Struggling Well: Embracing Faith and Eternal Hope

You are the source of our joy, and you are the source of our peace. We just thank you for that, and we thank you for the opportunity to be here together and to celebrate you, to celebrate your goodness, your grace, your mercy, and your love.

Just before time began, you have been delighting us. Remain faithful still, delighting us with no suffering love, patiently waiting with your arms open and ready. Since before time began, you have been like always. Time and topic still remain foreign to us, but we thank you. Neighbors, foreign and far, thank you.

Good morning, Colonial! How are we doing? We're good. It would do me a favor if you just stand up, turn around, and say hello to some people. We'll start here in just a second. It's good to be here with you guys.

Let's just begin with a heart of gratitude this morning. If you would, let's just do something a little different together. Let's just begin in unison by saying, "Thank you, Jesus." So everyone at the same time, let's just say that together: "Thank you, Jesus."

Christ is my first foundation, the rock only shall stand when everything around me is shaking. Jesus, yeah, he won't fail. I still got joy, I've still got joy in chaos. I've got peace that makes no sense. He won't fail.

Pull me out of the darkness, that gave me your promise, you'll never thirst again. All that I ever wanted satisfies like you do. Nothing satisfies like you do. All that you offer, your living water, a stream from the endless well. And I will sit at your table forever.

I know we've got a gluten-free option in the middle of the room, and we've got some options in the back, definitely up front, as well as up in the balcony. In just a moment after I pray, would you come and get just a piece of bread and a little cup of the juice? Take it back to your seat and just wait, and we'll all participate together.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for loving us the way you do. I just recognize in this moment you are the source of our hope. Lord, you are the source of our joy, and you are the source of our peace. We just thank you for that.

The world is a difficult place. Life is hard and painful. So many stories can be told right now, just of those of us here in the room, about disappointment, about regret, about pain. And I'm just reminded again, thank you for the lyrics of these songs, thank you for even just being here with my church family, reminding me, reminding us of the truth that your arms are wide open, that you are extending grace, forgiveness again today. Your mercies are new every morning.

So Lord, right now we come to the table and we expectantly meet you there. We want to receive your forgiveness gratefully. We want to tell you thank you, and we want to do that together with each other, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Father, Lord, thank you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, come and help yourselves to get the elements. Thank you.

Where do we find unconditional love? I'd like to think in the people around us, and I'd like to thank each other, right? But it's so often not the case. Where do we find forgiveness, true clean slate? Where do we find real freedom to live the life to the full that he wants for us? We find it in Jesus, nowhere else.

Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus took the bread and he took the cup. It was the middle of something they already did regularly, as devout Jews, but in his new way, with a new promise that he was making to us, he said, "I am the bread of life. I am the one who's going to break on your behalf." This is before he went to the Cross.

So take this piece of bread, say thank you in your own way, and let's remember the work of Jesus on the cross. Soon after, he took the cup and he said the cup represents this new agreement, this new promise, this new covenant with my people. So take it in, just like with the bread. He said, "Do this a lot, do this over and over again. You're going to forget, you're going to forget. Do this again, remind each other, remind yourself that I love you, that I forgive you, and that I am giving you life. Take and drink." Amen.

We'll continue to worship. Love, your sweetest of love, will my heart become free. This place, your presence, your presence, and my stream is this place, in your presence.

So Father, we thank you for who you are in our lives. We thank you that no matter our circumstance or where we find ourselves today, you long to meet us right there. Some of us will walk into this room, to be honest, we're searching. We're not sure what we believe or what we can see, but we choose to be open to the possibility of you and the hope that is found in you.

Some of us here are going through an impossible time in impossible circumstances, and we trust that you are with us, that you are for us, that you are in us, and that you are working in us.

Glory and Spirit, you are welcome in this place, in your presence. Thank you, God, that you draw near to those who are hurting and broken and who need your comfort. We need your peace and guidance, and we say thank you for drawing near to us. For those of us who need that right now in this moment, we say thank you for that, Lord.

And there are some of us here today that, Father, we are so full of joy for the breakthrough that we've experienced in our lives because of the work of your son Jesus on the cross that you saved us from ourselves. So we praise you, God. We thank you for who you are. Our hearts are filled with gratitude today. We say, would you come, would you have your way? Everyone said amen.

God bless you, thanks so much for singing. You have a seat.

At the movies is a traditional event that we play in church, but it's always really fun and exciting. We have a fun guessing game to figure out what openers we're doing, so excuse our mess as we get this week ready for the event. We've had so many people show up and volunteer, and since the movie starts next week, you can represent our experience by wearing one of these lovely t-shirts.

This is the official design of the t-shirt I was asked to model, and I hope it looks good. There are also yard signs available in the front lobby, but it is a limited supply, so grab them and take them if you want them.

Next weekend is our first weekend of the movies, and it is a family-friendly movie, so bring your entire family into the room. It has been so fun for me to drive around town this week and see the yard signs scattered throughout town. This event started last October with dreaming, planning, debating on which movies, writing, filming, and editing. We're just really excited to share it, and it's a great opportunity to reach out to our friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

Everybody loves movies, and it's an opportunity to bring somebody to experience the fun of it and to maybe just encounter the God of the universe along the way. That's what we want to do.

Today, we're going to finish our study of the story of the first Christians. We've been looking at a journey with Paul, which is what we've called the series the last several weeks. This is our third time to step into the book of Acts over the last two years. We like to do some topical things from time to time, but roughly half the time, if not more, we want to just dig into the scripture. We just want to go kind of a chapter at a time.

We've gone through different gospels and Acts, and now we're going to finish the last chunk of the book of Acts, which is all about Paul.

Paul had a really rough ride. He was falsely accused of things, almost killed more than once, imprisoned more than once, sent to Rome for a trial, shipwrecked along the way, and bitten by a poisonous snake. Whatever could go wrong, happened to Paul.

At the end of the book of Acts, it's up in the air if he will be free or in chains. We read that Paul was placed under house arrest, and because of this, he had freedom. He was able to have visitors, continue to do the work he wanted to do with his life, and share the good news of Jesus.

Luke, the author of the book of Acts, ends it with Paul living in Rome for two years at his own expense, welcoming all who visited him and boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. No one tried to stop him.

So then what happened to Paul? Why did Luke end it this way?

In the book of Revelation, the race that we run is a race with endurance, a race with a goal, a race with a prize, and a race with a finish line. Paul knew that, and he was running that race with endurance, with a goal, with a prize, and with a finish line.

Paul was all about passing the baton, not just the good news but responsibility and mission to the people coming behind him. We don't know exactly what happened to Paul, but tradition holds that he was eventually released from house arrest, lived a while, and then was imprisoned again and eventually executed.

We do have some words from Paul toward the end of his life. Specifically, we have some of the last words he wrote to his young protege Timothy. In Second Timothy 4:6-8, Paul said, "As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. Now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing."

Paul finished strong, and he did so with 20/20 vision. He knew that the race he was running was a race with endurance, a goal, a prize, and a finish line. He was running it with a purpose, and he was running it with faith.

Now that life is hard, but I don't think that's what Paul is saying here. I think what Paul is saying is that life is a struggle, and it's a struggle to do what? It's a struggle to do what?

Martin Luther wrote in his commentary and letters about Paul's letter to the Roman Christians that due to our original sin, our nature is so deeply curved in on itself that it fails to realize that in this wicked, twisted, and crooked way, it seeks all things, including God, for itself. We are just really self-absorbed, and our nature is to consume everything for ourselves.

Whenever we meet someone, we can either believe that they and everything they have exist to serve us, or that we and everything we have exist to serve them. This is a picture of the struggle in us, trying to live the faithful Christian life. We go to work, church, school, and even our own living rooms, and we have to think about how to serve the people around us.

How do we give ourselves away in this moment? How do we serve this person? Paul understood and believed that life is a struggle and death is an adventure. As he wrote in II Timothy 4:6, "As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God."

The Greek word here translated as "poured out" is spindomai, which means "spent." Paul was saying he was completely spent. He then wrote, "The time of my death is near." The Greek word here is not actually about death or dying, but rather it means "to untie."

Paul believed that death is sad, as it is when people we care about are leaving. But at the same time, it is exciting, as it is an adventure.

In another letter, Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, "We want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died, so you will not grieve like people who have no hope." Paul saw death differently than the world around him. He did not tell people to put a smile on their face and push through. Instead, he affirmed that grieving is something we do and is a good thing.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of my favorite historical figures, wrote a powerful line just before he was executed in a Nazi concentration camp. He said, "Death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom." Only Jesus can make someone see the world this way and make someone's heart and mind and the lenses with which we see the world be so radically different.

Paul, through his very real connection with Jesus, said in another letter, "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" Death has no victory or sting for us who are followers of Jesus.

C.S. Lewis, on the last page of The Chronicles of Narnia, wrote, "All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the great story which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Paul understood and believed that death is an adventure and that the gospel can't be stopped. Luke ended his 28-chapter account of the first Christians in the book of Acts with the last two verses. He said, "For the next two years Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him."

We think Paul probably got released and then arrested again, but we don't really know, and it's not covered in the book of Acts. Did Paul finally get his audience that he longed for? Only Jesus can help us see death with these lenses, and Paul understood and believed that the gospel can't be stopped.

Paul welcomed all who visited him and was hospitable, boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. He had demanded to go to Caesar with the Emperor of Rome, but we don't know if he did because Luke doesn't tell us.

It is fascinating to read the Bible and ask good questions and listen to what the Lord wants to say. We can ask why didn't you clarify this, but it is part of the mystery of understanding our faith. We celebrate Easter, but what happened after the first Easter?

Luke is saying that you can put people in prison and kill people, but you can't imprison or kill the gospel. The gospel can't be stopped. The premise of the first Jurassic Park movie was that scientists had cloned dinosaurs, and to keep it safe, they engineered them to be all female. Jeff Goldblum's character said that life finds a way, and life did find a way.

The book of Acts has one main message: that the gospel is alive and will not be contained. The gospel breaks free, expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers. The gospel always finds a way.

You can put Christians in prison, pass laws that seemingly limit Christians' ability to share boldly the good news and live out their faith, and even kill Christians, but the gospel will find a way.

The proof is in history; if you look at a map and the studies that have been done, you'll see that every other major religion has 80 to 90 percent of their followers all on one continent, sometimes two. Christianity, however, has broken through virtually every cultural barrier across the globe and is pretty evenly distributed.

The most recent data says about 20 percent of Christians are in Asia, 20 percent in Africa, 20 percent in Europe, 20 percent in South America, and 20 percent in North America. The gospel cannot be stopped; this is the message of the book of Acts and the good news of Jesus that permeates these 28 chapters.

Understanding and believing this truth changes everything and should ground us more in our faith and embolden us to share the good news with the people around us.

In the end, Paul understood that it all comes down to one thing: the Lord standing with us and giving us strength. Even when everyone else abandons us, the God of the universe stands by us and gives us strength.

We intuitively understand that a real friend doesn't bail on us, doesn't let us down, and is there for us. The Lord stood with Paul and gave him strength.

What is the one thing Paul needed most toward the end of his life? What allowed Paul to finish strong and be faithful? Was it believing all the right things? Was it becoming more and more moral? No, that wasn't it.

Paul understood and believed that the only thing he needed was friendship with God—not just belief in God, but real connection with God. How did Paul get this? Through the Gospel of Jesus, the heart of God coming to life in the great message, the life-changing message of what He has done for us and what He wants to do in us and through us.

Jesus told His first followers in John 15 that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. On this July 4th weekend, it is so good and right to be grateful and think back to the many people, by the millions, that have died for us to experience the freedoms we have in this country.

Jesus Himself said there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Then He said to His disciples, "Now you are my friends." Jesus, the visible image of the invisible God, revealed to us that He was making it possible for us to become friends with Him. He was going to lay His life down for us, take on all our rebellion and sin, and enable us to become friends with the one who made us and loves us just as we are.

Paul shared life-changing news in one of his letters when he said in 2 Corinthians 5: "We are speaking for Christ himself now: become friends with God. He is already a friend with you."

This is the gospel that can't be stopped. This is the gospel that enables us to struggle well. This is the gospel that helps us see death differently and therefore life differently. The good news: become friends with God. It's an open invitation. He's already friends with you.

You're running around with your head cut off, you're broken, you're lonely, you're hurting, you're longing for meaning, you're longing for relationships—we all are. And God says, "I got this. I'm already a friend with you. I already feel this way about you. I've already done the work to make this possible. Become friends with me."

Today, we invite our Response Team folks to come down to the front. If any of you are resisting this invitation, if any of you have yet to take this step, this is not for our club to get bigger here at Colonial. This is not for us to pat ourselves on the back. We are His messengers, and we are inviting you to experience what we already know—what we're experiencing—the joy, the hope, the life that can only be found in Jesus.

Come talk to one of these folks down front. They just want to pray with you. They want to hear where you're coming from. Maybe you just ask for prayer, maybe you say, "What do I do? How do I experience this life in Jesus? How do I get connected to a movement of God's people like this?"

Come down front and connect with one of these response folks. Let's pray together.

God, I thank you so much for the work that you did through Jesus to change everything. I'm so grateful. I'm so full. As hard as life can be, as tired as I have been at times recently, I'm just so refueled—not just by some rest, but by refixing my eyes on you and recognizing your goodness and generosity.

Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your call to a life that's bigger than just about me, about us. Lord, I pray for the courage for folks in this room and those watching online to take that big leap and give you their life. I pray you've given them the courage to surrender control and to choose to trust you, even without all the questions answered, even with the hesitancy and doubts.

For the rest of us who know you, we continue to want more of you. Would you continue to grow us up, help us understand and believe? We pray over the unique opportunity to reach out to our friends. We do little things like yard signs and t-shirts and have fun that ultimately might just lead people to You. That's our desire, Father, to give You glory.

We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you all so much for coming. Happy July 4th weekend.

I believe you are hopeful, you are good. You speak life in the dead of night. I found peace in the overwhelming. Your faithfulness and love flow from your heart into healing for the nations. Your glory fills the earth. The story of all that's broken.

Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I know you're gonna finish what you first began. Even when I'm caught in the stare of this, like a beacon, you're breaking through the night, resting in your goodness. You beat it alive tonight.