Spiritual Battles

With that, I'm going to invite you to turn with me.

You can turn in your worship guide or in your Bible or in your phone.

No matter where you turn with me, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.

And it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And so that's why we read now Daniel 11, starting at verse 1.

And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.

And now I will show you the truth.

Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them.

And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.

Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills.

And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven,

but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled.

For his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

Verse 5.

Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he,

and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority.

After some years they shall make an alliance,

and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement.

But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure.

But she shall be given up in her attendance, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times.

Verse 7.

Verse 10.

Something like it.

And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.

He shall stand in the glorious land with destruction in his hand.

He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom,

and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them.

He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom,

but it shall not be to his advantage.

Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them,

but a commander shall put an end to his insolence.

Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him.

Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land,

but he shall stumble and fall and shall not be found.

Verse 20.

Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom.

But within a few days he shall be broken neither in anger nor in battle.

Verse 21.

In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal magistrate has not been given.

He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken,

even the prince of the covenant.

And from that time an alliance is made with him, he shall act deceitfully,

and he shall become strong with a small people.

Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province,

and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his father's fathers have done,

scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods.

He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time.

And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army.

And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army,

but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him.

Even those who eat his food shall break him.

His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain.

And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil.

They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail.

For the end is yet to be at the time appointed.

And he shall return to his land with great wealth,

but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant.

And he shall work his will and return to his own land.

Verse 29.

At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the south,

but it shall not be this time as it was before.

For ships of Kittim shall come against him,

and he shall be afraid and withdraw,

and shall turn back and be enraged,

and take action against the holy covenant.

He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant.

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress,

and shall take away the regular burnt offering.

And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant.

But the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

Verse 33.

And the wise among the people shall make many understand,

though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame,

by captivity and plunder.

When they stumble, they shall receive a little help,

and many shall join themselves to them with flattery.

And some of the wise shall stumble,

so that they may be refined, purified, and made white,

until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.

Verse 36.

And the king shall do as he wills.

He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god,

and shall speak astonishing things against the god of gods.

He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished,

for what is decreed shall be done.

He shall pay no attention to the god of his fathers,

or to the one beloved by women.

He shall not pay attention to any other god,

for he shall magnify himself above all.

He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these.

A god whom his fathers did not know,

he shall honor with gold and silver,

with precious stones and costly gifts.

He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god.

Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor.

He shall make them rulers over many,

and shall divide the land for a price.

Verse 40.

At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him,

but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind,

with chariots and horsemen and with many ships.

And he shall come into countries,

and shall overflow and pass through.

He shall come into the glorious land,

and tens of thousands shall fall,

but these shall be delivered out of his hand,

Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.

He shall stretch out his hand against the countries,

and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and silver,

and all the precious things of Egypt,

and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train.

But news from the east and the north shall alarm him,

and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.

And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea

and the glorious holy mountain.

Yet he shall come to his end with none to help him.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you again

that you have not left us alone as orphans in a merciless universe,

but instead you speak to us clearly through your word.

And so we ask that you would speak to us this morning,

that you would give us the words of encouragement that we need

as we follow you in this broken and evil world.

And we are grateful that we don't have to earn or deserve these things,

but instead we simply ask them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I know that some of you, maybe many of you,

consider yourselves investors of some sort.

Maybe it's simply investment in a retirement account.

Maybe you have some sort of mutual fund on the side.

Even if you're not someone who invests,

of course you see the news that happens right when markets go up and down.

People will tell you, oh, we're headed for a crash.

Maybe a recession is coming near.

There's going to be what's called a correction.

And of course, these things are true for everyone, right?

If the market goes down, everyone's affected by that at some level,

but people have different ways of responding to it and reacting to it.

And so, for example, last year in February, March,

we were under lockdown for the coronavirus.

We saw the stock market crash, right, at some level.

Now, the question is this.

If you see when you see the market crash, what is your response?

There's a variety of responses, right?

Some people see it as the time to sell.

They are taken in by the fear of the moment.

They think, well, I've lost money at this moment.

I don't want to lose any more money,

and so I'm going to sell before it keeps going down.

Other people think of this as the time to buy.

Stocks are at, there's a deal right now.

I'm going to get in and invest as much as I can

because I know it's going to go back up.

And some people simply hold on, right?

And so there's the same situation for many people,

different circumstances.

And these different circumstances, in many ways,

are affected by what your view is about history.

What do you believe about the history of the stock market?

What do you believe that the future holds for you?

It's your beliefs, it's your understanding of history

that determines your response.

Now, when all of these things were happening,

PCA pastors across the country,

we received these emails from the organization

that handles PCA pastors' retirement,

warning us not to overreact to market crashes, right?

You may see your retirement account dropping.

Don't be panicked.

So they sent us this first note that said this.

The market rewards patience and resilience.

As the following chart from the New York Times shows,

stocks generally reward investors

who look at their investment in terms of decades

and not days.

Look at their investments in terms of decades, not days.

Mature investors often do things

that are counterintuitive.

When stocks slide, it's not time to sell them.

Rather, it's an opportunity to purchase them at a discount.

And then in this letter, they provide this picture

that shows what the stock market

has looked like over history.

And the point is to say,

if you think about this in terms of decades,

you'll have some perspective.

You won't panic in the moment

because you know this is just for a time.

It will not last forever.

Brothers and sisters, as we come to this passage,

the goal is to give us and Daniel

an understanding of how history works.

That we would not think when we look at evil in the world

in terms of days, but in terms of decades.

We would understand the pattern

of how things work in this world

so that we could respond with wisdom

rather than foolishness.

We can respond rather than react.

And so that's what we're gonna see here.

I'm gonna point out primarily three things to you.

First of all, the pattern of history.

Second of all, the control of history.

And then our response to history.

We're gonna look at the pattern of history,

the control of history, and the response to history.

Just as, if you're familiar with the markets,

you know it's always going up and down,

up and down, up and down, right?

You look at this graph that they give,

there's times when things are less,

there's times when things are more.

The same is true of history.

We see this pattern that there's a constant rise

and fall of nations.

There is a constant ebb and flow to how geopolitics work.

We see in verses two through four,

a summary of things we've seen already

in the book of Daniel,

that there's the Persian empire

that's going to lead to Alexander the Great.

Then we're gonna go beyond Alexander the Great,

verse four.

His kingdom, if you remember,

it's broken into four pieces.

And then in verses five through 20,

we see the struggle and conflict

between the king of the north and the king of the south.

The king of the south is coming from Egypt.

The king of the north is coming from Syria.

And this is the section through verse 21

where we see those rise words over and over.

Okay, so my count is that of those I gave you,

there's eight.

However, I think I read two.

I double-checked this,

and then as I was reading, I read a second raise.

So if you got nine, I don't fault you.

But this word appears over and over again.

Arise, raise, rise.

And the purpose, the reason,

the reason it's showing up over and over again

is to highlight this pattern.

As soon as one king or kingdom is powerful,

he falls and another takes over.

Alexander the Great, wow, he's so wonderful,

dies at age 33.

There's just this constant spin.

You don't expect or know,

you know no one's gonna stay in control

and power for very long.

There's gonna be this constant back and forth.

We see this between the kingdoms of the north

and the kingdom of the south.

The author is telling us here,

no sooner has one kingdom arisen

than it's replaced by another.

That is the pattern of history.

That's how things work.

So remember, things get bad with the stock market.

Often it's foolish to sell.

We think in terms of days, in terms of decades.

Things get bad in history.

It is foolish to give up.

We know from this passage,

from the way the Bible talks about history,

before too long,

that wicked kingdom and ruler will fall.

In other words, as we watch the evil in this world,

we know it is only for a time.

God is constantly bringing down

and raising up kings and kingdoms.

We have perspective.

We understand how history works.

And so I've mentioned to you before,

I'm a book by a man named Chris Wright

about the book of Daniel.

He points out that there's two errors

that we can fall into

if we don't understand the way history works.

One error is to fear the rulers of this world too much.

We forget they're just here for a moment.

God's gonna take them away.

And so we shake in fear

when we should in fact have confidence in God.

The other temptation we can fall into

other than fear is to love them

and idolize them too much.

To think that being close

to the power centers of this world

is going to be our key to success.

We see this over and over

from Christian leaders

in the history of the church

that there's something seductive

about being close to the powerful.

There's something that's wonderful

and alluring about having your picture taken

with a president or a senator, right?

These are things that people brag about.

There's something that's just alluring

about having your opinions published

in a major publication.

And remember,

wherever the power center is,

wherever the power is,

it will only be there for a time.

Don't shake and tremble

at the powers of this world.

Don't idolize them.

Don't be drawn in by them.

Be someone who's wise.

Understand how history works.

Know that as soon as one,

they'll be replaced by another.

There is a futility,

in other words, to history.

Now, if you're not a Christian,

I want to suggest to you

that this actually makes

much more sense of our world

than the views of history

that we're given in our culture.

So there's, among many,

this idea

that we're on this road to progress.

That somehow,

generation after generation,

generation,

we're going to improve morally.

We're going to transcend

the people who came before us.

They were stupid and foolish.

We, however,

are wise and enlightened.

Now, there is a sense

in which history is moving forward.

We have greater

and greater technology.

The problem is

that has not solved

our moral problems.

Now, I don't have time today.

There's a book

that recently came out

by a man named Tim Keller

called Hope in Times of Fear.

And he talks about this phenomenon

in the very last chapter,

in chapter 12.

And he points out a few things,

one of which is that

technology has not helped us at all.

In fact,

if we look at the threats

to the world,

I think he lists five major threats

to civilization.

Technology has made,

I think,

three or four of them much worse.

And in fact,

it's technology

that allows things

like pandemics

to spread around the world

very quickly.

And so if you believe

that we are going to improve

as people morally,

you are flying

in the face

of all the evidence

and the facts.

It's the Bible

that actually gives us

a realistic view of history.

No matter how much

things improve,

the human heart

still stays wicked

and evil.

And so our only hope

is for salvation

from outside of this world.

Our only hope

is for someone

not who can change technology,

but who can change hearts.

And so as we understand

the pattern of history,

history,

we know it involves

ups and downs.

We're not taken in

by one moment.

We're not taken in

by one year

or one event.

We have a calm,

a perspective.

Just as an investor

watches the stock market

go up and down

and they know,

I'm thinking about this

in terms of decades,

we watch history

and events

and evil

go up and down

in the world

and even as we might

grieve about it,

we have a perspective

on it.

We know

how it works.

Now there's another pattern

that we're given here,

not just the pattern

of kings going up and down,

but we see the pattern

that in history

we should expect

and prepare for

the persecution

of God's people.

So this battle

between the north

and the south

takes up

verses 1

through 21 or so

and then we turn

to this new figure,

verse 21,

there's going to arise

a contemptible person

and we're told

the details

of this contemptible person

verses 21

through 35.

I'm not going to dive

into the details here

because of the link

of this passage

and the limits

of our time this morning

but I'll simply tell you

verses 21

through 35

is telling us

about the same figure

we saw in Daniel

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8.

This is Antiochus IV

who is someone

who persecuted

God's people.

He brought intense

persecution

in the 2nd century BC

and I'll give you

the same quote

that I gave you

last time

in Daniel chapter 8

Daniel 8 · chapter mention

from a man named

David Chapman.

Antiochus IV

who styled himself

Epiphanes,

God manifest,

invaded Jerusalem,

despoiled the temple,

commanded the burning

of the scriptures,

forbade the covenant

right of circumcision,

put to death

many faithful Jews

and ultimately instituted

pagan sacrifices

in the Jerusalem temple.

In other words,

Daniel is not just prepared

for the pattern of history.

He knows persecution

is coming for God's people.

This is something

that is sure

and definite

in the future.

not only does it happen

in the 2nd century

but then we see

this twist,

this switch

in verse 36.

Up through verse 35

everything aligns

with Antiochus IV.

Verse 36

we begin to hear

things about this king

that don't line up

at all with Antiochus IV

or any other historical figure

we can identify.

And so many people believe,

scholars believe

what's being talked about here

is a future,

even future to us,

persecutor

of God's people.

So we switch

from a historical figure

that we know about

to someone,

it's a persecution

that's going to happen

in the future.

And this type of persecution

sounds like

the kind of thing

that's going to happen

at the very end of the world.

In fact,

we see that explicitly

in verse 40,

the very beginning,

we're told this king

is at the time

of the end.

And then in verse 45,

however,

so he's coming at the end,

however,

verse 45,

he's going to come

to an end.

So again,

just like rulers

and kingdoms in general,

these persecutors

who are after God

and his people

are going to come,

they're going to be powerful,

and then in a moment

they'll be gone.

And so as Christians,

we know,

as we look at history then,

it's not just

that there's ups and downs

that we keep

the long term in mind,

there is going

to be persecution.

We shouldn't be surprised

by this.

In fact,

if we're in a time

where we don't face persecution,

we should know,

oh,

we're in a strange part

of church history.

Wow,

this is not normal

for Christians

around the world

or throughout history.

And so if we are

the wise investor,

we're going to take

wise action,

we know our job is this,

we prepare

for persecution.

We're ready for it.

We know that it's

a normal,

regular part

of the Christian life.

We're students

of church history

and scripture.

We see God's faithfulness

to his people

generation after generation,

decade after decade.

We know there are times

and things that are hard

and they only last

for a time.

We've actually seen

that in this series,

right?

Part of the reason

we're studying Daniel

is to know those things.

We see God's faithfulness

to Daniel.

We're reminded Babylon

was only powerful

for a time.

We are reminded

of God's faithfulness

to us.

Powers in this world

will only rule

for a time.

The foolish action

then would be

overly frightened,

overly scared

of persecution,

to abandon the faith.

That would be like

the person who sells

as soon as things

get bad, right?

They sell their stock.

What are we going to do

if and when

the stock of Christianity

in this world falls?

That's part of the warning here.

Do we sell it

or do we take

the long-term view?

Do we think

that we're looking

at decades

rather than days?

Right?

Great Depression

of the 1930s.

Wow, it's really bad.

Also, it's over.

Stock market's recovered.

Persecution,

when it comes

for God's people,

yes, it's going

to be really bad.

Also, it's going to end.

Things are going

to recover.

So we understand

and know history.

We avoid the temptation

to sell now,

to give up on God

and his church

and his ways

just because something's

bad for a moment

and for a time.

And so we're seeing here

chapter 10.

Again, we want

to be wise people.

We want to be people

who know the pattern

of history.

We see here also,

though, there's not

just a pattern to history,

there's also a control

in history.

The reason that these

things operate

in this way

that's predictable

that we understand

is that we know

that there is someone

who is in charge

of everything.

Now, in previous chapters,

when we've looked

at prophecy,

for example,

chapter 7,

I've told you,

well, you know,

there's lots of debate

among scholars

about what this means.

Some people think this.

Some people think that.

We come to chapter 8,

especially when we look

at verses 21 through 35,

there is virtually

no debate.

The reason there's

virtually no debate

is because the actions

given here

are so precise

and align perfectly

with real historical events

that have happened

in the past.

So we know exactly

what Daniel's

being told about.

Now, we could spend

an hour going through

all the debates

and the details of it.

If you want to see

everything in this chapter

and how it plays out

in history,

there's a variety

of commentaries you can get.

One of them is called

How to Read Daniel

by a man named

Tremper Longman.

I'm going to give you

one example.

So chapter 11,

look at me at verse 6.

It tells us

there's an alliance

and the daughter

of the king of the south,

remember the king

of the south's in Egypt,

shall come to the king

of the north

to make an agreement.

But she shall not retain

the strength of her arm

and his arm

shall not endure,

but she shall be given up

and her attendance.

It's he who fathered her

and he who supported her

in those times.

Well, this aligns perfectly

with historical events

that we know about.

It turns out

there was a marriage

between the daughter

of Ptolemy II

in the south

and the grandson

of Seleucus

in the north.

The grandson

had an ex-wife

who killed the daughter

of Ptolemy

and that's how

this plays out.

That's the level

of precise detail

that we have here

in this passage.

All these events here

have this similar level

of detail.

We're not going to go

into all of them.

The point is this though.

God knows the future

not just in general.

He knows it

in excruciating precision

and detail.

It's not just that God

is in control

in this big picture,

40,000 feet sort of way.

It's that God

is in control

in an on the ground,

moment by moment,

day by day sort of way.

God does not just know

the future as well.

He controls it.

Remember,

I pointed this out

when we did our

confession of faith.

The word appointed

shows up over and over again.

Verse 27,

verse 29,

verse 35.

Verse 36,

we're told what is decreed

shall be done.

Well,

who decreed it?

God decrees it.

And then,

verse 45,

remember,

we're reading about

this future persecutor.

He shall come to his end

with none

to help him.

In other words,

as we're looking

for encouragement

from God

as we face times of evil,

we're reminded

of God's precision

in his control.

God chose us

to be the people

at this church

right now,

this year,

and last year.

God chose us

as the specific people

that he wanted

to walk through

the coronavirus together

at Cheyenne Mountain

Presbyterian Church.

God chose you

to be stationed

at Fort Carson.

He decided

you wouldn't be stationed

somewhere else

in the country.

That was God's decision.

God decided

that when I bought

a house on Coolcrest,

I was going to buy

the green house

and not the blue house.

Okay?

It has a blue door.

That's another story.

We could go back

to last week's illustration.

Remember the kids

in the back of the car.

It's not just

that God is the one

driving us

and we know

that we're safe

because of it,

but God has decided

what road he's going

to be on.

He's decided

what speed

he's going to take it

and he's decided

where it's going.

Elections

and rulers

are not

outside of God's control.

God specifically

chose Joe Biden,

John Southers,

and Jared Polis

to rule our city,

state,

and nation.

In some way,

that's part

of his grand plan.

He's not surprised

by it.

He's using it

for his purposes.

God chose the kids

that you have.

He assigned them

to you.

God chose your spouse.

God is in control

even over the smallest

and tiniest details.

We are meant

to see this here

like Daniel

to be encouraged

in terrible

and difficult

and evil times.

When you face

challenges

and persecution

in the world,

you remember

God chose for me

to be in this situation

at this time.

And that means

that he knew

in advance

he has given me

everything I need

to stay

and stand strong.

We are able

to be encouraged

in the midst of evil

because we know

the pattern of history.

We know that God

is in absolute

and complete control

over history.

And so his people

can take hope

and courage

no matter what comes

and no matter

what happens.

And we've seen here

our encouragement,

the way that God

has given us

a pattern

and he's also

given us his control.

There's not just

a pattern

and a control of history,

we also see

our response

in history.

And I've quoted this

over and over again

through this series

and we're now at it.

Verse 32,

he shall seduce

with flattery

those who violate

the covenant,

but the people

who know their God

shall stand firm

and take action.

Now this is talking

about the persecution

that happened

in the second century.

And there were

some Jews

during this persecution

who abandoned

the faith.

Okay, so that's

what it's talking

about here

in verse 32.

There's some

that gave up Judaism.

They are the ones

who are seduced

with flattery

and violated

the covenant.

There's also those

who despite

the persecution

of Antiochus IV

remain strong

and firm.

Those are the ones

we're told here

who knew their God

that would stand firm

and take action.

And then we see

some more ideas here

verses 33 through 35.

What are these people doing?

We've talked about

the wise investor.

We also see the wisdom

among God's people.

Verse 33,

the wise among the people

shall make many understand.

Though for some days

they shall stumble

by sword and flame,

by captivity and plunder.

Some of the wise

shall stumble

so that they may be refined,

purified,

and made white

until the time of the end.

For it still awaits

the appointed time.

In other words,

these people stood firm

during a time of persecution

because they knew God

and they encouraged

one another.

They made mistakes

and failed at times.

God used that

to purify them

and strengthen them.

The point for us

is this.

We know

God's faithfulness.

We know his faithfulness

in terms of facts

and history.

We know his faithfulness

here to Daniel

in this book

that we're studying together.

That's part of how

we grow in knowing our God.

We know our God

throughout church history

after the scriptures

were finished being written.

We can see his faithfulness

to the church

generation after generation,

country after country,

persecution after persecution.

We know that God

remains faithful

and delivers his people.

That is part of how

we know our God

so that we can stand firm.

We know him

not just in terms of

facts and history

though we also know

our God relationally.

Remember we talked

prior in Daniel

about the fact that

prayer is what prepares us

for what's ahead of us.

We are people

who want to know God

at a personal level.

We see his answers

to prayer over and over again

throughout our lives

so that when trouble comes

we have confidence

that he's in control.

We look back

to his faithfulness

in the past

and it allows us

to know our God

and stand firm

in the present.

Remember I talked

when we were in Matthew

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21

many many years ago

in 2017

I told you

a story

about a friend of mine

dealing with

unanswered prayer

and I asked him

how he stood strong

in his faith

and he told me this

you use what you've seen

in the dark

or in the light

to help you trust

in the dark.

You use what you've seen

in the light

to help you trust

in the dark.

Brothers and sisters

if we are going to be

people who know

our God

we know God now

and see his faithfulness

in the light

so that when the dark

comes we trust him.

We are able

to know our God

to stand firm

and take action.

Now it's not just 32

but verse 33

the wise among the people

shall make many understand.

So we stand firm here

not just by knowing our God

but by doing it together.

We've talked over and over

about the fact

that God

does not just call us

individually

into a relationship

with himself

but he gives us

his people

the church

that we would be able

to remind one another

of the truth.

It would be foolish

for us

to try to stand alone.

But instead

these wise people

it's not just

that they know God

but they know each other.

It's the same thing

that we talked about

at the end of 1 Peter

that there are people

who are linking

their arms together

and singing one song

so that they would be able

to move forward

no matter what is going on

in the world.

And so I'll give you

a couple more applications

here of what it looks like

to know our God

so that we can stand firm.

To be able to talk

with one another

verse 33

the wise among the people

shall make many understand.

I'm going to give you

a very simple

and extremely boring application.

One of the ways

we prepare

to stand firm

is by being here

together

on Sunday morning.

This is the place

where God

grows his people

in knowing him.

This is the place

where God grows

his people

in knowing

each other.

I want you to imagine

for a second

I know many of you

take your firearms

very seriously

I want you to imagine

someone

who brags about the gun

that they have

for home defense.

Right?

And you ask them

well when was the last time

you used it?

I can't remember.

Do you ever go to the range

and practice?

No not really.

I just have it here.

Right?

We do not rise

to the occasion

we fall

to the level

of our training.

God has provided

his worship

with his people

to prepare us

and strengthen us

for whatever

is to come ahead.

And so be

with his people.

Make it a priority

to be

in worship.

Make it a priority

to worship God

and hear from him

in his word.

That is how we grow

in knowing him.

Now we've seen here

that there's this pattern

right?

There's this control

and I started out

by telling you

about the idea

of investing

that you want to make sure

you're investing

in things that are true

and wise.

You may remember

when we were in the book

of 1 Peter

at the very beginning

we were told

about our inheritance.

What it is

that we invest in

and I'm going to turn

there now.

This is what we see

in our Lord Jesus.

We're told

verse 3

blessed be the God

and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy

he has caused us

to be born again

to a living hope

through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

from the dead.

To an inheritance

listen to this

that is imperishable

undefiled

and unfading.

Kept in heaven

for you

who by God's power

are being guarded

through faith

for salvation

ready to be revealed

in the last time.

In other words

there is only one

sure and true investment.

It is the inheritance

that has been earned

for us

by Jesus Christ

and cannot be touched

by anything

in this world.

That's what it means here

that it's imperishable

undefiled

and unfading.

In other words

the only good

and true investment

is this

that we would follow

after our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ

knowing

that he has secured

for us

something that cannot

be changed

or destroyed.

he when he came

and lived

a perfect life

on this earth

the life we should

have lived

and when he died

a death

the death

that we should

have died

to take our

punishment for sin

he at that time

earned for us

something that cannot

be changed

or shaken.

In other words

we don't risk

that for anything.

No matter what comes

no matter what happens

no matter how

evil things get

we trust

in our Lord

and Savior

Jesus Christ.

Now the first

letter

that I read

to you

came at the

end of February

as the stock market

was going up

and down.

Things continued

to get worse

and so we were sent

pastors were sent

this second letter

in March

we were told this

it is very important

that investors

maintain their

long term perspective

during this very

disappointing period.

We believe

the market

is being driven

down by investors

focused on

short term

strategies.

Staying focused

on our long term

objectives

is a winning

strategy.

One of our

board members

works for a

legendary investor

who has famously

said nervous energy

is a great

destroyer of wealth.

We are in total

agreement with this

statement and would

only add that the

peace of God

which has been

given to us

through the death

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ

is our constant

hope.

brothers and

sisters

how do we

what do we do

when we are

discouraged

when we're faced

with fear

and anger

at the evil

of the world

around us.

As Christians

we know it's

very important

that we maintain

a long term

perspective

during this

very disappointing

period.

We believe

the world

or faith

is being threatened

but in fact

that's simply

a short term

strategy.

staying focused

on our long term

goals

is a winning

strategy.

And in fact

we can be

reminded of the

words of our

Lord Jesus

in Luke chapter 9

Luke 9 · chapter mention

if anyone would

come after me

let him deny

himself

and take up

his cross

daily and follow

me.

For whoever

would save

his life

will lose it

but whoever

loses his life

for my sake

will save it.

For what does

it profit a man

if he gains

the whole world

and loses

or forfeits

himself?

For whoever

is ashamed

of me

and my words

of him

will the

son of man

be ashamed

when he

comes in

his glory

in the glory

of the father

and of the

holy angels.

Brothers and

sisters the

people who

know their

God

shall stand

firm

and take

action.

Let's pray.

Our father

in heaven

we praise

you and

thank you

for your

word that

you've

given us

to encourage

us and

we ask

that we

would grow

in our

knowledge

of you

that we

would be

able to

stand firm

no matter

what.

We thank

you for

the

encouragement

you give

us as we

face the

evil in

the world

around us

and we

ask that

you'd

continue

to

strengthen

us

no

matter

what

comes.

We ask

these

things in

the mighty

name of

Jesus

Christ.

Amen.