Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, good morning, church.
[00:00:04] He has risen.
[00:00:06] You guys are all practiced up at that now. Very good. If you weren't familiar with the proper response when you hear that is he is risen indeed. Welcome to Living Hope Church. At this time, we're going to spend some time in God's Word for children ages 3 to 5. We have a space called Children's Church for them, and they are welcome to go there. Now, that's a time where they can learn and they can have a time of engaging with others in their age. And there's some loving, caring adults who are working alongside them, pointing them towards Jesus on this beautiful day. So that's where they're headed off to. There's people in the harvest hall in our fellowship hall right now watching. And then all of you, regardless of maybe what you were planning on doing this morning, maybe you planned to come here today, a week ago, and maybe you had no plans to come, but somebody said, hey, you should come to church with me. We're glad that you chose to join us this morning. Isn't it a beautiful day? It is so, so wonderful. Well, hopefully on your way in, you got a bulletin. And inside your bulletin, there's all sorts of things that are happening in the life of the church. I'm not gonna read through them all because I can depend on you all to read them instead. Can you guys do that?
[00:01:14] All right, so look, there's all sorts of things there. There's also a QR code inside the bulletin, and if you scan that, you can find ways to connect better with the church. You can, you can find ways to connect and say, I want to learn more about kids ministry or men's ministry or women's ministry. I would like to hear from a pastor and ask questions about church things or faith or God or all of those kinds of things. You want to land on our social media platforms and all of that. That QR code will help connect you there. And then there's also some announcements about what's coming up in future weeks. On the back of your bulletin, someone say, the back.
[00:01:48] The back of your bulletin is the outline that we're going to walk through today as we go through, as we go through God's word on this beautiful morning.
[00:01:57] I don't know where you've come from. I don't know what your background is. For some of you, you've been walking with Jesus for many years. And others, you know who God is and you believe that there is a real God and all of those things. And you also said yes to the person invited you.
[00:02:14] But you're maybe not sure of what to expect here today. What I want to do right now is I want to pray. And then what we're gonna do is just journey through God's word together. So if you have a Bible, I encourage you to open it. And we're gonna be in various places. If you don't, the verses that I'll be reading from or most of the verses that I'll be reading from are also gonna be on the screen. And then after we are done, we're gonna do something called communion or take the Lord's Supper. And that's a time when there's, we have elements, a little wafer and juice, and we'll pass that, we'll distribute that to everybody. And that's a time, as I'll explain, that's a time for us to remember and to celebrate, to rejoice in the work that Jesus Christ did on the cross and his resurrection. And then after that, we'll sing another song to kind of close out this wonderful day. So that's where we're going.
[00:03:03] That's what to expect.
[00:03:05] If you would bow your heads, let's pray together.
[00:03:11] Well, Father in heaven, we're so grateful for, for this time that we have today as we join with many of our brothers and sisters around the world and even just in our community.
[00:03:23] Spending time opening your word, spending time singing songs and hearing your word proclaimed. We ask, Lord, that you would be honored in what we do.
[00:03:31] We don't do this for ourselves. We do this because you are worthy of our attention, you are worthy of our praise, and you are worthy of our life.
[00:03:40] We're grateful for the opportunity because of what Jesus did on the cross on our behalf. We're grateful, Father, that we can come before you with confidence knowing that you hear us, knowing that whatever burdens we might be carrying this morning or distractions, we can lay those before you and know that you care deeply for us. In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:04:06] Now, I have a couple small kids. I have a year and a half year old and I have a four year old boy, so two boys. How many of you here have kids?
[00:04:14] All right, so I remember the first time we brought our first son, his name's Nathaniel home, by the way. It's dangerous to be a pastor's kid, talking about you all the time. I remember brought him home. And if you're familiar with that scene of infants being, being brought home, you know this. They don't sleep usually they don't sleep well right out the Gate, Right. That's usually a struggle, oftentimes mostly for the parents who are waking up multiple times a night and just praying that tonight would be the night, that their kid would sleep through the night. Just please, God, could it be tonight? Like, they ate well, they've had their naps, have been good, and all of that. Could tonight be the night? Well, if you've been in a space like that, then you know that you wake up every couple hours expecting them to be crying, expecting to go take care of them again or whatever it might need to be that you need to do with them.
[00:05:11] But then there's that one night where you wake up two hours or three hours later and you expect them to be crying and they're. They're not. And then you start to get nervous.
[00:05:25] I mean, it's a mixture of I'm nervous and I'm grateful, and I'm nervous and I'm grateful.
[00:05:30] But then after a while, the grateful part kind of wears off a little bit and you start to get a little bit more nervous, and you're like, I should go do what? Check on them. And so you creep very quietly into their room or to wherever they might be. And then what do you do? You lean in really close and you listen to see if they are breathing.
[00:05:53] And then when you hear that they are, you then take a very silent but deep sigh of relief, right? Because you're so grateful they're still sleeping. God did answer your prayer, and they're still alive. So two really good things. And then you creep very quietly out of the room, back to your room, and you just hope that you don't wake them up from that trip. Right?
[00:06:19] I remember those all recently. It's so stressful, isn't it?
[00:06:26] Because you know that if they're breathing, then they're fine, if they're breathing easily. But if they're not breathing, there's reason to be concerned.
[00:06:34] The way we breathe tells us. Tells people around us a lot about what's going on, about what we're feeling, doesn't it? When we're scared, we breathe differently, don't we? When we're anxious about something, our breath changes.
[00:06:45] When. If you've ever perhaps been at the bedside of someone who's taking their final breaths, they're breathing a little bit differently, aren't they?
[00:06:57] The breath that we have, it changes based on what's going on. I remember even more recently thinking about one of my other kids who's actually currently sick.
[00:07:07] And you've experienced this as well, when you're Sick and you're congested and you try to go to bed and you lay down, what happens? How does your breathing go?
[00:07:14] Not great. And recently, in the last even few days, one of my sons, he's super congested. And the only way to get him to sleep at night is to sit up on a chair on the couch and prop him up. Because if I don't do that, then what's gonna happen?
[00:07:27] He's gonna start coughing, he's not gonna breathe well, and then he's not going to do what I want him to do. What? Sleep. And I want him to sleep right.
[00:07:35] So gotta, like, prop him up, make sure that he's able to breathe the right way so that the right things can happen. Now, you might be wondering this question. Why are we talking about this?
[00:07:47] Because breathing actually has a lot to do with what we're going to be looking at in God's Word today. I have two goals for us today, and I want to journey with you in this endeavor. The first is this. We're going to explore what God's word has to say about breath and actually how it's related to the story of the resurrection. And then secondly, not just that piece of it, but secondly, I want to show you how you can experience breathing or living the way that God designed you so that you don't have to, if you will, be propped up by a lot of other things that the world offers so that you can breathe easy in your life. Does that make sense?
[00:08:30] Because there's so many things the world has for us that are outside of what God's plan is that says, hey, if you're having a hard time with stress, and here, this thing will prop you up. You know what I'm talking about? Hey, if you're having a problem with anger or sadness or all of the different things, problems in these relationships, just take a hold of this thing that the world has to offer. It will prop you up to make your life a little easier. And what we're going to see today is this. God also cares about how you're breathing. And he says, when things are hard, I will prop you up. Trust me to prop you up. Because that's going to be better than all those other things around us. So the best place to start when you're starting something is at the beginning. So that's what we're going to do. On the back of your bulletin, there's points one through six. And then below that you can see some other things. The first thing you could write in is this breath in the. What's the word beginning? So let's dive right in the beginning of the Bible, Chapter one, verse one of Genesis. So we're just going to go through Revelation, all right?
[00:09:27] Not really. That'll take a long, long, long time.
[00:09:30] Genesis 1, 1 and 2. Let's look at that. It's on the screen as well. Breath in the beginning. Let's just understand the foundation is what we're gonna do, the foundation of this concept of breath or breathing, which, by the way, in Scripture we see this word not just in relation to us taking a breath. Can we do that together? Can we take a deep breath?
[00:09:50] We see this word breath used throughout Scripture, and. And it's often used, yes, in this. We just took a breath together, but also in the word spirit.
[00:10:00] Let's look at this together. Genesis 1:1:2. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God. What is the word spirit also used as breath? The breath of God. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters really briefly. Why is this even important? Because of this. In the beginning, there was life.
[00:10:30] Remember, as you go into the room, you check on the baby, you want to see if they're breathing. Because if they're breathing, then they are what? Alive. There is breath. There is the Spirit of God. At the very beginning, there is life. At the beginning, death was actually unknown, and nothing was created to be dead. God in the beginning said, here is life, and it is very good. Death is just the opposite of life. And in the beginning, all things were alive and designed as such. It is because of this life, because of this life of God, that all of creation has life. As you think of science and all the research that happens, one of the big questions in science when we look backwards is this, where did life begin?
[00:11:11] Genesis 1:2 answers that life began with God, the creator of life, the originator of life, gave life to everything else. So we have breath in the beginning. And let's move one chapter further and one point further on your outline. Breath to the first man. His name was Adam. In chapter two, verse seven, it says this. It's thinking about this breath concept.
[00:11:34] Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground. And what's that next word?
[00:11:42] Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being or living creature. What does this tell us? It says this. God created the world and everything in it. All the animals, all of the fish in the sea and so on. And then God says, I'm gonna make man. And what does he do? How does he make man? By his command.
[00:12:04] He takes the. It's on the screen there, right? He takes the dust of the ground and he makes a man.
[00:12:13] He makes the first human.
[00:12:15] But the man has no life.
[00:12:20] So what does God do? He what?
[00:12:23] Breathes into him. And the man became a living being. God took that of which was dead and put life into it with his own death.
[00:12:34] Now, this is not a biblical term, but it's a term that we're gonna use today, both here and at the end. So maybe write this down, store this away. It's like God did this. God performed on Adam.
[00:12:45] Divine cpr, right?
[00:12:48] You might know what CPR is, right? Someone, they're not breathing, you come over and what you're doing is you breathe into them the life that you have, hoping that they will start to, what, breathe again? It's sharing your life, if you will, to the people who are suffering, people who are not experiencing good, healthy life. Here we have God saying, there's the form. He has no life. I'm gonna perform, if you will, cpr. I'm gonna put my breath, my life, inside of him.
[00:13:17] And then God puts them in a place called the Garden, in a place called Eden. And he says, all right, here you are. You can do whatever you want except one thing.
[00:13:27] And have any of you been told not to do one thing?
[00:13:29] What do you suddenly want to do? The one thing that you were told not to do. So Adam and his wife, Eve, they go over to this tree that they're not supposed to touch, not supposed to eat from. Eve then gets confused about this, thinking she can't even touch it. When she has a conversation with this serpent and they're around the tree, God said, don't eat the fruit. Can you say that with me? Don't eat the fruit. If you do, you will surely die. Now, if you remember point one, death is not something that has been in creation thus far. So then we have to ask this question. What is death?
[00:14:04] Death is this. Maybe jot this down somewhere. Death is separation.
[00:14:09] Death is separation.
[00:14:11] When you think about people in your life who have died, here's what you know, and here's what probably you have said to other people.
[00:14:18] They're in a better place because you realize something when they died, their soul separated from their flesh.
[00:14:27] You hope they are in a better place. You realize even in our own vocabulary, we realize death is not the end of a person. For most people believe this is not the end of that person, but rather their flesh has now separated from their soul. So they have died. Here God says, as soon as you eat the fruit, you will surely. What?
[00:14:48] Die. But then you might, if you know the story, you read a little further and you find out they didn't drop dead. So what actually happened here? They experienced something called spiritual death, Spiritual separation. Spiritual separation from the giver of life, God, who breathed into Adam the breath of what life. Now God's saying, when you eat of the fruit, you will die. You will be separated from. From me.
[00:15:16] When spiritual death happened, there was physical consequences in the world. You know this. We experience this today, don't we?
[00:15:25] That first take of the fruit is something called sin. The first sin, the fall of man. When man said, I know God, what you say is right and true and good, but I want to do it my way.
[00:15:40] That's called sin.
[00:15:42] When we think, when we act, when we do in such a way that it's opposed to God.
[00:15:48] When death happens, separation from life happened. This is what we see. Separation from the true life brought death into the world. Separation from the true light brought darkness into the world. Separation from the true love brought hate into the world. Separation from true peace brought anxiety into the world. Separation from true hope brought despair into the world. And so then we're left with this question. As we have this kind of foundation. We know where life began. We know that man now has experienced sin and separation from God. We're left with this.
[00:16:20] Can humans ever live again?
[00:16:23] This separation has occurred. Can humans? If separation, if death means separation, life means what?
[00:16:29] Connection. Can there ever be connection again with God?
[00:16:34] Not just can we take breath, but can we actually experience connection to the life giver, the joy giver, the peace giver, the love giver in the world?
[00:16:44] Is it possible for dead things to come back to life? That's the question that we're left with. And as I think about that question, I'm reminded again of my kid who's 3, 4 years old. In the last few years, as we read through the Bible together, we will read stories of like Lazarus coming back to life or Jesus coming back to life. And so he's hearing things like there's these creatures, there's these people that come back to life in the Bible.
[00:17:12] So what happens now? It's a little less now, but what still happens at times is we'll see a bug on the ground that's dead. And you know what he's asking?
[00:17:22] Can it come back to life?
[00:17:25] And hearing a story of an animal that may have died. Hey, Daddy, is it gonna come back to life? And what's my answer?
[00:17:33] No, it's not. Or even in my, you know, in this realm of work that I do as well, I go to a funeral. Hey, I'm gonna go to a funeral because this person died. Oh, Daddy, are they gonna come back to life?
[00:17:43] What's my answer?
[00:17:47] But God has a different answer.
[00:17:50] God had a plan to restore life to his creation. God knew that before he even created Adam, divine CPR was necessary for mankind.
[00:18:02] He knew the only way that we could experience connection again with him was through the person and work of Jesus Christ. So that's the foundation. Can someone say foundation? Foundation. We see life is only from God as the author of life. Man did something to separate from true life. Now, what we're going to get to in the second piece here in these next two points is this is a demonstration. Can someone say a demonstration, A demonstration. God is going to do something in these next two points that we're going to look at. He's going to demonstrate his power to bring things that are dead back to life, because God can do the impossible. Amen.
[00:18:39] So here's the demonstration. We're going to jump way ahead from Genesis in your Bibles and point three on your outline. You could write this in. From bones to breathe, from bones to breath. If you have a Bible, you can flip over from Genesis to the Book of Ezekiel. I know not usually where we land on Easter, but the Book of Ezekiel. Now, there's a fascinating account, actually. It's a vision that this prophet named Ezekiel has listening. This is such a.
[00:19:06] Some might say strange, unique, something that you don't see every day. This vision that this prophet Ezekiel has track with me here, and then we'll look at something on the screen here in a minute. This prophet Ezekiel, he's talking with God. God's talking with him. And he sees. God takes him to a place where he sees this big old valley of dry bones. Can someone say dry bones? Dry bones. Dry bones. Now, you know this. If bones are dry, that means it's been a long time since there was life attached to those bones, right?
[00:19:32] Ezekiel sees this valley of dry bones. And God asks Ezekiel a question. Here's what God says, a question that I just asked a minute ago.
[00:19:41] Can these bones live?
[00:19:42] Can there be life to these dead things?
[00:19:45] Now, man would often say, if I were in that situation, I would answer my son and say, if he asked, hey, can this dead thing live? My answer would be, what? No. Now, Ezekiel is better than me. And so he said, only you know, Sovereign Lord.
[00:19:59] And so here's what happens next.
[00:20:02] God says to Ezekiel, he uses the term prophesy, or speak by my authority over these bones in this valley. And so that's what Ezekiel does. He speaks over this valley of dry bones. And what happens is they go from being dry bones to. And you can read through this in Ezekiel 37, it goes from dry bones to a place where they actually have muscles and skin and they're actually full bodies again. Wouldn't that be strange to see some of you were thinking of some horror movies or something.
[00:20:32] And then as Adam, when God had created him, there was the body, but there was no breath in them. So it is with this valley of dry what?
[00:20:42] Of dry bones. Now there's flesh on them, but they have no breath in them. And so here's what God says. You can put this on the screen. Verse 9 says, this God speaking to this prophet Ezekiel. He says this, say to them, this is God speaking to them. Prophesy to the breath that is, speak by my authority to the breath, prophesy, Son of man, and say to it, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. Come, breath from the four winds into these slain into these bodies, that they may what live.
[00:21:13] So Ezekiel speaking. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them, and they stood and came to life. And they stood on their feet, a vast army. What did God do here? What do we see?
[00:21:26] Even though this is that sneak peek, right? Even though something was completely dead, God gave us a sneak peek of something right here. He said, I have the power to make things that look completely dead, bring them back to life.
[00:21:40] I have the power to bring something that looks like trash and make them treasure. I have the power to make something that looks completely hopeless and bring hope to it. That's what God is showing us right here. And this, even for us, is an important lesson, isn't it?
[00:21:54] If there's something in your life that you're thinking, this is just too far gone. My relationship with this person is so lost. My friendship with this person, there is no hope. My marriage, it's completely done. I mean, we haven't signed the papers, but it's completely done. God looks at that and says, it's not as dead as dry bones. And I can bring life there. So that means I can bring life to you as well. I can bring hope to the situation that you are in as well. Isn't that good, Church?
[00:22:24] So that's sneak peek number one of God. Saying, I can bring dead things to life. The second is in. You can look at this on your outline. The fourth point on your outline. You can write this down. In the New Testament, in the book of John, he brings someone who is entombed and he makes them breathing. So you can write that in. From entombed to breathing.
[00:22:45] This story is of a friend of Jesus.
[00:22:49] Jesus had friends as he walked the earth, and he's doing ministry in one part of Israel. And Jesus is hanging out, things are going fine. Someone runs over to Jesus and says, jesus, a friend of yours. His name is Lazarus. He's very sick. And what happens to your breathing when you're very sick? It gets strained, doesn't it?
[00:23:09] He might have even said, lazarus, he's not breathing so well.
[00:23:13] It seems that he might be on his last breath.
[00:23:17] Jesus, can you please come?
[00:23:19] Because Lazarus, your friend, is going to what?
[00:23:23] Die? His breath is going to stop. And you, the author of breath, you can come and bring rejuvenation to this breath that he has that is struggling.
[00:23:35] And Jesus knowing what was going to happen, he does this.
[00:23:39] Thank you for letting me know. And he stays there a little while longer because Jesus knows we need to see this sneak peek of his power.
[00:23:47] This resurrecting power is not, if you will, to God the Father alone, but also given to Jesus Christ God's son, because he has completely the power of God in himself. So we need to see this. Not just can God do something, but Jesus is the one who has the power of God the Father as well. He wants everyone to see that. And so what does Jesus do? He lets Lazarus die.
[00:24:10] And then he goes over and he walks over to the town where Lazarus is. And someone meets him there.
[00:24:17] Not just anybody, but Lazarus sister.
[00:24:20] And here's what she says. Jesus, if you had come sooner, Lazarus wouldn't have what died.
[00:24:29] And Jesus says this on the screen. John 11, 25, 26.
[00:24:35] Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never what? Die? And then he asked this question, do you believe this?
[00:24:50] Here's what he's saying. I have the power to bring people who are dead back to life. Now, Jesus has actually already done this in his ministry, but there's something different about this occasion. You know what it is?
[00:25:02] Lazarus hadn't been dead for a few hours.
[00:25:05] Like for example, perhaps the woman, young lady, Jairus daughter who had died. Jesus brought her back to life. There was another young man, the son of a widow in a town called Nain. Jesus had brought him back to life. Something was different about Lazarus. He had been dead not for hours, not for minutes, but for days.
[00:25:26] Now, if any of you know, been into a funeral before, for example, or a grave site and someone's been dead for days, CPR isn't going to do anything, is it?
[00:25:38] There was no hope for Lazarus, they thought. But Jesus said, I can bring hope.
[00:25:46] I want to make a quick reference here because some of you like movie references. For those of you who don't, I apologize.
[00:25:55] In the classic movie the Princess Bride, there is a scene in which the main character has died.
[00:26:06] And they go to this other guy and they say, hey, he's dead. And the man says, who's going to bring him back to life, if you will? He says this.
[00:26:14] Well, there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. And then what he does is he goes and he opens his mouth and he puts this contraption on to basically give him cpr.
[00:26:26] Lazarus was not mostly dead. He was all dead.
[00:26:32] And Jesus said, even when something is all dead, I can bring them back to life. And that's exactly what he did. The next slide shows us this. Jesus then calls in a loud voice and says to Lazarus who was in the tomb, lazarus come out. And because Jesus possesses the the power to bring people who are all dead back to life, what does Lazarus do? He comes out of the tomb.
[00:26:58] And what's the response from everybody else? Well, many other people, particularly those who are religious leaders in the time, here's their reaction. It's not, wow, that's amazing. Only God can do that. Here's the reaction.
[00:27:11] Death must come to this man who brings life.
[00:27:15] Isn't that a great reaction?
[00:27:17] And literally the next chapter in your bibles, if you were looking at John, chapter 12 says, and now how they tried to plot to kill Jesus.
[00:27:26] This leads us to point five on your outline. We have the foundation for the power of God to bring death to life. We have seen now two examples, if you will, two demonstrations, two sneak peeks of God saying, look here, here, let me show you how I've brought dead things back to life. And now we're gonna see the culmination of that in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Look in your Bibles, if you will. Luke chapter 23. We see this Jesus now going to the cross.
[00:27:56] Those people who wanted Jesus dead, they said this. We want to make sure he doesn't have this power. And Jesus said, I'm gonna surrender my breath. I'm gonna surrender my life.
[00:28:06] Jesus was arrested and he was beaten. He was taken to trial, he was humiliated, and he was hung on a cross.
[00:28:13] Now, the Romans, they had this down. They knew how to bring about death to people who were alive, and they knew how to do it in an agonizing way. Death on a cross was not simple quick death because we need you gone. It was a way for you literally to suffocate.
[00:28:28] So we think about breath. Jesus hanging there on the cross, he. He literally has to pull himself up just to take another breath.
[00:28:38] And what they were doing, quite literally was demonstrating to people criminals, except for Jesus. Criminals. We have the power to quite literally take your breath away.
[00:28:48] And when the time came for them to die and they still were not dead, they would then take something and break their legs to keep them from lifting up to take a breath.
[00:28:59] Can someone take a breath with me?
[00:29:03] We do that with ease. Right now on the cross. They didn't.
[00:29:08] But when they came to Jesus, because it was in their time frame, time that he no longer take breath, they came to him. They saw that he was no longer. What? Breathing.
[00:29:19] It wasn't that they took his breath. He surrendered his breath, didn't he? He gave it up.
[00:29:25] Luke 23:46 says this. When Jesus, the last thing that he says, he says this. He calls out with a loud voice on the screen, here, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Remember that word spirit from Genesis 1:2.
[00:29:40] Literally. Here it is again. Pneuma is the Greek word here. We use that word even today at times.
[00:29:46] Is this breath I commit my spirit, my breath. And having said this, He. He breathed his last.
[00:29:56] We have to then ask ourselves this question.
[00:29:59] As we've seen that God has the power to bring life to dead things. Jesus also possesses that power. But then we're left with this question here, today, this morning, what do you do when the one who gives breath dies?
[00:30:14] What do you do when the one who gives breath?
[00:30:17] Isn't that what happened?
[00:30:20] We remember this.
[00:30:22] We remember that death is a consequence of sin.
[00:30:28] Remember, back in the garden, don't eat the fruit. As soon as you do, you will surely. What?
[00:30:34] Die? Here we are. Jesus dying on the cross. Wait a minute. He's the one who gives life. What do we do if the life giver dies? We remember this.
[00:30:43] Death is a consequence of sin. But Jesus, had he sinned?
[00:30:50] I'm sorry, what? No.
[00:30:53] So then we see this.
[00:30:54] The resurrection is a byproduct of trying to bring death to the author of life.
[00:31:00] The resurrection is the byproduct of trying to bring death to the author of life. Death quite literally has no hold on the author of life. He cannot be held by death because death is a consequence of sin. And if he's sinless, why would he stay dead? Death. Separation from God. He perfect says, there is nothing that can keep me down.
[00:31:28] We know this as well.
[00:31:30] We cannot do this work by ourselves. We cannot go from separation from God to connection with God by ourselves just as much as we can, I don't know, turn a cruise ship by blowing on it.
[00:31:42] You just can't do it.
[00:31:44] No matter how strong or good you might think you are, there is nothing that you can do to bring about connection with God again by your own efforts.
[00:31:53] You and I can't come into connection with God by our own efforts. Just as God stopped walking with Adam in the garden years ago because of sin, so it is with you and I today.
[00:32:04] But there's a problem.
[00:32:07] We can't go be with God in heaven unless we fix that connection while we're on earth.
[00:32:14] You don't die and then go to heaven. And then you're like, oh, I guess you are real God. Can I fix that problem of sin?
[00:32:21] We have the option to fix that problem of sin only through Jesus while we take breath here on earth.
[00:32:27] But once we stop taking breath, that option is off the table.
[00:32:32] So how can the connection with God be made again while we are here on Earth? Isn't that the next question?
[00:32:39] What do we do when the author of life dies? We realize he's not going to stay dead because death is a byproduct of sin. But we're not connected to God. We can't fix that while we're here by ourselves. So how do we fix that problem by Jesus death?
[00:32:54] Point six on your outline. A conquering breath.
[00:32:58] A conquering breath. We realize this, that Jesus death on the cross was him looking at death and saying, you are not in charge of everyone anymore.
[00:33:08] I have a say. I have a say now that conquering breath, this is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday, isn't it?
[00:33:16] When Jesus said, breath back to my body, there is breath again in me because I have never sinned. And because I died in the place of those who did sin, I now can show them that they can have life.
[00:33:32] What did the angels say as the women went to the tomb and they're looking for the body of Jesus expecting to find a breathless body. What did they find instead? Angels who said, he is not here.
[00:33:44] He has risen, just as he said.
[00:33:47] He said this was going to happen.
[00:33:50] We also see, I'm not going to speak too much about it, but on the screen here, Romans 8 speaks about this as well. 8, 34 and 35. And verse 37 as well, speaks about this. Jesus died in our place and he was raised to life. Put the next slide on the screen there. And then it asked this question. Who can separate us from this love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger? No. In all these things, we are more than conquerors because Jesus conquered death, because he showed us.
[00:34:19] I can make that connection work again.
[00:34:21] You can experience connection with God through me. That's what Jesus said there.
[00:34:26] So then we're left with another question, aren't we? What do I have to do to connect with God?
[00:34:32] Jesus did that work of dying on the cross. How do I take part in this life that Jesus had? Right?
[00:34:39] Like, that's pretty amazing that he can go from being completely dead, hopeless in a tomb, to having life. How can I experience this as well?
[00:34:48] How can I experience hope when I'm feeling hopeless?
[00:34:51] How can I experience joy when I'm in despair?
[00:34:55] How can I experience purpose when I feel completely aimless?
[00:35:01] How can I feel love when it feels like no one cares about me?
[00:35:05] How can you share in this life that Jesus has?
[00:35:08] You and I need divine cpr.
[00:35:13] Because without Jesus, we are dead.
[00:35:17] We are dead.
[00:35:19] How can you share in Jesus life? How can we move from being separated from God to connected? We need divine cpr. Number. Go to the next slide there. We need. Firstly, we need Christ's help. We need Christ's help.
[00:35:32] Here's what Romans 8 says.
[00:35:34] But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
[00:35:45] And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in who, You.
[00:35:50] He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you. Here's what this is saying, friends.
[00:35:59] Some of you feel dead today and some of you feel totally fine. But you've never trusted in Jesus. I want to give you some information. According to what the Bible says, you're separated from God. And that's a problem because you and I don't know when we're going to take our last breath.
[00:36:16] And we have to deal with that. While we take breath, we need Christ's help. This verse tells us something, says this. Because of Jesus, you can move from being separated from God to being connected again with Him. You can't do it by yourself. As I said earlier, just as much as you can blow a cruise ship to make it turn. It's literally impossible. No matter how much effort. All the good things. Even the Bible says this. Your good works are as filthy rags to the Lord. Only the goodness of God can bring about a bridge. There's this picture that I love of God being on one side, there's a great chasm in between, and the other side is us. How can we bridge that gap, that no matter how hard we run, how far we jump, we can never get to the other side? And then Jesus shows up and says, I'll be the bridge. I'll be the bridge.
[00:37:08] We need Christ's help to make that bridge from death to life. Now, some of you here today are saying, I've already done that. But I still feel like I'm aimless. I still feel like I don't actually have a relationship with God. I feel like I believe in God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross. I. I believe that he rose again. I believe all of those things, but I still feel far from him.
[00:37:32] We have the C. Here's the next one. B on your outline, we need a priority change. You might need a priority change.
[00:37:40] Colossians 3 tells us something. It says this. Considering the power of the resurrection, it says this. Since then you have been raised with Christ. In other words, we've already covered the first base, right? You've bridged the gap since you've been raised with Christ.
[00:37:56] Set your hearts on things above. Someone say, things above, things above. Stop thinking about and focusing on your affections being the things of the world.
[00:38:05] Verse 2 says to set your mind on the things above, not on earthly things. Why? Because you died to the old way of life. This passage calls us to experience new life by changing our affections. How do we do that? Ask God. Say, God, I'm loving the things that are not of you right now.
[00:38:24] Can you please help me?
[00:38:25] Point one, right? We need Christ's help.
[00:38:29] Thirdly, C on your outline or number three there, it's this. Here's the R in cpr. We need to and this is perhaps one of the hardest things for us to do. We need to believe that righteousness is ours in Jesus Christ.
[00:38:43] We need to believe that it's not our own works that make us right before God.
[00:38:49] Romans 4 speaks about this, speaking about Abraham and how he has righteousness. It was not credited to him and spoken about that just for the people back then, but also for us. Verse 24 says. It says this, but also for us, whom God will credit. That is put on our account for those of us who believe in Jesus, that he was raised from the dead, that he is the Savior. He was delivered over to death for our what, sins? And was raised to life for justification with those are two big words, righteousness and justification, that we don't use every day. Unless you're saying that somebody is self righteous.
[00:39:22] Here's what that's saying. It's saying when God looks at you, he doesn't see all of your messiness. He sees the blood of Jesus Christ covering you. When he looks at you. If you've trusted in him as your Lord and Savior, here's what he sees. He says, I don't see that thing that you did five hours ago or five weeks ago, or five months ago, or five years ago, five decades ago.
[00:39:41] I see you as my child.
[00:39:44] When Jesus hung on the cross, he didn't say, I'm going to pay for most of their sins.
[00:39:49] He said, I'm going to pay for all of their sins. That's why he called out one of his last words before he died. Paid in full. It is finished. It is finished.
[00:40:04] God's breath can bring life to, to dead things. Amen.
[00:40:09] Maybe that's a job or a friendship, a family, a marriage, your future, most definitely your eternal state. This is why we speak of the hope that the resurrection brings. The resurrection. Hear me, friends. The resurrection of Jesus Christ looks at our painfully hard or impossibly broken situations. It looks at it right in the face, the resurrection does, and says this.
[00:40:35] I can fix, that I can restore, that I can heal, that I can bring dead things back to life. That is why we have God's breath, God's spirit living inside of us. If you are a follower of Jesus today, God's breath is what gives life to your soul and my soul. In the beginning, God's breath filled this first man. His name was Adam. And today he does the same thing.
[00:41:00] He gives life to our broken bodies. This is why we're called new creations.
[00:41:06] I'm gonna close with two things here.
[00:41:10] Jesus was not just on a rescue mission, but he was on a mission of restoration that is making possible once again for man who was created to be one with God, united with God in this way.
[00:41:27] He was creating a way for that to be restored. He wasn't just saying, you were always broken. It was always apart from God, and so we're just gonna fix that. He was saying, no, I made Adam. Humanity started with God saying, I want a relationship with you friends.
[00:41:42] And Jesus said, I'm gonna restore that ability to mankind for them to be in a relationship with God.
[00:41:51] There's a warning here, and then I'm going to pray.
[00:41:55] Jesus only saves sinners, not spectators.
[00:42:02] And so perhaps you might be here today as a spectator.
[00:42:07] And I want to encourage you, I want to beg you, don't be a spectator anymore.
[00:42:14] I want to ask you to realize your sin before a holy God and say cpr. I need Christ's help for me.
[00:42:24] Let's pray together.
[00:42:28] Father in heaven, you are a God who deeply loves us. And as we've seen in this journey through your word, you're a God who put breath into our lungs. And you want us in our life today to honor you with that breath that we have, with that life that we have.
[00:42:44] We're grateful this morning for the work that Jesus did to restore a relationship, to restore the breath that you designed for us, to put your spirit back inside of us.
[00:42:57] We need your help with this.
[00:43:00] For, Lord, I pray that your spirit is moving here right now, calling us to see you as beautiful and good and as truly the only one who can give us life. In Jesus name, amen.
