WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.280 Well, good morning, Awakening Church. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:22.239 Great to be with you. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:23.440 Welcome, welcome, welcome. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.679 Absolutely thrilled to have you join us today. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.800 If you're new or we haven't met, my name's Ryan. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:35.520 Um, and before we dive in today, I wanted to tell you why I love being a part of this church. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:37.759 At least one reason I love being a part of this church. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.159 Why I am so proud of you. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:43.359 Uh, this last week, I want you to know this. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.240 Your generosity enables us to meet tangible needs in real time. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:57.119 Uh we recognize the impact of the government shutdown is acutely hitting the most vulnerable of those in our community. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:13.120 We host a food pantry the first and third Thursday of the month, serving so many in this community, and um that's impacting how much food we're even able to uh serve, and we expect a greater need this upcoming Thursday. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:22.640 And so our leadership council, the elders of our church, immediately approved$5,000 to buy$50 and$100 grocery gift cards to be given out because we're gonna run. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:27.359 Well, last month we ran out, we unfortunately had to turn eight families away. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:39.200 We don't want to do that, and so run out of food, we're gonna give you a gift card, and they recognize the need's gonna be greater, we're gonna be able to continue and give more as the need rises. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:44.239 Secondly, we do a Thanksgiving thing, uh, frozen turkeys for families as well. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:53.760 We didn't, the people who had resourced that, the organization no longer does that, so they said here$1,200 for frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.200 And then on top of that, why not another$5,000 to be given to World Relief just this week? 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:03.280 $11,000 and plus, just given away immediately. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.319 Not because, like, oh, we have to raise or think about it. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:12.800 We have those funds well stewarded and able to meet it need and then step in beyond that. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:24.319 Thank you for your generosity, and that we have a church that says we want to unleash extravagant generosity to a hurting and broken world because we have an extravagantly generous God. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:25.120 Amen? 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:25.919 Yeah. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:31.520 All right, let me pray and we'll dive in. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:33.680 Heavenly Father, thank you for this moment. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:38.800 Thank you for your grace, thank you for uh bringing us together. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:50.080 That you have a moment where you long to meet with your people here to speak to our hearts. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.759 And so we invite you to have your way. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.120 Would you clear the clutter, clear the distractions, all the things that keep coming up into our hearts and minds. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.800 And may we hear from you, meet with you, and be changed by you. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.199 In Jesus' name, and all God's people sin. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:14.719 Amen. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.159 Today we're finishing out our series, Dreaming Wide Awake. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:21.360 We've been journeying through the life of Joseph. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:31.680 In very first week, week one, uh, we said that, you know, we've wrestling with this question: how do you embrace a God-sized dream for your life? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:43.759 Because if we're honest, most of us, many of us, feel like we're just existing, not really living, as if we're sleepwalking through life. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.560 How do you embrace a purpose for your life? 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:52.960 A life filled and drenched with meaning. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:58.319 We've been looking at uh this incredible character in the book of Genesis, his name's Joseph. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:05.280 In week one, we said it this way: that God has a dream for your life. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:14.479 Not just the person next to you, not the people that you deem important or they have it all together. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:17.839 Like God has a dream for your life. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:22.000 It doesn't matter whether you're 15 or 50 or 95. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:26.160 My wife was just at uh her grandma's 95th birthday yesterday. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.759 God has a dream for your life. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.240 You are made on purpose and you are made for a purpose. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:37.600 You are not an accident in any way. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.439 And it gets better than that. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:43.439 God's dream is actually better than your dream. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:49.519 If we could just believe that, oh, life would be so much better because we take it back into our own hands, don't we? 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.279 I I know, I got it figured out. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:52.000 Thank you very much. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:53.680 You maybe created the universe. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:54.560 Okay, gotcha. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:56.959 Okay, you're all wise, all good, all knowing. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:57.920 Yeah, fantastic. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:04:59.519 But I, you know what? 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.279 I got it from here, God. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:08.560 God says in the midst of that, my dream is so much better than your dream if you would just trust me. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:14.160 Now, the problem with trust is simply this that God's not in a hurry and his timing's perfect. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:19.600 That's, I think, why we take it back into our own hands. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.680 Now, we're finishing out the series today, concluding. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.480 Actually, you've been teaching through the book of Genesis for an entire year. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.959 Today, right this moment, we're finishing Genesis. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:30.720 Woo! 50 chapters. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:32.879 You did it, you made it, you're here. 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.800 No, the the thing about it, is you're like, that's fantastic, Ryan. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:47.199 God has a dream for my life, but you don't know the things that I've gone through in my life. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.199 Like at the core, I'm wrestling with this. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.439 How do you make sense of life? 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:03.040 How do you make sense of life in the hurting, in the painful, and the tragic parts of life? 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.680 Like, is God really in control? 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.879 Does everything happen for a reason? 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:20.800 You know, um, maybe you've seen this before. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:43.360 You you met somebody, and you would have no idea the pain that they walked through, the trials that they had, somehow what would have crippled any normal human would have left just a shell of a person. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:51.360 Somehow, that pain, that trial, that hardship, somehow, instead of making them bitter, it made them more beautiful. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:53.920 Have you ever been around someone like that? 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:58.000 Seen someone, heard their story, we're like, how in the world? 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:19.279 In the face of unimaginable loss, chronic illness, death of a loved one or a child, how in the world are you not just eking your way, but there is something beautiful, winsome about you. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.040 Today we want to look at what they know and what we need to know. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:41.040 And so what Joseph tells us, in fact, this passage, um, Genesis 50, verse 20, I think is one of the most profound, powerful verses in all of the Bible. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:50.399 In fact, it it not only summarizes uh Joseph's life, it actually encapsulates the purpose of the entire book of Genesis. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:11.839 And in it, we're gonna discover and learn like how do you begin to live life in such a way that the brokenness that God can transform in your life to bring meaning and purpose and hope and to give you, as Jeremiah would say, a future and hope. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:12.800 You ready? 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:14.240 Yeah? 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:14.639 All right. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.279 If you turn to your Bible, Genesis chapter 50, verse 15, we pick it up. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:21.439 It's at the end of Joseph's life. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:33.840 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did him? 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:35.120 Which is fair. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:37.360 They sold him into slavery. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.000 They wanted to kill him, but they sold him. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:46.000 And now their father's dead, they're thinking, okay, now he's gonna get payback. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.440 Now he's gonna, you know, get his revenge. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.200 So they sent word to Joseph saying, your father left these instructions before he died. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:04.159 Even the way it says it in here, you can hear it, uh, it feels like, but did he really, did dad really say that? 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:15.519 It's almost like I the text doesn't tell us whether he does or not, it just says they say this, it almost feels like they're making something up to try to get Joseph not to take revenge. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.279 He says, This is what you're to say to Joseph. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:23.039 I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they commit in treating you so badly. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:27.600 Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:33.759 You can just feel the weight, the relational pain and heartache of Joseph. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:36.639 When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:38.799 He's like, You don't get it. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:40.480 You don't understand. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:44.799 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.440 We are your slaves, they said. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.559 Verse 19. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.039 But Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.399 Am I in the place of God? 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:54.000 I'm not one to take revenge. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.639 That's God's dealing, by the way, not mine. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.159 Verse 20, here we go. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:09:59.200 This is the verse. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:02.159 This is where we're sitting, this is where we're gonna say, stay. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.720 You intended to harm me. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:06.879 Can you read this next line? 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:10.480 That's pretty decent. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:11.120 That's decent. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.039 And there's a murmuring in the church. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:15.519 Okay, okay, okay. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:17.679 Just the next two words. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:31.919 You intended to harm me, but God, those two words have the power to change your life, redeem your past, and reshape the trajectory of your future. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:54.000 But God, you intended to harm me, you intended to hurt me, you planned for my demise and my destruction, but God, but God entered the story, but God showed up on the scene, but God had different plans than your plan. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:00.399 What is now being done, the saving of many lives. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:04.960 Sermon titled Today is simply two words, but God. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:06.480 Let's say that again. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:12.080 Two of the best words, I think, in the scripture we're going to see woven through. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:28.960 But God, because your story on your own, how did somebody get to the end of life, walk through that incredible pain, walk through all those unimaginable stuff that should have left them a shell of a human, and yet they come out more beautiful than bitter? 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:30.240 But God. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.399 But God showed up in the middle of their story. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:43.200 How do you make sense of life, especially the hurting, the broken, the painful parts of life? 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:48.320 There's three redemptive truths we must get and embrace. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:56.480 The first one is simply this God is willing your good. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.519 This is different, by the way, than simply saying God is wanting your good. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.919 I think we can go, I think maybe God wants my good. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.240 God is willing your good. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.639 In fact, uh that word you intended intended to harm me. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:21.279 And then uh I love how the the text says, but God intended. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:24.000 They use the same word for good. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:31.759 That word intended means to plan, to plot, like you are plotting against me. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:39.600 It can also be the picture of someone who's weaving like a thread to create, you know, a quilt or something like that. 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.840 You were weaving harm in my life. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.960 You were sowing destruction in my life. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:54.799 But God intended, God plotted, God planned, God purposes, God is not just wanting, but he is willing your very good. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.279 And this has happened, by the way, from the very foundation of the universe. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.879 Genesis 1, we started out this year talking about Genesis 1. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.120 In the beginning, God created the heavens of the earth. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:10.320 Uh, and then he says, after each moment of creation, it is help me out. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:11.039 Good. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:17.440 Yeah, it's fine, decent, okay, whatever. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:24.320 And then he creates humanity and says, it is very good. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:31.360 And in Genesis 2, we see the only not good in the garden is that man is alone, and he creates Eve. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:41.600 Like God has been willing and working, and his heart and intent and design and desire for you is fundamentally for your good. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.519 And he's not for your good when you are good. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.320 That's what we think. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:50.240 Isn't it? 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:51.120 That's what we think. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.840 Like God is willing my good when I'm good. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:05.200 As long as I'm a good little boy or girl, then God wants my good, but but actually when I'm not, when it that he's kind of out against me, he's down on me, he's mad at me. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.720 Um, I think I maybe we'll do this in the new year, I don't know. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:18.240 Uh, I've had so many conversations with people, and I sit across the table and so listen to their stories, and we're talking and hearing what they say. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:28.320 Um, and and at the core of it, some of the things that they're struggling with so much comes down to really bad theology. 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:30.000 A.W. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:36.799 Tozer would say, in the knowledge of the holy, what comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.799 What comes into your mind? 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:46.000 Let me give you just two erroneous views about God. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.080 First is that God is good but not powerful. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.480 God is good but not powerful. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:56.720 He's like this kindly grandpa. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.039 You know, you love to see him. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:03.919 He comes in and he's like, oh, honey, you've had a hard day. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.639 Oh, you're you're you're I'm so sorry. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.399 Let me give you a word there's original and give you a hug, right? 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:15.519 I got some hard candy for you, but it doesn't really make anything better. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:17.279 It's nice sentiment. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:31.279 That God is good, but he's not powerful enough to change or move or affect my life. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.360 Or the inverse of that, that God is powerful, but he's not really good. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:36.399 He doesn't really care. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.759 He's not active, he's not involved, he's not a part of my life. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:44.720 Kind of like a cosmic boss. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.919 He is powerful, but he is unpredictable. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.440 Like, like he's got the power, but he doesn't really care. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:16:11.440 He doesn't move, he's distant, he's aloof, and the only time he really takes notice is when I'm not doing well, and so I just simply go like I'm I'm I'm uncertain of who I am approaching and whether he cares or is kind or will move on my behalf. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:22.399 The first truth, by the way, has a God that is caring but unable to impact anything in your life. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:32.320 And the second one is a God you can't trust because you don't know if his heart towards you is good. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:39.120 The truth is God is all powerful and all good, he's both. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:43.200 In fact, I like how Dallas Willard says it in his divine conspiracy. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:17:11.759 He says, it is the confidence in the invariably overriding intention of God for our good, which with respect to all the evil and suffering that may befell us on life's journey, that secures us in peace and joy, our confidence of God's intention of good, that secures us in peace on life's journey. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:21.680 We must be sure of that intention if we are to be free and able, like Joseph, to simply do what we know to be right. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:26.640 AW Tozer again, Knowledge of the Holy, he would say it this way. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:36.400 The outlook, the whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under friendly skies. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:43.279 And that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:52.160 What would change in your life if you understood that God is both all-powerful and he is good? 00:17:52.400 --> 00:18:00.640 He is presently, actively, willing, plotting, planning your goodness for you. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:06.000 That you dwell under friendly skies. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.200 Ryan, how do I know that I dwell under friendly skies? 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:13.039 That's a great question. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.759 Romans 5, 6 says it this way. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:32.480 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powers, when we were unable to affect or change our state, Christ died for perfect people. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:36.319 Christ died for the right people. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:42.799 Christ gave his life for good little boys and girls. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.839 No, he died for ungodly. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:53.200 Ungodly, just you don't want anything to do with God or the ways of God. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:02.400 Very rarely when anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die, then we get another but God. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:04.799 There you take. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:07.200 Good job. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:21.200 But God, but God entered the story, and God entered your story, but God demonstrates his love for us. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:28.079 In this, while we're yet sinners, Christ died for you. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.839 But God entered your story. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:38.000 The goodness of God revealed in Jesus. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:44.079 The goodness of God did not leave us in our mess, but stepped into the massiness of life. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.240 The goodness of God came for us when we wanted nothing to do with Him. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.119 His goodness pursued us. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:56.079 The goodness of God, moved by love, laid down His life for us. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.640 His power intervened where we were powerless. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.200 How do I make sense of life first? 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:06.880 God is willing your good. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:12.000 And so as a result, God will not waste your pain. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.640 God is actively willing, plotting, and planning your good. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:26.640 And in the midst of the hurting, the painful, the broken, the traumatic, the hard, the difficult, He will not waste your pain. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:33.599 There's a scripture that I think we have to take back. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.920 We're afraid to say it because some people have used it kind of cliche. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:58.559 You know those cliche things that Christians say, and then it's like it's either ripped out of context, um, or it's just said so tritely in the midst of really hard times that it actually does some harm. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:07.599 But if we're not able to sit with the truth of what God's actively doing, we miss out on how he's working in the midst of the heart. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.039 Romans 8.28, by the way, Romans 8, read it. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:14.160 It's not a fun uh section leading up to this. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:22.480 This is talking about creation groaning, that we are groaning with labor pains, that like the world is broken and not as it should be. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:28.400 This is in the midst of the dark chapter of the universe, is written this, 8.28. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:40.480 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who've been called according to his purpose. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:48.319 See, God is willing your good, and he is working. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:51.200 He will not waste your pain. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:52.480 He works through all things. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.079 Now, what we have to be careful of is some people do this. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.119 Well, you know, because you're going through all God works all things. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.039 Why just listen to me. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:03.839 Scripture tells us to mourn with those who mourn. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.640 God will not waste your pain. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:18.559 Now, this is different. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:27.119 Because what sometimes what we do is we look at it, and since God is going to work all things for good, what scripture does not say is what happened was good. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:34.240 Did you notice when Joseph says to his brothers, you intended this for harm? 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.200 He calls it out. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:38.720 It's evil. 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:40.240 He doesn't dismiss it. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:42.640 He doesn't go, like, oh, it's not that big a deal, guys. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:43.519 It's okay. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:44.400 No problem. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:45.920 God's plan, right? 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:47.680 What he doesn't do that. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:50.480 He says, You intended it for harm. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:51.599 It was evil. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:52.640 It was hurtful. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:53.839 It was destructive. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:55.279 It was bad. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:57.920 That wasn't good. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:06.880 And yet, my God is so big and so great and so powerful that all of your plotting and evil, he can still weave it for good. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:19.440 See, this will cause us, if we do, if we rightly understand this, guard us from, I think, a serious um theological error that I hear people say, especially in the midst of hardships of life. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:23.039 It's actually a fatalistic, deterministic outlook. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.400 And it's simply this everything happens for a reason. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.039 You've probably said that. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:34.880 And like when you don't get your parking spot at the mall, everything happens for a reason. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:37.519 Okay, yeah, everything happens for a reason. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:38.960 They must have needed it more than me. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:40.799 Okay, that's fantastic, you know. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.039 You don't get that promotion at work. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.440 Oh, everything happens for a reason, you know. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:56.079 There's a bit of it that brings some surface level comfort, but at the core of it, have you ever sat, because I have, this is my job, have you ever sat with someone who's lost a child? 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:59.920 Everything happens for a reason. 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.880 See the question of how do you make sense of senseless violence and evil? 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:16.079 And the reality is, is when you look back on that, there's some things you go, I can't make sense of that. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.799 That line is actually so violating in that moment. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:32.559 Because what happens is then back to our belief about God, if everything happens for a reason, then that must have been God's fault. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:38.559 If everything happens for a reason, I have no agency or responsibility. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:48.079 See, scripture doesn't teach fatalism, it teaches this idea called providence. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:57.839 The providence of God is no matter what happens, God can redeem it for good. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.920 Providence is there is evil in this world. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:09.119 We live in a broken, uh, unjust world that is not God's design or plan. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:15.839 He intended good, we messed it up, and we have this outworking that's playing out in our lives. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:26.720 And God says, because I'm so sovereign and because I'm so good, no matter what happens, no matter what comes into your life, I can still redeem it for good. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:35.359 He can redeem what others have wrecked in your life, and he can redeem what you have wrecked in your life. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.559 See, the life of Joseph looks something like this. 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:40.400 Right? 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:42.559 Birth of a dream, 17. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:26:04.559 Betrayed by his brothers, thrown into the pit, then he's sold an enslavery in Potter's household, he's unjustly accused, he's thrown into prison, then he's in the palace, then there's family real restoration, we're coming down to the end of his life, and he recognizes that through all the ups and downs, he doesn't dismiss those ups and downs. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.799 Oh, that's fine, that's fine, that's not a big deal. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:11.839 No, he says that that was evil, that was wrong, and yet the dream was at work all along. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:22.880 Because you cannot thwart God's plan for my life because he's bigger, he's greater, he's more powerful, and he's good. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.880 Amen by myself. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:31.519 There's this Japanese art form. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:33.599 Um, it's called Kinsugi. 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:37.440 It's this, it's one of those beautiful pictures. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:38.880 We did this as a staff. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:41.200 We had somebody come in and teach us how to do all this. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:46.000 Uh, Kinsugi uh literally means um, oh I gotta read it now. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:48.559 I you know when you start to talk and then you forget. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:54.240 Like golden joinery or golden repair. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.440 It's ancient. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:15.039 And it began with a broken pottery, and one person said, instead of tossing it aside, I'm gonna take some lacquer, mix it with gold dust, and then carefully put it back together. 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:22.799 And the broken parts, this is so cool, the broken parts and the cracks actually stand out distinct. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:30.480 And what's once was worthless is now valuable art. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.440 This is what God does with our lives. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.119 This is how God meets you in your broken places. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:54.160 Because I think for many of us, we walk into the room, we walk into a space, and you're like, yeah, I get it. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:28:04.960 God is willing, you're good, and God's gonna, you know, work and but you don't know the mess I've made in my life. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:09.519 And I feel broken beyond repair. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:18.640 What's been done to me and or what I've done and the things that I'm struggling with, it's just a mess. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:34.000 And God says, I specialize in bringing beauty from the broken. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:43.440 And the reason you can have confidence is that God will always have the final sex. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.720 He's willing, you're good. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.559 He will not waste your pain if you entrust it into the hands of God. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:05.599 If you take the brokenness and heartache of your life and trust it into the hands of God, that is often the place where your greatest ministry and purpose will emerge. 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:10.400 And you can be confident. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:20.160 Death doesn't have the final say, disease doesn't have the final say, your boss doesn't have the final say. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:26.319 What you've been walking through and the heartache and the loss doesn't have the final say. 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:33.839 The voices of your coach or your parents don't have the final say that's been on repeat. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:38.720 The sense of anxiety and depression doesn't have the final say. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:44.160 The anxiety of all that's going on doesn't have the final say. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:48.480 God has the final say, period. 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:51.440 Here's why. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:53.200 Another but God moment. 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:59.599 Peter's preaching the gospel in Acts to Jewish people. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.720 He says this, you killed the author of life. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.319 You killed the author of life. 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:15.200 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.880 Seriously, just do a little research on these places. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.400 But God raised him from the dead. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:33.839 He killed the author of life, but God. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:42.960 Like how Frederick Bachner says it, he says that resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing. 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:49.680 Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.640 Death does not have the final say in your life. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:58.319 Your brokenness does not have the final say. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:03.759 God is actively, moving, willingly, working good in your life. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:06.640 He will not waste whatever you're walking through. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:16.880 And you sit back with this confidence of like, I don't like it, I don't want it, and I know that it's not my, like, I don't, I don't want any of this. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:19.759 But it does not get the final say. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:26.480 Jesus gets the final say. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:32.720 Because he defeated death and hell itself. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.480 Because of who God is. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.400 Not because of what we see. 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:47.519 Every fragment of our story will one day be made whole. 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:51.279 Because of who God is. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:59.599 Because of what he has accomplished on the cross. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:02.960 Not because of what we see. 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:08.960 Every fragment of our story will one day be made whole. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:12.160 So let me ask you. 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:16.720 Where are you needing resurrection life at this point? 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:23.920 Where have you given up? 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:29.039 Or do you feel like it's too late? 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:36.079 Or does it feel too broken? 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:38.000 Too painful. 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:41.200 Too far gone. 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:44.880 But God. 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:51.200 Those two words have the power to change the trajectory of your life. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:56.000 Redeem your past, reshape your future. 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:01.920 And I'm confident that for many in this room, this is a but God moment. 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:10.799 Where you stop trying to hold it all together and place the broken pieces into the hands of the one who holds you. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.319 And so as we close, would you just do this with me? 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:22.480 Would you take the broken pieces, take the things that you brought in, the pain and the heartache and the hurt? 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:32.160 And you just begin to hold your hands out and go, God, I'm I give you, I trust those, I give those into your hands. 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:41.839 Heavenly Father, here are the broken pieces of my life. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.599 Do you redeem what's been lost? 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:49.519 Do you restore what's been broken? 00:33:51.359 --> 00:33:54.960 Bring resurrection where there's been death. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:33:59.839 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.480 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:06.720 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:12.800 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash 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