God is the Master at healing broken hearts. At some point in our lives, we all face pain. How we deal with that pain will either lead us to the Comforter, or into unbelief.
when he brings healing to a broken heart
it doesn’t at least for me it doesn’t
initially start with answers
most of the time i don’t need answers
anyway i need a person
i need presence i i
if i can have the peace that passes
understanding i’m good
which has for me has meant i have to
give up my right to understand
verse 1 of chapter 16
when the sabbath was passed mary
magdalene mary the mother of james
siloam brought spices that they might
come and anoint him
very early in the morning on the first
day of the week they came to the tomb
when the sun had risen
and they said among themselves who will
roll away the stone from the door of the
tomb for us
but when they looked up they saw that
the stone had been rolled away it was
very large
entering the tomb they saw a young man
clothed
in a long white robe sitting at the
right side
and they were alarmed
and he said to them do not be alarmed
you seek jesus of nazareth who was
crucified he is risen there’s the
coolest three words ever spoken
he is risen he is not here see the place
where they laid him
but go tell his disciples and peter
which is interesting
it’s not that peter wasn’t a disciple he
just needed a little extra attention
so sometimes every one of us have needed
just a little extra nudge and jesus was
kind enough to give it to peter so he
said go tell the disciples and peter
go tell them um
that excuse me that he is going before
you into galilee where you will see him
as he said to you
and that’s a that’s an amazing promise
isn’t it
go to galilee you’ll see him for
yourself
they went up quickly they fled from the
tomb they trembled were amazed they said
nothing to anyone they were afraid
when he rose early on the first day of
the week he appeared to mary magdalene
out of whom he casts seven demons
she went and told those who had been
with him as they mourned and wept
and when they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her they did not
believe let’s stop right there for a
moment
you know what let’s read the next two
verses
three verses after that he appeared in
another form to two of them as they
walked in the country
and they went and told it to the rest
but they did not believe them either
verse 14. he appeared to the eleven as
they sat at the table he rebuked their
unbelief and hardness of heart because
they did not believe those who had seen
him after he had risen
i i returned to this story you know you
have places that you’re familiar with in
scripture and you return to just for
i call it recreational reading it’s just
it’s just where you go to just to kind
of be refreshed with what is spoken and
this uh this portion has uh has meant a
lot to me personally because it shows me
how to number one how to deal with
mourning every one of us have
disappointment every one of us have lost
every one of us got stuff that we have
no explanation for
uh you just get that in life
and if you don’t know how to navigate
that stuff you end up crippled you can
call it whatever you want you can you
can call it well that’s just not my gift
that’s not my calling but really you’re
just resisting to step into who you are
because you’re hurt
this issue of pain he says here it says
that they uh they were mourning in verse
10 and they did not believe
mourning
will take you one of two places first of
all mourning is biblical
if you if it takes you to god
blessed are they who mourn for they
shall be what
comfort say it again
blessed are they who mourn for they
should be comforted so here’s the point
there is one route to go in mourning
where i don’t have the answers i don’t
have the solutions i don’t have some
great strategy all i know is who to come
to
and i come to this place in abandonment
oftentimes in worship in the sacrifice
of thanksgiving when it doesn’t feel
good but i do it anyway in that
engagement with the person of the holy
spirit he comes and he comforts there’s
one direction to go in mourning that
takes you to the comforter the other
takes you to unbelief
and we can call it all kinds of
religious
titles
but the bottom line is is i’m in pain i
don’t have answers for it
and i’m going to keep the the routine up
i’m just not going to be as involved in
that area
i just suffered great loss i’m not going
to pray for the sick like i was
and it’s not always thought through it’s
just what we do is we react to oh we
suffered loss with cancer i i’ll just
somebody else has the anointing for that
i’ll seek for
people who
have injured legs or something you know
we we rationalize instead of going
head-on into the area where we need to
be healed
when he brings healing to a broken heart
it doesn’t at least for me it doesn’t
initially start with answers
most of the time i don’t need answers
anyway i need a person
i need presence i i
if i can have the peace that passes
understanding i’m good
which for me has meant i have to give up
my right to understand
there’s something about coming into that
place of engaging with the person of the
holy spirit where i’m i’m engaging with
him in surrender i’m not there to
dictate to him
i’m not i’m not with him so that i can
become successful in life
i’m there because he’s god and i’m not
i think i mentioned last week i saw the
sign and said uh
the only difference between you and god
is he’s not trying to be you
[Laughter]
excuse me that’s not the only difference
but you got the point all right all
right
so this thing of mourning then takes me
in one of two directions it either takes
me to a place
of healing
comfort from the comforter or to
unbelief now picture being the 11th
you’re huddled together in a home you’re
scared to death because jesus was just
brutally murdered before your eyes
you’re afraid you might be next if
there’s anything you don’t feel it’s
resistant to truth you feel demoralized
maybe you feel weakened there’s probably
tears there’s probably all this stuff
going on in the room but the one thing
you don’t feel like is a hardness of
heart and yet when jesus walks in the
room he rebuked them for their hardness
of heart see hardness of heart isn’t
evident through strong self-will
hardness of heart is oftentimes evidence
in the unwillingness to deal with the
pain that’s in your life
unwilling to come to the lord for him to
bring healing out of that which makes no
sense
and what happens is it builds a
resistance in us the scary thing to me
about this the story is here’s the guys
that are going to be taking on the
message to shape the course of world
history
and jesus starts off his relationship
with them with a rebuke
this is his first interaction with him
after the resurrection
and he’s basically saying listen i sent
messengers to you you didn’t believe
them
i told you ahead of time what would
happen then i sent messengers here’s
part of the problem the first messenger
was mary magdalene
first of all in this male-dominated
culture women were counted
not saying it’s right i’m just saying
that’s that’s the culture of the day
and so these guys that are running
things
who does jesus first reveal himself to
not just women
mary magdalene
the demonized tormented one
jesus chooses her first or the father
did however it works it was chosen
i remember
here’s part of the problem is you have
to learn to recognize when god is
speaking not because it makes sense to
you but because you recognize the
presence of god released when they speak
yeah i’m so glad that you uh watched
this video i do pray that it’s a great
great strength and encouragement to you
and i’ve got a verse that it really is
my cry for all of us and it’s uh psalms
20 it’s verse 4
may he grant you your heart’s desire and
fulfill all your plans
that’s my prayer that’s my prayers that
this would be the season of rich rich
fulfillment
thanks for joining us