WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.520 We may be seated. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:02.160 Good morning. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:02.799 Good to see you. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:03.839 Welcome to Christ the Redeemer. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:10.480 My name is Russ Masterson, Pastor here, whether you're here in the sanctuary or online in your living room, happy Valentine's Day. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.599 We just want to let you know you are loved. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:22.640 One of the sayings that are is around our church and different papers and documents, and we love to say is that his love for you has no brim nor bottom. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.120 And we hope that you really know that today. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:28.160 And especially as we go into Hebrews chapter 12. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.399 So if you've been with us, we've been studying our way through the book of Hebrews. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:34.000 We are getting toward the end of it. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:35.759 We are in chapter 12. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:36.719 So we're going to jump right in. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:39.520 If you have your Bibles, you can open it up, or you can look at the screens. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:40.799 We're going to start in verse 3. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:43.679 We do have a good bit of scripture to go through today. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:47.840 So I'll read a little, talk a little, read a little, talk a little to make our way through it. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.159 Hebrews 12, verses 3 and 4. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:55.119 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:57.679 So, of course, this is speaking about Christ. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.359 So that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.959 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:16.959 So point number one to guide us here in our thinking is that pondering Christ's redeeming work on the cross fuels our hearts through weariness. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:18.400 And isn't that good news? 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.040 Because we all know weariness. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:22.959 And this isn't a shaming motivation. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.879 So this isn't like, look what Jesus did, can't you get your act together? 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.560 So that's not the reasoning here. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.599 The reasoning here is it's like, yeah, you're weary. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:34.239 You're weary, of course. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.079 So ponder his loving character toward you. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:40.319 Ponder his work for you. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.560 That will actually be the way through that weariness and that weakness. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:50.400 The cross will still stand for you, even while your strength and the world walks away. 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:52.000 Verse 3 gives us that. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:53.040 It starts out with that. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:53.760 Consider him. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:58.959 That word consider is the word, ooh, and I'm gonna butcher this one. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:02.400 Anna lagazami, or something close. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:03.519 That's the transliteration. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:05.519 Probably one of you knows better than me. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:07.200 The meaning of it's the point. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:11.599 And the meaning is to think over, to consider, to ponder. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.240 It's almost like to be caught up in, right? 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:19.840 Like if you're watching a really good movie or listening to a really good song and you're caught up in it. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:21.599 You're pondering it. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.479 You may not be aware that this week a baby eagle was born up at Barrie College. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:29.919 There's Barry College Eagles. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.479 Is anybody aware of the Berry College Eagles besides me? 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.159 A few of you, great, okay. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:35.840 Maybe you saw the pip. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:37.360 So a pip is a baby eagle. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:38.479 Learned that this week. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.159 My daughter had been learning about birds in class. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:53.520 And so she had learned about eagles, all this information about eagles, and so then eventually they started to watch the online feed of the Berry College Eagles who came to campus in 2012. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.599 The couple, they mate for life, by the way. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:56.560 Learned that this week. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:58.479 Here they are, the great couple. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.800 They nest in a tall pine tree by the main entrance of Barrie College. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:04.159 And there's an online camera. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:10.080 You can go and you can watch this couple and you could watch their eggs as they laid there still. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:16.800 But then Monday, my daughter told me, she said, Dad, on the way to school, Dad, there's a crack in one of the eggs. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:18.080 I mean, she was so excited. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.240 There's a crack and what something's gonna happen. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:22.879 Like a baby's coming, like it's gonna happen. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.719 And you could tell, like it had moved past knowledge, right? 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.080 Like the uh the wingspan's gonna be six to seven and a half feet. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.319 They can fly up to 99 miles per hour, right? 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:33.919 Like it had moved past that. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:37.439 And it had moved in, like she was pondering these eagles. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:45.680 Like she was walking around in regular life, thinking about she's riding in the car on the way to school, and she's considering these eagles. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.680 So Thursday morning I go online because I was beginning to ponder these eagles. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:53.360 So I go online at 9 a.m. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:54.639 And here's what I see. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:08.960 I just took a screenshot of my screen because the baby had been born, and the mama eagle was like ripping apart with her talons, you know, ripping apart, like it looked like a maybe a mouse or something, and feeding her little baby. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.680 And I'll be honest, like, and there's a community, okay? 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:13.199 Just to let you know, there's a feed. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:17.360 You can see like Debbie's weighing in there, and Margaret, like you can do it, mama. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:25.519 Like, like there's a whole there's a whole bald eagle community out there, and I knew about the fat bear community, we've talked about that, which I'm in. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:32.639 I didn't know about the bald eagle community, but I'm in it now because I was pondering, like it had moved past information. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:42.319 So I understood it, understood what my daughter was going through because it was like the information just about eagles, like it had gone past that, and I had moved into a different thing. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:48.000 And the different thing is what this verse is talking about, this verse three, to consider. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:55.680 So it's more than just information, it's a pondering to be caught up in that your heart and your mind would be caught up in. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.759 So, what the verse is saying for us, slow down. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:07.680 Like, slow down and remember again and again the goodness of the love of Jesus to you. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:12.399 That actually has a supernatural power when you're weary. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:20.079 The Holy Spirit will use that inside of you within your weakness and vulnerability to help you keep moving forward. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:22.399 Verse 5. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.480 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.959 And when we see sons, remember this was written in a patriarchal ancient society. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:42.639 So, sons means for us, if when you're hearing it, sons or daughters, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:49.199 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.000 It is for discipline that you have to endure. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.160 God is treating you as sons. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.839 For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:03.519 So the writer here is actually quoting Proverbs 3, 11 and 12 to teach us something. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:07.759 And that says, point number two, this is my words for what I think he's teaching. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:16.240 Our Heavenly Father cares enough to move us toward maturity, cares enough about us, not just to leave us in our present state. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:24.639 When I was in the first grade, my friend and I, Matthew, we decided we're gonna cheat on the spelling test. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.560 Remember, you get your 10 spelling words on Monday, and then like the spelling test would be like Thursday or Friday. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.120 I think the spelling test was on Friday, probably. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:37.279 And uh we decided my method was gonna be, I was gonna write the 10 words on a little sheet of paper, put them in between my legs and my chair. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:39.759 And word number one, good to go. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:40.879 Word number two, good to go. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.639 And I think I am solid. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:54.639 I'm gonna cruise through this, and then sure enough, like word number four, Miss Minor's hand just from behind on my shoulder, and my stomach drops out, little first grader. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:00.160 Now, what's worse, what's worse is my mom substitute teaching two doors down. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:15.759 So Miss Minor pulls me up out of that chair out in the hallway, two doors down, gets my mom out of that class with three of us, little Russ, Miss Minor, and my mom are in the hallway outside Miss Frisca's class. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.480 And Miss Minor fills my mom in. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.120 Mom just says, Hey, we'll deal with this when we get home. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.279 So I live in terror the rest of the day. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:30.480 So when I get home, 10 spelling words, I have to write each word a hundred times. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:35.839 Little first grade, seven-year-old hand crippled for the rest of my life. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.319 A thousand words. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.560 And then she conducts the spelling test again for me. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:44.560 Of course, I ace it, right? 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:46.560 I just wrote a thousand words. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:08:01.040 And then Monday take all that work back in with my mom to Miss Minor, turn it in, and then have to accept that I will still be receiving zero because I cheated. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:02.800 Right? 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:04.480 Discipline, just discipline. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.680 Mine was a thousand words and a crippled hand. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.160 My parents cared enough to discipline me. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:12.959 Right? 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.079 And proper discipline is what's important here. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:17.439 And that's what the Lord does. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.839 He does proper discipline. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.319 Now, this idea of discipline and chastise is not punishment, right? 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.439 That should not be what any type of discipline should be. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:28.560 Right? 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.679 And we can so transfer that onto God, right? 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:41.200 Like you endorse some sort of wrongful discipline in this world, and you transfer, well, that must be what God does to me. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.200 I do wrong, I'm punished, he zaps me, he's angry at me. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:47.120 But that's not what this is. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.039 That's not what this is at all. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:55.200 This is a caring, guiding parent and proper loving discipline. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:01.919 Not to harm, not out of anger, out of love and care and guidance. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:13.519 Discipline is the word paidea, which means to provide instruction with intent to form proper living and moving toward maturity. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:20.559 To provide instruction with intent to form proper living and moving us toward maturity. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:27.759 A great 19th-century British preacher who I love, Charles Spurgeon, he wrote this about these verses. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.279 God's people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:34.720 So just receive that. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:36.639 That's such good news. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.480 God has punished them already in the person of Christ. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:51.759 Christ, their substitute, has endured the full penalty for all their guilt, and neither the justice nor the love of God can ever exact again that which Christ has paid. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:58.399 But yet, while the sin cannot be punished, while the Christian cannot be condemned, he can be chastised. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:10.799 While he shall never be arranged before God's bar as a criminal and punished for his guilt, yet he now stands in a new relationship, that of a child to his parent. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.120 As a son, he may be chastised on account of sin. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.919 Folly is bound up in the heart of all God's children. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:25.360 And the rod of the father must bring that folly out of them. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:33.440 So Spurgeon goes on to say just that God cares enough for you to not leave you in your selfishness or destructive ways. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:42.799 So he will actually allow that pain to occur as to discipline, as to move us toward maturity, and he'll allow the pain of the world. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:44.000 He'll use that. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.120 We get that out of this word exhortation. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:51.200 So the word we get about discipline is that it is exhortation. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:59.200 And exhortation is the word paraclesis, which means giving comfort, to give aid and encouragement. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.279 So put these ideas together. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:12.720 What it means is it means this idea to be disciplined, which seems like, oh, don't want that, but that's connected to the idea that God would be comforting us and giving us aid. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.720 So he comforts us and gives us aid even through discipline. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:23.360 So it's not a distant dad who gets angry and punishes and removes himself. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.200 No, no, no, that's not it at all. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:32.480 It's a loving father that's with us, who desires one to use any pain to move us toward maturity. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.879 That means nothing's for waste. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:36.720 Verse 8. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:44.000 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:48.559 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:52.879 Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:58.559 For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:03.519 But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:14.399 For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:16.799 So point number three is this. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:18.399 And I didn't come up with this. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:20.559 I read this this week in a commentary somewhere. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:26.799 The temptation is to think too much of discipline or to think too little of discipline. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.639 So what that means is this, and maybe you've seen either of these extremes. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:36.240 Thinking too much means that you just always think about God as a disciplinarian God. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:42.320 Rather than just being part of who he is or part of how he interacts and relates with us. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.200 It's sort of like who he is as his identity, as a disciplinary. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:49.360 So every stub toe is about God disciplining you. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:50.559 That's exhausting, right? 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:57.679 Like that's just exhausting of like every single stub toe is God disciplining. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.919 But thinking too little means that God is inactive in any of your pain. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:06.960 Man, that's despair. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:17.919 That like any of your discomfort or pain or suffering, that God would be completely inactive in any of it for your good, that would be so despairing. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:26.960 And so the middle path, somewhere between these two, is that joyful, transformative path where we don't hope for pain. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:35.200 And we don't need an answer for every discomfort, but when pain arrives, we face it and we feel it and we learn from it. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:41.679 Maybe you remember from two weeks ago I read this quote by counselor and author Dan Allender, wrote this in his book, The Healing Path. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.720 I think it comes back into this context well for us. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:50.639 Suffering need not destroy the heart, it has the potential to lead to life. 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.399 But few people I know suffer deeply and profit. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:58.720 Instead, pain is seldom expected nor embraced when it comes. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:04.480 It is often denied or swept under the spiritual rug of God's sovereignty. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:12.080 So Alender is saying that the healing path is not in just like stamping God is sovereign, oh well, can't do anything about it. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:17.919 No, no, the healing path is to face and feel the pain, to learn from it. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:20.879 So here's what I think this could mean. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:22.000 Just four suggestions. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:23.519 Four suggestions. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:33.519 It means when pain comes, suffering, discomfort, stress, moodiness, all these things, when you're feeling that, do not escape and do not use a religious band-aid. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:34.240 All right? 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:40.320 We tend to use those two things, escape, you know, three drinks rather than one, or we use a religious band-aid. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.000 God is sovereign, I will never, never really pay attention to that wound. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:44.240 Right? 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:45.919 Like we tend to go to one way or the other. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:46.559 Don't do that. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:50.320 Either way, either way, you're numbing yourself to the reality of life. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:54.960 What we said a few weeks ago is we said, the more we cry, the more we'll laugh. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:56.480 That's such good news. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.360 We have to face and feel the pain that we have, and the Lord will use it. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:07.600 Number two, slow down enough to face the reality and feel the impact of the pain. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.840 That's part of considering Him. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.879 Number three, ask God to reveal to you through His Holy Spirit three things. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.879 I think this would be a good journal entry. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:24.960 What you need to repent of, what you need to heal from, and what you need to learn. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:26.399 Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.440 I'm feeling such pain in this thing. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:31.519 I'm feeling such discomfort, such stress. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.799 Slow down enough. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:33.759 Consider his love for you. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:38.399 You're already safe, you're already secure, you're already beloved in your weakness and your weariness. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:40.960 So say, God, what do you have for me here? 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:46.639 And number four is maybe you just need to talk to a counselor or a therapist. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:52.480 You can talk to me and call me, I'll listen, I'll pray for you, I'll refer you on if we're getting into something I can't process with you. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:55.279 But maybe that's a step you need to take. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:57.039 Verse 12. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:10.399 Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:16.639 Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:25.600 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:32.240 That no one is sexually immoral or unholy, like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:42.000 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent through he though he sought it with tears. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:48.639 Now we could spend three sermons just in that passage, but here's the overarching principle. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:17:01.600 Point number four, growing in maturity means pondering Christ while weary, we have that in verse 3, and moving toward godliness, even while we're imperfect. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.720 Saint John of the Cross, he wrote this, thinking about this idea. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:14.640 God perceives the imperfection within us, and because of his love for us, urges us to grow up. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:18.480 His love is not content to leave us in our weakness. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:21.759 And for this reason, he takes us into a dark night. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:27.200 He weans us from all the pleasures by giving us dry times and an inward darkness. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:33.680 In doing so, he's able to take away all these vices and create virtues within us. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:38.559 So here are the promises we have in this passage about our growth in grace. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.119 What we see here, I'll go through them just really fast. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:45.599 Verse 12, God is faithful to grant strength in your spirit. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:50.160 Verse 13, God is faithful to healing your inner being. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:55.759 Spiritually with Him in a right relationship, eternally and emotionally, He is committed to that with you. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:00.000 Verse 14, God desires us to live in peace with each other. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.559 Verse 14, God desires us to live in holiness in this world. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:05.759 That means to be set apart. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:06.240 We're different. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.039 We have a different king, and we live for a different kingdom in this world. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:14.400 Verse 15, God desires us to care for the souls of others and refuse bitterness between us. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:22.960 And you take a time out here because that's two times out of all these different things, the writer has mentioned the idea of importance of living in peace with each other. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:29.279 He says it in verse 14: live with peace with each other, and then he repeats it and says, Don't let any bitterness pop up. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.519 Like if there's conflict, go and resolve it with that person. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:38.400 So it's not me versus him and me versus her, us versus them. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.400 Like we don't allow festering division. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.759 It's not mask versus unvack mask. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.759 Or this week, impeach versus non-impeach. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:50.799 Right? 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:58.480 Like it's not like, oh, I only do the baptism by dunking, but anybody's baptism by sprinkling, you know, like I'm not, you know, no, like it's it's not the division. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:18:59.359 We're not doing division. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.599 Chick-fil-a sandwich, no Popeye sandwich, that's the big division in our family. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.519 See, we're called to be people of unity. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:16.880 And when we have division, to go to the person and have a conversation and work toward unity. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:21.680 And then verse 16: God desires us to live sexually moral. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.640 I love how holistic this list is. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:36.480 If we back up from it and just look at this list, so God cares about your inner life, God cares about your relationships. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:43.279 God cares about your actions in the world, and God cares about the most intimate parts of your life. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.960 And he cares about all that because he loves you. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:48.400 He cares for you. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.160 And it's not to keep you under his thumb and to limit you. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:20:00.640 No, no, no, it's to free you into a life with a heart that's free from guilt and shame, to becoming more alive to his love for you. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:07.839 We moved to Marietta eight years ago to start our church, to start this church. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:09.839 And we love the people we're meeting. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:16.319 Even this past week, I saw the picture of us, and a handful of you were there in the dentist office lobby. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:17.680 Eight years ago. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:22.160 So some of us had more hair, some of us were thinner, is what I noticed. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:30.079 This little spot in the back that I talk about, y'all can't see because I'm so tall, it had more hair because I took a kind of enlarged end to see what was going on there. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.920 I mean, we love the people where we were meeting as we were starting. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.559 I mean, it's God was so exciting to move up here. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.119 But at the same time, like I missed my home. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:44.079 Like, I mean, it was only 20 minutes north, but at the same time, like I missed my YMCA. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.000 Like the Buckhead YMCA. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:48.319 I mean, that is an amazing YMCA. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.480 They are pulling together the charitable donations. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:51.599 That place is amazing. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:21:00.880 I miss my publics, I miss my drive to work, I missed that from my office I could walk down the hill and get the spinach artichoke dipped for lunch from Houston's. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.000 Like, I loved all that. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:02.960 I missed it. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:04.559 I did, I missed it. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:09.200 Like, it took about a year for me in Marietta just to feel at home. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.039 It had nothing to do with Marietta, it has to do with me. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:12.400 I don't like change. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.599 But slowly I found my home. 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.920 Like slowly I felt at home in the house we bought, right? 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.240 Have you ever had that experience you buy a house, you're in the house for like a long time before you actually feel at home in it? 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.359 Because, see, the home is actually where you settle in and you feel refuge. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:39.759 Like you can move your stuff and you can like go and live somewhere else, but your home and your heart may be somewhere else. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:42.079 Home's our resting place. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:48.079 It's a refuge, it's the place we find our greatest sense of identity and nurturing. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.160 And this is the last point. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.240 This is my takeaway, at least for me. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:58.400 Pondering Christ means making his gracious and merciful heart your home. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.960 Like to consider him and ponder him and be caught up in that. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:07.759 That we'd be finding our home there and his limitless love for us. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:22.880 The practice of pondering, whether it's in set times, in that quiet moment in the morning or in the evening, maybe a lunch break, or maybe it's spontaneous during the day, it's just allowing your heart to settle into the only place of true refuge for you. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.799 My brothers and sisters, you're weary. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:27.599 I'm weary. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:37.039 We're moody, we can be stressed, we can be weak, we can be sinful, we can be broken, but we are cherished by the Heavenly Father. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.640 Let's pray together. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:53.599 God, thank you for this good news that you love us without hesitation, without reservation, and in that love you care enough for us not to leave us in our selfish ways and destructive ways in this world and in our hearts. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:00.480 Help us to know our security even more as we consider you and ponder you caught up in the gospel story. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:09.359 That your grace to us is astonishing and it is sufficient, it is enough, and we never have to live in any doubt of our position with you on a day-to-day basis. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:13.599 And would that only send us all the more to say, what do you have for me in this? 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.039 What do you have for me in this pain or this discomfort? 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:31.839 Holy Spirit, would you, even now, and each of us, as we have, as we have parts of our lives that are filled with pain, some in minor ways and some in major ways, would we be able to say to you, God, even in this discomfort, what do you have for me? 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.720 How would you like to grow me? 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:37.039 And would we be open to it? 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.480 Help us to live more and more as your children. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:45.039 Acknowledging you that that you are our Heavenly Father. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:50.079 And you love us, you care for us, and you are committed to our growth and your grace. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:51.920 In Jesus' name, amen.