Since Jesus Was Serious…We Should Keep It Real

tender voice like thine can peace aord I need thee Oh I need thee every heart I need thee bless be now my saor I come to thee I need the every enjy your pain come quickly and abide for life is way I need the oh I need thee every hour I need the oh bless me now my savior I come to do one more time I need thee Oh I need the how I need thee oh bless me now my savior I come to it’s really

more than a song it’s a prayer it’s our hearts reaching out to you and holy spirit you inhabit the dwelling of the Praises of your people and what a what a pleasure it must be for you to hear us sing and even pray Lord I need you because there’s the spray of life that comes and we get hit and we have to have to wonder at times how will this work out what will be the good or the gain that comes from this sometimes we don’t

have an immediate answer we simply talk to you and say Lord I need you but we do know this that you’re up to something in our lives you’ve said so it’s so simp significant that it’s not something you’re willing to delegate to anybody now may the God himself the God of all peace sanctify you through and through and may your spirit soul and body be blameless on the day of Christ Jesus and the God who calls you is faithful and he will do it so Lord

you’ve heard us say we need you grown-ups say that and children who are in our gathering this morning aren’t quite sure what it means they know they need Mom they know they need Dad but I pray that today where they go and what they hear about you would remind them at a at a little person’s level that they need you and I pray pray that in this hour together we would take whatever was too big for us to keep and live out the words of that

song and prayer I need you for your glory Lord we pray these things and all God’s people said amen amen kids on your way have a great time have a wonderful time and good morning church good morning I read someplace that there’s a rather important football game today and apparently it’s it’s a patented name so you can call it super game you can call it a there was a Raider fan out here that called it a waste of time and I happen to agree with you

brother I’m with you all the way but the truth is today you might see some of us dressed in red and it’s you get to guess is it you know my my Debbie has yes here we go I knew I’m actually about to say something about Valentine’s Day so would you join me but no it’s a it’s a big game today you may not know this trivia but did you know the halftime entertainment they’re never paid there is not a penny paid for obvious reasons but

no because it’s probably said to be the greatest Boon when it comes to their status in the world as a Entertainer that they’re happy to do it for free isn’t that fascinating that may not be true but I read it on the internet so must be must be we’re glad I’m glad we’re together here today and let me say something about Valentine’s Day it’s coming up this Wednesday of course and and we whether you’re a single person whether you’re here as a couple however you’re here

in Cafe when we’re done here today we want to invite you they we had a great sweetheart banquet I guess we’d call it a breakfast anyway yesterday and it was fun it was we had a Newlywed Game and there was yeah I think Neil Neil and shell you were the winners you were the yeah yeah not fair not fair they’re Newly Weds you guys how can they be winners on this thing but you’re good you’re good folks and there’s a section in that room that I

asked them to keep up not take it down and get the room reset for today and that is there’s a kind of a photo Corner you’ll see it it’s it’s re rimmed by balloons and it looks very festive by all means get over there and take some pictures and have some fun with it but so let’s let’s talk about why we’re here and and why my Bible’s open to John chapter 11 we’ll get there but you can kind of get a jump on things right now

find your way to the fourth gospel the 11th chapter of that Gospel Matthew Mark Luke are the synoptic gospels and then comes John synoptics nothing fancy it simply means that they are the kind of the gospels that’s that that sink Jesus movements they’re all in Step the fourth gospel has a lot more in terms of theology we’ll get to that in John 11 but let me start by taking you to a little piece of my history you know Ridin rin’s probably a medical name some of

you are waving right now at me that’s good but Ridin was not a drug that was available when I was a school AG kid and I’m fairly certain that there were many teacher teachers that wished it had been in in my case I was a handful you’ve heard me say that some of you parents of teenagers who who are bucking the system and defying your Authority at times have said it’s so encouraging to you to hear me be honest about my story but if my parents

were here and they always sat in the front row at this point when I said you know I was a handful my dad might have tried to stand on his own at that point and said yeah let me tell you about it give me that microphone but I I was always acting up I was that kid I was I was my friends even had names for me it kind of goes with my last name McCracken I was mrack up or just crack up or at one

point just crack which has a different meaning today I understand but I was the class clown all right and how many of you are just shocked right now raise your hand not a hand in the room that’s good all right so years later that was my childhood years and I was now a graduate of high school and it was in the late 7s I graduated in 76 and then I went to a camp that I talk about freely as the place where I cut my teeth

in Ministry and that was camp tadmore and I really went there to be around my dad because he was so embedded in Camp tadmore and it was a great time to hang out with him and I was bitten by Ministry I was not only bitten I met the Holy Spirit there I met the Lord who said I got plans for you and they were kind of private to me I know I was processing things deeply and wondering what’s this all about but how many have you

been to tadmore or any Camp you probably know that you don’t get to keep your street name or your civilian name so you’re given a name or you have a name mine turned out to be gyro there’s kind of a weird chuckle you know there’s a gyro that’s always spinning spinning like a top right and I was gyro and I was crazy and wild and funny and happy and a whole bunch of other adjectives that’s just who I was so much so that every week they

would say something like listen gyro it’s time and what they’re getting at is whenever there’s a a big Gathering they would you know they would say hey we need a couple of counselors and a bunch of kids would say gyro and they fed my very fragile ego in those days and and so I would get up there and my hat would be on crooked and I would be just crazy looking and fun and kids are like and then I’d take off my hat and I would

change the expression on my face and I say guys you’re used to me kind of being wild aren’t you and and I got something I really need to share with you that’s kind of hard to share and there’s silence hundreds of kids went from 100 deciples to and I told him how Jesus had taken over control of my life I just did and the impact every week was enormous to me I still gyro it drew a crowd and it was something that was natural to me

so go from there and fast forward to the days when I became a pastoral intern at e fre Fullerton Debbie and I were Newly Weds we had been married in April and in the fall of that year I became one of two senior staff interns it’s a whole year privilege and and I brought me with me and I was gyro and maybe even a bit of that riddlin kid showing up again and I and I remember somebody I don’t even remember who but out of nowhere

they I I’d already established short of a wow we got a wild one here and and I remember somebody saying to me just in passing hey hey I got a question do you ever have a down day and I before the question actually fully got put out there I said no why should I and I I tell you that because I don’t think that was a full story and over the years I’ve been crazy and funny and silly and I behaved like I was still a

college Pastor or something but I’ve learned that there’s more than just laughter in fact in fact I’m I’m going to tell you that I I like laughter I like it a lot and I think people like it I think we maybe need just a place to let it out and it’s not a surprise if you knew you don’t have to dig very far to look at our core values as a church and one of them one of the five is find a way to make it

fun why not the joy of the Lord is my yeah and and on and on the Bible talks about Joy extensively if you need a joy infusion go to Philippians four chapters forget how many times some some of you they count all those details but maybe 50 times the word Joy is there doesn’t mean fake it it just means Joy is not you know the Bible’s not allergic to it but I I know there’s more than just laughter so if and we’re going to talk about

this right now we’re going to talk about what you’re looking for in a church now many of you I know your answer you’ve been here long enough to live your answer but one of the things that I think is true and that’s what this message is in fact all about if you wonder what we’re up to would you write these four statements down four they’re not even statements they’re just words and they form an acronym all right so if you’re brand new or if you’re joining

us from some other place and you haven’t yet taken your seed in the house you’re in your house we want you here but until then you’re for whatever reason not here and some of you are here but sort of almost not quite a foot in foot out whatever but here’s the deal these four words we are a church that is biblical relevant authentic and great ious so some of you that know AC acronyms it’s it’s a church that brags okay remember those four words all right

what do we do what are we about we’re biblical the Bible is open 100% of the time here because we’re just going to have just this little pom pom moment otherwise or we’re going to go deep and biblical is a good word relevant means this isn’t just going to be a bunch of abstract stuff long ago that doesn’t matter anymore this is relevant meaning you work tomorrow hopefully you’re going to hear something today that’s going to make a difference for you tomorrow or maybe you’re going

to go to the game and you’re going to behave more like a Christian this afternoon in your tailgate party or something whatever but relevant we’re relevant what we’re saying here should be relevant authentic is the third word b r a authentic and that’s what stopped me short in this quick observation about laughter fun and always up that’s part of what you experience and I experience but it’s not the whole story authenticity says there’s some pretty low times too and we’re not going to hide them our

bias as a church is not just to say things that scratch where we itch and give you a break from the bad news out there we’re going to talk about bad news in the hardest place of all to talk about it not in the church in my heart in your heart okay that’s authentic G is a great word it’s in our name gracious we’re we’re Grace Point that is the point that’s how you become a Christian it’s the starting point of the Christian life so we

do things that are biblical relevant authentic and gracious so I I’ve said a lot already I want to draw you in with a question here’s a question everyone everybody can answer and I hope you’ll do it now or when you know commercials aren’t so good this afternoon at the game when you come to church what are you looking for would you write it on your page if you haven’t already maybe write it what am I looking for when I C when I go to church what

am I looking for I’m going to give you a couple of things I hear again and again Biblical teaching I say why are you here what brought you here another related question why are you staying Biblical teaching good worship most say great worship I love the music and other things here’s the third friendly people friendly people what a cool concept I think show me a look of friendly right now on your face on count of three 1 2 three 100 well 98% of you are smiling

you know why cuz you can’t be friendly and go I am friendly on the inside it’s all you’re getting out of me today no you’re friendly right so I hear that a lot I hear that from people and a place this is really deep this really gets to import things a place where I can meet with Jesus and make decisions to follow him because I’m inspired by what I hear or see that’s cool I hear that a lot a place where you can be I’ve heard

all of these encouraged because we leak courage we’re going to build you up give you courage so encouragement challenge cuz you’re not in heaven yet that means you’ve got some work to do God’s got work to do in you I just quoted those words out of worship this morning 1 Thessalonians 523 and 24 the God who began this good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus amen just really good he’s faithful he’s faithful so that’s a that’s a big deal to

people they want to be challenged and surprisingly at least to me they want to be corrected when I when I sweat the biggest sweat drops it’s sometimes over I got something hard that we need to hear and it’s hard to say it and I and I’m like H what do I say and I’ve heard from many of you I won’t name you but but they but but sometimes when I feel like I have to bust open a can of whoop and and you know and correct

hopefully you hear first I’m correcting me but secondly I’m not afraid to to say hey here’s an admonition we got to do better here and so and so we do it and people like that but as you would guess comforted is also on the list we have we we Comfort The Afflicted and we afflict the comfortable is a way to think of it right so some of you are actually making up your mind right now do I want to you know go to the game early

or stay and hear the rest but so in a sentence what I’m getting at we want a church where we feel at home I think that’s at the heart of it when I describe Grace Point and I I do it all the time and have done for a long long time I’ I just say we’re a small church with a big heart and a family feel in a in a in a word in short It Feels Like Home which raises the question okay when I say

that it sounds good in a sentence what does home feel like what’s that safe safe welcoming loving loving nurturing ah these are great words I didn’t come up with any of those that’s really good no they’re good words I love it and and it goes on actually let me let me throw out this just this this way home is a place where you can celebrate and grieve and everything in between is that home you don’t say hey to your child hey hey no we only party

here we only have a good time we only celebrate birthdays we don’t talk about oh I know you got dumped on your you know on you know your boyfriend dumped you or whatever of course we talk about that and everything in between home has an appeal because it’s there that we can be all the silly things we can be gyro at home we can be silly and funny but home is also very appealing because it’s a place where I am safe to struggle don’t it’s it’s

kind of what you some of you said it’s it’s safe to struggle it’s safe to share a doubt to be weak so let me involve you right now a little step further there’s a visual that you’re going to see okay what kind of church do you want to be part of all right if you have the book already it’s not quite the same visual from je Sky jethani what if Jesus was serious but there’s a version of it there I changed some words that fit us

better but I’m I have that up there for this reason if you had this dial okay and you could turn a dial that’s the church in the middle that’s little Grace Point there and you could turn it to any one of those words which word would you be inclined to turn it to would you say I well let’s let’s talk about them I I want to be at a church where you can be tender you can be you can feel tender you can come and and

be a fragile person and we’re not going to you know make you sit in the lobby or whatever people aren’t going to ignore you maybe that’s important to you so tender would be there maybe happy I would guess in lots of people’s dial you’d stop at happy you’d like happy why not a a pickme up experience on Sunday you don’t want to go to church if it’s always a downer right so or or sad May mean not that the church is sad but that you’re okay

to be sad you can you can Cry tears I’ve said this before it’s not true today as far as I can tell but there are frequently people in the lobby that are very fragile and and going through something really hard and they’ve told me they sit in the lobby because it’s just too they’re too borderline will they will they lose it I I tell them sometimes you know what no better place to lose it than right here at Grace Point it’s true I really believe then

angry I’m not saying come here and get mad or be mad I’m saying you you’re struggling with something that’s eating you you can be you can is that the kind of church you want a church that won’t shut that down but we’ll say let’s work through that still more scared this world worries me I’m scared I want to hang out here and then finally worried is another word up there so here’s the deal I’m guessing right now because we don’t have time to do all of

this but I’m guessing if you clicked your dial how many would click it to happy I like that okay is there let’s just go around the horn again okay happy how about sad the way I defined it okay all right I’m with that angry you’re upset you’re not sure what to do with it you like to come to a place that may help you with that how about scared okay worried okay you’re Jesus said a lot about worry in Matthew 6 right be anxious for nothing

but somehow you’re anxious about a lot of things and then tender wow that that got the biggest bite tender can I make a guess we want it all yeah how many want it all right there we go okay all right so that’s what Grace Point is let’s tuck away our Bible and head on our way here no we want it all we are the kind of people that we have we have ideals and then sometimes we have a raw reality but the truth is we need

all of those things in a church for it to feel like home now you might say well that’s a lot that’s a what I’m getting at is the title of my message today we need to keep it real that’s where the word authentic comes in biblical relevant authentic and gracious it also seems to fit the tone and the message here we go now of the Bible we’ll get to John 11 but take in these two things I have no slide to show you now I don’t

even have these verses to put up there because you know them well okay our Bibles have a big section known as the Psalms okay Psalms PS a l Ms they were actually ancient songs like we sing most of them were put to music and that’s how people first Express themselves in the Bible in fact jethani in his writing says the the prayer book that Jesus and his disciples turned to in their worship was largely the Psalms how about that kind of a great place have you

ever been without hope Psalm 42:43 why are you in despair oh my soul why have you become Disturbed me Disturbed within me four times in those two Psalms in the original Hebrew they were one Psalm but Psalm 42 and 43 they answer every single time is Hope in God we sang it today for a reason and hope has a name you know Romans 15:13 you should if you don’t now may the God of all hope cause you to be filled with all joy and peace in

believing so that you may abound in Hope through the power of the holy spirit amen that’s cool so the Psalms were used in that time and they’re still used today in fact I’m a marinoa music guy right I came through that era and my favorite part of maratha Music it was it was give ear to my words oh Lord consider my meditation you know those words do you know that did you even know that you knew Psalm 5 straight up straight out of Psalm oh thou

oh Lord are a shield about me you’re my glory you’re the lifter of my head do you know that you memorize Psalm 3 when you sang that song get my point it’s all over the Psalms right Thy word is a lamp unto my feet Amy Grant right okay and a light unto my path anybody PM verse 911 105 yeah 9 and 11 how does a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according yeah that’s good that’s good that’s good but that’s good he’s almost

always right and I’m usually wrong but this is good no but you’re right Psalm 105 it’s 119 105 verse 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet I’ve got it down by tune here’s two that everybody knows about can you what song could possibly song notice I said what Psalm could possibly strike a CT of comfort more than Psalm the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me to lie down in Green Pastures he leads me beside Quiet Waters he restores my

soul incredible truth being spoken there he guides me in Paths of righteousness for his name’s sake even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death could there be a harder place to walk I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou anointest my head with oil my cup overflows runneth over surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever wow Psalm 23 what a beautiful place a go-to place when you’re rumbling on the inside but did you know that Psalm 23’s nearest neighbor is a Psalm that was quoted by Jesus in agony as he cried on a cross paying for our sins next door neighbor to Psalm 23 is Psalm 22 my God my God why have you forsaken me we miss it if we don’t just stop in a very uncomfortable moment and say that was uttered by Jesus and he didn’t modify it to

make it sound theologically better he poured out his soul in the moment saying my God my God why have you forsaken me why are you so far from me why is a hard question especially when it’s it has to do with God why are you so far from me God here’s the reality and I only bring those up to illustrate this point I’ve just presented to you two of the most astounding extremes I could come up with Psalm 23 to use the first person singular in

that blows my mind my God my God Psalm 22 23 the Lord is my shepherd somebody said he is not just the shepherd nor is he just a Shepherd but everything changes when he becomes my shepherd is that good it’s true my shepherd the contrasts go from incredible intimacy he is my shepherd to the raw edge of Abandonment I’m all alone I don’t feel like I don’t feel like you’re even in the same zip code see there see how it all needs it comes together it

merges so I brought that up because our journey with Jesus is filled with Peaks and valleys the Peaks for me is Psalm 23 The Valleys Psalm 22 so that’s a setup to John 11 okay and I promised and we’ll deliver now John 11 is a story I’ll summarize the opening Jesus has two sisters and a brother that are best friends F what do we used to say friends for life F FFL anyway B BFF there we go I would say Jesus would probably say you’re my

BFFs they were Lazarus the brother and Martha and Mary the two sisters lazarous sisters Jesus is out of town he’s not in their town when Lazarus Falls ill and he’s Gravely ill and the opening here captures just how sick he was Dire sickness and they get word to Jesus because they know he’s the one if there’s anyone who could intervene and maybe save the day they were close it says a couple of different times wow they they the the notation is how much Jesus love these

and verse five verse three says Lord the one you love is sick reported the news to Jesus when he heard this Jesus said the sickness will not end in death nor no it’s for God’s glory so that God’s son speaking of himself may be glorified through it so instead of going directly to Bethany which is a town a couple couple of miles outside of Jerusalem you wrap around up the kiddon valley around the Mount of Olives and you go to Bethany 2 miles away that’s where

they’re at instead of dropping everything we might say and making a beline for that he delays fully aware that his life hung in the balance Lazarus life in fact notice verse 14 if you’ll just flip the page I’ve kind of captured some of this Jesus to remove all doubt some people were wondering was he really dead or not Lazarus is dead said Jesus and for the for your sake I’m glad I was not there so that you may believe now let us go to him all

right so what unfolds next is both raw and real and it it can’t be skipped over so we’re going to just kind of comment along the way as we weave our way through it on his arrival Jesus arrival he found that Lazarus had not only been dead but was in the Tomb for 4 days now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother Lazarus when Martha heard that Jesus

was coming kind of true to Martha’s style she went out to meet him while Mary stayed at home Lord Martha said to Jesus if you had been here you can hear the plaintive tone my brother would not have died but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask there’s a hint of understanding for sure in her Jesus said to her your brother will rise again what she says in response to that gives you a very clear indication of how she interpreted Jesus

simple statement verse 24 Martha answered I know he’s going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day and then these words which are beautifully spoken by Jesus he said to her I am the resurrection and the life the one who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in him in me will never die and since he was in a conversation with Martha he said Do you believe this she said yes Lord I believe that you are the

Messiah the Son of God who’s to come into the world and after she said this the exchange was over she turned and went back to where her sister was and she called her sister Mary aside from probably a house filled with mourners and said to her the teacher is here verse 28 and he’s asking for you when Mary heard this she got up quickly it fits who she is and went to him now Jesus had not yet entered the village that is he’s still out of

town but he but was he was at the place where Martha had met him and when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up they saw they thought well well something’s up and they went out and they followed her supposing she was going to the tomb where Lazarus had been laid to mourn there when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet I prefer to use the word collapsed her

strength gave out and said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died John calls attention to something we need to see in verse 33 when Jesus saw her weeping and all that that represented and looked around and saw Jews who had come along with her also weeping notice he was deeply moved that’s that stuff of raw emotion deeply moved in spirit and troubled and his words where have you laid him come and see Lord they replied my Bible does not say he

went quickly to see we used to joke it’s the easiest verse in the Bible to memorize two words Jesus wept then the Jews said wow he really did love him but some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man that story is told in chapter nine remember the pool of silom could he have not also kept this man from dying Jesus once more deeply moved it’s not it means he didn’t just cry it out in verse 35 still wrenching from

the pain of this moment he came to the tomb it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance take away the stone he declared the Lord said Martha just stating the facts the by this time there’s a bad odor for he’s been there for four days he’s dead Jesus offers some understanding did you not did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God so they took away the stone then Jesus looked up to heaven it was not

required he did it for their sake were told father I thank you that you have heard me I know that you always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here right now that they may believe that you sent me and when he had said this Jesus called in a loud voice Lazarus come out and the dead man came out looking like he had been at a Halloween party seriously he came out his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen

and a cloth around his face that is disturbing to say the least and Jesus said to them take off the grave clothes and let him go we’re not told in that moment the unbelievable reaction and I and I really wish we could know it but one of the most attractive attributes of Jesus to me in this story and I think you got it but let me say it explicitly so it’s not missed though he described himself as the resurrection and the life right that’s back in

verses 25 and 26 Jesus has just declared who he is and what he does I am not I do resurrection and life I am the resurrection and the life this is who I am and though he describes himself as the resurrection and the life and watch this now please grab this and he knew what he was about to do no one knew that except him he starts with this is who I am and he knew what he was about to do we just read it slowly

so everybody could get it verses 38-44 he knew that Lazarus would come forward still he kept it real and he wept there’s no more important section of this story we’ve read than verses 32 to 36 he wept he knew who he was I’m the resurrection in the life he who believes in me will live even if they die and whoever lives and Believes In Me will never die he knew that and said so and he knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead in front

of everyone this would have been an easy time to go hey stick around hang in there Goods coming around the corner or any other trivializing thing hey dry your tears you’ll see why in a minute but we’re given time to to notice Jesus looking at Mary weeping and many others along with her weeping and the Holy Spirit wants us to realize to see it made Jesus weep 41 years ago the first book I read as an intern at the church that I came from was a

book by Eugene Peterson none of you have read he’s written a lot of good books but this one I was like whoa I’ve never heard of that five smooth stones of pastoral work and in one of of the five chapters he kind of camps on Jeremiah the prophet anybody know Jeremiah’s nickname the weeping prophet he was 40 years in the job at in Jerusalem and God said your job’s done the day the temple burned to the ground he preached and preached his heart out nothing ever

changed we’ve covered that in a past series on Jeremiah but in this book he has a chapter that’s built on the Theology of Lamentations so if just so you know in your bible Jeremiah is the lengthy story of Jeremiah the prophet Lamentations is a short five five chapters four five chapters I think four somewhere in there of Lamentations and the title of this chapter is important the Pastoral work of pain sharing that was new to me because I thought I I want to keep I don’t

I don’t like you got your pain I got my pain let’s let’s keep it that way you know and I didn’t I didn’t I wasn’t well established I had not developed what he was going to say these are Peterson’s thoughtful words that describe the way that Jesus was with Mary as he wept with her in her grief remember he knew how it’s going to turn out quote the biblical Revelation neither explains nor eliminates suffering it shows rather that God enters into the life of suffering Humanity

accepting and even sharing the suffering how else do you explain Jesus not stopping at hey come here Mary it’s I I know I feel so bad and you know but we’re told no he felt it himself he in fact wept he kept it incredibly real despite the fact here’s what it means if you’re taking notes on just who is Jesus he was the omnipotent all powerful omniscient all knowing omnipresent always present God who make sure we understand this he knows how every human hurt will turn

out he knows that still he chooses to weep when he sees Mary collapsed in front of him suffering it’s just huge to me which means despite all of that I I think I think we’ve got some gains God wants to bring about in our lives not to necess necessarily explain suffering and not necessarily remove suffering but be fully comfortable and present in suffering you say how’s how was Jesus present how was he what was he well he wept if we were to grade pain I think

most of us would probably put the loss of a loved one a wife or a husband or a child a loved one someone close family member would be at the top of that list of pain wouldn’t we I mean something that that’s probably true for all of us and tears they flow freely at Memorial Services but but did you know that they will be banned forever in heaven did you know that in heaven the perfect place that the Bible describes as that irresistibly attractive home where

God lives these words can be found that describe heaven in the second to the last chapter of the Bible look look God’s home is now among among his people he will live with them they will be his people and God himself will be with them and then this he will wipe away from their eyes every tear and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying again all those things are gone forever what a place huh what what a plan he’s going to take away

tears forever we won’t need him but until then as Jesus did when he encountered Mary people like Mary people in pain seems to me we are called to do likewise and weep with and comfort others who hurt as well and remember we do this not as the source of comfort and Jesus was her source of comfort we do it as a delivery system of the comfort that he gives us the source of all comfort I want you to close your eyes and close your Bible and

just take in these words that remind us all to keep it real there words from Paul’s letter in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and he kind of ties it together in verses three and four just two quick verses quite appropriately He blesses God as the father of all comfort his very words blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ father of mercy and the God of All Comfort the God of All Comfort who comforts Us in any of our Affliction with the comfort that

he plans for us to use in comforting others with the same Affliction so God is is saying I want to do this John 11’s story of being with people in pain I want to do that again and again and again and I’ll use you as my delivery system of such Comfort God I pray that we would keep it real because you were real cause us to be more comfortable in moments like the one we’ve read about and help us to know that we’re part of the

mission all of us on mission for you to extend your comfort and mercy to people who were in all sorts of pain we don’t have to make it up we simply Comfort them with the same comfort with which we’ve been comforted by you so we we pray also for people in this Gathering here or somewhere else watching that if there’s there’s grief and sorrow and suffering that we’re we’re a home this is this is a place that allows for things like that to be part of

life and we pray that in the midst of that we would also find new joy and hope through the power of your Holy

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