Easter Worship!
2022-04-17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5YDMehGkGk

And I know that you will kill me.

I know that you will keep it in mind. And I know that you will be able to get this. I know that you will be able to do this. I know that you will have a sense of the word "Support of the Belchap" and you will be able to get this. I know that you will be able to get this. I know that you will be able to get this. I know that you will be able to get this.

Hey, good morning. Happy Easter. A couple of announcements. We have set up a kind of photo moment here. So if you want to take a picture with your family or take a selfie or any of that, I'll hang out the front after service and can help take pictures if we need to and just something fun to do because usually people get a little dressed up on Easter Sunday. So if you want to do that, feel free. And after the service, we have some stuff for the kiddos, and Brandon will probably explain that more, but just make sure you stick around and we'll get those to you as well. So, all right. We're going to get started today. And I forgot my other book, but that's okay. We always start our service reading verses together so that we can focus on what we're here for and the meaning of why we worship the Lord.

And the verses we're going to be reading out of today come from Psalm 16. And Peter also quotes this in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, and his sermon was about the resurrection of Jesus. And so we're going to go ahead and stand together. The verses will be on the screen behind me. And we're going to be reading Psalm 16, verses 8 through 11. And it begins, "I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore." This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to gather today and to worship you and to gather with those that are watching online as well. And we thank you so much for the celebration today of the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of the gospel and just the mercy and the grace that you show to us every single day. And we just thank you so much for all that you do for us. We thank you that in you there is fullness of joy and that we can dwell secure with you. Be with our service today. Allow it to glorify you in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Our worship time is going to be a little bit different. We thought we'd sing a couple extra songs today. And so, but it'll all kind of go the same, the same way that we normally do. But we're going to start our first Song with "Graves in the Gardens."

I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. Man's empty praise and treasures of faith are never enough. Then you came along and put me back together. And every desire is now satisfied here in your love. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Better than you, there's nothing. Better than you, Lord, there's nothing. Nothing is better than you.

I'm not afraid to show you my weakness. My failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all, and you still call me friend. Because the God of the mountain is the God of the valley. And there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing. Nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing. Nothing is better than you.

You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing. Nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing. Nothing is better than you. Alright, you can stay standing if you want, or if you want to sit down, you can. We're going to be singing our next song, and then we're going to move into our prayer and share time. During that time, we're going to be muted here. There will be a slide up on the screen for those watching online with a phone number if you'd like to text that number with any prayer requests or anything you'd like to share with us here.

That way we can be praying together with you on that. And then once we're done here, we'll be back after a few minutes so that we can have that time together here and not broadcasting it to the whole world and everything. And so just give us a few minutes and we'll continue in our service after we're done with that. And so with that, we're going to be singing "Our God Saves."

To fall on Your grace. Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As Your saints bow down. As Your people sing. We will rise with You. Lifted on Your wings. And the world will see that. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope. In Your name. Morning turns to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. In the name of the Father. In the name of the Son. In the name of the Spirit. Lord, we come. We are gathered together to lift up Your name. To call on our Savior. To fall on Your grace. Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As Your saints bow down. As Your people sing. We will rise with You. Lifted on Your wings. And the world will see that. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope in Your name. Morning turns to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. Our God saves.

Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As Your saints bow down. As Your people sing. We will rise with You. Lifted on Your wings. And the world will see that. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope. In Your name. Morning turns. To songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. Our God saves. You may be seated. Good morning. I just wanted to say happy Easter, and thank you for joining us this morning. This is our prayer and share time. And so during this time in our congregation, we switch over to a video on the live stream so that those who are sharing their prayer requests don't necessarily do so with the entire internet. If you would like to share your prayer requests so we can pray for you, there is a number on the screen that you can text, and we would love to be able to do that for you.

I just want to share with you a little bit from John 17. Jesus, it's the night before he goes to the garden, before he's arrested, and on a Friday crucified. And he spends an extended period of time in the Gospel of John teaching his disciples, in part preparing them, and then spends some time praying for them. I just want to read to you part of what's called "Jesus' High Priestly Prayer" from John 17. He says this, starting in verse 20: "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. They also may be in us, so the world may believe that you have sent me." One of the things that I love about this High Priestly Prayer is that Jesus is about to experience

deep suffering as he dies for the sins of his people, as he dies for our sins. And before he goes to the garden, he spends time praying for us. That's what it means when he prays that "I do not ask for these only," meaning the apostles, "but for those who will believe in me through their word," which is all Christians for all time. We've heard the testimony of the apostles, and it's such a wonderful picture of the work of Jesus, our mediator and High Priest, that he prays for us. I want you to see, too, what he prays for us about. He prays that we would be one, that we would be unified, that we wouldn't be divided. One of Jesus' priorities for his people is that they would be united in order that the world might believe that God has sent his Son to us,

that the unity of God's people is a wonderful and powerful testimony to this world. So I'm going to have a word of prayer. If there's anything we can pray for you about, we would love to do so. You can send us a message or make a comment or text us at the phone number. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for loving us and for caring for us. Thank you that you are a good Father who hears our prayers and answers them. We pray this morning on Easter Sunday as Christians all over the world are gathered to celebrate the good news of the gospel, to experience the joy and hope of the resurrection, that you would bring us as your church, both locally and universally, together in unity, that we may be a shining light in a world filled with hurt, brokenness, and darkness.

Thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. We will be back with you live in just a few minutes. Thank you again for joining us this Easter Sunday.

We will be back with you today. We will be back with you today. We will be back with you today. Let's pray. We will be back with you today. Let's pray. Tearing down the lies that I believed Breaking through the selfish parts of me Truth has come and set this captive free Your love has opened up my eyes to see Jesus, I'm Yours Forever I surrender all my heart I see it now, You love me from the start I won't forget the faithful God You are I'm confident I'm covered in Your grace upon grace upon grace You cover us with grace upon grace upon grace Yeah! You wash away my guilt and make me clean Revealing what You meant for me to be Mercy wrecked my heart, now I can see Your love restoring every part of me

Jesus, I'm Yours Forever I surrender all my heart I see it now, You love me from the start I won't forget the faithful God you are. I'm confident, I'm covered in your grace upon grace, upon grace. You cover us with grace upon grace, upon grace. I can't get enough with grace upon grace, upon grace. You cover us with grace upon grace, upon grace.

It's your grace on top of grace. Grace in the driest desert. Grace when I'm feeling warm. Grace when I don't believe. Grace found at every turn. Grace in the deepest valley. Grace when the night is long. Grace found in every season. Grace has the final word. Grace breaks the power of darkness. Grace mends a wounded soul. Grace moving every mountain. Grace fills the deepest valley. Grace overtakes my battles. Grace resurrects these bones. Grace lifts me from the ashes. Grace is my victory song. Grace is your grace on top of grace. I'm confident. I'm covered in your grace upon grace, upon grace. You cover us with grace upon grace, upon grace. You cover us with grace upon grace, upon grace. You cover us with grace upon grace. Jesus, Jesus, I'm yours forever I surrender.

Jesus, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm your host. Sorry, if you see me moving my eyes all around, I'm trying to figure out where Luke is going, and what he's doing, and where he's headed here, but we're going to be singing a couple songs, and then we'll move into our time of communion. I just wanted to read out of the Valley of Vision. These are just collections of devotions and prayers from the Puritans, so there's a lot of "thous" and "thes" and all that, but the way that they word things is very, very well written. This is one of my favorite ones. It's in the book. It's called "Calvary's Anthem," and "Calvary" is just another word for the mountain that Jesus died on, and so it says, "If thou has led me singing to the cross, where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish, where my mountains of guilt are leveled to a plain, where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fire,

for there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted, even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou has given me a hillside spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams. At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last forever. The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fullness ones without number drink of it. O Lord, forever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mountain of blood. In the midst of a world of pain, it is a subject for praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end. I have a longing for the world above singing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth.

When my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem. May I always know that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, that only a clean heart can sing by night, and that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary." And so as we continue worshiping today and just focusing on what Jesus did and the grace that he showed to us through Calvary, we're going to be singing two songs, just kind of moving into the next one without pausing, and then we're going to have our time of communion together.

We're going to be here before the world begins. Above all kingdoms, above all kings, above all nature, and all created things, of wisdom and all the ways of man. You were here before the world began. Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, above all kings, above all kings, above all nature and all created things, above all nature and all created things, above all the ways of man. You were here before the world began, above all kingdoms, above all kingdoms, above all thrones. Above all wonders the world has ever known. Above all wealth and treasures of the earth. There's no way to measure what your worth. Crucified, laid behind the stars. If to die, rejected and alone, like a rose, trampled on the ground, you turned the fold and thought of me above all. Above all power, above all kings, above all nature and all creative things, above all wisdom and all ways of land, you here will begin.

Above all kingdoms, above all thrones, above all wonders the world has ever known, above all wealth and treasures of the earth, there's no way to measure what you're worth. You crucified, laid behind a stone. You lived and died, protected and belong, like a rose, trembled on the ground. You took the fall, and the fall of me, above all. Amen.

How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation, I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness, your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished. The end is written. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken, I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me His own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope.

Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence, the roaring lion. The grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your buried body began to breathe. Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared, "The grave has no claim on me." Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Oh God, my living hope.

This morning as we prepare to gather around the table together, I want us to think just a little bit about being invited. I was having a conversation with my brother-in-law about an event, and he said, "Did you get invited?" I said, "No." He's like, "Would you have gone if you had been invited?" I said, "Absolutely not." He said, "But secretly you just want to be invited." I said, "Well, it would be nice to be thought of." It would be nice to be invited. We don't like that feeling, I think, of being left out. Regardless of whether we want to participate or not, it's nice to be invited. When it comes to the good news about Jesus throughout the Scripture, what you find is Jesus is inviting, and he's not inviting out of obligation because he has to. Like when you're a kid, and you're getting ready to invite people to your birthday party, and you have to invite those people you really don't like because everybody knows.

Everybody has to get an invitation. Jesus is not like that. In John, the first chapter, Jesus has been teaching and preaching, and he sort of walks by John, the baptizer, who will say, "Look, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." And two of John's disciples will start following Jesus, and finally, Jesus kind of looks at them and says, "Can I help you with something?" And they said, "Teacher, where are you staying?" And Jesus simply extends an invitation. He says, "Come." And see. And what you find is that Scripture is filled with this kind of invitation to come and to see the goodness of God. In Matthew 11, Jesus says this, which I think speaks deeply to our souls. He says, "Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your

souls." The psalmist in the 66th Psalm says, "Come and see what God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for his people." Elsewhere he'll say things like, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And the New Testament ends almost with these words, the last chapter of the Bible, more than halfway through the last chapter of the Bible, it says this, "The spirit and the bride say come. Let anyone who hears this say come. Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life." And so this morning as we partake of this bread and drink this cup as Christians, we have this invitation to fix our eyes upon Jesus. It's something that throughout the entire book of Hebrews, the writer is speaking to Christians who are struggling, and he's constantly saying, look to Jesus, go to Jesus, run to Jesus, follow Jesus.

The most curious that we sort of beat this into our stubborn, hard head is by preaching the gospel to ourselves. The death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus, his love for us, his grace extended to us, his mercy that has been shown to us, we remember through this meal. We taste and we see that God is good. And this is a moment, too, to consider the fact that Jesus has called you. to see. And it's a moment of evaluation of your faith and where you stand. So I'm going to pray, and then we'll read a little bit from the Gospel of Matthew and partake together. Father in heaven, I thank you that you do invite us. And you don't do it hesitantly or uncertainly or with obligation, but joy, wanting us to see your goodness. And so this morning, as we eat this bread and as we drink this little bit of juice

together, would you help us to see your grace that has been poured out through your Son, that you would help us to see that our sins are forgiven, that there is hope in the resurrection. Help us to not just intellectually understand these things, but drive them into our hearts and help them to overflow into our actions in our life. I thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in his name we pray. Amen. In Matthew, the 26th chapter, Jesus, as they are eating the Last Supper or the Passover, he will take bread, and after he broke it, he will give it to the disciples and say, "Take, eat. This is my body." Let's partake together. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

You can read to us a passage of Scripture. John 16, and one of the really cool things about this passage that Brandon's going to preach from this morning is, he's been preaching through the Book of Acts for some time now, and sort of the central question of this passage is one he's been dealing with very practically, in what does it mean that Jesus has returned and that he has ascended, and how do we behave with the expectations that he will come again. It says, "A little while, and you will see me no longer." And again, "A little while, you will see me." So, some of Jesus' disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us?" "A little while, and you will not see me." And again, "A little while, and you will see me."

And, "Because I am going to the Father." So, the disciples were saying, "What does Jesus mean?" "By a little while." We don't know what he is talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. So, Jesus said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves?" "What I mean by saying, a little while, and you will not see me." And again, a little while, and you will see me. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow, because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anger. She no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a child has been born into this world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take that joy from you. This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God.

All right, let's pray, and then we'll dive right into it. Father in heaven, I thank you for these words of your Son, Jesus. Help us to see the goodness of joy, the promise of joy, the reality of joy as we consider his words about what would happen next, and the promise of the resurrection. And so we just ask that you would help make this a reality in our lives. We thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So it was probably about 12 years ago, Brent was visiting with me, and we decided we were going to go hiking, or kind of maybe not so much hiking, but adventuring in the woods. And so we got into what was like a 2000, my 2001 Chevy Lumina, held together mostly by Rust. And we started driving, you know, Rust Nation and mine, and we drove to this top of this mountain, which is generally a good place to start your hike, especially if you can start your hike.

Stay on the tops of the mountains, and not have to hike down hills and up hills. And so we stopped, and we did a little hike, and we got back to the car. And as we were backing up, it looked like there was a pretty big kind of wet spot where my car had been parked. And I was like, "Mom, sure, that's not a big deal at all." And as we started driving down the back side of this mountain, because the front side going up is a big, wide road. There's a town right there. And we said, "Well, we're going to go, like Robert Frost said, and take the road." It was less traveled. And so we take the back side of the mountain down, which was a road about this wide, with massive switchbacks in it. And as we hit that first switchback, I realized that all that liquid that I saw in the parking area was, in fact, all of the power steering fluid contained in my car. And so for the next several miles, and if you've ever driven a car without power steering fluid, or without power steering, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's tough. But a car that's supposed

to have power steering and doesn't, adds sort of an additional extra bit of difficulty. And so there we are with these switchback turns, trying to make it down the mountain. And it was a memorable moment, in part because of the fear. Are we going to make it down? Are we just going to push the car over the cliff, walk home, and call the insurance company? What you find in this text this morning is Jesus' disciples' things have been going really, really well for them, right? They're excited. They're, in essence, on top of the world. They're standing on top of the mountain, and they've been having a great day, and now Jesus begins to say something that's really surprising. And what they're going to find themselves here, and through the next events that follow this, is they're going to find themselves struggling to find their way down this mountain. The road's going to be narrow. It's going to be filled with darkness and struggle.

They're confused. Listen to what Jesus says. "A little while you will see me no longer, and then another little while, and you will see me." And some of the disciples will say to one another, "What is this that he says to us? A little while you will see me, and again in a little while you will not see me, because I'm going to the Father." So they were saying, "What does he mean by a little while?" We do not know what he is talking about. And at first listen, for us, we can relate to the disciples. What is Jesus talking about? A little while here, a little while there? What does he mean? It's easy to see how the disciples were confused, especially considering that this has been a really good week for Jesus, right? The Sunday before, he comes into town to crowds of people celebrating his arrival. Monday, he comes to town to the temple with all of those who were claiming to be religious, but taking advantage of the hurt of the people.

He cleans them all out. On Tuesday, he comes back to the very same temple, and those religious leaders will confront him, and they're going to ask a question to try to trap him. And Jesus, in his wisdom, will answer every single one of those questions and put them all in their place. The people of Jesus, and you get to this meal on Thursday night, you have to feel like you're on top of the world, right? Jesus has come in as a king. He's demonstrated his power by kicking all these people out of the temple. He's answered all of the objections and the questions of the religious leaders in a powerful way that leaves them going, well, I'm not going to ask him anything. I feel like things are going really well. Now, suddenly, Jesus is saying, in a little while, you're not going to see me, right? This is a surprising, and it's a confusing statement, especially considering how popular Jesus is. And you can understand their reaction to say, "Jesus, what is it that you are talking about?"

Especially considering that He's not talking about taking a vacation. The disciples wouldn't know any of that. And so they're asking, "What does He mean?" And they're also asking this question, "What does He mean by a little while?" Is that like a little while like now? A little while like a week or a month? And they are struggling and confused, and they are blindsided by what is happening. In verse 19, Jesus begins to explain. Jesus knew they wanted Him to ask. They wanted to ask Him. So He said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves? What I meant by saying a little while you will not see Me again in a little while? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but the sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. When she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for the joy of the human being born into the world." Jesus knows the struggle that His friends are facing. Right? Sometimes we're blind to the confusion and the struggles of others. We don't see their struggle or we don't understand it, but that is not true of Jesus. He knows they're struggling. He sees they're struggling. And He acknowledges that they are struggling. And Jesus is not blind to your struggles. He's not blind to your questions. He's not blind to... And Jesus is good with hard questions. He's good with honest questions. He's good with questions that reveal the depth of your hurt. You don't have to be afraid to come to Jesus with your hard questions.

He's not oblivious to your questions. He's not oblivious to your struggle. Look at what Jesus does. He takes care and is so patient with the disciples. There are some people where it's really easy to be patient with them, right? Where you don't have a big struggle to be patient with what they're doing, right? When your kids are really, really, really little, and they're at that really cute stage, and even the dumb stuff they do is still cute, right? It's easy to be patient. But then there's other people that are a struggle to be patient with. Back when Rachel and I were first married, there was a FedEx driver - I've shared this with some of you before - who came in my way, and our house is right here, and there's kind of a gap between our house and our church,

and there's a little bit of lawn, and there's a part of the driveway we've been trying to turn into the lawn. And this FedEx driver - if you look out there, you notice there's a whole bunch of stumps. It's because of this FedEx driver - cuts through the edge of the driveway, over the actual lawn, bounces his truck, down the sidewalk, and into the parking lot. And I go out there, and I'm like, "Dude, what are you doing?" And he looks at me and goes, "Well, it's just a church." And I was like, "You still don't get to drive through the lawn and over a sidewalk." Like, "It's not okay." And then Rachel, ex-corporate, is like, "Hey, let me tell you what my driver just said. Only time we've ever called to complain about somebody."

Because if one of the little kids had been out there, and this guy just blindly blasted him through our front yard, over a sidewalk, right? No patience for that guy, right? There's some people that it's easy to have patience for, and there's some people you're like, "No, that's enough." Jesus' disciples are not generally in that first category of people that it's easy to be patient with, right? It seems that no matter how much Jesus tells them something, they miss the point over and over again. In fact, Jesus has predicted his death repeatedly throughout the Gospel. So, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he predicts it three different times. In fact, in the moments before, like literally minutes before, he had this conversation with the disciples about him going away for a little while, be back in a little while, three times.

He, in first, is like, "I'm going to the Father," in the three chapters preceding this. And the disciples still haven't got it. In fact, Peter, when he makes the good confession, Jesus says, "Who do people say that I am?" And remember, Peter responds, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus commends him for it. The very next thing that Peter does, listen to this in Matthew 16. "From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer from the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you." So Jesus is teaching his disciples about what's happening. And Peter's like, "Hey, Jesus, can I have a word with you?"

Calls him over and goes, "No, this is not going to happen." Remember how Jesus responds to him, "Get behind me, Satan." In Luke chapter 18, "And taking the twelve, he said to them, We are going to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. After flogging him, they will kill him. And on the third day he will rise. But they understood none of these things, this thing hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said." Jesus has over and over taught his disciples, but here it comes. It would be so easy to lose. I've told you a thousand times. Have you not listened to anything that I have said?

But what does Jesus do? He patiently explains. And I love this, because here we are in resurrection, and we're still struggling, right? We're struggling to understand. We're struggling to feel and to see what is happening. And when we have this testimony from Jesus himself who is patient with those who don't get it on the first try, or the second try, or the third try, or the fourth try, or the fifth try, or the sixth try, you see Jesus' patience. And it's such an encouraging, wonderful thing. And he explains so gently. Listen to Jesus' explanation. He says, "When she has sorrow because her hour has come when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world." So, what Jesus here is saying is that this suffering that you're about to experience,

and also that I'm about to experience, has a purpose, right? For me, there are few things more frustrating than stuff that seems like it has no purpose. I remember I was in, and I was doing something likely not good. And I remember very specifically, I had to stay inside at recess. And, you know, back then it was like, "Well, you got to write this 150 times or whatever." In this case, it was just like, "You just got to keep writing." And so my teacher, Mrs. Murphy, made me go and write this. So I'm sitting there, everybody else is outside having fun at recess, and I'm writing. I don't even remember what it was. I'm writing, and I'm writing, and I'm writing, and I'm writing. And then the bell rings, the recess is over. She's like, "All right, bring your paper up here."

And then she does something that was borderline unforgivable, right? She didn't hang my paper up on the fridge or put it on the bulletin board. She didn't even look at it. She's like, "All right, thanks." And threw it in the trash can. And I'm like, "I worked all of my lunch recess for this, and you threw it away!" I didn't say that, obviously, because I didn't want to be there tomorrow for lunch as well. But we went on to this when I was all grown up. In fact, she was probably the only person who could have predicted that I would end up as a pastor. She said something about the worst little boys or naughtiest little boys always end up as pastors. I don't know if that's a commentary on my childhood, but they were driving through town, and they stopped and stayed with me.

And I was still bitter about this, and I was like, "All right, we're going to talk about this. Why do you not even look at it and throw it away?" I'm still mad about this, and she's like, "It got your attention, didn't it? You learned something. You didn't want to come back and do that again, right?" And I realized that she knew me well enough that she understood that this would have made an impression. And here I am, 41 years old, thinking about something in third grade, and it made an impression. It turned out that even in the moment I thought it was pointless, and I was mad because it felt like it was pointless, and she was actually teaching me something that was pretty important. You see, suffering is often the soil from which something more wonderful can spring.

Jesus will say this in John 12, "Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." And what Jesus is saying in this illustration about this woman having a baby is that, suffering is not pointless. He's not saying it's easy or it's fun, but he's saying it is not pointless. And this suffering will ultimately end in joy. One of my favorite pictures of this joy is on the road to Emmaus, where these two disciples of Jesus are walking home, and Jesus will say, "What's been going on in Jerusalem?" And it'll say in Luke, it just says, "People looking sad." And you can picture it. Here they are, and they're in the midst of their grief.

Jesus asked them this real obvious question, and they stood still looking sad. Just a few verses later, after they realized they'd been walking with Jesus, they arose at that same hour, returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven, and those who were there with them gathered together and saying, "The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon." A return trip from Emmaus to Jerusalem is very different than their trip from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They just sort of looked sad. Imagine their feet are dragging, their posture, they're struggling. But then seeing Jesus and having that joy transforms their life. So here's the best part of this text, verse 22. "So also you have sorrow now, that I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take that joy from you." That's an amazing promise, that there is a joy that nobody can take.

If it's true, it's wonderful. Because our experience is that our joy very quickly can disappear. Sometimes it happens gradually, and maybe you have had experiences. You have a favorite restaurant, sometimes it's like, "Man, I'm really tired of that." Your joy, over time, has disappeared. Sometimes your joy disappears in an instant. Several months ago, I was coming, and I was having a great morning, ran to get coffee, got out of the car, I had my coffee, Rachel's coffee, my lid wasn't on right, it falls all over the ground. Like the one thing I was looking forward to all morning, and all of a sudden my joy just disappeared. There are times that our joy happens catastrophically. Not just a spilled coffee, but that phone call in the middle of the night. That visit to the doctor.

That day at work where our cats catastrophically just be destroyed. And what Jesus is saying, and what we have to understand, and we've probably seen and experienced, and if you haven't, you will, is that the things that oftentimes we find our joy in can disappear. Our health can be gone. People can disappoint you. Your great relationships disintegrate. Marriages struggle. Children make dumb decisions. And Jesus is saying in this, this joy, in contrast to all of these other things, cannot be taken away. It's different from anything that you've ever encountered. Where does this joy come from? Listen to what Jesus says. "You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice." The pivotal moment that this joy comes is when you see Jesus as your risen Savior. This isn't just a reminder for us as Christians. It's an invitation not to see Jesus.

To see His greatness and His power. Throughout Scripture, you find these descriptions, and I'll share with you a couple. In Hebrews 1, "Long ago, in many times and in many ways, God spoke to us by the prophets, and in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. And for sins, He is sat down at the right hand of the magic eye, or in Colossians 1. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." You see the greatness of Jesus, His glory and His power, and then He steps into human history. In Philippians 2, it says, "Though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be held on to, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant in the likeness of men." Yes, from Friday night, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." On one hand, in the greatness of Jesus, and on the other hand, His love for a broken world.

And He doesn't come and stand far off, but He comes close, and He sets aside His glory, and He comes near to us. And you see glimpses of His power in ministry, and as He heals, and as He helps, as He calms the storm, but you also see the greatness of His love, and I love it. In fact, if you just look at the guys that He picked, you've got fishermen, a tax collector, a Roman rebel, seeking to rebel and overthrow the Roman Empire. So much so, these guys are so seemingly underqualified when the church begins on the day of Pentecost, and they're preaching about Jesus. The crowd looks at Him and goes, "These guys? These guys, they're a bunch of Galileans. They don't know anything!" And Jesus takes the small, He uses them powerfully.

In John 6, as the crowd began to leave Jesus, Jesus will say, "You want to go too?" And the disciples will say, "Where else can we go? You're the only one who can satisfy the longing of our heart." They say it this way, "You are the one who has the words of eternal life." And so this text for us, in many ways, is an invitation for those of us whose hope is in all of the things of this earth. And Jesus is saying, "Come to a joy that will last forever." You might say, "Every joy in my life, it's easy to see how it could disappear, or how it could fade, or how it can break." What makes this joy different? There's two ways that something can disappear out of our heart. It can leave, or we can leave.

The resurrection of Jesus means that He will never leave. And I love the accounts. In fact, if you read the accounts, they're sort of all jumbled up, and that's because you're getting this excitement of the disciples finding out for the very first time. The women go to the tomb, and they come back, and they say, "It's empty." And we heard this message from an angel, we think, that says Jesus is risen. And I love that the gospel, the very first time the good news is proclaimed, the resurrection of Jesus, it's by these group of women. And so Peter and John want to see it for themselves. They're running. And John is faster, but Peter is braver, so he leads him to the tomb. Peter crashes right on inside, and they see that the tomb is empty.

And the evening of that Sunday, the doors were locked, and the disciples were afraid for the same people that killed Jesus. They were afraid they were next. Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands, and the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. The resurrection of Jesus says that He will not leave. 1 Corinthians says that death is swallowed up in victory. Revelation chapter 1 describes Jesus like this: "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead, but He laid His right hand on me, saying, 'I am the first and the last, the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the key to death and Hades.'" Jesus is saying, "The guy who has the keys has control, and nothing will take me away."

Now there's the second part of this, but what if I have to leave? If you've experienced kids when their friends or their grandparents leave, I remember when my parents still lived in Vermont, and they would get ready to leave, and the sorrow and the sadness among our kids as Grandma and Grandpa left. Right? What if we have to leave? What happens in this scenario? The resurrection means that you and I have eternal life. Listen to John 14. "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live." Or 1 Corinthians, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin,

and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brothers, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain." Or this in Romans 8, "What shall we say to these things? If God is full to us, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who can bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died. No, more than that, who was raised, and is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecutiveness, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? As it is written, "For yourself all the day long, being regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, height, nor depth, listen to this, nor anything else in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, because of the resurrection, Jesus won't leave. Because if you're a Christian this morning, and you're in the Gospel, nothing can separate you from Jesus. And sometimes we might say, but Christians die. In one sense we do, but there's another sense of this, and I think more importantly,

the joy the believer has, the Christian has in Jesus, and in being with Jesus is never broken. Right? What does he say? "Death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all of creation, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." For this, I see Jesus' words in John 16. It's a future promise. It's a future event for them. They don't realize how soon, but it's for the future. But for those of us this morning, we are looking back to the reality of this. That Jesus, the Son of God, with all of His power and glory and majesty, stepped into the brokenness of human history. Not in a proud, boastful way, but as a baby in a manger. And He understands your struggles and your hurts, not intellectually,

but because He has walked through those struggles and those difficulties and hurts. And He will take your brokenness and your shame to the cross, where He dies in your peace. And then He rises for your victory. And in doing so, He defeats death and sin and hell and the world. And this text is an invitation to see that joy. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Jesus and for grace. Thank you for hope. Thank You for the resurrection of us, not just to simply seek an intellectual understanding, but to rather see this deep into our hearts, that it would move out through all of our life, that we would live with joy and hope, even in the midst of a dark struggle, that we would be encouraged by knowing that You are here. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We're going to stand and sing. So we're going to sing, "Jesus, Hate It All." I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find, Thy power and thine alone, Can change the leper's spots, And melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. The sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow. And then before the throne I stand in Him complete Jesus died my soul to save My lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow I want to thank you for joining us this morning, both to those of you who are here in person and those of you who are watching with us online. Just a few announcements. We'll be here Wednesday night at 7pm for Bible study. The ladies' group meets this Thursday up here at the church at 1pm. I'm very thankful for those who have been helping. There's been a lot of help from a lot of you.

We're getting things, especially downstairs, kind of put back together after kind of an absence during the last couple years, so we've got some of the rooms painted. I'm working on getting those back to where we need to be, so I'm very thankful for everybody who has helped with those things. Also, for the kiddos, before you leave, we've got some Easter things in the back, so kind of divided by age, so depending on where you are, you'll have to show ID, I think, is how that works. So Russell's going to help me with those in the back, so if you come to the back, we will get those for you. We're thankful that you are here. We're glad. One of the other things I would remind you of is we're going to do this for just a little bit longer. We've been collecting some money to help with sheltering those and providing some warmth and help for those in the Ukraine, so if you're interested in helping with that, just talk to me. We'll give you all the details and

help connect you with that. So I'm going to go ahead and pray, read a verse of Scripture from the 20th Psalm, and then we'll sing the doxology and be dismissed. For grace and for hope and for your church and your people, encourage us, help us as we leave here to see the joy that is present in the good news of the Gospel. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the 20th Psalm, it's a reminder about where we are placing your hope, and it says, "Now I know the Lord saves His anointed, and He will answer Him from His holy heaven. With the saving might of His right hand, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright." Let's sing the doxology.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.