Chris Robinson, Laura O'Reilly, and Clint Donaldson are our guest panel of Licensed Professional Counselors. Rev. Doug Meyer talks to them about the differences between mental health and mental illness, what to expect from therapy, the impact of bullying, and the epidemic of mass violence.

God will complete in you what God started for you. Listen to Rev. Daniel Humbert's message this week and thank God for committing to you.

Join us for our first podcast of the Se7en worship series. We talk about pride and humility today. Worship with us starting May 5 for our worship series about the 7 deadly sins! TMUMC.ORG

So I wanna encourage you to turn with me to Mark's gospel.

So the 16th chapter in where we hear the account of what took place that very first Easter where I don't doubt for a second, that when that tomb was empty, there was both terror and amazement. And it changed everything.

So listen for these words, “when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him, meaning Jesus and very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb, so they had been saying to one another Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back as they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side and they were alarmed, but He said to them, Do not be alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He has been raised, he is not here.

Look, there is the place they laid him on but go now tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of. You took ally there, you will see Him just as He told you, so... So they went out and fled from the tomb for terror and amazement had seized them at so and they said Nothing to anyone at so I for... They were afraid. Friends, may God richly blessed to us, the reading and the hearing of a portion of God's most holy and trusted word.

It must have been a very strange occurrence. They went to anoint the dead body of their savior, they went to see what had become cold and their own understanding the very one in whom they placed their whole trust and they're very being was dead. And they were simply going to obey the ritual laws. Let's prepare the body let's do what we're supposed to do. Let's take care of things, as the women of the day would have done.

But when they get there, the tomb is empty, the stone is rolled away, it's a massive stone all it's huge. There's no way a human could have moved it.

And when they get there, they realize that the body is gone, the tomb is empty, they don't see Jesus they don't understand what's happened, all they know is the tomb is empty, the egg is empty. Or all they know is that he's gone. And then someone says to them, who is not normal, who is supra normal he's not here, see, there's where they laid him he's not here he has gone on to Galilee, there you will see Him just like He said The... And they left with terror and amazement.

Now, the text says that, that terror and amazement. Is some kind of conglomeration, that somehow they're both scared to death and excited that somehow everything they'd ever known, has been shattered and yet all possibility still it is, there's terror and amazement. And the text says, They said nothing to anyone in.

We were told that on multiple occasions to... We've been learning these last many weeks throughout our Lenten season for the love of humanity that Luke Gospel, when Jesus got up, in the fourth chapter, he gets up and reads from the prophet Isaiah and he speaks this powerful truth that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me and he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, to release the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are captive and we are those who get to do that as we get to set the captives free, we get to bring new life to others, we get to make it possible for those who live in darkness and despair to receive hope.

It's what Paul meant. I feel confident when he wrote to the churches in Galatia, the Book of Galatia, tells us in Chapter Five that Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore and never take on again, the yoke of slavery, never take it on again.

So our first reading tonight comes to the Book of John in chapter one verses one to 14 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, so the Word was God, he was in the beginning with God, so all things came into being through him without him, not one thing came into being what has come in to be In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

"there was a man sent from God, whose name was John, He came as a witness to testify to the light so that all might believe through him, he himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light, the true light which enlighten everyone was coming into the world, he was in the world, in the world came into being, through Him, yet the world did not know Him, He came to what was his own and his own people did not accept him as but to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He, He gave power to become children of God who were born not a blood or of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God, and the word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as a father's only son full of grace and truth as darkness, is the absence of light.

So the only way to remove darkness is to add light Jesus was the light of the world, coming to the darkness, the world was crying out for a savior from the darkness cries for light could be heard, so Jesus being fully God heard these cries saw the darkness and responded.

He responded not by fixing things from afar, but by entering into the darkness to bring light Jesus became flesh and blood to live among Us, the world still Christ out for a savior so sin evil darkness is all around it, but for the love of humanity as so Jesus Christ moved into the darkness to offer light a... So as people who follow Jesus, who followed the light we must ask ourselves if we spend our lives living only in the light so or searching for places to bring the light.

For many of us, we've been told that to be a Christian, we must avoid those dark places in our world for fear that the light in US would be extinguished by the darkness, but Christ offers us a different example, a different narrative, the God who brings light and life to us leads us to places of darkness so that we can help spread Christ light. There are 40 million slaves throughout the world, the slaves are trapped in all sorts of conditions in brothels and brick yards cocoa fields and boats and rice Mills and houses a the slaves lived in the darkest parts of our world out of the darkness, they cry for the light.

International Justice Mission, listens for the cries of the needy the oppressed and the violated. They receive tips about potential slaves, and then begin their investigation, they search for the darkest places in the world, and know that in order to bring light they must enter those dark places.

So our next reading comes from the Book of Philippians, chapter 2, verses 1-8. If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love and sharing in the spirit, and compassion and sympathy, I make my joy complete be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full or and one in mind "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others is better than yourselves.

Jesus, in humility, humbled himself taking the form of a slave putting his own needs aside for the sake of our freedom and our lives, the Apostle Paul encourages us to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.

Worship to reflect on Jesus's last supper with his disciples and meditate on the events leading up to His resurrection.

Jesus’s betrayal was pretty fascinating. He actually was betrayed a couple of times a he was betrayed by a friend, named Judas who literally turned him over to the authorities the and I see it, he made it a real... And then after Jesus was arrested, he's denied by a very close personal friend, his name is Peter, and in Luke's gospel in the 22nd chapter we begin to see what that looks like and perhaps even what it feels like.

So, I wanna invite you to join me with the Bible that you brought or the Bible that's on your phone in Luke's gospel, it's the third Gospel Chapter 22 verse 54. this is where we find ourselves.

Then they seized him, meaning Jesus and they led Him away, bringing him into the high priest house, but Peter was following at a distance when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them, then a servant girl, seeing him in the fire light stared at him and said This man also was with Him, but Peter denied it saying woman I do not know Him. a little later, or someone else on seeing Peter said, You also are one of them, but Peter said, Man, I am not.

And then about an hour later, I still... Another insisted "Surely this man also was with him for He is a Galilean, The... But Peter said, "Oh man, I do not know what you were talking about at that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter and then Peter remembered so the Word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the cock crows, today, you will deny me three times.

And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Friends, this is the word of God. For the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Betrayed once. Denied once.

Betrayal, denial. It's a horrible feeling. You can almost feel your gut welling up just a little bit, kind of recalling what that must have felt like to Jesus, right?

And there are two very different kinds of betrayals, really. When you consider Judas’s betrayal, as your notes indicate Judas’s betrayal, was literally sort of corporate and planned an... He planned all out, He schemed it out with the church leaders, he figured out a way that because he didn't like Jesus is teaching, he didn't like his method of operandi, he wanted to make sure that he could somehow kind of cause an interruption, so he plans it out.

Peter’s denial, on the other hand, is very different.

Peter's denial is both personal and instinctive. He didn't plan this out, he didn't know he was gonna find himself in this set of circumstances he didn't know he was gonna be pushed into a corner and called out by name.

Hey, you know this guy, you were with him, I saw you, you're a Galilean, and you can just feel the pressure and Peter doesn't know what to do, Peter, is always the guy who wants to do the right thing, he wants to say the right thing, he wants to be the best he can possibly be.

It doesn't always work out that way. Peter has this pension for speaking before he thinks. What he knew in the moment was I'm not prepared to answer, I'm not ready for this, this doesn't make sense to me, and I don't know what to say, so I'm just gonna deny the facts.

Can you imagine what was going through Jesus's mind as all this is happening?

So, can you imagine how in that moment he feels abandoned?

Isolated. Completely alone. As if nobody cares, as if nobody has any inkling that he has a way forward,

You see, betrayal is deeply painful. It causes harm to the soul, it causes harm to the very essence of who we are.

The, the good new is that we have a Savior who not only knows what that betrayal is like, who not only understands what it can do to the human soul, but he understands how to conquer it, he understands how to overcome it, he understands that there is a way forward, and we can be a part of it.

We are surrounded by sex trafficking and have been since before Genesis. It's time for us to stop the boogie man! Listen to Sunday's message from Pastor Daniel Humbert.

Jill Prohaska from Poiema Foundation discusses how they help those trafficked in your neighborhood, how it happens, and how to get involved. Thank you for leading us in education and action!

Thank you so much to Jessica Brinkley from Refuge for Women North Texas for coming to talk to us about the effects of pornography and sex trafficking on our community and what we can do to change it.