Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Joy Is Soon Coming - Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: My wife, Dean Lynn, and I continue to count it
- 0:06Speaker 1: a high and holy privilege to be a part of
- 0:10Speaker 1: this season at Gateway.
- 0:16Speaker 2: We love you and.
- 0:18Speaker 1: We love what God has promised to do in protecting
- 0:26Speaker 1: and providing for his church. We're watching the Lord keep
- 0:33Speaker 1: all his promises. He directed Lisa Harper to call the
- 0:40Speaker 1: church to a time of lament. He brought the perfect
- 0:48Speaker 1: person here in the form of Pastor Joachim. Between the
- 0:58Speaker 1: two of us, you have one West Texas accent and
- 1:00Speaker 1: one Swedish accent.
- 1:02Speaker 2: I don't know which is harder to understand.
- 1:05Speaker 1: I love that man, and he is uniquely, uniquely qualified
- 1:12Speaker 1: to be your pastor and especially to pastor the staff
- 1:18Speaker 1: during a season of struggle.
- 1:23Speaker 2: I've met your elders. I've heard their prayers. I've seen
- 1:29Speaker 2: their tears. I love their hearts. And I'm praying for them.
- 1:39Speaker 1: And I am confident that this season, which is a
- 1:46Speaker 1: difficult uphill into the wind season, will result in a
- 1:54Speaker 1: second wind, a new season, a time in which the
- 2:00Speaker 1: church will be better because of it and stronger on
- 2:05Speaker 1: the other side of it. In one of my meetings
- 2:08Speaker 1: with your elders, I asked them what they thought I
- 2:12Speaker 1: should be teaching on as I will be one of
- 2:15Speaker 1: your teachers for the remainder of the year, spilling over
- 2:19Speaker 1: into 2025. And I shared several ideas with them and
- 2:23Speaker 1: we landed on this one.
- 2:25Speaker 2: It was a consensus.
- 2:26Speaker 1: We felt the Holy Spirit was directing us to focus
- 2:29Speaker 1: on the topic, just Jesus.
- 2:34Speaker 2: Just Jesus.
- 2:38Speaker 1: I never get tired of talking about the Jesus who
- 2:41Speaker 1: saved me. And I never get tired of saying, though
- 2:46Speaker 1: sometimes the church struggles, Jesus is still building his church
- 2:51Speaker 1: and he's still on the throne. And especially this time
- 2:55Speaker 1: of year when everybody's concerned about who occupies the White House,
- 3:00Speaker 1: we're celebrating who occupies the throne of thrones.
- 3:04Speaker 2: Amen.
- 3:09Speaker 1: And so my messages to you over the next few
- 3:12Speaker 1: months will be exactly that. And toward that end, I
- 3:17Speaker 1: thought we could today visit the empty tomb. I know
- 3:23Speaker 1: it's not Easter. But for the believer every day, is
- 3:29Speaker 1: Easter Sunday. And I'd like for us to find that
- 3:32Speaker 1: hope again that was given to us through the empty tomb.
- 3:39Speaker 1: My wife sends her love. She was unable to make
- 3:42Speaker 1: it on this trip. She will be on most of
- 3:45Speaker 1: the trips. I send my love to all of you
- 3:49Speaker 1: who are watching online or those of you at different
- 3:54Speaker 1: campuses or in different services. I'm a little bit old school.
- 3:59Speaker 1: I wish I could visit every campus. I wish I
- 4:02Speaker 1: could be a part of every service. I don't think
- 4:06Speaker 1: that's going to happen because there's so many of you.
- 4:09Speaker 1: I have signed up for that campus in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. However,
- 4:15Speaker 1: out of a servant's heart, just out of no motive
- 4:20Speaker 1: other than to get out of this Texas, I mean,
- 4:22Speaker 1: to go love those people. I brought a good friend
- 4:30Speaker 1: with me. I am no longer senior pastor at our church.
- 4:34Speaker 1: I'm way too old for that, but they still let
- 4:36Speaker 1: me teach a lot at our church. But my successor
- 4:41Speaker 1: is with us today. Can I introduce you to him?
- 4:44Speaker 1: Travis Eads, would you stand up please? I brag on
- 4:54Speaker 1: Travis everywhere I go.
- 4:56Speaker 2: Every church.
- 4:57Speaker 1: Needs a Travis Eads. Let's pray together and then we'll
- 5:02Speaker 1: get to work. How easy it is to sing your praises,
- 5:09Speaker 1: O King of Kings. You have never not been. You
- 5:18Speaker 1: have never heard a prayer that stumped you or been
- 5:24Speaker 1: given a problem you could not solve. You live outside
- 5:30Speaker 1: of time. You're never weary. You are never discouraged. You
- 5:50Speaker 1: are never confused.
- 5:57Speaker 2: You have.
- 5:58Speaker 1: A plan for eternity that will never be disrupted. And
- 6:07Speaker 1: I stand before you, precious Lord, on behalf of the
- 6:12Speaker 1: beautiful Gateway people. And they have felt one wave after
- 6:19Speaker 1: another of disappointments and discouragements. But I am I am
- 6:29Speaker 1: begging you. I am begging you. Pour your spirit out
- 6:38Speaker 1: afresh upon this wonderful church. Make us stronger because of this.
- 6:46Speaker 1: Do not allow the evil one to lead anyone away.
- 6:51Speaker 1: But make this an opportunity in which our hearts are
- 6:55Speaker 1: softened which our tears are abundant, but our knees are
- 7:01Speaker 1: bent and our hope is heavenward. Please, I beg your
- 7:07Speaker 1: wisdom to encircle these shepherds and give them what they
- 7:12Speaker 1: need to make hard decisions. I beg your strength to
- 7:16Speaker 1: be upon each and every pastor. May he and she
- 7:21Speaker 1: know that you are with them. Hold them up. Grant
- 7:25Speaker 1: them The privilege of turning to you.
- 7:28Speaker 2: I beg you dear father. To protect that precious heart.
- 7:34Speaker 2: That is already fragile. From the ways and the turns.
- 7:38Speaker 3: Of the world.
- 7:39Speaker 2: And now there are more. I beg you Lord. I
- 7:43Speaker 2: beg you. Strengthen them. Call upon them. Visit them.
- 7:48Speaker 1: Speak to them in dreams. Grant them new spiritual gifts.
- 7:53Speaker 1: Allow them to sense your abiding love. I beg you
- 7:59Speaker 1: to protect these young people like the ones who worship
- 8:03Speaker 1: in this church and the ones who are struggling. I
- 8:07Speaker 1: beg you to strengthen them. I beg you, Heavenly Father,
- 8:12Speaker 1: to protect those precious souls who feel triggered, whose memories
- 8:17Speaker 1: have been stirred, that you would heal them, Father. And
- 8:21Speaker 1: as you revisit those moments with them, they would hear
- 8:25Speaker 1: your presence as you're saying, I.
- 8:27Speaker 2: Am with you, I am with you, I am with
- 8:30Speaker 2: you to the end of the age. Do not hold back, Lord.
- 8:38Speaker 1: You have spoken and you have promised that at the
- 8:44Speaker 1: right time and the right way, there would be a
- 8:46Speaker 1: second wind to blow over this wonderful church family. May
- 8:50Speaker 1: it be so. May it be so. And dearest Father,
- 8:55Speaker 1: I beg your blessing upon the Metroplex. It seems to
- 9:00Speaker 1: have taken some knocks to the chin in several churches lately.
- 9:05Speaker 1: And we beg you that you would speak against the
- 9:08Speaker 1: principalities and powers that have set themselves up as dark
- 9:13Speaker 1: and foreboding clouds over this region. They must be gone
- 9:18Speaker 1: in the name of Jesus Christ. They have no place.
- 9:23Speaker 1: They have no position. They have no authority. All authority
- 9:27Speaker 1: has been given to you, Lord Jesus. And now forgive
- 9:32Speaker 1: our speaker. You know his sins are many. And help
- 9:35Speaker 1: us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray.
- 9:41Speaker 1: And all God's people said. One of my favorite passages
- 9:52Speaker 1: is found in the book of Psalms.
- 9:54Speaker 2: Weeping may last for the night. but joy comes with
- 10:04Speaker 2: the morning.
- 10:05Speaker 1: Can we read that verse together out loud as a church,
- 10:08Speaker 1: wherever you are? Weeping may last through the night, but
- 10:15Speaker 1: joy comes with the morning. This passage promises that despair
- 10:22Speaker 1: will not rule the day. The clouds may eclipse the sun,
- 10:26Speaker 1: but they never eliminate it. Night may prolong the dawn,
- 10:31Speaker 1: but the dawn always comes.
- 10:34Speaker 2: Morning comes, not.
- 10:36Speaker 1: As quickly as we may want, not as dramatically as
- 10:40Speaker 1: we may desire, but morning comes. And with morning comes joy.
- 10:47Speaker 1: Joy comes. With the morning. Do you need this promise?
- 10:53Speaker 1: Do you sense a. Absence of joy. In your own heart.
- 10:58Speaker 1: Have you wept a river? Have you forsaken hope? Do
- 11:04Speaker 1: you wonder. If a morning will ever come. To bring
- 11:08Speaker 1: your night.
- 11:10Speaker 2: To an end. Mary Magdalene did.
- 11:15Speaker 1: In the forest of the New Testament. She was the
- 11:18Speaker 1: weeping willow. She is the one upon whom tragedy had
- 11:25Speaker 1: cast its coldest winter. And she appears in scripture as
- 11:32Speaker 1: the woman with seven demons or seven evil spirits.
- 11:39Speaker 2: What might these afflictions have included?
- 11:44Speaker 1: Depression, loneliness, shame, fear, Was she a recluse? Was she
- 11:54Speaker 1: a prostitute? Maybe she had been abused. Maybe she had
- 11:58Speaker 1: been neglected or abandoned. The number seven is often used
- 12:03Speaker 1: in Scripture to represent the sense of completion. Maybe her
- 12:08Speaker 1: life was a complete wreck. She was surrounded with troubles.
- 12:17Speaker 1: But then something happened. Better said, then someone happened. Jesus
- 12:24Speaker 1: stepped into her world.
- 12:26Speaker 2: And he spoke. And demons fled. He spoke.
- 12:31Speaker 1: And for the first time in a long time, she
- 12:34Speaker 1: could smile.
- 12:36Speaker 2: She could hold her head up. She laughed.
- 12:41Speaker 1: She could eat. She could sleep. And the face in
- 12:46Speaker 1: the mirror was no longer anguished. And Jesus spoke life
- 12:52Speaker 1: with just a word. He spoke life into her life.
- 12:58Speaker 1: And she reciprocated. She was among the first female followers
- 13:04Speaker 1: of Jesus. They were contributing from their own resources to
- 13:10Speaker 1: support Jesus and his disciples. Wherever Jesus went, Mary Magdalene followed.
- 13:17Speaker 1: As she saw him perform miracles, she heard him preach
- 13:22Speaker 1: sermons Maybe she prepared meals. She was always near Christ
- 13:28Speaker 1: wherever he went. Even at his crucifixion. The scripture says
- 13:36Speaker 1: she stood near the cross. Close enough to hear the
- 13:42Speaker 1: pounding of the hammers. Close enough to see the blood dripping.
- 13:54Speaker 1: fall upon the dirt. And when they lowered his body
- 13:58Speaker 1: from the cross, she was close enough. She was there
- 14:04Speaker 1: to help prepare it for burial. And she observed a
- 14:09Speaker 1: tragic Friday. And then she weathered a sad, silent Sabbath.
- 14:19Speaker 1: And then when Sunday came, Mary Magdalene went to finish
- 14:26Speaker 1: on Sunday the work that she had begun on Friday.
- 14:32Speaker 1: Early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene
- 14:36Speaker 1: went to the tomb while it was still dark. It's
- 14:47Speaker 1: one thing to go to Jesus when he is alive,
- 14:50Speaker 1: standing in the sun. It's something else entirely. To go
- 14:53Speaker 1: to Jesus while it is still dark. And for all
- 14:57Speaker 1: she knew. He was a cold lifeless cadaver.
- 15:04Speaker 2: She was all alone. There are those times in our
- 15:07Speaker 2: spiritual journey. When we seek Jesus. In the dark.
- 15:14Speaker 1: We love seeking him in the sunshine. When everyone else
- 15:18Speaker 1: is going. And we're all dressed up in our finest
- 15:21Speaker 1: Easter dress.
- 15:25Speaker 2: But on those times when it's just you standing in
- 15:30Speaker 2: the cemetery, you in the ICU, you.
- 15:37Speaker 1: Left alone with your broken heart. There are those times
- 15:43Speaker 1: in which we're called to seek Jesus.
- 15:48Speaker 2: While it is still.
- 15:49Speaker 1: Dark And so she did. She knew nothing of the
- 15:53Speaker 1: empty tomb. She came with no motivation than to wash
- 16:00Speaker 1: the remaining clots of blood from his beard.
- 16:06Speaker 2: And say goodbye. It was a dark morning.
- 16:12Speaker 1: When she arrived at the tomb, the bad news became worse.
- 16:16Speaker 1: Mary Magdalene saw that the stone had been taken away.
- 16:20Speaker 1: She assumed that grave robbers had come and stolen the
- 16:23Speaker 1: body of Jesus. She hurried back down the trail until
- 16:27Speaker 1: she found Peter and John. She told them, they've taken
- 16:31Speaker 1: the Lord away outside of the tomb. Peter and John
- 16:35Speaker 1: ran to the gravesite. John was faster, but Peter was bolder.
- 16:41Speaker 1: He went in first and he saw and he stared.
- 16:45Speaker 1: John went in second, but he saw and he believed.
- 16:51Speaker 1: They hurry to tell the others, and we expect the
- 16:54Speaker 1: camera of the gospel story to follow them. After all,
- 16:58Speaker 1: they're apostles. They're the authors of epistles. They are two-thirds
- 17:05Speaker 1: of the inner circle. We expect John to describe what
- 17:11Speaker 1: the apostles did next, but he doesn't. He chooses instead
- 17:16Speaker 1: to tell us the story of the one who stayed behind.
- 17:21Speaker 1: But Mary stood outside by the tomb.
- 17:27Speaker 2: Weeping.
- 17:29Speaker 1: Her face awash with tears. Her shoulders heaved with sobs.
- 17:34Speaker 1: She felt alone. It was just Mary.
- 17:42Speaker 2: Her despair.
- 17:45Speaker 1: And a vacant tomb. As she wept, she stooped down
- 17:51Speaker 1: and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels
- 17:55Speaker 1: in white sitting, one at the head and the other
- 17:58Speaker 1: at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.
- 18:02Speaker 2: And they said to her, why are you weeping?
- 18:09Speaker 1: Mary Magdalene mistook the angels for men. She told them
- 18:13Speaker 1: they've taken away my Lord. I don't know where they
- 18:17Speaker 1: have laid him. At this moment, Mary's world officially hit
- 18:22Speaker 1: rock bottom.
- 18:26Speaker 2: Her master's been humiliated and executed.
- 18:34Speaker 1: The first man, maybe the only man, to treat her
- 18:38Speaker 1: with respect and kindness. And now his body was buried alive.
- 18:45Speaker 1: in a borrowed grave and now his tomb has been violated.
- 18:49Speaker 1: His body is stolen and two strangers she can't recognize
- 18:53Speaker 1: are sitting on the slab where his body had been
- 18:56Speaker 1: laid and her sorrow intermingled with anger. I'm wondering, have
- 19:01Speaker 1: you ever had a moment like this? Have you ever
- 19:07Speaker 1: had a moment in which bad news became worse? In
- 19:13Speaker 1: which sadness just seemed to wrap around you like a
- 19:16Speaker 1: fog and suck you down into the quicksand of despair.
- 19:25Speaker 1: Have you ever had a moment in which you came
- 19:28Speaker 1: looking for God but you could not find Him? If so,
- 19:34Speaker 1: you're going to love what happened next. Now when she
- 19:41Speaker 1: had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus.
- 19:48Speaker 2: Isn't that great?
- 19:50Speaker 1: In her darkest moment. You think she expected this to happen?
- 19:55Speaker 1: She turned around and she saw Jesus standing there. And
- 19:59Speaker 1: she did not know it was Jesus. And Jesus said
- 20:03Speaker 1: to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?
- 20:10Speaker 1: She's supposing him to be the gardener. That's such a
- 20:15Speaker 1: great line, isn't it? It takes me back to the
- 20:18Speaker 1: garden of Eden. Jesus still tending the garden.
- 20:26Speaker 2: She thinks he's the gardener.
- 20:29Speaker 1: She said, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me
- 20:32Speaker 1: where you have laid him and I will take him away.
- 20:37Speaker 1: What loyalty on the part of Of this daughter of God.
- 20:42Speaker 2: Tell me where he is. I'll go get him. How
- 20:45Speaker 2: did she expect to get him? I don't know how
- 20:48Speaker 2: strong she was. But she just thought I'll figure out
- 20:53Speaker 2: a way to get him. She would do whatever. Again,
- 20:56Speaker 2: as far as she knows, he's dead. And he was
- 20:59Speaker 2: dead and buried. And so she's willing to go take him.
- 21:05Speaker 2: Carry him.
- 21:07Speaker 1: She did not recognize her Lord. Do you know what
- 21:12Speaker 1: happens next? Jesus did something about it. He called her
- 21:22Speaker 1: by name.
- 21:26Speaker 2: Jesus said to her.
- 21:30Speaker 1: Mary.
- 21:32Speaker 2: Oh to have been there and heard that. What was it?
- 21:38Speaker 2: When she heard that. The voice. She knew the source.
- 21:45Speaker 2: What was it? Maybe it was the tone. Maybe. It
- 21:51Speaker 2: was the Galilean accent. Maybe it was the memory. That
- 21:57Speaker 2: moment she first heard him say it.
- 22:01Speaker 1: And say her name in a way that was unburdened
- 22:04Speaker 1: with perversion. Or hidden agenda. Whatever it was when she.
- 22:10Speaker 1: heard Jesus say her name, she turned. She turned and
- 22:18Speaker 1: said to him, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher. In
- 22:28Speaker 1: a moment, in a second, in a pivot of the neck,
- 22:35Speaker 1: she turned. As long as it takes to turn from
- 22:39Speaker 1: here To hear her world went from despair to hope.
- 22:45Speaker 1: It can happen that way, friend. Sometimes God takes his time.
- 22:50Speaker 1: But then sometimes he.
- 22:51Speaker 2: Just steps in.
- 22:54Speaker 1: He just shows up. And he just lifts the sadness
- 22:58Speaker 1: in a moment. Her world went from a dead Jesus
- 23:03Speaker 1: to a living one. Weeping may last through the night.
- 23:11Speaker 2: You want to say it? But joy. But joy. Weeping
- 23:16Speaker 2: may last through the night. But joy.
- 23:20Speaker 1: Now look what happens. Jesus said, don't hold on to me.
- 23:26Speaker 1: But I have not, because I have not yet gone
- 23:31Speaker 1: up to the Father.
- 23:35Speaker 2: She took a hold of him.
- 23:38Speaker 1: We know that because he said, don't hold on to me.
- 23:41Speaker 1: Maybe she fell at his ankles and wrapped her arms
- 23:47Speaker 1: around his legs. Maybe she just put her arms around
- 23:51Speaker 1: his shoulders. And we don't know how she held him,
- 23:55Speaker 1: but we know she did. And Jesus let her do so.
- 24:01Speaker 1: How wonderful that the resurrected Lord was not too divinely
- 24:09Speaker 1: too otherworldly, too untouchable, too supernatural to be hugged. Somebody
- 24:19Speaker 1: should paint this thing. Somebody should paint it. Somebody should capture.
- 24:26Speaker 2: It on oil and frame the canvas.
- 24:36Speaker 1: If that person is you, be sure and capture that
- 24:41Speaker 1: brilliant sunrise as the sun rises over the cemetery. And
- 24:47Speaker 1: if that person is you, be sure and capture the
- 24:53Speaker 1: image of Jesus white-robed and Mary Magdalene joy-filled and the
- 25:01Speaker 1: angels surely wide-eyed. And if that moment is you, Go
- 25:09Speaker 1: ahead and paint the tears on her cheek before they dry.
- 25:15Speaker 1: But make sure there's a glint of sunlight reflecting in
- 25:22Speaker 1: her tears.
- 25:26Speaker 2: But joy.
- 25:28Speaker 1: Weeping may last through the night, but joy. Then, Mary
- 25:37Speaker 1: Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen
- 25:40Speaker 1: the Lord and that he had spoken these things.
- 25:49Speaker 2: To her, to her. He had just ripped the hinges
- 25:57Speaker 2: off the gates of hell. He had just defanged the devil.
- 26:05Speaker 2: He had just turned BC to AD for Christ's sake.
- 26:20Speaker 1: And yet what is his first act as the risen Lord?
- 26:24Speaker 1: What is his first act?
- 26:27Speaker 2: But to find a woman who had had seven demons, marginalized,
- 26:36Speaker 2: and discarded by society. He came to her. Why her?
- 26:51Speaker 1: As far as we know, she never became a missionary.
- 26:54Speaker 1: If she wrote an epistle, it didn't make the canon.
- 26:59Speaker 1: Maybe she performs the miracles, but they're not recorded.
- 27:05Speaker 2: Why did he appear to her? Might it be for you?
- 27:14Speaker 1: Might it be so that you would believe that weeping
- 27:20Speaker 1: may last through the night?
- 27:24Speaker 2: Say it again. But joy.
- 27:28Speaker 1: But joy comes with the morning. Friend, joy comes with
- 27:35Speaker 1: It does. I'm sorry you've buried someone you love more
- 27:39Speaker 1: than life. And I would never hurry your grief. But
- 27:44Speaker 1: joy will come.
- 27:46Speaker 2: I'm sorry that someone who made a promise.
- 27:48Speaker 1: To be with you throughout your life did not keep
- 27:51Speaker 1: that promise. And I do pray that you'll receive help
- 27:55Speaker 1: and encouragement from those who can help you.
- 27:59Speaker 2: But I do want to tell you, joy will come.
- 28:03Speaker 1: Right now you're abandoned. You feel like your parents don't
- 28:05Speaker 1: care about you. Nobody listens to you. Don't give up.
- 28:09Speaker 2: And joy seems like a foreign language. It's coming. Because
- 28:15Speaker 2: with Jesus, joy always comes. It comes.
- 28:23Speaker 1: And if we don't recognize his face when he comes,
- 28:26Speaker 1: he will do with us what he did with Mary.
- 28:28Speaker 1: He will call our names. See, I have engraved you
- 28:33Speaker 1: on the palms of my hands, he inspired the prophet
- 28:38Speaker 1: to say. Your name is not buried in some heavenly file.
- 28:44Speaker 1: God doesn't need you to wear a name tag.
- 28:46Speaker 2: When you pray.
- 28:50Speaker 1: Your name is tattooed, engraved on the palm of his hand.
- 29:02Speaker 1: I once read a story about a priest from Detroit
- 29:06Speaker 1: who traveled to Ireland to visit his family. One morning,
- 29:12Speaker 1: he and his uncle Seamus walked around Lake Killarney as
- 29:19Speaker 1: the sun was coming up.
- 29:22Speaker 2: And the morning was.
- 29:23Speaker 1: So beautiful that the two stood there and scarcely saying
- 29:28Speaker 1: a word for 20 minutes. And finally, when it was
- 29:33Speaker 1: time to return, the priest looked over at his uncle
- 29:38Speaker 1: and his uncle was smiling.
- 29:41Speaker 2: And the priest said, Uncle Seamus, you're smiling. And he said,
- 29:46Speaker 2: I am.
- 29:47Speaker 1: And he said, why are you smiling? He said, because
- 29:52Speaker 1: the father of my savior is very fond of me.
- 30:00Speaker 1: He's very fond of you too, my friend. He's very
- 30:05Speaker 1: fond of you. And he loves you with an everlasting love.
- 30:15Speaker 1: Do you find this hard to believe? You think I'm
- 30:21Speaker 1: talking to someone else? Someone who is holier, who's better,
- 30:32Speaker 1: Who's nicer? Who never loses their temper, never loses their way.
- 30:37Speaker 1: You think I'm talking to someone else, someone who didn't
- 30:39Speaker 1: screw up a marriage or screw up a career or
- 30:42Speaker 1: screw up a savings account. Someone who didn't get hooked
- 30:47Speaker 1: on pills or someone who didn't get hooked on porn
- 30:50Speaker 1: or someone who didn't hooked on popularity.
- 30:53Speaker 2: You think I'm talking to somebody else. I am not.
- 30:58Speaker 2: I'm talking straight to you.
- 31:02Speaker 1: And I'm saying that the greatest news in the world
- 31:04Speaker 1: is not that God made the world, but that God
- 31:06Speaker 1: loves the world.
- 31:11Speaker 2: And he loves you.
- 31:12Speaker 1: And you did not earn this love, so you cannot
- 31:17Speaker 1: lose this love. You did not earn this love, so
- 31:26Speaker 1: you cannot lose this love. He does not love you
- 31:31Speaker 1: because of the good choices you've made. He will not
- 31:35Speaker 1: stop loving you because of some bad choices you may
- 31:41Speaker 1: have made. His love for you will not end if
- 31:46Speaker 1: you lose your temper. His love for you will not
- 31:48Speaker 1: fade if.
- 31:48Speaker 2: You lose your way.
- 31:49Speaker 1: His love for you will not diminish if your discipline does.
- 32:00Speaker 1: Some years ago, we had the opportunity to introduce our
- 32:04Speaker 1: grandchildren to the Pacific Ocean. Rosie is, well, she's a
- 32:10Speaker 1: fourth grader now. But then she was barely four years old.
- 32:16Speaker 1: And as is the case with many of us in Texas,
- 32:19Speaker 1: she had lived her life having never been to the ocean.
- 32:26Speaker 1: She had been to Lake LBJ. but never the Pacific Ocean.
- 32:34Speaker 2: And we all wondered what her reaction would be upon
- 32:39Speaker 2: seeing it.
- 32:42Speaker 1: Because of the time change, she awoke early and then
- 32:46Speaker 1: she awoke her dad. And then we all heard them
- 32:51Speaker 1: and climbed out of bed and followed them as Rosie
- 32:56Speaker 1: went to see the ocean for the first time. And
- 33:04Speaker 1: she just stood there and the sun was coming up
- 33:09Speaker 1: and the waves were crashing and you could hear that roar.
- 33:12Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about? That surf, that roar.
- 33:17Speaker 1: And Rosie didn't say anything for the longest time.
- 33:20Speaker 2: She didn't say a word.
- 33:23Speaker 1: And finally she turned to her daddy and she said, daddy,
- 33:30Speaker 1: when do they turn it off?
- 33:37Speaker 2: Never, sweetie.
- 33:40Speaker 1: Never. Every person who has ever taken a breath has
- 33:46Speaker 1: looked at the love of God and wondered, when is
- 33:50Speaker 1: it going to get turned off? When will I have
- 33:54Speaker 1: done too much? When will I have gone too far?
- 34:01Speaker 1: When will he turn away from me? And my privilege
- 34:06Speaker 1: is to tell you, dear child of God, you have
- 34:08Speaker 1: never lived an unloved day.
- 34:12Speaker 2: Never. Never.
- 34:14Speaker 1: And you never will. Someone told you that God loves
- 34:20Speaker 1: good people.
- 34:21Speaker 4: Wrong.
- 34:22Speaker 2: There are no good people.
- 34:24Speaker 1: Someone told you that God loves you if you love
- 34:27Speaker 1: him first.
- 34:28Speaker 5: Wrong.
- 34:29Speaker 1: Right now, he loves people all over the world who
- 34:32Speaker 1: have never given him the time of day. Somebody told
- 34:37Speaker 1: you that God is ticked.
- 34:38Speaker 2: Off, that he is cranky, that he is vindictive.
- 34:41Speaker 1: Wrong.
- 34:42Speaker 2: That's us.
- 34:46Speaker 1: We tend to be cranky, ticked off, and vindictive.
- 34:50Speaker 2: But God, God is sheer mercy and grace, not easily angered.
- 34:59Speaker 2: He's rich in love.
- 35:02Speaker 1: He doesn't endlessly nag and scold nor hold grudges forever.
- 35:07Speaker 1: And he doesn't treat us as our sins deserve nor
- 35:11Speaker 1: pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high
- 35:15Speaker 1: as heaven is over the earth, so strong is his
- 35:21Speaker 1: love to those who fear him. And as far as
- 35:27Speaker 1: sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.
- 35:33Speaker 1: As parents feel for their children God feels for those
- 35:41Speaker 1: who fear him. Would you build your life on this promise?
- 35:49Speaker 1: Would you please? And when you're disappointed by people or
- 35:56Speaker 1: disappointed by yourself, would you just let God love you?
- 36:02Speaker 1: And would you reflect often on this great and precious promise? Weeping,
- 36:10Speaker 1: it comes with the night, but joy comes with the morning.
- 36:18Speaker 5: Amen.
- 36:26Speaker 1: Not a day passes that we don't all need a
- 36:28Speaker 1: reminder of God's love. But I sense that there may
- 36:33Speaker 1: be some who really needed this. today and if so
- 36:42Speaker 1: could I offer a prayer on your behalf and could
- 36:45Speaker 1: I ask you if you would benefit from a prayer
- 36:49Speaker 1: to receive a deeper sense of God's love could I
- 36:54Speaker 1: be so bold if that describes you would you please
- 36:57Speaker 1: stand as your way of saying look at me Lord
- 37:01Speaker 1: I'm doing what Mary Magdalene did I'm coming to you
- 37:04Speaker 1: and asking for prayer Look upon these, your sons and
- 37:19Speaker 1: your daughters, precious Lord. Look upon them with kindness and grace.
- 37:23Speaker 1: Look upon them. Look upon them and grant that they,
- 37:27Speaker 1: heavenly Father, could receive, maybe for the first time, an
- 37:34Speaker 1: overflow of your love. As if you're downloading it from heaven.
- 37:39Speaker 1: May it go direct. Remove from them any excuse that
- 37:44Speaker 1: would claim to be the exception to the rule. And
- 37:49Speaker 1: those voices that come up in our spirit that maybe
- 37:52Speaker 1: a parent or a coach or a friend said.
- 37:54Speaker 2: Whatever that is, speak louder, please.
- 37:59Speaker 1: Let there be healing in your house, on every campus,
- 38:05Speaker 1: in every room, any place a person is hearing these words.
- 38:12Speaker 1: Let there be healing. Let there be healing. Let there
- 38:16Speaker 1: be healing. In Jesus' name, amen.
- 38:30Speaker 6: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
- 38:38Speaker 6: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 38:47Speaker 7: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
- 38:51Speaker 7: promises to keep Just the thought that you are breathing
- 38:56Speaker 7: Somewhere in this world I see Even if I'm not
- 39:01Speaker 7: beside you Even if you never know There's a quiet
- 39:08Speaker 7: kind of comfort Just in knowing you still glow.
- 39:15Speaker 5: I don't need forever I just need you to exist.
- 39:25Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me.
- 39:29Speaker 7: You don't have to feel the same Just as long.
- 39:33Speaker 8: As you're still out there.
- 39:36Speaker 7: Calling softly through my days You don't have.
- 39:39Speaker 3: To look my way.
- 39:42Speaker 8: You don't have to be my home.
- 39:46Speaker 4: It's enough to know you're living I won't chase you through.
- 39:57Speaker 8: The distance Won't disturb your chosen life I'll just keep
- 40:03Speaker 8: you in my silence Like a star that shines at night.
- 40:09Speaker 5: Through the dark and through the blue I still think
- 40:18Speaker 5: of you me.
- 40:24Speaker 7: You don't have to feel the same just as.
- 40:28Speaker 8: Long as you're still out there calling softly through my days.
- 40:34Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way.
- 40:38Speaker 5: You don't have to be my home.
- 40:42Speaker 4: It's enough to know you're living in a world I'm
- 40:46Speaker 4: not alone.
- 41:03Speaker 5: I don't need to be your light I don't need
- 41:07Speaker 5: to cross.
- 41:07Speaker 7: Your mind All I need is just the truth That
- 41:12Speaker 7: you're somewhere.
- 41:15Speaker 5: Still alive You don't have.
- 41:19Speaker 3: To stay with me You don't have to feel the
- 41:24Speaker 3: same Just as long as you're still out there Calling
- 41:29Speaker 3: softly through my days You don't have to look my
- 41:34Speaker 3: way You don't have to be my home It's enough to.
- 41:40Speaker 5: Know you're living In a world I'm not alone.