SPEAKER_00: In chapter one of the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that he was not only praying for the church in Rome, but he also wanted to visit them in Romans 1.12 for mutual encouragement, that they'd be encouraged, they'd be mutually encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't just a him to them kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's this idea of them being mutually encouraged together.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we know that Paul has actually never visited this church that he's talking to.
SPEAKER_00: He's just heard from his and all the people he's gonna greet here in a minute in Romans 16.
SPEAKER_00: He's just heard about everything that's going on there, and he's excited.
SPEAKER_00: He just really wants to get there.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, listen, I I want to get there, I want to be there, I want to be mutually encouraged by uh by fellowship with you, but I am um, as he says later on in Romans chapter 1, I have a um an obligation to preach the gospel elsewhere, but I'm hoping to get there, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's kind of pointing to uh throughout really the book of Romans, but there especially in chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 1 through 6 of Romans chapter 16, verses 1 through 6 of uh I'm sorry, 1 through 16 of Romans uh 16, are all about Paul's relationships with individuals in and around the Roman church, including there in the beginning, Phoebe, uh who is kind of the person who is charged with bringing the letter to the just thinking about that too uh when I was reading through this like think you imagine that you have the manuscript for Romans for the book of Romans, and you're it's your job to take it to like I listen, I remember Chris and I were looking at pictures last night of of us whenever we first got uh we first got when uh Les, my youngest child, was born, and we were looking at pictures, and my in-laws took pictures of our car driving on uh Plano Parkway there in Plano, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Dallas, the roads are just crazy.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like six lanes in the neighborhood, and uh that's not a joke, Bozeman.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I don't need to be taking shots at county government.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, so like that we were we were driving like in the middle of of the neighborhood in like three lanes.
SPEAKER_00: I drove in the middle lane, and you know, again, it's Texas, so it's 70 miles an hour through the neighborhoods, and uh like I was in the middle lane with our with our newborn child in the back, just terrified, holding on to like gripping the wheel, people flying by us probably.
SPEAKER_00: I'm in the middle lane in the neighborhood and driving.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just so scared.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking about Phoebe.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't even in the message.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was just thinking about Phoebe just now, thinking about her holding the letter to the Romans, like, oh my goodness, are y'all gonna let me leave here with this, Paul?
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, is there another?
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, all right, so first 16 verses of Romans chapter 16 are all about Paul talking about, hey, and he says over 26 different individuals.
SPEAKER_00: He says, give my greetings to this person, give my greetings to this person.
SPEAKER_00: And I I, you know, as I've thought about that, maybe in the same way I think about the genealogies in the in the Bible, I think, okay, that's just there, it's just there.
SPEAKER_00: But you know this is so important because it helps us understand the whole posture, not only of Paul, but of God.
SPEAKER_00: None of this.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is not about a simple theology lesson.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is meant to explain and point to the fact that it's about a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And here in the first 16 verses, Paul is saying, and this is stuff that makes the canon, that is, makes the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3.16, to all scripture is profitable.
SPEAKER_00: How is this profitable for us to hear everybody who Paul wants to say hello to and give a high five to, or in that time a heavenly kiss to?
SPEAKER_00: How is this profitable?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll tell you one way.
SPEAKER_00: It helps us remember that the church, uh, that God's plan is a plan of restoration of a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's saying, this is all about a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: All theology, uh, all of this is meant to be done in relationship.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just about Steve and God, and that's it, and I'm just thinking about that, and then heaven becomes this idea of it's all I think about with heaven is what I'm gonna receive.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's God, yes, but it's all about me and living my best life then.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not what it's not, it's not this individualistic idea of eternity, that it's all about a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's saying, hey, greet this person, greet this person, greet this person, greet this person, and if I miss anybody, give them a kiss too.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Romans 1, or 16, 1 through 16 is about.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really all throughout, it's in the margins throughout the book of Romans, and really all of his letters, and really the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not strange to Paul, it's the same posture, and all, or it's not uh strange for Paul to say this, it's in every single letter he writes.
SPEAKER_00: So then, remember in the Garden of Eden, back in you know, a long time ago, even longer than 44 weeks ago, remember in the Garden of Eden what was lost in the rebellion of man.
SPEAKER_00: What was lost in the rebellion of man?
SPEAKER_00: Relationships.
SPEAKER_00: When man sought himself by taking the fruit, it was exactly what he received.
SPEAKER_00: He got what he sought.
SPEAKER_00: He got himself.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be self-sovereign, right?
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be able to be the decision of what's good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: He took it selfishly, he wanted to be like God, and what did he receive?
SPEAKER_00: Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And what did it do?
SPEAKER_00: It fractured, it broke community, it broke fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Man severed perfect community with God and with the rest of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And remember what happens.
SPEAKER_00: How do we we it's very I'm not like I'm not this is not trying to give you some new insight.
SPEAKER_00: If you read the story, what does he do first?
SPEAKER_00: What does man do?
SPEAKER_00: What does Adam do first whenever God says, hey?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Oh, it's hurt.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So his first act of seeking himself was to what?
SPEAKER_00: Blame the other.
SPEAKER_00: Her fault.
SPEAKER_00: So relationship severed between him and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: That which was good became fractured and broken.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: God said, and he created Eve, and it was good, right?
SPEAKER_00: Relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And he dwelled with man in the garden, he walked with him, and then man sinned, sought himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he got, himself.
SPEAKER_00: Fractured that, immediately blamed that.
SPEAKER_00: And then what did man do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, before that, he ran and hid and did what?
SPEAKER_00: Covered himself from other and from other, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sought to uh separate himself from each other.
SPEAKER_00: That's so important.
SPEAKER_00: And I it's not just like a something for like a flannel board, like, oh, this is interesting, you need to know this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh because it it is, it is actually how things are gonna end, is gonna be the restoration of that, of what was lost.
SPEAKER_00: And it's what Paul is going to point to here in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy seeks division and separation while God seeks fellowship and presence.
SPEAKER_00: Again, to be the God of peace means to be the God of wholeness, of fullness.
SPEAKER_00: God is the God of restoration of what man rejected in the garden, and that is community and fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Paul ends the letter to the Romans with the greetings to those whom he loves.
SPEAKER_00: He takes 16 verses to talk about his relationships, and then he warns the church of those who would divide and create obstacles in verse 17 on.
SPEAKER_00: We know that he's not speaking on behalf of some church growth movement.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is declaring the plan and purpose of God eternal, that we would walk in fellowship with one another and in fellowship with him.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, with Paul's desire to be in their presence in mind, we're gonna focus on his warning, assurance, and full of I'm sorry, we're gonna focus on his warning and assurance of full restoration and praise of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So, first 16 verses, obviously important.
SPEAKER_00: They illustrate, they show that Paul did life in relationship.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look and focus, our focal text will be verses 17 through 27.
SPEAKER_00: 17 through 27.
SPEAKER_00: So read this with me.
SPEAKER_00: Reading from the English Standard Version.
SPEAKER_00: I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
SPEAKER_00: For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
SPEAKER_00: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you.
SPEAKER_00: So do Lucius and Jason and Suslipiter, my kinsman.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be the name of our next job.
SPEAKER_00: Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.
SPEAKER_00: Erastus, the city treasurer, and brother Corderus, greet you.
SPEAKER_00: And now look at verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Here's our doxology.
SPEAKER_00: This is the end.
SPEAKER_00: Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray as we look at those verses.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you've given us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the day that you're holding together, you're sustaining by the word of your power.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, I pray as we look at these verses, we would be warned, we would be assured, and we would be led to praise.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a purpose statement, and it's it's on your screen, but it's a uh uh it's different than the one that's in your bulletin.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking at the bulletin for the purpose statement, it has changed.
SPEAKER_00: Uh last night I had already printed the bulletins, and you know, instead of hitting reprint this morning, here we go.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the purpose statement.
SPEAKER_00: The pursuit of man leads to and ends with separation from each other in God, but praise God for his gospel in Jesus that leads to and ends with the full restoration of fellowship with him and all those who trust him.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're going to look at in this passage today.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I believe this is a faithful representation of what these verses are saying, really the whole chapter of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: So three three parts of that.
SPEAKER_00: The appeal, the assurance, and the amen.
SPEAKER_00: So first the appeal, verses 17 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: It's on your screens again.
SPEAKER_00: It's in your Bible as well.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible, Romans chapter 16, 17 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul begins his one last thing here uh in the book of Romans with an appeal.
SPEAKER_00: Again, so remember, he's first 16 verses of Romans 16, he says, Hey, greet these people, greet these people, greet these people.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Oh, one more thing.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like you know how I do at the end, like, oh, and in conclusion, which means you got 20 minutes left.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so uh one one last thing after he said tell everybody hello, he writes this in 17 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles, contrary to the dark doctrine that you've been uh taught.
SPEAKER_00: For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's look at that, 17, 18.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul begins that with a warning to the church, this this part last part.
SPEAKER_00: So out of the past two chapters, 14 and 15, Paul has been encouraging the church not to be divided over non-essential things.
SPEAKER_00: Don't make those who've been welcomed by God feel unwelcome at his table.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about that for a while.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, God has welcomed a group of people, so we don't sit around and try to unwelcome them.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you don't do this, you don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean you're not in a small group?
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: And make people feel unwelcome.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean you don't know the difference between a minor and a major prophet?
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me right now?
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean you had to look at the index to find out where that book was in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Are you serious?
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what agape is?
SPEAKER_00: And whatever it is, when there's this kind of this posturing in the church and this rivalry, what do you mean you've never been on a foreign mission?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it may be, at this time it was food and drink.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it may be that we would use to kind of separate, to make other people around the table feel unwelcome.
SPEAKER_00: And really what we're doing is we're gonna find out here, it has less to do with making other people feel unwelcome as it has to do with us feeling welcomed.
SPEAKER_00: Born out of insecurity.
SPEAKER_00: And so we posture.
SPEAKER_00: And then here, so in this chapter, he takes a step further and says, watch out for those who cause division and create obstacles to the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Watch out for those actively trying to create and divide, create a divide in the church.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says that under this division is a desire, a selfish appetite that seeks to serve itself rather than seeking the service to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this self-ambition is a barrier to the building up of the church because those who serve themselves seek to point to themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Those who serve themselves seek to point to themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Self-absorption is not a victimless sin.
SPEAKER_00: It destroys community and blocks the beauty of what Christ died for, and therefore veins, empties his personhood, his name.
SPEAKER_00: It turns the church into a platform and a place of our own recognition, an arena for our own name to be made known, and so it becomes a place of rivalry and competition and not of worship.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Paul is clear here.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are here in the church, in the congregation, in the gathering of Christ, those who are here to use it as a platform to declare their own beauty and their worth, and there creates this uh division and obstacle for the gospel, and they they're unwelcoming people, whatever, and they're actively trying to do that to point to their own renown, and they're in their self-absorption, they're actually trying to serve themselves and not the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: That's clear.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid them.
SPEAKER_00: And he finishes with a plea to be wise to what is good and to be innocent to what is evil.
SPEAKER_00: That is, be experienced in goodness and be a stranger to what is wicked.
SPEAKER_00: Keep learning and growing in what it means to do good, what it means and looks like to obey the command of God to deny yourself and love in love for the other.
SPEAKER_00: Practice these things, make them your ambition, and conversely, reject anything that is against God in his gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Reject, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
SPEAKER_00: We are to, Paul says, reject thoughts of resentment that cause division.
SPEAKER_00: Reject disregard for the saints who think differently than you.
SPEAKER_00: Reject our cultural and selfish drive to associate only with, talk to, and be around those who are like you.
SPEAKER_00: Reject the self-serving posture of the consumer who is ready to complain.
SPEAKER_00: Those who cause division.
SPEAKER_00: Be innocent of gossip and slander that drives wedges between those whom God loves.
SPEAKER_00: Put off the envy that causes rivalry.
SPEAKER_00: Put off the ledgers that keep account of the good we do and the lack of service of another.
SPEAKER_00: Put off the evil, wicked, demonic thoughts that whisper that everyone else do fall everyone else falls short of your example.
SPEAKER_00: And like I know maybe some of you are like, oh, that's provocative.
SPEAKER_00: He said demonic.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if it's not of God, who is it of?
SPEAKER_00: The thought that we would walk around with a ledger and say, Why is everyone else falling short of the example I'm giving?
SPEAKER_00: I serve, how come nobody else is serving?
SPEAKER_00: Look at everything I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00: Where would that thought come from?
SPEAKER_00: The father of lies.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes it's good for us to understand.
SPEAKER_00: We think there's like this neutral thing.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's there's the demonic thing, which means you know, Ouija boards and pitchforks and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: There's, you know, the red scary beast.
SPEAKER_00: We're not that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I wore a button-up Oxford today.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't put on my red outfit.
SPEAKER_00: So we're not that.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe, yes, okay, maybe these thoughts of resentment or things that say, why is everybody falling short of my example?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's not of God, but it's like this middle thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, eh, you should work on that.
SPEAKER_00: These whispers, these thoughts, these lies that cause division, resentment in our own hearts are like us taking the fruit of our own self-sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what we get in return?
SPEAKER_00: We get our self.
SPEAKER_00: And we get the dust, and we get the death.
SPEAKER_00: The death of everything that God and Christ Jesus died for to restore.
SPEAKER_00: Be innocent of gossip and slander that drives wedges between those whom God loves again.
SPEAKER_00: Put off the clothing of this age and stoop to serve and wash the feet of those around you.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say this again, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Put off the clothing of this age that stoops and serves to wash the feet of those around you as long as they are willing to do the same.
SPEAKER_00: The church that is gathered by the person of Jesus is meant to look like the person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Do we understand that?
SPEAKER_00: We say we're gathered by the work of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You meant you know that that also means we're meant to look like the person of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is how the world will know we are his, John 13, 35.
SPEAKER_00: How will the world know that we are the followers of Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_00: We love one another.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus loved other, he gave his life for other.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way we're meant to look.
SPEAKER_00: And to drive home the simple and beautiful exhortation to our body here, Redemption Church.
SPEAKER_00: May this be a place in which we deny the appetite and hunger for self and seek the good of one another.
SPEAKER_00: May we reject the whisper of the enemy to take the fruit of our self-absorption and follow Christ in picking up a cross of self-denial.
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing we're supposed to pick up, not the fruit of self-absorption.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to pick up a cross and deny ourselves daily.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing so, by his grace, we will make this a place in which we serve each other as we point to another.
SPEAKER_00: A place in which we walk in purity and innocence to what is evil and are jealous to do what is good for the sake of him who is good.
SPEAKER_00: So first, Paul begins with a warning.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, he moves to an assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this assurance.
SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
SPEAKER_00: The entire Bible's good.
SPEAKER_00: Second point, the assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read the whole verse.
SPEAKER_00: It's on your screen.
SPEAKER_00: It's in your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The God of peace, shalom, fullness, completion, will soon crush Satan under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul tells the church to be on the watch for those who seek to divide and separate them from God, verses 17 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: And then he writes that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under their feet.
SPEAKER_00: The God of fullness will silence once for all those who sought division and separation.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear it?
SPEAKER_00: Peace being shalom, fullness, completion.
SPEAKER_00: So the God of shalom, of peace, will crush the one who seeks to uh to divide, to empty.
SPEAKER_00: Fullness will crush the one who empties.
SPEAKER_00: He will restore what uh we've rebelled against.
SPEAKER_00: And we're meant to uh understand that in the already.
SPEAKER_00: The figurehead of our self-pursuit will be crushed.
SPEAKER_00: We should walk in the confidence that this God, that our God, intended shalom and it will be achieved one day.
SPEAKER_00: The term, I'm gonna use a long term with a lot of syllables.
SPEAKER_00: Just giving you a heads up.
SPEAKER_00: In case you were wondering how many syllables I was gonna be using.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why you needed a heads up.
SPEAKER_00: The term proto-evangelium, right?
SPEAKER_00: I know it's in your normal language, is a Latin phrase meaning first gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So proto-evangelium, the first gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For Protestants, the proto-evangelium is found in one verse.
SPEAKER_00: So if you, you know, you you know that we think of the four gospels, right?
SPEAKER_00: The revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there is a proto-evangelium, a first gospel, a first simple gospel, and it's all the way back in Genesis 3.15.
SPEAKER_00: So you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but you want to hear the proto-the first, you look at Genesis 3.15.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: God speaking to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: I will put enmity between you and the woman.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to the serpent, and between your offspring and her offspring.
SPEAKER_00: He, we know who he is now, it's the capital H, he, it is Jesus Christ, he shall uh uh bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
SPEAKER_00: So the serpent will bruise the heel of this offspring, that is Jesus Christ, and he being Jesus Christ will bruise, really crush the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul is pointing to in chapter 16, verse 20 an assurance that he being Christ will one day crush the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: It's the first gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul points to the church.
SPEAKER_00: Paul points the church to this first gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That is, that God would one day crush the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: We already know from the resurrection of Jesus in the book of Romans that the venom of the serpent has lost its power, that death could not separate man from his God.
SPEAKER_00: And as we know, death cannot even separate you and I.
SPEAKER_00: That while death may sting, the stinger has no power to destroy.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that?
SPEAKER_00: We talked about this before.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we all fear death?
SPEAKER_00: Because it separates.
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing that we do when we chose the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: We chose separation.
SPEAKER_00: Death, what?
SPEAKER_00: Death separates us.
SPEAKER_00: So then, what does uh what does what do we learn that Christ has done is he has defeated death.
SPEAKER_00: He has taken the venom out of the stinger, out of the snake's mouth.
SPEAKER_00: So you can still get bit by the snake and it stings, but you cannot be destroyed by the snake because it had the venom has been removed.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: So then the serpent has become venomless.
SPEAKER_00: The stinger has lost its sting, right?
SPEAKER_00: It may seem strange to hear that the God of peace will crush the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: The peace of God is not found in overlooking evil, it is not found in coexisting with Satan.
SPEAKER_00: True peace can only be fully realized when the father of lies has been fully crushed.
SPEAKER_00: This is the confidence we're meant to walk in, an assurance of the God ordained complete restoration of all things, that is, of all relationships, man and man, and also man and God.
SPEAKER_00: And know this: as we walk in the valleys and pastures of this age, the grace that is the Lord Jesus Christ walks with us.
SPEAKER_00: Our good shepherd goes with us in all things.
SPEAKER_00: In times of great loss or great celebration, he is with us.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot be separated, Romans 8, by anything in all of creation.
SPEAKER_00: We are not simply loved from afar, we are loved in the near, while we do not yet see him.
SPEAKER_00: We can know him.
SPEAKER_00: So then we praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the pastor, past passage.
SPEAKER_00: Woof.
SPEAKER_00: If it's not written down, I forget words.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the passage in Romans chapter 8, that there's nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of God is actually the great promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is the great reversal of what happened in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: You will no longer, you cannot be separated from the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he says present tense, that means already.
SPEAKER_00: And now we know in the not yet it will be fully realized.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, do y'all listen, like this was big news to me this week.
SPEAKER_00: As I realized, as I was reminded, maybe, realized and reminded of the of the great promise of Scripture and of the God's gospel and the ark of redemption is a full restoration of all relationships with one another and with God.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, thirdly and finally, which you're thinking, okay, that means 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Third, um, the Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Paul ends the letter with a doxology, and again, another word I know we all use all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Doxology, uh, meaning doxa means uh glory.
SPEAKER_00: Uh logos, which is where that word comes from, ology, uh, is word.
SPEAKER_00: So glory word, doxology.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that's you know, we sing it at the end of every service, the doxology, it's a word of glory, or you could say a pray, a word of praise.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what doxology is.
SPEAKER_00: That's how Paul ends his letters, that's what we see here in these final verses, 25 and 27.
SPEAKER_00: So before we look at the destination of the glory, who that word of glory is pointed to, let's take a moment to see clearly what God has provided in his gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, remember the beginning of the letter again to uh to the Romans uh church, to the Roman church there in Romans 1, 16 and 17.
SPEAKER_00: This is the passage that I think Martin Luther was actually converted that woke his heart up.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 1, 16, 17.
SPEAKER_00: For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So imputed righteousness unto those who have faith.
SPEAKER_00: So it is the power of God for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But look at Romans 16, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: So Romans 1, this is important, just saw that, just saw this this week.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 1 16 says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 16, 25, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So to make these verses feel more parallel, the power of God for salvation, but also the power of God to strengthen us.
SPEAKER_00: Strengthen can also mean establish.
SPEAKER_00: So here are these two verses that bookend Romans.
SPEAKER_00: The power of God to save us, the gospel is the power of God to save us, the gospel is the power of God to establish us.
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Because we need both.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just need to be saved, we need to be established.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the similarities, but also see the change.
SPEAKER_00: Power of God for salvation here in 16.
SPEAKER_00: Gospel strengthens or gospel establishes.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the NIV translates it as.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is the power of God that establishes you and I.
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
SPEAKER_00: It's a common misunderstanding in the church that the gospel is the entry point, right?
SPEAKER_00: So you say Romans 1:16, we all know, we all quote it, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's the power of God for our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: It's the entry point.
SPEAKER_00: And then we graduate into religious obligation.
SPEAKER_00: So you enter through the power of God for salvation, and then you go to religious obligation.
SPEAKER_00: Here we hear, no, no, no, no, it's not just the power of God for our salvation, it's also the power of God that will establish us in our faith.
SPEAKER_00: I was watching television.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not embarrassed.
SPEAKER_00: I actually I think it was a real.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I'm embarrassed.
SPEAKER_00: But I I, you know, this is uh, okay, you know, I know not everybody watches these kinds of things, but uh uh the NFL draft just happened.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what that is, it's not where like people who don't want to do something are drafted into something.
SPEAKER_00: It's like where people who really want to do something are drafted into something.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know how the NFL draft works.
SPEAKER_00: Uh okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I was watching a video of like this kid, like, and they're all the same.
SPEAKER_00: You can almost like you never get to hear what's on the other side of the phone call, but they show like a picture of the family, and they're all sitting around on couches with all their family sitting around, and they get the phone call and they act surprised.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, I wonder who could be calling me.
unknown: It's on TV.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so they get the phone call and they know they know.
SPEAKER_00: So they get they pick up the call and like from from the from the person who's being trafted.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way it usually sounds.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's it's usually whether it's the general manager or the coach, uh, the the the the kid says something like, I'm not gonna let you down.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: I'm showing up, yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show up to work.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm going after.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen that video?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I will, I will like I am going to prove basically that you are you're not making a mistake, right?
SPEAKER_00: You've drafted me now, it's my job to prove.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get to work.
SPEAKER_00: All this stuff is you like seriously, every video, it's like the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The kid's saying the same thing to the general manager of the coach.
SPEAKER_00: Draft day is not the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The good news of Jesus Christ is how we enter, but it's also how we are established in the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: It is the power of God to grow us in maturity.
SPEAKER_00: We do not receive the gracious choosing phone call of God and then say to him, I won't let you down, God.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for the phone call.
SPEAKER_00: I will, we don't say, I'll prove that you've made a good decision, God.
SPEAKER_00: No, we say thank you for the grace that saves me from the eternal death that I chose, and then thank you for the grace that grows me by one degree to the next into the image I was created to bear.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is the revealed power of God to save, establish, and then one day finish the complete restoration of all things.
SPEAKER_00: He who started the good work will complete the good work.
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't put the phone down and grip my teeth and clench my fists and try to prove myself.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, in light of the phone call, or as Paul describes it in Romans 12:1, in light of the mercies of God, I surrender, I submit, I obey the power of God being administered to me through the Spirit by the written word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I know maybe you're saying, yeah, but I picked up the phone.
SPEAKER_00: Like, so I did something.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think the ability to pick up a phone is why any NFL player gets drafted.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's like, I mean, the GMs are not like, oh, who can pick up a phone?
SPEAKER_00: Who can pick up a phone?
SPEAKER_00: If we could just find one person who could pick up a phone, that's not what qualifies you to be in the NFL, is you can pick up a phone.
SPEAKER_00: And what qualifies you is not that you uh that you you you uh pray to prayer, what qualifies you is the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So we take no boast in the fact that we did something.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Instead we say, Oh my goodness, thank you for calling me.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I I can't prove myself.
SPEAKER_00: My righteousness has been imputed, Romans chapter 1, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: My righteousness has been given to me, the righteousness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna live that out by faith, not by my own grit and by my own power.
SPEAKER_00: All I can do is Romans 12, 1, is I can surrender in light of the phone call, in light of the mercies of God upon me, who Romans chapter 3, who chose death.
SPEAKER_00: None of us were righteous, no, not one.
SPEAKER_00: None of us deserved the phone call, no, not one, is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all get it?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe so we are thankful and see it.
SPEAKER_00: The reason a new draft pick wants to perform well is to justify the choice of the team.
SPEAKER_00: It is to show the team and the watching world that they are worthy.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: The draft pick wants to prove why.
SPEAKER_00: Whose glory do they want to point to?
SPEAKER_00: Themselves.
SPEAKER_00: I am worthy.
SPEAKER_00: I am worthy of the phone call.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what the player wants.
SPEAKER_00: That would be then to live a doxology of their own glory, a word of praise for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they're guaranteeing the team.
SPEAKER_00: But the good news of grace leads us to then live lives that share the worthiness of another.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Paul is pointing out in his final word to the church here.
SPEAKER_00: So to whom is this word of glory, this doxology written to?
SPEAKER_00: Not the person who picked up the phone.
SPEAKER_00: No, it is to him who is able to establish you according to the gospel of Christ that has now been revealed through the will of the eternal God, in order to bring about the obedience of faith to him, the only wise God, be all the praise.
SPEAKER_00: To receive grace is not to deserve anything.
SPEAKER_00: And hear me, neither Paul nor I are saying you are worthless.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what we're saying either.
SPEAKER_00: We're not saying you are worthless, and good thing God stepped in.
SPEAKER_00: There's a danger there.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we are saying that what we've received in Christ is something we are not deserving of.
SPEAKER_00: God did not send Christ in anger toward us, he sent God in love to us.
SPEAKER_00: And Christ emptied himself all the way to death in love for the Father and us.
SPEAKER_00: So then, we do not sing a song that says God died for garbage because he is not a fool.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we say Christ lovingly died to give life to those who chose death.
SPEAKER_00: He gave himself so that we could have him.
SPEAKER_00: Grace is to those who are not deserving.
SPEAKER_00: It is not saying grace is to those who are worthless.
SPEAKER_00: That would be, again, to call God a fool.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: And this is all unto him.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if that's discouraging for us.
SPEAKER_00: Does this mean that I am a cog in the machine of his pleasure?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: That would be a robot, and that is not you.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to flourish and thrive and have deep joy.
SPEAKER_00: The reality under the lie that we've given ourselves to is that joy is found apart from God in ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: The deception that joy is found in living for oneself.
SPEAKER_00: The wicked lie that the path of life well lived is a pursuit of our own acclaim.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that is absolutely obsessed with followers and personal influence.
SPEAKER_00: It is the economy of our lives and our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And so we trust that the more we can point to our worth, the more people who affirm our worth, the more we can finally be established and prove we belong to a certain group, the more joy we will have, and the more we can find rest.
SPEAKER_00: But it is all a lie.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know it somehow, even though we give ourselves to it.
SPEAKER_00: Because what choice do we have?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us that there are pleasures forevermore in his presence, that there is a joy in living a life unto him, that we have been hardwired for this unto him life.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, when we give ourselves to it, when we surrender our hearts, when we reject the lie of the enemy of this age, we are not miserable monks.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Even in persecution and suffering, even in our troubles and sadness, we are able to rejoice because he has not only gone before us in all these things, he is with us in all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, he gives us that delight, that delight that is in him.
SPEAKER_00: Again, a doxology is a word of glory, a word of praise.
SPEAKER_00: In all of this, we need to see that our lives forevermore are meant to be a doxology.
SPEAKER_00: A doxology that declares in everything we do that the good news of Jesus Christ not only saves us, but also establishes and strengthens us.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: So then, a doxology for the believer, for the saint.
SPEAKER_00: A doxology is not something we just sing, it is something that we live.
SPEAKER_00: We want our whole lives to be a word of praise to God.
SPEAKER_00: Whether we eat, whether we drink, whether we fellowship, whether we sit, whether we sing, whether we hold doors, whether we gather with people who aren't like us, whether we welcome people who are less mature in their faith, whatever it is we do, whether it is we serve in a kid's room on Mother's Day, even when it looks like nobody else wants to serve, when we fix things in the church whenever nobody knows, when we clean toilets, when we do when all you understand those are words of when we write emails, when we communicate with one another so there's no misunderstanding, when we do all of those things, you understand those are all parts of the doxology that says we are not in it for ourselves, we've not been created for ourselves, we've not been created just for our own glory and for our own acclaim.
SPEAKER_00: We've been created for a relationship to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and it is magnificent, it is it is majestic, and it's actually where everything is going in all of history.
SPEAKER_00: We will be restored unto that.
SPEAKER_00: It is to then live in the already as if the not yet were true.
SPEAKER_00: So let's end with that in closing.
SPEAKER_00: Now that means we have 20 more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, that's what's on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: And then I put a period there.
SPEAKER_00: You see it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Amen's how we close prayers.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about this here if you've been to redemption before.
SPEAKER_00: Uh amen is not just how God says, how is everybody gonna know you're done praying?
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's have a word.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have a word where everybody can open their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, people keep their eyes closed forever.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so it's not the signal to open your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Amen uh means uh certainly.
SPEAKER_00: May it be certainly, truly, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we pray a prayer, and then at the end we say amen mean means truly.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly it will be so.
SPEAKER_00: These things we asked God for the may it be so, may they be true, right?
SPEAKER_00: You get it?
SPEAKER_00: Remember how this letter Romans started.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he started Romans.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And now look, so now look how he ends.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: He ends it with Amen.
unknown: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: The letter of Romans is written in service to Christ, and everything in it is assured and made true by Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 1.20, we talk about this passage a lot, it's so important.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 1.20.
SPEAKER_00: For all the promises of God find their yes in him, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's, he's a clever writer.
SPEAKER_00: So he's gonna write this letter, right, that we took 44 weeks on.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna write, and he's gonna say, Hey, I'm a servant of Christ Jesus, and then he's gonna fill it up in the first uh 11 chapters with heavy, robust, thick doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna go chapter 12, he's gonna, you know, the next uh 12, 13, 14, 15, he's gonna have chapters of application, exhortation.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what that looks like, here's how those first, he's gonna do all that, say all of these true things about God and all that he's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna crush proto-evangelium, he's actually going to do that, he's gonna crush that.
SPEAKER_00: He says all of this stuff, this is his big prayer, his big doxology, and all of this is how he ends it with it, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And he says later in 2 Corinthians, he says, and all of these things that I just said find their yes in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So all of this, the amen, the capital Amen is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So when you see amen, you see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when we pray, God, I need this, please help me, give me this grace.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, God, for who you are.
SPEAKER_00: We say, in Jesus' name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And like He's the one who makes all of these things true.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_00: We talk about this, we say it in our prayers sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: You understand you cannot walk before the holy, holy, holy God and ask him things in your own name.
SPEAKER_00: You want to do that?
SPEAKER_00: Hey God, it's me, Steve.
SPEAKER_00: You remember me.
SPEAKER_00: I've done a lot of good things this week, so I'm gonna ask you to do this with this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask for your peace, I'm gonna ask for your grace.
SPEAKER_00: And and and and and you're gonna you're gonna use your own, as Paul says, your own resume, your rubbish resume, as a way to get something from God.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, we go before God and say, I'm walking in here before in confidence that I will not be ripped apart by your holiness in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, in his name.
SPEAKER_00: He is the amen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, to all of our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all get it.
SPEAKER_00: So, how are you established before God?
SPEAKER_00: The word is the amen.
SPEAKER_00: There are two options of how we might take hold of all the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: So there's two options.
SPEAKER_00: How can we take hold of all the promises of God that He'll crush the head that'll restore all of creation unto a perfect, restorated, uh restored relationship with Him and with man?
SPEAKER_00: How can we take hold of all those promises?
SPEAKER_00: There's two options throughout history, there's two options.
SPEAKER_00: One option is that we are gonna be our own amen.
SPEAKER_00: And the other option is that Jesus is gonna be our amen.
SPEAKER_00: So who's gonna be your amen?
SPEAKER_00: How are you going to have a certainly, may it be so, to all of these things?
SPEAKER_00: You or God?
SPEAKER_00: So, how does this apply to me today?
SPEAKER_00: First, we should all just take a moment to thoughtfully respond to this truth.
SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to these things and it seems you're being drawn towards something or really someone, the amen, may today be the day that you go to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is the amen that you've sought your entire life.
SPEAKER_00: You've been hardwired for Jesus Christ as your amen.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot be your amen.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve tried to be their own amen.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that made all of these things come true, that self-absorption was how they were going to find joy, peace, shalom in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: They tried to be their own amen.
SPEAKER_00: But then the second Adam, the better Adam, the true and better Adam, came and he became our amen.
SPEAKER_00: So then, go to him.
SPEAKER_00: Trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And for those who've already placed their trust in him, then see that he is still your amen.
SPEAKER_00: How can you walk, how can we walk in confidence into self-denial and hard things in this age?
SPEAKER_00: We will be crushed and consumed if you believe that you're your own amen.
SPEAKER_00: The assurance in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: We go to him.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard it said.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, God has taken me through so many things in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm gonna make it through this next thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, okay.
SPEAKER_00: The timer's broke.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a long one.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but I still got a clock.
SPEAKER_00: Uh remember when David fought Goliath?
SPEAKER_00: You remember that story?
SPEAKER_00: It's in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: You saw it on a flannel graph at some point, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00: Uh when David, he said, he what was his amen when he faced Goliath?
SPEAKER_00: What was his certainly he will be defeated?
SPEAKER_00: Was it the fact that he's like, hey, I defeated, God helped me defeat a lion and a bear.
SPEAKER_00: I got this.
SPEAKER_00: Is that what he said?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What did he say?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Uh he said, uh, the Lord was with me in this, the Lord will be with me in this.
SPEAKER_00: He's my amen versus Goliath.
SPEAKER_00: He was my amen versus the lion and the bear.
SPEAKER_00: He's certainly gonna be my amen, but certainly it will be so when I face this giant.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: And so we ought to do the same.
SPEAKER_00: How does this apply tomorrow?
SPEAKER_00: So that's how it applies today.
SPEAKER_00: He is our amen today, regardless of where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: How does this apply to tomorrow?
SPEAKER_00: The only way any of us will put the weight of our lives in the future promises of God is if we is if we have an airtight assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't want to look like fools.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be left with regret.
SPEAKER_00: So if we are functioning off of the belief that we are the amen of the promises of God, we'll be hesitant and reluctant because we know that even if the spirit is willing, our flesh is weak.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you think you are the amen for your tomorrow, then you will be unwilling to trust God in today.
SPEAKER_00: So we continually gotta remember He will crush the head of the serpent, He will do these things, He is with me, He will go with me.
SPEAKER_00: So today and tomorrow we need to remember that.
SPEAKER_00: And then how does this apply to forever?
SPEAKER_00: This is really how it it ends.
SPEAKER_00: How does this apply to forever?
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I thought you would never ask that question, but you just did.
SPEAKER_00: This song of the Amen is the eternal song, a song that will never exhaust, a doxology that will never bore us, a song that we sing not out of religious obligation or pious performance, but rather a song that springs from an inexpressible joy that is made ours in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A joy that will find an unimaginable object and exhale in the person of the Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We will, with Jesus, that we will be with him in full clarity and realization.
SPEAKER_00: What we see dimly now, we will see in full clarity.
SPEAKER_00: Apart from the weakness of our current flesh and in the strength of the resurrected and restored new flesh, you will see Christ face to face.
SPEAKER_00: I've been to a lot of concerts in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm bragging.
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue on.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: So I've been to a lot of concerts in my life.
SPEAKER_00: It used to be every day when I was in my 20s.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've seen a lot of concerts.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you that can I give you the top two sweetest?
SPEAKER_00: If I'm doing like a ranking, like the top two sweetest concerts I've ever been in the 48, been to in the 48 years of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you.
SPEAKER_00: It's one A and one B.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I'll say one A and one A because they're tied.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that works.
SPEAKER_00: First, first, first sweetest concert I've ever been to in my life.
SPEAKER_00: A few years ago I was in Kentucky.
SPEAKER_00: Louisville.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you say it here in the South.
SPEAKER_00: Louisville.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was on Louisville, and then I saw there was I was at this pastor's conference, and there were 10,000 people in this basically an airport hangar.
SPEAKER_00: So like a lot of concrete.
SPEAKER_00: 10,000 pastors singing just like hymn songs, like hymns.
SPEAKER_00: Just really old school hymns, beautiful, beautiful hymns, pounded out on a keyboard, couldn't even hear the person singing.
SPEAKER_00: And it was right out, you know, it's kind of after the pandemic, and you know, at that time, like all the studies were saying 60, over 60% of pastors are thinking about quitting ministry, not going to another job in ministry, quitting ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And so you had 10,000 pastors in this place on Hulu who are singing these worship songs.
SPEAKER_00: Can't even hear the person singing.
SPEAKER_00: All you can hear is these 10,000 weary pastors belting it out.
SPEAKER_00: Cried like a baby.
SPEAKER_00: Allergies were kicking up in the airport hanger that day.
SPEAKER_00: I it was just crying, weeping, all these pastors just singing praise to God.
SPEAKER_00: Weary pastors were almost home singing these past singing these songs, these hymns of so sweet, so sweet, the most beautiful, well, second most tied with the most beautiful concert.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you the other one?
SPEAKER_00: Of course I can.
SPEAKER_00: Or you can leave.
SPEAKER_00: We can lock the door.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, second one.
SPEAKER_00: Uh a few years back, I was in uh in Southeast Asia on a mission trip.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm not saying look at me, okay, we already talked about that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but I was on a mission trip, and uh it was in a in a hotel room, so not 10,000, in case you think, oh, it's about numbers.
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
SPEAKER_00: There were about a hundred missionaries in this room, in this hotel room, who were there for rest.
SPEAKER_00: They're just, it's they've been exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: Southeast Asia, right?
SPEAKER_00: Persecuted countries.
SPEAKER_00: Hundred missionaries serving in a very dark place, singing praise to God.
SPEAKER_00: Like it just wept.
SPEAKER_00: So sweet hearing these voices cry out.
SPEAKER_00: Just one and two.
SPEAKER_00: The most, just the sweetest things, these people who just who desperately realize the only amen they have is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's not in the fact that they can pick up a phone or pull off some fruit, right?
SPEAKER_00: It was in him.
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I didn't even know them, right?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know 10,000 people, and I didn't know the hundred people in that room, but there was just a sense of restoration of some the goodness and rightness of this.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: But I also know that there will be a day when those moments will become the opening act to the headliner.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna read with this passage.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna finish with this passage, seriously, finish with this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 5, 11 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: So if you weren't at one of those two things, I think maybe some of you, at least one of you was in that concert in Southeast Asia.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 5.
SPEAKER_00: For all those who trust in Jesus Christ as their amen, the certainty for the full restoration of what God has set forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ to save us and to establish us.
SPEAKER_00: This is look at this concert.
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be so awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 5, 11 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we'll end the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00: I know there's no more tears in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I think tears is being used as a word of sadness.
SPEAKER_00: I think, and he says wipe away every tear, so I have a you know, I need to take a deep dive, but but I I wonder if there's gonna be tears of joy.
SPEAKER_00: Of exaltation.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this, Revelation chapter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start crying now.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even remember where it's at right now.
SPEAKER_00: 5, 11 to 14.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is how I end.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 5, 11 to 14.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody who is in Christ will be at this concert.
SPEAKER_00: Then I looked and I heard around the throne and living creatures and the elders the voices of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth under the earth and in the sea.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: And all that is in them sang, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: And the four living creatures said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And the elders fell down and worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: You all are gonna be there, like those who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I can't that that's gonna be a good concert.
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be a good concert.
SPEAKER_00: Until that day, may our lives be a doxology to God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for everything you've done for us.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, I pray that we would lean into these things.
SPEAKER_00: We would remember that your Son Jesus Christ is the Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Not just the power of your power for our salvation, but your power for how we are established, but also your power for how we will be glorified, how we will be completed.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we look to, we long for that not yet day, that not yet concert of worthy is the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that we would start singing today, in the already.
SPEAKER_00: That our lives would say, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain.
SPEAKER_00: And Father God, we would then live our lives in self denial.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's only in his name that we pray this in all things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.