WEBVTT

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 Let me add to the welcome that others have given and say a very happy Easter to you all.

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 Now I have a challenge because today the older primary kids, I think from primary four and up, are staying in.

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 So I'm going to have to try and keep your attention.

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 So at the start my promise is that I'm not going to be any longer than 20 minutes.

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 Hopefully that might help some of the rest of you as well.

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 I've got a timer on. If it beeps at 20 minutes then I'm just going to stop right there and then.

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 That's my promise.

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 I've also got just three key words that I really want you to remember.

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 As I ask the question, and this is the title of my talk, where is Jesus?

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 Where is Jesus?

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 We've heard a huge amount today about the resurrection of Jesus.

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 We had that brilliant kids talk with some of the arguments that people bring as to why he didn't really get raised.

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 And we've dealt with all of them.

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 And now we're moving on from Matthew chapter 28 to this really practical question.

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 So where is Jesus?

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 Let me get some answers.

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 What do you think?

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 Where is Jesus?

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 Sitting at God's right hand.

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 Yes.

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 I'm going to sit in heaven.

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 In heaven.

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 On a chair.

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 On a chair.

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 Well yes, sitting at God's right hand.

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 Okay.

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 So these answers are not wrong.

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 Okay.

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 But I'm going to give you some other answers in my three words from Matthew chapter 28 in terms of where is Jesus.

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 I want you to be listening out for these three words.

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 And we'll recap them at the end.

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 And we'll see if we can all remember them.

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 So Matthew 28.

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 We see people searching for Jesus.

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 They're wondering where Jesus is.

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 And we see two groups of people who are really keen to find Jesus.

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 And one group that was desperate never to find Jesus.

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 Now it's Easter Sunday mornings.

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 We're not going to spend too long on that one group that didn't want to find them.

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 But you'll see them there in the middle of the passage.

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 People who should have known better didn't ever want to see Jesus.

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 The chief priests.

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 They were like, right, this is really worrying.

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 People are talking about this tomb being empty.

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 We're going to have to make up some stories here.

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 And try and make sure that this guy who we thought we'd successfully killed will never again be seen by anyone else.

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 Okay.

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 They were the group who were searching.

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 Well, they were determined that whatever happened, they were not going to find Jesus.

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 But the other two groups at the start, the first group is a small group.

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 We need to have two women.

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 And then the other group is the group of disciples.

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 They really wanted to see Jesus.

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 And they were searching.

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 And the trouble was that in the first case, the women, were they going to the right place?

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 Did these women search in the right place?

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 I'm looking for a bit of audience interaction here.

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 This is intended to be an interactive talk.

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 Did they look in the right place?

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 No.

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 Why not?

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 Why was it the wrong place?

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 They were searching for the living among the dead.

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 These women searching for Jesus went to a tomb.

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 Why go to a tomb if you're searching for somebody who is very much alive?

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 They went and searched in the wrong place.

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 I am sure there are many of us here today who want that relationship with Jesus that Florence has just told us about so powerfully.

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 They want to know forgiveness of sin.

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 They, we, want to know peace with God our Father.

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 We don't want just some sort of vague possibility about life after death.

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 We want security and an assurance that we are going to go to heaven after we die.

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 And the risk is that some of us might be searching in the wrong place.

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 Florence, you've told us about various places where you searched and your conviction that ultimately you were searching in the wrong place.

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 These women that were going to a tomb, they were searching in the wrong place for Jesus.

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 So it's possible, friends, at Brunsfield Evangelical Church, that even coming to church, we could be coming thinking that simply by attending here, we'll be finding Jesus.

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 And if that's the case, we might be looking in the wrong place too.

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 Because it's not just about coming along to a church and having a nice time and singing a few songs.

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 That's not where we'll necessarily find Jesus.

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 So we're going to need to explore a little bit more to find out how in Matthew 28 people found Jesus.

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 And I'm going to start off by looking at these disciples.

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 Do you know what they discovered?

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 And here's the first word in their search for Jesus.

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 They eventually discovered that Jesus was ahead of them.

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 Right?

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 Did you notice this in the passage?

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 And I confess, having read this passage for years and thought about it, and we always read it Eastern, we read about it regularly.

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 I hadn't really focused on the fact that the one thing that's repeated time and again in this passage

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 is that Jesus had gone on ahead of the disciples.

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 So in verse 7, the angel seems in a real hurry to tell the woman that Jesus is going ahead and will meet them in Galilee.

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 And then Jesus meets the woman in verse 10 and again offering them comfort,

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 quickly tells the woman that he's going on ahead to Galilee to see his brothers and that they will meet Jesus there.

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 Why was Jesus going on ahead of them into Galilee?

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 Jesus could have appeared anywhere.

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 He did that with a woman.

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 Bang!

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 He's there.

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 He had those powers after he was raised from the dead.

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 And it was kind of made it more difficult for the disciples, right?

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 Because they were really frightened.

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 Other accounts tell us that all the disciples wanted to do at this point was lock the door,

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 hide under the table and hope that nobody came to kill them, basically.

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 And yet the message is, sorry, disciples, if you want to meet with Jesus,

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 if you want an encounter with Jesus, you're going to have to recognize he's gone on ahead.

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 And you're going to have to follow where he's gone.

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 You're going to have to get to Galilee because today, disciples, Galilee is the place where Jesus is going to show up.

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 There are two aspects of this that I would like us to tease out this morning.

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 The significance of Galilee for those disciples

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 and the significance of Jesus continuing to go on ahead of us.

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 So why Galilee?

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 Well, maybe some of you are going back in your minds

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 and you're thinking about the significance of Galilee in the life of Jesus.

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 You see, in Matthew 5, if you maybe look later at the start of this book,

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 Matthew 5, Jesus, at the beginning of his work, is walking by the Sea of Galilee.

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 And it's there that Jesus sees Peter and Andrew and some of the other disciples to be and says,

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 come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

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 But that was then.

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 That was three and a half years ago.

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 And these disciples have gone through brilliant times with Jesus,

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 but then they've watched him die.

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 These disciples, locked as they are in the room in fear, think it's all over.

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 And the message to the disciples through that angel and through the woman as given to them by Jesus is it's not over.

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 However, you're going to have to go back to where it all started.

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 Jesus has gone on ahead of you to Galilee.

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 And you're going to have to deal with your fears, get out of that room and get back to Galilee.

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 Galilee, the place where it all started, was this special place where those disciples had to go back.

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 Jesus would let them know back in Galilee that despite all of their doubts and failure,

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 think of Peter, think of all of his denials, think of the others as they ran away when Jesus was facing his worst moments.

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 Jesus was going to tell them back in Galilee that it hadn't finished.

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 It was just starting.

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 Back in Galilee, Jesus had gone on ahead and would tell them in this great commission that Georgia read to us about at the end,

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 that they were going to continue their work of telling others about Jesus.

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 That far from him being powerless and dead, now all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to them.

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 They and all the followers of Jesus to come would have a work to do because of the resurrection of Jesus.

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 I wonder whether in some ways today Jesus is still going on ahead of us.

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 And whether in some ways today Jesus might be inviting us to follow him perhaps back to what might be a Galilee for us.

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 Can some of us reflect on really special times in our own walk with Jesus, those of us who have been following him for a while?

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 Moments where we have known him to be close.

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 Moments where we had a real passion in our hearts or fire in our hearts for Jesus.

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 Moments where we were absolutely determined to follow him no matter what it took.

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 That was Galilee for those disciples where they'd first decided that they were going to follow Jesus.

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 I can think personally of some days where I was a student at Glasgow University,

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 where I'd got involved with a bunch of others in the Christian Union,

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 and I distinctly remember still as about an 18-year-old going off on a retreat to the Lake of Menteith.

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 And I remember us talking and planning what was going to happen with the Christian Union over the coming years at Glasgow University.

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 And I still remember that sense of absolute intimacy with Jesus.

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 That sense that he was meeting us there at the shores, this time not the shores of Galilee,

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 but the shores of the Lake of Menteith.

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 That we were absolutely convinced by his power and by all that he had planned for us.

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 And as I've reflected this week on the call of the disciples to go back to Galilee,

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 I wonder if some of us this Easter Sunday morning need to get back,

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 maybe it's to a physical place, or maybe more likely it's to a place in our own hearts,

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 where we recapture that passion for Jesus.

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 That excitement and conviction that he is calling us to do great things in this short time that we have to serve him.

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 I wonder in what ways Jesus might still be going on ahead of us.

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 Might there be ways this Easter Sunday in which Jesus is still calling us to new places,

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 to new adventures, to leave a life of comfort and safety and predictability.

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 And he's telling us that he's gone on ahead and our job is to follow him.

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 There are so many references in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms,

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 to the ways in which God constantly goes on ahead of us and challenges us to follow.

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 We don't worship a God who just sort of stays still and promises a life of calm predictability.

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 It doesn't seem to be the sort of God that we worship.

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 Psalm 139 verse 5 says,

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 You go before me and you follow me.

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 Before and behind you place your hand of blessing on my head.

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 As I've been reflecting on this, I have permission from my youngest son to share this story.

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 As I've been reflecting on this, I've been thinking about a family holiday we've had over the last week.

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 And my youngest son's great temptation, he's embarrassed now,

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 great temptation when we're out walking or in this case cycling, to lag behind.

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 Distracted.

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 He said himself, distracted by trees, which feel like they are trees that just need to be climbed.

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 And I'm saying, come on, keep up, keep up.

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 We've got somewhere to go.

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 Don't lag behind.

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 And I wonder if in some ways this Easter Sunday morning, Jesus might be saying to me,

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 Paul, keep up.

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 Keep up.

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 This Christian life, I'm going places for you.

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 I've got work for you to do.

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 Don't lag behind.

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 Don't get distracted by the stuff that's around on this path.

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 I'm going on ahead.

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 Take my hand.

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 Stay close.

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 Follow me.

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 In our final song, we will sing these words.

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 We'll sing about our gaze being transfixed on Jesus' face.

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 We'll sing that with reference to what heaven will be like.

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 But I reckon it's what this life's meant to be like as well.

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 Jesus, constantly leading us forward.

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 The living one.

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 Great plans for us.

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 Going on ahead.

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 And inviting us to stay close.

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 So, young people, some of you might be rolling eggs down the hill a bit later on.

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 I see there's lots of boiled eggs there.

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 And I think everybody's welcome to go to the meadows afterwards.

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 And let that egg run on ahead of you.

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 And some of you will go chasing after that egg.

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 Because I've seen you do it before.

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 And try and stay as close.

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 See, when you do so, I want to encourage you to think about the way in which Jesus

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 still goes on ahead of us.

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 And encourages us to keep our eyes on him.

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 And to follow him wherever he may lead.

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 Maybe, for some of us, there are big adventures in this life of faith ahead of us.

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 This week, this month, this year.

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 The living Jesus challenges us to follow him.

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 But two other words which I think will be really helpful for us.

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 It's not just that he says he's going on ahead.

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 Second word, he says he is with us.

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 It's there.

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 It was experienced at least in three ways in this passage in Matthew 28.

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 They were the woman.

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 They did their searching.

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 And they didn't find, first of all.

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 And then suddenly, Jesus appears and is with them.

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 And what do they do?

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 They kneel at his feet.

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 And they worship him.

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 And they enjoy his company.

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 They enjoy the fact that he is with them.

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 And then later, the disciples, as they finally make that journey.

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 And they get up that hill in Galilee.

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 They discover that Jesus had indeed gone ahead of them.

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 And then they experience the joy of Jesus being with them.

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 And some of them doubt.

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 It wasn't easy for them.

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 But they experience that joy of Jesus being with them.

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 And then the wonderful promise in the very last verse of Matthew 28.

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 A promise not just to those disciples.

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 But Brunsfield's Evangelical Church.

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 A promise to us.

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 A promise to those who will follow him.

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 A promise to those people who even this day are mourning in Sri Lanka.

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 As many went to worship.

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 And some have lost their lives leaving loved ones bereft.

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 A promise which is for us in the fear and uncertainty and anxiety that some of us experience even today.

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 I know some are battling with ill health.

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 Are battling with heartaches.

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 Are battling with uncertainties about the future.

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 With concerns about family.

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 With concerns about money.

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 In which case, here's the promise from Jesus this Easter Sunday.

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 Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

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 He goes ahead.

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 He leads us on.

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 He also promises that he is with us.

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 Today and every day.

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 His name is Emmanuel.

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 Which means God with us.

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 And finally.

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 And this gets into really quite profound truth.

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 About the Jesus whom we serve.

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 He's not only the one who leads us on and goes on ahead.

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 He's not only the one who is with us.

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 But he is also the one who is in us.

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 If this day we are willing to accept him.

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 Have you heard the phrase asking Jesus into your heart?

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 It's maybe a phrase which we don't use so much.

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 Maybe sometimes it's seen as almost slightly glib and superficial.

00:17:20.059 --> 00:17:22.179
 But yet as I've thought today.

00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:23.599
 Where is Jesus?

00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:26.480
 The reality this Easter Sunday.

00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:31.159
 Is that Jesus wants to come in to us.

00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:32.599
 Where do I get this from?

00:17:32.679 --> 00:17:36.159
 Colossians chapter 1 verse 27 says this.

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 God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery.

00:17:41.919 --> 00:17:44.919
 Which is Christ in you.

00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:46.299
 The hope of glory.

00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:49.119
 Ephesians chapter 3 verse 17.

00:17:49.419 --> 00:17:55.619
 Paul's prayer was that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

00:17:55.619 --> 00:18:05.919
 Now I don't want in any way to dismiss it as something which is simply about praying a one-off prayer.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.639
 Saying Jesus please come into my heart.

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 And then that's it.

00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:11.879
 If you've never prayed that prayer.

00:18:12.379 --> 00:18:13.839
 Then maybe today is the day.

00:18:14.019 --> 00:18:15.559
 This resurrection Sunday.

00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:19.159
 Where you can indeed pray that prayer.

00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.380
 Inviting Jesus in.

00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:27.160
 Inviting him to take his place as your saviour and your Lord.

00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:29.259
 But for all of us.

00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.480
 Whether we've come here not sure if we're Christians.

00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:35.240
 Or whether we've been Christians for many, many years.

00:18:35.340 --> 00:18:36.420
 Today is a day.

00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.740
 Where I'd invite us to pause.

00:18:39.860 --> 00:18:41.759
 And invite Jesus in.

00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:49.640
 He's the one who says that he wants to dwell in our hearts.

00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.220
 Not just a character who we know about.

00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:57.940
 Not just arguments that we have with others who might not believe.

00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:02.819
 But a person who promises to always go ahead.

00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:05.379
 To always be with us.

00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:09.180
 And who wants to come into our hearts.

00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:11.500
 We're at 19 minutes.

00:19:12.100 --> 00:19:13.740
 So I'm going to suggest we pause.

00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:17.000
 And just take a few moments to reflect on what we've heard.

00:19:17.580 --> 00:19:20.180
 And maybe some of you want to pray your own prayer.

00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:22.420
 As you think about what Jesus.

00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:23.920
 The living Jesus.

00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:26.420
 Has to say to you.

00:19:26.820 --> 00:19:28.180
 And do for you.

00:19:28.580 --> 00:19:28.840
 Today.

00:19:29.080 --> 00:19:29.500
 Let's pray.

00:19:33.860 --> 00:19:35.860
 Lord Jesus help us to follow you.

00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:38.160
 Wherever you want us to go.

00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:43.980
 Help us to know the truth.

00:19:44.580 --> 00:19:46.519
 Of you being with us.

00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.440
 Whatever challenges we face.

00:19:52.620 --> 00:19:55.200
 Help us to live in the reality.

00:19:56.340 --> 00:19:58.340
 Of you Jesus Christ.

00:19:59.019 --> 00:20:00.779
 Dwelling in our hearts.

00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:05.539
 May these truths.

00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:07.359
 Change us.

00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.160
 And may they help us.

00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:15.200
 To be people who continue to live out this great commission.

00:20:15.879 --> 00:20:18.779
 Of going into all the world.

00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:23.420
 Of proclaiming the good news about Jesus.

00:20:24.379 --> 00:20:26.279
 Of baptising others.

00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:29.579
 And teaching others to obey you.

00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:31.939
 Thank you Lord Jesus.

00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:33.240
 That you're alive.

00:20:33.899 --> 00:20:35.539
 We worship you this day.

00:20:36.539 --> 00:20:36.779
 Amen.

00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:37.119
 Amen.

00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:37.740
 Amen.

00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:46.539
 Amen.

00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:47.160
 Thank you.

00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:47.299
 A prayer.

00:20:47.379 --> 00:20:47.500
 Amen.