[0:00] Good morning. Is the microphone working? I took it off during worship because I didn't know if I had to if it was on or not. I thought it would be a tragedy if you guys heard me sing.
[0:11] So I put it on and so it seems to be working. My name is Mark Carter. I do not go to church here. I was the speaker for D-Now in kind of a roundabout way.
[0:24] In October of last year, I was the speaker at a BSM, a Baptist student ministry retreat at Camp Chaparral where several colleges from around Texas showed up and I was friends with one of the BSM leaders.
[0:39] And so we'd gone to church together. He actually got saved in our church and now he's a missionary to one of the colleges, the one in commerce, Texas A&M Commerce. And so he asked if I would speak and so I spoke and we had this really incredible worship band that was there.
[0:57] And that's how I met Jared. Jared was part of it. He helped lead worship for that. And so back many, many months ago, he said, would you consider speaking at our D-Now for our church? And I said, yes, I'd be happy to. And then and here it is.
[1:11] I'll be honest. At that moment, I did not know I was preaching to you on Sunday morning. So I'm but I am happy to be here. My wife is here with me. If you would talk to her after church, she makes me look better and you'll like me more if you meet her.
[1:27] And then my son is there. He is pretty great as well. So I told him this morning as we were getting ready, I'm like, hey, church is kind of weird. They're going to ask you to come up and you have to speak. You have to give a testimony.
[1:40] And he was like, you've got to be kidding me. So at this time, you can come up and give your testimony. I am I work for a family in Wichita Falls.
[1:53] That's how I got here. I grew up in East Texas. I was a son of a pastor. And after I went to a Christian university and got a church ministries degree and I was a full time associate pastor for many years.
[2:07] And then we were part of a church plant in Tyler in East Texas for 10 years. And it was an unpaid position. And so I had to get a job so we could eat. And so that job is the same job I have now.
[2:21] And I work for a family in Wichita Falls. And so 10 years ago, they asked if I would move to Wichita Falls to their corporate office. So here I am. So I'm an elder at Fairway Baptist Church.
[2:32] And we have multiple elders there. It's just another word for pastor. But I'm a non-employed, not employed by a church pastor at Fairway.
[2:44] And so I probably speak every other month at Fairway. So thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here. And so if you have your Bible, would you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4?
[2:58] And so as you turn in your Bible, I'll kind of give you some time to look for it. I was super impressed with your youth pastor, with Jared.
[3:09] When I was a youth pastor, I'll be honest, I hated overnight trips. The whole D-Now weekend, I got saved at church camp. I see its value.
[3:20] It's wonderful. Organizing it as a youth pastor is just like probably being a coach running a track meet. It's just chaos, right? I thought Jared was prepared, organized.
[3:33] I thought his leaders were great. And so really cool. God has been kind to you to fill up four rows of youth for this. I was also, I think, as a parent of a teenager, I would want to hear this too.
[3:50] I was super impressed how loud your teenagers sing. It's like we worship. This is my fourth time to speak to them. I told them this morning, I'm about out of material. And that's not true.
[4:02] There's a whole Bible. But all my good jokes and illustrations have been used. It was really cool. We were in a small room, and there was worship, and they sang. Like they actually sang loud.
[4:14] And how cool is that, that you're teenagers, that you guys, you sang so loud. It was really cool to hear them worship. There's something that stirs your affections for Jesus hearing other people sing loud.
[4:28] One thing we'll say often is saved people sing. We will sing in heaven. It will be a good day. All right.
[4:39] 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Now we'll read from verse 7 through 18. But we have this treasure in jars of clay.
[4:50] What treasure? Well, if you back up one sentence, it says, For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[5:08] So the revelation of Jesus Christ, this is the treasure. That light shining in us. We have this treasure, but in jars of clay.
[5:19] Jars of clay was always referenced as a fragile thing. And as I get older in my mid-40s, that has never been more true. I've never felt so fragile. I just wake up some mornings and it appears I got hurt while I slept.
[5:33] We have this treasure in bodies that are fragile. And you say amen, right? To show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
[5:47] What a cool sentence. Like this treasure, the glory of God that lives in you, is just another reason to show that God is great and you are not.
[5:59] Is that this great glorious truth is in something so fragile like you. And we are afflicted, Paul says, in every way, but not crushed.
[6:10] Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
[6:23] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
[6:34] So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke, we also believe.
[6:45] And so we also speak, knowing that he who raised Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that his grace extends more and more people, to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
[7:06] Verse 16. So we don't lose hope. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
[7:17] For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.
[7:29] For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. This weekend, I was kind of tasked with this idea of surrender, right?
[7:40] Even the shirts that they're wearing say total surrender. And so just systematically, I tried to build, they probably had no idea, but I tried to build on the first sermon was about pride, right?
[7:51] And when you get saved, truly, it is just God making you the second most important person in your life. Prior to salvation, the fall is simply this.
[8:02] The fall is that we dethrone the rightful king in our heart. And who did you put on the throne? What is the fall? You. Oh, come on.
[8:13] Trust me. It is from birth too, right? I mean, all of us parents who have toddlers know that our toddler thinks who their king is, them, right?
[8:24] It doesn't take long for your two-year-old to say, stop and don't boss me around, right? I'm going to do what I want. And you, at 70, are still struggling with the same thing.
[8:37] Don't mess with my kingdom, right? Don't tell me what to do. And the ultimate rebellion is to God. Don't tell me what to do. I'm the king.
[8:49] And salvation, in its simplest form, is just this. You're king. You have the throne. And honestly, it's probably, if you're being honest, it looked like you got dethroned.
[9:04] You didn't give him your throne. He kicked you off, right? Kicking and screaming. And then sanctification, all your life, is just you trying to claw back the throne and him saying no.
[9:15] And so that is pride, right? The dethronement of ourselves is God's kindness to us. And oh, the joy that comes when you don't have to be a big deal.
[9:29] Oh, the goodness of God that you don't have to be the point. This humility that comes when God gets to be king and you aren't. There is joy there unspeakable.
[9:42] How are you content in every situation, Paul? It's because he's not the point of his own life anymore. So that was our first sermon. And then the second sermon about surrendering, we looked at the prodigal son.
[9:56] We actually looked at this sermon about two brothers. The first brother, the prodigal son, this is one we always think we are and you probably are, right? You came to your senses and you came back to Christ.
[10:07] But there's another boy in that story. The older brother. And what does the older brother say? When the son comes home after squandering his life, his inheritance on reckless living, after telling his father, you're dead to me, give me my inheritance.
[10:20] And then squandering it and then coming home. You can hear in the older brother's voice, the same thing that would be in our voice. Like, how dare you throw a party for this guy?
[10:33] I've been working. Like the story says that he came in from the field, right? Like he's been working on his father's property. So if you just follow the analogy, this is the religious person that's been working on behalf of God.
[10:49] The older brother is working on his father's property and says, how dare you throw a party for this guy? I deserve a party. You didn't even throw a, you didn't even kill a goat for me.
[11:02] And he gets the fattened calf. He can't celebrate his younger brother coming home because all he sees is himself. Oh, it doesn't, I mean, it plays, right?
[11:15] I'm not trying to be mean to you. I'm looking in a mirror. How often can we not rejoice for others because all we see is ourself? How often, even times with God, you're like, oh, you're going to throw him a party?
[11:34] So total surrender, right? We surrender our pride. We surrender our entitlement, which is really just pride. The whole weekend was about pride.
[11:46] And then last night we looked at Abraham. This weird story that God asked him to kill his own son, to sacrifice his son. We looked at how it's really a story of grace. You remember the story?
[11:58] Abraham gives Isaac, he carries the wood up a hill for the sacrifice. And it said, you're going to kill your son whom you love.
[12:10] Your only son. We talked about how idols eat us. That anything that you love more than God, whether that be like making sourdough bread or heroin, that anything that you love more than God will ultimately ruin you.
[12:34] Not only just ruin you, it will eat you. And you'll never be able to enjoy it. And that was a story of grace. That Abraham was given his son back after he was able to say, God, I love you most.
[12:50] It's only in that situation. When you love God most, then you can enjoy the things you love. Like it's not bad to love your wife or love your kids or love your job.
[13:01] It's not bad to love sourdough bread. But if you love it more than Jesus, that thing you will never be able to enjoy.
[13:13] Even if it's a good thing. Idols eat you. Idols eat you. And you can't enjoy them. And often your idol probably, because you look like a pretty good group of people, is probably not an immoral thing.
[13:30] It's probably a morally neutral thing. But do you love it more than Jesus? If you sow, if you do, it will rot like wet bread.
[13:44] You'll never be able to enjoy it. And then Abraham got his son back. And then, in that state, he gets his son. There's also another parallel to this story.
[13:55] It's a few, and this is what I didn't say last night. There's another son. There's another firstborn son that carries wood. Up a hill. And God does not stop his hand on that firstborn son.
[14:11] It's a picture of Jesus. So surrender. So we get to this morning, and I guess the task is like surrendering our future. We surrendered our pride.
[14:23] We surrendered our idols. And this morning, we surrender the rest of my life. This is my best attempt at this. And I would like to contend this morning that the American church is seeing a decline because of its attempt to divorce itself from suffering.
[14:49] And I'm not talking about cancer or sickness, that kind of suffering. That's a different sermon. I'm talking about a particular kind of difficulty that should mark Christians who are loving each other in such a radical kind of self-sacrificing way that you go to bed tired.
[15:13] In my office in Wichita Falls, I have the world, like a map of the world, and it's framed upside down.
[15:25] And it's super subtle. And I will have worked with people for like two years, and they'll come in and say, is that world upside down? Like, ha, it is. If Sheila bought it for me, it's like 23 years old.
[15:38] Sheila bought it for me when I graduated college. And to me, it is this example, this constant reminder day in and day out of what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God. It is the gospel to me.
[15:51] It's what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God. Upside down, backwards, doesn't make sense. You wouldn't make it up. Right? Part of the reason I believe the scriptures to be true is this is not what you would come up with.
[16:04] You would come up with your own planet and unlimited virgins. Right? You wouldn't come up with things like the greatest among you is the least among you.
[16:15] The last, they're actually first. The poor in this kingdom, they're rich. The kingdom of God is so upside down and backwards.
[16:27] Imagine a kingdom where a beggar gets to sit next to Abraham at the heavenly feast. You remember that story?
[16:39] They could not get their head around it. That a beggar gets to sit next to Abraham in heaven at the marriage feast.
[16:50] But that's our kingdom. Imagine a kingdom where the least among us are treated with the same honor and interest as the most charismatic and successful.
[17:02] That's our kingdom. Oh man, when I first got this job like 20 years ago, I didn't even own like slacks. I had to go buy slacks. I mean, we were like youth pastors, poor.
[17:14] And I would go to these like oil and gas conferences where there's a bunch of like important people and me, like 30-year-old Mark that had no idea what I was doing. And I am outgoing enough where I would start a conversation, and I'm not kidding.
[17:30] These very successful businessmen, I would be like, hey, I'm Mark. Nice to meet you. And they'd be like, hey. There was nobody on the other side. They would just turn around.
[17:42] That's the kingdom of the world. You talk to important people. And you don't waste your time on those that aren't. But in this kingdom, this is the kind of kingdom where Jesus says, no, you don't turn the kids away from me.
[17:57] They're just as important as that guy. Imagine a kingdom where each of us look not only to our own interests, but the interest of others.
[18:09] Imagine a kingdom where we do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility we count others more significant than the self. A place where mouths speak life. Because the giver of life lives in our heart, and our mouths reflect our heart.
[18:24] And if life lives here, your mouth should speak life. And if it speaks death, what's living in your heart? But in the kingdom, this is the kind, this is what we do.
[18:37] We gossip about people's virtues. Like, did you see what they did? They were faithful to their wife. And they're a good dad, too.
[18:50] Like, it's upside down. It's backwards. A kingdom where a lost world is confused by us. Because they've never seen a group of people who love each other so fiercely.
[19:04] This was the greatest missionary, this is the greatest missional thing the early church did. Is the world looked in at this weird group of people and said there's something so strange about them because they love each other so fiercely.
[19:22] And unselfishly. And it brought people into the kingdom. This is not hypothetical. This is not me living some ethereal fantasy in my head.
[19:38] This is the kingdom that Jesus commands us to live in and be a part of. This is who he's making us.
[19:50] He's redeemed. And it is in this kingdom where the king is described in scripture as the holiest of holy.
[20:02] But also a humble servant. Who loved you on your darkest day as much as he loves the cleaned up version of you. Who took the wrath of God on your behalf.
[20:17] And is your righteousness. Your satisfier. And in his presence it says there is fullness of joy. Jesus not only came to save you from your sins but also into Jesus Christ for good work.
[20:32] For God. That God prepared beforehand. That we should walk in him. So here's my thesis. There is a particular type of exhaustion.
[20:44] A unique kind of difficulty. A type of suffering that comes from following Jesus. And here's my point. It doesn't produce death.
[20:58] On the contrary. I contend that it produces in you deep affections for Jesus. And for each other. And it will produce in you a type of joy and peace that passes all worldly understanding.
[21:15] And how dare we. I know I'm yelling at a bunch of people I've never seen before. Thanks for listening. How dare we try to take that away from people. With soft messages that say something like.
[21:29] Jesus wants you to be happy, healthy, and comfortable. Because that's not in the New Testament, my friends. When did Jesus ever offer us the invitation to be comfortable?
[21:42] On the contrary. He offered us to come and die. And in that death, he says.
[21:56] Then. You're going to find life. He offers us to carry a cross. And he says. And if you do.
[22:08] You'll live. And then you'll know joy. If you live for my glory. You'll live for my glory. You'll live for my glory. So this is what I'm offering you today. Let us come and lay our lives down.
[22:22] Completely surrender. Lay our lives at his feet. And here's what I can promise you. You'll be tired. You'll go to bed tired.
[22:34] And there will be a particular type of difficulty. That comes with dying. But you're going to get Jesus.
[22:46] In a particular. Wonderful way that you won't. Otherwise. Let me say that again. If you will lay your life down. You will get Jesus.
[22:58] In a particular. More wonderful way than you would. Otherwise. And look at me. He's worth it. He's worth it. And I suspect.
[23:10] Not many people in here. Are warring. With the idea. Whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. But I suspect. There's many of us. Myself included. That is warring with this idea.
[23:23] That I'll find joy. If I come and die. That takes more faith. In this moment for me. Than it does.
[23:33] To believe Jesus rose from the dead. That if I lay my life down. That Jesus is worth it. But he is.
[23:47] He is. So let us not lose heart. And let us not grow weary in doing good. Paul wrote this passage in 2 Corinthians.
[24:02] 1 Corinthians. From Macedonia. From Macedonia. Around AD 55. A year or so after he wrote 1 Corinthians. And a year before he wrote the letter to the Romans. 2 Corinthians is perhaps one of the most personal of all of Paul's letters.
[24:17] Paul's opponents. It's filled with deep emotion. Paul's opponents had argued that Paul suffered. Listen. Paul's opponents had offered that maybe he wasn't doing the right thing.
[24:29] Because he suffered too much. Paul's opponents had argued that he suffered too much to be a spirit filled apostle. Of the risen Christ. And Paul called them deceitful workmen.
[24:44] In chapter 11. All right. Real heady. For just a couple of minutes. There's two major themes of this book.
[24:56] Endurance amid adversity. And Christ-like behavior. Both made possible by the grace of God. And modeled by Paul himself. He says. Endurance amid adversity.
[25:06] And Christ-like behavior. Are the greatest display of God's presence. Power and glory. In the fallen world. The other key theme. Is that the presence and the power of the spirit.
[25:18] Transforms believers. Into the image of God. God seen in Christ. Which is the dawning of the new creation. Characterized by the righteousness of God. It's a big sentence.
[25:29] Believers are therefore embodied. Embody the new creation of the new covenant. By living for the sake of others. This is made possible by the reconciliation of God. Brought about the cross. Let me sum that up.
[25:41] If you were to put them together. The book's main theme. Is that the spirit transforms believers. Into the image of God. In this new creation.
[25:52] Is marked by living for the sake of others. And living for others. Is only made possible. Because God reconciled us to God.
[26:03] Through the cross. So. If we live for others. By modeling Christ. Paul says. You will endure adversity.
[26:18] But. This adversity. You can endure. Because he lives in you. And we see this in Paul. Right? Like.
[26:28] When you think about that theme. If you're living for others. You're going to endure adversity. Paul gives some examples. And I don't think. This is any of your story.
[26:38] But my goodness. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. Paul says. He's pouring out his life for Christ. And in chapter 11. Verse 24. He says. Five times.
[26:49] I received by the hands of the Jews. Forty lashes. Less one. Five times. Can you imagine. What his back looked like? Thirty nine lashes.
[27:00] Five times. Three times. I was beaten with rods. I mean. Once I was stoned. Three times. I was shipwrecked.
[27:11] A night. And a day. I was adrift at sea. I was on frequent journeys. In dangers from river. Dangers from robbers. Dangers from my own people. Dangers from Gentile. Danger in the city. Danger in the wilderness.
[27:22] Danger at sea. Danger from false brothers. In toil and hardship. Though many a sleepless night. In hunger and thirst. Often without food. And cold and exposure.
[27:33] And apart from all of this. There's my daily pressure. My anxiety for my churches. And why does he face these kind of trials? We see in our chapter that we read.
[27:46] In verse 15. For it is all for your sake. He writes to the church. So that grace extends to more and more people. Paul is living for the sake of others.
[27:59] For the glory of God. And he has experienced a particular type of adversity. Paul is not trying to gloss over the crushing weight of living for others. Or for the glory of God.
[28:11] Paul is saying we can't do it by ourselves and our own strength. And he uses, like I talked about, a jar of clay. This is a common metaphor in the ancient world for human weakness.
[28:21] The idea of being afflicted in every way but not crushed. These verses show the paradox of living as a believer in the present evil age. Church.
[28:32] You're not strong enough to do this. But he is. Church is a place where it's okay to not be okay.
[28:47] My marriage is struggling. My kids are wearing me out. If I get asked to work the nursery one more time. You are not strong enough. But he is.
[28:59] This is what we corporately acknowledge. That we are jars of clay. And as we begin to pour our lives out for the gospel.
[29:11] Here's my experience. As we begin to pour our lives out for the gospel. It probably in you will reveal how much you actually depend on your own strength.
[29:25] And again, a mirror. Preaching this to myself. Or how much I've fallen in love with my own comfort.
[29:41] But think of this goodness. Less of you. Forcing you to lean into him for strength. That is worth it.
[29:56] Less of you. At the end of the day. If your adversity causes you to know him more. It will be worth it. Last night I said.
[30:11] I already talked about this. We looked at Abraham. And how likely God took Isaac from him. Because he had grown. From. Affection to adoration.
[30:22] Of Isaac. That he loved Isaac more than God. And we looked how it was actually grace to Abraham. To take from him his idol. Because idols enslave us. We've already kind of made the point about morally neutral.
[30:35] But. Man. I. I struggle with the idol of comfort. Look it's easy man.
[30:48] To like. Point it like. Like big sins. Like oh look at those idols. But man in my own life. How often.
[31:00] I don't want to pour my life out for Jesus. Simply because I don't want to be inconvenienced. I am.
[31:12] I'm missing more of him. For what? A nap? In 16 through 18.
[31:24] It says so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction.
[31:35] Is preparing for us. An eternal weight of glory. Beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen. But the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. But the things that are unseen are eternal.
[31:48] How? How did the first century Christians. Go to their death singing? Have you heard those stories? You know Nero used to drop Christians in oil.
[31:59] And then put them. Hang them on poles. And light them on fire. By the road. He would use Christians as street lamps. And there are stories.
[32:10] That we know are accurate. Where they would go to their death singing. How? How does Paul call being beaten with rods and stoned.
[32:22] A light and momentary affliction. Doesn't feel like getting whipped five times. Is light and momentary. Unless you put these things up.
[32:35] And compare them to eternity. And this takes maturity. It takes maturity to see scale. Doesn't it? He is saying that compared to the eternal weight of glory.
[32:50] Compared to that. Everything pales. Like. You ever tried to. You can't trade with a baby. I know how dumb that sounds.
[33:01] But you get my point. Have you ever tried to barter with a baby? I'll give you a million dollars. For that cookie. And they won't do it.
[33:13] Right? I mean. You've bartered with your kid. I promise. When they won't stop screaming. In the middle of the night. Like. I'll buy you a car. At 16. I promise. If you'll just stop crying. You can't barter with a baby.
[33:27] But man. We're the baby. When we actually look at eternity. Like. This is offered to you. An eternal. Weight.
[33:38] Of glory. And we. As Lewis. Would say. Just settle for mud pies. In the slums. Like.
[33:49] I'll keep my cookie. The baby. Cannot see past. The abyss. Of the present. And so often.
[34:00] This is true for us. And this idea. For you teenagers.
[34:11] Of like. Surrendering. For the rest of your life. One of my favorite preachers. This really put him in the mat. Put him on the mat. So in the year 2000.
[34:21] At our passion conference. This really. Goofy looking. Guy. Stands up to preach. His name was John Piper. Nobody really knew who he was. And he stands up to preach. And this like.
[34:32] Puts him on the mat. This one story. And so I'll do my best to tell it. To kind of recreate it. Piper. Piper. Gets up. He's got this crazy hair. And giant hands. And big glasses.
[34:43] And he's preaching to like. 40,000 teenagers. Just. The fact that this. Anyway. It's just cool. And he says. Something to the effect of like. Last week at my church.
[34:55] I got noticed that two women died. Serving. The poor. And the lame. And the sick. In the poorest places in the world. In Cameroon. And he says.
[35:06] Three weeks ago. We got news at our church. That Ruby Eliasson. And Laura Edwards. Were killed in Cameroon. Ruby Ellison. Over 80. Single all her life. A nurse. Poured out her life.
[35:16] For one thing. To make Jesus Christ known. Among the sick. And the poor. And the hardest. And the most unreached places. He says. Laura Edwards. A medical doctor. In the Twin Cities. And in her retirement.
[35:27] Partnering up with Ruby. Also pushing 80. Going from village to village. In Cameroon. He says. They're riding in a car. The brakes go out. They go over a cliff. And they die instantly.
[35:39] Piper goes. And I ask my congregation. Is that a tragedy? Is that a tragedy? That puts him on the map. And he yells in his crazy way.
[35:50] He's like. No. That's not a tragedy. He says. No. Two women in their 80s. Their whole life. Devoted to one idea.
[36:01] Jesus Christ. Magnified among the poor. The sick. And the hardest places. In 20 years. After most Americans. Had begun to throw their wives away. For trivialities. In Florida.
[36:11] And New Mexico. They find an eternity. In a moment. He's like. Is that a tragedy? No. That's not a tragedy. And then Piper. He goes. Let me tell you what a tragedy is.
[36:23] And then. To a 40,000 teenager. He pulls out. A. A reader's digest article. And he read it to them.
[36:34] And he read. Bob and Penny. Took early retirement. From their jobs. In the northeast. Five years ago. When they were 59 and 51. They live in Florida. Where they cruise. On their 30 foot boat. Play softball.
[36:45] And collect shells. And then Piper yells. At these teenagers. And he goes. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy. There are people.
[36:57] In this country. That are spending. Billions of dollars. To get you to buy it. Don't buy it. With all my heart.
[37:07] I plead to you. Don't buy that dream. As the last chapter. Before you stand. Before the creator. Of the universe. And give an account.
[37:18] For what you've done. Please don't say. Here it is Lord. My shell collection. And I shoot two under par.
[37:31] As Christians. We have the unique opportunity. And advantage. And the particular chance.
[37:42] At a type of fulfillment. And satisfaction. That is not offered. To the world. We get to see the world. Through the lens of eternity. And God.
[37:56] And the Holy Spirit. Enables you. To not be a child. And to not keep your cookie. But to trade.
[38:07] To make a good trade. Jesus says things like this. Whoever gives. You're welcome to come up. And play the guitar. If you want. A little background music.
[38:18] Would be great. Jesus says things like this. If you're a Christian. Here is the type of joy. You get to have.
[38:29] That non-Christians do not. Jesus says this. And whoever gives. One of these little ones. Even a cup of cold water. Because he's my disciple. Truly I say to you. He will by no means.
[38:40] Lose his reward. Jesus. To translate this. Jesus is saying. If you do. The easiest thing in the world. To the most nobody. Person in the world.
[38:52] You don't get any credit for it. Nobody's going to sing your praises. Except for me. And I see it. And I don't forget. If you do the little.
[39:04] If you pick up a piece of trash. In the middle of nowhere. For the name of Jesus. For the glory of God. He sees it. And you will not lose your reward. What we have.
[39:15] That nobody else has. Is we have eternity. If you're redeemed. And that makes. Everything significant. You do anything in his name. He sees it.
[39:25] And 10 million years from now. You'll think. I'm glad I did that thing. Eternity brings beauty. To the ordinary. So yeah.
[39:36] You'll go to bed tired. You probably won't get whipped. Five times. But if you do. One day you'll say. It was worth it. Light and momentary.
[39:47] Compared to this eternal weight of glory. Light and momentary. The smallest act of kindness. He'll remember.
[40:01] Eternity brings beauty. And significance. To the ordinary. Mundane world. Like nothing else. So when you keep the nursery.
[40:12] For the glory of God. It matters. And he sees. And it's eternal. When you buy flowers. For your wife. To love her well. Because Jesus tells you.
[40:22] To love her well. It matters. It's eternal. When you listen. Instead of talking so much. For the glory of God. When you listen to someone.
[40:34] You really don't want to listen to. To be kind. He sees. When you pick up trash. After a church fellowship.
[40:45] Or sleep in a dorm room. At Camp Cheperell. You might think it goes unnoticed. But it doesn't. And a turtle set of eyes. Saw it. And what you did.
[40:56] Will matter 10,000 years from now. When you get up to a crying child. When you are kind. To a patient in the hospital. When you love the terrible kid in your class. Who's wrecked by violence in his home.
[41:07] When you love each other. When you deny your flesh. He sees. And he doesn't forget. Therefore. Therefore. Do not lose heart. Though our outer selves are wasting away.
[41:20] Our inner selves are being renewed. Day by day. For this light. And momentary affliction. Is preparing for us. An eternal weight of glory.
[41:31] Beyond all comparison. Even Jesus. In Hebrews chapter 2. Chapter 12 verse 2. It says. Looking to Jesus. The founder and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy.
[41:42] Set before him. Even Jesus. Look to eternity. Endured the cross. Jesus. So let us not. Grow weary.
[41:53] In doing good. For in due season. We'll reap. If we don't give up. So here's my prayer for you.
[42:08] I hope you go to bed tired. Because you poured your life out for Jesus. I hope when you're exhausted. You comfort each other.
[42:20] Pushing each other to do good works. Through. Through encouraging. And loving each other. I hope you get to experience the joy of unselfishness.
[42:34] And in your exhaustion. I hope you experience a particular kind of intimacy with Jesus. That you would have never had otherwise. Let me pray.
[42:49] Jesus you are worth it. And we love you. We love you more. Than we love ourselves. But as stubborn children.
[43:01] God would you just continue to remind us. To see our lives through eternity. We love you so much.
[43:12] In Jesus name.