WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.439 Well, good morning. 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:04.799 That was a weak good morning. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:07.759 See how it's gonna go today. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:14.080 By God's providence, I got to witness what I was gonna speak on today. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:20.239 Miss Anna Rutledge uh got engaged uh last night, I believe. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.719 Look, here, y'all are y'all are playing right into my whole sermon today. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:36.640 Uh and uh one of our students saw her coming in and quickly yelled out a scream and a yell and ran over there and celebrated uh the news of her engagement. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:42.240 And I thought that was I asked Anna about two minutes before I came up here uh if I could share that story. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:47.679 Uh but I was making the point that we are always looking for reasons and things to celebrate. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:48.320 Right? 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:59.600 We celebrate engagements, we celebrate weddings, we celebrate holidays, uh anniversaries, uh birthdays, we have one for our child coming up in two weeks. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.079 So we've been trying to figure out how to celebrate that. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:05.280 Um we're people who want to celebrate. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:12.239 I was the probably the biggest celebrations that get me are uh when soldiers return home. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:25.280 Uh I actually don't really have any family in the military, but uh, for whatever reason, when I uh see you know families united from uh returning back um from a tour, it it always gets to me. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:36.799 And um I was reading an article on old videos that I went back and found on YouTube of the POWs from the Vietnam War that got to come home. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:57.200 And so they had this video, and you gotta think about it, you have uh these husbands, these fathers, these sons, who some of them have been POWs for years, and families, right, had probably zero information or uh knew the condition, health, or even if their loved ones were alive. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.719 And then you imagine, right, they get a phone call. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.760 Your husband's alive, and we have him. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.879 Your son is alive, we have him. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:07.840 Right? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Your father is alive and we have him, and he's they're gonna be home in two weeks, right? 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:23.599 You can imagine the news of that phone call and the over amount of joy and rejoicing and reason to celebrate, right? 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:25.759 And so then you got to see them two weeks later, right? 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.759 They fly them out to the base, uh, and you get to see them reunited. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:38.000 And and that's kind of the picture that comes to my mind when I think of why we gather on Sunday mornings, right? 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:49.439 So just straight up, in a sense, this is a sermon on not just you need to come to church because you're supposed to, but the real reasons of why we're here to celebrate. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.560 We've been heard the news, the phone call of the gospel, right? 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:59.199 That you have now been bought, purchased, you're a new person. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:07.680 And hearing that news, living out that news week in and week out, getting together to celebrate that. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.280 And that's what we're doing on Sunday mornings is celebration. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:23.360 So I want us to look at today, right, and how Paul uses his letter to Colossians through kind of the prayer, right, for their uh need to celebrate, but also the promises of why they celebrate. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:28.960 So flip over with me to Colossians 1, and we'll read 3 through 14. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:30.240 This is God's word. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:57.360 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed the whole world is bearing fruit and increasing it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:07.439 Just as you learned it from Epapharis, our beloved fellow servant, he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:41.040 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:50.560 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, forgiveness of sins. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:05:17.600 Father, we pray this morning for any distractions, for anything that might point us away from you, Father, that we could lay those aside, that we could spend the next 20 minutes looking at you, thinking of you, being thankful of you, finding reasons to celebrate you and to glorify you. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:22.639 Help us do that through your spirit, and it's in your name we pray. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:23.600 Amen. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.879 All right, students, confession time. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:37.279 Uh when is the last time you told your parents I don't want to go to church? 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:38.800 I don't want to go. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.519 I don't like it, it's boring. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.000 Why do we have to go? 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.319 I'm speaking on experience. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:53.040 Um why do you say that? 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:56.720 Why don't you want to come here? 00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:58.480 Right? 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.199 Here's the thing, your parents say that too. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.480 They don't say it audibly, right? 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:06.399 But they think it. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:09.600 They say it with their actions sometimes. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:21.120 But it it really kind of reveals, right, maybe our heart's issue of how we view church, right? 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:28.399 It's early, you gotta get dressed up, I gotta sit here now and listen to some guy talk. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:30.959 Right? 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:39.839 But it it's actually really missing the heart of do you have any reasons to want to come here worth celebrating? 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:49.279 Do you feel being here, right, is worth celebrating your identity, your purpose, your value? 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:52.560 Because I know we think it's big church, right? 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:54.800 It's for the adults. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:07:01.839 But the promise is, right, for you students, it just applies to you as it does your parents. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:09.120 Of needing the, you know what, it's not that we come to church because we have to, or we're supposed to. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:16.160 It's we come to church because it's an opportunity to celebrate the things that we find joy in our life. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.160 But and here's the thing about celebration, right? 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:24.639 I can't, I could spend all day, all day up here giving you reasons of why you should celebrate. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.800 But you can't just tell someone to celebrate something, right? 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.839 They have to genuinely want to celebrate it. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:37.120 That only happens when you find joy in it of the thing that you were celebrating, right? 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:38.959 You think about weddings. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:40.399 Right? 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:49.920 Maybe you've got a wedding invitation on your refrigerator and it's from a coworker that you don't really know that well, and you're like, I mean, right, you've had that discussion. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:50.560 Should we go? 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:51.680 Is it worth going, right? 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:53.759 Because you don't know them that well, right? 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:59.439 But then you have other ones where you know the people very well and you're excited, right? 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:04.480 You've marked it on your calendar, you have made plans to go and be a part of that, right? 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.000 Because you know them. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:10.879 And so that's what we want to do here this morning, right? 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.399 I don't want to sit here and tell you all of the reasons why you need to celebrate. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:18.800 I want you to ask in your heart, do you genuinely celebrate the promises of the gospel? 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:22.240 And that is the motivation of why you want to be here on Sunday mornings. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.600 That's what you see the point of corporate worship. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:31.439 And here's the thing: you can't do that, right, just on your own. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.120 You can't just will up enough. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:33.600 You know what? 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:38.879 Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm really gonna focus on loving the Lord and trying my hardest to enjoy him. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:39.919 Right? 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.720 It doesn't fully work like that because we've all tried it. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:46.159 We all wanna love the Lord more, we all want to do more. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:47.279 Right? 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.919 The first kind of step in it is this prayer of I want to know you more. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.840 And that's what Paul kind of starts off with. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:55.919 I'm just gonna jump to verse nine. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:09.279 And so from the day we have heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:16.559 There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing that person. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:21.600 We're Presbyterians, we're really good at knowing about God, right? 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:28.639 We have gotten the theology down, but that is not the same as you knowing God personally. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.799 And that's what he's praying here. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:39.360 That you would be filled, right, with the knowledge of his will and all the spiritual wisdom and understanding. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.559 And how does that happen? 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:42.879 Like what does that actually look like? 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:44.879 Right? 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.159 Well, that's what the source of Jesus' joy was. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:52.000 His understanding of the Father's will. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:54.960 I know him so well. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.720 I know how he thinks, how he acts, what he likes. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:01.759 And those things are my joy. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:03.919 It wasn't his possessions, right? 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.000 It wasn't Jesus' earthly accomplishments, right? 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:14.320 You remember when he goes back to his hometown in Matthew 13 and he start, he starts preaching, and they're like, Aren't you the carpenter's son? 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.720 Like, who are you? 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:21.039 Like, he wasn't so special on earth that people are like, oh my gosh, look, look at Jesus. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.879 I mean, his own hometown, they're like, dude, you're not you're not special. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:32.480 So it wasn't those things that brought Jesus this joy, it wasn't his earthly accomplishments from other people's perspective. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:39.440 It was his intimate knowledge of God the Father's will. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:41.039 Right? 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:43.679 And we're able to do that. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:45.360 Tim Keller puts it this way, right? 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:50.799 If you're indifferent to someone, their happiness is at the expense of your happiness. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:56.480 But if you love someone, their happiness is your happiness. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:57.840 Right? 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.600 There's a big distinction there. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:14.399 What Paul's praying for them, what Jesus modeled for us, was his happiness, his joy, his things to celebrate came because of his intimate knowledge and understanding and experiences of who God was. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.279 And it happened through obedience. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:25.120 Let me read to you real quick from Ephesians 3, 17 and 19, because I think Paul fleshes this out well, right? 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:47.600 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.480 That fullness of God is at the top of 17. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:54.559 Christ dwelling in you. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.159 Right? 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:08.639 Christ dwelling in you, his joy, what made him tick, what motivated him, be the same fullness in you that drives you for joy, that drives you for to celebrate. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:09.840 Right? 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.519 It's obedience. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:12.240 Right? 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:17.919 It's experiencing God in an intimate way through obedience. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.320 And that's what Jesus modeled for us. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:21.840 And that's what Paul's saying. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.639 Like now Christ dwells in you, right? 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:34.639 That obedience that he had, right, that's been imputated to you, the righteousness that you now you have, the spirit that he had, that Paul had, right? 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.360 The same spirit who were you, little, you look at Paul's life, you're like, man, it was brutal. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:42.480 Why would he have had any reason for joy? 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.639 Because he had the spirit of Christ dwelling in him. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.720 I think we could all say Jesus' life, right, wasn't easy. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:53.600 But what does it say for the joy set before him, right? 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.279 He endured the cross. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:58.480 The joy, right? 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:03.360 The spirit in him was what enabled him to have that joy. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.440 That same spirit's in you. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:12.799 That same spirit pushes you to say, I want you to be obedient to me, because it's how you experience me. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:21.759 It's the fuel for your joy and to celebrate who I am, not just what I am, but how you've experienced who I am. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.919 And that's why he goes on, right, to verse 10. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:30.320 So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:44.480 Right, when I when I spoke on the Ten Commandments a few weeks back, right, it I was trying to not just tell you not to commit not to commit adultery, not to murder, not to steal, right? 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:51.200 I was trying to incorporate the reasons he's told you not to do these things is because of who you are. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:52.000 Right? 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:56.080 You don't need to commit adultery anymore because who you are in Christ is faithful. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:56.879 Right? 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:02.799 You don't need to murder anymore because who you are in Christ, right, is forgiving and loving. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.360 You don't need to steal, right? 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:07.759 Because who you are is generous. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:10.320 Right? 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:18.960 And so when he's asking you, hey, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing them, he's saying, like, be who you are now. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.360 Celebrate who you are. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:27.679 How many of you celebrate just the simple moments of obedience, like prayer? 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:36.639 How many of you just celebrate the fact that you prayed is direct evidence of God's grace and mercy in your life to put it on your heart to pray? 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:38.480 Right? 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:42.159 Or when you give, celebrating that. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.720 Your generosity came because the Lord inside you is working in you. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:48.399 That's worth celebrating. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.320 When you're kind to someone, that's worth celebrating. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:55.039 But I don't think we do that very often. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:55.679 Right? 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:57.200 I know we've had the conversation on our part. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:04.159 We need to do better in our family of celebrating our children in the sense when they do those little acts of obedience. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.039 Because in a sense, it's like, well, you you just you should know that. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.799 Like, I'm not going to celebrate you for doing something that you know you should do. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.279 But that's not what it's saying here. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:23.600 We should be people who are willing to celebrate the simple moments of obedience in life because that is you experiencing Christ. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.519 That's what's worth celebrating. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:29.919 Right? 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:33.039 And when we read this, like what's fully pleasing to him. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:34.159 Right? 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:37.679 Again, going back to what Christ, Christ knew what was pleasing to him. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.000 And what pleased him pleased Jesus. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.720 And that's what sanctification is for us, right? 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:48.000 You continually wanting to be pleased in life with the same things that please the Lord. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.600 That's what we want. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:56.240 We we want to quit being distracted and pleased by the simple, fleeting things of life, right? 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.360 By the false, sinful promises, right? 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:00.799 That say, like, this will give you. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:02.000 That's what we want. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.799 We just wish that wasn't so attractive to us. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:10.159 What we really want is like, I want to be pleased with what pleases the Lord. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:16.720 And so we just celebrate that, those little moments when it happens. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:20.159 But here's ultimately why you should, right, this should motivate you. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.840 Because it would be very discouraging if I said to you, you know what? 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:30.000 Every week you come here, I'm gonna tell you things that you need to do better so God will be pleased with you. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:31.919 That would be discouraging. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:38.080 That every week, like, oh gosh, I don't want to go to Kaaba Park because every week they tell me to be better, and I'm not better. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.840 I'm not doing good enough, and he keeps telling me I need to be better so Jesus will be pleased with me, or God will be pleased with me. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.919 That's not what we're saying. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.799 Because now Christ dwells in you, right? 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:50.799 What we read earlier in Ephesians. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:55.039 What did God the Father say to Jesus at his baptism? 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:00.320 Here is my beloved son, whom I am pleased. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.440 And you are hidden in Christ now. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.680 He's already pleased with you. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:10.160 You can't walk out of here thinking he's not pleased with you and you need to work harder. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.279 It doesn't, that's not the gospel. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:20.480 He wants you to know that he is pleased with you because of he's pleased with Christ and what he's accomplished on your behalf. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:21.920 And that's really important. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:39.920 Because now you're going out and experiencing obedience and that motivation, right, to serve and to love, not because I have to do it to earn his acceptance, but you're doing it because you realize it pleases him, and you get joy in things that please him. 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.039 We've been given that in Christ. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:45.039 Right? 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.400 And he continues on to the next part, for bearing fruit, right? 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.680 Fully pleasing him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:02.640 Isn't what we want in life for it to be meaningful, to be purposeful, for you to have a reason to celebrate? 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:05.279 Aren't we always looking for those things? 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:06.720 Right? 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:12.480 One of the promises, right, in John 15 is that he has appointed you to bear fruit. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:21.920 He elected you, he died for you, so that you could go and bear fruit. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.400 Because your life has meaning now, it has purpose. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:35.119 And he wants you to be able to celebrate in the ways in which your life has purpose through the ways you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, how you love your neighbor as yourself. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:41.119 But again, I think sometimes we get distracted and we and we discount maybe the things that count as bearing fruit. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.319 Because I said, hey, right now, how are you bearing fruit in your life? 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:45.759 You might be like, oh gosh, I don't know. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:47.039 Do not ask me. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:51.759 But that's not true, right? 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.079 You're just not looking hard enough. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:00.400 You're not being mindful of the ways in which the Spirit is working in your life, even though you're not aware of it. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:02.160 And again, that's the problem. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:10.079 If you can't think of any ways in which your life is bearing fruit, then yeah, what reasons do you have to come here to celebrate what the Lord is doing in your life? 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:23.839 But if you start celebrating even just the smallest victories, the smallest moments of obedience, right, you start to acknowledge that you do indeed feel pleasure and joy in the things that please the Lord. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:25.759 Those are true. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:33.759 But you might say, well, that's all great. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.839 But recently life's been really hard. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:45.839 We're suffering, we're hurting, things have happened in our lives that we don't understand and are confusing. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:47.519 It's frustrating. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.359 Anger. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:52.319 So what do you want me to do? 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:58.240 You want me to come here on Sunday mornings when I'm hurting and just put a smile on my face and lie? 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:05.039 No, that's that's what he continues now in this next part, verse 11. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:14.799 Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.240 Here's the thing: I think we all agree with this. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.359 We don't want to suffer, we don't like going through trials. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:29.759 But you also realize it's in those moments of suffering and trials and hardships that the Lord shows up the most. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:34.720 Or at least you are aware the Lord has showed up. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.720 He's always there, right? 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:39.599 It's not like he's not somewhere. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:43.440 He's always in your life, he's always fully committed to your life at all moments. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.119 But it's when we suffer, right? 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:52.799 And we really need him and we're really keen on him and we're really like mindful of him that you really get to see all the ways in which he has sustained you through that suffering. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:21:06.640 So again, I'm not saying you come in here smiling and laughing when you're really hurting, but there is a little bit of celebration that you get to have deep down inside because you know that this suffering is not for nothing. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:09.839 That it is meant to draw you to the Lord. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:10.960 Right? 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:12.880 It is to sanctify you. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:20.640 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 10, he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:28.480 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:35.200 For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:38.559 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.720 Why would he say that? 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:44.640 Being content. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:53.200 Because he realized in those moments is when he gets to understand the power of Christ as one who's actually sustaining him. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.119 I mean, be real honest. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.880 How often are you mindful of Christ sustaining you when things are going really well? 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.079 And you're just cruising through life because it's comfortable and easy. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.599 He's content with it. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:13.039 Because even though it's hard, again, he gets pleased by the things that please the Lord. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.759 And as the Lord, like, I'm going to sustain you through this. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:18.400 Here's another aspect of it. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.119 It's not punishment for you. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:21.680 Right? 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:29.200 Some of you might be like, well, I did this way back when, or I said this, or we haven't done this, and the Lord's punishing us. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.519 That's not true. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.920 He's not punishing you for something you did. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:46.960 It's actually why we should celebrate this, is because it is evidence that he is allowing you to suffer and treating you like his own child. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:48.960 Right? 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.720 You start looking at suffering not as punishment, but as affirmation. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:59.119 You're treating me and allowing me to experience the same things that your own son Christ went through. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:06.720 Because you want me to experience what he experienced so that our relationship will grow closer. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:07.759 It's just like people, right? 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.079 I mean, think of like the band of brothers, right? 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.279 Or people who go through SEAL training, who endure hardships together. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:16.079 Their bond and relationships grow much closer. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:20.000 So it is the same with suffering and why he allows us to go through that. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:26.240 He's like, I want you to be closer to my son and the spirit in my son who's sustained his joy, I want you to experience that. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.319 And I want you to have more joy. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:30.960 That's why he does it. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.039 That's why we can celebrate it. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:45.200 And then the promises, verse 12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.000 This is why we celebrate. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.559 You've been qualified to the inheritance of lights. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:24:03.680 The glaring, radiant glory, right, of his goodness and pleasure and joy is the inheritance in which you get to stand in front of. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.000 You have been qualified. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.319 And here's an important part of that. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:16.720 Moses, you would have said, when he was on earth, like, okay, he's pretty up there in faith. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:25.920 He didn't, in the moment of his sinful state on earth, was not qualified for the inheritance of seeing God in his full glory. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:29.519 But you are. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:38.240 In Christ, one day you're going to stand and get to see God face to face, and it's not going to kill you. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.440 Because you're qualified to see it. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.359 You should celebrate that. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:52.720 The times where you feel like I'm not good enough, I'm not doing well enough, you can be reminded, you know what? 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:53.759 I'm not good enough. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.200 Christ is good enough. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.480 He paid for that. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:57.599 I'm qualified. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:04.079 If I die at this moment, I will spend eternity in the presence of a perfect holy God. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:24.240 In our Bible study on heaven, I kind of told the women I would probably use this for my sermon, but I mean, it if we don't have heaven to look forward to, right? 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:33.599 To the hope laid before you, which we kind of read uh quickly through in verse 5, then why come here at all? 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:35.359 Right? 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:38.240 Because we look forward to a lot of things. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.480 And we plan our schedule around looking forward to a lot of things. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:48.559 Why is it then sometimes we overlook the biggest future plans that we have? 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.359 The biggest trip you are going on. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:54.880 Right? 00:25:55.039 --> 00:26:03.200 And having your life be changed and dictated by the ways in which I'm preparing to go there. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.000 Right? 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:04.960 I shared the story. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:11.759 My neighbor was asking them, you know, hey, y'all got any trips finishing out the summer? 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:17.759 And they were like, well, you know, we don't have any, but I need to plan one because I need something to look forward to. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:18.559 Right? 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:24.640 That's a little moment of saying, I need to look forward to something to celebrate, something worth it. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.599 And he's just promised you that you've already qualified for what's worth it. 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:37.440 It's worth it to live your life, to serve others, to live open-handed, to be generous, because you have everything you need. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:46.559 All right, then he goes on to say, well, he's delivered you from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:48.880 This one's tough. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:51.039 Right? 00:26:52.079 --> 00:27:02.960 And I'll just use my own personal example of sometimes feeling like, well, I don't feel like he has fully delivered me from the domain of darkness because I still struggle with sin. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:03.599 Right? 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:06.799 I feel like, especially as the summer has gone on, right? 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:07.440 Amen. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:09.519 School's back, that's the reason to celebrate. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:16.559 But my temper and my lack of patience really waned, right? 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:22.880 I was real quick-tempered, quick to get angry, quick to lose patience. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:27.359 And it's like, well, I pray that I'll have more patience. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:28.799 I pray that I'll be gentler. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:30.640 And it's not working. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:32.640 It's not working, right? 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:34.319 And so maybe many of you are like that. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:39.119 You're like, John, I've I've prayed for the Lord to remove this thorn from me. 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:41.839 I've prayed to quit struggling with this sin. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.680 I've prayed to do this, and it's not working. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:45.039 Nothing has changed. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:55.039 I don't feel like I've been delivered from the domain of darkness when I ask him to help let me have something over that and it doesn't work. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:56.000 Right? 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:58.079 Maybe you've had that thought. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.400 But here's the thing: like you cling to the promise. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:02.960 Right? 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:08.640 Romans 6.14, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you were not under law but of grace. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:11.119 Here's the reality. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.920 Your sin has been paid for. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:16.880 It cannot condemn you. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:22.480 It's not going to be brought up to you in your final day of court and judgment in front of the Lord. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:26.240 It's been erased, blotted out. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:30.319 That crime has been paid for and they have moved on. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:33.440 Right? 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:40.000 And again, it's like again, we we feel this guilt of like, yeah, I do these things, and I got it, but that's okay to feel that. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:44.079 Not the guilt of like you're condemned, but to say, I am a sinner. 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:49.200 I carry around the 500 denarii debt, not the 50, right? 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.440 In the Luke 7, the woman forgiven. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.759 In that parable, he's like, who's more thankful? 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.720 The one who was forgiven of 500 or 50. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.960 We want to be the 50 people so bad because it doesn't feel as bad. 00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:05.599 But you're gonna have more reasons to celebrate when you realize I'm the 500. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:12.640 I don't want to be, but that's the reality, and the Lord's forgiven me of that debt. 00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:15.359 That's worth celebrating. 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:21.359 To be transferred into the kingdom, that kingdom, right, to finish this out. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:25.599 Is of redemption and the forgiveness of sins. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:32.000 Think about the cost it was for your life. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:37.119 Who here has paid more for your life than Christ? 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:48.960 You think of all of the stuff that you pay for emotionally, physically, financially, for your children, it does not compare to what Christ has paid for you. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:52.480 Because that's the transfer needed. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:55.200 The cost needed was his life. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:57.359 And you have it. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:58.960 You have that righteousness. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:00.240 The forgiveness of sins. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:04.799 Is that probably not the greatest feeling to celebrate is being forgiven? 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:05.039 Right? 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:09.279 When I mentioned Luke 7 and the sinful woman, what does she do? 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:11.039 She goes to the Pharisees' house. 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:16.559 This is a prostitute that everybody knows who she is and what she does. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:25.440 And she goes to the very house of the people that you cannot even imagine how they probably treated this woman, right? 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:32.799 And she goes to the house with her alabaster of oil and she anoints. 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:34.960 What does he tell her? 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:37.759 Your sins are forgiven. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:39.759 Go in peace. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:49.599 Can you imagine the stomach-churning anxiety that woman had walking into that house? 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:56.640 I mean, legitimately, she probably was fearing like they might just stone me or kill me for coming into the house of these Pharisees. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:30:59.119 And what did she get? 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:01.599 Forgiveness. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.440 Go in peace. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:11.359 You no longer have to walk around with the shame of what people think of you. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.480 You have the peace that I have forgiven you fully. 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:21.440 I'm not going to bring that stuff up when I think of you anymore. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:23.759 Think about how freeing that would be. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:24.400 Right? 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:25.359 Forgiveness. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.880 For you to feel like you are no longer, right? 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:32.880 The things you have done to hurt people, they don't keep bringing them up to you. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:36.400 That's worth celebrating. 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:37.440