Visited Redeemer Presbyterian Church yesterday. Dr. Tim Keller, the senior pastor there, is a great communicator. I never saw him preach before, even though I’ve heard many of his messages. It was definitely much more captivating hearing and seeing him deliver God’s word. His message was on Hebrews 12:1-11. It was a great message and a wonderful reminder to me that trials, suffering, pain, stress, etc. are necessary for my growth. He’s currently doing a Hebrews series and so I picked up all the CDs, if anyone wants to borrow any.
Here are some quotes from the message (some paraphrasing):
- Just because it’s not your plan, doesn’t mean there isn’t a plan.
- When you exercise/workout, you are actually putting stress on the muscle. You are putting energy against something that it doesn’t want to do naturally. When you’re going through life and it’s difficulties, it’s actually strengthening you w/the competing energy.
- When exercising, the weaker you feel, the stronger you’re getting.
- Most pain is caused because of expectations
- In the struggles, the proper question to ask is, “Lord, what do you want to work on in me?”
- In sailing, during a storm, if you just hold the rudder still, you will actually get to your destination faster! If you don’t hold the rudder, you will be FAR worse than before the storm. During the storms of life, you can be much better or far worse.
- God uses the outside brokenness (i.e. injustice, racism, etc.) to fix inside brokenness (i.e. selfishness, pride, etc.). Joseph in Genesis was on the path to being the most arrogant, self-righteous spoiled brat and yet God used the outside brokenness (jealousy of his brothers, favoritism of his father) to heal his inside brokenness.
I know I’m not doing his message justice, but it was a great reminder. You can buy/download the MP3 of the sermon here.. Or you can just borrow it from me.
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