EASTER // The Veil Is Lifting: Tell the Story

been around in a long time maybe maybe

you have been in church every Sunday

your entire life but would you would you

ask the Holy Spirit you may not even

believe in the Holy Spirit but if you

would open yourself up to the

possibility that this story that the son

of God came to

earth as a

sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice of love

to atone for

brokenness and to restore the earth and

you and I to a place of purpose

belonging hope and adoption

that's only possible if he actually got

out of the

tomb if the resurrection is

true it is the central event in human

history it's the only event that really

matters and it says to everything of

your pain it's not the end

everything of your

disappointment every

tear every

question the

resurrection

sings but only if it's true but here's

the thing no one is convinced of the

resurrection because they hear and see

the evidence the evidence comes after

The evidence comes after an encounter an

experience with the living

God i'd like to look at a scripture this

morning that's not a typical Easter

message i want to look at one we've you

even heard many of the the messages uh

and the the gospel stories of the

resurrection there's there's uh a man

named Paul that most of you have heard

of the Apostle Paul wrote most of the

New Testament his

testimony circles around something that

I would call the veil

he was struck

blind on the road to Jerusalem as he was

pursuing Christian group after Christian

group and murdering them at the hands of

a righteous act of the Pharisees the

same group that Jesus was a part of Paul

was a part of and he thought he was

purging this religious group this Jewish

group of the heresies of the

heretics that he was completely

righteous he didn't care about the

evidence he didn't care how many people

Jesus had shown himself to after the

resurrection he didn't care about the

testimonies he didn't care about the

transformation and the changed

lives until he encountered Jesus and was

blind for three days and then the veil

over his eyes were removed and there's

this theme throughout scripture from

Moses and the people in the wilderness

moses had to be veiled to keep the

Israelites from encountering the glory

of God and they they resisted knowing

God face to face and then

Paul he has the the scales the veil

removed from his eyes and and the

physical act of being blind was was to

demonstrate the spiritual act of his

eyes being open so he could see and he

was the greatest transformed life in

maybe all of human

history in a

moment and he went about giving his life

and laying his life down and eventually

gave his life for the cause that he was

taking life from taking life to giving

life and then we see that at the

resurrection of Jesus there was a

curtain in the the Holy of Holies in the

in the tabernacle that holiest place uh

of of the intimate place in their

sanctuary and it was torn from top to

bottom signifying that God had come to

man and that there was there was no

separation between those who carry God's

spirit that is now being released

through Jesus so there's all this

imagery but I want I want you to just

fixate on this one concept of the veil

the message is the veil is lifting tell

the

story if you're like me I'm blown away

at what's happening in in the world

right now i was um one of my my favorite

pastors on earth Pete Greg i listen to

him uh a lot of nights as I go to sleep

the um like the 0365 app he also has a

churchmas road in uh in the UK and

started the 247 prayer movement that's

uh all over the world but started out of

out of England and and Europe uh he was

just sharing this week about how he's

been carrying heaviness and praying for

25 years and just at times just being

vulnerable like is this all worth it is

all this all this praying all this work

is it all worth it is it making an

impact and here's the beauty from from

Good Friday to Easter morning is the

heaviness the sorrow the brokenness the

loss the death of Good Friday is then

supposed to be put juxtaposed to the

life to the hope to the glory of Sunday

morning and he was just

saying he's been going through this

reality of of realizing that the world

is a mess and in the midst of the world

being a

mess there's just all these stories that

hope is alive i want to just and I was

just to be honest with you I was weeping

earlier the week just sitting on on the

stories in the midst of a world that in

some ways feels more and more broken the

world isn't any more broken than it's

all ever been it's always been broken

but we can stay in a place that starts

with compassion but it leads to doubt

and it leads to heaviness and it leads

to a place where we actually take

ourselves out because we don't have any

hope we don't have a story to tell or or

we're trying to tell a story that we

don't honestly

believe and he said 'There's just so

many encouragements that hope is alive

and and you know

our after LA Western Europe is our

adopted child that we pray for that we

sew into that we go after why why it's

because it's the only place on earth

that the gospel what do I always say

that the that the gospel isn't

growing it's

changing it's changing and it's not

because of me and it's not because of

you and it's not because of anybody but

it is because that the prayers of the

saints are taking effect and here's some

of the things that are happening he

said Pico is in Copenhagen he just got

reports that the church has grown 30 a

church in Copenhagen has grown 30% in

the last 18

months no one knows why but there's a

31% increase in baptisms in France or

why in in Finland in the last eight

years massive increase in young men

attending church or why more and more

public influencers and intellectuals are

turning the faith or why the Assemblies

of God is planting a church globally

every 3 minutes there was a gathering in

the UK of senior church leaders that are

sharing stories just a couple weeks ago

of things that they haven't seen in

years and years and years dreams visions

supernatural experiences witches finding

faith young working men with no church

context being completely compelled to

read the scriptures for the first time

entire Muslim families that are coming

to Christ atheists getting saved hearing

the audible voice of God stuff that we

used to talk about in history and other

places happening and that he started

saying the heaviness is lifting because

maybe our prayers are actually taking

effect and maybe this hasn't all been

for

vain and he goes this isn't just

anecdotal this this is

researchbased the Times of the UK just

published an article i have that back

behind me i think there's a couple come

on guys stay up with me i'm going fast

today i've got I've got stuff to show

you 18 to 24 year olds are 50% less

likely to be atheists than their parents

in the

UK in the United

Kingdom over two million more people go

to church than six years

ago gen Z is leading the way in growth

that's a 50% increase in church

attendance in

England the most dramatic increase is

among the young men as Phil was just

saying there's something happening among

men it has nothing to do with it not

happening among women here my conviction

is is that the women are ready and they

have been they're waiting for men to

arise and Gen Z is leading the

way with revival moments all over the

earth and here's some stats for the

US 66% of Americans have made a personal

commitment to Jesus 66% that's what Bara

has said that's up from a historic low

of 54% in

2021 this is mostly in the Gen Z and

millennial age

group young men are showing the largest

increase here in the US as well

millennial

men meeting Jesus up 19% since 2019 gen

Z men up 15% interest in Jesus is

growing in those who do not describe

themselves as Christians as well the

mainstream media is taking

notice so let's keep pressing

in sharing our faith in greater

confidence remembering the the voice of

the Apostle Paul be joyful

patient in affliction faithful in prayer

this is the time we were born for so

Jesus is connecting culturally in a way

that we haven't seen i haven't seen this

in my lifetime the question is what is

happening what is happening and I would

say this it's like a veil is being

removed from people's eyes

i've mentioned recently I got another

picture up there guys like Russell Brand

are all over um the internet which is

fun i'm going to stop using UK examples

in a second guys like Joe Rogan who I

don't care if you like him or hate him

but he he I mentioned a few weeks ago

had on one of the um the the most I

think one of the most effective upcoming

apologetics professors uh Wesley Huff

that is starting to

give evidence to the

experiences you don't start with an

argument and try to convince someone

with facts but people are starting to

have experiences and softening of their

hearts why because the secular attempt

what is secularism is trying to find

meaning and purpose apart from God and

people are realizing that finding

purpose and meaning in life apart from

being a part of a bigger story is

impossible and so what we're what we're

going after is realizing the veil is

being removed and people are realizing

that

Christianity even if you and I don't

know the facts there is so much there to

explore and if you're one of the one of

the people that need the facts it's

they're out there we'd be happy to give

it to you but here's here's the thing we

don't want you just to memorize facts we

want you to have an encounter with the

living

Christ even White Lotus is talking about

the Christian faith these days you can

barely see that photo but I was blown

away by that no one watches that show

you're liars you do i know you

do all right so let's get into the

scripture before I get too uh out of

bounds 2 Corinthians three three i think

I have the scripture up there three did

I it's 2 Corinthians not 1

Corinthians now if the ministry of death

carved in letters on stone came with

such glory that the Israelites could not

gaze at Moses's face because of its

glory which was being brought to an end

will not the ministry of the spirit have

an even more glory so okay before you

phase out Paul is is giving a history of

his own testimony to these people and

he's basically saying we have a history

of this idea of of death to life this

idea of Moses our history our great

father of the faith Moses he had this

ministry and he had to gaze at the glory

of God and he's saying now that the

ministry of the spirit is what Moses

experienced but it's even better and

he's telling them why so he's basically

saying old covenant new covenant old

ways new ways here we go for if there

was glory in the ministry of

condemnation the ministry of

righteousness must far exceed it in

glory i'll I'll define in a moment what

glory is and all these things he's

talking about but he goes verse 10

indeed in this case what once had glory

has come to have no glory at all because

of the glory that surpasses it he's

saying there's something

greater for if what was being brought to

an end came with glory much more will

what is permanent have glory now pay

attention this last little paragraph

since we have such a hope we are very

bold he's saying why do we have hope not

like Moses who would put a veil over his

face so that the Israelites might not

gaze at the outcome of what was being

brought to an end but their minds were

hardened bottom line the Israelites had

hardened hearts the veil represents this

reality they could not see God for who

he really was and what he was

doing for to this day when they read the

old covenant that same veil remains

unlifted because only through Christ is

it taken away yes to this day whenever

Moses is read a veil lies over their

hearts key verse verse 16 but when one

turns to the Lord the veil is

removed now the Lord is the spirit where

the spirit of the Lord is there's

freedom

we're in pursuit of freedom our nation

has carried the beacon of freedom like

no other nation in human history but the

danger is that it becomes a faux freedom

or it becomes a freedom that cannot

attain the fullness of what that freedom

desires and it starts to actually be a

selfserving freedom and the freedom that

God has designed for us to pursue as

human beings created in his image isn't

like the freedom that humans pursue in

their own vain pursuits it can't because

it cannot serve

yourself we cannot understand freedom in

our own spaces because it will always

turn in on itself because it will always

serve myself and anytime I'm serving

myself as the

ultimate I will never find

purpose because my life can never have a

significant purpose in and of itself it

has to connect to something eternal it

has to connect to something bigger if

your life isn't connected to anything

other than yourself you are God and

you're serving the God of yourself and

you may not believe in the God of

yourself but you're living like you do i

live like I do when I've lost I've lost

the closeness i've lost the awareness

i've lost the passion i've lost the

conviction that I'm living for something

bigger than myself and I'm I'm I'm

feeling the heaviness the weight of the

world around me and I know that there

has to be something more but when I stay

locked into my own story and I'm

obsessed with achieving something out of

my own life I will never get to the

place I will never get to the place of

something worth laying my life down for

because I'm living for my

life the death and resurrection of Jesus

reminds us that you first have to find

what you will die

for before you can really live and he's

the only one that can put the ultimate

of the human experience life and death

he He's the only one that's placed it

under his feet and said "This is not the

end." So if you live for this if you die

for this if you die for this story of

me that's the day that you begin to

live this may be your last breath as he

said to the criminal to his right

but that last breath prophesies in

eternity that this is not the

end and I just want to invite you

whether you have been in church your

whole life or this is your first day

would you open your heart Aresh

today to encounter the possibility that

maybe your

life was worth being laid down for

something bigger than

yourself and that the resurrection of

Jesus is the only

reality that has put

that into a place where God has come to

us and said this is the way follow me

final verse and we all with unveiled

face beholding the glory of the Lord are

being transformed into the same image

from one degree of glory to another for

this comes from the Lord who is the

spirit so Paul is basically saying in a

lot of complex words but to simplify it

the veil is being removed when one turns

to the

Lord and as we have our eyes opened our

unveiled faces we can actually behold

this kind of glory of who he is that's

what transforms us that's what changes a

life the idea that people never change

is a lie but the idea that you can

change in your own strength is also a

lie the only way you are

transformed is by dying and living to

this and he says this is comes from the

spirit of God

and this is why when we when we gather

together we never look at the word

without the

spirit everything everything in our life

is word and spirit it's based on the

history it's based on validity and it's

breathed life on by his

spirit so here's the theme paul compares

the ministry of Moses the old covenant

to the ministry of the spirit the new

covenant the goal is to show how the

resurrection of Jesus and this this

reality of the spirit living in us and

upon us brings about lasting lasting

transformation in believers that

fulfills all of his promises and so

obviously there's the background of

Exodus where Moses is is first giving

the law the veil on his face the

separation from God and the inability

for him and for the Israelites to be

transformed but Paul is essentially

arguing this this veil becomes a

metaphor for our spiritual blindness

especially Israel's rejection of the

gospel and he goes in Jesus this veil is

removed and we can behold God's glory

directly leading to a transformation

that goes from glory to glory to

glory so what is this

veil thank you for asking veil two

things at once there's a literal veil

and a metaphorical veil the literal veil

was what Moses wore over his face in

Exodus 34 it came he came down from

Mount Si after speaking with God his

face shone with divine glory and he wore

this veil to hide the fading brightness

from the people it was for the people's

protection

but then there's this metaphorical veil

that Paul's also talking about that's

over our hearts and minds especially

those who try to relate to God only

through achievement only through rules

only through reality self-effort

morality this is not about moralism it's

about a transforming encounter with the

living

God so what is it this when the veil's

taken away what does that mean and it's

ultimately simply this when someone

turns to Jesus really turns heart and

soul the spiritual blindness or barrier

that kept them from truly seeing God or

understanding truth experiencing his

grace is

removed and they go from knowing about

God to

knowing true God they go from reading

scripture to receiving it a hard heart

to an awakened one a confused mind to a

clear mind

theologically spa speaking the veil

represents this blindness a condition

where someone can't perceive God can't

see his glory the freedom the beauty of

Jesus Paul says in verse 14 only in

Christ this is taken away the veil so

the veil relates to salvation and it

relates to revelation many of you have

have made Jesus your savior and lord but

the

revelation there's still a veil that's

there at times where it's like I'm not

seeing clearly I'm not really convinced

that that I can trust this story or or

most of the time you are and then you

get up and you realize this is what

Jesus is talking about daily you pick up

the cross and follow me because we live

in the tension between heaven and earth

we live in the tension between his realm

and our realm the spiritual and the

physical and the and the the challenge

is how do we live in a place where we're

constantly aware of Jesus's presence

with us that we're walking with him and

making an

impact because ultimately true freedom

is where the spirit of the Lord is where

the spirit of the Lord is there is

freedom verse 17 and when the veil lifts

there's freedom from

legalism there's freedom from

moralism there's freedom from sin shame

self-striving freedom to see God as he

really is and to be

transformed so in short having the veil

taken away means this seeing the risen

Christ

clearly personally gloriously no filters

no confusion no barriers just real

encountering relationship with the

living

God so I want you to imagine a few

people i'll get there in a second but

first first imagine this you're wearing

a hoodie the hoodiey's up headphones are

in you're walking around the world and

you're you're just kind of numbing

out listening to a

podcast listening to whatever music

makes you happy you see people talking

about God you see them posting Bible

verses

online maybe they even invite you to

church

but it's just not hitting or maybe

you're the person posting the Bible

verses because it's not hitting you and

maybe if you post a really nice little

photo of your quiet time maybe that'll

connect more but it feels

static and whether you're a skeptic or

you're a diehard you can still have that

experience that's the veil and then one

day you go through something i've lost

count of the number of people in my life

that their lives were changed because

they went through something where they

didn't have an answer they got to their

end or maybe nothing dramatic happens

there's just an unsettling and there's

this

gradual disassociation with the way that

you're living your life and where it's

going and you start questioning things

you cry out to God maybe you pick up a

Bible you listen to a worship song you

randomly get invited to an event someone

prays for you i don't know whatever it

is suddenly bam something happens

something

clears you feel seen you feel conviction

you feel hope and you get it in whatever

your soul is you start to feel a

connection many of you know that

experience many of you want that

experience many of you wish you could go

back to when you had experiences like

that

but most of us have a moment or a season

where we first realize Jesus is real

he's not just the name he's actually

after my

heart and so what does this look like

the veil being removed i have a before

and after i think I put it up there if

you can find it before there's distance

he feels far away after there's

something about he might actually be

here with me maybe not you don't feel it

every moment but what felt far now feels

closer the Bible was boring and

confusing and now maybe this is actually

life it's it's starting to maybe I don't

understand everything but it feels like

it's speaking many people say "Oh all of

a sudden it feels like every time I'm

reading it it feels like it's speaking

directly to me." Or maybe you go from

before I'm doing fine on my own and now

all of a sudden I'm not fine maybe I

have a need of something bigger than

myself finally the the veil is removed

and you need a savior i need something

i'm not okay without him or maybe you've

gone from Jesus was a great teacher he

had some great advice he was a great man

but the after is he becomes Lord he

becomes the ultimate he becomes the

thing that I give my life to that I

serve that I follow with all that I have

and I encounter his love in a way that I

haven't encountered love in any any way

any form any shape or I can manifest or

hustle my way to peace maybe that's

where you were at

before and then you encounter the true

peace and it's in surrender and not

control in true trust and maybe you've

gone from before hating yourself or

feeling lost to to feeling loved

belonging and purpose maybe you felt

yourself go this way but then it feels

like you're being pulled

back and that's the that is the ultimate

journey of

transformation it's a complete and utter

human mess it is

chaos and it's the whole point moving

from chaos to

peace lost to found broken to

loved hardened to

hope some of the modern testimonies that

we love sound like this i thought I knew

who Jesus was now I realize I didn't

know him at all i was spiritual but I

didn't know peace until I met

him it's like the lights came on i've

heard that so many times it's like a

light just came on and I just got it it

wasn't just a

belief it became someone who I really

knew i could actually talk with God and

listen to

him that's what they mean these

Christians mean by a

relationship

yes and even for Christians maybe you

you thought that Jesus was was was your

example

i grew up and many times I just I just

felt like that he's my ultimate example

what would Jesus do i'm not I'm not

bashing any of that in fact I've seen

these WWJD bracelets come back in and

I'm like what else can we adopt from the

'9s in my

childhood but the reality is is that

um we don't pursue an example of

Jesus jesus isn't our example he's our

experience

you

can't you can't live up to Jesus he's

not my

example he's my invitation i'm following

him to stay around him he wants to be

around

me i'm the one that brings the

distance for me all of a

sudden when I encountered him healing my

heart and even once I had healed my body

started to actually make me realize he's

listening and my prayer is engagement

with him in a way that I had kind of

done but then I went all in and it was

like another layer another layer of

veiling was removed from my eyes and my

intimate daily encounter with him took

another level This wasn't like I went

from completely blind and lost and no

relationship to everything but it was

something where if you're a Christian

and you're just like I it's still

frustrating i see all these people that

seem to have a better relationship with

God and I'm like yes good if you have

the best relationship with Jesus there

is that is terrible news for everybody

else i don't care how good a

relationship you have with him if you

have the best there's nothing better on

offer than yours

stop the comparison in the negative use

it for the positive if someone else has

a better relationship than you it's an

invitation he doesn't love them more

than

you he's not your

dad that was too light-hearted that was

meant to go to the heart for some of you

need to know he's not your earthly dad

or mom that didn't love you perfectly

that's why he shows you the heavenly

father that is your dad that loves you

beyond you could ever imagine when you

start to realize that

every inferior experience with love is

brought to fullness with his encounter

and the way he wants to love you then

every other person that's got a

closeness and a testimony and a story of

his love isn't a comparison to show you

how screwed up you are it's an

invitation to live at a standard that is

ever increasing from glory to glory it's

never enough you should always want more

and if you don't just let him love you

and get in the room

and you are today so you're doing great

you're in the room

today but we don't equip you our heart

of disciplehip isn't to get you to more

meetings our heart of disciplehip is to

demonstrate the kind of people that

encounter him and go and take him that

tell a story that attracts the world to

a way of life that's so messy and

chaotic but he is bringing a greater

measure of peace holiness and

glory

daily so we have to make this

head-to-heart shift from knowledge to

faith religion to relationship from

trying to trusting and from guilt to

grace and so what keeps the veil

on our favorites pride fear false

beliefs and spiritual deception pride

thinking we don't need God or that we've

had enough of God or that I'm doing fine

without him or just like if I check in

once a month we're cool fear is

surrendering what it might cost

you it'll cost you everything jesus was

so severe at what it would cost jesus

wouldn't just find like he wasn't like

here's the certain amount they want to

go how much will this cost Jesus and

they tried to put it in financial terms

they tried to put it in familial terms

they tried to put it in all kinds of

different terms and what Jesus would do

every single time is he go what is that

thing that you don't want to let go of

he would find that thing that would hurt

them the most to let go of and he would

say that's what I want i want all of it

what is the one

thing and it's usually a great thing

that you're so good at that you don't

need him

for that's the only thing he

wants he doesn't want the other

stuff history tells us if you'll give

him that one

thing you'll know his love like you've

never encountered love

before false beliefs is being free from

a god not right

theology and yet it is right theology is

seeing God for who he really

is most of the people that like obsess

about their good theology they just want

to be

right god wants you to know him the

pursuit of theology is knowing God for

what he is every time you encounter

scripture it's God what does this show

me about who you are and what you're

like and spiritual deception is not

being caught up in just these field good

lies that lead to

nowhere there's so much of that going on

right now god he wants you to encounter

with a sincere heart the living Jesus he

wants to unveil what is keeping us blind

and here I just want to give five quick

examples of the types of people that

probably all of us in the room I know I

can identify at times in my life with at

least one or two of these people five

examples of how the veil might be

removed from a life and I just want you

to just think about this and ask which

ones of these can I identify with the

first the burned out achiever anyone

want a show of hands if that's you

praise God i see two hands on some of

you beautiful maybe maybe you started a

tech uh startup

uh may maybe maybe you've started

there's a lot of people that started

businesses a lot of people that have

moved to LA to do all kinds of different

things maybe you're a productivity beast

100 hour weeks three monitors podcast on

two times speed you know who you

are you're going to build an empire but

deep down you're drowning in anxiety

insomnia and a fear failure

and maybe this guy after one night of a

panic attack randomly opens this Bible

that his grandma gave him and reads

"Come to me who all of you who are weary

and heavy burdened and I will give you

rest." Is that what you need to hear

from the loving heart of Jesus this

morning maybe you need to respond "Okay

Jesus I'm actually tired in soul and

spirit and

body i surrender

the veil removed for this person is stop

chasing identity and

success find it in being a son or

daughter of the one true God second the

heartbroken

wanderer maybe you're recovering from a

breakup or a

divorce or a divorced home maybe this is

the the kind of person guy or girl who's

just gone through the worst kind of

breakup relationally of life you've

tried healing through journaling

crystals

yoga even sound baths which I'm kind of

on the edge

about those things are soothing i'll

tell you

that it's just the people that give them

to you are like the ones that I'm not

sure that they're I'm not sure they're

declaring the things I need anyway

nothing helped the aching not the sound

baths not the yoga not the crystals they

were all momentary one night maybe

you're sitting in your car screaming at

the sky "Where are you God?" If you're

even

real and then maybe just think about a

moment a worship song comes

on you say "I'm loved and I can't feel a

thing." And maybe you break down and you

pray for the first time that you've ever

prayed and a stillness and a peace

settles

in the veil is being removed seeing that

God's not punishing you but pursuing

you maybe you're the heartbroken

wanderer maybe you're the burned out

achiever or maybe you're the new age

seeker maybe you're sitting in the room

or you have a friend or or a loved one

that's in this place maybe you're making

money doing all kinds of unique things

whether that's energy sessions tarot

cards whatever it is Christ

consciousness but not really Jesus as

Lord we we have an amazing friend that's

in this this

reality deep encounters with Jesus but

not full surrender

maybe the cry of your heart is "If

you're really the savior and lord Jesus

I need you to show

me." The veil being removed for this

person is realizing that Jesus wasn't

just a vibe he's

king but he's a merciful king and he's

after your

heart last two maybe you're the church

kid who didn't get it

you grew up in church Sunday school VBS

all the verses sword drills you win i

don't

know but it was a routine it was family

tradition and maybe you're the kind of

person that you you went to a worship

night something pierced through the

noise Jesus woke up your soul

you felt the presence of God so strongly

that you couldn't

stand you felt his love in a way that

you'd never felt the veils being removed

because you didn't just inherit faith

you had to step into his invitation

maybe that's you today you haven't

really stepped into your own encounter

you've coasted off a

family or a tradition of faith that's

been fine but it's not yours he wants

you and finally the

cynic maybe you're angry at God maybe

you've been burned by the church maybe

you identified as a Christian at one

point and now you wouldn't be in this

room if you weren't somewhat open to it

or you had a friend that didn't make you

come but here's the thing maybe you've

walked away for good

reason maybe you had a loved one pass

away and you just decided religion was a

joke and God was cruel

and here we are maybe a few months later

or a few years later and uh you just

need to know that we're not here and

God's not here to convert you to

something you just need to know that

he's

real and I want you I want to invite you

to just tell Jesus that that's all you

want i want to know that you're real and

I want you to ask Jesus to show you how

he sees you i want you to ask

Jesus "Are you standing there judging me

are you there with open

arms are you there for me in the weeping

and in the pain and in the process and

in the

loss?" Jesus went through he came as God

to

mankind to show us that he's experienced

everything we could so that in our pain

he can say that he knows what we've been

through and that he's gone before us he

hasn't asked you to follow him in a

direction he hasn't already gone the

veil's been removed he realized his

anger is covering deep grief and Jesus

isn't a villain but a healer if that's

you maybe you can identify with the

cynic so maybe it's the cynic the church

kid the new age seeker the heartbroken

wanderer the burned out achiever who are

you where's the veil over your life who

do you identify with and let's look at

just this climactic verse in 18 as a

promise to our hearts and Paul said "And

we all with unveiled face beholding the

glory of the Lord are being transformed

into the same image from one degree of

glory to another for this comes from the

Lord who is the spirit

what's the

glory it's the overwhelming presence of

God it's his realness his holiness his

majesty the thing that would cause you

to just awe and

wonder but Paul looks at two types of

glory the one that's passing away Moses

in the law and Jesus in the spirit the

one that grows and doesn't

fade the glory here is the overwhelming

radiant presence and power of God now

made available to us through the Holy

Spirit because of what Jesus did

because he

rose it's God's spirit in us it's

transformation happening inside of us

it's access to the presence of God

without a veil and it's a deeper more

intimate relationship than anything

Moses or anyone previous has experienced

they only encountered in moments what we

have access to every moment of every day

it was like a candle the glory of the

law it was real but it was dim and it

was temporary what we have is like the

sun a bright and burning fire that's

powerful and bright and it

increases from glory to

glory so what do we do with all

this how do we reshape and how do we see

ourselves we need to move from being

without

Jesus to being unveiled faces with him

what does that look like it moves from

being I'm not enough to he's enough not

I'm enough you're never going to be

enough the world tries to say that we're

enough because we know that we have that

ache that we're

not but the way of Jesus isn't trying to

tell you something that's good it's

wrong in the right spirit in the right

heart the way of Jesus doesn't doesn't

mix signals and it doesn't soften things

up i'm not enough he's enough and

because he's enough and because he wants

me and lives with me that's

enough it moves from I'm just a mess to

I'm being made new daily it moves from I

need to earn love to I'm already full of

a love that has already been paid he has

never held any of his love back he's let

all of his

love take on all of the wrath and

judgment and he's made it on

offer and we come from I need to earn

love to I'm already fully loved and I

don't belong to I'm adopted i'm chosen

i'm secure from I hate parts of me to

he's redeeming all of

me you don't have to pretend you don't

hate parts of yourself

in fact to just say mantras that aren't

true about yourself maybe that'll help

to some degree and maybe not make you

not feel as heavy and dark but you have

to go from I hate parts of me what about

the parts of you that are worth

hating that's where I always get

stuck and that's where that's where the

mantra is that he's redeeming it all of

it

that's what glory to glory is talking

about this is what gets us to Jesus i'm

not defined by my past yes I am we are

defined by our past the world will

define you by your past to try not to be

defined by your past good

luck i wouldn't change anything yes you

would i am so sick of every interview i

wouldn't change anything hey you've come

from this this this look at where you've

come from and like they have this great

opportunity to go about like yes of

course I change all that crap look at

the carnage that my life has has given

to the world i wouldn't change a

thing did you ask your kids that

question would

I give examples i'm I I get I would like

to think that I'm a decent father i

cringe regularly at the idea that I

could say I wouldn't change a thing i'm

going to have a laundry list of things

as I weep over the trillions of photos

that are now in my cloud that I can look

at for the next 40 years and I'm going

to have all this potential regret and I

can stay in the heaviness or I can allow

the hope of a different perspective and

a different way of looking at life and

looking at my brokenness compel me

forward

we're always defined by our past unless

there is something or someone that

covers my past redeems it and transforms

me and moves forward that there's

something eternal that's bigger than my

past otherwise this is all

hopeless if he didn't rise your past

does define

you but he rose

i want to invite you to rise to your

feet this team to come behind me i just

want to give us a couple minutes to just

respond to put some things to our lips

and respond with a

song get in a posture of worshipful

prayer and exchange with God i want some

of you you need to wrestle with him

right now

or you need to say "Jesus we need to

have a

fight." Or you need to say "Jesus I need

to have a

cry." You You're free to do it right

here but some of you you just know "I

need to do that later this week." And

that's fine too but you make a promise

in your soul that that's going to happen

this

week i invite every single person in the

room have a moment with God right now

the spirit of God holy Spirit we invite

you to be present with each of our

spirits right

now whichever person we identify with

whichever our history is whatever the

veil over our hearts are at the

moment we ask for a childlike wonder and

encounter with the risen King Jesus

from the skeptics in the room to the

lifelong

believer we pray for the veil to be

removed in everinccreasing fashion over

the earth and start with me today where

I've allowed the veil to come where I

allowed spiritual blindness to keep me

from the fullness of seeing King Jesus

walking with him living with him and

telling his story clearly fully

beautifully

i turn from that

place what Jesus calls repentance i turn

and follow you fresh

today if you're in the room and it's

just your your

heart is in a place where you're just

maybe you're still skeptical but you

just

want you want to put this Jesus to the

test are you real is this real is this

possible well if that's

you I just want you to pray this prayer

with me right

now jesus if you're real show

[Music]

me jesus if you're real show

me if you prayed that

prayer I believe he

will i believe he will because he's done

it for me he's done it for a countless

others that I love and he's done it for

a countless number across the earth that

is ever increasing and he will do it for

you your only job lean in and

listen don't numb don't check

out lean in and

[Music]

listen lean in and listen today tomorrow

this

week in fact

I I encourage you to to be extra extra

spiritual give it 40

days remove something from your life it

can be

anything remove something from your life

for 40 days and ask him to show you that

he's

real see where you're at at the end of

40

days he will not leave you

alone spirit of God we invite your

presence to restore hearts let your love

like liquid love come and fill us to

overflow this morning lord Jesus we

honor you as King resurrected Lord and

Savior of all humanity thank you that

you're restoring me you're restoring

every son and daughter in this room and

you're restoring hearts all throughout

the earth and you are actually restoring

the earth itself thank you that that's

our story where we haven't told that

story we repent and we