Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
Australia. Welcome, everybody.
Well, it's great to have you guys here this morning.
What a wonderful day, Easter Sunday.
It's been a good week. Love Easter.
Hope you guys have enjoyed your week.
It's about to get better because we're going to talk about Jesus,
right? We're going to talk about the
cross. We're going to talk about what
the Lord has done and I'm excited about that.
So, you know, Easter, Easter is this, it's the story about Jesus
dying on the cross and being risen again.
And the story of, you know, the, the, the picture of the cross.
It's such a brutal picture. You know, we, we, we put crosses
around our necks and wear them around as a sign of hope.
We see, you know, church buildings with a cross and, and
the, the cross is, is a picture of hope.
And so how could we draw hope out of such a, a brutal, A
brutal thing? The cross was a, a, it was an
instrument of death. You know, the, the Romans
invented the cross as a way of punishment and cruelty.
And it was like, how could we hurt people the most?
How could we kill people in the most brutal, brutal, hurtful
way? And that's what the cross is.
They, this is what they came up with.
And so, you know, Jesus died on that thing.
And again, we would say that this is such a sign of hope.
So I'm going to talk around some of these things this morning.
And it's such an important time to talk about hope because we
need hope in a world that we're living in right now.
You think about the things going on in our world right now.
There's there's wars going on, there's famines, there's there's
sickness, there's disease. There is like look at our own
country right now, there's cost of living and housing crisis and
all of these things. There's a lot of things that are
going on even in, in little old Adelaide, right, that are
causing people and causing us to have discomfort and losing hope,
you know, robbing us of our peace.
And so This is why it's so important for us to talk about
the, the cross, because our world needs hope.
And I'm sure that some of us in this place need to be reminded
of, of hope and, and find something to anchor to.
That's exactly what Jesus is. Jesus is the anchor for our for
our souls. And so hope is the answer to
fear because when there's uncertainty and when there's
hopelessness, we're, we're just full of fear.
And fear is the thing that's gripping the hearts of many
people. You go and speak to people, you
know, ask people around us how they're doing.
A lot of people are fearful. And the answer to a fearful
heart is hope. You know, hope equals living
free. When you have hope, you're able
to live in freedom and we want to be free, and God's intention
is for us to live free. Our world system that we live in
is, it's geared towards binding people up and enslaving people
in a way that sounds really harsh to say, but the world
system enslaves people to debt, to money, it enslaves their
time. All of these things, people are
enslaved that are living outside of God's purpose and plan.
And to quote the movie Hunger Games, evil President Snow said
this of hope. He said hope, it is the only
thing stronger than fear. Sorry, it is the only thing.
Yes, that's that. Let me start again.
Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.
A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous.
Now, he was a dictator in this movie that was trying to control
the masses. And that's not really that far
from the world that we live in. You know, if you watch the news
a lot, what you're going to be put under is fear.
Quite quite often there's not a lot of good news being spoken
through social media and, and through, you know, the the news
broadcasts and stuff like that. And that's for good reason, I
think. I think that fear is being used
to control the masses. And so This is why hope is so
important, because hope overcomes fear.
It is possible to live in the world system that we live in,
yet be full of hope. It is possible.
And John 1633 says this. It says these things I've spoken
to you. So this is Jesus speaking.
He says these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have
peace in the world, you will have tribulation, you will have
hardship, but be of good cheer because I have overcome the
world. Do you hear what Jesus is
saying? He's saying you're going to go
through tribulations and trials, but in me you will overcome.
Another verse that inspires hope for us is John 1633.
It says these things. I've spoken to you.
No, that's the one I just read. Sorry.
Psalm 62. Yes, my soul finds rest in God.
My hope comes from Him. Truly.
He is my rock. He is my salvation.
He is my fortress. I will not be shaken.
Time and time again in the Scripture, through the Word of
God, God is trying to reach out to humanity and tell them there
is hope, there is peace, there is joy, but it's only found in
me, in God. I am the rock, Jesus says.
And so when we find our, our, our hope in Jesus Christ, we
have hope for yesterday. Hope for yesterday is found in
Christ. Our past can hang over us like a
dark cloud, past mistakes and regrets, the the which the Bible
calls sin, the things that where we've fallen short, where we've
lived outside of God's plan and purpose.
Those things can can make us can bind us up and it's present with
us now. If if you haven't been set free
from your past, sitting in this place today, you could just your
mind could run and think about all the things from your past
and you could be bound and chained to your past.
And so in Christ, Christ offers us freedom from our past.
Hopefully yesterday. To quote CS Lewis.
CS Lewis says this as something which is directing the universe
and which appears to me as a law urging me to do right and making
me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong.
For all of us have fallen short of of the glory of God, There's
there's something in US even when we're living outside of,
you know, the understanding of Christ and who God is and why we
were created. There's something in us that you
just know there's got to be more and you feel like you're falling
short. There's there's a heaviness
there. There's a there's a shame, there
is a shame there guys like where you'd be in denial if you think
that living outside of the cross that you're not living with some
sort of shame. It is there.
I've lived, I've lived in that place.
I understand I can get sucked back into that now, into my
past, into thinking about the things that I've done, but in
Christ, I'm set free. He has set me free.
I've been delivered, but it's in him that I find freedom from
yesterday. Jesus, he paid the price for all
of those moments, all of my shortcomings, all of my regrets,
all of my sins. Jesus paid the price for all of
those things. That's what the cross is.
Jesus dying on the cross paid the price for all of my sins and
regrets and and shortcomings. He, the, the scripture says that
those things have been removed from my record.
God says that I'll remember your sins no more.
This is how freedom comes from yesterday, because when you're
when God Forgives you, like if God Forgives me, I'm forgiven.
No one else can put me back in a place of of heaviness and
regret. If the Lord, the one who created
me, the the only true God, if he can forgive me, then I don't
have to worry about what other people say.
And more than that, if God Forgives me, I can forgive
myself. And that's a very powerful
statement right there because many of us are bound by our own
expectations and and our own what we think about ourselves.
But Christ wants to set us free of that.
I will remember your sins. No more restored hope, freedom
from yesterday. It's very powerful when you
think about that. You just go man, like living in
the past and and the hurts and the frustrations and the sins is
such a heavy cloud. Like I said for today and it
bonds us up. It's not a great place to live.
Jesus paid the price. Jesus in Jesus we have hope for
today. Today that's like that's today,
like we woke up today. We we rolled out of bed.
Today is a new day in Jesus Christ.
We have hope for today as we accept the redemption of the
cross and turn from our past. We've turned from our past.
When you turn from your past, you know where your past is
behind you. You don't have to look at it.
You don't have to worry about it.
You're moving forward. Today is a new day.
We receive new life in Christ, a spiritual rebirth.
The language that the that the scripture uses for salvation is
being born again. That means that the old man is
dead. Your old life is behind you.
I have a new life ahead of me, a spiritual rebirth and and the
cross, Jesus Christ, what is what is paid for on the cross.
It allows us to be reconnected with God, reconnected with the
Father, the one who made us our father, The relationship of a
son with a father. That's very special to me that I
could be reconnected with God, the one who made me the the one
who knows me better than anyone else and has forgiven me and set
me free. He says to me that you are
welcome in my presence. My gosh, like I love some of you
guys and I, I love hanging out with you guys, but I love being
with God more. His his, you know, his
acceptance of me means more to me than anyone, more to me than
my wife, more to me than my children, saying I love you dad.
You're such a good dad. He says you're accepted.
In my eyes, that is the most powerful relationship a person
can have with the Lord first and then in that place with each
other. It changes your relationships
with each other. When that thing is is in place,
isn't that powerful new life So the now can be restored and in
that place of restoration we we do have comfort.
We do have hope. We do have we we receive wisdom
from God. We can receive healing from God.
He restores us. He makes us whole freedom, true
life, true life can only be found in in the in the source of
life, in the one who gave life. Every provision that I need is
found in God, Philippians 419 says and my God will supply
every need of yours according to his riches in Christ Jesus.
Everything that I need is found in Christ Jesus.
Everything, every need that you have, whatever it is, it could
be a physical need, it could be a spiritual need, could be a
financial need, whatever. The Lord has proved Himself
faithful to me and many of us in this room.
The Lord has proved Himself faithful to His word and to that
Scripture that says He will supply for all our needs.
He does this peace and joy despite circumstances.
Gosh, that's loud, isn't it? Peace and joy despite God's,
despite the circumstances. That means that no matter what
is going on in your life, you can have peace because your life
is anchored to the rock and A and a strong foundation cannot
be shaken. This is how we overcome.
The Lord has a great plan for you and I.
The Lord has a great plan. Do we believe that this morning?
He has a great plan for you and I?
He does, and that's like hope for the future, right?
If the Lord, if you think about that, that the Lord has a plan
beyond today for you, then that gives us hope for the future.
So the Lord's plan and in Christ Jesus, our hope in Christ gives
us hope for the future beyond, for tomorrow when we know him.
When you know the one who made you, when you know the one who
made the reality that you live in, then you know everything
will be OK, right? Like my, my boys.
If you take that back and scale that back to my house where I
live, my boys trust me and trust my wife.
They trust us as parents. They know that everything will
be OK. They trust, they look to us when
things are uncertain. That's the relationship between
US and God. It's like we know that in Him
everything will be OK. It's in his hands.
The scripture says that He holds the palm of the world in His
hands. He is a mighty God.
He made it. He will see it through.
He made you and I very special hope for the future.
Everything will be OK. If God is for us, who could be
against us? Romans 8 If God is for you, who
could be against you? It doesn't matter who would come
against you and try to destroy you, derail you, hurt you, steal
from you. If God is for you, who could
touch you? The answer is no one can touch
you, no one can touch you. God says in Jeremiah, he says,
For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the
Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil to give you a future and a
hope building your life on the truth of Jesus Christ.
Again, it's where the firm foundation is found, a new life
following him being transformed into his image.
You know, I'm more like Jesus today than I was a year from
from a year back, right? That's the process of God
forming us to be like him. It's like we come from this
place of total brokenness. We turn from our past and we
look to him and he makes us a new creation and he leads us in
the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
He transforms us to be like him. And it's such a wonderful thing
when you see how wonderful he is and when you know that he's
making you to be like him. There is such hope for the
future. It's like I look to, you know, a
year's time from now. And I think, you know what?
I'm not going to be the same day for that.
That stands here today. I'm going to be more like Jesus
and I have such hope in that because I hold him in such high
regard, right? He is so far beyond anyone that
I've ever met, anything that I've ever known.
And for me to be moving closer towards him and to becoming like
him gives me such future, future hope.
It's very powerful stuff. This is the cross.
This is what he paid for. So lastly in in Christ Jesus, we
have hope for eternity. Hope for eternity.
What is eternity? If you think about what, what
eternity is I, when I, when I thought about that for myself, I
thought eternity is almost just like this timeless existence,
like it will never end. It's eternal.
It doesn't have an end point. It's just forever.
You know, it's not, it's not just a really long time.
You know, it's eternal. It doesn't have an end, but
eternal life is defined in the Scripture by this.
It says this is eternal life, that we should know the Father
and Jesus Christ his Son like that was eternal.
That is eternal life. To know God, to know Jesus
Christ the Son, to know salvation, to be regenerated and
joined back to the Father and to have relationship with him
forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
That's what eternal life is. Eternal life is not something,
it's not just a really long time having a lot of fun, it's
knowing God and his Son forever and ever.
That's a very powerful thing. Can we just close our eyes for a
moment? I just want us to picture
eternity. I want us to picture what this
might be like forever and ever. So picture things that bring you
joy. What brings you the most joy in
your life? A lot of people will be
picturing things like their family, their children.
I hope you're not, you know, picturing your possessions.
But possessions can bring us joy as well.
Just something that brings you joy.
And then, you know, picture a place where everything is made
right, where when nothing goes wrong, picture, you know, where
time stands still. I don't think we can comprehend
what it's going to be like not being in a rush, not running out
of time to get the things done that we need to get done.
That's what eternity we're like. Never running out of time, never
having to rush, never having to worry about tomorrow, like, oh,
I'm going to bed now, I'm going to go to sleep, but I'm going to
worry about tomorrow. Picture just peace and rest, joy
and freedom and life. This is what God created you and
I are to experience. Peace, freedom, life, joy,
right, Just having your heart full, you know, when you just
leave certain things that you've been been with people for a
while, you've enjoyed their company and you leave quite
often. Hillary and I will will leave
someone's house and we'll just look at each other and we just
go, that was really nice. You know, just spending time
with people. I think there's going to be a
lot of that. That was really nice Moments in
eternity like that was so good. Like he's so good, He's so
wonderful. Look at what he's done.
Like Thanksgiving every day, eternity.
And so this is what the Lord says these things are going to
be like. These are the, the true words of
God saying that eternity will be like being with me.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
You know, the word says that there will be no more tears.
Every tear will be washed away. Only joy, only freedom, only
peace. Maybe you're hearing this for
the first time, you know, maybe your heart is, you know, wanting
to respond to this and there's like a what now?
I don't know, you know, what's going on in your heart right
now, but it's like a if that if the Lord's calling and wanting
you to respond. It's like the what now?
Well, let me tell you the what? The what now is The what now is
the Scripture says if you believe in your heart and you
confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
You will be saved. So the Lord calls in your heart,
you respond with your mouth and you will be saved.
And it takes courage. I remember, you know, having to,
to do that, to step out and say, I, I trust you, Lord, I want to
follow you. I'll make you my Lord and my
Saviour. It takes courage.
God gives you the courage. Can I say that?
We don't, we don't turn to the Lord in our own strength.
It's God woos our hearts and calls us to himself.
And then there's a response from us which comes out of our heart.
And then we say with our words, we say, Lord, I trust that these
words are true and faithful and I believe in you.
And so I'm just going to go through, I'm going to pray for
us. Now.
If we could just close our eyes for a moment, I'm going to pray
these words. These are the words that we can
pray to the Lord and receive salvation.
So you can pray along with me. If that's you in this place, you
could be saved today. Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, I, I turn from my past sins.
I turn from my past. I've lived in this body that you
made in this world that you created with my back to you
until now. And I seek your forgiveness
today. I seek you, I turn to you today.
I thank you that you died for me on that cross, for my sins, that
I could come to life again as you did.
You're alive today, Lord. I believe that.
I confess today that Jesus Christ, you are my Lord and you
are my Savior. Amen.
So we started off by talking
about the cross. How is this such a sign of hope?
Because Jesus laid down his life for you and I that we could be
forgiven, set free, made whole and have eternal life in him.
That's why we could put a cross around our necks.
That's why we we have crosses on our Bibles because it is a sign
of hope of what Jesus did. Amen.
Excellent.
All right, I'm just going to hand over to Justin.
Justin is going to. Let's see what Justin does.
Thank you guys. Awesome.
Well done, Dave, All done. Yeah.
It's when you think about right at the end of the Bible, there's
this book called Revelation, and it's this guy called John, and
he sees Jesus and the words that Jesus says I am I Yeah, I think
it was right. Sorry.
It talks about him being the one who was, the one who is and the
one who is to come. You know, he says I'm the alpha
in the Omega at the beginning and the end.
And he says, you know, countless times in the Bible, it says,
hey, Jesus is the one who was right there at the very
beginning, knowing everything that was going to happen,
everything that I was going to do wrong, every, every failing
that I was going to do, every failing I probably am living in
and everything I'm going to do into the future.
And he goes, but I am and I exist and I've dealt with your
past, I've dealt with your present and I've dealt with your
future. And they're all secure in me.
That's the hope that we have in the gospel.
That's the hope that we have. This cross stands at the center
of time. We measure our time by the
cross. In the year 2020, six, 2026
years after Christ died, He has divided time.
And the amazing thing is that he divides my time as well.
Because the minute I encounter the cross, my life has changed
forever. He wipes away my past, He
secures my future and He changes me today and I live always in
the hope of Jesus. Isn't that amazing that all of
us, we grab hold? This isn't just a hope that one
day we will live with him or that something that we look back
to and say, ah, he did that so long.
It's something actually available to us today.
So do you mind if I just pray once more and then we'll wrap
things up? Father, we thank you for a hope
that we have today in this place today.
The Bible says in Hebrews today, if you hear his voice, do not
harden your hearts. We thank you that this is a
gospel for today. It's not just a hope that we
have long time into the future that one day things will work
out. Or do we look back and we say,
well that was good for 2000 years ago, but what about today?
This is a hope we have today. And so we reach out, no matter
what our circumstances are, no matter what is happening around
us or in this world, we take hold of a hope today, this
anchor for our soul, this, this cross shaped anchor.
We thank you for it in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Thank you guys for joining us
for this morning. Thank you for joining us for
today's message. For more information about The
Way Church, please visit ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot
AU. Have a blessed day.