Living Word NRA Sermon Podcast

Sermon Title: OPEN TO BEING KNOWN Sermon Text: PSALMS 139:1-12 Sermon Series: OPEN: A PSALMS SERIES ON THE POSTURE OF ENCOUNTER By: PTR NIC SY Psalm 139:1-12 ESV O LORD, you have searched me and known me!You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the seaeven there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. SERMON NOTES I. SEARCHED AND SEEN “know” | yada (יָדַע) | “to know, to perceive, to understand, to acknowledge.” People can know a little and misread a lot. God knows everything and misreads nothing. You have nothing to hide and nothing to prove before the God who fully knows you. Reflect: Are you still trying to show God an edited version of yourself? II. HEMMED AND HELD “hem me in” (tsuwr | צוּר) | “to bind, besiege, confine, cramp.” God is not cornering David to trap him. God is surrounding David to keep him. God’s nearness is not a cage; it is a covering. Reflect: Where have you interpreted God’s nearness as pressure instead of protection? III. FOUND AND NOT FORGOTTEN Darkness may change what we can see but it does not change what God can see. Darkness may change how we feel but it does not change what God can do. Our dark seasons are never dark for God.

Sermon Title: THE ENDING THAT SENDS US Sermon Text: MARK 16:1-8 Sermon Series: THE PASSION NARRATIVE: FROM BETRAYAL TO THE CROSS By: PTR NIC SY Mark 16:1-8 ESV When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.] [[ SERMON NOTES I. BEFORE THEY ARRIVED, GOD HAS ALREADY MOVED THE STONE God may move the stone, but not always for the reason we came. Reflect: What stone are you asking God to move, and what if God moves it for a purpose bigger than the one you imagined? Because resurrection does not merely help us continue with business as usual. Resurrection changes the whole situation. II. BEFORE THEY UNDERSTOOD, GOD HAD ALREADY RAISED JESUS “alarmed” | ekthambeó (ἐκθαμβέω) | “to be utterly struck with terror, thrown into a state of panic, or overwhelmed to the point of complete physical immobility.” The resurrection is not merely a past event we affirm. It is the present reality in which we live. Reflect: Do you actually live as though the resurrection is true or does it remain a doctrine you believe without a life that reflects it? III. BEFORE THEY OBEYED, JESUS WAS ALREADY GOING BEFORE THEM The good news of Jesus is not chained to the perfection of the messenger. Reflect: What will you do with the news that the grave is empty?