Future Glory
Download MP3We do this fairly often at this church. We especially do this every Easter is, I asked a couple of people to share their testimonies, share how the risen Christ has changed their lives. And so I've asked 2 people to do that tonight, 2 of our newest members. And so I'm gonna ask Virginia Brasher. I've been trying to find her.
Joel Brooks:If she would come on up and share with us to testify about the lord Jesus' work in her life.
Speaker 2:Hi. I'm Virginia Brasher and I am nervous. I had these butterflies in my stomach. I just wish they would just take flight and be released. But, our family has been going here since, late summer.
Speaker 2:My husband, Shane, is back there. He's got the Duck Dynasty thing going on. And, we have 3 children. 2 are upstairs in Clayton and Maggie, and then we've got Nolan who's almost 7 months, and he's in the nursery. And, it's just been such a wonderful thing coming into this community, and we are so thankful for Redeemer.
Speaker 2:And, it's already just, challenged us and just been such an encouragement, so I look forward to getting to know all of you. But, Joel had asked me to share my testimony, and, so here it goes. Growing up, I grew up going to church. We would go, I I guess pretty regularly on Sundays, and, it was really nothing more than that for me, though. It was just kind of going through the motions and going to church and being there and leaving it there and then, and then coming back the next Sunday or maybe 2 weeks later.
Speaker 2:And, so I never really had a relationship with Jesus, didn't really know that was an option. And, toward the end of high school, just, started hanging out with the wrong crowd and battled some depression and eating disorders and, just really was not a happy person. I didn't have any joy, at all. And when I went to college, that only worsened. I was away from home, new friends, kind of had my my own schedule to deal with and just, went further into depression and, hanging out with the wrong people and, experimenting with drugs and, just drinking entirely too much.
Speaker 2:And, one night, just in an attempt to to feel accepted because my worth, had just shriveled up to nothing. I, met a guy and gave him something that was very important to me that meant everything to me and meant absolutely nothing to him. And what little value and worth I had felt before that time, just plummeted to nothing. And I just went into, just a deep, dark period in life and just 1 after a few months of of living in darkness, one night just decided I was just ready to just end it all. And, I intentionally overdosed, and, almost immediately after I had done that, panic set in and called a friend.
Speaker 2:And, long story short, ended up in the ER and had my stomach pumped. And this sweet couple, came the next day in the hospital, and, they, were campus crusade ministers, and sorry, they knew how to love people, and they knew how to out of share the gospel with me. And that's exactly what they did. And they invited me to come and live in their home. And I was only there a few weeks, but during those few weeks, they just poured Jesus into me.
Speaker 2:And they they not only just told me about Jesus, they they lived it out. And they prayed with me, and and Jesus was just the center of their house. Even if we weren't always talking about Him, He was a part of everything that we did. And it's it's how Shane and I try to model our home Now we don't do nearly as good a job as they do, but but they had Christ at the center, and it made a huge impact on me. And I can remember being in their little townhouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and their their teeny little guest bedroom that that they had given to me for those few weeks and being on my knees and praying that God would just take over my life and that Jesus would become center.
Speaker 2:And I wish that I could say that from that point on, it was just daffodils and roses, and and I lived and focused my life directly on Christ after that, but that that wasn't the case. After moving from from their their townhouse and going back to my dorm, I kind of I kind of went into some of my old habits, but but I was changed. I had been impacted in a major way and and shown the gospel and how it could be a relationship and how it could work in my life. And, God just continued to just chisel away at me and and work at me. And after college graduation I had met Shane during college, and after graduation, we came back to Birmingham.
Speaker 2:And his parents, excuse me, his Well, his parents live in Birmingham, but his grandparents, needed a ride to church. They were just too sick to be driving themselves and so we started taking them to church. And, that ended up being such a blessing for us because we would we would hear the gospel because we were taking them to church and it became just our regular routine to, to be with them and and they would pour into us and and we could see their relationship and how close they were to Christ and and we wanted that. And as we as we continued to do that, God just changed us completely, and and he became our center. And, Shane I remember Shane giving me a bible for Christmas shortly after that, and I was so excited to get it, and it was something that I wanted to read and not just something that was just gonna sit on my bedside table and collect dust.
Speaker 2:It was something I was so excited to have, and, looking back, it it's so easy to be ashamed of of my past, and I think saint would probably want me to to be ashamed of it, but, Christ has made me new. Because I am in him, he's made me a new creation, and and all of that old stuff is gone. And and he's made me new in him, and he's also used it. Shannon and I had an opportunity at, where we were attending last to just be with teenagers who are kind of dealing with these same issues of depression and darkness and trying out drugs and, God just used these opportunities for us to to be with them, to share with them, and to see lives changed, and I am just so thankful for a god who who saw me in that filth and when I was dirty and ugly, and he saw a treasure inside of me. And I am so grateful for that and so grateful that he's he sees treasure in in all of us, and, I stand here today not perfect in in any means.
Speaker 2:He is still working on me. I still have an infernal temper and I still know just the right things to say to my husband to to hirk him to the core, and I still yell like a crazy lunatic to my children sometimes. And God is so merciful, and I'm so thankful for his steadfast love and his mercy and his grace that he has shown on us and our family. And, my prayer is that he'll just continue to, pour into us, as a community and, that he would change our hearts and that we would see less of ourselves and just more of him and that our reflection each day would, just resemble him and just just a little bit more each day. So thank you for my mission.
Joel Brooks:Thank you, Virginia. We're naming a special home group attendance award after Virginia. When she was in our home group, she 9 months pregnant, she left our group when it was over, went to the hospital, had a baby, and was back for our next home group. And so there's really no excuse to ever miss a home group. Next, I've asked, Jimmy Honeycutt if he would come up here and share his story with us.
Speaker 3:Alright. Well, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive our perfect praise. Happy Easter, Saints of Redeemer Community Church. Thank you, Virginia, for that testimony. God bless you.
Speaker 3:My name is Jimmy Honeycutt. My family and I have been attending Redeemer here since August of last year and been members since January. My wife is sitting over here with the beautiful dress on, Stephanie. And we have 2 daughters. Zoe is 3, and Gabby will be 2 in July.
Speaker 3:We're so grateful that the Lord has led us to be a part of this body of believers. You guys have been so gracious, welcoming to us, especially our home group, the Johnsons and the Harpers. Thank you very much. Joel asked me to share today, and I'm honored to have this opportunity. I hope that in this brief reflection that, you and I both would be encouraged and maybe healed.
Speaker 3:And, obviously, I hope that your focus isn't so much on me, but on Christ. So, without further ado, here we go. Halloween 2001, my friends and I have a magnificent plan to be Smurfs for Halloween. There's 4 of us. We have papa Smurf, vanity Smurf, hefty Smurf, and brandy Smurf.
Speaker 3:We go all out, blue body paint, ears, the hat, pants, shoes, the whole 9 yards. We go to downtown Gainesville. I'm a student at the time at the University of Florida. And we get 2nd place in a contest, costume contest. It was a good night, but the entire night from start to finish was ruled by my addictions.
Speaker 3:Before the night even started, I needed a pack of cigarettes because if I wasn't smoking, I would have been miserable that night. And most of the night was spent waiting in line for drinks. If I wasn't drunk, then it wouldn't have been fun. And when the night ended, after being drunk, bars were closed, I needed to be high. So I started asking around for drugs, which led me to a not so good part of town in downtown Gainesville asking someone if they had drugs or knew where I could find drugs.
Speaker 3:And if you could picture this ridiculous state of a smurf walking around the hood asking someone for drugs, But it is a picture of what my life was like at the lengths that I would go to satisfy my addictions and this hunger that was never satisfied. It was a thirst that could not be quenched. You know, if I was drunk, I needed to be more drunk, and soon drunk wasn't enough. I needed to be high, whether that was smoking or pills or powder. If I could sleep with someone, then I did, and on to the next.
Speaker 3:And within a few 4 few maybe 3 or 4 years, I've been arrested for open container, kicked out of a fraternity for drugs, and nearly expelled from university. And Low Point came in 2004 after a night of drunken debauchery for discretion's sake, let's say, mutual, multiple intimate relations that you might see on the Internet or in an adult movie. And in the course of succeeding days after that, just becoming overwhelmed with shame, and amazed at how far I, as a person, have fallen, I was just awakened to my depravity and my need for a savior. So, to this day, I don't know why God did not just lead me in that place. He would have been just if he would have just left me in that place of helplessness and poverty and despair, or he could allow my heart to harden, to return the same lifestyle that I, previously led to my despair.
Speaker 3:But for no other reason that I can imagine other than for the praise of his grace, he had mercy on me. And he changed my heart, and he reminded me of the gospel that I heard so many times as a child, the good news of Jesus, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. God didn't send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. So I weeped, I confessed, I repented, I fasted, I trusted in Jesus as savior and lord. And looking back, here 9 years removed from those events, I'm even more in awe at the love of God manifested at the cross of Christ.
Speaker 3:Emil Brunner says that at the cross, God makes known both his holiness and his love in one simultaneous event. And what he means by that is when God forgives me, he's not just sweeping my sins under the rug, or pretending like they didn't happen. God's holiness demands punishment. As the righteous judge of the universe, his character is at stake when he forgives me. But though his holiness demanded a punishment, his wonderful love provided a substitute for that punishment, a sacrifice.
Speaker 3:He gave of himself. God redeemed me from my death sentence with the very life of his innocent son. On the cross, God imputed to Jesus. He put on him the guilt of my immorality, my addictions, my adultery, and he punished him over and over and over again, until his wrath and his anger was completely satisfied, so that I could be forgiven. More than that, the perfect, devoted, obedient life that Jesus led for God up until his last breath, that righteousness is imputed to me by faith in Christ so that I can stand before a holy God as not just not guilty, but righteous.
Speaker 3:And Jesus on the cross endured the most humiliating of deaths. He was stripped naked, mocked, slapped, beaten, whipped, and lifted high, nailed on a cross for the world to see my humiliation and my shame, so that today I can be shameless and receive the promise in him of no condemnation, which I have to remind myself of quite frequently. And Jesus, in his darkest final hours, cried out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus, in his darkest hour, was forsaken by his father, so that in my darkest hour I could be comforted and welcomed into the family of God, accepted as a child of God, be able to relate to God as my father and receive the inheritance of a child of God, of eternal life with him. And though Jesus died on that cross, he was buried in the tomb, scriptures affirm that on the 3rd day he rose from the grave.
Speaker 3:Because of that, we and myself was able to put to death that person I used to be, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, be able to walk in newness of life. Jesus began a process of me those 9 years ago of reversing the curse of sin in me so that I could become the Jimmy God originally created me to become. And he'll one day finish it. He's not there yet. And when I experienced God's mercy in my darkest, ugliest of hours, I fell in love with my creator.
Speaker 3:Not unlike the simple woman in Luke who washed our Lord's feet with her hair and her tears. I too know what it's like to love much because I've been forgiven of so very much. And once God was on the throne of my heart where he rightly belonged, the lusts, the things of the world that captivated my attentions for so many years began to seem really quite frivolous. And obeying God was no longer a burden. It was not something that I had to do to earn merit, but it was an opportunity to love God and reflect the character of the one who saved me.
Speaker 3:And God began a satisfaction in me that nothing could ever quench before. Just knowing my father, living for him, serving him, being able to serve and help others, I began to experience genuine lasting satisfaction that the world could never provide. And today, 9 years removed from these events, I'm married to a wonderful, beautiful wife. I once felt unworthy of any woman, much less a godly woman. But she is a godly woman who loves and respects me and, manages our home with dignity and grace.
Speaker 3:She brings our children up in the training and instruction of the Lord. I know there are many excellent women here, but Stephanie Honeycutt surpasses them all. Okay. I don't mean to create a competition for the next person who gets up here and have to talk. But, I was going to close with something different.
Speaker 3:But Virginia, you changed me. So, I'm gonna try to do this. Bear with me. On behalf of that person who took something for you, that was me, years ago. Please forgive me and anyone else who's been hurt by someone like me.
Speaker 3:I pray for your healing, and maybe we both can provide a little, be given a little healing in this moment. And if there's anyone out there who maybe was like me, who you're searching, you're feeling these hungers and these thirsts, trying to feel satisfaction. And I'm here to tell you, you won't find it any other place than Christ. And I don't wanna make it sound like my life has been sugar coated. There have been difficult times.
Speaker 3:Many difficult times. I mean, there's been consequences to sin, sicknesses, hard apologies that I've had to make. Steph and I, we lost our our first child in pregnancy and nearly lost Zoe 5 months into the pregnancy. A roommate and a friend of mine that was recovering from addictions relapsing it cost him his life, messed me up for a while. But throughout these things, God has been faithful, and I can testify today that Jesus is worthy of our praise, he is worthy of our celebration.
Speaker 3:Worthy is the lamb. Happy, Easter, Redeemer. Thank you for, listening.
Joel Brooks:Thank you. Thank you, Jimmy and Virginia. If you would, open your bibles to Romans. Romans chapter 8. Jimmy and Virginia, I just I wanna say that it has been obvious in the short time that I've known you guys, that Christ is alive in you and that he is changing you and making you more and more like him.
Joel Brooks:It's a joy to see. We're gonna begin reading in verse 11.
Connor Coskery:And and and and and and and and and
Joel Brooks:and and and and and and and and and
Connor Coskery:and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and
Joel Brooks:is his name. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs.
Joel Brooks:Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, not not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Joel Brooks:And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, grown inwardly as we eagerly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this, we hope we are in this hope, we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Joel Brooks:Likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what it is the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.
Joel Brooks:And what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
Joel Brooks:It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, he was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Joel Brooks:As it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in Christ Jesus, our lord.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Our lord Jesus, we are gathered together for no other reason than you have brought us here. You have changed us. You have drawn us to yourself. When we were enemies of you, when we were running away.
Joel Brooks:You have drawn us close to your heart. I thank you for how we have heard that in the lives of Jimmy and Virginia, and and we could take time, and we would hear that from just about every person in this room. We would hear about your incredible mercy and your love towards us. God, I pray that in this moment, you would make clear your word that you, the living Jesus, would speak to us through your spirit. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. A few years ago, I got to spend some time in Indonesia, and experience up close, severe poverty. I would walk around in the the shanty towns. There were just endless. A matter of fact, I I went running one morning, and I got lost because it all looks the same.
Joel Brooks:It's just endless shanty towns. And, I was running for over 2 hours, and I could not find my way back because it was all just the same. 2 weeks ago, I was in Haiti, and there was a lot of similarities between Haiti and, the people and the the culture, the cities that were in Haiti or in in the Indonesia. There there was the same amount of poverty there. There was a lot of the shanty towns.
Joel Brooks:There was people who were struggling daily just to survive. Things like clean water was not anything that was readily available. You you couldn't take that for granted. And yet my time in Indonesia, my time in Haiti could not have been any more different. There there was one striking difference.
Joel Brooks:It was really startling. Both places had, had dogs barking well into the night. Almost every night, you would hear dogs being killed around you as packs of dogs would would just surround. And there was those horrific sounds there. Both places had the pigs, you know, that were, all around keeping you up.
Joel Brooks:There was also the quiet voices of of a village or a town going to sleep. But in Haiti, there was singing. And I will always remember that singing. As my bed was by the window and I could hear I could hear some women in the kitchen a few buildings away, and they were just singing praises to Jesus. I could hear a a woman's choir group.
Joel Brooks:They are gathered together. They were singing hymns in 3 part harmony, and it was just gorgeous. I could hear the kids in their dormitories of Christian and Canaan community, and they were just singing spontaneous praises to Jesus. Outside my window, I I heard somebody walking by, and he was singing in Creole. And I I didn't recognize what, the words he was saying, but I recognized the tune.
Joel Brooks:It was our
Connor Coskery:God is mighty to save.
Joel Brooks:Our God is mighty to save. Same situations in both of these cultures, but one one of these people, they they had hope. Both had poverty, both lived in these extreme conditions, but there was there was this hope, this tangible hope in this Canaan community at Haiti. Because they believed in the resurrected Jesus. Are not worthy to be compared to the glory that awaits them.
Joel Brooks:And it set their hearts on fire singing, And it was such a contrast from my time in Indonesia. These people in the early church had the same type of hope that these Haitians had. It's the same hope that you find throughout all of the New Testament that someday Jesus will return to earth in glory and that he will give us those who love him, those who are redeemed, he will give us new resurrected bodies. If you read through the letters of Paul, you're going to feel this hope. Paul doesn't so much talk about, what we spend a lot of our time talking about just this kind of this heavenly bliss.
Joel Brooks:He but he doesn't spend so much time talking about, you know, our souls going away into heaven and, you know, floating on clouds. I mean, giving harps and singing Kumbaya for all of eternity. That's not what Paul has in mind. That's not where he has fixed his hope. His hope is in the resurrection.
Joel Brooks:That someday Christ will give us a new body like his and that he will come to this earth and he will give us a new world, and heaven and earth will be reunited. And just as Jesus prayed, thy kingdom come, that would happen and that we would reign with Christ for all of eternity in a very physical real way. That was his hope. All of his hopes rested on the resurrection Just
Connor Coskery:like, you know, when you get that that
Joel Brooks:first apple of the season, Just like, you know, when you get that that first apple of the season or that first tomato of the season and the moment you have that, you know what's coming behind. That was your first taste, but there's gonna be many, many more. And when we look at Jesus and we see his resurrected body, and Paul calls that the first fruits because we are coming in his wake. And our body will look like his. He is the first to be raised, but we will follow.
Joel Brooks:And the resurrection is not just our hope. It's the hope of all of creation. That's what we read about here in Romans 8. Romans 8, you know, in many ways you kind of think it's like the pinnacle of the Bible. I mean, getting there, it is just I was only gonna read a few verses and I couldn't stop.
Joel Brooks:For the creation waits, with eager longing, and for the revealing of the sons of God. Now and why is it that creation is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God? And and actually, in Greek, the the the phrase is like up on tiptoes or straining of the neck. And the picture is this creation is is straining and looking anxiously waiting for the day when the sons of God would be revealed. And to understand why creation itself is doing this, you have to go back to Genesis.
Joel Brooks:You have to go back to the garden and look at Adam and Eve. When God created the world, he created everything good. He created everything beautiful. And he placed Adam and Eve in charge, and he gave them dominion. He said, I want you to work.
Joel Brooks:And this was this God glorifying, joyful, hard work, I want you to bring out the potential in all of creation. You're you're in charge of this. But then we know the story. We know how Adam and Eve, they fell. And when they fell, the consequences were disastrous, not just for them, but for all of creation.
Joel Brooks:Not only did they become a slave to sin, but all of creation became in bondage. All of creation fell under a curse. And rightly so, because we were there to bring out the potential of creation, but we had fallen. And now creation itself was set back, and and man would no longer joyfully work to the glory of God. He would toil by the sweat of his brow with thorns and thistles as he put plow to the earth.
Joel Brooks:As all of the earth felt the curse and the weight of our sin. This is what Paul describes in verse 20. When he says, For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself will be set free And now all creation is groaning. It's longing for redemption. I love that that that groaning of of creation.
Joel Brooks:And Paul says it's what we do as well. Now we're groaning. Creation is groaning. We're groaning. The later the spirit is going to groan.
Joel Brooks:And Romans 8, it's the groan that comes before childbirth in which there's tremendous amount of pain. But all that pain is forgotten when the joy of the child is before you. We're in the midst of childbirth. Creation is groaning, waiting for the time when new life will come, When the sons of God will be revealed. When when Paul says in verse 19 that all of creation is longing for the sons of God to be revealed.
Joel Brooks:What he's saying is it's longing for when we are given our resurrected bodies and we are given once again to this earth, and we could bring out his potential again. That we will once and for all, we'll finally do the task that God had enabled us to do, that God has designed for us to do, We would once again work to the glory of god and no longer by the sweat of our brow. And let me tell you that we cannot comprehend the glory that awaits both us and creation When this happens, we we get hints of it in different parts of scripture. Let let me just read you
Connor Coskery:a few. All I have to do
Joel Brooks:is hit the Psalms, hit the mid 90s and up, and you're good to go, all right? We'll look at Psalm 96. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exalt and everything in it.
Joel Brooks:Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord. For he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Psalm 98, make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Joel Brooks:Sing praises to the Lord with the liar, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful no noise before the king, the Lord. Now let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord.
Joel Brooks:For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. Isaiah, the great prophet, he speaks of the same thing in Isaiah 55 when he says, For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing. And and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Joel Brooks:Now when the psalmist and the prophet say that the trees of the field are gonna sing and they're gonna clap their hands, You could call me a fool, but I don't think he's speaking metaphorically. If God can make me dance, alright, he can make a tree sing. He can make a tree clap or the rivers clap. And Just as those children in Haiti were dead, but are now alive and are singing, that will happen in all of creation. Alright?
Joel Brooks:The reason I tell you this on resurrection Sunday is because I want you to see who God has created you to be. This is your destiny. This is your purpose. This is our meaning in life. I want you to see the glorious future that you have been promised and that which has been secured in Christ Jesus.
Joel Brooks:And this is how this affects us today. Through the spirit of Christ, this new life has already broken through in us. Alright? Paul calls it the the first fruits or the down payment. We are assured that this is our future.
Joel Brooks:This is our joyful future because the spirit of God already tells us that. And we could begin now even working towards that end. We can even begin now, you know, sharing the good news in Woodlawn, trying to make things beautiful and life giving. Because this is what awaits us for all of eternity. It's the reason that God created us to bring out the joyful fulfillment in all creation for the glory of God.
Joel Brooks:I could see that so clear in Haiti. I'm not sure if there is another place in the world that you could so look at the soil and say this is cursed. With a pickaxe, you could go forever and go about that deep. And yet even there, you saw the seeds of redemption and the hope that had been brought there. And it makes me read things like Psalm 96 and Psalm 98, and you would see the few trees around in Haiti.
Joel Brooks:And you could say they are getting ready to break forth in song when the glory of the sons of god are revealed. Pray with me. Jesus, you are the first fruit. When we see you, we will become like you. You will give us new bodies.
Joel Brooks:You will give us a new earth, and we will live forever joyfully working, gardening, bringing out the potential of what we see around us to where trees sing, rivers clap. All of creation is filled with the glory of god, That you allow us to be a part of that just stuns me. And all we can say is that you are amazing and that you are good and that we praise you, Jesus. And we pray this in your strong name. Amen.
