Summer Heat

Ryan Best: Turn it over to Mr. Ryan best.

Ryan Best: I'd like to welcome him up.

Ryan Best: He's going to be giving the

Ryan Best: sermon this morning in Brother

Ryan Best: Jim's absence.

Ryan Best: The scripture is up for you this morning.

Ryan Best: Thank you.

Ryan Best: No. I'm okay.

Ryan Best: Thanks.

Ryan Best: All right.

Ryan Best: Good morning.

Ryan Best: Church.

Ryan Best: It's always such a blessing to be able to to come out.

Ryan Best: I know I've been here a few times and I've said it.

Ryan Best: Every time I come up here, it's

Ryan Best: like, it's really cool for me to

Ryan Best: come back to the area where I

Ryan Best: grew up.

Ryan Best: And I'm really happy this

Ryan Best: morning when I walked into the

Ryan Best: sanctuary and I got to see Carl

Ryan Best: because Carl and Barb, uh, I've

Ryan Best: spent a lot of time with in my

Ryan Best: youth, I probably spent more

Ryan Best: time at their house than

Ryan Best: anyone's house, so they've

Ryan Best: always felt like a second family

Ryan Best: to me.

Ryan Best: So, uh, sometimes when I come

Ryan Best: out here, I can always count on

Ryan Best: seeing Barb.

Ryan Best: But I was especially pleased

Ryan Best: this morning when I got to see

Ryan Best: Carl here.

Ryan Best: So they're kind of like I said, they're like my second family.

Ryan Best: I, I really view them as like my

Ryan Best: adoptive parents, as you would

Ryan Best: say, but I'm always glad to see

Ryan Best: them.

Ryan Best: But also, it's a pleasure to be here to see all of you.

Ryan Best: It was nice.

Ryan Best: I came in and some people were like, hey, welcome back.

Ryan Best: They see me here before.

Ryan Best: So that's, that's always really neat.

Ryan Best: Um, and uh, this morning I, uh, when I was asked by Brother Jim

Ryan Best: if I would be willing to come out and cover for him.

Ryan Best: Um, my daughter and I were very

Ryan Best: busy at the local theater in New

Ryan Best: Philadelphia.

Ryan Best: We were doing a musical together and I was like, yeah, sure, I

Ryan Best: can cover for you.

Ryan Best: And, um, a few days later we had a, we had a show in the morning.

Ryan Best: Well, I guess you could call it a matinee.

Ryan Best: It was just in the afternoon, I guess.

Ryan Best: Um, and then in between that show and our evening show, we

Ryan Best: had like an hour and a half to eat some lunch and rest.

Ryan Best: And, and, uh, I had my, I had my, uh, my tablet with me and I

Ryan Best: said, you know what?

Ryan Best: Uh, something, something was coming over me.

Ryan Best: And, uh, I really, the words just started coming.

Ryan Best: And I started writing down some notes and, uh, some, some topics

Ryan Best: that I wanted to talk about.

Ryan Best: And, uh, that particular day

Ryan Best: was, boy, it was a scorcher

Ryan Best: outside.

Ryan Best: I mean, the last couple of weeks have been been pretty warm.

Ryan Best: Uh, but that day in the theater,

Ryan Best: um, we were, you know, we were

Ryan Best: in the, the mid nineties and it

Ryan Best: was hot.

Ryan Best: And, um, if you don't know

Ryan Best: anything about theater, you

Ryan Best: know, we're, we're wearing

Ryan Best: costumes and we got some stage

Ryan Best: makeup on and, and, uh, we were

Ryan Best: in Charlie and the chocolate

Ryan Best: factory.

Ryan Best: So there was singing and dancing.

Ryan Best: And so I was a little tired and

Ryan Best: a little sweaty and it was

Ryan Best: really hot.

Ryan Best: And, uh, so I just got me

Ryan Best: thinking, um, about, about this

Ryan Best: message about the summer and the

Ryan Best: heat.

Ryan Best: And so I got that done.

Ryan Best: And as I finished, I was like, wow, thank you.

Ryan Best: Thank you, Lord, for really bringing me those words.

Ryan Best: And as I was kind of skimming

Ryan Best: back through, I started thinking

Ryan Best: of the irony of the topic of

Ryan Best: this message because as I looked

Ryan Best: back through previous notes when

Ryan Best: I was here in April, the message

Ryan Best: was about the spring and the

Ryan Best: renewal.

Ryan Best: And now I had this message

Ryan Best: coming to me about summer and

Ryan Best: the heat.

Ryan Best: So apparently I, uh, I have to come up with a fall and a winter

Ryan Best: one so I can complete my, my Four Seasons series.

Ryan Best: But, uh, you know, if the Lord

Ryan Best: leads me there, that's what

Ryan Best: we'll do.

Ryan Best: But this morning we want to talk about, uh, the summer heat and,

Ryan Best: uh, what all of that means.

Ryan Best: Um, and, you know, as we gather together here this morning in

Ryan Best: summer, you know, It's not as hot today, but like it has been.

Ryan Best: But when we have these warm, very, very warm summer days, um,

Ryan Best: it can remind us that we can feel the weight of the seasons

Ryan Best: heat on us.

Ryan Best: Um, you know, the, the sun just bearing down on us, the humidity

Ryan Best: that can really just sap all the energy out of us and just the

Ryan Best: overall discomfort that you have from being out, um, in the heat,

Ryan Best: you know, just really makes you long for some relief from all of

Ryan Best: the, the, the warm temperatures and the humidity that really

Ryan Best: just beat you up.

Ryan Best: But, um, you know, in the, in

Ryan Best: the Wesleyan tradition, we

Ryan Best: believe that God speaks through

Ryan Best: the ordinary rhythms of

Ryan Best: creation.

Ryan Best: And so to me, summer heat's not just weather.

Ryan Best: It's a metaphor for the trials and the refining processes that

Ryan Best: God uses to draw us closer to him and make us holy.

Ryan Best: So today I want to explore this

Ryan Best: theme through some scripture and

Ryan Best: applying God's truth to our

Ryan Best: lives with with hope and

Ryan Best: practical faith.

Ryan Best: And you know, I ask that the

Ryan Best: Holy Spirit illuminate our

Ryan Best: hearts this morning as we go

Ryan Best: into this.

Ryan Best: So if you've, if you've never, uh, had to sit through one of my

Ryan Best: messages, uh, typically what I do is, is I give out like a

Ryan Best: statement of truth.

Ryan Best: And then I'll read a piece of scripture that I, that I feel

Ryan Best: backs up that statement.

Ryan Best: And then talk a little bit about

Ryan Best: how we can apply that into our

Ryan Best: lives and how we see it in

Ryan Best: today's world.

Ryan Best: So this morning, I'm going to give you six statements of truth

Ryan Best: about, uh, summer heat and, and how God uses that.

Ryan Best: So the first one this morning is

Ryan Best: that God sovereignly ordains the

Ryan Best: seasons, including the heat, as

Ryan Best: part of his faithful covenant

Ryan Best: with creation.

Ryan Best: And if you look in Genesis eight

Ryan Best: verse twenty two, it says, while

Ryan Best: the earth remains seed time and

Ryan Best: harvest, cold and heat, summer

Ryan Best: and winter, day and night shall

Ryan Best: not cease.

Ryan Best: You see, after the flood, God promises Noah and all creation

Ryan Best: that the rhythms of life will continue in an orderly fashion.

Ryan Best: And this is not random.

Ryan Best: It is God's merciful commitment.

Ryan Best: So summer heat is part of the the divine order.

Ryan Best: It's it's something that's necessary for growth, uh, for

Ryan Best: harvest and the cycles that sustain life as we know it.

Ryan Best: And it reminds us that nothing

Ryan Best: escapes God's providence, even

Ryan Best: the uncomfortable or intense

Ryan Best: seasons.

Ryan Best: And in our in our personal

Ryan Best: lives, we get to experience the

Ryan Best: summer seasons.

Ryan Best: Those would be like times of intensity, pressure, or

Ryan Best: discomfort that can feel oppressive at times.

Ryan Best: And those times are not accidents, but they are part of

Ryan Best: God's covenant of faithfulness.

Ryan Best: So rather than cursing the heat, we can trust that God intends

Ryan Best: that for our growth.

Ryan Best: Just just the same as the summer sun ripens the crops that are

Ryan Best: out in the field.

Ryan Best: Um, and we can embrace all of

Ryan Best: those seasons as opportunities

Ryan Best: to, to deepen our dependence on

Ryan Best: the one who holds the season in

Ryan Best: his hands.

Ryan Best: And if you think about things in the last few years, uh, we've

Ryan Best: had at least I, I'm just thinking twenty four, twenty

Ryan Best: five, twenty six.

Ryan Best: The last two or three summers we've had record breaking heat

Ryan Best: waves at times.

Ryan Best: And I mean, they've been in the United States, Europe and other

Ryan Best: parts of the world.

Ryan Best: Um, and these, these extreme temperatures that are happening

Ryan Best: are really, uh, you know, getting people worried because

Ryan Best: we've never seen heat like this, although, you know, uh, I'm sure

Ryan Best: somebody in the room could say, I remember back to the, the big,

Ryan Best: uh, summer heat wave that we had back in this year.

Ryan Best: It seems like every time we have

Ryan Best: a bad heat wave, or even in the

Ryan Best: winter when we have cold ones,

Ryan Best: there's the blizzard of seventy,

Ryan Best: whatever.

Ryan Best: There's always some weather events out there.

Ryan Best: But when we have these, um, these huge temperature swings

Ryan Best: and, and things that we have to go through, um, we see that

Ryan Best: communities, um, they're facing power strains, uh, they got

Ryan Best: health risks going on with the heat and then even agricultural

Ryan Best: challenges with droughts and the heat making a certain challenges

Ryan Best: for growing the crops.

Ryan Best: Uh, but many during those times

Ryan Best: have responded with resilience,

Ryan Best: mutual aid, and even innovation

Ryan Best: in things like cooling and

Ryan Best: sustainability.

Ryan Best: And I think that mirrors how God's people can turn trials

Ryan Best: into testimonies of communal care and stewardship.

Ryan Best: So it's not just, oh, this heat

Ryan Best: is bad, and we're all worried

Ryan Best: about it.

Ryan Best: And what do we do?

Ryan Best: Right.

Ryan Best: There's communities have actually come together.

Ryan Best: They have they have said, hey,

Ryan Best: look, this is a really rough

Ryan Best: time and how do we get through

Ryan Best: this?

Ryan Best: And there's been and we'll talk

Ryan Best: a little bit more as I go down

Ryan Best: through this on some more

Ryan Best: examples of what people have

Ryan Best: done together.

Ryan Best: But think of the innovations I

Ryan Best: can give one, I have a really

Ryan Best: old house.

Ryan Best: Our house was built, I think nineteen, twenty, nineteen

Ryan Best: twelve, something like that.

Ryan Best: It's pretty old.

Ryan Best: Um, and we're blessed to have central air in the house, but as

Ryan Best: you get with an older house that's got a second story, you

Ryan Best: know, you can get the AC to cool it down to about seventy two on

Ryan Best: the first floor and it's eighty six upstairs if you're lucky.

Ryan Best: So I've got a window air conditioner in my in my room

Ryan Best: because you know, it doesn't cool the whole upstairs.

Ryan Best: Uh, but I still have, uh, two

Ryan Best: of, of my kids still live at

Ryan Best: home.

Ryan Best: And, uh, my oldest son, he, uh, he's, he's twenty three.

Ryan Best: He wanted his own air conditioner.

Ryan Best: Well, he got the hand-me-down, uh, when I got a new one.

Ryan Best: And, uh, it could, it could kind of keep up.

Ryan Best: Right?

Ryan Best: But the problem was, these old

Ryan Best: houses did the window units that

Ryan Best: you get.

Ryan Best: They didn't really make the, uh, the framing of the window to, to

Ryan Best: set those in.

Ryan Best: And, you know, you got to have a lot of trust in those windows

Ryan Best: that it's going to hold that AC unit in, right?

Ryan Best: A lot of faith and trust in that.

Ryan Best: But boy, they don't, they don't make windows like they, uh, like

Ryan Best: they used to though, so you could trust them.

Ryan Best: And then we replace the windows.

Ryan Best: And then there goes the trust of

Ryan Best: the the window holding the AC

Ryan Best: unit.

Ryan Best: Well, anyway, my, my son decides

Ryan Best: he wants to upgrade and buy his

Ryan Best: own AC unit and he, and he got

Ryan Best: one.

Ryan Best: And it's a really neat one that just doesn't sit in the window

Ryan Best: like the normal windows do.

Ryan Best: It's kind of got like a, you

Ryan Best: know, like a cut out in the

Ryan Best: middle of it and the window

Ryan Best: pulls down and it's got a

Ryan Best: bracket that fits on the

Ryan Best: outside.

Ryan Best: I'm like, wow, that's really cool.

Ryan Best: I remember trying to find an old board or a piece of plywood to

Ryan Best: stick outside the window, and you had to angle it just right

Ryan Best: so it drains out the back.

Ryan Best: Otherwise the air conditioner

Ryan Best: gurgles all night and keeps you

Ryan Best: awake.

Ryan Best: It's the only thing probably worse than me.

Ryan Best: Snoring is a is an air

Ryan Best: conditioner that's gurgling all

Ryan Best: night.

Ryan Best: So those are the kind of like

Ryan Best: innovations that we have, you

Ryan Best: know, and it's like air

Ryan Best: conditioners when you can just

Ryan Best: go down to Walmart and get one

Ryan Best: to cool your room off for like,

Ryan Best: you know, under one hundred

Ryan Best: dollars.

Ryan Best: And it's like, wow.

Ryan Best: And then other places in the world, like they would like a

Ryan Best: window air conditioner.

Ryan Best: If they could even get one, they'd probably have the entire

Ryan Best: community just hanging out in their house all day to sit in

Ryan Best: front of the air conditioner.

Ryan Best: Like we have them.

Ryan Best: Like you can just go down the road and see them.

Ryan Best: And in everyone's house, you

Ryan Best: know, the company that I work

Ryan Best: for is based out of northwestern

Ryan Best: Pennsylvania, and it's in the

Ryan Best: mountains in the Allegheny

Ryan Best: National Forest.

Ryan Best: And it's, it's kind of I always thought it was amazing when I

Ryan Best: would drive around this town and I look at all the houses and you

Ryan Best: don't see central air units outside the houses.

Ryan Best: It's it's pretty odd for around here.

Ryan Best: Around here you see a lot of houses with central air.

Ryan Best: They don't have them there.

Ryan Best: And I'm like, oh, well, you

Ryan Best: know, they only get like forty

Ryan Best: days of summer over here in the

Ryan Best: mountains.

Ryan Best: So maybe that's why they don't

Ryan Best: need central air, but they don't

Ryan Best: even have they don't even have

Ryan Best: window units in most of their

Ryan Best: houses.

Ryan Best: They're just like, yeah, we don't get a lot of summer here.

Ryan Best: So we, we'll put up with the

Ryan Best: heat wave for, you know, a month

Ryan Best: or so because that's what we

Ryan Best: got.

Ryan Best: But, uh, they also have

Ryan Best: snowmobiles that they drive

Ryan Best: around to and from work in the

Ryan Best: winter.

Ryan Best: So thankfully, we don't have to do that, right?

Ryan Best: All right.

Ryan Best: So let's move on to the next statement of truth.

Ryan Best: And that would be that God's presence and glory are evident

Ryan Best: everywhere, with nothing hidden from his searching heat.

Ryan Best: And if we turn to Psalm nineteen, verse six, it says its

Ryan Best: rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the

Ryan Best: other end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Ryan Best: And Psalm nineteen celebrates creation's testimony to God.

Ryan Best: The sun's heat penetrates

Ryan Best: everywhere, and it symbolizes

Ryan Best: how God's law and presence

Ryan Best: search our hearts without

Ryan Best: exception.

Ryan Best: So just as physical heat exposes what is hidden, like sweat

Ryan Best: fatigue or the need for shelter, God's refining presence reveals

Ryan Best: our true condition.

Ryan Best: So in the heat of daily pressures, whether it's work

Ryan Best: stress, family conflicts.

Ryan Best: Well, you got some health concerns.

Ryan Best: Whatever it is, God sees everything.

Ryan Best: And I think this invites honest

Ryan Best: confession and reliance on his

Ryan Best: grace rather than hiding from

Ryan Best: it.

Ryan Best: And summer reminds us to seek the shade.

Ryan Best: Uh, as you will in prayer,

Ryan Best: scripture, and Christian

Ryan Best: community where we can find

Ryan Best: refreshment.

Ryan Best: So during these, uh, intense

Ryan Best: global heat events that we, we

Ryan Best: seem to have the last few years,

Ryan Best: uh, people have turned to

Ryan Best: communal spaces like cooling

Ryan Best: centers, uh, or even churches

Ryan Best: that are out offering aid during

Ryan Best: those times.

Ryan Best: And I think similarly, uh, in

Ryan Best: personal trials that we have

Ryan Best: like job loss or grief, uh,

Ryan Best: believers report that God's

Ryan Best: searching love, uh, exposing

Ryan Best: hidden sins or fears leads to

Ryan Best: breakthrough repentance and

Ryan Best: renewed purpose.

Ryan Best: uh, much like, uh, recent

Ryan Best: testimonies of, of faith that's,

Ryan Best: that's been strengthened during,

Ryan Best: uh, economic or personal

Ryan Best: hardships.

Ryan Best: You know, it seems like when we

Ryan Best: have these intense moments, uh,

Ryan Best: this is when we can really feel

Ryan Best: God's presence.

Ryan Best: You know, sometimes we, boy, we can really get into, um, the

Ryan Best: talk about how easy it is to, to fall on our knees and ask for

Ryan Best: God to be there when we're going through tough times.

Ryan Best: I mean, I am talking about this, that this morning, you know, the

Ryan Best: summer heat is a metaphor to trials in our lives.

Ryan Best: But boy, sometimes we, we also forget that, uh, it's just as

Ryan Best: important to fall to our knees and praise God for the, for the

Ryan Best: good things and the trials.

Ryan Best: Sometimes we view trials as bad things.

Ryan Best: Those are tough times that we we have to go through.

Ryan Best: And yeah, this morning we're going to talk about how that

Ryan Best: leads us to spiritual growth and depending on God.

Ryan Best: But, you know, sometimes as

Ryan Best: we'll, we'll learn through

Ryan Best: today, those trials that we go

Ryan Best: through, we should be thankful

Ryan Best: for those.

Ryan Best: Those are blessings.

Ryan Best: Yeah.

Ryan Best: We may not enjoy them while

Ryan Best: we're going through them, but

Ryan Best: boy, if they don't lead us to

Ryan Best: something, something greater, if

Ryan Best: they're not turning our eyes to

Ryan Best: Jesus.

Ryan Best: Boy, I don't know what else can.

Ryan Best: Right.

Ryan Best: All right.

Ryan Best: My next statement of truth is God refines his people through

Ryan Best: fire like trials, purifying us like precious metal.

Ryan Best: So Zechariah thirteen nine

Ryan Best: reads, and I will bring the

Ryan Best: third part through the fire,

Ryan Best: refine them as silver is

Ryan Best: refined, and test them as gold

Ryan Best: is tested.

Ryan Best: They will call on my name and I will answer them.

Ryan Best: I will say, they are my people,

Ryan Best: and they will say, the Lord is

Ryan Best: my God.

Ryan Best: So this is a this is a prophetic promise.

Ryan Best: And in it God describes

Ryan Best: purifying a remnant through

Ryan Best: intense trial and the refiner's

Ryan Best: fire is controlled and

Ryan Best: purposeful, it melts away

Ryan Best: impurities without destroying

Ryan Best: the metal.

Ryan Best: So I work.

Ryan Best: I work for an oil refinery, and although we're not refining

Ryan Best: metals, we do the same thing.

Ryan Best: We take dirty, stinky, nasty crude oil and we heat it.

Ryan Best: We heat it to a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

Ryan Best: And as it gets hot, it starts to

Ryan Best: separate and stratify in the

Ryan Best: crude tower.

Ryan Best: Boy, I'm talking stuff that you

Ryan Best: guys have probably never heard

Ryan Best: of, right?

Ryan Best: So, I mean, it starts to break apart and you get your light

Ryan Best: ends and your heavy ends.

Ryan Best: You get your tars and you get

Ryan Best: your waxes and your resins and

Ryan Best: you get your gasolines and

Ryan Best: diesels.

Ryan Best: But you know what?

Ryan Best: None of that would happen if you

Ryan Best: didn't put intense heat on that

Ryan Best: crude oil.

Ryan Best: None of it.

Ryan Best: It would be absolutely worthless.

Ryan Best: It would just be some nasty stuff.

Ryan Best: And I tell you what.

Ryan Best: Yeah.

Ryan Best: We we love that for gasoline and diesel fuel that gets us around.

Ryan Best: But it makes a whole lot of other stuff too.

Ryan Best: A lot of good stuff.

Ryan Best: Medicines.

Ryan Best: Right.

Ryan Best: Plastics, all kinds of stuff.

Ryan Best: I'm not going to sit up here and

Ryan Best: be an advertisement for for oil

Ryan Best: and gas.

Ryan Best: I'm just saying that that stuff

Ryan Best: is is refined through intense

Ryan Best: fire.

Ryan Best: And you know what?

Ryan Best: That works in our lives too.

Ryan Best: When we have those trials that,

Ryan Best: that come along and they, they

Ryan Best: knock us down to our knees

Ryan Best: because of how difficult they

Ryan Best: are.

Ryan Best: Well, good.

Ryan Best: If it knocks us to our knees, then we're in the right place

Ryan Best: right down there praying and searching for God.

Ryan Best: And I think that, um, all of that, all of those trials that

Ryan Best: we go to go through that, that result is a closer relationship

Ryan Best: with our creator.

Ryan Best: God claims his people and then we claim him.

Ryan Best: And that's, that's what we go through.

Ryan Best: And that's why, see, our summer heats, these prolonged

Ryan Best: difficulties that we go through.

Ryan Best: Um, they serve the same refining purpose.

Ryan Best: They burn away pride, Self-Reliance and sin, and it

Ryan Best: makes us more like Christ.

Ryan Best: And in our churches tradition, we call this sanctification.

Ryan Best: This is God making us perfect in love.

Ryan Best: So when we go through these

Ryan Best: trials, uh, we should persevere

Ryan Best: knowing that the heat is

Ryan Best: temporary.

Ryan Best: But boy, that purity, it's eternal.

Ryan Best: And many Christians today, they

Ryan Best: may be facing illness or loss in

Ryan Best: their lives.

Ryan Best: Um, as in, you know, various

Ryan Best: testimonies that we hear and

Ryan Best: they describe how trials refine

Ryan Best: their faith and how it leads to

Ryan Best: deeper prayer lives and, and a

Ryan Best: deeper witness.

Ryan Best: And again, the last few summers,

Ryan Best: well, all the heat related

Ryan Best: crisises that we've had that

Ryan Best: have affected billions of

Ryan Best: people.

Ryan Best: There are faith communities that

Ryan Best: go out and mobilize aid, and

Ryan Best: they have many individuals that

Ryan Best: share stories of spiritual

Ryan Best: growth through the shared

Ryan Best: suffering that they're all going

Ryan Best: through.

Ryan Best: I think that is a true testament

Ryan Best: to the fact that that God uses

Ryan Best: all of those trials to refine

Ryan Best: us.

Ryan Best: So again, embrace those times,

Ryan Best: know that they have a purpose,

Ryan Best: that they're going to bring us

Ryan Best: somewhere greater.

Ryan Best: And even though it's tough, be thankful for the tough times.

Ryan Best: All right.

Ryan Best: My next statement of truth is

Ryan Best: that trials test and prove our

Ryan Best: faith, making it more valuable

Ryan Best: than gold.

Ryan Best: So in First Peter chapter one,

Ryan Best: verses six and seven, it says,

Ryan Best: in this you greatly rejoice,

Ryan Best: even though now for a little

Ryan Best: while, if necessary, you have

Ryan Best: been distressed by various

Ryan Best: trials, so that the proof of

Ryan Best: your faith being more precious

Ryan Best: than gold, which perishes,

Ryan Best: though tested by fire, may be

Ryan Best: found to result in praise, glory

Ryan Best: and honor at the revelation of

Ryan Best: Jesus Christ.

Ryan Best: And see here Peter writes to the persecuted believers.

Ryan Best: And he's saying that trials are various and temporary, you know.

Ryan Best: They're here for just a little while, but they are necessary

Ryan Best: for proving genuine faith, just like gold being refined by fire.

Ryan Best: Uh, us having tested faith, uh,

Ryan Best: that endures will bring glory to

Ryan Best: Christ.

Ryan Best: So. So when the summer heat, whether it's literal or

Ryan Best: metaphorical heat, whenever it wears us down, we should rejoice

Ryan Best: because that reveals that our faith is real.

Ryan Best: So you should respond with joy, prayer, good works.

Ryan Best: Uh, allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen character and hope.

Ryan Best: And I think this aligns with our

Ryan Best: belief of an emphasis on

Ryan Best: practical holiness that's born

Ryan Best: from experience.

Ryan Best: So again, as I as I refer back to the heat waves that we that

Ryan Best: we've gone through, uh, even economic pressures, you know,

Ryan Best: um, with the cost of things being, uh, really high, um, and

Ryan Best: even a personal losses that we may have in our lives.

Ryan Best: Um, there's many people that have testified to faith emerging

Ryan Best: stronger in these times.

Ryan Best: And, and I think, uh, that is, that is something to, to like,

Ryan Best: note, um, you know, in your life, if that, there are people

Ryan Best: out there that are going through some tough spots, there are,

Ryan Best: there are people who, uh, not only are they going through the

Ryan Best: heat waves, but because of, because of economic turmoil and

Ryan Best: things costing more.

Ryan Best: They can't.

Ryan Best: They can't afford to turn the

Ryan Best: air conditioner up to cool

Ryan Best: themselves down.

Ryan Best: Um, they find that they have to

Ryan Best: cut back on the groceries that

Ryan Best: they buy because food's more

Ryan Best: expensive.

Ryan Best: And people that are going

Ryan Best: through this don't often just

Ryan Best: give up.

Ryan Best: They're not, they're not looking out there saying, what do I do?

Ryan Best: I can't afford anything.

Ryan Best: It's, I just, I give, I give up.

Ryan Best: I'm done.

Ryan Best: That's that's not, that's not what we want people.

Ryan Best: That's not what we're seeing people do either.

Ryan Best: We're seeing people go say, hey, I trust that God is going to get

Ryan Best: me through this, that that he has a plan for this, that this

Ryan Best: is going to do something for me and my life, and it is going to

Ryan Best: bring me closer to him.

Ryan Best: And I just trust that God has got me.

Ryan Best: And, you know.

Ryan Best: Sometimes it's easy to say that when we're not going through

Ryan Best: those trials, But imagine if you're going through them and

Ryan Best: you're able to say it right.

Ryan Best: Yeah.

Ryan Best: I could sit here and say, I'm very fortunate.

Ryan Best: And I just told you a story

Ryan Best: about how I got a C in my house

Ryan Best: and window units keeping the

Ryan Best: upstairs cool.

Ryan Best: And, uh, you know, I've, I've got, I've got a job where I,

Ryan Best: yeah, I get to travel a lot.

Ryan Best: I get to go to cool things.

Ryan Best: I was, I was playing golf on Thursday on the mountainside of

Ryan Best: a ski resort.

Ryan Best: Yeah.

Ryan Best: It's a great business venture.

Ryan Best: If you, if you can't ski in the

Ryan Best: summer, you just turn it into a

Ryan Best: golf course.

Ryan Best: Yeah, that's really cool.

Ryan Best: But I could sit here and say, yeah, you know, when you're

Ryan Best: going through tough times, man, that's when you trust in God.

Ryan Best: Yeah.

Ryan Best: Because I'm not going through tough times, right?

Ryan Best: So yeah, easy to say that.

Ryan Best: But there are people that are going through the tough times

Ryan Best: that are saying that.

Ryan Best: I think that's the ultimate testimony, is that they can sit

Ryan Best: here and see all the things that they're struggling with and not

Ryan Best: see that as as a curse.

Ryan Best: They don't view that as

Ryan Best: something that's bringing them

Ryan Best: down, that that God doesn't see

Ryan Best: them, that that he forgot about

Ryan Best: them.

Ryan Best: They, they actually see this as,

Ryan Best: hey, this is a moment for me to

Ryan Best: pray and to, and to, to lean on

Ryan Best: my faith and trust that God is

Ryan Best: going to bring me out of this on

Ryan Best: the other side into something

Ryan Best: better.

Ryan Best: Because you know what?

Ryan Best: It doesn't matter if we get to go to cool places, it doesn't

Ryan Best: matter if we have air conditioning in our houses,

Ryan Best: because someday we're going to be in a different place.

Ryan Best: And all of the stuff that we have here doesn't matter.

Ryan Best: And you know, the trials, the

Ryan Best: hard times, the things that we

Ryan Best: had to go through that refined

Ryan Best: us and made us more Christ like,

Ryan Best: that's going to be the stuff

Ryan Best: that matters.

Ryan Best: All right.

Ryan Best: My fifth statement of truth this morning, the Lord himself comes

Ryan Best: as a refiner's fire to purify and prepare his servants.

Ryan Best: So let's look at Malachi chapter three, verses two and three.

Ryan Best: But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand

Ryan Best: when he appears?

Ryan Best: For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap.

Ryan Best: And he will sit as a smelter and

Ryan Best: purify of silver and purifier of

Ryan Best: silver.

Ryan Best: And he will purify the sons of

Ryan Best: Levi and refine them like gold

Ryan Best: and silver, so that they may

Ryan Best: present to the Lord offerings in

Ryan Best: righteousness.

Ryan Best: And Malachi foretells the Messiah's purifying work.

Ryan Best: The fire and soap cleansed thoroughly for holy service, and

Ryan Best: this points ultimately to Christ, who refines us for

Ryan Best: worship and for mission.

Ryan Best: So, um, in the, in the heat of conviction or circumstance, uh,

Ryan Best: you should welcome the refiner.

Ryan Best: Submit to his cleansing.

Ryan Best: So our lives become righteous Offerings.

Ryan Best: So for believers, this means pursuing entire sanctification.

Ryan Best: That's the perfect love that

Ryan Best: casts out fear and empowers

Ryan Best: service.

Ryan Best: See churches respond to a recent

Ryan Best: extreme weather events and and

Ryan Best: social trials that have been

Ryan Best: going on.

Ryan Best: And that's that's involved some renewed calls to justice, mercy

Ryan Best: and holy living.

Ryan Best: And, uh, we got leaders and

Ryan Best: laypeople alike that are

Ryan Best: experiencing spiritual renewal

Ryan Best: through adversity.

Ryan Best: Um, and that, I think that echoes historical revival that's

Ryan Best: born in these difficult times.

Ryan Best: And, uh, and I, I heard Caleb say this morning that he thinks

Ryan Best: a revival is coming.

Ryan Best: And I think this is the time where we're actually seeing it.

Ryan Best: Boy, what a, what a great thing that was to hear him say this

Ryan Best: morning that so many people were baptized at the festival, at the

Ryan Best: lake, and so many of them under the age of twenty five.

Ryan Best: If you ask me, in twenty sixteen, I took over as the

Ryan Best: youth director at our church.

Ryan Best: And one of the things that at that time, you know, ten years

Ryan Best: ago that I was telling kids was, you're going to, you're going to

Ryan Best: go through school and you're going to, you're going to be

Ryan Best: this person that stands out because you have faith and

Ryan Best: because you believe you're going to be the odd man out.

Ryan Best: And they saw it.

Ryan Best: They said, yeah, we sure are.

Ryan Best: But here I am ten years later.

Ryan Best: And now the stories that I hear are completely flipping.

Ryan Best: Now we're seeing college campuses, of all places, are

Ryan Best: seeing increases in the their their faith based functions,

Ryan Best: their church services.

Ryan Best: You're seeing sports teams that are having, uh, practices where

Ryan Best: they have revivals and baptisms.

Ryan Best: How many of you could sit here and say five years ago, ten

Ryan Best: years ago, you thought that you would be able to watch again

Ryan Best: because it used to happen.

Ryan Best: But watch again, not just the random guy that scored a

Ryan Best: touchdown and says, yeah, I don't think I think my, my Lord

Ryan Best: and Savior Jesus Christ for letting me score a touchdown.

Ryan Best: We saw that, right?

Ryan Best: But I'm talking about real

Ryan Best: moving acts of faith in a public

Ryan Best: forum.

Ryan Best: I mean, teams are coming out running through the tunnel with

Ryan Best: one hundred thousand screaming fans, and the first thing they

Ryan Best: do is circle up on the sideline, go down to one knee, bow their

Ryan Best: heads and pray.

Ryan Best: Sure, part of their prayer might be that they.

Ryan Best: They beat that team from up north.

Ryan Best: That's okay.

Ryan Best: But there's more.

Ryan Best: There's more in the in that in that prayer circle than just

Ryan Best: that they win the game and that nobody gets hurt, right?

Ryan Best: They've given their lives to

Ryan Best: something much, much bigger,

Ryan Best: much more important than that

Ryan Best: game.

Ryan Best: And they know it.

Ryan Best: And it's and it's televised.

Ryan Best: And, you know, when it first started happening, the cameras

Ryan Best: started panning away and the announcers would ignore it.

Ryan Best: But you can't ignore it anymore because you know, it would be

Ryan Best: four or five, four or five guys would huddle together and then

Ryan Best: it was ten or twelve, and then it was the whole team, right?

Ryan Best: And now it's, it's a movement that's happening.

Ryan Best: And I say that the blew blew my mind because I never thought I'd

Ryan Best: see that again.

Ryan Best: Boy, I thought that we were just moving into a this part of life

Ryan Best: where we were just going to see churches start to age out.

Ryan Best: The youth wasn't.

Ryan Best: They weren't following us after they got through middle school.

Ryan Best: They were just starting to walk away.

Ryan Best: You weren't seeing them show up to youth group events.

Ryan Best: They weren't continuing to come

Ryan Best: to church after they graduated

Ryan Best: high school.

Ryan Best: They certainly were not learning faith based stuff in college.

Ryan Best: I mean, college was teaching them everything but that.

Ryan Best: But I think that revival is starting.

Ryan Best: I think we're seeing it happen.

Ryan Best: And I am so thankful that the Lord has has shown his power

Ryan Best: once again, that just won.

Ryan Best: The world thinks they they they

Ryan Best: got us where they want us, God's

Ryan Best: power.

Ryan Best: Right?

Ryan Best: Like, maybe that was the trial for the church.

Ryan Best: We had to go through this tough time.

Ryan Best: We had to see our numbers dwindle.

Ryan Best: We had to see our youth walking away.

Ryan Best: We had we had to go through that sitting here going.

Ryan Best: I remember when the pews were

Ryan Best: full and there was so many young

Ryan Best: kids and now we don't see young

Ryan Best: kids anymore.

Ryan Best: So now we're starting to see young kids again.

Ryan Best: At my own church five years ago, we were looking and saying,

Ryan Best: where are the kids?

Ryan Best: Like our kids program is like,

Ryan Best: you'd see three or four of them

Ryan Best: walk out and it was like, what

Ryan Best: is happening?

Ryan Best: And you don't see any young people coming.

Ryan Best: Well, all of a sudden we got some young couples that were in

Ryan Best: the church that are still coming, and they got married and

Ryan Best: they're having kids, and now their kids are coming.

Ryan Best: It's it's amazing.

Ryan Best: We can be thankful that God has has pulled us through this.

Ryan Best: And he's not just, you know, he's not going to leave.

Ryan Best: He's not going to leave his church to just flounder and die.

Ryan Best: Right.

Ryan Best: But we got worried about it, didn't we?

Ryan Best: But you know, what we should

Ryan Best: have done is we should have had

Ryan Best: faith and trusted that God was

Ryan Best: going to take us through because

Ryan Best: that's that's the stuff he puts

Ryan Best: us through.

Ryan Best: That's the things that we can be thankful for.

Ryan Best: Yep.

Ryan Best: We didn't see the numbers as high as we'd like them to be, as

Ryan Best: high as we hoped they would be.

Ryan Best: But, but he had a plan for this, and I'm thankful that I could

Ryan Best: see so many kids stand up and walk out this morning.

Ryan Best: And I follow Rockford on on

Ryan Best: Facebook to see that you guys,

Ryan Best: your VBS program, that is great

Ryan Best: because I think that the kids

Ryan Best: obviously are the future of our

Ryan Best: faith.

Ryan Best: They are the future of our church.

Ryan Best: And I believe that as we

Ryan Best: continue to guide them and

Ryan Best: nourish them and teach them and

Ryan Best: teach them the stuff that that

Ryan Best: God wants them to know, that I

Ryan Best: think, like Caleb said, the

Ryan Best: revival is coming, and I think

Ryan Best: it's going to be something even

Ryan Best: greater than we can imagine,

Ryan Best: because that's what God wants it

Ryan Best: to be.

Ryan Best: Alright, my sixth and final statement this morning is in the

Ryan Best: heat of trials, we find shade and living water in Christ

Ryan Best: leading to harvest.

Ryan Best: So I expand on that just a little bit.

Ryan Best: Summer heat drives us to seek

Ryan Best: relief, pointing us to the

Ryan Best: ultimate source.

Ryan Best: And although I'm not going to read the scripture for here.

Ryan Best: I'm just going to say that we could tie in.

Ryan Best: There's echoes of that in

Ryan Best: revelation seven sixteen where

Ryan Best: it talks about that there'll be

Ryan Best: no more scorching heat for the

Ryan Best: redeemed.

Ryan Best: And in John four seven, it talks about Jesus as living water.

Ryan Best: So, um, the discomfort of heat teaches us what our needs are.

Ryan Best: So turn to Jesus who offers rest.

Ryan Best: And you can see that in Matthew

Ryan Best: eleven twenty eight through

Ryan Best: thirty.

Ryan Best: And, and, uh, so, so turn to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit as,

Ryan Best: as rivers of living water.

Ryan Best: This leads to spiritual fruitfulness.

Ryan Best: It's the harvest for God's kingdom.

Ryan Best: So. Through all this ongoing climate and personal challenges

Ryan Best: and stuff that we're experiencing, countless

Ryan Best: believers report finding renewal in prayer, Worship and service.

Ryan Best: And they're turning the heat into opportunities for

Ryan Best: evangelism and justice work.

Ryan Best: And the alive festival.

Ryan Best: All of the news of all the people that was baptized.

Ryan Best: I mean, it was out there.

Ryan Best: It was hot.

Ryan Best: People were out there crammed together and in small spaces.

Ryan Best: The music's loud.

Ryan Best: There's a lot of stuff going on,

Ryan Best: but people still ventured into

Ryan Best: that heat.

Ryan Best: And that was the opportunity.

Ryan Best: And I, you know, things like

Ryan Best: that are when God shows his

Ryan Best: ultimate power.

Ryan Best: So let me wrap up this morning

Ryan Best: by just saying as as summer heat

Ryan Best: surrounds us, just remember God

Ryan Best: ordains it.

Ryan Best: God sees through it.

Ryan Best: God refines us in it, and God

Ryan Best: sustains us through it for his

Ryan Best: glory.

Ryan Best: Amen.