1 00:00:00,333 --> 00:00:01,625 Howdy, pastor Mark here. 2 00:00:01,667 --> 00:00:04,125 Let me just take a few moments of your time 3 00:00:04,167 --> 00:00:07,000 before we get into the latest sermon in Ephesians. 4 00:00:07,042 --> 00:00:09,875 I want to tell you about what's coming up for Easter. 5 00:00:09,958 --> 00:00:14,750 We will have 42 services across 14 of our churches 6 00:00:14,833 --> 00:00:20,208 scattered across 4 states and we'll also be live-streaming everything online. 7 00:00:20,667 --> 00:00:24,792 We only do this historically once a year and that's on Easter. 8 00:00:24,833 --> 00:00:27,833 And so I'll be preaching live at Mars Hill downtown 9 00:00:27,875 --> 00:00:32,333 and we'll be simulcasting to all of our locations as well as the internet. 10 00:00:32,375 --> 00:00:36,625 You can go to marshill.com/easter to find out more 11 00:00:36,667 --> 00:00:40,833 and to register to watch what God will be doing on Easter Sunday. 12 00:00:40,875 --> 00:00:43,750 And I know many of you are part of Mars Hill Global 13 00:00:43,833 --> 00:00:47,167 you pray for our church, some of you have even given to our church 14 00:00:47,208 --> 00:00:49,917 and the extended mission and ministry of Mars Hill. 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,667 I wanna say thank you for that and before we get into Ephesians now, 16 00:00:53,750 --> 00:00:55,917 I want to introduce you to Pastor Sutton Turner, 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,667 my friend, our executive pastor, to let you know 18 00:00:58,750 --> 00:01:02,042 some of the things that your generosity has been accomplishing. 19 00:01:03,833 --> 00:01:05,333 Hi there Mars Hill Church 20 00:01:05,375 --> 00:01:08,333 and the extended family of Mars Hill Global. 21 00:01:08,417 --> 00:01:11,625 I'm pastor Sutton Turner here in Dilla, Ethiopia 22 00:01:11,667 --> 00:01:13,917 and I wanted to take a moment and explain 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,625 what the extended family of Mars Hill Global is. 24 00:01:17,667 --> 00:01:21,625 I was a podcaster when I was living in the Middle East 25 00:01:21,667 --> 00:01:25,458 and consuming those podcasts every week, 26 00:01:25,500 --> 00:01:29,458 participating, really one way, from Mars Hill Church. 27 00:01:29,500 --> 00:01:31,250 I was really a consumer. 28 00:01:31,333 --> 00:01:32,958 So what we're doing is setting up 29 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,500 the extended family of Mars Hill Global and saying, 30 00:01:36,542 --> 00:01:42,333 "Come, be a part of what Jesus Christ is doing in and through our church." 31 00:01:42,417 --> 00:01:44,208 So what does Mars Hill Global do? 32 00:01:44,292 --> 00:01:49,458 Well, Mars Hill Global is doing and participating in church planting 33 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:51,750 here in Ethiopia and also in India. 34 00:01:51,833 --> 00:01:54,667 Also, we're doing church planting in the United States as well. 35 00:01:54,750 --> 00:01:56,875 We're doing all of that because in Mars Hill Church 36 00:01:57,292 --> 00:02:01,792 we believe that Jesus has called us to make disciples and plant churches. 37 00:02:01,833 --> 00:02:05,667 So I want to ask you to be a part. I want to as you to be a part 38 00:02:05,750 --> 00:02:07,500 of the extended family of Mars Hill Global. 39 00:02:07,583 --> 00:02:08,833 Sign up today. 40 00:02:08,917 --> 00:02:11,625 Become a member of the extended family, 41 00:02:11,667 --> 00:02:14,250 start participating online with us, 42 00:02:14,333 --> 00:02:16,792 and let's see what Jesus Christ is going to do, 43 00:02:16,833 --> 00:02:19,833 not only in the United States, but to the ends of the Earth. 44 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:33,375 [music] 45 00:02:39,042 --> 00:02:40,667 [laughing] I'm Joshua. 46 00:02:40,708 --> 00:02:42,458 I'm Spencer. Hey, I'm Jonathan. 47 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:44,292 I'm a lawyer and I'm a mom. 48 00:02:44,333 --> 00:02:46,000 I'm a colorist in the fashion industry. 49 00:02:46,042 --> 00:02:47,667 I don't know how to not smile. 50 00:02:47,750 --> 00:02:49,083 I am a strategist. 51 00:02:49,167 --> 00:02:50,583 I work in commercial real estate. 52 00:02:50,667 --> 00:02:52,292 Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out 53 00:02:52,333 --> 00:02:53,792 how to phrase my work. 54 00:02:53,833 --> 00:02:56,000 People are always coming up to me with, like, 55 00:02:56,042 --> 00:02:57,375 creative ideas. 56 00:02:57,458 --> 00:03:00,458 I carry around a baseball that reminds me of my dad. 57 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:05,000 I lost my home, my car, my retirement. 58 00:03:05,083 --> 00:03:07,833 Most days look pretty, kind of crazy. 59 00:03:07,875 --> 00:03:10,250 [laughing] 60 00:03:10,333 --> 00:03:12,542 Being a wholesaler, we have a big warehouse space. 61 00:03:12,625 --> 00:03:14,208 I like to think through things. 62 00:03:14,292 --> 00:03:15,917 I got a tattoo of a tree. 63 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,333 I love--I love that. 64 00:03:17,375 --> 00:03:20,000 Who do you think-- Who do you think you are? 65 00:03:21,833 --> 00:03:23,250 I love you very much. 66 00:03:23,333 --> 00:03:25,917 I genuinely love this church very much, 67 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:31,042 and today I have a deep sense of gratitude that I get to teach on 68 00:03:31,125 --> 00:03:34,583 what is, frankly, a difficult subject. 69 00:03:34,667 --> 00:03:40,375 And my hope is to help you and to help you help others, 70 00:03:40,458 --> 00:03:43,875 and it's a great honor, as we find ourselves in Ephesians. 71 00:03:43,958 --> 00:03:47,667 And today we're in Ephesians 3:1-13, 72 00:03:47,750 --> 00:03:51,333 dealing with the fact that we are afflicted, 73 00:03:51,417 --> 00:03:54,875 and so the sermon title is "I Am Afflicted." 74 00:03:54,958 --> 00:03:58,167 And I don't want to make light of this subject in any way, 75 00:03:58,250 --> 00:04:00,750 but I want to shed some light on it. 76 00:04:00,833 --> 00:04:04,958 Mars Hill has a lot of people, on a good Sunday recently, 77 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,167 13,000-plus people, 78 00:04:07,208 --> 00:04:09,750 and I get the reports every week 79 00:04:09,833 --> 00:04:12,333 for the number of adults and the number of children 80 00:04:12,417 --> 00:04:15,750 in every service in every one of our 14 locations. 81 00:04:15,833 --> 00:04:19,542 But it's not just the numbers that matter, it's the faces, 82 00:04:19,625 --> 00:04:22,458 because each number is a person who was made in the image 83 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:24,708 and likeness of God and loved by Jesus. 84 00:04:24,792 --> 00:04:27,833 And so at Mars Hill, we don't just care about the numbers, 85 00:04:27,917 --> 00:04:30,542 we care about the faces, and that means, for me, 86 00:04:30,625 --> 00:04:33,875 I spend a lot of time going out and visiting our churches. 87 00:04:33,958 --> 00:04:36,875 I'm not Paul, that's for sure, the author of the letter 88 00:04:36,958 --> 00:04:38,583 we'll be studying in a moment, 89 00:04:38,667 --> 00:04:40,792 but he oversaw a network of churches, 90 00:04:40,833 --> 00:04:44,083 and he would travel to visit them, and he would write books, 91 00:04:44,167 --> 00:04:47,458 and give sermons, and get out to see people, 92 00:04:47,500 --> 00:04:49,667 and I do some of that. 93 00:04:49,750 --> 00:04:52,667 And in just the last few weeks, I have had the privilege 94 00:04:52,750 --> 00:04:54,833 of being at 5 different Mars Hill churches 95 00:04:54,917 --> 00:04:58,292 across 2 states, sometimes staying for upwards 96 00:04:58,333 --> 00:05:02,125 of 2 hours after we were done just to meet people, 97 00:05:02,167 --> 00:05:05,500 to thank them, to love them, to pray for them, 98 00:05:05,583 --> 00:05:09,667 and to hear their story and see how we might serve them. 99 00:05:09,708 --> 00:05:13,667 And what you realize very quickly is that people 100 00:05:13,708 --> 00:05:17,750 are hurting and that life is very hard. 101 00:05:17,833 --> 00:05:23,750 And just in Mars Hill Portland recently, a long line of people, 102 00:05:23,833 --> 00:05:25,750 2 hours of conversations. 103 00:05:25,833 --> 00:05:28,500 I told everybody, I said, "It feels like a wedding reception 104 00:05:28,583 --> 00:05:29,917 and I'm missing a girl," 105 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,750 just lots of people wanting to talk. 106 00:05:31,833 --> 00:05:33,333 "Pastor Mark, I have cancer. 107 00:05:33,375 --> 00:05:35,792 "Pastor Mark, my dad just died, didn't know the Lord. 108 00:05:35,833 --> 00:05:39,875 "Pastor Mark, we just miscarried a baby again. 109 00:05:39,958 --> 00:05:44,083 "Pastor Mark, I'm married with kids who are young 110 00:05:44,167 --> 00:05:46,458 "and my husband just ran off with another woman. 111 00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:48,667 "We don't even know where he's at. 112 00:05:48,708 --> 00:05:52,083 "Pastor Mark, there's been an adultery in our marriage 113 00:05:52,167 --> 00:05:54,500 "and I don't know if we're going to make it. 114 00:05:54,542 --> 00:05:56,375 "Pastor Mark, I lost my job. 115 00:05:56,458 --> 00:05:58,375 "Pastor Mark, I got diagnosed with cancer. 116 00:05:58,458 --> 00:06:02,167 "Pastor Mark, I'm a single mom, and I lost my job, 117 00:06:02,208 --> 00:06:07,833 and I might have cancer," all of those collapsing on one person. 118 00:06:07,917 --> 00:06:11,458 And what I appreciate about the Bible is that it's 119 00:06:11,500 --> 00:06:13,958 the most honest book that's ever been written. 120 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,667 And like our lives, the Bible doesn't deal with suffering just 121 00:06:19,708 --> 00:06:24,458 in one chapter or one book, it's woven through many chapters 122 00:06:24,500 --> 00:06:27,042 and all the books. 123 00:06:27,125 --> 00:06:29,958 And as we come to the book of Ephesians, 124 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,250 we're gonna learn about suffering, and affliction, 125 00:06:32,333 --> 00:06:35,583 and hardship through a man named Paul. 126 00:06:35,667 --> 00:06:38,958 Now, two things are true of you and I and two things were true 127 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,667 of him: we will cause other people to be afflicted, 128 00:06:42,708 --> 00:06:46,500 and other people will cause us to be afflicted. 129 00:06:46,542 --> 00:06:49,292 Paul caused affliction for others. 130 00:06:49,333 --> 00:06:52,083 We first meet him in Acts 7, he's overseeing the murder 131 00:06:52,167 --> 00:06:54,667 of an early church deacon named Stephen. 132 00:06:54,708 --> 00:06:59,083 He afflicted people, and then he met Jesus and he was the one 133 00:06:59,167 --> 00:07:02,667 who was then afflicted because of his love for Jesus. 134 00:07:02,708 --> 00:07:05,750 So, you'll see with me in Ephesians 3:1, 135 00:07:05,833 --> 00:07:08,625 he says that he is, quote, "a prisoner of Jesus Christ." 136 00:07:08,667 --> 00:07:11,917 So, he's in jail, he's being afflicted. 137 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:13,958 And then he says in verse 13, 138 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,167 at the end of that unit of thought 139 00:07:16,208 --> 00:07:21,458 that we'll be studying, he says, quote, "I am suffering." 140 00:07:21,500 --> 00:07:26,250 So, he starts, "I'm in prison," and he ends, "I am suffering." 141 00:07:26,333 --> 00:07:28,458 So, here's a man who's talking about 142 00:07:28,500 --> 00:07:30,333 what it means to be afflicted, 143 00:07:30,417 --> 00:07:32,458 but it's not just in a clinical way, 144 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:35,500 it's in a very practical way and a very pastoral way. 145 00:07:35,542 --> 00:07:38,792 And as he's separated from his church in Ephesus, 146 00:07:38,833 --> 00:07:40,458 and he's in prison, 147 00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:42,792 most likely in Rome, he is writing to them 148 00:07:42,833 --> 00:07:46,167 and he's wanting them to learn from what he is experiencing 149 00:07:46,250 --> 00:07:49,583 through his affliction. 150 00:07:49,667 --> 00:07:53,292 The Bible, as I say, is filled with affliction. 151 00:07:53,333 --> 00:07:56,292 Laments fill up a third of the Psalms. 152 00:07:56,333 --> 00:07:59,083 There's 150 Psalms; 1/3 of them are laments. 153 00:07:59,167 --> 00:08:03,125 These are people who are hurting and crying out to God 154 00:08:03,167 --> 00:08:05,042 in the midst of their pain, 155 00:08:05,125 --> 00:08:06,958 and their grief, and their suffering. 156 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,042 All of the Old Testament prophets, 157 00:08:09,125 --> 00:08:11,625 with the exception of one, have laments in them where 158 00:08:11,667 --> 00:08:15,917 they're just crying out to God and they're hurting. 159 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,958 And the Bible is very honest that suffering is real 160 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,042 and it comes to God's people. 161 00:08:24,125 --> 00:08:26,750 And you need to know that stands in contrast to some 162 00:08:26,833 --> 00:08:28,667 false teaching today that basically says, you know, 163 00:08:28,708 --> 00:08:31,333 if you really love Jesus, you won't suffer, 164 00:08:31,417 --> 00:08:34,292 but we know that Jesus suffered the most. 165 00:08:34,333 --> 00:08:37,583 He suffered horrifically, and he suffered unjustly, 166 00:08:37,667 --> 00:08:40,667 and he suffered righteously. 167 00:08:40,708 --> 00:08:45,292 And the good news is that Jesus will bring all suffering 168 00:08:45,333 --> 00:08:48,583 to an end, but in a world that's filled with suffering, 169 00:08:48,667 --> 00:08:51,833 we don't have a God who's immune from it and separated from it, 170 00:08:51,917 --> 00:08:55,000 that he enters into it, he tastes it and experiences it, 171 00:08:55,042 --> 00:08:58,083 and he identifies with us in the midst of it. 172 00:08:58,167 --> 00:09:01,042 So, this'll be maybe the longest introduction I've ever done 173 00:09:01,125 --> 00:09:03,542 to a sermon, but I want to share with you 174 00:09:03,625 --> 00:09:06,750 14 kinds of suffering that I see in the Bible. 175 00:09:06,833 --> 00:09:09,417 It's in the book, I'll put it on the blog. 176 00:09:09,500 --> 00:09:11,542 If you don't catch them all making--taking notes, 177 00:09:11,625 --> 00:09:13,125 that's fine. 178 00:09:13,167 --> 00:09:14,917 But what happens is when we're suffering, 179 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,250 I think it's helpful to understand what kind of 180 00:09:17,333 --> 00:09:19,333 suffering we are experiencing, 181 00:09:19,417 --> 00:09:22,667 what kind of affliction we are enduring. 182 00:09:22,708 --> 00:09:26,667 And I want you to think of this in two ways: number one, 183 00:09:26,708 --> 00:09:28,958 how are you afflicted? 184 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,167 Where is life hard right now? 185 00:09:31,208 --> 00:09:35,167 It's painful, it's difficult, it's a season of trial. 186 00:09:35,250 --> 00:09:39,167 And what categories of suffering are others experiencing 187 00:09:39,250 --> 00:09:41,167 that you know? 188 00:09:41,250 --> 00:09:44,375 Family, friends, neighbors, coworkers--what can you learn 189 00:09:44,458 --> 00:09:47,000 and how could you help them? 190 00:09:47,042 --> 00:09:49,583 Well, 14 kinds of affliction. 191 00:09:49,667 --> 00:09:52,083 The first is Adamic affliction. 192 00:09:52,167 --> 00:09:55,083 This is where, because of Adam and sin entering the world, 193 00:09:55,167 --> 00:09:59,375 the world is just a broken place. 194 00:09:59,458 --> 00:10:04,083 And Paul and the church at Ephesus were experiencing this; 195 00:10:04,167 --> 00:10:06,542 we experience it as well. 196 00:10:06,625 --> 00:10:08,500 It's why there's death. 197 00:10:08,542 --> 00:10:10,250 We say goodbye to people we love, 198 00:10:10,333 --> 00:10:13,292 like we recently buried my father-in-law. 199 00:10:13,333 --> 00:10:15,792 It's why we get sick. 200 00:10:15,833 --> 00:10:19,667 It's why, as we get older, our bodies start to wind down. 201 00:10:19,750 --> 00:10:21,792 It's why the world just isn't the way 202 00:10:21,833 --> 00:10:24,083 that it's supposed to be. 203 00:10:24,167 --> 00:10:27,542 It's just the general result of sin, 204 00:10:27,625 --> 00:10:29,292 and that's Adamic affliction. 205 00:10:29,333 --> 00:10:31,250 Number two, there is punishment affliction. 206 00:10:31,333 --> 00:10:33,083 For those who are not Christians, 207 00:10:33,167 --> 00:10:36,500 sometimes their affliction is punishment from God and that 208 00:10:36,583 --> 00:10:40,500 culminates in eternal hell where there is punishment affliction, 209 00:10:40,583 --> 00:10:43,292 where people who have sinned against God and don't turn from 210 00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:48,208 sin and trust in Jesus, they have affliction eternally. 211 00:10:48,292 --> 00:10:50,917 Number three, there's consequential affliction. 212 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,708 This is where, to use the language of Paul elsewhere, 213 00:10:53,792 --> 00:10:56,167 we reap what we sow. 214 00:10:56,250 --> 00:10:59,208 That you eat poorly and you're of ill health. 215 00:10:59,292 --> 00:11:01,958 You drink too much and you blow your liver out. 216 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,542 You spend too much and you're in great debt. 217 00:11:05,625 --> 00:11:09,750 You don't get up and go to class and you flunk out of college. 218 00:11:09,833 --> 00:11:13,000 You don't show up to work on time and you're unemployed. 219 00:11:13,042 --> 00:11:16,042 You yell at your boyfriend or girlfriend, and lo and behold, 220 00:11:16,125 --> 00:11:18,375 they do not turn into a spouse. 221 00:11:18,458 --> 00:11:23,000 Alright, it's--you've made a mess of your own life. 222 00:11:23,042 --> 00:11:26,333 It's the consequences of your own sin and folly. 223 00:11:26,417 --> 00:11:29,042 Number four, there is demonic affliction. 224 00:11:29,125 --> 00:11:32,583 This is where Satan and demons are harming one of God's people. 225 00:11:32,667 --> 00:11:35,917 This could be sickness, this can be torment, 226 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,125 this can be night terrors, this can be hearing of voices, 227 00:11:39,167 --> 00:11:41,917 this can be demonic accusation. 228 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,417 Paul is experiencing this while he's in prison, 229 00:11:44,500 --> 00:11:46,208 and the church is experiencing it. 230 00:11:46,292 --> 00:11:49,125 That's why in chapter 6 of his letter to the Ephesians, 231 00:11:49,167 --> 00:11:52,000 he's gonna talk a lot about this particular kind 232 00:11:52,042 --> 00:11:54,833 of demonic affliction. 233 00:11:54,875 --> 00:11:58,125 Number five, there is victim affliction. 234 00:11:58,167 --> 00:12:01,750 This is where someone sins against you. 235 00:12:01,833 --> 00:12:08,542 I met a number of women recently who have gotten out of 236 00:12:09,750 --> 00:12:14,750 or are getting out of abusive relationships with violent men. 237 00:12:14,833 --> 00:12:17,750 This is where someone just sins against you. 238 00:12:17,833 --> 00:12:20,667 I was speaking to a woman and praying for a woman 239 00:12:20,708 --> 00:12:22,250 recently at Mars Hill, 240 00:12:22,333 --> 00:12:26,333 and the worst abuser in her whole life was her dad. 241 00:12:26,417 --> 00:12:29,792 The things he did to her were just very difficult to hear 242 00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:32,875 as a dad. 243 00:12:32,958 --> 00:12:35,750 Victim affliction is where you didn't do anything wrong, 244 00:12:35,833 --> 00:12:38,292 they just harmed you. 245 00:12:38,333 --> 00:12:41,250 This is where people are attacked, 246 00:12:41,333 --> 00:12:43,292 this is where children are abused, 247 00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:46,500 this is where women are mistreated and where men 248 00:12:46,542 --> 00:12:48,875 sometimes even do violent things to one another. 249 00:12:48,958 --> 00:12:50,583 It's victim affliction. 250 00:12:50,667 --> 00:12:53,083 Somebody did something that was just wrong. 251 00:12:53,167 --> 00:12:56,875 You didn't deserve it and in no way should you have endured it, 252 00:12:56,958 --> 00:12:59,875 but you were sinned against. 253 00:12:59,958 --> 00:13:02,750 Number six, collective affliction. 254 00:13:02,833 --> 00:13:06,000 This is where you're part of a people who are suffering 255 00:13:06,083 --> 00:13:08,458 and so you're suffering with them. 256 00:13:08,500 --> 00:13:10,958 So, you're part of a nation that's at war, 257 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,250 or you're in a community where tragedy has struck. 258 00:13:14,333 --> 00:13:18,958 Now, for Paul and the Ephesians, they're suffering in this way. 259 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,458 He loves them and they love him. 260 00:13:21,500 --> 00:13:24,417 He can't be with them because he's in prison, 261 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:27,417 so he's suffering, and they're suffering because they're 262 00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:34,042 suffering with him, because they are identified with him. 263 00:13:36,125 --> 00:13:41,958 Is there anybody you really love and they're suffering, 264 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,833 and so as a result, to some degree, you're suffering? 265 00:13:45,917 --> 00:13:51,167 There is, number seven, disciplinary affliction. 266 00:13:51,250 --> 00:13:55,667 This is where, for a believer, God allows some affliction, 267 00:13:55,750 --> 00:13:59,500 not to punish them but to mature them, 268 00:13:59,542 --> 00:14:01,542 to mature them. 269 00:14:01,625 --> 00:14:04,667 And so some of that is going on in the life of Paul 270 00:14:04,708 --> 00:14:06,167 as he is continuing to mature. 271 00:14:06,208 --> 00:14:08,917 Some of that is going on in the church at Ephesus 272 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:10,333 to whom he is writing. 273 00:14:10,375 --> 00:14:13,042 And for some of you, the season you're in is under 274 00:14:13,125 --> 00:14:14,458 the loving hand of God. 275 00:14:14,500 --> 00:14:16,458 He's trying to mature you and correct you, 276 00:14:16,500 --> 00:14:19,458 so he's allowing some hardship to come upon you to inspire you, 277 00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:21,833 to motivate you to mature. 278 00:14:21,917 --> 00:14:25,500 Number eight, there is sometimes vicarious affliction, 279 00:14:25,583 --> 00:14:29,333 and that is people seem like they hate us, 280 00:14:29,417 --> 00:14:32,500 but what they really hate is the Jesus in us, 281 00:14:32,583 --> 00:14:35,792 that we love Jesus and they hate Jesus, and since we love Jesus, 282 00:14:35,833 --> 00:14:38,375 they hate us. 283 00:14:38,458 --> 00:14:42,667 Mars Hill, you need to know that I enjoy a lot of this 284 00:14:42,750 --> 00:14:47,500 and you will as well, that we live in a day when 285 00:14:47,542 --> 00:14:53,875 it's now quite fashionable to be anti-Christian, 286 00:14:53,958 --> 00:14:56,292 and if you say that you love Jesus, 287 00:14:56,333 --> 00:15:01,167 it's quite fashionable to speak in an ill way toward those 288 00:15:01,208 --> 00:15:04,667 who do love Jesus. 289 00:15:04,708 --> 00:15:07,542 And so that kind of affliction, I think, 290 00:15:07,625 --> 00:15:10,333 is increasing--vicarious affliction. 291 00:15:10,417 --> 00:15:13,833 And then Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that our war 292 00:15:13,917 --> 00:15:15,542 isn't against flesh and blood, 293 00:15:15,625 --> 00:15:17,500 that we're not to fight back with people, 294 00:15:17,583 --> 00:15:19,250 that it's really a spiritual battle, 295 00:15:19,333 --> 00:15:21,500 that we should love them and that what they 296 00:15:21,583 --> 00:15:24,333 are fighting against is the Jesus who loves us. 297 00:15:24,417 --> 00:15:26,667 And it may seem like they're attacking us, 298 00:15:26,708 --> 00:15:30,042 but they're really offended by him. 299 00:15:30,125 --> 00:15:32,458 How many of you have family members, friends, 300 00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:34,667 they just don't like you, coworkers, 301 00:15:34,750 --> 00:15:36,292 just because you're a Christian. 302 00:15:36,333 --> 00:15:39,167 That's it, and there's some affliction that 303 00:15:39,250 --> 00:15:41,500 comes to you for that. 304 00:15:41,542 --> 00:15:44,667 Number nine, there's empathetic affliction. 305 00:15:44,750 --> 00:15:47,458 This is someone we love is hurting 306 00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:49,375 and so we're hurting too. 307 00:15:49,458 --> 00:15:51,792 Again, for Paul and the church, that's the case. 308 00:15:51,833 --> 00:15:53,667 He's hurting and they're hurting 309 00:15:53,708 --> 00:15:56,042 because they love him. 310 00:15:56,125 --> 00:15:58,000 I was talking to a man this morning. 311 00:15:58,042 --> 00:16:01,625 On Tuesday, he and his wife find out whether or not the test 312 00:16:01,667 --> 00:16:04,917 that she recently undertook will indicate 313 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,458 that she has cancer and are concerned. 314 00:16:08,500 --> 00:16:12,625 Now, he doesn't have cancer, she does, but because he loves her, 315 00:16:12,667 --> 00:16:16,042 her suffering is his suffering. 316 00:16:16,125 --> 00:16:18,750 And as we're church family, and you're in Community Group 317 00:16:18,833 --> 00:16:20,625 together and doing life together, 318 00:16:20,667 --> 00:16:23,125 the more people you know, the more opportunities there are 319 00:16:23,167 --> 00:16:24,833 for this kind of affliction. 320 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:28,458 The Bible says that we are to mourn with those who mourn, 321 00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:30,333 and that's what it's talking about. 322 00:16:30,417 --> 00:16:32,750 It's talking about you love someone, 323 00:16:32,833 --> 00:16:34,875 and when they're hurting, you're hurting for them, 324 00:16:34,958 --> 00:16:37,375 and you're hurting with them. 325 00:16:37,458 --> 00:16:39,542 Number ten, there's testimonial affliction. 326 00:16:39,625 --> 00:16:42,250 This is where you're being afflicted, 327 00:16:42,333 --> 00:16:44,500 but it's primarily as an opportunity 328 00:16:44,542 --> 00:16:47,750 to show people who Jesus is and what he's done, 329 00:16:47,833 --> 00:16:50,375 and that is most certainly the case with Paul. 330 00:16:50,458 --> 00:16:52,500 He has not sinned or done anything wrong. 331 00:16:52,542 --> 00:16:54,583 He's been preaching and teaching about Jesus, 332 00:16:54,667 --> 00:16:56,958 so they arrest him and throw him in jail, 333 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 but it's testimonial affliction. 334 00:16:59,042 --> 00:17:02,542 It gives him a bigger platform to talk about Jesus, 335 00:17:02,625 --> 00:17:09,333 so there's a greater purpose for his affliction. 336 00:17:09,417 --> 00:17:11,458 Number 11, there's providential affliction. 337 00:17:11,500 --> 00:17:13,625 This increases the worship of God. 338 00:17:13,667 --> 00:17:17,750 Someone goes through a hardship, but they endure it in such a way 339 00:17:17,833 --> 00:17:20,333 that other people come to know and love the God 340 00:17:20,375 --> 00:17:22,208 they're devoted to. 341 00:17:22,292 --> 00:17:24,667 That was the case with Joseph in the Old Testament. 342 00:17:24,708 --> 00:17:28,667 Opposed, thrown in jail, but then he rises up to power 343 00:17:28,708 --> 00:17:32,500 and he's a great testimony to God and many people are saved. 344 00:17:32,583 --> 00:17:34,375 So it is with Paul. 345 00:17:34,458 --> 00:17:37,583 He is, here, having an opportunity to glorify God 346 00:17:37,667 --> 00:17:40,542 in his sufferings, and in so doing perhaps more people 347 00:17:40,625 --> 00:17:45,792 will become Christians, and that increases worship of God. 348 00:17:45,833 --> 00:17:48,333 Number 12, there's preventative affliction. 349 00:17:48,417 --> 00:17:51,333 This is where God allows some hardship, 350 00:17:51,417 --> 00:17:54,833 but it's to warn us and spare us from a greater hardship. 351 00:17:54,917 --> 00:17:57,583 So all of a sudden you realize, man, my side hurts, 352 00:17:57,667 --> 00:17:59,000 better go to the doctor. 353 00:17:59,042 --> 00:18:02,333 You find out your appendix is bursting and that pain 354 00:18:02,417 --> 00:18:05,542 was a warning in God's love for you. 355 00:18:05,625 --> 00:18:08,000 All of a sudden, you're having a hard time breathing 356 00:18:08,083 --> 00:18:09,750 and you have pains in your chest, 357 00:18:09,833 --> 00:18:11,958 and you go into the doctor and they say, 358 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,333 "You're having a heart attack" or, "You've got a blockage." 359 00:18:14,417 --> 00:18:16,208 Oh, so that was preventative affliction. 360 00:18:16,292 --> 00:18:19,625 It was uncomfortable, but it spared me from a greater misery, 361 00:18:19,667 --> 00:18:23,500 and so in that way it was really a gift from God. 362 00:18:23,583 --> 00:18:26,833 Number 13 is a category I would put a lot in, 363 00:18:26,875 --> 00:18:28,750 and it's mysterious affliction. 364 00:18:28,833 --> 00:18:31,542 And here's the answer: we don't know. 365 00:18:31,625 --> 00:18:34,375 We don't know why we're suffering, 366 00:18:34,458 --> 00:18:36,167 we don't know what's going on. 367 00:18:36,250 --> 00:18:39,000 We don't know. 368 00:18:39,042 --> 00:18:41,083 Now, those who are Bible teachers and theologians, 369 00:18:41,167 --> 00:18:45,000 sometimes we struggle and strain to just say, "I don't know," 370 00:18:45,042 --> 00:18:48,083 but let me say, that's a perfectly good category. 371 00:18:48,167 --> 00:18:50,375 Alright, when the Bible says in Romans, you know, 372 00:18:50,458 --> 00:18:51,875 it asks the rhetorical question, 373 00:18:51,958 --> 00:18:54,000 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?" 374 00:18:54,042 --> 00:18:57,292 He's not waiting for, you know, one of us to raise our hand 375 00:18:57,333 --> 00:18:59,167 and say, "Oh, I know." 376 00:18:59,208 --> 00:19:00,750 I don't know. 377 00:19:00,833 --> 00:19:02,750 Sometimes people come up to me and, again, 378 00:19:02,833 --> 00:19:05,542 in the last few weeks I have literally shook hands with 379 00:19:05,625 --> 00:19:07,167 hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds-- 380 00:19:07,208 --> 00:19:10,250 maybe a thousand people who go to Mars Hill Church, 381 00:19:10,333 --> 00:19:12,542 and many of them ask me the question: 382 00:19:12,625 --> 00:19:15,042 "Why, why, why, why?" 383 00:19:15,125 --> 00:19:18,458 And often the answer is "I don't know." 384 00:19:18,500 --> 00:19:21,958 The Bible says, "We see in part, we know in part." 385 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,625 When we're with Jesus, it'll all make sense. 386 00:19:25,667 --> 00:19:29,958 Until then, we have to wait for the answers that we seek. 387 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,667 And then number 14, there's apocalyptic affliction, 388 00:19:32,708 --> 00:19:36,000 and that is that as we get closer to the end of the world, 389 00:19:36,042 --> 00:19:39,250 and the dawning of the kingdom of God, and the return of Jesus, 390 00:19:39,333 --> 00:19:41,542 and the judgment of the living and the dead, 391 00:19:41,625 --> 00:19:44,667 there will be intense opposition and affliction toward God's 392 00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:47,375 people, and things give every account in Scripture 393 00:19:47,458 --> 00:19:52,083 of getting harder, and more difficult, and worse. 394 00:19:52,167 --> 00:19:55,458 So, here's what I want you to do when you're suffering: 395 00:19:55,500 --> 00:19:58,958 I want you to think, "What kind of affliction am I experiencing 396 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,667 and enduring?" 397 00:20:00,708 --> 00:20:02,667 And when you're dealing with someone else, 398 00:20:02,750 --> 00:20:05,500 you need to understand these categories so you can help them, 399 00:20:05,542 --> 00:20:07,875 because if they come up to you and they say, 400 00:20:07,958 --> 00:20:10,958 "I'm really hurting," if it was folly and sin, the answer is, 401 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:12,583 "You need to repent. 402 00:20:12,667 --> 00:20:14,875 You're shipwrecking your whole life." 403 00:20:14,958 --> 00:20:19,750 If they've been sinned against, you don't say the same thing. 404 00:20:19,833 --> 00:20:24,250 If it's demonic, you pray for them. 405 00:20:24,333 --> 00:20:27,375 If it is because they love someone and that person 406 00:20:27,458 --> 00:20:29,500 is suffering, you comfort them. 407 00:20:29,542 --> 00:20:31,083 Do you see how this works? 408 00:20:31,167 --> 00:20:34,417 Otherwise, what happens is we'll provide a certain diagnosis 409 00:20:34,500 --> 00:20:36,125 for the wrong kind of suffering. 410 00:20:36,167 --> 00:20:38,208 Job's friends did this. 411 00:20:38,292 --> 00:20:41,500 Job's kids die, his wealth is taken, 412 00:20:41,583 --> 00:20:45,500 the only thing left is his wife and she wasn't very nice to him, 413 00:20:45,583 --> 00:20:50,375 and he's sitting there with shards of broken pottery rubbing 414 00:20:50,458 --> 00:20:55,500 the boils on his skin because he's itchy and devastated, 415 00:20:55,542 --> 00:20:58,667 and his friends come up and say, "Where's the sin in your life? 416 00:20:58,750 --> 00:21:01,250 You should repent." 417 00:21:01,333 --> 00:21:04,167 No, they didn't understand that he wasn't suffering 418 00:21:04,250 --> 00:21:06,750 because he was sinning. 419 00:21:06,833 --> 00:21:10,000 He was suffering, it was demonic, it was testimonial. 420 00:21:10,042 --> 00:21:13,875 There were other aspects to what he was enduring. 421 00:21:13,958 --> 00:21:17,167 I want you to understand your suffering so that you 422 00:21:17,250 --> 00:21:21,000 can understand how to, in the grace of God, endure it, 423 00:21:21,042 --> 00:21:24,000 and I want you to understand suffering so that as you comfort 424 00:21:24,042 --> 00:21:27,250 and counsel others, you can provide a right diagnosis 425 00:21:27,333 --> 00:21:31,042 for whatever suffering they are enduring. 426 00:21:31,125 --> 00:21:33,833 And here's what I see all the time happen with people 427 00:21:33,875 --> 00:21:38,083 who are suffering: they ask, "Why, why, why?" 428 00:21:38,167 --> 00:21:40,083 Lots of “why” questions. 429 00:21:40,167 --> 00:21:43,333 And Mars Hill, again, I mean, I wish you could see the faces 430 00:21:43,375 --> 00:21:45,333 of people that I know and I love. 431 00:21:45,375 --> 00:21:49,333 But I mean, golly, it's hard sometimes as a pastor because 432 00:21:49,375 --> 00:21:54,792 you love people and then to see the devastation is devastating. 433 00:21:54,833 --> 00:21:57,708 "Pastor Mark, why did my husband leave? 434 00:21:57,792 --> 00:22:01,333 "Pastor Mark, why do I have cancer? 435 00:22:01,417 --> 00:22:03,833 "Pastor Mark, why did our unborn child die? 436 00:22:03,917 --> 00:22:06,667 "Pastor Mark, why can we not conceive? 437 00:22:06,708 --> 00:22:10,000 Pastor Mark, why did I get fired? Why, why, why, why, why?" 438 00:22:10,042 --> 00:22:14,958 And I love you very much. 439 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:21,667 Let's ask a different question: who? 440 00:22:21,750 --> 00:22:23,250 Who? 441 00:22:23,333 --> 00:22:27,667 Who is Jesus and who are you in Christ? 442 00:22:27,750 --> 00:22:29,833 What's your identity through your affliction, 443 00:22:29,917 --> 00:22:32,958 because your affliction doesn't establish your identity, 444 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:38,167 but your identity will get you through your affliction. 445 00:22:38,250 --> 00:22:40,083 Who is Jesus? 446 00:22:40,167 --> 00:22:42,292 Who are you? 447 00:22:42,333 --> 00:22:44,667 I don't have all the “why” questions. 448 00:22:44,750 --> 00:22:46,833 Jesus does, and when you see him, 449 00:22:46,917 --> 00:22:50,583 he'll straighten it all out, I promise you that, 450 00:22:50,667 --> 00:22:57,375 but the “who”--who is Jesus and who are you? 451 00:22:57,458 --> 00:23:00,250 Three things the Apostle Paul wants to teach us 452 00:23:00,333 --> 00:23:02,125 about affliction and suffering. 453 00:23:02,167 --> 00:23:06,417 I can just feel the heaviness in the room. 454 00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:10,125 Let's not diminish your affliction, 455 00:23:10,167 --> 00:23:12,667 let's not compare it to anyone else's, 456 00:23:12,708 --> 00:23:19,167 let's not say yours is easier and theirs is harder, 457 00:23:19,208 --> 00:23:21,333 let's take whatever you're dealing with, 458 00:23:21,417 --> 00:23:24,333 and see what the Holy Spirit has to say through Paul, 459 00:23:24,417 --> 00:23:26,500 and then let's see what others are dealing with, 460 00:23:26,583 --> 00:23:29,500 and how you might comfort them with the words of Paul. 461 00:23:29,583 --> 00:23:31,042 Three things he says. 462 00:23:31,125 --> 00:23:37,667 The first is that we are afflicted for others' good. 463 00:23:37,750 --> 00:23:39,750 See, one of the first things that happens 464 00:23:39,833 --> 00:23:42,875 when we're suffering and we're hurting is our gaze 465 00:23:42,958 --> 00:23:47,667 goes inward and all of a sudden we lose sight of others, 466 00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:50,583 right? 467 00:23:50,667 --> 00:23:53,583 That we forget, oh, other people are hurting too. 468 00:23:53,667 --> 00:23:56,167 Other people are suffering too. 469 00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:58,583 "Yes, this is a hard season for me, 470 00:23:58,667 --> 00:24:02,042 but it's a hard season for us." 471 00:24:02,125 --> 00:24:05,833 And I really am amazed by the fact that Paul is in prison 472 00:24:05,917 --> 00:24:08,750 again, not because he did anything wrong, 473 00:24:08,833 --> 00:24:11,917 but because he wouldn't stop talking about Jesus. 474 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,917 And he’s separated from his people 475 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,750 and he starts by talking about others. 476 00:24:18,833 --> 00:24:21,958 He says it this way, "For this reason I, Paul, a," what? 477 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:28,458 "A prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles-- 478 00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:32,000 "assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace 479 00:24:32,083 --> 00:24:33,750 "that was given to me for you, 480 00:24:33,833 --> 00:24:36,167 "how the mystery was made known to me 481 00:24:36,250 --> 00:24:39,000 by revelation, as I have written briefly." 482 00:24:39,042 --> 00:24:45,750 What Paul is saying here is that his affliction is 483 00:24:45,833 --> 00:24:48,167 very purposeful. 484 00:24:48,250 --> 00:24:51,500 He continues--let's read the next section. 485 00:24:51,542 --> 00:24:53,167 "When you read this, 486 00:24:53,250 --> 00:24:55,875 "you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 487 00:24:55,958 --> 00:24:58,875 "which was not made known to the sons of men in other 488 00:24:58,958 --> 00:25:01,333 "generations as it has now been revealed to his 489 00:25:01,417 --> 00:25:04,125 "holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 490 00:25:04,167 --> 00:25:07,167 "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, 491 00:25:07,208 --> 00:25:10,167 "members of the same body, and partakers of the promise 492 00:25:10,208 --> 00:25:12,833 in Christ Jesus through the gospel." 493 00:25:12,875 --> 00:25:14,750 So, here's what Paul is saying: 494 00:25:14,833 --> 00:25:17,333 "I am a prisoner for Jesus Christ. 495 00:25:17,417 --> 00:25:21,917 "I am in jail because I love and serve Jesus, 496 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,000 but this is for others' good." 497 00:25:26,083 --> 00:25:29,042 He says, "I'm suffering for the Gentiles." 498 00:25:29,125 --> 00:25:30,958 Now, you need to understand this. 499 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:32,542 Prior to him becoming a Christian, 500 00:25:32,625 --> 00:25:34,167 he hated the Gentiles. 501 00:25:34,250 --> 00:25:36,000 These are the non-Jews. 502 00:25:36,042 --> 00:25:39,500 He was in no way, in any way, empathetic or compassionate 503 00:25:39,542 --> 00:25:43,167 toward those who didn't share his racial, cultural, 504 00:25:43,250 --> 00:25:45,000 religious heritage. 505 00:25:45,042 --> 00:25:48,167 And then he meets Jesus, and all of a sudden he realizes 506 00:25:48,250 --> 00:25:52,042 it's not about Jew or Gentile, it's about Jesus. 507 00:25:52,125 --> 00:25:54,500 And he receives a new identity in Christ, 508 00:25:54,542 --> 00:25:58,292 and in Christ he gets reconciled together with those who are not 509 00:25:58,333 --> 00:26:02,167 of his ancestry, or his heritage, or his pedigree. 510 00:26:02,208 --> 00:26:05,333 And the calling on his life is that the world 511 00:26:05,375 --> 00:26:08,042 would come to know Jesus, 512 00:26:08,125 --> 00:26:10,042 and he's an apostle to the Gentiles. 513 00:26:10,125 --> 00:26:11,833 That's what he says elsewhere. 514 00:26:11,875 --> 00:26:15,333 And so what Paul is saying is, "I am being afflicted because 515 00:26:15,417 --> 00:26:18,208 I want people to meet Jesus." 516 00:26:18,292 --> 00:26:20,333 He said, "Because for many people, 517 00:26:20,417 --> 00:26:22,833 Jesus is still a mystery." 518 00:26:22,917 --> 00:26:24,458 You know what that means? 519 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:27,750 They've never heard of him, they don't know him. 520 00:26:27,833 --> 00:26:31,542 You and I walk through our life, and if you would know and love 521 00:26:31,625 --> 00:26:35,500 Jesus, you need to understand that there are many people 522 00:26:35,542 --> 00:26:37,500 who don't know and love Jesus. 523 00:26:37,542 --> 00:26:40,833 For them, he is still a total mystery. 524 00:26:40,917 --> 00:26:43,500 They don't know him, they've never met him, 525 00:26:43,542 --> 00:26:45,875 they don't understand him. 526 00:26:45,958 --> 00:26:48,000 And Paul is saying, "I'm in jail because 527 00:26:48,042 --> 00:26:50,167 "I want people to come to know Jesus 528 00:26:50,250 --> 00:26:54,583 "and my suffering is an opportunity for me 529 00:26:54,667 --> 00:26:57,333 to testify about Jesus." 530 00:26:57,417 --> 00:26:59,500 All of a sudden, people are paying attention to him. 531 00:26:59,542 --> 00:27:01,500 "Have you heard about that pastor in jail? 532 00:27:01,583 --> 00:27:03,667 "Have you heard why he's imprisoned? 533 00:27:03,708 --> 00:27:06,417 What is the issue surrounding him?" 534 00:27:06,500 --> 00:27:10,333 "Well, he seems to think that a man named Jesus was God. 535 00:27:10,417 --> 00:27:13,333 "He seems to think that we're all sinners and need a Savior. 536 00:27:13,417 --> 00:27:16,333 "He seems to think that this man, Jesus, died on a cross, 537 00:27:16,417 --> 00:27:18,125 "and that he rose from death, 538 00:27:18,167 --> 00:27:19,625 "and that he ascended into heaven, 539 00:27:19,667 --> 00:27:22,000 "that he's going to judge the living and the dead, 540 00:27:22,083 --> 00:27:24,208 "and that he calls all men everywhere to repent, 541 00:27:24,292 --> 00:27:26,208 "and it doesn't matter what race, or creed, 542 00:27:26,292 --> 00:27:27,625 "or tongue, or tribe, 543 00:27:27,667 --> 00:27:29,625 you're supposed to give your life to Jesus." 544 00:27:29,667 --> 00:27:31,042 "Really, that's what he believes?" 545 00:27:31,125 --> 00:27:33,458 So all of a sudden, Paul's whole goal is what? 546 00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:35,292 Get the word about Jesus out. 547 00:27:35,333 --> 00:27:37,375 And he's in jail and he says, "Actually, 548 00:27:37,458 --> 00:27:40,000 "this is a pretty good opportunity for my objective. 549 00:27:40,042 --> 00:27:44,167 "Now I've got more attention, more controversy around me 550 00:27:44,250 --> 00:27:47,667 "than ever, and it escalates and elevates the opportunity 551 00:27:47,750 --> 00:27:51,167 to talk to people about Jesus." 552 00:27:51,208 --> 00:27:53,792 And so Paul's understanding, first, 553 00:27:53,833 --> 00:27:57,583 of his affliction is he could be afflicted for others' good. 554 00:27:57,667 --> 00:27:59,500 It could help other people. 555 00:27:59,542 --> 00:28:01,333 It could serve other people. 556 00:28:01,417 --> 00:28:04,833 It could introduce other people to Jesus. 557 00:28:04,875 --> 00:28:08,958 Here's my question for you: how can you use your affliction 558 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,542 to help others come to know Jesus? 559 00:28:13,625 --> 00:28:16,708 How could you use your affliction to help others 560 00:28:16,792 --> 00:28:20,708 come to know or grow in Jesus? 561 00:28:20,792 --> 00:28:24,042 For those who have been afflicted, 562 00:28:24,125 --> 00:28:30,833 you have a powerful credibility, a powerful credibility, 563 00:28:30,875 --> 00:28:33,750 and I would say that your suffering, and your hurts, 564 00:28:33,833 --> 00:28:36,250 and the afflictions that you endure, 565 00:28:36,333 --> 00:28:38,500 they're going to cost you a lot. 566 00:28:38,542 --> 00:28:42,083 They're going to take a lot of your time, a lot of your energy. 567 00:28:42,167 --> 00:28:44,375 They're going to consume a lot of your life, 568 00:28:44,458 --> 00:28:46,292 so let's not waste them. 569 00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:49,292 Let's invest them in people. 570 00:28:49,333 --> 00:28:52,458 And I don't mean this to sound trivial or trite, 571 00:28:52,500 --> 00:28:54,667 I just want your suffering to be meaningful, 572 00:28:54,750 --> 00:28:57,042 and valuable, and purposeful. 573 00:28:57,125 --> 00:29:00,458 You're going to pay such a steep price for it, 574 00:29:00,500 --> 00:29:02,917 I want you to make a good investment with it. 575 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,458 That's what Paul's doing. 576 00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:07,125 Paul's in prison writing a letter to get 577 00:29:07,167 --> 00:29:09,833 the news out about Jesus. 578 00:29:09,875 --> 00:29:11,750 I mean, for Paul, it's amazing. 579 00:29:11,833 --> 00:29:13,167 He's in jail. 580 00:29:13,208 --> 00:29:16,042 "Well, I have free time, good time to write some Bible." 581 00:29:16,125 --> 00:29:18,958 He's going to write a book of the Bible and use it 582 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:20,917 to tell people about Jesus. 583 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,000 He's using that opportunity for others' good, 584 00:29:24,083 --> 00:29:26,833 and 2,000 years later, it's still helpful to us, 585 00:29:26,917 --> 00:29:29,000 so he's still serving us. 586 00:29:29,083 --> 00:29:34,833 I mean, he's that amazingly able by the power of God to have 587 00:29:34,917 --> 00:29:38,583 a ministry of encouragement in the midst of affliction. 588 00:29:38,667 --> 00:29:42,083 Let me tell you who some of my heroes are at Mars Hill Church: 589 00:29:42,167 --> 00:29:43,833 the Community Group leaders. 590 00:29:43,917 --> 00:29:46,167 Community Group leaders are people who open their home 591 00:29:46,208 --> 00:29:49,375 and they open their life, and anything they've learned, 592 00:29:49,458 --> 00:29:53,583 they want to deposit in someone else. 593 00:29:53,667 --> 00:29:55,750 Some of the real heroes at the church, 594 00:29:55,833 --> 00:29:58,000 Redemption Group leaders. 595 00:29:58,042 --> 00:30:00,750 Redemption Group leaders are those who help people 596 00:30:00,833 --> 00:30:04,875 who are hurting because of some sort of affliction: deep sins, 597 00:30:04,958 --> 00:30:08,750 struggle, abuse, things of that sort and kind. 598 00:30:08,833 --> 00:30:12,542 And what I find is, as soon as someone has endured some kind of 599 00:30:12,625 --> 00:30:15,667 affliction and they have learned and grown through it 600 00:30:15,750 --> 00:30:17,333 by the grace of God, 601 00:30:17,417 --> 00:30:19,875 as soon as they're honest enough to talk about it, 602 00:30:19,958 --> 00:30:24,250 all of a sudden people swarm to them because they trust them. 603 00:30:24,333 --> 00:30:27,000 It's amazing. 604 00:30:27,042 --> 00:30:29,167 I've noticed this with my wife, Grace. 605 00:30:29,250 --> 00:30:31,167 She's the best. 606 00:30:31,208 --> 00:30:33,500 She's super brave. In our book, "Real Marriage," 607 00:30:33,542 --> 00:30:36,000 she talked about her own assault and how she was 608 00:30:36,083 --> 00:30:38,917 an assault victim. 609 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:44,208 I constantly have people, women in particular, 610 00:30:44,292 --> 00:30:46,500 coming up to me with tears in their eyes: 611 00:30:46,583 --> 00:30:48,792 "Tell Grace thank you. 612 00:30:48,833 --> 00:30:52,500 "That she talked about her affliction encouraged me to talk 613 00:30:52,583 --> 00:30:55,333 about my affliction, and now I'm in a Redemption Group." 614 00:30:55,375 --> 00:30:58,417 Last week, it was no less than at least ten women. 615 00:30:58,500 --> 00:31:01,167 At least ten women walked up to me 616 00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:04,083 and said that very thing to my face. 617 00:31:04,167 --> 00:31:06,375 That's wonderful. 618 00:31:06,458 --> 00:31:09,042 Not that any of that has happened, 619 00:31:09,125 --> 00:31:12,167 but that you're invited to talk about it, and get help for it, 620 00:31:12,250 --> 00:31:14,375 and be in community with God's people, 621 00:31:14,458 --> 00:31:16,875 some of whom who've been through what you're going through 622 00:31:16,958 --> 00:31:19,667 and are there to love and support you and be community 623 00:31:19,750 --> 00:31:24,167 and family for you. 624 00:31:24,250 --> 00:31:26,750 What have you been through? 625 00:31:26,833 --> 00:31:29,083 What are you going through? 626 00:31:29,167 --> 00:31:31,667 What is God teaching you? 627 00:31:31,708 --> 00:31:35,292 How can you not waste it, but invest it? 628 00:31:35,333 --> 00:31:39,500 How could your suffering be the beginning of your ministry? 629 00:31:39,583 --> 00:31:43,208 And I don't want you to just-- I feel inclined to say this. 630 00:31:43,292 --> 00:31:46,792 What I see sometimes with very religious people is they examine 631 00:31:46,833 --> 00:31:48,667 their own life in a detached way. 632 00:31:48,750 --> 00:31:50,667 They don't really deal with their own struggles, 633 00:31:50,750 --> 00:31:52,833 and they're always just trying to think of principles 634 00:31:52,875 --> 00:31:54,208 to help others. 635 00:31:54,292 --> 00:31:55,625 I'm not talking about that. 636 00:31:55,667 --> 00:31:57,333 I'm talking about, you know, going through 637 00:31:57,375 --> 00:32:03,375 the deep difficulties of your trial, shedding your tears, 638 00:32:03,458 --> 00:32:07,458 being frustrated, having your questions, freaking out, 639 00:32:07,500 --> 00:32:11,667 grinding it out, and then sharing whatever it is 640 00:32:11,750 --> 00:32:16,333 that you've been learning out of an honest place. 641 00:32:21,167 --> 00:32:24,000 When he talks about the gospel, 642 00:32:24,042 --> 00:32:25,542 that's what he's talking about. 643 00:32:25,625 --> 00:32:27,792 It's good news. 644 00:32:27,833 --> 00:32:33,958 And friends, here's what's amazing: our God has chosen 645 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:38,292 to enter in and experience affliction, suffering, pain, 646 00:32:38,333 --> 00:32:42,500 poverty, rejection, and death. 647 00:32:42,542 --> 00:32:46,000 And the good news is that he has been where we are, 648 00:32:46,042 --> 00:32:50,958 he has been through where we are going, he has conquered death, 649 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,792 and sin, and hell, and the wrath of God, 650 00:32:53,833 --> 00:32:57,667 that he's alive to help and that as he helps others, 651 00:32:57,750 --> 00:33:02,542 he sends them to us that they might be a help to us, 652 00:33:02,625 --> 00:33:09,417 and then as we learn and grow, we can be a help to others. 653 00:33:09,500 --> 00:33:12,625 And this is why sometimes the most powerful ministries 654 00:33:12,667 --> 00:33:15,750 are born out of the deepest afflictions. 655 00:33:15,833 --> 00:33:18,333 Someone has gone through something terrible, 656 00:33:18,417 --> 00:33:21,000 and then by the grace of God they've learned some things, 657 00:33:21,083 --> 00:33:24,542 and as they tell their story, others flock to them and say, 658 00:33:24,625 --> 00:33:29,917 "That sounds like my life. Could you help me?" 659 00:33:31,833 --> 00:33:34,500 Afflicted for others' good. 660 00:33:34,542 --> 00:33:37,250 Number two, Paul says that you can be afflicted 661 00:33:37,333 --> 00:33:38,792 for your growth. 662 00:33:38,833 --> 00:33:42,500 So, you could help others and you too could mature and grow. 663 00:33:42,542 --> 00:33:43,875 He says, "Of this gospel," 664 00:33:43,958 --> 00:33:46,500 the good news of the God who suffers for us, 665 00:33:46,542 --> 00:33:48,375 and suffers like us, 666 00:33:48,458 --> 00:33:50,500 and will bring all suffering to an end, 667 00:33:50,542 --> 00:33:52,958 "I was made a minister according to the gift of 668 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,958 "God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 669 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,167 "To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, 670 00:33:59,250 --> 00:34:04,333 "this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable 671 00:34:04,375 --> 00:34:07,833 "riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is 672 00:34:07,875 --> 00:34:10,833 "the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God 673 00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:14,458 who created all things." 674 00:34:14,500 --> 00:34:18,750 What we see here is that Paul is--he is suffering 675 00:34:18,833 --> 00:34:22,458 and he is ministering, but he is also maturing. 676 00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:23,917 He's growing. 677 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,542 Do you see it in him? 678 00:34:25,625 --> 00:34:29,458 He says, "I minister by God's grace." 679 00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:31,167 There's humility there. 680 00:34:31,208 --> 00:34:33,875 "I'm Paul, I've learned a lot, I've had a great education, 681 00:34:33,958 --> 00:34:35,375 I have a lot of insight." 682 00:34:35,458 --> 00:34:36,792 He's not boasting. 683 00:34:36,833 --> 00:34:39,375 He says, "My ministry is by the grace of God." 684 00:34:39,458 --> 00:34:42,083 We see him growing and maturing. 685 00:34:42,167 --> 00:34:46,167 He says, "And everything I do is by the working of his power." 686 00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:49,042 The churches that get planted, the Scriptures that get written, 687 00:34:49,125 --> 00:34:51,583 the lives that get changed, the people that get saved, 688 00:34:51,667 --> 00:34:54,667 in Paul's ministry he says, "It's all by God's power. 689 00:34:54,750 --> 00:34:57,042 Anything that happens is by God's power." 690 00:34:57,125 --> 00:34:59,167 Again, there's humility there, and he's growing, 691 00:34:59,208 --> 00:35:01,167 and he's maturing. 692 00:35:01,208 --> 00:35:03,708 He says he's the least of all the saints. 693 00:35:03,792 --> 00:35:05,833 He's recognizing that he's a sinner, 694 00:35:05,917 --> 00:35:07,833 that he needs the grace of God, 695 00:35:07,917 --> 00:35:10,167 that he's no better than anyone else. 696 00:35:10,208 --> 00:35:13,333 He's just received much grace. 697 00:35:13,417 --> 00:35:16,542 There's a humility, again, that is there and his self-awareness 698 00:35:16,625 --> 00:35:20,750 is--it's increasing and growing. 699 00:35:20,833 --> 00:35:24,167 He sees himself in light of his Savior. 700 00:35:24,208 --> 00:35:26,333 He's not comparing himself to others and thinking, 701 00:35:26,417 --> 00:35:27,750 "I'm a pretty good person." 702 00:35:27,833 --> 00:35:29,750 He's comparing himself to Jesus and saying, 703 00:35:29,833 --> 00:35:34,375 "I'm the least of the saints," saying, 704 00:35:34,458 --> 00:35:36,792 "There's people in the church that are more godly 705 00:35:36,833 --> 00:35:38,458 "and holy than me. 706 00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:41,458 "The reason I get to do what I get to do is, 707 00:35:41,500 --> 00:35:42,833 "back to the point, 708 00:35:42,917 --> 00:35:44,583 by God's grace and by God's power." 709 00:35:44,667 --> 00:35:47,167 Paul's growing and maturing. 710 00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:49,583 "To preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches 711 00:35:49,667 --> 00:35:51,250 of Christ." 712 00:35:51,333 --> 00:35:53,167 He says, ultimately, God does all these things, 713 00:35:53,250 --> 00:35:55,375 and the reason that God grows us is this, 714 00:35:55,458 --> 00:35:57,083 and I want you to see this. 715 00:35:57,167 --> 00:35:59,500 The reason we can grow and mature in our faith 716 00:35:59,542 --> 00:36:01,542 is not so that we would be mature, 717 00:36:01,625 --> 00:36:03,750 but so that other people would come to know 718 00:36:03,833 --> 00:36:05,167 Jesus or grow in him. 719 00:36:05,208 --> 00:36:08,125 He says, that's the point, “to bring to light for everyone what 720 00:36:08,167 --> 00:36:10,750 "is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God 721 00:36:10,833 --> 00:36:13,167 who created all,” “to preach to the Gentiles 722 00:36:13,208 --> 00:36:15,000 the unsearchable riches of Christ." 723 00:36:15,083 --> 00:36:20,208 What he's saying is this: "I am suffering but I am growing, 724 00:36:20,292 --> 00:36:23,333 "and that's amazing because I get to tell more people 725 00:36:23,417 --> 00:36:27,708 about Jesus." 726 00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:38,167 I know some of you are just devastated. 727 00:36:38,208 --> 00:36:41,875 I know that right now it feels, day by day, 728 00:36:41,958 --> 00:36:46,958 like you are just hanging on barely. 729 00:36:49,333 --> 00:36:51,375 I know some of you fight depression, 730 00:36:51,458 --> 00:36:53,583 and discouragement, and despair. 731 00:36:53,667 --> 00:36:56,250 I know that some of you are right on the border 732 00:36:56,333 --> 00:36:58,458 of hopelessness. 733 00:36:58,500 --> 00:37:01,667 I know the last thing you want to hear is more points 734 00:37:01,708 --> 00:37:08,417 and principles, that you've had enough self-help and self-talk. 735 00:37:11,625 --> 00:37:16,167 But God could use this season 736 00:37:16,208 --> 00:37:20,333 to make you more like Jesus, 737 00:37:20,417 --> 00:37:24,667 and let me say, if one of the great goals of your life 738 00:37:24,708 --> 00:37:27,417 is to become more like Jesus, 739 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:29,833 then even though it's a horrible season, 740 00:37:29,917 --> 00:37:33,042 it also could be--and I don't want to make light of it 741 00:37:33,125 --> 00:37:35,167 or be religious about it-- 742 00:37:35,250 --> 00:37:38,292 it also could be a wonderful season. 743 00:37:38,333 --> 00:37:41,375 It could be. 744 00:37:41,458 --> 00:37:47,042 Again, if you're going to go through it, don't waste it. 745 00:37:49,833 --> 00:37:53,042 I was talking to a father recently. 746 00:37:53,125 --> 00:37:59,042 He said, "We have had a succession of miscarriages 747 00:37:59,125 --> 00:38:01,833 and it's devastating because we want to be parents." 748 00:38:01,917 --> 00:38:04,833 A lovely couple. 749 00:38:04,917 --> 00:38:09,208 He said, "But the fact that God is a Father 750 00:38:09,292 --> 00:38:12,500 "and Christ is mentioned as the Son of God, 751 00:38:12,583 --> 00:38:14,833 "and that he died, 752 00:38:14,875 --> 00:38:17,667 and that our Father lost his Son," he said, 753 00:38:17,708 --> 00:38:21,667 "I've never felt that like I do now." 754 00:38:21,708 --> 00:38:27,042 He's growing through his suffering. 755 00:38:27,125 --> 00:38:31,042 I had a woman come up to me recently holding a small child 756 00:38:31,125 --> 00:38:34,250 and holding the hand of another, crying. 757 00:38:34,333 --> 00:38:39,167 "Pastor Mark, my husband left us." 758 00:38:39,250 --> 00:38:42,000 I mean, she is terrified. 759 00:38:42,042 --> 00:38:48,667 She said, "I don't even know where he's at." 760 00:38:48,750 --> 00:38:52,000 She said--it's very interesting, though-- 761 00:38:52,042 --> 00:38:55,000 she said, "And in the middle of it all, 762 00:38:55,042 --> 00:38:59,083 "I just realize how evil it is that we turn our back on God 763 00:38:59,167 --> 00:39:02,042 and walk away from him." 764 00:39:02,125 --> 00:39:06,042 She said, "I've never felt how horrific that is until 765 00:39:06,125 --> 00:39:09,417 I'm the one that's walked away from." 766 00:39:09,500 --> 00:39:13,458 She said, "But I've walked away from him." 767 00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:18,625 She's growing through her suffering. 768 00:39:20,708 --> 00:39:23,250 I was talking to someone recently and they said, 769 00:39:23,333 --> 00:39:30,042 "Cancer is highly evolved and I only have a short time to live, 770 00:39:30,125 --> 00:39:34,083 "and there's nothing left that can be done. 771 00:39:34,167 --> 00:39:38,792 Apart from a miracle, my life is near its end." 772 00:39:38,833 --> 00:39:42,083 And he said, "You know, I always heard that Jesus died, 773 00:39:42,167 --> 00:39:44,667 "and now that I'm facing my own death, 774 00:39:44,750 --> 00:39:49,167 "I realize what a massive sacrifice and gift that was that 775 00:39:49,208 --> 00:39:54,875 "God would come, knowing that he would die, and emotionally, 776 00:39:54,958 --> 00:39:59,000 as I head into death," he said, "I appreciate that Jesus 777 00:39:59,042 --> 00:40:01,375 "died for me more than ever in a way 778 00:40:01,458 --> 00:40:03,292 that I've never understood before." 779 00:40:03,333 --> 00:40:07,500 In his suffering, he's maturing. 780 00:40:07,542 --> 00:40:12,000 In his suffering, he's maturing. 781 00:40:12,042 --> 00:40:16,000 So, my question for you, friend, is: 782 00:40:16,042 --> 00:40:18,667 how could your affliction 783 00:40:18,750 --> 00:40:21,292 help you to grow spiritually? 784 00:40:21,333 --> 00:40:25,875 How could it cause you to appreciate Jesus more, 785 00:40:25,958 --> 00:40:28,167 because he's been through either what you're going through 786 00:40:28,250 --> 00:40:31,167 or something very similar? 787 00:40:31,208 --> 00:40:38,000 Knowing that not only was Christ afflicted for us, 788 00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:42,500 Christ was afflicted by us. 789 00:40:42,542 --> 00:40:45,333 When he died on the cross, he died for our sins. 790 00:40:45,375 --> 00:40:48,833 That means that we're responsible for his affliction. 791 00:40:48,875 --> 00:40:53,792 We hurt him, we abandoned him, we betrayed him, 792 00:40:53,833 --> 00:40:59,125 we abused him, we murdered him. 793 00:40:59,167 --> 00:41:04,333 And he loves us, and he forgives us, and he rises to embrace us. 794 00:41:04,417 --> 00:41:09,083 How could your affliction cause you to appreciate Jesus more, 795 00:41:09,167 --> 00:41:12,500 and then become more like him? 796 00:41:12,542 --> 00:41:16,458 Become more like him as you go through something like 797 00:41:16,500 --> 00:41:19,458 what he went through. 798 00:41:19,500 --> 00:41:24,667 And so affliction can be for your growth. 799 00:41:24,750 --> 00:41:27,042 This is why sometimes when you talk to people, 800 00:41:27,125 --> 00:41:30,542 and I don't know about you, sometimes I sort of cringe. 801 00:41:30,625 --> 00:41:33,292 They say, "Oh, it was hard, but I wouldn't trade it 802 00:41:33,333 --> 00:41:34,667 for anything." 803 00:41:34,750 --> 00:41:36,083 Like, really? 804 00:41:36,167 --> 00:41:38,500 But when you talk to honest saints who've been through 805 00:41:38,583 --> 00:41:45,000 real hardship, they will say things, sincerely, like, 806 00:41:45,083 --> 00:41:49,500 "I never wanted it, I would have never chosen it, 807 00:41:49,542 --> 00:41:52,125 "I don't want anyone else to go through it, 808 00:41:52,167 --> 00:41:57,917 "but I wouldn't trade it because I learned so much about Jesus 809 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:04,500 "and I became more like Jesus, and so I cherish whatever it is 810 00:42:04,542 --> 00:42:08,583 "that I have gone through because of what I have learned 811 00:42:08,667 --> 00:42:10,458 and how I’ve changed." 812 00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:13,833 Is that true for you? 813 00:42:13,917 --> 00:42:20,833 It beats bitterness, it beats wasting your suffering. 814 00:42:20,917 --> 00:42:24,500 I mean, if you and I would keep these two things in mind, 815 00:42:24,542 --> 00:42:28,042 God could actually use the hardest parts of our life 816 00:42:28,125 --> 00:42:30,292 to be the sweetest parts of our life, 817 00:42:30,333 --> 00:42:32,667 to use the most painful parts of our story 818 00:42:32,750 --> 00:42:35,167 to be the most encouraging parts of our story 819 00:42:35,208 --> 00:42:38,792 for someone else. 820 00:42:38,833 --> 00:42:42,083 And man, it's just hard for me to deliver this 821 00:42:42,167 --> 00:42:47,500 because I don't know what your circumstances are. 822 00:42:47,542 --> 00:42:49,792 I don't know what it is you're going through. 823 00:42:49,833 --> 00:42:52,833 For Paul, I know he's in prison because he serves Jesus. 824 00:42:52,917 --> 00:42:55,583 I don't know what your affliction is 825 00:42:55,667 --> 00:42:57,583 or what your circumstances are. 826 00:42:57,667 --> 00:42:59,000 I do know this: 827 00:42:59,042 --> 00:43:01,750 if you just took all the women at Mars Hill Church 828 00:43:01,833 --> 00:43:04,708 that call this church "home," and you took all the women 829 00:43:04,792 --> 00:43:06,542 that were sexual assault victims, 830 00:43:06,625 --> 00:43:08,500 we'd still have a megachurch. 831 00:43:08,583 --> 00:43:11,750 I know that there is a lot of suffering that happens in this 832 00:43:11,833 --> 00:43:14,708 church and I know that people who walk into this church are 833 00:43:14,792 --> 00:43:18,542 not just walking in from some pain-free, simple existence. 834 00:43:18,625 --> 00:43:21,500 They're coming in with very difficult circumstances that 835 00:43:21,583 --> 00:43:25,500 they are struggling through. 836 00:43:25,583 --> 00:43:28,542 And so Paul's two questions are: is there a way that you 837 00:43:28,625 --> 00:43:33,250 could use what you're going through to help others 838 00:43:33,333 --> 00:43:36,375 and to grow personally 839 00:43:36,458 --> 00:43:40,833 so it's good for them and it's good for you? 840 00:43:40,917 --> 00:43:45,958 And then his third point is that we can be afflicted 841 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:48,083 for God's glory. 842 00:43:48,167 --> 00:43:50,667 And I want you to see what he does here. 843 00:43:50,750 --> 00:43:52,792 He says affliction could be good for you, 844 00:43:52,833 --> 00:43:56,000 it could be good for them, and it could be good for him, 845 00:43:56,042 --> 00:43:58,792 that God could use even the worst things to do these 846 00:43:58,833 --> 00:44:01,208 wonderful things. 847 00:44:01,292 --> 00:44:03,958 Here's how he says it in Ephesians 3:10-13: 848 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,458 "So that through the church," that's us together, 849 00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:11,208 "the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to 850 00:44:11,292 --> 00:44:14,708 "the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 851 00:44:14,792 --> 00:44:17,500 "This was according to the eternal purpose that 852 00:44:17,583 --> 00:44:20,458 "he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 853 00:44:20,500 --> 00:44:23,208 "in whom we have boldness and access with confidence 854 00:44:23,292 --> 00:44:28,208 through our faith in him." 855 00:44:32,125 --> 00:44:35,458 That's it right there. 856 00:44:35,500 --> 00:44:39,375 "So I ask you to not," what? 857 00:44:39,458 --> 00:44:41,792 "Lose heart." 858 00:44:41,833 --> 00:44:44,167 Is he saying, "I don't want you to grieve"? 859 00:44:44,208 --> 00:44:45,875 Is that what he's saying? 860 00:44:45,958 --> 00:44:47,583 No. 861 00:44:47,667 --> 00:44:50,583 Is he saying, "I don't want you to be sad"? 862 00:44:50,667 --> 00:44:52,333 Is that what he's saying? 863 00:44:52,417 --> 00:44:53,833 No. 864 00:44:53,917 --> 00:44:56,583 Is he saying, "I don't want you to talk about it"? 865 00:44:56,667 --> 00:44:58,000 Is that what he's saying? 866 00:44:58,042 --> 00:44:59,792 No. 867 00:44:59,833 --> 00:45:04,250 What he's saying is--he's saying, 868 00:45:04,333 --> 00:45:06,667 "Please don't lose heart." 869 00:45:06,708 --> 00:45:10,833 Mars Hill, would you please not lose heart. 870 00:45:10,917 --> 00:45:17,667 I see it in the faces of people who they have lost heart. 871 00:45:19,333 --> 00:45:21,417 They're not going to fight for their marriage, 872 00:45:21,500 --> 00:45:23,417 they're not going to fight for their kids, 873 00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:25,417 they're not going to fight for their health, 874 00:45:25,500 --> 00:45:27,417 they're not going to fight for their joy, 875 00:45:27,500 --> 00:45:29,417 they're not going to fight for their future. 876 00:45:29,500 --> 00:45:31,167 They lose heart. 877 00:45:31,208 --> 00:45:35,292 There's something worse than being afflicted, 878 00:45:35,333 --> 00:45:40,542 and that's being afflicted and losing heart. 879 00:45:44,125 --> 00:45:46,500 You know the number one category of prescription medications 880 00:45:46,542 --> 00:45:49,500 in the U.S. is anti-depressants? 881 00:45:49,542 --> 00:45:52,833 And others self-medicate with food, and drugs, and alcohol, 882 00:45:52,917 --> 00:45:56,250 and gambling, and shopping, and extreme sports, 883 00:45:56,333 --> 00:46:00,750 and adrenaline highs, and all kinds of things. 884 00:46:00,833 --> 00:46:04,625 Much of our life is spent trying to live 885 00:46:04,667 --> 00:46:09,125 after we have lost heart. 886 00:46:09,167 --> 00:46:12,333 And so what happens, then, is we get motivational speakers, 887 00:46:12,417 --> 00:46:14,167 right? 888 00:46:14,208 --> 00:46:16,542 They just get you excited. 889 00:46:16,625 --> 00:46:20,208 And we have a Christian version of the motivational speaker. 890 00:46:20,292 --> 00:46:23,250 They say the same things that the regular motivational speaker 891 00:46:23,333 --> 00:46:27,667 does, but they use verses that don't really apply, 892 00:46:27,708 --> 00:46:29,833 but they say them confidently and loudly, 893 00:46:29,917 --> 00:46:33,958 and so most Christians think it's close enough. 894 00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,083 And then the goal is to get a bunch of people together 895 00:46:37,167 --> 00:46:39,333 and turn it into a huge pep assembly, 896 00:46:39,417 --> 00:46:46,000 and my job is just to pump you up full of joy and happiness. 897 00:46:50,667 --> 00:46:54,875 We're not going to pretend that everything's okay. 898 00:46:54,958 --> 00:46:57,792 We're not going to pretend that everybody's okay. 899 00:46:57,833 --> 00:47:00,708 We're not going to tell you to go to Community Group 900 00:47:00,792 --> 00:47:03,833 and do this: "How are you?" "Fine, how are you?" 901 00:47:03,875 --> 00:47:06,625 "Fine." "Good." 902 00:47:06,667 --> 00:47:08,958 I mean, that's the answer, right? 903 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:11,833 And let's say your dog died that week, 904 00:47:11,917 --> 00:47:14,500 and you got hit by a car, and your mom died. 905 00:47:14,583 --> 00:47:16,542 You'd say, "I'm okay." 906 00:47:16,625 --> 00:47:20,250 That's how we answer the question. 907 00:47:20,333 --> 00:47:25,625 It's okay to say, "Hard season, hard life, hard week, 908 00:47:25,667 --> 00:47:31,750 tough times," so that we can know one another, 909 00:47:31,833 --> 00:47:33,625 so that we could love one another, 910 00:47:33,667 --> 00:47:35,375 so that we could serve one another, 911 00:47:35,458 --> 00:47:41,333 so that we could help one another not to lose heart. 912 00:47:41,417 --> 00:47:45,167 Have you lost heart? 913 00:47:45,250 --> 00:47:48,167 Are you losing heart? 914 00:47:48,208 --> 00:47:50,458 Are you giving up? 915 00:47:50,500 --> 00:47:53,792 Are you giving in? 916 00:47:53,833 --> 00:47:56,583 He says, "So I ask you." 917 00:47:56,667 --> 00:48:00,625 So apparently it's a decision that you and I have to make. 918 00:48:00,667 --> 00:48:04,333 It's a decision that we have to make. 919 00:48:04,417 --> 00:48:08,333 "So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering 920 00:48:08,417 --> 00:48:13,333 for you, which is your glory." 921 00:48:13,375 --> 00:48:15,125 So back in Ephesus, 922 00:48:15,167 --> 00:48:17,000 all the people are losing heart. 923 00:48:17,083 --> 00:48:20,000 "Oh no, our pastor loves Jesus, and he's in jail far away 924 00:48:20,083 --> 00:48:22,833 "in Rome, and we don't know if he'll live or die. 925 00:48:22,875 --> 00:48:24,333 "Maybe they're abusing him. 926 00:48:24,417 --> 00:48:26,167 Who knows what they're doing to him?" 927 00:48:26,208 --> 00:48:28,958 Jail in that day, friends, it was a horrible thing. 928 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,333 Some think they have found Paul's jail cell in Rome. 929 00:48:31,417 --> 00:48:33,667 I've not been there but I've seen the photos. 930 00:48:33,708 --> 00:48:39,000 It's a hole--literally a hole in the ground; cramped, dark, cold, 931 00:48:39,042 --> 00:48:42,167 wet, dirty quarters. 932 00:48:42,208 --> 00:48:44,833 Some of the Roman jail cells, they stacked prisoners 933 00:48:44,917 --> 00:48:47,500 one on the other with a grate between them, 934 00:48:47,542 --> 00:48:49,583 which means when you go to the bathroom, 935 00:48:49,667 --> 00:48:52,500 you go to the bathroom on the guy underneath you. 936 00:48:52,542 --> 00:48:56,250 I mean, these are horrific ancient conditions. 937 00:48:56,333 --> 00:48:59,750 I don't know where Paul is at, but let's say he's in a hole 938 00:48:59,833 --> 00:49:02,833 like that, with a little bit of daylight, 939 00:49:02,917 --> 00:49:05,750 trying to scratch out on whatever piece of paper 940 00:49:05,833 --> 00:49:08,542 has been made available to him. 941 00:49:08,625 --> 00:49:11,208 And this is a guy who's walked 20 miles a day. 942 00:49:11,292 --> 00:49:13,667 He's been shipwrecked, homeless, beaten, left for dead, 943 00:49:13,708 --> 00:49:17,458 marks the beatings all over his body, 944 00:49:17,500 --> 00:49:19,167 and he's down on his knees, 945 00:49:19,208 --> 00:49:21,208 and he can't be near his church. 946 00:49:21,292 --> 00:49:23,042 And he knows far away in Ephesus, 947 00:49:23,125 --> 00:49:25,417 his church is struggling, and people are losing heart. 948 00:49:25,500 --> 00:49:28,333 And he tells them, "Please don't lose heart." 949 00:49:28,417 --> 00:49:31,542 See, Paul has not lost heart. 950 00:49:31,625 --> 00:49:34,333 He says, "I am suffering." 951 00:49:34,417 --> 00:49:38,667 Mars Hill, I want you to know it's okay to say that. 952 00:49:38,708 --> 00:49:41,375 It's okay, Paul does. 953 00:49:41,458 --> 00:49:46,750 He says, "I am suffering." 954 00:49:46,833 --> 00:49:50,583 He says, "But it's a glory." 955 00:49:50,667 --> 00:49:53,667 You can suffer for the good of others, for your own growth, 956 00:49:53,750 --> 00:49:57,083 and the glory of God. 957 00:49:57,167 --> 00:49:59,875 He's suffering for the glory of God. 958 00:49:59,958 --> 00:50:02,083 We learn something about the heart of God 959 00:50:02,167 --> 00:50:03,958 through the suffering of Paul. 960 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,167 We see some reflection of Jesus. 961 00:50:06,250 --> 00:50:09,583 See, glory means to reflect. 962 00:50:09,667 --> 00:50:13,167 So, Jesus comes, and lives, and dies, and suffers for us, 963 00:50:13,250 --> 00:50:16,500 and then we see some of that reflected in the life of Paul. 964 00:50:16,542 --> 00:50:18,792 Huh, he doesn't hate his enemies, he loves them. 965 00:50:18,833 --> 00:50:20,875 He's not complaining, he's worshiping. 966 00:50:20,958 --> 00:50:23,667 He's being honest, but he's not lost heart. 967 00:50:23,750 --> 00:50:27,542 Paul, here, is reflecting a little bit of Jesus. 968 00:50:27,625 --> 00:50:29,667 See a little bit of Jesus in Paul, 969 00:50:29,708 --> 00:50:31,667 see a little bit of Jesus through Paul. 970 00:50:31,708 --> 00:50:34,375 That's what it means to be in Christ and for Christ 971 00:50:34,458 --> 00:50:35,792 to be in you. 972 00:50:35,833 --> 00:50:37,167 So, his identity's secure. 973 00:50:37,250 --> 00:50:40,000 Now, his freedom's not secure, his health is not secure, 974 00:50:40,083 --> 00:50:43,083 his future's not secure, his reputation's not secure, 975 00:50:43,167 --> 00:50:45,375 but his identity's secure. 976 00:50:45,458 --> 00:50:48,000 "Jesus loves me, I love him. 977 00:50:48,083 --> 00:50:51,208 "I'm suffering because he loves me and I love him, 978 00:50:51,292 --> 00:50:55,708 and that is a glory." 979 00:50:55,792 --> 00:50:58,500 What a great honor it is to suffer 980 00:50:58,583 --> 00:51:00,667 for the name of Jesus. 981 00:51:00,708 --> 00:51:02,583 What a great honor it is 982 00:51:02,667 --> 00:51:06,083 to be able to suffer by the grace of God like Jesus 983 00:51:06,167 --> 00:51:08,292 so that others would receive good, 984 00:51:08,333 --> 00:51:11,083 that you might grow, and that God might be glorified 985 00:51:11,167 --> 00:51:13,875 and others might see something of the character of Jesus. 986 00:51:13,958 --> 00:51:16,333 What he's saying is this: that as we're suffering, 987 00:51:16,417 --> 00:51:20,083 we need to remember that many are watching. 988 00:51:20,167 --> 00:51:21,833 He gives us a list. 989 00:51:21,917 --> 00:51:25,583 He says, "Satan and demons are watching." 990 00:51:25,667 --> 00:51:31,333 They're watching the afflictions of the children of God. 991 00:51:31,417 --> 00:51:33,833 He tells us, as well, that angels are watching. 992 00:51:33,875 --> 00:51:36,083 He talks about the heavenly powers and such. 993 00:51:36,167 --> 00:51:38,917 Angels are watching to see how God's people 994 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,208 respond to affliction and suffering. 995 00:51:42,292 --> 00:51:44,583 In addition, that others are watching. 996 00:51:44,667 --> 00:51:46,708 I mean, here it's those who are in Rome. 997 00:51:46,792 --> 00:51:48,917 I don't know who it is in your life. 998 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:50,417 Here it's the church in Ephesus. 999 00:51:50,500 --> 00:51:52,625 It is people in our church as well. 1000 00:51:52,667 --> 00:51:55,417 Those who are family and friends of Paul are watching, 1001 00:51:55,500 --> 00:51:58,500 and here it is your family, and friends, and neighbors, 1002 00:51:58,542 --> 00:52:00,250 and coworkers who are watching. 1003 00:52:00,333 --> 00:52:02,667 And what he says is sometimes when we are afflicted, 1004 00:52:02,750 --> 00:52:05,375 and life is hard, and we are frustrated, and it hurts, 1005 00:52:05,458 --> 00:52:08,083 and we're losing heart, and we want it to stop, 1006 00:52:08,167 --> 00:52:11,500 and we want it to be over, and we want to be done, 1007 00:52:11,542 --> 00:52:13,167 and, "Am I finished now?" 1008 00:52:13,250 --> 00:52:15,500 and, "God, do you care? Will you show up?" 1009 00:52:15,542 --> 00:52:17,250 and, "Will it ever end?" 1010 00:52:17,333 --> 00:52:19,000 and, "Are the promises true?" 1011 00:52:19,042 --> 00:52:20,542 and, "Are you even listening?" 1012 00:52:20,625 --> 00:52:23,875 He says, "Remember, a lot of people are watching." 1013 00:52:23,958 --> 00:52:28,083 And this is an enormous opportunity for you to glorify 1014 00:52:28,167 --> 00:52:34,375 God, and so it's okay to say, "I'm suffering," 1015 00:52:34,458 --> 00:52:36,542 but don't lose heart. 1016 00:52:36,625 --> 00:52:40,667 God can be glorified. 1017 00:52:40,750 --> 00:52:43,583 We can learn more about Jesus, we can become more like Jesus, 1018 00:52:43,667 --> 00:52:48,833 and we can react and respond in a way that is like Jesus. 1019 00:52:51,458 --> 00:52:54,167 Who's watching you? 1020 00:52:54,250 --> 00:52:58,958 Children, spouse, family, 1021 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:03,625 friends, coworkers, neighbors, 1022 00:53:03,667 --> 00:53:07,542 Community Group, Redemption Group, enemies, 1023 00:53:07,625 --> 00:53:14,000 critics, people you don't even know are watching. 1024 00:53:14,083 --> 00:53:16,917 When you talk about it in social media, 1025 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:20,667 we have an opportunity to have more people watching 1026 00:53:20,708 --> 00:53:24,833 what we're doing than at any time in history. 1027 00:53:24,917 --> 00:53:28,833 Who's watching? 1028 00:53:28,917 --> 00:53:30,917 God is watching. 1029 00:53:33,625 --> 00:53:36,542 God is watching. 1030 00:53:36,625 --> 00:53:43,458 He loves you, he grieves with you, he's been where you are, 1031 00:53:43,500 --> 00:53:50,083 and he's in the place where you are going. 1032 00:53:50,167 --> 00:53:53,375 A couple of things in closing, 1033 00:53:53,458 --> 00:53:57,292 just practical things from your pastor. 1034 00:53:57,333 --> 00:54:02,333 Number one, I encourage you to be honest. 1035 00:54:02,417 --> 00:54:06,042 True or false: Paul's honest? 1036 00:54:06,125 --> 00:54:09,167 "I'm in prison and I'm suffering." 1037 00:54:09,208 --> 00:54:11,958 Pretty honest. 1038 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:14,250 It's good to be honest. 1039 00:54:14,333 --> 00:54:16,458 I would encourage you to be honest. 1040 00:54:16,500 --> 00:54:18,458 Be honest with the Lord, 1041 00:54:18,500 --> 00:54:22,500 be honest with the Lord's people. 1042 00:54:22,583 --> 00:54:26,542 Number two, talking about it helps. 1043 00:54:26,625 --> 00:54:28,833 It helps you and it helps others. 1044 00:54:28,917 --> 00:54:33,250 True or false: knowing Paul's circumstances and situation, 1045 00:54:33,333 --> 00:54:35,958 do you love him more or less? 1046 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:37,833 Do you love him more or less? 1047 00:54:37,917 --> 00:54:39,542 Love more, why? 1048 00:54:39,625 --> 00:54:42,333 Because you know him, because he reveals who he is, 1049 00:54:42,417 --> 00:54:44,667 he tells you who he is. 1050 00:54:44,708 --> 00:54:48,375 Some of you don't burden anyone with anything. 1051 00:54:48,458 --> 00:54:50,958 You don't share anything. 1052 00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,875 You think, "Well, I need to be self-sufficient." 1053 00:54:53,958 --> 00:54:59,875 Look, you don't need to be any holier than Paul, okay? 1054 00:54:59,958 --> 00:55:02,958 You don't need to be any tougher than Paul. 1055 00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,917 You don't need to be any more godly than Paul. 1056 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:10,333 If Paul talks about his suffering, his affliction, 1057 00:55:10,417 --> 00:55:12,500 it's okay for you to talk about your suffering 1058 00:55:12,583 --> 00:55:14,458 and your affliction. 1059 00:55:14,500 --> 00:55:16,708 Some of you have things you've never told anyone; 1060 00:55:16,792 --> 00:55:18,708 they're your secrets. 1061 00:55:18,792 --> 00:55:22,042 You need to talk to the Lord about those things and somebody 1062 00:55:22,125 --> 00:55:25,542 you trust: spouse, parent, biblical counselor, 1063 00:55:25,625 --> 00:55:27,542 church leader, Community Group, 1064 00:55:27,625 --> 00:55:29,542 Redemption Group, after-service prayer. 1065 00:55:29,625 --> 00:55:33,833 You've got to talk to somebody. 1066 00:55:33,917 --> 00:55:36,542 That'll help them not lose heart, 1067 00:55:36,625 --> 00:55:41,792 it'll help you not lose heart, it'll allow you to be known 1068 00:55:41,833 --> 00:55:45,500 and loved, it'll give them an opportunity to know 1069 00:55:45,542 --> 00:55:47,292 and love you. 1070 00:55:47,333 --> 00:55:49,750 That's what Paul's doing. 1071 00:55:49,833 --> 00:55:55,833 Number three, sometimes comfort is better than an answer. 1072 00:56:01,083 --> 00:56:05,917 Paul isn't giving them an answer. 1073 00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:09,958 He's not saying, "But I'm--you know, my trial will go well, 1074 00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:13,208 "and I'm sure that I will win, and then I shall be released, 1075 00:56:13,292 --> 00:56:15,250 and I will go preach another church." 1076 00:56:15,333 --> 00:56:19,250 You know, no, he doesn't know what the future holds, 1077 00:56:19,333 --> 00:56:23,958 and he's not looking for an answer for his suffering, 1078 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:27,500 and he's not providing an answer for their suffering. 1079 00:56:27,583 --> 00:56:30,833 He's saying, "Well, God can be glorified, we can grow, 1080 00:56:30,917 --> 00:56:32,833 "and we could do good for others. 1081 00:56:32,875 --> 00:56:37,750 So, that's what we do know." 1082 00:56:37,833 --> 00:56:41,875 Where I have erred as a father, and a pastor, 1083 00:56:41,958 --> 00:56:45,792 and a husband is on the occasions 1084 00:56:45,833 --> 00:56:48,667 where I've tried to provide answers 1085 00:56:48,750 --> 00:56:53,250 and I should have just provided comfort. 1086 00:56:53,333 --> 00:56:59,083 That sometimes people don't need an enormous syllogism, 1087 00:56:59,167 --> 00:57:01,458 they need somebody to put an arm around them, 1088 00:57:01,500 --> 00:57:05,750 and to pray for them, and to just be there with them. 1089 00:57:05,833 --> 00:57:08,667 Just to be there. 1090 00:57:08,708 --> 00:57:11,667 I was going through a hard season about, I don't know, 1091 00:57:11,708 --> 00:57:15,000 a couple years ago, and my best friend, Grace, 1092 00:57:15,083 --> 00:57:18,542 she comes up to me and she says, "What can I do for you?" 1093 00:57:18,625 --> 00:57:21,167 I said, "Just be with me." 1094 00:57:21,208 --> 00:57:24,125 I said, "Could you just be with me?" 1095 00:57:24,167 --> 00:57:26,500 She says, "Well, do you need to talk about anything?" 1096 00:57:26,583 --> 00:57:29,167 I said, "I don't think there's an answer or a solution, 1097 00:57:29,208 --> 00:57:31,958 I just need a friend." 1098 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,792 Just her holding my hand and sitting with me, 1099 00:57:34,833 --> 00:57:38,333 that's what I needed. 1100 00:57:38,417 --> 00:57:40,583 See, God doesn't always give us an answer, 1101 00:57:40,667 --> 00:57:42,292 but he gives us his presence. 1102 00:57:42,333 --> 00:57:45,667 He says he'll never leave us nor forsake us. 1103 00:57:45,708 --> 00:57:49,875 And as God's people, sometimes we can't provide an answer, 1104 00:57:49,958 --> 00:57:52,500 but we can provide a comfort. 1105 00:57:52,542 --> 00:57:56,958 We can just be there, just be there. 1106 00:58:00,833 --> 00:58:04,958 I think I'll leave it at that. 1107 00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:07,917 If you're not a Christian, I want you to bring your sin 1108 00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,250 and your suffering to Jesus. 1109 00:58:10,333 --> 00:58:15,958 I want you to be forgiven and I want you to be served by him. 1110 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:19,750 If you are a Christian, I invite you to be honest with Jesus 1111 00:58:19,833 --> 00:58:24,167 and people you trust to say things like Paul did. 1112 00:58:24,208 --> 00:58:31,042 "I'm suffering, hard season, hard life." 1113 00:58:31,125 --> 00:58:36,875 And my hope for you, 1114 00:58:36,958 --> 00:58:38,875 my pleading with you, 1115 00:58:38,958 --> 00:58:43,167 my affection toward you is the same as Paul's. 1116 00:58:43,250 --> 00:58:46,375 I ask you to not lose heart. 1117 00:58:46,458 --> 00:58:51,500 And I hope that as you examine your own afflictions, 1118 00:58:51,542 --> 00:58:56,250 you would simply ask these questions: how could this be 1119 00:58:56,333 --> 00:59:01,333 used for others' good, how could this be used for my growth, 1120 00:59:01,417 --> 00:59:05,042 and how could this be used for his glory? 1121 00:59:05,125 --> 00:59:07,833 And I believe that's the way that we prevent 1122 00:59:07,917 --> 00:59:10,833 the losing of hope. 1123 00:59:10,875 --> 00:59:13,250 Father God, I thank you for an opportunity to teach 1124 00:59:13,333 --> 00:59:16,208 the Bible at Mars Hill Church. 1125 00:59:16,292 --> 00:59:20,250 God, I thank you that we have an opportunity to go through books 1126 00:59:20,333 --> 00:59:24,542 of the Bible, and as we do, sometimes we hit things that 1127 00:59:24,625 --> 00:59:30,833 maybe we wouldn't have chosen to study, like a godly man, 1128 00:59:30,917 --> 00:59:35,083 sitting in jail, suffering, writing a letter 1129 00:59:35,167 --> 00:59:39,000 talking about it. 1130 00:59:39,042 --> 00:59:43,583 But Lord God, we believe that all Scripture is inspired 1131 00:59:43,667 --> 00:59:46,875 and profitable. 1132 00:59:46,958 --> 00:59:50,042 We thank you, Holy Spirit, that though the Apostle Paul 1133 00:59:50,125 --> 00:59:53,500 was sitting alone in a jail cell, 1134 00:59:53,542 --> 00:59:56,833 you were with him. 1135 00:59:56,917 --> 01:00:01,875 Holy Spirit, I invite you to come and be with us, 1136 01:00:01,958 --> 01:00:03,792 and to sit with the lonely, 1137 01:00:03,833 --> 01:00:06,292 and the lowly, and the broken-hearted, 1138 01:00:06,333 --> 01:00:10,292 to give hope to those who have lost hope, 1139 01:00:10,333 --> 01:00:15,292 to give hope to those who are losing heart. 1140 01:00:15,333 --> 01:00:20,250 God, I pray for us as a people that Mars Hill would always be 1141 01:00:20,333 --> 01:00:22,667 a place where those who are hurting, 1142 01:00:22,750 --> 01:00:25,667 and those who are suffering, and those who are struggling 1143 01:00:25,750 --> 01:00:28,292 would be encouraged to be honest, 1144 01:00:28,333 --> 01:00:33,917 to be known, to be comforted, 1145 01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:37,000 and to have an opportunity to comfort others. 1146 01:00:37,083 --> 01:00:39,500 And God, I feel inclined to just pray for us. 1147 01:00:39,583 --> 01:00:41,917 I know that sometimes when we are hurting, 1148 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:44,208 we overlook others who are hurting and we become 1149 01:00:44,292 --> 01:00:48,583 very selfish, the world gets very small. 1150 01:00:48,667 --> 01:00:50,208 Father, we thank you 1151 01:00:50,292 --> 01:00:52,917 for the example of the Apostle Paul. 1152 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:56,000 Though he was in prison, he was keenly aware of the sufferings 1153 01:00:56,042 --> 01:00:59,708 of others, and so he writes to them, and he speaks to them, 1154 01:00:59,792 --> 01:01:03,000 and he loves them, and he serves them. 1155 01:01:03,042 --> 01:01:05,333 May we do both. 1156 01:01:05,417 --> 01:01:07,667 May we be honest about our own sufferings, 1157 01:01:07,750 --> 01:01:12,292 but may we have a presence of mind to be available to serve 1158 01:01:12,333 --> 01:01:18,000 and to help others who are suffering. 1159 01:01:18,042 --> 01:01:21,167 And Lord Jesus, we thank you that in a world that is filled 1160 01:01:21,208 --> 01:01:24,042 with affliction, that we do not worship a God who is immune 1161 01:01:24,125 --> 01:01:27,667 to it, who stayed far away from it, who wanted in no way 1162 01:01:27,750 --> 01:01:30,500 to be around it or to endure it. 1163 01:01:30,542 --> 01:01:33,875 Lord Jesus, we confess that you suffered and were afflicted 1164 01:01:33,958 --> 01:01:40,833 for us, and you were afflicted and suffered by us. 1165 01:01:40,875 --> 01:01:45,000 And so we thank you, and we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you 1166 01:01:45,083 --> 01:01:47,917 rose from death, and we thank you for the promise that there 1167 01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:51,083 is a kingdom coming, and we thank you that there is a day 1168 01:01:51,167 --> 01:01:52,792 when our faith shall be sight. 1169 01:01:52,833 --> 01:01:55,875 There is a day coming when all our questions will be answered 1170 01:01:55,958 --> 01:01:59,000 and every tear will be wiped from our eyes, 1171 01:01:59,042 --> 01:02:02,750 and this life as we know it will be no more, 1172 01:02:02,833 --> 01:02:06,167 and eternally we'll get to enjoy you and the world 1173 01:02:06,250 --> 01:02:09,167 as you intended it before sin corrupted it. 1174 01:02:09,250 --> 01:02:13,375 In the meantime, let us endure by grace and serve others 1175 01:02:13,458 --> 01:02:15,042 by grace. 1176 01:02:15,125 --> 01:02:17,333 In the strong name of Jesus we ask, amen. 1177 01:02:19,500 --> 01:02:22,375 Each year, over 10 million Mars Hill church sermons 1178 01:02:22,458 --> 01:02:25,500 are downloaded worldwide for free. 1179 01:02:25,542 --> 01:02:28,083 This ministry is generously supported 1180 01:02:28,167 --> 01:02:30,750 by Mars Hill church members and listeners like you. 1181 01:02:30,833 --> 01:02:34,292 If you'd like to support our efforts to preach Jesus to the world, 1182 01:02:34,333 --> 01:02:37,292 Please consider making a tax-deductible donation 1183 01:02:37,333 --> 01:02:40,208 by visiting marshill.com/give.