WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 Welcome to Pamoja Podcast, the place where stronger 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.519 lives are built, faith is strengthened, hearts 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.480 are encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:12.300 shaped through ordinary conversations that become 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:15.779 extraordinary encounters with God's truth. One 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:20.320 conversation, one story, one revelation at a 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.800 time. I'm your host, Barry Mwamba. As we arrive 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.890 at this conversation, I cannot help but look 00:00:27.890 --> 00:00:30.609 back over the incredible journey we have shared 00:00:30.609 --> 00:00:34.009 together. We stood beside Joseph in the prison 00:00:34.009 --> 00:00:38.210 and discovered that God's promises are not canceled 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:42.210 by injustice. We walked with Moses through the 00:00:42.210 --> 00:00:45.729 wilderness and learned that God's delays are 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:49.670 often seasons of divine preparation. We entered 00:00:49.670 --> 00:00:53.329 Esther's palace and realized that God's providence 00:00:53.329 --> 00:00:56.950 is already positioning His servants long before 00:00:56.950 --> 00:01:01.369 the assignment becomes visible. We followed Daniel 00:01:01.369 --> 00:01:04.829 into Babylon and discovered that God can prepare 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.250 His people even while the world is trying to 00:01:08.250 --> 00:01:12.439 redefine them. We watched Paul disappear into 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:16.019 hidden years and learned that heaven often builds 00:01:16.019 --> 00:01:20.200 the servant before revealing the ministry. We 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.319 wept with Peter in the courtyard and rejoiced 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:26.939 with him beside the Sea of Galilee as we discovered 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:30.379 that failure surrendered to Christ can become 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:34.200 another instrument in God's forge. Every one 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.180 of those stories has taught us something beautiful 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:40.799 about the way God prepares his servants. Yet 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.819 every one of those stories has also been pointing 00:01:43.819 --> 00:01:47.640 beyond itself. Because Joseph was not the final 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:52.500 Joseph. Moses was not the final deliverer. David 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:56.040 was not the final king. Esther was not the final 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:59.640 savior of God's people. Daniel was not the final 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:03.650 faithful witness. Paul was not the final apostle. 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:07.670 Peter was not the final shepherd. Every one of 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:11.710 them was pointing us toward Jesus Christ. Today 00:02:11.710 --> 00:02:15.550 we arrive at the greatest forge in history. Not 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:19.189 because Jesus needed to become holy. Not because 00:02:19.189 --> 00:02:22.629 he needed to become worthy. Not because he needed 00:02:22.629 --> 00:02:27.009 to be refined. Jesus entered the forge because 00:02:27.009 --> 00:02:30.919 the salvation of the world require perfect obedience. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:35.360 That changes the entire conversation, because 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:38.259 everything we have studied until now has been 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:41.699 about servants being prepared for their assignment. 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:46.379 Today we discover the servant whose assignment 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:49.180 was established before the foundation of the 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:52.800 world. And perhaps we will understand something 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.949 that has amazed believers for centuries. The 00:02:56.949 --> 00:03:00.870 cross was never Satan's greatest victory. It 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:04.810 became his greatest defeat. The darkest day in 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:08.229 human history became the brightest day in God's 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:12.069 redemptive plan. The place that looked like complete 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:15.449 humiliation became the place of Christ's greatest 00:03:15.449 --> 00:03:19.849 exaltation. The enemy believed he had won. Heaven 00:03:19.849 --> 00:03:23.969 knew redemption had arrived. And that is where 00:03:23.969 --> 00:03:29.680 our journey truly begins. As I continue reflecting 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.120 on the life of Jesus, I realize that his story 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.180 is fundamentally different from every servant 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:40.219 we have studied so far. Joseph needed the prison. 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:44.020 Moses needed the wilderness. Esther needed the 00:03:44.020 --> 00:03:48.120 palace. Daniel needed Babylon. Paul needed the 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.919 hidden years. Peter needed restoration after 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.340 failure. Every one of them entered the forge 00:03:55.340 --> 00:03:58.680 because God was preparing them for the assignment 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.939 that lay ahead. But when we arrive at Jesus, 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:06.340 everything changes. Jesus did not need to become 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:10.379 wiser. He did not need to become holier. He did 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:13.639 not need to become more obedient. He did not 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:17.740 need to be purified from sin. The Bible describes 00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:21.100 him as the spotless lamb of God. The one who 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:24.579 was tempted in every way as we are, yet without 00:04:24.579 --> 00:04:28.800 sin. His life was already perfect. His obedience 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.259 was already complete. His relationship with the 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:35.300 Father had never been broken. So the question 00:04:35.300 --> 00:04:39.560 naturally arises. Why the cross? Why the betrayal? 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.660 Why Gethsemane? Why the false accusations? Why 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:47.259 the scourging? Why the crown of thorns? Why the 00:04:47.259 --> 00:04:51.230 nails? Why the abandonment? Why would the only 00:04:51.230 --> 00:04:54.889 perfect man who ever lived walk willingly into 00:04:54.889 --> 00:04:58.310 the greatest suffering history has ever witnessed? 00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:02.149 The answer changes everything. Jesus did not 00:05:02.149 --> 00:05:05.610 enter the forge because he needed to be transformed. 00:05:06.050 --> 00:05:09.089 He entered the forge because we needed to be 00:05:09.089 --> 00:05:12.290 redeemed. That is one of the greatest distinctions 00:05:12.290 --> 00:05:15.850 in all of scripture. Every servant we have studied 00:05:15.850 --> 00:05:20.209 was shaped by the fire. Jesus entered the fire 00:05:20.209 --> 00:05:23.230 to rescue those who could never survive it on 00:05:23.230 --> 00:05:27.329 their own. He walked into our judgment. He carried 00:05:27.329 --> 00:05:31.889 our condemnation. He bore our sin. He endured 00:05:31.889 --> 00:05:35.629 the separation that we deserved. The forge that 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:39.689 should have consumed us fell upon him. That is 00:05:39.689 --> 00:05:43.990 the gospel. Sometimes we become so familiar with 00:05:43.990 --> 00:05:46.870 the cross, that we forget how astonishing it 00:05:46.870 --> 00:05:50.990 really is. The king of glory willingly exchanged 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:54.529 his throne for a manger. The creator entered 00:05:54.529 --> 00:05:58.569 his own creation. The judge stood before human 00:05:58.569 --> 00:06:02.750 judges. The one who spoke the universe into existence 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.850 remained silent while false witnesses accused 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:09.670 him. The author of life allowed himself to be 00:06:09.670 --> 00:06:13.029 nailed to a cross by the very people he had come 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:16.970 to save. None of that happened because events 00:06:16.970 --> 00:06:20.670 had slipped out of God's control. Every step 00:06:20.670 --> 00:06:24.310 was intentional. Every moment fulfilled what 00:06:24.310 --> 00:06:27.850 had already been written. Every wound carried 00:06:27.850 --> 00:06:31.610 purpose. This was not heaven reacting to Satan. 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:36.050 This was heaven fulfilling redemption. Peter 00:06:36.050 --> 00:06:38.850 would later preach that Jesus was handed over 00:06:38.850 --> 00:06:43.339 by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge. Isaiah 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:47.199 had already seen it centuries before. He was 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.660 pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:54.379 for our iniquities. The punishment that brought 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:58.899 us peace was upon him. Long before Bethlehem, 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:02.959 long before Calvary, long before Pilate, the 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:06.839 Father already knew. The cross was never an emergency 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:11.509 plan. It was the eternal plan. That changes the 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:15.569 way we read the entire Bible Joseph suffering 00:07:15.569 --> 00:07:19.689 begins pointing toward Christ Moses's deliverance 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:23.269 begins pointing toward Christ the Passover lamb 00:07:23.269 --> 00:07:26.709 begins pointing toward Christ the sacrifices 00:07:26.709 --> 00:07:30.509 begin pointing toward Christ David's rejected 00:07:30.509 --> 00:07:34.490 kingship begins pointing toward Christ Isaiah's 00:07:34.490 --> 00:07:37.529 suffering servant begins pointing toward Christ 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:41.319 everything has been quietly leading us here. 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:44.279 The cross is not simply another story in the 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:48.519 Bible. It is the center of the Bible. It is the 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:52.160 place where every promise, every prophecy, every 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:56.060 sacrifice, every covenant, and every forge finally 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:59.819 meet. And perhaps that is why every servant we 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:04.220 have studied has felt strangely familiar. Because 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:07.560 none of them were the destination. They were 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:11.110 signposts. Every one of them was whispering the 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:17.290 same name, Jesus. If the cross was always God's 00:08:17.290 --> 00:08:20.829 plan, another question immediately follows. When 00:08:20.829 --> 00:08:24.430 Jesus stood before Pilate, when he remained silent 00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:27.810 before his accusers, when the crowds mocked him, 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.649 when Satan believed he had finally won, who was 00:08:31.649 --> 00:08:34.929 really in control? Because what appeared to be 00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:38.450 the greatest defeat in history was, in reality, 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.100 the greatest victory heaven had ever planned. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:49.620 That is where our journey continues. As I continue 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:52.899 reflecting on the cross, I cannot help but imagine 00:08:52.899 --> 00:08:55.980 what it must have looked like from heaven and 00:08:55.980 --> 00:09:00.360 what it must have looked like from hell. To everyone 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:03.980 standing around Calvary, it appeared that evil 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:07.779 had finally triumphed. The religious leaders 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:12.169 believed they had silenced Jesus forever. Pilate 00:09:12.169 --> 00:09:15.990 believed he had solved a political problem. The 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:19.350 Roman soldiers believed they were carrying out 00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:23.289 another execution. The crowds believed they had 00:09:23.289 --> 00:09:26.870 eliminated a false prophet. Even the disciples 00:09:26.870 --> 00:09:30.809 believed everything was over. Darkness covered 00:09:30.809 --> 00:09:35.330 the land. Hope appeared to have died. And I cannot 00:09:35.330 --> 00:09:39.350 help but wonder what Satan himself thought. Perhaps 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:42.850 he believed this was his greatest victory. After 00:09:42.850 --> 00:09:45.889 all, from the very beginning, he had tried to 00:09:45.889 --> 00:09:50.129 stop God's plan. He tempted Adam and Eve in the 00:09:50.129 --> 00:09:54.149 garden. He stirred Pharaoh to kill Hebrew children. 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:58.029 He sought to destroy Israel throughout its history. 00:09:58.470 --> 00:10:02.129 He moved Herod to slaughter the infants of Bethlehem 00:10:02.129 --> 00:10:05.389 in an attempt to eliminate the promised Messiah. 00:10:05.870 --> 00:10:09.210 Again and again, he fought against the unfolding 00:10:09.210 --> 00:10:13.129 purposes of God. Now the son of God was hanging 00:10:13.129 --> 00:10:18.509 on a cross, mocked, rejected, bleeding, surrounded 00:10:18.509 --> 00:10:22.370 by people who believed he had failed. From every 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:25.350 human perspective, this looked like complete 00:10:25.350 --> 00:10:31.029 defeat. Perhaps hell celebrated. Perhaps the 00:10:31.029 --> 00:10:33.870 kingdom of darkness believed the battle was finally 00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:38.320 over. But what Satan could not see was that God 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.440 was accomplishing his greatest work precisely 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.200 through the event the enemy believed he had orchestrated. 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:49.320 That is the mystery of the cross. The very instrument 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:52.820 Satan imagined would destroy God's plan became 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:56.139 the instrument through which God's plan was fulfilled. 00:10:56.899 --> 00:11:00.200 The cross did not interrupt redemption. The cross 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:04.299 accomplished redemption. Think about how extraordinary 00:11:04.299 --> 00:11:08.240 that is. The nails did not prevent Jesus from 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.220 becoming king. They became part of his coronation. 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:16.639 The crown of thorns did not rob him of his authority. 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:20.139 It exposed the blindness of those who mocked 00:11:20.139 --> 00:11:24.419 the true king. The cross did not reveal God's 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:28.279 weakness. It revealed a love so powerful that 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.240 it willingly absorbed hatred without returning 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.320 it. Even death itself believed it had finally 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:39.740 closed its gates around the Son of God. Yet death 00:11:39.740 --> 00:11:43.720 was unknowingly opening the doorway to its own 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:47.320 defeat. The Apostle Paul would later declare 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.340 that if the rulers of this age had understood 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:53.860 God's wisdom, they would not have crucified the 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:57.279 Lord of Glory. What an astonishing statement. 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:02.360 The enemy acted without realizing he was serving 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:06.200 the very purpose he was trying to prevent. That 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.940 has always been God's pattern. Joseph's brothers 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:12.940 sold him into slavery, believing they had ended 00:12:12.940 --> 00:12:17.379 his dreams. God used their betrayal to preserve 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:21.480 nations. Pharaoh oppressed Israel, believing 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:25.100 he was securing Egypt. God used that oppression 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:28.960 to reveal his glory through the Exodus. Haman 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:32.120 built the gallows for Mordecai, believing he 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:36.100 would destroy God's covenant people. The gallows 00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:39.600 became the place of Haman's own judgment. The 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.679 religious leaders condemned Jesus, believing 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.299 they were protecting their position. Instead, 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.820 they became unwilling participants in the greatest 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:54.220 act of redemption the world has ever known. Do 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:57.620 you see the pattern? The enemy repeatedly mistakes 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:01.000 God's silence for God's absence. He mistakes 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:04.559 apparent weakness for defeat. He mistakes waiting 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:08.799 for surrender. And every time, God is writing 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.580 another chapter that completely overturns his 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:16.179 expectations. That is why I hear these words 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:19.700 echoing through the cross, when the devil thought 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:24.120 he was humiliating Jesus. He was walking into 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.139 his own greatest humiliation. When he thought 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:32.460 he had finally silenced the Son of God, he was 00:13:32.460 --> 00:13:35.340 opening the door through which salvation would 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:38.539 be preached to every nation. When he thought 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:42.360 death had won, death itself began losing its 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:46.059 authority. When he thought he had secured victory, 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:50.039 he sealed his own defeat. Because on the third 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:53.809 day, The stone was rolled away, the grave was 00:13:53.809 --> 00:13:58.149 empty, the lamb became the lion. The crucified 00:13:58.149 --> 00:14:01.950 Savior stood alive forevermore, and the one who 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:05.409 had humbled himself unto death was exalted by 00:14:05.409 --> 00:14:08.250 the Father, and given the name that is above 00:14:08.250 --> 00:14:11.990 every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 00:14:11.990 --> 00:14:16.049 should bow, in heaven and on earth and under 00:14:16.049 --> 00:14:19.750 the earth. and every tongue confess that Jesus 00:14:19.750 --> 00:14:23.950 Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:14:24.250 --> 00:14:27.870 That is why the cross is not simply another forge. 00:14:28.190 --> 00:14:31.850 It is the greatest forge in history because what 00:14:31.850 --> 00:14:35.529 looked like the greatest defeat became the greatest 00:14:35.529 --> 00:14:40.870 victory. If the cross revealed that God can transform 00:14:40.870 --> 00:14:44.389 what appears to be absolute defeat into eternal 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:48.370 victory, Then one final question remains. What 00:14:48.370 --> 00:14:52.129 does that mean for us? Because if every forge 00:14:52.129 --> 00:14:55.549 we have studied has ultimately pointed to Christ, 00:14:56.230 --> 00:15:00.009 then Christ's forge must now shape the way we 00:15:00.009 --> 00:15:04.269 understand every trial we face. That is where 00:15:04.269 --> 00:15:07.649 we bring this entire journey to its breathtaking 00:15:07.649 --> 00:15:11.889 conclusion. As we come to the end of this journey, 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:15.419 I cannot help but see my own life differently. 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:19.639 When we began this series, we asked one simple 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:23.620 question. Why does God prepare His servants through 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:26.620 the fire before entrusting them with the assignment? 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:30.879 Along the way, we stood beside Joseph in prison. 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.120 We walked with Moses through the wilderness. 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:38.480 We entered the palace with Esther. We lived with 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:42.120 Daniel in Babylon. We waited with Paul during 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.759 the hidden years. We wept with Peter after his 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.980 failure. Every one of those servants teaches 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:52.620 us something extraordinary. But none of them 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:56.460 is the reason we can have hope today. Our hope 00:15:56.460 --> 00:15:59.980 is not found in Joseph. Our hope is not found 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:04.220 in Moses. Our hope is not found in Esther. Our 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:08.259 hope is not found in Daniel. Our hope is not 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:11.820 found in Paul. Our hope is not found in Peter. 00:16:12.700 --> 00:16:16.820 Our hope is found in Jesus Christ. Because every 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:20.039 forge before Calvary was preparing God's servants. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:23.759 The forge of Calvary prepared salvation for the 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:26.909 world. That changes everything. It means that 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:29.730 when I enter a difficult season, I no longer 00:16:29.730 --> 00:16:32.490 interpret it through fear, I interpret it through 00:16:32.490 --> 00:16:35.289 the cross. If God could take the darkest day 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:38.289 in human history and transform it into the greatest 00:16:38.289 --> 00:16:42.549 victory eternity has ever known, then what circumstance 00:16:42.549 --> 00:16:45.990 could possibly be beyond his ability to redeem? 00:16:46.610 --> 00:16:50.309 If God could bring life out of death, hope out 00:16:50.309 --> 00:16:54.730 of despair, victory out of apparent defeat. Then 00:16:54.730 --> 00:16:58.549 he can also write redemption into every chapter 00:16:58.549 --> 00:17:02.450 that we have not yet understood. That does not 00:17:02.450 --> 00:17:06.269 mean every trial is easy. It does not mean every 00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:09.690 question receives an immediate answer. Joseph 00:17:09.690 --> 00:17:13.809 still cried. Moses still wrestled. David still 00:17:13.809 --> 00:17:18.009 wept. Esther still risked her life. Daniel still 00:17:18.009 --> 00:17:21.670 entered the lion's den. Paul still carried chains. 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:25.319 Peter still remembered the courtyard, and Jesus 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:29.079 still carried the cross. The forge is real. The 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.539 pain is real. The tears are real. But because 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:36.839 of Christ, they are never meaningless. The cross 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:40.200 forever changed the way believers understand 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:44.339 suffering. Before Calvary, suffering often looked 00:17:44.339 --> 00:17:47.730 like defeat. After the resurrection, suffering 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:51.470 became a place where God's glory could be revealed. 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:55.150 The resurrection became God's eternal declaration 00:17:55.150 --> 00:17:58.230 that no darkness is final when He is writing 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:01.710 the story, no grave is permanent, no prison is 00:18:01.710 --> 00:18:05.329 ultimate, no wilderness lasts forever, no Babylon 00:18:05.329 --> 00:18:09.450 has the final word, no failure is beyond redemption, 00:18:09.670 --> 00:18:13.230 and even death itself has lost its victory because 00:18:13.230 --> 00:18:16.839 Jesus walked out of the tomb. tomb alive forevermore. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.759 That is why I believe the greatest miracle of 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.960 the cross was not simply that Jesus died for 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.940 us. The greatest miracle is that because he lives, 00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:30.519 our story can never be defined by its darkest 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.500 chapter. The resurrection rewrote the ending, 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:36.920 and because it rewrote his story, it can rewrite 00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:41.240 ours. Perhaps that is why Romans tells us that 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:45.019 God works all things together. for the good of 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:48.240 those who love Him and are called according to 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.460 His purpose." Notice what Paul does not say. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.220 He does not say that all things are good. Betrayal 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:59.799 is not good. Loss is not good. Injustice is not 00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:04.119 good. Failure is not good. The cross itself was 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:07.099 not good because of the suffering it involved. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:10.720 Yet God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereign 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.049 love, has the power to weave even the darkest 00:19:14.049 --> 00:19:18.109 threads into a masterpiece that reveals His glory. 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:21.390 That has been the message of this entire series. 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:24.970 God never wastes the prison. God never wastes 00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:27.990 the wilderness. God never wastes the palace. 00:19:28.349 --> 00:19:32.109 God never wastes Babylon. God never wastes the 00:19:32.109 --> 00:19:36.589 hidden years. God never wastes failure. And because 00:19:36.589 --> 00:19:40.710 of Jesus Christ, God never wastes the cross. 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:45.309 So wherever you find yourself today, perhaps 00:19:45.309 --> 00:19:48.289 you are in your prison, perhaps you are in your 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:51.890 wilderness, perhaps you are living in your Babylon, 00:19:52.470 --> 00:19:55.950 perhaps heaven feels silent, perhaps you are 00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:58.670 carrying the weight of a failure that no one 00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:02.029 else knows, or perhaps you are standing at the 00:20:02.029 --> 00:20:05.369 foot of a cross you never expected to bear. Do 00:20:05.369 --> 00:20:09.390 not lose heart. The same God who forged Joseph, 00:20:09.890 --> 00:20:14.490 who forged Moses, who forged Esther, who forged 00:20:14.490 --> 00:20:18.730 Daniel, who forged Paul, who restored Peter, 00:20:19.089 --> 00:20:21.710 and who fulfilled his eternal purpose through 00:20:21.710 --> 00:20:25.109 Jesus Christ is still writing stories today. 00:20:25.430 --> 00:20:29.109 He has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned 00:20:29.109 --> 00:20:32.609 his promise. He has not canceled your assignment. 00:20:32.950 --> 00:20:36.829 He is still forging. He is still shaping. He 00:20:36.829 --> 00:20:40.430 is still preparing because God's greatest work. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:43.680 has never been producing comfortable people. 00:20:44.420 --> 00:20:48.059 His greatest work has always been producing people 00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:52.500 who reflect his son. And when the day comes that 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:55.460 you finally step into the assignment he has prepared 00:20:55.460 --> 00:20:59.059 for you, you will look back over every prison, 00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:04.339 every wilderness, every hidden year, every disappointment, 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:09.529 every tear, and even every failure. and you will 00:21:09.529 --> 00:21:12.450 say what heaven has been declaring all along. 00:21:13.269 --> 00:21:17.569 Nothing was wasted. Thank you for joining me 00:21:17.569 --> 00:21:20.109 on this journey through Forge for your future 00:21:20.109 --> 00:21:24.609 assignment. Until next time, keep walking with 00:21:24.609 --> 00:21:29.069 Christ, keep trusting his timing, keep believing 00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:32.730 his promises, because the master is still at 00:21:32.730 --> 00:21:36.980 the Forge and what he is shaping today. will 00:21:36.980 --> 00:21:39.319 one day reveal his glory.