'Words of Life' w/ Pastor Mark D. Ingram
'Words of Life' w/ Pastor Mark D. Ingram
Curtains - Going Beyond Sight
Have you ever considered the deeper meaning behind the curtains that grace the windows of our homes? Join me, Pastor Mark, as we uncover the symbolism of curtains and their parallel to our spiritual walk.
In this week's broadcast / podcast (in lieu of eternity), we connect the ordinary act of selecting curtains—those transformative pieces in our decor—and the extraordinary transitions we will encounter - @ death.
With a focus on the pivotal moment when the temple curtain was torn at Jesus' crucifixion, we're invited to meditate on the newfound access to God this symbolizes and what it reveals about the temporary time that remains, with the one life granted to us (by GOD) as we approach our ultimate judgement.
As the message unfolds, we reflect on the Roman centurion's response to the crucifixion, a timeless lesson about maintaining an attitude of gratitude and praise, even in the midst of our despair. This poignant realization beckons personal introspection as we discuss the essence of praise through our darkest trials, understanding that God's worthiness transcends our circumstances.
The essence of commitment is considered as well, challenging us to consider the allegiances that we have committed our lives to. Through our 'call to action' application points, the message encourages a heartfelt examination of the irreversible choices we have made once the threshold of eternity (death) is crossed, inspiring our viewers and listeners the necessity of committing to GOD, prior to our curtains (lives) being taken down.
CURTAINS
Primary Scripture: Luke 23:44-47
Song of the Week: 'Choose' feat. MDI. w/ The LOX Choir
© Mark D. Ingram
In lieu of eternity, sermons and musical artists are featured to extol JESUS CHRIST as the sole hope for the eternal souls of humanity.
Hey, there again to you, our words of life listeners and viewers. I am Pastor Mark and in this week's words of life broadcast, or podcast, we are going to talk about curtains. Yeah, curtains, the things that go up and they can literally radiate an entire room. They can literally bring a room down as well. Nobody just puts up curtains. You don't need like curtains, you love curtains and we're gonna tie these together, curtains. We're gonna see what that has to do with this week's message. I hope to see you back real soon. Okay, see you in a bit.
Speaker 2:We thank you for joining our words of life broadcast, where our mission is Persuading the lost, perfecting each believer and equipping all for service with practical application from God's word. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's words of life.
Speaker 1:Hey, there again to you. This is Pastor Mark, and I am so grateful that you have tuned in to hear a word from God. Through this ministry, and before I get started, I always like to tell our audience you could have been doing anything else, you could have been listening to anyone else, but the truth of the matter is you have allowed God's Spirit to direct you to this ministry To hear a word from him, and for that my wife and I we never take you for For granted. With that being said, let's jump right into our text for the week, our primary scripture that we are going to come From this week. It is the gospel of Luke, that third synoptic gospel. We have, luke. Let's go with chapter 23, and we are going to begin reading at verse 44. I'm gonna give you just a little bit of time To get there. Once more Luke, chapter 23, and we're going to begin reading at verse 44. I think you are there by now. If you are not, if you're watching the broadcast, we're just gonna put the font up on the screen and we're gonna start reading our primary scripture, that third synoptic gospel in the New Testament Matthew, mark, and then the third one, luke, chapter 23, beginning at verse 44, our reading is as follows it was now the sixth hour, and that was about noon, and darkness came over the whole land, until about the ninth hour, and that was about three in the afternoon. Verse 45 reads for the Sun stopped shining and the veil I, the curtain of the temple, was torn into. Verse 46 reads Jesus called out with a loud voice Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And when he had said this, jesus, he breathed his last. Verse 47 will conclude with our opening text the centurion. Seeing what had happened, he praised God and said surely this, jesus, he was a righteous man. May the Lord add a blessing to the readers, the hearers, but, most importantly, those who intend to do with your help, oh God, your Holy word.
Speaker 1:As I said in our introduction, the title that I want for us to consider for this week's broadcast slash podcast is curtains Going beyond sight. Curtains, yeah, going beyond Sight. You know, back in the day I fancied myself as a promising entertainer and I always talked about, whenever that curtain came up, the first move. They had got to be hard and they have got to be funky. That's literally. That was my motto when that stage curtain came up. Whoo, you don't have time. That first move. It better be hard, it better be funky. But yet, as much as I love to entertain in my younger years, I also understood that the same curtain that went up it also had to come down because someday I'd have to exit the stage, because it was another person's turn to be judged Under the spotlight and to set the stage. I want us to realize this, all of us, right now. My stage may have been a real one that I thought I was entertaining on, but right now I want us to get this symbolic picture in our heads, all of us right now. We are symbolically on stage under one spotlight, with our judgment day already set by God. One day, each one of us, we will travel beyond sight With no chance of coming back. So I want to spend our time together. Let's talk about the symbolism that we're gonna find in Curtains and my introductory thoughts.
Speaker 1:As I was thinking about this message, I thought about curtains. You know, some curtains are expensive. Some they sparkle and they can set an entire space off by just setting a mood. Some curtains block light out and they allow us to sleep in total darkness, while others they are sheer enough to let light Radiate the entire room. Curtains you know, not everybody can pick or put up a good set of curtains. Curtains require vision, they require imagination. Curtains required the ability to go beyond sight of what I can see or Feel, and I can literally envision this set of curtains, even matching a decorative piece Somewhere in the kitchen on top of the refrigerator. I mean, who does that? Those who do that are those with the ability to envision what will be, not what they see. Curtains colors matter, the length they matter. Even the fabric of curtains matters. My mom taught us the value of even replacing shower curtains in a bathroom, and if you replace them with the right set of window curtains, an entirely new vibe is set curtains. I Do not know of one woman in my family that will allow you to just throw up or Hang in their house any old pair of cheap looking Curtains and guess what? You can't just light curtains either. You got to love curtains if they're going up.
Speaker 1:But again, I want us to connect this symbolism here. I'm going somewhere with this. As curtains go up, someday they will also be taken down, and so when I say curtains, I want us to realize that curtains, from here on, they are simply a euphemism, a synonym for life. Some lives will last for months, some will last for years, maybe three score in ten, seventy years old. And as we, as we turn our attention to our opening text, I want us to realize the symbolism that we find in curtains, because the truth of the matter is you, me, we, we are Curtains.
Speaker 1:And so if we backtrack to the 23rd chapter of the physician Luke's gospel to perform our exegesis, we'll review scripture to find out that as the 23rd chapter starts, jesus. He had been convicted to die Although pilot knew this is an innocent man. Matter of fact, the people overwhelmingly choose a guilty man, barabbas, to free, while condemning the innocent Jesus to death. Now, keep in mind, prior to this point, jesus had been brutally beaten, spat upon, whipped with bone and metal attached, his hair plucked out, a crown of thorns attached from the prior evening, starting late at night. And this is being moved from trial to trial all night. Not really a fair jury, not even a fair trial. This happened all night.
Speaker 1:And as the next day dawns, a citizen sees a broken Jesus after the beating. All night, the back and forth all night, the abuse. A citizen sees a broken Jesus trying to carry his cross up a hill to his execution spot. And the reason that the violence and the transparency of Jesus's death is necessary for us to hear is because he did it all. He went through it all thinking about humanity, thinking about you and I. So, as nine in the morning approaches, as Jesus is finally nailed, spiked to a rugged tree, stripped, he's then dropped, not eased. He is dropped on a tree, into a hole in the ground to support the weight of hanging on the cross. Jesus then addresses some some hours later. He addresses two thieves that he is dying between. One ridicules Jesus, but the other thief turns to Jesus in repentance and faith, and that man is assured that he will be with Christ in paradise.
Speaker 1:Now this brings us back to our opening text that we started with verse 44, because at this point the sun has stopped shining and darkness covers the land from noon to 3 pm. And as Jesus screams out in verse 46 with a loud voice Father, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. The verse prior, verse 45, informs us that at this moment, the veil, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. And so, now that we've completed our exegesis and our review of the scripture, taking out what's in it in context. Let's start our transition from then to that hill on Galgotha or Calvary. Let's start our transition from them to now, because we must understand what God wants us to apply to our lives whenever we are caught off guard with the news of someone passing Notice.
Speaker 1:In the text, the veil wasn't torn from side to side, nor was it torn from the bottom up. The curtain was torn from top to bottom, signifying that God was pleased with only one sacrifice accomplished for us his son, jesus. The Christ period that now gave us access to him. But you only had to come through Jesus after Calvary. Before Calvary there was literally that veil, that curtain in the temple that separated the most holy from the holiest of holies. You just weren't going up in there approaching the presence of God. But now he's made it possible by torrentaring the veil from top to bottom, signifying that if you come through Jesus, you can approach me through Jesus alone.
Speaker 1:And I think we have to understand before we go further. We have to understand who God is and who we are. We don't really have a good context of who God is because if we did, we wouldn't act, say, do, and we would recognize. You know what this awesome, the only holy creator of all this God with whom I have to do. I better check myself each and every day. He is God we are not. He is perfection. He is holy. He is the only, not one of many God. He is the only true and living God. There is no other before or after him. He will not tolerate the slightest sin.
Speaker 1:Matter of fact, to get this point across, in the Old Testament, a rope with a bail was tied around the priest, their waist, and if they were assigned to enter the temple to offer sacrifices when God's presence inhabited the place, they could not enter without this rope and this bail, this veil. Yeah, the rope around the waist and the bail attached before they visited the veil that was hung. That's what I meant to say. This veil hung between the most holy place and the holiest of holies. And so here's where the rope with the bail around the priest's waist come into play. If the priest did not approach correctly and according to God's strict requirements, they would drop dead on site and they would have to be pulled out of the temple. But again, once Jesus gave his life for humanity, god showed his approval of Jesus being torn for us by tearing the veil from top to bottom. And now God's only requirement is that we approach him the only way that's acceptable to him, through his son, the only holy sacrifice that holiness would accept Jesus, the Christ period.
Speaker 1:God is not negotiating with anybody. There are not many ways or avenues to reach him. There's only one way, one truth and one life. God is not a man that lies or changes like moving shadows. God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is not to be played with. He is not minimized. He must not be trivialized. God is not to be referenced as inferior or a careless, profane name.
Speaker 1:God is not common. He is exalted above all creation. He is the creator and ruler of everything and everybody. He is beyond our understanding and, with Jesus at his right hand, god sits enthroned beyond sight and time, and steel His spirit dwells within us at this very moment. If we have accepted our relationship to him through Jesus, understand God is omnipresent everywhere, equally, at the same time, with nothing hidden from him. God is omnipotent, all powerful, with nobody to answer to or no one that can check him or what he does. God is omniscient. He is all savi minutes away, knowing he knows every detail about everything and everybody that he created. He does not fight the devil. He created angels and, though fallen Satan and the one third that followed him, now known as demons, they too will bow and they will confess that Jesus alone is Lord of all.
Speaker 1:Therefore, we must, in our short lives, we must, maintain a reverential fear and respect of who we're dealing with here. We must teach our children, teach their children, teach our great grandchildren, because at some point, with the veil now torn and all having access to the free gift of eternal life, available only through Jesus, god is going to take our curtains, our lives down, to usher us individually, beyond sight, beyond time and into eternity. So the question now becomes what should you, what should me, what should we do? What should we do when someone that we love, god, takes their curtains down? He takes their lives down, leaving us still here to deal with the pain, the memories, the sorrow and the empty spaces they've left behind as they have now traveled beyond sight. Well, here's our first call to action. Point Point number one we must still offer God praise. Even when God takes lives that we love, when he takes curtains down, we must still offer God praise.
Speaker 1:Notice what the Roman captain who oversaw the crucifixion look at what he said in verse 47, the centurion, seeing what had happened, he praised God and he said surely, jesus, this was a righteous man. I mean with everything. The guard witnessed up to this point and the night before it did not look promising at all for Jesus or his followers. Frankly, all looked hopeless. But remember, they didn't have any clue. Three days was yet to come and the verse still reminds us. Seeing what had happened, the centurion gave us a clue of what we need to do. He looked beyond sight and he praised God for Jesus. And so now the truth is, like my high schoolers I teach high school high schoolers they actually said, mr Ingram, well, how happened was? So we can truly say what had happened at the cross was an innocent man is dead. But that should have been me.
Speaker 1:I praise you, I thank you, lord. The sun has stopped shining. Darkness envelops our family's land. Since we've lost you, feel in the blank, but still I bless your holy name at all times. Oh God, I know how I felt when I lost my dad, but, lord, I still bless your name. The earth shakes now. My nerves are bad. I just can't stop crying. I miss that person, but yet I will praise you, oh God. Praise is necessary. Women and wren, they're running, hiding, whaling. Just don't know what I'm going to do now. Yes, I do, I'm going to praise your name, oh God. The veil is now torn and I have personal access to God through Jesus. I am no longer an enemy of God. I can touch the symbolic him of his garment on my own. Don't need nobody to go for me. I thank you, oh Lord, I will praise you.
Speaker 1:Back to the verse. Seeing all that had happened, the centurion immediately praised God. He went beyond sight. He became awestruck at what God allowed to happen to Jesus because, understand, nobody took Jesus's life. He laid it down. He laid it down for you and for me, for we. The centurion realized this and he started praising and glorifying God. So, even at what can seem like the worst of our times, our God is a God of glory and praise on the darkest and the loneliest of days. But praise him anyhow, thank him, bless his holy name. I know for a fact I should be dead in some situation, but I thank God for keeping me. He hasn't taken my curtain down yet. Bless his holy name somehow, some way, because God is worthy of our praise. We must learn to praise Job, a man familiar with grief. He lost his entire family. He reminds us, the Lord gives and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised. So through the tears, through the pain, through our loss and in everything going through hell where the were sicker, we're well. God is worthy of praise. He's ready to receive. Thereby we must offer God our praise.
Speaker 1:Here's our call to action. Point number two when we're talking about curtains, curtains require commitment. So who or what do we pledge our lives to? That is application point number two, to consider. Curtains require commitment, so who or what do we pledge our lives to?
Speaker 1:In verse 46, jesus called out with a loud voice. There was no doubt who he committed his life to, who he pledged his actions to. He said in verse 46, father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And when he had said this, jesus breathe his last. Everyone knew who Jesus was devoted to and who he represented. But we'll have and say that about us during the one life God has loaned us. While our curtain just still up, jesus committed loudly for everybody to hear. On the cross. He also did this prior to taking his last breath with his entire life and before he died he made it commitment again, everybody gonna know who I represent. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It ain't about who I know, it ain't about a connection. Lord, I'm about to give up my last breath and I'm about to dive into hell to set captor tree.
Speaker 1:Who or what Do we pledge our lives to? Because here's the truth of the matter A decision from us is required before our dirt suits, our bodies reach the casket or the urn, once God takes our curtains our lives down and we breathe our last breath. The lives we lived and the decisions we made, they are irrevocable, unable to be altered or changed. They are final, they are binding, they are permanent. So a question begs of us who or what again do we commit our lives to? And is God pleased? Is it our children that we prioritize ahead of God? Is it the devotion to our homes, cars, the temporary things we possess? Or maybe it's that person, maybe it's that child, maybe it's that husband or wife that we've lost, that we miss so much and we think we just cannot live without? And God is still on the throne saying well, what am I chop-liver? Are we devoted to the here and now or do we consider eternal things by preparing ourselves to travel beyond sight and time? When God takes our symbolic curtains down?
Speaker 1:I want to use this analogy not being prepared, not ready for the last breath that God has already assigned each one of us. It's like going to a department store and you see the perfect pair of curtains and for some reason you don't feel like making a decision or paying that cost right now. So we take the chance and we leave those curtains behind, thinking we'll have to. Just I got time, I'll double back and they'll be there and we or maybe, let me be honest, just me we will hide. I will hide those perfect curtains, maybe behind a bed set, hoping that nobody will come along and find them because I'm coming back to get them. You know, I thought I had time to go to do, to say, to plan, to retrieve, get my finances together. I left my wallet, my credit card in the car, maybe. But when I went back to get the curtains, you guessed it. They were not there anymore. Somebody bought them with a price. The curtains are gone, they are beyond sight. Now, our curtains, ie our lives. They resemble this same exchange.
Speaker 1:Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verse six. The verse warns us remember God before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the wheel. Look at what the writer literally says in his wisdom Remember God before, because that silver cord, the golden bowl, the pitcher, the spring and the wheel, what follows is kind of what happens to our bodies as we grow older we snap, they are crushed, they are shattered, they become broken. And in verse seven the writer says remember God before the dust returns to the ground to which it came and then the spirit returns to God who gave it. We must commit, we must pledge our lives for God's use before our appointed final breath, for it is appointed unto man to die once. And after this, the judgment. What will God judge us for when he calls us beyond sight to meet him? He is going to confirm if we reserved the only way to approach him. And that leads into our final call to action.
Speaker 1:Point of the message curtains. Here's point number three reservations in Jesus's name will be confirmed by God, and nobody shows up at a nice hotel without a reservation and a confirmation Planning our exit from earth. It will function in similar fashion. God gave specific, exact instructions about the curtain that hung in the temple. His specifications were exact for the temple curtain and they are exact for us entering eternity. Jesus's monogram had better be sown into the fabric of our lives, and we'd better be perfectly clear that there is only one color that God expects to see when he takes our lives, our curtains down. It is the beautiful, unmatchable, crimson red blood of Jesus that must cover our sinful lives. That is the only way that we are going beyond time, beyond sight, meeting God safely, the blood of Jesus covering our lives. He was born to be lifted up to draw all unto him. Our room in heaven, our space, has already been paid for by Jesus. It's a free gift. We've been bought with a price, but we can only go through one person to redeem the offer and God is again going to confirm or reject who we went through.
Speaker 1:Once we check out of here to check into eternity, jesus says don't let your heart be troubled at death. You believe in God, believe in me as well. In my father's house or many rooms. If it were not so, I wouldn't have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you, would I? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into my presence so that you also may be where I am.
Speaker 1:As we close this week's message, we must know this we cannot just take our sweet time thinking we have all the time in the world to decide our eternal destinies. I think of my family, I think of the many funerals I have been blessed with the responsibility of preaching the gospel at, and in those moments, by God alone, I recognize the seriousness of not only my responsibility but everybody that's sitting there, because usually the next funeral or no matter if it's a year, a few months, somebody that was present right now, they're not at the next one, they've crossed into eternity. People have been called beyond time and beyond sight at their appointed time, because only God takes curtains lives down. And just as Jesus made a conscious decision for everybody to hear for God I live and for God I'll die, into your hands, father, I commit my spirit, jesus committed with his life before he breathed his last breath. Well, you and I face the same decision and you can book your eternal reservation beyond time and beyond sight, with nothing to fear.
Speaker 1:From this point forward, with a sincere heart, as you listen to the podcast or if you're watching the broadcast, if you are not 100 percent certain that when God takes your curtain, your life down and he ushers you into eternity, if you do not feel 100 percent assured and safe, if there is one Iota of doubt, I'm going to ask you to repeat this simple prayer to reserve your safe entrance into eternity, into God's presence forever. Lord, ay, I acknowledge my sinful life and my need of salvation from your forthcoming wrath upon Satan and unbelievers that reject your gift of Jesus. My be Lord. I believe that when Jesus uttered it is finished. He was thinking about the veil in his body being torn, ripped apart, just for me giving me free access to you and Lord, my final see. I will now confess with my mouth. I will commit my life to you, o Lord, and I believe that your Holy Spirit, he, will perfect all that concerns me and he alone will complete the good work he has started in me this day. I rejoice, lord, and I close my prayer by saying it is so, or a man. Congratulations my friend, as heavenly angels rejoice and our family members in heaven rejoice. My prayer is that all of us, we are safe, every listener or viewer that is under the sound of my voice. We are secure as well when God takes our curtains, our lives, down to usher us beyond sight and into His presence forever.
Speaker 1:Well, that's my time for this episode of Words of Life. And remember, no matter if you prefer the broadcast to watch or the podcast to listen to on your portable devices or app the Words of Life show or Roku channel, they are free for you to download and following this week's episode. Be on the lookout, because her show follows mine. Be on the lookout for my wife's show as well, and her show is entitled Biblical Thoughts with Twala, a ministry geared towards women expounding on God's word, and I love the show. I am grateful that God has allowed her to reach so many that he has assigned to her and understand that her broadcast and her podcast, just like Words of Life, they are available for free download as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, my producers winding up. So y'all, I'm out of here and I'm going to present our song of the week. I'm just going to be really honest. Right now I have no idea which song we've chosen, so I can't tell you the title, but I do know this it is going to glorify God, and so, until the next time, this is Pastor Mark praying that you have secured your growing loving relationship with God by confessing Jesus, the Christ, as the sole hope for every eternal soul. God bless you. We love you. We'll see you soon. Okay, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Do you choose this day Whom you will serve? Cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard. As for me and this house, there is no doubt. Do you choose this day Whom you will serve. Will you choose this day Whom you will serve? Cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard. As for me and this house, there is no doubt. Do you choose this day Whom you will serve. You're gonna have to choose when religion don't wanna lose and some might disapprove, while others wanna stay confused. But when our time is due, then the whole world will want your answer too, and there'll be no excuse. So you're gonna have to choose.
Speaker 1:You're gonna have to choose when religion don't wanna lose and some might disapprove, while others wanna stay confused. But when our time is due, then the whole world will want your answer too, and there'll be no excuse. So you're gonna have to choose. Choose this day Whom you will serve, cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard, as for me and this house, there is no doubt. Do you choose this day Whom you will serve? Will you choose this day Whom you will serve, cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard, as for me and this house, there is no doubt. Will you choose this day Whom you will serve? You're gonna have to choose when religion don't wanna lose, and some might disapprove While others wanna stay confused. But when our time is due, then the whole world will want your answer too, and there'll be no excuse. So you're gonna have to choose.
Speaker 2:You're gonna have to choose when religion don't wanna lose, and some might disapprove, while others wanna stay confused, but when our time is due, then the whole world will want your answer too, and there'll be no excuse. So you're gonna have to choose. Choose this day Whom you will serve, cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard, as for me and this house, there is no doubt. Will you choose this day Whom you will serve? Will you choose this day Whom you will serve, cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard, as for me and this house, there is no doubt. Will you choose this day Whom you will serve. Will you choose this day Whom you will serve, cause there's only one way. Forget what you heard, as for me and this house, there is no doubt. Will you choose this day?