Acts 22:22-23:11 - Peace in the Face of Adversity

there's some new news crash the flight of 5342, the army helicopter that claimed 67 lives and we see that, the breaking news scrolls across the bottom of the screen, the breaking news hits our phone and we're all kind of collectively drawn into that. and we feel the depth of that tragedy when it happens kind of in the news like that. And then you see the faces scroll a few days later of the lives who were lost and you see, for example, in this case, the faces of those young figure skaters who were killed in that tragedy and and you just think, why does something like this happen? Why do things happen and and we feel that loss? And then, you know, I think about the reality is tragedies happen every single day that don't make the news. And there are people every single day asking the question, why did this happen? There's something that's happened probably in your life, something very devastating, and there was no breaking news outside of your circle of family and friends, no one really knew about it. And and you've struggled with something that's been very difficult for you, a season of great adversity, great tragedy, great trial, and the collective nation didn't rally around it. It's just these things that sort of grip us and then we step back and realize it's happening every day. And so I've got to think every Sunday in every service at Northland Church, there are people sitting in the seats where you said maybe it's you today who's dealing with tragedy, with loss, with adversity, with trial, struggling to ask the question, why is this happening? Maybe it's some I just thinking this week about just the conversation in a typical month, the conversation I'll have as the pastor here at Northland, I'll talk to people who've lost family members who are dealing with the grief and the loss of that, people facing serious illness, some even facing terrifying diagnoses, not knowing what the future's going to look like. People who are struggling in their marriages, people who are experiencing brokenness in the relationship between parents and children, people facing significant legal challenges and job uncertainties and battles with addiction and struggles with mental health and all the while facing the struggle of rejection and alienation that comes because of the gospel as they tried to live out their faith and make Jesus known, you pile that on top of that, and it won't ever make the news, but it makes the lives of every one of us. How do we handle these things that hit our lives, the tragedy that is certain to come, the adversity that is so common and the questions that that are always coming at us. And when I think about these conversations, the question that I often have when I talk to church members or fellow believers who are going through tragedy and trial and adversity, I'll often wonder, how does a person without the hope of Jesus get through life at all? I'll never know, because even with Christ, loss is hard and uncertainty is difficult and adversity is is is as a struggle. How do people get through life without the peace and hope of having Jesus Christ in their life? Today I want to talk about the source of peace that we find in Jesus in the face of adversity. We're going through the book of Acts. We've made it to chapter 22. We're going to pick up just a moment and acts chapter 22 verse 22. We're dropping in this morning right in the middle of an incident in the life of a man named Paul. We we caught we caught the first part of this particular incident in his life last week as I said last week it was going be a two-part message to get all the way through the events that unfold in this particular scene of his life, the season of his life. And Paul was constantly facing adversity. And so we look at his story and said last week and I'll ask you again this week, when we read his story, we read the stories of the people in God's word to find ourselves in their story. and find the times when you've struggled with the things they're struggling with and and look for in their story how their example and what God did through them is a source of hope and encouragement, and inspiration to us, example to us in what we face. And again, just like your adversity won't make the news, your adversity also isn't going to make the Bible. But Paul's adversity made it into the Bible and we read about his adversity and we ask ourselves, what do we learn from Paul's adversity and what we're facing today? So what are you facing today? I hope today you'll see three realities from this past three realities that are a source of peace in the face of whatever adversity you're facing today or that you're bound to face here in the near future. Quick recap. Paul had been on the third of three missionary journeys that he had taken. Paul was a follower of Jesus, Jesus called him to take the good news of Jesus across the Roman Empire. He left out of Jerusalem and then made some other journeys, but eventually out of the city city of Antioch, he makes some journeys around the world. He's looping back now to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is kind of the epicenter, ground zero for where this whole thing started. It was there in Jerusalem, where Jesus taught, where Jesus was crucified, where Jesus rose from the dead, where the good news of salvation through Jesus was first preached, and thousands in the city of Jerusalem began to follow Jesus, and it's like throwing a rock into a pond. Now the ripples have rippled out from Jerusalem all across the Roman Empire. Paul was part of that taking the gospel the far reaches of the empire, and now his journeyed back around to the city of Jerusalem where it all began. And the first one was very excited. He was able to tell the believers in Jerusalem what God had been doing around the world and not only among the Jews, but particularly among the Gentiles, the non-Jews, what started among the Jewish people following in Jesus has now spread to non-Jewish people following in Jesus, but not everybody received Paul's return to Jerusalem well. Some said there were rumors about him that he was telling Jewish people to abandon their customs as Jewish people. This was a false accusation. We dealt in detail about that last week, but Paul, in order to put these rumors to rest, was going to go to the temple with these Jewish men to fulfill a Jewish ritual to kind of prove his Jewishness or a little street crad with the Jewish believers. When he gets there, he now faces false accusation from nonbelieving Jews who accuse him of taking a non-Jewish man into a restricted area of the temple. Again, this was false, but it caused a riot. The crowd is all riled up. They're attacking Paul because of this false accusation of what he's done. Rome sees the commotion and Roman sold iers rush in to the Jewish temple complex to stop the riot that was taking place, and Paul's life is spared. They were going to beat him to death had Rome not showed up to save his life. Now Paul's about to be taken away to a safe and secure place when he asked the soldiers, can I speak to the crowd one more time? And then he uses this opportunity, said last week one to waste a good riot he's use the riot as an opportunity to tell people about Jesus. And so the crowdms down for a minute, he shares with them his testim of how Jesus changed his life and how God called him to take the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles. So the crowd was quiet for just a moment until Paul said that in the temple, God told him to go to the Gentiles. Now, this is seen by these Jews in the temple as another form of blasphemy. And that's where we pick up our story chapter 22, verse 22. They're quiet just for a moment. They hear his testimony for just a moment until he says the words that God said, go and I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Look what happens verse 22. Up to this word, they listen to him, then they raised their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. and as they were shouting and throwing their cloaks and flinging dust in the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that they should be examined that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this. So the thing just erupts. They're throwing dust in the air. That's a symbol of their sorrow over the blasphemy. They're throwing off their cloaks, either a sign of sorrow or they're getting ready to kill them. You know, you get in a fight, you take your jacket off, you go fight somebody, you go stone somebody, you take your cloak off. How do we know that's probably what they're gonna do? Well, two verses earlier, Paul said when they got ready to stone Stephen, everybody took their cloak off and I watched the cloaks why they stoned Stephen to death. And now in two more verses, they're taking their cloaks off to stone Paul to death. Rome says we got to get him out of here. They drag him out of the angry mob back to the barracks, but what are they going to do with him? You got to get to the bottom of this. There's been a riot. Rome lets you do your own thing in that day unless you disturb the piece. The piece had been disturbed, we got to find out what in the world is this commotion about. And so they can't get to the bottom of it because everyone's yelling in Hebrew. The Roman soldiers don't understand Hebrew. They don't know what in the world's going on. We're gonna get him back to the barracks and we're gonna interrogate him further. Now how they're going to interrogate him is they're going to whip some kind of confession out of him. Rome had the right to do that in that day to certain people, not to Paul, where to find out why in a moment. But they said we can't get to the bottom of it. You guys have your laws, somehow this guy's broken some law that's upset the Jewish people. We don't know what in the world they're talking about because everybody's yelling and shouting in Hebrew or an aramaic, and so we're gonna get to the bottom of this. We're gonna tie him to a pole, we're gonna get a whip and we're gonna whip him until he tells us what the world's going on. And so get ready to whip Paul stretch him out for the whips. Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, is itful for you to flog a man who's a Roman citizen uncondemned? Uh-oh, when the stur heard this, he went to the tribune to the commander and said, what are you about to do for this man is a Roman citizen, so the tribune came to him and said, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? and he said yes, and the tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth, so those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, in the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him. Now, in that day, the Roman empire was vast, expansive and most of the people who lived within the boundaries of the Roman Empire were not Roman citizens. Now you could become a citizen of the Roman Empire, one of three ways. You could do some service for the empire, like serving in the military, and you could be given citizenship. If you were really rich, you could buy citizenship, or if your parents had achieved it one of those ways, you could be born a citizen to a mom and dad who were Roman citizens. Paul was the third category, was born a Roman citizen. And Roman citizenship had some great privileges to it, one of which you could not be whipped to secure some sort of confession in trial. You could take a slave and whip a confession out of him. You could take someone from some other part of the empire who didn't have Roman citizenship, you could bound them and treat them this way. But to whip Paul in this manner would be a violation of his civil rights as a citizen of Rome, and when they learned this, they said, oh, no, we've got to we got to stop right now before we get in huge trouble for violating his rights. But they still have a dilemma. What are we going to do? There's a ride in the temple, we can't have that. We tried to get to the bottom of it. We can't get to the bottom of it. We tried to whip a confession out of them. We're not allowed to do that. What are we gonna do? Well, verse 30. The next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests in the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them. So what he's doing now. Rome is taking Paul before the Jewish governing authorities, before the Jewish high court called the Sanhedrin. Rome would let you do your own thing. you govern how you want, run your city how you want, just pay us our taxes and don't disturb the peace. Well, the peace has been disturbed. We gotta know what's going on. We can't figure it out. We're gonna bring in before the Jewish leaders and we're gonna let the Jewish leaders figure out what he's done and how we're supposed to handle this situation. So not sure what's up the heart of the dispute. They said essentially say this. We don't understand what all the fuss is about. We're unable to investigate it further without violating his rights. We're gonna bring him to you and you guys work this out and tell us what the world's going on. And so here he stands for the San Hed. Interesting situation he's put in. One, it's a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel with the highest leaders within Judaism. But it's also the same group that condemned Jesus to death a few years earlier. And now he stands to share with them how he's preaching Jesus. verse chapter 23 verse one, looking intently at the council, Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God and all good conscience up to this day, and the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck? And those who stood by said, would you revile God's high priest? and Paul said, I did not know brothers that he was the high priest, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. And what's happened here? Paul has just said, before the high council, brothers, I've lived my life before God and all good conscience up to this day. What's he saying? I'm preaching the resurrection. I'm preaching Jesus and and I've taking that message to the Gentiles and God told me in the temple to do this, and then he says, and I've got a clean conscience about it. What he's saying is my conscience is clear before God that I'm doing his will. This is seen by the Jewish leaders as another form of blasphemy. You're telling me that God told you to take this message of Jesus to the Gentiles and you're doing that with a clear conscience and it says here the high priest punches them in the mouth, strikes him in the mouth as a high priest Ananias delivers this vicious blow. Paul snaps back verse three, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. What is it, whitewashed wall? It's a good insult you can drop on someone. don't. A whitewashed walls when they would take a solution of water and lime in some pigment often from chalk, and they could paint walls to make them more visible. and they would do this with tombs. You didn't want to wander into a tomb area near a tomb and become unclean. And so we want to mark them very plainly and so they would whitewash the tombs. so the tomb would be very bright and and and made to look better on the outside, but inside was full of of rotting corpses. Jesus used this phrase the same way, Matthew 23, 27. He said, who do you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you were like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. I was thinking, um a few weeks ago I saw a picture. It was in a neighborhood where they were building houses and they had built several houses that were occupied and the people in those houses had decorated their houses for Christmas, but Christmas lights on them. But next door was a new construction that was happening and they had a porta potty set right there on the sidewalk for people to use while they're building this house. And someone in the neighborhood had put Christmas lights around the porta potty and hung a wreath on the door and put a little Christmas welcome mat right outside the door of the porta potty. It's like, I don't want an ugly porta potty in front of my house I make it look really put. I'm tell you you can make the outside of that porta potty look like Christmas, but it ain't Christmas inside that porta potty. It's a whitewashed tomb. And that's what he says to the high priest. You may look good on the outside, but inside you're not right. Now, he was chastised now for daring to speak against the high priest, and Paul's response was, I didn't know he was the high priest. Now, what does that mean? There are three options given to why Paul says, I didn't know he was the high priest. One, Paul had been away from Jerusalem now for over 20 years. and it's possible just didn't recognize. The High priest wasn't on CNN every day or Fox News or something to have a Twitter account. You could come back to town not know what the high priest looked like. So as possibleibly didn't even recognize this guy's actually the high priest. Second, there are some clues in some of Paul's writings that he may have had terrible eyesight. It's a couple of verses that indicate that his eyes could have been bad. So it's possible that Paul just doesn't see very well, and this guy's talking to him and he doesn't recognize it's actually the high priest. The third option I think it's kind of interesting is that it might be sarcasm on Paul's part. I didn't know you were the high priest because you're not acting like one. Oh, I'm sorry, you're the high priest. I my apologies. I had no idea you would be the high priest because the high priest certainly would not act the way that you are acting. So either recognizes him despite his poor eyesight and apologizes, or it's a little bit of a sarcastic comment. but either way, this is a response to being spunched in the mouth upon the order of the high priest. Now verse six, Paul perceived that part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, and he cried out to the council, brothers, I'm a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee, in its respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial. Now what's going on here? Judaism had been divided into different sections or factions or parties. the best way to kind of describe today, I think, I don't it's a perfect way to describe it, but imagine a combination between like a religious denomination and a political party in America. So you have Methodists and Baptist an assembly of God and you have Republicans and Democrats and libertarians. Imagine someow you combine those, so this group had certain theological beliefs and certain political beliefs. and this group had opposing theological beliefs and opposing a political beliefs, but they're all under Judaism. I going to be American, but some be Baptists and some be Methodists, and you can be an American and some be a Democrat and some be Republican. That's what you have here. So what are the differences? Well, there's a lot of distinctions. The Saddasses were very tied in to the political structure. The Pharisees were kind of more the party of the common people. The Sadducees were very concerned with what happened inside the temple. The Pharisees were more concerned with how you kept the law. So Jesus, a lot of times had conflict with the Pharisees as you spent time out on the countryside, and then you come here, Paul has got some problems with the Sadducees because they're worried about what's happening inside the temple, these are the two groups. Now, Paul realizes that this council he sits before, kind of like if you were appearing before you see these confirmation hearings right now, you'd beer for this joint council and some are one party and some of the other part. So Paul realizes, I'm standing on trial and some are Pharisees and some are Sadducees, and one of the biggest distinctions for the purposes of our discussion today is the Sadducees rejected the supernatural. They didn't believe in angels and spirits and a resurrection from the dead, where the Pharisees did believe in angels and spirits and a resurrection of the dead. That's why the old the old preacher joke is the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. That's why they're sad you see. So that'll help you remember that. I didn't make that up. Don't blame me for that. And so Paul says, I'm going to start talking about the resurrection. Now, why? Again, the predominant understanding of this statement is with respect to the hope the resurrection to death that I'm on trial before you today, was an effort on Paul's part to divide and conquer. All of these people are mad at me, I might be able to say something to get them mad at each other and some suggest what Paul Paul's doing is kind of lobbybing a theological hand grenade into the middle of the room. like, everyone was looking at me like, here you go, here's the resurrection. boom. And now they turn on each other. That might be happening. Or it could have been pretty sincere. Paul always talked about the resurrection. I don't think we have to assume that it was just some clever political move to get out of this predicament. I wonder if he wasn't saying, listen, some of you guys, you believe in the resurrection, let me tell you about the one who has resurrectction in the dead. His name is Jesus. I think he he may have been setting up an opportunity to show the gospel. Some of you are Pharisees and Pharisees, my brother Pharisees, let me tell you the whole this whole thing started because I'm telling people, Jesus has resurrected from the dead. That may have been his intention. Either way, it does accomplish the former rather than the latter. They begin to turn on each other, looking for seven. When he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, for the Sadducees says there is no resurrection, no angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all that a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisee party stood up and contended sharply, we find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him? and when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. So the dispute breaks out. They're all mad at Paul, now they're mad at each other, they're turning on each other, and things get violent and notice it says in verse ten, it's so violent that Paul is about to be torn to pieces. They beat him to death the day before, and and now they're about to tear him to pieces inside the Sanhedrid. Rome comes in again by force, it says in stand, drag him out of the room and take him to the safety of the barracks. and that's where we find Paul in verse 11. The following night, the lord stood by him and said, take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify so you must testify also in Rome. What a crazy couple of days. It started with a rather routine visit to the temple to try to put down a false rumor within the church. It led to a false accusation from some Jews from Ephesus that that riled up a mob that nearly beat Paul to death. Rome has to come in and rescue him, and as Rome comes in and rescues him, Paul finds himself now chained between two Roman soldiers, preaching the gospel to an angry mob, then nearly beaten to death to be interrogated had he not brought up the fact of his Roman citizenship, the next day appearing before the Jewish high court, where he's again nearly torn to pieces. Now he's back in the Roman holding cell in verse 10 verse'll get to next week. Some of the Jews make a pledge and they say we will not eat or drink anything till we've killed this man Nearly beaten to death in the temple, nearly beaten to death in the Sanhedrin, and now some Jewish men have said we will not eat another bite of food until this man is dead. and here he is quite a season of adversity. In verse 11 the Lord stood by him. The Lord stood by him. Jesus came alongside Paul to comfort him to encourage him to stay committed. Jesus assured him this is not the end, Paul. There's more to this plan. You will not die in Jerusalem, for I have a bigger plan. I'm going to take you to Rome where you're going to testify at the heart of the empire. This is not the end of the road. I have a bigger plan for your life. The work is not yet done. What do we learn from this? Let me suggest three realities in this passage that are sources of peace and encouragement in the face of whatever trialard versus you're facing. You're not facing false accusation from Jewish Christians or an angry Jewish mob or Roman flogging or someone's pledged to kill you before they eat lunch. You're not facing that, but you're facing your own adversity. You're facing your own trials. And I believe that what God provided Paul, he's providing each of us today in the face of what we are. We face what is it? Number one, the certainty of God's presence, the certainty of God's presence. verse 11 says the following night the Lord stood by him in the midst of false assumptions by fellow believers and false accusations by nonbelievers in the face of Jewish mobs and Roman chains and interrogations and trials the Lord stood by his side. Now, I don't know if Luke, when he wrote, intended this, or if the holy Spirit intended it as he inspired Luke, but something caught my eye. I was poring over this passage over and over again this week was how often the phrasestood by is used in this passage. Look at it with me. Look at verse 22 verse 25. A Roman soldier was standing by to whip him. Chapter 23 verse two those who stood by him were ordered to strike him on the mouth. verse four those who stood by him rebuked him for striking the high priest, and in verse 11 the lord stood by him. Some stood by to whip him, others stood by to punch him, others stood by to rebuke him, and Jesus stood by to encourage him, and so it is in our life. when others stand by to attack you or rebuke you, the lord stands by to encourage you, no matter what you face, you have the certainty that God is near. Psalm 23, probably one of the most famous passages and all of the Bible, even if you're not a Christian or haven't been a church much, maybe you've heard this somewhere along the way. And there's this line in it, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. You're with me in the valley of the shadow of death. Psalm 461, God is our refuge in strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 1397 where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven you were there, if I make my bed and shield, you are there, if I take the wings of the morning, I I dwell in the Romoest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand shall hold me, and at the end of the gospel of Matthew Matthew 28 Jesus commissions his followers to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and he ends his commission with these words, I am with you always. I'm with you always. Sometimes the Lord is going to help you avoid trials. We have no idea how much trouble we're not in today because Jesus spared us from it. We'll never know that. Sometimes you'll be in the heart of a trial and God will rescue you out of it and maybe you've experienced that. But sometimes you won't avoid the trial and sometimes he won't take you out of the trial, but every time he'll stand with you beside you in the midst of it. And you can be encouraged today of the reality of the certainty of God's presence and whatever you're facing right now. Second, we have the assurance of God's plan, no matter what Paul did, he continually faced rejection. Even in our passage, it began with the words,way with such a fellow from the earth, where he shall not be allowed to live, it ended with the phrase, he was nearly torn to pieces. and in the middle of it, Jesus comes and says, Paul, they're not going to get you here in Jerusalem because I have a plan. I have a plan and everything is unfolding according to my plan. You can have peace and confidence today in the face of this trial because the reality that God is using this trial for some greater good. Sec Paul would write this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison. Imagine all that he went through and Paul could call it a light momentary affliction Why is it light and momentary? Because he's comparing it to the weight of glory in eternity. And what we face today is easy compared to the glory to come, and what we face today is momentary compared to the eternity of what God is doing. And finally, we can have the reality of the hope of the resurrection verse chapter 226 in the middle of his trial, he says, it is with respect to the hope of the resurrection that I'm on trial. I'm on trial today because my hope is in the resurrection is what he's saying. hope of the resurrection was always a theme of Paul's preaching and his source of peace in the face of every persecution. No matter what we face in life, we have hope in the resurrection, because Jesus Christ is resurrect from the dead, it promises our future resurrection from the dead, because he rose back to life will have eternal life, and that's our hope in the face of light momentary affliction is an eternity that we have because of the hope of the resurrection. So what do we do with this? Three ways we can respond. Number one, draw near to God, in the middle of your adversity, in the middle of your trial, in the face of your sorrow, in your hurt and your pain and your confusion draw near to God. the certainty of God's presence allows us to look to him in seasons of suffering and difficulty. He's to us, but we don't always realize that he's near to us. We don't always take advantage of it. Psalm 145 18 says the Lord is near to all who call on him. He's near to you call on him. Isaiah 556 seek the lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near. James 48 draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. You may not always feel his presence, but never doubt his presence. Call on him, cast your burden on him, rely upon him, lean in to the difficulty and the doubt get on your knees, get in the word, get into community, knowing he may not take you out of the fire, but he will stand right by you in the middle of it, draw near to him. He's there. Second, trust God's plan. trust God's plan. The assurance of God's plan allows us to trust him in the midst of confusion and brokenness and uncertainty. Romans 828 says, for we know that those who love God, that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called, according to his purpose, he's doing something. Paul didn't understand it, why the false accusations, why the angry mobs and the Roman chains and the Jewish trials and and Paul, for the rest of our story, if you've been with us in act, we have a few more weeks left. Paul's going to be in prison the rest of the journey. This is it for Paul. He's he's in Roman chains the rest of the story, but God had a purpose and God has a purpose for what you're facing today. I was thinking about um I on Mondays, a couple of Mondays of month, there's a group of ladies who comes up they come up here North and and they they do different craft projects. They quilt and draw and and uh some of the ladies, I noticed doing um needleoint, a crossstitch. I don't know the difference. They have a needle and they're drawing a picture on a piece of fabric with thread. And I was thinking about that when I was saying about this passage, I got I borrowed this from Marla, one of our ladies who comes to that, how I'll look over and see what they're doing and and they're they'll be putting together some beautiful picture on the tapestry. But if you flip it over, it's a mess. It's a mess, isn't it? It's loose threads and frighted ins and ragged knots. And imagine if you were to sit across from God and watch him weave what he's doing in your life and in the world today, and all you saw was the backside. It's confusing and it's chaotic and it's messy. But if you could go around his shoulder and look at what he's doing, it's something beautiful that's going to, for all eternity, be glorious and for his glory and somehow for our good. And and we just don't see the other side of it. We don't get to see that. I rarely, rarely will you go through something where God will flip it over and show you in this life what it was for. You'll spend all of your days wondering what that pain was for and what that chaos was for and what that hurt was for. But someday I believe that in eternity we can get see the other side and we're going to understand. And somehow it was all putting something together that Paul had a chance for God to tell him we may not get that privilege, but God is doing something in the disjointed threads, the loose ends, the chaotic tangles, the ragged knots of your life, somehow, some way, God is weaving something beautiful. He has a plan, trust it. And finally, keep an eternal perspective, keep an eternal perspective because of the hope of the resurrection, we can look beyond our sufferings and struggles in this world to a time when God will make all things right. I learned something new a couple months ago and you all maybe know this. I didn't. I went to the grave where our granddaughter Oakley is buried. We buried her a couple of months ago and um we were there before her death picking out where she would be buried and the funeral director was explaining to our family where her headstone would be and where her body would be there. And he said, you know, um we we bury all of the bodies here facing east. And he said, that's what most cemeteries do. I said, really, I don't how did I know that? I't a pastor for over 30 years. I've done hundreds of funerals and I never noticed it. So I googled it and the Internet says it's also true. Most Christians are buried and a lot of symptoms buried facing east. Why? Here's how it started. 2427 as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of Jesus. They took the members she's going to rise from the west, so let's bury Christians facing east. So when Jesus comes back and we rise from the dead, we're ready for him. Now, here's the second part. I didn't know this. And I googled it, and also the Internet says this is true. Traditionally, clergy have been buried facing west. I said, why is that? Because the idea was when the church rises facing east, their pastures rise facing west. and they get to see the faces of those people that they let on earth and then if this is true, if this is if this is if we get I don't know we're going to get buried in the same cemetery, folks, but if we are and they do this, there's a day when Jesus is going to come back, you're going to rise from that, I'm going to write from the dead. I'm going to get to see your face for just a second before I look over my shoulder to see what you're seeing and the tangled mess is going to make sense. It's going to make sense somehow. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed for this perishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality when the perishable puts on imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law but thinks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know him? If you know Jesus to day, you can rest assured he's with you in the fire. He's with you in the trial. He has a plan and one day he's coming again and it will all make sense. If you don't know him today can be the day. You can put your faith in Jesus and you can have the certainty of his presence, the reality of his resurrection to be truths in your life. Would you pray with me? You're a follower of Jesus straw near to him today. Right now, Jesus, I know you're near me. I know you have a plan. Help me trust you, Jesus. Get my eyes off of this momentary affliction and put them on the weight of eternity and the coming resurrection where the tattered, tangled mess of my life will somehow make sense. If you're not a follower of Jesus, today can be the day you call on him Jesus, I believe you died for me. I believe you rose for me. I believe that in you I can have salvation turn to him today, Jesus, I turn from my life of sin to trust your resurrection, your death on the cross, and to follow you as my lord and savior. Father, I pray to today every believer would be encouraged, everyone who's hurting would be comforted, those who are confused would place their hope and trust in your plan. God for those who do not know you, to day open their hearts, let them turn to Jesus to find him to be the source of peace and hope that so many in this room have. We pray this in Jesus name