We're in this series, encounters with Jesus. We're going to be in here through most of this summer. We're in the Gospel of Luke, looking at twelve different encounters Jesus had with different people, different types of people in different situations. And our hope is that we would get to better know our savior, that we would have our own encounters with Jesus and better understand who he is. When I ask, like, who Jesus is, I mean, you can answer that question in a statement of he's the second head of the Trinity, he's the only begotten son of the father. And where those are like true statements about Jesus, there's a little bit more to it than that when it comes to actually knowing Jesus and loving Jesus and following Jesus. That's why the gospels aren't a textbook. It's an account. You get stories, you get analogies of saying he's the bread of life, he's living water, he's the good shepherd. You get like, here's an encounter with a tax collector, here's an encounter with a prostitute, here's an encounter with a pharisee. You get all these encounters to help us better know Jesus. And we want to better know Jesus, we want to better follow Jesus, we want to better worship Jesus. And there's a uniqueness to Jesus that comes out more than just in a textbook of statements and facts and in stories and accounts that once you get it, once you encounter it, it stirs up an awe and a worship in your own heart. And that's what we're after. We want you to have encounters with Jesus that he is alive and living and meets people where they're at. And hopefully we can better understand them through this. So those encounters happen in moments. And each one of these encounters are moments people had with Jesus. And things can change in a moment. Like, it just takes a moment and things are different. And all these times when anybody interacted with Jesus, it's like life changed for them. They had this moment and this encounter and things were different. There's times where things can change bad in a moment. A couple weeks ago it was Memorial day and family's over and we're playing and just having a good time. My son mo grabs a lemon because why not? And we just started throwing at each other. And then we said, no, this could be a great game. So we came up with a game. It's going to catch on. It's called lemon drop. We named it and it's like hot potato with a lemon and you throw a lemon around and if you drop it. Then you have to take a bite of the lemon peel and all, and then you keep throwing it and it's going to get harder to catch each time. Well, somebody threw it to me a little high and I jumped. And by jump is probably generous, but my feet were off the ground and I came down and on my ankle and I heard, like, a loud snap. Well, thank you. I probably would have broke my whole leg if I wasn't so athletic because I just kind of rolled with it and just kind of gracefully went down. I wish they would have captured it on camera, it was amazing. But I heard this snap and it swell up. I couldn't put weight on it. We went and got x rays, put my foot in a bucket. But I had plans for that day that didn't involve crutches. I'm better now. Young and spry, heal quickly. But I had plans that didn't involve that. That just got changed in a moment, right? There's a moment that can just change things. Like whatever you got planned, something happens and things are different. Car accident. No plan on that. Heart attack, stroke, that phone call. Like none of us are promised that next moment. In fact, a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, a friend of mine, a guy that I know, was in a church I pastored for a while, helped somebody into the passenger seat, shut the door, walked around to the other side of the car, got sat down 1ft out in the car, 1ft in massive heart attack, died. You just not promised the next moment. Like, moments can just change in an instant. And we see that in our text today, where you see a widow who is burying her only son and we don't know why he died or how he died, but it seems to be a premature death. Was it a moment? Was it a farming accident? Was he on the roof and fell off? We don't know. But that woman's life got changed. But also there's change for the good in a moment, because in their funeral procession, they run into Jesus, and in that moment, things change for the good. So maybe there's for you some moments ahead. Like, I may not make it through this sermon, like, I'm not guaranteed for that right, you may not make it home. We don't know what moments await us. But on the good side, like, in a moment, our God can give you peace, and in a moment, our God can open your eyes to the hope found in him, and in a moment, he can supply you with joy. In a moment you could have faith. And just to lay my cards on the table I hope that you have an encounter with Jesus that you grow to know and love him more. That's what we want to see in these encounters with Christ. And maybe for you, you have a moment of better understanding the person and character of Jesus Christ. So grab your bibles, turn to Luke, chapter seven. Luke, chapter seven. We'll put the verses on the screen, but I'm going to tell you probably frequently, I always think it's best if you have it in front of you. Bring a bible. Bring a pen. Let's look at the text together, but if not, we'll put them up on the screen. So Luke, chapter seven. You guys ready? All right, starting in verse eleven. Soon afterward. All right, let's stop there. Soon after what? I think it's going to be helpful if we understand this story in the context of what comes right before it. In fact, he refers to it, like, soon afterwards. Like, this event is connected to the event that just happened beforehand. So let's better understand what happened before this so we can better understand the point that Luke is making in this account, because there's a purpose in writing these gospel accounts. It's not just like, let me just tell you everything that happened. I'm telling you things that happened for a reason, like in John's gospel. I'm telling you this so that you would believe, right? And he says, if we couldn't, we couldn't record everything. There's not enough document to write down everything that Jesus did. But there's intentionality in writing. So what's the intention of the author in this text and in this story? So soon after what? Let's go back to the beginning of chapter seven. Said after he had finished all his sayings and the hearing of the people, he entered capernaum. Now, a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, I want you to remember that the servant was at the point of death who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and, and heal his servant. And when they came to jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, he is worthy to have you do this for him. He loves our nation, and he is the one who built us, our synagogue. So he's like Jesus. He's one of the good gentiles. You should help him out. And jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore, I do not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I, too, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one go and he goes, and to another come, and he comes, and to my servant do this, and he does it. When jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found that the servant was well. So he didn't even have to be there to provide healing for this servant. So you're starting to be like, what kind of power are we dealing with? And he extends this healing power to a centurion servant. Like, what kind of compassion are we dealing with here? And it says that the servant was at the point of death. Well, what if he's beyond that point? Like, this is, this is pretty impressive, Jesus. Like, you can take somebody who's at the point of death and bring healing, but what if somebody is beyond the point of death? Does your power stop there? And if Luke is trying to help us better understand and know Jesus, let's keep reading, because his power doesn't stop there. Soon afterward, he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. So there's like this kind of traveling crowd, which when you start healing people like he's doing, you're going to gather a crowd, and people are following Jesus. You got his disciples and this great crowd, kind of like a traveling school that's there to see his miracles and hear his teaching. And they left Capernaum, and they went to Nain, which is a small town about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum. It's a day's journey. It's a day's walk, and they make this walk together. Here's what happens when they get there. As he drew near to the gate of the town, they're about ready to go into the town. Behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. So as they're coming on the end of their long day's journey walking here, they can't go into the town because there's a bit of a traffic jam at the gate because, because this funeral procession is coming out of the town, and it's a pretty large funeral procession. They would have flute players hired to play kind of funeral type music. They would have cymbal bangers to kind of bang the cymbals apart of this funeral procession because it kind of represents the disruption that death is. You're kind of playing this flute music, and all of a sudden somebody bangs a cymbal. It's like there's kind of a disruption to death here. And they would also have wailing women. That was a job, actually. I don't know if you can imagine sitting around with a funeral director trying to plan a funeral. Like, how many wailing women do you want? Right? So these women were paid to kind of wail for this funeral procession, and it was supposed to express the tragedy of death, the hardship of death, the sorrow of death. And it says in the text that this crowd of Jesus is kind of coming into the town as he drew near to the gate. But behold, a man who had died was being carried out. And it's like, behold. Can you imagine, like, what are the chances? Here's Jesus coming into the town, but this funeral is coming out of the town, but it's not by chance, it's by providence. Like, why did Jesus leave Capernaum to go to nain? He has a divine appointment to display his power at this funeral. So this funeral procession is on the way out, and at the city gate, there's a bit of a collision. There's a collision between two crowds. You got the crowd of Jesus, and you got this crowd in this funeral procession. Not only is there a collision between two crowds, there's a collision between two emotions. You have a collision of this crowd that's with Jesus that's kind of on a little bit of a high, high and excitement of seeing all that Jesus is doing so much. So that's like, you going to nain? We're going to nain. Like, let's go. But they're pumped about what Jesus is doing. They're excited. But then you have this crowd that is sorrowful and full of pain, the loss of a widow's only son, and there's a collision of emotions. Church, you know that that happens here every week. Like a church this size, there are people that are just there here, and they're pumped. Like, open the bible. Let's talk. I'm excited to worship, and there's other people that are just like, I'm just glad I made it today because my week was awful, and there's a collision of emotions. And some people, it's like, why are you so sad? Don't you know the good news? And other people are like, how can you be so happy. Don't you know what I've gone through? And there's this collision, emotion. So you have a collision of these two crowds. You have a collision of emotion, and you have a collision between two sufferers. This widow who lost her only son, is full of grief and despair. And Jesus, a man of sorrows, a man acquainted with grief. According to Isaiah 53, Hebrews four tells us we have a high priest that's not acquainted with our weakness. He knows what it means to suffer. He knows what it means to be at loss. And this death was most likely that day. It was custom for jewish people to bury people the same day. So this is fresh. In fact, both emotions are fresh. This excitement of what Jesus is doing. Like this just happened. He just healed that centurion servant without even being there. Like, this is fresh, they're excited. And this boy probably just died. And that emotion is fresh too. You know, death is a reality that we all deal with, all of us. We have people we care about, we love that we plan their funeral. We attend funerals of loved ones. If Jesus doesn't return, you'll die like everyone in here, 100%. There's going to come a time where it's your funeral, and if God lets me live long enough, I bet I'll do some of your funerals. I'll try to say nice things, and we'll eat potato salad. And then the next day, I mean, it's just a part of our life, and it's a painful part of life. It's a struggle, and we've become so accustomed to it. Even when we try to explain death to kids, like when grandma or grandpa dies, we're just like, well, it's just natural. It's like, it's not natural. It's normal. You've grown accustomed to it, but it's not natural. We stopped working. We've grown accustomed to death, and we've forgetten the pain and the curse that has brought it along. And this, this is a parent bearing a child. And that is a unique pain, a unique pain that some of you know well. And you see the weightiness of this particular funeral. It's the only son of a widow. And what that meant at this time is this woman was alone. She was powerless and in need of protection. There wasn't a way for her to provide for herself. Like, what's next for this woman? Like, her situation is dire. And you might be like, well, she's not. I mean, she's not completely alone. I mean, there's a large crowd that's a part of this funeral. It's a small town, and there's community, but we've known that, and we've experienced. And after kind of friends bring you a meal in a time like this, they go back to their family. She didn't have family. She's alone. She's powerless. And this situation that this woman is in right now, in their culture, was like, the defining example of how low and painful life can get. In fact, it's used in the Old Testament to describe real deep sorrow. This is Jeremiah 626. Jeremiah is calling the people to repent and be brokenhearted over their sin. He says, o daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Make mourning as for an only sun, most bitter lamentation. This is the greatest example of mourning and pain. To lose your only son. Here's another one. It says, amos 810, I will turn your feast into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head, like a sign of mourning, shaving your head. There's. I will make it like the mourning for an only son at the end of it, like a bitter day. She's living the example of what pain can really feel like in life. And if you can try to enter that situation with, I know some of you, it's like, that's not hard, but here's what happens. Verse 13. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, do not weep. Then he came up and touched the bear, and the bearer stood still, and he said, young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Yeah. Wow. Right? Like, if we can kind of, like, get out of the Bible story a little bit, it's like, I've heard this before. I'm familiar with it. Just kind of enter into the emotion a little bit. There's some real stuff happening. And not only are two crowds colliding, and not only are two emotions colliding, and not only are two sufferers colliding, but two only sons are colliding. You have one son that is alive, destined to die, and another son that's dead, and he's destined to live. And you have this collision happening at this gate. Now, I want you to notice the details here, because I think as we get to know the person and character of Jesus Christ, it colors in for us what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and how he lived and acted. Here is a great example for how we are to live and act. I want you to see some words here. I'm going to ask you to underline four words in your Bible. It says, when the Lord saw her, underline, saw, he had compassion on her. Underline, compassion. And he said to her, underlined, said, do not weep. Then he came up and touched the bear. Underlined, touched. Now, what's kind of in these details is it's drawing our attention to the eyes of Christ, the heart of Christ, the words of Christ, the actions of Christ. He saw this woman. He took time to notice her. And this was at the end of an all day walk 20 miles to the next town. He's tired. They can't get in to get their food. They can't get in to get their lodging. They can't go to where they're going to next, because they got to wait for this funeral procession to go out. And rather than just kind of sitting down and taking a load off and just resting while this funeral procession goes by, thinking about their journey and what they're going to do next, he has eyes for what's happening in front of him, and it's a funeral procession. And you might ask, well, how does he know this is a widow and it's her only son? You can be like, well. Cause he's Jesus. But there's a little bit more to it than that. I mean, there's customs. There's things to see. If we have eyes open to notice, if we can give our attention away from ourselves to look at other people, there's things we'll notice. And as Jesus is looking at this funeral procession going out, he notices some things that are out of place, some things that let him in on this situation. Because out front of the funeral procession, before the body is carried, is the family. And where the family should be, there's only a mom. And he's like, well, where's the dad? Where's the siblings? It's just her alone. And he sees her, and he notices. And when he sees her and notices that situation, says he had compassion. In scripture, it's often when Jesus, before jesus does something, it draws attention to his eyes and his heart. He saw he had compassion. He saw he had compassion. And he sees this woman in her situation, and he had compassion. Our God is a God who feels. Do you know how good a news that is, that our God is a God of compassion? But he doesn't just notice and feel. There's a lot of people stop there. A lot of us can identify with noticing something in someone else's life, a hardship, a circumstance and feeling bad about it. But often that's as far as it goes. Like, I noticed the person and I felt bad about it, but I knew. It's like I noticed the person on the side of the road with the flat. Oh, that's terrible. And you keep driving, right? Because nobody stops for anybody anymore. We got cell phones. I'm sure they're called for help. But we notice so many things. We feel for the things that we notice, but often it stops there, but not with Jesus. He moves towards the woman and he says something. He speaks. Now, what he says seems extremely inappropriate. In fact, I don't recommend you saying it like he's at this funeral, this widow who has lost her only son, and he goes up to her and says, don't cry. How can you do that? How can you, like, speak those words to that situation? It's understandable. Her tears, right? What is or why is Jesus saying that? And jesus can say that. So think of it like this. Let's say that you're driving a car and you get into a car accident and it's clearly the other person's fault. And that other person is a poor single mom, and she gets out and she's just in tears. And you say, don't cry. It's just a car. Not knowing the situation of like, but it's my only car and it's my only way to work and I don't have insurance and I can't, like, you don't understand how this is devastating to my life. Don't tell me not to cry. Like you don't know anything in that situation. Like, you can't just say, don't cry. But let's say the situation is different. Let's say same situation happens. But imagine that you are crazy rich. That's always fun, right? Imagine that you are crazy rich. Same accident happened. Clearly her fault. She gets out, she's crying, and you go up to her and you say, don't cry. I'll buy you a new car. I'll pay for the tow truck, I'll let you pick out your car. You can say that to her because you can address the source of her problem, the source of her tears. Like you can bring solution to that. Jesus can go up to this widow and say, don't cry because he's the solution and he's going to bring a solution to the source of her tears. Now, when it comes to the words that we speak to each other, the truth of the gospel isn't always compatible with our emotions. I don't know if compatible is even the right word. Let me put it this way. The truth of the gospel isn't always affirming of our emotions. And as valid as your emotions may be, it doesn't mean it's connected to truth. It may be connected to a lie that you're believing. And the gospel often confronts our emotions. Don't be so downcast, soul hope in God. Don't feel this way. Feel this way. Don't be so full of anger. Forgive, like the gospel, confronts our emotions. And here's a little challenge for us, is that often being, or in the name of being a good listener, it just means we're bad speakers and we never speak hope and truth into situations that need it. And sometimes being a good listener is being a good listener. And sometimes being a good listener is being a coward, because you have the words of hope and you have the words of truth, and you don't want to say them. And Jesus is confronting her grief with truth. Now, it's not wrong to grieve. The woman is not doing anything wrong. It may feel like, oh, she got rebuked there, but she didn't get rebuked. Jesus is full of compassion in this situation. So she's not doing anything wrong, but she is doing something ill informed, like she is doing something with a bit of ignorance. Here's what I mean by that. This is the death of her only son. It's their funeral procession. They're going to bury him. And literally, the author of life is right there, and she doesn't know it. She doesn't know it. So, church, I'm telling you, it's not wrong to grieve, but there is a wrong way to grieve. You can grieve in ignorance. Let me point out a passage. This is one, thessalonians four. But we do not want you to be uninformed or ignorant, brothers or widow, about those who are asleep, those who have died, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no, what? Hope. Hope. So Jesus is correcting her grief with who he is or the hope that he brings. So he notices this woman, he sees her in her situation. He feels he has compassion on her. He speaks truth to her, and then he acts, he takes action to do something about it. And this is a wonderful model for followers of Jesus. You want to know what it looks like to follow Jesus? Look at the actions of Jesus. We should have eyes to see hurting people around us. We should take our eyes off ourselves and notice what's going on with other people. And when we see their hurt and their pain and their struggle, we should feel we should have compassion on them, and we should speak the truth of God into their situation. We should speak the hope of God into their situation. And our love should take action. We should pull over and stop. We should bring a meal, which. It should be tangible in some way. Jesus takes action. Now, for us, it might not be raising the dead, but it should be some kind of action. But what happens when Jesus takes action? He goes up and he touches the bear. It would be like a stretcher, not a coffin. And this is shocking. It's meant to be shocking. You don't do that. Numbers 1911 tells us, you're not to touch a dead body. You'll be unclean. But this is the unique power of Jesus. If anyone would touch something unclean, they become unclean. That was like the law. That was like the rule. That's just how it worked, right? Germs transfer. But with Jesus, who's clean, who's righteous, anytime he touches something unclean, he doesn't become unclean. It becomes clean. Like, the infection goes the other way. He doesn't get infected with sinfulness. Things get infected with righteousness. Like, his righteousness is greater than our sinfulness. And you see this? He goes right up, and he touches the bear, and he says, arise. One word, arise. And here's what happens. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. Now, it doesn't say what he said, but don't you want to know, like, how did that play out? He just sat up and began to speak. Well, was it like this dramatic kind of pop up? Where am I? What's going on? And everybody's excited, or was it real smooth, like, you sit up, like, hey, mom, like, it was like, what happened? And I don't know. Maybe it's me. I'm weird. I'm reading this, and I just want to know those details. These are. This is a real situation. These are real people. This is a real emotions that happen here. Like, come on. You're telling me. Think about this. If people are carrying this stretcher and he's dead, and Jesus comes over, touches it, and he sits up and begins to speak, do you think they dropped him? I mean, this is like a. This is a shocking thing, and it's meant to be shocking. Like, notice the simplicity that Luke gives us in the details of this story. He comes up, he touches the bear. He says one word, and he gets up, sits up, and starts talking. And the point that Luke is trying to make is Jesus speaks and he lives. That's the power. Jesus speaks and he lives. So who are we dealing with? When else in scripture did that happen? Genesis in creation. And God speaks. Let there be light, and there was light that who is this that the wind and waves obey him? Who is this that life obeys him? Like, who is this this God? He just speaks and he lives. Now, I think most christians don't know how they got saved. And what I mean by that is maybe they don't know theologically how they got saved. Like, if I asked you, tell me your salvation story. You might give me an account of I was at camp in high school, and somebody explained the gospel. Or my mom was tucking me in bed and led me to Christ, and we prayed together. Or I was in college in a salt ministry, I heard the gospel, or I was at work. Somebody invited me to church, and it kind of made sense for the first time. Like, you can give me the situation or the account of that salvation, but maybe not the details. Spiritually, the reality of how you got saved. This is a story or an illustration of our salvation. We are dead, spiritually dead. And Christ speaks life and we live. Right? Some of you are like, I don't know about that. So let's look at some passages. This is ephesians two. You were and you were what? Dead. Dead. You don't have to sound excited about it. That's not great news. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived. So this is everybody in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. So this isn't just unique to who he's talking to. This is everybody's situation, including you and I. But God being rich in mercy, so he's like, driving that car. No, no, I won't go in that. All right. Being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. He made us like he spoke. He did this. This is his work. Our life in Christ is the result of Christ's work. Made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Now, that last part, we get. We're like, oh, yeah. By grace. I've been saved. I get it. What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor. You didn't deserve it. It happened to you. You're not sick in your sin. You're not wounded in your sin. You are dead in your sin. And Christ speaks life giving words. Listen to me, okay? You don't bring anything to the table. And it's so important to understand, for our worship, you were dead and you were made alive. How awesome is our God and how powerful is our God and how compassionate is our God. And notice this, the rest of verse 15. And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. That's the point of the miracle. Or it's the driving force behind the miracle. It's a story about Jesus, but the best supporting actress is the widow, not the Son. This is about the mom. Jesus saw the mom. Jesus had compassion on the mom. Jesus raised the Son for the mom. He returned the son to the mom. Because this is what we need to see and hear. And I think this is what Luke is highlighting for us. It's the compassion and power of Jesus. And the fact that he has both is the game changer that you have to get. He has both the compassion to care about people and the power to do something about our struggle. Just this week, I prayed with a family in our church who lost a child. And just to see the hurt parents in that moment. And I wanted to so bad. It's like, no, he's not dead. He's alive. Like, no. Like, don't cry, but here's your child. And I can't do that. I can't do that. Jesus can. And he cares enough to do it. Like, he sees this widow in her pain. He's like, I can do something about that. And he wanted to. He wanted to. How big is the compassion of our God that he would heal a roman soldier's servant after all that Rome has done to the jewish people? How compassionate is our God? How compassionate is our God that after a long day's journey of walking, when you're tired, you don't just take a load off and think about your problems, but you notice a widow who society overlooks. How compassionate is our God? How powerful is our God? You don't even have to be in the same room to heal this boy who's at the point of death. How powerful is our God? You can bring somebody back from death. How powerful is our God? And here's what we need to know. Jesus has both the compassion and power that we need both the compassion and power that we need. And when you get that, it has impact. Look at verse 16. Fear seized them all and they glorified God. There's an important. And in that sentence, fear seized them all and they glorified God. Not fear seized them all and they took off running. Right? There's different kinds of fear. This isn't a fear of, like, oh, my, that's crazy. Let's get out of here. It's a type of fear that stirs up worship. It strikes awe in them. Do you have that kind of fear of God? And how did they get that kind of fear of God? They experienced both the compassion and power of God in Christ Jesus. Have you. Have you experienced the compassion of God in Christ Jesus. Have you experienced the power of God in Christ Jesus. Have you experienced the forgiveness of sin? Christ Jesus. Have you experienced a God that wanted to forgive you of your sin and was able to forgive you of your sin? Jesus has both the compassion and power we need. And here's why it's so important to get that understanding. Both Christ's compassion and his power is essential for a relationship with God. I'm going to put it this way. It's essential for a right relationship, relationship with God, because if you know the compassion of Christ, but you don't know the power of Christ, he may be a God you like, but not one you worship, not one you're afraid of and awe of. But if you know the power of Christ but not the compassion of Christ, he may be a God you obey, but not one you love. Like the shocking reveal of God in Christ Jesus. And I say, shocking on purpose, like, think of a defibrillator. Like, you are lifeless and you need to be shocked back to life. The shocking, life giving worship, creating reveal of God in Christ Jesus is that he is full of compassion and power. Not only can he heal, he wants to heal. Not only does he have the compassion to want to do something about our problems, he has the power to do something about our problems. That's why he can go to the widow and say, don't cry. Don't cry. I can address the source of your pain. Look at the rest of verse 16. He says, fear sees them all and they glorify God, saying, a great prophet has arisen among us and God has visited his people. You sort of get it. Sort of. I mean, they're close, but they're missing it. Because when they say that he has visited his people or that God has arrived, more like, it's not through a prophet. They're not looking at this miracle and be like, another Elijah, another Elisha, another, like, prophet is like, God has visited us through a prophet. It's like, no, God has visited you himself, Emmanuel, God with us. We get into that in the next section. We'll look at next week when John the Baptist is asking, like, are you the one? Or should we wait for another? We'll get into that next week. But that phrase, God has visited his people, he's saying, like, this isn't everyday stuff. Like, you may get accustomed to this in Bible stories, but this wasn't like a typical jewish funeral. Like, yeah, maybe a rabbi will come and raise him from the dead. That happens all the time. It's like, no, this is unique. Like, this is crazy. Like, God has visited, like something special has happened. And what this is is a unique display of power pointing to a bigger truth. Because, stay with me now. Not only had two crowds collided at Nain and two emotions collided, and two sufferers collided, and two only sons collided, but also two enemies collided. Death and the author of Life. And it is an enemy that the author of life was here to slain. Look at one. Corinthians 15. For as by a man came, death by a man has come, also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ is the firstfruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his what to death. Nope, go back. All his enemies under his feet. The last what to be destroyed is death. Right? That's his enemy. And he's here to conquer his enemy. He's here to show his dominance over his enemy. And who wins that fight? Death of Jesus. Okay, last service wasn't so sure. It's like, concern. All right, here's revelation 21. And behold, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and what shall be no more. Jesus wins. So you have this collision between death and the author of life, and there's a display of the power of Jesus Christ over death. Not only a display of the power of Jesus Christ, but the compassion of Jesus Christ. Not only can I raise your son from the dead. I want to raise your son from the dead. You see the heart and the power of Christ. Now think about this. Why did this son die in the first place? And it's like, we don't know. And we know. We don't know if this was like a farming accident. We didn't know if he fell off the roof. We didn't know if this was a sickness for a long time that finally took him. We don't know, but we know. And the reason that he died was sin. Death is the curse of sin. Death is the reason that you die. Sin is the reason that death exists in this world. And why do you think the display of Jesus Christ's power over death is happening at a funeral of a widow and her only son? Because you see how awful death is. The pain that it brings, the suffering that it brings. And Jesus saying, yeah, I'm here to beat that. The thing that sends you into mourning, the thing that rips your heart out of your chest, the thing that causes so much pain in your life, I'm here to beat that. I'm here to have victory over that. But you know what? That son that Jesus raised from the dead eventually died. He eventually died. But what Jesus is saying in this act is, I care about you. And I see you. I care about you. And I know your situation. I know you're under the curse of sin that results in death. I notice it. I see it. And I have the power to do something about it. But not just temporarily, forever. I'm not here just to give you another 20, 30, 40 years of life. I'm here to give you life everlasting, eternal life. I'm not here to just help you live longer physically. I'm here to help you live forever spiritually and church. Jesus is still a funeral changer. Let's look at the rest of one, thessalonians four. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep or those who have died, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope for or because. There is a reason that we don't grieve without hope, since we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. I love when we have some. Some horns playing on Sunday, and we do that. One, because we got people that can do it. But two, you see, like, horns or trumpets addressed in scripture. Because it's like this majestic royal type of instrument. Like, the king is coming. Victory is here. And when we get these horns, it's like. It's a celebration. This is good news that he has conquered death. So let the trumpet sound. Brett, blow your trumpet, man. And the dead in Christ will rise first. We who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. And the very next verse says, therefore, encourage one another with these words. But those words, Jesus beat death, and you still face it. But not without hope. The sting is gone. Death, you are not beyond the reach of our savior. He sees you. He cares for you, and he's able to do something about it. Church, I hope that you would encounter the compassion and power. Jesus Christ. Look at me. He sees you. He notices your pain. He sees your situation. He knows your struggle. And he has the power to heal. He has the power to give hope, to bring peace, to bring forgiveness, to bring reconciliation, and to offer eternal life, because he did not come to display his power over death so you can just live longer in sin on this corrupt earth. He came to show his power over death so that you would trust in him for life everlasting. Know the compassion of our savior. Know the power of our savior. The greatest display of his compassion is on the cross, when his body was hung and pierced and his blood was shed. In this loud declaration, I love you. I see your struggle, and I love you. And we see the compassion of Jesus Christ on the cross. And we see the power of Jesus Christ in the resurrection, when he beat sin, Satan, and death. That's our savior. Amen. Let's worship him as he deserves. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you, by your spirit, would make us your followers, not just by word, but by all of life. That we would have eyes to see the hurting people around us, that we would have hearts of compassion that feel for their pain and struggle, that we would have the courage to go and speak words of truth and hope into their situation. And that we would take action to display your love. And that we would follow you in this way because it's how you lived. That you noticed our desperate situation of being dead in our sin. You had compassion on us as sinners. You came and spoke the truth, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. And you went to the cross to pay a penalty that we deserved. And you rose victorious from the grave, giving us new life. Father, we're pleading for you not just to make our physical life better, but to give us real, everlasting spiritual life. And you have the power to do it. And not only do you have the power to do it, you have the care and compassion to give it. You are an awesome God. We pray that you would receive our worship as you deserve. Pray in your name. Amen.