Got so overjoyed by the kids, I forgot, I
was supposed to put this on. So I'm down here fumbling around and Kevin's up
here and I'm like, what's you up there for? And then he said, his friend,
and I'm like, I was hoping to talk about James at that moment and I
was like, no, he's talking about me. Can you get this thing on? So
if this thing pops off, like in the middle, it's just, it's just gonna have
to land on the floor and we'll just have to roll without it. He warned
me, he said, we may lose power Saturday night. I said, hey, I can scream.
I may lose, not have a voice Sunday, but I can scream.
Wow. Wow, welcome tonight, Saturday night, and
I'm expecting God to do something in in my heart
tonight. I I hope that you came expecting Him to do
something. I got to tune in online and hear Barbie's message
Thursday and then at Justin last night, and,
just incredible how God, how the Spirit, I think,
coordinates behind the scenes. I mean, states away, cities away,
right? And He coordinates behind the scenes, and so you're here tonight for a
reason. I believe we're all here tonight for a
reason. And, and there's somebody that's not
here tonight that I think will be
impacted by what's gone on
Thursday, Friday, and tonight because of you being
here, because of what God's going to do in you
and through you. And so we'll dig in. I know we're gonna
have a scripture up on the screen. Before I do, let's just, let's pray
and, and just ask God's Spirit just to move freely. Father,
we just come before You, and Lord, I,
I couldn't even begin to start guessing all the back stories in
this room. But there's a congregation here, Lord, and you said where
two or three are gathered, you're in our midst. And we've
already felt you at work, Lord, through the worship,
through your Spirit, Lord, the liberty that is here.
But now, Lord, we just wanna tune in with You individually, one on one,
and just say, Holy Spirit, shine a
light in my heart.
Holy Spirit, be my one thing.
Holy Spirit, let me not come in here and just sit again in
another service, but Holy Spirit,
would you stir the embers deep in my heart? Would you blow on those
coals? Would you light that fire again that I once had?
God, I just pray that you'll take any words I'm not supposed
to say out and insert whatever words I'm not even planning to say in,
and Lord, just help people to see you
be glorified tonight, Father, I pray. Amen.
We're going to Luke, Luke chapter number
23. Luke chapter
number 23, verse number 21. We're
gonna read this together, and I'm, I'm gonna do this like Barbie did it.
I'm gonna do this like Barbie did it, because I've
learned that if you speak enough, people can get
tone deaf, right? And you're gonna hear me all night long. So I'm gonna not
say it. I'm gonna say it quietly. I'm gonna like whisper it, okay? And you
all are gonna say it, but I gotta hear you. What did you say, gusto?
Is it what Kevin says, gusto? So say it with gusto, but
let's read this together. So ready? Let's stand for God's word and we'll we'll
begin here. Pilate addressed them. Once more,
his eyes. And to release Jesus. They kept
shouting, Crucify, crucify him.
A third time he said to them, what? What
evil has he done? I have found in him no
guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish
and release him. But they were urgent demanding
with loud cries that he should be crucified
and their voices prevailed so Pilate decided
that their demand should be granted. He released
the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection
and murder for whom they asked, but he
delivered Jesus over to their will. And
as they led him away, they seized one,
Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the
country and laid on him the cross to carry
it behind Jesus. Thank you so much. You may be
seated.
This wraps up the mock trial. This wraps up
the betrayal. This wraps up
really Jesus' earthly ministry up to this point. This
wraps up his freedom.
And Pilate, Pilate got it.
I study, and I can't believe. I mean, Pilate got it. He's
like, he didn't do anything three
times. Tried to convince them to let Him
release Him. But they were more urgent,
and they haul Him out. And the Romans who had
perfected crucifixion, they now are, it's on their timetable.
They're now performing this. They're marching them up
to Golgotha. And because of the brutality,
because of all of the things that he had had, even before the Romans took
him into their jurisdiction, the high priest had men
there who, all night in Caiaphas' house, had him under arrest,
and had flogged and beat him, and had already done, and then the Romans
took and added their torture to him,
beaten and bruised like no other.
And He's on the road. He's staggering under
the load of the cross.
And then in verse number 23,
or verse number 26.
And as they led him away, they seized one,
Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the
country, and laid on him
the cross to carry it behind Jesus.
Now the title I was praying over leading up to this conference
was, what's the one thing I'm believing
God for? And I went to the Old Testament,
and I went to Caleb. I want that
mountain. It belongs to me. And I went to
Hannah, who got on her knees and believed God for
a son, and I went to all these Old
Testament. I said, Lord, which one is it gonna be?
And then on my devotions, I stumbled across this verse, and immediately,
I felt that's the verse. It was like,
Simon of Cyrene? Like what?
And so I changed the title a little bit, and I hope by the end
of tonight, we can see that the one thing I'm
believing God for
and one step closer to the cross
can be the exact same thing.
Because they picked one.
This, Jerusalem's teeming with about, they
estimate, 200,000 to a million people. It's
Passover time, teeming with people.
What is a sleepy city at Passover
becomes a thriving, bustling
metropolis, teeming with people, packed
streets you can't even get through. And
on the road to Golgotha, out of hundreds
of thousands of people, they
picked one. Says they picked one,
Simon of Cyrene. They picked one.
Just do something to kinda wake you,
wake yourself. Just squeeze your hand or just touch your leg or just look at
the person next to, next to you and say, one. You're one.
You're one. You are here for a reason.
You are here for a reason.
I do not think Simon appreciated that moment being pulled out of a
crowd. I mean, since the Romans pulling him out of a crowd,
I don't think any Jew, Jewish person, anybody for that matter around the
world with the oppressive force the Romans were appreciated being pulled
out of the crowd to be conscripted to carry someone else's cross, a
criminal at that.
But they pulled one, Simon of Cyrene,
who is coming in from the country. So that term
coming in from the country can mean several things. He could have been a craftsman.
He could have been out lodging outside
Bethany, some of the close by cities. Many of the pilgrims lodged
around Jerusalem. Scholars believe he was one of the
dispersed Jews in Cyrene who is coming in from the country
to Passover. Cyrene.
North Africa. One thousand miles
away. Okay, I
drove from Virginia, five hundred maybe,
right? Nine hour trip, not too bad. Central time,
gain an hour, I'll take it, right? But imagine,
back then, a thousand miles, most of the
time on foot. If you were well-to-do, you might have had a burrow, you
might have had some means, you might have even had a chariot. If
you were really wealthy, you could have maybe taken a ship and cut some time
out. Went through some of the Suez Canal, whatever. They don't
think they had this, but went went by way of went by way of the
water, right? But chances are, he was
coming in from the country. He had just completed this pilgrimage. I can
only wonder, back in Cyrene, North Africa,
now Libya, the country, I could only wonder
as Passover drew near. I don't know, was this his
first Passover? Was this the first one
that he had saved all his life for? Was this
the prized pilgrimage? Was this it? What
sacrifices did his family go through so he could make
this pilgrimage? This was the thing the Jewish people would do,
go to Jerusalem, if they could, for Passover.
How holy an event. How life changing an
event, right? I mean, this is like the mission. This is the calling.
Maybe as a young boy, he was taught Torah,
and he dreamt all his life. This is the one thing.
This is my bucket. You ever have a bucket list item? Like, this is my
bucket list item. I wanna go to The Alps. This is my
bucket list. I wanna go skydiving from, you name
it. Anybody been skydiving? Not me. I
like my feet on the ground. Hallelujah, amen.
Bucket list item. I could just imagine bucket list item, and I also
believe that bucket list item for Simon of Cyrene was
probably rooted in some love for Adonai. I could just
imagine him going and dreaming all along the journey a thousand nights as the stars
came out, and he would camp alongside the road, probably in a caravan because they
traveled for safety back then. I could just imagine he's sitting there
going, Adonai in heaven, thank you for this opportunity. I can't
even imagine what's going through Simon's mind as he's
nearing the city, as maybe he had just enough for some lodgings that may be
a cheap in outside because those hotels in the inner city are just
too expensive. So I'm gonna stay outside. Maybe he had a
friend close by. I don't know. But on this
particular day, he's coming in from the country.
He's coming in for the country.
This would have been taken about a month. K? I
just want us to think. What have we in our life
dreamt about, worked on, worked
towards? What's the business that we've poured blood, sweat, and
tears into? What's the personal sacrifices you've made?
And in a moment's notice,
hey, he seized. It says they seized
him. This wasn't like, hey, sir. No, they had
a time schedule to keep. They seized him, and as soon as he
sees, he's, he knows what, what this means. And it says, and
they laid on him,
not a cross, the cross.
They laid on him the cross.
I want us to think about the word laid, laid on him.
I wonder if Simon along the road prayed, Lord, let your will
be done. I wonder if he was praying,
God, I wanna see you. I wonder if in his
mind, he was thinking,
temple, Shekinah glory, the
story of Solomon. I don't know what was going through his mind.
I don't know what image he had in his mind, what
his destination towards fulfilling that one
thing he was believing God for. I don't know what that looked like, and I
don't know in your mind what that one thing you're believing God for in
your mind looks like, but what I know from my own experience
is I've often believed God for something
that fit a version or a vision I had
of me serving God. And it wasn't a bad
vision. It wasn't a bad vision, but it was my
vision. And in my own
experience, I have
driven to pick something up to make that
vision happen and to carry something that I had to
carry, that I thought I needed to carry to
make this vision of pleasing God happen. I don't know. Again, he's
on his journey, his pilgrimage, most likely his pilgrimage,
but in this instance, he didn't pick anything
up. He was seized,
and they laid the cross
on him. I just want us to think for a minute.
What is that thing that I am striving for, that thing
that's stressing me out, that thing that's causing anxiety, maybe causing
discord in my marriage, maybe something happening within, and
I'm like, But God, this is what I This is the thing I'm believing God
for. I've prayed for this. This isn't the way I'm envisioning this to
go, God. Like, what is going on here? I didn't Or maybe a relationship broke
up, split up, whatever, and you're like, God, this was supposed to be it. This
was the thing I was believing you for, God. I just wanted a family. I
just wanted this. God, I just had, this was the vision I wanted. In
that moment, I can only imagine what's going through Simon's mind. Wait
a minute, I'm going that way. Passover's that
way.
And a cross is being laid on him.
Instead of trying to pick something up, or as we try to pick
something up, I believe I've often missed
what God was actually trying to lay on me, and I'll
tell you a personal story. We, as you know, my
wife's gone through two rounds of breast cancer. She's been in remission for two
years. Praise God. But I will tell you,
I only had recently admitted this, and I was afraid to admit it to
her. But we just celebrated
eighteen years, and we were down in Amelia Island, and
I asked her, I said, what do you need this vacation to be? And she
said, just deep conversation. I said, all
right. So I'm like, God, what are we gonna talk about? Like, what do we
need to talk about? And, and we talked about some
stuff. I mean, we talked about some deep stuff, and we choked up some
stuff, and I talked about stuff that I had previously been afraid to
talk about. And one of the things I told her,
you know, I've tried to, I've tried to be at every appointment with her,
but one of the things I admitted to her was sitting
in UVA, holding her paper,
being wait, waiting to be called back, and looking
down.
You see all her prescriptions. You see her
hormone, the Lupron, the Lexrozole. You see the stuffed tamoxifen, and then you see the
big note up here, allergic to this, and going back
to the time they gave her that and seeing her almost die.
I'm sitting there looking at the piece of paper, and I finally admitted
to her that everything inside of me
in that moment, from the get go
of her diagnosis, and even now, every injection, every quarter, every time
we go up there, every oncologist visit, every time we go up
there, it's actually easier now that I've admitted it, but
everything inside of me wanted to run away.
Everything inside of me wanted to run
away. I was afraid to tell her that.
I really was. But I told her, and she said, Baby,
that's okay. She said, I felt the
same way. She just, she kinda laughed a little bit, like give you some comedic
relief. But the last time I was up there,
this was just a couple weeks ago, while I still felt the,
ah, I hate this. This is unjust.
Why? I also looked at that piece of paper, and I
thought about heaven's Lamb. As he stepped from heaven's
throne, he said, I'll go. He's the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. What did that council
room meeting look like when the Father turned to the Son and said,
Here's my plan, and nobody can know about it? When He handed over the
piece of paper with all of the prescriptions and all the things that were
never supposed to be in the body of the holy God, to take on
flesh blasphemy, what? To step down
onto earth, our creation, what? To go
take on the wrath, your wrath for sin on what?
We have a high priest who understands
what it feels like to want to run away when
he was in the garden, prayed, if at all possible,
let this cup pass from me. But if
not, not my will, but yours be done. And
I wonder in that moment of Simon having this cross laid on
him, if everything inside of him didn't want to run
away. I guarantee you it did. Like, what's going through his, his
mind? But I like the next part of the
verse. He says,
they laid on him the cross to carry
behind Jesus. Behind
Jesus. He did nothing.
He was grabbed. The cross is laid on him.
And without even knowing who he was following. I don't believe,
from everything I've researched or studied, I don't believe he knew at that moment who
he was following. He just had to follow behind
the convict. He just had to follow behind Jesus.
So have you ever been at that time where you were
given something to carry you did not wanna carry in your life,
and you just thought, God, you
started with the why, then you went through the how.
Why me? Denial, anger, all the good stuff. Then you
got through that. You came to surrender, at least part surrender or
maybe somewhat surrender? Mine came a little
further down our journey. I think I shared that last time I was here.
But then all of a sudden, it's like, okay, God, how?
And I think the answer's right there, behind Jesus.
Behind Jesus. He's felt it
already. He knows exactly the pain. He knows
exactly the temptation. He knows exactly what it is. He knows
exactly how to fight for you. He knows exactly how to overcome the
enemy. Even as he's beaten, bruised, and bloodied, and can
barely walk to get up to Golgotha to finish the work of a high
priest for us, he knew his cross was right
behind him, and all Simon had to do in that moment was follow behind Jesus.
Follow behind Jesus.
I also noticed that Simon put the cross down, or they took it off his
back. Some crosses are ours to carry.
So I think, I believe we're born and into
a sin nature, into a broken world, and I think that we have a cross.
Each one of us have a cross. Hebrews says that sin that grips
us continually, right? I think each one of us have a bent to
something that is a cross to carry, probably permanently.
But I believe there's also crosses in our lives to carry for a season, and
this is one of them. He laid that cross down. But see, I don't believe
Simon left that day. I don't think he left that day. Now
if, as he was walking, I could only imagine,
I could only imagine the question, Simon,
why are you carrying that cross? I was speaking at an event, and a
mortgage banker came up to me afterwards, and he's like, and I was just giving
a sales talk, but he came up afterwards. He says, You're a believer, aren't you?
I was like, Yes, sir, I am. He said, Well, I'm a minister of the
word. I'm like, That's amazing. What? He's like, Yeah, man. Mortgage
banker by day and minister of the word by night. I'm like, That's awesome, man.
And, he had this earring with a cross,
and I grabbed his earring. I have a tendency to grab people's earrings, but I
grabbed people, I grabbed his earring, and I was
like, I love that. Why do you wear that?
And he told me the story, lost a brother, gave his life to
Christ, got the cross, and now it's a conversation piece,
conversation starter. But I asked why he wear that. He said, You know what?
He said, I, and he kinda was there for the sales and marketing stuff too.
So he's like, You know what? He's like, I've thought about, like,
man on the street, like, I thought about going out, like, to a big city
and just finding somebody who has, like, a cross. You know, everyone's like wearing a
cross. He said, I thought about going and just stopping people on the street
and, like, recording. Just do a reel of it. And like, why are you wearing
that cross? Why are you wearing that cross? He said, because I bet you there'll
be stories like mine, but he said, I bet you there'll be people like, ',
what? Oh, that's a cross. Like, you know, grandma gave it to me. You know,
whatever. And he said, I would just love to hear the story. Why are you
wearing that cross? And I could just imagine if somebody had asked Simon
that day, why are you wearing that cross? I
don't know that he was around when Jesus said,
unless you deny yourself, just
back to Luke nine, unless you deny yourself and take up
your cross daily and follow me, you
can't be my disciple. Like, Jesus was using
cross terminology to his students. No other rabbi would do that.
Cross terminology? This is an acceptance of Rome. This is an
acceptance of this brutality, this day. Why are you talking
about a cross?
Unless you deny yourself, take up
your cross daily and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But at that moment
in time, I bet you Simon had shock and confusion going through his mind.
Remember, Passover is that way, not that way.
Fear of the Romans for sure. I I mean, I would have been afraid of
the Romans every time I got, you know, it's like when you're going down I-twenty
4, about 95 miles an hour, and you see that cop car behind you, what
happens naturally? What seizes your gut? Fear, right?
You're like, Oh, you look down, oh, no, I was just seven two.
Whew, okay. Felt like it was
95. I do have a story. I moved back from Germany when I was 18.
I got my job up in Smyrna, Tennessee. I was running, I was
a gopher guy, and I was running something up to Nashville, and I
drove a clunker. So then when I got in the company truck, GMC, back then,
it was 02/2008, so it was like a 02/2006 GMC Sierra,
I get in that thing. That thing was smooth, man. I mean, my clunker, you
had to press the gas all the way down to get to 70. This thing,
you just like touch the gas, you're 95. And I'm 95, and I have a
Iowa driver's license. I had just moved here, and I wasn't even in Iowa alone.
I had come from Germany, so state trooper. My introduction to Tennessee was a
state trooper right between So by the way, Sam Ridley Parkway and
Amityville Road, there's that little turnaround right there. Just, oh,
I learned quickly. That was the spot. They were always there.
So I quickly learned, but no, at 95. So he was very
gracious to me that day. I mean, I would look like a toddler, really. I
was 18. You know what I looked like when I was 18. 18 and and,
or not, yeah, yeah, still 18. I was about to turn 19. And, he
wrote me up for 90. He kept it right at 20. He was very gracious.
I could have lost my life. Could have been out of a job, like it
was very gracious, but anyway. I could just see the shock and confusion, the fear
of the Romans. I think he probably had some pity for the
condemned man. But I think what probably grabbed Simon
the most, Simon, why are you carrying that cross? I could
imagine his first response would be, I don't know. I don't even
wanna be here. I'm supposed to be somewhere else.
But I think then he heard Jesus, because it says they
laid on him a cross to carry behind Jesus, and there followed him a great
multitude of people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.
Convicted criminals in that day and age, they were usually the
refuse, like they didn't have anybody. They were being
led out to be crucified, and I think what probably struck Simon was, who
are all these women? Who is this great multitude?
What's the commotion for this guy? What's different
about this guy? And then Jesus turns to them and
actually prophesies. He says, don't weep for me.
Weep for your kids, the city. He's prophesying about the fall of Jerusalem.
Weep for them. And then he goes up,
all the way up to the cross, and I believe Simon probably heard the words.
The first words Jesus said was, Father, forgive them.
Father, forgive them. And then the sky grows
dark, it grows black. He says his other statements from the cross, and then
he says the last thing is, Father, into your hands, I commend my, my
spirit. And of course the ground is shaking, and everything
else is happening. The veil of the temple is torn. And I think that
day, Simon realized, I miss
church. I miss Passover.
But I think in that moment, he realized
that he was at the ultimate Passover. He had
just witnessed the Passover lamb. And I
think if Mark records it correctly over in
Mark chapter 15, verse 21, he
says, and I wanna read this real quick. His account, of course,
Mark is more of a Summation Gospel. He says, and they compelled a passerby,
Simon of Cyrene, who is coming in from the country, the father
of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
I was like, whew, when I started studying this, I'm like, woah.
Scholars believe that's Rufus who was in the early church,
who Paul says, Greet Rufus and his mother, who's been like a mother to me.
He doesn't even talk about Simon. I don't know if Simon ended up giving his
life for the gospel. I'm not sure. Could have been a martyr.
Scholars don't know. They speculate, but Paul references Rufus. And
for Mark, who was in the early church, the very first church, to reference
the sons' names was he was making a reference to somebody they knew.
The early church would have known these boys.
Think about this. Think about the ramifications
of wanting to run-in, run away
but deciding to stay, not because I have the power,
I don't, but because all I have to
do is walk behind Jesus. I just have to
follow my high priest who already bore everything,
who understands every pain, who understands betrayal,
who understands the person who turned their back on you, who understands the person
who walked away after years, the person, who understands every
situation, every emotion,
every grief. He's been touched with it. The
feeling of our infirmity, he has been touched with, all I have to do
is decide to stay. And Simon, I believe that day
decided to stay. And then here his boys are in the church,
in the early church. I believe that day, his family changed.
So I wanna ask this question.
Like, what's most important, the month or those
minutes leading up to the cross? The month of journeying,
pilgrimaging to Jerusalem? The
month of traveling in for Holy Week
or those minutes leading up to the cross? And I would dare say both.
I would dare say both. I I I meet a lot of Christians who come
out of some denomination, and they're hurt. They're bruised
by religion. They've been hurt by some leader that they put on a
pedestal, and then when they walked away, they got,
they got hurt. And I see people get
stopped by that, or they kinda shame their past,
the church they were brought up in, or, but I would dare say
this tonight, and maybe this is the one thing, maybe this is the one thing
we need to believe God for, is acceptance of
everything, good and bad, up to this point,
that got me closer to the
cross. That month of journey, that month of pilgrimage was
just as important. Could you imagine, had he not been coming in that intersection at
that time, he wouldn't have been seized.
And I'm sure in the, in the seizure, he didn't appreciate anyway, but looking back
on this being seized, he then saw the clarity of what God,
Adonai, and heaven was up to in his life. So I would
dare say that the month of maybe religious obedience to him
was just as important to get Him to that place
of those minutes of conscription, which then resulted
in relationship with the Savior,
which resulted in life change. So
I'll just say, don't disregard the month. Maybe you've been in a winter
season. Maybe you've been in a mundane season.
Maybe you've been in just that season of saying, God, I don't know what you're
doing. God, I don't even sense you right now in my
life. Somebody said, If you can't sense
God's hand, trust his heart.
If you can't sense God's hand, trust
His heart. If it's not good, He
is not done. And I think that month,
that winter, that mundane plotting towards Jerusalem was just
as important for that one moment. I think nowadays, we
want things fast. Anybody like me, you want
things fast, and the emergence of technology, I won't
even say the emergence. It is now on a runaway train,
technology is, and I think it's only making that treadmill run faster. We
want things faster. We expect things faster. Right? Amazon, praise the
Lord. Right? Boom. You don't even have to hit buy now. It just say, you
just, when we click it, it doesn't say buy now to us. You know what
it says to us? It says put in my mailbox tomorrow, or put in my,
fly it in a drone in my kitchen in two hours. Right, whatever. That little
yellow button, we have come to expect things that fast, and everything about
God and what He's doing in our life is he is not in a
rush. God is not in a rush. If
you're in that season, you're like, Tim, I didn't even feel like showing up
today. Tim, I can't even do, I, I can't even right
now. Then all I wanna tell you,
I understand. You don't need a pep talk.
You don't. You don't need, it's all gonna work. You know.
But I will tell you something that cannot be taken away, because my words, you
can forget. But he said,
he said, Fear not. I've redeemed
you. I've called you by name. You are
mine. You are mine. You are graven on
my hands. You know what graven on his hands mean? That's even better than that
tad. Like, okay, Sharpie. You know how these, like, we used to do, like,
bus, run buses into Murfreesboro and get kids and pull them out. We always put
Sharpie, number of the bus they rode on their hand, right? And hopefully, they didn't
go try to wash it off, because then when they came out, they were like,
Were you on my bus? What are you gonna do? Gotta get you home. I
mean Sharpie's one thing, right? You got stick on
tattoos. You know when you got cool enough to put on a stick on tattoo,
you're like, I got a tattoo, you know? You're like showing your buddies. It's the
stick on kind, but you know, you got, and then there's the tattoo, right?
That's the permanent. That one got you kicked out of the church. You know what
I mean? It was like, there was the tattoo, right? And then, so there's the
tattoo. That's permanent.
So I went back to my mom one day, because we grew up like, it
was like tattoos were a thing, or not a thing, or we're not cool. So
I went back to my mom one day, told her about a tattoo I wanna
get. She's like, Joe, Tim, don't, if you do, don't tell your dad. I don't
know. I was like, well, I was reading Isaiah where it said that God has
graven us on his hands, and I think, like, that's tattoo material right there. That
like backs up that belief. And so I was like, go, and I had like
the doctrine down, man. It was great. But no, no, it's all joking aside.
Graven on his hands? Now
I think the graven on his hands are those nail holes. I think
the graven on his hands are the nail pierced hands. I
think when he sees the nail pierced hands, he sees you.
He sees your face. He sees your face. When he sees the
graven on his hands, he sees your face. You know when he says he can't
even pluck, he, the enemy can't even pluck you? Like, I'm in, you're in my
hand, and I'm in my Father's hand, and the enemy can't pluck you out of
my hand. Like, I'm like, I used to think, yeah, because the enemy can't pry
God's fingers off and Jesus' fingers off, like he's not strong enough. But here here's
the thing. Even if he did, through some trick or gimmick, God, the
fingers pried open, he can't pluck you out of his hands, because you're graven
in his hands. So you can't just Tonight, don't take my word
for it. You can, k? I get excited about it,
because listen, I've been through the depression, I've been through the anxiety,
and all I had to go on, the only anchor of my soul was I
was graven in his hands. So I can maybe convince you,
but I want him to speak to you tonight. I want you to hear from
him. He said it. I can believe it.
You say, Tim, I wanna believe God for something
I don't know what to believe God for. How
about one step closer to the cross? How about
that be our prayer? If I don't know what. Sometimes you get around somebody
full of faith, and they're like, I'm believing God for this and this and this,
and I'm like, amen. It's like, what are you believing
God for, brother? I'm like, this phase
of my life, this season of my life, man,
it's not lose my temper, like right now. You know what I mean? It's like
just, just for, just to get
through the next moment. Right? But again,
everyone, every season, measures of grace, measures of faith,
like God, God leads us along. Here's what I wanna say.
Your steps are not compared
to your brother or sister's steps. Your steps
are only compared to what he has
to lay on you for this season. What
if Simon didn't walk, didn't move? Like,
we wouldn't have had the ultimate Passover. Your
steps, whether it's a few steps up Golgotha's
Hill or whether it's a long journey that you're in for Jesus, wherever
it's leading you, they matter. You matter. You were talking
about your vision, your dream, and then, it was
confirmed, like, what's God speaking to you? And it's like you were to come alongside
and help. And it's like I was, you know, just talked to ministry leaders all
over, but we were talking, sharing some meals and just seeing the spirit
of just community and volunteering and people pouring
out and sweeping floors and just pouring their spirit into this place for this
conference to happen. I'm like, that is You're saying, Yes, God.
I will take style. I'll carry this cross. Like, there's a cross. Paul the
Apostle says, Bury ye one another's burdens. There's a cross. If you don't know what
cross to carry, if you don't, Jesus, I wanna take up a cross daily and
follow you, but what is that? I will dare say, if he did, if yours
is not clear to you, say, Lord, one step closer to the cross. I'll say
one step close to the cross is bearing somebody else's burden, a brother or
sister's burden. So I think sometimes instead of like, what am I believing
God for? Sometimes, I'll be honest, take a step back from that statement.
I've been believing God for something for me, for my vision that I thought would
please Him, instead of taking a step back and saying, God, I wanna take
one step closer, one step toward your cross.
I wanna take up my cross daily. You say, Tim, I have a lot of
things in my life, in my mind that I wanna do for God. I don't
know which one to do first. I love the verse that says the
steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord.
I didn't do well in math, but when I got to that,
exercise of ordering the integers, any mathematicians in the room, any
good math people, You had to order, you had those
like element sets, and you had to order the integers, right? And if you didn't
have any numbers in there, what was it called? An empty and null
set. There was nothing to order. And I think that
that's what I wanna just, if anything, challenge all of us with
is if you don't know what to do, if you don't know what, like
God, I I have all the Just just take one step.
I see so many people, myself included, who get paralyzed or
paralysis by analysis, which, what's the right thing to do here? What's,
what's, and we just don't lean into the thing right in front of us. It's
like, just start leaning in, because it says God is the one who
orders our steps. He's gonna rearrange them for you. He's gonna order them for you.
You're not gonna get them. Simon got there right on time, right at the
intersection, right in the nick of time.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. What's the one thing
you're believing God for? Could it be just
simply one step toward the cross? You know one thing I noticed?
In Scripture oftentimes, you see Simon
of Cyrene, the son of.
In this verse, it just said, Simon of Cyrene,
the father of these two sons.
There was no son of here. This was Simon's
moment, I believe, to change family
legacy. This was Simon's moment to say
yes to another way, to this distraction,
this disruption, and go, and ultimately receive the
ultimate Passover and change his family forever. You may be here saying, But my
dad, but my mom, that's
what's so beautiful at Jesus' cross. It wipes out. It
doesn't take away the pain of it, the trauma, things that are still there, but
he bore it all. He took it all. It is our chance
to say yes to following Jesus. It's our chance to
say, when Jesus said, Follow me, take up your cross daily and
follow me, it's our chance to say, I'm at a crossroads, yes.
You say, Tim, I want so badly to surrender. I want
so badly to say yes.
I just wanna leave you with this. Remember
to surrender. And I don't mean go
home in little cliche, it's kinda cool, right? Right? Remember to
surrender. Tim, today, remember to surrender. That's okay.
If that works, that's cool, little mantra. But here's what I want
you to think about. Think about all the times Jesus
told the disciples, I tell you this now,
so that when I rise, when the Son of Man is
lifted up, you will remember my words. And the women came to the
tomb, and the angel said to them some words.
And then, it says, they remembered, he said, Did he not tell
you? Blah, blah, blah, blah. The women said, Then
they remembered his words. Here's what I
wanna encourage all of us, as we go to bed
tonight, get ready to come in and worship tomorrow,
ask God to bring back to your mind
the people, the lighthouses, the
intersections, the voices,
His still small voice, the things that we've been
hearing for the last six months, nine months, a
year. He speaks. God does
not stop speaking. Tim stops listening. Tim's
moving too fast to remember. But if we'll stop
and look back, I bet you Simon, in that moment,
fought back. Wait pierced for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Father, forgive them, they know not what
they do. I think Simon was there saying with the
centurion, Surely, this man is the son of God. I think
to surrender, we must remember
all of the moments as he's brought us to this moment.
You are here for a reason. So as
we end tonight, I think of that old song that says, Jesus, I,
my cross, have taken, all to leave and follow
thee. And tonight, can we say that? As the band
gets ready to play, and I guess Kevin comes in, or somebody comes in
and prays and closes us out, can we just maybe just tonight, just say,
God, help me to remember. Help me to
remember. Lord, help my one thing to
be a step closer to your cross. To take it
up my cross, there's a cost involved.
Help me to count the cost.
Jesus, on my cross, I've taken all to leave,
follow thee. I'll tell you, I'll tell you,
there is nothing that gives you more peace. There is
nothing that gives you more joy. And it is so counter
Listen, this world offers it. They present a gimmick.
Go try it out. Go try it out. You probably already have.
It doesn't last. It's worthless. It's
a fleeting joy. But Jesus,
the lamb of God, the one who bore it
all for us, us, fills us with
everything, with purpose. Let's take up our cross, let's follow behind
Him, and let's trust Him with it. Thank you so much.