WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:06.080 Well, a great theologian once said that our hearts are idol factories. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:09.439 Well, my office is an anti-lament factory. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:14.080 And here's how you know: as soon as you walk in my office, you turn to the right, what do you see? 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:15.759 Adult Legos. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.280 And then you turn your head just a little bit, kids. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.079 I still have these. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.559 I have some fidget spinners on my desk. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:27.920 And if that's not enough, you turn your head just a little bit more and you see Jeff. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:29.600 You're thinking, who is Jeff? 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:35.280 Jeff is a five-foot banana who smiles at you as soon as you enter into my door. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:41.920 All of that to say, lament is something that does not come naturally to me. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.719 I'm going to venture to say that it doesn't come naturally to you either. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:50.640 When we think about the holiday seasons, everyone thinks, what are we going to do? 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:51.759 Where are we going to go? 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:53.439 How much fun are we going to have? 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:55.679 What joy are we going to have? 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:57.679 Kids, opening presents. 00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:59.119 That's a blast. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:10.640 But if we just skate through life and all we think of are the good things, we are missing a critical part of the Christian journey. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:23.120 So this journey that we're asking about, and I'm asking you this question as much as myself as it is to you, we see in this passage that Jesus wipes away the tears from our eyes. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:30.719 My question for you is how can Christ wipe away tears that you haven't let yourself cry? 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:41.840 How can Christ wipe away tears that you haven't let yourself cry? 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.760 And so to look at this today, we're going to be looking at three different views. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:58.239 We're going to see the purpose of tears, followed by our types of tears, and then followed by the best part, the end of tears. 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.200 So the purpose of tears, why do we cry? 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:06.480 There was a Pixar movie that came out around 2015 called Inside Out. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:13.439 And Inside Out is this movie where there's this girl named Riley, and there's all of these emotions going off in her head. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:15.520 And they have some really original names. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.840 So the little angry guy, his name is Anger. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.919 The happy person, their name is Joy. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.120 You get the point. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:27.840 Well, a lot of us as Christians, we think our lives is to be like joy inside of Riley's head. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:29.120 And here's what joy does. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:32.879 Anytime a sad emotion, for some reason they look like little globes. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:39.439 One of those little globes shot up into Riley's mind, Joy thought, Oh, here's what I gotta do. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:44.159 I immediately gotta get rid of the sadness emotion and make it happy. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:56.800 Because if I were to ask you, every single person, when I asked, when I they walked through the door and I asked them how they had or how Christmas was, it was great, fantastic, never been better. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:02.479 Well, if you would have seen our house Christmas morning, we would give you the same answer, but it would have looked a little bit differently. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:07.280 Okay, so I would say everything went great, but it was a mess getting out the door, you know. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.879 My sister, she was supposed to be there an hour earlier, and then she just comes strolling in late. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:18.159 And then my mom's for some reason is obsessed with these baked beans, and she's got to make sure they're perfect. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:20.879 It's like mom there in a can, they're not gonna be perfect. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.520 You know, that's every single one of us. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:33.599 But if you ask us, if you were to really get down and get down with people, we all want to make it seem like we have it all together. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:41.840 And part of lament, part of tears, the purpose of tears is realizing that we aren't supposed to have it all together. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:45.120 And if you do have it all together, you can come up here and teach instead of me. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:46.240 I would love to hear it. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.800 Just how great everything is going. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:04:01.280 So when we cry and when we allow ourselves to cry, the purpose of those tears is saying, we see in verses one through three that there's a theme of a new heavens and a new earth. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:03.039 What does that mean? 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.080 Well, it means there was something old. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:11.280 And this something old is something that's not perfect anymore. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.639 You see, the the first time where death enters in the Bible, it just doesn't make sense. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.199 When we allow ourselves to cry, we aren't groaning to God saying, Why did you do this? 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:30.560 When we cry, when we lament, we are saying this isn't the way it's supposed to be. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:35.040 People shouldn't have cancer. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.000 People shouldn't get Alzheimer's. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:39.839 None of these things should happen. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.160 They don't fit in the order of creation. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:47.199 Friends, allow yourself to cry because when you are crying, you are actually agreeing with God. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.399 Did you know that? 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:53.759 When you're crying, you're not saying, God, why did you do this to me? 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:00.720 You're saying, God, I want back to the garden, back the way things were supposed to be. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.000 This whole death thing, it doesn't make sense. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:07.040 I don't want it anywhere near my life. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:09.519 That's the purpose of tears. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:19.759 It's allowing ourselves to agree with God in a way of saying things are supposed to be new, they're not new yet, and because of that, I can be sad. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:23.040 Allow yourselves to cry. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:32.800 But the another aspect of that is that tears unite us to the full humanity of Christ. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.759 Tears unite us to the whole humanity of Christ. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:44.800 So when I was little, and honestly, if I'm being truthful still now, sometimes I think of Jesus as a very OCD man on a mission. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:49.519 So he is going to this location, he's healing people, he's casting out demons. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:50.800 No time for emotion. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.079 Gotta go to this area, go heal people, cast out demons. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:55.279 No time over there. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:57.120 I gotta go over here, I gotta deal with Judas. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:10.240 You know, we have all these things that we think Christ does, but if we were to actually look through our New Testaments, we see that Jesus cried way more than he rejoiced. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:11.680 Did you know that? 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:24.639 When Jesus went through the old or went through the New Testament and he was going through places, he spent much of his time crying and not much of his time rejoicing. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:30.639 So why do we feel like we have to put on this nice, happy face when we come into church? 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.800 Here's what the author of Hebrew says about Jesus. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:36.639 We all know that Jesus wept. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:38.879 That's one of the most famous verses in the Bible. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:42.240 But do you know the depths of Jesus' weeping? 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.399 When you think that Jesus wept, is it just, okay, Jesus cried? 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.639 Let's let's let's move on here. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:56.560 Jesus cried from his friend's death, from rejection from his hometown, from anticipation of future suffering. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.000 And this is how he cried, Hebrews 5, 7. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:17.199 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:22.480 Jesus Christ Himself, I think we would all agree he's stronger than us, right? 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:24.959 Everybody, yeah, Jesus was stronger than us. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:36.079 This man who was stronger than us cried out with loud tears because he knew that God the Father was the only one who was going to be able to save them from death. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.560 All of that to say, why aren't we doing the same? 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:52.160 I've only been to a few community groups while I've been here working with youth, and there's never been a time where we sit around and we lament. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:56.079 I'm not saying make it a weekly practice because then community groups will go away like that. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:08.399 But occasionally, it is good for us to connect to the humanity of Christ, knowing that Jesus himself cares way more about the future than we ever could. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.279 You see, Jesus himself, he hated death. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:16.319 Jesus gets the full humanity experience way more than we give him credit for. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:26.000 Just think how it would be to have your own hometown betray you, your friends betray you, friends die, and you're being the only one who can save humanity. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:32.639 When you cry, you are uniting yourself to the humanity of Jesus. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.559 But you're also uniting yourself to others. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.320 And here's what I mean. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:48.480 After every big American tragedy, and I'm sure this happens other places as well, did you know that there is a visible uptick in church attendance? 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:53.759 I've seen as much as 30% increase after a national tragedy. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.399 And then my question is, why do you think that is? 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:02.080 Like, why after something happens and people say, Where is God? 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.039 Do they automatically start going to church? 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:16.879 When we allow ourselves to cry and when we lament, we are asking questions that have been asked since the beginning, and that is, God, do you got me? 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:19.600 In the most country way possible. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:20.639 Do you got me? 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:24.240 You know, is are you going to save me? 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.000 Where are you in this tragedy? 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.039 I don't see you. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.559 I have no clue where you are. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:30.639 What am I supposed to learn from this? 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:41.120 When we cry rather than having joy, we're able to have conversations with God that are a whole lot more candid and truthful than we ever give credit for. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:42.720 Because here's the alternative. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:53.200 If everything was going good, if your life was going great, and you had no tragedy at all, why would you why would you worship God? 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:54.399 Really? 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:55.679 Why would you? 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.480 It seems like, well, you know, Lee, Lee has everything going for him. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.120 Everything is going perfect in his life. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:08.879 He is, he's just an awesome guy, and there is there's nothing wrong in his life. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:11.519 He's only experienced good things in his life. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.000 He was born on third base, as they say. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.000 He has everything going for him. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.679 When would I ever need to cry out to God? 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:24.240 Never. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:25.200 That's right. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.080 I would never have to cry out to God. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:39.200 You see, when we lament, this allows us to come together collectively and talk to each other in ways that we are maybe afraid to normally. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:56.559 We may have those doubts creeping in the back of our mind of God's goodness, and then an event happens, something happens in our life where we say, okay, I've got to talk about this with my closest friends, my community, the people that I'm here with. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:00.480 Because this is the way that Christ has designed us. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:02.639 We are supposed to be communal beings. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:10.159 John Claude and I are reading a book about grief, and they say that a shared burden is an easy burden. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:24.240 When we are in the depths of despair, that's the time when we are tend to withdraw, but we should be in community with other believers, because that's the only thing that will help us endure it. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.559 So next we have our types of tears. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.840 And so for our types of tears, I boil it down into two categories. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.240 I have our tears of death and then our tears of anticipation. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:44.879 So for our tears of death, I'm going to start out with a story from a man named Tony Hawk. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:48.639 And if you are of a certain age, you may know that name. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:55.039 If you are a child, you probably know that name as well because he is the most famous skateboarder ever. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:02.080 And so Tony Hawk was so popular that he brought skateboarding into the mainstream. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:10.240 In the 90s, people were wearing huge pants and these skateboarding shoes, even though we never skateboard because Tony Hawk was that cool. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:17.679 And Tony Hawk even had a video game after him that brought him even further into the spotlight. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:27.360 So Tony Hawk was a man who burst on the scene in the 90s and he became popular because of one trick. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.600 And this one trick is called a 900. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:41.600 And for those of you who are maybe not as adept in math like myself, that is four complete rotations on a skateboard and then a half one. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.120 And he did in the 90s, and everyone lost their mind. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:51.679 Well, as what happens with all of us, Tony Hawk started to age. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:55.519 And then at 48 years old, he's like, I'm gonna do this again. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.919 I gotta get a 900 again. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.440 And so Tony Hawk, you see the video, you can look at this online. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.120 He's going up the ramp and he's just eating it time after time. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:06.639 He's getting down. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:09.759 And then you see the frustration on his face. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:17.440 And then he gets up, and it is not a pretty 900, but that 48-year-old man landed it. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:19.840 And then you see Tony Hawk. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:21.440 He beams. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.799 But then he starts crying. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:28.879 Why? 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.240 Because at 48 years old, Tony Hawk knew he was foolish to try it in the first place. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:38.879 And he realized that he experienced a death. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.159 A death of a dream. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:44.879 A death of an ability. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:50.000 When I say tears of death, there is the obvious. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:56.879 If a family member dies, that is a death we should lament. 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:04.639 If a close friend or relative, if any of that, if any of those people die, we all should lament. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:14.240 But I'm going to venture to say that many of us experience these smaller deaths on a daily and weekly basis. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:21.600 So there was a time when me and Mary Brooke, when I had first started seminary, that we thought we were going to do van life. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:35.519 If you know van life, we thought she was going to do travel occupational therapy, that I was going to be the you know, blogging seminary dad on just riding around in a van across the country. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:39.600 And then it wasn't too long until we started thinking about it. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.279 It's like, well, we can get into some pretty good fights. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.320 But if you do that in a van, it's a little bit harder to escape. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.639 I guess one person could just drive away. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:59.759 But the amount of community and everything that we would have lost at that time, it wouldn't have been worth it. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:04.799 We experienced the death of a silly dream. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:11.519 Some of you might have bigger dreams that have died. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:21.759 Maybe, just maybe, this holiday season's hard for you because you have relatives and they seem to be doing everything they want in life. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:37.039 And you're looking at another mundane week of getting the kids to oboe practice and skateboard practice and everything that they have going on, and you think, I just thought my life would be different. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:39.200 It's a death of a dream. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:43.840 Or maybe the holidays were hard for a different reason. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:56.879 Maybe they were hard because you have a death of a relationship, a family member, a sibling, friend, somebody you were really once close to. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:02.080 They have decided they want nothing to do with you, and it's because you were marked by Jesus. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:18.639 You see, when Jesus talks about tears, don't just think of it as it's a one-time event, but it's oftentimes a lifetime of going through something, of death, of pain. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.000 But there's another type of tear as well. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:30.320 If you see in the second half of verse four, he talks about pains and miseries and mourning and crying. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:35.039 And I'm boiling these down and making them into one word, and that's tears of anticipation. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:40.320 So these are the things that you think may happen, but may never happen. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:44.399 So these have no definite end date. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:49.840 When a dream dies, our van life, we knew right when that dream was dead. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:17:00.000 If you are somebody who's waiting for a baby, that dream can come a little bit longer, or it may never come. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:12.240 William Stabler recently told me that in Navy SEAL training, that it's not the long events that get people to tap out. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:21.680 So if you're told that you have to run 20 miles and you know that there's a definite end spot, you know, after 20 miles, I'm done. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:28.640 I can go sleep, drink some coffee in that order, and then I can get ready for my next events. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.960 But it's when they're told to do something that has no definite end time, like just run. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.240 When do you want me to stop? 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:37.119 Just run. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:47.519 That is when people have the hardest time completing their training, and that's when people are most likely to tap out. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:53.119 Tears of anticipation are hard because they don't have an expiration date. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:01.279 There's a man in the book of John, and there was he was an invalid, is a word that was used. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:07.359 And he went and he sat by this pool every day, and he just wanted to be healed. 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.480 And eventually Jesus came up and healed him. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:18.160 But what this man was missing and what he was wanting, he didn't just want this physical healing to make him better. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:24.720 This tears of anticipation that this man had extended way further than what you or I could realize. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.039 So let me let me give you some examples. 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:31.440 So he was a man who was paralyzed, he was by the pool, got it. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:34.799 His limbs weren't working, so he was physically limited. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:36.319 He was suffering in that way. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.200 But he was also a social outcast. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.559 Back in biblical times, they didn't really know what to do with people who had disabilities. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:46.720 So they just left them there. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:50.640 He had no friends, he was lonely. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.920 Things that all of us experience today. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:08.079 So my question for you is what tears of anticipation are you not letting yourself cry? 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.839 The tears of death, those are the easy ones to categorize. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:19.440 But what dreams do you have that you hope Jesus answers for you that hasn't been answered yet? 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:26.799 Because when we really start digging down into those types of things, that's where we really have our questions about God and God's goodness. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:31.519 Of God, I thought I would be further along in life at this point. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:33.759 I thought I would have my sixth promotion. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:35.440 I thought I'd be CEO of Amazon. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:35.920 I don't know. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:39.519 Whatever it is that you are desiring. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:45.680 Maybe it's you're single, and the holidays were hard for a different reason. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:51.680 It's those well-intentioned relatives who are always like, ah, so is there a Mrs. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:52.400 or Mr. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:52.880 around? 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.240 And you have to give them a curt? 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:54.720 No. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.240 Shut them down real fast. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:03.119 But you're praying and you're crying out to God in time and time again, and knowing that the answer may never come. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:15.680 Friends, it's during those times where I encourage you to have these tears of anticipation to be honest with God in ways that you've never been honest before. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:26.559 So really cry out, talk to your community, ask the ask God the hard question you want to ask Him, and that is, God, do you got me? 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:33.920 And that brings me to our last point, and that is the end of tears. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:45.519 So we've seen that we should cry, we've seen ways that we cry, but the answer we haven't asked, or quest uh the question we haven't asked is, well, what happens to those tears? 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.359 The psalmist says it well. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.519 It says that God has bottled up our tears. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:00.240 So those tears that you have cried, they don't go through evaporation. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:08.240 They aren't there just you know in the dirt somewhere, they're not forgotten. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:24.720 If you have ever been a at a funeral and people are people are coming to console you, there are a list of bingo items that you can know that people will say. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.119 None of them are helpful. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.039 First one being, it's in a better place. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:33.839 Thanks, really helps me right now. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.960 There is God needed him more than I did or than you do. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:44.720 And then there is he's walking on streets of gold right now. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:48.799 All people who say that are having well intentions. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:54.319 People aren't saying that to try to make you feel bad or try to disparage your pain. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.759 The problem is tears indicate death, and we don't know how to. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.359 Deal with death. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.599 We just don't. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.559 But what does it say that Jesus does? 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:08.160 I want you to think about this. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:18.160 So we haven't talked really about the book of Revelation and its importance, but a short summary of the book of Revelation is Revelation is a book of victory. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:24.160 Where we see the powers of death destroyed and we see Christ reign. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:37.920 And what do we see that Christ does in verse 4 with all of his power, all of his glory, he doesn't have a parade, he doesn't go next to you and say, Oh, I'm so glad that you endured, let's go party. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:42.319 He doesn't go to you and say, Hey, it all turned out okay, didn't it? 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:43.119 No, no, no. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:52.160 When Jesus meets you after judgment and he's wiping away a tear from your eye, he's doing that with his power. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:23:01.680 His first act as a ruler in this new heavens and new earth is to wipe away your tears. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.759 Have you ever thought about that? 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:05.359 Mind blown. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:16.960 Jesus could do anything at this point, absolutely anything he wanted to do, and what he chooses to do is to look you directly in the face and say, This life that you lived was hard. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:20.720 I'm acknowledging it, death is gone. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:26.000 Wiping away the tears from your eyes. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:24:00.480 When Jesus healed the man at the pool, he asked him a question that was, do you want to be healed? 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:03.920 That's my question for you. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.920 Is do you want to be healed? 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:16.799 For those of you who know me well enough, you know that I have some scars on my legs, and that's because I've dislocated my kneecaps three times. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:26.240 And every time I went to the doctor, I went in walking, and they said, Hey Lee, we can do surgery on you. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:29.119 You can walk around right now, that's fine. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:31.119 Or we can do surgery on you. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:36.720 You're gonna be down for a little bit, but eventually you're gonna be better. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:41.759 So my question for you is is do you want to be better? 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:47.839 Do you want to have the healing that Jesus offers? 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.240 Because if you do, I'm gonna suggest three things to you. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:02.000 There is uh a music artist who has a song, and the the song says, Yes, I'm a mess, with an S on my chest. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:08.160 So we're all walking around like we're Superman, but we're all very messy on the inside. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:13.440 The first thing that you can do if you want to be healed is to admit that you're messy. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:14.880 Just admit it. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:21.599 Admit it to God, admit it to your family, admit it to your community group. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.240 It is okay to be a messy people. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:26.799 We are people who need healing. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:28.559 We need the good physician. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:30.319 We got great physicians in here. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:31.519 There's a better one. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:45.839 We need Jesus, we need ourselves to admit that we are messy because when we do, we're just like me going in for that surgery and realizing that I'm okay, but I want to be better. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:54.240 The next thing that you can do is get in a community group or a community of people where you can share your burdens with one another. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:56.160 I cannot emphasize that enough. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:59.839 Shared burdens are easy burdens. 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:02.559 What have you been carrying for so long? 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:15.599 What has been on your heart that you have hoped to share with somebody that every time you think about it, it makes you sad, it makes you sorrowful. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.559 What is that thing that you have in your life? 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:24.160 Because what the enemy wants us to do is to think that we got to carry this by ourselves. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:31.759 That we have to have it all together because everyone else has it all together, too. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:46.960 And then the final thing that we can do is we can realize that Christ hates death way more than we do. 00:26:47.759 --> 00:27:05.200 And when we think about our sorrow and pain and tears in that light, we realize that we aren't just, we don't just hate what has happened to us, we don't hate the death, we don't hate the anticipation nearly as much as Jesus does, and it connects us to the humanity of Him. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:14.000 So I opened up and I talked about Inside Out, so it's only fitting that we close with Inside Out. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.559 So this character that I had mentioned, Joy. 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:23.440 Joy goes through every Disney journey where they learn something magnificent at the end. 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:28.240 And here's what Joy learned about her and Riley. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.359 So Riley's the girl who has all these emotions. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:38.240 What Joy realized was that joy and sadness, they're not enemies. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:45.279 That joy and sadness are allies. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:58.319 For us to be complete Christians, allowing ourselves to be redeemed by the Holy Spirit, we have to let sadness into our lives. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.680 We have to allow ourselves to be messy. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:09.759 We have to stop thinking about how we want to have ourselves portrayed, but how we actually are. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.799 Allow yourself to cry. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:15.200 Because here's what happens. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:28.240 After judgment day, when Christ is coming and he's there wiping away those tears in your eyes, that day will be so much sweeter. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:30.720 Allow yourselves to cry. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:32.160 Let's pray. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:45.279 God, we are thankful for having a full spectrum of emotions in our lives from joy to sorrow to pain to excitement. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:56.799 Everything that you have given us is joyous, even the things that don't seem that way, because tears will eventually be turned into joy. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:19.839 And because of that, we pray that you show us the areas where we are trying to be too strong, where we aren't crying enough, where we are trying to be too strong, where we're trying to hold an entire burden by ourselves, where we have brothers and sisters who are just waiting for us to share that burden with them. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:30.400 We pray for those who are traveling and those who may or may not be estranged with their family. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.160 We pray that all of our Cahaba Park people show your light to those around us. 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:37.759 Pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:38.640 Amen.