The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
The Rock Family Worship Center is a multi-cultural non denominational church led by Pastors Scott & Britt Silcox.
The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
Palm Sunday | Trail Of Tears - Pastor Rusty Nelson
Jesus was brokenhearted over what sin had done to his creation and how Jerusalem would miss their chance for true peace.
• Palm Sunday represented Jesus coming as the king of peace, riding on a donkey instead of a conquering stallion
• The word "Hosanna" means both "save us" and celebrates that salvation has come
• Our tears matter deeply to God – Psalm 56:8 says He collects them in a bottle and records them in His book
• Jesus offers prayers with "loud cries and tears" (Hebrews 5:7) as our high priest who understands our weaknesses
• God wrapped himself in flesh so the unholy could touch the holy and be transformed
• When we see sin against the backdrop of God's holiness, we understand true repentance
• Godly sorrow leads to salvation while worldly sorrow leads to death
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamilytv Now. Join us for a message from Pastor Rusty Nelson.
Speaker 2:I want to talk to you today, though I've really as I've prayed just for two weeks now really focused in oh God, what do you want? Here is Palm Sunday. It was a day of celebration, it was a day of blessed. Is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest, one who brings peace, one who, at his birth, angels sang Hosanna in the highest. Now man has put those words to their language to decree. The king is coming, but he's not coming on a stallion. He's not coming on a white stallion as a conquering king to come and take possession of a city. He's coming riding on a beast of burden, on a donkey. He's coming as the king of peace. He's coming to establish peace, but it's not peace at any cost, but it's not peace at any cost. There's not only a trail of brokenness that has gone before him, that has brought him to this moment, but there's a trail in the future that reaches out into 2025, into this room, into this auditorium. There's a trail of tears. See, if we don't understand the burden of Jesus, we'll never appreciate the blessing of Jesus. If we never understand the brokenness of Jesus, why, in a few days, in four days later, would he gather that group of disciples in an upper room and he would take bread and he would break it and say this is my body which is broken. For you See, man, if we don't get the brokenness of Jesus, we love the blessing and I love the blessing, but it's a broken road that takes you to a road that is blessed. There's a lot. There's a trail of tears. I know in the 1830s we have a dark blot. One of the dark blots of history on our nation was the trail of tears and just out of 16,000 Cherokees, there were 4,000 that died of a brutal trail that you can find it not far from here and get on this trail and remember. But I'm not talking about that trail of tears, but I'm talking about one that actually it stopped a parade and I haven't been able to get away from this today. So because I believe and here's what I'm praying I'm praying that before you walk out of here, in these next few minutes, I'm praying that if there is something that the Holy Spirit starts to place his hand on, you don't have to wait to an altar call, man, if God starts moving on your heart and you're just like God. I just got to lay this at your feet. I got to bring this to you. There's an open invitation. This house has always had an open invitation. I thank God for a pastor who believes in an altar, because this house was established with an altar. This is not just a frill thrill place with a TED talk, wanting you to feel always better and ooey gooey when you walk out the door. No, I want you to understand that there's a life change. There is a walk, there is a precious tenderness of the brokenness of God, the tear. God cried for us so that we would understand something. So I want to just take a few minutes and talk with you about this burden. You say, wait a minute.
Speaker 2:This was a celebration day. It was, and the Savior interrupted a moment of praise when he started weeping over a city and over the moment it's Sunday parade. It initiates this holy week. It's the days of observation, where the lamb would be observed for four days, not only to see his purity, but watch this, but his passion. Only to see his purity, but watch this, but his passion. There was an estimate of over 100,000 to 200,000 people lining the streets and they were shouting Hosanna to the son of David Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest. He's fulfilling Zechariah 9.9.
Speaker 2:Hosanna is the Hebrew word. Actually, that means save us. It goes a little deeper. It means save us, we pray. It comes from hoshanna, which is the Hebrew word, and it's found in Psalm 118, 25. It just says Lord, save us, lord, grant us success.
Speaker 2:In the original in Psalm it was actually a cry for help, like someone calling out to God in a desperate need of rescue. But by the time of Jesus it had taken on a little more depth to it and it became an expression of praise and celebration. It was acknowledging that salvation had come. So when the crowds were shouting Hosanna to the son of David, here's what they were saying Messiah, save us. And at the same time we celebrate you because you're the one who brings salvation. So they're not only giving this heart cry hey, come and save us, but they're saying you're the one that's going to do it. It was a powerful word because it holds both desperation and it holds a hopeful worship that are expressed together in one place, and here's the passage verse 39.
Speaker 2:And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher, rebuke your disciples for doing that. And he said I tell you, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out. He said if you, with created breath, don't praise me, then everything with creative DNA that I created, from a rock to a plant, everything will start praising if they don't praise me. And when he drew near, he saw the city. He wept over it, saying Would that you, even you, had known that on this day, the things that make for peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes. For the days will come when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They'll tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And he entered the temple and began to drive them out. This was actually on the next day those who sold. He was saying to them.
Speaker 2:It is written my house will be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. Lord, I ask you right now, in these next few moments, would you allow my tongue to be the pen of a writer, as I have asked you for all of these years. Somehow, lord, it's been such a sweet presence of you in this place. I thank you for everyone you've gathered here, everyone that's watching online. God, I thank you. Would you just give us a glimpse of your heart today? And I ask it in the name of Jesus. And everyone said and I ask it in the name of Jesus. And everyone said it says he wept. What does that really mean? The word wept means in the Greek to wail aloud. It's to weep bitterly, to lament. It is actually audibly sobbing. It says in verse 10 of 19,.
Speaker 2:Why is he doing this? Because he said it. He came to seek and to save that which was lost While he was on a beast of burden. Apparently, not only was Jerusalem on his mind, but you were on his mind, I was on his mind, but you were on his mind, I was on his mind. So the cheering crowd, they're stopped by a crying Savior. He's weeping uncontrollably, man, he's violently shaking. I've pictured this through the years. I've said this here.
Speaker 2:On a Sunday like this, where I can see all the crowd is going berserk, it's a high praise day, man, I mean everybody, pastor, brian, he's running everywhere and in the middle of the parade, coming down the Mount of Olives, jesus looking over into the Temple Mount, that temple that was spearing up man. It was standing tall. It's like three times the height of the Dome of the Rocks. So when he came into that place, he's looking over into the temple mount and he stops the parade and he begins to weep uncontrollably. I can see Simon walking around, going. Why has he stopped? And he's thinking. He's laughing, he's enjoying this. The praise has gotten to him, man. He's excited. Why? Because they're expecting him to come and annihilate the arm of Rome off of their life. They think their expectations.
Speaker 2:Have you ever noticed that sometimes our expectations for God in the moment may not be his expectation from us? In the moment? We want him to do this, this and this, and we get offended many times when God doesn't show up the way we expected him to. Actually, we get offended at churches, man, when they don't do all the things we expected them to do. Maybe they missed your birthday, happy birthday. Maybe they missed you being in the hospital.
Speaker 2:It could be because you never called, but sometimes we can get so offended, man, but listen, don't live your life with a fence, because if you live your life with a fence, you will have a fence built up around you the rest of your life. No one can get in, no one can come out, man, you are sealed and the enemy's got you right where he wants you. And a spirit of offense will always and this isn't even in my notes, I just thought I'd throw this in A spirit of offense will always and this isn't even in my notes, I just thought I'd throw this in A spirit of offense will affect every relationship you will ever have, every one of them. That's why let no root of bitterness spring up in you, for by it many would defile everything in you. One of the number one tools of the enemy is unforgiveness and offense. Amen, you're doing halfway good, preacher. We need you to not show up again for about a month, and then we'll all right, watch this.
Speaker 2:He's weeping because they have missed their visitation. I remind you the word visit there it means a personal inspection, that God is coming face to face, eye to eye. He's inspecting what sin has done to his creation. He did not send an angel to take care of this. God said. I'm wrapping myself in human flesh, I'm going to inspect you myself. Not only will I inspect what has happened from the moment of the garden that said, I want it my way. I'm going to inspect what it has done to your body, what it has done to your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions and how your spirit was separated from me. I'm not coming to break the back of Rome, I'm coming to break the back of sin. I am coming to restore you so that you can now come in, find fellowship with me and walk with me. And let me walk with me and let me walk with you.
Speaker 2:But see, if we're not careful, praise can become flattery. Without obedience, it can become praise. That moment can be exciting and exuberant and I love it. I'm not talking about today. I'm not talking about. I'm talking about what it can become in our life. Praise without submission has no power to break the back of a burden or the brokenness that will not only welcome to your future. If you've never been broken, there is always. For all of us there's a broken road that will lead us to a trail of tears that will always put us in a moment where we say I've got to have you. It's a point of desperation. But here they are. But, jesus, we're praising you. Do what we want. Come on, make Israel the light of the world again. Break the back of this colonialism, of this Romanism. Break the back of this persecution Break the back. But God cries in the middle of it because he realizes, in 70 AD, god cries in the middle of it because he realizes, in 70 AD, jerusalem will be destroyed and not one stone will be left upon another.
Speaker 2:Not only that historians, church history says that, even through Josephus, it is estimated around a million Jews are killed during the insurrection and because Jesus prepared the church. It is also believed that not one Christian died. Million Jews are killed during the insurrection and because Jesus prepared the church. It is also believed that not one Christian died because they fled to the hills understanding what was coming. Here's the heartbeat. Jesus stopped a parade because he was broken for who we are, and the amazing thing about the love of God is you can't change it but you can reject it. But he gave us the ability for tears.
Speaker 2:What are tears? Tears are a universal language. They provoke a question. Typically, why are you crying? Listen, when I first got married and I moved my wife 12 hours away from her mama in Florence, alabama, her mother, that LA, deep south southern woman who didn't pronounce her Oz, it was mother, father and I took her away from her mother and I would wake up in the middle of the night and she's tears streaming. Why are you crying? She said I miss my mom. So we would get in the car after class On Friday afternoon. I would drive 12 hours to get her to Florence, alabama, so that she could spend a day and a half with her mother and get back in the car and drive until we got in class at 7 30 on Monday morning. You say, well, that was wonderful, that was a gentleman of you. No, that was called survival of the fittest.
Speaker 2:But what are tears? It actually, when your brain senses something, an emotion or an irritation, it sends a message to your lacrimal glands and they make tears. It's water plus oil plus mucus. Yes, that's oil plus mucus, yes, and your eyelids spread them all over your eyes. The extra drains into your nose. There you go.
Speaker 2:Your body makes three types of tears. Watch this. There are basal tears, always there, they're keeping your eyes moist. There types of tears Watch this. There are basal tears, always there, they're keeping your eyes moist. There are reflex tears they protect your eyes from irritants, like when smoke or onions. It produces this reflex tears. But the third is emotional tears and they are triggered by feelings, whether sadness or happiness or frustration, and our emotional tears are chemically different than the rest.
Speaker 2:Studies show that emotional tears actually out some of the stress chemicals. It's like your body's natural pressure release valve. It also triggers a calming effect afterward. That's why often after you cry, you feel tired or you feel relieved after you get a good ugly cry. How many know what I'm saying? So when we cry, we cry when we're happy, because our emotions overflow. Tears help our body balance those intense feelings. Crying also strengthens social bonds and triggers calming signals to the brain. Watch this. It is your body's beautiful way that God created you with. That says in that moment, this moment deeply matters. This matters. Here's the truth. Our tears matter deeply to God. They're not signs of weakness but tokens of the heart. They don't go unnoticed from heaven. They matter so much to God that he keeps them.
Speaker 2:David would say Psalm 56, watch this in verse eight God keeps our tears. You have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? See, david is in distress here. He's being hunted, he's anxious, he's afraid. Yet he finds comfort in this truth that the word tossings actually means wanderings. It means restlessness or distress. It's describing the experience that someone has when they're unsettled, like someone tossing and turning all night because of anxiety, because of fear, because of trouble, and turning all night because of anxiety, because of fear, because of trouble. It captures the emotional turmoil that David is feeling at the moment and he's fled from this danger. So what is the verse saying? Here it is God sees every restless step you take, every sleepless night you have, every exile, every wandering, and even keeps your tears. Nothing is lost on him, nothing Ancient meaning. He said I put your tears in a bottle. I know I've seen Dr Kevin has a tear bottle. I was gonna call him and ask him if I could borrow it so I put a picture up. But I knew he's doing 11 shows so I didn't fool with bothering him. But here it is. They're different sizes, different sizes for different moments.
Speaker 2:There are some moments in our life we cry a few tears. There are others we fill gallons up because of the anxiousness and the fear and the anxiety and because of the things that are sent to steal, kill and to destroy us. These bottles were often made of glass or clay. People used them to express deep sorrow, grief and mourning. Sometimes mourners would collect their tears, place the bottle in the loved one's grave as a symbol of love and remembered sorrow. Watch this, please. I'm going somewhere with this, hear me. It was a way of saying this my sorrow is real and it matters, and I'm keeping it close to me.
Speaker 2:So when David says you have put my tears in a bottle, he's using a powerful message that says this Lord, you see every tear I cry. You care so much, you treasure them as if collecting them and keeping them close, none of my pain is ever forgotten by you. It's not poetry, it is comfort. See, god notices our suffering. He keeps a personal record. Are they not in your book? Even the tears we cry in secret are known and valued by him. They are like a precious treasure. That's how much he loves us. He even writes them in his book. He documents. Every moment of pain, every celebration of joy are in his book. They are never wasted. They are never forgotten. It was our tears that made him cry. Hear me today. Those who sow in tears will weep with songs of joy. Those who go out with weeping carrying seed to sow will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. It says in Psalm 35, for his anger endures but a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Why? Because he shares our tears, these earmarks, these moments, these recorded pains, these celebrated joys.
Speaker 2:It says in Hebrews 5, 7, one of the most interesting passages about Jesus that, I think, is in the New Testament. And here's what it says 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. Look at his intercession. See, I believe in quiet prayers. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom, come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. I believe in that.
Speaker 2:But there are some times your pain takes on voice. There are some times situations are not silent and we never picture Jesus as being loud. I've been in Pentecostal prayer meetings where people were a little uncomfortable. They're like I, just like it a little more quiet. Heaven is not quiet. There is a time when the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent. There is a time for that. But there's a moment when something takes on in your life. Listen, if the devil is attacking your family and you are watching your children being lacerated by the kingdom of darkness, it is not a little quiet. I'd like for the devil to just probably please leave me alone. No, there comes up something. I bind you in the name of Jesus. You have no authority over my family. There comes a time you got to lift your voice. You got to lift your eyes to the hills, from where your help comes from.
Speaker 2:Who was riding down on a beast of burden had nothing to do with some king on a stallion. It was a king on a donkey, on a beast of burden, coming to make peace with God and man, because he would make peace between man and God. Is anybody with me today? Just hold on. His prayer was not polished, it was raw, it was real. It was desperate.
Speaker 2:When they couldn't find him early in the morning, he had gotten up before the break of day and they're like where's Jesus? How did they find him? He's in the dark. They heard him. They heard him. They heard him interceding on our behalf. He was interceding for the broken, for the hurting, for the wounded, for the downcast, for those that had been separated from him.
Speaker 2:Here is God in our midst and we didn't recognize him. We missed our day of visitation, where God was inspecting our life Eye to eye, face to face. Let me tell you he has never left you, he has never forgotten you. He is still God. That's why you're here today. You're not here by accident. You didn't just show up Because you wanted to be somewhere. No accident. You didn't just show up because you wanted to be somewhere. No, god ordained you, he drew you to himself. It's not that we find God. I didn't find him, he found me. I realized I wasn't even looking for him and he found me.
Speaker 2:But his prayer was. He wept over us our missed opportunities for peace, our doubts, our fears, our empty searches for significance. Our power plays for positions. That's why we can bring our brokenness. I can bring my honest grief to God. I can bring my joys, my wins, and I can bring all of the failures. He's moved with compassion. It's his passion. We are his passion. You are the passion of God For the joy set before him.
Speaker 2:He endured the cross, despising the shame. Who was the joy before him? You, you. I just want to remind you today. You were not some cheap date. You were the creation, the apple of his eye, the love of his life. You were the pearl of great price that the king would give everything he had so that he could possess it. You were a treasure hidden in a field that God would wrap himself in his son. He would come and give it everything he had. He would bankrupt heaven so he could have the treasure for his own. You are that to him.
Speaker 2:We don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but the one in every aspect. He was tempted, like we are, yet he was without sin. But when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion, because they were weary and they were scattered like sheep having no shepherd. He saw our brokenness. He saw our pain, complete deprivation, though through his willingness he came to save the day, the one who was so holy he could never be touched by what was unholy. So the holy wrapped himself in flesh so that, for the first time, what was unholy could touch the holy and be changed. Guys, can I just say that again, because there's something about getting that, because sometimes, thank God, none in this house and other houses that I know of that I'm connected with, I'm thankful.
Speaker 2:But there's been a tendency that we have so painted such a touchable God we have forgotten that he is holy and that the only way we can touch the holy is because that which was holy came and wrapped himself in human flesh so that we could have an invitation. But we must never forget that it is our sin that is on the backdrop of his holiness, of his holiness. Because we don't see our sin in hidden light of his holiness, we will begin to justify the things that violate his holiness. Stay with me the one who was so holy, wrapped himself in human flesh, came to us so that the unholy could be touched, could touch and be changed by the holy.
Speaker 2:When you look at the tears of Jesus, when you look at where he wept, there were other, there was, there was the word weeping, there was the word lamentation. But this weeping, this loud, uncontained expression of a heart that was broken, we find him at the tomb of Lazarus. It wasn't just the doubt that caused this type of cry, but it was also what death had done. He's coming to control, he's coming to dominate. He's coming to dominate, he's coming to win over death, hell and the grave.
Speaker 2:But he's at the tomb of Lazarus and it says he wept. He wept with us. He knew our pain. He knew what it was when we lost someone we loved dearly. He knew what it was when things just fell apart. He knew God. Jesus came and wept with us, but he also this passage in a moment we're going to finish with this but in Luke 19, he wept over Jerusalem. He was weeping for us In the Garden of Gethsemane. He would weep on behalf of us.
Speaker 2:Why? Because he is now. He's starting to become sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could have this exchange and become the righteousness of God. He's not a distant God watching from afar. No, he is still Emmanuel, god who is with us. He's a friend of the wounded heart.
Speaker 2:This phrase, though, this phrase that he was heard because of his reverent submission it's eulobia, it is a Greek word that he's heard because of his reverent awe and careful devotion to the Father. So, when Jesus is praying and he's expressing it with loud cries and tears, he's heard by the Father because he was praying with such total surrender, not resisting God's will in any way, but embracing it fully. He said whatever the Father's told me, that's what I'm going to do Whatever he tells me to say. That's what I say. I'm doing everything for the fame of your name, father. Glorify your Son, that your son can glorify you. It isn't out of panic or despair, but it's out of holy fear. It's all-filled attitude.
Speaker 2:Before his father, before a holy God, he understood our grief. He knows the weight of despair, the ache of unanswered questions. He not only collects our tears, he's cried them himself. He weeps for us as of today. Today, palm Sunday, the beginning of Passion Week. He drew near into the city, he wept over it. He approaches Jerusalem. Are y'all with me? Are y'all getting anything out of this today? Come on, I'm almost done. He sees the city, blind to its salvation. He sees the coming destruction, the pain of rejection, and his heart breaks. He's not weeping for himself, he's weeping for us. He's weeping for them, their lost opportunity, for those who are missing the peace.
Speaker 2:Would that you would have just known the things that make peace In the Greek. It's where we actually get the word, the name Irene. It means not just the absence of conflict, but a wholeness of completion. It means harmony. It is equal to the Hebrew word shalom the things that belong to peace, the things that are led toward peace, the conditions required for peace. It is the way of peace which takes you to the way of wholeness. He's lamenting, he's crying. If you'd only known the way of true peace, the conditions that bring harmony, restoration and salvation.
Speaker 2:But even as Jesus wept, he knew the ultimate hope. He wasn't weeping hopelessly. He was weeping because hope had come. Hope was here. It's why we have Palm Sunday. Hope has arrived. His tears were filled with hope that some would yet see and respond. He would be so full of hope that on the cross he would make his first cry Father, forgive them. They don't have a clue what they're doing. His heart breaks for every soul that turns away from him. He has visited us. He came for us. I said it earlier, I didn't find him. He found me, if you guys would come the next day.
Speaker 2:He's cleansing the temple. He's actually dealing with the religious spirit. There's a lot of woes going on. I wish I had time to go through every woe and what he was he was. He was addressing every distraction from what the temple was all about. It was to be a place of prayer. It was to be a place of communion. It was to be a place where encounter it was to be, a place where they found him, because he was there and he runs, he starts.
Speaker 2:It's the second cleansing of the temple. One was at the beginning of his ministry and the other is at the close of what he's about to accomplish and he makes a statement. It's called the lament of Jesus. Lament is actually the same thing as weeping. It is to bewail. It is to wail loudly with grief, to mourn publicly. I got to see some of the chosen Kind of the new that's in the movies. I've not gotten to see it yet, but I've seen some of the trailer of that.
Speaker 2:And I remember when Jesus is at this point and he's rebuking them for the hypocrisy that they claim one thing and they live another and what they have dislodged the ability for the people to see a trail to God. And the one, pharisee, is screaming don't say that again. He tries to counter Jesus' rebuke and tells him to be quiet Don't say another word. And I love the phrase they brought into this man. They took a little liberty. He said oh, I'm just getting started, because if there's one thing that the anger of God is turned toward, more than a prostitute, more than what we label such the grades of sin. It is the hypocrisy of those who claim to know him, yet their lifestyle leads completely astray the very thing that they said of who he is and the very thing that religion because religion says you got to do this, do that, but the cross says it's already done, it's already done.
Speaker 2:Oh, jerusalem, jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often I've longed to gather you, like children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you were not willing. See, your houses have left you desolate, they're empty. There's no satisfaction, there's no fulfillment, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say Baruch habem Hashem, adonai, blessed is he who comes.
Speaker 2:In the Hebrew form, it formulates a deep emotional emphasis. It is this wailing loudly with grief. It's a cry of sorrow and longing. Like a parent mourning for a lost child. He's yearning to gather and protect them, like a hen would her chicks but listen? But they would not let him. He said I long, come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. How often is the response no, too busy, I've got too many more classes to do. God, they would not let him. It's a cry of sorrow and longing. It's why Jesus is called and referred to as the man of sorrows In Isaiah 53, 3,.
Speaker 2:He was despised and rejected. He was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief. He was a man who understood pain and anguish and grief. He was acquainted, he was intimately familiar, not a distant observer. I go back to the place. God has visited us.
Speaker 2:Isaiah 53, 4 says Surely, he has borne our griefs, he has carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He bore our griefs. He suffered physically. He understood intense pain. If you're here today and you man, your body has been wracked with pain, you, your body has, you feel like nobody understands, no one knows. The medication can't really numb it. He said I am acquainted with your pain. I'm almost finished Emotionally.
Speaker 2:He was rejected. He was betrayed. He was the king riding on a beast of burden to establish peace. And he says I know what it is to be rejected. I know what it is to be walked away from. I know what it is to be slandered and to be lied about. I know spiritually he would carry the weight of the entire world. Second Corinthians, paul, would say that the one who knew no sin became that. That's hard to comprehend. That God would become the most vile of sin that we could ever imagine in our minds Because, see, to take it on, he had to become that. Why did he do that? Because he's a high priest who understands our weakness, to identify with us, to redeem us and to heal us. That through his kindness, his kindness that leads us. Watch, here's the trail of tears. His kindness leads us to repentance.
Speaker 1:His kindness, his kindness, jesus.
Speaker 2:His kindness that brings godly sorrow, sorrow that is according to God's will. It's the kind of sorrow that's inspired by God. It's the sorrow we feel when we see our sin the way God sees it. Listen, I'm closing. I've closed four times. I have three more to go, so please don't turn off right now. I'm the founding pastor. I get to do that because I'll be somewhere else next time. No, I know a spiritual son and he closes many, many times.
Speaker 2:It says that godly sorrow produces repentance. It's what leads us to salvation and it's not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death. See, what godly sorrow sees is sin as an offense against God, a loving God. It's like a child A child not just sad because it got caught, but brokenhearted because the child hurt their parent. See, sometimes we just we come to God because we don't want the consequences and we forget something. We forget what it did to him, we forget the backdrop. Listen, growing up as a kid I didn't want the consequences. They may be 84 and 83 right now, but I still feel the consequences at age 60.
Speaker 2:But the older I got, I became a parent. I'll never forget one day, sitting in a car out on University Drive. I had Alex with me in the car. Alex could tell you his story. Alex had been lying, had been living a lie. I can only say that because I've heard his story. He tells it publicly, but he had been living a lie. He knew consequences of lying. I used to tell my kids listen, I don't care what you, I don't care, just don't lie to me. I can probably handle anything, just don't lie to me. And he was living a lie, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:I got on a plane because he was even traveling with a ministry drumming all around the country, was even traveling with a ministry drumming all around the country. And when somebody walked in my office and exposed this lie, and I'm like what? And I wept like a child because it wasn't, it wasn't about consequences, it just ripped my heart out. I'm like it was more than trying to want to go discipline him. How do you discipline someone that age? How do you? You're a man now. What do I do? I can't discipline, I can't ground you. You don't even live at home. I can't pull my belt off, which I wanted to. I used to. I can't do that anymore.
Speaker 2:I looked at Lisa and I said I'm going to go get him. I jumped on an airplane and I flew to Boston. They were rehearsing for a service. I stood around back and he didn't know I was coming In the rehearsal. He turns around and his dad is standing there. He said what are you doing here? I said I know this is your last service. I just wanted to come and sit in the service with you. He thought it was cool and after the service I said hey, I got a hotel room. Grab your gear. I said come on up, come and hang with me. We're going to fly home tomorrow. I bought you a ticket. You don't have to ride in the van, you can come and hang with me. We get into the room. We had eaten a nice dinner.
Speaker 2:We came back the next morning. I said hey, son, go take a shower. We're going to go roam around Boston and then we'll fly home tomorrow. He goes and gets a shower and I'm sitting at the little table. He walks out and I said hey, get your clothes on, man, let's get ready to go. When he finally gets ready, I said come here now, sit down with me.
Speaker 2:I didn't come here to roam Boston with you. I came to get you Because I know the lie you've been living in and I didn't mean to. I didn't. But it broke my heart and before I could stop myself because I didn't want to manipulate this moment, I didn't want to do something that but before I could stop myself it was an ugly cry. It was just an emotion that had just released from me like a river. I couldn't even see his face because the tears were running so down my face. I had no idea what his response. I didn't know if he's going to get up and go walk away. I didn't know if he's going to tell me forget this, dad. I didn't know, because sometimes when you're caught, you'll either fright flight, you will do something to try to get out of the consequences. This had nothing to do with consequences. It had everything to do with the broken father's heart. It had everything to do with a broken father's heart Because I knew what that could cost him. I had never felt I had before but, I, had never really.
Speaker 2:There was something that happened that day, not only in me, but I watched my son turn and I watched him fall on the floor, and it wasn't because of what he had done. It was how he had broken his father's heart. I believe God is going to send a move of his presence to our nation. We are in a window. We better not spoil or soil this. But one thing he will restore and that is a broken and contrite spirit. He never despises contrite spirit. He never despises. It is the tears of Jesus that broke his heart for what sin had done.
Speaker 2:And until we see the sin that is on the backdrop of his holiness, it's deeper than a hell of his holiness. It's deeper than a hell, it's stronger, it's more than just a consequence of eternal damnation. There comes a moment when your eyes are open and you look and you realize how he has loved me, how he cares For God, so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son my prayer for this resurrection week, on this day when a parade was shut down, a parade of shouts for a weeping Savior. He wants you to know. He knows right where you are. He cares for you. He wants you to know. He knows right where you are. He cares for you.
Speaker 2:That's why you can throw your care on him. He cares for you. Father, thank you for your word today. That's why you told us to repent, be converted, so that our sins are blotted out. That's when times of refreshing come. The day will come where you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. As an old hymn, an old gospel song, used to say tears would never stain the streets of that city. You were able to save to the uttermost because who draw near to God through Jesus, since you always live to make intercession for us, thank you God. Since you always live to make intercession for us, thank you God. Thank you, I pray. Today there would be a revelation the eyes of understanding, to be open.
Speaker 2:Look what God has done for me. He established peace with God and man, man and God, even man to man. You are the Prince of Peace. You are the Prince of Peace. You're the one who forever makes intercession for us. No one looking around just for a moment would say you know what, rusty? All I can say is that's me. I'm not gonna try to define what that means, but you would say you have no idea where I'm at, what I've walked through. You have no idea what it took to even get up and get here today. If this was only for me today, if it was just for one other, I believe he wants to remind us he weeps, wants to remind us he weeps, the tears are not unnoticed. He has bottled, he has documented, but he is also redeemed. And if you're here today and say that's me, lift your hand right now, all over this place. I want to pray for you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, someone else lift your hand. I just want to pray for you. Yes, yes, yes yes, yes, yes in the balcony.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, anyone else, that's me, rusty. Pray for me in the balcony. Yes, yes, anyone else, that's me, rusty. Pray for me, yes, yes, here's what I want to do. I want Pastor Brian just to begin to sing. When he begins to sing, I just want you. I'm going to pray for you right now. You don't have to leave here. The way you came.
Speaker 2:You see, the days of inspection of the lamb, hear me, it was to see the purity that he was a lamb without spot, without wrinkle, because only that lamb could be chosen to be placed on the doorpost. It was the remembrance of being delivered from Egypt. There were great wailing would be heard for those who did not apply the blood. He would be this observation moment, inspection why? Because he is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 2:These are days it's called Holy Week for a reason because we are about to walk in the very footsteps, watching Jesus take the trail of tears all the way to the cross to be able to finally declare to Telestai it is finished. And three days later, rise. And because I live, you shall live also. Maybe that's the reason for today, but there were hands that went up all over this place, father, I pray for these today.
Speaker 2:I pray for all of us that as we step into this holy week, god, let us be cautious how we walk. Let us, lord, be intentional. Let us remember redemption is free, but it was never cheap, and you wept for me, you loved me with an everlasting love and Lord. It makes the resurrection so much more amazing Because you are the resurrection and the life, and if I just believe in you, though I were dead yet I'm living. Bless them today as Pastor Brian begins to sing and we stand. If you lifted your hand, come and find an altar right here, if you would. The end of the story of my son At probably 26 years of age.
Speaker 2:He flew back to California, he submitted himself into a discipleship plan and program of YWAM and I watched the prophetic anointing come on, my son. You know why Truth set you free. Truth set you free, and he's watching today and I just want to tell you, alex, as all of my children, I'm so proud of you. But that moment I shared today, I am so proud of you son walk intentionally.
Speaker 2:Truth frees you. Walk intentionally. Truth frees you. Doesn't matter what kind of home you grow up in. What matters is the life of surrender. It's more than just flattery, it's obedience For your eyes only.
Speaker 2:Thank you for loving me. Could you lift your hands one more time? I'm going to bless you as we walk out this holy week. I pray it brings joy. If you're weeping, guess what Joy comes in the morning. There's a joy unspeakable and full of glory. That's what resurrection brings.
Speaker 2:Father, thank you for today, thank you for every life, thank you for this moment, thank you for this house. I thank you for what you're doing and I thank you for a week. I thank you for what you're doing and I thank you for a week. Lord, we can't wait, of all the things, from Friday night there at the Orient. God, thank you for a night of worship, thank you for a gathering of families and watching our children have fun. And, lord, I thank you for Resurrection Sunday.
Speaker 2:I pray for souls. I pray for those that haven't even considered walking into the doors of a church. Lord, let them come on Sunday, because someone went and got them and invited them and said hey, we're going to go to lunch afterwards, and I pray they would encounter a holy God, one who wept for us so that he could redeem us. Call us by name and I say over you today, church, the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine on you and to be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance on you, give you peace, write his name on you and say you belong to me. I bless you today.
Speaker 1:We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 am. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus-filled week.