Devotion Trumps Calling

And I'm so excited, so honored to be here. I know he encouraged you guys. If you feel called, go and support Social Church. I want to encourage you to stay here because there's something special in this place, and it's a true honor for me to be here.

My wife, Nicole, is here.

We actually just celebrated our 11th year anniversary. Man, God is good. God is so good. We have three daughter daughters- Alexia Vanna and Anna Sophie, And our dog, Goldie, also loves the Lord, So receive greetings from her.

And I want to get straight into the word, because blessed are those who preach shortly, for they shall be invited again, Amen.

So I want you to go with me to John chap 20, and I'm going to start in verse one. I'm reading the ERV version And what's going on in John chapter 20 is the resurrection of Jesus. I know it's not resurrection Sunday, I know it's not Easter weekend, but I truly believe that what the message today that we're going to hear? It's going to prepare our hearts to go into Easter with the right posture.

I, It's going to gear us up and, we're going to see it from a different angle, a different perspective.

We're going to see it from Mary Magdalene's perspective, And it starts with verse one saying that early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and she saw that the large stone was moved away from the entrance. So she ran to Simon, Peter and the other follower, the one Jesus loved very much. Any idea who John is talking about? John is the, the, the writer of the book of John, and he's writing about a disciple who Jesus loves very much.

Any guess?

Here's the. Yeah, he's talking about John. He's talking about himself. Isn't that funny?

How humble of him.

But, quite honestly, we can actually learn from John, because I want to personalize God's love for me as well, And I consider myself Jesus the disciple that he truly loves, And you should as well. But we see in the Bible that John and Peter are always like in competition with each other. We're going to see a little bit of that going on here as well. And she said to them: "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they put him".

So Peter and the other followers started going to the tomb, And then verse four says now that that they're running.

They are both running, And I want to pause here real quick because, some scholars say that something happened on their way, that they shifted from walking to now running. Something happened in their conversation. It's not recorded on the Bible, but we can imagine and assume that they were talking about what was going on in the on the tomb. Like the body is gone, What is going on?

This was actually not a really good sign, You know why?

Because the Pharisees went up to Pilate and asked Pilate to put soldiers to guard the tomb, because they knew that Christians are crazy, Amen. And they know that Christians can steal the body and then claim that Jesus has raised from the dead. Even the Pharisees remember that Jesus said that he would die but he would resurrect on the third day. And even his disciples were were struggling to remind this, because they're going through grief, They're going through a lot of confusion.

So they probably started talking about, like "Dude who?

Who do you think it was? Do you think it was one of the other disciples? Like we're in big trouble if it was one of ours. Like we need to have a serious talk with them.

It's dangerous to go to the tomb.

You know that. Yeah, Yeah, Are you sure you want to go". "Well, I don't know, but you want to go, but I don't know". Peter says: "I, I, I got some important assignments, an important calling.

Like I, I, I need to write the first and the second book of Peter John's.

Like, "Well, I need to write the first, second and third book of John and the book of Revelations". Like I, I have a bigger assignment than you. Well, I am going to, I'm going to heal the sick with my, with my shadow, I'm going to be one of the early leaders of the church. I don't know about you And they're, they're competing with each other.

I'm just imagining this until they realize: wait, we got to run, because if someone else gets to the tomb before we and they see that the body's not there, they're going to go after us.

So they started running And it's so interesting that it says that, John arrives first. And here here's what it says: , the, the other follower, ran faster than Peter, So it's John making it clear that he runs faster. He beat Peter to the tomb and he reached to the tomb first. He bent down and looked in.

He saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in.

Then, Simon Peter finally reached to the tomb and went in. He saw the pieces of linen lying there. He also saw the cloth that had been around Jesus' head. It was folded up and laid in a different place from the pieces of linen.

John makes it clear that he arrives to the tomb first.

He didn't go in, but he arrives, He, He's faster than Peter. Something tells me that maybe John was taller than Peter. He had long legs. He can run faster.

Peter, my dude, was a short king.

He was shorter, He was bold, He, He goes, and as soon as he arrives he goes in. He didn't peek, He goes in. I don't know why, but I, I can't stop picturing a Mexican dude, just short and bold, kind of like a Chihuahua, Just like short, you ain't doing nothing, but they bark right Like. He goes straight into the tomb and he sees the pieces of linen cloth lying there.

And this is a very interesting fact, because when he sees the pieces of cloth there he realized that they couldn't have stole the body.

I, If someone would have stole the body, they have to take the body with all the linen cloth wrapped around him. There's no time to unwrap him and steal him, And the pieces of cloth were were, were lying there like if Jesus just disappeared. And there's this other interesting fact that Peter saw that the cloth that was wrapped around Jesus' head was folded and in its place, where the head was laying there. I don't know, but I can just imagine Peter seeing that and he's like: "Man, I, I, I.

I've lived with Jesus my last three years.

I've sleep where he sleeps. I wake up where he wakes up. I've done life with him and I know how he folds his clothes. Every morning This is the same way he folds his clothes.

They, they.

They could not have stolen his body. Something else- help happened, but they didn't steal it. And even in, in the midst of all this confusion, verse 9 tells us that the followers did not understand from Scripture that Jesus must rise from dead. Verse 10 says that the followers went back home.

They didn't understand.

So they go back home. But look what verse 11 says. But Mary stood outside the tomb crying, And while she was crying she bent down and looked inside the tomb. She saw two angels dressed in white sitting where Jesus' body had been.

One was sitting where the head had been and the other was sitting where the feet had been.

The angels asked Mary: "Woman, why are you crying". Mary answered: "They took away the body of my Lord and I don't know where they put him". When Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. He asked her"Woman, why are you crying?

Who are you looking for".

She thought he was the man in charge of the garden. Let me pause right there. Let me repeat that Mary thought that Jesus was the man in charge of the garden. Mary thought that Jesus was the gardener.

Mary thought that Jesus was the landscaper.

This is enough evidence for me- It's not a doctrine, okay, But this is enough evidence for me- that the resurrected Jesus looks Mexican. I can only picture him with a big smile like: "Hi, can I help you"? Yes, Yes, Yes. The resurrected Jesus looked beautiful, unrecognizable.

Like she couldn't recognize him.

She didn't know she was talking to Jesus And the moment that Jesus said to her "Mary", she turned toward him and said "Raboni", which means "Teacher". Jesus said to her: "You don't need to hold on to me- I have not yet gone back up to the father, but go to my followers and tell them this: I'm going back to my father and your father. I'm going back to my God and your God". Mary Magdalene went to the followers and told them: "I saw the Lord and she told me, and she told him what he had said to her".

I want to talk to you over this idea that devotion trumps calling.

Devotion trumps calling. I don't know if you've ever asked yourself if I've, if I have a calling of God over my life. Am I called? Do I even have a calling in my life?

Or what am I doing?

What I'm doing? Is it God's calling in my life? Have you ever asked yourself? This Barna group made a study and they realized they did.

They did a research and they realized that 75% of us adults are asking this question.

They're looking for their calling. They're looking for ways to lead a more meaningful life. This is not just Christians, This is not just, college students that they're in the age where they're trying to figure out what they're going to do when they grow up. Like no, this is US adults.

75% of US solos are looking for their calling.

This means people that are already working, have a job, have a career, successful or not successful. They're asking themselves: what is my calling? I want to live a more meaningful life. What is my calling?

Have you ever asked yourself this?

What is my calling? I remember feeling the anxiety of this question when I was around 18 years old. I was invited to preach at a youth conference and there was other amazing preachers. I was like, what am I doing here?

And it was at the be, at the early beginnings of me preaching.

And I remember the first night there was a preacher who had the gift of healing And everyone got healed that night. Then the second, the second preacher had the gift of deliverance. Everyone got delivered that night, The sec. The third night, the preacher had like the prophecy gift of prophecy and everyone left there with a nation and a kingdom and crowned.

It was crazy.

I was like, what am I doing here? There's nothing else for me to do. Everyone's healed, delivered. They're leaving with a nation and a king.

What am I doing here?

I just opened up my heart and share how God's grace changed my life, broke me and saved me. Because I was self-righteous, I thought that, because I grew up in church and I served God all my life, that my sins were more acceptable than others, That God for some reason wouldn't care about my sins, he would care more about my calling. But God's grace made me understand that God is more interested in measone than my calling. Come on, He's more interested in my heart than my gifting.

And at the end one of the one of these amazing preachers came up to me and said: "Man, that that message was for me, Thank you for sharing that I've been struggling with some serious sins and that that message was for me".

And here we see Mary, someone that wasn't gifted, that the Bible doesn't tell us much about her, Doesn't tell us any records of her healing the sick, praying for the dead, being a leader like none of that. But there's so much to learn about Mary. She appears on all four Gospel accounts And Matthew tells us that the reason she was going that earth that Monday morning- Sunday morning, I'm sorry- she was going there to anoint Jesus' body. And even though we don't know much about Mary, it does tell us this important fact: that Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons And immediately after that, Mary became a fully devoted follower of Christ.

I love that.

A fully devoted follower of Christ. Actually, Luke gives us a picture to describe how much devoted she was And it says that she gave her own money, out of her own money, to finance Jesus and his disciples ministry. That's how much devoted she was. I love that the Bible is giving us this picture to describe someone who's fully devoted, Someone who gives out of her money, time, talents, treasures to serve God.

She was first fully delivered and then she was.

She became fully devoted. And may I suggest to you this morning that I, if you struggle every time you hear a topic about giving- this is not a giving sermon, All right, don't worry. But every time you, you, you, if you cringe, every time you hear about giving, it may be because you haven't been fully delivered. Come on, Mary.

She was fully delivered and then became fully devoted.

And as she's going there, it also tells- the Bible tells us- that at Jesus crucifixion, when everyone else fled in fear, she stayed there. She was one of the few that stayed there. It was dangerous, She didn't care, She stayed there because she was devoted. I love this man.

He changed my life.

I'm not going anywhere. Where else could I go? Where else could I go at his burial, Burial? Thank you for your patience, for my English is a little.

Everyone else had fled and she was there.

She saw when they put Jesus' body in the tomb. And now we're seeing Mary Magdalene at Jesus resurrection. Not just that, but she was the first one to see the resurrected Jesus- Amen. It's amazing.

There's so much to learn from her devotion.

She was a woman that was fully devoted to Jesus- Fully devoted And as she was going to the tomb. Mark tells us that the reason she was going early in the morning to the tomb was to anoint Jesus' body with sweet spices. She was going to the tomb to minister, to worship Jesus, even if he was dead. That's amazing to me.

She was going there to worship him.

Early in the morning It was still dark. It's not just giving us the time of day that it was dark, Man, I, I'll be honest, I sometimes still struggle to wake up early in the morning, before there's sunshine, to seek the Lord. Mary woke up early, before it was there was light before there was sunrise, And not only did she wake up, but she went to the tomb to worship him. Isn't it easy sometimes to worship God when everything's going well?

Because here's the reality.

It's not just giving us the time of day, but it's also giving us the scenario, the context, that it was a time of spiritual darkness. There was confusion, There was pain, There was grief. Imagine that The guy that they've served for three years, like their life, has been changed. He was delivered.

Now he's dead.

He's in a tomb. All their dreams, aspirations, everything was crumbling. There was a lot of confusion, But Mary had a vision. It says that as she's getting and arriving to the tomb, there was sunrise.

And, if you know this, when there's sunrise there's light, And when there's light there's more clarity.

And this is a perfect picture of you and I as well. The closer we get to God's presence, the clearer we see, The better vision we have. Mary had a vision. She started seeing something.

Wait, wait, Am I seeing the stone being removed?

Could it be that he resurrected? I don't know what I'm seeing, but I see something. And she ran to John and Peter to tell, to tell him the stone has been removed from the entrance. She saw a vision.

She saw something.

You know why? Because devotion produces vision. Sometimes in your life you're wondering: "What am I going to do? I don't know where I'm going to be in the next 5 years.

Let me tell you something: The only thing you need to worry about is be being devoted to Jesus because a devoted heart produces vision.

She saw something. In other words, she was saying: "I don't care if it's dark, I'm going to see my savior. I don't care if it's dark, If if there's spiritual darkness, I don't care. No one is going to stop me from worshiping my Jesus".

I'm telling you, sometimes it's so easy to worship God when everything's going well.

But will you worship him, Worship him when there's darkness, When you're going through tough times, when that door that you were waiting actually shut on you instead of opening, will you still worshiping, worship him in the aisle, in the waiting room, while you're waiting for that other door to open? Will you worship him? Will you go and have the same attitude of Mary, of going and anointing his body? Whatever I need to do, I don't have a gifting, I don't have a calling, but I do have a devoted heart for him and I'm going to go seek him.

Devotion produces vision for your life.

Mary's saying: "I have a vision. No one's going to stop me". You know, this pain will get you focused on what you don't have, but vision will get you focused on what you do have. Again, Mary's: like I, I don't have a calling.

Like James, like John and Peter and all these other disciples.

But I have a devoted heart. That's the only thing I do have. I have a devoted heart to him and everything that I am belongs to him. I will.

I will focus on what I do have.

Helen Keller says this: "The only thing worse than being blind is to have sight but no vision". The only thing worse than being blind is to have sight but no vision. Mary's saying: "I'm going to focus on what I do have, because I have vision. I want to see my beloved".

Are we so focused on our problems that we fail to see Jesus working in our lives?

Because vision? Hear me this: now that you have vision, that doesn't mean you don't have to wait. Devotion also develops endurance. This is something that we learned from Mary.

It said that Mary stood outside the tomb.

When did this happen? When she, after she had told John and Peter about the stone being removed, they come in, they come running, they see the tomb, they go inside. They took a peek and they still left, not understanding. They left and went back home not understanding what was going on.

Can I be honest here?

Most likely Mary didn't also understand what was going on, but she stayed. She didn't leave, She stayed. Can I encourage you this morning that there's power in waiting, There's power in staying, Staying in the midst of your confusion. Come on, praise him In the midst of your pain, in the midst of you not understanding.

There's power in waiting.

There's power in staying Even if you don't understand. I know that waiting hurts. I know that feeling Waiting is uncomfortable. Staying and waiting on the Lord, That's uncomfortable, It's painful, It's like clocking in a job you hate.

Waiting on God feels like hard work.

Can anyone say amen, Amen. But can I encourage you with this? On the flip side, waiting on God works, Waiting on God works. I need to remind myself during tough times, difficulties, that my job is to wait on the Lord.

For those who wait on the Lord, he shall renew your strength.

You shall soar like eagles, Walk and not get fainted, Run and not grow weary. Those who wait on the Lord. My job, our job, is to wait on the Lord. Devotion develops endurance.

And while she was waiting, she was crying.

Waiting doesn't mean it's not going to hurt. Waiting doesn't mean it won't be painful, but there's power in waiting in the midst of your pain. And this is the moment where we see the miracles begin to happen. When she waited, in the midst of her pain, it says that she, she bent down, She looked in and what did she see?

She saw two angels.

Come on, We sometimes just skim this verse and just read it: She saw two angels. Has anyone here seen two angels and even like spoken to them? Don't raise your hand, because we're gonna think you're crazy. This is crazy.

She saw two angels.

Here's another thing: Waiting is not just sitting there. I'm in a waiting season season, brother. I'm just, I'm just just waiting on God, Just waiting on. I'm just sitting here.

I'm not going to move because I'm waiting on God.

No, it says that while she was waiting, she went to the tomb. She moved because waiting means doing everything you can do and surrendering everything you can't. Waiting on God is moving. Waiting on God is moving toward.

The vision is moving.

She had a vision: I'm going to see my savior, no matter what it cost me, I'm going to see my savior. And as she's walking to the tomb, she sees these two angels. One is sitting where Jesus' feet was and the other angel was sitting where the head was, And they have a conversation with Mary. I don't know if you're seeing this.

John and Peter didn't see angels.

They were chosen by God, They were called by God, They were called by Jesus himself, But they didn't see angels. Mary did, And not only did she see angels, she's speaking to them, And these angels ask Mary: "Why are you crying? Why are you crying". She says: "They've taken my Lord.

I don't know where they put him" And she's crying.

Can you see this picture? She's speaking with angels and still crying over Jesus. She's speaking with angels and not settling and not satisfied with angels. She still wants to see Jesus.

I love this.

She's experiencing the supernatural and she doesn't settle with the supernatural because she's in love with Jesus. I just want my savior, I just want my Jesus. I can imagine the angels talking to someone's like: "Dude, let's, let's just go. We, we can't, we can't comfort her, Let's just call Jesus.

She's still crying over.

She loves Jesus that much". And now we see Jesus step in the scene And Jesus asked her: "Who are you looking for? Why are you crying". She thought that he was the gardener.

She's like: "Where did you put my Jesus?

Where'd you put my Jesus? Where is he? I need to see my Jesus". And the moment that Jesus said her name, everything changed.

That's when her eyes were open, because you know why: Devotion leads to Revelation.

Devotion leads to Revelation. Your eyes will be open to see God's will for your life. And in that moment, Jesus called her by her name and said: "Mary". I can only imagine this scene, cuz this, this was the moment that she recognized that it was Jesus.

Most likely, it was the same word, the same voice She recognized when she got delivered from seven demons And Jesus said to her: "Mary, you are healed".

How beautiful. In that moment, in that moment, she turns and says: "Jesus, teacher, I've been waiting for you. Isn't this beautiful? I've been waiting for you.

My heart is now satisfied because I can see you.

I'm talking to you. I'm the first one to see Jesus. I'm the first one to see Jesus. Jesus called her by her name.

I want to encourage you with this, because the enemy knows our name, but calls us by your sin.

But Jesus knows your sin and calls you by your name. That's how much Jesus loves you. That's how much he. He, he's literally pursuing Mary.

Can you see this?

She, He's now pursuing Mary. I love what Jeremiah 29:13 says: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart and I will be found by you. Who are those who find the Lord? The ones who seek him with all their heart, And he will let himself be found by those who seek him with all their heart.

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples.

This is the moment where Jesus tells Mary: "Hey, go and tell everyone else what you've seen". This is, finally, the moment that probably perhaps Mary had been waiting all her life. I want to be sent by Jesus. I want to be commissioned by Jesus, like all these other disciples.

This is the moment, Finally, it's my turn.

He's commissioning me, He's sending me out. He said: he's telling me: "Go and tell everyone else that you've seen me and that you spoke to me and that I have not yet gone to my father, but I will". Was this Mary's calling? Was this Mary at at the end of her day?

Was this Mary's ultimate calling to become an evangelist?

I don't know And, to be honest, I don't think she cared. She wasn't interested in that. Mary said: "I'm probably not going to write any book of the Bible, I'm not going to be called one of her disciples, I'm not going to heal the sick, I'm not going to do any miracles. The only thing I do have is a devoted heart to Jesus".

Come on, Can you give him some praise?

The only thing I have says Mary is a devoted heart to Jesus. I don't know, I don't know if this was her ultimate calling, But this is what I do know about church today: that there's so much confusion about calling. You know why? Because we have overestimated the concept of calling and we have underestimated the power of devotion.

I just want to be called.

I, I just want to be used by God. Yeah, Are you seeking him? Are you waking up early in the morning to seek his presence? Like, are you fully devoted to him?

Are?

Are you serving at any capacity? Are you using your talents, your time, your treasures? Like, oh no, I, I just want to be used by God. I want to go to Africa and be sent as a mission, Like, are you seeking God here now?

Because you know what.

You know what our calling is. Jesus is our calling. Jesus is our ultimate calling. He is our destination.

We have overromanticized this concept of calling.

I want to be called by God when God, God, is calling us to be devoted to him. John 17:13 says that this is eternal life, that people can know you, the only true God and the one that you have sent, Jesus Christ. This is our calling: that we get to know Jesus and we fully devote to him. God is more interested in knowing you and having your heart than using you.

2 Chronicles 16:9 says that for the eyes.

Can I ask the worship team to come And I just sound more spiritual with the path background, Feel some angels like coming next to me. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says: "For the eyes of the Lord move from here and there throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those who wholeheartedly seek him". I love this verse. He shows himself strong on behalf of those who wholeheartedly, who fully devoted, seek him.

May I suggest to you that what you've been praying for hasn't become a reality, because God is still trying to get your heart, because you still haven't been fully devoted to him.

This is what this is my fear. It's a fear of God, It's a holy fear that at the end of my days, the end of my day here on earth, God asks me: "What did you do with your first love". Revelations, the last book of the Bible, when everything is finishing, Revelations 2:4 says: "I hold this against you, that you have abandoned your first love". You have abandoned your first love.

Can I tell you this: At the end of our days, when we get up to God's presence, he's not going to ask you: "What did you do with my calling?

What did you do with the calling I gave you". He's not going to ask us that. He's going to ask us: "What did you do with a, with your first love? Where is your first love?

Do you remember when you fell in love with Christ the first time, When you gave your life to Christ and you're like: "I'll do anything.

Help me stack chairs, help me Whatever it is, I'll clean the bathroom, Whatever it is? He actually continues saying: "Hey, it's actually John writing this". Isn't that beautiful, The beloved disciple of Jesus. And he's saying: "If you have abandoned your first love, just go back to do the first things you did at the beginning".

And many of us we're.

There's two group of people here. There's one that need to give their life to Christ and want to be like Mary. I want to be fully devoted, I want to give my life, I want to be delivered, I want to be healed, I want to love Jesus and experience his love. And there's other of us here that have been Christians for many years, have been followers of Christ, but have not been fully devoted.

Mary didn't care about her calling.

Mary didn't care if she had a, a special assignment over her life. She only cared about Jesus church. That is our calling. He is our calling.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes as I pray for you and end this time, But I want to give you the space and time for you to pray to God.

This is your moment. Don't wait for someone to pray for you. This is your morning, your moment to commit your life again to Jesus, To not abandon your first love. Come, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, Convict our hearts, convict of heart, our hearts of all sin and righteousness, and deliver us.

Lord, May your will be done in this place. Jesus, We want to know you personally, experience you, and we want to be fully devoted to you. Jesus, come into my life, save me, deliver me and change my life. And change my life.

In Jesus' name, we all pray Amen.

Give him a round of applause. Come on, Come on church.