Beyond Sunday: God Is Our Rescuer
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
Out of God’s unfailing love for us He rescues us and delivers us from our afflictions. In our affliction do we see God as our rescuer or do we run to others to help us in our time of need?
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
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00:00:00 [Music] Hey guys, welcome to Beyond Sunday. We're so glad that you're here. I'm on again with Shay. Shay, how you doing? Good. Good. Today we're on separate screens, so sad emoji face, but we do enjoy this conversation. And so before we dive in to our conversation discussion, check out this video. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] All right, welcome back. As we dive in, let's start with what was our big idea for this week? this is Palm Sunday, but what was our big idea and what was the scriptures we were
00:01:26 focused on? Yeah. Well, so we're we're in this series of trusting the guide, of course. And so this week there is a shift a little bit in the scriptures. We've been following the Psalms to learn more about this guide, this this God that we're trusting and following. and this week the emphasis shifts just from an individual like who is God for me to kind of more of a collective who is God for us. and so this week specifically it was God as our rescuer. God is our
00:01:54 rescuer. with Palm Sunday it's of course the story of Jesus entering the city. but then it also is Psalm 118. and so that's for us mostly we pretty much stayed in in Psalm 118 and Luke 19 kind of in that story. and yeah, kind of kind of sat in those places to look at this this rescuer that we can trust. Yeah, that'll be good as we dive into this today. But next week will be in Psalm 118 as we come into Easter and the resurrection. And so it's fun that both in both Palm Sunday and Resurrection
00:02:35 Sunday, Psalm 118 is a piece of that. some of even what Jesus is saying there in Luke 24 or in the the Palm Sunday walking into Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Yeah. Well, and also likely I mean that's a that's a foundational psalm for this week, right? because most likely very likely that's something that the Jewish people were reciting were singing together during Passover which takes place in this same in this same week and so I don't know that's enough echoes for me to want to pay attention
00:03:13 like there's something in this that you're that you're trying to say God for sure and I think both of us in this week were landed on this place landed on it but It struck us that all those who were calling out for Jesus blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. like this is the king who will come and rescue us. And they had a they had a pretty particular way that that rescue was going to happen. none of which included what Jesus was about to do into that week being arrested and
00:03:50 beaten and then hung on a cross and then died. I pretty I'm sure no nobody in that crowd had anticipated like oh this is this is how this is going to work even though the prophets offered we we'll see that even next week in the resurrection is the prophets and even the psalmists often the in the law of Moses offered us like some clues here. This is this is how this will go down. this is how this will work because there needed to be a perfect sacrifice otherwise sacrifices would be
00:04:26 needed to be made forever and for all time that Jesus then became the one sacrifice for all and for all time. Yeah. Yeah. And that for me that was that was what hit this week was actually I cannot see Jesus or God as my rescuer if I refuse to budge on what being rescued looks like. And that was the this idea of like how often reality doesn't meet my expectation even just in in everyday life, right? I think we've talked about this because we both have children who maybe struggle especially with
00:05:06 that and personality types are such that that's even harder when the expectation exists in one way and then reality does not meet or match that expectation. I think for all of us that's difficult but we both have kids that maybe that's especially difficult. , but I think that that that's what I see in the in the story of the of the people in the story of scripture. , it's like they're putting they're connecting dots. They're putting pieces together. Like, okay, we've watched this man. We've watched
00:05:39 this ministry his ministry taking place. We know we know what to be looking for. And so, they're starting to connect dots like maybe this is this is probably the one. And then that's what I think that's what we see as Jesus comes in on Palm Sunday and they're like, "Yes, the and even like I was I was reflecting I so often we read scripture that we've read for so long and we don't I don't know we're numb maybe to it, but I was reflecting like imagine how that must have felt if you are a Jewish person in
00:06:08 that time and you have spent your whole life hearing about like for generations we've been waiting for a savior. we've been waiting for a messiah and then in this moment you're like is this like do I get to be here when this finally takes place and so I just imagine like that fueling this like this celebration of Palm Sunday of like I like I am here in this time in this place watching this thing that that our God our father has promised for generations. , but there's this like here's what it's going to look like. And
00:06:44 as the week moves on, it's almost like there's this like, yeah, Jesus must be this one. And then they're like, oh, never mind. That wasn't that that wasn't. So, we'll crucify you and we'll wait. We'll crucify you and we'll wait. And this idea of like refusing in instead of following like you are the rescuer, so wherever you go and however you rescue I follow. It was like, "This is what it looks like to be rescued." Yeah. And if you're not the one that's going to do that, we'll wait. And I
00:07:15 think box. Yeah. And if it didn't Yeah. It doesn't fit into that box, then it's like, yeah, you're just another one of those who claim to be the Messiah who is not actually the Messiah, right? So, we'll go ahead and crucify you or we'll get rid of you as a heretic as you know, blasphemer and like we'll move on from you because you're not you don't fit into what I perceive. And yet what we discover even reading scripture is that all of these prophecies and the prophets and what was
00:07:49 spoken and written long before Jesus came in onto the scene he is fulfilling in all these all these ways whether it's the triumphant entry and riding in on a on a cult that hasn't been ridden before and you know what is being said on the streets like all of this is coming to pass and many who are doing it know the scriptures and are like this is it this is it and then it turns and I for me I wonder in that moment when it turns is there like a letdown like we had our hopes so high we had seen
00:08:30 such great things miracles people delivered people raised from life and you know great and teaching that we were in awe wonder of and like just took a it took a left turn when I thought it was going the right way. Yeah. For sure. because I know how that feels in something far less important than the salvation of my soul, right? I know what it feels like to be disappointed when it's like this this event, this thing is going to go this way and it doesn't or this next job that I'm going to take, right?
00:09:06 like the grass is greener or even just stupid stuff like the rest a restaurant. I one of the things I shared in as I opened this and talking about reality and expectation I was talking about when we went to what was supposed to be like steak night and it was supposed to be so great and there's this expectation of like that's that sounds great. it's going to be awesome. And then we show up and it's only like I don't know, it's like 5:30 and they're like, "Oh, we're already out of steak."
00:09:33 And I'm like, "But it's steak night." And the rest of that whole meal that the expectation or the reality certainly did not meet expectation. And so even in stupid stuff like that that really doesn't matter. there's this let down. I think we got ice cream that night because we felt so sad. so there's this like disappointment and let down. , so yeah, if I'm waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, like and that doesn't look the way I expected it to, , yeah, that that is, , well, what
00:10:06 that actually draws me to the, , later on in Luke, the road to Emmas, as these two are walking on the road, disheartened and like, yeah, I guess he wasn't. I guess he wasn't the one. Yeah. They word hadn't spread that the tomb was empty, right? And they're heading back home from Jerusalem and like, "Yeah, shoot. Shoot. Oh, shoot. We thought we thought this was going to be it. And now we're just going to go back to our home. Go back to our life and I suppose pray and wait for the next one."
00:10:45 And that's when this other person shows up on the road and starts having this conversation and then relaying to them what the events that had taken place and then but it's not until they break bread that it's their eyes are open like it's Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. He is resurrected and and I you know like it had turned for them. They're going back home. Like we just saw him die on a cross and be put in a in a in a tomb and that's it. We just go back home. One of the things too that I'm I
00:11:21 reflect on in the idea of God as a rescuer is I was able to fish with with your boys u this last week and your oldest is a is exceptional fisherman. Oh, that's generous. Well, he's an exceptional fisherman. probably in wide open bodies of water with very little snags or obstacles. so like a lake in the middle. So if he could like sit in a boat in the center of the lake and just drop the line in. Yes. Or the Sea of Galileo. I was going with that one. Right. Or right Mediterranean.
00:12:01 I think I perceive him to be an exceptional fisherman there. I think that's the kind of fishing Katon takes him to do. So Katon needs to take him to teach him how to river fish because that's what you got to do. So I got to fish with him on the bank of a river where there is a significant amount of obstacles and obstructions and snags. one of which or many of which he doesn't know about, but I've been fishing this river since I was younger than him. And and so you know even depending on
00:12:33 the season of time kind of know like where those snags are in the river which is actually interesting is I'm able to not cast in those places because I know like oh there's a huge boulder I don't really want to get caught under because I'll lose everything. But I was able to fish with him this week and almost every cast it would be stuck on something grass, the limb above him, maybe the rock or something in the river. and he'd work it trying to get it loose and I probably
00:13:07 had too strong of of line on there. So like it just would not break. And he's struggling to get it loose. And early on I was like I would I would stop fishing and I'd go and get him loose and then the next cast he'd get caught and like I was like you know if I just cast a few more times he'll still be there. is not going anywhere with that line stuck in in whatever it stuck in. And so as the as the week went on, I was casting more and more and then but the look I would as I would cast it,
00:13:40 I'd be reeling and I'd look back at him and that look of like I need help. I I'm I've been here and you've just casted three times and I'm still here not catching fish and but stuck on something. and the look I'd see and then I was like, "All right, well, I'll reel this in and I'll go rescue and get it loose." And there was just that that look on that on his face of I'm stuck. I need help. Yeah, I need help. And I I've been trying to shake it loose. And now he's not just standing there doing nothing. I mean, he's
00:14:17 really working to try to get it loose and doesn't want to lose the lure. And I go over there, I'm like, I don't really care. Let's pull this thing loose. Whatever it takes. And you know, he was really trying to work it loose. And I'm just over there like, yank it. Right. We have another one. We'll go get another one. Yeah, it's fine. Right. But that look on his face, the look on his face was what was what come comes to mind as we're having this conversation about God as a rescuer is that that look
00:14:44 that I probably have on my face in many in many instances where I'm like, "God, I need help. say, "No, I'm stuck or I don't know how to get loose. I don't know what is needed here in this moment. I need you. Yeah. I need you near me. I need you to take the fishing pole out of my hands. I need to just stand with you while you take this." Yeah. and it was that look on your son's face that makes me reflect on my own face. looking at God like, "Yeah, come to my rescue." I wonder if that's the like
00:15:25 that's the wrestle the rub. I don't know be for me because in I actually think that's the right posture if I'm in a in a place of like I need you. I can't I don't I don't even know how to get myself out of this situation. , and that's what I imagine, right? , Brian, my oldest, is like, I don't know what I I've tried what I can try. I got nothing left. And so he's like, Uncle Devon, I need you. I don't know. I don't even know what to do. I don't in that it's like, I don't know what the rescue looks like.
00:16:02 , but I do but I do know that my uncle Devon will figure this out. That that kind of posture, right? what I see in the people and then in myself so often is sometimes it's more like this is what needs to be done who can do this who can do this for me and I wonder how often I have this image as I was preparing this message and whatever where these moments where I'm like God I need you to rescue me I need you to do this thing and he's over here like yeah I'm waiting right I'm
00:16:36 right here to rescue you But it doesn't and in that I guess the thing for me was it's this recognition of do I actually do I actually want God as the rescuer or do I just want this thing to happen in this way? this. Yeah. Yeah. I just like I've already figured out I know I know what this looks like, right? If I could get that job I need if my bank account looks this way, if I whatever relational relationships look in in a certain way, like I've already determined that. and so I don't need I don't need God
00:17:17 as my rescuer. I need God to do the thing I've already determined is going to be a rescue. , and that for me, , that was hitting because there's so much, , there's this tension in that posture of freedom. I don't actually have to decide what it is to be rescued. I just have to trust the rescuer and a giving up of control of like, do I trust the rescuer? Because also sometimes that's painful. the sometimes I think the rescue especially when it doesn't look the way I think it should or the way I think it
00:17:52 would sometimes it's painful and I think even like as you're talking I don't know I guess to continue the fishing analogy like sometimes we're losing you're losing lures whatever like I however that works I know we had to drive into the little mercantile to buy more now I know you don't know how it works but here's you I don't actually need to for my point to make sense. Okay. I don't I don't need a I don't need to know. You could break the line, right? But then you're losing
00:18:21 something. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Because then we had to drive into the store. I mean, we got ice cream out of it, so it was fine. But we had to drive in to buy some more because we were losing them. in that analogy wise, there's a level of pain. There's a level of loss, right? And I felt that even we were talking yesterday not last week but the week before was a rough week for me. and there was some maybe some rescuing that God was doing in that. And the image for me that came to
00:18:54 mind was like this beautiful, healthy like vibrant tree in the middle of a garden that that is representative of the good things that God has given and the life that God gives. but there were weeds choking it out and like wrapping around it. And these were things that I whether knowingly or unknowingly, these are things that had taken root for me that were choking this thing out. And in in that last week, it felt like God was root like uprooting them. which was necessary and needed. That's the rescue, but
00:19:30 that was painful and it was a hard week. and so there's something about in that like do I do I desire the rescuer more than the rescue? And I think that for me of like this is going to hurt. It might hurt. It might not feel good when reality doesn't meet expectation. There's pain. Yeah. But do I want the rescuer more than I care about the rescue? my the rescue I want to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because ultimately what is the rescue? What's the what why did Jesus come? He came to be the for our sins
00:20:10 and all of that, but not so that we could be sinless people. so that we could be reconciled into relationship with God. , that's a that part's a byproduct, right? Like, so, so the whole point of the Easter story is that this allows me to be reconciled back into right relationship with God the Father, which is the rescuer. So, do I want that relationship with the rescuer more than I care about the rescue, the thing I've decided, whatever? Yeah. Yeah. Because by contrast, it could be like my youngest who when caught in the
00:20:47 weeds or stuck on couldn't get his lure back to the fishing pole was like I'm over it and throws the fishing pole which then I have to go fishing for a fishing pole which is its own kind of difficulty in the spring run of a river. so you know I mean there is that. So, I do sticking with it and like not like you know needing a rescue and trusting that the rescuer will come. Yeah. even if it doesn't always look and feel the way you think it should or would. because the
00:21:22 there is an option to just toss it away. Yeah. And I and I was reflecting on that this week was when we so desire to be rescued in a particular way. I see it see it needs to happen this way or want it to happen this this way like Israelites in in the time of Jesus and wanting the to no longer be under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire but to have their nation back. when it doesn't happen and we just walk away. Ah, it's not it's not what I wanted. It's not how I wanted it. you know, like Jesus is
00:22:07 dying for this the life of the world. so that through him we would find forgiveness of our sins and be back in and reconciled and right relationship with God. And people are like, "Yeah, I was really hoping for the other thing." Right. Right. Yeah. I was really hoping for my freedom here on earth rather than the freedom that you're offering for my soul and being in in relationship with God and because there is there is another option like man God didn't show up so I'm out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:41 And so essentially in that what we're actually saying is not so much God rescue us, we need you, right? That this contrast of like the people are shouting hosana, save us now, Lord, save us. Or are they actually shouting like give us what we want, be the king we want you to be. Be the be the we we've laid all this out for you. Here's the script. Just step into it. and this is not the first time, right? This is I think this is throughout the biblical narrative, right? They rescue us from
00:23:13 Egypt and then they're like, "What the heck is this wilderness business giving us?" Like, "What?" You know, we're tired of bread. Yeah. Yeah. When they see it, like I mean, we see that consistently, which is why it's not surprising we see it in our own lives and in our own selves as well. because Yeah. How often am I like I think I'm praying prayers of God, I need you. God save me. But I'm really praying prayers of like, God, I've set this up for you. Here's all you have to do. Like just do these
00:23:44 things. and that was the other piece I think the application, the self-reflection kind of piece for me was like it's so easy to be maybe in the right place with the wrong heart. right, the people are in the right space. This is the king. This is the Messiah. The words they're saying are true. They're I mean they're speaking Psalm 118 right in in in that moment. They're speaking the prophecy. like those are true words, but they're just their heart is just not in the right yeah, it's just it's just a
00:24:19 mixed up. And I just wonder like how often I too am, you know, lifting hands in worship and I'm holding on to my own agenda or I'm like, you know, this is the way. And if we could only I mean if we're reading about it in scripture and it's often that we're reading about people in scripture who are in the right place with with a misaligned heart or the focus in the wrong spot but they're right place even maybe saying the right things then often then likely we too yes may be that way we're in the right place but
00:24:53 holding on to the wrong thing. Right. Right. Yeah. Ah, Shay, that'll preach. Well, hopefully it did. It did to me. This is This was one Well, was one I feel like it's pretty much always this way, but this was one that was like, "Oh, this message is for me." So, thanks for showing up today, everyone, but I'm just going to preach this for myself and whatever you get is great. , but I need this one. Yeah. Good. Well, as we wrap this up today, what what would you say is your Kairos? what's God saying and how is he
00:25:28 inviting you to respond? Yeah, I think the thing that's sticking with me and this actually this hit me during worship on Sunday morning, so right before the message. , the other piece of this, as I was as I was reflecting, , because in this series, what we're what we're trying to do is get to know God better, get to know more about this guide, this this God that we can trust. , and this message about God being a rescuer. , , for me, this was heavy on the, , which not that this is a bad
00:26:04 thing, but it was heavy on me. What do I need to change? where do I need to desire the rescuer more than the rescue? And so as we were worshiping, I was just thinking about like, okay, God, like help me to focus on your character. Help me to focus on who you are. And we're singing, you know, singing songs of there being freedom in the Lord and those kinds of things. , and what struck me was that even though the people got it so wrong, and Jesus knew that to be true, right? Because right after
00:26:38 he rides through this parade of like everything is great and the people are shining, but he's weeping over Jerusalem. He is weeping and his burden, brokenhearted cry is like, "God, they're going to miss this. They're they are missing this." , and yet he still rescued. , and that there was just this like , even right now as I think about that there's a heaviness, not in a bad not a not a bad weightiness, but a like , a blanketedness. I don't I just made that word up, but , there's this
00:27:16 like the character and nature of God is such that he still rescues. when I when I'm getting get it wrong, when I don't when I don't want him as rescuer, I want him to fix my agenda. I want him to do my thing. if God if God rescued if he showed up and just rescued the way I want him to, I have no doubt that things would be a hot mess, right? I have seen him move and work enough to know like, oh, had that gone the way I thought it was going to, it would not have been great. , and we know that to be true about what the
00:27:51 people are desiring and wanting also. , and so there's something I don't know. I guess I sit in awe and this was another moment for me of like God you are so good because this rescuer is like even though you're going to treat me the way you're going to treat me even though you are actually just wanting me to give you what you want I'm still going to rescue you in the way that you need to be rescued. that I don't know that that is that's heavy in a really in a really good way, in a really
00:28:32 comforting way. Like even if you throw your rod and you give up and you walk away, the rescuer is still going to show up and still going to rescue. Yeah. True. Me holding a fishing pole is not a requirement for God to come and rescue. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. How about you? , I think mine is a carryover from the many weeks and so it just seems to be a repeating Kairos for me in that who am I looking to? Who am I who is my my eyes fixed to? One of the questions I asked at the end on
00:29:15 Sunday was in our affliction, do we see God as our rescuer? do we run to the to others to help us in our time of need? And no one's just been sitting with me of the who am I looking to fix the problems or the issues that are at hand in my life, whether it's at church or in other areas of life. Who am I looking to when I'm when I'm finding myself in an area of affliction? Affliction might be a strong word, but just trial, struggle, uncertainty, who am I looking to? Am
00:29:59 I am I looking for counsel from from others? And not that that's bad, but am I looking from counsel from others first, right? Or am I looking to the rescuer? the one who has been there and is like sees me struggling is like, "Yeah, I I'm here. I haven't left you. You might still be you might still be stuck over there on that rock and but I'm here." Yeah. And and trust me, trust me that that's not wasted. Yeah. You're a perseverance. like I saw your son persevere. never give up trying to
00:30:37 get unstuck. , it's not it's not wasted. It's not wasted on that perseverance, that longsuffering. , keep at it. Don't give up. Don't toss your don't toss the pole into the river. , don't give up. , but and but no, I'm here. I'm I've been here all along. And that I will I do rescue. I will rescue. I am rescuing. I am rescuing. Yeah, that's the Yeah, I am rescuing. So yeah, I think for me it's that staying there and the okay Lord I'm my fix my eyes on you. Yeah my eyes on you. I think that last piece that's
00:31:19 that's a tie in for what I was saying and that's there's something about that it's not I it's not just like I will rescue I'm going to rescue like God's like actively working moving never not in control. that I think that's even I had texted you that Sunday morning because I I was so keenly aware this Sunday in just small little tiny things after coming off a week of a really hard week and then a week of completely disconnecting with the world which was wonderful but I was stepping back in
00:31:57 right coming out of vacation to like I don't know I don't know what it's going to be and by I don't know by like 9:05 five, God was like, "Don't you ever forget that I am never not in control." , and there's just there's something about that that when I can't see it. , which the people couldn't, right? In the in Holy Week in all of those areas, they cannot they could not see it. , Jesus is hanging on a cross like that you just talked about the two the two people, they're walking back home like I guess it wasn't
00:32:29 this. He He's in a tomb right now. the disciples are hiding in a room and like when they could not see it, God was never not in control. , and that like that kind of God because everything else everything else in my life is going to fail me at some point or another and there's grace for that and there's patience and there, you know, in in other relationships and whatever. and there can be reconciling and healing, but everything else is going to fail in in big ways or little ways at some point in time. God is never not
00:33:03 in control and he is never going to fail. And that there's something about that like even if I can't see it, do I trust this God that is never not rescuing? I am rescuing. I am rescuing. That's good. That's good. Well guys, thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Beyond Sunday. And we hope and pray that you're having conversation that goes Beyond Sunday and hearing from God and so we look forward to being back next week. Take care. [Music]
