Come with me this morning and gaze upon a very intimate moment. We find a young woman standing at a tomb, a rich man’s tomb. A huge stone has been rolled away, and she is standing there sobbing her heart out. She is wailing the middle eastern death wail.
She has just experienced the most horrible weekend of her life. She had to witness the execution of the man who had saved her life. He had rescued her from a life of sin and abuse. Her life had been so different since he cast the seven demons from her life. She had never known such forgiveness and acceptance and love. He was gone, crucified at the hands of Roman soldiers, and the least thing she could do was to go and anoint his body for a proper burial. To say goodbye one last time.
But he was gone. She arrived early in the morning and the stone had been rolled away. The Roman guards were gone, the grave cloths were laying in the grave. Jesus was gone. Someone had stolen the body away.
Suddenly we see a man talking to her. He is asking “Why are you weeping”. She doesn’t recognize him, thinks he is the gardener. She says, sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have laid him.
He simply calls her name, “Mary”, she turns to him and says “Rabboni”
This morning, Jesus stands before us. He is alive. He is God! He is our Savior! He is at the right hand of God His Father. He is awaiting the day when the Father will say, THAT”S ENOUGH! Your day is hear.
But until that day when He shall descend from heaven with a shout and the blast of the trumpet. Jeus stands in front of you and asks WHY ARE YOU WEEPING? Look at me Jim, I am you teacher! Look at me Christ I am your teacher! He calls you by name and says Why are you weeping?
You say, but Pastor I’m not weeping. But I say, if you have never wept in your life, there will come a day when you will weep. But the truth is, we have all wept.
We have all been Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. (Psa 44:19)

A Mother's Grief Glenda Brost, Indiana
On a beautiful day in May 1996, I came home to find that my fifteen-year-old daughter, Patti, had shot herself to death. I was absolutely devastated.
Patti had been diagnosed and hospitalized with severe depression that winter, but seemed to be improving dramatically. In April, she gave her life to the Lord, and everyone saw a big change in her.
The first month after Patti's death was a blur. I knew I had two choices—to allow my anger and hurt to take over my life and my marriage, or allow the Lord to help me through the struggles and somehow bring good out of this tragedy.
My husband, Bill, my son, Brent, and I vowed we wouldn't let Satan have the victory; we would serve the Lord no matter what.
That summer I spent much time reading the Bible and praying. I felt the presence of the Lord in such real ways, comforting and strengthening me. Whenever I was down, someone would call or send a card or say she was praying for me.
It would be a horrible tragedy to face a child’s suicide, a loss of a baby, a terminal disease without the hope that there is more to this life. There is something beyond the grave. Surely all the pain and hurt, suffering, starvation greed, anger, sin, evil this is not what life is all about. If there is a God then there must be a reward. There must be some reason why we are here on this earth.
Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps, passing the "stations of the cross" to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross. He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolized the empty tomb. It was neglected. The brush had grown up around it. Almost everyone had gone as far as they cross, but there they stopped.—Illustrations Unlimited
If in this life all we knew was the pain, the suffering, if the life of Jesus Christ had stopped at the Cross, and had ended in the grave, this world would be a miserable place. We all have to go there, but we don’t have to stay there. Jesus doesn’t wear a S on his chest. He wears the crucifixion. He went there so He could Go there. He endured the Cross for the Joy that was set before Him. The joy was not heaven, He already had that. The Joy was seeing His VICTORY GIVEN TO YOU AND ME! We have to go there, but we don’t have to stay there. WE ARE GOING THERE!
Dr David Cook is a renown sports psychologist. He has written a book titled Golf’s Sacred Journey. He was invited to speak and discuss the book at a gathering of Christian golfers at the number one golf course in the World, Pine Valley. These men were all great golfers, successful executives. The last day he was paired up with one of the greatest amateurs. He had a horrible reputation fro being a raging maniac on the course. His attitude had kept him from making it to the pro’s, and had affected his success in business. In the short devotion before they played,
Dr Cook told him I am going to teach you something that will change the way you approach life. God wants to use golf to change eternity. You’ll never play well until you understand God’s purpose for your life, and that is to use your life to change eternity. God wants to use everything in your life to effect eternity. God wants to use your Golf to change this world for eternity. This game is not about you.It is not about your score, it is not about how you look to other people, it is about God and what He wants to do in your life and the lives of the people you play with.
Gave him a verse I Thess 5:16-17: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstancesJoy Pray Thanksgiving
Mark ball JPT.
Give Thanks, wheter you birdie, bogey double bogey. You give thanks.
This is why God called you. They were talking, he was doing great, he was 4 under par, was 30 yards out on the 12th hole
12th Hole-he now has a purpose to share his faith
30 yds from green-duffed his ball and hits it 2 feet.
David can see him immediately draw into himself, so he goes over and says, remember, this game is not about you, it about your purpose in changing eternity. The enemy wants to use circumstances to take you out, to render you powerless. He wants to embarrasS you on the golf course.
He uses three weapons, “KILL STEAL & DESTROY” That’s how he makes you powerless. Look at your ball, what does it say JPT Joy Prayer Thanksgiving. Those are your weapons to change your world for eternity.
He calms down, bogey’s the hole. He keeps on playing and gets back to 4 under. The last hole and he’s feeling great, everybody is noticing a change. He hits a mighty drive 330 yards and it hits directly into a bunker at the foot of the green. Three feet down from the top. The ball is buried. He goes to his ball and he starts yelling for David to come!
Look at this! The only thing showing is the JPT
Last hole 330 yards buried in the bunker-David look at this- hits in the bunker and is buried. JPT. This guy is on his knees praising God- The president of the club is watching. That’s my message from God. Whenever, wherever I am buried, I will praise God.
Jesus is before us this morning and he is looking into your heart. He sees the actions, the attitudes, the hurt, the bitterness, the distance, the pride the everything of your heart. Some of you have written JPT on your heart. You know the power of the resurrection. You have been thrown amongst the dragons of this life, but you realized you didn’t have to stay there, because Jesus went there!
We all have to go there, but we don’t have to stay there! Some of your hearts are hard, your life is not impacting eternity. Satan has got you bound, he has you powerless. You don’t have to stay there, becasaue Jesus went there!
He is asking you Why are you weeping? Why are you angry why are you hateful, why are you so distant, why are you bitter, why are you so down?
I have changed this World for eternity. I have overcome every possible lie that you could ever encounter in your life. I have given you the tools of JPT. All because of the greatest miracle this world has ever known.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the defeat of Satan, sin and death. But we fail to see the power of the resurrection when we fail to see the power it has for our lives. Jesus knows you will have heartbreak, sorrow, tears, disappointment, mistakes, struggles, you name it, Jesus knows you will have it. But Jesus still stands before you and asks WHY ARE YOU WEEPING?
Jesus wants us to know that no matter the tragedy we will face, if we allow His Resurrection to EMPOWER US, he will transform heartbreak, sorrow into POWER to LIVE and LOVE Life. Hebrews 12:2 records that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. Jesus had to go to the cross to get to that joy. That joy is knowing that you and I can share in His victory. Our lives can be transformed because Jesus went there to get there. Our Teacher says to us today, Understand in this life, you have to go there to get there! But just because you go there, doesn’t mean you have to stay there. He didn’t stay in the tomb. He went there! And because He went there, we don’t have to stay there. Paul says:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB)
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, if He indeed lives in your life, then you and everything that happens in your life is working to change you from glory to glory. His Glory that He has because He conquered the grave is our glory. Everything we experience in this life is meant to make His glory shine upon our lives.
The problem with this life, is that it is often full of sorrow, heartache, disappointment, betrayal, even enemies. The message we are going to focus on is that in life, we have to go there to get there! We Go there, but we don’t have to stay there!
We will see the Power of the Resurrection is only experienced as we focus on Jesus and His Victory! If you focus on your problems and your situation you are defeated. You are going there and you are staying there. You are like Mary, staring at the tomb and wondering what you are going to do. Jesus is standing before you saying WHY ARE YOU WEEPING. JPT! Are you willing to claim the victory of Jesus for your life?Are you willing to see your life as changing this world for eternity? Are you willing to have Joy, to pray in every circumstance, to Thank God for everything?
YOU CAN GO THERE BECAUSE HE WENT THERE>>>
Joseph
In this life we experience hurts from friends and even family members. We experience betrayal, broken dreams. We can allow those hurts and betrayals to destroy us, to embitter us, to devalue us, or we can see that sometimes we have to go there to get there.
Joseph was given dreams from God.
Then his jealous brothers betrayed him. Into prison. Then out inot Potiphars household. Betrayed and falsely accused and again, thrown into prison. Betrayed once more, finally he is before Pharaoh and made number two in the Kingdom. To be reunited with his father and brothers, to save his family from famine.
Joseph experienced betrayal, false accusations, years of stress and doubt. Sometimes you gotta go there to get there.
Joseph knew JPT because Jesus experienced betrayal, rejection, but He over overcame! He is RISEN HE REIGNS!
Moses
Have you ever felt inadequate, unusable by God. Have you felt burdened by past sins, past failures that hold you back, keep you from doing anything for God, perhaps in your family, in your job. Do you have to go there, to get there?
Moses had the brightest future. Educated in the finest schools. Son of the richest families in Egypt. He murders a man in a fit of anger. Anger over the treatment of his people. He desired their freedom. He escapes, and forced to live as an outlaw in the desert for 40 years. There he does penance for his sins, and develops the patience and character that God requires of him, in order to use him again. When God finally calls him, he has no confidence in his flesh. He does not feel adequate for the task.
Peter
If anyone could ever say he was not fit to follow Jesus, it would be Peter. Such a man with big dreams. He told Jesus je would follow him anywhere. Why he even picked up a sword and tried to prevent a squadron of soldiers from taking Jesus away. He obviously was not a trained swordsman. He only managed to cut off a servants ear.
When push came to shove, and Jesus needed him, Peter was afraid to go with him to the Governor’s court. A simple servant girl, cousin to Malchus, whose ear was cut off, said I know I’ve seen you with Jesus. He started speaking fisherman and denied he had ever known Jesus. Then he heard the rooster crow for the third time. Peter wept bitterly. All his hopes, dreams plans perished with Jesus on the cross. Peter was a failure, Jesus was a failure. I imagine he was relived when he heard that Jesus died. At least his betrayal did not mean anything.
How his guilt came streaming over him when he heard the tomb was empty. He ran to the grave, he went in. There was no body.
Sometimes God wants to use us, but we are too qualified. God requires that we surrender to Him. He doesn’t want us because we are skilled at this, or talented at this, or because we look like this. No, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not us. So in order for God to use us, we’ve got to go there to get there.
Jesus demonstrated this when he laid aside all of His rights as God, and humbled himself as a lowly man, a servant, born into a poor family under suspicious circumstances. He was nothing, that we might be something. Jesus had to go there to get us there!
Prodigal Son
The prodigal son is rebellious. He wants his inheritance. His Dad gives it to him, knowing what he is about to do. He leaves and goes to a far country. He wastes everything. He is eating with the pigs, when he comes to himself. He realizes what His father has! The father runs to meet him, he gives him more again. Because he loves him.
God gave his son Jesus. Jesus went into the pig sty of sin. Jesus bore the embarrasment of the cross. You may be away from God, You may be squandering your life, You may be GOING THERE but you don’t have to stay there. Jesus went there so we can go there!
ISAAC
was a man who learned to obey and trust almighty God El Shaddai. One day God made a horrible request. He wanted Abraham to take his young son Isaac, (his only son) and sacrifice him on Mt Sinai.
Abraham was willing to experience the death of his son. He was willing to go there to get there.
If you have experienced the death of a love one, please remember that sometimes in life we’ve gotta go there to get there.
God so loved you and me that He gave His Son in order that He would go there so you and I could could get there.
Isaac was able to get up from the funeral pyre. The pile of sticks that was meant to be his grave.
The reason was because God had provided another sacrifice. Isaac went on to change the world for eternity.
Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. He stepped forward and said I’ll save them. I’ll go to the cross. I’ll drink the cup of God’s wrath. Because He died on the cross and rose from the dead, WE HAVE LIFE! We are not defeated. We can stamp JPT on our hearts. We can have Joy no matter the heartache. We can have continual prayer with our Father who loves us. We can be thankful for all things because we know that all things work to good for those who love God.
WHY ARE YOU WEEPING? WHY ARE YOU DEFEATED? WHY ARE YOU LETTING THE ENEMY TAKE YOU OUT, EMBARRASS YOU, RENDER YOU POWERLESS. WHY DO LET HIM STEAL KILL AND DESTROY. LOOK AT THE INITIALS ON YOUR HEART – JPT. BECAUSE JESUS LIVES WE HAVE JOY WE HAVE PRAYER WE HAVE THANKSGIVING! WE HAVE TOTAL VICTORY!
We Are Going There Because Jesus Went There, and praise God He didn’t stay there, so we don’t either!

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (ESV)