All Crossing family, it is so good to be with each and every
single. One of you this weekend.
I want to welcome those of you joining at all of our different
locations online and inside, I also want to welcome those of
you who are joining us for the first time or perhaps the first
time in a long time. And if at any point in time
during this service, you want to get more connected.
Learn more about our church, take your next step, I want to
encourage you to use the QR code on the seat.
In front of you. I also want you to know that, in
my opinion. You are surrounded by some of
the very best people on planet Earth.
Now, look around, you may disagree based on where you sit,
but there's a big. There's lots of places to sit
and all of our different locations, and if you're
watching at home, well, they're yours.
Okay. If they're not the best people
on planet Earth, you probably had a part to play in that.
But speaking of some, of the best people on planet Earth, I
would like to introduce you to Cole Miller.
I first met Cole when he Was in the youth group of my best
friend and roommate in college. The Crossing Macomb was in her
infancy. As was, the crossing Macomb
thrift store and my friend Matt's youth group was getting
ready to go on a mission trip over spring break and they were
going to go to Mexico but due to some challenges that were
happening at that point in time, it was not a good idea for them
to travel and so they were looking for a place to go for
spring break. for those of you who know, Macomb, Why wouldn't
you go there for your spring break?
So it was a perfect fit. We had a lot of work that needed
done and they were looking for a place to serve and make a
difference. So Matt brought up his youth
group and in that youth group was Cole Miller Cole went on to
feel a call to go into full-time Ministry and he's when he
graduated from high school from Texas which it's a Texas high
school so he struggles with, you know, reading and writing but
he's he's making serious progress.
But he went on to my alma mater. Ozark, Christian college and was
trained to go into full-time Ministry.
He went on to go into full-time Ministry, at that church down in
Texas and then about a year a little over a year ago he joined
the crossing team at our Pike County location.
Yeah. We're super excited about.
He is married to a wonderful woman named Allison and three or
about three months ago. They welcomed their first child,
Thomas, James, into the world. We will grow our locations.
I any means necessary and he is an up-and-coming leader at the
Crossing and I asked him to come and help me preach this sermon.
So would you guys, please welcome to the stage from Pike
County by way of Texas? Cole Miller come here, man.
You're gonna do great. Now I should note this.
We also hired two of his friends Hunter, Escobar is the worship
leader at our Macomb location and Nick Cannon.
That's right. We have our own Nick Cannon.
He works at our 929 location. And I just need to say this too.
If you are a part of any of those locations Winter's coming,
And these boys have never experienced a real winter, okay?
When you talk to them in Texas, they're like yeah, it's down to
40 degrees, you know, highways are shutting down.
They have no idea what February's like.
And so if you could help them with some Carhartt gear because
I don't want their fragile, Texas skin cracking in our harsh
Illinois, winters these guys very well could have hair on
their chest for the very first time.
And we are all very excited about this, okay?
But man, that's that's a heck of an intro.
Anyways, thanks for having me. I've gotta say it is an absolute
honor. It is an honor to be a pastor at
the Crossing and an absolute honor to be a pastor to the
people in Pike County Today, Cole and I are going to continue
in this sermon series on the Gospel of John, during our weeds
in my garden sermon series. He's one of the leaders in our
church sent me a picture of this, of the side of his
daughters Bible. This is what it said.
This is how I fight my battles. The picture captures perfectly
in that great. The picture captures perfectly
coals and eyes heart for this message.
Every single one of you, you are going to have battles to fight.
And some of the way you fight, those battles are going to end
up having causing you to fight more battles.
And some of the way you fight, your battles could end up,
starting new Wars, but God's word Will Never Let You Down.
It is a light unto our feet. It is a lamp unto our path.
It is the very best way for us to fight our battles because it
is the source of Godly wisdom and it is our rule of Christian
faith and practice. However, I'm guessing that some
of you have opened your Bible and you have started reading and
all of a sudden you found yourself looking at the pages of
scripture. And uttering these words.
Anybody at any of our locations? Okay.
The rest of you didn't raise your hand.
Okay? Okay.
All right. We'll deal with that later.
Can I let you in on a little secret?
Even those of us who have been spending considerable time in
God's word, On a regular basis from time to time, we bump into
scriptures, that just don't make any sense.
So what do you do? When you're reading and you're
trying to grow in your relationship with the Lord and
God doesn't make sense in his word, doesn't make sense and
sometimes even your life doesn't make sense.
Can I tell you something? Just because something doesn't
make sense. Doesn't keep you.
And I from loving it's not an excuse to top stop pursuing and
it doesn't give us an excuse to not lean in cold.
Give us some examples of that. Yeah, I think you're exactly
right. I think, in fact, one of the
best examples of things not making sense can actually be
found in marriage for instance and Men.
I want to make sure this just isn't my wife help me out here a
little bit. But have you ever noticed that a
Has the distinct ability to carry a bag of trash all the way
to the garage door, but not the additional 30 feet to actually.
Just put it in the trash man, preach cold, but that difference
makes sense and ladies, I'm a nice guy, right?
So like I'll pick on men to write.
For example, have you noticed men?
We can organize the garage, we can detail a car but for some
reason, we Can't take our clothes off the floor and put
them in the laundry bin. That doesn't make sense.
I got a couple for you and listen fellas.
I might need a place to sleep. So be thinking about how big
should have you noticed fellows that it is impossible for the
ladies in your life to tell you how long it's going to take them
to get ready. They've been doing it their
entire life but they have no clue how long it's going to
take. They're done when they're done.
Okay? But they can tell you, no matter
where you are on planet Earth, exactly.
What time you need to leave. To pick up the kid to take him
to the very next thing that they need to go to how many people
have had that experience when you can back me up, that does
not make sense and I'm an equal opportunity offender.
So ladies, here's something I give for you have you noticed
that your man can remember exactly how the deer was
standing? Where we came from, how many
points, he had the direction of the wind, the temperature, what
they shot him with how far he ran after, they shot him, but
cannot remember your wedding day or your wedding colors.
Are there any ladies who would go that not make sense?
So just to be clear, we experience on a regular basis
things that well they don't make sense but that does not keep us
from loving grow. Being or deepening our
relationships and the same is true with our relationship with
God. So today, what we're going to do
is we're going to walk through some stories found in John, 11,
12 and 13. And as we do that, what I'd ask
is pay attention to see if you notice things that don't make
sense. So John 11, as we begin, were
greeted with some, some bad news.
Okay. The first thing we find out is
there's a guy named Lazarus who was sick.
In fact, he was sick enough that lazarus's.
Sister sent word to Jesus that well, he wasn't doing too.
Well, we find that in verse 4, when he heard this Jesus said
this sickness will not end in death.
No, it's for God's glory. So that God's son may be
glorified through it, verse 5. Now.
Jesus, he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was
two more days after two days. Jesus, and the disciples they
set out to go see Lazarus. Is and on their way.
Jesus reveals to them. That Lazarus had died verse 14.
So then he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your
sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe but let
us go to him eventually. Jesus, he's surrounded by Mary
and Martha and a whole crowd of people.
Jesus, he sees Mary, we PCS the crowd around him, weep and it
actually leads us to the short This verse and the English
translation, John 11:35 simply says, Jesus wept right after
Jesus weeps. He tells them to take away the
stone in front of the Tomb. And I love this part in
scripture because Martha is like, hey, Jesus dead people
stink, right? Like you might not want to move
the stone away. Could smell pretty bad, Jesus.
He goes out of this is for God's glory.
Then after quick word to God, He calls out to Lazarus and verse
43 and he says this, he says, Lazarus come out and the dead
man came out alive. Y'all man I'm like what a
powerful story, right? Like Jesus, he brought a dude
back to life. That is awesome but not before
doing a few things that make you go.
Well, Exactly. That does not make sense.
First and foremost, Jesus finds out one of his friends that he
loves from a family that he loves is sick and gonna die.
And he decides to kick his feet up for a couple days with the
boys. It was just the other day that
my wife found out that her grandma of was going on hospice
and immediately. She was trying to figure out how
she could drop everything and how she could get down to Texas
and see her Jesus, just Waits two days.
Did you catch it? Jesus literally said in verse 4
that Lazarus is sickness would not end in death and then he
died Clayton. You're a professional.
Pastor, I take it, is that makes sense to, you know, it doesn't
then. And this is crazy to me.
Jesus was like yeah. If I had been there, he would
not have died. And Jesus was glad that he
wasn't there, right? And I'm not like a over-thinker,
I don't think I am but it just leaves me wondering.
Was Jesus. Glad that his friend died
because that doesn't make sense. In the thing that blows my mind.
The most man, this is absolutely wild to me.
It's first 35, Jesus wept. But he wept knowing didn't just
a couple verses, he was going to be the one to bring Lazarus back
to life, like I say clay and I think you're right.
Like there's certainly things that scripture that don't make
sense, and in fact, John 12 doesn't get any better.
Well, it does happen to start on a happier note Jesus, he was
attending a dinner in his honor, you know, he raised Lazarus up
from the dead and with that, we aren't told how Good.
The food is but instead we find out that Lazarus is Sister.
Mary takes a pint of expensive perfume.
And I'm talking expensive when I say expensive, I'm talking about
the Louis Vuitton special. This was some nice stuff.
Okay. Now I actually, I know quite a
bit about the cologne and perfume game, and the reason why
is because I am too big to stink.
Like if I smell bad, I could ruin a car, a plane, a city bus.
And so, if and, you know, if a normal, you know, normal-sized
man were, you know, have a bad day, nobody would notice, but
when you get to this size, it's a real liability.
And so there is. And I mean, this is like letting
you in there's never a time of my life where I am not wearing
cologne. Never.
I have it in my car, I have the same kind in my bag.
I keep the Febreze stuff in my office.
I'm shower to three times a day. I just don't want to be that guy
who walks up to give somebody a hug because that puts you right
in my armpits. When I do, listen, when I do
international travel and they have like the tax-free place and
everybody's buying, you know, their cigarettes, I go in and
buy all the cologne that I can buy because I'm like, I gotta,
you know, I got it. Stay away from the tax man as
much as possible. Well, Mary is taking this
cologne. That is our perfume.
That is worth a year's salary. This is more than likely the
greatest asset that she possesses.
What would, what would that be for you?
What is the most expensive thing you own?
Is your car, your house. I don't know what you have.
What I do know is that Mary takes a perfume, that's worth an
entire year's salary and pours the entire contents onto Jesus
feet. And then she wipes it in with
her hair. How in the world could Jesus
allow a woman to take 20,000 50,000 100,000, I don't know
what you make in a year and dump it at his feet.
Between you and me. That feels like a complete waste
of money. Think about all other people
that it could help. Think about how we can solve
Community hunger, you don't have to be that critical to think
about how many people you could win to Jesus just by buying him
a slice of Casey's breakfast pizza.
It just doesn't make any sense to waste all of that money on
Jesus's feet. It really does.
And in fact, you and I we're not the only ones, and this story
wondering why Jesus would allow something like this to happen.
In fact, one of the disciples asked the question in verse 5.
He says, why wasn't this perfume sold?
And the money given to the poor, it was worth a Year's wages.
And you know what which disciple said that?
It's heavy. Was Judas.
And I don't know about you but my goodness, it scares me.
It scares me that the thing in this story that makes the most
sense to me, is the thing that makes the most sense to Judas in
the same exact moment. Well it's the day and a chapter,
come to a close. We've get these words in verse
37. He says, even after Jesus had
performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not
believe and him. And quite honestly, this is
extremely disheartening to me, right?
I just really gets to me because I want to believe so badly.
Did if I could see Jesus in the flesh that Faith would grow so
much stronger. But you've got people here.
They saw Jesus In the Flesh. They saw Jesus raised a dead man
up to life. And they still didn't believe in
him. It just doesn't make sense,
right? Well, we've got one more
chapters on 13, that we're going to look at but before we get to
that, I've just got to say, do yourself a favor, do your
family, a favor and scan, the QR code in front of you.
I say that because we are rushing through those chapters.
And there are so many good things happening at John 11, 12
and 13 and you will be better by finding that John reading plan
and spending time and God's word.
So I hope you'll do that. But with the next chapter, John
13, It another meal and even more feet and I'm talking about
some dirty feet, this time. These folks, they wore sandals,
right? They didn't have like the Croc
covering I'm talking about the strap, right?
They wore sandals and they walked unpaved roads.
I'm talking about some dusty crusty toes.
Right. In fact, people's feet were so
dirty and nasty that when you enter someone's house, they had
the lowest member of Of the household wash your feet but in
John 13, something different happens.
And the middle of the meal, Jesus gets up.
He begins to prepare himself to wash the disciples feet and he
washes them one by one by one. and the crazy part is, Jesus, he
grabbed judas's feet. Knowing that he was going to
betray him and he still served him.
And that does not make sense. He goes on to say this in verse
14, he says, now that I your lord and teacher have washed
your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
I've set you an example that you should do as I have done for
you. Jesus, the one we call King the
one we call. Lord, the name that is above
every name. He got down.
And he served them and he expects us to do the same.
And inside of me, I'm like, come on man.
Right? Like feeder nasty, what kind of
king or Lord washes his servants feet?
Well, the kind of King who says this in verse 34, he says a new
command, I give you love one another as I have loved you.
So, you must love one another. And if you're anything like me,
there's a war inside of you right now, right?
Because you like the first part, a new command, I give you love
one another. That's a great bumper sticker.
But not so much. The second part, right?
Like as I have loved you. as I have loved you, so you must love
one another It just leads me to think it, you know, it's not the
cross necklace, it's not the showing up to church, it's not
the Bible. Verse tattooed on your arm, it's
not the Facebook post about Jesus.
The only thing that will truly identify you as a Christian.
Is loving others. You know, Jesus, he's over here.
He's loving people, selflessly, sacrificially and we're going.
Hey, we love because we get something out of it, right?
We love something because we get something back.
We love as long as it doesn't cost us to dearly.
We love people who love us back. Jesus is going.
Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you
Jesus says, hey love your neighbor.
We're going. Yeah, but could you tell me who
my neighbor is please? As you can see, in just these
three chapters, there are all kinds of moments that make you
go. That does not make sense.
However, I'm going for a second, doesn't it make sense?
That things with God would not make sense.
After all, thank you, God bless you, and you keep coming.
Okay, that way you're trying to pack all the goodness of an
infinite, God into our finite brains my worry, my fear is that
a God who made sense to me Probably wouldn't be all that
good. All that wise.
We're all that trustworthy. So what do we do?
Well, I think John illustrates in a couple of ways, some tools
that we can use when the Bible when God, and when life don't
make sense. The first principle for you is
this just because we don't see the reason doesn't mean that
there isn't one Jesus delay in John chapter 11, was motivated
by nothing more than love. There was a Jewish Superstition
that the soul lingered over The body for three days after a
person died. Jesus by waiting four days left,
no doubt in the minds of all the people that Lazarus was
completely dead. He waited because there was a
reason he waited. So that there would be no doubt
to the people there, that Jesus is the resurrection and the
life. And that people would eventually
come to believe in him because of it, it makes sense to me,
that Jesus wept. There was a reason, Jesus
absolutely loved all the people that were around him and he saw
the sin in the world and it broke, his heart, hear me.
Just because Jesus knows, it will all be okay, tomorrow.
Doesn't keep him from weeping with you in the pain of today.
Even though Jesus knows that one day, everything will be made
right in heaven. Doesn't keep him from going
through the pain of all of the day's today until we get there.
I can't give you a reason as to why you might have lost a loved
one or why someone in your life is hurting or sick.
But I can tell you that for Lazarus his sickness and even
his death, somehow managed to bring people closer to Jesus.
I can tell you that when Jesus saw the pain and the suffering,
his heart had compassion on the people and it broke and he wept
with them. I can tell you, confidently.
But even though you don't necessarily see, the reason for
your pain, there is a God in heaven.
Who does understand the reason and loves you in the middle of
it. And then the next tool is this.
It's just because we don't get it now, doesn't mean we won't
get it later. You know, this?
Have you ever had an aha moment? You do the moment I'm talking
about where there's this problem.
There's this difficult situation, you just can't figure
it out, right? And then one day you're going,
oh, I got it, I got it right, then you sit there and you're
like, how did I miss that? Check this out.
Already. We know why Jesus waited?
We know why Lazarus died. We even know why Jesus web but
there's more. Why did Mary pour out that
perfume? Why was Jesus okay with it?
Because it's Mary poured out that perfume.
She was recognizing Jesus as Lord.
She meant it as a Act of complete and humble Devotion to
him. And I can guarantee you that if
you saw Jesus as Lord as clearly as Mary did there wouldn't be a
single thing in your life that you wouldn't be willing to lay
down at his feet because in and hear me your finances.
Your possessions that's not what takes care of the poor.
Jesus does that all we can do is partner with him and hear me
nothing given to God is ever ever wasted.
But try as you might Jesus doesn't become Lord when he has
enough of your money to be Lord. Jesus is Lord, no matter what,
Mary she recognized that And so, she worshipped.
And there are problems and difficult situations that could
be going on in your life right now.
I don't know what you brought with you, but I do know that one
day. You might look back on that
moment and go. He was there.
God, he was with me the whole entire time.
It's all throughout these stories.
They get it. After Jesus raises Lazarus from
the dead. They realized that the perfume
was to anoint, Jesus body for the burial.
However, it was more than likely purchase to be used on Lazarus
in the first place but he's alive.
Now, remember when she was worried, Lord, he stinks, he
stinks because Lazarus hasn't had the perfume poured on him.
He hasn't been fully buried yet. But she comes along, she goes,
why don't have to use it on my brother because you gave him
back to me? Can I use it on you?
Look at Jesus washing his disciples feet.
While it doesn't make sense to us.
We know that the fastest way into a person's heart is through
service. If God was trying to create a
kingdom, that was as fast as he could, and as powerful as he
could, he would need a group of people that were in a race to
the bottom. And willing to serve instead of
being on a race to the top last one and this is good, just
because I don't understand, it doesn't mean that God doesn't
love me. Jesus in John 11, 12 and 13.
He was growing the faith of his followers.
He was proving that he was the resurrection and the life, he
was proving that he had the power over death and he was
inviting him into believe. Faith.
It's the currency of God. It's how he's pleased, right?
And so Jesus, he was helping them, please God.
He was showing them. That Earthly riches home, I
there nothing in comparison to being rich towards God.
He was showing that the most fulfilling way to live.
Your life is in service to God and others.
Jesus. He was loving them even when
they couldn't understand it. We do not want a god.
We do not want a God who makes sense.
I know there's a part of us that we want to cling to that.
But we want one, it doesn't make sense.
And trust me when I say this because there are all kinds of
things. That God does on my behalf and
on your behalf that don't make sense, I'll give you an example.
The cross, the cross doesn't make any sense to me and I think
you're exactly right. If I'm being transparent with
you, after the birth of my son, the, the cross doesn't make
sense to me anymore. How in the world?
Could God ever send his one and only son to die on a cross?
For people, that The time don't even love them back.
I don't get it and I really don't think that I could do it
myself. The only way that the cross
makes sense to say that there really is a god out there that
really does love you, it doesn't make sense to me, but the Son of
God died on the cross for me, but I think you would all agree
that I'm thankful for it. It doesn't make sense that it's
Grace is a free gift, but I'm glad that I can receive it.
It doesn't make sense that his mercies are new, every morning,
but I'm glad I can walk in them. Does it make sense?
That my future is secure in his Nail pierced hands, but I
wouldn't have it any other way. It doesn't make sense to me that
God uses people, like, you and me to build an advance, his
kingdom. But I'm thankful that I have a
place in it. It doesn't make sense that he's
put his holy spirit inside of me, but I'm glad that I'm not
alone. It doesn't make sense to me.
That Jesus would forgive me for all that I've done, but I don't
know where I'd be without it. I don't know about you but I'm
thankful that we serve a God. That doesn't make sense.
I'm thankful, we serve a God who is doing things on my behalf.
I don't always understand him, but I can always be thankful for
him. And I know that there are some
of you right now in a season or a circumstance that it does not
make sense to you. And you're going, I don't see
God in this. I cannot see his Adrian Rogers.
The great preacher said it this way one time.
Even if I cannot Trace his hand. I can always trust his heart and
even though right now, you might be in a spot where you cannot
see the hand of God moving on your behalf, you can trust the
heart of God and know that he is.
I want you to think about that as we move to this time of
decision. There's something else that
doesn't make sense to me. And it doesn't make sense to a
lot of people in this room. But there are some of you in
here today that have never started an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. And for one reason or another,
you just keep putting it off. That seems crazy to me. because,
There's some of you right now. Right now.
That when you go home after church, today, you're going to
see a bunch of dishes in the sink.
And you don't want to. You don't want to do with the
dishes but you're not going to put it off.
Because you just won't be right, unless, you know, that they're
where they're supposed to be. There's some of you guys you're
going to drive home and you're going to pull into the garage
and before you get out of the car, you're going to be like how
did I accumulate this many straws and receipts?
And you want to get out of the car and just go in and sit down
and watch the game, but before you do, you're not going to put
it off. You're going to go these straws
these receipts, this stuff has got to get out of here. if I
were to ask you to give a testimony about what dishes have
done for you, I'm guessing nobody in their quiet time.
This week, it's like heavenly. Father, I just I beseech you
with gratitude and Thanksgiving in my heart.
For the porcelain dishes that I get to eat my pizza off of.
I don't know where I'd be God if I was on styrofoam right now.
We're paper plates. Guys I don't think I've ever
heard of testimony of like listen man me having a clean car
changed my whole life. I used to be this guy and then I
became the Clean Car Guy. And then look we're God's taking
me. Right?
We don't like doing chores and as you get more mature, you're
just like I just got to get it done and I just gotta, I gotta
ask you. Why would you prioritize dishes
over the divine? Why would you not put off taking
care of the receipts and the straws and the mess?
But put off the Majestic relationship that you could have
with Jesus. I don't get it. we prioritize
the things that don't matter and we don't prioritize the things
that matter the most And the heartbeat of this church is that
absolutely every single person that, you know, that you meet
that, you see, can have an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. And if you decide to keep
coming, this church for the next 30 Years, you're going to hear
the next couple of lines. Every time you show up because
I'm never going to get tired of telling them that if you were to
walk out in the lobby and you were to grab a camera and a
microphone and you were to ask everybody to give Testimony, you
would here to recurring themes, the best decision I ever made.
Was starting an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. My biggest regret is I didn't do
it sooner. And there are some of you
sitting in this room or watching online.
You're going maybe next week. That don't make no sense.
So if you're going, you know what, maybe today's my day.
Maybe I got to get some stuff figured out, there's going to be
somebody right over there by the baptistry.
That would love a chance to just talk to you.
Answer some questions. Just so, you know, we don't
kidnap you handcuff. You and just drag you out in the
water in front of everybody. You do all of this on your own
free. Will it costs you nothing to ask
you a question. It cost you nothing to go.
I need to figure some stuff out. It cost you nothing to go.
Hey, can I get some prayers answered?
The only thing you have to lose is the weight of your sin.
To the rest of you in the room. You following Jesus for a while.
And right now, you're a little ticked.
God. My life is not going the way I
thought it would. Things are not turning out how I
thought they were going to turn out.
God, you know, I prayed extra this week.
I got up a little early. And even with all of those
prayers, this is how things are going in my family.
God, I read my Bible for an extra 15 minutes and Becky was
still rude at the office. What's the point?
Jesus says, in this world, you will have trouble.
Take heart. I've overcome some of you.
Maybe God is going to point people to his son through your
suffering. Do you like that?
Doesn't make any sense. I know, I know it doesn't but
that's how we did it in your life.
Jesus didn't deserve anything that he got, but because he
suffered, We got a savior. And maybe the way we suffer
through the things in our life, that don't make sense is exactly
what God is going to use. Two point, other people to him,
So if you're a Christian and you love Jesus, can I give you two
little things to do one? Would you be willing to come
forward? And just spend a little bit of
time on your knees thanking God, that he doesn't make sense to
you? Because I need to know that
nobody in this room wants you to be God.
We're thankful that he is the other thing could some of us
surrender, some of our suffering to his glory because I think a
church like that would be pretty powerful to be a part of I want
to be a part of it. I think you do, too. but you
stand with me, God, do something that only you can do move in a
way that only you can move bring about a change that only you can
originate and only you can sustain God, I'm nothing.
The service is nothing, the worships nothing.
The preachings nothing. The response time is nothing,
unless you're in it. So, please just do something
that only you can do. And I'm asking you to do it.
And every single heart, that is in this room or watching online,
don't leave anybody out your name, I pray.
Amen.