Dumb things good Christians Believe: Recent Episodes

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Does it matter what we put into our minds and hearts? How do you determine if what you're listening to is worth listening to? Tune in to get some insight and be challenged. When you give at Harmony, you are investing in life change and are Advancing the Kingdom! GIVE TODAY, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give .

Joshua 3:12-1712 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. Your greatest barrier may be God’s greatest opportunity The Israelites knew they had to get to the other side. they knew that their destiny was over thereBut the Jordan was in their way… What they didn’t know is that God had a way… It wasn’t till their faith made its way into their feet that they found the miracle What is it that’s in your way?What’s the obstacle keeping you from the blessing? Did you see verses 15 & 16?15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away The Jordan river can get a mile wide in some places when it floods… What should have swept them away became the story they toldBBut it took them stepping…BWhat’s keeping you from stepping? What’s keeping you from taking that job, from moving on from that broken relationship, from starting that company, What’s keeping you from finding your blessing in your barrier? [Pause sermon…]Alright, Let’s stop the sermon right there and push pause on it…That’s version one of this sermon, now let me preach it a different way… Joshua 3:12-1712 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. God will carry you through what He has called you to… Listen, the Israelites are not standing on these shores by accident, this is 40 years of God bringing to fruition promises He had made to them And now that they are here, at the crossing, they have to make a decision to step or to stay.bThe water didn’t part because of their bravery, the water parted because God had called them.bGod is always faithful where He calls. The problem for most of us is we are stepping in places God has never called us to step. Our real goal should be to step with God - to follow His lead. Jesus has already told us things that God cares about - places we know we can step and God is already there-caring for the poor-loving our neighbor and enemies-caring for orphans and widows You can step and know God’s got you. [Pause] Did you notice any differences in those two sermons? The first sermon laid the biblical story over your life and said“Your life IS this story”-your barriers are the river, you are the priests who need to step, and if you do that, God will part the waters for you. The second sermon laid out the story of God and said, “there’s something that’s true for all time here…” - put it in your life One of the most interesting things about Christians today is that we all have access to listening to anyone we want at any moment to put God’s word in our heart… That first sermon probably even pumped you up! You were probably looking at your life and thinking, “yes, the barriers in my life are just ready for me to step into” The problem is, that’s not why that story was recorded…The problem is, if you had listened to me on that, you might make a really poor decision… But guess what… That kind of sermon feels good when you’re listening to it. Because it speaks to a deep part of us that says “you’re important and you can do it” It reminds me of something Paul said to Timothy warning him of days ahead…2 Timothy 4:33 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. So, how do you know if what you are listening to is something worth digesting or not? You need to come to the table thinking critically about the voices you’re letting influence your faith. Even me, you need to check me against the scripture Ask good questions [each of these come up one at a time on the slide]-Is what this person is saying faithful to what the word of God says?-Is what this person is saying the point of the story - the author's intended meaning-Is what this person is saying ignoring other truths in order to make their point? ILLUSTRATION:Do you know how they train people to identify counterfeits? They don’t train them to know what every counterfeit looks like, they train them to know what the actual bill looks like so they can spot a fake. One of the reasons so many of us fall for fakes is because we don’t know the real McCoy… Listen to what the author of Hebrews says:Hebrews 5:12-1312 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. What if you decided that you’d stop drinking just milk and got into solid food? What if you moved beyond reading devotionals and letting them tell you what to think about God and started inviting God to tell you what He thinks?What if you moved beyond my sermon being the primary way you hear God’s word and you started getting into His word for yourself? When you sit down with Jesus and the word of God and start to invite Him into the conversation - listen, the word apart from the writer of the word will be meaningless. But when you sit down with the author of it. He points stuff out, He walks you into things you’ve never seen before. CLOSING:I’m not the guy who wants to try and tell you there are big bad wolves out there that you need to close ranks and guard yourselves - that’s not really the point of this sermon. But, I need you to know, I used to preach this way. I have manipulated churches into doing things they should have done saying to them things like, “God’s just calling us to walk through the sea, all we have to do is step…” But guess what… God wasn’t calling us, it was Kent trying to fill his ego. It was Kent trying to build a big impressive church. I’m not asking you to judge a preacher's motive, what I’m asking you to judge is the message. I’m asking you to grow up in your faith. Get serious about this, because lives hang in the balance. The world needs to know Jesus and if your faith gets shipwrecked because of some fool like me and you don’t take the message to the next person, we’ve lost it…

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Will God really never give you more than you can handle? Are there problems with this idea? Today, Kent unpacks what the scripture says in a way that you can apply into your own life, right where you are! When you give at Harmony, you are investing in life change and are Advancing the Kingdom! GIVE TODAY, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give . ------------------- Sermon Notes Slide Key:

• Sermons always start with “OPENING ILLUSTRATION:” and end with “CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:"
• All scriptures are NIV unless otherwise noted
• Bold = Slide text
• Bold Red = Scriptures (please reflect formatting of scripture on slides, i.e. - underlines, italics, etc.)
• “b" or “B” on a line by itself = Slide break/New slide
• Bold ALL CAPS WORDS = heading to be ignored
• [some text] = programming notes to be paid attention to

OPENING ILLUSTRATION: She lost her husband last year, she’s heartbroken, nothing seems right anymore, she tries to find joy, but can the grief is always right there at the door. She’s working two jobs, trying to care for her high school boys the best she can, she’s worn out and feels at the end of her rope… He lost his job due to supply chain issues and was told that for now at least, his position was no longer needed. Pressure at home has left his relationship with his wife in shambles - they are sleeping in different rooms at this point and he’s pretty sure she will ask him to leave any day now. His kids aren’t talking to him because for years he put everything else above them. He’s tired of it all and can’t see any way out. They have experienced more loss in the last year than anyone you’ve ever known. They lost a child, his mother, and her father. Then when it seemed like there couldn’t be any more, their brother and sister-in-law were in a tragic accident, and the whole family was lost. How could life be this unfair? What do you say? That’s the question, right? What do you say? Maybe you’ve heard someone say this one to you when you are in the middle of these kinds of moments… You walk up to the widow, to the jobless guy, to the grief-stricken family and you say this…

“It’s gonna be ok, because… God will never give you more than you can handle" Let’s all take a moment real quick, do me a favor… Can I tell you something… The bible DOESN’T say God will never give you more than you can handle. [mind blown symbol]Actually, I would say this is one of those things that really good Christians - followers of Jesus believe that’s bad… First, let’s talk about where the confusion comes from… What the scripture ACTUALLY says is this…

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. What the scripture actually says is that when you are tempted, God is faithful and will provide a way out. Paul’s point is that God is faithful.BOk, Kent, I get it, but

Why is, “God will never give you more than you can handle,” a problem?

ILLUSTRATION: I have to admit something to you, when I was growing up, I watched the movie Jaws and it ruined beaches for me. When I’m out in the ocean with my kids, I’m constantly just watching the waves looking for a giant great white shark shadow to cross through… I was starting to get over it and then we went shark fishing - they only went like 100 feet out past how far out we had been swimming and we were catching TONS of sharks… Under the surface is where the danger lies. God will never give you more than you can handle is kind of like God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear - but what’s under the surface is deadly… BENEATH THE SURFACE: When we say, “God will never give you more than you can handle” we are implying that God is the one causing the terrible things in people's lives.

-You are telling the widow that God killed her husband and created this circumstance she now lives in- that the man who has lost his job and is losing his family has God to thank for that circumstance-that the family whose life has been broken by loss is really just cursed by God How many people hate God because they have the idea that God is causing them pain and difficulty in their life? Listen to how Jesus described the Father:

Matthew 7:9-12 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. What the scripture says about the pain in our life is so much more nuanced - it can’t fit on a bumper sticker… The consequences of sin The choices you make

The choices others make

The fact that there is a spiritual enemy All these play a role in the events of our lives. Actually, if you want to get technical

Jesus’ promise to us was not that he wouldn’t give us more than we can handle, but that more than we could handle was heading straight for us - and that’s why He was giving us Himself. John 16:33bIn this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus looked out through the ages and He saw, His disciples would face trouble…-We’d face loss-We’d face unemployment-we’d face persecution for our faith-we’d face all kinds of trials and temptations And His promise is that you can take heart because He has overcome the world! This is a promise that is fully seated in your relationship with Him CLOSINGILLUSTRATION: When my kids were young I was always trying to get them to do dangerous things :). Because they had this innate fear built into them. So, I was always trying to get them to jump off of things and climb up stuff :) I know, I’m a weirdo. When I was trying to get them to jump off of something into my arms, I would say… “Jump, I’ve got you!” It was my affirmation to them that no matter what happened, my love for them and my resolve to see them through was rock solid. Listen. I know that for some of you it’s disconcerting for me to undo this idea that God will never give you more than you can handle. But it’s such a weak promise anyway because it’s based on you being able to handle things. Jesus knew you and I would go through hard times, and He knew the Father deeply and how Good the Father is and His promise was that we could take heart because Jesus had overcome the world. Why can we take heart? Because His love and resolve to us through is rock solid. So, what can you say when you are in the middle of the storm or after all the damage can be surveyed that is more faithful to who God is that displays trust, but doesn’t damage the image of God, you can stand on this and start saying this. "God is faithful, even in this..."

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Does God cause everything to happen for a reason? This idea has caused a lot of heartache for a lot of people, what if it's not completely the truth? Tune in today to challenge this idea and get a clearer idea of how God's plan works in our lives. When you give at Harmony, you are investing in life change and are Advancing the Kingdom! GIVE TODAY, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give . ------------------- Sermon Notes Slide Key:

• Sermons always start with “OPENING ILLUSTRATION:” and end with “CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:"
• All scriptures are NIV unless otherwise noted
• Bold = Slide text
• Bold Red = Scriptures (please reflect formatting of scripture on slides, i.e. - underlines, italics, etc.)
• “b" or “B” on a line by itself = Slide break/New slide
• Bold ALL CAPS WORDS = heading to be ignored
• [some text] = programming notes to be paid attention to

OPENING: I was sitting there preparing to work on this sermon and trying to think of all the times I’ve heard someone say this next thing that is a bad thing good Christians believe. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it thousands of times. And it’s the kind of thing that every time I hear it, I want to stop the person and have a theological conversation, but it’s always in a moment where you can’t really do that. Here’s where it happens… You are in a car wreck and your only car is totaled, you only have liability insurance and you are talking to your friend, telling them how you don’t know what to do and they say… Well, I just have to believe, everything happens for a reason… Or maybe you find out that the company you work for is embezzling money, specifically the insurance premiums they take out of your paycheck. You are lit up about it and telling everyone in your bible study and some well-meaning person says, You know, everything happens for a reason… Now, I know some of you are sitting out there going, But Kent, Everything does happen for a reason… Right? You were taught this growing up, you’ve said it a million times

It helps you to feel better when everything seems senseless The problem with this phrase is there is an underlying message that you may have never thought of, but I guarantee, the people you are saying it to are hearing. The underlying message is that God is the cause of the pain and suffering I’m going through. ILLUSTRATION: I have known people who have adult children who hate God, can’t stand Him because they have gone through terrible horrific things, and end up blaming God for it. Why do you think they blame God? They blame God because

The message they’ve heard all their lives is that God causes terrible things to happen in our lives as part of His plan So, here’s the question does God have a specific plan for your life? And if so, is He forcing that plan onto your life. Some of you, when you heard the question does God have a specific plan for your life immediately thought of a passage out of Jeremiah: Jeremiah 29:11 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Boom, mic drop Kent! What’s up! That passage, clearly says that God has a plan for our lives This is what we put on cards for people graduating high school, for people entering into the workforce, and people who are going through terrible times of suffering… What’s crazy to me is we never read verse 10 to see whom God is talking to… Jeremiah 29:10-11 10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. So, if you are a Jewish person who has been exiled into Babylon for 70 years, turns out this passage is actually for you. This passage isn’t for us as a promise, it was a promise to the Jewish people about God’s deliverance for them. But, let’s say, you decide this promise can be applied to us

I want you to notice, the promise of God’s plans in this passage is not to harm you but prosper you, to give you hope, and a future God’s plans are to work good, not evil… “Ok, so are you saying God doesn’t have any plan, that everything is just left up to some cosmic game of chance? The scripture is clear, God does have an ultimate plan

But we are not just actors on God’s stage, reciting the words and actions He’s pre-determined. Quickly, here are two reasons I don’t believe God is dictating every action in human history: 1 Sam 23:7-14 David, before he had become king was cornered in Keilah, the King at the time, Saul, had been told this is where David was and he wanted to hunt him down like a dog. David found out that Saul was after him and he asked the priest if he would ask God if he were to stay, will the people of that town hand him over or not. The priest tells David, Saul will come and the people will turn you over. So, David and his men leave. Listen to what happens:

1 Sam 23:13-14 13 So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there. 14 David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. The future God predicts does not come to passWhy?Because God can see every possible outcome of every potential move we make. God is never surprised by our decisions. But He does not* dictate them.

Listen, Jesus getting close to His own death is looking over Jerusalem and He has this reminiscent tender moment thinking about the people in this community… Listen…

Luke 13:34 34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Jesus, who is God, has longed - has willed - that Jerusalem would come to Him for protection, but THEY were not willing. God was willing, but they were not. God, in His grace, allows us to exert our own will on this world. This means, sometimes, things happen, because we live in a fallen world. It means some things happen because people are evil Sometimes bad things happen because mankind has gone our own way God warned Adam and Eve that death would enter the world if they abandoned Him for their own way. CLOSING: That can sound like God is calloused and was just like, “screw you, I’m out…” But that’ not what He did. God knew this was a potential eventuality, remember, he knew that all this could happen. So, God had a plan - this is His ultimate plan. Adam and Eve turn from Him and all mankind has continued to turn from Him, I even think that us thinking God would have a specific plan for our lives reveals just how deep our self-orientation has gone. To think the whole world must revolve around us. So, God looks at this, He calls a man named Abraham because Abraham will be the ancestor to Jesus. He rescues Joseph out of a well, so he can bring Israel to Egypt to save them from Famine, He will bring Moses at 80 years old out of retirement to lead His people out of the slavery Egypt has now put them in. He will call a red-headed shepherd boy to kill a giant and become King. He will work tirelessly to weave this thread throughout all of History to bring one moment in time where a baby will breathe its first breath so that it can die on a cross so He can save us from the brokenness of our relationship with God. God will do whatever it takes to keep His ultimate plan in place - to redeem humanity and bring about the restoration of all things. He would even die for you… If anything has ever drawn you to God, THAT was Him. It’s always been Him…

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People can say pretty dumb things when someone close to you dies, this week, Kent examines one of those things and the idea behind it to help us get a clearer picture of how Christians should view death and how to help you learn to grieve.When you give at Harmony, you are investing in life change and are Advancing the Kingdom! GIVE TODAY, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give . ------------------- Sermon Notes Slide Key:

• Sermons always start with “OPENING ILLUSTRATION:” and end with “CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:"
• All scriptures are NIV unless otherwise noted
• Bold = Slide text
• Bold Red = Scriptures (please reflect formatting of scripture on slides, i.e. - underlines, italics, etc.)
• “b" or “B” on a line by itself = Slide break/New slide
• Bold ALL CAPS WORDS = heading to be ignored
• [some text] = programming notes to be paid attention to

OPENING ILLUSTRATION: Over the past few years, we have all been dealing with grief at extraordinary rates. I don’t know very many people who have not experienced some kind of loss. I want to pre-warn you, today's sermon is about death and grief and I want to give you permission to be sad and to let yourself grieve today as I talk. We will even keep the lights low in the audience so you don’t have to let anyone see you… I was thinking about the first time I really experienced loss in a meaningful personal way. It was my Grandma Crockett. My grandad had been laying in bed next to her and realized that she was not responding right. I started rubbing her chest hard and calling out for her to wake up. She wouldn’t open her eyes but was breathing. He called the ambulance and the next thing I knew we were all in her room standing over her. She had an aneurysm in the brain - blood leaking out and causing swelling. My family didn’t quite know what to do, and since I was a pastor, I was put in a chair up near her to talk and pray with her. I’ve been in a lot of rooms when people have died, but this was the first one with someone I had loved deeply. Someone who had been in my life for as long as I’d been alive. I remember that night as I watched her take her terrible last breaths and her eyes opened looking at me feeling how wretched the whole thing was. It was the first funeral I had to play any part in as a pastor. And it was terrible… There is a period in your life - a window of sorts, where people will typically experience the grief of the loss of aging grandparents, and I was now in that window. It wouldn’t be too many years later that my Grandpa Wagner would pass away. I was a little more aware at that moment. He had been in the hospital and been dying - as nurses and doctors tell you to go tell him goodbye. And then miraculously he came back from it. Literally, within a day they didn’t know what to do and sent him home because he seemed so strong. I’ll never forget eating a sandwich with him in those days after and telling him, “Grandpa, you’ve been such a good grandpa, thank you. I love you!” Literally, a handful of days after going home and me eating that sandwich with him, he was back in the hospital and within hours slipped from this life with the terrible breathes of death. And this is where I remember people started talking… They probably did with my grandma, but not to me… But with my grandpa, people started saying things…People say dumb things all the time when people die - if you don’t know what to say by the way, just say, “I’m so sorry for your loss” But one of the most insidious things people say that betray’s a bad idea about God is: “God must have needed him more than we did” This sermon series is called,

Bad things Good Christians Believe

because there are things you can believe as a Christian that will literally shape the way you see and experience God. And if you don’t let those things conform to the reality of who God is, you will see a bad picture of God… The Problem: the problem with this idea is that “God must have needed him more than we did.” Is it betrays the same thing that the question, “why is God doing this to me?” The question assumes a God who does terrible things to those He claims to love. That’s literally what you are saying to a person…“Kent, I know you loved your grandpa a lot, but God ripped him from you because He wanted and needed him more than you did?” What? Why does God “Need” him? Why would God cause me this pain because he flippantly needed my grandpa and obviously I didn’t? Now I know, for some of you, this idea has maybe given you comfort. But I need you to see, that this idea actually paints God as a great goblin in the sky, precociously snatching people from life to death just cause He “wants to” This isn’t what the scripture actually says about God…

James 1:16-18 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created. God is good! God is the “good” giver… The idea that God does evil in your life does not match up with the God of the bible. Now, some of you may be saying, “Kent, have you ever read the Old Testament? God seems to always be coming against someone there” It’s true, if God has made a covenant with you and you have agreed to hold up a certain end, and you don’t keep up your end of the bargain, then God may make good on the terms of the contract. The covenant of the Old Testament was, “If you do… I will…”The covenant of the New Testament is “I did so you can…” God has taken all the risk His offer and His one commandment is literally Love So, why do good Christians say such bad things? I think most people say things like this because we think if someone’s death was not purposed then death is as terrible as it seems. Can I tell you something? Death is as terrible as it seems Stop trying to escape the pain of it.

If you have ever grieved someone and lived in this pain, you need to hear right now, that It’s ok for you to grieve the loss of a loved one. ILLUSTRATION: I remember struggling with this after my grandpa died. I knew I was supposed to say, “he’s in a better place now”, but it’s not how I felt. I felt like I wanted him here now. God didn’t need him…

I remember thinking, how is it that death feels like the most unnatural thing if it’s natural for us all to die? I was praying about this, and that’s when it hit me.

Death was not the creator's intention. Did you hear me? If you’ve ever felt like something went crazy wrong when a loved one died - you were right, death was not what humans were created for… In Genesis, God told Adam and Eve they could eat from every tree in the Garden - even the tree of life, except for one tree. If they ate from that tree “They would surely die” ILLUSTRATION: ever told a kid not to touch something? If you have and that kid touched that thing - then you have experienced the sin of humankind. In that moment, God spoke this curse over humans - the curse of death

Gen. 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Death entered the world as man turned their back on a relationship with God to try and control their own destiny… Actually, I believe God gave death as a mercy. Because as humans embraced evil, God needed a way to limit the damage we could do with that evil. Death was a means by which to ensure that evil men and women would not endure forever. So, if you are God, what do you do? Your creation has turned their back on you and you have had to pull the nuclear option - keep them from being able to eat from the tree of life and live forever. God allows death to reign in humans - us being subject to the law of good and evil, constantly losing, never being good enough. God waits through the pain of evil in this world, realizing that either He deals with evil ultimately and removes humans or He bears with it so He can bring the ultimate solution. Rather than you paying for the gravity of your sin and your own rebellion to God. He paves the way for His son to come to the earth to pay for your sins and die for you, to buy you back from out beneath the weight of the law of good and evil and to let His sacrifice make a way for you to know God again. God goes through death to set us free from the shackles of death. Jesus knew this, that’s why when His buddy Lazarus had died and Lazarus’ sister Martha is talking to Jesus about it, He tells her this… John 11:25-26 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” It’s because, for those who love Jesus, physical death is terrible because we lose the loved one's presence - but we know we have not lost the loved one. A Christian never dies, they only translate to the next life. CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: After my dad died, I remember being so struck by the grief - there were days when I would be walking through Walmart and hear a song that reminded me of him that I would just start weeping. I was reading this book, called Room of Marvels where this author imagines going to heaven and talking to a bunch of people that he loved that had died. He is talking to them and asking them questions and he says to one guy, “when you died…” and the person stops him and says, “dead, I’m not dead, I’m more alive than I’ve ever been!” That’s when it hit me. It’s ok to grieve, but grief does not have to be absent of joy. Because when someone knew Jesus, joy is right there with you. Today, some of you need to turn to Jesus to take away the sting of death… to find the resurrection and the life!