back to index2021-04-18 God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 35 and we're going to be 00:00:10.740 |
Hebrews chapter 11 verse 35 all the way to verse 40. 00:00:22.340 |
Reading out of the NASB it says, "Women received back their dead by resurrection and others 00:00:27.500 |
were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection 00:00:32.620 |
and others experienced mockings and scourging, yes also chains and imprisonment. 00:00:37.780 |
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with 00:00:44.700 |
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men 00:00:49.100 |
of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes 00:00:53.900 |
in the ground and all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive 00:00:57.880 |
what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from 00:01:05.500 |
Grace Father we pray that your word would speak to us, allow our hearts Lord God to 00:01:12.060 |
be molded according to your purpose and will. 00:01:15.020 |
Lord search us and know us and see if there's any hurtful ways in us that all that we have 00:01:19.660 |
we would surrender and that our hearts Lord God in our mind our will will all be molded 00:01:25.460 |
according to your purpose in Jesus name we pray, amen. 00:01:30.980 |
You know when I first became a Christian I think most people in my generation was trained 00:01:37.900 |
how to evangelize through the four spiritual laws. 00:01:43.220 |
It was created by a man Bill Bright from CCC and I actually had an opportunity to meet 00:01:49.620 |
him years ago at a conference and so there was a small number of us maybe about about 00:01:54.300 |
a 30 of us were able to sit in a room and just pick his brain and a very godly man and 00:01:59.220 |
I didn't realize that CCC, Campus Crusade for Christ was actually started at UCLA in 00:02:04.380 |
1951 and so we were able to pick his brain and ask some questions and he was really into 00:02:10.440 |
praying and fasting at that time so we were very challenged. 00:02:14.220 |
Some of you guys who you know are maybe a little bit older may have been trained in 00:02:19.060 |
the same way this four spiritual law basically begins by saying God loves you and has a wonderful 00:02:23.340 |
plan for your life and then the second part is but all have sinned and fall short of God's 00:02:28.140 |
glory and we've been separated from this and third Christ came and died for us to bridge 00:02:33.540 |
that gap in order that we may have life again and then fourth God requires all men and women 00:02:39.300 |
to repent and receive this forgiveness and so those are the four spiritual laws and again 00:02:43.700 |
you know paraphrased but in a nutshell those are the those are the meaning. 00:02:49.300 |
Again for many years I would say for seven eight years of early life in as a Christian 00:02:55.300 |
I would go through the four spiritual laws because that's how I was trained and and I 00:02:59.420 |
realized after time passing that the first part of that can easily be misunderstood and 00:03:06.260 |
I don't think that was the intention of Bill Bright and that that that his intention was 00:03:12.700 |
to present the full gospel but that first part where it says God loves you and has a 00:03:16.420 |
wonderful plan for your life I started to see how some people were twisting that to 00:03:22.140 |
think that God's ultimate plan for us is for us to prosper. 00:03:29.180 |
He wants us to be wealthy and so again I met the man and I know that that was not his intention 00:03:35.620 |
but I started to see how some people can easily twist how the gospel is presented and said 00:03:40.500 |
well God wants me to be happy right God wants it there's nothing I can do and God God wants 00:03:45.260 |
me to be happy and so the gospel is a way for me to achieve happiness and I can't do 00:03:53.560 |
Now the problem with that type of thinking one is completely unbiblical because the Bible 00:03:59.420 |
does not teach that in fact the Bible completely contradicts that the text that we're looking 00:04:03.660 |
at up to verse 35 he's been given examples of men and women of faith how sometimes even 00:04:10.820 |
in their great suffering and sacrifice how God used that to lift them up and to glorify 00:04:16.340 |
and to save Israel and to do many great things for God but then we get to the second part 00:04:22.060 |
of chapter 30 verse 35 and he just simply says you know all women receive back their 00:04:29.220 |
dead by the resurrection and others you know no big hoopla he doesn't even say but he just 00:04:34.540 |
says and others were tortured not accepting their release so that they might obtain a 00:04:39.620 |
better resurrection and then he goes down a list of all these things that these people 00:04:44.100 |
experience and they never experienced this abundant life they were tortured they lived 00:04:51.140 |
homeless they were mocked they starved and some of them just died that way so it doesn't 00:04:59.620 |
fit this narrative that God's ultimate purpose is so that we can have a wonderful life not 00:05:04.820 |
in the way that many people experience or think that they are you've probably heard 00:05:10.380 |
of the health and wealth gospel preachers Joel Osteen probably in our generation is 00:05:15.180 |
top in the top of that list and no like you know I don't know for whatever the reason 00:05:21.140 |
that some churches are afraid to call false teachers out because that's part of our job 00:05:28.020 |
right it's part of our job to recognize that when false teaching and false teachers begin 00:05:34.000 |
to propagate things that are unbiblical it's not just difference of opinion they are actually 00:05:40.180 |
going against what the Bible teaches and it prevents certain people from coming to Christ 00:05:45.540 |
Joel Osteen on the top of that list wrote a book called Best Life Now and this is what 00:05:49.820 |
he says God didn't make you to be average God created you to excel therefore if you 00:05:56.820 |
will start acting like it talking like it seeing yourself as more than a conqueror you 00:06:01.580 |
will live a prosperous and victorious life obviously what he means by prosperous is being 00:06:07.100 |
very wealthy Benny Hinn is another man who is very well known and had decades of ministry 00:06:14.180 |
teaching the same false gospel and this is what he is quoting saying God will begin to 00:06:19.580 |
prosper you for money always follows righteousness clearly he never read the Bible clearly never 00:06:28.380 |
read the Bible Jesus says when people were coming to me I want to follow you said birds 00:06:33.740 |
of the you know fox have holes birds of the airs have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere 00:06:37.140 |
to rest his head in other words I'm homeless if you follow me you're also going to be homeless 00:06:42.460 |
so he warned them to make sure that you know what you're getting into all the disciples 00:06:48.860 |
they didn't live a better life they didn't get a better job most of them with the exception 00:06:52.580 |
of one were martyred because they believed in Jesus Christ we have countless number of 00:06:58.540 |
people because of their faith have ruined their lives Apostle Paul a perfect example 00:07:04.940 |
of one who was on the you know like he's pretty much achieved what every Jew would have wanted 00:07:11.900 |
in education and in wealth and position and even religiously and yet he ruined all of 00:07:17.060 |
that because he met Christ I remember years ago there was a man named Fred Price so you 00:07:23.340 |
guys most of you guys who are younger will probably not remember him but he was a famous 00:07:27.820 |
preacher in LA and his church bought the Coliseum some of you guys who remember the Coliseum 00:07:33.420 |
and it could fit probably about 50 to 60,000 people so it was one of the largest churches 00:07:37.820 |
in this area probably in the United States excellent preacher and so not knowing who 00:07:43.580 |
he was early Sunday morning before I went to church I wanted to hear a sermon and I 00:07:47.100 |
had him on and one of the sermons he had people stand up and said anybody who's on welfare 00:07:52.860 |
stand up so he had a bunch of people not knowing what he was doing just starting to stand up 00:07:57.700 |
anybody who's who's not you know getting minimum wage stand up anybody who doesn't get paid 00:08:02.660 |
this much stand up then after they stood up he began to rebuke them and this is on national 00:08:08.660 |
television he said the reason why you're on welfare is because you don't have enough faith 00:08:14.940 |
the reason why you don't have a house is because you don't have enough faith the reason why 00:08:19.960 |
you don't drive a certain type of car is because you lack faith and then he began to expound 00:08:24.660 |
upon his wealth how he has so many Rolls Royces and how he has so many house what kind of 00:08:30.780 |
clothes he wears and how much his shoes cost and all of that on national television and 00:08:36.380 |
you can see just the demeanor of these people who stood up just kind of you know shriveling 00:08:41.300 |
in shame and I remember watching that being so disgusted that this man was publicly shaming 00:08:48.420 |
these people simply because they weren't making money sad to say even though we may be disgusted 00:08:55.140 |
by what he says this health and wealth gospel has so deeply in have been embedded into our 00:09:01.260 |
psyche we practice it without even recognizing that that's what we're doing even in biblical 00:09:08.860 |
even in biblical Bible teaching churches even like ours I remember years ago at a conference 00:09:14.920 |
John Piper came to speak and he was the keynote speaker and he got up on the pulpit and he 00:09:20.460 |
said you know I had this message prepared but I really felt convicted to preach a completely 00:09:25.860 |
different sermon and then he began to preach about suffering as a Christian and that's 00:09:31.900 |
a whole sermon was based upon how God ordained suffering for the sake of his glory it was 00:09:39.260 |
a great message I always wondered why he decided to change the message I found out later on 00:09:43.420 |
what the reason was which I'm not going to get into this morning but I remember at that 00:09:48.500 |
conference there were about 27 Russian pastors who used to pastor in the old communist regime 00:09:55.180 |
and they were coming in and out of prison and so they invited that to come pay for their 00:09:59.480 |
airfare got them to stay and they were they happened to be in the room when he was preaching 00:10:03.860 |
the preaching that then after John Piper finished they asked the leader of that group to come 00:10:09.100 |
up and give his testimony and I remember that Russian pastor sit up and the first thing 00:10:12.980 |
that he said was I want to thank John Piper for preaching that sermon because I never 00:10:17.940 |
thought that I would hear a sermon in America to American pastors about suffering so it 00:10:25.020 |
was in one sense thanking him for the sermon but at the same sense backslapping everybody 00:10:29.540 |
else right because they said we never thought that this would ever be taught in an American 00:10:37.300 |
church the author of the that's writing this letter remember why he's writing this letter 00:10:47.020 |
he's writing this letter because the persecution in the church wouldn't let up remember in 00:10:53.900 |
the beginning they were rejoicing in their property being confiscated when their friends 00:10:58.940 |
were being arrested they went them visited them and and they were rejoicing we're suffering 00:11:02.540 |
for Christ and they were willing to put up with that for a short period but it wouldn't 00:11:07.100 |
let up 10 years passed 20 years passed 30 years passed so by the time this letter is 00:11:12.820 |
written they're in their second possibly even third generation Christians and they're beginning 00:11:17.660 |
to drift back into their old line now backsliding usually doesn't happen overnight you don't 00:11:24.700 |
wake up one morning and say you know what it's too hard following Christ so I'm just 00:11:28.220 |
gonna go and make money you don't do that usually backsliding happens because you compromise 00:11:35.180 |
but God calls you to do something say oh what if I do this God didn't call everybody or 00:11:38.980 |
what if this and you start to make small compromises and you begin to see your heart starting to 00:11:44.300 |
harden up you've never in your mind you've never abandoned your faith you've just made 00:11:50.340 |
series of compromises that cause you to drift further and further away from God physically 00:11:55.460 |
you're still at church you're still at Bible study but you know deep in your heart you 00:12:00.780 |
have a limit to how far you will go in following Christ so the Christianity that we've created 00:12:07.500 |
is a Christianity that's that doesn't look like the scripture the Christianity that we've 00:12:12.580 |
created is the breaking of the second commandment of the 10th commandment where he says thou 00:12:17.460 |
shall not worship any other God and the second commandment is thou shall not make any brave 00:12:21.700 |
images of me and worship me in other words don't make up a God that is more palatable 00:12:27.500 |
to you and worship that and say you're worshiping me backsliding typically happens gradually 00:12:34.180 |
because we avoid suffering at every end if I do this I might lose my job if I do this 00:12:40.740 |
my friends are gonna be happy if I do this I'm not gonna not be able to get this if I 00:12:44.220 |
do this I might be not be able to get that house and so after a series of compromises 00:12:50.020 |
we have created a Jesus that doesn't look anything like the scripture so he's writing 00:12:56.620 |
this letter to challenge them that Christ is better than anything that you are you are 00:13:02.180 |
backsliding into that Christ is better than that do you recognize who Jesus is he's better 00:13:07.380 |
than the angel he's better than Moses he's better than the sacrifices he's better than 00:13:11.620 |
the priests he's better than the temple he's a he has a better covenant so the whole thing 00:13:16.700 |
that we've been talking about in the whole book of Hebrews is he is better do you believe 00:13:20.940 |
that so if that is the priest if he's writing a this letter to a group of people who are 00:13:28.780 |
having a hard time with suffering you would think that he would leave this out because 00:13:35.420 |
this would be completely discouraging right leave it at the first 35 women receive back 00:13:41.460 |
their dead by resurrection all these great things happen because they believe God but 00:13:46.100 |
then he said but others they're tortured some of them died experienced mocking scourging 00:13:53.200 |
chains imprisonment sawn in two tempted experienced death sheepskins goatskin destitute afflicted 00:13:59.900 |
ill-treated wandering deserts mountains and caves and holes in the ground and it doesn't 00:14:04.740 |
end with they did all of that but God lifted it up them up and so therefore they experience 00:14:10.400 |
greatness and then they die no they just died I mean if your goal is to write this letter 00:14:19.380 |
to encourage people who are suffering to continue and persevere you would think that he would 00:14:25.340 |
say relief is coming for a short time you're experiencing this but after that you're going 00:14:31.660 |
to experience glory just just put in a year put in a two years and if you continue good 00:14:36.400 |
things are coming he doesn't say that some experience this some experience this the heroes 00:14:45.240 |
of the faith that he talks about some experience their children being resurrected and some 00:14:50.960 |
voluntarily give their life and he says the reason why is because they wanted a better 00:14:56.520 |
resurrection because they believed that the payoff wasn't here they were willing to even 00:15:04.040 |
give their life because they knew that the hope that they had wasn't here it was after 00:15:12.040 |
and that's why they were able to persevere you know I was at a conference not that long 00:15:20.520 |
ago and you know when I was when our church was struggling and we were small we had like 00:15:26.700 |
30 35 people for many years you know we did a podcast you know describing our our church 00:15:32.640 |
in the beginning because it wasn't a normal church plan we just got thrown out we just 00:15:37.040 |
try to survive right and I just had a kid another kid and then another kid eventually 00:15:41.240 |
another kid right we had many kids and in the midst of what we were doing in ministry 00:15:48.320 |
you know we were just trying to survive and no one asked me about ministry advice back 00:15:53.720 |
then right in fact everybody was giving me ministry advice right you say oh you should 00:15:59.320 |
go to that church you should go to this conference oh if you talk to that pastor oh if you were 00:16:03.320 |
discipled by this by maybe your church would do better but as soon as our church started 00:16:07.520 |
growing to a certain number you know 300 400 and and then they said what are you doing 00:16:12.120 |
over there how do you do your bible study what is your teaching like and all of a sudden 00:16:16.560 |
they want to know so I remember I I was at a conference and I was asked that question 00:16:22.320 |
and you know we had smart men there's like three or four of the churches that are larger 00:16:26.620 |
in size and so they asked us to give a presentation about our church and ministry philosophy what 00:16:30.360 |
we're doing and each one of them were going around and smart guys articulate you know 00:16:36.360 |
talented gifted and and I was blown away you know I felt like I don't belong here I don't 00:16:41.120 |
even understand some of the words that they're using you know and they came to my turn so 00:16:45.800 |
Peter what happened at your church and I told him the story that I we told you in the podcast 00:16:49.600 |
like I didn't want to be a pastor I just felt bad for the kids and I just held on for dear 00:16:55.080 |
life right and that's how we got here and I remember it's like huh it was nothing useful 00:17:04.640 |
that I said oh then I just didn't quit right and I remember after I said that the the pastor 00:17:12.160 |
was presiding to kind of wrap things up and he said who knows if you did what Peter did 00:17:17.200 |
maybe your church would be the next Berean and I remember and then I remember I ended 00:17:22.680 |
up by saying or not it was awkward it was very awkward right clear I didn't belong there 00:17:30.200 |
right because the point that I was trying to make was that it wasn't ingenuity it wasn't 00:17:36.760 |
anything because we're not doing anything different that we did the first seven years 00:17:40.240 |
and then next seven years that that caused it to grow but our natural tendency is to 00:17:46.680 |
think that if we do certain things right good things are going to come and good things is 00:17:54.240 |
like bigger church better finances better homes healthier wealthier and long life and 00:18:01.960 |
then when that doesn't happen we deconstruct what did we do wrong what should we do better 00:18:08.880 |
what's our plan and then we're constantly deconstructing and reconstructing because of 00:18:15.000 |
what because we have what we think God wants better life healthier life longer life better 00:18:22.160 |
bank account right our children are safe better taking care of better education and so we 00:18:27.080 |
have the same standard that the world has we just brought it into our Christian life 00:18:31.800 |
and we don't we don't normally filter that out we just kind of you know because it has 00:18:37.160 |
that Christian name on it we don't recognize that as the health and well it's so deeply 00:18:42.160 |
embedded in us this passage completely obliterates those thoughts it says that some were sawn 00:18:51.160 |
in two now it doesn't mention any names none of this has any names because prior to that 00:18:57.240 |
it was mentioning Abraham and Moses and Joseph and Jacob and all these great men and women 00:19:02.880 |
who by faith did these great things but then he says but the others who are tortured and 00:19:08.080 |
killed and you know and they were imprisoned and changed wandering in deserts none of their 00:19:14.880 |
names are mentioned I think the reason why none of the names are mentioned because there's 00:19:19.200 |
too many because we have a tendency like when you read missionary books you usually read 00:19:25.840 |
a book about an individual who went and bore ridiculous fruit whether it's in China or 00:19:32.440 |
India wherever it is and then we put them on a pedestal we read about them I want to 00:19:36.720 |
be like Hudson Taylor I want to be like William Carey I'm gonna be the next Billy Graham I'm 00:19:42.720 |
gonna be the next John something and so we put them on pedestal so we know a lot about 00:19:50.880 |
very few people majority of the people that have gone before us for every one person that's 00:19:59.960 |
been highlighted there's probably hundreds of thousands of people who just labored couldn't 00:20:06.000 |
pay their bills just barely surviving constantly tempted to quit and just making it and it 00:20:15.400 |
is God using those people to continue to establish his kingdom we didn't get here by the Billy 00:20:21.400 |
Graham's of the world we got here by the grace of God there were some Billy Graham's there 00:20:28.240 |
were some William Carey's there were some Hudson Taylor's but majority of the people 00:20:34.760 |
that is described in verse 35 to 38 are never mentioned in fact for every one Moses you're 00:20:41.880 |
gonna see hundreds of other people that God used that you never heard of but they're in 00:20:47.880 |
scripture hundreds of thousands maybe millions of people that have walked out into desert 00:20:52.640 |
and never bore fruit church planters who suffered for years and just closed up missionaries 00:21:00.840 |
who've gone to places and never saw a single convert I don't know how many pastors that 00:21:06.400 |
I know dedicated their lives and in retirement didn't have a single penny in their name no 00:21:12.440 |
house no retirement no car nothing and they were dependent on other people just just to 00:21:17.920 |
make the end part I have missionary friends who've been out in the field for 20-25 years 00:21:24.400 |
come back and they said they feel like beggars because they have nothing in their name I 00:21:31.200 |
know countless number of missionaries who've lost their children in their faith they dedicated 00:21:37.520 |
everything to follow Christ and went out to foreign land and their children got caught 00:21:42.520 |
up in in something and they walked away from their faith for every one Moses's and William 00:21:50.880 |
Carey's and Amy Carmichael's these people that we write about and put on pedestals many 00:21:57.320 |
of them experienced verse 35 to 38 he says some were sawn in two we don't know when you 00:22:05.280 |
think of Isaiah Isaiah is probably the most quoted Old Testament prophet in the New Testament 00:22:10.960 |
Isaiah according to Jewish tradition was martyred for his faith Manasseh King Manasseh was one 00:22:17.720 |
of the worst kings that Israel had and just got sick and tired of Israel of Isaiah constantly 00:22:23.320 |
telling them you need to turn from your sins or judgment is coming and they got sick he 00:22:28.960 |
got so sick and tired of him according to Jewish tradition he was sawn in two the true 00:22:35.680 |
prophets who were speaking and trying to turn Israel from their sins they were the ones 00:22:40.400 |
who were stoned the false prophets kept on coming and saying peace peace when there is 00:22:45.320 |
no peace the reason why the false prophets were popular is because that's what everybody 00:22:50.640 |
was looking for peace you know what peace the modern-day translation for pieces health 00:22:58.780 |
wealth and safety and that's what the false teachers were propagating peace peace when 00:23:05.920 |
there is no peace Jeremiah here's a man who lived a miserable life he's known as the weeping 00:23:14.940 |
prophet he wrote a book called Lamentations because the whole book is about lamenting 00:23:23.040 |
in verse 37b it says they went about in sheepskins goatskins destitute afflicted ill-treated 00:23:29.580 |
men whom the world was not worthy wandering in deserts mountains and caves holes in the 00:23:34.440 |
ground now any prophet probably can recognize that maybe this is their life as well but 00:23:40.840 |
Jeremiah exemplifies this I mean he lived such a miserable life because God was using 00:23:48.400 |
him to warn the nation of Israel and everywhere he went to speak they hated his guts God had 00:23:55.000 |
him do such weird things just wandering in the desert and and doing walking around you 00:24:00.280 |
know in places where he's gonna be harmed all his life just weeping not simply because 00:24:07.160 |
of what was happening to him externally but internally he was saddened by what was coming 00:24:13.400 |
pleading with Israel to turn and they would not turn you know when I think about my life 00:24:22.120 |
there are four periods that you know like watershed moments that I can pinpoint and 00:24:27.360 |
say that that completely changed my life first is coming to America obviously and I didn't 00:24:34.280 |
choose that right that happened to me because my parents chose to come to United States 00:24:38.160 |
and that's the reason why I don't speak Korean here I'm speaking English right the culture 00:24:43.560 |
where we grew up all that changed because my parents decided come to United States so 00:24:46.840 |
that was a a watershed moment for me at that time secondly which is probably the most important 00:24:51.640 |
out of all of them was when I became a Christian 1983 December 26 1130 p.m. I remember very 00:24:58.600 |
distinctly when it happened and it was almost like being there for your birth right physical 00:25:04.440 |
birth that would be gross but that's what it felt like spiritually I knew when it happened 00:25:08.880 |
like my life would never be the same so that that happened so that was the second and that 00:25:13.040 |
changed everything for me for me the third thing that happened was when I decided to 00:25:17.360 |
go into ministry full-time ministry the reason why that was a watershed moment it wasn't 00:25:22.440 |
because I was choosing between am I gonna serve God or not serve God I don't know how 00:25:26.640 |
any Christian chooses I'm not gonna serve God right I'm a Christian but I'm just gonna 00:25:31.360 |
do whatever I want right you're not a Christian how can somebody who who believes what we 00:25:38.400 |
confessed with whether you are an attorney or business or whatever it is that you're 00:25:41.640 |
doing live your life saying you know what I'm just gonna live my life and some people 00:25:45.000 |
are gonna go to hell some people are gonna go to heaven I'm just gonna live my life that 00:25:48.480 |
makes no sense to me so it wasn't a decision between my gonna serve God and not serve God 00:25:53.440 |
but specifically I'm going to full-time ministry and the reason why that was a difficult decision 00:25:57.760 |
is because I'm a third generation pastor I saw the misery that my parents went through 00:26:04.560 |
and children who are in that family and then my dad came from a pastor's family and the 00:26:11.280 |
misery that he experienced as a result of that I remember during the war the Korean 00:26:15.560 |
War because my grandfather was a pastor he had to hide because the communists were coming 00:26:20.280 |
so he was basically gone and my dad had to take care of his family when he was 16 years 00:26:25.520 |
old selling medicine because his dad was a pastor and so when I was wrestling with this 00:26:31.480 |
idea I don't want to like I'll do anything I'll be a businessman I'll go to missions 00:26:36.520 |
I'll do anything but anything but a pastor I don't want to do what my dad did and then 00:26:41.280 |
I had to surrender okay what else am I gonna if this is I want to preach the gospel but 00:26:48.000 |
if I make a lot of money I'm concerned that I'm gonna be tempted so I'm gonna go down 00:26:51.160 |
this path but then fourth and final thing and I don't know what else is coming ahead 00:26:57.440 |
but the fourth and final thing was in the context of this church after five six seven 00:27:05.440 |
years of struggling in the church and not wanting to just I was literally just dragging 00:27:10.600 |
my feet and only reason why I did what I did is because I felt like the kids that were 00:27:15.040 |
there they're not kids anymore obviously but kids weren't gonna make it so out of guilt 00:27:20.680 |
it wasn't out of great faith or or you know I this vision like what was your vision I 00:27:25.720 |
had no vision like seriously I mean I'm just being honest I had no vision for this church 00:27:31.000 |
it was out of guilt I can't leave them because if I leave them I'm gonna abandon my kids 00:27:37.480 |
they were like kids to me right my own kids but I remember wrestling with this idea if 00:27:46.440 |
I'm gonna I came into ministry thinking like okay I'm gonna do great things for God I'm 00:27:50.000 |
gonna preach the gospel I'm gonna plant churches I'm gonna go out to missions and even if I 00:27:54.000 |
die early that's a good way to live and die and I remember thinking reading about Jim 00:27:58.880 |
Elliott how he prayed that he doesn't have a long life but a meaningful life even if 00:28:03.400 |
it's short and that's exactly how he went out and I was I remember thinking that's like 00:28:07.520 |
yeah that's what I want to do I want to do hard things for God and if I die early that's 00:28:12.440 |
that's a good way to live your life but then the last part of it I had to wrestle with 00:28:19.240 |
what if God called you to be Jeremiah because Jeremiah just lived a long life just miserable 00:28:29.800 |
preaching to people who didn't want to hear never saw never saw revival never really saw 00:28:36.000 |
fruit everybody that he cared about that he was preaching to hated him I mean he's the 00:28:42.880 |
weeping prophet and I remember really wrestling with that and as I was digging through scripture 00:28:48.720 |
and I was like wow there's more Jeremias in the Bible than there are Paul's who am I to 00:28:54.920 |
come before God and say I'm gonna hear my Lord send me there and then God said well 00:28:58.920 |
guess go to the Israelites who stiff neck and they're not gonna listen to how long until 00:29:03.800 |
you die because they're not gonna turn will you still go and I couldn't answer that question 00:29:13.120 |
I'll go to China North Korea you know and I remember during that period like I wanted 00:29:19.560 |
to do the craziest things because there was some sense of glory in that so I used to do 00:29:24.640 |
a lot of public preaching you know go out in the streets and I would see the end of 00:29:28.600 |
the parade and I would be the last person at the parade and I would preach the gospel 00:29:32.400 |
right and I remember this one thing in Cal State LA they were having the anti-war rally 00:29:38.480 |
because of the first first war in the Gulf and there were hundreds of people over there 00:29:44.120 |
who probably didn't want to go to class and they were out there as an anti-war chants 00:29:48.360 |
and they had a mic set up and and we just happened to be witnessing there in LA and 00:29:52.760 |
I thought maybe this is a good place so I just kind of you know took about 40 minutes 00:29:57.640 |
to gear up you know courage and at the end when we were about to leave I said give me 00:30:02.280 |
a minute I said oh shoot what's he gonna do so I stood up and I got the mic and I started 00:30:10.320 |
I started preaching and they they didn't know what I was preaching obviously until I said 00:30:14.720 |
name Jesus and if you ever want to know what it feels like to have 300 people flip them 00:30:22.920 |
off all at once I'll explain it to you what that felt like right and it was not fun but 00:30:30.600 |
afterwards there was a sense of glory in that like I did something hard for Jesus right 00:30:35.360 |
I did something hard for Jesus I was willing to do all of that even if it meant being living 00:30:41.840 |
in poverty even if it meant having homeless people in my house I was willing to do all 00:30:45.840 |
of that but I did not want to live the life that my dad lived struggling in the small 00:30:53.480 |
church taking care having a hard time paying his bills always worried about what the church 00:30:57.680 |
people are gonna think if he did this and if we bought this car what are they gonna 00:31:01.600 |
think that we spent too much money on this we can't buy this house we can't take a vacation 00:31:05.560 |
because we can't do this I don't want to do that but what if God called you to do that 00:31:16.800 |
and I couldn't say yes I said yes to everything else even homeless ministry my wife experienced 00:31:26.080 |
having homeless people in my house I said yes to that but I couldn't say yes to pastoring 00:31:35.080 |
a church because I didn't want to repeat what I saw but the question that was brought to 00:31:42.600 |
me was clear are you gonna come before God and say here my Lord send me over here to 00:31:50.200 |
these people at this time so I can do this or are you just gonna say here my Lord send 00:31:55.560 |
me even if it's to this man that broke me more than the initial time when I decided 00:32:05.680 |
to go into ministry more than when I became a Christian because when I became a Christian 00:32:10.920 |
it was just good God loves me God created the universe loves me and he died for me like 00:32:21.080 |
it was all good nothing that I had nothing that I sacrificed at that time seemed worth 00:32:27.320 |
holding on to but the fourth watershed in my life was what really broke me and I realized 00:32:36.400 |
that even in the way that I wanted to do ministry I had my own plans I had my own desires I 00:32:45.760 |
had my own glory in mind what if God calls you to serve people who don't want to be served 00:32:52.320 |
all your life will you still say yes Apostle Paul when he was called here's a guy who had 00:33:02.040 |
everything money already famed religiously on the top of the ladder meets Christ and 00:33:09.680 |
his life is ruined literally his life is ruined when he meets Christ Jesus says from the get-go 00:33:19.520 |
I will show him how much he must suffer for my name he didn't say he's gonna glorify me 00:33:25.400 |
it's all like all that stuff you know he said no I'm gonna show him how much he must suffer 00:33:28.800 |
for my name when he's writing 2nd Corinthians he's writing to a group of people who are 00:33:35.160 |
questioning his apostleship because he was not the greatest speaker you know Apollos 00:33:40.960 |
was the great speaker Peter was a great leader you know Paul was the latecomer and they were 00:33:47.240 |
questioning his because they didn't like what he was saying so they were kind of disqualifying 00:33:50.760 |
him saying he's not a true apostle but Apostle Paul in defense and he is defending himself 00:33:59.560 |
because people were questioning I mean I think naturally he just was not the best speaker 00:34:04.440 |
in fact the book of Acts says that he was a habit of preaching so long people actually 00:34:07.920 |
died that's what it said he was in the habit of preaching on and on and somebody fell up 00:34:13.840 |
and died and so you have to resurrect that guy right that's how bad of a preacher he 00:34:17.680 |
was right he didn't know when to stop but he in defense this is what he says in 2nd 00:34:24.360 |
Corinthians 11 24 five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes three times I was beaten 00:34:29.120 |
with rods once I was stoned three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day I spent 00:34:33.920 |
in the deep I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from river dangers from robbers 00:34:38.680 |
dangers from countrymen dangers from Gentiles dangers in the city dangers in the wilderness 00:34:42.560 |
dangers in the sea dangers among the false brethren I have been in labor and hardship 00:34:47.160 |
through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure 00:34:51.760 |
and so his credential is not his upbringing his credential is not the many churches that 00:34:57.640 |
he planted his credential wasn't his knowledge his credential was his suffering he said you 00:35:07.520 |
question my apostasy look at my suffering but along with that verse 28 apart from such 00:35:12.840 |
external things there's a daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches I mean 00:35:19.880 |
it's hard enough the external things the stoning and the hardship and persecution and the whipping 00:35:26.280 |
that he got but he says on top of that there's this internal pressure because he's concerned 00:35:31.800 |
for the churches for the people as he's sitting in prison he's concerned for the Philippians 00:35:39.760 |
as he's waiting to die in 2nd Timothy he's writing to his protege because he's concerned 00:35:48.000 |
that even as he is facing death he sees his internal pressure who is weak without my being 00:35:54.640 |
weak who is led into sin without my intense concern this is a man who understood that 00:36:04.520 |
he was called to supper just like Jesus said he wasn't just called so that he can stand 00:36:11.040 |
on a pulpit and hear the say it the Lord and there's where Jesus is it's like no he did 00:36:16.640 |
that in the midst of much suffering this flies in the face of all the people that I quoted 00:36:22.120 |
in the beginning of the sermon we hear so many times about how Christianity is flourishing 00:36:28.440 |
all over the world and I've traveled enough and talked to enough people out in the field 00:36:32.800 |
to know that the number of Christians have been so bloated I remember talking to a pastor 00:36:39.940 |
in an underground church in China and I've heard numbers as as big as 350 million Christians 00:36:46.780 |
and I asked him is that true and he said not even close he said most of the numbers that 00:36:52.380 |
you're hearing about are people who are coming to faith because of the health and wealth 00:36:56.220 |
gospel Kenneth Hagin Kenneth Copeland all false teachers because they promise that if 00:37:02.700 |
you believe in Jesus that you can have the wealth that these missionaries have so they 00:37:08.660 |
want to be like Americans that if you believe Jesus and Jesus is is their ticket to get 00:37:15.200 |
wealth and a lot of the people who are coming to faith are coming for that reason it's not 00:37:21.820 |
the true gospel it's the health and wealth gospel that's spreading all over the world 00:37:26.260 |
Jesus clearly said that the path to life is narrow and it is difficult and few would be 00:37:33.820 |
found in it he says all of this and reminds us again in first Peter 4 12 beloved do not 00:37:42.220 |
be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you you shouldn't be surprised because Jesus told 00:37:47.220 |
us the Bible made it very plain to us there is examples after examples that are given 00:37:51.700 |
to us in the scripture which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange things 00:37:56.380 |
were happening to you you notice how whenever hardship comes we think what did we do wrong 00:38:04.260 |
if a church is planted and it doesn't bear fruit it doesn't grow what did we do wrong 00:38:12.160 |
people begin to leave because you're preaching the gospel what did we do wrong if we started 00:38:17.640 |
having relational issues and and sinners don't appreciate what you're doing what did we do 00:38:21.700 |
wrong we planted a church and we're trying to share the gospel and nobody's interested 00:38:27.280 |
and what did we do wrong we have a tendency to kind of deconstruct everything that we 00:38:32.580 |
think isn't meeting our standard and so we need to reconstruct constantly deconstructing 00:38:36.780 |
reconstructing deconstructing reconstructing in order to get what what the world has taught 00:38:41.740 |
us what success is when all he told us to do is to be faithful do not turn from your 00:38:49.500 |
the word to the left or to the right in season and out of season whether they listen or don't 00:38:56.860 |
listen whether you bear fruit or don't bear fruit whether you the church grows or doesn't 00:39:00.580 |
grow in season and out of season I only gave you one thing preach the word in season and 00:39:06.940 |
out of season sometimes the children are resurrected sometimes they are not sometimes you will 00:39:16.140 |
experience well sometimes you will not sometimes people will thank you and praise you and sometimes 00:39:20.140 |
you will not God uses that all for his glory would you still follow Christ if following 00:39:30.180 |
Christ meant you can't get into the school that you want if you have to forfeit your 00:39:35.860 |
career would you still follow Christ if you can't get the house that you want would you 00:39:41.820 |
still follow Christ if your children are not safe and given the best that you want to give 00:39:46.940 |
them would you still follow Christ are there conditions upon following Christ you see the 00:39:54.540 |
problem with the health and wealth gospel is we don't break the first commandment the 00:39:59.540 |
first commandment thou shalt not worship any other God but the second commandment is thou 00:40:03.220 |
shalt not make grave an image of me and worship it in other words don't create an idol and 00:40:09.620 |
then attach my name on it and then worship it thinking that you're worshiping me when 00:40:15.380 |
we deconstruct everything that doesn't get us to a better life we've created a Jesus 00:40:22.180 |
that's not in the scripture if the only Christian faith that that we have embraced always leads 00:40:31.460 |
to a better comfortable life then that Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible see verses 35 00:40:42.020 |
through 38 completely blows that out of the water you know the health and wealth gospel 00:40:45.980 |
people verse Jeremiah 29 11 is a verse that they love it says for I know the plans that 00:40:51.980 |
I have for you declares or plans for welfare not for calamity to give you a future and 00:40:56.940 |
a hope the way that the health and wealth gospel people see this is and sometimes we 00:41:02.180 |
even use it to encourage other people that though it's hard now if you if you endure 00:41:06.900 |
a little bit better things are coming tomorrow like tomorrow put put in your time and and 00:41:14.660 |
discipline and sacrifice now then better things will come tomorrow now is that anything different 00:41:20.540 |
than the world I go to the gym I wake up 5 in the morning and I you know outwork everybody 00:41:25.900 |
else like this is why I got a million dollars because I put in the hard work early and I 00:41:30.460 |
suffered you know and I did what the other people are not willing to do and that's why 00:41:34.740 |
I was successful and the health and wealth gospel people use this verse to basically 00:41:39.980 |
perpetuate the same thing same wisdom that the world is giving put in your time now sacrifice 00:41:45.260 |
now discipline now then when you're 30 when you're 40 you're going to be wealthy healthy 00:41:53.340 |
when he says God has a wonderful plan for your life clearly the wonderful plan is in 00:42:00.900 |
health and wealth the wonderful plan he's talking about with that though some died and 00:42:07.980 |
experienced resurrection the others voluntarily gave their life and were tortured for what 00:42:12.060 |
purpose for a better resurrection the wonderful plan that the Bible talks about is an eternity 00:42:21.020 |
when Christ comes when Christ comes and if we miss that you didn't just miss a part of 00:42:32.260 |
Christianity if you miss that you didn't miss you know you weren't a B+ student as a Christian 00:42:38.420 |
but you weren't a if you miss that you missed Christianity period the Christianity that 00:42:46.820 |
we practice is a health and wealth gospel mentality is no different than the Buddhist 00:42:51.060 |
going to the temple you ever go to you know the Asian countries and the ancient ruins 00:42:58.180 |
are all Buddhist temple you wonder why they went through so much trouble to build statues 00:43:04.300 |
of Buddha and temples and just weird places up in mountains and you know like this is 00:43:09.260 |
this is a thousand Buddha mountain right this is a hundred feet Buddha mountain this is 00:43:15.300 |
mountain Buddha this is river Buddha I mean I remember the first time visiting China and 00:43:22.020 |
we must have gone to about a hundred Buddha something so why why was this so important 00:43:29.420 |
because that was their avenue to get health and well that was their way of getting a better 00:43:36.620 |
life if we're not careful Christians could do the same thing by becoming a member in 00:43:45.300 |
the church by being faithful and serving and giving that I'm going to trade in something 00:43:51.620 |
because I'm expecting something bigger and then when that doesn't happen God's not real 00:44:01.740 |
you're right that God is not real the God that many of those people turn away from was 00:44:09.220 |
never real because he never promised that that is not the God of the Bible the God of 00:44:16.900 |
the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11 39 to 40 and all these having gained approval through 00:44:24.140 |
their faith not through their hard work not through their sacrifice but sacrifices came 00:44:28.940 |
because of their faith did not receive what was promised because God had provided something 00:44:33.980 |
better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect 2nd Corinthians 4 17 for 00:44:40.740 |
momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all 00:44:47.140 |
comparison do you believe that even in our suffering it is producing in us a glory that 00:44:57.740 |
you cannot possibly imagine that can be fulfilled here it's far beyond that when his glory comes 00:45:04.740 |
why did some people experience this great deliverance and why did some people just die 00:45:10.580 |
in their difficult state the answer is simple it may be difficult to understand but the 00:45:16.100 |
answer is simple because in Isaiah 42 verse 8 it says I am the Lord that is my name I 00:45:21.060 |
would not give my glory to another nor my praise to given images God says over and over 00:45:26.180 |
again he says for my name's sake for my glory over and over again for my glory so the answer 00:45:33.420 |
is simple why was why did Joseph go through that and then experience why did he experience 00:45:40.780 |
what he experienced he said for my glory why did Isaiah live his life and then was sawn 00:45:45.900 |
in two for my glory why was Moses lifted up and experienced all of that for his glory 00:45:55.900 |
why did Jeremiah live in misery for his glory his glory in our comfort his glory in our 00:46:04.580 |
suffering his glory in long life his glory in life cut short his glory in living in peace 00:46:10.140 |
and it is for his glory that we live a life of turmoil it is his glory when we are financially 00:46:15.060 |
wealthy and it is his glory when we are struggling financially all things good and bad says ultimately 00:46:21.660 |
for his glory I know what a non-believer will say when I say this that's checked up he's 00:46:34.540 |
playing with us so he's he's toying with us and letting some people suffer and some people 00:46:41.540 |
do this and that and he's a jerk some people will say that because they don't believe because 00:46:50.300 |
they do not see because they only see this life and if this life is all that matters 00:46:58.980 |
they're absolutely right because it didn't pay off some people are suffering and some 00:47:06.220 |
people are doing fine he's unfair the end but you have to understand the Bible says 00:47:14.300 |
that you and I have been created to be his image bearers that's our whole purpose why 00:47:18.180 |
we exist is so that we may reflect his glory so salvation is for the purpose of restoring 00:47:24.220 |
us so that we may live according to how he created us now keep that in mind now why is 00:47:33.660 |
that beneficial to us because we live when he is glorified let me say that again we live 00:47:44.140 |
we experience the greatest life when he is magnified the most imagine if LeBron James 00:47:52.380 |
okay I know some of you guys are not fan of LeBron James Steph Curry whoever you want 00:47:56.020 |
to say right if LeBron James came into came in on the court and he started to interview 00:48:03.380 |
everybody how can I make all of you happy right just make a list and then he started 00:48:08.340 |
reading all that okay so I'm gonna design my game to make everybody happy first of all 00:48:12.940 |
that's impossible because 30,000 people are gonna have different ideas right pass more 00:48:18.140 |
shoot more sit down sit up right and I'm like the criticism of LeBron James like man that 00:48:25.820 |
guy he doesn't you know he passes too much he's not clutch you know he should he should 00:48:33.300 |
take the shot then when he takes the shot he's like dude he doesn't pass all he wants 00:48:38.980 |
his own glory there's nothing he can do to satisfy anybody everybody to begin with but 00:48:46.620 |
the best way to make the most number of people happy is to play the best game that he's able 00:48:52.060 |
to play when he is glorified on the court everybody everybody experiences euphoria it 00:49:04.380 |
brings people together we experience koinonia high-fiving and you talk about that for years 00:49:14.100 |
remember remember when you were there when he did this remember when Kobe shot 81 points 00:49:21.940 |
remember when he did that what did he do other than glorify himself so selfish so egocentric 00:49:33.100 |
why did we experience this life because Kobe glorified himself because you and I were created 00:49:40.780 |
for worship so when God is glorified we experience the best life so salvation is to restore us 00:49:51.300 |
so that our eyes may be open to see this glory and for eternity we're going to be seeing 00:49:57.700 |
his glory in a in a greater and more magnificent way so we're going to be experiencing this 00:50:03.420 |
life so this momentary suffering this momentary this blip of a life this mist of a life that 00:50:11.460 |
whether you live comfortably whether you live uncomfortably whether you are rich or whether 00:50:15.340 |
you are poor all this is producing in us eternal glory that we may have in his presence that's 00:50:25.260 |
why sometimes some people are called and they live in North Korea and some of us live in 00:50:32.660 |
America there's a kind of glory that God can receive only when rich people are giving there's 00:50:42.500 |
a kind of glory that God gets when we are suffering there's a kind of glory that God 00:50:47.860 |
gets when we live a long life living for Christ and there's a type of glory that God gets 00:50:53.900 |
when our life is cut short because when he is glorified what happens the world sees the 00:51:03.460 |
world sees because what God is interested in is an eternity that more and more people 00:51:10.220 |
may see his glory and come to him so sometimes God will use our suffering for that purpose 00:51:19.500 |
let me read the final passage and I know it's a little bit long this is a the verse that 00:51:24.940 |
I know elder James used to quote when he was younger all the time right and I don't know 00:51:29.660 |
his suffering in inside but this was one of his favorite verses and Habakkuk is written 00:51:36.020 |
during a period when Israel it's kind of like like Isaiah he's preaching to people don't 00:51:40.100 |
want to hear it he's wondering God why are you allowing the unjust to to punish the just 00:51:45.460 |
and and at the end conclusion of his grumbling before God he says this though the fig tree 00:51:51.300 |
should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olive should 00:51:57.260 |
fail and the fields produce no fruit no food though the flock should be cut off from the 00:52:02.540 |
fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exalt in the Lord I will rejoice 00:52:09.120 |
in the God of my salvation it doesn't in the end it's not about the vines being plenty 00:52:18.380 |
and revival and all that in the end is do you believe this God do you believe this God