SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you're your Bibles, would you open to Luke chapter 24?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Luke chapter 24, verses 50 through 53.
SPEAKER_01: We look at the last three verses of the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: That's Luke chapter 24, verses 50 through 53.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible somewhere around you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're sitting next to someone who doesn't have a Bible or doesn't have a Bible open, I give you permission just to awkwardly slide your Bible in between the two of you or just let them look at the words on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: I just think that the best use of our time this morning is just looking at God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Um that's Luke's chapter 24, verses 50 through 53.
SPEAKER_01: For those of us who don't know, we didn't heal here, Neil.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Leo Almeida.
SPEAKER_01: I work at Cornerstone Community Bible Church, where I'm a junior high and the high school pastor where I've been the last several years.
SPEAKER_01: Um I love my job.
SPEAKER_01: I'm passionate about teenagers, but whenever Neil texts me about preaching here this morning, I literally jumped at the chance.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I jumped at the chance.
SPEAKER_01: I have literally had October 7th circled on my calendar for three months now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I I I love the mission of this church, I love the direction of this church.
SPEAKER_01: I loved being here last time, and I'm extremely excited to be here today.
SPEAKER_01: Um, a little bit about myself.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the youngest of three boys.
SPEAKER_01: I'm the youngest, I'm the youngest sibling in my family, the youngest of three boys.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know how many of you are the youngest in your family or the baby in your family, um, but that sounds cute at face value, but that role of being the youngest can actually be pretty tricky.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, being the youngest can actually be pretty tricky because what happens is your your older siblings, they look at the way your parents are treating you, they'll flash back to how your parents treated them, they start to spot inconsistencies and they say, wait a second, I got whooped for that.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Wait, I didn't get that privilege that young.
SPEAKER_01: Dad, you're going soft.
SPEAKER_01: Mom, you're going soft.
SPEAKER_01: So as the youngest one, you can actually be born into the antagonist role just accidentally.
SPEAKER_01: It sounds cute at face value, like you're the baby of the family, but that can actually be very, very tricky, and that was no different in my family.
SPEAKER_01: You know, usually with a collection of boys, any sort of tension could be um uh taken care of just via wrestling.
SPEAKER_01: But my brothers are so much bigger than I am that they would look absolutely ridiculous pinning down someone as small as I did.
SPEAKER_01: So, even though things did get physical sometimes, the majority of our warfare was psychological.
SPEAKER_01: My brothers were evil masterminds.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: They knew that I was deathly afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_01: And by was, I mean am.
SPEAKER_01: Just extremely afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad you find that funny.
SPEAKER_01: But I was just extremely afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_01: So I lived in Angola, Africa, and what happened is um the electricity would go out a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Like the power would just go out.
SPEAKER_01: And for someone like me, when the powers would go out, like thinking of being a being in a room this well lit, all of a sudden everything is completely dark.
SPEAKER_01: And when I would do it, I would just cower back and I'd be like, man, this is super scary, isn't it, guys?
SPEAKER_01: Guys, and they were gone.
SPEAKER_01: And I knew my oldest brother was already, he already had his eyelids flipped backwards and he was ready to pop out and scare me at any moment.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So they knew I was also deathly afraid of horror movies.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, just deathly afraid of horror movies.
SPEAKER_01: So what they would do is they would go watch a horror movie and they'd come back and tell me about it like, man, that that ghost in that movie, he really likes little boys just like you, in a house just like this one.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So I was deathly afraid of those things, and I will never forget the one specific time their evil mastermindness peaked.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is about 2004.
SPEAKER_01: I was in sixth grade, so I was 11 years old.
SPEAKER_01: So whenever you're if you're a boy and you're 11 years old, what happens is it's no longer um socially acceptable for you to be scared.
SPEAKER_01: You can't cry in public, you gotta be tough.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you have a locker now for crying out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is time to be be strong and be tough.
SPEAKER_01: So we're in my brother's car.
SPEAKER_01: It was all three of us.
SPEAKER_01: Um, my me and my my younger, me and my brother were in the backseat, and my oldest brother was driving at the time.
SPEAKER_01: He's about 20 years old, and he was telling us about this movie that he just finished watching called Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
SPEAKER_01: And as he's doing the usual, he's describing to me the movie.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, I'm not scared.
SPEAKER_01: I'm 11 now.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this worked last decade.
SPEAKER_01: I'm no longer scared like this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm being tough, I'm hanging in there, and he's describing, hey, the chainsaw, he put it up, he was running the chainsaw, but and I was like, dude, I'm immune to this.
SPEAKER_01: And then as we're pulling up to a light, he said two things that cut at my soul.
SPEAKER_01: One, he said, you know that that was about a true story that happened here in Texas, right?
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I know, you know, the Texas is in the title, I know.
SPEAKER_01: And then he turns around and goes, you know, they never found the killer, right?
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: It's whatever.
SPEAKER_01: But in my heart, I was like, I'm gonna die next.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm gonna die next, right?
SPEAKER_01: But that feeling, okay, when someone is on the loose or someone is at large, that feeling is unique.
SPEAKER_01: That's an eerie, eerie, very, very scary feeling.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you another example, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I remember forget when I was five or six years old, I first watched Thriller.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who don't know who are not familiar with Thriller, it's a movie slash music video by Michael Jackson in which he was a werewolf slash zombie, and he's terrorizing a girl at the climax, and she uh closes her eyes to brace for impact, and then she opens her eyes, and she was it was just a dream.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Michael Jackson is in fact just Michael Jackson.
SPEAKER_01: He's not a werewolf or a zombie.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, get up, no, it's it's it's okay, get up.
SPEAKER_01: And he grabs her hand and they're walking out, and then he shoots a look at the camera and he has werewolf eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember watching that as being a five-year-old, like, we must find and destroy Michael Jackson.
SPEAKER_01: At all costs, we must destroy Michael Jackson.
SPEAKER_01: Because that feeling is eerie.
SPEAKER_01: When someone is on the loose, when someone is at large, that's an eerie, unique feeling.
SPEAKER_01: For those of us in here who are afraid of spiders, afraid of spiders, you know that finding a tarantula in your bed in the middle of the night, that's like the second worst thing that can happen.
SPEAKER_01: The worst thing that can happen is if you find a spider, turn to get a weapon, and then you turn back, spider's gone.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's the terrible.
SPEAKER_01: I see people like scratch themselves.
SPEAKER_01: She's not, they're not spiders in here.
SPEAKER_01: But that feeling is is eerie, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But I'm here to tell you this morning, that feeling right there of someone being on the loose or someone being at large, that feeling, that feeling is what Easter was all about.
SPEAKER_01: That feeling is is Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the grave is empty and Jesus is currently at large.
SPEAKER_01: The grave is empty and Jesus is right now on the loose, and all we're left with is mountains of internal and external evidence that he got up and he walked off by himself.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if he if Jesus Christ was not raised from the death, dead, death still reigns and sin isn't completely paid for.
SPEAKER_01: But Acts 2 tells us that he died, but the pangs of death could not hold them down.
SPEAKER_01: And that is great news.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, unfortunately for a lot of people, the gospel stops right there.
SPEAKER_01: When they're teaching or meditating on the gospel, the gospel stops right there, but they're forgetting one huge component.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there are about three events uh per year that three events per year in Jesus' life that we celebrate every year.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's about three Jesus parties per year.
SPEAKER_01: One of them, of course, is Christmas, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus uh comes to earth.
SPEAKER_01: The word became flesh.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, God's promises of old got legs, God's promises got teeth, God's promises got a body.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Philippians chapter 2 says that he did not count equality with God, something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he was born in the likeness of man.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's the incarnation.
SPEAKER_01: That's actually the heart of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: That's the heart of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's Emmanuel, God with us.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, religion is man chasing after God.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is God ferociously pursuing man.
SPEAKER_01: That's the incarnation, right?
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, as a new uncle, as someone who just became an uncle, I can actually enjoy Christmas a lot more as an uncle.
SPEAKER_01: Because four years ago, when my nephew was born, it was September 11, 2014.
SPEAKER_01: I belted out the words, happy birthday, right?
SPEAKER_01: Happy birthday.
SPEAKER_01: And it was his birthday about four weeks ago, and I belted out the words, happy birthday.
SPEAKER_01: And even though, whenever he was born, I said happy birthday, there's still a considerable amount of ambiguity as to what type of person he's gonna be.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what he's gonna do with his life.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what he's gonna accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: That's completely different with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Before he was born, we knew exactly what he was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: We knew exactly what he's gonna accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the only person in human history who we had his resume before we had his birth certificate.
SPEAKER_01: That is a happy birthday.
SPEAKER_01: That's a baby shower we need to celebrate, right?
SPEAKER_01: But that's Jesus' party number one that we have every year is Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: Number two is Good Friday.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's Good Friday, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: That's a part of his resume, is that Jesus Christ was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: And that's ironic, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you look at that list of people, the top 15 or top 20 people who are the top 15 most influential people in the world, whether it's Buddha, whether it's Gandhi, whether it's Muhammad, whether it's Einstein, none of those people will tell you I was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but Jesus was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: He keeps speaking in terms of this hour.
SPEAKER_01: You guys right now are going through the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to pay attention, have your eyes open and your ears sensitive to any time Jesus is speaking into relation of this hour.
SPEAKER_01: My hour is not yet come.
SPEAKER_01: My hour is drawing near.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, my hour is finally here.
SPEAKER_01: And that's all his life is tunnel vision to the point where he's going to die.
SPEAKER_01: He was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: He never comes out and explicitly says, Hey, I was born to die, but he keeps calling himself the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: The bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: If you're like me, you hear the words bread of life, and you just assume that's Jesus being Shakespearean.
SPEAKER_01: He's just coming up with cute metaphors talking about how awesome he is.
SPEAKER_01: But he's speaking to people in the food industry and he knows where their brain's gonna go.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what Jesus is getting at.
SPEAKER_01: Think of what you ate last night.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Think of what you ate this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Think of what you eat for lunch, think of what you eat for dinner.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you ate, or everything you eat, has to die in order for it to nurture you.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's grains, whether it's lettuce, whether it's poultry, whether it's meat, everything has to die in order to nurture you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was speaking to farmers and fishers.
SPEAKER_01: This is where their brains would have gone.
SPEAKER_01: I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_01: In order for this reconciliation to work, I'm going to have to be plucked up and killed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: God did not give us a president or a teacher or a scientist or a doctor.
SPEAKER_01: He gave us a savior.
SPEAKER_01: He was born to die.
SPEAKER_01: But that's Jesus party number two, the second thing we celebrate.
SPEAKER_01: And then third, I just said is it's Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the grave is empty, sin is paid for in full, and death is defeated.
SPEAKER_01: Now there is a fourth event in Jesus' life.
SPEAKER_01: There is a fourth event that comes with drastic implications.
SPEAKER_01: There's a fourth event in Jesus' life that caused that we should look at a lot more.
SPEAKER_01: And it's right here in Luke chapter 24, verses 50 and 53.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just look at these words together.
SPEAKER_01: Now keep in mind, this is resurrected Jesus talking.
SPEAKER_01: Um, after he's resurrected from the dead, he spends about 40 days teaching and 40 days eating in front of people.
SPEAKER_01: So you what you notice is resurrected Jesus is all about the foods, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he's either always cooking or he's always a pastor that food.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's trying to explain to the trying to show the disciples, listen, I'm not a projection of your grieving process, I'm here.
SPEAKER_01: Ghosts can't have prep breakfast, right?
SPEAKER_01: So this is how this era ends.
SPEAKER_01: And he led them out, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany.
SPEAKER_01: And lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
SPEAKER_01: And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, often forgot, Jesus ascended up to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Jesus ascended up to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, the ascension is epically important.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the ascension of Jesus Christ is epically, epically important.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a great way to describe what something is is to first pinpoint exactly what it's not.
SPEAKER_01: So here are a couple things that the ascension is not.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the ascension is not just another miracle to convict.
SPEAKER_01: What you notice about Jesus' life is he's doing miracles to convince and to convict, and rightfully so.
SPEAKER_01: If I turn your analogy into Capri Son, all of a sudden Leo's words hold a lot more weight, right?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So he's always doing miracles to convince to convict, but he's not um ascending to the Father with that same thing in mind.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: In John 5, he says, I'm doing miracles so you can marvel.
SPEAKER_01: That's not why he's ascending.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he's not he's not going, okay, if I could just show them that gravity can't hold me down, maybe they'll but no.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's not just another miracle to convince.
SPEAKER_01: Um, second of all, the ascension is not merely, it's not merely space travel.
SPEAKER_01: It's not he's not just space traveling.
SPEAKER_01: He's not like, okay, now he was down here with us, now he has a helicopter view of us.
SPEAKER_01: He was not just going to another spot in the universe, yet he was he was changing his relationship to the universe.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Jesus Christ was ascending into glory.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was ascending into glory.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've been a Christian for more than 25 or 26 minutes, you'll realize it's pretty difficult to cultivate intimacy with someone your five senses can't confirm.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to talk to someone you can't see.
SPEAKER_01: So what the new the natural propensity is, let me imagine Jesus as I'm praying.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're honest, you'll land in a picture like this.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is a sandal wearing, blanket wrapped, soft smiling, ponytail-halving, introverted guy around a campfire listening to your prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Now, 2,000 years ago, you may have been in the right ballpark.
SPEAKER_01: 2,000 years ago, you may have been in the right ballpark.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the way he looks right now.
SPEAKER_01: That's and that's great news.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the way Jesus Christ looks right now.
SPEAKER_01: So let me read you three snippets of Jesus in his glorified state.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read um from a couple different passages throughout the Bible, just three snippets of Jesus Christ in his glorified state, how he looks right now.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is in Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_01: It says this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I saw in the in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like the Son of Man, that's Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he came to the ancient of days, God the Father, and was presented before him.
SPEAKER_01: And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him.
SPEAKER_01: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: That's Jesus in his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Let me do another snippet.
SPEAKER_01: This is in Revelation chapter 1, verses 10 through 16.
SPEAKER_01: This is John speaking, and he says, This, okay, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches.
SPEAKER_01: Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with the white robe and with the golden sash around his chest.
SPEAKER_01: The hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow.
SPEAKER_01: The eye his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
SPEAKER_01: In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face shone like the sun shining at full strength.
SPEAKER_01: It's Jesus in his glory.
SPEAKER_01: I'm using another one.
SPEAKER_01: This is in Revelation chapter 19.
SPEAKER_01: It says this, then I saw the heavens open, and behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on the horse is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
SPEAKER_01: His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has the name written that no one knows but himself.
SPEAKER_01: He is clothed in a white robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And the armies of heaven, arrayed in white linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses, and from his mouth comes a sharp sword which to strike down nations, and he will rule them with the rod of iron.
SPEAKER_01: He will tread the winepress of fury of the wrath of the God Almighty.
SPEAKER_01: And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_01: That's Jesus in his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as I describe Jesus in his glory, I hesitate.
SPEAKER_01: Part of me hesitates because I describe Jesus Christ in his glory at the risk of making you feel the way I feel when I'm around Princeton Onwas.
SPEAKER_01: I walked into my fourth grade class back in 2002 at Creech Elementary, my fourth grade homeroom class in the first day of school as a hip-hop-loving, basketball-obsessed African boy.
SPEAKER_01: And I was always the only one of my kind, so I panned the room for anyone else like me.
SPEAKER_01: And I spotted one, and his name was Princeton Onwas, who's also a hip-hop-loving, basketball-obsessed African boy.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of being friends with him, in my boyish competition, I said, there can only be one, right?
SPEAKER_01: So at recess, I would go right at him.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I would go right, no matter if it was kickball, soccer, basketball, I went right at him, full speed.
SPEAKER_01: He lived in my neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01: We used to go to the wreck, and I would go right at him.
SPEAKER_01: I was always, always competing against him until something tragic happened in seventh grade.
SPEAKER_01: We became friends, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is the weirdest thing.
SPEAKER_01: We became friends, and actually, we became good friends.
SPEAKER_01: He played on my basketball team, and we got to spend a lot of practice time together, a lot of idle locker room time together.
SPEAKER_01: We were on buses together.
SPEAKER_01: We became very good friends until freshman sophomore year, Princeton started separating himself from the pack.
SPEAKER_01: He started blossoming into a very, very good basketball player.
SPEAKER_01: All of us had dreams of taking basketball far and making it big, but Princeton looked like the one that could actually do it.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget my junior year, the first time Princeton dunked in a game.
SPEAKER_01: All of us used to stay after practice before and try to dunk after practice, but Princeton did it in a packed gym, in a game.
SPEAKER_01: It's like he took off the floor as one person and he landed as a different person.
SPEAKER_01: I remember looking at him as he was running down the court and thinking, is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_01: Because he's not acting like that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: And then senior year came and he blossomed into one of the best basketball players in Houston.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was really top five, top ten basketball players in Houston.
SPEAKER_01: Now, time lapsed.
SPEAKER_01: I went to Oklahoma State to study engineering, and he went over to Utah to play basketball.
SPEAKER_01: And lo and behold, one day I'm coming in from the library after a long day's wages.
SPEAKER_01: I turn on Sports Center and I'm looking at the Sports Center top ten and I see this guy who runs very familiar.
SPEAKER_01: And it's Princeton.
SPEAKER_01: He's up there, he's playing well on the national level.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I grew up calling this guy P Boogie.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up calling him Skateboard P.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up calling him the hamburglar.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up calling him Princess.
SPEAKER_01: And now when I see him, I have affection for him.
SPEAKER_01: I want to reminisce with him.
SPEAKER_01: I want to hang out with him, but I hesitate.
SPEAKER_01: There is a hesitation there.
SPEAKER_01: I consider the fact that he's six foot six.
SPEAKER_01: I consider the fact that he has the deepest voice in the Western Hemisphere, right?
SPEAKER_01: I consider the fact that he has a basketball contract.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I consider the fact that he has fans and people who want to interview him and a highlight reel on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: I consider those things, all of a sudden I hesitate and I start to think, can I even relate to you anymore?
SPEAKER_01: You've so surpassed where we were.
SPEAKER_01: You've so made it so much farther than we were.
SPEAKER_01: Can I even relate to you anymore?
SPEAKER_01: I describe Jesus Christ in glory at the risk of making you feel that exact same way.
SPEAKER_01: I can relate to peasant Jesus, president Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But friends, I want to encourage me now.
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, that there is, yes, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: But the Hebrews writer would tell you right now listen, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the King of the universe, he knows what it's like to feel anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what it's like to be nervous.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what it's like to be you down here.
SPEAKER_01: So, all the more now, this king in glory, we should not hesitate to go to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now more, we should draw near the throne of grace with even more confidence, knowing the one who is sovereign over all knows exactly what it's like to be down here.
SPEAKER_01: We draw near to him now, all the more that he is in glory.
SPEAKER_01: Now, one of my favorite theologians, Tim Keller, whenever he's describing the ascension, he says this.
SPEAKER_01: Just as it's ridiculous to build a beautiful house if no one lives in it, just as it's ridiculous to cook a big meal if no one eats it, just as it's ridiculous to build a powerful bomb with no detonator, in that same way, the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus are of no use without the ascension.
SPEAKER_01: The ascension is the detonator for everything that Jesus did.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in these short passages in Luke chapter 24, it says it shows us that the the ascension detonated two things for us.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the ascension, first off, detonated the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the ascension detonated the helper.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verses 50 and 51 real quick.
SPEAKER_01: It says this lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
SPEAKER_01: And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Now our temptation as we read that, okay, is just to skim over the word blessed, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We it's kind of like the bird of life.
SPEAKER_01: We just kind of assume Jesus is kind of just spewing some religious jargon as he's floating up to the sky.
SPEAKER_01: And yes, okay, he was pledging to them everlasting mercy.
SPEAKER_01: He was pledging to them everlasting grace, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Everlasting mercy is yours, everlasting grace is yours, everlasting peace is yours, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And he's doing these things with his hands lifted up, pointing to the source of all blessing.
SPEAKER_01: And as he's doing this, the Bible says he is carried up.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know how many of you were born or raised in the 1980s, 1970s.
SPEAKER_01: I personally wasn't, but I've watched enough movies from then to know how exactly how every movie ends.
SPEAKER_01: What usually happens is the protagonist will say something witty to tie the whole plot back together.
SPEAKER_01: He'll jump in his motorcycle andor Miata with his dream girl.
SPEAKER_01: They'll drive off into the sunset, and then something all something's always there to remind me, we'll start playing.
SPEAKER_01: Or don't stop believing, we'll start playing.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: And then the credits will start to roll and everything will start to fade out.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what's not happening here.
SPEAKER_01: That's not happening here.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus did not come here to earth to pass out blessings and leave.
SPEAKER_01: He was not coming here to earth to the same way our favorite celebrities go back to their old neighborhood or go back to their old junior high.
SPEAKER_01: He was not trying to pass out blessings and leave, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Those things like like blessing or mercy and grace and and peace, those things are faculties of our hope.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: They're faculties of the one we ultimately have our hope in.
SPEAKER_01: Our hope is in God.
SPEAKER_01: That's the hope of the gospel, is that we get to enjoy God forever.
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole hope.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Genesis 3, we got kicked out of God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: The rest of the Bible is God pursuing us and getting us back into his presence.
SPEAKER_01: That's the hope of the gospel, is that we get God, not stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We get God.
SPEAKER_01: So grace, mercy, and peace, those are faculties of God, but we we really want God.
SPEAKER_01: So the question is not what was the blessing?
SPEAKER_01: The question is, who was the blessing?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, who was the blessing?
SPEAKER_01: And towards the end of Jesus' life, he was very adamant about talking about the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the helper.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in Acts chapter 1 version of this story, he tells us, listen, stay here until the helper comes.
SPEAKER_01: Stay here until the helper comes, and we are empowered.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be empowered by the helper.
SPEAKER_01: And obviously, the helper is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the night before Jesus took the cross, he takes, he rounds up his disciples in an attic-like environment and he starts briefing them about the helper.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the upper room discourse, but he starts briefing them about the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just list off some things that the helper comes with.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you some things the helper comes with.
SPEAKER_01: One, the helper comes with the nearness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the helper comes with the nearness of God.
SPEAKER_01: John 14, verses 16 through 17 say this.
SPEAKER_01: And I will ask the Father, this is Jesus speaking, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.
SPEAKER_01: Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
SPEAKER_01: But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of us as we do life, um, a lot of us as we do our Christian walk, oftentimes we believe that it would be easier if we hung out with Jesus like the disciples did.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be so nice if we could just get a hug from Jesus, or maybe just a text from Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be so nice if we can just hang out with them in a way that our five senses could confirm.
SPEAKER_01: But for it, I'm here to tell you, we have Jesus right now in the way that the disciples early on did not have him.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, when Jesus was here on earth, okay, he could send blessings, but Jesus was spatially constricted.
SPEAKER_01: He was spatially constricted.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's doing, he's giving us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will be inside of you everywhere you go.
SPEAKER_01: He was detonating his presence in a way that we can have him everywhere we go.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Moses did not have that.
SPEAKER_01: I teach a Bible study right now to my high schoolers, and I was talking to them about how, like, God, by a pillar of cloud, he led them through the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: And my high schooler kind of just frowned and go, Man, I wish that would happen today.
SPEAKER_01: I wish I could see God.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, listen, don't get to heaven and tell Moses that.
SPEAKER_01: Because Moses is going to turn around and look at you and say, You had the spirit living inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: He had that cloud living inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so he was detonating his presence in a way that we can't lose him again.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Jesus tells his mom things like, Hey, woman, don't cling to me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't cling to me.
SPEAKER_01: I have to ascend to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that sounds kind of mean, but Jesus was not being taboo.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't saying, Hey, my skin is too pure, don't cling to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm too holy for you, don't cling to me.
SPEAKER_01: No, he was saying, listen, I'm gonna detonate God's presence in a way that we can't have another weekend like this one again.
SPEAKER_01: I'm detonating the presence of God in a way that we can't lose him again.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, that is huge for us.
SPEAKER_01: That's huge for us to understand that he comes with the nearness of God because this is not a long-distance relationship.
SPEAKER_01: He's incredibly near to us.
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis chapter 28, we have a story of a man named Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: And Jacob is going on a journey, and Jacob is tired and he falls asleep, puts a rock under his head, and he falls asleep.
SPEAKER_01: And as he's asleep, God gives him a prophetic dream.
SPEAKER_01: And as I read that passage over, the crazy part isn't how amazing the dream is.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a dream with this ladder, and angels are descending and ascending upon this ladder.
SPEAKER_01: It's an amazing dream.
SPEAKER_01: But what's more spectacular is the words that Jacob says right when he wakes up.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 28, verse 16 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob woke from his sleep and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.
SPEAKER_01: Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, he grew up in a religious family.
SPEAKER_01: He probably spoke Christianese.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: He came from a very, very honorable man of God, a great lineage, and he probably assented to the truth that God is omnipresent, but that verse shows that he was oblivious to the real presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: That was his problem.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, is that your problem this morning?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the helper comes with the nearness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, the helper comes with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: The helper comes with boldness throughout the gospel narratives.
SPEAKER_01: What you'll notice is you see the disciples stumble around with unbelief and confusion.
SPEAKER_01: And really, the poster child, the star boy to all of this, is our boy Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Peter is impulsive, Peter is confused, Peter is a coward.
SPEAKER_01: That is until he's filled with the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, after Jesus ascends, he obeys Jesus in staying in Jerusalem, and he has about 120 Christians with him, and they are awaiting the helper.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says in Acts chapter 2, like a mighty rushing wind, the Holy Spirit fills the entire place and it fills all of them, so much so that they are speaking in different languages, and they're understanding each other in different languages.
SPEAKER_01: So that would be like me, my native language is Portuguese.
SPEAKER_01: That would be like me speaking to you in Portuguese and you understanding me in English, and then you speaking back to me in English, and I understand you in Portuguese, but this is what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: And whenever the Holy Spirit comes and fills the entire place, it acts as a holy alarm.
SPEAKER_01: So devout men all over the area come and see what's going on, and they see people talking to each other in these different languages and they get confused.
SPEAKER_01: And they immediately think, oh, these off-brand Jewish people, these Christians, they're drunk.
SPEAKER_01: They're drunk.
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter, in his boldness, stands up and says, No one is drunk.
SPEAKER_01: It's only 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: Which, by the way, that's the greatest sermon intro of all time.
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: As pastors, we fight for those.
SPEAKER_01: Peter has it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the best of all time.
SPEAKER_01: But he goes on to just boldly, boldly proclaim the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, boldly proclaim God so much so that 3,000 souls were added to God that day.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man who six weeks prior, he was afraid to admit that he was a part of Jesus' crew.
SPEAKER_01: And now that he's filled with this helper, he can't help himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's constantly preaching the gospel, just boldly proclaiming the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: A few chapters later, we're introduced to a man named Stephen, and the Bible says Stephen is filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as a pastor, I get invited to speak at a lot of different places, whether it's a church or it's a retreat or it's C2 or it's Young Life, and it's an honor.
SPEAKER_01: But Stephen got invited to preach at a place where I never want to preach.
SPEAKER_01: Stephen got invited to preach his own funeral.
SPEAKER_01: Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: He got invited to preach his own funeral.
SPEAKER_01: He gets caught by authorities and they basically tell him, What do you have to say for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: And then for 51 verses, he boldly proclaims the gospel himself.
SPEAKER_01: Starting all the way in Genesis, he goes book by book and he starts proclaiming the gospel himself, and he is killed for it.
SPEAKER_01: But that's the boldness that the Spirit gives.
SPEAKER_01: The helper comes with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: And my question to you this morning is when was the last time you accessed this boldness?
SPEAKER_01: When was the last time you even prayed for this boldness?
SPEAKER_01: My friend, in Christ, you have every reason to be bold.
SPEAKER_01: In light of the ascension, we have every reason to be bold bold.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just read you some passages.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 10, verse 16 says this.
SPEAKER_01: And the one who rejects you, rejects me.
SPEAKER_01: And the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: And he, a couple of chapters later, he doubles down on this and says, This when they bring you to the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about what you should defend, or about how you should defend or what you should say.
SPEAKER_01: For the Holy Spirit, in that very hour, will tell you what to teach you what you ought to say.
SPEAKER_01: And in Matthew 10, 10, he doubles down on this and says, For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of the Father speaking through you.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us have earned the right to be heard and said nothing?
SPEAKER_01: You've seen a uh you've seen a coworker place their hope in children, or you've seen a young 20-something place their hope in husband or a wife?
SPEAKER_01: You've seen someone just subscribe to death, and God has providentially put you in an area to talk about him and to glorify him through the preaching of his word and talk about the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us have just sponsored their ignorance with silence?
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's because you're in the name of preserving reputation, or in the name of not inciting an awkward note, or in the name of not feeling dumb.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, these passages show us that in Christ, we can speak the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, even if our voice shakes, we can speak the truth even if our voice shakes.
SPEAKER_01: It's no longer you speaking, it's the helper speaking through you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as a youth pastor, I'm gonna change gears and talk to my parents in this room.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is where I always have to go.
SPEAKER_01: I I'm thinking I think a lot about family discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk to my moms and dads in this room.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we have to disciple our students.
SPEAKER_01: We have to disciple our students.
SPEAKER_01: Don't use your introversion as an excuse not to disciple your students.
SPEAKER_01: Or don't use the I'm not neil to decide as an excuse not to disciple our students.
SPEAKER_01: Because look, I'm not neil either.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I've had lunch with this man four times, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And as a radical introvert, I get lightheaded watching him talk to us I'm not neil either.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not wired like that either.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not neil either.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, God is not looking for eloquence or perfection, he's looking for obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is looking for the obedience that's rooted in faith.
SPEAKER_01: And a part of obeying Jesus is obeying his outward call to make disciples and to our moms and dads, God has given to them, given you them in your home.
SPEAKER_01: Um one of the things that I'm learning right now in the technological era is that there are officially more screens than there are people in this world.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't disciple your students, these screens will.
SPEAKER_01: Like specifically, if you're not discipling your students and in matters like sex, pornography will.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not discipling students as to what to do with their emotions, the entertainment industry will.
SPEAKER_01: So that begs the question: if not you, who?
SPEAKER_01: And if not now, when?
SPEAKER_01: So to our parents, we have to, we have to disciple our students.
SPEAKER_01: We have uh help from the helper.
SPEAKER_01: And to our students, man, what a time.
SPEAKER_01: To our students in here, what a time to be alive, man.
SPEAKER_01: Leverage your youth by being bold and making disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you are not too young to make an impact.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: From what I learned, here's what I've learned from reading this book cover to cover and going to public school.
SPEAKER_01: You sit where you sit in third period because God orchestrated it that way.
SPEAKER_01: Your locker is where it is because God has orchestrated it that way.
SPEAKER_01: Those kids sit behind you and behind and in front of you on the bus because God has orchestrated it that way.
SPEAKER_01: Why not get to class tomorrow and make a tic-tac-toe board?
SPEAKER_01: Put your name in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: Put your name in the middle of that tic-tac-toe board and consider those empty squares, students that sit around you.
SPEAKER_01: And make goals like before Thanksgiving, I'm gonna learn their first and last name.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, before Christmas, I'm gonna invite them to the warehouse.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, before spring break, I'm gonna tell them my testimony.
SPEAKER_01: And my goodness, before summer, I'm gonna tell them the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell them the inexhaustible fountain of joy that's found in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, students, be bold.
SPEAKER_01: You are not too young, because in Christ we can speak the truth even if our voice shakes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the helper comes with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: And also the helper comes with joy.
SPEAKER_01: The helper comes with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, John 14, 16 says that the helper will be with you forever.
SPEAKER_01: And if you put that reality next to Romans 8.16, Romans 8.16 tells us that the Spirit testifies to our Spirit that we are God's children.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you put those realities together, okay, the fact that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever, and the fact that the Holy Spirit's constantly ministering to us, that we're not slaves, we're we're sons, you'll understand that God will be preaching the gospel to me forever.
SPEAKER_01: God will not stop preaching the gospel to me.
SPEAKER_01: That's now and forever.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're struggling with hardness of heart, if you're struggling with sadness, if you're struggling with spiritual dryness, let me invite you this morning to subscribe to the simple gospel of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The Son of God became a creature, so creatures can become sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let me invite you to subscribe to that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, subscribing to that gospel will give you joy.
SPEAKER_01: Happiness is weird, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because happiness is circumstantial.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of happiness is based on things you can't really control.
SPEAKER_01: So you can't really will yourself into happiness.
SPEAKER_01: You can't wake up and go, I'm in a good mood.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But joy, you can get joy from responding to the simple gospel of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's what made Paul so joyous in the midst of calamities.
SPEAKER_01: He never got over the fact that Jesus died for him.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he Jesus died, he never got over the fact that he became from a slave to a son.
SPEAKER_01: And have you taken time to meditate on the truths of the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: This is not an extracurricular activity.
SPEAKER_01: Your joy is at stake.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, your joy is at stake.
SPEAKER_01: So the helper comes with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Now the word that Jesus uses to describe the spirit is paraklitos.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, paraclitos.
SPEAKER_01: I'm butchering that, but it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: But from that word paraclitos, um, we get the word parachute, paralegal, and paramedic.
SPEAKER_01: If you jump out of a perfectly good airplane, which some people randomly do, if you jump out of a perfectly good airplane, um, you're gonna need a parachute.
SPEAKER_01: If you get in trouble with the law, you're gonna need a paralegal.
SPEAKER_01: If something happens to you medically and you can't get yourself to the hospital, you're gonna need a paramedic.
SPEAKER_01: How amazing is it that we have to borrow God's name to describe help.
SPEAKER_01: We have to borrow God's name to describe things that we need.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but the helper, um, the helper is Christ living inside of us, ready to provide anything that we need.
SPEAKER_01: So the ascension of Jesus Christ detonated the helper.
SPEAKER_01: It detonated the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Second, the ascension detonated radical worship.
SPEAKER_01: It detonated radical worship, and I'll be brief on this point.
SPEAKER_01: The ascension of Jesus Christ detonated the world radical worship.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 52 and 53.
SPEAKER_01: It says, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
SPEAKER_01: They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and we're continually in the temple blessing God.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be brief with this point.
SPEAKER_01: Now, several months ago, I was watching a magician on TV.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys know this magician's name.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it goes by the name of Steph Curry.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Steph Curry is not a magician.
SPEAKER_01: He played, he's the point guard for the Golden State Warriors, and some of the things that he can do with the basketball should be illegal at this point.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but nevertheless, I've been watching it for 10 years, and I know that whenever he has the ball and he starts stutter stepping, he's taking these small little steps, the wheels are turning.
SPEAKER_01: He's about to do something trying to try to do something that's remarkable.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm flopped on my couch and I'm watching him play, and he's playing against San Antonio Spurs.
SPEAKER_01: He gets the rebound and he's pushing the ball up ahead and he starts doing the stutter step.
SPEAKER_01: So I perk up and I watch TV, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he has two options pass to the guy in front or pass to the guy behind him.
SPEAKER_01: He slows down and he looks like he's made his choice.
SPEAKER_01: He looks behind him and he stops and he looks at the guy behind him, and in one motion, he throws a left-handed behind-the-back bullet pass to his teammate up ahead, and it is one of the greatest passes that I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01: Like a good basketball fan, I got up off my couch, I started yelling at the TV as if he could hear me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: As if he could hear me all the way in Oakland.
SPEAKER_01: I started belting out, screaming at the TV, realized I was in my apartment by myself, got my phone, called my brother, and we talked about how amazing Steph Curry is.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're just oozing about Steph Curry, like, oh my god, it's a it's an honor and a privilege to watch this man go to work every day.
SPEAKER_01: This is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks later, I was in my own personal devotional time and I ran into Romans, okay?
SPEAKER_01: How the just Romans chapter 5 about how the just one justifies.
SPEAKER_01: The just one justifies.
SPEAKER_01: I actually ran into Romans chapter 5, verse 6, how while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I did?
SPEAKER_01: I highlighted it, I journaled about it, and I tried to think of metaphors that would resonate with my youth group about that verse.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Now, on one hand, I'm over here excited, just for joyous and super pumped to watch stuff.
SPEAKER_01: On this one, I'm like, hmm, neat.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01: No, there is nothing inherently wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing inherently wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: But I think moments into heaven, I'm going to look at that and be like, that was flipped.
SPEAKER_01: What could be more exciting?
SPEAKER_01: The fact that the just one justifies.
SPEAKER_01: Those reactions were absolutely flipped.
SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_01: I know some of us go to concerts and we're completely fine at concerts belting out the words.
SPEAKER_01: We're completely fine belting out the words.
SPEAKER_01: We're completely okay listening to other people belt out the words at a concert.
SPEAKER_01: And then you come into a church setting, and there's this over, there's this overarching um timidity when you walk in.
SPEAKER_01: To where like, oh, all of a sudden singing isn't really my thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not the best singer in the world.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, again, there's nothing inherently wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: But I think moments in the heaven, we're gonna look at that and be like, that's flipped.
SPEAKER_01: Here, we're singing words that are true.
SPEAKER_01: These words are true.
SPEAKER_01: Clyde is leading us in worship in these words that are true.
SPEAKER_01: And moments in the heaven, we're gonna look at what we what we rejoiced in, what we uh just extolled in, and we're gonna be like, man, that was absolutely flipped.
SPEAKER_01: Now, listen, I know that we're in a marathon.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this life with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Christ is an absolute marathon, and it's difficult to stay engaged the entire time.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the words that Paul uses to describe the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: I press on towards the goal.
SPEAKER_01: I fight the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_01: I labor in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I toil in preaching and teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, none of those words denote the fact that it's gonna be just one huge musical number the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing lazy river about those words, which is why a God has us singing, waiting for him while we sing, or singing while we wait for him.
SPEAKER_01: There's over 400 verses in the Bible about singing and 50 direct commands to sing, which can be a little bit weird because it's just like, don't murder, sing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't lie, but sing.
SPEAKER_01: But God was on to something when he said, when he commands us to sing.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, worshiping the Lord through song has a unique way of letting the truth of God flow from our head to our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, worshiping the Lord through song has a unique way of letting the truth of God overflow from our head to our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: This is the God who makes people sing.
SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you to be a Romans 116 church that is not ashamed of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That the gospel is powerful and you rejoice and you respond to him, not with the spirit of timidity, but responding to him like the disciples did and worship.
SPEAKER_01: The ascension detonates radical worship.
SPEAKER_01: So the ascension detonates two huge things in those passages: radical worship and detonates the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'll end this way.
SPEAKER_01: Luke ends his gospel with the ascension, but then he starts the book of Acts with the ascension.
SPEAKER_01: So in a way, it ends one history and starts another history.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and in the and in his Acts account of the ascension, he has the disciples gazing longingly into the sky.
SPEAKER_01: They were just gazing longingly into the sky, so much so that two angels showed up and said, Why do you stand just staring in heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you stand looking into heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, in this room, I know that you guys are going through the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the best books of the Bible, if I dare say that.
SPEAKER_01: Taught by one of the best teachers around.
SPEAKER_01: And a temptation can be to merely, just merely gaze longingly to the story of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we cannot just stare at Jesus' story.
SPEAKER_01: Because this Jesus that ascended, the same way he ascended, he's coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we cannot quarantine the message of John to this church.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot quarantine the message of John to this room.
SPEAKER_01: We have to mobilize the story of the gospel of Jesus according to John.
SPEAKER_01: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, two ways.
SPEAKER_01: One, get to know the helper.
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you guys to go in your own personal devotion time, just skim through John's 13 through 17.
SPEAKER_01: Get to know the helper.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be tragic if you go through the Christian life thinking, I didn't have what I needed, when inside of you you have someone whose name is help.
SPEAKER_01: So get to know the helper.
SPEAKER_01: Second, let's shoot back into our workplaces with worship.
SPEAKER_01: Having an amazing praise life is one of the best apologetics.
SPEAKER_01: One of the best apologetics to the Christian faith is just having a powerful, powerful praise life.
SPEAKER_01: Because our classmates and our coworkers are gonna see that and wonder not only what's behind that, but they're gonna want that.
SPEAKER_01: Man, why does she have, why does he have such a bulletproof identity?
SPEAKER_01: Why does she have, or why does he have such an awesome attitude in the midst of a Monday morning or in the midst of a calamity?
SPEAKER_01: Why are they constantly praising?
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna want that.
SPEAKER_01: So we are to shoot back into our workplaces and shoot back into our schools with a great praise life.
SPEAKER_01: That's how we mobilize the book of John through the detonating power of the ascension of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Dear God, thank you for who you are.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for um the fact that you did exactly what we what you said you were gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, thank you for detonating your presence in the way that we can never lose you again.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for supplying us with the helper.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I just pray that for boldness.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for boldness for this room and this week.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for people to just subscribe to the gospel, the simple gospel of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, thank you for who you are.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your beautiful name, I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you stand for our benediction?
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord bless you and keep you, and the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
SPEAKER_01: And may the Lord just fill you this week with his nearness and with his boldness and with his joy.
SPEAKER_01: And may the Lord just keep you this week.
SPEAKER_01: In his beautiful name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.