SPEAKER_00: This podcast is the ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat if you've got a Bible and invite you to take it and open up to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have a Bible, it's one in your role on page 995.
SPEAKER_00: 995.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a series right now entitled Trustworthy Sayings, where we're just looking at the five different places in the Bible where the Apostle Paul says this is a trustworthy saying.
SPEAKER_00: We just thought it would be a good thing during this political season to kind of of political promises and doublespeak and this, that, and the other, just to say, hey, here's something that is true back then, it's true now, and will be true forever.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, uh I'll start reading in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and uh I have a couple different titles for the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't if you don't need a title, uh one is called How to Suffer Well, one is uh How to Violate the Status Quo would probably be a more appropriate one.
SPEAKER_00: But you just, if you don't like either one of those, come up with your own title and share it with me after the service.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: I'll be down front and available.
SPEAKER_00: Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says this, he says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, and trust of faithful men who'll be able to teach others also.
SPEAKER_00: Share in the suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
SPEAKER_00: An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
SPEAKER_00: It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
SPEAKER_00: Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_00: If we endure, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he also will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is writing from a less than uh good circumstance, he's probably in prison, best we can tell.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he talks about chains.
SPEAKER_00: He's he's chained up.
SPEAKER_00: At one point he was in prison, and like every three or four hours he would be chained to a different guard, his arm to his arm, or his leg to his leg, so they can make sure he didn't go anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you find yourself in situations that aren't really good, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says here's four or five things that you can do that are trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: That Paul says this older Christian is saying to a younger Christian, I know everyone around you is doing this, but here's what you do, my man.
SPEAKER_00: Five things this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I want to say to you, first of all, the status quo is no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: The status quo is no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse one.
SPEAKER_00: It's those first two words, you then.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a change of direction.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's kind of talking about some things in chapter one, and then he kind of shifts and he says, You then.
SPEAKER_00: What is he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Look back in chapter one at verse 15, and you'll see what he what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 15, you are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me.
SPEAKER_00: Stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody been to Asia lately?
SPEAKER_00: You know how many people are in Asia right now?
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00: I remember being in high school, and kind of the big thing was you'd be sliding your tray down the little silver rails, getting your food, and kind of thinking in the back of your mind, will there be a seat at the cool table when I get out there?
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone in my school would run and put their stuff down and kind of claim seeds.
SPEAKER_00: There's only about ten seats at the really uber cool table, and if they were gone, you didn't get to sit there, or you'd walk out and kind of like, uh, uh, uh, and you were out.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, hey, when he because he says you then, the reason he says you then, Timothy, is because, hey, everybody in Asia, a whole country of people have turned their back on him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul comes out and there's nowhere to sit.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says to Timothy, hey, by the way, you then, you this.
SPEAKER_00: See, what everybody else does is not an excuse for what you and I are free to do.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense today?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if everybody else, the way they treat their marriage, the way they work.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't get your work ethic from looking around your workplace and seeing just how hard everybody else works and doing just enough to fit in to the status quo.
SPEAKER_00: No, Paul says, you then, because everybody else in Asia has abandoned me, you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
SPEAKER_00: He says, hey, listen, let's acknowledge everybody else is doing this.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I think he's saying to us what you and I really believe is most on display when everybody else is doing something else.
SPEAKER_00: What you and I really believe, not what we say, but what we really in our gut believe, is most on display when everybody else is doing something else.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why Paul speaks to Timothy and says, hey, listen, don't freak out.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lose your head.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look around and kind of go, hey, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: He says, you then.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing he says to him is this suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: It's verses 3 to 7.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Share in suffering is a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Share in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We always say to our kids, hey, you need to be nice, you need to share.
SPEAKER_00: The hardest thing, but one of the most necessary things, mom and dad, is to teach your kids that they're gonna have to suffer in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: One of the hardest things, but the most necessary things that you and I have to teach our children is that they are going to suffer in this world.
SPEAKER_00: I remember years ago being at a birthday party or some kind of celebration with our kids in Madison.
SPEAKER_00: There's a group of kids there, they're about two or three older years older than her, and she kind of wanted to fit in with them and run around and do stuff with them, and she would try to keep up, and they would just run off and leave her.
SPEAKER_00: And finally she looked back at me kind of like, and I called her over to me, and I said, Hey, sweetie, those girls probably should be nice and kind of include you in what they're doing, but they don't want to be, and dad can't make them because if I could, I'd take my belt off and whip every one of them right here at this party, okay?
SPEAKER_00: For being brats.
SPEAKER_00: But you need to kind of feel what this feels like because it'll keep you from needing them to accept you so much when you get older.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, she was nine when I said that to her.
SPEAKER_00: And people standing around were like awkward, because I had the conversation out loud with my outside voice.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't lean over and whisper in her ear, hey sweetie, those girls just aren't being sweet.
SPEAKER_00: You be extra sweet.
SPEAKER_00: No, you learn from their example, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is this stings a little bit, but this might be a really, really good thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so now that she's 14, I watch her in different settings and she kind of looks around and sees the kid that's kind of on the fringes and walks over and says, Hi, my name's Madison.
SPEAKER_00: Because she knows what that feels like.
SPEAKER_00: What everybody else is doing is not an excuse.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't make it okay.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, Hey, suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: Our hardest but most necessary thing is for us to understand that our kids, he says, share in the suffering of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's two one thing I need to do, I need to distinguish between consequences and suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Because people come to see me for counsel and they say, Well, you know, Pastor, I'm really suffering.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I did this, and I'm and and and some things happen.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the here's the simplest way to distinguish between consequences and suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I sin and bad things happen as a result of our sin, that's not suffering, that's consequence.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is, now stay with me.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is sometimes you're gonna be in situations and you're gonna do nothing wrong, and a good and loving, sovereign God is gonna alter circumstances to where you and I endure hardship.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just check and see if you're still out there.
SPEAKER_00: Because that first part it was, amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Second time, crickets, hello, hello, this mic on, check one, two, one, two.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not doing anything wrong, and I'll prove it to you in the Bible in just a minute because you say that in America, and people are kind of like, eh, no, I come to church to get in good with God so I don't endure hardship.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: The better you get in with God, the more he's gonna trust you to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, pinch the baby, we're going.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if there's not a football game on, we're going.
SPEAKER_00: You say, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Look there.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, share in suffering is a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then Paul gives these three analogies to kind of the three word pictures to help you and I understand and share in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, he says, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get bogged down, he says, in these civilian pursuits, in these earthly matters.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get caught up in that.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5, he says, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6, it is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
SPEAKER_00: Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to preach about this this morning, but let me just say it.
SPEAKER_00: Probably at least twice a week, you need to just carve out 15 minutes and think about your life and how it's being lived.
SPEAKER_00: Because Paul says a lot right there.
SPEAKER_00: He says, hey, you gotta be like a soldier, you've got to be like an athlete, you gotta be like a farmer.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, think about these things and God will make it make sense.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I want you to do this week is I want you two different times to carve out 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Set the timer on your iPhone, whatever you gotta do.
SPEAKER_00: And for 15 minutes, just think about your life, think about your marriage, think about your job, think about your summer vacation plans, whatever you're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your relationship with your kid that most needs your attention right now.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever, but for 15 minutes, just think about one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Just sustain a thought.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, think about these things.
SPEAKER_00: And when Timothy thinks about this analogy of this, you know, the this uh the soldier and the athlete and the farmer, it's like Paul saying three things.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, first of all, stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: Stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't get entangled in civilian affairs.
SPEAKER_00: Be a good soldier of Christ Jesus, stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: He talks about the athlete, he's saying, stay obedient.
SPEAKER_00: He says, no, an athlete competes, he doesn't win unless he competes according to the rules.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the statement that may sound a little too big today, but I'm gonna say it because I believe it.
SPEAKER_00: One of the rules of Christianity is that we all get to participate, we all get to share in the suffering of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get exempt from that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a lot of churches you can go to and they'll say, Oh, if you do the right things, if you give money to the church and you do good stuff and you help an old lady across the street, nothing bad's gonna happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you believe that, the hardest day of your life to reconcile your faith, quote unquote, which is really just preference with what the Bible teaches and what's really real, is the day when you do all the good things and bad things happen.
SPEAKER_00: Because then you're the person who has this low-grade, smoldering anger that won't go away inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says to Timothy, hey, stay focused.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, he says, Hey, stay obedient, compete according to the rules.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, he says, stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: It's the hardworking farmer who deserves the first share of the crops.
SPEAKER_00: It's the hardworking farm, stay at it, stay at it, stay at your marriage, stay at your relationship with your kids.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, when they're 14, they're not raised, okay?
SPEAKER_00: They're not grown.
SPEAKER_00: Mine said the other day, just two more years, and I get a vehicle and I won't need you that much, dad.
SPEAKER_00: Come here, you stupid little child, let me whip you right now.
SPEAKER_00: And in that same conversation, she goes, Hey, at what age did you get too old for your dad to whip you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm 47, and I go back to my see my dad, he still has the capacity to whip me.
SPEAKER_00: He's a bad man.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Well, mom said that every once in a while when you were growing up on your farm that Papa would unsnap his shirt because he wore those Wrangler denim, pearl snap, denim work shirts.
SPEAKER_00: He just unsnap that bad boy and drop it and go, You know, you boys want to run this farm?
SPEAKER_00: And what he was saying was, You want a piece of your old man?
SPEAKER_00: And I remember one day my brother kind of stood up and said, I think I can take you.
SPEAKER_00: I remember sitting there on my chair thinking, I wish I had popcorn.
SPEAKER_00: But it was a short movie that day.
SPEAKER_00: You ever seen a rock skip across a pond?
SPEAKER_00: That was my brother's butt on the floor.
SPEAKER_00: And my dad looked at me and said, You other two feeling that way?
SPEAKER_00: No, sir.
SPEAKER_00: Put your shirt back on.
SPEAKER_00: Put her shirt back on and said, You all right, son?
SPEAKER_00: And my brother's like, Yeah, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_00: We went back to work.
SPEAKER_00: Not another word was said until that night.
SPEAKER_00: We were in our bunk beds.
SPEAKER_00: Me and my brother shared the bottom bunk, and my older brother's on the top.
SPEAKER_00: My brother leaned out and said, How's your face?
SPEAKER_00: And from upstairs, my brother said, Shut up.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you had a hard working for you.
SPEAKER_00: You just gotta stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I said, I'll always be your dad, babe.
SPEAKER_00: You're not grown at 14, you won't be grown at 16.
SPEAKER_00: Stay at it with your kids.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on them.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're gonna still need you when they're 22.
SPEAKER_00: And when they're 30, and when they're 47, they're still gonna need you.
SPEAKER_00: Stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: You just keep staying at it.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, they gotta, you're not responsible for them, you're a resource for them.
SPEAKER_00: You hear the difference?
SPEAKER_00: You're not responsible for them.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't be paying their bills when they're 28.
SPEAKER_00: But you're a resource.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, when I say you're a resource, I don't mean money.
SPEAKER_00: Because your kids are like, I'm glad we're here today.
SPEAKER_00: The preacher said, You're a resource for me.
SPEAKER_00: We're not an ATM machine with feet, boys and girls.
SPEAKER_00: See, because just in the just because we're like a hardworking farmer, we're staying at it.
SPEAKER_00: You need to stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: This kid, this week I spoke at a men's retreat Friday and Saturday, and this kid's engaged.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, You got any advice for an engaged guy?
SPEAKER_00: Silly rabbit tricks are for kids.
SPEAKER_00: And I told him, I said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I said, you know, the Bible says, you know, in biblical times, when a person got married, a man was betrothed to a woman, kind of like being engaged, and then the man had to go and build a house and have a job.
SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't get married just because you couldn't stop sleeping together and live in your parents' basement.
SPEAKER_00: You had to get a get build a place for them to stay, and then you'd come in the middle of the night and you would get her.
SPEAKER_00: You and your groomsmen would be like warring uh soldiers with fiery torches.
SPEAKER_00: That's why in the in the book of Song of Solomon it says that Solomon comes to get his wife, Shulamith, and he's got these 60 warriors with torches, each of them with a sword.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine, ladies?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you want to be?
SPEAKER_00: You ought to sit in high school class and just envision your husband coming for you, walking through your neighborhood, surrounded by fiery torches being carried on a sedan chair.
SPEAKER_00: And look at your friends that are they're living with their parents because you had to have a job, and he would come and get you, and he'd take you back to this place that he's worked hard and built with his own hands.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't built in babysitting because you, you and your boyfriend got married and had a baby, and you're gonna get mom and dad to watch the baby while y'all go out and live your little irresponsible life.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
SPEAKER_00: Uh oh, we're hitting a cord here now.
SPEAKER_00: I can feel you.
SPEAKER_00: I can feel you trying to get away from me, but I got you.
SPEAKER_00: I ain't letting you go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not mad at you, I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's the way it's supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Men, God, young men, if you're single in this room, you should not think about asking a woman to marry you just because you want to sleep with her.
SPEAKER_00: You ask her to marry you because you're gonna prepare a place for her and come get her.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is talking about in John 14 when he says, if I go, I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, you may be also.
SPEAKER_00: And if I go, I'll come and receive you unto myself.
SPEAKER_00: Single men, look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't receive a woman unto yourself unless until you got a place to take her to.
SPEAKER_00: Because everybody wants to get married.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're thinking with the wrong part of your body.
SPEAKER_00: How about that for a Sunday morning?
SPEAKER_00: I see y'all looking kind of like the visitors are kind of like.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what.
SPEAKER_00: This boy needs decaf.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just trying to save you from having to come to me and say, when you're 23 and your sorry, lazy boyfriend who you married leaves you because he doesn't want to work hard like a hardworking farmer.
SPEAKER_00: Require boys to be men before you marry them, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Because just marrying them ain't gonna make them men.
SPEAKER_00: It's just not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm asking the Holy Spirit if I got more on this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I do.
SPEAKER_00: I just had to pause.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Lord, are we done there?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we're done.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let me just say this.
SPEAKER_00: I just listened to the voices.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I got a little excited there.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't simmer back down a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh hey, he says, hey, suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say, if you got your Bible, turn to the left to the to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read a long passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay with you?
SPEAKER_00: Uh because I because I love the Bible and and I want you to see this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when I say suffering uh can be expected, suffering is what helped establish the church, and it's one of the things that's gonna distinguish the church in this day and age.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering is what established the church in the book of Acts, and it's one of the things that's gonna distinguish the church, and I don't mean building, I mean people.
SPEAKER_00: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Look, if you would, in uh uh Acts chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: I'll start reading verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Now, so far in the book of Acts, they've had Pentecost, the church is kind of born, 5,000 people come to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Peter and John get arrested because they're doing things that religious people can't.
SPEAKER_00: You know that just being religious doesn't mean you have a relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's just religious people that were just a bunch of idiots, just kind of like politicians.
SPEAKER_00: They would just lie and cheat and they loved money, and the people were sick of them.
SPEAKER_00: So when authentic men of God showed up, the people were like tearing their clothes off.
SPEAKER_00: It was like being at a Who concert in 1979.
SPEAKER_00: They would go crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: By the way, pray for your pastor because some dear member said, Oh, I got passes to the rodeo, so if you and your family want to go to a concert, uh we you you can go to any concert you want.
SPEAKER_00: And then they slipped and said, Kid Rock's gonna be there.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, sweet home Alabama, all night long.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Ba de bada bom da bom dide did.
SPEAKER_00: But my wife said no.
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I just think the redneck and you would take over.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's gotta share Jesus with Bobby.
SPEAKER_00: That's his real name, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Kid Rock's real name is Bobby.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, because I know you know a lot of the words to his songs.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, because I'm a cowboy, baby.
SPEAKER_00: Ananias, and you say, Why did I tell you that?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus showed up.
SPEAKER_00: It was like, I mean, the disciples showed up, it's like Kid Rock.
SPEAKER_00: They're used to listening to Luciano Pavarotti.
SPEAKER_00: Ho, ho, ho.
SPEAKER_00: And he rolled in with a lime green fur coat on on a motorcycle.
SPEAKER_00: With a little bearded lady and the fire-eating midget, and people are like, What?
SPEAKER_00: There's a little guy in the oven.
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 5, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: It says, But the high priest rose up.
SPEAKER_00: Look at, see, these are religious people.
SPEAKER_00: They rose up, and all who were with them, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in public prison.
SPEAKER_00: Religious people can never do what people with a relationship were commissioned to do.
SPEAKER_00: They put them in public prison.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19, but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.
SPEAKER_00: And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that life is capitalized.
SPEAKER_00: I ain't got time for that right now.
SPEAKER_00: But now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the synod of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.
SPEAKER_00: But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison.
SPEAKER_00: So they returned and reported, We found the prison securely locked, and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.
SPEAKER_00: Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what would what uh what this would come to.
SPEAKER_00: And someone came and told them, Look, the men you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.
SPEAKER_00: Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet you're here, you filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.
SPEAKER_00: The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_00: God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, and we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
SPEAKER_00: When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
SPEAKER_00: But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, Held up in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, Men of Israel, take care that what you're about to do to these men.
SPEAKER_00: For before these days Thadius rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him.
SPEAKER_00: He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.
SPEAKER_00: After him, Judas and the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.
SPEAKER_00: He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, don't have time to preach this, but he's making a point about the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone.
SPEAKER_00: For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
SPEAKER_00: You might even be found opposing God.
SPEAKER_00: So they took his advice, and when they called the apostles, they beat them.
SPEAKER_00: They beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
SPEAKER_00: And they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
SPEAKER_00: And every day in the temple and from house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If beating these people would have worked, there'd only be five chapters in Acts.
SPEAKER_00: See, they don't know what to do with these people.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because they knew suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: They've already warned them, by the way, back in chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: You guys quit it out right now.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to count to three.
SPEAKER_00: One, two.
SPEAKER_00: They told them in chapter three, by the way, we recognize you're ignorant and uneducated men, but you've been with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: See, being with Jesus prepares you.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering can be expected.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing he tells us, we're back in 2 Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Are you still with me?
SPEAKER_00: Can I just ask a practical question?
SPEAKER_00: Is it cold in here to y'all?
unknown: No.
SPEAKER_00: All the women are like, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just checking because some of you are like, eh.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, Lance will turn it off if it gets too cold, or somebody will.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, a big gospel is required.
SPEAKER_00: How do you escape?
SPEAKER_00: How do you violate the status quo?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you need a big gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8 of 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says, remember Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Who forgets Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not only do I tell you you got to be a good soldier, you got to be an athlete, and you got to be like a hardworking farmer, you got to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David as preached in my gospel for which I am suffering.
SPEAKER_00: See, a big gospel when he says remember Jesus, you say, Well, who forgets Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: We do.
SPEAKER_00: I got two, I got an email and a text message this week.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say, hey, this church in your city that's in the paper.
SPEAKER_00: They're in the Houston paper, they're in the Dallas paper, they're probably all over.
SPEAKER_00: They're really creative and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: And I just said the same thing I say.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime somebody tells me a church is getting notoriety, I say, is there any mention of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, they're giving out tattoos.
SPEAKER_00: That's news.
SPEAKER_00: If the only if the best thing we have to offer the world is that you can come get tattooed on a Sunday morning, and I'm not against that.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a booth next week right over here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to get a big eagle on my back.
SPEAKER_00: No, and I'm not against that church.
SPEAKER_00: If you read the article, I'm not like, new that.
SPEAKER_00: I just think here, the church is willing to let the newspaper talk about us and never talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The church is willing to say, notice us and what we've done lately, instead of saying, Oh, by the way, the best thing about us is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, that's why Paul says, remember Jesus, because we so easily forget.
SPEAKER_00: And then he speaks of Jesus in weird terms.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, I stopped a minute ago and said, he's making a point about the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: He said, all these people thought they were something, but they died and everybody went away.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died and the world was changed.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to talk about the resurrection somewhere besides Easter.
SPEAKER_00: He says, remember Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says two things.
SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 8, he says, risen from the dead, and the off, secondly, the offspring of David.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that such a big deal?
SPEAKER_00: Look back in chapter 1, if you would, at verse 8 of 2 Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Who abolished death.
SPEAKER_00: How did he abolish death?
SPEAKER_00: Not just by dying on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Because if he just died on the cross, he didn't abolish death.
SPEAKER_00: He participated in death.
SPEAKER_00: He abolished death when he rose from the dead, just like he said he would.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible says crazy things like, oh, death, where's your sting?
SPEAKER_00: Death no longer has a hold on us.
SPEAKER_00: That's why if you go to some churches in the country that are little wooden clapboard painted white churches, they sing songs like, Ain't no grave gonna hold this body down.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: There's three things he says about the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to remind you why you need to have a good understanding and remember Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: See, we remember Jesus in terms of application.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, what are you gonna do for me this week?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, what am I gonna get out of coming to church for this 60 minutes or 75 minutes?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, what?
SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna make this worth my while?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, hey, you need to be able to have a big gospel, be able to tell a big story.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Jesus raised from the dead, descendant of David.
SPEAKER_00: What is he telling us?
SPEAKER_00: He said, hey, when he's raised from the dead, don't miss, that means three things.
SPEAKER_00: He said, hey, first of all, he abolished death.
SPEAKER_00: That means you can't die.
SPEAKER_00: You can leave this world, but you don't have to fear death.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be afraid of it.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the things as a pastor that I'm in the room, a lot of times when people die, and usually the person dying is ready to die.
SPEAKER_00: It's everyone around them that's not ready for them to die.
SPEAKER_00: And I get that on some terms kind of relationally, but just because uh NASCAR's fixing a start, let me just kind of give you uh people that let me tell you who gets uh who gets this whole abolished death, uh the NASCAR crowd.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the only sporting events that you still have a prayer before every race.
SPEAKER_00: You knew that, right?
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna pray today before the All-Star, the NBA All-Star game.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, are you a fan of NASCAR?
SPEAKER_00: Not really.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I like it.
SPEAKER_00: They kind of go in a circle after a while, I get sleepy and take a nap.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but but but but about, I don't know, it was years ago, long time ago, as far as ever the pastor, because I was speaking in Seattle at a conference and I was in my hotel watching the Daytona 500 when Dale Earnhardt hit the wall and died.
SPEAKER_00: And Ned Jarrett, one of the old retired drivers, he said, Well, the Lord, the good Lord just took him.
SPEAKER_00: Because somebody said, How do you explain this?
SPEAKER_00: He said, The good Lord just took him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, if Dale Earnhardt was here right now, he'd tell you the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: My time was up, and the good Lord took me, and I'm fine.
SPEAKER_00: I died in the fourth turn at Daytona, watching the car I own and my son finish first and second.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone was like, Ah, uh, uh.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Hey folks, that's just death.
SPEAKER_00: Death, not the end.
SPEAKER_00: And they had to cut him off because he was getting a little too religious.
SPEAKER_00: See, he abolished death.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing he says, and then Paul says this, don't miss it.
SPEAKER_00: He says, he abolished death in verse 10 of chapter 1, and he brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: See, he he abolished death by raising, by rising from the dead, just like he said he would.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You destroy this temple and I'll raise it in three days.
SPEAKER_00: And those morons were so clueless, they thought he was talking about a building.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his body.
SPEAKER_00: But he says he brought life and immortality to light.
SPEAKER_00: What that means, remember we read earlier in chapter 5 and Acts, and I said, Notice that life is capitalized.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that I just pointed at it and said, just note that.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Go tell them about this life.
SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't have a frame of reference for life if Jesus hadn't raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says in John 10, 10, I am come so that you may have life and have it to the full, have it more abundantly.
SPEAKER_00: He says he abolished death.
SPEAKER_00: He brought life.
SPEAKER_00: What is life?
SPEAKER_00: It's the Greek word Zoe.
SPEAKER_00: Zoe, actually, it's a Hebrew word, Zoe.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what this is what that means.
SPEAKER_00: It's defined as this the absolute fullness of life, life, real and genuine.
SPEAKER_00: You ever get around people that go to church and they're phony?
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the phoniest people are preachers.
SPEAKER_00: You see a preacher on Tuesday downtown, it's like, hey, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: You come to church, hello, brother, good to see you in the Lord's house.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming today.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Life, real, and life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in the portion, even in this world, of those who put their trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But after the resurrection, to be consummated by new accessions, new things happening to you.
SPEAKER_00: Note the next one, ladies.
SPEAKER_00: Among them a more perfect body.
unknown: Oh.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't heaven great?
SPEAKER_00: I would say you say, why do you say the ladies?
SPEAKER_00: Because you men, you can weigh 500 pounds.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not fat, I'm just big boned.
SPEAKER_00: I come from a family of big boned people.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's called gluttony.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, he says, among them a more perfect body and to last forever.
SPEAKER_00: See, here's why you can't die.
SPEAKER_00: Because your spirits are mortal.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna live forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's why my friend Dave died of cystic fibrosis at 47.
SPEAKER_00: On top of his casket was a sign that said, He's not here.
SPEAKER_00: This is just the house he lived in.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody at your funeral was kind of going, what's up with the sign?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, It's great theology.
SPEAKER_00: It's great theology.
SPEAKER_00: He's not here, just the house he lived in.
SPEAKER_00: Take care of your house, don't worship it, because you're gonna leave it here when you're done.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason you're gonna leave it here is because when you get there, you're gonna get a new one.
SPEAKER_00: Descended from David, just he's saying he's the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: He's the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Fourthly, how do you how did how do you escape the status quo or violate the status quo?
SPEAKER_00: You've got to believe that the word is always at work.
SPEAKER_00: The word is always at work.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 9 and 10.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just about done.
SPEAKER_00: You still awake?
SPEAKER_00: He says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I'm suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, therefore, now there's that word again.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God is not bound.
SPEAKER_00: Exclamation point, just the thought of it, locked up, shackled up in prison, makes him excited.
SPEAKER_00: He's got to use an exclamation point, but the word of God is not bound, and because of this, therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: See, unless you believe, unless you have uh a doctrine of election, that you're gonna you're gonna lack a frame of reference for suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And so don't check out on me.
SPEAKER_00: You say, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: The word of God is always at work.
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, don't limit Christianity to your experience and your circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think if I'm not doing good, Christianity's not good.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul's, he's chained, people.
SPEAKER_00: He's everybody in Asia has abandoned him.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to Timothy, the one guy who's still listening and saying, What you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men so they'll be able to in turn entrust and teach others as well.
SPEAKER_00: He's not limited to or based on my experience.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the elect are watching.
SPEAKER_00: Paul realized that.
SPEAKER_00: He kind of looked around now.
SPEAKER_00: When I say elect, by the way, you work with people who are the elect and you don't know it.
SPEAKER_00: You eat in restaurants with people who are the elect and you don't know it, and you say, no, whoa, I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say this.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pastor you for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: When you see the word elect in the Bible, don't react to it.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, seek to understand the reality behind that word.
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul's talking about, he's talking about people that have been chosen by God who've yet to come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You hear me?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about people, you say, Well, where do you get that?
SPEAKER_00: Look in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You're smart people.
SPEAKER_00: You can understand this.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't hard.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: I want these people who God's chosen to obtain, to, to, to, to get this, to come to faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I want them to be Christians so they can have what I have.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways, one of the things God's going to use to draw them to Christ, to cause them to want to become a Christian, is they're going to see a Christian who's getting the holy snot kicked out of him, and he doesn't complain and shake his fist at God and say, hey, if it's not going good for me, it's not good.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says, I'm in chains, but the word of God is not chained.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect.
SPEAKER_00: I endure everything so people that are jaded and cynical and mean-spirited can look over and go, it's got to be something to this.
SPEAKER_00: Because look at that guy, Paul.
SPEAKER_00: What's up with that?
SPEAKER_00: Remember years ago I read a story about a 10-year-old boy who's in a burn unit, third-degree burns over 77% of his body.
SPEAKER_00: And three times a week they'd have to lower him into this tank of water that was just kind of, and they would, it was had medicine in the water, but it would it would kind of flake off, and I don't want to get too graphic, but the skin from his burns.
SPEAKER_00: And then they would have to take gauze pads and peel it off so the wound wouldn't get infected.
SPEAKER_00: And these other people that were there were just, they got one guy was burned really bad in a house fire, and this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_00: And they noticed one day they came uh to treat these men, and these men were different.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Well, what happened?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Well, that we watched that little boy get lowered in there, and we know how painful it is, and he smiles and sings.
SPEAKER_00: We asked him one day, what are you singing?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm singing hymns.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: What he was doing was enduring everything for the sake of the elect for people that didn't belong to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And again, don't hear that word elect and respond to it like, oh, what what are you what are you saying?
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying this.
SPEAKER_00: There are people in the world right now, and you work with them, who God is is gonna bring to salvation.
SPEAKER_00: He hadn't done it yet.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, who are they?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: So for you and I, it's whosoever will.
SPEAKER_00: It's everybody's a great candidate for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's a candidate.
SPEAKER_00: You can't exclude anybody.
SPEAKER_00: Think of it like this we're having an election for president.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you knew that or not.
SPEAKER_00: I was so happy they said the other day that this is the last Republican debate.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: They don't say anything, they just come here and call each other names.
SPEAKER_00: But in November, we're gonna have an election, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the president will be elected.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say, for example, I'll just pull somebody out of the hat.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say Mitt Romney gets elected.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying vote for Mitt Romney, I'm not saying don't let the first name came to my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Uh say Mitt Romney gets elected in November.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Barack Obama will still be the president.
SPEAKER_00: You realize that?
SPEAKER_00: He'll be the president for November and December and first three weeks of January.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't stop being the president until January the 20th.
SPEAKER_00: You know that?
SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, they will call Mitt Romney the president.
SPEAKER_00: Chosen for a position and not yet in it.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, I endure everything for those people who've been chosen, but they're not yet there yet.
SPEAKER_00: So when you're at work tomorrow, realize that some people are going to come to Christ years from now.
SPEAKER_00: And don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I remember standing by a bonfire watching James Sewell eat a can of beanie weenies with a plastic spoon.
SPEAKER_00: We worked at the store all day and it was summer.
SPEAKER_00: He said, The sun doesn't go down to 930.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go out to my ranch and let's cut some brush and pile it up and burn it.
SPEAKER_00: And at the time I just thought Christians were sissies and he worked like a man and he had gloves that smelled like leather.
SPEAKER_00: And he burned stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And we roasted hot dogs on it.
SPEAKER_00: And then he opened some beanie weenies.
SPEAKER_00: He kept in a toolbox in his truck.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_00: You should go home today and get you some beanie weenies in case you get snowed in somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember he popped the top on him, and I was eating a hot dog, and he's eating those beanie weenies, and I looked over and he's weeping.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Jim?
SPEAKER_00: I called him to Jim.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Jim, you okay?
SPEAKER_00: And he just, God's been so good to me, Neil.
SPEAKER_00: He just threw the can in the fire and walked off.
SPEAKER_00: That's all he said.
SPEAKER_00: Who eats beanie weenies and thinks about how good God is?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: Messed me up.
SPEAKER_00: Was not a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And I realized I got something I don't.
SPEAKER_00: Words always at work.
SPEAKER_00: Fifthly and finally, the warnings for us.
SPEAKER_00: The warning is the last three verses, 11, 12, and 13, and we'll be done this morning.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the saying is trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: Gotta read that part.
SPEAKER_00: This is a sermon series called Trustworthy Sayings.
SPEAKER_00: This is trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: You build your life on this.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is trustworthy.
SPEAKER_00: For if we have died with him, we will also live with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's conversion.
SPEAKER_00: If we endure, that's perseverance, we will also reign with him.
SPEAKER_00: That's heaven.
SPEAKER_00: If we deny him, he also will deny us.
SPEAKER_00: That's judgment.
SPEAKER_00: If we are faithless, he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: That's his nature.
SPEAKER_00: For he cannot deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: How do you violate the status quo?
SPEAKER_00: You can't make the status quo an excuse.
SPEAKER_00: You can't say, well, everybody in Asia, so we must we don't want to be in the Your life has a bigger purpose than feeling better.
SPEAKER_00: So next time it gets hard, next time it gets difficult, I want you to think three things.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think number one, man, I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna be like a good soldier.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna get tied up in civilian affairs.
SPEAKER_00: Who said this and she said and they did that, and then they posted on Facebook and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: That's too small for you.
SPEAKER_00: Too small.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, I want you to think, man, I'm gonna I'm gonna train like an athlete.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna compete according to the rules.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the rules of Christianity is that we're gonna suffer.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to suffer well because the elect are watching, they're around, people that haven't come to faith in Christ yet.
SPEAKER_00: I want them to see how sustaining this reality is.
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly, I want you to stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think of a hardworking farmer and just tell yourself, I need to stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to spit the bit and quit on my marriage, on my job, on my kids.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stay at it.
SPEAKER_00: Look your kids in the eye and tell them, I'm not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're like mine, they'll roll their eyes and kind of go, I wish you would.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Wanna love your mom for a long time, I'm gonna be your dad for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful men, man.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful women, women.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're a representation and a reflection of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: He cannot abandon or deny himself.
SPEAKER_00: You're made in his image, and he trusts you and I to represent him in every circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: That's a trustworthy saying.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out, I'm gonna speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_00: Your God so trusts you to represent him accurately, that he brings suffering into your life, not to punish you, but to remind those around you how good he is.
SPEAKER_00: Your God is better than relief.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, when you suffer, seek the truth, not just relief.
SPEAKER_00: Because the truth will set you free.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now and live free and wild.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you, you're dismissed.