0:07 Good morning family. We heard it from the littlest of the children. There is something that actually can seem to be more powerful than the word of God. children if you listen to 0:27 what I'm about to say carefully then I think the adults will get it also is there something that can be more powerful than the word of God if uh 0:44 we may be tempted to think well no the word of God is more powerful than everything and that is true in the end we will see that the word of God was most powerful. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will remain. 1:02 Jesus's words will never pass away. But as we saw in Matthew 13, verse 22, as we heard from even little Gemma, let's turn there. Matthew chapter 13. There's something that will 1:21 prove to be more powerful than the word of God in your life if you allow it and that is the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Matthew 13 22 in the middle of that verse it begins to 1:43 say that somebody who hears the word that's all of us sitting here whether you hear it through me or through the Holy Spirit directly to you I hope you will hear the word of God today but that's not all you'll hear the word of God perhaps but 2:02 having heard the word of God. There is something that will prove to be more powerful than the word of God in your life. Here's a man or a woman or a child or a young person in whose heart this this 2:19 soil is a picture of our heart. And if you allow God's word to be planted into your heart, this soil, but you also allow some cares and worries 2:36 and the love of riches, the love of the things of this earth to also be planted in the same soil. Verse 22, the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns. 2:53 So seed was planted, good seed, but social media, the news, the friends, looking at the neighbors and my own love of the things of this world allowed other seeds to be planted. So in the same heart is the word of God 3:13 and other things, seeds that will bear thorns. And if you allow God's word to grow in your heart and the cares of the world, verse 22, the worry of the world and the 3:30 deceitfulness of wealth to also come up which will win. Can something overpower the word of God? If you believe God's word, it's true. If you allow 3:47 the deceitfulness of wealth and the worry of the world to also grow in your heart along with the word of God, the word cares of the world will win. That's the moral of the story. Which means don't allow it to come up. 4:05 You can say, "But I I heard the word of God. I'm up on my Bible reading. It's I'm up to date. I follow the book of the month. I'm here every Sunday. I come to the Bible studies. I'm getting more and more of the word of God. 4:20 But if you allow the word of God and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches also to grow, the latter will win. God has allowed it that way. Now, at the end of time, we'll see that God's word will remain and all of the deceitfulness 4:38 of riches and the cares of this world will fade away. But while we're here on this earth, determine, and that's why I'm saying this, and this is for you children, because we heard it even from our three-year-olds, the cares of the world and the 4:53 deceitfulness of riches will choke out the word and it will become unfruitful. So, I wanted to start with that because I was convicted sitting there hearing our little girls saying that before we hear the word of God, let's dig deep and see 5:11 is there any thorn seeds there right now because then I'm wasting my time. You're wasting your time listening to this. It's going to become unfruitful. Get rid of the thorn. Search your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to break it up the fow ground and see is 5:31 there some care of this world, some worry. We heard about it already during the singing time. So something that you're worried about or you're loving on this earth, you want something and it's deceitful, its riches, its wealth that 5:46 you want, take it out because that's going to choke out the word of God no matter how many sermons you listen to. Heavenly Father, before we hear you from even as we've heard already, Lord, I want to come and ask you to search my heart. 6:04 Examine my heart deeply, Lord, and show me, is there anything of the cares of the world or the deceitfulness of wealth that's there that's going to come up and choke out the word? I don't want it, Lord. I I believe every one of us that's 6:18 here in this room, those that are listening online, are here because we want to bear fruit and fruit that will remain. And we don't want fruit to come up that will then be choked out. So Lord, search me. Search my innermost being, the 6:37 deepest recesses of my heart, and show me if there's anything in there that displeases you. Show me how displeased you are by unbelief and worry and anxiety and the love of the things of this world and root it out, Lord. Lay the axe to the 6:55 root of the tree. Burn it all up so that the word we hear will bear fruit. I pray for those that are here, any who are sick or have any other need, Lord, whatever it might be, those that couldn't be here. Pray you will touch 7:12 and heal them. provide for all of our needs. Above all, I pray for those who are going through a spiritual battle, that you will prove in us that we are overwhelmingly conquerors. I lift up those who are watching online 7:25 who are in need in some way, facing some trial, a spiritual battle, an emotional battle, a relation relationship battle, a marriage that's falling apart, or where there's a lack of peace. Oh Lord Jesus, you are our peace. You yourself 7:41 are our peace. And may you, the God of peace, grant us peace in every circumstance. I pray for those online as well. Whatever their needs may be, we lift them up to you. Lord, you know their needs. You care and you're able to sustain the burden. So I 7:59 pray that every one of them, every one of us will cast our burdens on you. We commit them to you, Lord. Our visitors online as well. Bless them Lord from be near them. Remind them of your care and love for them. Thank you. Thank you father. May 8:16 your word come with clarity. I pray Lord it will be simple not impressive to our minds and to our intellect but powerful to penetrate into our honest and good hearts and bear fruit. Thank you father you will do that. that 8:32 even the youngest ones, Lord, will receive something from you today. You're not just going to speak for the sake of speaking. We're not here to receive anything out of ritual. There's a purpose, Lord, that you have for this 8:45 day. There's a purpose with which you're speaking to us today. May we have ears to hear what you, the Spirit, are saying to the church. And may we have honest, good hearts to receive it and to obey it. Help us, Lord. Thank you. Pour out 9:00 your spirit upon us. even open our ears. Forgive us for where we've been dull of hearing. We're hearing message after message after message. We're still so slow to obey, so slow to trust you. Oh Lord, I pray that we will hear your 9:13 voice. Your Holy Spirit will open our ears that the word of Christ may penetrate into our hearts that we might have faith that overcomes the world. Make it so, Father. We believe you will in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Love what we just sang. I am finding out 9:31 the greatness of thy loving heart. Think what it would be like, dear family, if every week we came here and our testimony was, I have found out a little bit more of the greatness of God's loving heart. Yes, I had a little bit more trial. 9:51 Things got a little bit more difficult than the previous week. Uncertainties came in. Things came in that shook me. But through it all, I have found the greatness of his loving heart. I thought he was loving. I thought his heart was 10:08 loving a week ago. And this week, the go the Lord allowed me to go through something so shaking, so caught me so much by surprise, unexpectedly. But I came through it and found out that his heart was even more loving than I 10:24 thought. And the secret to that as we sang in that beautiful hymn is simply resting. Resting. Oh that we would come to Jesus. Jesus said come to me you RLCF family and those watching online who are weary 10:42 and carrying heavy burdens. Come to me and learn from me. Take my yoke upon you and you will find rest. And when you find rest, God can take you through any trial, any circumstance, any sudden calamity, 11:02 and you'll come through that having rested in him. Jesus, I am resting. Resting in what? In the joy of simply who you are. That's it. And I I pray often and I'll tell you brothers, my testimony is this that I find that when I'm shaken, when I'm 11:20 allow when the when I'm actually shaken and maybe don't find rest, I go back and examine it. Examine my heart and say, Lord, why wasn't I at rest in that circumstance? I should have been at rest. You said that I could find rest. Why was it that 11:38 I was shaken in that moment and panicked for a little while even if it was for one minute or one hour or whatever? Why was it, Lord, that I panicked when I shouldn't have? You never panicked. You know that Jesus never, not even for half 11:52 a second, panicked. Things happened to him exactly like they happened to you and I. He got news exactly like you and I get news that the devil tried to shake him over. He was caught off guard at times suddenly, but 12:10 not even for half a second did he panic. And he says, "Come to me and I'll give you this same rest." And if you find that a year ago the panic lasted for a week, okay, press on to perfection, brother, sister, say, "Lord, this year, if it was a week last 12:29 year, today I want it to be no more than a day." And press on. And you bring it down. And I panicked for only a day. Okay, Lord, I'm not done yet. I want to come to the life that Jesus had where he had no unrest at all. Do you believe 12:45 that such a life is possible? Or is it just fantasy? Is it just theory? Oh, it is. Brothers, sisters, Jesus said, "I will give you rest. You take the same yoke that I have. Take my yoke upon you and you'll find rest." You will find rest. take that word with 13:04 you. And that rest comes from simply saying, "Lord, I want to find the joy of who you are." The the original word says, "What thou art. What are you, Lord? What are you? You're greater than all the things of this world. I want to find 13:22 the joy of what you are." Who you are, yes, but what you are also. That you, Lord Jesus, are the greatest joy of all. And when you find rest in that, then I find the greatness of his heart, of his loving heart. 13:39 Let's turn to Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1. Malachi is an interesting book because it's the last of the prophets before John the Baptist comes. And 13:58 there's about 400 years of no prophetic utterance that we know of. I'm sure there were godly people. And it was during that time that there was a revival towards holiness in the land of Israel that resulted in the Pharisees, 14:13 the group that became the Pharisees and the scribes being formed. Now, unfortunately, that led into legalism. But there's relative silence, you can say, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. At the end of Malachi, 14:26 there's about 400 years before the next voice you hear in Israel is John the Baptist saying, "Prepare the way of for the Lord." Malachi is an interesting book because it's sort of the end of the old covenant. Now, God's people have been 14:41 through quite a journey up to this point, beginning with, you could say, Abraham and God's promise to them. Then they go into captivity to preserve that lineage. The reason God sent them to Egypt was because there was a famine everywhere else. And God 14:57 preserved that line of Abraham so that Jesus could come. But then they were in captivity and God allowed that for 430 years, liberated them through Moses, brought them out through the wilderness. For 40 years they wandered and 15:13 eventually they entered into the promised land. But through all of that from the time of Egypt, you always see this up and down, up and down, up and down, right after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. From then on, you see that God's people are sort of just 15:32 meandering. They complained in the wilderness. They had unbelief. They had idols. I mean, literally days after they came out of Egypt, they were already worshiping an idol, a golden calf. and Aaron who's going to be the high priest is leading 15:49 them in that. Look at what's happening. And that story continues through the the the judges and then the kings of Israel and Judah. It's some good, some bad, mostly bad. This is a chosen people of God. And then they go into captivity in 16:05 Babylon because they were disobedient. And God says, "You will be there for 70 years to fulfill the Sabbaths that you didn't honor me in. But they come out come out of it. And finally after that, you don't see that much idol worship in Israel anymore or 16:24 any that I'm aware of. Baal and all those other gods that you heard of before captivity were constantly there, right? We've been reading about different kings like Ahaz and even beginning with Solomon. All the different idols that they worshiped 16:39 brought in by wives that they married who brought their idols with them. Behal and Ashare and um all the other idols that they that the neighboring countries had that came into Israel. But once they come out of captivity from 16:57 Babylon, you don't see that idol worship anymore. But something different is going on now. The temple has been built by Hagi and Zachchariah and Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest. There's the temple and people are worshiping God in 17:11 the temple. You don't see idol worship anymore, but something's different now. They're religious. Here's what it looks like. Malachi chapter 1 verse 10. Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the gates of the 17:31 temple that you might not uselessly kindle fire on my altar. I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you. So, this is no longer offerings on the altar of Baal or all the other idols. This is offering 17:49 offerings on God's altar, but it's useless. is religious. Yes, I've given up all those worldly habits. I'm not living that old wicked sinful life I used to live. I'm sitting in church every day. I every every week, let's say. I'm and I'm reading my Bible 18:06 and I'm I'm doing things that I'm supposed to be doing in the name of Jesus as a Christian. But the Lord says that fire that you're putting on my altar is useless. And I he says, I wish you would just shut down the doors of my 18:21 temple that you built. And in the midst of this, he tells us what he's looking for in verse 11. For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, from east to west, my name will be great among the nations. 18:39 and in every place incense is going to be offered to my name and a grain offering that is pure for my name will be great among the nations says the Lord of the hosts and this is our mission as a church dear family 18:56 he says it twice my name will be great that's what God is looking for not he says okay you've given up all the idol worship and all that I know you've made all those sacrifices and now you're seeking to be of discip disciple, you're 19:09 taking it wholeheartedly. But is your passion in doing this that my name will be great? If it's not, if it's so that maybe you'll have a good life, if I honor you, Lord, if I'm your disciple and I make these sacrifices, will you still bless 19:25 me? Will you still do this for me? Will you ste that do that other thing for me? If so, the Lord says, "No, it's it's a useless fire. The fire on the altar of God that is pleasing to him, that is a pleasing aroma to him, is the one that says, 19:40 "Lord, I want your name to be great. Will you bless my marriage?" Not so that we can have a good marriage and be happy here on this earth. No, so that your name will be great. Will you bless our home? Will you bless our children? Will 19:53 you protect them from the evil in this world? Not so that they also can go to heaven, but that your name will be great. Will you establish this church here at RLCF? Lord, not so that we can have a good church and good friends and go to 20:06 the park and play games and be in each other's homes and have Bible studies, but that your name will be great. Then he says, "Oh, that's pleasing to me and I'll do it." This is what the Lord is looking for, that his name will be 20:19 great. Let's turn to Psalm 72. As we turn there, this is recently been a burning a searing word on my heart. I say, Lord, I want it to 20:36 be so that people who look at my life, people who look at our lives will say, "His God is a great God." Not by making us rich or healing all our sicknesses or anything like that. No, but simply that God will can take us 20:56 through trials, break us through circumstances, take us through pain, take us through disappointment, take us through loss and have us so that our backs are against the wall when it seems like all hope is lost and bring us through that. And then 21:12 they say, "His God is truly a great God. Only a true living God could bring Santosh out of that. That must be our testimony. And if that is, dear brothers, dear sisters, and and it can seem intimidating. Lord, what will it feel 21:29 like if you allow me to come to a place where my back is against the wall and I'm trapped in a corner and I have no way to get out and it hurts and the pain seems to last forever physically, emotionally, the pain seems to drag on 21:44 and drag on and drag on. What will it feel like, Lord? Then remember, he will not allow you to be tested more than you're able to bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13, but with every situation, even when you're backed into a corner, will 22:00 provide a way of escape so that you might endure it. He will never leave you or forsake you. He won't desert you. But if you're in the hand of God and you're backed into a corner, that's the best place to be because you're in his hand. 22:14 And he's going to demonstrate his greatness through that where people will see and they know, man, he looks like he's backed into a corner. All odds are against him. All odds seem to be against her. And people can see the crushing of 22:30 your spirit and like your like a grape being crushed and your the pain is written all over your face. Even perhaps you can't hide it. The tears are flowing. But when the Lord can bring you through that and other people will say, "Wow, 22:46 Santos's God is great." Put your name there. Will you make it your prayer today? If it hasn't been up to this point, dear friend, dear brother, sister, even you, your de your children. Lord, take me through this week. Take me 23:00 through this month. Take me through this year. I don't know what it's going to look like, and I don't know how it will come through that, but I am willing, Lord. That's what it means to put an altar. I'm willing to put that altar 23:10 down and for you to take me through whatever as long as at the end of it your name is great that they say and Santosh is God. He's a great God. He's a powerful God. Make that so for your life as well. Your co-workers, your neighbors, people who 23:28 your relatives that they see you putting your trust so firmly in the only true living God. Psalm 72 verse 18. We believe this is actually a psalm of Solomon, but I think that David gave him the words for it because it says at the 23:47 end of it, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended. But anyway, in verse 18, it says, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel." Now, that's that's Old Testament. What is it? New Testament for me. Psalm 72:18 24:06 in my Bible, in the book, the word becoming flesh in me should read like this. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Santosh, who alone works wonders. Do you want God to prove that of all the other gods that are in the world, 24:25 whether they have names or they don't have names, that he is the only one who works wonders, who alone works wonders? And blessed be his glorious name forever. And may the whole earth from east to west, like we heard already, be 24:41 filled with his glory. Amen. And amen. Let's make that true in our lives. Similar words, Luke chapter 1, this is the story when John the Baptist was formed in his mother's womb and then 25:00 was born. Quite a miracle. Zachchariah and Zacharias and Elizabeth had pretty much given up hope of ever having a baby. They were old. They for them maybe I'm sure there were times when they ran the pregnancy test. They 25:15 wish they could have a baby. Nothing happening. Nothing happening. And they get older and older. Finally got to the point where like, nah, let's not even check anymore. And then God says, "Listen, I'm going to come and give you 25:25 a baby." And Zacharias is so unbelieving that God has to struck him, strike him mute for some period of time and says, "Okay, just to prove how great I am, you're not going to be able to speak till the baby is born." And moment John 25:39 is born, his mouth is opened. verse uh Luke 1 verse 64. And he began to speak in praise of God. What a wonderful testimony. Not oh look at me I produced a baby. Now this wasn't like Mary where the Holy Spirit formed the baby. This was a baby formed through 25:59 Zacharias and Elizabeth. But Zacharias because he was struck mute and he knew he had nothing to do with it even though he did physically. He produced the sperm. Elizabeth produced the egg. John the Baptist was formed by 26:12 both of them. Zachariah said, "I know you guys think it's me that I did such a wonderful thing that at the age of whatever I had a baby. I want you to know it's all God. I have nothing to do with it." He began to praise began to 26:26 speak in praise of God. That's what God wants to do through us. Not that you will overcome sin finally, your marriage will be finally restored and say look they fixed their marriage or look they their children are growing in the Lord 26:39 or anything like that. It will be simply Lord you have done a miracle and maybe God has to strike us mute for a while and call call us to put our mouth in the dust in silence. Now he won't strike you physically mute but 26:54 sometimes it's good to just be like Zachariah say Lord I bury my mouth in the dust and I say let me realize I am but nothing. Then he says he's filled with the Holy Spirit. 67 and he prophesies saying blessed be the Lord 27:10 God of Israel, the Lord God of Zacharias, the Lord God of Santosh, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. This is our testimony. This is the testimony we want to have that want people to be able to give of us. Blessed 27:28 be Santoshes God. people who don't even know him and they see God doing something wonderful for us and they won't give us the credit. They won't give us the honor. They'll say, "I know it couldn't be Santos because I know 27:40 him." And our our voice, our tongues will speak of his praise. See, God is only interested in one thing and that is demonstrating his glory everywhere. That's what we read in Malachi chapter 1. We can temp be tempted to think, "Oh, God wants to take 27:56 me to heaven and uh he feels sorry for me and my sin." Yes, there God is compassionate and merciful. But the moment you you go down that path too much, it becomes so self-centered where God is about me not being miserable and 28:09 so he wants to take me to heaven, then it's difficult to understand why there is even a place like hell. And that trips up a lot of people. I I know that when I get to heaven, I'll see how hell is absolutely 100% part of God's loving plan. We can't 28:27 understand that with our human minds. How could a loving God allow for a place of eternal torment like hell? I don't have the answer. People ask me that question. People who don't know Jesus. So, how can a loving how can the God you 28:41 believe in even have a place like hell where people suffer for all eternity? I don't have that answer. I know I will when I see him but I don't need to know that answer. But the problem is that asking that question in itself is flawed. The 28:56 problem with it is that we start to think that God is all about me not being uncomfortable, me not being miserable, me having a good life now and afterwards. And that's the gospel that most of Christianity is presenting. 29:09 Hey, you don't want to be miserable. You want to go to heaven, right? Yeah. Come sign sign this card. Say this prayer. You'll have a good life. God is not about giving you a good life either now or in eternity. He will he 29:22 will give you eternal life. Yes, but there's one thing that he is most interested in. That is his glory. And he gets glory out of you being a partaker of his eternal life. That's what we must understand that God is interested in one thing and that's 29:38 demonstrating his glory. Especially where on earth there are other gods competing with him for glory. Whether they have names like I said or are unnamed, wealth, we already talked about mammon, self, success, popularity, 29:57 good looks. All of these things are gods that are competing with the true God for attention and for glory. And in the midst of that, God wants to prove that his name alone is great. He's only interested in demonstrating his glory uh 30:15 through us. And think about what for as an example when he started that work with Abraham, the work of salvation that would ultimately come through Jesus. It began with Abraham, the father of those who believe, we're told in he in the New 30:30 Testament. Think what an amazing thing like it was for Zacharias when Abraham reached that point of hopelessness and helplessness and finally had a kid and people came and saw him and tell says tell me about Isaac. See with Ishmael maybe Abraham 30:48 could take a little bit of credit. Both Ishmael and and both Abraham and Hagar perhaps could take some credit and say yeah we produced this. But then you read that u that Abraham God allowed that situation 31:06 to get even worse where after Ishmael had grown up and was a young boy then Abraham realized this wasn't the promise. God was not the Ishmael was not the promised child. And then he says well Lord there's no way considering 31:22 his own body as old as it was and the deadness of Sarah's womb. It says, he said, "All hope is lost." And then God says, "Okay, now all hope is lost. I can do something for you." This is how God works. So then when you came to Abraham 31:37 on that day when Isaac was born or a year later when he's celebrating his first year birthday for Isaac and YOU ASK ABRAHAM, "MAN, YOU DID IT. GIVE ME A HIGH FIVE. You produce a child." He'd say, "I'm sorry. No high five. I had 31:51 nothing to do with it. My My body was dead and Sarah's was as good as dead. No, Sarah's was dead. Mine was as good as dead. That's actually how it's worded. I had nothing to do with it. I give glory to God. And think about the 32:04 people around Abraham. What glory they gave to God through Isaac for Abraham's life. And I thought I would share with us how I've been as I've been meditating on this, how God manifests his glory and wants to manifest his glory through a few 32:22 examples in scripture. I first want to turn to Psalm 34. by making this statement that God gets glory by delivering his own people. That act of deliverance where God 32:40 delivers somebody out is what brings him glory. And in order for that to happen, it implies it means that there must be a problem to begin with. And I'm saying this because I know if I was to sit down and talk to each one of you or as we sit 32:54 down and and sit at lunch and share our lives with each other, I think every one of us will say, "I'm going through something really difficult." I don't think I've ever met a person says, "Man, no problems in my life at all. I have no 33:04 no cares, no worries." Yes, no cares, no worries. That should be our testimony. But there are difficulties you're facing. There are trials you're facing in some way. That's a mark that simply that you're part of God's people. 33:17 You're one of God's chosen people. You're one of God, the godly ones. Because Psalm 34:1 19, the righteous are characterized by this, that they have many afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Many. 33:37 So you say, well, I'm a righteous person. I'll say that means you're going through some many afflictions, right? Yep. Yep. Sounds true. The ones who are not facing any of any afflictions, who seem to have a comfortable life, are those who are not 33:50 really seeking righteous. The moment you set your mind on the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, you're guaranteed to have many afflictions. Is that what you signed up for? Is that what the person 34:05 who go gave you the gospel told you? If not, I'm here to tell you today, if you decide that you're going to be righteous, you're going to stand for the truth, you're going to be a godly person, here's one thing you're promised, it absolutely is going to be. 34:17 So, I can guarantee it. You will have many afflictions. Not me, but God himself said it. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But let's say it together. The Lord delivers him out of them all. Can we say it together 34:31 again? The Lord delivers him out of them all. That's where the glory of God is manifest. That he says, "Here's somebody, Santos. Here's you, RLCF. Put your name there. A little child. They made a decision. Six years old. I want to follow Jesus. I'm 34:47 giving you my life, Lord Jesus. I'm going to follow you." And God says, "Okay, you're in for a life of many afflictions, but I will deliver you out of them all." And the people around you will see that you decided to follow 34:59 Jesus. And from their perspective, it looked like he deserted you. that the moment you decided to follow this God, things got worse, problems came in floods, but he will deliver you out of them all. 35:18 Second Timothy chapter 3. This is the last few words of Paul the 35:34 Apostle who for about 30 or so years has been serving Jesus faithfully and he's days I think away from reaching the end of his life. He says a few sentences later, I'm already being poured out. Chapter 4:6, the time of my departure 35:51 has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. He's seeing the finishing tape. He's made it. the one who was running 100% against Jesus. He turned, met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and then pursued after him 36:04 wholeheartedly. And now he's finishing the end. And he says in to Timothy, he's the last letter he writes that we know of um that's recorded in scripture as scripture. He writes to Timothy, the person whom he's handing off the baton 36:19 to as it were, saying, "Timothy, my lap is over. Now it's yours. and I want you to then after your lap is over, hand it off to somebody else who can hand it off to somebody else. He's thinking three generations after him. And he says verse 36:34 10, Timothy, you followed my teaching. You listened to my teaching and you followed it. You followed my conduct. You watched my life and you followed my conduct. You followed my purpose. You saw that I had a purpose. I wasn't just 36:47 randomly living my life aimlessly. I had a purpose. You followed my faith. You followed my patience. You followed my love. You followed my perseverance. And you followed my persecutions and sufferings. Verse 11, as happened to me at Antioch, 37:05 at Aconium, at Lististra. What persecutions I endured. He runs out of places to say because he just the list goes on. What persecutions I I endured. Paul, tell me about your life before you follow Jesus. Oh, it was great. Pharisee 37:20 of Pharisees. Everybody thought of me as this great person. I was persecuting other people and I was zealous. Okay. Tell me about your life after you started following Jesus. What persecutions I endured and out of them all the Lord rescued me. 37:37 There it is again. It's almost like he's quoting Psalm 34:1 19. Indeed, he says, "Now, Timothy, I'm handing off the baton to you, and included in this baton is teaching, conduct, pers, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 37:54 persecutions, and sufferings." Listen, Timothy, I'm giving you the baton of persecution and suffering as well. Because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Do you want that baton, Timothy? Do you want 38:08 this life? God will deliver you out of every one of them. Now I know in the midst of it you will feel like I'm never going to get out of this. This is how it's always going to be. But oh brother, sister, child, young person, will you 38:20 take courage? Will you hear the word word of the Lord today that he says I will deliver you out of every one of them. And then my name will be great. They'll see you backed into a corner. No way out. Nothing, no strength of your own 38:36 left. And then they'll see you on the other side of it and say, "Wow, the God he serves is great." If God allows you to come to the place where only a supernatural act, you know, they talk about in the insurance world, acts of nature, supernatural acts, you 38:54 know, something like that. That's a clause. When God allows you to come to that place where only a supernatural act can rescue out of it, then he his name will be great. But if somehow you can say, well, my rich uncle kind of bailed 39:07 me out and I had this backup plan. I had some savings and and I, you know, I found the right doctor and all this stuff, then you'll say, well, okay, yeah, yeah, my God can do that, too, because you need some earthly help as 39:20 well. And I think some of us, maybe all of us are in a place where we're getting closer to the point where all earthly hope has ended or is vanishing. And then God says, "Now I can help you. Now my name will be great and it won't be mixed 39:39 in with anybody else." This is how he's building the church. That's what from the east to the west, my name will be great among the nations. And they say the god of Santosh is a great god. The God of put your name there is a great 39:52 one. Let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 19 2 Kings 19. God wants to demonstrate his greatness 40:10 to his enemies. The enemies of God and God's people. That includes the devil and his hosts, but also people on the earth who are influenced by the devil, who are enemies of God and his work. Could be other religions. Could be even people in the 40:27 name of Christ who are worshiping Mammon, who worshiping money. That is another religion. It's also called Christianity, but it's another religion altogether. It's worshiping the God of Mammon. And God wants to demonstrate his power 40:42 to his enemies and the enemies of his people. In 2 Kings 19, you see this story where an enemy comes against um King Sinarb, the en the king of Assyria comes against King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah is a picture of you and I, the 40:58 people of God, chosen, not perfect, flawed in some ways, but seeking to honor the Lord and seeking to glorify him. And in verse three, the uh um well before that the people come and the enemies send this message and they're warning and they're threatening. 41:15 You read verse chapter 18, they're saying ah your god can't deliver you. Look at all the other gods that we have triumphed over. You think your god's going to give and they give example. This this nation, that nation, that 41:26 other king, that other person, that other person, that other person, the list goes on. And then Hezekiah says, "Okay, verse three, 2 Kings 19:3." Thus says Hezekiah, he sends word to Isaiah. Hezekiah is in a bit of a panic. Thank 41:39 God there's a prophet there who knows God. Isaiah the prophet. And so Hezekiah says to him, "Listen, this is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection. For children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver." Does it feel 41:55 like that? I thought this was going to work out, but no, it's not working out. Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshake, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God. I love this 42:08 about Hezekiah. Even though he's distressed, he recognizes that that king was taunting me. But I don't realize that he's actually taunting God, the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Let's skip down to 42:26 verse 10. So Isaiah sends a message back. Thus you shall say to Hezekiah, king of Judah, do not let No, this is sorry. This is now I mean Isaiah's encouraged. Isaiah Hezekiah is encouraged. Isaiah sends him a a promise. But then after that 42:44 promise, after that encouragement, the enemy comes again and says, "Ah, don't believe even the prophet." Verse 10, uh, Sinakarb sends a message again saying, "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you in anything." 42:59 And the devil will say that to you. Your enemies will say, "You say you worship Jesus, you say you worship God. He's going to ba, he's not going to bail you out. He's deceiving you. Don't let him deceive you. He won't come through. Has the devil 43:13 tempted you with those thoughts? God's not going to come through. I know you keep saying that, but he's not. He's going to fail you." This is what the enemies of sonakar sinak was saying to Hezekiah. Do not let your God in whom 43:26 you trust deceive you, saying Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Verse 11, behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. Look at that person. Look at that 43:39 person. Look at how that person and and that other situation and and this and that and the list goes on. Verse 14, Hezekiah did something. He reached a place of helplessness. See, at other times he tried to bribe them. You 43:53 read, right? We've been reading this recently in our Bible reading plan. He sent some gold, some tribute and all that. I believe he's come to a place of helplessness. And he took the letter. I encourage you to get this picture. The 44:04 next time you get an email or some news, a phone call or something, a text message, you take that is like Hezekiah. He took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it 44:17 out before the Lord. I love it. The next time you find anxiety and worry trying to find a home in your heart, you take it and find a sanctuary. You don't have to come into this building. There's nothing holy about this building. You 44:31 find a sanctuary where it's you and God alone and you spread out that news before the Lord. Lay it out. Say, "Lord, this is what the world is telling me. This is what my own thoughts are telling me. This is how hopeless the situation 44:42 seems. I lay it all out before you, Lord. I spread it out before you. And then he prayed and said, "Oh Lord," verse 15, "the God of Hezekiah, the God of Santosh, put your name there. You're my God, Lord. You are enthroned above 44:59 the cherubam. You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, oh Lord, and see. And listen to the words of Sinakar, which he has sent 45:14 to reproach you. They're not fighting against me. They're reproaching you, the living God. Truly, oh Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. Yes, it's true that all those other people have fallen, all 45:28 those other situations. Um, it seems like it has failed and have cast their gods into the fire. But they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, oh Lord, our God, I pray, deliver 45:46 us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, oh Lord, our God. God allowed Hezekiah in the land of Judah to come to this place where everybody else had been defeated by the Assyrians 46:04 and all hope seemed to be gone and God saves the people of Judah. I thought about it like this. Let's say that you had, you know, let's say you had a difficult problem, maybe a financial problem. Often the cause of a lot of 46:19 anxiety and worry comes from financial difficulty, uncertainty about the future. Will I have enough money? Will will will I make it through this? Or health problems. Imagine if your dad or mom was the richest person in the world. 46:33 Imagine if your dad or mom was the richest person in the world and they had an unlimited seemingly billion multi-billionaires. It's crazy that there are even people who have that much money. Multi multi-billions. But let's 46:42 say your dad or mom was the richest person in the world. You think you'd ever be worried about money? I don't think you would. Like, oh yeah, okay. I got this bill. I I suddenly I need some money to pay for this thing. This my car got I got to pay insurance 46:56 or that bill suddenly caught me off guard or a medical bill. You think you'll be worried? Now I think there's a deeper question there. Worry has nothing to do with with how much money you have. But let's leave that aside. But you'll say, "Well, I'll 47:10 just call dad." You're like, "Hey, dad, listen. I got into a mess and all that." And dad might ask me some questions about why I wasn't careful with money, but he'll still bail me out because he's dad. Now, this is when he says those are 47:23 not gods. Do you know that money is not a real god? Even though the devil wants you to think that, even though your own mind wants you to think that, if I had a little bit more money, if I could earn a little bit more, if they would give me a 47:36 raise at work, if I had this much, I would be fine. But that's not a God at all. And God wants us to come to a place with however much he allows us to have or not have where we realize that these are not God at all. Not gods at all. 47:51 Money is not a god. Not a god that can save you. That would that that money that that person who you thought could bail you out is just an idol of wood or stone. God wants us to come to the place where we trust in him. Let's turn to Exodus 48:09 chapter 18. God wants to prove his greatness in our interactions with our relatives. We all have relatives or friends that we know who don't know him like they should. They don't know maybe they know about Jesus but they don't have a 48:27 living relationship with Christ. They haven't surrendered their life fully to him which is the only way to to have assurance of eternity is to have complete trust in Jesus Christ where he is the Lord of our lives and God wants 48:42 to demonstrate his greatness through us in the lives of our relatives. You read this in Exodus chapter 18 um with Moses's father-in-law. Now, Jethro, the priest of Midian, he was a priest of the Midionites. 49:00 Moses' father-in-law heard of all that God had done for Moses. What? Through the wilderness and having to escape and being going through plagues and and all of that. And uh the Heard all of it, all that God had done for 49:17 Moses and for Israel, his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Look at how God now he he wants to reach Jethro and he allows Jethro to find out about all the suffering that the people of Israel have gone through for 430 years 49:35 and all those plagues that they went through and they came through the wilderness. They came out of Egypt. Then they're chased by Pharaoh and he has to part the Red Sea and bring them through that. They're constantly facing problem 49:45 deliverance. Problem deliverance problem deliverance. It continues on and Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, hears about it, hears about this people, this strange people who don't have a hunky dory, everything's great life. They have 49:59 problems, but this God seems to be able to bring them out of every one of them. how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Moses' wife, Zipper, after he had sent her away and 50:19 let and her two sons of whom one was named Gersham, for Moses said, "I have been a serger in a foreign land." The other was named Eleazar, for he said, "The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." 50:30 And listen to this verse 5. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped at the mount of God. And he sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law, Jethro, I'm coming to you 50:43 with your wife and her two sons with her." And he came to meet her, meet them. And um verse eight, listen to this. Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egyptians for Israel Israel's sake. 51:01 all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey and how the Lord had delivered them and Jethro was like, "Wow, this is a God." Now, the Egyptians worshiped gods and they were very successful. They were very rich, the 51:15 richest country in the world at that time. But God brought a small people, a despised people, a people of slaves out of Egypt, set them free, took them through problems, all the difficulties, all the hardship that had befallen them, 51:34 delivered them through that. And then he says, "Now Jethro, who are you going to trust?" Whatever god you were worshiping in Midian, I want to show you here's a living God. My dear brothers, dear sisters, children, some we're praying 51:46 for relatives. We're praying for loved ones. Some who are very close relatives, some who are further away. Are we willing? We pray for him often, but are we willing for the Lord to take us through hardships and for him to deliver 51:58 us deliver us through them and then our loved ones see this is the true living God. May he do it. He did that for Moses. And I don't know what happened to Jethro, but certainly he's came and recognized the true living God. 52:14 And um de demonstrating that this is the true God. Let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 5. God wants to demonstrate his greatness 52:33 when we are faced with having to do something that seems impossible. Maybe it's your your boss at work says, "You need to get this done by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning." You're like, "Oh, Lord, what do I do? How do I get this 52:47 done?" Or some other your children, you're facing a difficult test and you're you're having difficulty comprehending it and you're and this test is coming up on Monday morning and you're uncertain about it. faced with an 52:58 seemingly impossible task. That's where God wants to demonstrate his greatness. Could be a marriage problem. It could be a a problem with your children or um other relatives. God wants to demonstrate his greatness when you're 53:11 faced with an impossible seeming task. And here is one. 2 Kings chapter 5. Now Non, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master and highly respected because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man 53:26 was also a valiant warrior warrior, but he was a leper. And so he goes to its king. You can read the rest of that story. And the king says, "Let well here's here's the beautiful thing about that. You see in the next verse that 53:41 these this man non his army had gone and captured a particular area and they had taken a girl as a slave and brought them into non's house. And here's this girl who probably one day she's playing out with her friends and all of a sudden 53:56 these soldiers come and kidnap her and take her into this far away country and she never sees daddy or mommy again. And you think that's it. What a horrible way for the story to end. Oh, but the story didn't end. God allowed that army of 54:09 Arameans to pick that girl to be kidnapped, to be taken into the into Non's house so that non could be healed of his leprosy. so that the name of God could become great in a far away land. See how God turns everything into good 54:25 for those who love him. And here's this girl and she's bold and she says, "Oh, there's a living God. I know Non, I watched you praying in front of your idols and doing all this stuff. He's a religious man. You read later, he was a 54:38 religious man." But she says, "There's only one true living God." And let me translate her words. God, this true living God has allowed me to go through a difficult circumstance. Perhaps the thing that I would never wish on anybody 54:52 that she was kidnapped as a young little girl and taken as a slave. But she says, "I see that God has allowed even that for a reason because he wants to show you how great he is. Now go and see if you can get a hold of somebody in Israel 55:06 who knows the true living God. Elisha was there." So now non doesn't know what to do. So he talks to his king, the boss. And the boss says, "Yeah, let me write a letter to the king." And he sends this letter. and he brought his letter verse 6 Kings 55:22 5:6 to the king of Israel. Now the king of Israel doesn't know God. He's a religious person. He's the king of Israel but he knows about the God of Israel but he doesn't know God. And he says so uh and in the letter it says now 55:36 as this letter comes to you behold I have sent non my servant to you that you may cure him of his leprosy. And somebody who has the name as a Christian or the name as somebody who knows God but doesn't actually know God 55:46 immediately goes into a panic. And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?" But consider now and see 56:01 how he is seeking a quarrel against me. So his immediate response when he's faced with this impossible seeming circumstances you're trying to pick a fight with me and oh that you will know dear brothers dear sisters dear children 56:14 and young people when you face those difficult trials in your life it's so that God can prove his greatness the fight is not against you the king of Israel thought it was a fight against him but Elisha verse 8 the man of God 56:29 heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes and says listen what are YOU DOING I KNOW GOD. I KNOW THE TRUE living God. Everybody else is not a God. There is only one true living God and I know him and he's going to save us out of 56:41 this. He said, "Listen to him. Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel who really knows the living God." And you know the rest of that story. Let's skip down to verse 8. 56:54 No, sorry, verse 15. Um, after Elisha is healed, sorry, after Non is healed, he comes back to Elisha, he returned to the man of God. 2 Kings 5:15, with all his company, and came and stood before him, and he said, "Listen, 57:11 behold, now here's an ungodly man who never came in touch with the living God, always worshiped some other idol, and thought that his success as an general in the army of the greatest land at that time was because of the God he was 57:25 worshiping." saw God do a miracle through a seemingly hopeless situation. And he says, "Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." There is no God in all the earth but in Israel. You see how God allowed a 57:43 hopeless circumstance so that his name alone would be manifest. His glory would be seen. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. God wants to manifest his greatness and his glory when you experience physical 58:00 suffering. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul was used mightily by the Lord. And you would think that God would say, "Okay, Paul is valuable to me. I got to make sure he stays healthy. I got to put a bubble around Paul so that his health 58:18 is great and nothing ever bad happens to him because he's so useful to me." God's ways are not our ways. God says, "This is my servant Paul. I'm afraid he'll get proud. He'll start to think that it's because u because he's so good or he's 58:33 such a good preacher or he's following me wholeheartedly. That's why I'm using him. So, I'm going to allow him to face trouble." He said in 2 Timothy 3, "What persecutions I endured." And on top of that, the persecutions that people uh 58:47 gave at him, God allowed Satan himself to persecute sa Paul directly. Verse 7, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason to keep me from exalting myself. 2 Corinthians 12:7, there was given me a 59:05 thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. tormented. This isn't once a week. Imagine if you had somebody that shows up every Monday morning and torments you. Maybe your boss, I don't 59:21 know, or somebody that shows up on your door and just I'm here to harass you, torment you. Monday morning, 9:00. This is worse. This is 24/7. Paul is throughout the day and throughout the night being tormented, tormented, tormented, torment. That's an 59:36 extreme word. Constantly being tormented by this thorn in the flesh. You say, "Why, Lord? Why would you do that? This is the guy that's serving you the most. I mean, of all the people in the world, he's the one that is most 59:50 valuable to your kingdom. He's most effective. He's given up everything. He's counted all things as loss. He's given up everything. He's suffered all things as loss. Wouldn't you think that you'd want to reward him?" And God says, "No, your ways are not my 1:00:03 ways. I'm going to allow him to be tormented." Why? Concerning this, and Paul doesn't understand it at first. He he says, "I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me." And he said to me, "Listen, my grace is 1:00:21 sufficient for you, Paul. I want you to come to the place where you're leaning on my grace alone." Because up to this point, before I gave you the thorn in the flesh, you were leaning out. I'm paraphrasing here. your my grace was 1:00:34 there, but you had some room for your own strength, your own ability, something else that you could bring into the equation. Yes, Lord, give me your grace. I'll add my own ability to that. Give me uh provide for me. I'll add my 1:00:49 own ability, my own savings, my own this or my own that, my own healthy diet. I'll throw that in as well, Lord. And God says, "After all your healthy diet, if I still allow you to be sick, what am I doing? I'm trying to show you that my 1:01:06 grace is enough. You don't have to add anything to it." Have you come to the place, brothers, sisters, children, young people, where his grace alone is sufficient? That's what sufficient means. That means there's no room to add 1:01:20 anything else. His grace fills up the whole room. Some of us are probably at that place where his grace I've got I've got a good amount of his grace, but I've also got a backup plan. I've got room for something else. He says, "Listen, Paul, I'm 1:01:35 allowing this 24/7 torment. It could be a physical torment, sickness, pain in the body that you deal with. It could be an emotional torment, the memory of something's from the past or hurt or loss or disappointment or whatever it 1:01:48 might be." He says, "This torment 24/7, I'm I've allowed it to be there so that you'll realize that my grace is sufficient for you because my power shows up best the weaker you are. 1:02:03 My power is perfected in weakness." That's what that means. That my power will show up the best the weaker you are. You see how God is allowing Paul to get weaker? If it was just once a month torment, maybe he could still be like, 1:02:20 "Ah, I can grit my teeth. I'm ready for it. It's going to come once a month." But then it becomes once a week torment. Oh, he's getting weaker. Can't hold on for so long. Now it's every day. Okay, he's getting weaker. Now it's constant 1:02:31 torment. No power left. I've been tormented so much. You Paul is saying, not me, Paul, that he's just like, "Ah, I I have nothing left. Okay, now my power can show up best." You see how the Lord is now allowing that pressing to happen, 1:02:48 that torment to increase perhaps not because he hates you, not because he's left you alone. Oh, he's with you. You're in the center of his hand. He's allowing you to get to such a point of weakness and hopelessness and helplessness that his power alone is 1:03:03 shows up. His power shows up best the weaker you are. And like we sang in that song, do you want multiplied peace? Do you want multiplied mercy? We sang of it. It was nice to just sing it. But you know what came before that? To add it 1:03:21 affliction. He addeth his mercy. Some of us want the mercy without the affliction. But that's not how God does it. He says, "Let me give you some affliction. Then you'll value my mercy to multiply what? Trials." He multiplies 1:03:38 his peace. Oh, I want the multiplied peace of God. Don't you want God's peace multiplied in your life? Don't you want his mercy added upon added upon added? He says, "There's one way and one way alone. I I've got mercy waiting for you 1:03:50 on the other side of this week. I've got peace waiting for you on the other side of this week. I want it multiplied. Not just peace trickling down, but overflowing peace. Peace that passes understanding. Peace like a river that 1:04:02 floods over my soul." You know the story behind that hymn. But he says, "In order for me to give that to you, I've got to take you through that multiplied trial. And through that added affliction, his love has no limit. His grace has no 1:04:17 measure. Oh, he will deliver you out of every one of them." I'm going to give you one more example. God wants to manifest his greatness when he allows us to be humbled. By allowing us to be humble, turn with me to Daniel 1:04:31 chapter 4. Sometimes when people are humiliated or humbled uh and as in they're corrected, maybe they're rebuked, something happens where they are their pride is confronted and they're humbled. Maybe it's a failure in 1:04:49 their in their life or failure in in some circumstance and they're humbled. God has a purpose in that. And I've seen so many people who maybe have been rebuked publicly or corrected and and they they say, "I felt humiliated by 1:05:02 that." and they missed what God was trying to accomplish through that. Dear friend, dear brother, dear sister, dear children, even young people, if you've ever been in a situation where God humbled you through your own failure or 1:05:14 through correction or whatever it might be, don't let the devil deceive you or allow you to miss God's purpose in that God is going to make his name great even through your humiliation. Maybe it was your own doing, maybe it 1:05:30 was somebody else's fault, but doesn't matter. God is in the business of making his name great. Have you ever had a made a mistake and now it's just like in front of everybody and you're like, "Lord, why did you allow it? Why did you 1:05:41 allow it to be so publicly visible that I I messed up and I got corrected and rebuked in front of everybody?" He says, "I'm making my name great and I'm going to do it even through your humiliation." Daniel chapter 4, you know the story of 1:05:55 Nebuchadnezzar. He got so proud. He thought that he everything was because of him. And God says, "I'm going to show you." And he allowed him. I don't think anybody's ever been humiliated as badly as this, at least that I know of 1:06:06 personally. He became like an animal. He lost his senses. He thought he was actually an animal. He lived out in the fields eating the grass, sleeping there. His nails grew long. His hair grew wild. You read about that in in um 1:06:21 uh chap chapter 4, Daniel 4:33. In fact, they kicked him. This was the king. They kicked him out of the palace. Verse 33. That he's driven away from mankind. He began eating grass-like cattle and his body was drenched with 1:06:35 the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. The great king Nebuchadnezzar, everybody said, "Mock him. Look at look at what happened. Look at what failure. Look at how he he look 1:06:48 at where he was and look at where he's he is now. And everybody's mocking him. Everybody walks by the field. These were people who were once his slaves, his subjects. They see the king now out in the field. All his honor stripped from 1:07:01 him. But then he comes to his senses. Verse 34. My reason returned to me. And what did he do? He said, I blessed the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from 1:07:19 generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. And no one can ward off his hand or say to him, "What 1:07:33 have you done?" And then Nebuchadnezzar comes back as king. But is he's different now. He says, "You Babylonians, I want you to know the God of Israel, the God of Daniel, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneo. This is the God. This is the only true 1:07:49 living God." You see how God used even Nebuchadnezzar used Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation becoming like an animal where everybody was mocking him and making fun of him to restore him and to bring glory to his name. Now the perfect example of this is of 1:08:06 course Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Mark chapter 15. It says in 1 Peter 2 that when he was mocked he didn't when he was reviled he didn't revile in return. He kept his mouth shut when they when they mocked 1:08:23 him and kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously. It's a phrase I think about often. Whenever you face trial, whenever you're misunderstood, no matter what you're going through, keep entrusting yourself to the one who judges 1:08:37 righteously. Lord, everything's in your hand. I give it back to you. Everything's in your hand. That's how Jesus lived his life. And the greatest and the final evidence of that was when his nails his hand his hands were nailed. Those same hands that 1:08:51 had been used to heal people, to comfort people, to raise people back to life from the dead. Now the devil thought, "I've pinned his hands." What the devil didn't realize that Jesus had lived his whole life like this. His whole life 1:09:07 was like this. That's what it means to take up your cross every day. If there's one picture I get of Jesus every day of his life, not just on Calvary, every day of his life, it was like this. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. I 1:09:21 keep entrusting everything to you. And Jesus said, Matthew 16:4, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him also take this posture. Let him take up his cross and follow me because that's how I lived my life. 1:09:39 And then you read in Mark 15 verse um 39 when the centurion who was standing right in front of him when the boss was standing right in front of him when the neighbor who was standing right in front of him when the spouse was standing 1:09:58 right in front of him or her. When the children who was standing right in front of him saw how they lived their lives saw how daddy lived his life. saw how mommy lived her life. Saw how their children lived their lives. Saw how the 1:10:13 person who reported to them lived their lives at work. Saw the way he breathed his last. See, this is not just the end of his life. That I breathe my last. That's how I want to live this week. That I breathe my last. I've died. I'm not trying to 1:10:30 still fight for myself here on this earth. I breathe my last. Will you go into the week this week, dear brothers, sisters, children, having breathed your last, having taken up your cross, denied yourself, no more Santosh, I breathed my 1:10:43 last. And people see that and they see your God rescuing you after you've breathed your last. They will say, "Truly, this man has a father who is a living God. Truly this man is the son of God." I believe it shall be so brothers, 1:11:00 sisters, children that as people watch not how we fight and by our own skill we get up and work our way up the corporate ladder and have a successful life but that we breathe our last. Yes, we work hard. Oh children, do your homework, 1:11:14 study hard for your test, work hard in your job and all that, but let it be as one who has breathed his last. who has breathed her last. And people around you will see it and they say, "This man has a God like no other. This woman has a 1:11:30 God like no other. This boy, this girl, this friend of mine, I want to know his God. I want to know her God. Heavenly Father, make it so for us." I thank you, Lord, that you will deliver us out of every one of the trials we face. You 1:11:43 will not allow us to be tempted more than we're able to bear, but with every trial will give us a way of escape. And Lord, I I I make that commitment before you that I with all of my heart, Lord, will you make this so that you can take 1:11:56 us, take me, take us through uh whatever trial you want us to go through, whatever plans you have for us, Lord. Whatever suffering or affliction you you will allow for us in our lives, knowing with absolute confidence, you will 1:12:12 deliver us out from all of them. and your name will be great wherever you take us. Thank you, Father. Pray even for our young people and our children that this hope, this confidence, this faith will grip their hearts. Believe it shall be so in Jesus 1:12:29 name. Amen.
