1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 You know, I have to put a title on there to make people kind of wonder what in the world is that. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,000 And it seems a little weird because tomorrow is Father's Day, and today is, 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:20,000 we're celebrating Women's Ministry Sabbath, but there should be something here for everybody and not just for the ladies, okay? 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000 So, our scripture. 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:32,000 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 6 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,000 I'm so glad that was written. 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 I am glad that was written. 8 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Because women used to be considered property. 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Something to be used, or that was useful. 10 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,000 But, that's not the way Jesus viewed it. 11 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:59,000 But before we get started, the Mamsers. 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,000 That's a new term to me, by the way. 13 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:07,000 I heard it for the first time, maybe six weeks, two months ago, something like that. 14 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,000 So, what in the world is a Mamser? 15 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Official definition. 16 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 One of illegitimate birth. 17 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Rape, incest, an illicit affair. 18 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,000 One born of a forbidden marriage by the Torah. 19 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:33,000 And that would be an Israelite man with a Gentile woman, or an Israelite woman with a Gentile man. 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,000 Do we have any examples? 21 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Yeah, there's lots in scripture, but two that stand out to me. 22 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 One is Timothy. 23 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Timothy had an Israelite mother and a Greek father. 24 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,000 He was officially a Mamser. 25 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Okay? 26 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Another one who was known as a Mamser was Jesus himself. 27 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Because he had an Israelite mother. 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,000 But he was considered a Mamser by the powers that be. 29 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Because his father was not Jewish. 30 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000 We see that in John 8.39. 31 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,000 They said to him, this would be the powers that be. 32 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Abraham is our father. 33 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Who's yours? 34 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 And Jesus said, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. 35 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,000 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. 36 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Abraham did not do this. 37 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 You do the deeds of your father, they said. 38 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Then they told him, we were not born of fornication. 39 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:00,000 We have one father, God. 40 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 That's the official definition. 41 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Okay? 42 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Number two definition, it was used more loosely than that. 43 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Lepers, they were Mamsers. 44 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,000 The woman at the well, she was a Mamser. 45 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Tax collectors or publicans, they were Mamsers. 46 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Those with birth defects, they were Mamsers. 47 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Gentiles, they were Mamsers. 48 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:42,000 So, any of you guys know what it's like to be an outsider? 49 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 You know what it's like to be an outsider? 50 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:51,000 I'm sure everybody in here at one point or another has felt like an outsider. 51 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Diane asked me about my educational background. 52 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Tell you something about high school. 53 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Teenagers, I do sympathize, I want you to know. 54 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Okay? 55 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 I was just a normal, everyday farm kid. 56 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,000 But in our school, there were three classes of people. 57 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,000 One, in that day and age, we called them the snobs. 58 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000 They were the kids with money. 59 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Okay? 60 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000 They had all the latest stuff, they all had cars. 61 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Yeah, they were snobs. 62 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:37,000 And then there was another class that had no money. 63 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,000 They were called the hoods. 64 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 You know, you didn't really run around with them because the drug scene was just starting to come up. 65 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 You didn't want to mess with those kids, okay? 66 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 And then there was a few of us in the middle. 67 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Just, and there was 185, 165 in my graduating class. 68 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:02,000 So 80 plus were girls, all right? 69 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:08,000 There were like four or five of us who were the farm kids. 70 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,000 And we were the outsiders to both groups. 71 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:19,000 For whatever reason, I don't know why, teenagers seem to segregate themselves. 72 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Somehow, and there's always those on the outside. 73 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,000 So this Mamzer thing, yeah, it's kind of personal. 74 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000 Kind of personal. 75 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:46,000 But something I learned recently that I wanted to share with you was the book of Matthew was written by a publican. 76 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,000 And he was a Mamzer, okay? 77 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Because he was a publican, a tax collector. 78 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,000 He was an outcast. 79 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And the book of Matthew was written by a Mamzer to Jews about a Jew. 80 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:18,000 And all through the book of Matthew, you find woven in stories about how Jesus treated the Mamzers. 81 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,000 I never thought of it that way until I heard somebody talking to me. 82 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,000 I went, wow. 83 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Okay. 84 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,000 Let's take a look here. 85 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,000 The purpose of Matthew was to present Jesus as the Messianic king. 86 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:37,000 And he quotes tons of scripture that support the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. 87 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:43,000 But then he told all these stories and incidents of things that Jesus did. 88 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 I want to share some of those with you. 89 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:50,000 And so this is just a brief overview of the book of Matthew. 90 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:57,000 I'd invite you to go read the whole thing and see if you don't find it true, okay? 91 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Matthew's purpose was to show that the outcast had a place in the kingdom of God. 92 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:16,000 So let's start out with the genealogy. 93 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,000 And I'm not going to read the whole thing because I can't pronounce all those names, okay? 94 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:29,000 But in that genealogy, we find three women, and since this is emphasis on Women's Day, 95 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,000 I'm going to include them. 96 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Tamar, born of a child, or bore a child born of incest. 97 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Her child was a Mamzer, and so was she. 98 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:49,000 Rahab was a harlot and a Gentile. 99 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,000 So you could say she was a Mamzer Mamzer. 100 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Ruth was a Moabite. 101 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,000 She was a Gentile. 102 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,000 She was a Mamzer. 103 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 And then we have in that, we have Solomon. 104 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:13,000 He was born of an illegitimate relationship, and Mary, Jesus not born of Joseph. 105 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000 So we have five that I counted. 106 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,000 And there may be more. 107 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:24,000 I just didn't research it deep enough to figure out if there were more than what was obvious. 108 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:29,000 But look at the Mamzers in Jesus' genealogy. 109 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:34,000 There was more than a few, all right? 110 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:44,000 And just number one, when the Jews listed their genealogy, they didn't list women in the genealogy. 111 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:51,000 But Matthew did for a purpose, okay? 112 00:08:51,000 --> 00:09:01,000 Again, Matthew's gospel is by a Jew to Jews about a Jew. 113 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:06,000 So let's take a look at the other Mamzers in his gospel. 114 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:12,000 First, he called his disciples Peter, Andrew, James, John. 115 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,000 Ordinary fishermen, not socially elite or of the academia. 116 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,000 At some point they were school dropouts. 117 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:28,000 The Jewish educational system, between five and nine. 118 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Caleb, how old are you? 119 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 You're 11. 120 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Okay. 121 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Anybody in here nine? 122 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Okay, by the time you were nine, you were expected to have memorized the Torah, 123 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:49,000 the first five books of the Bible, okay? 124 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:56,000 You know, I took a look at my Bible and I went, they were supposed to memorize it. 125 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,000 And they didn't have it written, by the way. 126 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,000 They memorized it from oral repetition. 127 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Some people had it, but not every synagogue had. 128 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,000 Let's see, Gemma. 129 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Okay, that's that much. 130 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:20,000 By the time they were nine years old, they were supposed to have memorized that much. 131 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,000 If they couldn't memorize it, they were out of school. 132 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,000 They were done. 133 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:41,000 From nine to 13, they were supposed to have memorized the entire Old Testament. 134 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,000 To the point where the rabbi could pick up a text, or he could start a verse 135 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,000 and they were supposed to finish it and tell him where it was at. 136 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,000 If you couldn't do that by the time you were 13, you were out of school. 137 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,000 You were done. 138 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,000 And you went back and you learned your father's trade. 139 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:06,000 So where do we find Peter, Andrew, James, and John? 140 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 Father's trade. 141 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Those who could pass the memorization requirement were often invited by a rabbi 142 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:27,000 to follow the rabbi, and that meant they were with that rabbi 24-7. 143 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 They followed the rabbi. 144 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,000 They learned from the rabbi. 145 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,000 They learned what the rabbi knew. 146 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,000 They wanted to be just like the rabbi. 147 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:40,000 They wanted to talk like the rabbi, become another rabbi. 148 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:45,000 That was their goal. 149 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Here comes Jesus, and he calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John. 150 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,000 School dropouts, okay? 151 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,000 I don't know where they dropped out along the line, 152 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,000 but at that point Jesus was known as a teacher. 153 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:07,000 To be called to follow a rabbi was really special. 154 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:13,000 They were just ordinary people like you and me. 155 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Now, moving along here, let's look at the healing of the multitude. 156 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:26,000 Remember, we're doing just an overview, okay? 157 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Sick, diseased, demon-possessed, epileptics, paralytics, all of them outcasts or mamzers. 158 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:42,000 Who did Jesus minister to? 159 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,000 The mamzers. 160 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,000 The Sermon on the Mount. 161 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:54,000 Upside-down kingdom, not anything anybody expected. 162 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,000 In Matthew 8, there's a bunch of incidences of healing. 163 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,000 Jesus cleansed the leper. 164 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,000 He healed the centurion's service. 165 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:09,000 Peter's mother-in-law, the demon-possessed, and everybody who was sick. 166 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000 The demon-possessed men at Gergesa. 167 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,000 The centurion's service, a woman of Canaan. 168 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:23,000 How many in that list were not mamzers? 169 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:31,000 Okay, leper, centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, demon-possessed, the sick, 170 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:37,000 the demon-possessed at Gergesa, the centurion's servant, and the woman of Canaan's daughter. 171 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,000 How many of those are not mamzers? 172 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000 One. 173 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,000 You're close, Sarah. 174 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,000 Peter's mother-in-law. 175 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:52,000 She was bona fide Jewish. 176 00:13:52,000 --> 00:14:00,000 The rest of them were either mamzers or really outsiders. 177 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,000 A ruler's daughter that died was another one. 178 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:10,000 She was probably Jewish because it says ruler. 179 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,000 It doesn't specify anything else. 180 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,000 Two blind men, a mute man. 181 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:22,000 One out of, maybe two out of the whole list. 182 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,000 They went forward preaching the kingdom of God. 183 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,000 John the Baptist's message to start out with. 184 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,000 Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 185 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,000 And then Jesus' message repeated the same thing. 186 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,000 Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 187 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:47,000 And then he said, disciples, go out and do what I've been doing. 188 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:55,000 Heal the sick, cast out demons, heal the lepers, and preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 189 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:02,000 What were the disciples of a rabbi supposed to do? 190 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:07,000 Do what the rabbi did. 191 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,000 Act like the rabbi, speak like the rabbi. 192 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:18,000 And he sends them out to do what he had been doing. 193 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:27,000 This gospel, more than all of the others, talks about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. 194 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:36,000 There are 23 parables in Matthew that teach about the kingdom of God. 195 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:41,000 And who's the kingdom of God for? 196 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Everybody, but Matthew's point was it includes the mansers or the outcasts. 197 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,000 The parables, I'm just going to list them. 198 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,000 I'm not going to go into detail with this, okay? 199 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:09,000 He told the disciples, I'm giving you this so you'll know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. 200 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:15,000 The kingdom of heaven is like the sower who went forth to sow, the wheat and the tares, 201 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:23,000 the mustard seed, leaven, hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the dragnet, the withered fig tree, 202 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:31,000 the two sons, the king's marriage feast, the wise and the foolish virgin, and the talents. 203 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,000 They're all about the kingdom of heaven. 204 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,000 Who's the kingdom of heaven for? 205 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Everybody, including the mansers or the outcasts. 206 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:58,000 When asked about his kingdom, Jesus gave an interesting answer, Luke 17, 20 and 21. 207 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Now when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, 208 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:09,000 he answered and said to them, the kingdom of God does not come with observation, 209 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:21,000 nor will they say, see here or see there, for the kingdom of God is within you. 210 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:25,000 Major, major lesson for Matthew. 211 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000 The kingdom of God is within you. 212 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:36,000 So application for today, the kingdom and the mansers. 213 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,000 One question again, who's the kingdom for? 214 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 Everybody. 215 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Is it for the wealthy? 216 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,000 Yeah. 217 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000 For the educated? 218 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000 I sure hope so. 219 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,000 Is it for the popular? 220 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000 Yeah. 221 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000 Is it for those in authority? 222 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,000 Yeah. 223 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,000 Is it for the ordinary? 224 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Yeah. 225 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000 For the ordinary people. 226 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000 Is it for the outcasts? 227 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,000 Yes. 228 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,000 Today we would probably call them marginalized in our society, 229 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:20,000 the people who lives on the margin, the homeless. 230 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,000 And you can think of others. 231 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 It's for them too. 232 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:30,000 It's for the everyday working man and woman. 233 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,000 Aren't you glad? 234 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:39,000 It's for the everyday ordinary person. 235 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:46,000 You know, there's those who would like to see it's for the educated or for the popular 236 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000 or for those that have money. 237 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000 Yeah, it's for them too. 238 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,000 But it's for everybody. 239 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Jesus said, it's not over there. 240 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,000 It's not up there. 241 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,000 It's not over there. 242 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,000 The kingdom of God is where? 243 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000 It's within you. 244 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:09,000 The kingdom of God is for those who will accept Jesus and invite him to dwell within them. 245 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:17,000 The kingdom God of God is for everyone, rich, poor, well placed in society or not, 246 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:23,000 those in positions of authority and those under authority, men, women, children, 247 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:29,000 foreigners, those not of our culture, those not of our race. 248 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:34,000 The kingdom of heaven is for all. 249 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Matthew even gives the invitation. 250 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:45,000 He says, well, Jesus said, come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. 251 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:50,000 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart. 252 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:58,000 You will find rest in your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 253 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:09,000 His kingdom is a kingdom of peace and everybody's invited and all are welcome. 254 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000 Diana, you have a few words for us. 255 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:23,000 This morning I just wanted to give you a short word of hope and encouragement. 256 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:31,000 Have you ever had a time in your life when your prayers seem unanswered and God felt distant and uncaring? 257 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Did you ever feel like giving up or even stop praying when nothing seemed to change? 258 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,000 I understand how that feels. 259 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:47,000 I remember feeling as if I were drowning and wondering if I was ever going to come up for air. 260 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:53,000 I am thankful that I was finally able to catch my breath, but not everyone can. 261 00:20:53,000 --> 00:21:01,000 There are people who live in anguish day after day, month after month, year after year, and nothing changes. 262 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,000 Life on this earth seems like one endless struggle after another. 263 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:12,000 Many of us deal with some specific personal struggles that will never go away. 264 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,000 The death of a loved one tears a gaping hole in the heart. 265 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:24,000 An irreversible, debilitating disease reminds us daily of our mortality. 266 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Chronic depression ambushes us when we least expect, bringing with it desperation and inertia. 267 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:41,000 Rebellious children, difficult marriages, divorce, financial ruin, loneliness, regret. 268 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,000 Some of this pain will never get better, not in this life. 269 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:53,000 I wonder if the millions of people who have lives marked with pain can ever get better. 270 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Is life worth it all? 271 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:03,000 One day in heaven, all our longings will be met or will fade away. 272 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Of course, that's it. That's what we need to hold on to. 273 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,000 That is a truth worth suffering for, worth living for, worth dying for. 274 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Heaven will change everything. 275 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:24,000 Things may or may not get better for us in this life, but one day, one glorious day, 276 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,000 everything will be made new. 277 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,000 One day, in the blink of an eye, it will be changed. 278 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:40,000 Knowing God on this earth with all his comfort and incredible love in the midst of great sorrow 279 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:46,000 will pale in comparison to the joys of heaven. 280 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:54,000 The Bible constantly reminds us that our present sufferings must be viewed in light of eternity. 281 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Romans 8.28 says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing 282 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,000 with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 283 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:12,000 We need to be reminded that we are created to glorify God and enjoy him forever 284 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:19,000 with the overwhelming majority of forever not spent on earth. 285 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:25,000 Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we get to spend all of eternity with God in heaven 286 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,000 and on the earth made new. 287 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:35,000 Satan wants us to think that this life holds pleasures that we cannot experience in heaven. 288 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:43,000 That in heaven we will sit on clouds, playing harps with no physical bodies and no real fun. 289 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:48,000 That the excitement of this life is better than what heaven offers. 290 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000 Those are patent lies. 291 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:55,000 The Bible says we will have resurrected bodies, physical bodies. 292 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,000 We will not be spirits or disembodied ghosts. 293 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:03,000 There will be a new physical heaven, a new physical earth. 294 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:08,000 God created pleasure and he will maximize it in heaven. 295 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:13,000 Heaven will be incredible because God is incredible. 296 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:20,000 The life giving perspective of a redeemed world with redeemed people in redeemed relationships 297 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:27,000 without sin and death where there is music, art, science, literature and culture 298 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:32,000 should give us a great source of encouragement and motivation. 299 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,000 I anticipate heaven, don't you? 300 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:40,000 Everything I love and long for on earth will be there, only better. 301 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,000 And it will more than make up for any suffering we've experienced on earth. 302 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:52,000 Life on this earth can be relentlessly hard and we may live with an ending pain. 303 00:24:52,000 --> 00:25:00,000 But because of the gospel, God has all of eternity to lavish his love on us. 304 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:06,000 In heaven there will be no more tears, no more crying, no more pain. 305 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:12,000 Remember this fairy tale ending, they all lived happily ever after? 306 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:23,000 This ever after is the blood bought promise of God for those who trust in the gospel 307 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:28,000 and who will live happily ever after in heaven. 308 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:34,000 What a staggering assurance and what a glorious future we all have.