The Danger of ‘Allowing’ God: A Critical Look at Easter Synergism

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
You may be seated.
[00:00:02] How many of you thought you'd come to Easter service and sing Love Train?
[00:00:06] Will you clap?
[00:00:07] Yeah, yeah, well, actually, those of you who have been around West for a while are not surprised.
[00:00:12] Those of you who are new to West, we try to bring current contemporary elements from our world into learning about faith.
[00:00:20] Happy Easter.
[00:00:21] We are so glad that you're here.
[00:00:22] We are so glad that you're worshiping with us online.
[00:00:25] I am Andrea Smith.
[00:00:26] I have the privilege of being the pastor here last night.
[00:00:29] I had a nightmare.
[00:00:30] I always have nightmares about church before big high holy days and sometimes just any time.
[00:00:35] and I was at a worship service and I was a part of the the people or the congregation and I was sitting out in these big wooden pews and it was time for the last song and my friend and mentor Amy Coles was there worshiping with me and Amy you're worshiping online so shout out to you hey and so they they ended worship with Christ the Lord is risen today will you clap if you've ever been in an Easter service where that was sung
[00:01:03] So you get it and it was the last song and it's such a big song with a nice organ and it's like Christ the Lord is risen today and no one got up like everybody just sat there and I'm like you've got to stand up for Christ the Lord is risen today and so finally Amy and I stood up we were the only two people there and we stuck out like sore thumbs so that was my own anxiety about Easter.
[00:01:28] Today's message is going to be a little different we're using Grey's Anatomy
[00:01:32] which I'm sure you thought why on or thinking why on Easter but there was a scene or an episode of Grey's Anatomy where Meredith who is the main character of the show is in a coma and she is encountering people from her past today we are talking about the pain of death and the beauty and the life that comes in resurrection
[00:01:53] We're going to talk about what it means to cling to things and being unable to experience the resurrection because we're holding on to some things far too tight.
[00:02:04] And so I hope by the end of today's service, you'll be able to think about things that perhaps you are holding on too tightly and how if we let them go, let our pain, our grief, all those things go.
[00:02:14] Like Mary did at the tomb that Easter morning that we will be able to experience our own resurrection So that's what I hope you get out of today If you are new to West, we're so grateful that you're here If you're worshiping online, I invite you to scan the QR code or the number that you see on your screen Let us know that you're here If you are here in person, I'm going to move out of your way
[00:02:37] and we're going to leave this up for just a second.
[00:02:40] We have gift baskets outside that we are going to give away tomorrow on Easter Monday.
[00:02:47] We are going to draw a number of all the folks that have texted in to West.
[00:02:51] We were going to play a trivia game for worship but I figured you'd want to go to Easter lunch before noon today and if we played the game it was going to take too long with the message so
[00:03:00] We decided it's just a free-for-all.
[00:03:02] You don't have to play a trivia game at all.
[00:03:04] But if you will text in to West or scan the QR code, you can also see this as our connect tent or the VIP table out front.
[00:03:13] Let us know that you're here and then you could win one of the really cool gift bags.
[00:03:17] And online, folks, we will ship it to you.
[00:03:19] We're going to put all the numbers in a can and draw them out tomorrow.
[00:03:23] So I hope you'll subscribe in to learning what West is about.
[00:03:27] Today we are finishing up our series called Dirty Influencers.
[00:03:31] Jesus was an influencer.
[00:03:33] Much like Josh Pettit, who is a part of our West staff here, Josh is famous on social media.
[00:03:39] He has thousands and thousands and thousands of followers.
[00:03:43] In fact, on Friday, he shared a Soul Creations post with our little flower pots that Soul Creations have made.
[00:03:50] And within a couple of hours, we had already sold over 40.
[00:03:53] and so Josh is yeah Josh is famous and he is helping spread the word about West in our campus in Uganda and so we're just so grateful but Jesus had an influence and we do too and so we as a church seek to be influential in our community and in our world we have a couple of mission projects that we wanted to highlight for you that for you today
[00:04:17] The first is Bright Blessings.
[00:04:19] That is a local nonprofit that helps children who would not have birthday parties and special birthdays have them.
[00:04:25] It's a powerful mission and so that is one of the ongoing missions that we focus on at West.
[00:04:31] And then the last one that we're talking about in the series is the Health Reach Clinic.
[00:04:35] Some of our folks here at West volunteer weekly at the HealthReach clinic and it provides medical care for people in our surrounding area that would be unable to receive that care otherwise.
[00:04:47] So they're two very, very powerful and important non-profits here that we support.
[00:04:54] We are grateful that you are here today.
[00:04:55] We hope you leave today inspired and transformed and experiencing the joy of the resurrection.
[00:05:03] So I hope the Easter Bunny left you some great surprises for this morning.
[00:05:07] Hopefully your Easter Bunny is not your dog.
[00:05:10] I invite you to hear the Gospel message this morning from the Gospel of Mark.
[00:05:14] I want to approach the Scripture and just say on the front end that we recognize that for some the Easter story is tough.
[00:05:23] Like a guy is killed and then two days later on the third day, at the start of the third day, he's alive.
[00:05:30] It's tough.
[00:05:33] But even if you do not buy the story, even if you don't want anything to do with Christianity, there are messages in this story that are relevant and applicable to each of us in our lives.
[00:05:50] So I invite you to hear this story from the Gospel of Mark.
[00:05:54] Another thing I want to say, and we've unpacked in years past here at West, is each of the Gospel writers, they write the story differently.
[00:06:02] They remember things differently.
[00:06:04] Much like if you and I were approaching a story of something that we both saw, we would say it differently.
[00:06:11] People come to the stories with their own perspectives.
[00:06:15] So I invite you from whatever perspective you have this morning to hear this story with an open mind and open ears and an open heart.
[00:06:25] It's from the Gospel of Mark.
[00:06:27] When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so that they could embalm the body.
[00:06:36] Very early on Sunday morning, as the sun rose, they went to the tomb.
[00:06:41] Keep in mind like there's so many things we can learn from this as we find ourselves in this story with them.
[00:06:48] So they're going to take care of the one that they love so deeply that they have just watched be just horrifically killed.
[00:07:01] And on the way to the tomb, they're worried.
[00:07:05] Can you ever identify with being worried about something?
[00:07:08] Do you ever worry?
[00:07:11] They're worried about how they're going to roll back the stone.
[00:07:16] They even worried out loud to one another, who's gonna roll back the stone from the tomb for us?
[00:07:23] When they arrived, they looked up and they saw that it had already been rolled back.
[00:07:29] It was a huge stone.
[00:07:32] And they walked right in.
[00:07:34] They saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white.
[00:07:39] They were completely taken aback.
[00:07:43] They were astonished.
[00:07:45] The young man said, Don't be afraid.
[00:07:47] I know you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the one that they nailed on the cross.
[00:07:54] He's been raised up.
[00:07:55] He's here no longer.
[00:07:56] You can see for yourselves the place is empty.
[00:08:02] Now,
[00:08:03] On your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going on ahead of you to Galilee.
[00:08:12] You'll see him there exactly as he said.
[00:08:16] They got out as fast as they could.
[00:08:20] They were beside themselves.
[00:08:24] Their heads were swimming.
[00:08:26] Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.
[00:08:36] Everything changed for them.
[00:08:40] So everything had already been changing, and then like this Messiah, the one that they were following, his life, it ends.
[00:08:52] And then there's just this period of Sabbath, and back in historical ancient Israel during these times, they, and even there still now, they honor the Sabbath.
[00:09:03] It isn't like we do here when our society like everything is always running.
[00:09:09] So from sundown till the next sundown, there's nothing.
[00:09:15] You just rest and honor and worship God.
[00:09:20] So they had a full 24 hours that they had to sit in their grief.
[00:09:23] And they would have been anxious about that because there is a proper preparation that you do for a burial.
[00:09:31] I have a couple of images that I'd like to show you on the screens this morning.
[00:09:35] This is an actual tomb that was excavated in Israel.
[00:09:41] In Jerusalem right under the the top layer of soil is limestone and what you see on the screens is is what a tomb would actually or does look like and you can see the u-shaped bench typically in a tomb more than one person would have been placed in there and so as we read in the Gospel of Mark there would have been a young man sitting on the bench
[00:10:08] If you study the meaning of the word angels, angel means messenger from God, so there was someone there, an angel, telling them, he's not here.
[00:10:20] Just like he told you, he is going to appear to you in a place that you all call home, where you've spent so much time, a beloved place, Galilee.
[00:10:34] Go and find him.
[00:10:36] Truly interesting in the Gospel of Mark, if you look, that it ends right there.
[00:10:43] In chapter 16, verse 8, originally and historically, that's where the story ends with these words.
[00:10:52] They got out as fast as they could, depending on what interpretation you read, this is the message.
[00:10:58] But in another, it would say they were terrified.
[00:11:01] They were beside themselves, and their heads were swimming, and stunned, they said nothing to anyone.
[00:11:09] Now, like I shared with you a few minutes earlier, Matthew, Luke, and John, they all share this story in a different way, in a different perspective.
[00:11:18] Different people went to the tomb.
[00:11:19] Different people experienced different things at the tomb when they got there.
[00:11:23] But Mark originally ends just like that.
[00:11:27] There's no more.
[00:11:28] That's it.
[00:11:29] They leave, and they're terrified, and they're afraid.
[00:11:34] Now, years and years later,
[00:11:38] People came back to this story.
[00:11:40] So if you were to open up your Bible, if you were to look at Bible Gateway, the app Bible Gateway, or even look up the Gospel of Mark on your phones and pull up this chapter, you're going to see that there's a lot more words after this.
[00:11:55] But originally, in the original story, it ended there.
[00:12:00] and then the writers later on when they were compiling all these things and getting together and talking about their experiences and they were looking at the words of Mark they're like wait a minute we can't end it there we have to tell the rest of the story so this morning what I want us to understand is that there are so many situations in our lives that feel just like those women felt when they went to the tomb that morning that everything had been taken from them
[00:12:30] or everything falls apart.
[00:12:33] Have you ever been there?
[00:12:35] Have you ever been at a place in your life and it just feels like one hit keeps coming after another?
[00:12:44] And it's like the hits just keep coming and you can't find the space to breathe.
[00:12:53] And life is overwhelming.
[00:12:57] And it seems like the darkness is going to win.
[00:13:03] That's what the women felt like that morning when they went to the tomb.
[00:13:08] And according to the Gospel of Mark, like they left in that fear.
[00:13:17] The point of today's message is for us to understand
[00:13:22] that we too are going to experience deaths in our lives.
[00:13:27] Yes, we're going to experience a physical death and people that we love and we cherish, they too are going to experience a physical death.
[00:13:36] But there are other things that we go through in our lives that are deaths as well.
[00:13:43] And when we confront those,
[00:13:46] It is so tempting in our human nature to cling to things.
[00:13:54] To want things to be the way that they were.
[00:13:58] Or to want things to be the way that we have idealized them in our minds to be.
[00:14:03] Or we have hopes for our future that are just not going to be the way that we want them to be.
[00:14:11] relationships are changing and and we cling to what we want or what is no longer anymore we cling to things and guess what when we cling to things and we hold on to things we miss out on the life and the beauty that life can bring
[00:14:37] Nowhere in being a Christian does it say that life is going to be easy.
[00:14:43] There's this thing called the prosperity gospel.
[00:14:45] If you listen to some pastors and typically they have these large mega churches and they're like, you know, look, if you do this and you do this and you do this or you believe this or you pray this hard enough, then it's all going to be good.
[00:14:56] Nowhere in there does it say that.
[00:15:00] And in each of the stories of the death of Jesus, he dies.
[00:15:08] But in each of the story, we also find that even in death, resurrection happens.
[00:15:15] I say this every Easter.
[00:15:17] There's a difference between resuscitation and resurrection.
[00:15:22] Resuscitation is when you breathe breath back into something that was dead and it isn't dead anymore.
[00:15:31] But the word resurrection means new life.
[00:15:38] and so even though the Easter story is hard for some people to hold on to like so you're you mean to tell me that this body it like it's not there it got up and and it went away and you know look I wrestle with that sometimes I'm like I just don't understand but what I do understand is that in each of the Gospels
[00:15:58] If you look at all of the writings that a resurrected Jesus, the Spirit, the energy, the presence of Jesus encountered over 500 different people.
[00:16:10] It encountered enough people in enough real tangible ways that they became the ultimate influencers that we're still talking about the message and the meaning 2000 plus years later.
[00:16:23] There is life.
[00:16:28] Even in death.
[00:16:31] Jesus when he started his ministry talked about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven and as religious people we have made that be about what happens to us when we die and it's like this you know going to church and having faith and being a Christian is a life insurance policy that is not what his message was his message was look the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven this life it is here and it is now and so guess what he shows us through the way that he lives his life
[00:16:59] He shows us that that message, the kingdom of life, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is here now even in the worst things.
[00:17:09] And the worst things, Frederick Buechner says, are never the last things.
[00:17:14] And we see that today.
[00:17:15] We see that death is never the victor.
[00:17:18] Life is.
[00:17:21] So much so that people got together and went back and changed one of the Gospels because they wanted to make sure that everybody got it.
[00:17:31] That they didn't just go to the tomb and leave in their fear.
[00:17:35] They got it.
[00:17:39] The show Grey's Anatomy, it's been around for 20 seasons.
[00:17:42] It started in an obscure mid-season entry to replace a show that was dying.
[00:17:49] And it is one of the longest like regularly aired shows on the ABC network.
[00:17:55] I told you about the main character.
[00:17:57] Her name is Meredith.
[00:18:00] The love of her life, McDreamy, his name is Derek.
[00:18:06] And Derek experienced an untimely death.
[00:18:11] And at the time of his death, they did not know, but they were expecting a child.
[00:18:18] And so you're going to see that referenced in this clip or in one of the clips.
[00:18:23] I want to show you the first clip right now.
[00:18:25] Meredith is in that state of consciousness where she's in a coma.
[00:18:32] These are called near-death experiences.
[00:18:34] We've heard about those in our own society and world.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
I want you to take a look at this scene.

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Oh my God!
[00:18:59] Meredith!
[00:19:06] Meredith!
[00:19:13] Darren!

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Take me in Like I've never been Lead me down to your heart's chagrin Take me in By the river's bend
[00:19:56] There I can wash away my sins Oh, won't you take me in?

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Pull me down to the hallowed ground There I promise not to lose my crown
[00:20:37] Derek!

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Why can't I get anywhere?
[00:21:16] You're worried about the kids!
[00:21:17] I don't understand!
[00:21:19] The sand isn't real, Meredith!
[00:21:24] I miss you!

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I know.

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
The women were worried on their way to the tomb.
[00:21:40] They were worried about who was going to roll the stone away.
[00:21:44] They were worried about something that they didn't need to worry about because it was already taken care of.
[00:21:51] Researchers say that 80% of the things that we worry about never come true.
[00:21:56] Now what that means is there's a 20% chance of the things that do.
[00:22:03] But where does worry keep you from experiencing the gift of life and the gift of peace?
[00:22:15] The power of the story of the resurrection is that even in those worst things, even in the 20% of things that do come true, the death doesn't win.
[00:22:24] That somehow, in a mystical way that we do not understand,
[00:22:33] And if anyone ever tells you that they understand it, then I'd take a second look at what they're saying because God is not understandable because we are not God.
[00:22:42] We are of God, but we are not God.
[00:22:46] But some way, in a mystical, powerful, loving, and divine way, even the worst grief can be transformed into peace.
[00:23:03] But it's up to us if we let that happen or not.
[00:23:07] I want you to take a look at the next clip.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
What happens when you find yourself walking on totally new ground?

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
You could walk too, you know!
[00:23:31] Wouldn't make a difference!
[00:23:32] Why not?
[00:23:33] Because the sand isn't real, Meredith!

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Where the shadow ends There's a darkness up ahead
[00:23:57] I will see you, where the shadow ends, I can see a light, I'll see the smoke, everything is lost, I know, I can hear the breaking of the storm, I can hear the breaking of the storm, I can see the broken rays of night, Caught in through the dead of night,
[00:24:24] and I know that I'll see you again where the shadow is

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Just like Ellis just now, the way you're looking at your feet.
[00:24:51] So serious.
[00:24:52] Then she gets that worried little brow.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]:
This is torture!
[00:24:59] You're right here and I can't...
[00:25:01] It's torture!

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
It's a torture of your own devising.
[00:25:04] You're always good at that.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]:
Good at what?

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Torturing yourself.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]:
I don't do that as much anymore.
[00:25:16] You never got to meet Ellis.
[00:25:18] We didn't even know.
[00:25:20] I wish you got to know her.
[00:25:22] She looks just like you.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
She breaks the rules just like you.
[00:25:25] And she's quick to anger.
[00:25:28] And quick to laugh.
[00:25:29] And she's smart and pensive and stubborn just like you.
[00:25:36] Hates pink and purple, loves brown and green, and gets enraged at the thought of anybody wanting to cut down a tree.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
So he says she's torturing herself.
[00:25:52] How many times are we so used to seeing things in a certain way that we just refuse to break out of those patterns and learn to see things differently?
[00:26:06] Whether we like to admit it or not, sometimes we just get stuck in ruts.
[00:26:12] I'm not preaching at you or to you.
[00:26:15] I'm speaking to all of us.
[00:26:19] Like, I get it.
[00:26:20] I do the same thing.
[00:26:23] I have my own fears and own anxieties and sometimes they're really comfortable because we know them.
[00:26:33] But refusing to let those fears and anxieties and hurt and pain and grief and anger and loneliness or whatever the other stuff that tortures us, refusing to let that win, that's our choice.
[00:26:50] There is a victory over death and it is resurrection.
[00:26:53] There is a power and an energy and a love that if we will let it in, it changes everything.
[00:27:02] So I told you that like the gospel writers of Mark, they stopped.
[00:27:06] I mean they just, they stopped.
[00:27:09] And then later people came back and there was a rest of the story.
[00:27:14] I want you to hear the rest of the story.
[00:27:19] After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, whom he had delivered from seven demons.
[00:27:27] She went to his former companions, now weeping and carrying on, and told them.
[00:27:32] When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they did not believe her.
[00:27:38] Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them walking in the countryside.
[00:27:43] They went back and told the rest, but they weren't believed either.
[00:27:48] Still later, as the eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task, most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe that those who had seen him raised up.
[00:27:59] And then he said, Go into the world, go everywhere, and announce the message of God's good news to one and all.
[00:28:10] They cared enough to come back and write the rest of the story.
[00:28:16] which was that ultimately they started to believe.
[00:28:23] You know, Easter reveals to us that there are no dead ends.
[00:28:29] And Mary Magdalene, whom had this close, like the closest relationship you could possibly have, they were intimately best friends,
[00:28:40] He had delivered her from the demons that possessed her.
[00:28:43] We don't know what those were, but Jesus had provided her in her life before his crucifixion.
[00:28:50] He had provided her death to the things that bound her and gave her resurrection, gave her new life in the life that she was living.
[00:29:00] He provided that then.
[00:29:02] He provides that now.
[00:29:05] But Mary refused to let death be a vacuum.
[00:29:12] She learned to see differently.
[00:29:15] Are we willing to see differently?
[00:29:21] Take a look at this next clip.

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]:
I want you closer.
[00:29:27] Could you please just come here?

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Do you remember when you were trying to teach Zola how to ride a bike?
[00:29:36] She got so frustrated because she couldn't and she threw it down and she goes, Mama, you do it.
[00:29:41] And you couldn't stop laughing and she got so mad.

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_20]:
Well, I was trying not to laugh.

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
So am I. I can't do it for you.
[00:29:52] It's your beach.
[00:29:54] Zola's amazing, isn't she?
[00:29:57] I mean, she's just so brilliant.
[00:29:59] She writes me letters in her journal, did you know that?
[00:30:08] Well, what is that?
[00:30:09] What is that face?
[00:30:11] Would you start a surgery with a face like that?
[00:30:14] No!
[00:30:14] No.
[00:30:15] You would relax.
[00:30:39] You look perfect.

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I did some of my business, Greg.

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
I'm begging you.

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Fight.
[00:30:58] That's up to you.
[00:30:59] But if you're asking me, you should hear him out.
[00:31:02] They need you, Bray.
[00:31:06] It's okay.
[00:31:08] I'll be right here.

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
I want you to say something after me.
[00:31:23] It is what it is.
[00:31:24] Say that.
[00:31:26] It is what it is.
[00:31:28] I'll just say it again.
[00:31:29] Ready?
[00:31:30] It is what it is.
[00:31:32] Those are the most dangerous words that you can ever learn to say.
[00:31:36] Because what it says is, it is what it is.
[00:31:39] Life may be crappy right now.
[00:31:42] It may suck.
[00:31:43] It may be the worst experience that you have ever lived through.
[00:31:47] It is what it is.
[00:31:49] We cannot change
[00:31:51] The things sometimes that happen to us, the situations that we find ourselves in, we cannot change them.
[00:31:57] We are powerless over them.
[00:31:59] But just like in that video, we are not powerless over what we allow God to do in us if we will open ourselves to the power and the possibility of how love can heal.
[00:32:11] It does not mean that grief will go away.
[00:32:16] It means that grief can be transformed and redeemed so that the same gut-wrenching grief that we experience in that initial moment of grief is not the same kind of feeling and sadness and loss that we feel at the end.
[00:32:31] It is what it is.
[00:32:34] I didn't even recognize that that had become my new mantra until I was watching TikTok of all things and this guy says you know those are the most dangerous words ever because it says you're used to putting up with beep I'm like yeah that's right because that's when I find myself saying it when there's things I don't like I'm just like it is what it is I can't change it but what we can do is let God redeem it and that's the story of the resurrection we don't have to understand it
[00:33:05] We don't have to pick apart every narrative and every gospel to embrace the power of the story.
[00:33:12] Something happened.
[00:33:14] There was an influence that happened 2,000 plus years ago that still has an impact in this world today.
[00:33:20] And if we let it impact us and then we live into it and live it out, the world changes.
[00:33:28] The world is a better place and that's part of the story.
[00:33:33] I want you to look at this final clip.

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We ignore pain.
[00:33:47] We steer clear of the unfamiliar.
[00:33:50] We lie when asked about how we feel.
[00:33:54] All of your problems, your relationships, career goals, your fears,
[00:34:08] They all just fade away.
[00:34:18] It's not even you and your patient.
[00:34:23] It's you and yourself.
[00:34:27] Your hands.
[00:34:30] Your skill.
[00:34:35] You might call it muscle memory.
[00:34:40] Or being in the zone.
[00:34:46] But whatever you call it, it's rare.
[00:34:51] And you never want it to end.

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Were you in pain?
[00:34:57] Yeah, the worst part was knowing they were getting it wrong.
[00:35:01] I didn't want to leave you.
[00:35:03] But I knew at a certain point

[00:35:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I came to the hospital.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
I know.

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
You could hear?

[00:35:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Not through my ears.
[00:35:21] Dying is exhausting.
[00:35:25] You know that point as a surgeon, you've done everything for your patient.
[00:35:30] I could try and will them to fight, will them to live, but I never understood the level of exhaustion.
[00:35:40] There comes a point where the desire to rest overrides the desire to live.
[00:35:50] You got that.
[00:35:52] You gave me permission to go.
[00:35:55] You told me it was okay.
[00:35:58] You got me.
[00:36:01] You gave me everything I needed into my last breath.

[00:36:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_19]:
Ellis draws this picture of us.
[00:36:15] I'm in a wedding dress, and you're in a suit.
[00:36:18] I show her the post-it note, but she just...
[00:36:22] Hates it.

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Hates it.

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_19]:
She feels robbed.

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Well, she gets that from my mother.
[00:36:32] You hate weddings.

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_19]:
I hate weddings.
[00:36:39] But I would give this to her if I could.
[00:36:43] What do you want me to promise?

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
To torture yourself less.

[00:36:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I don't wanna leave the kids.
[00:36:59] I don't want you to leave the kids.

[00:37:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
It's not time yet.

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
There's no pain here.

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
You want to know a secret?
[00:37:32] I even miss the pain.

[00:37:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]:
You have to go.

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I'm so tired.

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
It's not your time yet.
[00:37:52] Our kids need you.

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
You have to go.

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
In the version that we read when they said, go tell the others, it says, and go tell especially Peter.
[00:38:16] Ever wonder why, like they said, especially Peter?
[00:38:19] Peter betrayed Jesus.
[00:38:21] He said, you know, hey, I'm your guy.
[00:38:23] I'm always going to be there with you every step of the way.
[00:38:26] And Jesus is like, yeah, no, you're going to actually deny me three times.
[00:38:29] And Peter did.
[00:38:31] Can you imagine, like, what that had to have felt like?
[00:38:34] Like, you've betrayed your best friend.
[00:38:37] And then they killed him.
[00:38:39] Like, there's no point of reconciliation.
[00:38:44] But in the resurrection, even that pain is redeemed.
[00:38:49] I don't know what you're holding on to, but odds are, we're all holding on to something.
[00:38:57] And we need to let that go.
[00:38:58] I think if Jesus could say a message to us today, just like in all the gospel accounts of the resurrection, he would say, torture yourself less.
[00:39:10] Turn from whatever it is, let it go.
[00:39:13] and experience the power of the resurrection.
[00:39:18] So I want you to stand for just a minute.
[00:39:22] See, this is my nightmare like nobody was standing.
[00:39:26] I wondered where that nightmare came from.
[00:39:28] Now, we're going to do something right now.
[00:39:30] We're going to do a song called Baby Hold On.
[00:39:34] Have you ever heard that by Eddie Money?
[00:39:35] Will you clap?
[00:39:37] All right, clap if you haven't, if you're young.
[00:39:40] Okay, you're not going to clap, but anyway, we're going to sing it.
[00:39:45] And the team's going to sing it three-fourths of the way through, and then we're going to sing it with them.
[00:39:49] But I want you to think about the words, and I want you to hear the message interspersed in the words.

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
The future is ours to see

[00:40:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
So actually, Jesus said the exact opposite.
[00:40:37] He said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
[00:40:41] The women wanted to cling on to him, but he didn't want them to.
[00:40:45] So we can cling literally or metaphorically.
[00:41:08] So what if we let go of the pain, the grief, the sadness, the anger, those things that are keeping us from being truly alive?
[00:41:25] And what if we hold on to the hope and the power that comes in the resurrection?

[00:41:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
So this is your chance.

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
I want you to name it in your brain.
[00:42:03] Name it and be willing to let go of it.
[00:42:06] Because if we will, if we will allow the power of God to work in us, then we will experience a resurrection.

[00:42:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
The future is ours to see So baby hold on to me Baby hold on to me Whatever will be will be The future is ours to see So baby hold on to me

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
All right, I know you guys go to concerts.
[00:42:54] I see it on Facebook.
[00:42:55] So act like you're at one, please.
[00:42:59] Clap on the right beat.
[00:43:02] And then I want you to sing this last chorus together so that you'll always remember there's something worth holding on to.
[00:43:09] And it's not our pain or our anger or loneliness.
[00:43:14] It's the power of life.

[00:43:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
The future is ours to see So baby hold on to me Baby hold on to me Whatever will be will be The future is ours to see

[00:43:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
Thanks, you can have a seat for just a quick second.
[00:43:58] So remember at the last part of that in the Gospel of Mark where he says where they've come back and they've rewritten the ending so that everybody would know?
[00:44:07] They took that from Matthew and they took it from Luke and they took it from the Gospels of John.
[00:44:12] That's what scholars think is they took the resurrection story from those other three Gospels and came back to put it in Mark.
[00:44:19] It ends with them saying, with Jesus saying, look, you don't get to just experience it all for yourself.
[00:44:26] Now you have a responsibility.
[00:44:29] You have a reason to go share that hope, to go be the resurrection for other people.
[00:44:36] So this series, we've talked about influencers.
[00:44:39] We talked about how Josh has had this just global influence around the disease of Alzheimer's and how he's changed the awareness for so many.
[00:44:49] You saw a video of D. Rowe.
[00:44:51] He is our Ugandan campus pastor.
[00:44:53] The last year of that campus in Uganda has been one of growth and one of challenges for him.
[00:45:00] He learned that not everybody sticks around when it's not easy.
[00:45:04] But D. Rowe and Philip and Fareed, they have, and Mweje,
[00:45:08] And the campus is growing.
[00:45:10] Their influence is growing.
[00:45:13] And they are helping people become self-sustaining.
[00:45:16] They are in their village in Cagoomba.
[00:45:18] A change is being made.
[00:45:20] We have the power and the opportunity to be people of influence.
[00:45:24] Are we willing to let our pain and our stuff be transformed and redeemed?
[00:45:29] Are we willing to let it be resurrected?
[00:45:31] As we close today, before our closing song, I want you to take a look at this video.
[00:45:37] These are real people, not Grey's Anatomy cast where it's a perfect little world.
[00:45:41] These are real people and a guy that used his influence to change everything.
[00:45:48] Take a look.

[00:45:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Get a call to go grab a student and please bring him to our counseling office.
[00:45:59] So I'm walking towards that classroom.
[00:46:02] Basically as soon as I'm done asking if he's here, the door pops up and that young man was standing right there at the door.
[00:46:12] First thing I see is him open his jacket and him pull a big gun out of it.
[00:46:20] All the kids just start screaming and then hearing all the desks start to flip over and as they all run out,

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
I remember this girl, and she was like, get away from the windows.
[00:46:32] Everybody get away from the windows now.
[00:46:33] There's someone out there with a gun.

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
911, what's the address of your emergency?

[00:46:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]:
Here's the call over the walkie.
[00:46:48] Shooter, shooter.
[00:46:50] Okay, somebody shot something.
[00:46:52] I remember the door bust out, boom, you know, because they're kicking the door, the police.

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
I just acted.

[00:47:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
I just went.
[00:47:06] I just moved forward.
[00:47:08] This evening, authorities say a man was tackled.
[00:47:11] He had a gun.
[00:47:11] It happened at Park Rose High School in Portland, Oregon.
[00:47:14] The football coach confronting the suspect

[00:47:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
People were blowing up our phones for interviews and let's talk to Keenan the hero and I wanted to say you don't even know the definition of hero unless you see this footage.

[00:47:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Door opens and as soon as it kind of opens I was able to get the gun away and then the kid starts to break down.
[00:47:37] I didn't want to hurt anybody.
[00:47:39] I didn't want to hurt anybody.
[00:47:40] That's what he said to me.
[00:47:41] I just wanted to hurt myself.
[00:47:43] He goes on to say nobody cares about me and I told him I care about him.
[00:47:50] I think he needed a hug more than he needed to be tackled to the ground.
[00:47:56] You know, I told him I was there for a reason.
[00:47:59] I was there to save him.

[00:48:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]:
You could have died.

[00:48:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Yeah.
[00:48:09] That wasn't my time though.

[00:48:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]:
This is Keenan Lowe's time.
[00:48:16] The team that just two years ago couldn't win a game, now couldn't lose.

[00:48:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]:
The Park Rose Broncos are conference champions!

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]:
This season, Park Rose earned its first conference title in 53 years and its first playoff win in school history.

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]:
My definition of a hero is an educator, is a coach.
[00:48:42] What Keenan did in that video is great, it's heroic, but he does it every day.
[00:48:50] He is providing a sense of opportunity for kids that didn't think they were worthy of it.
[00:48:57] Kenan is a true hero.

[00:48:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]:
Say it loud and say it very, very, very proud.
[00:49:03] I love you guys.
[00:49:04] Champs on me.
[00:49:05] Champs on three.
[00:49:06] One, two, three.

[00:49:08] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Champs!

[00:49:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]:
Let us pray.
[00:49:10] Gracious God, you transform all things.
[00:49:13] You transform the things that we cling to and they become new life.
[00:49:20] Let us relinquish the things that are keeping us from being whole.
[00:49:27] Help us give them to you so that in the power of the Easter story we will see that you show up even in the worst things and that death is never the victor.
[00:49:40] That you transform and redeem all things.
[00:49:44] And then God help us take that transformation and go be influencers.
[00:49:50] There are so many ways we can be.
[00:49:53] Use us, your greatness, use your greatness in us so that we can make this world a better place.
[00:50:00] We offer ourselves to you in Christ's holy and resurrected name.
[00:50:04] Amen I'm not going to ask you to like grab on to another person because that could be creepy but I'm going to I want you to grab your own arm like grab it like I want you to hold it really tight or grab somebody if there's somebody cute next to you that you want to he's my son-in-law I can do that it's not sexual harassment now if I said I was going to give you a check for a million dollars what would you have to do?
[00:50:35] You'd have to either use something else or you'd have to let go of the things that you cling to.
[00:50:40] It's okay to cling to things that are of love and peace and joy and hope.
[00:50:46] It's not okay to cling to the things that drag us down, that are death to our hope and our joy.
[00:50:55] Let go and remember it is what it is and God redeems all things.
[00:51:01] Happy Easter.