1
00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,120
Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to you. We're

2
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,520
Speaker 1: Daily Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each

3
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:18,960
Speaker 1: day to learn more about God and his will for us.

4
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,239
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken. We're continuing our lent series

5
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,119
Speaker 1: God Meets You in the Wilderness, and after a short

6
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,280
Speaker 1: word from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible Verse

7
00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: Luke twenty three, forty two. As we continue our Lenten series,

8
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,960
Speaker 1: God Meets You in the Wilderness, today's passage reminds us

9
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,239
Speaker 1: that even in our most desperate moments, Jesus meets us

10
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 1: with mercy and hope. There are moments in life when

11
00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: you know you've run out of fixes. You can't explain

12
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,000
Speaker 1: it away, you can't repay it quickly, you can't go

13
00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,840
Speaker 1: back and undo what's been done. Maybe it's a relationship

14
00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:11,040
Speaker 1: you damaged, a decision that had real consequences, a season

15
00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,839
Speaker 1: where faith feels distant and regret feels close, a quiet

16
00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 1: awareness that you're not where you'd hope to be spiritually.

17
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 1: And in those moments, you don't need advice. You don't

18
00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: need a pep talk, you don't need somebody telling you

19
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 1: to try harder. You need mercy. This drig's close to

20
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:34,360
Speaker 1: home for me. This happened to be over fourteen years ago.

21
00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:36,520
Speaker 1: I was driving when I shouldn't have been and found

22
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,360
Speaker 1: myself in court. There was no way out of it.

23
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,399
Speaker 1: There were witnesses. I was mortified and I had done wrong.

24
00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,480
Speaker 1: I needed mercy. Lent has a way of bringing us

25
00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,400
Speaker 1: space to face with this reality. The wilderness strips away

26
00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,680
Speaker 1: distractions and exposes what's really happening in our hearts. It

27
00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,400
Speaker 1: reveals our need not just guidance, but for grace. That's

28
00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 1: exactly where we meet Jesus in Luke twenty three, at

29
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:11,560
Speaker 1: the Cross, surrounded by suffering, injustice and human failure, and

30
00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,000
Speaker 1: right there in the middle of agony, Jesus meets a

31
00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,919
Speaker 1: desperate man with mercy. Today's Bible verse is Luke twenty

32
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,919
Speaker 1: three forty two, which reads, then he said, Jesus, remember

33
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,480
Speaker 1: me when you come into your kingdom. Luke twenty three

34
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 1: places us in the final hours of Jesus's earthly life.

35
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,520
Speaker 1: He's been betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, and sentenced to death.

36
00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 1: Now he's being crucified between two criminals, a public, humiliating

37
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,440
Speaker 1: execution meant to display shame and defeat. This scene is

38
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,560
Speaker 1: loud and chaotic. Religious leaders are mocking him, soldiers are

39
00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,680
Speaker 1: gambling for his clothes. Bystanders are watching. The air's thick

40
00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:02,000
Speaker 1: with pain, confusion, and cruelty. And hanging beside Jesus are

41
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: two men, both guilty, both suffering, both facing death. At first,

42
00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,040
Speaker 1: the tone around the cross is one of ridicule. One

43
00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,760
Speaker 1: criminal joins the crowd in mocking Jesus, but the other

44
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,920
Speaker 1: begins to see something different. He recognizes his own guilt,

45
00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:24,919
Speaker 1: He acknowledges Jesus's innocence, and in a moment of startling clarity,

46
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: he turns toward Jesus with the simple, desperate request. This

47
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,520
Speaker 1: moment becomes one of the clearest pictures of grace in

48
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,400
Speaker 1: all of Scripture, in my opinion. Notice what the man

49
00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,600
Speaker 1: doesn't say. He doesn't promise to change, he doesn't offer

50
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 1: to make things right. He doesn't try to explain away

51
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,840
Speaker 1: his past, and he didn't compare himself to others. He

52
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 1: simply turns toward Jesus. That's the heart of repentance, not

53
00:03:54,200 --> 00:04:01,280
Speaker 1: performance but recognition, not proving but surrendering. He says, we

54
00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,520
Speaker 1: are punished and justly, but this man has done nothing

55
00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,960
Speaker 1: wrong in Love twenty three forty one. There's unesty here,

56
00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:14,800
Speaker 1: how excuse is no defensiveness, just truth, and then comes

57
00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,039
Speaker 1: as a request, Jesus, remember me when you come into

58
00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,400
Speaker 1: your kingdom. This stateman's crazy. He's looking at a beaten,

59
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,119
Speaker 1: bleeding man hanging on across and still calls him king.

60
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,560
Speaker 1: That's faith in the wilderness. Faith when circumstances don't make sense,

61
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,800
Speaker 1: Faith when everything looks lost, faith when there's nothing left

62
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,440
Speaker 1: to control. He believes Jesus's story doesn't end on that cross,

63
00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,440
Speaker 1: and Jesus responds immediately, truly, I tell you today you

64
00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:49,640
Speaker 1: will be with me in Paradise. That's in verse forty three,

65
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:55,240
Speaker 1: Not someday, not after proving himself, not once he's earned it. Today,

66
00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,880
Speaker 1: Jesus offers forgiveness, belonging in presence in a single se

67
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:07,680
Speaker 1: This is mercy and its purest undeserved, immediate, impersonal. This

68
00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,800
Speaker 1: Letton series, God meets you in the wilderness, keeps bringing

69
00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,080
Speaker 1: us back to one central truth. God didn't wait for

70
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,599
Speaker 1: us to get out of the wilderness before he meets us.

71
00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,799
Speaker 1: He meets us right there, and Luke twenty three shows

72
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:25,240
Speaker 1: us what that meeting looks like. Mercy meets honesty. The

73
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:30,080
Speaker 1: criminal stops pretending, he names reality. God meets us when

74
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,479
Speaker 1: we stop managing our image and starts telling the truth. Two,

75
00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,000
Speaker 1: Faith can begin at the end. This man had no

76
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,560
Speaker 1: time to turn his life around invisible ways, and still

77
00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,360
Speaker 1: Jesus welcomed in. It is never too late to turn

78
00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:51,680
Speaker 1: toward Christ. Third, Jesus offers presents, not just pardon with

79
00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,160
Speaker 1: me in Paradise. He says, the promise is of just forgiveness.

80
00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,720
Speaker 1: It's a relationship. Jesus doesn't simply eraseed guilt invites us

81
00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:05,760
Speaker 1: into closeness. Fourth, the wilderness reveals what we truly need

82
00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,560
Speaker 1: when everything is stripped away. What remains our need for grace,

83
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,320
Speaker 1: our longing for belonging, our dependence on Jesus. And Lend

84
00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 1: reminds us that the cross was not an accident, It

85
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,520
Speaker 1: was the plan alone. Jesus stepped into suffering so that

86
00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,880
Speaker 1: we would never face our wilderness alone. Where do you

87
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,919
Speaker 1: need mercy right now? Not the polished version of you,

88
00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,440
Speaker 1: the real version. The place where you feel regret, the

89
00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,159
Speaker 1: place where you feel spiritually tired, the place where you

90
00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,719
Speaker 1: wonder if you've missed your chance or gone too far.

91
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:48,240
Speaker 1: Here's your Lenten invitation. Turn toward Jesus with honesty, not performance.

92
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 1: You don't need a speech or strategy. You don't need

93
00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:55,320
Speaker 1: to fix yourself first. You can pray exactly what that

94
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,880
Speaker 1: man prayed Jesus. Remember me that prayer still reaches heaven.

95
00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,080
Speaker 1: And here's the truth this passage anchors for us. Jesus

96
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,760
Speaker 1: meets us not when we prove ourselves, but when we

97
00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:13,000
Speaker 1: turn toward him. That's where wilderness becomes wholy crowned. Because

98
00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,280
Speaker 1: the wilderness is not where God amanags you. It's where

99
00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:21,280
Speaker 1: he draws close. It's where grace becomes personal. It's where

100
00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: mercy meets you. In the middle of your story. On

101
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:30,280
Speaker 1: the Cross, Jesus was surrounded by pain, rejection, and injustice,

102
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:36,040
Speaker 1: and still he noticed one desperate man. Still he responded

103
00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,720
Speaker 1: with compassion. He extended mercy, He opened the door to paradise.

104
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:47,080
Speaker 1: That means no wilderness is too far, no failures too final,

105
00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 1: no moment's too late, and no heart is too hardened.

106
00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:57,880
Speaker 1: It used to feel stuck, ashamed, or spiritually distant. Are

107
00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,040
Speaker 1: maybe even worry of carrying your past, weary, Rather of

108
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,960
Speaker 1: carrying your past, look to the cross, because right there

109
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,280
Speaker 1: in the darkest moment of human history, we see the

110
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,280
Speaker 1: clearest picture of God's heart. He doesn't turn away from

111
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:16,640
Speaker 1: the guilty, he doesn't ignore the desperate, and he doesn't

112
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:21,040
Speaker 1: delay mercy. He meets us right in the middle, and

113
00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,840
Speaker 1: if you listen closely, you can almost tear him speak

114
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:30,520
Speaker 1: in the same words over you. You will be with me, presence, belonging, hope,

115
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,720
Speaker 1: Even in the wilderness. Will you pray with me, Dear

116
00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:40,720
Speaker 1: Lord in heaven. The wilderness just carves our pride away.

117
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,440
Speaker 1: We've all done things that we're not proud of because

118
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:50,640
Speaker 1: we're humans. You didn't because you are our creator. Oh God,

119
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,840
Speaker 1: Sometimes we think we need to be polished and perfect

120
00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,920
Speaker 1: and come to you and exhibit this outward exterior that's

121
00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,320
Speaker 1: just so polished, and you you see right through us,

122
00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:07,240
Speaker 1: You see what we're carrying. A Lord, it's never too late,

123
00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,160
Speaker 1: never too late. You love us so much. You don't

124
00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,320
Speaker 1: want any one of us to perish. But you do

125
00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,280
Speaker 1: want us to turn towards you, to love you, to

126
00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,920
Speaker 1: trust you, and to fall in those arms that will

127
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:29,559
Speaker 1: carry us. Lord, remind us of that you are always there,

128
00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,600
Speaker 1: ready for us, ready for us to turn towards you.

129
00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,040
Speaker 1: In your precious name. We pray Amen,