Standing In Struggle

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Morning, CCW.

Happy friend day.

If you're here, you're a friend.

And we're thankful for you and glad that you're here.

We had a really awesome harvest jam yesterday, and uh God filled this property full of people that we had the chance to serve and love and get to know.

And some of you I seen here this morning that yesterday was your first time here.

Thank you for coming back.

We hope that you feel welcome.

And if you need a church family, we hope that maybe you found one.

Amen.

Well, if you turn your Bibles this morning, turn to Revelations chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

By the way, thank you, church family, who all served yesterday.

There were over 80 yellow shirts, and uh, it's a beautiful thing to work arm in arm with you.

The struggle is real.

How many of you have felt that statement?

How many of you have said that statement?

Know that statement, the struggle is real.

Well, I grew up in the 1980s and 90s, and we lived in a time, kids, where there was no internet.

The struggle was real.

Can you imagine if we wanted information, we had to go and get something called a book.

And we had to go to a museum of that information if we didn't have the book, and in that museum of information, we would have to go to a great wooden chest located in the center, the apex of this museum.

And it had codes in it that if you were really a genius, you could understand.

Those codes would send you to books with information and no internet.

The struggle was real.

In the 80s and 90s, phones were dumb and not smart.

There was no smartphones, they had wires.

And if you were real lucky, you had one without a wire, but it had to go back to a charging station.

And in the 80s and 90s, you were privy to things like memorizing phone numbers.

454-0379 was my phone number growing up.

My first crush, 456-9451.

It was on my wall.

I wrote it on my wall and got in trouble for it, but I never forgot it.

325-0695, that was my sister's first home phone number.

Right?

You had to memorize numbers, or you had a phone book, which you didn't get at the library, you just had, and you would write down numbers in that phone book.

The struggle was real.

In the summers in the 80s and 90s, the struggle was real.

I believe that there were certain hours in the summer that no child was allowed in their house.

At least that's how I grew up.

I rode my bike all day long, all summer long.

And here, let me tell you, I didn't live in a neighborhood.

I had to ride three miles to a neighborhood to hang out with other kids.

I rode my bike all day long, and every kid I met in my whole life was outside.

This is what they did.

We were all outside.

I don't think we were allowed inside.

And if you got hot in the summertime, you jumped in a pool, somebody's pool, anybody's pool, or a creek.

Many kids in the 80s and 90s died from germs alone.

We stayed out until the street lights came on, and for me, that meant I started my bike trek three miles home.

This started when I was age nine.

Some of you moms, can you imagine?

At nine, every day I drove a six-mile-round trip to my cousin's neighborhood.

That's what we did.

The struggle was real.

Video games?

Guys, let me tell you, there was no astronaut headsets.

It was unbelievably harming to us.

We had no cool chairs.

The graphics were not real and lifelike.

And you definitely could not talk to a friend on the other side of that video game.

It cost us quarter after quarter after quarter to play a video game at a special video game emporium, much like the library.

It was called an arcade.

To which we rode our bike to.

And when you were done, you didn't have a pocket full of tickets for a pillow or some candy, you just lost and left a loser.

Wishing you had more quarters.

The struggle was real.

Streaming, there was no such thing as streaming.

There was no Netflix or Prime or Hulu or Tubi.

The only streams we knew of were the ones that were, you know, full of water.

But Tuesdays, I could go to the local video store, and it was Dollar Tuesday, and I could get me three videos because I have three dollars, and I could probably watch them all before Wednesday when they were due back.

But then they would get me often when I didn't show up on Wednesday on a return fee that was double the price.

Yes, so I paid$3 for three movies and then$6 on the late fee, spending almost$10 to watch something that you can stream easily.

The struggle.

Yes, it was real.

We had no social media, we just had to be social.

I had no opportunity to media stalk the girls.

I didn't have any life 360 to find out where they would be or where they were going.

But there was a good chance.

Friday night at 6 o'clock, if I showed up to the skating rink, I would probably see the girl that I really liked.

And if not, I would see one like her.

So I skated week after week.

And at first I really was not good at skating.

I fell 500 times.

And I'm sure for three months I went home with eternal bleeding.

But that's how to find a girlfriend.

The struggle was real.

The struggle was real.

We all have struggles, and we can identify.

Somebody here, you had an appliance break this week.

Somebody in your car, something went wrong this week.

Somebody here, you had a new physical pain.

I'm at the age now that I can go to sleep and wake up and have a sleep-related injury.

What happened?

What happened last night?

Some of you have had a struggle.

Some of you, your spouse has really been ticking you off.

For some, it's deeper.

Some you're trying to figure out why has the struggle been so bad for so long.

What comfort can we take today?

And how do we keep standing when the struggle is real?

Will you pray with me?

Father, we love you.

We are thankful for your word and your promises.

We are thankful, God, even when we get sent into the storm, when we're in the middle of the storm, that God, you are holding all of it.

And God, we are trusting in your mighty hand.

And Lord, we know that your ways are well above our ways.

Lord, I pray that you would speak to us this morning.

I know that there are some people here, and they're just right in the middle of it.

Lord, there's people listening today and the struggle for them is real.

And God, I pray that the opportunity to cling to a God that loves them would present itself.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Look with me in Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

The first point this morning is this the financial toil.

Verse 8 and 9 about the persecuted church of Smyrna.

It says, And to the angel of the church in Smyrna, write these things, says the first, and the last who was dead and came to life.

I know your works, tribulation, and poverty, but you are rich.

And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are synagogue of Satan.

Letter A is this they were materially poor.

We have a map of Smyrna.

I want you to see Smyrna was a wealthy city like Ephesus.

It was a port city directly in a trade route from Athens, Greece.

It was large and in its time it was powerful, and it was a juggernaut of a city.

It was known north of Ephesus, it was known for wealth and education and religion.

There was not markedly the same type of immorality that was going on in Ephesus, but it had heavy influences from Greek and Romans.

This story of poverty that the scripture is talking about was not anything to do with the city itself, but the persecution of the church of Smyrna.

It was a poor church in a rich city.

And the reason that they were poor is because they would not acknowledge in this heavily influenced culture that Caesar is Lord.

And because of that action or inaction, many believed that the Christians of that day, commentators write that they were largely unemployed, outcasted, marginalized, and being a Christian in that place meant that you were not given any liberties.

So we are seeing today shifts like this.

I don't want you to miss that there are many that are in this congregation that have said, Pastor, I had to leave my job because of the ungodly values that are being shoved down our throats.

I had to leave the corporation that I worked for because of its sanctions.

And they're coming wrapped in a pretty bow of inclusivity, and they're saying, This is what you have to do, and this is the speech you have to stay away from, but it includes every inclusion except for standing up for your Christianity.

So picture with me, Smyrna.

Nobody liked their message, and yet this scripture says they were poor materially, but they were rich.

Well, we want to dig into that a little bit.

Letter B this morning is this spiritually they were rich.

Spiritually, it says they were poor.

I know your works, but it says in poverty, in tribulation, but you are rich.

I want you to look with me to a passage, 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

And I want to read a few verses.

Paul has given the markers of ministry to the church at Corinth, but I think it correlates for us to understand where Smyrna was.

Verse 4 says, But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulation, in needs, in distresses, and stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, and sleeplessness, and fastings, by purity, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, and behold we live, as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, here it is, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

What does that mean?

Well, he's saying again that in this life, that church at Corinth, much like the church of Smyrna, they were going to go through struggles.

The struggle was real.

But that did not equate a life that was lost.

So material sacrifice that's mentioned here does not seem to equate poverty in the eyes of the Lord.

Material poverty, let me say this way, is a sacrifice.

But he says that does not make a person poor.

A poor person.

There's a false cultural idol today that says, in order for us to be okay, that we have to be materially okay.

And Matthew 6 19 tells us, brothers and sisters, lay not up for yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, where thieves can break through and steal, but instead lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

It says, But you are rich.

That word is Plusius, and that word for rich there means abundantly supplied.

They were materially lacking, but forever without lack.

You'll hear some false doctrines being teached or taught in churches today, get spiritually rich, and then you will get financially rich.

Nothing wrong.

I'm not here today to tell you something's wrong with wealth.

Hard work is commendable.

There's nothing wrong with wealth of itself.

But saying that if you are spiritually right, that you will be wealthy is inaccurate.

That's not God's economy.

And I want to show it to you in 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

If you have a moment to turn there, 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Start in verse 6.

It says, Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

And having food and clothing with these we shall be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall in temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money.

Hear that, the love of money.

Money and wealth is not evil, but the love of it is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and perceived themselves through, or pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Hear this commendation after, but you, O man of God, flee these things, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness, and fight the good fight.

Lay hold of eternal life.

So he says, You may be poor materially, you may struggle materially, but that does not mean you are poor.

Godliness and contentment is great gain.

Can you be contented with life without having more?

This is a great insight that was given from an English pastor who was listening and quoting from John Piper, and he he at first was confused by John Piper speaking, but he spoke to it.

And this is what John Piper said.

America is one of the hardest places to be a true Christian.

And that English pastor said, that cannot be true.

America is so blessed, and America is so free.

That pastor later moved to the United States, and for 16 years he came to understood that that freedom led America to an expectation of comfortable living.

An expectation of comfort.

And he said that expectation of comfort and having leads to a lethargic spirit.

The New Testament church goes to great lengths to dissuade men from being focused on being materially wealthy because richness in materials often leads to an impoverished spiritual life.

And we live in a place, in a country, in a time where it seems impossible for people not to compare.

And comparison is the thief of contentment.

When you look around and you see what they have and the Joneses have, and your workmate has, and you're looking at everybody's has, it is really hard to just be you.

And God created you just to be you, and that's it.

Because you don't have what someone else has does not mean you're poor.

I want to remind you, church, there's not one thing in heaven that we take except what was spiritual.

People talk today about stocks and bonds and 401k and IRAs.

There's only one everlasting inheritance.

Parents, I want you to hear me about this.

There's only one thing, parents, that impacts your children for eternity.

And that's what's in their spiritual account.

There's not one trophy with a sports placard gonna be in the halls of heaven.

Can you imagine one day in heaven and I walk by Moses?

High five, Moses.

Can you help me for a second?

I've got to put up my 1998 MVP trophy here on my wall.

Can you imagine?

Oh, there's David.

Wow, David, I heard that you threw rocks really well.

Well, in 1994, I was the Brookside Bambino Baseball League all-star pitcher.

Are you not impressed?

We're not taking any ribbons.

There's not gonna be one business of the year sign in the halls of heaven, not one car, not one accolade, just spiritual treasure.

Look at that child next to you.

The only thing that goes from this life to the next is what was ingrained spiritually.

Well, it gave a description here that I think is worth noting of the writer, of Jesus.

It says his description, he is first and last.

Now, here that means the beginning and the end, the creator.

But I wonder if in this context any would consider what Jesus said about how to live right and good and well on this earth.

In context to his name, he said, I'm the first and last.

Matthew 19, 30, after Jesus was speaking to the rich young ruler, Jesus said this: the last will be first.

Just a chapter later, Matthew 20, 16, a conversation about labor and pay, Jesus said, The last shall be first.

Jesus Christ said, I am the first and the last.

Do you understand, church?

At Smyrna, this church was rich because it made Jesus their only boast.

He was their boast.

They were spiritually rich.

And here's the thing I want you to know it's a parable.

We don't have time to break it down, but the parable says that God gives some 10, he gives some five, he gives some two.

According to what God wants to get.

You are a steward of whatever it is that God's given you, and He's given you a purpose and a value and a platform, and that is all about who you are.

And He doesn't want you to look left or right.

The question about whether you are rich in this life or not is what are you doing with what you have been given?

Smyrna was living with very little material, but they were using what they had.

Some you're here, and the truth of the matter is spiritually you are pulling up at the church and you're on E.

And spiritually you just feel depleted.

I want to tell you something exciting.

John 3 16 says, For God so, He so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son.

You can leave here today different from that feeling.

You know what he said?

How to be a follower of him?

He said, Deny yourself and follow me.

Sometimes, like the church at Smyrna, you're going to have to go through some stuff, but just focus and follow me, because following me is a road to joy.

Following me is a road to grace and happiness.

Now there might be storms, but you'll see I can carry people through storms.

So we see that they were spiritually risked.

Well, it doesn't stop with just materially poor.

Point number two, we're gonna see the fiery testing.

Look at verse 10, the first part of that.

He just got done saying there's some Jews that say they're Jews, but they're like the synagogue of Satan.

In verse 10, it says, Do not fear any of those things which are about to suffer.

And thee, the devil, is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested.

Letter A is the demand of a test.

This church was persecuted by the belief that the emperor was to be seen as Lord.

And if people did not profess that, they could be expelled from the city.

But I want you to look at this phrase.

There are those who say they are Jews, but they're the synagogue of Satan.

These are some strong words.

The word of the Lord directly to the pen of the prophet.

There are supposed Jews in your community, God's chosen in this community, but they are actually the church of Satan.

That's a heavy rebuke, a heavy statement.

I read this to the church last year, there was a group of Satanists that converged for a gathering in Boston, and just reading the writing of the things that was going on was hard to get through.

They had some ceremonies, one called an unbaptism.

They literally take people and unbaptize them.

They began to tear pages of Bibles and burn them.

They had a ball in the evening events called a satanic ball, followed by a drag show.

And on and on the depravity went.

Don't miss the weight of these words.

Supposed Jews, my chosen people, supposedly, but they're the synagogue of Satan that have infiltrated the community.

Now I'm not talking about the church of Smyrna.

I'm talking about in the area of the church of Smyrna, because we're going to find out more.

But on the outside, these people look and try to act like they are Jews, but inwardly they might as well be the church of Satan.

Philip said this: Satan will try within the fold in the churches to set up heretical teachings in opposition to the gospel.

Satan's deceitful work and false teachers every time is looked at by Jesus with great contempt.

If you can hear the way that he talks to people in this, you've seen him call them children of the devil, wolves in sheep clothing, brood of vipers, and all of this propagation is blasphemy in the eyes of Jesus.

But the church suffered persecution by proximity.

What does that mean, Pastor?

By proximity, there's this evil in their land, and because of the evil in their land, and the place that a church was planted, the evil will have their way.

And so the evil in the land are coming at this church, and they are suffering because they cannot work, they cannot eat, they are materially poor.

Where else have we seen things like this?

He says, the devil is going to throw some of you in prison.

Do you remember Joseph in the Old Testament?

What Joseph went through?

His brothers sold him out.

Why?

Not because Joseph was doing evil, because there was evil in the land near him.

Joseph had to go through a time of suffering.

What about the three Hebrew boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace?

You remember what they went through?

Because they would not bow to the ungodly sanctions, to the ungodliness of Nebuchadnezzar, they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

And Daniel, thrown into the lion's den.

John the Baptist was held in prison.

Peter, John, Paul, and Silas were all imprisoned.

All of these men were living for God and not imprisoned because they were doing ungodly things.

But they were living godly in an ungodly land.

You say, well, Pastor, that's Bible times.

Read a little bit about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1943, imprisoned, fighting for the rights of Christianity in Germany.

Read about Martin Luther King in 1963.

Google Andrew Brunson in 2016 to 2018, a Christian missionary that was trying to take the gospel to Romania spent two years in a prison cell with 21 people, lost 50 pounds.

Don't take for granted, church, the opportunity that to worship that we have, that we get to worship God freely.

But I want to tell you what I believe.

Either revival is going to strike this land, or by content of sin alone, we won't be able to preach the truth of this book.

You won't be able to adhere to the truth of this book and not be heavily persecuted.

There's coming a season.

Either revival comes or we're going to see this continue.

Well, we see letter B, the duration of the test.

This is interesting.

It says there at the end of verse 10.

Indeed, the devil is about to throw some, some are going to go into prison during this persecution, that you may be tested, and you will have a tribulation ten days.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Ten days.

That's interesting.

Say, well, I could probably suffer a time like that.

And this verse 10 may refer to a couple of things.

Number 10 can refer to trials itself.

There's people that believe, commentators that believe this ten days has happened through the trials that began with Nero and ended with Diocletian at the end of the third century.

But we do know this about the number 10 in the Bible.

It's a number of cohesion, it's a number of something being completed, and you see it very often.

In fact, 242 times in the Bible, the number 10 is represented.

I'll share a few of them.

We have the Ten Commandments, the 10 plagues of Egypt.

Daniel and his friends were tested ten days.

Jesus Christ healed ten leopards.

Jesus made 10 I am statements.

In three different parables, we see the 10 menas, ten virgins, ten talents.

The tithe represents a tenth.

Represented of all of these is God's order and authority, completion of a trial.

You see, Christians are not promised to be kept from persecution because you're living for God.

Contrarily, Scripture tells us that we probably will have persecution.

I've got some verses I want you to see.

We've got a slide that shows what Scripture says.

Persecution.

You will be refined as silver is refined.

You will be tested.

Romans says, we glory in tribulation, knowing that the tribulation produces perseverance and character and hope.

James said the verse that I detest, count it all joy.

That's hard to do.

When you fall into various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces patience.

I have gotten better when something goes wrong on a car at saying, you know what, we'll get that fixed.

And that won't be a problem.

It won't be a problem if I get new tires.

I won't probably need a new tire soon.

Right?

And so I'm getting a little better at that.

John 16, it's a promise that I don't love, but it says, in the world, you will have tribulation.

And so we see Scripture tells us over and again, and I want to remind you, you may be materially poor and spiritually rich, but I can tell you that a storm is a part of life.

Storms are coming in life.

And so what do we do?

Henry said this about the duration of the test.

Three things.

He said, number one, it would be some, not all.

He said, some of you will go into prison.

Number two, ten days represents a span, not forever.

And three, that they could bear it.

God in his sovereign control can help you to bear the test.

And I don't know what you're going through today, but I want to tell you God is everything that you need.

So don't stare up the stairs and look at how big it is.

Just take a step up the step.

Take it day by day.

For some of you, hour by hour.

Because persecution and struggle are coming.

The struggle is real.

Well, what does it continue to say?

Point number three, the faithful treasure.

Look at verse 10 and 11 there again.

It ends.

It says, Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Letter A is this.

He says, You'll get a crown of life.

You'll get a crown of life.

There's a picture of some of the crowns, and throughout Scripture, we see many crowns that are listed.

And a crown, it means this Stephanos.

That crown of life is the victor's crown.

But we see the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, the crown of gold, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of incorruption.

And so all of these crowns are something.

When I say spiritual inheritance, the scripture mentions the way that you live your life here.

Maybe you're materially poor, maybe not, but the way that you live your life spiritually here will present an opportunity for one day in heaven you to have this inheritance of crowns.

He says this to those going through things.

So he gives us this commendation be fearless and be faithful, a helpful insight to all that are having a struggle.

Because it's not if, right?

It's when.

Keep reading.

Keep going.

Keep praying.

And rehearse this to your enemy.

It's not the size of your struggle that matters, but the size of your God.

Jesus, keep going.

I want you to look at First Corinthians chapter nine.

Verse 24 through 26.

In light of the idea of these crowns, Paul said, Do you not know that those who run a race all run?

But one receives the prize, run in a way so that you may obtain.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown.

Okay, everybody in this race of life is going at it, and we're all fighting for the same thing: success, power, possessions, whatever it is.

He says it's perishable.

But we Christians, we run for an imperishable crown.

Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, but I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I'm disciplined.

I bring my body into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified.

He said, There is a point in all this.

There's a purpose and a pathway in what we're doing.

I'm not out here fighting aimlessly against evil.

I'm fighting with a purpose.

I'm trying to win this race so that I can have a crown for a reason.

There's one prize for the faithful.

I remember in fifth grade, mom would give me two or three dollars for lunch if she didn't pack me a lunch.

And Christmas was coming.

And so I stockpiled that in my mind over here and I started skimming the lunch feed.

So I'd take a dollar here, dollar there, and I could buy chocolate milk for 30 cents and a pretzel for 50 cents.

So I could skim two dollars if she gave me three, and I was making some money, and then one day I hit the jackpot because the school fundraiser of Reese Cups had come to the cafeteria, and they were trying desperately to get rid of hundreds of Reese cups.

And so they started to mark them down and I waited, just waited, watching them.

I like to eat them, but I was willing to do something else with them.

And so I waited, and one day I looked up and finally the 25 cent sign went up, and I was like, yes, I took my$3, I got 12 Reese cups.

I went quickly home that afternoon and went to a neighborhood and I sold 11, 8, 1.

Okay.

I got me$11.

I went the next day, and there was 20 of them left.

I bought them all.

$5 worth of Reese cups.

They must have looked at me like I mean, they must not have had any rules or nothing back in those days.

You couldn't get away with that.

There I am, 20 of them.

I took my loot and I was going back.

Sold them all.

So that Christmas, my plan of skimming and selling Reese cups, I was able to give everybody in my family as a fifth grader a gift.

I was so excited about gift giving that Christmas.

Never had I felt that excited before because I had thought and I would be going to a store with a parents and I had the money to buy a gift.

I want you to think on that.

God has given us, church, life and purpose and salvation.

And one day, if we will run this race in a manner that honors him, we'll be able to lay at Jesus' feet a crown.

Can you imagine?

We will be able, man, I was so excited as a fifth grader watching my family open presence.

One day, the very best part of this life is the eternity that we can take.

So whether you're in a trial, you're on the mountain one day, or where you're at, I want to remind you there's only one trophy.

In Revelation 24, it says that they, or not 24.

In Revelation, I think it's 12, 24.

Whatever the scripture is, the elders, the 24 is the amount of elders.

I'll get it right, I promise.

They lay down their crowns and worship at his feet.

One day we have an opportunity to gift back the God who has given us life and breath and purpose and all that we have.

That leads us to letter B, a celestial living.

Again, I want to remind you his description, the first and last beginning and the end.

The first beginning and the last is the word eschatos, where we get all of this study from eschatology, and that is last, last times, end times, or actually the word expiration times.

And I don't mean to judge when I say the word expiration, but I know that there's some godly people in this church who eat cottage cheese.

I don't eat cottage cheese because it's expired cheese.

You say, no, Pastor, it's just curdled.

It's disgusting.

Y'all need Jesus.

Have you seen it?

It's hard to look at it.

Sour cream?

Listen, sour cream, they have told you up front the problem.

Or else it would just be cream.

It's fermented milk.

I don't eat it.

I watch people just scooping it up like you are nasty.

Has anyone here ever known the joy of drinking inspired milk?

Think you're gonna have you a good bowl of cookie crispy?

Dear heavens! Filthy! One day, church, this body has an expiration.

It's gonna get too old.

It's gonna get sour.

An expiration day is coming.

But what of your spirit?

Until that day, there are ups and there are downs and there are trials and there are struggles.

And the best answer I can give you as someone who loves and wants to shepherd you is don't let your struggle win.

We have to cling to the promises of God and stand.

We just have to keep standing and keep going.

And I want to tell somebody here who you've come in today and you're discouraged and you're depressed.

Just keep going.

There's a you in two years from now.

It's going to be different.

Just cling to his promises.

It can get better.

Listen to another worship song.

Know that he has plans for you.

Fight for this crown when you don't have any other fight left.

There's three people I want to tell you about in closing.

There is a letter that's been written called The Martyrdom of Polycarp.

Polycarp, in this letter, it was written to the church in Smyrna, to the congregations, and passed out.

And it contrasts the types of martyrdom that was going on.

There was a man named Germanicus who refused to renounce Christianity.

The pleadings of the Roman proconsul stood before him, and they did not want to see him martyred by the eating of wild beasts.

And so they pled with him.

And Germanicus, despite all their pleading, would not renounce his Jesus Christ.

There was another man that the letter mentioned, Ferg and Quintus, who, upon prodding and pushing, recanted his faith.

He took a vow unto their God and offered incense.

So this letter was written to illustrate an understanding of what it meant to stand, even when it hurt.

They said about Polycarp.

All he had to do, he was a respected man.

He was 86 at the time that he was sentenced and trialed.

And they said all he had to do was say, Caesar is Lord.

All you have to do, Polycarp, just renounce and say, Caesar is Lord.

And this was Polycarp's response.

Oh, Jesus Christ has never done me any wrong.

How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?

They threatened with wild animals and fire, and he said this, what are you waiting for?

He prayed before them to his God.

May I be received as an acceptable sacrifice to my king.

See, church, there are all kinds of trials and struggles, and people are going through all kinds of things.

And as I was studying, I came across this testimony because I know that this seems like an extreme sense of a struggle, but we all have all kinds of struggles.

So I want you to hear about Karen's story.

It affects people in different ways, but it causes radiovatial deformities.

In my case, I was born without a right ear, mouth or addiction.

I emission some of the bones on the right side of my face, including my right child.

This is my face and an asymmetrical appearance.

I was born with a cleft look with a cleft palette.

I was also born with an atrium central defect, which is a hole between the top two chambers of the heart.

When I was seven years old, I came to note Jesus as my personal sector.

I was sitting here pointing out a desktop, and I came across a little magazine entitled Good News.

It was a little book like this that we've taken out to the children at church.

And explains the plan of salvation in words that a child can understand.

I started reading it and I realized that the book was talking about me.

I read scriptures such as Roman 3.23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And then I read John 3.16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

I can't forget to describe the joy that I felt.

I knew that Jesus was in my heart.

Although I grew some as a Christian in the years following my salvation, a major growing time for me was the summer of 1986 when I had my stoliosis surgery.

I spent two terrifying days in the ICU because I required constant nursing care.

I couldn't talk because the tube was in my throat.

And anyone who knows me really well knows that I love to talk.

So I was pretty upset.

I thought that no one had to go through the things that I had to, and that like just was not fair.

However, I quickly learned that my situation was nothing in comparison to s to that of some of the other children who were in the NLCU.

Most of those kids were critically ill.

Many were in a coma or were dying, and the nurses were attempting life-saving measures.

I knew that if they continued as they were, that one day all of my kids would come out, and then I would be able to leave the hospital.

I realized the luck that I got for the precious gifts of life itself.

The same thing is the same film that heart and play melts less.

This is true.

There is no change or variation in the film itself.

It's just the way the clay or witness responds.

From else and separates from heart and film.

Just like making the clay, making it reverse and resemblance.

The sun system to milk odors.

Take it in the place of endurance.

It's the way we respond to those tunnels that makes all the difference.

I love that hymn even today because it expresses perfectly the way I feel.

Let me close by telling you the words.

Just to take him at his word.

Just to rest upon his promise.

Just to know thus sayeth the Lord.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him.

How I prayed him or and or Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus.

Oh for grace to trust him more.

Thank you.

As you bow, I want to share with you the third person.

See, struggles are varied.

We're promised them.

And we don't quite understand.

But we have a God who does.

Scripture tells us that.

That we have not a high priest who has not suffered the same infirmities, but like as we are, yet without sin.

You see, the last description of his name in Revelation there, it says, He who died, but I am alive forevermore.

We have a promise of being spiritually rich means eternally.

And he says, Though I died, I am alive forevermore.

Hear me, church.

Sometimes we look at this life like it's eternity and it's not.

This is a season.

This is a dot on the map, but one day eternity is going to come, and he explains to us, even through his name, I am he who died for the sins, for the struggle.

But I'm alive forevermore.

And Jesus Christ's name to the church relates a message to the church.

I am first, I am last, I am eternal.

I came and I died.

You see, Jesus relates to persecution.

He who left heaven and became tested as a man, he was unjustly accused and was physically and horrendously tortured.

He was whipped to the point of being unrecognized.

He was nailed and asphyxiated on a cross.

See, he died on earth.

But for a moment.

And he's alive forevermore.

You may be going through something today that feels like it's just never-ending.

The tension, the darkness, the struggle.

But I want to tell you encouragingly, church today, look up.

Your redemption draws nigh.

He took all of that sin, all of that struggle, and all of that pain so that you and I could have heaven to gain.

So sweet.

This morning, I want to ask your church to be like Smyrna.

The struggle may be evident, but you've put your faith and trust in Jesus.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

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Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

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