Mike Bickle emphasizes the dual nature of sorrow in the Christian life, which can either lead to spiritual maturity or a crisis of faith. He warns that the coming decade will bring unprecedented global trauma, yet believers can experience supernatural joy and peace amidst this turmoil. Bickle encourages a deep connection with God through prayer and remembrance of His promises, asserting that how we respond to sorrow will shape our spiritual destiny. He highlights the importance of engaging with Jesus' teachings to overcome bitterness, grief, and fear, ultimately preparing believers for a significant harvest of souls. The sermon calls for a proactive approach to sorrow, urging believers to seek God's heart and respond with love and kindness, even in the face of betrayal.

Father, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus, and Lord, we thank you for the light of your countenance to shine upon us even now, Lord. I ask you for the release of living understanding. I ask for the tenderizing touch upon our hearts, that you would awaken love in us even more and more, and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Well tonight, we're looking at session two of John chapter 16. This is our sixth semester, and I'm calling this the power of sorrow, the sorrow that leads either to spiritual maturity or to a spiritual crisis in our life, and I believe that we are in the most dramatic transitional decade of human history, the 2020s, and that in this decade of 2020s leading to the 30s, we're approaching the time of a global trauma of deep sorrow that's going to touch the human race beyond any time in history. I want to say that again, a global trauma, excuse me, of deep sorrow never experienced at this level of the human family, surpassing even the global trauma of World War II, which happened for six years, and there was 50 million people died in six years, and cities were destroyed, but at the same time of this future global trauma, millions of believers are going to enter into a supernatural joy and peace, and the contrast is going to be so dramatic, and the Lord's going to use the people that have entered into this peace as his vessel, his even living portrait of his heart, he's going to use to bring in a billion soul harvest, that's what I want to talk about tonight, let's look at paragraph A, we'll start in John 16 verse 14, and then we'll look at verse 6, then we'll break down some of the particular phrases from verse 4 to 7, but verse 4 Jesus said, these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you these things, but verse 6, but because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart, that's my main focus tonight, is how they're responding to the sorrow that fills their heart, they had sorrow hearing the news, and the news would be what he said on Tuesday in Matthew chapter 24, and then again on Thursday in the upper room at the last supper, the combination of these two messages, which was really if you understand it, it was one conversation he was having with them, because we best understand John 13 to 17, these five chapters at the last supper, we best understand it as a continuation of what he said to the disciples on Tuesday in Matthew 24, the great end time chapter, these are his two last recorded messages to the disciples, and they go together, and I have here in paragraph A, the way we respond to Jesus, when sorrow engulfs our heart, determines our spiritual destiny, sorrow and trouble will touch all of us, but the issue is will that sorrow and that trouble overcome us in a way it becomes grief that overcomes and bitterness and fear that traps us and snares us, that we don't get free from, Matthew 13, I mean John 13 to 17, I love to say this, again one more sixth semester of it, this is the greatest teaching given by the greatest teacher in human history, and in these five chapters he was teaching them, he was presenting about, I would, the number I use is 25 different truths and promises, and in these five chapters he gave 25 that you could use a different number depending on how you categorize it, but that's a general number, and he's saying if you will engage with my heart with these 25 truths slash promises, I will empower you to overcome the trauma of sorrow that's going to fill the church, I mean the the earth and the generation the Lord returns, paragraph B, we can respond to sorrow in one of two ways, in dramatically different ways, first sorrow that touches us, the trouble that touches us can lead us to a deep desperate hunger to go deep with God, a new hunger, a new desperation, we think we've got to connect with God in a deep way, because we have to get answers from him, why is this happening, where's this going, what's happening in my life between you and me, where's my future, we need to connect with him in a deep, we have a desperation to connect with him in a deep way to receive supernatural joy, we need joy, we need supernatural peace, that our hearts not entrenched in these dark emotions, paragraph C, if we respond to the Lord right in this decade, in the decade that's coming, in the years following that, we can avoid a great spiritual crisis that hundreds of millions, even billions will be trapped in, I know that's alarming and that's the point, hundreds of millions of people, I say billions, will be ensnared in a deep spiritual crisis and a trauma of deep sorrow on the earth, now many believers even today, they're being overcome with pain, with grief, with bitterness, now the good news is hundreds of millions are going to get free of this and they're going to walk in supernatural peace and joy and we want to be a part of that company, vast company across the earth that we're preparing now to connect with the Lord and we're preparing now to prepare the next generation, so that we have answers and we have clarity and we know where we're going and we know how to get there, I have here in paragraph C, many Christians today are being overcome with sorrow related to unfulfilled expectations, they thought life, they thought their ministry, they thought their career, their marriage, their family would be very different than it actually is, many have great sorrow and grief over unfulfilled expectations, others are overcome with fears of the coming trouble they see on the horizon, they see the troubles and the political situation, the digital currency projections of global tyranny and governments and oppression and so much negative thing in the woke culture and many, many things that are emerging in the earth and they see the climate and the earthquakes and tsunamis and they're just paralyzed with fear, believers are, others they're overcome with the pain of betrayal because betrayal is increasing, even among believers, people's hearts get offended, they betray one another and the pain of being betrayed or the shame of failure of a believer, many believers are trapped in shame because of their spiritual failure and there's almost hopeless stuck in addiction, many of them have deep confusion just about the direction of their life, they have nowhere, no knowledge of where they're going, but my message tonight is though that's true and millions of believers are really entrapped in that right now, that's not the final, that's not what, that's not how the story ends, that's not our story and our destiny, the Lord is promising in these five chapters, I'll give you weak and broken people supernatural joy, I'll give you power to overcome the trouble and the sorrow, but you need to interact with me according to the truth I'm laying out before you, now the apostles, the early church experienced these troubles and this trauma of sorrow, but it's clear from scripture that what they experienced and walk in the pressures and even the power in the revival was a template for the end time church to experience a greater trouble, but a greater power, it'll be the most dramatic hour, the most glorious, yet the most dangerous, the most challenging, but the most glorious and vibrant generation in human history, which is emerging, I think we're in that hour now, Roman numeral two, I want to give just a short review of session one, what we looked at last week, just to get those that are new tonight for the first time or those that heard it, but think I can't fully remember, I want to get back in that conversation, so I'm going to give you just a real quick snapshot of where we went last last week in session one of this sixth semester, it's the surprise, the surprising part of God's plan that he's using this unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit together with a culture of betrayal and persecution, combining those two together as part of the optimum environment for the church to be transformed, and this transformed church will be God's vessel to bring in a billion soul harvest or more, and yet in this hour, the church is moving in two radically different directions, and a lot of folks are still in the middle, not sure which direction they're going in, but millions are moving towards the Lord with a deep resolve to mature in love, they're not claiming they are mature in love, but they're set, this is my portion, this is my destiny, I'm going to be a lover of God and a deliverer of men under His grace and in His hand, but others at the very same time, believers, I mean millions, they're being overcome with offense, and therefore they're giving, it's leading them to give voice to betrayal even towards other believers, Jesus said this in Matthew 24 verse 10 and the word I want to focus is many, this is not a small thing, last week I talked about the prominence of betrayal in God's and the importance of it in God's end time purpose, it's important because betrayal touches the human heart like nothing else does, and it creates this deep urgency to go deep in God or it drives us the other direction, Jesus talked in Luke 21 which is the same message as Matthew 24, it's the same afternoon, Luke just adds a few more dimensions to the message that Matthew doesn't add in Matthew 24, Luke adds them in Luke 21, last week I talked about that God is using betrayal in a significant way because He knows it's an accelerant, that's a strange description and what does that mean, but because of the way betrayal touches us, such a deep way, it sets us on a path to faster growth in the spirit or faster being overcome by betrayal and offense and anger, but I mean the bitterness is what I meant to say and anger and offense, betrayal sets us on a trajectory those directions in a faster way, that's why the Lord is using it because betrayal only happens if there's been previously a trusted relationship of to some degree, a stranger can't betray you, they can attack you, but it's not betrayal because your heart wasn't open to it, there wasn't a history, there wasn't even an element of trust or history together, but betrayal it touches us in this way and the Lord says I'm going to use it, paragraph B, it's both a demonic attack to hinder our faith, but also betrayal is a divine gift because if we respond right, it speeds up our spiritual growth, Paul talked about it, I looked at it last week that persecution, Paul said Philippians 1, he said it's granted to you like a gift from God because of the benefits it brings you in this life, but the eternal benefits, so Paul reinterpreted persecution through the lens of if he responded right, what he gained from it and that's a big subject, I don't want to go into that, we looked at it last week and I referenced several messages I've given in the last year to breaking down that biblical narrative more in detail, but that's not really what I want to focus on tonight, paragraph C, we're here in John 16, Jesus said these things I have spoken to you, meaning these 25 truths and promises, these warnings of trouble and there's actually when you add it up between Matthew 24 and the upper room message at the last supper, there's like 12 distinct types of trouble that are severe and painful, betrayal I think probably is the worst, I don't know, you don't have to pick which is the worst, none of them are good, but Jesus saying I've given you these 25 truths and promises and I've warned you of these 12 types of trouble so that you would not be made to stumble and the word stumble is to be overcome with offense, he's talking to the apostolic company in the first century, he goes you apostles that I've chosen, you will succeed but know this that even you could be overcome with offense and if you do it will be bad for you, now the good news is they all they had some stumblings but they had breakthroughs and they all walked in that vibrant spirit in the face of those 12 troubles, I mentioned these 12 troubles and one of my messages in the John 15 semester, it was the very first message in it in John chapter 15, that was the second semester on John 15 now that I remembering not that it matters but some of you might want to know what are those 12 troubles that they experienced but that's a template of the troubles that are going to emerge far beyond in the generation the Lord returns and I believe that we're in that generation right now, we're in the early days of it, one of the things he highlighted right here in John 16, he goes they're going to kick you out of the synagogue as I mentioned last week, that's easy to miss the significance of what he just said because most of the Jewish people in that hour, they grew up in rural towns and they lived in those towns for decades even generations and the synagogues are quite small, everybody knew everybody in that town that was their spiritual family, they were Bible believing people that claim to have relationship with the God of Israel, they claim to honor the Bible, the Torah, the Old Testament, the written word of God and Jesus says that's the group that's going to kick you out and they're going wow, I can see the Pharisees being against us but not our synagogue, no I know those people, they're my friends, Jesus said you're not understanding, even family members and friends inside of the that have a biblical narrative, I mean a testimony of honoring the word of God and caring about it, those people will betray each other when they get offended, my point is our greatest danger is not in being betrayed, this is again from last week and I'm going to move on now to this week, our greatest danger is responding wrong to that betrayal, that's what the enemy wants, paragraph D, here's what God wants, in the betrayal he wants us to respond right because it will transform us, the Lord's leading us to transformation to respond in Matthew 5 44, it's my heart and I think it's it will happen that Matthew 5 44 becomes such a well-known verse in the body of Christ across the whole earth, like we all know John 3 16 and we all know a couple verses, this is one of the most significant verses for the end time church, Jesus is saying that when you're cursed, I'm raising up and anointing people that will bless the people that curse them even within the community of God, when they're cursed and betrayed, I'm raising up people that touch the spirit in such a way they can actually bless those people and do good for them because verse 45 is the ultimate, I can't imagine anything greater than this because if you do that, that will usher you into a supernatural lifestyle, you interact with God, blessing people that curse you that are actually friends and loved ones, former loved ones, I mean still loved ones to you but people that you've walked with over the years, it will usher you into a supernatural lifestyle that you will look like God the father because Jesus said even God the father is good and kind to evil men and nobody can be kind to somebody evil, particularly if it's a relationship that you've had trusted and they're evil, they turn on you even if it's not evil but they have turned on you, if you love them and bless them, you will look like God the father, God's going to raise up hundreds of millions of these living portraits of what his heart's right and that's his strategy to bring the billion so harvest with people that look like the father, unbelievers will go this is impossible that you could live this way without something supernatural, you know something we don't know and Jesus said you will be sons of your father, meaning you will be understood by both believers and unbelievers as like God the father who is kind to evil people, it's a supernatural lifestyle, top of page 2 paragraph a John 16 verse 14, we'll just look at the first phrase phrases here, these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember I told you, that's the key word you maybe remember, now Jesus repeated this phrase these things seven times in John 13 to 17 and again he means the 25 truths or promises together with the 12 categories or types of trouble and sorrow, he goes I've laid it out to you, I've given you the positive, I've shown you the negative, I remember hearing one preacher saying that he goes we're not a gloomy eyed pessimist nor are we starry-eyed optimist but we're wide-eyed realist, trouble is coming we're real about it but we're not gloomy-eyed pessimist giving up and giving in but we're not starry-eyed optimist that think everything's just going to be easy and it's going to be great and any minute we're going to be raptured anyway so what difference does it make but we're wide-eyed realists that are anchored in a biblical narrative of the intense glory but in the intense trouble and Jesus said I've told you these things and he mentions it seven times in these five chapters why so you will remember them paragraph b it was about 60 years later most commentators think that john's now in his 90s on the island of patmos and jesus visits him in the book of revelation and jesus speaks to him and he highlights a church called sardis which is right there in modern day turkey the seven churches of the book of revelation are all in modern what is today modern day turkey but which was back then they were the recipients of the great revival that that the center happened in the city of ephesus you might not know this but in acts 19 and 20 the greatest revival in the in the new testament happened in ephesus in what is today modern day turkey the far surpassed what happened in jerusalem far surpassed what happened in antioch the great ephesian revival acts 19 and 20 these seven churches came out of it and some of these churches responded good some responded bad and some responded half and half and but they had this incredible season of revival second to none no revival in the book of acts and jesus says to this church he tells john john go tell this church sardis revolution three tell them that they have a reputation they're spiritually alive but they're spiritually dead actually he doesn't mean they're not born again he goes they're spiritually stuck they're not vibrant like they used to be they don't have a a living dynamic uh interaction with me they're spiritually bored they're spiritually dull they're stuck tell them strengthen the things that are still alive and one of the ways that they are to strengthen tell them to remember remember how they received the word from me and what they've heard from me they were told to recall how and why remember 10 20 30 years ago is what john's telling them well jesus is telling john to tell them how god once called them to wholeheartedness tell them to remember what he promised them both in the written word again tonight we're looking at john 13 to 17 there's more promises besides those five chapters but that's just a good it's a good place to get locked into remember the promises that are written in the word remember the promises that lord has spoken to you prophetically even those faint whispers where he gave you just a moment of inspiration of something a breakthrough that would happen in your life and in your ministry remember it remember how you used to respond with tender love remember these things our tendency because we're human is to forget so we have to be intentional about remembering we have to be intentional now i really like this call this charge of jesus remember he tells john john could have said jesus 60 years ago you told us to remember john 16 verse 4 because i put it in my story i remember at the last supper you told us to remember and i did not that john did not have struggles not that he did not have moments where he forgot that he could say to jesus jesus you you're sticking with the same exhortation and jesus could say yes it's critical to remember it's critical remember paragraph one the call to remember is one of the most important the most emphasized exhortations in the bible i don't know if any exhortation maybe praise the lord might be there's probably more but remember is one of the most emphasized exhortations commands in the bible remember we have to be in turn intentional number two when we remember then it makes sense to be obedient and radical when we forget which we we all tend to all the time we lose sight of promises we lose sight of truths we lose sight of who we are to god what our destiny is what our promises are in the written word and those prophetic promises that are unique to you and your family and your ministry and your and your generation when we forget we lose sight and we become easily discouraged we lose motivation one of the great blessings in my life and i say this genuinely but a little tongue-in-cheek as well is our prophetic history the last 40 years i've told the story many of you have heard it it's on on my website i've given the the story the 10-hour version probably five or six seven times in 40 years i don't know but it's not that it's the fact that i i don't know the real number but i have two three four times i meet people from out of town visitors and leaders every time they want to hear an app some part of that prophetic story so i'm like oh man here i'm talking about 52 weeks a year for 40 years what's that 50 times 40 that's lots of lots of weeks i don't know how many weeks that is what's 50 times oh my goodness 2,000 weeks two or three times so that's 2,000 times three okay i've told that story oh my goodness no wonder i'm tired of telling that story but anyway no but but here's the point i'm a little blah blah i'm not really tired of it but the lord wants it in my mouth he's saying yurts in your mouth because they're asking you but you're remembering it you would forget it if i didn't have these people in front of you so i really am grateful i really am grateful but sometimes in the midst of it it's like oh again bob jones walked in my office with the winter coat on oh my goodness this is like 6,000 times but i got it i mean i really got it but i it dawned on me some years ago the lord said i'm actually setting you up for success by making you remember because you wouldn't do it on your own i know you would but i probably wouldn't i just it's easy to lose our way last week i was just telling uh one of the part of my journey paragraph c here when my very first prophetic encounter as a young pastor in 1976 so that's lots of years 30 40 seven years ago maybe something like that oh my goodness i keep telling these numbers i'm gonna get tired tonight anyway at my first prophetic encounter the lord spoke and he said you're gonna have a lot of enemies a lot of people are gonna speak against you that was so odd because i had nobody speaking against me i thought really why would that happen but it was it was so dramatic and the lord and the word he spoke was that was uh psalm 18 verse 35 he goes but my gentleness will make you great that was the oddest verse i ever heard you're what it was so dramatic now what he was saying is i'm going to be gentle to you in your weakness and in your deficiencies and failures and that's going to produce such gratitude you will be gentle to your enemies your adversaries even christians that betray you out of gratitude you'll be gentle to them that is where your greatness lies your graciousness doesn't lie in how many people you touch your greatness doesn't lie and how much knowledge you acquire your greatness lies in your ability to be gentle to people who treat you wrong because i was gentle to you it took me years to fit to understand that and i went and the reason i'm sharing that because though it was a very dramatic uh encounter and the lord has confirmed it four or five times in very dramatic ways i don't want to tell you the prophetic history again tonight but anyway i'm telling you because you have this same mandate many of you your greatness is tied to his gentleness towards you to awaken kindness gratitude so you're gentle to even family members and friends in the body of christ who are saying wrong things about you knowingly that have been offended for reasons you deserved or didn't deserve doesn't matter they're offended and when offense goes from the heart to the mouth it's called betrayal betrayal is verbal most betrayals verbal so when the offense goes from the heart to the mouth then it becomes betrayal most believers that speak against other believers to undermine them or to you know to uh undermine them yes that's good enough they uh they don't think of it as betrayal they think of it as justice or something i've watched this for many years the lord says don't worry about that you you respond in kindness back to them and you'll look like your heavenly father paragraph e the overarching theme of these five chapters is jesus's command don't let trouble dominate your heart chapter 14 verse 1 i gave a a a full message on this and i and i have the information right right there on it if you if you want to really i really break it down in details i'm not going to tonight but the reason i care about that is that you really want to know these truths that this is a a very very significant commandment jesus said don't let trouble dominate if there's human dynamics you have to be engaged to not let trouble dominate because trouble or sorrow which overlap they will touch you and they might even engulf you for a short moment meaning some days and maybe longer even but if you will interact with jesus with these 25 truths and promises you can get free i won't dominate you the lord says i won't do your part and you can't do mine if you don't if you rise up and speak the word of god and get it in your mouth that's by you not letting it dominate it hits you it stings you but it hasn't dominated you yet if you will resist it by speaking my word back to me in conversation with me i will give you the supernatural peace you can't make the peace happen but i won't make you stand up and refuse to be dominated you have to do that yourself and he was telling this to the apostles the good news paragraph f is that all this trouble is is is intense the power of peace over weakened broken humans like us is greater than the trouble paragraph g i'm just top of page three quote i'm just saying what uh i've already said over and over that these five chapters is line up online insight into god's heart how to overcome these dark and dangerous emotions bitterness is a dangerous emotion it can set you on a trajectory of great spiritual darkness bitterness can even if the guy really mistreated you bitterness of it traps you it will really hurt your life grief if you let it dominate you it can hurt you and sting you because there is legitimate grief but don't let it dominate you equal to this is fear or or shame the enemy uses shame as much as bitterness to trap a believer with dark emotions paragraph h paul says the same thing that jesus says but different language i just i love paul's language here that's why i want to use it he says in philippians 4 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god will guard your heart in your mind now he's saying the same thing that jesus said in john 14 just different words jesus said let not trouble dominate paul said don't be anxious that's exactly the same thing don't let fear dominate you but here's the key phrase the key sentence in everything by prayer with thanksgiving make your requests known to god now the prayer with thanksgiving is not identical as the request you're making now the request you're making is a prayer but at a quick read we think he's just repeating himself and he's not the request we make request lord release finances for this need that's legit that's that's biblical lord heal this my body or this person lord open this door change the circumstance that's the request but paul said in everything by prayer with thanksgiving make a request from a platform of a life of prayer with thanksgiving the word prayer put the word in there conversation with god what paul is saying is cultivate a lifestyle of conversation with god that has thanksgiving in it and then make your requests off of that foundation now when i first read this verse and i first even taught it my early years of pastoring i thought that what jesus was saying is if you're asking for a financial need a breakthrough or healing or a situation ask for it and thank him in advance for it that's what he meant well undoubtedly paul would say yeah that's really right but i was thinking of something a little bit different i want you to cultivate a prayer a life of prayer a conversation with me that has thanksgiving in it thank me for those 25 truths and those promises and in that vibrant relationship that gets cultivated little by little it's not overnight while you're taking these truths you're getting them in your mouth and you're thanking god for them that's the context of which then you make requests about your circumstances etc and paul said if you do that verse 7 peace will supernaturally guard your heart and your mind now he's saying two different things he's promising peace that guards your mind many of you know what it means to have a very restless mind a sleepless night everyone's experiencing great turmoil in our mind confusion can't make a decision and almost some people i mean painful turmoil in their mind they can't get free believers they love jesus their their their minds are actually engulfed in confusion and turmoil but then others something different is the same with the heart their heart is trapped with shame and fear they're paralyzed panic attacks they can't no i'm not saying everybody with a panic attack this is that because some of them are physiological and i don't want to get into the science of all that right now but my point being paul saying there is supernatural guarding of the mind and the guarding of the heart then why is it so many believers don't have this in their life because they're not doing the first part of verse 6 they're not cultivating a life of conversation called prayer thank you god that you love me show me more that's the phrase i and every one of these 25 promises and truths i like to start when i read them and i say thank you god show me more of this truth and then i say another little phrase or two meaning i want to get it into conversation in my relationship with god i don't want to just underline the truth and say glory to god lord just talk to me thank me for that truth thank me that i love you thank me that i forgave you thank you that i have a new jerusalem waiting for you to live and thank me for that and ask me to show you more and if you do it will begin this process of peace that guards a mind in turmoil and a heart entrenched and that's even paralyzed and stuck and can't get free i know scores of believers that can't get free of the mind or the heart or both and i and i don't i'm not looking down saying aren't you bad i'm saying there's a way out but nobody can do this for you nobody can have this conversation with god for you a spouse can't a parent can't a friend can't a pastor can't only you can talk to god from your heart to release peace into your mind and peace in your heart which are two different things paragraph i again i've mentioned this over and over through these six semesters that we're on in john 13 to 17 to better understand what jesus is talking about in john uh 13 to 17 you got to go that's thursday night the last supper you got to go back to tuesday the the famous matthew 24 end time passage now notice in verse 6 jesus said you'll hear of wars rumors of war see that you're not troubled this is tuesday he introduces the subject of not being troubled that's tuesday now thursday when he says let not your heart be troubled he's actually referencing this conversation paragraph j the four i got 12 areas of trouble but i got four kind of general categories that jesus is real specific about these four real specific fear being not allowing fear and there's many of those those uh sources of fear in matthew 24 grief from the death of loved ones well in their case jesus was going to die that night i mean the next day but then some of them were going to die so it's more than grief of jesus dying it's the sudden loss of a loved one it's a painful reality and it should be painful and should have grief but paul said at thessalonians 4 we grieve but not like unbelievers like people with no hope we grieve differently but we do grieve the other category was the shame of personal failure and the bitterness from betrayal they troubled the early church and the early apostles but they are a template of the troubles of the end time church look at roman numeral four i might just give just uh i'm gonna give you seven of these 12 areas just to kind of get you jump started in them and again i i give the all 12 of them and john chapter 15 the second semester session one for those of you that some of you are real students of this and you want to really get it because you want to get it to the people you're discipling and shepherding i mean you may be 18 and you're pouring into 12 year olds and you say i want to get this stuff down so i like to give more detail than some are not interested in all the detail and some are and so i just give it both ways lay it out there and then i just kind of breeze over it and there's a certain kind of guy a gal that goes hey i want the details of this well i'll just give you seven of them the grief over the death of jesus and loved ones the shame over personal failure they all stumbled that night the bitterness of betrayal they were all betrayed by judas judas didn't just betray jesus he betrayed them and but there were many more betrayals that came after that the societal crisis all kinds of categories of that persecution natural disasters cosmic signs the real point is not how bad the troubles are the troubles are real the real point is there's a supernatural peace for weakened broken people that's stronger than the trouble that's the point he's making roman numeral four receiving joy and peace again i can lay out 25 truths if you break it down and my point isn't to do that all in one session but to make you go okay they're really 25 of these a truth where we look at it and but again we don't just appreciate it we bring it into conversation with god we thank him and ask him for more understanding of that truth and you'll always say a few more things if you start with that that's how i always start thank you show me more paragraph b this is to me one of the most surprising ones because if you read the whole story in context john 13 verse 38 that's the last verse of john 13 the next thing in your bible is it says chapter 14 get rid of that chapter 14 because it's interrupting the conversation the last verse of chapter 13 goes peter you're going to deny me the very next sentence but let not your heart be troubled he's talking to peter about shame but because we got a chapter in there we always start chapter 14 with verse 1 no start chapter 14 with two verses before because that's the conversation he's having it's the trouble of shame he's actually touching right there peter don't let this thing dominate you but here's the surprising part the very first thing he tells peter well they're all there but he's looking straight at peter because he's you're gonna deny me peter says no he goes but let not your heart be troubled peter goes no no worries i'm not gonna deny you anyway there's not a problem he goes yeah yeah there's gonna be a problem this is about four hours from now but here's what jesus said the first truth he talks about the new jerusalem and eternity that's the first thing he says don't be troubled because you're going to live in the new jerusalem with me and i'm returning now if a pastor was talking to one of their team members about overcoming shame i don't know one pastor in the world would start off with anchoring them on teaching about the new jerusalem a pastor probably get fired they'd go bro be realistic i got shame and that's what jesus said i know you gotta get anchored in the right storyline and the western church is not anchored in the apostolic gospel which is really anchored in the value of the reality of eternity in our life choices we make life choices with eternity in view that's very rare in the western church but that's going to make a comeback in the early church that was very common they made choices with eternity eternal consequences in mind positive and negative they made life choices regularly they preached the gospel with that as the core that's very rare in the western church right now but it's going to come another church truth is god's love anyway i gotta i give you four or five of them there but there's really 25 i'm just kind of jump starting you in the conversation roman numeral six now roman numeral six what he's really saying here in chapter 16 verse 5 it's you don't it's not you might not catch it at a quick read he's connecting them to the big picture of god's story that's what he's really doing but it doesn't look at that like that when you first read it he says in verse 5 now i go away to him who sent me which is the father and none of you ask me where are you going because these things i've told you about these 12 categories of negative and again i've given real general fear bitterness grief though uh these things he goes verse 6 he goes because i've told you about the negative sorrow has dominated your heart and your mind right now and that's all you're thinking of is your sorrow you haven't asked me where i'm going now commentators point out it looks like jesus is contradicting what he said earlier or what john said earlier because in chapter 13 i have the passage there peter said where are you going chapter 14 thomas said where are you going chapter 16 jesus said no one has asked me where i'm going okay hmm yeah are you saying something bigger than what meets the eye yes he says because sorrow is dominating your mind and your perception and even all your questions you're only thinking about me going somewhere and you losing out in your temporal circumstances right now because what had just happened is that in john chapter 11 jesus raises lazarus from the dead after four days the greatest miracle that was the miracle that made the leadership in the jewish leadership determined we will now kill him john chapter 11 it's right there it's very very clear we're going to kill him now so jesus leaves jerusalem immediately after he raises lazarus and he's gone for four to eight weeks commentators say we can't know for sure but it's about four weeks to eight weeks he's gone he gets out of town because they're going to find him and kill him soon jesus is not afraid of dying but he wants to die on passover he doesn't want to die eight weeks earlier so he leaves town he goes to a town called ephraim and then over to paria which is on the other side the jordan river and he's gone four to eight weeks and they're with him so now they're back they've been back in town for about a week less than a week actually jesus says i'm going and they're thinking we're going on another trip they're asking where are you going in israel for a month or two to duck the pharisees and the sadducees jesus said i didn't say i'm going there i said i'm going to the father yeah okay but are you going to build a temple somewhere like where's another little center instead of the temple in jerusalem like what what are you where are you going jesus and they're so gripped in their sorrow they cannot get into the narrative he is about to tell them he's saying he could have said this here it is thursday night guys on sunday as a man i will have a resurrected body in the royal court of heaven at the right hand of the father forever and all you care about is are you going to be sad for a little while get connected to what's happening to me not just my pain where i'm going it is indescribably glorious at a few about an hour earlier i make it up the hour i don't really know john 14 he says he gives the hint he goes if you loved me you would be happy i'm going to the father because it's i'm in my humanity with a resurrected perfect body and the throne of glory the message he's saying here you're sorrowful but you're not connecting to the big storyline at all you're connecting to your temporal comfort right now and how you're going to feel and i understand that but you gotta you gotta press through to what i'm trying to tell you i am grieving over what's gonna happen to me tomorrow but i am so excited for sunday because i will be in that state for billions of years i can't wait i'm with the father in hours oh it's so close paul he he saw this in ephesians 1 but i want you to understand jesus fully understood what paul writes in ephesians 1 so many years later jesus it's in his mind and he's thinking if you guys could get into my story you could get out of your sorrow because not just because if you love me you're excited for me my destiny and your destiny are dynamically connected it's your story too but you're stuck in wondering how you're going to feel the next season in your circumstances if you're going to be comfortable or sad get into the bigger storyline exactly what he's saying here look what paul says verse 20 he goes the father raised jesus seated him at the right hand in heavenly places far above all powers and principalities jesus seated father i mean seated jesus in the highest governmental position in the universe he put him there as a human as a man with a body a physical body it's indescribably glorious he put everything under jesus's feet the scripture in psalm 24 once says the earth is the lord's and all that's in it belongs to the father he transferred the ownership of everything to a jewish man a man said this is yours now as a man everything is now given to you jesus is so excited and then he gave this man jesus to the church paul said church do you know that god gave this man who's the head to us by the holy spirit we're joined to him we're seated in heavenly places and through the church through our connection the fullness of god will be released in the earthly realm forever and forever through us all of this was true at the last supper he's going guys get into the storyline what are you doing we're so sad because we're gonna be on we're gonna things are gonna be rough for the next season yeah but do you know where i'm going and where you're going with me forever and do you know how much power i will have there that i will release upon you roman number seven what jesus is giving i'll be real brief on this one and let's leave it to the those of you that those real eager uh students you want more on this jesus is giving a model of how he teaches about trouble now at first you might go what he's presenting to them the way he taught them related to trouble verse 4 we're going to read verse 4 and verse 12 jesus said i did not say to you at the beginning all of these things because i was with you verse 12 but i have many things to say to you you can't bear now first he says verse 4 i did not say all these things to you at the beginning because i was with you commentators would say but he did say on a number of occasions he was going to die he said that nine months earlier in matthew 16 he did say they'd be persecuted in matthew 10 so some commentator saying jesus is saying he never said this but he did say it so i spent a couple paragraphs here i'm not going into it explaining why jesus said unique things that night because commentators will say he already said in matthew 16 nine months earlier he was going to die and he already said they would be persecuted and be killed so jesus is contradicting himself and that i never like it when people talk to about jesus that way i'm still gonna bless him though anyway i'm not gonna explain the distinctions but i got them there if you care about that this because maybe you're in a season you go that's not my big point right now i got other things going on in my life i get that verse 12 but he goes i have many things to say to you that you cannot bear many things to say to you can bear let's go to paragraph uh uh e let me see am i right yeah yes it is paragraph e so he's looking at them at the last supper saying i've told you some things but many things i've not told you i mean he didn't tell him about the book of revelation for 60 more years because jesus here's the model of his training and teaching i'm only i'm telling you this to you because you're trainers many of you will be messengers that are preparing people and you're explaining the trouble that jesus but we want to do it the way jesus did it and jesus gave people insight on the trouble according to what they could understand their spiritual capacity to grasp it in a way that it would empower them to move on in god so it starts off paragraph one here we are nine months before the cross verse 21 matthew 16 from that time that that's the key phrase jesus began to talk about that he was going to die now he's been with them for like over two years he hasn't emphasized i'm going to die they can't bear it they got nine months to get their mind around this they've been with him for a couple years now and jesus says no no they could handle that i'm not gonna tell them what they can't handle and the proof is peter goes no you're not gonna die and jesus that's the devil talking through you peter you're a great guy and i love you but the devil's inspiring you right now we got nine months for you to get your head around what's going on well matthew luke 24 this is true of all of us we're slow of heart as humans we don't get stuff quick so i'm not saying that negative i'm just saying is that as shepherds what we care about is being helpful to people i'm gonna criticize hypothetically criticize a few pastors i don't know i really don't know them because i want to lay this foundation in your heart this value not very many but a lot of pastors or whatever i mean not probably a very big percentage they teach mostly what they get affirmation for teaching they teach mostly what they like the subjects they like they teach so they can win an argument they teach so they can show how much they know i don't think most pastors or leaders are like that way let me go through that again they say what gets people go whoa likes man we're for you they say well i don't really like this other stuff i'm really into this because that's what excites me jesus said and paul said i teach what's helpful not what's popular what necessarily is my favorite what necessarily i'm not showing everyone how much i know i'm not trying to win an argument i'm trying to win hearts so it's jesus is saying guys i didn't even tell you about the death till nine months ago because you could handle it and when i told you you still could handle it and i got many things you can't handle now and then when he rose from the dead for the next 40 day for the next 40 uh days where where's that at it's somewhere on the notes here you'll find it he taught him about the kingdom i mean here he is teaching them in the resurrection about the kingdom for 40 days peter could have said jesus you knew all this a week ago at the last supper jesus yeah but you could handle it then there's this progressive sequence with sensitivity and jesus is locked into what's helpful to them not what's popular he's not jesus isn't proven how much he knows and and i'm saying this with with uh gratitude humility i'm not boasting about this but i'm in a company of a lot of people who they're not teaching to prove how much they know and i love that i see that they're trying to be helpful our passion is to get a whole company of people ready to get the 10 year olds ready if you're over 30 you're already one of the old people i hate to tell you that i know that's new information you say i'm only 29 well okay you'll be old next year then no i'm teasing about that my point is we have got to be if you're 30 or you're 20 we got to get ready to get prepared to get the 10 year olds ready because they're going to be 20 years old one minute and we're going to be messengers that teach them about the trouble and we can't teach them to prove how much bible prophecy we know we can't teach them because our favorite themes are this we can't teach them so we can win an argument and show how brilliant we can't teach them only what we like we got to teach them what gets them ready that's the point i'm making and paul paragraph h he was like that he said i got things i would like to teach you but you're babes and i'm not even saying this critical because you can't handle it but i'm going to give you what is helpful to you not unload all that i know so you're wowed by me para k the mighty angel that visited daniel told him that in the last days there's going to be a people who understand we're believing god for a million of these people who understand all of the earth to prepare the billion the billions of harvest we need a couple million who get the end time storyline with the trouble but the glory too but people are easy about the glory it's the trouble that gets people quiet a lot of charismatic preachers will talk about the glory but they won't talk about the trouble and some will talk about the trouble but then it's no problem because they're going to be raptured any minute anyway but we got to talk about the trouble knowing we're going to be here in the glory and put them together because we're getting ready we're getting young people ready to have a vibrant heart and the greatest hour of power and glory and trouble of human history and god's raising up shepherds people who understand says they'll teach many and when that word many when a mighty angel says many it's millions of millions i mean there's gonna be several billion people believers and unbelievers who care about this storyline so as people who are going to have people of understanding one of my favorite in time passages is paragraph l worship team go ahead and come on up jeremiah 3 15 i love this this is an end time passage when you read it in context he goes i'm going to raise up shepherds according to my heart now he's clearly echoing king david a man after god's own heart i'm going to raise up shepherds like david men and women young and old they're shepherds after my heart and here's what they're going to do they're going to feed the people on understanding of god's heart to help the people they're not trying to get an audience they're not trying to get affirmation they're not winning an argument they're not proving how smart they are they're not only staying in the vein of what they enjoy they're locking into the biblical narrative and they're going to give what people can bear in that day and they're going to progressively add to it as time goes forward and paul said in paragraph m he goes many are children is the idea he goes and they're being tossed to and fro they're all confused by bible doctrines they don't know which is right or which is wrong he said but here it is verse 15 we're going to speak the truth in love so they grow up now speaking the truth in love surely means in a kind tone speaking the truth in love means many things but i'm i include those but speaking the truth of love meaning we're thinking of themes because we love them to get them to grow as children to mature we're locking into their value we're joining god's plan for their greatness like i tell young people i said i'm contending for your greatness i'm doing this for your greatness in the spirit and i'm doing it for my own as well because jesus said if you teach these things you'll be called great so there you go and so you can't lose with god but i'm talking about people who are becoming in time students understanding that jesus spoke partial a little bit more things you can't bear a little bit more later people and so i'm saying as a people we want to be shepherds like that after his own heart that are teaching because we love not because it gets us ahead in our ministries amen and amen let's stand before the lord