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00:00:01 the scripture portion for today's service is taken from The Book of John 11: 1-44 John 11: 1-44 this is the NIV the death of Lazarus now a man named Lazarus was sick he was from Bethany the village of Mary and her sister Martha this Mary whose brother Lazarus now lay sick was the same one who poured perfume on the the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair so the sisters sent word to Jesus Lord the one you love is sick when he heard this Jesus said this sickness will not end in death no it is for God's glory so that God's son may be
00:00:48 glorified through it now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so when he heard that Lazarus was sick he stayed where he was two more days and then he said to his disciples let us go back to Judea but Rabbi they said a short while ago the Jews there tried to Stone you and yet you are going back Jesus answered are there not 12 hours of daylight anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble for they see by this world's light it is when a person walks at night that they stumble for they have
00:01:27 no light after he had said said this he went on to tell them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I am going there to wake him up his disciples replied Lord if he sleeps he will get better Jesus had been speaking of his death but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep so then he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your sake I am glad I was not there so that you may be believe but let us go to him then Thomas also known as dimus said to the rest of the disciples let us also go that we may
00:02:07 die with him Jesus Comforts The Sisters of Lazarus on his arrival Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the Tomb for 4 days now Bethany was less than 2 miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to MAA and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother when Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went out to meet him but Mary stayed at home Lord Martha said to Jesus if you had been here my brother would not have died but I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask Jesus said to her your brother
00:02:48 will rise again MAA answered I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life the one who believes in me will live even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die do you believe this Yes Lord she replied I believe that you are the Messiah the Son of God who is to come into the world after she had said this she went back and called her sister Mary aside the teacher is here she said and is asking for you when Mary heard this she
00:03:28 got up quickly and went to him now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him when the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out they followed her supposing she was going to the tomb to mour there when Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him she fell at his feet and said Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jew who had come along with her also
00:04:02 weeping he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled where have you laid him he asked come and see Lord they replied Jesus wept then the Jews said see how he loved him but some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead Jesus once more deeply moved moved came to the tomb it was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance take away the stone he said but lord said MAA the sister of the Dead Man by this time there is a bad order for he has been
00:04:44 there 4 days then Jesus said did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God so they took away the stone then Jesus looked up and said father I thank you that you have heard me I knew that you always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me when he had said this Jesus called in a loud voice Lazarus come out the dead man came out his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face Jesus said to them take
00:05:24 off the grave clothes and let him go here ends the reading of the word amen e e e e it and many people died and the movie turns around this team that death is the final destination you can't escape and one by one all these friends get killed through accidents poisonings murders and all that it's like the Final Destination it's something that's inescapable and today's scene is something like that you know why it's a funeral tell me put your hands up honestly how many of you like to attend funerals you all
00:08:11 why why well we don't like to attend funerals simply because it tells us that's me in the future lying down there it's a fact isn't it nobody likes it and I think I and you will notice don't know why every year you'll see Yan preach on Friday and on a Sunday right so I always preach about Resurrection he preached about crucifixion that it's my personal aversion to death um oh because I don't know how old were you when you attended your first funeral I was 8 years old and was my own father's funeral and it was a
00:08:49 very difficult concept to understand at that time what death is I used to try to simulate what death is by holding my breath you know until I I turned blue in the face or imagining I have nightmares at night waking up in a coffin and wondering how to get out in fact I I was in my teenage lives in in Sydney where we had a Christian retreat where we all in bunk beds I remember it's called the Autumn Retreat that and and and I was at the bottom bunk and uh people were the one person was at top and I had my recurring dream
00:09:27 again I dream I was in a coffin I was supposed to be dead but somehow resurrected inside and I they made a mistake and I started kicking and you know and punching my way out and the guy at the top was raptured you know he was going up and down and it was wondering people the DOR were wondering why the F going up and down oh because I was doing the kicking I was it was dramatic you know but that's that's the scene and I think the that really plagues us we want to avoid is the fact that death is the final
00:10:04 destination which is the current reality for every single person here more so in this church because more than half of you are over 50 so it gets closer in it closer to to to what you feel and and this is a scene this a scene is is a funeral and it could have been prevented because Jesus heard about it in John chapter 11:3 the sisters sent to him saying Lord he whom you love is ill of all the people you'll visit in the hospital it'll be this person to do something so asking him to come and today the funeral scene it's
00:10:40 already too late it's already too late person has died and we're going to look at this funeral scene because it's Easter's got to do with this because this is the preamble to the actual Easter and we look it Through The Eyes of Mary and Martha the principal protagonists the disciples and the crowd and see how they respond to this situation the disciples well when he heard that this chap was sick let's he told his disciples let's go to Judea the disciples say he you go there they going to kill you are you going to
00:11:19 go there again you barely Escape last time not to go again right so all they see is by goodness you're going to go back to death it's like asking you to go to Ukraine today would you go and um if you look here at the end of the discussion Thomas doubting Thomas called the twin said to his fellow disciples let's also go that we may all die with him we okay Master want to go say say say together we all die and this is not a voice of Faith H this is a voice of resignation because he can't see past
00:11:57 the finality of death if you go down to Judea death is the final destination if teacher want us to go we go we okay you know it was a good run for three years right and but but Jesus has a different take Jesus says after saying these things he said to them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep and I go to awaken him disciples said to him Lord if he has fallen asleep he will recover they thought he went to know uh but Jesus had spoken of his death but they thought he meant taking a rest in sleep and Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has
00:12:32 died and for your sake I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe let us go to him so we're playing around your words Jesus using sleep as a metaphor for death he's downplaying it's not the Final Destination that you think it is it is a transitory State everybody who falls asleep in this room gets up right right in the hospital I don't know but in this room gets up so therefore you know sleep is a metaphor it is a transitory State Jesus telling the disciples hold on something's going to happen let's go on to Mary and Martha
00:13:17 the two women who love Jesus right and when he arrived they both have identical things to say to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died what is he telling Jesus it's like you know patient arrested in the hospital 2 days later on they come with the CPR card and to electrocute him a bit late isn't it lawsuit will follow afterwards and sure okay because you didn't come um there's a controversy whether the women actually blame Jesus was this grief was you know was this Miss but most importantly it's
00:13:57 a missed opportunity they thought if Jesus had come on time with the CPR chart you know Lazarus would have been raised from the dead right all right but it's a bit unusual because these are people who are very close to pet to Jesus and they would have heard in John chapter 4 that Jesus can do long distant WiFi healing you know here he said officials sir Cal down before my son the child dies Jesus said to to him go your son will live and the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his
00:14:36 way and when he went back he found the son alive and the son got up the moment Jesus said those words so Jesus can heal long distance now why didn't Jesus do that you see why didn't Jesus just because that guy no Jesus doesn't even know him and here are the two girls or ladies was so precious to him and the problem is if you see in this picture we are constrained Lord here it is as if Jesus miraculous healing powers has to be circumscribed by uh this doesn't work as usual testing what okay has to be
00:15:25 S circumscribed by distance you see our world view is informed by our current experience if we have not seen a long distance curing or healing recently then we forget our Biblical view world view is too distant and too abstract as it were right and each of them have in their hearts that Jesus should have been there and Jesus wasn't isn't this a lot like us when we expect God to do something in our lives and he doesn't conform to our expectations or our circumscribed view of who he is each of them reacts
00:16:10 differently to Lazarus and Jesus death and Jesus delay if you look at Mary Mary remains seated in the house when Jesus came everybody knows Jesus come right Mara went up to meet him even now I know whatever you ask from God God will give you to you so here ISP typical Martha the one who's fussing around and doing stuff well else Mary was sitting at jesus' feet when Jesus comes she rushes out wow he's come too late now might at least here let's go she's expecting something she's the eternal optimist
00:16:44 isn't it but look at what Mary is doing uh Jesus here okay whatever she's sitting down in the house continuing to grieve and cry and wallow in her pain right and then when she said this she went and called her sister Mary and said saying private the teacher is here and is calling for you so Jesus has to send message please come La then only she get up and she come well the S just runs out there two different personality one is a pessimist it's too late go Cas Hab I'm just going to wallow in my pain and the other is
00:17:24 Optimist maybe he can do something you can see here how we both we have two sorts of reactions in our lives this is David Watson who wrote a good book called fear no evil and uh he tells a story of Two Men and both of them had two young children one four years old one five the one was four years old died of Leukemia and the one who was 5 years old accidentally went into the swimming pool which was not locked and also drowned one was a Christian and one was an atheist and out of both similar trials and
00:18:03 tragedies death drove one of them who was a Christian away from Christ he became an aist and the aist became a Christian because the Christian said in his mind that this is a line that God cannot cross I can take all sorts of suffering but if you ask me to bury my son I will not that is a line I cannot cross and I think for many of you there are lines which you sometimes draw that God cannot cross and that's the line which God will cross because he is Sovereign King you cannot question him I don't understand
00:18:43 why couple of weeks ago I was dealing with a a church member who had some funny symptom and suddenly had a out of the blue fortuitously had a scan in his brain and they found a growth which was eventually removed and by God's grace he doesn't need chemo he's essentially cured on the spot and then at the newcomers uh at the uh welcome dinner I had the privilege of hearing a testimony from a young a lady who has been just new to this church called Joan trueu and she was telling that she had a son as well who was about
00:19:23 five years old called Benjamin and he had leukemia or lymphoma one of those they actually crowdfunded and raised money to actually miraculously come up with the money to give the Kimo but he died he died and it took her 22 years for her to get over that and understand why God did that to her you you see you you can't constrain God he does what he does otherwise you become disillusioned you know why Christians become disillusion because they've been fed a whole bunch of Pop Christianity and sentimentalism that you cherry pick Only
00:20:09 the Good verses in life and you take that God will provide for all my needs I can do everything in Christ and you forget the context you minimize our own sinfulness if I go to church God therefore owes me good things right in fact there was uh I'm going to be uh answering questions in Alpha course every Alpha they ask me to answer questions and I usually get about 30 40 questions and the questions always come out these are the latest ones if you're interested you can come on Thursday uh why didn't God heal my loved one after
00:20:40 much prayer when he answered some of my other less important things wow you decide which one he should answer maybe those easy one God can do hard one that's implying that why are we suffering why doesn't God take away after becoming a Christian recently bad things happen to the person I care about why is that I wonder whether I have made the wrong decision to accept Christ oh very pantang is it like superstitious accept Christ o something soy happens to me you see it's as if we can as if what we are doing is that we can understand
00:21:15 God we can determine what the best answer should be we understand God completely Yan I asked you to this day you think you understand your wife you can even the women are a mystery to us the things that they do we don't understand and you think you can predict what God's going to do you see the pro how stupid we can be because we circumscribe God we don't even circum we do not even dare circumscribe the wife you want to circumscribe God and and and what about the crowd you look at the crowd Jesus wept and so the Jews said
00:21:58 see how he loved him and some of them said could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying you see Jesus cry oh I think he cry baby uh because you know why he cried because he cannot he he he missed opportunity to heal this man that's why he cried it's that's absolutely ridiculous it's like atheist this is Steven fry and he's a famous atheist he says if you see the absolute phenomenal majesty and complexity and bewildering beauty of nature you stare at it and then someone
00:22:32 next to you goes and how can you say there's no God look at that and then he says five minutes later you're looking at the life cycle of a parasitic worm whose job is to bury itself in the eyeball of a little lamb and eat the eyeball from inside while the lamb dies a horrible in horrible Agony then you turn to them and say yeah where's your God now isn't that right non-Christian look from outside side and see all the difficulties and pain in life and reinterpret them as the importance of God or the fact that God does not
00:23:07 actually exist but God has a plan if you look in uh five and six it says so when he heard Lazarus was Ill he stayed an extra two days wow it's like the doctor who got the cat blue tomorrow I come why to make sure you properly dead it's a fact then you get properly get a lawsuit for sure and Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died and for your sake I'm glad that I was not there that you may believe that means Jesus is going to use this death for some purpose death is not the Final Destination Jesus has broken the
00:23:50 power of death and he uses death for his own Glory it's the beginning of an Ultimate Reality now the next point point is because death is no longer the Final Destination eternal life actually begins today right look at the passage here and it says Martha said to Jesus Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died but even now I know whatever you ask from God ask from God God will give you and Jesus said to her your brother will rise again and Martha said to him I know he will rise again on Resurrection
00:24:25 on the last day funny conversations like me having a conversation with with another person who is conflicted you see she comes to Jesus she runs to him brother already died right and she's asking you know I know whatever you ask from God you know God will give you and then Jesus said you know your brother will rise again I know who doesn't know Resurrection Day now if you look back here at there are four instances in the Old Testament where people have been raised and also if you look in Daniel that Daniel 12
00:24:59 says that many of those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall wake some to eternal life some to shame and everlasting contempt and those who are wise shall shine like like the brightness of the sky above and those who turn many to righteousness that like stars forever and ever so Resurrection is in the Old Testament as well and Jesus fine ches that says in John chapter 5 do not Marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out and those who have done good to the
00:25:28 resurrection of life life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment mean everybody gets resurrected some to quite unpleasant outcome and some to the resurrection of Life the Pharisees and Sadducees at a time had a controversy the Pharisees believed in Resurrection but the Sadducees did not but the trouble is with Mara I don't think she really believed that Jesus was going to resurrect the brother because when she said when Jesus said take away the stone she says what o very smelly he's been dead for four days so
00:26:00 that actually contradicts this idea that she expected something but she expected something but I don't know what she expected sometime when you come to God you know when when things have fallen apart and you don't really know what to expect except that he is God he is Jesus he's capable of anything and that's where she's at and she addresses this concern with these verses which you must take whack and memorize she said said these words to her I am the resurrection and the life very important there two
00:26:35 aspects to this I the resurrection and I am the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die these is the two most contradictory statements in the world how can you believe in me and though he die yet he will live and every everyone who lives and believes then never die that means he's actually using a metaphor all right so I the resurrection and the life the first thing you need to notice is the word I am and I am is actually a Greek
00:27:14 translation of the Hebrew and the Hebrew word is y h w h y he wow ha which is called technically called the tetr Gaton which is basically the Hebrew word for God which they're so scared of actually saying in their mouths all right you see first see it in Exodus chapter three when Moses encounters God and God said to Moses I am who I am and he said to these people of Israel I am has sent me so therefore it is a word for God and if you look at the in in the Gospel of John there are seven places where Jesus says
00:27:54 I am which means when he says these things he uses the authority of God so it is God who's telling you that I am the resurrection and life that means God who is the current and everpresent reality there now Jesus repurposes death the illness does not lead to death it is for the glory of God so somehow illness and death even that brought in by Satan can be utilized and repurposes for the glory of God if you look at the book in The Gospel of John it differs from the gospels which are the synoptic
00:28:38 gospels of Mark and Luke right and Matthew all right Miracles have two different words in the synoptic gospels the Miracles are called dunamis translation called of dunamis dunamis means power they show the power of the Kingdom coming in in the Book of John the word for miracles comes from the Greek word Simeon which is a sign it means a sign in it of itself is really nothing but they point to the identity of the king and so therefore when John writes the gospel he he writes to provide you signs John chapter 20 says
00:29:15 Jesus did many other signs in the presence of disciples who are not written in this book but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name that is why the miracle is given and we look there are seven miracles here each Miracle progressively points to who Jesus is whether he's feeding the 5,000 that he is all we need or healing or cleansing the temple changing water into wine in fact I've got a cousin of mine who
00:29:48 actually wrote the book and the title of his book is uh where is pastor Raymond Co and everybody's asking where I think uh is no point asking where you should actually ask why why why was this man willing to sacrifice his life and love thy neighbor whether they be Christian or Buddhist or Muslim he didn't care all he had was love and the fact that he was taken people need to wake up and see why because he becomes a sign of a reality because he saw God's purposes rather than his own you see throughout the
00:30:37 years in Christianity people have been mared for Christ in fact there about 10,000 per year all over the world but each Marty just like Raymond is a sign and the sign that points non-christians that Christians actually believe whoever believes me though he die yet shall I live shall he live that their lives are indestructible and the and it and their deaths actually authenticate the faith that's the difference it makes you able to face one of my the greatest privileges I have in my job is to walk with patients now I've
00:31:23 been a job 30 years and I've seen patients with cancer I've operated on them and some of them actually have come back and I was treating a young lady who was in his 50s a lovely Christian woman and you can see the difference unfortunately her tumor came back and when you told her the bad news she she winced she was in pain but then she brightened up her her her face and this morning I saw her in the word and she was glorifying God for Easter you see I've seen many people die but you see in the faces of
00:32:03 Christian it is different and if you are a non-Christian looking at the way that person receives death it is a sign it is sign of a reality of Resurrection whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live you're not afraid anymore the next one is what about life I'm the Resurrection The Life and that's explicated by and everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die what does this mean well you have to look at the word life the white word life in Greek has two variations one is bios and one
00:32:42 is Zoey vus indicates physical Life Zoey indicates a quality of life that's out of this world it's a different quality of life and John uses this word if you look at bios which is physical life all we can do is prolong it a little bit this is a recent publication in CNN this last year they managed to be able to look at these two rats uh and with by injecting certain stem cells the ones have been blind have become unblinded all right they're both one looks very old and looks very young you could
00:33:18 actually rejuvenate them and this was due to a Nobel prize winning Japanese gentleman called shya yamanaka who in 2012 received a no price where you could actually take normal cells and make them stem cells so that they could turn into anything so you could actually reverse aging perhaps and with uh but would you want to do that here's a poll of uh uh that someone took if you could stop aging after 25 how many more years would you like to live and if you look here most people want live 76 to 100 if you look at 100
00:33:57 to about 10 ,000 uh well you know 200 to about 10,000 only 24% would actually want to live that long and those who want to live forever is only 3% why why isn't it don't you want to live forever this is an elderly lady her name is uh Amelia Teresa Harper and she said uh that I've had so many memories I don't think I have anything to do because I've done everything that I practically wanted to do it's like everything I've exhausted I'm not interested in anything in fact the Brian Appleyard wrote the book called How to
00:34:40 live forever or die trying and he writes I I think there's a point that immortalist don't understand and it's one that exhausts one's own personality over a certain period it's a weird idea that you would go on and on still being interested in being yourself I don't think anyone would I think you'd get excruciatingly bored of being yourself see what he's saying that over time you just exhaust your own personality there nothing new nothing exciting and eternal life isn't about living forever but here the same Paul
00:35:17 said would you live longer would you choose to live longer if well if you had family with you or you had a job you see living is not just life it's a quality of life where there is family and there's relationships and where there's job this is the longest clinical study of of of humans in this world Grant GL gilic study where they took two groups of people one Harvard uh students back in 1938 and compared that the same group of people around the same time who are from a very poor District some rich educated
00:35:55 and some poor and uneducated educated and they wanted to look at what are the factors that would most predict for a long life all right and they only found two factors and the factors are love and a way of finding a way to cope with life that does not push away love when the study began nobody cared about empathy or attachment but the key to healthy aging is relationships Rel relationships relationships another study from Portugal looked at people who live above 100 years of age and ask them would you want to live longer only
00:36:44 one third wanted to live longer and you know why they wanted to live longer because they had family they wanted to wait for the great grandchild to graduate get married or do something you see it's about the quality of life even if you have people who live above 100 only oneir want to live any longer this is what Jesus is talking about John 10:10 that says the thief comes in to steal and kill and destroy I came that they may have life and have it abundantly and Jesus uses the metaphor he's talking about the he's the gate
00:37:19 he's the shepherd and and and living life abundantly is like this sheep sitting down there very fat got everything very comfortable right not that you all will look like this love okay but but it's a quality of life some of you look like this actually it's it's a quality of life all right which he's talking about and and and John chapter 173 pay attention here this is eternal life he tells you what this eternal life is a few chapters later on not then five chapters later on this is eternal life
00:37:53 that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent you see the quality of your current life you have as a Believer is a forast of what is to come you get eternal life now and what is eternal life a relationship with God and I tell you a lot of people totally misunderstand you know what they think eternal life is a ticket to Heaven it's a fact everybody wants to come to Christ to avoid the Final Destination and to go to some place they're more attracted to the place but they not attracted to the person who
00:38:38 owns the place they forget completely and some person Alpha ask oh you know can can a person be Sav uh if he never goes to church I don't care where you to go to church or not you can go Temple you like to visit or whatever important thing is eternal life turns on having a Rel relationship with God we Define all sorts of conditions but the bottom line is a relationship with God you see if you look at the Spirit coming to you what does it have the fruit of spirit is what love joy peace patience kindness goodness
00:39:14 faithfulness gentleness self-control I put you the backside of the Moon alone you get that and the backside of the Moon would you have that no these are relational terms that means eternal life it's actually knowing god relating to God in such a way it will transform how you relate to everybody else I would defy theologians to tell you that eternal life is about salvation Redemption reconciliation adoption forgiveness Regeneration glor all big fat terms they mean nothing you know what they mean you are saved you are
00:39:52 redeemed you are reconciled for one purpose so that you know God don't forget that salvation is not an end of itself Redemption is the saving from the fire pH very good at least I won't get roasted the issue is that you are saved in order to know God don't forget that that is the most important factor that you need to take that eternal life begins today eternal life is more than just awareness of God's existence this is Romans 1 says although they knew God they didn't honor him as God or give thanks to him they became futile in
00:40:37 their thinking so people know God but they don't care or what about James James says uh intellectual knowledge for you believe that God is one you do well even the demons believe and Sh the devil has a PHD in God and he's frightened of God you also not frightened so many people sit here and talk about judgment they're not frightened the devil is frightened but doesn't mean he knows God what is knowing god knowing god is what loving God it starts at the cross God is not some esoteric principle you suddenly woke up one day I think
00:41:13 there's a God and then you start to worship him no God you love because God first loved you and showed you what love is the dimensions of love the shape of love the mechanics of love all begin and end at the cross how do you know love is unconditional because Christ gave his life to you unconditionally so it begins with love loving God and if you love him you trust him you prize and partise His glory rejoice in who he is and what he does and you're willing to place your life In His Hands that's what eternal life is
00:41:44 and if you're sitting here today and if you love him if you trust him you prioritize his glory and rejoice in who he is and what he has done and you're willing to place your life In His Hands brother you have eternal life you will never die that's a fact that's what Jesus is saying unless he's lying you will never die someone I'm going to read you this quote which is beautiful it says seeing God In His glory beholding his Beauty understanding his infinite and incomparable power tasting the sweetness
00:42:19 of his person his kindness his love his Mercy this is what it means to know God this is eternal life is this right now what you are experiencing because if this is not what you're experiencing then I would seriously doubt if you have eternal life eternal life is seeing God In His glory beholding his Beauty understanding his infinite and incomparable power tasting the sweetness of his person his kindness his love his Mercy this is what it means to know God and finally not only that death is not the Final Destination
00:43:05 eternal life begins today we need to take hold of eternal life now it's not enough to have it but we need to take hold of it what do I mean well if you look here Jesus said to her I am the resurrection life he who believes in me though he die yet shall he live everyone who yet lives and yet Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this and she said yes Lord I believe what is the focus of the whole passage on belief the truth not only saves us but it must shape Our Lives it cannot be just a mental fact oh I passed my my
00:43:42 sdpm exam many years ago done been there done that it's not what it means it means that this truth that you actually believe actually shapes your lives if you actually have eternal life today you would have New Perspectives purpose priorities and power if you don't have any of these then I would really doubt whether you actually have eternal life today the way you look at the world is different if you have eternal life why well all of us had look at things in different ways I remember two press
00:44:17 conferences happening last week one was by sidam baram prosecutor of najib and the other one was by the defender of najib Muhammad Shafi the verdict of the appeal was 4-1 isn't it against najib so najib goes back to his hometown clang um and sidam baram says this decision is indicative 41 ma 41 indicative that the charges against najib are legally mounted and not politically motivated by Pro by the prosecution it is a done deal 4-1 majority means no more he's guilty and Shafi says oh because of one grounds
00:44:58 for aong to consider whether which was a better judgment one is better than four isn't it wow you see it depends on your perspective if you're a defense lawyer your perspective is different from prosecution lawyers is it it all depends how you look at things you look at the you you look at the funeral all right and as far as Martha is concerned and Mary concerned hey don't open the tomb he stinks as far as Jesus concerned what he's fallen the sleep you see you take a different perspective if you have eternal life you
00:45:33 see as you get older and many of you get older and I talk to you a lot of you will invariably you know 90% of people come to me ask for medical advice 10% ask me to pray for them which is very sad reality of my job they're more interested in physical life they're not interested in eternal life I can also pray for you you know all right so at each time they get a a physical disability and do you know that new disabilities are not necessary disabilities they're new opportunities if you look how Paul approaches this
00:46:11 problem he says we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day if we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us which mean as you get older you are more of an earn vessel I don't expect that I will be able to serve the the Lord in this church nor people at my age like Yen we're not going to be able to serve you in the same way so the more disability hits us it provides us more opportunity to look in other areas in
00:46:47 which we can serve maybe we cannot speak or preach we can do on the internet you do something but it shows you that there is a treasure in our earn vessels that whatever we are strucked we are still serving God and actually that honors God even more I remember Nick vuch guy born with no arms only one foot and he's preached to more people than I can even imagine because he's got no arms and one foot the more disabled we are the more likely we are to show the beauty and power of Christ not our own power you
00:47:25 know I always like to read people who are successful so I read about secrets of people who grow old 100 years old anybody here 100 nobody close 90 very young crowd so we ask them what are the secrets of people who live 100 and this article wrote there's Jesse gallon she lived to 109 Charlotte and John Henderson 104 each what is your secret and uh Henderson said our secret is 77 years of marriage get married and Charlotte said the lack of men in her life men are more troubled than they're worth so my advice to you women don't
00:48:11 get married and you live a nice long life like Jesse gallon Adeline Adelina Dominguez 114 years you know what's a secret never wear makeup you can tell can't you Susanna mushat 116 Misawa Okawa 114 what's their secret you know what they say diet she has this and she has this sushi for the Japanese and bacon and eggs for 116 years so some of you go home I think you better reconsider whether you're going to have bacon and eggs for the next 114 years of your life it's no use it's not what you eat or do it's who you trust that is the
00:49:06 important thing you got to have a new perspective you also have a new purpose you see Paul I that I may know him the power is resurrection share in the sufferings becoming like him in his death that by any means possible I may actually attain the resurrection of day you know this is really scary it's really scary most most I had a my wife had a conversation somebody who who said to her I was thinking of becoming Christian but you know I see your savior hanging across know bet cannot I'm not going to hang on the
00:49:40 cross but you don't understand you don't understand we're not asking you to hang on the cross we're asking you to know Jesus Christ when you know him his Beauty his love his power his majesty is so going to be so overwhelm you that even if it came to hang across you say it's okay that's the difference it's not you hanging across in order to gain salvation people misunder it's a new purpose our citizenship is in heaven Paul says and from it we wait a savior the Lord Jesus Christ we will transform
00:50:15 our lowly bodies to be like his glorious Body by the power that enabled him to even subject all things to himself just as Christ has risen from dead that same resurrect power will transform Our Lives you know got a couple of children here I see them I remember many many years ago I was like you I didn't sing as well as this chap over there I wouldn't thereare you remember we all stood there and we're always looking up you know you go in your old home you will see the markings of the wall that that show you how tall you are
00:50:54 and how much you've grown but you know after a while you stop looking right young man you don't look at how tall you are you're looking at which woman you're going to marry middle age you're not looking at which woman you married married already Faith accompl already all right but what career going to go on strangely enough when you're elderly you don't seem to look forward very much you Noti this because you know what's around the corner you know why for many of you you think death is a final destination what nothing to look
00:51:25 forward to the game's going to end but if you've got the Life of Christ in you you've got eternal life you need to take hold of it you need to look forward and make Eternal plans you have new priorities the priorities that govern you when your your younger age or middle age are different you see Matthew 13 says the kingdom of God is like the treasure hidden in the field man found and covered up and then in his Joy he went and sell all he has to buy that field Jesus taught us to pray your kingdom come your will be done these are
00:51:59 new priorities that you have if you have eternal life the way you see things will be different the way your priorities purpose will be different your priorities will be different in fact Paul says fight the good fight of Faith take hold of eternal life to which you called and about which you made the good confession the presence of many witnesses take hold that Greek word is very important is repeated in three other places in the New Testament when Paul was grabbed by the crowd they wanted to torture him when Jesus
00:52:34 grabbed Peter when he was sinking beneath the waves when the crowd grabbed Simon of sirene to force him to carry Jesus cross three places and Paul is telling you to grab eternal life what does it mean eternal life is not like you know Two Fellas here God gives them both eyes ears mouth muscles legs one of them spends his entire day watching Korean cereals okay he's probably F out than Korean the other one uses the eyes legs muscle that God has given her and she uses them she runs around and she will
00:53:21 have a better sense of well-being better mood better confidence positive outlook in life why because she actually uses what was given to her and when Paul said you take hold you grab eternal life and I see most Christians in church here they are not grabbing eternal life you come from makah sh come on Bible study you're not that one something else you're not grabbing eternal life that you actually have you see uh this is the the the disciples said Rabbi the the the the Jews were going to Stone you right they D not go
00:54:01 back to Jerusalem you know what Jesus said are there not 12 hours in the day if anybody walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him what is Jesus saying there's a defined period of time when there's light and when there's light you walk you won't fall there's a defined period of time when you can do God's Ministry and no no matter what happens H you are going to be bulletproof because God determines
00:54:31 your ministry so therefore when you actually understand that you actually already have eternal life you have a new power you know Cory tan Bloom was famous because she survived the Nazi Holocaust and she and her father saved many many Jews and they asked her you know in the end she was actually captured put in prison her father was killed and she escaped and they asked her Katherine kulmer asked her in an interview about God and us having problems you know what she says she says God has no problems God only his
00:55:07 plans yeah and it's actually very very true if you come into a spot of problem and have difficulties in your life you think life is full of problems you understand God in God's eyes there's no problems only plans so Tom Thomas the twin says oh let's go that we may die with him a voice of resignation why because of fear you look at Thomas later on doubting Thomas and then he said to Thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put your in put out your hand and put it on my side don't disbelieve
00:55:43 but believe so Thomas take his hand dig it right inside actually that's wrong nowhere in scripture tells you do almost take his hand and dig and come out the other side none D not he just says my Lord and my God he didn't put his finger in and blessed are those who don't see like you and who believe and Thomas went on to become the Apostle to India Syria so many of these places and he was actually mared in the end you know a song We sang lovely choir sang just now you know this choir tells this is not a choir sorry I I made
00:56:26 mistake it is a life group called The Seed Life Group the seed life group Rises to the occasion and they can sing like that isn't that great every life group can also do wonderful things they're not professional choir but they have worked hard I want to praise God you know they sang the song I Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow I don't agree with the song I say because he lives I will look forward to tomorrow I will look forward because tomorrow is full of promises tomorrow is full of possibilities why because I have
00:57:09 eternal life today how many of you actually look forward tomorrow or do you think life is a diminishing return that because of your age you cannot get back anymore if you have eternal life you you will have new power and you know what the power is to do the power is to forgive to sacrifice to give to love the unlovable to reconcile to have patience to have hope in ministry that's what the power is if you see that power in your life then you have eternal life you see the power is to repent we're not defined by
00:57:51 a single act of heroism or your latest sin the devil will always tell you you're defined by your latest sin but the power is a new power to be able to say sorry to be able to repent and only the spirit can help you repent the alternative is to continue like you are for many of us in this church you know what then heaven will become more distant and unreal the Affairs of this world you wake up will be a heavy burden on your shoulder every morning the the the desires of the Kingdom will be diminished sacrifice will be achieve
00:58:26 chore people will be an interruption you classify people according to your needs whether you can use them and then you burn out that's the alternative to us so lastly would you live a life to 100 over years old like this young this elderly lady where life is defined by memories you know what she does and she's 100 over years old all she does is Look Backwards I don't think I want to live to 100 years old if I'm always looking backwards DL Moody when he died said before he died he said one day you will read in the
00:59:10 obituary that the great DL Moody has died and you know what he said he said don't you believe a word of it at that moment I shall be more alive that I am now you know why that's true let me give you an example from the younger generation imagine you have an iPhone and suddenly you have an upgrade everybody got upgrade right and this upgrade is upgrade version number 1 million and5 now if you actually use the software upgrade you could probably fly to the moon but the problem is your iPhone you still can't do that so you're waiting
00:59:54 for what high Hardware upgrade right so death is like that we are all waiting Y and I for Hardware upgrade we already got software upgrade the software upgrade is the eternal life which we already have and we're communing with God we're knowing god we're rejoicing in God one day we want to be able to stand here and worship God 24 hours here 1 hour L singing going to come down but one day the Hardware will change and that's just something for us to look forward do you look forward so let me end I am the resurrection and the
01:00:35 life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live everyone who lives and Believes In Me shall never die do you believe this and real belief means taking hold of eternal life now how you going to take hold of eternal life well today we come come to the Lord's Supper I want you to take off your elements every sermon I think should drive you to that seminal moment that transforms our life and we go back to Good Friday where our Lord Jesus Christ came and made all these possible he didn't
01:01:24 have to come he chose to come and he said this is my body broken for you let's take the bread this new technology is very squeaky but at least it saves a bit of time um let's examine ourselves when Paul spoke these words he was confronting a church that had been at war with each other the Richer Christians were coming earlier and eating all the food leaving the poorer Christians who had to work through the night to come later and they missed out that it was disunity when he asked them to examine
01:02:20 themselves he asking them to examine their attitudes towards each other it's always Rel relational examine your relationship with other people respect the body you are all the body let's spend about a minute in meditation before we take it together Jesus said this is my body broken for you let's take this together now we come to the wine the wine symbolizes the New Covenant made in the blood of Christ but when people lift up their cups it is not only that it's not only a symbol of New Covenant it is a symbol of
01:03:35 Victory you know when you go to wedding what do they do yuming isn't it they yuming because they're looking forward to a bright future when we take this it is a toast it is a yam sing it's a victory because of the victory won by Christ Christ upon whom's Victory we stand so let's take this together because of this we are alive today and forever more do you believe this if you believe this let's take it together this is forever let's rise together and place our trust in him as we sing this [Music]
01:04:43 song the moon and stars he the morning sun was de the savior of the world was [Music] his body on the cross his blood poured out for us the weight of Every curse upon [Music] [Music] Him final bre gave as Heaven L away the Son of God was LE in darkness a battle in the gra the war on death was reach the power of Hell forever broken the ground began to shake the stone was way perfect love could not be now death where is your s our resurrected King has forever he is glori forever he is there high forever he
01:06:34 is he is theive he is theive the shake the ground St was away perfect love [Music] now death where is your s our resurrected forever he is gloried forever he is high forever he is he is the light he is the [Music] We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah the lamb has so we sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah we sing Hal Hallelujah lamb [Music] is sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah over We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah is [Music] We Sing Hallelujah We Sing
01:09:04 Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah the L has We Sing Hallelujah We Sing Hallelujah We Sing [Music] Hallelujah forever he is glorified forever he is high forever he is R he is [Music] theive he is [Applause] alive forever he is glorified [Music] forever he is lifted High forever he is rer he is the life he is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a father Lord we declare with all our voices you are alive and because you are alive we your people are more alive than ever and we declare this day we want to
01:10:43 know you more we want to feel you in our hearts we want to feel the pulsation of the Holy Spirit mending relationships with each other seeing the supernatural power of God working in our lives and for some of you who would like to come forward and have the elders pray for you this Easter special day where there's no sin that's bigger than Jesus Christ no failure that cannot be surmountable by his blood just declare that come forward and we and the pastors will pray for you that you will receive new victory take
01:11:24 hold of the eternal life which is already in your hearts and souls and pulsating in your veins right now come forward we'll pray for you and for the rest of us the sting of death is sin the power of the sin is the law but thanks to God who gives us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved Brethren be stayfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain and all God's people said amen blessed Easter
