The Miracle of the Spirit: Perseverance in Suffering, Romans 5

um and as it's already been said

congratulations those showing up on the

holiest Sunday of the year time change

Sunday and uh I've I've wrestled with

like what to say not say I've gone with

not saying anything hoping that most of

you just have Smart devices that

automatically update and you don't even

realize till you get to church that

you're uh that you just lost an hour of

sleep um but I've I've also you know

teetered I I might have referenced in

the past just like little brief

reminders of like I don't know the

underground Church in

in in Nations where where Believers are

you know dying for their faith and we're

sitting here whining about maybe I'll

watch online because it's you know it's

an hour and

uh I'm not going to do that I'm not

going to guilt you and you guys are the

holy ones so those of you watching

online I'm guilting you I'm just kidding

the the reality is I'd probably be one

of those people um if uh if if this

wasn't my place where uh I'm supposed to

be so open the Romans 5 I feel the Lord

has something very special to impart to

us that has been building on the

previous weeks we're in the middle of

Lent how many of you grew up actually

leaning into lent in your church

traditions because I think a lot of I

don't know what you call evangelicals

anymore in America that is not that was

not a lot of our experiences I didn't

get any I are we just going to stare at

me today and do no interaction lent

anyone lent yay for Lent you were just

told to like fast things it was it was

herble Catholic thing yeah it's it's not

actually just a Catholic thing it's a a

Christian thing so Christians lean into

lent lent is a 40-day period of time

from Ash Wednesday that happened this

past Wednesday leading all the way to

Easter Sunday it is the it is the one of

the Hol if not the holiest time in the

Christian calendar where we not just

torment ourselves and say what am I

giving up for Lent so that we can sound

like we're um I don't know better than

we are l lent is a time where we

intentionally remove the things that are

distracting us from the presence of God

and intentionally put in the things in

our lives to fill us with his presence

and focus us on his voice if it comes

from any other place that's not lent uh

lent lent is something that is meant to

be a time where we're we're

reminded that he is drawing us deeper

and closer so I just want to ask you as

we've been going after the concept of

repentance in a fresh way the last

couple weeks i' I'd like you just to ask

the Lord not not like oh like what what

am I doing that I need to give up for

Lent you know I think I'm going to give

up bread and you're gluten-free don't do

that that's you've already done that um

don't you know don't give up exercise

you

know I I can tell some of you I just

need to spend some more time with the

Lord I I'm I'm not going to start

exercising again this month and next

month uh uh leaning the discomfort what

are what are some of the things that are

that are distracting you that would be a

little bit uncomfortable for you to lean

into if you don't know what it

is come to the worship night we'll pray

for you and I'll tell you what I'm just

kidding we we I I am I am serious though

I think that there's something

profoundly present about uh not just in

our community but our nation if we will

lean into the Lord we will offer him the

things that are taking control of our

life that are distracting our life he is

he is going to show us how to live a

life in abiding present filled awareness

that he's with us and for us today today

we're going to go after

um I think I have a LoveHate

relationship with the book of Romans

anyone like is that your favorite book

anybody's favorite book

Romans no

okay Romans is uh is it's the one of the

most theologically dense books in

Scripture

and yet it's written by Paul to a church

in Rome persecuted church and I feel

like Romans it just keeps punching you

and it's like layer after layer of

punches and and for me just to read a

paragraph I I feel like I am always not

teaching it um fully because you have to

understand every word has got about a

chapter that that connects back to to it

so I'm going to read it right now and

without you trying to figure it all out

and feeling all weighted down by the

theology I feel like no one is except me

which is fine I'm the only one stressed

out about the theology here and getting

it right you guys just rest and receive

okay close your eyes as I read the

scripture over you it's going to be good

for me and you Paul says this this is

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 verse

one this is the this is the transition

from the first four chapters to like the

next multiple chapters

therefore since we've been justified by

faith we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ through him we have

also obtained access by faith into his

grace in which we stand we rejoice in

the hope of the glory of God not only

that but we rejoice in our

sufferings knowing that suffering

produces

endurance endurance produces character

character produces hope and hope does

not put us to shame because God's love

has been poured out into our hearts

through through the Holy Spirit who's

been given to

us so what is he saying there the holy

spirit gives suffering

purpose it produces

endurance which gives us not just

endurance endurance gives you character

character gives you hope

how and this is what he says in verses 6

through 8 for while we were weak at the

right time Christ died for the ungodly

for one will scarcely die for a right

rightous person though perhaps for a

good person one would dare even to die

Paul's being a little bit like who would

you die for would you die for that

person would you die for that

person but God shows his love for us and

that while we were still Sinners meaning

while those who did not deserve to have

anyone di for them Christ died for us

the holy spirit gives suffering purpose

it produces

endurance character and hope how

through the cross the cross

produces something that you cannot get

any other way now for a moment I just

want us to to think through there are

people that are that know how to

persevere many of you have persevered in

life and and have just profound fruit

from that you can we can all think of

both secular people and Faith filled

people that are enduring people

I don't want this to become a moral

message where we're just learning how to

push through hard things in hope for the

best the Christian Gospel is not push

through hard things hope for the

best or maybe it'll be better for your

children or your children's

children the Christian

hope the Gospel of

Jesus suffering

ing it's

real and how you look at your

circumstances how you understand

suffering is the determinant factor of

you if you even understand your

faith what I want to do today I want us

to look at the miracle of the spirit of

God we often look at the Holy Spirit and

we think well look at the disciples all

the power that rolled through through

them and the Miracles they got to take

part of we believe in miracles we

believe in healing we believe in uh that

that we have the kind of relationship

with God that by the spirit that we we

first learn his voice through the

scriptures and then we can Proclaim his

voice in prayer that that transforms our

our time with the Lord our intimate time

it transforms our prayer for others

because we're not just praying our own

words we're inspired by the Holy Spirit

and the spirit moves he he indwells all

of us he also rests upon us for Ministry

but what we miss about what Paul is

saying here is that the miracle of

perseverance the miracle that changes

lives is that people that should give up

don't not just because they have some

difficulty in economics not just because

they have some difficulty with some food

issues the people that are having their

lives completely obliterated their hopes

obliterated their dreams obliterated

they have a hope in the midst of

suffering because this is not the end

because they live for a story bigger

than their own and because the spirit of

God changes

lives and he connects all of this to

everything Christ came to do and our

issue is that you and

I we

forget we forget the beauty of the

Gospel the miracle of the spirit is that

we have perseverance and suffering how

can you

endure in the worst

circumstances another question would be

what are the options the human spirit is

asking the question continually if

you're not aware that it's asking that

it will at some point in our

lives what is the solution for suffering

how do I make sense of the pain of the

world how do I make sense of the trials

of my own life how do I make sense of

the injustices that come my way how do I

make sense when the things that should

have worked out because I did all the

right things aren't working

out and here's what Paul's doing he's

just finished four chapters arguing that

our future inheritance will not be

realized through the law now the law is

is a lot of

things uh I I recently I've I've

referenced this this kind of upand

cominging young Theologian from from

Canada named Wes Huff who's been all

over the podcasting hemispheres um two

of you love him the rest of you never

heard of him and that's totally

fine he um he gave this illustration

that I thought was actually quite good

on a a very well-known podcast he goes

the law talking about the Old Testament

law is like a mirror it shows you how

dirty you

are well if that's what the law is it's

like a mirror it shows you how dirty you

are what what is the law not the LW is

not your solution to get

clean thousands of years of Jewish and

Christian history the issue with the law

is does the law make me

clean and what Jesus continually points

back to historically scripturally and

towards the future is that the law does

not make you clean the law reveals that

you are dirty and Jesus came to show you

how to be made clean forever

the human spirit is craving how to be

made clean how to have

worth um i' I've mentioned this little

little story before but um I got a

pelaton when I blew my knee out I no

longer ride it that was a season but I

needed to rehab it judge me as you want

I feel like a pelaton rider is great but

it's like a crossfitter it's like if you

do it you love it if you don't do it you

judge it that's fine so there's this

little slogan one of the cycling

instructors would say at the end of

every uh at the end of every session

she'd go you are worthy look at you are

ready they can knock you down but baby

they can never knock you

out go and have an awesome day

yeah I'll admit it I felt better after

saying that after my

workout but there is there is just

something about if you think about what

we're saying it's like like you are

worthy well I don't mean to get all like

Christian like how dare you say you're

worthy you're a sinner I don't mean that

I mean I do kind of

though we we here's the thing those of

us that have come out of religion and

we've we've seen and heard the people

going like you're just a sin just a sin

we go well no but

actually well are we talking

theologically we're talking about your

attitude my teenagers are mostly right

with the words that they say the problem

is their attitude and we discipline

attitudes before actions in our

household why because the attitude tells

you where the heart is and I'm forming

Hearts so maybe we need to correct the

the detail we're going um yeah you're

actually right we're

Sinners and we need to stop correcting

that that's not the gospel and it

actually it's not the gospel because the

heart of what was communicated missed

the entire higher heart of the Gospel

the words were actually

correct why the gospel says despite the

fact that you're broken and have no

standard to declare your

worth what what declares you're worthy

what is this cycling instructor what's

the standard that says you're worthy

her she told me from New York City in a

little like a little ding that I'm

worthy so I'm worthy that's subject

that's called subjective reality

hopefully that means a whole lot to me

the person doesn't know

me objectively that means nothing

literally nothing what we're looking for

in the problem of modern culture is that

we've blurred the lines between

subjective and and objective

reality we know that we have a desire

for worth it feels good for someone to

tell us we're worthy but if we really go

down to the Deep part of our souls the

question is am

I can I

be and that's the gospel the gospel

isn't you're a sinner the gospel is you

know that sense inside of you that you

just don't really feel

Worthy is there a god that has an answer

for that cry of your

heart so what Paul's saying here it's

like a mirror the law is a standard it's

an objective standard

standard there's an external reality

that tells you before you were even

born that when you discover your own

lack of ability to find worth and when

you go out into the world and try to

decipher whether you're worth

anything you will come back eventually

and you will crave something to tell you

your worth and you can find it in all

kinds of things you can find it in

amazing people that'll tell it to you

you can find find it in family you can

find it in career you can find it by

helping people all kinds of amazing good

things and the danger is when you do all

kinds of good things you are still

living a life that says I can do

something that will determine whether I

am worth

anything the good news is you can screw

it all

up and you can surrender and trust a

different story you can you can

surrender to an

objective God that has an objetive Ive

law that doesn't save you it shows

you cry of our heart what we're going to

go after today are three

things three ways the miracle of

perseverance or endurance changes

us the gospel is about changed lives I

think we often forget the whole I said

this last week or the week before when

someone says people never change that's

like a swear word to me now

when you hear that you should go

uh people never CH

H the whole reason why we are on this

planet is to show how transformation and

change works and it cannot be

done it cannot be

done by living a good life by doing the

right things by picking the right career

by helping an old lady across the street

by serving in kids ministry though you

should it will help a little bit if you

do that

our mindset and perspective is

constantly pulled away from the reality

that

nothing nothing can separate us from the

love of God because nothing you have

done has qualified you for his

love I want to qualify for his love

because then I have something to throw

in his face when things don't work out

the way I want them to work out

it is painful it's just as painful to

face your circumstances your trials and

your testing as it is to face the fact

that all the good you've done weighs up

to Jack

all but it's also the most freeing thing

in the world because you're not enslaved

to your

performance and when you establish a

people that aren't enslaved to their

performance the real Cry of the heart

starts coming out the real Cry of the

human Spirit starts to connect with

something that it can tell you that

you're actually that worth is actually

possible to the most broken miserable

what this is where when you see

someone whether it's a movie or a film

or you see someone on the streets it's

ministering to the most broken hurting

most difficult to love type of human

beings or let's just say if that's hard

for you just like you know a wounded

kitten personally I have no compassion

for wounded kittens but I feel like some

of you might and you seen someone kind

of nurse them back to health we had a um

housemate once that would just had like

a passion her passion was nursing

wounded forgotten kittens back to health

I didn't understand it but I it is it is

the act of something that's not worth

love I can already tell this is not

going to go

anywhere you know it's legal to just

forget about that kitten give it there

they're going to put it down too many of

them Society has said they are not as

valuable as human beings in Los Angeles

we don't culturally there's a debate

about that like who's on a high who

who's worth more human beings or animals

like I I think if Los Angeles voted it's

a tossup I don't maybe not you in the

room and I can tell some of you I've

said something about cats you're never

coming back or listening to me ever

again I did pick the Sunday that my wife

wasn't right here staring me

down there's a dynamic come back I need

to we all need to come back I need to

come back to the

point there there's just a reality of

the worth of human life and the worth of

even animal life and when you see

someone that's taking something

vulnerable out of their way that's

sacrificial time energy you know taking

someone in in through to whether it's a

pet an animal a plant a Child Nursing

them

back the time and energy it takes we see

that and we go there's something so

profound that hits me in my core when I

see someone that that sees a broken

vessel and says I'm going to take the

time and energy and love this thing back

to a different transformed existence

right that leads us to the gospel that

isn't the gospel the reason why that

isn't the gospel is because that can be

done

by beautiful loving hard work and the

gospel

cannot did I tell you what the three

things were three things the miracle I

one hour one hour of sleep and I can't

think straight the M we're going to

focus on three things so that we can I

canot so so that I can go on some rabbit

Trails but take you back to something

that hopefully makes sense out of this

passage three ways the miracle of

endurance changes changes every single

one of us in suffering first we're going

to talk about our

mindset the mindset of endurance

secondly we're going to talk about the

real issue that's underlying all of it

and third the work of the spirit all

right the mindset of endurance at

the at the bottom line mindset we're all

asking this

question what's our response to

difficulty we typically don't respond

well when life is hard there's several

ways that we respond that I would

summarize big buckets one is when when

hard things happen we look at it like I

don't deserve this that's Pride we look

at it as it's not fair that's comparison

or we look at it there's something wrong

with me that's shame so we look at it

through Pride the lens of Pride we look

at it through comparison or we look at

it through shame we think if we do the

right things the right things will

happen to us or it should be that

way that's what we want to happen the

secular life is when life is Def

difficult you're doing something wrong

the problem with that is that that's a

worldview that cannot handle

difficulty one of the most

common common lives in society of the

the lack of existence of God is that if

God really existed why would he allow

this atrocity to happen this suffering

this genocide this whatever this war and

we need to get really comfortable with

just simply saying I don't

know but just because I don't know I

don't get to say

that that means that God doesn't have a

reason

and I have to

say that it doesn't

mean and it can't

mean that it's because of a lack of

Love The Gospel says that whatever the

reason is which I don't know and don't

need to tell you because I'm not God I

do know that the reason cannot be

because of the lack of his

love the reason being is because he gave

the ultimate sacrificial love through

his son

dying that's why when anyone comes and

says oh this silly stupid idea that

somebody died for all humanity and that

that means something to for everybody to

have some sort of eternal life and

forgiveness of sin or whatever else you

have to Circle back to how is the human

being

wired I don't want to just be told I'm

loved I want to be shown I'm

loved if there's a God how could he

possibly show you that he loves

you I need someone to walk with me as we

talk about Community we don't we don't

need to just talk about it we just don't

it doesn't do any good to intellectually

do it I have to experience it I have to

know it I have to sit with it

what suffering does is it tests you so

suffering is a test all suffering is a

test it proves what's been developed in

you or it develops what is lacking in

you suffering either proves what is in

you or it develops what's

lacking therefore suffering is

opportunity suffering isn't the

end baby they can knock you down but

they can never knock you out well except

that you can be knocked

out do we think about the phrases we

just say to make us feel better about

our

days except what except when they can

knock

you I could be killed on the way to the

cycling

class am I supposed to just say well

baby they can knock you

down no we all know that like that feels

good if I'm trying to just get motivated

to look at like a bunch of excel spread

sheets for the next 8

hours and I just don't want to be

knocked down by a bad

mindset those of you that I mean I have

to look at spreadsheets too I'm not

knocking people that look at

spreadsheets I'm actually very thankful

for all of you that was not a knock that

was just like I'm also terrible at

spreadsheets but the the the reality is

is that this is not about spreadsheets

this is about the the Frailty and

fragility of life is actually quite dark

if you have no hope for being part of a

story that's bigger than this so the

point is you cannot predict how

suffering will come at you but you can

endure scripture then gives us point

after point after point after point

after verse after example after life

Moses he's cast out raised up in the

palace cast out he's attempted to be

killed he comes back he sets the people

free through all the plagues and all the

the resistance all the testing 40 years

in the

wilderness he leads a million people to

freedom and he doesn't get to see the

promised

land why it's not about him it's not his

story he's part of the

story it's not the end he's part of

something

bigger

Jonah got himself in some trouble had a

word from the Lord went the opposite

direction the opposite opposite

direction

he has to endure some

difficulty and then he accomplishes the

opposite of what he set out to

do meaning his usefulness his ability to

contribute to freeing a nation and

giving them a award that they would turn

and repent towards had nothing to do

with him and God is basically saying you

can literally be going in the opposite

direction and I will pick you up pull

you up and make sure that you are going

to not Miss what I want you to do

because I love these people it was also

not about Jonah Jonah hated the people

he was called

to it's not about you

Jonah but I will use you and I will show

you what I'm like God is always

answering the question what he's

like underneath that is the exposure of

what people are like people are

flawed people wrestle with their worth

and their actions never achieve their

worth

something else has to achieve your worth

otherwise you've got to live a life that

has to perform in other to get it in

order to get

it so Jonah didn't do it Moses didn't do

it job the ultimate suffering agent of

God he goes out he's doing all the right

things and the accusation is well he

can't take suffering he can't take

testing and God doesn't initiate the

suffering he allows it and at the end of

the day you have a man who could not

rely on even a single

friend they all want curse God and die

and the beauty of job is that he doesn't

understand he has no idea why God would

do this he knows that it's not

fair he can look at comparison he can

look at shame and he can look at pride

and he's got a justifiable response for

every single

one and the whole point of job is that

he relied on God to see him through when

he only had God to rely on meaning he

wasn't alone job wasn't

alone God was with him what did Moses

what did Moses say when he had his

encounter with God and His commissioning

to go set the people

free God you have to go with me I can't

do this alone

and God says I will go with

you time and time again you have to cry

the heart going afraid of being alone

afraid of being lonely afraid of being

lost and God are you there are you with

me will you walk with me and Jesus's

invitation from the very

beginning follow me I'll never leave you

or forsake you here's here's the thing

we have to

get the story of scripture is always

time and again that God's not going to

leave you he's with you yeah it will

feel like he's not with you what are you

going to be like what will it reveal of

your soul When Everything feels like

he's not there and no one else

is the next example I'm not sure this is

a good idea or not go ahead and put up

the slide with my poster and uh stuff

from the Liverpool Football Club I'm

sorry in

advance okay I've done this before I

will do it again but um where we're in

Los Angeles I'm not going to actually

talk anything about sports okay so you

don't don't freak out of me um that

poster We just cleaned out my parents

garage after the fires they were

fortunate enough not to lose their home

but because of the smoke damage like

everything in the garage was having to

be cleaned and um you ever have that

moment where you find like an old box

and you're like oh there's some gold in

here so my boys actually found this box

with the old poster that I got from uh

like the only soccer store in town when

I was like 8 years old and I I got that

poster it had no players on it the rest

of my room was like filled with Michael

Jordan and all the the the idols of the

day that one just caught my attention

because it just had a

Crest and it

said You'll Never Walk Alone and that

phrase just gripped

me and it was like a spiritual act and I

mean it's it's ridiculous because it's

just as subjective in uh as as a pelan

class but it hits the same core issue we

don't want to be alone that's a picture

of what the crowds look like before

every game match if you will sorry for

those I've been corrected by Brits so

many times when I say a

game get over it we're in

America so the uh the song they sing

this is the song they

sing It's called

You'll Never Walk

Alone when you walk through a storm hold

your head up high and don't be afraid of

the dark at the end of the storm there's

a golden sky in the sweet silver song of

a lark walk on through the wind walk on

through the rain for your dreams be

tossed and blown guys this is what

60,000 men mostly

sing on Sunday mornings or Sunday

afternoons to their team we sing these

stupid chants in the US they sing a him

basically walk on walk on with hope in

your heart and You'll Never Walk Alone

You'll Never Walk Alone walk on walk on

with hope in your heart and You'll Never

Walk

Alone

now again it's silliness and it's

ridiculous but

why why is this probably the most one of

the most followed international sports

clubs on Earth why do they pack out

100,000 person stadiums when they go to

preseason matches in Australia or the

Far East or wherever else they go

because it means something more to

people because something at the end of

the day this club in this forgotten city

of Liverpool England that to this day

they still i' I've said this before I've

been invited to church like three

different times since moving to Pasadena

and it was all three times were to go to

Lucky Baldwin's Pub in Oldtown Pasadena

to to watch a Liverpool match when

someone saw a little decal of Liverpool

on my

car that's their

church that I've been invited several

times no one has ever invited me to a

Sunday morning church service in

Pasadena but I've been invited because

someone saw that now I've got all kinds

of other stickers about Jesus and stuff

on my car no one's invied me to church

because they saw

that but the point is is that for them

and the owners of this I asked them once

the owners of this Pub uh because

they're from Liverpool and they they

show all the matches and they don't

actually support their national team the

English national team most people from

Liverpool because historically they feel

like they've been forgotten and the laws

have gone against them and to what

measure that that I'm not smart enough

to know whether what to degree all of

that what reality that's currently in

but I do know that there's something

bigger that this represents it

represents a desire that we've been

forgotten but this little Club reminds

me once a week when we get together that

I'm not alone

the core of the human heart doesn't want

to be

alone they want someone to walk with

them what is our message to the world

our message to the world the message of

God to every person of scripture that

he's given a mission to the Cry of the

human heart is but God will you go with

me and he says yes I will I'll go with

you You'll Never Walk Alone that's why

it means something there and you can

forget about it forever it just reminds

me every every single time why there are

grown men not going to church all over

the Earth and crying for this club it's

because they're trying they're trying to

find the gospel in other means and we

need to meet them where they're at and

point them in the right direction and

this is why I can justify all of my

irregularities what I do to watch this

club but the point is

this Cry of your heart to not walk

alone where is God where are you God in

my suffering and can I trust you that's

the real issue so point two what's the

real issue God can I actually trust you

in my suffering are you really with me

in my suffering suffering is guaranteed

it will form you it reveals you it will

form your view of God and it reveals

your view of

God just like a cup of English tea you

put that tea bag in it reveals how

strong the tea is going to be when it

hits the hot

water the point is

this Jesus even gives us entire Parable

the parable of the

swer on the four kinds of people who put

their trust in him and he says one one

of the people are those who eagerly

spring up in Joy but testing comes and

he says but they shrivel

away Jesus goes when the testing comes

they shrivel

away when hard things come and it's met

with doubt the result is

bitterness or

Darkness here's the invitation of this

passage what Paul is saying is when

hardship is

met with the

seeds of the spirit and the kind of

rejoicing and joy that only the spirit

can bring something will grow your

character resilience will be

developed and you will know that he's

with you and that you're not

alone we have to learn the spirit's

power we have to know that he's with us

you cannot have the miracle of

perseverance without the miracle of the

spirit of

God and that's the final point the work

of the spirit is the special

power we're not we're not just better

people that have just

learned to morally just be

resilient it's

that in the

act of the

cross the barrier between humankind and

God has been

completely severed and reestablished and

the spirit of God the same spirit that

raised Jesus from the dead has been

given to every single one of us we

forget because our mindset

forgets we have

access to the very tangible presence of

God but what happens in the midst of

suffering

something is

revealed the spirit presses

in and it's kind of like when we turn

the AC on when it gets God awful hot for

seven and a half months a year here we

turn that AC

on the air conditioner is activated the

heat doesn't actually go away the cool

air makes enduring the heat manageable

what we're

doing as Christians is not getting rid

of suffering we're enduring despite the

suffering and in the midst of that it

says in the suffering is where he's

bringing the joy it's not because we're

rejoicing for the suffering and many

people have gotten that real confused

throughout church history and so like

we're supposed to just get all excited

and that this suffering is awesome and

Paul's not saying anything about that

Paul doesn't think suffering is awesome

Paul doesn't think being in prison's

awesome Paul doesn't like prison food he

doesn't like the chains he doesn't like

any of it he hates it he's saying that

in the suffering you still have the

spirit and the spirit is the promise the

promise to help you endure and the

promise that will develop your character

and the promise that imparts something

that no other mode of dealing with

suffering can so you can ask the

questions God where are

you but the ultimate question is God

show

me and some of us are still dealing and

reeling with things in life where yeah

we can read it we can have all this

scriptures we can have this and that but

ultimately you need God to show

you one of the best examples I've I've

uh I've heard my friend Mike Murray who

helps me with a lot of my Bible

backgrounds he just shared the story

with me this week uh a friend of his in

grad school suddenly and tragically lost

his wife you know young age

gone I I just um I had someone for the

service is is going to a to a memorial

today 36y old

gone life is

fragile every single one of us have lost

people we love and if we're real with

our emotions it'd be it's ridiculous

that we can have joy on any day when any

moment the things you value most can be

gone so this guy his wife's tragically

gone in a moment and of course his grief

is

immense and Mike said that he wrestled

he he just went he went dark didn't hear

from him for

months separating him from friend you

know he separated himself from

friendships and those close with him and

then after months of no contact

whatsoever he reached out and wanted to

meet up and he said this friend's

demeanor had completely

changed and I told him I was so glad to

see him and he it was so good to see him

happy and healthy but he goes what has

changed CU here's the thing about the

changed life in the Christian Life we're

changed the moment we realize and and we

meet Jesus for the first time but we

forget how many times we change in the

walk with Jesus because as you walk with

him as you follow him he continually

changes you and refines you and shows

you other ways of dealing with the pain

and suffering of the world if you're not

continually being changed you have

hardened your heart and you have think

you've either thought you've arrived or

you are you subtly or intentionally

cutting yourself off from the thing that

you desire most which is that you would

continually be transformed

by by the renewing Act of encountering

Jesus in your pain by seeing him and

what he did for you in his moment of

suffering this friend had completely

changed his entire demeanor his

countenance is not the same man who

still had just lost his spouse out of

nowhere a few months

before Mike goes I'll never forget what

he said I found out that Jes Jesus is

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real this is a Seminary

Student it's more like this I finally

found

out that he is who he says he was that

he did what he said he

did that the words on the pages of this

thing that I cried over are

real that Jesus's sufferings are real he

said they were for her and and for me

even

now I needed him to show me he was

real because what I was going through

was more difficult than I could

handle and he

did I know now that he's real because

when I needed him to be and to show me

he

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did I can give you that story

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they can hit all the right cords and

then there's still some of you that are

like I've gone through the most

difficult thing imaginable and I still

don't feel like God's shown

me and I just want to say to you that I

can't tell you I can't show you and I

can't pretend my

life gives you anything all I can tell

you is that there

are thousands upon millions of followers

of Jesus throughout

history that have allowed Jesus to show

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them it starts with receiving the

testimony of Jesus the question is this

is really

true but the only way it becomes real is

that in the midst of your grief in the

midst of your questions in the midst of

your suffering do you go to him and let

him show you what he's already done will

you go to him and let him show you

the sufferings of

Christ are so that he can meet you in

whatever you're going through and say

You'll Never Walk

Alone not a nicity not a not a before a

workout or a football match before the

most tender vulnerable moments of your

life when you've got nothing left and

pushing through won't work Jesus is

there to show you You'll Never Walk

Alone

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and every single one of us needs needs

to meet with that reality regularly so

we can face the darkness of this world

with a hope that endures that connects

us to a bigger

story would you stand with me and let me

pray for you

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going invite the team to be here up here

you can play for a little bit guys we we

are going to invite you just to stay and

linger go get tacos and hang out as long

as you want but I do want to just keep

this space just a holy place for people

to linger as long as they need with the

Lord to ask their hearts a fresh

question so that they can ask God maybe

a question they've been putting off

maybe one that they've been wrestling

with for decades or maybe one that they

don't even realize that they need to ask

God where are you in my

suffering what mindset of my life is

holding me

back in a holy spirit if you're real

show me your

power and show me the cross of Jesus I

believe

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that the way of Jesus is the

only way that humans can step in to the

question of pain and suffering and have

a faith that

endures and I

admit my faith still needs me to be

transformed into this in everg grading

measure my achievements won't do it my

performance won't do it no matter how

many good acts I do as a pastor as a

father as a husband won't do it I

surrender to you and trust this story

aresh today I invite we invite every

single one of you that just needs to

come to the Lord

say if you don't believe we're glad

you're here just invite you to say a

simple prayer God I I don't know if I

can believe

this some of you may even call

yourselves followers of Jesus and if

you're real honest you're having trouble

believing this he just wants to meet you

in your pain and he wants to show

you for that sometimes to happen in a

moment takes

many moments of going to him with your

grief and with your

pain we thank you for your patience and

your

kindness in the midst of that release

the seeds of joy that only

come because we do not have a solution

for the world's

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suffering we have an enduring faith of

joy

character and

hope Because of You Lord

Jesus come and be Jesus come and

be what only you can be today

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