00:00: We are in Romans chapter 15 this morning.
00:07: We've been in Romans for an ongoing time, and this morning we're moving ahead to the next section, but we've got to pick up where we left off in verse 7.
00:18: Romans 15, 7 instructs believers, Therefore welcome one another, as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.
00:27: That's not an easy command.
00:32: It's one thing to be told that Christians should be welcoming, fine, but to be told to welcome one another in a Christ-imitating way, in a Christ-like way, not just generically, but with the kind of receiving that Christ has extended to each one of us personally.
00:54: Well, how did Jesus receive you?
00:57: When you didn't deserve it.
00:59: When you didn't have your act together.
01:00: When you were eminently unlovable in the sight of God, if measured by your own performance.
01:09: And yet, God was not half-hearted in welcoming us to himself in Jesus.
01:14: He was wholehearted, open arms.
01:17: And we're to similarly do that as followers of Jesus.
01:21: I was thinking this week, in conjunction with this, about a musical, which, if you know anything about me, is incredibly odd.
01:29: I'm not a musical kind of guy.
01:30: I like music, but I'm not the kind of guy who spends time at musicals.
01:34: And I was thinking how this verse, in some ways, is kind of like Beauty and the Beast.
01:40: Probably most of you are familiar with Beauty and the Beast, right?
01:43: You guys are familiar with that number, Be Our Guest, right?
01:46: You've got teapots and teacups and saucers and plates and candelabras and clocks and all these different household items, singing and dancing.
02:00: And the whole point of that number is to make Belle feel welcome.
02:06: To let her know wholeheartedly, you are wanted here in this place.
02:11: Now, I'm not suggesting that we need to start singing and dancing when we want to welcome somebody.
02:18: But our welcome should be at least as deeply genuine and as warm as that piece is showy.
02:30: It's not about the outward necessarily, but the heart that says, you are loved and wanted and desired here.
02:37: And by here, I don't mean in this building or in this gathering, though that's true.
02:43: But as part of this group of people, as part of this group of people who love Jesus and are seeking to follow Jesus, you are welcome here with us.
02:56: Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.
03:02: It's interesting because, of course, that has application to unbelievers, non-Christians.
03:08: We, of course, want to welcome non-Christians who are interested in finding out more about Christianity and understanding what would it mean to follow Jesus.
03:17: Who is this Jesus?
03:18: What difference does he make?
03:19: But it's especially relevant to how Christians treat Christians, right?
03:23: The one another in context is a Christian apostle speaking to Christian believers in a Christian church and saying, one another, fellow Christians.
03:33: Why wouldn't we welcome one another?
03:36: Well, some of you are weird.
03:38: And I'm obviously weird.
03:40: We're different in a lot of different ways.
03:42: And Romans 15, 7 comes in the context of Romans 14 and 15 combined where it's dealing with issues of Christians who have differing ideas of how to live out their Christian faith for the glory of God.
03:55: Now, I want to rewind a bit.
03:57: Go back to chapter 14.
03:59: Look at verse 6.
04:00: Because this is a really helpful interpretive key to the whole section.
04:05: Paul says, Now, that verse and others in the passage tell us that we're talking about believers who have differing ideas and different practices that they embrace for the glory of God.
04:32: Now, if I said, I'm going to be a legalist for the glory of God, that's a contradiction in terms.
04:38: You can't do that.
04:40: If I said, I'm going to disobey God for his glory, I can't do that either.
04:45: We're talking about Christians who are living in the obedience of faith.
04:50: Obedience of faith is the bookends of this letter to the Roman church.
04:54: It's in chapter 1 and chapter 16.
04:56: That we live out our faith in Jesus in obedience.
04:59: Obedience.
05:00: These are Christians who are doing that.
05:02: And some of them are saying, Well, I'm going to have steaks and hamburgers for the glory of God.
05:07: Some of them are saying, I'm going to be a vegetarian for the glory of God.
05:10: Some of them are saying, Well, I'm going to sometimes drink alcohol.
05:13: And other ones are saying, Well, I'm not going to drink alcohol.
05:17: And each of these stances is a legitimate choice for a Christian to make.
05:21: Each of these options can be done for the glory of God.
05:24: We're not talking about Christians who are ignoring God's word or disobeying God's word or just using their freedom in Christ to live for the fleshly, sinful nature.
05:34: We're talking about Christians genuinely living out their faith well and saying, In verse 7, 15-7, Welcome each other.
05:43: The one who drinks alcohol, welcome the one who doesn't.
05:47: The one who's a vegetarian, welcome the burger eater.
05:49: Don't let these things come between us.
05:54: My oldest children have a friend in college who only wears long denim skirts.
06:02: Good for her.
06:04: There's nothing wrong with that.
06:07: Most of her Christian friends, including my own daughters, don't choose to dress that way.
06:11: But she chooses to dress that way to honor God.
06:15: And yet she simultaneously says, While I dress this way to honor God, I don't think that the other girls who don't, the girls who wear pants, for example, that they're dishonoring God.
06:26: You can wear pants for the glory of God.
06:28: You can wear a skirt for the glory of God as a lady.
06:31: I'm not so sure about the guys in present cultural context.
06:35: But in some context there is, right?
06:37: Scottish men wearing a kilt can wear a kilt to the glory of God.
06:41: Amen?
06:42: Right?
06:42: Well, I...
06:44: I...
06:45: I didn't even see, but it sounded like a Tim.
06:52: As Christ has welcomed us, how has Christ welcomed us?
06:56: Wholeheartedly.
06:58: Sacrificially.
07:00: Right?
07:00: It may not always be easy to be as welcoming to one another as we're called to do.
07:06: But we're called to imitate Christ, to represent him in how we receive one another.
07:12: And we're to do it, according to verse 7, for the glory of God.
07:15: And we use that phrase, for the glory of God, over and over in Scripture and talking about Scripture.
07:19: What does that mean?
07:20: It doesn't mean so much that we officially dedicate it to God, though it can include that.
07:27: It means that we're doing things with the purpose of demonstrating God is worth it.
07:36: Following Jesus is worth it.
07:39: It's doing things in ways that show what God is like and show that relationship with Jesus, following Jesus, doing it his way is better than every alternative.
07:51: If we are living for the glory of God, people should be able to look at our lives and say, that's different.
07:58: And Jesus really matters to them.
08:02: Jesus is more important than them getting ahead.
08:05: Jesus is more important than fitting in.
08:08: Jesus is more important than avoiding awkwardness.
08:11: Jesus, I don't know everything about this Jesus, but he's obviously the most important thing in that person's life.
08:17: That's what people ought to be able to look at us and see if we're living for the glory of God.
08:23: Now, one of the realities of this is that unity, the welcoming and connection and unity that we're supposed to have in the church, cannot be pursued directly.
08:36: It's an odd thing.
08:38: I'm terrible at it, but have you seen those magic eye books?
08:42: I think they came into vogue when I was a kid in elementary, middle school.
08:47: They drove me nuts.
08:48: I could rarely see the picture.
08:49: Even to this day, I can't hardly do it.
08:51: And if I get cross-eyed long enough and kind of look at the answer key and kind of have an idea of what I'm looking for, maybe I can kind of get a hint of it sometimes for a flicker of a moment.
09:03: But I'm told from people that can be like, oh, yeah, I see it.
09:08: It's totally, you know, and they describe this ridiculous picture that you can't look at it directly.
09:14: You've got to look beyond it, right?
09:16: Or they have all these different ways of describing it.
09:20: But you can't just look at the messy picture and see the image.
09:26: We can't directly pursue unity.
09:28: We can't say, we're going to get along just because we're going to get along.
09:31: That's our primary goal.
09:32: No, the unity comes as we follow Jesus.
09:36: As Jesus is our focus, as Jesus is our treasure, the unity comes along.
09:43: The gospel unites us and defines us.
09:45: And we are called in verse 7 to embrace a welcome and a unity that makes Christ appear infinitely valuable.
09:53: A welcome and unity beyond what you will find in any secular gathering.
10:01: We're called to welcome each other in a way that extends beyond what you're going to see in a family reunion or a social club or a golf club or with your friends at the gym or what have you.
10:16: A welcome and unity that only makes sense if Jesus is our everything.
10:22: More important to us than anything and everything else.
10:24: And this kind of unity is going to cross every other kind of line.
10:31: It's going to cross language barriers, cultures, worship style preferences.
10:36: It's going to include people who dress up on Sunday mornings and people who dress down on Sunday mornings.
10:41: People who play cards and go to movies and people who don't.
10:45: Christian women with short hair who wear pants.
10:47: Christian women with long hair who only wear skirts and dresses.
10:49: vegetarian, vegetarian, vegan Christians.
10:51: Even vegan Christians, right?
10:54: And burger Christians.
10:55: It doesn't matter in the scheme of things.
10:58: Christians who choose to circumcise the newborn sons and those that don't.
11:02: None of these things defines us.
11:05: Jesus does.
11:06: And if Jesus defines us individually, then Jesus defines us corporately.
11:12: Why is this so important?
11:14: That we welcome one another in this way.
11:16: Well, it's for the glory of God, but what else is going on here?
11:21: Look at verses 8 and 9.
11:24: Paul says, For, introducing us to the reason for what he's just said on this basis, For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
11:44: Well, what are we talking about here?
11:46: The circumcised is a reference to the Jewish people, right?
11:50: They were defined by that.
11:51: It was the symbol of being part of the Jewish people.
11:53: So he's saying Christ became a servant to the Jewish people to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.
12:01: Well, who are the patriarchs?
12:02: It's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
12:04: It was the first three generations in the branch of Abraham's tree, family tree, that God said, I am choosing you to inherit my kingdom promises.
12:16: And he's saying that Christ came as a human being, lived this perfect life, died in place of sinners to show God's truthfulness and to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.
12:29: That is, God made these promises to Abraham and repeated them to Isaac and Jacob and said, I'm going to be this kind of God to you.
12:36: I'm going to do these kinds of things in your life, amongst your descendants, and ultimately for all peoples of the earth.
12:43: This is what you can bank on.
12:45: And he even entered into a literal covenant with Abraham where God pledged to do these things and Abraham pledged nothing.
12:53: God didn't ask him to make any pledges at all because God was taking the entire burden on himself.
12:58: Only God fulfills the covenant that he made with Abraham, just as only God fulfills the covenant that he made with us through Jesus Christ.
13:07: We don't contribute anything.
13:08: We just receive, just as Abraham received.
13:12: He's confirming that God's promise is reliable, and he's making good on fulfilling those promises.
13:21: And ultimately, it includes the Gentiles.
13:25: Gentiles is a Bible word that means a not Jewish person.
13:29: Everybody is either Jewish or non-Jewish in the Bible.
13:32: Gentiles is just if you're not Jewish, you're a Gentile.
13:36: And it's saying that part of this welcome is a demonstration about the truth that Jesus' work, who he is and what he's done, is for the purpose that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercies.
13:55: Mercy.
13:58: When you look back at religious history, it's one thing to recognize, rightly, that God did something special with the Jewish people.
14:07: But God has not excluded non-Jewish people.
14:11: Rather, God has intended that non-Jewish people get in on this as well.
14:17: And the goal is that non-Jewish people like you and me would glorify God.
14:22: What does that mean?
14:25: It doesn't mean increase his glory.
14:27: It doesn't mean God's got a glory rating of 7.3 and we need to get it up to an 8.0 as though we could somehow improve his value.
14:34: But rather, we recognize his value.
14:37: We increasingly see he's 100.0.
14:40: We want to rejoice that he is what he is, that he works the way he works.
14:44: We want to recognize the good that he has done in giving us mercy.
14:50: What kind of mercy has God given us Gentiles?
14:53: Forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus.
14:56: The eradication of our shame and guilt and condemnation.
15:01: Every one of you has a very imperfect life resume.
15:07: You look back on your life, you've got stuff that you're not proud of.
15:10: You've got moments in time that you're glad are not recorded and available for people to stream online.
15:16: Every one of us has those things.
15:18: And God's mercy to us in Jesus is that those things are forgiven.
15:23: They're wiped away.
15:24: God does not hold those against us.
15:27: It's our sanctification.
15:29: God not only forgives us, but says, I'm going to do a new work in you.
15:32: I'm going to remodel you from the inside out.
15:36: You ever watch those TV shows where they find a fixer upper home.
15:39: They're like, well, if we just do this and this and this, and then you see the end result, and you're like, I can't believe that it's the same house.
15:45: It's totally a different thing by the time they're done.
15:48: God's going to do that a hundred million times more intensely with us.
15:52: He's going to remodel us from the inside out and make us like Jesus.
15:56: He's not just going to forgive us for what's wrong with us.
15:59: He's going to fix what's wrong with us.
16:03: Ultimately, glory.
16:04: We're going to be with God forever in his kingdom.
16:07: New heavens, new earth, streets of gold, praising God in the very presence of God amongst the angels.
16:13: We're going to be transitioned from outsiders to insiders.
16:17: In the Old Testament, you couldn't be in relationship with God unless you converted to Judaism.
16:25: You couldn't become a Jew, but you had to start doing the Jewish stuff.
16:28: You had to start observing the holiness laws, and you had to bring sacrifices to the temple or the tabernacle and so on.
16:34: But now, not at all.
16:37: We're no longer excluded.
16:39: We are included.
16:42: God intends for his people, including you and me today, to welcome people of all types and stripes who have faith in Jesus Christ.
16:53: It goes back to Genesis chapter 12, verse 3.
16:56: God said, I will bless those who bless you, and in him, and him who dishonors you, I will curse.
17:04: And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
17:07: He makes three promises in that single verse to Abraham.
17:09: People that are favorable towards Abraham are going to receive blessing from God.
17:15: Those who are negative towards Abraham are going to get in trouble with God.
17:20: And ultimately, somehow, in connection with Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
17:28: Now, as you look at the rest of the Bible and how it unpacks it, it means that a descendant of Abraham, specifically Jesus, will end up being the key to everybody on earth having access to God's forgiveness and acceptance and transformation and blessing.
17:46: Now, that seems familiar to you and me.
17:49: Right?
17:49: We're Gentiles, most of us at least.
17:51: And, well, of course we're Christians.
17:53: And of course we're in.
17:55: But this was scandalous back in the day.
17:58: I think about Acts chapter 22.
18:00: For context, Paul, at this point, has gone from an unbeliever to a believer.
18:06: He's been transformed.
18:07: He's a Jesus follower.
18:08: He's an apostle.
18:09: He's preaching the gospel.
18:11: All over the place.
18:12: And at Acts 22, he's in Jerusalem.
18:15: He's at the temple.
18:16: And there are some anti-Christian Jewish people who spot him and they drag him out of the temple.
18:21: And they're about to put him to death in a moment of mob justice or injustice, as the case would have been.
18:29: But the Roman military folks are around.
18:31: They jump in and they take Paul into custody.
18:34: And Paul says to the Roman military folks, hey, would you let me address the crowd for a moment and try to explain what's going on?
18:41: And he's allowed to do it.
18:43: And he gives this long speech about where he was born and how he was raised and what his Jewish education was, how zealous he was for the Jewish religion and faith.
18:53: He talks about his conversion and how he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and was blinded and came to saving faith in Jesus.
19:03: And then he talks about how God warned him to leave Jerusalem because the folks in Jerusalem wouldn't listen to his message.
19:10: But Paul was like, oh, they'll hear me out.
19:12: If they just understand my background and how God's been at work, they'll hear me out.
19:17: Now, up to this point in his long speech, the crowd is listening.
19:21: They're following.
19:22: They're paying attention.
19:23: Uh-huh.
19:24: Uh-huh.
19:24: Okay, okay, I'm listening to you, Paul.
19:26: This is the group that was about to kill him.
19:28: They're listening.
19:29: Verses 20 and 21.
19:32: Paul continues this story and he says, when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed me.
19:47: Oh, sorry, of those who killed him.
19:50: And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
19:54: Paul says, I ran the coat check when Stephen was murdered.
19:59: When Stephen was killed, I was there.
20:01: I was thumbs-upping the decision for mob justice to kill him.
20:05: I was glad that he was dying and I was helping keep watch over people's cloaks.
20:12: And he says, and then God told me I was going to, that God was going to send me away from the Jewish area to the Gentiles.
20:20: Verse 22.
20:22: Up to this word, they listened to him.
20:25: Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live.
20:32: They're like, we'll listen to you talk about your upbringing.
20:35: We'll listen to you talk about encountering Jesus.
20:38: We'll listen to you talk about being a Jesus follower.
20:40: But the moment you talk about including non-Jewish people, you deserve to die.
20:46: That's the level of anti-Gentile sentiment that was going on in the Jewish culture at that time.
20:54: They hated the not-Jewish people.
20:57: It's outrageous.
20:59: I mean, it's flat out racism in a sense.
21:02: Now, in the Old Testament, there were laws from God about the Jewish people not blending with the non-Jewish people because they were supposed to be distinct.
21:11: They were supposed to be different.
21:12: They were supposed to be so dedicated to following God that they didn't want to mix with people who weren't following God.
21:18: But it was never about excluding people of other ethnicities.
21:22: It was about keeping focused on God.
21:25: And so, even in the Old Testament, you see not-Jewish people who begin believing in the God of the Jews and they are welcomed.
21:33: They are included.
21:35: When you look at the family tree of Jesus, you find not one or two, but three different women who were not Jewish who got to be in the family tree of Jesus.
21:47: The first one we see is Tamar.
21:49: She was a Canaanite widow who had married a Jewish man, ended up having to pretend to be a prostitute and sleep with her father-in-law because of the injustice that was going on and she ends up in the family tree of Jesus.
22:02: The second one is a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab who ends up in the family tree of Jesus, comes to faith.
22:10: The third is a Moabite lady named Ruth.
22:13: And if you're familiar with any of the Old Testament history, you know the Moabites, they were the bad guys.
22:17: In fact, they were so in trouble that they were not allowed, even if they wanted to convert, to be part of the people of God for ten generations.
22:25: They were banned.
22:27: All three of these ladies ends up in Jesus' family tree.
22:31: Over time, God's desire that his people be distinct and dedicated to him devolved into this other people are a bad mentality amongst the Jewish people.
22:42: They lost sight of what they were supposed to be about.
22:46: Harvard University is one of the most well-known institutions of higher education in our country.
22:53: It is as secular as secular gets these days.
22:56: It is a godless institution.
22:58: But that's not how it started.
23:00: Their original founding motto was Christo et Ecclesia, literally translated for Christ and the Church.
23:07: That was the purpose of Harvard at its start.
23:10: But over time, they lost sight of it.
23:13: And they became the opposite of what they were supposed to be.
23:18: In the same way that the Jews lost sight that God intended to bless all peoples through what he was doing with the Jewish people.
23:26: Now, the rest of our passage this morning is mostly quotes from the Old Testament.
23:32: I don't know if you're like me, but sometimes when I'm doing my personal Bible reading, I'll read that.
23:36: I'm like, okay, yep, he gives a quote from the Old Testament that proves his point.
23:39: Which is true as far as it goes.
23:43: But man, the New Testament writers knew how to choose their Old Testament Bible quotes.
23:48: There are four quotes here.
23:51: And the gist of all four is quite obvious.
23:55: Gentiles included.
23:57: All four Old Testament quotes are proving the point that God wanted the non-Jewish people to get in on what he was doing.
24:04: to get in on the blessing that God was giving the world through the Jewish people and through this descendant of Abraham to come.
24:12: The first one is quoted from 2 Samuel 22, 50.
24:16: It's also repeated in Psalm 18.
24:18: As it is written, right, cluing us that he's quoting from the Old Testament.
24:23: As it is written, therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.
24:29: Second quote, Deuteronomy 32, 43.
24:33: And again, it, the Old Testament, says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.
24:39: Gentiles, with the Jews, coming together and rejoicing from what's called the writings from Psalm 117, verse 1.
24:48: And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him, right?
24:54: All peoples on earth are supposed to get in on this.
24:57: And finally, quoting from Isaiah 11, 10.
25:00: And again, fourth quote, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.
25:14: The root of Jesse is a reference to Jesus.
25:18: King David is the bigwig in the Old Testament.
25:21: He's this high example of what God's people should be like.
25:25: Jesse is his dad.
25:27: And so when it says the root of Jesse, it means a descendant of David's dad, descendant of King David's dad.
25:33: Who is that?
25:34: That's Jesus.
25:35: A descendant of Jesse, a.k.a.
25:38: Jesus, will come.
25:40: He who arises to rule the Gentiles.
25:42: That is, Jesus has come not to be king of the Jews alone, but to be king of all peoples.
25:48: King of kings, Lord of lords.
25:50: He's to be in charge of everyone.
25:52: That's the purpose.
25:54: In him, Jesus, will the Gentiles hope.
25:57: The Gentiles are going to have their hope in the same king over all that the Jewish people are going to have their hope in.
26:04: Four quotes.
26:06: And interestingly, what you find is that Paul takes all four portions of the Old Testament.
26:13: When the Jews talked about the Old Testament, there's different kinds of writing in there.
26:15: There's poetry and there's wisdom and there's historical and so on.
26:19: There's the prophets.
26:20: And they tended to talk about it in four groups.
26:24: The historical narrative section, they talked about it in terms of the law.
26:30: They talked about it in terms of the writings and the prophets.
26:33: And what Paul does here is he says, let me give you a sample from every different section of the Old Testament.
26:40: Gentiles included.
26:41: Oh, this other section?
26:42: Gentiles included.
26:43: This section?
26:43: Gentiles included.
26:45: He's telling the Jewish people, you lost sight of the message.
26:50: It was always supposed to be inclusive of all peoples.
26:52: And so the racism that had developed from the Jews against non-Jews was completely contrary to God's word.
27:05: Why point this out?
27:06: I think there's at least two things we need to see.
27:09: Number one, the point of this is how we welcome each other.
27:13: We dare not exclude those that God includes.
27:18: We dare not say to fellow Christians who are living in obedient faith, nope, we won't have nothing to do with you.
27:27: You're not welcome here.
27:29: Maybe they dress different.
27:30: Maybe they eat different.
27:32: Maybe they smell different.
27:34: Maybe they come from a different culture.
27:36: We need to say, welcome.
27:39: You're walking the obedience of faith to Jesus?
27:41: Welcome.
27:42: You're my brother.
27:43: You're my sister.
27:43: I want you here.
27:47: But it's not just the welcome.
27:50: It's also that we may have hope.
27:53: This whole passage is taking us to the goal of hope.
27:56: Go back to verse 4.
27:58: Paul went on that little rabbit trail about scripture there and he says, whatever was written in former days, meaning the Old Testament, was written for our instruction, for our instruction as Christians, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
28:17: So Paul has just said, hey, we need to look at the Old Testament verses so that we have hope as Christians and then he quotes scripture after scripture after scripture after scripture from the Old Testament.
28:28: Why?
28:29: That we would have hope.
28:31: In fact, when you get to verse 12 where he's quoting from Isaiah 11, it explicitly talks about this.
28:36: At the end it says, in him, Jesus, will the Gentiles hope.
28:40: This will be what they're banking on.
28:41: It'll be, they're banking on Jesus.
28:43: Their hope will be in Jesus.
28:46: Don't have hope in this congregation or in our denomination or in our intentions or in our history.
28:54: Don't have hope in government or politics.
28:58: Don't rest your hope on any of these things.
29:01: Don't rest your hope on me as your pastor.
29:03: Don't rest your hope on yourself and your best efforts as a Christian.
29:07: Your hope only belongs in one thing, namely the person of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us.
29:14: Any other hope will disappoint you.
29:17: It's Jesus and Jesus alone.
29:19: In him will all the people's hope, the Gentiles.
29:22: And then verse 13 where he wraps it up.
29:26: Twice he addresses hope.
29:27: He says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound to hope.
29:35: We need hope that comes from God.
29:38: This is the God of hope.
29:40: This is the God who offers and promises good to his people and says, I can fix what you have broken and cannot fix.
29:48: I can offer good that you cannot produce for yourself.
29:52: Not only can I do it, I will do it.
29:54: I've promised to do it and I am faithful to keep my word.
29:58: If you want hope, hang your hat on what God has promised to do and what God has made good on through Jesus Christ.
30:05: The God of hope is where we need to get our hope.
30:09: And then he says at the end of it, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
30:17: This is not just simply us believing that God is faithful and saying, yeah, I think that's true.
30:22: We need God who lives in us, the Holy Spirit, to enable, to empower hope.
30:29: I'm sure I'm not the only one that ever struggles with discouragement.
30:36: Throw of hands.
30:36: How many of you in the last five years at some point or another have struggled with discouragement?
30:41: For those that raised both hands, right back at you, right?
30:45: We've all been there and the solution is not, I'm going to try to make myself feel good.
30:50: You can't.
30:51: You can't just say, I'm going to make myself feel hopeful.
30:55: You can't.
30:56: But what you can do is say, this is what I know to be true about God.
31:01: This is what I know to be true about who he is and what he has done and what he has promised.
31:08: And so even when I don't feel like things are going the way I want, even when things are confusing and I don't know how to understand everything, I know that he is good.
31:17: I know that he is faithful.
31:19: I know that his promises are guaranteed.
31:21: And I know how the story ends if my faith is in Jesus.
31:26: And the Holy Spirit is going to empower that.
31:33: My desire for this congregation as I'm thinking through this section of scripture is that we be people characterized by hope based on Jesus, not our circumstances.
31:45: That we be people whose confidence is in Jesus, not in ourselves, and who welcome with open arms, everybody walking in the obedience of faith.
31:59: And we say, I don't care what your skin color is, what your ethnic background is, what your cultural background is.
32:04: I don't care if you grew up in a Christian home or the most un-Christian home you can imagine.
32:08: If you're following Jesus, let's do it together in obedience.
32:14: Amen?
32:15: Amen?
32:16: Amen.
32:16: Let's pray.
32:17: God, I pray that you'd help each and every one of us to identify where it is in our lives that we can say in a heartfelt, Christ-centered way, be our guest.
32:32: Welcome.
32:34: You are invited to be part of this church family, to be part of our lives.
32:38: show us where we might be excluding those who you mean to be included.
32:45: Help us to recognize just how good it is when Christians who are obeying God and trusting God live it out a little different from one another.
33:01: I pray that we would value the diversity of your kingdom rather than wanting cookie-cutter Christians who are all the same and lose their distinctiveness in following Jesus.
33:18: We pray these things in Jesus' name.
33:20: Amen.