Latest / First Love Revolution / One of Those People (Part 9): "Passion vs. Pain" | November 27, 2023

Transcript

One of Those People (Part 9): "Passion vs. Pain" | November 27, 2023 · First Love Revolution

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Revolution Church Message Series.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: One of those People.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You can find the entire series in video and podcast format, as well as other messages, at FirstLoveRevolutioncom.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Rebecca with today's message.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: So with that, welcome back to our series One of those People, where we're talking about passion and what leads to a raging soul of fire, a blaze, with a love for God, with a love for the things of God, with a love for the purposes of God.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: As we dive into this topic, today we're going to talk about something that I think most people would think would never make its way into a message or a series on passion.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about pain.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: In John 1633, jesus told us in this world, you will have tribulation.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Pay attention, church.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Jesus didn't say may, he said will, you will have tribulation.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Unlike so many other religious leaders, jesus was not some sugar-coating sage.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: He spoke the truth.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: He was honest and direct.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Pain is unavoidable.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Here he said Pain is inescapable.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Here he said Pain is a sure reality.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Here he said and as Jesus was saying this, he wasn't speaking hypothetically about some experience that we would experience but he would be exempt from.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: No.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Jesus said this just before his arrest, just before his mockery.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Just before his torture and just before his murder, all which he knew was right around the corner.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: See, jesus knew great pain and Jesus died in great pain, and yet Jesus persevered in great passion until the very end.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I think that should encourage us greatly because, if we're honest, I think that we believe that persevering in passion through pain is not really possible.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Often I think that we think the presence of pain, especially pain like not the millisecond pain, not the pain that hurt for a moment, and I'm talking about pain that's prolonged pain, that's significant pain that we're told in the natural is going to be permanent.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I think we deep down believe that that pain, the presence of that pain, means the death of passion.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: But in Jesus we see that's not true.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Passion can persevere through pain, passion can prevail over pain.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And so that we don't dismiss this as something that's only possible for Jesus because only Jesus is God it's worth acknowledging that there's a long list of saints, a long list of saints from Abraham to Joseph, to David, to John the Baptist, to James and Paul, and Peter and John and so many more, who suffered greatly and yet they finished their course with great passion.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: There are a number who did, but not all did so.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: How do we be one of those, one of those who finishes full of passion for God, one of those who perseveres through pain with passion?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: It's by getting six convictions in place that form a fortress that protects passion in the midst of pain.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: And all six of these, what we're going to find?
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: All six of these are critical.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: They're absolutely critical.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: And without even just one of them in place, what we're going to find is that we're wide open to attack and the loss of passion in the place of pain.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So to unpack those six convictions, we're going to turn to a passage of profound pain.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to John, chapter 11.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: We're going to pick up in verse one.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Now, a certain man was sick, lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary, and her sister Martha.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, lazarus, was sick.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Therefore, the sisters sent to him saying Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: When Jesus heard that, he said this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: So Jesus says this sickness is not unto death and you've got to believe that everybody around him was like that's great news Because they would have heard that and they would have assumed that Lazarus isn't going to die.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But the problem is that Lazarus does die.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Just a few verses later we're going to see that and the truth is that's really hard to reconcile with what Jesus just said, until we look deeper at the Greek.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: The word unto in Greek it's the word pros.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: It doesn't just mean to, it actually means moving toward a goal.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So when Jesus says this sickness is not unto death, jesus is saying that Jesus's end, jesus's purpose, jesus's goal for allowing the sickness, his goal in it is not death, and that's why some translations translate it in this way the illness does not lead to death, or the sickness is not to end in death.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Now, could the enemy of God and could the enemy of our souls ever say what Jesus said?
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: No, of course not, because the enemy's goal is always death, whether it's spiritual or physical or relational or emotional or some other kind.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: As Jesus told us in John 10, 10,.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly, which our God is good and only good, which means his purposes are good and only good.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I just want to tell you God has never had an evil intention.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: God has never had a wicked purpose.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: He's actually incapable of it.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: The Bible is clear.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: He is good and his every purpose is good and only good.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: The evil, the pain, the sorrow and the death in this world, they're not by God's doing, they're not by God's design.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: All of that was introduced by us into God's good design through our sin.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: And here's the deal.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: If we get real, we know this, we know this.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: We hear so many Bible teachers say this and we read it in the scriptures.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: But then pain comes and so often we forget the narrative and we flip the script.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: And as we do, we end up with a distorted view of reality, one that believes that our God is really not that good and our enemy is really not that bad.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: As we confuse God's purposes with the enemy's purposes, we actually start to suspect God.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: We start to hold God in suspicion.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Maybe we never say it out loud of our mouths, but it's in our heart.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: We're like maybe he is out to harm me, maybe he is out to hurt me.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: And as we hold God's purposes in suspicion.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: We actually hold God's character in suspicion, church.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: We've got to understand so much of our passion draining in the midst of pain is on account of suspicion of God's purposes.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, let's just get real.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: None of us are passionate, none of us are drawn to you.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: None of us are wildly in love with someone that we believe has ill intentions toward us.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Church, do you have confidence in the good purposes of your God?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Is that conviction fixed in your soul?
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Is it sure?
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Is it steadfast?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: That conviction is one of the six walls of the fortress that guards our passion through pain.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: That's the first, but there's a second John 11, 6 to 7.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was, and after this he said to the disciples let us go to Judea again.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is one of those parts of scripture where we're like what Did they translate it right?
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Did they get it wrong?
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Did they miss something?
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Because I think what I just read is that Jesus heard that Lazarus is sick and he stays, he delays, and this is absolutely shocking, because this isn't just any man.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: This is Lazarus.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And here's the deal.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: We know that Jesus loves everyone.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: We know that Jesus loved everyone, but we also know the corollary.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Isn't true?
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Not everyone loved Jesus.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Very few did, actually.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: But this family right here, they're one of the ones.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: They're one of the few, this family, they weren't only precious to Jesus, but this was a family to whom Jesus was precious.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: And so, knowing that and reading that they're in this great crisis, what do we expect?
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: We expect that Jesus is going to hear and take off running, but he doesn't.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: He stays and he delays Church.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: When you are in pain and rescue is delayed, are you able to persevere in passion?
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: You can only if there's a second conviction in place.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: What is it?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Pay attention when the sisters send word to Jesus that Lazarus is sick.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Did you catch how they described him?
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Lord behold, he whom you love is sick, and I think that's an interesting way to describe him, right?
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: When we're telling somebody about somebody, we usually use their name, and so did they, but here they use a phrase Jesus, he whom you love.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Why did they do that?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's because, in the midst of pain, they were starting to fear.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: In the delay, they were starting to doubt Maybe he doesn't love us the way that we thought.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: And when they say Jesus, the one whom you love, they're saying Jesus, I just want to remind you, remember he's in pain, and then you love him.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Right, you love him.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: They're trying to remind Jesus that he loves him.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: But let me just tell you this Jesus didn't need to be reminded of his love for Lazarus.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And when you're in the place of pain, I just want to say this to you Jesus doesn't need to be reminded of his love for you.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: He loves you.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: He loves you so fiercely, church.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: His love for you, it's constant.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: His love for you is without fail.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: From the moment that he dreamed you up, before you ever existed, he loved you.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: And from the moment that he fashioned you, he loved you.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And from the moment that he gave you life, he loved you.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: And from the moment that he gave his life for you, he loved you.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: And even when that thing happened to you, he loved you.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: And even when you sinned and you ran far from him, he loved you.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: He loved you then and he loved you then, and he loved you then and he loved you and he loves you Today.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: He loves you does not equal a lack of love.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I just think it's so good to see that God actually goes on record to make this clear.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: See, right before the verses that we just read, verses 6 and 7, there's another verse, verse 5.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: It says now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: So when he heard that he was sick, he then stayed two days longer.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: God goes out of his way to affirm that he loves Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Why does he do that?
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Why does he take that verse to before he delays and before he stays, to say, just to be clear, I love him and I love her and I love her why?
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Because he's going on record and he's saying whatever you interpret this delay as, whatever you are tempted to interpret this delay as, however you are going to fill in the blank of why I am delaying, don't make the mistake of thinking it's because I don't love them.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I love them, I love them.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: He says and that's a word for some of us today, church, some of us today were in a desperate place in this room and we've asked God to heal, and it hasn't happened yet.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: We've asked God to restore, and it hasn't happened yet.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: We've asked God to deliver, and it hasn't happened yet.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: We've asked God to free, and it hasn't happened yet.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: We've asked God to resurrect and it hasn't happened yet.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And we know the stories.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: We've read the scripture.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: We know that Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah, they were in the fire.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: They passed through the fire yet they weren't burnt.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: But we're in the fire and we are feeling the flames.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Church, in delayed pain, the accuser wants you to believe that God loves everyone but you, and that's why your pain remains.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: The passion that prevails over pain knows that the love of God is personal.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: It's convinced of it, it's sure of it.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Not just that he loves all he does, not just that he loves everyone, he does, certainly not that he loves everyone but you.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: That's not true.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: He loves you, he loves you.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: That's the second wall of a fortress that guards our passion, enabling it to persevere through pain.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: So those two convictions are critical.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: But there's actually more picking up in verse 11 than he said.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: This.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: He said, and after that he said to them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: The disciples then said to him Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Do you ever think the disciples are like man?
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: That made it into scripture?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I think there's so many moments like that.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: There's shoot like why did that have to make it in there?
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I think this is one of them.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Lord, if he's fallen asleep he will recover.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was speaking of literal sleep.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: So Jesus then said to them plainly Lazarus is dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: But let us go to him.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: So many times the accusation that stifles passion in the midst of pain is that God is absent, that perhaps he's like unaware, that maybe he's not mindful of me.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: And a lot of times we're harboring this accusation in our heart and I think we try to minimize it by saying something kind of fluffy or cutesy.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: It's like well, I know God has bigger fish to fry, I know he has bigger things to deal with.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: But really, what's in our soul when we're saying that?
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: We're saying like I'm not so sure he knows what's going on down here, right here with me.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: But did you catch?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Jesus knew the state that Lazarus was in, even from a distance church.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: He wasn't ignorant, he wasn't unaware, he was full of care, he was present, even from a distance.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: He's in a whole other town, a whole other place, and he knows Not just that Lazarus is sick anymore, but Lazarus is dead.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Listen, there has never been a time when you were singed by the sin of another, that God was insensitive, never once.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: There's never been a time when you were pounded by the principality of the power of the air and God was not compassionate never once.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: There's never been a time when the decay or the death or the harm or the hurt of this fallen world has fallen on you and God's gaze has not.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Those who prevail in passion through pain, they have this conviction.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: They know God's presence is constant, they know God is here, god is near, he's present and he knows.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: They're sure of it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: They're sure of it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And church, let me assure you that having this confidence, it makes all the difference.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Those of you who know me or know my story a little bit, the last couple years has had challenges on a couple different fronts.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: When I was in treatment a couple years ago, it was during COVID, and so it was a time that people couldn't be with me at doctor's appointments and people couldn't be with me in the hospital and people couldn't be with me in all these different scenes and there was a dynamic to that that at the time it was like man, I'd really love for one of those people to be here.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: But I also had this sense in my soul like God's going to use this and he's going to draw me closer and he's going to show me more of him and he's going to be there for me and I'm going to see him being there for me in a way that I've never had an opportunity to know before.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And you know, when I was going through that season, once I had started treatment, I remember there was a specific night and I was laying in my bed and I was just in a ton of pain and it was the kind of pain that, like nobody can really understand.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: It's not that anybody wouldn't want to or wouldn't try, but it's like have you ever had that kind of pain where it's like you don't have the energy and you don't even have the words to try to explain what's going on?
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: And that's the kind of night that it was.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: And you know, I remember I was laying there and it was the middle of the night, it was maybe two, three o'clock in the morning, and I just remember sitting there so tenderly and I was very aware of God's presence.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: And God did something so special and so unique that night.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: As I was laying there, I remember very specifically just hearing him say to my heart, rebecca, what hurts.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: And I was really, really shocked and surprised by it.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: To be honest with you, because, like one, we don't usually call people and be like, hey, complain with me for a little bit, like what's hurting you?
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Right, and honestly, I do have like a, you know, a respect of the Lord, a fear of the Lord, where I don't want to be somebody who's like complaining of adversity and his presence when he's been so, so good to me.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: But yet he had said, rebecca, what hurts?
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And I remember like all of a sudden the tears broke.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I was like God, my hips hurt and very tenderly, just again the Lord saying to my heart, rebecca, what else hurts?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I was like God, my back hurts.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: And again, rebecca, what else hurts?
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And he just kept asking and you know it was so profound in that moment Is God showing me not just that he was present but a way that he can redeem pain?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: See, here's the thing about intimacy.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: How do you grow in intimacy with anyone?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: You grow in intimacy with someone by sharing with that person what you don't share with another.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: And so, as God entered into that place of pain, as he understood what only he could, only the God who made me, only the God who formed me, only the God who knows every cell in my being and who knows the pain that I can't even put in words, only he could share that, only he could understand that.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And he did, and through it, god drew me closer to him.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And it's one of the ways that I've learned in the last few years, in a way that I never knew in pain.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: One of the ways that God redeems is God redeems by producing intimacy, as he shares with us, as he draws us near, by sharing with us what no one else could know or experience church, god's presence is constant.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: He is with us even there, even then, in that situation where no one else can be, where no one else can understand, he is present.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Those who persevere in passion know that God's presence is constant.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: And they have a fourth conviction as well Jesus makes his way to Bethany and Lazarus' two sisters hear that Jesus is drawing near and they both actually go out to meet him.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: However, they don't go at the same time and they don't say the same things.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Pay attention to the distinction of Martha and Mary here.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Let's start with Martha.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: When Jesus is still two miles out, it says when he's still two miles out.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: That's in the verse before this.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: It says Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: But Mary stayed at the house.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Martha then said to Jesus Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Even now, I know, whatever you ask of God, god will give you.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: So Martha says to him Jesus, if you had been here, I know he wouldn't have died.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: But then she adds something but even now, god, even now, jesus, I know that whatever you ask the Father, he'll give you.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: And Jesus responds in verse 23,.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Jesus said to her your brother will rise again.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And that triggers Martha to run back to Mary to come, you know, to get her to come to Jesus.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: And we pick up in verse 32,.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Therefore, when Mary came to where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: In the midst of pain, in the midst of loss, in the midst of tragedy, there was one who ran the extra mile to Jesus, one who embodied passion that prevailed over pain.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: It was Martha.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think we notice it much because, like you know, the whole headline of this whole section is like Lazarus raised from the dead, and that's kind of a big deal, but it's worth catching.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Here there's actually a difference between Martha and Mary.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Martha prevails in passion and Mary doesn't.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: And they both say the same thing.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: If you had been here, oh Jesus, if you had been here, he would not have died.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: But Martha, she adds something else.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: The one who ran to Jesus in passion, she says something else Even now, even now, jesus, he's way dead.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: He's so dead, he's in the tomb.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: But even now, jesus, I know that whatever you ask God, he will give you.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Even now, god, you can do even that.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: That's what she says.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Believer, do you have that confidence In your soul this morning?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Do you have the confidence, even now, god, you can do even that?
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: God's power is limitless.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: That's the fourth conviction that we need to have in place that will enable us to prevail in passion through pain and listen.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: This does matter for our sake, but I just want to say and go in record I actually believe it matters for God's sake too.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: In verse 33, we read when Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and was troubled and he said where have you laid him?
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: They said to him Lord, come and see.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: And Jesus wept.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Now usually it's taught, and usually it's assumed, that Jesus wept because Lazarus died.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: But that would be really odd, because let's not forget that Jesus actually knew Lazarus died days before this.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: And some people will say well, I think that Jesus was weeping here because he sees so many are hurting and like he's really grieved over their grief and that's why he's weeping.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: But then why wouldn't he have wept when Martha came to him?
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: He loved her and she was grieving.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I think there's more going on here.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I do think that those things grieve, jesus say.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I'm confident of it.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: But I actually believe that Jesus is weeping because he sees the people of God grieving without hope.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: When we perceive that God is impotent in our pain, church, it pains him too.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: It pains him too.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: If we're going to be one of those people, passionate people who prevail in passion through pain, we must have this conviction there is nothing that my God can't do Nothing, absolutely nothing.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Passionate people know there is never a time that's too late for God.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Even now, she says even now he's dead.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But even now, jesus, I know who you are.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: It's not too late for you.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Even that, jesus, I know you can't just heal a sick man.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: You can raise a man from the dead, even now, even that.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: That's the conviction of those who persevere With passion.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Passionate people know there's never a problem that is too big for God and there's never a time that's too late for God.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: When it comes to all the loss, they know he could restore it, he could double it.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: When it comes to the ache, they know he can redeem it.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: When it comes to the loss of strength and capacity and energy, what if all the confidence that we've lost in our own strength is so that we can learn to rest in the unlimited power of God who raises from the dead?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Fifth, let's read about the raising of Lazarus John 11, 38 to 44.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Jesus said remove the stone.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Jesus said to her did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: He cried out with a loud voice Lazarus, come forth.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: So when Jesus tells them to remove the stone, what does Martha do?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: She expresses her concern.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: She's like Jesus.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: It's the fourth day and he smells a lot.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Right, jesus, just in case you don't know, it's the fourth day and he smells a lot.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: But what had Jesus said earlier?
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: He had said, if she believed, she would see the glory of God In the last church.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: God will speak a promise to someone when their path requires delay or when the answer to their prayers requires faith.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: See, there are certain mountains that can only be moved by faith and there are certain trees that can only be uprooted by faith.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: And that often means God's speaking a promise, so that you or I, we can partner God's speaking with faith.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: That comes by hearing what God has spoken.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And I do want to stop and say here I think there's so much confusion when it comes to the promises of God Today in Christendom.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: You know, it's like I'm going to claim that, I'm going to name that, I'm going to decree that, I'm going to declare that as if we can affect whatever we want to happen.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Church, we're not the king, he's the king.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: He's the king, and I really want us to be a persevering people who get this.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: There is so much anger against God because we are holding God accountable for something that he never promised and never said that he's going to do.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: There's so many of us who are saying God, I am angry at you that you have not brought all of heaven here now.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: You're not doing all the healing here now.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: God, you're not doing all the freeing here now.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: God, you're not doing all the restoring and all this and all that here now.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: He never said he would.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, he will One day.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: He's promised it.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Church, we've read the end.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: We know it's a day coming when there's no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: It's coming, but it's not here yet.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I just had this burden this morning that, as we're praying that some in this room, you are in danger.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: You are at risk of giving away what God has promised eternity with him, heaven with him, then there, because he's not doing what he never promised to do here, because he's not giving you all of heaven here.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: He never said all of heaven here.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: He said the kingdom of God is breaking in power.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And so, yes, we do see God moving mightily powerfully.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Church.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: We see miraculous healings time and time again.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: I was meeting with a woman and her son this week who were sharing about a resurrection from the dead in India.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Our God is alive and active and he is moving, but don't ever make the mistake that all of heaven is here now.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: God is bringing all things to that end, it's sure, and we have confidence in it and we hope.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: We hope Believers.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: We are people of hope.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Hope is in our DNA.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Your DNA is a believer's made of hope.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: We hope in the craziest of circumstances.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: We hope In the worst of diagnoses.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: We hope we know who our God is.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: And then listen to me when God says I am going to heal you.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: We elevate hope to faith, confident assurance, because now we have a promise.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Now God has said I will, and we say I believe you God, I believe you God.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Those who persevere in passion, those who prevail in passion.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: In the midst of pain.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: There are those who have this conviction the promises of God are trustworthy.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: The promises of God are faithful to those who remain full of faith.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Jesus was looking for Martha to be full of faith in what he promised, despite the situation is being dead and done.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Listen, listen, listen.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: If you are persevering in the place of pain this morning and you've asked God, god, please take it away, god, please take it away.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: God, please take it away and he hasn't yet, here's my encouragement to you Ask him for his answer.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: He may say no, my grace is sufficient.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Church, look at me.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I've heard my loving God say no.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I've heard him say no and I'm just going to stand here and testify to you.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: He was as merciful and as good and as loving when he said no, my grace is sufficient, as when he miraculously delivered me and said yes, his answer may be no, my grace is sufficient for you.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: He may say keep asking, don't stop asking, be the persistent widow, keep asking and he may say yes.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: And if we'll listen, we may hear him say yes and give us a promise.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: And when he does, we hold firmly to the conviction that the promises of God are trustworthy.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: So all five of these convictions are critical for persevering in passion and the place of pain.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: But there's actually a six, and to catch it we have to look at two verses.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: First, what Jesus said to his disciples, john 11.15,.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: He said and I'm glad for your sakes, I was not there so that you may believe.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Second, we have to look at the end of the story, john 11.45.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Notice that they came for Mary, to comfort her, but they left changed by the glory of God.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: See, god's eyes were on Lazarus.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: That's true, they were on Lazarus, but they weren't only on Lazarus, as God was surveying the whole scene and figuring out what he was going to do.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: He was, his eyes were on Lazarus, but they were also on Mary and they were also on Martha and they were also on all those people who he would meet at the grave.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: The sixth conviction that we must have if we're going to persevere in passion, through pain is that God's perspective is perfect.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: He's always doing more than one thing at once and there's nothing that escapes his notice.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing escapes his notice.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: He knows all and I don't.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: He sees all and I don't.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: And here's why this is significant.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: It means I cannot evaluate God's actions from my very limited perspective and criticize them.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Church, even in our best moment, what percent of understanding in our brightest Einstein-like moment?
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: What percent of understanding of God's understanding do you think anyone of us has?
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: We cannot criticize God's actions as though we see the whole from our limited perspective.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Listen, jesus suffered more than any and yet he persevered in great passion for his father.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: As he drew near to death, he was still calling his father the most affectionate of terms.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Mark 1436,.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Abba, father, as he went through the severest of suffering, he maintained passion for the purposes of God, praying right before his arrest.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Mark 1436, abba father, all things are possible for you.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And then saying to the father before his last breath Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: In the midst of great pain, jesus persevered in great passion.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: How Hebrews 12-2,.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: For the joy set before him endured the cross.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Church.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: What was the joy set before Jesus?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Was it the cross?
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Was it all the suffering?
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Of course not.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Of course not.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: It's probably helpful to know that the word for joy is kara and it comes from the word grace, which is karas.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: It's properly for an awareness of the grace.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus was able to endure the cross with passion because he was aware of the grace of God before him.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: He was aware of what the grace of God was accomplishing before him and what was God doing.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: He was accomplishing the only possible path of eternal salvation.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Jesus didn't maintain passion through the pain by solely looking at himself.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I mean church.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: When we're tempted to do that, I think so often when we're in a place of pain, here's what the animal wants to do.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: He wants to be like.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Well, let's do a little math.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: How did this situation work out for your individual good?
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: And there's a problem with that.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: The problem is God is working for good, god is redeeming and the redemption includes us, but it's not only for us.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: If Jesus went through all the suffering that he did and he evaluated it all by solely solely not what it accomplished for our salvation, not what it did, not, any of that just for him how would that work?
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: It went.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Those who persevere in passion, they know God's perspective is perfect.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: That's perfect Again, just a short testimony in this.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: When I was going through treatment, there was just this one time I was praying.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: I was praying for a new friend of mine who came to Christ in the treatment center and it was a couple of days later and I just had this very quick vision that I believe the Lord gave in a time of prayer and it was seeing her in heaven and I just knew in my spirit like there's going to be this moment where I'm going to be like was it worth it?
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Was it worth being assigned to that place for that time, to go through that pain, for the purpose of seeing this person in eternity?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you, I believe, with all my heart, yes, and I think I'll be saying that for all eternity.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: I'm confident that I will church His perspective.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: It's perfect.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I've shared this with you before, but in my journey God has been so good.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: There's times that he has spared me miraculously, pulling me out of the impossible, and there's times that he's shepherded me through the valley of pain and through it all.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I can testify he is always redeeming, church.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: He's redeeming in even more ways than I know, but he's redeeming for salvation and he's redeeming for sanctification.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: He's redeeming so that I know Him more.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: He's redeeming, I believe, the experiences to pass His comfort onto others in so many ways.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Church, in this world, we will have trouble.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: The question is not if you or I will have trouble.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: The question is if we'll be one of those people, one of those people who live in our high calling to persevere in passion through pain, to the very end.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Will we be one of those people?
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: And as we prepare to close, I just want to say how do we get to be one of those people?
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: See, sometimes I think we look at people who do that and we're like, well, they're just some odd freak of nature.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: God just gave them a little special extra grace that he didn't give to everyone else.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: But that's not true.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: We get to be one of those people by preparing to be one of those people.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: It doesn't happen on accident, church.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: It's through constructing a fort of conviction.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: As we prepare to close, I want to encourage all of us to be intentional about building today.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Are you here this morning?
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Are you in a season of pain?
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: And you know right now, right today, you could say you know what?
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Everything's pretty good.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've got this thing in that thing, but it's pretty good.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Then give Him praise.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Have you ever realized what would happen if God cut off all His mercy and His grace In this moment, in this second?
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Do you realize?
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: None of us would have a breath, none of us would have life.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about the fact of where we live and the enemy being at work?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: If God held back, if he didn't hold back the enemy from doing all that he wanted to do, do you realize that we would experience the attack of the enemy in full measure every second of our life?
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Do you know how much grace, how much mercy our good God gives?
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Are you in a season where there's relative peace and ease?
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Give Him praise, church.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: It's only on account of His mercy, it's only on account of His grace.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: Thank Him, but don't stop there.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: See, too often in seasons of peace and of ease, what happens is that we get passive, meaning that we aren't preparing for the day of trouble that's coming and so, when it does, we have no fortress of conviction to run into for refuge.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Instead, in our peace, we've been so passive that we get into a place of pain and all of a sudden we're grappling and we're grabbing these things and these sticks and we're like I think God loves me, I know that he's good, I know that His purpose is and we're trying to construct something desperately in the place of pain, because we didn't prepare for the place of pain.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: And our knees are knocking and we have no conviction, we have no confidence in the goodness of God because we haven't been taking in the goodness of God, we haven't been building up belief in the goodness of God, we haven't been studying our souls in the goodness of God Church.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: The time to build the shelter is not in the storm, it's before the storm.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: How do we do that?
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: It's by being someone who's meditating on the truth of God.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: Believer, get your face in the Word of God and take in every promise of His, every verse, every scripture where he testifies that he loves you.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Start to ask Him to write it in your heart An unshakable conviction, every testimony of His love for you.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Store it up and store it up and store it up.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Church, be a builder, be a builder.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Construct a fort with each of these six convictions.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: Today, every day, be about it and keep building, keep building, keep building.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: You got to understand so much spiritual battle, so much of our attack and so much of our defeat.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: It happens right here, it happens in the mind Church, and without this fortress in place we will lose our passion in pain With a partial fortress.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Listen, some of us we've got a couple of these convictions down.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: We've got like two and four and six Awesome, you have three wide open doors for the Animita attack.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Some of us we do have these convictions in place, but they're like yeah, hi, and so when we start to go through pain, our passion may last for a little bit, but pretty soon the enemies, arrows of accusation, are going to shoot right over that.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: That's not what God's called us to Build and build and build.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: Build a fortress that is tall, build a fortress over the years that no arrow can assault, no accusation can assail.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Build, builder, his purposes are good.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Take it and build Every verse, every testimony.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: You lay the foundation over and over again.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: His purposes are good, his purposes are good.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: You start to build up this wall in your soul and in your mind.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: He loves me.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: Over and over and over again.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: You're like meditating on the radical love of God for you, the love of God that saved you, and the love of God that is with you, the love of God that speaks to you and the love of God that never leaves you.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: You just build it, you build it, you build it.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: I'm talking skyscrapers.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Build, believer, build.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: He can do all things.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: He's with me, his promises are trustworthy, his perspective is perfect.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Believe him and build constructive fortress and, when the pain comes, run into it.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: A fortress of refuge.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: And you know what else happens when you construct this fortress?
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Guess what?
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: You also get?
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: To be a refuge for others.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: You get to invite them in and bring them in and be a source of God's grace.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: And as we prepare to close, I want to ask all of us to bow our heads and close our eyes.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: I want to ask all of us in this room if we would be willing, as a church, to just take a few moments to intercede.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: There's a number of people in our church suffering a lot in this season, and I know that there's way more people than I'm aware of, but there's several who come to mind and as I say their names, I'm just going to ask you, as brothers and sisters in Christ, if you just start praying for them.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: God, strength in them, god, touch them, god, heal them.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I think of Lynn Chamberliss and Elizabeth Riedal and Katie Cofuseman, all battling breast cancer.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Would you pray for them?
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Jackie Grissom and Shaila Marie are suffering from brain tumors.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Bruce Bush battling prostate cancer.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Carson Williams battling against a in the natural incurable immune deficiency.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Daddy and Bob Unruh, who recently lost their son in law.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Rodney and Deidre Gibson, who have two small kids under the age of three, and Rodney was recently diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, and with that couple, with all these couples were praying for healing.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: But as you're praying for Rodney and Deidre, I was specifically praying for God to miraculously heal directly by his hand and if not, we're praying that there would be a targeted therapy that God would heal through and churches.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: We're praying for them.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: We're going to pray all together in a minute, but before we do, I just know that there's many in this room who are going through physical pain and relational pain, emotional pain and other types of pain.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: As we prepare to pray for those others that I just shared, if you're in the room and you're in that place of pain with all heads bowed and eyes closed, would you do me a favor?
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: Would you just raise your hand and say please include me in this prayer?
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: I'm in the place of the see you.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: I see you.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I see so many of you and, more importantly, I know that the Lord sees you.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: He sees you.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Oh Lord, we come.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: God, you know every pain and every hurt.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: God, you are the God of all comfort and you are the God of all hope and you are the God of all love.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: And God, right now, we are praying for every person in this place, god online, who is suffering and who's in pain.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: And God, we're asking now that, god, you would fill them with a living hope that comes from you.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying right now that in this place, god, you would open up their heart and it would be a bowl and, god, you would just pull, pour in your love.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying that you would touch them and that you would strengthen them.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying for every person who's going through a physical battle.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: God, we lift up Lynn and Elizabeth and Katie.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: God, we lift up Becky and we lift up Shia and we lift up Bruce and we lift up Rodney.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: And God, we come and we pray for a full healing of cancer in Jesus name, and we know that even now, you can do even that.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: We believe it.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: God, we've seen you heal.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: God, we know who you are and so, god, we're asking, by your mercy, god, would you heal them?
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: We're praying that you would eradicate every cancer cell.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: In Jesus name and Jesus authority, we command every cancer cell to die.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray, full healing God.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: We pray over Andrew and we pray over others who are suffering other physical ailments.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: God, we pray, touch them, god, heal them in your mercy.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: God, we pray over those who are going through grief, through loss.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: God, you alone are the God who can heal a broken heart.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: God, god, we're asking for those in this room, for those that we're aware of God.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, please, even now, god, god, would you let them know how near you are, god, god, would they experience your presence, god, god, would they be strengthened in all hope and truth in who you are?
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: God, would you touch them, god?
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: We're praying for all those who raise their hand, god, god, I'm asking that your presence would be mighty, god, god, we know that you're here, god.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: What I'm praying is that they would be aware of your nearness, god.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: We're praying for your power to strengthen them with hope in their inner man and their inner woman.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying that your truth, your very precious promises.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: God would anchor them and hold them steadfast.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying that your love would fill them fresh.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: God, we're praying for healing all across this room, hope all across this room, freedom all across this room.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus and church, I'm just going to ask us to keep our heads bowed and our eyes closed for just a minute more before we leave.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: I just want to speak to a second group in this room.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: You're here and you're not really sure that you have peace with God.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: You're not really sure that your sins are forgiven.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: Listen, there is nothing more important in this whole world than what I'm about to share with you.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: The Bible is so clear that all of us have sinned, all of us have done things that are wrong, that will separate us from a holy, perfect, pure God for all of eternity unless Unless we believe in Jesus Christ, who is God, who came from heaven to earth, died on the cross for our sins and rose again.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Unless we believe in him, and unless we say, jesus, I need you forgiveness.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Jesus has said apart from him, we will die in our sin.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: There's no other way.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: And so if you're in this room and your hope has been that you're going to get to heaven because you've tried to be a good person.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: That hope will actually keep you from spending eternity with God, because the only way to spend eternity with him is saying God, I can't be good enough.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: I trust in your salvation, jesus, I trust in you.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: If you're in this room and you lack the peace and the assurance that you've been forgiven, you're here and you know a lot about God, but you don't actually know him.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: You don't have a relationship with him, with all heads bowed and eyes closed.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to ask you if you want to say yes to Jesus this morning, yes to a relationship, go ahead and raise your hand.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Yes to forgiveness.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and raise your hand.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: I see you.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: I see you.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, god, I want to have peace with you.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: I see you.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, god, I want to know you.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, god, I want to spend eternity with you.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: That's awesome, those of you who raised your hand.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to encourage you, right where you are, to join me in praying From your heart.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: God hears you and all of heaven is celebrating Jesus.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you for loving me, thank you for coming from heaven, dying on the cross for my sin and raising again.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Jesus, I know that you're God and I know that only you can save me.
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: I know that I've sinned and I ask for your forgiveness.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: Jesus, I pray that you would wash away my sin, that you would make me new, that you would give me a relationship with you and eternal life with you, that you would fill me with your spirit and you would use me for your purposes every day of my life, for your praise in Jesus name.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Amen, church, can we give a hand to those who said yes to God this morning?
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: I just want you to know if that's you.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: The Bible tells us all of heaven is celebrating and we are, too with you.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: We'd love to meet you and help you get started in your relationship with God.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Also, if you're here when you're in need of prayer whatever type of prayer it is it could be financial, emotional, relational, spiritual, physical Okay, I just have this sense that there's some people here it's like well, I have come for prayer and I don't want to like wear out the prayer team I promise you're not going to wear out the prayer team and some of you in this room it's like you're struggling with hope right now to be like can God really fix this.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Can he meet me in this pain?
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Can he heal this thing?
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: Our God has no limits.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: So if you're here and you're like anxious about coming for prayer because it's like you're even battling to have hope, I just want to encourage you come back for prayer.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: We'd love to pray with you.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back in this corner after service.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Everyone else, thank you so much for being here.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: I hope you have a great week and I look forward to seeing you Wednesday or next weekend.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, guys.