WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:04.559 We are studying our way through the book of Acts. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.480 By the end of Acts 23, Paul is in prison. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:10.320 He's in Caesarea by the sea. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.160 Here's a picture of that town today, Caesarea by the sea. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.079 This is where Paul was imprisoned at. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:17.760 They said he was leading a riot. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.120 He wasn't leading a riot. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.399 He was disruptive, though. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:25.519 He was disruptive because he was preaching that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:34.880 That the entire system that the Jewish leaders were maintaining and keeping up and control of and benefiting from, Jesus fulfills this system. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:44.000 So Paul is eventually passed from the Roman leaders, I got him Festus and Felix, and he's passed over to this local leader, King Agrippa. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:48.479 He's passed to King Agrippa because Agrippa was more familiar with the Jewish customs. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.759 So all this took years to play out. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:01:00.399 I mean, Paul's sitting in prison waiting years for this to play out, for his story to unfold. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.239 Eventually, during this time, Paul thinks, there's no way. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.040 There is no way I'm going to get a fair trial here. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.640 And so he makes an appeal as a Roman citizen to Rome. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:18.560 You think in the text, as you read that, that's kind of a passing note, but it actually comes back up in Paul's unfolding story. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.280 Now in Acts 26, this is where Agrippa shows up. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.439 So Acts 26, 1 through 3. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.719 So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:28.959 It's Paul's chance to defend himself. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.079 Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:35.920 I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:43.760 I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:47.599 Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:51.760 And Paul goes from there and he begins to kind of tell his life story. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:56.079 I'm the best, I was the best and most devout Jew. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.920 I oppose Jesus, I oppose followers, I punished the followers. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:01.439 Hey, I was doing that. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.680 And then Paul says, then something happened. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:07.599 Verse 12. 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.919 In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:21.840 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, and shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:29.439 And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:33.680 It is hard for you to kick against the goats. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.000 And I said, Who are you, Lord? 00:02:36.240 --> 00:03:10.159 And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to these things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:19.120 So what we see here is while Paul is not pursuing Christ, Christ is pursuing Paul. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:27.680 This is the same point we made from back in earlier in Acts when this event actually happened. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.919 Gospel conversion comes through God's pursuit of our lost and weary hearts. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:36.719 That's how we're converted to be Christians. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:43.120 Last weekend we were at my mom's lake house, my grandparents bought a cabin up on Lake Alatuna 49 years ago. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:44.479 So almost 50 years. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.719 Even before my life was started was this cabin. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:49.840 My mom now lives there. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.879 So I grew up there, my kids are going up, going up there. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:59.599 And I love putting them on a tube behind a boat and getting all my middle-aged angst out by just swirling and swinging. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:00.719 This is a picture. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:07.599 This picture next time last year just is a good shot of what I this is what I like to do to my children on Saturday. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.840 The loving care, the loving care of a father in action. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.599 I think they're having, they're screaming. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.520 I think they're having fun though. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:18.319 And they sit there, right? 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:27.360 They sit there, they hold on, but their safety, their safety is in the life jacket that's been given and put on them. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:33.680 Their ability to move and have this fun is from being in the tube that they rest in. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.839 And any power doesn't come from them, it comes from the boat pulling them. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.519 And this very loving father who's doing this to them. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:45.920 But this is the gospel point. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:51.759 Without the gift and without the power outside of them, they're just sitting in the water. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.439 And that's the point of the gospel. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.639 It's what Paul's trying to say. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:59.120 He's trying to say, yeah, the law is good, but it is inept. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.639 It does not have the power to carry out that which it demands of us. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.399 So we live in a receiving posture as Christians. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:09.360 We receive a power from outside of us. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:16.319 This is why the reformers stated, we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:26.639 And that's good news, that we are converted and we are sustained, not the power of our great commitment, but our hold of God is inside of God's hold of us. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:42.480 God pursues us, God finds us, and God holds us, which means that your pursuit of him, which is real and is really important, your pursuit of him, your disciplines, your practice, that's always rooted in his pursuit of you. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.120 Verse 19. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:06:01.279 Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and they should turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:05.680 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:07.199 Point number two. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:13.439 Our faith walk is a grateful response to God's gift of welcome and acceptance. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:15.199 That's what repentance is. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:21.839 Repentance is a turning from our self-reliance, is a falling back into God's kindness and provision to us. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:27.120 Our lives become, our lives become a response, a grateful response. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.040 Verse 22. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:39.839 And so I stand here testifying both to small and to great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:47.759 That the Christ must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:52.879 See, this is an expanding spirituality that Paul is preaching to all people. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:07.439 And Paul's telling this story of Jesus, God's love for us, and our need, not for us to be perfect unto God, but that God gives us a perfection in Jesus to us. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:18.319 That's why we continually say our sin is put upon him who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God, because it is our sin put upon Christ, is righteousness given to us. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.040 That's why we live in the receiving posture. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.560 Finally, Paul looks at Festus, this imperial leader, and then he looks over at Agrippa, the local king, and he says this in verse 25. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:39.040 But Paul said, I am not of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:41.600 For the king knows about these things. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:42.879 Remember the king's right there. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:44.399 But the king knows about these things. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:50.240 And to him I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.959 For this has not been done in a corner. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.680 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.199 I know that you believe. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:03.120 And Agrippa said to Paul, In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian? 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:04.879 And here's port number three. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:10.480 The gospel secures and empowers our hearts to live from love, not fear. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.920 See, Agrippa's actually kind of surprised here in this moment that what Paul is doing. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.839 It's quite a moment, really. 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:23.439 I mean, Paul's here defending his life, you would think, trying to get out of prison. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.439 But it doesn't seem that his primary goal is to get off the hook. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:29.680 Why would he be so bold? 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:38.720 Why is he, why is he in this moment where he should argue his way out of prison, he's directly confronting Agrippa, like, hey, you you know about the resurrection? 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:40.639 You can't deny this. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.399 What is it to you? 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.840 So there's another goal here for Paul, and Agrippa sees it. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:47.440 That's why Agrippa is so surprised. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:51.519 Why would you think you're going to try to persuade me to convert this quickly in this moment? 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.679 What Paul is saying is, hey, it was just 20, 25 years ago that Christ resurrected. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.639 This wasn't done secret, this was out in public. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:02.159 You know this. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:05.440 What Paul is saying, he's saying, you know I'm not crazy. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:06.639 This happened. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:08.399 You can't laugh this off. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.360 Now you may not follow, but you got to deal with it. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.720 You're going to have to deal with whether you accept it and follow or you walk away. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:16.480 But it wasn't done in secret. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:19.679 And Agrippa just can't believe this. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:31.440 This poor, powerless preacher would take the moment when he should be fighting for his life to get out of prison and he's speaking truth and love. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:33.759 Who does that? 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.440 Tim Keller said this about this moment, about Paul at this moment. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.360 The gospel helped him, Paul. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:48.159 The gospel helped him understand for the first time why he was so eaten up on the inside. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.559 The gospel explained him and then resolved him. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:54.399 Alright, time out for the quote. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:00.240 That's why every single week we say we are more broken than we originally thought. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:02.240 That explains us. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.879 That explains why we can't quite get our act together. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:07.600 We're not quite who we should be or who we want to be. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:11.440 But we're more loved by God and Jesus than we dare to dream. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:15.519 So we are explained in the gospel and we are resolved. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:17.200 Back to the quote. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:22.240 It explained why he was such a mess and what was wrong with him. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.720 And then it resolved the basic plot line of his life. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:32.960 See, Paul is incredibly secure and empowered by this gospel that explains him and resolves him. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:39.600 It explains his inability, it explains his sin, it resolves all of that, and it resolves his guilt and his shame. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:44.399 It makes him beloved, not because of what he does, but because of the power and the gift given to him. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:46.559 This is incredibly powerful. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.000 So Paul doesn't look for an easy way out. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.240 He's not living out of fear. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:56.159 He's actually living out of love for Agrippa. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.879 He addresses Agrippa, not for his own well-being, but for Agrippa's well-being. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.879 This got me asking this week. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.120 It's one of these questions that you're like, I don't know if I really want to ask this question. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.399 But it got me asking. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:17.360 What might my relationships be like if I lived less from fear and defense and more from love? 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.159 Like, where do I live out of fear and defense? 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.360 Where do I lack compassion because of that? 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.000 You know, search my heart, oh God. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:37.840 Help me to live more rooted in your love that I might be able to be less a judgmental person and more a compassionate person. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:47.279 That I might be able to speak truth and love to power, even when it's uncomfortable or it hurts me. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:56.639 So Agrippa responds to all this and basically says, if this is where the story takes a turn, is he says, you know, I would have let you go. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.919 Paul, I would have let you been in prison for years. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.399 He said, I would have, I would have let you go, but you appealed to Rome. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:05.840 Remember back, remember that? 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.000 You said I said to you, it's kind of passing in the text. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:09.440 You say, that's not that big of a deal. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.639 But Luke put it in there to make us see the storyline unfold. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:15.840 Paul's story is unfolding over time. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.480 And Agrippa says, I would have let you go. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:24.720 But you appealed to Rome, so now you're still in prison, and you're going to be shipped off to Rome. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:27.919 Seems like quite a detour. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:30.080 Seems like a classic backfire. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.080 But as always, something more is happening. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.159 Point number four. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:44.879 God is with me for me, and God's story for my life is unfolding over time. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:50.159 Remember what the Heidelberg Catechism says about providence? 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:51.759 I read this a while back. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:13:25.759 The providence of God is the almighty, everywhere-present power of God, whereby, this is a theological document, so you have words like, whereby, as it were, by his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures, and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.600 Now that's not the absence of pain. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:31.039 We know that. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:35.679 It's the presence of God with us in pain. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:37.120 It's a promise. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.120 All things come not by chance, but by the fatherly hand. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.559 Going back to Paul, think about this moment. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:50.320 Years in prison, you would have gotten out except you appealed to Rome. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:52.240 I'd be beating myself up over that. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.039 Wouldn't you be like, are you kidding me? 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:56.879 Why do I always overact? 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.759 See, like, why do I have to always do it? 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:01.440 Can I just, you know? 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.679 But something else happened as well. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:20.320 Back in Acts 23, years before, listen to this, Acts 23.11, the following night the Lord stood behind him, stood by him, by Paul, and said, Take courage. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:26.799 For as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.440 Isn't that interesting? 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:37.759 Years before being in front of Agrippa, before this had unfolded, before being shipped off to Rome, Paul was given a word. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:40.480 This changes everything. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.679 If you have a word from the Lord. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:48.960 Now maybe something in your life is or will be difficult. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:51.200 Just a hunch. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:55.840 It'll be painful. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.360 But your story is still being written. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:02.320 And we have a word. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.240 And you have a word. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:08.799 It may not be as exact as Acts 23.11. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:10.159 That's pretty exact. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:14.159 I'm gonna make a also another hunch, but probably not that exact. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.480 But you have a promise. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.240 And the promise is not that your life will be pain-free. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:25.519 The promise is that God is with you in the pain. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:26.639 And for you. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:31.600 And He is working out kingdom purposes in your life. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:39.200 Thirty-five years ago, in 1988, 36% of Yellowstone National Park burned. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.200 800,000 acres burned. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:45.200 Everything. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:46.559 Everything was ash. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.559 It's a huge amount of land. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:49.919 A third of the park. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:52.799 Everything just feels like despair, right? 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:54.960 I mean, you look at that image, you're like, I know that feeling. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.000 Like I don't have to be there. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.320 Like I've seen my life feel like that. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:06.799 I mean, in that moment, it can just be like, of course, we say, woe is me. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:08.799 Like, God, where are you? 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:10.480 What are you doing? 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:12.320 Come, Lord Jesus. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.080 I mean, of course, these are our cries. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.480 This is what we cry in that moment. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.639 You've been there. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:20.639 I've been there. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:22.879 I grew up in a broken home. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:27.039 I was unreconciled to my earthly father for years. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:31.840 So I have in my storyline fields of ash. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:38.799 And it often takes decades to be able to say something like, look what the Lord has done. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.080 That might not come in three days. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.840 That might not come in a year. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.480 That could take decades to say, look what the Lord has done. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:54.960 But I can't testify that those acres of ash, I can say, look what the Lord has done. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:01.039 Now there's other stories, other storylines of my own, and those of participated in it. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:02.399 I know of yours. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:07.039 I just put them in the list of questions that I'm going to have for God. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:13.119 Because I'm not quite at the point where I can say, look what the Lord has done. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:26.480 See, we're a people where we receive restoration here on earth, but we're also a people who know that full restoration comes in heaven, where all the sad things become untrue. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:32.400 And this is a way to say this providence that we see unfolding in Paul's life so clearly in this narrative. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.160 For Paul, it wouldn't have felt like this. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:39.440 He didn't get to read two or three chapters and all of a sudden know it all, right? 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:43.519 He's experiencing this as being in prison for years and being shipped off. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.880 I mean a horrible, horrible tragedy. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:50.559 And yet, his story is unfolding. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:55.920 God's sovereignty does not always give us certainty. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:57.680 I used to think it would. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:04.079 I used to want God's sovereignty to be the equation by which I didn't have to kind of worry about a whole bunch of stuff anymore. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.000 It doesn't do that. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.680 It actually can create a whole bunch of mystery. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:19.039 But it always gives us personal loving God who's with us. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:23.759 It gives us a heavenly father who knows you and is with you. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:29.440 So you may not have the certainty, but you will have the present Father. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.400 Now you know I'm a national park nerd, so here's the park in 1987. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.359 It's a satellite image. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.279 I'm sure this is what you're doing yesterday, looking at satellite images of national parks. 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.480 This is a satellite image of uh Yellowstone National Park. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.160 This is Lake Yellowstone, the big lake there in the middle, in 1987, a year before that burn. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:52.799 Now, here is in 1988, right after the burn. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:57.759 That is in the red, that's all that burned, all the forests that burned. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:04.720 And then this image here is five years ago, 30 years after the burn. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:08.160 Healed and healing. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:16.160 Now, when all you're looking at is burn and ash, how did I get here? 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:16.960 How are we here? 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.160 Why is it still like that? 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.279 That's hard. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:20.640 That's hard. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:23.440 But your story's not over. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:26.960 We are healed and we are healing. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.400 And God is restoring. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:31.680 And all of that ash will turn again to beauty. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:33.119 Here's an image here. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:37.039 This is standing at Artist Point looking at Yellowstone Falls. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:41.599 And if you ever get to stand there, you'll be about 10,000 other Americans there standing looking. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:43.200 That's what the images never show you. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:45.839 Like right behind whoever took this picture, I took it off the internet. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:51.039 Like just behind them are 10,000 other people all looking at the same beautiful waterfall. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.480 But you do have the question. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:57.759 The question that will have to come to you as you are at Artist Point is who is the artist? 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.880 Is it this handful of people that are gonna be beside you and they're painting these lovely little pictures? 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:04.400 Are they the artist? 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:10.960 Or is the creator of that which we gaze upon, the creator of that which we receive? 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:12.240 The artist. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.039 Who is telling your story? 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:25.200 And if it's not you, but if you are receiving within the story God's unfolding in your life, you're free. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.200 You won't always be certain, but you will be free. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:31.920 That God is for you and with you. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:48.000 As the catechism says, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.680 Let's pray together. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:55.759 Abba Father, it is today that we need an Abba Father. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:05.759 Many of us have had wonderful fathers, reflections of your fatherly care for us. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.359 Some of us have had fathers that they could have been better. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:15.759 And some of us have fathers who they were not good at all. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.799 And help us to know you as a heavenly father. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:28.720 It's a mystery why you do not alleviate pain. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.440 And yet in your sovereignty we know you're with us. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:49.680 And when we cannot place faith in a story that we see securely, help us to have faith and trust in your care for us, your character as a heavenly father who cares for his children. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:57.839 Would you give a give us a greater confidence that you know us and you love us? 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:01.119 And that you are at work in our lives. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.839 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:04.799 Amen.