as we receive power to see our situations and
circumstances definitely, to see our sicknesses
differently, to see our rapidly depleting
reserve of pork and beans or whatever it is depleting. We're down to three
rolls of toilet paper. It's depleting, right? Whatever you're
dealing with is you believe there's power upon you. It's the same power Jesus
gave them in this room. The same power that
raised Jesus from the dead has been given to His
followers to do all that we've been called to do, as
we're sent out into this world to our homes and
to our situations. Those who know such
things well say that the same word that's
translated from Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, the Hebrew
word, in the Septuagenarian, the Greek translation of
the Old Testament, that's the same exact word for breathed
that's used of Jesus breathing on his disciples. And it's no mistake
that the same word would be used because Genesis
2:7 says that in creation, God formed man of the
dust of the earth and then breathed
into his nostrils, and then man became a
living being, alive because of God's breath. For just as that took place
to see the first Adam, the New Testament tells us,
Jesus is the second Adam. He is the great Adam. He's Adam 2.0. He's Adam new and
improved because where Adam failed in the garden,
Jesus succeeded in the garden. Before going to the
cross, He passed into the Garden of
Gethsemane, and there He fell on the ground, the
same ground, the same dust out of which God brought Adam. And an Adam the second, here
in this garden, did not fail. Adam the second did not falter. And because of what
He accomplished in the second garden,
He was able to send out His spirit for all of us to
not just be alive through, we're all alive at this moment,
but to be alive in Christ and filled with
power and able to do what we can't do on our own. The first Adam, his failure
took place when he and his wife took forbidden
fruit from a tree. But our second Adam, who even
now is breathing on his people, breathing on these moments,
breathing on his word as it goes out across the
internet, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, his
greatest victory came because of what
happened on a tree. As John 19 says, here
they crucified Him and with Him, two
others, one on each side. And notice, Jesus is still in
his rightful spot, right there in the middle. It was because of what Jesus did
in the middle of two criminals who deserved to die, as He
died right there in the center, that our sins were paid for
so we could be forgiven and be right with God. We're right with God because
He hung in the middle, right in the middle. And no matter what
you're feeling or what your emotional
state is like today, I just want to just
speak life over you, speak comfort over you
in the name of Jesus, and ask you to pray with me. If this message is
one you're receiving, you don't have to raise your
hands necessarily, but just open your palms to the heavens. Open your palms up. It's an ancient way
of saying, I'm open. I want to receive. I believe that right now,
Jesus is in your room. Quarantine can't keep Him out. Fear can't keep Him out. Locked doors can't keep Him out. Jesus is there wanting
to breathe on you, wanting to fill you
with power and peace. If you're receiving that
with your palms open, just take a deep breath for me. Father, I pray for a
fresh breath from heaven, a sense of comfort and calm
because of your presence and your power and your
peace and your wounds and your victory and
your love for us. We need to see things that
are the same things we saw last week, the same
things we saw yesterday, but we need to see them
with different vision. Help us to see this,
God, not as a great cross to bear but a great
opportunity for us to be light and shine brightly
in the hope that is ours because of your son. Thank you, God, for what we've
received in your presence today. Now I want to pray for those who
are listening to this message, and you've never trusted
in Jesus for salvation. You're kind of
still on that, I'm trying to do good
things for God. I am trying to be nice. I'm trying to be kind. And that's great, but it's
about what he's done for you. Have you received what He
paid for as He hung there with those wounds? Have you received his
spirit into your heart as a new believer to be
born again because of Jesus? If that's not something
that's happened for you, today's the day. Now's the time. God loves you. He sees you. He's right there where
you are, knocking on the door of your heart. And I believe for many, this
is the moment to be born again. So what I'm going to do is
I'm going to say a prayer. And if you're ready to trust
Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want you to pray
this prayer with me. Maybe you've never heard the
Gospel communicated clearly, you've never really
had that realization, and today's your day,
for the first time, to make that choice. Or perhaps there's some prodigal
sons or daughters out there and you knew this, you grew up
knowing this, but you strayed. And right now, in this moment,
when all the gods of this world are proven to be false idols-- the god of money, the
god of sex, the things that we would
ordinarily live for-- the benefit of this
trial is it's really exposing what is powerful
to build your life on and what's not and how fragile
trusting in anything but Jesus is. And so in this moment,
as we're about to pray this prayer
together, I just want to call on you to
know that if you pray this prayer, no
matter what's behind you, God will save you and come into
your life and make you new. Say this with me. Dear God, I know I am a
sinner, and I can't fix myself. But I believe you can. Please come into my
heart and make me new. I give myself to you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
