Robby's Sermon - Sent To Follow - John 20:21 and John 21:19

And so I've hosted a number of radio shows for a number of years and so I have a podcast that I do actually every day besides the Christian Car Guy show and many other radio shows I do. And I have been doing it on the 119th Psalm for like since maybe July. And so I've been knee deep in the 119th Psalm all this time. So I was kind of relieved actually when I was like, James, what do you want me to talk about?

You know, we've been going through this Bible in a year reading and so the reading for this week, as I understand it, what James told me, was John chapter 20 and John chapter 21 and then 1 Thessalonians 1 and 2. And I thought, how cool. I get to do the Easter sermon on Thanksgiving.

And see where that goes. So I thought, oh my goodness. Tammy and I, my wife is here with me and my mother-in-law, we do a Bible study in our neighborhood. Actually we were invited to it.

It wasn't our idea. And we've been going through the Gospel of John for a number of months. And I kept noticing in every chapter of John and kept on saying, kept on saying, believe that my father sent me.

Or, you know, I'm the one who the father sent. And he says it time and time and time again. Well, I actually took the time to count that when I was thinking about this sermon.

And I counted it and I did it three times because I couldn't believe it was true. But if you count that, there's a lot of words sent in that chapter. But just where he is talking about the father sent him, he says it 40, get this, 40 times. That he talks about that the father sent him. And I'm thinking if John took the trouble to write it 40 times in 20 chapters, this must be significant.

This must be somewhat important. So there's half the sermon. It says, right? If you looked at the title of the sermon that God gave me, it said sent, sent to follow. And I do a number of radio shows.

I'm blessed out of my socks. They're all Christian radio shows. And one of the ones that I get to do is called Lantern Rescue. And Lantern Rescue is a show where essentially these are Christian Navy Seals.

I don't know how else to tell you this, but they go across the world and rescue people out of human trafficking. And so I get a chance to share these stories every week of these guys that are rescuing young girls out of brothels all over the world or rescuing people wherever they are. And one of my favorite guys is this guy. And you would think that based on what he does, he's this great big brawny guy, but no.

I think he's kind of like Samson was, just a little bitty guy. I would not mess with this guy. I'm just telling you because he's been in some situations. So anyway, his name is Mark.

And I'm sorry, I will keep trying to stay in this for you guys. So Mark is just like, oh man, I don't know. I just have to pinch myself that I get to work with such godly people. And so a couple weeks ago, we were doing some episodes.

We had some young ladies that had been rescued out of trafficking situations and the stories were pretty intense. And after we got done with that, actually I was blessed to have Mark in the studio. Usually I have him on the phone because he's all over the world. But he was in the studio with me and we got done with the phone calls and he goes, Robbie, God just put it on my heart. To do a show about the second appointment.

And I said, what do you mean? And he said, well I always know that I'm sent to go do something when some country has asked me to come in or our government has asked me to go do this or I have an opportunity to go rescue this. I feel like I'm sent. But God always has a second appointment. There's something else that he has in mind and while I'm going, I'm always praying that God will make me sensitive to the situation. The other appointment and he called it the second appointment.

And so as you think about this sermon title, I think this story I'm fixed to share with you will illustrate it well that he was sent to follow. Now many of you know there's all sorts of shenanigans that have gone on in Afghanistan. And my friends, Mark's team was in Afghanistan long before anybody knew any of that stuff was going on. People out of the country, they were getting missionaries out of the country.

People that wanted to get out of the country. But as he will tell you, a lot of the people said, no, no, no, things are going to get tough. We want to stay. Because when things get tough, that's when we want to be here. That's why we signed up for this. Right?

I mean that's unbelievable just to think about it. So when this all started to go down, all of a sudden certain people were targeted and they needed to be able to move people about in the country. And some of them, they needed to move out of the country even in the midst of all this.

And again, this is all stuff that is not for necessarily public consumption. So they found an escape route through northern India. And so he had been sent, my friend Mark, had been sent to northern India to discuss with these people this route to get people out of Afghanistan. And so he said, Robbie, I am on a motorcycle going across a swinging bridge that is about as narrow as you would imagine for two people to walk across it. If you've ever seen those on YouTube, those swinging bridges in northern India, now just picture this. I still can't, if I didn't know the story, if he didn't tell me the story, I wouldn't have believed it because, I mean, if I was on a motorcycle going across one of these bridges, my eyes would be pasted to the, you know, where are we going here? But as it was, he looked up. And when he looked up at the top of the, whatever it was that supported the bridge, was a young girl. And he said it was about 35 feet above the bridge. And when he saw the young girl up there, he stopped the other guy that was going, that was his guide, and he said, what's that girl doing up there? And he said, oh, she's probably making a TikTok video because, you know, social media has an effect around the world. He said, the Holy Spirit told me, no, no, no, that girl is committing suicide or attempting suicide. But they drove across the bridge and they went over to this meeting. Now understand, he is probably the only white face these people have seen in their whole lives.

So he stands out kind of like a big sore thumb and he doesn't want to stand out because he doesn't want anybody to know he's been there. But when he gets over there, the police start coming by the gobs because this lady is attempting suicide. And they all come into the meeting and they say, we got to do something, this woman's up on the top of this bridge. And he says, when I did that, I just started praying, God, what do you want me to do?

Climb the bridge. What? Are you kidding me? Yeah. Yeah. I want you to climb up there. And he just stopped the meeting and he said, OK, I need somebody to go get a great big guy for me, somebody that can belay me up there, whatever that means.

I don't know. This is just the words he used. I'm sure that has to do with hooking lines or whatever. And I need a rope and I need this and I need that. And he dispatches these people and he goes over to this bridge, which I'm trying to picture in my mind. And I've seen a picture of it.

It just blinds my mind. And he said, as I began to climb up this thing, I see this girl up there. And as it turns out, what had happened was. In that world, there's a class system, and if you're on the lowest class, it's like you're untouchable.

And so they marry these women and then they like throw them away after they have children. And this is what had happened is her husband had left her, which meant that she had no way to support this child that she had. And it was just a horrible situation. So she was going to attempt suicide.

And my friend Mark is climbing up there and he said it didn't really get that high. And I made eye contact with her. And when I did, he gave me this hand sign that I can't remember exactly, but he knew it in their language.

It was different than come here. And she started, she came down to where he was. And as he explained it to me, he said, Robbie, she had probably never seen a white person in her life.

And there she is up in this bridge and here comes this white person and he's climbing up to get her. And he said, you know, we have some missionaries in that area and I tasked them with this statement to tell this girl as she was being brought into this missionary home to be helped, to task her with making sure she understood that God sent a white man around the world to save her life. Because Jesus Christ wanted to save her spiritual life. You see, he was sent to Afghanistan, I mean to northern India, to save lives. But because he was following, right, he was sensitive to what was going on. This is the exact opposite of what happened to the poor, you know, Samaritan guy on the road, right? All these Levites and different people passed by him because they were sent. They thought they were supposed to go to church, but they forgot that they were also to follow Christ. And when you think about what he did in his life, you just can't help but go, yeah, he was sent.

But if somebody showed it up that needed him, whether they needed to touch because they were a leper or they needed whatever, it was never an interruption to him. He was sent from the father to follow. So as we get into that a little bit more, I thought it would just be fun for a minute to just go through John chapter 20 and kind of point out things that I saw as I looked at this with fresh eyes as I thought about this. So John chapter 20, it says, and this is a tree of life version, so this is for people that like Jewish tradition, explains things and uses words that I'll try to explain as I go along, but I think it's helpful. It says, early in the morning in the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miriam from Magdala came to the tomb. So there in that sentence, you have a lot of interesting things. Like Tammy, the other day we were watching The Chosen, actually last night, and she said, why did they celebrate Sunday on Saturday?

That's what she said. It makes perfect sense because they do. Shabbat for them is Saturday night, and it was the day that God rested. I mean, from Friday night to Saturday, right, they rest. And so this was not on Shabbat. He rose on the first day of the week, which was Sunday, but if you think about it, and this is really cool, just something to ponder a bit, is that it was the eighth day after the triumphal entry. And so if you look like in the 119th Psalm, like I've looked at and looked at and looked at, there's eight verses. There's so many places eight is a neat number because eight to this culture in Judaism is the number of miracles, and they know that. Like Hanukkah has eight lights for a reason. It's the eighth day that the miracles happen, and so it was on the eighth day that this was happening from the day that he came on the triumphal entry.

And so in our own way, we worship on the eighth day. It may be the first day of the week, but in its own way because of this, it was on the eighth day, and then it was Miriam, which we say Mary, but actually to a Jew, they would say her name was Miriam because it was a picture of Miriam, who was Moses' sister, right, and had the well that she sang to in the desert and all that stuff. This Miriam was from Magdala. We call her Mary Magdalene, but I don't know if you knew that the city right next to Capernaum that Mary Magdalene came from is the reason why they call her that.

And today, if you get a chance to go to Israel, there is a phenomenal, in fact, I interviewed a guy one time on a synagogue that's in Magdala there to this day that has what they call the Magdala Stone, which is unbelievable, so there's a lot just in that first sentence. She sees the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, so she comes running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Yeshua loved, that's Jesus. She tells him, they've taken the master out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him. Then Peter and the other disciple sent out going to the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and arrived at the tomb first. Leaning in, he sees the linen strips lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter followed him and entered the tomb. He looks upon the linen strips lying there and the face cloth that had been on his head. It was not lying with the linen strips, but it was rolled up in a place by itself. I heard a beautiful sermon. I didn't want to read that without sharing this. This has always been cool to me.

We had a pastor for years and years in Winston by the name of Mark Quartz. The way he said that, if you could picture, that if a body was wrapped as it was with all these linens, and all of a sudden it just evaporated, that the linens would just go flat. It wasn't a matter of Jesus unwrapped himself.

The linens just went flat. However, the face mask that they had put over his head, a lot of stuff talked about that, but anyway, he took that off and he set it over to the side. This picture of him being resurrected, I've always thought that was cool. He just came out of the cloth and then he took the face mask off.

He set it over to the side. Something to think about. I just like to ponder it. I think it's cool. Yes, sir?

Oh, no, no, no. The Magdala Stone. Beautiful stone.

You can go on and feel free to Google it because they'll show you. The Magdala Stone is found in this synagogue that is the oldest synagogue found in Israel. It is of the time of Christ and on this stone is engraved, really, really cool from my perspective, what the veil looked like. In other words, the actual embroidery that was on the veil in the temple in Jerusalem. There's pictures on the stone of the menorah. It's the oldest picture of a menorah that they have in all of Israel and this stone sits in this.

I got to see it one time when I was at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, but they have it there in the Magdala synagogue there in Magdala in Israel. Really cool stone. And again, if you want to see what the original veil looked like that was torn in two that we all think about, yeah, look it up.

Magdala Stone is really cool. So, then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also entered and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand from the scriptures that Yeshua must rise from the dead so the disciples went back to their own homes. But Miriam stood outside the tomb weeping. As she was weeping, she bent down to look into the tomb. She sees two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet where Yeshua's body had been lying. Woman, why are you crying, they said to her.

She says because they took away my master and I don't know where they put him. After she said these things, she turned around and she sees Yeshua standing there, yet she didn't know that it was Yeshua. Yeshua said to her, woman, why are you weeping and who are you looking for? Now, believe me, there is so much, these are the first words that Jesus says that we have recorded to a person after the big ta-da moment. He's been resurrected. And so you've heard about the last seven words of Christ.

Well, this is the eighth word, right, if you think about it. And this is so hugely significant, but you'll miss it if you don't understand that we men are the bride of Christ. And this is the heart cry, this is the heart cry of every human being.

This is, let me say this again, let it sink down in there somewhere. This is the heart cry of every person that has ever lived. Why are you crying?

Who are you looking for? Think about it. Of course you are.

Of course you are. I've often told this in my podcast and other places that women have stolen Proverbs 31. See, Proverbs 31 is for the bride of Christ. And since we are all the bride of Christ, we all get to be a woman of valor. So if you think about it in those terms and you realize that whether you're man or woman or whatever you are, woman. Because as the bride of Christ, here you are, woman. Why are you crying? And who are you looking for? Cool, cool, cool words.

I didn't want to just go through this without stopping there because I've spent a lot of time just thinking about that. Thinking he's the gardener, she says to him, sir, you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him. And I'll take him away. And Yeshua said to her, Miriam, turn around. She says to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. Yeshua says to her, stop clinging to me for I have yet to go up to the father. Go to my brothers and tell them I am going up to my father and your father. To my God and your God. What's he telling Miriam?

You're in. I mean, you know, like, OK. I mean, how cool is that? Well, right.

I mean, that's what he's doing. So Miriam from Magdala comes announcing to the disciples, I've seen the Lord and what he had said to her. So here we come to the part I actually wanted to talk about. Anyway, it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Judean leaders, and Yeshua came and stood there in the midst. And he said to them, Shalom Alekhem. He said, peace be with you. After this, he showed them his hands and feet, then his disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Yeshua said to them again, Shalom Alekhem, as the father has sent me, I also send you. Now you've got 40 times he's talked about this, so it must be hugely significant.

But don't miss what he says twice before that. And for those of you who love the Old Testament like I do, don't miss that this word that he uses, Shalom Alekhem, is the word that Joseph used. Because his brothers that happened to be 11 of them on the scene at the moment, if you just think about the picture of God's painting, right? Because he was one of the 12. There were 11 brothers. How many disciples were there once Judas was gone?

Okay. Did they know who Jesus was? Did they know who Joseph was? You see? And so when Joseph is telling them they got gold in their sack, that God is put there, go look at this passage in Genesis and you'll see, he says this word for the very first time in all of the scripture, Shalom Alekhem.

Peace be with you. It's fascinating, isn't it? Because at this point in time the brothers, the 11 brothers were a little bit freaked out because they're in Egypt. They're thinking this guy is fixing to kill them. They have a lot of shenanigans going on, right? And you can't miss the similarity that here you've got 11 people in this room. What are they doing? They're hiding because the Romans are going to kill them from their perspective and up shows what? The older brother or whatever you want to call him.

Similar situation. And then he says, Shalom Alekhem, and then he says, as I was sent, and he's obviously made a big point on the fact that he was sent, I send you. Now, if you look back to John chapter 7, you'll see that when he healed the blind man, he took spittle and mud and put it on the guy's eye. He said, here's mud in your eye.

He didn't say that, but I was funny. Anyway, and he said, go to the pool of Shalom and wash. Now, there's a hint there for those who love Hebrew, as I do, that the word sent in Hebrew has the same root as peace. Right? Well, I can tell you the letters, but it wouldn't help you. So I'm just going to tell you that it's the exact same root as peace. Like, hmm, isn't that interesting? Let me give you some other words that have the same root as peace.

Shalom. A flame. A flame. If you were to see a flame, you see a certain grace in a flame. Just bring a flame right here and watch everybody's eyes. They'll go right to it. How many people sit in front of a flame right at Christmas? They'll put it on their TV and watch something on Netflix that says a flame.

I don't know, but you know, there's the deal. There's a certain peace that's in a flame. Snow. Have you ever been, when it was snowing and it was just coming down, like, wow, that's also a certain kind of peace, isn't it? The number three, right? When she was singing, I couldn't help but note, yeah, three in one. The number three has the same root as peace and it's snow and it's flame and interestingly, quail.

I thought about that one. Like, well, quail hang out in coffees, right? If you get one quail away from another quail, they'll start singing like, you know, they're trying to hang out. There's a certain peace apparently in quail and God knew that and I don't think it was any accident that he sent quail to them in the desert, but as you think about this word, peace be with you and now I'm going to send you and think how much, how important peace was to Christ and how much he wanted you to see this.

Well, think about how cool it is when you're one of the Blues Brothers, right? I'm on a mission from God. When you know that you were sent somewhere, there's phenomenal peace, right? You know, this is where God sent me.

This is what I'm supposed to be doing. There's peace there that only comes from being sent somewhere. I mean, how cool is that?

It's absolutely amazing, beautiful like man. And so as he is sending us, what an opportunity. It's absolutely phenomenal to be at perfect peace because he's, as the Father, which he just explained, as our Father has sent him, now he's sending us and you are as sent as I am or as my friend Mark that was up there on the bridge.

Only your appointments are just different than his appointments. And after this he said, he breathed on them and said, receive the Raha HaKodesh or Holy Spirit. He blew on them and received the Holy Spirit. After they were, you know, he commissioned them and then he blew on them. Which is always interesting, don't you think? Because the Holy Spirit comes in Acts chapter 1.

How does that exactly work? I do not know. But I think it's cool to think about.

Dennis, do you know? Oh well. So moving on.

That's the sent part. Here comes the follow. So you might remember the story that Jesus showed up for a number of days and then all of a sudden the guys went fishing in Galilee and they didn't catch any fish and then Jesus was going to be on the shore and he was going to restore Peter, right? And so when he gets to this part, so if we move on over to verse 18 in chapter 21, he says, amen, amen, or verily, verily.

I tell you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you grow old, you'll stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and carry you where you don't want to go. Now he said this to indicate what kind of death Peter was going to glorify God. And after this, Yeshua said to him, follow me. Now this was after the three, do you love me, Peter? Do you love me? Do you love me?

Right? And here he throws us in, follow me. Now if you read on, he ain't done. Because of course Peter, what have I got? Peter turning around sees a disciple following that was the one that Yeshua loved and also reclined against Yeshua's chest at the Seder meal and the master who is the one who is betraying you, excuse me, master, who is the one who is betraying you? Seeing him, Peter said to Yeshua, Lord, what about him?

Yeshua said to him, if you want to remain until I come, if I want him to remain until I come, what is it to you? You follow me. Now being the person that loves words the way I do, you know, you have to go check this out. Well, you know, the word follow me in Hebrew, which I'm sure is where they were all thinking, is actually to come after.

It's two words. It's a conjunction of come after. And so when you look in the Bible, if you study the Bible, I love this, anytime you can find the first place that that is said in the Bible, it's like an index to what this word means or what these words mean. And so when you look at it, as you study this, the first place that the word come after is is back when Isaac needed a bride. His mother had died. Now Isaac is another picture of Christ in the Bible in lots of ways, in lots and lots and lots of ways, even the way his name is spelled. But he needed a bride.

Are you following me? He needed a bride. And you might remember that Abraham sent his servant to go find him one.

And the servant says, what will I do if she will not come after me? Those are the first time you see those two words. And it has to do very specifically with marriage. It has very much to do with an identity change. Because when you get married, I was no longer Robbie Dilmore. When I got married, I became one flesh with Tammy.

And I now am as much Tammy's husband as I am Robbie Dilmore. You see, I'm a different, there's a different identity. So don't miss that the word come after is a little deeper than most people just think of come after. This is actually more of a covenant type of thing.

And it is saying that this woman is going to change her identity from Rachel, no, Rebecca, Rebecca to Mrs. Isaac. However that worked, I don't know. That's the deal. Well, we get to see this again. You don't see it again for a while. But then you get to see it again. And then the second time you see it, it's even more amazing from my perspective. So you see it in 1 Kings chapter 19, go to the bottom of the section.

It's like, oh, man. See, what's happening there is Elijah thought he was the only guy out there that was doing anything for God. And God told him, remember, in the Cliffs of the Rock, go anoint Elisha. Because Elisha is going to come after you. And so you might remember, he goes finds Elisha. What's Elisha doing when he finds him? He's plowing with how many hawks? Twelve. Just saying.

Just saying. And so what does he do? He throws his mantle over him.

You might remember. And you won't find it far after that where it says, Elisha, come after me. Now was Elisha ever the same? Did he not get the spirit, double the spirit?

Because remember what Jesus did, right? He blew on them. After he sent them, then he blew on them, and then came the Holy Spirit. And they were not of the same identity when they followed him. They were actually his bride.

You get the picture. So my friend Mark, as he's up there, he sent to Afghanistan. I mean, he sent to northern India to try to help somebody. But then because he's Jesus' bride, he hears him cry and help that girl.

Help that girl. So I was sent to do the Christian Car Guy show. That's how I ended up in radio. If you haven't heard the story, I won't go into it because we don't have time. But I will tell you that I was praying one night, and all of a sudden, God came to me.

And you might wonder, how does this happen, Robbie? Well, essentially, I thought a thought that I know I didn't think. In other words, I'm praying about a lot of things that I need from God from my perspective, and all of a sudden, I hear this, you need to get on the radio. Now, I knew that I did not think that thought because I hate radio. I didn't like public speaking.

I didn't want to do anything like that. So I know I didn't think this thought, but he was pretty clear. Robbie, I want you to get on the radio.

I want you to talk about what breaks your heart every day. Those were his exact words. I was sent. I was sent to do the radio show.

I didn't exactly go without a fight, but I made it. And so after I was there not long, I noticed I would have anticipated as the Christian Car Guy that most of my emails would come from men. I would have thought I'd have a male audience. But almost every email I got was from a single mom or a widow that didn't have anybody in her life to tell her how to push the little snowflake on the dash to make the air conditioning come on. Right? Those kind of questions. The questions I got were like, well, that's easy.

You know what I'm saying? It was interesting. And so although I was sent to do the show, what I found out very quickly was that God had something else. And so we began the Jesus labor love, car repair labor for single moms, widows. You guys have given to it wonderfully over the years.

I can't tell you what an impact it's made. Actually, Bob gave us a van. And if you were listening to my show yesterday, the lady Jean that was talking about it, that's her.

She got that van that Bob gave. Right? And years ago, God was pretty clear that he wanted me not only to put my email in the application process, he wanted me to put my phone number in there. So it's not unusual that I'll be driving to lunch or wherever I am and I see some strange phone number get on my phone, and sometimes they don't want to sell me a warranty.

I don't know what it is. But anyway, you know, Thursday there was this woman. She was in Salisbury, North Carolina. And she was crying. She hadn't been able to use her car for four months. She hadn't been able to help her kids. Somebody told her about our ministry.

Is there any way you can help me? I've got to get my car towed from Salisbury to Mocksville, North Carolina. Yeah? And how cool. I mean, I was on my way to lunch. I had all sorts of things I thought I was supposed to be doing, but all of a sudden, see, I was sent to lunch, but I was called. I was called to do something else.

So I was like, man, as I was talking to this lady, I could sense that she was totally freaked out. And what I have learned from having God guided me a whole lot over the years is just to stop and say, Miriam, can I pray with you? That's what this church is about, right? You want to bring shalom? You want to bring peace? I just said, you know, Jesus, thank you. Miriam, I have the courage to call me.

You know, it's really hard to admit you need help. Would you please help her know that you are not only involved in that phone call, but that you're here with her now and you're going to help her? And on the prayer went, and it didn't take long. And you could sense that there was a different person on the phone than the one that had called me, right? Because Jesus, when he gets involved, he makes an impact.

See, I was sent, and I'm sent all the time to do interesting things, but it's amazing what my friend Mark taught me when he wanted to do that show. There's often a second appointment. There's something else. You may be sinned, but God has something else. And you are his bride. And you will hear his voice. And it will be a thought that you didn't think.

And you will go, oh, you know, how does that exactly fit into the scenario? But that's what God gave me to share with you all. I certainly, I had a blast with the whole thing. I hope you guys enjoyed it as I did. I'll pray, and we'll close. Jesus, thank you for allowing us to say yes to the dress. It's more than amazing that you would give us these missions, but more than that, you give us opportunities to connect for you and to be sometimes your hands and feet, however that all works. We just pray that you would help us to be sensitive, even to those who may be here today who don't even have that original idea of how they get connected to you. They're still saying, woman, why are you crying?

Who are you looking for? Help us to all be sensitive to people that are crying. You can see the cry in different ways that simply what they're doing is they're looking for you. Lord, help us to spot that. Minister to that. Help us to be what you'd have us be. And even those who, as we talked about, don't know you today. Lord, I pray that this would be one of those moments that you would get in there and plant some seeds, and they would see that, wow, this took place because you died. You rose from the tomb because you took on our sin. And we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be able to go to the Father. We wouldn't have all these luxuries had you not did what you did two days before what we're talking about right now. So, Lord, I thank you and I pray that many, many, many will see the light in the coming days. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.