Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Brian: First of all, I just want to thank you Lord for the faithfulness of Kelly and Catalin through the years. They've walked by us tirelessly in so many ways, and we, Lord, want to bless them. We want to bless them, Jesus. I was asking the Lord last night just like, how do you want me to pray over Kelly and Catalin? And really, I just got a very simple response from the Lord and it was, "I want you to bless them. I want you to bless them." I was drawn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, and I think I'll read a little bit of it here for all of us. It says if you follow the Lord and do what he asks you to do, then this is what will happen to you. You will be blessed in the city and you will be blessed in the country. And so that kind of takes care of the whole Metro area, doesn't it?
He goes on to say that your crops and land and your livestock and your herds will be blessed, that your food will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and when you go out, and that the Lord will grant that even the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you, and if they come against you from one direction, they will flee seven directions. They will be scattered. And the Lord will establish you as a holy people. It goes on to say, so that all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by my name and that they will fear the Lord.
And so this is our prayer today for Kelly and Catalin that really virtually whatever they set their hands to do will be prospered, that they will be given wisdom and favor from the Lord, that they will have strength to do what is before them, that they won't get weary in well-doing. There will be weary days ahead. There are always weary days ahead when you are trying to do something for God, because there is someone who is resisting what we are trying to do for God's kingdom. That one who will resist has been defeated. And so today, father, we pray blessings now over Kelly and Catalin. We bless them as our children. I say that with all affection, and that I pray that Lord, they will know that in our hearts we want the very, very best for them, and that Lord, we will do whatever we can to help them be successful. And that father, we pray that your presence in the same way that as you were leading the children of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land, the cloud went before them by day and the fire went before them by night and you went before them. And I pray that Lord, you will go before them.
You will open up doors for them that virtually no man can open and you will close the doors Lord that they should not go through because sometimes there are a lot of doors in front of us and we don't always know which ones that we should go through, but I pray in Jesus name that they will have the wisdom to know what doors to go through. And Lord, should they happen to go through a door that they shouldn't then I pray that Lord, they won't be discouraged, that they won't feel like all is lost because your plan Bs and Cs, and Ds, and Es, and Fs are even better than your plan As. So I just pray now, father, a rich, full blessing upon them. May they experience a little scripture that says that you will pour out a blessing so much so that they won't know how to contain it.
So keep them in health, keep them in health, and as an anecdote Lord, to this prayer, I pray that you will also bring the right people in to hope to fill up the void that is going to be missing. We look to you to do that and trust you to do that. There are a lot of known things here. There are a lot of unknown things where they are going, but it doesn't matter if they are known or unknown because you are the God of it all. And so we pray, Lord, I do pray Lord for a straight path and a smooth path for them, Lord; not a rough path and not a crooked path, but a smooth path and a straight path Lord, a quick path for them.
I recall Lord, in our early days, just all the things that you did that brought us encouragement and all of the provisions you did that brought us strength and knowledge that you were with us, and I pray Lord, the very same for Kelly and Catlin. As they go forward, do some incredibly supernatural things for them Lord, so that they will know that you are going before them. And that you are walking with them. Jesus, this, we pray in your name and for your sake, and everybody said Amen. Amen. Amen. Love you guys.
Well, the good news is they are not going to New York. So hopefully we will be able to see each other and do some things together as churches. Boy, if we can't do something together as churches, there is no hope for the body of Christ. Let me tell you that. We'll figure out some things to do together. It will be good. It will be good. Not all things that are good are easy. Not all good things are easy. In fact, I would probably suggest that most things that are easy probably aren't very good. I have a real sense that God is going before them and going before us, and we are going to just kind of be excited to see what God does.
Jacque: I think of that, no pain, no gain, and I keep thinking this, multiplying, not dividing; multiplying, not dividing.
Brian: I like multiplication, although the multiplication tables were hard to learn for me. I always said if I had to count past 10 and music, I wouldn't have made it in music. But multiplication is really good and that's kind of what God does. He multiplies. Well, today is— what's today?
Jacque: Palm Sunday.
Brian: Oh yes, Palm Sunday. Yeah.
Jacque: I'm still a few minutes back here, so be patient with me.
Brian: Today's Palm Sunday. It's the day of course, that we remember where Jesus made his entrance into Jerusalem. I've been thinking about— obviously, I hit 70 a few weeks, a few weeks ago. It's interesting how everybody has a different perspective about what you should do when you are 70 years old: cash in your chips; aren't you going to move to Arizona, retire? I just don't have that in my heart, number one, partly because I don't feel as though I've finished what God has asked me to do yet. I was thinking about just this whole idea of finishing well. In order for anybody to finish, well, you know what they have to do? They have to keep their eyes on the finish line. They can't get their eyes looking at all other places and all of the things. You know what, Jesus finished well. Jesus finished well.
I want to look at just this whole idea of Palm Sunday and just a few days of his last week. We are going to begin today by looking at some scripture. The first one is found in John chapter 12, verses 12 through 19. This is a description of his entrance into Jerusalem, John chapter 12.
Jacque: All the verses today are from the Message.
Brian: It will be easier to understand today.
Jacque: Yes, that's good. I love it. The next day, the huge crowd that had arrived for the feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem.
Brian: Now the feast was the Passover. That's what everybody had gathered in the Jerusalem area for.
Jacque: They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him.
Brian: You did some reading about Palm branches.
Jacque: One thing palm branches are a sign of victory and peace.
Brian: So what a symbolic gesture that they were breaking palm branches off as a sign of peace, as well as victory. Now, of course, I'm sure these people had a different victory in mind than what Jesus had.
Jacque: They thought that Jesus was going to bring them victory over the Romans and there would be peace.
Brian: Yes. How often have we thought that? Boy, if we could just elect somebody different in the white house, everything would be great. You know what, we've got to keep our eyes on Jesus. We've got to keep our eyes on Jesus.
Jacque: That's right. That's right. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him, and they cheered: “Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in God's name. Yes, the King of Israel.”
Brian: So here are these people just yelling and cheering and saying blessed is he who comes in God's name and here he is the King of Israel.
Jacque: Jesus got a young donkey and rode it just as a scripture has it. No fear daughter, Zion. See how your king comes riding on a donkey's colt. The disciples didn't notice the fulfillment of many scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done.
Brian: Can any of you relate to that, that we don't really get what God is doing at the time he is doing it, but then we look back on it and we see, man, God was in that. I thought it was the devil that was doing all that to me during that time, but actually God was really in that. Just like the story of Joseph, when he was thrown in the well and sold into Egypt, I don't believe that was God's will that his brothers tried to kill him and treat him that way. God's will. God's will is that we love each other. But even in the most horrific circumstances that we can find ourselves in where people might sin against us and cause all sorts of calamity to come into our lives, God can use it to bring promotion to us. So it's kind of like the game chutes and ladders, except that with God, they are all ladders; they are not chutes.
Jacque: You can tell that you are a grandpa because you are talking about the cat in the hat and the chutes and ladder.
Brian: The cat in the hat and chutes and ladders. We get knocked down. We kind of go down the chutes a little bit, and God comes along and what does he put in front of us? He puts a ladder in front of us. He promotes us. And so this is how God works. The disciples, they were clueless about a lot of the scriptures that Jesus had been fulfilling here. That's what this was talking about.
Jacque: The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eye witness accounts,
Brian: Do you think they were enthusiastic about what they were talking about? Let's face it, if we had a friend or family member like Lazarus's sisters and he had been in the tomb for four days and then Jesus comes along and says take away the tombstone, and then he yells, "Lazarus, come forth," and he comes walking out in his burial clothes; He had already been prepared for burial. Do you think you would tell anybody about that?
Jacque: There must've been such an excitement.
Brian: Yeah. We couldn't keep quiet about that. You would be in the grocery line at the store and you would be telling the checkout clerk, let me tell you what just happened. And of course, they would think you are crazy, but it wouldn't matter to you because you had experienced it with your own life. This whole crowd of people were these people that were part of this right now. They had seen Lazarus rose from tomb, raised him from the dead, and they were giving eyewitness accounts to all these other people.
Jacque: So it was because they had spread the word of this latest God's sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands. It's out of control; the world's in a stampede after him.
Brian: Isn't that great? Wouldn't it be great if the world was in a stampede after Jesus? Maybe we should pray that. That would be a good prayer in our, in our 6:45 to 7 o'clock times, that the world would stampede after Jesus. And so the fact of the matter is there were many people who were very excited about Jesus. They were excited about all that he did, and they were also excited about all that they had hoped he was going to do, especially when it came to the Roman government. Excitement never seemed to be a problem around Jesus, did it? There never seemed to be a dull moment around Jesus. Do you think the disciples ever uttered the words, "Gee I'm bored"? I don't think so. I don't think so; never a dull moment. It seemed like he always had crowds, except of course, when Jesus needed support the most, then he didn't have any crowds.
There was always something fantastic that was taking place, calming violent storms. I think Jesus is needed in Alabama right now. Walking on the water, there is a great way to go fishing, right, Jerry? That's a great way to go fishing and walk out on the water, "Oh, there is one right down there," and I put my rod down there. Feeding 5,000 with five loaves and two fish; we read these and we just go over them so rapidly, but just think about that.
Jacque: It was just 5,000 men.
Brian: Yeah, 5,000 men. It probably was 15,000.
Jacque: It didn't count the women.
Brian: Or children. How many of us just go into a tizzy when somebody drops in unexpected and there is nothing to eat? Well, 5,000 men dropped in unexpectedly and Jesus still fed them with five loaves and two fishes. This was something very fantastic. The blind, like Bartimaeus, were caused to see, and of course, people like Lazarus or the woman from Nane whose boy had passed away, whose son had passed away and raising these people from the dead and these multitudes throng the roadside as Jesus made his entrance into the city. You could see why they would: it was all these fantastic things.
The religious leaders at the time may have thought that he was mocking the government because of how he came into the city. He came in on the colt of a donkey. So get this picture: here is a donkey that had just had a little colt and Jesus gave instructions, go find this colt and bring them. I always find it very interesting that Jesus even cared about this little colt's mother, so he had them both brought with him. Jesus rode the colt, the mother donkey. I'm not sure what the real name of a mother donkey is. I'm sure Joanne or Keith would know what the name of a mother donkey is because they have donkeys. You should go see them. They are the cutest little things. Our cousin has donkeys. They are called Jesus barrels. They've got a cross on their back, so they are called Jesus barrels. Jesus wrote this colt, and I think that maybe the religious leaders might've thought that Jesus was even mocking the government because any government leader that rode in, in victory came in on a white stallion, and Jesus was coming in on this colt.
Jesus knew what he was doing and he also knew who he was. We can refer to Zechariah 9:9 because this is a portion of scripture that was fulfilled that day by Jesus, and let's read it real quickly.
Jacque: Shout and cheer, daughter of Zion, raise the roof, daughter of Jerusalem. Your king is coming, a good king who makes all things right, h humble king, riding a donkey, a mere colt of a donkey.
Brian: Now here is the truth about Jesus. He had read about himself through his whole adult life. He had read about himself his whole adult life when he read the Old Testament and he knew this scripture. He knew what he was doing. He knew he was the Messiah. He knew he was the one that come to take away the sinners of the world. He knew about his birthplace being prophesied by Micah, and he knew who he was. He knew that his kingdom was going to be a different kind of kingdom than the other kingdoms of this world. That's why his entrance was the kind of entrance it was. These incredible shouts of acclamation and honor on Sunday turned to shouts of crucify him by Friday. Imagine that.
Someone so adored, so vociferously endorsed, so excitedly applauded, five days later, most of those same people were yelling crucify him. It has always baffled me that we can go from being so excited about something to indifferent and lukewarm in a very short period of time. One of my most unfavorite expressions is this: whatever, whatever. Isn't that the epitome of indifference? This is really what happened with this crowd that was yelling Hosanna on Sunday. By Friday, they were completely indifferent, ambivalent, actually, maybe even beyond that and yelling, crucify him.
The entrance that Jesus made on what we now call Palm Sunday was making a statement. That statement was that there is a new type of kingdom coming. There is a new type of kingdom coming and it's a kingdom that's built on humility. It's a kingdom that's built on mercy. It's a kingdom that's built on service. It was going to be a kingdom that was built on difference to the poor. And don't we struggle with this? Don't we struggle with that? We judge the poor.
It was a kingdom of love, a kingdom that wasn't a kingdom of might. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And what he meant by that was not that his kingdom wasn't supposed to come into this world, but that the nature of his kingdom and how his kingdom operated was going to be entirely different than how the other kingdoms of this world operated. I shared a fair amount about that this past year, talking about power over versus power under, this overpowering coercion might makes right idea is not at all what God is talking about. It's not his kingdom.
I appreciate what pastor Jeffers talking about, clarifying some of these things about God's jealousy and the fire of God. Because sometimes when you read that, we read those words in earthly kingdom sense and they don't match and mesh up with the nature and character of God when we do. We have to understand the nature of God's kingdom to understand what those words actually mean. When Adam and Eve sinned, the world was put upside down in the fall at the garden. The world became upside down at the fall of the garden. You know what, it had been that way for so long, upside down became the normal. Jesus came to turn it right side up, but his kingdom was so different, it feels not normal. It feels strange.
This entrance into the city, how Jesus came into the city tells us so much about the way his kingdom is to operate. It tells us so much about the very nature of the kingdom. When we find ourselves falling into the old patterns, the fallen kingdoms of this world and how they operate, when we find ourselves operating that way and thinking that way and trying to do business that way and live our lives, that way, we are doing nothing but promoting the dark side. But if we are going to promote the kingdom of God, we have to learn that it's a kingdom of humility and it's a kingdom of mercy and a kingdom of service and a kingdom of deference to one another and a kingdom of love. We have to understand that.
After this entrance into the city, there were some interesting things that happened. We find one of them in Matthew 21 verses 12 through 14,
Jacque: Jesus went straight to the temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text: "My house was designated a house of prayer. You have made it a hangout for thieves." Now there was room for the blind and the crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and they healed. He healed them.
Brian: Jesus comes in and there are money changers. There are people who are taking advantage of the marginalized and the poor. He comes in and he kicks over the money changers. He basically drives them out. The temple had become a place where the innocent would be robbed, where the needy would be plundered and only the elect were made to feel welcome. But after Jesus got done with the money changers, now there was room for the blind and the paralyzed and the sick, and Jesus healed them right then and there. This is really what Jesus is like. He makes room for those who have needs. If we are to be like Jesus, we will make room for people who have needs.
There really is an ample supply in God's storehouse. There is an ample supply. What brings us some of the greatest fears? That God won't take care of us. There is not enough. There is not enough. You can either have a mental set, a perspective of abundance, or you can have a perspective of leanness, scarcity. God's perspective is a perspective of abundance. He has more than enough to take care of every single one of us. But when we have a perspective of scarcity, then what do we want to do? We want to hang on to everything, don't we? Hold it close, don't share, et cetera, et cetera.
Jacque: Abundance is an open hand. Scarcity is a closed hand closed hand.
Brian: A closed hand; and it's hard to give something to someone when your hand is closed. So there really is ample supply. When we reflect on this confrontation that Jesus had with the money changers, oftentimes when we read that passage, that has been our focus, what he did to the money chambers, but that's really not what the focus should be on. The focus should be on that he was making room for the marginalized. That's what he was doing. He was making room for the poor and the needy and those who needed an encounter with God. He was making room for the marginalized.
As we think of this story, let's not use this as an excuse to lose our temper because Jesus did. That's not the focus. The focus is making room for the marginalized making room for those who are needy, making room for the poor making room, for those who are suffering. This is what this focus should be on because if the scriptures would have just ended with Jesus kicking over the tables of the money changers, that would have been one thing, but he goes on to say, “And now there was room for the blind and the cripple to come in.” Now there was room. There was a vacuum there, and the people who God had a heart for, those are the people that filled in that vacuum. God was able to through Jesus, bring wholeness to them and restorations.
So then we see the next portion of scripture or the next two verses in the same chapter, Matthew 21 verses 15 and 16. This is really interesting regarding the children.
Jacque: When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, outrageous kicking out the bandits and allowing everyone in, and heard all the children running and shouting through the temple: Hosanna!
Brian: Can you imagine? I've been frustrated in my life when kids are running in church, "You are not supposed to be running in the church."
Jacque: That's the old you.
Brian: That's the old me. That is the old me. Thank God. If I could run, I would run in church now, you know.
Jacque: When we come in the mornings and we are practicing and we see the kids who are here early running through the church, it just energizes me.
Brian: It does, and I think of this portion of scripture here: these children are running and shouting where? Through the temple. This must have been driving the Pharisees nuts. It was, and these kids— listen what these kids were saying.
Jacque: Hosanna to David's son. They were up in arms and took him to task.
Brian: The religious leaders.
Jacque: The religious leaders who were up in arms and took Jesus to task. Do you hear what these children are saying?
Brian: Yeah. If it had been me, I would have said, yeah, the truth. These kids are telling the truth here. That's what's going on, right?
Jacque: And Jesus said, "Yes, I hear them, and haven't you read in God's word from the mouths of children and babies I'll furnish a place of praise."
Brian: I think it was last week some of the kids were running around here after church. The lesson that day in Sunday school must've been on heaven because every single one of these children was talking about heaven. It was, "I think I don't want to live here anymore. I think I want to go to heaven." By the way, these kids don't come from bad homes either.
Jacque: That was why Ren was praying that at 6:45 in our prayer session. That's amazing. I didn't know that.
Brian: Yes. As I was thinking about this portion of scripture, my mind reflected upon so many kids that we knew when we were younger, who were brought to church by an adult, and the thought hit me that we need to start having an emphasis of bringing a child to church. Bring a child to church, not just your children. I did that. I don't have kids anymore. Well, good. Find a kid.
Jacque: In your neighborhood.
Brian: Find a child. Maybe it's a grandchild. Maybe it's a neighbor that would trust you to bring their child to church. I just think we should have children running all over the place here, learning about this wonderful savior, whose name is Jesus Christ.
Jacque: I have heard so many testimonies of people that said somebody brought me to a VBS when I was little and seeds were planted. Somebody brought me to Sunday school.
Brian: Or gospel ranch or camp.
Jacque: Oh yes, camps, so many. My mom had a good news club in our home when I was a little girl.
Brian: What was that?
Jacque: It was just a little club like, and she would tell Bible stories.
Brian: For kids.
Jacque: Oh, for kids, yeah. We would fill our basement with all the neighborhood kids, and she would teach stories and give them treats. I was just Facebooking with one of my old friends, a gentleman who now lives in Kansas City. He was a detective.
Brian: He is a neighbor.
Jacque: He was a neighbor and he was there and he said, "Jacque, I remember good news."
Brian: Yeah, I remember good news club. I don't know if this is an accurate statistic or not, but it has been said that if a person doesn't come to know the Lord, by the time they are 18, that there is less than a 20% chance that they ever will. So wouldn't it make sense that we would try to expose our children as early as possible and as many kids as possible to the good news of Jesus? So bring a child to church. We can talk about that some more, a little bit later, but these kids were saying Hosanna to David's son. The word Hosanna actually means save. They were attributing salvation to Jesus. I just think that's wonderful. These kids understood who Jesus was. They were saying, here is the salvation of Israel. After this encounter, Jesus goes back to Bethany. And we see that in chapter 26, verses 6 through 13.
Jacque: This is a beautiful, beautiful account. When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon, the leper—
Brian: Okay, lepers were marginalized people. So here Jesus goes back to the home of another marginalized person. His goal wasn't to hang out with the elite. His goal was to connect with people who were in need.
Jacque: So do you think this was the man that he healed on the road?
Brian: No, this is different. This one hasn't been healed yet.
Jacque: Oh, wow. A woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. They kind of were furious a lot.
Brian: But they were mad at the wrong things.
Jacque: That's criminal. This could have been sold for a lot, and the money handed out to the poor. When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. "Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for my burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole in the whole world the message is preached, what she has done is going to be remembered and admired."
Brian: So what was happening here, unbeknownst to everybody else, especially the disciples, was that Jesus was actually being prepared for his burial at this moment. Most of us probably don't realize this, but that fragrance stuck with him. A few days later when he was being beaten and even hanging on the cross and his head was hanging, I personally believe that he would get every so often, a faint whiff of that fragrance that he had been anointed for, and he would remember the sacrifice that this woman made for him in her worship. This sacrifice was, it was worth more than a year's wages. Just imagine spending a year's worth of income on one bottle of perfume to anoint Jesus with.
I truly believe in my heart; I can't back this up scripturally, but I believe in my heart that what happened here was that Jesus was strengthened and encouraged in his weakest moments, by the knowledge of the worship of this woman, Mary. We think about finishing well, and I don't know anything about the rest of this woman's life, but I believe she finished well. This was a finishing successful thing for her to do. The scripture says that her legacy of doing this would be remembered and talked about to this very day, which we are doing today, 2000 something years later. We are remembering this incredible act of worship. Yet I believe this worship was something that actually sustained our Lord during his most difficult moments.
Jacque: She didn't care what people were saying. She didn't care how it looked. All she did was focus on Jesus and loving him.
Brian: That's right. So then we want to jump, Jesus did another thing probably the next day in teaching. He was trying to do as much as he could in this very short window of time, before he was going to be crucified. He went to a little bit of a teaching session here in Matthew, 24, verses 10 through 14. He is really talking about, he is really trying to encourage his disciples to not give up, not give up; stick with it. So let's read that Matthew 24, 10 through 14,
Jacque: And then going from bad to worse, it will be dog, eat dog.
Brian: He is giving a description here of the world, what the world is going to be like. And I think this is a pretty good description of our present day and age. It's going to go from bad to worse. It will be a dog eat dog.
Jacque: Everyone at each other's throat; everyone hating each other.
Brian: Doesn't that feel kind of how our culture is today? Doesn't it feel that way in the world? I'm not saying there isn't any love in the world because we are going to see something really encouraging here at the end of this portion of scripture. But there is this sense in the world today, more so than ever before that it's a dog-eat-dog world and everyone is at each other's throats and there is hatred rising and rising and rising
Jacque: In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in, nothing left of their love, but a mound of ashes staying with it. That's what God requires.
Brian: Staying with it, sticking with it. That's what God is wanting.
Jacque: Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, and you will be saved all during this time, the good news, the message of the kingdom will be preached all over the world.
Brian: Let that sink in for a second now. There is a pretty terrible description of what the world is looking like: dog-eat-dog, hatred, all this sort of stuff, and yet Jesus said, but all during this time, all during this time, the good news, the message of the kingdom will be preached all over the world. Believe it or not, you know what? I'm preaching all over the world today because of that camera and the live stream.
Jacque: And how many thousands and thousands and thousands other pastors are.
Brian: Other pastors are doing the same thing. When I was younger, and I thought about going throughout the whole world to preach the gospel, that was like almost an insurmountable task. How was I supposed to go to the whole world and preach the gospel? And now I can. And now I can. This is that; our livestream and all the stuff we are doing on social media and blasting this stuff all around the world is the fulfillment of this portion of scripture. It's a fulfillment of it, staying with it. And this message of the kingdom will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in where? Every country.
Jacque: Country, and then the end.
Brian: And then the end will come. So I think that, and his insight. Personally, I think the end his insight, but one of the things that Jesus was trying to do here was encouraged his followers to just stick with the stuff, just stick with the stuff. Keep on, keeping on being a follower of Jesus; stick it out to the end, to finish well. He said there is going to be an overwhelming spread of hatred, and evil is going to cause a coldness to come to some, cold heartedness. There will be an increased pressure, I think to deny the Lord, maybe even deny his ways, but we can stay vigilant. This is one reason that I'm so grateful for our reaching for more opportunity at 6:45 every night. Just take 5 minutes, 10 minutes and join us at 6:45, just to say, God, I need more of you. We are reaching for more of the Lord.
I believe that as we in our hearts start to cry out for more of God, we are going to see in a sense, the atmosphere increase of his presence. The atmosphere of his presence increased in our midst and in the world. Just as evil is growing and darkness is growing, so is the power of God, and so is the word of God, and so is the love of God growing. The love of God is going to overwhelm and overtake the darkness. It will. Here is something that will dramatically increase our probability of finishing well, and we will be done with this in a moment here. In Hebrews chapter 10, it gives us some really great instructions on how we can finish well, this journey that we are on.
Jacque: So friends, we can now without hesitation walk right up to God, into the Holy place.
Brian: Now get this in your minds for a second, just kind of picture the old Testament and the temple, and then the outer courts and the inner courts, and then the holy place, and then the holy of holies. At the holy of holies, there was this curtain that kept the arc of the covenant, which represented the presence of God. The people couldn't get there. Only the high priest could go in there once a year. Now Paul is writing since Jesus came, crucified, rose from the dead, et cetera. Now he is drawing this parallelism with the temple and the most holy place or the holy of holies. He says that we can walk right up to God, meaning his presence; think of the Ark of the Covenant. We can walk right up to God, into the very holy place because Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God and the curtain into God's presence is his body.
Jacque: The body of Jesus.
Brian: The body of Jesus. So when we take communion, we are remembering the blood that was shed for us in the body that was broken for us. And that his body, the body of Jesus, is what allows us to come into the very presence of God. I'm not ashamed to say that there are not many ways to God. There is only one way into God's presence. That's through the person of Jesus Christ. That is the truth. That's what Jesus said. That's what our father in heaven said. It's only through the blood of Jesus that we can have access to reconciliation with God, our father. Now, I also believe that there are many roads that can lead to Jesus. I believe that I came on one road. You might've come on a different one. Maybe all of us came on different roads to Jesus, but that's the place we have to come to in order to come into relationship with our father in heaven. Jesus body is that curtain. So as we received the body and blood of the Lord, that curtain now is torn apart and we come into the presence of our father in heaven. Let's finish it now.
Jacque: So let's do it.
Brian: So let's do it.
Jacque: Full of belief.
Brian: Full of belief.
Jacque: Confident that we are presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out.
Brian: I love that. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and in helping out.
Jacque: Helping, serving.
Brian: Let's see how encouraging we can be to what ourselves?
Jacque: Others.
Brian: No others. Let's see how encouraging we can be to one another in inducing love, encouraging love, and helping out, and not what?
Jacque: Not avoiding worshiping together as some do.
Brian: So what he is saying is that we need to come together. In COVID, it has been tough to do this right? Sometimes we would get into habits since COVID, but the Lord is saying that we need to come together. It needs to be still done in a proper way, in a safe way, but let's not become lazy. Let's come together. Let's do everything we can to come together because it's in coming together, that we can be an encouragement to one another, that we can be encouraged to ourselves even, but we can help us to walk in love with each other. And then it goes on to say, so let's do this, spurring each other on, especially as we see, I love this expression, the what?
Jacque: The big day approaching.
Brian: The big day approaching. Most of the time when someone is asked when is the big day, they are asking about their what?
Jacque: Wedding.
Brian: Their wedding, but that's what this is, the big day, the wedding, the marriage supper of the lamb. That's what he is referring to here. The big day is on the horizon. This is something that as Reverend Peterson used to say, should make any gypsy mommy shout. This is something to be excited about, the big day is coming and the way that we get there successfully and finished well is it's important to walk out our faith with each other. It's important to stay connected, to do all we can to encourage each other and in doing so, we'll become encouraged as well. Because an ember or coal stays burning while it's next to other coals, but as soon as you take that ember out of the fire, boy, it goes out so fast. So don't isolate. Don't stay away; connect with the body of Christ. And you know what, the starting blocks are not the focus of a race. It's a finish line that's the focus of the race. It's not the starting blocks the focus of the race that's the most important.
I would like to talk about just a few people, and then we'll be done. Did you know that Abe Lincoln virtually lost every election he was ever in, except for the last one? Abe Lincoln brought us the emancipation proclamation. There is another guy that was a politician. He was a great politician. He was rising to stardom in the 50s and the 60s in our country. He was instrumental in getting a huge amount of legislation passed that was very important, but he is not remembered for all the good things he did. His name is Richard Nixon. He is remembered for one thing: Watergate. Abe Lincoln finished well. Richard Nixon didn't finish well. Martin Luther King, believe it or not, had a lot of moral failures in his life, but he is not known for all those moral failures. He is known for being the greatest civil rights leader that this country has ever known because he finished well. John Wilkes Booth was one of the greatest actors of his day and age, and yet he is not known for his acting. He didn't finish well. He is known for killing one of the greatest presidents that we've ever had.
There is another man who finished well. We don't know his name. I imagine when this man first started out of the starting blocks, he might've stumbled and fell. He might've even been run out of his lane. Maybe he even fell over many times. He is known as the thief on the cross, but he finished well. He finished well. There is another story that Jesus told about the guys who were sitting around the town square. They wanted to do some work, but nobody would hire him. They were poor. Someone came at the 11th hour and said, “I'll give you some work.” At the end of the one hour of working, they were given a whole day's wage. They finished well. They finished well.
If we follow Jesus to the end, we will have a legacy that will stay with us all through eternity. I can't imagine what it would be like. I was reflecting on that Ray Boltz song that was recorded many years ago, "Thank you for giving to the Lord." I can't imagine what it will be like to go to heaven and have someone come up to me and say, "Brian, thank you for giving to the Lord because I'm a life that was changed." Can you imagine hearing those words? I was a life that was changed because of you. I finished well because of you. I watched you, and I was encouraged by your life. I was encouraged by you I finished well. It's hard to imagine that there would ever be any more beautiful words ever spoken to me. I can't think of any more beautiful words other than maybe, "Enter in. Well done."
Don Potter wrote a song called "Show me your face." In it is the greatest line, I think of almost all music and it says this: “I can make it to the end if I can just see your face.” So let's keep our eyes on Jesus. Let's keep our eyes fixed on him. He made it to the end. Jesus' final words were it is completed. It's finished. It's finished. It's completed. He finished well. His heart for you and I is that we finish well. We need to keep our eyes on the finish line. Don't get your eyes on the starting blocks or even the halfway marker of the race. Keep your eyes on the finish line. What has God called you to do? What has God asked you to do? Keep your eyes on that finish line and don't give up until you've accomplished all that God has asked you to do. Let's pray.
Father, I thank you today that you gave such a wonderful plan to us for our redemption, and that Lord, we can walk in love and encourage each other and help each other by coming together. Help us, Lord to not avoid coming together, but help us push everything apart in the side so that we can come together, worship you and encourage each other. May we keep our eyes Lord on the finish line. May we, Jesus not be discouraged in doing well because there will be a harvest and a season of reaping if we faint not. Let us be like the thief on the cross. He probably didn't have a very good start in life, and even if he did, he stumbled and fell, found himself, probably not only running out of his lane, but maybe running even out of the stadium, but he found his way back and he found the finish line when he said to you, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Lord, you showed him your love and your grace and the very nature of who you are by saying to him, "I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise." So I pray that we will finish well. May we keep our eyes Lord on the finish line; may we keep her eyes on the prize? This we pray Jesus, and your name and for your sake. Everybody said, amen. Amen. Let's raise our hands together.
Now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. May you keep your eyes on the finish line. This we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for joining us today. Bye-bye.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 3-28-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.