WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.620 Christ is risen, the Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah. My name is George Sinclair. For those 00:00:05.620 --> 00:00:09.380 of you who are watching this and aren't familiar with the church, I'm going to be opening God's 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:15.800 Word, and it's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, if you want to get your own Bibles and follow along. 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:21.539 It's allergy season, I'm allergic to just about everything, and so you'll hear that 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:27.440 a little bit in my voice. But just before we get into it, excuse me, let's just pray. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:35.980 Father, we thank you that we can be gathered around your Word, and we ask that the Holy 00:00:35.980 --> 00:00:41.679 Spirit would fall with gentle but deep power upon every single one of us who are entering 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.020 in to this time through these electronic means. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:55.299 Son and our Savior. Amen. I'm going to, oh, I have to start my time. I'm going to share 00:00:55.299 --> 00:01:02.099 with you a funeral text. And in the context of, it's a text, if you've gone to a Christian 00:01:02.099 --> 00:01:06.979 funeral, it's one of several texts which is often read. And I'm going to read that for 00:01:06.979 --> 00:01:15.159 us on Easter morning. It's 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 and 18. And I'm going to 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:19.799 share with you my hope as a Christian in the face of great loss and in the face of death. 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:28.039 And there can be no greater loss than death, can there? So here's the text, and then we're 00:01:28.039 --> 00:01:32.599 going to get into it and talk about it, etc. Deal with your questions, hopefully, and why 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:34.019 it's relevant to your life. 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:41.239 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, that 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:46.879 you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:53.959 and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:00.379 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until 00:02:00.379 --> 00:02:06.319 the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:12.199 will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:18.560 sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, 00:02:18.859 --> 00:02:24.579 who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:32.680 And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:37.360 And Christians would say in Anglican church, this is the word of the Lord, and you would say, 00:02:37.460 --> 00:02:44.600 thanks be to God. So one of the neat things about doing this, I mean, it would be so much nicer to 00:02:44.600 --> 00:02:52.620 just be, not be live via this type of media, but to be live with you in a room, worshiping together. 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:57.700 One of the things which is really very, very good about this is I know that, I mean, I'm going to 00:02:57.700 --> 00:03:02.319 share with you my hope in the face of death as a Christian. And I know that there are probably people 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:09.400 watching in amongst us who are maybe believers or followers or inquirers into some of the great 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:16.140 religions, historic religions of the world. And I know that there are some of you who are practicing 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:22.519 and pursuing a type of bespoke or curated type of spirituality, putting together elements that are 00:03:22.519 --> 00:03:27.079 meaningful to you from a wide range of sources. And I know that there are those of you who are 00:03:27.079 --> 00:03:33.839 watching this who would say that, you know, there is no God. There is no type of spirituality that 00:03:33.839 --> 00:03:39.739 really is real. If it makes you happy, it makes you happy. But if you were really a smart person, 00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:44.879 if you were a good critical thinker, you'd know that there is nothing like this. When you die, 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:51.600 you die. So I know that all of you are living, are listening. Some of you who have these different 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:57.719 views are watching. And I just want to share with you my particular faith as a Christian in the face 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:02.680 of death. I guess if you want, you can email me. We can have a conversation for some of you who have 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:08.400 different ways of understanding death. I'd love to enter into a conversation with you about that if I can. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:12.439 But I'm going to share with you my hope as a Christian in the face of death. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:18.120 So you might say, okay, George, you just read that text. And I don't know, like it didn't do 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:24.300 anything for me. Like, just be honest, George, it didn't do anything at all for me. And that would 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:29.819 be a fair, a fair comment. You might understand, you might wonder why on earth a text like this would 00:04:29.819 --> 00:04:37.100 give me any particular hope. Well, it makes a bit of a difference if you understand the context. 00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:42.360 You know, I read this out of a book that looks all fancy and all that type of stuff. It doesn't 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:49.000 look like an ordinary type of book. But this actually is what I read from you is what I read 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:55.640 for you is a letter that was written by a man named Paul to a group of Christians, most of whom had been 00:04:55.640 --> 00:05:00.960 pagans, not Jewish beforehand, who became Christians. And the letter is written around the year 50, 00:05:01.280 --> 00:05:06.460 around the year 50. So it's written, depending on how you date the death and resurrection of Jesus, 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:13.659 there's, if you read the historical counts of the death of Jesus, there's so many connections to 00:05:13.659 --> 00:05:19.620 other historical personages that you can date the death and resurrection of Jesus to either being the 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:26.159 spring of the year 30 or the spring of the year 33. And it's a very interesting thing, this letter, 00:05:26.299 --> 00:05:35.259 actually, because this is the second place in Europe that people have shared about Christianity. 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:41.740 I mean, this is the very, very, very origins of European Christianity, or at least Christianity 00:05:41.740 --> 00:05:48.319 in Europe. In just a little bit earlier in the book of Acts, you actually have the historical account 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:53.639 of how the very first Christians showed up in Europe. They didn't come with armies, they didn't 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:58.060 come with power. In fact, nobody even acknowledged that this remarkable thing had happened that 00:05:58.060 --> 00:06:05.740 the first Christians had come to Europe. And it was in a place in Greece, that we now call it Greece, 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.439 and it was a place called Philippi. And after they had some problems there, rather than being welcomed 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:16.720 or showing overwhelming power, or all of the thought leaders instantly welcoming them, the thought leaders 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:21.819 had them, and the business leaders and the religious leaders had had these early Christians thrown in jail. 00:06:21.819 --> 00:06:27.159 And when they finally got out of jail, there's a whole story about that, they sort of keep going. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.399 They don't go back out of Europe. They don't say, well, that's the end of that. They go to this other 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:35.480 place called Thessalonica. And there they start proclaiming this remarkable news. They proclaim 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:41.800 the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Remember, this is 17 to 20 years after the death and resurrection 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:49.879 of Jesus. And in that place, many people come to believe them as they give the reason and the arguments 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:56.540 and etc. for the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. Once again, a great persecution arises. 00:06:57.139 --> 00:07:03.459 Paul and some of his other traveling companions have to leave. And so they write this letter back to the 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:11.939 church. So all of this is very, very significant, if you think about it, because these men are proclaiming 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:18.939 that a man by the name of Jesus from Nazareth had died by crucifixion, and on the third day rose from the 00:07:18.939 --> 00:07:24.899 dead. And these people that Paul was originally talking to, they would know all about crucifixion. 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:29.660 Over the course of the Roman Empire, hundreds of thousands of people were crucified. And did you 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:37.240 know that apart from this account of Jesus, which is resurrection, there's only one known case in all 00:07:37.240 --> 00:07:42.819 of history of a person surviving crucifixion? It didn't last very long, and there were doctors and 00:07:42.819 --> 00:07:49.159 others present, and the man was unbelievably beat up. But out of hundreds of thousands of crucifixions, 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:54.920 only one man in recorded history survived it. And that was after not having been crucified for very 00:07:54.920 --> 00:08:00.539 long. So it's very remarkable that these men would be proclaiming that this particular thing happened 00:08:00.539 --> 00:08:05.639 at a time when people could go back, they could talk, they could look at the tomb, they could look at 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:10.620 all of these things and check out the evidence. And it's even more remarkable when you understand who's 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:16.519 reading the letter. You see, if you know anything about the history of this particular man named Paul, 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:23.980 he was a terrible man. He was what we would call a religious fanatic. He was completely and utterly 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:32.679 believing in his own understanding of Judaism. And he persecuted people who left that in the least 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:36.820 little way. And he would have had nothing to do whatsoever with people who weren't Jews. 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:45.060 But something changed in his life. He met the resurrected Jesus. And he went from being a person 00:08:45.060 --> 00:08:53.800 who was a profound persecutor of the early Christians, and a profound hater of those who were not Jews. He 00:08:53.800 --> 00:09:02.080 went from that to being a man who was the fellow who first brought the message of Jesus's death and 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:07.960 resurrection to Europe. To those very same people that he would have hated and despised, 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:14.500 he now risks his life to tell them about this unbelievably wonderful, I shouldn't say unbelievably, 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:21.020 because I believe it, this spectacularly, wonderfully good news that a man by the name of Jesus had died by 00:09:21.020 --> 00:09:29.120 crucifixion and risen from the dead. And in fact, this very same man, Paul, would eventually die a horrible, 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:35.679 painful death at the hand of the Roman emperor. And he didn't die just for a cause or just for a 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:41.980 movement or for his ideology or for politics. He died because he maintained that a certain fact 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:49.320 was undeniably true. He died for the proclamation that there was a man named Jesus who lived a particular 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:54.399 type of life, who lived in a very particular city, ministered in a very particular region. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:59.939 And he died by crucifixion at Roman hands. And on the third day, he rose from the dead. And it was 00:09:59.939 --> 00:10:05.699 for that very fact that he would die a painful death and he would have been spared it if he had 00:10:05.699 --> 00:10:16.019 just said, nah, nah, just joking. Let's move on. No, he went to his death. And so that is why this is, 00:10:16.179 --> 00:10:19.840 in fact, profoundly good news. And if you look, you'll be able to see this first point. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:28.920 Good news, just outside of Jerusalem in the spring of 30 or 33, Jesus died by crucifixion on a Friday 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:37.560 and was resurrected on Sunday. Good news, just outside of Jerusalem in the spring of 30 or 33, 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:45.980 Jesus died by crucifixion on a Friday and was resurrected on Sunday. And that, you see, is, 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:52.180 we're going to talk more about it, but that's the basis of my hope. I'm not by nature an optimistic 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:59.779 man. I'm being transformed by the Christian hope to be a more hopeful man. But by nature, 00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:05.360 I'm not very optimistic. And I don't believe in the resurrection because of butterflies or spring and 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:12.560 all of that type of stuff or some complicated philosophical argument. I believe my hope in the 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:22.019 face of death is rooted in the real defeat of death by Jesus of Nazareth. That is my hope in the face of 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:31.379 death and in the face of all loss. That is my hope. Okay. So some of you are saying, George, okay, 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:37.519 let's say it's true. And by the way, if you haven't checked it out, most people just assume it's not true. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:42.039 They've never looked into the evidence. You look at our church, look at my Easter letter. I give you 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:47.419 some resources that you can look to about some of the ways you can begin to look into the historical 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:52.120 thing, the historical facts. But some of you say, okay, George, well, let's just say that's true, 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:59.899 that that actually happened. All it means is something weird happened. Like big deal. Like you want to know 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:05.220 about weird things that happened? Read about quantum physics where particles both before and after, 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:09.940 like just, you can read all sorts of things about weird facts. It's just a weird fact. Like 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:18.320 it doesn't mean anything. That's a very, very, very good point. So this, this so what question is 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:24.660 completely valid. It really is. But, but let's look again at what Paul said here. Look again at verse 14. 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.519 Actually, we'll begin at verse 13 and then we'll get to verse 14. But we do not want you to be 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:38.279 uninformed brothers and sisters about those who are asleep. That's a way of referring to those who 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:43.919 are dead. That you may not grieve as others who have no hope. In other words, not that you stop 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:49.600 grieving, but that you grieve in the context of hope. And here's the reason. For since we believe 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:55.340 that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen 00:12:55.340 --> 00:13:00.840 asleep. In the original language, there's a very odd thing, usually not translated in English. 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:07.639 And it has to do with the through him. And it goes like this. For since we believe that Jesus died 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:12.860 and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:25.800 Jesus. And it's this idea that somehow or another, well, here it's, they experience death through 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:35.579 Jesus or in Jesus. You see, here's the thing. We all know that death is inevitable. 00:13:36.819 --> 00:13:41.899 We don't tend to think about it very much, but death, in fact, is inevitable and is the greatest 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:48.259 loss that you can have. I mean, some of you have heard me speak before. I have this line. It's from 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:56.720 Flannery O'Connor, a really quirky Southern writer of about 50, 60, 70 years ago. And she said, 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:02.439 you can't be poorer than dead. And I don't know what the stock market crash, Bill Gates might have 00:14:02.439 --> 00:14:06.500 lost, you know, I don't know how many, maybe 10 billion, I don't know how many billions he lost, 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:12.799 but he loses everything the second he dies. And so in a sense, we know the inevitability of death. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:19.259 And it's within this context of this very, very great loss that Paul talks about this remarkable 00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:26.639 thing. Here's the point, and then I'll explain it. Good news, by trust in him, the Lord Jesus Christ 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:34.879 will enter into a union with you that even death cannot break. Good news, by trust in him, the Lord 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:42.039 Jesus Christ will enter into a union with you, an ordinary person like you and me, that even death 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:48.159 cannot break. You see, that's the significance of these things. You've fallen asleep through Jesus. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:53.879 The implication is, and as we'll see in a moment with the other part of the passage, that their union 00:14:53.879 --> 00:15:04.939 with Christ continues even in death and even after death. Their union with Jesus continues. You see, 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:13.840 here's how we would understand it. You know, there's no greater basis of human rights and human dignity. 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:22.360 We as a culture have a profound belief in human autonomy and the importance of human freedom and 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:29.580 the importance of authenticity. These are all very, very, very strong beliefs in our culture. But there's 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:34.060 no stronger basis for such belief than in what Christians teach. And I'm just going to share it 00:15:34.060 --> 00:15:38.700 with you very briefly because it connects with how it is that something that happens to one man, 00:15:38.800 --> 00:15:43.780 something that happened to one man 2,000 years ago can actually have some type of an effect 00:15:43.780 --> 00:15:49.860 on you and me today. You see, you know, if you look at nature, by nature we're not equal. 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:57.000 And as you know, as abortion and all has taught many people in our culture, I think not correctly, 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:01.519 that in fact, just because you are human doesn't even mean you're a person. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:09.240 And the greatest defense of human autonomy is the biblical idea that we aren't just a result of 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:16.240 accidental changes throughout evolutionary history, but that we were created by the triune God, 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:24.460 the triune God who is love, that he created us and made every single human being in his image, 00:16:24.659 --> 00:16:30.759 that every single human being, equally the rich and equally the poor, equally the gay and equally 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:36.680 the straight, equally man and equally woman, equally the well-educated and the strong and the powerful 00:16:36.680 --> 00:16:42.519 and those who are the most weak, that every human being is made in the image of God. And that's, 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:48.299 in fact, the most profound defense of human rights and human autonomy. There is no greater defense 00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:53.439 in any other system of thought or religion than that, but it has a particular bearing on this. 00:16:53.939 --> 00:16:59.120 You see, we all know that, I mean, I'm separate from you. You've seen Amy come and you've seen Daniel 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:03.360 come and you've seen Jonathan come and we're all very, very separate. So how is it that something 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:09.720 that, let's say, Daniel does could have a profound impact upon me, just as if it's his own private 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:16.180 a victory? Well, if in fact, every human being is made in the image of God, 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:24.799 then what if that image that we're made in the image of, like we bear the image of God, 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:32.759 but what if the very image itself, the very image himself in whose image we bear, 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:41.000 and whose image we are made, if the unmade image, the original image, if he himself 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.980 goes through something and achieves something? 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:54.440 And it makes complete and utter sense that every single human being who bears that image, 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:02.559 that what happens to the original can have a bearing with every single one of us who bears 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:09.980 the image. And in fact, if you think about it even more, you understand how if that original image, 00:18:10.140 --> 00:18:18.299 the unmade, uncreated image that we bear, if that uncreated image takes on flesh, accomplishes 00:18:18.299 --> 00:18:26.919 something and desires union with us. It is a union which on one hand is both vastly strange and foreign, 00:18:27.919 --> 00:18:39.799 but at the other hand is vastly right and fits. That I, a mere mortal, ordinary human being 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:47.859 who bears the image of God would come into union with the one whose image I am made. 00:18:48.879 --> 00:18:55.899 That fits at the deepest, deepest, deepest level. 00:18:58.639 --> 00:19:04.259 And so you see, that is what Christians are proclaiming, that the triune God made us, 00:19:04.259 --> 00:19:10.839 that we are each made in the image of God, and that Jesus is that image made flesh. The original, 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:18.400 uncreated image takes into himself our human nature and lives as a human being. And so it is possible 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:24.640 that he could live a life that I could not live, and that he could die a death that I could not survive, 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.119 and that he could bear the shame that I could not bear, and he could bear the punishment and the 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:37.000 penalty that I could not bear, and he could defeat sin and alienation from God that I could not defeat, 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:42.439 and he could be resurrected, something that I could not do so that death would no longer hold 00:19:42.439 --> 00:19:52.579 him. And he could offer to ordinary people like you and me that he could enter into a union with you 00:19:52.579 --> 00:20:03.659 that even death cannot break, that even death cannot break, nor can any loss, nor can any failure, 00:20:04.159 --> 00:20:13.519 nor can any shame break that union that he offers to you, that you can only receive by humbly asking him 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:19.879 and trusting him. You can't say, well, listen, I'm really smart, or I'm so lovely, or I'm so beautiful, 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:26.520 or I'm so powerful, or I'm so accomplished, you must take me. No, no. All it can be is by, 00:20:27.340 --> 00:20:33.600 in a sense, simply just saying, Lord, take me. I trust you, I can accomplish nothing, I'm not worthy 00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:41.900 of this. And that's what the Christian message is. It's all done for love, you see. He came and did this, 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:46.580 he lived the life that we could not live, and died this death and rose from the dead, all for love. 00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:53.099 Jesus tells us himself, he says in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only 00:20:53.099 --> 00:21:00.599 son to the end that all who trust in him will never perish, but have eternal life. And this trusting of 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:06.000 him is this union with him. And if you think about it even more, this idea, this news of union is 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.240 something which makes a very, very deep and human sense. Because just think of what love is like, 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:18.140 and think about what friendship is like. That when you start to open your life, your heart to somebody, 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:23.000 because you think you're falling in love with them, or you open your heart and your mind because you 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:28.220 think you're becoming friends with this person, and you open up some of who you are, and you reveal a 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:33.059 little bit, maybe more and more and more about who you are to this other person, hoping that they will 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:39.339 respond with friendship or affection, or maybe even in some cases, with a deep love, that might even be a 00:21:39.339 --> 00:21:45.199 love that will go until death brings you to part. And you open up yourself. And not only do you open 00:21:45.199 --> 00:21:49.659 up yourself, if you just open yourself up, but the other person doesn't open themselves up, then nothing 00:21:49.659 --> 00:21:55.539 happens. But if the other person opens themselves in affection, opens themselves in friendship, opens 00:21:55.539 --> 00:22:01.539 themselves in love, as you open yourself, you start to have in a sense this type of union with that other 00:22:01.539 --> 00:22:07.439 person. And you know that something like that union has happened, a union that is right, when there's 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:16.779 loss, when the friendship is betrayed, when your friend dies, when the love is rejected or mocked, 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:25.759 and you feel as if something is torn deep within you, you feel as if something is violated deep within 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:32.140 you, you feel as if there is now a hole where there used to be no hole. And so even if on a human level, 00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:39.740 we understand that one human to another, there can be a type of a union that is real, how much more can 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:46.560 that be with the God who created you and me? How much more can there be with the those of us, every 00:22:46.560 --> 00:22:51.900 single one of us made in the image of God, bearing the image of God with the image in who we are made, 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:59.340 that union can be so deep when the image himself enters into union with ordinary people like you and me. 00:22:59.339 --> 00:23:05.339 And given that this image itself is God and has lived the life that we cannot live and died the 00:23:05.339 --> 00:23:12.500 death that we cannot die and triumphed over death, now even death cannot break that union, nor can any 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:20.459 other lesser loss or diminishment. That is the Christian hope. That is why I say good news by trust 00:23:20.459 --> 00:23:28.019 in him, the Lord Jesus Christ will enter into a union with you that even death cannot break. It's news. 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:37.440 Okay, George, that was very impassioned. You almost had me for a moment. But I've been I remember what 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:44.639 you said. And George, it's hokey. Okay. It goes on to talk like that. You know, maybe if it just stopped 00:23:44.639 --> 00:23:52.099 there, you know, I could buy it. But George, what Christians are going to sprout little wings, 00:23:52.099 --> 00:23:59.099 and then float up into the clouds. They're all of a sudden going to be like hot air balloons and float 00:23:59.099 --> 00:24:03.240 up into the clouds. I mean, these people were so primitive, like who'd want to be in a cloud, 00:24:03.379 --> 00:24:08.719 clouds are wet and damp and cold, and you wouldn't be able to breathe like the whole thing's just 00:24:08.719 --> 00:24:12.319 hokey. It's a picture language that doesn't make any sense. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:22.159 Well, when you say it has no regard for the law of physics, that's those are, you know, 00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:27.339 those are really good points. So let's walk towards it. Let's just continue to see what it is that the 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:33.240 Bible says and why it is that it might say it. It's verses 15 to 17. Some of you might not have 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:39.059 remembered that part about being up in the clouds. So here's how it goes. For this, we declare to you 00:24:39.059 --> 00:24:44.879 by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not 00:24:44.879 --> 00:24:53.359 precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of 00:24:53.359 --> 00:25:00.859 command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in 00:25:00.859 --> 00:25:07.599 Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be brought up together with them in 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:16.899 the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be always with the Lord. So here's the thing. 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:23.139 Rather than being embarrassed by this, and obviously it can, we can make fun of it. And the idea of wings 00:25:23.139 --> 00:25:28.419 are all becoming like, you know, I don't know, like in a cartoon. And I take some helium and it makes me 00:25:28.419 --> 00:25:35.359 all big. And then I bob up into the sky until I bob around the stars. Here's the thing in the clouds. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:39.379 Obviously that's ridiculous, but that's not what the text is saying. The fact the text is actually 00:25:39.379 --> 00:25:45.719 saying something that makes, in fact, very, very deep sense and actually fits with our deepest longing 00:25:45.719 --> 00:25:49.359 and yearnings in an even more profound way than what I've shared with you already. 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:57.359 I'll just give you the point and then we'll unpack it. Good news, in union with Christ, you will be 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:08.639 resurrected body and soul. Now think about this. Just think about your experience for a moment. 00:26:11.159 --> 00:26:21.000 Nothing, that death just feels wrong. Your own death just feels wrong. That there's just something 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:27.000 not right with it. Even though it's very, very natural. There's something profoundly unnatural 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:35.599 about your death. And there's something profoundly wrong with the idea that there's just nothingness 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:39.519 forever. And even when most people think about that, they don't really think about nothingness 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:44.119 forever. What they think about is somehow that they're in nothingness, but they still exist. 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:54.959 We don't think that literally we just stop. Everything is over and we no longer exist. There's 00:26:54.959 --> 00:27:02.439 just nothing. And that feels profoundly wrong. And we also have a profound sense that there's something 00:27:02.439 --> 00:27:07.299 wrong about the fact that our bodies fail. Now, for some of you who are young and healthy, you haven't 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:13.279 had this experience yet because, I don't know, you've just been going to the gym and, well, I guess you 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.460 can't be doing that right now. But back when you were, maybe you're home, Jim, and, you know, every 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:22.819 week you, you know, you're stronger and you're better looking. But the fact of the matter is, is that even 00:27:22.819 --> 00:27:30.740 young people, their bodies start to fail. I've done funerals of teenagers and of children. And there just 00:27:30.740 --> 00:27:38.399 seems to be something wrong, unnatural, not right about the diminishment of the body, about the fact that it 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:46.280 becomes frail and that it fails. And, and that's, there's another longing and yearning that we have 00:27:46.280 --> 00:27:53.060 that just doesn't also feel right. And that's, that's just the fact that we have this longing or 00:27:53.060 --> 00:28:00.000 yearning that somehow or another, we wouldn't betray ourselves. That, that we wish that our soul, 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:06.460 our soul, our mind, our emotions, that there would be a consistency and a coherency in them. We, 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:11.180 we will, we, we, we love a person. We want to really be good friends with them. And then we say 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:17.819 the most stupid, dumb thing that hurts them. And we go away and we go like that. And we think, 00:28:18.299 --> 00:28:26.180 I want to be friends with them. Or I want them to love me. Like, why did I say that thing? Like, 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:32.819 why did I do that thing? That we have this sense that our souls, who we are, that it lets us down. 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:38.220 And we think that shouldn't just be, we, we wish that there could be a day when our souls wouldn't 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:43.319 let us down. And, and there's, that our bodies, not only do our bodies let us down, but our bodies 00:28:43.319 --> 00:28:49.879 sometimes are barriers from being able to express what we want to express. We hear of a, maybe at 00:28:49.879 --> 00:28:55.159 times like this, we hear of a, of a, of a loved one going through profound trouble because of this 00:28:55.159 --> 00:29:01.059 physical isolation. And we long to be able to go and give them a hug or just be in their presence or 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:06.779 hold their hand or put our arm around them. And we long to be able to do that. But, you know, body, 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:12.480 the distance and, and other things, it just gets in the way. And we have this profound sense that 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:20.119 surely that there should be some way around that type of thing. But there's a type of problem. 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:22.779 We have these longings and these yearnings. 00:29:22.779 --> 00:29:26.819 And how do we think about them? 00:29:28.099 --> 00:29:34.220 In much of Eastern religion, the end of all things is nothingness, whether it's taken in Buddhism, 00:29:34.399 --> 00:29:41.000 that it's, there's nothingness, or whether in another type of version of it, where, uh, like in, 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:46.720 in a very, very powerful Hindu imagery, I'm like a drop of water. And at the end of all things, 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:52.819 after the cycles of reincarnation are all over, um, and I finally attained the state that I should 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:58.259 attain, I, I am like a drop of water entering into the ocean, becoming one with the ocean. But that 00:29:58.259 --> 00:30:05.140 means I, as a drop of water, no longer exist. It, these are dreams of nothingness. But who dreams of 00:30:05.140 --> 00:30:12.079 nothingness? The depressed. When I have been depressed, there have been times, and I have been 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:17.819 very greatly depressed at different times. And I feel like I wish I could just go to sleep and not 00:30:17.819 --> 00:30:24.399 wake up, not have to deal with tomorrow. But does that fit with all those longings and those yearnings? 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:29.939 And, and what about, in fact, how the, how it's thought about primarily in the West? 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:36.460 Either you live some type of experience, some type of vague, wispy type of existence, 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:42.400 or whether, uh, you just think you are going to live on in the memories of people. But that's, 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:48.059 in fact, very, very cold hope to you. The fact of the matter is, is that most of us couldn't even 00:30:48.059 --> 00:30:53.860 name our great aunt, who's been dead for quite a few years. Our memories completely and utterly fade. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:00.340 And there's many, many people, uh, if you're to be a serious intellectual in the West, uh, you, you mock 00:31:00.340 --> 00:31:06.220 those types of hopes. Because the fact of the matter is, is that we came from nothing. The universe was 00:31:06.220 --> 00:31:12.240 completely and utterly indifferent about you coming into existence. And the universe is completely and 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:17.680 utterly indifferent about your continued existence, and is completely and utterly indifferent about your 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:27.920 death. And death is nothingness. Only the gospel explains your longings and yearnings with this 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:35.640 profound good news that in union with Christ, you will be resurrected, body and soul. You see, 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:42.120 what's being described here is the end of all things. It is Jesus is descending to begin to take 00:31:42.120 --> 00:31:48.680 this world, which is broken by sin and death, a sin and an evil, which comes from human beings, 00:31:48.900 --> 00:31:55.280 and has tarnished the earth and broken the earth and broken the cosmos. And we see here in Jesus, 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:02.420 the one who in the year 30, the spring of 30 or 33, just outside of Jerusalem, died by crucifixion with 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:08.380 the Romans. And then on Sunday was alive and having defeated sin and death. And there's this promise 00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:13.920 that he will come to not to bring with him, not just those who are in him, but to make all things new, 00:32:14.300 --> 00:32:21.120 a new heaven and a new worth. We see the one who defeated death. And there is in a sense, a crack 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:28.819 in the fallenness of the entire world. The gun in the death and resurrection of Jesus, 00:32:29.539 --> 00:32:36.059 that when Jesus comes a second time, will bring all things into the way that they should have been 00:32:36.059 --> 00:32:41.459 with a new heaven and a new earth. You know, there's a very, very powerful story of just, 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:46.179 and you might have noticed it when Daniel was reading it a bit earlier. And it's the story of 00:32:46.180 --> 00:32:50.680 the disciples on the day that Jesus rose from the dead, being in a locked room with the doors 00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:57.200 closed, the doors and the windows shut. And Jesus appears in the locked room. And we, if you think 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:01.019 about it, we tend to think of it in terms of something like Scotty beaming you down, where you 00:33:01.019 --> 00:33:07.680 become more and more immaterial until you're the immaterial you can sort of find yourself in that 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:12.860 room, whereas if you become sort of like a type of a mist that can go through things. But I think in 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:18.719 the biblical account is that Jesus resurrected is pointing to a completely new relationship of 00:33:18.719 --> 00:33:23.519 resurrected bodies to the entire rest of the physical world that we are in home in. What we 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:31.759 see in this is the beginning of what our resurrected bodies will look like, that Jesus is so real and so 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:37.219 alive that the walls, in a sense, are like nothing to him. And whether it's just by having them part or 00:33:37.219 --> 00:33:42.539 whatever, is that there's a completely and utterly different relationship of the resurrected body 00:33:42.539 --> 00:33:51.460 to how the matter of the world works. And our bodies are no longer barriers to, our bodies are no 00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:56.680 longer barriers to the desire of a soul which is completely and utterly consumed and filled with 00:33:56.680 --> 00:34:01.940 love. It's the same as the story of Jesus walking on the water. All of the other miracles of Jesus are 00:34:01.940 --> 00:34:06.920 what some theologians call the miracles of the old creation, things that normally happen in nature, 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:12.659 but Jesus just shows his control over them. But there's the transfiguration, there's him walking 00:34:12.659 --> 00:34:17.000 on the water where you get this picture, this image of what it will be like in the new heaven and the 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:22.619 new earth. When our souls are at one and our souls are at one with our body and our bodies are responsive 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:29.519 to our soul and the body is no longer a barrier to ministry, I mean to love or compassion or truth. 00:34:30.119 --> 00:34:35.260 And there's a completely and utterly different relationship with what we call the natural world, 00:34:35.260 --> 00:34:42.080 a different type of at-homeness. And we can believe it because of the resurrection of Jesus. 00:34:43.020 --> 00:34:46.920 You see, in Christ, the same you, 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:56.220 the same you is brought into union with Jesus. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:00.720 The same you is brought into a union with Jesus. 00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:04.899 And that union, even death will not defeat. 00:35:07.139 --> 00:35:14.599 And you too will begin that very first, you see that the pictures of Jesus descending to make all 00:35:14.599 --> 00:35:20.399 things new and I, if it happens when I'm still alive, all of a sudden my body, 00:35:20.799 --> 00:35:25.579 I become the resurrected George with a new relationship to everything. 00:35:25.579 --> 00:35:32.299 A body which is a vehicle for love and for truth and compassion. 00:35:33.739 --> 00:35:39.360 It relates with the created world in a way that our deepest longings and yearnings know is right. 00:35:41.139 --> 00:35:44.119 Let me ask you a question just as we draw this to an end. 00:35:44.119 --> 00:35:47.980 As to how this really, really, really matters. 00:35:49.380 --> 00:35:53.759 What would it be like if you, if somebody from the future, 00:35:53.839 --> 00:35:58.059 let's say you're about to, once the COVID-19 gets all out of the way and you were going to enter into 00:35:58.059 --> 00:36:03.139 some type of a business relationship or business venture, and somebody from the future said, 00:36:03.219 --> 00:36:05.819 by the way, do you know that in a year you're going to, you're going to work, 00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:08.839 you're going to work at 90 hours a week. 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:10.880 You're going to invest everything you have. 00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:13.740 You're going to pour out your heart and all your creativity to this. 00:36:13.820 --> 00:36:15.039 And you know what, a year from now, 00:36:15.820 --> 00:36:20.140 one of your co-workers is going to rob everything from you and you'll be left with nothing. 00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:21.240 You've wasted your time. 00:36:21.700 --> 00:36:22.300 What would you do? 00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:23.000 You'd say, well, why? 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:24.099 Why bother? 00:36:24.380 --> 00:36:28.800 If that's the end, then all this sacrifice makes no sense. 00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:33.119 But what if a person from the future said, 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:36.420 I want you to know that if you embark on this venture, 00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:40.360 there's going to be hours and hours of work and you're going to be sleepless. 00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:41.480 You're going to be sick with worry. 00:36:41.559 --> 00:36:42.059 But you know what? 00:36:42.099 --> 00:36:44.740 In three years' time, it's going to be a spectacular success. 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:47.260 Not only will you earn a very, very substantial income, 00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:49.740 but what you do will be a profound blessing, 00:36:49.880 --> 00:36:53.059 employing many and making a great difference in the lives for many other people. 00:36:53.740 --> 00:36:55.120 If you knew that was the end, 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:59.200 then it changes the entire story, doesn't it? 00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:02.860 If you watch the movie The Sixth Sense, and I won't give you a spoiler, 00:37:03.019 --> 00:37:05.920 the ending changes everything in the entire movie. 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:09.480 And if you were to watch a movie, and you watch a movie, 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:11.280 and these are movies that critics often like, 00:37:11.380 --> 00:37:13.519 but it all ends with the bad guys winning, 00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:16.099 and all of the people who, in a sense, were the heroes, 00:37:16.300 --> 00:37:18.680 and all of the innocent people dying a horrible death, 00:37:19.099 --> 00:37:20.380 maybe the critics like it. 00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:23.639 It might sell $5 million in box office, 00:37:23.680 --> 00:37:25.820 but none of you will like a movie that ends like that. 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:26.220 But you know what? 00:37:26.579 --> 00:37:28.720 Each and every one of us live in denial of our death, 00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:30.339 because the fact of the matter is, 00:37:30.659 --> 00:37:32.779 is that the very last thing, 00:37:32.899 --> 00:37:36.219 all of Bill Gates' billions become nothing to him. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:39.839 See, here's the final good news. 00:37:40.459 --> 00:37:41.459 Look at verse 18. 00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:42.519 Remember, he says, 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:44.639 therefore, encourage one another with these words. 00:37:45.339 --> 00:37:47.059 Encourage one another because, in fact, 00:37:47.939 --> 00:37:50.500 Jesus did die on a Friday, 00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:52.519 and was resurrected on a Saturday. 00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:54.599 The news that if you trust in him, 00:37:54.599 --> 00:37:56.839 Jesus will enter into a union with you 00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:58.200 that even death cannot break. 00:37:58.820 --> 00:38:00.460 Good news, in union with Christ, 00:38:00.539 --> 00:38:03.340 you will be resurrected, body and soul. 00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:06.600 The longings and the yearnings that we know are most true. 00:38:07.019 --> 00:38:10.180 But good news, if the end of your story changes, 00:38:10.840 --> 00:38:13.640 the whole story of your life changes. 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:16.840 In Christ, the end of your story, 00:38:18.200 --> 00:38:19.500 ordinary people like you and me, 00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:21.740 the end of your story becomes 00:38:22.300 --> 00:38:24.400 not death and the loss of all things, 00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:25.360 not nothingness, 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:29.720 not you were such a fool to sacrifice all those things. 00:38:29.860 --> 00:38:30.059 No. 00:38:30.680 --> 00:38:32.640 The end of your story becomes the father 00:38:32.640 --> 00:38:35.019 smiling and welcome at you 00:38:35.019 --> 00:38:38.440 and calling you his redeemed child 00:38:38.440 --> 00:38:40.720 in a resurrected body. 00:38:41.500 --> 00:38:43.880 If the end of your story changes, 00:38:44.120 --> 00:38:46.980 the whole story of your life changes. 00:38:47.640 --> 00:38:49.900 In Christ, the end of your story, 00:38:50.039 --> 00:38:50.940 in union with him, 00:38:51.059 --> 00:38:53.400 becomes the father smiling at you, 00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:56.780 welcoming you in your resurrected body 00:38:56.780 --> 00:38:58.320 into a resurrected world 00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:00.720 as his redeemed child. 00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:03.860 Even your past changes. 00:39:06.059 --> 00:39:08.300 Even your past changes. 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:12.460 Even the worst things of your past 00:39:12.460 --> 00:39:15.039 become things that God can end up using 00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:16.720 when the end of your story is different. 00:39:17.180 --> 00:39:19.099 Even the hard times you're going through now 00:39:19.099 --> 00:39:21.839 can be something that God can use 00:39:21.839 --> 00:39:24.000 for your good and for the good of others. 00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:26.519 You see, 00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:29.139 this isn't just optimism. 00:39:29.779 --> 00:39:32.299 I'm not Pixar or Disney. 00:39:33.059 --> 00:39:35.779 I'm not talking about being optimistic. 00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:38.299 This is completely and utterly tied 00:39:38.299 --> 00:39:41.019 to the real defeat of death by Jesus 00:39:41.019 --> 00:39:43.719 and his real offer of union to him. 00:39:43.799 --> 00:39:45.139 I'm not telling you about optimism. 00:39:45.139 --> 00:39:46.839 I'm telling you about Jesus. 00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:49.480 And you see, 00:39:49.559 --> 00:39:50.500 when you understand 00:39:50.500 --> 00:39:52.059 the end of your story 00:39:52.059 --> 00:39:53.519 is going to be such a thing, 00:39:53.579 --> 00:39:54.339 what does that do? 00:39:54.460 --> 00:39:56.339 It ends up being the fuel for love. 00:39:56.440 --> 00:39:58.279 It ends up being the fuel for compassion. 00:39:58.739 --> 00:40:00.679 It is the fuel for justice. 00:40:00.920 --> 00:40:02.940 It is the fuel to bear with suffering. 00:40:03.179 --> 00:40:06.039 It is the fuel to pray for others. 00:40:06.179 --> 00:40:07.539 It is the fuel to know 00:40:07.539 --> 00:40:10.019 that this slight momentary affliction 00:40:10.019 --> 00:40:11.039 is preparing me 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:12.420 for an eternal weight of glory 00:40:12.420 --> 00:40:13.139 beyond my imagination, 00:40:13.139 --> 00:40:15.319 which is something that Paul said 00:40:15.319 --> 00:40:16.339 in Corinthians. 00:40:17.980 --> 00:40:20.759 When you know what the end of your story is, 00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:24.460 it is fuel to pursue justice, 00:40:24.619 --> 00:40:26.179 to sacrifice for compassion, 00:40:26.339 --> 00:40:27.759 to sacrifice for love, 00:40:28.259 --> 00:40:30.940 to bear promises even to your hurt, 00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:33.259 to make promises for the good of others, 00:40:34.119 --> 00:40:36.900 all knowing the end of your story. 00:40:36.900 --> 00:40:42.539 There is nothing more practical 00:40:42.539 --> 00:40:44.900 for how you face life. 00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:49.000 If you haven't given your life to Jesus, 00:40:49.139 --> 00:40:50.360 I encourage you to do so. 00:40:51.579 --> 00:40:52.619 If you want some help, 00:40:52.700 --> 00:40:53.639 contact the church. 00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:55.079 For Christians, 00:40:56.079 --> 00:40:57.619 remember Jesus. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:40:59.599 Remember the end of your story. 00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:00.960 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:01.400 Father, 00:41:02.179 --> 00:41:03.179 we ask that 00:41:03.179 --> 00:41:05.119 you would grip us 00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:06.099 with the gospel 00:41:06.099 --> 00:41:06.639 at a very, 00:41:06.780 --> 00:41:07.500 very deep level, 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:08.539 at a deeper and deeper 00:41:08.539 --> 00:41:09.240 and deeper level. 00:41:09.420 --> 00:41:09.599 Father, 00:41:09.699 --> 00:41:10.360 we have things 00:41:10.360 --> 00:41:11.659 which we are grieving right now, 00:41:11.740 --> 00:41:12.980 maybe the loss of jobs 00:41:12.980 --> 00:41:15.059 or the problems of isolation. 00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:16.380 And you know our grieving, 00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:16.880 Father, 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:17.639 but thank you 00:41:17.639 --> 00:41:19.139 that we don't have to grieve 00:41:19.139 --> 00:41:19.980 without hope, 00:41:20.059 --> 00:41:21.480 but that we can grieve with hope. 00:41:21.579 --> 00:41:22.920 So grip us with the gospel 00:41:22.920 --> 00:41:24.900 so that we can deal 00:41:24.900 --> 00:41:26.380 with these diminishments 00:41:26.380 --> 00:41:26.960 and these grievings 00:41:27.659 --> 00:41:28.079 in a way 00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:29.519 which is both good for us 00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:31.840 and will be good for others 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:32.880 and bring you glory. 00:41:33.279 --> 00:41:34.059 And this we ask 00:41:34.059 --> 00:41:35.239 in the name of Jesus, 00:41:35.380 --> 00:41:36.340 your Son and our Savior. 00:41:36.940 --> 00:41:37.279 Amen.