WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.800 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.800 --> 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 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for 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, 00:00:43.240 --> 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 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:20.219 Let's just bow our heads in prayer. Father, we are coming to parts of your Word that, well, Father, 00:01:20.219 --> 00:01:25.260 for some of us, we sort of just hear this Word, but we live our lives a very, very different way. 00:01:26.179 --> 00:01:31.039 And Father, for others of us, we hear this Word and sort of struggle. We don't quite know what to 00:01:31.039 --> 00:01:36.359 think about it, but we want to believe it. And so, Father, we ask that you would bring this, 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:41.640 your Word, deeply into our hearts. And Father, you would help us to think about it and think about 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:51.920 it well. Think about it so that we might live well and live at peace as we go about our tasks. 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:58.719 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:15.819 There's a fellow that I've gotten to know, and he's an atheist. And by the way, he's a really great 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:22.479 guy as well. He's an atheist and a really, really great guy. And he fairly soon on, he asked me what 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:29.099 I did. He'd see me sitting, you know, looking at big fat books in a coffee shop. And he asked me 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:33.599 what I did, and I told him I'm a pastor. And I, of course, asked, when somebody asked me that, 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:38.939 I always say I'm a pastor. And then I asked them if they have some type of spiritual beliefs or 00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:44.839 connection or heritage or tradition or whatever. And that's when I discovered that he'd been raised 00:02:44.839 --> 00:02:51.819 Jewish and was still culturally Jewish, but he was an atheist. Anyway, several times since then, 00:02:51.819 --> 00:02:58.459 I've, something's come up and I've tried to make a bit of a point about it. And every time, 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:05.139 I mean, he didn't literally shout me down, but he almost shouted me down. He didn't literally put 00:03:05.139 --> 00:03:08.039 his hands in his fingers and go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'm not going to listen. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:12.740 But he did the equivalent of it, that he didn't want to talk about this at all. Don't talk about it. 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:18.419 He would rude, not rudely, but he'd very clearly interrupt me and just say, I don't want to talk about it. 00:03:18.419 --> 00:03:24.319 I don't want to think about it. And then just a couple of weeks ago, I said to him, well, 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:27.479 have you ever done any study about some of these things? Like, you know, would you like, 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:33.399 are you open to considering some evidence for the existence of God and for the Christian faith? 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:40.039 And before I even finished that, he just said, no, no, no, no. Just kept saying, no, 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:48.539 he's not interested in considering any evidence whatsoever. Just no. Now, I'm telling you this 00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:55.399 for a variety of reasons, because one of the stories that we're about to read is a text that 00:03:55.399 --> 00:04:00.599 for many people in our culture, they would just roll their eyes at it. In fact, I guess that if I 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:06.579 was to get this fellow to read it, he would just throw his hands up in despair at how gullible people 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:13.960 like me are, that I would even want to read it. And he's part of a, you know, but here's the thing. 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:19.900 As I said in my prayer, a lot of us Christians, we believe it on one hand, but we don't believe 00:04:19.900 --> 00:04:23.740 it on another hand in terms of how we live our lives. And we might feel a bit uncomfortable with 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:27.680 it. That's one thing. That's one of the reasons it's so good that it's in the Bible. But before we 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:34.840 go any further, having a closed mind, because that's in a sense what this fellow has, he has a 00:04:34.840 --> 00:04:40.600 closed mind. He's dogmatic about his beliefs in a closed mind. I just want to say as we go into this 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:46.540 story that it's a human problem. It's not a problem just for atheists or something like that. It's a 00:04:46.540 --> 00:04:52.819 human problem. And that means we Christians also are tempted and in fact often live with very, 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:59.939 very closed minds. And, you know, the Bible here and the Bible constantly, the message of the gospel 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:05.519 is, is that if we want to grow in knowledge, if we want to grow in wisdom, we have to be open to new 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:12.219 information. We have to be open to new evidence. God does not want us to have closed minds, but open 00:05:12.219 --> 00:05:16.980 minds because he wants us to grow in knowledge and maturity and wisdom. And you can't do that 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:22.800 without having an open mind. So as that is our introduction, let's look at this text, which is 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:27.980 I said, would cause this friend of mine to roll his eyes if I ever actually even got him to read it. 00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:34.259 And even for Christians, can make this squirm a little bit if we get right down to the nitty-gritty 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:39.560 of it. So let's look. It's Acts chapter 9. We're going through the book of Acts. It's Acts chapter 9, 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:46.240 and we're going to begin reading at verse 31. And just before I go any further, it's a very 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:52.780 interesting little, I don't know how to pronounce the word, interregnum. You have these series of 00:05:52.780 --> 00:05:59.439 very significant conversions. And we've just had the story of the significant conversion of the man 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:05.100 named Saul. His Jewish name is Saul, and his pagan name is Paul. And that's how most people remember 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:11.100 him by the name Paul. And his conversion is very significant, combined with the next conversion, 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:18.180 which is the conversion of the first pagan. And it's that combination of things. Paul will end up 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:23.800 being the man who primarily takes the gospel to the pagans. And that's one of the reasons there's a 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:30.080 whole pile of us, if we traced our ancestry back, our ancestry is pagan. And that's why we're here 00:06:30.080 --> 00:06:35.400 worshiping Jesus today, because of these two big stories. And in between these two big stories, 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:40.339 there's this funny little three bits. And so let's look at them. And the first one goes like this, 00:06:40.539 --> 00:06:48.839 verse 31. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:53.899 I just sort of pause. The word built up there, I'm not going to talk about anything other than just 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:59.539 point it out. It's a passive word. So it doesn't imply, what it's saying is that God built it. It's not 00:06:59.539 --> 00:07:03.899 saying, you know, they all, you know, rolled up their sleeves and sort of built it. No, no, it's saying that 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:09.359 God built up the church. I'll continue reading. We'll read it again. So the church throughout all 00:07:09.359 --> 00:07:15.679 Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord 00:07:15.679 --> 00:07:26.620 and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Now, you know, just imagine if you were to go to the, 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:32.819 you know, the nearest Tim Hortons or some more boutique coffee place, 00:07:32.819 --> 00:07:37.180 and you were to just to say, you know, this is a really important text for Christians. And I think 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:40.579 every Canadian would say, why on earth would you want to add more fear in your life? 00:07:42.159 --> 00:07:46.779 I mean, that's just like the absolute last thing that anybody would like. In fact, one of the reasons 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:51.379 they'd say you shouldn't be religious is it just makes you more fearful. And I'm going to, we're going 00:07:51.379 --> 00:07:56.159 to talk about this text, but it's going to be easier to talk about it if we see the next two stories 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:02.700 and then flip back to it. So what happens next? It's verse 32. And it goes like this. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:11.100 Now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived in Lydda. 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:18.140 There he, by the way, Lydda is now called Laud. And if you've ever been to Israel, the airport, 00:08:18.340 --> 00:08:24.600 the main commercial airport for Israel is in Laud. That's sort of where it is. But back then it was called 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:30.180 Lydda and they didn't have an airport. Verse 32 again. Now, as Peter went here and there among 00:08:30.180 --> 00:08:35.960 them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aenus, 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:44.700 bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Aenus, Jesus Christ heals you. 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:53.360 Rise and make your bed. And immediately Aenus rose and all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:59.100 and they turned to the Lord, implying that many turned to the Lord. Now, I just sort of want to 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:04.580 pause here for a second. So I'm not going to tell you, but I was watching a politically incorrect 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:11.460 podcast this week. And I, or maybe it was, I don't know if it was a week or two weeks old. I can't 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:19.420 remember. But it was on the fifth anniversary of, and I don't, Juicy Smollett, I don't know how to 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:23.839 pronounce it. You know, the fellow five years earlier who'd made a claim that he was out in 00:09:23.839 --> 00:09:29.779 Chicago in the early, late at night and two, two white guys with MAGA hats mugged him, right? And 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:34.639 it ended up showing that he completely fabricated everything in the story. And, and the point of the 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:43.439 podcast was they were looking through the, the increasing number of claims of hate that are being 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:49.540 launched. And this, the, the, the person doing the podcast looked at, I think it was four or five 00:09:49.540 --> 00:09:55.900 ones that had happened over the last year, all of which were immediately accepted as gospel truth 00:09:55.900 --> 00:10:02.000 by the media, but within a month or two with no ask, not asking any type of, of questions about, 00:10:02.180 --> 00:10:06.640 you know, it, but then later on it was shown that they were in fact completely and utterly invented 00:10:06.640 --> 00:10:12.440 stories. And, and the podcaster was just pointing out, he didn't say by the way, that there were no 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:18.520 hate crimes going on. He just said, there's a pattern to false ones in terms of lack of detail 00:10:18.520 --> 00:10:24.140 and lack of specificity and location and a range of other types of things that shows that they're 00:10:24.140 --> 00:10:30.320 invented made up stories. Now I'm saying that because in this story and in the next story, 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:37.380 it's very easy for people to say they're just invented and made up stories, but they aren't 00:10:37.380 --> 00:10:42.400 invented and made up stories. And that's for several reasons. First of all is the book, 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:49.140 in general that it's found in. And as I've talked about before, this is a book that claims to be a 00:10:49.140 --> 00:10:54.980 history written by one who was an eyewitness of some of the events and everything in it is based 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:00.680 on eyewitness testimony. That's the claim he makes. It's written when many of these eyewitnesses are still 00:11:00.680 --> 00:11:06.340 alive and can comment on it. And in a sense, the book never gets blown out of the water as being 00:11:06.340 --> 00:11:12.780 completely false all of the time. And one of the things is that if in the book, there's so many 00:11:12.780 --> 00:11:20.399 references made to historical people and events that by and large, not for every bit, like they 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.960 can't pinpoint the exact year, for instance, that Paul got converted, but they know roughly when, 00:11:25.040 --> 00:11:29.460 probably within about 12, six months or 12 months, they know when it happened. But there's so many 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:35.980 specific historical references and historical individuals that they can plot when different 00:11:35.980 --> 00:11:46.040 things happened. And in fact, Israeli archaeologists will often go to the New Testament, both to the 00:11:46.040 --> 00:11:51.980 Gospels and the Book of Acts, to help make archaeological discoveries in Israel because of 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:57.139 the accuracy of the book. Even though they obviously, as Jewish believers, don't accept that it's true, 00:11:57.139 --> 00:12:02.340 but they understand that it's historically quite accurate. So that's one thing about it. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:07.360 But the second thing is, if you look at this story again, you'll see that it doesn't have at all the 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:14.159 type of characteristics that a made-up story has. It doesn't use once-upon-a-time language. 00:12:14.659 --> 00:12:19.840 Well, look at it again, just if you could go back. He tells you that it happens in Lydda, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:26.120 verse 32. It tells you about the name of the man that he found, Aenus. It tells you that, 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:30.179 you know, there might have been like, I don't know, 50 Aenuses there, but he was the one who 00:12:30.179 --> 00:12:35.500 was bedridden for eight years who was paralyzed. And the other thing is, you know that this can't 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:39.759 be a psychosomatic illness because it's eight years long. And it's eight years long at a time 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:44.840 when there's no social security net, which means that he would have had to been trusted upon somebody 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:50.620 else to pick him up and carry him out somewhere to beg. And that's how he would have had to live. 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:54.840 Like, there's no particular benefit to claiming that or having a psychosomatic illness, which 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:59.060 would be short-term, not something which was eight years long. And then Peter says to him, 00:12:59.179 --> 00:13:05.379 Aenus, verse 34, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise and make your bed. And immediately the man rises. 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:14.000 And here's the kicker. All the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him. In other words, he was well-known, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:19.320 and the story is well-known, and many, many people saw him walking around. In other words, 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:25.299 for years to come, when they saw him, he was a walking testimony to the fact that this guy by 00:13:25.299 --> 00:13:31.360 the name of Peter said that Jesus heals you, and he was healed. And in fact, it even says that many 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:36.740 of them turned to the Lord. So there's so many details in here that Luke's original readers 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:44.419 could have gone to Lydda and that area and asked, was there a guy by the name of Aenus here who, 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:49.080 I just read this story, it probably happened to you about 20 years ago, was there a guy, 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:53.740 they could go and they could ask, because this is, he's giving lots of opportunities for you to check, 00:13:54.700 --> 00:14:01.840 rather than things which are going to hinder it. Now there's obviously other meanings in it. I'm going 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.299 to hopefully get to that at the end of the sermon, but I think there's a point. If you could put up a 00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:11.019 point, Clara, here's the point. And this is true of the Gospels, it's true of all of the stories in 00:14:11.019 --> 00:14:16.839 the book of Acts. This is not a timeless story. It's not a timeless story. It's not a once upon a 00:14:16.839 --> 00:14:24.240 time story. It's not a timeless story, but a story in time and place for all times and places. 00:14:25.859 --> 00:14:32.019 It's a story in time and place, in time and space, in time and history, but it's for all times 00:14:32.019 --> 00:14:37.299 afterwards. It's something that really happened. Now people will say, well, George, that's completely 00:14:37.299 --> 00:14:40.939 and utterly possible. As I said, my friend, the atheist, would probably, if I could even get him 00:14:40.939 --> 00:14:45.699 to this point, throw up his hands in despair and said, gosh, George, I thought you were sort of at 00:14:45.699 --> 00:14:51.220 least minutely intelligent. You've now disproven that. You're completely gullible. Science has 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:55.980 disproved this. Medicine has disproved this. It's completely and utterly impossible. Well, I'm going to 00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:59.600 say a couple of things about that. I'll be a bit nerdish in a couple of minutes, 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:07.000 but let's get to the big whopper. I mean, that's small potatoes compared to the next story, 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:11.759 and let's look at it. And as I'm reading it, notice again, I'll point them out, all of the 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:17.080 things in the story which are not like how you want to invent something that's sort of generic. 00:15:17.259 --> 00:15:23.600 Well, you know, it was sort of that, and you know, what, it's verse 36. Now there was in Joppa, 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:31.100 and just by the side there, Joppa is now called Java, and it is the closest port to Jerusalem. 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:37.259 And if you go to Israel, you can see the ruins of Joppa. It's just, it's right beside Tel Aviv, 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:43.540 or sort of surrounded by Tel Aviv. And I think the ruins are from the times of the Crusades, 00:15:43.680 --> 00:15:49.600 obviously not this time, but this is where Jonah went to get a boat to run away from God. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:55.540 And if you go to Israel, the main way to get into the old city, the most popular way to get into the 00:15:55.540 --> 00:15:59.259 old city of Jerusalem is through the Java Gate. Why is that? Because it's on the Java Road. 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.659 And why is it called the Java Road? It's the road that takes you to Java. 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:08.680 So this is a port city. It's very, very, it would have been very, very well known. Would not have had 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:13.200 a huge population by today's standards, but you know, a couple of thousand people, maybe a little 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:18.519 tiny bit bigger, an important port city. So back to the text story. Now there was in Joppa, 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:27.279 a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means, sorry, Dorcas. Just anybody here planning to have 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:33.539 a girl pick Tabitha over Dorcas. Dorcas will get that, your daughter, in a lot of trouble for the 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:41.000 rest of her life. Tabitha just probably was way better in Greek and Latin. Anyway, so they tell you 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.319 the names of the person that continues on. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:52.240 In those days, she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:17:00.180 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, 00:17:00.680 --> 00:17:07.500 urging him, please come to us without delay. The story never tells you why they ask for that. It might 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:13.519 just be that they wanted to be reminded of the gospel, about the fact that Jesus really had risen 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:18.960 from the dead. It's unlikely that they've asked him to do what he's about to do. This is going to be 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:24.700 something that would have just, frankly, blown their minds. Anyway, they go back. They urged, 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:29.639 hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay. So 00:17:29.639 --> 00:17:36.099 Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood 00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:42.200 beside him, weeping and showing the tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:50.420 Now just sort of pause here for a second. So once again, in this story, Luke is doubling down on the 00:17:50.420 --> 00:18:01.960 miracle, and he's also very specifically placing it. These people had, Dorcas had died. We'll all make, 00:18:02.059 --> 00:18:07.160 we'll remember the story better if we call her Dorcas rather than Tabitha. Dorcas had died, 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:15.640 and they'd washed her. They'd carried her upstairs. Then they asked two guys to go a 10 and a half 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:22.759 mile walk to where Peter was. That's well over three hours. And then they have to find Peter, 00:18:22.840 --> 00:18:28.620 and then he has a over three hour walk to come back. And in the meantime, they're with her. 00:18:28.619 --> 00:18:35.539 And there's other details in the story, right? That she is in Java. And actually, there's another 00:18:35.539 --> 00:18:41.039 very important figure here that she actually must be in a very large house and a very large 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:46.879 two-story house. And that's very significant because in that time period, most houses would 00:18:46.879 --> 00:18:55.239 have just been one floor. A bit of an aside, but if any of you come, Louise and I live in an area of 00:18:55.240 --> 00:19:02.940 Ottawa called the Linwood Village. It's a little part of Bell's Corners. And if you came to Linwood, 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:06.380 I don't know how many houses there are in Linwood Village. I don't know, 200 houses? I don't know, 00:19:06.420 --> 00:19:09.859 something like that. But there might only be eight or nine houses that have two floors. 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:15.240 So if I was to tell you this story, I don't remember the street, but it's a two-story house. 00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:19.839 Well, that actually would, like, if you said it happened in the Glebe and it wasn't a two-story house, 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:24.359 throw up your hands. Like, every house is two stories, right? 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:29.180 It wouldn't help you at all. But if you came to Linwood Village, it would really help you. There's 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:32.839 only a couple of houses like that. You could go through them and check them very, very simply. So 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:40.519 once again, there's these constant details. And so, yeah, these constant details. So what happens, 00:19:41.259 --> 00:19:46.799 right? This is a story that's not talked like a made-up story, but is grounded in time and place. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:47.799 Verse 40, 00:19:47.799 --> 00:20:17.119 Once again, lots of specific historical detail. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:20.119 that if you wanted to go back and check it out, you could check it out. 00:20:20.919 --> 00:20:26.619 Now, I know there's at least one doctor in the room. I don't know how many are listening. And I 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:30.399 mean, the doctor will tell you that there's no natural explanation for this. And naturally, 00:20:30.399 --> 00:20:33.839 it's completely and utterly impossible. Medically, it's completely impossible 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:38.879 for a woman who's been dead for seven, eight, nine hours to come back to life. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:44.520 And some of us might say, well, part of the problem with this is that, I mean, these were 00:20:44.520 --> 00:20:48.080 all gullible people. They didn't know anything. They didn't know science. They didn't know medicine. 00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:54.640 And they just made some type of big mistake. And the simple reply to that is that compared to our 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:01.660 culture, they were experts in death. Like it might very well be that a large number of doctors and 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:06.300 nurses have actually never had to deal with a death, depending on the type of medicine that they've gone 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:12.659 into, or maybe just a very small number of cases. But in the, I got these facts from the internet, 00:21:12.659 --> 00:21:21.539 so they have to be true. But in the first century Roman Empire, it's estimated that for like, 00:21:21.700 --> 00:21:26.480 for people of like Roman citizens, and like, like not just everybody, but for Roman citizens, 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:36.159 and in general of that upper classes, 25 to 30% of births wouldn't make it to the age of one. 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:47.720 25 to 30% of all babies born won't make it to the age of one. And 50% will not hit their 10th birthday. 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:55.480 They can't estimate how many women would have died in childbirth, but obviously would have been a very 00:21:55.480 --> 00:22:03.539 significant number. You know, in my own family, and in Louise family, my sister and several of our sisters, 00:22:03.539 --> 00:22:09.360 because of complications, they might very well have died in childbirth. When I was in Eganville, 00:22:09.360 --> 00:22:15.160 and I had a lot of older people, surprising how many older people had been raised by aunts and uncles 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:23.480 because their moms had died in a subsequent childbirth. So in the ancient world, not only would there have been a high number of women 00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:32.440 dying in childbirth, 25% or more of children aren't making it to the age of one, 50% of children aren't making it to the age of 10. 00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:41.440 And the average lifespan for a male, I couldn't find a statistic for women, I'm sorry, the average lifespan for men, 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:44.660 and these are Roman citizen types, is 30 to 35. 00:22:44.660 --> 00:22:54.420 Now obviously there are people who live way past 30 or 35, but the average is 30 to 35. Now what the point is, there's no funeral homes. 00:22:54.420 --> 00:23:00.820 This is a people who are familiar with death. They are experts in death. 00:23:03.620 --> 00:23:10.019 They were surrounded by death, and they had to deal with it themselves. They had to wash the body. 00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:18.740 They had to sit with it. They had to bury it. They would have been remarkable experts in death. 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:20.900 Tabitha was dead. 00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:26.099 So that's the point of the story. 00:23:27.379 --> 00:23:34.660 Now, some people, I'm going to take a bit of a nerdish moment, give me a bit of grace. 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:39.860 For some of you who aren't interested in these nerdish issues, try to listen, but if you have to have a bit of a nap, 00:23:39.860 --> 00:23:44.100 maybe I'll try to think of a joke or something to draw your attention back after we get through the nerdish bit. 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:49.779 But here's the thing. First of all, in our culture, and I'm thinking of my friend here, 00:23:50.340 --> 00:23:54.340 he is creating, in a sense, a false dichotomy. 00:23:54.340 --> 00:23:58.580 That the choice is between being a gullible person and a thinking person. 00:23:58.580 --> 00:24:01.779 A scientific person and an unscientific person. 00:24:01.779 --> 00:24:07.139 What they've missed is that the real choice is between being open-minded or closed-minded. 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:11.859 This is why at the beginning, and if you're watching this or if you're here as a guest, 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:14.899 I'm not making a claim that Christians by nature are open-minded. 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:17.859 Closed-mindedness is a human problem. 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:23.139 It cuts across all creeds, all religious positions, all ideologies. 00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:28.660 And closed-minded people want to shut down discussion, want to shut down and want to shout down. 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:32.900 And that's a human problem. I'm not making any type of culture war comment here. 00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:39.140 But I'm just saying the culture war should make us aware of a human problem and should call us to examine ourselves. 00:24:39.700 --> 00:24:44.259 But the choice is between being open-minded scientists or a closed-minded scientist. 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:47.779 An open-minded thinker or a closed-minded thinker. That's the choice. 00:24:48.500 --> 00:24:53.940 And in this particular case, I would say my friend is closed-minded and dogmatic. 00:24:53.940 --> 00:24:58.580 Not even willing to consider any type of evidence. That's quite astounding. 00:24:58.580 --> 00:25:03.299 If you go do some research about atheists in particular, Dawkins and several others, 00:25:03.299 --> 00:25:09.860 they very publicly said there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever which would ever make them leave their atheism. 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:12.820 I don't have the faith to be an atheist. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:19.460 I've had periods of doubt about Christianity, you know, but they're absolutely dogmatic. 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:24.100 So how does that affect here? Well, and they say, well, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George, George. 00:25:24.100 --> 00:25:26.100 You know, science and medicine has proven this. No, no. 00:25:26.100 --> 00:25:29.620 Here's the big mistake they make. And this is the really nerdish part. 00:25:29.620 --> 00:25:31.059 Okay. Sorry. Warned you. 00:25:31.779 --> 00:25:34.500 Hopefully you don't all fall asleep, but there's a bit of a nerdish thing here. 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:35.539 I'll try to be very brief. 00:25:36.180 --> 00:25:37.620 So what is science? 00:25:37.620 --> 00:25:42.180 Science is a way of doing controlled experiments in the context of a body of knowledge 00:25:42.819 --> 00:25:46.259 and theories that develop out of these experiments. That's what they are. 00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:50.019 And at the heart of all experiments is they try to create a closed system. 00:25:50.819 --> 00:25:55.299 Okay. They might get chem... They might have a clean room or a soundproof room. 00:25:55.299 --> 00:25:59.539 If they're doing experiments that they shouldn't have sound, they try to make it soundproof. 00:25:59.539 --> 00:26:02.339 And they try to account for everything in terms of the temperature, etc. 00:26:02.339 --> 00:26:08.420 So they try to control all of these types of things and they do their experiment in a closed type of system. 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:12.500 And they have a theory and they're trying to see if their theory is falsified or if there's... 00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:16.339 It might be true and they'll do repeated experiments. And that's how science works. 00:26:16.339 --> 00:26:17.940 And that's how science should work. 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:21.460 And if you're a Christian in science, you should do those types of experiments. 00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:23.220 But here's the problem. 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:30.819 Many people mistake thinking that when you do a scientific experiment, you do it in a closed system 00:26:31.220 --> 00:26:34.259 and then believe that the whole world is a closed system. 00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:47.220 It doesn't matter how many PhDs they have. It doesn't matter if they teach at Princeton or MIT or Harvard or Yale or their Sorbonne or Moscow. 00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:52.180 Science cannot prove that the entire universe is a closed system. It just can't. 00:26:53.220 --> 00:26:56.660 And that's the point of issue here when it comes to things like miracles. 00:26:56.660 --> 00:27:03.300 Christians believe that we live in an ordered universe that has been created and designed by the triune God. 00:27:03.300 --> 00:27:08.180 And the triune God wants human beings to flourish and know the truth. 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:12.100 And so the scientific method in a sense is an answer to prayer. 00:27:13.140 --> 00:27:18.500 That people will try to figure out how things work, how germs work, how viruses work, right? 00:27:18.500 --> 00:27:19.540 How light works. 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:20.180 How light works. 00:27:20.180 --> 00:27:23.460 So that we can flourish and be fruitful and fill the earth. 00:27:23.460 --> 00:27:25.299 And that there can be life rather than death. 00:27:25.299 --> 00:27:26.740 And that's all completely. 00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:30.980 But the very bottom line is that Christians believe that it's not a closed universe. 00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:32.500 There is a God that does exist. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:36.019 We can see evidences as designed everywhere. 00:27:36.659 --> 00:27:39.139 By the way, if you want to have some fascinating things, 00:27:39.700 --> 00:27:44.980 go online and watch YouTube videos by Dr. James Tour from the University of Houston. 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:47.460 Blow your mind. 00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:49.059 They'll really blow your mind. 00:27:49.059 --> 00:27:50.819 They're fantastic to watch. 00:27:50.819 --> 00:27:53.619 And you can see evidences of design everywhere. 00:27:54.099 --> 00:28:04.579 And so what most miracles are, are fundamentally God either taking something out of his created 00:28:04.579 --> 00:28:07.059 order or creating something in his created order. 00:28:07.059 --> 00:28:08.579 And it's a little bit like this. 00:28:08.579 --> 00:28:17.139 Let's say that you want to do an experiment about, you know, momentum and how forces move and work. 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:19.620 And so you have a very, very flat table. 00:28:19.620 --> 00:28:22.660 And you experiment to make sure that it's completely and utterly level. 00:28:22.660 --> 00:28:24.900 And you have a closed room so there's no breeze. 00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:26.740 And you measure the temperature. 00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:28.259 And you control the humidity. 00:28:28.259 --> 00:28:30.420 And you have a controlled scientific thing. 00:28:30.420 --> 00:28:32.740 You have different balls out there, all the same size. 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:33.460 Everyone weighed. 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:40.500 They're completely as close to perfectly spherical as you can possibly get them. 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:45.779 And you go through experiments of hitting the ball at a different time and watching how things move. 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:49.859 And you're doing it to calculate momentum and all that other type of stuff. 00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:53.139 And you do it and you do it and you do it and you do it and you do it. 00:28:53.139 --> 00:28:57.139 And you can scientifically, hopefully, start to predict how things happen. 00:28:57.779 --> 00:29:05.460 But what that doesn't account for is one mischievous member of the research team 00:29:05.460 --> 00:29:13.940 that as the ball is first hit, he or she reaches out and takes one ball off the table 00:29:14.579 --> 00:29:16.579 and then adds another ball somewhere else. 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:23.940 Now, everything that's going to go on on that table will still follow the laws of physics. 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:28.420 But it won't be how they predicted it at the beginning. 00:29:28.420 --> 00:29:29.299 And it won't be that way. 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:29.940 Why? 00:29:29.940 --> 00:29:32.660 Well, because somebody took one of the balls away and somebody added a ball. 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:34.340 It's going to change all of the different patterns. 00:29:35.299 --> 00:29:41.539 And at the heart of a miracle, most miracles, is God removing something from the created order 00:29:42.500 --> 00:29:45.220 and or adding something to the created order. 00:29:46.180 --> 00:29:51.620 And so for a doctor to look at the case of a man who's been paralyzed for eight years and is healed, 00:29:52.420 --> 00:29:55.380 assuming that he had been able to go back in time and you do a medical, 00:29:55.380 --> 00:29:57.940 full medical diagnosis before and then after, 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:02.660 what you would see is that some of the things within the body that were there that were stopping function 00:30:02.660 --> 00:30:04.500 have now just been removed. 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:08.100 And things that are needed for function are there. 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:15.380 Since science and medicine doesn't disprove the miracle, what it does is it makes the wow bigger. 00:30:17.539 --> 00:30:22.340 And it would be the same thing for the dead body, an even bigger wow. 00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:31.139 And of course, God also, Jesus being the Lord, not just of this physical order, but of the bigger order, 00:30:31.139 --> 00:30:36.500 calling the spirit of Dorcas, the soul of Dorcas back into the body, which has been, 00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:41.139 in a sense, redesigned or recreated in a way that it's now going to have health. 00:30:41.140 --> 00:30:45.140 So if you're in science, do science. 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:50.100 Do it as well as you can. Be a leader in your field. 00:30:50.820 --> 00:30:55.380 If you're a doctor, be the best doctor you possibly can. Read the scientific literature. 00:30:56.100 --> 00:31:01.780 Look at the best peer-reviewed studies. Follow it and be up to date and do it the best you can. 00:31:01.780 --> 00:31:04.500 If you're an engineer, do your engineering to the best you can. 00:31:05.220 --> 00:31:09.140 But all the engineering and all the medicine and all the science in the world isn't going to tell you 00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:14.580 whether or not God chooses to do a miracle. And the God who does exist does miracles. 00:31:17.860 --> 00:31:22.020 And it's not a contradiction of your science, your engineering, or your medicine to do both, 00:31:22.020 --> 00:31:26.340 to believe in both. In fact, it fits. It fits. 00:31:28.580 --> 00:31:31.780 Now, how to wrap this story up. 00:31:34.340 --> 00:31:38.340 A couple of things about why this story is a story in time and place. 00:31:38.339 --> 00:31:43.859 What did I say earlier? It's not a timeless story, but a story in time and place for all times and places. 00:31:44.339 --> 00:31:47.859 And here's the first thing, and here's why it's not just a matter about arguing. 00:31:48.819 --> 00:31:52.419 And I've said this, you can't say it enough in our culture. 00:31:53.220 --> 00:32:01.220 I think every human being in our culture has some type of intuition and some type of yearning that life is stronger than death. 00:32:01.220 --> 00:32:07.940 I mean, we might be in despair about it because death always seems to win. 00:32:07.940 --> 00:32:10.579 We might be in despair about it because of our own death. 00:32:10.579 --> 00:32:24.659 Part of the problem we have in our country, of course, with medically, with euthanasia, call it what it is, is, of course, that we have almost, we have people who encourage despair. 00:32:24.660 --> 00:32:28.500 We have people who encourage despair. 00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:40.900 But despair is what happens when you have yearnings and hopes and intuitions and you just come to believe they're probably really not true and it's crushing. 00:32:40.900 --> 00:32:46.740 And I think human beings have a deep yearning that life is stronger than death. 00:32:46.740 --> 00:32:51.300 It feels as if death is something offensive and life is what should really be. 00:32:52.019 --> 00:33:01.540 And we have a yearning for it and an intuition that it's true and only the gospel grounds that institution, intuition, and answers your yearnings. 00:33:02.820 --> 00:33:04.880 Only the Bible. Only the gospel. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:15.380 Only the Bible is, it gives you an explanation of how to understand science and a closed thing and talks about the importance and dignity of human beings. 00:33:15.560 --> 00:33:22.280 And talks about in this grand big story how God's intention was for life and how death came into it from human beings. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:28.740 And how Jesus comes and defeats death and defeats that which causes death and rises from the dead. 00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:37.559 In fact, one of the things which is so wonderful and powerful about this story of Dorcas is it's helping to show that Luke, who wrote it, he understands the difference between myth and fact. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.299 He understands the difference between vision and reality. 00:33:40.620 --> 00:33:44.259 He understands the difference between healing and resurrection. 00:33:44.599 --> 00:33:48.559 He understands the difference between resuscitation and resurrection. 00:33:48.759 --> 00:33:50.680 Because Dorcas will still have to die. 00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:53.500 Jesus is completely and utterly unique. 00:33:54.019 --> 00:33:55.920 And Jesus defeated death. 00:33:55.920 --> 00:34:13.740 And that, there's reason, there's history, there's poetry, there's a grand narrative, there's a profound worldview, and only Christianity grounds that intuition that life is stronger than death. 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:18.340 And it is the only answer to the yearning of your heart. 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:25.000 In fact, if you could put up the next slide, here's part of a way, one of the ways to express the gospel. 00:34:25.260 --> 00:34:34.680 Life himself died for you who are doomed to die so that in him you might truly live. 00:34:36.140 --> 00:34:37.579 That's the message of the gospel. 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:40.880 Jesus, how does the John's gospel begin? 00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:42.660 By the way, you can just pray, you know. 00:34:42.659 --> 00:34:47.359 You never know what's going to happen sometimes when you go into a coffee shop. 00:34:47.539 --> 00:34:48.480 Like, it's absolutely the case. 00:34:49.059 --> 00:34:50.579 Like, there's this one young guy. 00:34:51.099 --> 00:34:52.119 You can pray for him. 00:34:52.139 --> 00:34:53.699 You can just pray for him as the young guy. 00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.899 And he has, like, no Christian background or interest. 00:34:56.980 --> 00:35:00.399 But he's taking a course in sort of late antiquity. 00:35:00.799 --> 00:35:07.299 And I go in to get a coffee, and he asks me about the Christological controversies of the 4th century and 5th century. 00:35:07.300 --> 00:35:12.340 And he says he'd like to talk to me about it. 00:35:12.740 --> 00:35:14.240 I have to brush up on that. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:18.660 He asked me about the difference between the Antioch and the Alexandrian school. 00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:20.140 I'm thinking. 00:35:20.580 --> 00:35:24.260 But he's taking a course at Carleton, I think, or Ottawa U, and that's the course. 00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:27.539 And he's decided he wants to study the Christological controversies. 00:35:27.980 --> 00:35:29.200 I've been praying for this guy. 00:35:29.380 --> 00:35:35.640 I would never in a million years think I might have a conversation because a course taught by a secular person on this. 00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:37.679 So you can just pray for him. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:40.119 But that's the whole message of the gospel. 00:35:40.539 --> 00:35:41.599 Oh, that was one of the things. 00:35:41.659 --> 00:35:42.759 He was talking about the book of John. 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:46.279 And I said, well, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 00:35:46.579 --> 00:35:47.799 He was with God in the beginning. 00:35:48.299 --> 00:35:52.659 All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made, and in him was life. 00:35:53.739 --> 00:35:55.779 And he said, wow, you've memorized that? 00:35:55.839 --> 00:35:58.579 I said, it's like every Christmas I have to preach on it. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:01.799 So I eventually memorized it. 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:03.519 He said, yeah, I'd like to talk about that. 00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:05.079 But what does that tell it? 00:36:05.139 --> 00:36:10.320 It's saying that life himself came to earth and died for you. 00:36:10.900 --> 00:36:13.619 He died for you because you were doomed to die. 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:17.360 And he died for you so that in him you might truly live. 00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:18.259 That's the gospel. 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:26.780 That's why this is a story in time and place, a true story in true time and in true place for all times and places. 00:36:26.980 --> 00:36:27.860 We're all going to die. 00:36:27.860 --> 00:36:35.820 That's why we really desperately need Jesus, and only the story of the gospel grounds our intuitions and answers our yearnings. 00:36:37.340 --> 00:36:39.980 And just two other things very briefly. 00:36:40.660 --> 00:36:47.200 And one of the things about this story that's really challenged me, I have to confess, I couldn't pray for somebody who was dead to come to life. 00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:50.079 I can't imagine doing that. 00:36:50.079 --> 00:37:02.840 Now, I do know, and in fact, at an earlier service, a fellow from our congregation from Africa, when I said that there's many places in the world where there's stories of people doing that and them coming to life, he was nodding. 00:37:04.340 --> 00:37:06.799 I don't know if it's a good thing about us that we wouldn't pray for it. 00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:10.380 But I don't think I – I have prayed for people who have been paralyzed for many years. 00:37:10.380 --> 00:37:11.180 I prayed for people. 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:22.840 In fact, I – I mean, some other time, I've had a fellow who should have died, and after I prayed for – when I pray for somebody who's close to death, I always pray that they would – I pray several things. 00:37:23.019 --> 00:37:27.400 I always pray that if it's God's will, that he would heal them, even at this last moment. 00:37:28.160 --> 00:37:34.340 And I also pray as well that he would know Jesus and be prepared to see Jesus face to face. 00:37:34.340 --> 00:37:38.980 And if he's a Christian, that Jesus would be very near to him at this hour of death. 00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:41.680 But I always pray for them to come alive, to be healed. 00:37:43.260 --> 00:37:46.680 And this story just challenges us in several ways. 00:37:46.860 --> 00:37:49.579 It challenges us that we are to pray big prayers. 00:37:51.019 --> 00:37:52.960 Brothers and sisters, pray big prayers. 00:37:54.519 --> 00:38:00.900 I was just telling my wife the other day about a fellow who has very serious brain cancer tumor, 00:38:00.900 --> 00:38:04.579 and he should have died five years ago, and he's still kicking around. 00:38:06.300 --> 00:38:09.099 Every time I see him, I say, aren't you supposed to be dead by now? 00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:12.680 And he says, yeah, that's what the doctors keep saying. 00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:16.340 So we need to pray big prayers. 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:17.780 Don't be embarrassed about it. 00:38:18.160 --> 00:38:20.940 God can say no, but pray big prayers. 00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:27.519 And just really, finally, this whole thing about walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, 00:38:27.639 --> 00:38:28.740 which is how we all began. 00:38:28.739 --> 00:38:34.159 And very, very briefly, some of you have heard me talk about the fear of the Lord before, 00:38:34.379 --> 00:38:36.639 and it's a really important virtue in the Bible. 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:42.479 And really at the heart of it, and I do a whole sermon just on it, 00:38:42.539 --> 00:38:48.079 but at the very heart of it is an increasing knowledge of the difference between you and God. 00:38:48.479 --> 00:38:50.239 It's a common human problem. 00:38:51.939 --> 00:38:55.239 It can be, even though, like, my wife and I are separate people, 00:38:55.239 --> 00:39:01.159 it can be very easy to somehow internally and psychologically and existentially somehow think that, 00:39:01.659 --> 00:39:06.179 to blur the difference between the two of us to some small thing. 00:39:06.299 --> 00:39:10.719 So maybe I think that she's going to think the way I do or want what I want and vice versa, 00:39:10.979 --> 00:39:16.019 or, you know, the sins that I'm prone to, you know, that she might be or the thing that, you know, whatever. 00:39:16.019 --> 00:39:19.019 And it's very, very hard, and that's even with human beings that we see, 00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:23.840 and with God who's invisible, it's constantly a temptation, given how proud we are, 00:39:23.900 --> 00:39:26.820 to blur the distinction between God and me. 00:39:27.059 --> 00:39:32.559 And the reason that this is such a powerful virtue is that we need to be informed by the gospel 00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:35.759 that God and me are very, very, very, very different and separate. 00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:38.980 And that's at the heart of what the fear of the Lord is. 00:39:38.980 --> 00:39:43.740 And at the same time, the comfort of the Holy Spirit is about God's closeness, 00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:47.820 that the Holy Spirit, when I become a Christian, is closer to me than my very breath. 00:39:48.860 --> 00:39:52.300 But here's the thing I want to tell you in closing, as a closing story. 00:39:54.240 --> 00:39:59.460 For a variety of reasons, I was, you know, I'm meditating upon this text every day, 00:40:00.300 --> 00:40:04.960 and one of the days I realized I was having a hard time thinking about it because I was very anxious. 00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:07.460 I was very anxious. 00:40:08.980 --> 00:40:14.280 And I'm a very thick male, and I cannot notice sometimes when I'm very anxious. 00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:17.719 And then I sort of thought, well, maybe I should pray about this, 00:40:17.800 --> 00:40:20.880 because, you know, I was thinking about most Canadians would think the last thing I need 00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:23.360 when I'm anxious is to think about the fear of the Lord, right? 00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:27.519 And I thought, well, you know, actually, the fear of the Lord is one of the most important things 00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:29.719 to have as an antidote to anxiety. 00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:35.340 And then I thought, I'm really dumb, I thought, well, I'm too anxious to pray. 00:40:35.340 --> 00:40:39.800 Rather than saying, I'm so anxious I have to pray. 00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:42.039 I said, I'm too anxious to pray. 00:40:42.640 --> 00:40:46.860 So then what I did, and I want to encourage you this in the closing word. 00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:50.019 I actually wrote down, I've done this off and on throughout the years. 00:40:50.180 --> 00:40:54.800 I wrote down every single thing I was anxious about, even very small and stupid things. 00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:58.500 We can be anxious about small and stupid things. 00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:02.580 Because even though we think we're really big, a lot of times we're small and stupid. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:07.640 So I wrote down everything I was anxious for. 00:41:08.060 --> 00:41:13.860 And then I said, Father, can you help me to walk in the fear of the Lord 00:41:13.860 --> 00:41:17.240 and the comfort of the Holy Spirit in this anxiety? 00:41:17.660 --> 00:41:18.740 And I wrote down everything. 00:41:19.300 --> 00:41:23.380 I'll be honest, I wrote down, I think it was 15 or 16 things I was anxious about. 00:41:23.380 --> 00:41:26.619 And in every case, I'd write it down and I'd say, Father, 00:41:27.180 --> 00:41:30.340 help me to walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit 00:41:30.340 --> 00:41:33.079 in the midst of this anxiety. 00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:36.720 Now, I'm not going to tell you that every time you do that it works, 00:41:36.860 --> 00:41:41.820 but the load that was lifted off me at that time and for the rest of my week was quite astounding. 00:41:42.780 --> 00:41:47.099 Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you to memorize verse 31 00:41:47.099 --> 00:41:51.539 and boldly pray in the... 00:41:51.539 --> 00:41:53.059 Oh, actually, I think I might have had a point. 00:41:53.139 --> 00:41:54.119 Yes, if you put up the point. 00:41:54.860 --> 00:41:56.659 In the midst of anxiety and fear, 00:41:57.319 --> 00:41:59.400 pray that you will walk in the fear of the Lord 00:41:59.400 --> 00:42:01.179 and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. 00:42:01.779 --> 00:42:03.199 I want to encourage you to do that. 00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:05.639 In the midst of anxiety and fear, 00:42:05.839 --> 00:42:08.059 pray that you will walk in the fear of the Lord 00:42:08.059 --> 00:42:09.460 and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. 00:42:10.279 --> 00:42:12.099 It's what Jesus would like you to do. 00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:13.559 Let's stand. 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:22.400 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:42:26.219 --> 00:42:26.699 Father, 00:42:27.940 --> 00:42:32.900 it is a relief to remember 00:42:32.900 --> 00:42:35.460 that you know everything about me, 00:42:35.719 --> 00:42:37.259 that you know everything about us. 00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:39.460 It is a relief to remember 00:42:39.460 --> 00:42:42.159 that you know the dreams we have at night 00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:43.079 that we don't remember. 00:42:43.079 --> 00:42:44.900 You know the past that we don't remember. 00:42:45.099 --> 00:42:47.219 You know the things we're ashamed about, 00:42:47.340 --> 00:42:48.519 the things we're proud about, 00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.980 you know the stupid things, 00:42:50.059 --> 00:42:50.759 the silly things, 00:42:50.860 --> 00:42:51.519 the good things, 00:42:51.619 --> 00:42:53.000 the wise and the brilliant things. 00:42:53.380 --> 00:42:55.139 You know everything there is to know about us. 00:42:55.259 --> 00:42:55.759 And Father, 00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:57.019 we give you thanks and praise 00:42:57.019 --> 00:42:58.940 that when Jesus died for us on the cross, 00:42:59.019 --> 00:43:01.699 he died with a clear-eyed knowledge, 00:43:02.219 --> 00:43:04.279 deep knowledge of everything about us. 00:43:04.319 --> 00:43:04.940 And still, 00:43:05.699 --> 00:43:07.579 life himself died 00:43:07.579 --> 00:43:10.059 for us who are doomed to die, 00:43:10.059 --> 00:43:12.139 that we in Jesus 00:43:12.139 --> 00:43:13.880 might have true life. 00:43:15.259 --> 00:43:15.860 So Father, 00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:16.920 we thank and praise you 00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:17.980 that you know sometimes 00:43:17.980 --> 00:43:18.980 we foolishly think 00:43:18.980 --> 00:43:20.340 we can't pray 00:43:20.340 --> 00:43:21.380 because we're too anxious. 00:43:21.599 --> 00:43:21.960 And Father, 00:43:22.019 --> 00:43:23.199 we ask that this word 00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:24.219 and your Holy Spirit 00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:25.820 that you would say, 00:43:26.059 --> 00:43:26.320 no, no, 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:28.219 that's exactly what you need to pray most 00:43:28.219 --> 00:43:29.320 and help us to do that. 00:43:29.799 --> 00:43:30.320 And Father, 00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:31.239 help us to pray 00:43:31.239 --> 00:43:32.960 for the virtue of the fear of the Lord 00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:34.000 and to walk 00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:35.460 in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, 00:43:36.019 --> 00:43:36.460 especially, 00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:37.940 in everything in life, Father, 00:43:37.940 --> 00:43:39.139 but especially in the midst 00:43:39.139 --> 00:43:40.500 of our fears and anxieties. 00:43:41.179 --> 00:43:41.320 Father, 00:43:41.380 --> 00:43:42.440 we thank you for your word. 00:43:42.559 --> 00:43:43.519 We thank you for Jesus. 00:43:43.740 --> 00:43:45.139 We thank you that he is our Savior. 00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:46.200 Father, 00:43:46.340 --> 00:43:48.000 bless us with a deep knowledge of this. 00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:49.159 And we ask these things 00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:50.099 in the name of Jesus, 00:43:50.240 --> 00:43:51.280 your Son and our Savior. 00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:52.400 Amen. 00:44:07.940 --> 00:44:09.679 Amen. 00:44:10.019 --> 00:44:10.679 Amen. 00:44:10.679 --> 00:44:10.920 Amen. 00:44:10.940 --> 00:44:11.480 Amen. 00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:12.740 Amen. 00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:13.320 Amen. 00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:14.740 Amen. 00:44:15.059 --> 00:44:15.420 Amen. 00:44:15.539 --> 00:44:15.820 Amen. 00:44:15.820 --> 00:44:16.320 Amen. 00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:17.039 Amen. 00:44:17.059 --> 00:44:17.440 Amen. 00:44:17.980 --> 00:44:20.079 Amen. 00:44:23.360 --> 00:44:23.940 Amen. 00:44:23.940 --> 00:44:24.320 Amen. 00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:26.159 Amen. 00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:28.300 Amen. 00:44:28.300 --> 00:44:28.619 Amen. 00:44:28.619 --> 00:44:28.659 Amen. 00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:29.139 Amen. 00:44:29.139 --> 00:44:33.059 Amen. 00:44:33.119 --> 00:44:35.260 Amen. 00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:36.300 Amen. 00:44:36.300 --> 00:44:36.800 Amen. 00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:37.340 Amen. 00:44:37.340 --> 00:44:37.500 Amen. 00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:37.900 Amen.