Christ is Life Podcast

Sometimes life can seem trivial.
Sometimes life can seem unimportant. It can seem insignificant. We wake up in the morning and we begin to go through the motions of getting ready. Each and every morning, we get ready, we walk out the door and we go to work, or we go to school or or maybe we're retired and we just sit around the house. But either way, we've got some list of duties or a checklist of things that we will accomplish. We've got routines that we go through each and every day, and as we go through them, we we check them off, and then we get through them and we go home. And when we get home, there's more duties, there's more checklists, and we go to sleep eventually, and we wake up and we do it all over again. We get ready and we go to work, or we go to school, and we go through the checklist and the duties, and we get home, and we go through the checklist and the duties, and we go to sleep, and then we wake up and we go to work, and we go to school, and we go to the checklist and the duties. And before long, it begins to seem as if anything very significant is happening at all. There's little excitement, there's little passion, there's no real adventure, if anything, we feel worried. We have fear in our lives. There's anxiety, or maybe even depression, because we're going through so many motions, we don't really feel like they're making any impact. And so we're sad about that. We're depressed, we wonder if it all really even matters. Sometimes, as we walk through those things, we look around and it's not just our lives, but we see that the world is crazy, and it brings us stress. It brings us anxiety. We worry. We're we're fearful about things because they they really just seem to stay the same. I mean, sometimes like they really don't seem like they're getting any better, maybe for a little while, and then they get bad again, or they get even worse. And on top of all of the routine the trivial things that just kind of happen. Sometimes we even go through things that are really difficult times of suffering, where we really begin to wonder, I mean, what is this all about? And so whether it's trivial, kind of unimportant routine things, or we're really suffering in some way. We're just, I mean, is this what life is?
Do? We just got to kind of
grind our teeth and get
through it, kind of persevere and
I mean, at least if we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we have heaven. I mean, it'll be better on that day. This is just one of those things you got to get through. But but there's this hope, there's assurance of something you know better on the other side, and so. So my question this morning is that, is this what life really is? Is it a set of trivial duties that we do over and over again and that we suffer from time to time, and things really don't seem to make that much of a difference in the big scope of things. To be honest, some of us are here this morning, and it really feels like that is what life is. There's no real excitement, there's no real passion, there's no real sense of adventure. It's just wake up, work your way through it, go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again. But at least there's heaven. One day, our text that we're going to look at today has something to say about those types of feelings, the way that we view this life, the things that go on, the day to day, the moment by moment things. And it's a bit of a lengthy passage, but there's some really great things that will speak to us about those types of things that we walk through. And so I hope that you're dialed in and that you're ready to go. Here's what Luke says in Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 13, from Paphos, he says, Paul and his companion sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. And from Perga, we're told that they went on to Pisidian Antioch. Now, as we read that in this opening section here, we're reminded, if we've been here, that Paul and his companions, Barnabas and others, are on a missionary journey. And if you weren't here last week or haven't ever read that, then that's what they're kind of referring to here. They're on these travels. They were at this church in Antioch. Let me just show you what we're talking about here. This is where the church at Antioch is. Israel's down here Jerusalem. And so the gospel has spread, which is exactly what the Holy Spirit, what Jesus had said when the Holy Spirit comes, would would happen, and it would happen in and through Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And it was being spread as as people were traveling into different parts of the world. And there were some people who had heard the gospel. Been transformed by Jesus, and they went to Antioch, and they told the people who lived in Antioch about it. And all of a sudden, the church was established. And then Paul and Barnabas are there, and they're discipling the people. And if you remember last week in Acts chapter 13, in the beginning, the Holy Spirit said to set Barnabas and Saul at that time apart for the work of the ministry. And then the church laid hands on them, and they sent them out. And this is where they sent them, along this route, right here, to the island of Cyprus. And then we saw what happened at Paphos there, and how they shared the gospel with those who were there. And then it's from here that we're picking up this week. And so they were in Paphos there, and now they've gone north, up into this area where modern day Turkey is today. But we're told that John Mark traveled the other direction after they got there, he left, and we're not really told why. We don't really know what happened there, but we will see a little bit later, when we get to Acts chapter 15, that it's a source of tension and conflict, so much so that it will lead Paul and Barnabas to even split over whatever it is that happened here. And then from here, we're told that they went from Perga up into Pisidian Antioch, and then later on, they'll go over into Iconium, and we'll talk a little bit more about that next week. And you'll even see from the topography here how it's kind of a mountainous area, and so this would have been a rough travel for them. You just kind of read this, and you go, yeah, they just traveled. And you and I travel today, and it's easy, and they're on foot, and they're walking, and they're doing some really tough walking in and through these areas, but this is the journey that the Holy Spirit has them on. So now that we're there, Paul is going to tell us what the Holy Spirit did in that community on this missionary journey, where
the mission is to share the
Good News of Jesus with those who are there. So we're told in verse 14, as it continues on the Sabbath, they entered into the synagogue and sat down after reading from the law and the prophets. The leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak. Could the Holy Spirit have teed it up any better for Paul and Barnabas right there? I mean, like they're on this mission to share the gospel with those wherever it is that he's sending them. He sends them here, and they go, Hey, if you got something to save and say it well, as a matter of fact, I do, all right. And so we're going to see that Paul stands up and he's got something to say. And it's the first recorded sermon that we have from the Apostle Paul. In a lot of ways, it's a history lesson. And so let's look as we kind of dive in, standing up, Paul motioned with his hand, and he said, fellow Israelites and Gentiles who worship God and so quickly, we just kind of see who his audience is. Fellow Israelites means that these are ethnic Jews, those who are ethnic Jews who live in the Pisidian Antioch area. But then there are some Gentiles that are meeting in the synagogue, but these are what the Bible calls as God fears. Sometimes, these are people who knew who the God of Israel was and worshiped him, but they hadn't fully converted to Judaism, they hadn't been circumcised, but they were aware of a lot of things. And so this is important. Paul knows his audience, and that's what he's going to contextualize his sermon towards as we see next, verse 17, says the God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt with mighty power. He led them out of that country for
about 40 years. He endured,
some translations say, put up with their conduct in the wilderness, and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, getting their land to this people as their inheritance. And Paul tells them that all of this took about 450 years. Well, what is Paul doing as we start to see how he's beginning his sermon here is, first and foremost, He's establishing some credibility they want to know. He wants them to know. I'm one of you guys. I know our history and what all is happening. You know, in and through this would have been something that is written here in in four short verses that was all over the Old Testament, books of the Bible. But the biggest thing that I want you to notice about this is that God is
the subject of every
single one of the verbs that are here. God chose. We're told that God made the people prosper with mighty power. God led them out of the country for 40 years.
He endured. He
put up with them in there, verse 19, he God overthrew the nations in Canaan. He is the one who gave their
land to the people
as an inheritance. God is the subject of every single one of the verbs. What? My point, God is the author of history. All history is God's history. It's his
story. What he's
communicating here in very
brief statements is covered all throughout the Old Testament
of our Bibles, in Genesis
and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and Joshua. And listen, there's a lot of things that happen. These are very brief, very, very brief statements about what was going on in and through this time in history. But here's what you need to know. Paul says that this all, all that he mentioned in four verses here. Three verses took the time of 450 it happened over the span of 450 years. Do you know how long 450 years is? Let me tell you how long 450 years is. 450 years is 1664
or excuse me, 164,362 days. 450 years is 3,000,944
700 hours, and it's over 236
million minutes that take place in 450 years. In other words, that's a lot of life that got lived with each single person that was living in those days during that 450 year time, that's a lot of checklists, that's a lot of duties, that's a lot of random routine, seemingly minor and trivial checklist of duties to go through each and every single day during that time and wake up and do it all over again. And what we see in three verses here is that through all of those details, all the things that were written about, all of those days lived where, no doubt, they were wondering, is anything really significant going on here? Paul tells us, oh my gosh, yes, were there some significant things that were going on in and through every one of those days that you were living in all the suffering and the confusing times he was making you prosper. He was the one that was leading you out of that country, working behind the scenes to make that happen. He's the one who put up with you whenever you were making terrible decisions and disobeying him. He overthrew all of these guys as you were living and working, and he's the one who gave you that inheritance. And so what we see is that God is at work. God is writing a story. He is moving things along in some way, fulfilling his plans, fulfilling His promises, fulfilling His purposes in one big story. And Paul's not done. This is just part of it, as he continues now in the rest of verse 20, he says, After this, God gave them judges, until the time of Samuel, the Prophet, then he where am I at? Here? I just lost it. Then, excuse me. Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled 40 years after removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him. I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. Watch again, God, he's the one who gave them judges. This was a time of disobedience, and they were they would find themselves, you know, in trouble, and he would give a judge to deliver them. He was the one who gave Samuel, the Prophet. The people asked for a king. But he, even though it wasn't, you know what he was going to do, necessarily, he gave them a king because they were asking for that after removing Saul, he is the one who made David the king. Here again, he's the subject of all of the verbs. He's the one at work behind the scenes during
all these things, all these days,
all the choices that people were making. He was at work behind the scenes to move things along in such a way. And he gets all the way to David, and he mentions David, he says, oh, and David, he's, he's a man after my own heart and and he'll do everything that I want him to do. And we're tempted to kind of think, Oh, the focus is on David and how he's going to do everything it is that he wants him to do. But again, God's been the subject of all of these things, and what we really see is that God is the one who's going to be at work even in and through him to make his will happen, to move things along. Why do we know that? Because number one, of the choices that David made, he didn't do everything that God wanted him to do. But then number two, we know that God tells us in other places that he was going to be at work, even in and through those things to make different things happen, to move things along. Second Samuel 716 says your house and your kingdom, talking about David's, will endure forever before me and your throne will be established forever. God knows. Makes this promise, he makes a covenant with David and says that one of your descendants is going to establish God's Kingdom forever. The Messiah is going to come from your lineage. One of your descendants is going to and whatever it is that God promises, God fulfills, and that's what Paul even goes into next, verse 23 of chapter 13, from this man, who's are we talking? He just referenced David.
He just mentioned David. From David's
descendants, God has brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus, as he had promised. Remember, Paul's been sent on this missionary journey to tell people about Jesus. So why didn't he just start with Jesus? Well, he needed to establish that God's been at work, making these
plans, making these promises,
making sure that he was telling people
what it is that he was going to do. He gets to David. He skips ton of history, all the way through the rest of the Old Testament, but because this covenant was made with David and they were familiar with him. He jumps right to it now and goes, well, he's fulfilled that covenant. And it was in and through this guy named Jesus that I'm sure you have heard about. He's trying to make this connection that Jesus is from the line of David, and that is so important. It's why, when you open your Bibles, if you're following along with me in your Bibles, and you turn to the opening page of what's the New Testament, or labeled the New Testament in your Bibles, and you see Matthew, Matthew, chapter one, verse one,
starts off, saying, This is the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of who David. He's making the connection that this is the promise, the promise fulfilled that God had made to them. And notice again that he's the subject God has brought. He's the one who made that happen in and through all of that as he had promised that he would do, verse 24 Paul goes on before the coming of Jesus. He says, John, talking about John the Baptist. Now he's brought up Jesus. Now he's going to refer back to John the Baptist coming before him. So John preached repentance
and baptism to
all the people of Israel, he says, as John was completing his work, he said, Who do you suppose that I am? I am not. I'm not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. What a
statement that is.
Whom must this be that he is referring to? Once again, what's
what's Paul doing here? Well, Paul
knows that there was Old Testament prophecy about John the Baptist, about a forerunner that would come before Jesus. You can read about that in Isaiah 40, and in Malachi three, and how someone would be sent to prepare the way for Jesus. And he's showing them that God did that, that God sent, that he made that happen. And that's evidenced in the fact of what John says, I'm not him. I'm here to prepare the way for him. I'm a pointer to him, the one that's coming. And so he's trying to, again, connect the dots for each and every single one of them and for us today. Verse 26 fellow children of Abraham, fellow children. I'm in it with you. I'm one of those Paul is saying, and you, God fearing Gentiles who are in the audience. It is to us he says that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and the rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that they that are read every Sabbath verse 28 though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed Paul's referring again
all the way back to these things, this message of
salvation that God had been talking about all throughout the Old Testament that was going to come the scriptures, he says that were read every single Sabbath. They're constantly opening up the pages reading about these promises, these plans, these purposes that God had what he was going to be doing as he was moving things along in this world, moving them in a certain direction to accomplish his plans. And he says that even the fact that they were condemning Jesus, the one that they were sending, is a fulfillment of those things that were written about him, and we see that, of course, in a number of places, if you go to Psalm 118 you'll see that it was prophesied there that the stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone, would become the cornerstone. This is a reference to Jesus. Is under the Old Testament, and he was the stone, the cornerstone that was rejected. And he's saying this just fulfilled the prophecy, the plans that God had, even for that verse 29 when they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. What all was it that was written about him? Well, there was a number of things, but he's referencing what happened to them on the cross, because we know that, because it's talking about what happened after that. And so after they had carried out all that was talked about what happened to him through the cross, Isaiah 53 when was Isaiah 53 written and written in the Old Testament of our Bibles, 700 years before
Jesus ever showed up on the
scene and the Holy Spirit is leading Isaiah to write things like this, man would be despised and rejected by mankind, that he would be a man of suffering, that He would be pierced for our transgressions, saying that it was going to happen once again, Paul is revealing how what happened to Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy, exactly what God said he would do. He is moving things along. He is involved in the affairs, in the day to day duties of life in such a way that he's working in and through them to accomplish his plans, to accomplish his purposes. So he's carried all of these things out. They took him down from the cross. They laid him in a tomb. Verse 30, but God, anytime you see those words written in Scripture, you should shout, Amen, Hallelujah, right? But God raised Him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. I'm not making this up. This is there were people he appeared to many go ask them about it, if you don't believe what it is that I'm saying, because there were a lot of them. And he even goes on it says these people are now his witnesses to our people, to share with you about how the Messiah had come and what had happened to him. And now he gets to it right. Verse 32
we tell you the good news, the gospel,
what it is that we've been sent
here to share with you about what God promised our ancestors. He has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus. God said He was going to do this. He made covenant promises
to our people, and we
are His people. We are His
children, and he has
fulfilled those things. That's why we're here. And he's even talking about how, because he's been raised up, because he was raised from the dead, and he's ascended. Where did he ascend to the right hand throne of God? And so he's sitting in a position of authority and power. What was the promise through David, I will put someone on the throne forever, and Jesus ascends to the throne the right hand of God, going, are you connecting what it is that I said was going to happen and how it's already happening. I've already
fulfilled these things.
As Paul continues, after writing about these things, he goes, You know what? I'll bring up even more. You mean to keep showing you what God has been doing and what he said he was going to do. And so here he brings up Psalm two. He brings up Isaiah. 55 Psalm 16, more things that were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus about what God was going to do, and that's what he shows them next. He says that is as it is written in the second Psalm. You are my son today. I have become your father. God raised Him from the
dead so that he will never be
subject to decay, as God said. So now we're getting into the Isaiah passage. I will give you the Holy and sure blessings promised to David. So it is also stated elsewhere. Now he's into Psalm 16. You will not let your Holy One seed decay. And now he makes sure that they don't misunderstand, right? So look at verse 3436 I mean now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation. He fell asleep. He was buried with his ancestors and his body decay. It's rotting in a grave right now, he says, but the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. He's referencing Jesus. He brought up this, this Psalm where David was writing about how his holy one wouldn't see decay. And people might go, you know that might be talking about King David. He's going, just in case you're confused about that he's dead, go dig up his body. It is decaying, I promise you. But Jesus is not. He's trying to make sure that they're
seeing that so, so watch this all.
Sermon, all this history, all these things God said he would do. All these things that he's saying have been happening in this moment. And now Paul is
right there in verse 38
where he's going to draw the application out for them. Watch this. You ready for this? Y'all still paying attention? You're not asleep. Are you okay? I'm gonna keep going, even if you are. Verse 38 therefore, therefore, right? So, because of all the things that I've just shared with you, all the stuff that God said
was going to happen, and he happened,
this is what it means, my
friends, I want you to know. You've got to know.
This is what I'm here to tell you, right? That
through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
Yeah, y'all must not have heard me.
I guess you really are asleep. I'm going to read that again. Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through
Jesus, the forgiveness plural
of sins is proclaimed to you. Oh my gosh. Now that that is good news. That is the gospel, verse 39 it gets better, as if it couldn't get any better than that through him. Everyone who believes, everyone no matter who you are, where you and what you've done, everyone who believes is set free from every
single sin,
a justification you
were not able to obtain under the Law of Moses. So he's, who's his audience, Israelites, those faithful to the law all the things they're trying to do, the sacrifices and and living out the moral law and everything. And he's going, I bet you guys know this already, but you have not been able to get justified yet through trying to live up to God's standard, right? And if you're not, even if to think that you are doing pretty good, just remember God's your standard. He's holy and he's perfect, and therefore we're all sinners in that way. And so you when, oh my gosh. I mean, you got to know this. He says, I'm connecting all the dots of everything that's happened in history for God to bring Jesus and accomplish what he did to the cross, so that you can know that the forgiveness of sins is available to you. You can be declared right, because God's gonna make you right. Whenever you believe in the Holy Spirit comes in him, and you could not have done that under the Law of Moses. You had no chance. And that says something to those of us who are here today, if you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus, in Jesus, you cannot obtain that. God is not going to look at you one day and go, you've been a pretty good person. You seem to be trying really hard, and you're not as bad as most people. You haven't killed anyone. You're good, right? You're not going to obtain it under any rule, any law. It's only through Jesus verse 40, he gives a warning. He gives the good news, and it is really, really, really good news, but now there's a warning. Take care. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you now that
you know this information. Look,
you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that would never you would never believe, even if someone told you. This is from Habakkuk, Old Testament, prophet Habakkuk at one five. And it was a warning to Judah at the time about judgment that was coming. And Paul takes that and says, There is a judgment coming. This is good news. What I've just laid out for you, it's a gift. You can receive it and you can have it, but just know. Just know. Do not let this happen to you. Do not let this information pass you by without a response, because it doesn't matter what your mom or dad believed. It doesn't matter if you're in church every single day. It doesn't matter if you think this is right or whatever it's this is the standard. It requires a response.
You will be judged
if you have not put your faith and trust in Jesus. If you have, you'll be able to celebrate like Anna Lisa did today, that all of her sins have been washed away, and that the old her is dead, buried and gone, and she's been raised up to new life in Christ. Why? Because there was a moment in time where she didn't believe that, and she
was dead in her sins, and
she was going to be judged, but she had a
moment of belief, trust.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and Life. No man comes to the Father except through him. I'm going all in on Jesus. There's no other way. And in that moment, all of her sins were washed away, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in her. She becomes a new creation in Christ, no longer going to be judged. If you can't remember a point in time like she's had, and like many of us have had, then this will be true about you, but it doesn't have to be, and that's why he's giving this warning. Don't let this happen. It's out of care. It's out of concern for you that you don't want to miss out on what it is that God has done. Verse 42 as Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue. So he's done with his sermon now he said everything. He wanted to say. And as they were leaving the synagogue, Luke says the people invited them to speak further about these things. On the next Sabbath, when the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas. And so there were there were some who had put their faith and trust in Jesus. They were following them to be discipled by them in their new life in Christ and Paul and Barnabas were told watch this. Who talked with them afterwards and they urged them to continue in the Law of Moses.
That's not what it says. Oh no, no.
Who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
They've received His grace,
and notice he doesn't go. Now
that you've received that grace, start living out the law of
Moses. Now you can do it. It's
not what he says he goes. Now that you've received my grace,
continue to live in
grace. It's what the Christian
life is. We live it by grace,
moment by moment. Dependence,
receiving. We're branches.
He's the vine. Was a branch. Do it receives? We receive over and over. We live by His grace and His life flowing in us and through this. So they respond. Well, some receive it. Some go we want to hear more about that, but watch what happens when they show up on the next Sabbath. Almost the whole city gathered to hear the word so the word has spread. Boy, do we have good news for you. This guy was telling us about how all of your sins could be forgiven and you can be justified and made right with God, something you couldn't accomplish the law of us. You ought to come hear this guy this week, and so almost the whole city shows up to hear the good news now. But verse 45 when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, envy, resentment, they began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, since you reject it. Since you reject the gift that God is extending to you right now, do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles, for this is the what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord. And all who were appointed for eternal life believed it's amazing. They're going we're filled with with with gladness, and we're honored. Because even us, the Gentiles, have been appointed to believe it's not just the Jewish people. It's for all people. This is what God was up to when he met with Abraham in Genesis 12 and said, I'm going to build a nation, but through it, I'm going to bless all peoples through you guys, and so
I'm going to reveal myself to you and in and through you.
And it's going to be about even that 49 the word of the Lord spread through the whole region. I bet it did. I mean, if people come to know this good news, they're going to tell other people about it. But again, bad news. Verse 50. They're Jewish leaders. Incited the God fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region. So they shook off the dust of their feet as a warning to them, and went to Iconium. You may remember a couple of weeks ago on our youth Sunday, when Garret preached from from Luke and about Jesus sending out the 72 and this is one of the things he told them, if, if people are open to the message, then stay and share about it, and people are closed off and and even if you tell them the truth, they've not really opened the hearing and aren't going to change their their mind, and you see that, then shake the dust off of your feet as a warning to them, not not out of you know, take it suckers. But like, gosh, man, you're so sad. You're rejecting this in this moment. And our hands are wiped clean because we've shared it with you, and you're rejecting it in this particular way in this moment. And then Luke finishes up in verse 52 and says, And the disciples, the ones who had put their faith and trust in Jesus, now part of the church, and they were being discipled now, were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. I bet they were. I mean, Joy is listed in Galatians five as a fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came to dwell in them and was producing the fruit of joy in them and through them. And again. I mean, it should be, we're, we're seeing how Paul connected all of these dots throughout history to show how he had been at work. I mean, all the all the days, all the things that go on through life, and God was still up to something in and through all of those things to reveal that Jesus is the savior, not just to the Jews,
but to us as Gentiles. I
mean, this would produce so much joy. I. But listen, if Paul explains all of these things about God being at work over all those years of history, and then they see that these people, Paul and Barnabas, who had had their lives transformed and changed by this Jesus, now were coming and telling them that they too could be saved by something God was doing in and through them that would send these signals off that God was still doing what, still writing that story he had, I just told you all about that story that happened, but it didn't stop, just because with what we talked and ended with Jesus, it's now continuing in and through the church. And now the Gentiles are going, Whoa, the Holy Spirit God has now come to dwell in me. The same God that you just described, has been moving things all throughout history, through all the little dynamics and small details of choices that people were making. And God's still writing that story, and I have now become a part of that story, the joy that the Holy Spirit would produce, and I've got new life. I'm forgiven, I'm declared, right, and I'm now part of God's great, big redemptive story that we see all the way back in Genesis three being prophesied about. And so if this was true about them, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us today as the church. Then that is the message to us. Guys. Life in the spirit means that we become active participants in God's redemptive story. Jesus has not come back yet. Ashlynn was talking he's coming. We're preparing the way it's, it's going to happen, but he, he hasn't yet, and so he's still moving things forward, working in some way to accomplish His redemptive plans and his redemptive purposes. And so again, was this, say, God's not just up there and and we're down here.
It's, it's God in us,
and we become part
active participants of of his great, big redemptive story. It means that life is not trivial, unimportant, random, disconnected series of events. It means that we, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, have become a part of something way bigger than ourselves. Life is now an adventure that we're invited into. We're participating with God in this world, who's going to produce joy and and peace and love and patience and and kindness in and through us, in each and every single one of the details in the routines and the things that we walk through every day, it means that when we go through some really difficult things, sometimes of suffering, and we go, I don't really see it. God, I don't I don't understand why this is so hard, or while I'm having to walk through it. If we're reminded of all the things that God was up to that Paul went over and over again through all those years, all the suffering that they had to experience at times, if we didn't see anything else we saw that God was up to something even in and through that. And so that means, if we face those things today, he's up to something even in and through that, because we're part of this story that he's writing, and he's not aloof. He's involved in even the day to day details and situations and circumstances that are going on in our lives. I had an 85 year old woman walk up to me after the first service with tears in her eyes and say, Jason, you don't understand what you just brought into my life and every single person's life that was sitting here today. She said, what this means is that every single minute of our lives actually has value. It actually has purpose. She says, I was sitting in my house as an 85 year old widow this week, and it's quiet, and I miss my husband, and I'm lonely sometimes, and I was getting depressed, and I'm wondering, I don't have much that I'm involved with at 85 years old, and I'm thinking that it's trivial and it's unimportant, it doesn't really matter. And what you're showing me today, in God's words, means that even me at 85 years old, every minute of my life has value and
purpose, and
I'm going to step into it and not miss what God has for me today and tomorrow. And it's the same for all of us as you wake up and you get ready to go to work or school, any of those things, do not let Satan fool you. Into thinking that God is distant, uninterested, uninvolved, that one day you'll just make it to heaven and things are going to be okay. You are a part of his great, big, redemptive, adventurous story that he is writing today, in and through the details even of your life. Don't miss out on experiencing what he's up to as he's he's writing it one way or another. The question is whether you're going to experience what he's doing in and through you. I don't want to miss that abundant life, and
I don't think you do either.