Beyond Sunday: His Love Endures Forever
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
Evidenced by His resurrection, His love endures forever. Give thanks, for His love endures forever. Are we living as the resurrection or satisfied with something less?
Catch up: this week’s Sunday morning message.
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00:00:00 [Music] Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Beyond Sunday where we decide to take the conversation deeper. , we're back in person and , so I'm here sitting next to Shay. Shay, how you doing? Pretty good. Good. So Shay tweaked her neck and , so if she's not able to turn her head without moving her shoulders as well, can you show us how that that works? It's like Batman. I can do it this way. Is okay. Is that how Batman turns? Yeah, he's like this. Oh, like that. Is that right? It's cuz his
00:00:37 belt's so massive. He's got all these tools on him. That's why I think his shoulder muscles are so or his neck muscles are so big. He can't They're all just one. Yeah. So, he's just like one thing. He lost some mobility. Hey, can you touch your chin to your shoulder right now? No, that was Batman. Oh, all right. All right. Hey, before we dive in, , take a look at this video. [Music] All right. So, welcome back, , Devon. Easter Sunday and tell us where we were at. What was our big idea this week?
00:01:54 Yeah. Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday. we were still and still in this like on this guided journey and learning more of the character nature of God. but this one is this like give thanks to the Lord. His love endures forever. That God is a God whose love endures forever. We see that through the arc of the story of scripture from Old Testament to New Testament. but really this overarching or truth that God's love endures forever and that on Easter Sunday specifically is we remember
00:02:33 that the tomb is empty and that Jesus is alive is that that is a physical representation of how God's love is enduring forever through his son Jesus who conquered death. And so we were in Psalm 118. even some other of the scriptures, Luke 24, story of the resurrection. as well as you were even sharing some Isaiah 65, I believe. I went fast forwarded it to Acts 10 and looking at Peter's u message or conversation with Cornelius and his household. that this love that endures forever, God's love that
00:03:17 endures forever is not just for God's chosen people, the Israelites or the Jews, but for everyone because Cornelius is a is a is a Gentile as we are Gentiles. Anybody who's not a Jew by blood is a Gentile. And that Peter in this story in Acts 10 is like taking this good news of Jesus, who he is, what he's done, and this belief in in him offering us salvation, forgiveness of our sins, and a way back to God. and for Gentiles a way to God that didn't involve all the sort of traditions and things that they would
00:03:55 have would have had to walk into to even convert to being a Jew, but would in no way be by blood. It just would never happen. And so that's where I fast forwarded it to Acts 10 of like this is for all of us. This this this love of God that endures forever. Yeah. Yeah. It's for me so kind of what you're saying that the enduring love and especially the kind of talked about like God's steadfast love before Jesus comes and what that looked like now with the resurrection, what we're
00:04:31 what we're even 2,000 years later is currently still living in this like truth of the resurrection and the way that that was like you just said, love embodied, but then also the steadfast love that is to come. And that's where Isaiah 65 came in came in for me. because there's just this there's this well in much of the prophetic scriptures. But in Isaiah this idea he says my servants will is it there? Nope. Down. I'm creating a new heavens and a new earth. And then he the sound of weeping and crying
00:05:03 will be heard in it no more. no longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they've lived a full life. and he goes on just talking about like what this is going to be like and there's just something so it just speaks to this love that's like it has always been and actually every part of this history of humanity the biblical narrative every part of that actually points to this steadfast enduring love and this like because of God's love every piece of
00:05:36 this exists. Yeah. And what a hopeful what a hopeful world we're even from Isaiah who they that's not coming yet, right? They're not living into that. That but there is a hope there where there also is a hope for us through through believing in Jesus. Yeah. and the forgiveness of our sins that that his death and resurrection offered us and yeah believing in him and walking with him that what a hopeful what a hopeful word and that that's sort of what came to me even on Sunday is
00:06:13 like this is not an Easter message. This is an everyday word that we we can say yes to, right? we can say yes to this invitation. yes to Jesus. that there is hope there. And I and I see that I hear that in Isaiah the hopeful that we are in the now and the not yet. Right now we still deal with death, with cancer, with with brokenness in the world that is all around us. It it's not hard to look and see. and so we see where that exists all in our lives and around us. Yeah.
00:06:55 Yet even what I hear in in Isaiah is that there is this is coming. There is still a coming to this new heaven and new earth. This even the return of Jesus which we anticipated hope for eager eagerly, right? Yet we're living in the now. We're living in a world that is in some ways opposed to God's kingdom. It stands in opposition to it. It yeah there's just heartache, brokenness. There's people who I'm in relationship with. I just see them hurting and struggling and
00:07:35 and in that I know that Jesus Yeah. is there. Jesus is with us in the now. as we even have foretastes of the not yet moments of healing moments of restoration of reconciliation redemption that's taken place that there are those moments that we get just a glimpse like a flash or a taste a foretaste of like what Isaiah is talking about. Right. Right. and that and but we have to we have to be willing to look for those things and I like to expect or understand that God does
00:08:18 offer that here and now even before the not yet and that was the thing overall that's where we kind of were at yesterday because Luke 24 like the Easter story right the women go in the morning to the tomb and they can't find the body. They can't find the body. But then this question right they can't find the body. The men are there and they ask this question why do you seek the living among the dead? And that I mean that question is powerful in and of itself. But I was reflecting on like
00:08:54 probably their answer if I'm the women. I'm thinking like we're not we're looking for the debt of this is where we this is he was placed. But even that like they didn't go there expecting hope or looking for hope that had that ship had sailed for them really right like they went there to grieve they went there to do the rituals and the ceremonies like okay well we know how to grieve we know what to do with loss so even that question of like why do you why do you seek the living among the
00:09:23 dead at least for a moment until they're reminded right then they continue remember what he told you but before that for a moment I'm imagine they're not looking for somebody living. He died and I that for me I told you yesterday morning this this thought came in the shower which always I'm like really right now but I had this picture of plants and flowers and even like we both in our homes have a number of Lego flowers right and this idea because those they don't die. Exactly. Exactly. But here's the thing,
00:10:00 like so what I what I ended up doing is running to the store yesterday morning and getting a bunch of cut flowers and then a plant. And this for me it was this idea of like am I trying to water and pour find life from something that's actually already dead because cut flowers are dead, right? They're they are in the process of dying. They no matter how much I care for them, how much water I pour into the vase, they are going to die. Yeah. And how often am I expecting these lifegiving things like joy
00:10:36 and hope and love? And I'm looking for them in places that are already dead. and God's like, "No, that's not where that comes from." And then and then even for me, or how often have I just accepted like I'm not actually even looking for life. And so with like a Lego flower, like I know this is dead. It's dead from the start. And that's great in my home, but in my life, if I've settled for something less than life, and I'm like, you know what? It's okay. Yeah. I get a picture and I
00:11:04 have the colors of what it could be for the things that are alive, but this will never be alive. Yeah. And I'm just going to settle for that. And the women are at the tomb and they're like, "We're not even looking for life. We're looking for the dead man that we put here so that we can mourn him and grieve him." And I just in my life I'm like there's so many places where I think I've settled for that or where I'm desperately trying to pour water onto something that's not going to be alive.
00:11:28 It's never it never has been. yeah. And then that idea of like this living plant that I can't keep alive cuz I literally can't keep a plant alive. but the beauty of the gift of what Jesus does on the cross is he's like I'm going to keep this alive for you. I will keep the water on it. I will I will take care of this thing. And all you actually have to do is just say yes to this gift. Say yes. Enjoy. Yeah. Delight in it. Yeah. What it what it will produce. Breathe the lifegiving like Yeah. air from it. so question
00:12:06 is, do you still have the plant? I Yes. But I'm going to give it as a gift because it's going to die. If a plant exists in your home, it will die. Yeah, for sure. So, you're like, "Ah, just give me cut flowers because the things will die anyway." Fun fact about me, I to Laurie, I will I will never give her cut flowers. Yeah, because I early on in our in our marriage, I would do the cut flowers when I could afford it. And then also when I was like, I probably should because you got yourself in
00:12:38 trouble. I said some I may have said some things that were I shouldn't have. But early on, like a year or two into marriage, I'm like, "This is db. I'm getting flowers that are dead." Mhm. They look really good. in the moment, and in in the moment that I give it, it looks the best it will ever be because from that point, it's just dying already. It's already on its way to death. Yeah. And so I'm I was like, "This isn't this is not how I desire to give gifts. This is especially
00:13:13 to my wife. I want to give a gift that there's an opportunity for it to grow into the best that it will ever be. although Laurie in kind of the same way. she's been able to keep two plants alive. Yeah. In our marriage. Yeah. one is still growing and the other one a dog bit in half. Right. So thank God for Lego plants. But I was like I am not giving dead things. I want to give things that have the potential to live and to grow. especially to Laurie, I want to give gifts that there is life here, right?
00:13:52 And if we tend to it and if we are aware of what it needs, it will grow. In the same way like our relationship with each other, if we're attending to it, right? If we're caring for it, if we're recognizing in moments, here's what it needs here, it will grow. Yeah. With Jesus there, we can trust that he'll make us aware provide what we cannot provide ourselves. And that was the sense of for me in this in this piece of like yeah, why are you looking for the living among the
00:14:29 dead or the like there are other things we're looking for to like fill that that piece, that gap, that hole. And those things are only just like a mere image or there we're hoping for the things that God created in that place for us to take like oh yeah nourish me here take care of me here. I was like no I'm the one right I want to nourish you here. I want to care for you here not this thing I've created that you've now taken to replace me. Yeah. Yeah. And I had seen this quote that said
00:15:06 something like if you water a dead plant long enough, you'll start to think you're the problem. And I just that idea of how often humanity has given up hope because we're looking in all of these places and we're just trying so desperately. And sometimes that's in big ways and sometimes it's in small ways. where it's like I yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying to find fulfillment. I'm trying to find or even like I don't know for me what came to mind was a relationship that I had had that I
00:15:43 think I was trying to like pour something into that maybe God was like that's not the level or the depth that I actually have for you in that relationship. not because it's a bad thing or whatever, but I was trying to make it more than it maybe God wanted it to be. And so just the futility of trying to keep something alive that actually isn't or hasn't been or God's like that's not where it comes from. and so I do yeah I don't that idea of like I don't I don't know if I had thought of it that way but they
00:16:15 didn't go there looking for hope. in that in that point it was like just let us grieve. Just let us grieve. , and it wasn't until they they're reminded like what are you even looking for here? Remember what he said when he was with you, right? Yeah. Yeah. What are you What are you looking for? And it's that in that moment they realized, oh, he Yeah, he is alive. He's he's not here. He's told us this would how it would go. And even Peter running there and is like looking into the into the tomb like what is
00:16:50 going on? what wondering what had happened. Yeah. and so that's where I fast forwarded to like Peter's standing at the tomb wondering what has happened. And in in Acts 10 it's like here this or Acts five I mean this is this is this is what has happened. This is what has happened. And he's retelling this news this story to Cornelius and his household and other Gentiles who are who are listening. And so at that moment of wondering what had happened to that no this is who Jesus is and where we
00:17:27 can put our hope and faith because that that's too some of the like this God's love enduring forever. what is it that I am where or who or what is it that I am attaching the thing that God desires to pour out over me and offer me as a as a gift that I'm looking somewhere else for. I'm looking for like you said fulfillment. I'm looking for satisfaction you know whatever it happens to be from something other than God. Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm left when it doesn't work out, disappointed,
00:18:05 right, or frustrated, that this has been all along what God has desired to offer me the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. And trusting in that in that in the quiet, right? So, we talked a lot about silent Saturday or whatever we want to call it, but that in between day and space, which is where the women, it's where the disciples find themselves. and again, we there's something about like for us as followers of Jesus now, right? We know like, okay, Good Friday, and we know what that is and we know why we
00:18:42 call it Good Friday and we know like Sunday is coming and whatever. And so we whatever Saturday might look like for us whether literally for some people it's a busy day on a on a holiday weekend or figuratively like as we're reflecting and whatever what whatever Saturday might look like for us for them it was fully unknown and it and likely was like well here's the start of the rest of whatever this is going to look like. , and I had seen , actually a friend of ours had sent a
00:19:16 a text with an article thing talking about , like on kind of walking through like on Good Friday it didn't feel good and there's a Sunday coming where things are fulfilled and everything is good and everything's right and everything is true, but what are you doing in the Saturday? And it in some really like specific ways, right? So, like on in your Friday, maybe you've lost your home. and Sunday is coming and we don't know when it's coming, but there will be a day that God says, "Here you have the keys to this
00:19:49 mansion and I have prepared a place for you." But in the meantime, in the waiting, your stuff is in boxes and you don't have a place to lay your head. And that walking through some of those things, those like really heavy hard things. And I just for me there was such this this reminder when you lay that truth because all of us all of us are in some kind of a Saturday right now, right? Where it's like this thing has already happened. This this bad hard thing on the Friday has already
00:20:16 happened. and I don't know when Sunday is, but right now I'm doing what I can with what I have. Like the women bringing spices to the tomb. Like I'm doing what I can. , but when you lay that over the truth of God's steadfast love then and now and not yet, , then it does it gives me a little bit of a map to go, okay, , this is not this is not what we're waiting for and there is a day coming, but also in the right now, , don't let me ever for a moment think that in his silence it means he doesn't love me or
00:20:51 that he's not working or he's not in control. Yeah. , yeah. which I think goes back to the Psalm 118 and like this his love endures forever. There is no there is no end here and he is with us whether it is on the hard thing on a Friday, the silence or the waiting of a Saturday or the fulfillment of all of those promises and truths of God on a on a Sunday. And that's I suppose that that piece too in this resurrection Sunday is that every day is a resurrection day. Every day not
00:21:27 just the high holy days, not just Easter, not just Christmas, but every day there presence of God. the invitation to be in his presence, the mission he's called ush into is there before us. And maybe for me there's a sense of like getting caught up in the I don't want to get caught up, but that must go beyond Easter. Well, yeah, because otherwise that's a big letdown. Yes, that's what I mean. And I'm like, the Monday after Easter ought not to be this like we made
00:22:10 it through, but like no, there's still God is still with us. He's still at work. He's still desiring to redeem and reconcile this world. And he's inviting us into that work. In fact, he's doing it in our lives. And we testify to that. And that is that message in and the invitation he Jesus gives to his disciples at the end of Luke 24 like this is what I've called you into. Yeah. This is what I've done and now go. I mean wait here for the Holy Spirit but then go wait but then go. But that's why
00:22:39 the early church called this bright Monday, right? For that very reason because it is like and imagine the women and the disciples. So Sunday happens. Why are you why are you looking for the living among the dead? And then they're like, "Oh, that's right. We do remember what he said." And they go back and they the disciples it like I forget the word, but oh, it sounded like nonsense. The story sounded like nonsense to the men. It's ridiculous. It was ridiculous. We've never seen anyone be raised to life.
00:23:05 Yeah. Yeah. Right. But shout out to Peter because he's like, "You sound crazy, but I am going to check. I am going to go look." he looks and as things unfold the something changed. That's a pivotal moment. So even in the like you this sounds like nonsense. what was once for the women walking to the tomb is no longer as they walk away. and that like we have taken Easter and we put it all like okay this is this day that we celebrate. for them it was just a day until it was like oh this is going to change the rest of
00:23:44 all of forever for us. and I think that's and you see that you see that at the tail end of every gospel. You see that into the story of Acts that this is now the new way. This is the way we're going to follow Jesus, the Messiah who has come, lived, died, and resurrected, right? And so, we are his followers going to walk this out. Well, and I think you and I were having this conversation this morning. , and even as we were in in prayer this morning, I was kind of hit by this like
00:24:15 because I'm not so sure. it's almost like okay if this is our every day then we just like okay c shout out celebrate that one time a year but this is our every day that we're living in. We are living in the resurrection. for me even this morning as we were praying was this this I don't know conviction or a realization of like how often I might call out the evidence of the resurrection like look how good God is. God has done this. God has given me these things and I'm walking in his power and I'm walking in
00:24:50 his spirit, but I'm not calling out the sacrifice, the thing that it cost him. And I don't know if maybe that's part of this is like I think it's okay for us to celebrate big and you know in this this rhythm, this calendar, this church calendar to call out like Easter Sunday and celebrate that big. throughout the rest of the year, my desire is to recognize like everything that I am doing. , every opportunity and interaction that I have with God, with his spirit, with the people around me, with the reconciling
00:25:24 of the world, all of that is because of that day. , and so, not that we can't call it out and celebrate it big in that moment, but that we should be doing that in the other days as well. And I, , yeah, I don't know. Well, it's in the calling out. I mean it's in the recognizing the cost and the suffering right that also then when we suffer that draw us closer to presence of Jesus to some of the suffering that he endured on my and our behalf. and I and I sense that in some of even Paul's
00:25:59 words in Romans and other places of like no there is a suffering that we endure but let that draw you closer to Jesus, right? be reminded of what it cost him and his love for you. Yeah. Yeah. If you're going to share in his glory, you have to share in his suffering, too. Yeah. But be reminded that that this is there's something there and that in in in both the high points of life and also the low points that his love endures forever. Yeah. So, as we wrap this up, what would you say is a kairos
00:26:37 and what's God saying and how is he inviting you to respond? Yeah. , it goes back to that question for me that that why do you seek the living among the dead? And so I just I think I need to spend some time looking at whether there's places in my life that either I am looking I'm looking for life in places that that are dead that God's like that's not that's not where that comes from or that I've settled for something that isn't living. And like the women I'm like no I'm just looking for the dead
00:27:12 among the dead. which yeah I just yeah I sense God is inviting me to do some evaluating of like yeah mostly because I just I don't want that to be true. I because of the resurrection because of the sacrifice Jesus made that does not have to be I do not have to settle for things that are dead. I do not have to try to put the work in to create life in in a dead space. , and so I do not want to miss the gift of the resurrection. , beyond just like salvation for my soul, , in in even
00:27:54 just some of the smaller places where maybe God's like, you're missing you're trying to pour water on dead flowers in that space. , yeah, but the florist gave me this granular powder. It just gets you like a little bit further. It's just like you're just that's life support. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's not doesn't keep them alive. They're already dead. From the time they're cut, they're already dead. You just you already they're just picking up dead stuff. Yeah. But it looks good. It does. Until it doesn't.
00:28:26 For those who love cut flowers, I'm not saying you shouldn't have cut flowers. But yeah, if you don't have a computer to buy dead flowers, don't not do it, but I did. Marriage is everywhere turned upside down. Don't buy me dead things. How dare you? Yeah. Buy me something with soil and root. No, here's the But see, for me, if you give me It's pretty dead already once it's given to you. Say if you give I said it for you. If you give me a plant, then it feels like gh now I have to like to keep
00:28:58 it alive and then when it dies it's like there's another place I'm not dang. Is it like when a plant's given to you it's like was a plant thinking like shoot this is death row? Probably no because I shared this quote yesterday. Not making it out of here. I saw this thing that said, "Do I kill plants or do they not have what it takes to survive or to thrive in this high paced environment?" Hey, pace. Yeah, you need like a succulent. You need something that lives in the desert. Do you know what
00:29:23 happened? They die. Do you know what I have on my desk right now? A cactus. One. Oh, I should try that. I have a succulent. It It's It died. It's dead. So, normally if I get a plant, I just give it to J. New like tumbleweed. That'll never die. Or just not have plants or Lego ones. Lego plants. You're lord. It's fine. Death row. Please don't give us her. Okay. What's your kairos? Don't give Shay a plant that's alive. or dead. Or dead. Just not plants. There's other things. Okay. Yeah. my kairos I think has come off
00:30:00 this question that you had in your notes that I didn't touch but it has stuck with me since I saw it there but your question you asked was where are you looking for love among the dead things of this world and that struck me in in that there's lots of things that I enjoy in this world a lot of relationships and things that I get to do and it all of it is a from God. And I and I know that but in in my walking this out where is it that my source of joy, source of love that actually is
00:30:40 filling me from the inside out, not pouring into me from the outside in. And I think that for me is a kairos here in this one of just the coming back to the source. So we've talked about a little bit that with the source with joy but in this regard with love and u if that is truly inside out right from God and then outward to those who are around me then it would look different be different and actually endure no matter the season no matter the situation it would endure and yeah
00:31:23 that that I would notice that I would be aware and that and that others would as well be something different so I think that's the some of that kairos for me of recognizing who is the source where is it coming from am I looking to fill it up and from other places from the outside in rather than focusing on God as the source So it's good. Yeah, it is good. Well guys, thanks for listening in and future maybe podcast if someone does happen to gift Shay with a plant we may have
00:32:08 to just like bring it back up and like hey it's still alive. it's still that feels like so much pressure. Yes, it's not going to be alive. But it could be it could be a good reminder to just keep a dead plant. Well, maybe it's maybe it's not finding the right plant to live. You know, I even killed bamboo. I had bamboo once. Bamboo. Bamboo spreads like wildfire. I hate bamboo. It's just everywhere. Dead. It's like even the neighbor has bamboo and it just starts growing in your neighbor in your yard. You just can't
00:32:43 get rid of it. I can't. I s tray houses. Okay. All right, guys. Thanks for hanging out with us and we hope your conversations beyond Sunday are inspiring you, encouraging you as you live this life for Jesus. Have a blessed week. [Music]
