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[1202.14 --> 1203.18] to struggling churches, |
[1203.36 --> 1204.38] and someone once asked him, |
[1204.60 --> 1206.80] are you an optimist or a pessimist? |
[1208.04 --> 1208.90] You know what he said to that? |
[1209.66 --> 1211.86] He said, I am neither an optimist or a pessimist. |
[1212.12 --> 1214.10] Jesus Christ rose from the dead. |
[1215.28 --> 1216.12] Because in that sense, |
[1216.14 --> 1217.86] it doesn't matter how we feel about the future, |
[1217.94 --> 1219.64] it doesn't matter what our wishes are for the future, |
[1219.82 --> 1221.16] we can't change our circumstances, |
[1221.16 --> 1223.82] but what most certainly changes the future of the world |
[1223.82 --> 1226.42] is that Jesus Christ broke death itself, |
[1227.16 --> 1230.20] that Jesus Christ overcame the power of sin itself, |
[1230.72 --> 1232.66] and as a result, we have hope for our bodies, |
[1232.76 --> 1233.64] we have hope for the world, |
[1233.80 --> 1234.84] we have hope for the future. |
[1237.38 --> 1239.18] Isaiah invites us to look back. |
[1239.68 --> 1241.86] I want to say this as well on a personal level. |
[1242.62 --> 1244.08] I don't know if this is true for you, |
[1244.16 --> 1245.14] but it's certainly true for me. |
[1245.20 --> 1247.10] In the seasons where I feel like I'm in the valley, |
[1247.10 --> 1250.40] where I'm feeling the weight of the brokenness of the world, |
[1250.68 --> 1253.10] there is a sense in which as I look back on my life, |
[1253.16 --> 1255.76] I can say, thus far God has walked with me. |
[1256.66 --> 1257.76] No matter what we've seen, |
[1257.86 --> 1258.78] no matter what we've experienced, |
[1258.90 --> 1259.80] no matter what we've gone through, |
[1260.08 --> 1261.52] God has walked with me thus far, |
[1261.60 --> 1263.04] he's been good to me thus far, |
[1263.20 --> 1264.54] and I can trust him with the future. |
[1265.82 --> 1267.92] And I think the more we stop even to take stock |
[1267.92 --> 1270.66] of God's specific love to us, right? |
[1271.04 --> 1273.36] Because God's love is very particular in a big way |
[1273.36 --> 1274.18] through the work of Jesus, |
[1274.52 --> 1276.62] and his love is very particular to us |
[1276.62 --> 1279.34] in the muck and the mire of life that we walk through. |
[1279.78 --> 1281.02] He's with us in it. |
[1281.56 --> 1283.16] And as we look back and we take stock, |
[1283.26 --> 1285.04] we say, okay, if God's been faithful thus far, |
[1285.38 --> 1287.22] he's got me for the rest of my life. |
[1287.70 --> 1289.34] And even if there's suffering and pain, |
[1289.70 --> 1291.50] he's gonna be with me through that as well. |
[1296.14 --> 1298.38] Now I want to finish with what I think |
[1298.38 --> 1301.04] is a very powerful part of this passage. |
[1301.12 --> 1302.22] I just want to be honest with you. |
[1302.46 --> 1303.94] I wrestled with these words. |
[1304.12 --> 1304.82] There's a piece of me that thinks |
[1304.82 --> 1306.14] I still don't quite understand them. |
[1306.14 --> 1307.74] And yet they're the most beautiful words |
[1307.74 --> 1309.02] in the passage, in my opinion. |
[1309.46 --> 1310.22] So I'll read them, |
[1310.30 --> 1311.36] and then I'll work it out with you. |
[1311.42 --> 1313.02] This is verse 29 and following. |
[1314.32 --> 1315.08] Beautiful words. |
[1315.16 --> 1316.54] I bet you've seen these in postcards. |
[1317.20 --> 1318.76] He gives strength to the weary |
[1318.76 --> 1321.50] and increases the power of the weak. |
[1322.22 --> 1323.82] Even youth grow tired and weary, |
[1323.94 --> 1325.24] and young men stumble and fall. |
[1325.70 --> 1328.12] But those who hope in the Lord |
[1328.12 --> 1330.30] will renew their strength. |
[1330.94 --> 1332.82] They will soar on wings like eagles. |
[1332.88 --> 1334.24] They will run and not grow weary. |
[1334.24 --> 1337.52] They will walk and they will not be faint. |
[1338.66 --> 1340.32] Aren't those moving words to you? |
[1340.90 --> 1343.30] And here's the dynamic that I'm trying to figure out. |
[1343.62 --> 1346.74] God promises to give strength to people |
[1346.74 --> 1351.36] who are weary and weak as they wait for him. |
[1351.68 --> 1351.92] Right? |
[1351.98 --> 1353.00] That's the sort of the dynamic. |
[1353.16 --> 1354.76] It's like there's a certain posture |
[1354.76 --> 1357.70] that leads to the working and the strengthening, |
[1357.88 --> 1358.98] and that is the posture of waiting. |
[1359.34 --> 1360.32] And there's a piece of me that's like, |
[1360.32 --> 1363.04] I think I understand that, and I'm not sure I do. |
[1363.12 --> 1364.52] But here's what I will say to you. |
[1364.92 --> 1367.48] I know from my pastoral experience |
[1367.48 --> 1369.20] that this is a very real thing |
[1369.20 --> 1370.16] because I've witnessed it. |
[1370.86 --> 1372.96] I've seen so many people in the midst of crisis |
[1372.96 --> 1374.94] when the news from the doctor is bad, |
[1375.00 --> 1377.34] when the family is in a major place of pain, |
[1377.48 --> 1378.18] where they say, |
[1378.24 --> 1380.48] all right, Lord, I've got nothing but you, |
[1380.60 --> 1381.76] so I'm clinging to you, |
[1381.82 --> 1383.30] and I'm waiting on you to act, |
[1383.30 --> 1385.52] and God works. |
[1386.06 --> 1386.26] Right? |
[1387.08 --> 1388.18] I'll give you two examples. |
[1388.34 --> 1390.58] One is, two weeks ago, |
[1390.66 --> 1392.36] before Cale went into a surgery, |
[1392.44 --> 1393.36] I was on the phone with Carrie, |
[1394.00 --> 1394.96] and I said to Carrie, |
[1395.12 --> 1396.92] Carrie, a lot of people are praying for baby Cale, |
[1396.98 --> 1397.64] and she responds. |
[1397.70 --> 1398.36] She almost cut me off. |
[1398.42 --> 1399.94] She's like, I know people are. |
[1400.56 --> 1403.32] I can feel the power of those prayers. |
[1404.20 --> 1405.18] God's strengthening her. |
[1406.30 --> 1407.42] The second time, |
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