WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.240 So at first, this passage is gloom and doom. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:06.160 It's the end of the world. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.880 It's oh my gosh, what's about to happen? 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.400 Oh, we've got to figure this out, and everything's gonna be horrible, and it's all of those feelings, right? 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:23.359 But it's it's actually more than that because it's about kind of just the principle that life is hard and life hurts. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:24.320 Right? 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:41.840 It's not necessarily like life hurts, like you forgot about your password to Netflix, and then you're so frustrated you want to watch your show, so then you have to get it emailed to you, but then it emails to your old email account, and you don't have that password either, and you're just upset and you're frustrated, you're mad, and you know that feeling, right? 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:42.640 We know that feeling. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.439 That's actually quite frustrating, incredibly frustrating. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:56.000 But this is actually about when life hurts so bad that it can be difficult to make it through the morning, much less a day. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:02.560 I mean, sometimes we are in such hurting that just breathing can hurt. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:03.520 And you know what I'm talking about. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:06.959 You've been there, maybe you're not there right now, but you've probably been there. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:17.280 We could go around the room, we could share our stories, we could share our wounds, and we would weep together to know what each of us have been through in our lives. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:36.000 And we don't even have to do that because it only takes just a little a little bit of a moment for each of us to either think about what's going on right now or look back and think about what you've been through, what suffering you've been through, and feel that amount of hurt that you have your own sadness. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.920 And in a way, this is a strange passage for Thanksgiving week, right? 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:45.439 But we've been going through a Bible teaching plan called the Lectionary, and this is the passage that shows up. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.480 That teaching plan was formed outside of the United States and outside of Thanksgiving. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:56.560 It's a universal global plan, and so churches all around the world are teaching this passage this morning. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.280 All around the world, Christians are hearing this passage. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:06.400 And what I think we'll hear is actually this passage has a lot of hope because it speaks to reality that you know what? 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:10.240 If you're hurting, hurt doesn't stop Thanksgiving week, right? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.639 It doesn't stop Thanksgiving morning. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.759 Hurt doesn't know those types of boundaries. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.439 And we all know hope, and what we want to know in it is there is there hope in the hurt? 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.120 Is there hope in the hurt? 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:24.960 And we love that word hope, right? 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:41.759 And you know this feeling you got on the bus and you're sitting the back right, and then that girl or that guy got on and sat at the front left, and then the next time you got on the bus, you sat at the front left, and you did it in hope, right? 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:53.120 That he or she was gonna get on and sit in the same spot, and you already had the conversation worked out of what you were gonna talk to him or her about, and you did that conversation in hope. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:03:03.759 That you were gonna see if maybe this person was interested in you and thought you were brilliant, and y'all could go eat at Chili's together, and you could have a future in hope. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:13.840 Or you applied to a program, you applied to a college, you applied for a job, you had an interview, come home from the interview, you're talking to your mom, you say, Oh, mom is the best job, I keep living. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:18.560 There's man, I hope, I hope I get this job. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:23.360 Now, the interesting thing is if your mom was doing the interview, you probably wouldn't say that. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.439 You kind of figure your shoe in, right? 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.319 Hope only has something to say or means something in uncertainty. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:39.360 Hope has everything to do with not knowing and still putting trust in something to be true. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:42.159 So we use it very casually a lot of times. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.639 I hope we win Saturday. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.680 I hope the store is still open. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.520 But this word can mean a lot more, right? 00:03:51.680 --> 00:04:02.479 Like if you're in a country at war, if you lived in Malibu this week and those fires are coming toward your house, this word starts to mean a lot more. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:03.599 It carries more weight. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:10.319 There have been times you've used this word hope with a lot of weight because you're saying something like, I hope this pain will go away. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:12.800 I hope I'm not sick. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:14.319 I hope my kid's not sick. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.800 I hope my kid can make it through this season. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.480 I hope this season ends. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:20.319 I hope I make it out of this season. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:21.439 I hope this gets better. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.319 I hope being with my family this week is gonna be okay. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:27.839 I hope Uncle Jerry doesn't want to talk about politics with everybody, right? 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:28.639 Like hope. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.199 I hope we use this word. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.600 And hope is waiting in trust for something. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:47.680 So in this Mark 13 passage, Jesus is talking about this temple being destroyed, and then Jesus goes from there and starts making some comments about just how the world will be until his return. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.120 And maybe it's a new language for you, new to church, new language. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:52.959 You kind of read that, you know, that's kind of interesting. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:05:01.600 Maybe it's old language, and like you've been in church that used this just to produce as much fear in you as possible in order to get you to do something. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:02.639 Very possible. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:10.560 Here's what is true Jesus thought this was important enough to talk about, so there's something here for us. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:18.240 What I see is I see an overarching principle here, and that is this, very profound, mind you. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:27.279 The world is not perfect, it does not operate like we want it to, and your world will be difficult. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:28.560 Right? 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:38.800 It's not become a Christian, and you will, hey, if you become a Christian, all that hurt and that suffering is gonna go away, you get to lay by a pool, and people are gonna bring you sweet tea and fruit kebabs. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:40.879 I mean, that's that is not the promise. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:42.000 That's not what it is. 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:43.279 So, what is the promise? 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:46.240 If that's not the promise, what's the promise? 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:47.519 So let's look at the text. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:49.120 Mark 13, verses 1 and 2. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:57.279 And he came out of the temple, Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:00.800 And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:05.759 There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:13.839 So they come out of this building, look at this building, it's beautiful, it's humbly, it's huge, it's beautiful, somebody is probably covered in gold. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.079 I mean, this is a place they revere, they love this building. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.759 And Jesus says, Hey, yeah, it's gonna be gone. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:29.519 Like this glorious symbol of your faith and stability and structure and society, gone. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:37.040 When I read it this week, it's sort of immediately for me, I was remembering the Debbie Downer skit on Signor Live in 2004. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:37.920 Do you remember? 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:58.000 They're sitting around this table, they're at Disney World, and first Jimmy Fallon starts giggling because he always lost character, and he's like, Oh, I'm gonna order the steak and eggs, and then she starts talking about mad cow disease, and then Pluto kind of comes by, and everybody's so excited to meet Pluto, and Debbie Downer says, Oh, it must be so hard to work here with the constant fear of terrorist attacks. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:05.439 And it's just like every time somebody got excited about something, Debbie Downer came in and was just like, whack, and this is sort of what this feels like. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:09.839 The disciples come out of this building, they're like, look at this beautiful building, we love this building. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.439 And Jesus' like, oh, by the way, yeah, it's gonna be gone. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.160 Now, the interesting thing here is they bite on it. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:17.680 The disciples bite. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.040 And they go, Oh, what? 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.040 Like, what are you talking about? 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:22.879 You tell me more, tell us more about that. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:24.160 What when will that happen? 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:26.240 What will be the what will be the sign? 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:28.879 Now, Jesus doesn't bite on that. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.680 Jesus gets more vague at this point. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:33.839 He doesn't give straight answers. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:42.319 And that's what we always want when it comes to this type of conversation about what will the world be like at the end or before Jesus returns. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.600 And all Jesus says is like, it'll be difficult. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:46.639 It'll be hard. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.920 He does not promise the removal of suffering. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.600 So, verses 3 through 7. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:55.439 He sat out on the Mount of Olives. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:04.000 So that's just like the temple is up on one mountain, there's a valley, it comes back up over, and they're on the Mount of Olives, looking over this valley, they can see directly across the valley to the temple. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:09.040 Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when will these things be? 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:09.360 Right? 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.480 Like, tell me, what's going on? 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:13.360 What will be the sign when all these things are to be accomplished? 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.360 And Jesus began to say to them, See that no one leads you astray. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.360 Many will come in my name, saying, I am He, and they will lead many astray. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.639 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.079 This must take place, but the end is not yet. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.919 For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.480 These are but the beginning of the birth pain. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:38.159 So point number one is this. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:42.320 We will want to understand things we will never understand. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.639 Right, even reading this passage, all of a sudden you're like, I hope Russ gives me a few. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:48.080 I've had a few questions about this. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.639 I will not give you the answers to this. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.480 I do not know the answers to this. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:57.279 If somebody pretends to have too many answers about this, I would worry about that person. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:06.799 We will want to understand things about suffering and hurting and how the world is gonna work. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:08.559 And we'll never understand them. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:16.159 Jesus says the temple's falling, they want to know more details, and he doesn't answer them, he just says, hey, don't stray, it's gonna be hard. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:33.840 So, of course, you don't understand your sickness or your family's brokenness or even all of your own brokenness or your friend's cancer or your child's rebellion, or of course you don't understand those fires in California, and people died in fires this week. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:36.480 People died in wars this week. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:41.120 People starved to death this week, people were abused this week. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:48.159 These are horrible things, and yet they're not a surprise to God. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:51.120 He said, it's gonna be rough. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:53.519 It's a world full of suffering. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.879 And mind you, this is a God who endured suffering. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:01.759 So he didn't remove suffering, he didn't promise the removal of suffering, but he comes into suffering. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:08.080 He he proved his love to us, showed love by entering suffering, a crucifixion. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:14.879 So somehow, mysteriously, in God's sovereignty, rule over this world. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:27.039 God doesn't remove choice of a person to produce suffering upon another person, and yet he comes into suffering and says, I'll make beauty out of ashes. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:28.879 I don't understand all that. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:29.679 I hate suffering. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:30.960 I hate it for you. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:32.480 I hate it for me. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.120 There's some darkness I'll never understand. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.919 I would have designed the world quite differently. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:40.960 I didn't get to design it, you didn't get to design it. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:46.480 I would have had us all at Sandals, Jamaica forever, just there with those fruit kebabs. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:47.200 But you know what? 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:52.000 What it tends to be is the longer I'm at Sandals, Jamaica, I become more and more of a selfish brat. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.519 Isn't that interesting? 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:01.440 There's something about suffering that actually does something in us, and the Bible speaks directly to reality. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:03.679 Romans 5, 1 through 5. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.519 Since we have been justified by faith, that's good news, we have to do it by our own word. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.559 We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:12.879 So that means our peace has not come from our work. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.840 It's our sin is put upon Jesus on the cross as righteousness is given to us, we're forever his beloved. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:27.360 Verse 2, through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:32.559 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.600 Why would we do that? 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:44.720 Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:47.840 You go, okay, what's so exciting about all that? 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.639 And hope does not put us to shame. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:59.519 Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.600 So we don't know everything about our suffering. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:08.480 You you won't know everything about your suffering, but it produces endurance, it produces character, and it produces hope. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:10.720 And hope does not put you to shame. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.279 Everything else in this world puts you to shame. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.639 Everything else in this world will say to you, You're not enough. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:18.159 You're not enough. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.440 You need to do something else. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.200 You need something else. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:22.799 Then you'll be okay. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:27.440 Just shop a little more, be a little more, earn something else. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.679 Or your suffering will say to you, You deserve that. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.879 There's shame, there's some shame to carry the rest of your life. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.559 You deserve that, you cause that. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.799 You're not worth anything anyway. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.919 And Paul says, No, no, no, no, no, no. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:49.519 Suffering produces endurance, endurance, character, character, hope, and hope does not do any of that shame business. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:13:06.480 So even though we do not understand our suffering, if we can understand what suffering does, we can end up in some hope that God loves us, and there we are relieved of the shame that so much suffering wants to put upon us. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:07.759 Point number two. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.399 In our lack of understanding, we may be led astray. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:15.039 It's kind of what Jesus' immediate response, they say, hey, tell us about the temple's gonna be destroyed, tell us about this. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:18.639 And he says, Hey, you're gonna be tempted to be led astray. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:19.360 Don't be led astray. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:20.080 That's point number two. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:23.200 In our lack of understanding, we may be led astray. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:26.639 Author and counselor Paul Tripp, he always has great questions for us. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:28.559 I always look up his questions on a given topic. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:29.440 Here are his questions. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:35.200 When faced with suffering and hardship, what commands your meditation? 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:39.840 When you're suffering and you're in hardship, what are you starting to think about? 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:46.240 The suffering that you're dealing with or the character and the love of your Lord? 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:56.720 Do you force yourself to deny reality by either numbing yourself to the pain or by faking it in front of your family and friends? 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:04.559 Suffering will force either you hide more or you say, You got me. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.200 Remember when you were a kid and your parents let you stay out after dark? 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:12.559 Maybe you didn't do this. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:20.639 In our neighborhood, we play flashlight, hide-and-seek flashlight tag, and so like you know, you didn't have to tag the person, you just had to hit them with the flashlight, and so only the seeker had the flashlight, and everybody else hid. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:34.639 And you would hide and you would hide in the same spots you hid during the daylight, but as soon as you it was dark out, like that same spot behind the bushes in the corner, you finally you get in your spot and you'd be there, but it was dark, and you scare all of a sudden you got to pee all of a sudden. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:35.840 I mean, you know the feeling, right? 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:44.320 You're there, you got to pee, you're hiding, and Randy's coming around with the flashlight, and he's getting closer to you and closer to you, so you gotta pee more and more. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:51.279 And he gets closer and closer, and finally, finally, finally, he hits you, and you have two choices, right? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:55.600 You have two choices: run and hide more. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:58.399 Or you say, You got me. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:09.759 See, suffering has a way of shining light on our inability to understand everything, and how much we hate that. 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.639 And either we run and we hide more, or we say to God, You got me. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.120 I can't understand it all. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.960 And we've lived so much life trying to control everything. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:23.519 Right? 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:31.440 Control it enough, the situation enough, control enough knowledge to understand something enough, and if I can control all of that, then I'll be okay. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:42.080 But the reality check here that Jesus has sort of given us in the vagueness of his answer is you know what, it's more complex than you'll even be able to understand. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:43.360 And we have to embrace that. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:49.679 On some level, we have to embrace life in this world is more complex than we wish it to be. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:53.200 I don't wish it to be this way, but it seems to be this way. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:57.039 And God is actually more complex than I wish him to be. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:01.519 And I don't wish that to be that way because I would like to understand everything. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:08.639 But I do know this, and this is the good news that Paul ends for us on this subject of suffering. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.279 Hope doesn't put us to shame. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:19.759 See, suffering apart from God will always speak shame over you because you'll tell yourself you caused it. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:21.360 You deserve it. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:25.200 See, that will define you, the suffering will define you. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:29.039 The war will define you, the famine, the fire, the hurt. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:31.519 You aren't enough. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.919 Or you suffer with God, a God who enters suffering. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.480 He doesn't remove it yet, yet. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:41.679 But he enters suffering. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:44.320 That's the promise that he's with us. 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:55.039 And their hope does not put us to shame because we are not defined by the suffering, but we're defined by the God who enters the suffering, who loves us no matter what. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.799 And this is where God brings beauty out of ashes. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.840 You're not defined by the suffering. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.079 Verse 8 says, for nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, right? 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.039 I mean, no different now than it was 500 years ago, a thousand years ago, 1500 years ago. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.799 I mean, Jesus' comment 2,000 years ago is still relevant today. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:17.920 It will be in the future. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.680 There will be earthquakes, yep, okay. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:21.920 In various places will be famines, yep, check. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.839 And these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.720 And there's our clue, a little clue, a little word play there. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.880 Point number three is this God will one day relieve and redeem all suffering. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.759 All the wars and the pain and the suffering, all this we know will eventually come to an end. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:46.720 It's a birth pain of a birth of something new, of something wonderful to come. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:18:01.839 And the biblical narrative, the biblical narrative takes us to a full story of God fulfilling his covenant to redeem his people and create an existence where there's no fear and there are no tears. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.000 There will be an afterlife. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:05.359 You will die. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:07.680 I will die. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.559 One of the weird responsibilities I have as a pastor is to remind you that you will die. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:28.720 But there is an afterlife with God where there is no disagreement, no discord, no discontentment, no anxiety, no fear, no distraction, no sin, no shame. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.880 Ultimate, forever perfect bliss. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.200 And you won't cry anymore. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:38.880 Not out of sadness. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:40.799 There won't be any sadness. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.440 Like all that sadness that we feel, we carry around, will be taken away from us. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:52.720 And all the sadnesses we have ever felt will be redeemed into glory, into, into joy. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.559 And this is not something we know like we know math. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:18:59.599 Right? 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:03.279 With like like the certainty that I can understand all of it right now. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.160 This is not something we know like we know math. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:12.000 This is something we know because we know about love and how love works. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.759 And the love of God is that He redeems us in Jesus. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:21.440 And hope does not put us to shame now, and it will redeem us for our afterlife. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.079 My brothers and sisters, may you be thankful this week. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:30.160 Be thankful this week for wherever you're at, whatever measure of suffering you're enduring, be thankful this week. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.000 For hope does not put you to shame. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:35.440 Let's pray together. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:47.279 God, thank you for the good news that no matter how much hurt we're feeling today, or loneliness, or discontentment, or fear, or anxiety, or shame, or guilt, that you are the reliever of such things. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:52.720 That even in our suffering, you have you have promised to walk with us in the suffering. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.079 God, there are people with us this morning that are sick. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.079 There are people with us who have loved ones who are sick. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:08.319 There are people with us who have been betrayed, abused, who have endured such suffering. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:09.920 We would weep with them. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.240 God, I pray for great healing in their hearts. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.640 That you would be the comforter to them, to us. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:36.160 Would we begin to walk with you a path of healing, of redemption, where we would know that hope does not put us to shame, that we could live in this world without shame, that we are loved by you and we are enough. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:56.960 And give us eyes to see that there will one day be a day where our bodies are not falling apart, we do not have emotional pain and physical pain, relational pain, where the brokenness of the world doesn't weigh on us, where we'll understand things that we lack right now. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.039 Help us to live in hope. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:07.680 God, we thank you for your grace and mercy to us, that there is a certain hope. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:22.799 That in Jesus you gave us a certain hope that you walked this earth, died across, resurrected in an objective historic reality for us to have a certain hope amidst all the uncertainty. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:25.200 We know that you love us. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.880 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:27.680 Amen.