Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Healed, Part 1: Healed

Episode Date: December 26, 2015

What’s the most beautiful thing about you? Most people might say it’s their eyes, or hair, or laugh—but would anyone say their scars? Every scar tells a story: A wound in the past, cleaned, and made whole again. Scars don’t mark you as imperfect—t... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, it's great to have all of our churches with us today, all of our life churches, our network churches, people from all over the world on the other side of computer screens. I am absolutely thrilled today to introduce to you a guest speaker that is going to pump you up and minister to your heart in a very special way. I'm very prayerful and strategic about who I bring in. This week, I'm bringing in a 26-year-old that has more passion for Jesus than just about anybody I've met in a long time. My friend Jefferson Bethke, if you have spent any time on YouTube, maybe you've seen some of his amazing content. He created a video showing how Jesus is greater than religion. You're ready for this? This video has been viewed more than 30 million times. You can clap for that if you want to because that's pretty amazing. And he wrote an amazing book called Jesus is Greater Than Religion, New York Times bestselling book. His newest book, I'm about a third of the way through.

It's called It's Not What You Think, Why Christianity is about so much more than going to heaven when you die. I love the way Jefferson pushes me. He's a creative thinker. He's amazing in impacting this generation. I hope you'll get this book. I hope you'll download all this content and learn from him. And I hope you'll help me and show honor today to Jefferson, Bethke. How's it going?

You guys doing good? Awesome. If you have your Bibles, you can go to Genesis 2 for me. But before that, I just really want to say a huge thanks. This is really special for me for a few reasons. One, you guys, even just seeing it behind the scenes now, you guys have an amazing pastor, an amazing staff, an amazing team. You guys are very lucky and blessed as a church. And then also you guys are an amazing community that is, you know, having this world impact. And I just wanted you guys to know that. I'm thousands of miles away from you guys. And I've known about you guys for

a long time. And so it's really special to be here. And I just want to say thank you guys for being such an awesome, awesome community. I'm really, really honored to be here. So if you're flipping through your Bibles, Genesis 2 is where we'll be at for a second, and then I'll kind of flip a few places after that, I want you to take away one word with us. And the one word I want you to take away today is healing. So no matter where you're at, no matter what stage of life, I think we all can go one step farther in our healing process. Can we not? There's just, there's so much that Jesus wants to give us. There's so much that Jesus wants to kind of take us deeper in areas. And a lot of those roadblocks are always either kind of wounds or hard parts of our life that we need to find healing in first before you can do

that. And so it doesn't matter what area of life. Sometimes it's really hard, really big. Sometimes it's him just keep going a little farther with you. But there's areas in all of our hearts where he just wants to keep going. And we really can find that healing in Jesus. And so that's the encouragement I want to give you guys and what I really want to walk through. So if you have your Bible is Genesis 2. And the reason I want to start there is you have to know where it went wrong to know how we can get You guys with me? Right? You have to know what went wrong.

What was God wanting from the image bearers in the garden from the very beginning? What was his call? What was his commission? And why did that kind of all fracture to know what went wrong so that then we know where we need healing. You need to know the problem before you can know the solution. That's what I'm trying to say. And I think the first place I want to look at is the first command God ever gave,

which is a very interesting thing, right? God, there's commands, but there's one that was first. And I think there's something really interesting in the very, very first command. So if you have your Bible, Genesis, 2, 15. We'll read a couple verses from there. It says this, the Lord God took the man and he put them in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. So they have a job to do.

Very first thing they have a job to do in the garden, work it and keep it. 16. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but if the tree of knowledge and good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it, you shall surely die. Now, if I'm honest, like I grew up in church context. I wouldn't really say I'm a church kid, but I grew up in church context enough to know the songs, know the games. I knew Abraham had many sons, many sons of Father Abraham. Anyone else? Okay.

Classic, right? Right? That was on like Wow, Volume 1. Um, but I grew up enough to know this story, okay? And with this story, it never made sense to me, right? Like, I would hear that that was the command, and maybe it was just me, but the logical question is like, okay, God, it's an amazing, beautiful world, and you put one thing that you didn't want them to touch it. My question is like, well, why did you put it there in the first place? Are you track on me? Like, it kind of seemed like an eternal cat and mouse game. right like God's just kind of saying well let's see how long they last well they lasted four seconds which by the way it's an encouragement is it not we're not the only ones right but it just I didn't get it

like why was he kind of just trying to tempt us or was there something going on there why do you put it in there in the first place I think he put it there in the first place because it really comes down to the name of the name of the name it's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so this is not a trick question when they eat of that tree what do they get the knowledge of good and evil right now not a trick question again if they don't eat of that tree in themselves what do they not have the knowledge of good and evil Okay, so the verse before God just gave him a job to, like, go and create and cultivate and make a domain out of the entire earth, decently sized job, amen? Okay. And with that job, he then says, you basically can eat of this tree, which will give you that knowledge of good and evil in yourselves, or, right, if they listen,

if they don't eat of that tree, where might be the place where they're going to need, because they need that knowledge, right? To do a job, you need that. Where are they going to get it if they don't eat from the tree? God, right? Which, by the way, if you're in any Christian setting and you can, you ask the question, just say, God, you'll probably be right. Like every time, right. And if you're not right, you say, well, I'm more holy. Sorry. But, you know, I just said Jesus, and it works. But that's the truth of the matter, right? God from the very beginning is not trying to be arbitrary with this command, but it's actually

a call to intimacy. It's a call to closeness. It's saying there's two roads from the very first page of Scripture. Either you can be your own God, you can be your own king. It will not end well. A lot of us have experienced that. Or you can lean on me in full and utter dependence, and it will work well. There will be Shalom, which is what kind of the word in Genesis for peace and everything working how it's supposed to be working, right? And being a dad now of an 18-month-old

daughter, like, she's at the age still where if she was not fully, like if we weren't there, she would not be able to survive, right? She has to fully lean and depend on us. Might that be a picture of what God actually wants from us, where we put him in a position where if he doesn't come through, we wouldn't be able to survive? The good news is he always comes through, right? But might we put ourselves in that position? That we have to lean on him for the knowledge of good and evil to know, to lead us, to guide us, to be with us, to be our counselor. And so from the very beginning, there's these two choices, right? The question is, what road are we walking on? What direction have we taken? Now, we know the story, right? They obviously, did they eat or did they not eat?

They ate of the tree, right? And then there's something, this is kind of Bible trivia, but it actually specifically says in Genesis that God banished them or exiled them or kicked them out, however you want to say it, out of the garden a certain direction, which is really interesting. Which direction did it say it? Which direction did it say it? It's a famous Steinbeck novel, East of Eden. If you've ever read that, I went to public school. I've heard about it. It's great. But never read it. Sounds like a good book. East of Eden, though, right? It's kind of almost this cultural phrase of kind of like walking away from your creator,

walking away from the garden, walking away from intimacy with your creator. And I think that's a real interesting thing because it says they get kicked out east, but then it comes up. The writer of Genesis is trying to show this theme every chapter, right? Kane kills his brother Abel, and it says he actually gets banished into further exile. Where? East. Lot departs from Abraham, which is clearly the choice of disobedience in that story. If you're reading it, it says that he goes east.

The peak story in all of Genesis of human people. pride and rebellion as a society is the Tower of Babel, and it specifically says they migrated east. It's as if that's a little thing that the scripture is trying to say, this is what it looks like when you eat of that fruit. You keep walking away from the garden. Going east is about the spiral downward of humanity of when you say, I can do it, I don't need you, I'm okay, and it never works well. Notice how they farther and farther go into the desert, they farther and farther go into the dry land. It's away from the garden, that oasis, that beauty, that intimacy, right? right after Tower of Babel, we get this man named Abram, who then turns into Abraham, right?

We call him what, the father of faith. A lot of people call him that, right? That's kind of what he's known as, the father of faith. Why? Because he's the first one to actually say, no, no, no, no, I'm going to trust. I'm going to lean in. I'm going to believe. It says he gets called to an unknown place, and he says what? He says, yes. That's the definition of faith, is it not? I have no idea where I'm going. I have no idea what it's going to look like. I have no idea anything, but I'm going to say yes, why, because I trust you. And it actually says he specifically goes, a direction when he gets called to an unknown place. Anyone know where? West, right? He's specifically going back towards the garden, back towards that place of walking with his creator, of intimacy,

of this garden, right? And by the way, you can tell I nerd out on this stuff. It's really awesome. But it keeps going, by the way, so you can just keep looking it up. I'll just give one last example. When in the tabernacle and temple instructions, God specifically tells the Israelites to build the entrance to the temple on the east side of the temple. So they're walking in, they're going, what direction? West. It's a little garden, right? Which is all. It's all. It's a little garden, right? Which is also why it's a stone and brick building, but yet he says, put all this imagery of fruit and trees and leaves and all these different things, because that sounds awfully like a garden, does it not? God wants to bring us back to that place of shalom, of beauty, of intimacy, of healing.

The question is, are you on that trajectory? Living by faith, living by trust puts you on that trajectory, or you can say, I can do it, I'm wearing the crown, I don't need you, and it just goes further and further away from him with no joy, no life, no intimacy. And so you see this in the garden, you see that this is the setup from the beginning, these two trajectories, these two roads. The question is, which one are we on? Which decisions are we making? What road are we putting ourselves on?

And I think it really comes down to how we answer not only the first command that we saw, but the first question God actually gives, or the first response to sin. This is another interesting thing, right? So I'm in seminary right now, and they say one thing is kind of the rule of first, right? So any time something happens first in scripture, like pay attention, right? Like if it's the first time God does something or the first time this guy does something or says something or the first time this topic comes up, like, extra pay attention, right? And the first response to sin means that's really a big deal, right?

Like, God, like sin enters the world, they go east, the shalom's broken, Genesis 3, and then God, this is the first time he's ever had to address sin in his human creation. How's he going to do it? What's he going to do? He had every right, I think, to just snap his fingers and wipe him off the planet, right? He had every right to right. He had every right to write to, right? He had every right to, right? He's God. They didn't listen. He could just say, boom, you guys are gone, right? He had every right to say, you know, condemnation, right? Oh, you stupid idiots. Why are you doing that? I told you not to touch that tree. It lasted three verses, right? Like, why? Which God probably didn't think in verses, because he's actually the one saying it. But did he do that? No, does anyone

know what God does? What's the very first thing God ever does? He asks a question. That might be one of the weirdest things in all of Scripture. Why? Because last time I checked, like God's God, me? Like, he doesn't ever need an answer, right? You guys reacting with me? Like, like, God's God, he should never ask a question. That's almost inherently against the nature and character of God, unless it's not him actually saying, like, hey, where are you Adam? Because that's actually the question he asked in a true sense, but it's rhetorical saying, where are you, Adam, come home? Why are you hiding? Why did you leave me? Why are you not listening to my voice anymore? Because that's the first question. The first response to sin is not condemnation or guilt or shame. It's God going, where

are you? Where are you? Right? It's almost like this father's heart crying and beckoning to his creation saying, where are you? Why are you hiding? You don't have to run, right? And then you see in the story, he finds Adam and Eve, and it says they come out of hiding, but they say to him, we hid because we are naked. And then God asked him a second question. Anyone know the second question? Who told you you were naked? Might it be another rhetorical question? Who told you you weren't good enough? Who told you you were condemned? Who told you you had to hide? Because that was not my voice from the beginning. My voice from the beginning was intimacy, walking with you and knowing you, that is not the true voice over you. What voice do you listen to?

Here's a barometer, by the way, if you want to know if it's God's voice, because we all struggle with that, do we not? Like when we're praying, when we're thinking, when we're asking it's God's voice. How do we know it's God's voice? How do we know? If it's the one calling you out of hiding, that's a good hint, it's probably his, right? And if it's the one putting you into isolation, into condemnation, then into a place where there's no life, definitely not his. Right? Because in Scripture, that's not the character and nature of God.

his voice calls you out of hiding. It calls you into vulnerability. It calls you into that space. And so you have to ask yourself, is that the voice you're listening to? Is that the voice you know? Right. And so this beginning, Genesis 1, 2, 3 is just this huge epic narrative of unraveling. Basically, when I read this, I realize, man, nothing's changed, right? Nothing's changed, right? He's still asking the same question and we're still hiding. Are we not? He's still saying where, because Adam and Hebrew actually means humanity, by the way, right? Just a little nugget right. humanity, where are you? Humans, where are you? Why are you hiding? But so much of us, we use our life, our jobs, our money to just cover up, which is exactly what they did, and hide.

I can do it on my own. I don't need you. We feel that vulnerability and that shame, and rather than coming out into it, we say, I'm going to hide more. I'm going to put on a mask. Some of us, we go to our deathbed doing that. We wear a mask, we crop and edit ourselves to death, right? And we put our best foot forward on social media or whatever it is to the point where if you do that long enough, you almost believe that's you. Right? You almost believe that's you if you do it long enough. Might it be that God, like, God wants to take you off the treadmill of life.

He, like, because by the way, treadmills are terrible, are they not? Because you're running and you're going nowhere. Right? You with me? Right? Like, I hate those things, right? At least let me like get some reward while I'm doing this, right? It's like, I'm going, I'm literally fighting just to stay in the same place. Right? Really interesting

picture, by the way, of us wearing those masks and stuff like that. Is it not? That we're exhausted, we're tired, we're burnt out, just to keep up the act, just to keep up the act, right? Might you hear the voice of God that says, no, no, no, you can take off the mask because I died for you, not the mask? There's a big difference. So he's calling of us out of hiding, but from there, all the way down to the Old Testament, we get this drama or this narrative of how are the people of God going to respond to that question? Where are you? Are they going to listen or not listen? And basically, if you want,

the Old Testament summarized after Abraham and on, this is basically what happens. Basically, God promises to Abraham that he's going to put back the world through him and his family. That's a crazy promise, by the way, because that means the very people that broke it. God says, I'm going to use the very people to put it back together. That's grace, is it not? Right? The very people that made this whole place fracture, I'm going to use them to put it back together. So he promises to Abraham and his family that he's going to do that, and then that lineage turns into Israel, and that goes all the way for the whole Old Testament. But the basic kind of summarization of the whole Old Testament is basically them thinking they're the solution, but every step of the way,

realizing they actually are the problem. Right? That's the whole Old Testament. I've like we're called to be the people of God, Israel, to go out and show the world what it means to put the world back together through Yahweh, through him as our king, but they realized the infection was deeper than that. They were actually part of the problem as well. There was something deeper, there was something bigger.

It was such a huge fracturing of those cosmos, of Shalom, that they could not get it out of them. You guys with me? And that's basically what it is. It's this narrative, right? Where God's basically saying they're starting to realize, oh, we are infected. Like if you read Isaiah, there's some really intense imagery, right?

which is kind of disgusting, of like, Israel being, like, open sores and these wounded people and these just, like, nasty boils and just like, am I the only one that thinks that's terrible, by the way? Right? But that's the imagery that Isaiah is using to saying, like, you are sick, too. Like, you, we, everyone is sick. Everyone is messed up. We need to find a deeper and more true healing. We need to find something deeper. And then Isaiah is beautiful in the fact that it promises a Messiah. Someone is going to come who's actually going to fully put it back together. someone's going to come who's not going to only clean up the outside but clean up the inside. There's going to be resurrection.

There's going to be new life. And this very Messiah is not just going to be kind of up in the sky looking down at us, but he's going to enter into our world and he's going to suffer alongside us. He's going to walk the path so that we don't have to. He's going to go before us. He's going to go with us. And then we obviously know we see this for hundreds of years, hundreds of years, but we know now that that's the person and work of Jesus.

That this promised suffering servant Messiah is the person in work of Jesus. He shows up on the scene and everything's different. Amen? He shows up on the scene and everything is different. And that's what's beautiful about Jesus is that he has a different power about him. Think of, like, I think sometimes we kind of make Jesus like this fairy dust hippie, right, with like long hair that looks really well conditioned, anyone else. He's so explosive with power, it cannot even be contained within him. He's so powerful in the sense of who he is and what he came to do. I think we need to. to sit in that for a little longer. I think we need to understand who he actually is and what he

actually came to do. Think about this. This will illustrate this as well. In the Old Testament, outside of like two or three examples, which I think are just foreshadowing Jesus, every time something unclean comes in contact with something clean, who wins? Anyone? Like, if something's unclean and it touches something clean, like kind of what happens? The clean thing becomes unclean. You guys with me? Right? The clean, like the unclean always wins every single time. The Israelites who touches something unclean, they are defiled, they are now dirty, they have to go through repurification, they are now dirty. They're filthy, they are ceremonially unclean. Unclean always wins in the Old Testament narrative. Jesus shows up and you notice it actually flips completely 180.

Completely, right? Every time someone comes in contact with Jesus, what happens? They become clean. Every time someone touches Jesus, they become clean. He's powerful. There's a resurrection power in him. He's got himself that his, it's going out for, from him, the question is, are you reaching out and touching that? Right? So many times we think, I think we still think we're living in the Old Testament in that sense, right? Like, I'm too dirty for God, I'm not good enough, or whatever it is, which is not only a distortion of that, by the way, but it's a misunderstanding of who Jesus is. Is it not? No, no, no, you can't be too dirty for God. You cannot sin enough that grace can't go just as far. You cannot sin big enough that grace cannot say,

I see you, I'm going to clean you, and I'm going to redeem you. And that is something that All of us need that all of life. Because it's not just a one-off thing, but I know moment by moment, every couple months, whatever it is. Things happen where we need that power so tangibly. We need it. We know it. He wins, right? He's clean.

Anytime he touches something unclean, he wins. There's an explosive power about him, right? There's even a scene in the gospels where someone touches his clothes. They become clean. That's some pretty holy clothes. Amen? Right? Like that's not H&M.

Okay? Right? The shirt is, but that's not. Okay. They touch his clothes. There's something so dense and weighty and glorious. In the truest sense of the word, there's actual glory there that when they touch him, they become clean. Have you reached out and touched Jesus? Have you reached out and touched him? You have to ask yourself that. Not only just once, not only finding that salvation in Jesus where you can walk with him, but the real hard parts in the heart, the parts where no one knows about, the parts where you've never told anyone about, the parts that are really hurt and they're sensitive,

Have you let him reach out and touch that part? Because you need the healing and cleaning in that place, do you not? Sometimes the places we hide the most are the places we need it the most. Is it not? Think about something becoming clean, right? Like, when you go to a doctor, and you have a wound or a sore or something like that, what's the first thing they do? They clean it, right?

To find healing, something has to become clean. You ever thought about that? To find true healing, something has to become clean. When you go to a doctor with a wound or a sore, they clean it, and then it can get healed, right, so that you don't get what? Infection. Might that be an interesting picture of us spiritually? Right?

How many of us we have deep wounds? Deep wounds, right? Spiritually speaking. And what I'm talking about with that is, what do you do with a wound, right? It's a place where you usually cover up, right? It's the place you usually never tell anyone about. A wound, if someone touches it, what do you do? Usually you cringe, right?

Or don't touch that or get away or I'm not going to show you that, right? What would that be in your life? What if your friend, what's the thing in your life that when your friend gets close to, you pull back and maybe even break the friendship. Because they're too close to the hard parts in your life. I don't want to share that. I don't want to be honest with that. I can't be vulnerable, right? What would that wound be? The place that you cover up, that you hide, that's sensitive, and that it hurts. You have to ask yourself what that place is, right? And again, not to be morbid, but if you covering it up doesn't help. It does not help, right? If it's bad enough,

you can get an infection and you can die, not to be morbid, but it's true, right? You can actually die from infection. That's why, by the way, that's probably why sometimes you get kind of, kind of, you know, people get to their 30s, 40s, and 50s, and their marriage just blows up. Why? Because they didn't deal with something when they were 18. So you got 20 years of that thing just festering and getting infected and just being brutal in the sense of never finding healing. And then it rears this ugly head. Everyone goes, what happened? You never actually uncovered it and got it healed, right? Might we be people who bring those wounds to Jesus? He can clean them. He can clean them.

And I know they might be big. I know that might be hard. And I know there's even some real deep stuff in this room, right? And where everyone else is watching. I know specifically that, I mean, just by stats, I know there's probably hundreds, if not thousands, right, of people here or in your community that have had abortions. And they're struggling with that shame, that guilt, that hurt.

I know there's people that probably have struggled from sexual assault. You know, by the time in America, by the time you end college, so 22, 23, 1 and 3 girls have been sexually assaulted, 1 and 6 guys. usually if you look to your left or look to your right in any big space, you probably can't name one person. Why? Because we hide. But yet it's all of us, right? Or most of us, or a lot of us. There's deep wounds in this room, but let me tell you right now, there's deep healing in Jesus. There's deep healing in Jesus. There's nothing that cannot be healed by Jesus. Might you just take that part, take that place, and reach out and touch him? He's reaching out and

touching you. Is he not? He's coming for you. He's asking, where are you? He's asking, where are Are you, will you answer that question by coming out of hiding? When you touch him, he makes you clean. You find that healing. I think of even there's there's a Japanese art form called Kinsugi, which is really interesting. And if you're a death cab for QD fan, that's an indie band. You'll know what that is because that was their last album name.

And like maybe five people probably know what that is. But what it is, it's a Japanese art form actually, where what they do is they take pottery and they repair it when it's brink. rather than throwing it away. Now, the way they repair it is if a plate or a bowl breaks, according to Kansugi, what you do is you take the bowl, you take the plate, and then they take a lacquer, a really strong glue, a really strong lacquer, and they put gold or silver dust in it. They stir it around, right? And they kind of make it like it's a gold glue or like a silver glue, and then they put the thing back together. Okay? Now, if you're getting the visual,

you can obviously see that when a bowl or plate is put back together with gold or silver dust, that thing is electric, right? Like the actual places where it broke are exactly where your eyes drawn. It's this place of just beauty and glory, right? And I think that's a really interesting way of thinking about Jesus again, right? So the world tells you if you're broken, you get thrown away, you can get discarded, we don't need you, you can't do anything for us anymore. But might Jesus be the one who says, no, no, no, I not only want to heal you, but I actually, sometimes the very place where you are broken and I healed you becomes the most glorious part about you. That becomes the very place where you can see this glory and this life, right? You can actually see. You can actually

see it. And so I think sometimes we hide that or we think that, oh, no, I can't tell my story. If you found healing, you can tell your story and it's beautiful. And even just like that bowl or plate, you actually become more valuable. Isn't that interesting? You actually, because you've been healed by Jesus, you've been touched by Jesus. And so the question I really want to challenge you guys with is, we all have wounds, all of us. But have you found healing in them? And when a wound finds healing, what's it turned into? When a wound gets healed, what's it turn into? Scar. Right? Now, think about how different those two things are. You ever thought about that? So a wound, it hurts, it's sensitive, it's painful, you cringe. Now, a scar doesn't hurt anymore, right? In fact, a scar usually don't

hide anymore, right? And a scar usually tells a story, does it not? That could just be a dude thing, maybe, but, right? Like, you're like, let me tell you what happened, right? I mean, like, literally, for example, like, so I have a little tiny scar on my upper lip when I was, I don't remember this one, because I was only like 12 months old, 13 months old, my mom said, my mom said, I thought it'd be a good idea to eat the dog's food, and let's just say the dog didn't think that was a good idea. Okay? So I was like, you know, Dog 1, Jeff Zero, basically. I have a huge scar on my shoulder, like seven inches long.

I have two titanium plates and ten screws. I was playing baseball in high school, and I played through college, and I just dove really awkwardly on a play, and the way I landed, just the pressure was so big that it just literally blew up my shoulder. Dislocated, crack, it was just kind of went, you know, it was probably TMI. But it was bad. It was just sticking out and just gnarly. But what's the truth?

Like, I'm telling you those, why? Because they've been healed, right? Like they now tell a story. They don't hurt anymore. They're not sensitive. I don't cringe. I can tell you a story. Might that be what Jesus wants to do with you?

See, here's the truth of the matter. When your wound becomes a scar, then you can tell other people about how good he is and what he's done. You can't do that with a wound, right? You can't do that with a wound. Why? Because you hide it, you cover it up, and you cringe.

But if you found healing, that actually becomes the very way you start telling other people about Jesus. The word we use in church is witness. That's basically just basically going around and telling other people, look what Jesus did, look where he healed me. That's what it means. That's what it means to tell other people about Jesus. Look how good he is. You can find healing too. And might we even sit in that

ramification too of the fact that that's actually how he wants us to use us? He wants to use us through our scarves. The very place where you've been healed usually turns into that person's place where they tell people about Jesus, where they talk to people at work, they share their story, right? And so I think the hard part with that is too. We sometimes think, oh, I don't need to find healing because it only messes with me or it only affects me. Do you realize you not finding healing can actually have huge ripples in the sense of what if God wants to actually use you to tell the people about Jesus? So if you're not finding that healing, do you realize how many other people you're affecting? Do you realize how many other people that God wants to use you to talk to that you can't do

because you're not submitting your wounds to him to heal them? So it has even bigger ramifications when you understand what he wants to do through your healing, what he actually wants to do through you. And so that's the biggest challenge with you guys is have you found that? Have you found that? For time's sake, I'll end with a story. It's my favorite story in the Bible, because it's the most weird, and you'll see why in a second. It's the story of the road to Emmaus. Now, Luke 24, Jesus is resurrected. It's an amazing, awesome story. Now, just to summarize it, basically what happens, and the reason I want to tell this story is because I think sometimes we think that healing, then, like, we can get fired up when we hear stuff like this,

and they'd be like, oh, I need to read the Bible more. I need to get more theological knowledge. I need to check more boxes on my religious checklist. No, no, no, no. You need to sit at the feet of Jesus. That's where healing's at. There's a big difference. There's a big difference. An actual personal relationship, because again, it's a person and that power is flowing out from him. There has to be a relationship on the other end. All those things are great, theological knowledge, Bible reading, et cetera. There has to be a person on the other end. There has to be. And so I think this story illustrates that. Luke 24, it's the weirdest story. So Luke 24, Jesus just resurrected. He comes alongside two guys. Okay. Now, the two guys didn't recognize him.

I don't know because they didn't have Twitter or Facebook or I don't know, whatever. but basically just says like they were blocked from recognizing him okay and so they basically Jesus kind of says hey guys why are you bummed and they actually rebuk him which is not really a good idea with Jesus amen right um they kind of like say like are you kidding they're kind of sarcastic and are you kidding did you not hear what just unraveled a couple days ago right because jesus dying under roman rule is a public spectacle right that was he had followers he was going around for three years in judean samaria and all this area it was a public spectacle so they basically rebuked him and said are you kidding did you not see what just happened we just wasted the last

three years of our life. What do you mean? Why are we bummed? Right? Because by the way, a crucified Messiah in the first century was no Messiah at all. Zero. They had no context for a crucified Messiah. Right? How upside down is Jesus? Is he not? Right? And the sacrificial love, that's how he's reigning and ruling is by giving his own life. And so they have no context for that. So they basically said, we just wasted the last three years of our life. This is ridiculous. We need to find a new one. We need to find a new guy. Right. And so Jesus actually rebukes them back, which that's a better idea. right? And he says, oh, foolish ones, which I never want to hear that from Jesus. Oh, foolish ones, which we kind of all, I guess, hear. Oh, foolish ones. And he says he starts from the law to the

prophets describing what must have happened of the Christ. So what does Jesus do? They bummed out. They don't get it. And he, but what's he do? He basically says from the law to the prophets, this was supposed to happen the whole time. This was supposed to happen the whole time. You guys weren't paying attention. You guys weren't reading your scriptures. You guys weren't seeing it. right Jesus, and that's a euphemism, by the way, laws, first five books of the Bible, prophets is everything else outside of wisdom literature. They didn't have the New Testament. So the whole Bible. Jesus, like, which by the way, can we just sit in that for a second? Like, Jesus himself is like page by page Bible study partner, right? Am I the only one that think I would faint?

Right? Like the word himself, right? He's literally like their personal Beth Moore right there in that moment, right? Like page by page by page saying this was supposed to happen the whole time. this was supposed to happen. You were not paying attention. The whole Bible, you would think that the heavens would open up, oh, right? They would faint and it would just be insane. God himself resurrected in the flesh

is describing the scriptures to them right there in person. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. If you're familiar with the story, the next verse just goes like five hours later. The next verse says they're walking to their house, late at night. They say, Jesus, do you want to stay for a meal?

Jesus says yes. It says Jesus walks in. That's what it says. It says Jesus walks in, sits down, breaks the bread, gives thanks, and then in an instant, their eyes were opened. What? Okay, so Bethmore personal Bible study partner, Jesus, nothing happens. The whole Bible, page by page by page by page by page, nothing. Jesus takes a piece of bread, rips it in half, right? Like am I the only one that thinks that makes no sense? Right? What is he trying to communicate there? What is going on there? I think it's a

real interesting picture of the two ways that one right, one wrong, and how we try to follow Jesus, right? How many of us wish we were the first people, right? If only Jesus could show up in my room, give me all the answers, give me all the facts, give me all the theology, then I will be okay, my doubts will be gone and everything will go away. So many of us, that's what we dream for our whole life, is it not? If only he could show up in my room and just be like he was in the Old Testament, where it's audible from the sky, then my life would be great. Might Jesus want the second one? see this one's our dream vision of Christianity but Jesus says no no no my dream vision of what it means to be a follower of me is to actually sit with me is to actually sit at the table with me share a meal

with me commune with me talk with me see this one a lot of times we just want so that we don't need Jesus anymore right Jesus give me all the answers so I don't need you this one says I just want you I just want to sit at the table with you here's my biggest challenge that I want to end with do you guys just want the right answers from Jesus, or do you want to actually sit at the table with Jesus? They're two different things. There are two different things. Do you want to know the right answers, or do you want to sit at the table with Jesus? See, because that's the invitation. The invitation is it's a feast, it's a wedding party, come dine with me, come sit with me, come know me. And we get to know him for the rest of time. Might we be people? And this is what I want to end with.

might we be people who when we hear that question that's been going from the beginning of time where the father says Adam, humanity, John, Katie, Rachel, whoever it is, where are you? Might we actually answer that by saying sitting right here at the table with you? Let me pray. Father, we thank you for your grace. I thank you for the scriptures. And God, I just ask that you would drive that home by the power of the spirit that, man, knowing you is exactly that. It's just knowing you, sitting at your feet,

sometimes in silence, sometimes with the Bible open, sometimes crying, sometimes happy. It's just sitting at your feet in intimacy. And that's where healing comes from. Healing comes from that power of being so close to you that it starts to wash off on us. Father, we thank you so much. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. You guys want to say thank you. So powerful. if you can at all of our churches. Let's just continue on and add it to your prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, for the living word, Jesus,

for the one that makes us clean. And God, I just want to lead the way in coming before you with my wounds and my brokenness. And God, I know there are so many people here today that are hurting, have been hurt emotionally, spiritually, in so many different ways. And God, we want to,

bring those before you, the great physician. And all of our churches, in fact, those of you who say, I really do, I need healing at some point of my life. Maybe someone did something to you. Maybe someone hurts you in a significant way. Maybe you've been dealing with some unhealthy emotion for a long time. And you say, I really do. I want to press into Jesus and believe that he'll bring healing, that he'll make me clean.

I want to take a moment and pray for those who say, yes, I really do. I have a wound in my life. Maybe I'm hiding behind a mask or something I'm covering up and don't want to let anyone know. Well, I want to take that to Jesus today. If that's you, would you lift up your hands right now at all of our different churches? I know there are hands going up all over the place. And God, I thank you that you're a loving God who knows everything. And you know all the intimate details of everything that we've endured.

And God, you even know what it's like to hurt with us through everything that Jesus endured, every temptation he faced and all the pain that he endured on the way to the cross. So, Father, we ask right now that as you are with us, that you're present, that your presence would bring healing where we hurt. God, I pray that even right now that we may be in a significant wound and the healing may take time, but God, we thank you that one day there's going to be a point of beauty and strength in our lives, that you can use what we've gone through to enable us to make a difference in the lives of other people. God, we thank you that you are here, that you hear the cries of your children, that you love us even more than we could even imagine.

And God, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you're doing a divine work, even now as we pray, bringing about supernatural healing in the hearts and the lives of your children. As you continue just to reflect in prayer at all of our different churches, I love the way Jefferson talked just about the intimacy of not just having the answers from Jesus. but truly knowing him and being with him and fellowshiping with him and dining with him. And I would just ask you to reflect right now at all of our different churches and ask, do you have that? Do you have a true, intimate relationship with Jesus? In fact, that was the very word that Jefferson used, a relationship with Jesus. And it was interesting for me growing up, I would have never used that word because I kind of thought,

hey, you just try your best and do good and follow the rules. and that's what it meant to be a Christian. But the reality is Jesus even said this. He said, this is eternal life. And he defined it. You want to know what it is? He said that they may know God, to know him personally.

That Christianity is not about a religious, what you do and what you don't do as much is, is the cry of the heart of God for us to know him through his son, Jesus. And that's one reason he sent Jesus to reveal the very heart of who God is. And who did Jesus hang out with? Guess what? Broken people, hurting people. sinful people, those that religion rejected are those that Jesus pursued. And the reality is,

Jesus may be pursuing you right now. All of our different churches, some of you would say, yes, I want that. I want to know God. I want an assurance of his goodness. Well, you cannot perform your way there. You simply receive it. Because of what Jesus did, living without sin, dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, being raised again, so that anyone who calls on his name would be saved and forgiven and transformed. I believe that at all of our churches, there are those of you who say, you know what? I don't know him. I want to know him. Today, simply call on his name. Scripture says that Jesus is standing at the door and he's knocking. If anyone hears his voice and opens the door, he'll come in and eat with him. He's knocking. He wants you to say yes to him.

churches, those of you who say, yes, I need his forgiveness, and I want to know him. As you call on him today, you can become a Jesus follower. All of our churches, you say, yes, I want, I need the forgiveness of my sins, and I call on Jesus to save me. I want to know him personally. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now and say, yes, Jesus, I want to know you and serve you. As there are hands going up at different churches, church online, you just click right below me, and I would love to invite all of you to join your faith and your voices with those around you. As we pray this very simple prayer, just pray a lot. Pray Heavenly Father, I want to know you through your son, Jesus.

Would you forgive me of all of my sins? Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, so I could serve you. And I become your follower. Today I give you my life. It's no longer my own. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine.

In Jesus' name I pray. And in all of our churches, would you worship God right now? Welcome those who are calling on Jesus and Savior and Lord.