WEBVTT 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:13.320 Hello, and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:14.839 Thank you so much for listening. 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:16.199 We're startup church. 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:23.460 We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:32.299 And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:36.439 You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:40.399 We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:42.740 You guys can open up to Luke 24. 00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:44.359 We'll be there in a moment. 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:52.960 This last Friday was a little bit more of a somber time. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:01:03.539 We spent time probably about an hour, some a little bit more, some a little bit less looking at the cross and sin and the nature of it. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:16.079 And we tried to go to spots where we could really embrace and understand what the significance of the cross is and what Jesus really did for us. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.299 And so if you are wondering, what is that? 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:20.319 I want to do it myself. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:21.560 You can just talk to me. 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:26.819 There's a little program that was set up, but you can see some of the relics from it. 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:32.000 We wrote, I don't know him, representing Peter as he was approached. 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:32.920 You must know the guy. 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:33.819 He said, I don't even know him. 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:41.219 And we ended on a relatively somber note on Friday, but today's not Friday. 00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:43.040 This is an encouraging note, right? 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:47.920 We're celebrating not only the death, we're celebrating though the resurrection of Jesus. 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:49.959 We're in Luke 24. 00:01:50.579 --> 00:01:56.379 I don't know what state of mind you're in this morning. 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:08.199 I don't want to pretend that everybody's in a spot where you feel overjoyed and excited and you feel like I've got to go to a spot where I'm just outwardly excited and over. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:09.400 I don't know if you're there. 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:10.500 If you're not, that's okay. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:18.840 We're going to learn how some of the disciples were not actually in a spot after seeing the resurrected Lord. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:25.580 They weren't at a spot of feeling confident or of full assurance and they didn't end that way. 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:27.639 And so wherever you're at is okay. 00:02:27.740 --> 00:02:30.060 What I would say is don't, don't fake it. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:36.139 If you're not at a spot where you feel overjoyed or excited, if you're in a spot where you're working through doubts, that's okay. 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:48.000 We're going to look at what Jesus, what Jesus says to his disciples and because he's the resurrected Lord, he can do the same things and quell the same fears for all of us. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:48.300 Amen. 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:49.879 We're in Luke 24. 00:02:50.659 --> 00:02:52.099 This is a longer passage. 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:53.860 We're going to read it and then we're going to break it down. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.419 It says, while they were still talking about this. 00:02:58.460 --> 00:02:59.120 So this is Jesus. 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:01.460 He died and he's risen again. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.620 Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:11.620 They were startled and frightened thinking they'd saw a ghost. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.539 He said to them, why are you troubled? 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:16.080 And why do doubts rise in your minds? 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:18.879 Look at my hands and my feet. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:24.240 It is I myself touch and see a ghost does not have flesh and bones. 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:26.360 As you see, I have. 00:03:27.259 --> 00:03:34.300 When he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet and they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.240 And so he asked them, do you have anything here to eat? 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:46.159 They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence, said to them, this is what I told you while I was still with you. 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:50.900 Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:53.460 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:55.719 He told them this is what is written. 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:04.020 The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:06.099 You are witnesses of these things. 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:12.419 I am going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you've been clothed with power from on high. 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:18.410 You know, Jesus does, does many things. 00:04:18.470 --> 00:04:21.290 We're looking at four and, uh, and work with me here. 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:23.870 We'll, some of them we're going to go through a little, it'll take a little bit longer. 00:04:23.970 --> 00:04:25.050 Some will just speed through. 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:28.370 The first thing that he does is he answers their doubts. 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:31.810 Why are you troubled? 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:33.490 Why do doubts rise in your minds? 00:04:33.589 --> 00:04:34.949 Look at my hands and feet. 00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:38.350 It's I myself touch and see what does he do? 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:42.029 He communicates that he actually rose from the dead. 00:04:42.149 --> 00:04:45.670 This wasn't some type of hypothetical raising from the dead. 00:04:45.790 --> 00:04:49.209 This wasn't some type of simply spiritual experience. 00:04:49.389 --> 00:04:54.990 It wasn't a fever dream that they all had and then decided, okay, let's create this religion. 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:57.490 Uh, no, this, this actually occurred. 00:04:57.569 --> 00:04:58.350 This actually happened. 00:04:58.889 --> 00:05:19.730 Um, no people, people will say, uh, certainly even, even just tens or just decades after Jesus rose from the dead, people pointed to, uh, this being a fictional occurrence and we'll read, uh, a couple of accounts that talk about, or at least one account that, that is really in direct opposition to that in first John. 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:23.550 But even before the Bible was, uh, the New Testament was fully formalized. 00:05:23.550 --> 00:05:27.170 There were people saying Jesus didn't physically raised from the dead. 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:28.689 It was a spiritual occurrence. 00:05:29.529 --> 00:05:33.529 Uh, now today this is the, this is the marker of, of, of the Christian faith. 00:05:33.649 --> 00:05:45.250 And so many people say the same thing that Jesus didn't physically raised from the dead because anyone who says he rose from the dead, if I say that I kind of got to follow Christianity then because nobody else did that and didn't die again. 00:05:47.149 --> 00:05:52.529 A few things that, that are, that are important when people say that, uh, the, these claims are fictional. 00:05:53.129 --> 00:05:59.910 Uh, it's, it's important to note that in that day, no one was expecting the resurrection of a physical body. 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:02.670 Uh, so this was something that certainly they were pointing to. 00:06:02.769 --> 00:06:10.470 There's going to be a resurrection on the last day when a space and time kind of joined together and there's, there's all, but we're all going to be resurrected. 00:06:10.550 --> 00:06:13.129 This is the Jewish, uh, the, the traditional Jewish belief. 00:06:13.189 --> 00:06:25.029 And so for Jesus to, to be physical in his body, if you're going to just make that up, that wouldn't be the place that you would go because it would be directly against many of the, the, the commonplace thought of that day. 00:06:27.410 --> 00:06:30.730 Another thing, there are some details in here that seem just mundane, right? 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:31.350 What does it say? 00:06:31.689 --> 00:06:36.990 He says, I, you know, when he came here, you know, we were dreaming up what would happen if we rose from the dead. 00:06:37.050 --> 00:06:43.910 I think, uh, man, I go to a big place and I'd show myself and I'd be loud and boisterous. 00:06:43.930 --> 00:06:44.449 And what does it say? 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:49.949 He does, it says he kind of sneaks into place with his closest friends and they don't believe him. 00:06:50.009 --> 00:06:51.110 And so they don't believe him. 00:06:51.370 --> 00:06:54.490 And so he doesn't like do some kind of amazing miracle. 00:06:54.769 --> 00:06:57.810 He doesn't, he says, okay, give me some fish and he, and he eats fish. 00:06:57.889 --> 00:07:02.470 This is a mundane occurrence that doesn't make sense unless it actually happened. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:13.600 If you're writing this, the disciples, if you read, what do they do when Jesus dies prior to his resurrecting, they go back to what they were doing there. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.420 There's certainly, they're together, they're connected, but they go, they go back to fishing. 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:20.160 If you're writing this, they're, they're discouraged. 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:21.000 They're despondent. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:34.480 Even if you're writing this and you want, uh, if you want to be a follower, if you want to convince people to be followers of this guy that he didn't actually raise from the dead, then you probably wouldn't say, well, we had disbelief as well, or we went to some dark places as well. 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:38.579 Uh, we are so flawed as well, but follow us because we're telling you what happened. 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.579 They wouldn't do that unless he actually did raise from the dead. 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:59.959 Perhaps greatest of all, the Bible is extremely clear that we're going to, we're going to end on, on this, this note in about 25 minutes that even after all of this, the Bible's clear that of the 11, there are still some who doubt it. 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:14.120 If you are writing a book and you're trying to convince people to follow this guy and you're saying you did all these amazing things and you say he rose from the dead, but not all of us believe it, that's, that's not where you would go unless it actually happened. 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:15.120 I want to read a quote. 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:16.980 Uh, there's some big words here. 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:20.040 So listen closely and it's a little bit longer of a quote. 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:21.920 It's by a theologian N.T. Wright. 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:24.040 He's written numerous books on Christianity. 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:28.660 He's, he's one of the big, one of the big thought leaders of Christianity in our day. 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:40.798 It says, it cannot be stressed too strongly that first century Jews were not expecting people to rise from the dead as isolated individuals. 00:08:41.700 --> 00:08:51.139 Resurrection for them was something that might happen for all on that great future occasion when God brought history to an end and a whole new world was renewed. 00:08:52.620 --> 00:09:19.320 It will not do therefore to say that Jesus's disciples were so stunned and shocked by his death so unable to come to terms with it that they projected their shattered hopes onto the screen of fantasy and invented the idea of Jesus's resurrection as a way of coping with their cruelly, cruelly broken dream that has an initial apparent psychological plausibility to the 21st century people, but it will not work as a serious for a serious first century history. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:26.360 There were lots of other messianic and similar movements in the Jewish world, roughly contemporary to Jesus. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.179 There were many situations in which a messianic leader died a violent death at the hands of authorities. 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:40.519 In not one single case do we see the slightest mention of the disappointed followers claiming their hero had been raised from the dead. 00:09:41.059 --> 00:09:41.919 They knew better. 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:48.220 In the Jewish worldview, an individual could not be resurrected in the middle of history and history just continue going. 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:51.059 It was not something that was possible in their worldview. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.659 So Jewish revolutionaries whose leaders had been executed by the authorities had only two options. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:04.860 Give up the revolution or find another leader claiming that your original leader had been resurrected was not an option. 00:10:06.259 --> 00:10:08.179 Unless of course he was. 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:26.580 This resurrection is, is the marker and the point that, that all of Christianity is based on, but it also seems to be the marker and the point that Jesus is closest followers and his, his apostles pointed to as well. 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:28.179 We're not going to, to read these. 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:32.600 This is just my incomplete Bible knowledge of, of, of these. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:41.080 And there's so many other scriptures, but Peter, one of his, the guy who said, I don't know him also writes, it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:10:41.179 --> 00:10:44.000 He's referring to baptism and he says, this is what happened. 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:45.580 Jesus did raise from the dead. 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:56.679 And then in, in you know, the apostle John who wrote the book of John it says those who don't acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh are a deceiver and an antichrist. 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:05.159 And then, and then this is Paul who is he identifies as being an apostle abnormally born post Jesus's resurrection. 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:08.779 Jesus appears to him and it says that Christ died for our sins. 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:11.799 According to the scriptures, he was buried and he raised on the third day. 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:26.539 I bring this up to say that, that the apostles, those closest to Jesus, the, the, the people who are charged with spreading the, the religion, it seems that their message is clear. 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:30.899 Either call us crazy or believe us, but don't pacify our message. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.440 Another thing he does is he satisfies the desires of their hearts. 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:45.539 So then while they did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, do you have anything here to eat? 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:51.039 They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence. 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:57.879 You know, when, when we eat, you know, we're, we're, we're celebrating. 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:11.899 Most of us are virtually all, if you don't have a place to go talk to us, we'll find you a place, but we'll, we're going to go end up eating food together and we're going to talk about things and there's, it's going to be light and it's going to be a joyous time and it's going to be fun. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.919 But, but from what I understand, this was a relatively normal occurrence in, in that day and age. 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:23.860 If you were invited to eat and if you were eating with somebody, it meant that there's relationship and there's friendship and there's connection. 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:31.139 Jesus is saying that I'm not just some distant God that is far from you. 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:42.700 I did this thing one time in history and now I'm going to go back to heaven and, and you're always going to be in search for me and I'm far enough away that there's hope, but you can't get to me. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:43.919 That's not what he's saying. 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:45.679 He's saying you can eat with me. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:47.720 You can, you can, you can commune with me. 00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:48.740 You can be close with me. 00:12:48.779 --> 00:12:50.139 You can be near to me. 00:12:50.629 --> 00:13:10.659 Yeah, Jesus, uh, you know, when, when, when someone dies, uh, everything that you have left of them, it, it, it grows in importance, doesn't it? 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.740 Their clothes are so important. 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:24.600 The last thing they wore, maybe that special occasion, uh, the shoes, what even, even their, their scent or their smell, their cologne or perfume. 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:26.340 That stuff matters. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.000 You know, it's, it's, uh, it's an interesting, it's an interesting thing. 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:46.179 It's an interesting, you know, uniquely human thing, I believe, but, you know, there's even from time to time, my mom passed when I was seven years old and there's, there's times it doesn't happen frequently, um, anymore. 00:13:46.259 --> 00:13:56.559 It'll happen maybe a few times a year where I'll have just dreams about my mom and, uh, and I almost all of those dreams you'd think, well, if I'm dreaming about my mother, that that's cool. 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:57.139 We're connected. 00:13:57.139 --> 00:13:57.759 We're together. 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:02.100 Almost all of those dreams end with me waking up in tears. 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:12.019 Inevitably at some point I realize I'm dreaming and then the, the, the dream, it be, it just, it escapes me entirely. 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:23.950 And you end up, and you end up waking up when we, when we think about these, these people, it, it, it leads us to, to want them more, but we, we just can't get close to them again. 00:14:27.899 --> 00:14:29.139 It's not so with Jesus. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.460 That's not the truth with Jesus. 00:14:31.460 --> 00:14:32.759 It's, it's, it's amazing. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.360 My mom, she, she had this necklace that she gave me. 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:45.279 Um, when I understand it, I don't know if it was born prior to her passing or rather if it was bought prior to her passing or post, but it just said it was this little, uh, locket that just said, Jaron love mom. 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:53.360 And I remember, uh, I remember exactly the day that I lost that locket and, uh, and it just, it still frustrates me. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:01.360 I was writing this down and I just felt like, man, that is, I'm, I'm such a lame, like, why didn't I talk to the janitor and go through it? 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:02.360 I'm sure it was somewhere. 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:04.240 And it says my name on it. 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:06.019 I was the only Jaron in the school. 00:15:06.139 --> 00:15:07.679 This means so much to me. 00:15:08.059 --> 00:15:16.539 And, uh, it, it means so much, but if she was alive, I, I, I don't think I'd, I'd care about it an awful lot. 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:18.539 I just lost a little locket, right? 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:23.759 Jesus is eating with his disciples. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:28.240 He's creating connection with, with, with his closest followers. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:33.940 And, and what he's saying is I'm not going to be some distant memory for you. 00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:37.419 I'm not going to be someone who you, you hold on to. 00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:39.299 And then you aren't going to be able to see again. 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:42.659 I'm going to be here with you all along the way. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:44.019 How do we know that? 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:45.500 Well, where was Jesus? 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:46.720 Where, where did Jesus die? 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:48.940 Nobody knows. 00:15:49.019 --> 00:15:53.279 You know, we, uh, decades after Jesus was dead, there's no, there's no memorial. 00:15:53.379 --> 00:15:54.419 There's no shrine there. 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:55.980 They don't wear the grave clothes. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.179 They don't have the grave clothes. 00:15:57.299 --> 00:15:57.919 That's how this is. 00:15:57.980 --> 00:15:58.700 These are the clothes. 00:15:58.759 --> 00:15:58.940 Why? 00:15:59.039 --> 00:15:59.879 Because it wasn't important. 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:00.759 He rose from the dead. 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:02.059 He's connected. 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:03.039 He's walking with us. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:04.740 It doesn't, it doesn't matter. 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:10.019 You know, the same way the clothes are, are, are, you know, disgusting and not fun. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:11.899 And you, man, I got to do the laundry or the shoes. 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.519 I feel like these are, these are just, just things. 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:15.240 They don't matter. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:23.220 If somebody's alive, shrines and memorials, they were commonplace in Jesus's day. 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:39.860 And even hundreds of years afterwards, from what I understand, there's even, uh, there's locations for a lot of these, uh, that the bishops or some of the first leaders of the church, you know, hundreds of years after, uh, you know, Jesus was resurrected and they know this is, this is where this person was buried. 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:41.139 We've got a record of it. 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:43.000 And we, we have this memorial there. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:47.379 They don't have that with Jesus because the, the, the grave wasn't the most important part about it. 00:16:51.139 --> 00:16:55.539 Jesus eats with his disciples and he'll eat with us and says, I'm near, I can be, I can be near to you. 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:56.799 I don't have to be a distant God. 00:16:59.379 --> 00:17:03.659 Another thing he does, he, he reorients their purpose by sending them out. 00:17:05.608 --> 00:17:08.890 It says, then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. 00:17:09.108 --> 00:17:10.348 He told them, this is what is written. 00:17:10.450 --> 00:17:12.930 The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. 00:17:13.348 --> 00:17:18.890 And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:20.950 You are witnesses of these things. 00:17:21.368 --> 00:17:23.588 I am going to send you what my father has promised. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.599 Peter, we said he goes back to fishing. 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:32.819 He brings a, he brings a couple along with them too. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.920 He goes back to fishing after, after Jesus dies. 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:39.259 This was, uh, this was three years of my life. 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:40.859 I looked like a fool. 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.259 I gave up three years of my income, but some of the stuff he did was incredible. 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.240 I, I don't know if I can, I don't know. 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:50.460 I got to stay close to the people who I'm close with, I guess. 00:17:52.500 --> 00:18:03.640 And then Jesus appears and he gives them this, this, this mission, the, the, the Bible, uh, in the Bible, Jesus is called, uh, it's in Colossians one. 00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:05.140 Uh, you don't have to turn there. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:10.079 Jesus is called the firstborn from among the dead, uh, meaning that there's hope for us. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:17.700 Uh, and, and when he's reorienting their purpose, he's saying there's hope for, for you, but then you have to spread that hope. 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:22.759 That is, that is why I did all of this so that many people could follow me. 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:31.859 Jesus being the firstborn from among the dead, then gives us hope and gives us mission that we can go and go out in our lives and spread Jesus to the world. 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:37.859 This means this, this means a couple of things. 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:38.539 And it was brought up. 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:42.700 It was, it was brought up really tactfully, uh, by, by Timothy Keller. 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:50.539 As he since passed, one of the preachers I listened to a lot, he says, on one hand, you are free from the material world. 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:51.000 Okay. 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:55.279 Uh, the material world does not have control over you. 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:58.000 Uh, it doesn't have to order your days. 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:03.240 You don't have to live in spaces of regret or spaces of wanting more or spaces of desire. 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:04.259 I want this thing. 00:19:04.259 --> 00:19:05.460 And this is what I'm searching for. 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:13.339 And then when you get the thing, it's not as cool as it was, or when you, when you're searching for that, and there's a point when you realize I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get it. 00:19:13.420 --> 00:19:16.019 You know, I'm not gonna make, uh, I'm not gonna make the team. 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:18.500 I'm not, I'm not gonna get that promotion. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:22.119 I'm not, it, it doesn't have to affect you how it would affect somebody else. 00:19:22.180 --> 00:19:25.279 And so on one hand, you are free from the material world. 00:19:29.509 --> 00:19:34.950 On the other hand, you are free for the material world. 00:19:37.269 --> 00:19:40.490 Resurrection gives us freedom for, and from the material, the material world. 00:19:40.569 --> 00:19:41.309 And what does, what does that mean? 00:19:41.349 --> 00:19:42.289 Or the material universe? 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:53.049 That means that if we don't have to be burdened by what the world is telling us is appropriate, and what the world is telling us to do, that means that we can spread a bunch of change when we are in the world. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:04.000 It also, it also means that this, this, the, the Christian worldview says that when, when we die, there's this thought, I die. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:08.440 And when this new creation comes, the new creation must be somewhere else in heaven. 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:15.079 From everything that we understand, the new creation is just making everything that's messed up in this world, making it perfect. 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.559 And so in the same way, you know, we started in the garden. 00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:23.299 We're going to end in, in a gardener, in this space of perfection on this earth though. 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:28.619 There's, there's a quote that I find, um, find it challenging. 00:20:28.619 --> 00:20:37.779 Uh, Martin Luther, when, when someone asked him, uh, what, what would you do if you knew Jesus was coming back tomorrow? 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:44.180 He said, if I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant a tree today. 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:49.059 What is he saying? 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:52.859 If I knew the world's ending tomorrow, Jesus is coming back tomorrow. 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:53.759 I'm going to plant the tree today. 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:58.359 What he's saying is I realize that think about what Jesus is going to do to that tree. 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.140 Think about what perfection is going to do to that tree that I get to be a part of it. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:03.460 I understand. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:04.579 I'm not going somewhere. 00:21:04.859 --> 00:21:06.319 He's coming back here. 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:07.480 He's going to be right with us. 00:21:07.500 --> 00:21:09.460 And this is our purpose and mission. 00:21:09.579 --> 00:21:13.700 And the, the perfection that we are searching for is found in Christ alone. 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:16.839 And we have the opportunity to help as many as possible. 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:17.740 Learn about it. 00:21:20.339 --> 00:21:21.720 What else does he do? 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.799 He shows them his hands and his feet. 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:32.480 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet and Jesus. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.700 Jesus came back in a perfect body. 00:21:39.789 --> 00:21:44.809 It would never experience decay or brokenness or pain again. 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:49.160 But why are the nail holes still in them? 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:51.460 His body's glorified. 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:52.079 It's a perfect body. 00:21:52.180 --> 00:21:52.859 Why the nail holes? 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:01.529 He deals with, he, he, this is my take is he deals with our sorrows. 00:22:01.690 --> 00:22:06.730 He, he, he deals with what we're going through and he, and he makes it, he makes it great. 00:22:06.910 --> 00:22:10.690 You know, everybody, everybody loves a rags to riches story. 00:22:10.690 --> 00:22:15.309 You get knocked down and you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. 00:22:16.130 --> 00:22:19.109 You think about any, I bet you, if you would look. 00:22:19.609 --> 00:22:21.990 And I didn't do a, I didn't, I didn't do a study. 00:22:22.069 --> 00:22:30.869 But if you look at some of the most popular movies or books or anything in the media, you would see that the ones that are most successful is not this guy was great. 00:22:30.930 --> 00:22:31.650 And he stayed great. 00:22:31.849 --> 00:22:33.329 It was a couple of things. 00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:34.910 One, this guy was great. 00:22:34.970 --> 00:22:37.809 And then he, it was this rapid fall. 00:22:39.190 --> 00:22:42.289 Or more than likely, you see, this guy was struggling. 00:22:42.589 --> 00:22:43.349 Things were bad. 00:22:43.890 --> 00:22:47.029 This, and then they, they made it to this mountaintop high. 00:22:49.259 --> 00:22:50.160 They struggled. 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:52.599 They got knocked down, but they made it all the way back. 00:22:54.910 --> 00:23:10.109 No, it's more powerful than those stories though, is, is one that can take what happened that was bad and turn it into something good and be able to look at all of the negatives that occurred as being things that helped us get to the spot that, that we're in. 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:20.079 Just, I, I'm just referencing it here, but it's in Genesis 45 and it's in, it's in starts in verse five, but it's a story of, of Joseph. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:32.480 And you'd understand Joseph was the guy, you know, in whatever the media, that Technicolor dream coat, or this, this, this, this coat that, you know, he was loved by his father, but not his brothers. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.559 And so he got sold into slavery. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:36.299 They were about to kill him, sold into slavery. 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:49.019 And then you get this, this Genesis of what occurs, and then he gets put in prison wrongfully and said, and then he helped somebody and says, when you, when you get out, remember me and they forget about him. 00:23:49.019 --> 00:23:50.400 And then years later, they remember him. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:55.460 And there's this, this story and this up and down and you read it and you're like, wow, what is happening? 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:57.740 What, what a horrible thing that would happen to this individual. 00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:02.680 And, and then he ends up being second in command to Pharaoh. 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:08.920 And there's this famine in all of the land because of, of Joseph's wisdom, he stored up a lot. 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:15.240 And then his brothers, the same ones who essentially left him for dead and communicated to his father that he had died. 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:20.839 There's, there's this interaction that he has where he is able to see them face to face. 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:23.460 And this is what Joseph says. 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:36.059 It's, it says, and now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you for two years. 00:24:36.579 --> 00:24:38.619 Now there has been famine in the land. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:50.240 And for the next five years, there will be no plowing and reaping, but God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 00:24:50.380 --> 00:25:01.740 So then it was not you who sent me here, but God story taking the worst of the worst and pointing to God as being the one who delivered me and sent me out. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:07.519 And so I can look at what happened in the past as stuff that helped me get to where I'm at right now. 00:25:08.140 --> 00:25:08.680 You know, I don't know. 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:09.640 I don't know for sure. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:15.039 You know, nobody can say, but as I think about that for my life, I'm sure there's stuff in your life where you look at where you are at. 00:25:15.220 --> 00:25:20.740 And perhaps you can point to negative occurrences that have led you to this great spot. 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:22.539 And if you can't, well, then they are coming. 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:41.200 But I look at my mom passing as, uh, nobody, nobody wishes that on anybody, but I do look at that and I think, I don't know that I would be, uh, as competent a leader as I am today. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.599 If she wouldn't have passed, I think I probably would have, uh, I think I probably would have skated by as much as I could. 00:25:47.619 --> 00:26:05.480 I'm still liable to skate by as much as I can, but even more so, uh, if I, if I grew up with two parents, um, I think about my, uh, I just, I think I'd be lazy in my like awareness of a mother and son relationship. 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:07.240 And I don't feel like I'm lazy with that anymore. 00:26:07.259 --> 00:26:11.460 When I see that, uh, man, I get so much joy from that. 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:19.740 And I'm, it's, it's, um, maybe, maybe you look at your life and maybe you can't look and identify it yet. 00:26:19.779 --> 00:26:23.900 You're in the middle of whatever difficult, uh, struggle that you, you are in. 00:26:26.029 --> 00:26:40.829 The amazing part about the cross is, is once you make it on the other side, you will be able to point to all these negatives as being stuff that God worked for the good, all the things that ruined your life will actually save it. 00:26:44.869 --> 00:26:56.690 So we said at the beginning, uh, to be authentic with where we're at, where, where are you at with God this, this morning, the disciples saw the resurrected Lord. 00:26:56.789 --> 00:26:58.490 They walked with them for three years. 00:26:59.049 --> 00:27:01.230 They saw all of the miracles. 00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:07.329 They, they, they, they counted them dead and they saw him risen again. 00:27:07.430 --> 00:27:12.769 They, they, with their hands, touch the holes in his hands and his feet. 00:27:13.730 --> 00:27:21.750 This is right before Jesus gives what we identify as being the great commission, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything. 00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:22.509 I've commanded you. 00:27:22.529 --> 00:27:25.509 He says, surely I'm with you before that glorious statement. 00:27:25.509 --> 00:27:27.430 This is what Matthew 28 says. 00:27:27.430 --> 00:27:33.450 It says, then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 00:27:35.339 --> 00:27:41.240 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubt it. 00:27:44.940 --> 00:27:45.839 They saw him do miracles. 00:27:45.940 --> 00:27:47.339 They saw him do amazing things. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:51.660 And, and yet some doubt it. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.259 And we can question, why would you doubt? 00:27:54.420 --> 00:27:56.240 We can look down on people. 00:27:56.440 --> 00:27:57.839 Like, why would they doubt? 00:27:57.900 --> 00:28:02.039 If I was walking with Jesus, I wouldn't be among those who doubt it. 00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:03.200 Well, some of us would. 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:05.220 I don't know if all of us, it would, it would have said all of us. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:06.920 Some of us would be among those who doubt it. 00:28:11.089 --> 00:28:12.069 You can look down on them. 00:28:12.150 --> 00:28:14.990 You can question them, or you can realize that you, you, you aren't much different. 00:28:16.670 --> 00:28:17.789 God's reaching out for you. 00:28:17.869 --> 00:28:19.609 There are evidences all around you. 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:23.690 If you would sit and consider that God is saying, come close to me, come near to me. 00:28:24.029 --> 00:28:25.130 Trust me, try it out. 00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:26.109 I'm right here. 00:28:26.150 --> 00:28:26.829 I'm not far. 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:28.029 I want to be close with you. 00:28:28.069 --> 00:28:30.529 I've shown you all of this so that you can walk with me. 00:28:31.970 --> 00:28:33.529 And we turned a blind eye all the time. 00:28:35.250 --> 00:28:38.269 We have the inspired written word of God, and we don't read it. 00:28:39.069 --> 00:28:44.089 We have the opportunity to call out to God in prayer and actually understand he listens to us. 00:28:44.109 --> 00:28:47.690 We don't need an intercessor or somebody that goes before us or does this thing. 00:28:47.710 --> 00:28:50.150 We don't need to sacrifice any kind of animal. 00:28:50.269 --> 00:28:53.210 We can walk with God and we can go to the most holy of holy places. 00:28:53.410 --> 00:28:54.569 And yet we don't, we don't do it. 00:28:57.059 --> 00:28:59.660 You pray, he hears you and he answers you. 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:01.279 And yet you still doubt. 00:29:07.089 --> 00:29:20.369 And what's amazing about this, uh, this, this scripture is that these, the doubts of these disciples, we understand that they didn't live in those doubts. 00:29:20.390 --> 00:29:29.250 You can, you can look back at church history and you would find all but one die a martyr's death and all of them lived lives that they started. 00:29:29.369 --> 00:29:30.529 You, you read and it's inspiring. 00:29:30.630 --> 00:29:31.609 He started the church here. 00:29:31.650 --> 00:29:34.529 He's attributed for going to India, you know, he went to that. 00:29:34.529 --> 00:29:41.170 And he's, he, this guy went to Persia and this, you can, you can read about that in, in church history. 00:29:41.170 --> 00:29:51.309 And so just because they had doubts, uh, they didn't live in those doubts, wherever you're at right now, whatever doubts you have. 00:29:51.309 --> 00:29:56.809 And when we say doubts, maybe you say, I know Jesus rose from the dead, but that doesn't mean I'm going to live my life like him every day. 00:29:57.029 --> 00:29:58.490 I know Jesus rose from the dead. 00:29:58.529 --> 00:29:59.329 I believe it. 00:29:59.349 --> 00:30:01.309 I believe in, I believe in it. 00:30:01.349 --> 00:30:05.849 But whatever, wherever that butt is, is where your doubt level is at. 00:30:06.690 --> 00:30:07.670 It's okay to have them. 00:30:07.670 --> 00:30:08.589 Don't live in them. 00:30:09.630 --> 00:30:10.769 Seek out the truth. 00:30:11.009 --> 00:30:18.549 I believe that I believe God's calling out, reaching out to every one of us right now, we are going to, uh, we're going to pray. 00:30:18.670 --> 00:30:21.390 And then we're going to take communion together. 00:30:21.390 --> 00:30:33.789 And as, as we take communion, the, the purpose of it is to remember Jesus's, uh, death and remember, uh, the, the bread that represents his body, the juice that represents the bloody shed. 00:30:33.789 --> 00:30:41.849 And as, as we do it though, uh, identify doubts in your heart and make decisions today, not to live in them because he did raise from the dead. 00:30:41.910 --> 00:30:42.130 Amen. 00:30:43.069 --> 00:30:43.710 Let's pray. 00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:50.220 Dear God, Lord, we're grateful for you, uh, Jesus. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.339 We, we are undeserving. 00:30:52.440 --> 00:31:01.579 What a, what a powerful weekend that we've had, uh, truly worshiping you and connecting with you and connecting with your people. 00:31:02.220 --> 00:31:05.500 We are so grateful for what you've, you've done for us. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:08.940 We're so grateful for what you've done to us, Lord. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.279 And what you've, how you've allowed us to change and how you've given us the opportunity to live different lives. 00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:20.140 Lord, I pray that, that, that you will, uh, I know you'll continue to move Lord. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:27.819 I pray that we'll hear you and see you and listen to you when you do, uh, Jesus, thank you for your, uh, sacrifice on the cross. 00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:29.940 This is in Jesus's name that we pray. 00:31:30.059 --> 00:31:30.200 Amen. 00:31:33.609 --> 00:31:38.190 Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. 00:31:38.569 --> 00:31:41.869 If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. 00:31:42.109 --> 00:31:49.470 Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on. 00:31:49.630 --> 00:31:52.109 In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.