SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Refinery Hurricane Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you joined us today.
SPEAKER_01: Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in order for you to love and follow Jesus in your life.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ.com.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's dive into today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Easter to you.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen some good Easter Day fits today.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a couple in the very first service.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I was talking to the dad, and I said, Hey, so it's his son's like first Easter.
SPEAKER_00: I said, So what's going to be the Easter fit?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, all right, that's kind of how I did it too back in the day.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so he said, but I'm sure it's gonna be looking good.
SPEAKER_00: And so hopefully, you know, the person next to you said, Hey, just nice Easter fit.
SPEAKER_00: You look good today.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm excited just to get to be together on this day.
SPEAKER_00: I I want to uh start this morning um by just reading a little bit of John chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: John's the fourth gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: New Testament's a lot, but the last 20% or so of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And what what I want to do is I want to um set some context for why Easter is such a significant day.
SPEAKER_00: So for 2,000 years, uh Easter has been growingly significant, literally all across the globe.
SPEAKER_00: But and what's odd about it in many ways is that this was a relatively small political and religious conflict situation story that arose on the other side of the planet.
SPEAKER_00: And then 2,000 years later, it wouldn't have made headlines at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Um it certainly wouldn't have been known very far away, and yet 2,000 years later, on the other side of the globe, we continue to talk about a story, and it's translated every language, um, every nation, every tribe.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter about any of those things, and this story has continued.
SPEAKER_00: This small political, religious event unfolds, and yet it's literally changed things because nothing has been quite the same ever since.
SPEAKER_00: And so, with that in mind, I just want to look at John chapter 20 and read the first nine verses, I think.
SPEAKER_00: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
SPEAKER_00: Burials in that culture and still in many spaces in the world would happen quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Um, just by the reality of someone passing, like there's no time to figure out a memorial or something like that.
SPEAKER_00: It's just we need to put the body into the ground, or in this case, into a tomb.
SPEAKER_00: And because this was a controversial event, it admittedly kind of localized geography.
SPEAKER_00: The leaders had decided, hey, listen, let's put a large stone in the way in case somebody were to come, try and steal the body, claim something had happened.
SPEAKER_00: We'll even post a couple of guards there, and so we'll just want to be ready.
SPEAKER_00: And so Mary's going to the tomb that day, and she just notices the stone's been removed, picking up in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: They've taken him.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't leave, he didn't get up and go out.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the way the world works.
SPEAKER_00: They've taken his body.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know where they've put him.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter and the other disciple, they start for the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Both are running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
SPEAKER_00: He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but he didn't go in.
SPEAKER_00: Then Simon Peter came along behind and he went straight into the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: Simon Peter, if you follow his story at all through the text, he's a little bit brash.
SPEAKER_00: He tends to like ready fire aim.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, that's just how he lives, and sometimes it works to his favor, sometimes not so much.
SPEAKER_00: He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head.
SPEAKER_00: The cloth was still lying in its place separate from the linen.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside and says, He saw and believed.
SPEAKER_00: But there's this note, they still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise back from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: It's this localized event 2,000 years ago on the other side of the planet that wouldn't have made much significance.
SPEAKER_00: And yet everything's changed as a result.
SPEAKER_00: It's what you would call a game-changing event in the course of human history.
SPEAKER_00: Mary, Simon, the rest of the disciples, the political leaders of the day, the religious leaders of the day that are trying to figure out what to do with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they're like, we'll just kill him, that'll take care of it.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't work.
SPEAKER_00: And so as a result, the whole world looks different to them.
SPEAKER_00: I um life can be incredibly complicated.
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know your story, your situation exactly.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've come in and you say, man, right now we're in really a good season of life, like the relationships are strong, work's going well, like health is good, like things are just great.
SPEAKER_00: And there's there's others, no doubt.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, between this service and last service, or like Bailey said, represented in churches all across our city, the state, the world, where it's kind of the other end of the spectrum and life is rough.
SPEAKER_00: The health challenges are difficult.
SPEAKER_00: I know of one uh friend right now who's just, man, they've just been through it, but I received good word uh the other day that continuing to make progress when we pray for her speedy recovery.
SPEAKER_00: Or there's others that man relationally like just hanging on by a thread right now.
SPEAKER_00: For some, like the job's not working out, like the sense of purpose, and then everywhere in between, but so life can be incredibly complicated that way, depending on where you come from.
SPEAKER_00: But in a very general sense, the central elements to life are always the same.
SPEAKER_00: You're born at some point, and then you live either an average number of years, less than average, or more than average.
SPEAKER_00: Part of that's based on diet and exercise, part of it's just based on genetics, thank grandma or grandpa, or don't thank them, depending upon how you came out of the gene pool.
SPEAKER_00: And then you die.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the story.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter about your money, doesn't matter about how well you're known, doesn't matter about how intelligent you are, the gifts or capabilities that you have, you get a start date, you get a dash, and you get the end.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the way that life has always been.
SPEAKER_00: That's just what it is, but Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to share a video with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's an older family video, so you might be like, is this just for you?
SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna see slideshows weekly?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe.
SPEAKER_00: It all depends on the reaction of this one.
SPEAKER_00: Um but I it's gonna be my son, Lincoln.
SPEAKER_00: He's my middle son.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's we I think he's three in this video.
SPEAKER_00: And so I kind of want you to just um just just see what stands out to you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it is uh a little bit older, so the camera's not quite as crisp as what we got.
SPEAKER_00: And I hadn't told my wife, hey, in 10 years I might use this in a sermon, so if you could make sure.
SPEAKER_00: Um at some point you might notice uh she gets to laughing, so she does this, right?
SPEAKER_00: So if you deal with any motion sickness, maybe just look to your neighbor and say, hey, the fit might get messed up.
SPEAKER_00: Um but anybody ever go to Cracker Barrel and play checkers on the big fabric board with the large pieces?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody familiar with that?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Um if you haven't, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Get to Cracker Barrel, C B, baby.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we're playing this game together, me and him, and uh yeah, I'd love for you to just watch, see what kind of stands out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go stand to the side because I want to watch the video too.
SPEAKER_00: Would you go ahead and play that?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm saying I will try you to your side.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm not the best.
SPEAKER_03: Well, you are don't get me.
SPEAKER_00: That's our little family video.
SPEAKER_00: Um you saw it, right?
SPEAKER_00: I guess pretty obvious.
SPEAKER_00: I I was thinking about this old video literally, like as I was kind of processing the series and and how to go and set it up, and um, this video came to mind, so I quickly scrolled through like my videos on my phone.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't have it anymore.
SPEAKER_00: So I asked my wife, I said, Hey, do you remember this video?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00: And so she's like, I don't have it on my phone, but I'll check Facebook and she found it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a fun video.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, again, one, it's like fun to hear our son's little voice, and uh Aiden comes up and he's like correcting his brother, doing the big brother thing, you know, trying to figure those pieces out.
SPEAKER_00: And it's cute how he gets so excited playing the game.
SPEAKER_00: Um but the thing that like stood out to me most, I remember at the time, and the thing that stands out to me now, and kind of why I wanted to play for it, play it for you.
SPEAKER_00: Um like he's a cheater.
SPEAKER_00: And I just feel like like I just feel like we need to own that in this place.
SPEAKER_00: He's actually in this service with us.
SPEAKER_00: And I just felt like it would be, you know, this is the place where we just need to get that out there.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's blatantly cheating.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some might say, well, yeah, but at the end, and it's you.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you to judge me?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you saw how much I endured.
SPEAKER_00: Now, fortunately, I can tell you that um as Lincoln has grown older, um, he's played like a number of sports and games and things through the years, and he doesn't cheat anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so he's got a track meet this week.
SPEAKER_00: So if you see him, you're like, oh great, my kid's racing the cheating kid.
SPEAKER_00: You know, here goes Checker's Boy.
SPEAKER_00: Like, don't let that nickname stick, but it'd be kind of fun, Checker's Boy.
SPEAKER_00: We might we might try it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you like to play games?
SPEAKER_00: I'm curious.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I kind of want to get a read of the room.
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand just shortly if you watch or play sports.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be good, but any sport.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So most of the room.
SPEAKER_00: Um, how about this?
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you uh I I don't think you watch this one, but maybe.
SPEAKER_00: You like to play like board games or card games?
SPEAKER_00: Any board game, card game people?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody like to watch border games?
SPEAKER_00: Uh anybody like to watch chess?
SPEAKER_00: Love to watch chess, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: A few of us?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Um anybody play video games?
SPEAKER_00: Any any of the okay.
SPEAKER_00: Do I see anybody above the age of 40?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there we go.
SPEAKER_00: We got we the we fade fast.
SPEAKER_00: We fade fast on that one.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a good cross section.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, games are a staple in our world.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody grow up playing the game of life back in the day?
SPEAKER_00: Any okay, yeah, more in this service.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, first service is like 12 people.
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, oh that's a good example to choose.
SPEAKER_00: Where to go, Lannon?
SPEAKER_00: In the 1985 version of the game of life, each person starts with$10,000 in a car.
SPEAKER_00: So, much to my chagrin, when I graduated high school and wasn't given$10,000 in a car, I'm like, I've been cheated.
SPEAKER_00: But that was the way it worked.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is, as you go through the game, like you go through these high moments and low moments in life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you get a job, you can lose your job, you can get a promotion, lose the promotion, have kids, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And then you go through 17 paydays in the course of your entire life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we all thought you got paid in 1985, apparently.
SPEAKER_00: 17 paydays.
SPEAKER_00: And then the way it works is the player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner.
SPEAKER_00: That's the game over.
SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of a fun game to play, at least I remember as a kid.
SPEAKER_00: I've not played it in years, but it would be a really foolish way to live one's life.
SPEAKER_00: To think, okay, well, as long as I just get through it and make as much money as I can, put myself in some kind of retirement home or something, I'm like, hey, I won.
SPEAKER_00: I won.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're starting our series, and it's titled Change the Game, and the idea is predicated on the difference between finite games and infinite games.
SPEAKER_00: Finite games and infinite games.
SPEAKER_00: James Karst popularized this idea.
SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's an idea centered around game theory.
SPEAKER_00: So James Karst wrote a book a number of years ago, and then Simon Sinek, um, through some TED Talks and things like that, kind of popularized it more of late.
SPEAKER_00: And it's less about literal games and more about mindsets with how we approach life, how we approach competition, how we approach goals.
SPEAKER_00: So let me give you kind of a quick overview in case you're not familiar.
SPEAKER_00: Finite games have fixed rules, they have known players, they have a clear endpoint, and the goal is to win.
SPEAKER_00: That's what a finite game is.
SPEAKER_00: So, examples of a finite game, it's a football game, uh, a chess match, a checkers match.
SPEAKER_00: There's an obvious set of rules.
SPEAKER_00: We all knew Lincoln cheated, it was blatant, it was obvious because he's operating outside the bounds of the rules.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same reason, like if you like to watch sports, uh, maybe you watched uh the Yukon upset over uh Duke uh last week, whatever that was.
SPEAKER_00: It was just like crazy, and it's just nuts.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because once the game's over, the game's over.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I as I'm watching that game, I'm like, oh man, Yukon is cooked, they have no chance, like they're done, they're done, but they keep playing the game until triple zeros, and it ended up different.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you uh let's say you are playing soccer, your kid's playing soccer, and you notice your team's struggling, you would never just say, hey coach, put in three or four more extra kids.
SPEAKER_00: That'll give us an advantage.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't work.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Bengals fan and remember when we got robbed in the Super Bowl a few years back, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: We want the game called Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's fixed rules.
SPEAKER_00: The goal is to win.
SPEAKER_00: And it's obvious when the game is over because someone wins.
SPEAKER_00: It works in business as well or school, and exam in school is kind of a finite game.
SPEAKER_00: You get to take the test to prove the knowledge you've had or what you've acquired.
SPEAKER_00: In business, if you have a sales event for some reason, uh, it's like it's okay, quarterly sales event, whoever has the most sales in this quarter wins a lava lamp.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the prizes that they're given out in these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what you do, and it's a fixed event.
SPEAKER_00: That's a finite game.
SPEAKER_00: An infinite game is very different.
SPEAKER_00: In an infinite game, you have evolving rules.
SPEAKER_00: Players can enter and leave at any point, and we'll contextualize this in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: There's no defined end point.
SPEAKER_00: By definition, infinite means it's ongoing, and so the game is ongoing, and the goal is to simply keep playing.
SPEAKER_00: So, if, for instance, you say, well, man, this year we really want to uh hit our numbers hard, and so I'm just gonna pull every trick I can and do everything I can to hit my numbers this year like no other year.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even care about anything else.
SPEAKER_00: It's a foolish way to play the game of business overall, because if you burn up every competitive advantage you have within a 12-month span, it won't make for a good career.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody married in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody fight with your spouse this week, last week, something like that?
SPEAKER_00: You just want to raise your hand?
SPEAKER_00: Come up and no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Um did you win the fight?
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it awesome?
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, ha! I got you.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that how a fight in marriage goes?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, why?
SPEAKER_00: Because then you're not in marriage anymore.
SPEAKER_00: The game doesn't keep getting to get played.
SPEAKER_00: What about politics?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you clearly have winners and losers in politics, do you?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, our country's pretty young, 250 years old this summer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've had different parties like cease to exist.
SPEAKER_00: And it changes.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, yeah, but this one won.
SPEAKER_00: I know, and they said the world would end and it didn't it.
SPEAKER_00: And then the other side won, and they said the world would end, and it didn't it.
SPEAKER_00: And just so you know, the next election, whichever side is gonna tell you the other side is gonna win, the world's gonna end, and it won't.
SPEAKER_00: It's an infinite game, it keeps going.
SPEAKER_00: And you're never surprised when a new player gets into the mix.
SPEAKER_00: In business, it's the same idea.
SPEAKER_00: I was reading a book Jim Collins years ago, and he talks about this uh print press company, I think it was back in the 60s or 70s, I can't remember the exact time frame, and they were on the cutting edge and they'd spent all this money on this equipment and everything else, but then the problem was the game changed and it became digital.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in business, you can't say, no, no, you can't sell the new product.
SPEAKER_00: We agreed on this.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's just not the way it's played.
SPEAKER_00: In the infinite game, there's no final win.
SPEAKER_00: You're trying to stay in the game, you're trying to improve over time.
SPEAKER_00: Business, careers, relationships, personal growth.
SPEAKER_00: If you apply a finite mindset to an infinite game, you're in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're going to misunderstand everything that's going on around you and you'll end up frustrated and you'll make poor decisions.
SPEAKER_00: So, in business, for instance, an infinite game, if your sole focus is on beating your competitors this quarter, which is finite thinking, it hurts your long-term survival.
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to relationships, if you try to win arguments instead of better understanding one another and cultivating a deeper relationship, you might win the short-term argument but then lose in the long-term relationship.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrection of Jesus, if true, forever changes the game.
SPEAKER_00: So if life is just a matter of being here for a certain number of years and then it wraps up, we might play the game rather differently.
SPEAKER_00: If life is solely the date I was born, the dash, average, less than average, more than average, if that's what life is and then I die, then man, check off your bucket list, do as many things as you can, grab as much as you can, get everything you can, because it's a finite game, somebody's gonna win, somebody's gonna lose, and then it's over.
SPEAKER_00: But if life is more than whatever brief stretch of time we might have here on this earth, then it's an entirely different game altogether.
SPEAKER_00: It's a become an infinite game, and we should play accordingly.
SPEAKER_00: So, I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that Jesus defeated death and the grave.
SPEAKER_00: I believe life is far more than the date that I was born, the dash in between my years of where I started and where I end.
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you fall?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of game, so to speak, do you think we're playing in life?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look back with me to the book of John again, and we're gonna continue on in the book of John, chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: Most of it will be on the screen, but there might be some that's not.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome to fall along in your Bible or on your phone if you've got the Bible app.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great tool.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, happy to give you one.
SPEAKER_00: It's the exact same Bible I use.
SPEAKER_00: Just stop by the connection hub.
SPEAKER_00: We just ask that you read it if you're willing to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd just like to read this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, picking up in verse 11, we're gonna go all the way down through 18.
SPEAKER_00: It reads this way.
SPEAKER_00: Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Mary's crying because she's gone because Jesus has passed.
SPEAKER_00: As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, the empty tomb, and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus' body had been, where she expected it to be.
SPEAKER_00: One at the head and the other at the foot.
SPEAKER_00: And they asked her, Woman, why are you crying?
SPEAKER_00: Which seems an odd question, and we'll get to a moment, and it's even going to be repeated a second time.
SPEAKER_00: They've taken my Lord away, she said.
SPEAKER_00: Understand, they didn't.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't say Jesus got up and left.
SPEAKER_00: They took him.
SPEAKER_00: Dead people don't move.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know where they've put him.
SPEAKER_00: At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there.
SPEAKER_00: Game changer, right?
SPEAKER_00: But she did not realize that it was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: How does that play?
SPEAKER_00: He asked her the same question, woman, why are you crying?
SPEAKER_00: Who is it you're looking for?
SPEAKER_00: Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you've carried him away, if you've carried him away, he didn't walk away, he didn't leave, he didn't, if you've carried him away, please just tell me where you've put him, I'll go get him.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to her, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, Rabbini, which means teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, go to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news.
SPEAKER_00: She said, I've seen the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And she told them the things he'd said.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you crying?
SPEAKER_00: It's a rather ridiculous question from Mary's vantage point.
SPEAKER_00: From Mary's vantage point, like, why am I crying?
SPEAKER_00: Because they killed Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why am I crying?
SPEAKER_00: Because this man who brought more peace and joy into my life and seemingly into the world than ever before is gone.
SPEAKER_00: Like this person that we thought was going to change everything, change the game, like overthrow these messed up, broken political structures and power structures and everything else, like he's going to do it, but it's the same ending.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing every time they killed him.
SPEAKER_00: He's gone forever.
SPEAKER_00: And crying makes the most sense in the world at that juncture.
SPEAKER_00: And that would be true.
SPEAKER_00: If life was the finite game she'd always thought it was.
SPEAKER_00: But the game was different.
SPEAKER_00: It's always been different.
SPEAKER_00: You see, now we grieve when we lose loved ones, and that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: But the follower of Jesus is intended to grieve differently because we don't grieve as those who have no hope, whether it's facing our own end or the end of somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: In this context, Mary's tears don't actually make any sense.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you crying?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is gone.
SPEAKER_00: He's actually right there.
SPEAKER_00: But in the way she understood the world, in the way the rules of the game work, that's not how it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're losing in the basketball game.
SPEAKER_00: Just put in some extra players.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't cross your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's not how it works.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in business, sometimes people fall, or in sales, sometimes people fall because they get so narrow in their thinking.
SPEAKER_00: In relationships, people get fall or mess up or broken relationships because they think get so narrow in their thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Mary's weeping and Jesus is right there.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been so heavy in grief that you can't even look up?
SPEAKER_00: It says that Mary doesn't recognize Jesus, and I don't know if she doesn't recognize him because she can't even look up, or her vision is so blurred by her tears, or what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: But I know the idea of Jesus standing there talking to her doesn't fit within the way she understands the world to be, and so she can't experience the world in the way it actually is.
SPEAKER_00: The world looks different based on whether we see life as a finite game or as an infinite one.
SPEAKER_00: If the resurrection is true, if it is, I believe it to be.
SPEAKER_00: If it is, it changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: The way I speak to people, the way I engage, the goals I set for myself, the way I steward my resources of time, my money, my health, everything is done differently.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary gets this.
SPEAKER_00: She goes that morning to grieve, she runs away in joy.
SPEAKER_00: The rules have changed for the good.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me to John 20, 19 through 23.
SPEAKER_00: It reads this way On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus is already raised from the dead, it's already been proclaimed to them and told to them, but they've not yet seen it, and so they're afraid for their lives, justifiably so.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: It's a phrase that'll be repeated three times.
SPEAKER_00: We'll read two of them.
SPEAKER_00: I'll cite another one in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side, the wounds.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus said, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
SPEAKER_00: The game is different.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you track the path of the disciples after this event, you know it's different.
SPEAKER_00: They go from hiding in fear to boldly proclaiming, and all of them but one forfeiting their life.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're so confident in this changed game.
SPEAKER_00: And with that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: There's another phrase again repeated: peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Now this one makes more sense if we think about the context.
SPEAKER_00: If you see somebody upset or wounded or tired or worn out, and you just say, Hey, man, I'm praying for peace for you.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know peace.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a difference in how Jesus says it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not this hopeful or wishful thinking, he's actually declaring it over them.
SPEAKER_00: Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Peace has literally entered into the room.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is different now.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just well-wishing or hope.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus proclaims, he declares peace to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Peace is what you should know if you lose someone you love.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it is if the rules of the game have changed.
SPEAKER_00: What if the person wasn't lost after all?
SPEAKER_00: The resurrections change the game.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are gathered in fear, but they don't need to be afraid because peace has come.
SPEAKER_00: It's a powerful reality to recognize that the greatest fears in our world need not assail us.
SPEAKER_00: If life is finite, then the threats are crazy.
SPEAKER_00: If life is finite, you better gather your kids, gather your resources, huddle everything you can together, protect it as much as you can, even though it would tell us that it's impossible to protect from all things, because life is finite and it can be taken from me.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that matters can be taken.
SPEAKER_00: And so this sense of peace is constantly missing.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because my circumstances are constantly changing.
SPEAKER_00: But if the game is different, we've always kind of known there were rules at play.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everybody knows this.
SPEAKER_00: You're born, you live, you die.
SPEAKER_00: Like, man, we know these things are at play, but nobody ever stopped to ask why are the rules there?
SPEAKER_00: Who set them in the first place?
SPEAKER_00: And are we sure we've got them right?
SPEAKER_00: The passage goes on.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas is one of the 12.
SPEAKER_00: He traveled around with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: For some reason he wasn't with them when Jesus had appeared.
SPEAKER_00: And Thomas did what you or I would do if we'd been in that situation.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples all tell him, hey, listen, Thomas, it's a game changer.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we don't know what's happening exactly, but here's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, and he here's what he says in John 20, 25.
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand literally into his side, I won't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the rules of life are set.
SPEAKER_00: They don't change.
SPEAKER_00: I said something I shouldn't have said, and I can never undo that.
SPEAKER_00: Rules of life are set, you can't take words back.
SPEAKER_00: What if the rules of life aren't set?
SPEAKER_00: I've messed up one too many times.
SPEAKER_00: What if the rules of life aren't set?
SPEAKER_00: I've achieved everything, but I still seem to be lacking something.
SPEAKER_00: What if you're playing by the wrong set of rules?
SPEAKER_00: The game looks different.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a surprising response.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus later would appear to Thomas.
SPEAKER_00: He'd meet his challenges and his doubts head on with grace and with compassion, just like he would meet your doubts or your questions with grace and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: And he speaks the same message again: peace be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, when the disciples gather in fear, he speaks peace.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, when the disciple doubts and won't believe, speaks peace.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is different.
SPEAKER_00: It's remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas believes, Jesus commends the belief, but he goes on to say, but listen, there's gonna be people who don't see it and yet believe.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are them.
SPEAKER_00: My time's running out.
SPEAKER_00: Because the service is finite.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to look with me to John 20, 30 to 31.
SPEAKER_00: It says this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
SPEAKER_00: There's just too much to put in.
SPEAKER_00: But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, that by believing you may have life in his name.
SPEAKER_00: You can have life in the name of someone who's died.
SPEAKER_00: How does that make any sense?
SPEAKER_00: The one who loses isn't supposed to be the model of the game.
SPEAKER_00: You see, if we can see how the resurrection of Jesus changed the game, everything looks quite different.
SPEAKER_00: God invites each of us time and time again, with grace and with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: To say, man, why are you so upset about these things that are happening?
SPEAKER_00: Why do you why do you seem just so like worried and because you don't understand if this and that and the other, he goes, what rules are you playing by?
SPEAKER_00: Well, God, this is just the way the world works.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I made it.
SPEAKER_00: I think I know how it works.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think you do.
SPEAKER_00: God invites us time and time again to look at the world through an infinite lens.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I said the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: So go say the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: I did the wrong thing, so go do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: I've been greedy and selfish, so go be generous and kind.
SPEAKER_00: If life is an infinite game, it should be played or lived differently.
SPEAKER_00: The band's gonna come and they're gonna lead us out.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a song to close with, just a time of reflection.
SPEAKER_00: Um we were at a conference a couple weeks ago as a staff, and uh I really liked this song.
SPEAKER_00: It just told the story so well.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, this would be a good one to end on Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Bailey, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Yeah, I think we can make that happen.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to just read this to you one more time.
SPEAKER_00: It won't be on the screen, you don't need to find it.
SPEAKER_00: John 28 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, it's the disciple that Jesus loved.
SPEAKER_00: Also went inside and it says he saw and believed.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't fully know what's going on, but may he believe something's up.
SPEAKER_00: The confines of the game he'd been playing, they've been changed forever.
SPEAKER_00: But notice the next verse, it says they still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from that.
SPEAKER_00: They still don't know everything that's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, what I want to challenge you with this morning, what kind of game are you playing?
SPEAKER_00: When you look at life, like who sets the rules, who sets the paradigms, like what are what are you about?
SPEAKER_00: And it is a life that's marked with peace, is it a life that's marked with joy?
SPEAKER_00: Is it a life marked with grace and kindness and love, compassion?
SPEAKER_00: If you know Jesus and have been walking with Jesus, is there anywhere where you're like, man, I keep getting constricted into this finite worldview, and so I find myself hoarding or I find myself unkind?
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, I need to surrender that to you again so you can continue to form me into the image of your son.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you're here today, and honestly, like you don't get into church much.
SPEAKER_00: And but you mean you promised grandpa or grandma, you promised mom or dad, or man, you just like I want to make a change, I want to do something different, but I don't know what to do with all these pieces.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the disciples didn't either, and they traveled with Jesus literally for three years.
SPEAKER_00: But with what they knew, they believed.
SPEAKER_00: One refused to even believe it, and Jesus met him with grace and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: So whether you've been following Jesus for years, you're like, I'm not sure what to do with this.
SPEAKER_00: My question is, what do you want to do with it leaving this place?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe the rules of the game are finite, restricted, set by some arbitrary random thing?
SPEAKER_00: Or is there maybe more going on than you thought before?
SPEAKER_00: I'd invite you to stand with me.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna lead us in a song.
SPEAKER_00: I'd just invite you just to reflect before we go.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: Your love, your grace, your kindness, your goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, that you change the game.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to see there's more going on than meets the eye.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to see our lives, our vocations, our families, our relationships, our calling, everything from the vantage point of eternity, from this infinite lens.
SPEAKER_00: So often we self-restrict or we feel restricted by others, but Lord, instead, would we just look to who you call us to be and what you call us to do?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for those who have known you and walked with you.
SPEAKER_00: But this morning they're realizing there's some spaces that, yeah, maybe, maybe I've set some rules that aren't from you.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I pray we just live more and more in step with your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for those who don't know you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they just say, you know what, I need, I need to change something in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, might you be that change?
SPEAKER_00: Don't let them walk out different.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let them walk out without making a different move.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for your grace, your mercy, how you continue to call us.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for these families, these individuals.
SPEAKER_00: I pray a blessing over them.
SPEAKER_00: May everyone leave this place today with your peace.
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of circumstance, regardless of situation, may they know your peace and may it be found in you alone.
SPEAKER_00: It's the name of Jesus, we always pray.
SPEAKER_00: The one who raised from the dead and defeated life and forever changed the game.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bailey, would you lead us?
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast.
SPEAKER_02: If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com.
SPEAKER_02: We hope you have a blessed day.