Stand Together (The Two Witnesses of Revelation) - Shane Willard

[Music] excellent well it's fine I'll seize him once we found us seats like stand to our feet people let's stand shall we [Music] it is my awesome privilege tonight to introduce pastor Shane will add pasta Shane Ramon is an exceptional thinker he's an exceptional communicator is a conceptional teacher but beyond all that what impresses me about how Shane will add is that he is an exceptional human being and so let's put our heads together that's the heart of the man of God as it frees the word alright alright you can be seated it's so good to be here with you a couple things before we go if you're the type likes following an actual Bible we're gonna look at revelation 10 and 11 if not we're gonna have some slides prepared for you obviously to follow along with us it's it's always an honor to be here I had such a good time with the interns this afternoon do we have a good time guys come on come on that's my some of my favorite things to do just unleash me into the room of a circular thing with with young people who are hungry for the things of God although that's that that was great that was great and so I'd like to take a second invite everybody back to um for Monday night and Tuesday night I have brand-new stuff I promise you it'll bless you it'll change the way you look at God and and and we in in if you're if you're new to the way we do things here at New Hope on the midweek nights we really honor your time the service starts at 7:00 and you will be done at 8:00 and so which is you know let's be honest that's you can get home before my kitchen rules comes on right and so you know you're not gonna miss much so come on out and be a part of of what we're doing so on the way out today my my resources are out there I'm a hundred percent of what we make from that we give to the poor and the afflicted we have a three orphanages in China that look after children and mental disabilities and so that's where that's where we do that obviously we have the goal of getting them adopted out into proper homes and right now there's a particular challenge in China so and so we want to be a part we don't want to sit on our butt waiting to go to heaven when we die we want to be a part of bringing heaven to every place we see how here is so that that that's how that's how we do that so um oh one other thing um we're recording these things these are the first time I've ever done these messages and so I decided in November to take on the book of Revelation and and so what you're gonna hear tonight is is my effort to read it in a certain way and hopefully we make Jesus bigger the cross better the resurrection central and scriptures get bigger not smaller and we apply it in the now and so um and so because we're recording that the reason that's important is if you're here tonight with a baby and I don't I don't see any that's okay if you're here tonight with a baby the one thing you cannot edit out a recording is a baby scream alright so let me define that I'm not talking about little noise or normal baby yum-yum-yum yeah I'm not that I'm talking about yelling screaming crying throw-in a fit things like this if that happens let me be clear I'm not upset at you I'm not upset at the baby the baby's just being a baby right but this is not the time to let them cry it out alright so if you would if you would use the the parents facility until the babies calmer and they come on back in that'll help us with the recording fair enough right now when we record sorry that means you're supposed to laugh laugh when you're supposed to laugh cry when you're supposed to cry it makes it all better alright so so let me let's let's let's bring herself before the Lord and um and get into this alright so I get to open the Bible tonight I love doing that I actually um I take it very seriously anytime you open the scripture you want to ask at least two questions one what happened and two and more importantly what's happening in me right now because of what happened so I want to look at a particular passage in Revelation that um is quite frankly it's tough and the reason is is because revelation the book of Revelation tends to mirror our life it's it's a it's an allegory its symbolism it's apocalyptic in nature there's a lot of weird sort of symbols and if you caught up in the minutiae of it you can miss the beauty but basically what happens in Revelation is it starts out with an invitation to repent and believe a better narrative than the one presented by Empire Empire is is oppressing people that the kingdom of this Christ is willing to lift the lowly to the level of the elite cancel all social class systems no male nor female Jew nor Greek slave nor free we have a better story to tell and it invites us to repent and believe that story and then of course people accept that or not and in the ones that accept it are called to endure tribulation when it comes because when you are opposing Empire something's going to come against you and a lot of the book of Revelation is is the is the opposition to the people who say yes to the better story and then of course there's these calls to worship where we reaffirm that story regardless of the tribulation and ultimately at the end God gets everything he wants enemy is defeated there's a new heaven a new earth and finally the tabernacle of God is with man and we're invited to eat at a giant table right now tonight's passage though is at the middle of it which is where the book starts to climax it's where the book starts to come together and it's it's actually a part of our story that I think we're gonna find ourself in and in most of our lives when everybody's life at some point you're gonna experience a bit of pain a bit of suffering that that great faith is not having enough faith to push through every single thing great faith is not having enough faith to get out of the suffering rather great faith is a profound trust in the middle of it and this is what we're gonna find in this passage this is Revelation chapter 10 then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head and his face was like that of the Sun and his legs were like pillars of fire and he had a little scroll in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and called out with a loud voice like a lion roaring when he called out the seven thunders sounded and when the seven thunders had sounded I was about to write but I heard a voice and heaven saying seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write that down and the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives for ever and ever who created heaven and what is in it and the earth and what is in it in the sea and what is in it and there will be no longer any delay but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel the mystery of God would be fulfilled just as he announced his servants the prophets then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again saying go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea in the land so the angel went and told him and he give me the little scroll and he said to me take it and eat it this is a reference to Ezekiel three we're gonna get to that in a second take it and eat it it will make your stomach bitter but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey and I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it it was sweet as honey in my mouth but when I eaten it my stomach was made bitter and I was told you must again prophesy about how many peoples and nations and languages and kings this is Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 2 to 3 this is what this story is alluding to so open my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat and he said to me son of man feed your belly with the scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it then I ate it and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey so a couple of observations about what happened and what's going on in this story and hopefully we could find ourself in it so the angel is evidently holding a message for the whole world his feet were on land and sea the messenger eats the message and is willing to bear the consequences so let's stop and let's think about that for a second when as people of God we are called primarily to remain teachable and disciples journeying every day with the infinite possibilities of what it is to be a Jesus kind of person for the sake of the world that's what we're called to me if the church is nothing else it's a group of people who choose to discipline themselves to come together and together they say yes to everything Jesus has for our life now sometimes that requires us to eat and hold a message sometimes it requires us to know when to share it when not to share it sometimes what is sweet on our mouth calls us quite a lot of pain for that for the opposition we face sometimes as Jesus people we are called to own a message regardless of the consequences of it see God is inviting us to participate in his story sometimes sweet sometimes bitter but always together sometimes sweet sometimes bitter but always always together the story is how our soul is formed the story comes into a place that is not spiritually neutral here's what happens in this story and it's my story and it's your story and it's this story it just seems to be true that that what happens is is God's way of looking at the world Jesus is way of looking at the world and as Jesus people as people who are followers of Christ if nothing else we should be journeying to read so ourselves with this is my way of looking at the world similar or at least journeying towards the way Jesus looked at the world see Jesus isn't something to be believed in or someone to be believed in as if Jesus can be relegated to a bullet point on a pamphlet that's boring and Jesus is nothing like that at all Jesus is not something to be believed in Jesus is more profound than that Jesus should be a fundamental way of seeing our entire world right it should be beyond belief and more to knowing right the cross and resurrection is not something to believe in the cross and resurrection is more profound than that the cross the resurrection is a fundamental way of seeing the whole world that the fullness of God incarnate is nothing like Caesar rather a God that chooses not to be God and suffer with Humanity in order to overcome death and bring new life new creation and resurrection as a part of his sacrifice this is what we're talking about here but that story does not come in the neutral space it's not like that story happens in a vacuum what you find in the book of Revelation you find throughout the whole scripture and you find if it's if we're just honest if we never knew about a Bible we could give this testimony about our own life that when we said yes to Jesus it changes everything but that yes does not happen in neutral space there is often some sort of opposition some sort of suffering some sort of something standing against it this can leave us to taste the bitterness in our belly and not just the sweetness in our mouth this can leave us to taste the bitterness as a part of the story justice by way of observation next slide but most most of the initial carriers of the message of God on the message and then either died or were tortured for what they were caring like this is the problem with the idea that great faith if you just had enough faith you would be going through that hey if you just had enough faith your kid wouldn't be sick if you just had enough faith they hate that adult child that's being rebellious they wouldn't be if if you just had if you know what if you prayed a little harder worshipped a little louder that child would not be going through that hey if you just had enough faith you could save your marriage if you just had enough faith that marriage would not be some sort of rocky patch hey if you just had enough fake you wouldn't lost your job if you just if you just had enough faith you wouldn't go through the suffering and there there is a word for that there's a theology around that and it's ancient it's not new it's actually found in Latin it's called bull amis crap of us okay and if and if you want to know what that if you want to translation for that CT I don't know exactly the English I just know that in his Bulova scrap of us because because here's the thing great faith is not found in avoiding the pain it's not found in avoiding the conflict it's found in a profound trust in the middle of it you can't make a case that Paul lacked faith that he died because he was carrying something that he would not vanquish he was carrying the idea that Jesus is Lord and the only way to save his life was to say Caesars Lord and he wasn't going to do that because in Rome you had to declare Caesar is Lord or you died remember there was this letter pretty important letter he wrote called Romans remember that one right and memory says if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord you will be saved and then later he says no one can say Jesus is Lord unless the Holy Spirit compels them why because he wrote that to where Rome what was in Rome Caesar if you said Jesus is Lord in Rome you died we somehow dumb that down into some magic ritual we do what are you talking this was more profound than that this was people so compelled but the narrative of the risen Christ was worth proclaiming with their mouth that they were willing to risk their life and no one can do that lest the Holy Spirit compels them right this is what we're talking about you can't make a case Jesus lacked faith Jesus died he suffered he didn't avoid the suffering he entered into it Paul didn't avoid the suffering he engaged it God does not avoid the chaos he engages it to bring creation he doesn't avoid the disorder he engages it to bring order God does not mind your mess as long as you and your mess up to him if God is anything God is not that which avoids the mess God is that which gets into the middle of the mess and reorders it into new life fresh starts second chances Mulligan's clean slates and the opportunity to write a better story and this is what we're talking about see the message of Christ is sweet but it enters into contested space this fact requires together 'no stew over come the contested space not one person in here was meant to face whatever that contested space is alone this is what the church is for it's about it's it's the theme i'm seeing on the screen i come once a year I walk in I knew I had prepared these things before I got here I look up on the screen and there it is come together you guys are even playing it come together huh right right you you guys even do that cool right it's white because because the faith journey is not an obstacle free journey rather it's a group of people that because of our togetherness we're able to face whatever the contested spaces bring with her head up our shoulders back our hands clean our heart pure and our taste sweet this is what faith is see they the holders of the message of God carry it on the inside in this story it's symbolically about eating a scroll obviously a metaphor he it's symbolically uh hey eat the message of God in Ezekiel hey take this and eat it it'll be sweet to your mouth and a make your bet this has so many allusions to communion it's not even funny it were in communion is about taking a moment and not creating a new truth the best religious rituals do not see people overreact they go all religions bad I'm not religious I'm just a Jesus person well religion is not bad as long as religion is doing what it was intended to do religion is not ever intended to inaugurate new realities that's called idolatry religion in its best form or rituals that remind us of what's already true and invite us to participate in it communion is a great example that where we are to remember communion doesn't inaugurate a new truth rather it draws to our attention what God had already done this is what it's about and communion if I can give you a fret with maybe one fresh way to think about communion so the next time you take it you'll think about this see we tend to think about God it's big God is big like God so big he's unbelievably big he's holding the whole universe together like think about the songs we sing and when you speak a hundred billion organisms catch their breath and evolve in pursuit of what you said or or you know or you know argue eat and some of the older school song say our God is bigger our God is stronger our God is higher then there's a lot of the bigness of God and I say yes amen absolutely God is beyond comprehension God is infinitely big but he is also infinitely small the same God holding the universe together is also the force holding the molecules of your skin together so that you don't turn to dust like Thanos right it's bat it's it's it's the end and we sing songs about that - you are closer closer than my skin you are in the air I'm breathing in so profound about the Lord's Prayer that hey when you pray say this my father who's in the air that I breathe I stop and become aware of you see in one sense God is infinitely big in another sense God is infinitely small holding the molecules the atoms and the subatomic particles together that keep us all together Paul insisted that the spirit of the risen Christ is filling everything in every way and in him all things were made and all things hold together yes even them in one sense God is infinitely big but in another sense God is small enough to hold that wafer together that God the God that holds the universe together is also personal enough to care about my personal nourishment it so the next time you take communion I want you to remember I want you to remember that God is not only infinitely big God is small enough to hold all things together including that piece of bread he cares about your nourishment and if communion should do anything if communion is about anything it's about taking the body and the blood of Jesus and remembering what he did and here's the thing that sets communion apart whether you're rich whether you're poor one body whether you're whether you're white whether you're black one body whether you're male whether you're female one body whether you're Jew whether your Gentile one body this is why Paul said some of you are taking this in an unworthy manner in the context was is that they had maintained the Roman Empire social class system and they were making the poor go last and they're like that Paul's like have you missed the point entirely so that when we take communion together may it not just be a ritual or a tick on the box or a bullet point on a pamphlet may it be more profound may we remember what Christ did for the whole world and an exalt and affirm that we are all held together by the same God and in that we could never purposely harm somebody without knowing we're gonna harm ourselves because we're coming against the thing holding the whole thing together this I say this way Mary held Messiah inside she held the mystery though in her heart remember she was told she was pregnant and it says and she held these things in her heart why cuz sometimes the world isn't ready to hear what you know to be true that we have to see where they are before her before we just it does even if we're right we'll be very ineffective see society doesn't welcome the lordship of Christ and quite frankly neither do we none of us find the way Jesus saw the world to be our default position why cuz we live in contested space that as disciples and over the course of time the way of Jesus becomes more and more and more and more and more natural the way the Bible says it is the word can become flesh that the way Jesus saw the world can actually flesh itself out in our life see good news is sweet but it can have some bitter consequences here's what happens this is the next chapter then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and I was told rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there but but do not measure the court outside the temple leave that out it is given over to the nations and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months and I will grant authority over my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth one quick observation about this next slide at this point in history the temple had destroyed so John is not referring to a building he's referring to God's people he saying hey measure this see how this measures up see how we're doing but the outer court was the contested space that the narrative of the nation's competing against the narrative of the risen Christ in the question the book of Revelation asked over and over and over and over and over again is which narrative will you align your life with which narrative will you ascribe Worth to the word is worship worship is not necessarily singing singing can be a part of worship but worship is where we decide to put our awareness on who we're going to give worth to faith is not a list of what words faith is a who do you trust word do we actually trust that Jesus's way of seeing the world brings life not death light not dark now here's the this is the very next verse these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in this and stand before the Lord of the earth and if anyone would harm them fire pours out of their mouth and consumes their foes if anyone would harm them this is how he is doomed to be killed they have the power to shut the sky that no rain should fall in the days of their prophesy and they have the power over waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague once again another reference to Egypt this is the pattern of the book of Revelation as often as they desire now these are obvious nextslide obvious references to guys like Elijah Moses Ezekiel Jesus these are ramez's their allusions back the symbols connect the dots of what God has always been up to this is not about the inauguration of a new reality rather a celebration of what God has always been up to sending people willing to suffer and die for the sake of moving the world to a better narrative that the Beast and the story overpowers them and kills them just like the enemy killed Jesus this is what it says and when they finished their testimony the Beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt so there's all this symbolism he's referring back to Sodom he's referring back to Egypt he's referring back to Babylon a lot where the Lord was crucified for three and a half days some of the people and the tribes and languages and nations will gaze at the dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice with them and make merry and exchange presents because the two prophets had been a torment to those who were on the earth there are people celebrating the fact that these two guys have died you know what is going on here number one let's say this way the pattern we see in history in this book is that violence does not produce what you would like it to even if you're right about it that judgment does not produce the desired result violence and judgment promise what they cannot deliver even if the violence and the judgment are justified it just doesn't it's not effective let's say this way some view these two witnesses as literal people and some view these two witnesses as archetypal symbols of servants willing to die for the people there's lots of references to Egypt Sodom Moses Elijah and obviously that the parallels with Jesus are obvious someone who comes for three years and prophesies and gets overwhelmed by the forces of darkness and killed only to later in the story rise again and draw people into a new creation this is obvious allusions to Jesus however we read it the result is that they're preaching their humility and their service works when they rise from the dead it works and the people repent they turn around now what do we do with this that's my best effort at explaining what happened my question is what do we do with what was going on in ourselves with what happened let's say this way next slide are we imitating the loving sacrifice of the Lamb the self-emptying God revealed by Christ on the cross if the fullness of God incarnate was revealed in Christ Jesus in other words the ultimate picture of what God is is found in Jesus then the ultimate picture of God is a God who chose to empty himself of his deity and suffer and die and join humanity with the struggle to fix the narrative and bring about a better world and that is worth being a part of let's take this way are we living with the conviction that God's kindness brings people to repentance that we're desiring or are we still relying on judgment shaming guilt fear what we find is that the true permanent life change we're looking for is a true revelation of the kindness of God that brings people to repentance but let's say this way next slide life is often not revelation 20 where God finally gets what he's arriving at all along our our lives right now wrestling with revelation 11 where God's servants died what what you find in this story is that this story mirrors our story then at the end of the day God gets what he wants and he accomplishes his plan and along the way there's some bumps and there's some suffering and there's some obstacles and our life goes and if you're going through that season in life it's not because your faith is weak it's because that's the nature of life what what are you caring that your soul that is sold disrupting what are you carrying there so let's say this way next slide can we learn to grieve well grieving well is a part of our journey Christ dies cancer happens children rebel needless Wars happen and people doing nothing but serving God or suffering here's the main question when it comes to suffering and obstacles and grief and that is this do we believe that God will save us from our suffering or can our faith be something more profound than that and we believe that God will be present with us in it there's a fundamental difference between saying I will have enough faith that God will get me out of this and or I will have such a profound trust just to know and be okay that God is present with me and it Paul said it this way for me to live is Christ to die that'll be gained in other words whatever happens to me here I know that God is present when you see it in the Old Testament as well we believe our God will save us but even if he doesn't he's still God he will be with us in the fire so how do we which leads to this question how do we grieve in a healthy way I think the Jewish culture offers the rest of the world a lot of different things that are helpful but these two things primarily the way they think about money and stuff and assets and charity and Jen rusty I think it's profound I think the other thing that's profound is how they do grief and how they handle the obstacles and how they define faith around that healthy grief and Jewish culture is defined with two things one to tear your clothes and because we're Western world I'm gonna put the words symbolically up there right this is not necessarily literal to tear your clothes the word the Hebrew word for that is cry yeah I know that sounds a lot like cry out and it should cry yah was when you tear your clothes the idea is is to remove the outer shell and let someone see the real inside to remove that let's say this way for an Instagram generation to remove the filter from the photo to go sans makeup but that actually stuffing it down doesn't work the way to handle grief in the most healthy way is to cry ah to tear our clothes the second way is to cry out to not do don't be fake to be honest about the thing that is affecting you to journal about it to sit with your small group and go hey this is what's going on I'm gonna tear my clothes symbolically I'm gonna remove the shell and allow you to get in there I'm gonna be teachable along the way because I believe that God is present with me here and if that means God is present in you then that's the way see grief in Jewish culture goes through four stages one death two burial so someone dies there's a death two burial stage where the griever is given two things as a gift privacy and pain we allow them to feel the pain with no expectation on them they're giving privacy and pain but then there's burial two sitting Shiva sitting Shiva just literally means to sit for seven days this is what they would do they would sit with the grieving person for seven days we would tear our clothes and we would take ashes and put it on our face the reason is is have you ever seen someone in deep grief weeping there are involuntary muscular structures in your face that you cannot duplicate that what a real cry will do a real cry is hard to duplicate with the face muscles and so what they knew was is that if people aren't free to cry out and weep they're grieving won't be complete so what they do is to remove the embarrassment of how ugly you can be when were truly grieving your friends when they sat with you their goal was to become the ugliest person in the room so that if anybody came in they would look at them and free you to cry to free you to grieve this was brilliant stuff and here's the great thing about sitting Shiva in sitting Shiva I was not allowed to speak to the griever unless the griever spoke to me how brilliant is that it removes the pressure of me having to have answers and it removes the pressure from them from having to entertain we give them the gift of our presence because nothing's worse than when somebody's in great grief then some know-it-all trying to give some pithy answer to a complex grief it's just the Jews do away with that they say no we sit Shiva it's sitting Shiva not allowed to speak you just give them the gift of your presence the third thing is from burial to one month and baritone one month you're giving grace that this is where this is where you're invited to parties you're invited to things with no expectation of coming and then and then from burial to one year you're given the gift of a voice the grieving person is assigned a minyan a minyan is a small group of 10 people the grieving person is is assigned a minion and the minions job is to pray the prayers for the grieving person because they can't find words for what they're going through it was essentially this as your small group we know that you're in too much pain to pray so what we're gonna do is we're gonna pray your prayers for you we're gonna come up with the words for you we're gonna stand in the gap for you it is a profound way to do life together in community because here's what happens in the Western world we find so much pressure and having to solve the problem that sometimes we absolve ourselves from the responsibility of just being present in it it would sound like this hey that medical test that medical test you're waiting on the results for I'm not a doctor I can do nothing I can do nothing to solve that problem but I promise you will not be alone in it I will be with you with it the whole way that situation with your adult child and their driving you nuts you know what I can't do anything about that and quite quite frankly neither can you you can't control 30 year old children can't do it right and it's taken whatever journey to realize that you can't do it I can't do anything to solve it and I can see it's causing you pain I can't do one thing to solve it but I can give you the gift of my presence you will not be alone in it and if you run out of words to say I'll pray your prayers for you I'm gonna stand there with you why are small groups so important because without them you enter into the contested space alone and what small groups do is you have people who come together and they say you know what I have an excess I had a great week I had I have an excess of hope you look like you're running a little low on hope dude would you like to borrow some of my hope see this is what community is all about this is where we pay attention to other people and we give them the gift of our presence without the pressure of having to solve it see in this story God's plan dies and then resurrects in the gospel Christ dies and then resurrects but for every resurrection you can't have a resurrection if there's not a death that that part of what makes the resurrection so special is that the cross happened part of what makes the revival in this story special is that these two guys died and here's the thing in our life we will have seasons of the Cross but the thing about Christ way of seeing the world the thing that's not allowed is despair despair is the conviction that my tomorrow is simply a repeat of yesterday that is not allowed in resurrection because resurrection screams aloud that you never know where God might engage your tomorrow that fundamentally changes everything you never know where new creation can burst forth right in the middle of this one you never know where you're gonna get a fresh start a second chance a mulligan a clean slate and the opportunity to write a better story this is what the journey with Christ is all all about and I think God lives this out next slide but remember when Christ dies the Gospels all agree on this that the first thing that happened was the veil tore oh hang on what was behind the veil the Holy of Holies so the veil was the thing covering God actually throughout the Old Testament God says when you're in great grief tear your clothes in the New Testament what you find is when God the Father was in great grief he tore his clothes and opened himself up to the whole world God was living what he commanded us to do not as a doctrine but is a fundamental way of seeing the world God's like if you want to know what grief and openness and authenticity and in community if you want to know what that does I'm going to remove the veil and let myself be known to the whole wide world watch what will happen here next slide see grief and grace made the way for the whole world to experience God so a couple of questions I want us to wrestle with because great messages are not meant to be agreed with nor disagreed with they're meant to be wrestled with so a couple of questions one do we believe we're alone and and here's the problem with a great church like this not a good church a great church the problem with a great church like this with all that energy and people getting on the floor and jump in and and and there was one guy that missed his cue and he was the only one standing everybody else was there remember that yeah there's a there's a way that the energy and the atmosphere you could come into a place like this and have an authentic meaningful encounter with God you can listen to a pretty good preach and go you know what I found myself in that story and it be authentic and meaningful but you can leave not dealing with the idea that you still feel alone and here's the truth this is why small groups are important this is why community is important this is why after parties are important because if New Hope doesn't carry any message it's that we are teachable people who are journeying to be disciples of Jesus Christ by growing into what he has called us to be and we do that together if you don't have the words to pray we're gonna pray it with you if you don't have the words to journal we're gonna help you Journal we're gonna help you along the way because if nothing else you are not alone number two who can you invite to carry the grief and grace with you maybe and this is the gap sometimes people overreact to stuff like this and then they just put all of it on Facebook that's dumb what are you doing but if you don't have two or three people that'll carry it with you you're missing a beautiful part of what it means to see the world how Jesus saw it number three where should we tear our clothes symbolically and cry out where do we need to engage in some cry ah and quit pretending maybe we could ask it one last way can we engage the full story of the cross see the cross is a story of great victory for us but in that moment it was a moment of great pain and suffering the fullness of God incarnate had come to save the world and the enemy killed him that is a death that is a defeat you can't frame that another way and at the cross is this profound doubt the central cry of the Cross is not I still have enough faith you to get me out of this no it's my God my God why have you forsaken me if you ever have felt like God has left you that just means you're identifying with the Christ on the cross seek to identify with the Christ on the cross means you have to accept both sides the side that brings resurrection but also that moment where sometimes we do feel like God has forsaken us and the answer in that moment partly is God's people God's people are meant to come together and remind us no no no no no God has it forsaken you because I'm still here if I'm still here God's still here right if I left you yet God surely hatton right because even the Christ on the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me see great faith is not the absence of doubt and questions great faith is the presence of profound trust even when it looks like it's all over see Jesus overcomes death how do you overcome death you don't run from death you engage it and you beat it by resurrecting because now there's new creation bursting forth right in the middle of this one fresh starts second chances do-overs clean slates Mulligan's and the opportunity to write a better story I bless you my brothers and sisters if you're going through times of great pain I bless you to know that you're still people of faith keep your head up your shoulders back your hands clean your heart Fuhrer your taste sweet because the Christian worldview is that resurrection is right around the corner you never know where new creation is fixin to birth forth in that situation so I want to pray for us and not in - let me say a prayer for you I mean I want us to join together in full awareness of God and let's share our hope with our brothers and sisters on our right and on our left in front and behind so Lord let this place be a dwelling place for your name the compassionate gracious slow to anger abounding in love God and what would we feel like now Lord if we could know you were with us and for our brothers and sisters in this room may there be a profound oneness and we speak joy and peace and grace in the middle of their obstacle Lord let them have part of our hope - the one on my right - the one on my left - the room in the after parties in the small groups in the discipleship journaling together may we be reminded one God one body one Christ one Savior one humanity may we live this as a fundamental way of seeing the world teach us to grieve well amen thank you so much really be a part of of your life and being so kind to me thank you so much hope Jesus got bigger the Cross worked better the resurrection central hope scriptures got bigger not smaller I can't wait to journey with you for the rest of the week the good thing is is that at this point in the story Revelation takes a really nice turn alright so we'll see you guys Monday night grace apiece everybody can we thank pastor Shane come on let's really give it up for him for this evening [Music] and now would you stand with me right now I just love that message about about how much God wants to become part of our story I really feel like you know looking across a room this big there are so many people that are on a journey that and everyone's journey looks completely different and I don't know what journey you're on at the moment but if we could take a moment right now to consider that consider where we feel like we're at in life consider this story that you've been writing and and and where you feel like that's at maybe like pasta Shan said it just feels like a mess maybe you feel like you're alone maybe you feel like you've stuffed up so much that you're so far away from God we're all somewhere along in this journey and some of us here just trying to hold it together one one like one day at a time but I love I love the message of Jesus I love that that he just removed everything that would ever stop us from coming to God he took everything away that would ever stop us from having him any an encounter and a relationship with him and so tonight I want to give an opportunity to you to bring Jesus into your story and maybe you've never had Jesus as a part of your story maybe you've walked with God before and then walked away and you want to bring Jesus back in tonight this is your opportunity because there is nothing holding you back this is a moment for you to respond and bring Jesus right back into the center once again so can I get everyone to just close their eyes and again I just want us to take a moment to consider our journey and where we're at so could you do that right now consider where you're at and ask the question do I want to bring Jesus into my story right now tonight that's the opportunity that you have right now and if so I want to pray with you I just believe and know that God's going to do something amazing in your heart tonight and if that's you can you just lift your hand right now because up because I want to pray and believe with you for what God has for your life if you want to begin to write Jesus into your story from today onwards just lift your hand right now as I look across and everyone keep your eyes closed just for the sake of privacy this is between you and God yep thank you anyone else this is your moment thank you thank you you want to write Jesus into your story right now you want to bring him back in so that he can bring all things back together awesome thank you anyone else here this evening okay great I'm just gonna pray lord thank you for these people that have made that decision right now to bring you back into the center whether for the first time or maybe once again and I just pray Lord that all of us walking out of here would walk our journeys with you that you would be in the center Lord that you would be bringing all things together God that we would walk out knowing that we are not alone but you enter into our story no matter how imperfect it looks in Jesus name Amen and hey if you made that response if you put your hand up or maybe you didn't put your hand up but you just know that's what you wanted to do this evening then we're gonna pray this prayer that's on the screen out loud and as a church family and I just believe that as you pray it if you pray with authenticity then Jesus is going to become part of your story this evening so let's pray together dear Jesus I believe in you thank you for forgiving me come into my life and I will follow you amen amen come on can we give a hand a round of applause for people who just made that decision and that's because we're we're we're always so excited for anyone who takes steps towards God and so we want to do as much as we can to help you along that in that journey and quite possibly the best thing that we can do is to get you your own copy of the Bible and so if you're a paper person we would love to give you a Bible for free so see us after the service anyone with a volunteer t-shirt or go ahead over to the connections team there's an orange sorry I must have banner there that you can see and grab a Bible from them we would love to answer any questions that you have but hey if you came with someone why don't you talk to them about where you're at with your journey find someone to talk to you and discuss where you're at and I just can't wait to see what God's gonna begin to do in your life amen

Channel: New Hope Church

Views: 5,065

Rating: 4.8356166 out of 5

Keywords: new hope, church, toowoomba

Id: gS_BOLnJAWU

Length: 46min 2sec (2762 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 16 2020