Hebrews 12:4-11

If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles, that is page 1008.

Hebrews chapter 12, today we're looking at verses 4 through 11,

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

but I'm going to start at the beginning of the chapter,

which we read last week as well.

So, chapter 12, beginning at verse 1, and we'll be focusing in on verses 4 through 11.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself

so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons.

For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated,

then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us,

and we respected them.

Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them.

But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

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.

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to do some exploratory house hunting

in New Haven.

We weren't actually quite ready to buy a house,

but we wanted to see what was out there.

So mostly my wife poured over real estate listings online,

and I'd periodically get two or three emails with links

to potential houses somewhere in New Haven that we could buy.

Now, two of them I remember in particular.

Both were in neighborhoods we liked.

Both were in our price range.

Neither was a fixer-upper.

We knew we couldn't deal with that.

And both had a series of attractive pictures online.

But one of them, when we visited it, had been recently broken into,

and all the copper piping in all the radiators had been cut out,

which apparently is not a totally uncommon experience.

The other looked nice from the outside,

had nice hardwood floors,

but every floor was warped.

So one end of the room was about one or two feet higher than the other.

So everywhere you were in the house,

you were topsy-turvy and tilted.

And even the real estate agent who was showing it said,

I don't think you should buy this house.

High expectations, disappointing results.

Have you ever embarked on a journey,

started a new job, begun a new relationship,

gone away on vacation with high expectations,

but found that the results were disappointing?

And so you begin to wonder,

should I keep at it?

Should I keep looking for a house?

Or should I keep even consider buying?

Or should we just rent?

Should I keep at this new relationship,

or this new job,

or search for something else,

where I can direct my energies?

Well, the people that the book of Hebrews was written to

were in a similar situation spiritually.

They had become Christians,

and they were initially excited to embark on this new journey

of following Jesus,

and being a Christian community together,

and displaying Christ's love to the world.

But over time, the initial excitement faded away.

It was harder than they expected.

Perhaps they expected that becoming a Christian

would make their life easier.

The opposite happened.

They were suffering.

Not just in the normal ways that everyone else suffered,

but they were suffering particularly because of their faith.

They were being insulted and rejected.

Some of them had even lost their property.

It had been taken away.

And they were tempted to throw in the towel

or to gradually withdraw from their commitment to Christ

and begin to shift their energies

and place their identity in something else.

The question they were asking was something like this.

If we are, in Jesus Christ,

God's sons and daughters destined for glory,

why is our life full of suffering and shame?

And the whole book of Hebrews is written

to address that question.

And today's passage gives us an important piece of the answer.

Now, this passage doesn't give us a comprehensive explanation

for why there is suffering in the world.

Suffering is a complex reality.

And different passages in the Bible

speak to different aspects of that reality.

But this passage does give us a very important perspective

for when we face suffering personally.

Now, what this passage says is this.

It says,

In Jesus Christ, yes, we are God's sons and daughters

destined for glory.

But God, as our Father,

is training and shaping and preparing us for that glory

through painful sufferings,

through discipline, as it says.

Now, in this passage, we'll see three things.

We'll see first the character of God's discipline

in verses 5 and 6.

Second, we'll see the necessity of God's discipline

in verses 7 and 8.

And third, we'll see the benefits of God's discipline

in verses 9 through 11.

So, first, the character of God's discipline.

Now, the word discipline is repeated over and over,

nine times in this passage.

And I think it's not anywhere else in the book of Hebrews.

So, it's clearly the main theme of this passage.

But you might ask,

Well, what exactly does discipline mean?

Now, most of us, when we hear the word discipline,

we immediately think of correction.

Now, that's part of,

one important part of God's discipline

is correcting us.

Verse 5 talks about being reproved.

That word means verbally rebuked

or verbally corrected by the Lord.

And if you look through the Bible,

there's numerous examples of this.

So, God sent the prophet Nathan

to confront King David

when David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

Or when James and John came to Jesus

and they were asking for the best seats in God's kingdom,

Jesus rebuked them.

He said,

You don't know what you're asking for.

You don't know what my kingdom's all about.

You're totally missing the point.

Or after the resurrection,

Jesus told Peter that Peter would suffer a painful death

for Jesus' sake.

And Peter turned around and looked at John and said,

But Lord, what about him?

What's going to happen to him?

And Jesus said,

What does that matter to you?

You follow me.

Verbal rebukes are not unusual in the Bible

because even the best of Jesus' disciples

have a tendency to go off track

and do stupid things.

So, the book of Proverbs says,

Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

A loving, thoughtful, clear word of correction

or rebuke should not be unusual

in a community of growing Christians.

Second Timothy says,

All scripture is useful for many things.

And the first thing it says is rebuking and correcting.

You know, if nobody ever dares to correct or rebuke you,

it is probably not a sign that you are perfect

and you don't need any correction.

It may indicate that you are too proud

or too private

or too prickly

and you are missing out on some of the correction

that God knows that you need

and will benefit from.

Now, verse 6 goes even further

in talking about correction.

It says,

The Lord chastises every son whom he receives.

Now, the word translated chastise

refers to physical affliction for wrongdoing.

Sometimes God afflicts us physically

in order to correct us.

In other words,

sometimes God intentionally allows us

to experience the bitter fruit

of our own foolish decisions

to show us how poisonous sin is

and to bring us to hate it

and turn away from it

and turn back to him.

In the Old Testament,

we see this pattern over and over,

especially if you read the book of Judges.

Basically, the book of Judges has this cycle

and it happens about eight times.

The people of Israel,

they abandon God,

they abandon the Lord,

they go after other gods,

and so God says,

okay, I'll let you experience

what it's like

to not be under my rule

and to be under the rule

of oppressive idols.

So he lets them go

into the hands of their enemies

and their enemies oppress

and enslave them

and finally they cry out to the Lord

and God sends them a deliverer.

You see, God never abandons his people,

but he afflicted them for a time

in order to correct them

and bring them back to him.

Psalm 119 verse 67 says,

Psalms 119:67

before I was afflicted,

I went astray,

but now I keep your word.

So God's discipline includes

both verbal and physical

corrective measures.

But the concept of discipline

in this chapter

is actually much broader

than correction.

The word translated discipline

commonly referred to educating

or training young people

in a variety of contexts.

It could refer to athletic training.

It could refer to scholarly instruction

or moral development.

And in the context of this passage,

the dominant image

is of a parent instructing a child.

And again, as a parent,

the role of a parent

includes correction.

It's an important

and necessary part of parenting.

And sometimes that's,

you know,

for those of us who are parents,

it's hard, right?

It's never pleasant

to correct your child.

And sometimes when we have

to administer corrective discipline

to our kids,

whether it's a verbal rebuke

or age-appropriate physical discipline

or consequences,

or simply saying no to a request,

sometimes it feels like

we've failed as parents.

Or our kid was bad,

so we had to discipline them, right?

And maybe you feel ashamed,

especially if your kid makes a scene

in front of other people.

Or we feel bad about saying no

to a request.

But the Bible says,

actually,

if we're correcting our children

in a godly manner,

not out of impulsive rage,

but out of concern

for their ultimate well-being,

we're doing exactly

what a parent is called to do

by God.

Loving correction.

But on the other hand,

the role of a parent

is much more than reactive correction.

The role of a parent includes provision

for a child's needs,

encouragement of a child's strengths,

preemptive warning against future dangers,

intentional training for future opportunities,

and attentive presence

in a child's life.

The writer of Hebrews begins

by quoting from Proverbs 3,

a father's words to his son.

And the whole book of Proverbs

is framed in this way

as parental guidance,

parental exhortation,

parental encouragement

to a growing child.

Now, God's discipline,

like that,

of a good teacher or coach or parent,

is proactively training and testing us

to develop in us

a greater capacity for endurance.

It's not only correcting us,

it's also training us.

And God envisions a glorious future for us

far beyond what we can imagine.

And he leads us through painful experiences

in order to shape and prepare us

for that future.

You know, if you are a teacher

and you are assigned

a class of eighth graders

who are failing math

and who say they hate math

and are completely bored by it,

you don't just come into the class

and start berating the students

and saying, you guys are all

a bunch of failures.

Look at how you've failed in the past.

Look at how terrible you are.

No, if you're a good teacher,

you see not only their past failures

and their present struggles,

but also their future potential.

You see the beauty

and elegance

and usefulness of math

that they are currently blind to.

And you want to introduce them to that.

You see the students' intellectual abilities,

which they probably express

in all kinds of other creative

and mischievous ways.

But if developed and focused,

that could enable them

to not only pass,

but even excel

in the math,

in math.

And that's what motivates you

to challenge them

and call them to a higher standard

and refuse to give up on them.

Because you can see

what they can't

or don't want to see.

Now, there's a spiritual analogy here

in many respects.

For the most part,

when we look at ourselves

or when we look at other people,

we see ourselves

as we are today

or as we have been in the past.

But when God looks at us,

He is not limited

to the past and the present.

He sees not only our past patterns

and our present struggles,

He also sees perfectly clearly

the glorious creature

that He has created us to be

and that He is intent

on bringing us to become

in Christ.

And so He brings us

into situations

that we think

are far more than we can handle

and might seem

totally overwhelming.

And we think,

I can't handle this.

There's no way

I can get through this.

And God says,

but I can see

what you can't.

You know,

when Jesus first met

Simon Peter

in the Gospel of John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

His name was just Simon

at that point,

but Jesus named him

Peter,

which means rock.

But then if you go on

and read the Gospels,

Peter seems like

the most unstable man

of all the twelve disciples.

Right?

Jesus says,

who do you say that I am?

And Peter says,

you're the Messiah.

And Jesus says,

that's right.

And then,

two seconds later,

Jesus says,

well,

as the Messiah,

I'm going to have to suffer.

And Peter takes Jesus aside

and says,

oh, no, no, no,

Jesus,

you don't know this.

I need to instruct you

and tell you a better way.

And Jesus says,

get behind me, Satan.

You've totally missed the point.

You think you know

what I'm about,

but you need to learn.

Or at the Last Supper,

1 Peter says,

Jesus is coming around

washing the disciples' feet,

and 1 Peter says,

not me,

Lord,

you shall never wash my feet.

And then,

he flips,

and he says,

Jesus,

don't just wash my feet,

wash my hands,

wash my head,

wash everything.

And then later on that night,

as the opposition grows,

he says,

Jesus,

I'm ready to lay down

my life for you.

And then a few hours later,

he denies Jesus three times.

Right?

Peter is

the most bipolar disciple

ever.

Right?

He's flipping

from one end to the other,

from one end to the other.

And Jesus calls him a rock.

You see,

Jesus doesn't just look at Peter

and evaluate him

based on how he currently is

and how he's currently behaving.

He sees

what he intends Peter to become.

He says,

Peter,

I'm going to make you

into a rock,

into a stable person,

into a leader

of the early church.

And he does.

If you read the book of Acts,

Peter stands firm.

And he proclaims the gospel.

In his first letter,

Peter talks about

how all of us,

like living stones,

are being built together

into a house

by which God lives,

in which God lives

by his spirit.

You see,

God the Father

is committed

to building his house.

And he's committed

to making every one

of his children

into all that he has

called us to be.

He's committed

to correcting us

when we go wrong.

And he's committed

to training us

to develop our endurance.

That's the character

of God's discipline.

Now, second,

we see the necessity

of God's discipline.

We see this in verses

seven and eight.

And in these verses,

the author is drawing on

two well-known

cultural practices

in the ancient Roman world.

Or cultural practices

or family arrangements.

So first,

in the Roman world,

fathers had absolute authority.

authority over their family.

Legally,

and basically,

no one could override

a father's decision

on behalf of one

of his family members.

That was the law

in the Roman Empire.

That's the first thing,

the absolute authority

of the father.

And second,

the unique status

of sons.

So sons,

when they grew up,

would carry on

the family name

and would receive

an inheritance.

And so the father

was particularly involved

in training

and preparing

his sons

to receive that inheritance

and carry on

the family name.

Now this was not true

of daughters

under Roman law.

It was also not true

of sons born

out of wedlock

or born to a slave.

These were seen

as illegitimate

and not subject

to the authority

of the father.

Now that's the

cultural background.

Okay,

the author of Hebrews

is not affirming

every aspect

of the cultural background.

Actually,

he's undermining it,

some of it,

as we'll see later.

But what the author

of Hebrews is doing

is he's taking

these common images

from their culture

and he's just using

the imagery

to describe

God's relationship

to us

as his children.

So he's saying

God is the ultimate

father.

God has absolute

authority

over all his creation

by definition.

No one can override

God's decisions.

But God is not just

an impersonal force.

He's not just

a distant ruler.

He's a father

who loves

and receives

his children,

as verse 6 says.

From eternity past,

God the Father

has poured out

his love

and shared his glory

with his only begotten son.

But Hebrews tells us

that God's only begotten son

who became a human being

in Jesus Christ

has chosen to extend

his status

to us

as sons

and daughters of God.

So everyone

who is united

to Jesus through faith,

Jesus calls us

brothers.

Earlier in Hebrews

it says Jesus is not ashamed

to call us

his brothers.

And because Jesus

were Jesus' brothers,

we're now God's sons.

Now,

in using that language

of brothers and sons,

or verse 7

where it says

God is treating you

as sons,

it's not excluding

or marginalizing

female Christians.

What it is saying

is that God's family

operates on a completely

different principle

than the Roman world.

What he's saying

is that in God's family,

male and female Christians

both bear the name

of Jesus

and both have

full inheritance rights.

Both enjoy the blessings

that were only reserved

for sons in the Roman culture.

And he's saying

in the family of God,

whether you're male

or female,

you receive all those

blessings from God.

Full inheritance rights

and fully bearing

the family name

and an honored status

in the family.

So he says

in a Christian church,

it's totally different

than in the Roman culture.

But he says

just as

a Roman father

would intentionally

train

and prepare

his sons

to carry on

the family name,

God intentionally

trains and prepares

every one

of his children.

So at times

God rebukes us

through his word.

At times

he may even

chastise us

through affliction.

But he is always

training us,

stretching us,

preparing us

for glory

through hard

and painful experiences

because we are

his children

and he is utterly

committed to us

becoming all

that he has made us

to be.

So Proverbs says

don't regard lightly

the discipline

of the Lord.

In other words,

don't disregard it.

Don't run away

from it.

Don't ignore it.

But he also says

don't become weary

when rebuked by him.

In other words,

don't fall into despair.

God's not disciplining

you because

he's rejected you.

He disciplines you

because he loves you.

He's training you

and bringing you

even through hard

experiences to teach

you a greater depth

of trust in him.

He's shaping

and forming

your character

and forging you

like metal

that is refined

through the fire.

And when you are

tempted,

remember that

your greatest

brother,

Jesus,

was also tempted.

It says

Jesus was made

perfect

through his suffering.

Now it doesn't mean

that Jesus

never needed

to be corrected,

but Jesus

was tested.

He was trained.

He was stretched

in order to develop

his endurance

and demonstrate

his perfect faithfulness.

So when we receive

God's discipline,

when we are trained

by it,

it is a sign

that we are truly

God's children,

that we are truly

connected to God

through Jesus,

that we are truly

included in God's family

as brothers and sisters

of Jesus.

So that's the necessity

of God's discipline.

We've seen the character

of God's discipline,

the necessity

of God's discipline,

and finally,

we see the benefits

of God's discipline

in verses 9 through 11.

Verse 9

says that God's discipline

leads to life.

Now in verses 7 and 8

emphasize some of the parallels

between God

and human parents,

but 9 through 11

emphasize some of the contrasts,

and both are important.

Verse 9 says,

we had earthly fathers

who disciplined us

and we respected them.

Shall we not much more

be subject

to the father of spirits?

Now when you read that,

the contrast seems to be this.

If we respected

our earthly parents,

literally it's our fathers

of the flesh,

it means parents

who are mortal

and weak

and subject to change.

If we respected them,

he's saying,

how much more

should we surrender

our lives

without reservation

to God,

the father of spirits?

In other words,

the father

in whom there is no

change or turning.

But actually,

the real surprise,

if you're looking down

at verse 9,

you notice that I left out

the last two words

when I read it.

We had earthly fathers

who disciplined us

and we respected them.

Shall we not much more

be subject

to the father of spirits

and live?

That's the real surprise

of verse 9

is the promise of life.

It's saying,

God doesn't just

call out for our respect

and deserve our respect.

He also graciously

gives us life.

Eternal life.

Abundant life.

Life in his presence.

So that's the first promise.

That God's discipline

is preparing us

for abundant life.

The second promise

in verse 10

is that God's discipline

is preparing us

to share in God's holiness.

Again,

there's another contrast.

They disciplined us

for a short time

as it seemed best to them.

In other words,

human parents

have a limited role

and their efforts,

even if well-meaning,

are imperfect

as it seemed best.

But he disciplines us,

God disciplines us

for our good

that we may share

in his holiness.

God's discipline

has a lasting effect,

an enduring role.

And this is a very important

distinction to remember

because it's very natural

for us to project

onto our ideas about God

our experience

of our own parents.

And sometimes

that makes us hard,

that makes it hard

for us

to relate to God

as he really is

because our experience

with our own father

or mother

or even

their weaknesses

or their absence

makes it hard for us

to draw near to God

in the way

that he reveals himself

as a father

who loves

and receives

his children,

who is faithful

and committed

and unfailing

in his love.

And Hebrews reminds us

that God is utterly distinct

from even the best

of human parents.

He is the one

who embodies

and defines

true fatherhood.

Our parents did the best

they could

for a limited time.

But God's discipline

is utterly pure

and lasting.

It's so that we may share

in his holiness.

In other words,

in God's

unstained purity,

in his perfect

wholeness,

unbroken.

Hebrews has already told us

that through the sacrifice

of Jesus Christ

we're set apart

for holiness.

We're sanctified.

It's the same word.

Set apart for holiness.

And he's saying

through his discipline

he's making us

into what he's already

called us to be.

He's making us

to share

in that holiness

that we've already

been set apart for.

So there's the promise

of life,

of holiness,

and third,

the peaceful fruit

of righteousness.

Now verse 11

is very honest.

He says,

for the moment

all discipline

seems painful

rather than pleasant.

Isn't that true?

Right?

In almost any kind

of training

there's an ironic

pattern.

If you're studying

the more you learn

the more you realize

how much you don't know.

I was a history major

in college.

I had to take

two courses

in American history,

two courses

in European history,

three courses

in other parts

of the world,

and three electives.

I even took

a couple of extras.

What I realized

over time

is that I hardly

know anything

about history.

Half the time

when people come

to me and say,

oh have you read

this book

written by this historian?

I'll say,

I have no idea

who that historian is.

Or do you know

about this American

president who lived

in the late 19th century?

And I'll say,

none of my history

classes covered that.

I'm completely ignorant.

I'm sorry.

I'm a history major

and I'm nearly ignorant.

Let alone

all the other 50 majors

that I didn't major in.

There's a similar pattern

in athletic training.

The stronger you get,

the weaker you feel.

Right?

You go out for a good

workout with the team

or you go to the gym

to lift,

you come back

an hour and a half later

feeling weaker

and more tired

and sore

than when you started.

Spiritually,

the more clearly

you see God's character

and God's law

and God's calling

for you,

the more clearly

you see how far

you have to go

and the flaws

that are still there.

But he reminds us

that's all part

of the process

of growth

and training.

For the moment,

it seems painful.

But in the long term,

there's a peaceful

harvest of righteousness

for those who have

been trained

by it.

Let me close

with a quote

from C.S. Lewis.

He talks about

our life as a house,

as God who has

purchased us

and bought us

and is making us

into what he's

called us to be.

He says,

imagine yourself

as a living house.

God comes in

to rebuild that house.

At first,

perhaps,

you can understand

what he is doing.

He's getting the drains

right and stopping

the leaks in the roof

and so on.

You knew that these

jobs needed doing

and so you were

not surprised.

But presently,

he starts knocking

the house about

in a way that hurts

terribly and does

not seem to make

any sense.

What on earth

is he up to?

The explanation

is that he is

building quite a

different house

from the one

you thought of.

Throwing out

a new wing here,

putting on an

extra floor there,

running up towers,

making courtyards.

You thought you

were being made

into just a little

cottage.

But he is building

a palace.

He intends to come

and live in your

house himself.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you

that you see

as our Father

far beyond

what we can.

we thank you

that you have

destined us

for glory

through Jesus Christ

as your sons

and daughters.

We pray that you

would teach us

to endure,

to trust

what you are doing

even when it

seems confusing

and hard.

We pray that we

would be trained

by your discipline,

that we would receive it,

that we would not

despise it

or run away,

and that we would

not crumple

under it

and despair.

But Lord,

we pray that you

would remind us

that you are

a faithful Father

who disciplines

those you love.

Lord,

thank you for this

word.

We pray that you

would make it

fruitful in our

lives this week.

In Jesus' name,

amen.

Well,

this morning,

we're going to

celebrate baptism.

baptism.

And baptism

is a wonderful,

symbolic declaration

of our status

as God's children

who are brought

into his family

through Jesus.

Maybe you're here

and maybe you're

exploring Christianity.

Maybe you haven't

yet put your faith

and trust

in Jesus Christ.

You haven't yet

said,

yes,

I want to embark

on that journey

with him.

Well,

baptism is a

symbolic picture

of what it means

to do that,

to take the plunge,

to surrender

your life to Jesus.

And so,

it's an invitation

to consider that

and consider

what God

is calling

us into.

Baptism

represents a few

things.

It's getting dunked

in the water,

washed in the water,

and it represents

the work of Jesus

Christ that has

cleansed us

from our sin.

Now,

baptism is not

the way to wash

away your sin.

Getting dunked

in a pool

doesn't wash

away your sin.

But Jesus Christ

died on the cross

so that we would

be cleansed

and forgiven,

and baptism

is a symbolic

picture of what

God has already

done.

It's also

a public

identification

with Jesus.

And,

and,

and in a short,

and it's,

when Jesus

was baptized,

the heavens

were torn open,

and God the Father

said,

you are my son,

with you I am

well pleased.

And we,

when we turn to

Jesus and trust

in him,

and when we

follow him

through baptism,

we receive an

assurance that we

also are God's

adopted sons and

daughters,

beloved,

and included in

his family that he

is well pleased

with us.

So,

if you've been

baptized,

consider this a

reminder and a

reaffirmation of

your own baptism.

Remember what God

has promised you.

If you haven't been

baptized,

consider it an

invitation.

And if you want

to talk more about

it,

feel free to find me

after the service.

Matt,

would you come to

the front?

Matt's going to

share some of

his story of how

God has worked in

his life.

I don't think he

knew that I was

preaching on this

passage,

and I didn't,

we didn't coordinate

our stories,

but I've seen what

he's going to say.

It actually connects

with this passage

really well.

So,

Matt,

why don't you

come and share

some of what

God's done in

your life.

Hi,

everyone.

There's a lot

of people out

here.

Morning.

For those of

you I haven't

had the pleasure

of meeting,

I'm Matt

Sherman.

Hopefully,

I'll get to

meet a lot

of you at

some point

or another.

I came here

just shy of a

year ago to

take up a job

at the University

of Bridgeport.

as a librarian

and thankfully,

before I came

out here,

a number of

friends I knew

who knew folks

in Connecticut

had recommended

Trinity,

so it seemed

like a good

place to check

out and I was

really glad I

had been able

to spend the

last 11 or

so months

worshiping with

everyone and

getting involved

in small group.

It's been a

really good

opportunity to

worship and

minister out here.

so I'm

particularly

happy today

that I'll be

coming into

membership and

as Pastor Greg

noted,

getting baptized.

I was baptized

as an infant,

but theologically

I've come to

a different

understanding of

baptism more in

line with what

Greg has

mentioned.

so I'm glad

to be able to

do all this

and kind of

publicly profess

my faith in

Christ as Lord

and Savior,

and I have not

looked at this

nearly enough,

so I'll probably

be paying more

attention to the

sheet than you

guys.

My apologies.

But I've been

asked to,

you know,

give you a little

bit of idea

how I got here

and the work

of grace that's

been done in my

life.

So I started

out growing up

in a small town

in Wisconsin

with my family.

We largely

attended a

United Methodist

church.

They'd done a

pretty good job

of providing a

foundation to

build my faith

off of,

but I wouldn't

say I knew

Jesus at that

point in time.

In high school

I tended towards

the more common

misperception of

him as a

friendly God

who would give

us what we

wanted and,

you know,

want us to be

happy.

And there's

some truth to

that,

but even at

that point I

don't think I

was entirely

content with

that viewpoint.

And so when I

started at the

University of

Wisconsin in my

freshman year,

I wanted to

make sure that I

got plugged in

with a group of

believers to

really understand

who Jesus was

and learn more

about him.

Thankfully the

Lord saw a fit

to connect me

with the local

navigator ministry

my freshman year

and he used

that just

great,

absolutely awesome

community to

teach me who

he really was.

By the end of

my freshman year,

I can confidently

say that I knew

who Jesus was

and that he

was my Lord

and I kind of,

I started loving

him not for the

nice things he

could give me

and fulfilling

the sinful

desires of my

heart, but

rather that I

started loving

him for who

he was and

what he's already

done for us

in his death

on the cross.

So I can,

and I can see

from that over

the years how

it's, he's been

reshaping my

desires to be

more in line

with his.

Yet, unlike

what a lot of

prosperity preachers

have to say,

God doesn't

promise us to

fulfill all our

desires and

give us a life

easy or to

make us wealthy.

So after

graduating from

Madison, I had

to deal with my

fair share of

hardship as well.

A few prolonged

periods of

unemployment, some

very difficult work

environments, being

strapped for cash

financially, some

medical issues, and

just struggling to

put those habitual

sins to death, which

is still a really

frustrating desire.

Yet, while he

doesn't promise to

give us an easy,

prosperous life, he

does promise us

himself that he'll

be with us and

that he'll never

forsake us.

And that is a

promise I can

definitely say I've

seen time and

again.

I can remember the

gracious way he

used the situations

and for my

friends to place

me in graduate

school at a time

that I thought it

was entirely

unlikely.

I remember his

provision and

comfort during those

periods of

unemployment, comforting

me, providing for

my needs at the

time, and helping

me to see, even

when I had no

prospects, that he

was good and he

was sovereign, and

that I was far

better to trust on

his provision rather

than on my own

skills.

And I definitely

remember his grace

in giving me the

opportunity to go

overseas for six

weeks and be part

of a team to help

with a short-term

ministry and see

seven people come to

Christ at the time

we were there, and

be given the fun

privilege to help

those new folks

understand and learn

about the scripture

and the gospel.

And I've certainly

seen his grace in

him bringing me out

here in a very rapid

and rushed manner

and being able to

plug in with you

guys and be

provided for all of

my needs in moving

to this new

community.

So I'm particularly

glad he's brought

me into this

community, and I'm

happy to be able to

join you all today

and look forward to

be ministering with

you all while I'm

here in New Haven.

Thanks.

Thanks.

best

Thank you.