Heaven is a Person: Reframing Our Eternal Hope

• The Nature of Heaven and Resurrection [00:28:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the popular view that heaven is a faraway place in the future, arguing instead that Jesus reframes it as a person present in the now.
• [John 11](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+11&version=KJV) and the Resurrection of Lazarus [00:26:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The sermon analyzes the biblical account of Lazarus, highlighting Jesus' claim 'I am the resurrection and the life' and its significance in leading to Jesus' crucifixion.
• Father's Day and Cultural Tropes [00:24:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses humor and cultural stereotypes about 'Mom heaven' vs. 'Dad heaven' to engage the audience before pivoting to the theological message.
• Eternal Questions in the Human Heart [00:28:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Ecclesiastes 3:11 to explain that the universal human question of 'what happens after I die?' is placed in the heart by God.
• The Delay of God and Divine Timing [00:33:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the apparent contradiction of Jesus delaying his arrival to Lazarus's sickness, correcting the idea that Jesus let Lazarus die to teach a lesson by calculating the timeline to show Lazarus was already dead when the messenger arrived.
• Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life [00:36:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights Jesus's direct claim to Martha, identifying this interaction as the heart of the story and posing the question 'Do you believe this?' as the central challenge for the congregation.
• Worldviews on Afterlife (Secularism, Pharisaism, Gnosticism) [00:37:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts three historical and modern views of heaven: the secularist view (nothing after death), the Pharisaic view (judgment by deeds), and the Hellenistic/Gnostic view (disembodied spiritual escape), arguing that Jesus's statement dismantles all three frameworks.
• The Nature of Heaven and Cultural Experience [00:43:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using an analogy of international fans experiencing America (food, cars, size) during the World Cup, the pastor illustrates how encountering a new reality can reshape one's understanding of 'heaven' or ultimate fulfillment, moving beyond abstract concepts to tangible experience.
• The Nature of Heaven [00:47:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor reframes heaven from a physical location (place) to a relational encounter with Jesus (person), citing John 11:25 and John 17:3.
• Fatherhood and Identity [00:54:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor applies the theological concept to earthly fathers, arguing their primary job is to speak identity and belonging to their children, rather than just providing material resources.
• Divine Presence and Restoration [00:56:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the biblical arc of history as heaven coming to earth, culminating in Revelation 21, where God dwells with people and wipes away tears.
• Eschatology and God's Presence [00:56:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that heaven coming to earth is the continuation of Jesus' first coming, citing Revelation 21 where God dwells among people, wiping away tears.
• Fatherhood and Intimacy [00:57:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > Uses a personal anecdote about wiping his children's tears to illustrate the intimate, close nature of God's desire to be with His people, contrasting a 'distant someday dad' with a 'present one.'
• Practical Spiritual Discipline [00:58:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions into a guided prayer experience, instructing the congregation to slow down, close their eyes, and practice drawing near to God rather than trying to do life on their own.
• Indwelling Spirit and Burden Bearing [01:00:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Cites 1 Corinthians 3:16 to remind the congregation that God's Spirit dwells inside them, closer than their own hand to their heart, and invites them to physically press their shoulders to acknowledge burdens they can hand over to God.
• Receiving Joy and Grace [01:02:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Encourages the congregation to ask God for joy and help, citing Hebrews 4:16 and Psalm 16:11, using the physical gesture of holding hands out to receive a gift.

• Sermon Illustration [00:24:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells two 'dad jokes' (melons eloping, pterodactyl pee) and contrasts 'Mom heaven' (quiet, flowers, origami food) with 'Dad heaven' (loud, trucks, V8 engines) to illustrate cultural differences in imagining the afterlife.
• Sermon Illustration [00:27:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about visiting the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany, describing the physical experience of walking down stairs into the ground and noting the historical reverence of the site.
• Sermon Illustration [00:30:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a friend who collects and reframes vintage folk art to explain how Jesus 'reframes' the concept of resurrection and heaven, increasing its value rather than lowering it.
• Sermon Illustration [00:33:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor jokes about his wife getting mad when he makes her wait, comparing his behavior to Jesus's delay in visiting Lazarus.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the book 'Sapiens' and its author's view that the universe is a 'meaningless hodgepodge of atoms' to illustrate the secularist/atheist worldview.
• Sermon Illustration [00:41:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a childhood memory of a lady named Martha playing terrible organ music in church, leading him to question if heaven is just floating on clouds singing hymns.
• Sermon Illustration [00:43:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an extended analogy of international fans at the World Cup in America being amazed by Texas barbecue, large cars (Jeep Wagoneer), and oversized drinks to illustrate how encountering a new reality (like Jesus's resurrection) can completely reshape one's understanding of heaven.
• Sermon Illustration [00:45:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about the massive size of American cars (Jeep Wagoneer) and drinks in Texas to set up a contrast with the true nature of heaven.
• Sermon Illustration [00:49:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal testimony of a man named Jesse, who struggled with addiction and speech impediments, found recovery and baptism at Crossroads, and was told by God 'I'm worthy' and 'I call you son.'
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical scenario about Lazarus being raised from the dead to illustrate that being brought back to Jesus' presence is superior to being in a physical 'heaven' without Him.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story about his children skinning their knees and him wiping their tears to illustrate the intimate, close nature of God's presence and comfort.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story about his children skinning their knees and running to him crying. He describes scooping them into his arms and wiping the tears from their eyes nose-to-nose as an intimate act, using this to illustrate how God desires a close, present relationship with believers.
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a physical analogy of a weighted backpack strap pressing into the shoulder to help the congregation identify the specific burdens they are carrying that are too heavy to bear alone.

• Pastoral Charge [00:01:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand and participate in corporate worship singing
• Pastoral Charge [00:29:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > Engage in corporate prayer to invite God's presence
• Pastoral Charge [00:39:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > To 'keep going' and 'lean into' the instinct for eternity and meaning, refusing to settle for a secular worldview.
• Pastoral Charge [00:56:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > Speak words of identity and love to children before Father's Day.
• Pastoral Charge [00:58:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stay in the sanctuary and participate in the prayer experience instead of leaving early.
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > Close eyes to focus on the prayer experience.
• Pastoral Charge [01:03:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray specifically for joy from God.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:00:00] Well, hey, welcome to Crossroads. We are so glad you're joining us. I don't know what the weather's like where you are, but it is beautiful here. And it just feels like one of those perfect summer weekends. There's so much good things. We want so much to celebrate. It is Juneteenth weekend, celebrating the message of freedom and hope, reaching the final people. We've got incredible things happening. It's Father's Day, celebrating the best of what fathers bring when they love, serve, and sacrifice for their families. And man, we also got people from all over the world.
[00:00:32] world coming together to celebrate the World Cup, rooting for their teams. I watched Norway and Sweden yesterday. I haven't cared that much about what's going on in Norway in a long time. It was beautiful. Such a great weekend. But with all the things going on, you're spending part of your
[00:00:48] weekend here with us, looking to grow spiritually. And we're so pumped to see what God will do in you and through you with this time. We're going to start off our time spending some time
[00:00:59] Connecting with God through worship.
[00:01:01] We'd love it if you'd stand and sing with us right now.
[00:01:03] Use these songs to connect with God.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:11:32] Robbie set us up like that because this next moment is all about fathers.

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:16:38] I'm a father myself.
[00:16:39] I have a father.
[00:16:40] So do you.
[00:16:41] And I want to take this opportunity to say a special prayer and blessing over all the fathers.
[00:16:45] Adoptive fathers, biological fathers, spiritual fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, mentors.
[00:16:50] if you find yourself occupying the space of fatherhood, hey, I just wanna invite you right now, close your eyes, maybe even stretch out your hands as just a sign you wanna receive something because I want to pray a special blessing over you.
[00:17:02] Father God, you chose fatherhood to reveal something of yourself to us.
[00:17:07] Not because earthly fathers are perfect, but because when we are at our best, we reveal something important about you and your love for us.
[00:17:16] So we bless all of these fathers here today and we ask that you be present with them.
[00:17:19] may they feel your love, your acceptance, and your affirmation right now. Help them to keep showing up, to help keep having hard conversations, to keep coaching, mentoring, and serving and sacrificing. Because the world needs them and needs us desperately. Encourage them and give
[00:17:40] them the blessing of knowing that their presence makes a real difference in people's lives.
[00:17:45] Help them to be even more patient, more humble, more courageous, more generous, and more faithful.
[00:17:52] All the things that you are to us.
[00:17:53] God, thank you for the gift of these men.
[00:17:56] They make us better.
[00:17:57] They matter.
[00:17:58] And we love them dearly.
[00:18:00] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:18:03] And, you know, being a dad is one of the biggest gifts in my life.
[00:18:07] I've got three kids, my son, Andrew, and my two daughters, Ella and Mariah.
[00:18:12] And getting to watch my kids grow, learn, and become who Jesus intends them to be is just an amazing thing.
[00:18:20] And honestly, it's one of the things that I love about Crossroads, about this place.
[00:18:24] This is a place where I have grown and grown up.
[00:18:26] It's a place where people take their next steps and they just discover more of who God is and who God wants them to be.
[00:18:33] And they do it alongside other people.
[00:18:34] I just heard an amazing example and story of how someone took a step towards God and experienced more of God's presence and joy in their life actually through the discipline of giving and actually had them send me the email because I did not want to mess up a single word of what this
[00:18:51] person said let me just read it to you right now they said truthfully the idea of giving financially has been a hard topic for me to grasp I understood putting some money in a basket growing up but I
[00:19:02] did not understand the idea of giving more than that. I just understood it to mean that I was providing money to help the church continue to pay bills, etc. And in the small churches I grew
[00:19:11] up attending, that's exactly what it meant. However, since coming to Crossroads, I've seen that money goes well beyond the walls of the church. I've also seen the generosity that Crossroads gives firsthand when an emergency hits a family. I've also seen how Crossroads
[00:19:26] puts church into language that I and others can understand that wasn't made available at a traditional church. Now I feel like it would be reckless for me to be attending Crossroads and not be participating financially in that change. Crossroads has truly made an impact in our lives.
[00:19:44] And that's so good. I love that perspective because that's what generosity looks at its best. It's not guilt or obligation. It's participation in what God is doing. And you can argue with lots of things. You can argue with me, but arguing with somebody's like lived
[00:20:01] experience with their story is just a different thing. So for this person and for me, giving is one of the ways that we join God and what he's already doing. It's a practical act of worship
[00:20:10] that says, I believe God and I trust you. And I believe in the mission of what you have for me.
[00:20:16] Man, I love that picture. And I don't know what your story is. I don't know how long you've been around Crossroads, but maybe even around a few months, maybe this place is starting to feel
[00:20:25] like a spiritual home for you. I just want to encourage you. Hey, you should check this out.
[00:20:30] this is something God invites us into. Why? Yeah, because there's life change, but not just for the church, not just for those on the inside. It's for the generous things that God's doing outside of this place. And if you're interested in that all, again, maybe you've been coming to Crossroads
[00:20:45] for some time, maybe a few months, or this place is home for you. Hey, I'm talking to you right now.
[00:20:50] I would love, love, love for you to go to crossroads.net slash give. Now, the coolest thing about this is not just what this guy said. It's not just this one example of him experiencing more freedom and more purpose around his finances. We are actually celebrating this guy's life has
[00:21:08] been turned around from the inside out. In just like five weeks, this guy is going to be baptized here at Crossroads. I love that. So hey, maybe you've been wondering about whether or not baptism
[00:21:18] is right for you. Your next opportunity is going to be August 2nd. It's part of our Anywhere community. We have baptized people all over the globe. And if you are considering that step or ready to take it, hey, we will help figure out how to make it happen. We've gone to people,
[00:21:33] we've brought them here. There's all kinds of different ways for this to work, but this is important step for you and your walk with God. And we want to help you take it. If you've got
[00:21:41] questions or want to sign up, go to crossroads.net slash baptism. Now, all the things we do around here are designed to help you experience more of God in your life. I got one more for you. It's
[00:21:50] called The Marriage Community. For many of us, we know healthy marriages don't happen by accident. They happen when we intentionally invest in building something that lasts and stronger. This is actually something my wife, Rachel, and I lead. It's been so helpful in
[00:22:03] our marriage and we want that for you too. If you're interested in that, you can go to crossroads.net slash marriage dash community. It's all online designed for you to grow when you've got time. We're going to jump in. So we continue in our series called The Jesus Exhibit,
[00:22:16] looking at the self-portraits of Jesus, these seven I am statements where he says, I am the resurrection and the life. We're going to hear from our lead pastor, Kyle Ranson, about what

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:22:25] that looks like. Let's do that right now. Where are we in the Bible? We're in the New Testament in the gospel, according to John. This is a firsthand biography of Jesus by one of his
[00:22:40] closest friends. In it, John records seven iconic I am statements that Jesus made. Seven metaphors, seven self-portraits of the living God. This week, Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:22:57] Here's how it goes in the book of John chapter 11. Now, when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in a tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of
[00:23:10] the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went and met him but Mary remained seated in the house Martha said
[00:23:21] to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now I know that whatever you ask from God God will give you Jesus said to her your brother will rise again Martha
[00:23:34] said to him I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:23:44] Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
[00:23:48] And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
[00:23:53] Do you believe this?

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:24:03] Well, hey, everybody.
[00:24:04] Happy Father's Day.
[00:24:06] Good to be with you.
[00:24:08] My name is Kyle.
[00:24:09] If we've never met before, I'm a lead pastor here at Crossroads.
[00:24:12] It is Father's Day and I'm a dad.
[00:24:15] And so I get to start this message however I want to, which is with a dad joke.
[00:24:21] Why do melons have weddings?
[00:24:25] Because they can't elope.
[00:24:27] That's why.
[00:24:30] Now, that was a good dad joke because it was like you kind of half laughed and you half groaned.
[00:24:36] That's what you're going for with the dad joke.
[00:24:38] One more.
[00:24:39] Why can't you hear a pterodactyl going to the bathroom?
[00:24:43] Because the pee is silent.
[00:24:46] You got to think about that one.
[00:24:48] You don't really spill pterodactyl that often, do you?
[00:24:50] That's why you were like, what?
[00:24:51] How does... Today we've got, I think, an appropriate message for Father's Day. I think a message that God had mapped out a long time ago for you, actually. It's a message about heaven, which might seem a little bit odd. You know, everybody has a different kind of version of heaven. Mom
[00:25:08] heaven is not like dad heaven. That's why Mother's Day celebrations look different than Father's Day celebrations. Mom heaven, I've never been there. I'm not an expert on mom heaven. I don't claim to be anything like that. But when I imagine mom heaven, it's like perpetual spring. You know,
[00:25:22] there's trees with flowers on them everywhere and it's really quiet because no one's bothering you no one's like this doesn't happen at all all your food's like these beautiful sculptural origami looking things little tiny portions but you love it that's probably that's like mom heaven that's
[00:25:39] not dad heaven that's not what we want on father's day actually dad heaven there's trees but there's not flowers on them there's just bush lights growing out of the branches you can pick whatever you want to. And it's not quiet. It's loud because we all get a truck with a V8 in it. It's awesome.
[00:25:56] That's dad heaven. They're talking about heaven today because Jesus makes this claim, John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. In this series, the seven self-portraits of the Son of God, these things that Jesus said about himself, not metaphors, but actually each a claim of his
[00:26:16] divinity. Now, this one today from John 11 is a very, very significant scene for a couple different reasons. One, because Jesus actually resurrects a dead guy. Dude's been dead four days, Lazarus, and Jesus calls him out of the tomb and it actually happens. That's very significant.
[00:26:36] And then number two, this is actually the thing that gets Jesus killed. Like right after it happens, all the religious leaders, the Pharisees, they'll huddle up and they're like, we got to kill him and Lazarus because we don't want this dead guy walking around. This is not, it's not going
[00:26:51] to go good for us. So, you know, kind of a bummer for Lazarus. Like you were just dead, now you're back and then you're going to be dead again. But that's how the story goes. Now I've actually been
[00:27:00] to the place where many believe this happened. I've been able to study the story in detail. This is the outside of Lazarus' tomb. And if you go inside, you actually walk down a few flights of
[00:27:09] stairs deeper and deeper into the ground until you reach this hole in the ground. You can see my friend Rob here has to duck down. I don't. I just kind of walk through pretty easily. Advantage
[00:27:22] of being short. You get to this little tomb here and, you know, you kind of see what it might have looked like. And you might go like, is this the real thing? I don't know. What we do know is it
[00:27:33] wasn't this tomb. It was one very, very nearby because the town where this happened, Bethany, has been marked and revered and studied for centuries because of this event. Why? Because this moment of Jesus saying, I am the resurrection and the life, it tops into the bullseye of one of
[00:27:54] the deepest, most universal human questions that we all have. One that I'm willing to bet whether you've followed Jesus for a long time or whether you don't even know what you believe, you still have unanswered questions about. And that question is, what happens after I die? All of us wonder
[00:28:13] that at some point. We have different ideas and philosophies and kind of hope certain things. And it's not an accident that this happens for all of us. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3.11, he has also set eternity in the human heart. In other words, God has put this question there
[00:28:33] because it's one that he wants us to ask.
[00:28:37] Now, whether you believe in God or not, there's kind of this popular version or view of heaven right now.
[00:28:44] It has kind of three points to it.
[00:28:45] One, heaven is a place, and that place is there, somewhere else, wherever there is, not here.
[00:28:54] And it's then, like in the future, it's not now.
[00:28:59] And as such, I find that many Christians seem to believe that the goal of life is to one day get to the faraway place called heaven. And what's crazy is in this one single story of healing this dead guy, Jesus explodes all three of those points.
[00:29:19] In fact, he makes this claim that heaven's not a place, he's a person. And he's not far away somewhere else. He's actually right here with you right now. And I'll just tell you from the
[00:29:32] beginning, if you choose to believe that, it will change your entire life. Because when you believe that heaven is a place, you'll spend your entire life trying to figure out how to get to that place.
[00:29:43] But when you believe that heaven is a person, you'll spend your life trying to figure out how to know and to be with that person right here and right now. My hope is that no matter what you
[00:29:55] believe, that today you encounter God, that you actually physically feel his presence in a way maybe you haven't ever before in your life. That's what I'm hoping for. Why don't you pray with me before we go any farther. God, I'm inviting you into this space. Wherever we are and all of our
[00:30:12] rooms at Crossroads and every house where someone is watching this and every car, Lord, maybe it's Maybe it's weeks from now, maybe it's years from now, since this message was given and someone is sitting
[00:30:22] and they're wanting to connect with you, wherever we are, God, I'm asking you to show up powerfully, presently, personally with us today.
[00:30:30] Amen.
[00:30:32] Now, in this art museum metaphor, the seven self-portraits, and following the art museum metaphor, I would say this is a reframing of resurrection, heaven, and eternity that Jesus does.
[00:30:42] I was talking to a guy earlier this week, I just met, and he was telling me that his hobby is actually collecting vintage folk art and reframing it because it increases in value when you reframe it.
[00:30:53] And I had two thoughts.
[00:30:54] Number one was like, dude, you need a new hobby.
[00:30:56] Like that's, I mean, motorcycles, you know, hunting, golf, like underwater basket weaving.
[00:31:02] There's a lot of better options.
[00:31:03] I don't, anything is better than that.
[00:31:05] But then two, I was like, that's actually kind of a perfect example of what Jesus does here because he radically changes views on heaven and resurrection, even the ones you might hold right now, but he doesn't lower the value.
[00:31:16] he actually increases the value. It actually gets way more value than we could have ever possibly imagined. Now, we're going to dive into this story. We're going to go through it in detail. But some quick background first. The characters in the scene are important.
[00:31:30] You got Jesus. You got his disciples. But then you also have a crowd of people. And it's a diverse crowd of people because Bethany, where this happens, is two miles away from this cosmopolitan city, Jerusalem, that all kinds of different people from all over the world. And so you've
[00:31:45] got some Jewish mindset people, some Jewish faith people, for sure, yes, they're there. And though also, you have a lot of Hellenists. The Hellenists are the people who basically follow Greek religion, Greek philosophy, even in that day, and they're in the crowd. And then you've got this family,
[00:32:01] this brother Lazarus, who's died, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. And this isn't like a random family. These are actually some of Jesus's closest friends on the entire planet.
[00:32:16] In fact, it's true that you might be able to say there's no family in this moment when this story takes place that's closer to Jesus than them. Their house has become kind of his home away from
[00:32:26] home whenever he's in Jerusalem. If you read those stories in the gospel, chances are he's staying with this family in Jerusalem all of Holy Week. He's staying with them. In fact, the last place his head ever hits the pillow before the cross? At their house. Significant, significant family.
[00:32:44] Now, here's how the story begins in John 11, verse 1. It says, Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the
[00:32:59] Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. That happens one chapter later in John 12. So the sister sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. When he heard this, Jesus said, this
[00:33:11] sickness will not end in death. No, it's for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick,
[00:33:26] he stayed where he was two more days. Kind of a weird part of the story. Jesus is like, hey, because I love you, I'm going to stay here and make you wait. And this is a part of the Bible
[00:33:40] I wish my wife would read because she gets mad at me when I make her wait. And you know what?
[00:33:44] I'm just being like Jesus, you know? It's because I love you. I heard no. Someone's like, no. Yeah, it's Father's Day. You know, I can say that. It's just good. As I point in the story, you know,
[00:33:57] people kind of get a little bit confused. They're like, okay, so Jesus is making them, when Jesus decides to let Lazarus die here to teach them a lesson? Actually, no, that's not what happens. How do we know that? Well, we know that where Jesus is in this moment was one day's
[00:34:13] journey from Bethany. As we'll read in just a little bit, we know that when Jesus gets to Bethany, Lazarus has been dead for four days. And so if you do the math, one day for Messner to get there,
[00:34:24] two days of Jesus waiting, one day for Jesus to travel to Bethany, and you work backwards, what you discover is that Lazarus actually died on the same day that the messenger left town to go get Jesus. By the time the messenger got there, he's already dead. There's a lesson in that.
[00:34:41] Think about this for a minute. The family that was arguably closer to Jesus than any other family alive at that time, apparently even for them, turning to Jesus for help wasn't their first instinct. It was their last resort. And by the time they did it, it was too late. And this is
[00:35:00] many of us in our lives. We treat Jesus not as our first instinct for help. We treat him as the last resort because we think he's very far away. No, no, not at all. As you'll find out, not at all.
[00:35:14] Story continues in verse 17. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now, Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to
[00:35:27] Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had
[00:35:40] been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he'll rise again
[00:35:55] in the resurrection at the last day. And then Jesus leans in. He looks her in the eyes and he says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die.
[00:36:11] and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? I don't know how long it took Martha to answer, but eventually she says, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
[00:36:27] the Son of God who has come into the world. After this, Jesus goes to the tomb. He calls Lazarus out and the dead man walks out wrapped in grave clothes. Jesus says, unwrap him, unwrap him. But
[00:36:41] The center cut of the story, the heart of the story isn't actually Lazarus walking out of the tomb.
[00:36:46] It's this interaction that Jesus has with Martha where he says, I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:36:52] Do you believe this?
[00:36:55] And I think that's the same question that Jesus has for each one of us today.
[00:36:58] Do you believe this?
[00:37:00] And if you do believe it, what exactly does that mean?
[00:37:05] What difference is it making to your life today?
[00:37:08] What difference does it make tomorrow?
[00:37:09] What difference does it make yesterday?
[00:37:10] day. What does that actually mean? It taps into what your view of resurrection, eternity, and heaven are. Now back then in this moment, as Jesus is saying this thing, there's actually three views of heaven present in the audience. And I'd say they're actually the three same views that are
[00:37:27] present with us today. The first one is the view that there's basically nothing after life. There is no such thing as resurrection. There is no such thing as heaven. And it might surprise you to know
[00:37:38] that that actually, that view, that was held by a large percent of people even 2,000 years ago.
[00:37:45] The group back then was called the Sadducees in Judaism. They were the group who were sort of culturally Jewish, but they didn't believe in any life after life. They just thought everything we see is kind of all that there is. When you die, there's nothing. Today, we'd call those people
[00:38:00] secularists. The bullseye of that group would be the atheists. This idea that sort of life is just meaningless. We're a random collection of atoms. There was a book that kind of burst on the scene about a dozen years ago by an Israeli military historian, took the world by storm.
[00:38:17] Bill Gates was suggesting to read it, Mark Zuckerberg, kind of all the people. It's called Sapiens. You might have read it. It's about the history of humankind. But really, if you read it, it's about the philosophy or the worldview of secularism. This is what the author said in the
[00:38:33] book, is that in itself, the universe is only a meaningless hodgepodge of atoms. Nothing is beautiful, sacred, or sexy. The human feelings make it so. Any meaning that people ascribe to their lives is just a delusion. That's kind of the most honest view that arises from it. This is all
[00:38:59] that there is. If we came from nothing and we go to nothing, then the in-between is also nothing.
[00:39:07] Meaningless. This is a gospel that's been preached over our world for going on a century. And what I find encouraging, actually, is that the younger generations, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, are rejecting this.
[00:39:18] They're shaking the dust off of the narrative that's been handing to them because they find it so deeply unsatisfying. And I just want to say, if you're part of the younger generations, Crossroads, uptown, other sites, wherever you are. I just want to say, keep going. Lean into that. That's
[00:39:31] an instinct that God gave you. He planted eternity in your heart. Do not settle for a worldview that doesn't fit your experience of the world, that there is meaning, that there is beauty, that there
[00:39:42] is hope. God put that there. Follow that instinct. Now, the second group that was present then and now is a group that believes in bodily resurrection, judgment based on your own deeds. This was the
[00:39:56] group called the Pharisees back then, the religious leaders, and they believed in a someday eventual resurrection that at the end of world history, whenever that is, everybody who's ever died would be resurrected in bodily form all at once. Each of us would stand before the judgment
[00:40:12] seat of God and be judged based on our deeds. And the good people, them, get to go to the good place, heaven. And then the bad people, everybody else, gets to go to the bad place, hell. That's kind of
[00:40:23] Their view, that might overlap with some of your own viewpoints on heaven and hell and such things.
[00:40:30] And then there's this third group, the group who sort of believe that the afterlife was like this spiritual disembodied state. It was called the Hellenists back then. I would call this general spirituality now. The idea is that what we see in the world, the physical, it's like a prison,
[00:40:49] you know. Maybe you've heard somebody say, you know, my body is a meat suit and I'm just gonna one day I'm going to escape it. I'm going to fly away to heaven. The real me, my soul, will leave
[00:40:59] the prison of the physical, my meat suit, and I'll go off to heaven and I'll live in this sort of disembodied spiritual state. This was kind of what heaven sounded like to me as a kid in the
[00:41:09] different church environments I was in. It was like one day when you die, you'll go to heaven and you'll kind of float around on a cloud and you'll sing hymns to Jesus all day long. And they
[00:41:21] would tell me this as I was in church and some lady ironically named Martha was banging out some song on the organ that I found terrible. And I was like, you're telling me heaven is singing songs
[00:41:29] like this on a cloud. That sounds terrible, frankly. Like, is there a different option, you know? And if you've ever felt like that, you're like, man, I can't really wrap my brain around what I've heard heaven described because that's what it sounds like. Good news, that's not
[00:41:45] Jesus, that's actually Plato. That is Greek philosophy. This idea that the physical is really, really bad and the spiritual is a really, really good thing. It actually formed the first heresy that the church ever had to deal with. It's called Gnosticism. Even when the New Testament
[00:42:03] was being written, the beginnings of it, Proto-Gnosticism were around. It's why if you read in some of the letters that John and Paul and others wrote, they're very, very clear talking about the physical as good, being really specific that Jesus came in bodily form, because that's a
[00:42:18] rumor that started. They're like, well, you know, all the physical is bad, and so Jesus didn't really come in the body. Jesus came in the spirit. He was like a hologram walking around. It's called
[00:42:27] docetism. It means to seem, like Jesus just seemed physical. And the writer said, no, no, no, no, you've got it all entirely wrong. Entirely wrong. Now, to all three audiences, Jesus said the same thing, and they heard the same thing. I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?
[00:42:54] And when he said it, no matter who you were in the audience, all three audiences had their framework of what heaven looks like, what heaven is completely remade. Us Ransoms, we're absolutely in the World Cup. We love the World Cup. We are gorging ourselves, I might say, on the World Cup.
[00:43:12] I don't care who's playing. Uzbekistan, Curaçao, I'm in. I love Uzbekistan soccer. It's amazing.
[00:43:20] It's great. We're watching all the games. But as much as the games are great, it's not actually my favorite thing about the World Cup. It's the fans. And it's seeing their experience when they come to America. It's awesome. I saw this article on ESPN the other day. Blew my mind. Scotland fans
[00:43:38] drink Boston dry as local bars run out of beer. The article said they drink triple the beer that normally sells on St. Patrick's Day. Like when you out drink the Irish by a factor of three,
[00:43:51] you should get a gold medal or a new liver or maybe both. I don't know. It's incredible.
[00:43:58] People are getting over here and they're just loving it.
[00:44:00] Seeing people from other countries come to America and have their minds blown is incredible.
[00:44:04] I don't know if you've seen the videos on social, but they're things like this.
[00:44:07] Check this out.

[00:44:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:44:10] Amazing!

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:44:11] First bite, man.
[00:44:13] Bob came all the way from Japan.
[00:44:15] It's his first time trying Texas barbecue.

[00:44:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:44:17] I'm excited!

[00:44:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:44:18] Let's do it.

[00:44:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:44:19] Oh my God!
[00:44:21] How big is that?

[00:44:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:44:22] All right, first bite.

[00:44:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:44:24] First bite, man.
[00:44:26] That's your first ever bite of Texas barbecue.
[00:44:28] What do you think?

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:44:28] Amazing! Like not hard, the texture, tender, umami, delicious.
[00:44:36] Mwah!
[00:44:37] Tremolo.
[00:44:39] Oh good, good, good.
[00:44:41] Amazing!

[00:44:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:44:45] That's great. Not just the food people love, they even love our cars. Check this out.

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:44:50] Bloody love driving in America. This is such a pleasure. It's such an absolute pleasure.
[00:44:59] pleasure we've had to change our car purely because we needed to um the old car had a service but we've got this jeep wagoneer it's massive it is huge um the air conditioning is amazing
[00:45:12] the screen is amazing i'm even getting cold air blowing up my bottom i love being in america i love american cars i love american roads and we are having the best time of our lives

[00:45:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:45:26] Okay, one more.
[00:45:30] Let's watch one more.

[00:45:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]
[00:45:34] What?
[00:45:35] I ask a medium size.
[00:45:37] That's medium.
[00:45:38] But it's medium.
[00:45:39] Madonna.
[00:45:40] My entire family can drink from here for one month.
[00:45:43] So this is a medium size?
[00:45:45] Yeah.
[00:45:46] Madonna.
[00:45:46] We're in Texas.
[00:45:47] Everything is bigger.
[00:45:48] But also, why you have to pay more for a bigger size if I have the free refill?
[00:45:53] Because that you can take out and you just have it for the entire day.
[00:45:56] But there is no sense.
[00:45:58] You have the free refill.
[00:45:59] You know, how many calories is this? How many? I don't know at least two plate of pasta. Is it good though?
[00:46:05] Your sugar is good for sure. It's good. All right, take it.
[00:46:10] No

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:46:20] I love it. What's happening is all these people are coming here and they're like I found heaven on earth It's America big food and big cars and big drinks. It's perfect. I love it Now I want you to imagine for you
[00:46:33] what would heaven look like maybe it's not texas barbecue and jeep wagon here so whatever is imagine that would there be mountains in your heaven we have mountains beaches you may have a beach in your heaven crystal clear waters maybe it's the caribbean or hawaii or for me i would
[00:46:52] have i'd have mountains i have the swiss alps and i'd have the beaches of maui and then i'd have like a little bit of ohio woods because i'm a country boy from the woods i gotta have my gotta
[00:46:59] I was. I don't know what you would have, but imagine heaven. And now like 10x it in your mind.
[00:47:05] Make it 10 times better. I don't know how you do that, but like maybe it's got better colors or the mountains get even bigger, the water gets even clearer, whatever it is. Imagine that place.
[00:47:14] Okay, now whatever you're imagining, if you're imagining a place, you're not imagining anything that's even categorically close to heaven because heaven's not a place, He's a person.
[00:47:27] And this is the big idea.
[00:47:28] This is the complete reframing that Jesus does when it comes to heaven.
[00:47:33] Because look what Jesus says.
[00:47:34] He says, I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:47:38] I am the resurrection and the life that follows afterwards.
[00:47:42] In other words, heaven is standing right here in front of you.
[00:47:47] This is the reframing from a place to a person.
[00:47:51] And the universal question then changes.
[00:47:53] not from how one day do I get to heaven?
[00:47:57] How do I get to this faraway place in the distant future?
[00:47:59] Instead, it becomes, how do I get to know him and experience his presence right here and right now?
[00:48:07] This is Jesus.
[00:48:08] He says, I'm the destination.
[00:48:10] A few chapters later in John 17, 3, he illuminates it even more.
[00:48:14] He says, this is eternal life.
[00:48:17] This is life in heaven.
[00:48:19] This is what we're aiming for, that they know you, the only true God, in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
[00:48:28] This is eternal life.
[00:48:30] This is heaven.
[00:48:32] Not metaphorically, not like, it is.
[00:48:37] I used to read this story and I would read the story and I would think, man, this story sucks for Lazarus.
[00:48:44] He's the loser in the story.
[00:48:46] You know, because think about it.
[00:48:46] You're like, Lazarus dies.
[00:48:49] He goes to heaven.
[00:48:50] It's awesome.
[00:48:50] He's in his mansion in the sky.
[00:48:52] He's got a bushlight tree in his backyard.
[00:48:53] He's living his best life.
[00:48:54] It's awesome.
[00:48:56] And then Jesus comes along, rips him out of heaven and brings him back to earth.
[00:49:00] He walks out of the tomb.
[00:49:01] How bum would you be if you're Lazarus?
[00:49:03] And then I realized, oh man, I'm viewing it through a lens that's not Jesus's lens.
[00:49:10] If you view it through Jesus's lens, Lazarus wasn't ripped out of heaven.
[00:49:14] Lazarus was raised out of the grave and brought back into the presence of heaven himself.
[00:49:21] This is what Jesus means when he says, I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:49:26] Heaven's being with him.
[00:49:28] He is your home.
[00:49:31] He is life.
[00:49:33] The amazing thing at Crossroads is that we've seen thousands and thousands of people, thousands of us, my own story, my wife's own story, of being brought back to life.
[00:49:41] Not someday, not later, but right here, right now.
[00:49:46] Many of us, including people just like Jesse.

[00:49:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:49:51] Growing up, I was raised in a Baptist church.
[00:49:55] I understood God.
[00:49:55] I understood what he meant, but I never felt it.
[00:49:59] I was spoken out about not believing in God.
[00:50:02] I had a speech impediment.
[00:50:03] Most people couldn't understand me until I was about seven or eight years old.
[00:50:07] I always felt behind.
[00:50:08] I always felt different.
[00:50:10] That little boy just wanted to fit in, wanted to be a part of something that I never felt I was a part of.
[00:50:16] You know, I was a big frat-type partier, drinker, and fell into the wrong crowd.
[00:50:23] Cocaine was introduced in my life.
[00:50:25] Started as fun, started as a scene, and then as time went on, it consumed me, took everything away from me.
[00:50:34] I've had five roommates, two of them are dead, one's in jail.
[00:50:40] You do unimaginable things that you never thought you were possible doing in addiction.
[00:50:45] I was morally defeated. I was broken. I failed as a son, failed as a father, failed as a husband, lost my job.
[00:50:59] I couldn't decide if my kids were better off with an addict as a father or no father at all.
[00:51:08] I had called my dealer. I'm sure I lied to my wife to get out of the house.
[00:51:14] as I was coming up to Crossroads Oakley to meet my dealer and the sign read, Thursday night baptisms, you have a seat there.
[00:51:23] I walked into Crossroads, never been there.
[00:51:25] I watched people get baptized, come out of that water and have grace and forgiveness I didn't have for myself anymore.
[00:51:37] I started a recovery program.
[00:51:39] My sponsor had told me, he said, when you get in the car, you turn the car on and you start talking to God.
[00:51:44] And you don't stop talking to God until you get to wherever you need to be.
[00:51:48] Because you'll never turn to call your dealer when you're in the middle of a conversation with God.
[00:51:55] And it was what I needed at that time.
[00:51:59] After I got clean, I hadn't been myself in so long, I didn't even know who I was.
[00:52:03] You start filling voids in your heart with other things external from you, relationships and working out, becoming a workaholic.
[00:52:12] Like anything to prove that you're better than what you were.
[00:52:15] It took time for that relationship to grow with God.
[00:52:18] I didn't even get baptized for a few years.
[00:52:20] I had gone on a mission trip to New Orleans.
[00:52:23] And I remember at the end of it, everybody was getting baptized.
[00:52:26] Didn't think I was good enough for it yet.
[00:52:29] It wasn't until a couple years later, Chuck was speaking.
[00:52:33] And by the end of it, he had said, if this doesn't give you a reason, there is no other reason.
[00:52:38] And I got baptized that day without a plan.
[00:52:40] When I stepped out of the water, I felt like I had hope for the first time.
[00:52:44] Like I wasn't necessarily the person that I had left behind.
[00:52:48] God's given me everything.
[00:52:50] Gave my life back.
[00:52:51] Gave my children and their father back.
[00:52:53] To have respect for myself.
[00:52:55] I have custody of my two kids and my stepson.
[00:52:59] I'm a business partner with my father.
[00:53:02] And my son gets to work with me now.
[00:53:03] He's 20.
[00:53:05] I have everything I need.
[00:53:06] What does God call you?
[00:53:08] God says I'm worthy.
[00:53:09] God says stand up.

[00:53:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:53:11] He calls me son. Did you hear the end of his story? He was asked the question, what does God call you? He says, worthy. He calls me son. And this is the moment. You might have this question
[00:53:31] of like, okay, so why would it be better? How is it an upgrade that heaven is a person, not a place?
[00:53:38] Because I might like to go to the place. And this is the answer. Because no matter what place you imagine in your mind, no matter how awesome it is, how crystal clear the water is, how beautiful
[00:53:48] the mountains are, how incredible the food, whatever else might be, might be heaven in the place. It will not have the only thing you've spent your entire life looking for, which is a Father telling you who you are, that you belong to Him, that He loves you, and that you're worth
[00:54:08] more than you can imagine. A place can never give you that, only the presence of a Father.
[00:54:14] Jesus actually said in John 14, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
[00:54:20] In a very real sense, when you have an encounter with Jesus, when you're standing in his presence, you're standing in the presence of the thing you want the most.
[00:54:27] You're standing in the presence of a dad who loves you, who can speak life into you, who can give you what no place ever can.
[00:54:35] By the way, dads, this is why your job is so important.
[00:54:39] Your job, dads, is not to bring home the bacon.
[00:54:44] It's not to earn enough money to have a good enough house.
[00:54:48] No matter the house you're ever able to provide, that is utterly irrelevant.
[00:54:52] What your family needs is a home, you, a place to return to and know they belong, and know they're valued, and know they're loved.
[00:55:00] And your job is to speak that identity in them, is to tell them that they belong, because if they believe that they belong, they won't waste their life and compromise their character trying to belong someplace else.
[00:55:11] If they believe that they're good enough, they won't waste their life and compromise trying to prove it in some other way this is your job and look man I get it as a dad I know so many times I feel like I think I'm just screwing this
[00:55:26] whole thing up like I just I don't have patience I should have the patience when I yell at the kids I get mad when I shouldn't get mad at the kids I just I just feel oftentimes like I'm doing it
[00:55:37] all wrong and I know you might feel that way too I know I just want to remind you of something This word reminds you of something. Psalm 139 says that God knows everything before it ever
[00:55:48] happened. It says he knows every day of your life before any of them came to be. He knows every word on your tongue, angry and otherwise, before it ever came out of your mouth. And that same God,
[00:56:01] with his perspective of all of eternity, looked at the billions upon billions of men who would ever live looked at your kid and decided you were the very best choice to father them. And I agree,
[00:56:14] you are. You are. Your job is to speak life into them. I would just encourage you before Father's Day is out, as you're getting the gifts that whatever you get, I hope it's awesome. I don't
[00:56:25] know if it will be or not. I hope it's great. My encouragement is for you to give them a gift.
[00:56:30] It can just be a couple words. I love you. It doesn't have to be profound. You don't have to write poetry, but tell them who they are. That is what we need from a father. That's it. That's it.
[00:56:44] You know, a father comes closer and closer and closer, and this is the story of Jesus. He wants to get closer to you. This is the arc of history. It's not one day all of us leave earth and
[00:56:58] eventually we go off to heaven. It's heaven coming increasingly to earth. Jesus coming was just the first part of it and momentum continues in the same exact direction. If you go to the end of
[00:57:10] the Bible and read Revelation 21, you see heaven literally coming down out of the sky and crashing into earth and God getting closer and closer and closer to us. Here's what it says. I saw the holy
[00:57:23] city, the new Jerusalem, that's heaven, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people
[00:57:39] and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
[00:57:47] There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. He will wipe every tear from your eyes. When my kids were little, they used to skin their
[00:57:58] knees and run up to me crying. Doesn't happen as often now, but you know, they kind of fall down on their bike or whatever, and they're crying, bawling, tears everywhere. And what would I do?
[00:58:08] I would scoop them in my arms, and I would wipe the tears from their eyes. To wipe the tear from the eye of a child is an intimate, close thing. You put your thumb in the corner of their eyes,
[00:58:22] and you wipe it out, your nose to nose with them. This is what your father wants to have with you every day of your life. Jesus didn't say one day for you, I will be resurrection far in the future.
[00:58:37] He says, I am present tense. You know, the thing I think your heavenly father wants most for Father's Day is the same thing that every good dad wants most for Father's Day, some time with their kids.
[00:58:50] I think that's what he wants right now. We're going to take the rest of our time, and we're just going to do a little bit of a prayer experience, a chance for you to talk to your
[00:58:59] Father. I know you got Father's day stuff. I know you got to run out of here. Don't. Don't. We carved out time for this. We are on time. I want you to sit in your seat wherever you are. I want to
[00:59:09] practice drawing near to God. I know that in my life, whenever I get off, it's because I forget that God's near me. I start trying to do life all on my own, prove myself and carry the burdens and
[00:59:20] all those things. What I have to do is slow myself down and remind myself of the reality that the father that I worship isn't a distant someday dad, but a present one with me right now.
[00:59:31] And slow down and feel his presence. That's what we're going to do right now. Right now. I want you to close your eyes, wherever you are. Close your eyes. James 4.8 says, draw near to God,
[00:59:45] and he will draw near to you. I want you to imagine God sitting down in the seat next to you.
[00:59:56] He puts his arm over your shoulder. I want you to take your hand and put it over your heart.
[01:00:15] First Corinthians 3.16 says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? As close as your hand is to your heart, your father is closer. He dwells inside of
[01:00:34] you. If you believe in him, there's never a moment of the day where he is not that close to you.
[01:00:44] that familiar with your worries and your fears, your hopes, I want you to tell him right now what's on your heart. He already knows it, but just tell him. Maybe it's big. Maybe it's small
[01:01:10] and trivial. It doesn't matter. A good dad wants to hear all of it. But take your hand and put it on your shoulder and just press down. A lot of the times in my life where I get off tracker
[01:01:33] when I forget that I have a father who promises to carry my burdens for me and I feel like it's all on me.
[01:01:44] You should press into your shoulder, like kind of the place where like a backpack strap might press in if it were weighted down.
[01:01:52] I want you to tell them about the burdens you're carrying right now.
[01:01:57] The things in your life that are too heavy, that you can't figure out, what's weighing you down.
[01:02:09] Hebrews 4.16 says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Your father's not stingy.
[01:02:26] He's not withholding from you. He wants to give you the help that you need. Just ask him. Not just help. You have a father who wants to give you joy. Psalm 16, 11 says, in your presence there is
[01:02:45] fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. You can take both of your hands and just hold them in front of you like you're gonna receive a gift on this Father's Day from your heavenly Father.
[01:02:59] I want you to ask him for joy.
[01:03:03] It can be as simple as praying for joy for the rest of your day today.
[01:03:10] Maybe you're going to stuff that you're not really looking forward to.
[01:03:13] Ask him to change that.
[01:03:14] Ask him to give you joy.
[01:03:23] And then I want you to ask for him to help you experience his presence the rest of this day and the rest of this week.
[01:03:31] presence of a father telling you he loves you and you belong to. God bless you. God, thank you so much for being a good father who loves us. A good father who decided to not just make heaven a
[01:03:50] someday reality, but decided to embody heaven and encounter each one of us. God, I'm asking that we would feel your presence today. God, would you rewire our minds to not make you our last instinct that we run to when it's too late, but to be our first impulse to go to, because we know
[01:04:11] you're with us and we know you love us. You are a good father. Amen. Happy Father's Day.

[01:04:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:04:19] In the craziness and the chaos of your life, I hope that you're reminded that God is with you.
[01:04:25] As Kyle showed us, that he's closer than your hand on your chest or your shoulder, that he says he's the life and the resurrection. And that's not for someone else or some other time or some other place far off or heaven later, that that's God with you right now,
[01:04:41] wherever he has you. He wants you to be reminded how close you are to him, that he has new life and new resurrection for you. I just want to call this out. New life always looks like growth and
[01:04:53] resurrection always looks like reconnection with God and with others. You were designed to be growing and to be connected deeply with other people and with God. And I want to challenge you, If you've just been watching Crossroads, I want you to take a step.
[01:05:06] When we grow and when we experience new life, it won't involve us staying where we at or staying where we are, where we were.
[01:05:12] So I want you to take one tangible next step if you want to grow with God just by going to Crossroads.net slash Anywhere 101.
[01:05:20] I know it's a bit of a mouthful, but Crossroads.net slash Anywhere 101.
[01:05:24] And we've got a way that you can actually connect and get a customized next step and recommendation on how you can experience more of that new life and that new hope and that resurrection that Jesus has on offer.
[01:05:36] So do that myself or a member of my small team of real people, not chatbots, will connect with you and help you take your next step to find out all of who God has you and has created you to be.
[01:05:48] Hey, thanks so much for watching.
[01:05:49] We'll see you next week on Crossroads.