The Citizen of Heaven - pt. 2 (Pastor Christian Torres)

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Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military style.
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It wasn't the type of people they were going to have. The guy who praised God. Alright, Matthew chapter 5, the
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Beatitudes. So last week, we went through the first four. And for those of you that weren't here, let me go ahead and bring you guys up to speed.
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In the book of Matthew, Jesus taught five major sermons. Five times when he sat down and he delivered a sermon.
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Now towards the end of Matthew, he delivered a sermon about the end times. He delivered a sermon about the hypocrisy of the
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Pharisees. But you want to know the largest sermon that Jesus taught in the book of Matthew?
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The Sermon on the Mount. Isn't that interesting that he spent more time talking about the character of his followers than the end times?
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He spent more time focusing on you than he did the world. You, your character is more important.
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You should pay more attention to the way you behave, the way you think, the way you speak, than whatever is going on in the world.
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The word Beatitude. In some of y 'all's Bible it will have the Beatitudes as a title. It simply means blessed or happy.
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What does it mean to live a blessed life? What does it mean to be truly happy?
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As you begin to listen to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, something becomes painstakingly obvious.
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No man can live up to Jesus' words by their own efforts. Christ gave us his standard, but he also gave us his
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Holy Spirit in order to achieve it. So let's go to Matthew 5, and what we're going to do is we're going to read it through once.
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Not the entire chapter, just verse 1 through verse 12. Same as we did last week.
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Verse 1, chapter 5. Hear the word of the Lord. Seeing the crowds, he went up to the mountain.
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And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Let us pray. Father, I just read your word. Even though I'm preaching and I say this every time, but I really do mean it.
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I want you to speak to me. I got my pen and I'm ready to take notes. Lord, convict me first.
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Heal me first, Father. And allow the words of my mouth to be pleasing to you, for this is my act of worship to you.
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May I deliver a faithful sermon. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to start here in verse 7, where we left off.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Now, what we see here as we go down each beatitude, is that the first one leads to the next, and then the next, and then the next.
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When you begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness, He's going to fill you with mercy.
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And notice that He fills you with His mercy and not your own. I used to think that this was one of the most difficult passages to follow.
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If I don't show mercy, no mercy will be shown to me? But you don't know what they did. You don't know how they offended me.
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Does anyone here struggle with showing mercy to others, or am I just the only one? That's okay. I could be the only one. That's cool. But I used to struggle to show mercy, especially to those that didn't deserve it.
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But then the more the Holy Spirit worked in my life, I realized I didn't deserve it in the first place.
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And guess what? His mercies are new every morning. Brothers, you know what's fascinating?
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His mercies are new every morning. Lamentations chapter 3. What does that say about my mercies towards other people?
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My mercies should be new every morning to those that hurt me. To those that sin against me.
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Whether they are worthy of forgiveness and world standards or not. You are required to show mercy.
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Now some of you, including myself, we get burnt out. You know, with this whole church thing.
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We get burnt out at loving each other. We get burnt out at showing mercy. We get burnt out at showing forgiveness. And you know why?
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Because you're trying to use your love. Not his. Your mercy. Not his.
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When Christ asked you to love your enemy, did he really mean to use your love?
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Your broken love? Your love that ends? The Holy Spirit in us produces fruit.
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The love that I receive is the one I give to you. Because if I gave you my love, it would end.
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My love is full of conditions. If I were to show you mercy, it would have a stopping point,
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I assure you. But because his mercies are new every single morning, I am to show you and everyone else in the world new mercy.
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It is written in Zechariah 4, 6, Not by might, not by power, but by my
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Spirit says the Lord of hosts. By his power, not mine. So if you feel yourself today all burnt out, all churched out, maybe it's time to finally start using his love and not yours.
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His patience and not yours. Because his love never ends. And so if your love for one another ends, guess where it didn't come from?
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It didn't come from God. Mercy. Sweet mercy. I remember the first time
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I felt mercy. The first time I looked at myself and God and I confessed my sins and he forgave me.
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Empty handed. I had nothing to offer Christ. The man that wrote this book, the apostle
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Matthew, he knows a thing or two about mercy. His conversion is about four chapters down from the sermon.
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I'm in love with the way that Jesus called Matthew. Jesus was walking near his booth because he was a tax collector.
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So on the front of your sheet, let me not get ahead of myself, is a small biography of Matthew. And if you understand who
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Matthew is, his book kind of starts making sense. You know, he was a Jew. And for you
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MIT students, you'll learn this in a little bit. It's interesting that Jesus taught five major sermons and then there's five major books in the altar.
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Anyway, we'll get to that later. But he was a tax collector. Now, I know we don't like the
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R .S. now, but back in the day, right, back over there, tax collectors worked for the
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Roman occupation. At this time in history, Israel was under the thumb of Rome. And what the
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Romans did is that they employed Jews to collect taxes. So he was seen as a traitor by his own people.
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And he was a Jew to the Romans, so he's not really liked by anybody. He wasn't allowed to go into the synagogue because he's unclean.
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He's a sinner. He's evil. What does Jesus do? Does he wait for Matthew to come into a synagogue?
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Jesus goes up to his booth and says, Matthew, follow me. What does that say about our evangelism, about our strategies, about us waiting for them to come here?
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But I find it really cool if you continue on in Matthew chapter 9. Matthew hosts this huge banquet, invites all of his friends, his tax collectors, the other people of the city, and then the
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Pharisees, the religious elites, come by because they hear the commotion. You know, they're always against parties.
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And they look inside and they see tax collectors and sinners, and then they see
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Jesus at the center ministering. The Pharisees, of course, all self -righteous and whatnot, decide to go in and ask a couple questions.
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So instead of directing their questions towards Jesus, they direct the questions to the disciples.
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Hey, why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners? What's super cool is that Jesus actually answers.
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The question wasn't directed at Christ. It was directed at disciples. But he stood in between the accused and the accuser.
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He stepped in. He said, uh -uh. Talk to me. What are you doing talking to them? I'm their
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Lord. I'm their master. You talk to me. You got a problem with my disciples? Come talk to me.
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Come here, Pharisees. People who think that you can get into heaven all by yourself. Matthew 9, verse 13.
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Go learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
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For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Brothers, let me tell you something.
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I know it's going to sound weird, but I'll prove it with Scripture. All of God's commands are important. But there are some that are more important than others.
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Uh -oh. Here comes the heresy. Don't worry. Matthew 23, 23.
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That's easy to remember. Jesus is having a conversation with the Pharisees again. And he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
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For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law.
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Justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.
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So brothers, let me tell you something. It's amazing that you're here. I'm glad that you're here. It's good that you tithe. We can't function if we don't.
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It's cool that you read the Bible. It's cool that you pray. Wonderful. If you show no mercy, where are you at?
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You are no better than the Pharisees. Showing mercy is more important than praying. Mercy.
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You showing mercy is more important than your prayers. You want me to prove it to you? In the book of Amos, God tells his people to shut up.
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Get your songs away from me, for you neglect justice and mercy. I don't want your sacrifice.
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I don't want it. It stinks. But when you begin to show mercy, when you begin to forgive those that don't deserve forgiveness, then you really understand my grace.
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Then you really understand how I got you out of the place that you were in. Brothers, don't forget where you were.
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Don't become like the Pharisees. I know that it's hard to show mercy, but the promise still remains that if you show it, you shall receive it.
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Moving on to verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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God. The word pure here in the Greek is katharos, meaning without admixture, clean and purified.
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Brothers, I've got a problem. I can't fit that description. There is at no point in my life where I could fit that description, where my heart can be 100 % pure.
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Even post -conversion, I can't be pure. I still have sinful thoughts, people.
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It doesn't go away once you become a Christian. I used to think that way. I used to think that, you know, the more
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I read, the more I prayed, the less I would sin. No, the stronger the temptations got.
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If it hasn't been obvious to you, you cannot meet the standard, so who can?
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Jeremiah 17, 9, unfortunately for me, says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.
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Who can understand it? Do you know where you are in your life today? You don't need a doctor if you are well.
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You don't need a forgiver if you don't know that you are a sinner. You have violated God's law. And breaking just one of God's law is enough to send you to hell for all of eternity.
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Well, that's not fair. Why would one temporary sin, you know, lead to an eternity in hell? Because you sinned against an eternal
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God. So his actions will be eternal. So that is an issue.
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Luckily for you, we got King Jesus coming here giving us this sermon. He said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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God. He knows that you can't make it on your own. He knows your struggles. He knows mine.
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What baffles my mind, people, and I'm going to be super honest with you, is that when
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I first became a Christian, I couldn't comprehend the amount of sins
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I would continue to do. Like, wow, Jesus Christ saved me.
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Including the sins that I was going to commit tomorrow, he forgave. Past, present, and future, this radical grace.
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But Lord, what are you going to do about my heart? Like, I really want to be different. I really want to be sanctified. In the book of Ezekiel, he gave us a promise.
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Ezekiel 36, 26. As it is written, I will give you a new heart.
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I will put within you a new spirit. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you...
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Yeah, let me see if I read that right. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
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He promises to give you a new heart. In the Hebrew, heart was the place of emotion, your thoughts.
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So whenever you read heart in the Old Testament, it's your emotions, your thoughts, your feelings.
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Christ will give you new thoughts. Christ will give you a new desire. As I mentioned last week, you are a new creature if you are a
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Christian. So the diet you used to have as an old Christian, you no longer have.
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You no longer have appetite after those things that you used to. It hurts you to sin. It hurts you.
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It's fascinating. It's such a quick change. I can't describe it. It is this conviction that I immediately felt once the
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Holy Spirit took up residence in my life. And He slowly does it.
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I want to reiterate again. He slowly does it. If the Holy Spirit were to convict you of every sin you are committing, you would be overwhelmed and you would crumble.
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But He does it in the process called sanctification, slowly showing you as you live your life, yeah, we're going to get rid of this.
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Ooh, that little white lie that you used to tell and you're still telling, that mouth of yours, slowly.
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And thank God He does because it is an act of mercy because conviction can hurt. Conviction can be painful.
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But let me tell you, conviction also gives me comfort. Conviction is so beautiful.
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Because then I know if I have His conviction, I have His peace. If I have His rod, I'll also have His staff.
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Conviction is a sweet gift. And so this promise here, I find it okay.
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If I have a pure heart, of course, not myself, but the Holy Spirit giving me one, how then can I see
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God? Because I want to see God. Has anyone ever here prayed like me, the lesser
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Christian in the room? God, just show yourself to me. Oh my goodness, who doesn't want to see
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Jesus? Come on, I read all these times in the history of the Bible where God just appears and I'm like, oh, come on, what do
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I need to do? Do I need to kill an Egyptian to get your attention? Come on, show yourself to me.
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And this is what He spoke to me. When I became a Christian, I realized that Christ is not now present in my life.
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He has always been present in my life. I look back and I go, I saw you leading me there.
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I saw you leading me towards you when I wasn't a Christian. Before I became a
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Christian, I was convicted by a Holy Spirit I didn't even know. He was present the entire time.
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He's always been my Father. My conversion is just when the adoption papers went through. But He's always been with me.
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And you begin to see that with your new heart. You now open the Scriptures and you go, whoa.
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I've read this a million times, but now I can actually see God through the ink.
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The words come alive. I see Jesus now for the first time.
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And although, my friends, you don't see Him now, you will. Because the temporary blessing for this promise is we see
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Him in our lives. We see Him in the church. But there will come a day where He comes and you will see
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Him. And unlike the rest of the world that shies away at the sheer horror and terror that will befall them.
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We will look at Him and just want to hug Him and kiss Him. See, it's going to be weird because He's going to be coming, you know, as a knight.
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A sword coming out of His mouth. His robes dipped in blood. And we're going to be in love. The rest of the world will be terrified.
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My Savior is coming. Ooh, oh no. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is coming.
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But to you, my friends, the pure in heart, you will see Him and not be afraid. All knees will bow 100%.
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My knee will start bowing now, guys. Now before He comes, I already swore loyalty.
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That promise, I'm already doing it. And so heaven is just going to be another day here.
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Just, you know, with no sin and tears, which is fantastic. Moving on to verse 9.
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now remember last week when
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I said that we need to slow down when reading our Bibles. That, you know, reading the Bible in a year is all cool and all.
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But there's got to be some times where you slow down and actually study the Scriptures, not just read them.
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This is one of them. The Scriptures say, blessed are the peacemakers, not the peacekeepers.
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The world thinks that we Christians should be peacekeepers. We shouldn't be stirring the waters.
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You should accept the people as they are. You shouldn't judge. That's not very peaceful.
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Be like Jesus. Let me tell you right now.
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When the world says be like Jesus, not like your Jesus, not like the isle that you have set up.
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Because mine did not come to bring peace. Mine came to bring division.
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You want me to prove it to you? Okay, I will. Matthew chapter 10. Five chapters after Jesus taught this.
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He said, don't think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
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For I have come to set a man against his father. And a daughter against her mother.
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And a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.
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You know, peacekeepers like to keep peace temporarily. But what they fail to see is that that doesn't lead to eternal peace.
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Peacemakers stir the waters in order to create eternal peace. I am willing to break the tension, to make it awkward, and evangelize in an effort for eternal peace.
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Brothers, Christ was a peacemaker. Every knee will bow.
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Well, that's not very tolerant. Well, you're not God. Christ came to rule the world.
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This first time he came to die for our sins. But I assure you, he will come again. And he will set up shop.
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And every knee will bow. As a peacemaker, the world will see you as a threat.
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You know, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the very next verse is you will be persecuted. Look, I'm a very chill guy.
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I don't like to get involved in other people's stuff, but when Christ says,
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. You know, I want to be called the son of God.
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I am willing to confront a brother on their sin. As painful as it is,
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I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to tell you the truth when I can really lie to you and you can like me more.
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But I'm not here to be liked, church. Nowhere in the job description of a pastor does it say
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I have to be liked. You know, I'm accountable to you, all of you, members of Witten.
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But I don't report to you. He's my boss. He's the one that I seek approval from. If he says, well done, good and faithful servant,
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I have everything I need. The world can hate me. If he loves me, that's all that I need.
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Something really cool. Has anyone here ever read the book of Acts? The first 30 years of the church?
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Look, if you haven't, it's super cool. Because they look like us. They act like us.
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They mess up like us. It's literally us. We haven't changed a bit, right? But I want you to know, as a peacemaker, man,
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Paul was a hated guy. Especially since he was a Pharisee. Much like Matthew, he took a radical change.
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He was part of the religious elite that hated Jesus, that wanted him crucified, wanted him buried. But the apostle
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Paul had a conversion. But it wasn't his own. Jesus Christ met him at the road to Damascus.
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Just like he met Matthew. You're getting a theme here that Jesus is the one that does the saving.
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He's the one that goes to you. And his life changed forever. I want to read something to you.
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Super funny. Acts 17, starting in verse 5. But the Jews were jealous. And taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason.
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Jason was the guy that was hosting the apostle Paul. Seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
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And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers from the city authorities, shouting, check this out.
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These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.
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We turned the world upside down. Why? Because Jesus did.
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He came to bring his upside down kingdom. Where the least is more important.
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Where the one that serves is more important. Where instead of curses and lies, we give blessings.
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When we get slapped on one cheek, we turn to the other one also. In this kingdom,
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Christ gives us a whole new set of rules. When someone forces you to go one, go two miles with them.
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If someone attempts to sue you for your shirt, give them your cloak. For your reward will be great in heaven.
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Be peacemakers in your lives, in your families. Guys, we're approaching Christmas. And we're approaching
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Thanksgiving. We're about to have a lot of family over. Okay, in your own house. If you're like me,
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I got some Jehovah's Witness in my family. Alright? And there's bound to be some conflict.
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Hey, I'm not saying, you know, start the fight. But if it's already happening, be a peacemaker. Go ahead and get in there, son.
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But of course, in all things, show love. What does it matter that you have all the answers? What does it matter that you have great theology if you show no mercy?
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Uh -oh. Notice how each of these go into the other? A peacemaker with no mercy? You're just cruel.
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And Christ doesn't want you. Mercy in your peacemaking. And the last beatitude.
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And this one right here is, um, it's a tough one, guys. I'm going to be honest with you.
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It's a tough one. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.
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For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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And this isn't the way Jesus finishes his sermon. This is like point one of his sermon.
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He has two more chapters to go. But this section of his sermon, he ends with this.
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You will be persecuted. If you follow the first seven, logically speaking, they will try to hunt you down.
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Notice the promise here is the same as the first blessing. In verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Christ wanted to remind you of the promise he gave you at first. You remember how certain you were when you became a
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Christian? How on fire you were? Man, Christ will never leave me nor forsake me. I'm good.
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And then life happened. Things happened. You realize that this process of sanctification is a lot harder than you thought it was going to be.
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His promise to you then is still his promise to you now. Because Christ doesn't change.
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He's not like a man who changes his mind. He doesn't begin projects that he can't finish.
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If God called you, he will sanctify you. If God called you, he will beautify you.
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He will call you and he will never leave you. Because he's a good shepherd and he's got a reputation to maintain as the best shepherd in the world.
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And not one of his sheep will be lost. Not a single one. As we read before, your biggest enemies, your biggest apps, will be your family members.
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The people who know you best. Your neighbors. You know, we live in America.
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America has its share of problems, sure. And if you actually believe that America has its share of problems, go and vote, please.
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But the rest of the world, especially in places like Africa or the Middle East, if you become a
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Christian, that's your life. Yeah, there's no going to church next Sunday. There's the gallows over there.
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Let's go ahead and stone you. If you become a Christian in your family, they have to disown you.
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In North Korea, okay, this one's even... This one is horrible. If you even have a sliver of a verse, then they will take you prisoner, and your family, and your extended family.
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That's if they don't kill you. For some people, for those that are being truly persecuted, it does cost them a lot.
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It does cost them their lives. You know, for us to be Christians, we'll applaud you, we'll baptize you, we might even give you a certificate.
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That luxury isn't found anywhere else in the world. And that, what we see in the world, will one day happen here.
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I love America. I bleed red, white, and blue. But let me tell you something.
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America will fall, because it will cease, if it hasn't already, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Every knee will bow, and that includes Washington. I know the government stinks.
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I know that abortion is a real issue. I don't know what the percentage is, but maybe like 40, 50 % of Americans agree with it.
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Look, the people we elected, that's the people America elected. Look at politics, you see the
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American people. Don't think we're any better. We're the ones that put them in. Voting blindly.
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Oh, all I see is R. I'm gonna check this here. Oh, all I see is Democrat. I'm gonna check here. Have we prayed?
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Have you prayed for Kamala Harris? Have you prayed for her? Scripture says to pray for all those who are in authority.
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Or, Scripture says to pray for your enemies. Whatever she is in your book, you should still be praying.
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Look, pray for Trump. Look, I do like Trump. But I struggle to say he's a
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Christian. Uh -oh. Oh, dear. Oh, man. And you know why I say I struggle to believe he is?
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Because if he were in this room as a member, we would all agree, oh, he's not. Where's the love?
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Where's the peace? I'm not electing him because he's a Christian. Don't be so ignorant. I elect him because I think he's the man for the job and he can get whatever done, done.
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But I don't look to him for any spiritual advice. Y 'all remember when he was talking about two
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Corinthians? Okay. Come on. Oh, come on. You, my friends, will be persecuted the same way the rest of the world is.
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The world will hate you, and then it will finally cost you. Jesus, many times in Scripture, will turn around and go, can
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I help you? What are you here for? What can I do for you? Walking up to blind people saying, how can
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I help you? Seriously, how can he help you? This world, your friends, your family will see you as an enemy simply because you are of the light and they are of the dark.
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Do not make this world your home, for the world will naturally reject and condemn you.
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But don't be afraid. The king of the kingdom of heaven will accept and justify you.
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What are you seeking? Are you seeking glory in this life? Or are you seeking the eternal kingdom of God that he came to bring?
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And we're living it out some here. It's a little bit tainted, right? Because we're still fallen.
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We're still sinful. We still have hate in our heart towards each other. But through the process of sanctification, we are slowly becoming what we will be.
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And Christ wants you to remember, hey, I told you in the beginning, when you started following me, the kingdom of heaven will be yours.
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And when they persecute you, when they put a gun to your head, don't think I'm exaggerating.
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I want you to remember the same promise I told you at first. The kingdom of heaven will be yours.
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A couple of months ago, I thought I preached on this. I had the book of Martyrs. And there's a particular passage in there where they found this underground church and they pulled them out.
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And like the evil men they are, they started with the kids before they went to the parents. And when the gun was placed,
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I don't know if it was a gun or a noose, either way, despicable, in front of the kid, the executioner looked at the
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Christian, at the pastor, and said, recant Jesus and he will live. And the man looked at his child and said,
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I'm going to see you in heaven. It'll just be a moment of pain. It will be.
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But I will see you in heaven in a little bit. What does it cost you to follow Christ? What is the cost that you are paying right now?
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Are you preparing for what is going to come? Because Jesus did spend a long time preaching about, if they came after me, they will come after you.
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If they called me the prince of demons, what on earth do you think they'll call you, my followers? I'm going to go ahead and call the music minister up.
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Do you know why he left this beatitude to be the last one? Obviously, because if you follow the first seven, they will follow, but it is a privilege to suffer for Christ.
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It is actually a privilege, and that is also another backwards thing. 1
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Peter 5 .10 says, And after you have suffered a little while, the
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God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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That Christ will not leave you by yourself. One of my biggest fears as a kid was being forgotten.
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I wanted to be famous. Okay. Okay. Hold up. I'm being vulnerable, guys.
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I'm being vulnerable. Relax. When I was a kid, I wanted to start a band. I couldn't sing, and I couldn't play, but I really wanted to be known, right?
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I hated the idea of me being forgotten, and I kind of relate now more towards the thief on the cross who looked at Christ and said,
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Remember me. The thief on the cross didn't say, Save me. Accept me into your kingdom.
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In his mind, the most he could have is just a simple memory. In his reality, he just thought of Jesus sitting on his throne, thinking,
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I remember that poor soul. Such a pity.
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But that wasn't where Jesus stopped. Remember you. I can't forget you because you'll be with me in paradise.
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You'll be with him in paradise. And I know that this part of the sermon doesn't resonate with a whole lot of us because we're not facing life or death situations, but I assure you, there are other people in the world who would be mourning at this, who would have brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers killed just the day before, and they still meet and congregate because it costs something to follow
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Christ. It isn't just a religious checkbox. One day we'll come and mark my words and mark the words of Scripture.
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It'll be painful to follow Christ, but the kingdom of heaven is your reward. Having reached the end of the
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Beatitudes, we begin to ask ourselves if there is any place on earth that will accept the blessed community
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Christ just described. There is only one place that will accept us, and that is the place where the poorest, meekest, most tried man is found at the feet of the cross at Golgotha.
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There you will find his kingdom, and brothers, his kingdom is a place where we are afflicted in every way, but never crushed.
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Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
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Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
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You want to live with Christ? You will suffer with Christ. But I don't know. I don't feel like I have the strength.
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There you go, trying to use your own strength again. He will provide you the words.