JUN 14 2015 | Secret Discipleship

Sea Change Church · "Secret Discipleship" · Adam Stadtmiller · June 14, 2015
John 19:38-42
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

John 19, we're talking about the burial of Jesus, one of my favorite stories in the Bible because it's about two disciples that had enough of living in the secret darkness of discipleship and said, we're coming out. We're coming out, we're going to make a stand for Jesus and we're going to risk our lives and everything we have to do it. It's in John 19, verse 38 through 42. You'll see it up on the screen and I will read it to you.

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, underline this, but secretly, underline this, because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus. Remember him, John 3, 16. The man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

Every time that we mention Nicodemus in the book of John, it mentions that he was the one who had visited Jesus earlier in the night. That's key. You can underline that. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds. I've read another translation that said 100 pounds, but it was a lot. It was enough for a kingly burial. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices and the strips of linen.

This was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. Here we are back at the garden again, right? And in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Verse 42. Because it was a Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Wow. Radical story.

Put yourself in the picture. One of the things I love doing with my kids is say, hey, put yourself in the story. You are Joseph of Arimathea. You are Nicodemus. And no one has shown up to care for the body of Christ. I love how they're caring for the body of Christ. I want to say, if we as church, as followers of Christ, care for the body of Christ, meaning the church, because we are now called the body of Christ, with the same compassion and loving kindness and respect that they cared for the actual body of Christ, imagine what the church would look like.

I think about that on a regular basis. And I say to my kids, put yourself into the story. And so put yourself into the story as Nicodemus, or as Joseph of Arimathea, two Jewish ruling council leaders, both prominent members of the Jewish ruling council, as part of the Israeli, or the nation of Israel's supreme court. They were part of the supreme court of Israel.

And they came to Jesus, and Jesus was on the cross, nails in the hands, nails in the feet, and they had to remove him from that cross. Now imagine that process. It would be a very difficult process to do it. You'd probably have to ask the Romans to get the body down, or to take the cross down and lay it down, or maybe they didn't. And there's no actual story that says how they did it.

But they took Jesus' body from the cross, and they prepared it for his resurrection. Now it says in the scripture that they prepared it for his burial. But oftentimes I think we live with a mindset of death, when Christ following is a mindset of life. And oftentimes we prepare for death, and we prepare for suffering. But what I think is, we often need to prepare for resurrection.

And so they didn't know it, but they were preparing Jesus for his resurrection. And they were caring for Jesus in a way that mattered. And they were putting their lives on the line. You see, what had happened was, by the way that they showed up, they were saying that Jesus matters. And by the amount of aloe and spices that they brought, and the burial, and the way that they prepared him, they prepared him with the same amount of anointing spices and oils as if it was a king being buried.

They showed up, and when they took him off the cross, it showed that they were related to him, that they cared for him, that they took the body down, and then they prepared it for a kingly burial. Now I want to say, there was a controversy with Pilate, remember, about what was written on the top of the cross. Does anybody know what it said? King of the Jews.

And the Jewish leader said, don't say that he was king of the Jews, but what? He said he was king of the Jews. When they showed up with those burial spices, when they showed up to Pilate, and realized Jesus had just been crucified. So if you're showing up to the governor and saying, we want his body, you're putting yourself in a tenuous position.

And then you show up to the cross, and everyone's gathered around the cross, and everyone knows what's happening in the city, and they show up, and they take his body, and they start preparing it as if he was a king. In front of the other leaders and the Jewish leaders who put Jesus to death. They were risking being kicked out of the synagogue.

They were risking being killed themselves, as we see happened to Stephen, Stephen, the martyred apostle later on in the scriptures in the book of Acts. They were putting their finances on the line. They were putting every single thing on the line. And what they were saying to the Jewish supreme court of the time, that had partnered with the Romans to crucify Jesus, is that we disagree with what you said.

We disagree with what you said, and we will stand up for what we believe, and we will come against it in an act of love. One of the things I love about them putting it all on the line for Jesus, is they didn't go out with picket signs and march around the cross saying, he was king, he was king, you're a bunch of losers, you're a bunch of sinners, he was king, and get in people's face.

They risked their lives by doing what? By an act of submission, by an act of compassion, in a way that said that they believed that Jesus was Lord. I think it was an Augustine, or no, it was a CC that says, love something, I'm going to butcher this quote, okay? But basically, love people always and use words when you need to. I think it was something like that.

But basically, what was it? Preach the gospel. And if necessary, use words. I'm glad you're here and an elder and you had that. Guy's got my back. I told you I was going to butcher it. At least I gave you a footnote. But I want to say, they came out. They were no longer willing to be secret disciples. They were willing to stand up and risk everything.

Now, Joseph of Arimathea was rich. And I'll talk in a moment, according to legend, he was put in jail for a while, according to, this is legend. It's also a non-canonical book called the Book of Thomas. Not the Book of Thomas, the Book of, I wrote it down here. It's in your footnotes there somewhere. But one of the non-canonical scriptures, it says that the Jews actually arrested him.

And at that point, he could have lost everything. I think there's footnotes there. Are there footnotes there? Did it not come up on the script? Oh, usually I try to give you guys some footnotes, but they didn't show up in the thing. Apologize for not having that. But they had both gotten to the point. They were Jewish leaders that were, Jesus was getting under their skin.

What they were hearing and what they were seeing were two different things. They were hearing things about Jesus, but then they were using their own mind and their own discernment to look at Jesus and what he was doing. And they had to make a decision. What is more important to me? And the time for silence had ended. The time for coming to Jesus at night under the cloak of darkness had ended.

It was time to stand up for Jesus. It was time to show up and say, we believe he is the king. And we are going to care for him as if he was a king. And they put their lives on the line. I want to say, I really believe that we are coming. Actually, not even coming. I believe we are here, okay? We are at the crossroads in our country where the time for secret discipleship has ended.

The time for secret discipleship. Now, that doesn't mean that you still can't be in the transition stage because we're going to show that that's where these guys were for about three years. And if you were in the stage of saying, hey, I'm not sure about Jesus and I'm just kind of checking him out. And from far away, I'm just looking at him and figuring out if this is right for my life.

God bless you. Stay there. Check it out. Ask God to reveal himself to you. But if you've been a believer for a long time, okay? And in your heart, you're already in. And you know you're in. And what you believe. But you've just been silent for a long time. I want to say the time for silence, I think, has ended. Now, I'm not saying that we go out and start picketing on the streets, okay?

That we do that. But in the same way that these guys did, they had acts of love that showed everyone in the world that they knew Jesus. And that they knew who he was and they proclaimed him as Lord. We see that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a martyr. That was, I don't know. Did you, is that when? Nope, I didn't. It's Alan up there. So I didn't send you that email.

There's a picture that I had sent, but I didn't get it up. That Dietrich Bonhoeffer was, in the 1940s, was part of the German resistance movement. That felt that the church did not stand up against Hitler soon enough. I'm not comparing Hitler to our current government. So please do not say that I'm not doing that. But as a martyr, he stood up and before then said, we need to make a difference.

And we waited too long. And he has a quote. You'll see it in your notes. And this is what he said. He said, silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. And I think that that is so true. That a silent church is a dead church. A silent church is a dead church. See, the church has a voice.

And what happens is, oftentimes, the church does not speak. But the key is this. Knowing, not that we need to speak, but knowing when to speak. You ever had that? If you've been married, right? Okay. Or you've been in a relationship, right? But you might have the right thing to say, okay? But how important is it about when you say it? Or what you say?

Or the tone you use? Oh, how many things have I said? And it was like, no, the way you said it. You're done. You're just done. There's nothing. There's no argument to that as a man, okay? Like, I said it not the way you said it. But I said, I loved you. No, it's the way you said it. It's the way you said it. Look, thank you, Avita. So true. I get that up once a week.

That's the way you said it. It's the way you held your head in that 45-degree angle. The amount of wisdom it'll take for the church today and the guidance from the Holy Spirit to speak in a way that gets beyond people's watchful dragons is exponentially higher than it used to be. What I mean by watchful dragons is this. And I think I said it a couple weeks ago.

C.S. Lewis said that when he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, he did so to share the gospel in the children's story because he knew people all have watchful dragons around their minds and their souls that keep them from oftentimes hearing the truth. And he wanted to create a medium where he could preach the gospel, share about God, and get past their watchful dragons before they knew it so he could be into the castle of their heart.

Now, I want to say, I constantly think, how do I share the gospel with people? How do I share love with people? How do I, you know, and there's oftentimes, there's what I want to say, okay? Because I have a lot of things I want to say. I have a lot of tweets that I want to tweet. I erase more tweets than I tweet, okay? I erase more things on Facebook than I put up.

I am constantly thinking with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, God, how do I say this? Jesus only said what he saw the Father saying. He only heard, he only did what he saw the Father doing. He only said what he heard the Father speaking. And before I speak, I want to make sure that I am really in tune with the Holy Spirit because Adam has a lot of things to say about the truth that God probably wouldn't say it the way that Adam wants to say it.

And I need to filter things. And one of the things my pastor used to tell me, who was my boss at North Coast Calvary Chapel, Mark Foreman, one of the things he would say to me is, if it feels really good after you said it, you probably said the wrong thing. Right? Like you just, I was a zinger. You're like, yeah, take that. You know, you know. For all you that are listening, I just pretend I had a gun and I blew the smoke off it.

We've got about 150 people to listen a week, so that's good. So I've got to paint the picture. Right, Zach? You got your cane right there. Okay, good. Zach with his cane at the front is threatening me with it. I think it's so important to know how to say things and to have a way when people, I think what I'm finding is when I walk into different places, and Trader Joe's was another, I always talk about Trader Joe's because it's probably one of them, and they're in the coffeehouse I go to.

There's these places in my spiritual geography, okay? Your life, we all have like eight places we go to, right? That's your spiritual geography, the place you live, and that people begin to know you. And you can tell what they think about you by the way that they approach you and greet you when you arrive. And I'm, you know, I was leaving Trader Joe's last night.

I had about eight really profound conversations. People are, I mean, coming out from behind the counter, giving you a hug. And Trader Joe's is like that. It's kind of the culture there in a lot of ways. But we have just prayed before we've gone in there for seven or eight years. One of the things about moving, and we are going to be moving in two weeks.

We're going to be moving down here, which is exciting. Yeah, God answered that prayer. Yay. Worked out great. God's found a really neat place for us. So maybe we'll have a little open house or something. But one of the things we're really sad about is, you know, the people we're leaving behind. We know everyone on our street. I share my tomatoes with them that I tell you about.

And Wendy Pullen just started, I saw on Facebook, a garden because I started one, right? And I encouraged you. I saw your tomato plants. Well done. I can give you some idea on how to compost for those. One of the things, though, is when we go in there, there's just so much love. And people of extremely different lifestyles than I live, okay? Extremely different from the way I live.

They come up. They want to hug. They ask me on Sunday. I go in on Sunday afternoons on purpose. You know why? Because at least three to five people. You come with me. If you want to come with me, check it out. At least three to five people who I know told me they don't go to church, they're not all about it, will come up to me and they'll say this.

What did you preach about today? Okay. Now we're at this point. Let me just share my sermon with you. They're asking me, what did you preach about? One of the guys who's been coming here, Scott, he's not here today, but he's been coming from that Trader Joe's because he listens to the podcast. I just go to preach again. I have a Sunday night service at Trader Joe's almost every week, okay?

And I pulled out the other day because I know what comes to my heart. When I see the different things happening in culture and the different things happening, I get so angry. And I just want to blast people. I'm so angry. But something says, just go remove the body of Christ from the cross in public. Just go be loving and caring. And I'm like, I want to be loving and caring.

It's not the 1980s anymore when there was peace and harmony. I want the 80s back. But I go in there and I just try to love on people. I'll go there tonight and people will ask me, what did you preach about? And I'll share the gospel because we've won the right to be heard. Well, I say, you got to win the right to be heard. Anybody can yell. Anybody can put a sassy tweet and tweet it out.

But it takes time and effort for people to know that you really care about them. And that's what these guys did. The way that they cared for the body of Christ. Can you just imagine yourself in the picture taking the body of Christ off the cross? When you meet another person and you share Christ with them, treat them like that. That's the model.

That when you see people, whether they agree with you or not, there's some interesting things happen in culture today. I just heard in New York City that they voted that monkeys have human rights. Did you see that? Anyone else? Yeah, you saw that. You have human rights. Right. Apes. Human rights. There's no difference between apes and humans. Right.

They have because they need to have the same protection in jail that human beings have. So we need to treat them. I mean, this is pretty black and white in 1984. Okay. You know what I mean? Like, and as things which I'm just like, oh, no, the dignity of human beings were created in God's image. I just want to yell at you. I think, no, when I meet with people and they have differing opinions, treat them as if they're the body of Christ.

And care for them. And that's what I want to say. I want to be a vocal church. The time for silence is done. Seriously. Guys, it's time to step up. But the time for, we were, actually the 80s was really bad at, in a lot of ways. Not really bad. Let me say, I saw a lot of gospel proclamation that drove people away from the church. More than I saw that drew them towards it.

And I went to some rallies and stuff back in the day that were really, they were really abrasive. And so these guys, they came and they made a statement for Jesus in such a loving, caring way. And I want to ask this. How are you proclaiming the gospel? And are you committed to proclaiming the gospel? And have you gotten to the point in a relationship where you can say to somebody, hey, why haven't?

Who do you think Jesus is? And why wouldn't you? Maybe now is the time. Like that man asked Woody on a ship. Maybe now is the time to accept Jesus that I can ask that you pray with me on that. Maybe now is the time. And they would actually listen. Or they would come to church. You know, my mom is phenomenal at this. You know, and others are. You don't have to have the gift of evangelism to evangelize.

That's the truth. Okay, let me say it again. You don't have to have the gift of evangelism to evangelize. And be yourself. Shine the light. And I've said it before. Maybe some of you are a chandelier in the way that you shine the light of Christ. You know what I mean? And you're just kind of, I would say my mom and Carol, they're kind of chandeliers.

You know what I mean? Elaborate and beautiful. You can see them from far away. They share, you know. But then there's other people that go into dark places. You know, like some of our missionaries here at the church. Joe Brandy goes down to New Mexico, you know. And they go into these, Katrina, they go into these dark places. They're like flashlights for Jesus.

And there's other people, you know, you're just like a nightlight. You know what I mean? Like you're calm and peaceful in the way you do it. Shine the light however you want. I want to say there's only one person that can share the truth of the gospel like you. And that's you. God has given you insights because you're a unique, created by God, individual.

There's no one else like you. And no one will ever see Jesus the way you do, ever. And you have something to bring to the table. And you have something to share in a way. You can reveal Jesus in a way no one else can. Because God has made you unique. I'm going to say it's time to come out of the darkness and step out and stop being secret disciples.

If you are being a secret disciple. And not care what anybody says. To get to the point where you care enough about Jesus and about others that we're going to speak out. And we're going to speak in a way that matters. And so we see that. Secret discipleship is, as you'll see in your notes, is often fear-based. Oftentimes I feel that the reason we don't speak out is because we're afraid.

I've been there before. I'm just afraid of what people are going to think of me. I'm terrified of what people are going to think. I'm terrified that they might think something about me that isn't true. And I'm worried. But what I have found is the more that I know that God loves me, the easier it has gotten to have courage. And I didn't know what that is.

I've just gotten more bold. I've just gotten more and more bold. Now look at this verse in 1 John 4. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. Because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has not been made perfect in love. Courageous discipleship is based in knowing that you are loved. And I want to say this. That both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea figured out that Jesus loved them.

And that's why they showed up that day. And that's why they're willing to put it all on the line. Let's look quickly at these two characters and then we'll come in for a landing. I'm just going to read some scriptures. And first about Joseph of Arimathea. Just a rich man that was part of the ruling council. You'll see in your notes. Mark 1543. Joseph of Arimathea was a prominent member of the council.

Who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God. And he went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Imagine yourself doing that. Put yourself in the story. Jesus has just been whipped. The crown of thorns. I mean brutal. And you couldn't. It says in Isaiah. You couldn't recognize him on the cross anymore. You're going to be the person that says I'm going to go up to Pilate.

Hey I know you've been busy today. But I want the body of Jesus. It said boldly. May I have the body of Jesus? No. Boldly. I want the body of Jesus. Because I'm going to care for it. Because no one else is caring for it. It's been despised and rejected. And I will care for it like it's a king. Radical. Radical. Those are the believers we need today. Those are the believers that we need today.

That are cut from steel. I want to say that's the kind of man I want to be. I'm not going to say I'm there. But that's what I want to be. And that's the example I want to set. And I know that I'm surrounded by many before us that have been like that at this church. And many are here in these pews today. And maybe it's you. And women that are cut from steel.

That are willing to say you know whatever it takes. We're willing to give it for the gospel. For the love of Christ. So we see that in Matthew 27.57. It says about Joseph of Arimathea. As evening approached. There came a rich man. Wow that's radical. Named Joseph. Who himself had become a disciple of Jesus. Little did he know that by caring for Jesus.

He was fulfilling eternal prophecy. You know you never know when you do something you know small. And this wasn't a small thing. But whatever you do for Jesus. What part of God's plan it is. He was fulfilling prophecy. Because he gives his own tomb for Jesus to be laid in. It was a big deal. No one had ever been in that tomb before. And so it says in Isaiah 53.9.

That he Jesus or the Messiah. Was assigned a grave with the wicked. Meaning that he was crucified obviously with sinners. And with the rich in his death. That was a fulfillment of prophecy. Joseph of Arimathea didn't know he was fulfilling prophecy. He was just doing what God had told him to do. And you have no idea the smallest act that you will do.

In the name of love. That God will exponentially use. To change your life forever. Next we see in Matthew 15.45-46. When he learned from the centurion. That's Joseph of Arimathea. That it was so. Meaning Jesus had died. He gave. Or that Jesus had died. Pilate. That's he. Gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph brought some linen cloth. Bought some linen cloth.

Took down the body. Wrapped it in linen. And placed it in the tomb. Cut out of a rock. And then he rolled a stone. Against the entrance of the tomb. One of the things I love. Is he was willing to sacrifice it himself. He went out. He didn't go borrow some cloth. He didn't go find what he had in the. In his closet. Because he was a rich guy. Rich guys have stuff.

You know rich people? They got stuff. Their garages often times are full of stuff. You know. Unwrapped. You know. Vitamin processors. You know. Whatever. Things. You know. I had a friend. He was wealthy. You know. I went into his house. He had. You know. Like a thousand dollar printer. It was unwrapped. I mean. It was wrapped. You know. Just. I'll get to it one day.

Just stuff. But he went out. And he bought. He's out of his own. Out of his own earnings. Something that was special. Something that was unique. Something that was a gift. To Jesus. He didn't care about his money. Because at that point. He could have lost it all. And he was willing to throw all of it. On to the table. He could have lost his life. But the time for secrecy.

Had ended. Luke 23. 50 through 51. His last verse. I think we have on this. It says. Now there was a man named Joseph. A member of the council. And a good and upright man. Who had not consented to their decision. And action. One of the things that I like. Is even though he was a member of the supreme council. Sometimes they get it wrong. And they got it wrong.

And he said no. And he would not. I do not consent to this. He was a non-concenter. He said. Even though I'm a member of the council. I am willing to stand up. In the face. Of these judges. And to say. No. I do not consent. Are there things that you will not consent to? I find myself being tempted with this idea. Just go with the crowd. Just. It's too hard to fight for this.

Just. Just. Let it go. Don't worry about it. Let it. This. So what? It's not me. If you want to do that with your life. Do with your life. It has no trickle down effect on society. But this is a guy that said no. I think no is going to be a really key word for believers in the next quarter century. No. No. I just. You know. You're going to take my money because I said no to that.

You're going to put me in jail because I said no to that. The answer is still no. No. No. No. By the way. That's the cloth we're cut out of for the last 2,000 years. The reason the church is still here today is because people said no. And there are things that we need to say yes to as well. But we can't just agree to everything. And this was a man that did not consent.

And one thing it said in the verse before that I like and I forgot to mention was it says he was waiting for the kingdom of God. How expectant are you to see God every day? That's a question I have to ask myself. How expectant am I to see God every day? Because when you're expecting to see God, you see him. One of the keys to seeing God is being expectant to see him.

You never wanted to buy a new car, right? And all of a sudden the car that you want, it is everywhere, okay? And all of a sudden it's like God's sign, right? He wants me to have the new car. It's there. It's everywhere, you know, because you see it. And maybe it is or maybe it isn't. But the thing is you become expectant to see it. The thing is how expectant are we to see Christ?

When you wake up in the morning, how expectant are you to experience God's love? And I said last week and I want to reiterate. Thank you. I want to reiterate how. Thank you, Carol. More job security three weeks in a row. That's amazing. to get up expecting God to love you expecting to be immersed yourself in his love I want to tell you the more you know God loves you perfect love casts out all fear you're going to have courage to speak not only courage to speak courage to live courage to live life and the final thing that we see is Nicodemus I'm going to skip those points because I've already preached through them and then we'll close up Nicodemus John 3 John 3 16 this is this this guy who who's afraid that had to come at night a disciple in transition I want to say I just love the fact that it mentions every time that he is mentioned in the book of John that he originally came at night the first time he came at night in John 3 and spoke to Jesus in John 7 the council said something that he said no to and he questioned them and questions are great I want to say figure out some really good questions to ask people questions are a great way to get to the truth what about this what about that it's also an it's it disarms people tell you know when you're talking about your faith learn how to ask really really good questions here's a great question who do you think Jesus is why do you think he's that well what about this what about one of the best ways to share your faith is in questions because it's submissive you see questions are humble depending on your tone obviously I've learned that but asking questions and he asked a question to the ruling council and he stepped out a little bit he said is it right for us to judge a man until we've heard him I'll read the verse here in a second he stepped out a little bit for it first it was at night but then he raised his hand during one of the the supreme court meetings he raised his hand and he said well no but maybe this isn't right he raised his hand and then the next time you see him he's at the cross taking Jesus off the cross in everyone's plain sight and risking his life for Jesus a disciple in transition there's no problem being in transition if you're in transition and you're not to that place yet bless you but keep staying in transition don't be satisfied with status quo it's so easy to go into laissez-faire Christianity and be status quo it's progressive faith it's a progressive faith we're going a little bit further than we went before we read these scriptures scriptures John 3 1-2 now there was a Pharisee a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council and he came to Jesus at night and said Rabbi we know that you are a teacher who has come from God okay so at this point he's a teacher Jesus is a teacher but he knows that he that he is God by the end see the transition for no one could perform the signs you were doing if God were not with him Nicodemus who had earlier gone excuse me so that was the first time we see him and then we see him again in chapter 7 and in chapter 7 with Nicodemus it says verse 51 50 to 51 Nicodemus who had gone to Jesus earlier here it is we say that again in that transition and who was one of their own number asked does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing you see he stepped it out and I want to ask what's this what's the next level for you I was talking to Lori last week and she was excited she said that there's this person that she's friends with and that is really into meditation and as the conversation she said to him well who do you think Jesus is love it it's a great question and he's always a great teacher this whole thing and she goes well I want to tell you the next time you meditate skip the first because he meditates all these different things and she says I just want to challenge you try skipping those and ask Jesus to reveal himself to you in meditation and then come back and tell me what happened rad that's not abrasive it's just like hey try it that is so rad rad see I'm from the 80s I love it I mean who's in your life that you're making that you have that kind of relationship with you can say that where's your Trader Joe's where's your place where you're just on mission we talked about Jesus last week he was even in his death he was on mission if you look as he went to the cross he kept talking to people he was on mission he knew what he was doing and it was a mission of love that he enjoyed I want to say it's beautiful I want to hear the end of how that story goes and so we see that Jesus did that he was a disciple in transition he was willing to ask provocative questions both Joseph and Arimathea and Nicodemus were willing to risk their lives by performing acts of love the question is this is it time and let's just take it home okay just bring it right to home is it time to stop being a secret disciple what would it look like if just us in here today and our church is growing it's exciting to see what God's doing but if we just began to take Jesus' body off the cross in public on a regular basis quietly slowly caring loving being present showing up to people's bedside if you hear that the gal at you know Pete's Coffee's mom is sick and you just overhear it the next time you come in bring flowers like it's it's it's it's it's simple to love people it's simple but as long as we continue to jump into the polarizing culture and the more time we spend on the news the more it's us against them it is going to be harder and harder to not take you know to not be carrying our clubs and our batons now I'm saying we need to say no to things there's certain things no no sorry no you can just say it like this oh no you know I don't have to scream no no still means no and there's things we need to stand up for but I want to be a congregation that comes out of the closet that comes out of the darkness and outs ourself as a congregation who knows that Jesus Christ is Lord that knows that there is sin in the world that knows that people need to repent of sin to be cleansed by his blood so that we might spend eternity with a loving father that's the gospel and that's what we're cooking here and that's what the church of Christ has been cooking for 2,000 years and we want to be a part of it and I want to pray that you are in I'm going to ask the worship team to come up let me just ask that we stand and I'm going to ask our prayer team to come forward as well and if you would stand and I want you to do business with Jesus today it's really up to you I've been in congregations where you get guilted in and fingers pointed that if you don't carry your bible and it has to be a giant bible around and if you won't go to the march with us to carry the signs then you're not quite the disciple I don't know how you're going to be a light you have to decide that and I want this is an individual question I just want to tell you what I'm trying to lead in I'm trying to lead in a light of love and I want our congregation to step out and to be a change agent of this world I'll tell you this world is terminally ill it is terminally ill and I want to ask that you what's that next level look like so let's just bow our heads for a moment just begin to ask God put a person on their hearts Lord just put a person on your heart who you can care for or a person you're upset with that you haven't been caring for them like Joseph and Nicodemus cared for the body of Christ an area or a place or where you work you're slowly going to start infiltrating it with the love of God and just as we sing this worship song let's begin to do a little work for God just let him speak to you I'm not the one telling you what to do let him lead you actually it was 2000 I was invited to go cross walking and it sounded funky to me it's not something I really thought I wanted to do but there was this guy and he had a cross and it was about 8 feet high and he puts it on his back and he walks around London with it I was like ooh ooh not really down with that and I went there and there's about 3 people that had volunteered to go and you could do that or you could just go to the park and do some park clean up and I thought that's a good way to share Jesus I want to clean the park it's way better and the Lord kept saying I want you to take that cross on your back and carry it through London and I was like oh not my style God and God kept saying yes and I was like no and he said yes so I went and I said okay I'll crosswalk so I showed up and I felt like the Lord said I want you to carry the cross first as we leave the church I'm like no no let me warm it up God I gotta warm it up you know get loose and the guy says hey do you want to carry the cross first I'm like oh I'm like Harry I said yes and then I picked it up underneath my arm because I thought well maybe I can tell like I'm taking a prop to a play that's literally what I thought you know I'm just walking through the neighborhood taking a prop to a play because I'm part of a drama troupe the Lord said put that on your shoulder I'm like no no no no no no no no and the guy says hey we don't usually carry it that way do you mind putting it on your shoulder I'm like ah church was in a courtyard and so I put this thing it had wheels on the back of it put this thing on my shoulder it's heavy I turn left out of the church courtyard and right when I take the first step over and I'm embarrassed I'm ashamed I'm like oh shaking and I put my foot across and I look up and there's a little cross on top of another church across the street and I just felt the Lord say they don't see that anymore they just don't see it and right when I stepped across I felt a courage that talks about it in the book of Acts that came over me that made me proud to carry the cross of Christ and a joy that I was like I mean it was tangible it was tangible and I carried it we carried it around and we ended up meeting some witches and having this conversation with these witches at this park and we didn't say anything the whole thing was just to carry it you don't say anything unless people ask you questions and so I did it for the next three for the next three years that courage and presence and peace and joy was on me and I was sharing Christ like I'd never done before and slowly it kind of waned as I kind of just you know things change but it was that one step that was radical it was gnarly it just changed my life forever and I want it back and I feel like I'm getting it back it's different now it's different but I feel like I'm getting it back I love to talk about Jesus I love Jesus I love the Father and I want everyone to know about it and I want to bless that congregation if you put your hands out if you want that on your life just put your hands out I'm going to pray over you Lord Jesus I pray for this congregation God it is so hard to share about you in this culture and people are trying to paint believers as haters and not as people that have the love of the Father to give and I pray for everyone who wants that you would bless us God let them be unique individuals you've created them God with a special way to speak about your love God in this congregation God let us be different let people look at this church and say there's something different about them that's attractive God please just God I just get on my knees right now and I ask God in the name of Jesus that this would be a church that all these people who want it God can be supernaturally empowered with the love of Jesus and we have evangelism here grow this church God with people that have never been to church and Jesus bless the teens bless Harry and his group and Eric and all the children's ministries Lord God and all the missionaries God we want the love of the Father we want people to know you Jesus and so God maybe we are a little radical at times but you are radical enough to die and God we love you and we bless you and for those that need your blessing right now if you need if you need prayer today come forward we got some people here to pray for you we have great prayer voices take prayer and so God we bless you we bless you in this congregation in the Father Son and the Holy Spirit Amen