Sermon
The Great Reversal
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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All right, we're picking up where we left off last week in Luke's Gospel.
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And last Sunday, we heard about how Jesus chose 12 of his disciples to be his apostles.
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And we talked about what that will mean.
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It means that they're going to be sent out as representatives of Jesus with a message.
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And we looked at that list of the 12 apostles, and we saw how Jesus came down with them from the mountain
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to a level place where there was this large crowd waiting.
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And there was a crowd of his disciples, but also people from all over.
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And we read about how power was coming from Jesus and healing everybody who touched him
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and even casting demons out of people.
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It was really exciting.
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And then immediately following this, Jesus begins to speak.
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Looking at his disciples, he said,
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And then what follows here is a lengthier teaching of Jesus, which spans the rest of this chapter.
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We're just going to take a quick bird's eye view of the chapter to get a sense of what's in it.
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From verse 20 to 23, there are these blessing statements.
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And then following those, there are warning statements or woe statements, 24 to 26.
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Then from 27 to 36, we have Jesus teaching about love for our enemies.
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Then in 37 to 42, teaching about judging others.
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And then in verses 43 to 49, Jesus wraps it up with these two analogies or illustrations of fruit trees and home building.
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About how to discern good from bad in others.
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And an illustration which shows us the wise versus the foolish life.
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Now we're going to take our time to go through all of this slowly, not all today.
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But I wanted us to have a quick overview of what Jesus taught on this occasion.
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And if you've read the Gospel of Matthew, you'll notice that there's some major similarities to Jesus' sermon on the mount.
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Which can be found in Matthew chapter 5 to 7.
Matthew 5 chapter mention
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In fact, the similarities here are so strong that many view this account here in Luke as the same sermon.
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With Luke here giving us a sort of condensed version.
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We notice that the sermon is directed at Jesus' disciples.
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In both Matthew and Luke.
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We notice in both cases that the sermon begins with these statements of blessing.
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Almost everything found here in Luke is found in Matthew's account.
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And in the same order.
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And then the sermon ends the same way in both Gospels.
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With the analogy of the wise and foolish builders.
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And so there's many similarities.
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On the other hand, some feel quite strongly that this sermon in Luke was a different sermon which Jesus shared.
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And they note some of the differences.
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The sermon on the mount seems to have been shared up on a mountainside.
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But Luke says that this sermon was given after Jesus came down from the mountain at a level place.
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Some have even gone so far as to nickname this sermon in Luke as the sermon on the plain.
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Any similarities, they say, are owing to the fact that Jesus likely taught and said the same things more than once.
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And in many different places.
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Well, maybe we can hold off on a decision until we've carefully studied and examined what Jesus said on this occasion in its entirety.
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So let's just press into these words of Jesus now.
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And hear for ourselves what the crowds traveled so far to hear.
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Looking at his disciples, Jesus said,
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Blessed are you who weep now.
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For you will laugh.
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Blessed are you when people hate you.
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When they exclude you.
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And insult you.
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And reject your name as evil.
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Because of the Son of Man.
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Rejoice in that day.
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And leap for joy.
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Because great is your reward in heaven.
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For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
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But woe to you who are rich.
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For you have already received your comfort.
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Woe to you who are well fed now.
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For you will go hungry.
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Woe to you who laugh now.
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For you will mourn and weep.
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Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you.
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For that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
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These are challenging words of Jesus to interpret.
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Jesus speaks a series of brief, potent one-liners.
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Statements.
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And let's just notice some of the observable features of it.
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The form of these words.
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We notice the repetition.
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The first four statements.
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Blessed are you.
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Blessed are you.
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Blessed are you.
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We notice that following each statement of blessing is another statement.
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For yours.
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For you.
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For you.
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We also notice the contrast between the...
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Each line of these statements.
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Blessed are you who are poor.
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For yours is the kingdom of God.
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Blessed are you who hunger now.
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For you will be satisfied.
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Blessed are you who weep now.
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For you will laugh.
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Blessed are you when people hate you.
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When they exclude you.
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And insult you.
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And reject your name as evil.
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And then the contrast.
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Because great is your reward.
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In heaven.
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So there's this massive contrast between how things are now for some.
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And how they will finally end up.
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Maybe another way to say it.
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Jesus is telling of how there will someday be a great reversal.
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A day when those who had nothing will have everything.
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A day when those who hungered will be satisfied.
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A day when those who were weeping are laughing and rejoicing.
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A day when those who were mocked and persecuted because of their faith in him.
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Will be honored and rewarded because of their faith in him.
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We also notice one of the differences between Jesus' sermon and the mount.
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And Matthew's gospel and this sermon.
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Matthew records that Jesus made nine of these statements.
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Luke only includes four.
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And in different order.
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But maybe what's most surprising here in Luke's account of this sermon.
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Is the parallel statements of warning.
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Or woe.
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That Matthew doesn't have in his account.
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And these are also very similar in form to the statements of blessing.
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Let's just look at them for a moment here.
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Woe to you.
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Woe to you.
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Woe to you.
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We see the repetition again.
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Following each statement of warning or woe.
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We see the parallel statement.
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For you.
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For you.
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For you.
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And an outcome or a result.
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And again we notice the contrast in each statement.
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Woe to you who are rich.
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For you've already received your comfort.
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Woe to you who are well fed.
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For you will go hungry.
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Woe to you who laugh now.
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For you will mourn and weep.
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Notice the clear parallel between the blessings and the woes.
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This is not formatted very nicely.
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But you can see if you put the list side by side.
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The first blessing statement is blessed are you who are poor.
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And the first woe statement.
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Woe to you who are rich.
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Blessed are you who hunger.
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But woe to you who are well fed.
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Blessed are you who weep.
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But woe to you who laugh.
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Blessed are you when people insult you.
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But woe to you when everyone speaks well of you.
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So this is really obvious and deliberate contrast between how things are right now for some.
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And how things will finally end up.
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And we see not only is a great reversal coming for those who seemingly are going through a really tough situation right now.
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But there's a great reversal coming for those who seemingly have it made right now.
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A day when those who had everything will lose it all.
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A day when those who are well fed will be hungry.
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A day when those who laughed will weep.
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And a day when those who were spoken well of will have no reward.
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But will face God's judgment like the false prophets of old did.
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And so as we look at the form of these statements and the contrasting features and the logic and the flow of them.
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I hope what Jesus is getting at is starting to come clear.
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Let's see if we can dial in the focus even a little more.
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And look at two of these key words.
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The word blessed and the word woe.
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Let's start with blessed.
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We should know that Jesus is not the first person to utter statements of blessing like this.
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There are blessing statements like this in the Old Testament as well.
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For time's sake we're not going to go back and look at them.
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But they're there.
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Especially in the Psalms and Proverbs.
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God has spoken like this before.
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Brief statements of blessing.
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And then that second statement of what that blessing will look like.
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And we should also know that for someone to be blessed in the Bible.
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Does not simply mean that they have good fortune.
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Or luck.
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To be blessed in the Bible is a thing that comes.
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In relationship to God.
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He is the one that blesses people.
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To be blessed speaks of enjoying the grace of God.
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The favor of God.
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The gift.
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The gifts of God.
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To be blessed means to be on the receiving end of his kindness.
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Or his mercy.
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It doesn't just mean to have good fortune or luck.
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It means to have good come to us.
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Specifically from God.
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And as we'll see in a moment.
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That grace from God is not necessarily material.
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In nature.
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This has kind of become baked into Christian culture a little bit.
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And into our language in our generation.
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That to be blessed means to have an abundance of material things.
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Well certainly the good material things that we have.
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Are gifts of God's favor.
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But there are a good many ways we can be blessed by God.
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Apart from material things.
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And in fact Jesus is later going to say in this very gospel.
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Watch out.
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Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
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Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
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And so God's blessing in our lives should not simply be equated with material prosperity.
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Next let's consider that word woe.
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It's maybe not one that we use often today.
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But maybe we've still heard it in literature or different things.
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Woe was also a kind of statement that was made frequently in the Old Testament.
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And it was common among the prophets to utter words of woe.
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They're like words of warning.
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Here's an example from the prophet Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 1 and 2.
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Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture declares the Lord.
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And therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people.
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Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them,
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I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done, declares the Lord.
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So this word woe means that there's trouble ahead for you.
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It's an ominous word.
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It's a word of warning, of danger or disaster or in this case punishment from God that's coming,
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that's just on the horizon.
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And then we see also the statements which follow and explain how things are about to take a turn for the worse.
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Woe to you who are rich, for your time is coming to go without comfort.
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Your time is coming to go hungry, to weep.
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And this sort of brings us to this big question that we need to ask, I think, to understand and apply these words.
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Who is Jesus talking to as he says these things?
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These statements of blessing and these statements of woe.
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Who is he talking to with these words?
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Well, let's look back up to verse 20.
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It says, looking at his disciples, he said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
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So right off the bat, Jesus is talking to his followers, his disciples.
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And this is important, I think, because their faith in him is the context for these blessings.
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Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
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This doesn't mean that all poor people will inherit the kingdom of God just because they're poor.
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Poverty is not a condition for entrance to the kingdom of God.
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And it's not something that automatically qualifies us for the kingdom of God.
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The teaching of Jesus is really clear in all the other places and things that he said.
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We obtain citizenship in the kingdom of God.
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By faith.
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By believing in Jesus.
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By humbling ourselves before God in repentance and confessing from the heart that Jesus is our Lord and our Savior.
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So for all of these blessings, true faith in Jesus, it's assumed to be there.
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He's speaking to his disciples.
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And if we look at that fourth statement of blessing, I think it really makes it clear there in verse 22.
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It's sort of an example of how we're to interpret these statements of blessing.
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Look at how Jesus explains the statement of blessing.
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He says, blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you, and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
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The Son of Man is Jesus.
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Jesus is referring to himself as he often does by this title.
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He's saying, you're blessed when people treat you poorly in all these ways because of your connection.
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To me.
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And so when we come down to verse 23, it makes sense.
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The blessing, the reward in heaven is given to people because they endured the scorn and insult and persecution because of their faith in Jesus.
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And so that context, that connection to Jesus, it's assumed through all of these blessing statements.
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To say it differently, none of these blessings come to those who are merely poor, hungry, weeping, or persecuted.
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Rather, these blessings speak of the future promised to those who have faith in Jesus.
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And they're meant to encourage us, though for now we may face hardship.
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We may face poverty, hunger, sorrow, or ridicule.
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And so Jesus is talking to his disciples with these statements of blessing.
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To those who have put their faith in the Son of Man.
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But then comes the woe statements.
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And of course with the woe statements, the outcomes for these people, the final outcome, is the complete opposite to the statements of blessing.
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And so it would seem that with the woes, Jesus is speaking to those in the crowd who are not truly his disciples.
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Perhaps those who find Jesus interesting and are just along for the ride.
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Perhaps those who want the miracle of healing but lack true faith in Jesus.
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Perhaps there are those who are following him around now, but later on they'll just leave off of that.
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And when things get tough, as Jesus begins to come into the crosshairs, they'll suddenly fade into the background and disappear.
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As I mentioned last week, there were many among the disciples of Jesus who turned away from following him.
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We read about that in John's Gospel.
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Even of the twelve, there was Judas.
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He valued riches.
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He valued comfort.
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He valued this favorable relationship with the religious leaders more than Jesus.
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And so I think these words of woe are directed to all in the crowd who are like Judas.
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Who lack true faith.
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And who will prioritize wealth and comfort and pleasure and popularity.
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These are words of solemn warning about what will happen to them in the end.
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If they do not truly repent and embrace Jesus for who he is.
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So that's kind of the interpretive framework from the context.
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We understand what the blessing and woe mean.
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We know who Jesus is talking to with each of these series of statements.
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And now we can kind of make sense of them and apply them.
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And so let's just take each of these one at a time and just reflect on them briefly.
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Starting with the first one.
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Blessed are you who are poor.
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For yours is the kingdom of God.
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When might this be an encouragement to a follower of Jesus?
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Poverty can be found in the life of a believer for many different reasons.
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It could be that a person was poor and had nothing when they first believed in Jesus.
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Or it could be owing to natural disaster.
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Or wars.
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Or drought.
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Or high cost of living in a certain place.
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Could be due to circumstances that are beyond our control.
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It could be in a situation that a follower of Jesus is working hard.
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And yet remains poor through no fault of their own.
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It could be that poverty arises because of persecution.
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Or poor treatment.
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Maybe they're pushed out of the company because of their faith.
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Or it could simply be because a follower of Jesus is not primarily focused.
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On getting wealthy.
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Making money.
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Being successful.
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Obtaining these materialistic goals.
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Rather than instead they just may be focused on serving the needy.
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On giving generously.
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There's lots of different reasons why a true disciple of Jesus may have little in this world.
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But.
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But.
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Says Jesus.
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How much we have in this world is not an indication of our status with God.
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Though you as a disciple of Jesus may have nothing.
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You are blessed.
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Because yours is the kingdom of God.
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And that is worth immeasurably more than all the riches of this world.
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Combined.
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And.
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Now of course the full enjoyment of this kingdom awaits.
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The future.
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When the king returns.
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But for now the world around us.
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They may think of you as poor.
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As a nobody.
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But in reality you have the greatest inheritance this world has ever seen.
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Coming to you.
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Now.
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And so count yourselves blessed.
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Even now.
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Jesus is saying.
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You're believing in me.
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You're following me.
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Now as my disciple.
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Qualifies you.
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For the kingdom of God.
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And so you are truly blessed.
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Blessed are you who.
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Hunger now.
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For you will be satisfied.
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In some ways it's just a restatement of the first one.
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Hunger.
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And poverty are almost synonymous.
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But notice the blessing promised.
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He says.
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For you will be satisfied.
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As a follower of Jesus.
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There's all kinds of things that we may long for in this world.
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And in this life.
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Even good things that we need.
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Food.
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Clothing.
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A reliable vehicle.
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Peace in our land.
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Or in our relationships with others.
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Property.
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To call our own.
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A home.
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What do you hunger for now?
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What is it that you most long for?
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In your heart of hearts?
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The declaration of Jesus to his followers.
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Is that we are blessed.
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Because though we may hunger and long for things now.
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One day we will be satisfied.
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All of our longings will be met.
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We will hunger.
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We will long no more.
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The third one.
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Blessed are you who weep now.
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For you will laugh.
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As with poverty.
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There are many reasons why a follower of Jesus may weep now.
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And be filled with sorrow.
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Is there a reason in your life right now.
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That you are weeping.
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If not outwardly.
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Then inwardly.
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There are things like injuries.
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Lifelong debilitating conditions.
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The death of loved ones.
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Broken relationships.
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There are the sinful and foolish choices that we see loved ones making.
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And the devastating consequences of those choices in their lives.
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There are evil people in our world who are preying upon the weak.
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There are wars.
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There is the hatred and insults of others who are unkind to us.
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Just to get a laugh from their friends.
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There are many reasons why a follower of Jesus may weep now.
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Some owing to our faith in Jesus.
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And some not.
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But the declaration of Jesus to his followers.
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Is that we are blessed.
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Because though we may weep now.
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One day our weeping.
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Will be turned to joy.
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We will laugh.
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We will know that feeling of joy and happiness.
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That spills out so easily and freely as laughter does.
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The things which cause sorrow will be gone.
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Jesus is talking of course about the blessing of our final home.
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The heavenly kingdom.
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And our time with him.
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Forever.
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Much later on.
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Jesus will give a vision.
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To his apostle John.
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To share with us a glimpse of what heaven will be like.
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And I won't read the whole passage.
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It speaks of how we will be with God.
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And he will be with us.
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It says this.
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He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
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There will be no more death.
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Or mourning.
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Or crying.
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Or pain.
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For the old order of things.
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Has passed away.
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I am making everything new.
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And so.
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Blessed are you who weep now.
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For you will laugh.
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You will know.
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Unbridled joy.
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In the kingdom of God forever.
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The final blessing statement.
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Blessed are you.
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When people hate you.
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When they exclude you.
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And insult you.
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And reject your name as evil.
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Because of the son of man.
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Rejoice in that day.
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And leap for joy.
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Because great.
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Is your reward in heaven.
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For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
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As followers of Jesus in this world.
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There is going to be occasions of all different kinds.
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When people treat us wrongly.
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Or poorly.
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Because of our devotion to Jesus.
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And Jesus kind of gives us a small list.
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Of the various forms that may take.
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It might be hatred directed at you.
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It might be more subtle.
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Done with actions only.
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And not words.
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Excluding you.
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Giving you the cold shoulder.
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Ignoring you.
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Passing over you.
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When it comes time to promote.
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Or honor.
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Or award.
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And this is specifically.
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Because of the son of man.
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Because of our connection.
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Our devotion to Jesus.
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So it's implied that they know.
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We are Christians.
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Our witness is overt.
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And clear enough.
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That they can see it.
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Maybe we were not willing to go along.
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With the plan of others.
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To cover something up.
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And do something.
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That was wrong.
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Maybe it's because.
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Even a little thing.
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We asked them not to play.
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Music filled with obscenities.
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At the workplace.
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Maybe it's because.
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We won't participate with them.
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In questionable activities.
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Or conversation.
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Living as a follower of Jesus.
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Will inevitably bring us.
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Into conflict.
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Or at least.
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Mark us out.
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As different.
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To the people around us.
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And we can expect.
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That we will be treated.
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Poorly.
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At times.
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Because of our allegiance.
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To Jesus.
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And his ways.
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Jesus tells us.
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To rejoice.
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And leap.
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For joy.
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For joy.
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When that happens.
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Why?
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Because if that happens to us.
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Because of our faith in him.
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Great.
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Is your reward.
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In heaven.
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Not just.
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That you're going to get a reward.
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But great.
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Is your reward.
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In heaven.
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Some of us have recently attended.
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The graduation of somebody.
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That we know and love.
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We sit back.
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We watch.
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We wait to see.
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Who the awards.
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The scholarships.
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And the bursaries.
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Will be given to.
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We pay special attention.
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To those who.
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Achieve the big awards.
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The governor general's award.
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Or the big money scholarships.
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And we think about.
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What they must have done.
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To earn those.
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Awards.
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How many evenings spent.
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Pouring over the books.
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Rather than playing video games.
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Or.
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Out.
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Partying with friends.
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Well there is.
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For those of.
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Who.
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Us.
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Who are followers of Jesus.
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A day coming.
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When the rewards.
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Will be handed out.
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When we will be honored.
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And recognized.
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And for some.
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Their reward.
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Will be.
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Great.
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They'll get the big.
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Awards.
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And Jesus says.
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The great reward.
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Goes to those.
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Who were treated poorly.
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Because of their faith.
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In him.
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I don't know about you.
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But I'm looking forward.
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To that.
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Award ceremony.
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I think it'll be.
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A sweet moment.
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For all of us.
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Who are followers of Jesus.
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A day when we applaud.
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When we celebrate.
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That great vindication.
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Of those who had it.
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The worst.
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In this life.
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Simply because.
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They treasured Jesus.
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Above all.
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And so.
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If.
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You're being mocked.
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Or laughed at.
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Or excluded.
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Because of your faith.
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In Jesus.
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Or because of your commitment.
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To his ways.
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Know that you will be.
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Blessed.
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Greatly.
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By God.
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You will be rewarded.
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And what a privilege.
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And an honor.
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You will see it to be.
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To have suffered mistreatment.
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For the king of kings.
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Jesus mentions about.
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This is how.
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Their ancestors.
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Treated the prophets.
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Basically.
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He's saying.
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That if you suffer at all.
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In any way.
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From others.
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Because of your faith.
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In me.
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You're in good company.
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That's how it's been.
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For a long time.
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How did the wicked.
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Treat Moses.
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They banded together.
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And opposed him.
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They didn't listen to him.
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They spoke evil of him.
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How did they treat Elijah.
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And the prophets.
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In his day.
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King Ahab.
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And Queen Jezebel.
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Tried to hunt them down.
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And kill them all.
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Zachariah.
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Son of Jehoiada.
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Was stoned to death.
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By King Joash.
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When he confronted him.
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For disobeying the Lord.
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Micaiah was slapped.
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And thrown into jail.
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Jeremiah was threatened.
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And beaten.
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And thrown into a cistern.
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And left to die.
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Each of these people.
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Was specially chosen by God.
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To speak his words.
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To the people.
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And look at how they were treated.
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So if people in our world.
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Mistreat you.
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Know that you are in good company.
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Says Jesus.
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Well we've looked at the blessing statements.
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But we should probably look at.
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The warning statements.
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The woe statements.
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There's a direct contrast here.
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We've looked at that.
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These words are directed.
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To those who lack.
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Faith in Jesus.
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So Jesus is not saying.
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All who are rich.
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Or all who are well fed.
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Or happy.
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Or popular in this life.
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Will perish.
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He's not saying that.
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These are aimed at those.
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Who do not have true faith in Jesus.
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But have achieved.
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A measure of success.
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By the world's measure.
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Or it may even be that.
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Their success is.
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One of the reasons.
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They don't think they need Jesus.
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Why do I need him?
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I have it made.
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I have everything I need.
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Jesus says.
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Woe to you who are rich.
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For you have already received.
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Your comfort.
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He's saying.
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You may think you have it made.
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But without me.
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The comforts you have right now.
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Are the last.
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And the only comforts you will know.
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Woe to you who are well fed now.
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For you will go hungry.
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The great reversal is coming.
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The judgment is coming.
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And because you ignored me.
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Says Jesus.
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Your time to want.
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Your time to hunger.
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And to long.
-
For the good things is coming.
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Woe to you who laugh now.
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For you will mourn.
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And weep.
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This of course does not mean.
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That laughter is wrong.
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Or that we should always be sad.
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And mournful.
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But there's a kind of laughter.
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There's a kind of happiness.
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That fits mainly with the world.
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And what it values.
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And celebrates.
-
The world celebrates.
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Earthly success.
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Great wealth.
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Or fame.
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It laughs at things that are evil.
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Things that are even hurtful to others.
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There's also the mocking laugh.
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The laugh of scorn or ridicule.
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Aimed at others.
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Out of pride.
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There's a happiness felt by the world.
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Which has no God.
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In it.
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But this kind of happiness and laughter.
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Will be turned.
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To weeping.
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And mourning.
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Says Jesus.
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Jesus spoke about hell.
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Quite a few times.
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The final destination of the wicked.
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And he described it in this way.
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Matthew 13 verse 49.
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At the end of the age.
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The angels will come out.
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And separate the evil from the righteous.
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And throw them into the fiery furnace.
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In that place.
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There will be weeping.
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And gnashing.
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Of teeth.
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When God's true and just judgment.
-
Finally comes on the wicked.
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Those who have ignored.
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And refused.
-
Jesus offer of salvation.
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Will experience.
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This intense mourning.
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Sorrow.
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Regret.
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And dismay.
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God's judgment.
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At the end.
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Will cause.
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For the wicked.
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The ultimate devastation.
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And loss.
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And the last one.
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Woe to you.
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When everyone speaks well of you.
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For that is how their ancestors.
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Treated the false prophets.
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We read of the false prophets.
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In the Old Testament.
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Whole groups of men.
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Claiming to speak for God.
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And behaving in strange ways.
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To kind of give the idea.
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That God's spirit.
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Is right now.
-
Speaking through me.
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And what were they doing?
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God says.
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They were just telling.
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Whoever consulted.
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With them.
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What they wanted to hear.
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And they were accepting money.
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And gifts.
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For doing that too.
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They were like fortune tellers.
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Which almost always give.
-
Good news.
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And God denounced them.
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And said they speak lies.
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And they're making stuff up.
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And I never told them to say any of that.
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And so everyone loved these so-called.
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Prophets.
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Because they always told the people.
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What they wanted to hear.
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If everyone speaks well of you.
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And no one is offended.
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Or put off with you.
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It's an indication.
-
That you're on the wrong side.
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That you're on the side of the world.
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Rather than God.
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That you're walking the way of the wicked.
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Rather than walking the way of Christ.
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Which normally results in conflict with the world.
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And opposition from the world.
-
To be in the company of the false prophets.
-
Is not a good thing.
-
They said God isn't angry with us.
-
All is well between you and God.
-
God is with you.
-
He will bless you with victory.
-
Meanwhile God was saying the exact opposite.
-
Through his true prophets.
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So to be in the company of the false prophets.
-
Is not a good thing.
-
They were swept away.
-
By God's judgment.
-
Well these are powerful words.
-
Both the statements of blessing.
-
And the statements of woe.
-
They remind us that there are only two ways to live.
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Two paths.
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To take.
-
There is the path.
-
Of blessing.
-
And there is the path of woe.
-
There is the path of becoming a true disciple of Jesus.
-
And having your faith in him.
-
Believing in him.
-
Following him.
-
Listening to him.
-
And then there is the path of going your own way.
-
The way of the world.
-
Seeking after the comforts.
-
The pleasure.
-
The popularity.
-
The stuff.
-
Of the world.
-
One path.
-
The path.
-
The path of Christ.
-
May seem hard.
-
Seems.
-
To be filled with troubles.
-
But it leads to the kingdom inheritance of ultimate joy.
-
And satisfaction.
-
And honor.
-
That God has promised.
-
The other path.
-
May seem easy.
-
And comfortable now.
-
But Jesus says.
-
It leads to everlasting sorrow.
-
And hunger.
-
And loss.
-
And so I want to just ask you.
-
End with this question.
-
Have you decided to follow Jesus?
-
If so.
-
Be encouraged.
-
However.
-
Life.
-
Is going.
-
It's going to get.
-
Much better.
-
When Jesus returns.
-
The great reversal is coming.
-
It's going to turn everything.
-
On its head.
-
Have you decided.
-
Not to follow Jesus?
-
Be forewarned.
-
You will lose.
-
All that you cherish.
-
And hold dear now.
-
And you will get.
-
What we all deserve.
-
From God.
-
For your sins.
-
The great reversal.
-
Is coming.
-
Let's pray.
-
Father in heaven.
-
We thank you for these words.
-
And we thank you that you.
-
Spoke them to stir our hearts.
-
And I pray that each one of our hearts.
-
Would be stirred.
-
That we would.
-
See that choice before us.
-
And that we would choose.
-
Faith in your son.
-
Whom you sent.
-
Because you love us.
-
And you long.
-
To be with us forever.
-
In your kingdom.
-
Fill our hearts with that vision.
-
We ask that you would cause.
-
The troubles in our life now.
-
That are maybe overwhelming us.
-
Or burdening in us.
-
To just fade out of sight.
-
And that we would see.
-
Your kingdom.
-
And all that is coming.
-
And all that is coming.
-
We thank you that you hold us.
-
We thank you that you have promised.
-
To carry us through.
-
From now till the end.
-
We commit ourselves to you.
-
In Jesus name.
-
Amen.