Selen's Service

1. Welcome, everyone!

For those who don’t know me, my name is Joel Littlefield. I’m the lead pastor at New City Church in Bath.

My purpose in being here is to speak to you about the truth.

It is in times like this that the mind can run in circles, looking for answers, wondering why life is the way it is, considering our own paths, and wanting to know what we could have or should have done different.

Try to lay all that aside for just a few minutes. Questions are good to ask, but going to the right place with those questions is paramount. In my life, I’ve been convinced over and over again that God can handle any question that anyone has. He has heard them all. He has the patience to deal with them like no one else can. He has the love to tell us truthful answers even when it hurts. And he has the grace to pull us up out of the miry clay and set our feet on solid ground again.

That’s what is needed in times like this. Solid ground. It will take time, and your time of mourning your loss can be healthy and healing, but only if you have solid places to set your feet.

That’s why I’m here. To walk with you for just a bit, and show you some places to set your feet.

6. SERMON

One place I want you each to set your feet this morning is here...

Jesus, the Son of God, chose to become a human in order to experience pain and loss of our sinful world.

Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

There’s a famous story when Jesus was away doing ministry with His disciples when he got word from two sister, Mary and Martha, that a close friend named, Lazarus, was ill. This story is of course most famous because Lazarus, who had dies before Jesus got to him, was called out of the tomb by the voice of Jesus - and he, in fact, was resurrected, and walked out of the grave full of life.

But something very significant was happening leading up to that miracle. As it so happens with most deaths in a family, there is a lot of busyness, and planning, and figuring out what to do next. There’s a lot of shock, and unsettled emotions, and questions, and what ifs as the reality and the finality of it all sets in.

Well, it was just that same way in this situation.

So, Jesus got word, but the story tells us that he delayed in his arrival, which was a test of faith for sure. When Jesus finally got to the town where Mary and Martha were, they were disappointed. Jesus was too late. He could have done something, right, but he didn’t get there in time.

So the question would naturally enter their minds…does he even care about our hurting and our pain?

And that’s another place for your feet.

I’m here to tell you today that he does care. Jesus is not distant from the grieving. He cares, and He’s close to the humble.

He weeps with those who weep

John 11:32 says “Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

He weeps with you. He sees you. He understands death, and he knows what it’s like to grieve the loss of a close friend. He, in fact, is near to the brokenhearted. God, and life, and things of eternal value becomes clearer and more precious in seasons of loss, because death reminds us of the brokenness in the world, and that knowing the eternal God is more important than anything else.

So hear me, dear people, Jesus has seen you, He sees you in this moment, and he weeps with you out of a heart of love and compassion. He understands.

But Christ doesn’t just understand. He has the power to bring change.

Earlier in the story, Jesus said to Martha in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

And that’s another anchor point for you.

The brokenhearted must believe.

Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is forgiven of all their sins and given eternal life as a gift. For that person, death is not the end. And Jesus has the authority to do this, because He was God in human flesh who stepped into our world, lived a perfect life, and willingly hung upon a cross to receive the punishment that we deserved for our sins against God, and then rose from the grave three days later.

This Jesus is the truth that I proclaim to you, and I implore you to trust in him today, not only for the comfort that you desperately need, but for the forgiveness of your own sins. He sees you, he understands your grief, but he was willing to enter our grief stricken world, and he has so much hope for you today if you would choose to trust his love.

One final anchor point I want to place in front of you is this.

The world confuses people on what love is, and this results in all sorts of chaos for people. Teens and adults, alike, God tells us what true love is so that we do not have to redefine it or look anywhere else for it.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

The love of Jesus is the greatest love, because it was selfless, sacrificial, gracious, and undeserving. Yet, he laid down his life on the cross so that all who repent of their sin, and trust in Him, would be reconciled to God forever, and that’s the purpose of life.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

His love is that great! He is the resurrection and the Life. DO you believe this today? Will you believe this today?

7. CLOSING HYMN AND PRAYER If you could all stand and we will sing a closing hymn together and then a final prayer.