Father, I thank you for this time, I thank you for this day.
This is a day, Father, that is recognized globally by many, or this weekend, if you
would say, Father, Resurrection, Easter weekend, when the world takes note, many, of the time
and the significance of what this day represents.
Father, we don't look at it in any sense of less, because we always want to look at
every day you give us, but if we want to acknowledge this particular time, Father, it is a significant
and special time.
It's a time that you gave yourself up for us, so that we would have eternal life.
We don't want to take that ever lightly.
Father, as you share a message through me today, Father God, let your people have ears
to hear something that they haven't heard before, that would grab their attention to
a whole different level, and have them pursue you like never before.
Father, we are in desperate last days times, and we can't ever look past that and act like
nothing's going on.
So Father, we love you, we thank you for joining us every week and giving us this time, and
Father, we hope that we just do you right, Father, when you look down and you say, yep,
there goes my kids, they're getting it.
We're always on a journey, Father God, but as long as we're pursuing you, Father, that's
where we want to go, Father, until you call us on.
So we give you this day, and we recognize this day, and we remember this day, and in
it we give you all the praise and all the glory, in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Amen, Church.
Amen.
So, I recently realized, and I guess I would just say it's going over a period of time,
but as the years go by, and every year that I get closer to this particular time, Resurrection
Sunday, that time frame, it always hits me a little bit stronger, for one, that I'm still
here to actually see it, amen, but then to get a little bit more of really what it was
all about, because whenever I think I got it and I got a good grasp and we're all familiar
with the stories, but because of the God that we serve, there's always greater revelation,
and we would never, as deep as it is, and what we know up until this point, the significance
of the cross and the impact and what it meant, just imagine, guys, get this, there's still
that much more.
Yes.
Man, it is like something beyond, it's beyond human comprehension, and we just get bits
and pieces of it, and that takes us out, if you would say, it means it blows us away,
but if we ever could fully understand the depths, and I call it the depths of His love,
it's just a pretty incredible thing, but I hope today, Father gave me something that
I hadn't seen before, been doing a lot of that lately, and I'm just like, whoa, okay,
another way to look at something and look at the cross and the things that took place,
but in saying that, the title of today's message is, The Shift at the Cross, oh, man, I moved
out of that one myself, just saying that title, The Shift at the Cross, get ready, church.
So as I was saying, I'm beginning to realize more and more the significance of what took
place in Jesus dying for us, and again, the many different stories that I've heard, the
stories that I've read, and things I've understood, and beginning to understand, and just say,
wow, but then there's this mighty God that we serve, and if you take the time to just
tune in a little more, spend a little bit more time with Him, and seek Him, He always drops
more nuggets on you, and you just say, whoa, man, and you also begin to realize that it has to be
in nuggets because we couldn't handle it, Sister Rhonda, we couldn't handle it, right, because
just the little piece that He gives you can be just overwhelming, you're like, whoa, my goodness,
so it's over time that He lays and gives us stuff, and so just like I gave that title,
The Shift at the Cross, it's a constant shift that we're going in, and that we're going through,
and He showed me basically a sense of our journey to the Cross with Jesus.
So I've just been kind of like, wow, wow, God, because we kind of take the story as innocent
standbys on the sidelines just watching this story, right, but God, you really, in me,
you actually become part of the story because you are a part of the story, matter of fact,
you're the reason for the story, oh, man, come on, y'all. Well, so just kind of setting the stage
a little bit, just some of the things that as I've been getting just a deeper understanding
of the things that God is saying and what this time means, the depths of His love is too deep,
too deep to ever even comprehend. You just got to know like what you do see,
and it's just that much more, and it makes me think how a lot of times, again, you've heard
story, you've heard the story of crucifixion, and then obviously the event after that,
so the shift, shifting from Jesus going to the Cross, and then Jesus after the Cross,
so the resurrection, and you guys remember probably a year ago, so I had preached the
message about the other side of the Cross, y'all remember that one, and so all of these shifts,
shifts of events, and you just say, man, and as church, I began to really just over this last
couple of weeks, if you remember last week, I was telling you like I was already ready to start
sharing some stuff, but there wasn't time, that was for this week, but if you think about what
you do know about the story, and the crucifixion, what you've heard, what you've read, and how that
makes you feel, pretty big stuff, pretty impactful, but then you think about, you feel that way,
but then there are people out there that don't feel that way, matter of fact, they don't even
believe in them, church, they say, who is this Jesus that you talk about, there is no such thing,
there was not a person or Jesus that walked the earth, right, and you're like, man, you know,
and just real talk, hey, you know, I don't believe them, atheists, folks are just, you know,
have their views on things, and you say, you have this understanding, and like, man, how could you
even think that way if people are there, I bring you, I bring that up to move us in this direction,
so I recently heard a podcast, and it was with Amber Rose, you guys know Amber Rose,
used to be married to Kanye West, or I think they were married, I can't keep up with
Hollywood's shifts, and then Wiz Khalifa, she was with him, and different people,
doesn't matter how much who she was with, just trying to divide it, you know who she was,
she's in her own right, model, and you know, celebrity, so she had this interview, church,
this was in recent weeks, and it was with a gentleman by the name of Jason Lee,
he's a Hollywood podcaster type of guy, he's, you know, kind of the talk, with the Hollywood
A-listers, and these celebrities, kind of inside scoop kind of guy, he gets these
side interviews with them, and where they're supposedly keeping it real, talking about,
hey, this is where I'm at on ideas, or topics, or whatever, so anyway, he's talking to Amber Rose,
and basically he says to her, hey, I understand that you're an atheist, right, and she said yes,
and the thing that was really interesting, church, and I was like, man, okay, not only the fact that
that was Amber Rose saying that, and then again, these are public figures that people know,
and celebrities, so people really align, and will listen to a lot of what they say,
whether it's truth or not, on any subject, but she's talking, and she's sharing that she doesn't
believe in Jesus, she doesn't believe in God, and this is, actually though, this was a recent
revelation, and I'm going some way with this, so this is kind of, in the last few years,
she's come to this place, so she's grown up a Christian, so here's a shift here,
and grew up in the church, and said that she followed the teachings, but she never really
could get with this Holy Spirit, she never necessarily felt anything, she would be in church,
and people would be, you know, in the Spirit, and feeling things, but she never really felt anything,
so she finally got to a point, in the last few years, that said, it ain't real, and so she,
you know, maybe, you know, listens to what gets a little Buddhist type stuff, or whatever, but
bottom line is though, not about atheists, and actually would prefer to date an atheist,
because she's not interested in anybody trying to convert her,
so I was like, so that caught my ear, and I was like, oh, okay, well church, she gave different
reasons, and the reason I'm bringing this up with her, is that that was a celebrity-like figure,
and she was open enough to put it out there, many won't put it out there, in that aspect, but
there's a lot of people that feel that way, they just have roles, for various reasons,
but the interesting, the fact that she was once in that line of following, you know, Christ,
and Jesus, whatever, but came to a point where I don't really believe this, now she also went
through some tough periods in her life, right, dark moments, as she said, almost felt like,
one time I think she said she was talking about committing suicide, various situations,
situations, that guess what, any of us could be, have gone through, or thought about, or whatever,
so although celebrity, well-known figure, whatever, just like anybody else, she's a human being,
she has feelings, and emotions, and life took her through some different turns, and
she's in this place. All I said to, or after I saw the podcast, was like, you know what,
I wish I could talk to Amber Rose, and I said, you know, and it's not even a matter, in a sense,
it's funny guys, you know, people, you know, in the natural, and I just bring this up, people like,
you know, if I was to say that, and the kind of thing, and not knowing who I am, just being a guy,
oh yeah, you probably would want to talk to her, you know, she looks good, or something like that,
they'd go in the flesh, right, no, no, no, no, brother, you don't understand what I'm saying,
right, I'm interested, and concerned about her soul, come on Sister Loretta, right,
I'm all past that stuff, right, and, but the thing is, this church, my mission,
I wouldn't be trying to convert her, ooh, Sister Loretta looking at me, right, I'm a pastor,
all about pointing people to Christ, my approach, because I got this
right as I was listening to this, and you know what, Amber Rose may hear this,
this, this streaming of Zoom one day, and it would just be to have a conversation,
I would share my experience with her, and of this Jesus that I know, and you know what,
if she asked some questions, I would try to answer them, or she would tell me some things
she went through, or whatever, but I believe that it would, whether she would just at that point
say, well, you know, hey, I'm, you know, I want to go with your Jesus, or I'm not interested,
the point is, just putting it out there, right, because the Holy Spirit's a gentleman,
so it ain't about forcing nothing, but I would just be curious to say, you know, kind of what's
going on. Church, I brought that up, and I said that, again, just to say, because there's a lot
of people in that place, life has taken them on a journey, and they're like, this Jesus you talk
about, this one that's supposed to love, and all of that, why is all this bad happening in the world,
right? Well, Church, I'm not God, and I'm not trying to be Him, that's Him, but I'm a follower
of Him, and so all I can do is point you back to this, to His Word, and His truth, not Pastor
Conrad's truth, His truth. I'll share some of my experiences, but here it is, and kind of go from
there. I say that, Church, because some of the next bit of things that I'm going to share, which
many of you already know, but you may not have this perspective of it, relating to the cross,
back to our title, the shift at the cross, for Amber or anybody else that is in that side of it,
don't want to deal with it, don't know nothing about it, don't believe it, or whatever.
My thing would just be, they're feeling that way, but let me tell you about this.
Come on, Sister Loretta. See, I don't know about your personal journey, but I can tell you about
a journey that was laid out for us, and a God that does love, a God that does care, a God that
went beyond what anybody could imagine, because He gave His only begotten Son. Come on, Church.
He gave Him as a sacrifice for all mankind, from before you were born, till after you were born,
until you were gone, right, to take care of it all. And so, although I can't maybe address some
of the individual parts in the journey of your life, I can tell you about it from a holistic
standpoint of, He saw you in the beginning, and He knows your beginning from your end.
And that's the God that we serve, that I serve. Amen? Church, get this.
It's just at the cross. So, I was, back to Revelations and getting greater perspective,
Yvette had shared a message with me a couple weeks ago of a pastor right here in nearby area,
Cartersville, Georgia, that preached a message around the cross. And she had said to me, she's
like, honey, I've never heard like this. And then I listened, like, I ain't heard this either.
And there were some things I was aware of, but there's so many things that it was presented
that I didn't hear or know of before. And Church, this is the thing where the body misses a lot of
times too. I've got no problem, as I told you, of saying, hey, you know what? I heard this from
this pastor. Come on, Church. It ain't, I got to give it all and God just told me this. And I'm
saying, hey, I'm listening to somebody else too, Church. Just like I'm on my monthly pastor calls
and I'm being challenged and directed and kept straight or whatever. So, we always got to be
open in the listening. Somebody else is saying something, oh, pastor so-and-so said that. That's
truth that comes in straight or whatever. Hey, let the people know. So, this ain't got to be
what I just got up. Whatever I can say, what's the study if it's true? Come on. Anyway,
he began to share about the cross and some of the things that took place. Church, you heard
many of the stories and I'm going to read this out to you because you need to hear it again this
way. See, we can never get it enough. There's always something in there a little bit more
or a little bit that you might have not saw it that way or like, oh, I didn't hear that before,
right? Because his word is a living word. Church, it's always to revive us and lift us and keep us
going. So, you can never comprehend God's word in one sentence or one sermon or two sermons or
however long you want to serve because he's that kind of guy. He's a huge guy. He's an awesome guy.
So, church, hearing it from coming out of my mouth as God speaks to me or another man or woman of God
or whatever and me relaying that message. However, you got to get it. You just got to get it and
that's when it's got to come. You got to bring it. So, church, he was sharing again about the
story we know about and I want to read this to you because you know there's different accounts
in the gospels of how John saw it or how Matthew saw it. Basically, they capture a lot of the same
stuff, but, you know, show a little different. That's right, Sister Loretta. So, you know,
some things were said over here, but it is saying over here. It was said over here,
but it was said over here. So, he was sharing, church, and first off, what he was talking about,
and this is what I shared last week when I was talking and I was like, I was getting ready to
say something. I was like, oh, I'm getting ready to go to the next week and I said, that's the next
week. One of the things that when we listen and think about this time in Resurrection Sunday and
Jesus dying on the cross and all the emotions that go with it and we think about him being
beaten and whipped and beat beyond recognition and all that, right? We look at that and, you know,
we're just like, man, that is so heavy, right? And that he died for us and all that, right? Everybody
has that conversation to look, right? But one of the things that this pastor identified
was his name is Pastor James Griffin. Got to call him out. One of the things that he justified,
he said that, guess what, church, this is a scripture that we don't definitely talk about
this way. We put him there. Oh, man, we put Jesus on the cross. So, yeah, he died for us and, oh,
we were in sin and all that kind of stuff, but let me just be direct in your face and put it out like
and say, but we put him there. Who's saying that? Just right, he put him there. Oh, right,
he died for us and all that. We put him there. Church, in Acts, I read this last week,
but just read this part. I'm always going to tie it back into straight up scripture.
Says this, this was in Acts 2, verse 22 and 23, says this, people of Israel,
and this was back when Peter was preaching, people of Israel, listen, God publicly endorsed
Jesus, the Nazarene, by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know,
but verse 23, but God knew what would happen. Again, prearranged plan, we're going to get to
that even more so, and it was prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was portrayed.
Here we go, with the help of lawless Gentiles, you, you, you, you nailed him to the cross and
killed him. Let me pause there for a second.
Hell yeah. Oh, he died for us and man, it was a terrible death. We were sinners and all of that.
Wow. But to flip it and say, well, you put him on the cross. You, pretty direct.
All right. Church, he then went on and he was talking about the things we're very familiar with.
So in, I'm going to read you this account. This was in John 19, 17 through 30,
talking about the crucifixion. So he was actually full of these scriptures out myself, but he was
talking about the, as I was talking about the shift to the cross, now shift at the cross church.
So get this, the shift, the shift at the cross, which I'm going to give you a little bit deeper
understanding later, but then the shift to the cross. So there were these shift of events
happening on the way to the cross for Jesus. As you know about, and this is in John 19,
17 through 30. I got to read this to you. You've read it before. You've heard it before,
but it's already more. It says this, talking about the crucifixion.
When Jesus was sentenced and then they were taking him away, starting with 17,
carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called,
went to the place of the skull, which was Galgotha. There they nailed him to the cross.
Two others were crucified with him. One on either side with Jesus in between.
If we all seen that, we've seen this on the stories, on the movies, the whole nine.
And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
The King of the Jews. The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and the sign
was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, so that many people could read it. Then the leading
priests, get this church, objected and said to Pilate, change it from the King of the Jews to,
he said, I am the King of the Jews. So remember church, when they were trying to trick Jesus
and saying to him, because he was being falsely accused, but the whole thing was,
I mean, he was upsetting the whole status quo of what he was doing, wasn't aligning with
their laws and how they did things. But you remember the fact that he was the son of God
and the fact that they were saying that he was God and trying to tie him to that.
So when that was going on, Pilate recognized him in that capacity.
But he, because you remember, Pilate didn't want to go through with it. They kind of forced his
hand. And so by saying it, change it from the King of the Jews to, he said, I am the King of the
Jews. They were trying to put it directly out of Jesus' mouth that he was playing, I am the
Jews. Because in a different council, and I think I might have read this to you one time,
one of them says, like when they're asking him, who are you? And he's like, you know,
and they're throwing all words on it. You say you're the King, you know, you're God and all
that type of stuff. In one of the accounts, I believe it was in Matthew, where he said,
when they was trying to pressure him to it, and he ended up just saying, if that's what you said,
Jesus himself. So not just calling out like that, because that would have said,
if he was even the son of God, that you're saying you are God, tied to all that.
So anyway, goes on and says, King of the Jews, he says, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate replied,
no. What I have written, I have written. Because he recognized, hey, he is the King.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them.
Y'all remember these stories. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece
from the top to the bottom, verse 24. So they said, rather than tearing it apart, let's throw
dice for it. This fulfilled the scripture that says, they divided my garments among themselves
and threw dice for my clothing. So that is what it said. Verse 25, standing near the cross,
where Jesus' mother and mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother standing there, beside the disciple he loved, which was John,
he said to her, dear woman, here is your son. And he said to this disciple, here is your mother.
And from then on, this disciple took her into his home. So church, what happened here?
Back to the depths of his love. In the midst of him getting ready to be crucified,
getting ready to be killed, he's still thinking about others. His mom. So hey, I'm getting ready.
I'm on my way out. But take care of my mom. Oh, church, back to John. Hey, that's my mother,
basically, right? Make sure she's good. I got to go do this, right? I'm out. You got it. Still
thinking about us. And you say, he don't love. Or where is he? There he is right there. An example.
Read on, church. Verse 28 says, then Jesus, that his mission was now finished.
And to fulfill the scripture, he said, I am thirsty. Verse 29, a jar of sour wine was sitting
there. So they soaked it in a sponge in it and put it in a tipsock branch and held it up to his lips.
When Jesus had tasted it, he said, what? It is finished. And then he bowed his head and
released his spirit. So church, that was in John. In that version of crucifixion events of things
that were going on. Well, let me kind of call a few things out that you all remember in talking
about on the road, right? The shift of events on the way to the cross that everybody, when we hear
it, we kind of like, oh God, right? So first off, let me talk about crucifixion for a second.
So when we have crucifixion, we think about Jesus. But church, crucifixion wasn't just about Jesus.
Many went through crucifixion. We identify with Jesus because in Roman times,
crucifixion, they dealt that for many of offenders, people that were being charged for an offense,
that did wrong or whatever. But crucifixion was like the worst kind of death that you could
experience. So in Rome, and even with that, they basically, crucifixion wasn't, it was kind of set
aside for non-Roman citizens. It wasn't a common thing for a Roman citizen to have to go through
that. But those that weren't Roman citizens, it was a way of making an example.
Sister Loretta, it was like a mockery of,
yep, look at this person.
We're going to publicly humiliate you, right?
In the worst way.
It just really puts you out there, right?
And so you would see, again, this happened along the way.
This wasn't just Jesus.
But again, because it was Jesus, letting people know,
hey, in the worst way, this guy is going to suffer.
And we want you to see it.
He's going to be publicly humiliated along the way.
That whole journey of carrying a cross and all that type
of stuff, it didn't just happen to Jesus,
but significant with Jesus.
Church.
So with that happening, you had the thing
we always know about, discourse, when they was whipping him.
Church.
Back to, it's one thing to get hit with whip.
It's another thing to get hit with a whip,
with sharp rocks and glass-like edges, whips,
I mean, like something that's hitting you and ripping
your skin off your bones.
Like, man, really?
Jesus.
So again, shifts along the way, shifts to the cross,
discouraging, carrying the cross, right?
Carrying that heavy cross, the cross being,
they said it was anywhere from 75 to 125 pounds.
And remember the story of Simon of Cyrene,
the brother that came to help him carry it along the way
because Jesus was dropping that thing, it was so heavy,
whatever.
But again, a part of the crucifixion process,
if you would say, of what he went along,
events along the way, carrying that.
Stripped of his clothes.
So they said, he wasn't just stripped of his clothes
at the cross.
He was stripped of his clothes before the cross.
Beating him when he was on the way, right?
Clothes off or whatever.
I don't know how they, by the time he got to the cross,
if they, how they put particularly something else
that got back on him that they took off again.
But they said, his clothes were stripped twice.
And so you think about that denigration
and people along the way.
Again, remember the ones that were for him, right?
Turned their backs and said, crucify him.
He's like, man, this guy's taking all of this.
You know, boom.
Clothes off.
Nailed through his wrists.
Like, really?
So they didn't just tie it to the crossbar.
Nailed.
Right?
Feet hanging.
All of that.
All that.
We see on the cross.
All of that happened.
So they stripped, crossed him, and nailed him through both?
Through both feet.
Yes, sir.
And so, again, the events that you saw, they recognized.
Terrible.
Crucifixion.
Using it on Jesus.
And then, church, he hung for six hours.
From 9 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon.
Really?
Hanging on the cross.
At 12 is when they say they got dark and all that stuff
kicked in or whatever, but hanging on the cross.
Just going through.
You say, wow.
This process was heavy.
Again, the stories that we saw and we go through
when we think about it.
But church, that stuff you know and you've seen.
But I want to bring something to your attention.
Back to, we put him there.
So as terrible as that was, it was about us.
We put him there.
One of the things that God revealed to me recently
that I never necessarily looked at that way
as I was sharing with you all before about some stuff
was that, think about this.
Back to when people say, does he love me?
Does he love us?
Is there a God?
Is there, what's this thing, Jesus?
You got people, they say it today and y'all know it.
They think Jesus was a cult leader.
Woo, man.
This Jesus cult, he told people what to do.
His word is, you know, you got to do it my way and all.
It almost sounds like a dictatorship
if you coming in that way.
You got to be the spirit to understand where
it's coming from though, right?
So he's a cult leader.
What?
This Jesus that loved, that gave his life for us, a cult leader.
But how about this church?
Did you ever think about when you looked at the cross
and you say, him hanging on there,
that Jesus served a double sentence?
Woo, what are you talking about, pastor?
I mean, he was tried twice to go for that crime
and going to the cross.
He was done by man's law, Roman law.
Oh, come on, Sister Loretta.
Roman law said he had to go there
in terms of going through the crucifixion
and hanging on a cross and the way that they accused him.
But guess what?
Because it was already prearranged
in terms of God's plan, God had him there too.
Church, can you imagine?
God and man, he was in the middle.
He took it twice.
So you think about it once about, oh, Jesus
going to the cross or whatever, right?
He's put in there based on man's law and God's law and God's
plan because that was the only way on God's side
of reconcile us back to him.
See, remember when I told y'all before back
in the Old Testament, oh, church,
don't get me going again.
In the Old Testament, see, the blood of goats and lambs
wasn't good enough, right?
Jesus had it done, right?
The pure lamb, that sacrifice wasn't good no more.
So it was already set up, rearranged
that he had to do that that way.
But so, church, see, man thought he was just
putting him up there and making him rid of people or whatever,
but he already still had to do it.
So double whammy, who's going to do that?
And who's telling me that he don't love you?
And he did it like that.
Really?
Oh, come on, church.
Think about that.
I said, what?
Oh my God, really?
Yeah, they were like, yeah, this is what we doing.
This is our laws and this is how we do it,
the crucifixion and this is your sentence or whatever, right?
And so he was going, had to deal with that way,
but God already bringing him there anyway.
Woo, baby, right, for us.
Guess what?
For those, us, that put him there.
Woo, baby.
Man, church.
So, I mean, man, yes, Sister Brett is feeling it.
Gosh, man, Sister Brett is feeling back
when she was actually in Israel in the most.
Church, this is heavy.
So, again, when we think about the cross and him dying for us
and then you got people saying it wasn't real,
he wasn't real, and all this other kind of stuff,
and you're like, but who would go through all of this?
Church, he did it willingly.
Now, we know he got to the point where he said, hey,
pass this cup, but I don't know about this,
but then he still came back and said, but God will be done.
Church, pass the cross.
Pass the ship, pass the cross.
He didn't have to, but he did.
And we still kind of just kind of as innocent standbys.
We're not innocent standbys.
We put him there.
But because we put him there, all right, we know the plan,
and it was already prearranged that God said,
this is the only way it's going to be reconciled back
to me with church.
But then we all say about it, yeah,
oh, it was all terrible once, whatever,
but then how are we living today?
Hold up, pastor.
I'm going to hit myself.
Church, powerful.
So let me read this to you, because if that didn't get you,
this is it.
As that took place, and remember,
I was talking about the different accounts of,
you know, with Matthew and John and their versions of Jesus
to the cross and things that people were saying.
So let me read this to you, because when I got this,
and part of this, the pastor I referenced to you all
was saying, but in this part I'm getting ready to tell you
about, he went in another direction,
and God gave me something else, additional.
And I was just like, oh, my God.
Let me read this to you.
So I just read to you before of Matthew's account.
Let me read to you what, no, I read to you John's account.
Let me read to you Matthew's account.
This is Matthew 27, 32 through 45.
So get this, church.
Back to shift to the cross.
Events going on to the cross from Matthew's view.
Says this, along the way, they came across a man named Simon,
who was Cyrene, I mentioned him, and the soldiers
forced him to carry Jesus' cross.
And they went out to a place called
Galgaltha, which means placeless God, verse 34.
The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall.
But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.
After they had nailed him to the cross,
the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there.
A sign was fastened above Jesus' head,
announcing the charge against him.
It read, this is Jesus, king of the Jews.
Remember, Pilate said, put that there.
Two revolutionaries were crucified with him,
one on his right and one on his left, verse 39.
The people passing by shouted abuse,
shaking their heads in mockery.
Again, remember, the same people that was like, yeah, Jesus,
yeah, Jesus, they crucified him, making jokes of him.
Look at you now, they yelled at him.
You said you were going to destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days.
Well, then, if you are the son of God,
save yourself and come down from the cross, verse 41.
The leading priests, the teachers of the religious law,
and the elders also mocked Jesus.
They're joking on him.
He saved others, they scoffed, but he can't save himself.
They scoffed.
So he is the king of Israel, is he?
They're making questions and joking.
Let him come down from the cross right now,
and we will believe in him.
He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him.
For he said, I am the son of God.
Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him
ridiculed him the same way.
So now the guys are hanging in with him.
Now they're joking at him.
Like, every way is all right.
Verse 45.
At noon, darkness fell across the whole land
until 3 o'clock.
At about 3 o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice,
Eli, Eli, lima shabbatani, which means, my God, my God,
why have you abandoned me?
And other scripts say, why have you forsaken me?
Church, let me stop here.
So here it is.
If all of that wasn't enough, and the stories
you've heard all since you've been on your Christian wall,
and what you watch every year in the Ten Commandments,
and all these different things that happen, right,
of just religious, related things,
think Ramses, Moses, but just, again,
the Brown of Crucifixion, and all
just, again, the Brown of Crucifixion, church,
that one act right there of when Jesus said, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me, or why have you abandoned me?
Get this, church.
This is what God gave me.
Never saw this, and this is everything.
Every one of those events alone, just one of them
were terrible, was enough in itself.
If he just got beat, forget the mocking, forget the spitting,
forget the crown on his head, forget the nail, each one
of them, he took one on one.
That's just terrible enough of how he died.
And you can say, maybe.
Nevertheless, that he did all of that,
and went through all of that.
Church, when this pastor was speaking,
and he brought up this particular point of when
Jesus said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
He flipped it and said, there's a point to say,
to tell the people, because he loves you.
He did that because he loved us.
And if that wasn't enough to show you
that he went through all of that,
to let people know that, hey, I did this because of the love
I have for you.
The father did that, that much that he gave his only begotten
son, because he was looking at all of us, and all of us
that were to come, to say, this is what it takes.
I've got to give blood of the pure sacrificial lamb,
in order for y'all to be reconciled back to me.
So he went there.
God showed me this, church.
He said this, son, catch this.
Now, I was just hitting it, right?
You want to talk about the depths of my love,
and why all this went down.
Everything was significant and powerful.
But this church, here it is.
See, when Jesus, because remember,
this is all that is.
All that was a series of events, up to the cross.
Now I'm getting ready to really hit you
with the ship at the cross, the tank.
Church, all of that happened.
So now here we have the last thing.
And when Jesus says that, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
And then he gives up his spirit, takes his last breath.
Church, at that time, when he called out, my God, my God,
this was, I only saw it, I was doing my research on it,
but the pastor was referencing, this
was the only time in the New Testament when you heard it.
If you recall, Jesus always referred to God as what?
His father.
Oh, come on, church.
I'm doing the business of my father.
I do what my father tells me to do.
All along, right?
He never necessarily called him God.
Oh, this is God, or whatever.
Church, that's right.
My father, this is about my father's business.
Church, he called him God here.
You know why?
This is how heavy this was.
Remember I talked about the prearranged plan,
and how it was, and what it was going to be?
Guys, this was so significant.
See, he called him God because he
wasn't looking at him as his father at this point, right?
The role had shifted.
He was God, the righteous judge.
Oh, my goodness.
Jesus was the sacrifice.
He was the sacrificial lamb on the cross.
So he had to sit there.
They was enrolled.
This was the role of position.
So you're not my father right now.
You're always my father, but you're not my father right now.
So you know how we do in Pentecostal,
we wear different hats, right?
I'm a father today, but I'm a minister over here,
or whatever.
In this particular situation, he was God the judge.
So he had to put a sentence on his son, who
wasn't his son right now.
He was a sacrificial lamb.
Oh, my goodness, church.
God said, he looked at him.
Can you imagine the pain, the way he was looking at, to say,
remember I told you before, literally, he
put himself on the cross.
God himself was dying on the cross.
But God, he looked at him and said, you know what?
Hey, he's being judged right now.
I'm in the courtroom.
Oh, my goodness, right?
I would have been guilty.
He's got to be guilty, because this is the rearranged plan.
Even my love for myself, I can't deviate from the plan,
because all of you are impacted by this.
So we've got to walk this thing all the way out.
He looked at him and says, oh, my God, my dad, my dad, right?
My God, my God.
Oh, my goodness, church.
That alone, that by itself is everything.
So if you tell me, he's not a God that doesn't love,
he's not a God that doesn't care, church,
they played it out to the end.
They were in spite.
Can you see that, church?
That is so heavy.
That's like everything.
You look at, I can't remember, all the time, my father.
I thought my father's business.
I do what my father says to do, or whatever, right?
He's hanging on the cross, right?
Dying for all of us.
But he looks at him, because he gets heavy.
He's kind of like, hey, you know what?
Try to think about this, church.
Before he says it's finished, imagine the relationship.
Hey, this is my dad, but he's a judge right now.
But at the same time, kind of like, it's finished.
How about I'm finished with you?
Oh, I like that.
Oh, man, church, this is heavy.
Like, gee, hey, what?
Like, this is weird.
Him and I, him and I, him and he, him and God
had a dynamic going on beyond what anybody could ever see.
And so with church, that is it.
That's the cross.
That's when it was finished.
So when anybody tells you that he doesn't love,
that he doesn't care, that I don't understand,
you may not understand.
But church, who would do that?
Would you do that?
Would you, first off, put your own child on it?
We already know about that.
We already know the stories when we
saw Abraham and all of that stuff, right?
Abraham and Isaac, church.
God put Jesus on the cross.
Man put Jesus on the cross.
Double sentence.
Jesus still sat there and took it.
At the end, it got heavy.
It's like, oh, this is really getting ready to go down.
Hey, that's the stuff, but no, that will be done.
But at the same time, I'm looking up.
He's looking down.
And I'm like, my God, how are you taking me?
Because he's the righteous judge at this time.
And he's got to say, oh, man.
And he's got to look and say, that's not my son.
That's a sacrificial lamb.
If we don't do this now, all the plan is shot.
Church, how many of us won't fulfill the plan?
We don't complete it.
It gets a little heavy.
We say, well, divert the plan.
I ain't doing that.
They did it to the end, all the way to the end.
Church, if that's not the cross and the sacrifice
at the cross, how about this?
That's the other side of the cross.
See, we don't always dare.
God was over here.
He was like, as painful as this is and what I'm looking at,
why not?
It's just got to be done because I'm
thinking about all of you and your kids and kids and kids
because that's it.
Go through all that?
Oh, church, think about that for a second.
Hallelujah.
Woo!
Man, thank you, Lord.
Woo!
Man.
My goodness.
Woo!
Lord.
Woo!
Sister Redda was just saying as he was standing right
at the spot, and you could just feel it.
You couldn't just do anything.
Church, that's the cross.
See, you might be looking at a different cross.
And the cross that you're looking at, significant.
Means a whole lot.
I don't let that happen.
But if you ever try to tell me, if somebody tries to tell you,
he don't love, he don't care.
That's beyond the depths of comprehension.
Godness, that's what he showed me.
I said, what, God?
Really?
To that level.
Then comes the resurrection for all of that church.
See, we don't know the cause.
That's what the Psalms always tell us in the stories, right?
We don't know the cause.
We thought we knew, we heard.
Of course, we could never experience it.
We just, what we told.
Church, amen.
This thing is real.
So whether it's Amber, Rose, or anybody else that don't believe
and say, he's not real, I tell you, just that alone.
That can't be manufactured, guys.
You talk about reading scripture and everywhere else,
it's said this way.
But at that particular point, it comes that way.
Are you kidding me?
My God, my God, not my father.
Not my father, he didn't say that.
My God, my God, the righteous judge, you doing this.
But you're still my father, but that
ain't where we at right now.
And God looking at him saying, sacrifice.
Oh, man, the lamb.
Not my son, the lamb right now.
Church, that's it.
That's when it's finished.
So all of that, to bring you to closing, my God,
if you have any doubts about this man named Jesus
and his holiday that's celebrated
by some, questioned by many.
Questioned by many.
Some people are laughing about it right now.
Oh, those silly Christians, yeah, let them have their time.
Forgive them because they don't know better.
Church, this is a wake up call.
This is a channel's call to you.
We've heard tons of messages, and they're all good
because God's always speaking.
But see, he wanted you to take this journey with Jesus
to the cross.
This series of events that I've just laid out,
you've known many of them, just called out a few.
But to take you to a place that they
went that we can only imagine, but lay it for you that way.
So you can know, church, we know the story.
He went down.
He rose again.
That's what this Sunday is about, right?
Resurrection Sunday, and yep, he's risen.
And everybody make their phone calls tomorrow.
Yep, he's risen.
Praise God, and da, da, da, da, right, right?
Beautiful.
But see, he didn't rise for you to be dead.
He went through all of that, not for you
to be walking around like a dead person,
to be walking around like it doesn't matter.
That was a nice thing.
I'm thankful, da, da, da.
Guys, this is it.
That's what he died for.
But we acting like he's still actually dead,
because it's an afterthought, right?
He's alive.
And see, the question is, are you alive?
And how about this?
Guys, I'm here to tell you, he's coming again.
He's coming.
Rapture's real.
He's coming in the clouds.
I'm looking.
I'm waiting.
But while I'm waiting, I'm working, right?
I'm about advancing the kingdom.
And I hope you are, too.
Because church, for him to go through all that,
and what you just got a little bit of what I just shared
and the guy shared through me to you now,
and get that picture of it, if that don't smack you
in the face and say, like, oh, my god,
I've been looking at this thing maybe a little bit light,
I don't know what heaven would wake you up.
So church, as you think about tomorrow, and when you wake up
and you get the texts and the phone calls and we celebrate,
yeah, he's risen, ask yourself, what is he risen for?
Start with you.
Am I acting like he's risen?
Am I just saying, oh, he's risen,
and it's just my response back to the person that texts me?
Yeah, he's risen, right?
What does that mean?
I just shared with you a little bit
about what it meant to him and God.
It was everything.
Who in their right mind, which is why his ways are not
our ways, oh, my god, holy shit, get out of here.
His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts.
Who would ever, not any one of us,
would put your son or daughter on the line like that?
And not only that, role play to the point of,
this is who I am today, right?
I am second in terms of your father,
but I'm the righteous judge right now.
Oh, God, church, please, as we close,
close your eyes for a minute.
I want you to picture Jesus hanging on the cross.
See, a picture you may have had for years
is the typical picture, as we just described.
Nail-passed hand, e-wrists, and feet, crown of thorns,
bleeding, skin exposed, really messy, gory,
terrible, OK?
But now take it and look at if you were on that cross.
Oh, God.
First off, I don't think Antheis had the capacity
to be on the cross.
That wasn't our assignment or our call, so I get that.
But just imagine you're on the cross,
because guess what, church, really, you were on the cross.
Oh, God.
He was standing in for us.
He was posse for us on the cross.
So you really were hanging there.
Guys, if you went through that same beating,
because in a sense you did, but you didn't,
does that not make you feel any different?
We've been looking at Jesus and him carrying it out.
But guys, if he did it for us and we put him on the cross,
it really should have been us on the cross,
but we couldn't handle it.
But if you just step back and say, well, in my capacity,
if I was even dealing with some of this, man,
does that not make you think any differently of like,
you know what, I got to live my life differently.
Come on, church.
This ain't no game.
This ain't no joke.
long you've been out here. You can open your eyes. I don't care how long you've been out here.
You heard something you may have not never heard before. I never heard it.
If that alone, church, is not enough to understand we serve a Father and a Lord
that loves us beyond what we could ever imagine, and for in return, we can't give our life to Him.
We may have confessed and said, I'm a believer, and we said to talk, but that's talk.
This is a thing called walk. And so if you're not walking with Jesus, come on, church.
We're all in different levels in different places, but as I'm speaking here on March 30th, 2024,
tomorrow's not even promised. You might not rise with the resurrected Jesus.
If this was your last shot, what are you going to do? Well, pastor, I give my life to the Lord,
and that's fine or whatever, but is there not a challenge? Is there not something that just
hits your spirit that says, you know what? This is way beyond me and much bigger than me.
And if they could do something like that, at that level, the least I could do is something like this.
And that starts with, God, I don't know up until this point, but I know what I heard today.
And whatever it is, mold me, shape me, make me, I'm yours. See, church,
people are looking for authenticity. They got to see it in us. So remember last week's message was
be the word. I have to tell y'all another time, this is long enough, but I had a powerful experience
since that message last week of what God did in my life since then. But this is about the
resurrection and the crucifixion right now. Tell you about that later. But church, we have to be,
we're getting ready to experience and see some things throughout the remainder of this year.
It ain't going to look good, guys. I'm not a doomsday newsgiver, okay? But it's a mess and
it's getting messier. Real quick, I served at a poverty simulator event today. Basically,
that was something that you take on or live out what people are really struggling with
from a financial perspective. Guys, I sat in, this is an exercise dealing with like,
remember how they work with the food shortages and all that kind of stuff, whatever? Guys,
they wanted us to go through this simulation to get a better feel for what people are dealing
with and going through. Hey man, I was in tears. And I looked and I was going through some of the
exercise or whatever, but the thing about it, realizing it wasn't an exercise, this was real
life of people making choices like I talked about between medicine and food. And some of us have
made some of those choices. I get that ourselves at different points in time. But guys, I'm talking
about like, hey, this was fixed. And so all I can say is that I walked out of there and knowing that
I was getting ready to share this message today and about this Jesus, because still in the midst
of that, Jesus is there. Oh gosh, right? For those that are still going through that challenge,
he is still the hope. But if we don't represent that, and the closing thing for this message
and what our experience was, when we talked at the end of the simulation
and a challenge question came out and they said, what do we do as a community of people
to help raise up our own? No surprise to anybody, African-American community was the lowest of the
low in this impacted environment. Crazy, but real. We know some statistics about our groups and
how we don't come together while other groups that come into our country and do work together.
Guys, it was just too real in your face. So I say this to you, this Jesus that died for us,
he didn't go through all of that for nothing. And if you don't value that, you are ungrateful.
You are ungrateful. I know you might be going through some tough times. We all experience stuff
or whatever, but you know what? That I just described to you, amen. Suck it up, bring it up,
ask God to tell you the next thing or whatever and keep it moving because you're going to be all right.
That's who we serve. So church, I love you. I pray that you had years to hear
something differently this time. I've never heard that before, never. This pastor was preaching,
he was giving me some stuff. I was just like, whoa, whoa. And then God twisted and gave me
his love. I said, oh my God, church, the depths of his love, immeasurable. That's who we serve.
Amen. Amen. Amen. God, thank you Lord.
Amen, amen, amen.
Church, I'm going to close with some prayer like normal.
If anybody had anything they want to comment on, I always want to give the opportunity. You don't
have to, but just be respectful. Let me say this prayer. First of all, if there's anybody that does
not know the Lord, do not know Jesus as your personal savior, head of your life, have not given
your life to him. This is an opportunity, whether you're on the call live or you will hear this
message eventually. What you heard me share is the Jesus that we serve. This is the Jesus that gave
it all for us. You may have not ever heard it like that before in the capacity and to the level
of some of the things he did. Can you imagine? There's more. That was his death. But if you
question, does he love me? Ooh, we all have to have that question at times. We're in a place,
we go to places. Amber Rose had that question. She still does. Matter of fact, she doesn't even
think about the question because she's rejected him. Many have. Church, the mere fact that you're
still standing or sitting here today is proof in itself. Even through the challenge, guess what?
You still have an opportunity for the challenge. Oh, God. Church, if you have not made him your
Lord and Savior, this is the time. What a better time when the world is getting ready to celebrate
what they believe it is. Don't have to do it publicly. You can do it in the room between
you and him. Romans 10, 9 and 10 takes us straight through it. What you got to do,
two lines of scripture. It's not complicated. Now, there's some things you need to do following
on it, but you personally, this is not just a talk, but you walk, but it's not a complicated
situation to go through. We always like to give that opportunity.
Amen. Also, we always like to give ones an opportunity to rededicate their life to the
Lord. They've fallen off along the way, maybe. Maybe a little backslide. It started off with
the Lord. Hey, I've been describing with y'all, with Amber and Rose. She grew up in the church,
she said. Maybe she wasn't feeling certain things. She didn't feel the Holy Spirit or
whatever the case may be. A whole lot of people been in that space. Again, using her because
public name, they catch attention when people hear, oh, so-and-so, but no different than anybody
else. Jesus, God loves her, even though he's rejecting her right now. She's rejecting him
right now. Just like anybody else, he still loves them. Can you imagine that? Would you do it?
Hey man, we got different views of that. That's the depths of his love. He still ain't giving up.
Amen.
We turn on him. So, wherever you might find yourself have possibly fallen or slipped to,
we always like to say, hey, there's a chance to recommit to him. I want to get back on track with
him, right? He doesn't look at my sin. He throws in the seat of forgiveness. They said, well,
we wanted to hold on to it. So, opportunity, publicly or privately, however it works for you.
Amen.
Well, church, I will close us in prayer and
open for comments if anyone has one. Let's pray. Father, thank you.
We can never, we don't have enough tongues to thank you for what you did for us. You gave your
son the most precious thing to you in the midst of all of our sin. The arranged plan, that was the
only way we could think about, well, what about this? We could try this way. That was the way.
The blood of the lamb, the pure lamb, had to be. You thought about us. You said, I got to do this.
Father, we can't thank you enough. We're still here as a result of that. We've got opportunity
in the midst of the challenge to still continue to press forward. We've got an opportunity to
continue to press forward, whatever that might be. One step ahead, day by day, you still got us.
So, Father, as we think about Resurrection Sunday and what the world gets ready to celebrate,
yes, he has risen. But let us understand what happened before he risen, why he went to the
cross, what took place at the cross, and that as a result of that, now he comes back again.
And Father, help us to take that in and understand where we need to be in that,
how we need to move in that. We thank you for all that you're doing in our lives, Father.
It ain't over yet. We still got time, but time is short. Let us not play no more games, Father,
no more excuses. This is it. This is now. We're in the second half, Father.
We came out and halftime is over. Game is on. We got to close this thing out. It's March Madness.
Oh, God, second half. What are we going to do? We're on the winning team. Let's just play our
roles and take it out. So, Father, I ask you to be with each person on this call, Lord, and those
that will hear the call. Take them to the place they haven't been. They've got a taste of it right
now, Father God, but just marinate it in their hearts and in their minds, Father God, and show
them things they haven't seen that will take them to a realization of the depths of your love,
what it was all about, beyond what they could ever imagine or think, because that's the God
we serve. And, Father, we give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen.