Building Spiritual Muscle - Jim Kruse

You're listening to a message preached at Front Range Baptist Church.

It is our prayer that this message will be a help and an encouragement to you in your spiritual walk.

Now I'm also the uh chairman of the deacons.

Um I have been blessed to be a deacon under all three pastors that Front Range Baptist Church has had, and we have had three tremendous men of God.

Um raise your hand if you've been here for all three pastors.

So I mean there's a very few of us, but we've all we've all been blessed by Ken Stevens, by Jeff Redlin, and now by Pastor Miller.

Um I asked Pastor if I could take a minute because I think as chairman, I think I get I get an insight that a lot of you may not have.

And uh one of the one of the opportunities that I get to do is I get to help administer the deacon's fund.

How many of you are aware that we have something called a deacon's fund?

How many of you know what it actually is?

Okay, so we at Front Rage Baptist Church, we have a fund that we get to manage that's called our Deacon's Fund, and we use it to help people, like for instance, somebody needs, you know, a parent dies, or you know, somebody dies and they've got to make a last-minute trip, airplane tickets, last minute are expensive.

We have the ability to step in and say, hey, let's help you out.

We've helped with car repairs, we've talked with groceries, with rent, um house repairs.

I mean, you name it, it runs the gamut.

Um, I am thankful that we, and I think, and the pastor and I have talked about this.

Um, for those of you who don't know, in in 2021, I lost my first wife uh to breast cancer and became a widow.

And as a deacon, could I have done widow's ministry with Shelley?

Yes, I could have.

Could I have done this widow's ministry with Shelley?

No, I couldn't have.

Because um I've been privileged to walk through that that journey and understand what it is.

Uh, what a lot of you may not know, Shelley passed in December of 2021.

A gentleman by the name of David Grubbs passed in October of 2021.

Um in God's sovereignty.

He brought me sorry, and Angie Grubbs.

We were part of a a non-dating Christian widows and widowers Facebook group, and unbeknownst to us, um I had actually sought Pastor out for counseling.

And Pastor came to me and said, Jim, I'm not your guy.

I know you too well.

Uh you and I are too close.

I don't think I would tell you the truth if you needed to hear the truth.

And so he recommended me to an organization that only does um counseling for, now I see what you're talking about.

I am I ringing?

Okay, I feel like I'm ringing.

Um, that only does counseling for men and ladies who are in full-time ministry.

And Pastor said, Jim, I don't know that they're gonna take you, but try it.

And so he called them and they're like, well, yeah, I mean, it's not really doesn't fit our thing.

So I filled out other paperwork, and about a week later I got a phone call from the secretary saying, Hey, Chris would like to talk to you.

And we set up a time and I talked to Chris.

He goes, Jim, I started SEALA International and I want to do your counseling.

I mean myself.

He goes, but I'm very busy, so counseling's gonna be very sporadic.

And so we started doing it.

Well, one of the things, what I didn't know at the time, and what Angie didn't know at the time, in February of 2023, Angie and I both had desired to get married again, and God just, nope, not gonna happen.

And so in around February of 2023, we both came to the conclusion that, Lord, if this is what you have for us, then what this is what Jim said, then Lord, I will be content, but I won't be happy.

You've told me not, you've never said to be happy, you've told me to be content.

Well, let me tell you, you can't be content and not be happy.

So, so we both reached that point and said, Lord, if this is what you have for us, then so be it.

You know, fast forward about a month, Angie started getting counseling from Stacy Zacharias at campus church, who, ironically, if you believe in coincidences, which I don't, was being trained by Chris Phillips, who was my counselor, and he, you know, one of the exercises he had me do was study the lament psalms.

If you guys have never studied the lament psalms, study the lament psalms.

The one overriding factor in all of these psalms is that in the middle of these psalms, there is a three-letter word called but.

And that psalm will be Lord, I can't believe you've abandoned me, I can't believe you've done this, I can't believe you've done this, but you are still God.

I will still believe you, I will still trust you.

And so he had me do that, and I'm a student.

I love to study, I love to write.

And so I I jumped at that opportunity and I wrote out a lament psalm.

And the whole time I'm writing it, I'm getting that.

If you guys watch NCIS, I'm getting that give slap.

That's a lie.

Jim, that's a lie.

That's a lie, that's a lie.

And the whole time I'm writing it, I'm like, you know, God, why did you abandon me?

Why did you take Shelley?

Why did you do why all of this?

And so I wrote a second thing that I called my lament prayer, which is Lord, in these moments, help me to remember Joseph on the back of a camel being hauled into Egypt, screaming for his brothers.

You know, crying out, help me to remember Job, who in a matter of an hour lost everything he had but his wife.

Help me to remember.

You go through the list, you can go through, you can go all through scripture and you can see men and women, and a little sidebar, if you if you don't know me, I like rabbit trails.

Um now you guys threw me off by laughing at me.

Um, that one got away.

Um so all of those men through scripture, men and ladies through scripture who have suffered.

Oh, here's what it is.

Have you guys ever said to God, God, I'm okay suffering, but would you just give me the plan?

Like, tell me what you're gonna do.

Tell me how long it's gonna be, tell me, like, just tell me, and I'll be fine, I'll go along with it.

Can I remind you of a Bible character by the name of Jeremiah?

God gave Jeremiah the plan.

And he said, I'm sending you to a people that will not listen to you.

I'm sending you with a message that they will not hearken to.

In fact, they're gonna beat you, they're gonna throw you in prison, they're gonna do this and this and this.

Oh, and by the way, don't ever get married.

Do this by yourself.

Would you have signed up for that?

Would you have said, okay, Lord, I let's go, let's do it, right?

I don't think any of us would have signed up for that.

Um, so God in his mercy doesn't always tell us the plan.

But what I that that big rabbit trail was to bring this up.

Since we started our widows' ministry here at Front Range Baptist Church, and we've started giving money to support the widows in our church.

When I was first on the Deacons Fund, we were two to five thousand dollars.

We have tens of thousands of dollars in that fund right now, and it and no matter how much we give out, it keeps replenishing.

So I think God is blessing the fact that we are doing a biblical mandate by caring for widows, and he's blessing our church financially.

So please don't stop.

Don't stop serving.

God is worth serving.

There is nothing else that I would rather do than serve God.

If you don't know me, I own a construction company.

I'm a little out of sorts tonight because it's hoping to spend some time this afternoon finalizing everything.

Well, we had an accident on a job site.

Um, and aren't you thankful for a God who protects you from something you didn't know you needed protecting from?

This guy fell down a flight of stairs on an open construction site and didn't all he did was sprain his ankle.

Um, you know, a foot one way or the other, he would have fallen 30 feet down, it would have been really bad.

So a little discombobulated tonight because I wasn't quite ready for that.

Okay, so Deacon's Fund.

Um another thing that a lot of you may not be aware that we have is we have a scholarship fund at Front Range Baptist Academy.

All of you will sit here and bemoan the fact that we live in a wicked world and we should not be sending our kids to these wicked schools, and the wickedness abounds, and yet we have families in our church who can't afford a Christian education because it costs something.

So we have a scholarship fund at Front Range Baptist Academy.

Um, tuition, you know, I asked Nathan Gerard before I got a bit of tuition as tuition is like$32,000.

Okay, just give$32,000 and we'll be good.

It's not really that.

But it would not be hard for some of you who, you know, you've you are in retirement, you don't have kids in the school, and you're like, hey, I could do that.

I could sponsor a kid.

Um, talk to Mr.

Boggs, talk to Mrs.

Boggs, you know, talk to me, we'll we'll figure out a way to make it happen.

And then that way it allows kids who maybe not be able to come to come.

And then the final announcement I have is we have our El Shaddai Widow's Conference coming October 2nd and 3rd.

And we are extremely blessed the last two years to have had Joy Lewis, who is a pastor's wife, who lost her husband, and I loved her so much because she would stand behind a lectern like this and say, I was mad at God.

This is a pastor's wife who knew more scripture than I know.

And she would stand there and say, I was mad at God.

Why would God do this?

Why would He take this ministry from us?

This year we are extremely grateful to have Shelley Hamilton coming.

Uh, Majesty Music, Patch the Pirate, um, Sissy.

If you guys, if you, you know, Patch the Pirate fame, Sissy Seagull, that's who's coming.

Um, she lost, you know, they lost a son to suicide.

She lost her husband to dementia, and he was young.

I mean, he started getting dementia in his in his mid-60s, and then right after her husband died, then her dad died.

So she can speak well into grief, and so and pastors actually working with Majesty Music to see if maybe that following Sunday, because they're actually coming through the area to pick Shelly up, if there's a chance that they would even you know do some music for us in the morning service.

So, so those are those are the things that we're looking forward to.

When I say exercise, what emotion floods your soul?

Right?

You know, Paul said, the apostle Paul says, bodily exercise profiteth little, right?

I mean, I'm tongue in cheek, obviously, because we should take care of the vessel that God's given us.

But there is an there is a muscle that we all have as Christians that we don't always exercise.

Anybody know what that muscle is?

Huh?

No.

Faith.

You have the muscle of faith.

And why is that why is that so important?

Sorry, I have to put my old man glasses on.

I'm sorry.

I actually ordered new glasses.

I was kind of hoping that they would be in before tonight, but they they didn't get in on time.

So in our Christian life, we have a muscle that must be used or it becomes useless.

When you when you hear the word faith, what do you think?

When you hear faith, what do you think?

Huh?

Faith comes by hearing.

It's the assurance of things hoped for, right?

I mean, Paul said it the best, right?

He said, he said, if what we hope for is not true, we are above all men most miserable.

Right?

How can Christians suffer so well because we have the hope of eternity, and we get that through faith.

We have faith that that Christ in the form of uh that God in the form of God the Son came to earth, took our place.

And did you have you ever given any thought to there's a verse in the New Testament that says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

There's one man in history who that did not apply to.

Who is that?

Jesus Christ on the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Right?

So Christ was forsaken so that we have that promise that we are never forsaken.

He he bore the penalty that we should have that we should have had to bear.

So in the New Testament, you have two different Greek words that are used for faith.

The first one is, and I am not a Greek scholar like Dr.

Russell.

I am not a nuclear physicist, I am a cons I are a construction worker.

Okay.

I are blue-collar.

So I am missing the end of my finger.

So that just I am not smart.

So so the first word is um Aligopistos, which is incredulous or lacking confidence.

And the verses that we find on that, the first one is Matthew 6.30, which there we go, wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you?

Oh ye of little faith.

Right?

We're incredulous.

We if the greatest, I heard this recently and I haven't really processed it fully, but the greatest miracle in the Bible is not the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The greatest miracle of the Bible is Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created.

If God can do that, then God can do everything else makes sense.

Um, then the next one that we have is found in Matthew 14 31.

It says, And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou die?

We we laugh at Peter because he sank, but Peter is the only man in recorded history who walked on water.

How many of you would have gotten out of a boat and walked to God and walked to Christ?

Right?

And then the next one we see is in Matthew 16, 8, which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?

And then the final one we find is in Luke 12, 28, if then God so clothed the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow was cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

So it's an it's an incredulous act.

Okay.

We know that God can do all of these things, but we don't believe he will do those things.

Right?

There's a there's a spirit of of unbelief that we've developed in our we've become accustomed to God.

Right?

When when was the last time I I heard um Dr.

David Gibbs told a story when he was in Southeast Asia, and the the these poor ladies were telling him, I feel bad for American Christians because you guys don't know how to pray?

And he said, Well, he said, I pray all the time.

What do you mean?

She goes, but have you had to pray for your next meal?

You know, have you had have you had to beg God that you will have enough bread to feed your children tonight or that you'll have gas in your car tomorrow morning?

I think we've become comfortable with God.

God, God's built, you know, we've we've been blessed, and and I don't want to take away the blessing of God.

I want the blessing of God.

I enjoy the blessing of God.

I enjoy the fact that when I go out in the morning and I push the start button on my truck, it starts.

And that I put it in drive and I go to work and I and all of this stuff.

But that also kind of dulls the faith a little bit.

And and when something does come up, we sit there and say, Well, is God really gonna do this?

Oh, yeah, a little faith.

I mean, God hasn't changed, it's the same God that we've always had.

The thought is that we see that what God has done for us, we see his power, we see him in everything, yet we lack confidence in him.

The second word is pistus, which is persuasion or credence.

Often this is used that Christ is sufficient for our salvation, and our belief in him keeps us secure.

The other thought is that we lend credence to God because we see what he's done.

We actually believe that he will do what he did.

So it is this muscle tonight that we're gonna focus on.

James tells us in um that the trying of our of our faith builds endurance.

The King James says builds patience, but it builds endurance.

Um, have any of you ever been in a situation where like if you let go of something, it was going to be really bad.

Right?

Like you had to hold on to something for everything you were worth.

What ends up happening after about five seconds?

Right?

Your muscles are screaming and saying, that ain't gonna happen, buddy.

You you this was you in your 20s, this is not you in your 50s.

Right?

You you're not gonna hold on to that.

But it's it's that trying of our faith, it's that that stretching of that muscle that builds endurance in our Christian life.

So, where does faith grow?

Faith grows in trial.

I I'm sorry.

It grows in trial.

All of us, you're either in trial, you're coming out of trial, or you're getting ready to go into trial.

Like, I'm sorry, there is no there is no easy button, right?

Wouldn't it be nice if you had that easy button on your desk and you could just hit the easy button and it would all, you know, everything would would happen, and like, okay, that was great.

Here's the problem: you guys do have an easy button.

That easy button is right here.

Lord have mercy on me.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I can't get through this unless you intervene.

Father, I need your grace, I need your strength.

I'm thankful I got actually was able to get up.

So you know, we have that easy button.

The problem is we never push it.

We don't ever sit here and plead with God and say, God, and you sit here and you say, Well, Jim, I do plead with God and God doesn't answer my prayer.

Okay, God's working on this eternal timeline.

We're working on three score years and ten.

Right?

The measure of a man's days are three score years and ten.

If you live more than that, David actually says, then your life is going to be full of trouble.

You know, Shelley Hamilton's dad used to say to her, life is hard, and then you die.

Right?

The problem is we have that easy button that we don't tap into, and this relationship is not right.

And so life becomes hard because our focus, like Peter, in that verse, Peter, Peter, if you look at the if you look at that verse, it says the disciples saw Jesus, and it says, and Peter saw the storm.

Same word in the English, but in the Greek, that saw is that the disciples saw Jesus like you guys see the mountains.

Oh, hey, there's Long's Peak.

I recognize, oh yeah, let's go hike Long's Peak.

Okay, before you hike Long's Peak, watch the YouTube videos.

That's all I'm saying.

Okay, don't don't do something stupid.

Um the the second saw that you see in that verse is Peter saw the storm.

He focused on the storm, and the storm became his whole focus.

For us, that's when we're in trial, the storm becomes our sole focus.

And we so often take our eyes off of the source of the one who can get us out of it.

And I look around this room and I see people who are going through trials that none of us would sign up for.

Right?

I mean, I Wendy, I'm gonna pick on you.

You know, Wendy took a fall recently that was was horrible.

Um I would have never signed up for something like that.

I'd I've only broken one bone in my life, and it was when I was in fifth grade.

Um I don't plan on breaking another bone, but you know, life is hard, and and we focus, we focus on the hard and we lose the we lose the joy.

So it's that muscle that we that we need to to grow.

Um a faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.

If God can't test your faith, then you should not trust your faith.

And I'm not saying because trust me.

When when Shelley passed, I I got mad at God.

Like, God, why are you doing this to me?

I'm faithful.

I serve you faithfully.

What are you doing?

And I and I threw I threw his promises back at him.

But I'm thankful that God didn't allow me to stay there.

He surrounded me with men who pulled me back and said, Hey, he said, I am an answer to prayer of almost everybody who's sitting in this church.

You all suffered with me as Shelley suffered.

You watched what I watched, you saw, and you saw her right before, you know, cancer took her up on the platform, still playing the piano with a smile on her face.

And then you saw what I went through after, you know, with my my illness and everything else.

Um I'm an answer to your guys' prayer.

If you sit here and say God doesn't care, hello, I'm right here.

Right?

I every time I look into the eyes of Angie, I am reminded of how much God loves me.

Because I I didn't deserve Shelley, let alone Angie.

I mean, God gave me two women to love, and it's incomprehensible to me.

So a faith that cannot be tested is a faith that you should not trust.

We so often we learn about faith in the classroom of life, but our faith is tested in the war room of life.

You know, Dr.

Russell said he was a nuclear physicist, he was studying to be a nuclear physicist, okay?

Great.

He spent a lot of time in the classroom.

If you can't take that knowledge out of the classroom and put it into the war room, if you can't sit here and tell me, Jim, I'm taking the armor of Ephesians 6, why did Paul say that all the time?

We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

You know, take on take the whole armor of God.

You know, I love the picture.

Um there's there's two shields that you see in scripture.

You have the shield, and then you have the um, and I just lost the name.

It's it's the little one that they would wear on their arm.

Right?

The huh?

The buckler.

Okay, the shield.

If you look, remember, remember Roman history?

I mean, I'm taking you guys back a little bit here.

I'm taking you into a classroom.

You know, the the the Romans had those great big shields that they could lock together and then it would form a wall, and then they could just push their way through, and you couldn't get through.

But on top of that, they had what was called a buckler that went on your left arm for you normal people who are right-handed, and then went on your right arm for the rest of you who you know are left-handed.

What did a buckler do?

I wrestled in high school, and my one time I had to leave practice early.

The only one who was my weight in high school was my wrestling coach, and he was a college wrestler, and he said, Jim, you can leave as soon as you get a takedown on me.

I'm like, piece of cake, I'll be out of here in you know no time.

Seven minutes of non-stop physical, like chasing each other, wrestling, trying to get, you know, whatever, you're exhausted.

When you're in hand-to-hand combat, you've got that buckler right here.

So that when you're the so you're you're blocking those blows of the enemy while you've got your sword or whatever in this hand and you're you're countering.

The great thing about the bucklers is that a lot of those, not only are they a shield, but they would have something on the front of them so that you could use that as a weapon.

So that you could, you know, you could you could hit somebody with that and take out your enemy.

So when you see that in scripture, the buckler.

You know, Christ is my buckler, he's not only is he your shield, he's your weapon.

And so you can't you can't just learn about faith.

You have to take faith into the war room of life and say, I'm gonna walk by faith.

And how how important is faith to God?

The New Testament, the just shall live by faith.

Without faith, it is impossible to please him.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You know, it's kind of an important thing that we should be exercising as Christians, right?

It's not something that we should just be putting on the shelf and saying, yeah, I'll get to that later.

Sorry.

James, uh, James 2.17 also tells us that faith, even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.

Okay, if you read James chapter 2, it's talking about if you see a brother or sister, you've got but the but the other side of this is if your faith doesn't have works, it's dead.

James 2 · chapter mention

Right?

If you're not out there, um I get into these spurts where I'm like, okay, it's time to exercise and get back into shape.

And my weapon of choice is a kettlebell.

Any of you use kettlebells?

Okay.

The important thing with a kettlebell is that you stretch after you use it, right?

Otherwise, the next morning you're walking like this because your muscles hurt, right?

Well, if you don't use those muscles for a while, atrophy sets in.

Right?

So if your faith does not have works, then it's dead.

Like you might as well just pack, close your Bible, just go home and say, God, I don't I don't need you anymore because you know, this just isn't important to me.

So this references our physical display, but I believe that how we weather a trial is also a display of our faith.

The book of Mark gives us three stories of faith in action.

So remember, um, the gospels cover three years.

I think a lot of times we forget that.

The book of Mark is like 20 chapters, right?

You could, a good reader, how many of you are good readers?

You could read the book of Mark in, you know, maybe an hour, right?

For those of us who are a little more deliberate readers, it might take a couple days.

Um but it covers three years.

So we get, you know, we get back to back to back to back to back to back.

It didn't happen that way.

It's covering three years of time.

And so, but I believe that as we look at these stories in in the book of Mark, just by the way they're laid out, that these actually happened in relative proximity to each other.

And and Christ and God gives us three uh great stories, and the first one being in Mark thirty th Mark 4, verse 33.

Mark 4:33

So Mark 4, 33, um it says, And with many such spare parables spake he the word unto them as they were able to hear it.

Um sorry, thirty-five.

And the same day when even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships.

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

And he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say unto, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?

How is it that ye have no faith?

And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

So here we see you have a failed faith.

So if you study the gospel if you study the gospels, this is what the disciples had seen up to this point.

If you if you like if you look at all of them, what they had seen up to this point was Peter's mother-in-law was cured, the widow's son was raised from the dead, and they just came off of the demoniac of the garderines was just like, remember, I am legion, for there were many.

Right?

They had just they had just witnessed that.

Like that had just happened.

And then they go get in the ship and they're like, huh, we're dead.

Right?

Um, so the other thing that you see after this incident, Jesus fed the 5,000, he fed the 4,000, Peter walked on the water, Lazarus was raised from the dead, and yet so often Christ has to condemn the disciples for their lack of faith.

They continuously see all of these things happen, and yet they had this lack of faith.

So the disciples are seasoned fish.

Well, here's another, let me give you another little trick about when you read stories in the Bible.

Put yourself, insert yourself into that story.

Okay?

David and Goliath, what do you see?

Do you see a timid teenager running and walking out on the battlefield, shaking in his boots?

What do you see?

What do you smell?

What do you hear?

You have two armies up on hills.

You have this massive man over there going, You can send a child?

Like, are you serious?

I'm gonna tear you apart and throw you.

Right, put yourself in the story.

Okay, so in the gospels, when you when you read these stories, what do you know?

Okay, who were the disciples?

Some of them were seasoned fishermen.

I I have read, I I could not find any video on YouTube of this, but I have read that because of the topography of that area, these violent storms on the Sea of Galilee are not uncommon.

Like they they will just come up.

Um, when I was I grew up in Minnesota, Minnesota actually has lakes.

Colorado does not have lakes, you have ponds.

Okay.

We were my grandpa had us out fishing on Millax Lake, which Millax, Lake Millax is north of Minneapolis, and you cannot see across Millax.

And we were out on this lake fishing in a 14-foot trihole with a 40 horsepower motor, and this storm came up that was that was generating three to four foot waves.

Okay, I was like 13, I thought we were dead.

Why did I think we were dead?

Because my grandpa thought we were dead.

And he was driving the boat.

But these guys were seasoned fishermen.

So to see these kind of storms, it was not unusual.

So why in the world did they fall apart at this point?

Why did these disciples all of a sudden say, Lord, don't you care that we perish?

I mean, and who was the disciple that got to wake up Jesus?

Right?

Like, are they all standing there going, wake him up?

He's sleeping.

I'm not gonna wake him up.

Right?

And they're all standing there, like, who gets to wake him up?

Okay, what else do we know?

Um, they thought they were going to die.

So let me give you this little sidebar.

What is the one thing of the life of Christ that Satan did not want to have happen?

He did not want him at Calvary.

If, let's just say for fun, that you are guarding your home, you're sitting on your living room table, and the Larimer County SWAT team kicks your door in, fully armed, cocked and loaded, and you pull out your little nine millimeter and you shoot the ear off of the first guy through that door, what's gonna happen to you?

Right?

So why was Peter able to pull out his sword and cut the ear off of the one of the temple guard and these other 200 soldiers did nothing?

Right?

He was constrained.

Jesus was beaten beyond recognition.

Right?

Couldn't even carry his own cross.

I mean, the the continual beating of Christ.

Is it possible that this storm, God told Satan, give it your best shot and see what you can do?

You know, you that that great song, nothing, um, nothing can sink the ship where lies the the master of ocean and seas and skies.

Right?

And so here's the great thing that we have to remember.

Okay, first, you have an adversary who wants to destroy you.

1 Peter 5 tells us that.

You know, don't be don't be fooled.

You have an adversary who wants you destroyed.

But you have a God who says no.

But sometimes God gives that adversary a little window and said, Go ahead and test them.

Don't you think that that that that adversary who hates you beyond recognition is going to get everything he can through that window to try and get you to quit?

So don't put that filter through every trial.

And three reasons you have trials in your life.

The first reason is you've sinned.

I'm sorry, you're getting spanked.

I don't care what modern technology does, you're getting a spanking from God, and that's the easiest one to decipher.

Right?

Because you know.

Like, yeah, okay, Lord, I know I'm sorry.

Please, please don't give me what I deserve.

The second and the third one, they're a little more difficult to decipher because they're so similar.

The second one is that God sees something in you he doesn't like.

And so he may give you somebody in your life who has a fine file and a small hammer, and they just start chiseling away at that stuff that God doesn't like.

God may send trials in your life, like today as we were driving down from Estes Park.

Why is this guy at the front of the line of 12 cars driving 35 and a 45 and not pulling over?

Okay?

A trial.

It doesn't take much, it does not take much to elevate that tension, right?

The third one is the one that we see in Job, where Satan went before God and Satan said to God, No one on earth loves you.

And God said, Have you considered my servant Job a righteous man, one who eskews evil?

Go ahead and test him.

Because I know he's not going to fail.

So there's three reasons that you're that you may be undergoing trial.

My challenge to you guys is stay faithful in all of it.

If you're living in sin, confess.

You know, 1 John 1 9, if we confess with if we confess, oh my goodness.

Thank you.

He is faithful just to forgive us.

You know, the great thing about God is that our sins are as far as the east is from the west.

He doesn't remember.

We have an adversary who remembers.

Hey, remember that time when you when you questioned whether or not God loved you?

Right?

And he'll and he'll beat you over.

How many of you are the little brother?

Okay, did did you get beatings that you will never forget?

Okay.

My my little brother is six years younger than me, and he would do things to aggravate me, so then I would get punished.

Punished?

This is 1980s, right?

I got punished.

Um, so I realized really quickly that if I was gonna get punished, then I I was gonna make it worth my while, and I was gonna pound him into tomorrow to make it worth what was coming to me, right?

Um I wouldn't recommend that.

But but aren't you aren't you thankful that we have a God who has his hand on the thermostat and he has his other hand on the timer, and he's never gonna give us more than what we need.

I'm not gonna, he will give you more than you can handle because if you could handle this life, then you wouldn't need God.

So God's gonna give you something that you can't handle so that you exercise the easy button and say, Lord, I can't do this.

I I need you right now.

I I need you in my life, I need you to intervene.

And and so that's the danger that we run into as Christians who, you know, we're like, why are we being punished?

Lord, I'm a good Christian.

No, you're not.

The heart is evil and desperately wicked.

I'm sorry.

All of you guys in here are little sinners.

And if you say, Jim, I'm not a little sinner, I'll ask your spouse on the way out.

We'll take a poll, okay?

Um, let me give you three reasons why we see that the this that the disciples, three promises that the disciples missed.

First of all, they missed the promise that they were going to the other side.

Christ said, Hey, let's get in this boat, go to the other side.

They missed that promise.

Second of all, the Lord himself was present with them.

Romans 8.11 promises us that.

And it says, But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.

And lastly, Christ was fully at rest.

He was sleeping, right?

He was fully at rest.

They had the promise that nothing was going to happen as long as he was there.

Let me ask you guys this question: what promise do you miss?

You know, what promise have you missed that that God has given you and said, nothing's gonna happen to you that's outside of my control.

Here's the thing that I've missed my whole life.

Christ rebuked the storm.

He said, Be still.

And it was still.

What was the next thing he did?

He rebuked the disciples.

He turned around and said, Why are you so fearful, oh ye of little faith?

Well, Matthew says little faith, Mark says no faith.

Right?

Why are you so fearful, oh ye of no faith?

Here's the reason that we see that.

The battle is not external but internal.

Hebrews 3 12 warns us of this evil heart of unbelief.

Take heed, brother, unless there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God.

You know, there's an evil heart of unbelief.

Christ rebuked that evil heart of unbelief in the disciples.

Don't miss that.

The next one is you have a fulfilled faith.

This is Mark 5, 25 through 34, and I've got to hurry, so we're not gonna read it.

Okay, what again?

This is the the lady who had the issue of blood.

What do we know?

She had a she had an she had a hemorrhage that could not be fixed.

Right?

She suffered many treatments.

Doctors, the Baptist, which doctors?

Like Deuterra, Amway, you know, hey, you should try this.

Hey, have you tried?

Hey, have you tried?

No, I I I'm good.

Give me some tile and I'll rub some dirt on it, right?

I'm being facetious.

I I with what Shelly went through, I am a firm believer that there is a natural path that does heal because I saw it.

It actually did heal Shelly.

So, and you say, well, Jim, then why did she die?

It is appointed unto man once to die.

Every one of us has a date.

And her date was December 5th, 2021.

No matter what I did, she was still, that was her date.

Okay, and I found great comfort in that.

She spent all she had on finding a cure.

She had heard of Jesus.

She heard in Mark 3.10 that all people had to do was touch him and they were healed.

She heard that you know demons fell at the presence of Christ, so all they had to do was touch him.

She was ceremonially unclean.

She's a Jewish lady who has an issue of blood.

She's not supposed to be out in public, but yet here she is.

So why touch the hem?

I asked Pastor Luke did this to me.

Okay.

You say, well, Jim Mark 5 says that she touched his garments.

Okay.

Again, who was Mark written to?

The book of Mark was written to Greeks, Romans, written to the Gentiles.

In the book of Matthew, it says that she touched the hem of his garment.

Who was the book of Matthew written to?

The Jews.

What is the last revelation that the Jews had before this time?

The book of, Pastor called it the only Italian prophet?

Right?

Malachi.

Yeah.

So in in and here's the thing, here's what you have to understand.

In Malachi chapter 4, which I think we have that verse, right?

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

Malachi 4, 2, it says, But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.

Okay, here's the interesting part that word wings.

And and Pastor Luke sent me information on this, but I didn't.

Guys, don't ever just trust something that somebody sends you.

Run it all through this filter.

Everything runs through this filter.

Everything.

And so I took what Pastor Luke sent me and I did my own research, and guess what?

He was right.

So he is a trustworthy source, okay?

So that word in the He.

Hebrew kanaf is an edge or an extremity specifically of a bird or an army or the fringe of a garment.

Okay, if Jesus was a rabbi, as they called him, and I don't know enough, I didn't do a lot of this study, chances are he had a fringe on his garment.

This lady who was never named in scripture, she was a Jewish lady who the last revelation that the Jews had was from Malachi.

And Malachi says, the son of righteousness, the Messiah, is gonna have healing in his wings.

And so this timid lady walked up to Christ and said, If he is truly the Messiah and I touch his hem, then I'm gonna be healed.

And so she did that.

Here's the interesting thing.

So often with this lady, she was timid.

She had touch and go faith.

She was a Navy pilot.

Right?

You were a Navy pilot, right?

Touch and go.

If you miss the wire, you just get back up.

I love any of you flown lately?

Have the landings gotten a lot more violent?

We landed in Pensacola one time, and and uh it was just silky smooth.

Like you could barely tell you hit the ground, and I'm getting off the plane, and the flight attendant says something to me, and I respond back.

I said, That was an amazing landing.

He must have been an Air Force pilot.

And the flight attendant looked at me funny, and I heard from the cockpit, the guy just about fell out of his seat laughing.

Okay, this lady had touch and go faith.

She just wanted to touch and then disappear.

But Christ didn't let her.

Why?

Why did Christ say, no, you're not gonna just leave?

Let me give you a few reasons here.

He said, first of all, to show that she was healed.

Not just physically, but there was this face-to-face, my daughter, your faith healed you.

Right?

There was there was that calling, that that kindness in a savior's face that drew her and said, I love he called her daughter or sister, sorry, sister.

Called her sister, representing that they were of the same family, that everything was okay.

Next you see that he did it because of Jairus.

Remember?

She inserted herself in the story of Jairus.

Right?

Jairus comes to Christ and says, Hey, we need to go, my daughter's sick, and Christ says, Okay, let's go.

And as he's walking down the way, this woman just rudely inserts herself in his story.

Why?

Because Jairus needed to see that I just healed her.

What's coming in your life, I've got an answer for.

Don't be afraid, I've got an answer for it.

And then lastly, we see it because she now has a testimony.

Hey, remember that lady who was healed on the road to wherever?

That was me.

Look what God did to me.

God healed me.

I'm a different person.

Come meet Messiah.

He's Messiah because he fulfilled Malachi.

Malachi says he'll come with healing in his wings.

He has healing in his wings.

He's the Messiah.

Come see the Messiah with me.

And then lastly, you see that we have a fluttering faith.

Again, who was the guy who was central of the story before this rude, anonymous woman inserted herself in the story?

It was Jairus.

Who was Jairus?

What do we know?

He was a leader of the synagogue.

Who was Jesus' biggest enemy at that time?

The Jewish leaders.

So here comes Jairus, opposing the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the lawyers and all of them, and saying, My daughter is like his religion, his daughter's illness overrode his religion, said, This is the Messiah.

I need to go get help for my daughter.

Okay?

Jairus was wealthy, more than likely, because when his daughter, when they get to the scene of where his daughter had died, he had professional.

Right?

They were crying, they were sobbing, and then as soon as Christ said, Oh, don't worry, she's not dead, she's asleep.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! You're so funny.

She's dead.

Well, how do you go from crying buckets to laughing unless you don't have anything invested?

Next we see that he came to Jesus humbly because of the spiritual atmosphere of the day.

Like he knew Christ was the answer.

He had to come to him.

Next we see that his daughter brought him twelve years of joy.

And lastly, she was dead.

Well, he didn't know that at the time she was she was dying, but we know she was dead because his friend was coming to tell him.

So, you know, it's not like in America now where you just take this out and and I texted Angie and said, Hey, leaving Estes.

And you know, five seconds later, okay, see you soon.

Right?

It didn't happen that way.

They had to walk.

Everywhere they went, they had to walk.

What did Christ tell him?

First of all, he said, don't be afraid.

Remember what Pastor said on Sunday?

When we leave ourselves to ourselves, what happens?

We get overwhelmed with fear and anxiety.

How many of you have been overwhelmed with fear and anxiety?

It's a great place to be, isn't it?

Like, right?

You just wallow in self-pity for a while as I'm overwhelmed over here.

Psalm 3, 5.

Any of you know that any of you know the history of Psalm 3?

I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.

Psalm 3, David wrote from the cave as he was running from Absalom.

Right?

And here's David running from his son, and he and he's in this cave hiding, and he writes this I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.

He had no fear and anxiety because his trust was in God, not in his army or anything else that was going to go on.

The next thing he said, only believe.

This is the word um uh pistio, which is the verb form of sister, thy faith healed you.

Only believe is the action of faith.

So why did he tell him that he has to only believe?

Okay, let's just say for fun that I'm gonna ask Dr.

Risma, because he loves to play pickleball and he's in shape.

I asked Dr.

Rizma to say, hey, Dr.

Risma, I need a Pepsi.

Can you please go to King Supers, not with your car and not running?

Just walk to King Supers and get it back, you know, as soon as you can.

How long is he gonna be gone?

A while.

Right?

It's not gonna be.

Okay, now take that same trip with everybody in this room with Pastor in the middle.

Have any of you ever been trying to do something with Pastor?

Like golf, like golfing.

Have any of you golfed with Pastor?

Like he will literally be standing on the T-Box with this club talking to you and having a conversation.

You're just like, could you hit the ball?

Could you just like could we just go?

Okay, this was not a quick trip for Gyrus.

This was not something that was gonna happen in three minutes.

This was a, hey Gyrus, don't be afraid.

Only believe.

And then they started walking.

And that whole time Gyrus had to walk, knowing, your daughter's dead.

Your daughter's dead.

Hey, Gyrus, and he's got an adversary whispering in his ear, hey, your daughter's dead.

Why trouble the master?

There's nothing he can do.

Oh, wait a second.

Um, my daughter was 12, and I'm not a I'm not a numbers guy.

Okay, I don't, I don't look, you know, I don't look through scripture to find all these correlations, that type of a person.

But why was the woman of the issue of blood, scripture tells us it was 12 years, and Jairus' daughter was 12 years?

Was it a reassurance?

And I this is this is Jim theology, this is not any other theology.

My theology says it's because a man with little faith like me was walking with the Savior who just saved this woman who had been going through something as long as my daughter had been alive.

Could he not also then save my daughter?

Like it's the same time frame.

God, I know.

Okay, I'm gonna believe.

You told me to believe, I'm gonna believe, I'm gonna believe.

And that whole time that he's walking, he does that.

So Christ did the impossible.

Will he do the impossible for me?

What impossible prayer are you praying right now?

Can I save you some pain and anxiety about impossible prayers?

Because God is the one who gets to answer your impossible prayer in the way and the time that God wants to answer it because He knows what's best for you.

Right?

You might think you know what's best for you, but you have a loving heavenly father who knows what's best for you.

Okay.

Again, it's that evil heart of unbelief.

I have that evil heart of unbelief.

There have been many times where I've said, God, I believe you could do this, but I don't think you're gonna do it for me.

Well, Jim, you're you're chairman of the D because I don't care.

I'm a wicked sinner.

Ask Angie, she lives with me.

Right?

Um, and it hurts.

It hurts when God taps you on the shoulder and says, Jim, why don't you believe me?

Why don't you trust me?

Right?

So let me give you some quick takeaways.

Guard against guard against the evil heart of unbelief.

Circumstances, especially when overwhelming, will cause us to take our eyes off Christ.

I guarantee you that.

I've hello, I'm standing proof of that.

Next, come to Christ in faith, no matter how timid.

And then lastly, like Jairus, who are you gonna believe?

God or your friend?

If Dr.

Russell were to come up to me, and I highly respect Dr.

Russell, if he were to come up to me and say, Jim, God doesn't care about you.

And just say that he never said that.

It's not something he would say to me.

But say that this was shortly after Shelley died, and he would walk up to me and say, Jim, this happened to you because God doesn't care about you.

Okay?

Am I gonna believe my friend?

Or am I or am I gonna believe, or am I gonna believe a God who says, cast all your care upon me because I care for you.

Okay?

Don't listen to this noise.

You guys give some great counsel, and don't ever don't ever walk away from the iron sharpening that happens in this room, but don't ever, ever, ever forget that this is where your truth comes from.

This is where you anchor your soul.

This is what you stand on.

Because in Christ's parable of the um of the of the uh the builder, build your house on this firm foundation, you know, the guy built his house on a solid rock, and it said, when the storms came, when the wind beat against it, it stood because it was grounded on a solid foundation.

Okay, and then finally, how do you grow your faith?

Touch the hem of Christ's garment.

How do you do that?

I'm not gonna give you some wacky like Bible study.

Okay, study this.

Don't just read, study.

Bible memorization.

What what little daggers do you have in your belt so that when the enemy attacks you, you can pull those out and say, My God is sufficient for me.

Right?

What little daggers do you have?

And then lastly, pray, pray, pray.

Okay.

Next, believe.

Don't be afraid to take that next step.

James 1, 5 through 6.

Says.

Maybe.

But let him but if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that waverth is like a wave of the sea, driven to the wind and tossed.

Okay, take, don't be afraid to take that next step, but that next step better not be taken unless you pray, pray, pray.

Okay, those work hand in hand.

And then don't be afraid.

1 John 4 18, perfect love casts out fear.

Right?

Who has perfect love?

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment.

He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Who has perfect love?

I guarantee you, God loves you more than you love you.

God wants you to live victoriously more than you want to live victoriously.

And then finally, work.

You can't put a cap on a life that is full of Christ.

You've all seen the videos of the Mentos and Coke, right?

You can't put a cap on that when it happens.

If you're living a spirit-filled, God-driven life, you can't put a cap on you either.

Because what's inside of you is going to flow out.

Right?

So find a ministry, find a way for you.

Pastor Luke said that we need people in Iwana this year.

Right?

Jim, I I kids scare me.

Well, they scare me too.

And I don't work with kids because the next step for me would be Larma County detention.

And and Dr.

Isma and Theron would be visiting me on a on a Tuesday night or Monday night.

Right?

Next or lastly, disciple someone or disciple yourself with someone.

You know, find somebody that you can grow together with.

For those of you who are married, find your spouse and grow together with your spouse.

Take some time, read God's word, pray.

Pray together.

You know, go through those things.

So, a life, a muscle of faith, and I went really long.

I'll blame Pastor.

Pastor, I told Pastor I'm not, I'm not, um, I shouldn't be up here preaching because I can't preach, and he reminded me that if God can use a donkey, God can use you, Jim.

I I love Pastor, and Pastor and I have an amazing relationship, but I want to close out with one thing.

I don't want anybody leaving quite yet.

Okay, Hebrews 4.16 says, Come boldly before the throne of grace.

I better read it, unless somebody else has it memorized.

Huh?

Yes, come boldly before the throne of grace that you may find help and obtain mercy in time of need.

I think it was very providential that God had me teach a lesson tonight on a lady who had a hemorrhage that could not be healed.

When we have a member of our church who's sitting at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, with an internal bleed that they have not been able to heal since December.

He's he's for those of you who don't know, uh Rusty's Rusty has received 20 units of blood, which is more than your body has.

I'm sorry, it's more than you have.

Uh they removed the tube this past week, and the next day after they removed the tube, his hemoglobin dropped to seven.

So he's like one step away from having more blood transfused.

Um here's my here's my question or my my request of you guys.

Come boldly before the throne of grace that you may have that we may obtain mercy for Rusty.

I ask that every one of you just take one minute and pray for Rusty.

Here's what I want you to pray for.

Pray that the doctors would have wisdom and find the bleed and that they would get it fixed.

Pray for his pain, because it's it's this is extremely painful.

I've had a tube thrust into my side and had it there for six weeks, and it's no fun.

Okay, so this is this is a painful thing for him.

Pray for his mental state.

Because when you when you endure a prolonged trial, it starts to wear.

Pray for Lori.

She's tired.

She's living in a hotel right now in and I grew up in Minnesota, I know Rochester, it's there's not a whole lot to do there.

Okay, so pray for Lori.

And then just pray that they're able to get home quickly.

My my request to you guys is, and you say, Jim, I don't know Rusty.

Okay?

God does.

So please just take a minute, pray by yourself, pray with somebody else.

If all of us bring the name of Rusty before the throne of grace, imagine the mercy that he is going to receive.

And when you are done, you are welcome to leave.

Have a good evening.