Unwrapped: Finding Freedom Outside of the Tomb
Tribe
2024-04-28

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

If

you will recall, last week, listen, I got to get away, spend a little bit of time in The Bahamas. We were doing some sea kayak camping and it was it was really fun. But there was a element of danger involved and I I in a moment, in just a moment, I wanna share a quick video with you, but I do want to give a parental warning. If you are easily frightened, if you're if you're squeamish around imminent danger, if, you know, like like, you know, you're nervous, I wanna, I just wanna warn you, you may want to avert your eyes for the animal, the deadly, the near deadly animal encounter that almost happened today. I I told you a little bit about it last week but it does involve a dinosaur.

No. But thankfully, we've lived to tell the tale but I just want to tell you what happened. Here it is. Okay. I think we got it.

We got it. We got it. Yeah. Yeah. Just reach over, touch him, let him know it's going to be out.

We survived. Don't watch the lizard though. Yeah. The lizard was frightened. The word of god works.

Amen. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, would you turn to the book of John and we're going to read a story from the book of John. It's probably a story that many of you are familiar with and as I was preparing this week for today's conversation, I was really praying that that by a miracle of god, we would be able to read this story with fresh eyes and fresh perspective. That's probably one of the most difficult aspects of my job, communicating the word of god to a community of people that are mostly familiar with all of these stories. Now, the story that we may read, it could be brand new for somebody in here.

That would be amazing. More than likely, this is a story that we've read time and time again, and there is a danger with familiarity. Our minds race ahead, our minds check out, Our minds begin to to to just drift to other places. But, lord, please help us to read the story today as if we were one of those people at the crowd around Lazarus' tomb. Lord, help us to read that story today as if we were Lazarus.

Lord, help us to read the story today as if we were Mary or Martha. Lord, help us to read the story today as if maybe we were even Jesus and what was going through his mind as we walk through this story today and you might have noticed, you might have heard me say. Dude, come on in. Lazarus? Unwrap him, set him free.

It's kind of the punch line to the whole story, we'll get to that. But you might have heard me say a moment ago that in today's conversation, I really do want this to be a conversation. Well, we're you're already thrown off by coming to church in a bar, which maybe unusual for some of you but I also want this to not just be a monologue but I want this to be a dialogue. I want to hear from you. If you have questions, comments, connections, just raise your hand.

We have a mic in the room. Pretty much we can hear each other here in this room without a mic, but the mic is mostly for all the families that watch on the livestream. And so if you have a question,

comment, a connection that pertains to what we're talking about, I want

to hear from you. All you have to do is raise your hand. We'll get the mic to you and we can engage in this conversation that that you'll see modeled for you from other folks around the room today. That sound good?

Yeah.

With that in mind, let's open up our Bibles to John chapter 11 and we're going to begin reading in verse 11. We got a we got a lot of open water to cover here today. But we're going to read John chapter 11 verses 11 through 44. So, where is the mic in the room to start? So, you can either hand it off or you can kick us off, read a few verses, and then pass it on.

Okay. 11, right? Yes, ma'am.

Then he said, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but now I will go and wake him up. The disciples said, lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better. They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. So he so he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead and for your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there. For now, you will really, for now, you will really believe.

Come, let's go see him. Thomas, nicknamed the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let's go too and die with Jesus.

He's he's being rhetorical and sarcastic.

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem and many people of and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary and their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she would, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.

Pause. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming. I love to read the text. It helps us to gain fresh, holy spirit inspired insight. When we when we read familiar passages, as we engage our imagination and and exercise our wonder muscle, it helps us to look at the text with fresh eyes.

When Martha got word that Jesus is on his way, how did that happen? It's not like Jesus had his locations turned on, right? Like, so, we're, how did that happen? So, just allow yourself to wonder. Let's keep reading.

Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you'd been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus told her, your brother will rise again. Yes, Martha said, he will rise when everyone else rises.

Is she trying to teach Jesus? Is she patronizing him? Yes, Jesus. We know about the, I don't know. Let's let's exercise that wonder muscle.

Keep going.

Okay. He will rise when everyone else rises at the last day. Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life and anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?

Yes, Lord, she replied. I believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God, who is to come into the world. After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

Now, Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out. They followed her. Supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

And your friends with the person who holds the mic, they pick on you. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Pause.

What a beautiful, honest statement. From Mary. And what does that say about what Mary knew of Jesus? Had she heard the stories of his healings and his miracles? Had she witnessed them?

Did she just have a deep sense of knowing? What did she think that she could, what did she think that Jesus would have done for her brother Lazarus? If only you had been here but also we can see in that statement, the limitations of her understanding of who he was. Meaning, you had to be here to do something. You weren't here.

Therefore, your hands are tied but ugh, were you going to, here we go.

So, was she, was she angry with him for not being there because she didn't go out to meet him. So, was it was it like, hey, if you'd only been here, my brother would still be alive.

Yeah. Is there is there some anger in her? And notice Jesus doesn't rebuke her for whatever emotions are behind that. He just deals patiently with her. This is good.

Okay.

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him and he was deeply troubled.

But not at her.

Where have you put him? He asked them. They told him, Lord, come and see. Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, see how much he loved him.

But some said, this man healed the blind man. Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying? So

let's take a moment to appreciate the drama that is building. What do you see in your in your mind's eye? You've got Jesus, you've got Mary and Martha, you've got a throng of people. We don't know how many but it was a lot. They've all left where Mary and Martha at the house of Lazarus was mourning.

They're hearing that Jesus is coming back to town. He had just he had just come from this region where people had tried to kill him. He is an extremely polarizing and controversial figure, and now he's on the outskirts in the border of Jerusalem. There is a collective tension building. What is going to unfold in these next few moments?

We're seeing an emotion from Jesus that we've not yet seen, anger, Jesus wept. Can you feel the the the pregnancy of this moment? And then they go to the tomb.

I always wondered why he wept.

Why did Jesus weep? There are are sermons and sermons and volumes of books written about that. And isn't it interesting that the biographer John doesn't give us greater insight as to why. Why why did he get mad? Was he mad at at at the professional mourners that were there in those day, in those day and age, when somebody died, you could hire professional people to mourn and they would follow around the the funeral procession or they would be at the wake and they would cry and wail and tear their clothes and oh just ruin their makeup and they were paid to do it.

Those people are at Columbia University right now. Greg Jen.

Think he he wept. Sorry. Was weeping over the sin. His death.

Was it was it weeping over the sin? Was was was he was he faced with knowing what he was about to encounter? Death, the finality of death? He was about to encounter that. Was he mad at sin?

Was he mad at death, hell, and the grave? What?

I think he was mad at the unbelief. He'd done so much and the word traveled everywhere throughout Israel. So, it wasn't new. He had done, he had proven but they were still in unbelief.

He had already wrecked one funeral. Yeah. Right? Who remembers that story? What was the other funeral that he had already just completely messed up?

Yeah. Yeah. There there well well, there was oh, okay. Yes. So, he tells the girl, Talifa, Kumi.

Like, your daughter is not dead. She's just sleeping. Goes upstairs, kicks everybody out. Yes, you raised a little girl from the dead.

And a boy.

And a boy. That's Funeral procession. The funeral procession. He goes up, touches a thing. He's like, prang.

Ruined that funeral. Happy mother. Give the give the boy back to her mother. What what verse are we on? 38.

Okay, 38. We're going to 44. Let's keep going.

Then, Jesus, again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time, there is a stench, for he has been dead

for like four days. Wow.

For some reason, this verse, this little part always gets stuck in my head in the King James version. But Lord, he stinketh. Anybody's translation says that? Yeah. But lord, he stinketh which is what I say going into Kai's room.

And my rock shoes. Whoops.

Verse 40, Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of god? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and he said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.

Now, when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth. And he who die, who had died, came out. Bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. And Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go.

Jesus.

Let that moment sit and the dead man came out. His hands and feet were still bound in grave clothes And his face was wrapped in a head cloth. I wonder if you look at the the text there's a period before Jesus and then it says the word Jesus and then the word told then the word them and then there's a comma and then the next grammatical punctuation mark is quotation marks. I wonder how much time elapsed between the comma and that quotation mark. Meaning, there Lazarus stood and he had to tell the people Unwrap him.

The shock, the fear, the wonderment, the amazement. How many of you were here in 2017 for the eclipse? How many of you saw that with like like a group of people? What were people were people quiet? Or were people like freaking out?

They were freaking out, right? Some were laughing, clapping, some people were crying like just the the overwhelming emotion at just a solar event. What were people doing that Jesus had to state unwrap him It's coming. Cat with her track running boots.

Yeah. So maybe the people froze. Froze. They stinking, didn't know what to do. They just froze.

They weren't talking. Their eyes were probably yeah, they were in such a state of shock that they froze. Like a lot of people in an emergency, there's very few that get going and take action. Majority of people freeze one way or another. They were frozen.

If you're taking notes this morning oh, do you have something, g? Alright. Come on.

Well, I'm just thinking too, like, this is what happens in our lives. Right? We something terrible has happened to us or to someone that we know or, someone might be behaving some way like dead. When they come back out, it's hard for us to then treat them in a different way than how they've been acting. Right?

So, for those people, it's like, he's been dead for four days. Like, how do I now treat him like an alive person? But then, also for him, like, you know, we get stuck and we're still wrapped in all of this stuff that we've been dealing with for so long that it's hard, like, we have to remember to take those wrappings off of the old.

The title of this morning's conversation, if you're taking notes, is unwrapped. You can write this at the top of your notes, Kai.

And Brian, one more thing. I think it's interesting the writer did not elaborate with Lazarus where he what he had experienced in the four days. You know? Well,

he had, yeah, while he was unalive. What was he doing? The title. One slide back, please. There you go.

Were you gonna say something? No. Okay. The title of this morning's conversation is Unwrapped, Finding Freedom Outside of the Tomb. So I wanna look at these events just a little bit closer, and I wanna ask you a question.

When did they wrap up Lazarus? When did they? Like, multiple choice before or after? After he was unalived. It would not make much sense to wrap him up before he was unalived.

Why? Because he was alive. Anybody remember that Monty Python movie? I'm not dead yet. Bring out you dead, oh, we will be.

I debated showing that clip, I watched it, I was like, no, just look it up, look it up for yourself. So, while Lazarus was alive, the grave clothes were totally inappropriate. Grave clothes are inappropriate for alive people. Who fit best in grave clothes? Dead people.

People. Grandfires. They're they're undead. So listen, this is this is so simple. It it it might insult your intelligence, but only dead people belong in grave clothes.

Kai. Only dead people belong in grave clothes. Jesus arrives on the scene, messes up a perfectly good grieving party, and let's zoom in on verse twenty five and twenty six. I'll put it up on the screen. Jesus says this, I am the resurrection and the life.

Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die. And then he asked, do you believe this, Martha? Here's what's amazing. When a person invites Jesus into their heart, two things happen.

Every single one of us, before we invited Jesus into our heart, we were, the Bible says that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. And even though there was breath coming in and out of our lungs, and we ran and jumped and laughed and played with our friends and went on trips. The Bible says that we were spiritually dead. There was no life in us. Spiritually, we were wrapped in grave clothes, dead, having the appearance potentially, of life on the outside, but spiritually dead on the inside.

And it's not until the god man Jesus of Nazareth touches our heart to help us realize and see our condition of death and even if we were trying to be a good person. The Bible says that if we're trying to be a good person in the name of trying to win favor with God or to earn right standing with God, God, according to the Bible, is absolutely disgusted with our attempts at trying to win him over because we're dead. But then Jesus helps us to be aware of our condition of death. That we're lost and without hope. And we cry out to him.

Like Peter who is sinking under the waves as he was attempting to walk on water. Save me please. Jesus reaches down his hand, forgives us of our sin, and when we invite Jesus into our heart, two amazing things happen. Number one, a person who's invited Jesus into their heart, they become a new creation. Number one, they become a new creation.

Let's look at this for second Corinthians five seventeen. Paul is talking and he says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new creation. The old life, those old grave clothes, gone and a new life has begun. If you've invited Jesus into your heart, you're a new creation. Now, does that mean this is a little bit of a tricky question.

Does that mean you look different in the mirror? No. That was a pretty quick and definitive no. So why would you say no, even if you're a new creation, why would you say no, you don't look different in the mirror?

Because what took place is on the inside.

And explain a little bit more about like that inside instead of the outside. And this is not a trick question, I'm not setting you up for anything difficult, just talk to us a little about it.

Sure, well, there's scripture that says that man looks at the outside and sees what you like, but God looks at the heart. And so, you know, there could be a whole work happening inside of you, like whether it's bad or good turmoil or new life, and you would look the absolute same on the outside. But yeah, God is the one who does this stuff on the inside that we can't always see, but man sees the outside and and judges that way but god god does not.

Absolutely. Wouldn't it be cool if when you got saved, like angel wings, like ripped through your T shirt and shot out your back. And you're like, Well, just angel wings. Yeah, okay. Yes, we don't become angels but angel wings, wouldn't that be really cool?

I got saved at church on Sunday. Or if like like something outward physically happened, that would be really cool. The bible says you're a new creation. You actually become a new species. But nothing happens on the outside, as Amanda had said, but the inward, the the changes inward, we were dead on the inside, and then Jesus comes to live in our hearts.

We become a new creation. His spirit takes up residence within our heart and we become and are actually viewed by god as a brand new creation, a new thing in the universe.

And yes, he comes to live in our heart, but our mind has changed as well. Our mindset becomes totally different once that new creation is taken.

Oh, I'm so glad you brought this up. Does, okay, I'm going to I'm going pick on you just a little bit. Our heart, we become a new creation in our spirit. We get a new heart but when we get saved, do we also get a new mind?

I think we do because it's not just a heart thing. I mean, you think of heart and compassion and feeling good and but your thought process, it it changes. Everything you focused on before from your the music you listen to to the words that come out of your mouth, they start right between your ears. Okay. That heart connects to the brain.

That's right. Okay.

That's my opinion. 101.

101, everyone. Hand the mic just to the left.

It's not my experience. And I think that that's why the Bible says that we have to take our thoughts captive. And give them to Jesus. Because I think that that's something that and like scientifically, I would say that we have formed neural pathways before being saved and so I think that your mind will automatically go to some of those things over and over and we have to diligently capture those thoughts and then give them to Jesus and then focus on what is good, lovely.

I love it. So, it certainly nobody in here has a potty mouth. Nope, nobody here. Nobody. No.

Well, maybe you get pulled over and I'll help you. But when you got saved, quit pointing at your neighbor and nudging them. When you got saved, a change happened in your heart, but did you know, and maybe it did, but did you notice your language get just miraculously, instantly cleaned up? No. You had to work on that.

The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse two, do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this world but instead be transformed by the renewing of your what? Mind. Mind. Why do our minds have to be renewed? Because our minds didn't get saved, our heart did.

We became a new creation in our heart but our minds didn't get born again. That happens when we get a new body at the return of Jesus. Until then, we gotta renew that mind.

Every

day. Yeah.

Yeah, so I have a minor point, Amanda. And that is, yes, I agree. Not necessarily a physical change, But the eyes are the gateway to the heart. And when Colleen and I got saved at moments apart, that's what people recognize in us. It wasn't how we looked or, you know, my long hair at the time, but the eyes, they saw something different.

And I see that in people too. It doesn't mean that, you know, there's sometimes I feel down, I feel oppressed. But most of the time, you look in a person's eye and you can see something more than just the eye. There's something deeper.

That's pretty cool. Kate, that got an amen from you. Is sometimes you can see an outward manifestation of the inward change that's happened apart like something different about you. Yeah. Absolutely.

Yes. I agree. Okay. So, there's a lot that there's a lot that happens when a person invites Jesus into their heart. I'm just looking at two things.

Number one, when a person invites Jesus into their heart, they become a new creation. Number two, they receive a new wardrobe. When a person invites Jesus into their heart, they not only become a new creation, they receive a new wardrobe. A fresh fit if you will. Amen.

And the problem is you gotta wait to Revelation to get it. Alright, let's let's look at Revelation. Revelation chapter 19 verse eight. You can just jot this down and come back and and chew on it later. She, which is the church, and if you are a part, if you are a Christian, you're a part of the body of Christ which is the church and even if you are a he, you're still in that body.

She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. For the fine linen represents the good deeds of god's holy people. When a person invites Jesus into their heart, two things happen. They become a new creation and they receive a new wardrobe. Here's the thing about living in this world.

Right now, we're stuck, or we are trapped, if you will, between two different dimensions. One dimension is purely just this physical dimension of time, space, and matter. And our brain, our soul, is stuck in that because it was born into that, right? But our spirit has access to, and comes in and out of, a different dimension. We are, this will really maybe raise some eyebrows, but it's pretty accurate.

We're transdimensional beings. That's the conflict within us. If you haven't been born again, you're just a knuckle dragging earth dweller. Right? There's no extra dimension to you.

When you invite Jesus into your heart, you get access to become there's a new dimension added to your nature that allows you to what the Bible says, not walk by sight but by faith. And part of that trans dimensional nature to our new being is that we get a brand new wardrobe. Not with snaps and zippers and Gore Tex. Or fine linen, whatever it is you're into but that we have been clothed in righteousness. But here's the thing about being stuck between these two worlds.

This world constantly tries to put our old grave clothes back on us. Grave clothes are only appropriate for what kind of people? Dead. Dead. Dead people wear grave clothes.

Anybody who's invited Jesus into their heart, they are a new creation. They've been given a new wardrobe but because of the world that we live in, this world constantly tries to put those old grave clothes back on us. Well, how does that happen? It it happens with mindset. It happens with falling back into old patterns, agreeing with these thoughts that says you're a failure.

You've messed up and you've blown it and you've gone too far this time. What is that? That is grave clothes that the world would try to put back on you. You are damaged goods. What is that?

That is not from the lord. Those are grave clothes that the world would try to put back on you. You're not as pretty as so and so. You're not as handsome as so and so. You're not as as talented or smart or as popular as so and so.

Those are grave clothes that the world would put back on you. You're a failure. You won't be loved unless you won't be loved by the Lord unless you fill in the blank. Those are grave clothes that the world would try to put back on you. How about this one?

Oh, you've messed up so bad, there's no way that you can ever make that right. Grave clothes.

Two scriptures came to mind when you were talking about being transdimensional beings. First one, that we're seated with Christ in heavenly places. So, what I like to do. Okay. When you're when I when those thoughts come to me like what you're talking about and I recognize them as worldly or I recognize them as from the enemy.

I ask Jesus, Jesus, I'm seated with you in heavenly places. Let me see from your perspective what you see right now and what do you say about me, not what I'm hearing from my own soul or from the enemy and the second one that came to mind is when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and he's talking about needing to be born again and Nicodemus is confused. In that part, he was talking he was speaking to what Nicodemus knew from the Talmud, which is that the Jews believe that all of this life is a womb experience getting ready to really be born into the spirit in the next life in heaven and what Jesus was trying to express is, no, don't you understand that that can happen now? You can be born of the spirit now. So, we can be transdimensional beings when fallen things happen because in that moment, we can get a taste of heaven.

It doesn't mean life is perfect but we can get a taste of god's glory in the midst of even the worst suffering or pain or all the things that you were just talking about. That's transdimensional. So, I just want to at the such a beautiful word that you that you said. I've never heard anybody describe it that way.

All you first beers, parents could be like, how is church today? Like, oh, pastor Brian was talking about how we're transdimensional beings. Welcome to tribe. Okay. So let's talk about the truth.

So the the world would constantly try to put these old grave clothes on us. But here's what the truth of what Jesus has to say. John chapter eight verse 36. John chapter eight verse 36. Jesus is speaking and he says, who the son sets free is free indeed.

Amen. So good to write down. Look at this verse, John chapter 10 verse 10. Jesus is speaking again and he says, I have come so that they may have life and have it more abundantly. Life to the fullest.

Not just the next verse. Kai, please. John ten ten, I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. Not just like a pulse but life to the fullest, life free from grave clothes, resurrection life, life that is so super abundant inside of you that it leaks out through your earth suit so that somebody might look at you and be like, there's something different about you. I see it in your eyes.

I see it in your your countenance. Abundant life. Life that just overflows. Not the kind of life that you feel when you got first tram on a powder day at the village which is a pretty cool kind of feeling life but has nothing to do with eternity. Jesus says, I have come so that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

And then finally, Romans chapter six verse 14. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer have to live essentially with those grave clothes, The requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of god's grace. How many Christians have experienced resurrection, new life like Lazarus, but walk around with grave clothes that the enemy has allowed them to put back on their body. Who fits who fits best in grave clothes?

Dead people. People. For whom Kat, do you have the mic? For whom does it look weird to be wearing grave clothes, right? Right back here.

Yes. For whom does it look weird to be wearing grave clothes? Undead people. Undead people.

Yeah, I I just can't help it. Like, I I know I'm safe, but it seems like I don't know. I don't know. I I'm wearing those great clothes, and I don't try to. It's just it's it's a lot of it's guilt in my mind, I guess.

Yeah. You grab the mic and come up here real quick. Okay. I didn't know I

was gonna be called out.

Guys Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. I'm sitting right here. Okay.

So I really appreciate that that that that beautiful honest confession. Read the the next sentence of my notes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Says today, Jesus stands outside of whatever tomb you might find yourself in and calls you back into light and says, Unwrap him and let him go.

You just stay right. Let's just stay right here. We got a good you're you're super brave because there are lots of us in the room this morning who know that we are saved and who either try to masquerade masquerade the grave clothes that we've either put back on or allowed to put back on us from the world. We masquerade as like, yay, I got these like new clothes but we just put these grave clothes back on there, ill fitting. And what you said was right at the part of my notes.

Of the invitation that Jesus once again stands back outside of the tomb that we try to crawl back into or that the world would try to shove us back into. Dead people are supposed to stay dead. Dead people don't rise from the dead. But Jesus stood outside of the tomb of your heart and called you to life and man, he did that for me Has he done that for anybody else in here? No.

But here's that here's that tricky thing. That dirty old devil would try to put those grave clothes back on us. Okay. So, I want to be really practical that we have. How?

Stay right here. How? This is you and me time. You're helping me preach this. How practically?

How practically? Like like the rubber meets the road Monday morning. How do we tear off those old grave clothes? That the world would try to put back on us. Can anybody relate to this?

Let, yeah, look at him in the hand is shooting up with with fervency in two hands. That dirty old dirt. Here, let's just try this back on. Guilt, shame, condemnation, fear, falling back into ruts that you had climbed out of. Man.

That, that, that, that rut of comfort being complacent in your relationship with Jesus, whatever it is, how practically? Practically, how do we grab a halt of the truth that we are been made a new creation and those grave clothes no longer belong on us? I I I put one more passage up on the screen here. It it's long as you gotta read it and you can maybe look at that that screen over there. Put that verse up please, sir.

Romans chapter six verse six through 11. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin, having to wear those grave clothes. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know that we will also live with him.

We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin but now that he lives, he lives for the glory of god and this is the the crux, the key, the the the gooey cream filled center of the delicious donut of this nugget. So you also should consider yourselves, reckon, think, meditate, speak it over yourselves. I have died to the power of sin.

And I am alive to God through Christ Jesus. How do we strip off those grave clothes and and leave em behind? We have to consider and reckon ourselves. I have died to sin. My old self has been crucified with Christ.

And then the Holy Spirit will tell you like like, son, don't be put on those great apostles, right? And in his goodness and in his gentleness and his mercy, he reminds us. Now, my, I'm looking at you and my hand is on your shoulder but pastorally, it's on every one of y'all including my shoulder, right? You ain't special, right? It's not like like you ain't special.

We all get these grave clothes that try to be put on us but today, the invitation is to come to to step out of the tomb, be unwrapped from those grave clothes and walk in the newness of life that Jesus has provided for you. Where's the mic cat? Oh. Will you hand that to Caleb on your way to sit down? I know.

I feel like maybe you got something, Caleb. I know you didn't raise your hand but. I was just hoping we could lay some hands on him and pray for him. Alright. Alright.

Alright. Just right. Just right. Just right there. We're going to even let him get back to his seat.

And y'all lay your hands on him but Caleb, you pray. Oh, and how about this? I know everybody's like already gathered up around this. How about, let's just make this like, let's anybody else, so you might have to rearrange yourself. But who else feels in here today over the course of our conversation like, ah, those those bandages of death have just been wrapped around me that ah, I just, I need, I need help tearing off those old, gray clothes.

I know that I'm a new creation in Christ but they're just some like like, you know what I'm saying? So, who else would would need prayer? You might need to reorganize yourself. Just raise your hand. The seal has already been broken.

He raised his hand. So, like, you're not special if you raise your hand but just raise your hand and people around you will pray. Okay, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, okay. So, we might need to shuffle around. So, some of y'all in the back, yeah, yeah, go that way.

And Laura, would you unmute Lisa's guitar, please? Yeah, that's so cool. Anybody else like, ugh, I just need some help. Lazarus needed help. Jesus had to say, unwrap him and set him free.

Anybody like, does this thing in my life, this dog in my heels, feels like grave clothes wrapped on me. I need help being set free from that. You got people here that love to help unwrap it. Now, take just a moment and since we're praying for multiple people, don't pray in the mic. But take just a moment, maybe one or two of you pray out loud, loud enough for the people around you to hear.

And then the rest of the people that are there, they're going to be agreeing in prayer for you and then I'll pray and wrap us up and we'll go just to the the last few moments of our service together. So, unwrap em. Unwrap em. Jesus Leave. Go pray for that guy with the white buttoned shirt.

Take just a few more moments Unwrap. Unwrap. Unwrap. Thank you, lord. I know that some of you might still be praying over that person that's great.

Let me just take, say, just a few words of prayer for us. Jesus Today, you stand outside of the tomb that tried to crawl back into and you say, come out. And right now, in this moment, there are people gathered around others that Jesus would say, unwrap em and set them free Your word says, whom the son sets free is free indeed. God, help those grave clothes to fall off. Put on the robe of righteousness that you've given them.

Doesn't mean that they're going to be perfect but there would be a shift in their mindset, lord. That they've been set free and they're alive. They're alive. They're alive. Then, people don't belong in tombs.

If it's loneliness, if it's pain feelings of inadequacy, whatever it is. Jesus, we ask you, do a mighty miracle in this. And as you finish, wind wind down your prayers for people and you just melt back into your seats. Let's seal the ministry that's happening here this morning. By as you're ready, just getting into Would that be alright if I prayed for you?

All terrestrial and transdimensional beings, would you just stand up? Lord Jesus, thank you so much that you loved us, you see us, you recognize us, you went all the way out of your way to stand outside of our graves and call us from death into life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you father that we don't have to walk around as alive people with dead grave clothes on. Thank you that you set us free. Help us this week to walk in the new life that we've been given. I command a blessing over each and every person here this morning. Give us a great week.

End of school is coming. Give us endurance. Help us to have a great week. We pray these things. In Jesus name, the strong son of god.

Everybody said, amen. I love you so very much and remember, Venta, you got this.