Finding Faith and Fulfillment in Trials and Grace

"Jesus is praying for you if you're a Believer Jesus is praying for you that that not happen, utterly so how did he fix it and we all know what Jesus did they were out in the boat and and and they're not catching anything and Jesus just throw the net on the other side they catch a lot of fish John says it's the Lord Peter puts his clothes on and jumps into the water swims ashore and Jesus says and I I want some of you right now to hear Jesus say this to you because you have blown it you have totally blown it the way Peter did right you have denied the Lord in whatever ways so I want you to hear Jesus say do you love me Peter yes you you know that I love you feed my sheep do you love me Peter Lord I love you feed my Lambs do you love me Peter Peter was distraught yes Lord I love you feed my sheep why three times to rebuild this man who blew it three times right I deny you I deny you I deny you I love you I love you I love you that's what I hope is happening at this conference that that you hear the Lord Jesus say do you love me and you hear him say feed my Lambs it might be in a Sunday school class and it might be in Afghanistan or India or North Korea or Cuba or Vietnam amen" [00:28:38]

"so in l that we've talked about sovereignty and suffering that we don't plan our life that God is the one who plans our life which means he plans our suffering so in that so for for me when I was in my teens and 20s I felt almost Invincible like my life was up and to the right why wouldn't I get to do what I want to do I just I didn't I didn't sense my own Frailty and when I got into my 30s it's almost like God removed this Veil and I realized how broken this thing actually is and how vulnerable I actually am and how thin the line between life and and death actually is and it can cause you to despair when you see that so how do we be sober about our own vulnerability in the world without being paralyzed by fear without being paralyzed that that the sifting is coming and I just want to flee from it how can we not be paralized but trust God in the midst of these trials well let me go back and and close the arc to James 4 and say that the the ballast in your boat and you know what ballast is for so you got your life is a boat the world is a sea and the waves are suffering of of any kind adversity frustration uh things that are going to upset your boat and drown you and ballast is weight in the bottom of the boat that that makes it harder for the waves to tip you over because the the weight at the bottom of the boat I think ballast the the the heart of the ballast is the sovereignty of God that God is absolutely Sovereign I am God and there is no other I am God and there's none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel will stand I will accomplish all my purpose or job at the end of his life after all his sufferings he said no I've heard of you by the I've heard by the hearing of the year and now I see you I Repent in dtin ases and know that no purpose of yours can be thwarted so if if you in this conference confirm I really believe in the absolute all pervasive Sovereign God you will not be fragile you you live among millions of your peers who have been coddled books have been written about your generation coddled and you are emotionally fragile meaning somebody gets in your face and says something critical who you pout or you blame or you Sue or you cuss or you you just I will not be treated that way and you can't read your Bible which says blessed are you when men persecute you and revile you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely rejoice in that day I mean come on do you just does any of you rejoice when you are reviled we need miracles to happen in this room we want you to go home able to be so strong so deep so knowing who you are in Christ anybody can revile you and it won't paralyze you it won't blow you over that's that's the only way that the world is going to be reached the nations are going to be reached so the S the sovereignty of God is the ballast in your boat and now I'll just add one thing the sovereignty of God will do nobody any good unless he's for you you Those whom he fornew he predestined those who be predestined he called and those who be called he justified and those who be justified he glorified what shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all will he not with him freely give us all things you got to be you got to be confident of that God is going to give you all things in fact you have them already" [00:30:31]

"back back to fame you know in the first four chapters of First Corinthians Paul is mainly dealing with pride pride in intellect and pride in oratory and people were boasting in their favorite teachers for vicarious praise I'm of Paul I'm of Apollos I'm of sephus and you know what Paul's final word against that kind of pride is he said why do you boast in men for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or sephus or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's so alongside the sovereignty of God you say I own the world I'm I'm I own the world and John Newton just nailed it and helped me so much years ago when he told the story of a man who was headed for a city to inherit a million dollars and he was in a carriage oldfashioned and one mile outside the city The Carriage broke down and and he gets out and he has to walk he has to walk a whole mile to inherit a million dollars and all the way into the city he's complaining my Carriage is broken my Carriage is broken that's the way you live and I we complain and We complain and Paul would say you own every everything it's just a Vapor's breath just like that a Vapor's breath and you come into your inheritance a fellow Heir with Christ forever so those two things in answer to your question about how not to be paralyzed in a world that's going to hell in a hand basket namely Sovereign God in your boat and he's totally for you and he's proven it by the death of his son Jesus amen" [00:34:19]

"so um I think the answer is as you try to discern Paul call Paul says each has his own gift do I Lord Jesus have the gift of of singleness and celibacy and celibacy by the way that is being a virgin till you die is a glorious thing and we know that because Jesus was one and right now goodness you can you can tune in the New York Times or any other major news thing and there are these big conversations among cuttingedge 20s somethings about virginity that's been going on a long time that is the call on your life if you're not married and if somebody says man you can't even be human if you haven't had sex come on I've had God say that to me you are you kidding me you can't even be fully human if you don't express that part of your reality and I'll take Jesus did and I'll take Jesus kind of humanity over your kind of humanity any day amen so you do not have to have have sex to be fully human okay I'm getting sidetracked here all very good stuff um the gift the gift of celibacy the gift of um singleness you will discover by the Providence of God amen amen if you are not led into a marital relationship he EXP expects you to be chased and single and serve him joyfully so maybe the the the last thing to say on this is don't come to God and say if you don't give me a husband or if you don't give me a wife I'm going to be miserable God don't want to hear that because it's not true if he's your treasure you go to him and you say Lord as I know myself there's so much in me that love to give myself away to a man or woman who's Godly and holy and Link arms together to serve you together in missions or whatever whatever the calling is I would love to do it but God you are Supreme you are The Treasure of my life I will take whatever you've given me and I will rejoice and be a happy productive single person or a happy productive married person amen" [00:42:46]

"and that is that God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him I call that Christian Hedonism and it's important because at your age one of my biggest battles was trying to figure out how my my irresistible desire for happiness fit into God's passion for his glory my parents taught me Johnny whatever you do whether you eat or drink do all to the glory of God I knew that but I had this sneaking suspicion that to want to be happy not to mention pursuing happiness was defective it was defective and it cramped My Worship it cramped my obedience it cramped my relationships because I thought when Jesus said whoever would come after me let him deny himself meant deny himself happiness if he meant that then Psalm 37 four is a command to sin delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of your heart or in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are Pleasures forever more and here was the here was the solution and that's why I say it was a great discovery if in fact that's true God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him then those two are never competition my highest and longest happiness highest and longest happiness and God's glory are never at odds ever which means I can say to 10,000 students you should live this leave this place utterly totally devoted to the pursuit of your happiness as long as it's the biggest happiness and the longest happiness like don't settle for 80 years like who cares about 80 years of happiness if if you go to hell and don't settle for 90% proof happiness insist on 100% forever and and the Bible is really clear where that's found it's found in God and it's found in the Overflow of the enjoyment of God onto other people especially the Nations who don't know anything about this Joy amen" [00:45:55]