Eagle Heights Cathedral

Guest (Male): And so, Father, because I know that, I simply ask you to anoint us as your people, as I do every Sunday. May we have ears that hear, eyes that see, hearts, and a sincere desire to draw nearer, my God, to Thee. Thank you for Your presence in this atmosphere. We thank You for changed lives in advance. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen and amen.

Bishop James E. Collins: You can give God glory and just remain standing. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 24, beginning at verse one. I want to finish what I started last Sunday: why I cherish the old rugged cross. Luke 24:1-16.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that had been prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise."

And they remembered His words, and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now, it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. But their words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter rose and he ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at what had happened.

That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. Father, grant that we might not miss that Jesus is here today, and we thank You for it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

In his book, *The Applause of Heaven*, pastor and author Max Lucado asks some questions. He asks, "Could someone build a temple and forget why? Could someone construct a palace and yet forget the king? Could someone sculpt a tribute and forget the hero?" He proceeds to say, "You answer those questions. Answer them in church. The next time you enter an assembly of worship, position yourself where you can see the people and then decide."

"You can tell the ones who remember the Slain One. They're wide-eyed and expectant. They're children watching the unwrapping of the gift. They're servants standing still as a king passes. You don't doze in the presence of royalty, and you don't yawn while receiving a gift, especially when the giver is the King Himself."

"You can also see and tell the ones who see only the temple. Their eyes wander, their feet shuffle, their hands doodle, their mouths open not to sing but to yawn. For no matter how hard they try to stay amazed, their eyes start to glaze over. For all temples, even the Taj Mahal, lose their luster after a while. The temple gazers don't mean to be bored; they love the church. They can cite the programs and praise the pastors. They don't mean to grow stale. They put on hats and hose and coats and ties and come every week, but still, something is missing. The one they once planned to honor hasn't been seen in a while."

"But those who have seen Him can't seem to forget Him. They find Him often, in spite of the temple rather than because of it. They brush the dust away, and they stand ever impressed before the tomb, His empty tomb. The temple builders and the Savior seekers, you'll find them both in the same church, on the same pew, at times even in the same suit. One sees the structure and says, 'Oh, what a great church.' The other sees the Savior and says, 'Oh, what a great Christ.'"

Which do you see? Do you see the structure and say, "What a great church," or do you see the Savior and say, "What a great Christ"? Let me separate the two for you. Let me show you how we get to be those of the last. In *The Lion King*, there is the telling of the story of the king's ascent. From the moment that the movie begins, we become aware of Simba. He has been destined as the heir to the throne. He is designated to the office at the start of the movie by a baboon named Rafiki, the symbol of one with a prophetic voice who lifts up Simba before the animals of the kingdom. And as they bow before him because he is their future king, the story walks us through his exile and his homecoming to Pride Rock.

When Simba returns to Pride Rock, he must battle for the throne, which has been seized by his evil uncle, Scar. Simba conquers Scar and the hyenas. But even though he has been designated and appointed, and even though he has conquered the forces of darkness, his work remains incomplete. At the end of the movie, immediately after the battle, an important scene occurs that is sometimes overlooked. The camera shifts very quickly and suddenly to Rafiki, bringing the power of the message full circle. Rafiki takes his staff, and he points Simba to what is called Pride Rock, signifying an old era has ended and a new one is about to begin.

I want you to watch this now. In order for Simba to claim his kingdom and be installed as the king, he must ascend Pride Rock, the rightful place of the ruler, in order to ritually demonstrate he has conquered. Simba dramatically ascends the rock, and he roars. And when he does, the other lions acknowledge his victory, dominion, and authority. Though Simba has been designated as the king from the start of the movie, though he has conquered in battle, he is still not installed as the king until he ascends Pride Rock.

I tell you that little story because my question for us today is: though Jesus has conquered death and hell and He is our Savior, I want to ask you, has He been installed as the King on your prideful heart? Has He truly been recognized as sitting on the throne of your life as the King of all the kingdoms of your heart? Does He rule in your heart and life 365 days a year, 52 weeks a year, or is it simply on Easter that He is King?

On a Friday, three hours just began for Jesus—the greatest story in the annals of history. Let me remind you of some of those things very quickly before I get into the rest of this message. That Friday, after they had placed and put a caped house of thorns upon our Savior's brow, they forced them into His brow, every thorn piercing His scalp. And after they had stripped Him naked and humiliated Him for all of humanity to see, after they had beaten Him with a cat-o'-nine-tails, tearing away the skin, ripping bone and sinew, and shredding His flesh, tearing even the muscle from bone to bone, and as blood ran from each split of His skin, they nailed Him to the cross.

They stood at the foot of that cross and they mocked Him. The pain, the circus, went on for three agonizing hours. It began at nine o'clock. But then twelve noon came and something supernatural happened. I shared with you last week that darkness covered the whole earth. The veil of the sanctuary was torn, the earthquake, and the rocks split. The saints were raised from the dead. And then it came, the centurion testifies to Jesus' authenticity, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."

John 19:30 says, "When Jesus therefore received the vinegar, He said, 'It is finished.' Then He bowed His head and He gave up the ghost." And all standing there that day, let me tell you what they thought that day. They thought this thing was over and we're just going to go back to living our ritualistic lives. But they didn't know that it was not a normal day, that something was about to change for all time and eternity.

Let me go a little bit deeper into the reality of what happened that Good Friday. After Jesus died on that old rugged cross, His attackers and His accusers left Him hanging there. The body needed to be removed. Mark 15:43-46 tells us that there was an honorable man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea. He was a member of the Jewish Council who was also a secret disciple of Jesus. He goes and he gets His body and he lays His body in a tomb. Jesus is lying in that tomb on Friday.

But we jump from Friday to Sunday, and I don't want to do this for a moment. Let me talk about Saturday for a minute. No one knows exactly what happened on Saturday, but most scholars agree that Jesus wasn't doing nothing. He wasn't simply laying on a slab and sleep and soul sleeping and waiting for Sunday morning to come. He was doing something. In fact, Peter tells us that He went into the bowels of hell and He preached to the people that were in hell, and He preached to those that loved the Lord but did not know Jesus yet.

I believe what some believe: that on Saturday night, Jesus went into hell and He took the keys of death and hell from Satan. Revelation 1:17-18 says, "Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am He that lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of death and hell." I picture in my mind, and this is just me thinking because none of us know exactly what happened, but this I know and I believe: that He walked into the bowels of hell. He yanked the keys of death and hell out of Satan's hands and said, "These don't belong to you because I have come that whoever believes on Me shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Listen, church, no matter what happened on Saturday night, Friday was leading up to Sunday, the third day. And on the third day, your Bible says that something supernatural also happened that day. Acts 10:40, "Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly." Then Hebrews 10:12 says, "But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting until His enemies are made His footstool."

I want you to really grab ahold of this: that Jesus' death, it conquered death and hell the day He hung on that old rugged cross. But then when He ascended to the Father, He did something else supernatural. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:6 that after He sat down at the right hand of the Father, God gave us the ability, the authority, to sit down in heavenly places with Jesus. This is why some merely see Him and they see the church and they say, "Oh, what a great church," because you don't see what you really need to see. You need to quit looking at the building, you need to quit looking at the edifice, and you need to begin to focus on the Savior. And instead of saying, "Oh, what a great church," begin to say, "Oh, what a great Christ."

You see, we see Him. He is the Christ of Isaiah 53:5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. When I survey the wondrous cross of Jesus Christ, I cherish the old rugged cross. And I want to give you five P's of Calvary that tell you why I cherish the old rugged cross, and then I will bring it to conclusion today.

Number one, through His suffering, Christ took our **pain**. Isaiah 53:4, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." When I read that, it is intriguing to me that when Isaiah speaks of Christ and what He has done for us, he does not start with our sin and with our guilt. That comes later. But rather, he starts with our infirmities. He starts to talk about Christ taking our pains in life. When it says that Christ has borne our griefs, it is a Hebrew word that means to lift up and carry away as a heavy load.

There's a song, once again, from the olden days: "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer." Everybody say "everything." Now watch this. "Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Say it one more time: "everything." Listen now, we don't pray about everything because either we fail to understand or we don't truly believe that Christ took our infirmities and He has carried away our sorrows.

What are you talking about, Bishop? I'm talking about division in your family, loss of your job, the death of a husband, the sickness of a wife, the sickness of a child, the scars of abuse that have haunted so many of you for so many years. Listen to what I found that someone wrote.

Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn't be able to come and visit for the holidays after all. The grandkids say hello. They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone, they didn't dare look at each other. Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor's office to hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. So sorry. She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what would she tell her kids. Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you anymore." Earlier this week, someone's hope was crucified and darkness is overwhelming.

The author goes on to say, "No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting and that is why it terrifies us. This is not about bunnies, springtime, and girls in cute dresses. It's about more hope than we can handle." Amen. Some of you need to understand this day that your hope in whatever your situation may be today hinges on Easter.

Let me tell you something that I think is often forgotten. You need to understand that pastoral families need this hope of Easter as much as the people we pastor. A few years back, Rick Warren, the former pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of *The Purpose Driven Life*, together with his wife, went through one of the most devastating losses a family could go through. It happened when their 27-year-old son, Matthew, took his own life after battling depression and mental illness.

About a year after the tragedy, Rick said, "I've often been asked, 'How have you made it? How have you kept going in your pain?' And I've often replied, 'The answer is Easter.'" He said, "You see, the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus happened over three days. Friday was the day of suffering and pain and agony. Saturday was the day of doubt and confusion and misery. But Easter, that Sunday, was the day of hope and joy and victory."

Listen to what he says next: "And here's the fact of life. You will face these three days over and over and over in your lifetime. When you do, you'll find yourself asking, as I did, three fundamental questions. Number one, what do I do in my days of pain? Two, how do I get through my days of doubt and confusion? Three, how do I get to the days of joy and victory?" And he says, "The answer is Easter. The answer is Easter." Church, listen to the Holy Spirit. Easter is not about a day on the calendar. It is not simply about you getting time off and purchasing a new suit or a new dress.

Please listen for a moment. Listen, Jesus went through, the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15-16, He knows our pain because He went through the ultimate pain for us to know that we are not alone. But He didn't just die for your pain, church. I want you to understand today He wants to do something about your pain. Please listen. On that day when Jesus said, "It is finished," it did not mean that you nor I would ever go through times of pain and sorrow and agony. It did not mean that we would never face days of pain and doubt and confusion.

Here is what it meant: when those days do come, when you do go through pain and sorrow and agony and confusion, and when you go through doubt and it threatens your faith, it means remember that that day at Calvary, that Jesus took the weight of your pain. Jesus took it upon Himself, and because He did that, He said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Unless you've been living under a rock, we all are aware that Savannah Guthrie's mother has been missing since February 1st. There is evidence that she was kidnapped and that two of the many ransom notes were actually verifiably real. When they first became aware, the investigators were almost sure that she was taken against her will, and now they have proof. And how devastating it was upon hearing Savannah talk through tear-stained eyes, beginning to think, and she was talking to herself and blaming herself because of her notoriety and her financial success as the possible reason for the kidnapping.

I watched this NBC host, and "I think that I brought it to her bedside" is what she said. "That is because of me," I would say to Mommy, "I'm so sorry." And I don't know about you, but I'm beginning more and more to feel other people's pain, which is what Christians should do. And I was sitting there watching and I wanted to reach into the television and I wanted to grab her and say, "Savannah, it is not your fault. We live in a world where there are just some downright evil people." The NBC *Today* host said this; she also made a statement concerning the shock that she felt on what had begun as a regular February day. I heard her say that, and I thought, "My God, I was reminded once again that your day can start out beautifully and wonderfully, and before the day is over, it can turn tragically painful without warning."

A few weeks ago, she shared on *Dateline* what made Rick Warren's words so real as she and her family, her siblings, had to answer these questions: What do we do in our days of pain? How do we get through our days of confusion? How do we get to the days of joy and victory? As Savannah talked with Hoda Kotb in that interview, she quoted the words of her mom. I want you to listen very closely. Words that came from a woman who had to answer those three questions when her husband, the father of Savannah, and her brother and sister died when she was 16 years old. Her mother said when the painful things in life come our way, "You have to get up, you have to decide, and then you have to do."

Savannah said, "Our mother stayed strong for us, but not in her own might." You see, church, Nancy and John Guthrie had a deep-seated relationship of faith and trust in God. They handed it down to their children, and when John died from a heart attack too soon, Nancy began to walk out her faith in front of her children. And Savannah said, "This is what it taught me. It taught me a Jacob lesson: that sometimes when you're going through the storms of life, you have got to wrestle with God. Faith is neither fake nor is it cheap." She said our anguish is real, our pain is real, but I will not let it take my faith.

I heard her and I thought about the words of Peter in John 6:68. There were a whole ton of disciples following Jesus that day, so-called disciples that were really groupies. Life has a way, church, of separating the groupies from the real disciples. They are on this grassy hillside, they're overlooking the sea while the gentle waves lap against the shoreline in the background. The twelve are in the crowd with the groupies. Jesus had been feeding them, He had been teaching them, and He had been loving them. And they loved being with Him. Then He begins to tell them something in verse 53 of John 6. He says, "Truly I say unto you, except you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

If you read down through that passage of Scripture, what Jesus is telling them is that when you become a true disciple, there will come things that will test your faith. And while the trials of life come to Christians and non-Christians, Christians, listen to me. Our trials come into our lives because they cause us to draw a line of demarcation. They cause us to draw the line. It is drawn in the sand, and the question comes up: are you going to stay with God in times of trial, or are you just going to be a Jesus groupie? Are you going to stay with Him while He's blessing you? Are you going to stay with Him while you got money in your wallet, while you got a roof over your head? But if everything caves in, are you still going to follow Jesus?

And suddenly there was a boycott. The masses left Jesus. Verse 66 says, "From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked out with no more, walked no more with Him." And so Jesus turns to the twelve and He asks the question, "Well now, will you leave me too?" And Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? For only You have the words of eternal life." I want you to see something here. Church, see this because we've all been at this place. Those who left Him, they were all there when He performed miracles. They were all there when He healed the sick and taught about the kingdom of God. They were all there when He fed the five thousand from mere five loaves of bread and two fish. They witnessed the miracles with their own eyes. And yet they left Jesus because, with all they'd seen with their eye, it never got into their spirit and they could not trust God that when trouble comes their way, Jesus was still going to be with them. I want to ask you today, are you a disciple or are you a groupie of Jesus Christ?

When Peter answers, he is showing an unmovable, prevailing trust in Jesus that, at that moment, would help him recover when he goes through one of the most painful times in his life. How I wish today that I could tell you, and tell you we can sail through life with no pain, no sorrow, all the way from earth to glory. But Jesus said in John 16:33, "In this world you will have troubles, but cheer up, I've overcome the world." And the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:31, "We've been made more than conquerors, we are overcomers in this life."

A grandfather was working in his workshop on a warm spring afternoon. He watched out the window as his grandson was riding his bike down the driveway and then he returned to his task. Suddenly he heard a loud bang and he looked up and he saw his grandson crying on the ground by his broken bike that appeared to hit the mailbox. He rushed out to his grandson, who was okay but heartbroken as he stared at his mangled bike. The grandson looked up at his grandfather and said, "It's broken." And the grandfather knelt down beside him and said, "We can fix it."

The two went into the workshop and the grandson watched the grandfather fix his bike. And while the grandson was waiting, he noticed an old clock on the workbench. The grandson picked it up, and don't you know, he dropped it to the ground. Once again, he fell on the ground, tears streaming down his face. And again he said, "Grandpa," he screamed, "it's broken!" And the grandfather knelt down again and he picked up the clock, whispering to his grandson, "We can fix it." Church, listen to me. Our world is a broken mess. And sometimes all we can do is cry and tell God that it's broken. And God will answer, "We can fix it." Listen to me. There are some things going on in your life that are broken right now, that are messing with you. If you would just cry out to God and say, "God, it's broken," He'll whisper into your spirit, "We can fix it." God is reaching out of heaven today, saying to somebody, "I know it's broken, but we can fix it."

Number two, through His suffering, Christ took our **punishment**. Isaiah 53:5, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities." I want to remind you of an oft-forgotten or glossed-over reality at Calvary. Please understand that Calvary was not a picnic. It was a devastatingly unbelievable attack on someone who didn't deserve it. He was pierced with a spear. He was crushed, meaning he was pulverized, broken, ground to pieces. Church, they say that there were literally seven hundred plus wounds on the body of Jesus. He was slapped, pushed around, mocked, slapped again and again. He was crowned with thorns that sunk into his scalp. We learned last week that the crown was actually a helmet of thorns. They were known as Bethlehem thorns. When they were dry, just to touch them would cut your hands open. They rammed that helmet of thorns into Jesus' brow. They scourged him with a cat-o'-nine-tails—in case you don't know what that is, it is a whip with straps coming out of it, with bone, metal, and teeth inside of each strap. His beard was ripped out of his face. Then he's beaten again and again. He is forced to carry his cross and they nail his hands and his feet. He is crucified.

There's a guy who I am sure is in hell, unless something amazing happened between his last breath. His name is Niccolo Machiavelli. He was a Renaissance-era philosopher, politician, and writer. His writings greatly influenced modern-day political science. In an edited excerpt from the School of Life's YouTube video on his views, Machiavelli believed that to be effective, political leaders need to be ruthless and tyrannical, not empathetic. And his book, *The Prince*, is a short manual of advice for princes on how not to finish last. And the answer was never to be overly devoted to acting nicely and to know how to borrow every single trick employed by the most dastardly, unscrupulous, and nasty people who ever lived.

See, Machiavelli knew where our counterproductive obsession with acting nicely originated. He writes in his book, "The West was brought up on the Christian story of Jesus of Nazareth. He was the very nice man from Galilee who always treated people well." But then Machiavelli pointed out an inconvenient detail to this sentimental tale of the triumph of goodness and through meekness. Listen to what he says. "From a practical perspective, Jesus' life was a disaster. This gentle soul was trampled upon and humiliated and disregarded and mocked, judged in his lifetime, and outside of any divine assistance, he was one of history's greatest losers."

I want you to listen to me. Machiavelli proves that smart and wise are definitely not the same thing. Machiavelli proves that a person can be highly educated yet be unbelievably ignorant or even stupid. Let me clear up some of the nonsense. Number one, when Jesus died at Calvary, there was no supernatural assistance, hence the words of Matthew 27:46, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Now, if you read about Jesus' crucifixion, you will find that as He's hanging there, the roof of His mouth becomes dry. He said, "I thirst." They heard Him down below. They bring Him a drink. But what they didn't tell Him was that when they brought the drink and they dipped the sponge in it and they gave it to Him, He started to, but then He backed away. He did not receive the drink.

Let me tell you why He didn't: because what they had done was not just stuck it in water; they had dipped it in gall. Another word for it was myrrh. Myrrh is a healing agent, and when you get it in your body, it begins to take away all the pain. I want you to see what Jesus did that day. He says, "I am not going to refuse the pain. I'm going to take all the pain. I'm not going to drink of this cup. I am going to take courage, I'm not going to get assistance, I'm going to walk all the way through this because He wanted you to know that by His stripes you can be healed."

Number two, Jesus was neither trampled upon nor humiliated nor disregarded, neither in His three-year ministry on earth nor on the old rugged cross. Listen now. Though they killed Jesus, they did not take His life; He gave it. That's why John 10:18, the Lion of Judah roared from the cross, "No man takes My life from Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to pick it up." The third thing I want to say before I move on is Jesus was not history's greatest loser, but rather its greatest victor. Let me talk to you, saints. I know the devil thought he had won a mighty victory when he had killed Jesus.

But let me show you what this whole thing about Jesus getting killed really looks like. At first glance, Ralph Claesson, a gray-haired Swede who hobbles around on his walker, he looks like an easy target. At least, that's what the would-be robbers thought as they accosted him at the cash machine. One of the thugs waved a knife while the other thug told Claesson, "Turn over your wallet." You ever heard that saying, "What you don't know won't hurt you"? That's wrong. Because what they didn't know was that their victim was also the former light middleweight boxing champ. This old dude who's walking around on his walker, he turns to these two thugs and he says, "Boys, I just want you to know that this is not going to end well for you." When the men scoffed at his warning, he knocked one to the floor with a sharp right hook before laying the other one out with a left jab. One of the police walked up and said, "I guess they messed with the wrong dude."

They picked the wrong guy to pick a fight with. Let me tell you something. That's what the devil did 2,000 years ago. He picked the wrong dude to pick a fight with. He picked the wrong man to pick a fight with. Colossians 2:15 says, "And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." You know what that translates to? Jesus made a fool out of the devil. Took our pain, took our punishment. So what are you cringing for? When the devil comes, even so come, Lord Jesus.

Number three, through His suffering, Christ took our **place**. This one is vital. Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all." It has been said that Isaiah 53:6 is the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. This Scripture is so clear that even the coldest, vilest sinner will only miss it if they choose to. Now, in verse six, I want you to take note of all the "alls" in the first and the last words of that verse. Listen to what it says. So everybody that thinks you're a spiritual giant, I'm about to deflate your ego. We have all sinned. We have all gone astray. We have all missed the mark. We have all turned away. We are all in the same boat, and the boat was going down like the Titanic. And if God didn't do something, we were all going to die. He puts us all on the same deck. It doesn't matter how you grew up, it doesn't matter who your daddy was, it doesn't matter how much money you got—you can't buy this thing. It doesn't matter the color of your skin, it doesn't matter your country of origin, it doesn't matter. Listen, I grew up in a preacher's home, but I'm so glad my parents taught me: you're on the same deck with everybody else. You're not good enough to get into the Kingdom, and our salvation will do you no good.

Romans 14:11-13 was applied to us personally. For it is written, "As I live," says the Lord, "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess to God." So then, every one shall give an account of himself to God. Let me tell you about this preacher. There was a time, you know what, I know you're not going to believe this, I used to tell God, "Would you just quit bugging me? Leave me alone. I like my life. I love my life, and I'm going to live the life I love." But I'm so glad that He didn't take His hand off me. I'm so glad that He didn't fail in what He came here to do. He perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father. Now, everybody look at me, because here's what we miss. Now, matter of fact, tell your neighbor, "You got blessed." Now, I want you to tell them why they got blessed. Tell them, "You got mercy and didn't deserve it."

Now watch this. Luke 23:34, Jesus peered off that cross. He said, "Father, forgive them; they're out of their minds. They don't know what they're doing." Tell your neighbor, "You were once out of your mind." Uh-huh, yeah, you were a spiritual lunatic. Let me talk to you. Let me show you how this mercy thing works. He was born December 1, 1976, with a dream in his heart and a great future. He went to college and his parents prayed for the best in his life. But he died far too early on October 12, 1998. He didn't die from a life of killing, some killing disease. He didn't die from an automobile accident or some other tragedy in life. Matthew Shepard died when he was severely beaten because of his sexual orientation. On October 7, 1998, Matthew befriended two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, who posed as gay in order to lure him away from a local bar. They drove him to a rural area where they tied him to a fence, administered a beating, and left him to die in the cold. Matthew was discovered 18 hours later by a cyclist and was rushed, still alive but in a coma, to a hospital in Fort Collins, where he died four days later. McKinney and Henderson were found guilty of murder.

Let me tell you what I think. You got your opinion, I got mine. Personally, if anybody qualified for the death penalty, they did. Now don't throw stuff at me, I'm just telling you how I feel. Watch now. Matthew Shepard's parents rejoiced over the guilty verdicts that were handed down for their son's murder in 1999. The judge told the packed courtroom that the jury's verdict showed true courage and sent a message that violence is not the solution to differing views of sexual orientation. Courtroom observers, though, church, listen now, they were not prepared for what Dennis and Judy Shepard did next. After waiting 13 months for guilty verdicts for their son's killers, Matthew Shepard's parents stood in front of the judge and they said to the judge, "Please spare their lives. Let them go to prison, but do not give them the death penalty." That lawyer that defended them, he learned and he looked and he said, "The Shepards could look into the eyes of the men who killed their son and give them mercy."

Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of grace." Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us." Lamentations 3:22-23, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." Church, listen to me. You're going to get hurt in life and it's going to happen more than once. It's going to sometimes happen over and over and over. And some people should pay and will pay for what they do to you. But let God take care of it because He gave you mercy.

And let me add this, and then I'll move on. Because we get hurt, and we get so righteously indignant, and we begin to say, "Look what they did to me, look what—" Well, they did, but everybody look at me. The day's going to come, you're going to be on the other side and somebody's going to say, "Look what you did to me." So let us all remember, we've been given mercy, we've been given grace.

Number four, this is one of my favorites, through His suffering, Christ took our **phobia**. A hypochondriac went to the doctor and he burst into tears. He said, "Doc, I'm certain I have liver disease and I'm going to die from it." "That's ridiculous," the doctor said, "you wouldn't even know if you had liver disease or not. There's no discomfort of any kind in that ailment." "That's right," said the hypochondriac, "and those are my exact symptoms."

Let me talk about phobia for a minute. What is phobia? An irrational fear. If anybody tells you they're never afraid, they're a liar, liar, pants on fire, and I would back up from them. Because there's something in life that will put fear in all of us. But what I'm talking about is irrational fear, phobia. Isaiah 53:5b, "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him." I am so amazed at the fear in so many Christians. And I mean the great quoters of the biblical quotations. They can quote the Scripture so well, but yet they're so fearful. I hear them say, "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world," with fervor. They say, "We've been made more than conquerors through the blood of Jesus Christ," until they have to conquer something. They say, "We walk by faith and not by sight. No weapon formed against me shall prosper," but then they go and hide behind a rock. Someone asked me one day why is it that when you're going through the deep stuff of life that for the most part you don't get all worked up. I have one answer and sometimes I have to remind myself: I don't have to worry because the chastisement of His peace covers my life.

His peace is my peace because that day at Calvary He purchased my peace. Listen, church, the chastisement of our peace means that He purchased your peace at the highest price. The value is so high that when you realize its value, then you live out Philippians 4:7, "And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." That kind of peace only comes to people who do Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep them in perfect peace whose minds are stayed on You because he trusts in You." I want you to see the order; it has to be flipped. The order is this: if you truly trust in the Lord, you will be focused on the Lord. If you are focused toward the Lord, He will keep you living in perfect peace.

Now, these words didn't just roll off of Isaiah's tongue for intellectual effect. Let's recall just a little piece of the reality of Isaiah 6. King Uzziah has died. Isaiah goes into the temple. Isaiah is discouraged and he is fearful. So are the people that are all around him, because not only has their king gone away to be with the Lord, but Isaiah is addressing a people that often were plagued by political turmoil, social injustice, and spiritual waywardness. Does that remind you of a certain country? Watch now. So Isaiah goes into the temple in Isaiah 6. As he's sitting there and he's fearful, but he's got enough sense of mind to call out to God, and as he's calling out, he says, "I'm sitting there and suddenly the glory of the Lord filled the temple and I could feel His presence. And then I see Him; He's high and lifted up, He's sitting on a throne, the train of His garment fills the temple. I can feel the presence of the Lord." Let me tell you something: what happened that day changed his destiny and all the people that were with him. That day, what he experienced evicted fear from his life and replaced it with peace that allowed him to assure the people that those who remain steadfast and focused on the Lord and trust in God, you will possess perfect peace.

Look at me for a moment. We all have moments when peace wants to get away from us, but let me talk to you for a minute. If every time we look around you're losing your peace, if every time we look around you've got extended fear, you have a wrong focus. You are not focused on the Lord, for the Lord says, "For those that focus on Me and keep your eyes on Me, I will give you perfect peace." What does it mean? It is the Hebrew word *Shalom*, which encompasses health, security, and spiritual well-being. It is a holistic peace; it touches every aspect of our life. It's Easter peace. But that Easter peace only works for those who do Proverbs 4:23. Here it comes, 4:23: "Put a guard over your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Here's what you need to hear with spirit ears. Everything in your life, the way it flows, is determined by the condition of your heart.

Listen now. Whether or not your life will overflow with peace is conditioned by the condition of your heart. And when we think about protecting it from who and what we let into our lives, let me say something. We truly need to be more diligent in thinking about this. Because we really, really don't understand this. Toxic people add toxicity to your life. Now, hold on, because I've learned something else about life. We need to protect ourselves not only from who we let in, but we need to protect what God has already put into our lives.

Now watch. When it comes to this peace that Jesus died to secure for us, we must protect it by not allowing things to come in that can steal it. It's not just about people; it's about things. It's about not engaging and listening to things that will steal your peace, watching things that will steal your peace. Listen now. You have got to protect person number two of who you are. Your spirit-man, the Bible says, is hidden with Christ. The devil cannot touch you in the spirit realm, but he's messing up a whole lot of people in the spirit realm because we're jacked up in the soulish realm.

A missionary asked me the other day, he says, "Why do you think there's such a great issue today on mental health?" Let me tell you, number one, everybody say, "some doctors." Now notice I said "some," because we got doctors in our church and I know they think better than this. But there are some doctors out there, they want all of us to say we got mental health issues, and if you don't, then you are a mental health risk because they want to sell you some pills. It's tight but it's right.

Let me talk to you for a minute. Then there's this thing called social media. If I have one more person walk out in front of my car with their face in their phone, in their iPad, they will be watching it in heaven. I'm just saying. Do you know, parents, listen to me, once your kids go over three hours on social media, they leave planet earth and go into the mental twilight zone. That's proof, it's proven. So if that's you, the thing to say is "whoo-hoo." Let me tell you something. The reason that we got so many people—don't get me wrong, I know some people have mental issues, I understand that—but I never been on a planet where there's so many people who are mentally unstable as the one we live on now. And the reason it is so is because we don't take care of our soul-man.

Come on, somebody. Sometimes, this doesn't sound spiritual to some of y'all but it does to me, you got to detach and then go attach somewhere else. Because you think that stuff doesn't affect you? That stuff gets in your spirit. Listen, John 14:27, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives it to you." Jesus said, "I'm going to give you a peace that you don't even understand." Let me tell you what fear will do. It'll literally make you sick. Numbers 22:3, "And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many; and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel."

Let me try and explain this to you. Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Tony Campolo wrote a book called *Let Me Tell You a Story*. So let me tell you a story that he tells in his little book. He says every day the ducks in a certain town waddle out of their houses down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and they squat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, and the duck minister comes in and forward and he opens the duck Bible. He reads to them ducks: "God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles! No walls can confine you, no fences can hold you! You have wings! God has given you wings and you can fly like birds!" All the ducks shout "Amen!" and they waddle back to their homes.

Listen to me. The purpose of the enemy intimidating you with fear is to keep you from flying, to keep you from taking up wings and soaring in life. He wants to keep you grounded so you can waddle around in a spirit of fear. We read in Isaiah 40:31 where he said, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles." Go into the very next chapter in Isaiah 41:10, the Lord gives this word: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness." Church, we got to stop just quoting 2 Timothy 1:7 and begin to walk by faith in that Scripture, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. That's mental health medicine.

Come on now. I don't want anybody to give me any more pills. I got enough pills in my life. I got a heart pill—well, not a heart pill, I got a pill that keeps my blood from getting too thick. I got a sinus pill. I got a pre-diabetes pill. I got a pill to counteract the pill that I take to counteract the pill. I don't want no more pills. See, you can pill my body if you want to, but you're not going to pill my mind. And I just take all those other pills so I can stay alive long enough not to have to take the mental pill. And I'm not mocking anybody who has mental health issues—get your help—but I'm sick and tired of all of us Christians supposedly knowing Jesus intimately, but yet we act just like the world. Take care of your soul-man. "Well, Bishop, I pray and I read my Bible." Well, whoop-de-doo! But what are you doing in between? Because you are spirit, soul, and body. Take care of all three.

Here's my last thought, because we need to finish this up. Number five, through His suffering, Christ took our **powerlessness** and transferred heaven's power. To who? Say "me." Okay, I'm glad three of you believe that. Let me help the rest of you who don't believe. Luke 9:1-2, "Then He called His twelve together and He gave them authority over all devils and to cure all diseases, and He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." Say, "That's me."

Mark 16:15-18, and He said unto them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but the one that does not believe shall be damned. And these signs shall follow those that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they will recover." Say, "Lord, let this be me." John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he who believes on Me, the works that I do, he shall also do; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father." Tell your neighbor, "That is me and you."

Now watch. I'm going to close with this. You know that God gave us a church in Chile. We're going there in the next few weeks. Because of that church that God gave us, He has given us three more churches in that area, and we have a church in Spain. But I want to tell you something about one of our churches in Bolivia. Pastor Ronald David is the pastor of that church in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. In June of 2023, a brother from the church named Julio had his wife living in a community along with their four children called San Miguel de Pocitos. One morning, the man comes to the Pastor Ronald and he's very worried. He said, "Pastor, my wife is very sick. She spent the whole night in pain, suffering in her body and in her internal organs. I need help."

At that time, the church was in a season of very intense prayer and fasting because God began to warn them that in that region, many of the churches were being attacked by a spirit of witchcraft and sorcery. The Lord spoke into their spirits a burden in their hearts, showing them that many pastors only saw the surface problems: discouragement, addictions, alcohol, and drugs. But what they weren't seeing was that there was a spirit of witchcraft that had been released against them and opened up doors for the evil one.

It was precisely during this season of prayer that Brother Julio came asking for help for his wife. They began to pray. God speaks to the pastor and He tells him, "This is not a spirit of death because God will not receive her spirit at this time." So they encouraged him to go back home to his community, which was a five-hour journey. They sent him off. They prayed with him in the name of Jesus, asking God to protect his wife, his family, and his trip.

When he arrived at his community around 2 PM, he made a video call back to them. Crying, he said, "Pastor, my wife died at 7:00 this morning. The authorities have already signed the report and the doctors are about to issue the death certificate." At that moment, Pastor Ronald asked if there was a pastor or someone who knew God in that place. He told him about an elderly man named Pastor Adolfo who recently moved there. Even though there was no church building yet, he encouraged the believers by gathering them in their homes, holding services under the shade of a tree or a small tent. Pastor Ronald asked Julio to call Pastor Adolfo and gather all the believers in the community. The body of Julio's wife was lying on the table in the morgue. It was covered with a sheet. Through the video call back to the Pastor Ronald, they began to pray, asking the Lord to rebuke the spirit of death, to remove every spirit of confusion and doubt, and fill the place with the Holy Spirit. They declared life over the woman in the name of Jesus. After some time of prayer, something incredible happened. Church, listen. That woman's body shot up off that table and she asked for a drink of water!

Now, I don't know why God doesn't do that all the time. But at that moment, they declared life in Jesus' name. Her spirit returned to her body. Pastor Ronald said it was a moment of joy, but also fear and astonishment. Many people were crying because nothing like that had ever happened in the community. She said, "I came back because I have many things to tell." God was glorified in that place and it became known that God had performed a miracle in the community in June of 2023. After they finished praying, Pastor Adolfo said to Pastor Ronald with tears in his eyes, "Pastor, I need to meet you. Please come to our community and preach about God, the God you just showed to so many people who do not believe." Pastor Ronald answered, "I do not have any power, but the God I serve has the power to change history."

They invited them in August and they organized three nights of evangelistic services. On the first night, 12 people gave their lives to Jesus. On the second night, 36 people were saved. On the third night, 56 people came to the feet of Jesus, all for the glory of the Lord. But please listen to this. The news spread throughout the southern mountain region of Bolivia, and another community called Caro, about 16 kilometers away, invited them to preach. There, 26 people accepted Christ and 14 people reconciled with God. People were so grateful that they gathered in a community assembly and they decided to donate a hectare of land for construction of a church. Pastor Ronald said about three months ago we began building a temple 11 meters wide, 19 meters long—that's a building that is 2,332 square feet that will seat 372 people in a service and 149 at a banquet. Everybody say, "Jesus is alive!"

Now watch this. Another nearby community hears about it. They decide to donate a hectare of land to build another church. In case you don't know what a hectare is, I looked it up: it is 2.72 acres. Who gives a church? God. Pastor Ronald said, "Our church is still small and the resources are limited, but God is opening an extraordinary door." Let me give you the short one and then I'm going to close. When that happens, another miracle takes place. There's a woman who comes to be reconciled back to the Lord. She has seven cysts in her uterus. She comes to the pastor and she says, "I'm in such pain; I bleed all the time." She said, "They're going to do surgery on me." He said, "Well, why don't you do this with us? Let's pray for five days and give God a chance first."

They start praying, and for four days it seems like nothing is happening. On the fifth day, they begin to pray. She's in her bedroom praying; she's by her bed. The Spirit of the Lord comes into the room. She hears the door open; she thinks it's her son. She looks; there's nobody there. She feels the Spirit of God come, puts His hand on her, lifts her up, begins to move within her body. All of a sudden she screams, "I'm healed! I'm healed! I'm healed!" Goes back to the doctor. The doctor says, "I want you to know you don't need surgery, and the uterus is back where it belongs!" Somebody ought to praise the Risen Savior! Somebody ought to praise the King of Kings! Somebody ought to give Jesus glory because Jesus got up, we can get up!

My God, you wouldn't be sitting there looking like a rock if that was you! Let me tell you something, you'd be excited if that was you! You'd be wondering what's wrong with these people! You'd be saying, "What are you doing?" Well, act like it's you and give God the glory, the honor, and the praise! Now, please stay standing and I'm going to say this to you. While I'm up here in honor of God, I want to thank you. Because because of you and your faith on Easter Sunday, we raised twice what our missions budget was in the past! Our trip to Chile is almost paid for to the dime! Listen, when we go there, Pastor Ronald is one of the pastors we're going to ordain! There are several pastors God's going to touch! And you know how it happened? Because somebody in this room believes that when you obey God, great things happen! Amen!

So you don't need your notes, I'll just say it. I cherish the old rugged cross because it's all-inclusive. I cherish the old rugged cross because it emancipates. I cherish the old rugged cross because it reconciles. I cherish the old rugged cross because it is the nexus between heaven and earth. If any man believes in Him, though he perish, he shall live again on the other side.

I want to thank you for joining us today and for watching this message on our stream. We are flowing now from the worship of hearing and receiving God's word into the worship aspect of giving into the Kingdom of God. And as God has spoken to your heart, I pray that you're able to join us in giving and bringing Him His tithe and our offering. I want to share a little piece that's very interesting, that you might even find interesting.

People were asked, "How much money would it take for us to have enough money?" Remarkably, every person said, "If I could have a ten percent increase, it would be enough for me to live and have a comfortable lifestyle." I share that with you because it's interesting that God says, "But if you will give Me ten percent," in Malachi 3:8-11, He talks about if you give Me that ten percent, He says you will have more than enough, there will be an overflow. So why is that number significant in your giving today? The number is significant in that, in your desire to live and have a healthy life, you want ten percent. God says, "If you give Me ten percent, I'll make your ten percent multiply in your life."

And so as God leads your heart today, I ask you to first be obedient to the Lord and bring that ten percent, that tithe, and then let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart as you give an offering above that. That will open the windows of heaven. I thank you in advance for your faithfulness in giving to the work of the Kingdom so that we might expand God's Kingdom. Let me pray for you now.

Father, I thank You for these that have committed this day to be obedient to Your word. Because, Lord, they understand that sometimes thanksgiving is merely an act of obedience. And since we are thankful people, we obey You this day to bring You Your tithe and to give our offering. We thank You in advance that You will open the windows of heaven, pour out blessing we will not have room to receive. We will be blessed spirit, soul, and body, and this we pray and believe for in Jesus' name. Amen.

Just lift your hands where you are. Though you may not be in this sanctuary, you become aware that we have words on this wall that are not just words—they are the biblical words from the very throne room of heaven. Let me speak them over your life. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace. God bless you as you receive it.