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Thank you for watching. We'll see you next time. We're going to continue in a time of giving for just a second. If you'll go ahead and take your seat. After we get done with giving, we're actually going to dismiss our kids so that they can go have their specified time. So when we say the giving liturgy together, that'll be the cue. And parents, if you need just a second to help scoot your kids off where they need to go, we'll kind of transition into a time. We're actually going to pray over the Panama team. They're leaving out on Thursday. Really excited about that. So. This is your opportunity to give.
We continue our worship. You know, man, if he's redeemed us, then I used to hear this old preacher say all the time. He said, if the government's going to get theirs, let God get his. I used to hear that all the time. And I used to always think that was so funny because it made giving in the house of God sound so transactional. But it's not like that. It really is. God does not extract your giving. It's supposed to be based out of love. And if you give out of discipline, that's great. But man, when you learn how to give out of delight, it is just changes the game on your worship. And so, so thankful for those of you that are continuing to give faithfully and just obey God. And, you know, we talk a lot about financial integrity around here. And so thank you all for not only giving to the Lord, but also trusting the local church to make use of that money so that ministry continues on. We want to see the kingdom of God continue to expand through the local church.
And it does take some money to make. Some of that stuff happens. So we're just so thankful for that. We're going to say our giving liturgy together. Like I said, that'll be after we get done with that. That'll be our cue. Kids will be dismissed to their classes. So if you will say this giving liturgy together with me. Holy Father, there is nothing I have that you have not given me. All I have and am belong to you, bought with the blood of Jesus. To spend everything on myself and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world that you cannot abide. But generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord, who serve him with free hearts, excuse me, and serve him with renewed minds, who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the word, whose hearts are in your kingdom and not in the systems of the world. I am determined to increase in generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us. I am determined to be trustworthy with such a little thing as money, that you may trust me with true riches. Above all, I am determined to be generous because you, Father, are generous. It is the delight of your daughters and sons to share your traits and to show what you are like to the world. Amen. Now, kids, you are officially dismissed. Parents, if you need to help, get them where they need to go.
And then if I could, if you're going on the Panama trip, if I could have you... Sorry. You're good. You're good. You're good.
If I could have the Panama... If I could have the Panama team, it's like herding cats, isn't it? And then if we have any elders and deacons that would like to... Okay, so really exciting.
Thursday, myself and this team, we're going to Panama. More specifically, we're going to join partnering ministry and strengthen and encourage. Our hope is to go and encourage the church there and the leaders there. We'll be involved in some different times. We'll be involved in some different types of services and things like that.
But this is a... We don't do missions trips so that we can go do some work and take a picture so we can change our Facebook profile, okay? We don't believe in that kind of mission work. Maybe that's good in some cases, but we're going there to help strengthen the church there, to encourage, to say, what can we do to help you? How can we pray? How can we be an asset to you guys?
And we'll be specifically in some churches that are in the mountain area of an area called Pananome. Pananome, we'll be there partnered with a pastor there named Ishmael, pastors El Shaddai is a church there. And so we'll be there with that group. We'll be kind of doing a whole lot of different things.
And many in this group have already gone. Bree's gone. Jonathan's gone. Maddie's gone. Am I missing somebody else who's gone?
Me. Okay. Yeah, I also went. And so a good group going and then that team is basically doubled in size. Come on, real quick. For missions, come on.
We're not, we're not staying in the lap of luxury. It is, it is the exact same temperature there, here. So us Southerners, we're ready for it in that degree. So I want you to do something though, as we pray, would you pray God's grace on this team?
Now there's two things that always happen on mission trips. The people that are, we're going to, they're blessed, but the people that go, something God, God deposits something in them. I don't know anybody, even if they had wrong intentions that went on a mission trip that didn't have. Something deposited in them by God. So what I would ask for you to do is ask that we are a blessing.
Ask God for grace, that we be a blessing to these churches and these leaders, but also ask that God would deposit something in this team. Wouldn't it be amazing if God calls them into areas that they didn't know they were called into? That happened last time. Wouldn't it be amazing if miracles happened while we were there? That happened last time.
We watched a woman walk that hadn't walked in almost what, two years, like 18 months. I don't remember how long it was. She didn't walk. We watched a woman walk. I mean, that stuff's still happening, guys.
And we don't have to just go to another country to experience it. Pray that that deposit comes here and permeates the body of Christ. Amen.
And so if you would, if you feel comfortable, it's just a sign of prayer. You want to stretch your hand this way if you feel comfortable. We're going to pray over them. Would you pray with us as well? Father, we just thank you for willing hearts, willing hearts to return and willing hearts to go for the first time. Father, I just ask that you would bless the people. I pray that there'd be words in this team. There'd be things that they have in them that they would deposit while they're there. God, that you would pull ministry out of them. We believe every member of the body of Christ is a minister. And so we believe ministry can come out of every one of these people that are standing up here. We ask for a selflessness on this trip. We ask that you would make us a humble people. We're not coming there to fix things. We're not coming there to save them as Christian Americans. We're coming there to be the body of Christ. And I ask for grace on the church, the churches that we're going, that God, that we would be a blessing to them and that they would be a blessing to us. That as Paul said in Romans, that there would be a mutual encouragement, that it'd be a mutual exchange of faith. God, we believe that you'll give us direction and discernment. You'll protect us. God, that travel will be easy. But Father, ultimately that you will be glorified and your purpose is accomplished through this group. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Awesome. Awesome.
Awesome. Thank you guys.
Please remember them throughout the trip. Again, we leave on Thursday early and we will be gone for nine days. I'm particularly looking forward to it. My oldest is going with me and I know we're going to experience some really great things. And if you would just do me a favor and pray for us while we're gone, I know some of your hearts are really for mission. Man, intercede for us, be praying for us. I'm just expecting to come back with a load of really great news. In fact, I would just say this before I get started here. We're actually going to one of the churches where we helped build the bathrooms. So, and you might be like, bathrooms, is that that big of a deal? Yes, it is. Okay. And so y'all are actually a part of that. We may actually get to come and do some construction there in that one particular area. So just again, be in prayer for us and we'll be going to some of the places where you've actually sewn in financially. So that's awesome.
Because of the way I want to end service today, I'm going to make one announcement about an event coming up. I think we have a slide for that. Art for All is something that we've been doing for three years now where we basically, we use the arts as a way of ministry to the community. And so we're a little under a month out, but on Saturday, August 1st, we're having a little bit of a we're having this free art event. We're theming it. You can think of it like a one day VBS. We're theming it.
We're calling it Heart Party. So we're theming it on the idea of joy and the fact that the most happy you'll ever be, your heart will ever be, is in knowing God and his love for you. And we're going to use arts. We're going to have performative arts this time. We're going to have art stations.
We're going to have all kinds of stuff. There'll be food vendors here. It's going to be kind of that middle of the day time. And so we would love, there's a lot of you that are already signed up to volunteer, but if you're interested in doing that, we're going to have a lot of you that are already signed up to volunteer. And if you're interested in any of that, or you want to be a part of it, or you just want to come, I just want to throw that out there.
We're really looking forward to this being an event that not only ministers to our church family, but becomes a staple in our community, that the arts might display the goodness and the grace of God. And I don't know, me personally, I have a personal bent towards the arts, but I really want to see our church be a trendsetter for redeeming the arts. It is not some liberally hijacked thing. The arts are God's. God is the most creative being ever. And so the arts should belong to him and his church. And so I just look forward to the opportunity to kind of redeem that. August 1st, that's Saturday. Come hang out with us. You can check all that out in our app, in the events, or even check out our social media. They'll be giving updates on that kind of stuff. All right? All right.
I have gone through all my things. We are in Ephesians 3.
We're finishing up a series today called Ta-Da. We've been talking about the mystery of the gospel.
And today, let me go ahead and give you the title. There was a time where I never titled my messages, Charles, because I was just like, we're just going to do week one. And that, you know, it can be ambiguous that way.
You know, it's just whatever the text says, that's the title. But I'll go ahead and give you the title. If you're already in your notes, you probably already see it.
The title for today is Temporal Pain, Eternal Plan. Temporal Pain, Eternal Plan.
And we're going to zero in on something Paul says here at the end of this verse. But I hope it's... There's such an encouragement and a strength to the church, okay? So let's read. It's Ephesians 3.
We're going to be on verse 11 through 13. And again, we're going to finish out this series. We're going to do a small three-part series to finish out July. And then we're into chapter 4 of Ephesians. Can you believe it?
We've been in Ephesians all year. We have finally crossed the halfway mark at the end of this month.
So we're getting there. Ephesians 3, 11. Did anybody bring their Bible?
Like their physical Bible? Let me see it. Y'all are going to get to go to the ice cream party.
Look at y'all. All right.
I'm going to keep that joke going as long as I can. Ephesians 3, starting in verse 11.
Paul says, This was according to the eternal purpose. Eternal means it does not have a start and it does not have a end. They stop.
It means it's always been. I want you to let that settle in your mind for just a second.
God is eternal. Maybe that's an easy one for you to grasp. But if God's eternal, then his plans are too.
So there's never been a time that God hadn't planned to do what he has done. And listen to what he says.
He says, This was according to the eternal purpose that he realized or made happen in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Jesus was not plan B. He was always the plan.
He's always been the plan. He'll always be the plan.
There is no other name. The only way you come to God is through Jesus. And while there might have been types and shadows of how that was to come, Paul said it's finally been revealed that Jesus is the way and this was God's plan all along.
So even if your mind says, Well, what about Genesis? What about Adam and Eve? God knew. Therefore, God had planned. You'd say, You mean God didn't just go, Oh, no, Adam and Eve, Eve messed it up, so now we're going to have to do something.
No, no, no, no. He knew. And so he had already planned.
All of this was according to his eternal plan that he realized in Christ Jesus in whom, listen to this, this is why we can sing worthy. This is why we can sing about the goodness of God.
This is why we can hold fast to Christ because we have boldness in him and access with confidence through our faith in him. Jesus is the linchpin to us being, being confident and bold with God.
You don't have to be scared with God anymore. You don't have to fear God in the sense that his wrath is still on you or that you're going to get in trouble. If you've placed faith in Jesus, you can be bold.
You can be confident. You have access to the God of the universe.
And after he says all of that, Paul says, So, so is a good word. So means think about what I just said as a reason, reasoning for what I'm about to say. So I'm asking you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
All right. So we're going to pray in just a second, but let's get a little vocab phrase list here.
Okay. What do we have? Immediately we have eternal purpose. That definitely stands out. Realized in Christ Jesus. That's a good phrase. We have boldness. The word access, confidence, through faith. That's a good phrase.
We come through all of that. Don't lose heart. But then there's this one word that just seems to nag the church in the 21st century. That apparently the first century church knew they had come to understand that this was going to be part of their experience that the American 21st century church sometimes seems to be quite confused over. And it's the issue. It's the issue of suffering. We want to talk a little bit about that.
I named my sermon, Temporal Pain, Eternal Plan, because we need to go into this realizing the brevity, Psalm 91 says, Moses says, the brevity of life. Teach me, Lord, the brevity of life so I might gain wisdom. So in order for us to leave out of here as wise Christians, we first need to let God, let God, help us remember we're here for a little while. And that us being here for a little while means that even if we suffer while we're here for a little while, that suffering is only for a little while. So let's pray and then let's see what maybe God might do in our hearts as we walk through this text.
So Father, I'm asking that we not cloud our minds with all of the views and the thoughts and the things. I mean, it's just so easy for my mind. They just get captive. I'm asking Holy Spirit, Paul said in Corinthians that wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. Now I'm asking for a freedom in our heart and in our mind from anything that would distort the scriptures or our view of you so that we don't leave here as more wise, more mature, more able-bodied Christians to be and to do exactly as you've called us. Help me to speak it. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
All right, I'm gonna give you what we're talking about today. Three things that we're looking at. One, we're gonna look at the nature of our lives. We're gonna look at the nature of pain and suffering. We're gonna look at God's presence and work in suffering.
And then we're gonna look at the result of Christian suffering, all right? So the nature of pain and suffering, God's presence and work in suffering and the result of Christian suffering.
Christians should not shy away from or search for suffering, okay? This, there's a, you know, again, I talk about this a lot because I was, so that you know, why do I mention some things about the Orthodox Church and the Charismatic Church a lot is because I was raised going to two fundamentally different types of church services and church beliefs. One of them was a very conservative Orthodox.
One of them was very charismatic. I thank God for that because I can now see where the blend is sometimes.
I feel like there are ditches in everything we talk about. And this, y'all, with the suffering, it seems there's a group that believes the more you suffer, the more spiritual you are. There's a crowd that actually thinks that if you suffer, it's actually a sign of godliness because listen to some texts.
Jesus says in the book of John, in this world, you will have trouble. First Peter tells us if we join in with God in him or in Jesus' sufferings, we'll join him in the glory that he shares. So there's a crowd that actually thinks there's a belief out there that yeah, you're gonna suffer and the more you do it, almost it's like you're more godly. But how many of you know, sometimes you suffer and it's not for godly reasons, okay? And then there's another group that is on the other side of the ditch that says if you suffer, it's because something is wrong.
That would be our prosperity gospel group that says if you're not living with max amount of money, max amount of blessings, max amount of this, max amount of health, all these things, then you must be doing something wrong. Your faith isn't strong enough and therefore you're suffering.
I experienced this personally with a mentor friend of mine whose wife was dying of cancer and a person came to her bedside and literally said, if you would just confess your sins, then this sickness would leave your body. That doesn't seem to square away with the Bible either, does it?
Because I've known many, many, many, many godly men and women who have suffered great loss. Paul, who wrote this, is one of them. But I've known personally saints of God who have suffered.
So it's good to say on the onset, we don't shy away from it, but we certainly don't go looking for it. In other words, I'm not volunteering, by the way.
Oh God, send me some suffering. Nope, don't want it.
If I was Katniss, if my sister had gotten chosen for the Hunger Games, I would not go, I volunteer as tribute. I'd be like, I'm so sorry.
I pray for you. I'm not going.
I'm not going.
So what am I saying? I'm saying we are not people who are masochists. We're not looking for pain to prove our loyalty to Jesus, but we're also not shying away from it, knowing that it is a part of life, whether you are a believer or not, to suffer. So the idea is the nature of pain and suffering is, is that we don't want to shy away from it. We certainly don't want to search for it, but we need, we need to be aware of the fact that suffering happens. So what does a Christian do when suffering comes? So we want to talk a little bit about that.
So we've talked about the nature of pain. The nature of it, of pain and suffering is, is that it comes.
It may come through varied reasons. And I want to give you a few of those because again, in the ditches of theology, usually, or maybe you were raised in one of those ditches. I know I certainly was. I was thrown from one ditch to the other. I didn't stay in one ditch.
I just got tossed, tossed over here by this particular denomination and then thrown back in the other ditch by the other one. I was so blessed this last ATI. If y'all don't know much about us or you're visiting with us, ATI is our family of churches that we're a part of. And we were out there for a conference in the beginning of June.
And there was this theme that kept coming through all of the sessions, this theme of suffering. And again, we don't, we don't shy away from it, but we don't volunteer for it.
But it just seemed like the pressing point of our conference was, guys, are we gonna be able to still be standing if suffering comes? Especially if we're seen as Christians suffering.
And there's a few reasons that we experience pain and suffering. Number one is us.
We are sometimes the reason for our own suffering. Now, I could write a book on how many times I was the reason I was in the middle of a mess, Charles.
I mean, volumes. Like Jonathan's, Jonathan's conference, Consequences, Volume 9.
Like I could write books of decisions I've made and the subsequent sufferings that came because I made a dumb decision. Because I said something dumb. Because I did something dumb.
All right, so I think everybody can see that. Now, what I will tell you is it just, it is amazing to me how many people get upset that they have consequences for bad decisions. In the world of taking care of people and loving people, it is amazing to me how many times I and others have gotten themselves in a bad situation and been mad that God didn't bail them out of something they caused.
You've heard the prayer that someone said, God, if you get me out of this, I will ever do X, Y, and Z again. No, you know, a good father sometimes lets you stay in it because rescuing you from it doesn't make you learn anything.
The parable of the young rich ruler, or the parable of the prodigal son is a perfect example of that. Sometimes in our lives, guys, we have to get in squalor before we'll actually see ourselves and remember the nature of the father.
Before we ever go back to his love, we'll say, I have to get to the end of myself. So all of us have experienced that, suffering because of my consequences of my actions, okay?
That's one, we could probably all see that. Number two would be, we are not a church that does not believe that there is no devil.
He is real. First Peter tells us he is like a lion.
He is real. He is looking for those he can devour.
Now, let me tell you something real quick about the devil that I think is completely true. I think it's true by nature of the scriptures.
In the charismatic realm, the devil is gonna try to manifest over you and then try to stab you or something. I don't know, we thought that.
I grew up thinking the devil's gonna try to kill me. Let me tell you the purpose of the devil oftentimes is not to take your physical life.
It is to take your faith away from trusting Christ. His devilishness is to take your faith away from trusting Christ.
His devilishness is to take your faith away from trusting Christ. Your devouring you is devouring your bold access that Paul just told us we had to the Father through Jesus.
He wants to rob you. Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
What is he saying? He's coming to rob you of a blessed state in Christ.
Your blessed state is not your money. It's not your health.
It's being in Christ. And if the devil can steal that from you, that's what he wants to do.
Now, I'll tell you right now, the devil is the cause of a lot of suffering. Again, in the charismatic world, sometimes we don't know what's going on.
We grew up and the devil was doing everything. Like there was no room for you to make a mistake, Charles, because the devil was, you know, trying to get you.
You know, it's like that sign on the interstate, go to church or the devil will get you, you know? It's like the devil's always trying to get you.
And I'll say he is. He is a roaring lion.
We said this in a series years ago and it's always stuck with me. The devil is real, but he's on a leash.
You know, when people are talking about suffering and it's the devil, sometimes people paint the picture that the devil is in likeness to God. Like there's this Zeus and Hades thing going on. And I want to remind you that your God is not limited by time. He is not limited in power. He is not limited in mercy.
Every attribute of his is infinite and eternal because he is infinite and eternal. We just sang how infinite and divine, who's infinite? The only one that I can think of that's infinite is God.
The devil ain't. He's got limited resources.
He can only do so much, but he is real and he does wreak havoc, especially on the church. He don't like you.
He's not into you. And you know what the devil loves?
Nominal Christianity. See, I don't think he's trying to kill you.
I think what the devil loves, based on a biblical overview, he loves it when people say they love God, but don't live for God. He loves it.
He loves nominal Christianity. And so I think the best way he knows how to still kill and destroy in the church today is be a nominal Christian, be a surface level Christian.
You know, do the religious things, but don't have real union with Christ and don't see yourself as a part of the church and all of that. So the devil definitely causes suffering.
So we've got the consequences of our actions, evil and the devil's actions. And this is the one where you, usually the derailment happens.
Some suffering is because of the consequences of your actions. Some suffering is because of the actions of the devil.
And then there is suffering that comes by way of God's actions. And our Christian brain, our American Christian brain, we use terms like this.
I hear this a lot. If I'm watching a YouTube video or something and I'm hearing somebody doing like street apologetics or something, I love videos like that where people are interacting with somebody like on a street corner or something like that.
And they'll say, well, my God would never, and then throw that in there. And I want to pose this before we get too far into this.
Always be willing to admit that you have made God more like you than the one that is in the Bible. The sooner you do that, the less offended you'll be when you come across life experience or scripture that doesn't fit the God you made.
You see, we are fashioned in his likeness. He is not fashioned in ours.
I'll give you another good example is when Jesus is talking to fathers and he says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more? Isaiah 55, eight and nine is a beautiful verse.
It says, as the heavens are above the earth, so his ways are above our ways and his thoughts are above our thoughts. Y'all, he is not like us.
In some ways, we are like him. You can never imagine your actions causing suffering on someone and it be good.
But let me tell you about the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible can use suffering as a means to do good.
Now, I will go back to what I said earlier. I'm not asking to be signed up for that.
If Jonathan can get through this life without a lot of suffering, sign me up. I would love that.
But some of you already have tasted in the type of suffering I'm talking about, where suffering kind of comes in like a wild left hook from life and you staggered. And maybe because of this last point here, God's actions, you didn't consider what God was doing in it.
All you could really consider was yourself. Can we be honest about our suffering?
If we get hurt, the natural instinct is to go inward. If my stove was on and I came up and I forgot my stove was on, y'all know this would happen.
It would happen to you. It happened to me.
I grabbed the top of that stove. What's the natural reaction?
The natural reaction is going to be here. And when we suffer, our natural action is to come inward.
What about me? How does this affect me?
How is this about me? God, why did you do this to me?
God, why are you doing this to me? God, why is this happening to me?
Me, right? I mean, is that true or is that not?
I mean, some of y'all, if y'all living above that, I like it, like I'm for it. But I would say the natural reaction is, why me?
I wanna show you a story where every one of those reasons that I just mentioned, happen in one life. And then I want to tell you that more than likely, you are not exempt from this type of life.
That suffering is going to happen to you. It could be because of your actions.
It could be because of the devils or it could be because of God's. I'm gonna show you a place where all three happen.
I'm gonna suggest that more than likely, most of the suffering you encounter include all three to some degree. His name is Joseph.
Maybe you have heard of him. I'm gonna turn to one specific emphasis there in Genesis 37 through Genesis 45 is where you can find the whole story.
I'm gonna give you a synopsis and then I'm gonna pop to one part here because Joseph says something that's incredible. Genesis is the first, I'm not being funny, your first book in your Bible, if you've got one.
I'm gonna turn right here. Perfect, I'm gonna keep that there.
Joseph, let's talk about it. Joseph.
One of the sons where we get the idea of the children of Israel. Joseph becomes a tribe.
The children of Israel become a nation, right? And we know the story of Moses.
Many of you, even if you weren't raised in church, you probably watched Prince of Egypt, just a fantastic animated movie. You didn't like that movie.
All-star cast, by the way, on that movie. Music and everything.
Man, we need to go back home and watch Prince of Egypt. That's gonna happen.
So Joseph is one of these 12, brothers, Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel. It's his dad, and he's kind of the favorite.
Joseph is kind of the favorite, and everybody knows it. So I'm sorry if you have multiple kids and your kids always tell you, you think they're the favorite.
It might be that you have a tendency to favor one of them, but he's ultimately favored in the sense that his father gives him this special coat. We know it is the coat of many colors, and apparently this coat was just a big deal, all right?
So his brothers, his brothers envied him, didn't like him, but were not at the point of ready to kill him yet. You know, like when you're a sibling or you have children and they're like, I'm gonna kill you.
Like, they probably had that kind of energy, but not the like, let's plan a way to make it happen. Okay, they weren't quite there yet.
And then Joseph has this dream. In his dream, there are these sheaths of wheat and they are bowing down to Joseph's bundle.
And Joseph, Joseph knows what the dream means. He's basically like, hey guys, let me go tell all of you who are in this dream about my dream.
I'm there and I have a bundle of wheat and then all of your bundles of wheat bow down to mine. Now, if you're a sibling, you're probably thinking what they thought.
You think your dream means that we're gonna be your servants and that we're gonna bow down to you? And even his dad is like, bro, what are you talking?
I'm gonna bow down to you? I'm your dad.
Daddy, I ain't bowing down to nobody, right? So the attitude went from the brothers of envy to hate.
The Bible literally says in Genesis that when Joseph had told the story, his brothers hated him. They despised him.
So they devised this plan. They go out and while Joseph is with them, they take him and throw him in a pit with the intention to kill him, okay?
And it's not the kind of kill that happens in your home, right? I'm gonna kill you.
They were like going to kill him. The older brother decides, I'm gonna try to make this not happen.
I'm gonna go back to the pit and I'll let him go and all this whole thing. Go read it in Genesis, like I said, 37 through 45.
And these traveling folks come through and the brothers are like, you know what? While he's gone, let's just sell him.
Then we get a little dinero out of this thing, you know? And so they sell their brother.
They sell their brother into slavery. And then he's sold to an official of Pharaoh named Potiphar.
He gets in trouble. He didn't do anything.
He had character and integrity while he was in Potiphar's house, but he gets falsely accused. He gets put in prison.
He gets put in prison. He eventually has an interpretation for a dream for two people that worked with Pharaoh.
And eventually one of those guys gets reinstalled with Pharaoh. And he tells Pharaoh, when Pharaoh has a dream and can't have the interpretation, you should check out this guy, my boy, down in the dungeon.
Like this guy has got the read. He knows what's up.
So Pharaoh brings Joseph to the palace. He gives him an interpretation.
And Pharaoh was like, oh my gosh, you're my second hand guy. You're my right hand guy.
Eventually a famine hits the land and Egypt is the only place that has grain. And this was all because Joseph interpreted the dream to Pharaoh and instructed Pharaoh what to do.
So Pharaoh is benefiting economically. This is all part, again, let me go back real fast to his eternal dream.
His eternal plan. This didn't just kind of happen.
Oh my gosh, can you believe how all that came together? It's not like that.
It's not like you were planning something and everything came off without a hitch. God had an eternal plan.
Even the story of Joseph is relatable to what Paul is talking about. So they're the only people that have grain and his brothers, they need grain.
Where are they gonna have to go? They're gonna have to go to Egypt.
So Jacob or Israel sends the brothers to Egypt and eventually what they're gonna do is they're gonna go to Egypt. And what happens is Joseph sees his brothers and there's an interaction where they're getting their needs met through Joseph and Joseph reveals who he is.
And in Genesis 45 verse eight, it said, this is what Joseph says. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.
Now I wanna show you. We can look at that story and we'll say, this wouldn't have happened if Joseph would have just been discerning and kept his mouth shut.
But he really, he really reaped the consequences of being prideful and arrogant and being like, y'all gonna bow down to me. You say, but was it that extreme?
We could say that. Really the spark for this entire thing was happening on the fact that Joseph was the one who said what he said, right?
We could also say there's evil. The devil was at work through the brothers because they wanted to kill him and then they ended up selling him.
What kind of evil is that? I mean, we're still dealing with human trafficking today.
It is an evil on the world and it is certainly supplied by the enemy. The devil.
All of that aside, Joseph and his arrogance and the evil of his brothers, Joseph says, your intentions were not what got me here. Your plan is not what got me here.
God sent me here. Long story long, how do you work that out?
Except to trust that if God was the one who really sent you, then there must be a reason for why, this is happening. But often what happens when we suffer is the why question happens.
I'm not saying you shouldn't ask why, but I think you should be a sturdy enough believer that if your why doesn't get answered, you don't abandon God. Because I've watched many Christians abandon God during suffering.
In their mind, they interpret suffering as God leaving. But I want to show you again, we said that there's a nature of pain and suffering.
And then we say God's presence and work in suffering. Joseph.
Joseph knew that the reason he was there may have included his arrogance and pride and the consequences of the decisions. And it might have included the evil intentions of his brothers.
But because he knew who God was, he said, God is the one who ultimately is going to get glory for this. I want you to think about that for just a second.
What or who have you glorified by whining, complaining, being upset or losing faith? Have you glorified?
Have you glorified God instead of the one who sent you? If you think you suffer and God's not involved, then I'd have to ask you two questions.
Number one, do you really believe in God? And the second one is, do you believe in the God of the Bible?
I'll just give you a real, this is softball. If God's not involved in your suffering, then we can't believe that God's the God of the Bible.
Because God is everywhere and he is in everything. There is nowhere, David says in the Psalms, he said, there is nowhere I can go that you are not there.
He said, I can make my bed in Sheol. It's a really pretty way of saying the pit of darkness.
He said, you're there. There's nowhere you can go in here.
There's nothing you can experience that God is not a part of. And I might dare say, you won't maybe like this.
I know I certainly haven't over the years. It may very well be that we have to get over that God is the one who got us there.
He said, God wants me to suffer. I don't know if it's an issue of want or an issue of wanting.
It's what his eternal plan requires. I want to make another point to that here in just a second before we close.
I know I'm pretty close here. Something to think about before we close.
These are good questions to ask. Because again, I think a lot of Christians shy away from talking about suffering, talk about evil in the world.
The good question from our atheist friends is, if God is real, how can there be so much evil and suffering in the world? I don't think that's a question to clarify if God is real or not.
I think it's a question of his eternal plan. His purpose, which we may not ever have complete clarity on until we are before God ourselves.
That's hard for our Western minds. We feel like if we can't solve it, it's not worth getting into.
If we can't understand it, it's not worth believing in. And I would only tell you that if your God is someone that you can fully understand, it doesn't surprise you anymore, you may not be worshiping the God of the Bible.
You might be worshiping a God that you have formed so you can be comfortable with. The God I serve, the scripture says, says that he is a consuming fire.
It is not comfortable being in a relationship with him all the time. Again, I'm not saying that he makes you suffer the entirety of your life, but what if the suffering we experience, what if it's come about because he has a plan?
I hear people say this when someone loses someone, they'll say, well, God's in control. Why do we believe it when it's someone else's suffering, but when it's our suffering, all of a sudden God has vanished and he no longer has a plan?
We will readily say that to someone who has just experienced the most awful, tragic news of their life. But when we suffer, where did you go, God?
Why aren't you doing anything, God? It is a mistake for the Christian to believe that God is sitting on his hands.
If you believed that he was a part of it coming about, then you can believe easily. Well, God's got a reason for why he's doing this.
I may not know it, but that does not deteriorate my view of him. I'm still gonna trust him.
Something to think about. If God allows suffering with no purpose, he's cruel.
If God has no control, whether he's suffering or not, he is powerless. And the Bible shows that God is both all good and all powerful.
So I guess sometimes when we're talking about stuff like this, what you have to square up is, this is the way I've always viewed things, and now this is what the Bible says. I'm not preaching my opinion, because if I wanted to preach what I felt would make good for preaching, I wouldn't preach that.
I'd preach something else. Hey, listen, if you pray every morning, you're gonna get out of that.
What if you pray every morning and you stay in it? Is God still all good?
Is God still all powerful? Y'all remember what the three Hebrews said, a boy said before the king, before they were thrown in the fire?
He gave them an option. If you will, bow down and worship me, man.
I'll promise you won't get thrown in there. They literally say, God will deliver us, but if he doesn't.
You see, what they're saying is, you're not gonna condition my answer by threats of suffering. I'm gonna hold fast to God, because even if I suffer, to hold fast to him is better than to suffer.
Suffer without him, suffer thinking there's no purpose. And by the way, there are a lot of beliefs out here that the world is just what it is.
You are just a mistake. There is no reason or purpose for you being here.
The atheistic argument is, there is no purpose for your life. So just get as much of it as you can, because one day you're gonna die and that's it.
Solomon struggled with that in Ecclesiastes. But you know what you come back to?
There is a purpose for you being here. Revelation 4.11 says that everything he created, he desired.
He desired and willed it to be here. You are here for a reason, but you're not here to fulfill your purpose.
What did Paul say? According to his eternal purpose.
The reason we struggle with suffering is because we're about our purpose and not his. Because if he has an eternal purpose, then can you accept that God might be weaving a part of your suffering into his grand plan to redeem all things?
That's hard. I'm not saying that's easy.
It's easy to say while we're up here and agree and nod to it, but I mean, that's hard. The Bible shows God to be both all good and all powerful.
And let me give you one thing as we get ready here to close. This helps me so much.
I heard a, I'm not sure if he's passed yet or not, but he's an older theologian. He said this one time.
He says, when you get bogged down in the scriptures and there just tends to be this thing coming up over and over and over again, how can I trust a God that this happened and this happened? And what about this verse?
What about these things? When all of the clouds, of scripture or life begin to crowd you, a better route for Christians is to go straight to the cross.
Why would I say that? We need to see that God doesn't just sometimes allow suffering to happen, but he entered into suffering.
You see, if we continue a thought that God's up in heaven ordaining suffering, but he's never taken any part of it, then how can we trust him? How can we believe that?
That he'll work it for good? How can we believe such a thing?
If God has never experienced pain and suffering, we would say, you have no right for me to try to trust you when you don't even know what it's like to be like me. Man, y'all thank God for the incarnation.
Thank God that in his sovereign plan, he said, what I will do for my people is I will become in the form of sinful flesh and I will take on suffering head on so I can give hope to my people. Because that's what we do.
We like to block God out. You don't know, you're not even here, you're absent.
And we see the crucified Christ, the suffering servant. Isaiah 53 says, I'm gonna turn there real quick.
Listen to this, Isaiah 53, verse three. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hid their faces.
He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds, we are healed.
The next time you suffer, you might be quicker to say, I thank you that you can identify. I'm not alone in this.
Jesus. The perfect son of God.
You see, Jesus, look, hold on, y'all look with me. Come on, just give me another few minutes.
I promise I'll finish up here. Jesus not once experienced the suffering of his own actions or the actions of the enemy.
He only experienced the sufferings of the eternal plan. You see, we can understand if I made a bad decision, I'm gonna reap the consequence.
We can understand that the devil would do things to create problems in my life. But it's when we get to the point where we say, God, why are you allowing this to happen?
He did not spare his own son. He loved you that much that he entered into sinful flesh, being perfect in that sinful flesh and took on the cross.
Oswald Chambers said this, and if y'all wanna go ahead and come on up, you can. Oswald Chambers said this.
He said, if we cannot make it through suffering and bereavement, grief, if you wanna call it that, Oswald Chambers is writing in a little bit of a different time. So he's using, big word, bereavement, grief, sorrow.
If we can't make it through that, these storms, this darkness, these whirlwinds of life, without damaging our view of God's character, it may be that we barely even know him. I want you to think about that for just a second.
How many times have you been around somebody or you yourself charged God falsely? This is something that Glenn Schaefer talks about a lot, about charging God falsely.
He says, I wanna know God so well that I would never join in with the accuser and say, you are fill in the blank. In fact, what I'm hoping happens today is many of you will become defenders of God's character.
If you hear somebody say, well, the God I know would never X, Y, and Z. So the God I know is all good and all powerful, but Christ tamed and suffered and died and Christ promised trouble.
This suffering is not absent of God. God, God's here in it.
And what do we want more? This is a good question.
Do we want God to get us out of suffering or do we want to know him despite the suffering? You see, that is what happens.
When suffering comes into our life, we begin to let go of things that we thought might have been good or might have been beneficial. And then we go into self-preservation mode.
And I just know that God's spirit, even today when Paul says in Ephesians here, he says, don't be troubled about my grief and my sorrow and about my suffering. It's for your glory.
New suffering so well. He lists it out in Corinthians.
One of his letters to the Corinthians, he writes out, gives a full detail. He was stoned.
He was whipped. He was beaten.
He was left for dead. He was persecuted.
He was abandoned. He was shipwrecked twice.
I mean, Paul went through the ringer and somebody might say, well, yeah, I mean, Paul was doing what he was doing. There were gonna be consequences for his actions.
And I wanna show you something real quick. Don't feel bad for my suffering.
It's for your glory. That word glory means literally, it means state of blessedness.
It's not, again, not talking about wealth and health. It's talking about you're in Christness.
Paul was saying, my suffering is for your good. My suffering is so that you could know the riches of the gospel in Christ Jesus.
Literally, my suffering is why you're good. Getting in Christ.
I don't know that I've cared that much that you got that in Christ if it was an expense to me. Come on, can we be real?
If it's costing me something for you to get in, I don't know. But see, if I can learn to hold to God and not damage my view of him simply because I'm losing out on something to say that I'm suffering or I'm experiencing discomfort.
If I'm letting loose of the only one who can make sense of my pain and suffering, well, then not only is it not gonna equate to good for me, it's not gonna equate to the blessing that comes to those in Christ. I would say as a Christian, your suffering is for good.
Paul was told by Ananias in Acts 9, 15. I just wanna read this to you real quick.
Paul's pain and suffering were shown to him in his conversion. Don't believe me?
Let's just look at the text. Acts 9, verse 15.
But the Lord said to Ananias, this was a guy that was gonna go pray for Paul who had been blinded because of his interaction with Jesus. He had been converted.
He trusted Christ. He says, go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles.
Everything that we were just reading about in chapter three. The mystery is that the Gentiles get in.
In his conversion, literally Ananias was like, dude, you're gonna be used. This was seven years before Paul even started into any of that.
You're gonna be my chosen instrument to proclaim Jesus. And then he says, I will show him, how much he must suffer for my name.
I don't know if you can get more clear than that. Sometimes the church has elevated conversion calling to God as something that gets you out of everything that Jesus actually promised would happen to you.
If you trust Jesus, you're gonna have your best life ever. Yes, but not in the fleshly way that we think about it.
You know what happens when you come to Christ? He starts to strip you.
He strips you of everything that might, might tempt you for its lordship. Sometimes he puts you in the fire.
Sometimes he puts you in the storm. And y'all, I love songs that talk about us being loved by God.
And it's true. It's only that I'm loved by God that I can stay in the storm.
But God, sometimes we gotta get to points in our life with Christ where we sing the song, even in the storm. Even in the valley.
You remember Psalm 23? Even though, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Even though. No, may we be even though people.
Why? Because Christians, their suffering will always be worked for good.
I can't promise that to someone who doesn't know Jesus. I can promise it to you if you do.
You may not see all of the good, but you can bet the bank because God is all good and all powerful. He will work for good any suffering you experience.
I'm gonna quote this scripture, Romans 8, 28. Many of you know this scripture.
And many of you have seen it hijacked by the church. And he will work all things to the good of those who love him and are called according to their purpose.
Man, we let's slap that on everything. Oh, this birthday party I planned for my child.
It's gonna rain. I just claim it right now in the name of Jesus.
He works all things. Like God's gonna change the weather for your birthday party.
Now, maybe he does. Now, I still believe God can do anything, but that's not what that verse is talking about.
The beginning of that type of, section of the verse, all Paul says, he literally says, I don't take the time. I'm not even wasting time comparing these temporal sufferings with the glory that is to come.
And then a few verses down, he says, for he works all things. He's saying, guys, you're probably gonna get your butt kicked a couple of times, whether by your own decisions or by the devil, but be assured the one who called you, the one that you love and the one that you trust, he will turn those bad decisions, those evil intentions, he will work them for good.
I wanna be a part of that. I mean that, honestly, if we can use this word, I'll just use the word stinks, but y'all know what I mean.
That stinks, uppercase stinks, like capital S stinks. Y'all, I saved myself.
I didn't go unsanctified and say another word, okay? It stinks to high heaven sometimes, but then if you fall in love with God, you realize I'm not gonna let loose of the character of God.
I'm not gonna let this moment damage what I view of God. Instead, I'm gonna say, if you've done it, if this has been your eternal plan, if this is, you see this, you know this, you know me, you're gonna work it out.
Amen? Amen.
I wanna do something. I wanna pray, and then I want us to stand, and I want us to do the giving, the sending liturgy.
I want you to stand out of here. Why is there something that's gonna come your way this week?
Because you very right now, you may find yourself suffering. They're the worst.
If it's a nail, or if it's threaded against your leg, you say, God's using it, right? Stand.
In fact, go ahead, if you will. Stand to your feet.
And then, as we release the team and everything, they're just gonna play for a second. Grab your kids and head on out and all that.
Totally fine. But our prayer team's gonna be back up here.
If you need to just come to one of these kneeling benches, as we dismiss, I mean, just, I was so happy to get to this verse because I've been having so many conversations with so many people who've been suffering, experiencing intense pain. And I just, I want you to be, to be able to receive some ministry and some prayer.
Or maybe, even just some time in repentance over your view of God, you know? Sometimes it's good just to make an altar, spend some time with the Lord.
The band's gonna play. We'll hang out here for a minute, but don't feel rushed.
We'll handle your kids. If you've got kids, we'll handle it.
But make use of this opportunity. I'm gonna pray.
We're gonna do our sending liturgy. And then we'll dismiss to that.
If you, like I said, be respectful. If you feel like you need to go ahead and head on out, totally cool.
But otherwise, make use of the moment as we close, okay? Father, thank you for your word.
So hard. I'm asking that you enlarge us, Jesus.
Enlarge our capacity to know the God of the Bible. Enlarge our capacity to know this Jesus, this suffering servant.
Enlarge our capacity to be Christians that don't damage your character when we walk through difficult things. Man, Father, I'm just asking for your love to be overwhelmingly present.
Secure us again by your grace to the cross so that we know that we're not earning a place with you and that suffering is not a punishment. But Father, may very well be a part of your sovereign plan to bring the gospel to other people and to bless people in Christ.
Lord, let it be that we find ourselves as missionaries today, leaving out of here, realizing that there are people who need to know that even in the midst of this, even in the midst of this, even in the midst of pain and difficulty and the evil intentions of this world, there is a sovereign God that is making good on his promise to his people. I ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
Let's read this sending liturgy together and then if you need some time to respond, let's do that as well. Say this with me.
We are not leaving this place, we are being sent. We are obeying the command of our Lord to go.
So send us, Lord, to find you in secret, in prayer and devotion, to love and care for our family, to strengthen and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ, to faithfully work as unto the Lord in the marketplace and home, to wisely steward all you have given us, to recognize our place and ability in our community, to witness of your goodness and grace to neighbors and nations. Send us now in your presence and power, amen.
You are officially dismissed. If you need some time to respond, these altars are open and our prayer team is ready for you.
All the angels cry, only Jesus you are. All are worthy.
All creation sings em song of glory and peace. All the heavens and so the earth.
Jesus you are. The world is so beautiful. Jesus you are. All the earth sings holy. We are simply awesome. All the angels cry out, Jesus you are Lord All creation sings, world All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord Jesus All the earth singing, all All the angels cry out, Jesus you are Lord All creation sings, world All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord All the earth singing, all All the angels cry out, Jesus you are Lord All the earth sings, world All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord All the heavens exulting, Jesus you are Lord
