Craig and Matt - A Grounded Episode

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome. You're listening to the Brick by Brick podcast from Renovation Church, where faith gets built one church at a time. Each week, we'll hear inspiring sermons from our pastors, deeper dive discussions that unpack the wisdom of God's word and grounded episodes with stories and encouragement from members of our very own church family. Whether you're new to Faith or have been walking with Jesus for years, there's something here for you. So click back, hit play, and let's build this thing together.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Craig, I want to thank you uh for being here today. I want to ask you a little bit and go a little bit deeper on what you shared in your grounded video. So thanks for being here today.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

I felt like I had gotten one of the hardest scriptures that Petrotsky passed out that day because when you talk about the crucifixion, um there's there's no there's no good news in that time frame when God gave, put all the sin of the world, past, present, and future, on uh his son's shoulders and on that cross. And yet he was so he just fulfilled God's purpose for those moments. But it was a dark, dark, hard day. Yeah. And it created chaos for the people, for the world and the people around him. They didn't know what to think, but it was all in God's plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

So let's uh let's dig in a little deeper on that if we can. Good. All right. It was a great point that you brought up. God, Jesus being fully man and and and fully God. So he he knew he knew what was coming, he knew the task at hand. And then there was that moment that he was separated from God and he cried out. And he knew that he was taking the sins of the world with him uh to the grave. But at that point, sin separated him fully man from God. So there's despair that we could never understand in that moment. Yeah. Um, which is him crying out. Imagine that. Like, what do you what do you think about? What do you think about that? If you think about how we wrestle with our sin, yeah, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Yeah, there's no, you know, I I find it hard to find a comparison with what you know that that moment. And having one Jesus realizing that all the way through from the garden, him knowing that that was going to be the the case. And how can you live your life? And we, you know, we have guilt for the sins that we've committed. We have um the grace of God working in that. But to be Jesus and to be fully God and fully human and to know what comes is just so um so hard for for us to imagine. But God was um, well, I'll go back. Jesus was really um thinking about, well, thinking about that I I've got to quit the whole the sin of the world. How one how can I do that? But it's God's will for me to do that. And it it is just so um such such an act of love, such an act of sacrifice that he would give up for those three hours his full relationship with God. And and and we do, we complain about our relationship with God, but it was necessary. And you see the fulfillment of how God works through history, even in um the laws that the Jews had to follow for sacrifice, and knowing that you know there there's gonna be one lamb that will finally give up uh his life for um what we don't deserve. But God loves us that much that He can He can do that, He can take that time, take that pain. I can, you know, we've all had injuries, we've all had things that have caused us pain in our lives, both emotionally and physically, but at the same time to know that Jesus faced that and yet cried out to God, why have you left me? And that's probably the most human words we'll ever probably understand andor identify with, because there are those moments in our life when we do feel separated. We do feel sometimes probably rejected because we just can't understand the circumstances that we're in.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

So I have two things to follow up on, Craig. Number one, you mentioned that from the time of the garden on, he knew the plan. He knew what was going to happen. For those three hours when he was separated from God with the sin of humanity, past, present, and future. Do you think he knew what was coming leading up to that, that he was truly going to be separated from the Father? Or do you think his cry at that moment was he it's hard, it's it's hard for me to even put in words, it's hard to grasp, but did did he know, and I this is speculation clearly, but did he know that he was gonna be fully separated, or was he crying out because he realized at that moment that he was fully separated?

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah, that's a great thought, and I I think that he finally did realize, because he struggled with the in the garden with the idea of this is God's will for my life.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

And having then followed it through, um through the the scourging and the rejection and the tormenting and the crown of thorns and um carrying his own cross, the nails through his hands and his feet, and all of that, just the physical pain of those moments, but the anguish that had to come when he says, I'm doing this because it's God's will for my life, I um that I think that is the most telling, is that he got to the point where he said, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And you know, when you read, and I mentioned it in my um grounded, but when God made him sin for us, so that we might be the righteous, what a sacrifice, and and what a um what an example of the greatest grace that we could ever receive. We should also remember that that grace was given as an example for us to follow in our own lives. I think that that's very important that we look at all of what Christ did for us on the cross and say, if he did it for us, why we should be doing it for others. Yeah. Um because sin separates us from God. That's the truth of that whole story. That's that's where Christ cried out.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

He had to take that sin. And that in that very moment where he was fully separated from God when he cried out, yeah, had to be remarkable because God was with him. He was God, and at that moment where God left him with that sin of the world um for his death and thankfully his resurrection, but that had that that moment had to be amazing. So we we uh as Christians walk through many trials and tribulations. You mentioned something from Psalm 6, I believe, and um I was looking at Psalm 46, which I don't want to take out of context, but let me read a little in the beginning of Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in our trouble. Um, therefore we will not fear, uh, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. And then I bump ahead a little to what what we always reference in Psalm 46, which is 46.10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth, the Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. So I read that, and there are many references in Scripture where God reminds us, whether it's Old Testament with the Israelites or New Testament, that He is God, that sometimes we will walk through trials and tribulations, that sometimes we need to be still, we need to pray and meditate. So, with all of that in mind, I want to give you a chance to wrap and talk about what you said at the end of your grounded video, which is what Christ did for us, and it's available to us that it was Friday, but Sunday is coming, right? So, how do we as humans look at what Christ did for us? Look at the reminders that God has put out there for us and say there is hope, there is a way. Even though we see these worldly things and we walk through all of these troubles, we look at what Jesus did for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Well, ultimately it was that if I go back to the whole uh story based around his crucifixion, in those very at that very moment when he gave up his spirit, the veil in the temple that separated the inner court from it there in Jerusalem, um, that only the priest could go in, and there is a separation between those that were followers and Jews. Um, they could never go into the torque, never go into the the whole presence of God. But the veil was torn in two, and it gave us the immediacy that now we can walk in with whatever we have, whatever we carry, whatever rejection we have, whatever pain, uh whatever separation. We now have the ability to go right before God. And so, and you reference in Psalm 46 that um he has the power to do all those things, God does. Well, now we have the ability to go to the one who has the power and say, Lord, help me in this, give me the strength to face it, whether it's grace or or whether it's forgiveness, or whether it's um just the calmness to face the situation that we're in, as well as uh the reference, you know, in verse 10, be still and know that I am God. Um I remember Jesus saying that kind of thing to the storm, be still. And all the disciples in the boat, their fear was taken away because the seas calmed, and the tribulation and the troubles and the roughness of the sea, and the kind of um just illustration that is to us, that God can provide, he's given us an open door to him now through Jesus Christ's sacrifice, and we have now the ability to go right to God in prayer. And I know his grace goes before us and all those things, but to be able to go before him and and realize, Father, we recognize you have the power to do all things. Would you bring your stillness and calmness to me? You know, would you just um be the God in this moment that I need?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

And what's remarkable to me is we have that great intercessor, the Holy Spirit, available to us at all times to help us walk through those times. Yeah. Craig, I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts today. I think you've given us a lot to think about in this Easter season. My pleasure. It's a story to be told. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks.