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00:01 Good morning. I hope you all had a fantastic uh
00:06 reunion dinners. Uh lots of food. I had my own version of uh Chinese New Year. I
00:11 went to a friend's house and I played some majong. Um of course I I did not gamble. We played just for fun. Um I
00:18 also have my own version of Chinese New Year. Everybody's giving me a house. I'm feeling very blessed. Thank you very much. Um but um I'm I'm here today uh uh
00:27 speaking on Chinese New Year and um it's always um a struggle for me to to to
00:33 decide whether I'm going to stay culturally relevant or not and I usually decide not um because it's usually
00:39 difficult to stay culturally relevant. So I I thought what what do I speak about on Chinese New Year? And uh the
00:44 only thing that uh the Lord convicted me about was u this passage. It's a passage that was speaking to my heart and
00:50 speaking into my life uh for the last few months. And I just hope that um I
00:58 can speak out of the conviction that God has put in my heart. Um so before I start, let me just um start with a word
01:04 of prayer. Um dear Lord, um just want to commit this time to you. Lord, ask you
01:10 to uh pour your grace upon me right now, Lord. That I may uh speak your word,
01:16 Lord. Uh I pray for the congregation, Lord, that you pour your grace on them, that they may hear your word, and that
01:24 you fill their hearts uh with new newness for today. And I pray all this
01:30 in Jesus name. Amen. Who here um woke up this morning and and
01:39 and prepared themselves coming to church and say, "I hope the speaker I hope
01:44 Masimo is going to say something that's just going to make me lose heart.
01:50 I hope Masimo is going to say I I wish Masimo would say something. It's going to just knock the life out of me.
01:57 It's going to make me lose hope." I I I think nobody comes to church to
02:04 hear a message to lose hope. So therefore, when when Paul in in in
02:12 verse 16 says, "So we do not lose heart,"
02:19 he's saying, "For whatever I just said, I figured out a way on how to not lose
02:25 heart." Paul has figured out the secret that
02:32 everybody wants to know. There's nobody here who wants to lose
02:37 heart. Everybody wants to be filled with hope.
02:44 So what does Paul who who claims to have figured out this secret say? And he
02:49 starts off by by saying this. We are wasting away.
02:57 It seems like God made our hearts like a windup clock
03:03 with a finite numbers of ticks left. And as we were born, it was wound up.
03:09 And even as I'm speaking, we are ticking away. We are all on a journey towards death.
03:17 Every one of us are on that journey. We're all wasting away.
03:25 Now, let's look at the word wasting away. And it talks about it in the New Testament about five times. I'm I'm not
03:31 going to illustrate all five uh but I chose one. And it talks about it in Revelations 8. It says this, "The second
03:38 angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of
03:44 the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." The
03:50 word destroyed is the same word that was being used in wasting away. So what the
03:55 author is saying here is that God took a giant rock of fire and threw it on the
04:00 earth and and waves happened and and ships were capsizing and all that's left over is is destruction.
04:09 So what we're saying is that what Paul is saying when you are in that situation of your life, when you feel that life is
04:17 eating away at you, when you find that your life is capsizing, when your ship is wrecked, when you are destroyed,
04:25 do not lose heart.
04:31 You see, we all suffer differently and and as we're being destroyed, we suffer.
04:37 Some of us suffer physically. Some of us suffer intellectually. Some of us suffer
04:42 emotionally. Some of us suffer relationally. Of course, we suffer spiritually.
04:50 We all suffer differently. But one thing is sure, suffering is inevitable.
04:57 You see, CS Lewis said this, "We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program.
05:04 We were even told blessed are who those that mourn.
05:10 But you might be thinking here, Masimo, who are you to talk to me about suffering?
05:15 I mean, how do you know how I feel like in that situation in my life? How do you
05:20 know how it feels like to have a terminal illness? How do you know how it
05:25 feels like to love lose a loved one? Who are you to tell me how not to lose
05:31 heart in my pain and in my suffering which you have never experienced
05:39 and you're right I don't know and and I
05:44 hate it myself when when people try to empathize with me and tell us more I know how you feel like
05:52 you have no idea how I feel like if you've never had an itch on your leg so
05:58 bad that you rather rip off your skin and bleed in pain. You have no idea how an itch feels like.
06:05 If you've never had a a craving so strong for something that you're willing to sell your car, sell your house, lose
06:12 your job, abandon your family, not eat for a whole week, don't talk to me about cravings.
06:19 You have no idea. just because you maybe read a book or
06:25 took a psych class, you want to talk to me about my suffering.
06:32 So, I'm standing here today. I'm I'm I'm not speaking from from my
06:37 ideas or from my from my knowledge, but let's look at Paul.
06:42 Let's look at Paul's life. Let's let's put aside the fact that that he's an inspired author by God. God who created
06:50 this universe. God who created this earth. God who created you. God who knows you better than you know yourself.
06:57 Let's let's put aside that fact for a moment. Let's just look at Paul's ministry.
07:08 Paul wrote the book second Corinthians mainly as a defense also as of his ministry. He had to defend himself
07:14 because he imagine this you you have planted a church. You have poured yourself out to other people. you have
07:19 loved them with all you can and and they come back and attack you. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, we read how how
07:25 how people were coming to him and saying, "Paul, you're not a godly man because you changed your travel plans."
07:33 He had to defend his character. Imagine you pour yourself out and then
07:38 into a church and other leaders rise up and they're trying to ruin your authority, trying to discredit you.
07:45 So Paul writes this letter and this is what he writes. He he tells me about his ministry and look at his ministry. He says, "Five times I received at the hand
07:52 of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once
07:58 I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was a drift at sea. On frequent journeys in
08:04 dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the
08:10 city, dangers in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and in hardship. through many a
08:16 sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure
08:23 and apart from all other things there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for
08:29 all the churches Paul knows about wasting away
08:37 Paul knows about intellectual suffering he knows about physical suffering he knows about emotional suffering
08:45 But you might say, you know, Paul, you know, even though he was suffering, every time he prayed, you know, you know, he was in prison, he prayed, God
08:51 shook the earth, he was freed, so he could always feel the presence of God with him.
08:56 Well, in 2 Corinthians 12:8, we read it wasn't always the case.
09:02 He talks about God, Paul having this this thorn in his side
09:08 and he prayed. He said this three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave
09:15 me. And God said no. Paul knows how it feels like to to be in
09:20 the deepest possible pain and pray and not have God answer that prayer.
09:27 Jesus knows how it feels like to to be in the deepest possible praying and pray and not have your prayer answered. In
09:34 the garden of Gethsemane, he prayed, "Take this cup away from me." And God said no.
09:43 So Paul has every right to speak about suffering.
09:49 So what does this man say about suffering? He says even though we are wasting away and he knows about wasting
09:55 away. We just read it. He says our inner self is being renewed.
10:04 See, the only reason that we need renewal, the only reason that we are being renewed is because our tanks go
10:13 empty. It's because our batteries discharge.
10:23 It's because our buckets leak. The reason that we need to be renewed is
10:29 because hope burns away. hope fades.
10:36 Now you ask the question, "Oh God, why? Why? Why do you create us this way?"
10:42 I mean, you made us jars of clay. You could have made us jars of titanium,
10:48 that never break, and that never leak. And we know he can because one day he will.
10:55 One day he will make us and pump us up to maximum sanctification, maximum Christlikeness and he will keep us
11:01 there. So he can but he decided not to. He decided to
11:06 save us in st in stages.
11:12 You see, the reason that our phones can't run on yesterday's charge,
11:20 the reason that our metabolism can't run on yesterday's food, the reason that our headache can't go
11:26 away on yesterday's dosage, the reason our cars can't drive on yesterday's fuel, puts us back into the station.
11:36 And God is that station.
11:43 In verse four, I mean in in in verse 7, we read, "But we have this treasures in
11:49 jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. God
11:56 has made us these broken vessels with holes that through our suffering and
12:02 through that the glory of God can shine and that we remember that the glory belongs to God and not to us.
12:11 Because if we would always be maximum filled right now, we would think the
12:16 power comes from us and we'll get arrogant about it and we'll get proud about it.
12:22 So this reminds us that all the glory and all the power comes from God.
12:30 I still remember when I um first became a a a a new Christian,
12:36 I was soaring on eagle's wings. The the the feeling was amazing. Uh um I I woke
12:42 up in the morning and and I had worship music in my mind. I was driving to work and I was singing worship songs and I
12:48 was praying to the Lord. You know, I I was texting my friends prayers. I came
12:54 to the uh Sunday service and I I was raising my hands, maybe because I was in a charismatic church, but I was raising
12:59 my hands and I was selling I was feeling the the presence of the Lord. You know, I was I was calling all my non-Christian
13:06 friends and inviting them to come to church. You know, I I felt full.
13:12 And if you if you are a new Christian, you might be feeling that right now. And it's amazing.
13:18 But reality is hope fades.
13:23 We leak our buckets empty. So we have to find ways on on how to put
13:31 the air under our wings again. How do we how do we soar again?
13:39 Well, Paul says this, we need to be renewed. and and and the clue on how to get
13:45 renewed is is by looking at the word ver word verb uh renewed. And it says this um Paul uses the same word in in
13:52 Colossians in the same grammatical structure. Actually, there's only one more time in the whole New Testament where this word is used in the same way.
13:58 And this is in Colossians 3:10, which gives us a clue on how we can be renewed. It says, "And we have put on
14:04 the new self which is being renewed in knowledge
14:10 after the image of its creator." So we are being renewed in knowledge.
14:19 If we want to have newness, we have to acquire knowledge.
14:26 In the passage right above the text for today in verse 6, it says this, for God
14:32 who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge. So here it
14:38 describes what is that knowledge that we need to have of the glory of God in the
14:44 face of Jesus Christ. So we need knowledge and that knowledge needs to be that knowledge of the glory of God in
14:50 the face of Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters the only place we can attain this knowledge is in the word of God.
14:58 We have to go to the word of God. Now don't hear me saying that if you acquire lots of knowledge you will be renewed
15:05 all the time. I'm not saying that. There there are many Bible scholars, there are many New Testament professors who are
15:10 not Christian. There are people who have all that knowledge and and that knowledge is just
15:16 in their head and it doesn't translate into their heart. Naturally, there is a place for the Holy Spirit to take that knowledge that we
15:22 have in our heart heads and and push it into our heart. We need the Holy Spirit to do that. But what I'm saying is that
15:28 if we don't acquire that knowledge, we cannot be renewed by the spirit. The
15:33 word of God renews us. We need that knowledge. It's not sufficient on its own, but it's necessary.
15:45 And we need that knowledge day by day. We need it every day because every day
15:51 our buckets leak. Every day we run out of gas. Every day our phones discharge.
15:58 You see in Matthew 6:34 Jesus in the sermon on the mount he says this.
16:03 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
16:12 Sunday will have Sunday troubles. Monday will have Monday troubles. Tuesday will have Tuesday troubles.
16:18 Every day has enough troubles to empty our buckets.
16:23 Every day we need to be renewed. But the good news is, brothers and sisters, we read in Lamentations 3:22,
16:31 his mercies are new every morning. There is new newness available for us
16:38 every morning to refill our tanks.
16:46 So let me recap what we said is we deplete.
16:51 We need renewal and we need that renewal through knowledge and that knowledge is
16:56 the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and we get it in scripture
17:02 and we need it every day. So how do we not lose heart? The first
17:08 point is we focus on renewing. We focus on renewing to the word of God
17:16 that brings new news, newness in our life.
17:24 So I I said that when when Paul said so therefore we do not lose heart. It means
17:29 the whole things he said before must be be reasons of why we not lose heart. And and in verse eight he starts saying
17:36 this. He says we are afflicted in every way but not crushed. Perplexed but not driven to despair.
17:44 Persecuted but not forsaken. struck down but not destroyed. And then the text
17:52 after that talks a lot about um life and death and death life and death and death and life and and and how the the life of
17:59 uh Jesus or the death of Jesus brings us life and then as we are having that life how that life is going towards death and
18:06 how that death brings life to others and then through that grace abounds more and more that's what the text is saying but
18:13 let me go back to this the reason first of all why we are not destroyed is
18:19 because Jesus was destroyed for us on the cross. You see, the reason why we're not
18:25 crushed and we read that in Isaiah 53 is because Jesus was crushed for us.
18:31 The reason that we are not forsaken because remember on that cross Jesus says, "Father, why have you forsaken
18:38 me?" Jesus was forsaken for us. The reason we don't have despair is
18:44 because through his resurrection, we have hope.
18:50 See, this next part talks about death and life. And it's explaining exactly what I just said. And let me just
18:56 illustrate that for you. What what do they mean by by life through death and and death through life? And
19:04 see, this is an acorn. An acorn has an immense potential power
19:10 in it. It has it has the power to grow into
19:16 this massive tree.
19:21 It has far greater power than that. It has power to grow into an whole area of
19:27 solid wood because one acorn will produce a tree
19:33 and that tree produces more acorns and that acorn will produce more trees.
19:41 But for it to produce that tree, the acorn must die.
19:49 It cannot bring life to a whole continent of trees without dying. For
19:55 the power of the acorn to be released, it must die.
20:03 Jesus said, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if
20:10 it dies, it bears much fruit."
20:16 You see, God made us in the image of him. There's far greater potential and
20:21 power in each of one of us than in an acorn. We must learn how how to die to self
20:28 that through our dying and through our suffering, we can bring life to others. And we too will be able to fill a whole
20:35 continent full of solid hearts. You ask me how how does that work?
20:43 How do we use our suffering, our our pain for the glory of God?
20:50 See, we are we are all taken away, right? We all writing a biography of our lives. And a big part of our writings is always
20:57 focusing on our suffering. We're always writing about our suffering. How do we take that suffering and and
21:03 appropriate it for the gospel? You might be here and you might be
21:09 sitting here and and and nobody talks to you. And it's horrible. We we might be a
21:15 church that did not pick you up. So you have two choices, right? You can
21:20 hanging the towel and walk away or you could step out of yourself and
21:27 and make Jesus the center of your life and and maybe you start talking to people. I know it's difficult.
21:34 Maybe you can come and and join a ministry and continue to serve God in spite of of
21:41 the pain and suffering that you are feeling right now. And and guess what happened when you do this? God looks
21:47 great. You're writing a testimony
21:54 for God. Ask ask anybody here who does ministry.
21:60 I remember when I when I first met Pastor Mark, I met him in a youth camp. Um it was the prism youth camp and and I
22:07 I I not the prison prism. Yeah. Prism youth camp. Uh it was in uh in in
22:15 uh in Mala in Suran and um or PD I think it was. Yes. Okay. Um and he was there
22:23 and I remember he he was giving a message at 7:00 in the evening and after 1 hour of speaking he had an alt to call
22:30 and that all the call lasted for about 6 hours. I mean the kids were coming
22:38 young adults were coming right and and they were coming and they were just crying over him and he was praying over
22:45 them for hours and hours. I mean there was this one guy who was just holding on to him for 45 minutes.
22:53 45 minutes in tears. And I was looking at Mark's like, "How
22:58 can you do that?" I mean, how how can you go through that pain? For me, it was this must be
23:04 painful. I mean, I mean, it's it's it's difficult to to hear people just cry over you for
23:11 hours and hours and and minister to them. But I asked him, you know, how do you find the strength? And he said this,
23:17 "Masimo, if if through this some of them experience life, some of them make dedications for Christ,
23:24 it's worth it. It's worth it. The joy that I get in my heart and the
23:30 newness I feel when I see the life of Christ coming in them is worth it."
23:37 You can ask anybody in ministry. Ask ask brother Felong when he's doing for for Alpha when he
23:43 when he stays up all night long preparing charts and graphs and and and presentations and looking at how people
23:48 are doing and and and and just constantly being involved in the ministry.
23:54 Ask him why he does it. Ask people in the AV team who come here early, come here on Thursdays why they
24:01 do it. Ask Dr. Peter why he does it. Why does
24:07 he come on Tuesday night for a theological disciplehip program? Sends me an email at 2:00 in the morning how
24:14 to improve it. Goes to work on Wednesday morning, has surgery, comes back, teaches at beta,
24:22 goes downstairs, teaches at GMA, comes back up, answers people's questions, goes home, writes a sermon,
24:28 goes back to work. Ask people who are doing ministry why
24:33 they're doing ministry. And I tell you what, because any bit of suffering that they're going through, any bit of pain
24:40 that they're feeling is okay. Because when they see other people come to life,
24:46 cuz they experience the joy of other people coming to life and living through their suffering and through their death.
24:53 So brothers and sisters, when we take our pain and take our suffering and we appropriate for the gospel, we get
24:59 newness. And that's what the passage is saying. You see Jesus when he was on the cross
25:08 when he was dying there's a story in in the Gospel of Mark right where where it says that the centurion was standing in
25:13 front of him and he was just looking looking at Jesus die
25:21 looking at him having his last breath. There was no healing
25:27 there was no miracle. There were no words.
25:32 There was just the centurion seeing Jesus suffer
25:39 and the centurion said this truly this man was the son of God
25:47 through his suffering. This centurion was able to see the truth. When we
25:53 appropriate our suffering for the purpose of the gospel and so that Christ may shine, that the glory of God may
25:60 shine through our cracks, people will come to faith.
26:09 So the second point is we must learn how not to lose heart
26:14 by dying to self so that others may live. And when we see those lives coming
26:20 alive, we get newness in our hearts and we will not lose heart.
26:29 The last part of this uh passage um
26:34 talks about this. It says, "For this light moment," we now at verse um 17. It
26:40 says this, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
26:48 comparison. First of all, let's start by looking at
26:53 light and momentary." Paul says light and momentary. Remember all this list of things I I've written out? He's been
26:60 beaten. He's been struck down. He's been shipwrecked. He calls it light. The reason he calls it light is because
27:06 he understands what weight is. He calls it momentary because he
27:12 understands what eternity is.
27:17 But the word I want to focus on is preparing.
27:23 See, our afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. It's
27:29 producing for us glory. It's working towards glory. It's making glory.
27:37 So you ask how how can it make glory? Well well first of all we must understand this heaven and the glory to
27:44 come is not just compensation for our suffering
27:49 but our suffering is producing that glory.
27:55 So how can this be? And and and and and to illustrate that, let me let me tell you a story.
28:02 In in in Malaka, my my parents were part of a care group. Um it was a a care group called a seekers care group. Um
28:09 what it means is that uh one spouse was a Christian and the other spouse was
28:14 not. And they had about uh 12 members. So six couples were in there and where
28:20 six of them were Christian and six of them were not. Um there was this particular couple in
28:25 there where there was a man and a woman. The woman was Christian and her husband wasn't
28:30 and the woman had a terminal illness. She was literally wasting away before
28:37 everybody's li eyes. So they came to this care group and and
28:42 at the beginning she was still walking and and the husband would join the the the
28:48 uh seekers group and as the year progressed she she lost her
28:54 muscle strength and and and she couldn't walk anymore and so the husband had to had to roll her into church so he
28:59 started coming to church. He had to bring her to Bible study
29:04 and he came for the care group. As he got worse and worse, but she never
29:10 ceased to smile. She came regardless of what her body was
29:16 doing. She did not hang up the towel. She did not lose faith in God. And I
29:22 asked my father who who was the seeker of the two of my family, you know, how did you experience that?
29:28 And he says, you know, it was amazing for him because, you know, her faith was not shook.
29:35 Even though sometimes she was perplexed and sometimes she felt afflictions, especially when people came to her and
29:40 says, "Oh, you're not being healed because your faith is not strong enough." And that's nonsense. Some people told
29:46 her that. Of course, she was she was shaken and she was perplexed and she was afflicted.
29:52 But she wasn't crushed because she had the hope in Christ. And regardless of what happened to her, she continued coming to the care group, continued
29:58 drawing near to God. And what happened is that those people in this care group, they saw that the husband felt the love
30:06 of God from the from the love that came from the care group. How they how they came into the home and
30:11 helped out with the children and helped out with the food. You know, the amazing thing is at the
30:17 end of the year, this lady passed away. By the end of the year, all six seekers
30:24 accepted Christ. Every single one of them. Now, I'm not
30:29 saying that that that's the only reason why they accepted Christ, but it paid a big part of it
30:34 to see somebody holding on in spite of their deepest suffering. She was going
30:40 for God. She was just looking at God. She was looking at the present situation that she's in. She was looking at the
30:46 time to come. So that's how we can can produce glory.
30:52 See her suffering and her faith in Christ produced an eternal weight of
30:57 glory for this six other people who found life through her suffering.
31:08 This passage ends by saying as we look not to the things that are seen
31:14 but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient
31:20 but the things that are unseen are eternal.
31:26 It says we should focus on the future and not on the present.
31:33 It says focus on eternity. But the big question lies on how do we
31:39 look at what is unseen. I mean how can somebody tell me to look at something which I cannot see?
31:48 And before I give you the answer that I I am going to try something new today
31:53 and I still have time. So I have a 10-minute video. It's it's it's a long
31:60 video. Play the whole thing. we have the time. Yeah. Um and and before before you
32:05 play um let me just explain the beginning starts with with uh this lady talking about and in spoken word. So she
32:11 talks about creation and from creation she's going to talk about the fall and then she's going to talk about the
32:16 suffering that we have and then she's going to have a resolution. So before I I finish my last point let
32:23 us have a look at the video.
32:37 [Music]
32:43 back before creation, before the formation of all that is,
32:51 there was you, God, yourself,
32:58 perfect, complete, needing nothing.
33:03 But did you look out at that empty sky with a lonesome ache for something more?
33:10 Something yet to be born, unformed? Were you reaching for us? Were you reaching
33:17 for me? Heat.
33:28 Heat. [Music]
33:48 in your
33:54 [Music]
34:04 Let it be. you said. And with that one command, it was all underway. Light and
34:12 energy, gravity, synchronicity, orbits and galaxies, comets hurtling down
34:18 galactic highways. A space time ballet. A thousand years. But a day, a brand new
34:26 planet hot with the fires of creation, life under construction, cells replication, DNA code, embedded commands
34:34 of how to grow. Make yourself at home, woman and man. Walk the length of the
34:39 land. Scale the mountains, run the rivers, drink from the springs. Let your
34:44 free will wander down the pathways of this garden called Eden.
34:50 [Music] But wait, wait. Have I got this
34:57 straight? We gave it all away. We traded it away
35:04 in a strange transaction. The forging of the first weapons, the
35:12 spilling of first blood, the trampling and trashing of paradise, blowing the
35:19 gift to pieces with a bang.
35:25 So now the need for intensive care. So now the rain for a star strip bear. So
35:30 now the cities give birth to slums. So now the rifles in suitcase bombs. Why?
35:35 Why? Why? Why? Why is a promising life ripped away just
35:42 when it catches stride and runs free? Tanks rattle and pound. Soldiers get cut down, never getting to say goodbye. Why?
35:51 [Music] Why are kids sleeping out in the cold,
35:57 spreading out their mouths on the side of the road, down in the dust, unable to trust or try with no tears left to cry?
36:07 Why? How did it feel, God?
36:14 When you walked this cracked shell of a planet, cried like a brokenhearted
36:20 child. the perfection of what was supposed to be
36:26 up against the brutality of our reality.
36:32 Why? Why? Why?
36:38 This is my father's world.
36:44 I rest me in the thought
36:49 of rocks and trees. Oh, skies and seas.
36:56 His hand the wonders rock.
37:02 [Music] How many prayers are rising up right
37:08 now? How many hopes are balanced
37:14 on you, God? Your ancient story says you gave up
37:20 your life, your flesh, and your blood
37:26 for love. And as the story goes, you're still
37:32 reaching. You watch over the grieving. You capture
37:38 every sigh. You measure the space between every heartbeat.
37:45 And there's a promise that winds its way through every weathered page. A feast
37:52 for the hungry, the delivery of the captives, healing for the desolate, the
37:59 final satisfaction of justice, making all things new.
38:08 Hope in the clinics where the sick hold on. Hope in the schools and the holding
38:14 cells. It echoes in the halls of the hospitals. Hope rises up in the cities
38:20 and the war zones. Hope in the courtroom and in the broken home. In the seminaries and the cyber highways, in
38:28 the alleys of the homeless and the hungry. In the shack settlements and the compounds. On the farms where the soil
38:35 is hard and dry. In the streets where the grieving mothers cry. Where the aids often stare up at the stars. Where the
38:42 captives pound on the sail wall. Through the coal mine towns and the factories. In the ghettos and the prisons and the
38:48 cemeteries. So where is it?
38:55 I don't see it. I don't get it.
39:01 the fulfillment of the promise. I don't see it down here in the middle of the
39:07 fear. What hope can remain in the depth of this pain? I don't see it.
39:14 The earth is groaning night and day. A
39:20 song of human slavery, of dark disease and poverty, of children in captivity.
39:27 God, that's the sound that comes to me.
39:34 Are you still far away on high? Still staring out at that empty sky?
39:42 Still reaching out with that longing hand? I hear no voice. And I don't
39:48 understand. I know about theology.
39:54 I know you gave your son for me. I know you're wrapped in mystery. I get
40:00 invisibility. But I still see their misery. I hear
40:06 their voices haunting me, saying, "Who will come and set us free? Who will come
40:12 and set us free? Who will come and set us free?
40:21 Here am I. Send me. Here am I. Send me. Yo,
40:30 here
40:36 [Music]
40:46 am I. Send me. [Music]
40:54 Here am I standing
41:02 [Music] shallow
41:12 earth and heaven be one.
41:21 Here am I.
41:30 [Music]
41:37 [Laughter] Here am I.
41:46 Who did he panel? Here
41:52 am I marrist.
42:00 [Music]
42:09 Hi Anna. [Music]
42:16 Here am I.
42:28 Here am I.
42:37 In the video, she was on the rooftop
42:43 and screaming. I I don't see it. I don't see it.
42:48 But this text tells us that we are not supposed to look to what is seen
42:54 but to look to what is unseen. And the big question remains, how do we
42:59 look at that? How do we focus on eternity?
43:07 And we look back at his word and we see it says this. Look at the power of God
43:15 and the life of his son that are manifested in our weakness.
43:21 Look at the life of Jesus that is flowing through our suffering into the life of other people.
43:28 Look at our afflictions. They will not have the last word.
43:33 We will rise from the dead with Jesus and his church.
43:39 Look, our afflictions are light and momentary. They're only for now, not for the age to
43:47 come. Look, these afflictions are producing are making and creating for us an
43:54 eternal weight of glory beyond all
43:59 comparison. So look,
44:04 let us focus on it. Let us meditate on it. Let us think about it. Let preach to
44:10 ourselves. Let us think on these things and believe
44:18 them and we will not lose heart and our inner self will be renewed day by day.
44:28 Brothers and sisters, when we learn to to look at the word of God and get our
44:33 newness from there, we learn how how to die to ourselves that through our suffering, we can see
44:40 other people live and and see that joy, we will be renewed
44:46 if we focus on the age to come and not on the things of now.
44:52 We will not lose heart. Let me pray.
44:58 Father we we thank you for your God glorious.
45:05 You make us this you made us this bro joy because we understand your purposes
45:12 or because we know your plans. We have hope, peace and joy because we
45:18 know you. And Father, we know that as we get
45:24 renewed day by day, our hearts will overflow.
45:32 And Father, help us to stand here in the midst of our pain and our suffering and say, "Here I am. Take me."
45:42 Amen.
