WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:25.179 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for 00:00:25.179 --> 00:00:31.519 us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.239 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.780 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:19.740 ...and bow our heads in prayer. Father, we ask that you would continue to gently but deeply 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:25.919 and powerfully pour out the Holy Spirit into the very centers of our hearts. And Father, 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:32.819 as your Holy Spirit moves and comes even more deeply upon us, we ask that you would tune our 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:38.179 hearts to receive all the grace that you desire to give us this morning, both through the Lord's 00:01:38.179 --> 00:01:45.359 Supper and through your Word written. Tune our hearts to receive your Word and to respond to your gift of 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:51.900 grace in a worthy manner. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:53.319 Please be seated. 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:07.640 One of the perennial problems or issues that people talk about, they've been talking about in our, you know, 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:13.080 in our culture for quite a long time. It would be something that wouldn't matter if you went to a 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:21.979 very high-class cocktail party. It wouldn't matter if you went to a Tim Hortons. And if you said, you 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:28.020 know, why is it you think that really hard times come to us? Do you think there's any meaning to hard 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:32.439 times? Any purpose? Like, how does it, what do you think about that? How do you think about it 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:39.600 spiritually or just in terms of your own life? And I don't know, some, many people might not know what 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:45.980 to say. Many people, if you said that in that type of environment, their ears would prick up. They'd be 00:02:45.980 --> 00:02:51.219 really curious to hear what you had to say because they might not know what to say. But it is something 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:56.420 that we think about. We think about it while we're driving, while we're doing our work, maybe at four 00:02:56.419 --> 00:03:03.619 o'clock in the morning when we wake up. The Bible has some very profound and wise things to say about 00:03:03.619 --> 00:03:12.419 that topic today. Although I have to say, from the outset, if you're listening or here and you're 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:18.179 outside the Christian faith, it's really more the text today has some very wise things to talk about 00:03:18.179 --> 00:03:23.500 how Christians are to understand this when it happens. So if you're outside the Christian faith, 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:28.139 this should be of great interest to you. You might be one of those people that if you were at that Tim 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:34.860 Hortons, your ears would prick up. You wouldn't know what to say and be very interested to hear what we have 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:41.560 to say. Although in some ways, if you get to begin to understand a little bit how Christians are invited to 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:49.219 think about it, given that Christ is always hoping that you come to him, it's also a bit of an invitation for you 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:54.659 to enter into that way of understanding. So let's have a look at the Bible. We're going to start earlier than 00:03:54.659 --> 00:04:01.400 what Ross read, and we're going to look at Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, beginning at the first verse. 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:07.120 And while you find that in your Bibles, just sort of the context and the flow of the book, we're getting 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:13.840 towards the end of the book now, actually. And Paul has just been in Ephesus, one of the most important 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:21.160 cities in the Roman Empire. It is in what we now call Western Turkey. And he had already decided that 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:26.379 he was going to go, that he wanted to go to Jerusalem. And then after Jerusalem, he wanted to 00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:33.519 go to Rome, the very center of the empire. And he'd already made that plan. But before he could leave, 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:39.720 a riot started. And we looked at that a little bit last week. Started by Demetrius, because fewer 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:46.100 people were buying their talismans and their idols, and it caused a big riot. And now the story continues. 00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:55.340 Acts chapter 20, verse 1. After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging 00:04:55.340 --> 00:05:03.200 them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. That's a part of Greece. So he's in Western Turkey. 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:08.640 He's going to go now back into Europe, to what we now call Greece. Verse 2. And when he had gone 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:14.620 through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. And just sort 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:20.319 of pause. I don't know why the ESV doesn't translate this here. It's actually sort of missing a word. 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:24.899 It's not that Paul went to all the churches that he'd been before and gave everybody high fives, 00:05:25.060 --> 00:05:30.639 fist bumps, and way to goes. He encouraged them by opening the word. I mean, he might have also given 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.639 them high fives and fist bumps and all that, and hugs and everything like that. But he encouraged 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:41.060 them by opening the word. Verse 3. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:47.699 against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through 00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:52.300 Macedonia. In other words, he decided to go by foot. Now, just sort of pause, and this is the 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:57.479 beginning of us beginning to look at what the Bible has to say a little bit. I mean, it's not an exhaustive 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:04.180 talk about it, but some things that the Bible is saying about afflictions. We don't know exactly 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:08.740 what was going on here, but the best guesstimate as to what was going on is this. You're going to see 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:14.420 in, if you look around in the context, you're going to see that Paul really wanted to be in Jerusalem 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:20.060 for the Passover, and he wanted to be there not just for the Passover, but for the three great feasts 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:25.340 that people were to come to Jerusalem for. For people who were part of the Jewish diaspora back in 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:29.619 those days, it was almost like it is for Muslims wanting to go at least once in their life to Mecca, 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:34.879 and so for many Jewish people who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, they had at least 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:39.159 one time where they would let... Now, Paul's, of course, been to Jerusalem many times, but what's 00:06:39.159 --> 00:06:45.199 probably happened is the ship is filled with Jewish pilgrims, and somehow or another, Paul figures out 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:51.439 that if he gets on that boat, he will only leave that boat when they throw him overboard dead 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:57.860 before they get to shore, and he figures that out somehow. We're not told how, and so, you know, 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:02.120 just imagine something like one of your favorite spy movies or mystery movies. You know, who knows? 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:07.600 Maybe he came up to the gangplank and even went on the ship, and just before the gangplank was taken 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.560 off, he ran down the gangplank and took off, leaving the people who wanted to kill him behind. We don't 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:18.459 know what it was, but rather than taking an easy and fast route, he's now going to go on foot to avoid this 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:24.259 attempt on his life, and it also means that he'll end up missing the first two feasts in Jerusalem 00:07:24.259 --> 00:07:32.199 and only be there in time for Pentecost. So here's the first thing. Paul, and the text seems to speak of 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:39.639 this in the right way, Paul senses or comes to some information they're going to murder him, and he 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:47.439 embarks on a ploy to avoid being murdered and go on. Well, that just sounds like normal common sense, 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:55.399 but the story gets a bit more puzzling, and it's in this puzzling bit that we get a bit of an insight 00:07:55.399 --> 00:08:03.120 about why it is that hard times happen. So you can read it later on, verses four to six. It gives a 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:09.220 list of Paul's traveling companions, and it also introduces the we language, so it means that Luke 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:16.159 is now back with Paul, and the story continues in verse seven. On the first day of the week, when we were 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:22.320 gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:27.600 and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Now, just sort of pause here for a second to get the 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:35.460 picture. This is actually like one of those real big aha moments. It's the first time that there is 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:42.379 recorded that at least in this particular place, the regular day of Christian worship was no longer 00:08:42.379 --> 00:08:49.759 Saturday but Sunday. It's actually really like, whoa, because especially in the original language, 00:08:49.899 --> 00:08:54.439 the implication isn't that they had a special meeting because Paul was there, but that they 00:08:54.439 --> 00:08:59.620 had their normal worship, and because Paul was there, he was going to speak. The second thing, 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.960 and some of you know the story, it's going to be Eutychus falling asleep and falling down dead. 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:09.139 There's no hint at all in the story that Paul was speaking too long, that he was doing something 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:17.620 wrong. In fact, in the original language, the idea is that he was, the language implies that he had a 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:24.379 set topic or set of topics that he and they wanted him to cover, and the original language says that he 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:29.419 covered it at length. So the way to understand it is this. About a year ago, I got, a year and a bit 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:34.080 ago, I got invited to speak to the youth group, and I was given the task of speaking for 20 minutes, 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:38.639 and I set my timer there, and I hit the 20-minute mark. I think I maybe went 30 seconds over. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:46.379 When I was in Angola seven or eight years ago, doing some speaking in Angola through SIM, 00:09:46.680 --> 00:09:52.500 I was invited to speak to the only Anglican church in Lubangu, which is in southern Angola, 00:09:53.139 --> 00:09:59.900 and the pastor was going to have me preach on Sunday, but he also wanted me to speak at length 00:09:59.899 --> 00:10:05.600 on Saturday morning for the congregation. So we had a bit of a discussion as to what at length meant. 00:10:05.699 --> 00:10:10.840 Well, actually, you know, you've heard about it before. He wouldn't tell me until Friday at lunchtime 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:15.740 what he actually wanted, but at the end of the day, he wanted me to speak for three hours 00:10:15.740 --> 00:10:23.279 on the first two chapters of Genesis. That was the task, to speak for two hours. Now, he said, 00:10:23.379 --> 00:10:27.579 it's not just speaking, you have question and answer, but that that would be very helpful for the 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:34.420 congregation to hear somebody like me, you know, white guy, you know, used to all the challenges 00:10:34.420 --> 00:10:41.020 that come with evolution and all that other stuff, to speak to the congregation at length for three 00:10:41.020 --> 00:10:45.259 hours. So they might have thought I was unbelievably boring, by the way. That's a whole other separate 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:51.240 topic, but I was fulfilling my task. If I spoke for three hours to the youth group, it wouldn't have 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:56.080 lasted three hours. The youth group leaders would have started throwing things at me or eventually 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.480 coming and saying, I'm sorry, George is having a senior's moment and ushering me out of the room. 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:06.139 And if I had gone to Angola and spoke for 20 minutes, they would have been very upset. So Paul 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:13.700 speaking at length, that's what they expected. Continue on, verse eight. There were many lamps in 00:11:13.700 --> 00:11:19.120 the upper room where we were gathered and a young man named Eutychus, and you, some of you might or 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:26.139 might not know this, Eutychus means lucky. So there was a young man named Lucky sitting at the window. 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:33.039 He sank into a deep sleep, as Paul talked, still longer at length, and being overcome by sleep, 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:39.519 he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. Now in the original language, it's very clear 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:46.500 that he's dead. It's not that he just appeared to be dead, he was dead. Verse 10, but Paul went down 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:51.379 and bent over him. So there's several verbs here. He went down, he bent over them. There's the 00:11:51.379 --> 00:11:56.220 implication of prayer. He takes him in his arms, sort of there's like a prayer with putting, not just 00:11:56.220 --> 00:12:02.419 putting his hands on him in prayer, but encircling him with prayer. And after that, he says, do not be 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:07.700 alarmed for his life is in him. And the implication of the story is that God has done a miracle of 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:14.639 resuscitation and a miracle of healing. So whatever it was that caused the death, that's been healed. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:19.419 And it's obvious in the rest of the story, Eutychus is able to go up, he's able to go back up to the 00:12:19.419 --> 00:12:25.419 third floor, he's able to walk home, he's able to eat. So there's a miracle here of resuscitation. 00:12:26.139 --> 00:12:33.639 Verse 11, and when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them at length 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:39.419 until daybreak and so departed. And they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted. 00:12:39.419 --> 00:12:46.259 And that's just a little bit of a, you know, it's, it's, sometimes people say, George, you have all 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:51.179 these asides, but I throw in asides because I want you to enter into the story and to remember it and 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:56.179 notice things about it. Because the story is more important than what I see. If you go back and read 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:02.199 this story better after the sermon, that's, I've achieved my job. If you can't remember anything I've 00:13:02.199 --> 00:13:06.740 said, but you can remember, think of the story better, praise God, that's the way it should be. 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:14.060 And so it's really interesting, think about it, they didn't leave, they didn't see this miracle and go, 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:21.960 whoa! They were comforted. They weren't astonished. They weren't gobsmacked. They were comforted. Very, 00:13:22.060 --> 00:13:27.419 very interesting, as if they expect God to do such miraculous things. And in the course of it, 00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:31.639 you'll see that you get a bit of a glimpse of what early Christian worship was like. Early Christian 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:37.620 worship had, as it sort of pillars, the preaching of God's word and the celebration of the Lord's 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:42.840 supper. And in the early worship, the third component would have been a buffet. So that there's the three 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.340 things. There's a time to open the word. There would have been singing and other things in prayer, 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:53.319 obviously, but the three big pillars, sermon, opening God's word, holy communion, and having a 00:13:53.319 --> 00:13:57.399 fellowship meal together to build community. Now, here's the thing about the story. Why am I 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:01.819 mentioning the story? Well, here's the thing about the story. Why is it that people have, why is it that 00:14:01.819 --> 00:14:07.659 Christians have hard times? Why is it that we get afflictions? And that's a very, very good question. 00:14:07.819 --> 00:14:14.419 It's a natural human question to ask. And this, in fact, seems to be making the question even harder, 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:22.399 because here we see that it's completely valid for Paul to avoid being murdered by doing some 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:28.939 subterfuge so that he avoids getting murdered and walks instead. And here we see as well that the 00:14:28.939 --> 00:14:33.179 God that Paul believes in, that we Christians believe in, is a God who can raise the dead. 00:14:34.939 --> 00:14:40.480 He's obviously a very powerful God. So if we have a God who loves us and can raise the dead, 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:47.480 and if it's fine to avoid being murdered, well, this sets up the next stage. Now, by the way, 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:51.319 if you just read the next little bit, we're not going to read it. Read it on your own, verses 13 to 16. 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:57.660 This is actually, this with the name part that I skipped, is part of, if you want a cumulative 00:14:57.660 --> 00:15:04.320 evidence about why the New Testament, this book is an accurate historical account, people who've 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:09.680 studied this, the stops and the lengths of things all reflect the time of the year and the wind 00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:16.040 patterns. The names reflect that time period when they, it's all part of what builds the fact that 00:15:16.040 --> 00:15:19.600 you can trust the New Testament, you can trust the book of Acts of speaking accurately. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:25.740 But now he's not looking to be there in time for Passover because he celebrates that in Philippi. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:29.519 He wants to be there for Pentecost, and the story continues in verse 17. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:35.519 Now, for Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And that 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:43.920 doesn't mean he called the old people. An elder is a title. I was 29 years old when I was ordained an 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:50.860 elder. That's, and you know, some of you know ministers who got ordained earlier. I was ordained 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:56.259 a deacon first when I was 28, and 29 I was ordained an elder. So it's a, it's a leadership role within 00:15:56.259 --> 00:16:02.360 the church. So he's called the leaders of the church in Ephesus to come to be with him, and we'll 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:10.399 hear why in a moment. Verse 18, and when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:18.180 how I lived among you the whole time from the first time that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with 00:16:18.180 --> 00:16:24.060 all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jewish 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:31.899 people, the Jewish leaders. Verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:39.619 profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks 00:16:39.619 --> 00:16:48.439 or pagans of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now just sort of pause here. 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:53.919 It's just a bit of an aside, but it's an important aside. It's going to fit with one of the two 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:59.339 main points or themes for the whole text. If you could put up the first point, Claire, that would 00:16:59.339 --> 00:17:05.480 be very helpful. Life is often hard. Preach the gospel and the whole counsel of God anyway. 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:12.720 Like, you know, the normal reaction for Canadians is to say, so even, you know, when he said he didn't 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.379 shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God, well, what does that mean? Well, if you look at last week, 00:17:16.899 --> 00:17:21.480 he was going around telling people, I mean, the whole society was organized around pagan, 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:28.720 around idol worship. Everything in the society was organized around idol worship. And Paul went 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.000 around saying, oh, by the way, did you know that gods made with human hands aren't gods? 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:38.440 Okay, that took chutzpah. That took courage. And he didn't shrink from declaring that. He didn't say, 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:41.700 oh, no, no, no, no, no, people aren't going to like it if I say something like that. I'm not going to say it. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:47.680 No, no, you declare the whole counsel of God. And in our culture, we are very prone to think, well, 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:51.259 if it's going to be difficult, if it's going to be hard, maybe we should just tone things down, 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:56.100 you know, oil on, put some oil on troubled waters, you know, let things, no, no, Paul said, 00:17:56.519 --> 00:18:03.880 life is often hard. Preach the gospel and the whole counsel of God anyway. Let's continue, okay? 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:10.740 Because we've already got here that Paul had troubles, right? So we've had here that it was, 00:18:10.820 --> 00:18:16.420 he was all right for him to evade being killed. It's, we see that God's able to raise the dead. 00:18:16.620 --> 00:18:22.160 Now we go a little bit of this affliction thing about the fact that there are hard times. And so 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:27.580 it continues in verse 22. And in some ways, this gets to the nub of the issue. 00:18:27.579 --> 00:18:36.759 And now behold, I am going, and here behold is like, and now behold, like it's like a, like, 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:42.619 whoa, wake up type of thing. It's, it's bringing some type of emphasis to the text. And now behold, 00:18:42.899 --> 00:18:51.259 I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 00:18:51.259 --> 00:19:00.859 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:13.319 Huh. George, how does this fit together? How is it that whether through natural or supernatural means, 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:18.299 the Holy Spirit, whether through natural or supernatural means, Paul avoids getting murdered. 00:19:18.299 --> 00:19:23.799 How is it that God's able to raise the dead? And how is it now? And the word constrained is a very good word. 00:19:24.399 --> 00:19:28.379 You could also sort of look at it as herded. You know, as if you're watching, 00:19:29.379 --> 00:19:34.159 Louise and I and Emma watched like a modern Western, and you could see the horse riders, 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:38.680 the cowboys herding the cattle in a particular direction. And that's the type of image which is 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:44.460 going on there. It's a stronger type of image. They're herded, herded. He is being herded to it. 00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:51.579 And it's the same language. If you go back and look at chapter 16, Paul is going through what we now 00:19:51.579 --> 00:19:57.519 call Turkey. And I think it's like 500 miles, 800 kilometers that Paul kept wanting to go down 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:04.440 left to Ephesus. And the Holy Spirit was constraining Paul to keep straight, not go down there. And Paul 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:12.740 then at times wanted to go, wanted to go, not sure, not west. He wanted to go south. And they said, no, no, no, no, 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:17.100 you keep, you're going west. And then other times he wanted to go north. No, no, no, you're going west. And it's 00:20:17.100 --> 00:20:23.360 constrained. And it led him to bring the gospel into Europe. And that's what happens in Acts 16. And now we see this, 00:20:23.820 --> 00:20:28.460 this thing of Paul being constrained. I'll read the text again, verses 22 and 23. 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:34.100 Behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me 00:20:34.100 --> 00:20:38.460 there. In other words, he doesn't know if he's going to go to jail and then be released. He doesn't know 00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:44.460 if he's going to go to jail and then die. He doesn't know that. Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:49.400 me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. So what's going on? 00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:56.320 In fact, actually, before we say anything else, let's look at verse 24, because this in some ways 00:20:56.320 --> 00:21:03.360 makes it the thing even more telling for us, a bit shocking. And as we read verse 24, just think of 00:21:03.360 --> 00:21:10.680 how it would sound if you read it in a Tim Hortons or a boutique coffee place. Verse 24, 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:22.440 What? But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:29.160 course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:39.880 God. Now, just to be honest, isn't this the way depressed people talk? I'm just such a terrible, 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.360 bad person. I don't account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself. Wouldn't we want to say, 00:21:44.580 --> 00:21:51.320 snap out of it. Come on. Jesus loves you. Don't think like that. That if you thought about having 00:21:51.320 --> 00:21:57.320 this read to people who are outside the Christian faith, they'd go, what? Like, George, this is, 00:21:57.560 --> 00:22:01.300 both of these texts are exactly why I'm not a Christian. Like, think about it, George. Shouldn't 00:22:01.300 --> 00:22:06.840 spirituality make you feel good about yourself? Give you, like, uppers? Make you feel, like, 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:10.599 excited? Like, what? How does this go on? 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:17.879 So, a couple of things. Hopefully, this is a bit of a help for it. Just to sort of place, 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:23.699 help us to rethink our reactions, to challenge how we react to it. I'm going to talk about three 00:22:23.699 --> 00:22:28.659 things to help us challenge how we react to it, to start to think Christianly and get at what Paul 00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:36.180 is saying here in the scripture. The first thing is, why is it that we never ask? So, why is it? Let's, 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:40.620 I'll sort of use my brother, Jono, here. So, let's say Jono says to himself sometime, 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:47.660 I don't know, here I am at this stage in my life, and I'm leading worship for 80 people. 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:53.540 Like, at this stage, with my skill, why aren't I leading for 800 people? Why aren't I leading for 00:22:53.540 --> 00:22:58.920 8,000 people? Like, why don't I have a record deal? I'm not saying you say this, brother. I'm just 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:03.000 using you as an example, right? And we can all extrapolate that. Why don't I have the promotions? 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:07.040 Why don't I have the family? Why don't I have the kids? All of those types of things. Why is it 00:23:07.040 --> 00:23:12.720 that if we were to share that with others, people would shake and would nod their head? But we never 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:21.799 ask themselves, why is it that I get to be in Ottawa and I'm not a worship leader in South Sudan? 00:23:26.940 --> 00:23:34.200 One of the poorest countries in the world. Dysfunctional state, always under threat of 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:40.980 Islamist attacks. Why is it that we ask one question and we all feel very sympathetic to it, but nobody 00:23:40.980 --> 00:23:46.259 ever says, gosh, it's quite astounding. Here I get to be in Ottawa and I'm not in South Sudan. 00:23:47.700 --> 00:23:53.299 Why is that? Well, it helps to fit with this next thing, my second point. 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:03.579 In our natural way, or did she put it up? Oh, she did. Okay, well, there you go. I'll read it then. 00:24:03.579 --> 00:24:12.259 You are not the sun with planets in orbit around you. You are a planet orbiting the sun along with other planets. 00:24:13.679 --> 00:24:17.659 Now, I might ask her to, I don't know, I can't see if it's up or how I might have it come up a couple of times. 00:24:17.779 --> 00:24:24.259 This is, if you think about it, the normal way, not the normal way. I'm talking about in the very depths 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:28.939 of our being, if we were actually really honest with ourselves or something forced us to be honest 00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:35.559 about ourselves. We tend to think, I tend to think, I will use I, even though I know better, and even 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:40.220 though there's obviously other types of pressures, it's not that I'm completely evil or any of us is 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:47.500 completely evil, but I tend to think that I'm the sun and Louise orbits around me and my kids orbit 00:24:47.500 --> 00:24:53.759 around me. And by the way, you folks all orbit around me. Now, here's the problem. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:01.200 And Louise is vastly holier than I am. But there's a temptation for her to think that she's the sun and 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:06.420 I'm orbiting around her. And for each of my children to think they're the sun and the parents are 00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:11.700 orbiting around them. In fact, isn't that actually part of discipline of young kids? You can see very 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:18.379 early that young kids naturally think they're the sun and everything revolves around them. And part of 00:25:18.379 --> 00:25:23.640 actually helping children to grow up is at least helping them to know enough politeness to say, 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:30.020 no, I am not the sun with my parents and my siblings as planets orbiting around me. 00:25:31.860 --> 00:25:39.080 And you see, and so if, in fact, part of the fruit of the gospel is that the Holy Spirit, through 00:25:39.080 --> 00:25:45.259 understanding who Jesus is and starting to be able to hear the word afresh, I come to, as a bit of a 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:53.560 check time and time again, okay, I am not the sun. I am a planet. And there's lots of other planets. 00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:58.780 And I'm sure we're orbiting the sun. Now, you see, from the outside, for those who still are, they don't 00:25:58.780 --> 00:26:05.560 have that any type of perspective that there is, in fact, a God, that, that, in fact, the real world, 00:26:05.820 --> 00:26:11.780 the real world is like our real galaxy, our real, you know, our real, our real solar system. 00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:21.660 It, in fact, is delusional to think you're the sun. It is wisdom to think that you are a planet. Or maybe, 00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:25.519 for some of us say, George, I'm not even a planet. I'm the moon going around a planet that's going 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:31.299 around the sun. And if you hear that, and it's expressed in other types of ways, for those whose 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:37.960 perspective is that you should, you should claim you're being the sun. That's, that's wisdom. 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:43.880 Claim the fact that you're a sun. Claim that. Get people to be around you. Just align yourself with 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:48.920 the universe so the universe is aligned with you. All of that, what are they called, manifesting, all 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:56.259 that manifesting, all that. No, no, no. That is the direction of foolishness and loneliness and discord. 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:04.200 Wisdom is to come to know, I'm a planet. It's going to sound like it's self-depreciation 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:10.880 from a sun-centered perspective. But in the real world, it's actually wisdom. One final thing, 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:14.799 which now gets us into this as well. So just to say that again, you're not the sun with planets in 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:19.940 orbit around you. You are a planet orbiting the sun along with the other planets. And here's the other 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:24.940 thing. You might as well put it up, Claire. That would be helpful. It is, it is absurd to think 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:31.860 eternity has to fit into your life. It is wisdom to fit your life into eternity. 00:27:34.940 --> 00:27:40.680 What do I mean by that? I was watching just the other day, an old, a year, a year and a half ago 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:48.059 interview with Douglas Murray, the controversial cultural critic and political commentator. 00:27:48.059 --> 00:27:57.619 And the conversation got to the fact that so many people in the world, only they have no place for 00:27:57.619 --> 00:28:04.179 transcendence, no place for something which is sort of bigger that might touch on eternal things. 00:28:04.919 --> 00:28:10.619 And Douglas Murray, of course, is an agnostic. And he talked quite movingly in the interview about, 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:17.220 like on one hand, when he walks past St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, it isn't that he believes 00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:23.860 in the God that's worshipped in that cathedral. But he finds the cathedral itself something which 00:28:23.860 --> 00:28:30.400 induces awe and transcendence in him. And he talked about how, whether it's through art and aesthetics 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:35.799 of beautiful architecture, or in particular for him through music, that when he hears certain pieces 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:41.180 of music, there's this profound sense that there's something eternal, there's something transcendent, 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:46.900 there's something bigger than this world. And he wants to live in a world that sort of 00:28:46.900 --> 00:28:52.800 open and appreciative to that. And he has a type of disdain to people who don't have that type of, 00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:56.120 even a desire for something which is transcendent. 00:28:57.280 --> 00:29:02.180 But you see, the fact is that the way that Canadians tend to think, 00:29:03.540 --> 00:29:07.780 just let the culture tends to push us in a direction of thinking that in a sense, 00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:13.080 it's rarely expressed so bluntly, but that life is just one dang thing after another, and then you die. 00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:17.339 And when you live in a world where it's just one dang thing after another, and then you die, 00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:23.519 then the fact of the matter is, is that it matters that you have as many pleasurable experiences as 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:28.859 possible, and as many toys as possible, because life is just one dang thing after another, and then you die. 00:29:29.399 --> 00:29:33.939 But at the same time that we see that, many people would resonate, whether they do it in their own life, 00:29:33.940 --> 00:29:40.140 but they would resonate with this contradiction that Douglas Murray has. Because at the end of the day, 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:44.840 because he's an agnostic, he has to sort of think that life is just one dang thing after another, 00:29:44.900 --> 00:29:49.740 and then you die. And yet he is very conscious that there is something, that window opens some, 00:29:49.820 --> 00:29:57.240 music opens some type of a door to glory, to transcendence, to eternity, and beautiful architecture. 00:29:57.240 --> 00:30:02.460 And he could probably go on with several other types of things. And so there's this war. And in some way, 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:10.120 in some ways, the Christian gospel is, your longings became flesh and died on the cross for you. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:19.339 Your deepest longings and yearnings took on flesh and died on the cross for you. 00:30:19.339 --> 00:30:27.659 And that life, in fact, the real way to understand the real world, just as it is not the real world to 00:30:27.659 --> 00:30:34.459 think you're a son, that is the way towards chaos and unhappiness. And in fact, the real world, 00:30:34.740 --> 00:30:42.299 there is eternity. There is transcendence. And it does come into this world because the eternal and 00:30:42.299 --> 00:30:49.319 transcendent and imminent God created this world. And there are streams and hints that take 00:30:49.339 --> 00:30:56.059 you to glory and transcendence, into goodness, into beauty, into justice, and to truth, and to mercy. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:01.359 And for some people, they start to have a sense that these aren't just social constructs. They're 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:06.859 more like mountains. It's more like being in Vancouver. And for a moment, the rain and the 00:31:06.859 --> 00:31:13.779 clouds go away, and you see the Rockies just in your face in all their glory. And that's what things 00:31:13.779 --> 00:31:19.119 like goodness and beauty and truth really are. And the good news is those intuitions 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:24.479 took on flesh. They walked amongst us. They are true. And if you just think about it for a second, 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:30.939 if in fact there really is eternity, and there are things connected to an eternal God, 00:31:31.619 --> 00:31:38.959 then eternity cannot be lassoed by you and controlled by you. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:46.299 You need to enter into eternity and fit in with that. 00:31:49.559 --> 00:31:51.940 That is wisdom. That is the way of wisdom. 00:31:55.360 --> 00:31:58.360 So just a couple, if you could put up the next point, that would be very helpful. 00:31:58.359 --> 00:32:07.740 In Christ, you are never his pawn. You are always his child, his beloved child by adoption and grace. 00:32:08.819 --> 00:32:13.000 So listen to what Paul is saying again when he says it doesn't count as anything other than the fact 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.699 that he... How does it again look at verse 22 and 23? 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:20.759 And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me, 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:26.859 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment awaits me. 00:32:26.859 --> 00:32:31.759 But I do not account, verse 24, my life of any value nor is precious to myself. 00:32:32.159 --> 00:32:34.240 If only am I... Whoa, look at this, course. 00:32:35.319 --> 00:32:38.719 And the ministry that I receive, course implies that life isn't one dang thing after another, 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:39.559 but he's in a race. 00:32:41.159 --> 00:32:43.139 Life isn't meaningless. There's a race. 00:32:43.819 --> 00:32:46.419 He's going to finish it well with God's help. 00:32:46.479 --> 00:32:49.779 And he has a purpose, and that's the ministry that I received. 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:52.559 And what is it? It's to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:55.879 that your longings and your earnings, your yearnings and longings 00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:59.980 and intuitions of a far better world, that there must be something better, 00:33:00.140 --> 00:33:03.160 took on flesh and died upon the cross for you. 00:33:03.420 --> 00:33:06.840 And when you understand that, you understand that you're never... 00:33:06.840 --> 00:33:09.000 Whatever Paul means and understands, 00:33:09.360 --> 00:33:11.900 he might not know exactly why God is calling him, 00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:16.360 constraining him to go to Jerusalem to suffer afflictions, 00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:18.480 but he knows he's not God's pawn. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:21.020 He's always the beloved child, 00:33:21.260 --> 00:33:24.780 and God the Father is his Father in heaven who loves him, 00:33:24.779 --> 00:33:28.519 and Jesus is the Savior who will always walk with him, 00:33:28.639 --> 00:33:32.460 and the Holy Spirit is that beautiful, loving presence of God 00:33:32.460 --> 00:33:34.779 that will always be present within him. 00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:38.059 If you could put up the next slide. 00:33:39.339 --> 00:33:40.920 By faith in Christ crucified, 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:44.000 you enter into union with him 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:45.839 and now belong to him. 00:33:46.379 --> 00:33:48.160 By faith in Christ crucified, 00:33:48.359 --> 00:33:50.599 you enter into union with him and now belong to him. 00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:52.279 I just sort of jump ahead a little bit. 00:33:52.339 --> 00:33:54.179 If you look at verse 28, 00:33:55.059 --> 00:33:56.059 verse 28, 00:33:56.839 --> 00:33:57.740 where it says here, 00:33:57.819 --> 00:34:00.579 pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock 00:34:00.579 --> 00:34:04.299 in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, basically, 00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:07.599 to care for the church of God, 00:34:07.659 --> 00:34:11.900 which he obtained with his own blood. 00:34:11.900 --> 00:34:18.559 It is not a sign of depression 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:21.780 for me to say that I don't belong to myself, 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:26.059 but I belong to my Savior who loved me so much 00:34:26.059 --> 00:34:27.539 that he died for me, 00:34:28.460 --> 00:34:30.019 that I now belong to him. 00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:35.119 That is not the sign of a depressed person. 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:40.839 And nothing in this world will give you more hope and comfort 00:34:40.839 --> 00:34:43.880 than to know that you belong to your loving Savior 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:49.400 and that he will never let go with you. 00:34:50.299 --> 00:34:50.699 And you see, 00:34:50.799 --> 00:34:54.000 when you understand that you live in an eternal frame of reference, 00:34:55.099 --> 00:34:57.259 and it's not just an eternal frame of reference, 00:34:57.400 --> 00:35:00.839 but the eternity comes into the life that we live, 00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:04.059 you can begin to understand that you're loving God 00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:07.079 who loves you so much that Jesus died on the cross for you, 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:09.920 that he can have purposes and things 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:11.039 that he is going to accomplish 00:35:11.039 --> 00:35:13.160 through even hard times in your life 00:35:13.160 --> 00:35:16.160 that you might not understand on this side of the grave. 00:35:17.160 --> 00:35:20.000 But your life doesn't end on this side of the grave 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:20.960 when you are in Christ. 00:35:21.100 --> 00:35:22.000 It goes beyond. 00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:26.120 And that there can be meanings and purposes and beauties 00:35:26.120 --> 00:35:28.220 and wonders and glories 00:35:28.220 --> 00:35:30.740 than purposes that God has. 00:35:31.500 --> 00:35:33.019 Even beyond death. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.059 Because it's not just stuck with this frame of reference. 00:35:37.200 --> 00:35:38.720 And here's where I come to you 00:35:38.720 --> 00:35:40.780 who are outside the Christian faith. 00:35:45.620 --> 00:35:47.220 Earth has no sorrow 00:35:47.220 --> 00:35:49.420 that heaven can't heal. 00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:51.640 It's words from a song. 00:35:51.720 --> 00:35:52.460 I can't remember the song. 00:35:52.539 --> 00:35:53.840 It ultimately comes from the Bible. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:55.180 Earth has no sorrows 00:35:55.180 --> 00:35:56.500 that heaven can't heal. 00:35:57.120 --> 00:35:58.940 And even if your life 00:35:58.940 --> 00:36:00.220 has been one train wreck 00:36:00.219 --> 00:36:01.419 after another train wreck 00:36:01.419 --> 00:36:02.619 after another train wreck 00:36:02.619 --> 00:36:03.939 and after another train wreck. 00:36:04.439 --> 00:36:06.259 Jesus died on the cross for you. 00:36:06.339 --> 00:36:07.019 He loves you. 00:36:08.299 --> 00:36:10.959 And it might be that nobody wants you 00:36:10.959 --> 00:36:12.179 in their lives. 00:36:12.419 --> 00:36:13.859 But Jesus died. 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:15.439 He shed his blood 00:36:15.439 --> 00:36:16.679 so that you 00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:18.480 can be in union, 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:19.799 have your sins forgiven, 00:36:20.500 --> 00:36:21.539 union with him, 00:36:21.579 --> 00:36:23.119 and belong to him. 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:24.559 and he, 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:27.059 I can't tell you exactly how to do it, 00:36:27.099 --> 00:36:28.199 but he will redeem 00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:30.019 those things in your life 00:36:30.019 --> 00:36:32.799 and bear fruit 00:36:32.799 --> 00:36:34.400 even out of the worst things 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:36.159 all for his glory. 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:38.319 You see, 00:36:38.399 --> 00:36:39.819 here's the wonderful thing, 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:40.099 and I, 00:36:40.339 --> 00:36:40.599 I, 00:36:40.599 --> 00:36:40.940 I, 00:36:40.940 --> 00:36:43.159 I think actually 00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:44.079 I'm going to bring the sermon 00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:44.759 to a, 00:36:44.759 --> 00:36:45.879 to a bit of a close. 00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:47.159 I won't talk about the rest of the, 00:36:47.279 --> 00:36:47.779 you can read, 00:36:47.859 --> 00:36:48.699 read the rest of his 00:36:48.699 --> 00:36:50.119 address to the elders. 00:36:52.059 --> 00:36:52.440 Actually, 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:53.379 I'm just going to say one, 00:36:53.500 --> 00:36:53.679 one, 00:36:53.799 --> 00:36:54.399 one thing 00:36:54.399 --> 00:36:54.759 in a, 00:36:54.759 --> 00:36:55.219 in a moment. 00:36:56.420 --> 00:36:57.859 It'll be point number nine. 00:36:57.940 --> 00:36:58.619 Don't put it up yet, 00:36:58.699 --> 00:36:58.899 Claire, 00:36:59.019 --> 00:36:59.179 but, 00:36:59.299 --> 00:36:59.639 but, 00:36:59.759 --> 00:37:00.319 but that's, 00:37:00.399 --> 00:37:00.899 that's, 00:37:01.099 --> 00:37:01.500 that's, 00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:03.000 that's this. 00:37:04.300 --> 00:37:05.599 One of the wonderful things 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:06.400 about the Bible, 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:07.860 about God's word written, 00:37:08.019 --> 00:37:09.119 is that there's so many 00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:09.940 different genres. 00:37:10.579 --> 00:37:11.019 So, 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:12.119 you have Proverbs, 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:13.239 like the book of Proverbs, 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:14.019 and in some ways 00:37:14.019 --> 00:37:14.860 you should understand 00:37:14.860 --> 00:37:16.079 1st John or James 00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:17.460 to be really a type of, 00:37:17.579 --> 00:37:19.059 a collection of Proverbs. 00:37:19.539 --> 00:37:20.960 And then you have poetry, 00:37:21.320 --> 00:37:23.179 and then you have history, 00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:24.340 and you have 00:37:24.340 --> 00:37:25.880 quite detailed, 00:37:26.139 --> 00:37:27.360 complicated theology 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:28.980 that has intersections 00:37:28.980 --> 00:37:30.659 with Aristotelian logic 00:37:30.659 --> 00:37:31.460 and categories. 00:37:31.500 --> 00:37:33.099 If you look at Hebrews 00:37:33.099 --> 00:37:34.019 and Romans. 00:37:34.380 --> 00:37:35.019 But it, 00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:36.179 it also has stories 00:37:36.179 --> 00:37:36.699 like this. 00:37:36.739 --> 00:37:37.860 And this is the wonderful thing 00:37:37.860 --> 00:37:38.739 about the story. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:42.159 You know, 00:37:42.179 --> 00:37:43.000 brothers and sisters, 00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:45.679 you need 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:47.099 the church 00:37:47.099 --> 00:37:49.420 to figure out 00:37:49.420 --> 00:37:50.539 where you are 00:37:50.539 --> 00:37:51.699 on these things. 00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:52.980 You see, 00:37:53.059 --> 00:37:54.099 the story gives you 00:37:54.099 --> 00:37:55.019 both the example 00:37:55.019 --> 00:37:55.960 of the Holy Spirit 00:37:55.960 --> 00:37:56.960 constraining you 00:37:56.960 --> 00:37:58.320 to go towards afflictions, 00:37:58.340 --> 00:37:59.460 but it also gives you 00:37:59.460 --> 00:38:00.360 in the same basic, 00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:01.780 in the same chapter, 00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:02.720 the story of being 00:38:02.720 --> 00:38:03.740 delivered from murder. 00:38:04.680 --> 00:38:05.800 And it also gives you 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:06.680 a story of the goodness 00:38:06.680 --> 00:38:07.160 of God, 00:38:07.200 --> 00:38:08.220 and it also reminds you 00:38:08.220 --> 00:38:08.900 of the cross. 00:38:09.300 --> 00:38:09.700 And you see, 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:10.519 that's why you need 00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:11.860 to have spiritual friendships. 00:38:12.120 --> 00:38:12.620 It's why you need 00:38:12.620 --> 00:38:13.300 to have mentors. 00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:14.220 Not just you, 00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:14.519 me. 00:38:14.640 --> 00:38:15.240 It's why we need 00:38:15.240 --> 00:38:16.920 to have women's ministries 00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:18.019 and men's ministries 00:38:18.019 --> 00:38:19.099 and small groups 00:38:19.099 --> 00:38:20.320 and Sunday gatherings 00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:21.320 where you make friends, 00:38:21.720 --> 00:38:22.440 where you can just 00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:23.559 unburden your heart 00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:23.920 and say, 00:38:23.980 --> 00:38:24.500 I don't know why 00:38:24.500 --> 00:38:25.079 I'm going through 00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:25.900 these afflictions, 00:38:25.900 --> 00:38:26.780 or, you know, 00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:27.360 I don't know, 00:38:27.420 --> 00:38:27.900 I'm coming up 00:38:27.900 --> 00:38:28.579 to this situation, 00:38:28.680 --> 00:38:29.180 I'm not sure 00:38:29.180 --> 00:38:30.559 that if I speak my mind 00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:31.380 in this situation, 00:38:31.380 --> 00:38:33.280 I could either lose my job 00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:35.200 or I could never get 00:38:35.200 --> 00:38:35.880 another promotion 00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:36.900 for the rest of my life, 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:37.860 and I don't know 00:38:37.860 --> 00:38:38.559 what I should do. 00:38:38.680 --> 00:38:39.440 On one hand, 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:40.900 I'm constrained to do that, 00:38:40.940 --> 00:38:41.480 even though I'm not 00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:43.300 going what to happen, 00:38:43.780 --> 00:38:45.260 or am I called 00:38:45.260 --> 00:38:45.800 to just be, 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:46.220 you know, 00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:47.320 to bide my time? 00:38:47.800 --> 00:38:48.760 And there's these things, 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:49.340 and the Bible 00:38:49.340 --> 00:38:50.440 doesn't just give you 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:50.820 an oh, 00:38:50.860 --> 00:38:51.619 it's very simple. 00:38:51.740 --> 00:38:52.660 You just kiss 00:38:52.660 --> 00:38:53.519 your brains goodbye, 00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:54.519 and you just tick off 00:38:54.519 --> 00:38:55.219 these boxes 00:38:55.219 --> 00:38:56.119 and you know exactly 00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:56.679 the recipe. 00:38:56.840 --> 00:38:57.139 No, no, 00:38:57.179 --> 00:38:58.259 that's not what life is like, 00:38:58.280 --> 00:38:58.759 and it's not how 00:38:58.759 --> 00:38:59.900 Christ relates to you. 00:39:00.539 --> 00:39:01.280 It's why, you see, 00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:02.539 the church is part 00:39:02.539 --> 00:39:03.380 of God's plan, 00:39:03.460 --> 00:39:03.900 his design, 00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:04.940 that's the whole thing here, 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:06.960 that God made the church, 00:39:06.980 --> 00:39:07.820 and he made the church 00:39:07.820 --> 00:39:08.820 by having Jesus die 00:39:08.820 --> 00:39:09.460 on the cross, 00:39:09.880 --> 00:39:11.539 and we need each other, 00:39:11.619 --> 00:39:12.699 we need counselors, 00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:15.460 we need older women 00:39:15.460 --> 00:39:17.440 to befriend younger women, 00:39:17.800 --> 00:39:19.059 and older women 00:39:19.059 --> 00:39:20.159 need younger women 00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:21.079 to befriend them, 00:39:21.179 --> 00:39:21.960 because older women 00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:22.759 have some wisdom, 00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:23.840 and younger women 00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:24.780 have different type 00:39:24.780 --> 00:39:25.220 of wisdom, 00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:26.240 and we need the wisdom 00:39:26.240 --> 00:39:26.900 of both, 00:39:27.340 --> 00:39:28.760 and we need the encouragement 00:39:28.760 --> 00:39:29.520 from both, 00:39:29.700 --> 00:39:31.020 and we need to have help 00:39:31.020 --> 00:39:32.640 navigating these types 00:39:32.640 --> 00:39:33.040 of things, 00:39:33.100 --> 00:39:33.960 and we need to be able 00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:34.840 to have somebody say, 00:39:35.480 --> 00:39:35.760 you know, 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:37.300 I think in this particular case, 00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:38.480 God really is calling you 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:39.440 to take that stand, 00:39:40.240 --> 00:39:41.560 and maybe lose your job. 00:39:45.380 --> 00:39:46.320 We're to help you 00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:47.400 to think and pray through 00:39:47.400 --> 00:39:49.760 the other things, 00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:50.300 things, 00:39:50.300 --> 00:39:52.380 because the Christian life 00:39:52.380 --> 00:39:53.280 is a life, 00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:54.440 it's a beautiful life 00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:55.440 lived with Christ, 00:39:56.060 --> 00:39:58.120 and you're never his pawn, 00:39:58.680 --> 00:40:00.060 there's never a point in time 00:40:00.060 --> 00:40:00.900 when you are not 00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:03.480 his beloved son or daughter 00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:05.580 by adoption and grace, 00:40:06.020 --> 00:40:07.260 never any time 00:40:07.260 --> 00:40:08.140 other than that, 00:40:08.500 --> 00:40:09.860 even in the hardest times. 00:40:09.860 --> 00:40:13.019 In fact, 00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:14.740 that's one of the main things, 00:40:14.820 --> 00:40:14.940 in fact, 00:40:14.980 --> 00:40:15.860 this fits with nine, 00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:17.140 if you could put that up. 00:40:18.260 --> 00:40:19.079 I had a couple 00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:19.820 of other things. 00:40:21.500 --> 00:40:22.480 To flourish, 00:40:22.940 --> 00:40:24.079 you need healthy food 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:25.000 all the time, 00:40:25.260 --> 00:40:26.320 and medicine 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:27.160 some of the time. 00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:31.019 And what's that healthy food? 00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:32.180 That's what we're doing 00:40:32.180 --> 00:40:32.800 right here. 00:40:33.079 --> 00:40:34.039 The medicine is, 00:40:34.200 --> 00:40:34.320 well, 00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:35.559 we didn't have time 00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:36.340 to go into the fact 00:40:36.340 --> 00:40:37.120 that there's sometimes 00:40:37.120 --> 00:40:38.460 false teachers and wolves, 00:40:38.600 --> 00:40:40.380 and you need to stop them, 00:40:40.420 --> 00:40:41.440 and you need to rebuke them, 00:40:41.519 --> 00:40:42.720 and you need to guard the church, 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:43.220 and that's, 00:40:43.320 --> 00:40:44.160 I don't have time 00:40:44.160 --> 00:40:45.280 to do that today. 00:40:46.340 --> 00:40:46.980 But this, 00:40:47.160 --> 00:40:48.400 we feed on the gospel, 00:40:48.539 --> 00:40:49.600 we feed on the word, 00:40:50.380 --> 00:40:51.380 and the gospel, 00:40:51.600 --> 00:40:53.340 God will sometimes rebuke you, 00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:56.180 but when he rebukes you, 00:40:56.260 --> 00:40:57.980 it's his attempt 00:40:57.980 --> 00:40:59.900 to connect with you again, 00:41:00.420 --> 00:41:01.960 so that you will remember 00:41:01.960 --> 00:41:03.980 and live out of your identity 00:41:03.980 --> 00:41:04.740 in Christ, 00:41:05.179 --> 00:41:06.599 which is union with him, 00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:08.039 which is that you are 00:41:08.039 --> 00:41:10.599 his adopted child by grace, 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:12.940 and you are not his pawn, 00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:15.380 and he will use you 00:41:15.380 --> 00:41:16.300 and your life, 00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:17.420 even the worst things 00:41:17.420 --> 00:41:18.380 in your past, 00:41:18.980 --> 00:41:19.920 for his glory. 00:41:21.139 --> 00:41:22.619 And when we are 00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:23.320 in the new heaven 00:41:23.320 --> 00:41:24.019 and the new earth, 00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:25.099 and we will in fact 00:41:25.099 --> 00:41:27.039 experience that profound truth 00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:28.519 that earth has no sorrow, 00:41:28.940 --> 00:41:30.039 that heaven can't heal, 00:41:30.039 --> 00:41:32.179 we will also see 00:41:32.179 --> 00:41:33.719 from an eternal perspective 00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:37.059 the things that God wove 00:41:37.059 --> 00:41:38.219 out of the terrors 00:41:38.219 --> 00:41:39.719 and afflictions of your life 00:41:39.719 --> 00:41:41.059 for your good 00:41:41.059 --> 00:41:41.940 and for his glory. 00:41:42.860 --> 00:41:44.099 I invite you to stand. 00:41:53.980 --> 00:41:55.279 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:41:55.279 --> 00:41:55.300 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:04.279 Father, 00:42:04.420 --> 00:42:05.579 there's enough people here 00:42:05.579 --> 00:42:06.779 and enough people online 00:42:06.779 --> 00:42:09.199 that some of us 00:42:09.199 --> 00:42:10.460 are probably just doing 00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:12.340 absolutely fantastic. 00:42:13.259 --> 00:42:14.779 Our finances are good, 00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:16.360 our health is good, 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:18.219 our exercising is good, 00:42:18.699 --> 00:42:20.079 jobs going good, 00:42:20.259 --> 00:42:21.460 relationships are good, 00:42:21.559 --> 00:42:22.139 and Father, 00:42:22.279 --> 00:42:23.259 I know that there have 00:42:23.259 --> 00:42:24.420 to be people in this room 00:42:24.420 --> 00:42:25.880 that would say 00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:26.759 none of the above. 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:28.400 In fact, 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:29.240 probably the opposite 00:42:29.240 --> 00:42:29.880 of the above. 00:42:30.660 --> 00:42:31.480 And we give you 00:42:31.480 --> 00:42:32.240 thanks and praise, 00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:32.620 Father, 00:42:32.740 --> 00:42:34.040 that you not only 00:42:34.040 --> 00:42:35.220 call each one of us 00:42:35.220 --> 00:42:36.580 as particular people 00:42:36.580 --> 00:42:37.380 to enter into 00:42:37.380 --> 00:42:38.540 a loving relationship 00:42:38.540 --> 00:42:39.640 with Jesus Christ, 00:42:40.020 --> 00:42:41.600 to have our sins forgiven, 00:42:42.120 --> 00:42:43.200 to have new hope, 00:42:43.240 --> 00:42:44.100 a hope of glory, 00:42:44.220 --> 00:42:45.180 to enter into union 00:42:45.180 --> 00:42:45.840 with Christ 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:46.840 and be invited 00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:48.140 to abide in him, 00:42:48.340 --> 00:42:49.040 remembering that 00:42:49.040 --> 00:42:50.060 he loved us so much 00:42:50.060 --> 00:42:50.460 that he died 00:42:50.460 --> 00:42:51.520 on the cross for us. 00:42:52.240 --> 00:42:52.900 And so, Father, 00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:53.400 we give you 00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:54.060 thanks and praise 00:42:54.060 --> 00:42:54.900 not only that we 00:42:54.900 --> 00:42:55.940 become Christians, 00:42:55.940 --> 00:42:56.840 but that you have 00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:57.539 called us to be 00:42:57.539 --> 00:42:58.599 part of a church community 00:42:58.599 --> 00:42:59.519 and we ask that 00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:00.300 your Holy Spirit 00:43:00.300 --> 00:43:01.639 would do a wonderful 00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:02.720 work in our lives, 00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:03.340 that we would be 00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:04.119 a church where 00:43:04.119 --> 00:43:05.780 friendships do develop, 00:43:06.019 --> 00:43:06.960 where small groups 00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:08.360 and ministries do flourish 00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:09.420 and where we can 00:43:09.420 --> 00:43:12.320 cry with each other 00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:13.599 and we can celebrate 00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:14.440 with each other 00:43:14.440 --> 00:43:15.539 and we can laugh 00:43:15.539 --> 00:43:16.320 with each other 00:43:16.320 --> 00:43:19.480 and everything in between 00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:20.360 that we can mourn 00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:21.039 with each other. 00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:22.079 So, Father, 00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:22.960 we ask that you would 00:43:22.960 --> 00:43:23.659 continue to do 00:43:23.659 --> 00:43:24.780 that wonderful work 00:43:24.780 --> 00:43:26.040 of the Holy Spirit 00:43:26.040 --> 00:43:26.860 in our lives 00:43:26.860 --> 00:43:28.540 as the gospel grips us 00:43:28.540 --> 00:43:29.800 and we become 00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:31.260 a prayerful congregation 00:43:31.260 --> 00:43:32.340 more and more and more. 00:43:32.820 --> 00:43:33.840 And we ask and thank 00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:34.620 all these things 00:43:34.620 --> 00:43:35.519 in the name of Jesus 00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:36.980 and all God's people said, 00:43:37.680 --> 00:43:38.040 Amen.