00:11Welcome back to Making It Simple. Always great to be with you. We're going to dive back into
00:15our lesson that we've been looking at the last few times, victory. Now that word, again,
00:22we initially always equate that with winning. Winning. Winning the race, winning the fight,
00:31winning the game, winning the war, whatever the case. What if victory was having the strength to
00:38keep going? What if that were really the victory? Not whether we got our hand raised, not whether we
00:45put on the championship belt or wore the championship ring. What if victory was the
00:53ability to stay in the fight without letting the fight take over? What if victory was the ability
01:01to keep running the race and not collapse? Jesus says, I have told you these things so that in me
01:13you may have peace. That's a powerful statement. In fact, it's a bold statement that one proclaims
01:23I'm the answer. That's huge. But what we find is in principle, an example in the life that we have
01:33record of that was lived. Well, it's true. And I think even more of what we find is Jesus,
01:42unlike any other figure in time, was willing to tell the truth. Most don't do that because they
01:50have an agenda. Because in their idea of follow me, they're saying, just do what I tell you.
01:59That's not what Jesus did. He said, follow me.
02:05And I'll give you an example. In me, you may. We talked about that in our last lesson. The importance
02:14of that phrase, you directly may. You have the opportunity. So in other words, the offering is
02:22there. So we go back to understanding why he was saying these things. Not only because it was the truth,
02:30he was pointing to even a greater truth. And that is the fact, life is real. We find that as
02:38this
02:39passage continues. So he's given this answer within the statement. I've told you these things,
02:47the reality of the way things happen, so that in me, you may have peace.
02:54Why do I need peace? Because things are going to get turned upside down. That's life. You need an
03:00anchor. You need a foundation. You need something to hold on to. And I'm that. I'm that one thing.
03:10So that's the truth. That's the good news, if you will. The offering, if you will. And that's what he's
03:16sharing. Because as he continues talking, he says to them, I have told you these things,
03:23so that in me, you may have peace. For you will have. That sounds like a statement of
03:35affirmity. Well, it was. Because this entire conversation that he's been having is personal.
03:45You. I have told you. So that in me, you. It's very direct. And I think that's important that we
03:53understand the importance of that. Because sometimes we get caught up, especially in
04:01faith matters within the church, whatever. We get caught up. And I've noticed this a lot lately.
04:08And again, I don't want to be a critic. That's easy to do. That's low-hanging fruit. However,
04:17if our unwillingness to deal with things as they are given to us continues to persist,
04:27then what happens is, as I recognize a lot of messages, if you will,
04:35it's just a 30-minute recap of cliches that never really mean anything.
04:47Jesus didn't do that. He wasn't repetitive in the nature of just telling everybody,
04:53I won't even go as far as what you want to hear as much as what matters. How is this
05:01going to change
05:02my life? See, it's one thing to continually be repetitive. God is good. And all the other
05:07things that we hear all the time, explain that to me. What does that mean? Now, I'm not talking
05:15about, give me the Greek and the Hebrew and which version of the Bible you read from. No.
05:19What does it mean? Jesus, in this conversation, is saying, I'm telling you how to have victory
05:30in me. You may have peace. But I'm also not hesitant to share with you the reality of the
05:38difficulties of life because they're going to happen. And nobody's exempt. And this is important
05:46we understand that included him. He dealt with mocking. He dealt with being bullied. He dealt
05:56with being ridiculed. He dealt with being rejected. He dealt with being lied about. Do we understand
06:03that fake news existed back then? They paid people to come to his trial to say things that they knew
06:10weren't true? So the modern political system is not new. It's been happening for years.
06:18Jesus said, you will have. That's not a maybe. That's not a maybe. Not at all. You will have
06:29suffering. Some versions say tribulations. It sounds even scarier. But wait a minute.
06:37That sounds like a really harsh word. Sufferings. Yeah. Because life can be harsh. Jesus was not
06:52trying to deceive, my friends. He wasn't. He was trying to make it clear. This is real. He wasn't
07:01giving out cotton candy. He wasn't making promises. He wasn't. He wasn't. No, he was being honest.
07:07And none of it. None of it was a gimmick. None of it was a sales pitch. None of it
07:15was a
07:15a masking over putting the cool whip on top of something that wasn't good. He wasn't doing that.
07:21Many people today use the name of Jesus. They don't proclaim the name of Jesus. There's two very
07:30different things. Two very different things. Understanding the nature of his message and
07:37understanding what he wasn't trying to establish anything, religion or anything. No, no, no. He
07:44was completely fighting that system because it was what broke people. It was what deceived
07:50people. He was trying to not do that. He was being honest.
07:57He said, I told you. I'm not hitting anything from you. I've told you these things. And I told
08:04you that in these things, they're going to happen. And that in that, in me, singular, follow
08:13me, in me, singular, you may have peace. Because I want you to understand when it comes, not
08:22if, when it comes, I want you to know that together, together, we can make it. And I want
08:34you to have peace in that. That's victory. That's victory. It's not whether we win the
08:40race. It's whether we have the strength to keep going. We'll talk more about that tomorrow
08:48when we come back right here at Making It Simple. God bless you.
Comments