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- [00:06]
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Welcome to the Crazy Love Podcast. When you or someone you love is suffering, how do you respond when our circumstances don't change? Is God actually enough? Today, Francis reflects on suffering, mission and the quiet moments alone with God that anchor us through every season. He reminds us that real peace isn't found in escape or control, but in learning to be fully satisfied in Christ alone.
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Yeah, it was pretty cool this week. Just again, you see, I guess what came to me in prayer is kind of that the thing God's teaching me, teaching is reminding me like everything's in his hands. You can't, you can't make these things happen. You have to be responsible. You have to obey scripture, you have to confront, you need to confront, you need to share the good news with, who you need to share the good news with. But you need to pray for healing. But God decides. And there's times where you're like, wow, I wasn't expecting that blessing. And other times you expect for there to be breakthrough and there's nothing. And. I guess super fun seeing Mark. The more time I spend with Mark and go, what happened to you? You're not, you're not. I don't, I don't know who you are. It's like I'm just being reintroduced to someone that I've never met before. What in the world? You're a different person. And then you see the hardness of heart, you know, which, which was Mark in the past, you know, it's just, it's the soil and, and so it's like you can only, you can only get so much better at sowing seed. You're just tossing it. It's kind of like the whole idea of you just toss and see what sticks. That's with the soil. It's like, I can't change the hard path. That's something. That's, that's God's work. And then when he does it, it's just amazing. But I guess the biggest thing to me is talking to someone in the church who just, everything's wrong, everything's negative. You know, it's not just the church, it's just life. It's just everything. Why can't it be this way like it was in the past or here's the way it should be in the future? And I was trying to explain. I said, you know, first of all, a spirit filled person is giving thanks for everything. In every situation, everything that happens to me, I always just, I know there's something good in it. I just go, God, you're going to use this for the good. You promised that. And so I can thank you for this. I just. I don't. I'm not always there at the moment, but I always get there like, hey, I'm thankful for this. This is good. This is a good thing. Somehow it's going to be a good thing. So thank you, Lord. When everything's negative, but I go, that's not my biggest concern. My biggest concern is, when you're alone with God, do you walk away going, this is awesome. Do you ever. Like, just in the middle of it, isn't it? For me, it's just about every day where I get to a point where it's like, this is so awesome being in a room with you. This is all I need. I'm not afraid of anything as long as I always have this. So no matter what happens in life, I really believe. I can always get back to that point. So I'm not really afraid of anything. You know, there's times I gotta go, oh, this could get sketchy. But then you just go, wherever I'm put, I can always get along. Even if there's a bunch of people in the room, I can block it all out and just sit there. And I guess it's like the Psalm 23. Like, you're just sitting a table before me and my cup's overflowing and I don't want anything. I'm okay, and I'm sharing with this guy. Like, don't you get there. You can't say, well, if this was different, if this was different, this was different. So I'm going to go out and look for those things. I go, that's such a scary place to be if you don't know how to get a loan and with your Creator, Savior, and just go, I'm good. I know you're holy and I know you love me. Life is awesome. Life is great. So if you don't learn that, then. And you keep feeling like the circumstance has to change in order for you to be happy or have this peace, I really don't think you'll ever find it. And there'll be times when you can almost subdue these emotions with other things to keep you busy, keep you, you know, just turn on Netflix and watch something and binge watch, and you can numb it. Get on some medication, you know, go have a drink. Go do this. You can do all of these things, but it just hides the fact that he's not satisfying your soul. You know, like Psalm 73. It's like when I try to understand all this, it was oppressive to me until I entered the sanctuary of God. That there's. And that's why, you know, David's like, gosh, a dry, weary land where there's no water. It's like my soul thirsts for you. You know, it's one thing I ask. I just want to dwell in your course forever. And honestly, I believe that for the majority of people call themselves Christians. I'm speaking in a foreign language for them right now, if they're perfectly honest. Yeah, I don't get that. I don't get that contentment, which is scary. I don't get the. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. I don't understand the walking through the valley shadow of death and fearing no evil or feeling like you just set a table in front of me, in front of my enemies and my cup's overflowing and that's foundational and I don't want us to miss that. I'll probably be sharing some of this Sunday morning because I'm some of the. This morning I was just putting together what do I want to share on Sunday? Because I just asked to share and they want us to be missional, to think about, like, you know, hey, can you give a talk on. We're going to do these Friday night outreaches and stuff. Okay. And just going back to the bread and butter of like, what is it? And we're called to be monastic in a sense. That's what I was just talking about. We have to, there has to be a monastic side to all of us where we can just get alone and love being alone and just love. I can sit here in the presence of God and why don't I not say a whole lot and just believe he's ministering to my soul right now. He's strengthening me because this word promises the Spirit's interceding for me. Jesus, everything is good. Everything is good. You know, when can I, you know Psalm 42, as a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and meet with him? It's just like, yeah, when can I get along again? When can I get away from this craziness? And like, that has to be us. And if that's not in you, then it's off. It's like a three legged stool. Like if you don't have the second thing, which I believe is the unity of the body, if you're not in the body, which I've been talking about the last couple church together, it's like, it's not going to work because the thing on your own, and you have your own thoughts, and you just. You just. You just get arrogant. And now you're better than everyone and you're. Why am I the only one that gets it? Lord, It's. You don't know how to bear with one another and put up with one another. Like, God created us to be a part of the body. It's deliverer or kidney or whatever. I had illustration of, like, I'm meant to be a part of the body, or it doesn't work. That's not how God designed you. But then the third thing we're supposed to be is missional. There's something about being put in difficult, uncomfortable situations that we are made for. And so when you don't have that, you don't get to experience the fullness. And so I was just realizing, you know, we're talking about these Friday nights and these things, and I thought, wow, I've loved my time alone with the Lord this week. And I just take that for granted. Like, oh, of course. Everyone does this. And then I go, wow, I really love the fellowship with just. I'm just right now thinking about the church body and being a part. And. And it's just so. You know, when my friends came and visited this week, I was like, wow, there's just such a filling. There's such a, I don't know, enjoyment of the body. But then I was thinking, gosh, okay, so when Al and I were just driving to the jail on Sunday and driving home and talking about everything God did in the jail and the mission, you know, there's just. When you're in a jail cell with, like, 20 guys and someone brings up something about, well, I just think, you know, I can take a little bit of Islam, a little bit of Buddha, a little this, this, this, and. And you're nodding your head, listening, going, all right, Lord, I gotta confront this. There's no way out of this cell. You know, like, but I can't let this go. This guy is three times my size. You know, I can't let it go. And here we go, Lord, and just say, hey, Biblically, you're absolutely wrong about that. And it doesn't even make sense. Think about it. You know, you're saying, I want to take Jesus, who is the son of God, according to scripture, saying you believe in that, that he died on the cross for your sins, and you're trying to mesh that with Islam that says God has No, son, and Jesus did not die on the cross. And you go, yeah, I'm just going to take those two and push it together. No, you got to pick a side, you know, but in that, he starts sharing about, like, how, yeah, as a teenager, he did something horrible and want to get into it, but it landed him 20 years. And. And then when he got out, felt like God was still punishing him for that. And so that's why he's found himself in and out on lesser charges. And, like, he's still paying for that. And. And then to just share the good news of the prodigal son. I go, I go, you're mixing up a bunch of stuff. If this is Jesus calling you back, here's how the Father responds. Not with, hey, you did a bunch of bad stuff, so let me punish you for a while. No, with a celebration. Put a ring on his finger. We're gonna have a feast. There's no. I go, the prodigal son came with, like, this slavery mentality. Like, well, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. That's what you're doing. The good news is the Father is saying, and then I just told all, I go, you guys, we're all going to pray for him right now. We're all going to pray for him, that he would receive the love of God. And so to see all these inmates, as I'm just praying over this, like, you know, you just go, wow, that was awesome. That was so fun. And then, you know, other conflicts come in and questions come up in the jails where you're like, wow, I love this guy. I love it. And, you know, and then yesterday, confronting a cult leader on stuff where you just got nowhere, and it's just that hardened soil. And again, there's a little bit of, like, what's going to happen? This could. This could get really ugly. But that's the mission where you go, lord, you're with me in this. I'll be okay. And not to say that in the flesh, I don't think of what I do. That's just part of being human. Like, you figure out your escape route or whatever. Or I think I just lay down and let him kick me or whatever. You just. No, it just. That's the flesh. You're like, okay, this one, there's no escape. It's in the jail. But then this one, I'm not saying the flesh doesn't come in, but there's. There's just something that's. This is what I'M made for. And I don't know how I got into the conversation with Silas. I think he was at the church gathering. And what am I. Yeah, in the small group we're discussing, what was our question? I was like, yes, do, like, an apologetics thing. Oh, we're answering questions. Why bad things happen to good people. There is a God wiser suffering. That's what our small group was. Silas was in it, and Jean and Dalali and someone else at Smart, but they. They started talking about suffering and how God redeems it and. And how the apostles could rejoice in it and, you know, suffering and. Well, first we had a group, and it's like, well, you know, how do we answer this question based upon the book of Acts, you know, if there's a good God, why is there so much suffering? And Silas answers first. He goes, well, there's the obvious answer. Okay, what's the obvious answer, Silas? Well, you know, when God created Adam and Eve, they had a choice, and it's because they chose evil that suffering came into the world. And so it's our choices that bring the evil. And there was a God that brought the suffering. It was our choice to choose evil that brings suffering every time we choose. Wow. That's pretty good. Yeah, it was just like, dang, that's good. And then. But then someone else was talking about how we redeem God, even redeemed suffering. And then I went to Colossians and how we even suffer. We fill up what was lacking and Christ's afflictions. And we just got to talking about that and how people have died for the gospel, and, you know, just explaining to Silas, like, yeah, if anything happens to me, it's okay. It's like, everything just kind of like, I'm gonna die anyways. Might as well die in a eternally glorious way that then I get rewarded forever. So just go, if anything happens to dad, it's like, yeah, sad, but it's. It's cool. It's actually really cool. I get to join that list of martyrs. And even, you know, in. Somehow in God's economy of things, the souls at the altar are crying. How much longer? And God says, until the full number. The martyrs. There's. There's still. There needs to be more dying that needs to take place, which we're just. That's so counterintuitive to us. Like, that is a strange way of thinking to us, but obviously it's the right way, because it's God's thinking. We would have been like, the martyrs like, whoa, how much longer? Isn't that enough? Put an end to this. You know, there comes a time, and I'm just saying, okay, if God counts me worthy and he makes me strong enough to join those who are beheaded or whatever, it's okay. It's temporary. And I'm just being reminded while that's at the center of our faith is, everything's good, everything's okay, and not to get too comfortable or fear anything, that danger is just part of the deal. Martyrdom's part of the deal. For me to live as Christ, to die is gain. But it all goes back to that. It has to come from that time alone with God where you're like, yeah, I'm okay. God, whatever you got to take me through, I got it. I got it. You're with me. You're with me. Take me to the valley of shadow of death. That's kind of what I'm made for, is to be okay at those times, rather than complaining and say, well, here's why I'm not happy because of this, this. This. This. Our faith is, no, I'm full of joy and hope in spite of. I'm at peace in spite of. I have a joy inexpressible in spite of my circumstances and at peace beyond comprehension. That's like, wow, how could he be like that in that situation? But just always look at your people and remind them of that. Just because we're prone to complain, prone to blame. That's our culture we live in, and here's why. I'm screwed up. And then we don't need to tiptoe over some of these things. It's reminding people that there's something so beautiful about that. Getting alone with God and going, okay, I was burning. And then I went into the presence of God. Because we can't be people's saviors. We can't just answer every phone call and, you know, we need to be responsible as shepherds. But at some point, something's got to happen in Sunday. And that's what the Day of Pentecost was all about. That's what we celebrate, Pentecost Sunday. It's like, oh, okay, this is good. Even being in the jail, knowing that we might get moved into a different cell block and all the inmates are ready to riot. They're mad that we can't go in there anymore. You know, I was like, yeah, but isn't that cool that it's the Day of Pentecost? Jesus said, hey, don't worry about it. It's going to be fine. Everything's fine. This is just us going, hey, we might not be back here. Jesus said the same thing. And he goes, it's actually to your advantage. And to get these guys to believe, like, maybe you're supposed to lead yourselves. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what God's plan is, but either way, it's not like Jesus is leaving you. It's just me, you know, and you've got the Holy Spirit. You've got to believe these things. And. And that's why I can look at it again. I'm not baptized Sunday and realize, wow, wait one week with her, we may never see her again. But she made profession of faith and got baptized. And I believe the Holy Spirit can continue to minister to her. And then these inmates that are surrounded by darkness, it's like, you know, if the Spirit enters into them, they'll be fine. They'll be absolutely fine. I don't have to feel like our flesh has to structure something perfectly for them to be okay. I just keep believing what the spirit does internally in people.
- [23:29]
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Thank you for listening to the Crazy Love Podcast. Join us next week for a new episode. But until then, for more resources from Crazy Love Ministries or to support the work of Crazy Love, please visit our website@crazylove.org.