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8-MMS COVID 19 · Mental Health and the Mission of the Church

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, sorry about that guys.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just a little bit late here.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I uh actually I was kind of enjoying uh getting into some of the scripture we're gonna look at today.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh just kind of kind of getting into it.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um what I want to do is go ahead and instead of ignoring it, deal with uh some of this uh COVID stuff and uh you know just all that all that goes along with that because it does put us all in interesting situations uh with uh family, kids, um, as much as we love each other, love our kids, and of course I'm at a stage where I don't have small kids at home, but I just want to talk to you about kind of a spiritual perspective, and uh hopefully that won't weird any of you out because obviously this is a this is a very real situation and it's uh challenging in some very real ways.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh I just want to throw some scripture at you to see.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Here's kind of what I'd what I'd love to think have you think about.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um Romans 8 says this.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: We know that God causes all things to work together for good.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh let me just read the whole thing.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, just a couple of chipjud disclaimers or explainers.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think that scripture says that all things are good, nor do I think it says that God causes all things.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I believe it says what it says.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: We know that God causes all things to work together.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I don't believe God, at this point in time, I don't think it's important to say, well, God sent the coronavirus or God allowed or whatever.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: The bottom line is it's here and it's causing our culture and the world to respond in certain ways.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um I I think we just ought to start there and worry about answering questions later.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try to answer the questions in the middle of the crisis.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is this thing telling us?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: It says we know that God causes all things to work together for good.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: To those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot there.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what does it mean to be called according to his purpose?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it means to be committed to his agenda, it means to be aware of uh his assignment, his mission, his purpose in the earth, and um and to be trying to get there, trying to put yourself in the path of God's mission.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think we're a little too quick to assume outwardly his mission, that uh I'm called according to his purpose, his purpose to reach the world.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, and again, I'm not saying there's not value in that, but here's what I am saying.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um Romans 8, a little bit earlier in verse 18, says this for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the New Living translation, that was New American Sander, New Living says this, yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, part of my problem is uh a lot of people when they read stuff like that, they push all the later stuff off to the next life after Jesus returns, whatever.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's for the moment say, no, no, no, no, no.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Present suffering is going to produce glory.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: What is glory?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important because we we weird out words like that.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think the most practical definition I've ever heard of glory is God's nature and acts, ACTS, on display.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: God's person and power.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do I mean by that?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: When God says compared to the glory that would be revealed to us, he's talking about developing within us the ability to represent him, to represent him, to become more like him.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you read further in Romans 8, we don't want to take the time to do all that right now, you'd find that his his purpose for all of us is to conform us to the image of his son.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Make us more like Jesus, make our make our choices and responses in life and to life more in line with what his would be if he were me.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, so what am I saying?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a this is a really strange time.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm uh I'm quite confident I'm older than the majority of you listening, and uh I've seen a lot.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen a lot of really good stuff, I've seen some bad stuff, uh I've seen some, you know, very localized stuff, and I've seen some bigger stuff, global, whatever.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is this is new, this is different.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing, man.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know this.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every situation we find ourselves in, and this is going to be odd to some of you, no matter how we got there, every situation we find ourselves in has the potential to work for us, to work for us.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I hesitate to use the word test because then we think, oh, well, this is all just one big old test.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm saying.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I am saying this: anytime we're put in a new situation that's beyond our current expertise, skill, knowledge, anytime we're put in a situation that draws on whatever effort we've put in up to this place, you could call it a test.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's letting us know what where the gaps are.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tests, tests don't create character.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Tests don't create knowledge, tests don't create um skills, tests expose gaps in knowledge, skills, etc.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're put in a new situation, and you know, well, let's see how we do with this.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: If we're if we if we want to, if we're committed to this, we have the opportunity to say, you know, uh there's some gaps in this area that I didn't see until I got into this higher pressured context.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like one way I would say it is this test/slash pressure reveals cracks.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean when you put pressure on a system of any kind, it reveals where the weaknesses are.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um let's get something good out of this.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: What good can we get out of this weird seclusion, isolation, whatever, whatever.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a great opportunity to allow God to show us where some of our gaps are.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: My wife and I, you know, we're empty nesters.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, we're in the age bracket that has high risk.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we're being very fanatical about staying to ourselves, even from our own uh children and grandchildren.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we've talked about it'd be pretty, it'd be pretty, it'd be a different experience if we didn't have a great marriage and we didn't love being with one another.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it'd be a different experience to have young children at home right now.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it'd be a different experience if we had young children at home and we were staring in the face some of the uh parenting sh uh gaps, you might call it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you know, just use this time, slow down, reflect.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Dare to stop and pull aside and ask God.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, my preference would be this God, I don't believe you caused it.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna worry about why it's here, but I do believe Scripture gives me permission to say, What good are you trying to work in me, for me, through me, around me through this troubling time?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I encourage you just kind of give some thought to that.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is God trying to use this troubleslash pressure to expose, not to hurt you, not to hurt you, but to help you come out of it better than you went into it.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so we're gonna talk around this a little bit for the next couple of weeks, and um love you guys and uh believe God has an insanely cool plan for you and a purpose for you, an assignment for you.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um at its basic core, he wants you to come into uh an amazing connection and relationship with him.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um we're gonna talk more about that.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Love you guys.