Easter 2019 09 30

to kinda set the the tone for what I wanna talk about today is simply as a bit when I I was in high school, I don't know about you, I was one of those high scores that had a plan for what I was gonna do. I mean, some of you probably didn't have a plan. Some of you probably still don't have a plan for what you're gonna do, but but I did. And and and I already kinda knew what I was gonna do next my senior year because it was centered around playing baseball.

See, I'd come to know Jesus in high school so I served Jesus. I loved him. I loved god and but I thought god had opened these doors to let me play baseball and that was the plan. I would share my faith through that. I would engage through that but that was what I thought I was gonna do. A matter of fact, I had college full ride scholarships,

offers. I knew I was gonna be able go to college for free, scouts watching me, so there's a good chance I'd just go right into professional if I wanted to. That was the plan.

And then about halfway through my senior year, I wasn't wasn't pitching that day. I was actually playing in the outfield, playing center field, and and and a guy hit a line drive base hit with a man on second base. And I could tell that the guy on second was gonna try to score,

and there were scouts there. So I was like, I was gonna press them because at that time I could run if I get that ball in the first hop, I was gonna throw this guy out because I could throw it from center field all the way to home plate on a line drive. So that's what I was gonna do. And so I was running full speed, gonna impress the scouts,

and the ball hit the ground, and it did something I've never seen before since in the game of baseball. It skipped sideways. And it must have hit a sprinkler head or something weird, but anyways, it went sideways.

And as I was running at top speed, I tried to cut and pivot to grab it when it skipped. And all I remember is I saw my the ball about to go into my hand, The next thing I saw was the ground hitting me in the face and and excruciating pain in my left knee and

I was like, oh, this isn't good. This isn't good but then after I laid there for a minute, I was like, okay, I'm not feeling really much pain now. It was shock is what it was, but but so then they're like, you okay? Go, don't know. I go, feel weird, but I feel like okay. So then I get up. They go, do you think you can walk? I go, well, let me try. And and and as I stepped

have you ever seen one of those videos of like a newborn horse? Well, now you know what it looked like because as I stepped like, It was like, well, this leg was fine. It was only that leg but it was, I mean, my knee was was rotating in all directions. It it it moved

this way as much as it moved this way. It it was crazy and and I was like, oh, oh, and everyone on the team was going go, oh, that's disgusting. I don't even know. They go, do it again. I said, okay. So, I kept doing it and then the trainer comes out and says, stop doing it. That's not good. Next thing you know, go to the doctor, they do an MRI. It's so swollen, sinking loose. They knew there was some stuff torn. So, they scheduled me for surgery. The doc said, it's gonna probably be couple hours of surgery because I know there's some things and they're messed up. We'll see what else is going on. Let you know when we're done. Well, when I went to the hospital to have the surgery, I decided I'm gonna have a great attitude.

I'm gonna I'm gonna show the nurses and the doctors, you know, you would do when you deal with hurt people, sometimes hurt people hurt people. They're not very nice and and so I was gonna be the the nice guy. I brought my Bible with me and I was going to read my Bible. I recovered. I was going to pray. I was going to share my faith. It was going be awesome and so as they wheeling me in to have surgery, I was actually singing a song from our youth group days. This is back in the eighties. So, it's like content's good. Songs are stupid. So, I'm singing a song and I must have been such a bad singer that the anesthesiologist

is like running to the door with that mask and sticking it over my, turn up the gas. Hurry. You know, and they're gassing me down. I wake up and I'm all disoriented. I feel terrible and and but yet they wheel me and the doctor comes in. I go, the first thing I can mumble in all of my half out of it was, when do I get to play baseball again?

And he goes, well, you know, you you he goes, you you were in surgery for eight and a half hours. I was like, what? And I go, okay. So you he goes, yeah. It was like your knee blew up on the inside. If it could be wrong, if it could tear or move or dislocate or or or break, it did.

And I go, okay. Great. You fixed it. When can I play baseball? And he goes, don't think you understand. You're not gonna ever play baseball. You're done. And you're gonna have a little bit of a limp the rest of your life, which most people don't notice. I do have a slight limp. My knee only bends this far,

and and and it was bad. And I was like, I almost couldn't I go, but when do I get to play baseball again? And in that moment, my hope had died. And I was like, but I had a plan. God and I had talked about this plan. This was how I was even if I didn't play professional, it was gonna pay for college. That was the plan.

I didn't know what to do with that. So I sat there and and and and I had complications from being under for eight and half hours, so I ended up violently ill.

I mean, really sick. I couldn't keep anything down. They had to put me on an IV. I was throwing up and whatever. There wasn't anything to throw up. I was dry heaving constantly.

And I don't if you've ever had a surgery, especially knee surgery, you can't even barely scratch your nose without it hurting. And can you imagine that the heaves and the moving and all that and and and so I almost got so confused. Not only had my hope died, I felt like in that moment, is god kicking me when I'm down? I know what Job feels like now. I feel like I've I've I've had this taken away from me, and now I'm just in agony. I had to stay in the hospital for over a week, and I remember on the fourth night of this, about 2AM,

I just couldn't sleep, of course, and I'm laying there, and and and I was so frustrated, so hopeless that I actually looked over at my Bible, which I hadn't touched since I woke up, they told me, hope it died. And I remember just sitting there, and this question popped into my head, and I just said, why? Why?

Why did this happen? God, what's the deal? If you're, you know, almost starting to push back on God, like, don't I'm not sure if I even trust you or believe in you at this moment because I don't get it. Some of you can you understand. You feel like I feel. Some of you are in that moment right now.

Some of you, that's the reason that you're not at church very often. I don't know why you're all here. I mean, some of you are here because you come here all the time. So so some of you, you're you're here when I get here. You're still here when I leave. I don't know what else you guys do, but still,

there's there's some of you are just you're here because it's traditional thing, and some of you are just here because they said no ham for you if you don't come. So so or or no Easter egg hunt or whatever it is, but we're here and and you come here and and maybe one of your issues on this Easter with God is I'm gonna sit through this, but you know what? I'm not so sold out on this Jesus thing. I'm not so sold out on this God thing Because you've had those why moments. Either you're in one or you've had them, or they've already happened where you you thought you had a plan, and you might have even been someone that used to really go all in with God. And and and but now you're not. Because you're like, hey, if if God is so great, if resurrection happened, if God could do that,

then why did this happen? Why? And if if you can understand that, we can understand exactly what Jesus' followers, his disciples felt like on the first Easter. You see, we come here and celebrate. They weren't. That first Easter morning, their hope had died. Jesus had died.

They they were not celebrating. They were hiding out. It says, they were actually in a room somewhere behind locked doors fearing for their lives because

they put all their hope in Jesus. They planned, they they said they followed him because he was this promised king. He was the Messiah. He was the prophesied in the Old Testament. He was going to come and make things right in the world and they had a plan in their head. They thought, here's what they thought it looked like. They thought we're going to follow him. He's going to make everything right. He's going to establish his kingdom. He's going to get rid of bad political leadership, new person in office. All of our problems are going to go away. No one thinks like that, do they?

But that's what they thought. And even though Jesus repeatedly told them as he got near the end of the life, I'm gonna die, it didn't compute with them. They didn't get it. So when he died, their hope had died, and now their future had possibly died. Because Jesus had said, they're gonna treat you worse than they treat me, and they just watched him die a horrible death on a cross. They're locked up going, what's next for us?

That's what Jesus' followers were doing on that first Easter morning. But what I want to look at in this story a little bit today is simply this big idea.

When all seems hopeless, hope walks through the door. When all seems hopeless, hope walks through. That's really the the meaning of Easter. It starts off, first of all, the first door that hope walked through was that tomb. Jesus walked out of the tomb and he was alive.

And the first person he saw, it says in John 20, was a woman named Mary. And he said, go tell the disciples that I'm back.

They don't believe her, so they're locked in this room. And he walks through another door, the locked door. He doesn't open it. He doesn't unlock it. He doesn't even, hey, Kool Aid explode through it. It says he just appears in there. He literally goes through the door, and then he turns in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah.

Yo. I'm back. You know? Get down. Get down in prayer. You know, that's what he's doing. He's he's back and and

they're like, hope walked through the door and they're all excited. So, when all seems hopeless, hope walks through the door. That's the story of Easter But the reason I quickly told that part, that's usually what's read to you and taught on Easter Sunday. I wanna look at what happened next,

right after that moment, because hope had to come in again. And and and I think we can relate to this character I wanna talk about. It's in John 20, just a few verses here, and it's

starts at verse 24, and it says, one of the 12 disciples, Thomas, nicknamed the twin. It's funny. They tell us what his nickname was. But the way my brain works is like, his nickname's the Twin? That's not a very good nickname. What's his twin's nickname?

Is his nickname the Twin? Because if that's true, it doesn't help us distinguish between them, does it? But sorry that if you're new here, my brain goes down these roads sometimes and just stay with me. Forget I said it. Sorry. He says, he nicknamed the twin. He wasn't with them.

He was not with the others when Jesus came. So one of the the original 12 disciples, Thomas, and you guys know he had another nickname. You know what it's been known?

Doubting Thomas. I don't think that's a fair nickname. I think he was more of Eeyore Thomas. He was a little bit more of the glass half empty kinda guy. And and but he wasn't there. Where was he? The Bible doesn't say, but we know from what happens next, his attitude, where he's at, his hopelessness,

as he feels that he was in the same place the disciples were. They were fearing for their lives, So, he wasn't like he was, I couldn't be there. I got a business appointment or I got a thing. I got a gig I gotta go to. Most likely knowing his personality and his frame of mind in the story is, he was probably one of those people that you might relate to. He was probably one of those people that he was so broken that when things seem hopeless, he just wants to be left completely alone. He didn't even wanna be with his friends.

And maybe that's you. Maybe that's you. I got I got my youngest daughter's like that in our house. She's the cat in a house full of golden retrievers. Retrievers.

She's our one introvert in a house that's like so she'll come out of her room every now and then, you know, rub up against you for a little bit of attention. Right? We go, oh, this is nice. She's like, alright. I'm done with you, and then wanders off again. And when she's not in a good mood,

she gets so mad at me. Because I'm like, what's wrong? What's wrong? And she gets so frustrated with me. She's like, just leave me alone. Is that you? Some of you in the crowd, you like that? Yeah. You don't wanna be around me if you don't feel good.

But she so that's probably what Thomas was doing. He's so broken that he isolated. He isolated. But we're gonna see in the story that that doesn't help. Because because he isolated, he didn't get to have hope walk through the door the week before.

He didn't get that moment. And look what his reaction is. They find him on that first Easter, and they tell him, we've seen the Lord in verse 25. But he replied, I won't believe it. He just he says, I'm not gonna believe it. Even though his good friends that he's trusted, they went all in with Jesus says, he's back.

And and they're like, I don't believe it. You might be at the same spot as as Thomas is. You're here, but you're not really here. You're like, I'd rather not be here. I'm not sure if I believe in this Jesus thing. And a matter of fact, even if I was gonna believe in it, I won't believe in Jesus unless. And usually,

it's unless

I get an answer to why this thing broke my hope. Why did this happen? Or why can't he fix it? Or I won't believe it unless he does. Like for me, my knee blew out. I lost all hope. What blew out in your life that makes you doubt God's power and his love in your life? Maybe it's not a knee, maybe it's a marriage. Maybe it's a career thing. Maybe it's a friendship thing.

Maybe it's just a deep interpersonal emotional thing and you can't that's the worst. You can't even put a finger on it. It's just there. Maybe that's you. So Tom's like, I won't believe unless. And then he says exactly his fills in his blank, and his fill in is pretty specific and and to me a little disturbing.

He says, I won't believe unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side. Who does that? That's not very sanitary, but I guess if Jesus came back from the dead, he can handle some germs.

So that's but you know what he's really saying? He's not saying, I won't believe unless Jesus does what I tell him to. That's where some of us are at. I prayed, I asked God, if God does what I want, then I'll believe in him. That's not what Thomas is saying here. He's saying, I'm so broken. I yeah. You saw him, but

I need to see him. I need to see him. So then what happens next is crazy. It says eight days later, the way the Jewish calendar works, that was the next week. It was the next Sunday. So it's a week later. It says, the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them.

So here's a little important little little note for you. If you if you're struggling to see Jesus and God work in your life, you need to be around his people because that's where he tends to work the most, is through his people. It's why he calls us to gather and be a church.

A lot of Christians say, I don't need really I don't need church. I I just need Jesus. That's not true. If that was true, then why did Jesus create this thing called the church? Call us the body of Christ and tell us over and over and over again, we need each other.

Yet, that's a lie from the pit of hell that you can just believe in Jesus and do your own thing. We're supposed to be together. This is where we see Jesus the most when we're together. And so it says, he he it says he's with them.

It says the doors were locked. It's the same thing as before. But suddenly as before, Jesus was standing amongst them. Peace be with you, he said.

But then he said to Thomas so he looks right at Thomas, he says, put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound by my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe. Wow.

It says at that moment, verse 28, my lord and my god, Thomas exclaimed. So he he he went from pouting Thomas to doubting Thomas, and now he's shouting Thomas in in an instant. And he and he declares that Jesus is not just lord, but he's god. You know, he's the first disciple

to say it exactly that way. He's the first one to figure out to put two and two together and actually not just declare Jesus the Lord and savior of all, but actually God. The word there used for God means literally God, the proper name for God. He realized you are God.

You are the way. You are the truth. You are the life. I'm surrendering. Put my faith in you. I'm not gonna doubt. I believe. What made him do that? Well, a lot of it is he was dead, and now he's alive. But he the disciples saw him raise another guy from the dead. So that wasn't a new thing.

You know what probably blew him away just as much? Is when he was hopeless and thought his hope had died and Jesus was dead, Jesus reappears, and what does he tell him to do? Exactly what he said a week before. I won't believe unless I get to see this.

And the power in that is not that, hey, I'm gonna do exactly what you asked me to do. It's more of Thomas is thinking, how did Jesus know what I said? Think about that. If he wasn't here, how did he know what I said last week? It's because he's God. And it's because here here's here's a simple truth.

We think we have to physically see Jesus or He's not there. And the truth is just because you don't see Him doesn't mean He's not there. A week before, Thomas was hopeless because he just felt like he was dead, but he wasn't. He felt like he had no hope, but Jesus was alive. He was the living hope,

and he was there even if you didn't see him. And that's important because that's what Jesus says to Thomas in response. After he says, my lord and my god, Jesus told him, you believe because you've seen me.

You've seen my physical resurrected body and you believe. But here's where he mentions all of us. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.

He's saying blessed are those who will believe without seeing me. Does that mean we will not see his power, his presence, the change, the hope he can give? No. That's not what he's talking about. He's saying blessed are those who don't didn't physically see my resurrection. He's talking about everyone who comes to believe in Jesus that wasn't there at that first resurrection,

that didn't see his body resurrected. But he says, we will be blessed. So Jesus had had put Thomas in this situation where it seemed like hope had died, but then hope walked through the door. And that's really a lot of what's going on. Let me show you. Peter,

the apostle, the disciple Peter, he was in this room that day. He ended up becoming the leader of of the disciples, and and he ended up writing a couple books of the Bible. And one of them is a letter called first Peter. He was writing it decades later.

Decades couple decades later, he's writing this letter, and it it's going out to a church. Is to believers who are now struggling.

They've had these setbacks in their life. They've had things. They've had their why. Why is this happening? We love Jesus. We've decided to believe in God, and life isn't working out. Matter of fact, they're being persecuted for their faith, being put to death for their faith.

And and and and they're struggling. And so Peter is writing to encourage them, and he opens his letter, and here's what he says. And in this letter, he's actually referencing the Easter, and he even references that conversation.

It's like he still remembers what Jesus said to Thomas. You believe because you see, but how blessed are those who are gonna believe that didn't see me? Because look what he says. He says, blessed be the god and father of our lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He mentions Easter and he says, what is the blessing? A living hope. You realize when we think all hope is died,

all hope, all seems hopeless. Hope walks to the door. Is because hope isn't a thing. Hope is not a thing. Hope is not a future event. Hope is not something that's gonna happen. It's not something you're gonna get. It's not not that marriage. It's not that thing. Hope is a person and hope has a name and that name is Jesus Christ.

That's what he's saying. Our living hope. He's not dead. He's alive. Jesus coming back. He died on the cross for us to to to heal our relationship between us and god because we've wandered from we went our own way. We've chased our own hopes, our own dreams. It's called sin. We've tried to go around God to find happiness.

And the truth is Jesus is the only way. He came and died to make things right. And you know, you might sit here and go, well, that's one way, but all religions are basically the same. That's not true. That's a lie. That's a false hope.

Jesus even prayed about that the night before he died. He said, basically, hey, to god the father. If there was another plan that we could rescue everybody that didn't involve taking on all the sins of the world and dying a horrible death, I'd like that plan but he knew. There is no other way. Christians

are not narrow minded or mean or jerks when we say you can only believe in Jesus Because if there's only one way to be saved, then we are the most loving people on the planet because Jesus, the God who created us and made us, knows this is the only way to be made right with God. You know why it's the only way to be made right with God?

Give you one word, and I'll explain it to you. We have this in us. It's a it's it's part of the the the image of God that's in us. Go back to when you're a kid, and if you had a brother, sister, cousin, friend over,

and there's only one cookie left, or if you're a parent, you've done this with your own kids, so you're like, You try to split that cookie in half. Dude, you better get the sawzar. You better get a table saw, and you better measure it. You better get on the the spectrum

microscope thing because what are those kids gonna do? What did you do the second you hand one one piece and one the other? What do they do? They examine it and they look at it. And what happens if the other cookie is that much bigger? This isn't fair. You know where that comes from? That is the God given image of justice

that was planted in you by the God who created there's no Darwinian explanation for that other than the fact that a God who is holy and just and says things are supposed to be right has put that into them. And even as little kids, we have that. So here's the problem. God is holy, just, and right.

We walk away from him. We are not holy. We are not just, and we are not right. So there is no system or scheme that you can earn God's love. We are all under the judgment of a just God. He is gonna judge sin. So we got a problem.

You don't need religion. You need to trust in Jesus because God the Son came, and he on Christmas this is the end of the Christmas story. He came, lived that perfect life, died on the cross, then came back to life. And when he hung on the cross, it wasn't just the death he did. He took on every unjust thing we did, every sin, every violation,

every moment of shame, every broken piece or anything, and he took all the guilt and all the shame. He took it. He passed judgment

upon sin, and he took it upon himself. But the thing about the cross is God is also loving and merciful and grace filled, So his grace and his mercy and his love took him to the cross, and the cross is what answered his justice and his holiness and his righteousness.

That is why Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and you will not get to God in any other way. And I'm not a closed minded bigot who hates you. I love you just as much as Jesus loves you. Well, I'm I don't know if I'd take the cross for you. I'm sorry. I'll wear a tie once a year. That's the whole point.

And so oftentimes, what we'll see is he says that's what Jesus is the living hope. And he says it's a hope that gives us an inheritance. It says it goes on to say, that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you by God's power. So he's saying, this is a hope that doesn't let you down.

See, all these other hopes, they're blessings. Playing baseball is a blessing. Having a married, blessing. Kids, depends on the day. But you you you you you see these things in your life that that draw you, and and they are blessings. I'm not saying they're bad, but if you make that your hope, they will let you down.

Your hope will die. Your hope will will will it'll it'll fade. You'll have moments, but Jesus won't. It's an eternal, imperishable hope.

That's what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, and he's reminding these these who are suffering, their hope has died. They're going through bad things that makes them go, why, God? Why? Why? We love you. What's happening? Why are you letting this happen? And he explains what the the tough stuff is. He says he says,

this

in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials,

So, that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold and perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus. So, he says, you're going through tough times. You're having a test but it's not a test like I'm mad at you, you're failing, pop quiz, you lose. It's a test more like you go into the gym to get stronger. Oh, man, you push it and that was hard, but it made you stronger. It's that kind of a test. Basically, he's saying is these tough times where it seems like your hope has died, they're not really setbacks,

they're setups.

Kids tell you something, you wanna see Jesus, if you wanna understand and truly embrace a living hope, when you have something that seems like hope died and you wanna push back against God, that's what I wanna do in that hospital room, I used the setback to make it a pushback. I wanted to push God back. But if I can understand that god uses our setbacks

as setups for us to see Jesus, the living hope. Sometimes, the setback is the thing I put my hope in is dying so I can see that it's a false hope in order for Jesus to walk through the door to bring hope, and I can see the living hope. So that setback is really God's setup for us to see Jesus the living hope.

That's what he's that's what Peter is explaining to these people as he's going through these tough times. He's explaining that's what Easter was all about. And then look in verse eight, he says this incredible thing. He says this,

he's remembering this conversation and what Jesus said to Thomas on this morning, that first Easter. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him, and you rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. He says, you don't see him just like Peter

got to see his resurrection. We didn't. But he goes, you've got this blessing that you know him and you love him. And just understand that those setbacks in your life are setups so you can see the living hope. The setback you're going through right now

is not God kicking you while you're down. Don't push back against Him. Understand that He put you in that moment to set you up. He's trying to get your attention. He wants you to see Him.

And now you're sitting here. You don't think this was a setup? Some of you really was. You got someone sitting next to you that set you up and got you here. But the reality is what in your life has happened all through your life for you to be sitting right here, right now, listening to this message. If not, God

trying to do a setup to hear Him say, I love you. I died for you. I beat death to give you life, and everything in your life is I'm trying to get you to embrace and see the living hope of Jesus. Because that's where I was in that hospital room.

I I I was sitting there. I was saying why. I was frustrated. I was looking over at my Bible that I hadn't touched. So, I grabbed it. I picked it up and I said, why? And I got to the point. I didn't just mumble why. I didn't just think about why. You ever get so frustrated and you can and I was just frustrated with god because I was confused that I wanted to push him back. So, that Bible represented him to me. I just not only said, why? I get to this visceral level of anger and I screamed, why at the top of my lungs and as I screamed, why? I took my Bible and I threw it and I realized, knee bad, arm still good

because when I threw it, man, I don't know if you can spiral a Bible but I felt like I did. I had a nice, tight spin. There's the red letters. We're going and it flew right out the door and it went like a missile and as it flew, it went right at the nurses station

And there was a nurse sitting there typing away on the computer, and there was a big pot of fresh flowers with water right there, and it smashed right in the busted that, sprayed her all over the computer and everything and just destroyed the area. Then And once again, nurses, I am so sorry that you have to deal with this kind of stuff. But I bet that nurse in a million years of all the gross things that they had to deal with, never in a million years would have thought Bible flying in my face would be one of those problems.

But it did. You thought someone coded out there. What's going on? It's like all this and I didn't care. I was like, bruh. And I was just don't care. Well, after it kinda they cleaned up, a few minutes later, heard footsteps outside my door. I said, please go past my room. Please go past my nope. Walked right into my room.

It was the nurse that my Bible basically smashed in her, still wet from the vase, holding my Bible. And I thought, great. I can't get away. She's gonna beat me to death with my own Bible.

So I just acted like I was asleep.

She walked to that door, gently walked to my side, put her hand on my shoulder, kinda rubbed my back, and then sat that bible on my chest. Leaned over and whispered because I she knew I wasn't asleep, but she acted, okay. I'll just whisper to you. And whispered, it's okay. I understand. I've been there.

But trust me, you're gonna need this and tap my bible. And she knew it meant not just need the word of God, but need God. Because she heard me scream, why? You're gonna need this for the rest of your journey. And then she walked out. You want to talk about a setup? Of all the nurses on the planet,

I threw my bible straight at one that knew Jesus.

And she said the simple words of hope I needed to hear. When all was hopeless, she walked through the door.

She was being Jesus. That's why we should be around Jesus' people when we're struggling. Because you get to see Jesus through them. And what she said cut to my core. It didn't make me happy. I'll be honest. Bill still wasn't happy.

I was still frustrated. I was mad. I was like, I don't get it. But I at least I had that moment where I told him, I go, my Lord and my God. It was more like the other way around for me. I knew he was still God, but I had to say he is my Lord. And I had to surrender. And basically,

I had the locked doors in my heart, but he appeared. He hate Kool Aid. No. Didn't just appear. He went right through them, just like he always does. Walked right there into my heart and spoke to me through the words that that nurse said. Trust me. I am the living hope. Matter of fact, I'm your only hope. So I did. I did.

What happened next is I ended up leaning more into working in my church, started getting a chance to share my faith a little, started telling people about Jesus. And that's what I've been doing for the last twenty nine years. And I spent ten of it as a youth pastor. Ten of it as a youth pastor.

I cannot tell you how many times I was the one that walked through the hospital room door.

And several times I had to walk into a room where I knew there was a football player on the other side, he was a senior, that came from the wrong side of the tracks. And his only hope to get out of that life was that football scholarship he had, and it was over because of his knee. And I was able to sit with him

and basically just cry. He knew my story. And I was able to say, you know I get it. It'll be okay. Because what looks like a setback is really God's set up. And you know what? God never

told me exactly why in those direct words. The sky never parted. A bright light never shone down upon me. And God didn't say, Bennett Busheth, because that's how God speaks in King James. He goes, thine wanteth you to knoweth why I smited you in the knee and allowed you to walk like a newborn horse.

Never. He didn't do that. He never said why, but every one of those conversations, every chance I've been able to be the be used by Jesus to be the one that brings the hope that walks through the door and see people have hopelessness

turn into hope in an instant. It is crazy. In an instant, you can have that hope. I've had so many opportunities to do that that I would never trade it ever. Now back then, if you had walked into the hospital room and God said, hey, I'll give you a chance. You want the knee back? Zip it, zappity, bam. And heal it. You can go back and play baseball. At that moment, I said, yeah, I'd do anything for that. I'd even play for the Dodgers if you would do that for me.

And and I don't care. But now, no. Not at all. Because it turned out that God said, hey, your plan was to pitch a ball. My plan is for you to preach the word. And I'm so thankful he did. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Because I realized that great one of the greatest setbacks in my life to that point was the greatest setup to see Jesus.

How about you? Is it are you ready to stop pushing back against God and embrace the setup and see the hope? Have the living hope? Because that's what I wanna do right now. Wanna close in prayer. We're gonna sing a song.

But I wanna pray with some of you. Some of you are ready to declare Jesus as Lord and God. You're ready to put your faith in him as the living hope. Not all the things you ran after is what it means to become a Christian.

I don't care if you grew up in church. If you've never embraced Jesus as your only way, the truth, and the life, then you've missed it. Some of you aren't ready. Some of you don't even understand what I've been saying for the last thirty five minutes. That's okay.

But you know what? If you're not ready or you don't get it, I'm gonna challenge you to do what Thomas did. Even in his unbelief even in his desperation, he kept he started hanging out with the disciples. Come back next week. Stick around and see what happens.

But for those of you are ready, will you just pray with me? Just close your eyes. And I'm gonna give you a chance to join the 275 other people that already have this weekend.

Enter into this relationship with the living hope of Jesus. Just pray with me. But pray it in your own heart, in your own words, make it between you and him. But just pray something like this if you're ready. Just pray, dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you are my living hope, my only hope.

And right now, I wanna invite you to walk through the door of my life. I wanna embrace you as the way, the truth, and the life. I right now, in the best way I know how, I put my faith in you, not me. I'm turning from running after my own hopes and dreams and running away from you.

And I put my faith in what you did for me on the cross and then in resurrection, proving you beat death, proving you are who you said you are. And that's what I put my faith in. So help me to each and every day understand that those setbacks in life are really setups to draw me closer to you.

Help me to understand that, to see that, to grow in that each and every day. Thank you. Now before I say amen and we just sing a song and move on with our day. If you just prayed with me right now, you just prayed that prayer,

I wanna do have you do something crazy. No one else is really looking around, but but I I I wanna ask you this. I want you to just put your hand in there and just hold it up. Hold it up nice and high. Don't be afraid because there's something I wanna say to you that's powerful and you're wanna hear it.

Man, so many hands. Keep them up there. Because here's what I wanna say before I close this prayer down. Put your hands in the air. You just proved what Jesus was saying. Blessed are those who will believe without seeing. And you are sitting here with your hand in the air because God loved you so much

that before time even existed, he set up this moment. He knew this moment was coming. He knew it was gonna happen. And think about it. He planned this whole thing for you.

For you. That is the blessing he was talking about. You have this blessing of know that the god of all the universe, the creator of all that on the day he resurrected, on the day he hung on the cross, he was thinking about you, and he knew about this moment. He set the whole thing up, and now here you are able to respond. So never ever, ever doubt his love for you.

No matter what happens, embrace it and trust him as the living hope. So, father, I thank you for these hands that are raised. I thank you for all these hands raised. I thank you for me to have the opportunity, have the front row seat to get to represent

you as hope walking through the door. Thank you that you got to use my words. Thank you that you called me to be a preacher and not a pitcher, because I think I'm better at the preaching than I am at the pitching anyway. So thank you, Lord. Thank you for them. I pray that they will understand and embrace what it meant for them to pray and raise their hand, and they will see you even if they don't see you. And they will see you as the living hope. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night