WEBVTT 00:00:00.781 --> 00:00:01.502 Amen, amen. 00:00:01.502 --> 00:00:15.048 We are gonna be in John 11 today and, if you're new, we're in this series right now about emotions, called Stability, how to Emotionally Thrive in an Emotionally Unhealthy World. 00:00:15.048 --> 00:00:20.690 And you might be thinking, pastor Nate, why are we talking about emotions? 00:00:20.690 --> 00:00:25.568 The reason why we said we're talking about them is, first of all, we all have emotions. 00:00:25.568 --> 00:00:28.669 Right, If you have emotions in this room, raise up your hand. 00:00:28.669 --> 00:00:30.033 Okay, that's great. 00:00:30.033 --> 00:00:32.222 There's no AI creatures in the room. 00:00:32.222 --> 00:00:34.005 Okay, we all have emotions. 00:00:34.265 --> 00:00:36.069 Two, god talks about them. 00:00:36.069 --> 00:00:46.151 And three, most of us have no idea how to handle them and our world is not emotionally healthy at all. 00:00:46.151 --> 00:00:58.183 I mean, turn on the news for like five minutes and see what's happening in our world, or scroll through your social media feed for like five or ten minutes. 00:00:58.183 --> 00:01:09.221 It's like what is happening and we have said there's a better way, and the way is to be spiritually, emotionally healthy. 00:01:09.221 --> 00:01:23.811 Now, what we've done is we've described emotional maturity this way Emotional maturity is the ability to feel what you feel without judging yourself, but not allowing those emotions to control you. 00:01:23.811 --> 00:01:35.156 Now here's something that you know and I know Emotions are pretty powerful, aren't they? 00:01:35.156 --> 00:01:41.545 I mean, for example, take a sports fan. 00:01:41.545 --> 00:01:46.790 That, in theory is a pretty stable human being. 00:01:46.790 --> 00:01:59.545 Put them in a living room in front of a TV watching a football game that happens to be their favorite football team in the Super Bowl. 00:01:59.545 --> 00:02:04.271 Losing the Super Bowl again. 00:02:04.271 --> 00:02:12.043 I don't know if I'm sorry, this is my personal trauma. 00:02:12.043 --> 00:02:13.183 Um, thank you for receiving this. 00:02:13.183 --> 00:02:24.688 You see them lose again and it's amazing what emotions will just do to an otherwise semi-sane human being. 00:02:24.688 --> 00:02:26.532 They're powerful, right? 00:02:26.532 --> 00:02:27.794 Emotions are powerful. 00:02:27.794 --> 00:02:29.823 Go San Francisco 49ers. 00:02:29.823 --> 00:02:30.302 Come on. 00:02:30.302 --> 00:02:33.508 Yeah, come on, let's go. 00:02:34.187 --> 00:02:47.865 And while emotions are powerful and we know they can mislead us at times, we also know that emotions can be or maybe you don't know they can be powerful forces for good. 00:02:47.865 --> 00:02:53.641 So, for example, last year I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time. 00:02:53.641 --> 00:02:54.945 Who's ever been to the Grand Canyon? 00:02:54.945 --> 00:02:55.426 You guys ever been? 00:02:55.426 --> 00:02:57.500 Oh, a lot of y'all been there. 00:02:57.500 --> 00:02:58.962 So you guys know you go there. 00:02:58.962 --> 00:03:02.788 It was my first time going there and I was just like jaw dropped. 00:03:02.788 --> 00:03:07.254 I'm like is this even real? 00:03:07.254 --> 00:03:11.469 It was just so vast, it was huge. 00:03:11.469 --> 00:03:13.227 I'm like this is amazing. 00:03:13.227 --> 00:03:14.022 And what happened? 00:03:14.022 --> 00:03:16.842 Is it produced in me when I saw this? 00:03:16.842 --> 00:03:31.305 It produced this emotion in me of awe which led me to have worship come out of my heart of the greatness and majesty and the just, sheer amazingness of God. 00:03:31.305 --> 00:03:36.093 And what produced that was an emotion. 00:03:36.093 --> 00:03:50.346 An emotion produced that, and emotions are powerful because emotions allow us to connect with God and with other people in ways that nothing else can. 00:03:52.129 --> 00:04:02.929 We are made in the image of God, so because you're made in the image of God and I'm made in the image of God, we were made as relational beings, so we were made for community. 00:04:02.929 --> 00:04:11.164 Now, not only does God tell us this and scripture tells this, but also science tells us that we need people. 00:04:11.164 --> 00:04:20.245 In fact, loneliness, statistically, is as bad for you as smoking an entire pack of cigarettes every day. 00:04:20.245 --> 00:04:28.980 It is insane, the effects of loneliness day. 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:30.365 It is insane, the effects of loneliness on people. 00:04:30.365 --> 00:04:32.911 What emotions allow us to do is they allow us to connect with people in deeper ways. 00:04:32.932 --> 00:04:39.591 And what we want to do this morning is we want to go to John 11 and look at a setting in Scripture that shows this. 00:04:39.591 --> 00:04:44.120 The setting was not a pretty setting. 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:49.339 The setting was not a pretty setting. 00:04:49.339 --> 00:05:00.738 It was a death, a brief illness, an unexpected illness, a death that nobody saw coming. 00:05:00.738 --> 00:05:15.245 And Jesus walks on the scene and, as you can imagine and understandably, there are people that are crying and hurting and all over the place, and they're distraught and Jesus walks onto the scene and I want you guys to see what Jesus does. 00:05:16.226 --> 00:05:18.992 In John, chapter 11, verse number 20, we're going to pick it up. 00:05:18.992 --> 00:05:21.463 If you're ready for the word, would you say amen? 00:05:21.463 --> 00:05:34.108 It says as soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 00:05:34.108 --> 00:05:39.581 We have two sisters, mary, martha. 00:05:39.581 --> 00:05:48.595 Martha said to Jesus Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 00:05:48.595 --> 00:05:59.125 If you've experienced the death of a loved one, you know the feelings that Martha was, feeling that her brother had just passed away. 00:05:59.125 --> 00:06:12.502 She's hurting and she goes to Jesus not in a way where she's rebuking Jesus or angry at Jesus, but just from a place of hurting, saying Lord, you were here Could have healed him. 00:06:12.502 --> 00:06:22.384 Yet verse 22, even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, god, the Father, god will give you. 00:06:22.384 --> 00:06:32.129 So that's her tone, her heart is you weren't here, but I know that whatever you ask the father, he can give it to you, he will give it to you. 00:06:32.129 --> 00:06:33.312 And she tells him. 00:06:33.312 --> 00:06:38.827 Jesus tells her in verse 23, your brother will rise again. 00:06:38.827 --> 00:06:43.254 Your brother will rise again. 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:54.088 Martha didn't fully understand what Jesus was talking about, because Martha said this Martha said I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 00:06:54.088 --> 00:07:05.069 Now, what Martha's referring to is a time that scripture teaches when all who are believers in Christ, who put their faith and trust in Jesus, are followers of him, all those who have died. 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:09.105 When Jesus comes back, what's gonna happen is they are going to be resurrected. 00:07:09.105 --> 00:07:10.730 They're gonna be resurrected. 00:07:10.730 --> 00:07:12.507 That's what Martha's referring to. 00:07:12.507 --> 00:07:14.487 Martha says I know that's gonna happen. 00:07:14.487 --> 00:07:20.089 Jesus says to her he says I am the resurrection and the life. 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:22.466 The one who what's that next word? 00:07:22.466 --> 00:07:24.362 The one who believes. 00:07:24.362 --> 00:07:27.906 That word just means trusts. 00:07:27.906 --> 00:07:31.651 So a lot of times, when we think of belief, we think of intellectual. 00:07:31.651 --> 00:07:34.154 This word is a heart trust. 00:07:34.154 --> 00:07:45.422 The one who trusts in me, even if he dies, will live. 00:07:45.422 --> 00:07:46.062 Hmm, what does this even mean? 00:07:46.062 --> 00:07:51.471 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. 00:07:51.471 --> 00:07:54.901 Do you believe this? 00:07:54.901 --> 00:07:56.545 Huh? 00:07:56.545 --> 00:08:00.115 Well, jesus, like it's kind of kind of confusing. 00:08:00.115 --> 00:08:01.879 Well, what are you talking about? 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:02.802 This doesn't make any sense. 00:08:03.886 --> 00:08:05.471 This is is what Jesus is talking about here. 00:08:05.471 --> 00:08:08.548 He says if you believe in me, you will never die. 00:08:08.548 --> 00:08:15.468 He's talking about a spiritual death, a separation from God for all eternity, in a place the scripture calls hell. 00:08:15.468 --> 00:08:20.970 And Jesus says if you have believed, if you have trusted me, you will not go to hell. 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:24.887 You will not experience separation from God for all eternity. 00:08:24.887 --> 00:08:26.641 And he says this. 00:08:26.641 --> 00:08:29.850 He says if you will, if you believe in me, if you trust in me. 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:35.566 He doesn't say if you trust in your good works, your good works will be enough. 00:08:35.566 --> 00:08:42.528 He doesn't say if you trust in yourself and your intellect, then you'll be in heaven one day. 00:08:42.528 --> 00:08:43.610 You won't have to be in hell. 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:48.966 He doesn't say if you trust in your baptism because you got baptized when you were a baby, you're good. 00:08:48.966 --> 00:08:56.114 No, there's one way trusting in me, trusting in Christ. 00:08:56.114 --> 00:08:58.908 And this is Martha's response. 00:08:58.908 --> 00:09:04.761 She says yes, lord, yes, lord. 00:09:04.761 --> 00:09:05.322 She told him. 00:09:05.322 --> 00:09:07.307 I what's that word? 00:09:07.307 --> 00:09:11.835 I believe, I trust that you are the Messiah. 00:09:11.835 --> 00:09:16.192 Messiah all that means is that Jesus was the anointed one. 00:09:16.192 --> 00:09:18.600 He was the one that was the forgiver of sin. 00:09:19.163 --> 00:09:23.773 In the Old Testament, all throughout the Old Testament it's pointing to a coming Messiah. 00:09:23.773 --> 00:09:25.278 So the Old Testament it's not just about coming Messiah. 00:09:25.278 --> 00:09:27.889 So the Old Testament it's not just about, it's not just a bunch of like random stories. 00:09:27.889 --> 00:09:29.461 It's like I can't believe this is in here. 00:09:29.461 --> 00:09:31.225 Here's the here's what the Old Testament was doing. 00:09:31.225 --> 00:09:38.932 It was pointing towards a Redeemer, pointing towards a Messiah that was going to come and be the fulfillment of prophecy that God made. 00:09:38.932 --> 00:09:52.062 So what she's saying by saying I believe, I trust that you're the Messiah, she's saying all that was written about by the Old Testament prophets, all that was prophesied about you are him and my trust is in you. 00:09:52.062 --> 00:09:55.668 You are the son of God who comes into the world. 00:09:56.690 --> 00:10:06.991 Having said this, she went back and called her sister, mary, saying in private the teacher's here and is calling for you. 00:10:06.991 --> 00:10:11.222 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 00:10:11.222 --> 00:10:19.773 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him the Jews who were with her. 00:10:19.773 --> 00:10:22.380 So obviously she's got friends that are mourning with her. 00:10:22.380 --> 00:10:25.667 She's got friends that are going through a hard time with her, her friends that are with her. 00:10:25.667 --> 00:10:32.467 They are in the house consoling her, saw Mary got up quickly and went out. 00:10:32.467 --> 00:10:36.767 They followed her Like Mary, where are you going? 00:10:36.767 --> 00:10:37.980 What did they suppose? 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:41.490 They supposed that she was going to the tomb to cry there. 00:10:41.490 --> 00:11:09.101 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died here, my brother wouldn't have died. 00:11:09.101 --> 00:11:11.427 And when Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply. 00:11:11.489 --> 00:11:12.731 This is a really powerful word. 00:11:12.731 --> 00:11:14.341 This next word he was deeply what's the word? 00:11:14.341 --> 00:11:15.884 He was deeply moved. 00:11:15.884 --> 00:11:17.328 He was moved. 00:11:17.328 --> 00:11:18.932 You know what this word means. 00:11:18.932 --> 00:11:24.011 It's an intense feeling of compassion and concern. 00:11:24.011 --> 00:11:32.509 He saw this and he was filled with compassion in his spirit and he was troubled. 00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:34.541 Where have you put him? 00:11:34.541 --> 00:11:36.275 He asked Lord. 00:11:36.275 --> 00:11:39.686 They told him come and see. 00:11:39.686 --> 00:11:46.548 And then we get to verse 35, which is the shortest verse in the entire Bible. 00:11:47.054 --> 00:11:49.264 Little Bible trivia for you. 00:11:49.264 --> 00:11:53.322 It says Jesus. 00:11:53.322 --> 00:11:54.063 What's the next word? 00:11:54.063 --> 00:11:55.321 Jesus wept. 00:11:55.321 --> 00:12:00.941 Now, with this weeping here, this is not like I got a little teary-eyed. 00:12:00.941 --> 00:12:03.022 You know I got to cut this out a corner of my eye. 00:12:03.022 --> 00:12:05.403 I know some of you guys are. 00:12:05.403 --> 00:12:06.820 You know you get a little. 00:12:06.820 --> 00:12:09.820 Maybe you start crying and you're like I don't want anybody to see. 00:12:09.820 --> 00:12:12.186 It's not this. 00:12:12.186 --> 00:12:14.922 This is weeping. 00:12:14.922 --> 00:12:19.057 This is crying hard and you think about it. 00:12:19.057 --> 00:12:21.297 It's really interesting If you know the story. 00:12:21.979 --> 00:12:24.345 What is Jesus about to do to Lazarus? 00:12:24.345 --> 00:12:28.135 Somebody tell me he's about to resurrect Lazarus. 00:12:28.135 --> 00:12:29.477 Tommy, he's about to resurrect Lazarus. 00:12:29.477 --> 00:12:46.967 Jesus knows that Lazarus is about to be resurrected and he's going to do it. 00:12:46.967 --> 00:12:47.590 That's pretty amazing. 00:12:47.590 --> 00:12:48.753 Then why does Jesus weep? 00:12:48.753 --> 00:12:52.456 Why would Jesus? 00:12:52.456 --> 00:12:53.217 You know what Jesus was doing. 00:12:53.217 --> 00:12:54.259 He was meeting those people, right where they were. 00:12:54.299 --> 00:12:55.623 Jesus could have walked on the scene. 00:12:55.623 --> 00:13:01.941 He could have said hey, don't worry everybody, I'm going to resurrect Lazarus from the dead, stop crying. 00:13:01.941 --> 00:13:05.969 He could have said just relax. 00:13:05.969 --> 00:13:10.782 He could have said hey, other people have it worse than you. 00:13:10.782 --> 00:13:13.969 Heard that one before. 00:13:16.096 --> 00:13:17.017 Jesus doesn't do that. 00:13:17.017 --> 00:13:23.370 He goes and he cries with them because he's compassionate. 00:13:23.370 --> 00:13:29.644 You know, a characteristic of Jesus is he is a compassionate person. 00:13:29.644 --> 00:13:44.052 Time and time again in Scripture, he goes to the marginalized, he goes to the outcasted, he goes to the forgotten about, he goes to the sick, he goes to the people that everybody cast away, and Jesus has compassion on those people. 00:13:44.052 --> 00:13:48.504 Jesus doesn't go to people and say when you get yourself together, then I'm going to come to you. 00:13:48.504 --> 00:13:50.779 When you figure things out, then I'm going to love you. 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.957 When you get your act together, then I'm going to look at you a certain way. 00:13:54.038 --> 00:13:54.359 No, no. 00:13:54.359 --> 00:13:58.148 Jesus meets people with compassion right where they are. 00:13:58.148 --> 00:14:15.157 And it could be possible that you're in the room and you've been looking for somebody to be compassionate for you your entire life and you've tried relationship after relationship and you've gone to this person and been disappointed and been betrayed and been let down and you're looking for somebody that'll be compassionate. 00:14:15.157 --> 00:14:21.927 Can I say Jesus is compassionate, he is compassionate. 00:14:21.927 --> 00:14:33.499 And if our view of Jesus is anything less than one that is filled with compassion, then we have a distorted view of Jesus, Because Jesus is a compassionate person. 00:14:33.499 --> 00:14:36.847 Jesus is compassionate to all. 00:14:36.847 --> 00:14:41.017 And when the Jews see his compassion, look what they say in verse 36. 00:14:41.017 --> 00:14:47.145 The Jews said see how he loved them. 00:14:47.145 --> 00:14:50.150 How was his love so evident? 00:14:50.150 --> 00:14:54.596 He loved him. 00:14:54.596 --> 00:14:55.258 How was his love so evident? 00:14:55.258 --> 00:14:56.922 Because he had compassion and he met those people emotionally where they were. 00:14:56.922 --> 00:14:57.764 And here's what you have to see. 00:14:57.764 --> 00:14:58.947 You got to see this. 00:14:58.947 --> 00:15:03.639 Jesus empathized with the experiences of others. 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:05.587 Jesus chose empathy here. 00:15:05.587 --> 00:15:09.951 Others. 00:15:09.951 --> 00:15:11.717 Jesus chose empathy here. 00:15:11.758 --> 00:15:15.984 The most powerful person to ever walk the face of the earth, he could have done anything he wanted. 00:15:15.984 --> 00:15:17.166 This is what he did in the moment. 00:15:17.166 --> 00:15:19.750 He didn't try to fix everything right away. 00:15:19.750 --> 00:15:24.455 He chose empathy. 00:15:24.455 --> 00:15:26.244 What is empathy? 00:15:26.244 --> 00:15:37.495 It's the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. 00:15:37.495 --> 00:15:39.519 Empathy says I'm going to feel what you're feeling. 00:15:39.558 --> 00:15:42.267 Jesus doesn't walk on the scene and give them a cliche. 00:15:42.267 --> 00:15:45.977 He doesn't even walk on the scene. 00:15:45.977 --> 00:15:47.701 He didn't walk on the scene and give them a list of things to do. 00:15:47.701 --> 00:15:48.844 He doesn't give them a sermon. 00:15:48.844 --> 00:15:49.524 This is what he does. 00:15:49.524 --> 00:15:51.448 He gives them empathy. 00:15:51.448 --> 00:15:52.791 He the scene and give them a list of things to do. 00:15:52.791 --> 00:15:53.533 He doesn't give them a sermon. 00:15:53.533 --> 00:15:53.974 This is what he does. 00:15:53.974 --> 00:15:54.674 He gives them empathy. 00:15:54.674 --> 00:15:59.154 He initially empathized with them. 00:15:59.154 --> 00:16:06.214 He was living out what Romans 15 tells us to do, which is rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 00:16:07.515 --> 00:16:17.807 One of the most powerful things we can do when somebody's going through a hard time is not to show up and try to give them the right word, but just to show up and be present for them. 00:16:17.807 --> 00:16:26.759 It's not to show up and say, okay, well, I was reading the bible this week, so let me give you this verse right now, because I know you need it. 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:31.394 And even though they may need scriptural encouragement, saying the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing to say now, because I know you need it. 00:16:31.394 --> 00:16:41.101 And even though they may need scriptural encouragement, saying the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing to say, and sometimes what we have to do is we just have to show up and empathize and be present. 00:16:41.101 --> 00:16:46.870 Show up in somebody's text messages, send somebody a text message, say hey, just want you to know I'm here for you. 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:49.057 I know you're going through something and I'm praying for you. 00:16:49.057 --> 00:16:58.399 Show up in somebody's messages, in somebody's Instagram or Facebook DMs, let somebody know, hey, hey, just so you know, I'm just here for you. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.278 If you love somebody, tell them that you love them, tell them that you care about them. 00:17:04.278 --> 00:17:05.500 This is what happened. 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:08.087 Jesus empathized, he wept with them. 00:17:08.087 --> 00:17:15.396 Jesus empathized, he wept with them. 00:17:15.457 --> 00:17:16.278 And here's what concerns me. 00:17:16.278 --> 00:17:19.865 I think in us as a church community following Jesus in 2024, is everybody, all of us, are so busy, aren't we? 00:17:19.865 --> 00:17:29.580 And we can be so busy that we can miss out on opportunities to minister and love other people around us, or what can happen. 00:17:29.580 --> 00:17:50.548 Another thing that concerns me is sometimes I feel like people are trying to express themselves to us, giving us opportunities to love people and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, sometimes we can shut them down by trying to give them a quick fix or by trying to say a quick word or something like that, instead of just being present and loving people. 00:17:53.861 --> 00:17:57.359 Let me kind of give an example of this is when I grew up. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.682 On the way to school, every day we would listen to the radio. 00:18:00.682 --> 00:18:03.200 Anybody still listen to the radio? 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.785 Okay, yeah, I love it. 00:18:04.785 --> 00:18:05.246 That's great. 00:18:05.246 --> 00:18:05.807 This is awesome. 00:18:05.807 --> 00:18:09.141 If I was in youth group and I asked that question, they would say what is the radio? 00:18:09.141 --> 00:18:12.161 So we listened to the radio. 00:18:12.161 --> 00:18:13.417 Now this is back in the 90s. 00:18:13.417 --> 00:18:16.165 You guys remember the 90s Wonderful times. 00:18:16.165 --> 00:18:19.924 I remember I had my personal CD player in the 90s. 00:18:19.924 --> 00:18:25.083 I thought it was so cool and I had my pack of CDs. 00:18:25.083 --> 00:18:26.720 They had the little slits in them. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:27.936 You know, you put the CDs in there. 00:18:27.936 --> 00:18:29.179 You guys remember that. 00:18:29.179 --> 00:18:30.862 Okay, a couple of you guys do. 00:18:30.862 --> 00:18:34.769 Right, I mean, this was great and we would listen to the radio. 00:18:34.769 --> 00:18:38.596 We would listen to. 00:18:38.615 --> 00:18:41.548 My mom would have us listen to talk radio every morning, because we all know that's exactly what I wanted to listen to. 00:18:41.548 --> 00:18:48.278 Going to school every day, we listened to a station I don't know if you've heard of it KFBK 1530. 00:18:48.278 --> 00:18:50.119 Is this it? 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:51.721 Okay, all right, I don't know if it's still around. 00:18:51.721 --> 00:18:52.622 So it was on. 00:18:52.622 --> 00:18:54.643 It was obviously it was 1530. 00:18:54.643 --> 00:18:58.125 It was on the AM frequency AM right Now. 00:18:58.125 --> 00:19:04.029 If my mom wanted to listen to KFBK 1530, she had to be obviously on the AM frequency. 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:12.540 If she was on the FM frequency she could have gone to every single channel on the FM frequency. 00:19:12.540 --> 00:19:14.928 She wouldn't have gotten to KFBK at that time because at that time KFBK was only on AM. 00:19:14.928 --> 00:19:18.839 So she wants to listen to this on AM. 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:22.888 She could have started at 87.8 and gone all the way through. 00:19:22.888 --> 00:19:30.385 She would have never connected because she was on different frequencies. 00:19:41.414 --> 00:19:44.445 Sometimes we try to communicate and connect on the frequency of logic, when people are on the frequency of their emotion. 00:19:44.445 --> 00:19:49.940 And if you're trying to connect with somebody logically and they're on the frequency of emotions, you're never going to be able to connect with them. 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:51.582 There will always be this gap. 00:19:51.582 --> 00:19:56.829 Pastor Nate, I told them, I said this. 00:19:56.829 --> 00:19:58.218 I said that why don't they get it? 00:19:58.218 --> 00:19:59.801 Because you're on the wrong frequency, bro. 00:19:59.801 --> 00:20:03.056 I said all of these things to them. 00:20:03.056 --> 00:20:06.946 Hey, you can say the right thing, but at the wrong time it's still the wrong thing. 00:20:06.946 --> 00:20:14.442 And sometimes there's a gap in our connection with people because we're on different frequencies. 00:20:14.875 --> 00:20:29.670 And what Jesus did here is Jesus met them emotionally, by weeping with them, by having empathy towards them, by having empathy towards these people that were in a hard time and you might say, man, pastor, nate, okay, empathy, I can do empathy sometimes with certain people. 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:31.801 Okay, empathy, I can do empathy sometimes with certain people. 00:20:31.801 --> 00:20:39.030 But other times I can't do empathy because sometimes those people are like just hmm, can't do that Because they're out there, they're wrong. 00:20:39.030 --> 00:20:40.434 Here's the thing about empathy. 00:20:40.434 --> 00:20:51.646 You know, empathy is not about agreeing with someone's behavior, worldview, but meeting them where they are and seeking to understand them. 00:20:51.646 --> 00:20:59.304 Empathy is not me saying I agree with you about this. 00:20:59.304 --> 00:21:05.076 Empathy is just me saying I understand you and I want to meet you there. 00:21:05.076 --> 00:21:09.259 And what Jesus did is Jesus showed empathy. 00:21:09.259 --> 00:21:10.461 And what Jesus did is Jesus showed empathy. 00:21:10.461 --> 00:21:27.892 And empathy makes a difference in a world that's drawing lines of division and in a world that's picking sides and in a world that is so quick to point people out, empathy says hey, I'm going to meet you right where you are, no matter whether I agree with you or not, simply because I love you. 00:21:27.892 --> 00:21:34.076 And Jesus showed empathy. 00:21:34.076 --> 00:21:37.443 But what's interesting is for Jesus to show empathy, he had to know what these people were going through. 00:21:38.385 --> 00:21:42.962 Notice number two there are emotions that were communicated from Mary and Martha. 00:21:42.962 --> 00:21:47.484 So here in the text, verse 32, she tells him Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 00:21:47.484 --> 00:21:57.089 What Mary and Martha could have done is, when Jesus came to the scene, they could have said we're good, everything's fine. 00:21:57.089 --> 00:21:59.057 No, they weren't. 00:21:59.057 --> 00:22:02.164 They weren't. 00:22:02.164 --> 00:22:03.509 Lazarus just died. 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:05.032 What they could have said? 00:22:05.032 --> 00:22:06.856 They could have said no, no, we're fine. 00:22:06.856 --> 00:22:08.078 No, they opened themselves up. 00:22:08.078 --> 00:22:11.263 Now here's the thing, and this whole part. 00:22:11.263 --> 00:22:13.268 I'm really just talking to myself here, okay. 00:22:13.268 --> 00:22:14.916 So y'all just listening to me, talk to myself. 00:22:15.778 --> 00:22:24.317 Sometimes we cannot share our burdens with other people or things we're going through, because we don't want to be a burden to other people. 00:22:24.317 --> 00:22:29.681 I don't want to burden you with my stuff. 00:22:29.681 --> 00:22:38.508 Or, for some of us, we were raised in a home where we had to look good, we had to have ourselves together. 00:22:38.508 --> 00:22:42.770 If there was any chink in the armor, it was a dishonor to the family name. 00:22:42.770 --> 00:22:44.832 We had to present an image. 00:22:44.832 --> 00:22:50.287 Some of us, we find our personal worth and identity in looking a certain way and always having ourselves together. 00:22:50.287 --> 00:22:59.026 So because of that, we can never open up to people and never say I'm going through something, because we all know that all of us go through something every now and again. 00:22:59.026 --> 00:23:13.582 But sometimes our identity is found in what we do and how we look and what we perform, rather than what Christ has done for us and really it's a pride thing so we can't open up to people has done for us and really it's a pride thing so we can't open up to people. 00:23:13.602 --> 00:23:15.269 But you know what the church is supposed to be. 00:23:15.269 --> 00:23:17.936 A healthy church is supposed to be a place where we are bearing each other's burdens. 00:23:17.936 --> 00:23:21.123 Galatians, chapter 6, verse 2 says this. 00:23:21.123 --> 00:23:24.368 It says carry one another's. 00:23:24.368 --> 00:23:25.016 What's that word? 00:23:25.016 --> 00:23:26.519 Carry one another's burden. 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:27.621 What's a burden? 00:23:27.621 --> 00:23:28.522 Anything of excess. 00:23:28.522 --> 00:23:34.682 We're supposed to carry each other's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:23:34.682 --> 00:23:40.161 And we can't be a church community that's just looking out for other people. 00:23:40.662 --> 00:23:45.498 But we have to be people that are open to sharing what's going on in our own heart sometimes. 00:23:45.498 --> 00:23:52.900 We have to be people that just say will you pray for me, will you pray for me? 00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:57.156 We have to be people that are humble enough sometimes after a service to go to a prayer. 00:23:57.156 --> 00:23:59.222 Next steps banners and just ask somebody to pray for us. 00:23:59.222 --> 00:24:00.165 Not a big deal. 00:24:00.165 --> 00:24:01.195 It's normal. 00:24:01.195 --> 00:24:04.683 We all need prayer and this is what families do. 00:24:04.683 --> 00:24:07.999 Families pray for each other because we are better than me. 00:24:07.999 --> 00:24:09.603 We are a spiritual family. 00:24:09.643 --> 00:24:13.638 Here, guys, we can't have this fake spiritual religious facade. 00:24:13.638 --> 00:24:16.665 We have to be open and say, hey, will you pray for me? 00:24:16.665 --> 00:24:17.968 Now here's the reality. 00:24:17.968 --> 00:24:25.567 I'm talking about this and I understand why some of y'all are like I don't do this because you've probably gotten burnt doing this before. 00:24:25.567 --> 00:24:29.825 You're like, nate, I tried that and that didn't work out very good. 00:24:29.825 --> 00:24:38.701 Or I asked somebody to pray for me and I was like hey, I just want to share this with you, will you please pray for me. 00:24:38.701 --> 00:24:49.897 And then that person went and told like 10 other people and you're like right, and can I say you don't want to open up to everybody? 00:24:49.897 --> 00:24:50.019 Right? 00:24:50.019 --> 00:25:01.228 But I also want to lightly get in your business in the name of Jesus this morning that if you think you can't open up to anybody, you need to reject that thinking, because that's not healthy and that's not biblical. 00:25:01.228 --> 00:25:08.298 We have to learn to take steps in being a little bit vulnerable with people and asking people to pray for us. 00:25:08.298 --> 00:25:15.300 And asking people when things aren't going well and asking people when we're having challenges in our family because none of us have ourselves together. 00:25:16.103 --> 00:25:18.928 I was saying a few weeks ago, we have to get to know each other. 00:25:18.928 --> 00:25:28.922 We can get to know each other by showing up a little early for service, hanging out after service for a little bit, and not being like a ninja and jumping out of here in your car, you know, right after the final amen or whatever. 00:25:28.922 --> 00:25:34.118 Talked about trying to meet maybe one person, one new person, every week when you come here. 00:25:34.118 --> 00:25:40.304 There's a deal If you try to meet one new person when you come here every time every Sunday, you're probably going to meet some crazy people. 00:25:40.304 --> 00:25:43.046 Just going to say it, because we're a church, you know what I'm saying. 00:25:43.046 --> 00:25:47.589 Like some of us are a little, but you're going to meet some really great people too. 00:25:47.589 --> 00:25:50.271 But we have to be intentional. 00:25:50.271 --> 00:25:57.275 We have to be intentional to form relationships, to bear our burdens with each other. 00:25:57.275 --> 00:26:07.183 And here's what you're gonna find when you intentionally do this and take little steps in doing this, you might discover like, oh, I can actually talk to that person a little bit. 00:26:07.183 --> 00:26:12.800 You might ask somebody to pray for you, and then the next week they see they're like hey, by the way, I prayed for you. 00:26:12.800 --> 00:26:14.020 I just wanna see how it's going. 00:26:14.020 --> 00:26:22.102 It's like that person actually prayed for me this week, like that's huge. 00:26:22.122 --> 00:26:23.509 But what you have to do is you have to learn to open up a little bit. 00:26:23.509 --> 00:26:25.175 You have to learn to be a little vulnerable, just a teensy bit. 00:26:25.175 --> 00:26:28.539 You don't got to share all your life story and everything that happened when you were a kid. 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:29.701 You don't got to share everything. 00:26:29.701 --> 00:26:34.528 It's just like, hey, will you pray for my sister because they're having surgery? 00:26:34.528 --> 00:26:36.310 Just something small. 00:26:36.310 --> 00:26:41.647 And here's what you're going to find Is being vulnerable gives people permission to be vulnerable. 00:26:41.647 --> 00:26:51.965 So when you open up to people, it gives people permission to open up to you, and a lot of times we think that we're the only people going through what we're going through. 00:26:51.965 --> 00:26:59.338 You're not, and when you open up, it allows other people to open up to you as well. 00:26:59.338 --> 00:27:16.750 It allows you to be known, it allows you to be encouraged, it allows you to receive love, it allows the church to be the church, and growth happens one step at a time, and for some of us, our step is to be a little vulnerable. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:27.201 Now I don't have time to talk all about this, but we see Mary one more time in Scripture, and that's in the next chapter, in John, chapter number 12. 00:27:27.201 --> 00:27:28.684 And this is where we see her. 00:27:28.684 --> 00:27:40.338 We see Mary, the brother of Lazarus, mary the sister of guys. 00:27:40.338 --> 00:27:40.882 This is service number two. 00:27:40.882 --> 00:27:42.432 Okay, y'all be praying for service number three. 00:27:42.432 --> 00:27:44.381 Okay, y'all know what I'm saying. 00:27:44.381 --> 00:27:48.943 Mary is washing. 00:27:48.943 --> 00:27:49.685 It's so fascinating. 00:27:49.685 --> 00:27:56.308 She's washing the feet of Jesus with perfume that was the equivalent of the cost of one year's wages. 00:27:56.308 --> 00:28:01.721 Why would she do that One? 00:28:01.721 --> 00:28:02.683 Jesus was her Lord. 00:28:02.683 --> 00:28:09.019 But the second reason why she did this is because there is this deep relationship she had with Jesus. 00:28:09.019 --> 00:28:12.748 She opened up to him, he empathized with her. 00:28:12.748 --> 00:28:17.778 They're like this and this community had been formed because of that. 00:28:17.778 --> 00:28:21.935 And now, in the next chapter, even the disciples of Jesus are like why is she doing this? 00:28:21.935 --> 00:28:22.739 What is going on? 00:28:22.739 --> 00:28:25.711 She ain't worried about that because her and Jesus are close. 00:28:25.711 --> 00:28:27.859 Why there's been this emotional connection? 00:28:27.859 --> 00:28:32.976 And you can have that too by opening up to people and by showing empathy to people. 00:28:32.976 --> 00:28:34.519 So three questions and we're done. 00:28:34.679 --> 00:28:38.365 Question one how are you trying to build community at FCC? 00:28:38.365 --> 00:28:41.694 Maybe you're in a group, that's awesome, that's great. 00:28:41.694 --> 00:28:42.759 You're in a group, that's a great way. 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:44.704 Maybe you're saying, okay, the way I do it is. 00:28:44.704 --> 00:28:46.681 I'm going to meet one new person every time I come here. 00:28:46.681 --> 00:28:47.723 Awesome, that's amazing. 00:28:47.723 --> 00:28:57.356 Maybe it's something else, but are you intentionally, intentionally trying to build community or are you like a ninja? 00:28:57.356 --> 00:29:00.564 You come in, come out real quick once or twice a month, right, like, how are you trying to build community? 00:29:00.564 --> 00:29:05.281 Listen, community is not something that just happens by accident. 00:29:05.281 --> 00:29:08.096 You don't just find it, you have to form it and you have to forge it. 00:29:08.577 --> 00:29:11.846 Question number two who can you take a step to be a little vulnerable with? 00:29:11.846 --> 00:29:15.227 Who do you need to ask hey, can you pray for me? 00:29:15.227 --> 00:29:19.901 Who do you need to talk to just a little bit, just open up just a teensy bit. 00:29:19.901 --> 00:29:21.063 Who can that be? 00:29:21.063 --> 00:29:23.107 Take a step. 00:29:23.107 --> 00:29:25.157 Maybe you haven't done this for years. 00:29:25.157 --> 00:29:26.401 You're like I'm so uncomfortable. 00:29:26.401 --> 00:29:27.805 Just a little step. 00:29:27.805 --> 00:29:40.009 Question three and this one can be an oh me for a lot of us have you tried to fix when you need to try to feel? 00:29:40.009 --> 00:29:54.869 Have you tried to fix because you say I just don't understand why they don't get it Empathy, put yourself in their shoes, put yourself where they're at. 00:29:54.869 --> 00:30:03.011 Put yourself in their shoes, put yourself where they're at, feel with them and see how that draws you together with them. 00:30:03.011 --> 00:30:06.173 Let's have a moment of prayer right now.