This morning's text is located in Philippians 1, 27 to 30.

I invite you to follow along with me as I read Philippians 1, 27 through verse 30. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ

so that whether I come and see you are absent, I may hear of you that you stand firm in one

spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear omen to

them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe

in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict which you saw and now here to be mine.

Have you ever wondered what tales will be told in the age to come?

When the Lord Jesus has come and the judgment is passed and the kingdom has been established and the heavens and the earth have been made new. What will we talk about as we

sit by our fireplaces on a cool Minnesota evening, a new Minnesota evening, or what

will we talk about as we walk through the leaves by the St. Croix that have been made

gold and yellow not by the sun but by the glory of God and of the land.

What tales will we tell to one another in those endless days on the new earth? We will tell tales of the grace of God in the history of redemption.

We will tell stories about his power and his mercy in the lives of his people, especially those people who planned, fought,

strategized, struggled, suffered, and died for the spreading of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ.

We will talk with sweet tears in our eyes.

I do believe there will be tears in the age to come.

The ones that Jesus promised to wipe away are the tears of pain, not the sweet ones. We will talk to one

another with sweet tears in our eyes about the times when we neglected to bear witness to Jesus.

About the times when we sat down at our desks and planned with great care, our dream vacation, and

never made any plans to bear witness to Christ.

And I say they will be sweet tears

because we will remember his patience with us and that he didn't forsake us in those

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