SPEAKER_01: Thanks for checking out this podcast from Carterville Christian Church.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is that through these messages you'll grow deeper in your faith and experience the life-changing hope of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's jump into this week's teaching.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being here with us this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I'm Jordan.
SPEAKER_02: I'm one of the youth ministers.
SPEAKER_02: So Danny and I are very thankful that you're here on C through Youth Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: And it means a lot to us that you are.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm sure you're just coming to church, but if you didn't know, all of the people that are serving in pretty much every single area are C through youth students.
SPEAKER_02: So and they're ones that are going to move with us this summer.
SPEAKER_02: We have right now exactly at 100 kids coming with us this summer, and they're going to be serving all over the church this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And at the beginning of the morning, we kind of said, you need to set a good example of what teenagers, how teenagers can act.
SPEAKER_02: But we just, I want you to know, we are very proud of them.
SPEAKER_02: And I said that to them knowing you guys are gonna rock it because we have great kids and ones that we would love to invite you to partner with us in sending them to a pretty life-changing week at Move this summer.
SPEAKER_02: And so I am really trying not to make enemies up here, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And I know that even just saying that right off the bat's like not the best way to start a message ever, but whatever, here we are.
SPEAKER_02: Um but I want to talk about the live, laugh, love, sign era that we are, I think, getting out of a little bit, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Um if you live in a home with a live, laugh, love or some degree of sign, I am not no shade, okay.
SPEAKER_02: No shade.
SPEAKER_02: Um I feel like I see a lot of them now, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like live, laugh, love.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe we're kind of slowly fading out of that, but um like this coffee, or this coffee, this house runs on coffee and chaos, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Seen that one a lot?
SPEAKER_02: Or it's like, yeah, it does, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Um or my parents, we make fun of them.
SPEAKER_02: They have a huge, huge sign above their pantry.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Saying pantry, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Which is like, yep, there's the pantry, got it.
SPEAKER_02: Um, or the washer and dryer, laundry, right?
SPEAKER_02: And where it's like, okay, yeah, we got it.
SPEAKER_02: Um I have a sign at my house, and I painted it in college, and it doesn't look very good, but it says it is well.
SPEAKER_02: Um and there are sometimes when I put that sign up where it's like, is it though?
SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know if it is well with my soul today, um, but I'm gonna put the sign up anyway.
SPEAKER_02: And I think um maybe some of those signs that we put up in our house, I'm all about having something um in your space that reminds you of what's actually true.
SPEAKER_02: Um, so again, no shade whatsoever.
SPEAKER_02: But I wonder if like those things are something that we actually believe.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So I like let go and let God, right?
SPEAKER_02: Um and for some of us, we can say, yes, I do that.
SPEAKER_02: I let go and I can let God, right?
SPEAKER_02: Um, and for some of us, maybe like more of the type A, I'm not a type A, so that's not me.
SPEAKER_02: But um type A would be like, I can't let go, right?
SPEAKER_02: I cannot unclench my fists, I can't let go, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So I can have that sign up in my house, but let's be honest, I'm not letting letting go, all right?
SPEAKER_02: Um maybe for others of us, it's like I can let go.
SPEAKER_02: I'm good, I'm a free spirit, but to let God be in charge of my life, I can say that, but it's a different thing altogether to actually believe that.
SPEAKER_02: And in the moments of my day, like if I'm actually thinking about my life, um am I letting go?
SPEAKER_02: And am I letting God like have complete control of my life?
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that is what our it's what makes our text this morning so convicting.
SPEAKER_02: And so um I believe, I truly believe that this text is calling us together as a body to answer the question: is that true about me?
SPEAKER_02: Do I trust God with my life?
SPEAKER_02: Can I genuinely let go and commit my spirit to God?
SPEAKER_02: Am I doing that currently?
SPEAKER_02: Can I trust like Jesus did on the cross?
SPEAKER_02: Can I trust God like Jesus did?
SPEAKER_02: And that's the that's a question we want to answer this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and when I think about what it means to trust God, I'm I I'm often balancing the truth of I want to, and I say that I do.
SPEAKER_02: Yet when I look at the moments and the choices and my anxiety or or my um uncertainty or my frustrations or whatever, and I'll be like, I don't know if I necessarily am all of the time.
SPEAKER_02: Um so let's set the scene before we get into our actual verse.
SPEAKER_02: Um, let's move back to Luke 23, 44 and 45.
SPEAKER_02: In this text, Jesus is on the cross and he has fully like we are entering holy week, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So this is this is the week that even especially like on Wednesday night, we're gonna be um focusing on children's and youth of the Holy Week and what that kind of looks like for us as believers.
SPEAKER_02: And so let's put ourselves in this position of thinking about the Savior of the world up on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: It is dark.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Um for those disciples who have said, yeah, I do believe in this in this person, um, but right now things are not looking the best ever.
SPEAKER_02: Um and actually, um in verse 44 it says, It was now about noon, and genuine darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and there was complete darkness in the middle of the day.
SPEAKER_02: And I want us to sit in that for a second and think, um, man, what what would they have felt?
SPEAKER_02: There were some of them that we see were experiencing that darkness, and they're like, okay, this guy was actually legit.
SPEAKER_02: There are some people who is like, yeah, we were right, we killed that guy, and he didn't do a thing about it.
SPEAKER_02: Like he was a joke.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, then there are his followers who are who are wanting to believe, but they see nothing.
SPEAKER_02: They see nothing in front of them anymore.
SPEAKER_02: It's dark.
SPEAKER_02: And when I think about you and I, um, I think about myself, I wonder at what level of the spectrum do we find ourselves in this morning on light to darkness?
SPEAKER_02: Our actual text is Luke 23, 46.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: When he had said this, he breathed his last.
SPEAKER_02: If while things were so very dark, the Savior of the universe was on the cross and he did what he did, I think wherever you and I find ourselves on the spectrum this morning of being in the light or maybe being deceived and consumed by the darkness, I think Jesus is what we need.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so let's take a look together this morning at these words, but more importantly, this person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And the first thing that I think he shows us is that Jesus knew the word.
SPEAKER_02: He's one of those leaders, he is the leader, okay, um, that he knows.
SPEAKER_02: If anybody could say something new, it would be Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: If I would want to hear anybody have something brand new to say, especially the last words that he chooses to say, um, I would trust Jesus to give me something good.
SPEAKER_02: And what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_02: He is so commit, I mean, he is the word, right?
SPEAKER_02: He is the Lagos, but he is so um, he embodied it so much that the last words that he chooses to say to us on the cross as he is dying are words straight from Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: He he's quoting Psalm 31, 5, into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And when I think about um, first of all, a leader that I want to follow, it's somebody like that.
SPEAKER_02: And I it's I mean dripping in these verses of like, yeah, it's somebody I want to follow.
SPEAKER_02: Someone who is so formed by the word that it's like it is just coming out of his mouth, right?
SPEAKER_02: It's coming out of her mouth that she is so formed, her identity is formed by scripture and not by anything else.
SPEAKER_02: And I think this morning, as we struggle with where we're actually placing our lives, if we're struggling, I think that's an important thing that we can learn from Jesus is like, how much am I being formed by the word?
SPEAKER_02: How much am I um letting those words define who I am, or how much am I actually truly being deceived?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm kind of just looking at Christianity in general, kind of just like, all right, better than him, probably not good as him, but like I'm in the middle, right?
SPEAKER_02: Um, what where are we getting our truth from?
SPEAKER_02: I love that Jesus um was formed by the word.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not, um, I think when I think about like looking at Jesus in this scenario, it's not even just that we want to look at him as like this icon to follow, um, but we want to um be like close with that.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be with Jesus if he is the one being formed by the word.
SPEAKER_02: Um and that is the second point that I think is very clear here is that Jesus says, he's quoting scripture, but he adds an important little feature.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and he says, um to your hands I commit my spirit, but he adds father at the beginning.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think that's accidental, I don't think that's something that we should like slip right over.
SPEAKER_02: Um, it is a very relationally intentional way to address his father.
SPEAKER_02: Father, I love you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in agony right now, but I trust you.
SPEAKER_02: I I know that I have to do this.
SPEAKER_02: Um I've asked you, can this cut be taken from me?
SPEAKER_02: But I know that this is the way forward, and so I trust you even when I can't see in front of me.
SPEAKER_02: Every summer, I've obviously, like we said, we take a trip, take several trips, um, but at Move, we have the opportunity to go whitewater rafting, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't know this, but in Cleveland, Tennessee, it is gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02: And I think we have a picture of this, it is like a great picture, but even if you it cuts it off, okay, it cut it off.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but there's like rolling beautiful hills of greenery that when we go around these turns, it's like, man, this is gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we don't get that opportunity every day to go white water rafting at a uh Olympic training place, all right?
SPEAKER_02: And so for 12 years, I would be like, guys, just raft, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You don't need to do anything, like you're not doing the alternate option, you're gonna raft, all right?
SPEAKER_02: Um you're not gonna get this opportunity every single day.
SPEAKER_02: Just do it.
SPEAKER_02: Like I know that you might be scared, I know that you might not want to do that, just do it.
SPEAKER_02: I did that up until about three years ago, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Um, when uh we a lot of us fell out of the boat around three years ago, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Um one of the reasons was like my raft guide was probably 80 pounds, all right?
SPEAKER_02: And I think I probably, if I'm being honest, could have given birth to her, all right.
SPEAKER_02: So she was not like she was not pulling me back in that boat, all right?
SPEAKER_02: Um and so and she was like, all right, lean in, lean in, and it's like I'm out of the boat already.
SPEAKER_02: You missed that.
SPEAKER_02: I I didn't lean in, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so I am floating, I was one of like 20 of us that um got knocked out of the boat, and me, I was like, I'm not gonna- I've done this 12 times, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Got knocked out of the boat, humbled, but also I was like, I'm gonna, this is where I'm dying.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I am dying here.
SPEAKER_02: I was literally floating down the river where it was like, this is going to suck for them to have to like finish this trip um when I died, right?
SPEAKER_02: And to like go back to the church.
SPEAKER_02: That's gonna be weird, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's how um much as I was floating down the river, like, this is my end, this is where it ends for me.
SPEAKER_02: Um, thank, praise, um, shout out to Dave McCune and Caleb Browning.
SPEAKER_02: They at some point, I in I took probably a gallon of water, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So I don't know, but they at some point got me out of the water.
SPEAKER_02: And I had a huge, like, I got sliced um on my leg and had a huge cut, okay, so deep that like the stitches kept breaking apart, um, which is just yeah, I'll show you.
SPEAKER_02: It's too graphic for up here, but if you want to see a picture, I'll show you a picture.
SPEAKER_02: It's nasty, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And they would have to like pack it every other day here, and it just was not fun, all right.
SPEAKER_02: So now I know if you don't want to go rafting, you don't have to go rafting, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Um, first of all, we call early and we're like, we want the good raft guides, all right.
SPEAKER_02: It's a bunch of teenagers coming in, which we trust you, um, but we want good raft guides.
SPEAKER_02: And so we tell them that early now.
SPEAKER_02: But also, if you don't want to raft, it's okay.
SPEAKER_02: We're not gonna make you raft.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I was a very much uh untrustworthy leader in that moment saying, you should do it, you're gonna be fine, all right?
SPEAKER_02: When in fact I was not fine.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think I am so thankful that we do not have to respond to Jesus like that.
SPEAKER_02: The more that I understand the actual person of God, his actual characteristics, not what religion pushes sometimes, not what my shame or my sin pushes me to think of God as, um, but his actual real love for us, his actual power to take me out of that sin and to make me new.
SPEAKER_02: That is what is available to us when he when we accept him as our Father.
SPEAKER_02: Like we really would, if we understood who God actually was, be like, yeah, there's actually nobody else I'd rather let go to and commit my spirit to than you.
SPEAKER_02: Thirdly, Jesus chose to trust.
SPEAKER_02: Lastly, from scripture, we see that Jesus was not passively just letting his death happen to him.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: As he was slowly suffocating for the sins that he did not commit, he did not whisper into the air.
SPEAKER_02: It says he said with a loud voice, Into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: John 10, 14 through 18 is the a beautiful passage of him reminding us that he is the good shepherd, that he will always come after us.
SPEAKER_02: He says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.
SPEAKER_02: Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
SPEAKER_02: I have other sheep that are not of this sheep, but I must bring them also because Jesus loves everyone.
SPEAKER_02: They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
SPEAKER_02: Here's where it gets relevant for this sermon.
SPEAKER_02: The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again.
SPEAKER_02: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
SPEAKER_02: I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
SPEAKER_02: This command I have received from my father.
SPEAKER_02: And this trust and this letting go, it takes practice and it takes this commitment to like I am committing to this.
SPEAKER_02: It is not weak, it is not passive, it is not fragile.
SPEAKER_02: It's quite the opposite when we see Jesus surrender his life.
SPEAKER_02: And all I know again is I want to follow a leader like that.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to, I can trust a leader like that.
SPEAKER_02: We got the opportunity to go to Honduras, um, got back a week ago Friday, and we had a lot of things thrown at us while we were there, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And it was one of, I mean, every trip is is phenomenal, but um I my friends from Honduras can come up.
SPEAKER_02: There's about half of them that are kind of come up and share this service, and then half that are gonna come up at the next service and share.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it takes a lot of trust to do what we did.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we're just very again, I got we got to debrief with students every single night.
SPEAKER_02: You should be so proud of them and the ways that God was revealing himself to them, the ways that they were receptive to that, and the ways that he challenged us.
SPEAKER_02: Um so they're gonna just share some things this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Let you start.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna pass it down.
SPEAKER_06: Hi, I'm Maudre.
SPEAKER_06: Uh I'm so proud of to go back to two years ago.
SPEAKER_06: And one of the things that I really have to trust God in the most while I'm there is whenever we go house calling, um, sometimes you're entering a house that maybe they don't believe in God or they've never been to the church.
SPEAKER_06: But the scripture I prepared, um, it always seems to either fit exactly what they need, and it's it always gives me chills because I can see that the spirit is working in them.
SPEAKER_06: So it's really cool to do that, and um, I'm able to have my trust strengthen more, and through that experience, it's really cool to see them know the Lord.
unknown: Gotcha.
SPEAKER_05: Um my name's Michaela, and I also went two years ago, and this time I enjoyed it even more.
SPEAKER_05: I just love the people of Honduras.
SPEAKER_05: Um, it's cool for me to see that even with the cultural um barrier, we have the same joy, the same laughter, the same things in common.
SPEAKER_05: And I think when we think, oh, different culture, we think, oh, they're different than us.
SPEAKER_05: But it's really humbling and cool to see like that we follow the same God.
SPEAKER_05: But even through that, they they got it figured out.
SPEAKER_05: They, the things that we put before God, they don't.
SPEAKER_05: It is visually obvious and verbally obvious, uh, the things that they trust in God and they're dependent and they're reliable through everything.
SPEAKER_05: And taking back from Honduras um those things that I can put before God, um, I think it's good to replace that with something like trust, like we're talking about today.
SPEAKER_05: And I think that is what I want to take back from Honduras.
SPEAKER_04: Hi, my name is Maddie.
SPEAKER_04: This was my first time going, but I actually have a story about when we were went when we went there.
SPEAKER_04: So we got to go, we had the opportunity to go to house callings, and so one of the first ones we got to go to, um, it was our small group, and we got to go into their like front porch.
SPEAKER_04: We sat around there, they got us all chairs, and we sat down and we got the opportunity to talk to this couple.
SPEAKER_04: They had been married one year, and we we found out that two months prior to us being there, they had lost their seven-month-old baby.
SPEAKER_04: And so Brett was actually the one to give this devotion while we were there, and this was something that I had no idea that he was giving a devotion, but I thought that he knew the people, he knew who he was gonna talk to, um, and that he knew what he was gonna talk about with their situation.
SPEAKER_04: But he didn't, and so Brett's devotion was kind of on trust.
SPEAKER_04: And Joshua 19 says, Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, and do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_04: And that's kind of what his devotion was centered around, and it was so cool to see God just take over Brett and feel like the Holy Spirit was just in that room while we were there, and you could just tell that couple was really in taking everything they were hearing with their situation.
SPEAKER_04: They needed some trust and courage while they were going through those hard times, and so that was super cool for me to just experience and take away that God's got you and everything that you go through.
SPEAKER_04: He's you know, you just have to have trust in him and he's gonna guide you through.
SPEAKER_00: So, hey guys, I'm but and the trip was so awesome, and I'm so thankful that I got to go.
SPEAKER_00: And I think the thing I learned the most from it was patience.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'll find like a lot of times I'll be talking to God about like issues and stuff going on in my life, and I'll expect like an immediate result.
SPEAKER_00: And then if I don't see that, I kind of get discouraged and I'm like, why isn't God listening to me and all this stuff?
SPEAKER_00: But then seeing how the kids and Evan and Honduras are so happy when they have a lot less than I do, and they have patience in God's plan, it just showed me that I need to be able to do that as well.
SPEAKER_03: Hi, my name is Jaylee, and this was my first time going to Honduras.
SPEAKER_03: And while I was there, I experienced so many different lessons that I just didn't know I was going to get the chance to experience.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but one of the main things I did figure out and experience while I was there was um the kids definitely had less than we did, but even though they had less, they were just still so thankful for everything that they got.
SPEAKER_03: And um I know I'm like a pretty picky person when it comes to like eating, and they did not complain about anything they had, no matter what it was.
SPEAKER_03: They just said thank you, and they had like the biggest smiles on their face.
SPEAKER_03: And they were just excited to have other people there um to hang out with them and to like play soccer and volleyball and basketball, and we just got to experience the true joy that they have, even though they don't get to experience a lot of things that we do, and so it was just cool to see that like we don't need a bunch of fancy things or a bunch of toys to like have fun, just like having friends and being in a good community was a good experience.
SPEAKER_07: Hey guys, I'm Jasmine.
SPEAKER_07: This was also my first time going, and the whole experience was obviously it was just so amazing to see, and being with all the kids um was just so refreshing to see how they don't have a lot of material things that we do, and they literally will make like toys and play with like any type of balls they will make, like out of plastic and stuff, and it's just so refreshing to see that they don't need all the fancy things to make them happy.
SPEAKER_07: And another thing that like influenced me to trust God a lot more is we had a lot of things thrown at us the whole time we were there, and I kind of have a story.
SPEAKER_07: So we were all sitting at lunch one day, and Mariella, the one that is in charge of Mission Kari Bay, she told us that the pastor needed help moving bricks, and all of us were like, Yeah, okay, we'll help move bricks.
SPEAKER_07: We didn't know that the bricks were gonna be 50 pounds at the bottom of.
SPEAKER_07: A mountain.
SPEAKER_07: So we all went together and picked up the bricks and carried them up.
SPEAKER_07: And then at the end we made an assembly line, but the whole time we were like, Yeah, I don't think I could do this anymore.
SPEAKER_07: But with God's help, obviously, and with each other's encouragement, we got through it, and it was great.
SPEAKER_02: All right, you guys can give them a round of applause.
SPEAKER_02: You guys are great.
SPEAKER_02: There were 350 bricks, actually.
SPEAKER_02: So we did not get them all.
SPEAKER_02: They thought we got about 200, but I think we got like 70, so it felt like a lot more than we actually did.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but it was a great trip.
SPEAKER_02: And I think about our students that we have that went on the trip, that are going to move, that are here on Wednesday nights faithfully.
SPEAKER_02: We have a lot to learn from them in regards to how they choose to trust God with their life.
SPEAKER_02: And when I think about all of this, when I think about the way that Jesus, we get to see him faithfully committing his life to his father, it is, it makes me ask the question, why?
SPEAKER_02: Like, why do this?
SPEAKER_02: Why choose sometimes a very dark road that maybe we can't see fully?
SPEAKER_02: Um, what's next?
SPEAKER_02: Um why when other things feel a lot easier to grasp?
SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe they actually even give us a little bit more hope or like we can see it.
SPEAKER_02: Um why?
SPEAKER_02: Why are we choosing to trust?
SPEAKER_02: Um I want to end with another kind of like let's get into this scene, um, but it's in from Revelation.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to think of John who who receives this vision in Revelation, and he is one of the last like original disciples.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, he's the OG, one of the last OGs.
SPEAKER_02: He is like isolated on an island, um, taken away from his congregation, the people that he loves, and it is probably very, very dark for him.
SPEAKER_02: And he receives this vision and he sees a door.
SPEAKER_02: And so he opens this door, and what he sees, this is a this is true vision that happened, okay, in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: What he sees is this throne room.
SPEAKER_02: And he sees this throne room, and he sees this throne, and he sees one sitting on the throne, and it's like he is a he's a jewel.
SPEAKER_02: That is how brightly he's shining.
SPEAKER_02: And there's rainbows covering him, and there's the there's 24 thrones surrounding him, and they're all worshiping four living creatures.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, I cannot wait to see these creatures in heaven, all right?
SPEAKER_02: Talks about in Isaiah, talks about here in Revelation.
SPEAKER_02: Um, four creatures um looking pretty crazy, all right?
SPEAKER_02: And they're all worshiping the one who is worthy, the one seated on the throne.
SPEAKER_02: And so John is lifted in his spears, and he's like, Okay, um, it's good.
SPEAKER_02: Like, he's the one that's worthy.
SPEAKER_02: And then we recognize, like, he uh this angel, this strong angel, starts to ask, who's worthy?
SPEAKER_02: We see a scroll sitting on his, just laying on his hand, and he's and and then the angel's announcing, like, who's worthy to open this scroll?
SPEAKER_02: Who's worthy to open and reveal the rest of eternity?
SPEAKER_02: The fate of those that belong to Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Who is worthy to open the scroll?
SPEAKER_02: And then John probably immediately just goes back into that dark place because he looks around and is like, nobody's worthy.
SPEAKER_02: Like I have, I've like spent a lot of seasons actively resisting God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not worthy.
SPEAKER_02: He looks around and and sees all like nobody's worthy.
SPEAKER_02: And it's so dark that he begins to weep.
SPEAKER_02: And then he hears, hears a lion.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and for the early believers, when they heard understood this, it would have been like, okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_02: Here is our our conquering king.
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is what we've been waiting for.
SPEAKER_02: Um, he is coming to avenge our, like, avenge us.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna bring revenge on all of those horrible people in the world.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to redeem us back.
SPEAKER_02: And then he turns to look at this mighty lion, and what he sees is a slaughtered lamb.
SPEAKER_02: He sees this lamb who has been broken open.
SPEAKER_02: And he's standing, but he's slaughtered.
SPEAKER_02: And when we look at this passage, we understand like the veil that separated us from God, that didn't tear when the resurrection happened.
SPEAKER_02: That tore when Jesus was on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: It was his death.
SPEAKER_02: Revelation reminds us that that saves you and I.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we'll talk about the resurrection next week.
SPEAKER_02: And it is that that stamps that actually makes him worthy to for his death to count.
SPEAKER_02: But guys, it was his dying for you and I that has purchased us back.
SPEAKER_02: It has purchased, redeemed, bought back you and I from sin.
SPEAKER_02: We no longer have to be deceived by the darkness and the struggle of this world because we follow somebody who is worthy.
SPEAKER_02: We follow somebody who has died, who emptied himself as the God of this universe and chose to die for you and I.
SPEAKER_02: That is a leader that I want to follow.
SPEAKER_02: And how do we follow somebody who has died, who has given everything while being God?
SPEAKER_02: We fully completely identify with the Lamb.
SPEAKER_02: He becomes who we emulate.
SPEAKER_02: He becomes our companion, our most faithful relationship.
SPEAKER_02: He becomes the one who the one sitting on the throne said, Yeah, it's him.
SPEAKER_02: You need to worship him.
SPEAKER_02: And together we have redeemed you back from darkness.
SPEAKER_02: And so, as we have been given new names, a new kingdom, we do not live in the darkness of this world.
SPEAKER_02: We are priests of a new kingdom ushering in heaven now.
SPEAKER_02: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_02: How do we win in a dark world?
SPEAKER_02: Is it by avenging?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: It's by dying to ourselves, it's by emulating the lamb, the slaughtered lamb who did not have to do that.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Timothy 11 or 2, verses 11 through 13 says, here's a trustworthy, something we can put our trust in, saying, If we died with him, we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_02: If we endure, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_02: If we disown him, he will also disown us.
SPEAKER_02: But if we're faithless, he will always remain faithful because we can trust in him.
SPEAKER_02: He cannot disown himself and he will remain faithful forever because he is the same God.
SPEAKER_02: And this last part is me just hoping that somebody in the audience needs to hear it, because if I'm being completely honest, completely honest, there are times where I hear this truth and I still find something else a little bit more attractive.
SPEAKER_02: And I still choose to cling on to something that I can see, a hope that I can see.
SPEAKER_02: And I I've even like followed down that path of deception.
SPEAKER_02: And it's like I'm I've been around enough to know like it does not work, it will not satisfy.
SPEAKER_02: And so there are times where where I hear something like this and I'm a passionate person, like I am, I am ten toes down, like I this is me, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I forever.
SPEAKER_02: He is my king forever.
SPEAKER_02: And then there are seasons where it's like, man, I'm lonely, and I just want something that like I can see.
SPEAKER_02: Or I am I'm uncertain, and I just want to know what the future holds.
SPEAKER_02: And it's in these moments that I remember John 6, 66 through 69.
SPEAKER_02: A lot of followers had turned away at this point.
SPEAKER_02: So from this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him because it's dark, like life's dark.
SPEAKER_02: Being a follower of Jesus is hard.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus asked the disciples, Do you want to leave now too?
SPEAKER_02: Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_02: Where else would we go?
SPEAKER_02: You have the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: We have come to believe and to know that you are the holy one of God, you are the worthy one.
SPEAKER_02: So even when we don't feel it, even when something else seems easier, who else would we really follow?
SPEAKER_02: We follow all those things out, it leads to death, it leads to deception, it leads to darkness.
SPEAKER_02: But we have somebody that we can fully commit, that we can say, yeah, you are the only one I want to put my spirit into, my whole life into.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to see how you use me, how you get to it's just it's incomprehensible the the treasures that we get from doing this.
SPEAKER_02: Um so together this morning, let's worship this God and be thankful together for what he has done for us to commit to um either being connected to him or reconnecting to him on this holy week and understanding, like, man, I want to follow Jesus and I want to trust my Father.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for listening to the Carterville Christian Church podcast.
SPEAKER_01: Our prayer is that today's message has encouraged you and drawn you closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: To learn more or get connected with our church family, visit Carterville Christian.com.
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to walk alongside you in your journey of faith.