Speaker:
we're continuing in Romans eight.
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Romans eight 17 is where we're starting.
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We're picking up where we left
off last week and if you know what
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movie I got the title of the sermon
from, I'll give you brownie points.
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Kind of.
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It's really from a, a different
movie, but I like a lot more than
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back to the future, but that's okay.
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DR.
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Four.
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No, it's from Penga.
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Za Madagascar, which is a great movie.
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But anyway, Penga Za Madagascar, you
know, when they, anyway, there you go.
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Alright, well, Romans eight is
where we're gonna be, so make
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sure you're there in your Bibles.
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Um, and this passage, this passage is kind
of long, but what it's got, it's got some
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really, really, it's got a lot of weird
stuff, a lot of really interesting stuff.
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There's, there's a lot of.
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Weird beliefs that come out of this
passage, but I'm really excited
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to talk about it with you because
it helps us see what life is
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really all about, and it helps us
process all the things that happen.
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I know, um, you guys might not think
about this as much as maybe people
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that are older than you, but, um, I
was hanging out with my, with Shea's
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grandma recently, and my, my grandpa, he
lives close by and so we see him a lot.
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And, um, something about I, I love
hanging out with my grandparents,
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but one thing about hanging out
with them is it makes me really sad.
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Because my grandmas are pretty old.
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My grandpa is 96.
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He's gonna be, or he's gonna be 90?
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Yeah, he's gonna be 96 this year.
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No, 97 this year.
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He's born in 1929.
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Um, and my Shea's grandma is, is
like 86 or something, and something
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that's really sad when I hang out
with them, especially my grandpa.
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Is I, I think about the
person he used to be, right?
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And the things he used to be able to
do, like, um, when I was little, like
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20 years ago and how active he was.
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And now he, he is hard for
him to remember things.
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And when you hang out with older people,
especially older people that are, that
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are on their, on their way down, it's a,
it's really sad because you realize that
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life is filled with so much, so much stuff
that just shouldn't be the way it's right.
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Like people, there's a country song that.
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Um, it's really sad, but it's, it's
called, I Wish Grandpa's Never Died.
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I don't know if you've
ever heard that one before.
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And it's a really sad song and
it makes you realize, man, like
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the world is messed up, right?
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People get old people, people die.
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Things happen that
shouldn't happen, right?
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Even sometimes people your age
die, and that's even worse.
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I was reading about a guy this week.
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He had, um, 11 kids and 10 of them.
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He lived a long time ago.
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That's why he had so many kids.
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But he, uh, had 11 kids and
he outlived all of them.
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Um, and 10 of them died
while they were really young.
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So he, he buried all 11 of his children
and 10 of them died even, you know,
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elementary school age or even younger.
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And it's so sad.
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And our, in our passage,
we're gonna see that the Bible
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doesn't just sugar coat life.
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It doesn't tell you that life's gonna
be easy and life's gonna be great.
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And, and if you trust God,
your life's gonna be perfect.
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You're never gonna have any problems
and nothing's ever gonna make you sad.
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That's not how life really is.
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Life in this world is hard, and
life in this world has a lot of
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problems, and, and the world is
messed up and people are messed up.
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You and I are messed up.
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But what we're gonna see in this
life is how to survive suffering.
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How to survive all the bad things that
happen, all the pain, all the sadness,
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all the heartbreak in the world.
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Okay?
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We're gonna see how to, how to really
survive and persevere and trust
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God and, and enjoy life even in.
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A world that is messed up and, and things
don't go the way they're supposed to.
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So, look with me, we're gonna
start in verse 18 actually.
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Okay?
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We're gonna look at verse 18.
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Romans eight 18.
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So Paul, the guy writing this letter,
he says, I consider, I'm thinking about,
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um, that the sufferings, the hard things
that happen of this present time, right?
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While we're here on earth,
they're not worth comparing.
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With the glory that is to
that is to be revealed to us.
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So he's saying right now,
there's suffering happening.
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Right now there's pain happening, but
one day there's gonna be this thing,
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this, this glory, this awesome, this
awesome reality, this awesome time
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period that's going to be revealed to us.
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We're gonna get there
and we're gonna see it.
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Right now we can't see it, but one day
we're gonna see it and he's saying that
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it's gonna be so good that it's gonna
make this stuff seem not so bad anymore.
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It's gonna give us a new perspective about
all the bad things that happen, all the
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the hard things that you're going through,
all the bad things you see on the news
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that your parents tell you about one day.
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If you are God's child, like we talked
about last week, if you're someone who
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has the Holy Spirit living in you, who's
living for God, and you are adopted
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by God and you get to inherit what
he's gonna give you as his child, you
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will have, you'll get to be with this.
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You'll have this amazing,
glorious future and you won't.
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Really feel so bad about all the things
that seem like such a big deal anymore.
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So really, our main idea tonight is I, I
want you to put suffering in perspective
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because right now, when we're alive
on earth suffering, all the bad things
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that happen feel like a huge deal.
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Whether it's small suffering,
like, oh, your pet dies.
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It's really sad, right?
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Or you, you something you really wanted,
you really wanted to make the team, or
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you really wanted to, to do this thing,
and you didn't, you didn't get to go to
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the concert or something happens, right?
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Those little sufferings, but
even big sufferings, right?
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Big sufferings, like something someone you
care about passes away or something really
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sad happens in your family or something
on the news happens and, and it's
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really shocking and, and, and horrible.
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What our passage is gonna help us
do is have the right perspective
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about all the bad things that happen.
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It's gonna help us see what those things
really are and what they're really like.
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And it's gonna, we're gonna
take 'em seriously, but they're
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also not gonna overwhelm us
like maybe they would otherwise.
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Having the right perspective
is really important.
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I don't know if you've seen
any of these things before.
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Um, people draw stuff on the sidewalk
and they paint stuff on the sidewalk.
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So this is a painting on the ground,
but if you look at it from the
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right angle, it, it looks real.
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And it, uh, pretty close, right?
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It looks like, oh, they're standing
over a, over a big hole in the ground.
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Um, but obviously it's not true.
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But when you look at it from the
right angle, it looks like, whoa.
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That's, that's really cool, right?
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Or you see something like this,
um, this is the same wall, but they
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painted it to look like a train.
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And so if you look at it from
the right angle, it looks really
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impressive and really awesome.
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So your perspective really matters.
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'cause this is what happens if you
look at it from the wrong angle.
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So this is what, what you're supposed to
see it, and then if you see it from the
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other side, it looks really weird, right?
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Like the, the building is all messed up.
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It is not proportional.
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And because this is.
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From the way it's supposed to
be seen, it looks really cool.
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The way it's sometimes seen
from other angles doesn't
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look that cool anymore, right?
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It's all about where you're standing.
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It's all about your perspective, and
that's kind of like suffering, right?
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If you're standing at the wrong
angle, if you're looking at all
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the bad things that happen in your
life the wrong way, sometimes they
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can be really big and overwhelming.
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They can.
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They can make people really sad.
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They could make you really sad.
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Sad enough maybe where you're
even depressed or maybe you
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even want to end your life.
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There's really, there's things that if
you look at your suffering at the wrong
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angle, it can overwhelm you because
you're suffering and your pain and all
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the hardship becomes so big, right?
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That's why nowadays people are more
anxious than they've ever been.
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People are more overwhelmed than
they've ever been because I think
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part of it is the way we look at
the world is kind of messed up.
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But if you look at it from God's
perspective, you'll see it the way
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you're supposed to see it, and it'll
fit into everything that God is doing.
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It's not gonna make 'em go away.
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But it's gonna help you
see it the right way.
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It's not gonna be overwhelming anymore.
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It's gonna help you to trust God
and persevere, and that has a lot
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to do with the Holy Spirit and
what we've been talking about.
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Okay, so we saw verse 18.
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Let's back up a little bit
and start in verses 16 and 17.
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Okay.
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We saw this last week, right?
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The Holy Spirit.
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He lives inside Christians, and what he
does is he bears witness, he testifies
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like someone in a courtroom, right with
our spirit that we are children of God.
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So the Holy Spirit, he.
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Shows you, oh yeah, I'm a child of God.
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How does he do that?
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Well, we talked about this.
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Remember, he gives you new desires.
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He helps you kill sin, right?
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The Holy Spirit changes you, and you start
seeing, oh yeah, I, I am a child of God.
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I am someone who loves God.
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I have new desires.
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I have new priorities.
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I, I, I love God.
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Now, I used to not do that.
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So he shows you that you're a
child of God, and if you're a child
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of God, you're an heir, right?
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That's what that word is.
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You're an heir, which means
you inherit something, right?
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In the word heir or in the word
inherit, you see the word heir, right?
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Um.
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You're an heir, you
inherit something, right?
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Like a lot of think about back
in the day, um, especially if
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you were like a prince, right?
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I think of Lion King, right?
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One day, you know, all the stuff, the
light touches is gonna be yours, Simba,
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except that dark spot over there, right?
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Um, that's his inheritance.
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He gets all this stuff one day when
he grows up because of who his dad is.
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If you're a Christian one
day, you get a lot of stuff
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because your dad is God, right?
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Your father is God.
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You've been adopted by him, and so you
get to inherit best of all, you get him.
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You're an He of God.
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You get God, right?
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We've talked about this before.
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The best part about being a
Christian is that you get God.
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It's not that you get heaven,
it's that you get God right?
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You get to inherit God, and you are
actually a fellow heir with Christ.
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In the sense of Christ earned a
spot in heaven for you, and he
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earns your status as God's child.
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So you get to be, and this is kind of
weird, you, this sounds a little Mormon,
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but you in a sense are Jesus's sibling
because you've been adopted by God, and
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so you get to inherit all the things
that Jesus as God's son would inherit.
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So you get to inherit the status
of God's son just like Jesus did.
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Now, you don't become God.
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You don't become divine.
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You don't get to do this amazing, you
know, you don't get to to be God and
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do miracles and stuff, but you get to
inherit all the privileges of being
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God's son and the Bible it talks about,
you'll be able, and we can talk about
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this more another time, but it talks
about how you get to rule the world.
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With Jesus, you reign with Christ.
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If you are a Christian, you
get these amazing privileges.
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So what's happening here, right?
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This is right before we talked
about the suffering, right?
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Verse 18 comes right after this.
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And so what Paul is saying is
he's saying, look, you're gonna
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inherit all this amazing stuff, and
hopefully what that does is that
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puts your suffering in perspective.
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Hopefully what it does for you
is it shows you, you know what?
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I'm temporarily suffering now, right?
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Life is hard now.
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There's bad things that happen, but one
day where I'm going is so much better.
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And so the first thing that you can do
to put your suffering in perspective
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is look forward to the future.
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And that's point number one.
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Look forward to the future.
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Think about if you're a child of God,
what does God have in store for me?
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Imagine you are on your way to
the most amazing vacation you
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could ever think of, right?
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Let's say, I don't know, let's say
you're gonna Disneyland or you're
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going somewhere really cool, um, that
you've always wanted to go to, and
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you get to be there for like months.
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You don't just have to be
there for like a day or two.
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You get to be there for months.
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You get to be there for
maybe even a whole year.
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You get to live there for a year.
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It's gonna be awesome.
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But the car ride is like 30
minutes and you have to double
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buckle with your sibling.
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You have to share the seat and share the
seatbelt, and you're crammed in there.
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And the air, air conditioning
in the car doesn't work.
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And they forgot to work to put
on deodorant and it smells awful.
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The worst 30 minute car you
can ever think of, right?
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And you're, you're hungry, you're tired.
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It's horrible.
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That's only 30 minutes though, right?
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Those 30 minutes.
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They're gonna stink literally, right?
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But one, eventually, right after 30
minutes over, you're gonna reach your
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vacation and you're gonna be there
for months and it's gonna be awesome.
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That's kinda like what we're talking
about here, except instead, the
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vacation's not gonna end, right?
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The whole point is, yes, your
life, there's gonna be hard things
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that happen, there's gonna be
really bad things that happen.
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But if you're in Christ, if you're
someone who trusts Jesus, if
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you've been adopted by God, you.
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Have this amazing future in store
for you that is way better and way
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longer and totally worth it, right?
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You would definitely sign up for
the 30 minute car ride if you knew,
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oh yeah, I'm gonna have, you know,
a 12 month vacation after this.
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Of course I could do that.
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Even when you're in the car and it's
been 10 minutes and you're like, oh,
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I still have 20 more minutes left.
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How am I gonna do this?
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And you want to complain?
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Maybe be like, you know what?
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I can do this.
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I can make it.
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You think?
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Maybe you just think about, man, it's
gonna be so great when I get there and
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I finally get outta this car and I get
to be there and do all the fun things
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and ride all the rides and sleep in the
fancy hotel and do all the cool stuff.
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That's what God has in
store for his children.
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He has an amazing future
in store for them.
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And.
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That is one way, one resource he gives
you to look forward to, so you don't have
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to, um, lose hope as you suffer right now.
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Now, here's the thing.
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If you're not a Christian, you shouldn't
look forward to the future because this
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is the best your life is ever gonna be.
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If you're not a Christian, this
is the best experience you'll ever
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have is your 30 minute car ride.
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Because you're gonna live
forever under God's wrath.
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You're gonna live forever apart
from God's goodness, right?
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This earth with all its problems is
the closest you're ever gonna get
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to heaven if you're not a Christian.
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And so you don't have this
future to look forward to.
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And that's why so many people in our
society gets so sad apart from God because
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they realize, oh, this is the best.
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This is the best I've got.
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And then I, then I and their world be
right, and then I disappear and I'm done.
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And they think, man, this is all there is.
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But if you're a child of God, right?
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If you're a Christian, you have this
amazing future to look forward to.
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This is the worst your
life is ever gonna be.
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This 30 minute card is the
worst your life is gonna be.
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And then one day it's gonna be gone
and you're, you're gonna be in this
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with God, it's gonna be amazing.
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This is the closest to
hell you'll ever be.
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You're a Christian.
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This is the worst.
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The worst things that can
happen to you are temporary.
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The best things that can
happen to you last forever.
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If you're not a Christian, the best things
that happen to you last a little bit.
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If you're not a Christian, if
you're living for the world,
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you're living for yourself.
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The best things that happen
to you are very short.
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You get these great feelings
from cool things you buy, or fun
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things you do, but they go away.
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And the worst feelings.
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Are gonna last forever.
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'cause you're gonna be
apart from God's goodness.
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So God gives us this, this great future to
look forward to if you're in Christ and we
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see that there's, there's a couple things
that we see here that right you get God.
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And I hope for you if, if you say
you're a Christian, I hope that
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inheriting God is the best part for you.
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I hope that, that you don't
want heaven and not God.
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I hope that you'd be disappointed if you
got to heaven and Jesus wasn't there.
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Because that's basically saying,
God, I'd rather have heaven than you.
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I'd rather have your stuff than
you, which we've talked about.
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That's really just sin, right?
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Sin is, God, I love you.
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I love your stuff more than I love you.
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That's what sin is.
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So the the best part is that you
get God, you get to be with God, but
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also the fellow heirs with Christ.
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:
Well, what does that mean?
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:
You can, you can do some more
study on this and we can talk
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:
about this more, but, um.
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:
For now, all we have time for really
is the fact that Christ, he, he's
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gonna king, he's gonna be the king.
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He's gonna rule the world, and you
get to reign along with him, which
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:
is wild when you think about it.
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It's crazy.
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If you're a Christian, you will inherit
the world, which hopefully helps you be
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content and not worry about when you lose
worldly status or worldly possessions.
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Or if you lose money, you can
say, well, one day with Jesus,
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I'm gonna own everything.
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It's not just, not just for me, right?
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But I'm gonna own everything.
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I can lose some stuff now.
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That's okay.
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And you inherit his, his
honor, his status, right?
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One part of being saved
isn't just that, right?
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The big part is you get your sin paid
for and you get to, so you've got it.
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:
Part of it is you just takes away your
shame and he gives you his honor, right?
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:
He, he takes away your,
your dishonor and your.
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Right.
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:
You're, you're, if you think about
like your bad reputation and he gives
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:
you his good reputation, so God gives
you things to look forward to, right?
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:
He, he, to help you, um,
endure the suffering.
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:
'cause you realize these
things last forever, right?
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:
These things, being with
God, that's gonna be forever.
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:
No one can take that away from you.
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No one, it's never gonna end.
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:
It's never gonna get boring.
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:
It's never gonna be disappointing, right?
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:
You've ever been really excited
about something and then.
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It wasn't everything you wanted it to be.
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:
We were really excited.
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Oh, this thing's gonna be awesome.
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:
It's gonna be great.
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:
Maybe it was a concert.
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You're like, oh, this
person's gonna be so fun.
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:
I'm gonna see them live.
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:
They're gonna sound great.
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:
And then you get to the concert
and you have horrible seats, right?
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:
There's no horrible seats in heaven.
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:
It's not gonna let you down, right?
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:
God is not gonna let you down.
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:
It's gonna be actually better
than you thought it was gonna be.
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:
So that's one thing that God gives you.
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:
He gives you himself, but he also
gives you a bunch of stuff, right?
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:
He, you get to inherit
all that he has for you.
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:
But what our passage also does is
it shows us that suffering is real.
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And it's not just, oh
yeah, not a big deal.
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:
Don't worry about it.
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:
It says suffering is real.
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:
And it actually explains that
Christians will suffer, even if you
386
:
are God's child, you will suffer.
387
:
And you see that here
at the end of verse 17.
388
:
We inherit this stuff, but provided.
389
:
That we suffer with him.
390
:
The way to heaven is a path of suffering.
391
:
That's what Jesus said.
392
:
Take up your cross and follow me.
393
:
Right?
394
:
He didn't say, take up your
recliner and follow me.
395
:
He didn't say, take up
your couch and follow me.
396
:
He didn't say, take up your, you know,
your, your fancy hotel room and follow me.
397
:
He said, take up your cross.
398
:
You're gonna have to
suffer to follow Jesus.
399
:
That's the pathway to being glorified with
him to, to being in heaven with Jesus.
400
:
And so the Bible is very clear, very, very
clear that life as a Christian is hard.
401
:
And so our second point, very simple.
402
:
Expect life to be hard.
403
:
The Bible wants you to
expect the right things.
404
:
I don't know if you've ever, um,
signed up for a class that you
405
:
thought was gonna be super easy.
406
:
And then it ended up
being like really hard.
407
:
Um, this happened to me in, well, so
I, I used to be really good at math.
408
:
Like in elementary school, middle
school, I was like super good
409
:
at math and I was doing great.
410
:
And then progressively math
got harder and harder for me.
411
:
And I remember when I got to high
school, I was, I was in math class and
412
:
there was a point where I was just.
413
:
I am in way over my head here.
414
:
Like I, I had like a, I, I remember my
mom asked me, she was like, do we need
415
:
to like pull you out of this class?
416
:
And for me, I was like, devastated.
417
:
'cause I was always like, good
at school and all this stuff.
418
:
And I was, she, when she asked
me that, I was like, heartbroken.
419
:
I was like, oh man, I'm such a failure.
420
:
Like I can't do this anymore.
421
:
Um, and the whole point is I had
always expected math to be easy, so
422
:
I never learned how to study math.
423
:
I never had to as an elementary
schooler, and so I never learned
424
:
how to actually like study math
and learn it when it was hard.
425
:
And so then when it got hard, I
was like, I don't know what to do.
426
:
I don't know how to do this.
427
:
I can't study, I don't
know how this works.
428
:
And I was just like, I ended up actually
repeating the class the next year,
429
:
my sophomore year, the junior year,
I did the same math class my junior
430
:
year because I was so bad at it.
431
:
And I thought, man, math is
gonna be easy for my whole life.
432
:
And so I never learned how to study
it, and then I got smacked in the face.
433
:
In my math class in my sophomore
year, and I had to redo it, the Bible.
434
:
And God doesn't want that
to be you as a Christian.
435
:
He doesn't want you to become a Christian,
be like, oh, my life's gonna be great.
436
:
I'm a Christian now.
437
:
Uh, all my problems are gonna go away.
438
:
I'm gonna get everything I want.
439
:
I'm gonna, maybe you think, oh, I'm
gonna have all these great friends and
440
:
I'm gonna never have any problems and
God's gonna help me with everything.
441
:
Everything's gonna be easy.
442
:
That's not what God wants you to think.
443
:
When you become a Christian, God doesn't
want you to become a Christian and
444
:
then be like, oh wait, life is hard.
445
:
I didn't sign up for this.
446
:
God wants you to know
what you're getting into.
447
:
Um, as a Christian, every
Christian must suffer.
448
:
Every Christian goes through hard things.
449
:
That's part of being a Christian.
450
:
If you're a Christian and bad things
happen to you, you shouldn't be like,
451
:
oh, no, where did this come from?
452
:
How did this happen?
453
:
You should expect those things to happen.
454
:
You should expect to have resistance as a
Christian from the world, from yourself.
455
:
Your own emotions, your own
desires should resist you.
456
:
If you're a Christian, there should
be friction there and from, if
457
:
you're a Christian, you are signing
up to be opposed by the devil.
458
:
We're gonna learn about this on Sunday,
uh, with Pastor pj, but you're going
459
:
to see that if you're a Christian, you
are putting on a jersey and now the
460
:
other team is gonna try to kill you.
461
:
The other team is gonna
try to take you out.
462
:
Satan is going to try to take you out.
463
:
If you become a Christian, you should
expect opposition as a Christian.
464
:
But also you should expect
this world to let you down.
465
:
You should expect this
world to be messed up.
466
:
We're gonna briefly just
kind of look at some of these
467
:
verses here in verses 20 to 22.
468
:
I want you to see that words I highlighted
in the red, they're not good words.
469
:
These are not fun, exciting, happy words.
470
:
So the creation, right?
471
:
All the world was subjected.
472
:
That's kinda like, um, when you
subject someone to something, it's
473
:
like you put them through it, right?
474
:
Um, so the creation was put
through futility, which means that.
475
:
Stuff isn't the way it's supposed to be.
476
:
Stuff lets you down.
477
:
Stuff isn't how it's supposed to be.
478
:
There's something that doesn't
work how you want it to, right?
479
:
Futile.
480
:
It doesn't work.
481
:
It's not going the way
it's supposed to work.
482
:
The creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, right?
483
:
Creation didn't choose to be
messed up, but because of him
484
:
who subjected it, that's God.
485
:
Remember Adam sinned.
486
:
God cursed not just.
487
:
People, but he cursed the ground.
488
:
Remember he said, Adam, you're gonna
work really hard and there's gonna be
489
:
thorns and thistles, and it's gonna be
really hard for you to do the things
490
:
you're supposed to do now because
the world is gonna be messed up.
491
:
Right?
492
:
That's the reason that
work is really hard.
493
:
Whether it's homework, whether it's
real work, whether it's work in general,
494
:
it's, it's hard because the world is
messed up, but he didn't subject it.
495
:
Just be like, all right, forget it.
496
:
I'm done with the world.
497
:
He, God did that in hope that the
creation itself will be set free, so.
498
:
There's a, we're, we're in the,
the down part of the rollercoaster,
499
:
but it's gonna get better, right?
500
:
It's going up pretty soon,
but right now it's in bondage.
501
:
It's in slavery to corruption, right?
502
:
Things die.
503
:
The world does not get better
and better and better, right?
504
:
The world gets worse and worse
and worse things you have to
505
:
keep repairing things, right?
506
:
In the science classes
called, um, entropy, right?
507
:
Um, things get worse.
508
:
That's how life goes Thing.
509
:
Like your shoes wear down.
510
:
Right.
511
:
Your car, you have to keep repairing it.
512
:
Your body as you get older,
starts breaking down.
513
:
Things hurt, things are sore, things don't
work the way they're supposed to, right?
514
:
You get sick.
515
:
So the creation is messed up and, but
one day it's not going to be one day.
516
:
Um, we're gonna be free from,
from that corruption and we're
517
:
gonna fully realize all the stuff
that, that God has promised us.
518
:
In the meantime, we know the whole
creation has been growing together
519
:
in the pains of childbirth until now.
520
:
So these are all bad things, right?
521
:
Futility, corruption, pain, right?
522
:
These are all hard things, right?
523
:
They're all things that aren't
fun, that aren't enjoyable, right?
524
:
You can ask any of the moms in here.
525
:
This is not fun, right?
526
:
This is, this is very, very
not fun, not enjoyable.
527
:
The world is messed up, right?
528
:
God wants you to expect
the world to let you down.
529
:
This is actually a helpful warning for
you not to put your hope in the world.
530
:
One of the reasons God tells us stuff
like this is because he doesn't want
531
:
you to fall for the trap that says,
Hey, this world is gonna be great.
532
:
You should want this forever.
533
:
He doesn't want you to fall
for the trap that you should.
534
:
You should chase after the
things that the world offers.
535
:
'cause what he's telling you is
those things are gonna let you down.
536
:
Those things actually are
gonna hurt you, right?
537
:
You can have the, the, even the
best human friendships, right?
538
:
The best you could have, the best
marriage, you could have the best
539
:
house, the best job, best career.
540
:
You could have your life on earth.
541
:
Go exactly the way you want it to, and
it would still let you down and it would
542
:
still not be enough, and there would still
be really bad things that happen, right?
543
:
People are still gonna die,
people are still gonna get sick.
544
:
Things aren't gonna go the
way you want them to go.
545
:
The world is messed up.
546
:
And part of that is God says, I don't.
547
:
He's saying that, 'cause I don't want
you to fall for the trap that this
548
:
world is all you should live for.
549
:
He wants to take your hope
and and put it somewhere else.
550
:
And that's the point is of all
this bad stuff, he's also talking
551
:
about all the good stuff, right?
552
:
Verse 23, 1 day it's gonna be fixed.
553
:
Everything's gonna be fixed.
554
:
So that's the analogy
of childbirth, right?
555
:
It's, it's hard.
556
:
There's just all this painful stuff that's
happening, but one day it goes away and
557
:
you have this awesome kid that you love.
558
:
Hopefully, right?
559
:
So not only the creation, but
we ourselves who have the first
560
:
fruits of the spirit, first fruits.
561
:
That's like, think like appetizer,
you know, like the guy at
562
:
Hutchins who's standing outside
with the free samples, right?
563
:
That's like this, right?
564
:
First fruits of the Holy Spirit.
565
:
So in a sense, right,
first fruits of the spirit.
566
:
That's that's us.
567
:
We are the, the first
signs of the new creation.
568
:
You ever think about that?
569
:
If you're a Christian,
you're a new creation.
570
:
God has changed you.
571
:
He's given you new desires.
572
:
He's given you new priorities.
573
:
He's given you new heart.
574
:
That's kind of like the, the free samples
at Hutchins of what he's gonna do.
575
:
'cause one day you're not just
gonna have new desires, you're gonna
576
:
have completely perfect desires.
577
:
You're gonna always want the right things.
578
:
You're gonna always love to
do what you should love to do.
579
:
You're gonna never have to.
580
:
Even resist sin.
581
:
'cause there won't be
any sin in you to resist.
582
:
So, right.
583
:
It's like instead of having just the
little piece of barbecue or a little piece
584
:
of brisket, right, you're gonna have the
whole brisket when you get to heaven.
585
:
Right?
586
:
But in the meantime, the Holy Spirit
in your life is evidence that one
587
:
day the rest of it's gonna happen.
588
:
Right.
589
:
And the rest of it's gonna be really good.
590
:
So the whole creation, the whole
Earth along with us, we're waiting
591
:
for God to finish this one day.
592
:
Right?
593
:
He's given us the Holy Spirit,
but one day he's gonna.
594
:
To fix everything.
595
:
The world's not gonna be messed up
anymore, and so we're gonna fully
596
:
experience all this stuff, right?
597
:
Your, your body's gonna be perfect.
598
:
Your body's not gonna want to sin anymore.
599
:
Your body's not gonna let you down.
600
:
Your body's not gonna get hurt.
601
:
You're not gonna feel pain anymore.
602
:
You're not gonna have bad emotions, you're
not gonna be anxious, you're not gonna
603
:
be angry, you're not gonna be impatient.
604
:
Everything's gonna be
like it's supposed to be.
605
:
Even though you expect life to be
hard one day, God is going to fix it.
606
:
And that's what we put our hope in, right?
607
:
We don't put our hope in this world.
608
:
We put our hope in God.
609
:
And that's our third point,
is find hope while you wait.
610
:
So while you live the hard life of being a
Christian, of following Jesus, of denying
611
:
yourself, taking up your cross, being
opposed by the world, being opposed by
612
:
your flesh, being opposed by the devil.
613
:
God gives you what you need to be
encouraged, to be joyful and to survive
614
:
really, to not be depressed, to not
be anxious, to not be overwhelmed
615
:
by all the bad things that happen
616
:
verses 24 and 25.
617
:
Talk a lot about hope.
618
:
You see that word?
619
:
Hope a lot.
620
:
And when you receive hope in the
Bible, I don't want you to think of
621
:
like, oh, I hope it rains tomorrow.
622
:
That's not the hope that we're
talking about in the Bible.
623
:
Hope in the Bible is like confidence.
624
:
I want you to think of like confident
assurance when I like, rather than saying,
625
:
oh, I hope it rains, of like, oh, I hope
that Lewis finishes preaching this sermon.
626
:
Right?
627
:
You know it's gonna
happen eventually, right?
628
:
You're confident Lewis is gonna
stop preaching at some point, right?
629
:
So you're confident this is gonna
happen rather than, oh, it might happen.
630
:
It might not.
631
:
So whenever you see hope, that's
what you're trying to think of.
632
:
Alright.
633
:
It's like the difference.
634
:
Yeah, I already explained that.
635
:
I don't need to explain it more.
636
:
So, in a sense, hope is just
future looking faith, right?
637
:
Hope is just faith that looks forward
to something else that's gonna happen.
638
:
So it's not too different.
639
:
So what we need to do now, right?
640
:
To, to not be anxious or depressed
or sad or angry about all the bad
641
:
things that happen is God gives us
things to hope in things, to put our
642
:
trust in things, to, to latch onto,
grab onto and say, you know what?
643
:
This is going like, God
is gonna work this out.
644
:
God is going to keep me safe, right?
645
:
God is going to fix all
the problems in the world.
646
:
And the first thing right is
what we've been talking about is
647
:
that one day God is gonna fix it.
648
:
He gives us his word.
649
:
He gives us his promises that he is going
to get rid of all the sin in the world.
650
:
All the bad things that have
ever happened, he's there.
651
:
He's gonna stop him.
652
:
They're not gonna happen anymore.
653
:
Even things like natural disasters, right?
654
:
They're not gonna happen anymore.
655
:
People aren't gonna get sick anymore.
656
:
People aren't gonna be sad anymore.
657
:
People aren't gonna be impatient or gossip
or, um, embarrass each other anymore.
658
:
God's gonna get rid of all of that.
659
:
He's gonna fix everything and it's
gonna be the way it's supposed to be.
660
:
And then also, right, he gives
you, like we talked about, that
661
:
inheritance you get to be with God.
662
:
You don't have to put your hope and
your happiness in, in these short
663
:
term things to make you happy.
664
:
You can put your hope in God and
you get to be with him forever.
665
:
So he gives you an
incomparable reward, right?
666
:
He, he's, he's saying, don't
worry about about these,
667
:
these little prize right here.
668
:
Focus on the grand prize, right?
669
:
You don't have to worry
about the little stuff.
670
:
You can get the best thing, but also he
gives us help and that's where we're gonna
671
:
finish right here at verses 26 and 27.
672
:
So we're hoping, right?
673
:
We're putting our confidence in God,
but we're not very good at that.
674
:
Right some.
675
:
'cause sometimes we don't
know what God wants us to do.
676
:
We don't know exactly how God
wants us to live sometimes.
677
:
And sometimes we don't even know what
we're supposed to pray for, or we
678
:
don't even have the ability maybe to
do the things that we're gonna do.
679
:
And sometimes you're not sure, oh,
is God really gonna work this out?
680
:
Right?
681
:
This really bad thing happened is,
is God really gonna make this work?
682
:
Right?
683
:
Um, my best friend moved away.
684
:
Is that really gonna be,
am I really gonna be okay?
685
:
Or, oh my, my parents are
having a really hard time.
686
:
Are we gonna be okay?
687
:
Or this person I really cared
about died or am I gonna be okay?
688
:
God gives us help to trust him and
trust his plan in those situations,
689
:
and that help is actually a person.
690
:
It's the Holy Spirit that we've
been talking about this whole time.
691
:
Likewise, the Spirit helps
us in our weakness, right?
692
:
We're we're weak.
693
:
If you're a Christian, if you've been
a Christian for any length of time,
694
:
you know that you're not able to do all
the things that you wish you could do.
695
:
You're not able to trust
God like you want to.
696
:
You're not able to.
697
:
Do all and obey God all
the ways you want to.
698
:
You're not able, you can't even
have the energy to do all the
699
:
things you'd want to do for God.
700
:
And hopefully you're, you know
that because you actually want
701
:
to do those things, right?
702
:
If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit
gives you these new desires and you're
703
:
like, oh, I wanna do these things now.
704
:
I wanna do all these things
for God, and I can't.
705
:
I want to kill all this sin in my
life, and I can't kill all of it.
706
:
I can kill some of it.
707
:
I, I'm experiencing some victory,
but I can't do all of it.
708
:
The Holy Spirit helps you, and one
way he helps you is he helps you pray.
709
:
He helps you pray for the things that
you're supposed to be praying for.
710
:
And that's what this is talking about.
711
:
The spirit himself intercedes, that's
like someone interceding, um, talking
712
:
on behalf of someone else, right?
713
:
Like, imagine you were really scared of
me and you're like, you know, um, Lewis
714
:
is really scary, but Shaa is really nice.
715
:
So I'll talk to Shaa and I'll
ask Shaa to talk to Lewis for me.
716
:
Right?
717
:
That would be Shea
interceding for me, right?
718
:
Or for you Anyway.
719
:
So the Holy Spirit, he helps us
pray the things we wanna pray.
720
:
Right.
721
:
Sometimes you don't know
what you wanna pray for.
722
:
You don't know how you're supposed to pray
because you don't know what God's will is.
723
:
You're like, God, I'm not
sure what you want to do.
724
:
I don't know where you
want me to go to college.
725
:
I don't know if you want me
to to date this person or not.
726
:
I don't know what you want me to do.
727
:
The Holy Spirit will help you
ask God to do his will, right?
728
:
The Holy Spirit is there to help you
know what God's will is and to help God.
729
:
To help you see, God is accomplishing
His will in your life, right?
730
:
And that's what we see in
verse 27, the Holy Spirit.
731
:
He knows your heart.
732
:
Oh God knows your heart, and, and God
knows the Holy Spirit, because the
733
:
Holy Spirit is talking to God for you.
734
:
And he's making sure that everything
is working out for God's will.
735
:
And that's what we'll see
next week in verse 28, right?
736
:
All things work out for the will of
God for those who love him, right?
737
:
You can trust that God is
working all things, all these
738
:
bad things for a good purpose.
739
:
We talked about this
at winter camp, right?
740
:
All the, the hard things that happen,
all the things that don't make sense,
741
:
all the things that you're not sure
God, are you really using this?
742
:
Are you really there?
743
:
Why would you let this happen?
744
:
The Holy Spirit can help you.
745
:
Trust God to know, you know what?
746
:
God is working this out for good, this
really bad thing that happened, this
747
:
really sad thing, this really hard thing.
748
:
You can trust God.
749
:
He is given you the Holy
Spirit to help you do it.
750
:
You say, God, I wanna trust you.
751
:
He says, I'll help you, which
that's so awesome, right?
752
:
Because you don't know what
God's will is all the time.
753
:
I don't know what God's
will is all the time.
754
:
I don't know why God lets
certain things happen and why
755
:
he doesn't do certain things.
756
:
I don't know why God
doesn't save this person.
757
:
I don't know why God doesn't do this
thing or that thing, but I can say, God,
758
:
I trust you and I want to trust you.
759
:
I know the Holy Spirit will
help God help me, right?
760
:
And help me trust God.
761
:
So as you face all the bad things that
happen, right as you, hard things happen
762
:
to you, sad things happen to you, I want
you to remember that these things are
763
:
temporary, but life with God is forever.
764
:
And that in the meantime, before
you get there, God will help you.
765
:
Trust him and help you rejoice
even when bad things happen to you.
766
:
Okay?
767
:
Let's pray and we'll talk about
that more in small groups.
768
:
Father, we are amazed that
you, um, help us to follow you.
769
:
You don't just tell us to figure it out.
770
:
You don't just want us to
try and, and see how we do.
771
:
Um, but you actively have.
772
:
Come into our lives through
your spirit to help us live for
773
:
you if, if we really are saved.
774
:
And so I pray for the people in
this room who are Christians who are
775
:
following you, that you would, um,
help them to have, um, just deeper
776
:
trust in you, more confident assurance
and your goodness, and your, your
777
:
sovereignty, your control over everything.
778
:
I pray for the people in this
room who don't know you, who don't
779
:
have your Holy Spirit, I pray that
you would, um, help them see that
780
:
this world will let them down.
781
:
Help them to turn away from the
temporary things the world has to
782
:
offer them and embrace you to be
their treasure and their joy forever.
783
:
We pray this in Jesus name.
784
:
Amen.
