Beacon Sunday Service: February 24th, 2024

Um this is a uh a Puritan prayer uh recorded and uh written by John Owen and I just want to pray it over our congregation this morning just to get our hearts and minds set and ready upon the Lord to worship in corporately So would you bow your head with me and pray this prayer is entitled Longing for His Glory And he writes this Let's pray Blessed Jesus We can add nothing to you nothing to your glory But it is a joy of heart to us that you are what you are that you are so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God We long more fully and clearly to behold that glory according to your prayer and promise this morning our call to worship comes from Revelation and the response from Psalm 145. Would you look at the screen with me?

It says we offer thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign and together all your works shall give thanks to you, oh Lord, and all your saints shall bless you once in the wilderness, once in the wilderness of our sin, we wandered lost and with our soul into our deserte God in grace came to restore and bring us on let the redeemed of God rise up and sing we give thanks, oh God for your sin, fast love we give thanks, oh God, for you are good, Lord you are good, we give than every pain, every pain and trial you provide light in the dark of our distress, lifting us from high when we cry, turning our grief to great fullness, let the redeemed of God rise up and see we give thanks, oh God, for your set, fast love, we give thanks, oh God, for you are good, Lord.

You are good, we give thanks, oh God, for your set, fast love, we give thanks, oh God, for you are good, Lord. You are good, we give them You take the darkness and make it as light, parts that were dead in sin. You raise to life, amen. You take a barren place, make it a spring, let the redeemed of God rise up and sing, let the redeemed, let the redeemed of God rise up and sing, we give thanks, oh God, for your sin, fast love, we give thanks, oh God, for you are good, Lord.

You are good, we give thanks, oh God, for your said, fast love, we give thanks, oh God, for you are good, Lord. You are good, we give thanks. We give the Lord thanks for his grace and mercy that it just constantly showers upon us. Let's continue this time of worship and just give him acknowledge that he is the one that we place our faith and hope in Christ the show, Christ the shore and steady in the future of the storm the winds of me, and I saw all their tone in the fringo when my thinking holds our fruit.

While the tempest rages on when temptation claims a battle, and it seems the night has won deeper, still then goes the anchor, though I just stand accused.

Oh my soul now. Lift your eyes to Calvary. This might last of a shore once. See his love forever brew. All my hope is in the anchor, it shall never be removed. Christ the shore, Christ the shore, and steady as we face the wave of death.

As we draw our final breath, we will cross that great horizon, clouds behind life secure, and the calm will be the better for the storm that we enjoy Christ as well our salvation, ever faithful, ever true. We will hold fast to the anchor it shall never be removed this morning we will confess our faith using the new city catechism in this question and answer we will confess what justification and sanctification mean and here's the question what do justification and sanctification and together justification means our declared righteousness before God made possible by Christ's death and resurrection for us sanctification means our gradual growing righteousness made possible by the Spirit's work in us Amen may that be our prayer that the Spirit will continue to work in us growing us in righteousness that we may love Christ more and more peace like a when peace like my way when so like see what my Lord thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul it is well with my soul with my soul it is well it is well with my soul though say though trial should come let this blessed us that Christ hath regarded my hell bliss and has shed his own blood for my soul is well with my soul it is well it is well with my soul my sin oh the bliss of this glory my sin not in part but the whole his dail to the cross and I be no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul it is well with my soul in my soul it is well it is well with my soul and Lord case the day shall be sounds we rolled back as a scroll The Trump shall resund and the Lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul It is well with my soul It is well It is well with my soul Good morning church Uh at this time we're gonna have our confession of sin uh it is a confession that is an acknowledgement of our failure uh as just followers of Christ to uphold God's holy name and in our humility we come before him and just ask that and and just declare that he is the one that gives us mercy and allows us to be able to come before him again.

So let's go over our confession of sin corporately together at this moment, and afterwards we'll have a personal time of confession. God our Savior, you who are mighty and holy, please look upon our humble estates and forgive us.

We have been scattered and brought down by our prideful thoughts. In humility, we return to you, the one who fills the hungry with good things. Because of your mercy, our souls rejoice in Christ the Lord, Amen. Please be seated. Let us not take in a personal time of confession to our Lord.

Here's your assurance of pardon. Hear the comforting words of Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Brothers and sisters, the pardon of Christ is a grace greater than all our sin. He forgives you. Amen.

The first comes from our brother Daniel. Uh as you know, Daniel and Tammy recently had uh a newborn baby, baby Penny. So uh he asked us to pray over uh this specific prayer topic. He said, Good morning. Uh we're still not getting much sleep. Baby Penny has been really struggling with gas and reflux, and we're trying different things. Uh so an Iris has been waking up a few times per night, too, so we're not getting much rest or sleep. So with that in mind, please let's pray over the Peck family.

The second prayer request comes from our brothers Philip and Simon. Their grandmother passed away a few days ago. And it was a very hard loss for their family. So with their permission, they shared a few prayer requests that we might pray over them corporately as well. Philip said, as we prepare and set up that the funeral goes smoothly, please pray that all our family members are safe as they travel from different parts to come to LA. And that God is ever so close to our family during these times in our conversations and downtime. So let's lift them up in prayer.

We pray, Father, for grace upon Tammy and Taniel during this time.

And just dealing with these things, I just pray we pray, Father, for rest for them, for the baby to be uh filled with just um the nourishment and nutrients that it needs, also to be able to get rest and comfort uh as the body develops, Father. We also lift up Iris, big sister Iris, and um she might be going through sleep regression, and that too is a variable that is adding on to just our hardship as parents. So we just pray for blessing upon them, that Iris would sleep well and have just sweet dreams and just be able to give them uh rest throughout the night. We also pray that in in life comes death, and we know that um we just want to lift up um our brothers Philip and Simon and know and we know Lord that you are watching over their family.

Uh we pray that in their mourning there's great reminder of how great a God you are in your provision in your remembrance of what joy that life was, Father, in their grandmother and the way that they loved, she loved her family, her grandsons, her children, um, and that even in mourning there would be great times to celebrate and to and to look at how much their her life was a blessing to those around her. We pray for comfort and and safe passage for the family from all over uh the world who are coming to LA that you allow them to get there safely, that the arrangements would go smoothly, uh, and also just um as these brothers uh want to share that they want you to be the forefront of their conversations, that the gospel message would be um one that is demonstrated even in difficult times, and we pray, Father, for that blessing to occur upon their family, even for those who may not know you, that even in this hard time um the light of Christ is poured upon them.

We thank you, Lord, for for all that you do, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Uh at this time, um I'm gonna ask our sister Tiffany to rise to stand up. Um, as many of you may or may not have known, um, our sister Megan uh before she left was the children's ministry director. Uh and we were looking for someone to take her place and to step in and kind of take over the the ministry duties. Uh and um it kind of just went without much fanfare. Uh we and leadership asked Tiffany to take over, and basically around August, she started looking over the curriculum, praying for the kids, uh planning uh the Christmas presents and literally just caring for them and thinking about them throughout the week and in preparation preparation, uh just looking after the ministry.

Uh and it is with uh our as leadership and being a part of leadership as her husband. We pretty much didn't really recognize her as the children's ministry director and and kind of pray over her to continue on the ministry that the sisters before her had taken um and and and and run with. So uh we wanted to just recognize her in front of everybody and the children to know that she is the children's ministry director to pray over her and the concerns that she might have as uh as a director, and um we just wanted to collectively just uh uh pray over her at this time. So Pastor Madison graciously agreed to pray over this time down here too. And Tiffany, why don't you come right here? And as we pray, uh Phil uh being her husband and the head of their home, I'm gonna ask him to lead us first, and then I'm gonna pray.

But I want you to really realize how important uh this ministry is.

And it would be better than a millstone being put around your neck and thrown into the sea if you were to you know mislead one of those little ones. So let's pray that God would really use her with the kids in our church. So I'm gonna ask Phil to lead us. We got the troops coming up. That's fine. That's fine. Okay. I'm gonna ask Phil to lead us, and then I'm gonna pray.

Father, we thank you for uh the heart of service that you've imparted in our sister Tiffany. We're so thankful, Lord, that she um cares not only for her own children, but for the children in this ministry in our family here at the Beacon. Lord, we know it's a it's it is a huge responsibility to be the caretaker to provide uh just the seeds that are planted in their young lives and with much um hope, Father, that the seeds that our sister is leading and planting, uh in the curriculum that she's choosing, the way that she's praying over them, and setting an example for them on Sundays, Lord, we pray for that that would lead to salvation for our children. We pray, Father, that you give her joy and refreshment, and even though she doesn't get to be a part of the services every Sunday and listening to the sermons, we pray that you give her refreshment during the week, that she's being fed in the way that she serves in the children's ministry, uh, and we are very blessed that you have given her her a heart and conviction, Lord, to take on um just this role here with our church.

So we thank you for all that you are showing to her and revealing to her in this position and and and lift her up, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, am I Father, what a joy it is to have people who love you and who are serving you here like the beacon. We pray, Father, that uh week by week as the children get trained in your word, that as they come to trust you as Savior, you would use uh Tiffany in their lives, and that you would bless her, give her strength during this time. Father, thank you for both Phil and Tiffany and their desire to be a family that serves you. Father, thank you that uh Phil is sharing his wife and her ministry with us, and we pray your blessing on both of them in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Okay, we're gonna let the children uh be dismissed at this time, right?

I I totally forgot. I brought it out of order. Uh, children, you're dismissed. Please enjoy Sunday school. Uh, as the children are being dismissed, and before Pastor Madison comes up to bring uh to read the word and to bring uh his sermon, we're gonna just go over a few announcements. Totally forgot, sorry. Um the first announcement we have is that uh our leadership thought it would be a great idea for us to be more intentional with outreach. Um and even if it's someone that you know already goes to church, um, someone that you've been praying for, someone that you want to share uh the gospel message with in your family, in your circle, even a co-worker, um please invite them to our Easter Sunday service.

We are uh our goal is just to not to grow our numbers. Our goal this year is really uh to share and be intentional with sharing the gospel. So it would be a great start for them to come here and to be a part of a service, and hopefully that would spark discussion, um spark just a little bit of change in that person's life, and for you to really um take ownership and guiding them through that process of teaching them about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our second announcements is that we are looking to have uh someone lead the welcome ministry. Um we are just looking for anyone that would be willing to volunteer. We're actually looking for two people to spearhead this ministry. Um we used to have one, uh, but we would like to restart it again and have someone um each Sunday come in the morning and be able to greet those who are coming through the door.

Last or uh last final announcement is offering options are Zell, Vemo, Cash and Check. That's Madison. The word of God uh with you. I'm gonna ask you to uh turn in your Bibles to uh James. Um I'm gonna put it on the screen here as well, uh, in a moment. Uh, but we we started last week in in James chapter one, and we just did verse one last week uh about James. This week we're gonna talk about well, why is this happening to me? Uh, but let's do this. Um, I'm gonna just advance, and why don't you advance that back there so we have that on the screen? Okay, okay? I'm gonna ask you to stand for the reading of God's word, okay? James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion.

Greetings. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, but endurance must do its complete work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated, and uh let me just uh put this back on the screen. Oh in James chapter one, um, last week we looked at James and we looked at the main kind of uh of a word that could help us learn the book of James. It was the word works.

Remember that from last week, and we did each chapter uh so that you knew and those five letters from works what was in each chapter. Now this week we're gonna start at verse two and and just kind of get through one part of it because we want to leave time for communion and stuff today. But in James chapter one, verses two to five, you've had people at times that they've had difficulty happen in their lives, and when something really tragic happens in their lives, what do they say? Why? Why? Why is this happening to me? And they just kind of question is why did God do this? Why me? What have I done? And so I I want you to today to be able to see that there were people throughout Scripture who could have said something like that.

So let me just give you a few of them as we introduce this idea today. Abraham was one of those that could have said, Why? Why would you want me to do this? Because God throughout history has tested believers. And Abraham was one of them. And so you see it in Genesis chapter 22, verse 1, it says this. After these things, God did what? Tested Abraham and said, You know, Abraham, here I am, he said. And then what did he ask Abraham to do? Take your son, your only son, and sacrifice him to me. Now, I I don't know about you. I I only have two children, and neither one of them would I want to sacrifice. And God didn't ask you, God asked him to do that to test him. And the reason he wanted to test him is Abraham was almost always a hundred years old by the time uh Isaac came along.

He didn't have any children. His name was Abram. And God changed it to Abraham, which meant father of many. And was he uh a father to many? No, he didn't have any. But he was gonna be the father, and he took his only son. He said, I want you to sacrifice him. And he let him take him up on the hill, and they were a sacrifice. And his son said, Well, Father, here's the wood, here's everything, but where's the sacrifice? And God said, Well, and Abraham said, God's gonna provide. Gonna provide, and here's what he said. God will provide himself a sacrifice. Because Abraham, Isaac became a picture of God himself in Jesus dying for us. He let Abraham get all the way up with a knife and was gonna start to come down, and God said, Oh, stop.

I I just wanted to know if you love me more than you love him. And it was a test. And I'm wondering if God has tested you with your job or with your family, or with something else in your life, where you say, Why? Why did this happen to me? Let me give you another example of this. Moses. He tested Abraham, but he also tested Moses. And here's the text. In Exodus 34, 28, it says this. Moses was there with the Lord how long? Forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread or drink water. I I don't know about you, but if I have to go a day without eating, it's rarely that we do that. Even though God's word said, you know, the fast and pray. So why do we fast? Why did they go without food? Why do we fast and pray?

It's not because God won't hear us if we don't fast. But fasting is a way. Think of what it takes. By the time you you're hungry, okay, and you know, hey, lunchtime is coming. So you're wasting time, okay. What can I where can I get for lunch? And then you get in the refrigerator and you get this out and get this out and get this out and fix it up, and then you take time to eat it, and then you have to take time to clean it up. Fasting is so in our lives, the time that we took to prepare the food and eat the food and clean up the food could be given over to prayer. We don't fast so we're on a diet. We fast so we have more time to give in prayer to God. So Moses was in a position where forty days and forty nights he did not eat bread or drink water.

Who else was in that same kind of position? Jesus. And he fasted as he began his ministry. And it was this same situation. Israel. Israel also had a time when when they were tested, and here's where it says it in uh Numbers chapter 14, your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty of your acts of unfaithfulness. How many years? Forty years. Can I remind you? The children of Israel left Egypt. Remember when they left Egypt? They were going to go from Egypt down to the Sinai area and then up into the promised land. How long would it have taken them normally? Maybe a year. But do you remember what happened? They got halfway on the trip and they sent spies into the land.

And the spies came back and they said, Oh man, they're giants in the land, and it's not going to be possible. And so they didn't believe God. And so God said, Okay, if that's if that's all you want it, then until all the people who had doubts pass away.

And it took them another 39 years. Why? God had given them an opportunity. He had tested them, and they didn't trust him. Can I even say this further, and I don't have it on the screen? But Israel, Israel was going to inherit such a vast amount of land. They only inherited, they only tackled about 10% of the land that God had promised them. They were going to get from the Hitacal, which is the Tigris and Euphrates River, way over in Iran, and Iraq area. They were going to get that area all the way over to the Mediterranean Sea. Can you imagine how rich Israel would be today if they had just done? God said, every place your foot will go, you're going to get. From this place to this place, from this place to this place, and he gave them so much land.

Think of all the oil that they would have today. They would be such a wealthy nation, but they didn't trust God. Let me give you one other example. Jesus. Because see, if he's gonna test you, I want you to understand that he was also tested. He was tempted and he was tested. Here's the way it's worded being tempted by Satan. So here's Jesus, who's God, and Satan's gonna tempt him. And you remember each time Satan came to him, Jesus responded with the word of God. Kept giving him the word. It is written, man shall not live by ground law. It is written, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. And he said, you know. I I he was able to stand the temptation that few of us are able to stand.

Hebrews 4 15 says it this way, for we do not have a high priest talking about Jesus. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way. I don't know why the the highlight there should be has been tested. Okay. Just like we are, yet without sin. Okay. So Jesus, if you say, Well, why is this happening to me? Jesus said, hey, if it happened to Abraham, it happened to Moses, it happened to Israel, if it happened to Jesus, why should we be exempt from testings or trials? First Peter 4 12 says it this way. Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to do what? To test you. Do you get it? We're warned.

It's not like it's a surprise to us. God is saying, This is going to happen. I want to be able to test you and to try you and see if there's any wicked way in us so that we become refined and become like gold. Let me give you this eight this statement. I don't want to get it. If you want to jot one down, this is one. Satan tempts us to bring out the worst. God tests us to bring out the best.

See, God, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So God's not going to tempt you to sin. But Satan tempts you to bring out the worst. God tests you to bring out the best.

If you want to know God's mercy in your life, and is reaching out to you when afflictions come, he's there to help us.

And my wife got the call from our doctor that she had breast cancer. He said, I've got some uh good news and I've got some bad news. The bad news is you have her H E R two triple positive. That's the bad news. It's the most aggressive breast cancer a woman can have.

Any of us knowing that oh, you got cancer to begin with, and oh, you've got the most aggressive cancer possible. Um so after that, she faced four surgeries, seventeen chemotherapy treatments, thirty-three treatments of radiation, and five years of drug treatment. You've seen her here. This was this was the picture you see on the screen. It's a test from God. Why should we not get sick just like anybody else? But God is at times testing us, testing you, testing our family, so that we trust him for more. If I'm not willing to trust him with this, why would I trust him with eternity? I mean, the wonderful thing is he sees your tomorrow. We say he is um, what does that mean?

He is all what he knows your tomorrow. Your tomorrow, God's not gonna say, Oh my goodness, I didn't know they were gonna have that. So if he knows your tomorrow, then I ought to take my hand and put it in his and say, Okay, Lord, you're gonna walk through that with me. So as my wife faced this, the pictures on the screen happened to be uh Valentine's Day, she discovered and it happened, then she went through the surgeries, started the chemotherapy, started their her hair to fall out, and this was in May. So from February to May, she's had the four surgeries, she started the chemotherapies, she's losing her hair, and this picture on the screen was on her birthday when what's what's a woman's glory.

Do you know what God's word says is a woman's glory? Her hair is her glory. And it says that in first Corinthians, but it her hair's a glory, and then to have this, you know, as her hair is being shaved off, because it's all fallen out anyway, and it's it's a problem to have this, this was my picture with her at that time, to have uh this, this was our two children and her mother because people came and were with us to encourage her heart and to pray as she faces the battle of her life. So after uh the four surgeries, and after all the chemotherapy, and after all the radiation and the five years, you know, what can she say?

You saw her here, it's been ten years, and God has brought us through that. But he tests us, so we have to trust him for more.

You know, I when I watched her uh having her hair cut off like that. I I I was I was crying, but she wasn't. She was just, you know, glad that it wasn't gonna be fallen out and all over the you know, the pillow and that kind of stuff. But it it's God allowing us to be what tested. Jeff Goins says this. I've realized that whatever good comes to me comes from God. But let me put the second part of what he said. Whatever bad comes to me, God has allowed it. And I choose to be thankful for both. This is what the catechisms are talking about when we say, well, how about what where's the bad come from? Where's the good come from? We have a good God, and he's always good. And we say that. God is good all the time, all the time.

God is good. But this says it all. I'm going to learn thankfully. Let me show you this picture. This is uh I I just cut into a video clip from one of the services um at our church where that I started on uh choice that I'mdale. Um, and the house. And we're just getting ready to start. I think this is the first service in the morning. Yeah, you can see we're looking right down the center aisle uh and uh I am seeing at this point, but I'm on this side of the front roll service. And right, I'm gonna start the video as a video. And I want you to watch because right at right across the center of the aisle a little gal from the left side of the front right across the right little gal is now that I told you about a few weeks back.

And that was Natalie on March 11th, 2021 before the ability for the picture on the right of the screen just our after the car at that point. She's the one where I was standing here and she came running across into my arms. And now it wasn't that where she couldn't see.

This past week.

So that a god today. That's right.

Today program staff. Craig Melvin's on the left hand side and El Roger said you have these people they're gonna talk about their faith. And she asked them to share Craig Melbourne. And sometimes their moment of triumph. But I see faith everywhere. Where do you see God? The closest I have I have been with God has has been when I have struggled mightily. You were there when I I got a call one morning before the show that my brother had slipped away. And we sort of knew it was coming, but I convinced myself that you know maybe this wasn't gonna be it. This was the program I looked out and I saw the number, I knew who it was. And there I am in my dressing room. And who comes in first? Yep, this one who wrote the book.

And she comes in and we prayed. And it was in that moment precisely what I needed. I didn't know I needed it, but I knew I had to pick myself up, and I had to help lead my family down this dark path.

You know what's so thrilling is to have some people nationally talking about how they do? They prayed. And what does God want us to do? Listen, God uses trials in our lives to bring us to rejoice in him. But I I don't really do I invite God to do this to me. Well, here's what the I want you to look at today. I want you to look at some uh the character traits are our trials can produce in us. And we're only going to look at one of them today. But I I want you to see that what God is wanting to do is bring us to rejoice in him. God is a statement. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with him.

It's not my statement. It's John Piper's teacher. God is most glorified in us. When we are most satisfied in him. And so what does he want us to do? He's going to use trials in our lives to bring us to rejoice in him. And the first character trait I want to look at today is endurance. God's going to give us endurance. Let me take you to the text. James 1-1. James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, on the screen is the Christian standard Bible. Okay. And I'm going to say it this way. Last week I even mentioned it to you if you were here about James, a slave of God. You're the slave of God. It's the Greek word doulos. He's a slave. And I told you that most modern translations today don't like the word slave because of the over the overtones it has from our history of slavery.

This is the Christian standard Bible. It was put out by the Southern Baptist Convention. Okay? And this was the original of it in about 2012 or somewhere in there, when they came out with the first one. Since that time, they've gone through and tweaked some areas for modification. You know what it says today in their most contemporary update? James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what I told you last week? The word is really slave. Slavery for us to own people and to abuse them or whatever is a bad thing. But when you have the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the altogether lovely, the one who is going to care for us, I'm not afraid to be his slave. He's my master.

I'm his slave. And that's the Greek word that's used. Doos. James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various what? Trials. Again, I don't know why that is not right on that word trials. But when you experience trials, I want you to understand. You're going to experience trials. And what does he say? Considered a great joy whenever you experience trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces what? You see it on the screen? Trials. See the arrow pointing down? Trials produce what? Endurance. Trials. The testing. The trials produce endurance. Here's the Greek uh phrase on the screen.

And the last Greek word that's used in that phrase is hubopene. Okay? Let me slide it up here so you can see it on the screen. Okay? I'm going to break it into two parts, because it comes from two parts in the word. And the first part is huple.

See the little rough breathing mark, the the apostrophe that's backwards on the screen? In Greek, they put that over the letter to make the H sound. The H sound in the word. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to slide the H right there. For that rough breathing mark. The next letter is a oopsalon. And we use the English letter Y for that word. The next Greek letter is the pi, you know, Pi R squared, okay? And that pi, what letter do you think we get in English from that? P. Okay. So and just so you're really clear again, uh, the Greek alphabet with its 24 letters and our English alphabet with its 26 letters, our English alphabet is almost letter for letter out of the Greek alphabet. And so what I'm gonna do is I want you to see what words we get from this.

H, Y, the pi is the P, the omicron, what letter do you think it is in English? Oh, so now when we use it in a hypo, hypo, we use it in the word uh the doctor had to use a hypodermic needle, and where does the hypodermic needle go? Under what? Under the skin. And so this part of the word means under. The second part of the word is from meno, and it means to abide or to live. So what he's saying, let me put this together, look at the screen. What he's saying is when you have this endurance, you're learning to a lie or to live under difficult circumstances.

Do you get it? We use this all the time in our English culture. Oh, how you doing today? Uh not too bad under the circumstances. Do you do you ever hear anybody say that to you? Not too bad under the circumstances. One guy used to say it this way, well, what are you doing under there? Under the circumstances. Well, that's where God allowed. And I'm gonna choose to accept that as good from God. Because what is he wanting to do in my life? He's wanting to give me what? Endurance. The Meridian dictionary says it this way, endurance is the ability to do something difficult for a long time. Not a short time. We're not talking about a hundred yard dasher. We're talking about a marathon. 100 yard dash.

You know what it takes? About 10 seconds for for people that really can run. A marathon, well, a marathon, depending. Uh this is the LA marathon. LA marathons, they run about 20,000 people. My wife and I ran the LA Marathon uh when I was 55. So that goes back twenty almost twenty twenty-one years in April. Okay. Um the the good runners, the good runners, they start right at the front. The others of us are buried in the back. And it doesn't really matter. Doesn't matter at all, because on your shoe, on your shoelaces is a chip, a microchip. That when you start, when you cross the the starting line, your your timer starts. So you could be back. We were back a half mile. So hey, we said, wait a minute, we're we're running a half mile further than they are.

But uh I one of the guys in my church, he's run a toe probably thirty times. He said to me, Hey, Pastor, why don't you run it with me this year? And I said, um, let me think about it. And he said, Oh, let's come over to my house and we'll we'll do a run. And so we just did a run, but less a little less than a half mile, and I'm sucking air at fifty-five. And he says, Yeah, you're gonna get it. The the marathon was, you know, way in March. And he started me in May, the previous year. So you got May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March. So that we would be ready to run twenty six point two miles. That's that's a long ways. My wife was praying with me, and she would go out and and I'd have to run at night, so I'd be ten o'clock at night out running, getting ready to because in the daytime you're working.

And so she'd run with me. And when Valentine's Day came around, the year of the race. She gave me Valentine's card, and here was my registration that you know for the race. And her registration as well. That was her Valentine's gift to me to participate in that. So we ran together. We ran together right up until about uh mile twenty-six. We're together. And if you've ever been to the Ellie Marathon, you got twenty thousand people running it, you got people everywhere, and then all along the way, people are high-fiving you, trying to encourage you to do what? Endur. This is not a hundred yard dash. This is a marathon. What is God wanting to do with your life in mind?

Get us ready for a marathon. The walk of walking with him. Count it all joy when you fall into vi various trials, because the testing of your faith produces what? Endurance. When you see people not enduring, then God's probably gonna have a test ad for them. Because the way you get endurance is by being tested, by being put under, living under difficult times. That's what the text is saying. But it came time for the marathon at mile twenty-six.

But yeah, we were out of twenty thousand people that ran with us that year, we finished in that at ten at ten thousand in the fifty percent. So we had a lot of people behind us and a lot of people ahead of us, and at mile twenty-six, you curve and go down the finish pike. And they are announcing names of different people. They see your bib, and they have it on the their binoculars, and so they're announcing, you know, and they announce our names. And I take I take off, and I'm thinking, oh wow, you know, and I'm I'll take off the wait a minute, wait a minute, I get right to the end, and I don't cross the finish line because my wife isn't there with me. I'm all excited, you're like a horse going back to the barn, you know?

And so I'm running and also I I just stop. And so my picture was on the screen at the finish line about fifteen to twenty times because my wife was catching up, and then we held hands and crossed the finish line. Do you understand this the marathon and what's God wanting to do? Romans five says it this way. We also rejoice in our affliction, because we know that a fiction uh affliction produces endurance. You got it? Endurance produces character and emburry character produces hope. He's telling you, what does he want to do? Have endurance in your lives. What produces endurance? What's the text saying? Affliction produces endurance. Let me do this. Since we're having communion today and stuff, we'll we'll just continue on from here next week.

But the question I have to say, you see, or are you in a position that you say, uh, I give it a great thing.

The world is watching they don't have any other trials and he say I'll throw it out together. There are two commands.

You you do this. And I want you to understand imperatives are most of the time in a second person. Not in the first person. You're giving a command to somebody else. You do this. You get over here right now. Your parents used to say that all the time. You sit here and be quiet. Or whatever. The imperative is in the command. There are two commands here. The first command is this.

Consider it at all.

What does he want us to do?

This is not a request on his part. It's a command.

It doesn't say you consider this joy. But that's what he's saying. He's commanding us.

I can't believe this is happening to me. You consider this joy. Because I want to have to us. Let's pray together.

That's all rise and the song of response and we're going to look forward to the trials that the Lord places in our lives that we may endure and just trust in him. So let's all rise and sing together.

Reaching out to the darkness. Our call to war to love the captive soul, but to rage against the capture and with the sword that makes the wounded home. We will fly with faith and doubt when faced with trials on every side.

An inheritance of nation.

For the conqueror has risen, and as a stone is rolled away, and Christ emerges from the grave.

Shield of faith, we're shield of faith and belt of truth.

As we prepare for communion, it's our custom to hold the cup or hold the bread and participate together. Um, it's an open communion, so that if you know Christ is your Savior, then you're invited to partake. Um here's what the Lord says. Paul says it this way in Corinthians. I received of the Lord that which I also delivered to you, how that Christ took the bread and broke it. He said, This is my body, which is for you. After that, he took the cup. And he blessed it. And he said, Drink on it. But he said this. Before you do this, let a man examine himself. That examination is not whether you're perfect or not.

Because nobody's there.

When you look at this, taking this does not save you. You are saved if you trust what this points to. He died on the cross. He was buried. He rose again. And if you trust him in that, then you're saved. This simply says, ah, I want to be obedient. Because he gave us a couple of things to do to be obedient. One was baptism, and what is this, the Lord's Supper. And he says, you could do it as often as you want. There are some churches in the world that do this every single day. There's some churches that just do it four times a year. He says, as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of what I did for you on the cross.

Again, he says, let a man examine himself. I'm not to examine you, you don't examine me. Examine yourself. I'm gonna ask you to bow right now and examine your hearts before the Lord. When your hearts are prepared before the Lord, I'm going to invite you to come and take the cup and the bread and slip back to your seat. You come as you are ready before the Lord.

We do the same. We're asking your blessing on it so that we can be reminded of what you've done for our salvation. Thank you for that in Christ's name. Jesus said, This is my body, which is for you. Eat of it.

God's word says in the same way took the cup. And he said, This is my blood, which we shed for you. Let's pray God's blessing on it. Father. This cup is a picture. Help us to see. You shed your blood and died for our sin. We recognize that it was you who gave your life for us. Would you now bless this cup? That we can be pointed back to what makes our salvation possible. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The Lord took the cup, he blessed it, and he said, drink of it.

Dear Father, thank you for this wonderful reminder. Thank you that you knew we were so forgetful. And you gave us a way that we could regularly be reminded how sinful we are.

Amen. God bless you. Have a great week in the Lord.