But Even if He Doesn't with Pastor Tony Albano

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

I'm one of our pastors here on staff.

If you're new here, man, I really am stoked.

I say that like every time, I think every time I get announcements or whatever, but I really am stoked.

Like it is a big deal for people to show up, and we've seen so many new people come through our doors.

We've seen hundreds of people give their life to Christ every single weekend.

There's really not been a service where someone has not raised a hand to put their faith in Jesus.

We are in a radical movement right now.

Something is going on, and it's an amazing thing to be part of.

I'm excited that you're here and be part of it today with us.

I hope today that um you would leave encouraged, that you would leave with hope.

I know what it's like to get outside of these doors, to get outside of a group of people who are all sharing the same values, or at least wrestling with some of our values, and all looking towards the hope of Jesus.

Outside of these walls, it's real problems, real chaos, people struggling, people who don't have the hope of Jesus.

And today I hope God's word would open up something in us that we've been either wrestling with or he would show us his truth in a way that we can really grab hold and put some handles on it as we go off to Monday, Tuesday and reel with life's real problems.

So before I get going, would you guys pray with me?

Father, I'm just uh thankful to be here today.

I'm thankful for everyone here, Lord, and I pray that you would speak to us.

Holy Spirit, speak to us.

Holy Spirit, minister to some of our souls here today, Lord.

I'm a help us to um see your truth.

Help us to see your son in all of it.

Help us to get outside of circumstances that we see right here, Lord, and help us to see the perspective that you want us to see in this world.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

A little over um six months ago, some of you guys who've been hanging out for a little, you may know this if you've talked to me personally or heard me teach before.

Um, six months ago, I got a call from my dad that um my grandfather had flatlined a couple times, and you know, they brought him back.

And I my son was six months at the time, and I was like, dude, I can't have my son grow up and never meet my grandfather.

My grandfather had a huge imprint on my life.

He literally helped my parents raise me practically.

Uh, he taught me everything he knew about construction and all the things that I ventured out to do as a young kid.

And um I could not imagine not having a picture of my grandfather and my son.

So we jumped on the plane the very next day and we began to pray because things did not look good.

Things looked like they were gonna go pretty south, pretty quickly.

And you know, I've seen God answer prayers, I've seen God heal people, I've seen God change me and stories of how you guys are being changed.

Just a couple months ago, I went to a hospital visit, and there was a man named Matthew, I think his last name is Sanchez, and his parents just came a couple weeks ago and let me know.

They were like, hey, after you prayed with him, the Holy Spirit healed him.

Like there was some stuff going on in him, there was some pain, and after I prayed with him and left, he was healed.

That's insane.

We serve a God who does the miraculous, who heals people, who restores people.

It's very evident some of us, we have those stories, some of us have crazy stories of God showing up in miraculous ways.

Just a couple years ago, Tori and I, uh, when we were at our old church in South Florida, our senior pastor during COVID, him and his whole entire family had went like they got COVID bad, like bad.

Uh he's not that old, he's probably about 50, 55 years old, but it was early on, and um, there was not a lot of answers, not a lot of medication or what to do with patients as they went into the hospital.

And this dude was on a ventilator, he was on the last like edge of his life, it looked like, and we were praying, all of us praying.

So many people gathering around other church leaders, and we saw God heal him.

Miraculous.

Cool to be a part of, cool to share the stories of what God has done and I've witnessed, and so many people you share alongside this where you've witnessed God do big things, but even small things.

Some of us know what it looks like to actually finally forgive someone.

Like some of y'all know the weight that we carry around.

We're like, God, can you just help me understand it from their point of view?

Help me understand it, or God, just help me just push this to the side where I can actually find forgiveness, where I can find freedom in it.

And I've experienced that.

I've forgiven people that I never thought I would actually forgive.

God's given me more empathy.

I've prayed for empathy for so long, and it's mostly my wife Tori, honestly.

Uh, I'm still working on it with other people.

I'm really trying to do my best, but those are things that I'm praying for.

You guys have your own things that you're praying for, and you're asking God to intercede in your life.

We all know what it feels like to pray for things, to want things to happen.

And it's great when we hear these stories about how God shows up, and it's very evident.

It's very evident if you would just take some time and read the scripture.

Because there's a pattern.

We see it look like a circumstance where you know the worst was gonna happen, maybe someone was going to lose their life, or there was no possible way that they would be able to continue the journey they were on, where you know, God promised that he would have these chosen people, these Israelites.

Some of y'all know that story, some of y'all know that that's part of our Old Testament scriptures, where there was challenges over and over and over again.

And where it seemed impossible, where it seemed like the story was gonna end, where it seemed like there was no way for this nation to continue, God showed up in miraculous ways.

Some examples are Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham and Sarah, they were old when God told them that you will have a son, and this son will be the start of your lineage, of this family going on to bless the rest of the world.

Imagine trying to believe that at 90 years old, that you were gonna have a child, and a miraculous thing happens.

Sarah has a child at the age of 90.

Imagine being the Israelites.

Backs up against the Red Sea, and you see your enemies are coming down to you to destroy you, to kill your children, to kill all of your family.

And Moses leading his people, they step across across dry ground as the Red Sea pushed apart.

And as the last person in the Israelite family steps across the riverbank, the waters rush back in, and all of the Egyptians drown.

Their enemies were defeated that day.

We see David, a young shepherd boy, defeat the tall, mighty warrior Goliath with a stone.

This Goliath was trashing them for 40 days.

And we see in a moment God demonstrate his power and his protection over his people.

Or maybe you've heard the story or you haven't about Joshua, who it looks like they're about to take the city of Jericho.

There might not be a way, they have no plan, and God gives them this crazy plan: walk around the city walls for seven days.

And on the seventh day, seventh day the walls fall down, and they take the city, a strong city.

They overtook it by the grace of God.

And then one of my favorites, this is a story about King Nebuchadnezzar.

We're gonna call him Nezi because I don't like saying Nebuchadnezzar a thousand times.

But when King Nazi wanted God's people to know that he was in charge, that he was the reigning king, what happened was King Nese went in and he actually took over Israel.

He uh, the Babylonians was his kingdom, and they overtook the people.

He set them out into Exodus, and he actually took their strongest warriors, their wisest men, and some of those people were Daniel, Radshach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And what happened was they were put in positions of power by God's grace.

And King Nezi says, Hey, I'm gonna build this 90-foot statue out of gold.

And whenever the instruments play, whenever the flutes play, or whatever it was instruments that they're using back in the day, whenever you hear this sound, all people in the kingdom are to bow down and worship.

And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not do that.

They're unwavering.

They know the God they serve, they know how powerful He is, they know how He works things for good.

And King Nezi hears about it from some other people.

And he's infuriated.

He's upset.

He decreed that anyone who did not actually bow down to this statue and worship, that they would be thrown into a fiery furnace.

And we pick up the story in Daniel 3, verse 20, it says, Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the blazing furnace.

Daniel 3:20

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego securely tied, fell into the roaring flames.

But suddenly Nezi jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors, Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?

Yes, your majesty, we certainly did, they replied.

And look, Nezi shouted, I see four men, unbound, walking around the fire, unharmed, and the fourth looks like a god.

Then Nezi came as close as he could to the doors of the flaming furnace.

Right before this, it says that he was enraged, and he got the furnace seven times hotter than what it was.

He was so infuriated.

The soldiers that actually threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fire, that as they got so close just to push them in, they actually lit on fire and died.

And so, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the servants of the Most High, come out, he says.

Come here.

And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

It's a lot of times I'm saying Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They stepped out of the fire.

And then his high officers, his officials, his governors, and advisors, they crowded around these men, and they saw that the fire had not touched them.

Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched.

They didn't even smell smoke.

A lot of people believe that that fourth person in the fire was Jesus.

See, it wasn't until they reached the end of their own story where they realized there's no perceivable way that this can actually change.

The man who's in power over the nation, over the kingdom, how in the world would we get out this?

How in the world are we gonna survive this?

It wasn't until they were thrown into the flames that Jesus showed up in a miraculous way and saved them.

And I can go on and on about stories in scripture where we read about our God who stepped up and stepped out and actually provided a way or healed someone or protected someone.

Our God is a healer, He's a provider, He's a rescuer.

And there's this pattern over and over.

Trouble happens, people pray, God shows up.

Trouble comes, people pray, miracles happen.

In just like two weeks, I'm going to South Florida again, and we're gonna be celebrating Sonny's first birthday with my 93-year-old grandfather.

Like it's an amazing thing that God heals, yeah.

God heals, and Sonny gets to celebrate his birthday with him.

It's a cool thing to be part of, a cool thing to see and feel the peace of God in certain situations and realize that sometimes, like, when I don't see it, I don't understand why this is happening.

But I know that God is good.

I feel peace about it.

Maybe you've felt that kind of peace before.

And then the last couple months, I've been uh studying the book of Acts with our Hilotus launch team.

I got a great group of people going out with me, about 60 individuals and their families.

We're gonna go launch in the 4-H building.

We're gonna be continuing to do, we're gonna actually do whatever it takes to bring people to Jesus, and we're modeling that out, we're showing that out, and I thought it'd be a great idea for us to go through the book of Acts and to study the early church, to see what it was like and to take it really slow.

Like, y'all, we're reading a chapter a week, it's a slow process.

We're talking about, we're jumping on calls and we're seeing where is God leading you?

What is he saying to you?

What do you think it feels like to be these people?

And when I read the book of Acts, honestly, it's the same pattern.

God's moving, something big happens, it looks like there's no perceivable way out of it, and God shows up.

Sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in big ways.

You know, in uh Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit descends on 3,000 individuals, and this is the start of the early church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They were hiding up in the upper room because Jesus had died and they don't know what's gonna happen.

He tells them to wait for this advocate, wait for the Holy Spirit to come.

And Peter preaches this message, and 3,000 people are saved and baptized, and the church is growing.

And then in chapter 3, Peter raises up a crippled man in front of the temple gates.

In the name of Jesus, Jesus is gone at this point, and in the name of Jesus, people are still healed, people are still raising from the dead, they're doing miraculous, wonderful deeds that they did when they were with Jesus.

And then four, chapter four, the defile the disciples, they defy the courts.

Like people are upset this is going on.

That's why they killed Jesus, and they thought this movement was going to end, but really it actually is pushing it forward.

The church is growing.

What actually was about a hundred followers at the time of Jesus has now grown to the thousands, and it's upsetting people.

And we see in chapter five is what happens to the church leaders, they get arrested.

Chapter five, verse 17.

Then the high priest rose up.

He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

They were angry when Jesus was proclaiming, when Jesus was teaching, when he was giving them new ways, when he was enlightening people onto what the scriptures actually meant, and he was fulfilling scriptures, they were jealous.

They weren't necessarily bad people, they've given their life to God.

They know the scriptures better than you and I could ever.

They can read them back and forwards.

They memorized it, they memorized everything.

They weren't necessarily bad people, but when Jesus came on, they had some really hard trouble with understanding that things were changing, or maybe they viewed God in the wrong way and they're angry, and this movement is growing.

And we see in Acts verse 5 that these people who raised up, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were full of jealousy.

In verse 18, so they arrested the apostles and they put them in public jail.

But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said, Go and stand in the temple and tell the people all about this, his life, all about this life, all about Jesus, who he is.

Continue to preach.

God shows up and frees them.

He opens the doors and tells them to continue doing what I've called you to do.

And hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and they began to teach.

Same pattern.

It seemed like it was over.

They're imprisoned.

The apostles, how are they going to continue spreading the good news?

How's the church going to grow under persecution?

Same pattern.

God steps in where it seems like there was no presumable way for something else to happen, nothing positive could come out of it, and God shows up.

And then in Acts 6 and 7, we're introduced to a man by the name of Stephen.

And Stephen is described as someone who is full of grace and is empowered by the Holy Spirit, man of God, strong leader.

And Stephen was raised up to be a leader in the early church so that the apostles, the people who were with Jesus, could actually focus on teaching and praying.

So he was given not a lesser role, but he was given a role where he was actually helping and serving the church.

And he goes out and he's still proclaiming the name of Jesus.

People are being saved, he's performing miraculous signs and wonders.

Amazing things are happening.

Eventually, those people who were angry, they catch on, and now they're angry with Stephen because he's doing the very thing that he's they're arresting people for.

And what happens is they formulate a lie.

They say that this dude, Stephen, he's blaspheming God.

He's trashing God, he's lying about it.

And it infuriates people.

And they drag him in front of the jury, in front of the courts, in front of these people who can make decisions.

And Stephen goes on to cook.

I'm telling you, he's preaching a message right here that would be in the heavenly heaven's hall of fame.

Like he is cooking.

And this guy, it's it's clear.

He's empowered by the Holy Spirit.

It's very clear because he's not batting down, he's showing what it looks like when you and I are living a life empowered.

We don't bunker down.

No, we step in in adversity.

We step in when the church is being persecuted.

And he preaches this message and it's infuriating them.

It's the same message that the prophets came to teach.

It's the same message that Jesus came to teach.

That one who is greater was coming.

And when Jesus preached it, it was one who was greater than was coming, it was him.

It was him.

He was talking about himself.

They killed the prophets.

Or they didn't listen to them.

They thought they were crazy.

They killed Jesus.

And in verse 51, chapter 7, this is how he starts off.

Like things could go pretty solid, pretty wrong.

You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised hearts and ears.

He's firing shots.

Like this is shots back in the day.

And he said, You're always resisting the Holy Spirit.

Y'all who think you know God, y'all think you actually are leading the church, you're resisting the Holy Spirit.

And as your ancestors did, you do also.

Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?

They even killed those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, which is the one we know as Jesus, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.

So just like those people, that's exactly who you are.

And just because I'm proclaiming the name of Jesus, you're persecuting me too.

And I'm sure the early church is praying, the church leaders are praying that hey, Peter, he's in front of these people who can do something, who can persecute him.

Let God step in and free him.

And you and I reading this, we know the pattern.

Trials come, people pray, God shows up.

Troubles come, God shows up in big ways.

They've seen it.

The early church, they know it.

I'm sure they're a little bit scared, but they know who God is.

They know that he's a protector, they know that he's a healer, they know he's a restorer, they've seen the work of Jesus, they've seen the apostles walking out the faith of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And then verse 54.

When they heard these things, they were enraged.

They gnashed their teeth at him.

They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And while they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And Stephen knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

And after saying this, he fell asleep.

He died.

Some of y'all know those are words at the end of his life that picture our Savior Jesus on the cross.

Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they have done.

They don't see it.

They don't see what's happening in front of them.

When I first read that, honestly, that upsets me.

That upsets me.

A man empowered by the Holy Spirit.

A man doing the work of God.

Just raised up as a leader.

And in the blink of an eye, he's gone.

God, where are you?

This is Stephen.

This is your boy.

He's proclaiming your name.

The early church, up until this point, God has continued to show his power.

He's continued to free his people.

What's with the pattern?

Why is Stephen?

What did he do?

We all know this feeling.

If you're honest, you know this feeling.

Something's happening in your life, and you're praying for God to show up, and He feels silent.

Maybe you're sick.

God, take this from me.

Maybe it's a spouse, cancer, whatever that looks like, and you've been praying, family been praying, you've had your church community lay hands over them and be in constant prayer and fasting, and it feels like God is silent.

Maybe you're working a job right now and you've been putting in hours, and they're telling you, hey, if you keep doing what you're doing, you're gonna get promoted.

You're gonna get that job, you're gonna get that raise.

Just keep doing.

And you're continuing to push on, continuing to push on, but it seems like nothing is working.

Maybe your spouse just walked out on you and you're praying to God to restore your marriage, and she's already with someone else.

She's already moved on, and you're here like, God, what in the world did I do?

What happened?

Where are you in this season?

And if you're honest, you're angry.

If you're honest, you feel like God is pretty disconnected with what's going on in your life right now.

And some of the stories that you and I read in Scripture, where God shows up, where he does miraculous things that you and I couldn't even understand, it's hard to find hope and faith in that.

It's hard to believe that God is still doing the same things that he was doing.

So how do we do with that?

How do we deal with that?

What do we do in these moments?

What do we do if God doesn't show up?

What do we do if God doesn't show up?

What do we do if you never get healed?

The thorn in the flesh never goes away.

The want, the need, like you want to suppress so bad for whatever addiction it has.

What if God never takes it?

A girah, a God who we've seen patterns of him showing up after prayer, after prayer, and showing up in miraculous ways.

Why is that not happening in my life?

What if he doesn't show up?

How do we deal with that?

You know, there's actually a book in the Bible, the book of Hebrews, and uh the writer of this book is talking to the persecuted church.

They're talking to a church that is under persecution, who's under like not safe situation.

People are dying for this faith.

And chapter 11 in verse Hebrews is uh like the Hall of Fame.

You read about all the heroes, some of the ones I talked about in these stories, like Abraham.

You hear about all these saints who've gone before us, who by faith overcame.

And in just like the story of Stephen that you and I read, there's actually a turning point in Hebrews 11.

It's verse 35.

It says, But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free.

They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.

Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips.

Others were chained in prisons, some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, others were killed with the sword.

The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered around in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

You see, some of these great heroes of our faith, some of these people who went on before us, who did not waver, who knew who God was, regardless of their circumstances, and they to the point went to death or were ostracized.

You see, their eyes were not on the earth here, but they was on something greater, on something bigger.

A lot of them didn't have their prayers answered.

Such strong people of faith that you and I are called to look at, to encourage us, and realize that following Jesus, following God, doesn't always mean you're gonna live an easy life, a happy life.

Not that your father doesn't want that for you, because he's a good God who gives great gifts and he wants to give you these things.

But just because you follow him, doesn't mean it's gonna be easy.

Doesn't mean you're always gonna get healed.

But we have every reason to believe because of those who've gone before us, because of those who've died for the faith, because of those who lived out miraculous lives full of faith that our God is a healer, our God is a restorer, our God can do it, and he will do it.

What happens if God doesn't show up?

All of them die, but their eyes on something bigger, a hope for the future.

So what am I saying?

What am I actually saying, Tony?

I'm saying all these people live bold lives of faith.

They understood that life here on earth was not what you and I look forward to.

Our circumstances around us are not actually what shapes our belief or our faith in God.

And even though I've seen some miraculous things in my life, even though I've seen the patterns in scripture, I've seen the miracles, it's hard to miss the heartbreak.

So many people before you, so many people before me, died, missing out on what God had promised them.

They were looking forward to something greater.

The resurrection, Jesus, the Messiah.

So many of them died before this, but their eyes were trusting God, regardless of their circumstances around them.

No matter what we're going through, our God is good.

He's good, and he wants to bless you.

You know, I told you earlier one of my favorite miracles in uh the Old Testament is this Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They get thrown into the flaming furnace.

And um, I didn't tell you their approach to it, I left that out.

I want to read their reproach to King Nezi when he's condemning them, where he's going to put them to death.

It says in verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, Oh Nezi, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.

If we are thrown into a blacking furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.

He will rescue us, your majesty, but even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you.

We will never serve your gods.

We will never worship your gold statue.

They understood that it was bigger than them.

They understood who God was and who he always has been, that our God can, our God will, but even if he doesn't, it doesn't change anything.

They're gonna continue to worship him.

That's something that you and I have to wrestle with if we actually believe, because if you and I can walk life in the posture of he can, he will, but even if he doesn't, but even if he doesn't.

Hebrews 12, verse 1 says, Therefore, since we are we have such a large crowd of witnesses surrounding us, you and I, these people who've gone before us, let us lay aside every hindrance, every sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run the race with endurance that the race lies before us.

Hebrews 12:1

Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.

Because you and I now have to wrestle with if our God is good, if he can, if he will, but even if he doesn't show up, do you believe that he will redeem all things for good?

For those who love him and are called according to his purposes?

Romans 28.

Do you and I believe that?

When you look at your life and you're waiting to be healed, when you're waiting for your family to be restored, when you're waiting for something to happen in your life and you don't understand, and it feels like God is not there, he's not present in it, and season after season goes, and it infuriates you.

And maybe even when you hear about someone being healed, or you hear about someone being restored, or you heal about a marriage happening, or you hear about someone's kid coming back after they've ran off, it infuriates you just a little bit if you're honest.

Because you feel like God's missed out on something in your life.

We're human.

God's ways are bigger than our ways, God's thoughts are farther than our thoughts.

We can't comprehend what he's doing in the grand scheme of things.

And these people who died for the faith, who went on and sometimes they did not get what God promised them, their eyes were not on what was around them, their eyes were on eternity, their eyes, like Hebrew 12 said, their eyes were fixated on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And if you and I believe who he is, he says he is, no matter what happens, we can be strong.

Even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't.

Stephen's the perfect example of even if he doesn't.

Kind of life.

Like he lived a powerful life.

He was a leader in God's movement, and his life was taken so quickly.

He just showed up, he just started showing what he was capable of through God.

Stephen's goal was not here on earth, it was Jesus' mission the whole time.

The perfector of his faith.

And we've been reading this scripture for months now.

If you're on the Lotus launch team, I'm sorry, we're gonna read it again a thousand times.

Um, but this is what kicked off our launch, our movement to actually going multi-site.

Pastor Clayton was teaching us through this scripture in Acts 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

You see, Stephen knew that what God decreed would happen.

He knew that the circumstances around him, that regardless, it was bigger than him.

There was something that God was doing.

You and I sitting here today are because Stephen, part of the story, Stephen, he believed that God was going to do what he said he was gonna do, that this gospel was gonna go to the ends of the earth, even at the point of death.

He understood that.

And he was okay with that.

And that is a person that you and I look towards in our struggle, in our unknown.

He was bold.

And you may be asking, how did Stephen play a part in this?

Well, it tells us in the very next chapter, Acts verse 8, on that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered to the land of Judea and Samaria.

Up until this point in the story, the gospel had only stayed in the city of Jerusalem.

So God ended up using the death of Stephen to scare and scatter the believers, who, if they were not persecuted, would not have left their comfort of their hometown.

But this death that happened in Stephen's life, God used it, he redeemed it, and the gospel started to spread to Judea and Samaria and finally to the ends of the earth.

You and I, our thoughts are not God's thoughts.

We don't know God's ways.

But you and I have to decide if we believe in a God who's all-knowing and all-powerful, if we believe that God is an author and perfector of our faith, if he's a healer, if he's a restorer, then we have to believe, and God gives us an image here.

He gives us a story that you and I could look toward to see the grander picture.

That even in your under disunderstanding, where you don't understand, your misunderstanding, you can't see what's actually past today.

You can't see what's after the heartbreak.

You can't see why on earth God would allow your suffering.

This story shows us we won't get it.

We never will.

There's no way you and I could fathom what is actually going on in the eyes of eternity.

But the hopeful part is that you have a purpose.

God has given you a purpose, and that purpose that you live out is to glorify God in your unique way.

And if you believe and trust God, who he is, who he says he is, then by the same grace and power that Stephen walked in to the point of death, you and I have that same power to walk in as a witness, as believers, to move forward the gospel.

No matter what is actually happening in our lives, no matter what it looks like in your life, you can believe that God is moving.

If you and I are gonna follow Jesus, we have to believe that he can use our disappointments to bring about his holy desires.

Your biggest appointments, disappointments, well, following Jesus could be the very thing that is going to bring about God's holy desires, his plan that was always written, his plan for you.

It could be him using the very thing in your life that you want to suppress, that you want to throw away, that you wish you were never involved in, you wish you never experienced this thorn in your flesh that's been making you strong, that's been giving you a testimony, that's been giving you a reason to walk in hope with Jesus, that very thing in your life could be the very thing that you've so many times said, God, where are you in it?

And you and I, we might not ever understand, but we got to wrestle with do we believe that God is who he says he is, that he can, he will, and even if he doesn't, to believe that he is good, to believe that he's working all things for good.

You know, and I actually left out like the best part of Stephen's story.

One of the most beautiful things in Stephen's story right before he dies.

Chapter 7, verse 55.

Stephen again described, full of the Holy Spirit.

He gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus was standing at the right hand of God.

And in verse 56, he said, Look, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

All throughout scripture, if you go trace this line, it's usually written in a way where it says, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God.

That's to show his finished work on the cross when he said, It is finished, and he gave up his spirit.

After he died and rose and he rose and he ascended back into heaven, it is a finished work until the day that he comes back.

He is reigning and he is in charge.

The only time in ancient history when a king would stand and be talked about on the side of his throne was when a noble soldier who was to be honored and saluted for what he did for his kingdom.

When it looks like God is not involved in your suffering, when it looks like God should have stepped up and he should have moved in a way that you and I thought on our timeline, he gets a beautiful image of his Savior standing up, saluting him.

God is active in our suffering, he is interceding on your behalf, it tells us in Hebrews.

He is interceding, he's praying for you.

God so wants a miracle in your life, God so wants to do something in your life, he wants you to believe in him, he wants you to live out your purpose.

And Stephen dies.

You're like, Toe, that sounds great.

Well, why didn't he do anything?

Why didn't he step up?

Why didn't he save him?

I've been saying it and I'll say it over and over again.

I don't know.

All I know is I trust in a God whose thoughts are higher than my thoughts, a God whose ways are way past anything I could even imagine.

But I do know in my suffering, in my experience of suffering, or seeing others' people in their suffering, that God is continuing to redeem all of it.

So you and I, following Jesus, some of us wrestling today to follow Jesus, we gotta ask ourselves do we believe that God is good even in our disappointment?

And do we believe that he's gonna bring about his holy desires?

Because his ways is the better way.

Jesus came down to rewrite the best narrative of all time.

So you're here today and you're struggling, you're praying, you're wanting to be healed, but even if he doesn't.

But even if he doesn't, what do you believe?

Do you believe he's good?

Stephen's martyr said something to me that kind of shook me in reading scripture.

How could this happen?

The first persecution of the church.

It was the very first step in what God decreed that his gospel would go to the ends of the world.

And here we are.

Here we are.

Something that seemed terrible thousands of years later.

You and I gotta ask the question if we're okay with sometimes the blessing is on the other side of eternity, and you might not ever understand it.

You might not ever realize what God was trying to do in your life.

And I'm done, I'm gonna land here.

There was even a point in time where Jesus let some people down.

The apostles, the early church, those who were walking with him.

He said some followers were following with him in his ministry.

There were some women following his ministry.

Peter said, You are the Messiah.

They knew he was God, and then he died.

But then he rose.

For a moment in time, they thought God wasn't moving.

They thought it was over, they thought there was no perceivable way to move forward.

But our God rose on the third day, demonstrating who he is and who he's always been.

He was beaten into inches of his life, hung on a cross, hung on a tree, cursed, scripture tells us.

Anyone hung on a tree is cursed.

And he died and rose on the third day so that you and I could live a life of hope, that you and I could be in relationship with our creator, because without him, there is no work, there is nothing you could I you and I could ever do.

There's no hope that you could I could ever tie ourselves to.

Because hurt and destruction and sickness and pain, all those things are just that.

They're death without a good God who's a healer, who's a redeemer, who's a restorer, he can do it, he will do it, but even if he doesn't, he's still good.

Would you guys pray with me?

Father, help us to wrap ourselves around the thought that you can work anything to good.

You can take anything.

The things that we are upset about, things that we are praying for, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would step in, that you would minister to our people.

If someone is hurting and they're sick, Lord, I pray that you would heal them and I believe for it.

I've seen the patterns, I know who you are, you're a good God.

But God, those who walk away today and life's the same, and they're praying and they're wanting you to move, help us to understand that you can and you will, but even if you don't, you're still good.

You're still good.

For those of us in the room today who've never put their faith in Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to do that today.

Jesus came down and lived the perfect life.

He stepped into a broken world.

He was persecuted as a criminal.

He wronged nobody, he was tempted in every way.

He's our high priest.

He knows what it is to go throughout life and be tempted and to be hurt and to be betrayed, yet he was perfect.

And they put him on the cross, nails hand on the his hands nailed on the cross, and he died there.

He was put into a tomb, and on the third day he rose again, defeating death, defeating the grave.

The perfect sacrifice.

You and I have the perfect sacrifice in the person of Jesus.

Greater is he in me than he who's in the world, and you have access to him.

And all he asks is that you put your faith in him.

You'll be ever, forever be saved.

You can't do anything to lose your salvation ever.

And all he asks is for your faith in him.

If that's you today and you've never had a moment in time to put your faith in Jesus, no one's looking around.

Would you just put up your hand and say, Jesus, I believe in who you are.

Praise God.

The rest of us in the room, so it's not awkward, we're just gonna pray out loud.

We're gonna pray together as believers.

Would you all pray alongside with me?

Jesus, today I choose to put my faith in you.

I believe you are God, that you came to earth, that you died for my sins, and I believe you rose again.

I thank you for loving me and for forgiving me.

Holy Spirit, we are thankful for the work of Jesus.

There's nothing we could ever do to forgive, I mean to uh to thank you for it, Lord.

And we're just thankful.

We're thankful to be here 2,000 years later, after what looked like a sad moment, which it was in our early church's history, but you stepped in and you redeemed it.

And we're thankful to be here today, thousands of years later, looking towards the same God who always is, who always was, who is good.

And Father, I pray that you would show us in our lives that you're good.

Help us to have a faith like those in Hebrews 11 who went before us, who some of them died without having to have the promise of God.

But we have Jesus and we're thankful.

And all of God's people said, Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

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Man, I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.