The sermon delivered by Jason Dohm, titled 'A Small Price To Pay,' focuses on the passage from Luke 6:20-23, emphasizing the concept that the hardships faced by followers of Jesus are a small price to pay compared to the eternal rewards in the Kingdom of God. The speaker discusses the context of Jesus selecting the apostles and addressing a crowd of disciples, emphasizing that the term 'disciples' extends beyond the twelve apostles. Dohm highlights the need to see hardships in relative terms, where the gains of eternal life and being in Christ outweigh the temporal suffering and challenges. The sermon rejects the notion that poverty itself is virtuous, instead pointing out that hardships faced 'for the Son of Man's sake' are what bring blessings. The preacher distinguishes between the sermon in Luke and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, arguing that Luke's account is a distinct teaching with its own message. The sermon encourages believers to rejoice in persecution, as it signifies their alignment with God’s prophets and promises a great reward in heaven. Lastly, the speaker calls for a shift in perspective, urging listeners to view their suffering through the lens of eternal gain rather than temporary loss.

The title of the message this week is a small price to pay and the title of next week's message is going to be a terrible price to pay. You really have two sides of the same coin in this week's text versus 20 through 23 and next week's text 24 through 26 are really mirror images of each other and they really take up the same topics but from from opposite sides. So this week we consider a small price to pay. Last week's text had Jesus praying all night long, and then picking the twelve, that's how we know them, these twelve men who would be with him day and night for three and a half years, from the people who were following him. So they were actually selected out of a greater pool that the text last week called this larger pool of people His disciples.

So often when we hear disciples, we're thinking about the twelve, but it's not used that way in last week's text, or this week's text actually. The twelve are actually called apostles, or quite literally sent out ones, the twelve men that Jesus was going to send out Into the world to preach and heal and cast out demons and they did that during Jesus's ministry And then eleven of them Judas accepted did that after Jesus's resurrection He comes down from the mountain with these 12, and there are a crowd of disciples. So he does have this crowd of followers, and a great multitude who have come to hear Jesus preach and to be healed and to be set free from the torment of unclean spirits and that's exactly what he does. He preaches and he heals them. Anyone who comes is healed.

If you touched him, power goes out from him and he healed them all. People came to be free from the torment of unclean spirits and he cast out those unclean spirits. So that's where we are in the text. This is what's happening as Jesus begins to preach here in our text. This week I have a very different and a very basic outline.

If you're looking on the outline you actually don't see anything. Normally I've subdivided and I have blanks and things like that. None of that this week. This week it's simply introduction, exposition, application. So you have a lot of blank space to fill in.

Why is it different this week? Because I think these four verses overwhelmingly teach one big truth, and I am afraid that if I subdivide and break them apart too much, we might miss the one big truth that Jesus is overwhelmingly communicating. In fact, next week's verses are part of this one great truth that Jesus is communicating. So you're going to hear a lot of next week's sermon today and a lot of this week's sermon next Sunday because I'm going to work really hard to keep them knit together. Let's ask God to help.

God this is your word and these are your people and I pray that you would enter into what we're doing now to press home this one great truth of your great care for your people. Even in the hardships of life, that we would come away so encouraged that you're with us. You're with us in these hardships and you carry us. May it be so in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hopefully your Bibles are open to Luke chapter 6. We recited this, but I want to reread Luke 6 verses 20 through 23, and then I'll embark on trying to explain it. Luke chapter 6 verse 20, chapter 6 verse 20. Then he, Jesus, lifted up his eyes toward his disciples and said, blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy for indeed your reward is great in heaven for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." So that's the text and I believe that one big truth is that the hardships that may be and often are required to follow Jesus are a small price to pay for all that you gain in return. Those hardships and costs are not small in an absolute sense. I don't want anyone to come away thinking that I'm denying the reality of the hardships or denying how hard the hardships are and can be.

So they're not small in an absolute sense. No, sometimes they're breathtakingly hard. Sometimes they're tremendously costly, not a little costly, but a great cost. Now they're small in a relative sense when compared with what's gained. The true disciple gains Christ!

You get Christ! The true disciple gains Jesus and gains Jesus forever. So the hardships are real and sometimes the costs are tremendous in an absolute sense, but in a relative sense compared with what you gain. They're nothing. Now this is not the sermon I thought I would be preaching on Monday before I started studying.

That's unusual. I always learn new things, helpful things, that get incorporated into the sermon. But it's so rare. I can't remember the last time I started the week thinking the text was one thing and ended the week thinking that's not actually what the text is. It's another thing.

That happened this week. My view of this text changed during the week. If you came to Men's Study, you know my view of this text changed during the week. If you came to Men's Study, you know my view of this text changed since Tuesday morning and when we talked about it on Tuesday morning, you're going to say, who was this guy and what happened to him during the week. To preach this text, the key decision is this.

Is this simply a different summary of the same sermon that Matthew summarizes in Matthew chapter 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount. So is this just a different summary of that same sermon, but emphasizing different things, drawing out different things, saying them in a little different way? Or is Luke actually summarizing a different sermon, another sermon, preached at a different time, which has some similarities. Traveling preachers preach sermons that have similarities, certainly, but which doesn't have to be or need to be reconciled with that other sermon. So the preacher's got to decide which it is.

Right or wrong, I have decided that it is a different sermon that Luke is summarizing. I know the arguments on both sides of this and I've considered them and there are really, really impressive commentators that disagree with what I'm doing. Matthew Henry, for instance. You know how much I love Matthew Henry. The commentators are split maybe 65% to 35%.

A decent majority thinking that it's the same sermon, but the summaries emphasize different things, maybe 35% saying no, this is a different sermon. I actually think this actually is teaching a different point, a different major point, than what you find in 5 through 7. So it's possible that I'm preaching God's truth from the wrong text. That can happen. I don't think so, but it's possible.

Both have valid arguments to consider. Matthew Henry thinks it's the same sermon emphasizing different things. J.C. Ryle, just as an example, because these are two guys you know I love, thinks that it's a different sermon actually teaching a different point. So, a warning, I'm not going to preach this sermon or next week's sermon through the lens of Matthew 5 through 7 because I don't think they're summarizing the same sermon.

I'm going to stay focused on the words of this text and largely preach like that text doesn't exist. So when our text says blessed are you poor, I won't be adding in spirit. You go to Matthew 5 through 7, it's blessed are the poor in spirit. I'm not adding that because that's not in our text, and I don't think it's the same sermon. I don't think it's making the same point.

And when our text says, blessed are you who hunger, I won't be adding, and thirst for righteousness, because that's not in our text. Okay, here we go. That was a long way to explain what I'm not going to do, wasn't it? Let me start by giving you the interpretive key that I think unlocks the right understanding of this text. We use this key and a good understanding of our text opens right up.

The basis for the hardships. So you have hardships described. Why? The basis of the hardships. What is the basis for the difficulties being described?

Why are the people being described facing such hardships? It's actually given to you in the text. When we understand that, the true meaning of the text becomes obvious. If you don't understand that, you can come away thinking that there is something inherently virtuous about poverty. It's great to be poor!

Is Jesus teaching, it's great to be poor, seek poverty, or that there is something inherently immoral about having a lot of resources. God helped the United States of America if it's inherently immoral to have a lot of resources. Even you, compared to your counterpart in Malawi, Africa, I've been there, Or India, you've been there. All rich people are unbelievers. Is that what Jesus is teaching?

All poor people are going to heaven and there's a virtue in poverty and all rich people are going to hell, it's inherently immoral to have a lot of resources. Is that what Jesus is teaching here? No. We're actually given a basis for the hardships being described. So clear in verse 22.

So this is why I want to keep it together. You isolate them, then you separate from the basis, and the basis is at the end of this thought, But it goes with each part of the thought. The basis is for the Son of Man's sake. If you don't tag every one of these things to for the Son of Man's sake, being joined joined to Christ by faith and living in Him, living for Him, then you're missing the point of the text. The troubles and trials and hardships are being experienced as you identify with Jesus, and maybe because you identify with Jesus.

The troubles and trials and hardships are experienced as you trust Jesus, or because you trust Jesus, as you follow Jesus, or because you follow Jesus, as you obey Jesus, or because you follow obey Jesus, and because you refuse to hide it. You may not be looking for trouble, but when it finds you, you'll pay the price to follow Jesus. And you shouldn't wring your hands over that, because the price that you pay is so small for what is gained. That's the whole point of the text. The price that you pay, you might have to pay it, you probably will have to pay it in some categories, but don't worry, don't wring your hands.

It's nothing compared to the gain. That's the point of this text. So those who are poor, those who have very little materially now, and may never and may never have more materially, may never have more stuff in this life. I'm going to switch from material to stuff. What is stuff?

It's cars, it's houses, it's the most and best of things. They don't have the stuff, but they identify with Jesus, trust Jesus, follow Jesus, obey Jesus. Those are the people who actually have a good. Those are the blessed, the happy, the ones who enjoy God's favor. Wait, how can we say that those without the stuff are actually the ones who have a good.

How can you say that? I thought we needed the stuff to be happy. No, You need Jesus to be happy. And when Jesus has taken you for His own, and so you follow Him, If you're following him, know this, he took you for his own. I just wanted to clear that.

The kingdom of God is yours. In the future, right, we grind our teeth now to get what? No, no, no! It is yours! It is a present possession.

Do you experience all of that now? No. Is the best yet to come? Yes. But is the kingdom of God being yours all future?

No way! It is a present possession. Listen to what Jesus says to his disciples in Luke 12 verse 32. Luke 12 verse 32, Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So this isn't an unintended consequence.

This is God's good pleasure being worked out to give you the kingdom. God's kingdom is perfect, perfectly governed, and everlasting, and it's yours if you're a follower of Jesus. You belong to it, and it belongs to you. How do you like that? The kingdom of God belongs to you, and you belong to it.

It is a present possession and an eternal possession. No one can ever deprive you of it. Take it from you. It's yours. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 34.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 34. The author of Hebrews says this, you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. So, this is the little flock. They're having their goods plundered. They're not afraid.

They know it's the good pleasure of their Father to give them the kingdom. Listen to that. You joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. They took the stuff! No matter.

We're not afraid. It's our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. It's our possession, our present possession, our eternal possession. You can have the stuff knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Because of their identification with Jesus, we belong to Jesus, for the son of man's sake, to put it in the words of our text, their goods were plundered, and they said, oh no, all is lost, you took this stuff.

No, they said, nothing that really matters has been lost. You took the stuff, but you left us with Jesus, and they accepted it joyfully. Door number one, all the stuff, no Jesus. Door number two, we take all your stuff, but you still have Jesus and the kingdom of God is yours. And they said with joy, door number two please.

Now what about belonging to Jesus will cost you stuff? Well there are very direct reasons. Like anyone can see the association, the reasons are so direct. Reasons that American Christians have known little about. Like we've only heard stories.

But those reasons could very well become common here. You love Jesus and those who hate Jesus exact a financial price for it. It's happened in every century of history. It's happened in every geographical location of history. People who love Jesus, there are people who hate Jesus who will exact a financial price that you love Jesus.

And that's so direct. Here's a very recent example. There's a man you've never heard of before. Probably two of you in the room have heard of him. His name is Jaden Ivy.

In 2022, He was the number five draft pick in the NBA draft to play professional basketball. So out of all the people drafted that year, he was number five. So hyper talented. A couple of weeks ago, the Chicago Bulls, who he played for, had their Pride Month festivities lined up, and he's on that team, and he said, you're asking us to celebrate unrighteousness, and they cut him, and nobody's picked him up. His contract was terminated for conduct detrimental to the team.

So he wasn't fighting people in practice, getting flagrant fouls in the games. He said, your pride month celebrations are requiring us to celebrate unrighteousness, and you're not allowed to say that anymore. Now there are all sorts of interesting conversations about this like, what is Jayden Ivey really like? I don't know. I'm not endorsing him.

I just know that because he says he's a Christian, he said that. That is unacceptable now in a lot of places. You might have been number five in the draft a couple of years ago, but you'll find yourself unemployed if you say that stuff for conduct detrimental to the team. In Revelation 13 17, I read that just this week in my Bible reading plan, Revelation 13 and 17, describes a time when, quote, no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast. You can't buy things and you can't sell things.

So that's probably the most extreme example, and there's a hundred dots between here and there, but imagine living in a time where your identification with Jesus and a refusal to identify with the arch enemy of Jesus means you can't buy things and you can't sell things. When that happens, the people who are paying that financial price will actually be challenged to feed themselves and their families. How will you feed yourself and your family if you can't buy things or sell things? So when we read in our text, blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled, that isn't always overstatement just to make a point. I've always read it as overstatement to make a point.

You exaggerate to drive the point home. It doesn't have to be that. In the extreme, that can be quite literal. There can be people who are actually paying that kind of price to identify with Jesus. So I understand that's the most extreme version, but there are many not quite as extreme steps that take us there when your identification with Jesus will cause you to pay a financial price.

There are also some indirect reasons that also cost you stuff if you follow Jesus. One is that stuff has ceased to be your idol. Stuff has ceased to be your false God, and you don't worship it anymore. You worship Jesus. You worship God.

So you don't spend all of your energy chasing stuff anymore. There are financial implications to that. You're following Jesus broke your idolatry so you don't prioritize acquiring the most and the best of everything. There are implications to that. You end up with less stuff.

But also think of decisions that are made because we're attempting to look at Scripture and have our lives shaped by Scripture instead of having our lives shaped by people who don't care about Scripture at all. So there are financial implications by saying whatever this book says I want my life to be conformed to. I want my life to be shaped by this book and not all the other stuff out there that cares nothing for this book. If you're a one income family, when you could be a two income family, I'm almost positive I know why you did that and it cost you stuff cost you stuff people who are prioritizing getting the most stuff and prioritize getting the best stuff are making radically different making radically different choices. Has that made us poor?

No, but there is a meaningful, significant financial price, and I will say that that price for the same decision in Malawi has much more far-reaching implications, meaning They're making the same decisions and they're not starting from the same financial point, so it means radically different things in their lives, the same decision, but different implications. So the world says, how much stuff do you have and how nice is it? But that's a terribly wrong question. Do you have Jesus? That's the question.

And if you have Jesus, you have the most precious possession, and the kingdom of God is yours now and forever. What else does Jesus say? That those who weep now, who shed tears over hardships now, hardships in their lives, and they cry about them, They weep over them. But they identify with Him, trust Him, follow Him, obey Him. Those are the people who actually have it good.

In the hardships that make them weep, still they identify with Jesus and trust Jesus and follow Jesus and obey Jesus. They're the ones who have the good life. They're the blessed, the happy, the ones who enjoys God's favor. Wait, how can we say that those who are brought to tears by griefs and hardships are the ones who actually have it good. Brethren, to have Jesus is to have one who will carry you through the weeping now.

Sustain you, comfort you, walk with you through it, and then in the end we'll wipe away every tear and make everything new, new and tearless forever and ever. Listen to Revelation 7 verses 16 and 17. This has such a bearing on our text. Revelation chapter 7, verses 16 and 17. They shall neither hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore.

The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." That is the future hope for the Christian. Not hope as in wishful thinking, hope as in confident expectation. That is the confident expectation of those who are in Christ by faith. They're not going to hunger anymore.

They're not going to thirst anymore. They're not going to weep anymore, ever. Listen to Revelation 21 verse 4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no more pain for the former things have passed away." All those things that cause weeping and sorrow and grieving have passed away.

And let me say this, the question is not, will you follow Jesus and have weeping times, or not have weeping times, or not follow Jesus and not have weeping times. We are all living in a world under the curse, believers and unbelievers. If you think there are no weeping times for the unbelievers, you haven't been alive very long or you haven't been paying attention. So live longer and pay attention. You won't think that anymore.

So the question isn't follow Jesus and have weeping times, or don't follow Jesus and you'll never have a weeping time. The question is, do you have Jesus to carry you through the weeping times? Now, to sustain you, now, comfort you, now, walk with you through it now, and then in the end wipe away every tear and make everything new forever and ever and ever. That's the question. Now, if you're a follower of Jesus, You may very well already have people who hate you for identifying with Jesus, trusting Jesus, following Jesus, obeying Jesus.

Already have people who exclude you for those things, who defame you and rail at you for those things, who consider you to be evil because of Jesus. But if you don't, get ready. Paul says it this way, 2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Listen to what Paul says, 2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

If you don't have people who hate you now and exclude you now and rail at you now And consider you to be evil, now get ready, because the promise is if you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. You'll taste of these things. The point is this, following Jesus will ultimately cost you certain relationships. Well, I'll just be kind to everyone so they'll be kind to me. That's not how it works!

As much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. So yes, be kind to everyone, But don't expect that that will mean that everyone will be kind to you. The Bible actually says if you identify with Jesus, follow Jesus, obey Jesus, walk with Jesus, that you will suffer persecution. Following Jesus will cost you the good opinion of many, many, many people. So it will cost you relationships and it will hurt.

What are these weeping times about? Some of it is the relationships it costs you. And it will cost you the good opinion of many, many, many people. What does Scripture say? The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be saved.

The fear of man is a trap. But if you trust in the Lord, you'll be saved. Man-pleasing is a trap! If you walked in here not knowing that, I'm here to tell you. Man pleasing is a trap.

So throw off that trap and follow Jesus. You'll be safe. Now, why is it true that if you identify with Jesus and follow him that you'll be hated and excluded and railed against and thought of as evil? Why can't we all just get along? Because there are two kingdoms and they are irreconcilable.

And To expect reconciliation between these two kingdoms is to be dangerously naive. The things King Jesus says contradict the highest principles of the other kingdom, and vice versa. You can't reconcile them. So believers, what you believe and think and say and do as far as it conforms to Scripture stands as a rebuke to unbeliever to what unbelievers believe and think and say and do it stands as a review Even if you not said a word, have you ever experienced this? I didn't say a word.

But, what you do stands as a rebuke to what they're doing, and that is not lost on them. So you didn't have to say, they got it anyway. It threatens their value system and touches their idols, and there will be none of that. There'll be none of threatening their value system, and there will be none of touching their idols. So that is going to happen.

What should you do? Rejoice! Leap for joy! Leap for joy that I'm hated and excluded and defamed and railed at and considered to be evil correct leap for joy the day that it happens. In that day.

The day that it happens, leap for joy. Every day that it happens, leap for joy. Why? Because your reward is great in heaven, because you're paying a small price for a great gain. If you really knew that you were paying a small price compared to the great gain, wouldn't you leap for joy?

Wouldn't you rejoice? And because you're in great company. That's how the prophets were treated. That's how the most useful to God have been treated. Maybe it's a sign that you're useful to God.

Let me give you a lens through which to view our whole text. You can turn there if you'd like. 2 Corinthians 4. I think the whole text, you just look through these glasses that Paul hands us in 2 Corinthians 4 to look back at our text. It just makes it multicolored.

It's wonderful. 2 Corinthians 4 verses 17 and 18. The last two verses of the chapter, 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 18. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. If you back up in the chapter, you see what the Apostle Paul is calling light affliction, but for a moment. You say, Paul are you out of your mind? You call that light affliction? Did Paul know anything about affliction?

Have you ever seen his lists of things that he's endured in his letters? He takes the list and he says, that's light and momentary. You mean it's not real suffering? No, no, no. I mean compared with what we gain.

It's working for us and exceeding an eternal weight of glory so that by comparison real hardships, tremendous costs seem light and momentary. When you're in the middle of them, they seem heavy and like they'll never end. That's just loss of perspective. It was just being called back. Put it in perspective.

Or again, Romans 8, 18. Just listen to Romans 8, verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. It's not a worthy comparison. You can't even compare these two things.

These present sufferings are real, but they're a small price to pay to gain that. Applications, I'll give you two. When you look through the microscope, The price of following Jesus can seem like a very great price. Have you ever done that homeschooling experience? If you have a microscope and you bring in pond water and you put a drop of pond wonder under the microscope, and you look through the microscope, you're like, there are monsters in there.

There are monsters in that drop of water. These things swimming around are horrifying in a drop of pond water. Our current sufferings are like that. You look through the microscope and there are monsters in that drop. But when you look through the telescope, you can zoom out and see the big picture and you don't just see the monster, you see what's gained.

What's gained comes into view when you look through the telescope. When you look through the microscope, all you see is the hardship. When you look through the telescope, you get the big picture and what is gained comes into view. You say, that's not a monster. It's such a small price to pay.

We gain Jesus. We gain heaven through eternity. Eternity. Number two, Jesus does see the things given up. Following Jesus is going to exact a price.

Salvation is free, you can't buy salvation. I'm not saying We do this to gain a standing with God, but when you follow Jesus a price is exacted. There are costs to that. And Jesus sees them. And he cares about it.

And He'll offset them by being with you and comforting you and sustaining you. Sometimes the sweetest times with Jesus are those pressure, hardship times. It's where you really feel like, He is with me now, in a precious way that you've never experienced in a time where you didn't have those hardships. So he does see the things given up, the things lacking, the poverty, the hunger, the weeping, the lost relationships, the persecution, and he favors you in it. Like you're bearing his favor through these hardships.

His favor is upon you. Jesus's favor is upon you in your hardships. And He's going to reverse all of it in a way that makes you think in the final analysis, your final analysis, if you were joined to Christ by faith, your final analysis would be, that was such a small price to pay. That was a nothing price to pay for all that I've gained. So fast forward to the end, sometimes it helps to do that, fast forward to the end, what are you going to think in the end of things?

Lift out of being in the middle of the hardships now, what will you think in the end? That was nothing. That's what you're going to think in the end. It feels so heavy now, it feels like it's going to last forever. Your analysis is the end is that they are light momentary hardships and afflictions.

Not worthy to be compared with all that you've gained. Matthew Henry says it this way, your present sorrows are no prejudices to your future joy. Meaning, your current sorrows aren't going to spoil your future joy. Your present sorrows are no prejudices to your future joy, but preparatories for it. You shall laugh.

You have triumphs in reserve. You are but sowing in tears and shall shortly reap in in joy." He's quoting Psalm 126. It's right where Taylor started. This is right where Matthew Henry is ending us. You're sowing in tears, but there's going to be a harvest from that.

You'll be reaping in joy. So I want to encourage you, maybe you're in the middle of terrible hardships. Maybe you don't have the resources that you need. Maybe you're forfeiting relationships that you value. Maybe you're experiencing tremendous hardships.

And I want to say this. Be careful not to narrow it to only those things that have a direct line between your identification with Jesus and the price you're paying. It's most applicable to those things. I'm identifying with Jesus, and so these hardships have come into my life. But every part of our lives, when you belong to Jesus, is under the banner.

Like you're living under the banner of Jesus. All your hardships, like, oh, my health problems don't have anything to do with my identification with Jesus. No, no, you're in Christ, you're living in Jesus, and All the things associated with the curse are getting reversed. They're all going to be reversed. So this text is for the encouragement of the people of God.

I hope this text encourages you so much that hardships are real and they're such a small price to pay for all that we're gaining being in Christ and that you can fast forward to the end and say all that's gone and there's nothing but joy in the Lord forever and ever and ever. That isn't wishful thinking. That is a confident expectation for the believer. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for leveling with us that we can expect to experience hardships in this life, that being a Christian doesn't sweep away all hardship.

In fact, in some ways, sometimes it brings it upon us. Thank you for putting all this in perspective for us. All that we gain in having Jesus so far outweighs these things that in the end we'll say what a small price to pay for walking with Jesus. Thank you In His name, Amen.