Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Can't Lose with Pastor Ryan Braley
What if I told you that regardless of your circumstances, you simply cannot lose? That's the radical truth Paul communicates from his prison cell to the Philippian church. Looking at a man who's been beaten, shipwrecked, starved, rejected, and now faces possible execution, we'd expect despair. Instead, we hear the triumphant declaration: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
This message explores how Paul's perspective transcends his immediate circumstances by understanding what we might call the "Christ pattern" – suffering leads to union with Christ, which leads to resurrection. Rather than viewing suffering as an unfortunate mishap or divine punishment, Paul reframes it as an invitation to participate in Christ's redemptive story.
Through personal anecdotes about spilled coffee and professional rejections that once seemed catastrophic, we see how easy it is to get trapped in momentary setbacks, losing all sense of perspective. Paul challenges this limited viewpoint by demonstrating how to "zoom out" and see our circumstances within the cosmic narrative of redemption.
The sermon also examines the fascinating origin story of the Philippian church – the first European church built on the conversions of a wealthy merchant woman, a formerly demon-possessed slave girl, and a Roman prison guard with PTSD. This unlikely beginning mirrors the counterintuitive message Paul later writes from his own imprisonment.
What would your future self say about the worries keeping you up tonight? What perspective might you gain from seeing your life through the lens of eternity? When we truly grasp that we're playing with house money – that whether we live or die, we belong to Christ – we discover the liberating truth that we simply cannot lose.
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camaraderie or something else, like you know, joy and yeah, yeah, all right. Well, we're in the middle of our joy anyway series. We're just week two of our Philippians series and this morning, in our series called joy anyway, the sermon I want to tell you is this the sermon is can't lose. I'm here to tell you this morning. If you take nothing else away from the sermon, I'm here to tell you that you can't lose. A couple of weeks ago, actually a couple of days ago on Monday, before I go to that I was here Monday morning and when we got here there was hundreds of kids that were here for VBS. Vbs was incredible. So thanks to Ben and Isabel for that wonderful week. All the volunteers were here, over 200 kids and then over I don't know how many dozens of leaders, but just packed house.
Speaker 1:But I'd had a tough weekend. Just some things were going on in my life personally and so on, and it was a struggle to get here Monday morning and I wanted to be here to greet the kids and I was in a bit of a funk, you know, and sometimes happens, and I was just kind of like having a hard day on Monday as well. And so I get in here and I'm like man, I'm just trying to be nice to the kids and you know, be the, you know, and but then about I don like I need something to kind of bring some sunshine to my day. So it dawned on me I should go to Starbucks coffee, because that always helps, makes me feel better. Are you with me? So I'm driving to Starbucks and as I said that and as I decided to do that, I already began to feel better on the inside. I'm like this is great, like what a moment here. I'm driving to Starbucks. I'm like I'm going to get out of here for a minute, go get my. So I go into the drive-thru, I order a Pike Place tall with one stevia and a splash of heavy cream. I'm like this is going to be incredible. And as I got the cup I was like, thank you so much. I could feel the grace of God and the goodness of God just fall over me in that moment and I was like this is going to the office here and again, just the troubles and the sorrow of the weekend and the Monday morning was like, were just like dripping away from me. It was incredible.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh, before I sit down. I should use the bathroom. So I'm like I'll go to the staff bathroom and it was locked. I'm like, oh, someone's in there. So I'll going to put my coffee down, because it's weird to use the bathroom while you're holding a cup of coffee. So I put it down and I don't know what happened. But the lid just flew off and the cup like almost jumped out of my hand, I kid you not. And coffee went everywhere. That ray of sunshine was quickly clouded over. I was like, wow, now I got coffee everywhere, the coffee I wanted to drink. That was going to make my day a thousand times better.
Speaker 1:It was just gone. Every drop was out of there, maybe like a little tiny bit. So I chugged that last little drop. It didn't do anything for my well-being and I was like what am I going to do? So I called Jeff, our property guy. I'm like Jeff, I'm so sorry. He's our property guy, he's awesome. I go, I just spilled coffee everywhere. Can you help me? I don't know what to do, what do I use? And he's like I got him, don't worry. I'm like, so he's cleaning it up. I'm like thank you, jeff.
Speaker 1:I go back to my office. I was just discouraged, and Katie, in her infinite wisdom, my wife's like, ryan, just go get another one. And when she said it, the sun sort of burst through the clouds again. I was like I should do that. That would be incredible, thank you for permission. And I was thinking, if I'm like I walked in this time, I got walking. I'm like, hey, I'm back, darn it. Here I am again. I get the same drink. And nobody said anything. I was like, oh, darn it. So I paid for the second one again, which is fair, that's fine. Actually, april and her crew up there are really great. So if you know April the manager, she's awesome.
Speaker 1:So I ordered my second drink and I'm like, all right, well, thanks for the, you know I paid for it, whatever. So I go back into the car. As I'm getting in the car, it was about this moment, as I'm reaching to put the cup in the cup holder, that I realized the problem was probably with the cup and the lids. Because, I kid you not, and look, I've been working out at the gym a lot more with my squeezing muscles, so I could have squeezed it too hard. But the lid again flew off and coffee went all over my car. I'm not kidding. Now they know I'm a pastor in Starbucks and they're all like hey, pastor.
Speaker 1:So I couldn't storm in there and kick and scream and yell, but I wanted to. So I went in there and I'm like, I'm like hang on by a thread, you know, and like I had a hard weekend. Hard Sunday night, monday morning was, I mean, the kids were great, but I was like I'm just like I'm trying to get back to work and I'm here again. I'm like hey, jeff, because he helped me with the mess over here. They gave to me for free. And, by the way, on Thursday Jeff said you know, ryan, after VBS was over, the biggest mess I had to clean up all week with kids 200 kids was your coffee mess, man, my bad. I got the third cup of coffee and I drove back to the office. But I was like in that moment, everything was that moment. Do you know what I mean? Every emotion I was feeling in that moment was everything. For all of time, that's all I could see, feel and experience was that moment of despair and angst and utter lostness. I was like, ah, and I couldn't see out of that.
Speaker 1:This is very much like Paul being in prison in Rome. It's very similar, nearly identical. Just trust me on this and I'll get there, but it's sort of like the same. Paul, of course, writes Philippians a letter to the church in Philippi while he's in prison in Rome in about 62 AD. So 62 years after the birth of Christ or something like that, 30 years after Jesus has gone to be with the Father, paul writes this letter Now. He was in Philippi about 12 years prior, about 49 or 50 AD. Here's Philippi in case you didn't know your geography, it's part of Greece and Paul goes to visit Philippi in Acts, chapter 16, 12 years earlier than when he wrote this letter to them. So he's writing this letter to a church he planted 12 years earlier. Now you ought to know about Philippi.
Speaker 1:Philippi was a Roman colony, which means in every way it was like a mini Rome. They identified as Roman citizens because they really were a part of the empire and they had Roman traditions, roman customs. They spoke like Romans, all the things. They really were a part of the empire and they had Roman traditions, roman customs. They spoke like Romans, all the things they did were like Rome and they're like a mini colony of Rome. In fact, a lot of ex-Roman soldiers landed here in retirement and that's like the Florida of this part of the world, and so they go there and rather, there's this incredible Roman influence over Philippi. In fact, the imperial cult which was this is an ancient picture of Rome. Thank you to Olivia via chat, gpt.
Speaker 1:There's what Rome might have looked like in the ancient world, but this part of Rome, the imperial cult, where they worshipped the Caesars both past and present, was very much prevalent and prominent in this part of the world. So everyone in Rome worshipped the Caes and prominent in this part of the world. So everyone in Rome worshipped the Caesars. This was part of the imperial cult. They would worship the Caesars as God, as Lord. And look, the Romans didn't mind if you worshipped other gods. That was totally fine. There was lots of room for other gods and for polytheism. But it was only a problem if you worshipped your God above the Caesar and if your worship of your God ever threatened the power or the prestige of the Caesar. That was a problem.
Speaker 1:Well, as Paul plants this Christian church, the Christians in this part of Philippi around 50 AD, they began to say things like oh, you know what Caesar isn't Lord, jesus is Lord. Well, again, this is the kind of thing that will get you killed in this part of the Roman Empire, because you can worship any God you want to, as long as you worship Caesar above and against any other God. Well, the Christians, we don't worship Caesar, we worship Jesus. They're like what's the problem? That's what will get you killed. Paul ultimately gets beheaded by the Roman Empire years later because of this very same thing.
Speaker 1:So this is the church that gets planted in this part of the world, in Philippi, in this very Roman imperial cult worship sort of way. It's all Gentiles. In fact, it's the very first church plant in Europe. So Paul goes there with a couple of people and they plant this church. It's the first Christian church in Europe. So their tagline online was church coming soon to Europe, thank you. I didn't know if that joke would work or not. And here's how it was planted. It's incredible. This story is incredible.
Speaker 1:So they go there and Paul would. Typically, when he'd plant a church, he would show up at the synagogue. Well, it's a very Gentile area. There's no synagogue in Philippi in this time of the world. So he's like, okay, well, I don't know where the Jews are hanging out. I'll start with the Jews and we'll kind of convert some of them and we'll go on from there and convert a whole bunch of Gentiles.
Speaker 1:The Philippian church becomes a church of mostly Gentiles. But for now he goes, sells purple cloth. She's very, very wealthy and they begin to talk and Paul converts her to Christianity. She gives her life to Jesus and he baptizes her, just dunks her in the river right there and she's like hey, whatever happens here, I'll open my house to whatever community gets started. So if you're doing a Jesus community, we can have it in my house. Paul's like great, I'll call you thanks.
Speaker 1:So they leave and as they're walking, paul and Silas go walking around Philippi looking for more converts, they notice there's a slave girl following them, a young girl who's a slave. She's owned by some people and she's actually demon-possessed. So she's like chirping and yelling at Paul and Silas the whole time, just yelling at them, and Paul and Silas are mostly ignoring her. But then finally the text says Paul gets annoyed with her. You know, like you do when you've got a demon-possessed slave girl following you, it's a little annoying and he turns around and he casts the demon out of her, which is awesome. Like what did that look like? And then she kind of becomes, you know, sort of back in her right mind and they convert the slave girl and she becomes a Christian.
Speaker 1:The second convert in Europe, in all of Europe Lydia. Then this girl. It's incredible. Well, the slave owners find out and they're ticked because this demon apparently could predict the future, and so they would use the slave girl as a way to make money. So they would have, they would kind of gallivant her around and they would use her and this demon that could predict the future, and they would have this girl predict people's futures and they would pay money for this. Well, the jig is up because the demon's gone and their hustle is over. And look, this is not cool. They go and they find Paul and Silas and they drag them to town. There's a huge riot, they beat and flog Paul and Silas and then they throw them in jail. This is great. This is the beginning of a church plant, by the way.
Speaker 1:Well, in jail, they're like in jail, and it's like midnight comes. It's Paul and Silas and there's a guard that's watching them. It's his job to make sure they don't leave. And they're like what should we do? Let's start praising and worshiping God like you do in the middle of a jail at midnight they start praising God and all of a sudden an earthquake strikes this region of Philippi and shakes everything like in this thunderous way. Well then the doors burst open, their chains fall off and like, oh, I guess we're free to go. And then the guard wakes up. The guard can't see them. He panics like, oh my gosh, my prisoners, who I was supposed to keep an eye on, they've escaped. They're gonna the Roman, my Roman officials, they're gonna kill me. So he pulls out his sword to kill himself and Paul says dude, don't do that, relax, we haven't left, we're right here.
Speaker 1:Well, they begin to chat and they convert the guard and he becomes a Christian and joins this church that now will be housed in Lydia's house. It's incredible, like this is not really how you would draw up a church plant. Like, oh, okay, step one strategy let's go to the river and dunk somebody. Step two we'll cast a demon out of a slave girl and cause a riot. Step three go to jail and convert the guard. That's what we're going to do here. I mean, I think about like how hilarious this first church council would have been. It would have been made up of like a rich merchant woman who sold purple cloth, a demon-possessed slave girl and a Roman guard is suffering from PTSD. Like you, thought your council was weird, but this church council is like it's wild.
Speaker 1:And the church gets started there in Lydia's home and it flourishes and thrives for 12 years and Paul stays connected with them for 12 years and they send him gifts, they support Paul financially in his mission as a church planter and he goes around and does a lot more church plants and things. And then, 12 years later, as they've stayed connected, paul's arrested again, in Rome this time and he's in a Roman jail. When he writes them, he writes them because they heard he was in jail and they send him a gift Because the Philippians love Paul and vice versa. So they send him a gift to support him and encourage him. He's in jail, let's encourage the guy, and so they send him a gift and he writes this letter back. It's like a thank you letter. Hey, thank you so much for all you've done for me. I appreciate it. Thanks for your support, thanks for the gift. I love you, I've always loved you. I want to bless you.
Speaker 1:And he tells him a number of hard and there's suffering and pain as a result Whatever happens, have joy. So he tells them hey, have joy anyway. Like, have joy anyway. He tells them a number of times rejoice, have joy. Which is remarkable because Paul has a number of reasons to not have joy and if you hadn't noticed, I'm going to list them off for you, just so you know what they are.
Speaker 1:Number one at this point, while he's writing the letter, he's in prison. He's in prison. Not last time I was in prison, just kidding, I wasn't in prison. But, like you can imagine, it's not a lot of joy going on in many prisons. I would imagine Now Paul's prison was a bit different than modern prisons.
Speaker 1:It wasn't quite as what you might picture in your head, but it's an ancient world version of prison. It was more like a house arrest. But he couldn't leave. He was very restricted and he was sort of hamstrung in every way. And Paul in prison says, hey, have joy, have joy anyways. That's the name of our series. How Clever Are we?
Speaker 1:Also, there's these people outside the prison that are preaching the gospel, but in a way like they're doing it out of envy, out of jealousy. It's like they don't have the right motivations and because of how they're preaching, it's making trouble for Paul in prison. So, whatever they're saying and doing, it's making it harder for him. He's like hey, they're preaching a gospel out of envy, out of spite, jealousy, and it's making me, it's making it harder for me in here. So these people preaching the gospel are causing trouble for Paul.
Speaker 1:Thirdly, there's this he might die. Now we know that Paul doesn't die. For a few more years he's beheaded again by the Roman Empire. But in this moment he doesn't know. He might live, he also might die. He has no idea how this whole thing will turn out. We do, because we can read back on history. He doesn't know.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, there's this Paul has suffered immensely his whole life, or this latter part. He's suffered incredible amounts of pain and suffering and heartache. And yet here's what Paul writes to the Philippians hey, but what does it matter? What does it matter? What do you mean? What does it matter? It all matters. Those guys outside are making it harder for you inside. You're stuck in prison unjustly. You've been beaten, flogged, shipwrecked, you've lost almost everything. What do you mean? What does it matter, paul? What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? Paul writes what does it matter?
Speaker 1:Then he goes on hey, the important thing is that every way, whether from false motives or true Christ is being preached. In other words, hey, I know they're preaching this gospel. That's making it harder. Whatever, it's cool, the gospel's being preached. Either way, it's being preached.
Speaker 1:Then he goes on and because of this I rejoice, I have joy. Paul says yes, and I will continue to have joy and rejoice, for I know that, through your prayers and god's provision of the spirit of jesus christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance, my salvation. Now, I don't know if he means I'll literally get out of jail or prison or something deeper and grander than just I don't know what he means, but nonetheless it's for my deliverance. I eagerly expect, I expect he writes and I hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that, now as always, christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For me to live is Christ, he says. If I live, it's Christ and if I die, it's gain.
Speaker 1:Eugene Peterson I love this in his message paraphrase says it like this. He quotes Paul hey, alive I'm Christ's messenger, dead I'm Christ's prize. Life versus even more life. I can't lose. What does it matter? If I live, it's Christ, If I die, it's gain. I can't lose. I can't lose. By the way, you should know this.
Speaker 1:This isn't a death wish of Paul. When Paul says, hey, if I live good and if I die good, and if they're preaching the gospel, that actually makes it harder for me, good, is he a death wish? No, he's not suicidal in prison, not at all. He's not succumbed to this sort of sorrow. He's not like living on, he's not like hanging on by a thread. Emotionally, he's not sort of in this depressed state. No, he's full of life. When you read all of Philippians, he's full of, like, vibrant life. No, he's full of life. When you read all of Philippians, he's full of vibrant life. He's eyes wide open. He knows what's going on. So what is it then? It's not a death wish. It's also not this.
Speaker 1:It's not just trying to be positive while the world is falling apart around him. He's like oh, it's but a flesh wound, it's okay. Oh, thank you. By the way, I don't get that movie at all. It's not funny to me at all. I just don't get it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, I know, I'm not any Monty Python fans in the house. Okay, fair enough, I don't get it.
Speaker 1:He's not in the prison cell singing, you know, trying to be positive, the sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun. Meanwhile the guard's like shut that dude up. He cannot sing. He's not just trying to be positive, ignoring what's really happening. He knows what's going on and also he's not just like some guy who's out of touch in some ivory tower lecturing the peasants down below. You know, sometimes in our culture we have these very affluent, wealthy people who live in our ivory towers who sort of talk down to the rest of the people and how you'll be fine, it's okay, you don't know, you're living up in there on the hill, the house on the hill. I'm down here struggling, but that isn't Paul. You can't say to Paul Paul, you don't know, you don't even understand. Because he does. Paul gets it, he totally gets it, he understands.
Speaker 1:Paul's been beaten. He's been starved. He's been in prison a couple of times. Paul has been. He's been rejected many times. He's been betrayed by close friends and others have been abandoned on a number of occasions, burdened, shipwrecked three times. He's been anxious in many ways, sometimes deeply discouraged. Paul's been continually tested. Paul knows what's up. He knows the depths of suffering and pain, abandonment, rejection. He knows all of it intimately well.
Speaker 1:And yet Paul says hey, I can't lose. If I live, great, I'll go preach the gospel some more. There's some folks who might want to hear it If I die, great, I'll go be with Christ. He's not being cavalier. He knows in the deepest parts of himself that I can't lose, I can't lose. This is why, then too, paul writes this in Corinthians we're hard pressed on every side. We've been pressed but not crushed. We're struck down but we're not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of jesus, so that the life of jesus may be revealed in us. In other words, one of my favorite sayings paul is playing with house money. Are you with me? House money, it's house money. Some of you today need to just hear hey, you've got house money, let it roll. Yeah, house money. Whether I live, it's for christ. If I die, it's also I'll go be with christ. Okay.
Speaker 1:Paul knows in a deeper way to the christ pattern you can see all over his writing. He knows that suffering leads to union with Christ and then to resurrection. So suffering is not just some unfortunate mishap. It's not just a misfortune, or like a failure, no suffering.
Speaker 1:Paul reframes suffering as like somehow union or an invitation to union with Christ, because Jesus suffered. Now look, I know we don't have to talk about suffering, I get it, we live in this country which is praise God too, by the way but like where we sort of have pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and we've overcome all kinds of odds, and good for us, but we don't love suffering. You know why? Because suffering won't get you clicks, by the way. But this is the Jesus story. He suffered immensely and so Paul sees suffering as this beginning of a union with Christ. It's something deeper, more mysterious going on. It's union with Christ, and he knows that when you're united with Christ in a suffering like him, you can be united with Christ in a resurrection like him. But of course it will cost you, because it costs Jesus's life.
Speaker 1:So Paul sees the suffering and the death of Christ as a model for us, and suffering in our lives invites us to be a part of the Christ narrative, the Christ story, the life of Christ. When we suffer, whatever the reasons and I'm not, I'm not, I don't believe that God causes all kinds of stuff. I don't believe that. But, whatever the reason, we are invited into union with Christ and to join him in his suffering, and then his death, and then his resurrection. Resurrection is, of course, the only way to new life. That suffering isn't the end. It's a gateway to invitation with Christ and a gateway to death and then, of course, resurrection. There's new life on the other side.
Speaker 1:So Paul can be unafraid. He's afraid of nothing, and that makes him very dangerous. By the way, he views his own life as like caught up in this deeply meaningful, global, cosmic story of Christ that he knows really well, and it's all then filled with this beautiful Christ pattern suffering, Christ and resurrection, and then he can have peace and joy, because suffering isn't the end. But he writes this too. I love this. He writes in Philippians I want to know Christ. By the way, if you want to know Christ, be careful. Following Jesus is not that you'll be healthy, wealthy and wise. We've tricked ourselves with a false gospel. I think in many ways your life might get worse if you start following Jesus.
Speaker 1:Jesus is dead, paul knows. He says I want to follow Christ, I want to know Christ intimately, know him. I want to know him like on a deeply intimate level. Yes, to know the power of resurrection. And we all said amen, we love resurrection, life, yes, let's go.
Speaker 1:And participation, paul says in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Man, you want to know Christ? I'm just telling you, be careful. This is the Christ pattern. May you know Christ and the power of his resurrection and join him in his suffering by becoming like him in his death. But suffering, then, isn't the end. Suffering is the place of redemption. It's the beginnings of a redemptive story. Death doesn't end the story, neither does suffering or pain. It's the gateway into union with Christ and ultimately to something redemptive story. Death doesn't end the story, neither does suffering or pain. It's the gateway into union with Christ and ultimately to something redemptive. I love that.
Speaker 1:See, paul is somehow able, in this moment of being stuck in prison, he's able to zoom out. Sometimes, after you drop your coffee twice, all you can see is like this moment twice. All you can see is this moment, you know. But if you're able to zoom out and take a deep breath, oh, there's a lot more going on here. There's a cosmic story of the Christ narrative and somehow I'm maybe involved in a part. This moment seems horrible and there's all kinds of really truly awful things happening. If I can zoom out a tad, I can have a grander picture of life and the past, the present, the future, the cosmic redemption of all things according to the scriptures. And Paul, by the way, who's gotten old in his age. He's sort of old-wisen Paul. He can see in the zoomed-out way now, which makes me wonder like what would young Paul have thought about this?
Speaker 1:Young Paul was not quite this maybe mature and restrained and measured. Young Paul was an absolute zealot. Remember young Paul? This was Paul. He writes about himself. He writes this later on. He says hey, from the tribe of Benjamin, I was a learned Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a zealot persecuting the church. Righteousness based on the law. I was faultless and flawless. I mean he was the church. Righteousness based on the law. I was faultless and flawless. I mean he was the man Paul was. He was him, as the kids say. I mean he was up at 4 am every single morning, drinking a gallon of lemon and salt water, meditating for another hour, eating a wholesome breakfast, going for a two-mile run nay, a 10-mile run. Came back, read the entire new David Goggins book in one sitting, did his morning prayers all by 5 am. That was Paul and now Paul's like I don't know. What does it matter? Either way, I win.
Speaker 1:I think, young Paul, we're not staying in prison, we're getting out of here. Let's break out of here. And those guys preaching a false gospel, let's go fight those dudes. Shut those guys preaching a false gospel, let's go fight those dudes. Shut those guys up. I'm not dying in here, I can't die. God needs me, the world needs me. I think Paul would have busted out of there with that young men energy. I love it. But old Paul is different. If I live, great, if I die, fine. Yeah, I wonder what old man Paul would say to younger man Paul if they could be in the same room together. I think old man Paul would say to young Paul hey dude, hey, dude, hey, hey, chill out, man, we're going to be okay, we can't lose. We can't lose, we can't lose, we're going to be okay.
Speaker 1:You ever get so caught up in the moment like that moment's all you can see and it means everything. I remember vividly coaching, travel, sports as a young man, both baseball and softball and lacrosse, and I swear on one random Tuesday night 12 years ago in the middle of a game, in the fifth inning, there was one pitch that went awry and in that moment I was like no, as though that one pitch meant everything and everybody for decades will be talking about that one pitch in the middle of the fifth inning, on a random Tuesday night 12 years ago in Elk River, minnesota. I'm going to tell you nobody cares, nobody cares, nobody remembers that night, that one pitch, nobody cares.
Speaker 1:When I first moved to Minnesota, I applied for a job. You might know the story. I applied for a job as a youth pastor in a church in town that will remain nameless, and they narrowed it down to just me. I was 26 years old, full of young man energy, was going to save the world and I'm like I got this job. They narrowed it down to just me how can I miss? And they decided, after deciding between Ryan and nobody, they went with nobody. My world crumbled. I'm like unbelievable, I can't. And actually I didn't scream, I was actually. I was crying. I bawled like I was crying, like I can't. How will I ever recover from this rejection? How will this ever? My life is ruined. It's over. I'll never be a pastor. I might as well mail it in from now on.
Speaker 1:You know, if old man Ryan could go visit him now, I'd be like dude, it's all right, you're going to be fine, relax, you can't lose, you're going to be okay. It's easy to get lost, isn't it Like in this moment, or this emotion, or this failure or this thought or or this argument, and we get stuck, like in this, we can't get out of it. I mean, paul could have easily descended into self-pity and spiraled out of control in the and sometimes we do we lose all joy and hope and peace and we get consumed by this thing. What if we could zoom out? What if we could zoom out just a little bit? And I wonder, you know, because some of the things that you worried about 20 years ago or 10 years ago if you're younger, maybe like two years ago, you might laugh at them now, like why was I worried about that? Like what if the older version of you could go back and visit that younger? You'll be fine, it's okay. Or how about now? What are the things you're worried about now that are just like a lot? Well, I want to ask you, what might 20 years from now, you say, to now you Imagine, like 20 years from what would that?
Speaker 1:What would that version of you come and say to you what they say to you? Or one more step further what would the age to come? You, when god restores all things, you have this view of the whole thing past, present, future, the cosmic redemption of all things. Oh, that one though. Oh man, I think that version of you might say something like hey, you can't lose. You can't lose, rejoice and have joy. Anyway, I've got to get out of here.
Speaker 1:Here's what we're going to do.
Speaker 1:We're going to sing a song, like we always do, and we're going to pray over you if you want it, if you want to this morning, if you're in the midst of suffering, if you're in the middle of some turmoil and some difficult times, if you've got to go until you can sneak out I know we're over time, but if that's you, if you're like, hey, I'm in the midst of something like a prison or dropping a coffee twice or whatever, and you want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and join with him in his suffering by becoming like him in his death, I want you to come forward and we're going to pray that over you.
Speaker 1:We're going to have four stations up front, just find anyone that's open. As the band plays, we're going to anoint you with oil and say this may you know Christ and the power of his resurrection and may you join with him in his suffering and become like him in his death. I will warn you, this is a dangerous prayer, not because God will somehow unleash all kinds of tragedy now because you prayed this prayer. That's not what God is like. But I'm just saying, if you want to know Christ, this is the Christ pattern Suffering death but of course resurrection. So we'll play and we'll have you come. If you want to, no pressure. But if you come forward, we'll anoint you and pray this prayer for you. So amen.
