Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
So today, you know, as you know, we're gearing up for Easter, I like to call it Resurrection Day.
And we finished the last book of Hebrews a few weeks ago.
And rather than starting a new book leading up to Passion Week and Resurrection,
we've been doing topical studies for a few weeks.
So don't get alarmed, we're going to stick verse by verse as we always do.
In fact, you can start preparing, we're going to get into the book of Acts after Resurrection Day,
so you can be reading ahead.
And that's actually the book that we started with at this church.
We did a brief study of Ephesians chapter 6 in terms of spiritual warfare,
and then we got into the book of Acts because we really want to have that pioneering spirit,
you know, that apostolic attitude really towards bringing the gospel everywhere.
And so we're going to be studying that so you can read ahead.
I think we've probably gone through every book of the New Testament at this point,
so we're starting back where we began.
So you can be reading ahead.
But today, we're going to talk about finding the Savior in our suffering.
And what prompted this really is, you know,
I know many people have been going through a thing or two in this life, you know,
challenges, difficulties, losses, and so forth.
And it's so important for us to realize that nothing happens under the sun that the Lord is not aware of.
And He wants to take part in the suffering of man to bring us closer to Him.
He wants to meet us in our suffering. Amen.
In fact, Peter says that humble yourself beneath the mighty hand of the Lord
and He will lift you up in due time.
Cast all your cares upon Him.
How does it end?
For He cares for you.
Do you believe that?
Like He cares.
No matter what you're going through, He cares about the things that you are going through.
And He wants to lead you through it.
I love those songs we were singing about the fire meeting us in the fire.
Sometimes we go through storms, we go through fires,
whatever analogy or metaphor you want to attach to it, we go through stuff.
And yet the Lord wants to meet us in those things so that we can be drawn closer to Him.
So this is after Palm Sunday begins what we call Passion Week, right?
And Passion Week actually, you think Passion like love.
Well, He did go through all that because He loves us.
But Passion actually comes from the Latin word passio, which actually means suffering.
So we are approaching the week of suffering for the Lord, this Holy Week.
And so we can prepare.
And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about how, you know,
again, each of us are going through things.
But the Lord was going through all the normal stuff we do
and He knew what was facing Him in Jerusalem.
And in fact, through His ministry, maybe after about a year and a half,
He started speaking to His disciples, warning them of what was going to happen.
In fact, we read this in Mark chapter 8 verse 31.
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes
and be killed and after three days rise again.
And that wasn't the first time. He reiterated that several times.
Many times after something great just happened, like feeding the 5,000
or the amount of transfiguration, all these things He would say,
well, yeah, let's not get carried away with what's happening here
because there's going to be some suffering that's in store.
And, you know, all of us go through suffering in this world.
I think it's important really to recognize that.
But, you know, even before this last week coming up for Jesus,
He had already gone through a lot of suffering,
normal suffering like we go through.
And one thing I was thinking about is His Father Joseph.
I'm sure you've thought about this before.
His earthly father, His guardian, if you want to call it that.
You know, we read about Him up till the age of 12
that Joseph was part of His life.
But after that, we don't read about Him anymore
because He just is not mentioned.
In fact, many times when He was in His own hometown,
I think we have that slide of Mark chapter 6
where He was speaking and they were probably,
they were very enamored with the way He spoke
and He did miracles there.
Not many, not as many as He could have,
but because of their unbelief.
But they said, is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon
are not His sisters here with us?
And so they were offended at Him.
But notice, they don't mention Joseph.
So probably most theologians believe that Jesus lost His Father
and Joseph was a just man.
I believe probably He passed away.
You know, in fact, we see this again and again
where He's not mentioned in Scriptures.
And as you know, at the cross,
Jesus being the oldest son would have been the guardian
of His mother, the widow.
And so at the cross when He was dying,
He said to His disciple John,
He said, behold your mother and woman, behold your son.
So we see this, that He was giving responsibility
over to John as opposed to His half brothers
because they were not yet believers.
So we see this picture.
And you know, this resonates in me because I lost my father.
I've shared this before.
Many of you might know this.
But when I was 20, I was up at Penn State,
got the phone call, and, you know, Dad died, you know,
in a car accident.
So it was very, like, abrupt.
And I just remember being in shock.
And it's a life changer, it really is.
You know, when you lose someone that close
and you're young, so you don't even have to process all that.
And it's a life changer.
You really grow up fast.
So Jesus went through that, okay?
But He didn't just go through that.
He also went through His cousin John the Baptist
being beheaded in prison.
You know, He was very close with John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was His herald, His right-hand man
pointing everyone, look, behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world.
He was out there ushering in the Messiah, right?
And so they were, they, He was, He loved John the Baptist.
And at one point, as you know,
John the Baptist sent a message to him,
John were waiting for us or someone else.
And that was all because he was probably struggling
with his predicament in prison.
So then the word says when Jesus heard
that John the Baptist was beheaded,
He had to just get away from the crowds
and just like process this, you know?
I mean, Jesus knew earthly suffering,
the same kind of suffering that you and I go through
or others in the world.
He went through that too.
And His disciples, you know, He was close with them
and everything.
And yet He realized, I'm leaving them behind.
You know, He kept preparing them,
but still they were His friends.
And yet He had to leave them behind.
Even when He went to His hometown Nazareth,
as I mentioned before, and He was teaching,
they're like, wait a minute, we know this kid.
He's that kid that used to play with the yo-yo.
No, I don't know if there was yo-yos back then.
He was always building stuff.
Maybe we can surmise, right?
But He was that kid, like, how is He suddenly this guy
that knows all this stuff and doing these mirroring, right?
And they were so offended at Him,
they chased Him out of the tent,
almost pushed Him off a cliff to kill Him.
You know, do you think that would weigh on your spirit
if you were Jesus?
Like, you're looking across from a guy
who you helped fix his front door.
I don't know, I'm conjecturing a bit, I know.
But, you know, it's like this guy, I know,
and he's ready to kill me,
because he doesn't like what I'm saying and doing.
Like, that's some weighty stuff.
I never had someone hate me that much.
Maybe there's been people close to it,
but not that much, that they throw me off of a cliff.
I mean, He had to go through a lot of things, didn't He?
And then Judas, you know,
a man that He trusted with the treasury, you know,
and He knew He was stealing.
He knew who would betray Him.
And He knew about Judas, what He was going to do.
And yet He was giving them time and time again
opportunities to receive His love.
And at the Last Supper, it says that He was just,
like, vexed in His spirit.
He was just so, like, weighed down.
Like, one of you that are sitting here right now
are going to betray me.
Like, it was, that would have been tough, wouldn't it have?
I mean, I'm sure you've been betrayed through your lifetime,
but you probably still remember it.
I mean, it leaves a scar sometimes, you know?
He went through that too.
So, yeah, He was about to go through the greatest of all suffering,
dying on the cross for our sins,
but He went through a lot of things.
And the reason I bring this up is because
Jesus is aware of all of our sufferings.
I love what Isaiah predicted about Him in Isaiah 53.
If you could put that slide up, Pat.
It says that He was despised.
I'm using the New Living Translation for a reason
because it just has more comfortable language.
I usually don't study with that, but
He was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows acquainted with the deepest grief.
We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way.
He was despised and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses He carried.
It was our sorrows that weighed Him down.
And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for His own sins.
But He was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
He went through the scourging,
but He also went through all the other aspects of emotions
because He wanted to resonate with us.
He wanted to be able to show us what it looks like
to go through these things.
I also love in Hebrews how it talks about
we have a high priest that didn't have sin, okay?
But He had no sin and yet He still reconciled
all of these sufferings in ours in Hebrews 4, 15 and 16
where it says that we have the high priest,
if you have that slide,
for we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses
but was in all points tempted.
And by the way, that tempted doesn't mean He was enticed to do it.
It means He was tested, okay?
In fact, we learn that, you know,
that God can't be tempted by anything
and He doesn't tempt us either, right?
So it's the fact that He was being tested as we are.
Yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
You see, He gets us.
You know that commercial they show at the Super Bowl,
He gets us.
I don't love the commercials themselves.
But the message is He does get us.
The question is, do we get Him?
Okay, He does get us.
But we got to get Him.
And He makes Himself very available to all of us.
I was talking to my family member,
a good friend actually,
and we met up for lunch.
And while we were talking, I brought up this guy,
he brought this guy up that we both know.
And he actually was part of my journey
going into teaching the Bible
because he was in charge of the 5th and 6th grade ministry
over in our old church.
And I signed up, I think probably because my son Jesse was in that class.
Were you in that class then?
Maybe, I don't know.
What's that?
The 5th and 6th.
I don't know.
We're having a conversation which we shouldn't have.
I'll tell you later or you could tell me later.
So, I got an opportunity just to help out in 5th and 6th grade.
And I really struck it.
You know, a real good camaraderie with the leader of that ministry
was pretty big actually.
But one thing I noticed,
so often we would get into these conversations
and I could just tell he was struggling with doubt.
And here he was teaching, right?
He was struggling with doubt.
And we always got into the man on the island conversations
and you know what I'm talking about.
He's like roundabout that never have an end.
And I'm like, so as he's talking about all these things,
he eventually left the church, okay?
And he drifted around with his family.
And over time, I just heard that he was drinking a lot.
He just was not even really plugged into a church.
You know, wasn't really zealous about his faith.
And so I talked to my family member.
I said, whatever happened to him?
Well, you know, some things like, you know,
his cousin got ALS and still like just hanging on to life
and just it really wrecked his life.
And his father got dementia and then went home with the Lord.
He was a believer who went home with the Lord.
So these things are weighing on him
and he just kind of wandered away.
And I was thinking about this.
I'm thinking, how could you wander?
Now, this is me.
I'm not judging a person.
Well, I guess I kind of am,
but why wander away when trials happen?
I don't know about you, but trials push me into God.
You know, they really do.
They draw me into God.
They don't draw me away.
I think every trial you can make a choice.
Is this going to draw me to God or draw me away from God?
Because being drawn away from God is foolish
because you get no answers away from God.
You get no direction away from God.
In fact, you're probably going to make things worse
if you're not getting answers from God.
And yet this is what he did.
And he just drifted away.
And now he's shipwrecked in his faith.
You know, and I don't know what's going to become of him,
but it's really, we need to be drawn into God, don't we?
And trials and suffering, they're going to happen to all of us,
but we have to get drawn in.
Last week, before the service,
we were in the prayer room talking.
It's amazing how so many things get said and read and so forth in there
that just really build community.
You're welcome, by the way.
I mean, I think we can't all fit,
but we could try in the prayer room before the service at 9.30.
But I was talking with Paula and Gail,
and we were just talking about suffering and the value of it.
And I know if you're like me, I don't like suffering,
but you get an opportunity to meet God in a fresh way
when you go through sufferings, don't you?
Because he meets you there,
and when all of your identity is stripped away
in these other responsibilities, these other roles,
suddenly you're left with Jesus.
And he's there with you saying,
okay, I'm right here with you.
This is, I'm who you need.
This is it right now.
It's you and me.
And what are we going to do?
You get to meet Jesus in such a tender and intimate way
in the midst of suffering, don't you?
I don't know if, does that resonate with any of you?
Have you ever been there where you just said,
man, I just, I needed to be at my lowest point
to realize that he's here.
He's still with me.
Like everyone else can wander away,
but he's still here with me,
and he's going to carry me through whatever is happening.
He's with me.
That's such confidence that all of a sudden,
he says, you know, we're good here together
and just hang on here,
but when it's time, I'll show you the way out.
I'll show you the way out.
No temptation to seize you, which is uncommon to man,
but God will always provide an escape.
He's always there to show you the way out.
I love what Jesus said at the Last Supper.
He's with his disciples, and he keeps preparing them.
Like, things are going to be different.
Oh, we understand, Jesus.
No, you don't.
They're going to be a lot different.
Yeah, I get it.
No, you don't, right?
And he keeps warning them.
And then he says this in John 1633,
he says, these things I have spoken to,
that in me, you may have peace.
In the world, you will have tribulation,
but be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world.
This word tribulation, now, if I was reading this,
I would think, now, Jesus is warning his disciples,
when I leave, there is going to be
all kinds of persecution.
You're going to be martyred for your faith.
Like, I would think this is his main point here.
But you know, that word for tribulation,
philepsis, is actually a word that covers
all kinds of suffering,
not just the suffering of persecution.
In fact, that's usually a different word, diagmas,
and it really means just that.
You are being persecuted because of sharing the gospel.
But in this case, he's going,
you're going to have all kinds of troubles, like everybody does.
But in me, you will find peace.
In me.
You know, it is important that we make a distinction, right,
between suffering because of persecution, diagmas, okay?
And suffering because it's common suffering for all humanity, okay?
There is a difference, but the result is in both,
or either we can still glorify Jesus in the midst of it, right?
It's kind of like if you were fired from your job, okay,
for sharing the gospel with people and work,
and the boss said, yeah, we don't do that around here,
yet you just did it again, you're out, okay?
That could be seen as persecution, right?
And yet, if you're laid off,
because they don't have the work, okay?
That's not persecution, but you could still share the gospel
and the fact that you lost your job.
You know what, boss?
God will show me something else.
I'll get something better.
I believe that.
You don't have to worry about me.
I'll be fine because, you know, the Lord provides all my needs
according to his riches and glory.
I think I just heard that this morning, didn't I?
Dan, did you share that?
Good work, buddy.
But really, you know, I mean,
we could still be sharing Jesus in suffering of any kind,
whether it be persecution, diagmas,
or whether it be fallipsis over here
in just everyday, normal, common suffering.
But I think sometimes we forget I'm in this for a reason.
God allowed this to happen for a reason.
What's the reason?
To glorify Jesus.
To allow Jesus to rise up in me in this situation
and be glorified.
So I don't have to fret or worry or struggle
because he's in this and he will prevail.
Take heart for I have overcome the world.
He will overcome in the midst of whatever the suffering,
the fallipsis you're going through.
This word fallipsis is used for childbirth, you know?
We have so many babies being born in this place.
Praise the Lord, okay?
But I'll bet you the one thing you didn't have to go through
is the actual birth of the child, right?
I'm convinced if men had to do that,
there would be no children.
I know we would be childless right now
if wimpy me had to do that, okay?
Thank God the Lord knew, okay?
Who was really the stronger vessel?
But no, that's anti-biblical, so let's get back on track.
But anyway, you know what I'm saying?
Like really, it's suffering that's labeled with relational disputes
with just trials of situations happening.
It's tribulation, fallipsis is actually discussed
when Paul had to confront the Corinthians for their sin in the church.
He said, you know, I was so sad about that.
That was fallipsis.
You know, I was suffering because I didn't want to do that.
Don't you hate confronting people in their sins?
Because you're thinking, I probably have two logs in my eye.
Let me see where I can get these out.
Where's a mirror, you know?
Because you're always thinking I'm probably at least that bad, right?
But really, sometimes we just need to do it.
But it's still a heavy thing that we have to go through.
And even fallipsis is even used for, you know, the suffering of sin,
of unbelievers even, you know.
I'll never forget when I was a youth pastor
and this one youth kid, he was living with his mother
and his father, unfortunately, was addicted to,
it's not heroin, it's fentanyl or whatever it is now,
tranq or whatever it's called.
So he was living right near the supply
and his son was so sad, you know, that he couldn't live with his father
and his father seemed like such a nice guy and everything.
But I'll never forget having this meeting with grandmom, grandson and dad
and just talking about, you know, what's going on here
because he was acting up in school.
He was acting up with his grandmom.
I mean, you can imagine, right?
He's not living with any of his parents.
And so as we were talking through all this, I'll just never forget, you know.
The dad said to his son, you know,
I don't know why God's putting me through this,
why God's causing me to suffer, you know.
That doesn't fit any theology, okay.
And we work, talk through all that.
But, you know, it's the suffering of sin, that humanity sustains, you know.
And unfortunately, you know, I hope he's with the Lord
but he never made it through that patch of his life.
You know, I think the son is doing, his son is doing well now
but, you know, his grandmom had to raise him.
But it's just, that's thalepsis in this world.
And, you know, thalepsis is trying to come upon all of us
but the Lord says, take heart, find peace in me
for I have overcome the world.
The only place to find peace is in Jesus.
He's the only place there is peace, is knowing him.
And when we do go through something, we find him in the midst of it.
If we could put that verse up again, that John 16, 33.
These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer.
That's hard sometimes, isn't it?
Be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world, you know, have peace.
I love that verse in Philippians.
I have it up there, verse 6, 4, 6 and 7.
That be anxious, you could probably quote this
if you've been up a few nights with some anxiety, you know.
Sometimes I say I'm anxious for everything
but the word is be anxious for nothing but in all things
through prayers and supplications and thanksgiving,
make your request known to God and the peace, the peace
which transcends all understanding
will guide your heart and mind in Jesus Christ.
Is that awesome?
Have you ever been there?
I've had many anxious days and nights
and about all kinds of things
but, you know, when I prayed I knew there was an answer coming.
You know, I might not get right to sleep.
It might be a few hours later
but I know the next morning the Lord will give me clarity.
Isn't that great about him?
He always does that. He always brings clarity.
We can really glorify God in every type of suffering.
You know, I just went through a thing or two with my heart
and it's so weird because people always look at you
like they think I'm healthy, you know, and I am healthy.
To me, you know, I think I feel great, by the way.
Awesome, you know, but thank you, praise the Lord.
But I had a thing or two, you know, that I never expected,
you know, like a defibrillator, a pacemaker
and last year I almost died of severe asthma.
I mean, it's just been a weird year, you know, it really has been.
And yet, you know, I know the Lord has a reason for it,
you know, and I know he's in it
and he also allows you to get a peek of your life, doesn't he?
And say, you know, I never promise you to be here forever.
This life is but a mist. Your body is a tent.
You know, you can read all that and say,
well then, what am I going to do with my days that are left?
You know, I love the word says that we're in a race.
Run the race. You know, we're not racing against anyone.
We're racing against our own demise.
Do you ever think about that?
We're only racing, not in speed.
We're racing to say, Lord, I want to do everything
that you're leading me to do.
I don't want to get sidetracked and guided elsewhere.
I just want to run your race in my life. Amen.
And that's what it's all about.
But like it was, as we were going through it,
you know, I remember they said, you know,
I was going in first for the two and a half hour MRI, right?
Literally two and a half hours and you have to stay awake
and they give you instructions.
Breathe, breathe out and all this stuff.
But it wasn't that, I don't mind MRIs.
But anyway, they said, so what kind of music do you want?
I'm like, well, Christian music.
Okay. So the whole two and a half hours, you know,
the technicians are listening to Christian music.
I'm like, well, there you go.
There's some benefits going on right here.
And then when they put in all this hardware in my chest, right?
A new hard drive.
They said, what kind of music do you want to listen to?
Christian music, right?
And it was so funny.
I just never forget.
This is like, this is awesome, Lord.
Like here I am and I'm here and all these, you know,
I can't remember any song that I played, but Jesus,
like Jesus was just being sang out, you know?
And it was so cool just thinking like all these people,
there's probably six people in the room
and they're all hearing about Jesus.
And a lot of them are saying, oh, I like this song.
So I'm like, wow, something's resonating here, you know?
But just everything, we can glorify God
in all kinds of common suffering, fallipsis.
Like it's all for a reason.
We don't like it.
We wish it would stop, but it's here, you know?
A lot of times I wonder,
should we be praying that it go away
or should we be praying, Lord,
what am I supposed to do in it?
Like Lord, what are you showing me right now
so I can operate effectively in the midst of this?
And I've blown it many times, trust me.
Like I suddenly panic or I wish that, you know,
oh, this is out of control.
I guess suddenly I'm off of, you know, God's radar.
Like he doesn't even know where I am.
Well, he always does.
And yet sometimes I can just struggle and think like,
you know, I better handle this my way
and you know, that's not a good song
and it's not a good life to live by.
You know, I did it my way, then you did it the wrong way.
Okay, we need to do it God's way.
They need to rewrite that song.
I did it God's way.
What do you think? I don't know.
I think Frank's not around to change that up.
But anyway, so this is what we're trying to do.
We're trying to really embrace God in the midst of suffering.
You know what I love?
Like if you ever read about, of all play,
do you know who the first person,
the angel of the Lord appeared to in the Bible?
Hagar.
Like, you know, the Lord, you know,
got some visions and spoke to by God,
but the angel of the Lord first appeared
to an Egyptian slave woman
that was forced to conceive by Abraham.
I mean, just a weird sorted mess.
Okay, and that's life, isn't it?
I mean, that's, I'm so glad the Bible doesn't hide
all the warts and wrinkles.
I mean, the Bible is so out there and real.
Nobody would make this up.
Okay, it doesn't make anyone except God look good.
Okay, when you really track it out.
But so, but Hagar, you know,
she does what she's told.
Everything okay.
All right, you know, she, she's pregnant.
Okay, suddenly some dynamic between Hagar and Sarah.
Sarah says, get rid of her.
Okay, and like, you know, she's so like, you know,
she's crying, she's running away.
And suddenly, guess what?
The angel of the Lord appears to her
and tells her, no, I will take care.
You have a child, he will be a mighty nation.
Okay, and his name will be Ishmael
because I heard you.
His name means God hears.
Okay, and so she went back, followed through.
Finally, you know, I don't know what the deal was.
Ishmael was picking on Isaac.
And Sarah says, nuh-uh, nuh-uh, not around here.
Get rid of them.
So there she is leaving,
and the Lord appears to her again.
You know, that's someone that isn't even a patriarch.
That's someone who isn't even part of the lineage of Jesus.
And yet the Lord made it a point to meet with her
and bless her.
And not only that, but bless Ishmael,
saying, no, I have a purpose in everyone's life.
Everyone can find me in the midst of suffering.
You know, Moses messing up his career in Egypt,
messing up his leadership over Israel.
And yet the Lord met him and says,
all right, we're gonna try this again my way
at the age of 80, at the age of 80, right?
You know, the Lord meets us sometimes
in those lowest places, and he does something amazing.
Remember David, I think Jesse brought this up
in a Bible study on Wednesday night,
but how when David was,
it's too long of a story to get into it all,
but David was sent home, him and his 600 men
by the Philistines,
because they were not welcome to fight in this battle.
I think that was God's providence
over the whole situation, saving David of big mistakes
in either direction.
And so the Philistines said,
you can't join us in this battle.
You might change your mind and fight against us.
So when they went, while they were away,
the Amalekites, the enemy of the Lord's people,
came and captured all of their people
and burned their city, Ziklag, right?
So David and his men come back
and they look around, all their stuff's gone.
The town is burnt down.
All their people are missing.
And they're like bawling their eyes out
and all of a sudden, probably one by one,
they're looking over at David and thinking,
what kind of leader is this?
First, he sends us up to fight with the Philistines,
and then while we're gone,
we lose everything and everyone that's important to us.
And they started picking up stones
ready to stone them to death.
And you know what David did?
He didn't run, he probably ran a little bit,
but he went somewhere and he took strength in the Lord.
That's what it says.
He just, Lord, what am I gonna do?
Like, this is miserable.
I don't know where my family is.
All my stuff is gone.
The things that I've been accumulating,
you know, important stuff, things to live on,
it's all gone and our houses are burnt down.
And now my best friends are about to kill me.
Like, talk about your whole world burning away.
And what did he do?
He took strength and the Lord and the Lord gave him direction.
I believe that's what the Lord wants to do.
When we're in misery, he says, I got this.
You just need to be tethered to me going through it.
I love this picture two weeks ago in the visionary parenting.
That's a great class, those of you who have children
or are going to have children who have been attending.
We even have some grandparents there.
Jill and I attended, it's awesome.
And so I remember this one analogy that the speaker,
I forget his name, but he does a great job.
Fantastic communicator.
And he was talking about how parents need to guide
their children, even through adolescence,
when they start wanting to wander.
I mean, every adolescent wanders, right?
But that's when you need to keep more,
not control over them, but keep tethered to them.
Keep guiding them and compare it to a mountain climbing expedition.
And as they're climbing up the mountain of life,
you need to keep tethered to them.
You need to keep the lifelines, the ropes,
and keep, you know, guiding them up
and keeping it taut and just encouraging them.
All right, your left foot goes to the left and da, da, da, da, da.
And actually, left foot to the left.
Yeah.
Make sure you're going the right direction.
I'll lead you each direction.
But like, what do the adolescents want to do?
They want to...
They want to cut the line and go their own path.
Or they're on the ledge and they're like,
this is taking too long.
The sun's in my eyes.
This guy doesn't know what he's doing.
Clip, I'm going to find my own path.
I think that's what we do with God.
This is not happening fast enough, God.
I'm not getting up quick enough.
I don't like this experience, Lord.
So I'm going to try it my way.
And the Lord's like, you're going the wrong way.
It's not going to work.
We need to be tethered to God through these trials, don't we?
And he will guide us through them.
I love a few verses that really bring this home about suffering.
Colossians 1, 24 and 2 Corinthians 1, 5.
I now rejoice in my sufferings.
Now, do you rejoice in your sufferings?
Well, you know what?
You can rejoice in what God is doing in you in the sufferings.
You don't have to say, yay, I lost my job.
Or, yay, I just got hacked.
And I just, whatever, something bad happened.
I'm so happy about it.
No, you don't have to be happy about that.
But you can rejoice in what God is going to do through it.
You can trust him going through it.
I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Jesus didn't go through everything that you went through,
but when you go through it, you can go through it with him.
So he is going through it with you, right?
And then he also wrote to the Corinthians,
for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
So in sufferings, in thalipsis,
I will just embrace the Lord and be strengthened.
How about Romans 8?
Awesome chapter.
Every amazing verse finds itself landing in Romans 8.
I don't know if you've ever really just like
marinated in Romans 8, but you should.
It's tremendous.
So many epic verses are found in Romans 8.
But Paul writes,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble, remember that's thalipsis,
that's common suffering, or hardship, or persecution.
That's diagmas.
That's when someone is throwing you in jail
for sharing your faith,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sore.
You know what he's about to say.
Nothing can separate us.
In fact, we read on Romans 8, 37, 38.
Yet in all these things,
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created things
shall be able to separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a promise that is.
It doesn't matter what you're going through,
Jesus is meeting you there.
You know, Paul prayed,
Lord, take this thorn in my side away.
You know, many people speculate
on a lot of different things,
but we know that he bore the scars of Christ.
He finishes the book of Galatians saying,
I'm tired of people bothering me.
I wear the scars of Christ.
I have the evidence that I have lived the life
serving the Lord.
And so he was evidently proof
of God pulling him through these things.
Like, I wonder if he actually died
when he was stoned at that point.
Like, I believe they said they gathered around him
and prayed and suddenly he pops up
and says, I'm sorry, you know?
I mean, he bore the scars of Christ
and yet he carried that optimism of the Lord
knowing that all of the sufferings
he went through were for a purpose.
And you remember when he was asking the Lord
to take this thing away?
Maybe it was blindness.
Maybe it was other things.
But we know that it was some kind of infirmity
and he prayed three times,
Lord, take this away.
But finally the Lord said, no, my strength
is proven through your weakness.
You have everything you need.
In fact, you're gonna be more powerful
because of your condition.
I mean, how about that?
I don't wanna hear that personally in the flesh,
but the Lord knows what is best for my eternal Chris,
which I'll have a new name back by then anyway.
But he knows.
He knows what he's doing in me.
That's why I love the fact that the word says
that suffering produces patience
and patience, character, and character, hope.
Every step of that ladder we can say,
you know what, I'm going through this
because I know through this suffering
I'm gonna gain patience.
And okay, Lord, we can get through this together.
And then through patience I can build character,
Christ-like character,
because now I am being consoled in his suffering.
I am partnered with him
and I sense a camaraderie with him,
a friendship with him in the midst of sufferings
because I'm going through it with him.
That's the key is we go through things with him, amen.
If the worship team can come forward,
I love this 2 Corinthians chapter 4
verses 16 to 18.
I used to be able to quote all this.
I kind of forgot it.
I get to get back to it.
Don't you love just ripping off a verse or two,
just like, yeah.
That means it's like it's in here
and it's part of your DNA, you know.
It's in your every cell when you know verses
that are just like, that's how you think, you know.
We have the mind of Christ.
When we soak in the Word,
when we just meditate on the Word,
when we chew on it and it's like the cud,
we don't have time to get in all that,
but it's like it's just part of who we are
and you could just rip off verses of Scripture
at every time they're needed.
I get this, yeah, yeah.
I have to renew my mind, you know.
Don't conform to the patterns of this world
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you'll be able to prove the good, acceptable
and perfect will of God.
Like, whatever you go through is like bam
because the Lord wants you to use the sword of the Spirit
to pierce through everything, amen.
And so it says,
therefore we do not lose heart
even though our outward man is perishing,
yet the inward man is being renewed day by day
for our light affliction, which is but a moment,
is working for us a far more excellent exceeding,
I'm sorry, a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory
while we do not look at the things which are seen
but at the things which are not seen
for the things which are seen are temporary
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
You know, we're going through some things
and some things may last longer than we want to
even into heaven.
You know, the things, these temporal things
that Lord, please, you know,
I don't want this issue with my heart or lungs
or I don't want this, you know,
Lord, make it go away.
No, no, this is exactly where I want you.
And I know some of you that struggle with that,
no good father would give his child some,
well, he determines what's good.
He can use things that we perceive as bad
as being very good.
He can work things through all kinds of suffering
and bring salvation through it.
He could do great things
through the midst of all these things.
So I think a good idea is, you know,
when we're going through something,
you know, what do we do?
How do we respond to it?
Well, one thing, we stay tethered to him
and say, Lord, I love that model, ask.
Ask, seek, knock.
Have you ever heard of that?
Ask, seek and knock.
Of course, Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit
which we always need more of.
By saying, Lord, ask the Lord.
All right, so why am I going through this?
You know, death happens.
This is a tent.
Health happens.
Relationships, you know, I did my best.
Finances.
It's only money.
It's not eternal.
But, you know, I'm going to trust you
going through it.
But what do you want me to learn in it?
Like, how can I be transformed
more like you going through this right now
that when I come out, I'm more like you?
Even if I just blew it a minute ago
and curse, war, complain, whine.
That was then.
This is a new minute.
I'm starting over right now, right here, Lord.
What do you want me to do in the midst of it?
And then seek.
I love seeking, you know, because,
Lord, what should I be looking for?
Is there an escape door here?
Is there a ladder?
Is there someone or something that I should be aware of
that's in my presence that is part of my help, you know?
That's why getting alone
and drawing away from God is so dangerous
because the lion only goes after the antelope
that's by himself, right?
And so when you're just saying,
I could do this by myself,
no, you really can't.
We need to be seeking.
Lord, where's my help come from?
I know it's from you, but through who?
Where?
Like, how can you help me through this?
Because you say you will,
and you will never forsake me, Lord.
So I'm trusting that.
What do you want me to do?
Seek, Lord, I'm looking.
And then knock, you know.
Lord, what door am I supposed to go through?
What should I be?
What door do I need to knock on to get answers?
Lord, open the door.
I love what he said to the Church of Philadelphia.
Behold, I stand at the door.
That's another place I knock.
He who opens the door, I will come in and dine with him.
But he also said that behold, I stand in front of an open door.
You know, I believe he wants to open doors.
Maybe we keep banging on the wrong door
to resolve our situation.
And he's like, look, that door's locked.
I keep trying to tell you.
But here's an open door.
You just don't want to go through it.
We need to look for the door to go through.
The Lord, we're all going to go through stuff.
That's a promise.
The Lord said, this is a promise.
In this world, you will have troubles.
That comes to everyone.
The great news is we know how to navigate through the trouble.
We know how to navigate through the storm
because we have the chief pilot, right?
We have the one who can show us why we're going through it,
what to do in the midst of it,
and where we're going when we get out of it, amen?
So let's pray.
I want to just invite if anyone doesn't know the Lord here today,
what are you waiting for?
I don't mean to offend you, but maybe a little
because the Lord is a rock of offense
for those who choose to try to step around him.
You're not going to.
So today, why don't you just receive the Lord?
Stop being a fool.
Give your life to Jesus right now.
Just say, Lord, I want to give my life to you now.
I surrender my life right here, right now.
I want to die, die with you on the cross,
right here, right now, so that I can live,
so I can rise up and be alive in you.
Forgive me of all my sins, and you know what?
Fill me with your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name, amen.
You know, that's salvation.
I was so close talking to my son, Jake,
and he just led his employee to the Lord two days ago.
I'm like, yeah, awesome.
Praise the Lord.
You know, it's time, man.
It's time.
You're wasting time.
If you don't receive the Lord right today,
you're wasting valuable time.
You don't know how much time you'll have left.
Don't waste any more of it, amen.
So, Lord, just thank you for these brilliant saints, Lord God.
Thank you that through whatever we go through,
we carry your glory in these jars of clay
that are never crushed, Lord God.
We're never in despair, Lord God.
We are always carrying the power of God wherever we go,
and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
Let's give the Lord a round of applause,
and why don't you stand up?
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!