Skip to content In Process - Live On Purpose, Part 1 Jun 5 · 52 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:03 Of course, back on the video games. If you applied to colleges like you applied to that game, maybe I'd be happy with you. It's been about 3 months since graduation.0:15 You gotta get yourself together, son. Why are you still at home? Why aren't you in college yet? What are you, an idiot? What am I doing?0:27 Am I making enough money? How am I gonna support myself? Where am I gonna work?0:39 Hey. Good morning. Good afternoon. How's everybody feeling today? Whoo. Feels good to be in this house. And I am welcoming everybody that's watching online0:51 and you should be in this house and everybody here is gonna welcome you but the loudness of their claps signifies the importance of being here in person. Let's welcome them in. Yeah. Come on and see you. Come on and1:03 see us. Alright. My name is Tim. If you're here for the first time, my pleasure that you are here. I hope it's not the last time that you come on back, make Waters Church your home, everybody who comes regularly said1:11 Amen. Amen. Alright. Take out, if you would, your notes. They look like this in house. Take those out. We're starting a new series. I love New Series Day. Anybody with me on that? New Series is like a new present. It's1:23 like a new Amazon package at the front door. Amen. Tuesday night, first Tuesday, do not miss it. 6 PM prayer. And we want to encourage you to pray1:35 and go after God with us. And if you've never been to a first Tuesday, man, this is the 1 to come to. We're talk about the Holy Spirit. Ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. And we wanna pray over our graduates too1:45 this first Tuesday. So if you're a graduate or you're about to graduate, you come on out. We'll pray over you. You can get all the degrees of man, but you can only get power from God. So come on out Tuesday night. Now, 61:57 p. M. Is prayer. You say, I work. I can't get there. That's all right. Come anytime after 6 p. M. It doesn't matter when you come. It just matters that you come. It is the most life changing moment of our month. I'm2:08 telling you, you don't want to miss it. So, that's this Tuesday here at North Attleborough. Take out the notes. And then also, if you are watching online, you can go to watershers. Guide because watershers. Guide2:20 is our virtual notes. Looks like that. Then you can click on today's message and you will see today's message. Looks like that. Living on Purpose Part 1. The title of the message is In Process.2:32 In Process. I want to do this series on purpose because more than ever before, think people are living with a lack of purpose to their life. Why am I here? What's the point?2:44 And I think that there's first the cultural question of our age where we have more access to more information and more things than ever2:56 before. We can do amazing things even with a phone. You know, you just got so much potential opportunity. But but at the same time, there's the what for. What is3:08 this for that is underneath all of that, you know, all that opportunity? And I think what we have is a culture where there's tremendous potential3:20 but a minimal amount of purpose. And and that's a dangerous place to be. Because if you don't know what you're made for, it's like this phone. It's like this phone. Like, this phone can connect me. It can3:32 help me connect. It can do just amazing things for my life. But if I think that this phone is good for hammering nails into wood I3:44 mean, this phone's hurting. Yeah? This phone will not last. This phone will break quickly. A lot of people have been treating their lives like a phone3:56 that they're using to nail nails into wood. And they're broken and they're hurt and they've got the wounds in their souls and their hearts to to to tell you. You can't4:08 use your life the way the world and this culture tells you. You've gotta use your life the way the lord who gave it to you tells you. You know who knows4:20 how to use this phone the best? The engineer. The person who made it. The person who invented it. Person who came up with the idea. Well, that's that's the story of your life. You know who engineered your life? The lord.4:31 God almighty saw you before you were even in your mother's womb. He called you by his grace. He loves you. And my bible tells me in Psalm 1 39 that every4:43 day of your life was written in his book before 1 of them came to be. That means that he has a purpose for you. I think that there's also another reason why I'm interested4:55 in doing this series because it is graduation season. Graduates, we're so happy for you. High school graduates, college graduates, master's, doctorates, anybody5:07 who attained a graduation of some sort this past spring or this spring, raise your hand in our house. Raise your hand. Can we give them a nice hand? Congratulations. We love you.5:20 Amen. And let me be the first to tell you, you've accomplished nothing. Now life begins. And I think that5:32 God can use what you've got to help the world. I hope he I hope he will. But just remember, you paid for that. And now, the world's gonna make you pay to earn the way5:44 forward. That's how it works. And so I talked about this 2 weeks ago, that life is like a big college or high school career. You come in, you're born, you're like a freshman. You don't5:56 know anything. Everybody's pushing you around, shoving you off to other people, kicking you down the hallway, making funny You know, you grow up, go through all those young years. Then you then you become a6:07 sophomore. I like to say it's like your late twenties, maybe thirties, you know, sophomore where you start to figure out a few things. Like, you got some wisdom underneath your butt, but you're still a sophomore. What's6:17 a sophomore mean in Latin? Wise fool. That's what you are. You're a wise fool. And then junior year, you know, about forties, fifties, that's where I am. I'm a junior. Yeah. We own this6:28 school. That's right. We like income inequality. Amen. Okay. We are pro you know, all those kind of things that you're fighting for as a young person. Alright. So so so6:40 just remember that there's a there's a group coming up after you that'll be jealous of what you got when you get to that point. But, anyway, then there's senior year life, sixties, seventies, eighties, or whatever,6:50 however many years god god gives you, and and your plan is to get out of here, man. You're done. You're like, just done with it. I wanna move away and play golf all day. That's the seniors in the house. And7:02 here's what I think about if life is like that, how much better would it have been if you were a freshman in high school or college and a junior would have come around you and put his arm around you and just said, hey, I7:14 I believe in you. You know, you you got potential. I'm not gonna kick you around. I'm gonna help you. And that's what we need from our juniors and seniors in life. Can I get an amen from all freshmen and sophomores? Come7:26 on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like I have a responsibility. I'm a junior now, and I feel like I have a responsibility to invest in the freshmen. And I think that the third reason why7:38 I want to do this series is because my son, my firstborn son, graduated high school this past week. I'm so proud of him. He's graduated as the second person out of7:49 my kid's second child out of high school. Yeah, tepid clap, tepid, you know. But I'm proud that I got 2 down. I feel like I graduated. I feel like I graduated. I got 18:01 more to go and then Yes, Lord. Right? And somebody just told me back here, You know, when they graduate high school, that's when the problems begin. I'm like, Don't tell me that. That's not what I want to hear.8:13 But the other thing about my son is he graduated high school and and you know that he actually did something wonderful this past week. He preached to the youth ministry in our Apollo Beach8:25 campus this past Thursday. Preach his first message. Chip off the old block. I'm so happy you clapped because 1 day he8:37 will be your pastor. Amen. God bless nepotism. No. Just kidding. But, anyway, I you know, it was a cool thing for me and him to sit down. I showed him my process of how I write a message out, how I study the8:49 Bible, how to put points together and everything. And then I kind of forgot about it. I get busy, you know. And then on Thursday afternoon, he gives me a call. The phone rings. It's my son, Connor. Connor never calls9:01 me. So I picked it up. I said, Yes? He goes, What's up? Conor never asks me what's up. He asks me, What's in your wallet? That's what he does. He's a Capital 1 commercial. That's what he is9:12 anyway. What's up, dad? I'm like, This is a weird conversation. I said, Not much. How are doing? And I'll never forget. 2 words. He goes, I'm9:24 nervous. And suddenly it came to me. Was like, Oh, that's right. He's preaching tonight. That's his first time. And I was thinking about the first time I preached. And I was his age. I was 17. I was in a church that was9:34 very small, 30 people. But the pastor gave me an opportunity to preach on Sunday night because Sunday night was when the real Christian showed up, and I couldn't cause any harm anyway. And so I I remember I prepared like9:45 crazy that week, and I had, like, 19 pages of college ruled notes. College ruled, baby. Not wide ruled. 19 pages. Get up there and I preach my guts9:57 out for 8 minutes. I was done. The pastor's like, I guess I'll go and preach now too. You know? And I just remember how terrible it10:08 was. Thought, man, this is my chance to really be dad. My dad my son I got a captive audience. He's ready to listen. This is my chance to invest. I'm gonna leave behind my wisdom and my10:20 oh, this is a golden opportunity. So I gave him what I thought was the best advice I could give my 17 year old son who was training to be a preacher. And I said, Conner, don't worry about it. No matter10:32 who you are, your first 200 sermons are gonna stink. And then he said, yeah. Okay. That sounds good. And he went off he preached. And he preached, and he did a great job.10:44 He did a good job. I don't wanna say great. Good. And everybody's like, Good job, Good job. You know what? He got ticked at everybody. He's like, No. It wasn't good. It's supposed to stink. That's10:56 what my dad said. So, anyway, I was thinking about that moment for Conor and I think that this is a moment everybody has in their life when you start something and you11:08 stink and you think, maybe this is not for me. Well, let me take you on a brief tour of your life so far. It's always been like11:19 that. It's just you weren't that conscious of it. You don't even remember when you first started walking. Your mom does. And she could tell you that when you first started walking, you stunk.11:32 Yeah? She didn't say, Well, walking's not for him. Okay. I guess that's just how I When you guys started school, you didn't know. When you went to college, you didn't know.11:44 And then when you graduate college or you get done with education, I mean, then it really starts. Then it's like the whole world you don't know. But here's why the message is called In Process. I11:56 want you to write this down if you're taking notes. If you're not taking notes, write it down. Purpose is discovered in process, not the pinnacle of life. Purpose is discovered in12:08 process, not the pinnacle of life. People are chasing pinnacles when they should be worried and concerned not worried, but concerned about process.12:21 The pinnacle is that you graduated. This is a pinnacle, but that's not purpose. Now you're just moving through the process. You get that first home. You're not that's12:33 a pinnacle moment. It's not the end. It's processed. You get married. That's a pinnacle moment. And unfortunately, our culture makes way too much of wedding days.12:45 Way too much. I'm doing a wedding on Tuesday. It's gonna be with 4 people. Only 2 of them are getting married. But 4 people are gonna be there. The people getting married under 2 witnesses. And these12:56 people, they don't care. They're just moving through. Like, there's no big celebration, no big like, just and I think what we do in our culture is we always celebrate pinnacles because because our phones kinda train us13:06 to do this. You know, we look at everybody's highlight real oh, I wanna highlight. I want a pinnacle. The pinnacle doesn't matter. And by the way, pinnacles are dangerous places. Sometimes when you get to your pinnacle,13:17 that's when you can get proud. Look at David when he gets to his pinnacle in life. In first Samuel, he gets to the to second Samuel, he gets to the top and he says, you know what? I13:29 don't need to fight anymore. David was a born warrior. He said, I don't need to fight anymore. Go Joab, you go and fight for me. And he goes and he strolls on the roof of his house and he sees a naked woman bathing.13:41 Her name's Bathsheba. We know the rest of that story. Sometimes the pinnacle is the place of real problems. See, because here's the other thing. How do you13:53 know it's actually your pinnacle? Maybe God has a higher height for you to go. Maybe he's got some low places for you to go through. Maybe he wants you to plateau14:05 for a little while in something so that you can learn to hear his voice. That's called the wilderness season. God is a big fan of the wilderness. Even Jesus went through 40 days in the wilderness all alone. Has God14:17 put in his life the things that he needed to succeed in the next stage? Don't chase the pinnacles. Trust the process. So in the book of Philippians chapter 1, I hope you got your14:29 bible out. Chapter 1, Philippians. I love paper bibles in the house. Who's got a paper bible in the house? Yes. If sitting next to somebody without 1, feel free to look at them and judge14:40 them. I like paper busts. You can write in it, you can circle it, you can do all those things, and we don't really judge those who don't have a paper bible. But get 1 because it's good to have 1. But Philippians has14:53 1 of the greatest in process passages. Philippians 1 6. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. Amen? That's 1 of the wonderful, most15:05 powerful promises. Philippians 1 6. Let's put it up. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. I am in process. Somebody say, in process.15:17 In Now, this book is written by a guy named Paul and we're gonna talk about a story. But I wanna read from chapter 1 about this because it's really, really powerful15:29 stuff and it's probably 1 of my favorite passages in the book of Philippians. Would you stand with me for the reading of God's word, Verse 12 of Philippians chapter 1. Here's what it says. I want you to know, brothers,15:40 that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. What has what has happened to me, Paul says, has really served to advance the gospel. Oh, what happened, Paul? What, did you15:51 graduate college, seminary? What happened? Let's see what happened. He says, so that it has become known throughout the entire imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment16:04 is for Christ. Oh, he's in jail. He's locked up. And people are learning that the reason why he's locked up is because of Jesus. And then he says this,16:15 And and the brothers, most of the brothers anyway, have become confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment and are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and16:27 rivalry, but others out of goodwill, the latter do it out of love, knowing that I'm here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaimed Christ selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my16:38 imprisonment. What then? Or some translations say, no matter. And I love that. What then? No matter. Only that Christ is preached16:50 in every way. And in that, I rejoice. Then the next verse. And yes, I will rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance17:03 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by17:14 death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is what? Gain. Gain. This is God's word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, speak17:26 to your people the way you want to speak to them. May the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight and17:38 may we see Jesus. In his name we pray. Everybody said? Amen. God bless you. Have a seat. Have a seat. So this book, Philippians, is not a book. Did you know17:50 that? It's a letter. A lot of the New Testament books are actually letters. We call them books, but they're letters. The word epistle is a fancy word for letter. It is18:02 written by a guy named Paul. And Paul is writing to a church in first century Philippi. This is a Roman city. It used to be a Greek city. Used to be a capital city, very influential18:13 city. So he's like writing a letter from prison to a church in 1 of the most major metropolitan areas of the world at that time. It's like it's like a pastor writing to a church in18:25 New York City. And Paul knows from experience that this reality is unavoidable. We make plans, but18:37 God has purposes. We make plans for our lives, but God has purposes. And his purposes are bigger than our plans. And and his purposes are18:49 not centered on our plans. Our plans are part of his purpose, and sometimes he has to ignore our plans altogether to accomplish his purposes.19:00 And 1 of the persons that knew that better than anybody is Paul the apostle. Because Paul the apostle was planning in his old life, when he was named Saul, to be the greatest19:12 Jewish theologian in his life, in his time, in his generation. The greatest theologian around. He was an apprentice of a guy named Gamaliel, 1 of the most influential, notable teachers and19:24 scholars of the day. He was advancing. He says this later on in Philippians. He was advancing beyond all of his contemporaries. I mean, he was the valedictorian of his class. He was19:35 important. He had potential. He was skyrocketing to the top of Judaism in the first century. Then he heard about this little group called Christians who were19:47 denying, who who believed that Jesus, this crucified Nazarene carpenter, was was the Christ, and he couldn't take that they were taking all these Jews captive by this philosophy. So he decides to go and19:58 start imprisoning these people and locking them up, us, our kind of people. And he starts going from town to town with papers from the chief priests to put them in prison, and he's on the way to Damascus. And God totally20:09 upends Paul's plans. We have plans, but God has what? Purpose. Purpose. And Jesus says, Paul, you're persecuting me. And he blinds them for 3 days, and he20:21 sends them into isolation. And Paul comes to Christ, and his life is 180 degrees different after that. Instead of persecuting and chasing down and hunting Christians, he starts producing Christians. He starts20:33 preaching the message of Jesus. He starts be and so this man, nothing that Paul did did he do halfway. He did everything full bore. And so he goes from trying to be the greatest Jewish theologian in his20:45 life, in his generation, to trying to be the greatest missionary in his generation. And so he goes from city to city teaching people about Jesus. And they hate him, and they reject him, and they20:57 persecute him, and whip him, and stone him, and shipwreck him. And he goes through all these troubles, but he's going, going, going, no 1 can stop this man. He wants to tell the whole world about Jesus. Powerful,21:08 powerful story. But 20 years in, the Roman leaders come around him, put him in handcuffs, ship him off to Rome, and he's locked in a dungeon prison.21:21 We have plans, but God has Purpose. Purpose. This is a man who God interrupted plans. Good plans, bad plans. And21:33 sitting in that Roman prison, he could have had himself a big, fat, pity party. Couldn't he? He could have said, like some of you say, like I have said,21:44 God, I am doing my best here. And this is how you repay me? Don't you realize I'm trying to preach? I'm going from city to city. I have borne so much21:56 hardship for your name, and you put me in prison. You will. Why do you let the bad guys win? Anybody have a conversation like that with God? Do you do you see what's going on? Anybody? Yeah. I I'm like that.22:08 And and and Paul could've done that. But he doesn't. And sitting in that Roman prison, chained to a Roman centurion, chained to a Roman centurion, Paul picks up a pen and a22:20 paper and he starts writing letters to the churches. He doesn't let his changed plans thwart God's22:32 purpose. My friends, life will change your plans. And sometimes God will let the bad guy win. And you have a choice. Big, fat pity party or22:44 pick up the pen and paper and do what you can with your life right now. Do something. Find a way to make an influence. Find a way to make an impact right where you are. There's a way. I'm telling you. And sometimes the22:55 greatest impact that you can make is just to get on your knees and pray. Some of you moms need to listen to me. Don't know why I'm saying this in this service. Maybe some moms need to hear it. But some of you moms, you23:03 have wandering children, and you're thinking, what can I do? God, why are you letting the bad guy win over my child's life? Get on your knees and pray because the power of a praying woman is 1 of the most powerful23:13 earthquake shaking, world changing moments in history. Anyway, that letter becomes the letter that he writes to the23:25 Philippi church, the book of Philippians in our Bibles. And do you think that Paul could have seen that that letter would become what it is?23:38 Do you think that Paul, when he was writing these words, could have foretold in his salve that this letter is gonna go into holy scripture and is gonna become part of the New Testament canon of bible23:50 books? And it's not just gonna go to the Roman world. It's gonna go to the uttermost parts of the earth, and it's not just gonna go in the Greek language. It's gonna go in every language almost known to men. Over 200024:02 languages for 2000 years, the letter of Philippians has changed lives, young, old, black, white, yellow, red, brown, all over the world because24:14 a man who saw his plans put on pause still gave himself to the purposes of God. What could God do for you in that case?24:26 So I I got 3 things from Paul here that I wanna share with you, then we're done. Because what Paul learned was purpose is discovered in process, not pinnacle. Point number 1, write it down.24:38 My purpose is tied to the people God puts in my life. Your your life is not an island, John Donne. No man is an island. You you are24:50 part of a community. This is very anti American right now. Very anti American because America trains you to focus on you, be your true self, your authentic25:01 self, find your true you, your voice, your story, your this, your that. Everything is about you, you, you, you, you. Severe isolationism. And we think we think, and a lot of young people fall for this, you think that25:13 you 're making who you are? You're not making up who you are. And I guarantee you that everything that you like is not because of your individuality, it's because of the people around you.25:25 And the things that you don't like is a lot of because of the people around you. And I want you to think about your life really. Let's think about existentially. You didn't choose when to be born, did you? You didn't25:36 choose where to be born. You didn't choose your parents. You didn't choose your ethnicity. You didn't choose the generation, the time, the historical time frame of your life. All that was outside of your control. You25:46 didn't choose your family. You didn't choose the people who put you in family. You didn't choose I mean, that's And all that stuff, all that history of your story shaped you. And here's what I'm trying to say is you're25:55 not an individual. You're not. Again, very anti American. But it is so important to understand our purposes because this is what Paul knew.26:08 He wrote this letter to the church in Philippi. Here's why. Because the church in Philippi heard that he had been put in prison and they26:20 cared about him. And so they sent a love gift, food and money, with a guy named Epaphroditus, 1 of Paul's friends, to Rome with the gift to bring to Paul in26:31 prison and to tell Paul, the church is really worried about you. We care about how are you doing, how are holding up. I mean, prison visit. And Paul hears this and he's hurt that they're so worked up over his condition.26:44 So this is why he writes this letter. That's what verse 12 let's look at verse 12 together again. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really and the word really could be translated actually has26:55 actually served to advance the gospel. He's like, hey, here's what he's doing. Are you ready? He's saying, hey, church, don't worry. God is using this. I know I'm in27:07 prison. But amazingly enough, God has decided to use my imprisonment to spread the gospel further. And and and so here's how you get are you ready? This is the whole point.27:19 Here's how you get the book of Philippians translated in over 2000 languages and touching lives, billions of lives for 2000 years. Here's how you get it. Because a group27:31 of people cared about 1 person, and that 1 person cared about them. And I'll tell you, the book of Philippians has some of Paul's27:42 greatest hits. I mean, top 40. Amen? Think about some of the verses. We've already talked about 1 Philippians 1 6. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.27:54 How many of you love yourself that verse? I love that verse. And then you can go to Philippians 1 21, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. What a powerful verse. Right? And in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5,28:04 have this mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus. What a powerful verse. And on and on, it goes with other verses from the book of Philippians. Philippians 3 13, 1 thing I do, forgetting what is behind, I strain28:14 toward what is ahead. Or Philippians 4 4, rejoice in the lord always. And I will say it again, rejoice. Or Philippians 4 6 to 7. Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Make28:25 your request known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and Philippians 4 13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.28:39 Do you think that 2000 years ago, Paul the apostle could have ever imagined that those phrases from Philippians 4 13, I can do all things through Christ, would be28:50 written on the basketball sneaker of Steph Curry as he loses game 2 to the Boston Celtics.29:03 I just jinxed them. Dang it. Anyway, the the point that I'm making is that you don't get Philippians without the care and concern29:15 of a Christian community for 1 another. That's why you gotta get in the small group, life group, e group if you're online. You've got to take that next step29:27 of Waters Church belonging where you stop just staring at me for 45 to 50 minutes on Sunday and you face each other. What could God do when29:39 you put down your agenda and and picked up a community of people that you care about and they care about you? Here, I want you to write this down just to make sure you're getting it. Your purpose is discovered when you29:50 stop focusing on what you want and start thinking about what others need. Who's hurting in your life? Well, I got hurt, so I'm hurting. Okay. Who30:02 is hurting around you? Who needs what you've got? Who some of you are juniors30:14 in the realm of going through divorce. What I mean by that is it's been a few decades since you went through it. Who around you has gone through a divorce and they're a freshman and they don't know what the heck they're30:24 gonna do? You gotta come around and put your armor on. I've been there. Who who's lost a job? You're a junior. You're a senior. You lost a few jobs back in the day, and and and now you see other people losing their job.30:36 Hey, put your arm around them. Help them. Stop focusing on what you want and start thinking about what others need. That is the process by which God30:48 unveils his purpose for you. Or as Paul says so eloquently in Philippians 2 3, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in31:00 humility in humility great June word right there. Great June, month of June. Humility Count others more significant31:12 than yourselves. In a world that is all about flaunting your pride, the church must be completely counter to that and lay down our31:23 pride and surrender who we think we are and give our lives to Jesus Christ who will amplify our lives for his good and the benefit of other people.31:38 Point number 2, my purpose is fueled through the pain God allows for me. We don't like pain, but we can't avoid it.31:51 Now, here's the good news: We need it. We need pain. There is a condition I don't know what it's called where someone can be born where32:03 their nervous system does not send the message to their brain that they're actually being hurt. These people It sounds like a good thing. Like, imagine you could touch the hot stove and not be bothered by it.32:14 Sounds nice, but you could destroy They can destroy themselves because your nervous system is there to alert you to, Hey, something needs to stop here. Don't32:26 touch that. Don't keep moving in that direction. Don't walk there. Right? If you didn't feel the pain, you wouldn't you wouldn't move forward in the right way. Pain is32:38 something that God allows. And I think again about Paul the Apostle who God allowed him to get arrested because he was preaching the gospel. I mean, he's preaching about God's32:50 son, and God allows him to get put in prison. Again, pity party or purpose. And he writes look. This pain is actually being33:02 used by God. This is how I found I found my purpose through the pain. So verse 13, he says, number 1, it's become known throughout the whole imperial guard. Look at it. Verse 13. It's become known throughout the whole33:14 imperial guard. Now the imperial guard was like the rangers of the military, the of the army. Army range, like, really high up,33:25 specialized ops people. And and and and he goes, those people, because they're here guarding me, they've learned that I'm here not because I've killed people or33:36 stolen. They're here they know that I'm here because I talk about this guy named Jesus. And I just think about the fact that Paul had to be chained to a Roman centurion and they probably,33:48 you know, did it in shifts. So could you imagine being the Roman centurion chained to Paul? I mean, the guy would be just talking your ear off about Jesus.34:01 Talk about a captive audience, by the way. Amen. And just for 12 hours And let me tell you about Jesus. He changed my life. Used to a Jew. Used to be going Jesus, you could change your life. Could change your life. Oh,34:10 I'm telling you, you could heal that. Oh, by the way, your mom, you could get healed if you prayed. The holy spirit could fill you, heal your mom. Then just for 12 hours, this guy's like, enough. Alright. Fine. But a34:19 couple of them got saved. How do I know that? Well, look at the last verse in your notes. I should have put it here, but it's at the last verse in your notes. Because look what it says in Philippians 4 21. Greet every34:31 saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. So the imperial guards got saved because Paul was chained to them for 1234:43 hours a day. Eventually, they spread the gospel message and and went all the way up to Caesar's palace, and even some of Caesar's family members came to Christ.34:55 That's amazing. Because Paul was in prison, though. He he probably never would have gotten audience with Caesar's household if he35:06 hadn't gone to prison. So let me ask you, what audience has God given you through your pain? Because I'll tell you something wonderful35:18 about pain. It makes great friends. People who've heard your pain and have had your pain will listen to you. Sometimes that's the only way you35:30 get an audience, through pain, through trouble, through turmoil. And and and this is what Paul had to experience for himself. You know, 1 of the biggest questions that we get in the in the pastoral profession is, what's35:42 the deal with evil? Pastor, what's the deal with evil? Why is there evil? Why are 19 kids and 2 teachers shot in cold blood through some psychopathic maniac?35:54 What's with that? Or what's with the governmental corruption that we see from head to toe in almost every country? You know? Really? Seriously? What was36:06 evil? And and here's what you have to understand. The Bible teaches us about evil a lot. And what I love about the Bible is that it does not sugarcoat evil. Evil is everywhere.36:18 And it's unavoidable, and it will not end until Jesus comes back. We know that that's what the Bible teaches. You can feel free to reject that, but that's what the Bible teaches. Evil will be here until Jesus comes back.36:30 The reason why evil got here is because Adam and Eve chose sin over serving God. So every evil in the world has been perpetrated by36:42 man's rebellion against God. Now here's the bigger picture of evil. Because evil gets personal. God uses evil36:53 to accomplish great good. There's a story in the book of Genesis. It's about a guy named Joseph. It's actually 1 of the longest stories in the whole book of Genesis.37:05 Joseph is the son of 1 of 12 sons to a guy named Jacob. And Joseph is Jacob's favorite son. And his brothers hate him for it.37:17 And Joseph has dreams, and he can interpret dreams. And everybody thinks a lot of Christians think that Joseph's story is about how to fulfill your dreams. It is not about how to fulfill your37:29 dreams. Let's unpack it a little bit for you to understand what Joseph's story is about. He has a dream. He tells his brothers. The brothers hate him. The brothers wanna kill him. And instead of killing him, they say,37:39 You know what? Let's just sell him into slavery so we can make some money out him. So they sell him into the hands of the Midianites. The Midianites bring him down to a guy named Potiphar's house. And in Potiphar's37:47 house, his wife falls for Joseph, and she tries to sleep with Joseph. And Joseph says, I can't do this against God. And he does the right thing, and she claims rape and throws him into prison. And this guy who had all37:58 the dreams and all the good that he's doing is landed up in prison just like Paul. And he's in prison, and there's 2 prisoners who have dreams. And he interprets dreams of the prisoners. 1 gets killed. The other 1 gets38:06 restored to Pharaoh's right hand. And and Joseph says, listen. Remember me when you get restored because I'm in here unjustly. And the guy goes back to pharaoh's house, and he totally forgets about Joseph. And Joseph is38:17 there for 2 years. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. And then 1 day, pharaoh has a dream, and no 1 can interpret it.38:29 And the cup bearer to the king says, I remember a guy that I was in prison with. He could interpret my dreams. Maybe he can help you. And then 1 day, Joseph was brought from the prison back to the palace of pharaoh, and38:37 he interprets pharaoh's dream. And pharaoh says, this guy's got the spirit of god. I'm gonna put him in charge. He's gonna be my prime minister. And Joseph finally sees his dreams come true, but it went through the pain.Show more
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