July 13, 2025 • 44 mins
When life's struggles feel overwhelming, what perspective can transform our pain into purpose? Professor Bill Coleman offers a profound answer through his concept of "eternity lenses" - a way of viewing our temporal challenges through the filter of eternal reality.
Coleman begins with a deeply personal story of being uprooted at sixteen when his father took a new job in Florida. Despite understanding it was God's leading, the teenage Coleman found himself weeping during the entire drive south, feeling that God hadn't considered how this move would impact him personally. This relatable experience sets the stage for a transformative message about perspective.
Drawing from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Coleman explains that God has placed "the seeds of eternity" in every human heart while simultaneously placing us in a temporal world with real difficulties. This tension creates our need for eternity lenses - prescription glasses that allow us to see what's happening around us through the lens of what lasts forever.
The heart of Coleman's message explores four powerful contrasts: while our physical bodies are wasting away, our inner selves can be renewed daily; our "light and momentary afflictions" are preparing us for "an eternal weight of glory"; we must fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen; and the things that are seen are temporary while unseen things are eternal.
Perhaps most compelling is Coleman's application of these principles to relational conflicts. When someone mistreats us, eternity lenses help us recognize that no one who's at peace with God and themselves treats others poorly. This transforms our response from retaliation to compassion, seeing their behavior as revealing their need for Christ rather than justifying our anger.
Ready to transform your perspective on life's challenges? Listen as Professor Coleman shares how viewing your circumstances through eternity lenses can infuse even your most difficult moments with meaning, purpose, and hope that transcends temporary struggles.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, it's B-Rob, it's the Food for Thought
Faithcast, and it is Sunday,july 13th, and it is an amazing
day.
I just got back from man CampReunion, where I led live
worship for the first time atthe man Camp, at Camp Little
Light, and that was out of thisworld.
(00:23):
It was an outer body experience.
Praising God with about 30, Ithink it was like almost 40 guys
there.
It was amazing.
A lot of pastors, a lot.
There's a professor, nikitaKoloff is the host, and you guys
(00:47):
know him as the RussianNightmare, but he is the Devil's
Nightmare now.
But, guys, I've got a highlightfor you, a message from
Professor Bill Coleman, and ifyou have not read his book, you
(01:09):
should read his book.
It is called the Eternity LensLiving in the Real World with an
Eternal Perspective, and it has4.6 stars on Amazon.
So go check it out.
I will leave the link below.
So, if you guys are interestedin getting the book and reading
it, the man is an awesome man ofgod and has taught me so much,
(01:29):
and he is a mentor, for sure.
So, uh, guys, just sit back anduh listen to this clip.
I love you guys and, um, if Ido not come back, we have more
to cover about the reunion, sostay tuned, guys.
I love you.
Here is Bill Coleman, professorBill Coleman.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Do you ever plead with God to answer your wife's
question?
Do you feel like those prayersnever get beyond the roof?
You get a complete silence.
And you don't understand whyYou're asking, you're seeking,
(02:17):
you're struggling, you'regetting what you didn't know.
Well, I was 16 years old.
This doesn't seem like this bigof a deal now, but that is a
16-year-old life.
My family, my dad, took anotherjob.
I grew up in Mississippi, northCarolina, been there my whole
(02:41):
life, raised in a youth groupand actually at school, was in
student government.
On me, you know, this wasHolmes, where I knew everybody,
knew everything.
And 16, my dad took another jobin Sarasota, florida.
I said you boys away and we hadprayed, they had included me in
(03:03):
the process.
We prayed, but it was actuallypretty clear that God had opened
up this door and that we weresupposed to go.
And I was.
I mean, you know, I was abeliever and I actually called
the minister.
I was 15 years old, you know,to the best of my knowledge, I
understood you go where Godtells you to go.
But when it actually became,towards the end of that summer,
(03:27):
it was between my sophomore andjunior year of high school.
I'm 16, got the driver's license.
We're driving to Florida, myparents in one car, I'm in
another car, and I remember mydad actually pulled over to the
side of interstate 95.
So I pull over.
I'm like, well, you know it'swrong.
(03:47):
And I remember my dad actuallypulled over the side of
Interstate 95.
So I pull over.
I'm like, well, you know it'swrong.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And he goes.
Why are you weaning in and outof?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
the light.
I'm like I'm sorry.
He said I can't quit crying.
I was 16 years old, bed bath,crying my eye out all the way
down the floor, crying my eyeout All the way down the floor.
Here I go, starting a new lifeRight before my junior years Of
high school.
And what was God doing?
I remember saying Florida willnever be my home.
(04:16):
I'm a North Carolina boy.
I mean, come on, this is notfair.
I know God's calling, but I'mnot sure that he considered me
in the what.
He didn't understand the impactthis would have on me.
God, this is tough.
16 years old, it doesn't getany tougher.
(04:38):
Right, come on.
But in the moment when we're allkind of focused on self, it was
heavy duty, heavy duty.
I'm going to come back in alittle bit and tell you some
things that came out of that,but my two years down in
Sarasota, florida, before we dothat, I want to expound upon
(05:03):
something that has made such animpact in my life, and actually
God showed me this in Scripturewhen I was 17, a year later.
It's 2 Corinthians 4, 16through 18.
If you know me at all or seenmy book, you know eternity is
something I kind of focus on.
(05:25):
God placed the seeds ofeternity in every one of us, we
all and this honestly to theatheist, agnostic and all of the
above there's something insidethat God placed to know that
there's something greater.
We're just pinpointed with theWord of God and with Scripture
and the Gospel, and we knowheaven and we know this is
(05:50):
coming.
This is eternity.
He placed it on our hearts.
At the same time that God hasplaced eternity in our hearts,
that this is not all there is,he has still placed us in a
temporal setting.
We are in a real world, aphysical world, where there is
pain and there is sadness andthere is difficulty and there
(06:14):
are the struggles of living inthis world, while at the same
time God is saying you'recreated for something greater
and so you have to be in thisworld and yet still have an eye
towards that world.
(06:34):
The Bible says we are citizensof heaven.
We are aliens and strangers.
We're the immigrants of thisearth.
Right, but actually we have anentrance into the homeland.
Remember in Hebrews 11, whereAbraham is talking about the men
(06:58):
of faith and people of faith inthe Old Testament, and they
were believing in a home thatwas not of this world, but a
home that was not of this world,but a home that was to come.
We've got to put on those typeof glasses to understand the
things that are in this world,because we hit the difficulties.
We have the loved one whopasses away, we have the job
(07:20):
that is lost, we get thatnegative result from the MRI and
you get that friend whobetrayed you, someone T-bones,
your car totals you, anunexpected bill turns up that
you weren't looking for and nowit's whacked up your whole
finances for the month.
(07:40):
You're a teenager, you'remaking harmful choices, you're
wanting help and all your mind,but you just keep hitting the
wall with it.
A natural disaster levels yourtown.
This is reality.
The Bible doesn't skirt overthat.
(08:01):
It doesn't say, oh, that's allan illusion, it goes no, that's
reality.
That is living in this world.
That is living in a world thatis stained by sin.
Not only did we get stained bysin, we stained the world with
sin and it is degraded, it ispassing away.
But there are those things thatwe don't have control over.
(08:25):
A lot, by the way.
If you're struggling withsomething, you've got control
over it.
How about controlling?
Then you won't have to strugglewith it.
Right, yeah, but a lot of timeswe have things in our lives
that we can't control Right.
Well, what do we do with that?
What do we do with that?
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4, 16through 18, he gives us a
(08:48):
prescription for lenses.
Now I got to tell you I wearcontacts.
You saw me stumbling out of myring this morning.
I got these big old, thickglasses.
I mean, without my contacts Ican't see anything.
I'm blind.
Look at me Like I know you arehuman beings and I can see the
colors that you're wearing, butbeyond that I wouldn't know much
(09:09):
of anything.
I'm blind.
And the truth is, the temporalsetting within our world will
often blind us to the reality ofeternity.
We get into this mindset ofwhat we are experiencing in the
moment is all that there is, andyou know, what the Bible tells
us is what we're experiencing inthe moment is actually playing
(09:30):
a part in preparing us for aglory that far outweighs it all.
2 Corinthians 4, 16.
So we do not lose heart.
What it means by that is we donot give up, we do not grow
weary, we do not fall by, wedon't lose heart.
(09:54):
So our outer self is wastingaway.
Our inner self is being renewedday by day.
For this light momentaryaffliction is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory,beyond all comparison, as we
look not to the things that areseen but to the things that are
unseen.
For the things that are seenare transient, that means
(10:14):
temporary, but the things thatare unseen are eternal.
So we need these prescriptionglass I call them the eternity
lens to see the real worldthat's around us, but see it
through a lens of what is tocome, because that is what we
(10:36):
are living.
We get wrapped up in glassesthat only see what's right in
front of us.
Come with me tonight let's putright in front of us.
Come with me tonight, let's puton these lenses of eternity.
Now, what Paul does here is hegives four contrasts.
That's what I want to go overwith you this morning real
(10:57):
quickly is these four contrasts,because I think that they're
vital to us understanding whatit's like to look at all these
things we go through through theright lenses, okay, and so the
first contrast we see is wastingaway versus being renewed day
by day.
So it says take heart, we donot lose heart.
(11:17):
Though our self is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day.
The Bible doesn't gloss overphysical difficulty.
The Bible doesn't gloss overthe physical things that are
happening in our lives.
We understand that our bodies,yes, absolutely the temple of
(11:38):
God.
In fact, in 2 Corinthians 4, hecalls us jars of clay.
In 2 Corinthians 4, he calls usjars of clay.
These jars of clay, which arefragile, ordinary, simple, they
carry within them the treasure.
What's the treasure?
Treasury is the gospel in 2Corinthians 4.
He chose to place his preciousgospel in these jars of clay.
(12:01):
And these jars of clay arefragile.
And Paul says outwardly we arewasting away.
Even.
Yes, we take care of the templeof God.
You know all the.
You know man, camp, body, soul,spirit.
Absolutely, we take care of allthat.
But we also know these bodiesare not going to make.
(12:25):
These bodies, these fleshbodies will not inherit eternity
.
We know that we are wastingaway.
We claim the promises of God,right.
Claim the promises of Jesus,right.
This means yes.
This means no, all right, don'twe together now?
Okay, come on.
(12:45):
So Jesus says in John 16, 33,I've said these things to you,
that in me you may have peace Inthe world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, I have overcome the
world, the promise.
In this world you will havetrouble Take hold of the
promises of God Like that's notthe one we want to really take
(13:06):
hold of, right?
You know, all he promises isgoing to be tough.
Thank you, jesus, for yourpromises, right, but that's what
he does.
He says, hey, let's get realabout this.
As he's heading towards thecross, he says in this world you
are going to have tribulation.
(13:27):
Many times people give theirlives to the lord and they're
like it seemed like things gotworse in my life.
Yeah, yeah, they had anexpectation.
Yeah, I give my faith, put myfaith in christ.
Everything's gonna be smoothfrom here on.
Well, actually, the smoothnessand the peace is what God
deposits on the inside.
(13:47):
He doesn't promise easy goingon the outside.
In fact, the promise is on theoutside you're going to have
tribulation, but the innerpromise is I'll give you my
peace because I have overcomethe world.
You're going to havetribulation, but you're having a
tribulation of the world thatI've already overcome and the
(14:09):
overcoming is going to happen onthe inside Hourly.
You're wasting away Inwardly,being renewed day by day.
Well, man, I guess it's twomonths ago it was in late May I
was down in Atlanta and preached.
I was an abodaco student andpreached at his church and the
(14:34):
night before I had someallergies and you know, you get
that tickle in your throat andeverything.
By the way, I didn't haveallergies until later in life.
Growing up I never hadallergies and I don't know, bro,
about 50, honestly, 54 now,about 50, I started like getting
(14:55):
these allergies.
I'm like what is going on?
So, you know, I got a signal onmy throat.
I'm just coughing, not violentcough, just a little nagging
ball right.
And I did one cough and all ofa sudden it felt like I got shot
in the side.
I mean like I'm not talkingabout your airsoft gun, I'm
talking about like burn, likemaddened, like just on my side.
(15:19):
I'm literally in my hotel room.
I'm on the bed just kind ofwrithing in pain, trying to find
the position that it wasn'tkilling me.
And I finally got there and Iwas like, oh, my goodness Gosh,
that hurts so bad.
I coughed again.
It's the same thing.
And it was like what is goingon?
(15:40):
I thought I pulled a muscle.
Cough what you like.
You pull a muscle with a casualcall.
What is wrong with this body?
You know Well, I preach Sundayin pain and then I get home and
on Monday I look and the wholeside of my body is a breeze I'm
(16:04):
talking about like deep purplebruise.
It looked horrible.
So I was like to my wife, I waslike you know this thing here
and she's like, oh my gosh.
And I'm like what is going on?
And I actually, you know, Icontacted my PCP and he's like
(16:25):
you know, you might havesomething ruptured in there.
You got to go get the ER andyou know that.
And it turned out.
Thankfully it wasn't anythingmajor, but I literally tore my
abdominal wall, tore it on acough.
Algoritmally we're wasting awayLike we understand this.
As we age we deal with more andmore stuff.
(16:47):
But the beauty is, inwardly wecan be renewed day by day, that
while my body is wasting away,my spirit is growing and
thriving and becoming more likehim and preparing me more for
eternity with him.
Paul says we can take heart.
(17:08):
Don't lose heart, because Idon't think we're wasting away,
sure, but inwardly we're beingrenewed day by day.
The second contrast he gives isyour light and momentary
affliction is preparing for usan eternal weight of glory,
light and momentullaby.
How many times when we look ataffliction, we go, yeah, this is
(17:29):
really not too bad.
Like, if it reaches the pointof being described as affliction
, it's usually something.
We're going this is pretty bad,right.
If it's not bad, we're kind oflike, oh, it's a nuisance or
something, but affliction.
And he says our light and bonertear and we don't always feel
(17:52):
like something's momentary,right.
I remember when my son was bornand he had croup I don't know if
you ever dealt with croup, mygoodness, like there's nothing
that can soothe it.
He's just crying.
We fed him, we've changed him,we've rocked him and he is just.
(18:13):
It's three o'clock in themorning.
We've had him, we've changedhim, we've rocked him and he is
just.
It's 3 o'clock in the morning.
I remember gently laying himdown in a chair, just going what
do you want?
What do you want?
I give him a few years and hedoesn't stop telling me what he
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wants.
In that moment, like three orfour of you, if you said, oh,
bill, you're light and momentaryaffliction, I'd be like you
don't know what you're talkingabout.
You ain't never dealt withproof.
I want to know the truth.
I want to go to sleep.
This kid won't shut up.
Light and momentary areafflictions, the things which
(18:57):
weigh heavy on us.
But look at what he saysearlier in 2 Corinthians 4, 7-11
, where he says there's treasure, the treasure in the jars of
clay gospel in us.
Why does he put treasure injars of clay?
Why does he put the preciousgospel in something so fragile
(19:19):
as the jar of clay?
Well, he tells us to show thatthe surpassing power belongs to
God and not to us.
Why does he put it in there?
Because it's not us that guardsthe treasure, boy, it's him.
He puts it in something thatcan't guard so that he gets the
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glory.
And because of that verse 8,we're afflicted in every way,
but not crushed.
We're perplexed, but we're notdreams to despair.
We're persecuted but notforsaken.
We're struck down but notdestroyed, always carrying in
the body the death of Jesus, sothat purpose, the life of Jesus,
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may be manifested in our bodies.
You know I love Paul is notspeaking this.
He's not pulling life-voluntaryaffliction from some ivory
theological towel.
You know he's not going.
Life-voluntary affliction fromsome ivory theological tower.
He's not sitting in seminarygoing.
I'm the wax elephant ontheology, having never
experienced anything myself.
(20:25):
No, he actually tells us it's 2Corinthians.
I mean, I've been.
He goes are they servants ofChrist?
I'm a matter of one.
And he says I'm talking as amadman now.
But he goes.
Look, I've been.
He goes are they servants ofChrist?
I'm a matter of one.
And he said I'm talking as amadman now.
But he goes.
Look, I've had far greaterlabors, far more imprisonments,
with countless beatings, oftennear death.
Five times I received the handof the Jews, the 40 lashes less
(20:49):
one.
Three times I was beaten withrods Once I was stoned Three
times I was shipwrecked and notin a day.
Adrift in the sea on frequentjourneys, in danger from rivers,
danger from robbers, dangerfrom my own people, danger from
Gentiles, danger in the city,danger in the wilderness, danger
at sea he could have just saideverywhere, but he wanted to
make a point Danger from falsebrothers in toil and hardship
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for many sleepless nights inhunger and thirst, often without
food and coal and exposure.
And apart from all this,there's a dangling pressure of
my anxiety for all the churches.
Who's weak?
And I'm not weak.
Who's made to fall on my name,didn't it?
Now I've got to boast.
I'll boast of the things thathighlight my weakness.
(21:36):
He understood affliction and hesaid it is light and it is
momentary compared to theeternal glory that far outweighs
all.
Listen, some of you are goingthrough some stuff right now
that is weighing you down.
I mean, your heart and yourmind is not at peace.
(21:57):
You are struggling and yoursituation is real and the stuff
that you're dealing with isabsolutely real.
But I've got to tell you, afteryour first 50,000 years in
heaven, you're not going to bethinking about this moment.
And if you do, you're going tothink about how it was preparing
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you for glory.
You are in the moment, but youwere not made for the moment,
you were made for eternity.
So you have to see the momentin light of the glory that far
outweighs it all.
The third contract, he says.
So we fix our eyes not on whatis seen but on what is unseen.
(22:40):
This is kind of difficult,right, because we are made to
see what can be seen.
But paul says I'm not going tospend my time focusing on what
is seen, I'm going to focus onwhat is not seen.
From the very earliest stagesof our life, we were made to
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learn by our senses.
In fact, you know sight,hearing, smell, taste, touch.
You take a baby and, as soon asthey can start moving, put some
in that baby's hands, whathappens?
It goes to the mouth.
All right, it's part of thattaste and touch and they're
beginning to experience theworld and they're learning in
(23:25):
that way.
We know how to learn by oursenses, but Paul says there's a
greater sense that's given to usby the Holy Spirit and it's one
called faith.
And faith is the substance ofthings hoped for and the
evidence of things not seen.
(23:47):
And so the discipline of theeternity glasses is to put on
the glasses to see what isaround us, but through the lens
of eternity.
When you let me give you anexample Somebody, somebody
(24:09):
treats you poorly that you don'tdeserve all right, the jerks in
our arms and they just blow onyou whatever, make an accusation
or they just come against you,the natural response is to look
(24:34):
with our physical eyes and ourphysical senses and we go that
dude's a jerk, I don't deservewhat he's going to say.
And, bro, I'm going to give itright back to him because that's
what he deserves.
Shouldn't have come at me likethat.
That's our natural response.
Right, that's seeing throughnatural physical lenses.
The eternity lens comes alongand you realize this person has
(25:01):
a problem, nobody who's at peacewith God and at peace with
themselves, treats other peoplepoorly.
I don't know if you everthought about that.
You can chew on that for awhile, but I'll put it up
against anything.
If you're at peace with God andat peace with yourself, you're
(25:22):
not a jerk Like you, just don'ttreat people poorly.
Think about it.
So what does that mean?
It means really, the greatestpriority for that person, or
their greatest need, is not totreat me better.
Their greatest need is toencounter Jesus.
Their greatest need is to feedmore into him.
They're not at peace with Godor, if they're not at peace with
(25:46):
themselves, there's somethingthat needs to happen
supernaturally with that as well, which comes through Christ,
and I begin to filter it throughhim.
And, rather than this buildup ofvolcanic anger within me over
being mistreated, I began topity the person.
I began to pray for the person.
(26:06):
I mean, how can we put intopractice what Jesus says when he
says pray for those who curseyour future.
Love your enemy.
Love not meaning thewrong-worsy feelings.
Love meaning put theirinterests above your own.
(26:27):
Put your enemy's interestsabove your own.
Can't do that Well, jesus saidto him.
He actually commanded it.
How Can't do that.
Well, jesus said to do it.
He actually commanded it.
How do we do that?
Well, you got to put on someeternity lenses to do that.
You got to realize we're livingfor eternity and see things
through that and realize manytimes what you see on the
(26:48):
surface from people is justmerely a symptom of what is
going on deeper down, and oftenthere's an issue and a problem
that needs the touch of Jesus,not the touch of your fist.
You know what I mean.
Even though this wouldmomentarily feel really good,
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that's not really the greatestneed.
Plus, you don't want toparticipate in their sin.
The minute you harborbitterness, the minute you let
anger turn to wrath, the minuteyou retaliate, the minute you
say vengeance is mine, not theLord's, is the minute you step
(27:32):
into the sin of your enemies.
That's good, it's good word.
So you say I'll leave it to you, lord, I'll do what you've
called me to do.
But the only way you can dothat is to see it through, not
in the moment, but with thelarger picture.
Colossians 3 says If then you'vebeen raised with Christ, seek
(27:53):
the things that are above, whereChrist is seated at the right
hand of God.
Set your mind.
Set your mind means put yourstake down.
It means firm, focused onthings that are above, not
things that are on earth.
Let's do this, man, colossians3 through.
(28:19):
For you have died, you, we'reliving right, but in christ we
died to the all of life.
We were born again, raised to anew life in christ, for you
have died and your life ishidden with Christ in God, where
(28:40):
Christ, who is your life,appears when he appears,
described as your life.
So look, if Christ is my life,why am I letting anybody else
get the man?
You're coming against me,you're coming against the Lord.
You got to deal with him.
What am I to do?
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I'm to forgive, I'm to love,I'm to pray, I'm to bless.
What's he going to do?
He'll do whatever he needs todo.
The Lord will take care of it,but it's not my life.
You're putting me down.
Come, put Christ down, becausehe is my life.
Who is your life appears.
Then you also will appear withhim in glory.
(29:24):
What is that Eternal, finalcontrast, temporary versus
eternal.
He says we fix our eyes Versuseternal.
He says we fix our eyes Not onwhat is seen, but on what is
unseen, for the things that areseen are transient.
Things that are seen aretransient, they're temporary,
(29:47):
but the things that are unseenare eternal.
Even the good things that wehave here in life are temporary.
Even when the Bible talks aboutyou know the temper in Hebrews
it says it's a shadow, right, asglorious as that was in Israel
and all of that.
(30:07):
It's just a shadow of a gloryin heaven of what is to come.
The temporary, the beauty is,for the believer, the worst that
it can get here on earth.
I mean, just come up with theworst absolute.
You know they got those books onworst-case scenarios right.
(30:29):
Just come up with the absoluteworst-case scenario.
We were coming back from, myfamily was coming back from a
family trip, my two kids and wewere coming back late and there
were storms in Charlotte and weliterally 45 minutes were
(30:50):
circling Charlotte just waitingfor an opening of the land.
But, as we are, other planesare gathering as well, right,
and finally they're like we'regoing to have to go to, we're
going to have to go land inColumbia and get gas and you
know, and then hopefully it'llpass.
And I remember my daughter.
(31:11):
She was just getting so and shewas, you know, she was 21 or
whatever and she was justgetting so bent out of shape
over this inconvenience, youknow.
And then we have to go down toColumbia and all that, and she's
like Paul, this is just worstcase scenario.
And I'm like what?
This is worst case scenario.
(31:35):
How about the plane crashing?
That may be a little bit worse.
You know, how about the personnext to you throwing up all over
you and then you got to sitdown?
I mean, there are worst casescenarios, you know, but you
come up with your absoluteworst-case scenario in life and
(31:58):
if you're a believer in Jesus,that's the baddest ever going to
get for you.
Come on, man, come on, come onFor those who haven't put their
faith in Christ.
You think about the absolutebest life can offer, because we
get in this trap.
Sometimes we look at theungodly.
We see the unrighteousprospering, and this isn't new,
by the way it.
Look at the ungodly we see theunrighteous prosper, and this
(32:18):
isn't new, by the way.
It's in the Bible too.
Those questions how do myenemies prosper?
God, I thought you were.
For me, that's as good as it'sever going to get.
Yep, and as good as things canbe here on earth, they still.
They ain't that great, you know, why don't you think for a
(32:42):
moment about heaven?
Think for a moment about heavenwhat's it going to be?
like.
The Bible gives us glimpses,but they didn't give us the full
story.
It's heaven we want, and when Iask people this question a lot
(33:08):
of times, they come back andthere's some skewed views of
heaven, right.
Like you're not going to be ababy in a diaper with a harp on
the cloud, like that's notheaven, all right, heaven's
(33:28):
actually described as a holycity coming down, new heaven,
new earth.
Coming down, new heaven, newearth City.
That's just to try to get somepractical measurement in mind
1,500 miles wide, 1,500 mileslong, 1,500 miles high, high,
(33:51):
yeah, out there.
I mean probably not escalated toa state.
Go up that high.
Jesus ascended, he's on theresurrected body.
We're going to get glorifiedbodies.
There'll be no doctors,there'll be no hospitals
Hallelujah, there'll be no calls.
(34:12):
Middle of the night the tragicnews.
There'll be no calls.
Middle of the night the tragicnews.
There'll be no strife, there'llbe no envy, there'll be no
jealousy.
You and I have never found,we've never experienced a place
where we've been free from asinful monk, like we've been
redeemed, right, and he's givenus a new heart.
(34:33):
But when we got redeemed, heentered the battle of flesh and
spirit.
Well, there's coming a timewhere we're given that glorified
body and the flesh will be gonefor good, completely glorified
body.
When people start to imagineheaven, they start, they try to,
they don't try, but they justend up looking at it through the
(34:54):
lens of Earth.
Right, and you're not going tosee it clearly because it's so
far beyond anything that we canimagine.
One of our most precious metalshere on Earth is asphalt in
heaven.
Well, yeah, he flips everythingon its head.
(35:15):
Sometimes I get well.
Will there be ice cream inheaven?
Well, that'd be nice.
But you know what, even ifthere's not, it's only better,
it's only better, everything'sbetter.
Everything's better in eternity.
When people think about it Iwas just having a conversation
(35:36):
with Tom when people think aboutit, I just can't make that move
.
Because would I have to give up?
Let me tell you somethingWhatever you did not to follow
Christ can't even compare.
Amen, the Lord far outweighsthem all, and even as believers
can even compare.
(35:57):
Amen, the Lord far outweighsthem all and even, as believers,
the things that we kind ofvalue most on earth.
And it's not wrong to havesavings, it's not wrong to have
a bank account, it's not wrongto have a car and have a house
for your family, for your family, go to work.
I mean, all those things arenecessary as we live in the
(36:17):
temporal world, right, but holdon to a loose one and the best
that that gives you, the mostpleasure, that that stuff gives
you when you get to heaven,you're going to go.
That was weeds man.
The best here on earth is BuckShadow.
(36:38):
You know when the baby movesfrom milk to that soupy rice
concoction or whatever.
And they're like, oh well, good, like that's belong, and you're
going.
Bro, you're going to miss.
You ain't even had ice creamyet.
(37:01):
You didn't have a plan, son,like don't even know, you don't
even know and you won't knowuntil you get there.
But what you do know is it'sonly bone.
What if this isn't in heaven?
It's only better, it's onlywell.
I want no, what you want isJesus.
(37:23):
Jesus is not your pathway toget where you want to go.
Jesus is where you want to go.
He is not your conduit to adestination, he is the
destinationit to a destination.
He is the destination and he isbetter.
He's everything.
He knows what he's doing.
No matter where you're goingfor your life, he knows what
(37:46):
he's doing.
I'm 16 years old.
I don't know what the world'sgoing on.
I'm going down there.
I'm starting a new life, makingnew friends.
Well, I did.
Got into a youth group, gotinto school.
I found a guy on the footballteam that loved Jesus too.
Didn't believe it because itdidn't look like anybody loved
(38:07):
Jesus on my team and startedmaking an impact.
I was only there in two yearsjunior and senior year.
Then I came to college, went towhere I'd been introduced to
with some of my friends, whichwas Wayne University.
I saw them strong.
Two of my friends from Sarasotaone of my best friends was on
(38:29):
the football team and anotherwas kind of I was an only child.
She kind of became my sister afew years younger.
Both of them they never heardof me, but because I went there,
they went there too.
My best friend from college Imean from high school Jackie.
(38:51):
He found his spouse there atWiener.
Jackie, he found his spousethere at Wynne.
My little sister, becky.
I interviewed her to a friendof mine who was from my youth
group in Winston-Salem.
There was a Wynne.
They got married.
They had children.
I'm kidding, they'reGod-parenting their children.
(39:13):
God, what would you send a 16-,16 years old down to Sarasota
Park?
I'm not saying they're togethercausally, but God used that
situation.
I'm going a thousand other ways, but just that right there.
(39:34):
God knows what he's doing andhis goal is not necessarily your
comfort.
His goal is his glory.
You're good, which will glorifyhim, but he can be glorified in
(39:55):
your most difficult ofcircumstances.
So guys tomorrow.
You know the moment and you'regoing to pretty soon be in a
town without a tent when you canput on your earthly glasses and
you can just get consumed withwhat is going on in the moment.
Or you can make a choice thatI'm going to fix my eyes not on
(40:22):
what is seen but on what isunseen.
But what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal.
Lord Jesus, thank you, dude.
The time I've shared today,just these guys and their quarts
, and just them taking a weekendout and fellowship together.
All this is born out oftremendous experiences from the
(40:45):
past here at man Camp.
God, everybody here has gotdifferent situations and
circumstances in their lives,and yet you are the constant,
the same, yesterday, today andforever.
You love us, you don't move andyou are our security.
You gotta pray that you canhelp us each.
All of our circumstances aredifferent, but you are the same
(41:09):
and help us have an eternalperspective for our real and for
your glory.
Thank you, thank you, god.
No matter how long we live hereon this earth, for our real and
for your glory.
Thank you, thank you, god.
No matter how long we live hereon this earth, eternity is
going to make this town on earthpale in comparison.
And it is going to be so fullof glory and worship and
(41:30):
activity and growing andlearning.
We are pumped up about it.
When the time comes, god usherus in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Amen, good stuff.
Yeah, the professor alwaysbrings a bone.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
It lands the plane.
Ah, man, nikita couldn't havesaid it any better.
The professor brings it homeand lands the plane.
Guys, that was Professor BillColeman.
Check out his book.
I'll leave the link below.
We've got the prayer requestbelow.
We've got the donation buttonbelow.
(42:25):
Guys, I love you.
This is the Food for ThoughtPodcast B-Rob.
We'll catch you on the next one, okay.
Hey guys, it's B-Rob, it's the Food for Thought
Faithcast, and it is Sunday,july 13th, and it is an amazing
day.
I just got back from man CampReunion, where I led live
worship for the first time atthe man Camp, at Camp Little
Light, and that was out of thisworld.
(00:23):
It was an outer body experience.
Praising God with about 30, Ithink it was like almost 40 guys
there.
It was amazing.
A lot of pastors, a lot.
There's a professor, nikitaKoloff is the host, and you guys
(00:47):
know him as the RussianNightmare, but he is the Devil's
Nightmare now.
But, guys, I've got a highlightfor you, a message from
Professor Bill Coleman, and ifyou have not read his book, you
(01:09):
should read his book.
It is called the Eternity LensLiving in the Real World with an
Eternal Perspective, and it has4.6 stars on Amazon.
So go check it out.
I will leave the link below.
So, if you guys are interestedin getting the book and reading
it, the man is an awesome man ofgod and has taught me so much,
(01:29):
and he is a mentor, for sure.
So, uh, guys, just sit back anduh listen to this clip.
I love you guys and, um, if Ido not come back, we have more
to cover about the reunion, sostay tuned, guys.
I love you.
Here is Bill Coleman, professorBill Coleman.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Do you ever plead with God to answer your wife's
question?
Do you feel like those prayersnever get beyond the roof?
You get a complete silence.
And you don't understand whyYou're asking, you're seeking,
(02:17):
you're struggling, you'regetting what you didn't know.
Well, I was 16 years old.
This doesn't seem like this bigof a deal now, but that is a
16-year-old life.
My family, my dad, took anotherjob.
I grew up in Mississippi, northCarolina, been there my whole
(02:41):
life, raised in a youth groupand actually at school, was in
student government.
On me, you know, this wasHolmes, where I knew everybody,
knew everything.
And 16, my dad took another jobin Sarasota, florida.
I said you boys away and we hadprayed, they had included me in
(03:03):
the process.
We prayed, but it was actuallypretty clear that God had opened
up this door and that we weresupposed to go.
And I was.
I mean, you know, I was abeliever and I actually called
the minister.
I was 15 years old, you know,to the best of my knowledge, I
understood you go where Godtells you to go.
But when it actually became,towards the end of that summer,
(03:27):
it was between my sophomore andjunior year of high school.
I'm 16, got the driver's license.
We're driving to Florida, myparents in one car, I'm in
another car, and I remember mydad actually pulled over to the
side of interstate 95.
So I pull over.
I'm like, well, you know it'swrong.
(03:47):
And I remember my dad actuallypulled over the side of
Interstate 95.
So I pull over.
I'm like, well, you know it'swrong.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
And he goes.
Why are you weaning in and outof?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
the light.
I'm like I'm sorry.
He said I can't quit crying.
I was 16 years old, bed bath,crying my eye out all the way
down the floor, crying my eyeout All the way down the floor.
Here I go, starting a new lifeRight before my junior years Of
high school.
And what was God doing?
I remember saying Florida willnever be my home.
(04:16):
I'm a North Carolina boy.
I mean, come on, this is notfair.
I know God's calling, but I'mnot sure that he considered me
in the what.
He didn't understand the impactthis would have on me.
God, this is tough.
16 years old, it doesn't getany tougher.
(04:38):
Right, come on.
But in the moment when we're allkind of focused on self, it was
heavy duty, heavy duty.
I'm going to come back in alittle bit and tell you some
things that came out of that,but my two years down in
Sarasota, florida, before we dothat, I want to expound upon
(05:03):
something that has made such animpact in my life, and actually
God showed me this in Scripturewhen I was 17, a year later.
It's 2 Corinthians 4, 16through 18.
If you know me at all or seenmy book, you know eternity is
something I kind of focus on.
(05:25):
God placed the seeds ofeternity in every one of us, we
all and this honestly to theatheist, agnostic and all of the
above there's something insidethat God placed to know that
there's something greater.
We're just pinpointed with theWord of God and with Scripture
and the Gospel, and we knowheaven and we know this is
(05:50):
coming.
This is eternity.
He placed it on our hearts.
At the same time that God hasplaced eternity in our hearts,
that this is not all there is,he has still placed us in a
temporal setting.
We are in a real world, aphysical world, where there is
pain and there is sadness andthere is difficulty and there
(06:14):
are the struggles of living inthis world, while at the same
time God is saying you'recreated for something greater
and so you have to be in thisworld and yet still have an eye
towards that world.
(06:34):
The Bible says we are citizensof heaven.
We are aliens and strangers.
We're the immigrants of thisearth.
Right, but actually we have anentrance into the homeland.
Remember in Hebrews 11, whereAbraham is talking about the men
(06:58):
of faith and people of faith inthe Old Testament, and they
were believing in a home thatwas not of this world, but a
home that was not of this world,but a home that was to come.
We've got to put on those typeof glasses to understand the
things that are in this world,because we hit the difficulties.
We have the loved one whopasses away, we have the job
(07:20):
that is lost, we get thatnegative result from the MRI and
you get that friend whobetrayed you, someone T-bones,
your car totals you, anunexpected bill turns up that
you weren't looking for and nowit's whacked up your whole
finances for the month.
(07:40):
You're a teenager, you'remaking harmful choices, you're
wanting help and all your mind,but you just keep hitting the
wall with it.
A natural disaster levels yourtown.
This is reality.
The Bible doesn't skirt overthat.
(08:01):
It doesn't say, oh, that's allan illusion, it goes no, that's
reality.
That is living in this world.
That is living in a world thatis stained by sin.
Not only did we get stained bysin, we stained the world with
sin and it is degraded, it ispassing away.
But there are those things thatwe don't have control over.
(08:25):
A lot, by the way.
If you're struggling withsomething, you've got control
over it.
How about controlling?
Then you won't have to strugglewith it.
Right, yeah, but a lot of timeswe have things in our lives
that we can't control Right.
Well, what do we do with that?
What do we do with that?
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4, 16through 18, he gives us a
(08:48):
prescription for lenses.
Now I got to tell you I wearcontacts.
You saw me stumbling out of myring this morning.
I got these big old, thickglasses.
I mean, without my contacts Ican't see anything.
I'm blind.
Look at me Like I know you arehuman beings and I can see the
colors that you're wearing, butbeyond that I wouldn't know much
(09:09):
of anything.
I'm blind.
And the truth is, the temporalsetting within our world will
often blind us to the reality ofeternity.
We get into this mindset ofwhat we are experiencing in the
moment is all that there is, andyou know, what the Bible tells
us is what we're experiencing inthe moment is actually playing
(09:30):
a part in preparing us for aglory that far outweighs it all.
2 Corinthians 4, 16.
So we do not lose heart.
What it means by that is we donot give up, we do not grow
weary, we do not fall by, wedon't lose heart.
(09:54):
So our outer self is wastingaway.
Our inner self is being renewedday by day.
For this light momentaryaffliction is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory,beyond all comparison, as we
look not to the things that areseen but to the things that are
unseen.
For the things that are seenare transient, that means
(10:14):
temporary, but the things thatare unseen are eternal.
So we need these prescriptionglass I call them the eternity
lens to see the real worldthat's around us, but see it
through a lens of what is tocome, because that is what we
(10:36):
are living.
We get wrapped up in glassesthat only see what's right in
front of us.
Come with me tonight let's putright in front of us.
Come with me tonight, let's puton these lenses of eternity.
Now, what Paul does here is hegives four contrasts.
That's what I want to go overwith you this morning real
(10:57):
quickly is these four contrasts,because I think that they're
vital to us understanding whatit's like to look at all these
things we go through through theright lenses, okay, and so the
first contrast we see is wastingaway versus being renewed day
by day.
So it says take heart, we donot lose heart.
(11:17):
Though our self is wasting away, our inner self is being
renewed day by day.
The Bible doesn't gloss overphysical difficulty.
The Bible doesn't gloss overthe physical things that are
happening in our lives.
We understand that our bodies,yes, absolutely the temple of
(11:38):
God.
In fact, in 2 Corinthians 4, hecalls us jars of clay.
In 2 Corinthians 4, he calls usjars of clay.
These jars of clay, which arefragile, ordinary, simple, they
carry within them the treasure.
What's the treasure?
Treasury is the gospel in 2Corinthians 4.
He chose to place his preciousgospel in these jars of clay.
(12:01):
And these jars of clay arefragile.
And Paul says outwardly we arewasting away.
Even.
Yes, we take care of the templeof God.
You know all the.
You know man, camp, body, soul,spirit.
Absolutely, we take care of allthat.
But we also know these bodiesare not going to make.
(12:25):
These bodies, these fleshbodies will not inherit eternity
.
We know that we are wastingaway.
We claim the promises of God,right.
Claim the promises of Jesus,right.
This means yes.
This means no, all right, don'twe together now?
Okay, come on.
(12:45):
So Jesus says in John 16, 33,I've said these things to you,
that in me you may have peace Inthe world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, I have overcome the
world, the promise.
In this world you will havetrouble Take hold of the
promises of God Like that's notthe one we want to really take
(13:06):
hold of, right?
You know, all he promises isgoing to be tough.
Thank you, jesus, for yourpromises, right, but that's what
he does.
He says, hey, let's get realabout this.
As he's heading towards thecross, he says in this world you
are going to have tribulation.
(13:27):
Many times people give theirlives to the lord and they're
like it seemed like things gotworse in my life.
Yeah, yeah, they had anexpectation.
Yeah, I give my faith, put myfaith in christ.
Everything's gonna be smoothfrom here on.
Well, actually, the smoothnessand the peace is what God
deposits on the inside.
(13:47):
He doesn't promise easy goingon the outside.
In fact, the promise is on theoutside you're going to have
tribulation, but the innerpromise is I'll give you my
peace because I have overcomethe world.
You're going to havetribulation, but you're having a
tribulation of the world thatI've already overcome and the
(14:09):
overcoming is going to happen onthe inside Hourly.
You're wasting away Inwardly,being renewed day by day.
Well, man, I guess it's twomonths ago it was in late May I
was down in Atlanta and preached.
I was an abodaco student andpreached at his church and the
(14:34):
night before I had someallergies and you know, you get
that tickle in your throat andeverything.
By the way, I didn't haveallergies until later in life.
Growing up I never hadallergies and I don't know, bro,
about 50, honestly, 54 now,about 50, I started like getting
(14:55):
these allergies.
I'm like what is going on?
So, you know, I got a signal onmy throat.
I'm just coughing, not violentcough, just a little nagging
ball right.
And I did one cough and all ofa sudden it felt like I got shot
in the side.
I mean like I'm not talkingabout your airsoft gun, I'm
talking about like burn, likemaddened, like just on my side.
(15:19):
I'm literally in my hotel room.
I'm on the bed just kind ofwrithing in pain, trying to find
the position that it wasn'tkilling me.
And I finally got there and Iwas like, oh, my goodness Gosh,
that hurts so bad.
I coughed again.
It's the same thing.
And it was like what is goingon?
(15:40):
I thought I pulled a muscle.
Cough what you like.
You pull a muscle with a casualcall.
What is wrong with this body?
You know Well, I preach Sundayin pain and then I get home and
on Monday I look and the wholeside of my body is a breeze I'm
(16:04):
talking about like deep purplebruise.
It looked horrible.
So I was like to my wife, I waslike you know this thing here
and she's like, oh my gosh.
And I'm like what is going on?
And I actually, you know, Icontacted my PCP and he's like
(16:25):
you know, you might havesomething ruptured in there.
You got to go get the ER andyou know that.
And it turned out.
Thankfully it wasn't anythingmajor, but I literally tore my
abdominal wall, tore it on acough.
Algoritmally we're wasting awayLike we understand this.
As we age we deal with more andmore stuff.
(16:47):
But the beauty is, inwardly wecan be renewed day by day, that
while my body is wasting away,my spirit is growing and
thriving and becoming more likehim and preparing me more for
eternity with him.
Paul says we can take heart.
(17:08):
Don't lose heart, because Idon't think we're wasting away,
sure, but inwardly we're beingrenewed day by day.
The second contrast he gives isyour light and momentary
affliction is preparing for usan eternal weight of glory,
light and momentullaby.
How many times when we look ataffliction, we go, yeah, this is
(17:29):
really not too bad.
Like, if it reaches the pointof being described as affliction
, it's usually something.
We're going this is pretty bad,right.
If it's not bad, we're kind oflike, oh, it's a nuisance or
something, but affliction.
And he says our light and bonertear and we don't always feel
(17:52):
like something's momentary,right.
I remember when my son was bornand he had croup I don't know if
you ever dealt with croup, mygoodness, like there's nothing
that can soothe it.
He's just crying.
We fed him, we've changed him,we've rocked him and he is just.
(18:13):
It's three o'clock in themorning.
We've had him, we've changedhim, we've rocked him and he is
just.
It's 3 o'clock in the morning.
I remember gently laying himdown in a chair, just going what
do you want?
What do you want?
I give him a few years and hedoesn't stop telling me what he
(18:34):
wants.
In that moment, like three orfour of you, if you said, oh,
bill, you're light and momentaryaffliction, I'd be like you
don't know what you're talkingabout.
You ain't never dealt withproof.
I want to know the truth.
I want to go to sleep.
This kid won't shut up.
Light and momentary areafflictions, the things which
(18:57):
weigh heavy on us.
But look at what he saysearlier in 2 Corinthians 4, 7-11
, where he says there's treasure, the treasure in the jars of
clay gospel in us.
Why does he put treasure injars of clay?
Why does he put the preciousgospel in something so fragile
(19:19):
as the jar of clay?
Well, he tells us to show thatthe surpassing power belongs to
God and not to us.
Why does he put it in there?
Because it's not us that guardsthe treasure, boy, it's him.
He puts it in something thatcan't guard so that he gets the
(19:43):
glory.
And because of that verse 8,we're afflicted in every way,
but not crushed.
We're perplexed, but we're notdreams to despair.
We're persecuted but notforsaken.
We're struck down but notdestroyed, always carrying in
the body the death of Jesus, sothat purpose, the life of Jesus,
(20:04):
may be manifested in our bodies.
You know I love Paul is notspeaking this.
He's not pulling life-voluntaryaffliction from some ivory
theological towel.
You know he's not going.
Life-voluntary affliction fromsome ivory theological tower.
He's not sitting in seminarygoing.
I'm the wax elephant ontheology, having never
experienced anything myself.
(20:25):
No, he actually tells us it's 2Corinthians.
I mean, I've been.
He goes are they servants ofChrist?
I'm a matter of one.
And he says I'm talking as amadman now.
But he goes.
Look, I've been.
He goes are they servants ofChrist?
I'm a matter of one.
And he said I'm talking as amadman now.
But he goes.
Look, I've had far greaterlabors, far more imprisonments,
with countless beatings, oftennear death.
Five times I received the handof the Jews, the 40 lashes less
(20:49):
one.
Three times I was beaten withrods Once I was stoned Three
times I was shipwrecked and notin a day.
Adrift in the sea on frequentjourneys, in danger from rivers,
danger from robbers, dangerfrom my own people, danger from
Gentiles, danger in the city,danger in the wilderness, danger
at sea he could have just saideverywhere, but he wanted to
make a point Danger from falsebrothers in toil and hardship
(21:11):
for many sleepless nights inhunger and thirst, often without
food and coal and exposure.
And apart from all this,there's a dangling pressure of
my anxiety for all the churches.
Who's weak?
And I'm not weak.
Who's made to fall on my name,didn't it?
Now I've got to boast.
I'll boast of the things thathighlight my weakness.
(21:36):
He understood affliction and hesaid it is light and it is
momentary compared to theeternal glory that far outweighs
all.
Listen, some of you are goingthrough some stuff right now
that is weighing you down.
I mean, your heart and yourmind is not at peace.
(21:57):
You are struggling and yoursituation is real and the stuff
that you're dealing with isabsolutely real.
But I've got to tell you, afteryour first 50,000 years in
heaven, you're not going to bethinking about this moment.
And if you do, you're going tothink about how it was preparing
(22:20):
you for glory.
You are in the moment, but youwere not made for the moment,
you were made for eternity.
So you have to see the momentin light of the glory that far
outweighs it all.
The third contract, he says.
So we fix our eyes not on whatis seen but on what is unseen.
(22:40):
This is kind of difficult,right, because we are made to
see what can be seen.
But paul says I'm not going tospend my time focusing on what
is seen, I'm going to focus onwhat is not seen.
From the very earliest stagesof our life, we were made to
(23:03):
learn by our senses.
In fact, you know sight,hearing, smell, taste, touch.
You take a baby and, as soon asthey can start moving, put some
in that baby's hands, whathappens?
It goes to the mouth.
All right, it's part of thattaste and touch and they're
beginning to experience theworld and they're learning in
(23:25):
that way.
We know how to learn by oursenses, but Paul says there's a
greater sense that's given to usby the Holy Spirit and it's one
called faith.
And faith is the substance ofthings hoped for and the
evidence of things not seen.
(23:47):
And so the discipline of theeternity glasses is to put on
the glasses to see what isaround us, but through the lens
of eternity.
When you let me give you anexample Somebody, somebody
(24:09):
treats you poorly that you don'tdeserve all right, the jerks in
our arms and they just blow onyou whatever, make an accusation
or they just come against you,the natural response is to look
(24:34):
with our physical eyes and ourphysical senses and we go that
dude's a jerk, I don't deservewhat he's going to say.
And, bro, I'm going to give itright back to him because that's
what he deserves.
Shouldn't have come at me likethat.
That's our natural response.
Right, that's seeing throughnatural physical lenses.
The eternity lens comes alongand you realize this person has
(25:01):
a problem, nobody who's at peacewith God and at peace with
themselves, treats other peoplepoorly.
I don't know if you everthought about that.
You can chew on that for awhile, but I'll put it up
against anything.
If you're at peace with God andat peace with yourself, you're
(25:22):
not a jerk Like you, just don'ttreat people poorly.
Think about it.
So what does that mean?
It means really, the greatestpriority for that person, or
their greatest need, is not totreat me better.
Their greatest need is toencounter Jesus.
Their greatest need is to feedmore into him.
They're not at peace with Godor, if they're not at peace with
(25:46):
themselves, there's somethingthat needs to happen
supernaturally with that as well, which comes through Christ,
and I begin to filter it throughhim.
And, rather than this buildup ofvolcanic anger within me over
being mistreated, I began topity the person.
I began to pray for the person.
(26:06):
I mean, how can we put intopractice what Jesus says when he
says pray for those who curseyour future.
Love your enemy.
Love not meaning thewrong-worsy feelings.
Love meaning put theirinterests above your own.
(26:27):
Put your enemy's interestsabove your own.
Can't do that Well, jesus saidto him.
He actually commanded it.
How Can't do that.
Well, jesus said to do it.
He actually commanded it.
How do we do that?
Well, you got to put on someeternity lenses to do that.
You got to realize we're livingfor eternity and see things
through that and realize manytimes what you see on the
(26:48):
surface from people is justmerely a symptom of what is
going on deeper down, and oftenthere's an issue and a problem
that needs the touch of Jesus,not the touch of your fist.
You know what I mean.
Even though this wouldmomentarily feel really good,
(27:11):
that's not really the greatestneed.
Plus, you don't want toparticipate in their sin.
The minute you harborbitterness, the minute you let
anger turn to wrath, the minuteyou retaliate, the minute you
say vengeance is mine, not theLord's, is the minute you step
(27:32):
into the sin of your enemies.
That's good, it's good word.
So you say I'll leave it to you, lord, I'll do what you've
called me to do.
But the only way you can dothat is to see it through, not
in the moment, but with thelarger picture.
Colossians 3 says If then you'vebeen raised with Christ, seek
(27:53):
the things that are above, whereChrist is seated at the right
hand of God.
Set your mind.
Set your mind means put yourstake down.
It means firm, focused onthings that are above, not
things that are on earth.
Let's do this, man, colossians3 through.
(28:19):
For you have died, you, we'reliving right, but in christ we
died to the all of life.
We were born again, raised to anew life in christ, for you
have died and your life ishidden with Christ in God, where
(28:40):
Christ, who is your life,appears when he appears,
described as your life.
So look, if Christ is my life,why am I letting anybody else
get the man?
You're coming against me,you're coming against the Lord.
You got to deal with him.
What am I to do?
(29:02):
I'm to forgive, I'm to love,I'm to pray, I'm to bless.
What's he going to do?
He'll do whatever he needs todo.
The Lord will take care of it,but it's not my life.
You're putting me down.
Come, put Christ down, becausehe is my life.
Who is your life appears.
Then you also will appear withhim in glory.
(29:24):
What is that Eternal, finalcontrast, temporary versus
eternal.
He says we fix our eyes Versuseternal.
He says we fix our eyes Not onwhat is seen, but on what is
unseen, for the things that areseen are transient.
Things that are seen aretransient, they're temporary,
(29:47):
but the things that are unseenare eternal.
Even the good things that wehave here in life are temporary.
Even when the Bible talks aboutyou know the temper in Hebrews
it says it's a shadow, right, asglorious as that was in Israel
and all of that.
(30:07):
It's just a shadow of a gloryin heaven of what is to come.
The temporary, the beauty is,for the believer, the worst that
it can get here on earth.
I mean, just come up with theworst absolute.
You know they got those books onworst-case scenarios right.
(30:29):
Just come up with the absoluteworst-case scenario.
We were coming back from, myfamily was coming back from a
family trip, my two kids and wewere coming back late and there
were storms in Charlotte and weliterally 45 minutes were
(30:50):
circling Charlotte just waitingfor an opening of the land.
But, as we are, other planesare gathering as well, right,
and finally they're like we'regoing to have to go to, we're
going to have to go land inColumbia and get gas and you
know, and then hopefully it'llpass.
And I remember my daughter.
(31:11):
She was just getting so and shewas, you know, she was 21 or
whatever and she was justgetting so bent out of shape
over this inconvenience, youknow.
And then we have to go down toColumbia and all that, and she's
like Paul, this is just worstcase scenario.
And I'm like what?
This is worst case scenario.
(31:35):
How about the plane crashing?
That may be a little bit worse.
You know, how about the personnext to you throwing up all over
you and then you got to sitdown?
I mean, there are worst casescenarios, you know, but you
come up with your absoluteworst-case scenario in life and
(31:58):
if you're a believer in Jesus,that's the baddest ever going to
get for you.
Come on, man, come on, come onFor those who haven't put their
faith in Christ.
You think about the absolutebest life can offer, because we
get in this trap.
Sometimes we look at theungodly.
We see the unrighteousprospering, and this isn't new,
by the way it.
Look at the ungodly we see theunrighteous prosper, and this
(32:18):
isn't new, by the way.
It's in the Bible too.
Those questions how do myenemies prosper?
God, I thought you were.
For me, that's as good as it'sever going to get.
Yep, and as good as things canbe here on earth, they still.
They ain't that great, you know, why don't you think for a
(32:42):
moment about heaven?
Think for a moment about heavenwhat's it going to be?
like.
The Bible gives us glimpses,but they didn't give us the full
story.
It's heaven we want, and when Iask people this question a lot
(33:08):
of times, they come back andthere's some skewed views of
heaven, right.
Like you're not going to be ababy in a diaper with a harp on
the cloud, like that's notheaven, all right, heaven's
(33:28):
actually described as a holycity coming down, new heaven,
new earth.
Coming down, new heaven, newearth City.
That's just to try to get somepractical measurement in mind
1,500 miles wide, 1,500 mileslong, 1,500 miles high, high,
(33:51):
yeah, out there.
I mean probably not escalated toa state.
Go up that high.
Jesus ascended, he's on theresurrected body.
We're going to get glorifiedbodies.
There'll be no doctors,there'll be no hospitals
Hallelujah, there'll be no calls.
(34:12):
Middle of the night the tragicnews.
There'll be no calls.
Middle of the night the tragicnews.
There'll be no strife, there'llbe no envy, there'll be no
jealousy.
You and I have never found,we've never experienced a place
where we've been free from asinful monk, like we've been
redeemed, right, and he's givenus a new heart.
(34:33):
But when we got redeemed, heentered the battle of flesh and
spirit.
Well, there's coming a timewhere we're given that glorified
body and the flesh will be gonefor good, completely glorified
body.
When people start to imagineheaven, they start, they try to,
they don't try, but they justend up looking at it through the
(34:54):
lens of Earth.
Right, and you're not going tosee it clearly because it's so
far beyond anything that we canimagine.
One of our most precious metalshere on Earth is asphalt in
heaven.
Well, yeah, he flips everythingon its head.
(35:15):
Sometimes I get well.
Will there be ice cream inheaven?
Well, that'd be nice.
But you know what, even ifthere's not, it's only better,
it's only better, everything'sbetter.
Everything's better in eternity.
When people think about it Iwas just having a conversation
(35:36):
with Tom when people think aboutit, I just can't make that move
.
Because would I have to give up?
Let me tell you somethingWhatever you did not to follow
Christ can't even compare.
Amen, the Lord far outweighsthem all, and even as believers
can even compare.
(35:57):
Amen, the Lord far outweighsthem all and even, as believers,
the things that we kind ofvalue most on earth.
And it's not wrong to havesavings, it's not wrong to have
a bank account, it's not wrongto have a car and have a house
for your family, for your family, go to work.
I mean, all those things arenecessary as we live in the
(36:17):
temporal world, right, but holdon to a loose one and the best
that that gives you, the mostpleasure, that that stuff gives
you when you get to heaven,you're going to go.
That was weeds man.
The best here on earth is BuckShadow.
(36:38):
You know when the baby movesfrom milk to that soupy rice
concoction or whatever.
And they're like, oh well, good, like that's belong, and you're
going.
Bro, you're going to miss.
You ain't even had ice creamyet.
(37:01):
You didn't have a plan, son,like don't even know, you don't
even know and you won't knowuntil you get there.
But what you do know is it'sonly bone.
What if this isn't in heaven?
It's only better, it's onlywell.
I want no, what you want isJesus.
(37:23):
Jesus is not your pathway toget where you want to go.
Jesus is where you want to go.
He is not your conduit to adestination, he is the
destinationit to a destination.
He is the destination and he isbetter.
He's everything.
He knows what he's doing.
No matter where you're goingfor your life, he knows what
(37:46):
he's doing.
I'm 16 years old.
I don't know what the world'sgoing on.
I'm going down there.
I'm starting a new life, makingnew friends.
Well, I did.
Got into a youth group, gotinto school.
I found a guy on the footballteam that loved Jesus too.
Didn't believe it because itdidn't look like anybody loved
(38:07):
Jesus on my team and startedmaking an impact.
I was only there in two yearsjunior and senior year.
Then I came to college, went towhere I'd been introduced to
with some of my friends, whichwas Wayne University.
I saw them strong.
Two of my friends from Sarasotaone of my best friends was on
(38:29):
the football team and anotherwas kind of I was an only child.
She kind of became my sister afew years younger.
Both of them they never heardof me, but because I went there,
they went there too.
My best friend from college Imean from high school Jackie.
(38:51):
He found his spouse there atWiener.
Jackie, he found his spousethere at Wynne.
My little sister, becky.
I interviewed her to a friendof mine who was from my youth
group in Winston-Salem.
There was a Wynne.
They got married.
They had children.
I'm kidding, they'reGod-parenting their children.
(39:13):
God, what would you send a 16-,16 years old down to Sarasota
Park?
I'm not saying they're togethercausally, but God used that
situation.
I'm going a thousand other ways, but just that right there.
(39:34):
God knows what he's doing andhis goal is not necessarily your
comfort.
His goal is his glory.
You're good, which will glorifyhim, but he can be glorified in
(39:55):
your most difficult ofcircumstances.
So guys tomorrow.
You know the moment and you'regoing to pretty soon be in a
town without a tent when you canput on your earthly glasses and
you can just get consumed withwhat is going on in the moment.
Or you can make a choice thatI'm going to fix my eyes not on
(40:22):
what is seen but on what isunseen.
But what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal.
Lord Jesus, thank you, dude.
The time I've shared today,just these guys and their quarts
, and just them taking a weekendout and fellowship together.
All this is born out oftremendous experiences from the
(40:45):
past here at man Camp.
God, everybody here has gotdifferent situations and
circumstances in their lives,and yet you are the constant,
the same, yesterday, today andforever.
You love us, you don't move andyou are our security.
You gotta pray that you canhelp us each.
All of our circumstances aredifferent, but you are the same
(41:09):
and help us have an eternalperspective for our real and for
your glory.
Thank you, thank you, god.
No matter how long we live hereon this earth, for our real and
for your glory.
Thank you, thank you, god.
No matter how long we live hereon this earth, eternity is
going to make this town on earthpale in comparison.
And it is going to be so fullof glory and worship and
(41:30):
activity and growing andlearning.
We are pumped up about it.
When the time comes, god usherus in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen Amen.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Amen, good stuff.
Yeah, the professor alwaysbrings a bone.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
It lands the plane.
Ah, man, nikita couldn't havesaid it any better.
The professor brings it homeand lands the plane.
Guys, that was Professor BillColeman.
Check out his book.
I'll leave the link below.
We've got the prayer requestbelow.
We've got the donation buttonbelow.
(42:25):
Guys, I love you.
This is the Food for ThoughtPodcast B-Rob.
We'll catch you on the next one, okay.
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