[0:00] Video file is argued that recent events have beenел로 Thank you.
[0:52] Thank you.
[1:22] Thank you.
[1:52] Thank you.
[2:22] Thank you. Thank you.
[2:56]
[4:26] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[4:38] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks.
[4:49] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[5:00] Hey guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. yeah to reach there look up at the mountain i have to climb oh yeah to reach there miles to nowhere why that song kind of haunts doesn't it a life spent doing nothing sometimes that's what it feels like get up in the morning have something to eat put your clothes on go to work come home have a little something to eat watch some tv go to bed get up and do it again anybody ever have a week like that yeah i went out to dinner the other night with my wife to a nice little place up in uh lewiston that we occasionally go to a sort of a restaurant tavern and there were and i counted them 13 men sitting around the bar just sitting around the bar they're not talking they're not watching tv they're sort of staring off into space drowning away their meaningless lives in their beer now that's just me making that up i know that but you have to wonder what causes somebody to go and sit in the bar for hours talking to no one doing nothing just staring into space emmaus anybody know where emmaus is because nobody knows where emmaus is it's a nowhere place nobody's ever figured out where it is in the bar for us it's supposedly seven miles from jerusalem but we know seven isn't necessarily an actual number seven simply means in the jewish faith a complete amount of distance so it's a complete distance from jerusalem that these two went on a walk on easter day now fascinating at the end of the story we find out whatever they went for was so unimportant that they turned around and went back home again so they went on a journey to nowhere to do nothing kind of like the way life can sometimes feel we don't know much about these people one of them is named cleopas now the interesting thing about the name cleopas says there is nobody named cleopas in the ancient world not just not in the in the jewish world there's no one named cleopas in the ancient world there is somebody named cleopatra you might remember that name right which makes some people think was this a man and a woman we don't even know the name of the other person so some people think this is like one of those stories where you put yourself in the story with this other person walking down a road to nowhere with no one for no reason and they're walking away from jerusalem they're walking away from their destiny they're walking away from where god is doing amazing things for no real reason because sometimes a life without jesus can feel just as jumbled as that it doesn't really make a lot of sense first corinthians tells us the person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of god but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit without the power of the holy spirit to inform our minds a lot of the things of god just simply don't make sense and so these guys or this guy and woman we're not sure which are trying to make sense of what's going on
[9:03] and jesus came along and he says what are you talking about as you're walking along the road and they're just like stunned you don't know dude we had this guy jesus we thought he was going to be the great prophet like a king and he was going to kick the romans out but then he died on good friday which didn't make any sense because how can the savior die and then then even more crazy some women and you know what women can be like that's not said but it's implied i'm not making that up right okay they came back with a nutty story about seeing angels and and and jesus isn't there so we sent some guys to check it out that's what it says we sent some men to check it out and you wouldn't believe it but they saw it just the way the women saw it we don't understand what's going on it's so confusing life can be confusing nowadays you try to why anybody here ever watch the news or what they call the news news and and and when you're done you can't figure out if you saw the news or not and you can't figure out what the news is supposed to be and you got to watch four stations to try and figure out what the story really is because it's hard to tell so was cleopis a woman or was this a man or or and does anybody really care all the energy we spend struggling over stuff that ultimately in the course of life doesn't make any difference the time we put into it anxiously worried about stuff that doesn't matter so jesus comes up to these guys and they don't recognize him which really bugs me i don't know about you but that kind of bothers me i mean what was he like in a disguise did he like look so common that you couldn't tell who jesus was from another person you know that's not how we picture him we picture him you know in that blonde hair kind of dazing off into the but they didn't know who he was heck we could tell jesus if he's in a piece of french toast right they couldn't even tell who the guy was who's walking right with them and then he says well you guys are fools aren't you i'm kind of slow really that would have been where i would have said yeah you buddy and off well i don't know if i really would have whacked them but i wouldn't walk it away right why would i listen to this guy he's just called me a fool and he's told me that i don't have even an understanding of how to believe but you see the problem is is what we put so much energy into so often understanding all this knowledge god sees entirely different this is what it says in corinthians the wisdom of this world is foolishness in god's sight it's rich and written he catches the wise in their craftiness and again the lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile the wisdom that we put so much energy in doesn't even matter to god because god knows that all these things that we're so anxious about all the things we work so hard at making sure our bank accounts are full making sure our houses are taken care of making sure we have just the right meal to eat making sure that we level up on the game won't matter in the end of things do you know the bible says that everything in this world everything
[13:06] except us will one day disappear in an instant be gone everything god intends to start an absolutely new creation people have got an idea of eternal life as being like floating in clouds and we're going to have a whole new world this whole thing is going to be gone everything we've worked so hard at will just disappear one day this is how peter the great prophet apostle said it the day of the lord will come like a thief the heavens will disappear with a roar the elements will be destroyed by fire the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare since everything will be destroyed in this way what kind of people ought you to be you ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of god and speed it's coming we need to live a life with our eyes on eternity with our eyes on the thing that's really going to matter especially those you with gray hair like me you should be studying for your final exams we're getting closer the time is coming one way or another lord my body has been a good friend but i won't need it when i reach the end miles from nowhere so much of our life spent just going through motions and we can't see the answer they couldn't see jesus who was standing right in front of them what the christian faith is about is it's about a paradigm shift maybe you don't know what a paradigm shift is maybe you do a paradigm shift is when you think reality is this way but all of a sudden you get some information that changes you to think about it this way and it can radically change your whole view of everything i want you to picture that there was a time when people thought the world was flat some still do but that's a different problem okay they thought the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth all of a sudden somebody said no it's round and the world revolves around the sun and they all went what it changed everything we're not the center of the universe what does that mean that's what we thought so let me give you an example of a paradigm shift here's something for you to watch the monkey business illusion count how many times the players wearing white passed the ball
[15:58] NEXT NEXT least the correct answer is 16 passes Did you spot the gorilla?
[16:31] For people who haven't seen or heard about a video like this before, about half missed the gorilla. If you knew about the gorilla, you probably saw it, but did you notice the curtain changing color or the player on the black team leaving the game?
[16:50] Let's rewind and watch it again. Here comes the gorilla, and there goes a player, and the curtain is changing from red to gold.
[17:08] When you're looking for a gorilla, you often miss other unexpected events. And that's the monkey business illusion. I'm not going to ask you how many of you actually saw the gorilla, because I'm not going to embarrass you that way.
[17:22] But the theory is that half of you never even saw a gorilla. And those of you who didn't see a gorilla are going, a gorilla? What are you talking about?
[17:32] But almost no one saw the player in black leave. And I guarantee you there's probably not one person in the room that noticed that the curtain changed color. Okay, all right, all right, all right.
[17:45] But the reality is, not what we see. Do you follow? Because we're not looking for what is really happening.
[17:55] We're looking for what we've already been told to look for. And the Christian faith is the same way. People don't see Jesus. Why don't they see Jesus?
[18:07] Because you're not looking for him. These two were walking down the road with Jesus, and they didn't see Jesus. And we can be the same way.
[18:18] We can walk through life and spend all our time and all our effort on things that are just a journey to nowhere and miss the most important part when Jesus walks into our life.
[18:34] Because when we meet Jesus, everything changes. It makes sense out of our lives. It makes sense out of our living. God actually asks them some questions. You know, what are you talking about?
[18:45] Like Jesus didn't know. Of course he knew what they were talking about. It's like the Garden of Eden when he's walking through the garden. He says, did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of God? Of course he knows they did.
[18:56] God wants us to be challenged in our whole conception about how we see our lives. So he asks us questions that push us. And then starting in the Old Testament, it says, he explained to them all these things about him.
[19:14] And he also says, didn't the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? Suffer? We don't want to suffer.
[19:26] But he's telling us the entrance to grace is through suffering. If God didn't suffer our sin, we would have no ability to become at one with God again.
[19:38] We cannot reconcile our brokenness with God without him suffering our sin. It's much the same as when you put two people together who've had a broken relationship.
[19:50] And he's going to have to suffer, or maybe both, to make that relationship work. But we don't like that. We want to go through our lives anesthetizing ourselves with medicines and with booze and with work or pleasure or even video games.
[20:08] You know, we pick on the young people playing their video games. For me, it was, well done, space invader. Space cadet. That's what they used to call me. Anybody remember space invaders?
[20:19] I can't tell you how many quarters I put in that machine. It cost a lot more than these kids' games. I got so good at it, I could play a one quarter for like two hours.
[20:29] That tells you how many quarters I put in in the first place, right? But it takes away our mind. We don't have to think about the meaninglessness. We don't need to think about the struggle.
[20:40] We don't need to think about the suffering. But the truth is the suffering is part of the victory. Grace comes with the suffering.
[20:51] Philippians chapter 3, and I love the book of Philippians. It says, I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection. How many want to know the power of his resurrection? We all do, right?
[21:02] Of course we do. We want to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings. How many of you want to suffer like Jesus? Yes, see, there's the whole problem, right?
[21:13] We want cheap grace. Becoming like him in death and somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
[21:35] Has Jesus taken hold of you? You ever hear the phrase, no pain, no gain, right?
[21:45] Have you ever like watched a movie or heard a story? How many times have you identified with and admired the person who lives a vacuous, pleasure-driven life?
[21:57] We admire and identify with the people who take a life filled with struggles and adversity and overcome it, right?
[22:08] Believe it or not, it's in the suffering and in the struggle that we find our strength. That's how Jesus takes hold of us.
[22:19] This happened on Easter Sunday. For those of you who missed church last week, you can pretend this is Easter Sunday. We're telling the story of Jesus, so we've got to look at some of his resurrection stories because the resurrection changed everything.
[22:35] What day of the week is the Sabbath day? Anybody know? Saturday. So what are we doing here Sunday morning? I'll tell you what we're doing here Sunday morning. We have changed the day we worship because of the resurrection.
[22:48] That's how much it changed who and what we are. It changes the day we look at God. It changes everything because we don't serve some dead prophet from thousands of years ago.
[23:01] We serve a living God who walks with us, who talks with us, who lives with us, who gives identity and purpose to our lives and will take us from here and into eternity.
[23:15] In Romans chapter 8 we read, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. If we are children then we're heirs, heirs of God and go heirs with Christ.
[23:27] If indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. We gain the glory of God because we're willing to do whatever it takes to become what God wants.
[23:44] In our church we've talked a lot about something we call heart, soul, mind and strength. You've probably heard that, haven't you? I mean most of you, if you've been here for any length of town, have heard us talk about that. And the reason is, is because what we've discovered is most Christians only love God in part of their lives.
[24:03] We have people that love God with all their minds. They know everything about God. I've got to be honest with you, having knowledge now is not all that important or that essential.
[24:15] You can find out more about God by just Googling Him than almost anything else. God wants us to love Him with all our minds. He wants us to open our minds to understand Him.
[24:25] But God also wants us to love Him with all our hearts, with what we do in our relationships. God wants us to love Him with all our strength, with things we do for God.
[24:39] And we're going to talk about each of those in the weeks to come. But I want to talk to you about loving God with all our soul. Because I've come to realize that this is the essential issue.
[24:51] Some of you know we changed our worship schedule about a year and a half ago. The reason why we changed our worship schedule was not because Pastor Tom was getting tired of preaching three times a day.
[25:01] It was because I noticed something about our young people. Our young people, being how they were raised to be in our culture, wanted to go and do fun stuff wherever.
[25:15] And they didn't think sitting in here listening to Pastor Tom was fun. Go figure. Right? I get it. I get it. I was young. Long time ago.
[25:26] But what we discovered is this. If a young person, say a teenager, comes to church and just worships and goes home, there's about a 50% chance that as an adult they'll attend church.
[25:47] We found that if a young person comes to church and is involved in every activity we have, every group, everything going on, including going to Sunday school classes and being involved in all the activities we possibly can come up with, but doesn't go to worship, doesn't come into this room, there's about a 15% chance that they'll have anything to do with church when they're an adult.
[26:18] Obviously, the best thing is when you put those two together, then the numbers jump up to around 80%. All right? So the reason we change things is because we wanted to take away all the distractions so our young people had nothing else to do but come in here.
[26:36] Not because I care if they listen to me, but because worship is about meeting God. This is where we meet Jesus. This is where we experience the living God.
[26:46] And unless we experience the living God, unless we come to meet Jesus for who and what he is, our lives are going to stay on a path to nowhere. And that's just not acceptable.
[27:00] Because loving God with all our soul, when we worship God, when we pray to God, is where we meet Jesus. The United Methodist Church calls worship word and table.
[27:11] Two things that we tend to highlight in our churches. The word of God is the scripture. And they said, well, let me read it for you.
[27:23] Verse 32, it says, they asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scripture to us? You see, you can learn about Jesus.
[27:35] You can learn about God all over the place. You can read the Bible on your own. You can Google about God and you'll learn a lot more than you'll ever learn in a sermon from me.
[27:47] The purpose of worship is to take those pages, those scriptures, those words, and open them up to our lives. Have them make a difference and impact in who we are and how we live and what we do.
[28:01] Because until we open up scriptures to our lives, Jesus doesn't come alive. And did you notice that they had heartburn?
[28:13] I like that. Didn't our hearts burn within us? The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible like a fire. It's a passion. It's a burning presence that motivates us and changes our heart.
[28:31] I think there's a lot of you out there that would like to see this world changed in some way for the good. And you probably have different ways in which you think that that should happen. But the only way it will really happen is if you change people's hearts.
[28:45] When you change their hearts, then you'll change their minds and then you'll change the world. We need heartburn in worship. We need the words of the scripture to come alive to us.
[28:57] And to have a meaning that has a power and transforms who we are. But then they said this other part. They said, he was known to us.
[29:08] Did you hear it? In the breaking of the bread. If you've been to other United Methodist churches, you've probably discovered that we're one of the few churches that celebrates Holy Communion with every worship service.
[29:24] And that's because years ago we stopped doing it because we didn't have enough pastors to go around. That's really the truth. And the people of the church got used to that and they thought it was right.
[29:36] And so when we first started talking about going to communion every week, people said you can't do that because then it won't be special anymore. Well, what I've discerned is the more we come to the table, the more special it becomes.
[29:50] The more power it takes on for us. Because Jesus becomes known to us in the breaking of the bread. This is God's original altar call.
[30:02] This is when God comes into this place to meet with us. This is when we receive God in our lives. Which is why we open our table to everyone. Because it's God that we're offering.
[30:16] The table is more than a ritual. And worship is more than just gathering together. It's great. Maybe you come because you're so invested in your heart ministries that you want to see your friends and have time with them.
[30:30] And I think that's great. Maybe you come because there's something you feel you need to do. And that's great that you love God with all your strength. Or maybe you come because you just want to learn a little more about God. And you thirst for that knowledge about Jesus.
[30:43] And that's a wonderful thing. But the main reason we come to worship is to meet the living God. which changes us.
[30:54] I have my freedom. I can make my own rules. Oh yeah. The ones that I choose. Which leaves me miles from nowhere.
[31:08] It's a fascinating thing about Americans. We are so, so absolutely obsessed with our ability to do anything we want. We call it freedom.
[31:19] Liberty. But is it really? In the book of Romans in chapter 6 it says to us, When you were slaves to sin you were free from the control of righteousness.
[31:30] You get that? When you were slaves to sin. When you had no ability to refuse the sin in your life. When you allowed that to have the power over you. You didn't have to listen to God.
[31:42] You didn't have to listen to anything good. But you were controlled by sin. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?
[31:53] Those things result in death. Death. But now that you have been set free from sin. See here is the problem. You don't get to be free free.
[32:05] Nobody is free free. You have become slaves of God. But the difference is, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[32:20] The goal is not to become free and do whatever you want. The goal is to become free of sin. From the brokenness, from the meaninglessness, from the pain, from the hurt, from all the things that you wake up in the middle of the night feeling that you regret and struggling with and becoming alive.
[32:42] The power of God to change and transform you. Do we see Jesus? Even if he's walking right alongside us in life, would we recognize him?
[32:59] When they were talking about Jesus, Jesus came and gathered with them. He's here in this room, you know. Whenever you gather to talk about Jesus, he's there.
[33:13] Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I shall be also. He's with us. Whenever we turn to him, he's with us. But he wants something more than just being with us.
[33:26] He wants us to be with him. So did you notice what happened? They were stopping in Emmaus, that town that's in the middle of nowhere for no particular reason that they were walking to on that day.
[33:38] And Jesus was going to keep going. Until they invited him. They asked him. It actually says they compelled him.
[33:49] They begged him to stay. And he stayed with them. And their hearts became on fire. And their eyes were opened.
[34:02] And they broke the bread. And they knew the living God. That's what Christianity is. Christianity is when we open our hearts, open our lives to God.
[34:15] And that's why we come to worship. That's why worship is so important. Everything else doesn't matter compared to it. Because when we come here, we come to meet the living God who came down from glory.
[34:30] To meet with us. The light of the world, you step down into darkness.
[34:57] Open my eyes, let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore you.
[35:11] Hope of our lives and we feel. So here I am to worship.
[35:22] Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're altogether lovely.
[35:36] Altogether worthy. Altogether wonderful to me. King of all days.
[35:55] Oh, so highly exalted. Lord, I sit in heaven above. Come, you're my God.
[36:06] Humber you came to the earth. Humber you came to the earth. You created. All for love's sake. Be careful.
[36:17] So here I am to worship Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that You're my God You're altogether lovely Altogether worthy Altogether wonderful And I'll never know How much it cost To see my sin Upon that cross I'll never know How much it cost To see my sin Upon that cross
[37:18] So here I am to worship Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that You're my God You're altogether lovely Altogether worthy Altogether wonderful to me Here I am to worship You know as we come to worship God There's a pivot point in our time together There's a point where we go from being the broken people Focused on out there To being the people of God Focused in here When we take the sin And we take the things that have held us
[38:18] And hurt us And get them out of our lives And move to where God wants us to be So I'm going to invite you to pray with me if you will Dear God in heaven Come be with me Come live in me Change my priorities Open my eyes That I might see Your wisdom Your wonder And your ways Forgive my sin Take it away And change my heart So I no longer desire sin Help me to repent To turn towards you And see the life that you've prepared Here and in glory
[39:18] Give me eternal eyes Give me love Give me hope In Jesus name we pray Amen When we ask God to enter into our lives It takes away even the need for us to do all the work Jesus has promised He'll send the Holy Spirit into your heart To change you from the inside out All you have to do Is let him work within your life And he will transform you But today Right now Right now He's going to bring you back to perfect It's a reset You know the reset button on the games?
[40:07] It's a reset You get to start over In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen You know when we come to worship God We come to experience the living Lord What an amazing thing Something you can carry with you from this place You can take through your daily living And every time you want him near Just think about him and he's there You might not see him but he's there And he's walking with you And he's talking with you And he will transform your life I can promise you that Because he's transformed mine And I've seen him transform Countless other people So may God go and bless you May God go and cause your life To be changed and transformed May God live in your heart And become alive to you In such a powerful way That gives you a road to somewhere Somewhere over the rainbow
[41:08] Somewhere beyond the mountains Somewhere beyond the planets and the stars Somewhere we'll live in glory forever Go in his resurrection Go in his grace Amen Amen advertisement in恩 increasingly geben In sentimental Where CBS We will never feel There's nothing at the same time We'll try and Etsy You can find Oh, she'll notice A beautiful mother We'll try and Etsy As a companion at the time