WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:07.280 So this morning we will finish our study on the book of Acts that we've been going week by week for a while now. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.400 Everything's going wrong for Paul at this point. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:10.800 St. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.640 Paul, back half of the book of Acts, is largely about this guy. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:16.399 He's been falsely accused. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:17.280 He's been in prison. 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:18.719 He was almost assassinated. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.079 Now he's put on a ship. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.199 He's still in chains. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:21.920 He's still in prison. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.679 He's being put on this ship to be taken to Rome for another trial. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.079 So they have to sail across the Mediterranean. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:33.119 So in Acts 27, they are sailing along Crete toward Italy. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:36.240 They sail by an island called Cata, which is now Gavdos. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:40.479 I looked it up to see what this looked like quite a lovely place to be in prison. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.119 It looks like a good spot for a book and a drink, actually. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.039 But at the time that Paul was there, it was a huge storm, really bad weather. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:49.039 They're barely holding the ship together. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.240 So we jump in there, Acts 27, verse 21. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:04.079 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:09.280 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:15.280 For this very night there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:17.280 And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.799 You must stand before Caesar. 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:23.040 Then behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:29.359 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:31.680 But we must run aground on some island. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.239 Point number one is this we live in the peace of a guiding heavenly Father. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:42.560 We have peace from that, that he guides us, while participating in the unfolding story. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:48.400 In Paul's time, there were Stoics and there were Epicureans, two different philosophies. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.359 Now, the Stoics said everything is fixed. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:52.879 It's all fixed. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:54.879 Doesn't matter what you do. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:00.319 So to a Stoic, you just accept suffering because it just has to happen, it's gonna happen, you can't avoid it. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.719 The Epicurean said, I don't really know about that. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:07.439 Epicurean said everything's random, it's all chance. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.599 So you should do everything you can to avoid some suffering. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:16.400 And then Paul comes along, and Paul actually thinks about it differently. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.319 He presents a third way. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:27.120 In verse 22, he basically says, like, hey, God appeared to me, God said it, no one will die, we'll lose the ship, no one will die. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:28.080 Providence. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:29.439 It's fixed. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:36.960 Yet in verse 30, when Paul finds out that the soldiers are getting in lifeboats or trying to leave the ship, he pleads with us. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:39.759 No, no, no, like we gotta stay on the ship. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.000 Like it's wise to stay on the ship. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:43.680 You need to stay on the ship. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:51.599 So he's sure that they will all be fine, and yet at the same time, he's pleading with them to act in a certain way. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:58.240 So it's fixed and they need to make wise decisions. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.360 Isn't that interesting? 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:10.719 It's not stoic, it's not Epicurean, it's not fixed, it's not all chance, it's not all sovereignty without human interaction at all, and yet at the same time, we should be wise. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.439 See, if the future is fixed, then our choices don't matter. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:21.840 But if the future is totally based on our choices, then the weight of history rests on you. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.680 You'd have huge anxiety. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:28.400 Even the weight of your own life or your family totally rested on you. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:35.120 And Paul in the Bible gives us a much more profound and freeing way to think about our lives. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:40.240 Last summer at the beach, I was riding bikes with my youngest daughter. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:47.039 My youngest daughter and I, we were talking about the story this week, and I see how Providence and wise choices are playing out here. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.439 We were riding back from the pool on our bikes. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:50.240 She's in front of me. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.120 We're riding over this little bike bridge over a lake. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.360 So we're riding over this, we're coming just down. 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:58.960 We're about to hit where the bridge hits the little sidewalk landing. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:04.479 And as we're coming down there, I see a 22-year-old guy, moron. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.240 He's riding toward us. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.280 And I know it's here's how I know he's a moron, because he's on his phone. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:09.680 Okay? 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.680 And I've been crying about this all week because I'm a dad. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.479 I'm like, these kids, they're on their phone, somebody's gonna get hurt. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:15.680 Like, I've been doing that all week. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:16.240 So I was ready. 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:18.079 I was already, I saw it, I'm already like, ugh. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:21.759 You know, he has one hand, he's riding pretty good pace, pretty good clip going. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.680 One hand here, and he's doing something. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:24.879 Something so important. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:30.800 It's so important, you know, he's doing something, and just about when I see him, and this is all where it's happening pretty quick. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:39.040 He clips an A-frame sign, it shoots off, and it hits a dad and two other kids. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:39.519 Okay. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:46.480 He feels it, of course, the moron feels it, so then he he, you know, he's still going, he doesn't break. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.399 He because you can't stop. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:50.240 You know, you don't stop, of course not. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:05:02.480 So he just keeps riding the same speed, and he's like, I'm sorry, you know, and and then about then my daughter screams because he barrels into her, and they both fall down. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.480 So I have some choices. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.199 So I quickly check her. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:17.439 The moron's gathering himself, and I'm catching my breath. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.959 He's young enough to be my son, functionally. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:24.959 And I was a foolish kid as well. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:29.040 He starts to talk, and I've had a moment to catch my breath. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.040 Okay, so I'm like, okay, stay calm, don't you? 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:39.439 Alright, so he's and I just I mean, if so if an older dude does that to you, right? 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:49.279 That's the that is a power moment where he's like, shut your mouth. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.000 Here's what I said. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:59.759 If I see you anywhere this week on a bike and on your phone, I will chase you down. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:05.199 I will take your phone from you and I will throw it in the lake. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.839 You need to put your phone in your pocket and you ride away. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.600 And I was sort of proud of myself at this point. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:22.560 Like I had, I was clear, I had clarity, you know, I wasn't violent, I didn't cuss, I was like, it wasn't pastoral, you know. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:28.079 I mean, I wasn't priestly, I wasn't giving him absolution, somebody else's job. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.519 And about then the other dad shows up. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.079 And the other dad shows up, and he's bigger than me, not hard, but it's just true. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.319 He's kind of bigger, bigger boy. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:49.279 And he catches the tail end of my little speech, and all he says is, he says, he looks him down in the eye, he says, You're lucky he got to you before me, because you would have got a lot worse from me. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.680 And then he says, Go on and get. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:56.319 Go on and get. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:04.160 And the moron wrote away, he had it sucking his thumb this time, his phone was probably sucking his thumb. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.439 Okay, I want to talk about the moron for a second. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.279 I want to talk about the moron because I've been a moron. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:12.879 I will be again. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.680 You have been a moron, you will be again. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.439 Now, nobody would say in this little situation, Russ, calm down. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:22.800 It's all providence. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.040 Leave the kid alone, let him go, wish him well. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:28.319 It's all providence. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:29.439 It's fixed. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:31.279 Nobody would say that. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:32.319 Right? 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:41.279 Now, we also wouldn't get on a bike and get such anxiety on whether I turn left or right and how I affect the universe. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:42.639 Right? 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:47.759 It's just a way to say there's a sovereign plan of God working at some. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:49.920 I'm welcoming you into mystery here now, right? 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.079 Like I'm not gonna explain everything, clean it all up. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:08:02.560 I'm just saying there's a providential, sovereign hand of God, a fatherly hand that's active in your life, and you are a participant in the unfolding story. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:11.600 Now, here's what it gives you it won't give you certainty, but it will help you be humbled and at peace in God's fatherly, sovereign hand. 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.959 And it will welcome you into being empowered to make wise choices. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:22.319 After 14 days, this awful storm, Paul and the soldiers, soldiers are losing it. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:31.279 Paul stays pretty cool about this, which is interesting because he has no status, he has no power, and yet he's the one on the boat that rises up to be a leader. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:34.960 Finally, everybody makes it on shore to Malta. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.519 Now, here's a map just to get a little bit of an idea where they're at. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:45.279 So Malta's over there on the left side, um, way down, so you kind of see the boot of Italy, you see Naples, and you come down, and then below that is Malta. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.080 You see the name, you don't really see the island, a little island over there. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.919 Crete was over there to the right, you see Cutta's there at the bottom right. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.919 And so they've they've sailed all the way across there at Malta, and they need to get up, they need to get up into Italy, into Rome. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.279 That's where they're headed. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:01.039 So they're on Malta. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.639 They make it safely ashore. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:04.799 Acts 28, verse 7. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:26.559 Now, in the neighborhood of that place where lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publis, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days, it happened that the father of Publis lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:36.399 And when he and when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:38.399 They also honored us greatly. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.480 And when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:43.600 So here's point number two. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:47.360 This is sort of a repeating theme that you see Paul sort of exemplifying. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:51.279 True bravery is grown in the awareness of our own weaknesses. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:10:01.279 It's not the soldiers, the one with the powers rising up to be leaders, is actually the one who's aware of his weaknesses, tapping into a greater strength. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:07.759 Last week I went to hit some golf balls with my oldest daughter at the driving range, and to get there, we're unloading. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.600 I forgot my shoes. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.440 Forgot my golfing shoes. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:12.879 I just have flip-flops. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.919 So it's a little redneck, won't be the first time I've done this. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.200 So I hit golf balls in my flip-flops. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.399 I get a couple looks. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.440 I'm being somewhat aware, you know. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.600 And there was like an uptight golfer. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:29.519 And like, you know, flip-flops. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:30.320 I mean, come on. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:31.919 I mean, have some respect. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:35.919 And I'm like, hey, I know I'm not tiger, okay? 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.039 Like, I'm aware. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.240 I'm wearing flip-flops, I'm aware, you know, go on again. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:42.000 I got a little redneck in me, right? 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:43.519 Like, I'm aware of this. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:45.440 But you know what else I'm also aware of? 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:56.000 That guy, he ain't tiger either, because I saw him swing a few, but he had a good golf bag and he had everything was primed proper, and he lives at PGA's superstore. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:57.200 Fantastic. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:01.120 The point is this: I'm not Tiger, but you ain't Tiger either, right? 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:02.960 Like, that's the point there. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:06.639 And he just looks judgy and tired, and he's wearing everybody out. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:18.480 Here's the point: pretending to be all put together and strong all the time, it sounds really good until you realize you're not always put together and always strong. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.279 We don't always have it put all together. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:27.360 The good news of the Bible is that the Bible's not obsessed with us doing this pretending. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.240 The Bible actually calls us into recognizing our weaknesses. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:35.759 God calls us to face and feel our weaknesses, not to hide from them. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.240 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 11. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:42.879 But he said to me, it's Paul writing, My grace is sufficient for you. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:43.919 The Lord is speaking to Paul. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:47.679 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:51.039 See, he knew this kind of stuff when he's on that ship. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.480 And he's in chains and he's in weakness. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:03.039 Paul says this, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:09.039 For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:12.399 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.960 So he's honest about who he already is. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.639 He's not trying to cause more weakness. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:21.279 He's just saying, like, yeah, I don't have it all together all the time. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.799 That's a great freedom for us to admit something that we've been trying to avoid our whole lives. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:32.879 We're not perfect, we're not always strong. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:38.480 Isn't it interesting on this ship that none of the soldiers rise up to be the leader? 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:42.000 It's actually the one who can admit his weaknesses. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:46.320 But he's tapped into a power beyond his sufficiency. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:52.240 That crew, they stayed in Malta for three months, eventually set sail north up to Rome. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:54.879 Once they get to Rome, Paul was in a rented house. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.000 He had to rent it himself, but he had a guard there who guarded him. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:03.279 And so he was in this rented house for two years, and Christians come visit him, and Jewish leaders came and listened to him. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.759 And then we get these two verses, the last two verses, the entire book of the book of Acts. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.320 Acts 28, 30, and 31. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:25.120 He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:34.799 Point number three, you and I are beloved characters in God's story of redeeming love for us. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:41.120 The Roman courts gave people two years, a two-year period for accusers to come and prosecute. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:50.879 So the fact that two years passed meant that probably nobody came and made that journey from Judea across that sea to Rome to prosecute Paul. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:58.240 Now, Luke, who's writing this book, he never says it, but it's most likely that because of this, that Paul probably would have been freed. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:02.639 Now, what we know is that he was imprisoned again, and we know that he was executed. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.840 But Luke mentions none of that in this book. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:07.200 Could have. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:08.879 Mentions none of it. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.480 The book of Acts just ends abruptly. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:14.639 We kind of don't know what happens to Paul. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:21.360 Which is crazy because the back half of the whole book's been about Paul, and we don't get any resolution about Paul. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.559 And it's almost like it's Luke's way to say, Paul's not the point. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.519 Paul was never the point. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.399 And you and I are never the point. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:39.759 We are loved, we are welcomed, included, but the world does not exist to praise you or revolve around you. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:45.600 Do you remember the great profound movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986? 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.759 It's been almost 40 years, so I can ruin it a little bit. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.519 You've had time. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:55.279 Remember Ferris fakes a sick day, right? 00:14:55.600 --> 00:15:00.559 So he can have the day of his life with his girlfriend Sloan, who I still have a crush on. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.600 I started to have a crush on her when I was seven years old, 1986. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:05.279 Sloan Peterson. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.159 There they are. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:09.440 Ferris Sloan. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.639 That's Cameron in the back. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:11.679 That's his best friend. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.919 At the beginning of the movie, Cameron was sick. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:14.720 We're not sure. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:15.440 Was he actually sick? 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:16.399 Or did he think he was sick? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:18.240 I don't know if you remember, he's laying in bed. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.480 I mean, he looked like he was in a coffin almost. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:29.440 And Ferris just drags him out of bed, convinces them to drive Cameron's dad's Ferrari, and they have the day of their lives. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.799 And the entire story, the entire movie, is about Ferris. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:34.960 It's Ferris's story. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:36.399 It's what he wants. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.720 All the glory goes to Ferris. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:43.759 But Ferris really loves Cameron. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:49.120 Now, we want the world to revolve around us like the movie revolves around Ferris. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.159 Just like the world cooperates with us. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:55.519 Or even our family, our spouse, our child. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:56.960 Just to revolve around us. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:57.600 Cooperate. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.559 We spend a lot of energy to try to get this to happen. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.000 It's exhausting. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.039 But we're much more like Cameron. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.960 We're a character in a larger story. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:11.919 I love that this story is all about Ferris. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.320 I've probably watched it a hundred times at this point. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:17.519 So I've been able to analyze the brilliance of profoundness. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:20.080 The story's all about Ferris. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.840 And yet Cameron has a healing journey of his own. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:24.799 Right? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:30.480 By the end of the movie, we see Cameron sort of coming out of a cocoon, out of a death. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.279 To be brave, to be willing to be brave. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.320 See, we're a character in a larger story. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.799 We have our own journey within that story. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.279 We're characters in God's big story. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.720 With our little story unfolding of a story of redeeming love and restoration of all that's broken. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:55.759 And what this means for us is it means that we're secure in God's love, and we're also not egomaniacs. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:58.799 So it isn't interesting, the book of Acts just ends. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:04.319 Almost Luke's way to say, I'm not trying to draw attention to Paul over and over again. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.119 I want you to really think about what is Paul about? 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:09.519 Well, the last verse tells us. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:11.279 That verse 31. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:15.680 What is it that Paul just keeps doing over and over and over? 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:23.119 Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.960 This past Thursday I went to Nastral to see my mentor Scotty Smith. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:28.480 Here's a picture of the two of us. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:29.359 There we are. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:30.240 We went to dinner. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:31.359 We went for a long walk. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:31.920 We talked. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:32.960 He's 73 now. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.200 He spends time with young leaders. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.720 He preaches and teaches some. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.319 He helps out his church. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:39.519 Hangs with his family. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.279 He goes fishing with friends. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:43.440 And he wakes up every morning. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:47.440 He writes prayers, sends them out for people to read. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.559 He writes these little gospel bomb tweets. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:58.559 And then for all his kind of curmudgeon friends like myself who don't get on social media, he texts it to us. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:01.920 Last weekend, right before Father's Day weekend. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.759 He's got a series of just lavish, lavish gospel tweets. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:09.519 Here's the first one I got. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.039 A long way off, his father saw him. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:18.079 Filled with compassion, he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:24.880 Because of what Jesus did for us, this is how our Father loves each of us today. 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:26.480 No exaggeration. 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.359 Strings attached or fine print. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.920 The next day he sent out another one. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:44.079 Behold, ponder, contemplate, be astonished, smitten and speechless at the great love the Father has lavished on us. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:56.319 The greatest sorrow, so John Owen quote, the greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:03.680 See, we tend to think it'd be like, well, the greatest unkindness I could do to God is like I don't perform for him. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:07.680 To not believe that he loves you. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.720 To know you are loved without conditions. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:13.839 That's what Paul's doing. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:16.000 He's proclaiming the kingdom of God. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:17.279 What is the kingdom like? 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:23.119 What is it like to be known and loved by God through Jesus? 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:24.960 It's our calling. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.480 It's your calling, whether you be a preacher or you work in the business world, or you're a parent. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.599 It's just to keep falling into this. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:35.279 Because this is enough for us. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:36.319 It's enough for our guilt. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:37.519 It's enough for our sin. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:39.359 It's enough for our shame. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.559 It's enough for our righteousness. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.759 It's enough to give us a secure identity as a child of God. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:51.359 It's enough to relieve us for being pretentious. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:52.640 Or judgmental. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.279 Performing, posturing, all that exhaustion. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:58.319 This is what we should do. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.640 Verse 31, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without hindrance. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.599 We just keep doing it. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:04.880 We just keep doing it. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:08.880 God could not love you anymore or any less. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:10.160 Isn't that good news? 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:11.519 And you know why? 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.440 It has nothing to do with you. 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.519 This is what Jesus did for you. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:17.279 Let's pray together. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.079 God, thank you that you love us and you like us. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:29.920 Thank you that your heart is for us, that on the cross all of our sin and shortcoming was handled. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:45.279 That you are not disappointed with us, you do not condemn us, but you see us as your righteous, beloved children as we are, not as we should be, because of Jesus for us. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:57.359 That the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was really enough for all of our sin and shortcoming and failure and mess-ups and self-centeredness. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:04.480 And it put upon us a righteous standing that is forever secure. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:09.440 Not because of what we do, but because of what you have done for us. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:16.720 Help us to trust this more, help us to rest in it, know the freedom of it, and to know what this freedom might be like, what the implications of this freedom are. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:28.000 God, we invite your Holy Spirit to speak to us about what does it mean to live in the freedom of knowing Christ and being known by Christ. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:33.279 And Holy Spirit, we ask that you would blow freshly in this church and in our hearts. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:34.480 In Jesus' name. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:35.279 Amen.