When You're Tempted to Step Back | Applause of Heaven 4

Hey, what up?

It's Mark Carter.

I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.

Welcome to our podcast.

I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.

Enjoy the message.

In the first few years that I was following Christ I was probably about 19 at this point was following Christ.

I was probably about 19 at this point and I was asked to lead a campus cross-ministry rally, kind of like a big conference for the different ministries that were represented at our campus.

And it was a big project.

I'd never done anything like this before and we gathered a team and we were putting it together.

It was going to be fantastic, man, we had awesome bands and great speakers and it was all coming together and it did end up going off beautifully.

But a couple weeks before that happened we'd put flyers all over the campus inviting people to this event.

It was called Resurrection Week, res Week we called it.

We thought it was hip to shorten the resurrection down to res, so Res Week.

It was like those times back when every youth group was called the Edge.

That was about the time that this was.

So we put up these flyers inviting people to come.

But about two weeks before the event, I guess, mockery flyers began to appear.

They looked just like our flyers, they had like even the same fonts, but they were hyper-sexualized and mocking the gospel and they were all over the campus.

And this is the first time I just was taken aback.

I was like I thought we were doing a good thing.

Why does anybody, why is anybody mad at this?

And it wasn't even like the climate today.

So, in other words, today's a little bit more anti-Christian than it was back then.

So there was definitely a pluralistic mindset like, hey, man, make your case, you can say whatever you want.

There wasn't an opposition, but there was opposition to this and even though it wasn't a big deal and it didn't, you know like the event still went great it was.

I experienced maybe even a little bit of shame.

I was like, did I do something wrong that we're doing this?

I want to remind everybody that if you are going to grow closer to Jesus Christ and and you're going to help other people grow closer to Jesus Christ, dude, there's no arguing about it.

You're going to experience opposition, and that's what we're talking about today.

Remember, we've been in the Applause of Heaven series.

We took a break.

Sometimes we take a break to discuss specific important things, but we always jump back into the main thing we're talking about.

That's the Sermon on the Mount and, specifically, the Beatitudes.

We're at the end of the Beatitudes.

What Jesus has been doing, remember, he's been framing this is what a way of life would look like if you were following God wholeheartedly.

And Matthew, the author, is trying to set it up so everyone can see.

You know, jesus is really the new and better.

Moses, see, like Moses was on a hill and he gave the law.

And Jesus is on a hill and he's giving the new and better.

And it's not really even a law.

It's much more about not things you do, but who you become.

And as you become these things, as you put these things into practice, as you're poor in spirit and as you're merciful with people, you're going to get to the point at the end of the Beatitudes, where you're going to realize suddenly, not everybody likes this.

There's something natural in the world that opposes this.

Let's pick it up Matthew 5, 9.

Blessed.

There's something natural in the world that opposes this.

Let's pick it up Matthew 5, 9.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

That's how he began the Beatitudes.

Theirs is the kingdom of God.

And what does that mean?

Remember, kingdom of God is synonymous with kingdom of heaven.

You'll see that interchangeably In Matthew it's always kingdom of heaven, because for Jews they didn't want to necessarily always use God's name and so sometimes he would pull back on that, but it's always the same thing, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Kingdom of God.

That means God's reality, where God rules both in heaven and on earth.

At the same time it says blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you.

Because of me, rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.

For the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

What is persecution, you know?

On a real, basic level, it's just about anything.

It's like bullying is persecution?

Playground bullying.

Someone's mistreating persecution, playground bullying.

Someone's mistreating someone is treating poorly, someone is coming against, speaking against, painting somebody in a bad light.

That's all persecution.

But specifically, there's a deeper level of persecution in the Bible.

We see it right away.

We see it with Cain and Abel.

There's this persecution Cain is for some reason mad at Abel because they both brought an offering the Lord approved of Abel's, and Cain is mad about it.

And there becomes this I need to take him out.

It's not even just like oh shucks, man, teach me how you did that.

It is I need to destroy him.

I don't like, I'm jealous of God, seems to like his thing more than my thing, and so because of that, I'm going to take him out.

And you see this story happening, this thread throughout the Bible.

There's always this persecution happening and it's even, it's more than just humans.

So you see it with Moses, you see it with Joseph, you see it with David.

There's always some kind of person who's against them, trying to take them down.

It's not just the person, it's really the spirits, the demonic forces of hell.

Ephesians 6 tells us it's more than just us when it comes to kingdom persecution.

It's not just the people.

The people may very well not like it, and they don't like you or what have you, but the enemy is quick to reinforce that because he hates, he really just hates Jesus.

Persecution in the biblical sense is this it's rejection and ridicule for Jesus.

It is infliction of suffering toward, or mistreatment of, those devoted to Jesus.

Because they're devoted to Jesus, you'll notice.

I mean, if you pay attention to this kind of thing, you can bring up the name of almost any God anywhere and it's super cool.

You bring up Jesus.

Oh man, you better watch it Back off, man, and why people are just there's something that is triggered in folks.

It's Jesus that the spirits of darkness around the world do not like, and so they're going to oppose it.

Persecution is also, it's the result of following Jesus.

That's what it is.

So what do we mean by this?

There are places in the world yes, you'll literally be killed, but for most of us here or watching online, you're not going to worry about that right now.

But there's still places where, because of your faith, if you're a Christian, you might experience some exclusion, maybe from the event that's going on.

Maybe you won't fudge the records like your co-workers will.

Maybe you won't quite use those dishonest tactics to close the sale.

You want to do it honestly and because of that you don't get invited to lunch.

Or maybe because you don't join in on the gossip.

You don't get to go to that thing after class.

They just don't want you to go because they're afraid, ah, they're going to bring it down.

Even though you don't bring it down, they still don't want you to come.

Or maybe you're just kind of viewed in certain environments as well.

You know what?

They're, just kind of a goody-goody, and so we can't really be ourselves.

We can't be who we are around them.

I hope that we can just dart around them and get out of here so they don't have to come with.

Maybe for some you're a little bit worried about the holidays coming up, because you know you're gonna be sitting at a table somewhere and certain folks are going to be there and you don't even know why all the time.

But there's an antagonism, there's something there.

If you bring up anything, you think there's going to be some kind of difficulty or conflict and it seems like, no matter what you do, you can't get away from it.

You feel misunderstood.

You might feel mistreated from time to time, and I know that everybody can experience this.

But we're talking specifically about when it's about your faith, when it's about Jesus Christ.

You're going to experience it, and sometimes it's so bad that people even want to step off the earth.

They even want to give themselves to death in order to escape the hardship that they're in.

We're going to see in a little while.

That's a bad idea, but the point is this.

You might be thinking oh man, I feel sorry for all those suckers.

I don't have any of that.

Here's the thing, though Every one of us can feel fear about being excluded, about being embarrassed, about feeling shame, and so each one of us is tempted, in different environments I don't know which ones are yours but you're tempted to veil what you feel or change what you say, because you don't want to experience the rejection, you don't want to experience the ostracism, you don't want to seem strange, and the truth is, every one of us have this.

It's a little God, it's a little idol of the applause of everybody else, and we just don't want the applause to stop, and so we're just going to veil it.

We're not going to say it, or, when we do, it's asking for a fight.

So what I want to do today, I want us to determine that we're going to actually value rejection and ridicule, not in like a morbid kind of a way, but when we see it instead of like push away from it.

We're going to say I recognize the value of this because, as we're going to see, it makes me stronger.

There's ways that it delights my father in heaven and it is rewarded by God.

Ultimately, it's good news.

So here's what we're going to do Determine to value rejection and ridicule for Jesus.

Rejection and ridicule for Jesus, because number one, rejection and ridicule can deepen your roots.

It can deepen your roots or it can grow you up.

It can make you stronger.

This isn't the only place in the Sermon on the Mount where Matthew is talking about persecution.

He mentions it later, not in the Sermon on the Mount, matthew 13, verse 20.

Matthew 13:20

He's talking about these different kinds of seeds.

Some of you are familiar with this.

Jesus is talking about different kinds of actually soils.

It's one seed, it's the word of God.

These different heart soils.

It's one seed, it's the word of God, these different heart soils.

The word of God goes in and the soil responds differently.

For some, the word of God just goes away.

It's taken away immediately.

But for some, the word of God goes into the soil which is our hearts and it pops up for a minute.

Really great, really awesome, really excited.

People are like oh, jesus is dope, let's listen to what it says.

The seed falling on the rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.

But since they have no root, they last only a short time.

When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, persecution comes, rejection and ridicule come because of honey.

It's not because you're not winsome, it's not because you really you're doing something wrong.

It's not because you're misrepresenting Jesus.

It's not any of that.

It's because of the word.

You're trying to get your life in line with Jesus' vision in the Sermon, on the Mount, in the Beatitudes.

You want to live this way, not these rules, this way before God.

And people react to it and they don't like it.

And we experience that.

I didn't expect that as I watch people that are still kind of young in this.

They're new to this and they're really excited.

You guys have seen some of this.

People come home and they're excited like, oh, I'm on this Jesus thing now.

This is really cool.

But then they encounter some version of rejection and ridicule and they're almost offended.

They're like what the heck?

You didn't tell me people weren't going to like this.

You didn't tell me people might not think this is as great as I do.

I don't know that I really want to do this.

They quickly fall away, guys.

This is what it means.

So I don't know what you heard.

I don't know what you were taught.

There are so many benefits and so many glories and so many awesome things in this life that God brings into our lives, but you got to know that ridicule and rejection for Christ is death part of the deal.

It is death part of the deal, and here's what I would encourage maybe the folks who are a little bit more new to this.

Here's the best thing you can do.

You can leverage it to grow strong, and really whining about it is not going to do anything.

It's probably just going to make you a wimp.

Really, if you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, that doesn't help.

What helps is us deciding to get strong, because the truth is, god loves every one of us exactly where we are, but the kingdom doesn't need more babies.

Anybody recognize that.

The kingdom doesn't need more babies, man, it needs warriors, and so we might as well cooperate and, you know, take your hurts and stuff to Jesus, and it's okay to tell people about it.

But I'm just saying.

If you're just going to bemoan the fact, well, the culture hates Christians.

Oh my gosh, what's happening now?

Can you believe they don't like my post?

I can't believe what's on the news.

Can you believe it?

Yeah, I can believe it.

What did you think?

What did you think was going to happen?

This is exactly what Jesus was talking about.

So we can't whine about it, we just need to embrace it and grow from it.

When I was a boy, we lived in Wadsworth.

We lived around a lot of farmland, a lot of great, big, wide, open fields, and so there's a lot of time to explore.

And I just go wandering through the fields with friends, maybe.

And one thing one of the things you do as a little boy maybe is you try to find out if you're strong or not.

Okay, so something I might've been doing it at around you know, seven or eight is we're walking through the tall grass and I'll pick some grass and I'll just start to yank it and I'll say, can I pull this out?

And I pulled it right out.

I'm like, yeah, that's not very strong grass, but I got it.

But there'd be some grass that I came to.

Let's see this picture.

There'd be some grass that I came to.

I was a lot like this boy.

He looks a lot sweeter than I was.

But I'd get to the grass and I'm trying to yank it and I can't get it out and I'm like doggone.

Those roots went down deep quick, like it's not that old, and yet I can't I can't even pull them out.

And the other ones are easy to pull out.

Guys, that's how God wants us to be.

He wants us early on to not be easily pulled out.

He wants our roots to go down deep.

He doesn't want, man, just a little bit of persecution, a little bit of anger, a little bit of, you know, the side eye.

He doesn't want that to get us off the path and make us second guess what we're doing.

So that means sometimes what you, what you're going to allow yourself or your kids to watch, people are going to think that's weird and be like are you?

You're really not watching that show?

Everybody's watching this man.

What's wrong with you?

Are you?

Are you just some kind of weird?

You're so religious you can't have fun.

Are you just not a normal person anymore?

And those voices will go around in your head?

Or, oh, you're not going to come with us to this thing after work.

But why Is it?

Because you know no-transcript.

If I'm going to follow Jesus first, I don't care what you think.

Second, I'm going to stand against the stream.

That's how life is going to be from time to time, and in fact, when I'm not standing against the stream, I'm going to be like holy cow.

This is a nice favor God's given me.

For this moment I'm not standing against the stream.

Why?

Why do we do it?

Here's the real reason.

Why everything?

Because Jesus is worth it.

Because Jesus is worth it, because he's asking you to.

That's why.

Because he wants you to be strong, because it's good for you.

I don't see how.

I don't see why, carter, you don't need to see why.

But for you, I don't see how.

I don't see why, carter, you don't need to see why.

But I promise, if you'll just get that grit and say I'm going to stand against it, I'm not going to be sad for a day.

I'm not going to be like, oh, they don't like me, who cares?

My God is clapping, and so I'm going to keep right on going, and I don't need anybody to like it.

Because Jesus told me this kind of persecution would come, and so it does.

I'm going to focus on not feeling sorry for myself.

I'm going to focus on getting those roots down deep.

So rejection and ridicule can deepen your roots and it can also increase your impact, increase your impact.

This is what happened to that other seed, but the seed falling on the good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.

This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown.

This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown.

See, they didn't stop.

The persecution came, but they didn't stop.

They didn't just rise up quickly and then give up.

No, they kept.

They stayed in the soil and they kept going down.

And because they didn't give up, perseverance happened and time went by and God began to reveal fruit through that person and through their life.

And it became more and more and more and more, because they just really did.

All they did was hang on.

They just didn't give up and God knew what would happen.

Many of you know about Winston Churchill.

You know that he was the prime minister of Great Britain during World War II.

Some of you might know, back in World War I, he became characterized by failures.

There was a campaign called the Gallipoli Campaign and he was one of the chief architects of it and it was really important and it just failed.

And because it failed, that impacted his political career and his aspirations and he kind of got relegated to people who just didn't care about him.

He was not considered someone that was a viable option.

People just didn't care about him.

He was not considered someone that was a viable option.

You know he's not esteemed all the way up until World War II and he was persevering this whole time.

He didn't give up.

He didn't, like you know, go be a farmer.

He didn't just give up.

Instead, he stayed in the game.

And in 1940, he was elected prime minister of Great Britain.

And guys many historians will tell you this, some of you believe this who are history enthusiasts it wasn't even really just Great Britain that stood against Hitler.

At the end there, it was Winston Churchill himself and him alone.

He was the one that said no, we will never, never, never, never give up.

We're not going to stop here.

He was the right guy for that particular time.

For him you might have been around here.

He was the right guy for that particular time.

For him, you might have been around then.

He said he was called for such a time as this.

We didn't understand him before, but now we understand him.

He was raised up for such a time as this.

Is it possible for some of us?

You were raised up for such a time as not quite here yet, and so what you need to do is not give up because your season is later.

Right now, you need to keep on keeping on.

You need to keep on bearing fruit.

You need to keep on.

There's going to come a time when you are the exact solution for this particular moment.

We need you.

I'm so glad you just didn't go back to what you were doing.

I'm so glad you just didn't give up on Jesus and said now you're ready, now you're prepared.

Now you've trained all this time.

Baby, if you're going to be rocky, you got to train, you got to keep on training and, princess, prince, in the spirit of Jesus, you are rocky, you are ready to win.

And you've heard this before Chickens fly in flocks, but eagles fly alone, and so not everyone's going to like it all the time, but as we keep on persevering, god will bear fruit.

Ultimately, rejection and ridicule deepen your roots.

They increase your impact and they draw the applause of your father.

Remember what we said early on blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

These beatitudes are interesting because they work together like as one.

So blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God.

But then they all work together because Jesus is pitching a vision for the whole thing.

So in other words, he's saying the merciful are also poor in spirit.

They're all working together, they're acting this way and their hearts are this way.

These peacemakers, they're doing the opposite of rejection and ridicule.

They're not just staying normal, they're not just staying neutral.

Rejection and ridicule come to divide and to separate.

And peacemakers, they make it their business to come along and unite and push together and try to find ways to get people to be restored back to one another.

They're thinking about peace and healing and pushing it forward.

And then they experience again persecution, because their spiritual enemy doesn't like that, and pushing it forward.

And then they experience again persecution because their spiritual enemy doesn't like that.

But what does Jesus say about those who are going to embrace this Sermon on the Mount?

Life, this beatitude, life.

They shall be called sons of God, daughters of God, the children of God, Amidst persecution.

They shall be called sons of God Because they didn't give up, because they allowed their roots to keep on going, because they persevered and started to bear fruit, because now they're bringing people together.

They shall be called the sons of God, which means God looks at them and says they're like me, they're doing the things I would do.

I don't separate, I try to bring back together.

And here's the thing you got to know about God.

His approval is all that matters, and if he's proud of you, if he's like they're acting like a son or daughter of mine, then, baby, you're in good company.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this suffering is not an unfortunate by-product of discipleship, but rather a badge of it.

It's a badge of it.

So your persecution can be a badge.

Hey, I belong to the God of all heaven and earth.

What would be like a cool trophy for you?

What's the thing that you, if you want it, man, you just be like man.

I've really arrived now.

Maybe it's just the top salesperson for the month.

Maybe it's you got to win a Superbowl.

Maybe you want to win one of those YouTube plaques that says I've got so many followers.

I don't know what to Precious.

If you resist persecution in Jesus' name and just keep a good attitude and keep loving and keep turning the other cheek and keep on forgiving people.

If you'll do that, you're already wearing the highest badge anyone can wear.

It's the badge of a child of God.

It's the best badge and you can have it.

All you have to do is grab Jesus' hand and then you're in good company already.

In the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The evidence that you belong to God is often just like we saw in all these different storylines of the Bible is that people are resisting and opposing you, just like it was with Moses, just like it was with Elijah, just like it was with Jeremiah, and God is saying you're in good company when you do this.

And we got to think.

Then he says there are priests who are like the prophets who are before you.

We don't necessarily own familially those prophets, but it would almost be like to us guys think about like kind of a superhero, someone who is so applauded and we're like yes, everyone loves them.

Today.

They're like, oh, they're so awesome.

This is what the Israelites would have been thinking about these prophets Guys.

They were the misunderstood of their time, but they're ours because they were superheroes and you're the superhero right now.

If you hang on and persevere in Jesus' name, you're attached to a long chain.

Jesus said himself if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me.

First Paul said to Timothy everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

So I didn't really notice this.

I didn't notice it until probably just within the past few years.

I remembered those flyers at Res Week.

I remembered the mockery flyers and I'd just been carrying around some version of shame about it, like I'd done something wrong and I defended the campus or something like that.

And, reflecting on scriptures about persecution, I began to see guys, this is a treasure.

If you can take some of the places you've been hurt and wounded because of your integrity, because, doggone it, you were trying to do the right thing.

If you can take some of the places you've been hurt and wounded because of your integrity, because, doggone it, you were trying to do the right thing.

If you'll take those things and just reframe it, it wasn't a shame.

Yeah, people didn't like it.

Who cares To God?

That was one of the greatest days for you.

You were standing up.

You were like Jesus, you were like Paul, you were like all these prophets.

You were taking a stand for Jesus.

Let's trade in some shame today.

Let's reframe some things.

I don't care what they said about you.

All that matters is what God says about you and that's all that's going to matter the next time.

We got to be real careful.

We don't need to take our cues from anybody that's criticizing what you're doing.

If you're doing something for Jesus and it's obedience and it's not sin in Jesus' name, and it might even cost you, like it costed me In those first few years.

I didn't understand why it was starting to cost me friends, people I'd been with my whole life.

I'm like, hey man, jesus, now I wanna be Jesus' boy.

And there was people like, oh man, good for you, that's fine.

There were others who had a dramatic negative response to that and they backed away immediately.

Some of them were like the best of friends and I understand now you know I get it and it's.

There's no hard feelings.

All I'm saying is that you've got to be willing.

You've got to be willing to if Jesus asks for this, or if they just react in a way that they're telling me I don't want to have anything to do with this, then they're not going to have anything to do with it because I'm hanging on to Jesus and we'll do what we can.

But when we do that, when we choose Jesus, even over some significant ties, what you're doing, whether you know it or not, is you're writing a love letter to Jesus.

You're saying, jesus, you're worth it, you're worth everything.

I don't want these friends to go, but if they go, you're still worth it.

Rejection and ridicule here's the best.

One will be outrageously rewarded.

It will be outrageously rewarded.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, great is your reward.

That reward word is important because it's not owed to us.

It's not like we get to heaven and we're like all right, jesus, let's have what you owe me.

That's not how it goes at all.

Jesus doesn't owe you anything.

It's all going to be grace, but it's going to be a reward that blows your mind.

It's going to be stuff like there's specific roles in heaven that he's going to give, that are catered just right to your heart.

They're calibrated to you.

There's going to be stuff that you have.

There's going to be people that you have access to All this great reward never having pain again and you're going to say, wow, this is like so awesome and it's more than I expected.

It's fantastic.

And it'll be not because you did anything right.

It'll be because Jesus loves you and he gives you grace and wants you to have this thing.

But as you have this reward and it's, it's beautiful you're going to be I believe this you're going to be shocked.

You're going to be shocked at how good it is.

You're going to be I believe this.

You're going to be shocked.

You're going to be shocked at how good it is.

You're going to be blown away.

There was a really important Christmas and it was the Christmas of 1985.

I thought it was like any old Christmas.

I expected to get some transformers.

You know they're like eight to 10 bucks at that time.

You could probably get, you know, four or five or six of them.

You know, hopefully Hoping for these transformers.

It's going to be like a normal Christmas.

We get downstairs and we're tearing into the presents and that year, lo and behold, there was a Nintendo entertainment system.

Now, I thought this was for rich kids.

I had been to a friend's house and they had this.

I didn't expect this at all.

This was way beyond what I expected, but it changed my life as a young man.

This changed everything about my world.

I went to a different life because of this thing.

But what is my point, guys?

It was a gift, but it was way beyond what I was anticipating.

Whatever you can anticipate, your reward in heaven is better by far.

It is something you can't even imagine.

So, as you and I continue on persevering in Jesus' name, you will have that reward.

But check this out there's really an even better reward, because the real reward is Jesus himself.

So it's beyond just getting the Nintendo.

It's beyond just I'm surprised at how good at this is.

You and I are going to be surprised at how good Jesus is.

We're like I was like, I was like one of yours and I didn't get it.

Like my mind is blown.

Jesus, you're way better.

You're way more beautiful.

You're way more loving.

You're way more gentle.

You're way more powerful.

You're way more everything my heart desires.

I did not even get it a little.

You're way beyond it and you are my reward.

That's why.

That's why you persevere, that's why you don't let ridicule take you out.

That's why okay, you rejected me.

Fine, I'll be dead.

Soon I'll be dead and I'll have all these rewards, and the greatest will be Jesus himself.

So I'll press on in mercy and confidence and I'll endure and I'll pray for my enemies and I'll be excited because sometimes down here on earth God will bring vindication and he'll be like, he'll set you up like see, I was behind this, but precious.

You don't want all your vindication here, but precious.

You don't want all your vindication here.

This is all going away.

You want your super-powered, real, jesus-sized vindication in heaven.

That's where you want Jesus to stand up and say everybody, everybody, look, this one was mine.

And let me brag on them for a little while Because I didn't do everything right, but let me tell you, when they stood up, that nobody saw, but I saw it.

It was crucial moments and it meant the world to me.

So I just want everyone to see.

This was my secret servant.

They stood against the tide man, but they blessed my heart and they were a love letter to me every day, in the midst of a culture that hated and rejected me and didn't want to have anything to do with me.

What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no human mind has conceived, these are the things God has prepared for those who love him.

When Paul is quoting Isaiah here, he's trying to make the point that it takes the spirit of God.

It's not just human understanding.

They can't really understand the heart of God or the ways of God, and so he points back to the scripture.

It says humans can't totally get it, but it also has a further meaning, and that further meaning is whatever you've imagined, dear heart, whatever you think is going to happen.

Some of you are close to the end.

You're like, and really your job right now is to hang on, just keep doing what you're doing, because you're almost there.

It's almost time for the king to summon you to the banquet table and you're going to love it.

It's going to be so much better than you ever thought.

Others of us.

What you need to do.

Maybe you're kind of new at this, dude.

You just need to hang on now, like, just grab that grass, hang on and don't let anything take you out.

Keep those roots going down deep and some of us deep and some of us we need to reframe.

We need to reframe and revise.

I want to in just a moment.

I want to ask the Spirit of God to bring to mind the specific things that maybe you think differently about that event than he does.

I want to ask him to deal with you this week and bring back specific things where you got hurt and you're still carrying it around and he wants to say that was actually beautiful to me, even though it was hurtful to you.

I saw your heart and it was fantastic how you were demonstrating your love for me and you just hang on because you're going to receive a reward and it's going to be what no eye has seen or ear has heard or human mind has conceived.

It's gonna be better by far.

Just hang on.

Let's pray that together right now.

Lord, every person within the sound of my voice, I believe, as they've chosen you at different points, maybe sometimes even kind of like halfway, or they didn't even totally know what they were doing I pray you'd bring it to mind if that turned out to be a hurtful thing in their experience.

And, lord, we pray now we give it to you.

We pray you'd change how we feel about it.

It'd not be a shame.

We'd reframe it and you'd revise the story and all that rejection and all that ridicule and all of that ostracism and all of that leaving out and all of that gossiping and all of that backbiting and all the ways that we were talked about and all the ways that people just rolled their eyes.

I pray you'd reframe it.

But, god, now I pray for what's coming.

I pray for the steps ahead.

Whatever's happening in this world of darkness, whatever happens in our timeline, whatever's going to happen next for us, god, we pray for the boldness.

Whatever's going to happen next for us, god, we pray for the boldness to remember the reward, to grow strong, to wear the badge proudly that we belong to another king in another world.

God, help us to, in the midst of many times when we won't be precisely faithful, help us be faithful In Jesus' name, amen.

Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.

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