City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
He Got Up! John 20:11-18
What happens when the Savior you've been following dies and everything seems lost? Through the powerful encounter of the empty tomb, we discover three life-changing truths that resonate with anyone who's ever felt abandoned by God.
1. The first truth offers surprising comfort: sometimes God feels absent to everyone. Mary's tears at the tomb mirror our own experiences when tragedy strikes and heaven seems silent. Even when surrounded by angels, Mary could barely acknowledge them—her grief over losing Jesus consumed everything. Similarly, King David cried out, "Lord, why do you stand so far away?" This universal human experience doesn't indicate spiritual failure but connects us to countless believers throughout history who've walked through valleys of doubt.
The revelation comes when Mary hears Jesus speak her name. Though standing right in front of her, she couldn't recognize him through her tears until that personal moment of connection. This transforms our understanding of divine presence—God may sometimes feel distant, but He's always close. As explained through the metaphor of surfing in foggy waters, hearing someone call your name in disorienting darkness brings immediate comfort and orientation. God's presence often becomes most tangible through His church—the hands and feet of Jesus in our world today.
The natural response to recognizing the resurrected Christ is sharing this extraordinary news. Mary's commissioning as the first resurrection witness—significant in a culture that devalued women's testimony—reminds us that sharing the gospel doesn't require theological expertise or social standing. Everyone from those battling addiction to those struggling with depression can effectively communicate Christ's love.
What ultimately separates Christianity from every other faith isn't moral teaching or philosophical insight—it's that Jesus got back up. While countless leaders and self-proclaimed deities throughout history remained in their graves, Jesus conquered death itself. This resurrection reality changes everything about how we face our darkest moments, assuring us that even when God feels absent, He is forever present.
Curious about experiencing this transformative hope? Join our growing church family as we continue exploring what it means to follow the One who defeated death.
Amen, you may be seated. Children 0 to 6 can head with your teachers in that direction, and if you have kids that are 7 to 12, next week we will have a program for kids 7 to 12. We hope you bring them back. So glad to be with you guys this morning. It's a special day. He is risen and a lot of times so when I was working in the Presbyterian Church, they would always say he is risen indeed. So can I just try that with you guys, because I think it's pretty cool. He is risen and that is why we do what we do. That is why we sing, that is why we celebrate, that is why we exist, because he rose and defeated death. That's it.
Speaker 1:So today we're going to be in our Bibles in John 20, 11 through 18. So if you would turn to your Bibles or turn on your Bibles or we have nice Bibles that we would love to give you. So on that side of the room we have study Bibles in English and we also have bilingual Bibles. We have Bibles in Haitian, creole and Tagalog. We also have a few on that side as well. If you don't have a good Bible for yourself, we would love to give you one for you to put your name in it and cherish it. They're not cheap. They're free for you and they're expensive for us, and it's worth it. It's worth it to us for you to have a good Bible to study. So we have them in English, spanish, tagalog and Haitian Creole. Now let me say that in a few other languages, poorly. All right, so we're going to be in John 20, 11. Who has a Bible out? And you're there in John 20? Can you let me know? Can I see You're there in John 20? Yeah, I guess you would have to hold it open. Yeah, sorry, that's confusing, awesome. Okay.
Speaker 1:So after the death of Jesus, his body sat cold in the tomb. But on Sunday, mary and others went to find the body of Jesus and anoint him with spices, but it wasn't there. She quickly ran to tell the other students of Jesus and then she returned back to the tomb and this is where we pick it up, okay, um, in John 20, 11 through 18, I hope you're there with me First, 11, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus' body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her woman why are you crying? Because they've taken away my Lord, she told them, and I don't know where they've put him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus Woman. Jesus said to her why are you crying? Who is it that you're seeking? Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her Mary turning around. She said to him in Aramaic, rabboni, which means teacher. Don't cling to me. Jesus told her, since I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
Speaker 1:Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord, and she told them what he said to her. Let's pray, father. We thank you for this Easter Sunday, when we celebrate your son's victory, victory over sin, when we can look at the hard things in the world and not allow them the final word, and as we see suffering, as we think of our friends in the hospital, this very day we can be reminded. It was on this day, this day, that you defanged death. You put the devil in his place and you put us in a place that we didn't deserve. As we suffer and grieve and celebrate this day, would you remind us of your presence, that you are here right now, powerfully, working, whether we feel you or not. Please remind us of your victory and teach us this morning. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts pleasing to you. We pray this on this Jesus name and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Now you may or may not know this, but Jesus last name was not Christ. I didn't know this. When I heard people talk about Jesus Christ, I just assumed that was his last name. But he was probably more likely called Jesus son of Joseph or Jesus bar Joseph. Christ was a title given to him, jesus, much like Jesus savior, or Jesus the Christ, jesus, the Messiah, jesus, messiah. Now, if you read the Bible stories which by the time I was 16, I had not it was then that I finally started to read them and discover the beauty within the pages of the Bible. But if you've read the Bible stories, you might be surprised at how often people didn't expect Jesus to die. Like, even though he was constantly talking about it. I think they're all kind of like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got you. This is like symbolism, right. And he's like, no, I'm going to die. And they're like cool, wink, we got you.
Speaker 1:Now, according to the, to the religious leaders, the Jewish Christ, the Jewish Messiah, was not supposed to die. According to some of them, um, he was supposed to deliver the Jewish people from the oppressive occupiers, the Romans. He was supposed to spill the blood of the Roman empire, free the captives. He was supposed to free his people. He definitely wasn't supposed to die. That was not a part of the plan they figured. But he was captured.
Speaker 1:The Jewish Messiah was captured and it wasn't even that difficult. He kind of like let them capture him. Like a dude struck at the ear of one of the soldiers that captured him, and Jesus was like stop it. And he put the ear back, like it's not supposed to be that easy to capture the Messiah and he's definitely not supposed to die. He's supposed to free his people. You can't free people while you're dead. He told his students to put down their weapons and then they let him snatch him in the night and he was beaten and he was nailed to a cross where he had to pull himself up by the nails in his wounds in order just to breathe. And then his breath grew shallow and he cried out and he gave out his last breath and suddenly there was a great earthquake. The sky became dark in the middle of the day and the graves of the great prophets were opened and they rose from the dead and they went into town and they talked to people, probably told them what was happening.
Speaker 1:This caused some doubters to believe, but not most people, because Jesus, the savior of the world, the Messiah, died just like that, like some kind of human. It's kind of like going out with a thud. Jesus gave up his spirit and he died. That's not supposed to happen. Jesus was supposed to climb down from the cross, jump on the back of a war horse, cut open a wound into Rome that they could never recover from, but instead there was his body, lifeless. He didn't feel like he defeated anything. I mean, the earthquake and the eclipse, those kind of things are cool and all, but what did it accomplish if he died?
Speaker 1:The people probably whispered different things to each other, things like did we just lose. Another might say man, I knew he was a Messiah. He was too skinny, not strong enough. Man, I knew he was a Messiah. He was too skinny, not strong enough. Another might say yeah, but I really, I really kind of hoped that it was, it was going to be him and we might get to see the Messiah in our lifetime. He did all those signs, but clearly one him. Someone might've just suggested man, do you want to just like go home now? And eventually they all started to head home.
Speaker 1:It was finished, but not the way that they had hoped, and when there was no light and a few torches left, some women hung around, still weeping, still waiting, hoping for something. Several of the women were named Mary, one was named Salome. Eventually, even they, though, they dragged their feet home, dejected, they lost, but it was not the end. Now there was once another man who called himself God. This diminutive North Korean leader also took on the title of great leader.
Speaker 1:Born in 1948 to Presbyterian parents, kim Il-sung demanded that his people call him great and eternal. He is credited with almost single-handedly defeating the Japanese at the end of the occupation of Korea, ignoring the fact that there was, like other, armies from other countries coming to help him and he actually wasn't like a high level dude, um, but you know, uh, he was kind of the Messiah that they hoped he would be, and he is also credited with rebuilding the nation after the Korean war. But Kim Il-sung was not God like he claimed. When Kim Il-sung died, he stayed dead. They mummified his body, they put it on display, but even still, after that, he never moved again, he never had a thought again, he never talked again. He was dead.
Speaker 1:Now, jesus, well, jesus, when we celebrate Easter, we celebrate that Jesus got back up. When he sacrificed himself for his enemies, he proved that it worked. Because he got back up. That is the receipt that it worked. And so today I'm going to give you three comforting facts on this Resurrection Sunday, and my first fact is this Sometimes God feels absent to everyone. Sometimes God feels absent to everyone. Now, this does not sound like good news. This does not sound comforting to some of you, but it absolutely is. It means you are not alone. When you struggle, when you don't feel like God is there, you're not alone and there's nothing wrong with you. It means you're not weird for feeling like God isn't always present. Good and godly Christians can have moment of doubt and have times where they don't feel God.
Speaker 1:Verse 11, mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she was crying, she stopped looking at the tomb. She saw two angels sitting there where Jesus' body had been. They said to her woman why are you crying? Because they've taken away my Lord. She told them, and I don't know where they put him.
Speaker 1:Now there are some very interesting things going on here. Does anyone know what most angels say to people in the Bible? When someone sees an angel, don't be afraid. And honestly, if we were going to really put what might have happened, it might have come after oh, you peed your pants there. I've come after oh, you peed your pants there. Huh, people are scared of angels. Angels are scary. How do we know? Because every single time not every single time, almost every time in the Bible, they're like don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Don't freak out. Okay, but there's something different happening here. They don't even get a gasp from Mary, right? Like she's not interested in them, she's interested in Jesus.
Speaker 1:Like I'm trying to think of what this would be like. It's like I'm at Petco Park after a Padre games and I've lost one of my kids and I'm looking for them everywhere and, like our, our all-star third baseman, manny Machado, comes up to me and asks me what are you looking for? I'm not going to be like, oh my gosh, manny Machado, no, no, no, I'm like I've lost my kids. Can you help me find my kids? Have you seen my kids? Now it would be cool to meet Manny Machado, but in that moment, when, compared to losing one of my beautiful kids, I don't care. Manny doesn't matter to me, not unless you know he's got that big salary. Unless he's got that big salary, he could maybe hire some kind of helicopter to go up and look for my kids. Otherwise, I don't really care that I'm meeting Manny Machado in that moment.
Speaker 1:In the same way, mary didn't care about the angels, she just cared about Jesus. Angels can be scary, angels can be cool, but in that moment nothing mattered to her. Like her teacher, like her savior, like her God. She just cared about Jesus and she was devastated. First Jesus dies, and then someone does the disrespect of putting his body somewhere else. But before we move any further, I want to rewind and help people who maybe don't know the Bible as well. Like how we got here. Jesus came into town as that conquering king on a donkey. Everyone was praising him Hosanna, hosanna, praise, be to God. Then he was arrested, put on trial. Pretty much everyone ditched him, except the women who followed him. Jesus was then killed on a cross. He was just one more savior who made promises that he couldn't keep, and so everyone just kind of went home right, that's where we are.
Speaker 1:And it's like your team is playing in the championship game and you just know that you're going to win. Right, you are so confident. And and then suddenly they lose. Like, for some reason, they just can't hit Dodger pitching. I don't know why. Or maybe your pro bowl running back, named LT, suddenly gets injured and you just have to watch him on the sidelines on a stationary bike the rest of the game while he's trying to get back into the game and he never does. And you're like, what just happened? This is what happened to Jesus disciples. So some of his followers. What did they have to do? They just went back to their old jobs, right? Like, like you had dudes that followed him for three years. Suddenly, like what do we do? And they're like well, my family's got to eat, so you want to go fishing. That's what they did. Everyone in Israel was was just kind of depressed at this moment. Jesus was supposed to be the one and he died. And here's Mary grieving what could have been with Jesus and now his body is missing.
Speaker 1:Now some of you have felt like God wasn't there for you when you needed him. If we can be honest, all of us have felt that at times. Perhaps you were in an abusive home and you wondered where is God? You keep struggling to get a job and you're like where is God? Maybe you were saying goodbye to a loved one in a hospital bed and're like lord, what's up with this? Where are you? Maybe you were in a financial situation where you felt there was no escape. Now some of you might be watching this from a hospital bed right now good morning. But I just want you to know. I get that and many have felt this way, and many of the saints who came before us also felt this way.
Speaker 1:There's a guy named King David and in Psalm 10, this is what he says Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide? In times of trouble, man, that's some in arrogance. The wicked relentlessly pursue their victims. Let them be caught in the schemes they have devised for. The wicked one boasts about his own cravings. The one who is greedy curses and despises the Lord in all his scheming. The wicked person arrogantly thinks there's no accountability since there's no God, and he's saying God, where are you? These people are talking smack about you and you haven't done anything. Actually, they're just hurting believers. Where are you? Friends?
Speaker 1:Sometimes you're going to feel like God's not there Doesn't mean he's not there, but there's no shame in admitting it. That doesn't mean you are not a Christian. It means you are human. Do you ever feel alone in a crowded room, like nobody can understand your addiction, nobody can understand your past, nobody can understand your pain, nobody can understand your suffering? Mary felt alone in that moment too. Peter and the other followers of Jesus felt alone. They felt alone, they felt helpless and they felt hopeless. But, church, when you feel like that, I have good news for you. My second fact is this God is there when we can't see him. Verse 14,.
Speaker 1:Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus Woman. Jesus said to her Now, when you read this, this woman thing, we got to talk about it for just a quick second. Okay, woman in the Bible sounds way like woman, you know, but it's actually an quick second. Okay, um, woman in the Bible sounds way like woman, you know, but it's actually an honorary title, okay, so this is, think of it more like ma'am Okay. So you're all like, oh, okay, that makes a little more sense, ma'am, um. So I'll keep going to verse 15, ma'am Jesus said to her why are you crying? Who is it that you're seeking? Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him, I will take him away. Jesus said to her mary, turning around. She said, teacher, see, mary was a lot like us, right, like she couldn't see that jesus was right there in front of her. William barclay says mary could not not see Jesus through her tears Church.
Speaker 1:God may sometimes feel distant, but he's always close. Let me read to you from Psalm 139. This is another Psalm of King David. He says where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in the grave, you are there. If I fly on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the western horizon. Even there, your hand will lead me, your right hand will hold on to me If I say surely the darkness will hide me and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day. Darkness and light are all alike to you. He's saying I can run away from you and you're there. When I was a kid and I was in the grocery store, I always thought I could like jump over the reflections of the light, and yet I would always like not make it, because there was always another light that I came up to. It was like trying to like. It's like trying to like see the moon and like run away from it, like you can't do that. It's just there. It's big, it's big. God is big.
Speaker 1:Now imagine you're at Greenwood cemetery, or maybe you're at Mount hope cemetery over there, or maybe you're at Holy cross cemetery over there. We have a lot of cemeteries in Mount hope. Did you know that we have lots of friends and family in here, quiet neighbors? Now maybe you are visiting a loved one. You go to the grave of your loved one and there's a big hole in the ground where they used to be. Suddenly, you see a gardener and Greenwood Cemetery has a lot of gardeners, it's nice. And you go to ask I don't know, I would probably say where the crap is. My dad, like I probably wouldn't say it very nicely, that's about as nice as I can think of for a sermon. Or like hey you, what did you do with him? Or I'm going to punch somebody in the mouth if you don't explain this to me in five seconds, like desecration of the dead. Are you serious? I thought that you guys were trying to take care of people.
Speaker 1:See, mary is so grieved about his missing body that she's pleading. Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will take him away. A crazy statement, though, really, when you think about what she's saying. Jesus was a carpenter, probably kind of ripped. Mary is a middle Eastern woman. What is she? Five foot two, one, 20. I will take him away. She said. Really, you're going to take him away, mary, you're going to lift him. Are you going to put him on a furniture? Dolly Mary, you got like a stretcher on wheels and even if you move him, where are you going to put him? Where are you going to put his body. But she wasn't thinking about that right. She loved Jesus, she wanted to honor him. His body was missing and it was just too much. Now.
Speaker 1:Grave robbery was actually a thing back then. It happened enough that Rome had written laws on the books against it. But in other, more detailed accounts we see that his burial linens were neatly folded as if someone took their time. This was not a robbery. This was not a quick thing.
Speaker 1:Now, just a day before that, jesus' body had been wrapped in linen, he was placed in the tomb of a rich Jewish man named Joseph of Arimathea, and this was a prophecy that he would be buried amongst the rich man. Joseph must have thought much of Jesus, but this was to fulfill prophecy in Isaiah 53. But after all those prophecies came true Jesus the Savior. He was still dead and it was heartbreaking to Mary and the disciples. Food had lost its flavor, life was dark. But then then she heard his voice and he said her name Mary, now Indian pastor, jacob Cherian. He says Mary stands for all the sheep who hear and respond to the voice of the good shepherd who calls his own sheep by name, friends. God may sometimes feel distant, but he's close. See, mary heard her name, spoken in the voice of a dead man. I changed everything. Jesus wasn't far away. He was here.
Speaker 1:Now, some of you know that, uh, I'm a surfer. Um, I, I'm also known as the world's okay Est surfer. I love surfing, even though I'm famously known for that. Now, I get up before the sunrise three times a week and I travel to surf the reefs in Pacific Beach, la Jolla. Often it's still very dark, sometimes it's foggy, and I don't know if you notice. But these glasses right here, these are thick glasses and so I'm not wearing them in the ocean and I paddle out in the cold. A couple of the days last week I could not see the shore because of the fog. That is creepy. Am I the only one that thinks that's creepy? That's creepy, right, that's creepy, anyone? Okay, that's creepy.
Speaker 1:When I was paddling out, my hands were hitting seaweed the whole time. Seaweed is the spider web of the ocean. It's gross. I saw seals, I saw fins. I got to play that game Shark or dolphin shark or dolphin shark or dolphin. I paddle for about a block when I'm surfing there. It feels like a mile, and then I can't see any surfers, I can't see anyone. And then I hear something hey, dale. Oh, because everybody can see me before I can see them because I can't see anything. It might be my friend, jerry, or Greg, or my friend we but guys.
Speaker 1:To hear your own name in a situation like that is so comforting. In the same way, when Mary heard her own name being uttered by her resurrected King, her heavy shoulders grew light. Her deepest, darkest suffering turned to joy Barclay again. When sorrow comes, we must never let tears blind our eyes to glory and we must never fasten our eyes upon the grave and forget the heavens. And we must never fasten our eyes upon the grave and forget the heavens. The same God who promised his presence to Israel in the face of their enemies is available to you now. He says be strong and courageous, don't be terrified or afraid of them, for the Lord, your God, is the one who will go with you. He will not leave you nor abandon you. Friends, god may sometimes feel distant, but he's always close. His presence is always available to his family.
Speaker 1:Now, many of you are going to experience the presence of God the most in one particular way His church. The Bible calls the church the hands and feet of Jesus. I get messages from people like Pastor, I'm not going to church, I got Jesus with me right here. The hands and feet of Jesus are his church. So when God wants to put his arm around you to comfort you, he does it through his church, through these people sitting around you this morning. When God wants to put his hand, his arm, around your neighbor or a friend in the church, he does it through you and for those of you who don't a friend in the church, he does it through you and for those of you who don't see value in the church.
Speaker 1:I'm not mad at you. I'm not. This might be our failure. It's our failure if you cannot see why a consistent relationship with a church is more important than sports for your kids, than working extra hours or than sleeping in. That's on us. You may come every Christmas and Easter and we will love to see you here Whenever you show up.
Speaker 1:I'm pumped, but I still lament that we failed to show the value of being a part of the family God has called us to, a family that transcends all tongue, tribe and nation. A family that knows each other's fears and weaknesses. A beautiful family full of screwed up people and we are screwed up, trying their best to love God and love each other. A family that knows each other's fears and weaknesses. A beautiful family full of screwed up people and we are screwed up Trying their best to love God and love each other. A family that is committed to each other even when it's dark and they don't feel like God is close Friends. I want you to know that if you ever decide you'd like to walk deeper in Christian community with us, we'd love to truly know you and be known by you. Warts and all. Until then, us Christians will be trying our best to tell the world of the hope we profess.
Speaker 1:Much like Mary, we've experienced true hope, now that we can't keep it to ourselves anymore. And I ask you, what is this hope? This hope is the gospel. And let me tell you what the gospel is. The gospel is the fact that Jesus made up the difference. We had a need. We could not be in true community with God so full of sin, so full of struggle, so full of pain, and yet Jesus was willing to take the pain and suffer on our behalf. And then, when he rose again that Easter morning, he showed that he was bigger than our sin and death, and that is all the difference. And when you come to know Jesus, his spirit lives within you and he empowers you and he helps you and he never leaves you or forsakes you. Guys, if the gospel is true, if Jesus really did rise from the grave, defeating sin and death, as believers we should want to tell everyone about it. And that's our third fact. Jesus' victory over sin and death is the best news ever and needs to be shared. Don't hold that.
Speaker 1:In Verse 17, jesus said don't cling to me, since I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord and she told them what he had said to her. Jesus says don't cling to me. Some translations say don't touch me. Um, but it can probably be well translated as stop touching me. You got a job to do, mary. Don't just hang here. Go tell the people what you saw, mary, you have a job to do. My family has to know Church. There are times when we need to be at the feet of Jesus 100%. Mary is documented in the Bible as doing that, but there are also times when we need to bring the people we love to the feet of Jesus, and that was her job at this point.
Speaker 1:Our church has been growing this year faster than any other time in the last two years 10 years and so people in this church have made a commitment to caring for our neighbors above themselves. This means we will probably have to move to two services so more people can get to the feet of Jesus. Not because we like the extra work of two services, by the way, not because we like cleaning up after more people. Actually, this is going to be my first time preaching two sermons, the same sermon twice. It's going to be more tiring on Sundays, but we do things like this, like our food pantry, like walking from our house, so there's one more spot in the parking lot for you.
Speaker 1:We do Easter egg hunts and trunker treats in our community because we want all of our communities to know that God loves them. We want to earn the right to speak up about this gospel. We want you to see the gospel in us before we speak to you about it. It's not because we believe Jesus' victory over sin and death is the best. It's because we believe, sorry Jesus' victory over sin and death is the best news ever. It has to be shared. We are making room and adding service times because we want more people to be able to get to the feet of Jesus and hear about the freedom that comes from following him. There's nothing special about us. The church across the street is awesome. The church down the road is awesome. Raven Street, assemblies of of the firstborn, macedonia these are churches that we just want them full, all of them, because that's where they will hear the gospel, dr Tony Evans says. Don't overlook, though, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was first announced by a woman. In first century Judaism, a woman's testimony wasn't considered credible, so if the disciples were going to invent a resurrection story, they wouldn't choose women to be the first to see and declare it.
Speaker 1:Guys, why is this important to you? Why is this important to you and your friends? Because you don't have to understand everything in the Bible. You don't need to be perfect to share the good news. You don't need to be the most respected member of society to share good news. Some of you are still wrestling with addiction, but you are telling people about Jesus. I'm proud of you. Some of you might be hanging a bit too much with your set still, but you are speaking up for Jesus. I'm proud of you. Some of you feel like you don't speak English very well, but you're speaking up for Jesus because of the way he made you alive. I'm proud of you. Some of you feel like a goofy white person that could never be cool enough to talk to people, but you're speaking up for Jesus and I'm proud of you. Some of you suffer from depression and you still speak up about the God who comforts you Even when you don't know if you can feel like he's there in your struggle. Friends, god will equip you to share with those around you. Do you feel unprepared or under-respected? So did Mary, so did every woman who shared about the resurrection.
Speaker 1:Sharing the gospel takes risk and boldness. You risk being laughed at, you risk being hated. You risk being seen as intolerant. But if you truly believe, it's the kind of thing you do. You share the love of Christ. It's the right thing to do, and if you need help, that's what the church is for too. We can help you get there when you share the gospel with those around you and you make church your serious community that goes beyond Sundays. You will find a true joy you have never found, and it will be rough sometimes, and you will find that even when you are alone, you are never alone. Jesus never leaves you, nor forsakes you. Sometimes life feels dark. You might wonder where God is. You might feel like the people of North Korea when the supposed God Il Sung Kim died. Now do you have those pictures I put up? I got some cool pictures in North, in North Korea, um, that they have for there. It is yeah. So these are some of the ways they worship him. They're they're taught to worship him. Just go through those. This is Kim Il-sung Um, like they. They literally have like statues that they have to bow to, and if you walk into that square without bowing you're in trouble. So I'll continue.
Speaker 1:Barbara Demick in her book Nothing to Envy, she chronicled the feelings of Dr Kim Ji-on, a doctor working in the city of Chongjin. Listen to this After finding out the news of the death of their God emperor, dr Ji-on collapsed into her father's arms. She had never cried so much, not when her boyfriend dumped her, not when her marriage broke up and her baby was taken away, not when her father had a stroke. Those were setbacks that one had to expect in life. Now, even though she was a doctor, educated in the frailties of the human body and only too aware of its mortality, dr Kim had never considered that such things could apply to Kim Il-sung himself. Her father had been forced to retire from his own illness and had been depressed. The great leader's death was more than he could handle. He stayed in bed and refused to eat. If a great man like Kim Il-sung can die, why should a good-for-nothing like me go on in living and consume food, he cried. He went on to die a week later.
Speaker 1:We may understand the same sorrow, the same sorrow that Dr June felt in her guts. We know that Mary felt it. How could Jesus die? But there's one big difference church Jesus got back up. Mao, kim Jong-un, il-sung. Kim died and stayed dead, but Jesus got back up. Julius Caesar, ramesses, alexander the Great and Mohammed Mohammed died, they stayed dead, but Jesus got back up. Krishna the Buddha, montezuma, the Dalai Lama, confucius stayed dead. Jesus got back up.
Speaker 1:Friends, I know our God is present with us when we suffer, because he has consistently shown himself to be true to his word. He defeated death. He can help us defeat our sin and he will never leave us, even when he seems far off. He is close to his children and he provides his Holy Spirit and his church to help and empower us, but we have to say yes to him first. If you want to say yes to Jesus, we will have people waiting outside to pray with you. If you have been wandering around in your struggle, going your own way, and it's not been working, maybe it's time. If you already know Jesus but you've not been making him a priority, or your tears have been causing you to not see God, make today the day you choose to follow him once more. We can pray with you about that too. City Life, church and guests. God may sometimes feel distant, but he's always close. How do I know? Because he got back up. Let's pray.
Speaker 1:Father, we thank you that you sent your son for us.
Speaker 1:You sent your son for victory, a victory that we could not comprehend at the time.
Speaker 1:How could death not corral your son?
Speaker 1:How could death not corral your son?
Speaker 1:And yet, after making great sacrifice for us, he rose again.
Speaker 1:And so, god, it is in an understanding of your love and your sacrifice of forgiveness that we come to you right now and we don't fully understand and we don't fully understand why we don't always feel you and we don't fully understand and we don't fully understand why we don't always feel you.
Speaker 1:But we know you are there. You are here, you are with us in our sorrow and our struggle. We had plans for our life and they just seem to get disrupted. We have an idea of what we're going to do and then it goes the other way. But we have a loving, kind, forgiving God. God, we know we have sinned against you and yet when you look upon us, father, you see the righteousness of your Son Jesus. As far as the east is from the west, so our sin is from your sight. We thank you and we praise you for this kind of forgiveness that no one else could offer us but you. Thank you for loving us and thank you for loving us and thank you for loving us enough to get back up. We love you and pray this in jesus name amen.